1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 418 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 Those days are long gone when placing a telephone call meant simply picking up the receiver and asking the operator to patch you through. Modern cell ph
2、ones require users to navigate a series of menus to find numbers, place calls or check messages. Even the most tech-savvy may take weeks to discover some of the more mysterious multimedia functions. Imagine the difficulty for someone unable to read.That is the challenge for mobile communications com
3、panies aiming to branch out into developing countries. The prospects seen from the last decade are alluring: only about one tenth of Indias population use cell phones. But selling to poor rural areas is not likely to happen with a marketing version of “plug and play.“ Most potential buyers have litt
4、le exposure to anything other than simple electronics. Reading through a series of hierarchical menus and pushing buttons for multiple purposes would be new concepts for such customers.To come up with a suitable device, Motorola relied on a team of anthropologists, psychologists and designers to stu
5、dy how textually illiterate villagers use their aging televisions, tape players and phones. The researchers noticed that their subjects would learn each buttons dedicated function. With something more complicated, such as an automated teller machine, users would memorize a set of behaviors in order,
6、 which allowed them to move through the machines basic hierarchy without having to read the menu.The research, which lasted three years, led Motorola to craft a cellular phone slimmed down to three essential activities: calling, managing numbers and simple text messaging. “A lot of the functions in
7、a cell phone are not useful to anyone,“ points out Gabriel White, who headed the interactive design team. The icon-based interface also required thought.Not all cell phone companies believe that a design for nonliterate users should start from scratch. Nokias behavioral researchers noticed that “new
8、bies“ rely on friends and relatives to help them with basic functions. Rather than confronting the challenge of a completely new interface, Nokia chose to provide some audio menus in its popular 1100 model and a preview mode so that people could try out functions without the risk of changing anythin
9、g important. Mobile phones may even become tools for literacy, predicts BJ Fogg, who studies computer-human interaction at Stanford University. Phones might teach the alphabet or tell a story as users read along. “Imagine if it eventually could understand your weak points and drill you on those,“ Fo
10、gg proposes. And soon enough, he declares, designs or illiterate users will lead to more straightforward, elegant phones for everyone.1 The difference between modern cell phones and old phones lies in that（A）it requires more intelligence and education to use modem cell phones.（B） it takes more weeks
11、 to get familiar with modem cell phones.（C） modem cell phones are more complicated with many functions.（D）modem cell phones are more mysterious tools for people.2 The sales of mobile phones to poor rural areas may be impossible probably because most potential buyers（A）have difficulty with menus of m
12、ultiple purposes.（B） cannot accept new concepts of mobile phones.（C） only read menus and push buttons of simple electronics.（D）do not like the marketing strategy of “plug and play“.3 The researches held by Motorola showed that the textually illiterate villagers（A）were willing to use old machines wit
13、h little functions.（B） had to take some lessons to learn the new functions.（C） could remember the major function of each button.（D）would avoid reading the hierarchy menus of the machine.4 The slang term of “newbies“(Line 2, Paragraph 5)most probably means（A）new students.（B） newcomers.（C） newborns.（D
14、）new webs.5 Fogg believes that the future mobile phones could not（A）teach illiterates to learn alphabets.（B） understand the users ideas and points.（C） help users exercise their languages.（D）become more direct and elegant.5 The money is there. So why is it not being spent? That is the big puzzle abou
15、t the rich worlds efforts to improve health in poor countries. In June the leaders of the G8 promised up to $8 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an umbrella group coordinating health aid. The Global Fund closed its latest round of funding applications this week but
16、much of the money committed remains unused. Officials at the fund insist that all is fine: disbursements always lag commitments and money can be released only if it will be spent effectively. But experts such as Joseph Dwyer of Management Sciences for Health say that the pitiful state of poor countr
17、ies health services is the main reason for the gap between what is promised and what is spent. Julian Schweitzer of the World Bank says that physical and human shortages in local health services represent “a huge bottleneck to aid“.Now the aid efforts may be making things worse. Jordan Kassalow of t
