专业英语八级-阅读理解(十二)及答案解析.doc

1、专业英语八级-阅读理解(十二)及答案解析 (总分：98.98，做题时间：90分钟)一、BREADING COMPREH(总题数：0，分数：0.00)二、BTEXT A/B(总题数：1，分数：29.00)The economy stopped shrinking a year ago, but Americas unemployment problem is as big as ever. The official jobless rate was 9.5% in July, and would be higher still had many people not given up searc

2、hing for work. Some 45% of the unemployed have been out of a job for more than six months the highest proportion since the 1930s. And judging by the recent rise in applications for unemployment benefits, the situation may soon get worse rather than better.Why is joblessness still so high? The prevai

3、ling view among policymakers is that unemployment is a painful reflection of the economys weakness. Americans are out of work because the slump was deep and the recovery has been lackluster. Stronger demand will eventually solve the problem.The main point of contention is whether policymakers should

4、 try to speed up that process with yet more fiscal or monetary stimulus. On the congressional campaign trail Republicans tout high unemployment as proof that stimulus has failed, while Democrats, though they dare not use the S word, argue that more must be done to prop up growth. At their annual gat

5、hering in Jackson Hole this week, Federal Reserve officials are chewing over when and how the Fed might try to boost the feeble jobs market by printing more money to buy government bonds.This focus on stimulus is understandable. Americas economy is still operating well below its potential and there

6、is little doubt that most of the rise in unemployment is the direct result of this. But unemployment is high for other reasons too ones largely neglected in the current debate. Thanks to the scale and nature of the housing and financial bust, the labour market has almost certainly become less effici

7、ent at matching the supply of jobseekers with the demand for workers.People saddled with mortgages worth more than their homes are less able to move in pursuit of new jobs. The skills of those out of work disproportionately low- and medium-skilled men in construction and manufacturing may not be tho

8、se that employers now need. Extensions of unemployment insurance by Congress have been necessary but have also reduced incentives to seek work quickly. And long periods of joblessness in themselves make people less employable. All this erodes Americas famed flexibility.If Americas labour market is l

9、ess efficient, the countrys structural or natural rate of unemployment will be higher. The IMF now reckons it may have risen from 5% before the crisis to 6-6.75%. If so, around one-third of the rise in Americas joblessness is impervious to the business cycle and cannot be solved by boosting demand.

10、That possibility suggests that the debate over more stimulus is important, but insufficient. America needs a more comprehensive strategy to combat joblessness. But what exactly should it include? Much of what economists know about structural unemployment has been gleaned from the sorry history of co

11、ntinental Europe, where fat benefits and rigid firing rules dulled labour-market efficiency. That experience mostly offers pointers to what not to do, from adding to employers regulatory burdens to letting the long-term jobless shift to the disability rolls.Getting the to-do list right is trickier,

12、not least because misguided meddling could make unemployment worse. But two avenues seem worth pursuing. The first is a more determined effort to help those trapped in negative equity to restructure the mortgages on their homes an area where the Obama administration has been notably timid. The dire

13、figures for house sales during July, released this week, show how urgent this is. Legal changes, such as a revision to the bankruptcy code that allowed .judges to reduce mortgage debt, could help. The second line of attack is to overhaul schemes that help workers retrain and encourage them to search

14、 for work. That need not mean more spending (though America does spend a lot less than other rich countries on such active labour-market policies). The bigger problem is that existing schemes are fragmented and often ineffective.The speed of the recovery will still be the main influence on the joble

15、ss rate. But if a chunk of Americas unemployment is structural, its policymakers need urgently to think beyond stimulus measures, and also to adopt more targeted policies to help the millions stuck in the wrong place with the wrong skills. Otherwise, even a return to brisk economic growth (something

16、 that scarcely looks likely right now) will not be enough to rescue them from the breadline.（分数：28.98）(1).According to paragraph 1, the following statements are true EXCEPT A. many unemployed people gave up finding jobs. B. many people have been out of work for more than six months. C. more people a

