GRE阅读练习每日一篇(四十九)

　　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。

　　Theorists are divided concerning the origin of the Moon. Some hypothesize that the Moon was formed in the same way as were the planets in the inner solar system from planet-forming materials in the presolar nebula. But, unlike the cores of the inner planets, the Moon s core contains little or no iron, while the typical planet-forming materials were quite rich in iron. Other theorists propose that the Moon was ripped out of the Earth s rocky mantle by the Earth s collision with another large celestial body after much of the Earth s iron fell to its core. One problem with the collision hypothesis is the question of how a satellite formed in this way could have settled into the nearly circular orbit that the Moon has today. Fortunately, the collision hypothesis is testable. If it is true, the mantlerocks of the Moon and the Earth should be the same geochemically.

　　17. The primary purpose of the passage is to

　　present two hypotheses concerning the origin of the Moon

　　discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the collision hypothesis concerning the origin of the Moon

　　propose that hypotheses concerning the Moon s origin be tested

　　argue that the Moon could not have been formed out of the typical planet-forming materials of the presolar nebula

　　describe one reason why the Moon s geochemical makeup should resemble that of the Earth

　　18. According to the passage, Mars and the Earth are similar in which of the following ways?

　　I. Their satellites were formed by collisions with other celestial bodies.

　　II. Their cores contain iron.

　　III. They were formed from the presolar nebula.

　　III only

　　I and II only

　　I and III only

　　II and III only

　　I, II, and III

　　19. The author implies that a nearly circular orbit is unlikely for a satellite that

　　circles one of the inner planets

　　is deficient in iron

　　is different from its planet geochemically

　　was formed by a collision between two celestial bodies

　　was formed out of the planet-forming materials in the presolar nebula

　　20. Which of the following, if true, would be most likely to make it difficult to verify the collision hypothesis in the manner suggested by the author?

　　The Moon s core and mantlerock are almost inactive geologically.

　　The mantlerock of the Earth has changed in composition since the formation of the Moon, while the mantlerock of the Moon has remained chemically inert.

　　Much of the Earth s iron fell to the Earth s core long before the formation of the Moon, after which the Earth s mantlerock remained unchanged.

　　Certain of the Earth s elements, such as platinum, gold, and iridium, followed iron to the Earth s core.

　　The mantlerock of the Moon contains elements such as platinum, gold, and iridium.

　　Surprisingly enough, modern historians have rarely interested themselves in the history of the American South in the period before the South began to become self-consciously and distinctively Southern the decades after 1815. Consequently, the cultural history of Britain s North American empire in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries has been written almost as if the Southern colonies had never existed. The American culture that emerged during the Colonial and Revolutionary eras has been depicted as having been simply an extension of New England Puritan culture. However, Professor Davis has recently argued that the South stood apart from the rest of American society during this early period, following its own unique pattern of cultural development. The case for Southern distinctiveness rests upon two related premises: first, that the cultural similarities among the five Southern colonies were far more impressive than the differences, and second, that what made those colonies alike also made them different from the other colonies. The first, for which Davis offers an enormous amount of evidence, can be accepted without major reservations; the second is far more problematic.

　　What makes the second premise problematic is the use of the Puritan colonies as a basis for comparison. Quite properly, Davis decries the excessive influence ascribed by historians to the Puritans in the formation of American culture. Yet Davis inadvertently adds weight to such ascriptions by using the Puritans as the standard against which to assess the achievements and contributions of Southern colonials. Throughout, Davis focuses on the important, and undeniable, differences between the Southern and Puritan colonies in motives for and patterns of early settlement, in attitudes toward nature and Native Americans, and in the degree of receptivity to metropolitan cultural influences.

