Passage One By education, I mean the influence of the environment upon the individual to produce a permanent change in the habits of behavior, of thought and of attitude. It is in being thus susceptible to the environment that man differs from the animals, and the higher animals from the lower. The lower animals are influenced by the environment but not in the direction of changing their habits. Their instinctive responses are few and fixed by heredity. When transferred to an unnatural situation, such an animal is led astray by its instincts. Thus the "ant-lion" whose instinct implies it to bore into loose sand by pushing backwards with abdomen, goes backwards on a plate of glass as soon as danger threatens,and endeavors, with the utmost exertions to bore into it. It knows no other mode of flight, "or if such a lonely animal is engaged upon a chain of actions and is interrupted, it either goes on vainly with the remaining actions (as useless as cultivating an unsown field) or dies in helpless inactivity". Thus a net-making spider which digs a burrow and rims it with a bastion of gravel and bits of wood, when removed from a half finished home, will not begin again, though it will continue another burrow, even one made with a pencil. Advance in the scale of evolution along such lines as these could only be made by the emergence of creatures with more and more complicated instincts. Such beings we know in the ants and spiders. But another line of advance was destined to open out a much more far-reaching possibility of which we do not see the end perhaps even in man. Habits, instead of being born ready-made (when they are called instincts and not habits at all), were left more and more to the formative influence of the environment, of which the most important factor was the parent who now cared for the young animal during a period of infancy in which vaguer instincts than those of the insects were molded to suit surroundings which might be considerably changed without harm. This means, one might at first imagine, that gradually heredity becomes less and environment more important. But this is hardly the truth and certainly not the whole truth. For although fixed automatic responses like those of the insect-like creatures are no longer inherited, although selection for purification of that sort is no longer going on, yet selection for educability is very definitely still of importance. The ability to acquire habits can be conceivably inherited just as much as can definite responses to narrow situations. Besides, since a mechanism—is now, for the first time, created by which the individual (in contradiction to the species) can be fitted to the environment, the latter becomes, in another sense, less not more important. And finally, less not the higher animals who possess the power of changing their environment by engineering feats and the like, a power possessed to some extent even by the beaver, and preeminently by man. Environment and heredity are in no case exclusive but always-supplementary factors.
1. Which of the following is the most suitable title for the passage?
2. What can be inferred from the example of the ant-lion in the first paragraph?
A.Instincts of animals can lead to unreasonable reactions in strange situations.
B.When it is engaged in a chain actions it cannot be interrupted.
C.Environment and heredity are two supplementary factors in the evolution of insects.
D.Along the lines of evolution heredity becomes less and environment more important.
A B C D
B
[解析] 本题可参照第1段中间一句话:if such a lonely animal is engaged upon a chain of actions and is interrupted, it either goes on vainly with the remaining actions...or dies in helpless inactivity,从中可知,蚁狮会执著地做出本能的反应。因此B项为正确答案。
3. Based on the example provided in the passage, we can tell that when a spider is removed to a new position where half of a net has been made, it will probably ______.
A.begin a completely new net
B.destroy the half-net
C.spin the rest of the net
D.stay away from the net
A B C D
D
[解析] 本题可参照第1段的when removed from a half finished home, will not begin again。因此D项是正确答案。
4. Which of the following is true about habits according to the passage?
A.They are natural endowments to living creatures.
B.They are more important than instincts to all animals.
C.They are subject to the formative influence of the environment.
D.They are destined to open out a much more far-reaching possibility in the evolution of human beings.
A B C D
C
[解析] 本题可参照文章第2段的Habits, instead of being born ready-made...were left more and more to the formative influence ofthe environment,从中可知C项为正确答案。
Passage Two Today is the anniversary of that afternoon in April a year ago that I first saw the strange and appealing doll in the window of Abe Sheftel's toy shop on Third Avenue near Fifteenth Street, just around the corner from my office, where the plate on the door reads: Dr. Samuel Amory. I remember just how it was that day: the first hint of spring floated across the East River, mixing with the soft-coal smoke from the factories and the street smells of the poor neighborhood. As I turned the comer on my way to work and came to Sheftel's, I was made once more aware of the poor collection of toys in the dusty window, and I remembered the approaching birthday of a small niece of mine in Cleveland, to whom I was in the habit of sending modest gifts. Therefore, I stopped and examined the window to see if there might be anything suitable, and looked at the confusing collection of unappealing objects—a red toy fire engine, some lead soldiers, cheap baseballs, bottles of ink, pens, yellowed envelopes, and advertisements for soft drinks. And thus it was that my eyes eventually came to rest upon the doll stored away in one comer, a doll with the strangest, most charming expression on her face. I could not wholly make her out, due to the shadows and the film of dust through which I was looking, but I was aware that a tremendous impression had been made upon me as though I had run into a person, as one does sometimes with a stranger, with whose personality one is deeply impressed.
1. What made an impression on the author?
A.The doll's unusual face.
B.The collection of toys.
C.A stranger he met at the store.
D.The resemblance of the doll to his niece.
