单选题 Now listen to the following recording and answer questions21-23.

单选题 Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the remark 'Successful People does not only Have Talents but also Some Other Things'. You can cite examples to illustrate your point. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words. Write your essay on Answer Sheet 1.

单选题 The first week of July 1776 was a busy one for Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence, which he largely wrote, was adopted on the fourth. But he chose the same week to begin keeping a record of the temperature change in a notebook. This wasn't a single example: for eight years, as president, Jefferson made detailed notes on the seasonal availability of various vegetables in the markets of Washington, DC. This wasn't because he couldn't focus, says Joshua. Kendall, author of America's Obsessives(强迫症者): The Compulsive Energy That Built a Nation. Rather, his obsessional habits were a self-soothing response to anxiety. When his wife died, he responded by cataloguing the tens of thousands of letters he'd sent or received. 'A mind always employed is always happy,' he liked to say. But that wasn't a platitude(陈辞滥调): some of Jefferson's compulsive industriousness made history, but all of it helped keep him mentally healthy. The core of Kendall's argument is that many successful people show symptoms of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (强迫型人格障碍). Steve Jobs would get angry over a misplaced comma; he rejected one version of the Apple II computer because the lines on its internal circuit boards weren't straight enough. But, if-Kendall is correct, Jobs wasn't a person consumed solely by his own ambition: he focused on shaping and perfecting the physical world just to avoid con fronting his innermost self. Kendall quotes a psychiatrist who says it often begins with an insecure growing-up: 'Children who have little control over the key events and people in their lives begin to focus on something they can control.' Avoiding self-reflection, they make poor parents and partners. But their avoidance also leads to their success. This is disturbing, since the 'experiential avoidance' —the effort not to feel certain feelings, or think certain thoughts—is widely considered as a bad thing. It's blamed for everything from social anxiety to self-harm; the fast-developing acceptance and commitment therapy is dedicated to overcoming it, by helping people safely to 'feel their feelings'. Could it really bring benefits? The question strikes deep at how we think about psychological disorders. By definition, they interfere with life. But what counts as interfering is subjective: is it 'better' to be a great innovator than an ordinary spouse, or vice versa? The happiest among Kendall's obsessives are those with self-awareness: they chose to embrace their obsessions, accepting the downsides. The tragic ones kept trying to make their relationships conform to their rigid demands. A Wired magazine cover last year asked readers, 'Do you really want to be like Steve Jobs?' In a work culture that increasingly uses 'obsessive' as a compliment, it's worth pausing to ask the question.

单选题 For a century and a half the piano has been one of the most popular solo instruments for Western music. Unlike string and wind instruments, the piano is completely self-sufficient, as it is able to play both the melody and its accompanying harmony at the same time. For this reason, it became the favorite household instrument of the nineteenth century. The ancestry of the piano can be traced to the early keyboard instruments of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries—the spinet, the dulcimer, and the virginal. In the seventeenth century the organ, the clavichord, and the harpsichord became the chief instruments of the keyboard group, a supremacy they maintained until the piano supplanted them at the end of the eighteenth century. The clavichord's tone was metallic and never powerful; nevertheless, because of the variety of tone possible to it, many composers found the clavichord a sympathetic instrument for intimate chamber music. The harpsichord with its bright, vigorous tone was the favorite instrument for supporting the bass of the small orchestra of the period and for concert use, but the character of the tone could not be varied save by mechanical or structural devices. The piano was perfected in the early eighteenth century by a harpsichord maker in Italy (though musicologists point out several previous instances of the instrument). This instrument was called a piano eforte (soft and loud), to indicate its dynamic versatility; its strings were struck by a recoiling hammer with a felt-padded head. The wires were much heavier in the earlier instruments. A series of mechanical improvements continuing well into the nineteenth century, including the introduction of pedals to sustain tone or to soften it, the perfection of a metal frame, and steel wire of the finest quality, finally produced an instrument capable of myriad tonal effects from the most delicate harmonies to an almost orchestral fullness of sound, from a liquid, singing tone to a sharp, percussive brilliance.

单选题Small communities, with their distinctive character—where life is stable and intensely human—are disappearing. Some have 27 from the face of the earth, others are dying slowly, but all have 28 changes as they have come into contact with an 29 machine civilization. The merging of diverse peoples into a common mass has produced tension among members of the minorities and the majority alike. The Old Order Amish, who arrived on American shores in colonial times, have 30 in the modern world in distinctive, small communities. They have resisted the homogenization 31 more successfully than others. In planting and harvest time one can see their bearded men working the fields with horses and their women hanging out the laundry in neat rows to dry. Many American people have seen Amish families, with the men wearing broad-brimmed black hats and the women in long dresses, in railway or bus 32 . Although the Amish have lived with 33 America for over two and a half centuries, they have moderated its influence on their personal lives, their families, communities, and their values. The Amish are often 34 by other Americans to be relics of the past who live a simple, inflexible life dedicated to inconvenient out-dated customs. They are seen as abandoning both modern 35 and the American dream of success and progress. But most people have no quarrel with the Amish for doing things the old-fashioned way. Their conscientious objection was tolerated in wartime, for after all, they are good farmers who 36 the virtues of work and thrift. A. accessing I. progress B. conveniences J. respective C. destined K. survived D. expanding L. terminals E. industrialized M. undergone F. perceived N. universal G. practice O. vanished H. process

