1、2003年武汉大学考博英语真题试卷及答案与解析 一、 Reading Comprehension 0 We are told that the mass media are the greatest organs for enlightenment that the world has yet seen; that in Britain, for instance, several million people see each issue of the current affairs program, Panorama. It is true that never in human hist
2、ory were so many people so often and so much exposed to many intimations about societies, forms of life, attitudes other than those which obtain in their local societies. This kind of exposure may well be a point of departure for acquiring certain important intellectual and imaginative qualities; wi
3、dth of judgment, a sense of the variety of possible attitudes. Yet in itself such exposure does not bring intellectual or imaginative development. It is no more than the masses of stone which lie around in a quarry(采石场 )and which may, conceivably, go to the making of a cathedral. The mass media cann
4、ot build the cathedral, and their way of showing the stones does not always prompt others to build. For the stones are presented within a sell-contained and self-sufficient world in which, it is implied, simply to look at them, to observe-fleetingly-individually interesting points of difference betw
5、een them, is sufficient in itself. Life is indeed full of problems on which we have to or feel we should try to make decisions, as citizens or as private individuals. But neither the real difficulty of these decisions, nor their true and disturbing challenge to each individual, can often be communic
6、ated through the mass media. The distinction to suggest real choice, individual decision, which is to be found in the mass media, is not simply the product of a commercial desire to keep the customers happy. It is within the grain of mass communication. The organs of Establishment(代表官方 ), however we
7、ll-intentioned they may be and whatever their form(the State, the Church, voluntary societies, political parties), have a vested interest(既得利益 )in ensuring that the public boat is not violently rocked, and will so affect those who work within the mass media that they will be led insensibly towards f
8、orms of production which, though they go through the motions of dispute and inquiry, do not break through the skin to where such inquiries might really hurt. They will tend to move, when exposing problems, well within the accepted cliche-assumptions of democratic society and will tend neither radica
9、lly to question these cliches nor to make a disturbing application of them to features of contemporary life. They will stress the “stimulation“ the programs give, but this soon becomes an agitation of problems for the sake of the interest of that agitation in itself; they will therefore, again, assi
10、st a form of acceptance of the status quo. There are exceptions to this tendency, but they are uncharacteristic. 1 According to the passage, the mass media present us with_. （ A） insufficient diversity for information （ B） too restricted a view of life （ C） a wide range of facts and opinions （ D） a
11、critical assessment of our society 2 What effect is it claimed the mass media can have on our intellectual and imaginative development? （ A） They are likely to frustrate this development. （ B） They can form a basis for it. （ C） They can distort our judgment. （ D） They can stimulate too much mental a
12、ctivity. 3 The author uses the comparison with building a cathedral to show that_. （ A） worthwhile results do not depend on raw material only （ B） the mediaeval media had different beliefs （ C） great works of art require good foundations （ D） close attention to detail is important 4 How are the mass
13、 media said to influence our ability to make decisions? （ A） They disturb us by their prejudices. （ B） They make us doubt our own judgments. （ C） They make no contribution in this area. （ D） They make decisions which appear too complicated. 5 The main weakness of the mass media is identified by the
14、author as_. （ A） fear of losing the customer （ B） the diverse views of the contributors （ C） service to the profit motive （ D） trying to cater for a vast range of audience 5 In a perfectly free and open market economy, the type of employergovernment or private should have little or no impact on the
15、earnings differentials between women and men. However, if there is discrimination against one sex, it is unlikely that the degree of discrimination by government and private employers will be the same. Differences in the degree of discrimination would result in earnings differentials associated with
16、 the type of employer. Given the nature of government and private employers, it seems most likely that discrimination by private employers, would be greater. Thus, one would expect that, if women are being discriminated against, government employment would have a positive effect on womens earnings a
17、s compared with their earnings from private employment. The results of a study by Fuchs support this assumption. Fuchs results suggest that the earnings of women in an industry composed entirely of government employees would be 14.6 percent greater than the earnings of women in an industry composed
18、exclusively of private employees, other things being equal. In addition, both Fuchs and Sanborn have suggested that the effect of discrimination by consumers on the earnings of self-employed women may be greater than the effect of either government or private employer discrimination on the earnings
19、of women employees. To test this hypothesis. Brown selected a large sample of white male and female workers from the 1970 census and divided them into three categories: private employees, government employees, and self-employed.(Black workers were excluded from the sample to avoid picking up earning
20、s differentials that were the result of racial disparities.)Browns research design controlled for education, labor-force participation, mobility, motivation, and age in order to eliminate these factors as explanations of the studys results. Browns results suggest that men and women are not treated t
21、he same by employers ad consumers. For men, self-employment is the highest earnings category, with private employment next, and government lowest. For women, this order is reversed. One can infer from Browns results that consumers discriminate against self-employed women. In addition, self-employed
22、women may have more difficulties than men in getting good employees and may encounter discrimination from suppliers and from financial institutions. Browns results are clearly consistent with Fuchs argument that discrimination by consumers has a greater impact on the earnings of women than does disc
23、rimination by either government or private employers. Also, the fact that women do better working for government than for private employers implies that private employers are discriminating against women. The results do not prove that government does not discriminate against women. They do, however,
24、 demonstrate that if government is discriminating against women, its discriminating is not having as much effect on womens earnings as is discrimination in the private sector. 6 The passage mentions all of the following as difficulties that self-employed women may encounter EXCEPT_. （ A） discriminat
25、ion form consumers and suppliers （ B） discrimination from financial institutions （ C） problems in obtaining good employees （ D） problems in obtaining government assistance 7 Which of the following conclusions would the author be most likely to agree with about discrimination against women by private
26、 employers and by government employers? （ A） Both private employers and government employers discriminate with equal effects on womens earnings. （ B） Both private employers and government employers discriminate, but the discrimination by private employers has a greater effect on womens earnings. （ C
27、） Both private employers and government employers discriminate, but the discrimination by government employers has a greater effect on womens earnings. （ D） Private employers discriminate: it is possible that government employers discriminate. 8 A study of the practices of financial institutions tha
28、t revealed no discrimination against self-employed women would tend to contradict_. （ A） some tentative results of Fuchsstudy （ B） some explicit results of Browns study （ C） a suggestion made by the author （ D） Fuchs hypothesis 9 According to Browns study, womens earning categories occur in_. （ A） g
29、overnment employment, self-employment, private employment （ B） government employment, private employment, self-employment （ C） private employment, self-employment, government employment （ D） private employment, government employment, self-employment 10 Which of the following titles best describes th
30、e content of the passage as a whole? （ A） Why Discrimination Against Employed Women by Government Employers and Private Employers Differs from Discrimination Against Self-Employed Women by Consumers? （ B） How Discrimination Affects Womens Choice of Type of Employment? （ C） The Relative Effect of Pri
31、vate Employer Discrimination on Mens Earnings as Compared to Womens Earnings. （ D） The Relative Effect of Discrimination by Government Employers, Private Employers, and Consumers on Womens Earnings. 10 It is possible for students to obtain advanced degrees in English while knowing little or nothing
32、about traditional scholarly methods. The consequences of this neglect of traditional scholarship are particularly unfortunate for the study of women writers. If the canonthe list of authors whose works are most widely taughtis ever to include more women, scholars must be well trained in historical s
33、cholarship and textual editing. Scholars who do not know how to read early manuscripts, locate rare books, establish a sequence of editions, and so on are lacking in crucial tools for revising the canon. To address such concerns, an experimental version of the traditional scholarly methods course wa
34、s designed to raise students consciousness about the usefulness of traditional learning for any modem critic or theorist. To minimize the artificial aspects of the conventional course, the usual procedure of assigning a large number of small problems drawn from the entire range of historical periods
35、 was abandoned, though this procedure has the obvious advantages of at least superficially familiarizing students with a wide range of reference sources. Instead students were engaged in a collective effort to do original work on a neglected eighteenth-century writer, Elizabeth Griffith, to give the
36、m an authentic experience of literary scholarship and to inspire them to take responsibility for the quality of their own work. Griffiths work presented a number of advantages for this particular pedagogical purpose. First, the body of extent scholarship on Griffith was so tiny that it could all be
37、read in a day, thus students spent little time and effort mastering the literature and had a clear field for their own discoveries. Griffiths Play The Platonic Wife exists in three versions, enough to provide illustrations of editorial issues but not too many for beginning students to manage. In add
38、ition, because Griffith was successful in the eighteenth century, as her continued productivity and favorable reviews demonstrate, her exclusion from the canon and virtual disappearance from literary history also helped raise issues concerning the current canon. The range of Griffiths work meant tha
39、t each student could become the worlds leading authority on a particular Griffith text. For example, a student studying Griffiths Wife in the Right obtained a first edition of the play and studied it for some weeks. This student was suitably shocked and outraged to find its title transformed into A
40、Wife in the Night in Watts Bibliotheca Britannica. Such experiences, inevitable and common in working on a writer to whom so little attention has been paid serve to vaccinate the student I hope for a lifetime against credulous use of reference sources. 11 The author of the passage is primarily conce
41、rned with_. （ A） revealing a commonly ignored deficiency （ B） proposing a return to traditional terminology （ C） describing an attempt to correct a shortcoming （ D） assessing the success of a new pedagogical approach 12 It can be inferred that the author of the passage expects that the experience of
42、 the student mentioned as having studied Wife in the Right would have one of the following effects. That is_. （ A） it would lead the student to disregard information found in the Bibliotheca Britannica （ B） it would teach the student to question the accuracy of certain kinds of information sources w
43、hen studying neglected authors （ C） it would teach the student to avoid the use of reference sources in studying neglected authors （ D） it would enhance the students appreciation of the works of authors not included in the canon 13 Which of the following is a disadvantage of the strategy employed in
44、 the experimental scholarly methods course? （ A） Students were not given an opportunity to study women writers outside the canon. （ B） Students original work would not be appreciated by recognized scholars. （ C） Most of the students in the course had had little opportunity to study eighteenth-centur
45、y literature. （ D） Students were not given an opportunity to encounter certain sources of information that could prove useful in their future studies. 14 Which of the following best states the “particular pedagogical purpose“ mentioned in paragraph 3? （ A） To minimize the trivial aspects of the trad
46、itional scholarly methods course. （ B） To provide students with information about Griffiths work. （ C） To encourage scholarly rigor in students own research. （ D） To reestablish Griffiths reputation as an author. 15 Which of the following best describes the function of the last paragraph in relation
47、 to passage as a whole? （ A） It summarizes the benefits students can derive from the experimental scholarly methods course. （ B） It provides additional reasons why Griffiths works raises issues having to do with the canon of authors. （ C） It provides an illustration of the immediate mature of the ex
48、periences students can derive from the experimental scholarly methods course. （ D） It contrasts the experience of a student in the experimental scholarly methods course with the experience of a student in the traditional course. 15 Custom has not been commonly regarded as a subject of any great mome
49、nt. The inner workings of our own Brains we feel to be uniquely worthy of investigation, but custom, we have a way of thinking, is behavior at its most commonplace. As a matter of fact, it is the other way around. Traditional custom, taken the world over, is a mass of detailed behavior more astonishing than what any one person can ever evolve in individual actions, no matter how unusual. Yet that is a rather trivial aspect of the matter. The fact of first-rate importance is the predominant role th