　　However, recent scholarship has strongly suggested that those aspects of early New England culture that seem to have been most distinctly Puritan, such as the strong religious orientation and the communal impulse, were not even typical of New England as a whole, but were largely confined to the two colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Thus, what in contrast to the Puritan colonies appears to Davis to be peculiarly Southern acquisitiveness, a strong interest in politics and the law, and a tendency to cultivate metropolitan cultural models was not only more typically English than the cultural patterns exhibited by Puritan Massachusetts and Connecticut, but also almost certainly characteristic of most other early modern British colonies from Barbados north to Rhode Island and New Hampshire. Within the larger framework of American colonial life, then, not the Southern but the Puritan colonies appear to have been distinctive, and even they seem to have been rapidly assimilating to the dominant cultural patterns by the late Colonial period.

　　21. The author is primarily concerned with

　　refuting a claim about the influence of Puritan culture on the early American South

　　refuting a thesis about the distinctiveness of the culture of the early American South

　　refuting the two premises that underlie Davis discussion of the culture of the American South in the period before 1815

　　challenging the hypothesis that early American culture was homogeneous in nature

　　challenging the contention that the American South made greater contributions to early American culture than Puritan New England did

　　22. The passage implies that the attitudes toward Native Americans that prevailed in the Southern colonies

　　were in conflict with the cosmopolitan outlook of the South

　　derived from Southerners strong interest in the law

　　were modeled after those that prevailed in the North

　　differed from those that prevailed in the Puritan colonies

　　developed as a response to attitudes that prevailed in Massachusetts and Connecticut

　　23. According to the author, the depiction of American culture during the Colonial and Revolutionary eras as an extension of New England Puritan culture reflects the

　　fact that historians have overestimated the importance of the Puritans in the development of American culture

　　fact that early American culture was deeply influenced by the strong religious orientation of the colonists

　　failure to recognize important and undeniable cultural differences between New Hampshire and Rhode Island on the one hand and the Southern colonies on the other

　　extent to which Massachusetts and Connecticut served as cultural models for the other American colonies

　　extent to which colonial America resisted assimilating cultural patterns that were typically English

　　24. The author of the passage is in agreement with which of the following elements of Davis book?

　　I. Davis claim that acquisitiveness was a characteristic unique to the South during the Colonial period

　　II. Davis argument that there were significant differences between Puritan and Southern culture during the Colonial period

　　III. Davis thesis that the Southern colonies shared a common culture

　　I only

　　II only

　　III only

　　I and II only

　　II and III only

　　25. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would find Davis second premise more plausible if it were true that

　　Puritan culture had displayed the tendency characteristic of the South to cultivate metropolitan cultural models

　　Puritan culture had been dominant in all the non-Southern colonies during the seventeenth and eighteen centuries

　　the communal impulse and a strong religious orientation had been more prevalent in the South

　　the various cultural patterns of the Southern colonies had more closely resembled each other

　　the cultural patterns characteristic of most early modern British colonies had also been characteristic of the Puritan colonies

　　26. The passage suggests that by the late Colonial period the tendency to cultivate metropolitan cultural models was a cultural pattern that was

　　dying out as Puritan influence began to grow

　　self-consciously and distinctively Southern

　　spreading to Massachusetts and Connecticut

　　more characteristic of the Southern colonies than of England

　　beginning to spread to Rhode Island and New Hampshire

　　27. Which of the following statements could most logically follow the last sentence of the passage?

　　Thus, had more attention been paid to the evidence, Davis would not have been tempted to argue that the culture of the South diverged greatly from Puritan culture in the seventeenth century.

　　Thus, convergence, not divergence, seems to have characterized the cultural development of the American colonies in the eighteenth century.

　　Thus, without the cultural diversity represented by the America South, the culture of colonial America would certainly have been homogeneous in nature.

　　Thus, the contribution of Southern colonials to American culture was certainly overshadowed by that of the Puritans.

　　Thus, the culture of America during the Colonial period was far more sensitive to outside influences than historians are accustomed to acknowledge.

　　答案：17-27：ADDBBDAEBCB