第四节 专项阅读练习
Passage 1
Few institutions are more important to an urban community than its police, yet there are few subjects historians know so little about. Most of the early academic interest developed among political scientists and sociologists, who usually examined their own contemporary problems with only a nod toward the past. Even the public seemed concerned only during crime waves, periods of blatant corruption, or after a particularly grisly episode. Party regulars and reformers generally viewed the institution from a political perspective; newspapers and magazine-the nineteenth century's media-emphasized the vivid and spectacular.
Yet urban society has always vested a wide, indeed awesome, responsibility in its police. Not only were they to maintain order, prevent crime, and protect life and property, but historically they were also to fight fires, suppress vice, assist in health services, supervise elections, direct traffic, inspect buildings, and locate truants and runaways. In addition, it was assumed that the police were the special guardians of the citizens' liberties and the community's tranquillity. Of course, the performance never matched expectations. The record contains some success, but mostly failure; some effective leadership, but largely official incompetence and betrayal. The notion of a professional police force in America is a creation of the twentieth century; not until our own time have cities begun to take the steps necessary to produce modern departments.
1. Which of the following states the author's opinion about public interest in the police?
［A］ It has never been very keen.
［B］ It has never been very consistent.
［C］ It grows with the growth of new media.
［D］ It is weakest when it is needed most.
2. The author associates society's widening demands upon police department with _____ .
［A］ city growth
［B］ centralized authority
［C］ proliferating regulations
［D］ police effectiveness
3. According to the author, people interested in politics have generally regarded the police department _____ .
［A］ from the point of view of the ordinary citizen
［B］ from a political point of view
［C］ as a political enemy
［D］ as a threat to municipal government
4. In the author's opinion, the police, in the execution of all their duties, have been _____ .
［A］ outstandingly successful
［B］ moderately successful
［C］ largely unsuccessful
［D］ entirely unsuccessful
Passage 2
The speaker, a teacher from a community college, addressed a sympathetic audience. Heads nodded in agreement when he said, "High school English teachers are not doing their jobs." He described the inadequacies of his students, all high school graduates who can use language only at a grade 9 level. I was unable to determine from his answers to my questions how this grade 9 level had been established.
My topic is not standards nor its decline. What the speaker was really saying is that he is no longer young he has been teaching for sixteen years, and is able to think and speak like a mature adult.
My point is that the frequent complaint of one generation about the one immediately following it is inevitable. It is also human nature to look for the reasons for our dissatisfaction. Before English became a school subject in the late nineteenth century, it was difficult to find the target of the blame for language deficiencies. But since then, English teachers have been under constant attack.
The complainers think they have hit upon an original idea. As their own command of the language improves, they notice that young people do not have this same ability. Unaware that their own ability has developed through the years, they assume the new generation of young people must be hopeless in this respect. To the eyes and ears of sensitive adults the language of the young always seems inadequate.
Since this concern about the decline and fall of the English language is not thought of as a generational phenomenon but rather as something new and peculiar to today's young people, it naturally follows that today's English teachers cannot be doing their jobs. Otherwise, young people would not be poor in the language.
1. The speaker the author mentioned in the passage believed that _____ .
［A］ the language of the younger generation is usually inferior to that of the older generation
［B］ the students had a poor command of English because they didn't work hard enough
［C］ he was an excellent language teacher because he had been teaching English for 16 years
［D］ English teachers should be held responsible for the students' poor command of English
2. In the author's opinion, the speaker _____ .
［A］ gave a correct judgment of the English level of the students
［B］ had exaggerated the language problems of the students
［C］ was right in saying that English teachers were not doing their jobs
［D］ could think and speak intelligently
3. The author's attitude towards the speaker's remarks is _____ .
［A］ neutral
［B］ critical
［C］ positive
［D］ compromising
4. It can be concluded from the passage that _____ .
［A］ it is justifiable to include English as a school subject
［B］ the author disagrees with the speaker over the standard of English at Grade 9 level
［C］ English language teaching is by no means an easy job
［D］ language improvement needs time and effort
Passage 3
The art of love requires knowledge and effort. However, the majority of people today believe that love is a pleasant sensation, which to experience is a matter of chance, something one "falls into" if one is lucky. Not that people think that love is not important. They are starved for it; they watch endless numbers of films about happy and unhappy love stories, they listen to hundreds of trashy songs about love-yet hardly anyone thinks that there is anything that needs to be learned about love.
