1、专业英语八级（阅读）-试卷133及答案解析 (总分：44.00，做题时间：90分钟)一、READING COMPREHENSIO(总题数：11，分数：44.00)1.PART II READING COMPREHENSION_2.SECTION A MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONSIn this section there are several passages followed by fourteen multiple-choice questions. For each multiple-choice question, there are four suggested
2、 answers marked A , B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the best answer._Social circumstances in Early Modern England mostly served to repress womens voices. Patriarchal culture and institutions constructed them as chaste, silent, obedient, and subordinate. At the beginning of the 17th cent
3、ury, the ideology of patriarchy, political absolutism, and gender hierarchy were reaffirmed powerfully by King James in The Trew Law of Free Monarchie and the Basilikon Doron; by that ideology the absolute power of God the supreme patriarch was seen to be imaged in the absolute monarch of the state
4、and in the husband and father of a family. Accordingly, a womans subjection, first to her father and then to her husband, imaged the subjection of English people to their monarch, and of all Christians to God. Also, the period saw an outpouring of repressive or overtly misogynist sermons, tracts, an
5、d plays, detailing womens physical and mental defects, spiritual evils, rebelliousness, shrewishness, and natural inferiority to men. Yet some social and cultural conditions served to empower women. During the Elizabethan era (15581603) the culture was dominated by a powerful Queen, who provided an
6、impressive female example though she left scant cultural space for other women. Elizabethan women writers began to produce original texts but were occupied chiefly with translation. In the 17th century, however, various circumstances enabled women to write original texts in some numbers. For one thi
7、ng, some counterweight to patriarchy was provided by female communitiesmothers and daughters, extended kinship networks, close female friends, the separate court of Queen Anne (King James consort) and her often oppositional masques and political activities. For another, most of these women had a rea
8、sonably good education (modern languages, history, literature, religion, music, occasionally Latin) and some apparently found in romances and histories more expansive terms for imagining womens lives. Also, representation of vigorous and rebellious female characters in literature and especially on t
9、he stage no doubt helped to undermine any monolithic social construct of womens nature and role. Most important, perhaps, was the radical potential inherent in the Protestant insistence on every Christians immediate relationship with God and primary responsibility to follow his or her individual con
10、science. There is plenty of support in St Pauls epistles and elsewhere in the Bible for patriarchy and a wifes subjection to her husband, but some texts (notably Galatians 3:28) inscribe a very different politics, promoting womens spiritual equality: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither
11、bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Jesus Christ. Such texts encouraged some women to claim the support of God the supreme patriarch against the various earthly patriarchs who claimed to stand toward them in his stead. There is also the gap or slippage between ideo
12、logy and common experience. English women throughout the 17th century exercised a good deal of accrual power: as managers of estates in their husbands absences at court or on military and diplomatic missions; as members of guilds; as wives and mothers who apex during the English Civil War and Interr
13、egnum (16401660), as the execution of the King and the attendant disruption of social hierarchies led many women to seize new rolesas preachers, as prophetesses, as deputies for exiled royalist husbands, as writers of religious and political tracts.（分数：8.00）(1).All of the following are characteristi
14、cs of Early Modern England EXCEPT that_.（分数：2.00）A.womens merits were extolled in publicationsB.womens opinions were not askedC.women were subject to their husbandsD.women were often referred to physical and mental defects(2).Elizabethan women writers began to write novel articles NOT because_.（分数：2
15、.00）A.there was struggle against womens subordinationB.they were better educatedC.they were materially independentD.they were inspired by heroines in literary works(3).It can be inferred from the last paragraph that in the 17th century, women_.（分数：2.00）A.had a hard time in striving for their equal r
16、ightsB.made certain progress in their fight for equal rightsC.temporarily lost confidence in fighting for equal rightsD.triumphed over men in fighting for equal rights(4).What is the best title for this passage?（分数：2.00）A.Womens Position in the 17th CenturyB.Womens Subjection to PatriarchyC.Social C
