1、专业英语八级（阅读）模拟试卷 43及答案与解析 0 Big Break Grows in Popularity Talk to any parent of a student who took an adventurous gap year (a year between school and university when some students earn money, travel, etc.) and a misty look will come into their eyes. There are some disasters and even the most motivated
2、, organised gap student does require family back-up, financial, emotional and physical. The parental mistiness is not just about the brilliant experience that has matured their offspring; it is vicarious living. We all wish pre-university gap years had been the fashion in our day. We can see how muc
3、h tougher our kids become; how much more prepared to benefit from university or to decide positively that they are going to do something other than a degree. Gap years are fashionable, as is reflected in the huge growth in the number of charities and private companies offering them. Pictures of Prin
4、ce William working hard in Chile have helped, but the trend has been gathering steam for a decade. The range of gap packages starts with backpacking, includes working with charities, building hospitals and schools and, very commonly, working as a language assistant, teaching English. With this trend
5、, however, comes a danger. Once parents feel that a well-structured year is essential to their would be undergraduates progress to a better university, a good degree, an impressive resume and well paid employment, as the gap companies promotional statements suggest it might be, then parents will sta
6、rt organizing and paying for the gaps. Where there are disasters, according to Richard Oliver, director of the gap companies umbrella organization, the Year Out Group, it is usually because of poor planning. That can be the fault of the company or of the student, he says, but the best insurance is t
7、houghtful preparation. “When people get it wrong, it is usually medical or, especially among girls, it is that they have not been away from home before or because expectation does not match reality.“ The point of a gap year is that it should be the time when the school leaver gets to do the thing th
8、at he or she fancies. Kids dont mature if mum and dad decide how they are going to mature. If the 18-year-olds way of maturing is to loaf around on Hampstead Heath soaking up sunshine or spending a year working with fishermen in Cornwall, then thats what will be productive for that person. The conse
9、nsus, however, is that some structure is an advantage and that the prime mover needs to be the student. The 18-year-old who was dispatched by his parents at two weeks notice to Canada to learn to be a snowboarding instructor at a cost of 5, 800, probably came back with little more than a hangover. T
10、he 18-year-old on the same package who worked for his fare and spent the rest of his year instructing in resorts from New Zealand to Switzerland, and came back to apply for university, is the positive counterbalance. 1 It can be inferred from the first paragraph that parents of gap students may_. （
11、A） help children to be prepared for disasters （ B） receive all kinds of support from their children （ C） have rich experience in bringing up their offspring （ D） experience watching children grow up 2 According to the text, which of the following is true? （ A） The popularity of gap years results fro
12、m an increasing number of charities. （ B） Prince William was working hard during his gap year. （ C） Gap years are not as fashionable as they were ten years ago. （ D） A well-structured gap year is a guarantee of university success. 3 The word “packages“ (Line 6. Para. 2) means_. （ A） parcels carried
13、in travelling （ B） a comprehensive set of activities （ C） something presented in a particular way （ D） charity actions 4 What can cause the disasters of gap years? （ A） Intervention of parents. （ B） Irresponsibility of the companies. （ C） A lack of insurance. （ D） Low expectation. 5 An 18-year-old i
14、s believed to take a meaningful gap year when he/she_. （ A） lives up to his/her parents expectations （ B） spends time being lazy and doing nothing （ C） learns skills by spending parents money （ D） earns his or her living and gains working experience 5 School Is Out Too Many Us Kids Fall To “self-car
15、e“ The kids are hanging out. I pass small bands of students, on my way to work these mornings. They have become a familiar part of the summer landscape. These kids are not old enough for jobs. Nor are they rich enough for camp. They are school children without school. The calendar called the school
16、year ran out on them a few weeks ago. Once supervised by teachers and principals, they now appear to be “self-care“. Passing them is like passing through a time zone. For much of our history, after all, Americans arranged the school year around the needs of work and family. In 19th-century cities, s
17、chools were open seven or eight hours a day, 11 months a year. In rural America, the year was arranged around the growing season. Now, only 3 percent of families follow the agricultural model, but nearly all schools are scheduled as if our children went home early to milk the cows and took months of
