TEXT E

Pardon me: how are your manners?

The decline of civility and good manners may be worrying people more than crime, according to Gentility Recalled, edited by Dighy Anderson, which laments the breakdown of traditional codes that one regulated social conduct. It criticised the fact that "manners" are scorned as repressive and outdated.

The result, according to Mr Anderson -- director of the Social Affairs Unit, an independent think-tank -- is a society characterized by rudeness: loutish behavior on the streets, jostling in crowds, impolite shop assistants and bad-tempered drivers.

Mr Andeson says the cumulative effect of these__apparently trivial, but often offensive -- is to make everyday life uneasy, unpredictable and unpleasant. As they are encountered far more often than crime, they can cause more anxiety than crime.

When people lament the disintegration of law and order, he argues, what they generally mean is order, as manifested by courteous forms of social contact.    Meanwhile, attempts to re-establish restraint and self-control through "politically correct" rules are artificial.

The book has contributions from 12 academics in disciplines ranging from medicine to sociology and charts what it calls the "coarsening" of Britain.    Old-fashioned terms such as "gentleman" and "lady" have lost all meaningful resonance and need to be re-evaluated, it says. Rachel Trickett, honorary fellow and former principal of St. Hugh's College, Oxford, says that the notion of a "lady" protects women rather than demeaning them.

Feminism and demands for equality have blurred the distinctions between the sexes, creating situations where men are able to dominate women because of their more aggressive and forceful natures, she says.    "Women, without some code of deference or respect, become increasingly victims."

Caroline Moore, the first woman fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, points out that "gentleman" is now used only with irony or derision.

"The popular view of a gentleman is poised somewhere between the imbecile parasite and the villainous one: between Woosteresque chinless wonders, and those heartless capitalist toffs who are...the stock-in-trade of television."

She argues that the concept is neither class-bound nor rigid; conventions of gentlemanly behaviour enable a man to act naturally as and individual within shared assumptions while taking his place in society.

"Politeness is no constraint, precisely because the manners... are no 'code' but a language, rich, flexible, restrained and infinitely subtle."

For Anthony O'Hear, professor of philosophy at the University of Bradford, manners are closely associated with the different forms of behaviour appropriate to age and status. They curb both the impetuosity of youth and the bitterness of old age.

Egalitarianism, he says, has led to people failing to act their age. "We have vice-chancellors with earrings, aristocrats as hippies... the trendy vicar on his motorbike."

Dr Athen Leoussi, sociology lecturer at Reading University, bemoans the deliberate neglect by people of their sartorial appearance.

Dress, she says, is the outward expression of attitudes and aspirations. The ubiquitousness of jeans "displays a utilitarian attitude" that has "led to the cultural impoverishment of everyday life".

Dr Leoussi says that while clothes used to be seen as a means of concealing taboo forces of sexuality and vilence, certain fashions -- such as leather jackets -- have the opposite effect.
Dr Bruc Charlton, a lecturer in public health medicine in Newcastle upon Tyne, takes issue with the excessive informality of relations between professionals such as doctors and bank managers, and their clients. He says this has eroded the distance and respect necessary in such relationships. For Tristam Engelhardt, professor of medicine Houston, Texas, says manners are bound to morals.

"Manners express a particular set of values," he says. "Good manners intepret and transform social reality. They provide social orientation."

21. According to the passage, the decline of good manners is more worrying because _____
A. it leads to more crime in society.
B. people view manners as old-fashioned.
C. rudeness on the street cannot be stemmed out.
D. it can seriously affect our daily life.
正确答案是

22. Rachel Trickett seems to indicate the term "lady" _____
A. has acquired a different meaning.
B. is too old-fashioned to use.
C. is preferred by feminists.
D. victimizes women in society.
正确答案是

23. According to    Caroline Moore, the media has projected a _____ image of the gentleman.
A. humorous
B. favourable
C. negative
D. traditional
正确答案是

24. In Anthony O'Hear's view, a well mannered person _____
A. acts rashly when he is young.
B. tends to be bad-tempered in old age.
C. behaves with a sense of appropriacy.
D. attaches importance to his status.
正确答案是

25. Dr. Bruce Charlton would probably prefer to see a more formal relationship _____
A. among doctors.
B. among managers.
C. between doctors and managers.
D. between doctors and patients.
正确答案是

SECTION B SKIMMING AND SCANNING [10 MIN]
In this section there are seven passages followed by ten multiple-choice questions. Skim or scan them as required and then mark your answers on the answer sheet.
TEXT F

First read the question.
31. The President of Association of American railroads wrote the letter to _____
A. complain about public ignorance of its effects to improve the service.
B. criticize U.S. News for not reporting its effects to improve the safety record.
C. inform the public of what it has achieved over the past decade.
D. thank U.S. News for informing the public of its effects to reduce accident rate.
正确答案是

Now, go through the text quickly and answer the question.
December 20th 199_
Dear Editor,
The American railroad industry's commitment to safety is demonstrated by a steadily declining accident rate over the past decade.    The accident rate per million train miles has been reduces by 55 percent since 1981 and 21 percent since 1990.    In 11 of the past 16 years, the rail passenger fatality rate was lower than or the same as the airline rate.    In addition, rail employees had half the number of lost workday injuries per 100 full-time employees as did airline workers.

Nowhere does U.S. News mention that America's railroads have spent more than US' 90 billion just since 1990 to maintain and improve tracks and equipment.    Nowhere do you mention that railroads -- on their own initiative and at their own expense -- developed and installed a new type of wheel that is much less likely to fracture and cause accidents.    Nowhere do you mention how railroads are now testing a new type of electronically assisted brake that can reduce stopping distance by 40 percent.     Nowhere do you explain that more than 90 percent of rail-related fatalities involve highway-rail grade crossing accidents or trespassers -- accidents over which railroads have almost no control.    "facts are stubborn thing," wrote John Adams more than 200 years ago. Stubborn, that is, unless you choose to Ignore them.    That is what U. S. News has chosen to do.
Edwin L.Harper

President and chief Executive officer
Association of American Railroads

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