2007考研英语强化班授课讲义(九)

文章作者 100test 发表时间 2007:05:07 16:32:23
来源 100Test.Com百考试题网

I. Reading Comprehension:

Text 1

In contrast to traditional analyses of minority business, the sociological analysis contends that minority business ownership is a group-level phenomenon in that it is largely dependent upon social-group resources for its development. Specifically, this analysis indicates that support networks play a critical role in starting and maintaining minority business enterprises by providing owners with a range of assistance from the informal encouragement of family members and friends to dependable sources of workers and clients from the owner’s ethnic group. Such self-help networks, which encourage and support ethnic minority entrepreneurs, consist of “primary” institutions, those closest to the individual in shaping his or her behavior and beliefs. They are characterized by the face-to-face association and cooperation of persons united by ties of mutual concern. They form an intermediate social level between the individual and larger “secondary” institutions based on impersonal relationships. Primary institutions comprising the support network include relatives, friends, and neighborhood or community subgroups.

A major function of self-help networks is financial support. Most scholars agree that minority business owners have depended primarily on family funds and ethnic community resources for investment capital. Personal savings have been accumulated, often through frugal living habits that require sacrifices by the entire family and are thus a product of long-term family financial behavior. Additional loans and gifts from relatives, forthcoming because of group obligation rather than narrow investment calculation, have supplemented personal savings. Individual entrepreneurs do not necessarily rely on their relatives because they cannot obtain financial backing from commercial resources. They may actually avoid banks because they assume the commercial institutions either cannot comprehend the special needs of minority enterprise or charge unreasonably high interest rates.

Within the larger ethnic community, rotating credit associations have been used to raise capital. These associations are informal clubs of friends and other trusted members of the ethnic group who make regular contributions to a fund that is given to each contributor in rotation. One author estimates that 40 percent of New York Chinatown firms established during 1900-1950 utilized such associations as their initial source of capital. However, recent immigrants and third or fourth generations of older groups now employ rotating credit associations only occasionally to raise investment funds. Some groups, like black Americans, found other means of financial support for their entrepreneurial efforts. The first Black-operated banks were created in the late nineteenth century as depositaries for dues collected from friendly groups, which themselves had sprung from Black churches. Black banks made limited investments in other Black enterprises. Irish immigrants in American cities organized many building and loan associations to provide capital for home construction and purchase. They, in turn, provided work for many Irish home-building contractor firms. Other ethnic and minority groups followed similar practices in founding ethnic-directed financial institutions. (459 words)

Notes: ethnic 民族的。entrepreneurs企业家。frugal勤俭的。in rotation轮流地。entrepreneurial企业的。depositary储存处。due n. 会费。spring from从…派生。contractor firms承包公司。rotating credit associations轮流信贷协会。

1. Which of the following illustrates the working of a self-help support network as described in the text?

A. The local government in a city sets up a program that helps teen-agers find jobs.
B. A commercial bank offers low-interest loans to those who hope to establish businesses.
C. A neighborhood-based organization develops a program of job training for its members and their friends.
D. A public high school offers courses in book-keeping and accounting as part of its open adult education program.

2. The logical organization of the second paragraph is that _________.

A. an argument is stated, followed by a counter argument
B. an assertion is made and several examples are provided to illustrate it
C. a situation is described and its historical background is then outlined
D. an example of a phenomenon is given and then is used as a basis for conclusions

3. It can be learned from the text that ________.

A. self-help networks have been effective in helping entrepreneurs primarily in the last 50 years
B. minority groups have developed a range of alternatives to standard financing of business ventures
C. a minority entrepreneur who had no assistance from family members would not be able to start a business
D. the financial institutions founded by various ethnic groups owe their success to their unique formal organization

4. It can be learned from the last paragraph of the text that rotating credit associations _________.

A. were developed exclusively by Chinese immigrants in New York
B. were frequently joint endeavors by members of two or three different ethnic groups
C. had to be relied on by the Chinese because they could not borrow money from commercial banks
D. provided a big portion of the investment capital for Chinese immigrants in New York in the early 20th century

5. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that the Irish building and loan associations _________.

