1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 45（无答案）Part ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)0 The Dollar in World MarketsAccording to a leading German banker, the U. S. dollar is “the most frequently discussed economic phenomenon of our times“. He a
2、dds, “. the dollars exchange rate is at present the most important price in the world economy. . .“ 41 The central banks of many countries hold huge reserves of dollars, and over half of all world trade is priced in terms of dollars. Any shift in the dollars exchange rate will benefit some and hurt
3、others. 42_The dollars exchange rate has been too volatile and unpredictable. Several years ago the dollar was rapidly declining in value. 43 The rise in the price of foreign goods made it possible for U. S. businesses to raise the price of competing foods produced here, thus worsening inflation. Fo
4、reigners who dealt in dollars or who held dollars as reserves were hurt. People in the United States who had borrowed foreign currencies found that they had to pay back more than they borrowed because the declining dollar would buy fewer units of the foreign money. 44The dollar went soaring upward,
5、and the situation was reversed. United States exporters found it hard to sell abroad because foreigners would have to pay more for U.S. dollars. People in the United States now bought the relatively cheaper foreign goods, and U. S. manufacturers complained that they could not compete. Job losses wer
6、e often blamed on the “overvalued“ dollar5. Poor nations that had borrowed dollars found it difficult to repay both the loans and the interest because they had to use more and more of their own currencies to obtain dollars. 45 We might even return to the gold standard.Fixed exchange rates did not wo
7、rk in the past. Currency values should be determined by market conditions. A drop in the exchange value of a nations currency means6 that it is importing too much, that it is too inefficient to compete in world markets, that it is permitting a high rate of inflation which makes its goods too expensi
8、ve, that it is going too deeply in debt, or that others have lost confidence in the nations stability. A nation should bring its exchange rate back up by addressing these problems, not by interfering with the money market.A. The solution to this problem is to end the system of floating exchange rate
9、s and return to fixed rates.B. Some people suggest therefore, that the dollars value should be more tightly controlled.C. The United States lost face in the eyes of the rest of the world.D. Because the dollar acts as a world currency, its value affects many nations.E. This made it difficult for Amer
10、icans to purchase foreign goods and services.F. Those who borrowed a lot of money from a bank suffered most.5 Ants as a Barometer of Ecological ChangeAt picnics, ants are pests. But they have their uses. In industries such as mining, farming and forestry, they can help gauge the health of the enviro
11、nment by just crawling around and being antsy.It has been recognized for decades that ants-which are highly sensitive to ecological change-can provide, a near-percent barometer of the state of an ecosystem. Only certain species, for instance, will continue to thrive at a forest site that has been cl
12、eared of trees. 41 And still others will move in and take up residence.By looking at which species populate a deforested area, scientists can determine how “stressed“ the land is. 42 Ants are used simply because they are so common and comprise so many species.Where mine sites are being restored, for
13、 example, some ant species will recolonize the stripped land more quickly than others. 43 Australian mining company Capricorn Coal Management has been successfully using ant surveys for years to determine the rate of recovery of land that it is replanting near its German Creek mine in Queensland.Ant
14、 surveys also have been used with mine-site recovery projects in Africa and Brazil, where warm climates encourage dense and diverse ant populations. “We found it worked extremely well there, “ says Jonathan Majer, a professor of environmental biology. Yet the surveys are perfectly suited to climates
15、 throughout Asia, he says, because ants are so common throughout the region. As Majer puts it: “Thats the great thing about ants. “Ant surveys are so highly-regarded as ecological indicators that governments worldwide accept their results when assessing the environmental impact of mining and tree ha
16、rvesting. 44Why not? Because many companies cant afford the expense or the laboratory time needed to sift results for a comprehensive survey. The cost stems, also, from the scarcity of ant specialists. 45A. This allowed scientists to gauge the pace and progress of the ecological recovery.B. Yet in o
17、ther businesses, such as farming and property development, ant surveys arent used widely.C. Employing those people are expensive.D. They do this by sorting the ants, counting their numbers and comparing the results with those of earlier surveys.E. The evolution of ant species may have a strong impac
18、t on our ecosystem.F. Others will die out for lack of food.10 Crop Circle MysteriesThey are giant geometric patterns, which appear over-night in a field of crops. Many people believe that they are made by aliens. 41 “Crop circle“, as the mysterious patterns arc called, became a hot phrase this month
19、.42 Its believed to be the worlds first three, dimensional crop circle. The giant crop circle gives an impression of looking down on skyscrapers from above._ 43 Crop circles were first widely noticed in the late 1970s as many mysterious circles began appearing in crop fields throughout the English c
20、ountryside. People were intrigued by these giant patterns. They were huge (at least tens of metres in diameters) and popped up over-night. 44Various scientific and pseudo-scientific explanations were put forward to explain the phenomenon. Some hold that they were left by alien spaceships. Others say
21、 that they are simply an elaborate prank. 45 To date, thousands of circles have been discovered all over the globe, from the former Soviet Union to Japan to Canada.A. A strange pattern 360 feet (110 metres) in diameter was discovered earlier this month in a wheat field in Oxford shire, England.B. Ot
22、hers call them hoaxes.C. No one knew how or by whom they were made.D. The designs discovery immediately generated a new tide of public interest in this mysterious phenomenon.E. Farmers often make crop circles for fun.F. But rather than discovering the truth, people saw increasingly complicated circl
