公派统考 阅读 2010/01

Reading Passage One

Questions 1 – 10 are based on Reading Passage One.

Questions 1 – 5: Answer each of the following questions using NO MORE THAN THREE
words taken out of Reading Passage One. Write your answers in Boxes 1 – 5 on your answer
sheet.

1. What drives the Oak Knoll children to cut waste and use less energy?
2. According to a study, who produced twice the amount of the global average of carbon
footprints?
3. How much of the world’s CO2 emissions is contributed by raising animals for food?
4. Besides small prizes such as tote bags, what else do the greenest contesters win?
5. What term best describes the students after their participation in the Carbonrally
competition?

Sizing up Carbon Footprints

Kelsey Schroeder, a 12-year-old at the Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child in Summit,
N.J., is a driving force in greening her school, pushing teachers and classmates alike to cut
waste and use less energy. However, what really motivates kids – especially the sort of
achievers who attend a private school like Oak Knoll – is a little competition. As
Carbonrally.com’s reigning champ, Schroeder’s seventh-grade Royal Acorns team has saved
11.21 tons of climate-changing CO2 to date.
As Americans grow more green-minded, more of them want to approach
environmentalism in concrete terms. Thanks to websites like Carbonrally, one increasingly
popular way to do so is by measuring and measurably reducing our carbon footprints – the
greenhouse gases we’re responsible for emitting. Unsurprisingly, Americans, who are
responsible for more than 20 tons of CO2 per capita annually, have some of the biggest feet
in the world. How big? A recent study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found
that even a homeless American would have a carbon footprint of 8.5 tons – twice the global
average. “We have contributed more than our fair share to this problem,” says Katherine
Wroth, a senior editor at the green website Grist.org. “It seems logical that we would want to
contribute to the solution.”
Especially if contributing to a solution feels like playing a competitive sport.
Carbonrally lays out environmental challenges and keeps score by translating green actions
into pounds of carbon dioxide averted. For instance, cutting your daily shower time by two
minutes for a month – a recent challenge – reduces CO2 emissions by 15.3 lbs. “This has
been a great motivation technique,” says Schroeder, who has logged individual savings of
more than 1,000 lbs. of CO2 on Carbonrally.
Learning your approximate carbon shoe size is the first step. Some actions, like
commuting in a gasoline-powered car, have obvious carbon costs. Others are less clear but
still significant. Take your diet: livestock are responsible for an estimated 18% of global
carbon emissions, so when you chow down a hamburger, you’re effectively emitting CO2 as
well. “Global warming is an abstract idea that is hard for people to connect to,” says Bob

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Schildgen, the Sierra Club’s environmental-advice columnist. “It’s good to start at the basic
level, with real numbers.”
Carbonrally’s challenges offer a useful start. A recent contest involved giving up meat
for two days, which would reduce carbon emissions by 13.2 lbs. Another called on
competitors to unplug their computers every night for one month, which cuts CO2 by 51 lbs.
Each contest illustrates a basic way to shrink your footprint: remove meat from your diet,
drive or fly less and just reduce the amount of power you use at home whenever possible.
Winners get small prizes like tote bags – and green bragging rights. Altogether,
Carbonrally’s 2,000 users have averted more than 150 tons of CO2 emissions since the site
was launched in October 2007.
Competing in Carbonrally turns the students from passive victims into climate warriors.
Fittingly, the Royal Acorns’ motto – taken from their school – is “Action, not words.” It’s a
rallying cry more Americans are starting to heed. (516 words)

Questions 6 – 10

Read the passage again and complete the notes about Carbonrally using NO MORE THAN
THREE words taken out of the passage.

Write your answers in Boxes 6 – 10 on your answer sheet.

Carbonrally
 The reigning champion of Carbonrally.com is the seventh-grade __________________
(6) of a private school.
 The concrete measures taken by Carbonrally to promote environmentalism include
____________________ (7) our carbon footprints.
 Carbonrally makes people see that by averting the amount of ____________________ (8)
we are actually engaging ourselves in green actions.
 One contest conducted by Carbonrally encouraged the competitors to
____________________ (9) every night for one month.
 Other basic ways to shrink our footprints, as are illustrated by Carbonrally contests,
involve ____________________ (10) for a couple of days or even removing it from our
diet, driving or flying less, etc.

