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发表于 2016-7-28 13:56:23
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II. Reading Comprehension (40%)
Directions: This part consists of two sections. In Section A, there are two passages followed by a total of 10 multiple-choice questions. In Section B, there are two passages followed by a total of 10 short-answer questions. Read the passages and then mark or write down your answers on the Answer Sheet.
Section A Multiple-Choice Questions (20%)
Passage 1
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage:
“I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at work, at its most intense.”—Virginia Wolf’s provocative statement about her intentions in writing.
Mrs. Dalloway has regularly been ignored by the critics, since it highlights an aspect of her literary interests very different from the traditional picture of the poetic novelist concerned with examining states of reverie and vision and with following the intricate pathways of individual consciousness. But Virginia Wolf was a realistic as well as a poetic novelist, a satirist and social critic as well as visionary. Literary critic’s cavalier dismissal of Woolf’s social vision will not withstand scrutiny.
In her novels, Woolf is deeply engaged by the questions of how individuals are shaped (or deformed) by their social environments, how historical forces impinge on people’s lives, how class, wealth, and gender help to determine people’s fates. Most of her novels are rooted in a realistically rendered social setting and in a precise historical time.
Woolf’s focus on society has not been generally recognized because of her intense antipathy to propaganda in art. The pictures of reformers in her novels are usually satirical or sharply critical. Even when Woolf is fundamentally sympathetic to their causes, she portrays people anxious to reform their society and possessed of a message or program as arrogant or dishonest, unaware of how their political ideas serve their own psychological needs. (Her Writer’s Diary notes: “the only honest people are the artists,” whereas “these social reformers and philanthropists…harbor…discreditable desires under the disguise of loving their kinds…”) Woolf detested what she called preaching in fiction, too, and criticized novelist D. H. Lawrence (among others) for working by this method. Woolf’s own social criticism is expressed in the language of observation rather than in direct commentary, since for her, fiction is a contemplative, not an active art. She describes phenomena and provides materials for a judgement about society and social issues; it is the reader’s work to put the observations together and understand the coherent point of view behind them. As a moralist, Woolf works by indirection, subtly undermining officially accepted norms, mocking, suggesting, calling into question, rather than asserting, advocating, bearing witness: hers is the satirist’s art. Woolf’s literary models were acute social observers like Chekhov and Chaucer. As she put it in the Common Reader, “It is safe to say that not a single law has been framed or one stone set upon another because of anything Chaucer said or wrote; and yet, as we read him, we are absorbing morality at every pore.” Like Chaucer, Woolf chose to understand as well as to judge, to know her society root and branch—a decision crucial in order to produce art rather than polemic.
31. It can be inferred from the passage that Woolf chose Chaucer as a literary model because she believed that
A. Chaucer was the first English author to focus on society as a whole as well as on individual characters.
B. Chaucer was an honest and frank author, whereas novelists like D. H. Lawrence did not sincerely wish to change society.
C. Chaucer was more concerned with understanding his society than with questioning its accepted norms.
D. Chaucer’s writing was greatly, if subtly, effective in influencing the moral attitudes of his readers.
32. Why hasn’t Woolf’s focus on society received a general recognition?
A. Because she sharply criticizes the reformers in her novels.
B. Because she strongly dislikes propaganda in art.
C. Because she fundamentally sympathizes with the causes of reformers.
D. Because her own social criticism is expressed directly in commentary.
33. It can be inferred from the passage that the most probable reason Woolf realistically describe the social background in the majority of her novels was that she
A. was aware that contemporary literary critics considered the novel to be the most realistic literary style.
B. was interested in the effect of a person’s social environment on his or her character and actions.
C. wished to prevent critics from charging her novels of being written in an ambiguous and inexact style.
D. needed to be as attentive to detail as possible in her novels in order to support the arguments she advanced in them.
34. The author implies that a major element of the satirist’s art is the satirist’s
A. refusal to indulge in argument when presenting social norms to readers for their examination.
B. insistence on the helplessness of individuals against the social forces that seek to determine an individual’s fate.
C. fundamental assumption that some ambiguity must remain in a work of art in order to reflect society and social modes accurately.
