1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 273 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 clean-energy business is turning into the next big investment boom, in which risks are lightly ignored. Until recently, recalls Charlie Gay, a 30-ye
2、ar veteran of the solar-power business, venture capitalists were far too busy catering to captains of the information-technology industry to waste time on “hippy-dippy tree-huggers“ like himself. But now the tree-huggers are in the ascendant and the IT barons are busy investing in clean-energy techn
3、ology.Investors are falling over themselves to finance start-ups in clean technology, especially in energy. Venture Business Research reckons that investment in the field by venture capitalists and private-equity firms has quadrupled in the past two years, from some $500m in 2004 to almost $2 billio
4、n so far this year. The share of venture capital going into clean energy is rising rapidly.Clean-energy fever is being fuelled by three things: high oil prices, fears over energy security and a growing concern about global warming. The provision of energy, the industrys cheerleaders say, will change
5、 radically over the coming decades. Polluting coal- and gas-fired power stations will give way to cleaner alternatives such as solar and wind; fuels derived from plants and waste will replace petrol and diesel; and small, local forms of electricity generation will replace big power stations feeding
6、far-flung grids. Eventually, it is hoped, fuel cells running on hydrogen will take the place of the internal combustion engine which is available everywhere. It is a bold vision, but if it happens very slowly, or only to a limited extent, boosters argue that it will still prompt tremendous growth fo
7、r firms in the business.Analysts confidently predict the clean-energy business will grow by 20-30% a year for a decade. Jefferies, an investment bank that organized a recent conference on the industry in London, asked participants how soon solar power would become competitive with old-fashioned gene
8、ration technologies: in 2010, 2015 or 2020. About three-quarters of those present, one visitor happily observed, were “cheque-writers“. This “megatrend“, the keynote speaker advocated, “may be the biggest job- and wealth-creation opportunity of the 21st century.“Such exaggeration might remind people
9、 of dotcom bubble. But clean-energy advocates insist growth is sustainable because of the likes of Mr. Schwarzenegger. The Governor is a hero in green circles because of his enthusiasm for environmental regulation. He easily won re-election partly because he seized on global warming as a concern and
10、 signed into lawAmericas first wide-ranging scheme to cap greenhouse-gas emissions.1 According to the first two paragraphs, we can learn that（A）clean energy business is booming while the risks are totally overlooked.（B） venture capitalists have wasted much money on “hippy-dippy tree hungers“.（C） cle
11、an energy business is surging and changes the venture capital market.（D）the information-technology industry is correspondingly shrinking fast.2 Which of the following is true of Paragraph 3?（A）Clean energy fever is fuelled mainly by human psychological weakness.（B） The energy provision for the comin
12、g decades will undergo rapid changes.（C） Hydrogen as a new energy will replace traditional energy forms like coal, and gas.（D）Supporters of clean energy business are pretty optimistic about its future.3 The word “cheque-writers“(Lines 4-5, Paragraph 4)is closest in meaning to（A）tycoons.（B） donators.
