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Text I [2006, RC Text 1]
In spite of "endless talk of difference," American society is an amazing machine for homogenizing people. There is "the democratizing uniformity of dress and discourse, and the casualness and absence of deference" characteristic of popular culture. People are absorbed into "a culture of consumption" launched by the 19th-century department stores that offered "vast arrays of goods in an elegant atmosphere. Instead of intimate shops catering to a knowledgeable elite" these were stores "anyone could enter, regardless of class or background. This turned shopping into a public and democratic act." The mass media, advertising and sports are other forces for homogenization.
Immigrants are quickly fitting into this common culture, which may not be altogether elevating but is hardly poisonous. Writing for the National Immigration Forum, Gregory Rodriguez reports that today’s immigration is neither at unprecedented levels nor resistant to assimilation. In 1998 immigrants were 9.8 percent of the population; in 1900, 13.6 percent. In the 10 years prior to 1990, 3.1 immigrants arrived for every 1,000 residents; in the 10 years prior to 1890, 9.2 for every 1,000. Now, consider three indices of assimilation -- language, home ownership and intermarriage.
The 1990 Census revealed that "a majority of immigrants from each of the fifteen most common countries of origin spoke English ‘well’ or ‘very well’ after ten years of residence." The children of immigrants tend to be bilingual and proficient in English. "By the third generation, the original language is lost in the majority of immigrant families." Hence the description of America as a "graveyard" for languages. By 1996 foreign-born immigrants who had arrived before 1970 had a home ownership rate of 75.6 percent, higher than the 69.8 percent rate among native-born Americans.
Foreign-born Asians and Hispanics "have higher rates of intermarriage than do U.S.-born whites and blacks." By the third generation, one third of Hispanic women are married to non-Hispanics, and 41 percent of Asian-American women are married to non-Asians.
Rodriguez notes that children in remote villages around the world are fans of superstars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Garth Brooks, yet "some Americans fear that immigrants living within the United States remain somehow immune to the nation’s assimilative power."
Are there divisive issues and pockets of seething anger in America? Indeed. It is big enough to have a bit of everything. But particularly when viewed against America’s turbulent past, today’s social indices hardly suggest a dark and deteriorating social environment. (400 words)
Notes: homogenize vt. 使匀质。
uniformity n. 千篇一律，无变化。discourse n. 讲演；会话；论文。deference n. 遵从，服从，顺从。an array of (=arrays of) 一系列；大量。elegant adj. 高雅的。cater to v. 迎合；满足。regardless of 不管，不顾。fit into 适合；符合。elevating adj. 提高思想修养的。poisonous adj. 有毒的；败坏道德的。forum n. 论坛。unprecedented adj. 前所未有的。prior to 在…以前。index n. [pl.] indices(=indexes) 索引；指数；标志。 intermarriage n.（种族、宗教等之间的）通婚。countries of origin 起源国。bilingual adj. 能说两种语的。proficient adj. 精通的，熟练的。graveyard n. 墓地，坟场。Hispanic n. 西班牙的；拉丁美洲的（说西班牙语的）。seethe vi. 因 … 而骚动。
1. The word "homogenizing" (Line 1, Paragraph 1) most probably means
[A] identifying. [B] associating. [C] assimilating. [D] monopolizing.
2. According to the author, the department stores of the 19th century
[A] played a role in the spread of popular culture. [B] became intimate shops for common consumers.
[C] satisfied the needs of a knowledgeable elite. [D] owed its emergence to the culture of consumption.
3. The text suggests that immigrants now in the U.S.
[A] are resistant to homogenization. [B] exert a great influence on American culture.
[C] are hardly a threat to the common culture. [D] constitute the majority of the population.
4. Why are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Garth Brooks mentioned in Paragraph 5?
[A] To prove their popularity around the world. [B] To reveal the public's fear of immigrants.
[C] To give examples of successful immigrants. [D] To show the powerful influence of American culture.
