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12 Which of the following statements is true?
Mount Krakatoa erupted in 1883, creating a hole in the center of the island.
The biggest volcanic eruption of modern times took place in the United States.
The eruption of Mount St. Helens caused a huge tsunami, destroying many coastal villages.
The major damage caused by the eruption of Mount St. Helens was the death of animals and plants.
13 According to the passage, which of the following effects is NOT mentioned as a consequence of a volcanic
eruption?
Fracture of the earth plate Turbulence in the air
Extreme lack of food Destructive tidal waves
請依下文回答第 14 題至第 16 題
Mark Twain called the times in which he lived, and particularly the late 1800s, the Gilded Age. Twain wanted to
point out that despite its outward showiness, American society was inwardly corrupt. But wealthy industrialists at that
time certainly did not see themselves in this way, and a philosophical movement called social Darwinism helped them
believe that the accumulation of riches by a few was the “natural order.” Social Darwinism, the theory developed by
Herbert Spencer, was in part an application of Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theories to human societies. Spencer
argued that some members of society, those who were “naturally” superior, were meant to climb to the top and should
not be impeded. In addition, Spencer warned that those who were at the bottom, by their very natures, were unfit to
survive, and therefore charity was meaningless. Not surprisingly, many industrialists used his ideas to oppose social
reforms and government intervention. Like his contemporaries, Andrew Carnegie was a firm supporter of social
Darwinism. However, he did not agree with all of Spencer’s ideas, as he felt poverty could build character. Indeed, he
must have felt it had done so for him. And, though abhorring what he called idle charities, he believed in helping those
who would help themselves. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Carnegie did, in the end, share his wealth by granting
millions of dollars to libraries and centers for peace and education worldwide.
14 According to Twain, what does the term “Gilded Age” describe?
A very wealthy age A seemingly shining but corrupted age
A gold rush age A glorious and prosperous age
15 According to the passage, who welcomed social Darwinism the most?
The author himself Mark Twain, the famous writer
The rich industrialists The poor workers
16 According to the passage, which of the following statements is true about Carnegie?
He was poor when he was young.
He believed poverty could destroy a person’s personality.
He did not care about education.
He believed charity was meaningless.
請依下文回答第 17 題至第 21 題
Imagine that you are at a dinner party, seated with many people at a large table. In the course of conversation, the
person sitting across from you laughingly remarks, “Of course, I’m illiterate…!” What would you say? Would you
laugh along with him or her and confess that you never really learned to read either? Would you expect other people at
the table to do so? Now imagine the same scene, only this time the guest across from you says, “Of course, I’ve never
been any good at math…!” What happens this time? Naturally, you can expect other people at the table to chime in
cheerfully with their own claims to have “never been good at math”—the implicit message being that no ordinary
person ever is.
The fact is that mathematics has a tarnished reputation in many English-speaking societies. It is commonly
accepted that math is difficult, obscure, and of interest only to “certain people.” People who are talented at math or
profess enjoyment of it are often treated as though they are not quite normal. Alarmingly, many school teachers
communicate this attitude to their students directly or indirectly, so that young people are invariably exposed to an
anti-math bias at an impressionable age. It comes thus as a surprise to many people to learn that this attitude is not
shared by other societies. In Russian or German culture, for example, mathematics is viewed as an essential part of
literacy, and an educated person would be chagrined to confess ignorance of basic mathematics.