15.2008年12月英语六级阅读理解练习(1)
Proxemics(空间关系学) is the study of what governs how closely one person stands to another. People who feel close will be close, though the actual distances will vary between cultures. For Amreicans we can discern four main categories of distance: intimate, personal, social and public. Intimate ranges from direct contact to about 45 centimeters. This is for the closest relationships such as those between husband and wife. Beyond this comes personal distance. This stands at between 45 and 80 centimeters. It is the most usual distance maintained for conversations between friends and relatives. Social distance covers people who work together or are meeting at social gatherings. Distances here tend to be kept between 1.30 to 2 meters. Beyond this comes public distance, such as that between a lecturer and his audience.
All cultures draw lines between what is an appropriate and what is an inappropriate social distance for different types of relationship. They differ, however, in where they draw these lines. Look at an international reception withrepresentatives from the US and Arabic countries conversing and you will see the Americans pirouetting(快速旋转) backwards around the hall pursued by their Arab partners. The Americans will be trying to keep the distance between themselves and their partners which they have grown used to regarding as “normal”. They probably will not even notice themselves trying to adjust the distance between themselves and their partners, though they may have vague feelin g that their Arab neighbors are being a bit “pushy”. The Arab, on the other hand, coming from a culture where much closer distance is the norm, may be feeling that the Americans are being “stand-offish”. Finding themselves happier standing close to and even touching those they are in conversation with they will persistently pursue the Americans round the room trying to close the distance between them.
The appropriateness of physical contact varies between different cultures too. One study of the number of times people conversing in coffee shops over a one hour period showed the following interesting variations: London, 0; Florida, 2; Paris, 10; and Puerto Rico 180. Not only dose it vary between societies, however, it also varies between different subcultures within one society. Young people in Britain, for example, are more likely to touch and hug friends than are the older generation. This may be partly a matter of growing older, but it also reflects the fact that the older generation grew up at a time when touching was less common for all age groups. Forty years ago, for example, footballers would never hug and kiss one another on the field after a goal as they do today. 1.In proxemics, ____governs the standing space between two persons.
A. distance
B. culture
C. conversation
D. relationship
2.The word “stand-offish”(Line 14, Para. 2) could best be replaced by_________.
A. cold and distant in behaviour
B. ungentlemanlike in behaviour
C. inhuman in behaviour
D. polite in behaviour
3. In conversation with an American partner at an international reception, an Arab deems that close distant is _________.
A. appropriate
B. inappropriate
C. rash
D. impetuous
4. We can infer from the third paragragh that the appropriateness of physical contact also varies with_________.
A. time
B. city
C. country
D. people
5. The best title for the passage would be __________.
A. Proxemics
B. Appropriateness of Social Distance
C. Appropriateness Relationships Between Two Persons
D. Appropriateness Physical Contact Between Two Persons
【答案】：DAAAA
16. 2008年12月英语六级阅读理解练习(2)
In the past century Irish painting has changes from a British-influenced lyrical tradition to an art that evokes the ruggedness and roots of an Irish Celtic past. At the turn of the twentieth century Irish painters, including notables Walter Frederick Osborne and Sir William Orpen, looked elsewhere for influence. Osborne’s exposure to “plein air” painting deeply impacted his stylistic development; and Orpen allied himself with a group of English artists, while at the same time participated in the French avant-garde experiment, both as painter and teacher.
However, nationalist energies were beginning to coalesce (接合)，reviving interest in Irish culture-including Irish visual arts. Beatrice Elvery’s (1907), a landmark achievement, merged the devotional simplicity of fifteenth-century Italian painting with the iconography (肖像画法) of Ireland’s Celtic past, linking the history of Irish Catholicism with the still-nasce t (初生的) Irish republic. And, although also captivated by the French plein air school, Sir John Lavery invoked the mythology of his native land for a 1928 commission to paint the central figure for the bank note of the new Irish Free State. Lavery chose as this figure, with her arm on a Celtic harp (竖琴)，the national symbol of independent Ireland.
In Irish painting from about 1910, memories of Edwardian romanticism coexisted with a new sense of realism,exemplified by the paintings of Paul Henry and Se Ke ating, a student of Orpen’s. realism also crept into the work of Edwardians Lavery and Orpen, both of whom made paintings depicting World WarⅠ,Lavery with a distanced Victorian nobility, Orpen closer to the front, revealing a more sinister and realistic vision. Meanwhile,
counterpoint to the Edwardians and realists came Jack B. Yeats, whose travels throughout the rugged and more authentically Irish West led him to depict subjects ranging from street scenes in Dublin to boxing matches and funerals. Fusing close observations of Irish life and icons with an Irish identity in a new way, Yeats changed the face of Irish painting and became the most important Irishartist of his century.
