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The social sciences are less


The social sciences are less likely than other intellectual enterprises to get credit for (get credit for: 因...而得到好评) their accomplishments. Arguably, this is so because the theories and conceptual constructs of the social sciences are especially accessible: human intelligence apprehends truths about human affairs with particular facility (with facility: 容易). And the discoveries of the social sciences, once isolated and labeled, are quickly absorbed into conventional wisdom, whereupon (whereupon: adv.于是, 因此) they lose their distinctiveness as scientific advances.

This underappreciation of the social sciences contrasts oddly with what many see as their overutilization. Game theory is pressed into service (press into service: v.暂时征用) in studies of shifting international alliances. Evaluation research is called upon to demonstrate successes or failures of social programs. Models from economics and demography become the definitive tools for examining the financial base of social security. Yet this rush into practical applications is itself quite understandable: public policy must continually be made, and policymakers rightly feel that even tentative findings and untested theories are better guides to decision-making than no findings and no theories at all.

17. The author is primarily concerned with

(A) advocating a more modest view, and less widespread utilization, of the social sciences

(B) analyzing the mechanisms for translating discoveries into applications in the social sciences

(C) dissolving the air of paradox inherent in human beings studying themselves

(D) explaining a peculiar dilemma that the social sciences are in(D)

(E) maintaining a strict separation between pure and applied social science

18. Which of the following is a social science discipline that the author mentions as being possibly overutilized?

(A) Conventional theories of social change

(B) Game theory

(C) Decision-making theory

(D) Economic theories of international alliances(B)

(E) Systems analysis

19. It can be inferred from the passage that, when speaking of the “overutilization” (line 11) of the social sciences, the author is referring to the

(A) premature practical application of social science advances

(B) habitual reliance on the social sciences even where common sense would serve equally well

(C) practice of bringing a greater variety of social science disciplines to bear on a problem than the nature of the problem warrants

(D) use of social science constructs by people who do not fully understand them(A)

(E) tendency on the part of social scientists to recast everyday truths in social science jargon

20. The author confronts the claim that the social sciences are being overutilized with

(A) proof that overextensions of social science results are self-correcting

(B) evidence that some public policy is made without any recourse to social science findings or theories

(C) a long list of social science applications that are perfectly appropriate and extremely fruitful

(D) the argument that overutilization is by and large the exception rather than the rule(E)

(E) the observation that this practice represents the lesser of two evils under existing circumstances



  1. In a recent study, David Cressy


In a recent study, David Cressy examines two central questions concerning English immigration to New England in the 1630’s: what kinds of people immigrated and why? Using contemporary literary evidence, shipping lists, and customs records, Cressy finds that most adult immigrants were skilled in farming or crafts, were literate, and were organized in families. Each of these characteristics sharply distinguishes the 21,000 people who left for New England in the 1630’s from most of the approximately 377,000 English people who had immigrating to America by 1700.

With respect to their reasons for immigrating, Cressy does not deny the frequently noted fact that some of the immigrants of the 1630’s, most notably the organizers and clergy, advanced religious explanations for departure, but he finds that such explanations usually assumed primacy only in retrospect (in retrospect: 回顾, 回顾往事;检讨过去). When he moves beyond the principal actors, he finds that religious explanations were less frequently offered and he concludes that most people immigrated because they were recruited by promises of material improvement.

24. In the passage, the author is primarily concerned with

(A) summarizing the findings of an investigation

(B) analyzing a method of argument

(C) evaluating a point of view

(D) hypothesizing about a set of circumstances(A)

(E) establishing categories

25. According to the passage, Cressy would agree with which of the following statements about the organizers among the English immigrants to New England in the 1630’s?

I. Most of them were clergy.

II. Some of them offered a religious explanation for their immigration.

III. They did not offer any reasons for their immigration until some time after they had immigrated.

IV. They were more likely than the average immigrant to be motivated by material considerations.

(A) I only

(B) II only

(C) II and III only

(D) I, III, and IV only(B)

(E) II, III, and IV only

26. According to the passage, Cressy has made which of the following claims about what motivated English immigrants to go to New England in the 1630’s?

(A) They were motivated by religious considerations alone.

(B) They were motivated by economic considerations alone.

(C) They were motivated by religious and economic considerations equally.

(D) They were motivated more often by economic than by religious considerations.(D)

(E) They were motivated more often by religious than by economic considerations.

27. The passage suggests that the majority of those English people who had immigrated to America by the late seventeenth century were

(A) clergy

(B) young children

(C) organized in families

(D) skilled in crafts(E)

(E) illiterate



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