1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 198 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 In the first years of the 21st century, no area of the American economy has excited more emotion than the property market. First came the excitement of
2、soaring prices. Then spirits came crashing down with the subprime crisis, and now homeowners are agonizing over how far values could fall. An even bigger story, however, may be yet to come.America should be bracing itself for the end of the “generational housing bubble“, according to a new study by
3、Dowell Myers and SungHo Ryu of the University of Southern California. As the countrys 78 million baby-boomers retire, the report argues, the housing market will change dramatically. For three decades baby-boomers have helped push prices up: they settled down, and then bought bigger houses and second
4、 homes. But as the first of them celebrate their 65th birthdays in 2011, this may change. The old sell more homes than they buy. The ratio of old to working-age people is expected to grow by 67% over the next two decades. Will the younger generation be able to buy all the homes on the market?Young a
5、dults make up the bulk of new demand, with most purchasing homes when they reach their early 30s. The flood of elderly people selling their homes, Mr. Myers suggests, may lead to a drawn-out buyers market. Prices may fall further as younger people, perceiving a downturn, delay purchasing.This phenom
6、enon will unfold differently across the country. Some states will begin the sell-off later than others. In 15 southern and western statesincluding the retirement magnets of Florida and Arizonathe elderly do not become net sellers until their 70s. Expensive states such as California and the cold stat
7、es of the mid-west and northeast are likely to lose them more quickly. The mismatch between buyers and sellers may be most acute in the rustbelt, where numbers of young people and immigrants are rising slowly, if at all, says William Frey of the Brookings Institution, a think-tank.Of course, there m
8、ay be other outcomes. Suburbs, which swelled with the baby-boomers, may begin to decline. If the building industry contracts, home prices may remain more stable. Or developers may switch to serving the old, building more compact housing near amenities. Towns may make new efforts to attract immigrant
9、s, who already accounted for 40% of the growth in homeownership between 2000 and 2006. Among these unknowns, one thing is more certain: the housing market is about to enter a long period of transition. The youngest baby-boomers will not turn 65 until 2029.1 “An even bigger story“ in Paragraph 1 impl
10、ies that American property market will（A）continue to be the most exciting field in the American economy.（B） experience more dramatic changes in the following years.（C） make spirits go up with the decreased housing prices.（D）have greater impact on the feelings of homeowners.2 According to Dowell, the
11、 baby-boomers（A）have been more likely to buy bigger and more homes.（B） may celebrate their birthdays at the age of 65.（C） should welcome the future change by selling more houses.（D）have made housing bubbles in the past three decades.3 The word “drawn-out“ (line 3, Paragraph 3) most probably means（A）
12、prolonged.（B） declined.（C） delayed.（D）enlarged.4 William Frey believes that（A）people in southern states would not lose their homes until 70s.（B） people in expensive states would lose their money more quickly.（C） young people and immigrants hardly increase in the rustbelt areas.（D）elderly people woul
13、d not like to retire in Florida and Arizona until 70s.5 It could be concluded from the passage that（A）suburbs would decline with increased baby-boomers.（B） housing prices would keep steady in the crisis.（C） the housing market will experience a period of transformation.（D）immigrants will be the major
14、ity of homeownership in towns.5 They are “financial weapons of mass destruction,“ to quote the famous investor Warren Buffett as he surveyed the morning-after destruction of the subprime mortgage lending crisis. The continuing destruction can now be called a credit crisisa significant escalation bec
15、ause credit has been the fuel powering the American economy for the past half dozen years.A whole galaxy of credit instruments has now been downgraded to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars of paper losses. Another immediate effect has been a collapse in cash-out borrowing from home equity f
16、rom about $700 billion in 2005 to $100 billion to date. At the same time, tighter lending and mortgage standards have contributed to a dramatic decline in residential construction from a high of over 2 million units to about 800,000 predicted for next year, with a related decline in employment. A sl
17、owdown in consumer spending seems inescapable.What is now seriously in question is the capacity of our financial system to provide enough credit to support the scale of investment that has maintained our long economic expansion. Coming at a time of soaring oil prices, we may have a simultaneous decl
18、ine in consumer spending, residential investment, and business investment. The economy was strong in the third quarter but clearly dropping off by the end. We may be at the finish of not just the long-term borrowing bubble but the long-term spending bubble.The Federal Reserve must get ahead of the c
19、urve. Its priority must be to maintain the viability of the credit system and the flow of credit; our postmodern economy is dependent on an ongoing flow of credit. The problem for the Fed is that monetary policy may be no match for the deep structural contradictions that plague the financial system.
