文都：2008年12月英語四級全真預(yù)測試卷(三)

　　Section B

　　Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked [A], [B], [C] and [D].You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

　　Passage One

　　Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.

　　My father’s reaction to the bank building at 43rd Street and Fifth Avenue in New York city was immediate and definite: “You won’t catch me putting my money in there!” he declared, “Not in that glass box!”

　　Of course, my father is a gentleman of the old school, a member of the generation to whom a good deal of modern architecture is upsetting, but I am convinced that his negative response was not so much to the architecture as to a violation of his concept of the nature of money. In his generation money was thought of as a real commodity(實物) that could be carried, or stolen.

　　Consequently, to attract the custom of a sensible man, a bank had to have heavy walls, barred windows, and bronze doors, to affirm the fact, however untrue, that money would be safe inside. If a building’s design made it appear impenetrable, the institution was necessarily reliable, and the meaning of the heavy wall as an architecture symbol dwelt in the prevailing attitude toward money.

　　But the attitude toward money has, of course, changed. Excepting pocket money, cash of any kind is now rarely used; money as a tangible commodity has largely been replaced by credit. A deficit(赤字) economy, accompanied by huge expansion, has led us to think of money as product of the creative imagination. The banker no longer offers us a safe: he offers us a service in which the most valuable element is the creativity for the invention of large numbers. It is in no way surprising, in view of this change in attitude, that we are witnessing the disappearance of the heavy�瞱alled bank.

　　Just as the older bank emphasized its strength, this bank by its architecture boasts of imaginative powers. From this point of view it is hard to say where architecture ends and human assertion(人們的說法) begins.

　　57.The main idea of this passage is that.

　　[A]money is not as valuable as it was in the past

　　[B]changes have taken place in both the appearance and the concept of banks

　　[C]the architectural style of the older bank is superior to that of the modern bank

　　[D]prejudice makes the older generation think that the modern bank is unreliable

　　58.How do the older generation and the younger one think about money?

　　[A]The former thinks more of money than the latter.

　　[B]The younger generation values money more than the older generation.

　　[C]Both generations rely on the imaginative power of bankers to make money.

　　[D]To the former money is a real commodity but to the latter the means of producing more money.

　　59.The word “tangible” (Line 2, Para. 4) refers to something .

　　[A]that is precious

　　[B]that is usable

　　[C]that can be touched

　　[D]that can be reproduced

　　60.According to this passage, a modern banker should be.

　　[A]ambitious and friendly

　　[B]reliable and powerful

　　[C]sensible and impenetrable

　　[D]imaginative and creative