Part B
Directions: The following paragraphs are given in a wrong order. For Questions 41—45, you are required to reorganize these paragraphs into a coherent article by choosing from the list A - G to fill in each numbered box. The first and the last paragraphs have been placed for you in Boxes. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)
[A] These issues cut right across traditional religious dogma. Many people cling to the belief that the origin of life required a unique divine act. But ff life on Earth is not unique, the case for a miraculous origin would be undermined. The discovery of even a humble bacterium on Mars, if it could be shown to have arisen independently from Earth life would support the view that life emerges naturally.
[B] Contrary to popular belief, speculation that we are not alone in the universe is as old as philosophy itself. The essential steps in the reasoning were based on the atomic theory of the ancient Greek philosopher Democritus. First, the laws of nature are universal. Second, there is nothing special or privileged about Earth. Finally, if something is possible, nature tends to make it happen. Philosophy is one thing, filling in the physical details is another. Although astronomers increasingly suspect that bio-friendly planets may be abundant in the universe, the chemical steps leading to life remain largely mysterious.
[C] There is, however, a contrary view-one that is gaining strength and directly challenges orthodox biology. It is that complexity can emerge spontaneously through a process of self-organization, ff matter and energy have an inbuilt tendency to amplify and channel organized complexity, the odds against the formation of life and the subsequent evolution of intelligence could be drastically shortened. The relevance of self- organization to biology remains hotly debated. It suggests, however, that although the universe as a whole may be dying, an opposite, progressive trend may also exist as a fundamental property of nature. The emergence of extraterrestrial life, particularly-intelligent life, is a key test for these rival paradigms.
[D] Similar reasoning applies to evolution. According to the orthodox view, Darwinian selection is utterly blind. Any impression that the transition from microbes to man represents progress is pure chauvinism of our part. The path of evolution is merely a random walk through the realm of possibilities. If this is right, there can be no directionality, no innate drive forward; in particular, no push toward consciousness and intelligence. Should Earth be struck by an asteroid, destroying all higher life -forms, intelligent beings, still less humanoids, would almost certainly not arise next time around.
[E] Traditionally, biologists believed that life is a freak-the result of a zillion - to - on& accidental concatenation of molecules. It follows that the likelihood of its happening again elsewhere in the cosmos is infinitesimal. This viewpoint de- rives from the second law of thermodynamics, which predicts that the universe is dying - slowly and inexorably degenerating toward a state of total chaos. Life stumbles across this trend only because it is a pure statistical luck.
[F] Historically, the Roman Catholic church regarded any discussion of alien life as heresy. Speculating about other inhabited worlds was one reason philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in 1600. Belief that mankind has-a special relationship with God is central to the monotheistic religions. The existence of alien beings, especially if they were further advanced than humans intellectually and spiritually, would disrupt this cozy view.
[G] The discovery of life beyond earth would transform. not only our science but also our religions, our belief systems and our entire world view. For in a sense, the search for extraterrestrial life is really a search for ourselves - who we are and what our place is in the grand sweep of the cosmos.
Order:
41___________________
According to those who welcomed the railway, the railway itself should include all the
A. the railway enables people travel fast
B. the railway brings comfort to people
C. the railway makes the world peaceful
D. the railway leads the world to war as well
Text 1
In 1939 two brothers, Mac and Dick McDonald, started a drive-in restaurant in San Bernadino, California. They care fully chose a busy comer for their location. They had run their own business for years, first a theater, then a barbecue(烤肉 )restaurant, then another drive -in. But in their new operation, they offered a new, shortened menu: French fries, hamburgers, and sodas. To this small selection they added one new concept: quick service, no waiters or waitresses, and no tips.
Their hamburgers sold for fifteen cents. Cheese was another four cents. Their French fries and hamburgers had a remarkable uniformity, for the brothers had developed a strict routine for the preparation of their food, and they insisted on their cooks' sticking to their routine. Their new drive -in became incredibly popular, particularly for lunch. People drove up by the hundreds during the busy noontime. The serf - service restaurant was so popular that the brothers had allowed ten copies of their restaurant to be opened. They were content with this modest success until they met Ray Kroc.
Kroc was a salesman who met the McDonald brothers in 1954, when he was selling milkshake -mixing machines. He quickly saw the unique appeal of the brothers fast food restaurants and bought the right to franchise (特许经营other copies of their restaurants. The agreement struck included the right to duplicate the menu. The equipment, even their red and white buildings with the golden arches.
Today McDonald' s is really a household name. Its names for its sandwiches have come to mean hamburger in the decades since the day Ray Kroc watched people rush up to order fifteen - cent hamburgers. In 1976, McDonald' s had over $1 billion in total sales. Its first twenty - two years is one of the most incredible success stories in modem American business history.
21. This passage mainly talks about ______.
A. the development of fast food services
B. how McDonald's became a billion- dollar business
C. the business careers of Mac and Dick McDonald
D. Ray Kroc’s business talent