单选题 Old people are always saying that the young are not what they were. The same comment is made from generation to generation and it is always true. It has never been truer than it is today. The young are better educated. They have a lot more money to spend and enjoy more freedom. They grow up more quickly and are not so dependent on their parents. They think more for themselves and do not blindly accept the ideals of their elders. Events which the older generation remembers vividly are nothing more than past history. This is as it should be. Every new generation is different from the one that preceded it. Today the difference is very marked indeed.
The old always assume that they know best for the simple reason that they have been around a bit longer. They don't like to feel that their values are being questioned or threatened. And this is precisely what the young are doing. They are questioning the assumptions of their elders and disturbing their complacency. They take leave to doubt that the older generation has created the best of all possible worlds. What they reject more than anything is conformity. office hours, for instance, are nothing more than enforced slavery. Wouldn't people work best if they were given complete freedom and responsibility? And what about clothing? Who said that all the men in the world should wear drab gray suits and convict haircuts? If we turn our minds to more serious matters, who said that human differences can best be solved through conventional politics or by violent means? Why have the older generation so often used violence to solve their problems? Why are they so unhappy and guilt-ridden in their personal lives, so obsessed with mean ambitions and the desire to amass more and more material possessions? Can: anything be right with the rat-race? Haven't the old lost touch with all that is important in life?
These are not questions the older generation can shrug off lightly. Their record over the past forty years or so hash't been exactly spotless. Traditionally, the young have turned to their elders for guidance. Today, the situation might he reversed, The old--if they are prepared to admit it--could earn a thing or two from their children. one of the biggest lessons they could learn is that enjoyment is not "sinful". Enjoyment is a principle one could apply to all aspects of life. It is surely not wrong to enjoy your work and enjoy your leisure; to shed restricting inhibitions, It is surely not wrong to live in the present rather than in the past or future. This emphasis on the present is only to be expected because the young have grown up under the shadow of the bomb: the continual threat of complete annihilation. This is their glorious heritage. Can we be surprised that they should so often question the sanity of the generation that bequeathed it?
单选题 Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?
  • A. Enjoyment will be the only Pursuit in our Life.
  • B. The Older Generation is Constantly Under Fire.
  • C. Violence Cannot Apply to All Aspects of Life.
  • D. The Younger Generation Knows Not the Less.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[解析]题干问：“下面哪项是这篇文章的最佳标题?”正确选项为D“其实年轻人知道的并不少”，这个思想贯穿于文章的段落之间，而“know”是文章重复最多的概念。而选项A“享乐是生活中惟一的追求”，选项B“老年一代常常受到攻击”和选项C“暴力不可能解决生活的方方面面”，这都不可能从恰当的角度和视角去看这篇文章的中心。
单选题 What does the author intend to demonstrate with "office hours" adopted by the old (Paragraph 2) ?
  • A. A type of enforced systems.
  • B. A symbol for human initiatives.
  • C. A sort of freedom deprivation.
  • D. A token for the old' obsoleteness.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[解析]题干问：“当说到老年人所采用的‘办公时间’时，作者想要阐明的是什么?”正确选项为C“剥夺自由”，老年人所采用的“办公时间”其实剥夺的是一种创造性和自由。关于自由这个论点在文中第1自然段提出，而且第3自然段中的“restricting inhibitions”也再次说明了这一观点。而选项 A“一种强加的制度”本身是个论据。选项B“人类创造性的象征”和选项D“老年人过时的象征”都不是作者说明这个“办公时间”所要阐述的观点。
单选题 It is evident that the author illustrates his point mainly by______
  • A. exemplifying the misdeeds of the old.
  • B. refuting general assumptions.
  • C. quoting famous sayings and proverbs.
  • D. resorting to statistical evidence.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[解析]题干问：“很显然作者阐明他的观点主要通过的方法是什么?”正确选项为B“驳斥一些总的臆断”，这篇文章作者大量使用了一些主观性的说法，大量使用了投射句以及大量使用了修辞疑问句，这三个要点都可以说明作者使用的是主观方法。而选项A“举证老年人的恶行”，选项C“引用名言和谚语”和选项D“使用了统计数据”，这都不是作者使用的方法，尤其是选项D作者几乎没有使用。
单选题 When mentioning "the rat-race" (Paragraph 2), the author is pouring scorn on the old for their______
  • A. undignified competition for social status.
  • B. failure to solve human conflicts by violence.
  • C. guilty for not learning the art of enjoyment
  • D. adherence only to their challenged values.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[解析]题干问：“当提到‘the rat-race’时，作者蔑视老年人是因为老年人……。”正确选项为A“没有尊严地追求社会地位”，通过第2自然段的归纳得出老年人死抱着自己的地位不愿意放。而选项B“通过暴力没有解决人类的冲突”，选项C“因没有学会享乐的艺术而感到内疚”和选项D“只坚持他们受到质疑的价值观念”都不是作者主要批评老年人的原因。