This peculiar attitude is based on several assumptions which either singly or combined tend to uphold it. Most people see the problem of love primarily as that of being loved, rather than that of loving, of one's capacity to love. Hence the problem to them is how to be loved, how to be lovable. In pursuit of this aim they follow several paths. One which is especially used by men, is to be successful, to be as powerful and rich as the social margin of one's position permits. Another, used especially by women, is to make oneself attractive, by cultivating one's body, dress, etc. Other ways of making oneself attractive, used both by men and women, are to develop pleasant manners, interesting conversation, to be helpful, modest, inoffensive. Many of the ways to make oneself lovable are the same as those used to make oneself successful, "to win friends and influence people." As a matter of fact, what most people in our culture mean by being lovable is essentially a mixture between being popular and having sex appeal.
A second assumption behind the attitude that there is nothing to be learned about love is the supposition that the problem of love is the problem of an object, not the problem of a faculty, people think that to love is simple, but that to find the right object to love-or to be loved-is difficult. This attitude has several reasons rooted in the development of modern society. One reason is the great change which occurred in the twentieth century with respect to the choice of "love object."
1. Many people think that love is a matter of chance, not realizing that _____ .
［A］ love is important
［B］ love is an art
［C］ they have to learn the knowledge of love
［D］ they have to work very hard in order love
2. The problem of modern people's love is that _____ .
［A］ men and women are doing their best to be popular and sexy
［B］ men and women are trying to win friends
［C］ men and women don't know how to be attractive
［D］ men and women are not capable of loving
3. In the author's opinion, if a modern man fails in his marriage; he will very likely conclude that _____ .
［A］ he has married a wrong woman
［B］ he has done something wrong
［C］ he doesn't know how to love
［D］ he needs another woman
4. According to the author, the art of love requires people to _____ .
［A］ learn the art of marrying a good husband or wife
［B］ learn the art of loving the husband or the wife
［C］ learn the art of success in winning a lady's hand
［D］ learn the art of maintaining a family
Passage 4
NO one should be forced to wear a uniform under any circumstance. Uniforms are demanding to the human spirit and totally unnecessary in a democratic society uniforms tell the world that the person who wears one has no value as an individual but only lives to function as a part of a whole. The individual in a uniform loses all selfworth.
There are those who say that wearing a uniform gives a person a sense of identification with a larger, more important concept. What could be more important than the individual himself? If an organization is so weak that it must rely on cloth and buttons to inspire its members, that organization has no right to continue its existence. Others say that the practice of making persons wear uniforms, say in a school, eliminates all envy and competition in the matter of dress, such that a poor person who cannot afford good quality clothing need not be belittled by a wealthy person who wears expensive, quality clothing. Those persons conveniently ignore such critical concepts as freedom of choice, motivation, and individuality. If all persons were to wear the same clothing, why would anyone strive to be better? It is only a short step from forcing everyone to wear the same clothing to forcing everyone to drive the same car, have the same type of house, eat the same types of foods. When this happens, all incentive to improve one's life is removed. Why would parents bother to work hard so that their children could have a better life than they had when they know that their children are going to be forced to have exactly the same life that they had?
Uniforms also hurt the economy. Right now, billions of dollars are spent on the fashion industry yearly. Thousands of persons are employed in designing, creating, and marketing different types of clothing. If everyone were forced to wear uniforms, artistic personnel would be unnecessary. Sales persons would be superfluous as well; why bother to sell the only items that are available? The wearing of uniforms would destroy the fashion industry which in turn would have a ripple effect on such industries as advertising and promotion. Without advertising, newspapers, magazines, and television would not be able to remain in business. One entire information and entertainment industries would founder.
