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历年GRE习题（八）

时间：2011/8/19

　　SECTION A

　　It is now established that the Milky Way is far more extended and of much greater mass than was hitherto thought. However, all that is visible of the constituents of the Milky Way’s corona (outer edge), where much of the galaxy’s mass must be located, is a tiny fraction of the corona’s mass. Thus, most of the Milky Way’s outlying matter must be dark.

　　Why? Three facts are salient. First, dwarf galaxies and globular clusters, into which most of the stars of the Milky Way’s corona are probably bound, consist mainly of old stars. Second, old stars are not highly luminous. Third, no one has detected in the corona the clouds of gaseous matter such as hydrogen and carbon monoxide that are characteristic of the bright parts of a galaxy. At present, therefore, the best explanation—though still quite tentative—for the darkness of the corona is that the corona is composed mainly of old, burned-out stars.

　　17. The passage as a whole is primarily concerned with

　　(A) analyzing a current debate

　　(B) criticizing a well-established theory

　　(D) stating a conclusion and adducing evidence that may justify it(D)

　　(E) contrasting two types of phenomena and showing how they are related

　　18. According to the passage, a bright part of a galaxy typically includes

　　(A) dwarf galaxies and clusters of stars

　　(B) a balanced mixture of old and new stars

　　(D) part of the corona of the galaxy(E)

　　(E) gases such as hydrogen and carbon monoxide

　　19. It can be inferred from the passage that, compared with what they now think, until fairly recently astronomers believed that the Milky Way

　　(A) was much darker

　　(B) was much smaller

　　(D) had a much larger corona(B)

　　(E) had much less gaseous matter

　　20. The passage presents which of the following as incontrovertible?

　　I. The low luminosity of old stars

　　II. The absence of clouds of gaseous matter from the corona of the Milky Way

　　III. The predominance of globular clusters and dwarf galaxies in the corona of the Milky Way

　　(A) I only

　　(B) III only

　　(D) II and III only(A)

　　(E) I, II, and III

　　One of the principal themes of Walzer’s critique of liberal capitalism is that it is insufficiently egalitarian. Walzer’s case against the economic inequality generated by capitalism and in favor of “a radical redistribution of wealth” is presented in a widely cited essay entitled “In Defense of Equality.”

　　The most striking feature of Walzer’s critique is that, far from (far from: 非但不) rejecting the principle of reward according to merit, Walzer insists on its validity. People who excel should receive the superior benefits appropriate to their excellence. But people exhibit a great variety of qualities—“intelligence, physical strength, agility and grace, artistic creativity, mechanical skill, leadership, endurance, memory, psychological insight, the capacity for hard work—even moral strength, sensitivity, the ability to express compassion.” Each deserves its proper recompense, and hence a proper distribution of material goods should reflect human differences as measured on all these different scales. Yet, under capitalism, the ability to make money (“the green thumb (an unusual ability to make plants grow) of bourgeois society”) enables its possessor to acquire almost “every other sort of social good,” such as the respect and esteem of others.

　　The centerpiece of Walzer’s argument is the invocation of a quotation from Pascal’s Pensees, which concludes: “Tyranny is the wish to obtain by one means what can only be had by another.” Pascal believes that we owe different duties (conduct due to parents and superiors: RESPECT) to different qualities. So we might say that infatuation is the proper response to charm, and awe the proper response to strength. In this light, Walzer characterizes capitalism as the tyranny of money (or of the ability to make it). And Walzer advocates as the means of eliminating this tyranny and of restoring genuine equality “the abolition of the power of money outside its sphere.” What Walzer envisions is a society in which wealth is no longer convertible into social goods with which it has no intrinsic connection.

　　Walzer’s argument is a puzzling one. After all, why should those qualities unrelated to the production of material goods be rewarded with material goods? Is it not tyrannical, in Pascal’s sense, to insist that those who excel in “sensitivity” or “the ability to express compassion” merit equal wealth with those who excel in qualities (such as “the capacity for hard work”) essential in producing wealth? Yet Walzer’s argument, however deficient, does point to one of the most serious weaknesses of capitalism—namely, that it brings to predominant positions in a society people who, no matter how legitimately they have earned their material rewards, often lack those other qualities that evoke affection or admiration. Some even argue plausibly that this weakness may be irremediable: in any society that, like a capitalist society, seeks to become ever wealthier in material terms disproportionate rewards are bound to flow to the people who are instrumental in producing the increase in its wealth.

