SAT阅读话题分类——社会研究

The passage is taken from 'The Rule of the Road', an essay written by a twentieth century essayist.

　　A stout old lady was walking with her basket down the middle of a
　　street in Petrograd to the great confusion of the traffic and with no
　　small peril to herself. It was pointed out to her that the
　　pavement was the place for pedestrians, but she replied: 'I'm going
　　5 to walk where I like. We've got liberty now.' It did not occur
　　to the dear old lady that if liberty entitled the pedestrian to
　　walk down the middle of the road, then the end of such liberty
　　would be universal chaos. Everybody would be getting in
　　everybody else's way and nobody would get anywhere.

　　10 Individual liberty would have become social anarchy.
　　There is a danger of the world getting liberty-drunk in
　　these days like the old lady with the basket, and it is just as well
　　to remind ourselves of what the rule of the road means. It means
　　that in order that the liberties of all may be preserved, the
　　15 liberties of everybody must be curtailed. When the policeman,
　　say, at Piccadilly Circus steps into the middle of the road and
　　puts out his hand, he is the symbol not of tyranny, but of liberty.
　　You may not think so. You may, being in a hurry, and seeing
　　your car pulled up by this insolence of office, feel that your
　　20 liberty has been outraged. How dare this fellow interfere with
　　your free use of the public highway? Then, if you are a
　　reasonable person, you will reflect that if he did not interfere with
　　you, he would interfere with no one, and the result would be that
　　Piccadilly Circus would be a maelstrom that you would never
　　25 cross at all. You have submitted to a curtailment of private liberty
　　in order that you may enjoy a social order which makes your
　　liberty a reality.

　　Liberty is not a personal affair only, but a social
　　contract. It is an accommodation of interests. In matters which do
　　30 not touch anybody else's liberty, of course, I may be as free as I
　　like. If I choose to go down the road in a dressing-gown who
　　shall say me nay? You have liberty to laugh at me, but I have
　　liberty to be indifferent to you. And if I have a fancy for dyeing
　　my hair, or waxing my moustache (which heaven forbid), or
　　35 wearing an overcoat and sandals, or going to bed late or getting
　　up early, I shall follow my fancy and ask no man's permission. I
　　shall not inquire of you whether I may eat mustard with my
　　mutton. And you will not ask me whether you may follow this
　　religion or that, whether you may prefer Ella Wheeler Wilcox to
　　40 Wordsworth, or champagne to shandy.

　　In all these and a thousand other details you and I please
　　ourselves and ask no one's leave. We have a whole kingdom in
　　which we rule alone, can do what we choose, be wise or
　　ridiculous, harsh or easy, conventional or odd. But directly we
　　45 step out of that kingdom, our personal liberty of action becomes
　　qualified by other people's liberty. I might like to practice on the
　　trombone from midnight till three in the morning. If I went on to
　　the top of Everest to do it, I could please myself, but if I do it in
　　my bedroom my family will object, and if I do it out in the streets
　　50 the neighbors will remind me that my liberty to blow the
　　trombone must not interfere with their liberty to sleep in quiet.
　　There are a lot of people in the world, and I have to
　　accommodate my liberty to their liberties.

　　We are all liable to forget this, and unfortunately we are much
　　55 more conscious of the imperfections of others in this respect than
　　of our own. A reasonable consideration for the rights or feelings
　　of others is the foundation of social conduct.
　　It is in the small matters of conduct, in the observance of
　　the rule of the road, that we pass judgment upon ourselves, and
　　60 declare that we are civilized or uncivilized. The great moments of
　　heroism and sacrifice are rare. It is the little habits of
　　commonplace intercourse that make up the great sum of life and
　　sweeten or make bitter the journey.

       1. The author might have stated his ‘rule of the road’ as
　　A. do not walk in the middle of the road
　　B. follow the orders of policemen
　　C. do not behave inconsiderately in public
　　D. do what you like in private
　　E. liberty is more important than anarchy

　　2. The author’s attitude to the old lady in paragraph one is
　　A. condescending
　　B. intolerant
　　C. objective
　　D. sardonic
　　E. supportive

　　3. The sentence ‘It means....curtailed’ (lines 13-15) is an example of
　　A. hyperbole
　　B. cliché
　　C. simile
　　D. paradox
　　E. consonance

　　4. Which sentence best sums up the author’s main point? sat
　　A. There is a danger....lines 11-13
　　B. A reasonable.... lines 56-57
　　C. It is in the small matters....lines 58-60
　　D. The great moments....lines 60-61
　　E. It is the little....lines 61-63

　　5. A situation analogous to the ‘insolence of office’ described in paragraph 2 would be
　　A. a teacher correcting grammar errors
　　B. an editor shortening the text of an article
　　C. a tax inspector demanding to see someone’s accounts
　　D. an army office giving orders to a soldier
　　E. a gaoler locking up a prisoner

　　6. ‘Qualified’ (line 46) most nearly means
　　A. accredited
　　B. improved
　　C. limited
　　D. stymied
　　E. educated

　　7. The author assumes that he may be as free as he likes in
　　A. all matters of dress and sees him

　　8. In the sentence ‘ We are all liable....’ (lines 54-56) the author is
　　A. pointing out a general weakness
　　B. emphasizing his main point
　　C. countering a general misconception
　　D. suggesting a remedy
　　E. modifying his point of view

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