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Passage 3
A “scientific” view of language was dominant among philosophers and linguists who affected to develop a scientific analysis of human thought and behavior in the early part of this century. Under the force of this view, it was perhaps inevitable that the art of rhetoric should pass from the status of being regarded as of questionable worth (because although it might be both a source of pleasure and a means to urge people to right action, it might also be a means to distort truth and a source of misguided action) to the status of being wholly condemned. If people are regarded only as machines guided by logic, as they were by these “scientific” thinkers, rhetoric is likely to be held in low regard; for the most obvious truth about rhetoric is that it speaks to the whole person. It presents its arguments first to the person as a rational being, because persuasive discourse, if honestly conceived, always has a basis in reasoning. Logical argument is the plot, as it were, of any speech or essay that is respectfully intended to persuade people. Yet it is a characterizing feature of rhetoric that it goes beyond this and appeals to the parts of our nature that are involved in feeling, desiring, acting, and suffering. It recalls relevant instances of the emotional reactions of people to circumstances — real or fictional — that are similar to our own circumstances. Such is the purpose of both historical accounts and fables in persuasive discourse: they indicate literally or symbolically how people may react emotionally, with hope or fear, to particular circumstances. A speech attempting to persuade people can achieve little unless it takes into account the aspect of their being related to such hopes and fears.
Rhetoric, then, is addressed to human beings living at particular times and in particular places. From the point of view of rhetoric, we are not merely logical thinking machines, creatures abstracted from time and space. The study of rhetoric should therefore be considered the most humanistic of the humanities, since rhetoric is not directed only to our rational selves. It takes into account what the “scientific” view leaves out. If it is a weakness to harbor feelings, then rhetoric may be thought of as dealing in weakness. But those who reject the idea of rhetoric because they believe it deals in lies and who at the same time hope to move people to action, must either be liars themselves or be very naive; pure logic has never been a motivating force unless it has been subordinated to human purposes, feelings, and desires, and thereby ceased to be pure logic.
31. According to the passage, to reject rhetoric and still hope to persuade people is ________.
A. an aim of most speakers and writers
B. an indication either of dishonesty or of credulity
C. a way of displaying distrust of the audience‘s motives
D. a characteristic of most humanistic discourse
32. It can be inferred from the passage that in the late nineteenth century rhetoric was regarded as ________.
A. the only necessary element of persuasive discourse
B. a dubious art in at least two ways
C. an outmoded and tedious amplification of logic
D. an open offense to the rational mind
33. The passage suggests that a speech that attempts to persuade people to act is likely to fail if it does NOT ________.
A. distort the truth a little to make it more acceptable to the audience
B. appeal to the self-interest as well as the humanitarianism of the audience
C. address listeners’ emotions as well as their intellects
D. concede the logic of other points of view
34. Which of the following persuasive devices is NOT used in the passage?
A. A sample of an actual speech delivered by an orator
B. The contrast of different points of view
C. The repetition of key ideas and expressions
D. An analogy that seeks to explain logical argument
35. Which of the following best states the author’s main point about logical argument?
A. It is a sterile, abstract discipline, of little use in real life.
B. It is an essential element of persuasive discourse, but only one such element.
C. It is an important means of persuading people to act against their desires.
D. It is the lowest order of discourse because it is the least imaginative.
Passage 4
Extraordinary creative activity has been characterized as revolutionary, flying in the face of what is established and producing not what is acceptable but what will become accepted. According to this formulation, highly creative activity transcends the limits of an existing form and establishes a new principle of organization. However, the idea that extraordinary creativity transcends established limits is misleading when it is applied to the arts, even though it may be valid for the sciences. Differences between highly creative art and highly creative science arise in part from differences in their goals. For the sciences, a new theory is the goal and end result of the creative act. Innovative science produces new propositions in terms of which diverse phenomena can be related to one another in more coherent ways. Such phenomena as a brilliant diamond or a nesting bird are relegated to the role of data, serving as the means for formulating or testing a new theory. The goal of highly creative art is very different: the phenomenon itself becomes the direct product of the creative act. Shakespeare's Hamlet is not a tract about the behavior of indecisive princes or the uses of political power, nor is Picasso's painting Guernica primarily a propositional statement about the Spanish Civil War or the evils of fascism. What highly creative artistic activity produces is not a new generalization that transcends established limits, but rather an aesthetic particular. Aesthetic particulars produced by the highly creative artist extend or exploit, in an innovative way, the limits of an existing form, rather than transcend that form.
This is not to deny that a highly creative artist sometimes establishes a new principle of organization in the history of an artistic field: the composer Monteverdi, who created music of the highest aesthetic value, comes to mind. More generally, however, whether or not a composition establishes a new principle in the history of music has little bearing on its aesthetic worth. Because they embody a new principle of organization, some musical works, such as the operas of the Florentine Camerata, are of signal historical importance, but few listeners or musicologists would include these among the great works of music. On the other hand, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro is surely among the masterpieces of music even though its modest innovations are confined to extending existing means. It has been said of Beethoven that he toppled the rules and freed music from the stifling confines of convention. But a close study of his compositions reveals that Beethoven overturned no fundamental rules. Rather, he was an incomparable strategist who exploited limits — the rules, forms, and conventions that he inherited from predecessors such as Haydn and Mozart, Handel and Bach — in strikingly original ways.
