1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 121 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 On Jan. 17, 1995, Kobe was hit by a 6.9-magnitude quake. The Great Hanshin Earthquake killed 6,400 people. Damage was estimated at more than $100 billio
2、n, similar to current estimates of the toll of last weeks 9.0-magnitude temblor in the Tohoku region of northern Japan. Yet, within 18 months, economic activity in Kobe had reached 98 percent of its pre-quake level. A state-of-the-art offshore port facility was built, housing was modernizedand a scr
3、uffy port city became an international showpiece.The March 11 earthquake and tsunami devastated a society that, for all its wealth, was stuck in a rut. Over the past two decades, Japans economic growth averaged an anemic 1 percent a year. Politically, the country was rudderless. The Liberal Democrat
4、ic Party, which had governed almost continuously since the end of the U.S. military occupation following World War II, had finally worn out its welcome. And the novice Democratic Party of Japan, which had assumed power in 2009, was flailing.For four decades after the war, Japan experienced cozy poli
5、tics backed by a robust economy. Lightly populated rural districts had a disproportionate effect on national politics. The government financed multibillion-dollar bridges to nowhere, expensive port facilities for small fishing villages and bullet trains to traverse bucolic rural areasand seemingly l
6、ined every riverbed in Japan in concrete.But in 1990, the bubble burst. The working-age share of the population began to fall. In 1998, the labor force started to shrink, and a decade later, the countrys population began to decline. Eventually, voters concerned about the mounting costs of wasteful p
7、rojects tossed out the LDP.Before the earthquake and tsunami devastated the Tohoku region on March 11, the country was already facing a slowing economy, fiscal strain and deflation, and decades of wasteful spending had saddled the country with a debt more than twice the size of the economy. Now, bey
8、ond the tragedys human toll, the economic costs are still being countedand could be vastly expanded if the nuclear reactor damage is closer to that of Chernobyl than to Three Mile Island. But if rebuilding is handled skillfully, there is hope that a different kind of Japan will emerge.Despite its we
9、ak starting point, the government holds a few cards. Ninety-five percent of Japans debt is owned by its citizens, not foreign hedge funds; its unlikely that those citizens would dump their bond holdings if the government takes on more debt to rebuild the city of Sendai, for example. Financially, the
10、 government has more maneuvering room than might seem apparent.Some rebuilding can be financed by redirecting spending from useless white-elephant projects to the higher priority of remaking Tohoku. The quality of public investment in the nation could improve, perhaps permanently, as a result of thi
11、s crisis.What is really at stakeand what will determine whether these other changes have any chance of coming to passis the structure of Japanese politics. If the incumbent DPJ successfully manages this emergency, the episode could reassure Japanese voters that this fledgling party represents a cred
12、ible alternative to the LDP. Japan would then have a true two-party system in which political power and ideas are genuinely contested. The Great Tohoku Earthquake could be the shock that pushes Japan not only to rebuild a city, but to remake itself politically for the 21st century.1 The author wrote
13、 the first paragraph in an attempt to_.（A）exemplify how severe the consequences of the Great Hanshin Earthquake are（B） indicate that the March 11 disaster could bring out a new Japan like Great Hanshin Earthquake did（C） make an analogy between the Great Hanshin Earthquake and the Great Tohoku Earthq
14、uake（D）state the post-quake reconstruction is disproportionate to the damage caused by the quake2 According to the text, the author suggests that Democratic Party of Japan_.（A）has been the ruling party for approximately 50-odd years（B） is failing in leading the Japan out of the difficulties（C） is a
15、newly emergent part in Japans political community（D）has successfully managed this emergency3 Except the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the hindrances that Japans economic growth confronts EXCLUDE_.（A）deflation（B） the aging labor force（C） massive debts（D）fiscal deficit4 On which of the following st
16、atement would the author most probably agree?（A）Criticism is mixed with optimism for Japan economic and political landscape.（B） The bursting bubble of economy results in the decreasing working-age population.（C） Japans party system has been a one-party one since World War II till DPJs office.（D）The
17、merits Japan can derive from the quake overwhelm the risks and consequences of it.5 Which of the following is the most proper title of the text?（A）Will the Crisis Create a New Japan?（B） The History of Great Earthquakes in Japan.（C） How Japanese Government Will Cope With the 311 Emergency（D）Virtues a
