1、考研英语（二）模拟试卷 157 及答案解析(总分：136.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Use of English(总题数：2，分数：80.00)1.Section I Use of EnglishDirections: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D.（分数：40.00）_Warren Buffett, who will host Berkshire Hathaways annual shareholders meeting on
2、May 3rd, is an icon of American capitalism. At 83, he also epitomizes a striking demographic【C1】_: for highly skilled people to go on working well into【C2】_was once thought to be old age. Across the rich world,well-educated people【C3】_work longer than the less-skilled. Some 65% of American men aged
3、62-74 with a professional degree are in the【C4】_, compared with 32% of men with only a high-school certificate. In the European Union the pattern is similar. This【C5】_is part of a deepening divide between the well-educated【C6】_and the unskilled poor that is slicing【C7】_all age groups. Rapid innovati
4、on has raised the incomes of the highly skilled while【C8】_those of the unskilled. Those at the top are working longer hours each year than those at the bottom.【C9】_the well-qualified are extending their working lives, compared with those of less-educated people. The【C10】_, for individuals and societ
5、y,are profound. The world is on the【C11】_rise in the number of old people, and they will live longer than ever before.【C12】_the next 20 years the global population of those aged 65 or more will almost double, from 600m to 1.1 billion. The【C13】_of the 20th century, when greater longevity translated i
6、nto more years in retirement【C14】_more years at work, has persuaded many observers that this shift will【C15】_slower economic growth and “secular stagnation“ , while the【C16】_ranks of pensioners will bust government budgets. But the notion of a sharp division between the working young and the【C17】_ol
7、d misses a new trend, the【C18】_gap between the skilled and the unskilled. Employment rates are falling among younger unskilled people,【C19】_older skilled folk are working longer. The divide is most extreme in America, where well-educated baby-boomers are【C20】_retirement while many less-skilled young
8、er people have dropped out of the workforce.（分数：40.00）(1).【C1】（分数：2.00）A.sightB.trendC.signD.track(2).【C2】（分数：2.00）A.whatB.thatC.whenD.where(3).【C3】（分数：2.00）A.decreasinglyB.incidentallyC.desperatelyD.increasingly(4).【C4】（分数：2.00）A.houseB.collegeC.workforceD.retirement(5).【C5】（分数：2.00）A.gapB.similari
9、tyC.conceptD.phenomenon(6).【C6】（分数：2.00）A.healthyB.well-offC.brightD.elderly(7).【C7】（分数：2.00）A.intoB.amongC.fromD.through(8).【C8】（分数：2.00）A.decliningB.squeezingC.depressingD.suppressing(9).【C9】（分数：2.00）A.AndB.ButC.SoD.Even(10).【C10】（分数：2.00）A.reasonsB.substancesC.consequencesD.causes(11).【C11】（分数：2.
10、00）A.interestingB.exaggeratingC.unsurprisingD.staggering(12).【C12】（分数：2.00）A.OverB.AboutC.OnD.Until(13).【C13】（分数：2.00）A.resultB.exampleC.experienceD.past(14).【C14】（分数：2.00）A.apart fromB.rather thanC.in spite ofD.regardless of(15).【C15】（分数：2.00）A.turn toB.lean toC.tend toD.lead to(16).【C16】（分数：2.00）A
11、.decayingB.crawlingC.swellingD.fading(17).【C17】（分数：2.00）A.idleB.richC.tiredD.lazy(18).【C18】（分数：2.00）A.narrowB.growingC.limitedD.vital(19).【C19】（分数：2.00）A.sinceB.beforeC.whereasD.although(20).【C20】（分数：2.00）A.giving upB.going againstC.driving awayD.putting off二、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：10，分数：52.00)2.S
12、ection II Reading Comprehension_3.Part ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D._Last year nearly one million Americans filed for bankruptcy. That is far fewer than the number who used to seek bankruptcy protection before the law was m
13、ade tougher a decade ago. This reform may have done more harm than good. The aim of bankruptcy law is to give people relief from unpayable debts. Some two-thirds of individual bankruptcies are due to a lost job. Many bankrupts need time to get back on their feet. In the mid-2000s Chapter 7 rules mad
14、e it easy to wash away debts. That irritated credit-card firms, which claimed that spendthrifts abused the system; so in 2005 the law was toughened. The idea was to shift people to a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, where they would have to repay some of the debt. The reform had a big impact. At least at firs
15、t, Chapter 13 filings rose relative to Chapter 7 ones. And a new paper, from Stefania Albanesi, of the New York Federal Reserve, and Jaromir Nosal, of Columbia University, finds that the reform led to a permanent drop in the bankruptcy rate. However, other recent research suggests that this is not n
16、ecessarily a good thing. Will Dobbie, of Princeton University, and Jae Song, of the Social Security Administration, look at Chapter 13 bankruptcies before the reforms of 2005. They link half a million bankruptcy filings to tax records and use a novel technique to analyse them. Because some bankruptc