5. In the author’s opinion, the absorption of immigrants into American society is
[A] rewarding. [B] successful. [C] fruitless. [D] harmful.
Text 2 [2005, RC Text 1]
Everybody loves a fat pay rise. Yet pleasure at your own can vanish if you learn that a colleague has been given a bigger one. Indeed, if he has a reputation for slacking, you might even be outraged. Such behaviour is regarded as “all too human", with the underlying assumption that other animals would not be capable of this finely developed sense of grievance. But a study by Sarah Brosnan and Frans de Waal of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, which has just been published in Nature,suggests that it is all too monkey, as well.
The researchers studied the behaviour of female brown capuchin monkeys. They look cute. They are good-natured, co-operative creatures, and they share their food readily. Above all, like their female human counterparts, they tend to pay much closer attention to the value of “goods and services” than males.
Such characteristics make them perfect candidates for Dr. Brosnan's and Dr. de Waal's study. The researchers spent two years teaching their monkeys to exchange tokens for food. Normally, the monkeys were happy enough to exchange pieces of rock for slices of cucumber. However, when two monkeys were placed in separate but adjoining chambers, so that each could observe what the other was getting in return for its rock, their behaviour became markedly different.
In the world of capuchins, grapes are luxury goods (and much preferable to cucumbers). So when one monkey was handed a grape in exchange for her token, the second was reluctant to hand hers over for a mere piece of cucumber. And if one received a grape without having to provide her token in exchange at all, the other either tossed her own token at the researcher or out of the chamber, or refused to accept the slice of cucumber. Indeed, the mere presence of a grape in the other chamber (without an actual monkey to eat it) was enough to induce resentment in a female capuchin.
The researchers suggest that capuchin monkeys, like humans, are guided by social emotions. In the wild, they are a co-operative, group-living species. Such co-operation is likely to be stable only when each animal feels it is not being cheated. Feelings of righteous indignation, it seems, are not the preserve of people alone. Refusing a lesser reward completely makes these feelings abundantly clear to other members of the group. However, whether such a sense of fairness evolved independently in capuchins and humans, or whether it stems from the common ancestor that the species had 35 million years ago, is, as yet, an unanswered question. (426 words)
1. In the opening paragraph, the author introduces his topic by
[A] posing a contrast. [B] justifying an assumption.
[C] making a comparison. [D] explaining a phenomenon.
2. The statement "it is all too monkey" (Last line, Paragraph-1) implies that
[A] monkeys are also outraged by slack rivals.
[B] resenting unfairness is also monkeys' nature.
[C] monkeys, like humans, tend to be jealous of each other.
[D] no animals other than monkeys can develop such emotions.
3. Female capuchin monkeys were chosen for the research most probably because they are
[A] more inclined to weigh what they get. [B] attentive to researchers' instructions.
[C] nice in both appearance and temperament. [D] more generous than their male companions.
4. Dr. Brosnan and Dr. de Waal have eventually found in their study that the monkeys
[A] prefer grapes to cucumbers. [B] can be taught to exchange things.
[C] will not be co-operative if feeling cheated. [D] are unhappy when separated from others.
5. What can we infer from the last paragraph?
[A] Monkeys can be trained to develop social emotions.
[B] Human indignation evolved from an uncertain source.
[C] Animals usually show their feelings openly as humans do.
[D] Cooperation among monkeys remains stable only in the wild.
Text 3
The war on drugs in the United States is an escalating battle that has, as of recent times, reached unprecedented levels. In every city and state across the nation, law enforcement officials are working around the clock to eradicate the illegal use, possession and distribution of controlled substances at all levels of society. The increasing devotion of resources and efforts to the battle has achieved mixed results.
A growing amount of money is being devoted to the funding of the war on drugs as time progresses. At last count, 19.2 billion dollars was being spent annually on the ongoing struggle, consisting of pay for law enforcement officials, education, treatment and other uses. This staggering amount translates into a stunning 609 dollars per second.
