Name__________________________________

Course_________________________________ English Group__________________________

Date___________________________________

Assignment

Version a

1. Read the text and answer Questions 1-6 by circling the appropriate letter option.

The word "predictable" as customarily used means “predicted by the scientist" and also carries the implication of "control by the scientist." It is interesting that when I can predict what a person will do under certain circumstances, this person tends to resent it. Somehow he feels that it implies a lack of respect for him, as if he were not his own master, as if he couldn't control himself, as if he were no more than a thing. He tends to feel dominated, controlled, outwitted.

I have observed instances of a person deliberately upsetting the predictions simply to reaffirm his unpredictability and therefore autonomy and self-governance. For instance, a ten-year old girl, known for being always a good citizen, law abiding and dutiful, unexpectedly disrupted classroom discipline by passing out French fried potatoes instead of notebooks simply because, as she later said, everyone just took her good behavior for granted.

Being predictable is often a sign of severe pathology. Goldstein's brain injured soldiers, for instance, could be easily manipulated because of their predictable responses to certain stimuli: being stimulus bound means being both predictable and controllable.

And yet we also use the word in a complimentary way: "You can really count on him in an emergency"; "He'll always come through in a pinch"; "1 would stake my life on his honesty." We seem to wish for continuity in the basic structure of the personality but not in all its details.

The goal of predictability is even more complex if we consider self-knowledge. There seems to be a parallel to the fact that self-knowledge decreases control from outside the person and increases control from within the person, i.e., less other-determined and more self-determined. As self-knowledge increases, it certainly seems to increase self-predictability. And yet this may mean being less predictable to others in many ways.

1. The main idea of passage 1 is

1. “Predictable” has specific use

2. People’s reaction to “predictable” is negative

3. “Predictable” means “lacking in respect”

4. “Predictable” is a poly-functional word and may have different meanings

2. The word “customarily” in paragraph 1 means

A) used by customs officers

B) faultily

C) usually

D) circumstantially

3. The word “it” in the sentence “Somehow he feels that it implies a lack of respect for him…” (1^st paragraph) refers to

1. the use of the model verb “can”

2. the aesthetic attitude of the scientist

3. the factual knowledge of the scientist

4. the method that the scientist is going to use

4. The word “autonomy” (2^nd paragraph) is closest in meaning to

1. administrative independence

2. political independence

3. individual independence

4. the person’s individual name

5. The word “severe” 3^rd paragraph is opposite in meaning to

1. southern

2. minor

3. major

4. general

6. The meaning of the idiomatic statement “I would stake my life on his honesty”…(4^th paragraph) means

1. I trust neither him, nor his honesty

2. I would risk my life to prove his honesty

3. My life depends on his honesty

4. I’m absolutely sure of his honesty