考研英语二真题及答案

2011

年研究生入学考试英语二真题

Section I

Use of English

Directions

：

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered black and mark A, B,

C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)

—

a boon to privacy and freedom of speech. But

that very anonymity is also behind the explosion of cybercrime that has

1

across the Web.

Can

privacy

be

preserved

2

bringing

a

semblance

of

safety

and

security to a

world

that

seems

increasingly

3

?

Last

month,

Howard

Schmidt,

the

nation’s

cyberczar,

offered

the

Obama

government

a

4

to

make

the

Web

a

safer

place

—

a

“voluntary

identify”

system

that

would

be

the

high-tech

5

of a physical key, fingerprint and a photo ID card, all rolled

6

one. The system

might

use

a

smart

identity

card,

or

a

digital

credential

7

to

a

specific

computer,

and

would

authenticate users at a range of online services.

The

idea

is

to

8

a

federation

of

private

online

identify

systems.

Users could

9

which

system

to

join,

and

only

registered

users

whose

identities

have

been

authenticated

could

navigate

those

systems.

The

approach

contrasts

with

one

that

would

require

an

Internet

driver’s

license

10

by the government.

Google and Microsoft are among companies that already have sign-

on” systems th

at make it

possible for users to

11

just once but use many different services.

12

,

the

approach

would

create

a

“walled

garden”

in

safe

“neighborhoods”

and

bright

“streetlights” to establish a sense of

13

community.

Mr. Schmidt described it as a “voluntary ecosystem” in which individuals and organizations

can

complete

online

transactions

with

14

,trusting

the

identities

of

the

infrastructure

that

the

transaction runs

15

.'

Still,

the

administration’s

plan

has

16

privacy

rights

activists.

Some

applaud

the

approach;

others

are

concerned.

It

seems

clear

that

such

an

initiative

push

toward

what

would

17

be

a

license” mentality.

The plan has also been greeted with

18

by some experts, who worry that the “voluntary

ecosystem”

would

still

leave

much

of

the

Internet

19

.They

argue

that

should

be

20

to

register and identify themselves, in drivers must be licensed to drive on public roads.

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ss

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mise

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Section II

Reading Comprehension

Part A

Directions:

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions after each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark

your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40points)

Text

1

Ruth Simmons joined Goldman Sachs’s board as an outside director in January 2000: a year

later she became president of Brown University. For the rest of the decade she apparently managed

both roles without attracting much eroticism. But by the end of 2009 Ms. Simmons was under fire for

having sat on Goldman’s compensation committee; how could she have let those enormous bonus

payouts pass unremarked? By February the next year Ms. Simmons had left the board. The position

was just taking up too much time, she said.

Outside directors are supposed to serve as helpful, yet less biased, advisers on a firm’s board.

Having

made

their

wealth

and

their

reputations

elsewhere,

they

presumably

have

enough

independence

to

disagree

with

th

e

chief

executive’s

proposals.

If

the

sky,

and

the

share

price

is

falling, outside directors should be able to give advice based on having weathered their own crises.

The researchers from Ohio University used a database hat covered more than 10,000 firms and

more

than

64,000

different

directors

between

1989

and

2004.

Then

they

simply

checked

which

directors stayed from one proxy statement to the next. The most likely reason for departing a board

was age, so the researchers concentrated on those “surprise”

disappearances by directors under the

age

of

70.

They

fount

that

after

a

surprise

departure,

the

probability

that

the

company

will

subsequently have to restate earnings increased by nearly 20%. The likelihood of being named in a

federal class-action lawsuit also increases, and the stock is likely to perform worse. The effect tended

to

be

larger

for

larger

firms.

Although

a

correlation

between

them

leaving

and

subsequent

bad

performance at the firm is suggestive, it does not mean that such directors are always jumping off a

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sinking ship. Often they “trade up.” Leaving riskier, smaller firms for larger and more stable firms.

But the researchers believe that outside directors have an easier time of avoiding a blow to their

reputations if they leave a firm before bad news breaks, even if a review of history shows they were

on the board at the time any wrongdoing occurred. Firms who want to keep their outside directors

through

tough

times

may

have

to

create

incentives.

Otherwise

outside

directors

will

follow

the

example of Ms. Simmons, once again very popular on campus.

21. According to Paragraph 1, Ms. Simmons was criticized for

.

[A]gaining excessive profits

[B]failing to fulfill her duty

[C]refusing to make compromises

[D]leaving the board in tough times

22. We learn from Paragraph 2 that outside directors are supposed to be

.

[A]generous investors

[B]unbiased executives

[C]share price forecasters

[D]independent advisers

23. According to the researchers from Ohio University after an outside direc

tor’s surprise departure,

the firm is likely to

.

