In spite of “endless talk of difference”, American society is an amazing machine for homogenizing people.There is “the democratizing uniformity of dress and discourse,and the casualness and absence of deference” characteristic of popular culture.People are absorbed into “a culture of consumption” launched by the 19th-century department stores that offered “vast s of goods in an elegant atmosphere.Instead of intimate shops catering to a knowledgeable elite”these were stores “anyone could enter,regardless of class or background.This turned shopping into a public and democratic act.” The mass media, advertising and sports are other forces for homogenization.
21.The word “homogenizing” (Para. 1) most probably means .
例如:(真題2010年Text2)Curbs on business-method claims would be a dramatic about-face, because it was the federal circuit itself that introduced such patents with is 1998 decision in the so-called state Street Bank case, approving a patent on a way of pooling mutual-fund assets. That ruling produced an explosion in business-method patent filings, initially by emerging internet companies trying to stake out exclusive rights to specific types of online transactions. Later, move established companies raced to add such patents to their files, if only as a defensive move against rivals that might beat them to the punch. In 2005, IBM noted in a court filing that it had been issued more than 300 business-method patents despite the fact that it questioned the legal basis for granting them. Similarly, some Wall Street investment films armed themselves with patents for financial products, even as they took positions in court cases opposing the practice.
28. The word "about-face" (Line 1, Para 3) most probably means
例如:(真題2004Text1)Instead, the best strategy is to use the agent as a kind of tip service to keep abreast of jobs in a particular database ; when you get E-mail, consider it a reminder to check the database again.
43. The expression “tip service” (Line 4, Paragraph 3) most probably means ________.