Results are being achieved. An arrest for drug-related offenses occurs every 20 seconds, and 648 people are put in prison
every day on drug-related charges. These numbers illustrate the prevailing tactic used by the U.S. government in the war against drugs – going after the people supporting the industry. By removing both the suppliers and purchasers of illegal drugs, it is hoped that the industry will collapse by itself, through the elimination of supply and demand.
Aside from directly arresting those individuals responsible for the selling and purchasing of illegal drugs, the United States has also embarked on a campaign to take away the tools by which the drugs are used, primarily in the form of needles. To this end, there has been a recent federal ban on needle exchanges intended to restrict access to the tools necessary for the use of some illegal drugs.
This program has drawn harsh criticism, however, as it has resulted in the use and reuse of unsanitary needles, possibly contributing to the number of AIDS infections in drug users who would otherwise have avoided infection by using sterile needles that could have been provided, but for the federal ban. According to a study conducted by the AIDS Prevention Studies Center of the University of California at San Francisco, 4000 new infections of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, could be avoided per year if the federal ban on needle exchanges was lifted. This translates into more than 10 new cases of HIV avoided per day, a figure that causes one to pause and consider whether the war on drugs is being fought in the best manner possible. (395 words)
本文重点词汇和词组：escalating 逐步升级的；as of 从…起；around the clock日日夜夜； eradicate 根除；杜绝；staggering大得惊人的；stunning令人震惊的；go after追捕；sterile 消毒过的；embark on 着手，从事；but for 要不是…的话；HIV (=human immunodeficiency virus) 人免疫力缺乏病毒（艾滋病病毒）；lift vt. 撤消，解除。
1. By referring to “mixed results” in paragraph 1, the author most probably intends to mean ________.
A. all sorts of successes B. confused consequences
C. positive and negative effects D. significant and pleasing outcome
2. The author outlines the government’s strategy in the war on drugs in paragraph 3 to ________.
A. support the main view presented in the text
B. show that this strategy is the most effective
C. discredit later the strategy in subsequent paragraphs
D. explain why the statistics cited are relevant and important
3. The author brings up the issue of HIV and AIDS infections in paragraph 5 in order to ________.
A. illustrate another social issue that is not receiving enough attention
B. identify one group of people whom the war on drugs is indirectly affecting
C. illustrate an issue that must be taken seriously while fighting the war on drugs
D. identify one of the main motivations for the current strategy in the war on drugs
4. The author’s opinion of the ongoing war on drugs is one of ________.
A. strong disapproval B. critical support C. reluctant opposition D. silent consent
5. The main point of this text is to ________.
A. convince the reader that the war on drugs is being won
B. state the harmfulness of drugs and support the war on them
C. highlight the importance of launching a battle against drugs
D. inform the reader of the current status of the war on drugs
Text 4（课外阅读） [2003 RC Text 1]
Wild Bill Donovan would have loved the Internet. The American spymaster who built the Office of Strategic Services in World War II and later laid the roots for the CIA was fascinated with information. Donovan believed in using whatever tools came to hand in the “great game” of espionage -- spying as a “profession.” These days the Net, which has already re-made such everyday pastimes as buying books and sending mail, is reshaping Donovan’s vocation as well.
The latest revolution isn’t simply a matter of gentlemen reading other gentlemen’s e-mail. That kind of electronic spying has been going on for decades. In the past three or four years, the World Wide Web has given birth to a whole industry of point-and-click spying. The spooks call it “open source intelligence,” and as the Net grows, it is becoming increasingly influential. In 1995 the CIA held a contest to see who could compile the most data about Burundi. The winner, by a large margin, was a tiny Virginia company called Open Source Solutions, whose clear advantage was its mastery of the electronic world.
Among the firms making the biggest splash in this new world is Straitford, Inc., a private intelligence-analysis firm based in Austin, Texas. Straitford makes money by selling the results of spying (covering Chile and Russia) to corporations like energy-services firm McDermott International. Many of its predictions are available online at www.straitford.com.
