英语阅读练习2议论文阅读.doc

议论文的阅读方法和技巧
议论文也就是说理性的文章，一般由论点，论据和论证过程组成。议论文都要提出论题，观点，提供充分的证据（evidence），使用一定的逻辑方法证明观点或得出结论。
阅读议论文我们要抓住题，抓住作者提出的观点，给出的例证及最后得出的结论。抓住了论题，抓住了观点，我们就把握住了文章的中心，再结合作为论据的诸多事例和理由之间以及他们和观点、结论之间的内在联系，我们就能理解文章的结构。因此，阅读议论文的关键是：抓论题，抓观点。
看看下面一篇例文
   1)
The twentieth century saw greater changes than any century before changes for the better, changes for the worse, changes that brought a lot of benefits to human beings, changes that put man in danger. Many things caused the changes, but, in my opinion, the most important was the progress in science.
        Scientific research in physics and biology has vastly broadened our views. It has given us a deeper knowledge of the structure of matter and of the universe, it has brought us a better understanding of the nature of life and of its continuous development. Technology in the application of science has made big advances that have benefited us in nearly every part of life.
        The continuation of such activities in the twenty-first century will result in even greater advantages to human beings: in pure science — a wider and deeper knowledge in all fields of learning; in applied science — a more reasonable sharing of material benefits, and better protection of the environment.
        Sadly, however, there is another side to the picture. The creativity of science has been employed in doing damage to mankind. The application of science and technology to the development and production of weapons of mass destruction has created a real danger to the continued existence of the human race on this planet. We have seen this happen in the case of nuclear weapons. Although their actual use has so far occurred only in the Second World War, the number of nuclear weapons that were produced and made ready for use was so large that if the weapons had actually been used, the result could have been the ruin of the human race, as well as of many kinds of animals.
        William Shakespeare said. "The web of our life is of a mingled yarn (纱线), good and ill together. "The above brief review of the application of only one part of human activities—science seems to prove what Shakespeare said. But does it have to be so? Must the ill always go together with the good? Are we biologically programmed for war?
72. Which of the following best shows the structure of the passage?

 (①=Paragraph 1, ②=Paragraph 2, ③=Paragraph 3, ④=Paragraph 4, ⑤=Paragraph 5)
73. From the fourth paragraph, we can infer that ________.
 A. a great many nuclear weapons were actually used for war
 B. a large number of nuclear weapons should have been used for war
 C. the author is doubtful about the ruin of human beings by nuclear weapons
 D. the author is anxious about the huge number of nuclear weapons on the earth
74. The underlined word "mingled" in the last paragraph most probably means _________.
 A. simple B. mixed C. sad D. happy
75. What do you think the author is most likely to suggest if he continues to write?
 A. Further application of science to war.
 B. More reading of William Shakespeare.
 C. Proper use of science in the new century.
 D. Effective ways to separate the good from the ill.
2)
Beauty has always been regarded as something praiseworthy. Almost everyone thinks attractive people are happier and healthier, have better marriages and have more respectable jobs. Personal advisors give them better advice for finding jobs. Even judges are softer on attractive defendants. But in the executive（主管的） circle, beauty can become a liability.
While attractiveness is a positive factor for a man on his way up the executive ladder, it is harmful to a woman.
Handsome male executives were considered having more honesty than plainer men; effort and ability were thought to lead to their success.
Attractive female executives were considered to have less honesty than unattractive ones; their success was connected not with ability but with factors such as luck.
　All unattractive women executives were thought to have more honesty and to be more capable than the attractive female executives. Interestingly, though, the rise of the unattractive overnight successes was connected more to personal relationships and less to ability than that of the attractive overnight successes.
　Why are attractive women not thought to be able? An attractive woman is considered to be more feminine has an advantage in traditionally female jobs, but an attractive woman in a traditionally manly position appears to lack the “manly”qualifies required.
　This is true even in politics, “When the only clue is how he or she looks, people treat men and women differently, ” says Anne Bowman, who recently published a study on the effects of attractiveness on political candidates（候选人）. She asked 125 undergraduate students to rank two groups of photographs, one of men and one of women, in order of attractiveness. The students were told the photographs were of candidates for political offices. They were asked to rank them again, in the order they would vote for them.
　The results showed that attractive males completely defeated unattractive men, but the women who had ranked most attractive unchangeably received the fewest votes.
60．The word “liability” most probably means ________.
A. disadvantage　B. advantage　　　C. misfortune　　 D. trouble
69. In traditionally female jobs, attractiveness .
A. makes women look more honest and capable
B. strengthens the feminine qualities required
C. is of great importance to women
D. often enables women to succeed quickly
61．Bowman’s experiment shows that when it comes to politics, attractiveness________
A. turns out to　be a disadvantage to men
B. is more of a disadvantage than an advantage to women
C. affects men and women alike
D. has as little effect on men as on women
62．It can be inferred from the passage that people’s views on beauty are often
A. practical　　　B. supportive　　 C. old ? fashioned　D. one – sided
63．The author writes this passage to ________.
A. give advice to job - seekers who are attractive
B. discuss the disadvantages of being attractive
C. demand equal rights for women
D. state the importance of appearance

