1、考研英语（二）模拟试卷 153 及答案与解析一、Section I Use of EnglishDirections: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D. (10 points) 0 Poets, songwriters and politicians hate the idea, but for decades opinion-poll evidence has been clear; money buys happiness and t
2、he richer you are, the more likely you are to express satisfaction with your life. Until now, a survey of 43 countries【C1】_on October 30th by the Pew Research Centre of Washington, DC, shows that people in【 C2】_markets are expressing almost the same level of satisfaction as people in rich countries.
3、 It is the biggest【C3】_to the standard view of happiness and income seen【C4】_.The Pew poll asks respondents to【C5】_, on a scale from zero to ten, how good their lives are. (Those who say between seven and ten are counted as【C6】_) In 2007, 57% of respondents in rich countries put themselves in the to
4、p four tiers; in emerging markets the【C7】_was 33%; in poor countries only 16%a classic【C8 】 _of the standard view.But in 2014, 54% of rich-country respondents counted themselves as happy, whereas in emerging markets the percentage【C9】_to 51%. This was happening just at a time when emerging markets c
5、hances of converging economically【C10】_the West seemed to be【C11 】_.Rich countries did not experience【C12】_declines in happiness. The decreases in America and Britain were tiny (a single percentage point) ,【C13】_the share of happy Germans rose 13 points. A large drop in formerly joyful Spain ensured
6、 a modest overall decline for the rich.【C14】_the convergence happened【C15】_huge improvements in countries such as Indonesia and Pakistan. In 12 of the 24 emerging markets, half or more people【C16】_their life satisfaction in the top tiers of the ladder.This is not to【C17 】_the link between income and
7、 satisfaction has been snapped. Poor countries still【C18 】_; only a quarter of the people there are in the happy tiershalf the level of the other two groups. There is【C19】_a clear link between happiness and income growth. Chinas GDP rose at an annual average rate of 10% in 2007-2014 and its happines
8、s level rose 26 points.【C20】_countries, richer people express more satisfaction than their poorer neighbours.1 【C1 】（A）issued（B） leased（C） published（D）claimed2 【C2 】（A）dominating（B） emerging（C） vanishing（D）declining3 【C3 】（A）publication（B） implication（C） provocation（D）qualification4 【C4 】（A）so far（B
9、） at large（C） in effect（D）by chance5 【C5 】（A）prove（B） measure（C） count（D）inspect6 【C6 】（A）sad（B） rich（C） poor（D）happy7 【C7 】（A）ratio（B） share（C） digit（D）level8 【C8 】（A）expression（B） improvement（C） discussion（D）complement9 【C9 】（A）flew（B） happened（C） jumped（D）tended10 【C10 】（A）at（B） into（C） on（D）with
10、11 【C11 】（A）receding（B） recovering（C） relieving（D）retiring12 【C12 】（A）fatal（B） steep（C） vital（D）stable13 【C13 】（A）because（B） since（C） while（D）when14 【C14 】（A）But（B） So（C） Indeed（D）Thus15 【C15 】（A）according to（B） instead of（C） regardless of（D）thanks to16 【C16 】（A）test（B） vote（C） rate（D）mark17 【C17 】（
11、A）talk（B） say（C） mention（D）speak18 【C18 】（A）catch up（B） fall apart（C） lag behind（D）set aside19 【C19 】（A）also（B） only（C） even（D）neither20 【C20 】（A）Without（B） Through（C） Between（D）WithinPart ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40
12、points)20 If comfortably outpacing your rivals is the main measure of automotive achievement, Teslas electric car is a resounding success. The Model S last year outsold its nearest luxury rival, Mercedess petrol-engined S-class, by 30% in America. And in its top specification the Tesla will also bea
13、t the German car in the race from 0-60mph. As a battery-maker Tesla is also moving fast. This week it announced plans to build a “gigafactory“ in America to make lithium-ion power-packs, that it hopes will propel its vehicles to the mainstream.Teslas acceleration has been rapid. Launched a decade ag
14、o by Elon Musk, a founder of PayPal and serial tech entrepreneur, last year it sold around 22,000 cars and by the end of 2014 hopes to be making 1,000 a week. In early 2015 Tesla will add the Model X, a medium-sized SUV, to its range. However, Teslas impressive growth has not yet translated into sig
15、nificant profits. A series of battery fires also briefly dented sales growth last year.Nevertheless, Teslas shares surged on February 25th, to value the company at over $ 30 billion after Morgan Stanley, a bank, joined its adoring fans. It reckons that the battery factory will not only propel it alo
16、ng the road to mass manufacturing but also make it a leading competitor in low-cost energy storage, the key to making renewable energy more practical. The bank is also confident that Teslas Silicon Valley location will put it in the driverless front seat of autonomous motoring. A recent meeting with
17、 Apple, and the iPad-like control panel of the Model S, have convinced some observers that a takeover and an iCar are around the corner, although Mr Musk insists that his firm is not for sale.Tesla has defied its doubters with the success of the Model S, a smartly styled luxury car. It may not share
