In contrast to traditional analyses of minority business, the sociological
analysis contends that minority business ownership is a group-level phenomenon
in that it is largely dependent upon social-group resources for its development.
Specifically, this analysis indicates that support networks play a critical role
in starting and maintaining minority business enterprises by providing owners
with a range of assistance from the informal encouragement of family members and
friends to dependable sources of workers and clients from the owner’s ethnic
group. Such self-help networks, which encourage and support ethnic minority
entrepreneurs, consist of “primary” institutions, those closest to the
individual in shaping his or her behavior and beliefs. They are characterized by
the face-to-face association and cooperation of persons united by ties of mutual
concern. They form an intermediate social level between the individual and
larger “secondary” institutions based on impersonal relationships. Primary
institutions comprising the support network include relatives, friends, and
neighborhood or community subgroups.
A major function of self-help networks is financial support. Most scholars
agree that minority business owners have depended primarily on family funds and
ethnic community resources for investment capital. Personal savings have been
accumulated, often through frugal living habits that require sacrifices by the
entire family and are thus a product of long-term family financial behavior.
Additional loans and gifts from relatives, forthcoming because of group
obligation rather than narrow investment calculation, have supplemented personal
savings. Individual entrepreneurs do not necessarily rely on their relatives
because they cannot obtain financial backing from commercial resources. They may
actually avoid banks because they assume the commercial institutions either
cannot comprehend the special needs of minority enterprise or charge
unreasonably high interest rates.
Within the larger ethnic community, rotating credit associations have been
used to raise capital. These associations are informal clubs of friends and
other trusted members of the ethnic group who make regular contributions to a
fund that is given to each contributor in rotation. One author estimates that 40
percent of New York Chinatown firms established during 1900-1950 utilized such
associations as their initial source of capital. However, recent immigrants and
third or fourth generations of older groups now employ rotating credit
associations only occasionally to raise investment funds. Some groups, like
black Americans, found other means of financial support for their
entrepreneurial efforts. The first Black-operated banks were created in the late
nineteenth century as depositaries for dues collected from friendly groups,
which themselves had sprung from Black churches. Black banks made limited
investments in other Black enterprises. Irish immigrants in American cities
organized many building and loan associations to provide capital for home
construction and purchase. They, in turn, provided work for many Irish
home-building contractor firms. Other ethnic and minority groups followed
similar practices in founding ethnic-directed financial institutions. (459
words)
Notes: ethnic 民族的。
entrepreneurs企业家。frugal勤俭的。in
rotation轮流地。entrepreneurial企业的。depositary储存处。due n. 会费。spring
from从…派生。contractor firms承包公司。rotating credit associations轮流信贷协会。
1. Which of the following illustrates the working of a self-help support
network as described in the text?
A. The local government in a city sets up a program that helps teen-agers
find jobs.
B. A commercial bank offers low-interest loans to those who hope to
establish businesses.
C. A neighborhood-based organization develops a program of job training for its members and their friends.
D. A public high school offers courses in book-keeping and accounting as
part of its open adult education program.
2. The logical organization of the second paragraph is that _________.
A. an argument is stated, followed by a counter argument
B. an assertion is made and several examples are provided to illustrate
it
C. a situation is described and its historical background is then
outlined
D. an example of a phenomenon is given and then is used as a basis for
conclusions
3. It can be learned from the text that ________.
A. self-help networks have been effective in helping entrepreneurs
primarily in the last 50 years
B. minority groups have developed a range of alternatives to standard
financing of business ventures
C. a minority entrepreneur who had no assistance from family members would
not be able to start a business
D. the financial institutions founded by various ethnic groups owe their
success to their unique formal organization
4. It can be learned from the last paragraph of the text that rotating
credit associations _________.
A. were developed exclusively by Chinese immigrants in New York
B. were frequently joint endeavors by members of two or three different
ethnic groups
C. had to be relied on by the Chinese because they could not borrow money
from commercial banks
D. provided a big portion of the investment capital for Chinese immigrants
in New York in the early 20th century
5. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that the Irish building and
loan associations _________.
