1、考研英语模拟试卷 198及答案与解析 一、 Section I Use of English Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D. (10 points) 1 Some time between digesting Christmas dinner and putting your head back down to work, spare a thought or two for the cranberry. It
2、is, of course, a (1)_ of Christmas: merry bright red, bitter-sweetly delicious with turkey and the very devil to get out of the tablecloth (2)_ spilled. But the cranberry is also a symbol of the modern food industry-and in the tale of its (3)_ from colonial curiosity to business-school case study (4
3、)_ a deeper understanding of the opportunities and (5)_ of modern eating. The fastest growing part of todays cranberry market is for cranberries that do not taste like cranberries. Ocean Sprays “flavoured fruit pieces“ (FFPS, to the trade) taste like orange, cherry, raspberry or any (6)_ of other fr
4、uits. They are in fact cranberries. Why make a cranberry taste like an orange? Mostly because it is a (7)_ little fruit: FFPS have a shelf-life of two years. Better (8)_, they keep a chewy texture (9)_ baked, unlike the fruits whose flavours they mimic, which turn to (10)_. The dynamic that has brou
5、ght the cranberry to this point is (11)_ to the dynamic behind most mass-produced goods. Growing (12)_ provided the (13)_ to create cheaper and more reliable supply. Cheaper and more reliable supply, (14)_, created incentives to find new markets, which increased demand. Thus was the (15)_ kept churn
6、ing. The cranberry is one of only three fruits native (16)_ North America, growing wild from Maine to North Carolina. (The others are the Concord grape and the blueberry). The American Indians had several names for cranberries, many (17)_ the words for “bitter“ or, more (18)_, “noisy“. They ate the
7、berries mostly (19)_ pemmican, but also used them for dye and medicine. And they introduced them to the white settlers at the first Thanksgiving dinner in 1621, it is said. The settlers promptly renamed this delicacy the “crane berry“, (20)_ the pointy pink blossoms of the cranberry look a bit like
8、the head of the Sandhill crane. （ A） sign （ B） trail （ C） symbol （ D） mark （ A） while （ B） if only （ C） long before （ D） if （ A） progress （ B） proposition （ C） prophet （ D） proportion （ A） obtain （ B） mould （ C） assimilate （ D） lies （ A） dilemmas （ B） remedy （ C） ingredient （ D） remains （ A） member
9、（ B） number （ C） kind （ D） flavor （ A） delicious （ B） dubious （ C） durable （ D） deliberate （ A） off （ B） than （ C） itself （ D） still （ A） when （ B） whether （ C） albeit （ D） whereas （ A） mercury （ B） mush （ C） muscle （ D） mess （ A） similar （ B） feasible （ C） inferior （ D） incredible （ A） command （ B）
10、 yield （ C） demand （ D） quantity （ A） immensity （ B） inadequacy （ C） immunity （ D） incentive （ A） at every turn （ B） in turn （ C） to a turn （ D） by turns （ A） cycle （ B） miracle （ C） mission （ D） carnival （ A） from （ B） to （ C） off （ D） beyond （ A） qualifying （ B） incorporating （ C） denoting （ D） co
11、ining （ A） intrinsically （ B） marginally （ C） intuitively （ D） mysteriously （ A） in （ B） for （ C） by （ D） through （ A） although （ B） only if （ C） because （ D） as though Part A Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points) 21 Men
12、orca or Majorca? It is that time of the year again. The brochures are piling up in travel agents while newspapers and magazines bulge with advice about where to go. But the traditional packaged holiday, a British innovation that provided many timid natives with their first experience of warm sand, i
13、s not what it was. Indeed, the industry is anxiously awaiting a High Court ruling to find out exactly what it now is. Two things have changed the way Britons research and book their holidays: low-cost airlines and the internet. Instead of buying a ready made package consisting of a flight, hotel, ca
14、r hire and assorted entertainment from a tour operators brochure, it is now easy to put together a trip using an online travel agent like Expedia or Travelocity, which last July bought L for 577m ($1 billion), or from the proliferating websites of airlines, hotels and car-rental firms. This has led
15、some to sound the death knell for high street travel agents and tour operators. There have been upheavals and closures, but the traditional firms are starting to fight back, in part by moving more of their business online. First Choice Holidays, for instance, saw its pre tax profit rise by 16% to 11
16、4m ($196m) in the year to the end of October. Although the overall number of holidays booked has fallen, the company is concentrating on more valuable long-haul and adventure trips. First Choice now sells more than half its trips directly, either via the internet, over the telephone or from its own
17、travel shops. It wants that to reach 75% within a few years. Other tour operators are showing similar hustle. MyTravel managed to cut its loss by almost half in 2005. Thomas Cook and Thomson Holidays, now both German owned, are also bullish about the coming holiday season. Highstreet travel agents a