1. The author's tone in this passage is _____ .
［A］ impassioned
［B］ hysterical
［C］ humorous
［D］ sarcastic
2. The author's primary purpose in writing this passage was to _____ .
［A］ plead for the abolishment of uniforms
［B］ show that uniforms are not possible in a democratic society
［C］ advocate stronger governmental controls on the wearing of uniforms
［D］ convince the reader that uniforms have more disadvantages than advantages
3. With which of the following would the author most likely disagree?
［A］ Persons have the right to dress as they please and flaunt their wealth if they choose to do so
［B］ Individuality is a luxury that a large society can no longer afford
［C］ Organizations must have more intrinsic worth than wearing a uniform would suggest
［D］ Freedom of choice is a right that cannot be removed by a government
4. Why does the author discuss forcing everyone to buy the same car or eat the same food?
［A］ To show that freedom of choice is absolute
［B］ To show that the government has interfered too much in the lives of individuals
［C］ To hypothesize what would happen if uniforms became compulsory
［D］ To predict the way society will be in the next few generations
5. The next paragraph in this passage might discuss _____ .
［A］ the positive effects of wearing uniforms
［B］ more negative effects of wearing uniforms
［C］ an alternative to weaving uniforms
［D］ the legal rights of those not wishing to wear uniforms
Passage 5
Inside each of us is a mess of uncontrollable primitive impulses, and these can sometimes, under the strenuous selfdiscipline and dedication of art, result in notable creativity. But there is no such thing as a pure, crystalline and wellorganized "native" personality, though a number of fashionable humanpotential groups take unfair advantage of the mistaken assumption that there is. And supporting the humanpotential industry is the advertising profession, which also encourages the idea of an Inner Wonderfulness that will be unveiled to a suddenly respectful world upon the purchase of this of that commodity.
Today's young adults tend to complain "I don't know who I am." But this sentence has no meaning unless spoken by an amnesia (健忘症) victim, because many of the people who say they do not know who they are, actually do know. What such people really mean is that they are not satisfied with who they are. They feel themselves to be timid and colorless or to be in some way or other faultridden, but they have soaked up enough advertising and enough catchpenny (骗钱的) ideas of selfimprovement to believe in universal Inner Wonderfulness. So they turn their backs on the honest knowledge of themselves--which with patience and courage could start them on the road to genuine development-and begin a quest for a wisp called "identity."
However, a search for identity is doomed to fail. Identity is not found. The identity is built. It is built every day and every minute throughout the day. The various choices, small and large, that human beings make all the time determine identity. The fatal weakness of the currently fashionable approach to personality is that the "self" of the selfawareness addicts, the self of Inner Wonderfulness, is fixed. Being perfect, it does not need to change. But genuine identity changes as one matures. If it does not, if the 40yearold has an identity that was set in concrete at the age of 18, he or she is in trouble.
The current glorification of selflove will turn out in the end to be a nowin proposition, because in questions of personality or "identity," what counts is not who you are, but what you do. "By their fruits, yea should know them." And by their fruits, they shall know themselves.
1. In the author's opinion, the advertising profession is responsible for _____ .
［A］ our primitive impulses
［B］ our notable creativity
［C］ our wrong idea of Inner Wonderfulness
［D］ our wrong idea of making money
2. Young adults complain that they don't know who they are, because _____ .
［A］ they are not content with who they really are
［B］ they can improve themselves by working hard
［C］ they have forgot their names
［D］ they can find their identity
3. Which of the following is false?
［A］ Identity is built.
［B］ Identity is changing.
［C］ Identity is the choices we make everyday.
［D］ Identity can be found inside ourselves.
4. The main idea of this passage is _____ .
［A］ there is an Inner Wonderfulness inside everyone of us
［B］ we can find our identity if we are courageous enough
［C］ we need determination and patience to build our identity
［D］ we will surely fail to build our identity
Passage 6
Art is considered by many people to be little more than a decorative means of giving pleasure. This is not always the case, however; at times, art may be seen to have a purely functional side as well. Such could be said of the sandpaintings of the Navaho Indians of the American Southwest; these have a medicinal as well as an artistic purpose.
According to Navaho traditions, one who suffers from either a mental or a physical illness has in some way disturbed or come in contact with the supernatural-perhaps a certain animal, a ghost, or the dead. To counteract this evil contact, the ill person or one of his relatives will employ a medicine man called a "singer" or perform a healing ceremony which will attract a powerful supernatural being. During the ceremony, which may last from 2 to 9 days, the "singer" will produce a sandpainting on the floor of the Navaho hogan. On the last day of the ceremony, the patient will sit on this sandpainting and the "singer" will rub the ailing parts of the patient's body with sand from a specific figure in the sandpainting. In this way the patient absorbs the power of that particular supernatural being and becomes strong like it. After the ceremony, the sandpainting is then destroyed and disposed of, so its power will not harm anyone.
