Man is endlessly inventive. But his greatest invention is non-invention, the skill of transmitting intact(完美无损的)and unchanged from one generation to the next the fundamental ways of doing things which he learned from the generation which preceded him. Children are conceived and reared, houses built, fish caught, and enemies killed in much the same way by most of the members of any society: and these patterns are maintained for relatively long periods of time. From the perspective of those in each new generation, and for the society as an enduring, historical entity(统一的), this process of cultural transmission yields enormous economy. Thanks to it, each generation need not rediscover at great cost in time and subject to great risk of failure, what those coming before have already learned. Not only is knowledge thus conserved, but the basis for communal life, resting on common information and understanding is thus established. Since all those in each generation receive more or less the same cultural heritage from the preceding generation, they can more easily relate to one another and more effectively coordinate their actions. The grand total of all the objects, ideas, knowledge, ways of doing things, habits values, and attitudes which each generation in a society passes on to the next is what the anthropologist often refers to as the culture of a group. The transmission of culture is man' s substitute for the instincts(本能)whereby most other living creatures are equipped with the means for coping with their environment and relating to one another. Yet it is more flexible than instinct, and can grow: that is, it can store new information, infinitely more rapidly than the process of mutation and biological evolution can enrich the instinctual storehouse of any other species.
单选题 What does the passage mainly discuss?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析：主旨题。通读全文可发现，文章主要在谈论“人类文化传播”，且文中多处提到transmitting，culturaltransmission，the transmission of culture等关键词。故选项B正确。
单选题 Which of the following is NOT included in the meaning of culture according to the passage?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析：细节题。根据短文第二段第一句The grand total of all the objects，ideas，knowledge，ways of doing things，habits values，and attitudes which each generation in a society passes on to the next is what the anthropologist of-ten refers to as the culture of a group．可知选项A、B、C中提到的知识、生产技术、生活方式、价值观念都属于文化概念的范畴。而D项，biological instincts(生物本能)不属于文化范畴。故选D。
单选题 The word "heritage" used in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析：含义题。根据句子意思并且联系上下文可知，可传给下一代的并且与文化有关的事物很可能是“文化遗产或传统习俗”。故选项C正确。
单选题 According to the first paragraph, all of the following statements can be accepted EXCEPT that______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析：细节题。短文第一段第一、二句指出Man is endlessly inventive．But his greatest invention is non-inven-tion，the skill of transmitting intact and unchanged from one generation to the next the fundamental ways of doingthings which he learned from the generation which preceded him．由此可知选项A、B、C均符合文中表述，故选D。
单选题 In the last sentence of the passage, the author implies, but does not directly state, that______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析：推断题。短文最后一句Yet it is more flexible than instinct,and can grow:that is,it can store new information，infinitely more rapidly than the process of mutation and biological evolution can enrich the instinctual storehouseof any other species．看出选项A、B、C表述的内容都是作者明确指出的，而选项D．the instinct of living crea—tures may also grow，but at a much slower pace作者并没有明确提出，只是一种暗示。故选D。