36. The author considers a new theory that coherently relates diverse phenomena to one another to be the ________.
A. basis for reaffirming a well-established scientific formulation
B. byproduct of an aesthetic experience
C. tool used by a scientist to discover a new particular
D. result of highly creative scientific activity
37. The passage supplies information for answering all of the following questions EXCEPT ________.
A. Has unusual creative activity been characterized as revolutionary?
B. Did Beethoven work within a musical tradition that also included Handel and Bach?
C. Is Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro an example of a creative work that transcended limits?
D. Who besides Monteverdi wrote music that the author would consider to embody new principles of organization and to be of high aesthetic value?
38.The author regards the idea that all highly creative artistic activity transcends limits with ________.
A. | deep skepticism | B. | strong indignation |
C. | marked indifference | D. | moderate amusement |
39. The author implies that an innovative scientific contribution is one that ________.
A. is cited with high frequency in the publications of other scientists
B. is accepted immediately by the scientific community
C. does not relegate particulars to the role of data
D. introduces a new valid generalization
40. Which of the following statements would most logically conclude the last paragraph of the passage?
A. Unlike Beethoven, however, even the greatest of modern composers, such as Stravinsky, did not transcend existing musical forms.
B. In similar fashion, existing musical forms were even further exploited by the next generation of great European composers.
C. Thus, many of the great composers displayed the same combination of talents exhibited by Monteverdi.
D. By contrast, the view that creativity in the arts exploits but does not transcend limits is supported in the field of literature.
Passage 5
Cultural norms so completely surround people, so permeate thought and action that we never recognize the assumptions on which their lives and their sanity rest. As one observer put it, if birds were suddenly endowed with scientific curiosity they might examine many things, but the sky itself would be overlooked as a suitable subject; if fish were to become curious about the world, it would never occur to them to begin by investigating water. For birds and fish would take the sky and sea for granted, unaware of their profound influence because they comprise the medium for every fact. Human beings, in a similar way, occupy a symbolic universe governed by codes that are unconsciously acquired and automatically employed. So much so that they rarely notice that the ways they interpret and talk about events are distinctively different from the ways people conduct their affairs in other cultures.
As long as people remain blind to the sources of their meanings, they are imprisoned within them. These cultural frames of reference are no less confining simply because they cannot be seen or touched. Whether it is an individual neurosis that keeps an individual out of contact with his neighbors, or a collective neurosis that separates neighbors of different cultures, both are forms of blindness that limit what can be experienced and what can be learned from others.
It would seem that everywhere people would desire to break out of the boundaries of their own experiential worlds. Their ability to react sensitively to a wider spectrum of events and peoples requires an overcoming of such cultural parochialism. But, in fact, few attain this broader vision. Some, of course, have little opportunity for wider cultural experience, though this condition should change as the movement of people accelerates. Others do not try to widen their experience because they prefer the old and familiar, seek from their affairs only further confirmation of the correctness of their own values. Still others recoil from such experiences because they feel it dangerous to probe too deeply into the personal or cultural unconscious. Exposure may reveal how tenuous and arbitrary many cultural norms are; such exposure might force people to acquire new bases for interpreting events. And even for the many who do seek actively to enlarge the variety of human beings with whom they are capable of communicating there are still difficulties.
Cultural myopia persists not merely because of inertia and habit, but chiefly because it is so difficult to overcome. One acquires a personality and a culture in childhood, long before he is capable of comprehending either of them. To survive, each person masters the perceptual orientations, cognitive biases, and communicative habits of his own culture. But once mastered, objective assessment of these same processes is awkward since the same mechanisms that are being evaluated must be used in making the evaluations.
41. The examples of birds and fish are used to ________.
A. show that they, too, have their respective cultures
B. explain humans occupy a symbolic universe as birds and fish occupy the sky and the sea
C. illustrate that human beings are unaware of the cultural codes governing them
D. demonstrate the similarity between man, birds, and fish in their ways of thinking
42. The term "parochialism" (Para. 3) most possibly means ________.
A. | open-mindedness | B. | provincialism | C. | superiority | D. | discrimination |
43. It can be inferred from the last two paragraphs that ________.
A. everyone would like to widen their cultural scope if they can
B. the obstacles to overcoming cultural parochialism lie mainly in people’s habit of thinking
C. provided one’s brought up in a culture, he may be with bias in making cultural evaluations
D. childhood is an important stage in comprehending culture
44. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Individual and collective neurosis might prevent communications with others.
B. People in different cultures may be governed by the same cultural norms.
C. People’s visions will be enlarged if only they knew that cultural differences exist.
D. If cultural norms are something tangible, they won’t be so confirming.
45. The passage might be entitled ________.
A. How to Overcome Cultural Myopia
B. Behavioral Patterns and Cultural Background
C. Harms of Cultural Myopia
D. Cultural Myopia — A Deep-rooted Collective Neurosis