[考研类试卷]考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷421及答案与解析.doc

1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 421 及答案与解析Part ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)0 Birth, growth, decline, death: it is the usual cycle for people, companies and industries. But the story of violin-making in Cremona in northern Italy,

2、which flourished under such master craftsmen as Andrea Amati, Giuseppe Guarneri and Antonio Stradivari from the mid-16th century to the early 18th, suggests that, for industries at least, there may be life after death.Violin-making in Cremona struggled through the 19th century in the hands of a few

3、carpenters who turned out low-quality instruments. By the 1950s it had died out, says Gio Batta Morassi, a 73-year-old maestro liutaio(master violin-maker). Yet today, in workshops overlooking the citys cobbled streets, more than 100 craftsmen cut and plane maple and spruce to make string instrument

4、smore than in any other European city. Cremona is once again the capital of hand-crafted instruments.A new school to train craftsmen in instrument-making opened in Cremona in 1938, though when Mr. Morassi began his studies in 1950 there were just six students on the course, of whom only one other we

5、nt on to make instruments. But this slight revival was sustained by a growing interest in Baroque music in northern Europe in the 1960s and 1970s, says Hildegard Dodel, a German who studied at the school. It created new demand for instruments made in the traditional Cremonese style.Today Italians ar

6、e a minority among the schools 150 students; 30 are South Korean, 26 are Japanese, six are from China and three from Taiwan. Some will set up shop in the city: Ms Dodel worked for about ten years restoring and repairing instruments in Germany and the Netherlands before returning to open her own work

7、shop in Cremona in 2003.Instrument-making is not an easy life. “I often thought of giving up,“ says Francesco Toto, who moved to Cremona 17 years ago and specializes in making cellos. Wood is expensive, must be seasoned properly and is at risk from woodworm; the maple for a cello costs around 1,500,

8、 for example. Mr. Toto was able to raise his prices after winning a competition, but to maintain quality he makes just four instruments a year. Violin-makers can produce perhaps seven top-quality instruments a year.(Cellos made by Cremonas craftsmen typically cost 15,000-35,000, and violins 8,000-20

9、,000.)Having come back from the dead, Cremonas instrument-makers, like many others in Italian industries, hope that an emphasis on quality, tradition and craftsmanship will keep cheaper foreign rivals at bay.1 The story of violin-making in Cremona implies the industry（A）may undergo revival after a p

10、eriod of death.（B） flourished because of the master craftsmen.（C） may follow the same life cycle as people and companies.（D）may experience a longer life than other industries.2 From the second paragraph, we can learn that Cremona（A）has more instrument workers than any other city.（B） had many carpent

11、ers to make violins in the past.（C） declined because of its carpenters poor handcrafts.（D）once was the capital of hand-crafted instruments.3 Hildegard Dodel believed that（A）the revival of instrument-making was slight and sustainable.（B） Baroque music stimulated the revival of the instrument-making.（

12、C） people in Europe were fond of traditional Cremonese style.（D）Baroque music increased peoples interests in violins.4 Which of the following is true according to the passage?（A）Italians are less educated but more skilled even today.（B） Many students in the training school come from Eastern countrie

13、s.（C） Italians are less interested in training courses traditionally.（D）Traditional Cremonese style is not popular today.5 Many Italian industries today（A）have come back from the dead.（B） are at risk because of the cheap foreign rivals.（C） still focus on quality, tradition and craftsmanship.（D）want

14、to give up the difficult instrument-making.5 The battle to prevent or at least slow global warming has intensified in the past year as scientists have learned more about the magnitude of the problem. One of the leading climate experts, Inez Y. Fung, director of the Atmospheric Sciences Center at the

15、 University of California, Berkeley, recently showed that the earth may soon lose its ability to absorb much of the greenhouse gas that is raising temperatures. The oceans and continents currently soak up about half the carbon dioxide produced by the burning of fossil fuels. In the oceans, the gas c

16、ombines with water to form carbonic acid; on land, plants take in more carbon dioxide and grow faster.But computer modeling done by Fung and her colleagues indicates that these carbon sinks will become less effective as the earth continues to warm. For example, as the tropics become hotter and drier

