1、专业英语四级(阅读理解)模拟试卷 3及答案与解析 0 In a dramatic escalation of the anger unleashed by the economic crisis engulfing Greece, communist protesters stormed the Acropolis today as the Euro and world markets plunged on concerns about the debt-choked countrys huge bailout from the EU and the IMF. Fears that the G
2、reek crisis will spread to other countries sent markets reeling around the world today. The FTSE 100 in London closed down 142 points and, in New York, American markets fell by more than 2% as investors worried that a failure to push through austerity measures in Greece will lead to a spiraling loss
3、 of confidence in other indebted countries. In Athens, protesting public sector workers said their action had been prompted by “blind anger“ over the near-bankrupt governments decision to accept the painful policies. The measures, which are aimed at bringing Greeces public deficit within permissible
4、 EU levels by 2014, through a tough cost-cutting regime worth 30bn ( 25bn), have hit civil servants the hardest. Furious Greeks have likened the three-year austerity program and the attendant international monitoring of their public finances, to a foreign occupation. Athens is to receive an estimate
5、d 120bn over the next three years, the biggest bailout ever witnessed. But under the deal the Greek government must also freeze wages, slash pensions and do away with a plethora of bonuses and allowances draconian reforms not seen since the second world war. “We want to send a message to the people
6、of Europe,“ said Panagiotis Pap-ageorgopoulos, a communist party official marching with the protesters. “We can take control of our fate with organized protests so that our lives are not run by the EU and IMF.“ The stunt, which left bewildered tourists stranded outside the gates of the site, kicked
7、off a day of sometimes violent protests by tens of thousands of Greek public sector employees. Amid growing anger over wage and pensions cuts and a rise in consumer taxes, civil servants extended a one-day strike by 24 hours and staged impr-omptu protests. In a prelude to tomorrows paralyzing genera
8、l strike, schools, hospitals and domestic flights were disrupted as public servants stepped up action against the measures. Private sector workers, including air traffic controllers at Athens airport, will participate in the walk-out piling the pressure on the government. Spyros Papaspyrou, who is h
9、ead of the ADEDY union that represents close to half a million civil servants, said “Cutting wages and pensions is the easy option. There are other things the government can do before taking money from a pensioner who earns 500 a month.“ Deepening recession the countrys first in 16 years has already
10、 forced the closure of 65,000 small and medium sized businesses. “Once these latest measures begin to bite there will be a huge reaction“ said bus-inessman Vasillis Stergios. “What we are seeing now are just conscience demo-nstrations, but when people really find it hard to make ends meet and they b
11、ecome necessity demonstrations there will be a social explosion.“ 1 How do the Greeks view the economy-saving program? ( A) They welcome the program very much. ( B) They doubt whether it will work. ( C) They show no special interest in it. ( D) They are angry about it. 2 In Paragraph 4, “occupation“
12、 can be replaced by_. ( A) profession ( B) invasion ( C) nations ( D) investigation 3 According to the passage, the Greek government will face_. ( A) a large-scale strike and demonstration tomorrow ( B) civil servants strike for a week ( C) severe fining by the EU ( D) a boost in economy 4 It can be
13、 inferred that_have suffered the most in the economic crisis. ( A) Greek government ( B) civil servants ( C) schools and hospitals ( D) small and medium sized business 5 According to Vasillis Stergios,_. ( A) the demonstration went unnoticed ( B) the demonstration may escalate to real social upheava
14、ls ( C) there will be bomb threats after the demonstration ( D) the situation will get better and better 5 Many books make me cry when I encounter them for the first time, although fewer these days than during my teens. But its rare that a childhood favorite still has the power to call forth tears.
