TEM4专四阅读理解专项练习
A Wise Man
He was a funny looking man with a cheerful face and a good-natured talker. He was described by his student, the great philosopher Plato, as \man was condemned to death for his beliefs.
The man was the Greek philosopher, Socrates, and he was condemned for not believing in the recognized god and for corrupting young people. The second charge stemmed from his association with numerous young men who came to Athens from all over the civilized world to study under him.
Socrates' method of teaching was ask question and, by pretending not to know the answers, to press his students into thinking for themselves. His teachings had influence, Socrates himself never wrote a word.
Socrates encouraged new ideas and free thinking in the young, and this was frightening to the conservative people. They wanted him silenced. Yet, many were probably surprised that he accepted death so readily.
Socrates had the right to ask for a lesser penalty, and he probably could have won over enough of the people who had previously condemned him. But Socrates, as a firm believer in law, reasoned that it was proper to submit to the death sentence. So, he calmly accepted his fate and drank a cup of poison hemlock in the presence of his grief-stricken friends and students.
In the first paragraph, the word yet is used to introduce _____. A. contrast. B. a sequence. C. emphasis. D. an example.
Socrates was condemned to death because he _____. A. firmly believed in law. B. was a philosopher.
C. published outspoken articles. D. advocated original opinions.
By mentioning that Socrates himself never wrote anything, the writer implies that _____. A. it was surprising that Socrates was so famous.
B. Socrates was not so learned as he is reputed to have been. C. Socrates used the work of his students in teaching.
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D. that authorities refused to publish Socrates' works.
Socrates accepted the death penalty to show _____. A. his belief in his students.
B. his contempt for conservatives. C. his recognition of the legal system. D. that he was not afraid of death.
①was condemned to death: 被判为死刑 ②stem from: 产生于;源自于 ③penalty n. 刑法,处罚
④hemlock n. 芹叶钩吻,一种伞状类毒草植物 ⑤grief-stricken adj. 万分悲痛的
---------------------------------------------- 第２篇及上期題解
In England, along a stretch of the northeast coast which gently curves from Northumberland to the estuary of the river Tees, there was a spot, typical of many on that coast, where sea-coal collected richly and effortlessly. This coal was a coarse powder, clean and brilliant. It seemed to bear little resemblance to the large, filthy lumps put on the fire. Although it was coal, it was perfectly clean and it was silently deposited at high tide in a glittering carpet a kilometer long for the local community to gather up.
The gear needed for sea-coaling expeditions was a curious and traditionally proven assortment which never varied from community to community along the entire northeast coastline. Sacks were essential to put the coal in, and string to tie the neck of each sack when it was full. A wooden rake was used to scrape the coal from the beach. The only alternative to the rake was a flat piece of board held in the hand. A flat, broad shovel to lift the raked coal into the bag, completed the portable hardware.
But the most crucial item of equipment was a bicycle, a special kind of rusty, stripped-down model which was the symbol of the sea-coaling craft. A lady's bike was no good because it lacked a crossbar, and that was an essential element in transporting sea-coal. One full sack could be slung through the triangular frame of a man's bike, another over the crossbar and, sometimes even a third on top of that. The beauty of this was that it not only enabled one to move the sea-coal from place to place, but the pressure of the metal bar against the full, wet sacks forced excess water out of the coal while it was being wheeled home. On a good day, the path to the beach was generally a double snailtrack of water that had been forced from each end of a trail of coal sacks.
The difference between the two types of coal was that _____. A) sea coal burnt better B) sea coal was cheaper
C) sea coal was more finely-grained
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D) sea coal came in big piece
Certain equipment was used because _____. A) the people were very traditional
B) it could be made by the communities themselves C) it had proved to be practical
D) the communities had curious habits
Which piece of equipment was not vital to sea-coal collecting? A) A rake. B) A sack.
C) A lady's bike. D) A piece of string.
By using the bicycle _____.
A) the collectors could ride home
B) the coal could be moved easily over the sand C) the collectors could sell more coal D) excess liquid could be removed
上期正確答案是ＡＤＤＣ
需要提到的是第三題:文章第三段最後一句表明蘇格拉底是那麽的著名,那麽有影響力,但從未寫過書.這並不是因爲他沒有學識,或借用學生的作品,也不表示作者對此表示驚訝.那麽,必然是當局對他不滿,因而禁止他出版自己的作品.
