The values of artistic works, according to cultural relativism(相对主义), are simply reflections of local social and economic conditions. Such a view, however, fails to explain the ability of some works of art to excite the human mind across cultures and through centuries.
History has witnessed the endless productions of Shakespearean plays in every major language of the world. It is never rare to find that Mozart packs Japanese concert halls, as Japanese painter Hiroshige does Paris galleries, Unique works of this kind are different from today’s popular art, even if they began as works of popular art. They have set themselves apart in their timeless appeal and will probably be enjoyed for centuries into the future.
In a 1757 essay, the philosopher David Hume argued that because“the general principles of taste are uniform(不变的) in human nature,”the value of some works of art might be essentially permanent. He observed that Homer was still admired after two thousand years. Works of this type, he believed, spoke to deep and unvarying features of human nature and could continue to exist over centuries.
Now researchers are applying scientific methods to the study of the universality of art. For example, evolutionary psychology is being used by literary scholars to explain the long-lasting themes and plot devices in fiction. The structures of musical pieces are now open to experimental analysis as never before. Research findings seem to indicate that the creation by a great artist is as permanent an achievement as the discovery by a great scientist.According to the passage, what do we know about cultural relativism?
| A．It introduces different cultural values. |
| B．It explains the history of artistic works. |
| C．It relates artistic values to local conditions. |
| D．It excites the human mind throughout the world. |
In Paragraph 2, the artists are mentioned in order to show that _____ .
| A．great works of art can go beyond national boundaries |
| B．history gives art works special appeal to set them apart |
| C．popular arts are hardly distinguishable from great arts |
| D．great artists are skilled at combining various cultures |
According to Hume, some works of art can exist for centuries because_____ .
| A．they are results of scientific study |
| B．they establish some general principles of art |
| C．they are created by the world’s greatest artists |
| D．they appeal to unchanging features of human nature |
Which of the following can best serve as the title of the passage?
| A．Are Artistic Values Universal? |
| B．Are Popular Arts Permanent? |
| C．Is Human Nature Uniform? |
| D．Is Cultural Relativism Scientific? |
Folklore is the branch of the study of man which deals with local customs, tales and traditions. Everybody is a storehouse of folklore, though not everybody realizes it. Often, in deed, those who have never heard the word folklore have the greatest store of it, for the people with least book education commonly cherish most firmly old ideas and superstitions (迷信) which have been passed on by word of mouth for generations. Everyone has heard stories of ghosts, witches, fairies, and giants. We all know some proverbs and have come across such ideas as, for example, that it is lucky to see black cat and unlucky to see a single magpie (喜鹊). We keep certain seasons of the year as festivals, such as Christmas, and we are familiar with the special customs connected with weddings and funerals. All such things are of interest to those who study folklore.
People who study folklore won’t criticize the old beliefs and practices they come across as silly, childish, or old-fashioned. Instead, they will try to collect accurate records of them and then see how these are connected with other ideas and customs of other places or times. By comparing with what is known of olden times or the folklore of other countries, they try to discover how certain beliefs and practices came into being, and what purpose they serve now or used to serve in the past.
Often we find that the beliefs which seem most peculiar and unreasonable, and the customs which appear least practical, are of the greatest interest and importance because they are commonly the oldest. Sometimes they were part of an ancient ritual (惯例) or served a useful purpose when people’s way of life was different from what it is now. So we not only learn about what people thought and did in the past but are better able to understand present customs. People often keep up customs when they have forgotten the original reason for them, and in the course of time a fresh reason gets attached to the custom. Thus, when some joker ties an old shoe to the back of the taxi taking the bride and bridegroom to the station for their honeymoon, he would say it was “for luck”, but actually a shoe is an old fertility (繁殖力) symbol and has a place in the wedding customs of China and Palestine.
51. According to the text, people usually pass on old ideas and superstitions by _________.
A. putting them in a large storehouse B. writing them down in books
C. celebrating them as festivals D. mouth from one generation to another
52. The underlined word “they” (in Para.2) most probably refers to _________.
A. practices and beliefs B. customs and traditions
C. records and tales D. places or times
53. It is most unlikely for people who study folklore to _________.
A. collect as many records of old beliefs and practices as possible
B. compare the present customs with those of the olden times
C. criticize the old beliefs and superstitions as silly or childish
D. find out the purpose the certain beliefs and practices serve or used to serve
54. Which of the following statements is true about customs?
A. The customs which do not appear practical mean nothing to most people.
B. The reasons for certain customs may change in the course of history.
C. People who practice customs are quite familiar with their origins.
D. The wedding customs in China and Palestine are of great similarity.
55. What would be the best title for the passage? A. What Does Folklore Really Mean?
B. How Do People Keep Up Customs?
C. Who Studies Tales And Traditions?
D. When Did Some Old Beliefs Begin?
My son and a bunch of his 13-year-old friends piled into the back seat of my car, ready for the last-day-of-school party at McDonald’s on report card day last year. “Jack got a laptop for getting straight A’s, and Laurie got a cell phone,” one boy said. “Oh, yeah, and Sarah got an iPod Nano, and she’s only in third grade,” said another. “And how about Brian? He got $ 10 for each A.”
