GRE阅读练习每日一篇(七)

　　编辑点评： GRE阅读的方法相信大家已经积累了很多了，本文就为大家提供一些GRE阅读的材料，大家来练一练，把平时学到的东西运用到实际中，也多多积累词汇和句子，提高自己的阅读能力。

　　每天做一些标准的GRE阅读练习，有助于大家在GRE考试的复习过程中不断地进行练习和总结。希望大家在进行GRE阅读练习时，充分运用平时所积累的知识，这样才能有效果。

　　Notable as important nineteenth-century novels by women, Mary Shelley s Frankenstein and Emily Bronte s Wuthering Heights treat women very differently. Shelley produced a masculine text in which the fates of subordinate female characters seem entirely dependent on the actions of male heroes or anti-heroes . Bronte produced a more realistic narrative, portraying a world where men battle for the favors of apparently high-spirited, independent women. Nevertheless, these two novels are alike in several crucial ways. Many readers are convinced that the compelling mysteries of each plot conceal elaborate structures of allusion and fierce, though shadowy, moral ambitions that seem to indicate metaphysical intentions, though efforts by critics to articulate these intentions have generated much controversy. Both novelists use a storytelling method that emphasizes ironic disjunctions between different perspectives on the same events as well as ironic tensions that inhere in the relationship between surface drama and concealed authorial intention, a method I call an evidentiary narrative technique.

　　17. The primary purpose of the passage is to

　　defend a controversial interpretation of two novels

　　explain the source of widely recognized responses to two novels

　　delineate broad differences between two novels

　　compare and contrast two novels

　　criticize and evaluate two novels

　　18. According the passage, Frankenstein differs from Wuthering Heights in its

　　use of multiple narrators

　　method of disguising the author s real purposes

　　portrayal of men as determiners of the novel s action

　　creation of a realistic story

　　controversial effect on readers

　　19. Which of the following narrative strategies best exemplifies the evidentiary narrative technique mentioned in line 24?

　　Telling a story in such a way that the author s real intentions are discernible only through interpretations of allusions to a world outside that of the story

　　Telling a story in such a way that the reader is aware as events unfold of the author s underlying purposes and the ways these purposes conflict with the drama of the plot

　　Telling a story in a way that both directs attention to the incongruities among the points of view of several characters and hints that the plot has a significance other than that suggested by its mere events

　　Telling a story as a mystery in which the reader must deduce, from the conflicting evidence presented by several narrators, the moral and philosophical significance of character and event

　　Telling a story from the author s point of view in a way that implies both the author s and the reader s ironic distance from the dramatic unfolding of events

　　20. According to the passage, the plots of Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein are notable for their elements of

　　drama and secrecy

　　heroism and tension

　　realism and ambition

　　mystery and irony

　　morality and metaphysics

　　Climatic conditions are delicately adjusted to the composition of the Earth s atmosphere. If there were a change in the atmosphere for example, in the relative proportions of atmospheric gases the climate would probably change also. A slight increase in water vapor, for instance, would increase the heat-retaining capacity of the atmosphere and would lead to a rise in global temperatures. In contrast, a large increase in water vapor would increase the thickness and extent of the cloud layer, reducing the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth s surface.

　　The level of carbon dioxide, CO2, in the atmosphere has an important effect on climatic change. Most of the Earth s incoming energy is short-wavelength radiation, which tends to pass through atmospheric CO2 easily. The Earth, however, reradiates much of the received energy as long-wavelength radiation, which CO2 absorbs and then remits toward the Earth. This phenomenon, known as the greenhouse effect, can result in an increase in the surface temperature of a planet. An extreme example of the effect is shown by Venus, a planet covered by heavy clouds composed mostly of CO2, whose surface temperatures have been measured at 430℃. If the CO2 content of the atmosphere is reduced, the temperature falls. According to one respectable theory, if the atmospheric CO2 concentration were halved, the Earth would become completely covered with ice. Another equally respectable theory, however, states that a halving of the CO2 concentration would lead only to a reduction in global temperatures of 3℃.

