阅读理解 Today we' re told that to be great is to be bold, to be happy is to be sociable. In fact, one-third to one-half of Americans are introverts. If you' re not an introvert yourself, you are surely raising, managing, married to, or coupled with one.
If these statistics surprise you, that' s probably because so many people pretend to be extroverts. Some fool even themselves, until some life event jolts them into taking stock of their true natures. You have only to raise this subject with your friends and acquaintances to find that the most unlikely people consider themselves introverts.
It makes sense that so many introverts hide even from themselves. We live with a value system that I call the Extrovert Ideal. The archetypal extrovert works well in teams and socializes in groups. We like to think that we value individuality, but all too often we admire one type of individual—the kind who's comfortable "putting himself out there". Sure, we allow technologically gifted loners who launch companies in garages to have any personality they please, but they are the exceptions, not the rule, and our tolerance extends mainly to those who get fabulously wealthy or hold the promise of doing so.
Introversion—along with its cousins sensitivity, seriousness, and shyness—is now a second-class personality trait, somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology. Introverts living under the Extrovert Ideal are discounted because of a trait that goes to the core of who they are. Extroversion is an enormously appealing personality style, but we've turned it into an oppressive standard to which most of us feel we must conform.
The Extrovert Ideal has been documented in many studies, though this research has never been grouped under a single name. Talk active people, for example, are rated as smarter, better-looking, more interesting, and more desirable as friends. We rank fast talkers as more competent and likable than slow ones. Even the word introvert is stigmatized—one informal study, by psychologist Laurie Helgoe, found that introverts described their own physical appearance in vivid language, but when asked to describe generic introverts they drew a bland and distasteful picture.
But we make a grave mistake to embrace the Extrovert Ideal so unthinkingly. Some of our greatest ideas, art, and inventions came from quiet and cerebral people who knew how to tune in to their inner worlds and the treasures to be found there.

单选题 21.We can learn from the first two paragraphs that______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】由题干关键词定位到文章第一、二段。根据第一段第二句“有三分之一至一半的美国人都性格内向”可知，A项“大多数美国人都内向”不符合原文。B项“比起外向，美国人更喜欢内向”，与第一段表述不符。通过第二段首句“如果这个数据让你感到惊讶，那很可能是因为很多人都在假装外向”和末句“你只需要跟朋友和熟人聊到这个话题，就会发现最不可能内向的人常常认为自己的性格很内向。”可知，C项“你的家人或朋友可能会伪装成外向的人”符合题意。D项“在美国社会，只有外向的人才能成功”在前两段中并未提及。故本题选C。

单选题 22.Many introverts hide their real character because of the following EXCEPT______.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】由题干关键词定位到文章第三段，由第二句we live with a vatue system that I call the Extrovert Ideal可知，A项“我们生活在一个外向理想化社会”符合文意。B项“团队协作和社交活动都适合性格外向的人”与该段第三句表述一致。D项“因为他们富有，天才的孤独者可以被容忍”符合该段最后一句。C项意为“人们只接受一种人— —外向的人”，而原文提到人们可以接受那些有技术天赋，可以白手起家的孤僻天才，他们拥有任意适合他们的个性，与该句并不相符。故本题选C。

单选题 23.The word "pathology" in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to______.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】根据题干关键词定位到文章第四段第一句Introversion—along with its cousins sensitivity，seriousness，and shyness—is now a second-class personality trait，somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology(内向性——以及伴随的敏感、认真和羞怯——现在成了第二等的个性特征，介于失望与______之间)。由此可知，此处的词汇应该是负面的，并且程度要高于disappointment。B项“乐观”不符合句意。A项“暴躁”，无法和“内向”以及“失望”构成程度递进关系。C项“失望，沮丧”是disappointment的近义词。D项“异常”，程度比disappointment高，符合pathology的含义。故本题选D。

单选题 24.Laurie Helgoe is mentioned in Paragraph 5 to show______.

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】根据题干关键词定位到文章第五段。由末句“甚至内向性这个词都受到了侮辱——心理学家劳拉-海尔格的一项非正式的研究发现……”可知，提到该心理学家是为了通过文献解释“内向”一词受到的侮辱。只有A项“根据研究可知，‘内向’这个词被侮辱了”最符合题意。B项“‘外向理想化’在很多文献中都有记载”，C项“心理学家认为积极的人更聪明、更有趣”和D项“人们认为语速快的人更适合当朋友”均不是该段提到Laurie Helgoe的目的。故本题选A。