SECTION A
It has been known for many decades that the appearance of sunspots is roughly periodic, with an average cycle of eleven years. Moreover, the incidence of solar flares and the flux of solar cosmic rays, ultraviolet radiation, and x-radiation all vary directly with the sunspot cycle (sunspot cycle: 日斑循环, 太阳黑点循环). But after more than a century of investigation, the relation of these and other phenomena, known collectively as the solar-activity cycle, to terrestrial weather and climate remains unclear. For example, the sunspot cycle and the allied magnetic-polarity cycle have been linked to periodicities discerned in records of such variables as rainfall, temperature, and winds. Invariably, however, the relation is weak, and commonly of dubious statistical significance.
Effects of solar variability over longer terms have also been sought. The absence of recorded sunspot activity in the notes kept by European observers in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries has led some scholars to postulate a brief cessation of sunspot activity at that time (a period called the Maunder minimum (Maunder minimum: [天]蒙德极小期)). The Maunder minimum has been linked to a span of unusual cold in Europe extending from the sixteenth to the early nineteenth centuries. The reality of the Maunder minimum has yet to be established, however, especially since the records that Chinese naked-eye observers of solar activity made at that time appear to contradict it. Scientists have also sought evidence of long-term solar periodicities by examining indirect climatological data, such as fossil records of the thickness of ancient tree rings. These studies, however, failed to link unequivocally terrestrial climate and the solar-activity cycle, or even to confirm the cycle’s past existence.
If consistent and reliable geological or archaeological evidence tracing the solar-activity cycle in the distant past could be found, it might also resolve an important issue in solar physics: how to model solar activity. Currently, there are two models of solar activity. The first supposes that the Sun’s internal motions (caused by rotation and convection) interact with its large-scale magnetic field to produce a dynamo, a device in which mechanical energy is converted into the energy of a magnetic field. In short, the Sun’s large-scale magnetic field is taken to be self-sustaining, so that the solar-activity cycle it drives would be maintained with little overall change for perhaps billions of years. The alternative explanation supposes that the Sun’s large-scale magnetic field is a remnant of the field the Sun acquired when it formed, and is not sustained against decay. In this model, the solar mechanism dependent on the Sun’s magnetic field runs down more quickly. Thus, the characteristics of the solar-activity cycle could be expected to change over a long period of time. Modern solar observations span too short a time to reveal whether present cyclical solar activity is a long-lived feature of the Sun, or merely a transient phenomenon.
17. The author focuses primarily on
(A) presenting two competing scientific theories concerning solar activity and evaluating geological evidence often cited to support them
(B) giving a brief overview of some recent scientific developments in solar physics and assessing their impact on future climatological research
(C) discussing the difficulties involved in linking terrestrial phenomena with solar activity and indicating how resolving that issue could have an impact on our understanding of solar physics (solar physics: 太阳物理)
(D) pointing out the futility of a certain line of scientific inquiry into the terrestrial effects of solar activity and recommending its abandonment in favor of purely physics-oriented research(C)
(E) outlining the specific reasons why a problem in solar physics has not yet been solved and faulting the overly theoretical approach of modern physicists
18. Which of the following statements about the two models of solar activity, as they are described in lines 37-55, is accurate?
(A) In both models cyclical solar activity is regarded as a long-lived feature of the Sun, persisting with little change over billions of years.
(B) In both models the solar-activity cycle is hypothesized as being dependent on the large-scale solar magnetic field.
(C) In one model the Sun’s magnetic field is thought to play a role in causing solar activity, whereas in the other model it is not.
(D) In one model solar activity is presumed to be unrelated to terrestrial phenomena, whereas in the other model solar activity is thought to have observable effects on the Earth.(B)
(E) In one model cycles of solar activity with periodicities longer than a few decades are considered to be impossible, whereas in the other model such cycles are predicted.
19. According to the passage, late seventeenth and early eighteenth-century Chinese records are important for which of the following reasons?
(A) They suggest that the data on which the Maunder minimum was predicated were incorrect.
(B) They suggest that the Maunder minimum cannot be related to climate.
(C) They suggest that the Maunder minimum might be valid only for Europe.
