08考研英语模拟题一阅读理解部分
Section ⅡReading Comprehension
Part A
Directions:
Read the following four texts.Answer the questions below each text by choosing A,B,C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)
Text1
Can computer reason? Reasoning requires the individual to take a given set of facts and draw correct conclusions. Unfortunately, errors frequently occur, and we are not talking about simple carelessness as occurs when two numbers are incorrectly added, nor do we mean errors resulting from simple forgetfulness. Rather, we have in mind errors of a logical nature—those resulting from faulty reasoning. Now, or at least soon, computers will be capable of errorfree logical reasoning in a variety of areas. The key to avoiding errors is to use a computer program that relies on the recent research in the field of automated theorem proving. AURA(Automated Reasoning Assistant) is the program that best exemplifies this use of the computer.
AURA solves a program by drawing conclusions from a given set of facts about the problem. The program reaches logical conclusions flawlessly as it uses various types of reasoning and solves almost all problems by using sophisticated techniques to find a contradiction.
One generally starts with a set of assumptions and adds a statement that the goal is unreachable. For example, if the problem is to test a safety system that automatically shuts down a nuclear reactor when instruments indicate a problem, AURA is told that the system will not shut the reactor down under those circumstances. If AURA finds a contradiction between the statement and the systems design assumptions, then this aspect of the reactors design has been proved satisfactory. This strategy lets AURA concentrate on the problem at hand and avoid the many fruitless steps required to explore the entire theory underlying the problem.
The chief use for AURA at this time is for electronic circuit design validation, but a number of other uses will arise. For example, there already exist “expert systems” that are specialpurpose programs designed to automate reasoning in a specific area such as medical diagnosis. These expert systems continue to improve and have an indefinite life span. Moreover, they can be duplicated for pennies. A human who can expertly predict where to drill for oil is in great demand. A program that can predict equally well would be invaluable and could be duplicated any number of times.
Will the computer replace the human being? It seems likely that computer programs will reproduce more clever programs and more efficient components. Reasoning programs will also analyze their own progress, learn from their attempts to solve a problem. Such programs will assist, rather than replace, humans. Reasoning assistants will enable human minds to turn to deeper and far more complex ideas, which will be partially formulated and then checked for reasoning flaws by a reasoning program. Many errors will be avoided.21. The author suggests in Par.1 that humans are
\[A\] liable to irrational thinking.\[B\] apt to err in simple counting.
\[C\] prone to memory dysfunction.\[D\] subject to unwitting reasoning.
22. The way AURA works in is to
\[A\] explore the faults in designing.\[B\] discover the bugs in a program.
\[C\] state against the set suppositions.\[D\] make assumptions by reasoning.
23. All of the following are mentioned as areas for AURA EXCEPT
\[A\] electronic engineering.\[B\] detection of fossil fuels.
\[C\] identification of diseases.\[D\] complicated mental logic.
24. All of the following are advantages of expert programs EXCEPT
\[A\] they can be duplicated infinitely.\[B\] they are featured by selfanalysis.
\[C\] they may be enriched in contents.\[D\] they are reproduced almost free.
25. The best title for the text seems to be
\[A\] Practical Uses of Computers.\[B\] Suggested Applications for AURA.
\[C\] The Technical Perfection of AURA.\[D\] Computer Aid to Human Reasoning.
Text2
Half the worlds population will be speaking or learning English by 2015,researchers say.Two billion people are expected to start learning English within a decade and three billion will speak it,says a British Council estimate.
Other languages,such as French,risk becoming the casualties of this “linguistic globalization”.But the boom will be over by 2050 and the Englishlanguage teaching industry will have become a victim of its own success,says David Graddol,author of the report,The Future of English.
Mr.Graddols research was based on a computer model developed to estimate demand for Englishlanguage teaching around the world.The lecturer,who has worked in education and language studies at the Open University for the past 25 years,said the model charted likely student numbers through to 2050.
It was compiled by looking at various estimates from the United Nations Education,Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) on education provision,demographic projections,government education policies and international student mobility figures.The impact of educational innovations and other developments affecting the world population including the Chinese governments policy of one baby per family were also factored in.
Based on its findings,Mr.Graddol has predicted that the world is about to be hit by a tidal wave of English.“Many governments,especially in countries which have relatively recently gained independence,are introducing the teaching of English under a utilitarian banner.”
“But English predominates in the business world,and for such countries to be able to compete for work,including lucrative (profitable) outsourcing contracts,English is being pushed heavily from kindergarten on.”
