单选题 The arms race that has darkened our century with fear and peril may finally be slowing. Weapons have been with us a long time. From personal combat at the very beginning of history to the impersonality of modern warfare, there has been a dynamic escalation in the complexity and specialization of attack and defense. From hand weapons and shields to ballistic missiles and Star Wars, offensive and defensive armaments have co-evolved.
While arms races have been with us for millennia, nothing compares to the wasteful absorption of human talents and the costs in lives, talents, resources, and energy of the past 50 years of war, pseudowar and escalation in deterrence by mutually assured destruction. This has been the killing century.
But as we reflect on the linked interdependence of attack and defense in our century, we need to remember that life on Earth has been involved in a biological arms race for hundreds of millions of years. Compared with that ancient process, the military arms race is but a blink in the eye of history. For a very brief period before the killing started billions of years ago, there was "innocence." At life's beginning the very first prot-organisms, formed in the "primordial soup," obtained their energy from inorganic sources. Once living things existed, however, some became food sources for others. Life came to eat life, and attack and defense originated on Earth.

单选题 According to the passage, human competition to develop the best weapons
A. began in the 20th century. B. escalated in the 20th century.
C. is a modern phenomenon. D. is genetically predetermined.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】A说人类在开发武器方面的竞赛始于20世纪，这是错误的，因为文章中反复讲到军备竞赛自古就有。同样，C也是错的。D说这种竞赛是遗传决定的。这在文中没有证据。B说该种竞赛在20世纪有了升级。这与“Weapons have been with us a long time．From personal combat at the very beginning of history to the impersonality of modern warfare，there has been a dynamic escalation in the complexity and specialization of attack and defense”意思相近。

单选题 When the author reflects on the "linked interdependence of attack and defense," he suggests that
A. their origin preceded life.
B. their development is precipitated by one another.
C. their existence is dependent on human aggression.
D. their escalation cannot be halted.

【正确答案】 B

【答案解析】试题问当作者说到“linked interdependence of attack and defense”时，他想表示什么?A说“进攻与防御的相互依赖”关系早于生命起源。这显然不对，因为第三段中说在生命产生前没有战争和杀戮。C说它们的存在是依赖于人类的侵略性。这在文章中没有明显证据。D说它们的升级无法停止。这似乎与首句“The arms race that has darkened our century with fear and peril may finally be slowing”有些矛盾。B说进攻与防御的发展是相互促进的。这在第一、二段中都有所指：From hand weapons and shields to ballistic missiles and Star Wars, offensive and defensive armaments have co-evolved./...escalation in deterrence by mutually assured destruction．上面两句，都表明进攻武器与防御武器的发展是相互依存的。

单选题 In this passage the author apparently intends to
A. write a fictionalized account of evolution.
B. be scientifically precise.
C. raise philosophical issues.
D. convince readers that war is inevitable.

【正确答案】 C

【答案解析】试题问作者写这篇文章的目的。这道题不太好选择，从四个选项看，A说是写一篇有关进化的小说。这不正确，因为文章的语言不像小说语言。B说作者想做到科学般的精确。事实上，文章中许多时间方面的叙述都用了类似“hundreds of millions of years; billions of years ago”等语言，应该说并不很精确。D说作者想通过此文告诉读者战争不可避免，文章重点讲了武器竞赛，但没有因此明确认为战争是不可避免的。运用排除法，C很可能是正确的。文章一开始讲了武器自古就有，进攻防御伴生，由此引出进一步的评论，即从生命开始，就有为生存而杀戮，这样生与死的问题就存在了，很自然，下文作者很可能会进一步阐述生与死这样的大问题。相比而言，C是最好选择。