18、f to work the crops. Now, three-quarters of the mothers of school-age children work, but the calendar is written as if they were home waiting for the school bus. The six-hour day, the 180-day school year is regarded as something holy. But when parents work an eight-hour day and a 240 day year, it me
19、ans something different. It means that many kids go home to empty houses. It means that, in the summer, they hang out. “We have a huge mismatch between the school calendar and realities of family life,“ says Dr. Ernest Boyer, head of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Dr. Boyer
20、 is one of many who believe that a radical revision of the school calendar is inevitable. “School, whether we like it or not, is educational. It always has been.“ His is not popular idea. Schools are routinely burdened with the job of solving all our social problems. Can they be asked to meet the ne
21、eds of our work and family lives? It may be easier to promote a longer school year on its educational merits and, indeed, the educational case is compelling. Despite the complaints and studies about our kids lack of learning, the United States still has a shorter school year than any industrial nati
22、on. In most of Europe, the school year is 220 days. In Japan, it is 240 days long. While classroom time alone doesnt produce a well-educated child, learning takes time and more learning takes more time. The long summers of forgetting take a toll. The opposition to a longer school year comes from fam
23、ilies that want to and can provide other experiences for their children. It comes from teachers. It comes from tradition. And surely from kids. But the most important part of the conflict has been over the money. 6 The current American school calendar was based on_. （ A） families demand for more out
24、-of-school-time for the children （ B） the growing season on the nations farms （ C） the labor demands of the industrial age （ D） parents demands for other experiences for their kids 7 Why is Dr. Boyers idea unpopular? （ A） He lays great emphasis on the educational role of school. （ B） He is opposed t
25、o the current school calendar. （ C） He suggests that school year and family life should be considered separately. （ D） He notes the limitations of schools in solving social problems. 8 In the authors opinion, the current school calendar_. （ A） is still valid （ B） is old fashioned （ C） lacks general
26、approval （ D） is to blame for educational failure 9 The last sentence of the fifth paragraph most probably means that_. （ A） American students fall behind because of the long summer break （ B） long summer break is a long tradition of schools （ C） long summer vacation results in learning loss （ D） lo
27、ng summer vacation should be abandoned 10 Whats the main purpose of the text? （ A） To describe how American children spend their summer. （ B） To explain why the school calendar conflicts with the needs of the families （ C） To discuss the problems of the current school calendar. （ D） To persuade pare
28、nts to send their children back to school. 10 What Do Women Game Designers Want? Denise Fulton spent much of her childhood playing computer games. And the fascination continued into her adult years. So it is not surprising that today Ms. Fulton,34, is an executive producer in a video game company in
29、 Austin, Tex, where she is overseeing the next installment in the popular Deus Ex series. The surprising part is how rare Ms. Fulton is. Behind the computer screen, as in front of it, video games are a mans world. Informal estimates put the percentage of women in the industry at around 10 percent, a
30、nd even then, most tend to be in jobs in customer service, marketing and quality assurance. Relatively few women work as game designers and producers, and even fewer are programmers. “Its not so much that women look at the industry and discard the idea,“ said Sheri Graner Ray, a senior game designer
31、 at Sony Online Entertainment. “Its that the game industry just never even comes up on their radar.“ The reason has to do with a truism about the computer game industry. Those who work in the industry tend to enter their jobs as enthusiastic gamers. And playing video games, especially those loaded w
32、ith graphic violence, has been a male pursuit. According to the NPD Group, a market research firm based in New York, some 81 percent of video-game players are male. “Its a chicken-or-egg thing,“ said Ms. Fulton, who sees a lot of resumes in her job, almost all from men. “If more women were playing g
33、ames, they might get interested in games as a medium and might choose to pursue that as a career. But its still labeled as boy thing.“ Now, though, manufacturers are starting to think about making games that are more appealing to women, like the Sims, a role-playing game that is viewed as one of the
