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Unit3
Part A
Directions:
Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. （40 points）
Text 2
In 1575 - over 400 years ago - the French scholar Louis Le Roy published a learned book in which he voiced despair over the changes caused by the social and technological innovations of his time, what we now call the Renaissance. We, also, feel that our times are out of joint; we even have reason to believe that our descendants will be worse off than we are.
The earth will soon be overcrowded and its resources exhausted. Pollution will ruin the environment, upset the climate, damage human health. The gap in living standards between the rich and the poor will widen and lead the angry, hungry people of the world to act of desperation including the use of nuclear weapons as blackmail. Such are the inevitable consequences of population and technological growth if present trends continue.
The future is never a projection of the past. Animals probably have no chance to escape from the merciless law of biological evolution, but human beings are blessed with the freedom of social evolution. For us, trend is not destiny. The escape from existing trends is now facilitated by the fact that societies anticipate future dangers and take preventive steps against expected changes.
Despite the widespread belief that the world has become too complex for comprehension by the human brain, modern societies have often responded effectively to critical situations.
The decrease in birth rates, the partial prohibition of pesticides, the rethinking of technologies for the production and use of energy are but a few examples illustrating a sudden reversal of trends caused not by political upsets or scientific breakthroughs, but by public awareness of consequences.
Even more striking are the situations in which social attitudes concerning future difficulties undergo rapid changes before the problems have come to pass - witness the heated arguments about the problems of behavior control and of genetic engineering even though there is as yet no proof that effective methods can be developed to manipulate behavior and genes on a population scale.
One of the characteristics of our times is thus the rapidity with which steps can be taken to change the orientation of certain trends and even to reverse them. Such changes usually emerge from grassroot movements rather than from official directives.
Notes:
projection 预测；推断
6. The author feels that our times are
［A］ moving backward to those of the Renaissance.
［B］ bringing about disorders and crises in the world.
［C］ breaking the joint between our two generations.
［D］ worsening the physical health of our descendents.
7. According to the text, if present trends continue, which one of the following will NOT occur?
［A］ An overpopulated earth will be unable to sustain its inhabitants.
［B］ The rich will become richer and the poor will become poorer.
［C］ New energy source from coal will replace oil and natural gas.
［D］ Air pollution will render the atmosphere harmful to mankind.
8. The best explanation of the implication of "trend is not destiny"(Par.3) is
［A］ humans are blessed with the freedom of social evolution.
［B］ the world has become too complex for man to comprehend.
［C］ critical processes can overshoot and cause further disasters.
［D］ the earth will soon be overcrowded and its resources exhausted.
9. Evidence for the public insight into social dangers can be found in all of the following EXCEPT
［A］ a persistent decrease in birth rates.
［B］ opposition to the use of pesticides.
［C］ complaints about dumping chemicals.
［D］ an increase in the military budget.
10. The author is in favor of the opinion that
［A］ nuclear weapons won't play a prominent role in dealings among peoples.
［B］ people feel helpless in face of a new trend caused by scientific advances.
［C］ scientists and the public are alert to future dangers and ready to prevent them.
［D］ our time features the speedy development of science and technology.