The art of sandpanting handed down from old "singers" to their students. The materials used are easily found in the areas the Navaho inhabit; brown, red, 0000ff, and white sandstone, which is pulverized by being crushed between 2 stones much as corn is ground into flour. The "singer" holds a small amount of this sand in his hand and lets it flow between his thumb and forefingers onto a clean, flat surface on the floor. With a steady hand and great patience, he is thus able to create designs of stylized people, snakes and other creatures that have power in the Navaho belief system. The traditional Navaho does not allow reproduction of sandpaintings, since he believes the supernatural powers that taught him the craft have forbidden this; however, such reproductions can in fact be purchased today in tourist shops in Arizona and New Mexico. These are done by either Navaho Indians or by other people who wish to preserve this craft.
1. A good title for this article might be _____ .
［A］ "Modern Art"
［B］ "The Navaho Indian"
［C］ "Sandpainting"
［D］ "Medicine"
2. The purpose of healing ceremony is _____ .
［A］ to please supernatural powers
［B］ to attract supernatural powers
［C］ to frighten supernatural powers
［D］ to create a sandpainting
3. What is used to produce a sandpainting?
［A］ Paint
［B］ Beach sand
［C］ Crushed sandstone
［D］ Flour
4. The author probably feels that most art today is _____ .
［A］ purely decorative
［B］ purely functional
［C］ both decorative and functional
［D］ useless
Passage 7
The traditional belief that a woman's place is in the home and that a woman ought not to go out to work can hardly be reasonably maintained in present conditions. It is said that it is a woman's task to care for the children, but families today tend to be small and with a year or two between children. Thus a woman's whole period of childbearing may occur within five years. Furthermore, with compulsory education from the age of five or six, her role as chief educator of her children soon ceases. Thus, even if we agree that a woman should stay at home to look after her children before they are of school age, for many women, this period would extend only for about ten years.
It might be argued that the houseproud woman would still find plenty to do about the home. That may be so, but it is certainly no longer necessary for a woman to spend her whole life cooking, cleaning, mending and sewing. Washing machines take the drudgery (单调乏味的工作) out of laundry, the latest models being entirely automatic and able to wash and dry a large quantity of clothes in a few minutes. Refrigerators have made it possible to store food for long periods and many precooked foods are obtainable in tins. Shopping, instead of being a daily task, can be completed in one day a week. The new manmade fibres are more harewearing than natural fibres and greatly reduce mending, while good readymade clothes are cheap and plentiful.
Apart from women's own happiness, the needs of the community must be considered. Modern society cannot do well without the contribution that women can make in the professions and other kinds of work. There is a serious shortage of nurses and teachers, to mention only two of the occupations followed by women. It is extremely wasteful to give years of training at public expense only to have the qualified teacher or nurse marry after a year or two and be lost forever to her profession. The training, it is true, will help her in her duties as a mother, but if she continued to work, her service would be more widely useful. Many factories and shops, too, are largely staffed by women, many of them married. While here the question of training is not so important, industry and trade world be seriously short of staff if married women did not work.
1. The author holds that _____ .
［A］ the right place for all women, married or otherwise, is the home, not elsewhere
［B］ all married women should have some occupation outside the home
［C］ a married woman should give first priority to her duties as a mother.
［D］ it is desirable for uneducated married women to stay at home and take care of the family
2. A houseproud woman _____ .
［A］ would devote her whole life to her family
［B］ would take her happiness and that of her family as her chief concern
［C］ would still need some special training at public expense to help the in her duties as a housewife
［D］ would take full advantage of modern household appliances
3. According to the author, modern society _____ .
［A］ can operate just as well even without women participation
［B］ had been greatly hampered in its development by the shortage of women nurses and women teachers
［C］ cannot operate properly without the contribution of women
［D］ will be seriously affected by the continuing shortage of working women in heavy industries and international trade
4. A good title for the passage is _____ .
［A］ Modern Age Has Changed Women's Place in the Society
［B］ Modern Technology Liberates Women
［C］ The Labour Division Helps Women
［D］ A Change of Women's Position
Passage 8
True, smoking is bad for the smoker's health, and when he finally suffers his heart attack, or gets lung cancer, sober taxpayers have to pray for his hospitalization. As a result, many nonsmokers favor prohibiting, smoking at least in public and semipublic places. This may seem logical, but it puts us, as a society, on a dangerous, slippery slope, raising the prospect that we will soon be preventing all kinds of other people from doing what they want because of hazards to their health and our pocketbooks.