I suddenly became concerned. These payoffs might get parents through grammar school, but what about high school and beyond? What would be left after the electric guitar, the cell phone, and the portable DVD player?
I saw the road ahead: As the homework load increased, my income would decrease. I saw my comfortable lifestyle disappear before my eyes — no more of those $5 bags of already-peeled organic carrots. No more organic anything!
I started to feel surprised and nervous. Would every goal attained by my two children fetch a reward? A high grade point average? A good class ranking? Would sports achievements be included in this reward system: soccer goals, touchdowns, runs-batted-in? What about orchestra? Would first chair pay more than second? I’d be penniless by eighth-grade graduation.
“We never paid anything for good grades,” said my neighbor across the street, whose son was recently accepted at MIT. “He just did it on his own. Maybe once in a while we went out for pizza, but that’s about it.”
Don’t you just hate that? We’re all running around looking for the MP3 player with the most updates, and she’s spending a few dollars on pizza. She gets motivation; we get negotiation.
46．Why did the writer suddenly become concerned?
A．Because many kids were getting very good grade at school.
B．Because he was worried about the current reword system.
C．Because he wasn’t making enough money to buy things for his kids’ good grades. D．Because kids were having too many parties after school.
47．The underlined sentence “As the homework load increased, my income would decrease.” (in
Paragraph 3) probably means that _________.
A．taking care of the children would influence my work
B．I would spend more money on my children’s homework
C．reducing children’s homework load would cost me a lot
D．more rewards would be needed as the children grew up
48．The example of the author’s neighbor shows that _________.
A．pizza is the best way to encourage children
B．the author’s neighbor was very poor
C．reward is not the only way to encourage children
D．the son of the author’s neighbor’s didn’t like reward
49．It can be inferred from the passage that _________.
A．children would think that you should if you pay them for good grades
B．children would work harder if you buy them pizza for good grades
C．children would not ask for rewards when they enter high school
D．children would not ask for rewards when they enter university
50．What is the author’s attitude toward paying children reward for good grades?
A．Helpful. B．Uncertain. C．Unpleasant. D．Unknowable.
III 阅读 (共两节，满分40分)
第一节 阅读理解 (共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分)
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Some people bring out the best in you in a way that you might never have fully realized on your own. My mom was one of those people.
My father died when I was nine months old, making my mom a single mother at the age of eighteen. While I was growing up, we lived a very hard life. We had little money, but my mom gave me a lot of love. Each night, she sat me on her lap and spoke the words that would change my life, “Kemmons, you are certain to be a great man and you can do anything in life if you work hard enough to get it.”
At fourteen, I was hit by a car and the doctors said I would never walk again. Every day, my mother spoke to me in her gentle, loving voice, telling me that no matter what those doctors said, I could walk again if I wanted to badly enough. She drove that message so deep into my heart that I finally believed her. A year later, I returned to school — walking on my own!
When the Great Depression(大萧条) hit, my mom lost her job. Then I left school to support the both of us. At that moment, I was determined never to be poor again.
Over the years, I experienced various levels of business success. But the real turning point occurred on a vacation I took with my wife and five kids in 1951. I was dissatisfied with the second-class hotels available for families and was angry that they charged an extra $2 for each child. That was too expensive for the average American family. I told my wife that I was going to open a motel(汽车旅馆) for families that would never charge extra for children. There were plenty of doubters at that time.
Not surprisingly, mom was one of my strongest supporters. She worked behind the desk and even designed the room style. As in any business, we experienced a lot of challenges. But with my mother’s words deeply rooted in my soul, I never doubted we would succeed. Fifteen years later, we had the largest hotel system in the world — Holiday Inn. In 1979 my company had 1,759 inns in more than fifty countries with an income of $ 1 billion a year.
You may not have started out life in the best situations. But if you can find a task in life worth working for and believe in yourself, nothing can stop you.
41. What Kemmons’ mom often told him during his childhood was _________.
A. caring B. moving C. encouraging D. interesting
42. According to the author, who played the most important role in making him walk back to
school again?
A. Doctors. B. Nurses. C. His friends. D. His mom。
43. What caused Kemmons to start a motel by himself?
A. His terrible experience in the hotel.
B. His previous business success of various level.
C. His mom’s strongest support.
D. His wife’s valuable suggestion.
44. Which of the following best describes Kemmons’ mother?
A. Modest, helpful and hard-working. B. Loving, supportive and strong-willed.
C. Careful, helpful and beautiful. D. Strict, sensitive and supportive.
45. Which of the following led to Kemmons’ success according to the passage?
A. Self-confidence, hard work, higher education and a poor family.
B. Clear goals, mom’s encouragement, a poor family and higher education.
C. Mom’s encouragement, clear goals, self-confidence and hard work.
D. Mom’s encouragement, a poor family, higher education and opportunities.
Throughout the history of the arts, the nature of creativity has remained constant to artists. No matter what objects they select, artists are to bring forth new forces and forms that cause change-to find poetry where no one has ever seen or experienced it before.