18、re having a tougher time, though, not least because many leading tour operations have cut the commissions they pay. Some high-street travel agents are also learning to live with the internet, helping people book complicated trips that they have researched online, providing advice and tacking on othe
19、r services: This is seen as a growth area. But if an agent puts together separate flights and hotel accommodation, is that a package, too? The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says it is and the agent should hold an Air Travel Organisers Licence, which provides financial guarantees to repatriate peopl
20、e and provide refunds. The scheme dates from the early 1970s, when some large British travel firms went bust, stranding customers on the Costas. Although such failures are less common these days, the CAA had to help out some 30,000 people last year. The Association of British Travel Agents went to t
21、he High Court in November to argue such bookings are not traditional packages and so do not require agents to acquire the costly licences. While the court decides, millions of Britons will happily click away buying online holidays, unaware of the difference. 21 Based on the first paragraph, the best
22、 title of the text could be _. （ A） An annual holiday （ B） A High Court ruling （ C） A new package （ D） A British innovation 22 According to the text, the shift in the method of holiday booking in UK is associated with _. （ A） the popularity of electronics （ B） the costly licences （ C） car rental fir
23、ms （ D） the traditional ideology 23 According to the text, which of the following is true? （ A） To put together a trip using a traditional travel agent is not hard at present. （ B） To sound the death knell for tour operator is unacceptable and inhumane. （ C） Some high-street travel agents defy the m
24、odel of surviving with the internet. （ D） Traditional tour firms grapple with the internet. 24 The word “hustle“ in the topic sentence of the fourth paragraph most probably denotes _. （ A） demand （ B） hostility （ C） sale （ D） prejudice 25 According to the first and last paragraphs, which of the foll
25、owing is still in suspense? （ A） A legal definition, （ B） A congestion charge. （ C） Financial guarantee. （ D） An adventure trip. 26 They may not be the richest, but Africans remain the worlds staunchest optimists. An annual survey by Gallup International, a research outfit, shows that, when asked wh
26、ether this year will be better than last, Africa once again comes out on top. Out of 52,000 people interviewed all over the world, under half believe that things are looking up. But in Africa the proportion is close to 60% almost twice as much as in Europe. Africans have some reasons to be cheerful.
27、 The continents economy has been doing fairly well with South Africa, the economic powerhouse, growing steadily over the past few years. Some of Africas long-running conflicts, such as the war between the north and south in Sudan and the civil war in Congo, have ended. Africa even has its first elec
28、ted female head of state, in Liberia. Yet there is no shortage of downers too. Most of Africa remains dirt poor. Crises in places like Cote dIvoire, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe are far from solved. And the democratic credentials of Ethiopia and Uganda, once the darlings of western donors, have taken a
29、 bad knock. AIDS killed over gm Africans in 2005, and will kill more this year. So is it all just a case of irrational exuberance? Meril James of Gallup argues that there is, in fact, usually very little relation between the surveys optimism rankings and reality. Africans, this year led by Nigerians
30、, are consistently the most upbeat, whether their lot gets better or not. On the other hand, Greece hardly the worst place on earth tops the gloom and doom chart, followed closely by Portugal and France. Ms James speculates that religion may have a lot to do with it. Nine out of ten Africans are rel
31、igious, the highest proportion in the world. But cynics argue that most Africans believe that 2006 will be golden because things have been so bad that it is hard to imagine how they could possibly get worse. This may help explain why places that have suffered recent misfortunes, such as Kosovo and A
32、fghanistan, rank among the top five optimists. Moussaka for thought for those depressed Greeks. 26 The statistics are employed in the first paragraph so as to indicate sort of _. （ A） disparity （ B） numbness （ C） conformity （ D） stagnation 27 It can be inferred from the four paragraph of the text th
33、at African optimism is _. （ A） detrimental （ B） fragile （ C） transient （ D） constant 28 The conclusion made by Ms James, according to the text, is _. （ A） tentative （ B） immutable （ C） impeccable （ D） moderate 29 The tone of the author in discussing African status can be defined as being _. （ A） rad
