gre考试阅读真题解析(A)

　　Hank Morgan, the hero of Mark Twains A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court, is a nineteenth-century master mechanic who mysteriously awakening in sixth-century Britain, launches what he hopes will be a peaceful revolution to transform Arthurian Britain into an industrialized modern democracy. The novel, written as a spoof of Thomas Malorys Morte d Arthur, a popular collection of fifteenth-century legends about sixth-century Britain, has been made into three upbeat movies and two musical comedies. None of these translations to screen and stage, however, dramatize the anarchy at the conclusion of A Connecticut Yankee, which ends with the violent overthrow of Morgans three-year-old progressive order and his return to the nineteenth century, where he apparently commits suicide after being labeled a lunatic for his incoherent babblings about drawbridges and battlements. The American public, although enjoying Twains humor, evidently rejected his cynicism about technological advancement and change through peaceful revolution as antithetical to the United States doctrine of progress.

　　17. According to the passage, which of the following is a true statement about the reception of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court by the American public?

　　 The public had too strong a belief in the doctrine of progress to accept the cynicism demonstrated at the conclusion of Twains novel.

　　 Twains novel received little public recognition until the work was adapted for motion pictures and plays.

　　 Although the public enjoyed Twains humor, his use of both sixth-century and nineteenth-century characters confused many people.

　　 The public has continued to enjoy Twains story, but the last part of the novel seems too violent to American minds.

　　 Because of the cynicism at the end of the book, the public rejected Twains work in favor of the work of Thomas Malory.

　　18. The author uses the examples of three upbeat movies and two musical comedies primarily in order to demonstrate that

　　 well-written novels like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court, regardless of their tone or theme, can be translated to the stage and screen

　　 the American public has traditionally been more interested in watching plays and movies than in reading novels like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court

　　 Twains overall message in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court is one that had a profound impact on the American public

　　 Twains A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court has been a more popular version of the Arthurian legends than has Malorys Morte d Arthur

　　 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court has been accepted as an enjoyable and humorous tale in versions that have omitted the anarchy at the novels conclusion

　　19. The author of the passage characterizes Thomas Malorys Morte d Arthur as which of the following?

　　 The best-known and most authoritative collection of Arthurian tales written in the English language

　　 A collection of legends that have been used as the basis for three movies and two musical comedies

　　 A historical account of King Arthur, the sixth-century king of Britain

　　 A collection of legends about sixth-century Britain that have existed since at least the fifteenth century

　　 The novel about the life of King Arthur that inspired Twains cynicism about nineteenth-century notions of progress

　　20. It can be inferred from the passage that Mark Twain would most probably have believed in which of the following statements about societal change?

　　 Revolutions, in order to be successful in changing society, have to be carried out without violence.

　　 Technological advancements are limited in their ability to change society and will likely bring liabilities along with any potential benefits.

　　 The belief in the unmitigated benefits of societal change is antithetical to the American doctrine of progress.

　　 The political system of sixth-century Britain was more conducive to societal change than was the political system of nineteenth-century America.

　　 Technological advances and peaceful revolutions, although sometimes accompanied by unintended violence and resistance to societal change, eventually lead to a more progressive order.

　　The intensive work of materials scientists and solid-state physicists has given rise to a class of solids known as amorphous metallic alloys, or glassy metals. There is a growing interest among theoretical and applied researchers alike in the structural properties of these materials.

　　When a molten metal or metallic alloy is cooled to a solid, a crystalline structure is formed that depends on the particular alloy composition. In contrast, molten nonmetallic glass-forming materials, when cooled, do not assume a crystalline structure, but instead retain a structure somewhat like that of the liquidan amorphous structure. At room temperature ), the natural long-term tendency for both types of materials is to assume the crystalline structure. The difference between the two is in the kinetics or rate of formation of the crystalline structure, which is controlled by factors such as the nature of the chemical bonding and the ease with which atoms move relative to each other. Thus, in metals, the kinetics favors rapid formation of a crystalline structure, whereas in nonmetallic glasses the rate of formation is so slow that almost any cooling rate is sufficient to result in an amorphous structure. For glassy metals to be formed, the molten metal must be cooled extremely rapidly so that crystallization is suppressed.

