需要提醒考生的是，虽然考试中我们可以忽略一些人名，地名或者无关紧要的细节，这也是为了一时的应试而迫不得已。在平时练习中，还是建议广大考生多积累这些人文及百科知识，包括一些人名和地名。积累的多了，以后在任何场合听起来就不会犯难了。

Section B

　　Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.

　　Passage One

　　Russell Fazio, an Ohio State psychology professor who has studied interracial roommates there and at Indiana University, discovered an intriguing academic effect. In a study analyzing data on thousands of Ohio State freshmen who lived in dorms, he found that black freshmen who came to college with high standardized test scores earned better grades if they had a white roommate — even if the roommate’s test scores were low. The roommate’s race had no effect on the grades of white students or low-scoring black students. Perhaps, the study speculated, having a white roommate helps academically prepared black students adjust to a predominantly white university.

　　That same study found that randomly assigned interracial roommates at Ohio State broke up before the end of the quarter about twice as often as same-race roommates.

　　Because interracial roommate relationships are often problematic, Dr. Fazio said, many students would like to move out, but university housing policies may make it hard to leave.

　　“At Indiana University, where housing was not so tight, more interracial roommates split up,” he said. “Here at Ohio State, where housing was tight, they were told to work it out. The most interesting thing we found was that if the relationship managed to continue for just 10 weeks, we could see an improvement in racial attitudes.”

　　Dr. Fazio’s Indiana study found that three times as many randomly assigned interracial roommates were no longer living together at the end of the semester, compared with white roommates. The interracial roommates spent less time together, and had fewer joint activities than the white pairs.

　　Question 26-29

　　26. What do we know about Russell Fazio ?

　　27. Who benefited from living with a white roommate according to Fazio’s study?

　　28. What did the study find about randomly assigned interracial roommates at Ohio State University?

　　29. What did Dr. Fazio find interesting about interracial roommates who had lived together for 10 weeks?

　　答案：

　　26, C. He specialized in interpersonal relationship.

　　27. D. Black freshman with high standardized scores

　　28, C. They broke up more often than same-race roommates

　　29, C. The racial attitudes improved.

　　【解析】：本文节选自2009年7月的《纽约时报》，原文标题为Interracial Roommates Can Reduce Prejudice。文章属于社会类话题，大意为俄亥俄州立大学的一位名为Russell Fazio的心理学教授研究不同人种混居的有趣现象以及结论。无独有偶，2011年6月四级真题阅读理解Section B的Passage 1也选用了相同的话题，大家平时在备考中要对真题重视起来哦!