六級閱讀訓(xùn)練05

　　Not too many decades ago it seemed "obvious" both to the general public and to sociologists that modern society has changed people's natural relations, loosened their responsibilities to kin (親戚) and neighbors, and substituted in their place superficial relationships with passing acquaintances. However, in recent years a growing body of research has revealed that the "obvious" is not true. It seems that if you are a city resident. you typically know a smaller proportion of your neighbors than you do if you are a resident of a smaller community. But, for the most part, this fact has few significant consequences. It does not necessarily follow that if you know few of your neighbors you will know no one else.

　　Even in very large cities, people maintain close social ties within small, private social worlds. Indeed, the number and quality of meaningful relationships do not differ between more and less urban people. Small-town residents are more involved with kin than are big-city residents. Yet city dwellers compensate by developing friendships with people who share similar interests and activities. Urbanism may produce a different style of life, but the quality of life does not differ between town and city. Nor are residents of large communities any likelier to display psychological symptoms of stress or alienation. a feeling of not belonging, than are residents of smaller communities. However. city dwellers do worry more about crime, and this leads them to a distrust of strangers.

　　These findings do not imply that urbanism makes little or no difference. If neighbors are strangers to one another. they are less likely to sweep the sidewalk of an elderly couple living next door or keep an eye out for young trouble makers. Moreover. as Wirth suggested. there may be a link between a community's population size and its social he.heterogeneity (多樣性). For instance, sociologists have found much evidence that the size of a community is associated with bad behavior including gambling, drugs. etc. Large-city urbanites are also more likely than their small-town counterparts to have a cosmopolitan(見多識廣者的) outlook. to display less responsibility to traditional kinship roles, to vote for leftist political candidates, and to be tolerant of nontraditional religious groups, unpopular political groups, and so-called undesirables. Everything considered, heterogeneity and unusual behavior seem to be outcomes of large population size.

　　【參考譯文】

　　[1]/[2]就在幾十年前，對于普通大眾和社會學(xué)家而言，現(xiàn)代社會“明顯地”改變了人們的自然關(guān)系，使他們的親情、鄰里觀念變得淡薄，取而代之的是彼此之間萍水相逢的表面關(guān)系。然而，最近幾年，越來越多的研究表明，那些“明顯”的事情并不是真實。真實似乎是，如果你居住在城市里，那么你認(rèn)識的鄰居就必定會比你住在小社區(qū)里認(rèn)識的少。但是，這個事實在多數(shù)情形下沒有什么意義。如果你認(rèn)識的鄰居少，也不一定就意味著你不認(rèn)識別的人。

　　即使在是都市，人們?nèi)员３衷谛》秶摹⑺饺说纳缃蝗ψ永锩芮型鶃?。事實上，在城市化多些或少些的居民之間，有意義的人際關(guān)系的數(shù)目和質(zhì)量都沒有什么區(qū)別。小鎮(zhèn)居民比大城市居民更愿意同親戚走動。但是城里人通過結(jié)交志趣相投的朋友彌補(bǔ)了這個缺憾。城市化可能會產(chǎn)生不同的生活方式，但是城鎮(zhèn)之間的生活質(zhì)量并無差別。大城市居民也不見得就比小社區(qū)居民更容易呈現(xiàn)出緊張或陌生感，即沒有歸屬感等心理癥狀。但是，城市居民確實對犯罪行為更為擔(dān)心，這使他們不信任陌生人。

　　這些發(fā)現(xiàn)并不是說城市化沒有造成影響或造成的影響很小。[3]如果鄰里之間互不相識，他們就不大會清掃隔壁老夫婦門前的過道，也不會幫忙照看一下小搗蛋。此外，正像沃斯說的那樣，社區(qū)的人口規(guī)模同其成員的社交多樣性大有關(guān)系。比如，社會學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)，有很多證據(jù)表明社區(qū)的大小同賭博、吸毒等惡習(xí)的多寡有關(guān)。相對于小鎮(zhèn)居民，[4]大城市的居民比小城鎮(zhèn)的居民見多識廣，對傳統(tǒng)的親情角色承擔(dān)更小的責(zé)任，更有可能投票選舉左翼政黨候選人，對非傳統(tǒng)的宗教團(tuán)體、不得人心的政團(tuán)組織或所謂的討人嫌者更能容忍。通盤考慮，多樣性和不同尋常的舉止是巨大的人口規(guī)模造成的。

　　【測試題】

　　1. Which of the following statements best describes the organization of the first paragraph?

　　A) Two contrasting views are presented.

