1 . Philosophers have a bad reputation for expressing themselves in a dry and boring way. The ideals for most philosophical writing are precision, clarity, and the sort of conceptual analysis that leaves no hair un-split.
There is nothing wrong with clarity, precision, and the like — but this isn’t the only way to do philosophy. Outside academic journals, abstract philosophical ideas are often expressed through literature, cinema, and song. There’s nothing that grabs attention like a good story, and there are some great philosophical stories that delight and engage, rather than putting the reader to sleep.
One of the great things about this is that, unlike formal philosophy, which tries to be very clear, stories don’t wear their meanings on their sleeve — they require interpretation, and often express conflicting ideas for the reader to wrestle with.
Consider what philosophers call the metaphysics (形而上学) of race — an area of philosophy that explorers the question of whether or not race is real. There are three main positions that you can take on these questions. You might think that a person’s race is written in their genes (a position known as “biological realism”). Or you might think of race as socially real, like days of the week or currencies (“social constructionism”). Finally, you might think that races are unreal — that they’re more like leprechauns (一种魔法精灵) than they are like Thursdays or dollars (“anti-realism”).
A great example of a story with social constructionist taking on race is George Schuyler’s novel Black No More. In the book, a Black scientist named Crookman invents a procedure that makes Black people visually indistinguishable from Whites. Thousands of African Americans flock to Crookman’s Black No More clinics and pay him their hard-earned cash to undergo the procedure. White racists can no longer distinguish those people who are “really” White from those who merely appear to be White. In a final episode, Crookman discovers that new Whites are actually a whiter shade of pale than those who were born that way, which kicks off a trend of sunbathing to darken one’s skin-darkening it so as to look more While.
Philosophically rich stories like this bring more technical works to life. They are stories to think with.
1. What does the author think of philosophical stories?| A．The meaning behind is very obvious. |
| B．They am extremely precise and formal. |
| C．They often cause conflicts among readers. |
| D．They are engaging and inspire critical thinking. |
| A．Social constructionism. | B．Anti-realism. |
| C．Biological realism. | D．Literary realism. |
| A．Racial issues caused by skin colors. |
| B．A society view on race and self-image. |
| C．Black people accepted by the white society. |
| D．The origin of sun bathing among white people. |
| A．Stories Made Easy | B．Stories to Think with |
| C．Positions in Philosophy | D．Nature of Philosophical Writing |
2 . Road trip stories are basically wild adventures of self-discovery. But the book Me (Moth) carves out a path through ancestry (祖先), pains and art.
Moth is a dancer with a loving, supportive family - until a terrible car accident takes them all away. Now she doesn't dance any more and lives with her sad aunt, wearing borrowed clothes and living on what feels like borrowed time, because not even the wisdom and Hoodoo (扶都教) passed down to her by her grandfather can bring back her family or ease her pain. Her survivor's guilt is so strong that she makes herself almost invisible.
Until the new boy at school, Sani, notices her. He sings when he thinks no one is listening and he sees Moth like no one else does. The two young people decide on a road trip across the country and hope to make some sense of their life on the way.
Novels in poetic language can sometimes feel awkward, but the book, Me (Moth) spills effortlessly across the page, becoming the song that Moth and Sani write together on their journey. It's all in Moth's voice, and her words dance, giving the reader a real sense of how she can move her body if she isn't afraid to. The language is sometimes so beautiful and terrible that it catches me off guard.
During their trip to the South, Moth and Sani stop to pay respect to the spirits of those who came before them, and to think about their strengths as well as the pains that they've suffered. As they do so, their own strengths and pains are connected with the ones that came before.
1. What can we learn from the underlined part in paragraph
| A．She is sad with her aunt. |
| B．She wears borrowed clothes. |
| C．She doesn't have time to dance. |
| D．She feels guilty of surviving alone. |
| A．Painful. | B．Joyful. | C．Rewarding. | D．Challenging. |
| A．A biography. | B．A book review. |
| C．A love story. | D．A travel journal. |
3 . University educators largely think highly of the wonders of teaching through technology, but skeptics question whether something is lost when professors and lectures rely too heavily on electronic media or when interaction with students takes place remotely — in cyberspace rather than the real space of the classroom. Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, the Professor of Literature at Stanford University, is one such skeptic. “I think this enthusiastic and sometimes childish and blind pushing toward the more technology the better, the more websites the better teacher, and so forth, is very dangerous — is, indeed, suicidal,” he indicates.
