考研英语阅读命题思路透析和真题揭秘(38)

In general, our society is becoming one of giant enterprises directed by a bureaucratic (官僚主义的) management in which man becomes a small , well-oiled cog in the machinery. The oiling is done with higher wages, well-ventilated factories and piped music, and by psychologists and "human-relations" experts; yet all this oiling does not alter the fact that man has become powerless, that he does not wholeheartedly participate in his work and that he is bored with it. In fact, the blue-and the white-collar workers have become economic puppets who dance to the tune of automated machines and bureaucratic management.

The worker and employee are anxious, not only because they might find themselves out of a job; they are anxious also because they are unable to acquire any real satisfaction or interest in life. They live and die without ever having confronted the fundamental realities of human existence as emotionally and intellectually independent and productive human beings.

Those higher up on the social ladder are no less anxious. Their lives are no less empty than those of their subordinates. They are even more insecure in some respects. They are in a highly competitive race. To be promoted or to fall behind is not a matter of salary but even more a matter of self-respect. When they apply for their first job, they are tested for intelligence as well as for the tight mixture of submissiveness and independence. From that moment on they are tested again and again-by the psychologists, for whom testing is a big business, and by their superiors, who judge their behavior, sociability, capacity to get along, etc. This constant need to prove that one is as good as or better than one' s fellow-competitor creates constant anxiety and stress, the very causes of unhappiness and illness.

Am I suggesting that we should return to the preindustrial mode of production or to nineteenth-century "free enterprise" capitalism? Certainly not. Problems are never solved by returning to a stage which one has already outgrown. I suggest transforming our social system from a bureaucratically managed industrialism in which maximal production and consumption are ends in themselves into a humanist industrialism in which man and full development of his potentialities-those of love and of reason-are the aims of all social arrangements. Production and consumption should serve only as means to this end, and should be prevented from ruling man.

38. From the passage we can infer that real happiness of life belongs to those
[A] who are at the bottom of the society
[B] who are higher up in their social status
[C] who prove better than their fellow-competitors
[D] who could keep far away from this competitive world

[答案] D

[解题思路]

本题可以采取排除法。文章第二段谈到一般的工人和职员的焦虑，第三段则是关于社会高层的人的焦虑，可见他们都不拥有真正的幸福，可以排除A和B选项。而选项与文章第三段的最后一句话矛盾"This constant need to prove that one is as good as or better than one' s fellow-competitor creates constant anxiety and stress, the very causes of unhappiness and illness"（他们需要不断地证明自己与竞争对手同样优秀或者超过对手，从而不断地产生忧虑和压力，这正是不幸疾病的起因），正是因为竞争才使得他们焦虑，因此C选项也可以排除。而D选项正好从反面来理解这句话，既然竞争带来忧虑，那么远离竞就可以使人们获得幸福生活。

[题目译文]

从文中我们可以推断真正的幸福属于那些
[A] 处于社会底层的人
[B] 社会地位较高的人
[C] 证明自己比其他竞争者强的人
[D] 能够远离竞争世界的人

39. To solve the present social problems the author suggests that we should
[A] resort to the production mode of our ancestors
[B] offer higher wages to the workers and employees
[C] enable man to fully develop his potentialities
[D] take the fundamental realities for granted

[答案] C

[解题思路]

本题也可以采用排除法。A选项对应于最后一段的前两句话"Am I suggesting that we should return to the preindustrial mode of production or to nineteenth-century "free enterprise" capitalism? Certainly not"（我是否在建议我们应回到工业化前的生产模式或回到十九世纪"自由企业"资本主义时期呢？当然不是），显然选项的表述与原文相反，可以排除。而B和D选项都不是作者提到的解决方案。作者的提议是"I suggest transforming our social system from a bureaucratically managed industrialism in which maximal production and consumption are ends in themselves into a humanist industrialism in which man and full development of his potentialities-those of love and of reason-are the aims of all social arrangements"（我建议把我们的社会制度从以最大限度生产和最大限度消费为目的的官僚主义管理工业体制变成一个充分发挥人的潜能--如爱和理性的潜能--为目的的人道主义工业体制），C选项对应于作者提出的"full development of his potentialities"，因而是正确选项。

[题目译文]

为了解决当前的社会问题，作者建议我们应该
[A] 回到我们祖先的生产模式
[B] 给工人和雇员们提供高工资
[C] 帮助人们充分发展他们的潜能
[D] 接受这些根本的现实