　　The structure of glassy metals is thought to be similar to that of liquid metals. One of the first attempts to model the structure of a liquid was that by the late J. D. Bernal of the University of London, who packed hard spheres into a rubber vessel in such a way as to obtain the maximum possible density. The resulting dense, random-packed structure was the basis for many attempts to model the structure of glassy metals. Calculations of the density of alloys based on Bernal-type models of the alloys metal component agreed fairly well with the experimentally determined values from measurements on alloys consisting of a noble metal together with a metalloid, such as alloys of palladium and silicon, or alloys consisting of iron, phosphorus, and carbon, although small discrepancies remained. One difference between real alloys and the hard spheres used in Bernal models is that the components of an alloy have different sizes, so that models based on two sizes of spheres are more appropriate for a binary alloy, for example. The smaller metalloid atoms of the alloy might fit into holes in the dense, random-packed structure of the larger metal atoms.

　　One of the most promising properties of glassy metals is their high strength combined with high malleability. In usual crystalline materials, one finds an inverse relation between the two properties, whereas for many practical applications simultaneous presence of both properties is desirable. One residual obstacle to practical applications that is likely to be overcome is the fact that glassy metals will crystallize at relatively low temperatures when heated slightly.

　　21. The author is primarily concerned with discussing

　　 crystalline solids and their behavior at different temperatures

　　 molten materials and the kinetics of the formation of their crystalline structure

　　 glassy metals and their structural characteristics

　　 metallic alloys and problems in determining their density

　　 amorphous materials and their practical utilization

　　22. The author implies that the rate at which the molten materials discussed in the passage are cooled is a determinant of the

　　 chemical composition of the resulting solids

　　 strength of the chemical bonds that are formed

　　 kinetics of the materials crystalline structure

　　 structure the materials assume

　　 stability of the materials crystalline structure

　　23. The authors speculation about the appropriateness of models using spheres of two sizes for binary alloys would be strongly supported if models using spheres of two sizes yielded

　　 values for density identical to values yielded by one-sphere models using the smaller spheres only

　　 values for density agreeing nearly perfectly with experimentally determined values

　　 values for density agreeing nearly perfectly with values yielded by models using spheres of three sizes

　　 significantly different values for density depending on the size ratio between the two kinds of spheres used

　　 the same values for density as the values for appropriately chosen models that use only medium-sized spheres

　　24. The authors attitude toward the prospects for the economic utilization of glassy metals is one of

　　 disinterest

　　 impatience

　　 optimism

　　 apprehension

　　 skepticism

　　25. According to the passage, which of the following determines the crystalline structure of a metallic alloy?

　　 At what rate the molten alloy is cooled

　　 How rapid the rate of formation of the crystalline phase is

　　 How the different-sized atoms fit into a dense, random-packed structure

　　 What the alloy consists of and in what ratios

　　 At what temperature the molten alloy becomes solid

　　26. Which of the following best describes the relationship between the structure of liquid metals and the structure of glassy metals, as it is presented in the passage?

　　 The latter is an illustrative example of the former.

　　 The latter is a large-scale version of the former.

　　 The former is a structural elaboration of the latter.

　　 The former provides an instructive contrast to the latter.

　　 The former is a fair approximation of the latter.

　　27. It can be inferred from the passage that, theoretically, molten nonmetallic glasses assume a crystalline structure rather than an amorphous structure only if they are cooled

　　 very evenly, regardless of the rate

　　 rapidly, followed by gentle heating

　　 extremely slowly

　　 to room temperature

　　 to extremely low temperatures

答案：17-27：AEDBCDBCDEC