18、he Scojo Foundation, an American charity, observes that rich single-issue outfits tend to divert the best medical talent to trendy causes and away from basic medicine against diarrhoea and respiratory infectionsthe chief killers of children.Laurie Garrett of the Council on Foreign Relations has a di
19、fferent worry: those anti-corruption efforts have pushed donors into an obsession with often meaningless short-term targets. The result is a never-ending stream of documents and meetings. A sharp focus on process and targets ordained from on high makes it harder to be flexible and innovative or to t
20、ake advantage of enterprising locals. In poor countries, laments Ms Garrett, “we almost spit on the private sector.“But it is the private sector that may offer the most practical chance of progress. Fed up with the costs of an unhealthy workforce, many big local and multinational firms in Africa and
21、 Asia are now offering their own innovative health schemes. These started as simple anti-AIDS efforts at mining firms such as Anglo American. Now they have spread. HSBC, a London-based international bank, recently started a scheme to improve its suppliers and customers health.In training, too, priva
22、te-sector and voluntary efforts may work better than official programmes. The International Centre for Equal Healthcare Access has trained thousands of local health-care workers in South-East Asia. Kenyas HealthStore Foundation has helped nurses and community health workers set up dozens of for-prof
23、it clinics that reach patients government clinics dont. Such ideas may yet transform the worlds most dilapidated health systems into better and more far-reaching onesif only the current wave of top-down spending does not drown them out.6 According to some experts, Global Fund delays the disbursement
24、s because（A）there remains a huge gap between what is promised and what is spent.（B） the $8 billion cant be released until it will be spent effectively.（C） the situation of health-care in poor countries presents a tough barrier.（D）the physical condition of local people imposes a bottleneck to aid.7 J
25、ordan Kassalow believes that the aid efforts fail to（A）direct the medical talents to most urgent causes in needed places.（B） provide top-class medical personnel with comprehensive-issue outfits.（C） dispatch elite medical experts for children to poor countries.（D）divert medical talents to chief kille
26、rs of children away from trendy causes.8 Donors from enterprising locals often（A）willingly devote themselves to significant short-term targets.（B） actively respond to the tasks assigned from on high.（C） helplessly find themselves stuck in documents and meetings.（D）bitterly meet the objection from un
27、grateful local people.9 It can be inferred from Paragraph 4 that in Africa and Asia（A）the private sector is the last straw for health services.（B） the physical condition of workforce is rather weak.（C） some miners might have been infected with AIDS.（D）HSBC attracts customers with innovative health s
28、chemes.10 We can learn from the last paragraph that the author believes（A）training converts clinics into far-reaching health systems.（B） private-sector and voluntary efforts can replace official programs.（C） health-care workers treat patients much better.（D）training programs well deserve prompt fina
29、ncial support10 Just east of downtown Irvine, in southern California, a pastoral landscape is under construction. Little by little, a former military airport is being dismantled, to be replaced by grass, trees and a canyon 70 feet(21 meters)deep. When it is finished, Orange Countys Great Park will c
30、over 1,350 acres(550 hectares), more than one-and-a-half times as much as Central Park in New York. The biggest landscaped municipal park to be built in more than a century, it reveals much about how American attitudes to open space have changed.Urban parks are back in fashion. New York plans to bui
31、ld a huge park on top of the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island. Innumerable town squares and pocket parks have been created or beautified, even in places like Detroit. City planners, who once viewed parks as financial drains and nests of crime, now see them as magnets for tourists and creative t
32、ypes.The great parks that were built in the second half of the 19th century were intended to counteract the ill effects of city living, and so are the new ones. But the perceived ills have changed. Frederick Olmsted, who designed Central Park and many others, wanted to provide people with a break fr
33、om their tough, dirty jobs. Ken Smith, the Great Parks architect, reckons the residents of Orange County are quite idle enough. What they need is exercise: hence the parks proposed 21 football fields and 12 baseball fields, together with some exhausting-looking walks.Another difference is that parks
