Most societies derive consensus from a long history, a language all their own, a common religion, common ancestry. The myths by which they live are based on all of these. But the United States is a country of immigrants, coming from a great variety of nations. Lately, it has been emphasized that an asocial(反社會的), narcissistic (自戀) personality has become characteristic of Americans, and that it is this type of personality that prevents us from achieving consensus that would counteract a tendency to withdraw into private worlds. In his study of narcissism, Christopher Lasch says that modern man, “tortured by self-consciousness, turns to new therapies not to free himself of his personal worries but to find meaning and purpose in life, to find something to live for”. There is widespread distress because national morale has declined, and we have lost an earlier sense of national vision and purpose.
Contrary to rigid religions or political beliefs, as are found in totalitarian (極權(quán)主義的) societies, our culture is one of great individual differences, at least in principle and in theory. But this leads to disunity, even chaos. Americans believe in the value of diversity, but just because ours is a society based on individual diversity, it needs consensus about some dominating ideas more than societies based on uniform origin of their citizens. Hence, if we are to have consensus, it must be based on a myth—a vision—about a common experience, a conquest that made us Americans, as the myth about the conquest of Troy formed the Greeks. Only a common myth can offer relief from the fear that life is without meaning or purpose. Myths permit us to examine our place in the world by comparing it to a shared idea. Myths are shared fantasies that form the tie that binds the individual to other members of his group. Such myths help to fight off feelings of isolation, guilt, anxiety, and purposelessness—in short, they combat isolation and the breakdown of social standards and values.
36. In the author’s view, the greatest trouble with the US society lies in the .
［A］ lack of serious disagreement over the organizations of social life
［B］ non-existence of unanimity on the forms the society should take
［C］ general denying of its conformity with what it was unexpected to be
［D］ public negation of the consensus on how to conduct social reforms
37. Homer’s epics mentioned intend to exemplify the fact that .
［A］ the present is varying too fast to be caught up easily
［B］ the future may be so indefinite as to be unpredictable
［C］ the past can help to shape a consensus in the present
［D］ the past determines social moralities for later generations
38. The asocial personality of Americans results from .
［A］ the multiracial composition of the US society
［B］ the absence of a common religion and ancestry
［C］ the want of shared myths they possess in life
［D］ the obstruction of achieving a general agreement
39. It can be inferred from the text that Christopher Lasch is most probably .
［A］ an earnest nationalist ［B］ an advanced psychologist
［C］ a radical reformer ［D］ a social historian
40. The author concludes that only shared myths can help Americans to .
［A］ bring about the uniformity of their culture
［B］ diminish their great individual differences
［C］ avoid the sense of being isolated and anxious
［D］ regain the feelings of social values and morale
Part B
Directions:
The following paragraphs are given in a wrong order for Questions 41-45, you are required to reorganize these paragraphs into a coherent article by choosing from the list A-G to fill in each numbered box. The first and the last paragraphs have been placed for you in Boxes. Mark your answers on Answer Sheet 1. (10 points)
［A］ Concerned citizens and scientists have begun to take action. A wide range of solutions is being proposed to stop the destruction of biodiversity at the regional as well as the global level. Since 1985, the effort has become more precisely charted, economically efficient, and politically sensitive.
［B］ The new biodiversity studies will lead logically to an electronic encyclopedia of life designed to organize and make immediately available everything known about each of the millions of species. The industrialized countries will lead for a time. However, the bulk of the work must eventually be done in the developing countries. The latter contains most of the world餾 species, and they are destined to benefit soonest from the research. The technology needed is relatively inexpensive, and its transfer can be accomplished quickly. The discoveries generated can be applied directly to meet the concerns of greatest importance to the geographic region in which the research is conducted, being equally relevant to agriculture, medicine, and economic growth.
［C］ In the midst of this richness of life forms, however, the rate of species extinction is rising, chiefly through habitat destruction. Most serious of all is the conversion of tropical rainforests, where most species of animals and plants live. The rate has been estimated, by two independent methods, to fall between 100 and 10,000 times the pre-human background rate, with 1,000 times being the most widely accepted figure. The price ultimately to be paid for this cataclysm is beyond measure in foregone scientific knowledge; new pharmaceutical and other products; ecosystems services such as water purification and soil renewal; and, not least, aesthetic and spiritual benefits.
