清华大学考博英语真题（三）

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Passage 2

Before about 3500 BC, there were cultures, but not civilizations. Prehistoric men and women created societies, constructed houses, lived in villages, hunted and fished, farmed, made pottery, wove cloth, and created languages. But unlike more advanced peoples, they did not build cities, read, or write. Cities are the cornerstone of civilized life because with them came other civilizing elements, including differentiation of classes and employment, sophisticated religious and political systems, monumental architecture, and the formation of states and empires.

Historians usually begin the story, of civilization with accounts of the world's first great writers and city-builders, the Sumerians. Because the Sumerians recorded ideas and sagas and listed the names of their rulers, we know more about them than about prehistoric about prehistoric peoples who left their legacy in stones, bones, and pottery.

With the ability to build cities and record thought came the ability to communicate ideas and innovations over vast reaches of time and space. Human beings―who had formerly taken hundreds of thousands of years to learn that a stone ax sharpened on both sides is more useful than an ax sharpened on one side―progressed rapidly from foot travel to horse drawn carts, and later, from railroads to airplanes. With these and thousands of other innovations, people came to live Longer, more comfortable lives.

Civilization also brought new ills to humanity. In the 20th century, it brought nuclear carfare global warming, and ozone depletion. More subtly, civilization removed human beings from regular encounters with the wonders of the natural world. Unlike people of modem civilizations primitive people lived close to the sounds and smells of forest and grasslands. They locked at fire and the stars with awe and reverence. Civilization involves the ability to create a new political and cultural world. In the 19th century, the American writer, philosopher, and naturalist Henry David Thoreau noted that this artificial sphere separates humanity from primitive virtue. "Most of the luxuries, he argued, "and many of the so-called comforts, of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevations of mankind." Thoreau believed that men and women should simplify their lives.

Even those ancient pioneers of civilization, the Greeks, mourned the lost innocence. They expressed this sense of regret in the story, of Prometheus and Pandora. Contrary, to the wishes of other Gods, Prometheus brought to humanity the gifts of fire, art, and science. The jealous gods were unwilling to allow men and women to enjoy, such blessings without cost, and so they sent Pandora to the world with a box containing disease, sorrow, and other evils.

Thus, human beings have viewed civilization as a mixed blessing. Civilized people have waged brutal wars, destroyed majestic forests, and persecuted religious minorities. But civilizations have also achieved wonders.

46. Which of the following represents civilization of people?

A) They build houses.　　　　B) They have societies.

C) They live in a group.　　　　D) They can write.

47. "Sumerians" in the second paragraph refers to ______.

A) a person　　　　B) a group of people

C) human beings　　　　D) prehistoric people

48. In paragraph 4, there is a sentence given by Henry. Thoreau, "Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts, of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevations of mankind." This sentence means ______.

A) Most luxuries and comforts are important and can improve the quality, of people's life.

B) Most luxuries rind comforts are not so important for they cannot improve the quality of people's life.

C) Most luxuries and comforts are not so necessary and also they prevent the progress of human beings

D) Most luxuries and comforts are too important to improve the quality of people's life

49. All tile following represent the negative side of civilization EXCEPT ______

A) chemical warfare　　B) the decrease of fresh air

C) greenhouse effect　　　D) the nuclear plant

50. In the paragraph that follows this passage, the writer is going to discuss ______

A) the importance of civilization

B) the difference between civilization and culture

C) the positive aspect of civilization

D) the Greeks

Passage 3

One of the foremost authors of the era between the two world wars, Hemingway in his early works depicted tile lives of two types of people. One type consisted of men and women deprived, by World War I, of faith in the moral values in which they had believed, and who lived with cynical disregard for anything but their own emotional needs. The other type were men of simple character and primitive emotions, such as prizefighters and bullfighters. Hemingway wrote of their courageous and usually futile battles against circumstances. His earliest works include the collections of short stories Three Stories and Ten Poems (1923), his first work; In Our time (1924),tales reflecting his experiences as a youth in the northern Michigan woods; Men without women(1927), a volume that included "The Killers," remarkable for its description of impending doom; and Winner Take Nothing (1933), stories characterizing people in unfortunate circumstances in Europe. The novel that established Hemingway's reputation. The Sun Also Rises (1926), is the story, of a group of morally irresponsible Americans and Britons living in France and Spain, members of the so-called lost generation of the post-world War I period. Hemingway's second important novel, A Farewell to Arms (1929), is the story, of a deeply moving love affair in wartime Italy between an American officer in the Italian ambulance service and a British nurse. The novel was followed by two nonfiction works, Death in the Afternoon (1932), prose pieces mainly about bullfighting; and Green, gills of Africa (1935), accounts of big-game hunting.

Hemingway's economical writing style often seems simple and almost childlike, but his method is calculated and used to complex effect. In his writing Hemingway provided detached descriptions of action, using simple nouns and verbs to capture scenes precisely. By doing so he avoided describing his characters' emotions and thoughts directly. Instead, in providing the reader with the raw material of an experience and eliminating the authorial viewpoint. Hemingway made the reading of a text approximate the actual experience as closely as possible. Hemingway was also deeply concerned with authenticity, in writing. He believed that a writer could treat a subject honestly only if the writer had participated in or observed the subject closely. Without such knowledge the writer's work would be flawed because the reader would sense the author's lack of expertise: In addition, Hemingway believed that an author writing about a familiar subject is able to write sparingly and eliminate a great deal of superfluous detail from the piece without sacrifleing the voice of authority. Hemingway's stylistic influence on American writers has been enormous. The success of his plain style in expressing basic. yet deeply felt, emotions contributed to the decline of the elaborate Victorian-era prose that characterized a great deal of American writing in the early 20th century. Many American writers have cited Hemingway as an influence on their own work.

51. The novel that brought Hemingway greatest fame________.

A) Three Stories and Ten Poems　　　　B) In Far Time

C) Men Without Women　　　D) The Sun Also Rises

52 Which of the following can best describe Hemingway's writing style?

A) simple and precise　　　 B) bullfighting

C) superfluous　　　　　D) complicated

53. According to this passage which of the following is the great contribution of Hemingway?

A) He introduced a new subject into literature.

B) His writing style influenced a group of American writers

C) He proved that one should write about details.

D) He said that writers should know what they are writing.

54. This passage is mainly, about Hemingway's ___________

A) life　　　　　　　B) background

C) novels and writing style　　D) influence

55. The sentence. "Hemingway was also deeply concerned with authenticity in writing".

"authenticity" is closest in meaning with

A) author's right　　　B) credibility

C) authorization　　　D) authorship

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清华大学考博英语真题（三）

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