英语四级六级阅读模拟试题

英语四级六级阅读模拟试题

英语四级六级阅读模拟试题

DURINGthesecondworldwaranewtermofabuseenteredthe

Englishlanguage.Tocallsomeone“alittleHitler“meanthe

wasamenialfunctionarywhoemployedwhatpowerhehadinorder

toannoyandfrustrateothersforhisowngratification.From

nightclubbouncerstothesquaddiesatAbuGhraibprisonwho

tormentedtheirprisonersforfun,littleHitlersplaguethe

world.Thephenomenonhasnot,though,hithertobeensubject

toscientificinvestigation.

NathanaelFastoftheUniversityofSouthernCaliforniahas

changedthat.Heobservedthatlotsofpsychological

experimentshavebeendoneontheeffectsofstatusandlots

ontheeffectsofpower.Butfew,ifany,havebeendoneonboth

combined.HeandhiscolleaguesNirHalevyofStanford

UniversityandAdamGalinskyofNorthwesternUniversity,in

Chicago,setouttocorrectthis.Inparticulartheywantedto

seeifitiscircumstancesthatcreatelittleHitlersor,rather,

whetherpeopleofthattypesimplygravitateintojobswhich

allowthemtobehavebadly.Theirresultshavejustbeen

publishedintheJournalofExperimentalSocialPsychology.

DrFast'sexperimentrandomlyassignedeachof213

participantstooneoffoursituationsthatmanipulatedtheir

statusandpower.Allparticipantswereinformedthattheywere

takingpartinastudyonvirtualorganisationsandwouldbe

interactingwith,butnotmeeting,afellowstudentwhoworked

千里之行，始于足下。

inthesamefictionalconsultingfirm.Participantswerethen

assignedeithertheroleof“ideaproducer”,ajobthat

entailedgeneratingandworkingwithimportantideas,orof

“worker”,ajobthatinvolvedmenialtaskslikecheckingfor

typos.Apost-experimentquestionnairedemonstratedthat

participantsdid,asmightbeexpected,lookupontheroleof

ideaproducerwithrespectandadmiration.Equally

unsurprisingly,theylookeddownontheroleofworker.

Tomanipulatetheirpower,participantsweretoldthere

wouldbeadrawfora$50bonusprizeattheendofthestudy

andthat,regardlessoftheirrole,eachparticipantwouldbe

abletodictatewhichactivitieshispartnermustengageinto

qualifytoenterthedraw.ParticipantsthatDrFastwantedto

imbuewithasenseofpowerwereinformedthatoneotherelement

oftheirroleinvolveddictatingwhich“hoops“theirpartners

wouldhavetojumpthroughinordertoqualifyforthedraw,

andthattheycontrolledtheamountofeffortthepartnerhad

toexertinordertowinthe$50.Theywerealsotoldthatthe

partnerdidnothaveanysuchcontroloverthem.Incontrast,

low-powerparticipantswereinformedthatwhiletheyhadthe

abilitytodeterminethehoopstheirpartnerhadtojumpthrough,

thatpartnerultimatelyhadmorecontrolbecausehecould

removethelow-powerparticipant'snamefromtheraffleifhe

didnotlikethehoopsselected.

Participantswerethenpresentedwithalistoftenhoops

andtoldtoselectasmanyastheyliked(butaminimumofone)

fortheirpartnertojumpthrough.Unknowntotheparticipants,

DrHalevyandDrGalinskyhadconductedanindependenttest,

using58peoplenotinvolvedinthemainstudy,toratehow

第2页/共5页

demeaning,humiliating,degrading,embarrassingand

uncomfortableeachofthetenpossibleactivitiesactuallywas.

Fiveofthetenwereratedasdeeplydemeaning.Theseincluded

thingslike:"say'Iamfilthy'fivetimes“andubarklike

adogthreetimes”.Theotherfivewerenotconsidered

particularlydemeaning.Theyincluded:"telltheexperimenter

afunnyjoke"and"clapyourhands50times”.

Participantswhohadbothstatusandpowerdidnotgreatly

demeantheirpartners.Theychoseanaverageof0.67demeaning

activitiesforthosepartnerstoperform.Low-power/low-status

andlow-power/high-statusparticipantsbehavedsimilarly.

Theychose,onaverage,0.67and0.85demeaningactivities.

However,participantswhowerelowinstatusbuthighin

power一theclassic“littleHitler“combination一chosean

averageof1.12deeplydemeaningtasksfortheirpartnersto

engagein.Thatwasahighlystatisticallysignificant

distinction.

Ofcourse,noteverybodyinthehigh-power/low-status

quadrantoftheexperimentbehavedbadly.Underlying

personalitymaystillhavearole.Butaswithprevious

experimentsinwhichrandommembersofthepublichavebeen

askedtoplayprisonguardorinterrogator,DrFast'sresult

suggeststhatmanyquiteordinarypeoplewillsuccumbtobad

behaviourifthecircumstancesareright.

functionaryadj.公务员的；官员的

gratificationn.喜悦；满足

千里之行，始于足下。

plaguen.瘟疫；灾祸；麻烦；厌烦的人v.熬煎；使苦恼；使

得灾祸

hithertoadv.迄今；至今

gravitatev.受引力作用；被吸引

manipulatev.操纵；操作；奇妙地处理；篡改

interactwith与...相互作用

entailv.必需，使担当；限定继承

imbuewith