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Where is Love? How can we find Love?
The past ages of man have all been carefully labeled by anthropologists. Descriptions like “Paleolithic Man”, “Neolithic Man”, etc., neatly sum up the whole periods. When the time comes for anthropologists to turn their attention to the twentieth century, they will surely choose the label “Legless Man”. Histories of the time will go something like this: “in the twentieth century, people forgot how to use their legs. Men and women moved about in cars, buses and trains from a very early age. There were lifts and escalators in all large buildings to prevent people from walking. This situation was forced upon earth dwellers of that time because of miles each day. But the surprising thing is that they didn’t use their legs even when they went on holiday. They built cable railways, skilifts and roads to the top of every huge mountain. All the beauty spots on earth were marred by the presence of large car parks.”
The future history books might also record that we were deprived of the use of our eyes. In our hurry to get from one place to another, we failed to see anything on the way. Air travel gives you a bird’seye view of the world—or even less if the wing of the aircraft happens to get in your way. When you travel by car or train a blurred image of the countryside constantly smears the windows. Car drivers, in particular, are forever obsessed with the urge to go on and on: they never want to stop. Is it the lure of the great motorways, or what? And as for sea travel, it hardly deserves mention. It is perfectly summed up in the words of the old song: “I joined the navy to see the world, and what did I see? I saw the sea.”The typical twentiethcentury traveler is the man who always says, “I’ve been there.”You mention the remotest, most evocative placenames in the world like El Dorado, Kabul, Irkutsk and someone is bound to say，“I’ve been there”—meaning,“I drove through it at 100 miles an hour on the way to somewhere else.”
When you travel at high speed, the present means nothing: you live mainly in the future because you spend most of your time looking forward to arriving at some other place. But actual arrival, when it is achieved, is meaningless. You want to move on again. By traveling like this, you suspend all experience; the present ceases to be a reality: you might just as well be dead. The traveler on foot, on the other hand, lives constantly in the present. For him traveling and arriving are one and the same thing: he arrives somewhere with every step he makes. He experiences the present moment with his eyes, his ears and the whole of his body. At the end of his journey he feels a delicious physical weariness. He knows that sound. Satisfying sleep will be his: the just reward of all true travelers.
36. Anthropologists label nowadays’men “Legless” because .
A. people forget how to use their legs
B. people prefer cars, buses and trains
C. lifts and escalators prevent people from walking
D. there are a lot of transportation devices
37. Travelling at high speed means .
A. people’s focus on the future
B. a pleasure
C. satisfying drivers’great thrill
D. a necessity of life
38. Why does the author say “we are deprived of the use of our eyes”?
A. People won’t use their eyes.
B. In traveling at high speed, eyes become useless.
C. People can’t see anything on their way of travel.
D. People want to sleep during travelling.
39. What is the purpose of the author in writing this passage?
A. Legs become weaker.
B. Modern means of transportation make the world a small place.
C. There is no need to use eyes.
D. The best way to travel is on foot.
40. What does“a bird’seye view”mean?
A. See a view with a bird’s eyes.
B. A bird looks at a beautiful view.
C. It is a general view from a high position.
D. If is a scenic place.
B
When you think of the tremendous technological progress we have made, it’s amazing how little we have developed in other respects. We may speak contemptuously of the poor old Romans because they relished the orgies of slaughter that went on in their arenas. We may despise them because they mistook these goingson for entertainment. We may forgive them condescendingly because they lived 2000 years ago and obviously knew no better. But are our feelings of superiority really justified? Are we any less bloodthirsty? Why do boxing matches, for instance, attract such universal interest? Don’t the spectators who attend them hope they will see some violence? Human beings remain as bloodthirsty as ever they were. The only difference between ourselves and the Romans is that while they were honest enough to admit that they enjoyed watching hungry lions tearing people apart and eating them alive, we find all sorts of sophisticated arguments to defend sports which should have been banned long ago; sports which are quite as barbarous as, say, public hangings or bearbaiting.
It really is incredible that in this day and age we should still allow hunting or bullfighting, that we should be prepared to sit back and watch two men batter each other to pulp in a boxing ring, that we should be relatively unmoved by the sight of one or a number of racing cars crashing and bursting into flames. Let us not deceive ourselves. Any talk of “the sporting spirit” is sheer hypocrisy. People take part in violent sports because of the high rewards they bring. Spectators are willing to pay vast sums of money to see violence. A world heavyweight championship match, for instance, is frontpage news. Millions of people are disappointed if a big fight is over in two rounds instead of fifteen. They feel disappointment because they have been deprived of the exquisite pleasure of witnessing prolonged torture and violence.
Why should we ban violent sports if people enjoy them so much? You may well ask. The answer is simple: they are uncivilized. For centuries man has been trying to improve himself spiritually and emotionally—admittedly with little success. But at least we no longer tolerate the sight of madmen being cooped up in cages, or public floggings of any of the countless other barbaric practices which were common in the past. Prisons are no longer the grim forbidding places they used to be. Social welfare systems are in operation in many parts of the world. Big efforts are being made to distribute wealth fairly. These changes have come about not because human beings have suddenly and unaccountably improved, but because positive steps were taken to change the law. The law is the biggest instrument of social change that we have and it may exert great civilizing influence. If we banned dangerous and violent sports, we would be moving one step further to improving mankind. We would recognize that violence is degrading and unworthy of human beings.
41. It can be inferred from the passage that the author’s opinion of nowadays’ human beings is .
A. not very high B. high
C. contemptuous D. critical
42. The main idea of this passage is .
A. that vicious and dangerous sports should be banned by law
B. that people are willing to pay vast sums money to see violence
C. to compare two different attitudes towards dangerous sports
D. people are bloodthirsty in sports
43. The author mentions the old Romans .
A. to compare the old Romans with today’s people
B. to give an example
C. to show human beings in the past knew nothing better
D. to indicate human beings used to be bloodthirsty