单选题
{{B}}Passage One{{/B}}

It might appear to any casual visitor who may have taken a few rides about town in a taxicab that all New Yorkers are filled with a loudmouthed iii will towards each other. The fact of the , matter is, though, that however cold and cruel things seem on the surface, there has never been a society of people in all history with so much compassion for its fellow man. It clothes, feeds, and houses 15 percent of its own because 1.26 million people in New York are unable to do it for themselves. You couldn't call that cold or cruel.
Everyone must have seen pictures at least of the great number of poor people who live in New York. And it seems strange, in view of this, that so many people come here seeking their fortune. But if anything about the city's population is more expressive than the great number of poor people, it's the great number of rich people. There's no need to search for buried treasure in New York. The great American dream is out in the open for everyone to see and to reach for. It must be because even those people who can never realistically believe they'll get rich themselves can still dream about it. And they respond to the hope of getting what they see others having. Their hope alone seems to be enough to sustain them. The woman going into Tiffany's to buy another diamond pin can pass within ten feet of a man without money enough for lunch. They are oblivious to (不在意) each other. He feels no envy; she no remorse.
There's a disregard for the past in New York that dismays even a 1ot of New Yorkers. It's true that no one pays much attention to antiquity. The immigrants who came here came for some thing new, and what New York used to be means nothing to them. Their heritage is somewhere else.
Old million-dollar buildings are constantly being torn down and replaced by new fifty million dollar ones. In London, Rome, Paris, much of the land has only been built on once in all their long history. In relatively new New York, some lots have already been built on four times.
Because strangers only see New Yorkers in move, they leave with the impression that the city is in one great mindless rush to nowhere. They complain that it's moving too fast, but they don't notice that it's getting there first. For better and for worse, New York has been where the rest of the country is going.

单选题 The author thinks that most New Yorkers_____.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】细节题。文章开头先说，到纽约的游客乘出租车在市里游览几次后，会觉得纽约人彼此之间都充满恶意。可作者的观点是在“however'’之后：事实是不管事情表面上看起来是多么冷酷无情，历史上还没有一个社会的人像纽约人这么对同胞充满同情心。所以作者认为纽约人是充满同情心的，故选C。从文章可知，纽约有15%的人没有能力自己获得基本生活必需品，故D不对。

单选题 It is implied in the second paragraph that_____.

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】推断题。从第二段最后两句：一位在名店中购买钻石胸针的妇女，可能在lo英尺之内与一个没钱吃午饭的人擦肩而过，可他们对彼此都不在意，他不感到妒忌，她也不感到怜悯，可判断 D为正确答案。穷人和富人的数量没有比较，故A不正确；虽然每个人都可以做美国梦，但在纽约致富并不是件容易的事，故B也不正确；而C与文章意思相反。

单选题 For immigrants, what New York used to be means nothing because_____

单选题 The main idea of the last paragraph is that

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】段落主旨题。最后一段先说陌生人对纽约的一种印象，但作者旨在讲这种印象只是表面的，实际与此不同。此段主题句在“but'’之后：they don't notice that it's getting there first．For better and for worse，New York has been where there st of the country is going．由此可知，纽约总处在快速运动之中，虽然不知奔向何处，但它总处于领先地位。不管怎样，它是全国其他城市所奔向的目标。

单选题 The author's purpose in writing this text is to{{U}} {{/U}}.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】主旨题。作者在文章中既讲了纽约的缺点，也讲了它的优点。可是通读全文可知，作者每当列出纽约的一个缺点之后，马上都有一个用“however'’或“but'’引导的转折，然后说所谓的这些缺点，只不过是游客、陌生人等不了解纽约的人留下的表面印象，事实上纽约与他们的印象正好相反，如：具有同情心、美国梦人人平等、追求新东西、运动最快、领先地位等，这些在作者看来都是优点，而非缺点。所以作者在此旨在为纽约辩护，即在夸赞纽约，故选B。