17、 in the summer, plants will reduce their respiration of carbon dioxide to avoid water loss. Atmospheric measurements over the past decade have confirmed this effect. If the oceans and land take in less carbon dioxide, more will remain in the atmosphere and global warming could accelerate catastrophi

18、cally.Despite these warning signs, the government administration has opposed approval of the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty mandating reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. But nine states in the northeastern U.S. are attempting to sidestep the federal governments opposition by taking act

19、ion on their own. Last August the group reached a preliminary agreement to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 10 percent by 2020. The plan requires approval by the state legislatures, but environmentalists are already hoping that other regions of the U.S. will follow suit. If adopted nationwide,

20、the proposal would lower greenhouse gas emissions by roughly as much as the Kyoto Protocol would have.Steve Howard, chief executive of the Climate Group, is tackling the global-warming problem from a different angle. Founded in 2004, the Climate Group is a coalition of corporations and local governm

21、ents that have voluntarily committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. Members include oil giant BP(British Petroleum Co. PLC), drug-maker Johnson BP, for instance, slashed its energy bills by $650 million over 10 years. “We have seen important evidence about successful emission reduction

22、scattered here and there in the most surprising places all over the globe,“ Howard says. “We are working to bring all of it together so that it forms a body of evidence.“6 Inez Y. Fung has found in the study that（A）the problem of global warming has attracted great attention.（B） the earth cannot acco

23、mmodate the mounting greenhouse gas.（C） the carbon dioxide is the main component of the greenhouse gas.（D）the oceans and continents are able to take in more gas.7 What does “carbon sinks“(Line 1, Paragraph 2)mean?（A）The process of producing greenhouse gas.（B） The gradual process of land submersion.（

24、C） The absorbers of carbon dioxide.（D）The process of forming carbonic compounds.8 Which of the following is true of the reactions of authorities to the global warming?（A）The government decides to rewrite the Kyoto Protocol.（B） Parts of the U.S. will follow the federal governments advice.（C） The U.S.

25、 has approved the new plan of gas emissions.（D）Nine states in the U.S. will paddle their own canoe.9 It is suggested in the last paragraph that（A）the government profited from the Climate Groups gas emission reduction.（B） energy used more efficiently will bring benefits to economy as well as nature.（

26、C） energy bills should be slashed in order to maintain a low level of gas emission.（D）the Climate Group is tackling the problem through accumulating strong evidence.10 Which of the following would be the best title for the text?（A）The Climate Groups Combat（B） Less Fossil Fuels, More Plants（C） Clean

27、Air and Blue Sky（D）Protections for the Climate10 In theory, a government bailout should provide a short-term infusion of cash to give a struggling company the chance to right itself. But in its aggressive dealings with U.S. automakers, most recently General Motors, the Obama administration is coming

28、 dangerously close to engaging in financial engineering that ignores basic principles of fairness and economic realities to achieve political goals.It is now clear that there is no real difference between the government and GM. For all intents and purposes, the government, which is set to assume a 5

29、0 percent equity stake in the company, is GM, and it has been calling the shots in negotiations with creditors. While the Obama administration has been playing hardball with bondholders, it has been more than happy to play nice with the United Auto Workers(UAW). How else to explain why a retiree hea

30、lth-care fund controlled by the UAW is going to get a 39 percent equity stake in GM for its remaining $10 billion in claims while bondholders are being pressured to take a 10 percent stake for their $27 billion? Its highly unlikely that the auto industry professionals at GM would have reached such a

31、 deal if the government had not been watching themor providing the money needed to keep the factory doors open.GM is widely expected to file for bankruptcy before the end of this month. If this were a typical bankruptcy, the company would be allowedg by law to tear up its UAW collective bargaining a

32、greement and negotiate for drastically reduced wages and benefits. Surely, the government wont let that happen. Still, the threat of a contract abolition probably played a role in the unions agreement to cost-cutting measures last week. Its never easy for unions to make concessions, but the sting of

33、 handing back money is being softened by the governments desire to give the union a huge ownership stake in GM.The administration argues that it could not risk alienating the union for fear of triggering a strike that could permanently cripple GM. It also assumes that it had to agree to protect supp

34、liers and fund warranties in order to preserve jobs and reassure potential buyers that their cars would be serviced. These are legitimate concerns. But its too bad that the Obama administration has not thought more deeply about how its bullying of bondholders could convince future investors that the

