Passage One
Passage One
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.
What do Charles Darwin, Nicholas Copernicus and Frank J. Sulloway have in common?
The first two, of course, were revolutionary scientific thinkers: Copernicus established that the Earth revolves around the sun; Darwin discovered natural selection. And Sulloway? He’s a historian of science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has discovered something else these two men-and, indeed, most of the major pioneers in science over the last 400 years-have in common: they were, like Sulloway himself, preceded in birth by at least one other brother or sister. Birth order, he found, is the most reliable indicator of whether a scientist will embrace or attack radical new ideas.
The third of four children, Sulloway has spent 20 years searching out the birth order of 2,784 scientists who were on one side or the other of 28 scientific revolutions since the 16th century. He discovered that 23 of the 28 revolutions were led by later-borns.
Sulloway focused on the male-dominated world of science and the sole issue he measured was willingness to challenge established opinions. Those least likely to accept new theories were firstborns with younger brothers or sisters. The most radical were younger sons with at least one older brother.
According to Sulloway’s theory, firstborn children identify more readily with parental authority because, among other things, they are often put in charge of younger brothers or sisters.
Through this identification, firstborns absorb the norms (规范,准则) and values of society in ways that subsequent children do not. The older child gets responsibility. They younger one tests the limits, tries to see what he can get away with.
21. What is the main idea of the passage?
A) Later-borns are more intelligent than firstborns.
B) Revolutionary thinkers tend to recognize the influence of birth order.
C) Major scientists always have something in common in their way of thinking.
D) One’s behaviour is often determined by birth order.
22. The historian of science mentioned in the passage is of the family.
A) the youngest child
B) neither the eldest nor the youngest child
C) the only child
D) the eldest child
23. The 2,784 scientists Sulloway studied ________.
A) had led 23 of the 28 scientific revolutions
B) were preceded in birth by at least one brother or sister
C) had either supported or opposed revolutionary ideas
D) had dominated the world of science for 400 years
24. According to Sulloway’s theory, who is most likely to challenge established ideas of science?
A) The only son with younger sisters.
B) Those who identify more readily with parental authority.
C) The only child of a family.
D) A person with at least one older brother or sister.
25. The author’s attitude towards Sulloway’s birth order theory is ________.
A) critical
B) defensive
C) neutral
D) inconsistent
Passage Two
Passage Two
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.
The individual mobility, convenience, and status given by the private passenger car offer a seemingly unbeatable attraction. In 1987, a record 126,000 cars rolled off assembly lines each working day, and close to 400 million vehicles choke up the world’s streets today.
But the car’s usefulness to the individual stands in sharp contrast to the costs and burdens that society must shoulder to provide an automobile-centered transportation system. Since the clays of Henry Ford, societies have made a steady stream of laws to protect drivers from each other and themselves, as well as to protect the general public from the unintended effects of massive automobile use. Law makers have struggled over the competing goals of unlimited mobility and the individual’s fight to be free of the noise, pollution, and physical dangers that the automobile often brings.
Prior to the seventies, the auto’s usefulness and assured role in society were hardly questioned. Even worries about uprising gas prices and future fuel availability subsided (减退) in the eighties almost as quickly as they had emerged. Car sales recovered, driving is up, and wealthy customers are once more shopping for high performance cars.
The motor vehicle industry’s apparent success in dealing with the challenges of the seventies has obscured the harmful long-term trends of automobile centered transportation. Rising gasoline consumption will before long put increased pressure on oil production capacities. In addition, as more and more people can afford their own cars and as mass motorization takes hold, traffic jam becomes a tough problem. And motor vehicles are important contributors to urban air pollution, acid rain, and global warming.
Society’s interest in fuel supply security, the integrity of its cities, and protection of the environment calls for a fundamental rethinking of the automobile’s role. Stricter fuel economy and pollution standards are the most obvious and immediate measures that can be adopted. But they can only be part of the answer. In the years ahead, the challenge will be to develop innovative (革新的) transportation policies.
26. Which of the following is TRUE according to the first paragraph?
A) A good car indicates its owner’s high social position.
B) A good car allows its owner to travel free.
C) A car provides its owner with a sense of safety.
D) A car adds to its owner’s attractiveness.
27. The phrase “rolled off assembly lines” (Para. 1, Lines 2-3) means ________.
A) “were turned out from factories”
B) “moved along production lines”
C) “moved along the streets”
D) “were lined up in the streets”
28. The passage states that there is ________.
A) a sharp contrast between the cost and usefulness of the cars
B) a sharp contrast between the cost and performance of the cars
C) a sharp conflict between car drivers and traffic rules
D) a sharp contradiction between the convenience of car owners and the burdens of society
29. It is implied that the auto’s assured role in society is ________.
A) threatened by the rising gas prices
B) challenged by a series of fundamental problems
C) protected by law
D) firmly established
30. Stricter fuel economy and pollution standards are ________.
A) only part of the solution to massive automobile use
B) the best way to cope with the massive use of cars
C) innovative transportation policies
D) future policies of the automobile industry
Passage Three
Passage Three
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.
