专项训练

 

Read the following passages. Each passage is followed by several questions. Respond to the questions using information from the passage. Remember to write the answers on the answer sheet.

 

Section A

 

Throughout history, there have been instances in which people have been unwilling to accept new theories, despite startling evidence. This was certainly the case when Copernicus published his theory—that the earth was not the centre of the universe.

 

(1)______His theory, which was formulated by gathering and organizing the thoughts of the earlier thinkers, proposed that the universe was a closed space bounded by a spherical envelope beyond which there was nothing. The earth, according to Ptolemy, was a fixed and immobile mass, located at the centre of the universe. The sun and the stars, revolved around it.

 

Ptolemy’s theory, was of course, incorrect, but at the time nobody contested it. European astronomers were more inclined to save face. Instead of proposing new ideas, they attempted to patch up and refine Ptolemy’s flawed model. Students were taught using a book called The  Sphere which had been written two hundred years previously.  (2)______           

 

(3)______He proposed that the earth turned on its axis once per day, and travelled around the sun once per year. Even when he made his discovery, he was reluctant to make it public, knowing how much his shocking revelations would disturb the church. However, George Rheticus, a German mathematics professor who had become Copernicus’s student, convinced Copernicus to publish his ideas, even though Copernicus, a perfectionist, was never satisfied that his observations were complete.

 

Copernicus’s ideas went against all the political and religious beliefs of the time. Humans, it was believed, were made in God’s image, and were superior to all creatures.  (4)______Copernicus’s theories contradicted the ideas of all the powerful churchmen of the time. Even the famous playwright William Shakespeare feared the new theory, pronouncing that it would destroy social order and bring chaos to the world. However, Copernicus never had to suffer at the hands of those who disagreed with his theories. He died just after the work was published in 1543.

 

(5)______Two other Italian scientists of the time, Galileo and Bruno, agreed wholeheartedly with the Copernican theory. Bruno even dared to say that space was endless and contained many other suns, each with its own planets. For this, Bruno was sentenced to death by burning in 1600. Galileo, famous for his construction of the telescope, was forced to deny his belief in the Copernican theories. He escaped capital punishment, but was imprisoned for the rest of his life.

 

Complete the article with the following sentences. There are two extra statements that you do not need to use.

 

A. In 1530, however, Copernicus made an assertion which shook the world.

B. The theory appealed to human nature.

C. Until the early 16th century, western thinkers believed the theory put forward by Ptolemy, an Egyptian living in Alexandria in about 150 A.D.

D. However, the scientists who followed in Copernicus’s footsteps bore the brunt of the church’s anger.

E. The natural world had been created for humans to exploit.

F. The most important aspect of Bruno’s work is that it forever changed the place of man in the cosmos.

G. In short, astronomy failed to advance.

 

Section B

 

An Asian engineer is assigned to a US laboratory and almost suffers a nervous breakdown. A US executive tells his staff he’s going to treat them fairly—and creates dissension. A Japanese manager is promoted by his British president, but within six months asks for a transfer.

 

Each of these real -life cases involved people who were regarded as superior employees, but were ill -equipped to cope with the complexities and dangers of intercultural management.

 

“Multinational companies have studied everything else, now they are finally looking at culture”, says Clifford Clarke, founder and president of the California—based IRI International Inc. One of a small but growing number of consulting firms that specialize in teaching business people from differing cultures how to communicate and work with each other.

 

“Never show the shoe to an Arab, never arrive on time for a party in Brazil, and in Japan, don’t think‘yes’ means ‘yes’”, advise US consultants Lennie Copland and Lewis Brown Griggs, who have produceda series of films anda book to help managers improve their international business skills. But simply learning the social “dos”and “don’ts”is not the answer, according to the new culture specialists. The penalties for ignoring different thinking patterns, they point out, can be disastrous.

 

For example, the American manager who promised to be fair thought he was telling his Japanese staff that their hard work would be rewarded, but when some workers received higher salary increases than others, there were complaints. “You told us you’d be fair, and you lied to us,”accused one salesman. “It took me a year and a half,” sighed the American,“to realize that‘fair’, to my staff, meant being treated equally.”

 

The Asian engineer who suffered in America was the victim of another mistaken expectation. “He was accustomed to the warm group environment so typical in Japan,”said his US manager.“But in our company, we’re all expected to be self -starters, who thrive on working alone. For him, it was emotional starvation. He’s made the adjustment now, but he’d be humiliated if I told you his name, that’s another cultural difference.”

 

The Japanese manager who failed to respond to his promotion could not bring himself to use the more direct language needed to communicate with his London -based superiors. “I used to think all this talk about cultural communication was a lot of baloney,”says Eugene J. Flath, president of Intel Japan Ltd., a subsidiary of the American semiconductor maker. “Now, I can see it is a real problem. Miscommunication has slowed our ability to coordinate action with our home office.”