　　21. The primary purpose of the passage is to

　　(A) argue that Walzer’s critique of liberal capitalism is the cornerstone of Walzer’s thinking

　　(B) identify and to deprecate the origins of the intellectual tradition championed by Walzer

　　(C) present more clearly than does the essay “In Defense of Equality” the distinctive features of Walzer’s politico-economic theories

　　(D) demonstrate that Walzer’s critique of liberal capitalism is neither original nor persuasive(E)

　　(E) outline and to examine critically Walzer’s position on economic equality

　　22. The author mentions all of the following as issues addressed by Walzer EXCEPT:

　　(A) proper recompense for individual excellence

　　(B) proper interpretation of “economic equality”

　　(D) grounds for calling capitalism “the tyranny of money”(C)

　　(E) exchangeability of money for social goods

　　23. The argumentation in the passage turns importantly on the question of what should be the proper relation between

　　(A) “liberal capitalism” (line 2) and “bourgeois society” (lines 20-21)

　　(B) “reward” (line 8) and “recompense” (line 17)

　　(D) “distribution of material goods” (lines 17-18) and “redistribution of wealth” (lines 4-5)(E)

　　(E) “social goods” (line 37) and “material goods” (line 41)

　　24. The passage provides sufficient information to answer which of the following questions?

　　(A) What weight in relation to other qualities should a quality like sensitivity have, according to Walzer, in determining the proper distribution of goods?

　　(B) Which quality does Walzer deem too highly valued under liberal capitalism?

　　(D) What practical steps does Walzer suggest be taken to relieve the economic inequality generated by capitalism?(B)

　　(E) What deficiencies in Walzer’s own argument does Walzer acknowledge?

　　25. The author implies that Walzer’s interpretation of the principle of reward according to merit is distinctive for its(WALZER与前人一样，都认同the principle of reward according to merit，也就是what constitutes a reward的标准都是一样的，但不同之处是what constitutes merit，前人认为只是挣钱的能力，而他认为还包括其他的能力。)

　　(A) insistence on maximizing everyone’s rewards

　　(B) emphasis on equality

　　(D) broad conception of what constitutes merit(D)

　　(E) broad conception of what constitutes a reward

　　26. The author’s interpretation of the principle that “we owe different duties to different qualities” (lines 28-29) suggests that which of the following would most probably be the duty paired with the quality of veracity?

　　(A) Dignity

　　(B) Trust

　　(D) Obedience(B)

　　(E) Integrity

　　27. The author implies that sensitivity is not a quality that

　　(A) is essential in producing wealth

　　(B) wealthy people lack

　　(D) characterizes tyrannical people(A)

　　(E) is owed a duty in Pascal’s sense

　　SECTION B

　　The outpouring of contemporary American Indian literature in the last two decades, often called the Native American Renaissance, represents for many the first opportunity to experience Native American poetry. The appreciation of traditional oral American Indian literature has been limited, hampered by poor translations and by the difficulty, even in the rare culturally sensitive and aesthetically satisfying translation, of completely conveying the original’s verse structure, tone, and syntax.

　　By writing in English and experimenting with European literary forms, contemporary American Indian writers have broadened their potential audience, while clearly retaining many essential characteristics of their ancestral oral traditions. For example, Pulitzer-prizewinning author N. Scott Momaday’s poetry often treats art and mortality in a manner that recalls British romantic poetry, while his poetic response to the power of natural forces recalls Cherokee oral literature. In the same way, his novels, an art form European in origin, display an eloquence that echoes the oratorical grandeur of the great nineteenth-century American Indian chiefs.

　　17. According to the passage, Momaday’s poetry shares which of the following with British romantic poetry?

　　(A) Verse structure

　　(B) Oratorical techniques

　　(D) Use of certain syntactical constructions(C)

　　(E) Patterns of rhythm and rhyme

　　18. Which of the following is most likely one of the reasons that the author mentions the work of N. Scott Momaday?

　　(A) To illustrate how the author believes that members of the Native American Renaissance have broadened their potential audience

　　(B) To emphasize the similarities between Momaday’s writings and their European literary models

　　(D) To suggest that contemporary American Indian writers have sacrificed traditional values for popular literary success(A)

　　(E) To imply the continuing popularity of translations of oral American Indian literature

　　19. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about written translations of oral Native American poetry?

　　(A) They were less widely read than are the works of contemporary Native American poets writing in English.

　　(B) They were often made by writers who were intimately familiar with both English and Native American languages.

　　(D) They usually lacked complex verse structure.(A)

　　(E) They were overly dependent on European literary models.

