1998年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语一试题及解析

1998

年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语 试题

Section II

Cloze Test

Directions:

For

each

numbered

blank

in

the

following

passage,

there

are

four

choices

marked

[A],

[B],

[C],

and

[D].

Choose

the

best

one

and

mark

your

answer

on

ANSWER

SHEET 1

by blackening the corresponding letter in the brackets with a pencil. (10

points)

Until recently most historians spoke very critically of the Industrial Revolution.

They

大

41

家

that in

the long run industrialization greatly raised the standard of

living for the

大

42

家

man. But they insisted that its

大

43

家

results during the

period from 1750 to 1850 were widespread poverty and misery for the

大

44

家

of

the English population.

大

45

家

contrast, they saw in the preceding hundred years

from

1650

to

1750,

when

England

was

still

a

大

46

家

agricultural

country,

a

period of great abundance and prosperity.

This

view,

大

47

家

,

is

generally

thought

to

be

wrong.

Specialists

大

48

家

history

and

economics,

have

大

49

家

two

things:

that

the

period

from

1650

to

1750

was

大

50

家

by

great

poverty,

and

that

industrialization

certainly

did

not

worsen

and

may

have

actually

improved

the

conditions

for

the

majority

of

the

populace.

41.

[A] admitted

42.

[A] plain

[B] believed

[B] average

[B] prompt

[B] host

[B] With

[C] claimed

[C] mean

[D] predicted

[D] normal

[D] immediate

[D] magnitude

[D] By

[D] completely

[D] moreover

43.

[A] momentary

44.

[A] bulk

45.

[A] On

[C] instant

[C] gross

[C] For

46.

[A] broadly

47.

[A] however

[B] thoroughly

[C] generally

[B] meanwhile

[C] therefore

48.

[A] at

[B] in

[C] about

[D] for

[D] speculated

[D] marked

49.

[A] manifested

50.

[A] noted

[B] approved

[B] impressed

[C] shown

[C] labeled

Section III

Reading Comprehension

Directions:

Each of the passages below is followed by some questions. For each question there

are

four

answers

marked

[A],

[B],

[C]

and

[D].

Read

the

passages

carefully

and

choose

the

best

answer

to

each

of

the

questions.

Then

mark

your

answer

on

the

ANSWER SHEET 1

by blackening the corresponding letter in the brackets with a

pencil. (40 points)

Text 1

Few

creations

of

big

technology

capture

the

imagination

like

giant

dams.

Perhaps

it

is

humankind’s

long

suffering

at

the

mercy

of

flood

and

drought

that

makes

the

idea

of

forcing

the

waters

to

do

our

bidding

so

fascinating.

But

to

be

fascinated is also, sometimes, to be blind. Several giant dam projects threaten to do

more harm than good.

The

lesson

from

da

ms

is

that

big

is

not

always

beautiful.

It

doesn’t

help

that

building a big, powerful dam has become a symbol of achievement for nations and

people

striving

to

assert

themselves.

Egypt’s

leadership

in

the

Arab

world

was

cemented by the Aswan High Dam. Turk

ey’s bid for First World status includes the

giant Ataturk Dam.

But

big

dams

tend

not

to

work

as

intended.

The

Aswan

Dam,

for

example,

stopped the Nile flooding but deprived Egypt of the fertile silt that floods left -- all in

return

for

a

giant

reservoir

of

disease

which

is

now

so

full

of

silt

that

it

barely

generates electricity.

And yet, the myth of controlling the waters persists. This week, in the heart of

civilized Europe, Slovaks and Hungarians stopped just short of sending in the troops

in their contention over a dam on the Danube. The huge complex will probably have

all the usual problems of big dams. But Slovakia is bidding for independence from

the Czechs, and now needs a dam to prove itself.

Meanwhile, in India, the World Bank has given the go-ahead to the even more

wrong-headed Narmada Dam. And the bank has done this even though its advisors

say

the

dam

will

cause

hardship

for

the

powerless

and

environmental

destruction.

The benefits are for the powerful, but they are far from guaranteed.

Proper, scientific study of the impacts of dams and of the cost and benefits of

controlling water can help to resolve these conflicts. Hydroelectric power and flood

control and irrigation are possible without building monster dams. But when you are

dealing

with

myths,

it

is

hard

to

be

either

proper,

or

scientific.

It

is

time

that

the

world learned the lessons of Aswan. You don’t need a dam to be saved.

51.

The third sentence of Paragraph 1 implies that ________.

[A] people would be happy if they shut their eyes to reality

[B] the blind could be happier than the sighted

[C] over-excited people tend to neglect vital things

[D] fascination makes people lose their eyesight

52.

In P

aragraph 5, “the powerless” probably refers to ________.

[A] areas short of electricity

[B] dams without power stations

[C] poor countries around India

[D] common people in the Narmada Dam area

53.

What is the myth concerning giant dams?

[A] They bring in more fertile soil.

[B] They help defend the country.

[C] They strengthen international ties.

[D] They have universal control of the waters.

54.

What the author tries to suggest may best be interpreted as ________.

[A] “It’s no use crying over spilt milk”

[B] “More haste, less speed”

[C] “Look before you leap”

[D] “He who laughs last laughs best”

Text 2

Well,

no

gain

without

pain,

they

say.

But

what

about

pain

without

gain?

Everywhere you go in America, you hear tales of corporate revival. What is harder to

establish

is

whether

the

productivity

revolution

that

businessmen

assume

they

are

presiding over is for real.

The

official

statistics

are

mildly

discouraging.