18、nd Vices of March 11 Earthquake and Tsunami5 Wikipedia. To many it is still considered a dirty little secret. A site secretly consulted when an office conversation veers out of your comfort zone. When directly referenced, it is often accompanied by a hasty acknowledgement of its shortcomings. We are
19、 all familiar with the sarcastic undertones that lace the mantra “it must be right, because Wikipedia says so“. But those undertones are slowly fading as the system improves and the site becomes less dirty, less little and less of a secret every day.Exactly 10 years after its launch and 17 million a
20、rticles later, the poster child for collaboration is an accepted part of daily life in the developed world, with serious inroads being made to the rest of the world.The person tasked with steering Wikipedias growth is Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. A feisty former journ
21、alist and senior director of CBC.ca, Gardner was brought in to develop a clear strategy for the non-profit organisation in 2007. The main challenge was to ensure that the enormous, disparate community of contributors from around the world were aligned in a common cause. According to Wikipedia founde
22、r Jimmy Wales, hiring Gardner was “one of the best things we ever did“.To many people, Wikipedia is a shining beacon of the original promise of the web. Gardner goes as far to say that its the “embodiment of the best aspects of the web“.Where does it fall short? Gardner doesnt hold back: “Its a work
23、 in progress so we are always going to need to do better. All aspects need to be improved.“ As Wikipedia focuses on improving and expanding, the site is under constant fire from those who accuse it of being biased, unreliable and favouring of consensus over credentials in its editorial processes.Rob
24、ert McHenry, author and former Editor-in-Chief of Encyclopedia Britannica, summarises what he describes as the “fatal fallacy“ in the Wikipedia model:The fatal fallacy in the Wikipedia theory is that a Wikipedia article can be thought of as an “open source“ project like those that produce software a
25、nd that, like those, it will undergo steady improvement toward some ideal state. But the software is clearly identified as developmental while in this process, and it is constantly tested against objective criteria: it performs as intended, or it does not. The article is published to the world in wh
26、atever state it may be, changes for the better or for worse at random times, and is held to no standard that the user can rely upon.He certainly has a pointthere are plenty of examples of false, and sometimes defamatory, information being posted to biographical profiles. There is also a systemic bia
27、s that often sees current events attract more attention than older ones and pop culture get a disproportionate amount of coverage, as well as perspective bias when reporting global events. That is not to say that traditional encyclopaedias are error-free. There have been a series of studies comparin
28、g the reliability of Wikipedia with traditional encyclopaedias, which have shown that Wikipedias reliability is improving. A study revealed that Wikipedias scientific articles came close to the level of accuracy in Encyclopaedia Britannica and had a similar rate of “serious errors“.6 It can be infer
29、red from Paragraph 1 that_.（A）Wikipedia is a secret and dirty website which few people know（B） people assume everything on Wikipedia can not be wrong（C） the public tend to question the authority of Wikipedias information（D）Wikipedia helps you improve your office skills7 “The poster child“ in Paragra
30、ph 2 implies_.（A）the typical model（B） the child portrait（C） the image spokesman（D）the representation of activity8 Wikipedia is often attacked under the accusation of_.（A）refusing cooperation（B） rejecting improvement（C） asking for high charges（D）being unfair and undependable9 On which of the followin
31、g would the author most probably agree?（A）Traditional encyclopedias are from mistakes and errors.（B） The article collected by Wikpedia bears much resemblance to the open-source software.（C） The promise of the web is about the democratization and freedom of access to information.（D）The risks of using
32、 Wikipedia overwhelms the minimal merits one can derive from it.10 The authors attitude towards Wikipeida is one of_.（A）objectiveness（B） advocacy（C） ambivalence（D）skepticism10 “The world as we know is going down!“ shouted a hysterical New York City broker over a Starbucks latte in Der Speigels harro
33、wing account of the September 2008. This was the nadir the financial panic that gripped the world. The Dow was collapsing by the hundreds each day, and banks with asset sheets worth more than the GDP of developed countries were teetering on bankruptcy.But 400 years ago, banking wasnt so big. In fact
