One assumption of rationality is that we cannot know all of the alternatives.（)

at no one who pursued a business career could do without one.

A．Subscription

B．Enrollment

C．Absorption

D．Registration

y accepted today is based on the assumption that drama evolved from ritual. The argument for this view goes as follows. In the beginning, human beings viewed the natural forces of the world, even the season al changes, as unpredictable, and they sought through various means, to control these unknown and feared powers. Those measures which appeared to bring the desired results were then retained and repeated until they hardened into fixed rituals. Eventually stories arose which explained or unveiled the mysteries of the rites. As time passed some rituals were abandoned, but the stories, later called myths, persisted and provided material for art and drama.

Those who believe that drama evolved our of ritual also argue that those rites contained the seed of theater because music, dance, masks, and costumes were almost always used. Furthermore, a suitable site had to be provided for performances, and when the entire community did not participate, a clear division, was usually made between the "acting area" and the "auditorium". In addition, there were per formers, and since considerable importance was attached to avoiding mistakes in the enactment of rites, religious leaders usually assumed that task. Wearing masks and costumes, they often impersonated other people, animals, or supernatural beings, and mined the desired effect—success in hunt or battle, the coming rain, the revival of the Sun —as an actor might. Eventually such dramatic representations were separated from religious activities.

Another theory traces the theater's origin from the human interest in storytelling. According to this view, tales(about the hunt, war, or other feats)are gradually elaborated at first through the use of impersonation, action, and dialogue by a narrator and then through the assumption of each of the roles by a different person. A closely related theory traces theater to those dances that are primarily rhythmical and gymnastic or that are imitations of animal movements and sounds.

What does the passage mainly discuss？

A．The origins of theater

B．The role of ritual in modern dance

C．The improtance of storytelling

D．The variety of early religious activities

hich consumers will spend their money must study consumer behavior. He must obtain data both on resources of consumers and on the motives that tend to encourage or discourage money spending.

If an economist were asked which of three groups borrow most-- people with rising incomes, stable incomes, or declining incomes-- he would probably answer: those With declining incomes. Actually, in the years 1947 - 1950, the answer was: people with rising incomes. People with declining incomes were next and people with stable incomes borrowed the least. This shows us that traditional assumptions about earning and spending are not always reliable. Another traditional assumption is that if people who have money expect prices to go up, they will postpone buying. But research surveys have shown that this is not always true. The expectations of price increases may not stimulate buying. One typical attitude was expressed by the wife of a mechanic in an interview at a time of rising prices. "In a few months," she said, "we'll have to pay more for meat and milky we'll have less to spend on other things." Her family had been planning to buy a new car but they postponed this purchase. Furthermore, the rise in prices that has already taken place may be resented and buyer's resistance may be evoked. This is shown by the following typical comment: "I just don't pay these prices; they are too high."

The investigations mentioned above were carried on in America. Investigations conducted at the same time in Great Britain, however, yielded results that were more in agreement with traditional assumptions about saving and spending patterns. The condition most conducive to spending appears to be price stability. If prices have been stable and people consider that they are reasonable, they are likely to buy. Thus, it appears that the common business policy of maintaining stable prices is based on a correct understanding of consumer psychology.

According to the passage, if the economists want to predict the way consumers will spend their money, they should ______.

A．encourage and discourage the money spending

B．ask the media for help

C．study the data and motive of consumes

D．make close research on the traditional assumption

听力原文： Astronomers have spent hundreds of years searching for signs of life on other planets, using telescopes. When they saw the geography of Mars, they thought they could see canals and that this might be evidence of intelligent life on the planet. More recently, however, spacecraft have been sent to analyze the soil for signs of life. The results were negative and astronomers are now convinced that no life exists on the surface of any other planet in our solar system. To send a spacecraft far beyond our solar system is not realistic because of the huge distances involved.

The only way we are likely to know of its existence is from radio messages unless life comes and visits us. Listening for intelligent life is not a new idea, but the techniques now being used to offer much better chance of success than before. Looking for evidence of life in other solar systems now means using special radio receivers called radio telescopes to listen out for messages. The assumption is that intelligent forms of life would have discovered radio waves and would, like us, be using them to communicate.

Through its research work, astronomers have developed two means of systematically searching for intelligent life. The first method is to select the closet 800 stars like our sun and to direct a radio telescope to scan each one of them for electromagnetic waves. The second way is to survey the entire sky, listening for continuous signals. All this, as well as the chance of discovering that maybe we are not alone in the universe!

(29)

A．Intelligent life.

B．Canals of some kind.

C．Signs of life.

D．Natural resources.

听力原文：M: Are traveling facilities good in the rest of Britain？

W: Well, we've got the railways that connect all our big towns. There're over 13,000 miles of track in Britain. Rail transport provides a very important service to the public, to industry and commerce.