15、Mostly, I find, the potency of even the most sorrowful childrens book fades with time, like the scent of a floral sachet there might be a little lingering whiff of lavender, a tiny prickle at the back of the eye, but no sign of the once irresistible overflow and puckering plop of tear-drop onto page
16、. There are, however, notable exceptions. Childhood favorites which spin the sluice-wheels for me include Charlottes Web and Jack Londons The Call of the Wild. It seems Im not alone in being a sucker for loyal, intelligent animals including anthropomorphized toys who give everything for the people (
17、and pigs) they love. In fact, unstinting generosity in anyone or anything, especially if it culminates in the donors death, is generally a good recipe for a torrent of reminiscent tears. Shel Silversteins The Giving Tree is a prime example, featuring an arboreal heroine who gives every bit of hersel
18、f, from leaves to apples to, eventually, trunk, to a gradually ageing “boy“. This book generates fierce debate between those who see it as a touching parable of parental altruism and those who want to slap the boy upside the head for his rapacious selfishness. Why doesnt he do something for the tree
19、 once in a while? Would it kill him to bring a sack of compost or a watering can? Sheesh. But the final line “And the tree was happy“ still makes me cry. Doomed first romance, in which the protagonists have been lucky enough to find each other but subsequently suffer the agony of being parted, by de
20、ath or other extremity, is also good for at least two travel-packs of Kleenex. Summer of My German Soldier, a wonderful but profoundly saddening book, features a young Jewish American, Patty Bergen, constantly berated and beaten by her horrible father, who conceals Anton, the escaped POW of the titl
21、e, above her familys garage. Antons kindness helps Patty to discover her own intelligence and strength, and to weather the myriad injustices with which she has to contend, but its hard to think of many other young adult classics in which so many bad things happen to such good people. Similarly, I ca
22、n only reread Dodie Smiths / Capture the Castle narrated by precocious, sensitive Cassandra, who confides her difficulties, mortifications and the pangs of first love to a succession of diaries if reddened eyes and hiccups will not seriously inconvenience me in the three hours after finishing the bo
23、ok. Which childhood tear-jerkers still have the onion effect on you, and why if I may ask? 6 The author believes that_. ( A) many stories can move people into tears ( B) childhood favorite stories lose their power to call for tears when the readers grow up ( C) not many people will remember a sad st
24、ory in their childhood ( D) a few stories for children could move people into tears even when they grow up 7 It can be inferred from the passage that when the author reads Charlottes Web or The Call of the Wild, she_. ( A) would like to be alone ( B) would most likely to be moved by the plot and cry
25、 ( C) would start liking animals ( D) would remember those sad days in her childhood 8 According to the author, The Giving Tree is_. ( A) a touching and sad story ( B) about lovers of apple trees ( C) better than Charlottes Web ( D) not a story for adults 9 Which of the following is FALSE according
26、to the passage? ( A) Charlottes Web is a story for children. ( B) The Call of the Wild tells a story about an animal. ( C) Summer of My German Soldier is a good story book to take with while traveling. ( D) / Capture the Castle is written from a third persons perspective. 10 What does “onion effect“
27、 mean in this passage? ( A) Effects of irritating ( B) Effects of frustrating ( C) Effects of moving ( D) Effects of hardening 10 Finding Nemo may have left local theatres, but in the southern sea, a legion of brightly-coloured anemone fish, or pla cartoon, only recently arrived. For more than a dec
28、ade, the population of anemone fish in the ocean has been shrinking. Thanks to their cuteness, the fish make popular pets and thus they are often harvested from the sea to be sold at fish markets. These little Nemos are quite vulnerable to environmental changes, though. Many suffer from the lengthy
29、tran-sportation times, becoming weak and plagued by disease on their way to the market. Most die a few days after being kept in a fish tank. Yet the demand continues, and hunters comb the seas, scooping them up and selling them to vendors. To make a quick buck, some even resort to the barbaric pract
30、ice of sprinkling cyanide in the water: This causes all the fish in the vicinity, the target ones and passersby too, to pass out temporarily and float to the surface. This makes it easier to harvest the desired fish, though many of the fish thus poisoned will soon die. To cope with the situation, th
31、e Krabi Coastal Aquaculture Centre with the Department of Fisheries, initiated a breeding campaign in 2000 in an attempt to save the species and increase its numbers. “The anemone fish has been threatened severely. We cant let the situation go on like that. Their population has sharply decreased. So
32、me species like the clown anemone fish are on the verge of extinction because they are so popular among fish lovers,“ said Paiboon Bunlipatanon, director of the Krabi Coastal Aquaculture Centre. He said the loss of anemone fish can affect the balance of the underwater ecology, and that we might one
33、day feel the repercussions. Paiboon insisted that he has nothing against keeping fish as pets. Yet he wanted to ask fish fans to be considerate when it comes to what kind of fish they keep in their tanks at what price and to whom? “Personally, I dont have anything against fish lovers who want to kee
34、p these decorative fish as pets. But they should accept the fact that what they are doing can be very damaging to aquatic animals. Its always true, that if there were no buyers, there would be no sellers.“ The aim of the breeding scheme is to return the miniature creatures to their natural habitat.
