题目内容
Concern with money, and then more money, in order to buy the conveniences and luxuries of modern life, has brought great changes to the lives of most Frenchmen. More people are working harder than ever before in France. In the cities the traditional leisurely midday meal is disappearing. Offices, shops, and factories are discovering the great efficiency of a short lunch hour in company lunch rooms. In almost all lines of work emphasis now falls on ever increasing output. Thus the "typical" Frenchman produces more, earns more, and buys more consumer goods than his counterpart of only a generation ago. He gains in creature comfort and ease of life. What he loses to some extent is his sense of personal uniqueness, or individuality.
Some say that France has been Americanized. This is because the United States is a world symbol of the technological society and its consumer products. The so-called Americanization of France has its critics(批评家). They fear that “assembly line(装配线)life” will lead to the disappearance of the pleasures of the more graceful and leisurely (but less productive) old French style. What will happen, they ask, to taste, elegance(优雅), and the cultivation of the good things in life to joy in the smell of a freshly picked apple, a walk by the river, or just happy hours of conversation in a local café?
Since the late 1950s life in France has indeed taken on qualities of rush, tension, and the pursuit of material gain. Some of the strongest critics of the new way of life are the young, especially university students. They are concerned with the future, and they fear that France is threatened by the achievements of this competitive, goods-oriented culture. At times, they have reacted against the trend with considerable violence.
In spite of the critics, however, countless Frenchmen are committed to keeping France in the forefront of the modern economic world. They find that the present life brings more rewards, conveniences, and pleasures than that of the past. They believe that a modern, industrial France is preferable to the old.
- 1.
Which of the following is not given as a feature(特色) of the old French way of life?
- A.Leisure.
- B.Taste.
- C.Elegance
- D.Efficiency.
- A.
- 2.
The passage suggests that _________.
- A.the smell of freshly picked apples is no more popular with the French
- B.it’s now unlikely to see a Frenchman enjoying a walk by the river
- C.in pursuing material gains the French are suffering losses elsewhere
- D.student critics are great in number than the people enjoying the new lifestyle
- A.
- 3.
Which of the following is NOT true about Frenchmen?
- A.Many of them prefer the modern life style.
- B.They actually enjoy working at the assembly line.
- C.They are more concerned with money than before.
- D.They are more competitive than the old generation.
- A.
- 4.
Which of the following best states the main idea of the passage?
- A.Great changes have occurred in the French way of Life.
- B.The new life style in France is facing serious criticism.
- C.France has been pushed in the forefront of the world economy.
- D.Frenchmen used to be lazy and only enjoy life conveniences.
- A.
Concern with money, and then more money, in order to buy the conveniences and luxuries of modern life, has brought great changes to the lives of most Frenchmen. More people are working harder than ever before in France. In the cities the traditional leisurely midday meal is disappearing. Offices, shops, and factories are discovering the great efficiency of a short lunch hour in company lunch rooms. In almost all lines of work emphasis now falls on ever increasing output. Thus the “typical” Frenchman produces more, earns more, and buys more consumer goods than his counterpart of only a generation ago. He gains in creature comfort and ease of life. What he loses to some extent is his sense of personal uniqueness, or individuality.
Some say that France has been Americanized. This is because the United States is a world symbol of the technological society and its consumer products. The so called Americanization of France has its critics. They fear that “assembly line life” will lead to the disappearance of the pleasures of the more graceful and leisurely (but less productive) old French style. What will happen, they ask, to taste, elegance, and the cultivation of the good things in life to joy in the smell of a freshly picked apple, a stroll by the river, or just happy hours of conversation in a local café?
Since the late 1950s life in France has indeed taken on qualities of rush, tension, and the pursuit of material gain. Some of the strongest critics of the new way of life are the young, especially university students. They are concerned with the future, and they fear that France is threatened by the triumph of this competitive, goods-oriented culture. Occasionally, they have reacted against the trend with considerable violence.