[A]become more stable

[B]report increased earnings

[C]do less well in the stock market

[D]perform worse in lawsuits

24. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that outside directors

.

[A]may stay for the attractive offers from the firm

[B]have often had records of wrongdoings in the firm

[C]are accustomed to stress-free work in the firm

[D]will decline incentives from the firm

25. The author’s attitude toward the role of outside directors

is

.

[A]permissive

[B]positive

[C]scornful

[D]critical

Text

2

Whatever happened to the death of newspaper? A year ago the end seemed near. The recession

threatened

to

remove

the

advertising

and

readers

that

had

not

already

fled

to

the

internet.

New

spapers like the San Francisco Chronicle were chronicling their own doom. America’s Federal

Trade commission

launched a

round

of

talks

about how

to

save

newspapers.

Should they

become

charitable corporations? Should the state subsidize them ? It will hold another meeting soon. But the

discussions now seem out of date.

In much of the world there is the sign of crisis. German and Brazilian papers have shrugged off

the

recession.

Even

American

newspapers,

which

inhabit

the

most

troubled

come

of

the

global

industry, have not only survived but often returned to profit. Not the 20% profit margins that were

routine a few years ago, but profit all the same.

It

has

not

been

much

fun.

Many

papers

stayed

afloat

by

pushing

journalists

overboard.

The

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American Society of News Editors reckons that 13,500 newsroom jobs have gone since 2007. Readers

are paying more for slimmer products. Some papers even had the nerve to refuse delivery to distant

suburbs.

Yet

these

desperate

measures

have

proved

the

right

ones

and,

sadly

for many

journalists,

they can be pushed further.

Newspapers

are

becoming

more

balanced

businesses,

with

a

healthier

mix

of

revenues

from

readers and advertisers. American papers have long been highly unusual in their reliance on ads. Fully

87% of their revenues came from advertising in 2008, according to the Organization for Economic

Cooperation & Development (OECD). In Japan the proportion is 35%. Not surprisingly, Japanese

newspapers are much more stable.

The whirlwind that swept through newsrooms harmed everybody, but much of the damage has

been concentrated in areas where newspaper are least distinctive. Car and film reviewers have gone.

So

have

science

and

general

business

reporters.

Foreign

bureaus

have

been

savagely

cut

off.

Newspapers are less complete as a result. But completeness is no longer a virtue in the newspaper

business.

26. By saying “Newspapers like … their own doom” (Lines 3

-4, Para. 1), the author indicates that

newspaper

.

[A]neglected the sign of crisis

[B]failed to get state subsidies

[C]were not charitable corporations

[D]were in a desperate situation

27. Some newspapers refused delivery to distant suburbs probably because

.

[A]readers threatened to pay less

[B]newspapers wanted to reduce costs

[C]journalists reported little about these areas

[D]subscribers complained about slimmer products

28. Compared with their American counterparts, Japanese newspapers are much more stable because

they

.

[A]have more sources of revenue

[B]have more balanced newsrooms

[C]are less dependent on advertising

[D]are less affected by readership

29. What can be inferred from the last paragraph about the current newspaper business?

[A]Distinctiveness is an essential feature of newspapers.

[B]Completeness is to blame for the failure of newspaper.

[C]Foreign bureaus play a crucial role in the newspaper business.

[D]Readers have lost their interest in car and film reviews.

30. The most appropriate title for this text would be

.

[A]American Newspapers: Struggling for Survival

[B]American Newspapers: Gone with the Wind

[C]American Newspapers: A Thriving Business

[D]American Newspapers: A Hopeless Story

Text

3

We tend to think of the decades immediately following World War II as a time of prosperity and

growth, with soldiers returning home by the millions, going off to college on the G. I. Bill and lining

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up at the marriage bureaus.

But when it came to their houses, it was a time of common sense and a belief that less could

truly be more. During the Depression and the war, Americans had learned to live with less, and that

restraint,

in

combination

with

the

postwar

confidence

in

the

future,

made

small,

efficient

housing

positively stylish.

Economic condition was only a stimulus for the trend toward efficient living. The phrase “less

is mor

e” was actually first popularized by a German, the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who

like

other

people

associated

with

the

Bauhaus,

a

school

of

design,

emigrated

to

the

United

States

before World War II

and took up posts at American architecture schools. These designers came to exert enormous

influence on the course of American architecture, but none more so that Mies.

Mies’s signature phrase means that less decoration, properly organized, has more impact that a

lot. Elegance, he believed, did not derive from abundance. Like other modern architects, he employed

metal,

glass

and

laminated

wood-materials

that

we

take

for

granted

today

buy

that

in

the

1940s

symbolized the future. Mies’s sophisticated presentation masked the fact that the spaces he design

ed

were small and efficient, rather than big and often empty.