17、ircumstances in the 17th CenturyD.Womens Rebellion in the 17th CenturyAnother milestone on the journey towards digital cash was passed on November 13th. That date marked the emergence from beta-testing in America of V. me, a digital wallet that holds multiple payment cards in a virtual repository. I
18、nstead of providing their personal details and card numbers to pay for stuff online, customers just enter a username and a password. The service is provided by Visa, a giant card-payment network whose headquarters is in the heart of Silicon Valley, close to a host of technology firms which would lov
19、e to get their hands on a chunk of the global payments business. In the short term new technology is actually boosting usage of plastic. Smartphone apps often require users to enter their card details to pay for services. Firms such as Square and PayPal have developed tiny card readers that plug int
20、o smartphones and allow small traders using their software to accept payments cheaply. Ed McLaughlin, who oversees emerging payments technologies at MasterCard, reckons such developments have added 1. 2m new businesses over the past 12 months to the card firms list of merchants. But even if plastic
21、cards eventually go the way of vinyl records, card networks should still prosper because they too are investing heavily in new technology and have several built-in advantages. Visa is betting its member banks can help it to narrow the gap with rivals like PayPal, for instance, which is part of eBay
22、and has grown to 117m active users thanks in part to its use on the auction site. Over 50 financial institutions are supporting the launch of V. me, which accepts non-Visa cards in its wallet, too. MasterCard and others are also touting digital wallets, some of which can hold digital coupons and tic
23、kets as well as card details. Before long all of these wallets are likely to end up on mobile phones, which can be used to buy things in stores and other places. This is where firms such as Square, which has developed its own elegant and easy-to-use mobile wallet, and Google have been focusing plent
24、y of energy. Jennifer Schulz, Visas global head of e-commerce, predicts there will be a shake-out that leaves only a few wallet providers standing. Thanks to their trusted brands, big budgets and payments savvy, one or more card companies will be among them. Card networks are also taking stakes in i
25、nnovative firms to keep an eye on potentially disruptive technologies. Visa owns part of Square, which recently struck a deal with Starbucks to make its mobile-payment service available in 7,000 of the coffee chains outlets in America. Visa has also invested in Monitise, a mobile-banking specialist.
26、 American Express, for its part, has set up a $100m digital-commerce fund, one of whose investments is in iZettle, a Square-like firm based in Sweden. So far few have tried to create new payments systems from scratch. Those that have toyed with the idea, such as ISIS, a consortium of telecoms compan
27、ies in America, have concluded it is far too costly and painful to deal with regulators, set up anti-fraud systems and so forth. Fears about the security of new-fangled payment systems also play into the hands of established card firms. Still, they cannot relax. Bryan Keane, an analyst at Deutsche B
28、ank, points out that rival digital wallets could promote alternatives to credit and debit cards, including stored-value cards and direct bank-account-to-bank-account payments. Big retailers in America have clubbed together to create their own digital wallet and are likely to prompt users to choose t
29、he payment options that are cheapest for the chains, by offering them incentives like coupons. Jack Dorsey, the boss of Square and a co-founder of Twitter, agrees that digital wallets will make the trade-offs between various payment options clearer to consumers and reckons this will force card netwo
30、rks to up their game. They had a major innovation 60 years ago he says, and there have been very, very few innovations since. Some in the payments world might quibble with that but one thing they can all agree on is that the spread of mobile payments will bring many more customers. MasterCards Mr. M
31、cLaughlin claims that 85% of commerce still involves cash and cheques. As mobile purchases take off, more of this activity will move online. The biggest prize of all lies in emerging markets, where a lack of financial infrastructure is hastening the rise of phone-based payments systems such as M-Pes
32、a, which serves Kenya and several other markets. Visa has snapped up Fundamo, which specialises in payment services for the unbanked and underbanked in emerging markets; MasterCard has set up a joint venture called Wanda with Telef6nica, a Spanish telecoms firm, which aims to boost mobile payments a