34、ical （ B） impartial （ C） hesitant （ D） self-centered 30 France is mentioned in the text with the aim to _. （ A） contrast Nigerians and French （ B） defend Meril Jamesremarks （ C） attach importance to the gloom-and-doom chart （ D） refute Ms James concept of religion 31 “This is a really exciting time,
35、 a new era is starting,“ says Peter Bazalgette, the chief creative officer of Endemol, the television company behind “Big Brother“ and other popular shows. He is referring to the upsurge of interest in mobile television, a nascent industry at the intersection of telecoms and media which offers new o
36、pportunities to device makers, content producers and mobile-network operators. And he is far from alone in his enthusiasm. Already, many mobile operators offer a selection of television channels or individual shows, which are “streamed“ across their third-generation (3G) networks. In South Korea, te
37、levision is also sent to mobile phones via satellite and terrestrial broadcast networks, which is far more efficient than sending video across mobile networks; similar broadcasts will begin in Japan in April. In Europe, the Italian arm of 3, a mobile operator, recently acquired Canale 7, a televisio
38、n channel, with a view to launching mobile-TV broadcasts in Italy in the second half of 2006. Similar mobile-TV networks will also be built in Finland and America, and are being tested in many other countries. Meanwhile, Apple Computer, which launched a video-capable version of its iPod portable mus
39、ic-player in October, is striking deals with television networks to expand the range of shows that can be purchased for viewing on the device, including “Lost“, “Desperate Housewives“ and “Law Order“. TiVo, maker of the pioneering personal video recorder (PVR), says it plans to enable subscribers to
40、 download recorded shows on to iPods and other portable devices for viewing on the move. And mobile TV was one of the big trends at the worlds largest technology fair, the Consumer Electronics Show, which took place in Las Vegas this week. Despite all this activity, however, the prospects for mobile
41、 TV are unclear. For a start, nobody really knows if consumers will pay for it, though surveys suggest they like the idea. Informa, a consultancy, says there will be 125m mobile-TV users by 2010. But many other mobile technologies inspired high hopes and then failed to live up to expectations. And e
42、ven if people do want TV on the move, there is further uncertainty in three areas: technology, business models and the content itself. 31 The word “nascent“ in the first paragraph of the text most probably means _. （ A） distinctive （ B） statutory （ C） naive （ D） emerging 32 Paragraph 2 is written to
43、 _. （ A） indicate the test of mobile-TV networks （ B） illustrate the widespread interests in mobile TV （ C） stress the selection otelevision channels （ D） assess the third-generation(3G) networks 33 According to the text, substantial work in mobile-TV networks has been conducted in _. （ A） an orient
44、al nation （ B） USA （ C） an European nation （ D） Japan 34 The word “device“ in the first sentence of the third paragraph denotes _. （ A） a satellite and terrestrial broadcast （ B） a video-capable version of Apple iPod portable music-player （ C） an individual show which is “streamed“ across a 3G netwo
45、rk （ D） a pioneer personal video recorder 35 It can be inferred from the last paragraph of the text that _. （ A） mobile TV is coming but how the market will develop is still unclear （ B） consumers favor mobile TV if they need not pay for it （ C） few mobile technologies failed to live up to expectati
46、ons （ D） the three uncertainties reerred to at the end of the text are hopefully overcome in no time 36 The last-minute victory of the Texas Longhorns in this years Rose BowlAmericas college football championship was the kind of thing that stays with fans forever. Just as well, because many had paid
47、 vast sums to see the game. Rose Bowl tickets officially sold for $175 each. On the internet, resellers were hawking them for as much as $3,000 a pop. “Nobody knows how to control this,“ observed Mitch Dorger, the tournaments chief executive. Re-selling tickets for a profit, known less politely as s
48、calping in America or touting in Britain, is booming. In America alone, the “secondary market“ for tickets to sought-after events is worth over $10 billion, reckons Jeffrey Fluhr, the boss of StubHub, an online ticket market. Scalping used to be about burly men lurking outside stadiums with fistfuls
49、 of tickets. Cries of “Tickets here, tickets here“ still ring out before kick off. But the internet has created a larger and more efficient market. Some internet-based ticket agencies, such as tickco, com and dynamiteticketz, com act as traditional scalpers, buying up tickets and selling them on for a substantial mark-up. But others like StubHub have a new business mode bring together buyers and sel