 

That’s why Intel, with the help of consultant Clarke, began an intercultural training program this spring which Flath expects will dramatically reduce decision-making time now lost in making sure the Americans and the Japanese understand each other.

 

Answer the following questions according to the passage.

6. What does“Multinational companies have studied everything else, now they are finally looking at culture”mean?

7. From the context, which word is in close meaning to“nonsense”?

8. Why did the Japanese staff complain to the American manager?

9. For whom are the cultural communication problems becoming especially urgent?

10. Why did the promoted Japanese manager ask for transfer?

 

Section C

 

Maize is Mexico’s lifeblood—the country’s history and identity are entwined with it. But this centuries—old relationship is now threatened by free trade. Laura Carlsen investigates the threat and profiles a growing activist movement.

 

On a mountain top in southern Mexico, Indian families gather. They chant and sprinkle cornmeal in consecration, praying for the success of their new crops, the unity of their communities and the health of their families. In this village in Oaxaca people eat corn tamales, sow maize plots and teach children to care for the plant.

 

The cultural rhythms of this community, its labours, rituals and celebrations will be defined—as they have been for millennia—by the lifecycle of corn. Indeed, if it weren’t for the domestication of teocintle  (the ancestor of modern maize) 9,000 years ago mesoamerican (中美州的) civilization could never have developed. In the Mayan sacred book, the  Popol  V uh, the gods create people out of cornmeal. The ‘people of corn’ flourished and built one of the most remarkable cultures in human history.

 

But in Mexico and Central America today maize has come under attack. As a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement  (NAFTA) Mexico has been flooded with imported corn from north of the border in the US. The contamination of native varieties with genetically modified imported maize could have major consequences for Mexican campesinos (farmers), for local biodiversity and for the world’s genetic reserves.

 

A decade ago Mexican bureaucrats and business people had it all figured out. NAFTA would drive “uncompetitive”maize farmers from the countryside to work in booming assembly factories across the country. Their standard of living would rise as the cost of providing services like electricity and water to scattered rural communities would fall. Best of all, cheap imported maize from the US—the world’s most efficient and most heavily subsidized producer—would be a benefit to Mexican consumers.

 

Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way. There weren’t quite enough of those factory jobs and the ones that did materialize continued to be along the US border, not further in Mexico. And despite a huge drop in the price farmers received for their corn, consumers often ended up paying more. The price of tortillas—the country’s staple food—rose nearly fivefold as the Government stopped domestic subsidies and giant agribusiness firms took over the market. Free trade defenders like Mexico’s former Under-Secretary of Agriculture Luis Tellez suggest:“It’s not that NAFTA failed, it’s just that reality didn’t turn out the way we planned it.”Part of that reality was that the Government did nothing to help campesinos in the supposed transition. Nor did NAFTA recognize inequalities or create compensation funds to help the victims of free trade—unlike what occurred with economic integration in the European Union.

 

Basically, Mexico adopteda sink-or-swim policy for small farmers, opening the floodgates to tons of imported US corn. Maize imports tripled under NAFTA and producer prices fell by half. The drop in income immediately hit the most vulnerable and poorest members of rural society. While more than a third of the corn grown by small farmers is used to feed their families, the rest is sold on local markets. Without this critical cash, rural living standards plunged.

 

Maize is at the heart of indigenous and campesino identity. Jos佴 Carrillo de la Cruz, a Huichol Indian from northern Jalisco, describes that relationship:“Corn is the force, the life and the strength of the Huichol. If there were a change, if someone from outside patented our corn, it would end our life and existence.”

 

The good news is that the free-trade threat to Mexico’s culture and food security has sparked a lively resistance. “In Defence of Corn”, a movement to protect local maize varieties, is not a membership organization but a series of forums and actions led by campesinos themselves. It’s a direct challenge to both free trade and the dictums of corporate science.

 

The farmers’ tenacity and refusal to abandon the crop of their ancestors is impressive. But larger economic conditions continue to shape their lives. Rural poverty and hunger have soared under free trade—and placed a heavier burden on women left to work the land. The battle for food sovereignty continues. Movement leaders insist that the Government reassess its free trade policies and develop a real rural development programme.

 

Complete the summary with words from the passage, changing the form where necessary, with only one word for each blank.

 

For thousands of years, corn has beena very important  (11)______in the Mexican culture. After the North American Free Trade Agreement,  (12)______modified corn has been imported from the USA in very large amounts. Mexican business people hoped that this would mean that Mexican farmers had to get jobs in factories and that their  (13) ______of living would increase. Instead of this result, the farmers suffered from the low price of corn and people had to pay more for their corn. The farmers wish that the government had  (14)______them during this time. As a result of the hardship, the farmers have organised themselves by forming a (15) ______    .

阅读理解专项训练参考答案

1—5 CGAED

6. Culture is important in communicating.

7. Baloney.

8. There was a misunderstanding of the word“fair”.

9. Multinational companies.

10. He lacked adequate communication with his superiors.

11. crop 

12. genetically 

13. standard 

14. helped 

15. movement