超星 - Section C

单选题

The period of adolescence. i.e. the period between childhood and adulthood may be long or short, depending on social expectations and on society’s definition as to what constitutes maturity and adulthood. In primitive societies adolescence was frequently a relatively short period of time, while in industrial societies with patterns of prolonged education coupled with laws against child labor, the period of adolescence is much longer and may include most of the second decade of one’s life. Furthermore, the length of the adolescent period and the definition of adulthood status may change in a given society as social and economic conditions change. Examples of this type of change are disappearance of the frontier in the latter part of the nineteenth century in the United States, and more universally, the industrialization of an agricultural society.In modern society, ceremonies for adolescence have lost their formal recognition and symbolic significance and there no longer is agreement as to what constitutes initiation ceremonies. Social ones have been replaced by a sequence of steps that lead to increased recognition and social status. For example, grade school graduation, high school graduation and college graduation constitute such a sequence, and while each step implies certain behavioral changes and social recognition, the significance of each depends on the socio-economic status and the educational ambition of the individual. Ceremonies for adolescence have also been replaced by legal definitions of status, roles, rights, privileges and responsibilities. It is during the nine years from the twelfth birthday to the twenty-first that the protective and restrictive aspects of childhood and minor status are removed and adult privileges and responsibilities are granted. The twelve-year-old is no longer considered a child and has to pay full fare for train, airplane, theater and movie tickets. Basically, the individual at this age loses childhood privileges without gaining significant adult right. At the age of sixteen the adolescence is granted certain adult rights which increase his social status by providing him with more freedom and choices. He now can obtain a driver’s license, leave public schools, and he can work without the restrictions of child labor laws. At the age of eighteen the law provides adult responsibilities as well as rights. The young man can now be a soldier, but he also can marry without parental permission. At the age of twenty-one the individual obtains his full legal rights as an adult. He now can vote, he can buy liquor, he can enter into financial contacts, and he is entitled to run for public office.No additional basic rights are acquired as a function of age after maturity status has been attained. None of these legal provisions determine at what points adulthood has been reached but they do point to the prolonged period of adolescence.1. The period of adolescence is much longer in industrial societies because _________.

A. the definition of maturity has changed
B. the industrialized society is more developed
C. more education is provided and laws against child labor are made
D. ceremonies for adolescence have lost their formal recognition and symbolic significance

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单选题

No one can expect to fully enjoy the adulthood privileges until he is _________.

A. eleven years old
B. sixteen years old
C. twenty-one years old
D. between twelve and twenty-one years

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tarting from 22, __________.

A. one will obtain more basic rights
B. the older one becomes, the more basic rights he will have.
C. one won’t get more basic rights than when he is 21
D. one will enjoy more right granted by society

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单选题

According to this passage, it is TRUE that _________.

A. in the late 19th century in the United States the dividing line between adolescence and adulthood no longer existed
B. no one can marry without the permission of his parents until the age of twenty-one
C. one is considered to have reached adulthood when he has a driver’s license
D. one is not free from the restrictions of child labor laws until he can join the army

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When we talk about Americans barely into adulthood who are saddled with unbearable levels of debt, the conversation is almost always about student loan debt. But there’s a growing body of evidence suggesting that today’s young adults are also drowning in credit-card debt — and that many of them will take this debt to their graves.More than 20% overspent their income by more than $ 100 every single month. Since they haven’t built up their credit histories yet, it’s a safe bet that these young adults are paying relatively high interest rates on the resulting credit card debt.Although many young people blame “socializing” as a barrier to saving money, most of them aren’t knocking back $ 20 drinks in trendy (时尚的）lounges. They’re struggling with much more daily financial demands.To a disturbingly large extent, the young and the broke are relying on credit cards to make it until their next payday. This obviously isn’t sustainable in the long run, and it’s going to put a huge drag on their spending power even after they reach their peak earning years, because they’ll still be paying interest on that bottle of orange juice or box of spaghetti (意式面条）they bought a decade earlier.A new study out of Ohio State University found that young adults are accumulating credit card debt at a more rapid rate than other age groups, and that they’re slower at paying it off. “If what we found continues to hold true, we may have more elderly people with substantial financial problems in the future,” warns Lucia Dunn, professor of economics at Ohio State University. “If our findings persist, we may be faced with a financial crisis among elderly people who can’t pay off their credit cards.”Dunn says a lot of these young people are never going to get out from under their credit card debt. “Many people are borrowing on credit cards so heavily that payoff rates at these levels are not sufficient to recover their credit card debt by the end of their life which could have loss implications for the credit card issuing banks.”6. What is the main idea of the first paragraph?