23、es appear worldwide.15 Obesity Causes Global WarmingThe list of ills attributable to obesity keeps growing: Last week, obese people were accused of causing global warming.This conclusion comes from Sheldon Jacobson of the University of Illinois, U. S. , and a doctoral student, Laura McLay. Their stu
24、dy calculates how much extra gasoline is needed to haul fat Americans around. The answer, they say, is a billion gallons of gas per year. 41There has been calls for taxes on junk food in recent years. 42 “We tax cigarettes partly because of their health cost, “ Schmidt said. “Similarly, leading a la
25、zy lifestyle will end up costing taxpayers more. “U.S. political scientist Erie Oliver said his first instinct was to laugh at these gas and fast food arguments. But such claims are getting attention.At the U.S. Obesity Societys annual meeting, one person correlated obesity with car accident deaths,
26、 and another correlated obesity with suicides. 43 “The funny thing was that everyone took it seriously, “ Oliver said.In a 1960s study, children were shown drawings of children with disabilities and without them, and a drawing of an obese child. They were asked which they would want for a friend? 44
27、Three researchers recently repeated the study using college students. Once again, almost no one, not even obese people, liked the obese person. “Obesity was stigmatized, “ the researchers said.But, researchers say, getting thin is not like quitting smoking. People struggle to stop smoking, and, in t
28、he end, many succeed. Obesity is different. But, not because obese people dont care. 45 Genes also play a part.A. A meager diet may keep you thin.B. It means an extra 11 million tons of carbon dioxide.C. The obese child was picked last.D. U. S. economist Martin Schmidt suggests a tax on fast food de
29、livered to peoples cars.E. Science has shown that they have limited personal control over their weight.F. No one asked whether there was really a cause-and-effect relationship.20 Today there is widespread agreement that multinational corporations will have an important effect on international relati
30、ons and world economy. But there is little agreement on exactly what that effect will be. There are two groups of those who see them as benevolent and those who see them as evil.Among those who see multinational corporations as benevolent, many emphasize their importance in helping reduce the gap be
31、tween rich countries and poor ones. These business giants are referred to as “engines of development“, because it is claimed that they do more to improve the economic life in less developed countries than all governmental foreign aid programs have ever done. By setting up factories abroad, they prov
32、ide jobs; by equipping these factories with the latest machines and equipment, they make available the most modern technology. (41)_Multinational corporations today do not need their countries to provide military force to open foreign countries to their investment, products and sales. In fact, they
33、do better on their own. It may have been necessary in the mid-nineteen century for Admiral Perry to threaten the Japanese with naval bombardment if they did not allow western countries to trade with them. Such threats would make no sense today. (42)_ The decision of the Nixon administration to impro
34、ve relations with China was more profitable to them.The leaders of multinational corporations see patriotism as old-fashioned, the nation-state obsolete, and war in pursuit of national glory downright foolish. They believe that the multinational corporation is “a modern concept evolved to meet the r
35、equirements of modern age“, while the nation-state is “still rooted in archaic concepts unsympathetic to the need of our complex world“. (43)_“I think, “ an official of General Electric once said, “getting General Electric into China and the Soviet Union is the biggest thing we can do for world peac
36、e. “These proponents of the multinational corporations come by and large from the business world. There are however, many critics among academic students of multinational corporations who regard them as a sinister force. They have produced detailed studies to prove that the benefits of multinational
37、 corporations are mostly illusory. To the claim that multinational corporations provide jobs, they point out that this is at the cost of jobs in other countries. To the claim that multinational corporations transfer technology, they reply: a) often the equipment shipped overseas is out of date; b) t
38、heir technology is often unsuitable for many of the less developed countries where labor is plentiful and therefore cheap. (44)_Therefore, they maintain that instead of being the “engines of development“, the multinational corporations are actually “engines of impoverishment“.These critics do not de
39、ny that consumption of the products of these corporations has risen in countries around the world. (45) _ Therefore, although these corporations may breakdown national frontiers they strengthen class distinctions, widening the gap between the rich and the poor, creating greater social injustice and
40、instability.A The long, expensive American war in Viet Nam did not bring new opportunities in Southeast Asia for the multinational corporations.B The fact that both American teenagers and Mexican peasants are drinking Coca Cola does not mean that the life of the Mexican peasants is getting better du
41、e to the multinational corporations.C They therefore characterize themselves as hard-headed people who are helping to bring about a more co-operative system or world order by breaking down national, geographical, political, economic and ideological barriers.D One study actually showed that multinati
42、onal corporations do not invest capital from wealthy countries, but prefer to finance their operations from the local economy. In other words, they are simply transferring wealth from poorer countries to richer ones.E According to these critics, states will soon realize that they have lost their con
43、trol over issues such as taxation, employment and even the stability of their own currency.F But they point out that this so-called “Global Shopping Center“ is available only to a very small portion of the local population.G Because goods are now produced with in the less developed countries, there is less need for them to import from abroad, and their balance of payments will improve.