18、 the outrageous looks of a supercar like the Lamborghini Aventador, but it has the performance without the $ 400,000-plus price tag. The most basic Model S costs $ 64,000 in America. This has won it rave reviews in the motoring press, often sniffy about other electric cars with limited ranges and du
19、ff looks. By designing a large car with a big battery pack, Tesla has diminished “range anxiety“one version can do 310 miles (500km) between charges.21 According to the first paragraph, Tesla is_.（A）a luxury car brand that beats all its rivals（B） a car-maker that aims at high-end customers（C） a batt
20、ery-maker that has become mainstream（D）an electric car brand that also produces battery22 It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that_.（A）Teslas electric car will become mainstream in the market（B） Tesla will make a great fortune in 2015 thanks to its new model（C） it may take a while for Tesla to recov
21、er from the battery accidents（D）Tesla pursues environmentally-friendly cars rather than huge profits23 According to Paragraph 3, some observers believe that_.（A）Teslas founder will not sell his company（B） Apple may take Tesla over in the near future（C） Tesla and Apple may cooperate and develop the i
22、Car（D）Tesla will be the leading corporation of driverless cars24 Which one of the following is true about Teslas Model S?（A）It has duff looks and limited range.（B） It looks as impressive as other super cars.（C） It is not worth spending so much money on it.（D）It has changed peoples view towards the e
23、lectric car.25 The most appropriate title for this text is_.（A）Tesla: Electric Car That Makes A Hit（B） Electric Car: Where Is the Future?（C） Tesla: Will the Takeover Come Soon?（D）Tesla: Rapid Growth But No Profits25 “ It cant be that every annual salary negotiation makes it a strain just to begin th
24、e school year,“ said President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner during a speech to Congress on March 1st. Yes it can.Strikes this week delayed the start of classes in 19 of Argentinas 24 districts, after provincial unions and governments failed to reach agreements about wage rises. Negotiations betwee
25、n the national government and federal unions, which are meant to set a minimum benchmark for the provinces , also foundered. With some unions demanding more than 40% hikes, the national government and Buenos Airess provincial government, the most influential negotiators, offered increases of just 22
26、% and 25. 5% this year respectively. The unions called the proposals “a provocation“.Tension had been expected. The teachers unions want salary rises above Argentinas galloping inflation rate. Since the start of the year the government has devalued the Argentine peso by over 20%, causing inflation e
27、xpectations to spike. According to Eduardo Levy Yeyati of Elypsis, a consultancy, prices are expected to jump by 32% this year. And now that the government has started publishing more realistic data, it cannot simply pretend the problem of rising prices does not exist.The teachers unions have a stro
28、ng hand. In December provincial police squeezed 35%-100% pay increases out of their employers. Public-sector employees are not fearful of losing their jobs. Strikes give unions the power to cause widespread chaos.But the government cannot afford to concede too much ground. The negotiations with the
29、teachers will set a precedent for salary talks with other unions scheduled for later this month and April. To ensure that inflation does not continue to accelerate, the authorities need to curb real wages. Budgetary considerations also play their part. According to Economia by the turn of the millen
30、nium it had dropped to just 23%. Many thought this number would continue to fall as women sought to “ have it all“. Instead, the proportion of stay-at-home mothers has been rising steadily for the past 15 years, according to new data gathered by the Pew Research Centre.This partly reflects demograph
31、ic change. Immigrants, a rising share of the relevant generation, are more likely to be stay-at-home mums than women born in America. There is an economic component to the change, too: at the end of the 1990s, when mothers staying at home were at their rarest, the economy was creating so many jobs t
32、hat most people who wanted work could find it. Now more report that they are unable to do so, or are studying in the hope of finding work later. But there is also an element of choice: a quarter of stay-at-home mothers have college degrees.Taken as a whole, the group includes mothers at both ends of
33、 the social scale. Some are highly educated bankers wives who choose not to work because they dont need the money and would rather spend their time hot-housing their toddlers so that they may one day get into Harvard. Others are poorer but calculate that, after paying for child care, the money they