After all, taxpayers are also compelled to help pay for the hospitalization of drinkers, overeaters and those too lazy to exercise. Should we then have legal regulation of eating, drinking and exercising? How much liberty-the liberty to enjoy one's own habits and even vices--are we willing to sacrifice? People smoke, or drink, or eat the wrong things, despite bad physical effects, because of the psychological satisfaction they obtain. In his 60s, Sigmund Freud underwent the first of more than 30 painful operations for oral cancer. He was told that it was caused by cigar smoking, but he continued nevertheless. In his 72nd year he wrote "I owe to the cigar a great intensification (强化) of my capacity to work and ... of my self control." By then, he had an artificial jaw and palate (腭). He smoked till he died, in his 80s.
Most nonsmoking taxpayers simply cannot understand this, and they scornfully label it "addiction (上瘾)." I prefer to call it a dependence, like reliance on a lover. Such a reliance may be enjoyable and productive, and it may have bad, even tragic, effects as well. But even when the bad effects become clear, one may want to continue because of the satisfactions: The habit once formed, is usually hard to shake. If one is deprived of the lover, or of the cigars, one suffers withdrawal symptoms, be they physical or psychological. Love is seldom called an addiction. Why should smoking be?
Far more people refrain from smoking now than in the past--which is fine. But annoyance will not increase their number. Nor will the prohibiting of cigarette advertising. People learn to smoke, or drink, from others, not from advertisements.
1. The author is against prohibiting smoking, because _____ .
［A］ the author is not a taxpayer
［B］ smoking is good for some people
［C］ smoking is a part of liberty people enjoy
［D］ smokers are better than overeaters
2. The story of Sigmund Freud proves that _____ .
［A］ smoking is helpful in cancer treatment
［B］ smoking satisfies smokers physically
［C］ smoking is important for one's success
［D］ smoking satisfies smokers psychologically
3. In the author's opinion, the reliance on smoking is _____ .
［A］ an addiction
［B］ a dependence
［C］ a symptom
［D］ a habit
4. "annoyance will not increase their number" means _____ .
［A］ anger helps much in decreasing the number of the smokers
［B］ the prohibition of cigarette advertisements will decrease the number of the smokers
［C］ anger helps little in decreasing the number of the smokers
［D］ anger helps people give up smoking
Passage 9
The term "formal learning" refers to all learning which takes place in the classroom regardless of whether such learning is informed by conservative or progressive ideologies. "Informal learning", on the other hand, is used to refer to learning which takes place outside the classroom.
These definitions provide the essential difference between the two modes of learning. Formal learning is separated from daily life and may actually promote ways of learning and thinking which often run counter to those obtained from practical daily life. A characteristic feature of formal learning is the centrality of activities which can prepare for the challenges of adult life outside the classroom, but it cannot, by its nature, consist of these challenges.
In doing this, language plays a critical role as the major channel for information exchange. The language of the classroom is more similar to the language used by middleclass families than that used by workingclass families. Middleclass children thus find it easier to acquire the language of the classroom than their workingclass classmates.
Informal learning, in contrast, occurs in the setting to which it relates, making learning immediately relevant. In this context, language does not occupy such an important role: the child's experience of learning is more direct, involving sight, touch, taste, and smell-senses that are underutilized in the classroom. Whereas formal learning is transmitted by teachers selected to perform this role, informal learning is acquired as a natural part of a child's socialization. Adults or older children who are proficient in the skill or activity provide-sometimes unintentionally-target models of behavior in the course of everyday activity. Informal learning, therefore, can take place at any time and place.
