1、专业英语八级（阅读）模拟试卷 176及答案与解析 SECTION A MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS In this section there are several passages followed by fourteen multiple-choice questions. For each multiple-choice question, there are four suggested answers marked A , B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the best answer. 0 (1) F
2、rank had driven his mother into Wahine to buy Meggies doll, and he was still wondering what had prompted her to do it. She wasnt given to impractical birthday presents, there wasnt the money for them, and she had never given a toy to anyone before. They all got clothes; birthdays and Christmases rep
3、lenished sparse wardrobes. But apparently Meggie had seen the doll on her one and only trip into town, and Fiona had not forgotten. When Frank questioned her, she muttered something about a girl needing a doll, and quickly changed the subject. (2) Jack and Hughie had the doll between them on the fro
4、nt path, manipulating its joints callously. All Frank could see of Meggie was her back, as she stood watching her brothers desecrate Agnes. Her neat white socks had slipped in crinkled folds around her little black boots, and the pink of her legs was visible for three or four inches below the hem of
5、 her brown velvet Sunday dress. Down her back cascaded a mane of carefully curled hair, sparkling in the sun; not red and not gold, but somewhere in between. The white taffeta bow which held the front curls back from her face hung draggled and limp; dust smeared her dress. She held the dolls clothes
6、 tightly in one hand, the other pushing vainly at Hughie. (3) “You bloody little bastards!“ (4) Jack and Hughie scrambled to their feet and ran, the doll forgotten; when Frank swore it was politic to run. “If I catch you flaming little twerps touching that doll again Ill brand your shitty little ars
7、es!“ Frank yelled after them. (5) He bent down and took Meggies shoulders between his hands, shaking her gently. (6) “Here, here theres no need to cry! Come on now, theyve gone and theyll never touch your dolly again, I promise. Give me a smile for your birthday, eh?“ (7) Her face was swollen, her e
8、yes running; she stared at Frank out of grey eyes so large and full of tragedy that he felt his throat tighten. (8) “ Oh, Fruh-Fruh-Frank, they too-too-took Agnes away from me!“ She sniffled. “ Her huh-huh-hair all failed down and she loh-loh-lost all the pretty widdle puh-puh-pearls in it! They all
9、 failed in the gruhgruh-grass and I cant find them!“ (9) The tears welled up again, splashing on Franks hand; he stared at his wet skin for a moment, then licked the drops off. (10) “Well, well have to find them, wont we? But you cant find anything while youre crying, you know, and whats all this ba
10、by talk? I havent heard you say widdle instead of little for six months! Here, blow your nose again and then pick up poor.Agnes? If you dont put her clothes on, shell get sunburned. “ (11) He made her sit on the edge of the path and gave her the doll gently, then he crawled about searching the grass
11、 until he gave a triumphant whoop and held up a pearl. (12) “There! First one! Well find them all, you wait and see. “ (13) Meggie watched her oldest brother adoringly while he picked among the grass blades, holding up each pearl as he found it; then she remembered how delicate Agness skin must be,
12、how easily it must burn, and bent her attention on clothing the doll. There did not seem any real injury. Her hair was tangled and loose, her arms and legs dirty where the boys had pushed and pulled at them, but everything still worked. A tortoise-shell comb nestled above each of Meggies ears; she t
13、ugged at one until it came free, and began to comb Agness hair, which was genuine human hair, skillfully knotted onto a base of glue and gauze, and bleached until it was the color of gilded straw. (14) “Come on now, its time you went inside,“ he told her, swinging her up into his arms and tucking th
14、e doll between bis chest and hers. “Well get Mum to fix her up, eh? Well wash and iron her clothes, and glue on her hair again. Ill make you some proper hairpins out of those pearls, too, so they cant fall out and you can do her hair in all sorts of ways. “ (15) Fiona Cleary was in the kitchen, peel
15、ing potatoes. She was a very handsome, very fair woman a little under medium height, but rather hard-faced and stern; she had an excellent figure with a tiny waist which had not thickened, in spite of the six babies she had carried beneath it. Her dress was grey calico, its skirts brushing the spotl
16、ess floor, its front protected by an enormous starched white apron that looped around her neck and tied in the small of her spine with a crisp, perfect bow. From waking to sleeping she lived in the kitchen and back garden, her stout black boots beating a circular path from stove to laundry to vegeta