1. Which of the following art most probably exerted the greatest influence on Irish painting in the 19th century?
A. British lyrical tradition
B. French avant-garde experiment
C. notionalist energies
D. Italian painting
2. It is implied_________was least influenced by the contemporary art of Frence.
A. Sir John Lavery
B. Sir William Orpen
C. Beatrice Elvery
D. Se Keating
3. Which of the following best explains the author’s use of the word “counterpoint” in referring to Yeats?
A. Yeats’ paintings differed significantly in subject matter from those of his contempora ries in Ireland.
B. Yeats reacted to the realism of his contemporary artists by invoking nineteenth-century naturalism in his own painting style.
C. Yeats avoided religious and mythological themes in favor of mundane portrayals of Irish life.
D. Yeats built upon the realism painting tradition, elevating it to unprecedented artistic heights.
4. The author points out the coexistence of romanticism and realism most probably in order to show that_________.
A. Irish painters of the early twentieth century tended to romanticize the harsh reality of war
B. for a time painters from each school influenced painters from the other school
C. Yeats was influenced by both the romantic and realist schools of Irish painting
D. the transition in Irish painting from one predominant style to the other was not an abrupt one
5. The most likely topic of the paragraph followed is _________.
A. The Role of Celtic Mythology in Irish Painting
B. Who Deserves Credit for the Preeminence of Yeats among Irish Painters?
C. Realism vs. Romanticism: Ireland’s Struggle for National Identity
D. Irish Paintings: Reflections of an Emerging Independent State
【答案】：AAADD
17.2008年12月英语六级阅读理解练习(3)
The moden world only recently reached the Yanomano, a native people of the Amazon basin. Sheltered by thick rainforest,the Yanomano lived a self-contained existence until gold was discovered in their jungle homeland. Miners flocked into the forests, cutting down trees and bringing disease and shot those Yanomano who would not get out of the way. In just seven years from the early 1980s, the population fell 20 per cent.
Hands Around the World, a native American cultural association, says the Yanomano are believed to be the most culturally intact people in the world. They wear loin cloths, use fire sticks and decorate their bodies with dye from a red berry(桨果). They don’t use the wheel and the only metal they use is what has been traded to them by outsiders. When a Yanomano dies, the body is burned and the remaining bones crushed into a powder and turned into a drink that is later consumed by mourners in memory of the dead.
A Hands Around the World report says that in South America not only are the cultures and traditions in danger of disappearing, but some tribes ar e in danger of extinction. “The Yanomano is a well-known tribe that is rapidly losing its members through the destruction of Western disease,” the report says. Before illegal gold miners entered their rainforest, the Yanomano were isolated from modern sociaty.
They occupy dense jungle north of the Amazon River between Venezuela and Brazil and are catalogued by anthropologists(人类学家) as neo-indians with cultural characteristics that date back more than 8,000 years. Each community lives in a circular communal house, some of which sleep up to 400, built around a central square.
Though many Yanomano men are monogamous, it is not unusual for them to have two or more wives. Anthropologists from the University of Wisconsin say polygamy is a way to increase o ne’s wealth because having a large family increases help with hunting and cultivating the land. These marriages result in a shortage of women for other men to marry, which has led to inter-tribal wars.
Each Yanomano man is responsible for clearing his land for gardening, using slash-and-hum farming methods. They grow plantains, a type of banana eaten cooked, and hunt game animals, fish and anaconda(南美热带蟒蛇) using bows and arrows.
1. Miners flocked into the forest and shot those Yanomano who _______.
A. sheltered in thick rainforest
B. would not leave their jungle homeland
C. lived a self-contained existence
D. would stand in their way
2. The organization called Hands Around the World believes that culturally, the Yanomano is the world’s__________.
A. most primitive people
B. most backward people
C. most advanced people
D. oldest people
3. Which of the following is NOT true according to an American cultural association report?
A. In South America, the cultures are on the verge of extinction.
B. In South America, the traditions are on the verge of extinction.
C. In South America, the Yanomano can survive extinction.
D. In South America, some tribes are on the verge of extinction.
4. ___caused the Yanomano to have inter-tribal wars.
