Passage 6

Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.

During the latter part of the 19th century, two kinds of entertainment developed in America to meet the needs of the new urban dwellers—the ballpark and vaudeville. Both kinds of entertainment helped to fill the growing amount of leisure time that workers enjoyed. Both later were transformed into mass-mediated (大众媒体化的)activities.

The first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, was founded in 1869, and soon there were teams in all the major Eastern and Mid-western cities. The ballpark brought together crowds of strangers who could experience a sense of community within the big city as they watched a baseball game. Immigrants were able to shake loose their ethnic ties and become absorbed in the new national game, which was becoming representative of the “American spirit.” The green fields and fresh air of the ballpark were a welcome change from the sea of bricks, stone and eventually concrete that dominated the city scene.

Workers could temporarily escape the routine and dullness of their daily lives by indirectly participating in the competition and accomplishment that baseball games symbolized. Baseball reflected the competitiveness of the workplace and the capitalist ethic, as players were bought and sold and were regarded as property. The ballpark also provided a means for spectators to release their frustrations against authority figures.

The tendency to move down in sociaTclass is less obvious, for a claim to an aristocratic birth, especially in Europe, has always carried a certain distinction, and (63)people have made tremendous efforts to obtain for their children the kind of opportunities they had for themselves.(64)In the twentieth century the increased taxation of higher incomes, the growth of the social service development of educational opportunity have considerably altered the social outlook.(65)The upper classes no longer are the sole, or even the main possessors of wealth, power and education,though inherited social positions still carries considerable prestige.

(66)Many people today are hostile towards class distinctions and privileges and hope to achieve a classless society.The trouble is that as one inequality is removed, another tends to take its place, and (67)the best that has so far been attempted is a society in which distinctions are elastic and in which every member has fair opportunities for making the best of his abilities.

(From Social Classes)

What will a student be able to do after taking the course of critical thinking?

(dead) The old woman was very sad about the_________of her only son.

What are the strong and weak points of beasts compared with humans?

moon month be reason decide example

each trade develop god call planet

There was a time in the early history of man when the days had no names! The (51) __________was quite simple: Man had invented the week.

In those days, the only division of times was the (52)___________, and there were too many days in the month for each of them to have a separate name. But when men began to build cities, they wanted to have a special day on which to (53)__________, a market day.

Sometimes these market days were fixed at evei^ tenth day, some every seventh or every fifth day. The Babylonians (54)___________that it should be every seventh day. On this day they didn't work, but met for trade or religious festivals.

The Jews followed their (55)_____, but kept every seventh day for religious purposes. On this day the week came into existence. It was space between market days. The Jews gave (56)___________of the seven days a name, but h was really a number after the Sabbath day (which was Saturday). For example, Wednesday was (57)_____________the fourth

day (four days after Saturday).

When the Egyptians adopted the seven-day week, they named the days after five (58)__________, the sun and the moon. The Romans used the Egyptian names for their days of the week: the day of the sun, of the moon, of the planet Mars, of Mercury, of Jupiter, of Venus, and of Saturn.

We get our names for the days not from the Romans but from the Anglo-Saxons, who called most of the days after their own (59)________, which were roughly the same as the gods of the Romans. The day of the sun became Sannandaeg, or Sunday. The day of the (60)_______was called Monandaeg, or Monday. The day of Mars became the day of the Tiw,who was their god of war. This became Tiwesdaeg, or Tuesday. Instead of Mercury’s name, that of the god Woden was given to Wednesday. The Roman day of Jupiter, the thunder, became the day of the thunder god Thor, and this became Thursday. The next day was named for Frigg, the wife of their god Odin, and so we have Friday. The day of Saturn became Saetemdaeg, a translation from the Roman, and then Saturday.

(From How Did the Days of the Week Get Their Names?)

(understand) Don’t    me—I’m not criticizing your decision.

(office) The report has not yet revealed________corruption in relation to road building.

(hand) John invited twelve people to his birthday party, but only a____of them came.

(easy) For him, learning French is________than learning Russian.

(frank) I'm concerned about your lack of marketing experience and,_________,you’re pretty new at all this.