2013考研英语模拟题二(2)

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　　Text 4
        　　Much has been written about poverty but none of the accounts seem to get at the root of the problem. It must be noted that the debilitating effects of poverty are not only the result of lack of money but are also the result of powerlessness.The poor are subject to their social situation instead of being able to affect it through action，that is，through behavior that flows from an individual's decisions and plans. In other words，when social scientists have reported on the psychological consequences of poverty，it seems reasonable to believe that they have described the psychological consequences of powerlessness. The solution to poverty most frequently suggested is to help the poor secure more money without otherwise changing the present power relationships. This appears to implement the idea of equality while avoiding any unnecessary threat to the established centers of power. But since the consequences of poverty are related to powerlessness，not to the absolute supply of money available to the poor，and since the amount of power purchasable with a given supply of money decreases as a society acquires a large supply of goods and services，the solution of raising the incomes of the poor is likely，unless accompanied by other measures，to be ineffective in a wealthy society.
        　　In order to reduce poverty — related psychological and social problems in the United States，the major community will have to change its relationship to neighborhoods of poverty in such fashion that families in the neighborhoods have a greater interest in the broader society and can more successfully participate in the decision-making process of the surrounding community. Social action to help the poor should have the following characteristics：the poor should see themselves as the source of the action;the action should effect in major ways the preconceptions of institutions and persons who define the poor;the action should demand much in effect or skill;the action should be successful and the successful self-originated important action should increase the feeling of potential worth and individual power of individuals who are poor.
        　　The only initial resource which a community should provide to neighborhoods of poverty should be on a temporary basis and should consist of organizers who will enable the neighborhoods quickly to create powerful，independent，democratic organizations of the poor. Through such organizations，the poor will then negotiate with the outsiders for resources and opportunities without having to submit to concurrent control from outside.
        　　36. By“powerless”(sentence 2，Para 1)，the author most probably means that the poor__________.
        　　[A] have no right to make individual decisions and plans
        　　[B] can not exercise control over other groups of people
        　　[C] are not in a condition to change their present situation
        　　[D] are too weak to resist any social situation imposed on them
        　　37. The author expresses his opinion in the first paragraph that _________.
        　　[A] the hopeless condition of the poor is caused by their powerlessness rather than lack of money
        　　[B] great efforts should be made to help poor to secure more money without changing present power relationships
        　　[C] it is no use raising the incomes of the poor while not improve their state of powerlessness
        　　[D] in helping the poor attention should be paid to avoiding any unnecessary threat to the established centers of power
        　　38. According to the author，the primary role of the major community in helping the neighborhoods of poverty is _______.
        　　[A] to provide long-term assistance from outside
        　　[B] to offer necessary opportunities of securing more money
        　　[C] to carry out more social programs in the neighborhoods
        　　[D] to lend experienced advice in the formation of democratic self-help organizations
        　　39. What does the word“concurrent”(Para. 3)most probably mean?
        　　[A] Following.
        　　[B] Subsequent.
        　　[C] Previous.
        　　[D] Simultaneous.
        　　40. The main purpose of the author in writing the passage is _______.
        　　[A] to criticize the present methods employed to help the poor
        　　[B] to analyze the social and psychological aspects of poverty
        　　[C] to propose a way in which the poor can be more effectively helped
        　　[D] to describe the attitude of the community towards the poor

