Passage Three

　　Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.

　　About the time that schools and others quite reasonably became interested in seeing to it that all children, whatever their background, were fairly treated, intelligence testing became unpopular.

　　Some thought it was unfair to minority children. Through the past few decades such testing

　　has gone out of fashion and many communities have indeed forbidden it.

　　However, paradoxically, just recently a group of black parents filed a lawsuit (诉讼) in California claiming that the state's ban on IQ testing discriminates against their children by denying them the opportunity to take the test. (They believed, correctly, that IQ tests are a valid method of evaluating children for special education classes.) The judge, therefore, reversed, at least partially,his original decision.

　　And so the argument goes on and on. Does it benefit or harm children from minority groups to have their intelligence tested? We have always been on the side of permitting, even facilitating,

　　such testing. If a child of any color or group is doing poorly in school it seems to us very important to know whether it is because he or she is of low intelligence, or whether some other factor is the cause.

　　What school and family can do to improve poor performance is influenced by its cause. It is

　　not discriminative to evaluate either a child's physical condition or his intellectual level.

　　Unfortunately, intellectual level seems to be a sensitive subject, and what the law allows us to do varies from time to time. The same fluctuation back and forth occurs in areas other than intelligence. Thirty years or so ago, for instance, white families were encouraged to adopt black children. It was considered discriminative not to do so.

　　And then the style changed and this cross-racial adopting became generally unpopular, and

　　social agencies felt that black children should go to black families only. It is hard to say what are the best procedures. But surely good will on the part of all of us is needed.

　　As to intelligence, in our opinion, the more we know about any child's intellectual level, the better for the child in question.

　　31. Why did the intelligence test become unpopular in the past few decades?

　　A) Its validity was challenged by many communities.

　　B) It was considered discriminative against minority children.

　　C) It met with strong opposition from the majority of black parents.

　　D) It deprived the black children of their rights to a good education.

　　32. The recent legal action taken by some black parents in California aimed to________.

　　A) draw public attention to IQ testing C) remove the state's ban on intelligence tests

　　B) put an end to special education D) have their children enter white schools

　　33. The author believes that intelligence testing ________.

　　A) may ease racial confrontation in the United States

　　B) can encourage black children to keep up with white children

　　C) may seriously aggravate racial discrimination in the United States

　　D) can help black parents make decisions about their children's education

　　34. The author's opinion of child adoption seems to be that________.

　　A) no rules whatsoever can be prescribed

　　B) white families should adopt black children

　　C) adoption should be based on IQ test results

　　D) cross-racial adoption is to be advocated

　　35. Child adoption is mentioned in the passage to show that _______.

　　A) good will may sometimes complicate racial problems

　　B) social surroundings are vital to the healthy growth of children

　　C) intelligence testing also applies to non-academic areas

　　D) American opinion can shift when it comes to sensitive issues

　　Passage Four

　　Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.

　　Not too many decades ago it seemed "obvious" both to the general public and to sociologists that modern society has changed people's natural relations, loosened their responsibilities to kin (亲戚) and neighbors, and substituted in their place superficial relationships with passing acquaintances. However, in recent years a growing body of research has revealed that the "obvious" is not true. It seems that if you are a city resident, you typically know a smaller proportion of your neighbors than you do if you are a resident of a smaller community. But, for the most part, this fact has few significant consequences. It does not necessarily follow that if you know few of your neighbors you will know no one else.

　　Even in very large cities, people maintain close social ties within small, private social worlds.Indeed, the number and quality of meaningful relationships do not differ between more and less urban people. Small-town residents are more involved with kin than are big-city residents. Yet city dwellers compensate by developing friendships with people who share similar interests and activities. Urbanism may produce a different style of life, but the quality of life does not differ between town and city. Nor are residents of large communities any likelier to display psychological symptoms of stress or alienation, a feeling of not belonging, than are residents of smaller communities. However, city dwellers do worry more about crime, and this leads them to a distrust of strangers.

　　These findings do not imply that urbanism makes little or no difference. If neighbors are strangers to one another, they are less likely to sweep the sidewalk of an elderly couple living next door or keep an eye out for young trouble makers. Moreover, as Wirth suggested, there may be a link between a community's population size and its social heterogeneity ( 多样性 ). For instance, sociologists have found much evidence that the size of a community is associated with bad behavior including gambling, drugs, etc. Large-city urbanites are also more likely than their small-town counterparts to have a cosmopolitan (见多识广者的 ) outlook, to display less responsibility to traditional kinship roles, to vote for leftist political candidates, and to be tolerant of nontraditional religious groups, unpopular political groups, and so-called undesirables. Everything considered, heterogeneity and unusual behavior seem to be outcomes of large population size.

　　36. Which of the following statements best describes the organization of the first paragraph?

　　A) Two contrasting views are presented.

　　B) An argument is examined and possible solutions given.

　　C) Research results concerning the quality of urban life are presented in order of time.

　　D) A detailed description of the difference between urban and small-town life is given.

　　37. According to the passage, it was once a common belief that urban residents______.

　　A) did not have the same interests as their neighbors

　　B) could not develop long-standing relationships

　　C) tended to be associated with bad behavior

　　D) usually had more friends

　　38. One of the consequences of urban life is that impersonal relationships among neighbors_____.

　　A) disrupt people's natural relations

　　B) make them worry about crime

　　C) cause them not to show concern for one another

　　D) cause them to be suspicious of each other

　　39. It can be inferred from the passage that the bigger a community is,______.

　　A) the better its quality of life

　　B) the more similar its interests

　　C) the more tolerant and open-minded it is

　　D) the likelier it is to display psychological symptoms of stress

　　40. What is the passage mainly about?

　　A) Similarities in the interpersonal relationships between urbanites and small-towndwellers.

　　B) Advantages of living in big cities as compared with living in small towns.

　　C) The positive role that urbanism plays in modern life.

　　D) The strong feeling of alienation of city inhabitants.

(责任编辑：杨琳)