A. originated as offshoots of church-related groups B. were started by
third-or fourth-generation immigrants
C. helped employ many Irish construction workers D. enabled Irish
entrepreneurs to finance manufacturing
Text 2
In 1997 the prestigious Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, Korea, announced
the opening of the first women’s studies program in Asia. Few academic programs
have ever received such public attention. In broadcast debates, critics
dismissed the program as a betrayal of national identity, an imitation of
Western ideas, and a distraction from the real task of national unification and
economic development. Even supporters underestimated the program; they thought
it would be merely another of the many Western ideas that had already proved
useful in Asian culture, similar to airlines, electricity, and the assembly
line. The founders of the program, however, realized that neither view was
correct. They had some reservations about the applicability of Western feminist
theories to the role of women in Asia and felt that such theories should be
closely examined. Their approach has thus far yielded important critiques of
Western theory, informed by the special experience of Asian women.
For instance, like the Western feminist critique of the Freudian model of
the human psyche, the Korean critique finds Freudian theory culture-bound, but
in ways different from those cited by Western theorists. The Korean theorists
claim that Freudian theory assumes the universality of the Western nuclear,
male-headed family and focuses on the personality formation of the individual,
independent of society. An analysis based on such assumptions could be valid for
a highly competitive, individualistic society. In the Freudian family drama,
family members are assumed to be engaged in a Darwinian struggle against each
other －father against son and mother against daughter. Such a concept projects
the competitive model of Western society onto human personalities. But in the
Asian concept of personality there is no ideal attached to individualism or to
the independent self. The Western model of personality development does not
explain major characteristics of the Korean personality, which is social and
group-centered. The “self” is a social being defined by and acting in a group,
and the well-being of both men and women is determined by the equilibrium of the
group, not by individual self-assertion. The ideal is one of
interdependency.
In such a context, what is recognized as “dependency” in Western
psychiatric terms is not, in Korean terms, an admission of weakness or failure.
All this bears directly on the Asian perception of men’s and women’s psychology
because men are also “dependent”. In Korean culture, men cry and otherwise
easily show their emotions, something that might be considered a betrayal of
masculinity in Western culture. In the kinship-based society of Korea, four
generations may live in the same house, which means that people can be sons and
daughters all their lives, whereas in Western culture, the roles of husband and
son, wife and daughter, are often incompatible. (451 words)
Notes: prestigious 有声望的。national identity 民族性。feminist 女权主义的。thus far 至今。
be informed by 被…贯穿。culture-bound 受文化限制的。psyche 心灵。project … onto
把…投射到…上，使…反映在…上。social being 社会存在。well-being 幸福。equilibrium 平衡。bear on
影响…。masculinity 男子气。kinship-based 亲属为基础的。
1. Some of the supporters of the Ewha women’s studies program
__________.
A. assumed that the program would be based on the uncritical adoption of
Western theories
B. failed to show concern for the issues of national unification and
economic development
C. were unfamiliar with Western feminist theories and their important roles
in social life
D. were not themselves scholars in the field of women’s studies and had no
idea about them
2. According to paragraph 2, the Western feminist critique of Freudian
theory __________.
A. fails to address the issue of competitiveness in Western society
B. recognizes the influence of Western culture on Freudian theory
C. acknowledges the universality of the nuclear, male-headed family
D. challenges Freudian analysis of the women’s role in Western society
3. It can be inferred from the second paragraph that the Ewha women’s
studies group holds that __________.
A. personality development occurs in identifiable stages from childhood to
adulthood
B. any theory of personality development, in order to be valid, must be
universal
C. personality development is influenced by the characteristics of the
society a person lives in
D. personality development is hindered if a person is not permitted to be
independent
4. By referring to “dependency” in the last paragraph, the author intends
to show .
