阅读理解 Imagine a world in which there was suddenly no emotion -- a world in which human beings could feel no love or happiness, no terror or hate. Try to imagine the consequences of such a transformation. People might not be able to stay alive: knowing neither joy nor pleasure, anxiety nor fear, they would be tm likely to repeat acts that hurt them as acts that were beneficial. They could not learn: they could not benefit from experience because this emotionless world would lack rewards and punishments. Society would soon disappear: people would be as likely to harm one another as to provide help and support. Human relationships would not exist: in a world without friends or enemies, there could be no marriage, affection among companions, or bonds among members of groups. Society''s economic underpinnings (支柱) would be destroyed: since earning $10 million would be no more pleasant than earning $10, there would be no incentive to work. In fact, there would be no incentives of any kind. For as we will see, incentives imply a capacity to enjoy them. In such a world, the chances that the human species would survive are next to zero, because emotions are the basic instrument of our survival and adaptation. Emotions structure the world for us in important ways. As individuals, we categorize objects on the basis of our emotions. True we consider the length, shape, size, or texture, but an object''s physical aspects are less important than what it has done or can do to us -- hurt us, surprise us, anger us or make us joyful. We also use categorizations colored by emotions in our families, communities, and overall society. Out of our emotional experiences with objects and events comes a social feeling of agreement that certain things and actions are" good" and others are" bad" , and we apply these categories to every aspect of our social life -- from what foods we eat and what clothes we wear to how we keep promises and which people our group will accept. In fact, society exploits our emotional reactions and attitudes, such as loyalty, morality, pride, shame, guilt, fear and greed, in order to maintain itself. It gives high rewards to individuals who perform important tasks such as surgery, makes heroes out of individuals for unusual or dangerous achievements such as flying fighter planes in a war, and uses the legal penal (刑法的) system to make people afraid to engage in antisocial acts.

单选题 The reason why people might not be able to stay alive in a world without emotion is that ________.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】辨认事实题。题目询问没有情感人类就有可能不能生存下去的原因。根据文章第1段第3句：人类不可能生存下去，因为他们既不知道高兴与快乐，也不知道焦虑和害怕，他们既会重复对他们有益的行为，也有可能会重复对他们有害的行为。因此，A项“不能辨别物质的结构”，只是人类不能生存的一个微不足道的原因；B项“他们分不清什么行为对他们有益，什么行为对他们有害”，与文中所提及的内容一致；C项和D项都只说明了相对片面的原因，因而与题意不符。

单选题 According to the passage, people''s learning activities are possible because they________.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】推断题。题目询问人类不断学习的原因。根据文章第1段第4句：人们无法从经历中受益，因为在没有情感的世界中，人们的行为既得不到回报，也不会受到惩罚，所以人们不再学习。也就是说，人们之所以要学习，是因为他们可以从中受益，得到应有的回报，因此，C项是正确的，与文章的意思相符，A项和B项均与人们的学习活动无关；D项的信息在文中并没有提及。

单选题 It can be inferred from the passage that the economic foundation of society is dependent on ________.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】推断题。题目询问从文中可以得出社会的经济基础主要依赖于什么。根据文章第1段最后几句话：社会的经济支柱将被摧毁，因为如果赚1000万美元不比赚10美元更令人高兴，人们就会失去工作的动力，而我们都知道，动力意味着享受工作的能力。因此，社会的经济支柱依赖于享受工作的能力。阻]和B项具有一定的迷惑性，但赚钱和工作的快感只是动力之一，因此是以偏概全；C项与文中所表达的意思完全一致，因此正确；D项“情感经历的划分”，涵盖了社会生活的每一方面，但与经济基础的关系不大。

单选题 Emotions are significant for man''s survival and adaptation because ________.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】推断题。题目询问情感对人类生存、应变具有重大意义的原因。根据文章第2段：情感是我们生存、应变的重要手段，它以重要的方式构建了我们这个世界。情感是我们划分事物的基础，而且对哪些事物行为是“好的”哪些是“坏的”的社会认同感也来自于我们与事物的感情的经历。因此，情感是社会认同感的基础。因此，B项是正确的；A项“情感提供了人们看待物体大小、形状的方式”，但文章指出事物的物理属性远没有事物的情感方面重要；C项的信息在文中根本没有提及；D项与文中所阐述的意思完全不符。

单选题 The emotional aspects of an object are more important than its physical aspects in that they ________.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】推断题。题目询问事物的情感方面比物理方面更重要的原因。文章第2段一开头就提出情感是我们生存和应变的重要手段这一论点，接着用了整段篇幅进行阐述。其中一个论据就是事物的情感方面比事物的物理方面更为重要，它几乎涵盖了社会生活的每一个方面，是社会认同感的基础。这个论述有力地支持了情感是我们生存和应变的手段这一论点。因此，D项与文章的意思相符；而A项“帮助社会利用其成员的情感获利”，文章只是提到情感帮助社会维持自己，这显然与文章意思不符；D项的信息在文中并未提及；C项的信息同样没有在文中提及。