2004年3月公共英语三级考试真题及答案d
Text 3
There is one difference between the sexes on which virtually every expert and study agree: men are more aggressive than women. It shows up in 2-year-olds. It continues through school days and persists into adulthood. It is even constant across cultures. And there is little doubt that it is rooted in biology in the male sex hormone testosterone.
If there's a feminine trait that's the counterpart of male aggressiveness, it's what social scien-tists awkwardly refer to as "nurturance". Feminists have argued that the nurturing nature of women is not biological in origin, but rather has been drummed into women by a society that wanted to keep them in the home. But the signs that it is at least partly inborn are too numerous to ignore. Just as tiny infant girls respond more readily to human faces, female toddlers learn much faster than males how to pick up nonverbal cues from others. And grown women are far more adept than men at interpreting facial expressions: A recent study by University of Pennsylvania brain researcher Ru-ben Gur showed that they easily read emotions such as anger, sadness and fear. The only such e-motion men could pick up was disgust.
What difference do such differences make in the real world? Among other things, women appear to be somewhat less competitive--or at least competitive in different ways--than men. At the Harvard Law School, for instance, female students enter with credentials just as outstanding as those of their male peers. But they don' t qualify for the prestigious Law Review in proportionate numbers, a fact some school officials attribute to women' s discomfort in the incredibly competitive atmosphere.
Students of management styles have found fewer differences than they expected between men and women who reach leadership positions, perhaps because many successful women deliberately imitate masculine ways. But an analysis by Purdue social psychologist Alice Eagly of 166 studies of leadership style did find one consistent difference: Men tend to be more “autocratic”-making decisions on their own--while women tend to consult colleagues and subordinates more often. Studies of behavior in small groups turn up even more differences. Men will typically domi-nate the discussion, says University of Toronto psychologist Kenneth Dion, spending more time talking and less time listening.
56. The passage mainly discusses__________.
[ A ] how sex differences are demonstrated in social relations
[ B ] how hormone determines sex differences
[ C ] why there are differences between males and females
[ D ] why men and women have different social roles
57. Which of the following is true of women's nurturing nature according to the passage?
[ A ] It is not inborn in any sense.
[ B ] It is inspired by women' s families.
[ C ] It is caused by social prejudice.
[ D ] It is partly biological in origin.
58. The Harvard Law School example in paragraph 3 suggests that_________.
[ A ] women are not as competitive as men
[ B ] law is not the fight profession for women
[ C ] women are as excellent as men when they are young
[ D ] academic credentials are disproportionate to performance
59. Which of the following statement is tree according to paragraph 4?
[ A ] Men leaders should consult colleagues and subordinates more often.
[ B ] Female leaders' success is due to their imitating male leaders.
[ C ] Men and women are different in their leadership style.
[ D ] Decisiveness is an important quality for a successful politician.
60. It can be inferred from the passage that the writer_________.
[ A ] denies the difference sexes make in real life
[ B ] is prejudiced against men
[ C ] discourages women to be competitive
[ D ] treats sex difference objectively
Part B
Directions:
Read the texts from an article in which five people talked about energy and making use of it. For questions 61 to 65, match the name of each speaker to one of the statements (A to G) given below. Mark your answers on your ANSWER SHEET 1.
Jackson:
Viewed from a scientist's standpoint, all of the energy contained in fuel either now or in the future becomes heat. Some of the heat is used directly or produces useful work. The rest is lost or rejected. That is to say, it is radiated into the atmosphere from the engines, motors, furnaces, power lines, television sets, boilers and all the other energy-consuming machinery that makes our wheels go around.
Browning:
It is necessary to improve the efficiency with. which we use energy in order to do more work. But improvement cannot come overnight, and there are limits beyond which not even science can help. According to the Center for Strategic and International studies, about three quarters of the energy we use to move things, including ourselves, accomplishes no useful work.
Jeffrey:
In terms of efficiency, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation may be using en-ergy more efficiently than private automobiles. Unless private automobiles can operate at near capacity, their overall efficiency is poor. For example, an urban bus carrying 36 passengers may achieve an efficiency of around 120 passenger-miles per gallon of gasoline. But buses are not al-ways fully loaded, and sometimes they carry no passengers at all.
Vandenberg:
It is true that buses can sometimes run without passengers. City trains seem to be very effi-cient, but they suffer the same shortcomings as buses and cost more. Except for rush hours, com-muter trains seldom run at full capacity. This wastes even more energy and is more than the management can afford. As a result, commuter trains are truly practical only in places where there are a lot of people.
Nathan:
For some people, mass transportation may serve their needs. For others, a combination of mass transportation and private transportation may be preferable. Better design and wise use of both mass transportation systems and private vehicles will play an important part in helping us make full-er use of energy for transportation.
Now match each of the persons (61 to 65) to the appropriate statement.
Note: there are two extra statements.
Statements
61. Jackson 62. Browning 63. Jeffrey 64. Vandenberg 65. Nathan
[ A ] City trains and buses have different faults to overcome.
[ B ] The efficiency of the city train depends on the size of population.
[ C ] Public transportation is usually more energy-efficient.
[ D ] Private cars usually run at full capacity.
[ E ] No fuel energy is fully used.
[ F ] A combined means of transport can help increase energy efficiency.
[ G ] Problems of energy loss can never be completely solved.