A B C D
A
[解析] 本题的依据是文章最后一段中的两句话:a doll with the strangest, most charming expression on her face...a tremendous impression had been made upon me。因此A项为正确答案。
[解析] 从文中第1行中间的in April和第4行的the first hint of spring可知,B项为正确答案。
5. Most of the things in the store window were ______.
A.expensive
B.appealing
C.neatly arranged
D.unattractive
A B C D
D
[解析] 本题的依据是文章第2段的And looked at the confusing collection of unappealing objects。unappealing和D项中的unattractive一样,意思都是“不吸引人的”,因此D为正确答案。
Passage Three There are four basic types of competition in business that form a continuum from pure competition through monopolistic competition and oligopoly (商品供应垄断) to monopoly. At one end of the continuum, pure competition results when every company has a similar product. Companies that deal in commodities such as wheat or corn are often involved in pure competition. In pure competition, it is often the ease and efficiency of distribution that influences purchase. In contrast, in monopolistic competition, several companies may compete for the sale of items that may be substituted. The classic example of monopolistic competition is coffee and tea. If the price of one is perceived as too high, consumers may begin to purchase the other. Coupons and other discounts (折扣) are often used as part of a marketing strategy to influence sales. Oligopoly occurs when a few companies dominate the sales of a product or service. For example, only five airline carriers control more than 70 percent of all ticket sales in the United States. In oligopoly, serious competition is not considered desirable because it would result in reduced revenue for every company in the group. Although price wars do occur, in which all companies offer substantial savings to customers, a somewhat similar tendency to raise prices simultaneously is also usual. Finally, monopoly occurs when only one firm sells the product. Some monopolies have been tolerated for producers of goods and services that have been considered basic or essential, including electricity and water. In these cases, it is government control, rather than competition, that protects and influences sales.
1. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A.Monopolies.
B.The Commodity Market.
C.The Competition Continuum.
D.The Best Type of Competition.
A B C D
C
[解析] 综观全文,本文介绍的就是商业竞争的四种基本形式。因此答案为C。
2. An example of product in monopolistic competition is ______.
A.corn
B.electricity
C.airline ticket
D.coffee
A B C D
D
[解析] 本题可参照文章第二段。从中可知,D项为正确答案。
3. The word "tolerated" in Paragraph 4 could best be replaced by ______.
4. What does the author mean by the statement "Although price wars do occur, in which all companies offer substantial savings to customers, a somewhat similar tendency to raise prices simultaneously is also usual"?
A.It is not unusual for all companies to increase prices at the same time.
B.It is common for companies to compete for customers by lowering prices.
C.Customers may lose money when companies have price wars.
D.Prices are lower during price wars, but they are usually higher afterward.
[解析] 从第三段的“serious competition...it would...in the group.”可知,这句话中的“it”显然指代前面的“serious competition”。因此正确答案为B。
Passage Four The history of responses to the work of the artist Sandro Botticelli (1444—1510) suggests that widespread appreciation by critics is a relatively recent phenomenon. Writing in 1550, Vasari expressed an unease with Botticelli's work, admitting that the artist fitted awkwardly into his evolutionary scheme of the history of art. Over the next two centuries, academic art historians defamed Botticelli in favor of his fellow Florentine, Michelangelo. Even when anti-academic art historians of the early nineteenth century rejected many of the standards of evaluation adopted by their predecessors, Botticelli's work remained outside of accepted taste, pleasing neither amateur observers nor connoisseurs. (Many of his best paintings, however, remained hidden away in obscure churches and private homes.) The primary reason for Botticelli's unpopularity is not difficult to understand: most observers, up until the mid-nineteenth century, did not consider him to be noteworthy, because his work, for the most part, did not seem to these observers to exhibit the traditional characteristics of fifteenth-century Florentine art. For example, Botticelli rarely employed the technique of strict perspective and, unlike Michelangelo, never used chiaroscuro. Another reason for Botticelli's unpopularity may have been that his attitude toward the style of classical art was very different from that of his contemporaries. Although he was thoroughly exposed to classical art, he showed little interest in borrowing from the classical style. Indeed, it is paradoxical that a painter of large-scale classical subjects adopted a style that was only slightly similar to that of classical art. In any case, when viewers began to examine more closely the relationship of Botticelli's work to the tradition of fifteenth-century Florentine art, his reputation began to grow. Analyses and assessments of Botticelli made between 1850 and 1870 by the artists of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, as well as by the writer Pater (although he, unfortunately, based his assessment on an incorrect analysis of Botticelli's personality), inspired a new appreciation of Botticelli throughout the English-speaking world. Yet Botticelli's work, especially the Sistine frescoes, did not generate worldwide attention until it was finally subjected to a comprehensive and scrupulous analysis by Home in 1908. Home rightly demonstrated that the frescoes shared important features with paintings by other fifteenth-century Florentines—features such as skillful representation of anatomical proportions, and of the human figure in motion. However, Home argued that Botticelli did not treat these qualities as ends in themselves—rather, that he emphasized clear depletion of a story, a unique achievement and one that made the traditional Florentine qualities less central. Because of Home's emphasis crucial to any study of art, the twentieth century has come to appreciate Botticelli's achievements.
1. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A.The Role of Standard Art Analyses and Appraisals.
B.Sandro Botticelli: From Rejection to Appreciation.