Straitford president George Friedman says he sees the online world as a kind of mutually reinforcing tool for both information collection and distribution, a spymaster’s dream. Last week his firm was busy vacuuming up data bits from the far corners of the world and predicting a crisis in Ukraine. “As soon as that report runs, we’ll suddenly get 500 new Internet sign-ups from Ukraine,” says Friedman, a former political science professor. “And we’ll hear back from some of them.” Open-source spying does have its risk, of course, since it can be difficult to tell good information from bad. That’s where Straitford earns its keep.
Friedman relies on a lean staff of 20 in Austin. Several of his staff members have military intelligence backgrounds. He sees the firm’s outsider status as the key to its success. Straitford briefs don’t sound like usual Washington back-and-forthing, whereby agencies avoid dramatic declarations on the chance they might be wrong. Straitford, says Friedman, takes pride in its independent voice. (396 words)
1. The emergence of the Net has __________.
A. received support from fans like Donovan B. remolded the intelligence services
C. restored many common pastimes D. revived spying as a profession
2. Donovan’s story is mentioned in the text to ________.
A. introduce the topic of online spying B. show how he fought for the U.S.
C. give an episode of the information war D. honor his unique services to the CIA
3. The phrase ‘making the biggest splash’ (line 1, paragraph 3) most probably means _________.
A. causing the biggest trouble B. exerting the greatest effort
C. achieving the greatest success D. enjoying the widest popularity
4. It can be learned from paragraph 4 that _________.
A. Straitford’s prediction about Ukraine has proved true B. Straitford guarantees the truthfulness of its information
C. Straitford’s business is characterized by unpredictability D. Straitford is able to provide fairly reliable information
5. Straitford is most proud of its __________.
A. official status B. nonconformist image
C. efficient staff D. military background
Text 2 Word Study
1. slack adj. 1)松的，松驰的，宽松的：A rope is slack if it hasn’t been pulled tight. (如果一根绳子没有拉紧，那它是松的。) 2)松懈的，马虎的：A slack person is one who does things carelessly. (一个马虎的人是一个做事粗枝大叶的人。) 3)缓慢的：The horse was moving at a slack pace. (这匹马以缓慢的步伐走着。) 4) 生意清淡，萧条：Business is slack at this season. (在这个季节生意清淡萧条。) vt. 1)放松；使缓慢：Slack the rope before trying to unite the knot. (在试图打结之前请把这条绳子放松。) The train slacked off it speed as it came into the station. (这列火车进站时，它放慢了速度。) 2) vi.马虎，懈怠：He was scolded for slacking. (他由于马虎而挨骂。)
2. outrage vt. (=shock or offend sb.; upset greatly) 震骇；触犯；使气愤：outrage public opinion 违反民意。They were outraged by the announcement of massive price increases. (物价大幅上涨的消息一公布，他们气愤填膺。) n. 1)残暴行为，罪行：The use of H-bombs would be an outrage against humanity. (使用氢弹是反人类的残暴行为。) 2)愤怒：The farmers felt outrage at the attack on their villages. (农民们对进攻他们的村庄感到愤怒。) 同根词outrageous adj. 愤怒的；残暴的；令人反感的：outrageous behavior令人愤怒的行为。
3. all too 实在太：The holidays were all too short.（假期实在太短了。） The day passed all too quickly.（这天过得实在太快了。）
4. grieve vi./vt. 悲痛，难过；伤心：I shall not grieve at his death. (他死我不会悲痛。) I was grieved to see the change in my old friend. (我伤心地看到我老朋友的这种变化。) grief n. 悲痛；悲痛的事：My mother is overcome with grief. (我母亲悲痛欲极。) His wild behavior was a grief to his parents. (他的粗野行为使他父母很伤心。) 同根词grievous adj. 令人悲痛的；极严重的。 grievance n. 不满意见，苦情，牢骚；抱怨不平：He won’t listen to our grievance.
