2005辅导班讲义05考博英语强化班讲义—阅读部分

2005年北京新九州考博英语辅导班讲义

阅读部分

Passage One

Why do so many Americans distrust what they read in their newspapers? The American Society of Newspaper Editors is trying to answer this painful question. The organization is deep into a long self-analysis known as the journalism credibility project.

Sad to say, this project has turned out to be mostly low-level findings about factual errors and spelling and grammar mistakes, combined with lots of head-scratching puzzlement about what in the world those readers really want.

But the sources of distrust go way deeper. Most journalists learn to see the world though a set of standard templates into which they plug each day’s events. In other words, there is a conventional story line in the newsroom culture that provides a backbone and a ready-made narrative structure for otherwise confusing news.

There exists a social and cultural disconnect between journalists and their readers, which helps explain why the “standard templates”of the newsroom seem alien to many readers. In a recent survey, questionnaires were sent to reporters in five middle-size cities around the country, plus one large metropolitan area. Then residents in these communities were phoned at random and asked the same questions. Replies show that compared with other Americans, journalists are more likely to live in upscale neighborhoods, have maids, own Mercedeses, and trade stocks, and they’re less likely to go to church, do volunteer work, or put down roots in a community. Reporters tend to be part of broadly defined social and cultural elite, so their work tends to reflect the conventional values of this elite. The astonishing distrust of the news media isn’t rooted in inaccuracy or poor reportorial skills but in the daily clash of world views between reporters and their readers.

This is an explosive situation for any industry, particularly a declining one. Here is a troubled business that keeps hiring employees whose attitudes vastly annoy the customers. Then it sponsors lots of symposiums and a credibility project dedicated to wondering why customers are annoyed and fleeing in large numbers. But it never seems to get around to noticing the cultural and class biases that so many former buyers are complaining about. If it did, it would open up its diversity program, now focused narrowly on race and gender, and look for reporters who differ broadly by outlook, values, education, and class.

1.What is the main idea of this passage?

A.The origins of the declining newspaper industry.

B.The aims of a journalism credibility project.

C.The causes of the public disappointment about newspapers.

D.The needs of the readers all over the world.

2.Which of the following best describes the result of the journalism credibility project?

A.Very illuminating.

B.Quite trustworthy.

C.Rather superficial.

D.Somewhat contradictory.

3.According to the passage, the basic problem of journalists ______.

A.is related to their educational background

B.derives from their working attitude

C.lies in their world outlook

D.depends on their conventional lifestyle

4.In spite of its efforts, the newspaper industry still cannot satisfy the readers because of its

______.

A.prejudice on matters of race and gender

B.failure to realize its real problem

C.tendency to hire annoying reporters

D.likeliness to do inaccurate reporting

5.What does the word “did” in the last sentence probably refer to?

A.Sponsoring credibility project.

B.Getting around to noticing the cultural and class biases.

C.Hiring the employees whose attitudes annoy the customers.

D.Opening up its diversity program.

Passage Two

Our current system of unemployment compensation has increased nearly all sources of adult unemployment. First, for those who are already unemployed, the system greatly reduces the cost of extending the period of unemployment. Second, for all types of unsteady work—seasonal, cyclical and casual--it raises the net wage to the employee, relative to the cost of the employer.

As for the first, consider a worker who earns $500 per month or $6,000 per year if she experiences no unemployment. If she is unemployed for one month, she loses $500 in gross earnings but only $116 in net income. How does this occur? A reduction of $500 in annual earnings reduces her federal payroll and state tax liability by $134. Unemployment compensation consists of 50% of her wage or $250. Her net income therefore falls from $366 if she is employed, to $250 paid as unemployment compensation. Moreover, part of the higher income from employment is offset by the cost of transportation to work and other expenses associated with employment; and in some industries, the cost of unemployment is reduced further or even made negative by the supplementary unemployment benefits paid by employers under collective bargaining agreement. The over-all effect is to increase the duration of a typical period of unemployment and to increase the frequency with which individuals lose jobs and become unemployed. The more general effect of unemployment compensation is to increase the seasonal and cyclical fluctuations in the demand for labor and the relative number of short-lived casual jobs. A worker who accepts such work knows she will be laid off when the season ends. If there were no unemployment compensation, workers could be induced to accept such unstable jobs only if the wage rate were sufficiently higher in those jobs than in the more stable ones.

The higher cost of the labor, then, would induce employers to reduce the instability of employment, among other things, by additional development of off-season work and by the introduction of new production techniques, e.g. new methods of outdoor work in bad weather. Employers contribute to the state unemployment compensation fund on the basis of the

unemployment experience of their own previous employees. Within limits, the more benefits that those former employees draw, the higher is the employer’s tax rate. The theory of experience rating is clear. If an employer paid the full cost of the unemployment benefits that his former employees received, unemployment compensation would provide no incentive to an excess use of unstable employment. In practice, however, experience rating is limited by a maximum rate of employer contribution. For any firm that pays the maximum rate, there is no cost for additional unemployment and no gain from a small reduction in unemployment.