D. cynical belief that idealist writers can either enlighten or improve their societies.
35. The most appropriate title for the passage is
A. Trends in Contemporary Reform Movement as a Key to Understanding Virginia Woolf’s Novels.
B. Virginia Woolf’s Novels: Critical Reflections on the Individual and on Society.
C. Virginia Woolf: Critic and Commentator on the Twentieth-Century Novel.
D. Poetry and Satire as Influence on the Novels of Virginia Woolf
Passage 2
Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage:
Do you remember all those years when scientists argued that smoking would kill us but the doubters insisted that we did not know for sure? That the evidence was inconclusive, the science uncertain? That the antismoking lobby was out to destroy our way of life and the government should stay out of the way? Lots of Americans bought that nonsense, and over three decades, some 10 million smokers went to early graves.
There are upsetting parallels today, as scientists in one wave after another try to awaken us to the growing threat of global warming. The latest was a panel from the National Academy of Sciences, enlisted by the White House, to tell us that the Earth’s atmosphere is definitely warming and that the problem is largely man-made. The clear message is that we should get moving to protect ourselves. The president of the National Academy, Bruce Alberts, added this key point in the preface to the panel’s report: “Science never has all the answers. But science does provide us with the best available guide to the future, and it is critical that our nation and the world base important policies on the best judgments that science can provide concerning the future consequences of present actions.”
Just as on smoking, voices now come from many quarters of the world insisting that the science about global warming is incomplete, that it is OK to keep pouring fumes into the air until we know for sure. This is a dangerous game: by the time 100 percent of the evidence is in, it may be too late. With the risks obvious and growing, a prudent people would take out an insurance policy now.
Fortunately, the White House is starting to pay attention. But it’s obvious that a majority of the president’s advisers still don’t take global warming seriously. Instead of a plan of action, they continue to press for more research—a classic case of paralysis by analysis.
To serve as responsible stewards of the planet, we must press forward on deeper atmospheric and oceanic research. But research alone is inadequate. If the Administration won’t take the legislative initiative, Congress should help to begin fashioning conservation measures. A bill by Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, which would offer financial incentives for private industry, is a promising start. Many see that the country is getting ready to build lots of new power plants to meet our energy needs. If we are ever going to protect the atmosphere, it is crucial that those new plants are environmentally sound.
36. An argument made by supporters of smoking was that ______.
A. there was no scientific evidence of the correlation between smoking and death
B. the number of early deaths of smokers in the past decades was insignificant
C. people had the freedom to choose their own way of life
D. antismoking people were usually talking nonsense
37. According to Bruce Alberts, science can serve as __________.
A. a protector
B. a judge
C. a critic
D. a guide
38. What does the author mean by “paralysis by analysis” (last line, para.4)?
A. Endless studies kill action.
B. Careful investigation reveals truth.
C. Prudent planning hinders progress.
D. Extensive research helps decision making.
39. According to the author, what should the Administration do about global warming?
A. Offer aid to build cleaner power plants.
B. Raise public awareness of conservation.
C. Press for further scientific research.
D. Take some legislative actions.
40. The author associates the issue of global warming with that of smoking because__.
A. they both suffered from the government’s negligence
B. a lesson from the latter is applicable to the former
C. the outcome of the latter aggravates the former
D. both of them have turned from bad to worse
Section B Short-Answer Questions (20%)
Passage 3
Questions 41 to 45 are based on the following passage:
People living on parts of the south coast of England face a serious problem. In 1993, the owners of a large hotel and of several houses discovered, to their horror, that their gardens had disappeared overnight. The sea had eaten into the soft limestone cliffs on which they had been built. While experts were studying the problem, the hotel and several houses disappeared altogether, sliding down the cliff and into the sea.
Erosion of the white cliffs along the south coast of England has always been a problem but it has become more serious in recent years. Dozens of homes have had to be abandoned as the sea has crept farther and farther inland. Experts have studied the areas most affected and have drawn up a map for local people, forecasting the year in which their homes will be swallowed up by the hungry sea.
Angry owners have called on the government to erect sea defenses to protect their homes. Government surveyors have pointed out that in most cases, this is impossible. New sea walls would cost hundreds of millions of pounds and would merely make the waves and currents go farther along the coast, shifting the problems from one area to another. The danger is likely to continue, they say, until the waves reach an inland area of hard rock which will not be eaten as limestone is. Meanwhile, if you want to buy a cheap house with an uncertain future, apply to a house agent in one of the threatened areas on the south coast of England. You can get a house for a knockdown price but it may turn out to be a knockdown home.
41. What is the cause of the problem that people living on parts of the south coast of England face?
42. Why can’t the erosion be stopped?
43. Why is it not feasible to build sea defenses to protect against erosion?
44. What implications does the experts’ study on the problem of erosion have?
45. What consequences do you have to take if you want to buy a cheap house in this area? |
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