17、ble patch to clotheslines and thence to the stove again. (16) She put her knife on the table and stared at Frank and Meggie, the corners of her beautiful mouth turning down. (17) “Meggie, I let you put on your Sunday-best dress this morning on one condition, that you didnt get it dirty. And look at
18、you! (18) What a little grub you are!“ (19) “Mum, it wasnt her fault,“ Frank protested. “Jack and Hughie took her doll away to try and find out how the arms and legs worked. I promised wed fix it up as good as new. We can, cant we?“ (20) “Let me see. “ Fee held out her hand for the doll. (21) She wa
19、s a silent woman, not given to spontaneous conversation. What she thought, no one ever knew, even her husband; she left the disciplining of the children to him, and did whatever he commanded without comment or complaint unless the circumstances were most unusual. Meggie had heard the boys whispering
20、 that she stood in as much awe of Daddy as they did, but if that was true she hid it under a veneer of impenetrable, slightly dour calm. She never laughed, nor did she ever lose her temper. (22) Finished her inspection, Fee laid Agnes on the dresser near the stove and looked at Meggie. “Ill wash her
21、 clothes tomorrow morning, and do her hair again. Frank can glue the hair on after tea tonight, I suppose, and give her a bath. “ (23) The words were matter-of-fact rather than comforting. Meggie nodded, smiling uncertainly; sometimes she wanted so badly to hear her mother laugh, but her mother neve
22、r did. She sensed that they shared a special something not common to Daddy and the boys, but there was no reaching beyond that rigid back, those never still feet. Mum would nod absently and flip her voluminous skirts expertly from stove to table as she continued working, working, working. (24) What
23、none of the children save Frank could realize was that Fee was permanently, incurably tired. There was so much to be done, hardly any money to do it with, not enough time, and only one pair of hands. She longed for the day when Meggie would be old enough to help; already the child did simple tasks,
24、but at barely four years of age it couldnt possibly lighten the load. Six children, and only one of them, the youngest at that, a girl. 1 It can be inferred from Para. 1 that_. （ A） Frank believed a girl should have a toy （ B） Meggies first trip to town was memorable （ C） the mother didnt care about
25、 presents （ D） Meggies family was not well off 2 In Para. 2, the word “desecrate“ is closest in meaning to_. （ A） contaminate （ B） disassembly （ C） repair （ D） abuse 3 The description of Fiona Cleary in Para. 15 indicates that she_. （ A） was the only one who took the burden of household （ B） lost he
26、r beautiful appearance after tedious labor （ C） tried to keep her dignity in her busy, routine life （ D） didnt care much about dressing herself up 4 Through the whole process of the event, Frank tried his best to_his sister. （ A） guide and encourage （ B） protect and exhilarate （ C） cultivate and ass
27、ist （ D） instruct and console 5 We can conclude from the last two paragraphs that_. （ A） tough housekeeping tasks had worn down Fionas body （ B） Frank was the one who loved his mother most in the family （ C） the mother was supposed to spare more love for her only girl （ D） only a girl was expected t
28、o share household duties in the family 5 (1) Larry Summers is right; this years Fed symposium in Jackson Hole was triply disappointing. In the weeks before the gathering, members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) publicly discussed their worries that the current monetary framework might le
29、ave the Fed unable to deal adequately with future slowdowns. They got our hopes up: enough that we published a leader giving the Fed some suggestions for new approaches. But as Mr. Summers says, the Fed let us all down. In their public remarks, at least, the FOMC members present expressed little con
30、cern about problems with the Feds toolkit or weaknesses with the current 2% inflation target. Worse, Janet Yellen and Stanley Fischer, the chairman and vice-chairman respectively, used the occasion to tell markets to revise up their expectations of near-term rate hikes. Several of the regional Fed p
31、residents suggested that the second rate rise of the cycle could come as early as the September meeting, while Ms. Yellen reckoned that the case for an increase in coming months has strengthened. (2) The utter lack of urgency regarding monetary reform looks all the more worrying given the hawkish bi
32、as at the FOMC. In theory, Fed members could both accept the need for a new monetary framework and believe that current conditions (and the current framework) argue in favour of a near-term rate hike. Given current economic conditions, however, a hawkish stance is an implicit statement that the argu
33、ments in favour of reform are without merit. (3) There are lots of reasons why one might want to tweak the way the Fed does its job, but the focus of most recent reform proposals has been the long-run decline in the global real rate of interest consistent with non-slump conditions. That is: most big
