1、考研英语模拟试卷 212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 Americas Federal Reserve cut interest rates by another quarter-point, to 3.75%. Wall Street, which had been (1)_ for a sixth half-p
2、oint cut, was disappointed. The Dow fell by 2% (2)_ the week. The past weeks economic statistics gave mixed signals. Exports dropped by 2% in both March and April, largely (3)_ a decline in high-tech investment (4)_; the merchandise-trade (5)_ widened to $458 billion in the 12 months (6)_ April. (7)
3、_, the Conference Boards index of consumer confidence was higher than (8)_ in June. Concerns (9)_ inflation in the euro area (10)_. Preliminary data (11)_ that German consumer-price inflation fell to 3.1% in the year to June, from 3.5% in May; wage growth (12)_ to 1.4% in April, a real pay cut of 1.
4、5%. Some economists fear that Germany is on the (13)_ of recession. The IFO index of business confidence dropped more (14)_ than expected in May, and the institute has cut its forecast of GDP (15)_ this year to only 1.2%, well (16)_ the German governments forecast of 2%. The euro areas current-accou
5、nt deficit narrowed to $30 billion in the 12 months to April. Britains deficit in the first quarter was its smallest (17)_ 1998, (18)_ record investment income. There was more bad news from Japan, (19)_ retail sales in large stores fell by 3.2% in May, the 37th consecutive monthly fall. The yen fell
6、 (20)_ the dollar, touching almost Yen 125 on one point. （ A） expecting （ B） hoping （ C） wishing （ D） dreaming （ A） in （ B） above （ C） during （ D） about （ A） because of （ B） since （ C） because （ D） thanks to （ A） at home （ B） home （ C） from abroad （ D） abroad （ A） deficit （ B） shortage （ C） scarcity
7、 （ D） shortfall （ A） to （ B） until （ C） up （ D） onto （ A） Although （ B） Therefore （ C） However （ D） Hence （ A） projected （ B） planned （ C） predicted （ D） expected （ A） on （ B） for （ C） of （ D） over （ A） stopped （ B） eased （ C） relieved （ D） improved （ A） showed （ B） demonstrated （ C） illustrated （ D
8、） explained （ A） reduced （ B） cut （ C） slow （ D） lessened （ A） edge （ B） rim （ C） lip （ D） brink （ A） harshly （ B） huskily （ C） strictly （ D） severely （ A） growth （ B） rise （ C） increase （ D） escalation （ A） above （ B） below （ C） high （ D） low （ A） after （ B） since （ C） until （ D） towards （ A） owe t
9、o （ B） because of （ C） on account of （ D） thanks to （ A） where （ B） which （ C） what （ D） who （ A） in opposition to （ B） opposed to （ C） against （ D） versus Part A Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points) 21 At the end of la
10、st year, a town called Friendship Heights, in Marylands Montgomery County, approved Americas (and thus the worlds) strictest tobacco policy. Town officers courageously banned smoking on all public property, including streets, pavements and public squares. “Its a public health issue“, said the mayor,
11、 Alfred Muller, who is also a doctor. “We dont have the right to outlaw tobacco, but were doing what we can within our rights“. This newspaper has expressed disgruntlement with the element of intolerance that is increasingly manifesting itself within Americas anti-tobacco movement. It must be said,
12、however, that brave Friendship Heights has discovered an approach that liberals can embrace. Private property is its owners sanctuary, but the public rules in public spaces. Undeniably, the streets belong to the government; what happens in them, therefore, is the governments business. On this worthy
13、 principle, smoking should be merely the beginning. For example, it is clear that the consumption of fatty foods contributes to heart disease, strokes and other deadly disease. Besides, eating junk makes you fat and ugly. What people do at home is their own affair, but why allows them to abuse the p
14、ublic streets for this gluttony? Americas pavements and boardwalks are overridden with persons, many of them overweight, who amble along licking ice cream or gobbling chips. In many cities, hot dogs are spread, quite openly, on the pavement itself. All this should be stopped. Not just in Friendship
15、Heights but in other enlightened districts, it should be illegal to eat anything but low-fat foods in public zones. Because Americans consume too little by way of fruits and vegetables, in time (it is best to move slowly, because peoples rights must be respected) streets should become strictly veget
16、arian. More can be done. Shrieking newspaper headlines create stress for those who may not wish to view them. People who want to buy and read papers should therefore be required to do so in private. America has long and justly sought to prevent the entanglement of religion with public life. What peo
17、ple do in church or at home is their business. However, praying, sermonizing or wearing religious garb in the streets surely compromises the requirement that the public will not be dragooned into supporting religion. There is the environment to consider, as well. That people exhale carbon dioxide in