The challenge at this time is to restructure the unemployment system in a way that strengthens its good features while reducing the harmful effects. Some gains can be achieved by removing the ceiling on the employer’s rate of contribution and by lowering the minimum rate to zero. Employers would then pay the full price of unemployment insurance benefits and this would encourage employers to stabilize employment and production. Further improvement could be achieved if unemployment insurance benefits were taxed in the same way as other earnings. This would eliminate the situations in which a worker’s net income is actually reduced when he returns to work.

1.Which of the following is the criticism the author makes of the unemployment compensation

system?

A.It places an unfair burden on firms whose production is cyclical or seasonal.

B.It encourages out-of-work employees to extend the length of time they are unemployed.

C.It constitutes a long-term threat to those more capable yet jobless workers.

D.It encourages a worker to stay on his or her present job longer.

2.In writing this article, the author is primarily to ______.

A.advocate expanding the benefits and scope of coverage of unemployment compensation

B.suggest reforms to eliminate inefficiencies in unemployment compensation

C.propose methods of increasing the effectiveness of government programs to reduce

unemployment

D.defend the system of unemployment compensation against criticism

3.The example of a worker earning $500 per month is cited by the author so as to show ______.

A.that unemployed workers would not be able to make a living without unemployment

compensation

B.that workers would rather live on unemployment compensation than take a job

C.that employers do not bear the full cost of worker compensation

D.the negative effects created by unemployment compensation on the worker’s return to

work

4.Which of the following changes should be made in the unemployment compensation

according to the author’s recommendation?

A.To shorten the length of time during which a worker receives benefits to force the

worker to seek work.

B.To increase the amount of money paid by employers into the unemployment

compensation fund.

C.To tax unemployment compensation to lower net benefits received by unemployed

workers.

D.Both B and C.

5．All the followings are mentioned as ways in which employers might reduce seasonal and cyclical unemployment EXCEPT ______.

A.creating new job opportunities for laid-off workers at the off-season

B.adopting a system of supplementary benefits for workers laid off in slow periods

C.finding new jobs to be done by workers during the off-season

D.developing new techniques of production not affected by weather

Passage Three

There are many ways of dealing with offenders that do not involve the payment of money. One is probation, a system that takes many different forms in different jurisdictions but that essentially involves the suspension of sentence on the offender subject to the condition that he is supervised while living in the community by a probation officer and possibly agrees to comply with such other requirements as the court may think appropriate. Usually, if the offender complies with the probation order and commits no further offense while it is in force, no other penalty is imposed, but if he breaks the requirement of the order or commits another offense, he can be brought back before the court and punished for the original offense as well as the later one. In many U. S. states probation is combined with a suspended sentence, so that the sentence the offender will have to serve if he breaks the order is fixed in advance; in England the sentence is not fixed in advance, and the court has complete discretion if there is a breach to sentence the offender for the original crime in light of his later behavior. English law also allows suspended sentence of imprisonment for a specified period (not more than two years), on condition that the offender commit no further offense during the period of suspension. This is different from a probation order, as no supervision is required and no other conditions may be included in the order.

Other alternatives to prison are based on the idea of preventing an offender from committing further offenses, without necessarily confining him in a prison. The most familiar power of this kind is that of disqualifying an offender from driving a motor vehicle or from holding a driver’s license. This power is available under the laws of most countries to deal with those offenders who either commit serious driving offenses, such as driving while intoxicated, or who commit repeated but less serious offenses, such as speeding. In many countries there exists a system in which the offender is awarded a number of points each time he commits a motoring offense; when the number of points accumulated reaches a certain figure, he is automatically disqualified for a specified period. Some countries allow courts to disqualify from driving those offenders who have used motor vehicles in commission of the crime for which they are being sentenced, with the aim of hindering the offender from committing further such offenses. Although attractive in the abstract, this seldom works well in practice, as the absence of a driver’s license may well prevent an offender from finding work after release from prison; as a result he may be likely to commit further crimes. Other forms of disqualification may be imposed on offenders convicted of particular types of crimes: a fraudulent company director may be disqualified from being involved in the direction of a company, a corrupt politician may be disqualified from holding public office, or a parent who sexually abuses his children may be deprived of parental authority over them.

1. The first paragraph of the passage mainly deals with ______.

A.the suspension of sentence on the offender

B.the probation system

C.ways of dealing with offenders

D.the suspended sentence of imprisonment

2. Of the following statements, which is true according to this passage?

A.If an offender breaks the probation order and commits no further offense, no other penalty

is imposed.

B.If an offender in Britain breaks the probation order, he has to serve a fixed sentence for a

specified period.

