SAT阅读练习题:Reading Comprehension Test 2
内容提要：10 minutes - 7 questions
The passage is taken from a description of the life of certain Pacific Islanders written by a pioneering sociologist.
By the time a child is six or seven she has all the essential avoidances well enough by heart to be trusted with the care of a younger child. And she also develops a number of simple techniques. She learns to weave firm square balls from palm 5 leaves, to make pinwheels of palm leaves or frangipani blossoms, to climb a coconut tree by walking up the trunk on flexible little feet, to break open a coconut with one firm well-directed blow of a knife as long as she is tall, to play a number of group games and sing the songs which go with them, to tidy the house by 10 picking up the litter on the stony floor, to bring water from the sea, to spread out the copra to dry and to help gather it in when rain threatens, to go to a neighboring house and bring back a lighted faggot for the chief's pipe or the cook-house fire.
But in the case of the little girls all these tasks are merely 15 supplementary to the main business of baby-tending. Very small boys also have some care of the younger children, but at eight or nine years of age they are usually relieved of it. Whatever rough edges have not been smoothed off by this responsibility for younger children are worn off by their contact with older boys. 20 For little boys are admitted to interesting and important activities only so long as their behavior is circumspect and helpful. Where small girls are brusquely pushed aside, small boys will be patiently tolerated and they become adept at making themselves useful. The four or five little boys who all wish to assist at the 25 important, business of helping a grown youth lasso reef eels, organize themselves into a highly efficient working team; one boy holds the bait, another holds an extra lasso, others poke eagerly about in holes in the reef looking for prey, while still another tucks the captured eels into his lavalava. The small girls, 30 burdened with heavy babies or the care of little staggerers who are too small to adventure on the reef, discouraged by the hostility of the small boys and the scorn of the older ones, have little opportunity for learning the more adventurous forms of work and play. So while the little boys first undergo the 35 chastening effects of baby-tending and then have many opportunities to learn effective cooperation under the supervision of older boys, the girls' education is less comprehensive. They have a high standard of individual responsibility, but the community provides them with no lessons in cooperation with one 40 another. This is particularly apparent in the activities of young people: the boys organize quickly; the girls waste hours in bickering, innocent of any technique for quick and efficient cooperation.
1. The primary purpose of the passage with reference to the society under discussion is to
A. explain some differences in the upbringing of girls and boys
B. criticize the deficiencies in the education of girls
C. give a comprehensive account of a day in the life of an average young girl
D. delineate the role of young girls
E. show that young girls are trained to be useful to adults
2. The word 'brusquely' (line 22) most nearly means
A. quickly
B. gently
C. nonchalantly
D. abruptly
E. callously
3. The list of techniques in paragraph one could best be described as
A. household duties
B. rudimentary physical skills
C. important responsibilities
D. useful social skills
E. monotonous tasks
4. It can be inferred that the 'high standard of individual responsibility' (line 38) is
A. developed mainly through child-care duties
B. only present in girls
C. taught to the girl before she is entrusted with babies
D. actually counterproductive
E. weakened as the girl grows older.
5. The expression 'innocent of' (line 42) is best taken to mean
A. not guilty of
B. unskilled in
C. unsuited for
D. uninvolved in
E. uninterested in
6. It can be inferred that in the community under discussion all of the following are important except
A. domestic handicrafts
B. well-defined social structure
C. fishing skills
D. formal education
E. division of labor
7. Which of the following if true would weaken the author's contention about 'lessons in cooperation' (line 39) ?
I Group games played by younger girls involve cooperation
II Girls can learn from watching boys cooperating
III Individual girls cooperate with their mothers in looking after babies
A. I only
B. II only
C. III only
D. I and II only
E. I, II and III
8. Which of the following is the best description of the author's technique in handling her material?
A. Both description and interpretation of observations.
B. Presentation of facts without comment.
C. Description of evidence to support a theory.
D. Generalization from a particular viewpoint.
E. Close examination of preconceptions.
1.Correct Answer: A
Explanation:
Primary purpose questions require you to find the overview of the passage - what the author intended to convey. It is like finding a title. In this case, we find that the author wanted to describe some aspects of the upbringing of girls in a particular society and contrast that with the way boys were brought up. Hence, answer A seems best. (To eliminate the others note that she is describing rather than ‘criticizing’, that she is not giving an account of only one day, and that she is saying something wider than just how they are trained to be useful. The D answer is too wide ranging.)
2.Correct Answer: D
Explanation:
Go back to line 22 and find a word of your own to substitute. "Where small girls are brusquely pushed aside, small boys will be patiently tolerated"...we find that we need something the opposite of ‘patiently’. So the word ‘abruptly’ is closest to the idea of ‘impatiently’.
3.Correct Answer: D
Explanation:
Look carefully at the list of techniques. They include, household chores, playing, and making decorative items. They are not ‘monotonous’ and they are more than just ‘physical’ or ‘household’. Not all of them could be described as ‘important responsibilities’ and so we eliminate, and choose D.
4.Correct Answer: A
Explanation:
Always read some lines before and some lines after the line reference. In this case, reading considerably before the line shows us that ‘responsibility’ is mainly associated with baby-tending. The boys also learn this responsibility when they are young (line 15-17). The best answer is therefore, A.
5.Correct Answer: B
Explanation:
Go back to the sentence and substitute your own word. " ...the girls waste hours in bickering, innocent of any technique for quick and efficient cooperation." Here, ‘unaware of’, or ‘without knowing’ would fit well. The best answer of the choices given is ‘unskilled in’.
6.Correct Answer: D
Explanation:
Check each one carefully. In an ‘except’ question you are looking for something that is not right. There is no mention of formal education (schooling), and so answer D is best.
7.Correct Answer: D
Explanation:
First identify the ‘author’s contention’ (argument). She is saying, "the community provides them (girls) with no lessons in cooperation with one another." To weaken that contention, we need to show that they do get some opportunity to learn cooperation with one another. Point I shows that they can learn, and so does II. III suggests that they cooperate with mothers but not necessarily with each other. So, I and II correct means answer choice D.
8.Correct Answer: A
Explanation:
The author is describing, but she is also telling us what these observations imply. (The sentence in lines 37-40 is an example of an interpretation.) Hence, answer A.
12.