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 公派统考 阅读 2010/01
Reading Passage Two
Questions 11 – 20 are based on Reading Passage Two.
How East and West Differ in Thinking Habits
For more than a century, Western scholars have held such an assumption: The same basic
processes underlie all human thought.
Cultural differences might dictate what people thought about. Teenage boys in Botswana,
for example, might discuss cows with the same passion that New York teenagers reserved for
sports cars. But the habits of thought – the strategies – were, Western scholars assumed, the
same for everyone, exemplified by, among other things, a devotion to logical reasoning, a
penchant for categorization and an urge to understand situations and events in linear terms of
cause and effect.
Recent work by a social psychologist at the University of Michigan, however, is turning
this long-held view of mental functioning upside down. In a series of studies comparing
European Americans to East Asians, Richard Nisbett and his colleagues have found that
people who grow up in different cultures do not just think about different things: They think
differently.
“We used to think that everybody uses categories in the same way, that logic plays the
same kind of role for everyone in the understanding of everyday life, that memory, perception,
rule application and so on are the same,” Mr Nisbett said. “But we’re now arguing that
cognitive processes themselves are just far more malleable than mainstream psychology
assumed.”
The new work is stirring interest in academic circles because it tries to define and
elaborate on cultural differences through a series of tightly controlled laboratory experiments.
And the theory underlying the research challenges much of what has been considered gospel
in cognitive psychology for the last 40 years.
In the broadest sense, the studies – carried out in the United States, Japan, China and
Korea – document a familiar division. Easterners, the researchers find, appear to think more
“holistically,” paying greater attention to context and relationship, relying more on
experience-based knowledge than abstract logic and showing more tolerance for contradiction.
Westerners are more “analytic” in their thinking, tending to detach objects from their context,
to avoid contradictions and to rely more heavily on formal logic.
In one study, for example, students from Japan and the United States were shown an
underwater scene, in which one larger fish swam among smaller fish and other aquatic life.
Asked to describe what they saw, the Japanese subjects were much more likely to begin
by setting the scene. Americans, in contrast, tended to begin their descriptions with the largest
fish. Overall, Japanese subjects in the study made 70 percent more statements about the
background environment than Americans, and twice as many statements about the
relationships between animate and inanimate objects. “Americans were much more likely to
zero in on the biggest fish,” Mr. Nisbett said. “That’s where the money is as far as they’re
concerned.”
When it came to interpreting events in the social world, the Asians seemed similarly
more sensitive to context. Psychologists have long documented what they call the
fundamental attribution error, the tendency for people to explain human behaviour in terms of
the traits of individual actors, even when powerful situational forces are at work. Told that a
man has been instructed to give a speech endorsing a particular presidential candidate, for
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example, most people will still believe that the speaker believes what he is saying. Yet Asians,
according to Nisbett and his colleagues, may in some situations be less susceptible to such
errors, indicating that they do not describe a universal way of thinking, but merely the way
that Americans think.
Both styles, Mr Nisbett contended, have advantages, and both have limitations. And
neither approach is written into the genes: Asian Americans, born in the United States, are
indistinguishable in their modes of thought from European Americans. (606 words)

Questions 11 – 14: Read Reading Passage Two and fill in each blank in the following
statements with NO MORE THAN THREE words taken out of the passage. Write your
answers in Boxes 11 – 14 on your answer sheet.
11. According to Western scholars’ assumption, the same processes underlie all human
thought, so cultural differences could not dictate people’s thinking strategies, or
____________________.
12. The traditional view held by Western scholars regarding ___________________ is being
held in doubt or even rejected by some researchers.
13. According to the passage, if a person lays more emphasis on context, relationship, and
experience, he/she tends to be more tolerant of contradiction and think
_____________________.
14. Nisbett and his colleagues contend that in some situations ___________ are less likely to
make fundamental attribution errors.