单选题There are many theories about the beginning of drama in ancient Greece. The one most 25 accepted today is based on the assumption that drama 26 from ritual. The argument for this view goes as follows. In the beginning, human beings viewed the natural forces of the world—even the seasonal changes—as 27 , and they sought through various means to control these unknown and feared powers. Those measures which appeared to bring the desired results were then retained and repeated until they hardened into fixed rituals. Eventually stories arose which explained or 28 the mysteries of the rites. As time passed some rituals were abandoned, but the stories, later called myths, persisted and 29 material for art and drama. Those who believe that drama evolved out of ritual also argue that those rites contained the seed of theatre because music, dance, masks, and costumes were almost always used. Furthermore, a suitable site had to be provided for performances and when the entire community did not participate, a clear 30 was usually made between the 'acting area' and the 'auditorium'. In addition, there were performers, and, since considerable importance was attached to 31 mistakes in the enactment of rites, religious leaders usually 32 that task. Wearing masks and costumes, they often impersonated other people, animals, or supernatural beings, and mimed the 33 effect—success in hunt or battle, the coming rain, the revival of the Sun—as an actor might. 34 such dramatic representations were separated from religious activities. A. Instantly B. division C. making D. assumed E. Eventually F. veiled G. avoiding H. ensuing I. provided J. evolved K. assigned L. unpredictable M. desired N. widely O. interpret

单选题The increase in the margin rate (保证金率) from 50% to 70% was not an attempt to stem any rampant (泛滥的) speculation on the part of the public—actually the market seemed technically quite strong, with public participation essentially dignified—but rather an attempt by the Federal Reserve Board to preserve the sound underpinnings that existed in the market. Naturally, such a move had a 25 chilling effect upon prices but if the FRB had been preoccupied with undue speculation, the increase might have been to the 80% or even 90% level. Such increases in the margin rate is a 26 of a strong stock market and since 1989, such increases have resulted in interim (临时的) market highs over twelve months later. Obviously, there could be no 27 that this would once again be the case, but if history is any guideline—and if business and corporate earnings were to continue on the same course—continued optimism over the outlook for the stock market would seem more 28 than pessimism. The margin increase 29 the good rise that stocks had enjoyed for the previous year—and the fact that a 50% rate was maintained as long as it was pointed up the fact that the rise was mainly conservative in that it was concentrated in the blue chips for the most part. In past Investment Letters we have 30 the thought that speciality stocks could outperform the general market from this point. We continue to believe that this could be the case. For example, steel stocks tend to sell at a certain fixed price/earnings ratio. Below a certain ratio they are considered good value—above a certain ratio, 31 . If a company produces a unique product, it is far more difficult for market analysis to place a numerical ratio upon the company's earnings. We have also contended in the past Letters that the stock market reflects mass psychology as well as the business outlook. When investors—both the public and the institutions—are nervous and 32 they definitely hesitate to buy stocks: They seek tow price/earnings multiples and high 33 . These same investors—when they are in an optimistic frame of mind—become far less 34 with yields and more willing to pay a premium (high p/e multiples) for accelerated growth. If the public's attitude toward the auto industry is any measure, then this period seems to have been one of optimism. A. confirmation D. invariably G. pessimistic J. representation M. vicinity B. guarantee E. momentarily H. preoccupied K. speculate N. voiced C. intelligible F. overpriced I. prudent L. underscored O. yields

单选题 Americans today don't place a very high value on intellect. Our heroes are athletes, entertainers, and entrepreneurs, not scholars. Even our schools are where we send our children to get a practical education—not to pursue knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Symptoms of pervasive anti-intellectualism in our schools aren't difficult to find. 'Schools have always been in a society where practice is more important than intellect', says education writer Diane Ravitch. 'Schools could be a counterbalance'. Ravitch's latest book, Left Back: A Century of Failed School Reforms, traces the roots of anti-intellectualism in our schools, concluding they are anything but a counterbalance to the American distaste for intellectual pursuits. But they could and should be. Encouraging kids to reject the life of the mind leaves them vulnerable to exploitation and control. Without the ability to think critically, to defend their ideas and understand the ideas of others, they cannot fully participate in our democracy. Continuing along this path, says writer Earl Shorris, 'We will become a second-rate country. We will have a less civil society'. 'Intellect is resented as a form. of power or privilege', writes historian and Professor Richard Hofstadter in Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, a Pulitzer Prize winning book on the roots of anti-intellectualism in U.S. politics, religion, and education. From the beginning of our history, says Hofstadter, our democratic and populist urges have driven us to reject anything that smells of elitism. Practicality, common sense, and native intelligence have been considered more noble qualities than anything you could learn from a book. Ralph Waldo Emerson and other Transcendentalist philosophers thought schooling and rigorous book learning put unnatural restraints on children, 'We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for 10 or 15 years and come out at last with a bellyful of words and do not know a thing'. Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn exemplified American anti-intellectualism. Its hero avoids being civilized—going to school and learning to read, so he can preserve his innate goodness. Intellect, according to Hofstadter, is different from native intelligence, a quality we reluctantly admire. Intellect is the critical, creative, and contemplative side of the mind. Intelligence seeks to grasp, manipulate, re-order, and adjust, while intellect examines, ponders, wonders, theorizes, criticizes and imagines. School remains a place where intellect is mistrusted. Hofstadter says our country's educational system is in the grips of people who 'joyfully and militantly proclaim their hostility to intellect and their eagerness to identify with children who show the least intellectual promise'.