A. Many young Americans will never be able to pay off their debts.
B. Credit cards play an increasingly important role in college life.
Credit cards are doing more harm than student loans.
D. The American credit card system is under criticism.

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单选题

What will happen to young adults if their credit card debt keeps accumulating according to Lucia Dunn?

A. They will have to pay an increasingly higher interest rate.
B. They may experience a financial crisis in their old age.
C. Their quality of life will be affected.
D. Their credit cards may be cancelled.

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Imagine a world in which there was suddenly no emotion — a world in which human beings could feel no love or happiness, no terror or hate. Try to imagine the consequences of such a transformation. People might not be able to stay alive: knowing neither joy nor pleasure, anxiety nor fear, they would be as likely to repeat acts that hurt them as acts that were beneficial. They could not learn: they could not benefit from experience because this emotionless world would lack rewards and punishments. Society would soon disappear: people would be as likely to harm one another as to provide help and support. Human relationships would not exist: in a world without friends or enemies, there could be no marriage, affection among companions, or bonds among members of groups. Society’s economic underpinnings would be destroyed: since earning $10 million would be no more pleasant than earning $10, there would be no incentive to work. In fact, there would be no incentives of any kind. For as we will see, incentives imply a capacity to enjoy them.In such a world, the chances that the human species would survive are next to zero because emotions are the basic instrument of our survival and adaptation. Emotions structure the world for us in important ways. As individuals we categorize objects on the basis of our emotions. True we consider the length, shape, size or texture, but an object’s physical aspects are less important than what it has done or can do to us — hurt us, surprise us, anger us or make us joyful. We also use categorizations colored by emotions in our families communities and overall society. Out of our emotional experiences with objects and events comes a social feeling of agreement that certain things and actions are “good” and others are “bad”, and we apply these categories to every aspect of our social life — from what foods we eat and what clothes we wear to how we keep promises and which people our group will accept. In fact, society uses our emotional reactions and attitudes, such as loyalty, morality, pride, shame, guilt, fear and greed, in order to maintain itself. It gives high rewards to individuals who perform important tasks such as surgery, makes heroes out of individuals for unusual or dangerous achievements such as flying fighter planes in a war and uses the legal penal system to make people afraid to engage in antisocial acts.1. The reason why people might not be able to stay alive in a world without emotion is that _______.

A. they would not be able to tell the texture of objects
B. they would not know what was beneficial and what was harmful to them
C. they would not be happy with a life without love
D. they would do things that hurt each other’s feelings

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With only about 1,000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to clone the animal and save the endangered species. That’s a move similar to what a Texas A&M University researcher has been undertaking for the past five years in a project called “Noah’s Ark.”Dr. Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A&M’s College of Veterinary Medicine and a pioneer in embryo (胚胎) transfer work and related procedures, says he salutes the Chinese effort and “I wish them all the best success possible. It’s a worthwhile project, certainly not an easy one, and it’s very much like what we’re attempting here at Texas A&M — to save animals from extinction.”Noah’s Ark is aimed at collecting eggs, embryos, semen and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Kraemer says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.It is estimated that as many as 2,000 species of mammals, birds and reptiles will become extinct over the next 100 years. The panda, native only to China, is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.This week, Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete. “The nuclear transfer of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available panda eggs could be a major problem.” Kraemer believes. “They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy. It takes a long time and it’s difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort.” adds Kraemer, who is one of the leaders of the Missyplicity Project at Texas A&M, the first-ever attempt at cloning a dog.“They are trying to do something that’s never been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah’s Ark. We’re both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly applaud their effort and there’s a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It’s a research that is very much needed.”6. The aim of “Noah’s Ark” project is to ________.

A. implant embryo into a host animal
B. salute the Chinese efforts in saving pandas
C. save endangered animals from extinction
D. introduce cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit

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