Passage 4

He was a funny looking man with a cheerful face, good natured and a great talker. He was described by his student, the great philosopher Plato, as “the best and most just and wisest man”. Yet this same man was condemned to death for his beliefs. The man was the Greek philosopher, Socrates, and he was condemned for not believing in the recognized gods and for corrupting young people. The second charge stemmed from his association with numerous young men who came to Athens from all over the civilized world to study under him.

Socrates method of teaching was to ask questions and, by pretending not to know the answers, to press his students into thinking for themselves. His teachings had unsurpassed influence on all the great Greek and Roman schools of philosophy. Yet, for all his fame and influence, Socrates himself never wrote a word. Socrates encouraged new ideas and free thinking in the young, and this was frightening to the conservative people. They wanted him silenced. Yet, many were probably surprised that he accepted death so readily. Socrates had the right to ask for a lesser penalty, and he probably could have won over enough of the people who had previously condemned him. But Socrates, as a firm believer in law, reasoned that it was proper to submit to the death sentence. So, he calmly accepted his fate and drank a cup of poison hemlock in the presence of his grief-stricken friends and students.

16. In the first paragraph, the word “yet” is used to introduce____.

A. contrast B. a sequence C. emphasisD.an example

17. Scorates was condemned to death because he ____.

A. believed in lawB. was a philosopher

C. published radical philosophical articlesD. advocated original opinions

18. The word “unsurpassed” in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to ____.

A. untold B. unequalledC. unnoticed D. unexpected

19. By mentioning that Socrates himself never wrote anything, the writer implies that ____.

A. it was surprising that Socrates was so famous

B. Socrates was not so learned as he is reputed to have been

C. Socrates used the work of his students in teaching

D. the authorities refused to publish Socrates works

20. Socates accepted the death penalty to show ____.

A. his belief in his studentsB. his contempt for conservatives

C. his recognition of the legal systemD. that he was not afraid of death

16.【答案】A

【解析】yet前面一句说苏格拉底被他的学生柏拉图称作最好、最公正和最智慧的人，后一句说苏格拉底因为信仰异教和腐蚀青年而被判有罪，两个句子句意截然相反，所以yet 表示转折。

17.【答案】D

【解析】文中第一段最后一句话“Yet this same man was condemned to death for his beliefs.”表明苏格拉底因为他的思想而被判死刑，所以正确答案是D）。（北京安通学校提供）

18.【答案】B

【解析】根据上下文可以得知苏格拉底的影响很大，所以unsurpassed influence应该是巨大影响，四个答案中只有unequalled最接近，意思是无比的。

194.【答案】A

【解析】见第三段最后一句话“Yet,for all his fame and influence, Socrates himself never wrote a word.”，尽管苏格拉底名声和影响很大，但他却从未出版过任何著作，所以A）是正确答案。

20.【答案】D

【解析】文中最后一段提到“But Socrates, as a firm believer in law, reasoned that it was proper to submit to the death sentence.”，作为法律制度的坚定拥护者，苏格拉底提出应该服从死刑判决。因此，正确答案是D。