Passage 5
What our society suffers from most today is the absence of consensus about what it and life in it ought to be, such consensus cannot be gained from society’s present stage, or from fantasies about what it ought to be. For that the present is too close and too diversified, and the future too uncertain, to make believable claims about it. A consensus in the present hence can be achieved only through a shared understanding of the past, as Homer’s epics informed those who lived centuries later what it meant to be Greek, and by what images and ideals they were to live their lives and organize their societies.
Most societies derive consensus from a long history, a language all their own, a common religion, common ancestry. The myths by which they live are based on all of these. But the United States is a country of immigrants, coming from a great variety of nations. Lately, it has been emphasized that an asocial, narcissistic perso
A. an earnest nationalist
B. an advanced psychologist
C. a radical reformer
D. a social historian
Text 1
If the various advocates of the conflicting options are all smart, experienced, and well informed, why do they disagree so completely Wouldn’t they all have thought the issue through carefully and come to approximately the same "best"--conclusion
The answer to that crucial question lies in the structure of the human brain and the way it processes information.
Most human beings actually decide before they think. When any human being--executive, specialized expert, or person in the stree--encounters a complex issue and forms an opinion, often within a matter of seconds, how thoroughly has he or she explored the implications of the various courses of action Answer: not very thoroughly. Very few people, no matter how intelligent or experienced, can take inventory of the many branching possibilities, possible outcomes, side effects, and undesired consequences of a policy or a course of action in a matter of seconds. Yet, those who
A. there is a subtle difference between right and wrong.
B. we cannot tell who is right and what is wrong.
C. what is right is more important than who is right.
D. what is right accounts for the question who is right.
The measure of man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.
—Thomas Macaulay
Some thirty years ago, I was studying in a public school in New York. One day, Mrs. Nanette O’Neill gave an arithmetic (38) to our class. When the papers were (39) she discovered that twelve boys had made exactly the (40) mistakes throughout the test.
There is nothing really new about (41) in exams. Perhaps that was why Mrs. O’Neill (42) even say a word about it. She only asked the twelve boys to (43) after class. I was one of the twelve.
Mrs O’Neill asked (44) questions, and she didn’t (45) us either. Instead, she wrote on the blackboard the (46) words by Thomas Macaulay. She then ordered us to (47) these words into our exercise-books one hundred times.
I don’t (48) about the other eleven boys. Speaking for (
A. didn’t
B. did
C. would
D. wouldn’t
我来回答: