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专业英语八级考试真题
(4)
阅读理解
B
SECTION B
TEXT E
First read the
question.
31. The purpose
of the passage is to ___.
A. review some
newly-published interior-design books
B.
explore the potential market for interior-design
books
C. persuade people to buy
some good books
D. stress the importance of
reading good books
Now go through
TEXT E quickly to answer question 31.
Do your
relationships keep failing? When you leave your
home in
the morning are you already
feeling stressed? Is there no time in your life
for fun any mor e? Cancel your
appointment with the doctor. What you
need is a good interior-des ign book.
Publishers have created a new genre
of
books for the home, titles that go beyond paint
charts and superficial
style and
instead show you how your home can be transformed
and even
heal your life.
Dawna Walter is
one of the authors leading the way in Britain with
her boo k Organized Living that
attempts to show how even a tidy sock
drawer can improve the quality of your
life. Walter is the owner of the
Holding Company, a shop on
London
’
s Kings Road which
sells hundreds
of
storage
ideas
for
the
home.
It
has
been
such
a
hit
that
Walter
is
planning to open four new
outlets in the near fu ture. Born in America,
Dawna
Walter
is
a
fast
talker,
a
self-confessed
perfectio
nist,
and
a
tidiness
fundamentalist. “If it takes 10 minutes for you to
find a matching
pair of socks in the
morning, then you are not in control and your outl
ook
just isn
’
t
any good. Being organized saves you a couple of
hours every
week
and
gives
you
more
time
to
do
the
things
you
enjoy,
”she
explains.
Her book contains dozens of
ideas for streamlining your life. In the
kitch
en
she
recommends
filing
magazine
recipes
immediately,
and
organizing
them
by
ty
pes-of
dishes
or
particular
cooks,
and
using
ice-
cube
trays
to
freeze
sauces
in
individual
portions.
Her
ideas
seem
common
sense
but
nevertheless
require
you
to
be
at
least
slightly
obsessive. CDs are a case in point:
“How often do you w
an t to find one
particular CD and
can
’
t? Now, how much easier
it would be if you p l
aced them in
alphabetical order? That will only take an hour.
Then divide
out th e ones you listen to
regularly into a se
parate section.
”
Another recent book in the British
market was Sarah
Shurety
’
s
Chinese-ins
p
ired
Feng
Shui
For
Your
Home.
Within
14
days
of
publication every copy
had been sold. Shurety
’
s
room-by-room guide to
creating
a
harmonious
living
space,
based
on
the
ancient
Chinese
tradition Feng Shui, contains rules for
how to create the best atmosphere
and
promote health, wealth and happiness. Dinner party
hosts ar e told to
place
quiet people
at
the head
of
the
table
and
facing
the door
so tha
t
they
will
feel
more
garrulous; those
looking
for romance learn to
place
pink
f
lowers by
their beds;
and
house-buyers
are
warned to beware of
properties
built
on
sloping
foundations
if
they
want
stability
in
their
lives.
The
book
Creating
Space
,
by
Elizabeth
Wilhide,
claims
that
readers
followin
g
its
advice
will
not
just
improve
their
homes
but
transform their lives. Wilhid e
believes that as we increasingly work from
home,
we
need
to
reassess
the
way
o
ur
houses
work(especially
when
there are children in
the household) if we want t o avoid being overran
by
junk and that feeling of “being
mentally weighed down. ” Unfortunately,
she admits, she finds it difficult to
follow her own advice. She sheepishly
confesses
to
having “dumping
zones”
in her
house,
a
handbag
“that
do
esn
’
t bear
looking into”, and a car
“that
’
s a no-
go
zone” But she is undau
nted by these
small failures. In the future, she says she is
determined to
tidy up he r own life and
follow the path to stress-free health , wealth and
happiness.
TEXT F
First read the question.
32.
The writer of the passage mainly intends to
___.
A. criticize
Germany
’
s tax
system
B.
help companies ease their tax burden
C.
examine the current corporate tax rates
D.
propose ways to reform the tax system
Now
go through TEXT F quickly to answer question
32.
One
major
reason
for
Germany
’
s
high
unemployment
and
the
evident
weakness o f business investment is the nature of
the tax system,
which tends to
discourage both individual effort and investment.
Nominal
corporate
tax
rates
are,
in
fact
,
very
high
and
it
is
these
rates
that
potential investors
primarily look at. Ho wever, the actual burden
borne
by companies is not as great as
it might seem, be cause the tax base is
fairly narrow. This combination in
itself tend to encourag e tax avoidance
at
both
the
personal
and
corporate
levels.
Moreover,
by
internat
ional
standards, firms in Germany are still
taxed quite heavily.
A reform of corporate
taxation, therefore, should start by, reducing
tax
r
ates,
cutting
subsidies
and
broadening
the
taxable
base.
The
resulting
positive
impact
on
growth
would
be
reinforced
if
there
were
also a
substantial easing of the net burden.
How
do
the
current
plans
for
a
reform
of
corporate
taxation
measure up to these goals? The overall
tax burden on companies is to be
brought down significa ntly, with the
ceiling of 35 % being set. To
this
end,
a
dramatic
reduction
in
t
he
corporate
tax
on
retained
earnings
is