Question

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　　It is hard to get any agreement on the accurate meaning of the term “social class”. In everyday life, people tend to have a different approach to those they consider their equals from that which they assume with people they consider higher or lower than themselves in the social scale. The criteria we use to “place” a new acquaintance(熟人), however, are a complex mixture of factors. Dress, way of speaking, area of residence in a given city or province, education and manners all play a part.

　　In Greece, after the sixth century B． C．, there was a growing conflict between the peasants and the landed aristocrats(贵族), and a gradual decrease in the power of the aristocracy when a kind of “middle class” of traders and skilled workers grew up. The population of Athens, for example, was divided into three main classes which were politically and legally distinct. About one third of the total were slaves, who did not count politically at all, a fact often forgotten by those who praise Athens as the nursery of democracy. The next main group consisted of resident foreigners, the “metics”, who were freemen, though they two were allowed no share in political life. The third group was the powerful body of “citizens”, who were themselves divided into subclasses.

　　In the later Middle Ages, however, the development of monetary economy and the growth of cities and trade led to the rise of another class, the “burghers” or city merchants and mayors. These were the predecessors of the modern middle classes. Gradually high office and occupation assumed importance in determining social position, as it became more and more possible for a person born to one station in life to move to another. This change affected the towns more than the country areas, where remnants of feudalism lasted much longer.

　　With the break up of the feudal economy, the increasing division of labour, and the growing power of the town burghers(公民), the commercial and professional middle class became more and more important in Europe, and the older privileged class, the landed aristocracy, began to lose some of its power.

1．The main idea of the first paragraph is that ________.

[　　]

A．to define the term social class does not involve much difficulty

B．there is much alternation in people's social classes

C．to evaluate a person's social class is a very complex procedure

D．we can tell which social class a person belongs to by the way he behaves

2．In Paragraph 1, “criteria” most probably means ________.

[　　]

A．standards of judgment

B．ways

C．criticism

D．characteristic

3．Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE, according to the passage?

[　　]

A．Slaves in Greece in the sixth century B. C. were not politically significant.

B．The “burghers” of the later Middle Ages constituted an entirely new social class.

C．To some extent, social mobility can be attributed to the growth of trade.

D．The new class made up of traders and executive officials of the later Middle Ages made the development of a money economy possible.

4．The best title of the passage might be ________.

[　　]

A．The criteria for classifying social groups

B．Social classes

C．Changes in social system

D．The evolution of human society

Answer 1

答案：C;A;D;B