13、（C） investors.（D）celebrities.4 It can be inferred from the last paragraph that（A）clean energy industry and the dotcom industry have the same business model.（B） the dotcom industry might have undergone a rapid but unsustainable development.（C） Schwarzenegger has insisted that growth in clean energy b
14、usiness is sustainable.（D）global warming has become a popular and decisive issue in political elections.5 What is the authors attitude towards clean energy business?（A）Optimistic.（B） Enthusiastic.（C） Objective.（D）Subjective.5 Bankruptcy rates in the U.S. have been growing for more than two decades d
15、espite generally rising levels of personal income. The most prominent explanation puts the blame directly on credit cards, which became vastly more popular in the past 30 years. University of Pennsylvania law professor David A. Skeel notes that a 1978 Supreme Court decision allowed credit-card compa
16、nies to charge the interest rate allowed in their state of incorporation. As a result, many incorporated in the high-rate states of Delaware and South Dakota. Being able to charge high rates throughout the country, they could afford to issue cards to those with limited ability to repay. Many high-ri
17、sk cardholders, overburdened with debt, filed for bankruptcy.Skeel also notes that the impersonality of credit-card borrowing may have helped weaken the moral imperative to repay debts: in the 1960s a prospective borrower met face-to-face with a bank lending officer, but today the borrower gets cred
18、it by responding to a junk-mail offer.Other developments also fueled the rise in bankruptcy, including medical bills. A Harvard University study found that about a quarter of filers cited illness or injury as the specific reason for their troubles. Loss of jobs probably also drove some credit-card h
19、olders into bankruptcy. Other possible contributors include the growth of the gambling industry in recent years and the Supreme Courts 1977 decision to allow lawyers to advertise directly to the general public.Changes in bankruptcy law apparently have had little effect on filings. The Bankruptcy Ref
20、orm Act of 1978 was designed to make it easier for consumers to pay off debts and start anew. As under previous acts, penniless debtors could file for complete discharge of debts under Chapter 7, and debtors with substantial assets could arrange for partial repayment under Chapter 13. Most filers op
21、ted for the more generous provisions of Chapter 7. During the six years following implementation of the act, filings rose substantially. The act was amended in 1984 to curb opportunistic petitions. However, filings went in the opposite direction than expected. Evidently, easy credit and other debt-c
22、reating forces have been more powerful.The latest legal effort is the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, which went into effect in October. The new act lays down far more strict standards for debtors, including a test to qualify for Chapter 7 relief. Despite the new res
23、trictions, bankruptcy experts tend to be skeptical or noncommittal about the effectiveness in reducing filings.6 According to Paragraph 1, bankruptcy rates in the U.S. have been increasing mainly because（A）having credit cards was a fashionable trend in the 1970s.（B） credit-card companies charged onl
24、y those unable to repay high rates.（C） many indebted people easily claimed bankruptcy throughout the country.（D）many credit card holders pressed by debt have filed for bankruptcy.7 By saying “the impersonality of credit-card borrowing“(Line 1, Paragraph 2), the author implies that（A）e-mails have tak
25、en over interpersonal communications.（B） face-to-face interviews with bankers would strengthen morality.（C） people can own a credit card by replying to a junk-mail offer.（D）credit-card borrowing has lost the moral obligations.8 Which of the following is true of the other factors fueling the bankrupt
26、cy rise?（A）Lack of medical insurance has brought about social troubles.（B） Unemployment has impaired cardholders ability to repay debts.（C） The growth of gambling industry has inhibited money wasting.（D）Government authorities have decided to legalize bankruptcy.9 Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978 was am
27、ended in order to（A）promote easy credit and filing.（B） counter debt-creating forces.（C） give debtors more freedom.（D）cripple opportunistic filings.10 We can conclude from the last paragraph that（A）bankruptcy in the U.S. will decrease in the long run.（B） new acts concerning bankruptcy will protect de
28、btors.（C） despite legal efforts uncertainty remains in bankruptcy issues.（D）bankruptcy experts dont care about the effectiveness of filings.10 Alison Preston of the University of Texas at Austins Center for Learning and Memory explains: A short-term memorys conversion to a long-term memory requires
29、changes within the brain that protect the memory from interference from competing stimuli or disruption from injury or disease. This time-dependent process of stabilization, whereby our experiences achieve a permanent record in our memory, is referred to as “consolidation“.Memory consolidation can o
30、ccur at many organizational levels in the brain. The cellular and molecular portions of memory consolidation typically take place within the first minutes or hours of learning and result in changes to neurons(nerve cells)or sets of neurons. Systems-level consolidation, involving the reorganization o
31、f brain networks that handle the processing of individual memories can then happen on a much slower time frame of days or even years.The consolidation process that affects declarative memories-recollections of general facts and specific eventsrelies on the function of some specific structures in the