C.If an offender in the U.S. breaks the probation order, he has to serve a sentence fixed in

advance.

D.If an offender complies with the probation order, he will be punished merely for the

original offense.

3. What does the second paragraph of the passage mainly deal with?

A.It deals with the alternatives to prison.

B.It deals with preventing an offender from committing offenses.

C.It deals with the imposition of disqualification on offenders.

D.It deals with disqualifying an offender from driving a motor vehicle.

4. Which of the following statements about disqualification is true?

A.It is only applicable to those offenders who commit serious driving offenses.

B.It seldom works well in practice.

C.It usually fails to prevent an offender from committing further offenses.

D.It may be applied to offenders who have been convicted of various types of offenses.

5. Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?

A.Suspension.

B.Disqualification.

C.How to Prevent Crimes.

D.Two Ways of Dealing with Offenders.

Passage Four

Great Britain once governed the largest empire known to history. There were colonies in the Americas, Africa, Central and East Asia, and Australia and New Zealand. Citizens of these colonies were recognized as sharing a common British nationality. During the first half of the 20th century many of the colonies began to gain their independence. But the new sovereign states maintained a relationship with Great Britain through what is called the Commonwealth. This is an association of 49 nations, 17 of which recognize the monarch of Great Britain as head of the state.

Since the end of World War II most of the former British colonies have become independent. In recognition of this fact, British’s citizenship laws were redrawn by Parliament in 1948 in the

British Nationality Act, which became effective on Jan. 1, 1949. This act abolished the previously recognized status of common British nationality. It declared that all persons were British citizens who were born or whose fathers were born in the United Kingdom or in a territory that was a colony on Jan.1, 1949, or at the date of birth, if later.

The law of 1948 has been superseded by the British Nationality Act of 1981, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 1983. The new act did away with the concept of citizenship of the United Kingdom and colonies. Instead, it established three separate citizenships: British citizenship for the people of the United Kingdom, the Chanel Islands, and the Isle of Man; British Dependent Territories citizenship for people of the dependencies; and British Overseas citizenship for any citizen of the United Kingdom or colonies who did not become a British citizen or a citizen of a dependent territory. This last category of citizenship is considered transitional in nature and cannot be automatically transmitted to children.

According to the 1981 Nationality Act, all citizens of the United Kingdom and colonies who had the right of abode in the United Kingdom automatically became British citizens when the act went into effect. Otherwise, citizenship may be acquired in a variety of ways: birth, descent, naturalization, and registration. The registration procedure applies to citizens of dependent territories, British Overseas citizens, and certain other persons who have resided in the United Kingdom for five years. Naturalization, also requiring five years of residency, applies to other foreign nationals and to other Commonwealth citizens.

The British Nationality Act of 1981 also did away with the term British subject as a description of Commonwealth citizens and replaced it with the term Commonwealth citizen. Since the Commonwealth is not a sovereign body, citizenship in it can confer no rights that are already inherent in the citizenship of a particular nation.

A citizen of India, for instance, is not a citizen of Canada simply because he is a Commonwealth citizen. If he desired Canadian citizenship, he would have to emigrate to Canada and comply with the residence requirements and other stipulations of the Canadian Citizenship Act. What citizenship in the Commonwealth does grant is travel among the member nations without a visa.

1.Why did the parliament have the British citizenship law remade in 1949?

A. A lot of new sovereign states broke away from the Commonwealth.

B.British could no longer afford to take in so many people.

C.Giving foreign-born British descendants citizenship no longer benefits Britain.

D.Most former British colonies became new sovereign states.

2.The word “superseded” in the first sentence of the third paragraph means ______.

A.executed

B.opposed

C.supplemented

D.replaced

3.According to the 1981 Nationality Act, a child can NOT inherit a British citizenship from a

parent ______.

A.with British Dependent territories citizenship

B.with British citizenship

C.with British Overseas citizenship

D.who lives elsewhere other than Britain

4.We learnt from the last paragraph ______.

A.the difference between Indian and Canadian citizenship

B.the nature of the present Commonwealth citizenship

C.the application of citizenship of the Commonwealth nations

D.the requirements for traveling within the Commonwealth

5. We can infer from the passage that a Commonwealth citizenship ______.

A.entitles its owner special rights within the Commonwealth

B.is usually given by the country the owner lives in

C.has no use whatsoever

D.gives its owner no political rights

Passage Five

Wild Bill Donovan would have loved the Internet. The American spymaster who built the Office of Strategic Services in World War II and late laid the roots for the CIA was fascinated with information. Donovan believed in using whatever tools came to hand in the “great game” of espionage—spying as a “profession.” These days the Net, which has already re-made such everyday pastimes as buying books and sending mail, is reshaping Donovan’s vocation as well.

