In a typical experiment， the experimenter asks for volunteers to join a group that is investigating visual perception. The victims are not， therefore， aware of the real purpose of the experiment. Each volunteer is taken to a room where he finds a group of about seven people who are collaborating with the experimenter. The group is shown a standard card which contains a single line. They are then asked to look at a second card. This has three lines on it. One is obviously longer than the line on the first card， one is shorter and one the same length. They have to say which line on the second card is the same length as the line on the standard card. The other members of the group answer first but what the volunteer does not know is that they have been told to pick one of the wrong lines. The volunteer sees that the other members of the group unanimously choose a line which is obviously not the same length as the one on the standard card.
When it is his turn to answer he is faced with the unanimous opinion of the group－all the others have chosen line A but he quite clearly sees line B as correct. What will he do？ According to Asch， more than half of the victims chosen will change their opinion. What is equally surprising is that， when interviewed about their answers， most explained that they knew the group choice was incorrect but that they yielded to the pressure of the group because they thought they must be suffering from an optical illusion.
6. Psychologists are interested in ________. [A] how far group pressure can influence people‘s judgments. [B] how to make judgments according to everyday experience. [C] how to change people’s judgments. [D] the group‘s standards of social behaviour.
7. In the experiment. Who have been told to pick the wrong line？
[A] The victims. [B] The volunteer. [C] The experimenter. [D] The other members.
8. In what circumstances do most people yield to pressure？
[A] When the group is separated. [B] When the group is unanimous. [C] When they know they are the victims. [D] When they are forced to answer questions.
9. The experiments demonstrate that _______. [A] nearly every individual will behave differently from others [B] group pressure is caused by the interference of the psychologists. [C] psychologists wish to change the people‘s judgments and opinions. [D] people will change their ideas under group pressure.
10.The best title of this passage would be _________. [A]A Typical Experiment. [B]Are We Afraid to be Different？
[C]The Group‘s Standards of Behavior and Thinking. [D]Dose an Individual Need to Follow a Group’s Standards？
3 ）The single business of Henry Thoreau ，during forty-old years of eager activity was to discover an economy calculated to provide a satisfying life .His one concern ，that gave to his ramblings in Concord fields a value of high adventure ，was to explore the true meaning of wealth .As he understood the problem of economics ，there three possible solutions open to him ：to exploit himself ，to exploit his fellows ，or to reduce the problem to its lowest denominator .The first was quite impossible–to imprison oneself in a treadmill when the morning called to great adventure .To exploit one‘s fellows seemed to Thoreau’s sensitive social conscience an even greater infidelity .Freedom with abstinence seemed to him better than serfdom with material well-being ，and he was content to move to Walden Pond and to set about the high business of living ，to confront only the essential facts of life and to see what it had to teach .He did not advocate that other men should build cabins and live isolated .He had no wish to dogmatize concerning the best mode of living-each must settle that for himself .But that a satisfying life should be lived ，he was vitally concerned .The story of his emancipation from the lower economics is the one romance of his life ，and Walden is his great book .It is a book In praise of life rather than of Nature ，a record of calculating economics that studied saving in order to spend more largely .But it is a book of social criticism as well ，in spite of its explicit denial of such a purpose .In considering the true nature of economy he concluded ，with Ruskin ， that the cost of a thing is the amount of life that is required in exchange for it ，immediately or in the long run .In Walden Thoreau elaborated the text ：The only wealth is life .
11.Thoueau started an experiment at Walden Pond with the hope of ______. [A]learning how to live quietly . [B]writing a book on philosophy . [C]discovering what humans can learn from nature. [D]working out the best adjustment to material life .
12.To Thoreau the best solution to the problem of economics is _______. [A]to live a very simple life . [B]to become self–sufficient. [C]to live in the country . [D]to reform the society .
13.Thoreau holds that the crucial thing for people to do is to ________. [A]have a better understanding of what life means . [B]live harmoniously with nature . [C]to save as much as one possibly can . [D]to live a life that one is content with .
14.In the bookWaldenall of the following can be found except________. [A] the nature of economy. [B] the meaning of freedom. [C] the criticism of society. [D] Ruskin‘s philosophy.
15. Thoreau‘s attitude toward society can best be characterized as one of _______. [A] acceptance. [B] avoidance. [C]indifference [D] individualism
