Statuses are marvelous human inventions that enable us to get along with one another and to determine where we "fit" in society. As we go about our everyday lives, we mentally attempt to place people in terms of their statuses. For example, we must judge whether the person in the library is a reader or a librarian, whether the telephone caller is a friend or a salesman, whether the unfamiliar person on our property is a thier or a meter reader, and so on.
The statuses we assume often vary with the people we encounter, and change throughout life. Most of us can, at very high speed, assume the statuses that various situations require. Much of social interaction consists of identifying and selecting among appropriate statuses and allowing other people to assume their statuses in relation to us. This means that we fit our actions to those of other people based on a constant mental process of appraisal and interpretation. Although some of us find the task more difficult than others, most of us perform it rather effortlessly.
A status has been compared to ready-made clothes. Within certain limits, the buyer can choose style and fabric. But an American is not free to choose the costume (服裝) of a Chinese peasant or that of a Hindu prince. We must choose from among the clothing presented by our society. Furthermore, our choice is limited to a size that will fit, as well as by our pocketbook (錢包). Having made a choice within these limits we can have certain alterations made, but apart from minor adjustments, we tend to be limited to what the stores have on their racks. Statuses too come ready made, and the range of choice among them is limited.
這是一篇說明文，講的是人們的Status(身份、地位)這一問題。
51. In the first paragraph, the writer tells us that statuses can help us _______.
A) determine whether a person is fit for a certain job
B) behave appropriately in relation to other people
C) protect ourselves in unfamiliar situations
D) make friends with other people
[答案及分析]：[B]事實辨認題。問在第一段作者告訴我們?nèi)说纳矸輰ξ覀冇邢铝心姆N幫助。第一段第一句說得很明白：“身份有助于我們和別人相處，決定我們在社會中所處的地位、扮演的角色”，[B]項意為“正確地與人交往”，正是上述意思。
52. According to the writer, people often assume different statuses ______.
A) in order to identify themselves with others
B) in order to better identify others
C) as their mental processes change
D) as the situation changes
[答案及分析]：[D]事實辨認題。問作者認為，在什么情況下人們經(jīng)常具有不同的身份。[A]項意為“為了將自己預(yù)其他人區(qū)別開”，[B]項為“為了更好地識別他人”，[C]項為“當心理發(fā)生變化時”，[D]項意為“隨著環(huán)境的變化”。[A]、[B]、[C]三項都不合文章原意，并且根據(jù)第二段第一、二句話可知[D]項正確。
53. The word "appraisal" (Line5, Para.2) most probably means "_______".
A) involvement B) appreciation C) assessment D) presentation
[答案及分析]：[C]詞義理解題。問第二段第六行中的appraisal一詞的意思是什么。根據(jù)該詞所在的句子，可知該詞含義和mental process(思想過程)有關(guān)，并且可能與和其并列的詞interpretation(解釋，說明，理解)有一定相似之處。involvement意為“陷入，卷入;牽涉，包含”，assessment意為“估計，評估;所估計之數(shù)額”，appreciation表示“感謝，感激;欣賞，評價，賞識”，presentation意為“贈送;提出;引見，介紹;出席，呈現(xiàn);演出”。比較起來，[B]項符合上述兩點，而且意思上說得通。appraisal的準確意思是“估計，估價，評價”，在此句中“評價”講。
54. In the last sentence of the second paragraph, the pronoun "it" refers to "______".
A) fitting our actions to those of other people appropriately
B) identification of other people's statuses
C) selecting one's own statuses D) constant mental process
[答案及分析]：[A]事實辨認題。問第二段最后一句中“it”指代什么。根據(jù)句意及其結(jié)構(gòu)可知：it指代the task，即前一句“we fit out actions to those of people based on a constant mental process of appraisal and interpretation”，不難看出[A]項正確。
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