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text 3 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 （史诗） 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 （自我陶醉的） personality has become characteristic of americans, and that it is this type of personality that makes for the lack of well-being, because it prevents us from achieving consensus that would counteract a tendency to withdraw into private worlds. in his study of narcissism, christopher lasch says that modern man, "tortured by selfconsciousness, turns to new therapies not to free himself of his personal worries but to find meaning and purpose in life, to find something to live for". there is widespread distress because national morale has declined, and we have lost an earlier sense of national vision and purpose. contrary to rigid religions or political beliefs, as are found in totalitarian （极权主义的） societies, our culture is one of great individual differences, at least in principle and in theory. but this leads to diSUNity, even chaos. americans believe in the value of diversity, but just because ours is a society based on individual diversity, it needs consensus about some dominating ideas more than societies based on uniform origin of their citizens. hence, if we are to have consensus, it must be based on a myth—a vision—about a common experience, a conquest that made us americans, as the myth about the conquest of troy formed the greeks. only a common myth can offer relief from the fear that life is without meaning or purpose. myths permit us to examine our place in the world by comparing it to a shared idea. myths are shared fantasies that form the tie that binds the individual to other members of his group. such myths help to ward off feelings of isolation, guilt, anxiety, and purposelessness—in short, they coMBAt isolation and the breakdown of social standards and values. 31.in the author's view, the greatest trouble with the us society lies in the . a. lack of serious disagreement over the organizations of social life b. non-existence of unanimity on the forms the society should take c. general denying of its conformity with what it was unexpected to be d. public negation of the consensus on how to conduct social reforms 32.homer's epics mentioned in paragraph 1 exemplify the fact that . a.the present is varying too fast to be caught up easily b.the future may be so indefinite as to be unpredictable c.the past can help to shape a consensus in the present d.the past determines social moralities for later generations 33.the asocial personality of americans results from . a.the multiracial constituents of the us society b.the absence of a common religion and ancestry c.the want of shared myths they possess in life d.the obstruction of achieving a general agreement 34.it can be inferred from paragraph 2 that christopher lasch is most probably . a.an earnest nationalist b.an advanced psychologist c.a radical reformer d.a social historian 35.the author concludes that only shared myths can help americans . a.to bring about the uniformity of their culture b.to diminish their great individual differences c.to avoid the sense of being isolated and anxious d.to regain the feelings of social values and morale text 4 perhaps most puzzling than purring is the cat's ability to survive falls. a research shed light on this ability in 1987. the cat's habit of falling out of open windows provided the researchers with an opportunity to study 115 cats that had fallen from highrise apartments in new york city. the average fall was 5.5 stories. of the 115 cats studied, 90 percent survived, including one cat that fell 32 stories on to a sidewalk and suffered only mild chest injury and a chipped tooth.interestingly, cats that fell from 9 or more stories suffered fewer injuries than those falling from lower heights. among cats that fell from 9 to 32 stories, only 5 percent suffered fatal injuries, but 10 percent of those that fell from 7 or fewer stories died. how do cats manage to take falling so easily? for one thing, in comparison to human beings, a cat is much smaller and lighter. also, a cat has more body surface area in proportion to its weight than a human being has. this increase in surface area results in greater air resistance, which slows the fall.the important thing,however, is that a falling cat apparently positions itself to form a sort of parachute. less than one second after it starts to fall, a cat quickly rights itself in midair with all four legs pointing downward. the cat's inner ears act like an internal gyroscope, telling the cat which direction it is falling. with the legs pointed downward, the cat then spreads its legs so that its body forms a sort of parachute that increases air resistance. with its limbs flexed, the cat also cushions the force of impact by landing on all four legs. the force of the impact is distributed through the muscles and joints. the researchers believe that the parachute effect comes into play mainly above four stories, at the point where the cat has reached its greatest rate of descent. of the 115 cats the researchers studied, only 1 of 13 that fell nine or more stories sustained a bone fracture, whereas most of the cats that fell from lower stories suffered some type of broken bone. 36in the research it was found that the cats tend to suffer injuries or die when they fell from . a.the highest story of the building b.the lowest story of the building c.the middle stories of the building d.the fourth to seventh stories of the building 37the key to the cat's survival of high falling lies in . a.its body size b.the size of its body surface c.its body weight d.its posture in the falling 38cats that fall from high places . a.take some time to adjust itself in midair b.always spread itself as fully as possible c.look like the shapes of parachutes d.points their ears to the falling direction 39the parachute effect starts . a.in the middle of the cat's fall b.when its fall reaches the highest speed c.at the beginning of the cat's fall d.towards the end of the cat's fall 40according to the passage,which part of the cat's body touches the ground first when it falls from high buildings? a.head b.bottom c.neck d.legs   |
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