18、 public places, thus contributing to global warming, is probably inevitable, and Americas politicians would be wise to permit it. But methane, too, is a greenhouse gas, and an odiferous one. Its emission in public places, where it can neither be avoided nor filtered, seems an imposition on both plan
19、etary hygiene and human comfort. Breakers of wind, surely, can be required to wait until they can answer their needs in private; and prosecuted when they fail. Fame, then, to Friendship Heights. Other towns should take note. If they intend to fulfill their responsibilities to the health and welfare
20、of citizens, to public order, and above all to the public streets and parks whose rights the authorities are sworn to uphold, then the way ahead is clear. 21 Alfred Mullers words imply_. （ A） laws do a lot for public health （ B） he cant make laws about the tobacco （ C） what he has done is benefiting
21、 the people （ D） the mayors approval is the important factor in making laws 22 Which of the following measures CANNOT be taken for good of public health? （ A） Smoking is banned in public places. （ B） People are forbidden to eat fatty food on all public property. （ C） People are restricted in emittin
22、g carbon dioxide in public places. （ D） People are not permitted to read newspapers with shrieking headlines 23 The word “disgruntlement“(Line 1, Para. 2) means_. （ A） intolerance （ B） sarcasm （ C） welcome （ D） dissatisfaction 24 Which is NOT the peoples private thing? （ A） Reading newspaper. （ B） P
23、laying in the street. （ C） Smoking. （ D） Sleeping at home. 25 Which one is TRUE about the author? （ A） He thinks the Friendship Height law is just a stunt. （ B） He is careless about the law. （ C） He thinks that although it is not bad to set up such laws. the law-makers must think about it practicall
24、y （ D） He is optimistic about the laws being carried. 26 Over the years, as the musical “Rent“ has reached milestone after milestoneplaying around the world in more than 200 productions from Boise to Little Rock to Reykjavik the thousands of people who have been affected by this vibrant, gritty and
25、compassionate work may well wonder what its creator, Jonathan Larson, would have thought of it all. Another milestone came on Monday night. The original Broadway production of “Rent“ opened at the Nederlander Theater l0 years ago this Saturday. That production, directed by Michael Greif, was an almo
26、st-intact transfer of the initial production at the New York Theater Workshop, which had opened three months earlier. To celebrate the anniversary the original cast members reassembled, rehearsed for two days and performed the show in a semi-staged version at the Nederlander on Monday. The event was
27、 a benefit for the New York Theater Workshop, for Friends in Deed (a support organization that gave comfort to several of Mr. Larsons friends dealing with H.I.V. infections), and for the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation, which was set up by his family after the enormous success of “Rent“.
28、Before the performance, the co-chairmen of the benefit told the star-studded audience that more than $2 million had been raised. Also addressing the crowd were Senator Charles E. Schumer and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who praised “Rent“ as a timeless work exemplifying “culture, community and creati
29、vity“, in the mayors words, and saluted the shows vast contributions to New Yorks theatrical life. Once again you could only think, “Would Jonathan ever have imagined all this?“ Mr. Larson, who wrote the music, lyrics and books for his stage works, struggled for more than 10 years to get a producer
30、to take a shot at one of his shows. Now he was being posthumously thanked for giving Broadway a creative and economic boost. “Rent“ is the seventh longest running show in Broadway history. I count myself among those who were personally affected by Mr. Larsons work. Because of the inadvertent role I
31、played in the last hours of his life. In 1996 an editor at The Times tipped me off to the opening of a rock musical, inspired by. “La Boehme“, which transplanted Puccinis struggling bohemians from Paris in the 1830s to the East Village in 1990s. So on Jan. 24 I went to the New York Theater Workshop
32、m see the dress rehearsal of “Rent“, which was scheduled to open in February. That performance was pretty ragged, with technical glitches and a misbehaving sound system. But I was swept away by the sophistication and exuberance of Mr. Larsons music and the mix of tenderness and cleverness in his lyr
33、ics. After the show Mr. Larson and I sat down for an interview in the tiny ticket booth of the theater, the only quiet space we could find amid the post-rehearsal confusion. For almost an hour, this sad-eyed and boyish, creator talked about his approach to songwriting, his determination to bring the
