2000年Passage 5

If ambition is to be well regarded, the rewards of ambition health, distinction, control over one's destiny must be deemed worthy of the sacrifices made on ambition's behalf. If the tradition of ambition is to have vitality, it must be widely shared; and it especially must be highly regarded by people who are themselves admired, the educated not least among them. In an odd way, However, it is the educated who have claimed to have give up on have give up on ambition as an ideal. What is odd is that they have perhaps most benefited from ambition-if not always their own the that of their parents and grandparents. There is heavy note of hypocrisy in this, a case of closing the barn door after the horses have escaped with the educated themselves riding on them.

Certainly people do not seem less interested in success and its signs now than formerly. Summer homes, European travel, BMWs. The locations, place names and name brands may change, but such items do not seem less in demand today than a decade or two years ago. What has happened is that people cannot confess fully to their dreams, as easily and openly as once they could, lest they be thought pushing, acquisitive and vulgar. Instead, we are treated to fine hypocritical spectacles, which now more than ever seem in ample supply: the critic of American materialism with a Southampton summer home; the publisher of radical books who takes his meals in three-star restaurants; the journalist advocating participatory democracy in all phases of life, whose own children are enrolled in private schools. For such people and many more perhaps not so exceptional, the proper formulation is," Succeed at all costs but avoid appearing ambitious."

The attacks on ambition are many and come from various angles; its public defenders are few and unimpressive, where they are not extremely unattractive. As a result, the support for ambition as a healthy impulse, a quality to be admired and fixed in the mind of the young, is probably lower than it has ever been in the United States. This does not mean that ambition is at an end, that people no longer feel its stirrings and promptings, but only that, no longer openly honored, it is less openly underground, or made sly. Such, then, is the way things stand: on the left angry critics, on the right stupid supporters, and in the middle, as usual, the majority of earnest people trying to get on in life.

68. The last sentence of the first paragraph most probably implies that it is____.
[A] customary of the educated to discard ambition in words
[B] too late to check ambition once it has been let out
[C] dishonest to deny ambition after the fulfillment of the goal
[D] impractical for the educated to enjoy benefits from ambition

[答案] C

[解題思路]

第一段的最后一句為"There is heavy note of hypocrisy in this, a case of closing the barn door after the horses have escaped with the educated themselves riding on them"（這其中有著濃厚的虛偽色彩，恰如馬跑后再關上馬廄的門那樣，而受過良好教育的人自己正騎在那些馬背上）。仔細分析這句話可以發現，文中的horse代表了文章討論的ambition，而是否騎在馬上還是關在馬廄分別代表了是否擁有雄心壯志。但享受了ambition帶來的好處卻說自己沒有ambition的人是虛偽的即hypocrisy，這也正是選項C的意思。Dishonest是對hypocrisy的解釋。

[題目譯文]

第一段的最后一句話最有可能暗示了                。
[A] 受過教育的人習慣把他們的抱負放在心里不說出來
[B] 抱負一旦說出來就很難控制
[C] 達到目的后否認自己有抱負是不誠實的表現
[D] 受過教育的人享受抱負帶來的好處是不現實的

70. From the last paragraph the conclusion can be drawn that ambition should be maintained____.
[A] secretly and vigorously
[B] openly and enthusiastically
[C] easily and momentarily
[D] verbally and spiritually

[答案] B

[解題思路]

文章最后一段第三句話指出"This does not mean that ambition is at an end, that people no longer feel its stirrings and promptings, but only that, no longer openly honored, it is less openly underground, or made sly"（但這并不意味著雄心已經窮途末路，人們不再感覺到受到雄心的激勵了，只是人們不再公開地以它為榮，更不愿公開地坦白了。當然這樣就帶來了很多不良后果，其中的一些后果就是雄心被趕入地下，或暗藏于胸），而且作者認為從始至終都批評了有抱負卻不愿公開承認自己有抱負的那些人，這說明作者是主張人們應該去追求自己的抱負。A選項中的secretly顯然與原文意思相反，C和D選項則與文章無關。而B選項則正確地表達了作者的態度，是正確答案。本題需要充分抓住作者的態度和文章的基調。

[題目譯文]

從最后一段的結論中可以推斷，在堅持自己的抱負時應該               。
[A] 秘密行事且精力充沛
[B] 公開且充滿熱情
[C] 輕松且時時想到
[D] 表現在語言上和精神上