34、 economies seem stuck with low real interest rates, even when theyre rumbling along close to their potential growth rates. Low real rates create headaches for central banks, because they limit how high central bankers can raise real policy rates without tanking the economy. If central banks are dete
35、rmined to keep inflation low (at or below 2% , for instance) then that also sets an upper limit on how high nominal policy rates can go. And that means that big economies are going to find themselves stuck with near-zero policy rates and limited room to stimulate the economy with uncomfortably high
36、frequency. (4) Ideally, global real interest rates would stop falling and move back to a more “normal“ range. But as there is little sign of this sort of reversal, the Feds best option would seem to be to switch to a target that gives it more room to raise inflation. A higher inflation target of 4%
37、, for instance would be one option. Targeting the level of prices or nominal GDP would also give the Fed room to generate catch-up inflation after a slump. (5) Fed members have clearly understood this critique and these proposals. But Fed members have not only decided not to set a new target. They a
38、lso remain steadfast in their determination to undershoot the target theyve already got. As they have for months, the Feds hawks continue to note the strength of the labour market and dismiss low inflation as the transitory product of low energy prices and a strong dollar. Yet too-low inflation look
39、s like a chronic affliction. The Feds preferred measure has been below the 2% target since May of 2012! The latest data show a deceleration in inflation, which clocked in a 0.8% year-on-year in July. Unsurprisingly, both market- and survey-based measures of inflation expectations have been trending
40、downward. Not even the FOMC seems to believe low inflation is transitory. The highest rate of inflation any FOMC member anticipates over the next few years is just 2.1%, arriving by the end of 2018. (6) This is crazy. Having undershot its 2% target for so long, the Fed could argue that a bit of over
41、shooting is justified so that it hits its target on average, across the whole of the business cycle. It could argue that overshooting is justified as a way to nudge inflation expectations back up. It could argue that, having failed to reach its target for more than four years now, caution demands it
42、 hold off on rate increases until inflation is unmistakably on track to reach 2% . But no! Absurdly, the Fed is preparing to raise rates while inflation is both below target and decelerating. (7) Markets know exactly where this sort of behaviour will lead. Futures prices indicate that through 2019 t
43、he Feds policy rate will remain below 1% . Thats 2019: a full ten years after the recovery began, into territory which would make the current expansion the longest in American history. In each of the last three downturns the Fed responded by cutting its policy rate at least 500 basis points. Without
44、 a doubt, the Fed will go into the next one unable to cut rates even 100 basis points. The pre-Jackson Hole discussion makes clear that Fed members understand all of these dynamics. Theyre just not worried about them. (8) They should be. The reason not to care about this rotten outlook, if you are a
45、n FOMC member, is because you have complete confidence in the unconventional tools available. And indeed, the thrust of Ms. Yellens speech was that the Feds other policies performed adequately during the Great Recession and its aftermath. But this is also too absurd to take seriously. This recovery,
46、 while long-lived, has fallen well short of reasonable expectations. Job growth during the first four years of the recovery was dismal, wage growth has been weak throughout, and employment and labour-force participation rates remain depressed. Neither should we expect unconventional tools to be as e
47、ffective the next time around; long-term interest rates have much less room to fall now than they did in 2009 -10, for instance. (9) The Fed appears to be institutionally incapable of grappling with the challenges posed by a low-rate world. But the low-rate world is probably not going away any time
48、soon. And so institutional paralysis and the reliance on unconventional tools in this low-rate world seem destined to cause a shift in responsibility for the economy away from central banks and back toward elected governments. Not before time, if indeed the best idea the Fed can come up with in this
49、 environment is a rate hike. 6 The word “tanking“ in Para. 3 is closest in meaning to_. （ A） handling （ B） damaging （ C） reviving （ D） simulating 7 What may be the outcome of Feds refusal to reform its policy? （ A） A retarded recovery from the slump. （ B） Absurdly low real interest rates. （ C） An undershot target of inflation level. （ D） Another strike of severe downturns. 8 What did the author warn in the last paragraph? （ A） There may be more challenges in a low-rate world than before. （ B
