Unit 21
Part II Reading Comprehension
Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.
When global warming finally came, it stuck with a vengeance. In some regions, temperatures rose several degrees in less than a century. Sea levels shot up nearly 400 feet, flooding coastal settlements and forcing people to migrate inland. Deserts spread throughout the world as vegetation shifted drastically in North America, Europe and Asia. After driving many of the animals around them to near extinction, people were forced to abandon their old way of life for a radically new survival strategy that resulted in widespread starvation and disease. The adaptation was farming: the global-warming crisis that gave rise to it happened more than 10,000 years ago.
As environmentalists convene in Rio de Janeiro this week to ponder the global climate of the future, earth scientists are in the midst of a revolution in understanding how climate has changed in the pastand how those changes have transformed human existence. Researchers have begun to piece together an illuminating picture of the powerful geological and astronomical forces that have combined to change the planets environment from hot to cold, wet to dry and back again over a time period stretching back hundreds of millions of year.
Most important, scientists are beginning to realize that the climatic changes have had a major impact on the evolution of the human species. New research now suggests that climate shifts have played a key role in nearly every significant turning point in human evolution: from the dawn of primatessome 65 million years ago to human ancestors rising up to walk on two legs, from the huge expansion of the human brain to the rise of agriculture. Indeed, the human history has not been merely touched by global climate change, some scientists argue, it has in some instances been driven by it.
The new research has profound implications for the environmental summit in Rio. Among other things, the findings demonstrate that dramatic climate change is nothing new for planet Earth. The benignglobal environment that has existed over the past 10,000 yearsduring which agriculture, writing, cities and most other features of civilization appearedis a mere bright spot in a much larger pattern of widely varying climate over the ages. In fact, the pattern or climate change in the past reveals that Earths climate will almost certainly go through dramatic changes in the futureeven without the influence of human activity.
21. Farming emerged as a survival strategy because man had been obliged .
A) to give up his former way of life
B) to leave the coastal areas
C) to follow the ever-shifting vegetation
D) to abandon his original settlement
22. Earth scientists have come to understand that climate .
A) is going through a fundamental change
B)has been getting warmer for 10,000 years
C) will eventually change from hot to cold
D) has gone through periodical change
23. Scientists believe that human evolution .
A) has seldom been accompanied by climatic changes
B) has exerted little influence on climatic changes
C) has largely been effected by climatic changes
D) has had a major impact on climatic changes
24. Evidence of past climatic changes indicates that .
A) human activities have accelerated changes of Earths environment
B) Earths environment will remain mild despite human interference
C) Earths climate is bound to change significantly in the future
D) Earths climate is unlikely to undergo substantial changes in the future
25. The message the author wishes to convey in the passage is that .
A) human civilization remains glorious though it is affected by climatic changes
B) mankind is virtually helpless in the face of the dramatic changes of climate
C) man has to limit his activities to slow down the global warming process
D) human civilization will continue to develop in spite of the changes of nature
Passage Two
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.
No woman can be too rich or too thin. This saying often attributed to the late Duchess(公爵夫人)
Of Windsor embodies much of the odd spirit of our times. Being thin is deemed as such a virtue.
The problem with such a view is that some people actually attempt to live by it. I myself have
Fantasies of slipping into narrow designer clothes. Consequently, I have been on a diet for the
betteror worsepart of my life. Being rich wouldnt be bad either, but that wont happen unless
an unknown relative dies suddenly in some distant land, leaving me millions of dollars.
Where did we go off the track? When did eating butter become a sin, and a little bit of extra flesh unappealing, if not repellent? All religions have certain days when people refrain from eating, and excessive eating is one of Christianitys seven deadly sins. However, until quite recently, most people had a problem getting enough to eat. In some religious groups, wealth was a symbol of probable salvation and high morals, and fatness a sign of wealth and well-being.
Today the opposite is true. We have shifted to thinness as our new mark of virtue. The result is
that being fat-or even only somewhat overweight-is bad because it implies a lack of moral
strength.
Our obsession with thinness is also fueled by health concerns. It is true that in this country we have more overweight people than ever before, and that, in many cases, being overweight correlates with an increased risk of heart and blood vessel disease. These diseases, however, may have as much to do with our way of life and our high-fat diets as with excess weight. And the associated risk of cancer in the digestive system may be more of a dietary problemtoo much fat and a lack of fiberthan a weight problem.
The real concern, then, is not that we weigh too much, but that we neither exercise enough nor eat well. Exercise is necessary for strong bones and both heart and lung health. A balanced diet without a lot of fat can also help the body avoid many diseases. We should surely stop paying so much attention to weight. Simply being thin is not enough. It is actually hazardous if those who getthin think they are automatically healthy and thus free from paying attention to their overall life-style. Thinness can be pure vainglory。
26.In the eyes of the author, an odd phenomenon nowadays is that .
A) the Duchess of Windsor is regarded as a woman of virtue
B) looking slim is a symbol of having a large fortune
C) being thin is viewed as a much desired quality
D) religious people are not necessarily virtuous
27. Swept by the prevailing trend, the author .
A) had to go on a diet for the greater part of her life
B) could still prevent herself from going off the track
C) had to seek help from rich distant relatives
D) had to wear highly fashionable clothes
28.In human history, peoples views on body weight .
A)were closely related to their religious beliefs sC/P
B)changed from time to time
C)varied between the poor and the rich
D)led to different moral standards
29.The author criticizes womens obsession with thinness .
A)from an economic and educational perspective
B)from sociological and medical points of view
C)from a historical and religious standpoint
D)in the light of moral principles
30.Whats the authors advice to women who are absorbed in the idea of thinness?