A. The shortage of women resulting from polygamy
B. The difference in wealth resulting from polygamy
C. The shortage of women resulting from monogamy
D. The difference in wealth resulting from monogamy
5. We can infer from the passage that it is imperative for us to protect the Yanomano because__________.
A. it is a clturally most intact people
B. it is a primitive people deep in jungle
C. it is a native people of the Amazon basin
D. it is primitive people in danger of disappearing
【答案】：DACCD
18.2008年12月英语六级阅读理解练习(4)
Since its foundation in 1954, the United Nations has written into its major covenants(契约) the need to establish minimum ages for marriage. But the custom of marriage is a highly sensitive cultural issue, mainly because it is so unpleasantly involved with women’s rights and societal traditions and practices, and rules on marriage vary widely between countries. Some countries, particularly in West Africa, still do not have a legal minimum age for marriage.
In the West, a 13-year-old is still considered a child. Even getting married in one’s late teens is not usually encouraged because married life is likely to interfere with a young woman’s education and consequently restrict opportunities in later life. And there are also physical dangers in giving birth so young. The World Health Organization has over the past ten years identified early childbirth as a major cause of female mortality in many countries.
Under Islamic religious law, the age of consent for sex and marriage is puberty, which Muslims say is in harmony with the biological transition from childhood into adulthood. In Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan, the age of puberty at around 13 or 14 is the legal age for marriage, but in Turkey it is 15, and in Egypt and Tunisia, 18 the same minimum age as in many Western countries. It is argued that by allowing earlier marriages, Islamic law is promoting stable relationships, while Western laws are encouraging promiscuity among young people.
In many countries, the trends of urbanization and education for girls have seen a drop in the number of child brides. However, early marriages continue to occur in poor rural areas, where society works very much on personal arrangement between families, villages and communities. And it doesn’t only happen in countries which don’t have a legal minimum age. In India, for example, the legal age of marriage for a girl is 18 and to a boy, 21. Yet, according to government statistics, 18 percent of ten to fourteen-year old girls in the poor, rural state of Rajasthan in the northwest of the country are married. There are obvious social and economical advantages for doing this: by marrying off their daughters early, families no longer have to provide for them ; and the younger the bride the smaller the dowry(嫁妆), or wedding price, demanded by the groom’s family.
It is clear, then, that child marriages are connected with poverty, lack of education and rural customs such as dowries; there don’t tend to be any child marria ges in urban or rich areas. So, unless these real causes are addressed, it will be extremely hard to enforce change, even when change is dictated by a country’s governing body. (451 words)
1. What is the topic of this passage?
A. Child brides.
B. Early marriages.
C. Minimum age for marriage.
D. Different attitudes towards early marriages.
2. The word “promiscuity”(Line 9, Para. 3) means__.
A. unstable partnership
B. firm partnership
C. diverse relationship
D. single relationship
3. ____is likely to marry late.
A. Women from less educated background
B. Women from rural areas
C. Women from Islamic countries
D. Women from cities
4. Child marriages are NOT related to __________according to the passage.
A. social position
B. rural customs
C. personal arrangements
D. religion
5. According to the passage, getting married early does all of the following EXCEPT__________.
A. reducing a young woman’s education
B. limiting a young woman’s chances
C. causing infant death
D. doing harm to a youn g woman’s health
[答案]：BCDAC
19. 2008年12月英语六级阅读理解练习(5)
As you all know, the United States is a country on wheels. Nearly eight million new cars are made each year; four
households out of five own at least one car, and more than a quarter have two each. Ye t you’ll be surprised to learn that some of the car-owners even suffer from malnutrition（营养不良）.
In 1968, a nation-wide survey of malnutrition was made for the first time. It found that 10 million people are suffering in health through inadequate feeding; the causes of their plight（困境）were varied. Unemployment over a long period should be considered as the main factor. And unemployment, strange to say, nine times out of ten results from automation, both in industrial and agricultural areas. For example, in the rural South when a cotton plantation suddenly cuts its force from 100 people to three, the problem to help the displaced arises. So is the case with industrial automation. In fact, probably 2 million jobs are made unnecessary each year in the whole country as a result of the automation process, thus making unemployment a chief social concern. According to government statistics, the number of people unemployed was over 5 percent for the period from 1958 to 1963. In July 1981, it rose to 7.8 percent. As a matter of fact, it has long been known that even during the most prosperous periods there have been people without enough to eat. So I think that’s why President Kennedy said in his inauguration speech in 1961, if the government did not help the poor, it could not save the rich.