34、 are now expected to function like natural ecosystems as well as looking like them. The Great Park will use recycled water in its lake(older parks often used mains water). The runways will be dismantled and turned into roads and a memorial. In a nod to the local-food movement, the park will include
35、land for farming. Even the car park will be situated in an orange orchard.Most striking of all is the new parks deference to history. Americas great 19th-century landscape architects saw the land as a blank slate. An entire village was pulled down to build Central Park. By contrast, Denvers park pre
36、serves a control tower, and the Great Park will convert an air-dock into a museum and retain the outline of a runway. A river diverted underground by the marines will be restored to its former course. The preservation lobby is stronger these days. And besides, says Yehudi Gaffen, a partner in the Gr
37、eat Park project, “Southern California has so little history that we should try to keep some of it.“11 Which of the following statements is true of Orange Countys Great Park?（A）It was formerly a military airport near southern California.（B） Its one-and-a-half times bigger than the Central Park in Ne
38、w York.（C） It shows American attitudes towards nature have changed a lot.（D）It is likely to become the largest landscaped municipal park.12 According to the text, urban parks are back in fashion because（A）parks on the site of other disused places are being built.（B） city planners have changed their
39、attitudes towards urban parks.（C） more huge parks are planned to be created in some cities.（D）old parks are beautified in order to attract tourists.13 According to Paragraph 3, Great Park in Orange County was designed to（A）provide exhausted people with relaxation and happiness.（B） offset the impact
40、of the tough and dirty jobs they keep.（C） give residents the place of doing exercise.（D）attract more tourists and promote the living standards.14 The orange orchard is mentioned in order to tell that the Great Park is likely to（A）be equipped with large car parking areas.（B） maintain the original str
41、ucture of the old airport.（C） take the appearance and function of a natural ecosystem.（D）deal with any problem of pollution.15 The word “deference“(Line 1, Paragraph 5)most probably means（A）respect.（B） reference.（C） connection.（D）restoration.15 Summer was, for a while, a childs time, conferring an i
42、nviolate right to laziness. It was a form of education that had nothing to do with adult priorities, providing entire afternoons to watch exactly how many ants would dash out of one hill and what they would bring back. The holiness of that kind of summer was first diminished by necessity, when overc
43、rowded classrooms brought us the year-round school calendar. Next, the battle against social promotion forced many an indifferent student into summer schoolwhile the hard-charging students willingly packed into summer school as well, to get a leg up on the coming year.Then, as though the world of ac
44、hievement had some sort of legitimate claim on summer, even schools that maintained the old-fashioned schedule began reaching their tentacles into summer. Some school districts start the traditional school year in August, the better to squeeze in a couple of more weeks of instruction before the all-
45、important state standardized tests given in spring. Worse, what used to be recommended summer reading lists are now becoming compulsory assignments. And woe to the ambitious student whos signed up for Advanced Placement classes, and thus a summer-load of note taking and homework.Its not just the sch
46、ools. As a society, we grow itchy at the sight of someoneeven a kid-accomplishing nothing more than fun. Thus parents have become suckers for anything that lends a constructive air to summer. Summer camps used to exist for the purpose of marshmallow roasts and putting frogs in your bunkmates beds. T
47、hose still exist, but they compete mightily with the new camps the ones for improving a childs writing style, building math skills, honing soccer stardom, learning a foreign language, building dance talents or finessing skills playing a musical instrument. Even many colleges and universities, such a
48、s Johns Hopkins, have climbed on board, mailing out silky brochures about their expensive summer programs for supposedly gifted, or at least financially gifted, students.None of this activity is required, of course. Unluckily, other societal changes also have pushed back at summer. Children cant get
49、 together a pickup game of kickball when their streets are the turf of gangs. And without a shove out the door, todays youngsters are more likely to spend a day clicking away at video games than swinging in a hammock.Still, it is a decision, however unconsciously made, to view summertime as a commodity to be prudently invested, rather than as a gift to be lavishly spent. There is only one sort of skill we are afraid to nurture in our kidsthe ability to do nothing more constructive than make a blade of crabgrass, pressed between our thumbs and blown, bl