The latest revolution isn’t simply a matter of gentlemen reading other gentlemen’s e-mail. That kind of electronic spying has been going on for decades. In the past three or four years, the World Wide Web has given birth to a whole industry of point-and-click spying. The spooks call it “open-sou rce intelligence”, and as the Net grows, it is becoming increasingly influential. In 1995 the CIA held a contest to see who could compile the most data about Burundi. The winner, by a large margin, was a tiny Virginia company called Open Source Solutions, whose clear advantage was its mastery of the electronic world.

Among the firms making the biggest splash in this new world is Stratford, Inc., a private intelligence-analysis firm based in Austin, Texas. Straitford makes money by selling the results of spying (covering nations from Chile to Russia) to corporations like energy-services firm McDermott International. Many of its predictions are available online at www. Straitford. Com.

Straitford president George Friedman says he sees the online world as a kind of mutually reinforcing tool for both information collection and distribution, a spymaster’s dream. Last week his firm was busy vacuuming up data bits from the far corners of the world and predicting a crisis in Ukraine. “As soon as that report runs, we’ll suddenly get 500 new Internet sign-ups from Ukraine,” says Friedman, a former political science professor. “And we’ll hear back from some of them.” Open-source spying does have its risks, of course, since it can be difficult to tell good information fro m the bad. That’s where Straitford earns its keep.

Friedman relies on a lean staff of 20 in Austin. Several of his staff members have military-intelligence backgrounds. He sees the firm’s outsider status as the key to its success. Straitford’s briefs don’t sound like the usual Washington back-and-forthing, whereby agencies avoid dramatic declarations on the chance they might be wrong. Straitford, says Friedman, takes pride in its independent voice.

1.The emergence of the Net has ______.

A.received support from fans like Donovan

B.remolded the intelligence services

C.restored many common pastimes

D.revived spying as a profession

2.Donovan’s story is mentioned in the text to ______.

A.introduce the topic of online spying

B.show how he fought for the U.S.

C.give an episode of the information war

D.honor his unique services to the CIA

3.The phrase “making the biggest splash” (line 1, Para 3) most probably means ______.

A.causing the biggest trouble

B.exerting the greatest effort

C.achieving the greatest success

D.enjoying the widest popularity

4.It can be learned from paragraph 4 that ______.

A.Straitford’s prediction about Ukraine has proved true

B.Straitford’s guarantees the truthfulness of its information

C.Straitford’s business is characterized by unpredictability

D.Straitford is able to provide fairly reliable information

5.Straitford is most proud of its ______.

A.official status

B.nonconformist image

C.efficient staff

https://www.360docs.net/doc/2218678419.html,itary background

Passage Six

Phobia is intense and persistent fear of a specific object, situation, or activity. Because of this intense and persistent fear, the phobic person often leads a constricted life. The anxiety is typically out of proportion to the real situation, and the victim is fully aware that the fear is irrational.

Phobic anxiety is distinguishable from other forms of anxiety only in that it occurs specifically in relation to a certain object or situation. This anxiety is characterized by physiological symptoms such as a rapid, pounding heartbeat, stomach disorders, nausea, diarrhea, frequent urination, choking feelings, flushing of the face, perspiration tremulousness, and faintness. Some phobic people are able to confront their fears. More commonly, however, they avoid the situation or object that causes the fear—an avoidance that impairs the sufferer’s freedom.

Psychiatrists recognize three major types of phobias. Simple phobias are fears of specific objects or situations such as animals, closed spaces, and heights. The second type, agoraphobia, is fear of open, public places and situations (such as public vehicles and crowded shopping centers) from which escape is difficult; agoraphobia tend increasingly to avoid more situations until eventually they become housebound. Social phobias, the third type, are fears of appearing stupid

or shameful in social situations. The simple phobias, especially the fear of animals, may begin in childhood and persist into adulthood. Agoraphobia characteristically begins in late adolescence or early adulthood, and social phobia is also associated with adolescence.

Although agoraphobia is more often seen in treatment than the other types of phobia, it is not believed to be as common as simple phobia. Taken together, the phobias are believed to afflict 5 to 10 persons in 100. Agoraphobia and simple phobia are more commonly diagnosed in women than in men; the distribution for social phobia is not known. Agoraphobias, social phobias, and animal phobias tend to run in families.

Behavioral techniques have proved successful in treating phobias, especially simple and social phobias. One technique, systematic desensitization, involves gradually confronting the phobic person with situations or objects that are increasingly close to the feared ones. Exposure therapy, another behavioral method, has recently been shown more effective. In this technique, phobics are repeatedly exposed to the feared situation or object so that they can see that no harm befalls them; the fear gradually fades. Anti-anxiety drugs have also been used as palliatives. Anti-depressant drugs have also proved successful in treating some phobias.

1.Based on the description of phobias, a phobic person would not ______.

A.live a rich and colorful life and feel that it is worth living.

