英语四级题目

Part I

Writing

(30 minutes)

Directions:

For this part, you are allowed

30

minutes to write a composition on the topic

;

How to Keep

Psychologically Healthy. You should write at least

120

words according to the outline given

below in Chinese.

1.

心理健康问题往往是导致疾病的原因

2.

分析人们产生心理健康问题的原因

(

可从失业

,

压力过重

,

缺少支持

,

缺乏人际关系 等方面加以分析

)

3.

你认为人们如何保持心理健康

Part 11 Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)

Like

time,

space

is

perceived

differently

in

different

cultures.

Spatial

consciousness

in

many

Western

cultures is based on a perception of objects in space, rather than of space itself. Westerners perceive shapes and

dimensions, in which space is a realm of light, color, sight, and touch. Benjamin L. Whorf, in his classic work

Language, Thought and Reality, offers the following explanation as one reason why Westerners perceive space in

this manner. Western thought and language mainly developed from the Roman, Latin-speaking, culture, which

was

a

practical,

experience-based

system.

Western

culture

has

generally

followed

Roman

thought

patterns

in

viewing

objective

as

the

foundation

for

subjective

or

experience.

It

was

only

when

the

intellectually crude Roman culture became influenced by the abstract thinking of the Greek culture that the Latin

language developed a significant vocabulary of abstract, non spatial terms. But the early Roman-Latin element of

spatial

consciousness,

of

concreteness,

has

been

maintained

in

Western

thought

and

language

patterns,

even

though the Greek capacity for abstract thinking and expression was also inherited.

However, some cultural- linguistic systems developed in the opposite direction, that is, from an abstract and

subjective vocabulary to a more concrete one. For example, Whorf tells us that in the Hopi language the word

heart, a concrete term, can be shown to be a late formation from the abstract terms. think or remember. Similarly,

although it seems to Westerners, and especially to Americans, that objective, tangible

subjective or inner experience, in fact, many Asian and other non- European cultures view inner experience as the

basis for one's perceptions of physical reality. Thus although Americans are taught to perceive and react to the

arrangement

of

objects

in

space

and

to

think

of

space

as

being

unless

it

is

filled

with

objects,

the

Japanese are trained to give meaning to space itself and to value

It

is

not

only

the

East

and

the

West

that

are

different

in

their

patterning

of

space.

We

can

also

see

cross-cultural varieties in spatial perception when we look at arrangements of urban space in different Western

cultures.

For

instance,

in

the

United

States,

cities

are

usually

laid

out

along

a

grid,

with

the

axes

generally

north/south and east/west. Streets and buildings are numbered sequentially. This arrangement, of course, makes

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perfect sense to Americans. When Americans walk in a city like Paris, which is laid out with the main streets

radiating from centers, they often get lost. Furthermore, streets in Paris are named, not numbered, and the names

often change after a few blocks. It is amazing to Americans how anyone gets around, yet Parisians seem to do

well. Edward Hall, in The Silent Language, suggests that the layout of space characteristic of French cities is only

one aspect

of the theme of centralization that characterizes French

culture.

Thus Paris is

the center of

France.

French

government

and

educational

systems

are

highly

centralized

and

in

French

offices

the

most

important

person has his. or her desk in the middle of the office.

Another aspect of the cultural patterning of space concerns the functions of spaces. In middleclass America

specific spaces are designated for specific activities. Any intrusion of one activity into a

space that

it was

not

designed for is immediately felt as inappropriate. In contrast, in Japan, this case is not true: Walls are movable

and rooms are used for one purpose during the day and another purpose in the evening and at night. In India there

is yet another culturally patterned use of space. The function of space in India, both in public and in private places,

is

connected

with

concepts

of

superiority

and

inferiority.

In

Indian

cities,

villages,

and

even

within

the

home,

certain spaces are designated as polluted, or inferior, because of the activities that take place there and the kinds

of people who use such spaces. Spaces in India are segregated so that high caste and low caste, males and females,

secular and sacred activities are kept apart. This pattern has been used for thousands of years, as demonstrated by

the

archaeological

evidence

uncovered

in

ancient

Indian

cities.

It

is

a

remarkably

persistent

pattern,

even

in

modern India, where public transportation reserves a separate

space for women. For example, Chandigarh is a

modern Indian city designed by a French architect. The apartments were built according to European concepts,

but the Indians living there found certain aspects inconsistent with their previous use of living space. Ruth Freed,

an anthropologist who worked in India, found that Indian families living in Chandigarh modified their apartments

by using curtains to separate the men’s and women's spaces. The families also continued to eat in the kitchen, a

traditional

pattern,

and

the

living

room-dining

room

was

only

used

when

Western

guests

were

present.

Traditional

Indian

village

living

takes

place

in

an

area

surrounded

by

a

wall.

The

courtyard

gives

privacy:

to

each-residence group. Chandigarh apartments, however, were built with large windows, reflecting the European

value of light and sun, so many Chandigarh families pasted paper over the windows to recreate the privacy of the

traditional

courtyard.

Freed

suggests

that

these

traditional

Indian

patterns

may

represent

an

adaptation

to

a

densely populated environment.

Anthropologists studying various cultures as a whole have seen a connection in the way they view both time

and space. For example, as

we

have seen, Americans look on time without activity as

objects as

contrast. In the English language, any noun for a

location or a space may he used on its own and given its own characteristics without any reference being made to

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another location or space. For example, we can say in English:

States has cold winters.

space or location. But in Hopi?

locations or regions of space cannot function by themselves in a sentence. The

Hopi cannot say

directional suffix with the word north. In the same way, the Hopi language does not have a single word that can

be translated as room. The Hopi word for room is a stem, a portion of a word, that means

the stem

cannot

be used alone.

It

must be joined

to

a suffix that will make the word

mean

meaningful only in relation to other spaces.

In some cultures a significant aspect of spatial perception is shown by the amount of

need between them-selves and others to feel comfortable and not crowded. North Americans, for instance, seem

to require about four feet of space between themselves and people near them to feel comfortable. On the other

hand, people from Arab countries and Latin America feel comfortable when they are close to each other. People

from

different

cultures,

therefore,

may

unconsciously

infringe

on

each

other’s

sense

of

space.

Thus

just

as

different perceptions of time may create cultural conflicts, so too may different perceptions of space.

1. The passage is mainly about

?

A. cross-cultural spatial perceptions.

B. perception of objects in space,

C. cross-cultural communication

D. cultural conflicts

2. which kind of cultures generally more value inner personal experience?

A. Africa

B. Asia

C. Europe

D. America

3. Which country is an example of a highly centralized society?

A. French

B. China

C. Japan

D. America

4. Japan is the culture which uses the same space for

?

A. the same purpose

B. the fixed purpose

C. specific purpose

D. different purposes

5. In India, public and private space is separated except for

?

A. males and females.

B. high caste and low caste

C. the elderly and the youth

D. secular and sacred activities

6. The Hopi language locates places only when

?

A. connecting with other spaces

B. functioned by themselves

C. using the word stems

D. no using the directional suffix

7. Which cultures have similar perceptions of personal space except

?.

A. Canada

B. Iraq

C. Mexico

D. Cuba

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