Landscape(风景) is another unchanging element of art. It can be found from ancient times through the 17th-century Dutch painters to the 19th-century romanticists and impressionists. In the 1970s Alfred Leslie, one of the new American realists, continued this practice. Leslie sought out the same place where Thomas Cole, a romanticist, had produced paintings of the same scene a century and a half before. Unlike Cole who insists on a feeling of loneliness and the idea of finding peace in nature, Leslie paints what he actually sees. In his paintings, there is no particular change in emotion, and he includes ordinary things like the highway in the background. He also takes advantage of the latest developments of color photography(摄影术) to help both the eye and the memory when he improves his painting back in his workroom.
Besides, all art begs the age-old question: What is real? Each generation of artists has shown their understanding of reality in one form or another. The impressionists saw reality in brief emotional effects, the realists in everyday subjects and in forest scenes, and the Cro-Magnon cave people in their naturalistic drawings of the animals in the ancient forests. To sum up, understanding reality is a necessary struggle for artists of all periods.
Over thousands of years the function of the arts has remained relatively constant. Past or present, Eastern or Western, the arts are a basic part of our immediate experience. Many and different are the faces of art, and together they express the basic need and hope of human beings.
46. The underlined word “poetry” most probably means __________.
A. an object for artistic creation B. a collection of poems
C. an unusual quality D. a natural scene
47. Leslie's paintings are extraordinary because _________.
A. they are close in style to works in ancient times
B. they look like works by 19th-century painters
C. they draw attention to common things in life
D. they depend heavily on color photography
48. What is the author's opinion of artistic reality?
A. It will not be found in future works of art.
B. It does not have a long-lasting standard.
C. It is expressed in a fixed artistic form.
D. It is lacking in modern works of art.
49. What does the author suggest about the arts in the last paragraph?
A. They express people's curiosity about the past.
B. They make people interested in everyday experience.
C. They are considered important for variety in form.
D. They are regarded as a mirror of the human situation.
50. Which of the following is the main topic of the passage?
A. History of the arts. B. Basic questions of the arts.
C. New developments in the arts. D. Use of modern technology in the arts.
After the Summer Olympics are over, when all the athletes and viewers have gone home and the television audience has switched off, another group of athletes and fans will arrive at the host city, and another competition will begin. These are the Paralympics, the games for athletes with a disability. But in Beijing in 2008, for the first time, one of the greatest paralympians will not be taking part.
She is a British athlete by the name of Tanni Grey-Thompson. Born with spina bifida （脊椎裂） which left her paralysed（瘫痪的） from the waist down, Tanni used a wheelchair from the age of 7. At first, she was not keen on sport, apart from horse-riding, which gave her a sense of freedom. But in her teens, she started taking sports more seriously. She tried swimming, basketball and tennis. Eventually she found athletics, and never looked back.
Indeed, Tanni's athletic career took off. In 1984, when she was 15, she pulled off a surprise victory in the 100 meters at the Junior National Wheelchair Games.
In 1988, Tanni went to her first Paralympic Games in Seoul. She won bronze in the 400 meters. Even greater success followed at the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics. Tanni won gold in the100, 200, 400 and 800 meters relay, setting two world records in the process. In the same year she achieved the first of her six London Wheelchair Marathon victories.
Tanni's enduring success has been part motivation, part preparation. “The training I do that enables me to be a good sprinter （短跑运动员） enables me to be good at a marathon too. I train 50 weeks of the year and that keep me prepared for whatever distance I want to race... I am still competing at a very high level, but as 1 get older things get harder and 1 want to retire before 1
fall apart."
Indeed Tanni retired finally after the Visa Paralympic World Cup in 2007. Her wish is to coach young athletes for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
In spite of ups and downs, she never takes her fate lying down. In her splendid life, she has won an amazing eleven gold medals, four silvers and one bronze in a series of Paralympics— a top level athletic career covering two decades. She has won the London Wheelchair Marathon six times, more than any other competitor, and she has set over thirty world records.
What advice does she have for young athletes? "Work hard at your studies, and then train, train and train again."
41. Which of the following sports did Tanni like before thirteen?
A. Basketball. B. Swimming. C. Tennis. D. Horse-riding.
42. When did Tanni win her first Olympic gold medal?
A. In 1984. B. In 1988. C. In 1992. D. In 2007.
43. The underlined word "that" in the 5th paragraph refers to____.
A. fifty weeks' training B. being a good sprinter
C. training almost every day D. part motivation and part preparation
44. What's the right order of the events related to Tanni?
a. She works as a coach.
b. She took up athletics.
c. She won four gold medals in Barcelona.
d. She competed in her first Paralympic Games.
e. She achieved a victory in her first London Wheelchair Marathon.
A. b, d, c, e, a B. a, d, b, c, e C. a, d, c, e, b D. b, d, a, e, c
45. What can we learn from Tanni's success?
A. Union is strength. B. Never too late to learn.
C. Well begun is half done. D. No pains, no gains.
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