B.restrict the scope or freedom of life

C.have a strong and continuous fear of a specific object

D.realize that the fear is unreasonable

2.Differing from the other forms of anxiety, the form of phobic anxiety can be interpreted as

______.

A.the state of worrying about stomach disorders

B.the same as the other forms of anxiety

C.the reaction to the situation or subject that causes the fear of any people

D.the occurrence specifically relevant to a certain object or situation

3.Judging from the cases of agoraphobias, social phobias and animal phobias, we can NOT

infer that ______.

A.Tom’s father might have once su ffered from phobia because Tom is now suffering from it

B.M ary’s sister is afraid of speaking to the public sometimes because women are more

commonly suffering from phobias than men

C.There are more women in number than men afraid of taking bus in rush hours

D.those frightened by dogs or snakes are more common than those feeling uneasy when left

in a crowded shopping center

4.In treating phobias, many effective ways have been carried out EXCEPT ______.

A.systematic desensitization and exposure therapy

B.anti-anxiety drugs and anti-depressed drugs

C.gradual exposure of phobics to fear stimuli

D.seeking psychological advice from psychiatrists

5.In treating phobias, what should mainly be done is to help the phobic persons to cope with

______.

A. the fears of specific objects or situations

B.the fear of open public places

C.stupidity or shyness in social situations

D.psychological factors

Passage Seven

The economy has been good for most of us in the past several years. People are often trying to explain the success. There are those who give Greenspan a good bit of credit and say things like “he has done a good job managing the economy”. Apart from the in herent absurdity of anyone “managing” an economy, these people have misplaced their faith. I am often amazed at how much faith people place in the power of the Federal Reserve, Greenspan in particular, to stem recessions and global crises. Have people forgotten that the Fed is made up of fallible human beings that are not omniscient? Why do they feel anyone can possibly manage something as complicated as the economy?

Look behind the awesome display of apparent wisdom and power of the Fed. Behind this fa?ade, there are simply more bureaucrats pretending to manage something that they cannot possibly manage effectively. I believe that the illusive powers of the Fed can more accurately be portrayed with the metaphor chosen by economists J.W. Henry Watson and Ida Walters. That is, the Fed has a toy steering wheel that gives the illusion of control, but, the steering wheel is not connected to the driveshaft.

To presume that Greenspan can regulate an economy and provide a smoother path of expansion rests on several fantastic notions: First, you must believe that through the manipulation of one interest rate, the whole economy responds in some predictable fashion. Second, believing in the first fantastic notion, you must believe that Greenspan knows where this rate should be set. Third, if you accept the notion that Greenspan knows what rate should be set, then you must believe that Greenspan can foresee how the economy will react to such changes in monetary policy. Essentially, you must believe that he knows the future.

Let’s attack this at the core. Does Greenspan know the future? Will all the computers and models in the land improve the ability of Greenspan to forecast the future? Of course not, Greenspan puts his pants on one leg at a time. In other words, he is mortal, error-prone, imperfect and just like us. David Dreman’s latest book, Contrarian Investment Strategies, contains some interesting research on the issue of forecasting. Dreman deals with the ability of security analysts to predict, collectively and a ccurately, a company’s future earnings.

Keep in mind that these security analysts are among the brightest people in their profession. They are often from the world’s best schools and are paid handsome sums for their work, sometimes in excess of two million dollars annually. These analysts are experts in their fields. They have access to an incredible wealth of information. All kinds of trade magazines, newspapers and specialty reports cross their desks. Not only that, they have access to the people at the companies they follow. Analysts have access to the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Executive Officer. They can ask them specific questions about their forecasts, about industry conditions. These analysts have the latest and best computer technology, complicated models to aid them in their analysis. Their incentive compensation is often tied to the accuracy of their forecasts.

So, how accurate are their forecasts on earnings? Abysmal. David Dreman and Michael

Berry performed a study on analysts’ forecasts b etween 1973 and 1996. The final results: the average error was 23 per cent. This is a large error. Dreman reconfigures his study in numerous ways to further test his conclusions. Did analysts do better in bull markets versus recessions? Was accuracy better in more “predictable” industries like utility companies? Suffice to say that in every case, and in every way, the errors were large, sometimes exceeding 50 percent.

So if the best financial analysts cannot predict a company’s earnings with any reasonable accuracy, how in the world can Greenspan know what the economy is doing? The economy, being made of thousands of companies, millions of people, is many times more complicated than one company’s earnings forecast.

In conclusion, Greenspan is no hero. It may more accurately be said that the U.S. economy has managed to flourish despite Greenspan’s stumbling in the dark, rather than because of him.

1. The writer’s primary purpose is to .

A.explain why people trust Greenspan so much

B.analyze the inner working of estimating an economy

C.expose a myth widely held regarding economic forecast

https://www.360docs.net/doc/2218678419.html,pare economic forecasts at different levels

2. What do people falsely believe?

A.The economy is in good shape.

