最新现代大学英语精读6课后习题答案

Unit1

1. Virtue is ... self-centered.

By right action, we mean it must help promote personal interest.

2.... (Poverty) was a product of their excessive fecundity...

The poverty of the poor was caused by their having too many children.

3. ...the rich were not responsible for either its creation or its amelioration.

The rich were not to blame for the existence of poverty so they should not be asked to undertake the task of solving the problem.

4. It is merely the working out of a law of nature and a law of God.

It is only the result or effect of the law of the survival of the fittest applied to nature of to human society.

5. It declined in popularity, and references to its acquired a condemnatory tone.

People began to reject Social Darwinism because it seemed to glorify brutal force and oppose treasured values of sympathy, love and friendship. Therefore, when it was mentioned, it was usually the target of criticism.

6. ...the search for a way of getting the poor off our conscience was not at an end; it was only suspended.

The desire to find a way to justify the unconcern for the poor had not been abandoned; it had only been put off.

7. ...only rarely given to overpaying for monkey wrenches, flashlights, coffee makers, and toilet seats.

Government officials, on the whole, are good; it is very rare that some would pay high prices for office equipment to get kickbacks.

8. This is perhaps our most highly influential piece of fiction.

It is a very popular story and has been accepted by many but it is not true.

9. Belief can be the servant of truth---but even more of convenience.

Belief can be useful in the search for truth, but more often than not it is accepted because it is convenient and self-serving.

10. George Gilder... Who tells to much applause that the poor must have the cruel spur of their own suffering to ensure effort...

George Gilder advances the view that only when the poor suffer from great misery will they be stimulated to make great efforts to change the situation, in other words, suffering is necessary to force the poor to work hard.

11. But these marks of wild country called to may father like the legendary siren song.

Though the place was not pleasant or disagreeable, my father was deeply attracted to it precisely because of its unexplored, uncultivated natural state, and the challenge.

12. "I'm afraid the day's going to catch us," I explained, wondering what great disaster might befall us if it did.

As a little girl, I believed my father's words, and was genuinely afraid of the possible disaster--if we didn't hurry up, the day would catch us and terrible things might happen.

13. ...from time to time he was halfheartedly sought for trial, though few crimes seemed to lead directly to his door.

In this place, though the police wound make some effort without real earnest to investigate Watson and bring him to court, there seemed to be little concrete evidence to prove that he was

responsible for certain illegal activities.

14. The stranglehold Watson had over this section of Florida was not dissimilar to the unscrupulous activities of certain lawmen, other legal crooks, and even governors that our state was to suffer through its history.

The control Watson had over this part of Florida was much similar to the dishonest or illegal activities of the law-enforcing officials and governors which Florida witnessed in the 20th century.

15. There was the little shack, not the most gracious of living quarters, and there was a murderer for our nearest and only neighbor, about thirty miles away.

Before the family built their own house, they lived in a shabby cabin at Gopher Key, close to the merciless Watson.

16. King Richard in his gluttony never sat at a table more sumptuous than ours was three times a day...

We had abundant food on the island, and even the meals enjoyed by King Richard, who was famous for his love of food, couldn’t possibly compare with ours.

17. Despite the unrelenting heat, we were happy to be let off from our hours of school indoors, sessions which our mother kept every day, rain or shine.

Although it was very hot outside in the sun, we were happy to be dismissed from my mother's sessions indoors. we would have to read and write with her every day no matter what the weather was like.

Unit3

18. But this image, now repeatedly thrust before us in photographs, posters, and advertisements, is misleading.

The Earth we see in photos, posters, and ads, which appears so beautiful, is not the true reflection of the world we live in, such image lulls us into complacency.

19. The technosphere has become sufficiently large and intense to alter the natural processes that govern the ecosphere.

Human activities have taken place over such large areas and with such intensity that they have already caused disastrous effects on ecology.

20. ...which could establish itself only because it fitted properly into the preexisting system.

the fish could play its role because it became a necessary link with the processes preceding it and the processes following it in the ecological system.

21. Defined so narrowly, it is no surprise that cars have properties that are hostile to their environment.

When cars are produced to serve such narrow purposes, it is not surprising that some of their characteristic qualities are harmful to the environment.

22. Yields rose, but not in proportion to the rate of fertilizer application...

the farmer applied more and more fertilizer, and the production did rise but did not increase at the same rate of the fertilizer.

23...their waste is flushed into the sewer system altered in composition but not in amount at treatment plant...

People eat plants and animals, and their waste is flushed into the sewer system. After being processed, the waste is still waste. the residue will go into rivers, oceans, and will have harmful effect on the aquatic ecosystem.

24. Left to their own devices, ecosystems are conservative...

If the ecosystems are not upset by outside intrusion, they will remain the same with very little change

25.In contrast to the ecosphere, the technosphere is composed of objects and materials that reflect

a rapid and relentless process of change and variation.

The characteristics of the objects and materials in the technosphere are rapid change and great variety.

26.But this is done only at the cost of understanding.

if we take side in the war of the two words, we are doing so at the risk of failing to have a clear understanding of the nature and cause of the war, thus, we lose the chance to really solve the grave environmental crisis.

Unit 4 Nettles

1. How all my own territory would be altered, ad if a landslide had gone through it and skimmed off all meaning except loss of Mike.

The impact of Mike's leaving on my life was beyond my imagination. I didn't expect that Mike's leaving would have such a tremendous power that it would change the meaning of my existence completely. All my thoughts were about loss of Mike.