A. originated as offshoots of church-related groups B. were started by third-or fourth-generation immigrants
C. helped employ many Irish construction workers D. enabled Irish entrepreneurs to finance manufacturing

Text 2

In 1997 the prestigious Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, Korea, announced the opening of the first women’s studies program in Asia. Few academic programs have ever received such public attention. In broadcast debates, critics dismissed the program as a betrayal of national identity, an imitation of Western ideas, and a distraction from the real task of national unification and economic development. Even supporters underestimated the program. they thought it would be merely another of the many Western ideas that had already proved useful in Asian culture, similar to airlines, electricity, and the assembly line. The founders of the program, however, realized that neither view was correct. They had some reservations about the applicability of Western feminist theories to the role of women in Asia and felt that such theories should be closely examined. Their approach has thus far yielded important critiques of Western theory, informed by the special experience of Asian women.

For instance, like the Western feminist critique of the Freudian model of the human psyche, the Korean critique finds Freudian theory culture-bound, but in ways different from those cited by Western theorists. The Korean theorists claim that Freudian theory assumes the universality of the Western nuclear, male-headed family and focuses on the personality formation of the individual, independent of society. An analysis based on such assumptions could be valid for a highly competitive, individualistic society. In the Freudian family drama, family members are assumed to be engaged in a Darwinian struggle against each other －father against son and mother against daughter. Such a concept projects the competitive model of Western society onto human personalities. But in the Asian concept of personality there is no ideal attached to individualism or to the independent self. The Western model of personality development does not explain major characteristics of the Korean personality, which is social and group-centered. The “self” is a social being defined by and acting in a group, and the well-being of both men and women is determined by the equilibrium of the group, not by individual self-assertion. The ideal is one of interdependency.

In such a context, what is recognized as “dependency” in Western psychiatric terms is not, in Korean terms, an admission of weakness or failure. All this bears directly on the Asian perception of men’s and women’s psychology because men are also “dependent”. In Korean culture, men cry and otherwise easily show their emotions, something that might be considered a betrayal of masculinity in Western culture. In the kinship-based society of Korea, four generations may live in the same house, which means that people can be sons and daughters all their lives, whereas in Western culture, the roles of husband and son, wife and daughter, are often incompatible. (451 words)

Notes: prestigious 有声望的。national identity 民族性。feminist 女权主义的。thus far 至今。 be informed by 被…贯穿。culture-bound 受文化限制的。psyche 心灵。project … onto 把…投射到…上，使…反映在…上。social being 社会存在。well-being 幸福。equilibrium 平衡。bear on 影响…。masculinity 男子气。kinship-based 亲属为基础的。

1. Some of the supporters of the Ewha women’s studies program __________.

A. assumed that the program would be based on the uncritical adoption of Western theories
B. failed to show concern for the issues of national unification and economic development
C. were unfamiliar with Western feminist theories and their important roles in social life
D. were not themselves scholars in the field of women’s studies and had no idea about them

2. According to paragraph 2, the Western feminist critique of Freudian theory __________.

A. fails to address the issue of competitiveness in Western society
B. recognizes the influence of Western culture on Freudian theory
C. acknowledges the universality of the nuclear, male-headed family
D. challenges Freudian analysis of the women’s role in Western society

3. It can be inferred from the second paragraph that the Ewha women’s studies group holds that __________.

A. personality development occurs in identifiable stages from childhood to adulthood
B. any theory of personality development, in order to be valid, must be universal
C. personality development is influenced by the characteristics of the society a person lives in
D. personality development is hindered if a person is not permitted to be independent

4. By referring to “dependency” in the last paragraph, the author intends to show .

A. the betrayal of masculinity in Western culture
B. the characteristics of kinship-based Korean culture
C. the compatible attitude of parents towards their children
D. the distinction between the Western culture and the Korean culture

5. Which of the following best summarizes the content of the text?

A. A critique of a particular women’s studies program.
B. A brief history of Korean women’s studies program.
C. An assessment of a particular women’s studies program.
D. A report of work in social theory done by a particular women’s studies program.