34、 American musical tradition to the MTV generation, and about friends snuggling with H.I.V. infection who had inspired the show. 26 The fact that the original production was an almost-intact transfer of the initial production at the New York Theater Workshop implies that_. （ A） Rent was a classical w
35、ork （ B） Michael Greif was a conservative director （ C） Rent was conservative （ D） people were nostalgic 27 Another milestone in the first paragraph refers to_. （ A） Rent has been played in more than 200 productions （ B） thousands of people have been affected by “Rent“ （ C） it has welcomed its 10-ye
36、ar anniversary （ D） that production was a transfer of the initial production 28 The word “boost“(Para. 4) implies_. （ A） inspiration （ B） push （ C） increase （ D） help 29 Mr. Larson tried his best to make his musical on show in order to_. （ A） make a profit （ B） raise fund for his friends straggling
37、with H.LV. infection （ C） make the world know him （ D） reform the American musical tradition 30 The best title for this passage is_. （ A） Eternal Rent, Eternal Soul （ B） History of Rent （ C） On the Anniversary of Rent （ D） Benefit of Rent 31 “I was a lover, before this war“. Those are the fast words
38、 sung on TV on the Radios “Return to Cookie Mountain“, one of the most widely praised albums of 2006. Whatever the line means within the bands cryptic lyrics, it could also apply to the past years popular music. Thoughts of romance, vice and comfort still dominated the charts and the airwaves. But a
39、mid the entertainment, songwriters including some aiming for the Top 10 were also grappling with a war that wouldnt go away. Pops political consciousness rises in every election year, and much as it became clear in November that voters are tired of war, music in 2006 also reflected battle fatigue. B
40、eyond typical wartime attitudes of belligerence, protest and yearning for peace, in 2006 pop moved toward something different: a mood somewhere between resignation and a siege mentality. Songs that touched on the war in 2006 were suffused with the mournful and resentful knowledge that s Nell Young t
41、itled the album he made and rush-released in the spring we are “Living With War“, and will be for some time. Awareness of the war throbs like a chronic headache behind more pleasant distractions. The cultural response to war in Iraq and the war on terrorism one protracted, the other possibly endless
42、 doesnt have an exact historical parallel. Unlike World War , the current situation has brought little national unity; unlike the Vietnam era, ours has no appreciable domestic support for Americas opponents. Iraq may be mining into a quagmire and civil war like Vietnam, but the current war has not i
43、nspired talk of generation wide rebellion (,perhaps because theres no draft m pit young against old) or any colorful, psychedelically defiant counterculture. The war songs of the 21st century have been sober and earnest, pragmatic rather than fanciful. Immediate responses to 9/11 and to the invasion
44、 of Iraq arrived along familiar lines. There was anger and saber-rattling at first, particularly in country music: the Dixie Chicks career was upended in 2003 when Natalie Maines disparaged the president on the eve of the Iraq invasion. There were folky protest songs about weapons and oil profiteeri
45、ng, like “The Price of Oil“ by Billy Bragg; in a 21st-century touch, there were denunciations of news media complicity from songwriters as varied as Merle Haggard, Nellie McKay and the punk-rock band Anti-Flag. Rappers, who were already slinging war metaphors for everything from rhyme battles to tal
46、es of drag-dealing crime soldiers, soon exploited the multitude of rhymes for Iraq. While some, like Eminem and OutKast, also bluntly attacked the president and the war. In 2006 songwriters who usually stick to love songs found themselves paying attention to the war as well. “A new year, a new enemy
47、/another soldier gone to war“, John Legend sings in “Coming Home“, the song that ends his 2006 album, “Once Again“. Its a soldiers letter home, wondering if his girlfriend still cares. “It seems the wars will never end, but well make it home again“, Mr. Legend croons, more wishful than confident. 31
48、 According to the first paragraph, the most popular songs of 2006 are about EXCEPT_. （ A） entertainment （ B） leisure （ C） love （ D） war 32 The pop music about war in 2006 is different from the former ones in that_. （ A） it searches for peace （ B） it protest against the war （ C） it has a tendency of
49、resignation （ D） it stresses the continuous presence of the war 33 The word “protracted“(Line 1, Para. 4)means_. （ A） ended （ B） prolonged （ C） protruded （ D） terminated 34 The mood of the song “Coming Home“ is_. （ A） resentful （ B） mournful （ C） hateful （ D） bitter 35 The best title of this passage is_. （ A） The Political Consciousness of Pop Songs （ B） The Pop Album of 2006 （ C） The New Tre