32、 brain. At the cellular level, memory is expressed as changes to the structure and function of neurons. For example, new synapsesthe connections between neurons through which they exchange informationcan form to allow for communication between new networks of neurons. Alternatively, existing synapse
33、s can be strengthened to allow for increased sensitivity in the communication between two neurons.Consolidating such synaptic changes requires the synthesis of new RNA and proteins in the structures, which transform temporary alterations in synaptic transmission into persistent modifications of syna
34、ptic architecture. With time, the brain systems also change. Initially, the specific structure works in concert with sensory-processing regions distributed in the neo-cortex(the outermost layer of the brain)to form the new memories. Within the neo-cortex, representations of the elements that constit
35、ute an event in our life are distributed across multiple brain regions according to their content.When a memory is first formed, the specific structure rapidly combines this distributed information into a single memory, thus acting as an index of representations in the sensory-processing regions. As
36、 time passes, cellular and molecular changes allow for the strengthening of direct connections among the neocortical regions, enabling access to the memory independent of the structure. Thus, while damage to the structure from injury or particular disorder hampers the ability to form new declarative
37、 memories, such a disruption may not impair memories for facts and events that have already been consolidated. Thus, an amnesiac with hippocampal damage would not be able to learn the names of current presidential candidates but would be able to recall the identity of our 16th president.11 The conso
38、lidation process means（A）a process with time limits.（B） a period of experiences within the brain.（C） a protection of long-term memory.（D）a conversion to a permanent record.12 Which of the following is true of the reorganization of brain networks?（A）It takes up much longer time for days or even years
39、.（B） It happens at the beginning time of learning.（C） It combines into an individual memory.（D）It happens at the stage of cellular level.13 According to the passage, the declarative memories could be（A）affected by the memory of general facts and specific events.（B） determined by some specific struct
40、ures in the brain.（C） expressed as changes to the structure and function of neurons.（D）communicated to create new connections of neurons.14 The word “synapses“(Line 3, Paragraph 3)most probably means（A）the junction between neurons.（B） the networks of neurons.（C） the brain regions.（D）the brain struct
41、ure.15 The structure damage may not disturb consolidated memories for facts and events because（A）the consolidated memory will be strengthened by time.（B） the damage just affects the ability to form new declarative memories.（C） the memory became single and independent of the brain structure.（D）there
42、exist direct connections among the neocortical regions.15 Using only a few computers, researchers at the federal Idaho National Laboratory managed to launch a cyberattack that crippled an electricity generator earlier this year. The test, performed on a replica of common power plant control systems
43、that operate over the Internet, tricked the machine into operating at levels that caused it to smoke and then destroy itself. Funded by the Department of Homeland Security(DHS), this was an unsettling demonstration of how vulnerable Americas critical infrastructure is to online assaults.As early as
44、this week, the Bush administration is expected to request significant new funding to ratchet up its cybersecurity efforts. Under a new initiative, a broad set of federal agencies would coordinate the monitoring and defense of government networks, as well as private systems that operate key services
45、like electricity, telecommunications, and banking. But officials are divided over how much of the program, which will be run by DHS, to discuss publicly because of the sizable involvement of U.S. intelligence agencies.The sensitivity also reflects how officials increasingly view cybersecurity as a n
46、ational security concern, with threats coming not only from whiz-kid hackers but also foreign intelligence agencies and militaries. The nations computer networks “are under persistent attack now,“ warns Joel Brenner, the nations top counterintelligence official.In just the past year, officials repor
47、ted that the number of cyberattacks on government computer networks more than doubled. “The adversaries are becoming more nimble, more focused, and more sophisticated in their attempts to exploit our vulnerabilities,“ says a DHS source. But in some ways, the private networks that operate critical in
48、frastructure could be even more vulnerable. “There is no government entity that can require cybersecurity controls be put in place in the private sector,“ says Rep. Jim Langevin, chairman of a House cybersecurity subcommittee.Currently, the governments leading experts in cybersecurity, who work at t
49、he supersecret National Security Agency(NSA), are responsible only for guarding classified networks. As first reported in the Baltimore Sun, the new effort envisages expanding NSAs cyberdefense efforts to unclassified government systems and private industry. The proposal, however, has sparked some concerns about privacy, because defending networks is such an invasive process. “In order to defend the cyberspace on which these critical systems depend, we have to be able to both monitor and control them,“ says Sami Saydjari, a former NSA official who runs the Cyber Defens
