2008年考研英語模擬試題四及答案解析_secret

1、2008年考研英語模擬試題四及答案解析Section I Use of English Directions：Read the following text. Choose the best word （s） for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. （10 points）Many professions are associated with a particular stereotype. The 1 image of a writer, for instance, is 2 a slightly ea

2、sy-looking person, locked in an attic, writing 3 furiously for days 4 . Naturally, he has his favorite pen and note-paper, or a beat-up typewriter, 5 which he could not produce a readable word.Nowadays, we know that such images 6 little resemblance to reality. But are they 7 false？ In the case of at

3、 least one writer, it would seem not Dame Muriel Spark, who 8 80 in February, in many ways resembles this stereotypical sitter. She is certainly not crazy, and she doesnt work in an attic. But she is rather 9 about the tools of her 10.She 11 writing with a certain type of pen in a certain type of no

4、tebook, which she buys from a certain 12 in Edinburgh called James Thin. In fact, so 13 is she that, if someone uses one of her pens 14 , she immediately throws it away. And she claims she would have enormous difficulty writing in any notebook 15 those sold by James Thin. This could soon be a proble

5、m, as the shop no longer 16 them, and Dame Muriel s 17 of 72spiral bound is nearly finished.As well as her18about writing materials, Muriel Spark 19 one other characteristic with the stereotypical writer ： her work is the most important thing in her life. It has stopped her from marrying； 20_ her ol

6、d friends and made her new ones, and driven her from London to New York to Rome. Today she lives in the Italian province of Tuscany with a friend.1. A historic B antique Csenior Dclassic2. A in Bof Cwith Dfor3. Aaway Boff Con Ddown4. A on finish Bon final C on end D on stop5. A except Bwithout Cbeyo

7、nd D on6. A bear Bstand Chold D keep7. A extremely B thoroughly Clikely D com?pletely8. Aobserved B entered C saw D turned9. A particular B specific C peculiar D special10. Abusiness Btrade Cvocation D career11. Apersists in B insists on C keeps on D indulges in12. Agrocer Bchemist C stationer D bak

8、er13. Amysterious B conventional Csuperstitious D traditional14. A by fortune B by accident C on purpose D by coincidence15. Amuch as B rather than C such as D other than16. A piles B stores C stocks D conceals17. A supply B provision C supplement D addition18. Adevotion B preoccupation C worship D

9、obsession19. A shares B agrees C sides D possesses20. Aspent B cost C exhausted D tiredSection II Reading ComprehensionPart A Directions： Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. （40 points）Text 1For thousands

10、of Canadians, bad service is neither make-believe nor amusing. It is an aggra?vating and worsening real-life phenomenon that encompasses behavior ranging from indifference and rudeness to naked hostility and even physical violence. Across the country, better business bureaus report a lengthening lit

11、any, of complaints about contractors, car dealers, and repair shops, moving companies, airlines and department stores. There is almost an adversarial feeling between businesses and consumers.Experts say there are several explanations for ill feeling in the marketplace. One is that cus?tomer service

12、was an early and inevitable casualty when retailers responded to brutal competition by replacing employees with technology such as 1 800 numbers and voice mail. Another factor is that business generally has begun placing more emphasis on getting customers than on keeping them. Still another is that

13、strident, frustrated and impatient shoppers vex shop owners and make them even less hospitableespecially a busier times of the year like Christmas. On both sides, simple courtesy has gone by the board. And for a multitude of consumers, service went with it.The Better Business Bureau at Vancouver get

14、s 250 complaints a week, twice as many as five years ago. The bureau then had one complaints counselor and now has four. People complain about being insulted, having their intelligence and integrity questioned, and being threatened. One will hear about people being hauled almost bodily out the door

15、by somebody saying things like I dont have to serve you！ or this is private property, get out and dont come back！What can customers do？ If the bureaus arbitration process fails to settle a dispute, a customers only re?course is to sue in call claims court. But because of the costs and time it takes,

16、 relatively few ever do.There is a lot of support for the notion that service has, in part, fallen victim to generational change. Many young people regard retailing as just a bead-end job that youre just going to do temporarily on your way to a real job. Young clerks often lack both knowledge and ci

17、vility. Employers have to train young people in simple manners because that is not being done at home. Salespeople today, especially the younger ones, have grown up in a television-computer society where theyve interacted largely with machines. One of the biggest complaints from businesses about gra

18、duates is the lack of inter-personal skills.What customers really want is access. They want to get through when they call, they dont want busy signals, they dont want interactive systems telling them to posh one for this and two for thatthey dont want voice mail. And if customers do not get what the

19、y want, they defect. Some people go back to local small businesses： the Asian greengrocer, a Greek baker and a Greek fishmonger. They dont wear nametags, but one gets to know them, all by name.21. At a business place of bad service, the worst one can get is_A indifference and rudenessB naked hostili

20、ty and physical violenceC having intelligence and integrity questionedD being insulted and threatened22. One of the reasons for such ill feeling in the marketplace is thatA shoppers are usually strident, frustrated and impatientB shoppers often take businesses to court to settle themC businesses use

