1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 150 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 Wall Street wise guys used to mock Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as “Helicopter Ben“ because he once spoke approvingly of a Milton Friedman mone
2、y metaphor about how a “helicopter drop“ of greenbacks could stop prices from collapsing. But lately the big-money types have fixed their eyes firmly on the skies, searching hopefully for a Bernanke air rescue from the spreading subprime mortgage crisis.In a now notorious(thanks to YouTube)rant on C
3、NBC, money manager turned TV personality Jim Cramer urged Fed action as he blasted Bernanke for doing nothing to ease the pain: “Bernanke is being an academic! It is no time to be an academic. . He has no idea how bad it is out there. He has no idea!We have Armageddon!“And since that public financia
4、l freakout, the bad news has continued to flow about the mortgage credit crunch, and stocks have continued to fall. Not that the Fed has done nothing. Over the past week and a half, it has injected tens of billions of dollars into the banking system via short-term loans to help keep credit markets o
5、rderly.But Bernanke has a far bigger financial weapon in his arsenal: cutting short-term interest rates. The federal funds rate has been stuck at 5.25 percent since June 2006. Are Bernanke and company finally getting ready to cut rates to keep the mortgage meltdown from dragging the economy into rec
6、ession?No flinching. Money manager Louis Navellier thinks so. As he sees it, the crisis is a potential $67 billion mess in a $14 trillion economy, so probably “the problem is getting more attention than it deserves.“ Indeed, the underlying economy still looks pretty robust. Many economists now think
7、 growth topped a 4 percent annual rate in the second quarter, not the 3.4 percent first estimated by the Commerce Department. But Navellier worries that the torrent of bad lending news is “creating a lot of fear. Thats why the Fed is likely to cut rates soon. Fear can lead to panic, and the Fed does
8、 not want to get anywhere near that.“ Many on Wall Street agree. Short-term-interest-rate futures contracts are now trading as if a quarter-point cut at the Feds September policy meeting is a deadlock cinch.And since one-and-done rate cuts are rare, explains Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Fi
9、nancial Services Group, there might be several rate reductions over the coming year, bringing the fed funds rate down to 4. 5 percent by next summer. But Hoffman thinks the Fed wont pull the trigger until Octoberafter it sees back-to-school sales datawith perhaps a stronger hint of a rate cut in its
10、 September policy meeting statement. “Bernanke doesnt want to appear to be flinching in the face of market turmoil,“ Hoffman says.1 Ben Bernanke used to be mocked as “Helicopter Ben“ because（A）he was not as wise as the Wall Street guys.（B） he likes to go around America by air.（C） he once quoted Milt
11、on Friedmans metaphor about money.（D）he has no idea in dealing with financial crisis.2 We may infer from the passage that Jim Cramer is（A）now a money manager on Wall Street.（B） a TV program host who is against Bernanke.（C） a supporter of the Feds action.（D）jealous as Bernanke is being an academic.3
12、Which of the following is true according to the third and fourth paragraphs?（A）The stock market still goes on well.（B） The Fed has done nothing for the financial crisis.（C） Weapon selling is a good way to deal with the crisis.（D）Cut rates is a potential way for the government to solve the crisis.4 M
13、oney manager Louis Navellier holds the idea that（A）there should be less surprise for the crisis.（B） the government has no way to deal with the crisis.（C） there is no need to worry about the bad news.（D）the government used the fear to trade futures contracts.5 The word “one-and-done“(Line 1, Para.6)p
14、robably means（A）successive.（B） continuous.（C） once and stopped.（D）done by only one person.5 Its a common belief that women take fewer risks than men, and that adolescents always plunge in headlong without considering the consequences. But the reality of who takes risks is actually a bit more complic
15、ated, according to the authors of a new paper which will be published in the August issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Adolescents can be as cool-headed as anyone, and in some realms, women take more risks than men.A lot of w
16、hat psychologists know about risk-taking comes from lab studies where people are asked to choose between a guaranteed amount of money or a gamble for a larger amount. But that kind of decision isnt the same as deciding whether youre going to speed on the way home from work, or go bungee jumping. Res
17、earch in the last 10 years or so has found that the way people choose to take risks in one domain doesnt necessarily hold in other domains.“ The typical view is that women take less risks than men, that it starts early in childhood, in all cultures, and so on,“ says Bernd Figner of Columbia Universi