However, Gumbrecht warns that there are few, if any, studies either supporting or rejecting the hypothesis that traditional ways of teaching are superior to teaching via the Internet. He says that he could point only to his “intuition that real classroom presence should be maintained,” and emphasizes the need for educators to examine critically where technology serves a useful pedagogical (教学法的) function and where it does not.
Yet, Gumbrecht allows that, for courses in which knowledge transmission is the sole purpose, electronic media probably can do the job well enough. Indeed, given the 20th century’s knowledge explosion and the increasing costs of higher education, using technology as opposed to real-life teachers for the transmission of information is probably inevitable, he admits. In any case, knowledge transmission should not be the core function of the university, he maintains, noting that universities should be places where people confront open questions, places for “intellectual complexity” and “riskful thinking”.
“We are not about finding or transmitting solutions; we are not about recipes; we are not about making intellectual life easy. Confrontation with complexity is what expands your mind. It is something like intellectual gymnastics. And this is what makes you a suitable member of the society.”
Moreover, discussions in the physical presence of others can lead to the intellectual innovation. “There’s a qualitative change, and you don’t know how it happens. Discussions in the physical presence have the capacity of being the catalyst (催化剂) for such intellectual breakthroughs. The possibility of in-classroom teaching — of letting something happen which cannot happen if you teach by the transmission of information — is a strength.”
1. Which of the following is the best title to this passage?| A．Cyberspace Interaction |
| B．The Core Function of the University |
| C．Information Transmission Cannot Help You Survive |
| D．Electronic Teaching Arouses Uncertainty |
| A．Professors should be keen on teaching technique innovation. |
| B．Technologies applied to classrooms strengthen creative thinking. |
| C．Traditional pedagogical function has its place in classroom. |
| D．The core function of the university is to focus on knowledge transmitting. |
| A．transmitting knowledge is the only purpose of the course |
| B．there’s too much knowledge to put across to the students |
| C．the cost of college education increases greatly |
| D．open questions without possible answers are encouraged |
| A．lead to greatly improved intellectual abilities |
| B．lead to easier and stronger transmission of information |
| C．produce certain energy for intellectual breakthroughs |
| D．produce qualitative change in teacher-students relationships |
4 . The history of microbiology begins with Dutch cloth maker named Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, a man of no formal scientific education. In the late 1600s. Leeuwenhoek, inspired by the magnifying lenses（放大镜）he used to examine cloth, built some of the first-microscopes. He developed technique to improve the quality of tiny, rounded lenses, some of which could magnify an object up to 270 times. After removing some plaque from between his teeth and examining it under a lens, Leeuwenhoek found tiny twisting creatures, which he called “animalcules”.
His observations, which he reported to the Royal Society of London, are among the first descriptions of microbes（微生物）. Leeuwenhoek discovered an entire universe invisible to the human eye. He found different microbes in samples of pond water, rain water, and human blood. He gave the first description of red blood cells, observed plant tissue, examined muscle, and investigated the life cycle of insects.
Nearly two hundred years later, Leeuwenhock’s discovery of microbes helped French chemist and biologist Louis Pasteur to develop his “theory of disease”. This concept suggested that disease originates from tiny organisms attacking and weakening the body. Pasteur’s theory later helped doctors to fight infectious diseases including anthrax, diphtheria, polio, smallpox, tetanus, and typhoid. All these breakthroughs were the result of Leeuwenhoek’s original work. Leeuwenhoek did not foresee this legacy.
In a 1716 letter, he described his contribution to science this way: “My work, which I’ve done for a long time, was not pursued in order to gain the praise I now enjoy, but chiefly from a strong desire for knowledge, which I notice resides in me more than in most other men. And therefore; whenever I found out anything remarkable, I have thought it my duty to put down my discovery on paper, so that the scientific community might be informed thereof.”
1. Which of the following best describes Leeuwenhoek?| A．trained researcher with an interest in microbiology |
| B．A curious amateur who made pioneer studies of microbes |
| C．A talented scientist interested in finding a cure for disease |
| D．A bored cloth maker who accidentally made a major discovery |
| A．the discovery of microbes |
| B．Pasteur’s theory of disease |
| C．Leeuwenhoek’s contribution |
| D．the origin of the tiny organism |
| A．He admitted that many of his discoveries happened by chance. |
| B．He considered his work to be central to later medical breakthroughs. |
| C．He was greatly concerned with improving people’s living conditions. |
| D．He believed the sharing of knowledge was a key to scientific progress |
a. Magnifying lenses were built.
b. The “theory of disease” was put forward
c. Microbes were discovered in samples of waters.
d. Leeuwenhoek’s first microscopes were successfully developed.
e. Leeuwenhoek explained his thoughts upon his own contribution.