In 1966, the Social Security Administration calculated that a family of four needed an income of $3,355 a year to be above the line of poverty. And in 1977, the average poverty line of the country was slightly more than $6,200 annual income for a non-farm family of four. According to the Social Security Act, families of that size below poverty line are eligible to receive benefits from the special welfare program. The average weekly payment of benefits now is equivalent to 36 per cent of the worker’s normal wage. And the number of people who receive government benefits is increasing. In 1973, social insurance payments by governments, mainly to old age pensioners and people who had lost their jobs or were off work through illness, amounted to $86,000 million. Those not fully qualified for insurance payments received $29,000 million in public aid.
But problems still exist. Many people are not reached by the anti-poverty program, because local authorities and agencies do not want to play their part or do not gave the resources to do so. Some poor people will not accept help for various reasons. Of course, there are some more important factors which lie in the structure of the society, but I don’t consider it necessary to dig into them here. Yet we will perhaps agree that social welfare programs have solved to some extent the problems of feeding, clothing and housing those below the poverty line. On the whole, it perhaps might be said that American people are living a better life than people in most other countries.
1. The United States is called a country on wheels because______.
A. about one-fourth Americans own two cars
B. a bit over one out of four households are the owners of two cars
C. nearly 8 million new cars drive in the country every year
D. 80% Americans have at least one car
2. According to a 1968 survey, ten million Americans found themselves in a difficult health situation chiefly due to _______.
A. inadequate feeding
B. malnutrition
C. unemployment
D. automation
3. The author use ”the displaced”(Line 9, Para. 2) to refer to those who are _______.
A. unemployed
B. disabled
C. sick
D. poor
4. The word “eligible”(Line 6, Para.3) is synonymous with “_______”
A. necessary
B. urgent
C. needed
D. worthy
5. Americans are living a better life than those in most of other countries because, to some degree, _____.
A. many Americans receive benefits from the special welfare program
B. some poor people can receive help for some reason or other
C. there is the anti-poverty program in the U.S.
D. social welfare programs have some measure settled the problems of those below the poverty line.
[答案]：BCADD
（20）2008年12月英语六级阅读理解练习(6)
In recent years, teachers of introductory courses in Asian American studies have been facing a dilemma nonexistent a few decades ago, when hardly any texts in that field were available. Today, excellent anthologies（文选）and other introductory texts exist, and books on individual Asian Americans are published almost weekly. Even professors who are experts in the field find it difficult to decide which of these to assign to students; non-experts who teach in related areas and are looking for writings for and by Asian American to include in survey courses are in an even worse position.
A complicating factor has been the continuing lack of specialized one-volume reference works on Asian Americans, such as biographical dictionaries or desktop encyclopedias. Such works would enable students taking Asian American studies courses (and professors in related fields) to look up basic information on Asian American individuals, institutions, history, and culture without having to wade through（费力的阅读冗长或艰深的材料）mountains of primary source material. In addition, given such works. Asian American studies professors might feel more free to include more challenging Asian American material in their introductory reading lists, since good reference works allow students to acquire on their own the background information necessary to interpret difficult or unfamiliar material.
1. The author is primarily concerned with ______.
A. responding to a criticism
B. describing a course of study
C. discussing a problem
D. evaluating a past course of action
2. The “dilemma”(Line 2, Para.1) can best be characterized as be ing caused by the necessity to make a choice when faced with a ______.
A. lack of acceptable alternatives
B. lack of strict standards for evaluating alternatives
C. preponderance of bad alternatives as compared to good
D. multitude of different alternatives
3. Biographical dictionaries and desktop encyclopedias are _____
A. primary source materials
B. introductory texts
C. excellent anthologies
D. reference materials
4. Which of the following is implied about the introductory courses in Asian American studies a few decades ago?
A. The range of different textbooks that could be assigned for such courses was extremely limited
B. The texts assigned as readings in such courses were often not very challenging for students
C. Students often complained about the texts assigned to them in such courses
D. Such courses were offered only at schools whose libraries were rich in primary sources
5. According to the passage, the existence of good one-volume reference works about Asian Americans could result in ______.
A. increased agreement among professors of Asian American studies regarding the quality of the sources available in their field
B. an increase in the number of students sighing up for introductory courses in Asian American studies
C. increased accuracy in writings that concern Asian American history and culture
D. the inclusion of a wider range of Asian American material in introductory reading lists in Asian American studies
[答案]：CDDAD