Men stood on the deck and smoked cigarettes. They died, too. This behavior is puzzling to economists, who like to believe that people tend to act in their own self interest. “There was no pushing,” says David Savage, an economist at Queensland University in Australia who has studied witness reports from the survivors. It was “very, very orderly behavior。”
Savage has compared the behavior of the passengers on the Titanic with those on the Lusitania, another ship that also sank at about the same time. But when the Lusitania went down, the passengers panicked(恐慌). There were a lot of similarities between these two events. These two ships were both luxury ones, they had a similar number of passengers and a similar number of survivors。
The biggest difference, Savage
concludes, was time. The Lusitania sank in
less than 20 minutes. But for the Titanic, it was two-and-a-half hours. “If you’ve got an event that lasts two-and-a-half hours, social order will take over and everybody will behave in a social manner,” Savage says. “If you’re going down in under 17 minutes, basically it’s instinctual。” On the Titanic, social order ruled, and it was women and children first. On the Lusitania, instinct won out. The survivors were largely the people who could swim and get into the lifeboats。
Yes, we’re self-interested, Savage ways. But we’re also part of a society. Given time, social norms(规范) can beat our natural self-interest. A hundred years ago, women and children always went first. Men were stoic(坚忍的)。 On the Titanic, there was enough time for these norms to become forceful。
当泰坦尼克号正在下沉，妇女和儿童爬进了救生艇的时候，这条船上的音乐家们留了下来并继续演奏。当轮船沉没时他们的生命结束了。男人们则站在甲板上吸雪茄烟。他们也死了。经济学家们对这种行为感到困惑，他们习惯性地认为人们会倾向于根据自己的个人利益做事。大卫·萨维奇是澳大利亚昆士兰大学的经济学家，他一直在研究该船的幸存者的目击报告，他说，“那
里没有推挤”，“非常非常有秩序”。
萨维奇将泰坦尼克号上的乘客的行为与路西塔尼亚号（另一艘几乎在同一时间沉没的轮船）上的乘客的行为做了对比。然而，当路西塔尼亚号下沉的时候，乘客们出现了恐慌。这两次事件有许多相似之处。两艘都是豪华巨轮，它们承载着相似数量的乘客，有相似数量的幸存者。
萨维奇总结道，最大的不同在于时间。路西塔尼亚号不到20分钟就沉没了。但是，泰坦尼克号的沉没时间是2.5小时。萨维奇说：“如果你遇上了一个持续2.5小时的事件，社会秩序将会起作用，每一个人都会以社会方式行事。如果你将在17分钟内沉没，基本上会基于本能行事。”在泰坦尼克号上，社会秩序支配着人们的行为，妇女和儿童优先逃生。而在路西塔尼亚号上，本能胜出了社会秩序，大部分幸存者是那些会游泳并且能够逃到救生艇上的人们。
是的，我们都是自私自利的，萨维奇说道。但是我们也是社会的一部分。如果时间充足的话，社会规范就能够打败我们天生的自私自利。一百年前通常是妇女和儿童优先。男人们是坚忍的。在泰坦尼克号上，有足够的时间让这些规范发挥效力。
11. According to the author, economists were confused because_____。
A a People’s behavior was disorderly on the Titanic
B People did not act in their own interest on the Titanic
C most men did not act in their own interest on the Lusitania
D women and children could not climb into the lifeboats
【答案】 B。细节题。根据文章第一段中“This behavior is puzzling to economists, who like to
believe that people tend to act in their own self interest”，可知，泰坦尼克号上的乘客并没有像经济学家所通常认为的那样站在自私自利的立场行事，所以经济学对此感到困惑。并且，第一段末“There was no pushing”和“very, very orderly behavior”也印证了泰坦尼克号上的秩序是井然的。
12. The expression “won out” in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to “_____”。
A. took the upper hand B. went out of control
C. ran wild D. shut down
【答案】A。解释单词意思题。根据文章第三段最后一句，可知，在路西塔尼亚号上，大部分幸存者是那些会游泳并且能够逃到救生艇上的人们。这与泰坦尼克号上的情况形成了鲜明的对比，在泰坦尼克号上社会秩序战胜了本能，而在路西塔尼亚号上本能战胜了社会秩序，因此选择took the upper hand（占上风，胜出）。
13. According to David Savage, _____ was a critical factor in determining people’s behavior in the sinking of these two ships。 A. social order B. place C. instinct D. Time
【答案】D。细节题。根据关键词Savage定位在文章第三段第一句，文章中的“The biggest difference”与题干中的“a critical factor”对应，表示两艘巨轮沉没的最大不同之处，接下来第三段开始陈述时间上的不同以及由此导致的人们的反应及行为的差异。
14. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT TRUE?
A. Both ships were expensive ones。 B. A similar number of women and children from both ships survived。 C. About the same number of people from each ship died。
2012年11月北京成人本科学位英语考试真题及其答案详尽解析
