单选题   When you see a corporate scoundrel go unpunished, or a puppy die of cancer, or Rashida Jones gifted with talent, beauty, and smarts, you might be forgiven for asking: Is life fair? And yet most of us cling to the idea that people generally get what they deserve.
    Our belief in the world's fairness can veer into magical thinking. For example, one study found that people who frequently patronize a business believe they are more likely than other customers to win a given prize drawing by that business—a phenomenon the researchers called the 'lucky loyalty' effect. A similar logic leads people to invest in karma. In one experiment, people at a job fair who were led to think that the job-search process was beyond their control offered to donate more money to an unrelated charity than did those who were led to believe the opposite. In a follow-up study, job seekers who were encouraged to see their job search as beyond their control were more optimistic about their employment prospects when they gave money to charity than when they didn't.
    Faith in fairness does have a dark side. One study found that women who believe strongly that the world is fair are more likely than other women to blame the victim of a hypothetical stranger rape. And people who believe in a just world are less likely to hire a job candidate who's been laid off.
    When bad things happen to good people, we sometimes convince ourselves that the bad things are in fact good things—blessings in disguise. After people's appetite for justice was deliberately stoked, they tended to see a 30-year-old who had suffered a debilitating accident in childhood as enjoying a more meaningful life than one who hadn't.
    Such thoughts may ease the pain associated with injustice, and even lead to support for the status quo: Researchers found that when people felt powerless, they were more likely to say that race, class, and gender disparities were justified.  Certain social institutions and ideologies,  including religion and political conservatism, may further increase our complacence.  In a series of surveys, respondents' religiosity correlated with belief in a just world, belief that capitalism is fair, social and economic conservatism, acceptance of income inequality, and belief in the fairness of the American social system.
单选题     What do most people believe according to the passage? ______
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】根据题干巾的关键同most people可以定位到原文第一段第二句。 细节题。该句提到，我们中的大多数人坚持这样的观点：人们通常得到他们应得的。因此，C项说法正确，故答案为C。A项和B项与原文不符，故排除。D项与文章无关，故排除。 [参考译文] 当你看到一个犯罪团伙逃脱惩罚，或者小狗死于癌症，或者拉什达·琼斯同时具有才华、美貌和智慧时，你也许会问：生活公平吗?然而，我们中的大多数人坚持这样的观点：人们通常得到他们应得的。 我们对世界公平的信念可能会转变为奇幻思维。例如，一项研究发现，某家店的常客认为他们比其他顾客更有可能在店家的抽奖活动中中奖——研究人员称这种现象为“幸运忠诚”效应。类似的逻辑导致人们相信因果命运。在一个实验中，参加招聘会的人中，与被引导相信没有超出其控制范围的人相比，那些被引导认为求职过程超出了其控制范围的人更愿意为一个无关的慈善机构捐出更多的钱。在后续研究中，在那些被引导认为求职过程超出了其控制范围的人中，捐了钱给慈善机构的求职者比不捐钱的求职者对自己的就业前景更乐观。 对公平的信念确实有消极的一面。一项研究发现，那些坚信世界是公平的女性比其他女性更有可能去指责假想陌生人性侵案的受害者们。而那些相信世界公正的人雇佣一个下岗的求职者的可能性更小。 好人遭遇坏事的时候，我们有时会说服自己，坏事其实是好事——因祸得福。人们对于公正的渴望被蓄意煽动时，他们倾向于认为一个儿时遭遇严重事故的三十岁成人比没有这种经历的人过的生活更加有意义。 这种想法可能可以缓解不公带来的痛苦，甚至会导致对现状的支持：研究人员发现，当人们感到无能为力时，他们更有可能说种族、阶级和性别等不公平现象是合理的。某些社会制度和意识形态，包括宗教和政治保守主义，可能进一步增加我们的自满情绪。在一系列的调查中，受访者的宗教虔诚程度与公正世界信念相关，影响人们对资本主义的公平的信念，影响人们对社会和经济的保守主义，收入不平等的接受程度，以及影响对美国社会制度的公平性的信任度。
单选题     What does the underlined word 'karma' (Line 4, Para. 2) mean? ______
 
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】划线单词位于文章第二段。 词义题。第二段第二句的例子提到，某家店的常客认为他们比其他顾客更有可能在店家的抽奖活动中中奖；接下来的研究发现，参加招聘会的人中，与被引导相信没有超出其控制范围的人相比，那些被引导认为求职过程超出了其控制范围的人更愿意为一个无关的慈善机构捐出更多的钱。在后续研究中，在那些被引导认为求职过程超出了其控制范围的人中，捐了钱给慈善机构的求职者比不捐钱的求职者对自己的就业前景更乐观。从这些例子可知，人们对于不可控的事情，可能认为多做善事，就能有好的回报，因此A项符合文义，故答案为A。B项、C项和D项文章中均未体现，故排除。
单选题     What will the man probably do if he thinks the world is fair? ______
 
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】根据题干中的关键词if he thinks the world is fair可以定位到原文第二段和第三段。 推理题。第二段提到，相信世界是公平的人相信因果命运，好的一面是认为好人有好报。第三段提到不好的一面就是认为恶人就是应该有恶果。因此把性侵归咎于受害者，不会聘用曾被解雇的人，A项、B项和D项均与原文不符，故排除。C项符合文义，故答案为C。
单选题     What is 'blessings in disguise'? ______
 
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】根据题干中的关键词blessings in disguise可以定位到原文第四段第一句。 推理题。该句提到，当坏的事情发生在好人身上时，我们有时会说服自己，坏的事情其实是好事——因祸得福，因此B项符合文章含义，故答案为B。A项、C项和D项均与原文不符，故排除。
单选题     What does the passage mainly talk about? ______
 
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】该题需要通读全文才能判断。 主旨题。该篇文章主要讲生活其实是不公平的，但人们往往相信它是公平的，这种信念既有好的一面，也有坏的一面，因此只有D项符合文章主旨，故答案为D。A项和C项比较片面，故排除。B项与原文不符，故排除。