单选题 When, in the age of automation, man searches for a worker to do the tedious, unpleasant jobs that are more or less impossible to mechanize, he may very profitably consider the ape.
If we tackled the problem of breeding for brains with as much enthusiasm as we devote to breeding dogs of surrealistic shapes, we could eventually produce assorted models of useful primates, ranging in size from the gorilla down to the baboon (狒狒), each adapted to a special kind of work. It is not putting too much strain on the imagination to assume that geneticists could produce a super-ape, which is able to understand some scores of words, and capable of being trained for such jobs as picking fruit, cleaning up the litter in parks, shining shoes, collecting garage, doing household chores, and even baby-sitting, although I have known some babies I would not care to trust with a valuable ape.
Apes could do many jobs, such as cleaning streets and the more repetitive types of agricultural work, without supervision, though they might need protection from those {{U}}egregious{{/U}} specimens of human beings who think it amusing to tease or bully anything they consider lower on the evolutionary ladder. For other tasks, such as delivering papers and laboring on the docks, our man-ape would have to work under human overseers; and, incidentally, I would love to see the ending of the twenty-first century version of On the Waterfront in which {{U}}the honest but hairy hero{{/U}} will drum on his chest after—literally—taking the wicked labor leader apart.
Once a supply of nonhuman workers becomes available, a whole range of low IQ jobs could be thankfully given up by mankind, to its great mental and physical advantage. What is more, one of the problems which has plagued so many fictional Utopias would be avoided: there would be none of the degradingly subhuman Epsilons of Huxley's Brave New World to act as a permanent reproach to society, for there is a profound moral difference between breeding sub-men and super-apes, though the end products are much the same. The first would introduce a form of slavery, but the second would be a biological triumph which could benefit both men and animals.
单选题 Certain jobs can be considered for apes when ______.
  • A. the jobs are monotonous and impossible to be handled by mechanic equipment
  • B. we evolve into the stage of automation
  • C. we devote much enthusiasm to breeding apes
  • D. the jobs are as simple as picking fruit and shining shoes
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】[考点] 细节题 [解析] 根据题干信号词Certain jobs can be considered for apes可回文定位到首段(共一句)When, in the age of automation, man searches for a worker to do the(tedious), (unpleasant) jobs (that are more or less impossible to mechanize), he may very profitably consider the ape(在自动化时代，当人类寻找工人去做那些单调乏味而又无法实施机械化操作的工作时，可以考虑让猿猴来做，这对人类是非常有益的)，故此处为“题眼”。
单选题 According to the text, which of the following statements is NOT true?
  • A. Human beings devote much enthusiasm to breeding dogs of surrealistic shapes.
  • B. With enough dedication, mankind could cultivate useful apes adapted to special kinds of work.
  • C. It's imaginable that super-apes could be created which can even be trained for babysitting.
  • D. To some babies the author knows, the ape is not capable enough to look after.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】[考点] 排除性判断题 [解析] 判断题的题干往往缺乏高效信号词，需将各个选项一一回文定位，作比对判断。
单选题 The word "egregious" (Line 2, Para.3) could best be replaced by ______.
  • A. social
  • B. hospitable
  • C. wicked
  • D. hostile
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[考点] 词汇推断题 [解析] 根据题干信号词egregious以及出处提示Para.3可回文定位到第三段首句Apes could do many jobs, such as cleaning streets and the more repetitive types of agricultural work, without supervision, though they might need (protection from) those egregious specimens of human beings (who think it amusing to tease or bully anything they consider lower on the evolutionary ladder)(猿猴在没有监管的情况下可以做许多工作，比如打扫街道或做些重复性较高的农活，然而它们也许需要保护，以免遭受某些……人类的伤害，这些人把戏弄和欺凌他们觉得在进化等级方面低等的物种视为一种乐趣)，鉴于词汇推断题的解题思路是关注问题词汇的上文或下文信息，找寻线索，作分析推断，考生应重点关注本句的两处括弧处的表达：根据前面的protection from(得到保护以免受……)可知egregious应是负面消极词，再根据后面的括弧定语从句(把戏弄和欺凌其他物种视为乐趣)可具体得知这些人是“缺德的”或“邪恶的”，故C项正确。
单选题 Judging from the context, "the honest but hairy hero" (Line 6, Para.3) most probably means ______.
  • A. the human overseer
  • B. the ape worker
  • C. the keeper of the ape
  • D. a heroic ape
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】[考点] 短语推断题 [解析] 根据题干信号词the honest but hairy hero以及出处提示Para.3可回文定位到第三段第二句For other tasks, such as delivering papers and laboring on the docks, our man-ape would have to work under human overseers and, incidentally, I would love to see the ending of the twenty-first century version of On the Waterfront in which the honest but hairy hero will drum on his chest a her taking the wicked labor leader apart(对于其他工作，比如递送报纸或在码头工作，我们的猿猴工人就得在人类监工的监督下工作了；顺便讲一句，我很喜欢21世纪版On the Waterfront这部作品的结局，当时“那位全身毛发的诚实主人公”把恶毒的监工撕裂后会不断捶打自己的胸膛)，鉴于短语推断题的解题思路是关注问题短语的上或下文信息，找寻线索，作分析推断，再结合本句中的incidentally可知and后的分句属于举例信息(例子所证明的对象通常在上文)，故考生应重点关注上文and前的分句表达，此处为本题目的“题眼”。根据例子与上文观点的对应原则，考生应注意到：作品中的the honest but hairy hero对应上文的man-ape, the wicked labor leader对应上文的human overseers。
单选题 The author's attitude toward breeding super-apes can be summarized as ______.
  • A. neutral
  • B. negative
  • C. positive
  • D. prejudiced
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】[考点] 作者态度题 [解析] 根据题序(注：题目顺序是很好的参考线索)与题干信号词breeding super-apes可回文定位到尾段首句Once a supply of nonhuman workers becomes available, a whole range of low IQ jobs could be thankfully given up by mankind, so it's great mental and physical advantage(一旦获得非人类劳动力，一系列低智商的工作岗位便完全可以被人类幸运地放弃，这对精神和肉体都很有好处)，此句是本题目的“题眼”。请考生注意彼此语义的对应改写：breeding对应原文的supply和available；super-apes对应原文的nonhuman workers。鉴于作者态度题的解题思路是关注题眼信息的主观感受表达，故考生应锁定本句的作者态度提示词的thankfully(幸运地)和advantage(好处)，由此可见作者对于饲养超级猿猴的态度是“肯定的”。