单选题
Section B
Peer Mediation (调节) on Campus
Things have not gone well lately between Anna and Carly, two roommates in a dormitory at a Midwestern public university. Anna likes to stay up late, and Carly is not happy about being kept awake night after night. Carly spends hours each day talking on her cell phone, driving Anna "crazy" with all the chatter. Mutually annoyed, they have become distrustful, suspecting each other of stealing small personal items and reading private correspondence.
This sort of conflict is so commonplace as to seem silly or trivial, but it could have serious consequences— bad grades, loss of personal confidence, and even perhaps physical violence. Colleges and universities have to take them seriously and try to resolve them.
The old-school solution is simply to threaten the disputants with some disciplinary action if they don't stop fighting. This approach wrongheadedly treats a personal conflict as a violation of the university rules. It may drive the dispute underground but is unlikely to resolve it.
Another "solution" that seems obvious is to separate the roommates by re-shuffling room assignments. If only one such conflict erupted each semester, this might defuse the conflict (again without actually resolving it) , but a room-shuffling policy is doomed by its own impracticality. Any university following such a policy would be so overwhelmed that its residential-life staff would do little else all semester but process room-change requests.
In search of a sustainable, pragmatic policy, many universities have turned to a highly successful conflict-resolution strategy called peer mediation. In any kind of mediation, a third party— the mediator--helps both sides in a conflict come up with possible solutions and a plan for implementing them. The mediator arranges meetings between the parties, directs the conversation, and helps clarify the issues. Beyond that, conflict resolution is up to the disputants themselves.
Mediation differs from another conflict-resolution strategy called arbitration (仲裁), in which a mediator does not propose or impose solutions. An arbitrator listens to both sides, asks questions, and then issues a judgment about the best way to resolve things. Any plan for moving forward is constructed by the arbitrator, not by the disputants, who may or may not think the arbitrator's decisions are fair and practical. The parties in the conflict comply because they have to, not necessarily because they want to. Especially with independent-minded young people, such coercive methods rarely work. In mediation, by contrast, there is no plan for resolving the conflict unless the disputants come up with one.
判断题
The problems between Anna and Carly are as follows: they annoy, each other, distrust each other and do not talk to each other.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】(文章开头就提到Anna和Carly的问题,Mutually annoyed, they have become distrustful. suspecting each other of stealing small personal items and reading private correspondence. 并没有提到她们互相不说话。)
判断题
The second to sixth paragraphs mention three ineffective ways to solve college-student disputes except arbitration.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】(只有第三段第四段提到解决大学生纠纷无效的方法。)
问答题
In old schools, what did disciplinary action treat a personal conflict as?
【正确答案】A violation of the university rules.
【答案解析】
问答题
What does a third party do in any kind of mediation?
【正确答案】A third party helps both sides in a conflict come up with possible solutions and a plan for implementing them.
【答案解析】(倒数第二段第二句提到,第三方就是帮助出问题的双方想出有效的解决办法并贯彻落实它们。原句为a third party—the mediator—helps both sides in a conflict come up with possible solutions and a plan for implementing them. )
问答题
What is the difference between mediation and arbitration?
【正确答案】A mediator does not propose or impose solutions.but an arbitrator does.