2011年考研英语二真题及答案解析

2011

年硕士研究生入学考试

英语

(

二

)

真题及参考答案

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)

The Internet affords anonymity to its users

，

a blessing to privacy and freedom of

speech. But that very anonymity is also behind the explosion of cyber-crime that

has

1

across the Web.

Can privacy be preserved

2

bringing safety and security to a world that seems

increasingly

3

？

Last month

，

Howard Schmidt

，

the nation's cyber-czar

，

offered the federal

government a

4

to make the Web a safer place-a

that would be the high-tech

5

of a physical key

，

a 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 identity systems. User

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 these

systems that make it possible for users to

11

just once but use many different services.

12 .the approach would create a

，

with safe

13

community.

Mr. Schmidt described it as a

organizations can complete online transactions with

14

，

trusting the identities of each

other and the identities of the infrastructure

15

which the transaction runs

Still

，

the administration's plan has

16

privacy rights activists. Some applaud the

approach

；

others are concerned. It seems clear that such a scheme is an initiative push

toward what would

17

be a compulsory Internet

The plan has also been greeted with

18

by some computer security experts

，

who

worry that the

the Internet

19 .They argue that all Internet users should be

20

to register and identify

themselves

，

in the same way that drivers must be licensed to drive on public roads.

1

．

d

2

．

3

．

ss s ess ss

4

．

er mise al

5

．

ation erence ainment lent

6

．

7

．

ed d ed

8

．

s er e

9

．

t e

10

．

ed buted red

11

．

on

on in

in

12

．

vain effect return

contrast

13

．

d ized ng ing

14

．

n t ence ce

15

．

16

．

d ointed ted

17

．

stly ntally onally ally

18

．

cism nce erence iasm

19

．

able able able ble

20

．

d ted d

Section II

Reading Comprehension

Part A

Directions

：

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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 the 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 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 sinking ship. Often they

，

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

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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 director'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

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to the internet. Newspapers 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 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. B

y saying

-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

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[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 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.

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

phrase

，

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 designed 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

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

California Arts & Architecture magazine between 1945 and 1962 were yet another

homegrown influence on 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 housing 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.

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