Questions 15 – 20: Do the following statements given in Questions 15 - 20 agree with the
views of the writer in Reading Passage Two? In Boxes 15 – 20 on your answer sheet write
Y (YES) if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
N (NO) if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NG (NOT GIVEN) if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
15. According to the new research, both the ways and the contents of thinking are culturally
specific matters.
16. The new research has aroused some enthusiastic responses from government officials and
business people.
17. It can be inferred from the passage that cognitive psychology has long held the view that
mankind shares a common manner of perception.
18. The differences between Westerners and Asians in cognitive approaches indicate that
Asians enjoy literature more than Westerners.
19. The study conducted by Nisbett and his colleagues proves that Americans tend to give less
attention to the target and often fail to aim at it.
20. According to Nisbett and his colleagues, Asian people are more likely to be misguided by
a public statement as they give much attention to contextual factors.

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Reading Passage Three
Questions 21 – 27 are based on Reading Passage Three.

Questions 21 – 27: In the box is a list of the cars (A – F) introduced in Reading Passage Three. Match
the cars with the descriptions given below. Note that you can choose some of the products more than once.
One has been done for you as an example. Write your answers in Boxes 21 – 27 on your answer sheet.

A. The Honda Motor Co. ASV-3

B. The Harrier SUV (the Japanese version of the Lexus RX 330)
C. The hybrid Lexus GS450h
D. The Legend luxury sedan
E. Mazda Motor Corp.’s new MPV minivan

Example: The installed functional systems of this model can be compared to those of a fighter
jet. (A)

21. The special device installed in this model can automatically move headlight beams to
avoid blinding oncoming drivers at night.
22. Its safety system uses radar technology to give a warning to drivers in case of an
impending collision.
23. Installed with a special system, the car can transmit radio and video data to emergency
personnel.
24. Infrared images can be projected onto a screen above its dashboard when a pedestrian is
crossing in front of the car in the dark.
25. The monitoring precrash system sets off an alarm to get the attention of a driver who is
perhaps distracted.
26. The upgraded system enables the car to brake even when the driver fails to react to a
dangerous situation.
27. Satellite technology is applied to calculate the ideal speed in different situations.

Cars that Brake When You Don’t

The Honda Motor Co. ASV-3 prototype is no ordinary version of the Accord sedan. Five
years in the making, the ASV-3 is crammed with as many gizmos as a fighter jet, including
navigation systems, radar, and infrared cameras. This is Honda’s Advanced Safety Vehicle,
and the new gadgetry is all about avoiding accidents. Turn that corner too quickly and the
ASV-3 uses satellite technology to calculate the optimum speed. If you are about to drive
through an intersection and another vehicle threatens to plow into your side, a 5.8 GHz radio
signal informs that onboard computer and alerts the driver. If a collision can’t be avoided, a
system designed to aid the rescue effort transmits radio and video data, including the driver’s
heart rate and respiratory condition, to emergency personnel. “The ASV-3 offers the prospect
of safer, more comfortable, and more worry-free driving,” says Akihiro Kubo, Honda’s
executive chief engineer at the company’s research and development center.
The technologies used in the ASV-3 are not yet in mass production and may not be for

