大学英语阅读精选25篇

Passage 1

No one prior to World War II more trenchantly analyzed the philosophical differences between utopians and realists than did E.H.Carr in his celebrated work, which, although published in 1939, did not have its impact in America until after World War II. Carr used the term utopians for idealists who placed emphasis on international law and organization and on the influence of morality and public opinion in the affairs of nations. He probably did not intend the more pejorative connotation that attached to the term utopians after World War II as naïve opponents of power politics expounded by realists. Indeed, since the end of the Cold War, the idealist concept of the harmony of national interests in peace has received new attention in a more recent neoliberal-neorealist debate.

The failures of the League of Nations in the 1930s cast doubt on the harmony of interest in peace, which appeared to accord with the interests of satisfied, status-quo powers with democratic governments, but not with the perceived needs of revisionists, totalitarians, authoritarian states seeking boundary changes, enhanced status, greater power, and, especially in the case of Nazi Germany, revenge for the humiliation of the post-World War I settlement imposed by the Versailles treaty. Contrary to the utopian assumption, national self-determination did not always produce representative governments. Instead, the overthrow of the old monarchical order gave rise in many places, including Russia, to a more pervasive and oppressive totalitarian states. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939 between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany set the stage for Adolph Hitler’s invasion of Poland, the outbreak of World War II, the partition of Poland, and the absorption of Baltic states into the Soviet Union, all in flagrant contravention of the standards of international conduct set forth in utopian theory.

1.Who took a strong analysis of the philosophical differences between utopians and realists?

A.Adolph Hitler did

B. E.H.Carr did

C.Neorealist did

D.Molotov did

2.What did utopian mean in Carr’s opinion?

A.Idealists who placed emphasis on international law and organization and on the influence

of morality and public opinion in the affairs of nations.

B.Naïve opponents of power politics.

C.Status-quo powers

D.Revisionists.

3.What is the consequence of national self-determination?

A.Producing representative governments.

B.Giving rise to a more pervasive and oppressive totalitarian states.

C.Both A and B

D.Sometimes A, sometimes B.

4.What was the influence of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939?

A.to set the stage for Adolph Hitler’s invasion of Poland

B.leading to the outbreak of World War II

C. a cause of the partition of Poland

D.all of A,B and C

5.Which one can serve as the title of this passage?