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历年GRE习题（七）

时间：2011/8/17

　　SECTION A

　　Hank Morgan, the hero of Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, is a nineteenth-century master mechanic who mysteriously awakening in sixth-century Britain, launches what he hopes will be a peaceful revolution to transform Arthurian Britain into an industrialized modern democracy. The novel, written as a spoof (a light humorous parody) of Thomas Malory’s Morte d’ Arthur, a popular collection of fifteenth-century legends about sixth-century Britain, has been made into three upbeat movies and two musical comedies. None of these translations to screen and stage, however, dramatize the anarchy at the conclusion of (at the conclusion of: 当...完结时) A Connecticut Yankee, which ends with the violent overthrow of Morgan’s three-year-old progressive order and his return to the nineteenth century, where he apparently commits suicide after being labeled a lunatic for his incoherent babblings about drawbridges and battlements. The American public, although enjoying Twain’s humor, evidently rejected his cynicism about technological advancement and change through peaceful revolution as antithetical to the United States doctrine of progress.

　　17. According to the passage, which of the following is a true statement about the reception of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by the American public?

　　(A) The public had too strong a belief in the doctrine of progress to accept the cynicism demonstrated at the conclusion of Twain’s novel.

　　(B) Twain’s novel received little public recognition until the work was adapted for motion pictures and plays.

　　(C) Although the public enjoyed Twain’s humor, his use of both sixth-century and nineteenth-century characters confused many people.

　　(D) The public has continued to enjoy Twain’s story, but the last part of the novel seems too violent to American minds.(A)

　　(E) Because of the cynicism at the end of the book, the public rejected Twain’s work in favor of the work of Thomas Malory.

　　18. The author uses the examples of “three upbeat movies and two musical comedies” (lines 9-10) primarily in order to demonstrate that

　　(A) well-written novels like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, regardless of their tone or theme, can be translated to the stage and screen

　　(B) the American public has traditionally been more interested in watching plays and movies than in reading novels like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

　　(C) Twain’s overall message in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is one that had a profound impact on the American public

　　(D) Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court has been a more popular version of the Arthurian legends than has Malory’s Morte d’ Arthur(E)

　　(E) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court has been accepted as an enjoyable and humorous tale in versions that have omitted the anarchy at the novel’s conclusion

　　19. The author of the passage characterizes Thomas Malory’s Morte d’ Arthur as which of the following?

　　(A) The best-known and most authoritative collection of Arthurian tales written in the English language

　　(B) A collection of legends that have been used as the basis for three movies and two musical comedies

　　(D) A collection of legends about sixth-century Britain that have existed since at least the fifteenth century(D)

　　(E) The novel about the life of King Arthur that inspired Twain’s cynicism about nineteenth-century notions of progress

　　20. It can be inferred from the passage that Mark Twain would most probably have believed in which of the following statements about societal change?

　　(A) Revolutions, in order to be successful in changing society, have to be carried out without violence.

　　(B) Technological advancements are limited in their ability to change society and will likely bring liabilities along with any potential benefits.

　　(D) The political system of sixth-century Britain was more conducive to societal change than was the political system of nineteenth-century America.(B)

　　(E) Technological advances and peaceful revolutions, although sometimes accompanied by unintended violence and resistance to societal change, eventually lead to a more progressive order.

　　The intensive work of materials scientists and solid-state physicists has given rise to a class of solids known as amorphous metallic alloys, or glassy metals. There is a growing interest among theoretical and applied researchers alike in the structural properties of these materials.

　　When a molten metal or metallic alloy is cooled to a solid, a crystalline structure is formed that depends on the particular alloy composition. In contrast, molten nonmetallic glass-forming materials, when cooled, do not assume a crystalline structure, but instead retain a structure somewhat like that of the liquid—an amorphous structure. At room temperature (room temperature: n.室温, 常温(约20摄氏度)), the natural long-term tendency for both types of materials is to assume the crystalline structure. The difference between the two is in the kinetics or rate of formation of the crystalline structure, which is controlled by factors such as the nature of the chemical bonding and the ease with which atoms move relative to each other. Thus, in metals, the kinetics favors rapid formation of a crystalline structure, whereas in nonmetallic glasses the rate of formation is so slow that almost any cooling rate is sufficient to result in an amorphous structure. For glassy metals to be formed, the molten metal must be cooled extremely rapidly so that crystallization is suppressed.

　　The structure of glassy metals is thought to be similar to that of liquid metals. One of the first attempts to model the structure of a liquid was that by the late J. D. Bernal of the University of London, who packed hard spheres into a rubber vessel in such a way as to obtain the maximum possible density. The resulting dense, random-packed structure was the basis for many attempts to model the structure of glassy metals. Calculations of the density of alloys based on Bernal-type models of the alloys metal component agreed fairly well with the experimentally determined values from measurements on alloys consisting of a noble metal (noble metal: n.贵金属) together with a metalloid, such as alloys of palladium and silicon, or alloys consisting of iron, phosphorus, and carbon, although small discrepancies remained. One difference between real alloys and the hard spheres used in Bernal models is that the components of an alloy have different sizes, so that models based on two sizes of spheres are more appropriate for a binary alloy, for example. The smaller metalloid atoms of the alloy might fit into holes in the dense, random-packed structure of the larger metal atoms.