M: What about road transport？ Are your roads good？

W: Yes, they are on the whole. We've got about a quarter of a million miles of roads, and multi-motorways are appearing everywhere. We should have over one thousand miles of motorways soon.

M: Is there a good internal air service in Britain？

W: Well, yes. But it is not as important as our rail and road transport systems.

M: But British air services, the BEA and the BOAC, are world famous, aren't they？

W: Oh yes, our international air services are very good. London Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world.

M: What about travel by sea？

W: As an island people and a trading nation, Britain's seafaring traditions have always been great. We used to have the biggest merchant navy in the world, carrying a third of the world's passengers, you know.

M: But I suppose today sea travel has diminished in importance, hasn't it？

W: It has. But some people still prefer traveling by sea to any other forms of transport.

(20)

A．There are over 1,000 miles of track in Britain.

B．In Britain there are about 250,000 miles of track.

C．There are over 13,000 miles of track in England.

D．In England there are 133,000 miles of track.

hilosophers, it was self-evident that the re is something called human nature, something that constitutes the essence of man. There were various views about what constitutes it, but there was agreement that such an essence exists—that is to say, that there is something by virtue of which man is man. Thus man was defined as a rational being, as a social animal, an animal that can make tools, or a symbol-making animal.

More recently, this traditional view has begun to be questioned. One reason for this change was the increasing emphasis given to the historical approach to man. An examination of the history of humanity suggested that man in our epoch is so different from man in previous times that it seemed unrealistic to assume that men in every age have had in common something that can be called “human nature.” The historical approach was reinforced, particularly in the United States, by studies in the field of cultural anthropology （人类学）. The study of primitive peoples has discovered such a diversity of customs, values, feelings, and thoughts that many anthropologists arrived at the concept that man is born as a blank sheet of paper on which each culture writes its text. Another factor contributing to the tendency to deny the assumption of a fixed human nature was that the concept has so often been abused as a shield behind which the most inhuman acts are committed. In the name of human nature, for example, Aristotle and most thinkers up to the eighteenth century defended slavery. Or in order to prove the rationality and necessity of the capitalist form. of society, scholars have tried to make a case for acquisitiveness, competitiveness, and selfishness as innate （天生的） human traits. Popularly, one refers cynically to “human nature” in accepting the inevitability of such undesirable human behavior. as greed, murder, cheating and lying.

Another reason for skepticism about the concept of human nature probably lies in the influence of evolutionary thinking. Once man came to be seen as developing in the process of evolution, the idea of a substance which is contained in his essence seemed untenable. Yet I believe it is precisely from an evolutionary standpoint that we can expect new insight into the problem of the nature of man.

第31题：The traditional view of “human nature” was strongly challenged by ________.

A．the emergence of the evolutionary theory

B．the historical approach to man

C．new insight into human behavior.

D．the philosophical analysis of slavery

If the assumption about the delay of a new Ice Age is correct, _____.

A．the increased levels of carbon dioxide could warm up the earth more quickly

B．ice would soon cover the southern hemisphere

C．the best way to overcome the cooling effect would be to burn more fuels

D．the greenhouse effect could work to the advantage of the earth

ch kinship organization can no longer serve as an adequate mechanism for carrying out the political functions of the society. The following may be identified as political functions: (1) to protect the society from external threats; (2) to insure order in the society; (3) to resolve conflicts within the society, and (4) to allocate resources of the society.

In simple, homogeneous societies there seems to be widespread agreement on the values that underlie solutions to these social requirements. But complexity implies a measure of diversity of interests and values. Consensus cannot be taken for granted, for solutions that benefit one set of interests may have detrimental effects on another. Questions arise to challenge the assumption that there is a common interest and that universally satisfying solutions to problems can be devised: Whose interests need protection from external threats？ Whose norms provide the basis for order？ Whose interests are served in conflict resolution？ Who gets what in resource allocation？ Order at which price？ Because people at different positions in the social order tend to offer different answers to such questions, choices among alternatives are necessary.

It is obvious, then, that control of the apparatus through which these decisions are made and implemented is of crucial import. The essence of political process is the struggle between individuals and groups with different interests to gain the decision-making power. Power refers to the ability of an individual or group to have its will carried our even in the face of opposition to it. In terms of political functions it means being in a position to determine the answers to questions issuing from social complexity that concern whose interests and values are to be addressed.

Conflict and functional theorists differ in their conceptions of political power. Functionalists assert that only through some concentration of power can collective goals be achieved. They view the state apparatus as a mechanism for accomplishing these positive goals. Conflict theorists, on the other hand, view the state as serving the ruling economic class and see its function as maintaining the dominance of this class.

What is the main topic of this passage？

A．The conception of the political institutions.

B．The difference between conflict and functional theorists.

C．The different positions the people stand in the racial order.