The apartments in the elegant towers Mies built on Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive, for example,

were smaller-two-bedroom units under 1,000 square feet-than those in their older neighbors along the

city’s Gold Coast. But they were popular because of their airy glass walls, the views they afforded

and

the

elegance

of

the

buildings’

details

and

proportions,

the

architectural

equivalent

of

the

abstract art so popular at the time.

The trend toward “less” was not entirely foreign. In the 1930s Frank Lloyd Wright started

building

more

modest

and

efficient

houses-usually

around

1,200

square

feet-than

the

spreading

two-story ones he had designed in the 1890s and the early 20th century.

The “Case Study Houses” commissioned from talented modern architects by California Arts

&

Architecture

magazine

between

1945

and

1962

were

yet

another

homegrown

influence

on

the

“less

is

more”

trend.

Aesthetic

effect

came

from

the

landscape,

new

materials

and

forthright

detailing. In his Case Study House, Ralph everyday life - few American families acquired helicopters,

though most eventually got clothes dryers - but his belief that self-sufficiency was both desirable and

inevitable was widely shared.

31. The postwar American h

ousing style largely reflected the Americans’

.

[A]prosperity and growth

[B]efficiency and practicality

[C]restraint and confidence

[D]pride and faithfulness

32. Which of the following can be inferred from Paragraph 3 about Bauhaus?

[A]It was founded by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

[B]Its designing concept was affected by World War II.

[C]Most American architects used to be associated with it.

[D]It had a great influence upon American architecture.

33. Mies held that elegance of architectural design

.

[A]was related to large space

[B]was identified with emptiness

[C]was not reliant on abundant decoration

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[D]was not associated with efficiency

34. What is true about the apartments Mies building Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive?

[A]They ignored details and proportions.

[B]They were built with materials popular at that time.

[C]They were more spacious than neighboring buildings.

[D]They shared some characteristics of abstract art.

35. What can we learn about the design of the “Case Study House”?

[A]Mechanical devices were widely used.

[B]Natural scenes were taken into consideration

[C]Details were sacrificed for the overall effect.

[D]Eco-friendly materials were employed.

Text

4

Will the European Union make it? The question would have sounded strange not long ago. Now

even the project’s greatest cheerleaders talk of a continent facing a “Bermuda triangle” of debt,

population decline and lower growth.

As

well

as

those

chronic

problems,

the

EU

face

an

acute

crisis

in

its

economic

core,

the

16

countries

tha

t

use

the

single

currency.

Markets

have

lost

faith

that

the

euro

zone’s

economies,

weaker or stronger, will one day converge thanks to the discipline of sharing a single currency, which

denies uncompetitive members the quick fix of devaluation.

Yet the deb

ate about how to save Europe’s single currency from disintegration is stuck. It is

stuck

because

the

euro

zone’s

dominant

powers,

France

and

Germany,

agree

on

the

need

for

greater harmonization within the euro zone, but disagree about what to harmonies.

Germany

thinks

the

euro

must

be

saved

by

stricter

rules

on

borrow

spending

and

competitiveness, barked by quasi- automatic sanctions for governments that do not obey. These might

include threats to freeze EU funds for poorer regions and EU mega- projects and even the suspension

of a country’s voting rights in EU ministerial councils. It insists that economic co

-ordination should

involve

all

27

members

of

the

EU

club,

among

whom

there

is

a

small

majority

for

free-market

liberalism

and

economic

rigour;

in

the

inner

core

alone,

Germany

fears,

a

small

majority

favour

French interference.

A

“southern”

camp

headed

by

French

wants

something

different:

”European

economic

government”

within

an

inner

core

of

euro

-zone

members.

Translated,

that

means

politicians

intervening

in

monetary

policy

and

a

system

of

redistribution

from

richer

to

poorer

members,

via

cheaper borrowing for governments through common Eurobonds or complete fiscal transfers. Finally,

figures close to the France government have murmured, curo-zone members should agree to some

fiscal and social harmonization: e.g., curbing competition in corporate-tax rates or labour costs.

It is too soon to write off the EU. It remains the world’s largest trading block. At its best, the

European project is remarkably liberal: built around a single market of 27 rich and poor countries, its

internal borders are far more open to goods, capital and labour than any comparable trading area. It is

an ambitious attempt to blunt the sharpest edges of globalization, and make capitalism benign.

36. The EU is faced with so many problems that

.

[A] it has more or less lost faith in markets

[B] even its supporters begin to feel concerned

[C] some of its member countries plan to abandon euro

[D] it intends to deny the possibility of devaluation

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