当然，首先，大家要理解一下“民族性格/民族品格”是一个类同于人格/人品的概念。只不过，这里我们把一个民族凝聚理解成一个人，然后借用个体的人格/人品来理解character的意思。
National character is not formally considered by social scientists in discussing economic and social development today. They believe that people differ and that these differences should be taken into account somehow, but they have as yet discovered no way to include such variables in their formal models of economic and social development. The difficulty lies in the nature of the data that supposedly define different national characters. Anthropologists and others are on much firmer ground when they attempt to describe the cultural norms for a small homogeneous tribe or village than when they undertake the formidable task of discovering the norms that exist in a complex modern nation-state composed of many disparate groups. The situation is further complicated bythe nature of judgments about character, since such judgments are overly dependent on impressions and since, furthermore, impressions are usually stated in qualitative terms, it is impossible to make a reliable comparison between the national characters of two countries.
The author’s main point in the passage is that national character （主旨题，常见题型之一，这一类题型，所谓“技巧”，都很勉强，着重考察对于篇章的整体理解。） (A) is too elusive to merit attention by anthropologists and other social scientists （很容易被排除。值得注意，就是不知道拿它怎么办。可不就是注意了，才发现elusive。） (B) is of greater interest to social scientists today than it has been in the past （很容易被排除。） (C) is still too difficult to describe with the precision required by many social scientists （后2/3的篇幅都在围绕着social scientists面临的困难呢。） (D) has become increasingly irrelevant because of the complexity of modern life （很容易被排除。是relevant的，就是不知道拿它怎么办。） (E) can be described more accurately by anthropologists than by other social scientists （很容易被排除。） Given the information in the passage, which of the following is NOT true of modern nation-states? （细节题，常见题型之一，难度在于选项中的陈述可能不是对于原文陈述的paraphrase那么简单，母语水平的语言能力测试，自然要求我们能读懂“不是人话”。） (A) They are complex. (文中直接出现a complex modern nation-state composed of many disparate groups。) (B) They are heterogeneous. （是a small homogeneous tribe or village的相反，是被暗示出来的，是对的，对的所以不能选。） (C) They are of interest to social scientists. （废话，当然是了。） (D) They lack cultural norms. （冲突于原文的the norms that exist。） (E) They differ from one another in terms of national character. （it is impossible to make a reliable comparison between the national characters of two countries既然要去比较，那就暗示了区别一定存在，只是这些对区别无法靠谱的比较。） It can be inferred from the passage that the social scientists mentioned in the passage would agree with which of the following statements? （推断题，常见题型之一。通常说来，我们最容易犯的错误是过度推断。但是，这个题目不难，不会出现过度推断的情况吧。） I. It is extremely difficult to create models that account for both economic and social development. （冲突于原文的to include such variables in their formal models of economic and social development, 说明models是有的，就是变量无法带进去算。） II. Models of economic and social development would be improved by the inclusion of adequate descriptions of national character. （原文中没有直接回应？但是感觉是这个选项是对的，那不就是推断题么。） III. It is important to supplement formal models of economic and social development with qualitative impressions of national character. （冲突于原文的impressions are usually stated in qualitative terms是被视作不利因素的，因为后面说到了it is impossible） (A) I only (B) II only (C) III only (D) I and III only (E) II and III only Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage? (文脉题，不算常见的题型。就这一道题本身而言，这一题特别简单。) (A) A problem is presented and reasons for its existence are supplied. (B) A controversial view is presented and evidence for its validity is supplied. (C) A hypothesis is presented and possible means of verifying it are suggested. (D) A recent development is described and then analyzed. (E) A dispute is summarized and one side defended.