In spite of the critics, however, countless Frenchmen are committed to keeping France in the forefront of the modern economic world. They find that the present life brings more rewards, conveniences, and pleasures than that of the past. They believe that a modern, industrial France is preferable to the old.
【小题1】Which of the following is a feature of the old French way of life?
A.Leisure, elegance, and efficiency |
B.Elegance, efficiency, and taste |
C.Leisure, elegance, and taste |
D.Elegance, efficiency, and leisure |
A.Many of them prefer the modern life style. |
B.They actually enjoy working at the assembly line. |
C.They are more concerned with money than before. |
D.They are more competitive than the old generation. |
A.in pursuing material gains the French are suffering losses elsewhere |
B.it’s now unlikely to see a Frenchman enjoying a stroll by the river |
C.the French are fed up with the smell of freshly picked apples |
D.great changes have occurred in the life style of all Frenchmen |
A.Critics are greater in number than people enjoying the new way of life. |
B.Students critics are greater in number than critics in other fields. |
C.Students critics have, on occasion, resorted to violent means against the trend. |
D.Critics are concerned solely with the present and not the future. |
A.Changes in the French Way of Life |
B.Criticism of the New Life Style |
C.The Americanization of France |
D.Features of the New Way of Life |
Read the following text and choose the most suitable heading from the list A-F for each paragraph. There is one extra heading which you do not need.?
A. The description of using amateur records to encourage the public. B. The description of old records kept by amateur naturalists. C. Concerns over amateur data for lacking objectivity and precision. D. The necessity of encouraging amateur collection. E. How people react to their involvement in data collection. F. The application of amateur records to phonology. |
Tim Sparks slides a small leather-bound notebook out of an envelope. The book’s yellowing pages contain beekeeping notes made between 1941 and 1969 by the late Walter Coates of Kilworth, Leicestershire. He adds it to his growing pile of local journals, birdwatchers’ lists and gardening diaries. "We’re uncovering about one major new record each month," he says, "I still get surprised." Around two centuries before Coates, Robert Marsham, a landowner from Norfolk in east of England, began recording the life cycles of plants and animals on his estate. Successive Marshams continued recording these notes for 211 years.
【小题2】_______________
Today, such records are being put to uses that their authors couldn’t possibly have expected. These data sets, and others like them, are proving valuable to ecologists interested in the timing of biological events, or phonology. By combining the records with climate data, researchers can reveal how, for example, changes in temperature affect the arrival of spring, allowing ecologists to make improved predictions about the impact of climate change.
【小题3】_______________
But not all professionals are happy to use amateur data. "A lot of scientists won’t touch them, they say they’re too full of problems," says Root. Because different observers can have different ideas of what forms, for example, an open snowdrop. "The biggest concern with ad hoc (临时的) observations is how carefully and systematically they were taken,” says Mark Schwarts of the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, who studies the interactions between plants and climate. "We need to know pretty precisely what a person’s been observing—if they just say ‘I noted when the leaves came out’, it might not be that useful.” Measuring the onset of autumn can be particularly problematic because deciding when leaves change color is a more subjective process than noting when they appear.
【小题4】_______________
Overall, most phrenologists arc positive about the contribution that amateurs can make. "They get the raw power of science: careful observation of the natural world," says Sagarin. Others suggest that the right statistics can iron out some of the problems with amateur data. Together with colleagues at Wageoingen University in the Netherlands, environmental scientist Arnold van Vliet is developing statistical techniques to account for the uncertainty in amateur phonological data. Besides, the data are cheap to collect, and can provide breadth in space, time and range of species," It’s very difficult to collect data on a large geographical scale without enlisting an army of observers, says Root.
【小题5】_______________
Phonology also helps to drive home messages about climate change. “Because the public understand these records, they accept them,” says Sparks. It can also illustrate potentially unpleasant consequences, he adds, such as the finding that more rat infestations are reported to local councils in warmer years. And getting people involved is great for public relations. "People are excited to think that the data they have been collecting as a hobby can be used for something scientific—it empowers them” says Root.