While America’s grade-school and high-school system is coming under attack, one fact remains: U.S. universities are among the best in the world. Since World War II, American scientists-mostly working in universities or colleges-have won more than half of all Nobel Prizes in physics and medicine. Foreign students rush to the United States by the tens of thousands; last year they earned more than one quarter of the doctoral degrees awarded in the country. Yet while American universities produce great research and great graduate programme, they some-times pay little attention to the task that lies at their very core: the teaching of undergraduate students.
In an era of $20,000 academic years, college presidents can no longer afford to ignore the creeping rot at their core. In speeches and interviews the nation’s higher educators have rediscovered teaching. Robert Rosenzweig, president of the Association of American Universities, said: “Our organization was never very concerned about teaching. In the last 18 months, we have spent more time on undergraduate education than on any other subject.”
Despite such promising efforts, no one doubts that research still outranks teaching at the leading universities, not least because it is a surer and faster way to earn status. Some people don’t think it has to be that way. They argue that the reward system for college faculty can be changed, so that professors will be encouraged to devote more time and effort to teaching. They say that they are beginning to believe that the 1990s may come to be remembered as the decade of the undergraduate.
That would bring ‘it full circle. For more than two centuries after the founding of Harvard College in 1636, the instruction of undergraduate students was an essential condition of American higher education.
31. Which of the following would be the best TITLE for this passage?
A) University Education in the U.S.
B) University Education Challenged
C) Teaching and Research in Universities
D) Undergraduate Teaching Rediscovered
32. The first sentence in the second paragraph means that ________.
A) with a budget of $ 20,000, presidents find it difficult to keep their universities going
B) with the increase in fees, educators feel obliged to improve undergraduate teaching
C) with a $ 20,000 budget, presidents find it difficult to stop the creeping rot in their universities
D) with the decrease in fees, educators can’t afford to lay equal stress on both research and teaching
33. According to paragraph 3, some people think that the reward system for teachers should be changed so that ________.
A) more emphasis will be laid on teaching
B) leading universities can further raise their status
C) effort can be directed to graduate instruction
D) the 1990’s will become a decade of the-undergraduate
34. According to the passage, at the leading American universities ________.
A) research is declining in importance
B) teaching is now ranked above research
C) teaching is a sure way to gain position
D) more importance is attached to research than to teaching
35. It is implied in the passage that about 150 years ago undergraduate instruction ________.
A) was already threatened by research work
B) began to be neglected in most universities
C) constituted the fundamental part of higher education
D) began to undergo rapid changes
Passage Four
Passage Four
Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.
In the final years before the beginning of the Civil War, the view that the Negro was different, even inferior, was widely held in the United States. At Peoria, Illinois, in October 1854, Abraham Lincoln asked what stand the opponents of slavery should take regarding Negroes.
“Free them, and make them politically and socially our equals? My own feelings will not admit of this; and if mine would, we well know that those of the great mass, of white people will not.
Whether this feeling accords with justice and sound judgement, is not the sole question, if indeed, it is any part of it. A universal feeling, whether well or ill founded, cannot be safely disregarded.
We cannot, then, make them equals.”
The Lincoln statement was clear and direct, and it doubtless represented the views of most Americans in the 1850’s. Most of those who heard him or read his speech were of the same opinion as he. In later years, the Peoria speech would be used by those who taught to damage Lincoln’s reputation as a champion of the rights of the Negro. In 1964, the White Citizens’ Councils reprinted portions of the speech in large advertisements in the daily press and insisted that Lincoln shared their views on the desirability of maintaining two distinct worlds of race.
Lincoln could not have overcome the nation’s strong inclination toward racial separation if he had tried. And he did not try very hard. When he set about forming Negro troops later, he was content not only to set Negroes apart in a unit called “U.S. Colored Troops, “but also to have Negro privates (列兵) receive $10 per month including clothing, while whites of the same rank received $13 per month plus clothing. Only the firm refusal of many Negro troops to accept unequal pay finally forced Congress to equalize compensation, for white and Negro soldiers.
The fight for union that became also a fight for freedom never became a fight for equality or for the creation of one racial world.
36. In 1854, Abraham Lincoln believed that ________.
A) it was practical to give equal rights to Negroes
B) Negroes should have equal rights
C) racial equality for Negroes was impossible
D) most white people would oppose giving freedom to Negroes
37. In the 1850’s, the nation’s inclination toward racial separation was ________.
A) disregarded by Congress
B) challenged by Lincoln
C) too strong to overcome
D) based on round judgement
38. In 1964, the White Citizens’ Councils reprinted the Peoria speech in order to ________.
A) damage Lincoln’s reputation
B) defend their own viewpoints
C) criticize Lincoln’s views on racial equality
D) defend Lincoln’s reputation
39. From the passage, we can conclude that Lincoln ________.
A) helped Negroes fight for freedom only
B) gave Negroes equal pay
C) treated white and Negro soldiers equally
D) helped to create one racial world
40. The purpose of the Civil War was ________.
A) to establish equality of all people
B) to maintain the union of the country
C) to do away with racial separation
D) to end racial in justice