天津大学博士入学考试英语试题

　　1) A report consistently brought back by visitors to the US is how friendly， courteous， and helpful most Americans were to them. To be fair， this observation is also frequently made of Canada and Canadians， and should best be considered North American. There are， of course， exceptions. Small-minded officials， rude waiters， and ill-mannered taxi drivers are hardly unknown in the US. Yet it is an observation made so frequently that it deserves comment.

　　For a long period of time and in many parts of the country， a traveler was a welcome brak in an otherwise dull existence. Dullness and loneliness were common problems of the families who generally lived distant from one another. Strangers and travelers were welcome sources of diversion， and brought news of the outside world.

　　The harsh realities of the frontier also shaped this tradition of hospitality. Someone traveling alone， if hungry， injured， or ill， often had nowhere to turn except to the nearest cabin or settlement. It was not a matter of choice for the traveler or merely a charitable impulse on the part of the settlers. It reflected the harshness of daily life： if you didn‘t take in the stranger and take care of him， there was no one else who would， And someday， remember， you might be in the same situation.

　　Today there are many charitable organizations that specialized in helping the weary traveler. Yet， the old tradition of hospitality to strangers is still very strong in the US， especially in the smaller cities and towns away from the busy tourist trails.I was just traveling through， got talking with this American， and pretty soon he invited me home for dinner-amazing.Such observations reported by visitors to the US are not uncommon， but are not always understood properly. The casual friendliness of many Americans should be interpreted neither as superficial nor as artificial， but as the result of a historically developed cultural tradition.

　　As is true of any developed society， in America a complex set of cultural signals， assumptions， and conventions underlies all social interrelationships. And， of course， speaking a language does not necessarily mean that someone understands social and cultural patterns. Visitors who fail totranslatecultural meanings properly often draw wrong conclusions. For example， when an American uses the wordfriend， the cultural implications of the word may be quite different from those it has in the visitor‘s language and culture. It takes more than a brief encounter on a bus to distinguish between courteous convention and individual interest. Yet， being friendly is a virtue that many Americans value highly and expect from both neighbors and strangers.

　　1. The wordobservationin the first paragraph most probably means [A] attention. [B] watchfulness. [C] survey [D] opinion.

　　2. People in frontier settlements used to entertain travelers because these strangers would______. [A] bring good news from outside world. [B] help locals solve their problems. [C] bring a change to the life in the settlements. [D] requires a different definition.

　　3. Nowadays the tradition of friendliness to strangers______. [A] is still prevailing. [B] can rarely be seen [C] is wading fast [D] requires a different definition

　　4. According to the passage， which of the following is true?

　　[A] People are still fond of traveling to remote places. [B] Foreign travelers now keep away from busy tourist trails. [C] There is no charitable organization in small cities. [D] Foreign visitors to the US have trouble understanding American‘s friendliness.

　　5. From the last paragraph of the passage we have learned that______ [A] the ability of speaking a foreign language implies a better understanding of its culture. [B] various virtues manifest themselves exclusively among friends. [C] culture exercises a great influence on social interrelationships. [D] courteous convention and individual interest are closely interrelated.

　　2)It is well known that when an individual joins a group he tends to accept the group‘s standards of behavior and thinking. He is expected to behave in accordance with these norms-in other words the group expects him to conform. Many illustrations could be given of this from everyday life， but what is of particular interest to psychologists is the extent to which people’s judgments and opinions can be changed as a result of group pressure.

　　In a typical experiment， the experimenter asks for volunteers to join a group that is investigating visual perception. The victims are not， therefore， aware of the real purpose of the experiment. Each volunteer is taken to a room where he finds a group of about seven people who are collaborating with the experimenter. The group is shown a standard card which contains a single line. They are then asked to look at a second card. This has three lines on it. One is obviously longer than the line on the first card， one is shorter and one the same length. They have to say which line on the second card is the same length as the line on the standard card. The other members of the group answer first but what the volunteer does not know is that they have been told to pick one of the wrong lines. The volunteer sees that the other members of the group unanimously choose a line which is obviously not the same length as the one on the standard card.

　　When it is his turn to answer he is faced with the unanimous opinion of the group-all the others have chosen line A but he quite clearly sees line B as correct. What will he do? According to Asch， more than half of the victims chosen will change their opinion. What is equally surprising is that， when interviewed about their answers， most explained that they knew the group choice was incorrect but that they yielded to the pressure of the group because they thought they must be suffering from an optical illusion.

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