20、 We are dealing here with a whole new set of credit instruments that are little understood and therefore extremely difficult to price.The economy is clearly transitioning to much slower growth, sharply tighter lending standards, a declining housing market, and pressure on consumer spending. People a
21、nd companies are trying to cope with the debt accumulated during several years of wasteful lending and spending. The real danger from a credit crisis is that everyone, from banks to corporations to households, may economize simultaneously. The collapse of values and the risks of the credit squeeze a
22、re the worst since the Great Depression. We are going to put the economys resilience to a severe test.6 According to the first paragraph, which of the following seems to be the most serious economic problem now?（A）The overall economic depression.（B） The on-going credit crisis.（C） The weapons of mass
23、 destruction.（D）The investment in housing.7 The tighter lending and mortgage standards will probably result in（A）jump of employment rate.（B） more spending on necessities.（C） flexible cash-out borrowing.（D）a decrease of units to be built.8 It is suggested in Paragraph 3 that（A）the financial system is
24、 able to provide enough credit to support the investment.（B） the credit issue can be traced back to the economic expansion long ago.（C） the growing oil prices have influenced the business world.（D）the borrowing bubble and the spending one will balance the economy.9 We could learn from the last parag
25、raph that the real danger from a credit crisis is（A）the loss of houses built on mortgage lending.（B） the possibility of economy resilience.（C） the bankruptcy of large corporations.（D）the pressure on consumer expenditure.10 Which of the following would be the best title for the text?（A）The Credit Cri
26、sis Grows（B） The Economy Transitions（C） The USA Declines（D）The Debt Soars10 I came to feminism the way some people come to social movements in their early years: out of self-interest. I got on the equality bandwagon because I was a young woman with a streak of ambition a mile wide, and without a cha
27、nge in the atmosphere I thought I was going to wind up living a life that would make me crazy. As my father said not long ago, “Can you imagine whatit would have been like if you had been born 50 years earlier? Your life would have been miserable.“The great thing was that it was possible to do good
28、for all while you were doing well for yourself. Each of us rose on the shoulders of women who had come before us. Move up, reach down: that was the motto of those who were worth knowing. But it was not just other women we elevated, but entire enterprises. More women on the staffs and the mastheads o
29、f the countrys largest publications changed them. It resulted in newspapers and magazines that covered women as more than a mixture of recipes and fashion collections.But theres one question that always lurks around the margins of the battle for equal rights: how will we know when weve won? Sometime
30、s it seems like a classic dance of two steps forward, one back. Indra Nooyi, an Indian-born number cruncher, was recently named CEO of Pepsi. But that makes her one of only 11 women now running a Fortune 500 company, which works out to slightly more than 2 percent. And Forbes magazine just published
31、 an essay titled “Dont Marry Career Women“ by a male writer who couldnt see the advantages of a wife who could pay the mortgage and support the children even if her husband lost his job or suffered a massive coronary.That kind of nonsense takes you back in time, to the early days when women dumped b
32、abies on the desk of the mayor of Syracuse to protest the lack of child care. Maybe it was the classic protest slogan “Dont cook dinnerstarve a rat today,“ but the perception was that the fight for equality was a war against men. But the battle was really against the waste of talent, the waste to so
33、ciety, the waste of women who had certain gifts and goals and had to suppress both. The point was not to take over male terrain but to change it because it badly needed changing. The depth and breadth of that transformation is what reflects the success of the movement, and by that measure, women are
34、 doing well. And so is everyone else.11 The author came to women movement owing to（A）her interest in it.（B） her father.（C） her ambitions.（D）her miserable life.12 The best reason for womens rise is that（A）women helped each other in social life.（B） more women were employed and achieved success.（C） mor