The potential bonanza (source of wealth) on offer from outsourcing means even maths and science are being taught in English at secondary schools in Malaysia.But demand for English teaching would drop as children progress through academia,and more universities across the world choose to teach in the language.
Mr.Graddol also estimated that the boom would be over by 2050.“Englishlanguage students will be down from two billion to 500 million then,”he said,“Increasingly,as English spread across the globe,more people will become bilingual,even multilingual and such skills are highly prized in business.But Britain has not got the best reputation for learning other languages.”
The report also showed that English was not the only language spreading,and the world,far from being dominated by English,was to become more multilingual.Mr.Graddol said,“Chinese,Arabic and Spanish are all popular,and likely to be languages of the future.”26. It is estimated that in a decade English will be
［A］ actively studied by over 200 million people.
［B］ freely spoken by global English learners.
［C］ popular with over 80% of world inhabitants.
［D］ really mastered by 50% of people worldwide.
27. According to the text,“linguistic globalization” will
［A］ eliminate French from the globe.
［B］ defeat other European languages.
［C］ fail all languages except English.
［D］ make English the biggest winner.
28. David Graddol predicts that the thriving period of English will
［A］ terminate within half a century.
［B］ climax in the middle of the century.
［C］ endure for no less than five decades.
［D］ quit till the beginning of the 2050s.
29. The report “The Future of English” factored in all of the following EXCEPT
［A］ the educational condition and policy.
［B］ the directions and designs of Unesco.
［C］ the statistics about population.
［D］ the movements of overseas students.
30. The writer of the report deems that outsourcing is to
［A］ result in the increase of English subjects.
［B］ lead to the drop of interest in English study.
［C］ account for the further spread of English.
［D］ bring about transition in college curricula.
Text3
In both developed and developing nations, governments finance, produce, and distribute various goods and services. In recent years, the range of goods provided by the government has extended broadly, including many goods that do not meet the economic purists definition of “public goods”. As the size of the public sector has increased steadily, there has been a growing concern about the effectiveness of the public sectors performance as producer.
Critics argue that the public provision of certain goods is inefficient and have proposed that the private sector should replace many current public sector activities, that is, these services should be privatized. Since 1980s, greater privatization efforts have been pursued in the United States.
Concurrent with this trend has been a strong endorsement(support) by international bilateral donor(aid) agencies for heavier reliance on the private sector in developing countries. The underlying claim is that the private sector can improve the quality of outputs and deliver goods more quickly and less expensively than the public sector in these countries.
This claim, however, has mixed theoretical support and little empirical verification in the Third World. The political, institutional, and economic environments of developing nations are markedly different from those of developed countries. It is not clear that the theories and empirical evidence that claim to justify privatization in developed countries are applicable to developing nations. Often policy makers in developing nations do not have sufficient information to design effective policy shifts to increase efficiency of providing goods through private initiatives. Additionally, there is a lack of basic understanding about what policy variables need to be altered to attain desired outcomes of privatization in developing countries.
One study of privatization in Honduras examined the policy shift from “direct administration” to “contracting out” for three construction activities: urban upgrading for housing projects, rural primary schools, and rural roads. It tested key hypotheses applying to the effectiveness of privatization, focusing on three aspects: cost, time, and quality.
The main finding was that contracting out in Honduras did not lead to the common expectations of its proponents because institutional barriers and limited competitiveness in the marketplace have prevented private contractors from improving quality and reducing the time and cost required for construction.
Privatization in developing countries cannot produce goods and services efficiently without substantial reform in the market and regulatory procedures. Policy makers interested in privatization as a policy measure should consider carefully the multiple objectives at the national level.31. It can be inferred from the text that economic purists
\[A\] oppose shifting goods from public to private.
\[B\] support the substantial reform of privatization.
\[C\] approve privatization only in developed nations.
\[D\] have a strict description of public merchandise.
32. Since 1980s, there has been
\[A\] broad international support for privatization.
\[B\] much evidence for privatization in poor nations.
\[C\] endorsement for privatization of donor agencies.
\[D\] maximum dependence on private capital in the U.S..
33. The authorities of developing nations seem incapable of
\[A\] attaining political stability.
\[B\] making major policy shifts.
\[C\] upgrading basic urban economy.
\[D\] enhancing production efficiency.
34. The authors appraisal of Honduras study implies that in developing countries
\[A\] direct administration of services requires more capital.
\[B\] their marketplace system leaves much to be desired.
\[C\] privatization is politically unfit for their economies.
\[D\] new facilities rather than contracting out are needed.
