2014考研英语一冲刺复习预测模拟题：阅读理解（一）

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　　Text 5

　　In studying both the recurrence of special habits or ideas in several districts, and their prevalence within each district, there come before us ever-reiterated proofs of regular causation producing the phenomena of human life, and of laws of maintenance and diffusion conditions of society, at definite stages of culture. But, while giving full importance to the evidence bearing on these standard conditions of society, let us be careful to avoid a pitfall which may entrap the unwary student. Of course, the opinions and habits belonging in common to masses of mankind are to a great extent the results of sound judgment and practical wisdom. But to a great extent it is not so.

　　That many numerous societies of men should have believed in the influence of the evil eye and the existence of a firmament, should have sacrificed slaves and goods to the ghosts of the departed, should have handed down traditions of giants slaying monsters and men turning into beasts—all this is ground for holding that such ideas were indeed produced in men’s minds by efficient causes, but it is not ground for holding that the rites in question are profitable, the beliefs sound, and the history authentic. This may seem at the first glance a truism, but, in fact, it is the denial of a fallacy which deeply affects the minds of all but a small critical minority of mankind. Popularly, what everybody says must be true, what everybody does must be right.

　　There are various topics, especially in history, law, philosophy, and theology, where even the educated people we live among can hardly be brought to see that the cause why men do hold an opinion, or practise a custom, is by no means necessarily a reason why they ought to do so. Now collections of ethnographic evidence, bringing so prominently into view the agreement of immense multitudes of men as to certain traditions, beliefs, and usages, are peculiarly liable to be thus improperly used in direct defense of these institutions themselves, even old barbaric nations being polled to maintain their opinions against what are called modern ideas.

　　As it has more than once happened to myself to find my collections of traditions and beliefs thus set up to prove their own objective truth, without proper examination of the grounds on which they were actually received, I take this occasion of remarking that the same line of argument will serve equally well to demonstrate, by the strong and wide consent of nations, that the earth is flat, and night-mare the visit of a demon.

　　1. The author’s attitude towards the phenomena mentioned at the beginning of the text is one of _____.

　　[A] skepticism [B] approval [C] indifference [D] disgust

　　2. By “But to...it is not so”(Line 7) the author implies that _____.

　　[A] most people are just followers of new ideas

　　[B] even sound minds may commit silly errors

　　[C] the popularly supported may be erroneous

　　[D] nobody is immune to the influence of errors

　　3. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the statement “There are various... to do so” (Line 17-20)?

　　[A] Principles of history and philosophy are hard to deal with.

　　[B] People like to see what other people do for their own model.

　　[C] The educated are more susceptible to errors in their daily life.

　　[D] That everyone does the same may not prove they are all right.

　　4. Which of the following did the author probably suggest?

　　[A] Support not the most supported.

　　[B] Deny everything others believe.

　　[C] Throw all tradition into trashcan.

　　[D] Keep your eyes open all the time.

　　5. The author develops his writing mainly by means of _____.

　　[A] reasoning [B] examples [C] comparisons [D] quotations

　　Text 6

　　The provision of positive incentives to work in the new society will not be an easy task. But the most difficult task of all is to devise the ultimate and final sanction to replace the ultimate sanction of hunger—the economic whip of the old dispensation. Moreover, in a society which rightly rejects the pretence of separating economics from politics and denies the autonomy of the economic order, that sanction can be found only in some conscious act of society. We can no longer ask the invisible hand to do our dirty work for us.

　　I confess that I am less horror-struck than some people at the prospect, which seems to me unavoidable, of an ultimate power of what is called direction of labour resting in some arm of society, whether in an organ of state or of trade union s. I should indeed be horrified if I identified this prospect with a return to the conditions of the pre-capitalist era. The economic whip of laissez-faire undoubtedly represented an advance on the serf-like conditions of that period: in that relative sense, the claim of capitalism to have established for the first time a system of “free” labour deserves respect. But the direction of labour as exercised in Great Britain in the Second World War seems to me to represent as great an advance over the economic whip of the heyday of capitalist private enterprise as the economic whip represented over pre-capitalist serfdom.

　　Much depends on the effectiveness of the positive incentives, much, too, on the solidarity and self-discipline of the community. After all, under the system of laissez-faire capitalism the fear of hunger remained an ultimate sanction rather than a continuously operative force. It would have been intolerable if the worker had been normally driven to work by conscious fear of hunger; nor, except in the early and worst days of the Industrial Revolution, did that normally happen. Similarly in the society of the future the power of direction should be regarded not so much as an instrument of daily use but rather as an ultimate sanction held in reserve where voluntary methods fail. It is inconceivable that, in any period or in any conditions that can now be foreseen, any organ of state in Great Britain would be in a position, even if it had the will, to marshal and deploy the labour force over the whole economy by military discipline like an army in the field. This, like other nightmares of a totally planned economy, can be left to those who like to frighten themselves and others with scarecrows.

　　1. The word “sanction”(Line 2, Paragraph 1) is closest in meaning to______.

　　[A] corrective measures [B] encouraging methods

　　[C] preventive efforts [D] revolutionary actions

　　2. Which of the following is implied in the first paragraph?

　　[A] People used to be forced to work under whips.

　　[B] The author dislikes the function of politics in economy.

　　[C] Incentives are always less available than regulations.

　　[D] People have an instinct of working less and getting more.

　　3. The author’s attitudes towards future, as is indicated in the beginning of the second paragraph, is one of______.

　　[A] reluctant acceptance [B] sheer pessimism

　　[C] mild optimism [D] extreme hopefulness

　　4. The author of the text seems to oppose the idea of______.