A. the betrayal of masculinity in Western culture
B. the characteristics of kinship-based Korean culture
C. the compatible attitude of parents towards their children
D. the distinction between the Western culture and the Korean culture
5. Which of the following best summarizes the content of the text?
A. A critique of a particular women’s studies program.
B. A brief history of Korean women’s studies program.
C. An assessment of a particular women’s studies program.
D. A report of work in social theory done by a particular women’s studies
program.
Word Study
1. dismiss (下课)让走掉，使（会）解散；解雇；打消（想法），不考虑；认为（不重要）而不加考虑：1) The teacher
dismissed th
class ten minutes earlier. (老师提前10分钟下课了。) 2) No lecturer may be dismissed
from his post for misconduct without proper inquiry being held. (没有进行好好的调查就认为行为不端是不可以解聘老师的。) 3) She did her best to dismiss the
thoughts. (她尽力打消这些想法。) 4) He dismissed the suggestion with a shake of his head.
(他摇摇头不考虑这项建议。) 5) He just laughed, and dismissed the idea as unimportant.
(他只是大笑，认为这个主意不重要而不加考虑。) 6) He dismissed the story as mere rumor.
(他认为这件事是谣言不屑一顾。)
同根词：dismissal 解雇：Martin was not free from a fear of dismissal if he refused
to obey. (如果马丁不肯服从，那他就无法
摆脱担心被解雇。)
2. reserve vt. 保留；预定；留到以后（再宣布讨论等）：1) I reserve the right to make my own
decision. (我保留做出我自己决定
的权利。) 2) I will reserve my opinion at this time. (这次我将保留我的看法。) 3) The use
of this room is reserved to members of the staff. (这个房间的使用权留给内部人员。) 4) He
reserved a table for two.
reserve n. 保留或储备的东西，储备金，储量；后备军人；自然保护区：1) As I require money quickly I must
draw on my reserve.
(当我马上需要钱时，我必须利用我的储备金。) 2) The old man keeps a large reserve of firewood for
cold weather. (这位老人保存了大量生火木柴天冷时用。) 3) the bank’s reserves银行储备金；the gold reserve
黄金储备。4) Animals are kept in reserves lest they should be shot. (动物关在自然保护区以免被射杀。)
5) He is a person of reserve. (他是一个沉默寡言的人。)
用于成语：in reserve 保存起来：I still have a little money in reserve. with reserve
有保留地：Clearly, he spoke with reserve,
but even so his meaning was quite plain. without reserve 无保留地：We accept
your statement without reserve.
reserved adj. 沉默寡言的；有保留的：1) He was naturally thoughtful and reserved. 2)
reserved consent (有保留的同意)。
reservation 保留(意见)；定（票、座）；保留地：1) I have no reservation about hiring him. 2)
We make reservations of rooms at a hotel. 3) The government has set apart Indian
reservations. (政府已经划出印第安人保留地。
Text 3 [2002 RC 2]
Since the dawn of human ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning
tools to cope with work that is dangerous, boring, burdensome, or just plain
nasty. That compulsion has resulted in robotics – the science of conferring
various human capabilities on machines. And if scientists have yet to create the
mechanical version of science fiction, they have begun to come close.
As a result, the modern world is increasingly populated by intelligent
gizmos whose presence we barely notice but whose universal existence has removed
much human labor. Our factories hum to the rhythm of robot assembly arms. Our
banking is done at automated teller terminals that thank us with mechanical
politeness for the transaction. Our subway trains are
controlled by tireless robo-drivers. And thanks to the continual miniaturization
of electronics and micro-mechanics, there are already robot systems that can
perform some kinds of brain and bone surgery with submillimeter accuracy – far
greater precision than highly skilled physicians can achieve with their hands
alone.
But if robots are to reach the next stage of laborsaving utility, they will
have to operate with less human supervision and be able to make at least a few
decisions for themselves – goals that pose a real challenge. “While we know how
to tell a robot to handle a specific error,” says Dave Lavery, manager of a
robotics program at NASA, “we can’t yet give a robot enough ‘common sense’ to
reliably interact with a dynamic world.”