21、 new technology instead of employeesD businesses are keen on keeping customers, not getting them23. What has changed at Vancouver Better Service Bureau in the past five years？A More effective.B Less bureaucracy.CMore business.D Better staff.24. Young clerks often lack interpersonal skills chiefly be

22、cause they_ .A are skilled in dealing with machines not peopleB are not trained in simple manners at homeC fall victims to generational changeD take retailing to be a temporary job25. The authors attitude towards businesses and bad service is_ them.A attacking B understandingC regretting DwarningTex

23、t 2The United States is the United Nations biggest deadbeat. Conservatives in Congress, led by Senator Jessie Helms, stopped Washington from paying its dues until the UN reduced its as?sessment and made other changes. Now, thanks to the hard work Richard Holbrook, Americas UN representative, and for

24、 peacekeeping. Mr. Helms, who has praised the deal, should release the dues he has been holding hostage$ 582 million of the $1.3 billion the UN says it is owed.The new formula would reduce the US contribution to the general UN budget to 22 percent from the current level of 25 percenta symbolic diffe

25、rence of only $ 34 million a year. Washing?ton, which has been paying just over 30 percent of the peacekeeping budget, would now pay 27 percenta difference of $ 80 million to $ 120 million a yearand that percentage will drop fur?ther. While poor countries would not pay more, the dues of other wealth

26、y nations would rise un?der the new system.The agreement would probably not have been reached without the intervention of the media magnate Ted Turner, who is already contributing $ 1 billion to UN programs over 10 years. Mr. Turner gave $ 34 million to cover the one-year gap during which other nati

27、ons prepare to raise their contributions. His offer should embarrass Congress, which forced diplomats to waste their influence at the UN in months of negotiations to save a sum that is modest by federal budget stan?dards.US debts reduced the UNs ability to reimburse nations that contributed peacekee

28、pers to UN missions worldwide. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Jordan and other poor countries essentially made up for the absence of US financial support. Since Washington benefits from peacekeepers, which damp down conflicts without US troops, It should not be discouraging nations from sending them.Washingt

29、ons natural allies at the UN were concerned that the US wanted influence without meeting its treaty obligations. Some of them withheld support for US proposals. Mr. Helms should also end his hold on an additional $244 million in back dues, whose release he has conditioned on a reduction in US dues f

30、or specialized UN agencies such as UNICEF and the UN refugee organization. These agencies need full support. Switch by Mr. Helms would help the in?coming Bush administration, which would reap the benefits of the restoration of Americas full in?fluence at the United Nations.26. Senator Jessie Helms s

31、topped the US government from paying its dues to the UN because he wants .A other countries to pay as much as the USB Washington to make assessments and changesC the UNs general budget to be trimmed ,D the US to share a smaller part of the burden27. The new formula has adjusted the assessment and wi

32、ll save the US government at least a year.A $114 million B $ 154 millionC $ 200 million D $ 234 million28. After the budget reassessment, the gap left by the US will be covered by_ .A Ted Turner B peacekeeping countriesC all member nations D other wealthy nations29. The author believes that Richard

33、Holbrooks negotiations at the UN were_ .AA money-saving successB An eye-catching embarrassmentC A waste of US influenceD A defense of US interest30. From the passage, we can infer that_ .A The US contribution to the UN has become a huge burden to WashingtonB The new formula has not solved all proble

34、ms concerning the US duesC The dispute over the US dues has been deliberately made politicalD Ted turners intervention saved the US a diplomatic disasterText 3With its cluster of high-rises known as the Frankfurter Manhattan, its big banks and its bustling airport, this is a town with pretensions. P

35、etra Roth, the mayor, sees it as a global city providing hub functions for the Continent,a place that should be as cosmopolitan as New York.Frankfurt is not just the city of foreign companies, but it is also home to 8000 Muslims, most of them Turks of modest means. Foreigners, including a large cont

36、ingent from the former Yugoslavia, make up 30 percent of the population； one of the highest ratios for any city in Europe troubled by immigration. But there is no blood on the streets. Quietly flows the Main River be?neath that mock-New World skyline.As Germany goes these days, so goes Europe. And i

37、f Frankfurt, the headquarters for Europes new Central Bank and so the capital of Europes nascent shared currency, the euro, is comfortable being a part-Muslim city with 27 mosques, perhaps the so-called New Europe of one money and blurred borders can be a more tolerant place.Xenophobia is very unusu

38、al in Frankfurt,SAID Francesco Renaldo, an Italian banker. Perhaps its the 300 foreign banks, or the vast airport, or the long American presence. Not until 1994 did 30 000 American troops pack up and go homethe Cold War ended and, so people here say, the city shaped in the soldiers open, can-do spir

39、it.But even here, at the heart of American-influenced Europe, far from the strained psyche of a former East German city like Esau, where rightists this year killed an African immigrant, the ghost of xenophobia is not entirely absent. For Frankfurtlike Germany, like Europeis strug?gling to define a s