　　If, because of an increase in forest fires or volcanic activity, the CO2 content of the atmosphere increased, a warmer climate would be produced. Plant growth, which relies on both the warmth and the availability of CO2 would probably increase. As a consequence, plants would use more and more CO2. Eventually CO2 levels would diminish and the climate, in turn, would become cooler. With reduced temperatures many plants would die; CO2 would thereby be returned to the atmosphere and gradually the temperature would rise again. Thus, if this process occurred, there might be a long-term oscillation in the amount of CO2 present in the atmosphere, with regular temperature increases and decreases of a set magnitude.

　　Some climatologists argue that the burning of fossil fuels has raised the level of CO2 in the atmosphere and has caused a global temperature increase of at least 1℃. But a supposed global temperature rise of 1℃ may in reality be only several regional temperature increases, restricted to areas where there are many meteorological stations and caused simply by shifts in the pattern of atmospheric circulation. Other areas, for example the Southern Hemisphere oceanic zone, may be experiencing an equivalent temperature decrease that is unrecognized because of the shortage of meteorological recording stations.

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

　　Why are projections of the effects of changes in water vapor levels on the climate so inaccurate?

　　What are the steps in the process that takes place as CO2 absorbs long-wavelength radiation?

　　How might our understanding of the greenhouse effect be improved if the burning of fossil fuels were decreased?

　　What might cause a series of regular increases and decreases in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere?

　　Why are there fewer meteorological recording stations in the Southern Hemisphere oceanic zone than elsewhere?

　　22. The author is primarily concerned with

　　explaining the effects that the burning of fossil fuels might have on climate

　　illustrating the effects of CO2 on atmospheric radiation

　　discussing effects that changes in the CO2 level in the atmosphere might have on climate

　　challenging hypotheses about the effects of water vapor and CO2 on climate

　　refuting hypotheses by climatologists about the causes of global temperature fluctuations

　　23. The passage suggests that a large decrease in the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would result in

　　at least a slight decrease in global temperatures

　　at the most a slight increase in short-wavelength radiation reaching the Earth

　　a slight long-term increase in global temperatures

　　a large long-term increase in the amount of volcanic activity

　　a slight short-term increase in atmosphere water vapor content

　　24. The author refers to Venus primarily in order to

　　show the inherent weakness of the greenhouse effect theory

　　show that the greenhouse effect works on other planets but not on Earth

　　show the extent to which Earth s atmosphere differs from that of Venus

　　support the contention that as water vapor increase, the amount of CO2 increases

　　support the argument that the CO2 level in the atmosphere has a significant effect on climate

　　25. The passage suggests that if there were a slight global warming at the present time, it would be

　　easy to measure the exact increase in temperature because of the abundance of temperature recording stations throughout the world

　　difficult to measure the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere because of local variations in amounts

　　easy to demonstrate the effects of the warming on the water vapor in the atmosphere

　　difficult to prove that the warming was caused by the burning of fossil fuels

　　easy to prove that the warming was caused by an increase of cloud cover

　　26. The discussion of climate in the passage suggests which of the following conclusion?

　　I. Climate is not perfectly stable, and slight regional temperature variations can be considered a normal feature of the environment.

　　II. We are unable at present to measure global temperature changes precisely.

　　III. The most important cause of regional climatic fluctuations is the change in CO2 levels in the atmosphere.

　　I only

　　III only

　　I and II only

　　II and III only

　　I, II, and III

　　27. All of the following can be found in the author s discussion of climate EXCEPT

　　a statement about the effects of increased volcanic activity on the Earth s temperatures

　　an indication of the effect of an increase in water vapor in the atmosphere

　　a contrast between two theories about the effects of a lowering of CO2 levels in the atmosphere

　　a generalization about the efficiency of meteorological recording stations

　　a hypothesis about the relationship between atmospheric gases and changes in climate