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years. But its bells and whistles put an exclamation point on Japan’s growing leadership in the
field of auto safety.
In mid-October, 2005, Japanese vehicle makers gathered in Hokkaido to show off their
latest safety gadgets. Many of the devices also featured prominently at the Tokyo Motor Show,
which opened on Oct. 21. While futuristic models like the ASV were fun to anticipate, there
were also lots of practical gadgets that are already in use. Virtually every auto maker in the
world is doing research in vehicle safety devices, but “it’s the likes of Honda and Toyota that
are getting them out there and into cars,” says Andrew Phillips, an analyst at Nikko Citigroup
in Tokyo.
High-tech safety equipment, primarily focused on accident prevention, began making its
way into autos about five years ago. In February 2003, Toyota introduced its current safety
system into the Harrier SUV, the Japanese version of the Lexus Rx 330. The system uses radar
technology to warn drivers if a collision is likely. In 2004, the system was upgraded so the car
will brake if the driver fails to react to a dangerous situation. Toyota’s newest safety gear will
be installed in the hybrid Lexus GS450h, unveiled at the motor show spring. It includes an
onboard camera to monitor whether the driver is distracted. If an accident is about to happen
and the driver isn’t looking straight ahead – for instance, if he has gone to sleep – the camera
detects this, and the precrash safety system sets off an alarm, tightens the seat belt to get the
driver’s attention. “The ultimate aim is to create a car that cannot crash,” says Shiro Monzaki,
general manager of Toyota Motor’s vehicle control system engineering department.
Honda is also upgrading existing safety features. In October, 2005, it began offering a
night vision system on the Legend luxury sedan. If a pedestrian is crossing in front of your car
in the dark, it projects infrared image onto a screen above the dashboard.
Not to be outdone, Mazda Motor Corp. has a device on its new MPV minivan that
automatically moves headlight beams from side-to-side to avoid blinding oncoming drivers at
night. And Nissan, which has pledged to cut by half the number of deaths and serious injuries
suffered in its vehicles by 2015, is working on a project that enables specially equipped traffic
lights to communicate with oncoming vehicles – to tell them, for instance, if they are
approaching a school. “If you don’t have your fundamentals on safety right, you can’t
compete in this industry,” Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said during the auto show in Tokyo.
Turning prototypes such as the Honda ASV-3 into reality won’t be easy. One issue is cost.
Toyota’s newest safety system – including air bags and a radar-controlled cruise control
system – costs $4,300. Auto makers say that while customers now expect passive safety
equipment like air bags to be standard, gear that seizes control of the car and puts on the
brakes is a harder sell. (674 words)

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Reading Passage Four
Questions 28 – 40 are based on Reading Passage Three.

Questions 28 – 34: Reading Passage Four has 8 paragraphs (A – H). In the box below is a
list of headings. Choose the most appropriate heading for each paragraph. Two have been
done for you examples. Note that there are more headings than paragraphs.
Write your answers in Boxes 28 – 34 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings
i. Freeing art from unpleasant living organisms
ii. Problems relating to museum collections
iii. Running the scanning electron microscope
iv. The uniqueness of art and its preservation and studying
v. The Met research team and their technological facilities
vi. Microscopic study of a piece of art that is still on exhibition
vii. A powerful, versatile, and resourceful scientist
viii. Pushing the research forward professionally and scientifically
ix. Research and findings regarding the dating of a mislabeled
or forged piece of art
x. Unveiling the core of the problem by means of a new device

28. Paragraph A ______

29. Paragraph B ______
Example Answer
Paragraph C IV
30. Paragraph D ______
31. Paragraph E ______
32. Paragraph F ______
33. Paragraph G ______
34. Paragraph H ______