B.Greenspan is omniscient.

C.Human beings are fallible.

D.Greenspan doesn’t know how to dress properly.

3. Which of the following is NOT true of security analysts?

A.They are well-equipped.

B.They try to be as accurate as possible.

C.They have easy access to company data.

D.They are better qualified than Greenspan to forecast economy.

4. The word “Abysmal” (Para. 6) could best be substituted by ______.

A.by a large margin

B.emotional

C.off the mark

D.similar

5. The writer makes his argument primarily by means of ______.

A.describing an analogous situation

B.drawing inference based on his observations

C.presenting his argument from the most general to the most specific

D.borrowing a metaphor from some economists

Passage Eight

Human relations have commanded people’s attention from early times. The ways of people have been recorded in innumerable myths, folktales, novels, poems, plays and philosophical essays. Although the full significance of a human relationship may not be directly evident, the

complexity of feelings and actions that can be understood at a glance is surprisingly great. For this reason psychology holds a unique position among the sciences. “Intuitive”knowledge may be remarkably penetrating and can significantly help us understand human behavior, whereas in the physical sciences such commonsense knowledge is relatively primitive. If we erased all knowledge of scientific physics from our modern world, not only would we not have cars and television sets, we might even find that the ordinary person was unable to cope with the fundamental mechanical problems of pulleys and levers. On the other hand, if we removed all knowledge of scientific psychology from our world, problems in interpersonal relations might easily be coped with and solved much as before. We would still “know”how to avoid doing something asked of us and how to get someone to agree with us; we would still “know” when someone was angry and when someone was pleased. One could even offer sensible explanations for the “whys” of much of the self’s behavior and feelings. In other words, the ordinary person has a great and profound understanding of the self and of other people which, though unformulated or only vaguely conceived, enables one to interact with others in more or less adaptive ways. Kohler, in referring to the lack of great discoveries in psychology as compared with physics, accounts for this by saying that “people were acquainted with practically all territories of mental life a long time before the founding of scientific psychology.

Paradoxically, with all this natural intuitive, commonsense capacity to grasp human relations, the science of human relations has been one of the last to develop. Different explanations of this paradox have been suggested. One is that science would destroy the vain and pleasing illusions people have about themselves; but we might ask why people have always loved to read pessimistic, debunking writings, from Ecclesiastes to Freud. It has also been proposed that just because we know so much about people intuitively, there has been less incentive for studying them scientifically; why should one develop a theory, carry out systematic observations, or make predictions about the obvious? In any case, the field of human relations, with its vast literary documentation but meager scientific treatment, is in great contrast to the field of physics in which there are relatively few nonscientific books.

1.Which of the following claims in the passage supports the author’s statement that

“psychology holds a unique position among the sciences” (Para. 1)?

https://www.360docs.net/doc/2218678419.html,monsense understanding of human relations can be incisive.

B.Intuitive knowledge in the physical sciences is relatively advanced.

C.Subjective bias is difficult to control in psychological research.

D.The full meaning of a human relationship may not be obvious.

2.With which of the following statements would the author most likely agree regarding people

who lived before the advent of scientific psychology?

A.They misunderstood others more frequently than do people today.

B.They were uninterested in acquiring knowledge of the physical world.

C.Their understanding of human relations was quite limited.

D.Their intuitions about human relations were reasonably sophisticated.

3.It can be concluded that the author assumes that commonsense knowledge of human relations

is ______.

A.considerably more accurate in some societies than in others

B.biased insofar as it is based on myths and folktales

https://www.360docs.net/doc/2218678419.html,ually sufficiently accurate to facilitate interactions with others

D.equally well developed among all adults within a given society

4.It has been suggested that the science of human relations was slow to develop because

_______.

A.the scientific method is difficult to apply to the study of human relations

B.people generally seem to be more attracted to literary than to scientific writings about

human relations

C.scientific studies of human relations appear to investigate the obvious

D.early scientists were more interested in the physical world

5. According to the author, the attempts to treat human relations scientifically have so far been

relatively ______.

A.uninterpretable

B.pessimistic

C.encouraging

D.unilluminating

Passage Nine

Now medical researchers are discovering a truism: “alcohol and tobacco do not mix.” These two substances, both dangerous to health, act synergistically (相互作用地), each making the other more powerful and thereby causing worse damage than either would do alone.

