Futurists have identified two changes that seem to be central to contemporary social life. First, the United States is being restructured from an industrial to an information society. Second, modern societies are increasingly shifting from a national to a global economy. Futurists have applied a good many metaphors to these changes, including Daniel Bell's "postindustrial society", Alvin Toffier's "the third wave" and John Naisbitt's "megatrends". Common to these metaphors is the notion that American society is shifting from the production of goods to the production of services and from society based on the coordination of people and machines to a society organized around knowledge. These changes, it is contended, will afford a myriad of choices. The world will increasingly be one of many flavors, not just vanilla（香草）or chocolate.
Many observers of contemporary American life believe that we are witnessing a historical change and the first major impact of the shift from an energy economy to an information economy. For 300 years technology has been cast in a mechanical model, one based on the combustion processes that go on inside a star like the sun. The steam engine opened the mechanical age, and it reached its peak with the discovery of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion, which replicated the energy producing processes of a star. We now seem to be moving toward a biological model based on information and involving the intensive use of materials. Although biological processes need physical energy and materials, they tend to substitute information for both. Biological processes "miniaturize" size, energy, and materials by "exploding" information. The human brain is some ten times the size and weight of the brain of a lemur, but it handles a billion times more information. As a result, high tech industries are information intensive rather than energy or material intensive.
Sociologists have played and will continue to play an important role in assessing and interpreting these developments and other aspects of change.
1.It can be inferred that underlying the two changes is the change of______.
A.the instrument of production B.the size of the society
C.the social structure D.the economic market
2.With what does the mechanical age reach its highest point?
A.The steam engine. B.Nuclear power production.
C.The combustion process. D.The energy producing process of the sun.
3.With the coming of the information age, the society is becoming______.
A.more intolerable B.larger C.more varied D.a more pleasant place
4.What characterizes the information society?
A.The amount of knowledge to be learned. B.Physical energy and materials.
C.Rapid change and its social effects. D.Small size and high capacity.
5.What is the attitude of the author towards the function of sociologists in the great changes?
A.Critical. B.Positive. C.Negative. D.Indifferent.
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1.【答案】A。
【解析】本题的四个选项中，只有A项为正确答案。这可从文中第一段的内容推知，即美国社会正在发生两方面的变化，一是它正在由一个工业社会向信息社会转变；二是区域经济模式正在向全球经济模式转变。未来学家们用“后工业社会”、“第三次浪潮”、“大趋势”等来描述这种转变。从以上这些描述可以推出，美国社会正在由产品的生产向第三产业的生产转化，由基于人与机器的社会向以知识产业为中心的社会发展。所以，在这两大转变的底层是生产方式的转变。
2.【答案】B。
【解析】本题的四个选项中，只有B项为正确答案。这可从文中的内容推知，即美国社会正在由能源经济模式向信息经济模式转化。300年来，技术一直围绕着一个机械方面的模式发展。再根据“The steam engine opened the mechanical age, and it reached its peak with the discovery of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion”可知，这一机械时代开始于蒸汽机的发明，至核聚裂变的发现达到其顶峰。
3.【答案】C。
【解析】本题的四个选项中，只有C项为正确答案。这可从文中的“These changes, it is contended, will afford a myriad of choices. The world will increasingly be one of many flavors, not just vanilla（香草）or chocolate.”推知，即这些变化将带来一系列选择机会，这个世界将逐渐变成一个多“风味”的世界，而不仅仅是香草或巧克力味。从这个比喻可知，这些变化为个人和社会提供了新的生活或制度模式和发展机会。
4.【答案】D。
【解析】本题的四个选项中，只有D项为正确答案。这可从文中第二段的内容推知，即社会似乎正在向生物学模式转变，这一模式的基础是信息，涉及材料的集中利用。生物过程虽然也需要实际的能源与材料，但它倾向于用信息来代替二者。生物过程利用“爆炸”信息的方法缩小体积、能源及材料。例如：人的大脑体积及重量约是狐猴的10倍，但它所能处理的信息却是后者的10亿倍。所以，高技术工业的典型特征是信息的高度利用，而不是能源与材料的高度利用。因此“小体积大容量”正确。
5.【答案】B。
【解析】本题的四个选项中，只有B项为正确答案。这可从文中的内容推知，即对于社会学家在这些巨大转变中所起的作用，作者所持的态度是肯定的。
