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The world is undergoing a great transition marked by uncertainty and complexity which we do not yet understand.

This poses（提出）a challenge to young people all over the world, for in about 15 years' time youth will play a fundamental role as never before in the history of the world. Young people will make up over half the population in developing countries—the so-called countries of the South. In the North they will have the heavy responsibility of providing for societies in which elderly people will generally be in the majority. It is probably not by chance that young people in different parts of the world today represent a movement of challenge and pressure which is shaking government and attempting to impose new values in a universe which they perceive as inhospitable（冷淡的）or even hostile.

We have come a long way from the early 20th century concept of perpetual 3% annual growth, which fitted so well with the Newtonian vision of the world—a vision resting on the idea of a perfect giant clockwork mechanism. The dramatic nature of today's crisis is based on our difficulty in understanding—on a lack of intelligibility（可理解性）. For in evolution's constant march towards complexity we have just crossed a threshold（门槛）. Beyond this threshold, everything is different; everything invites us to look anew（重新）. But we are prisoners of images which still inhabit our minds because they brought us so much intellectual comfort in understanding our world as it used to be. Prigogine takes us over the threshold and forces us to enter into the new dialogue which is necessary. It is useful to try to transfer this new vision into the spheres of management, business, national sovereignty（主权）, and international organization. In this way we may perhaps make progress in governing that which, on first analysis we may judge to be ungovernable.

1．The characteristic of the present age of the world is____.

A．transition

B．challenge

C．uncertainty

D．uncertainty and complexity

2．Which of the following is NOT the fact that poses a challenge to young people?

A．Youth will play a fundamental role as never before in the history of the world in about 15 years' time.

B．The world is considered as inhospitable or even hostile.

C．In the North, youth will have the responsibility of providing for societies in which elderly people will generally be in the majority.

D．Young people will make up over half of the population in developing countries.

3．The young people who represent a movement of challenge and pressure may have an influence on____.

A．governments' decisions and ideas or concept about the world

B．population growth

C．people of all the ages

D．international organizations

4．Sometimes we feel difficult to deal with today's crisis because____.

A．we are accustomed to dealing with the new things with the ways we used to

B．we are intelligible

C．we are prisoners of images

D．we have just crossed a threshold

5．It is____that we may make progress in governing that which, on first analysis we may judge to be ungovernable.

A．over the threshold and entering the new “dialogue”

B．by transferring this new vision into the spheres of management, business, etc.

C．by making a challenge to the world

D．undergoing a great transition

1．【答案】D

【精析】由文章第一段“The world is undergoing a great transition marked by uncertainty and complexity which we do not yet understand.”可知，D项为正确答案。

2．【答案】B

【精析】A、C、D项在第二段前三句话中都能找到对应的句子，只有B项不符合文意，故选B项。

3．【答案】A

【精析】由文章第二段第四句话“It is probably not by chance that young people in different parts of the world today represent a movement of challenge and pressure which is shaking government and attempting to impose new values in a universe...”可知，A项符合题意。

4．【答案】A

【精析】由文章最后一段第五句话“But we are prisoners of images which still inhabit our minds because they brought us so much intellectual comfort in understanding our world as it used to be.”可知，A项正确。

5．【答案】B

【精析】文章最后一句话是：“In this way we may perhaps make progress in governing that which, on first analysis we may judge to be ungovernable.”其中“In this way”是指其前面那句话，故可知B项为正确答案。