93年4月gre考试阅读真题解析(A).

　　接下来的几天给大家整理了历届gre考试阅读真题及解析，下面这篇是1993年4月gre考试阅读真题SECTION A部分。复习gre考试阅读的时候，gre考生应该以往年的真题为复习材料，从真题中总结阅读规律和特点才是制胜法宝。

　　Although, recent years have seen substantial reductions in noxious pollutants from individual motor vehicles, the number of such vehicles has been steadily increasing consequently, more than 100 cities in the United States still have levels of carbon monoxide, particulate matter (particulate matter: 颗粒物质), and ozone (generated by photochemical reactions with hydrocarbons (hydrocarbon：n.烃, 碳氢化合物) from vehicle exhaust) that exceed legally established limits. There is a growing realization that the only fective way to achieve further reductions in vehicle emissions—short of (short of: adv.缺乏,只要没有) a massive shift away from (away from: 远离) the private automobile—is to replace conventional diesel fuel and gasoline with cleaner-burning fuels such as compressed natural gas, liquied petroleum gas (liquied petroleum gas: n.液化石油气a compressed gas that consists of flammable hydrocarbons (as propane and butane) and is used especially as fuel or as raw material for chemical synthesis), ethanol, or methanol.

　　All of these alternatives are carbon-based fuels whose molecules are smaller and simpler than those of gasoline. These molecules burn more cleanly than gasoline, in part because they have fewer, if and, carbon-carbon bonds, and the hydrocarbons they do emit are less likely to generate ozone. The combustion of larger molecules, which have multiple carbon-carbon bonds, involves a more complex series of reactions. These reactions increase the probability of incomplete combustion and are more likely to release uncombusted and photochemically active hydrocarbon compounds into the atmosphere. On the other hand, alternative fuels do have drawbacks. Compressed natural gas would require that vehicles have a set of heavy fuel tanks—a serious liability in terms of performance and fuel ficiency—and liquied petroleum gas faces fundamental limits on supply.

　　Ethanol and methanol, on the other hand, have important advantages over other carbon-based alternative fuels: they have a higher energy content (energy content: 能含量; 内能) per volume and would require minimal changes in the existing network for distributing motor fuel. Ethanol is commonly used as a gasoline supplement, but it is currently about twice as expensive as methanol, the low cost of which is one of its attractive features. Methanol’s most attractive feature, however, is that it can reduce by about 90 percent the vehicle emissions that form ozone, the most serious urban air pollutant.

　　Like any alternative fuel, methanol has its critics. Yet much of the criticism is based on the use of “gasoline clone” vehicles that do not incorporate even the simplest design improvements that are made possible with the use of methanol. It is true, for example, that a given volume of methanol provides only about one-half of the energy that gasoline and diesel fuel do; other things being equal, the fuel tank would have to be somewhat larger and heavier. However, since methanol-fueled vehicles could be designed to be much more ficient than “gasoline clone” vehicles fueled with methanol, they would need comparatively less fuel. Vehicles incorporating only the simplest of the engine improvements that methanol makes feasible would still contribute to an immediate lessening of urban air pollution.

　　17. The author of the passage is primarily concerned with(文章的逻辑结构非常明显，是指出一个问题，然后讨论了多种方案，最后指向METHANOL。其实是排除了其它的方案，或者其它方案均为陪衬。这是选D的原因。C显然不对，因为文章不但讨论的各种方案的STRENGTH，更讨论了各种方案的WEAKNESS。)

　　(A) countering a flawed argument that dismisses a possible solution to a problem

　　(B) reconciling contradictory points of view about the nature of a problem

　　(C) identifying the strengths of possible solutions to a problem

　　(D) discussing a problem and arguing in favor of one solution to it

　　(E) outlining a plan of action to solve a problem and discussing the obstacles blocking that plan

　　18. According to the passage, incomplete combustion is more likely to occur with gasoline than with an alternative fuel because

　　(A) the combustion of gasoline releases photochemically active hydrocarbons

　　(B) the combustion of gasoline involves an intricate series of reactions

　　(C) gasoline molecules have a simple molecular structure

　　(D) gasoline is composed of small molecules.

　　(E) gasoline is a carbon-based fuel

　　19. The passage suggests which of the following about air pollution?

　　(A) Further attempts to reduce emissions from gasoline-fueled vehicles will not help lower urban air-pollution levels.

　　(B) Attempts to reduce the pollutants that an individual gasoline-fueled vehicle emits have been largely unsuccessful.

　　(C) Few serious attempts have been made to reduce the amount of pollutants emitted by gasoline-fueled vehicles.