35. The authors primary intention is to
\[A\] outline major hindrance to privatization in developing nations.
\[B\] offer a solution for the future course of economic policy shifts.
\[C\] justify heavier reliance on the private sector in the Third World.
\[D\] explain requirements for privatization of the Third World economies.
Text4
Many critics of the current welfare system argue that existing welfare regulations foster family instability. They maintain that those regulations which exclude most poor husbandandwife families from Aid to Families with Dependent Children(AFDC) assistance grants, contribute to the problem of family dissolution. Thus, they conclude that expanding the set of families eligible for family assistance plans or guaranteed income measures would result in a marked strengthening of the lowincome family structure.
If all poor families could receive welfare, would the incidence of instability change markedly? The answer to this question depends on the relative importance of three categories of potential welfare recipients. The first is the “cheater”—the husband who is reported to have abandoned his family but in fact disappears only when the social caseworker is in the neighborhood. The second consists of a loving husband and devoted father leaves so that his wife and children may enjoy the relative benefit provided by public assistance. There is very little evidence that these categories are significant.
The third category is the unhappily married couple, who remain together out of a sense of economic responsibility for their children, because of the high costs of separation, or because of the consumption benefit of marriage. This group is large. The formation, maintenance, and dissolution of the family is in large part a function of the relative balance between the benefits and costs of marriage as seen by the individual members of the marriage. The major benefit generated by the creation of a family is the expansion of the set of consumption possibilities. The benefits from such a partnership depend largely on the relative dissimilarity of the resources or basic endowments each partner brings to the marriage. Persons with similar productive capacities have less economic “cement” holding their marriage together. Since the family performs certain functions society regards as vital, a complex network of social and legal buttresses has evolved to reinforce marriage. Much of the variation in marital stability across income classes can be explained by the variation in costs of dissolution imposed by society.
Marital stability is related to the costs of achieving an acceptable agreement on family consumption and production and to the prevailing social price of instability in the marriage partners socialeconomic group. Expected AFDC income exerts pressures on family instability by reducing the cost of dissolution. So welfare opportunities are a significant determinant of family instability in poor neighborhoods, but this is not the result of AFDC regulations that exclude most intact families from coverage. Rather, welfarerelated instability occurs because public assistance lowers both the benefits of marriage and the costs of its disruption by providing a system of governmentsubsidized alimony(maintenance) payments.36. The text is written with the aim of
\[A\] analyzing the causes of a phenomenon.
\[B\] discussing the fathers role in the family.
\[C\] advocating reforms in the welfare system.
\[D\] criticizing some attitudes to welfare recipients.
37. Many critics assert it as true that the welfare system is
\[A\] liable for most divorces.\[B\] on the verge of collapse.
\[C\] to become obsolete.\[D\] unjust to the needy.
38. According to the author, the marital stability relies mainly on
\[A\] the steady income of the couple.
\[B\] the balance of both sides property.
\[C\] the difference in spousal contributions.
\[D\] the benefits from government subsidies.
39. All of the following are factors tending to perpetuate a marriage EXCEPT
\[A\] the expenditure of child support.
\[B\] the loss of property upon divorce.
\[C\] the greater consumption of married people.
\[D\] the welfare provision for divorced women.
40. Which of the following best summarizes the main idea of the text?
\[A\] Welfare restrictions mostly account for family unsteadiness.
\[B\] Poor family dissolution is little attributed to helpless fathers.
\[C\] Official welfare payments can slow the growing divorce rate.
\[D\] Lowincome family disruption results in poor welfare benefits.Part B
Directions:
You are going to read a list of headings and a text about views on environmental and resource problems.Choose the most suitable heading from the list A—F for each numbered paragraph(41～45).The first and last paragraphs of the text are not numbered.There is one extra heading which you do not need to use.Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.(10 points)［A］ A bad thing may bring about a good result.
［B］ Pollution and poverty are leading us to destruction.
［C］ The worries of humanists are unfounded.
［D］ God helps those who help themselves.
［E］ Is our planet getting less habitable than it used to be?
［F］ The view on resource crisis deviates from facts.A great many articles and books discussing environmental and resource problems begin with the proposition that there is an environmental and resource crisis.If this means that the situation of humanity is worse now than in the past,then the idea of a crisis—and all that follows from it—is dead wrong.In almost every respect important to humanity,the trends have been improving,not deteriorating.41.