17、re applying for unemployment insurance. D. the official jobless rate has been at its lowest since last year.（分数：4.83）A.B.C.D.(2).We can conclude from paragraph 3 that Republicans and Democrats A. disagree on what to do next if stimulus plan fails. B. reach consensus on the inefficiency of the presen

18、t stimulus plan. C. decide to speed up the recovery with more stimulus plan. D. discuss the details of stimulus plan to enhance its function.（分数：4.83）A.B.C.D.(3).Which of the following is NOT a reason for the low efficiency of the labour market at matching supply of jobseekers with the demand for wo

19、rkers? A. Skills of jobseekers do not match demands of employers. B. People with unemployment insurance are not eager to find jobs. C. People become less movable burdened with home loans. D. People out of work for long do not want to go back to work.（分数：4.83）A.B.C.D.(4).Which of the following is clo

20、sest in meaning to impervious? (Line 4, Para.6) A. Unaffected (by). B. Caused (by). C. Stimulated (by). D. Explained (by).（分数：4.83）A.B.C.D.(5).To help people trapped in negative equity, it is advisable A. they be allowed to sell their homes to the banks. B. they be guaranteed work opportunities to p

21、ay their debts C. they be encouraged to move to places where they can find jobs. D. they be permitted to pay less to the bank.（分数：4.83）A.B.C.D.(6).Which category of writing does the review belong to? A. Narration. B. Description. C. Persuasion. D. Exposition.（分数：4.83）A.B.C.D.三、BTEXT B/B(总题数：1，分数：20.

22、00)When you carry a cell phone, it is constantly sending signals about where you are. It pings nearby cellphone towers about every seven seconds so it can be ready to make and receive calls. When it does, the phone is also telling the company that owns the towers where you are at that moment data th

23、e company then stores away indefinitely. There is also a second kind of locational data that phone companies have, thanks to a GPS chip that is embedded in most smart phones now. This is even more accurate unlike the towers, which can only pinpoint a general area where you may be. GPS can often reve

24、al exactly where you are at any given moment within a matter of meters.There are some good reasons for this, which is why the government is actually forcing the phone companies to do a better job of knowing where you are. In the name of improving emergency services, the Federal Communications Commis

25、sion will require phone companies to meet benchmarks for how closely they can pinpoint a callers location.Not surprisingly, law enforcement has found this sort of data extremely bandy. Prosecutors are increasingly using cellphone records to show that a suspect was near the scene of a crime or not wh

26、ere he claimed to be.The federal governments position is that it should be able to get most of this data if it decides it is relevant to an investigation, with no need for a search warrant. If the government needs a warrant, it would have to show a judge evidence that there was probable cause to bel

27、ieve that the cellphone user committed a crime an important level of protection. Without this requirement, the government can get locational data pretty much anytime it wants.It is not hard to imagine that the government could also one day use cell-phone data to stifle dissent. Cellphone records cou

28、ld tell them who attended an antigovernment rally. It could also tell them who is going into the opposition partys headquarters or into the home of someone they have questions about. Cellphone data may be the most efficient way ever invented for a government to spy on its people since people are pla

29、nting the devices on themselves and even paying the monthly bills. The KGB never had anything like it.And, indeed, the U.S. government already appears to be sweeping up a lot of data from completely innocent people. The ACLU recently told Congress of a case in which, while looking for data on a susp

30、ect, the FBI apparently used a dragnet approach and took data on another 180 people. The FBI has said that if it does happen to gather data on innocent people in the course of conducting an investigation, it keeps that information for as long as 20 years.（分数：20.00）(1).According to paragraph 1, the p

31、hone companies can A. know your position by sending signals to your phones. B. tell the general area you are in but not the specific place. C. track your whereabouts by detecting the signals of your phones. D. store your locational information to sell for money.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.(2).The government be

32、lieves using data gained from cell-phone records is A. convenient to locate the suspect when the crime happens. B. illegal without applying for a warrant. C. justified when involving a serious crime. D. efficient to find out peoples political opinions.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.(3).Which of the following stat