　　(D) Pollutants emitted by gasoline-fueled vehicles are not the most critical source of urban air pollution.

　　(E) Reductions in pollutants emitted by individual vehicles have been offset by increases in pollution from sources other than gasoline-fueled vehicles.

　　20. which of the following most closely parallels the situation described in the first sentence of the passage?

　　(A) Although a town reduces its public services in order to avoid a tax increase, the town’s tax rate exceeds that of other towns in the surrounding area.

　　(B) Although a state passes strict laws to limit the type of toxic material that can be disposed of in public landfills, illegal dumping continues to increase.

　　(C) Although a town’s citizens reduce their individual use of water, the town’s water supplies continue to dwindle because of a steady increase in the total population of the town.

　　(D) Although a country attempts to increase the sale of domestic goods by adding a tax to the price of imported goods, the sale of imported goods within the country continues to increase.

　　(E) Although a country reduces the speed limit on its national highways, the number of fatalities caused by automobile accidents continues to increase.

　　21. The author describes which of the following as the most appealing feature of methanol?

　　(A) It is substantially less expensive than ethanol.

　　(B) It could be provided to consumers through the existing motor fuel distribution system.

　　(C) It has a higher energy content than other alternative fuels.

　　(D) Its use would make design improvements in individual vehicles feasible.

　　(E) Its use would substantially reduce ozone levels.

　　22. It can be inferred from the passage that a vehicle specifically designed to use methanol for fuel would

　　(A) be somewhat lighter in total body weight than a conventional vehicle fueled with gasoline

　　(B) be more expensive to operate than a conventional vehicle fueled with gasoline

　　(C) have a larger and more powerful engine than a conventional vehicle fueled with gasoline

　　(D) have a larger and heavier fuel tank than a “gasoline clone” vehicle fueled with methanol

　　(E) average more miles per gallon than a “gasoline clone” vehicle fueled with methanol

　　23. It can be inferred that the author of the passage most likely regards the criticism of methanol in the last paragraph as

　　(A) flawed because of the assumptions on which it is based

　　(B) inapplicable because of an inconsistency in the critics’ arguments

　　(C) misguided because of its exclusively technological focus

　　(D) inaccurate because it ignores consumers’ concerns

　　(E) invalid because it rlects the personal bias of the critics

　　Paule Marshall’s Brown Girl, Brownstones (1959) was a landmark in the depiction of female characters in Black American literature. Marshall avoided the oppressed and tragic heroine in conflict with White society that had been typical of the protest novels of the early twentieth century. Like her immediate predecessors, Zora Neale Hurston and Gwendolyn Brooks, she focused her novel on an ordinary Black woman’s search for identity within the context of a Black community. But Marshall extended the analysis of Black female characters begun by Hurston and Brooks by depicting her heroine’s development in terms of the relationship between her Barbadian American parents, and by exploring how male and female roles were dined by their immigrant culture, which in turn was influenced by the materialism of White America. By placing characters within a wider cultural context, Marshall attacked racial and sexual stereotypes and paved the way for explorations of race, class, and gender in the novels of the 1970’s.

　　24. The passage is primarily concerned with

　　(A) comparing the works of three Black American authors

　　(B) describing common themes in Black American literature

　　(C) discussing an important work in Black American literature

　　(D) providing insights about Black American literature in the early twentieth century

　　(E) providing historical information about the writing of Black American novels in the second half the twentieth century

　　25. According to the passage, Hurston, Brooks, and Marshall are alike in that they

　　(A) did not examine the fects of White culture on their characters’ lives

　　(B) were heavily influenced by the protest novels of the early twentieth century

　　(C) used Black communities as the settings for their novels

　　(D) wrote primarily about the difficulties their characters encountered in White culture

　　(E) wrote exclusively about female characters and the experiences of women

　　26. The author’s description of the way in which Marshall depicts her heroine’s development is most probably intended to

　　(A) continue the discussion of similarities in the works of Brooks, Hurston, and Marshall

　　(B) describe the specific racial and sexual stereotypes that Marshall attacked

　　(C) contrast the characters in Marshall’s novels with those in later works

　　(D) show how Marshall extends the portrayal of character initiated by her predecessors

　　(E) compare themes in Marshall’s early work with themes in her later novels

　　27. It can be inferred that the author of the passage would describe Brown Girl, Brownstones as being

　　(A) completely different from novels written bore 1959

　　(B) highly influenced by novels written in the early twentieth century

　　(C) similar to the protest novels that preceded it

　　(D) important in the late 1950’s but dated today

　　(E) an important influence on novels written in the 1970’s

答案：17-27：DBACEEACCDE