(D) They establish the existence of a span of unusually cold weather worldwide at the time of the Maunder minimum.(A)
(E) They establish that solar activity at the time of the Maunder minimum did not significantly vary from its present pattern.
20. The author implies which of the following about currently available geological and archaeological evidence concerning the solar-activity cycle?
(A) It best supports the model of solar activity described in lines 37-45.
(B) It best supports the model of solar activity described in lines 45-52.
(C) It is insufficient to confirm either model of solar activity described in the third paragraph.
(D) It contradicts both models of solar activity as they are presented in the third paragraph.(C)
(E) It disproves the theory that terrestrial weather and solar activity are linked in some way.
21. It can be inferred from the passage that the argument in favor of the model described in lines 37-45 would be strengthened if which of the following were found to be true?
(A) Episodes of intense volcanic eruptions in the distant past occurred in cycles having very long periodicities.
(B) At the present time the global level of thunderstorm activity increases and decreases in cycles with periodicities of approximately 11 years.
(C) In the distant past cyclical climatic changes had periodicities of longer than 200 years.
(D) In the last century the length of the sunspot cycle has been known to vary by as much as 2 years from its average periodicity of 11 years.(E)
(E) Hundreds of millions of years ago, solar-activity cycles displayed the same periodicities as do present-day solar-activity cycles.
22. It can be inferred from the passage that Chinese observations of the Sun during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries
(A) are ambiguous because most sunspots cannot be seen with the naked eye
(B) probably were made under the same weather conditions as those made in Europe
(C) are more reliable than European observations made during this period
(D) record some sunspot activity during this period(D)
(E) have been employed by scientists seeking to argue that a change in solar activity occurred during this period
23. It can be inferred from the passage that studies attempting to use tree-ring thickness to locate possible links between solar periodicity and terrestrial climate are based on which of the following assumptions?
(A) The solar-activity cycle existed in its present form during the time period in which the tree rings grew.
(B) The biological mechanisms causing tree growth are unaffected by short-term weather patterns.
(C) Average tree-ring thickness varies from species to species.
(D) Tree-ring thicknesses reflect changes in terrestrial climate.(D)
(E) Both terrestrial climate and the solar-activity cycle randomly affect tree-ring thickness.
The common belief of some linguists that each language is a perfect vehicle for the thoughts of the nation speaking it is in some ways the exact counterpart of the conviction of the Manchester school of economics that supply and demand will regulate everything for the best. Just as economists were blind to the numerous cases in which the law of supply and demand left actual wants unsatisfied, so also many linguists are deaf to those instances in which the very nature of a language calls forth (call forth: v.使产生, 引起) misunderstandings in everyday conversation, and in which, consequently, a word has to be modified or defined in order to present the idea intended by the speaker: “He took his stick—no, not John’s, but his own.” No language is perfect, and if we admit this truth, we must also admit that it is not unreasonable to investigate the relative merits of different languages or of different details in languages.
24. The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) analyze an interesting feature of the English language
(B) refute a belief held by some linguists
(C) show that economic theory is relevant to linguistic study
(D) illustrate the confusion that can result from the improper use of language(B)
(E) suggest a way in which languages can be made more nearly perfect
25. The misunderstanding presented by the author in lines 13-14 is similar to which of the following?
I. X uses the word “you” to refer to a group, but Y thinks that X is referring to one person only.
II. X mistakenly uses the word “anomaly” to refer to a typical example, but Y knows that “anomaly” means “exception.”
III. X uses the word “bachelor” to mean “unmarried man,” but Y mistakenly thinks that bachelor means “unmarried woman.”
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) III only
(D) I and II only(A)
(E) II and III only
26. In presenting the argument, the author does all of the following EXCEPT:
(A) give an example
(B) draw a conclusion
(C) make a generalization
(D) make a comparison(E)
(E) present a paradox
27. Which of the following contributes to the misunderstanding described by the author in lines 13-14?
(A) It is unclear whom the speaker of the sentence is addressing.
(B) It is unclear to whom the word “his” refers the first time it is used.
(C) It is unclear to whom the word “his” refers the second time it is used.