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第３篇及上期題解
Greeks, others of the Eastern Mediterranean, and many of those from South America normally stand quite close together when they talk, often moving their faces even closer as they warm up in a conversation. North Americans find this awkward and often back away a few inches. Studies have found that they tend to feel most comfortable at about 21 inches apart. In much of Asia and Africa there is even more space between two speakers in conversation. This greater space subtly lends an air of dignity and respect.
This difference applies also to the closeness with which people sit together, the extent to which they lean over one another in conversation, how they move as they argue or make emphatic point. In the United States, for example, people try to keep their bodies apart even in a crowded elevator; in Paris they take it as it comes!
Although North Americans have a relatively wide \zone\for talking, they communicate a great deal with their hands - not only with gesture but also with touch. They put a
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sympathetic hand on a person's shoulder to demonstrate warmth of feeling or an arm around him in sympathy; they nudge a man in the ribs to emphasize a funny story; they pat an arm in reassurance or stroke a child's head in affection; they readily take someone's arm to help him across a street or direct him along an unfamiliar route. To many people - especially those from Asia or the Moslem countries - such bodily contact is unwelcome, especially if inadvertently done with the left hand. (The left hand carries no special significance in the U.S. Many Americans are simply left-handed and use that hand more.)
In terms of bodily distance, North Americans _____. A) are similar to South Americans B) stand farthest apart
C) feel ill at ease when too close D) move nearer during conversations
For Asians, the comfort zone _____. A) is deliberately determined B) measures 21 inches
C) varies according to status D) implies esteem
The passage mainly concerns _____. A) distance and bodily contact B) body language
C) East and West cultural differences D) hand signals
上期正確答案是: ＣＣＣＤ
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第４篇及上期題解
Do Insects Think?
In a recent book entitled The Psychic Life of Insects, Professor Bouvier says that we must be careful not to credit the little winged fellow with intelligence when they behave in what seems like an intelligent manner. They may be only reacting. I would like to confront the Professor with an instance of reasoning power on the part of an insect which cannot be explained away in any other manner.
During the summer of 1899, while I was at work on my doctoral thesis, we kept a female wasp at our cottage. It was more like a child of our own than a wasp, except that it looked more like a wasp than a child of our own. That was one of the ways we told the difference.
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It was still a young wasp when we got it (thirteen or fifteen years old) and for some time we could not get it to eat or drink, it was so shy. Since it is female we decided to call it Miriam, but soon the children's nickname for it―Pudge―became a fixture, and “Pudge” it was from that time on.
One evening I had been working late in my laboratory fooling around with some gin and other chemicals, and in leaving the room I tripped over a nine of diamonds which someone had left lying on the floor and knocked over my card index which contained the names and addresses of all the larvae worth knowing in North America. The cards went everywhere.
I was too tired to stop to pick them up that night, and went sobbing to bed, just as mad as I could be. As I went, however, I noticed the wasp was flying about in circles over the scattered cards. “Maybe Pudge will pick them up”, I said half laughingly to myself, never thinking for one moment that such would be the case.
When I came down the next morning Pudge was still asleep over in her box, evidently tired out. And well she might have been. For there on the floor lay the cards scattered all about just as I had left them the night before. The faithful little insect had buzzed about all night trying to come to some decision about picking them up and arranging them in the boxes for me, and then had figured out for herself that, as she knew practically nothing of larvae of any sort except wasp larvae, she would probably make more of a mess of rearranging them than if she had left them on the floor for me to fix. It was just too much for her to tackle, and, discouraged, she went over and lay down in her box, where she cried herself to sleep.
If this is not an answer to Professor Bouvier's statement that insects have no reasoning power, I do not know what is.
Professor Bouvier believes that insects _____. A) do not have intelligence
B) behave in an intelligent away C) are capable of reasoning
D) are more intelligent than we thought
On the evening the author fell over, someone _____. A) had moved his card index B) had been playing card games
C) had knocked over his boxes containing cards D) had looked at his collection of diamonds
When he came to the laboratory the next morning, the author _____. A) saw that his cards had already been rearranged B) realized that the wasp had been trying to help C) found evidence of the wasp's intelligence
D) found his index cards still scattered about the room
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