接下来的几天给大家整理了历届gre考试阅读真题及解析，下面这篇是1992年4月gre考试阅读真题SECTION B部分。复习gre考试阅读的时候，gre考生应该以往年的真题为复习材料，从真题中总结阅读规律和特点才是制胜法宝。

　　Recently some scientists have concluded that meteorites found on Earth and long believed to have a Martian origin might actually have been blasted free of Mars’s gravity by the impact on Mars of other meteorites. This conclusion has led to another question: whether meteorite impacts on Earth have similarly driven rocks from this planet to Mars.

　　According to astronomer S. A. Phinney, kicking a rock hard enough to free it from Earth’s gravity would require a meteorite capable of making a crater more than 60 miles across. Moreover, even if Earth rocks were freed by meteorite impact, Mars’s orbit is much larger than Earth’s, so Phinney estimates that the probability of these rocks hitting Mars is about one-tenth as great as that of Mars’s rocks hitting Earth. To demonstrate this estimate, Phinney used a computer to calculate where 1,000 hypothetical particles would go if ejected from Earth in random directions. He found that 17 of the 1,000 particles would hit Mars.

　　17. The passage is primarily concerned with

　　(A) presenting an argument to support a particular hypothesis

　　(B) suggesting an answer to a theoretical question

　　(C) questioning the assumptions of a research project

　　(D) criticizing experimental results

　　(E) explaining the origin of certain scientific data

　　18. According to the passage, which of the following events may have initiated the process that led to the presence on Earth of meteorites from Mars?

　　(A) A meteorite struck the Earth with tremendous velocity.

　　(B) A meteorite collided with Mars.

　　(C) Approximately 1,000 rocks were ejected from Mars.

　　(D) The orbits of Earth and Mars brought the planets to their closest points.

　　(E) Rocks from a meteorite impact broke free of Earth’s gravity.

　　19. The passage suggests that which of the following is true concerning the probability that a rock, if ejected from Mars, will hit the Earth?

　　(A) The probability is increased when particles are ejected from Mars in random directions.

　　(B) The probability is increased by the presence of large craters on the surface of Mars.

　　(C) The probability is decreased when Mars’s orbit brings the planet close to Earth.

　　(D) The probability is greater than the probability that a rock from Earth will hit Mars.

　　(E) The probability is less than the probability that a rock from Earth will escape Earth’s gravity.

　　20. Which of the following, if true, would cast most doubt on Phinney’s estimate of the probability of Earth rocks hitting Mars?

　　(A) Rather than going in random directions, about 25 percent of all particles ejected from Earth go in the same direction into space.

　　(B) Approximately 100 meteorites large enough to make a noticeable crater hit the Earth each year.

　　(C) No rocks of Earth origin have been detected on Mars.

　　(D) The velocity of rocks escaping from Earth’s gravity is lower than the velocity of meteorites hitting the Earth.

　　(E) No craters more than 60 miles across have been found on Mars.

　　A “scientistic” view of language was dominant among philosophers and linguists who affected to develop a scientific analysis of human thought and behavior in the early part of this century. Under the force of this view, it was perhaps inevitable that the art of rhetoric should pass from the status of being regarded as of questionable worth (because although it might be both a source of pleasure and a means to urge people to right action, it might also be a means to distort truth and a source of misguided action) to the status of being wholly condemned. If people are regarded only as machines guided by logic, as they were by these “scientistic” thinkers, rhetoric is likely to be held in low regard; for the most obvious truth about rhetoric is that it speaks to the whole person. It presents its arguments first to the person as a rational being, because persuasive discourse, if honestly conceived, always has a basis in reasoning. Logical argument is the plot, as it were (as it were: n.宛如, 好像as it were: as if it were so: in a manner of speaking), of any speech or essay that is respectfully intended to persuade people. Yet it is a characterizing feature of rhetoric that it goes beyond this and appeals to the parts of our nature that are involved in feeling, desiring, acting, and suffering. It recalls relevant instances of the emotional reactions of people to circumstances—real or fictional—that are similar to our own circumstances. Such is the purpose of both historical accounts and fables in persuasive discourse: they indicate literally or symbolically how people may react emotionally, with hope or fear, to particular circumstances. A speech attempting to persuade people can achieve little unless it takes into account the aspect of their being related to such hopes and fears.

　　Rhetoric, then, is addressed to human beings living at particular times and in particular places. From the point of view of rhetoric, we are not merely logical thinking machines, creatures abstracted from time and space. The study of rhetoric should therore be considered the most humanistic of the humanities, since rhetoric is not directed only to our rational selves. It takes into account what the “scientistic” view leaves out (leave out: v.省去, 遗漏, 不考虑). If it is a weakness to harbor feelings, then rhetoric may be thought of as dealing in weakness. But those who reject the idea of rhetoric because they believe it deals in lies and who at the same time hope to move people to action, must either be liars themselves or be very naive; pure logic has never been a motivating force unless it has been subordinated to human purposes, feelings, and desires, and thereby ceased to be pure logic.

　　21. According to the passage, to reject rhetoric and still hope to persuade people is

　　(A) an aim of most speakers and writers

　　(B) an indication either of dishonesty or of credulity

　　(C) a way of displaying distrust of the audience’s motives

　　(D) a characteristic of most humanistic discourse

　　(E) a way of avoiding excessively abstract reasoning

　　22. It can be inferred from the passage that in the late nineteenth century rhetoric was regarded as

　　(A) the only necessary element of persuasive discourse

　　(B) a dubious art in at least two ways

　　(C) an outmoded and tedious amplification of logic

　　(D) an open offense to the rational mind

　　(E) the most important of the humanistic studies

　　23. The passage suggests that the disparagement of rhetoric by some people can be traced to their

　　(A) reaction against science

　　(B) lack of training in logic

　　(C) desire to persuade people as completely as possible

　　(D) misunderstanding of the use of the term “scientistic”

　　(E) view of human motivation

　　24. The passage suggests that a speech that attempts to persuade people to act is likely to fail if it does NOT

　　(A) distort the truth a little to make it more acceptable to the audience

　　(B) appeal to the self-interest as well as the humanitarianism of the audience

　　(C) address listeners’ emotions as well as their intellects

　　(D) concede the logic of other points of view

　　(E) show how an immediately desirable action is consistent with timeless principles

　　25. The passage suggests that to consider people as “thinking machines” (line 37) is to consider them as

　　(A) beings separated from a historical context

　　(B) replaceable parts of a larger social machine

　　(C) more complex than other animals

　　(D) liars rather than honest people

　　(E) infallible in their reasoning

　　26. Which of the following persuasive devices is NOT used in the passage?

　　(A) A sample of an actual speech delivered by an orator

　　(B) The contrast of different points of view

　　(C) The repetition of key ideas and expressions

　　(D) An analogy that seeks to explain logical argument

　　(E) Evaluative or judgmental words

　　27. Which of the following best states the author’s main point about logical argument?

　　(A) It is a sterile, abstract discipline, of little use in real life.

　　(B) It is an essential element of persuasive discourse, but only one such element.

　　(C) It is an important means of persuading people to act against their desires.

　　(D) It is the lowest order of discourse because it is the least imaginative.

　　(E) It is essential to persuasive discourse because it deals with universal truths.

答案：17-27：BBDABBECAAB

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