Indeed the quest for true artificial intelligence has produced very mixed
results. Despite a spell of initial optimism in the 1960s and 1970s when it
appeared that transistor circuits and microprocessors might be able to copy the
action of the human brain by the year of 2010, researchers lately have begun to
extend that forecast by decades if not centuries.
What they found, in attempting to model thought, is that the human brain’s
roughly one hundred billion nerve cells are much more talented – and human
perception far more complicated – than previously imagined. They have built
robots that can recognize the error of a machine panel by a fraction of
millimeter in a controlled factory environment. But the human mind can glimpse a
rapidly changing scene and immediately disregard the 98 percent that is
irrelevant, instantaneously focusing on the monkey at the side of winding forest
road or the single suspicious face in a big crowd. The most advanced computer
system on Earth can’t approach that kind of ability, and neuroscientists still
don’t know quite how we do it. (418 words)
1. Human ingenuity was initially demonstrated in ____________.
A. the use of machines to produce science fiction B. the wide use of
machines in manufacturing industry
C. the invention of tools for difficult and dangerous work D. the elite’s
cunning tackling of dangerous and boring work
2. The word “gizmos” (line 1, paragraph 2) most probably means
____________.
A. programs B. experts C. devices D. creatures
3. According to the text, what is beyond man’s ability now is to design a
robot that can ____________.
A. fulfil delicate tasks like performing brain surgery B. interact with
human beings verbally
C. have a little common sense D. respond independently to a changing
world
4. Besides reducing human labor, robots can also ____________.
A. make a few decisions for themselves B. deal with some errors with human
intervention
C. improve factory environment D. cultivate human creativity
5. The author uses the example of a monkey to argue that robots are
____________.
A. expected to copy human brain in internal structure
B. able to perceive abnormalities immediately
C. far less able than human brain in focusing on relevant information
D. best used in a controlled environment
Text 4 (课外阅读) [98年阅读考试文章，试题重编]
Science has long had an uneasy relationship with other aspects of culture.
Think of Galileo’s 17th-century trial for his rebelling belief before the
Catholic church or poet William Blake’s harsh remarks against the mechanistic
worldview of Isaac Newton. The schism between science and the humanities has, if
anything, deepened in this century.
Until recently the scientific community was so powerful that it could
afford to ignore its critics--but no longer. As funding for science has
declined, scientists have attacked “anti-science” in several books, notably
Higher Superstition, by Paul R. Gross, a biologist at the University of
Virginia, and Norman Levitt, a mathematician at Rutgers University; and The
Demon-Haunted World, by Carl Sagan of Cornell University.
Defenders of science have also voiced their concerns at meetings such as
“The Flight from Science and Reason,” held in New York City in 1995, and
“Science in the Age of (Mis) information,” which assembled last June near
Buffalo.
Anti-science clearly means different things to different people. Gross and
Levitt find fault primarily with sociologists, philosophers and other academics
who have questioned science’s objectivity. Sagan is more concerned with those
who believe in ghosts, creationism and other phenomena that contradict the
scientific worldview.
A survey of news stories in 1996 reveals that the anti-science tag has been
attached to many other groups as well, from authorities who advocated the
elimination of the last remaining stocks of smallpox virus to Republicans who
advocated decreased funding for basic research.
Few would dispute that the term applies to the Unabomber, whose manifesto,
published in 1995, scorns science and longs for return to a pre-technological
utopia. *But surely that does not mean environmentalists concerned about
uncontrolled industrial growth are anti-science, as an essay in US News &
World Report last May seemed to suggest.
The environmentalists, inevitably, respond to such critics. The true
enemies of science, argues Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University, a pioneer of
environmental studies, are those who question the evidence supporting global
warming, the depletion of the ozone layer and other consequences of industrial
growth.