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        　　Part B
        　　Sample One
        　　Directions:
        　　In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list A – G to fit into each of the numbered blank. There are two extra choices, which do not fit in any of the gaps. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)
        　　Should doctor-assisted suicide ever be a legal option? It involves the extreme measure of taking the life of a terminally ill patient when the patient is in extreme pain and the chances for recovery appear to be hopeless. Those who argue against assisted suicide do so by considering the roles of the patient, the doctor, and nature in these situations.
        　　Should the patient take an active role in assisted suicide? When a patient is terminally ill and in great pain, those who oppose assisted suicide say that it should not be up to that patient to decide what his or her fate will be.(41)___________________________________________.
        　　What role should the doctor have? Doctors, when taking the Hippocratic oath, swear to preserve life at all costs, and it is their ethical and legal duty to follow both the spirit and the letter of this oath. It is their responsibilities to heal the sick, and in the cases when healing is not possible, then the doctor is obliged to make the dying person comfortable. Doctors are trained never to hasten death. (42)___________________________________________. Doctors are also, by virtue of their humanness, capable of making mistakes. Doctors could quite possibly say, for instance, that a cancer patient was terminal, and then the illness could later turn out not to be so serious. There is always an element of doubt concerning the future outcome of human affairs.
        　　(43)________________________________________________________________________.
        　　These general concerns of those who oppose assisted suicide are valid in certain contexts of the assisted-suicide question. For instance, patients cannot always be certain of their medical conditions. Pain clouds judgment, and so the patient should not be the sole arbiter of her or his own destiny. Patients do not usually choose the course of their medical treatment, so they shouldn't be held completely responsible for decisions related to it. Doctors are also fallible, and it is understandable that they would not want to make the final decision about when death should occur. (44)__________________________________________________________________.
        　　I believe that blindly opposing assisted suicide does no one a service. If someone is dying of cancer and begging to be put out of his or her misery, and someone gives that person a deadly dose of morphine that seems merciful rather than criminal. If we can agree to this, then I think we could also agree that having a doctor close by measuring the dosage and advising the family and friends is a reasonable request. (45)__________________________________________________.
        　　Life is indeed precious, but an inevitable part of life is death, and it should be precious, too. If life has become an intolerable pain and intense suffering, then it seems that in order to preserve dignity and beauty, one should have the right to end her or his suffering quietly, surely, and with family and friends nearby.
        　　[A] If one simply withholds treatment, it may take the patient longer to die, and so he may suffer more than he would if more direct action were taken and a lethal injection given.
        　　[B] The third perspective to consider when thinking about assisted suicide is the role of nature. Life is precious. Many people believe that it is not up to human beings to decide when to end their own or another's life. Only nature determines when it is the right time for a person to die. To assist someone in suicide is not only to break criminal laws, but to break divine laws as well.
        　　[C] Since doctors are trained to prolong life, they usually do not elect to take it by prescribing assisted suicide.
        　　[D] There are greater powers at work that determine when a person dies, for example, nature. Neither science nor personal preference should take precedence over these larger forces.
        　　[E] Without the doctor’s previous treatment, the person would surely be dead already. Doctors have intervened for months or even years, so why not sanction this final, merciful intervention?
        　　[F] There is no single, objectively correct answer for everyone as to when, if at all, one’s life becomes all things considered a burden and unwanted. If self-determination is a fundamental value, then the great variability among people on this question makes it especially important that individuals control the manner, circumstances, and timing of their death and dying.
        　　[G] Those who oppose assisted suicide believe that doctors who do help terminally ill patients die are committing a crime, and they should be dealt with accordingly.

kysix

        　　Part B
        　　Sample Two
        　　Directions:
        　　The following paragraphs are given in a wrong order. For questions 41 – 45, you are requirec to reorganize these paragraphs into a coherent article by choosing from the list A – G to fill in each numbered box. Two paragraphs have been placed for you in Boxes. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1(10 points)
        　　[A] This work, though, were relatively small-scale. Now, a much larger study has found that discrimination plays a role in the pay gap between male and female scientists at British universities.
        　　[B] Besides pay, her study also looked at the "glass-ceiling" effect -- namely that at all stages of a woman's career she is less likely than her male colleagues to be promoted. Between postdoctoral and lecturer level, men are more likely to be promoted than women are, by a factor of between 1.04 and 2.45. Such differences are bigger at higher grades, with the hardest move of all being for a woman' to settle into a professorial chair.
        　　[C] Seven years ago, a group of female scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology produced a piece of research showing that senior women professors in the institute's school of science had lower salaries and received fewer resources for research than their male counterparts did. Discrimination against female scientists has cropped up elsewhere. One study—conducted in Sweden, of all places—showed that female medical-research scientists had to be twice as good as men to win research grants.
        　　[D] Sara Connolly, a researcher at the University of East Anglia's school of economics, has been analyzing the results of a survey of over 7,000 scientists and she has just presented her findings at this year's meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Norwich. She found that the average pay gap between male and female academics working in science, engineering and technology is around ￡ 1,500 ($ 2,850) a year.
        　　[E] To prove the point beyond doubt, Dr Connolly worked out how much of the overall pay differential was explained by differences such as seniority, experience and age, and how much was unexplained, and therefore suggestive of discrimination. Explicable differences amounted to 77% of the overall pay gap between the sexes. That still left a substantial 23% gap in pay, which Dr Connolly attributes to discrimination.
        　　[F] That is not, of course, irrefutable proof of discrimination. An alternative hypothesis is that the courses of men's and women's lives mean the gap is caused by something else; women taking "career breaks" to have children, for example, and thus rising more slowly through the hierarchy. Unfortunately for that idea, Dr Connolly found that men are also likely to earn more within any given grade of the hierarchy. Male professors, for example, earn over ￡ 4,000 a year more than female ones.
        　　[G] Of course, it might be that, at each grade, men do more work than women, to make themselves more eligible for promotion. But that explanation, too, seems to be wrong. Unlike the previous studies, Dr Connolly's compared the experience of scientists in universities with that of those in other sorts of laboratory. It turns out that female academic researchers face more barriers to promotion, and have a wider gap between their pay and that of their male counterparts, than do their sisters in industry or research institutes independent of universities. Private enterprise, in other words, delivers more equality than the supposedly egalitarian world of academia does.
        　　
       