The motivation of the learner provides another critical difference between the two models of learning. The formal learner is generally motivated by some kind of external goal such as parental approval, social status, and potential financial reward. The informal learner, however, tends to be motivated by successful completion of the task itself and the partial acquisition of adult status.
Given that learning systems develop as a response to the social and economic contexts in which they are embedded, it is understandable that modern, highly urbanized societies have concentrated almost exclusively on the establishment of formal education systems. What these societies have failed to recognized are the ways in which formal learning inhibits the child's multisensory acquisition of practical skills. The failure to provide a child with a direct education may in part account for many of the social problems which trouble our societies.
1. Formal learning and informal learning are mainly distinguished by _____ .
［A］ the place where they take place
［B］ the kind of knowledge to be obtained
［C］ the people who learn
［D］ the language used in instruction
2. The language used in classroom instruction explains _____ .
［A］ how learning can take place efficiently
［B］ why it is not easy for children of workingclass families to get high scores
［C］ why informal learning is more important
［D］ why formal learning does not work with children of middleclass families
3. In informal learning, _____ .
［A］ children usually follow the examples of adults to shape their own behaviour
［B］ children's learning is more direct
［C］ children are highly motivated by the learning activity itself
［D］ all of the above
4. The author's attitude towards the present state of formal learning is one of _____ .
［A］ approval
［B］ criticism
［C］ suspicion
［D］ indifference
Passage 10
My objective is to analyze certain forms of knowledge, not in terms of repression or law, but in terms of power. But the word power is apt to lead to misunderstandings about the nature, form, and unity of power. By power, I do not mean a group of institutions and mechanisms that ensure the subservience of the citizenry. I do not mean, either, a mode of subjugation that, in contrast to violence, has the form of the rule. Finally, I do not have in mind a general system of domination exerted by one group over another, a system whose effects, through successive derivations, pervade the entire social body. The sovereignty of the state, the form of law or the overall unity of a domination are only the terminal forms power takes.
It seems to me that power must be understood as the multiplicity of force relations that are immanent in the social sphere; as the process that, through ceaseless struggle and confrontation, transforms, strengthens, or reverses them; as the support that these force relations find in one another, or on the contrary, the disjunction and contradictions that isolate them from one another; and lastly, as the strategies in which they take effect, whose general design or institutional crystallization is embodied in the state apparatus, in the formulation of the law, in the various social hegemonies.
Thus, the viewpoint that permits one to understand the exercise of power, even in its more "peripheral" effects, and that also makes it possible to use its mechanisms as a structural framework for analyzing the social order, must not be sought in a unique source of sovereignty from which secondary and descendent forms of power emanate but in the moving substrate of force relations that, by virtue of their inequality, constantly engender local and unstable states of power. If power seems omnipresent, it is not because it has the privilege of consolidating everything under its invincible unity, but because it is produced from one moment to the next, at every point, or rather in every relation from one point to another. Power is everywhere, not because it embraces everything, but because it comes from everywhere. And if power at times seems to be permanent, repetitious, inert, and selfreproducing, it is simply because the overall effect that emerges from all these mobilities is a concatenation that rests on each of them and seeks in torn to arrest their movement. One needs to be nominalistic, no doubt: power is not an institution, and not a structure; neither is it a certain strength we are endowed with; it is the name that one attributes to a complex strategic situation in a particular society.
1. The author's primary purpose in defining power is to _____ .
［A］ counteract selfserving and confusing uses of the term
［B］ establish a compromise among those who have defined the term in different ways
［C］ increase comprehension of the term by providing concrete examples
［D］ avoid possible misinterpretations resulting from the more common uses of the term
2. Which of the following best describes the relationship between law and power?
［A］ Law is the protector of power
［B］ Law is the source of power
［C］ Law sets buns to power
［D］ Law is a product of power
3. The author would be most likely to agree with statements that _____ .
［A］ power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely
［B］ it is from the people and their deeds that power springs.
［C］ the highest proof of virtue is to possess boundless power without abusing it.
［D］ to love knowledge is to love power.
4. The author's attitude toward the various kinds of compulsion employed by social institutions is best described as _____ .
［A］ concerned and sympathetic
［B］ scientific and detached
［C］ suspicious and cautious
［D］ reproachful and disturbed