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Test Seven
1
Any social structure, particularly that of Victorian England, is so much a matter of sentiment and prejudice that the descriptions given by contemporary novelists may be as worth studying from one point of view as statistics are from another. Novels begin by reflecting the structure, and end by confirming or modifying it. Our own ideas of our dissolving and reforming society are affected by novels and films, which help to set or change the tone as well as capture it. Victorian novelists worked within a more established social framework; they had less scope for evaluating social importance differently and their accounts, however slanted, tally more closely with each other than those of modern novelists are likely to do a century from now. Some of the Victorian novelists were more at home with certain segments of society than with others, and their personal reactions to the system differed; but the social world in which their creatures moved is real, solid and essentially one. The classic age of English society—as it seems in retrospect—was also the classic age of English fiction. Except for a few uncharted areas, the novelists knew where they stood (whether or not they liked it) and so did their readers.
The half century from roughly 1830 to 1880 excludes the later Victorian novelists with their more private, or at least more highly contrasting, pictures of society. It also allows some unity of theme. During these decades the aristocracy and landed gentry, although less powerful than they had been, were still predominant in government and the countryside. Their social prestige, which had substantially survived the changes of the thirties and forties, was to weaken under agricultural depression, electoral and military reform, the opening of the Civil Service to competitive examination, and the growing power of finance on the one hand and organized labour on the other. But this decline did not really set in until the closing years of the century.
1.Modern novelists give a less exact picture of their society than Victorian novelists do because ____.
A.they wish to reform society
B.their society is less stable
C.they are affected by films
D.they change their tone too often
2.An essential characteristic of the classic age of fiction was that ____.
A.there was only one realistic character in each novel
B.the novelist and the reader reacted differently to the system
C.the novelist was content with his position in society
D.the novelist depicted the whole of society
3.The novels of the late nineteenth century differed from midcentury novels in that they ____.
A.presented a wider section of society
B.observed the classical unities
C.isolated novelists in society
D.were more subjective
4.In the later years of the century ____.
A.the aristocracy weakened agriculture
B.changes were made in the voting system
C.organization of labour caused economic decline
D.the aristocracy advocated military reform
5.It was in the latter half of the nineteenth century that the Civil Service ____.
A.began its administrative work
B.was closely examined
C.was open only to people with money
D.offered more opportunities for jobs
2
Scholars and students have always been great travelers. The official case for “academic mobility” is now often stated in impressive terms as a fundamental necessity for economic and social progress in the world, and debated in the corridors of Europe, but it is certainly nothing new. Serious students were always ready to go abroad in search of the most stimulating teachers and the most famous academies; in search of the purest philosophy, the most effective medicine, the likeliest road to gold.
Mobility of this kind meant also mobility of ideas, their transference across frontiers, their simultaneous impact upon many groups of people. The point of learning is to share it, whether with students or with colleagues; one presumes that only eccentrics have no interest in being credited with a starling discovery, or
a new technique. It must also have been reassuring to know that other people in other parts of the world were about to make the same discovery or were thinking along the same lines, and that one was not quite alone, confronted by inquisition, ridicule or neglect.
In the twentieth century, and particularly in the last 20 years, the old footpaths of the wandering scholars have become vast highways. The vehicle which has made this possible has of course been the aeroplane, making contact between scholars even in the most distant places immediately feasible, and providing for the very rapid transmission of knowledge.
Apart from the vehicle itself, it is fairly easy to identify the main factors which have brought about the recent explosion in academic movement. Some of these are purely quantitative and require no further mention: there are far more centres of learning, and a far greater number of scholars and students.
In addition one must recognize the very considerable multiplication of disciplines, particularly in the sciences, which by widening the total area of advanced studies has produced an enormous number of specialists whose particular interests are precisely defined. These people would work in some isolation if they were not able to keep in touch with similar isolated groups in other countries.
Frequently these specialisations lie in areas where very rapid developments are taking place, and also where the research needed for developments is extremely costly and takes a long time. It is precisely in these areas that the advantages of collaboration and sharing of expertise appear most evident. Associated with this is the growth of specialist periodicals, which enable scholars to become aware of what is happening in different centres of research and to meet each other in conferences and symposia. From these meetings come the personal relationships which are at the bottom of almost all formalised schemes of cooperation, and provide them with their most satisfactory stimulus.
But as the specialisations have increased in number and narrowed in range, there has been an opposite movement towards interdisciplinary studies. These owe much to the belief that one cannot properly investigate the incredibly complex problems thrown up by the modern world, and by recent advances in our knowledge along the narrow front of a single discipline. This trend has led to a great deal of academic contact between disciplines, and a far greater emphasis on the pooling of specialist knowledge, reflected in the broad subjects chosen in many international conferences.
6. What, in the writer’s opinion, happens to a scholar who shares his ideas with his colleagues?
A. He gains recognition for his achievement.
B. He attracts large numbers of students.
C. He risks his ideas being stolen.
D. He is considered slightly mad.
7. According to the passage, the recent growth in air travel has meant that ____.
A. more students from remote areas can attend university
B. universities can be built in remote place
C. scholars can meet each other more easily
D. textbooks have wide circulation
8. The writer claims that it is important for specialists to be able to travel because ____.
A. their fellow experts are scattered round the world
B. their laboratories are in remote places
C. there are so many people working in similar fields
D. there is a lot of social unrest at universities
9. Developments in international cooperation are often, it is suggested, the result of ____.
A. articles in learned journals
B. friendships formed by scholars at meetings
C. programmes initiated by governments
D. the work of international agencies
10.In the writer’s opinion, interdisciplinary studies are important because they ____.
A. make scholars aware of problems outside their own field
B. encourage scholars to concentrate on their own specializations
C. allow scholars to change disciplines more easily
D. allow overworked scholars to relax
3
In 1176, under the guidance of the Rector of St. Mary Colechurch, the building was begun of what is now called Old London Bridge. The Bridge was one of the great sights of the world during its six centuries of life and deserved its fame. For about 550 years it was the only bridge across the Thames in the London area. It had more the character of a street than a bridge, for the carriageway was flanked on both sides by about 100 shops and private houses, and it also carried a goodsized chapel and a strong drawbridge tower. The Bridge as first built was about 900 feet in length and consisted of 19 pointed arches of stone and one bay of timber where the drawbridge was arranged to allow for the passage of ships. The arches had a narrow span and, in fact, the width of the supporting piers was considerably greater than the waterways between them. In addition there were screens of timber and stone round the piers, intended to protect them; these so narrowed the waterways that the Bridge formed a semibarrage across the river through which ebb tides rushed with great violence. A manhigh difference in water level on either side of the Bridge was a frequent occurrence, and these rapids were a great danger to boats attempting to pass through. This, together with the vast weight it had to carry, imposed so severe a strain on the Bridge that there were constant alarms about its safety. Frequent repairs had to be made, and as early as 1281 frost and snow caused five arches to fall. It appears that shops and houses on the Bridge were not encroachments but were intended from the first to provide revenue. The Bridge was finished in 1209, after great difficulty in financing its completion.
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