GRE阅读练习每日一篇(二十一)

　　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。

　　Visual recognition involves storing and retrieving memories. Neural activity, triggered by the eye, forms an image in the brain s memory system that constitutes an internal representation of the viewed object. When an object is encountered again, it is matched with its internal representation and thereby recognized. Controversy surrounds the question of whether recognition is a parallel, one-step process or a serial, step-by-step one. Psychologists of the Gestalt school maintain that objects are recognized as wholes in a parallel procedure: the internal representation is matched with the retinal image in a single operation. Other psychologists have proposed that internal representation features are matched serially with an object s features. Although some experiments show that, as an object becomes familiar, its internal representation becomes more holistic and the recognition process correspondingly more parallel, the weight of evidence seems to support the serial hypothesis, at least for objects that are not notably simple and familiar.

　　17. The author is primarily concerned with

　　explaining how the brain receives images

　　synthesizing hypotheses of visual recognition

　　examining the evidence supporting the serial recognition hypothesis

　　discussing visual recognition and some hypotheses proposed to explain it

　　reporting on recent experiments dealing with memory systems and their relationship to neural activity

　　18. According to the passage, Gestalt psychologists make which of the following suppositions about visual recognition?

　　I. A retinal image is in exactly the same forms as its internal representation.

　　II. An object is recognized as a whole without any need for analysis into component parts.

　　III. The matching of an object with its internal representation occurs in only one step.

　　II only

　　III only

　　I and III only

　　II and III only

　　I, II, and III

　　19. It can be inferred from the passage that the matching process in visual recognition is

　　not a neural activity

　　not possible when an object is viewed for the very first time

　　not possible if a feature of a familiar object is changed in some way

　　only possible when a retinal image is received in the brain as a unitary whole

　　now fully understood as a combination of the serial and parallel processes

　　20. It terms of its tone and form, the passage can best be characterized as

　　a biased exposition

　　a speculative study

　　a dispassionate presentation

　　an indignant denial

　　a dogmatic explanation

　　In large part as a consequence of the feminist movement, historians have focused a great deal of attention in recent years on determining more accurately the status of women in various periods. Although much has been accomplished for the modern period, premodern cultures have proved more difficult: sources are restricted in number, fragmentary, difficult to interpret, and often contradictory. Thus it is not particularly surprising that some earlier scholarship concerning such cultures has so far gone unchallenged. An example is Johann Bachofen s 1861 treatise on Amazons, women-ruled societies of questionable existence contemporary with ancient Greece.

　　Starting from the premise that mythology and legend preserve at least a nucleus of historical fact, Bachofen argued that women were dominant in many ancient societies. His work was based on a comprehensive survey of references in the ancient sources to Amazonian and other societies with matrilineal customs societies in which descent and property rights are traced through the female line. Some support for his theory can be found in evidence such as that drawn from Herodotus, the Greek historian of the fifth century B. C., who speaks of an Amazonian society, the Sauromatae, where the women hunted and fought in wars. A woman in this society was not allowed to marry until she had killed a person in battle.

　　Nonetheless, this assumption that the first recorders of ancient myths have preserved facts is problematic. If one begins by examining why ancients refer to Amazons, it becomes clear that ancient Greek descriptions of such societies were meant not so much to represent observed historical fact real Amazonian societies but rather to offer moral lessons on the supposed outcome of women s rule in their own society. The Amazons were often characterized, for example, as the equivalents of giants and centaurs, enemies to be slain by Greek heroes. Their customs were presented not as those of a respectable society, but as the very antitheses of ordinary Greek practices.

　　Thus, I would argue, the purpose of accounts of the Amazons for their male Greek recorders was didactic, to teach both male and female Greeks that all-female groups, formed by withdrawal from traditional society, are destructive and dangerous. Myths about the Amazons were used as arguments for the male-dominated status quo, in which groups composed exclusively of either sex were not permitted to segregate themselves permanently from society. Bachofen was thus misled in his reliance on myths for information about the status of women. The sources that will probably tell contemporary historians most about women in the ancient world are such social documents as gravestones, wills, and marriage contracts. Studies of such documents have already begun to show how mistaken we are when we try to derive our picture of the ancient world exclusively from literary sources, especially myths.

　　21. The primary purpose of the passage is to

　　compare competing new approaches to understanding the role of women in ancient societies

　　investigate the ramifications of Bachofen s theory about the dominance of women in ancient societies

　　explain the burgeoning interest among historians in determining the actual status of women in various societies

　　analyze the nature of Amazonian society and uncover similarities between it and the Greek world

　　criticize the value of ancient myths in determining the status of women in ancient societies

　　22. All of the following are stated by the author as problems connected with the sources for knowledge of premodern cultures EXCEPT:

　　partial completeness

　　restricted accessibility

　　difficulty of interpretation

　　limited quantity

　　tendency toward contradiction

　　23. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about the myths recorded by the ancient Greeks?

　　I. They sometimes included portrayals of women holding positions of power.

　　II. They sometimes contained elaborate explanations of inheritance customs.

　　III. They comprise almost all of the material available to historians about ancient Greece.

　　I only

　　III only

　　I and III only

　　II and III only

　　I, II, and III

　　24. Which of the following is presented in the passage as evidence supporting the author s view of the ancient Greeks descriptions of the Amazons?

　　The requirement that Sauromatae women kill in battle before marrying

　　The failure of historians to verify that women were ever governors of ancient societies

　　The classing of Amazons with giants and centaurs

　　The well-established unreliability of Herodotus as a source of information about ancient societies

　　The recent discovery of ancient societies with matrilineal customs

　　25. It can be inferred from the passage that the probable reactions of many males in ancient Greece to the idea of a society ruled by women could best characterized as

　　confused and dismayed

　　wary and hostile

　　cynical and disinterested

　　curious but fearful

　　excited but anxious

　　26. The author suggests that the main reason for the persisting influence of Bachofen s work is that

　　feminists have shown little interest in ancient societies

　　Bachofen s knowledge of Amazonian culture is unparalleled

　　reliable information about the ancient world is difficult to acquire

　　ancient societies show the best evidence of women in positions of power

　　historians have been primarily interested in the modern period

　　27. The author s attitude toward Bachofen s treatise is best described as one of

　　qualified approval

　　profound ambivalence

　　studied neutrality

　　pointed disagreement

　　unmitigated hostility

　　答案：17-27：DDBCEBACBCD