1、考博英语（阅读理解）历年真题试卷汇编 6及答案与解析 一、 Reading Comprehension 0 Our culture has caused most Americans to assume not only that our language is universal but that the gestures we use are understood by everyone. We do not realize that waving goodbye is the way to summon a person from the Philippines to ones side
2、, or that in Italy and some Latin-American countries, curling the finger to oneself is a sign of farewell. Those private citizens who sent packages to our troops occupying Germany after World War II and marked them GIFT to escape duty payments did not bother to find out that “ Gift“ means poison in
3、German. Moreover, we like to think of ourselves as friendly, yet we prefer to be at least 3 feet or an arm s length away from others. Latins and Middle Easterners like to come closer and touch, which makes Americans uncomfortable. Our linguistic and cultural blindness and the casualness with which w
4、e take notice of the developed tastes, gestures, customs and languages of other countries, are losing us friends, business and respect in the world. Even here in the United States, we make few concessions to the needs of foreign visitors. There are no information signs in four languages on our publi
5、c buildings or monuments; we do not have multilingual guided tours. Very few restaurant menus have translations, and multilingual waiters, bank clerks and policemen are rare. Our transportation systems have maps in English only and often we ourselves have difficulty understanding them. When we go ab
6、road, we tend to cluster in hotels and restaurants where English is spoken. Then attitudes and information we pick up are conditioned by those natives usually the richer who speak English. Our business dealings, as well as the nations diplomacy, are conducted through interpreters. For many years, Am
7、erica and Americans could get by with cultural blindness and linguistic ignorance. After all America is the most powerful country of the free world, the distributor needed funds and goods. But all that is past. American dollars no longer buy all good things, and we are slowly beginning to realize th
8、at our proper role in the world is changing. A 1979 Harris poll reported that 55 percent of Americans want this country to play a more significant role in world affairs; we want to have a hand in the important decisions of the next century, even though it may not always be the upper hand. 1 It can b
9、e inferred that Americans being approached too closely by Middle Easterners would most probably_. （ A） stand still （ B） jump aside （ C） step forward （ D） draw back 2 The author gives many examples to criticize Americans for their_. （ A） cultural self-centeredness （ B） casual manners （ C） indifferenc
10、e towards foreign visitors （ D） arrogance towards other countries 3 In countries other than their own most Americans_. （ A） are isolated by the local people （ B） are not well informed due to the language barrier （ C） tend to get along well with the natives （ D） need interpreters in hotels and restau
11、rants 4 According to the author, Americans cultural blindness and linguistic ignorance will_. （ A） affect their image in the new era （ B） cut themselves off from the outside world （ C） limit their role in world affairs （ D） weaken the position of the US dollar 5 The authors intention in writing this
12、 article is to make Americans realize that_. （ A） it is dangerous to ignore their foreign friends （ B） it is important to maintain their leading role in world affairs （ C） it is necessary to use several languages in public places （ D） it is time to get acquainted with other cultures 5 Historians hav
13、e only recently begun to note the increase in demand for luxury goods and services that took place in eighteenth-century England. McKendrick has explored the Wedgwood firms remarkable success in marketing luxury pottery; Plumb has written about the proliferation of provincial theaters, musical festi
14、vals, and childrens toys and books. While the fact of this consumer revolution is hardly in doubt, three key questions remain: Who were the consumers? What were their motives? And what were the effects of the new demand for luxuries? An answer to the first of these has been difficult to obtain. Alth
15、ough it has been possible to infer from the goods and services actually produced what manufactures and servicing trades thought their customers wanted, only a study of relevant personal documents written by actual consumers will provide a precise picture of who wanted what. We still need to know how
16、 large this consumer market was and how far down the social scale the consumer demand for luxury goods penetrated. With regard to this last question, we might note in passing that Thompson, while rightly restoring laboring people to the stage of eighteenth-century English history, has probably exagg
17、erated the opposition of these people to the inroads of capitalist consumerism in general; for example, laboring people in eighteenth-century England readily shifted from homebrewed beer to standardized beer produced by huge, heavily capitalized urban breweries. To answer the question of why consume