35、e women succeeded in food and fashion industries.（D）a valuable motto encouraged women to strive.13 According to Paragraph 3, womens fight for equality is troubled by the problem that（A）there are fewer women executives in business world.（B） it is difficult to define the success of feminist movement.（
36、C） women can not prove themselves on job.（D）men do not want to marry career women.14 The example of Indra Nooyi is cited to show that（A）women are still the disadvantaged group in the society.（B） like men, women can also achieved great success.（C） men are still unwilling to marry career women.（D）Indi
37、an Americans can make great achievements in todays US.15 What can we learn from the last paragraph?（A）The fight for womens equality is a war against men and government.（B） The main reason for womens protest is the lack of child care.（C） Feminist movement succeeds in changing the male-dominant societ
38、y.（D）Women have taken over the traditional male terrain and gained equality.15 In the days before preschool academies were all but mandatory for kids under 5, I stayed home and got my early education from Mike Douglas. His TV talk show was one of my mothers favorite programs, and because I looked up
39、 to my mother, it became one of my favorites too.Yet I quickly developed my own fascination with Douglas, who died lastweek. Maybe it was the plain seta couple of chairs and little elseor maybe it was the sound of people talking about ideas and events rather than telling stories. Whatever it was, to
40、 my 4-year-old mind it was all terribly adult, like my mothers morning coffee. It wasrelatively. The grown-up world I live in now is another matter. Thanks in part to the proliferation and polarization of talk shows in the last 20 years or sothe generation after Douglas and his big-tent gentility we
41、nt off the airpublic conversations have become scary monsters indeed.Like other forms of entertainment, the programming of commercial talk shows today has moved beyond niche to hermetic. The idea of a host booking guests as varied as Jerry Rubin, Malcolm X and Richard Nixonand treating them all with
42、 a certain deference, as Douglas didis unheard of. Equally amazing is to consider that Douglas was a moderate; though he didnt always share his guests views, he nonetheless insisted on everybody having his or her say.What he did, in other words, was more important than who he was. That was probably
43、an easy dictate for an old-school, modest guy such as Douglas to follow. And now? Oprah Winfrey is sincere enough, but her viewership is a cult of personality, not of people or issues. Like her contemporaries, Oprah chooses her guests and issues to suit her show, rather than allowing guests and issu
44、es to be the show. She prefers uplift and empowerment, which is more palatable than name-calling, the hallmark of Bill OReilly or Howard Stern. But spin is spin, and in her own way Oprah gets as tiresome as those guys. Ultimately, these shows fail to convey the fullness of the conversation, the sens
45、e that America is one placeor one hostwith many voices at equal volume.That doesnt mean everybodys right. But to have everybody engaged and feeling a stake in the outcome of the discussion is priceless. Engagement is nothing less than national security: I felt that as a preschooler, watching Mike Do
46、uglas on TV, and I feel it now. The age of irony, they would say, fueled by information that moves at the speed of light, demands a different approach.16 It can be inferred from Paragraph 1 that the author（A）was influenced by his mother.（B） didnt like preschool academies.（C） enjoyed self-taught prog
47、rams.（D）was smart in his childhood.17 The word “big-tent“ (Line 6, Paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to（A）sensible.（B） tolerant.（C） imposing.（D）polite.18 According to Paragraph 3, Mike Douglas（A）treated guests with great passion.（B） satisfied the guests requirements.（C） highly valued different opin
48、ions.（D）shared appealing experience of his own.19 Which of the following is true about Oprah Winfrey?（A）She is not straightforward with her audience.（B） She prefers fashionable and exciting topics.（C） She is not quite successful as a talk show host.（D）She is less annoying than those who slander othe
49、rs.20 The author would most probably agree that（A）people in a conversation should always reach an agreement.（B） Mike Douglas has offered a world of information to the audience.（C） it is of vital importance to have people engaged in the discussion.（D）Mike Douglas show marks the new age of mockery.20 A woman with a twin brother has fewer children. Twin brothers can leave quite an impression. The mere presence of a boy in the same womb as his sister causes her to develop bigger teeth than she otherwise would. Girls with twin brothers perform better o