35、Eventually, the fish will be bred for commercial purposes. Breeding know-how will then be passed on to villagers wanting to run anemone fish farms, as well as academics across the country. With commercial propagation in place, it is hoped that the population of anemone fish in nature will not be dis
36、turbed. Fish traders can buy the clown fish directly from breeders. Unlike fish caught by poisoning, the fish bred at a farm will be healthier and have more chances of surviving in a new environment. “Were pinning our hopes on villagers. If they are skilful in breeding the fish, the anemone fish can
37、 then live happily in the ocean. In addition, the natural environment will not be destroyed,“ the director said, adding that when poachers try to catch the fish, they inevitably ruin the coral reef. The centre has been successful in breeding seven species of anemone fish found in the Andaman Sea and
38、 the Gulf of Thailand. It took the research team three years to fulfill this mission. 11 It can be inferred from the passage that most of the clown fish in the market now are ( A) from fish farms ( B) poisoned ( C) imported from abroad ( D) caught from their natural habitat 12 According to the passa
39、ge, why do fish lovers choose anemone fish as pets? ( A) Because they are easy to be bred in fish tanks. ( B) Because they are colorful and lovely. ( C) Because they are rear species. ( D) Because they are easy to be caught. 13 Whats the meaning of “vulnerable“ in Paragraph 2? ( A) Easy to be influe
40、nced ( B) Harmful ( C) Beneficial ( D) Immune 14 Paiboon is_. keeping fish as pets. ( A) supportive of ( B) totally against ( C) concerned about ( D) indifferent to 15 Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage? ( A) It is recommended that fish venders should buy clown fish from bre
41、eders directly. ( B) To breed anemone fish in fish farms is to keep their number in nature undisturbed. ( C) Anemone fish bred at a farm can survive better in new environment. ( D) The technology of breeding anemone fish will sit in the hands of scientists only. 15 You may think that mom-and-pop sto
42、res are gradually dying out, giving way to chain stores and big business, but you would be wrong. The online shopping platform Taobao is a game changer and has quietly revolutionized the way we buy and sell. Taobao, or “treasure hunt“, recently became the largest e-commerce website in terms of traff
43、ic, surpassing Amazon. It has 190 million registered users and serves the biggest marketplace in the world. Half of Chinas Internet users go to Taobao, either to browse, buy or sell, according to Web information company Alexa. While Taobao borrowed its original business model from eBay when it start
44、ed up in 2003, the student soon became the master. Just three years later, eBay shut down its Chinese site and now Taobao controls about 80 percent of the countrys online shopping market. It charges nothing to list items for sale and makes most of its money from advertising. It also plans to share t
45、ransaction data with its users so they can cash in on buying trends. This allows anyone with an idea and a computer to start a viable business, doing away with the need for significant start-up capital. Instead of opening up a store on the high street selling to passersby, the world is every Taobao
46、users oyster. A friend of mine is a typical example. She opened up a store selling childrens clothing near Nuren Jie, a popular market in Beijing. It wasnt a great success but her online sales through Taobao went ballistic. She closed the store and is now e-commerce only. Effectively, Taobao has bec
47、ome the countrys high street, but with global reach. Since China is the worlds manufacturing base, it is relatively easy for individuals to source cheap goods and sell at a reasonable markup. Micro-stores are opening in their thousands every day and delivering an amazing variety of goods. Among the
48、more bizarre items that have been offered up for sale are perfectly preserved mosquitoes (6 Yuan or $0.88); bottles of confidence (transparent, weightless and odorless); shark fins (banned); coin-sized magnets to detect earthquakes; even tanks and Soviet MiG fighter aircraft. Taobao reminds me of th
49、e London store Harrods and its motto: Omnia Omnibus Ubique “All Things for All People, Everywhere“ . It had an inauspicious beginning in Londons East End in 1834, but capitalized on the Great Exhibition of 1851 (known today as the Shanghai Expo) to become the worlds best-known store, selling ever-ything from alligators to Noel Coward, to yachts and airplanes. Harrods was founded by a grocer and ended up catering to the worlds elite, creating a template for stores around the wo
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