gre阅读练习每日一篇(十六)

　　掌握了gre阅读里的长难句，到了实战演习的时候了。gre阅读练习每日一篇帮助gre考生循序渐进地进行练习和总结。希望gre考生在进行gre阅读练习时，也按着考试时候的时间规定自己的练习，这样才能有效果。

　　I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at work, at its most intense. Virginia Woolfs 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 Woolf was a realistic as well as a poetic novelist, a satirist and social critic as well as a visionary: literary critics cavalier dismissal of Woolfs social vision will not withstand scrutiny.

　　In her novels, Woolf is deeply engaged by the questions of how individuals are shaped by their social environments, how historical forces impinge on peoples lives, how class, wealth, and gender help to determine peoples fates. Most of her novels are rooted in a realistically rendered social setting and in a precise historical time.

　　Woolfs 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 satiric 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. Woolf detested what she called preaching in fiction, too, and criticized novelist D. H. Lawrence for working by this method.

　　Woolfs 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 judgment about society and social issues; it is the readers 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 mores, mocking, suggesting, calling into question, rather than asserting, advocating, bearing witness: hers is the satirists art.

　　Woolfs 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 brancha decision crucial in order to produce art rather than polemic.

　　17. Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the passage?

　　 Poetry and Satire as Influences on the Novels of Virginia Woolf

　　 Virginia Woolf: Critic and Commentator on the Twentieth-Century Novel

　　 Trends in Contemporary Reform Movements as a Key to Understanding Virginia Woolfs Novels

　　 Society as Allegory for the Individual in the Novels of Virginia Woolf

　　 Virginia Woolfs Novels: Critical Reflections on the Individual and on Society

　　18. In the first paragraph of the passage, the authors attitude toward the literary critics mentioned can best be described as

　　 disparaging

　　 ironic

　　 facetious

　　 skeptical but resigned

　　 disappointed but hopeful

　　19. It can be inferred from the passage that Woolf chose Chaucer as a literary model because she believed that

　　 Chaucer was the first English author to focus on society as a whole as well as on individual characters

　　 Chaucer was an honest and forthright author, whereas novelists like D, H, Lawrence did not sincerely wish to change society

　　 Chaucer was more concerned with understanding his society than with calling its accepted mores into question

　　 Chaucers writing was greatly, if subtly, effective in influencing the moral attitudes of his readers

　　 her own novels would be more widely read if, like Chaucer, she did not overtly and vehemently criticize contemporary society

　　20. It can be inferred from the passage that the most probable reason Woolf realistically described the social setting in the majority of her novels was that she

　　 was aware that contemporary literary critics considered the novel to be the most realistic of literary genres

　　 was interested in the effect of a persons social milieu on his or her character and actions

　　 needed to be as attentive to detail as possible in her novels in order to support the arguments she advanced in them

　　 wanted to show that a painstaking fidelity in the representation of reality did not in any way hamper the artist

　　 wished to prevent critics from charging that her novels were written in an ambiguous and inexact style

　　21. Which of the following phrases best expresses the sense of the word contemplative as it is used in lines 43-44 of the passage?

　　 Gradually elucidating the rational structures underlying accepted mores

　　 Reflecting on issues in society without prejudice or emotional commitment

　　 Avoiding the aggressive assertion of the authors perspective to the exclusion of the readers judgment

　　 Conveying a broad view of society as a whole rather than focusing on an isolated individual consciousness

　　 Appreciating the world as the artist sees it rather than judging it in moral terms

　　22. The author implies that a major element of the satirists art is the satirists

　　 consistent adherence to a position of lofty disdain when viewing the foibles of humanity

　　 insistence on the helplessness of individuals against the social forces that seek to determine an individuals fate

　　 cynical disbelief that visionaries can either enlighten or improve their societies

　　 fundamental assumption that some ambiguity must remain in a work of art in order for it to reflect society and social mores accurately

　　 refusal to indulge in polemic when presenting social mores to readers for their scrutiny

　　23. The passage supplies information for answering which of the following questions?

　　 Have literary critics ignored the social criticism inherent in the works of Chekhov and Chaucer?

　　 Does the author believe that Woolf is solely an introspective and visionary novelist?

　　 What are the social causes with which Woolf shows herself to be sympathetic in her writings?

　　 Was D. H. Lawrence as concerned as Woolf was with creating realistic settings for his novels?

　　 Does Woolf attribute more power to social environment or to historical forces as shapers of a persons life?

　　It is a popular misconception that nuclear fusion power is free of radioactivity; in fact, the deuterium-tritium reaction that nuclear scientists are currently exploring with such zeal produces both alpha particles and neutrons. Another common misconception is that nuclear fusion power is a virtually unlimited source of energy because of the enormous quantity of deuterium in the sea. Actually, its limits are set by the amount of available lithium, which is about as plentiful as uranium in the Earths crust. Research should certainly continue on controlled nuclear fusion, but no energy program should be premised on its existence until it has proven practical. For the immediate future, we must continue to use hydroelectric power, nuclear fission, and fossil fuels to meet our energy needs. The energy sources already in major use are in major use for good reason.

　　24. The primary purpose of the passage is to

　　 criticize scientists who believe that the deuterium-tritium fusion reaction can be made feasible as an energy source

　　 admonish scientists who have failed to correctly calculate the amount of lithium available for use in nuclear fusion reactors

　　 defend the continued short-term use of fossil fuels as a major energy source

　　 caution against uncritical embrace of nuclear fusion power as a major energy source

　　 correct the misconception that nuclear fusion power is entirely free of radioactivity

　　25. It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes which of the following about the current state of public awareness concerning nuclear fusion power?

　　 The public has been deliberately misinformed about the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear fusion power.

　　 The public is unaware of the principal advantage of nuclear fusion over nuclear fission as an energy source.

　　 The publics awareness of the scientific facts concerning nuclear fusion power is somewhat distorted and incomplete.

　　 The public is not interested in increasing its awareness of the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear fusion power.

　　 The public is aware of the disadvantages of nuclear fusion power but not of its advantages.

　　26. The passage provides information that would answer which of the following questions?

　　 What is likely to be the principal source of deuterium for nuclear fusion power?

　　 How much incidental radiation is produced in the deuterium tritium fusion reaction?

　　 Why are scientists exploring the deuterium-tritium fusion reaction with such zeal?

　　 Why must the tritium for nuclear fusion be synthesized from lithium?

　　 Why does the deuterium-tritium reaction yield both alpha particles and neutrons?

　　27. Which of the following statements concerning nuclear scientists is most directly suggested in the passage?

　　 Nuclear scientists are not themselves aware of all of the facts surrounding the deuterium-tritium fusion reaction.

　　 Nuclear scientists exploring the deuterium-tritium reaction have overlooked key facts in their eagerness to prove nuclear fusion practical.

　　 Nuclear scientists may have overestimated the amount of lithium actually available in the Earths crust.

　　 Nuclear scientists have not been entirely dispassionate in their investigation of the deuterium-tritium reaction.

　　 Nuclear scientists have insufficiently investigated the lithium-to-tritium reaction in nuclear fusion.

答案：17-27：EADBCEBDCAD