Indeed, some observers fear that the anti-science epithet is in danger of
becoming meaningless. “The term ‘anti-science’ can lump together too many, quite
different things,” notes Harvard University philosopher Gerald Holton in his
1993 work Science and Anti-Science. “They have in common only one thing that
they tend to annoy or threaten those who regard themselves as more enlightened.”
(399 words)
Notes: schism分裂。if anything 甚至于还可能。find fault with 批评，挑剔。creationism
上帝创世说。long for 渴望。utopia 乌托邦，理想主义。epithet 表述。lump together 把…归并在一起。have … in
common 共同点是…。
1. The example of Galileo’s 17th-century trial is used to show
___________.
A. the hostile attitude of the humanities towards science
B. the confusion between science and other aspects of culture
C. the conspicuous advantage of science over anti-science
D. the harmonious relationship of science with the humanities
2. What can we infer from the second and third paragraphs of the text?
A. The author sympathizes with scientists in a reasonable way.
B. The decline of science’s power is attributed to reduction in funding for
science.
C. The development of science contributes to its struggle against
humanities.
D. The division of science and the humanities has considerably grown until
recently.
3. Which of the following is true according to the text?
A. The “more enlightened” tend to tag others as anti-science.
B. Politicians and certain authorities are subject to the labeling of
anti-science.
C. Environmentalists were not blamed at all for anti-science in an
essay.
D. Sagan does not criticize those who advocate theories contrary to
science.
4. The last paragraph suggests that __________________.
A. some observers are afraid of being accused of anti-science
B. Gerald Holton tags many different views he doesn’t agree with as
anti-science
C. anything that offends the “more enlightened” is now in danger of being
listed in “anti-science”
D. the “more enlightened” think that the term “anti-science” involves many
wrong attitudes towards science
5. The author’s attitude toward the issue of “science vs. anti-science” is
___________________.
A. detached B. subjective C. biased D. puzzling
II. Writing: (提纲漫画式作文)
Directions:
In this part, you are to write an essay of 160--200 words within 30--35
minutes. Your essay must meet the requirements below.
1. Show your understanding of the meaning of the picture below
2. State the harmful effects of fake and inferior products
3. Suggest ways to fight against fake and inferior products
As the picture given depicts, the socialist market-oriented economy in our
country is developing rapidly, just like a truck running at a high speed. But
the general public is surprised to find that there are more and more fake and
inferior products seriously hampering the expansion of our market economy.
Consumers have to be very careful in purchasing goods and services they need;
otherwise they will fall into the traps set by the illegal manufacturers.
There is no doubt that fake and inferior products are extremely harmful. In
the first place, they endanger people’s health, giving rise to a lot of injury
accidents. For instance, inferior-quality medicines not only aggravate a
patient’s condition, but also tend to threaten his life and, what’s worse, to
result in his death. Secondly, fake and inferior products are usually sold on
the cheap. In many cases they interfere with the normal economic order in our
country, affecting the marketing of many high-quality goods. This, in a great
degree, hinders the development of our socialist market economy and harms the
interests of our state. Therefore, we can say that fake and inferior products
are a dangerous “tumor” in our healthy economy, which must be cut away as soon
as possible.
In my opinion, several strong measures should be adopted to fight against
fake and inferior products. On the one hand, those who make them deserve to be
severely punished by the law. On the other hand, consumers should learn to
discern between true and false. Only in this way can they defend their own legal
rights and interests. (263 words)
背记重点词语汉英对照： 1. 阻碍，妨碍：hamper, hinder, obstruct，interfere with。 2. 引起，造成：give
rise to; cause。 3. 使病情加重：aggravate a patient’s condition。 4. 小心谨慎做某事：be careful
in doing sth.。 5. 廉价出售某物：sell sth. on the cheap。 6. 干扰某人：interfere with sb.。 7.
损害我们的国家利益：harm the interests of our state。 8. 辨别真伪：discern between true and
false。 9. 维护某人的合法权益：defend one’s legal rights and interests。
Put the following sentences from Chinese into English:
精彩生活 