34、, bankers were practically outcasts.Since Christians could not legally charge interest to other Christians, money lending fell mostly to Jews, like William Shakespeares Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Confined to ghettos, they conducted their business on benches, or banques(the root of the word b
35、ank). If you can imagine it today, the price of banking in the early 1600s was ostracism.How did we go from ghettos to Goldman? The great innovation in modern banking occurred in Florence, Niall Ferguson writes in his book The Ascent of Money. Giovanni di Medici, father of the great Cosimi di Medici
36、, saw that while charging interest was a sin, nothing prevented a trader from making money on taking a commission for converting currencies. If converted currencies were advanced for longer periods of time, the commission would grow as well. By diversifying his investments across traders, depositors
37、 and different currencies, Giovanni created a truly booming, stable and legally acceptable bank.“Now for the first time,“ Ferguson explained, “money lending had evolved into banking.“In the next four centuries, banking continued its radical evolution. In the 1600s, Amsterdam opened the worlds first
38、stock exchange. In the late 1700s, Dutch traders inspired King William I to create the worlds first mutual funds. In the 1900s modern finance exploded, with the first hedge fund(1949), the first mortgage security(1968), the first collateralized debt obligation(1987), and the first credit default swa
39、p(1994). Money is getting smarter.Debt, credit and equity are as old as Hammurabis Code. But with each round of history, they are extended with greater force and cunning to more people. European countries invented bonds to pay for wars. The Dutch invented stock to pay for ships. Credit cards invente
40、d points to pay for goods. From the national level, to the corporate level, to the individual level, finance finds new ways to get us spending more.The democratization of money meant the democratization of debt. In the past, only governments and large international companies had the chance to spend
41、themselves into oblivion. Today, were all so lucky! Easier money, in the form of credit cards smartphone apps, encourages us to buy, buy, buy. Maybe thats why household debt weighs more than half of GDP in eight countries. Maybe thats why the average American worker entered the recession with debt e
42、qual to 122 percent of her yearly salary. Brilliant ways to extend credit and financing have invigorated the global economy. But somewhere between the home equity loans and the credit default swaps, we tricked ourselves. Smart money in the hands of greedy bankers and wide-eyed breadwinners looks lik
43、e dumb money, indeed.11 The purpose of the author in writing Paragraph 1 is_.（A）to show that September 2008 was the nadir（B） to show the severity of the financial panic（C） to show that banking wasnt so big 400 years ago（D）to show the feeling of a hysterical New York City broker12 What is the essenti
44、al element that bankers were practically outcasts 400 years ago?（A）Christians could not legally charge interest to other Christians.（B） William Shakespeares Shylock in The Merchant of Venice is a Jew.（C） The price of banking in the early 1600s was ostracism.（D）It was difficult to go from ghettos to
45、Goldman.13 According to the text, when did money lending evolve into banking?（A）When interest is charged.（B） When a commission is taken for exchanging money.（C） When the first stock exchange was built.（D）When money business became diversified.14 On which of the following statements would the author
46、LEAST probably agrees?（A）In the past four centuries, banking evolved and money became smarter.（B） Debt, credit and equity are quite new concepts.（C） Smart money should be treated with care.（D）With democratization of money came democratization of debt.15 Which one is the best title of the text?（A）How
47、 Banking Got Big（B） A Brief History of Banking（C） The Democratization of Money（D）Smart Money, Dumb Money15 U.S. technology workers may be looking at a better job market in the coming months, according to a new study from staffing firm Robert Half Technology. A net 11 percent of chief information off
48、icers surveyed plan to add full-time information technology staff in the third quarter, the firm said Thursday. That is the largest net percent of CIOs expecting to increase staff in three years, Robert Half Technology said. 14 percent of CIOs interviewed plan to add full-time IT staff, while 3 perc
49、ent anticipate personnel reductions, the firm said. 81 percent of survey respondents expect to maintain current staff levels. Robert Half Technologys national poll includes responses from more than 1,400 CIOs from a sample of U.S. companies with 100 or more employees.“Businesses are showing increased optimism in their hiring plans, but they remain realistic,“ Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology, said in a statement. “CIOs are carefully evaluating their key requirements and addin