D．The development of political institutions.

a feast at which thousands of guests ate gorged (狼吞虎咽) poultry, seafood and game. Similar celebrations featuring excessive consumption of animal flesh have marked human victories-in war, sport, politics and commerce-since our species learned to control fire. Throughout the developing world today, one of the first things people do as they climb out of poverty is to shift from their peasant diet of mainly grains and beans to one that is rich in pork or beef. Since 1950, per capita consumption of meat around the globe has more doubled.

Meat, it seems, is not just food but reward as well. But in the coming century, that will change. Much as we have awakened to the full economic and social costs of cigarettes, we will find we can no longer subsidize (补助) or ignore the costs of mass-producing cattle, poultry,, pigs, sheep and fish to feed our growing population. These costs include hugely inefficient use of fresh water and land, heavy pollution from livestock feces, rising rates of heart disease and other degenerative illness, and spreading destruction of the forests on which much of our planet's life depends.

First, consider the impact on supplies of fresh water. To produce l kg of feedlot beef requires 7kg of feed grain, which takes 1 000kg of water to grow. Pass up one hamburger, and you'll save as much as water as you save by taking 40 showers with a low-now nozzle (喷嘴). Yet in the U. S. , 70% of all the wheat, corn and other grain produced go to feeding herds of livestock. Around the world, as more water is diverted to raising pigs and chickens instead of producing crops' for direct consumption, millions of wells are going dry, India, China, North Africa and the U. S. are all running freshwater deficits, pumping more from their .aquifers (蓄水层) than rain can replenish. As populations in water scarce regions continue to expand, governments will inevitably act to cut these deficits by shining water to grow food, not feed. The new policies will raise the price of meat to levels unaffordable for any but the rich.

That prospect will doubtlessly provoke protests that direct consumption of grain can't provide the same protein that meat provides. Indeed, it can't. But nutritionists will attest that most people in the richest countries don't need nearly as much protein as we are currently getting from meat, and there are plenty of vegetable sources--including the grains now wasted on feed--that can provide the protein we need.

In the opening paragraph, the author introduces his topic by ______.

A．justifying an assumption

B．giving an example

C．making a comparison

D．explaining a phenomenon

Super-kids and Super Problems

—By David Elkind

Not so long ago, most parents wanted their kids to be like everybody else. They were often as upset if a child were precocious (早熟的) as they were if the child were slow. Precocity was looked upon as being bad for the child's psychological health. The assumption was "early ripe, early rot."

Now that has changed. For many parents today there is no such thing as going too fast, and their major concern is that their child stay ahead of the pack (一群伙伴). Far from presuming that precocity has bad effects psycho logically, they believe that being above the norm brings many benefits. The assumption' is "early ripe, early rich!"

The major consequence of this new parenting psychology is that many contemporary parents are putting tremendous pressure on children to perform. at ever-earlier ages. A first-grade teacher told me that an angry mother screamed at her because she had given the woman's son a "Satisfactory." "How is he ever going to get into M. I.T. if you give him a 'Satisfactory？ '" the mother wailed.

Many parents now enroll their child in prestigious nursery schools as soon as the pregnancy is confirmed. And once the child is old enough, they coach the child for the screening interview. "When they count everything in sight," one nursery school director said, "you know they have been drilled before the interview." Parents believe that only if the child gets into this or that prestigious nursery school will he or she ever have a chance at getting into Harvard, Yale, or Stanford. For the same reason, our elementary schools are suddenly filled with youngsters in enriched and accelerated programs.

It is not just in academic study that children are being pushed harder at ever-earlier ages. Some parents start their preschool children in sports such as tennis and swimming in hopes that they will become Olympic athletes. A young man who attended one of my child development lectures stopped by afterward to ask me a question. He works as a tennis instructor at an exclusive resort hotel in Florida and wanted to know how to motivate his students. When I asked how old they were he told me that they ranged in age from three to five years!

The pressure to make ordinary children exceptional has become almost an epidemic in sports. I had high hopes for soccer, which can be played by all makes and models of children, big, small, and in between. But in most states soccer has become as competitive and selective as baseball, football, and hockey. The star mentality prevails, and the less talented youngster simply doesn't get to participate. Play is out and competition is in.

The pressure for exceptionality is equally powerful at the secondary level. High school students are pressured not only to get good grades but to get into as many advanced-placement classes as possible. Around the country private tutoring centers are sprouting up like dandelions (蒲公英) in the spring, offering lessons in everything from beginning reading to taking college entrance exams. Other parents urge their children to start dating at an early age so that they will have good interpersonal skills and a better chance to win the most eligible mates.

Clearly, there is nothing wrong with wanting children to do their best. It is not the normal, healthy desire of parents to have successful children that is the problem, but the excessive pressure some parents are putting on children.

Why this push for excellence？ Since parents today are having fewer children their chances of having "a child to be proud of" are lower than when families were larger. The cost of child rearing has also increase

A．Y

B．N

C．NG