People have wondered for a long time how their personalities and behavior are formed. It is not easy to explain why one person is intelligent and another is not, or why one is cooperative and another is competitive. 
Social scientists are of course extremely interested in these types of questions. They want to explain why we possess certain characteristics and exhibit certain behavior. There are no clear answers yet, but two distinct schools of thought on the matter have developed. As one might expect, the two approaches are very different from each other, and there is a great deal of debate between proponents of each theory. The controversy is often conveniently referred to as “nature and nurture”．
Those who support the “nature” side of the conflict believe that our personalities and behavior patterns are largely determined by biological factors. That our environment has little, if anything, to do with our abilities, characteristics and behavior is central to this theory. Taken to an extreme，this theory states that our behavior is predetermined to such a great degree that we are almost completely governed by our instincts(本能)．
Proponents of the “nurture” theory, or, as they are often called, behaviorists, claim that our environment is more important than our biologically based instincts in determining how we will act. A behaviorist, B. F. Skinner, sees humans as beings whose behavior is almost completely shaped by their surroundings. The behaviorists' view of the human being is quite mechanistic. They state that, like machines, humans respond to environmental stimuli (刺激) as the basis of their behavior. 
Socially and politically, the consequences of these two theories are far-reaching. In the US，for example, blacks often score below whites on standardized intelligence tests. This leads some “nature” proponents to conclude that blacks are genetically lower in status than whites. Behaviorists, on the contrary, say that the differences in scores are due to the fact that blacks are often robbed of many of the educational and other environmental advantages that whites enjoy, and that, as a result, they do not develop the same responses that whites do.
Neither of these theories can yet fully explain human behavior. In fact, it is quite likely that the key to our behavior lies somewhere between these two extremes and that the controversy will continue for a long time is certain. 
小題1:This passage is mainly concerned with ________.
A．relation between personality and behavior
B．relation between behavior and environment
C．different accounts of patterns of human behavior
D．different theories of the formation of human behavior
小題2:The underlined word “proponents” in Paragraph 2 means ________.
A．creatorsB．a(chǎn)dvisorsC．a(chǎn)dvocatesD．judges
小題3:In Paragraph 5, the author mainly writes about ________.
A．the considerable influence of the two theories
B．differences between the blacks and whites
C．racial discrimination in the United States
D．different responds to intelligence tests
小題4:What's the author's purpose in writing the passage?
A．To call our attention to the changes of human behavior.
B．To urge scientists to do more research in social science.
C．To give us a detailed explanation of human behavior.
D．To present an argument in the field of social science.

小題1:D
小題2:C
小題3:A
小題4:D

試題分析：本文主要討論了人的個性和智力是先天形成的還是受環(huán)境影響的。
小題1:主旨大意題。首段首句指出作者要討論的問題，第 2 段開始從兩個方面解釋 該問題，末段是總結(jié)段，由此看來，首段首句和末段首句提到的 human behavior 是本文的 中心內(nèi)容，雖然文章首段第 2 句就提到 intelligent 一詞， 但該句的 intelligent， cooperative， competitive 等都只是舉例說明首句有關 personalities 和 behaviors 的問題， 由此可見，選項 B 并非本文主旨；作者提到兩種理論是為了解釋性格和行為形成的原因，并非討論這兩種理論形成的原因，因此 A和C兩項均不正確。選D
小題2:猜詞題。根據(jù)文章內(nèi)容，我們可以判斷 proponent 應指人，指這兩種理論的支持者，只有 advocates“擁護者”符合這種推測，故選 C。
小題3:段落大意題：題干問第五段主要關于什么，這要看第五段的結(jié)構(gòu)。第一句Socially and politically, the consequences of these two theories are far-reaching.很明心是個概括句，下面的論據(jù)是為了證明這兩個理論的相當大的影響。選A
小題4:寫作意圖題：結(jié)合文章的首尾可知作者的寫作目的是為了介紹社會科學領域的一個爭論嗎，答案選D
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Thousands of people the world over are killed each year.
[C] The laws of some countries about driving are too lax.
[D] Only stricter traffic laws can prevent accidents.
小題2:What does the author think of society toward motorists?
[A] Society smiles on the motorists.
Huge car parks are built in the cities and towns.
[C] Victims of accidents are nothing.
[D] Society condones their rude driving.
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[A] Driving can show his real self.
Driving can show the other part of his personality.
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[D] His car embodies his temper.
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[A] Build more highways.
Stricter driving tests.
[C] Test drivers every three years.
[D] raise age limit and lay down safety specifications.
小題5:.The attitude of the author is
[A] ironical
critical
[C] appealing
[D] militant
Vocabulary
1.immunise             使免疫，使免除
2.expectation of life =" life" expectancy    平均壽命
3.versus =" against"             對頂，反對
4.mutilate             傷害
5.wilful             任性的，固執(zhí)的
6.benign             寬厚的，仁慈的
7.condone             寬容
8.desecrate          褻瀆，玷污
9.code             法規(guī)，規(guī)定，慣例
10.stringent          嚴格的，緊急的，迫切的
11.performance                   演出，成品，這里是指
car’ s behavior such as speed,
function etc.可譯成行為，
汽車行為、功能等。
難句譯注
1.Man versus the motor-car ! It is a never-ending battle which man is losing.
【參考譯文】人和汽車對抗！這是一場人類永遠是輸家的無休止的戰(zhàn)斗。
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【參考譯文】應當禁止所有強調(diào)力量和表現(xiàn)行為的廣告。
寫作方法與文章大意
文章論述“交通事故”，采用因果、對比手法。從人的平均壽命增加和交通事故率成正比談起，觸及事故率上升的原因，要求制定更嚴格的法規(guī)予以制止種種造成事故的不良行為。

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