(D) The meaning of “took” is ambiguous.(B)
(E) It is unclear to whom “He” refers.
SECTION B
It is frequently assumed that the mechanization of work has a revolutionary effect on the lives of the people who operate the new machines and on the society into which the machines have been introduced. For example, it has been suggested that the employment of women in industry took them out of the household, their traditional sphere, and fundamentally altered their position in society. In the nineteenth century, when women began to enter factories, Jules Simon, a French politician, warned that by doing so, women would give up their femininity. Friedrich Engels, however, predicted that women would be liberated from the “social, legal, and economic subordination” of the family by technological developments that made possible the recruitment of “the whole female sex into public industry.” Observers thus differed concerning the social desirability of mechanization’s effects, but they agreed that it would transform women’s lives.
Historians, particularly those investigating the history of women, now seriously question this assumption of transforming power. They conclude that such dramatic technological innovations as the spinning jenny (spinning jenny: n.多轴纺织机), the sewing machine, the typewriter, and the vacuum cleaner have not resulted in equally dramatic social changes in women’s economic position or in the prevailing evaluation of women’s work. The employment of young women in textile mills during the Industrial Revolution was largely an extension of an older pattern of employment of young, single women as domestics (domestic: a household servant). It was not the change in office technology, but rather the separation of secretarial work, previously seen as an apprenticeship for beginning managers, from administrative work that in the 1880’s created a new class of “dead-end” jobs, thenceforth considered “women’s work.” The increase in the numbers of married women employed outside the home in the twentieth century had less to do with the mechanization of housework and an increase in leisure time for these women than it did with their own economic necessity and with high marriage rates that shrank the available pool of single women workers, previously, in many cases, the only women employers would hire.
Women’s work has changed considerably in the past 200 years, moving from the household to the office or the factory, and later becoming mostly white-collar instead of blue-collar work. Fundamentally, however, the conditions under which women work have changed little since before the Industrial Revolution: the segregation of occupations by gender, lower pay for women as a group, jobs that require relatively low levels of skill and offer women little opportunity for advancement all persist, while women’s household labor remains demanding. Recent historical investigation has led to a major revision of the notion that technology is always inherently revolutionary in its effects on society. Mechanization may even have slowed any change in the traditional position of women both in the labor market and in the home.
17. Which of the following statements best summarizes the main idea of the passage?
(A) The effects of the mechanization of women’s work have not borne out the frequently held assumption that new technology is inherently revolutionary.
(B) Recent studies have shown that mechanization revolutionizes a society’s traditional values and the customary roles of its members.
(C) Mechanization has caused the nature of women’s work to change since the Industrial Revolution.
(D) The mechanization of work creates whole new classes of jobs that did not previously exist.(A)
(E) The mechanization of women’s work, while extremely revolutionary it its effects, has not, on the whole, had the deleterious effects that some critics had feared.
18. The author mentions all of the following inventions as examples of dramatic technological innovations EXCEPT the
(A) sewing machine
(B) vacuum cleaner
(C) typewriter
(D) telephone(D)
(E) spinning jenny
19. It can be inferred from the passage that, before the Industrial Revolution, the majority of women’s work was done in which of the following settings?
(A) Textile mills
(B) Private households
(C) Offices
(D) Factories(B)
(E) Small shops
20. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would consider which of the following to be an indication of a fundamental alteration in the conditions of women’s work?
(A) Statistics showing that the majority of women now occupy white-collar positions
(B) Interviews with married men indicating that they are now doing some household tasks
(C) Surveys of the labor market documenting the recent creation of a new class of jobs in electronics in which women workers outnumber men four to one
(D) Census results showing that working women’s wages and salaries are, on the average, as high as those of working men(D)
(E) Enrollment figures from universities demonstrating that increasing numbers of young women are choosing to continue their education beyond the undergraduate level
21. The passage states that, before the twentieth century, which of the following was true of many employers?
(A) They did not employ women in factories.
(B) They tended to employ single rather than married women.
(C) They employed women in only those jobs that were related to women’s traditional household work.
(D) They resisted technological innovations that would radically change women’s roles in the family.(B)
(E) They hired women only when qualified men were not available to fill the open positions.