18、rs became so eager to buy, some historians have pointed to the ability of manufacturers to advertise in a relatively uncensored press. This, however, hardly seems a sufficient answer. McKendrick favors a Veblen model of conspicuous consumption stimulated by competition for status. The “middling sort
19、“ bought goods and services because they wanted to follow fashions set by the rich. Again, we may wonder whether this explanation is sufficient. Do not people enjoy buying things as a form of self-gratification? If so, consumerism could be seen as a product of the rise of new concepts of individuali
20、sm and materialism(a preoccupation with or stress upon material rather than intellectual or spiritual things), but not necessarily of the frenzy for conspicuous competition. Finally, what were the consequences of this consumer demand for luxuries? McKendrick claims that it goes a long way toward exp
21、laining the coming of the Industrial Revolution. But does it? What, for example, does the production of high-quality pottery and toys have to do with the development of iron manufacture or textile mills? It is perfectly possible to have the psychology and reality of a consumer society without a heav
22、y industrial sector. That future exploration of these key questions is undoubtedly necessary should not, however, diminish the force of the conclusion of recent studies; the insatiable demand in eighteenth-century England for frivolous as well as useful goods and services foreshadows our own world.
23、6 In the first paragraph, the author mentions McKendrick and Plumb most probably in order to_. （ A） contrast their views on the subject of luxury consumerism in eighteenth-century England （ B） indicate the inadequacy of historiographical approaches to eighteenth-century English history （ C） give exa
24、mples of historians who have helped to establish the fact of growing consumerism in eighteenth-century England （ D） support the contention that key questions about eighteenth-century consumerism remain to be answered 7 Which of the following items, if preserved from eighteenth-century England, would
25、 provide an example of the kind of documents mentioned in lines 3-4, paragraph 2? （ A） A written agreement between a supplier of raw materials and a supplier of luxury goods. （ B） A diary that mentions luxury goods and services purchased by its author. （ C） A theater ticket stamped with the date and
26、 name of a particular play. （ D） A payroll record from a company that produced luxury goods such as pottery. 8 According to the text, Thompson attributes to laboring people in eighteenth-century England which of the following attitudes toward capitalist consumerism? （ A） Enthusiasm. （ B） Curiosity.
27、（ C） Ambivalence. （ D） Hostility. 9 In the third paragraph, the author is primarily concerned with_. （ A） contrasting two theses and offering a compromise. （ B） questioning two explanations and proposing a possible alternative to them. （ C） paraphrasing the work of two historians and questioning the
28、ir assumptions. （ D） examining two theories and endorsing one over the other. 10 According to the text, eighteenth-century England and the contemporary world of the text readers are_. （ A） dissimilar in the extent to which luxury consumerism could be said to be widespread among the social classes. （
29、 B） dissimilar in their definitions of luxury goods and services. （ C） dissimilar in the extent to which luxury goods could be said to be stimulant of industrial development. （ D） similar in their strong demand for a variety of goods and services. 10 Pity those who aspire to put the initials PhD aft
30、er their names. After 16 years of closely supervised education, prospective doctors of philosophy are left more or less alone to write the equivalent of a large book. Most social-science postgraduates have still not completed their theses by the time their grant runs out after three years. They must
31、 then get a job and finish in their spare time, which can often take a further three years. By then , most new doctors are sick to death of the narrowly defined subject which has blighted their holidays and ruined their evenings. The Economic and Social Research Council, which gives grants to postgr
32、aduate social scientists, wants to get better value for money by cutting short this agony. It would like to see faster completion rates: until recently, only about 25% of PhD candidates were finishing within four years. The ESRCs response has been to stop PhD grants to all institutions where the pro
33、portion taking less than four years is below 10% ; in the first year of this policy the national average shot up to 39%. The ESRC feels vindicated in its toughness, and will progressively raise the threshold to 40% in two years. Unless completion rates improve further, this would exclude 55 out of 7