They

show

that,

if

you

lump

manufacturing

and

services

together,

productivity

has

grown

on

average

by

1.2%

since

1987.

That

is

somewhat

faster

than

the

average

during

the

previous

decade.

And since 1991, productivity has increased by about 2% a year, which is more than

twice the 1978-87 average. The trouble is that part of the recent acceleration is due

to

the

usual

rebound

that

occurs

at

this

point

in

a

business

cycle,

and

so

is

not

conclusive evidence of a revival in the underlying trend. There is, as Robert Rubin,

the treasury sec

retary, says, a “disjunction” between the mass of business anecdote

that points to a leap in productivity and the picture reflected by the statistics.

Some of this can be easily explained. New ways of organizing the workplace --

all

that

re-engineering

and

downsizing

--

are

only

one

contribution

to

the

overall

productivity

of

an

economy,

which

is

driven

by

many

other

factors

such

as

joint

investment

in

equipment

and

machinery,

new

technology,

and

investment

in

education

and

training.

Moreover,

most

of

the

changes

that

companies

make

are

intended

to

keep

them

profitable,

and

this

need

not

always

mean

increasing

productivity:

switching

to

new

markets

or

improving

quality

can

matter

just

as

much.

Two

other

explanations

are

more

speculative.

First,

some

of

the

business

restructuring of recent years may have been ineptly done. Second, even if it was well

done, it may have spread much less widely than people suppose.

Leonard

Schlesinger,

a

Harvard

academic

and

former

chief

executive

of

Au

Bong Pain, a rapidly growi

ng chain of bakery cafes, says that much “re

-

engineering”

has been crude. In many cases, he believes, the loss of revenue has been greater than

the

reductions

in

cost.

His

colleague,

Michael

Beer,

says

that

far

too

many

companies have applied re-engineering in a mechanistic fashion, chopping out costs

without giving sufficient thought to long-

term profitability. BBDO’s Al Rosenshine

is

blunter.

He

dismisses

a

lot

of

the

work

of

re- engineering

consultants

as

mere

rubbish --

“the worst sort of ambulance c

hasi

ng.”

55.

According to the author, the American economic situation is ________.

[A] not as good as it seems

[B] at its turning point

[C] much better than it seems

[D] near to complete recovery

56.

The official statistics on productivity growth ________.

[A] exclude the usual rebound in a business cycle

[B] fall short of businessmen’s anticipation

[C] meet the expectation of business people

[D] fail to reflect the true state of economy

57.

The

author

raises

the

question

“what

about

pain

without

gain?”

because

________.

[A] he questions the truth of “no gain without pain”

[B] he does not think the productivity revolution works

[C] he wonders if the official statistics are misleading

[D] he has conclusive evidence for the revival of businesses

58.

Which of the following statements is NOT mentioned in the passage?

[A] Radical reforms are essential for the increase of productivity.

[B] New ways of organizing workplaces may help to increase productivity.

[C] The reduction of costs is not a sure way to gain long-term profitability.

[D] The consultants are a bunch of good-for-nothings.

Text 3

Science has long had an uneasy relationship with other aspects of culture. Think

of

Gallileo’

s

17th- century trial for his rebelling belief before the Catholic Church or

poet

William

Blake’s

harsh

remarks

against

the

mechanistic

worldview

of

Isaac

Newton. The schism between science and the humanities has, if anything, deepened

in this century.

Until recently, the scientific community was so powerful that it could afford to

ignore its critics -- but no longer. As funding for science has declined, scientists have

attacked

“anti

-

science”

in

several

books,

notably

Higher

Superstition

,

by

Paul

R.

Gross, a biologist at the University of Virginia, and Norman Levitt, a mathematician

at

Rutgers

University;

and

The

Demon- Haunted

World

,

by

Carl

Sagan

of

Cornell

University.

Defenders of science have also voiced their concerns at meetings such as “The

Flight from

Science and Reason,” held in New York City in 1995, and “Science in

the Age of (Mis) information,” which assembled last June near Buffalo.

Anti-science clearly means different things to different people. Gross and Levitt

find

fault

primarily

with

sociologists,

philosophers

and

other

academics

who

have

questioned science’s objectivity. Sagan is more concerned with those who believe in

ghosts, creationism and other phenomena that contradict the scientific worldview.

A

survey

of

news

stories

in

1996

reveals

that

the

anti-science

tag

has

been

attached

to

many

other

groups

as

well,

from

authorities

who

advocated

the

elimination

of

the

last

remaining

stocks

of

smallpox

virus

to

Republicans

who

advocated decreased funding for basic research.

Few would dispute that

the term applies to the Unabomber, whose manifesto,

published in 1995, scorns science and longs for return to a pre-technological utopia.

But

surely

that

does

not

mean

environmentalists

concerned

about

uncontrolled

industrial growth are anti-science, as an essay in

US News & World Report

last May

seemed to suggest.

The environmentalists, inevitably, respond to such critics. The true enemies of

science,

argues

Paul

Ehrlich

of

Stanford

University,

a

pioneer

of

environmental

studies,

are

those

who

question

the

evidence

supporting

global

warming,

the

depletion of the ozone layer and other consequences of industrial growth.

Indeed,

some

observers

fear

that

the

anti- science

epithet

is

in

danger

of

becoming meaningless. “The term ‘anti

-

science’ can lump together t

oo many, quite

different

things,”

notes

Harvard

University

philosopher

Gerald

Holton

in

his

1993

work

Science and Anti-Science

. “They have in common only one thing that they tend

to annoy or threaten those who regard themselves as more enlightened.”