34、make sweeping floors or serving burgers does not justify the time away from their little ones.The first group is fairly small. Pew estimates that there are 370,000 highly educated and affluent stay-at-home mothers (defined as married mothers with children under 18 who have at least a masters degree
35、and family income in excess of $ 75,000). That is 5% of all stay-at-home mothers with working husbands. One third of stay-at-home mothers are single or cohabiting, and on average they are poorer than the rest.36 Betty Friedan is mentioned in the first paragraph to_.（A）discuss about female writers（B）
36、 show the authors contribution（C） introduce the topic of housewives（D）describe the life of single mothers37 According to Paragraph 2, which of the following is true?（A）The lowest proportion of housewives appeared around 2000.（B） Many people think that women are becoming less independent.（C） The numb
37、er of housewives has been falling in the past decades.（D）Most women think that career may be more important for them.38 Now there are more stay-at-home mothers mainly because of_.（A）their laziness and lack of ambition（B） immigration and employment difficulty（C） their own choice and their husbands wi
38、sh（D）immigration and low educational background39 It can be inferred from Paragraph 4 that the most vital thing for women is to_.（A）spend more money on their children（B） spend more time with their children（C） balance their work inside and outside（D）earn more money to support their family40 This text
39、 mainly centers on housewives_.（A）family and social background（B） reasons for not going to work（C） disparity of economic status（D）proportion and situationsPart B (10 points) 40 The last time she was recruiting for her export-sales team, Sarah Grain hired a Lithuanian who speaks Russian, Polish and G
40、erman. Her two previous hires for Eriez Magnetics, which makes industrial equipment in South Wales, were an Italian who also speaks French, and a Venezuelan who speaks Spanish and Portuguese. All of them speak fluent English. “There were no British applicants who had the requisite language skills,“
41、she says. Ms Grains conclusion is not unusual for a British company. In 2012 a European Commission survey tested the foreign-language proficiency of 54,000 students aged 14 and 15, in 14 nations. Sweden came top, with 82% of pupils reaching an “ independent“ or “ advanced independent“ standard. The
42、average for all 14 states was 42%. England came bottom, with just 9%. Part of the explanation is that many peoples second language is English, while many Britons continue to believe that, as native speakers, they do not need to bother with foreign languages. They may be rightin terms of communicatio
43、n. But it means that, not only are they missing out on much cultural interaction, they may also be harming their own job prospects. They have not been helped by the educational policies of successive governments. In 2004 Tony Blairs Labour government abolished the requirement to learn a language aft
44、er the age of 14, causing the numbers taking a language GCSE exam at 16 to fall by half in state schools over the next seven years. Concerned about this rapid decline, the coalition government brought in a new performance indicator called the English Baccalaureate, or EBacc, in 2011. A modern langua
45、ge was one of its five core disciplines. Language teachersan embattled breedrejoiced. The number of students entering a GCSE language exam in 2013, the first year the changes took effect, rose by 20%. Now, however, those gains could be lost, as the government has seemingly loosened the requirement.
46、From 2016, under a new initiative called Progress 8, it has extended the number of core subjects to eight, appearing to make learning a language voluntary. This has pleased some teachers, who felt the EBacc was too narrow, but linguists are shocking. The decline of languages at GCSE has inevitably h
47、ad an effect higher up the academic food chain. Though the number of those studying languages to A Level will increase thanks to the GCSE cohort of 2013-2014, it is likely to fall back again. French and German are half as popular as they were 20 years ago. The number of universities offering languag
48、e degrees has fallen, too: by 50% for German and 40% for French since 1998. The number offering Spanish has also fallen. Degrees in other languages, such as Chinese and Arabic, are becoming more popular, but they are still rare. The economy and the labour market bear the consequences. In 2012 the Br
49、itish Chambers of Commerce found, in a survey of 8,000 British companies, that 96% had no foreign-language speakers. First-time exporters cited language as a barrier to entering international markets. Though Britain makes up 12% of the population of the EU, less than 5% of EU civil servants in Brussels are British. Not enough Britons can fulfil the language requirement of being able to work in French or German. And e