33、cross Latin America. The payments world is changing fast but the card firms are not about to let rivals swipe their business.（分数：8.00）(1).Which of the following is NOT a feature of digital wallet? (Paragraph One)（分数：2.00）A.It has already emerged in the developed countries by V. me.B.Although it is v
34、irtual, it has the same functions with payment cards.C.It only requires the users to enter a username and a password.D.Its service is only provided by Visa, a card-payment network.(2).What can be inferred from the prediction of Jennifer Schulz?（分数：2.00）A.The future market will be a mixture of digita
35、l wallet firms and card companies.B.Mobile wallets will dominate the payments world after market shocks.C.Though some cards companies survive, they will be replaced at last.D.Mobile wallet firms finally win only because they have more convenient functions.(3).What conclusion can be drawn from the de
36、scription of ISIS?（分数：2.00）A.The benefit that the card firms got from the failure of ISIS was temporary.B.The expensive cost of new payments systems made ISIS go bankrupt.C.As a consortium, it is hard to cooperate with regulators and other aspects.D.The failure of ISIS speeds the replacement of all
37、payment cards.(4).Which of the following best explains the competition between digital wallet and payment card?（分数：2.00）A.Most commerce still involves cash and cheques, so payment cards are hard to remove.B.Phone-based payments systems such as M-pesa will spread throughout the world.C.The joint vent
38、ures combined the innovative firms with card firms will occupy the market all over the world.D.Though mobile payment will cover all over the world, the card firms are not easy to give up the market.My cars gear lever does more than dispense transmission rations. It panders to me. It cajoles and beck
39、ons. It wears out its chrome heart to make my life easier, foras its manufacturers are quick to claimthe company devotes hundreds of man-hours to testing and retesting each possible design and configuration to see which does the job best. Which shape fits most naturally into a human hand? Which cove
40、ring is most pleasing? And which overall look makes your fingers tremble with anticipation? This curious pursuit, reputedly espoused by and entrenched within all of todays major manufacturing firms, is called ergonomics, defined as the degree to which the system has been developed with the human use
41、r in mind. Personally, I like the sound of the word. I wish only that the results lived up to the hype. Recently, for example, I purchased a rowing machine for home exercise. Within minutes of unwrapping my booty, I realized the unit I was so cautiously dissecting did not in any way match the color
42、picture on the box. The assembly instructions hinted darkly that putting the contraption together would be only slightly less complex than building a nuclear reactor. Perseverance paid off, however. After applying equal amounts of time and luck, I was finally able to make my rower. But the only coge
43、nt ergonomic thought that went into the design of this product was the shape of the cardboard container it was packed in. Thats ergonomics in the real world. Take videocassette recorders: VCRs are like snowflakesno two are quite alike. While all are intended to do more or less the same thingsplay, r
44、ecord now, record laterthe actual designs are about as consistent and predictable as a roulette wheel. If you lose or misplace the manual, you end up with little more than a digital clock. And then there is the ubiquitous microwave oven. What do those low, medium and high settings really hint at? Sh
45、ow me a consumer sufficiently schooled in the effect of microwave transmissions on food molecules to properlyand intuitivelyselect the optimal setting! Only small children, bless then, seem to know how to make these machines bend to their wills. Put it on high and blast it, says my nine-year-old nie
46、ce. I do. It works. Can anyone truly say the modern car is designed with the human user in mind? Recall the last time you plopped behind the wheel of your neighbors new vehicle. How quickly did you find the knob that popped open the bonnet or the hood? Were you able to adjust the left-side mirror wi
47、thout adjusting the right-side mirror, activating the headlight washers or wipers, or possibly lowering the convertible top? Did you know which lever to push or pull to slide the seat forward without simultaneously upsetting the angle of the seat back or exploding the pneumatically pressured back-su
48、pport? As with most of todays products, the only thing we really know about car seats is that, given the correct incentive, they will move. Beyond that, youand your ergonomically inspired intuitionare completely on your own.（分数：6.00）(1).According to the passage, the authors attitude to ergonomics is_.（分数：2.00）A.apprehensiveB.bemusedC.affectionateD.fervent(2).It can be inferred from the third paragraph that_.（分数：2.00）A.ergonomics is nothing but an illusionB.the p