5. above all (=most important)最重要的。
6. exchange 交换；交流：to exchange experience 交流经验。to exchange views交流观点看法。exchange… for…把…换成…：Where can I exchange dollars for pounds? (我在哪里能把美元换成英镑？) exchange … with 和…交换：He exchanged seats with me. (他与我交换座位。) n. 交换；交流：a secret exchange of messages 秘密交换信息。foreign exchange reserves外汇储备。词组：in exchange for 作为交换：I took his watch in exchange for my camera. (我拿了他的手表换我的相机。)
7. in return for 作为…的回报；以答谢：I’m sending him a present in return for all his kindness to us. (我将寄给他一件礼品以答谢他对我们的好意。)
8. adjoin vt. 与…相邻。markedly 显着地，明显地。toss vt. (=throw sth. lightly)轻扔，掷。induce vt. (=persuade or influence sb to do sth.)引诱，诱发，诱惑。stem from (=come from)来自。as yet (=so far) 至今。
Text 3 Word Study
precede vi./ vt. 在…之前，在…前面：The Greek civilization preceded the Roman one. (希腊文明先于罗马文明。) 2) They came into the room preceded by a small dog. (一条小狗在前面，他们走进房间。) 3) A major precedes a captain. (少校的职位比大尉高。) 4) He preceded his speech with a warning against inattention. (他讲话以前先警告听众不要心不在焉。)
同根词： precedence n. 时间上在前。用于成语：give precedence over 给予优先地位: This task must be given precedence over all others. (这项任务应放在其它所有任务之前。) take precedence over 比…重要：Some say Shakespeare takes precedence over all other writers. (有人说，莎士比亚的地位比其他所有作家高。)
precedent n. 先例：If he is allowed to do this, it will be a precedent for others. (如果允许他这样做，那对于其他人来说是个先例。) 用于成语：set a precedent 开…的先例: She set a precedent as the first woman executive in the company. (她开了先例当公司的首任经理。) without precedent 没有先例：It is something without precedent in history.
preceding adj. 前面的：I remember the war but nothing of the preceding years. (我记得这场战争，但对战前岁月记忆中荡然无存。) precedented：有先例的；unprecedented 史无前例的，空前的。
Text 4 Word Study
1. by a … margin 以…之差：1) We won the game by a large/narrow margin. 2) He won the election by only one vote margin. (他只靠一票之差赢了这次选举。)
2. make a splash 引人注目，引起轰动：She has made quite a splash in literary circles with her first book. （她的第一本书在文学界大为轰动。）
3. earn one’s keep 挣钱养活自己：When you earn your keep, you will be able to do many things that your parents cannot afford to let you do now. (等你自己挣钱时，你就可以做许多目前你父母没有力量同意你做的事。)earn one’s living (=earn one’s livelihood) 挣钱糊口，谋生。
4. lean vi/vt. 倚，靠；倾，倾斜： 1) He leaned against the wall. (他背靠着墙。) 2) They came to Pisa and saw the leaning tower. (他们来到比萨并看到了斜塔。) 3) Lean your head on my shoulder. (把你的头靠在我的肩上。)
同根词：leaning n. 倾向，偏好: 1) Their leanings are towards education for everyone. 2) He has a leaning towards music.
lean adj. 瘦而肌肉结实的；贫乏的；歉收的：a lean horse; lean crops (歉收)；a lean year (荒年)；a lean staff (人员单薄)。
5. on the chance of (或that) 怀着…的希望，期望…：1) Go ahead with the printing on the chance that no major correction may prove necessary. （开印吧，希望将来不需要有重大的勘误。） 2) I’ll call at his office on the chance of seeing him before he leaves. （我将到他办公室去拜访他，希望能在他下班前见到他。）
6. take pride in … 以…而自豪：1) Don’t take pride in your son. 2) He took (a) great pride in being a member of the club.
pride oneself on sth./doing sth. 以…而自豪：She prides herself on her skill as a gardener. |