40、hifting identity.As the departed US soldiers suggest, this city is no longer part of a Cold War country living what Safer Seneca, a German intellectual of Turkish descent, has called a quasi a-national exis?tence under the umbrella of the West. Far from it, this is now the financial center of a stro

41、ng Germany seeking to define and express a new national pride.But Frankfurt is also the capital of a unique experiment in abolishing the nation-state through the voluntary abandonment of sovereignty involved in giving up national control of monetary poli?cy and adopting a common currency.So the Cont

42、inents largest state, on reborn only in 1990, yet also one that is being abolished, veers, this way and that in its mood, one minute nostalgic for a proud Fatherland, the next in the vanguard of what Foreign Minister Joshua Fischer, himself a child of Frankfurt, calls a post-national era.31. Frankfu

43、rt is referred to as aglobal citylike New York because of_A the foreign banks and businessesB the number of foreigners in the cityC the 80,000 Muslims and mosquesD the refugees from former Yugoslavia32. Quietly flows the Main River beneath that mock-New World skyline probably means that .A The new c

44、entral bank had a large inflow of fundsB The city life goes on quietly without racial conflictsC The population moves quietly in the street of the cityD The foreigners come to the city like a flow of river33. The word xenophobia probably means _ .A fear of war B psychological nervousnessC hatred of

45、foreigners D open, can-do spirit34. With the end of the Cold War, Germany is expected to_ .A remain under the umbrella of the U SB assume a new national prideC become the financial center of EuropeD have surges of rightist killings35. The unique experiment of European Union requires Germany to_ .A e

46、nter a post-national eraB return to the old proud FatherlandC abandon sovereignty and governmentD seek a shifting identityText 4For many years, and discussion of reparations to compensate the descendants of African slaves for 246 years of bondage and another century of legalized discrimination was d

47、ismissed.Opponents contend that the fledgling reparations movement overlooks many important facts. First, the assert, reparations usually are paid to direct victims, as was the case when the US gov?ernment apologized and paid compensation to Japanese-Americans interned during the World War II. Simil

48、arly, Holocaust （大屠殺） survivors have received payments from the Germans. In addition, not all blacks were slaves, and an estimated 3 000 were slave owners.Also, many immigrants not only came to the United States after slavery ended, but they also faced discrimination. Should they pay reparations, to

49、o？Or should they receive them？And regardless of how much slave labor contributed to the United States wealth, opponents contend, blacks benefit from that wealth today. As a group, Afro-Americans are the best-educat?ed, wealthiest blacks on the planet.But that attitude is slowly changing. At least 10

50、 cities, including Chicago, Detroit and Washington, have passed resolutions in the past two years urging federal hearings into the impact of slavery. Mainstream civil rights groups such as National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Urban League and the Southern Christia

51、n Leadership Conference regularly raise the issue.The surging interest in reparable heightened sensitivity to the horrors of slavery, in which as many as 6 million Africans perished in the journey to the Americas alone. There also is growing attention being paid to the huge economic bounty, that sla

52、very created for private companies and the country as a whole.Earliest this year, Aetna Inc. apologized for selling insurance policies that compensated slave owners for financial losses when their slaves died. Last summer, the Hartford Courant in Connecticut printed a frontapology for the profits it

53、 made from running ads for the sale of slaves and the capture of runaways. Next month, a new California law will require insurance companies to disclose any slave insurance policies they may have issued. The state also is requiring University of California officials to assemble a team of scholars to

54、 research the history of slavery and report how current California businesses benefited.Proponents of reparations argue that, even for nearly a century after emancipation, in 1865, blacks legally were still excluded from the opportunities that became the cornerstones for the white middle-class.36. T

55、he reasons put forward by opponents of reparations include all the following EXCEPT that .A compensations usually go to direct victimsB blacks who came after slavery ended should not receive compensationsC blacks now are enjoying the wealth they created under slaveryD some blacks were slave owners i

56、nstead of slaves37. Immigrants in paragraph 3 refers to .A Afro-Americans B non-white immigrantsC Japanese-Americans D holocaust survivors38. That the reparations movement is winning support in America is shown in the fact that_ .A federal hearings were held to investigate the impact of slaveryB eve

57、n mainstream civil rights groups were persuadedC growing attention is being paid to the wealth of the blacksD there was more public awareness of the horrors of the whites39. The two private companies that made public apology had_ .Agiven slave owners financial lossesBsold slaves and captured runaway

58、sCoperated insurance and advertisement businessesDdepended on slavery for their existence40. Which of the following is true according the passage？A US government killed Japanese-Americans during World War II.B A new Californian law disclosed slave-insurance policies.C National Urban League is one of

59、 the civil right groups.D Blacks faced no discrimination after liberation in 1865.PART B.Directions： In the following article, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 4145, choose the most suitable one from the list AG to fit into each of the numbered blank. There are two extra choices, whic

60、h do not fit in any of the gaps. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.Gene therapy could be given in advance to protect high-risk patients from the consequences of suffering a stroke or heart attack, suggests a new study. A team of researchers at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston, US, and Queens