　　One of the most promising properties of glassy metals is their high strength combined with high malleability. In usual crystalline materials, one finds an inverse relation (inverse relation: 反比关系) between the two properties, whereas for many practical applications simultaneous presence of both properties is desirable. One residual obstacle to practical applications that is likely to be overcome is the fact that glassy metals will crystallize at relatively low temperatures when heated slightly.

　　21. The author is primarily concerned with discussing

　　(A) crystalline solids and their behavior at different temperatures

　　(B) molten materials and the kinetics of the formation of their crystalline structure

　　(D) metallic alloys and problems in determining their density(C)

　　(E) amorphous materials and their practical utilization

　　22. The author implies that the rate at which the molten materials discussed in the passage are cooled is a determinant of the

　　(A) chemical composition of the resulting solids

　　(B) strength of the chemical bonds that are formed

　　(D) structure the materials assume(D)

　　(E) stability of the materials’ crystalline structure

　　23. The author’s speculation about the appropriateness of models using spheres of two sizes for binary alloys would be strongly supported if models using spheres of two sizes yielded

　　(A) values for density identical to values yielded by one-sphere models using the smaller spheres only

　　(B) values for density agreeing nearly perfectly with experimentally determined values

　　(D) significantly different values for density depending on the size ratio between the two kinds of spheres used(B)

　　(E) the same values for density as the values for appropriately chosen models that use only medium-sized spheres

　　24. The author’s attitude toward the prospects for the economic utilization of glassy metals is one of

　　(A) disinterest

　　(B) impatience

　　(D) apprehension(C)

　　(E) skepticism

　　25. According to the passage, which of the following determines the crystalline structure of a metallic alloy?

　　(A) At what rate the molten alloy is cooled

　　(B) How rapid the rate of formation of the crystalline phase is

　　(D) What the alloy consists of and in what ratios(D)

　　(E) At what temperature the molten alloy becomes solid

　　26. Which of the following best describes the relationship between the structure of liquid metals and the structure of glassy metals, as it is presented in the passage?

　　(A) The latter is an illustrative example of the former.

　　(B) The latter is a large-scale version of the former.

　　(D) The former provides an instructive contrast to the latter.(E)

　　(E) The former is a fair approximation of the latter.

　　27. It can be inferred from the passage that, theoretically, molten nonmetallic glasses assume a crystalline structure rather than an amorphous structure only if they are cooled

　　(A) very evenly, regardless of the rate

　　(B) rapidly, followed by gentle heating

　　(D) to room temperature(C)

　　(E) to extremely low temperatures

　　SECTION B

　　In a perfectly free and open market economy, the type of employer—government or private—should have little or no impact on the earnings differentials between women and men. However, if there is discrimination against one sex, it is unlikely that the degree of discrimination by government and private employers will be the same. Differences in the degree of discrimination would result in earnings differentials associated with the type of employer. Given the nature of government and private employers, it seems most likely that discrimination by private employers would be greater. Thus, one would expect that, if women are being discriminated against, government employment would have a positive effect on women’s earnings as compared with their earnings from private employment. The results of a study by Fuchs support this assumption. Fuchs’s results suggest that the earnings of women in an industry composed entirely of government employers would be 14. 6 percent greater than the earnings of women in an industry composed exclusively of private employees, other things being equal.

　　In addition, both Fuchs and Sanborn have suggested that the effect of discrimination by consumers on the earnings of self-employed women may be greater than the effect of either government or private employer discrimination on the earnings of women employees. To test this hypothesis, Brown selected a large sample of White male and female workers from the 1970 Census and divided them into three categories: private employees, government employees, and self-employed. (Black workers were excluded from the sample to avoid picking up earnings differentials that were the result of racial disparities.) Brown’s research design controlled for education, labor-force participation, mobility, motivation, and age in order to eliminate these factors as explanations of the study’s results. Brown’s results suggest that men and women are not treated the same by employers and consumers. For men, self-employment is the highest earnings category, with private employment next, and government lowest. For women, this order is reversed.

　　One can infer from Brown’s results that consumers discriminate against self-employed women. In addition, self-employed women may have more difficulty than men in getting good employees and may encounter discrimination from suppliers and from financial institutions.

　　Brown’s results are clearly consistent with Fuch’s argument that discrimination by consumers has a greater impact on the earnings of women than does discrimination by either government or private employers. Also, the fact that women do better working for government than for private employers implies that private employers are discriminating against women. The results do not prove that government does not discriminate against women. They do, however, demonstrate that if government is discriminating against women, its discrimination is not having as much effect on women’s earnings as is discrimination in the private sector.

