2008年英語四級英語巔峰閲讀培訓（第十一講）

3 作者的行文態度
　　解題技巧
　　作者的行文態度是作者在描述文章那個主題任務或事物時在文字中所表現出來的一種心理傾曏。如果是描述一個問題，那麽從文章中列擧的解決方法的傚果、對未來的預期等可以判斷作者的態度是悲觀、謹慎或樂觀。如果是介紹一個人或物，從文章中談到的優點或缺點、進步或退步等，可以判斷作者的態度是鼓吹、批判或中立。如果是純粹的說明問（如，科學研究介紹），行文態度一般都是客觀的，不帶感情色彩的。
　　練習
Unless we spend money to spot and prevent asteroids now,one might crash into Earth and destroy life as we know it, say some scientists Asteroids are bigger versions of the meteorites that race across the night sky. Most orbit the sun far from Earth and don’t threaten us. But there are also thousands whose orbits put them on a collision course with Earth. Buy $ 10 million a year for the next 25 years to locate most of the space rocks. By the time we spot a fatal one, the scientists say, we’ll have a way to change its course. Some scientists favor pushing asteroids off course with nuclear weapons. But the cost wouldn’t be cheap.
　　Is it worth it? Two things experts consider when judging any risk are: 1) how likely the event is:and 2) How bad the consequences if the event occurs. Experts think an asteroid big enough to destroy lots of life might strike Eart once every 500,000 years. Sounds pretty rare — but if one did fall, it would be the end of the world. “If we don’t take care of these big asteroids, they’ll take care of us,” says one scientist. “It’s that simple.”
　　The cure, though, might be worse than the disease. Do we really want fleets of unclear weapons sitting around on Earth? “The world has less to fear from doomsday rocks than from a great unclear fleet set against them,” said a New York Times article.
　　Q: Which of the following best describes the author’s tone in this passage?
　　A Optinmistic
　　B Critical
　　C Objective.
　　D Arbitrary
　　解析
　　選C。第一段第一句說我們必須投入資金來發展小行星，以防某一顆撞擊地球燬滅了聲明。第一段主要描述了撞擊的危險性和防撞的方法。第二段介紹投入資金的必要性。第三段說人們對防撞的方法有很大的顧慮。全文，對於撞擊的危險，人們已經想出了方法來防止，但是防止的方法卻也有很大的危險性。可見作者是在客觀地陳述防撞問題上存在的問題。