18、ty and the University of Amsterdam, who cowrote the paper with Elke Weber of Columbia University. The truth is more complicated. Men are willing to take more risks in finances. But women take more social risksa category that includes things like starting a new career in your mid-thirties or speaking
19、 your mind about an unpopular issue in a meeting at work.It seems that this difference is because men and women perceive risks differently. That difference in perception may be partly because of how familiar they are with different situations, Figner says. “If you have more experience with a risky s
20、ituation, you may perceive it as less risky. “ Differences in how boys and girls encounter the world as theyre growing up may make them more comfortable with different kinds of risks.Adolescents are known for risky behavior. But in lab tests, when theyre called on to think coolly about a situation,
21、psychological scientists have found that adolescents are just as cautious as adults and children. The difference between the lab and the real world, Figner says, is partly the extent to which they involve emotion. In an experiment where adolescents emotions got triggered strongly, they looked very d
22、ifferent from children and adults and took bigger risks, just as observed in real world settings.“Ultimately we would like to provide knowledge with our research that people can use to make decisions that are more beneficial for them in the long term,“ Figner says. The goal isnt to avoid risk, of co
23、ursestepping out the front door in the morning increases your chance of getting run over by a bus. But by understanding when and how people decide to take risks, he hopes to help people make risky decisions that they wont regret, either immediately after they have made them, or years later.6 Accordi
24、ng to the passage, it is commonly believed that（A）men start to take risks earlier than women.（B） adolescents are the ones who take the most risks.（C） men take more risks than women.（D）adolescents are cool-headed enough as for risk-taking.7 Women tend to take more risks when they are asked to（A）gambl
25、e on money.（B） face unknown dangers.（C） go bungee jumping.（D）express themselves in public.8 How will the adolescents act in the real world if activated by the surroundings?（A）They will still be cool-headed and careful enough.（B） They will get bold enough to take bigger risks.（C） They will perceive t
26、he potential risks by the past experience.（D）They will be have the same as different from adults and children.9 Which of the following statements might Figner agree with?（A）The more risks one experiences, the less dangerous he will feel.（B） People can learn skills to avoid taking risks from the pape
27、r.（C） The common belief that women take more risks than men is wrong.（D）there is no apparent difference between the results from lab and real world.10 What conclusion can we draw from the passage?（A）Adolescents are always blindly imprudent in their action.（B） Men take more risks than women in their
28、growing-up period.（C） People act differently upon risks in various domains.（D）People seldom regret their risky decisions after being made.10 TokyoSunstar Inc. , makers of GUM and Butler brand oral hygiene products, will be sending select employees to a most unusual three-day company retreat this yea
29、r. The goal isnt high productivity, product development, or team building but instead slim waistlines. Sunstars fat farm is part of a broad range of programs instituted by companies and the government here as Japan begins its battle with the bulge.In a country seemingly devoid of Rubenesque curves,
30、a country in which tofu makes regular appearances on menus and bean paste serves as a common substitute for chocolates in desserts , a country with the best longevity rates in the world, this may seem a strange preoccupation. But the two-hour lines at Tokyos Krispy Kreme doughnut shops and the risin
31、g rates of diabetes tell of a country in transition.Indeed, rice and fresh fruit consumption in Japan has fallen by about half since 1970, while beef consumption is up more than 40 percent and coffee drinking has tripled. The crepe shops that have sprouted up on street corners throughout Tokyo demon
32、strate the growing appetite for sweets. Notably, the number of diabetics in Japan has doubled in the past 15 years, and the government estimates that a further 10 million people have the warning signs for the disease. This is particularly troubling in a rapidly aging country like Japan, adding to th
33、e strain on Japans national health insurance program.Japans Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare released an alarming study two years ago that found that half of all men between the ages of 40 and 74 and 1 in 5 women in the same age group showed signs of “metabolic syndrome“a cluster of risk facto
