1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 115 及答案与解析Part ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)0 The realm of product liability is one that has always put legal scholars and practitioners at odds. Viewed by some as genuine efforts to protect the pub
2、lic from dangerous goods and others as an excuse for dirty lawyers to sue rich companies, the matter has yet to be resolved. Product liability, and its implications for disgruntled consumers wishing to sue the makers of what they buy, continues to be debated.Those who argue that current product liab
3、ility laws are positive assert that without such laws, manufacturers would be free to do as they please without regard for the safety of the consumers who buy their products. As a result, they argue, shoddy merchandise would emerge, with every possible corner cut in order to lower costs, at the expe
4、nse of quality. Not only would the shoddy merchandise be a rip-off, however, but the products could likely be harmful as well. Proponents of this point of view hail the new wave of warning labels and increased quality assurance that has resulted from recent product liability legislation, confident i
5、n their conviction that it has made the American marketplace a safer place to shop.Opponents of the current status-quo, however, cite the overwhelming amount of litigation that has taken place as a result of stricter product liability. A moderate approach is advised by this group, between the necess
6、ary safeguards that would prevent abuse of the system by the companies and the excessive consumer-protection laws that allow producers to be sued at the drop of a hat. These people argue that greed and the alluring possibility of easy money lead unscrupulous buyers to look for any excuse to bring mi
7、nor grievances to court, hoping for a million-dollar outcome.As the situation stands now, the former camp is getting its way, reflecting societys priority of safety over economics. Recent lobbying by producers has begun to shift the tide, however. As abuse of product liability laws continues and gro
8、ws, courts are beginning to note the trend and take appropriate measures, casting a keener eye on such cases so as to distinguish between frivolous cases and more serious claims. In regard to the future of product liability legislation and its relation to our ever increasingly litigious society, onl
9、y time will tell.1 It is stated that consumers who bring product liability problems to litigation_.（A）are primarily motivated by the possibility of quick money through a lawsuit（B） suffer injuries from faulty merchandise and deserve appropriate compensation（C） will find their options limited in the
10、future as product liability laws will move toward a more moderate position（D）bring their issues to litigation based on both legitimate and profit-seeking grounds2 Manufacturers in the text tend to_.（A）invariably produce dangerous products that require legislation to ensure safety（B） hold profit and
11、cost-cutting in higher regard than consumer safety（C） be the victims of a legal institution that unfairly targets them（D）be bound by the current system, causing them to take caution in producing their products3 Those who favor less strict product liability laws believe that_.（A）such laws curb produc
12、ers ability to create shoddy merchandise to attain greater profit（B） the laws need to be modified to better serve the needs of both consumers and producers（C） the results of such laws have been positive thus far, but need to be modified（D）strict product liability laws are unnecessary and should be d
13、isposed of4 The authors attitude toward the issue seems to be_.（A）biased（B） puzzling（C） objective（D）indifferent5 The main purpose of this text is to_.（A）present two opposing sides of an argument for the readers consideration（B） educate the reader about the effect of product liability legislation on
14、the legal system（C） convince the reader that product liability laws need to be changed（D）inform the reader of the current status of product liability laws5 Shopping has always been something of an impulse activity, in which objects that catch our fancy while strolling are immediately bought on a whi
15、m. Advertisers and sellers have taken advantage of this fact, carefully positioning inexpensive but attractive items on paths that we are most likely to cross, in the hopes that our human nature will lead to a greater profit for them. With the dawn of the Internet and its exploding usage across the
16、world, the same tactics apply.Advertisers now place “banners“, links to commercial web sites decorated with attractive pictures designed to catch our eyes while browsing the webs, on key web sites with heavy traffic. They pay top dollar for the right, thus creating profits for the hosting web site a
17、s well. These actions are performed in the hopes that during the course of our casual and leisurely web surfing, well click on that banner that sparks our interest and thus, in theory, buy the products advertised.Initial results have been positive. Web sites report a huge inflow of cash, both from t
