新東方：大學英語四級考試閱讀講義(三)

　　A third big difference between the drama detective and the real one is the unpleasant pressures: first, as members of a police force they always have to behave absolutely in accordance with the law. Secondly, as expensive public servants they have to get results. They can hardly ever do both. Most of the time some of them have to break the rules in small ways.

　　If the detective has to deceive the world, the world often deceives him. Hardly anyone he meets tells him the truth. And this separation the detective feels between himself and the rest of the world is deepened by the simple-mindedness — as he sees it — of citizens, social workers, doctors, law-makers, and judges, who, instead of eliminating crime punish the criminals less severely in the hope that this will make them reform. The result, detectives feel, is that nine-tenths of their work is re-catching people who should have stayed behind bars. This makes them rather cynical (憤世嫉俗的).

　　26. A policeman has to be trained in criminal law because .

　　A) he must work hard to help reform criminals

　　B) he must behave as professional lawyers do

　　C) he must be able to tell when and where a crime is committed

　　D) he must justify the arrests he makes of criminals

　　27. What is the most suitable word that describes the work of a policeman according to the passage?

　　A) Dangerous B) Demanding C) Distressing D) Dramatic

　　28. According to the passage, policemen spend most of their time and efforts .

　　A) patrolling the street, rain or shine C) collecting and providing evidence

　　B) tracking and arresting criminals D) consulting the rules of law

　　29. What's the policeman's biggest headache?

　　A) He has to get the most desirable results without breaking the law in any way.

　　B) He has to justify his arrests while unable to provide sufficient evidence in most cases.

　　C) He can hardly find enough time to learn criminal law while burdened with numerous criminal cases

　　D) He has to provide the best possible public service at the least possible expense

　　30. Why do policemen feel separated from the rest of the world?

　　A) Because they do not receive due support from society.

　　B) Because they find people insincere to them.

　　C) Because they feel superior to simple-minded people around them.

　　D) Because they are suspicious of the people around them.

　　Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage:

　　To live in the United States today is to gain an appreciation for Dahrendorf's assertion that social change exists everywhere. Technology, the application of knowledge for practical ends, is a major source of social change.

　　Yet we would do well to remind ourselves that technology is a human creation; it does not exist naturally. A spear or a robot is as much a cultural as a physical object. Until humans use a spear to hunt game or a robot to produce machine parts, neither is much more than a solid mass of matter. For a bird looking for an object on which to rest, a spear or robot serves the purpose equally well. The explosion of the Challenger space shuttle (挑戰(zhàn)者號航天飛機) and the Russian nuclear accident at Chernobyl drive home the human quality of technology; they provide cases in which well-planned systems suddenly went haywire (變得混亂) and there was no ready hand to set them right. Since technology is a human creation, We are responsible for what is done with it. Pessimists worry that we will use out technology eventually to blow our world and ourselves to pieces. But they have been saying this for decades, and so far we have managed to survive and even flourish. Whether we will continue to do so in the years ahead remains uncertain. Clearly, the impact of technology on our lives deserves a closer examination.��

　　Few technological developments have had a greater impact on our lives than the computer revolution. Scientists and engineers have designed specialized machines that can do the tasks that once only people could do. There are those who assert that the switch to an information-based economy is in the same camp as other great historical milestones, particularly the Industrial Revolution. Yet when we ask why the Industrial Revolution was a revolution, we find that it was not the machines. The primary reason why it was revolutionary is that it led to great social change. It gave rise to mass production and, through mass production, to a society in which wealth was not confined to the few.��

　　In somewhat similar fashion, computers promise to revolutionize the structure of American life, particularly as they free the human mind and open new possibilities in knowledge and communication. The Industrial Revolution supplemented and replaced the muscles of humans and animals by mechanical methods. The computer extends this development to supplement and replace some aspects of the mind of human beings by electronic methods. It is the capacity of the computer for solving problems and making decisions that represents its greatest potential and that poses the greatest difficulties in predicting the impact on society.