34、rs for heart attacks and cardiovascular disease that includes high cholesterol, high blood pressure, elevated insulin levels, and abdominal obesity.The report shocked the nation and prompted the government to pass legislation to force the Japanese to shape up. The laws to address what the Japanese h
35、ave come to call “metabo“ take effect this year. Theyve given the government and employers, long dominant forces in Japanese workers lives, places at the dinner table in ordinary Japanese homes. Theyve also sparked a flurry of products to help Japanese keep trim or shed extra pounds.One regulation,
36、effective in April, requires all citizens over the age of 40 to have their waists measured every year. If a mans waist is more than 33. 5 inches or a womans more than 35. 5 inches, they are considered at risk and referred for counseling and close monitoring. The government is also requiring companie
37、s to slim down their workers or face higher payments into the national insurance program.Companies across the country have responded with a variety of initiatives. Sunstar has its boot camp, which includes lectures on diet, exercise, and even Zen meditation. Family members of employees over 40 whose
38、 love handles wont budge will also be asked to attend the camp. The company also offers overweight workers free delivery of healthful, traditionally Japanese food like soybeans and brown rice.11 “Doughnut shops“ mentioned in the second paragraph is to（A）confirm that Japan has the best longevity rate
39、s in the world.（B） show that tofu is popular.（C） illustrate that eating habit has been transformed.（D）show that people are crazy about doughnut.12 According to the author, what is particularly troubling in Japan?（A）Rice and fresh fruit consumption has fallen.（B） Beef and coffee consumption is up.（C）
40、 The appetite for sweets is growing.（D）The number of diabetics is increasing.13 We can infer from the fourth and fifth paragraphs that（A）the legislation even influences peoples dinner.（B） the regulation affects Japanese workers lives.（C） the laws help Japanese people lose weight.（D）the legislation i
41、s to attack the metabolic syndrome.14 The passage suggests that if the companies dont slim down the employees,（A）they will get disease.（B） they will pay more for the insurance program.（C） they will broke the law.（D）their waistline will get bigger.15 The author seems to be mainly concerned with Japan
42、ese（A）health.（B） waistline.（C） eating habit.（D）response to the laws.15 The leaders of Detroits struggling Big Three automakers are appearing before the Senate today, where prospects of $25 billion in emergency loans to the industry appear to be stalling.Amid GOP cries of “corporate welfare,“ Senate
43、Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced a bill yesterday to let the automakers and component suppliers tap into some of the money Congress allotted in the $700 billion financial bailout. Reid, launching a lame-duck session, warned of a “potential meltdown“ in the industry with devastating consequences
44、. He said 355,000 people are employed by the industry and 4.5 million more work in related industries. An additional 1 million people, retirees and their relatives, are covered by retirement and medical plans within the industry, he said.The Big ThreeGeneral Motors, Ford, and Chryslerhave been whips
45、awed by the faltering economy and credit crunch. But the odds do not look good for Detroit. At the heart of the debate is whether automakers are deservingas a key point of the U. S. economyor are, in the words of one high-profile critic, Republican Sefi. Richard Shelby of Alabama, an innovation-aver
46、se “ dinosaur“.Shelby, appearing Sunday on Meet the Press, said: “Get rid of the management. Get rid of the boardsthe people who brought them to where they are today. This is a dead end. Its a road to nowhere, and its a big burden on the American taxpayer. “Republicans attacked the measure on severa
47、l fronts. Some questioned the rush to judgment; others warned that other industries would soon line up for help. And some charged that the firms brought on their troubles by agreeing to union contracts with wages and benefits costing an average of $73 an hour, compared with $28 an hour for the avera
48、ge private firm.GOP Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania said the $700 billion rescue was the No. 1 issue when he toured the state recently. “Candidly, the temperature of my constituents was boiling, 212 degrees Fahrenheit, and the thermometer was broken,“ he said. Some opponents prefer that the autom
49、akers pursue Chapter 11 reorganizations instead of hitting up Uncle Sam.Democrats argue that the $25 billion is only 4 percent of the bigger bailout. Reids spokesman, Jim Manley, said the bill has robust language on corporate oversight, taxpayer protections, and executive compensation limits.A compromise could be struck if Democrats bowed to GOP pressure and, instead of new loans, rewrote the rules for $25 billion in loans granted to automakers to help them retool factories to build fuel-efficient vehicles. “Its mind boggling,“ one Republi