Because of this interaction, the person who both smokes and drinks heavily may be at a greater risk of becoming ill than one who drinks like a fish, but never smokes or who smokes like a chimney, but never drinks. To get an idea of how this synergism may work, consider what happens when a smoker lights up a cigarette. With each puff he inhales at least 4000 different chemicals. These include toxic hydrogen-cyanide, carbon-monoxide and nitrogen-dioxide gases, and four dozen compounds such as benzo pyrene and radioactive polonium-210. All are known as carcinogens(致癌物质). Most chemical vapors in tobacco smoke get deposited in the mouth, nose, throat and lungs in a coating called tar. It is in this tar that most of the cancer-inducing potential of tobacco smoke lies. Then in a scenario typical of chronic heavy drinkers—most of whom also smoke—our smoker feels thirsty and washes down that smoke coating in his mouth and throat with whisky. The alcohol in his drink is not in itself a carcinogen, but it may act as a solvent, dissolving the tar-taped tobacco poisons, and easing the transport of carcinogens across membranes (薄膜).

Our smoker continues to drink. Soon he lights another cigarette and inhales deeply. Behind his embattled lungs, meanwhile, his liver has gone on full alert to save his life. The three-pound chemical factory, which cleans most toxins from the bloodstream, reacts to alcohol as a foreign substance and metabolizes(新陈代谢) 95 percent of it into other chemicals. But in turning its energy to clearing just one-half ounce of pure alcohol—the amount in a standard drink—per hour from our drinking smoker’s blood, the liver’s other metabolic functions suffer a sharp decrease. Poisons from tobacco smoke that otherwise would be removed from his blood within minutes are now allowed to flood his body for hours or days, depending on how much alcohol the liver must dispose of.

The person who smokes one or two packs of cigarettes a day loses on average six to eight percent of his blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity. If our heavy smoker’s use of alcohol has led to alcoholism, he is probably malnourished. This malnourishment compounds problems he is having with insufficient oxygen. His brain cells are dying from it.

The synergistic effect of alcohol and tobacco may deliver a powerful blow to the cardiovascular(心血管的) system as well as the upper respiratory tract(呼吸道). For those prone to hypertension who drink more than two ounces of alcohol a day, high blood pressure is common and with it the increased risk of stroke and heart attack. For hypertensives who combine smoking and drinking, the risks are even greater.

1.Which of the following can make the best title of this passage?

A.Dead Mixer = Alcohol + Tobacco

B.Alcohol and Tobacco are Dangerous to Health

C.Tobacco Contains a Lot of Toxic Compounds

D.Interaction of the Alcohol and Tobacco

2.The phrase “synergistic effect” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to ______.

A.mixing effect

B.mixed function

https://www.360docs.net/doc/2218678419.html,bined result

D.cooperated effect

3.The main function of the liver is to ______.

A.clean most toxins from alcohol

B.metabolize fat from the bloodstream

C.clean most toxins from bloodstream

D.dispose of poisons from tobacco at once

4.According to the passage, why does a drink bring serious results to a smoker?

A.Because it may act as a dissolving agent.

B.Because he is malnourished.

C.Because the liver can’t dispose of alcohol.

D.Because the liver has to clean the toxins.

5.The reason why the brain cells of the person who both smokes and drinks heavily are dying is

that ______.

A.smoking reduces the oxygen-carrying capacity of his blood

B.smoking and drinking make him malnourished

C.the problem of deficient oxygen supply and malnourishment act synergistically

D.it’s the normal metabolism

Passage Ten

One negative result of people’s interference with the environment is that many kinds of animals are becoming rare. In fact, their numbers are decreasing so rapidly that they are in danger of being extinct. Because worried and concerned experts want to make sure that these animals do not disappear, an “endangered species” list has been made, and ways to save them have been started. Some types of birds, like eagles, are in danger of extinction. This is the reason why many

concerned citizens have organized into groups to try to save the birds. The National Audubon Society (NAS) is one such organization.

The people of the NAS, ironically, once tried to encourage interest in birds. The present situation indicates that they were too successful. Nowadays the same people are looking for ways to protect the birds from the people who want to watch them. Just a few years ago, bird watchers were stereotyped as harmless but strange: people thought of all bird watchers as eccentric hunters who chased their prey with binoculars to see better with, instead of guns to shoot with. Stereotypes of bird watchers were the subjects of jokes because the general public did not find birds interesting. However, with a little education and advertising, bird watching and bird watchers really changed. Bird watching became a national pastime, an interesting hobby, a favorite way to spend leisure time.

Because of the efforts of the NAS, the numbers of amateur ornithologists (鸟类学家) have multiplied. Now between five and ten million nonprofessional bird watchers search for a glimpse of a golden pheasant (雉鸡), a tiny pygmy swift (雨燕), of a whooping crane (美洲鹤). In the past decade, the NAS membership has quadrupled; such an increase of four times the number in only ten years indicates a surge of enthusiasm for birds. Unfortunately, this great growth of interest has meant another kind of interest: the over-enthusiasm of some amateur ornithologists has resulted in harm to the birds and their habitats, the special environments that the birds choose. For example, both vegetation and the nesting places have been trampled; the natural places have been destroyed by the feet of the small percentage of overly enthusiastic watchers. One professional ornithologist reported that so many people have become interested in birds that one rare bird can bring a flock of bird-watchers. A result is that where there were once flocks of birds, there are now only a few.

