Passage Three

　　Questions 31 t0 35 are based on the following passage.

　　Storytelling is one of the few human features that are truly universal across culture and through all of known history. Anthropologists find evidence of folktales everywhere in ancient cultures, written in Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, Chinese, Egyptian and Sumerian. People in societies of all types weave stories, from oral storytellers in hunter-gatherer tribes to the millions of writers bringing out books, television shows and movies. And when a characteristic behavior shows up in so many different societies, researchers pay attention: its roots may tell us something about our evolutionary past.

　　To study storytelling, scientists must first define what constitutes a story, and that can prove tricky. Because there are so many diverse forms, scholars often define story structure, known as narrative, by explaining what it is not. Exposition contrasts with narrative by being a simple, straight for-ward explanation, such as a list of facts or an encyclopedia entry. Another standard approach defines narrative as a series of causally linked events that unfold over time. A third definition draws on the typical narrative' s subject matter: the interactions of intentional agents-characters with minds-who possess various motivations.

　　However narrative is defined, people know it when they feel it. Whether fiction or nonfiction, a narrative engages its audience through psychological realism-recognizable emotions and believable interactions among characters.

　　Everyone has a natural detector for psychological realism," says Raymond A. Mar, assistant professor of psychology at York University in Toronto. " We can tell when smelling rings false. " But the best stories-those retold through generations and translated into other languages-do more than simply present a believable picture. These tales attract heir audience-,whose emotions can be closely tied to those of the story' s characters. Such immersion(沉浸)is a state psychologists call" narrative transport". Researchers have only begun figuring out the relations among the variables that can initiate narrative transport.

　　31. The passage indicates that storytelling__________

　　A. is ecoming less and less popular in modern societies

　　B. attracts researchers' attention all through human history

　　C. is the best way to show the evolutionary past of human beings

　　D. s a common cultural phenomenon all through the known history

　　32. The phrase "a characteristic behavior" in Para. 1 refers to____________

　　A. elling tories B. witing books

　　C. studying folktales D. producing movies

　　33. Exposition is characterized by ___________

　　A. believable pictures . B. diverse subject matters

　　C. a simple and direct explanation D. a number of causally linked events

　　34. How many approaches are mentioned to define a narrative?

　　A. ONE B. TWO

　　C. Three. D. Four.

　　35. The best stories attract their audience because they ___________

　　A. present a believable picture B. express the audience' s emotions

　　C. are translated into other languages D. are retold from generation to generation

　　PART TWO ( 50 POINTS)

　　相关推荐：