18、he advertisers who lure customers in with the banners and the hosting web sites who are paid for allowing the banners to be put in place. As trust and confidence in Internet buying increases and information security is heightened with new technology, the volume of buying is increasing, leading to ev
19、en greater profits.The current situation, however, is not quite as optimistic. Just as magazine readers tend to unconsciously ignore advertisements in their favorite periodicals, web browsers are beginning to allow banners to slip their notice as well. Internet users respond to the flood of banners
20、by viewing them as annoyances, a negative image that is hurting sales, since users are now less reluctant to click on those banners, preferring not to support the system that put them in place. If Internet advertising is to continue to be a viable and profitable business practice, new methods will n
21、eed to be considered to reinvigorate the industry.With the recent slump in the technology sector and slumping economy, even new practices may not do the trick. As consumers are saving more and frequenting traditional “brick and mortar“ businesses over their Internet counterparts, the fate of Interne
22、t business is called into question. The coming years will be the only reliable indication of whether shopping on the world wide web is the wave of the future or simply an impulse activity whose whim has passed.6 We learn from the text that advertising on the web_.（A）has displaced more traditional me
23、thods of advertising（B） is the only way to make profit on the Internet（C） is paralleling advertising methods in traditional business settings（D）seeks to lure customers primarily through impulse shopping methods7 Speaking of the new methods of advertising on the Internet, the author implies that（A）ba
24、nners and other Internet advertising methods are and will continue to boost sales（B） banners are beginning to lose their advertising efficiency（C） although these new methods offer a boost in the short run, more traditional methods are superior（D）they must, just like traditional methods, change over
25、time to remain effective8 In the last paragraph, “brick and mortar“ businesses refers to_.（A）businesses that are not on the Internet（B） Internet companies that do not utilize banners（C） older, more established businesses（D）those businesses which will survive the Internet slump9 We learn from the las
26、t paragraph that_.（A）Internet businesses are headed downhill due to the slump in Internet economy（B） even with a change in advertising practices, Internet businesses cannot survive the current crisis（C） older businesses will overcome the Internet companies in the future（D）the future of Internet busi
27、ness is currently unpredictable10 The authors attitude toward Internet advertising appears to be one of_.（A）wholehearted approval and confidence（B） approval so far but uncertainty in the future（C） objective analysis devoid of opinion（D）respect for its past record, but with little hope for its future
28、10 If a heavy reliance on fossil fuels makes a country a climate ogre, then Denmarkwith its thousands of wind turbines sprinkled on the coastlines and at seais living a happy fairy tale.Viewed from the United States or Asia, Denmark is an environmental role model. The country is “what a global warmi
29、ng solution looks like,“ wrote Frances Beinecke, the president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a letter to the group last autumn. About one-fifth of the countrys electricity comes from wind, which wind experts say is the highest proportion of any country.But a closer look shows that Den
30、mark is a far cry from a clean-energy paradise.The building of wind turbines has virtually ground to a halt since subsidies were cut back. Meanwhile, compared with others in the European Union, Danes remain above-average emitters of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. For all its wind turbines, a lar
31、ge proportion of the rest of Denmarks power is generated by plants that burn imported coal.“We are losing ground,“ said Anne Grete Holmsgaard, the energy spokeswoman for the opposition Socialist Peoples Party in Denmark. “Its terrible, actually, that were not that green as we should be.“The Danish e
32、xperience shows how difficult it can be for countries grown rich on fossil fuels to switch to renewable energy sources like wind power. Among the hurdles are fluctuating political priorities, the high cost of putting new turbines offshore, concern about public acceptance of large wind turbines and t
33、he volatility of the wind itself.But countries like Denmark are far ahead of the United States in overall use of green electricity, mostly because of government support.“Europe has really led the way,“ said Alex Klein, a senior analyst with Emerging Energy Research, a consulting firm with offices in