34、 most popular games among women. “Women do not play games because the games that are out there are designed for men,“ said Elizabeth Sweedyk, an assistant professor of computer science at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. Manufacturers understand there is a huge untapped portion of the m
35、arket “ Theyve realized they have to appeal to women,“ said David Riley, senior manager at NPD. And as more games are marketed to, and played by, girls and women, more women eventually may end up choosing a career in the industry. For Ms. Fulton, one of the things that appealed to her about designin
36、g the new Deus Ex game is that players are given the option of a less violent version. As a producer, she said, she is drawn to work on games that draw a wider audience. “I definitely want to continue to work on titles that are more than the standard, violence-based, shoot-and-kill play style,“ she
37、said. But the reality of her job at Ion Storm, she added, demands that she maximize the potential success of the (game) titles she works on. “I can encourage the development of features that might have a broader appeal, but ultimately need to fulfill the expectations of publisher and market,“ she sa
38、id. 11 According to the passage, Denise Fulton is_. （ A） a game lover, producer and programmer （ B） making and marketing her own game （ C） supportive of designing games only for women （ D） an opponent of violence in video games 12 What can we infer from the passage? （ A） Women are thought to be good
39、 at communicating but not creating. （ B） There is strong discrimination against female workers in the game industry. （ C） Men occupy more than 90% of such occupations as game programmers. （ D） The percentage of women participants in the game industry is declining. 13 In the authors eyes,_. （ A） the
40、gaming industry was very male-oriented （ B） men are more avid for adventures than women （ C） there is a lack of role models for women in the game industry （ D） only women in the gaming industry are trying to change the current situation 14 The main reason for few women entering game industry is prob
41、ably that_. （ A） women are disgusted with aggression and open competition （ B） playing games is stigmatized as a male only pursuit （ C） most video games are designed for men and appeal to no women （ D） the massive potential of games market has not been tapped 15 Ms. Fulton is likely to disagree with
42、 that_. （ A） nonviolent video games will attract a wider range of customers （ B） women are less interested in playing games and choosing it as a career （ C） women are more intelligent than men in game designing （ D） the success of video games depends on customers and publishers 15 Borrow, Speculate
43、and Hope The National Association of Securities Dealers is investigating whether some brokerage houses are inappropriately pushing individuals to borrow large sums on their houses to invest in the stock market. Can we persuade the association to investigate would-be privatizers of Social Security? F
44、or it is now apparent that the Bush administrations privatization proposal will amount to the same thing borrow trillions, put the money in the stock market and hope. Privatization would begin by diverting payroll taxes, which pay for current Social Security benefits, into personal investment accoun
45、ts. The government would have to borrow to make up the shortfall. This would sharply increase the governments debt. “Nevermind“, privatization advocates say, “in the long run, people would make so much on personal accounts that the government could save money by cutting retirees benefits.“ Even so,
46、if personal investment accounts were invested in Treasury bonds, this whole process would accomplish precisely nothing. The interest workers would receive on their accounts would exactly match the interest the government would have to pay on its additional debt. To compensate for the initial borrowi
47、ng, the government would have to cut future benefits so much that workers would gain nothing at all. However, privatizers claim that these investments would make a lot of money and that, in effect, the government, not the workers, would reap most of those gains, because as personal accounts grew, th
48、e government could cut benefits. We can argue at length about whether the high stock returns such schemes assume are realistic (they arent) , but lets cut to the chase in essence, such schemes involve having the government borrow heavily and put the money in the stock market. Thats because the gover
49、nment would, in effect, rob workers gains in their personal accounts by cutting those workers benefits. Once you realize what privatization really means, it doesnt sound too responsible, does it? But the details make it considerably worse. First, financial markets would, correctly, treat the reality of huge deficits today as a much more important indicator of the governments financial health than the mere promise that government could save money by cutting benefits i