Museums Use New Tools to Fix Old Works

[A] John Singer Sargent’s Madame X developed strange tiny bumps under her right arm
and along the back of her head. A set of drawings by Louis Comfort Tiffany was crumpled
and stained by water and mold. The enamel on a fish pendant was not as old as it should have
been, suggesting that the piece might be a fake.
[B]With a collection exceeding two million works, the Metropolitan Museum of Art
encounters such problems often enough to keep a staff of eight full-time scientists busy. Last
year, they were consolidated into a department of scientific research, the second largest such
department in the country, behind the National Gallery in Washington. The scientists have an
arsenal of tests ― from microscopy and X-rays to more complicated ones with names like
X-ray fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy ― to analyze just what an object is made of,
how it was made and what can be done to repair a problem.
[C] Art can be made from almost anything, including substances that have not been
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produced and used in ages, and it comes in all shapes and sizes. More important, scientists
have to study art without affecting it, and that usually means limited, nondestructive tests. If
they have to take a sample, it must be as small as possible. In the objects conservation lab, the
big samples look like the period at the end of this sentence. Small samples are microscopic.
[D] The scientists have developed creative ways to deal with the constraints. Consider the
case of the fish pendant. Gold with multicolored enamel, it was originally thought to date
from the 16th century. But curators and conservators saw that the style was all wrong for that
period. It was either mislabeled or a forgery. Mark Wypyski, a glass specialist who runs the
scanning electron microscope at the museum, took a tiny porcelainlike sample from a green
part of the pendant and bombarded it with electrons, causing it to emit X-rays characteristic of
the elements in it. Mr. Wypyski interpreted the results as they popped up on a computer
monitor. There was chromium, which was not used in glass or enamels until the 19th century.
The chromium could have gotten into the enamel by accident, but if it had done so, there
would be more iron present. With these findings, Mr. Wypyski confirmed the conservators’
initial assessment. He plans to continue to study such pieces and publish his findings as a
reference to help other scientists identify misdated pieces.
[E] Next door, Dr. Crtomir Tavzes, a research fellow from Slovenia, is worried about two
of art’s great enemies, bugs and fungi. As the museum’s resident expert in biodeterioration,
Dr. Tavzes uses a special insect-extermination technique that involves wrapping infested art
in an airtight silver cocoon and replacing all the oxygen inside with argon gas. The argon is
inert and does not react with the art. In time, the absence of oxygen suffocates any living
thing inside.
[F] Not all the works being studied are hidden in laboratories. Some remain on display.
Madame X, a strikingly sexual portrait that Sargent considered one of his finest works,
developed tiny, almost microscopic, bumps under her right arm and along the back of her
head, the deepest blacks of the painting. When Dr. Silvia Centeno, a scientist who specializes
in paintings and paper, looked at tiny cross-sections of the paint under a microscope, the
bumps looked like tumors erupting through the surface, but she could not figure out what they
were made of.
[G] In 2002, the Met became the first art museum in the country to acquire and install a
Raman spectrometer, a device that analyzes how a material scatters laser light and, in doing
so, determines its molecular makeup. With the fine laser beam, Dr. Centeno could focus on
the center of the lump. She was surprised by what she found - a compound of lead and linseed
oil, two extremely common components of old paintings. Now, through a series of lab tests,
Dr. Centeno is trying to unravel why these lumps appeared where they did, and not on other
paintings with lead and linseed oil. She suspects that the culprit may be the ratio of lead to oil
or the thickness of the paint.
[H] The research efforts are a few of many at the museum. They often extend over many
years, and it is up to Dr. Leona, 38, a chemist and crystallographer who was born, raised and
educated in northern Italy, to oversee the operation and keep it in line with the larger research
agenda of the museum. A tinkerer at heart, Dr. Leona takes time to improve scientific
capabilities, work on refining new devices and techniques that will make existing analyses
like Raman spectroscopy more powerful and versatile. (789 words)
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Questions 35 – 40: Paragraphs D – G introduced some creative ways to study and fix old art
works. Below is a summary based on the information given in Paragraphs D – G. Complete
the summary by choosing the most appropriate items given in the box. Note that there are
more items than needed. One has been done for you as an example. Write your answers in
Boxes 35 – 40 on your answer sheet.

I. any living thing V. bugs and fungi

II. emit X-rays VI. infested works
III. molecular makeup VII. study and fix
IV. pop up on a computer monitor VIII. biodeterioration
IX. paintings and paper

Creative Ways to Study and Fix Old Art Works

The scientific research team of Met has developed some creative ways to ____VII____
(Example) old art works. For example, by bombarding a small sample from the fish pendant
with electrons, one scientist made it possible for the sample to __________ (35). This enabled
him to identify the characteristics of its elements. The findings indicated that this piece of art
was misdated. Another scientist is particularly concerned with __________ (36), which often
attack artistic works. By wrapping __________ (37) in an airtight silver cocoon, replacing all
the oxygen inside with argon gas, he was able to kill __________ (38) inside. Some art works
are still on display while being studied and fixed. A scientist, who specializes in __________
(39), succeeded in determining the exhibited Madame X’s __________ (40) by means of a
newly installed device ― a Raman Spectrometer. The follow-up lab tests showed that the
fault in this piece of art could have something to do with the ratio of lead to oil or the
thickness of the paint.