2014年PETS四级考试模拟试题(1)

　Passage Three

　　The percentage of immigrants (including those unlawfully present) in the United states has been creeping upward for years. At 12.6 percent, it is now higher than at any point since the mid1920s.

　　We are not about to go back to the days when Congress openly worried about inferior races polluting America’s bloodstream. But once again we are wondering whether we have too many of the wrong sort newcomers. Their loudest critics argue that the new wave of immigrants cannot, and indeed do not want to, fit in as previous generations did.

　　We now know that these racist views were wrong. In time, Italians, Romanians and members of other so-called inferior races became exemplary Americans and contributed greatly, in ways too numerous to detail, to the building of this magnificent nation. There is no reason why these new immigrants should not have the same success.

　　Although children of Mexican immigrants do better, in terms of educational and professional attainment, than their parents UCLA sociologist Edward Telles has found that the gains don’t continue. Indeed, the fouth generation is marginally worse off than the third James Jackson, of the University of Michigan, has found a similar trend among black Caribbean immigrants, Tells fears that Mexican-Americans may be fated to follow in the footsteps of American blacks-that large parts of the community may become mired(陷入)in a seemingly permanent state of poverty and Underachievement. Like African-Americans, Mexican-Americans are increasingly relegated to (降入)segregated, substandard schools, and their dropout rate is the highest for any ethnic group in the country.

　　We have learned much about the foolish idea of excluding people on the presumption of the ethnic/racial inferiority. But what we have not yet learned is how to make the process of Americanization work for all. I am not talking about requiring people to learn English or to adopt American ways; those things happen pretty much on their own, but as arguments about immigration hear up the campaign trail, we also ought to ask some broader question about assimilation, about how to ensure that people , once outsiders , don’t forever remain marginalized within these shores.

　　That is a much larger question than what should happen with undocumented workers, or how best to secure the border, and it is one that affects not only newcomers but groups that have been here for generations. It will have more impact on our future than where we decide to set the admissions bar for the latest ware of would-be Americans. And it would be nice if we finally got the answer right.

　　1. How were immigrants viewed by U.S. Congress in early days?

　　A) They were of inferior races.

　　B) They were a Source of political corruption.

　　C) They were a threat to the nation’s security.

　　D) They were part of the nation’s bloodstream.

　　2. What does the author think of the new immigrants?

　　A) They will be a dynamic work force in the U.S.

　　B) They can do just as well as their predecessors.

　　C) They will be very disappointed on the new land.

　　D) They may find it hard to fit into the mainstream.

　　3. What does Edward Telles’ research say about Mexican-Americans?

　　A) They may slowly improve from generation to generation.

　　B) They will do better in terms of educational attainment.

　　C) They will melt into the African-American community.

　　D) They may forever remain poor and underachieving.

　　4. What should be done to help the new immigrants?

　　A) Rid them of their inferiority complex.

　　B) Urge them to adopt American customs.

　　C) Prevent them from being marginalized.

　　D) Teach them standard American English.

　　5. According to the author, the burning issue concerning immigration is_______.

　　A) How to deal with people entering the U.S. without documents

　　B) How to help immigrants to better fit into American society

　　C) How to stop illegal immigrants from crossing the border

　　D) How to limit the number of immigrants to enter the U.S.

　　Passage Four

　　Early in the age of affluence (富裕) that followed World War Ⅱ，an American retailing analyst named Victor Lebow proclaimed, “Our enormously productive economy...demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever increasing rate." 

　　Americans have responded to Lebow's call, and much of the world has followed. Consumption has become a central pillar of life in industrial lands and is even embedded in social values. Opinion surveys in the world's two largest economics-Japan and the United States-show consumerist definitions of success becoming ever more prevalent.

　　Overconsumption by the world's fortunate is an environmental problem unmatched in severity by anything but perhaps population growth. Their surging exploitation of resources threatens to exhaust or unalterably spoil forests, soils, water, air and climate.

　　Ironically, high consumption may be a mixed blessing in human terms, too. The time-honored values of integrity of character, good work, friendship, family and community have often been sacrificed in the rush to riches.

　　Thus many in the industrial lands have a sense that their world of plenty is somehow hollow, that misled by a consumerist culture, they have been fruitlessly attempting to satisfy what are essentially social, psychological and spiritual needs with material things.

　　Of course, the opposite of overconsumption, poverty, is no solution to either environmental or human problems. It is infinitely worse for people and bad for the natural world too. Dispossessed (被剥夺得一无所有的) peasants slash, and burn their way into the rain forests of Latin America, and hungry nomads (游牧民族) turn their herds out onto fragile African grassland, reducing it to desert.

　　If environmental destruction results when people have either too little or too much, we are left to wonder how much is enough .What level of consumption can the earth support ?When dose having more cease to add noticeably to human satisfaction?

　　1. The emergence of the affluent society after World War II .

　　A) led to the reform of the retailing system 

　　B) resulted in the worship of consumerism 

　　C) gave rise to the dominance of the new egoism 

　　D) gave birth to a new generation of upper class consumers

　　2. Apart from enormous productivity, another important impetus to high consumption is

　　A) the people's desire for a rise in their living standards 

　　B) the concept that one's success is measured by how much they consume 

　　C) the imbalance that has existed between production and consumption 

　　D) the conversion of the sale of goods into rituals

　　3. Why does the author say high consumption is a mixed blessing? 

　　A) Because poverty still exists in an affluent society. 

　　B) Because overconsumption won't last long due to unrestricted population growth. 

　　C) Because traditional rituals are often neglected in the process of modernization. 

　　D) Because moral values are sacrificed in pursuit of material satisfaction.

　　4. According to the passage, consumerist culture .

　　A) will not alleviate poverty in wealthy countries 

　　B) will not aggravate environmental problems 

　　C) cannot thrive on a fragile economy 

　　D) cannot satisfy human spiritual needs

　　5. It can be inferred from the passage that .

　　A) human spiritual needs should match material affluence 

　　B) whether high consumption should be encouraged is still an issue 

　　C) how to keep consumption at a reasonable level remains a problem 

　　D) there is never an end to satisfying people's material needs