GRE阅读练习每日一篇(九)

　　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。

　　The making of classifications by literary historians can be a somewhat risky enterprise. When Black poets are discussed separately as a group, for instance, the extent to which their work reflects the development of poetry in general should not be forgotten, or a distortion of literary history may result. This caution is particularly relevant in an assessment of the differences between Black poets at the turn of the century and those of the generation of the 1920 s. These differences include the bolder and more forthright speech of the later generation and its technical inventiveness. It should be remembered, though, that comparable differences also existed for similar generations of White poets.

　　When poets of the 1910 s and 1920 s are considered together, however, the distinctions that literary historians might make between conservative and experimental would be of little significance in a discussion of Black poets, although these remain helpful classifications for White poets of these decades. Certainly differences can be noted between conservative Black poets such as Counter Cullen and Claude McKay and experimental ones such as Jean Toomer and Langston Hughes. But Black poets were not battling over old or new styles; rather, one accomplished Black poet was ready to welcome another, whatever his or her style, for what mattered was racial pride.

　　However, in the 1920 s Black poets did debate whether they should deal with specifically racial subjects. They asked whether they should only write about Black experience for a Black audience or whether such demands were restrictive. It may be said, though, that virtually all these poets wrote their best poems when they spoke out of racial feeling, race being, as James Weldon Johnson rightly put it, perforce the thing the Negro poet knows best.

　　At the turn of the century, by contrast, most Black poets generally wrote in the conventional manner of the age and expressed noble, if vague, emotions in their poetry. These poets were not unusually gifted, though Roscoe Jamison and G. M. McClellen may be mentioned as exceptions. They chose not to write in dialect, which, as Sterling Brown has suggested, meant a rejection of stereotypes of Negro life, and they refused to write only about racial subjects. This refusal had both a positive and a negative consequence. As Brown observes, Valuably insisting that Negro poets should not be confined to issues of race, these poets committed error they refused to look into their hearts and write. These are important insights, but one must stress that this refusal to look within was also typical of most White poets of the United States at the time. They, too, often turned from their own experience and consequently produced not very memorable poems about vague topics, such as the peace of nature.

　　17. According to the passage, most turn-of-the-century Black poets generally did which of the following?

　　Wrote in ways that did not challenge accepted literary practice.

　　Described scenes from their own lives.

　　Aroused patriotic feelings by expressing devotion to the land.

　　Expressed complex feelings in the words of ordinary people.

　　Interpreted the frustrations of Blacks to an audience of Whites.

　　18. According to the passage, an issue facing Black poets in the 1920 s was whether they should

　　seek a consensus on new techniques of poetry

　　write exclusively about and for Blacks

　　withdraw their support from a repressive society

　　turn away from social questions to recollect the tranquility of nature

　　identify themselves with an international movement of Black writers

　　19. It can be inferred from the passage that classifying a poet as either conservative or experimental would be of little significance when discussing Black poets of the 1910 s and the 1920 s because

　　these poets wrote in very similar styles

　　these poets all wrote about nature in the same way

　　these poets were fundamentally united by a sense of racial achievement despite differences in poetic style

　　such a method of classification would fail to take account of the influence of general poetic practice

　　such a method of classification would be relevant only in a discussion of poets separated in time by more than three decades

　　20. The author quotes Sterling Brown in lines 53-56 in order to

　　present an interpretation of some black poets that contradicts the author s own assertion about their acceptance of various poetic styles

　　introduce a distinction between Black poets who used dialect and White poets who did not

　　disprove James Weldon Johnson s claim that race is what the Negro poet knows best

　　suggest what were the effects of some Black poets decision not to write only about racial subjects

　　prove that Black poets at the turn of the century wrote less conventionally than did their White counterparts

　　21. It can be inferred from the passage that the author finds the work of the majority of the Black poets at the turn of the century to be

　　unexciting

　　calming

　　confusing

　　delightful

　　inspiring

　　22. The author would be most likely to agree that poets tend to produce better poems when they

　　express a love of nature

　　declaim noble emotions

　　avoid technical questions about style

　　emulate the best work of their predecessors

　　write from personal experience

　　23. Which of the following best describes the attitude of the author toward classification as a technique in literary history?

　　Enthusiastic

　　Indifferent

　　Wary

　　Derisive

　　Defensive

　　The primary method previously used by paleontologists to estimate climatic changes that occurred during Pleistocene glacial cycles was the determination of 18O/16O ratios in calcareous fossils. However, because this ratio is influenced by a number of factors, the absolute magnitude of the temperature difference between Pleistocene glacial and interglacial cycles could not be unequivocally ascertained. For example, both temperature fluctuations and isotopic changes in seawater affect the 18O/16O ratio. And, since both factors influence the ratio in the same direction, the contribution of each to the 18O/16O cannot be determined.

　　Fortunately, recent studies indicate that the racemization reaction of amino acids can be used to determine more accurately temperatures that occurred during Pleistocene glacial cycles. Only L-amino acids are usually found in the proteins of living organisms, but over long periods of geological time these acids undergo racemization, producing D-amino acids, which are not found in proteins. This reaction depends on both time and temperature; thus, if one variable is known, the reaction can be used to calculate the other.

　　24. It can be inferred from the passage that determination of the temperatures mentioned in line 17 through 18O/16O ratios and determination through racemization reactions both require which of the following?

　　Calcium deposits known to be from Pleistocene seas

　　Proteins containing both L-amino acids and D-amino acids

　　Glacial debris from both before and after the Pleistocene period

　　Fossil material from organisms living during the Pleistocene period

　　Proteins containing both amino acids and 18O

　　25. The passage suggests that the 18O/16O ratio could be used more successfully as a means of measurement if scientists were able to

　　determine the 18O/16O ratio in living animals as well as in fossil remains

　　locate a greater number of calcareous fossils from the Pleistocene glacial and interglacial cycles

　　locate the factors other than temperature fluctuations and isotopic changes in seawater that affect the 18O/16O ratio

　　arrive at more exact determinations of which amino acids are found in the proteins of living organisms

　　isolate the relative effects of temperature fluctuations and isotopic changes in seawater on 18O/16O ratios

　　26. The information in the passage can be used to answer which of the following questions?

　　I. Do temperature variations and isotopic changes in seawater cause the 18O/16O ratio to shift in the same direction?

　　II. What are the methods used to determine the 18O/16O ratio?

　　III. Is the study of racemization reactions useful in estimating climatic changes that occurred during Pleistocene glacial cycles if only one of the two important variables is known?

　　I only

　　I and II only

　　I and III only

　　II and III only

　　I, II, and III

　　27. According to the passage, before the recent experiments described in the passage were completed, scientists could

　　determine temperatures only for Pleistocene seas

　　determine temperatures that occurred during Pleistocene glacial cycles only by examining fossil remains

　　measure changes in temperatures that occurred during Pleistocene glacial cycles with only questionable accuracy

　　only partially identify factors tending to lower Pleistocene temperatures

　　accurately determine temperatures only for land masses affected by glaciation

　　答案：17-27：ABCDAECDECC