34、 Cambridge, Massachusetts. “Very progressive policies by the Danes and Germany mean the wind industry was able to evolve and build up scale.“Some parts of western Denmark derive 100 percent of their peak needs from wind if the breeze is up. Germany and Spain generate more power in absolute terms, bu
35、t in those countries wind still accounts for a far smaller proportion of the electricity generated. The average for all 27 European Union countries is 3 percent.But the Germans and the Spanish are catching up as Denmark slows down. Of the thousands of megawatts of wind power added last year around t
36、he world, only 8 megawatts were installed in Denmark.If higher subsidies had been maintained, Denmark could now be generating close to one-third rather than one-fifthof its electricity from windmills.11 According to Paragraph 1 and Paragraph 2, we can summarize that_.（A）Denmark is far from a perfect
37、 green advocator（B） Denmark is complacent about its wind-generated electricity ratio（C） Denmark boast a largest proportion of wind-generated electricity in Europe（D）Denmark in a environment-minded model around the world12 According to the text, why did she mean when Anne Grete Holmsgaard said “we ar
38、e losing ground“?（A）Denmark slows down its green pace while others are coming from behind.（B） The Dane government has slashed subsidies on renewable energy.（C） The possibility that Socialist Peoples Party is failing in the ruling party again is lowering.（D）Denmark has been pressured to do more to me
39、et its environmental commitments.13 On which of the fallowings would Alex Klein most probably agree?（A）The new technologies means Denmark should still be a leading user of wind power.（B） America will never overtake Europe as the green energy leader.（C） In fact, Denmark does not facilitate wind power
40、 as passionately as before.（D）Global community should provide more support for the green development.14 According to the author, Denmark would most probably do the following actions except _in the future.（A）provide more financial support for the green development（B） fashion the public into a environ
41、ment-minded sentiment（C） gradually eradicate its dependence on power generated by burning coals（D）offer advices on switching to renewable sources to other governments15 The authors attitude towards wind power is one of_.（A）objectiveness（B） encouragement（C） criticism（D）satisfaction15 “I see this as a
42、 vanguard in a revolution in education,“ said Prof. Lukasz Turski, a physicist with the Polish Academy of Sciences who lobbied the government to build the Copernicus Science Center, which opened in November.The idea is to overcome a view of the hard sciences as inferior to the arts and humanities, a
43、 lingering perception that is today hampering Polands efforts to advance. It is a concrete reminder of just how much history shapes and defines the present.Many nations have struggled to excite their children about math and science. But in Poland, it is different. In a nation that struggled to remai
44、n a nation even while it did not exist, geographically wiped off the map for more than a century, the arts proved to be a thread that bound generations of Poles together, preserving an identity and a rich language. The only form to create national identity was literature. So the humanities were impo
45、rtant to Polands survival, while math and the sciences languished. So lots of people just skipped matha legacy that Polands fledgling high-tech sector is struggling with today. Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, a Polish daily newspaper, recently reported that job opportunities in these areas outnumbered appli
46、cants by 10 to 1.Economists say that Poland lags far behind other nations of comparable resources in patent applications, and that in 2012 Poland will probably lose out on European Union financing for research and development.“I am not qualified to be considered intelligentsia in this country,“ Prof
47、essor Turski said, shouting with the enthusiasm of a man on a mission. “It is more important to sit and discuss Plato than to know how the chip in the computer works.“The decision to make math studies optional was finally reversed this past May, Professor Turski said, part of a long, slow process of
48、 trying to persuade Poles to forge values relevant to the modern world, and to get past values that evolved in very different times.But that struggle is not just relevant to math, because it is essentially about reconstructing an identity free from suffering, free from occupation, free from the mora
49、l certainty that resistance is always the moral choice.It is not even clear, Professor Turski said, that there is a general understanding and agreement on the need to improve education in science and math, if for no other reason than to help propel Polands already successful post-cold-war economy.“The only way for this country to move forward is for it to educate its own people, and our politicians dont understand this,“ Professor Turski said. “You cannot move a country without great ideas.“16 The open