| A．a-d-c-e-b | B．d-a-c-e-b | C．a-c-d-b-e | D．d-a-e-b-c |
5 . I was given a voice. That’s what people said about me I trained my voice, because it would be a shame to waste such a gift. I pictured this voice as a greenhouse plant and made sure it was provided with the right temperature, the right amount of water. I relieved its fears. I told it not to tremble. I nursed it, I trained it, and I watched it climb up inside my neck
My voice bloomed. People said I had grown into my voice. Invitations to perform flooded over us. All the best places wanted us. I was sought after, or rather my voice was. We went everywhere together and gave performances. Bouquets （花束）were thrown to it. Money was presented to it. Men fell on their knees before it. Applause flew around it.
Then my voice began to shrivel. People said my voice would bloom only for a certain term: finally it would drop off and gone with it would be all the fame and wealth. I have noticed it so far. Fear has entered me since my voice has used up most of my life. I’ve given it all my love. But my voice is still as greedy as ever. It wants more: more and more, more of everything it has had so far.
Now it’s evening: the bright lights come on, and excitement quickens in the streets. We sit in this hotel room. Soon it will be time for us to go out. We have to attend a grand occasion. The two of us chained together as always. I have to put on its favourite dress, its favourite necklace and wind a fur around it. Then I have to go out: shining like ice: my voice attached to my throat like an invisible vampire （吸血鬼）.
1. Why did the author compare her voice to a greenhouse plant?| A．To introduce her way to grow a plant. |
| B．To stress her hard efforts to train her voice. |
| C．To express her determination to show her gift. |
| D．To indicate her strong desire to improve her skill. |
| A．go up | B．die away |
| C．grow more pleasant | D．become less attractive |
| A．The author totally ruined her fame. |
| B．The author gradually lost her freedom. |
| C．The author eventually accepted her voice. |
| D．The author greatly enjoyed her performances. |
6 . The expression, "everybody's doing it," is very much at the center of the concept of peer pressure. It is a social influence applied on an individual in order to get that person to act or believe in a(n)
People are social creatures by nature, and so it is hardly
For certain individuals, seeking social acceptance is so important that it becomes a(n)
However, peer pressure is not always negative. A student whose friends are good at
Although peer pressure is sometimes quite obvious, it can also be so
| A．traditional | B．similar | C．peculiar | D．opposite |
| A．understandable | B．believable | C．acceptable | D．surprising |
| A．disapproval | B．failure | C．absence | D．independence |
| A．uncertain | B．practical | C．impossible | D．vague |
| A．promotes | B．prevents | C．simplifies | D．increases |
| A．challenge | B．inspiration | C．promise | D．addiction |
| A．recognize | B．abandon | C．decrease | D．define |
| A．avoid | B．encourage | C．decline | D．punish |
| A．pressured | B．respected | C．delighted | D．regretted |
| A．catch sight of | B．stay away from | C．make fun of | D．keep up with |
| A．competitions | B．interaction | C．academics | D．adaptation |
| A．knowledge | B．interest | C．assistance | D．influence |
| A．abstract | B．ridiculous | C．subtle | D．reasonable |
| A．consciousness | B．motivation | C．instinct | D．encouragement |
| A．motivation | B．danger | C．support | D．achievement |
7 . Several years ago I started riding a bike. At first, I thought it was only a
When I signed my name, the
The ride began on a Sunday morning in the Georgia countryside,
As I topped the hill, the nice sunset
My focus
It rained all the second day. I
| A．free | B．short | C．hard | D．boring |
| A．trips | B．fights | C．swims | D．jumps |
| A．gives | B．borrows | C．counts | D．raises |
| A．dream | B．life | C．idea | D．advice |
| A．record | B．distance | C．job | D．fame |
| A．self-doubt | B．self-respect | C．self-control | D．self-love |
| A．hike | B．walk | C．bike | D．drive |
| A．but | B．so | C．and | D．or |
| A．adventure | B．experience | C．excitement | D．struggle |
| A．low | B．proud | C．brave | D．high |
| A．carry on | B．give up | C．break out | D．hold back |
| A．kept | B．protected | C．stopped | D．found |
| A．called | B．interviewed | C．saw | D．missed |
| A．approved | B．hoped | C．remembered | D．noticed |
| A．look back | B．pay back | C．cheer up | D．catch up |
| A．determined | B．forced | C．strange | D．shy |
| A．strengthened | B．changed | C．built | D．fixed |
| A．person | B．will | C．bicycle | D．cause |
| A．never | B．often | C．even | D．still |
| A．tired | B．comfortable | C．strong | D．injured |
