Part A

Directions:

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)

Text 1

Come on –Everybody’s doing it. That whispered message, half invitation and half forcing, is what most of us think of when we hear the words peer pressure. It usually leads to no good-drinking, drugs and casual sex. But in her new book Join the Club, Tina Rosenberg contends that peer pressure can also be a positive force through what she calls the social cure, in which organizations and officials use the power of group dynamics to help individuals improve their lives and possibly the word.

Rosenberg, the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, offers a host of example of the social cure in action: In South Carolina, a state-sponsored antismoking program called Rage Against the Haze sets out to make cigarettes uncool. In South Africa, an HIV-prevention initiative known as LoveLife recruits young people to promote safe sex among their peers.

The idea seems promising，and Rosenberg is a perceptive observer. Her critique of the lameness of many pubic-health campaigns is spot-on: they fail to mobilize peer pressure for healthy habits, and they demonstrate a seriously flawed understanding of psychology.” Dare to be different, please don’t smoke!” pleads one billboard campaign aimed at reducing smoking among teenagers-teenagers, who desire nothing more than fitting in. Rosenberg argues convincingly that public-health advocates ought to take a page from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer pressure.

But on the general effectiveness of the social cure, Rosenberg is less persuasive. Join the Club is filled with too much irrelevant detail and not enough exploration of the social and biological factors that make peer pressure so powerful. The most glaring flaw of the social cure as it’s presented here is that it doesn’t work very well for very long. Rage Against the Haze failed once state funding was cut. Evidence that the LoveLife program produces lasting changes is limited and mixed.

There’s no doubt that our peer groups exert enormous influence on our behavior. An emerging body of research shows that positive health habits-as well as negative ones-spread through networks of friends via social communication. This is a subtle form of peer pressure: we unconsciously imitate the behavior we see every day.

Far less certain, however, is how successfully experts and bureaucrats can select our peer groups and steer their activities in virtuous directions. It’s like the teacher who breaks up the troublemakers in the back row by pairing them with better-behaved classmates. The tactic never really works. And that’s the problem with a social cure engineered from the outside: in the real world, as in school, we insist on choosing our own friends.

文章出处：

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2061234,00.html

herd mentality

21. According to the first paragraph, peer pressure often emerges as

根据第一段，同龄人的压力通常以什么样的状态出现：

[A] a supplement to the social cure

对于社会治疗的补充

[B] a stimulus to group dynamics

对于团队活力的刺激

[C] an obstacle to school progress

学校进步的阻碍

[D] a cause of undesirable behaviors

一些不良行为的原因

解析：这是一个细节题：对应文中It usually leads to no good-drinking, drugs and casual sex.题干中的often对应原文中的usually;选项中undesirable behaviors对应no good-drinking, drugs and casual sex. lead对于cause.完美替换，四级难度，出题人很仁慈。

22. Rosenberg holds that public advocates should

罗森博格认为公共支持者应该：

[A] recruit professional advertisers

招募职业的广告人

[B] learn from advertisers’ experience

从广告人那里学习经验

[C] stay away from commercial advertisers

远离商业广告人

[D] recognize the limitations of advertisements

认识到广告的局限性

解析：本题为细节题，根据题干定位到：三段最后一句：Rosenberg argues convincingly that public-health advocates ought to take a page from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer pressure. 这样的句子的理解难点是一个短语：take a page from向谁学习，如果不懂，可以看后面的so skilled at applying，也能熟练的运用，一个“也”道出天机，小词有大乾坤啊!

23. In the author’s view, Rosenberg’s book fails to

作者认为Rosenberg未能：

[A] adequately probe social and biological factors

足够的探究社会和生物因素

[B] effectively evade the flaws of the social cure

有效地逃避社会治疗的缺点

[C] illustrate the functions of state funding

例证出国家基金的功能

[D]produce a long-lasting social effect

产生长期的社会影响

解析：细节题问观点;对应句子But on the general effectiveness of the social cure, Rosenberg is less persuasive. 指出不足;后面一句中的主语Join the Club 为此人所写，所以后面的表述就是他的观点： not enough exploration of the social and biological factors that make peer pressure so powerful.：完美替换exploration对probe;

24. Paragraph 5shows that our imitation of behaviors

第五段表明对于行为的模仿：

[A] is harmful to our networks of friends

对于朋友的网络是有害的

[B] will mislead behavioral studies

会误导对于行为的研究

[C] occurs without our realizing it

在没有意识到的时候就出现了

[D] can produce negative health habits

会产生不良的健康习惯

解析：细节题 ;对应句子This is a subtle form of peer pressure: we unconsciously imitate the behavior we see every day.对 unconsciously完美替换。

25. The author suggests in the last paragraph that the effect of peer pressure is

作者在最后一段中认为同龄人压力的效果是：

[A] harmful

[B] desirable

[C] profound

[D] questionable

解析：局部态度题 对应Far less certain, however, is…The tactic never really works…表明作者对于这个事物的看法是不确定的所以选最后一个