1.What does the first paragraph mainly deal with?

A.People are in danger of extinction.

B.Some people have realized the danger of extinction of some animals.

C.Endangered species include rare birds.

D.Eagles are disappearing.

2.What does the author mean by saying “The present situation indicates that they were too

successful” in the second paragraph?

A.They succeeded in encouraging interest in birds, but this interest began to endanger the

birds.

B.Their success was well justified.

C.The birds benefited much from their success in encouraging people’s interest in birds.

D.They were so successful in encouraging interest in birds that they were awarded by the

authorities.

3.What does the word “stereotype” in the second paragraph probably mean?

A. A type of people.

B. A group of bird watchers.

C.Fixed opinion about a group of people

D.The general public.

4.Which of the following best describes the author’s attitude toward people’s enthusiasm in

birds?

A.Indifferent.

B.Positive.

C.Negative.

D.Neutral.

5.The best title of this article should be ______.

A.Environmental Protection

B.The National Audubon Society

C.Extinction of Rare Birds

D.Enthusiasm Endangers Rare Birds

Passage Eleven

Directions: In this section, there is a passage with five questions. After you have read the passage, answer these questions in English and then put them on the Answer Sheet.

Both in America and Britain there is an eagerness on the part of TV executives to play down the importance of the small screen, except, of course, in the field of selling goods.

This desire to minimize the social impact of TV is perfectly natural. If it could be conclusively proved that the electronic box was a major factor in determining the attitudes and the values of a nation then two awkward questions would have to be answered.

Is it right that a medium that has such influence should be primarily concerned with the provision of entertainment and the advertising of goods?

And an even more embarrassing question people might ask is whether the men now running TV have the authority, the understanding or the intelligence to be in control of such a vital part of the state apparatus.

Because it is disrupting and disturbing life on almost every level in American and Britain, and because it is largely indulged in by what might be described as the first “telly generation”, violence is the activity that has been most frequently linked with the consequences of TV.

There are other even more important trends that might be stimulated or provoked by the program content of TV.

The demoralization of institutions like the army, the law, the church; the contempt for authority, a healthy skepticism and a welcome permissiveness; an over-simplification of complex issues which makes an electorate impatient with a political process that cannot solve them. How much is TV responsible? And that these trends are helping to change society at a n unprecedented rate can hardly be denied.

Because the impact of these changes is relatively long-term and not easily pinpointed, there is a vast depth of unconcern about these developments.

On violence, however, there is an intuitive suspicion that TV might have something to do with it. Yet the men running TV have gone to considerable lengths to assure us that we are unduly alarmed about nothing.

1. In order to avoid the repetitions of the word “television”, what other nouns does the author use? Please list at

least four.

2. Why are TV executives in America and Britain eager to play down the importance of TV?

3. Please use another word to take the place of “play down” in Para. 1.

4. Why do people believe that TV has something to do with increasing violence?

5. What is the author’s attitude toward the argument over TV’s influence?

Passage Twelve

Directions: After you have read the following passage, write out a summary in English with about 70 to 90 words. Put your summary on the Answer Sheet.

It might be supposed that greater efficiency should be achieved if several people collaborate to solve a problem than if only one individual works on it. The assumption is by no means invariably true.

Although groups often may increase the motivation of their members to deal with problems, there is a counter-balancing need to contend with conflicts arising among members of a group and to give it coherent directions. Problem solving is facilitated by the presence of an effective leader who not only provides direction, but permits the orderly, constructive expression of a variety of opinions, much of the leader’s effort may be devoted to resolving differences. Success in problem solving also depends on the distribution of ability within a group. Solutions simply may reach a greater number of correct solutions, or may require less time to discover an answer, their net man-hour efficiency is typically lower than that achieved by skilled individuals working alone.

A process called brainstorming has been offered as a method of facilitating the production of new solutions to problems. In brainstorming, a problem is presented to a group of people who then proceed to offer whatever they can think of quality and with as few inhibitions as possible. Theoretically these unrestricted suggestions increase the probability that at least some superior solutions will emerge. Nevertheless, studies show that when individuals work alone under similar conditions, performance tends to proceed more efficiently than it does in groups.

Under special circumstances, however, a group may solve problems more effectively than does a reasonably competent individual. Group members may contribute different resources to a solution that no individual can readily achieve alone; such pooling of information and skills can make group achievements superior in dealing with selected problems. Sometimes social demands may require group agreement on a single alternative, as in formulating national economic or military policies under democratic governments. When only one among several alternative solutions is correct, even if a group requires more time, it has a higher probability of identifying the right one than does an individual alone.