A)They should be more concerned with their overall lifestyle.
B)They should be more watchful for fatal diseases.
C)They should gain weight to look healthy.
D)They should rid themselves of fantasies about designer clothes.
Passage Three
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage
War may be a natural expression of biological instincts and drives toward aggression in the human species. Natural impulses of anger, hostility, and territorialityare expressed through acts of violence. These are all qualities that humans share with animals. Aggression is a kind of innatesurvival mechanism, an instinct for self-preservation, that allows animals to defend themselves from threats to their existence. But, on the other hand, human violence shows evidence of being a learned behavior. In the case of human aggression, violence cannot be simply reduced to an instinct. The many expressions of human violence are always conditioned by social conventions that give shape to aggressive behavior. In human societies violence has a social function: It is a strategy for creating or destroying forms of social order. Religious traditions have taken a leading role in directing the powers of violence. We will look at the ritual and ethicalpatterns within which human violence has been directed.
The violence within a society is controlled through institutions of law. The more developed a legal system becomes, the more society takes responsibility for the discovery , control, and punishment of violent acts. In most tribal societies the only means to deal with an act of violence is revenge. Each family group may have the responsibility for personally carrying out judgment and punishment upon the person who committed the offense. But in legal systems, the responsibility for revenge becomes depersonalized and diffused. The society assumes the responsibility for protecting individuals from violence. In cases where they cannot be protected, the society is responsible for imposing punishment. In a state controlled legal system, individuals are removed from the cycle of revenge motivated by acts of violence, and the state assumes responsibility for their protection.
The other side of a state legal apparatus is a state military apparatus. While the one protects the individual from violence ,the other sacrifices the individual to violence in the interests of the state. In war the state affirms its supreme power over the individuals within its own borders. War is not simply a trial by combat to settle disputes between states; it is the moment when the state makes its most powerful demands upon its people for their commitment, allegiance, and supreme sacrifice. Times of war test a communitys deepest religious and ethical commitments.
31.Human violence shows evidence of being a learned behavior in that .
A)it threatens the existing social systems
B) it is influenced by society
C) it has roots in religious conflicts
D) it is directed against institutions of law
32.The function of legal systems, according to the passage is .
A)to control violence within a society
B) to protect the world from chaos
C) to free society from the idea of revenge
D) to give the government absolute power
33.What does the author mean by saying in legal systems, the responsibility for revenge becomes depersonalized and diffused ?
A) Legal systems greatly reduce the possibilities of physical violence.
B) Offenses against individuals are no longer judged on a personal basis.
C) Victims of violence find it more difficult to take revenge.
D) Punishment is not carried out directly by the individuals involved.
34.The word allegiance is closest in meaning to .
A)loyalty
B) Objective
C) survival
D) motive
35.What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A) Governments tend to abuse their supreme power in times of war.
B) In times of war governments may extend their power across national borders.
C) In times of war governments impose high religious and ethical standards on their people.
D) Governments may sacrifice individuals in the interests of the state in times of war
Passage Four
Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.
Researchers who are unfamiliar with the cultural and ethnic groups they are studying must take extra precautions to shed any biases they bring with them from their own culture. For example, they must make sure they construct measures that are meaningful for each of the cultural or ethnic minority groups beings studied.
In conducting research on cultural and ethnic minority issues, investigators distinguish between the emic approach and the etic approach. In the emic approach, the goal is to describe behavior in one culture or ethnic group in terms that are meaningful and important to the people in that culture or ethnic group, without regard to other cultures or ethnic groups. In the etic approach, the goal is to describe behavior so that generalizations can be made across cultures. If researchers construct a questionnaire in an emic fashion, their concern is only that the questions are meaningful to the particular culture or ethnic group being studied. If, however, the researchers construct a questionnaire in an ecit fashion, they want to include questions that reflect concepts familiar to all cultures involved.
How might the emic and etic approaches be reflected in the study of family processes? In the emic approach , the researchers might choose to focus only on middle-class White families, without regard for whether the information obtained in the study can be generalized or is appropriate for ethnic minority groups. In a subsequent Study, the researchers may decide to adopt an etic approach by studying not only middle-class White families, but also lower-income White families, Black American families, Spanish American families, and Asian American families. In studying ethnic minority families, the researchers would likely discover that the extended family is more frequently a support system in ethnic minority families than in White American families. If so, the emic approach would reveal a different pattern of family interaction than would the etic approach, documenting that research with middle-class White families cannot always be generalized to all ethnic groups.
36.According to the first paragraph, researchers unfamiliar with the target cultures are inclined to .
A) be overcautious in constructing meaningful measures
B) view them from their own cultural perspective
C) guard against interference from their own culture
D) accept readily what is alien to their own culture
37.What does the author say about the emic approach and the etic approach?
A) They have different research focuses in the study of ethnic issues.
B) The former is biased while the latter is objective
C) The former concentrates on study of culture while the latter on family issues.
D) They are both heavily dependent on questionnaires in conducting surveys.
38.Compared with the etic approach, the emic approach is apparently more .
A)culturally interactive
B) culture-oriented
C) culturally biased
D) culture-specific
39.The etic approach is concerned with .
A) the general characteristics of minority families
B) culture-related concepts of individual ethnic groups
C) features shared by various cultures or ethnic groups
D) the economic conditions of different types of families
40.Which of the following is true of the ethnic minority families in the U.S. according to the passage?
A) Their cultural patterns are usually more adaptable
B) Their cultural concepts are difficult to comprehend
C) They dont interact with each other so much as White families
D)They have closer family ties than White families
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