2. During that time of life that is supposed to be a reproductive daze, with the woman's mind all swamped by maternal juices, we were still compelled to discuss Simone de Beauvoir and Arthur Koestler and "The Cocktail Party".

At that time, we were young mothers, and we were supposed to lead a terribly busy life full of confusion and bewilderment caused by giving birth to and raising babies. and our minds were supposed to be fully occupied by how to feed the babies and things like that. However, in the midst of all this we still felt the need to discuss some of the important thinkers of our time like Simone de Beauvoir and Arthur Koestler and T. S. Eliot's sophisticated work "The Cocktail Party".

3. ...I would be frightened, not of any hostility but of a kind of nonexistence.

I would be frightened, and my fear was not caused by my neighbor's visibly hostile and violent way of life, but by a kind of formless and hidden emptiness and meaninglessness of human existence. What happened around me was totally irrelevant to me, and I felt very isolated and alienated.

4. She did not ask me---was it delicacy or disapproval? ---about my new life.

She did not ask me about my new life, either out of subtle consideration for my feeling about this sensitive subject or out of disapproval for my new life style.

5. It would be a sleazy thing to do, in the house of his friends.

It would be a morally low thing, an indecent thing to commit infidelity in the house of a friend.

6. I knew now that he was a person who had hit rock bottom.

I knew that he was a person who had experienced the worst in life, the hardest experience a person might have to endure.

7. He and wife knew that together and it bound them, as something like that would either break you apart or bind you, for life.

They experienced the worst together and they knew what it was like and understood the meaning of that experience. Such an experience posed the gravest test to people. If they stood the test, their friendship or marriage would be strengthened, and a sacred bondage would be formed between them. But if they failed the test, their relationship would be broken and they would be driven

apart.

8. Not risking a thing yet staying alive as a sweet trickle, an underground resource. With the weight of this now stillness on it, this seal.

If they acted on love, they would take risks. they wouldn't do that or go further in their relationship, but they would rather let their love remain as a sweet trickle, which would flow on gently and permanently, and as an underground resource, which would never be fully tapped but would never go dry.

1....the national rejection of dogmatic preconceptions about the nature of the social and economic order

1. There are such prejudices in an arrogant manner about the characteristic of the social order and economic order and they take it for granted. The country just rejected such prejudice.

2 Nor can one suggest that Americans have been consistently vulnerability to secular ideology ever after

2. No one can say that Americans have never been tempted by the approach of understanding, preserving or transforming the world according to rigid dogmas.

3. .and any intellect so shaped was ...ever after

A mind influenced by Calvinist theology would surely find it somewhat difficult to resist other ideological temptations to ideological thinking.

4. Pragmatism is no more wholly devoid...experience

Pragmatism is not completely free from abstract ideas just as ideology is not completely free from experience, that is to say, abstract ideas have a place in pragmatism just as experience has a role in ideology.

5. As an ideologist, however, Jefferson....historical curiosity

As a man following a fixed set of beliefs, Jefferson is only an interesting historical figure. His beliefs are out of date and are irrelevant to present-day reality.

6. ...whose central dogma is confided to the custody of an infallible priesthood

Their central beliefs are imprisoned by the whole body of priests who are always effective.

7. ...where free men may find partial truths, but where ...on Absolute Truth

In this universe a person whose mind is unconstrained may be able to discover relation truths but no man on earth can claim that he has already grasped the one and only truth.

8. But ideology is a drug; no matter how ...it still persists.

Ideology has the characteristic of a narcotic. In spite of the fact that it has been proved wrong many times by experience, people still long to commit themselves to ideology.

9. ...the only certainty in an absolute system is the certainty of absolute abuse.

The only thing that is sure of a despotic system is the unrestricted exercise of power.

10. The distinctive human triumph...lies in the capacity to understand the frailty of human striving ...nonetheless

The most outstanding achievement of humanity is they know that no matter how hard they try, they cannot achieve Absolute truth, yet they continue to make great efforts and refuse to give up Unit7

1. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human life.

As a result of technological development, human belongs now have the power to put an end to poverty and human, misery, but at the same time they also possess the power to destroy the whole

world, rendering it uninhabitable and lifeless.

2. ...unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights...

We do not want to see or to allow the slow destruction of those human rights.

3. To those peoples in the huts and villages of half.....of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves...

To the people of the underdeveloped countries living in poverty in rural areas, we are committed to helping them to rid themselves of mass poverty by their own efforts.

4. But this peaceful revolution of hope cannot become the prey of hostile powers.

But we should not let any communist power take advantage of this alliance for progress to expand its influence.

5. And let every other power know that this....of its own house.

We want to make clear to the communist powers that Americas are the Americas of the Americans. Do not attempt to penetrate into this area.

6. ...before the dark powers of destruction..... or accidental self-destruction.

Before the world is destroyed by a nuclear war launched in a preemptive attack or caused by accident.

7. ...yet both racing to alter the uncertain...of mankind's final war.

Yet both sides attempt to get an edge in the nuclear arms race so as to break the mutual deterrence which has so far prevented the outbreak of a nuclear war.

8. ...civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof.

To be ready to negotiate and establish friendly relations does not mean that we are weak or afraid. Declarations of sincere intention have to be tested by actions.

9. Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors.

Let the two sides use the fruits of science for the benefit of humanity rather than using high-tech weapons to kill and destroy.

10. ...each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty.

1. There have been occasions for each generations of Americans to be called upon to fight and die for their country.