34、3 universities and polytechnics-including Oxford University, the London School of Economics and the London Business School. Predictably, howls of protest have come from the universities, who view the blacklisting of whole institutions as arbitrary and negative. They point out that many of the best s
35、tudents go quickly into jobs where they can apply their research skills, but consequently take longer to finis their theses. Polytechnics with as few as two PhD candidates complain that they are penalized by random fluctuations in student performance. The colleges say there is no hard evidence to pr
36、ove that faster completion rates result from greater efficiency rather than lower standards or less ambitious doctoral topics. The ESRC thinks it might not be a bad thing if PhD students were more modest in their aims. It would prefer to see more systematic teaching of research skills and fewer unre
37、alistic expectations placed on young men and women who are undertaking their first piece of serious research. So in future its grants will be given only where it is convinced that students are being trained as researchers, rather than carrying out purely knowledge-based studies. The ESRC cannot dict
38、ate the standard of thesis required by external examiners, or force departments to give graduates more teaching time. The most it can do is to try to persuade universities to change their ways. Recalcitrant professors should note that students want more research training and a less elaborate style o
39、f thesis, too. 11 By time new doctors get a job and try to finish their theses in spare time, _. （ A） most of them died of some sickness （ B） their holidays and evenings have been ruined by their jobs （ C） most of them are completely tired of the narrowly defined subject （ D） most of their grants ru
40、n out 12 Oxford University would be excluded out of those universities that receive PhD grants from ESRC, because the completion rate of its PhD students theses within four years is lower than_. （ A） 25% （ B） 40% （ C） 39% （ D） 10% 13 All the following statements are the arguments against ESRCs polic
41、y except_. （ A） all the institutions on the blacklist are arbitrary and negative （ B） there is no hard evidence to prove that faster completion rates result from greater efficiency rather than lower standards or less ambitious doctoral topics. （ C） many of the best students go quickly into jobs wher
42、e they can apply their research skills, but consequently take longer to finish their theses. （ D） some polytechnics are penalized by random fluctuations in student performance 14 The ESRC would prefer_. （ A） that the students were carrying out purely knowledge-based studies rather than being trained
43、 as researchers （ B） to see higher standards of PhD students theses and more ambitious doctoral topics （ C） more systematic teaching of research skills to fewer unrealistic expectations placed on inexperienced young PhD students （ D） that PhD students were less modest in their aims 15 What the ESRC
44、can do is to_. （ A） force departments to give graduates more teaching time （ B） try to persuade universities to change their ways （ C） dictate the standard of thesis required by external examiners （ D） note that students want more research training and less elaborate style of thesis 15 The long-term
45、 fortunes of the modern economy depend in part on the strength and sustainability of the family, both in relation to fertility trends and to marriage trends. This basic, but often overlooked principle is now at work in the current global economic crisis. The decline of marriage and fertility is one
46、factor in the global economic crisis. That is, one reason that some of the worlds leading economies from Japan to Italy to Spain to the euro zone as a whole are facing fiscal challenges is that their fertility rates have been below replacement levels(2.1 children per woman)for decades. Persistent su
47、b-replacement fertility eventually translates into fewer workers relative to retirees, which puts tremendous strains on public coffers and the economy as a whole. Indeed, one recent study finds that almost half of the recent run-up in public debt in the West can be attributed to rapid aging over the
48、 last two decades. Even China may see its sky-high growth “ come down to earth in the next few decades as its work force shrinks“ because of its one-child policy, as Carlos Cavalle and I argued in a recent report, The Sustainable Demographic Dividend. By contrast, a recent Rand study suggests that “
49、India will have more favorable demographics than China“ over the next few decades, insofar as its work force is poised to grow. In fact, the Rand study suggests that India may be able to use this demographic advantage to outpace Chinas economic growth rates by the end of the century. Finally, its not just fertility that matters; its also marriage. At least in the West, children are more likely to acquire the human and social capital they need to thrive in the modern economy when they are raised in a