［D］ Since the current hierarchical, binomial classification was introduced by Carolus Linnaeus 250 years ago, 10 percent, at a guess, of the species of organisms have been described. It is believed that most and perhaps nearly all of the remaining 90 percent can be discovered, diagnosed, and named in as little as about 25 years. That potential is the result of two developments needed to accelerate biodiversity studies.
［E］ The increasing attention given to the biodiversity crisis highlights the inadequacy of biodiversity research itself. Earth remains in this respect a relatively unexplored planet. The total number of described and formally named species of organisms has grown, but not by much, and today is generally believed to lie somewhere between 1.5 million and 1.8 million. The full number, including species yet to be discovered, has been estimated in various accounts that differ according to assumptions and methods from an improbably low 3.5 million to an improbably high 100 million. By far the greatest fraction of the unknown species will be insects and microorganisms.
［F］ The past decade has witnessed the emergence of a much clearer picture of the magnitude of the biodiversity problem. Put simply, the biosphere has proved to be more diverse than was earlier supposed, especially in the case of small microorganisms. An entire domain of life, the Archaea, has been distinguished from the bacteria, and a huge, still mostly unknown and energetically independent environment has been found to extend three kilometers or more below the surface of Earth.
［G］ The first is information technology, with which high-resolution digitized images of specimens can now be obtained. Moreover, type specimens, scattered in museums around the world can now be photographed and made instantly available everywhere as “e瞭ypes” on the Internet. The second revolution about to catapult biodiversity studies forward is genomics, which will soon enable scientists to describe bacterial and archaean species by partial DNA sequences and to subsequently identify them by genetic bar-coding.
F→41. →42. →43. →44. →45. →B
Part C
Directions：
Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be written clearly on Answer Sheet 2. (10 points)
Education begins with teachers. Yet teaching seems to be losing its appeal for many of the best and brightest college students: in high school, many of the best students decide that they want to be teachers, but their relatives and friends soon convince them to change their minds. (46) According to several recent reports on the shortcomings of American public schooling, teaching’s lack of appeal for the brightest college students is one of the teaching profession’s most worrisome problems.
Many articles on teaching, currently popular in newspapers, magazines, and professional education journals, concentrate on the negative aspects of teaching; the expression “teacher burnout” is commonly ascribed to thousands of thoughtful and dedicated teachers who are leaving the profession. (47) Teacher burnout is caused by such problems as violence in the classroom, vandalism(肆意破壞行為), inadequate salaries, involuntary transfers, interfering parents, oversized classes, and excessive paperwork. Even the best teachers cannot solve a child’s problems, but many of them believe the public expects them to, and they give up teaching in despair.
Contrary to rigid religions or political beliefs, as are found in totalitarian (極權(quán)主義的) societies, our culture is one of great individual differences, at least in principle and in theory. But this leads to disunity, even chaos. Americans believe in the value of diversity, but just because ours is a society based on individual diversity, it needs consensus about some dominating ideas more than societies based on uniform origin of their citizens. Hence, if we are to have consensus, it must be based on a myth—a vision—about a common experience, a conquest that made us Americans, as the myth about the conquest of Troy formed the Greeks. Only a common myth can offer relief from the fear that life is without meaning or purpose. Myths permit us to examine our place in the world by comparing it to a shared idea. Myths are shared fantasies that form the tie that binds the individual to other members of his group. Such myths help to fight off feelings of isolation, guilt, anxiety, and purposelessness—in short, they combat isolation and the breakdown of social standards and values.