3)
It may help you to know that there is no such thing as a perfect speech．At some point in every speech, every speaker says something that is not understood exactly as he has planned．Fortunately, the moments are usually not obvious to the listeners. Why ? Because the listeners do not know what the speaker plans to say. They hear only what the speaker does say. If you lose your place for a moment, wrongly change the order of a couple of sentences, or forget to pause at a certain point, no one will be any the wiser．When such moments occur, don’t worry about them, Just continue as if nothing happened．
Even if you do make an obvious mistake during a speech, that don’t really matter. If you have ever listened to Martin Luther King’s famous speech – “ I have a dream”, you may notice that he stumble（结巴）his words twice during the speech．Most likely, however, you don’t remember．Why? Because you were fixing your attention on is message rather than on his way of speech-making. People care a lot about making mistakes in a speech because they regard speech-making as a kind of performance rather than as an act of communication. They feel the listeners are like judges in an ice-skating competition．But, in fact, the listeners are not looking for a perfect performer. They are looking for a well-thought-out speech that express the speaker’s ideas clearly and directly．Sometimes a mistake or two can actually increase a speakers’ attractiveness by making him more human．
As you work on your speech, don’t worry about being imperfect．Once you free your mind of this, you will find it much easier to give your speech freely．

46．The underlined part in the first paragraph means that no one will ___________．
     A．be smarter than you                       B．notice your mistakes
     C．do better than you                        D．know what you are talking about
47．You don’t remember obvious mistakes in a speech because ___________．
     A．your attention is on the content
     B．you don’t fully understand the speech
     C．you don’t know what the speaker plans to say
     D．you find the way of speech-making more important
48．It can be inferred from the passage that ___________．
     A．giving a speech is like giving a performance
     B．one to two mistakes in a speech may not be bad
     C．the listeners should pay more attention to how a speech is made
     D．the more mistakes a speaker makes, the more attractive he will be
49．What would be the best title of the passage? 
     A．How to Be a Perfect Speaker
     B．How to Make a Perfect Speech
     C．Don’t Expect a Perfect Speech
     D．Don’t Expect Mistakes in a Speech

50．Which of the following statements is true?
     A．If you are careful enough, you can make a perfect speech．
     B．Speech-making is a kind of performance．
     C．Martin Luther King is not a good speaker．
     D．Listeners are not judges and they pay more attention to the message．

4)

the way people hold to the belief that a fun-filled, pain free life equals happiness actually reduces their chances of ever attaining real happiness, if fun and pleasure are equal to happiness then pain must be equal to unhappiness. but in fact, the opposite is true: more often than not things that lead to happiness involve some pain.
as a result, many people avoid the very attempts that are the source of true happiness. they fear the pain inevitably brought by such things as marriage, raising children, professional achievement, religious commitment（承担的义务）, self-improvement.
ask a bachelor（单身汉）why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be less and less satisfying. if he is honest he will tell you that he is afraid of making a commitment. for commitment is in fact quite painful. the single life is filled with fun, adventure, excitement. marriage has such moments, but they are not its most distinguishing features.
couples with infant children are lucky to get a whole night’s sleep or a three-day vacation. i don’t know any parent who would choose the word fun to describe raising children. but couples who decide not to have children never know the joys of watching a child grow up or of playing with a grandchild.
understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations. it liberates time: now we can devote more hours to activities that can genuinely increase our happiness. it liberates money: buying that new car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless. and it liberates us from envy: we now understand that all those who are always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.
31. according to the author, a bachelor resists marriage chiefly because ________.
a) he is reluctant to take on family responsibilities
b) he believes that life will be more cheerful if he remains single
c) he finds more fun in dating than in marriage
d) he fears it will put an end to all his fun adventure and excitement
32. raising children, in the author’s opinion, is _________.
a) a moral duty
b) a thankless job
c) a rewarding task
d) a source of inevitable pain
33. from the last paragraph, we learn that envy sometimes stems from ________.
a) hatred
b) miSUNderstanding
c) prejudice
d) ignorance
34. to understand what true happiness is one must ____________.
a) have as much run as possible during one’s lifetime
b) make every effort to liberate oneself from pain
c) put up with pain under all circumstances
d) be able to distinguish happiness from fun
35. what is the author trying to tell us?
a) happiness often goes hand in hand with pain.
b) one must know how to attain happiness.
c) it is important to make commitments.
d) it is pain that leads to happiness.

5)
We are all interested in equality, but while some people try to protect the school and examination system in the name of equality, other, still in the name of equality, want only to destroy it.
  Any society which is interested in equality of opportunity and standards of achievement must regularly test its pupils. The standards may be changed—no examination is perfect—but to have to tests or examinations would mean the end of equality and of standards. There are groups of people who oppose this view and who do not believe either in examinations or in any controls in school or on teachers. This would mean that everything would depend on luck since every pupil would depend on the efficiency, the values and the purpose of each teacher.
   Without examinations, employers will look for employees from the highly respected schools and from families known to them—a form of favouritism will replace equality. At the moment, the bright child from an ill—respected school can show certificates to prove he or she is suitable for a job, while the lake of certificate indicates the unsuitability of a dull child attending a well—respected school. This defend of excellence and opportunity would disappear if examinations were taken away, and the bright child form a poor family would be a prisoner of his or her school’s reputation, unable to compete for employment with the child from the favoured school.
  The opponents of the examination system suggest that examinations are an evil force because they show differences between pupils. According to these people, there must be no special, different, academic class. They have even suggested that there should be no form of difference in sport or any other area: all jobs or posts should be filled by unsystematic selection. The selection would be made by people who themselves are probably selected by some computer.
82．The word “favouritism” in paragraph 3 is used to describe the phenomenon that________.
 A．bright children also need certificates go get satisfying jobs.
 B．children from well—respected schools tend to have good jobs
 C．poor children with certificates are favoured in job markets
 D．children attending ordinary schools achieve great success
83．What would happen if examinations were taken away according to the author?
 A．Schools for bright children would lose their reputation.
 B．There would be more opportunities and excellence.
 C．Children from poor families would be able to change their schools.
 D．Children’s job opportunity would be affected by their school reputation.
84．The opponents of the examination system will agree that _________.
 A．jobs should not be assigned by systematic selection
 B．computers should be selected to take over many jobs
 C．special cla