单选题
All day long, you are affected by large forces. Genes
influence your intelligence and willingness to take risks. Social dynamics
unconsciously shape your choices, Instantaneous (瞬间的) perceptions set off
neutral reactions in your head without you even being aware of them.
Over the past few years, scientists have made a series of exciting
discoveries about how these deep patterns influence daily life. Nobody has done
more to bring these discoveries to public attention than Malcolm
Gladwell. Gladwell's new book Outliers seems at first glance to
be a description of exceptionally talented individuals. But in fact, it's
another book about deep patterns. Exceptionally successful people are not lone
pioneers who created their own success, he argues. They are the lucky
beneficiaries of social arrangements. Gladwell's
noncontroversial claim is that some people have more opportunities than others.
Bill Gates was lucky to go to a great private school with its own computer at
the dawn of the information revolution. Gladwell's book is
being received by reviewers as a call to action for the Obama Age. It could lead
policy makers to finally reject policies built on the assumption that people are
coldly rational profit-maximising individuals. It could cause them to focus more
on policies that foster relationships, social bonds and cultures of
achievement. Yet, I can't help but feel that Gladwell and
others who share his emphasis are preoccupied with the coolness of the
discoveries. They've lost sight of the point at which the influence of social
forces ends and the influence of the self-initiating individual
begins. Most successful people begin with two beliefs: the
future can be better than the present, and I have the power to make it so. They
were often showered by good fortunes, but relied at crucial moments upon
achievements of individual will. These people also have an extraordinary ability
to consciously focus their attention. Control of attention is the ultimate
individual power. People who can do that are not prisoners of the stimuli around
them. They can choose from the patterns in the world and lengthen their time
horizons. Gladwell's social determinism overlooks the
importance of individual character and individual creativity. And it doesn't
fully explain the genuine greatness of humanity's talents. As the classical
philosophers understood, examples of individual greatness inspire achievement
more reliably than any other form of education.
单选题
According to the author, Gladwell's new book Outliers is mainly ______.
A.to explain why Bill Gates is much luckier than others
B.a descriptive study of exceptionally talented individuals
C.about the importance of social arrangements to personal success
D.to discuss why some people have more opportunities than others
单选题
What is the most fundamental individual power according to the passage?
A.A strong belief in success.
C.A very charming personality.
B.Remarkable ability to focus attention.
D.Extraordinary ability to create.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 根据题干中的individual power将本题出处定位于第7段第3、4句。
第7段第3、4句提到，这些人还具备自觉集中注意力的杰出能力，控制注意力是最基本的个人能力。由此可知，最基本的个人能力指的是集中注意力这项杰出能力，故答案为B，其中的remarkable与extraordinary对应。A是针对该段第1句所设的干扰项；C在文中未提及；文中提到extraordinary ability to...focus...attention而非extraordinary ability to create，故排除D。
单选题
What do we learn from the last paragraph?
A.One's success is more closely related to individual character and
creativity.
B.Individual greatness is mainly determined by genes and good
education.
C.Good luck is indispensable if people want to achieve extraordinary
success.
D.The influence of social forces has been underestimated before Malcolm
Gladwell.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 根据题干中的the last paragraph将本题出处定位于最后一段。
最后一段第1句提到，格拉德韦尔的社会决定论忽视了个体个性和个体创造力的重要性，也就是说，个体个性和个体创造力对成功也有重要影响。最后一句提到，个体伟大的例子比任何形式的教育都更有可能激发成就，也就是说，一个人的成就与其伟大有更大的联系，而个体个性和创造力是个体伟大的一部分。由此可知，一个人的成就与其个性和创造力有更大的联系，故答案为A。最后一句只是将个体伟大和教育对成就的影响作比较，并来说个体伟大是由教育决定，且最后一段未提及genes，故排除B；C是格拉德韦尔的观点而非作者的观点；D是针对最后一段第1句提到的overlooks所设的干扰项。