17、y judges are more merciful than others, people in similar straits may end up with different bankruptcy decisions. This quirk allows some useful comparisons. Messrs Dobbie and Song argue that easier bankruptcy laws have good microeconomic effects. If a creditor may no longer claim large chunks of a b
18、ankrupts salary, that may increase his incentive to workand decrease his need to slip out of town, change his job and close down his bank account. On average, those granted bankruptcy earned over 6,000 more in the subsequent year than similarly-placed plaintiffs who were rejected. The unlucky ones f
19、ound it trickier to service their mortgages. Michelle White of the University of California, San Diego and colleagues found that bankruptcy reform caused the default rate on prime mortgages to rise 23%. Making consumer-bankruptcy law more debtor-friendly could hit Americans in other ways. If lenders
20、 are exposed to bigger losses, some argue, interest rates for such things as creditcards are bound to rise. But that danger can be overstated. Credit-card companies may be reluctant to charge rates higher than their competitors lest they attract more customersthose not put off by high rates because
21、they know that, with luck, they wont have to pay their debts back.（分数：10.00）(1).According to Paragraph 1, bankruptcy law is designed to_.（分数：2.00）A.protect American banksB.abolish individual debtsC.help unemployed peopleD.alleviate debtors burden(2).Credit-card firms were angry because_.（分数：2.00）A.l
22、egislators abused their authorityB.debtors controlled the law systemC.laws made it easy to pay off debtsD.some regulations did harm to them(3).The word “straits“ (Line 5, Para. 3) is closest in meaning to_.（分数：2.00）A.channelsB.plightsC.contextsD.phenomena(4).Dobbie and Song believe that easier bankr
23、uptcy laws_.（分数：2.00）A.may stimulate the debtorsB.will do more harm than goodC.may increase bankers incentiveD.will raise peoples average salary(5).Creditors are unlikely to raise their rates because_.（分数：2.00）A.they are restricted by the lawB.consumers cant afford the debtsC.they are stuck in fierc
24、e competitionD.customers will not pay their debts backEconomic refugees have traditionally lined up to get into America. Lately, they have been lining up to leave. In the past few months, half a dozen biggish companies have announced plans to merge with foreign partners and in the process move their
25、 corporate homes abroad. The motive is simple; corporate taxes are lower in Ireland, Britain and, for that matter, almost everywhere else than they are in America. In Washington, D. C. , policymakers have reacted with indignation. Jack Lew, the treasury secretary, has questioned the companies patrio
26、tism and called on Congress to outlaw such transactions. His fellow Democrats are eager to oblige, and some Republicans are willing to listen. The proposals are misguided. Tightening the rules on corporate “inversions“ , as these moves are called, does nothing to deal with the reason why so many fir
27、ms want to leave; America has the rich worlds most dysfunctional corporate-tax system. It needs fundamental reform, not new complications. Americas corporate tax has two horrible flaws. The first is the tax rate, which at 35% is the highest among the 34 mostly rich-country members of the OECD. Yet i
28、t raises less revenue than the OECD average thanks to countless loopholes and tax breaks aimed at everything from machinery investment to NASCAR race tracks. Last year these breaks cost $ 150 billion in forgone revenue, more than half of what America collected in total corporate taxes. The second fl
29、aw is that America levies tax on a companys income no matter where in the world it is earned. In contrast, every other large rich country taxes only income earned within its borders. Here, too, Americas system is absurdly ineffective at collecting money. Firms do not have to pay tax on foreign profi
30、ts until they bring them back home. Not surprisingly, many do not: American multinationals have some $ 2 trillion sitting on their foreign units balance-sheets, and growing. All this imposes big costs on the economy. The high rate discourages investment and loopholes distort it, because decisions ar
31、e driven by tax considerations rather than a projects economic merits. The tax rate companies actually pay varies wildly, depending on their type of business and the creativity of their lawyers; some pay close to zero, others the full 35%. But as other countries chopped their rates and Americas stay
32、ed the same, the incentive to flee grew. A possible solution is to lower the corporate rate, eliminate tax breaks and move America from a worldwide system to a territorial one.（分数：10.00）(1).Many corporations decide to withdraw from America because of_.（分数：2.00）A.low corporate tax rateB.enormous tax
