单选题 Lacking a cure for AIDS, society must offer education, not only by public pronouncement but in classrooms. Those with AIDS or those at high risk of AIDS suffer prejudice; they are feared by some people who find living itself unsafe, while others conduct themselves with a "bravado (冒险心理)" that could be fatal. AIDS has afflicted a society already short on humanism, open handedness and optimism. Attempts to strike it out with the offending microbe are not abetted(教唆)by preexisting social ills. Such concerns impelled me to offer the first university-level undergraduate AIDS course, with its two important aims:
To address the fact that AIDS is caused by a virus, not by moral failure or societal collapse. The proper response to AIDS is compassion coupled with an understanding of the disease itself. We wanted to foster (help the growth of) the idea of a humane society.
To describe how AIDS tests the institutions upon which our society rests. The economy, the political system, science, the legal establishment, the media and our moral ethical philosophical attitudes must respond to the disease. Those responses, whispered, or shrieked, easily accepted or highly controversial, must be put in order if the nation is to manage AIDS. Scholars have suggested that how a society deals with the threat of AIDS describes the extent to which that society has the right to call itself civilized. AIDS, then, is woven into the tapestry(挂毯) of modem society; in the course of explaining that tapestry, a teacher realizes that AIDS may bring about changes of historic proportions. Democracy obliges its educational system to prepare students to become informed citizens, to join their voices to the public debate inspired by AIDS. Who shall direct just what resources of manpower and money to the problem of AIDS? Even more basic, who shall formulate a national policy on AIDS? The educational challenge, then, is to enlighten(启发) the individual and the societal, or public, responses to AIDS.

单选题 What is the passage mainly about?

【正确答案】 A

【答案解析】[精解] 本题要求掌握文章的大意。解答此题与确定中心思想的方法基本一致。读完全文以后，再将每小段的首尾句都放在一起看，基本上可确定文章的话题与要旨。若每段首尾句主干放在一起，我们可以发现文章的要点构成的框架：…… society must offer education…(第一段首句)Such concerns impelled me to offer the first university-level undergraduate AIDS course，with its two important aims…(第一段尾句)To address the fact that AIDS is caused by a virus…(第二段首句)…We wanted to foster the idea of a humane society.(第二段尾句)To describe how AIDS tests the institutions upon which our society rests．(第三段首句)The educational challenge，then，is to enlighten the individual and the societal，or public，responses to AIDS．(第三段尾句)教育为什么要开设关于艾滋病的课程。故正确答案为A。

单选题 Why did the author offer the AIDS course?

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】[精解] 本题要求把握作者的态度和意图。第一段最后一句说作者开设了艾滋病课程，在此句之前文章提到“艾滋病患者或艾滋病高危人群饱受歧视。一些人由于对生活本身缺乏安全感，因此对他们充满恐惧。还有一些人抱着冒险心理，恣意妄为，从而产生致命的后果。”从而可以看出人们对艾滋病及艾滋病患者或艾滋病高危人群的态度是不正确的，这与选项D的意思一致。故本题答案为D。

单选题 The word "afflict" in the third sentence of the first paragraph most probably means ______.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】[精解] 本题考查考生根据上下文猜测词义的能力。afflict所在的句子告诉我们，其意义不可能是benefit或teach。afflict所在句子的前一句提到人们害怕艾滋病人，而冒险心理可能导致致命的后果。这令我们联想：艾滋病危险，对社会有危害。所以选项B最有可能是afflict的意义解释。

单选题 What does the author think is the correct response to AIDS?

单选题 Which of the following can best explain "AIDS tests the institutions upon which our society rests" according to the passage?

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】[精解] 本题要求理解个别句子的意义，也理解上下文之间的逻辑关系。题干中引号部分出现在原文第三段的第一句中，意思为：为了描述艾滋病如何考验我们的社会赖以存在的机构。文中后面的部分则说明这一句。此段第四句“Scholars have suggested that how a society deals with the threat of AIDS describes the extent to which that society has the fight to call it civilized．”意为：学者们提出，一个社会如何应付艾滋病的威胁表明该社会在何种程度上有权称为文明社会。根据常识，一个社会如何应付某一问题取决于社会机构如何应付它。那么，可以说第三段第四句解释了题干中引号内的内容。比较A、B、C、D四个选项，可知只有选项C与该句意思相同。故C为正确答案。