　　20. The passage suggests which of the following about American Indian poets before the Native American Renaissance?

　　(A) Art and mortality were rarely the subjects of their poetry.

　　(B) Their oratorical grandeur reached its peak in the nineteenth century.

　　(D) They seldom wrote poetry in English.(D)

　　(E) They emphasized structure, tone, and syntax rather than literary form.

　　Recent findings suggest that visual signals are fed into at least three separate processing systems in the brain, each with its own distinct function. One system appears to process information about shape perception; a second, information about color; a third, information about movement, location, and spatial organization. An understanding of the functions and capabilities of these three systems can shed light on how artists manipulate materials to create surprising visual effects.

　　It is possible to summarize the functions of the three subsystems of the visual system as follows. The parvo system carries highly detailed information about stationary objects and about borders that are formed by contrasting colors. It does not, however, carry information about specific colors. Because much of the information about the shape of objects can be represented by their borders, we suspect that this system is important in shape perception. The blob system processes information about colors, but not about movement, shape discrimination, or depth. The magno system carries information about movement and depth. It is good at detecting motion but poor at scrutinizing stationary images. In addition it appears to be colorblind; it is unable to perceive borders that are visible only on the basis of color contrast.

　　Cells in the parvo system can distinguish between two colors at any relative brightness of the two. Cells in the color-blind magno system, on the other hand, are analogous to a black-and-white photograph in the way they function: they signal information about the brightness of surfaces but not about their colors. For any pair of colors there is a particular brightness ratio at which two colors, for example red and green, will appear as the same shade of gray in a black-and-white photograph, hence any border between them will vanish. Similarly at some relative red-to-green brightness level, the red and green will appear identical to the magno system. The red and green are then called equiluminant. A border between two equiluminant colors has color contrast but no luminance contrast (luminance contrast: 亮度对比度).

　　Many artists have seemed to be empirically aware of these underlying principles and have used them to maximize particular effects. Some of the peculiar effects of Op Art (op art: n. 光效应绘画艺术，欧普艺术), for example, probably arise from color combinations that are strong activators of the parvo system but are weak stimuli for the magno system. An object that is equiluminant with its background looks vibrant and unstable. The reason is that the parvo system can signal the object’s shape but the magno system cannot see its borders and therefore cannot signal either the movement or the position of the object. Hence it seems to jump around, drift, or vibrate on the canvas.

　　21. The passage is primarily concerned with

　　(A) describing subsystems of the visual system and showing their relevance to art

　　(B) comparing three theories on how the visual system analyzes images in a work of art

　　(D) explaining how the visual system distinguishes among different colors(A)

　　(E) describing functions of the first three phases of the visual system

　　22. Which of the following would create visual effects most similar to those discussed in lines 43-48?

　　(A) A watercolor in which colors are applied imprecisely to outlined shapes

　　(B) A painting in which different shades of the same color are used to obscure the boundaries between objects

　　(D) An advertisement in which key words are at the same level of brightness as a background of contrasting color(D)

　　(E) A design in which two different shades of gray are juxtaposed to heighten the contrast between them

　　23. The passage provides information about which of the following?

　　(A) Why the same system can process information about movement and location

　　(B) Why the parvo system is considered to be responsible for shape perception

　　(D) The mechanism that enables the blob system to distinguish between stationary objects(B)

　　(E) The mechanism that enables the magno system to carry information about shape discrimination

　　24. According to the passage, which of the following is true of the visual system?

　　(A) It processes visual signals in three consecutive stages.

　　(B) It processes visual signals through separate processing systems in the brain.

　　(D) It consists of a single hierarchical system rather than a multipartite system.(B)

　　(E) It consists of separate system with high overlap in processing functions.

　　25. The author mentions a “black-and-white photograph” (line 29) most probably in order to explain

　　(A) how the parvo system distinguishes between different shapes and colors

　　(B) how the magno system uses luminosity to identify borders between objects

　　(D) why the magno system is capable of perceiving moving images(B)

　　(E) the brightness ratio at which colors become indistinguishable to the parvo system

　　26. The author uses all of the following in the discussion in the third paragraph EXCEPT:

　　(A) an example

　　(B) definition of terms

　　(D) a rhetorical question(D)

　　(E) analogy

　　27. The passage suggests which of the following about the magno system?

　　(A) It perceives borders on the basis of luminance contrast.

　　(B) It perceives shapes on the basis of color contrast.

　　(D) It can detect motion but it cannot signal the position of an object.(A)

　　(E) It is better at processing information about movement than it is at processing information about depth.