33、pressureC.intense domestic competitionD.numerous economic refugees(2).According to Paragraph 2, the act of some companies has_.（分数：2.00）A.overstepped state lawsB.annoyed patriotic groupsC.aroused public indignationD.irritated government officials(3).The author suggests that the corporate-tax system
34、in America is_.（分数：2.00）A.misguidedB.complicatedC.incompleteD.fundamental(4).We can infer from Paragraph 4 that_.（分数：2.00）A.some tax reduction in America might be irrationalB.most rich countries in OECD have sound tax systemsC.Americas corporate tax rate is the highest in the worldD.American firms r
35、aise less revenue than other countries(5).Which of the following would be the best title for the text?（分数：2.00）A.Corporate Tax in America: Time to ReformB.The Questionable Tax Breaks in AmericaC.Corporations in America: Time to LeaveD.The Hopeless Corporate Tax in AmericaEven before economist Howard
36、 Davies thinking where to put extra airport capacity in Britain, rejecting the idea of building a big new hub in the Thames Estuary, the backlash had begun. Boris Johnson, the mayor of London and an enthusiastic supporter of the Thames plan, spluttered in advance, then branded the decision “shortsig
37、hted“. NIMBYs opposing the expansion of Heathrow and Gatwick groaned, knowing that the remaining options all involve building or extending runways at one of those airports. Sir Howards final recommendation is sure to run into heavy fire. To make matters worse, he and his team must hazard a guess abo
38、ut the future of air travel. Heathrow and Gatwick are both full, or close to it, and want to expand. But the two airports presently serve quite different parts of the market. Some 37% of passengers at Heathrow transfer between flights. Nearly a third of its customers are on business. By contrast, on
39、ly 13% of Gatwicks customers are business travellers. Most are going on holiday. Just 7% transfer therea proportion that has fallen by half over the past decade. Heathrows shiny new Terminal 2, which opened in June, is full of expensive shops and restaurants run by Michelin-starred cooks to entice r
40、ich passengers. At Gatwick, recent improvements reflect its popularity with holiday goers: a wider lane at security gate has been set aside for families, while an area in the southern terminal is now reserved for elderly passengers, with comfortable seats and a small duty-free shop. The airports man
41、agers also hold entirely different views about the way the airline industry will develop, and its place in the broader economy. Much of the argument for expanding Heathrow rests on the idea that hub airports are, and will remain, vital. Without further expansion, boosters argue, fewer flights to dis
42、tant places such as Wuhan and Xiamen will be available to businessmen. If the capacity plight persists, domestic flights are more likely to be delayed or cancelled. European airports will pick up those passengers instead. “Thats our GDP leaking out,“ says Jon Proudlove, the general manager of air-tr
43、affic control at Heathrow. Not surprisingly, Gatwick takes a different view. Over the past ten years the growth of low-cost airlines has been explosive, points out Sir Roy McNulty, chairman of the Gatwick group. People are travelling in different ways, with more “self-connecting“ to keep costs down.
44、 Although connections with emerging markets are important, Europe and North America will remain Britains largest trading partners, he argues. London will be a destination in its own right.（分数：10.00）(1).Howard Daviess plan to expand the airport has_.（分数：2.00）A.caused great concernB.gained public reco
45、gnitionC.aroused strong oppositionD.received enthusiastic support(2).Heathrow and Gatwick are different in terms of_.（分数：2.00）A.scale and capacity of passengersB.the proportion of foreign touristsC.passengers power of consumptionD.passengers nature and destination(3).It can be inferred from Paragrap
46、h 3 that_.（分数：2.00）A.Michelin restaurants are popular around the worldB.Heathrows Terminal 2 aims at high-end customersC.Gatwick airport is designed to attract all passengersD.both Heathrow and Gatwick cater to public demand(4).Domestic flights at Heathrow may be cancelled if_.（分数：2.00）A.the airport
47、 enlarges its scaleB.there are too few passengersC.the airport remains its current sizeD.a new airport wont be constructed(5).In regard of the future of the airport, Roy McNulty seems to feel_.（分数：2.00）A.confidentB.perplexedC.concernedD.indifferentEva Ullmann took her masters degree in 2002 on the p
48、art that humour has to play in psychotherapy, and became hooked on the subject. In 2005 she founded the German Institute for Humour in Leipzig. It is dedicated to “the combination of seriousness and humour“. She offers lectures, seminars and personal coaching to managers, from small firms to such corporate giants as Deutsche Bank and Telekom. Her latest project is to help train medical students and doctors. There is nothing p