　　B) An argument is examined and possible solutions given.

　　C) Research results concerning the quality of urban life are presented in order of time.

　　D) A detailed description of the difference between urban arid small-town life is given.

　　2. According co the passage, it was once a common belief chai urban residents____________.

　　A) did not have the same interests as their neighbors

　　B) could not develop long-standing relationships

　　C) tended to be associated with bad behavior

　　D) usually had more friends

　　3. One of the consequences of urban life is that impersonal relationships among neighbors______.

　　A) disrupt people's natural relations

　　B) make them worry about crime

　　C) cause them not to show concern for one another

　　D) cause them !o be suspicious of each other

　　4. I can be inferred from the passage that che bigger a community is_____________.

　　A) the better its quality of life

　　B) the more similar its interests

　　C) the more tolerant it is

　　D) the likelier it is to display psychological symptoms of stress

　　5. What is che passage mainly about?

　　A) Similarities in the interpersonal relationships between urbanites and small town dwellers.

　　B) Advantages of living in big cities as compared with living in small towns.

　　C) The positive role that urbanism plays in modern life.

　　D) The strong feeling of' alienation of city inhabitants.

　　【選項翻譯與答案】

　　1. 以下哪種說法最適合形容第一段的結(jié)構(gòu)?

　　A) 展示了兩種相反的觀點。

　　B) 檢視了一種論點，給出了可能的解決方法。

　　C)關(guān)于城市生活質(zhì)量的研究結(jié)果以時間的順序展示出來。

　　D) 對于城市和小鎮(zhèn)生活的不同作出了詳細(xì)的描述。

　　[A]在文章第1段作者通過However提出了兩種完全不同的觀點，“就在幾十年前，對一須在眾和社會學(xué)家而言，現(xiàn)代社會‘明顯地’改變了人們的自然關(guān)系”和“然而，最近幾年，越來越多的研究表明，那些‘明顯’的事情并不真實”。因此，應(yīng)該先A。

　　2. 文章中顯示，曾經(jīng)人們普遍相信城市居民______________。

　　A) 與鄰居沒有共同的興趣 B) 無法發(fā)展出長期的關(guān)系

　　C) 總是和不良行為掛上鈞 D) 通常會有更多朋友

　　[B]根據(jù)文章第1段“就在幾十年前，對于普通大眾和社會學(xué)家而言，現(xiàn)代社會‘明顯地’改變了人們的自然關(guān)系，使他們的親情、鄰里觀念變得淡薄，取而代之的是彼此之間萍水相逢的表面關(guān)系”，由此可推斷，B與文章的內(nèi)容相符，故而正確。

　　3. 城市生活的后果之一就是鄰居間的人際關(guān)系________________。

　　A) 破壞了人們的自然關(guān)系 B)讓他們擔(dān)心犯罪

　　C)讓他們不去展現(xiàn)對彼此的關(guān)心 D)讓他們彼此懷疑

　　[C]根據(jù)文章第3段“如果鄰里之間互不相識，他們就不大會清掃隔壁老夫婦門前的過道，也不會幫忙照看一下小搗蛋”，故C正確。B是原因，不是結(jié)果。

　　4. 從文章中可以推斷，社區(qū)越大，________________。

　　A) 生活質(zhì)量就越高 B)興趣就越相似

　　C) 就更具包容性 D)就更可能展現(xiàn)出精神壓力的癥狀

　　5. 本文主旨是什么?

　　A)城市居民和小城鎮(zhèn)居民的人際關(guān)系的相似之處。

　　B)居住在大城市相對于居住在小城鎮(zhèn)的優(yōu)勢。

　　C)城市化在現(xiàn)代生活中的正面作用。

　　D)城市居民的強(qiáng)烈疏遠(yuǎn)感。

　　[A]在文章第1段，作者提出了兩種不同的觀點，隨后一直在論述第二個觀點，作者通過對比大城市和小城鎮(zhèn)居民的相似性來支持他自己的觀點。因此，A與文章的內(nèi)容想一致。