22. It can be inferred from the passage that the author most probably believes which of the following to be true concerning those historians who study the history of women?
(A) Their work provides insights important to those examining social phenomena affecting the lives of both sexes.
(B) Their work can only be used cautiously by scholars in other disciplines.
(C) Because they concentrate only on the role of women in the workplace, they draw more reliable conclusions than do other historians.
(D) While highly interesting, their work has not had an impact on most historians’ current assumptions concerning the revolutionary effect of technology in the workplace.(A)
(E) They oppose the further mechanization of work, which, according to their findings, tends to perpetuate existing inequalities in society.
23. Which of the following best describes the function of the concluding sentence of the passage?
(A) It sums up the general points concerning the mechanization of work made in the passage as a whole.
(B) It draws a conclusion concerning the effects of the mechanization of work which goes beyond the evidence presented in the passage as a whole.
(C) It restates the point concerning technology made in the sentence immediately preceding it.
(D) It qualifies the author’s agreement with scholars who argue for a major revision in the assessment of the impact of mechanization on society.(B)
(E) It suggests a compromise between two seemingly contradictory views concerning the effects of mechanization on society.
(This passage is excerpted from an article that was published in 1982.)
Warm-blooded animals have elaborate physiological controls to maintain constant body temperature (in humans, 37℃). Why then during sickness should temperature rise, apparently increasing stress on the infected organism? It has long been known that the level of serum iron in animals falls during infection. Garibaldi first suggested a relationship between fever and iron. He found that microbial synthesis of siderophores (siderophore: 含铁细胞)—substances that bind iron—in bacteria of the genus Salmonella declined at environmental temperatures above 37℃ and stopped at 40.3℃. Thus, fever would make it more difficult for an infecting bacterium to acquire iron and thus to multiply. Cold-blooded animals were used to test this hypothesis because their body temperature can be controlled in the laboratory. Kluger reported that of iguanas infected with the potentially lethal bacterium A. hydrophilia, more survived at temperatures of 42℃ than at 37℃, even though healthy animals prefer the lower temperature. When animals at 42℃ were injected with an iron solution, however, mortality rates increased significantly. Research to determine whether similar phenomena occur in warm-blooded animals is sorely needed.
24. The passage is primarily concerned with attempts to determine
(A) the role of siderophores in the synthesis of serum iron
(B) new treatments for infections that are caused by A. hydrophilia
(C) the function of fever in warm-blooded animals
(D) the mechanisms that ensure constant body temperature(C)
(E) iron utilization in cold-blooded animals
25. According to the passage, Garibaldi determined which of the following?
(A) That serum iron is produced through microbial synthesis.
(B) That microbial synthesis of siderophores in warm-blooded animals is more efficient at higher temperatures.
(C) That only iron bound to other substances can be used by bacteria.
(D) That there is a relationship between the synthesis of siderophores in bacteria of the genus Salmonella and environmental temperature.(D)
(E) That bacteria of the genus Salmonella require iron as a nutrient.
26. Which of the following can be inferred about warm-blooded animals solely on the basis of information in the passage?
(A) The body temperatures of warm-blooded animals cannot be easily controlled in the laboratory.
(B) Warm-blooded animals require more iron in periods of stress than they do at other times.
(C) Warm-blooded animals are more comfortable at an environmental temperature of 37℃ than they are at a temperature of 42℃.
(D) In warm-blooded animals, bacteria are responsible for the production of siderophores, which, in turn, make iron available to the animal.(A)
(E) In warm-blooded animals, infections that lead to fever are usually traceable to bacteria.
27. If it were to be determined that “similar phenomena occur in warm-blooded animals” (lines 21-22), which of the following, assuming each is possible, is likely to be the most effective treatment for warm-blooded animals with bacterial infections?
(A) Administering a medication that lowers the animals’ body temperature
(B) Injecting the animals with an iron solution
(C) Administering a medication that makes serum iron unavailable to bacteria
(D) Providing the animals with reduced-iron diets(C)
(E) Keeping the animals in an environment with temperatures higher than 37℃.
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