　　17. The passage mentions all of the following as difficulties that self-employed women may encounter EXCEPT:

　　(A) discrimination from suppliers

　　(B) discrimination from consumers

　　(D) problems in obtaining good employees(E)

　　(E) problems in obtaining government assistance

　　18. The author would be most likely to agree with which of the following conclusions about discrimination against women by private employers and by government employers?

　　(A) Both private employers and government employers discriminate, with equal effects on women’s earnings.

　　(B) Both private employers and government employers discriminate, but the discrimination by private employers has a greater effect on women’s earnings.

　　(C) Both private employers and government employers discriminate, but the discrimination by government employers has a greater effect on women’s earnings.

　　(D) Private employers discriminate; it is possible that government employers discriminate.(D)

　　(E) Private employers discriminate; government employers do not discriminate.

　　19. A study of the practices of financial institutions that revealed no discrimination against self-employed women would tend to contradict which of the following?

　　(A) Some tentative results of Fuchs’s study

　　(B) Some explicit results of Brown’s study

　　(D) Fuchs’s hypothesis(C)

　　(E) Sanborn’s hypothesis

　　20. According to Brown’s study, women’s earnings categories occur in which or the following orders, from highest earnings to lowest earnings?

　　(A) Government employment, self-employment, private employment

　　(B) Government employment, private employment, self-employment

　　(D) Private employment, government employment, self-employment(B)

　　(E) Self-employment, private employment, government employment

　　21. The passage explicitly answers which of the following questions?

　　(A) Why were Black workers excluded from the sample used in Brown’s study?

　　(B) Why do private employers illuminate more against women than do government employers?

　　(D) Why do suppliers discriminate against self-employed women?(A)

　　(E) Are Black women and Black men treated similarly by employers and consumers?

　　22. It can be inferred from the passage that the statements in the last paragraph are most probably which of the following?

　　(A) Brown’s elaboration of his research results

　　(B) Brown’s tentative inference from his data

　　(D) The author’s conclusions, based on Fuchs’s and Brown’s results(D)

　　(E) The author’s criticisms of Fuchs’s argument, based on Brown’s results

　　23. Which of the following titles best describes the content of the passage as a whole?

　　(A) The Necessity for Earnings Differentials in a Free Market Economy

　　(B) Why Discrimination Against Employed Women by Government Employers and Private Employers Differs from Discrimination Against Self-Employed Women by Consumers

　　(D) The Relative Effect of Private Employer Discrimination on Men’s Earnings as Compared to Women’s Earnings(E)

　　(E) The Relative Effect of Discrimination by Government Employers, Private Employers, and Consumers on Women’s Earnings

　　The success of fluoride in combating dental decay is well established and, without a doubt (without a doubt: adv.无疑地), socially beneficial. However, fluoride’s toxic properties have been known for a century. In humans excessive intake (for adults, over 4 milligrams per day) over many years can lead to skeletal fluorosis, a well-defined skeletal disorder, and in some plant species, fluoride is more toxic than ozone, sulfur dioxide, or pesticides.

　　Some important questions remain. For example, the precise lower limit at which the fluoride content of bone becomes toxic is still undetermined. And while fluoride intake from water and air can be evaluated relatively easily, it is much harder to estimate how much a given population ingests from foodstuffs because of the wide variations in individual eating habits and in fluoride concentrations in foodstuffs. These difficulties suggest that we should by wary of indiscriminately using fluoride, even in the form of fluoride-containing dental products.

　　24. In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with

　　(A) analyzing and categorizing

　　(B) comparing and contrasting

　　(D) describing and cautioning(D)

　　(E) summarizing and reinterpreting

　　25. The passage suggests that it would be easier to calculate fluoride intake from food if

　　(A) adequate diets were available for most people.

　　(B) individual eating habits were more uniform

　　(D) more people were aware of the fluoride content of food(B)

　　(E) methods for measuring the fluoride content of food were more generally agreed on

　　26. One function of the second paragraph of the passage is to

　　(A) raise doubts about fluoride’s toxicity

　　(B) introduce the issue of fluoride’s toxicity

　　(D) indicate that necessary knowledge of fluoride remains incomplete(D)

　　(E) discuss the foodstuffs that are most likely to contain significant concentrations of fluoride

　　27. The passage suggests which of the following about the effect of fluoride on humans?

　　(A) The effect is more easily measured than is the effect of exposure to pesticides.

　　(B) The effect of fluoride intake from water and air is relatively difficult to monitor.

　　(D) An intake of 4 milligrams over a long period of time usually leads to a skeletal disorder in humans.(E)

　　(E) An intake of slightly more than 4 milligrams for only a few months is not likely to be life-threatening.