35、 last thing they want to do is put money into any company that the government hasor couldbecome involved in.11 In its dealings with U.S. automakers, the Obama administration has（A）been hard on shareholders and auto industry labor force.（B） helped struggling automakers to right themselves with a shor

36、t-term cash-infusion.（C） narrowly avoided ignorance of basic principles of fairness and economic realities.（D）successfully saved the automaker-giants while striving for political goals.12 The statement “call the shots“(Line 3, Paragraph 2)is closest in meaning to（A）implement strategies.（B） have the

37、final say.（C） seek compromises.（D）make concessions.13 If it had not been watched by the government, GM would probably have（A）imposed no pressure on bondholders to take the 10% equity stake.（B） cut the percentage of equity stake controlled by the UAW.（C） torn up its UAW collective bargaining agreemen

38、t in an illegal way.（D）launched staff-downsizing and reduced workers wages and benefits.14 It can be inferred from Paragraph 3 that the UAW gives top priority to（A）taking its ownership stake in GM.（B） enlarging the retiree health-care fund.（C） raising workers wages and benefits.（D）validating the con

39、tract with GM.15 To which of the following statements would the author most likely agree?（A）The UAW should be fully satisfied in order to avoid a strike.（B） The administration has given more than enough sympathy to the workers.（C） The unfair treatment can make future investors lose trust in the gove

40、rnment.（D）Legitimate concerns are only tools of the government to achieve political goals.15 Biographies can be wearisome contrivances, often too long and too detailed for their own good. Biographers make the mistake of spending too much time worshipping their subjects. Think of the authoritative th

41、ree-volume life of Robert Frost by Lawrence Thompson, for example, and how the biographer passed, over the many years of its making, from hero worship to intense dislike of the poet he shadowed for almost a quarter of a century. Yes, too long and intense an acquaintance can lead to sourness.As the b

42、icentenary of Charles Darwins birth on February 12th approaches, it is good to welcome a biography which is relatively small, but in no way superficial or meager. Ruth Padel has achieved this feat by writing her great-great-grandfathers life in a sequence of often quite short poems. Through her vers

43、es she seeks to capture the “voice“ of Darwin. Ms Padel embeds many of Darwins own words from his books or his lettersin her poems, and the results tend to give the sense of being jointly authored. Sometimes she shapes entire pieces of quotation into her own poetic passages. If this seems to be a bi

44、t of sly plagiarism, it doesnt feel like it. It feels more like a skillful act of collaboration between the living and the dead, one melding easily with the other.Why does this book work so well? How does it manage to say so much in so few words? Ms Padel seems to have caught the essence of the mans

45、 character, as if in a butterfly net. She enters into his cast of mind, bringing across his hyper-sensitivity, his sense of fragility, his lifelong boldness, and the poems are a sequence of snapshotsoften small, intermittent and delicately imagisticof particularly crucial incidents in his life; of m

46、oments of intellectual illumination.It is not easy to describe a whole life in relatively few words. You need to find some way of filling in the background. Ms Padel has overcome this problem by having paragraphs of notes run, in a single column, beside the texts of the poems so that they can be rea

47、d side by side.And why are poems a good way of illuminating a life such as Darwins? The best lyric poems think of Keats or Shelley, for exampleare moments of sudden insight. And Darwin, throughout, was in the grip of something very similar: a terrible, destabilizing sense of wonder. He sensed hints

48、of the marvelous everywhere he looked. All the sadder thenand this is something that Ms Padel does not explainthat, later in life, the man who carried with him on the Beagle Channel a copy of Miltons “Paradise Lost“ found that he could no longer enjoy poetry.16 According to the author, biographies c

49、an become boring because they are too（A）short.（B） detailed.（C） authoritative.（D）superficial.17 The example of Lawrence Thompson is to show that（A）its most likely that acquaintances dislike each other in the long run.（B） biographers have to show all the goodness of their subjects.（C） over-worshipping the subject might cause emotional changes of biographers.（D）other biographers may criticize the author for showing too much worshipping.18 Charles Darwins biography by Ruth Padel（A）quoted many of Ruths books and letters.（B） used Darwins own poetic