36. In the author’s view, the greatest trouble with the US society lies in the .
［A］ lack of serious disagreement over the organizations of social life
［B］ non-existence of unanimity on the forms the society should take
［C］ general denying of its conformity with what it was unexpected to be
［D］ public negation of the consensus on how to conduct social reforms
37. Homer’s epics mentioned intend to exemplify the fact that .
［A］ the present is varying too fast to be caught up easily
［B］ the future may be so indefinite as to be unpredictable
［C］ the past can help to shape a consensus in the present
［D］ the past determines social moralities for later generations
38. The asocial personality of Americans results from .
［A］ the multiracial composition of the US society
［B］ the absence of a common religion and ancestry
［C］ the want of shared myths they possess in life
［D］ the obstruction of achieving a general agreement
39. It can be inferred from the text that Christopher Lasch is most probably .
［A］ an earnest nationalist ［B］ an advanced psychologist
［C］ a radical reformer ［D］ a social historian
40. The author concludes that only shared myths can help Americans to .
［A］ bring about the uniformity of their culture
［B］ diminish their great individual differences
［C］ avoid the sense of being isolated and anxious
［D］ regain the feelings of social values and morale
Part B
Directions:
The following paragraphs are given in a wrong order for Questions 41-45, you are required to reorganize these paragraphs into a coherent article by choosing from the list A-G to fill in each numbered box. The first and the last paragraphs have been placed for you in Boxes. Mark your answers on Answer Sheet 1. (10 points)
［A］ Concerned citizens and scientists have begun to take action. A wide range of solutions is being proposed to stop the destruction of biodiversity at the regional as well as the global level. Since 1985, the effort has become more precisely charted, economically efficient, and politically sensitive.
［B］ The new biodiversity studies will lead logically to an electronic encyclopedia of life designed to organize and make immediately available everything known about each of the millions of species. The industrialized countries will lead for a time. However, the bulk of the work must eventually be done in the developing countries. The latter contains most of the world餾 species, and they are destined to benefit soonest from the research. The technology needed is relatively inexpensive, and its transfer can be accomplished quickly. The discoveries generated can be applied directly to meet the concerns of greatest importance to the geographic region in which the research is conducted, being equally relevant to agriculture, medicine, and economic growth.
［C］ In the midst of this richness of life forms, however, the rate of species extinction is rising, chiefly through habitat destruction. Most serious of all is the conversion of tropical rainforests, where most species of animals and plants live. The rate has been estimated, by two independent methods, to fall between 100 and 10,000 times the pre-human background rate, with 1,000 times being the most widely accepted figure. The price ultimately to be paid for this cataclysm is beyond measure in foregone scientific knowledge; new pharmaceutical and other products; ecosystems services such as water purification and soil renewal; and, not least, aesthetic and spiritual benefits.
［D］ Since the current hierarchical, binomial classification was introduced by Carolus Linnaeus 250 years ago, 10 percent, at a guess, of the species of organisms have been described. It is believed that most and perhaps nearly all of the remaining 90 percent can be discovered, diagnosed, and named in as little as about 25 years. That potential is the result of two developments needed to accelerate biodiversity studies.
［E］ The increasing attention given to the biodiversity crisis highlights the inadequacy of biodiversity research itself. Earth remains in this respect a relatively unexplored planet. The total number of described and formally named species of organisms has grown, but not by much, and today is generally believed to lie somewhere between 1.5 million and 1.8 million. The full number, including species yet to be discovered, has been estimated in various accounts that differ according to assumptions and methods from an improbably low 3.5 million to an improbably high 100 million. By far the greatest fraction of the unknown species will be insects and microorganisms.
［F］ The past decade has witnessed the emergence of a much clearer picture of the magnitude of the biodiversity problem. Put simply, the biosphere has proved to be more diverse than was earlier supposed, especially in the case of small microorganisms. An entire domain of life, the Archaea, has been distinguished from the bacteria, and a huge, still mostly unknown and energetically independent environment has been found to extend three kilometers or more below the surface of Earth.
［G］ The first is information technology, with which high-resolution digitized images of specimens can now be obtained. Moreover, type specimens, scattered in museums around the world can now be photographed and made instantly available everywhere as “e瞭ypes” on the Internet. The second revolution about to catapult biodiversity studies forward is genomics, which will soon enable scientists to describe bacterial and archaean species by partial DNA sequences and to subsequently identify them by genetic bar-coding.
F→41. →42. →43. →44. →45. →B
Part C
Directions：
Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be written clearly on Answer Sheet 2. (10 points)
Education begins with teachers. Yet teaching seems to be losing its appeal for many of the best and brightest college students: in high school, many of the best students decide that they want to be teachers, but their relatives and friends soon convince them to change their minds. (46) According to several recent reports on the shortcomings of American public schooling, teaching’s lack of appeal for the brightest college students is one of the teaching profession’s most worrisome problems.
Many articles on teaching, currently popular in newspapers, magazines, and professional education journals, concentrate on the negative aspects of teaching; the expression “teacher burnout” is commonly ascribed to thousands of thoughtful and dedicated teachers who are leaving the profession. (47) Teacher burnout is caused by such problems as violence in the classroom, vandalism(肆意破壞行為), inadequate salaries, involuntary transfers, interfering parents, oversized classes, and excessive paperwork. Even the best teachers cannot solve a child’s problems, but many of them believe the public expects them to, and they give up teaching in despair.