GRE阅读练习每日一篇(二十)

　　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 transfer of heat and water vapor from the ocean to the air above it depends on a disequilibrium at the interface of the water and the air. Within about a millimeter of the water, air temperature is close to that of the surface water , and the air is nearly saturated with water vapor. But the differences, however small, are crucial, and the disequilibrium is maintained by air near the surface mixing with air higher up, which is typically appreciably cooler and lower in water-vapor content. The air is mixed by means of turbulence that depends on the wind for its energy. As wind speed increases, so does turbulence, and thus the rate of heat and moisture transfer. Detailed understanding of this phenomenon awaits further study. An interacting and complicating phenomenon is wind-to-water transfer of momentum that occurs when waves are formed. When the wind makes waves, it transfers important amounts of energy energy that is therefore not available to provide turbulence.

　　17. The primary purpose of the passage is to

　　resolve a controversy

　　describe a phenomenon

　　outline a theory

　　confirm research findings

　　classify various observations

　　18. According to the passage, wind over the ocean generally does which of the following?

　　I. Causes relatively cool, dry air to come into proximity with the ocean surface.

　　II. Maintains a steady rate of heat and moisture transfer between the ocean and the air.

　　III. Causes frequent changes in the temperature of the water at the ocean s surface.

　　I only

　　II only

　　I and II only

　　II and III only

　　I, II, and III

　　19. It can be inferred from the passage that the author regards current knowledge about heat and moisture transfer from the ocean to air as

　　revolutionary

　　inconsequential

　　outdated

　　derivative

　　incomplete

　　20. The passage suggests that if on a certain day the wind were to decrease until there was no wind at all which of the following would occur?

　　The air closest to the ocean surface would become saturated with water vapor.

　　The air closest to the ocean surface would be warmer than the water.

　　The amount of moisture in the air closest to the ocean surface would decrease.

　　The rate of heat and moisture transfer would increase.

　　The air closest to the ocean would be at the same temperature as air higher up.

　　Extraordinary creative activity has been characterized as revolutionary, flying in the face of what is established and producing not what is acceptable but what will become accepted. According to this formulation, highly creative activity transcends the limits of an existing form and establishes a new principle of organization. However, the idea that extraordinary creativity transcends established limits is misleading when it is applied to the arts, even though it may be valid for the sciences. Differences between highly creative art and highly creative science arise in part from a difference in their goals. For the sciences, a new theory is the goal and end result of the creative act. Innovative science produces new propositions in terms of which diverse phenomena can be related to one another in more coherent ways. Such phenomena as a brilliant diamond or a nesting bird are relegated to the role of data, serving as the means for formulating or testing a new theory. The goal of highly creative art is very different: the phenomenon itself becomes the direct product of the creative act. Shakespeare s Hamlet is not a tract about the behavior of indecisive princes or the uses of political power; nor is Picasso s painting Guernica primarily a propositional statement about the Spanish Civil War or the evils of fascism. What highly creative artistic activity produces is not a new generalization that transcends established limits, but rather an aesthetic particular. Aesthetic particulars produced by the highly creative artist extend or exploit, in an innovative way, the limits of an existing form, rather than transcend that form.

　　This is not to deny that a highly creative artist sometimes establishes a new principle of organization in the history of an artistic field; the composer Monteverdi, who created music of the highest aesthetic value, comes to mind. More generally, however, whether or not a composition establishes a new principle in the history of music has little bearing on its aesthetic worth. Because they embody a new principle of organization, some musical works, such as the operas of the Florentine Camerata, are of signal historical importance, but few listeners or musicologists would include these among the great works of music. On the other hand, Mozart s The Marriage of Figaro is surely among the masterpieces of music even though its modest innovations are confined to extending existing means. It has been said of Beethoven that he toppled the rules and freed music from the stifling confines of convention. But a close study of his compositions reveals that Beethoven overturned no fundamental rules. Rather, he was an incomparable strategist who exploited limits the rules, forms, and conventions that he inherited from predecessors such as Haydn and Mozart, Handel and Bach in strikingly original ways.

　　21. The author considers a new theory that coherently relates diverse phenomena to one another to be the

　　basis for reaffirming a well-established scientific formulation

　　byproduct of an aesthetic experience

　　tool used by a scientist to discover a new particular

　　synthesis underlying a great work of art

　　result of highly creative scientific activity

　　22. The author implies that Beethoven s music was strikingly original because Beethoven

　　strove to outdo his predecessors by becoming the first composer to exploit limits

　　fundamentally changed the musical forms of his predecessors by adopting a richly inventive strategy

　　embellished and interwove the melodies of several of the great composers who preceded him

　　manipulated the established conventions of musical composition in a highly innovative fashion

　　attempted to create the illusion of having transcended the musical forms of his predecessors

　　23. The passage states that the operas of the Florentine Camerata are

　　unjustifiably ignored by musicologists

　　not generally considered to be of high aesthetic value even though they are important in the history of music

　　among those works in which popular historical themes were portrayed in a musical production

　　often inappropriately cited as examples of musical works in which a new principle of organization was introduced

　　minor exceptions to the well-established generalization that the aesthetic worth of a composition determines its importance in the history of music

　　24. The passage supplies information for answering all of the following questions EXCEPT:

　　Has unusual creative activity been characterized as revolutionary?

　　Did Beethoven work within a musical tradition that also included Handel and Bach?

　　Is Mozart s The Marriage of Figaro an example of a creative work that transcended limits?

　　Who besides Monteverdi wrote music that the author would consider to embody new principles of organization and to be of high aesthetic value?

　　Does anyone claim that the goal of extraordinary creative activity in the arts differs from that of extraordinary creative activity in the sciences?

　　25. The author regards the idea that all highly creative artistic activity transcends limits with

　　deep skepticism

　　strong indignation

　　marked indifference

　　moderate amusement

　　sharp derision

　　26. The author implies that an innovative scientific contribution is one that

　　is cited with high frequency in the publications of other scientists

　　is accepted immediately by the scientific community

　　does not relegate particulars to the role of data

　　presents the discovery of a new scientific fact

　　introduces a new valid generalization

　　27. Which of the following statements would most logically concluded the last paragraph of the passage?

　　Unlike Beethoven, however, even the greatest of modern composers, such as Stravinsky, did not transcend existing musical forms.

　　In similar fashion, existing musical forms were even further exploited by the next generation of great European composers.

　　Thus, many of the great composers displayed the same combination of talents exhibited by Monteverdi.

　　By contrast, the view that creativity in the arts exploits but does not transcend limits is supported in the field of literature.

　　Actually, Beethoven s most original works were largely unappreciated at the time that they were first performed.

　　答案：17-27：BAEAEDBDAEB