阅读长难句-原句部分

2005年真题

TEST 2

Do you remember all those years when scientists argued that smoking would kill us but the doubters insisted that we didn't know for sure? That the evidence was inconclusive, the science uncertain? That the antismoking lobby was out to destroy our way of life and the government should stay out of the way?

it is critical that our nation and the world base important policies on the best judgement that science can provide concerning the future consequences of present actions.

TEST 3

this process need not be left to the unconscious

Because our conscious mind is occupied with daily life we don't always think about the emotional significance of the days events——until, it appears, we begin to dream.

TEST 4

Americans no longer expect public figures, weather in speech or in writting, to command the English language with skill and gift. Nor do they aspire to such command themselves.

In his latest book, Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care, John McWhorter, a linguist and controversialist of mixed liberal and conservative views, sees the triumph of 1960s counter-culture as responsible for the decline of formal English.

Blaming the permissive 1960s is nothing new, but this is not yet another criticism against the decline in education.

and he sees the gradual disappearance of 'whom', for example, to be natural and no more regrettable than the loss of the case-endings of Old English.

But the cult of the authentic and the personal, 'doing our own thing', has spelt the death of formal speech, writing, poetry and music.

While even the modestly educated sought an elevated tone when they put pen to paper before the 1960s, even the most well regarded writing since then has sought to capture spoken English on the page.

Illustrated with an entertaining array of examples from both high and low culture, the trend that Mr.McWhorter documents is unmistakable.

2006年真题

TEST 1

Immigrants are quickly fitting into this common culture, which may not be altogether elevating but is hardly poisonous.

immigration is neither at unprecedented levels nor resistant to assimilation.

There is "the democratizing uniformity of dress and discourse, and the casualness and absence of deference characteristic of popular culture.

Are there divisive issues and pockets of seething anger in Amercia? Indeed. It is big enough to have a bit of everthing.

TEST 2

The worthy residents of Stratford doubt that the theater adds a penny to their revenue. They frankly dislike the RSC's actors, them with their long hair and beards and sandals and noisiness. It's deliciously ironic when you consider that Shakespeare, who earns their living, was himself an actor with a beard and did his share of noise-making.

They all seem to look alike (though they come from all over) —lean, pointed, dedicated face, wearing jeans and sandals, eating their buns and bedding down for the night on the flagstones outside the theatre to buy the 20 seats and 80 standing-room tickets held for the sleepers and sold to them when the box office opens at 10:30 a.m.