Our world now supports 6 billion people.In the nineteenth century,the earth could sustain only 1 billion.And 10,000 years ago,only 1million people could keep themselves alive.People are now living more healthily than ever before.42.
One would expect lovers of humanity—people who hate war and worry about famine in Africa—to jump with joy at this extraordinary triumph of the human mind and human organization over the raw forces of nature.Instead,they lament (feel sorrow for) that there are so many human beings,and wring their hands about the problems that more people inevitably bring,and the problem that resources will be further diminished.43.
It is amazing but true that a resource shortage resulting from population or income growth usually leaves us better off than if the shortage had never arisen.If firewood had not become scarce in seventeenthcentury England,coal would not have been developed.If coal and whale oil shortages hadnt loomed,oil wells would not have been dug.44.
The prices of food,metals,and other raw materials have been declining by every measure since the beginning of the nineteenth century,and as far back as we know;that is,raw materials have been getting less scarce throughout history,defying the commonsense notion that if one begins with an inventory of a resource and uses some up,there will be less left.This is despite,and indirectly because of,increasing population.We dont say that all is well everywhere,and we dont predict that all will be rosy in the future.Children are hungry and sick;people live out lives of physical or intellectual poverty and lack of opportunity;war or some other pollution may do us in.45.
Also,we do not say that a better future happens automatically or without effort.It will happen because men and women—sometimes as individuals,sometimes as enterprises working for profit,sometimes as voluntary nonprofit groups,and sometimes as governmental agencies—will address problems with muscle and mind,and will probably overcome,as has been usual through history.
We are confident that the nature of the physical world permits continued improvement in humankinds economic lot in the long run,indefinitely.Of course,there are always newly arising local problems,shortages,and pollution,resulting from climate or increased population and income and new technologies.Sometimes temporary largescale problems arise.But the worlds physical conditions and the resilience(power of recovering quickly)of a wellfunctioning economic and social system enable us to overcome such problems,and the solutions usually leave us better off than if the problem had never arisen.That is the great lesson to be learned from human history.Part C
Directions:
Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation must be written neatly on ANSWER SHEET 2. (10 points)Disposing of computers, monitors, printers and mobile phones is a large and growing environmental problem. Some 20m-50m tons of “ewaste” is produced each year, most of which ends up in the developing world. In July 2006 new rules came into force in both Europe and California to oblige the industry to take responsibility for it. 46) In Europe the Restriction of Hazardous Substances(RoHS) directive limits the use of many toxic materials in new electronic products sold in the European Union, whereas in California mobilephone retailers must now take back and recycle old phones.
Many technology firms are already eliminating certain chemicals and offering recycling schemes to help their customers dispose of obsolete equipment. 47) Yet there is a wide variation in just how green different companies are, according to Greenpeace, an environmental lobby group that launched a new ewaste campaign in August 2006. It has ranked the top mobilephone and PCmakers based on their progress in eliminaling chemicals and in taking back and recycling products.
The RoHS rules ban products containing any more than trace amounts of lead, mercury, cadmium and other hazardous substances, including some nasty materials called brominated flameretardants(BFRs). 48) To do well in Greenpeaces rankings, firms must make sure both products and production processes are free of polyvinyl chloride(PVC) and some BFRs that are not on the RoHS list. Greenpeace also wants companies to adopt a “precautionary principle” and avoid chemicals if their environmental impact is uncertain.
Although not everyone agrees with Greenpeaces methodology, its ranking still has some merit. Nokia does well: the worlds biggest handsetmaker has already got rid of PVC from its products and will eliminate all BFRs from next year. But, Greenpeace grumbles, it is not sufficiently “precautionary” in other areas. 49) Dell, however, scores well in this regard and on recycling, but loses marks for not having phased out PVC and BFRs yet, though it has set a deadline for doing so.
Perhaps the biggest surprise is the poor rating of Apple. The company insists that it has a strong record in recycling and has eliminated BFRs and PVC from the main plastic parts in its products. 50) It scores badly because it has not eliminated such chemicals altogether, has not set time limits for doing so, does not provide a full list of regulated substances and is insufficiently precautionary for Greenpeaces tastes. As for recycling, the 9,500 tons of electronics Apple says it has recycled since 1994 is slight given the amount of equipment the firm sells, says Greenpeace. Alas for Apple, whatever the pros and cons(advantages and disadvantages) of Greenpeaces ranking criteria, consumers are likely to be influenced by it anyway.
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