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kyfour

        　　Sample Three
        　　Directions:
        　　You are going to read a text about the introduction on how to pay in the future, followed by a list of examples. Choose the best example from the list A – F for each numbered subheading (41 - 45). There is one extra example which you do use. Mark your answer on ANSWER SHEET 1 (10 points)
        　　Smart cards and mobile phones are quickly emerging as ways to pay with electronic cash.
        　　41. A cash call.
        　　42. Sending money home
        　　43. Energising money
        　　44. How to pay in Tokyo
        　　45. Flashing the plastic
        　　[A] The various "contactless" payment systems rely on a technology called "near-field communication" (NFC). But mobile phones can be much smarter. They can be de-activated remotely; they have a screen which can show information, like a credit balance and product information; they have a keyboard to enter information and they can communicate. This means they can also be used to authorise larger payments by entering PIN codes directly on the handset or topped up with stored credit from an online bank account without having to go to an ATM.
        　　[B] A decade ago some observers predicted that internet banking would render retail banking from high-street branches obsolete. But JPMorgan, Bank of America and others are adamant that people are nowadays using bank branches more than ever. Even if the phone and the smart card replace cash, who gets to collect the fees remains open to contention.
        　　[C] More banking services are also being offered on mobiles. On February 12th, 19 telephone operators with networks in over 100 countries said that people would be able to use their handsets to send money abroad. MasterCard will operate the system in which remittances will be sent as text messages. Sir John Bond, formerly chairman of the HSBC banking group and now chairman of Vodafone, has long been convinced that payments and mobiles would somehow converge. "Mobile phones have the ability to make a dramatic change to village life in Africa," he says.
        　　[D] Unlike the Japanese, Americans prefer to use plastic for their purchases. Cards account for more than half of all transactions, up from 29% a decade ago, according to Nilson Report. More than 1.5 billion credit cards are stuffed into Americans' wallets. The average household has more than ten. Banks and credit-card firms hope to convert more cash and cheque payments to plastic with new smart cards. Some versions are already very successful. Many Americans use EasyPass, in which drivers pay for highway tolls wirelessly.
        　　[E] Nowadays, some of the hottest nightclubs have a new trick for checking the identity of their VIP guests: they send an entry pass in the form of a super bar code to their mobile phones. Mobile phones are becoming an increasingly popular way to make all sorts of payments. In America fans of the Atlanta Hawks have been testing specially adapted Nokia handsets linked to their Visa cards to enter their local stadium and to buy refreshments. It reckons worldwide payments using mobile phones will climb from just $ 3.2 billion in 2003 to more than $ 37 billion by 2008.
        　　[F]To see the potential of mobile-phone money, start in Japan. Most Japanese have at least one credit card, but they tend to stay in their owners' pockets. Housewives routinely peel off crisp YI0 000 ($ 82) notes to pay for their shopping. Utility bills and other invoices are dutifully taken to the bank and paid in cash, or more likely these days at the local convenience store. Yet despite the popularity of cash, the mobile phone is starting to change even Japan's traditional habits."