-
2011
年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试
(
英语二
)
试题
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)
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 nat
ion’s
cyber
-czar, offered the federal
government
a
4
to make the Web a safer
place-
a “voluntary trusted identity”
system 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“single
sign-
on”
systems that make it possible for users
to
11
just once but use
many different services.
12
.the approach would
create a “walled garden” n cyberspace, with safe
“neighborhoods”
and bright
“streetlights” to establish a sense of
a
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 each other
and the identities of the
infrastructure
15
which
the transaction runs”.
St
ill, 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 “drive’s
license” mentality.
The plan
has also been greeted with
18
by some computer security experts, who
worry
that the “voluntary ecosystem”
envisioned by Mr. Schmidt would still leave much
of 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.
1
/
13
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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. ntly ntally
onally ally
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erence iasm
19. able able
able ble
20. d ted d
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
boa
rd
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
s
at 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
t
o
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”
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
sinking ship. Often they “trade up.” Leaving
riskier, sm
aller
firms for
larger and more stable firms.
2
/
13
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 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
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.
3
/
13
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 up at the marriage bureaus.
4
/
13
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 more” 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 designed were
small and efficient, rather than big and often
empty.
The
apartm
ents
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 wall
s,
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
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.
[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
[D]was not associated with
efficiency
5
/
13
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 cheerleader’s talk of a
continent facing a “Bermuda triangle” of
debt, population decline and lower
growth.
As well as those chronic
problems, the EU faces an acute crisis in its
economic core, the 16
countries that
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 debate about how
to save Europe’s single currency from
disintegration is s
tuck. 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
counc
ils.
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 rigors; 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,
euro-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
6
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