33、ements conveys the authors irony? A. It pings nearby cell-phone towers about every seven seconds. (Para.1) B. .will require phone companies to meet benchmarks for how closely they can pinpoint a callers location. (Para.2) C. Without this requirement, the government can get locational data pretty muc

34、h anytime it wants. (Para.4) D. .since people are planting the devices on themselves and even paying the monthly bills. (Para.5)（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.(4).FBI is mentioned as an example to A. illustrate the process of FBI to investigate into a case. B. prove how the people are spied on by their government

35、 C. rationalize FBIs access to the locational data from cellphones. D. show how the locational data from cellphones are abused.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.四、BTEXT C/B(总题数：1，分数：25.00)Last month, Americas National Law Journal told its readers that employment lawyers are warning lovestruck co-workers to take pre

36、cautions in the office before locking lips outside. The advice came too late for Harry Stonecipher. The boss of Boeing was forced to resign last weekend for reasons that will strike many outsiders as absurd after his board were told of an affair that the 68-year-old married man had been conducting w

37、ith a female employee who did not report directly to him.Inevitably, as the week rolled on, details of the affair rolled out. The other party was reported to be Debra Peabody, who is unmarried and has worked for Boeing for 25 years. The couple were said to have first got together at Boeings annual r

38、etreat at Palm Desert, California in January. After that much of the affair must have been conducted from a distance: Mr Stoneciphers office is at Boeings headquarters in Chicago; Ms Peabody runs the firms government-relations office in Washington, DC. They exchanged e-mails, it seems, as office lov

39、ers tend to do these days, and therein probably lay Mr Stoneciphers downfall.Lewis Platt, Boeings chairman, said that Mr Stonecipher broke a company rule that says: Employees will not engage in conduct or activity that may raise questions as to the companys honesty, impartiality, reputation or other

40、wise cause embarrassment to the company. Having an affair with a fellow employee is not, of itself, against company rules; causing embarrassment to Boeing is. It seems that the board judged that the contents of the lovers e-mails would have been bad for Boeing had they been made public. Gone are the

41、 days when a board considered such matters none of its business, as Citibanks did in 1991 when its boss, John Reed, became the talk of Wall Street for having an affair with a stewardess on Citis corporate jet.At Boeing, a whistleblower is said to have forwarded the messages to Mr Platt. In general,

42、e-mails are encrypted and not accessible to anyone who does not know the senders password. But many firms install software designed to search electronic communications for key words such as sex and CEO. A study last year of 840 American firms by the American Management Association found that 60% of

43、them check external e-mails (incoming and outgoing), while 27% scrutinize internal messages between employees. Sweet nothings whispered by the water cooler may travel less far these days than electronic billets doux.Boeing is particularly sensitive to embarrassment at the moment. Mr Stonecipher was

44、recalled from retirement only 15 months ago, after the companys previous boss, Phil Condit, and its chief financial officer, Michael Sears, had left in the wake of a scandal involving an illegal job offer to a Pentagon official.Mr Stonecipher, a crusty former number two at Boeing, was brought back s

45、pecifically to raise the companys ethical standards and to help it be seen in its main (and affectedly puritanical) market, in Washington, DC, as squeaky clean. Verbally explicit extra-marital affairs are inconsistent with such a strategy, it seems, though they are not yet enough to bring down futur

46、e kings of England.In corporate life, such affairs are hardly unusual. One survey found that one-quarter of all long-tern relationships start at work; another found that over 40% of executives say they have been involved in an affair with a colleague, and that in half of these cases one or other par

47、ty was married at the time. Many a boss has married his assistant and lived happily ever after. Boeing apparently used to accept this: Mr Condits fourth wife was a colleague before they married.（分数：25.00）(1).Mr Stonecipher had to leave his job because A. the strike that happened in his company was a

48、bsurd to outsiders. B. he shouldnt be involved in an affair after he got married. C. his behaviour has caused big economic loss to the Boeing company. D. the board found his affair leading to embarrassment to Boeing.（分数：5.00）A.B.C.D.(2).The author seems to believe that A. Mr Stoneciphers downfall had to do with the exchange of love e-mails. B. Mr Stoneciphers affair