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发表于 2016-7-4 13:50:43
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Everyone，it seems，has a health problem。After pouring billions into theNational Health Service，British people moan about dirty hospitals，long waits and wasted money. In Germany the newchancellor, Angela Merkel, is under fire for suggesting changing the financingof its health system. Canada'snew Conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, made a big fuss during theelection about reducing the country's lengthy medical queues. Across the richworld, affluence, ageing and advancing technology are driving up healthspending faster than income.
But nowhere has a bigger health problemthan America.Soaring medical bills are squeezing wages, swelling the ranks of the uninsuredand pushing huge firms and perhaps even the government towards bankruptcy.Ford's announcement this week that it would cut up to 30.000 jobs by 2012 wasas much a sign of it's”legacy “ health ?care costs as of the ills of the carindustry. Pushed by polls that show health care is one of his main domesticproblems and by forecasts showing that the retiring baby-boomers （生育高峰期出生的人） will crush the government'sfinances, George Bush is to unveil a reform ;plan in next week's state-of ?the?union address.
America's health system is unlikeany other. The Unite States spends 16% of its GDP on health, around twice therich-country average, equivalent to $6,280 for every American each year. Yet itis the only rich country that does not guarantee universal health coverage.Thanks to an accident of history, most Americans receive health insurancethrough their employer, with the government picking up the bill for the poorand the elderly.
This curious hybrid（混合物） certainly has its strengths.Americans have more choice than anybody else, and their health-care system ismuch more innovative. Europeans' bills could be much higher if Americanmedicine were not doing much of their Research and Development（R&D）for them. But there are also hugeweaknesses. The one most often cited―especially by foreigners―is the army ofuninsured. Some 46 million Americans do not have cover. In many cases that isout of choice and ,if they fall seriously ill, hospitals have to treat them.But it is still deeply unequal. And there are also shocking inefficiencies: bysome measures,30% of American health spending is wasted.
Then there is the question of statesupport. Many Americans disapprove of the ”socialized medicine“ of Canada and Europe.In fact, even if much of the administration is done privately, around 60% of America'sheath-care bill ends up being met by the government. Proportionately, theAmerican state already spends as much on health as the OECD（Organization of EconomicCooperation and Development）average, and that share is set to grow as the baby-boomers run uptheir Medicare bills and ever more employers avoid providing health-carecoverage. Americais , in effect, heading towards a version of socialized medicine by default.
46.Health problems mentioned in the passage include all the followingEXCEPT_________.
A. poor hospital conditions in U.K.
B. Angela Merkel under attack
C. health financing in Germany
D. long waiting lines in Canada
47.Ford's announcement of cutting up to 30,000 jobs by 2012 indicates thatFord_________.
A. has the biggest health problem of the car industry
B. has made profits from its health-care legacy
C. has accumulated too heavy a health-care burden
D. owes a great deal of debt to its employees
48.In the author's opinion, America's health system is _________.
A. inefficient B.feasible
C. unpopular D. successful
49.It is implied in the passage that_________.
A. America's health system has its strengths and weaknesses
B. the US government pays medical bills for the poor and theelderly
C. some 46 million Americans do not have medical insurance
D. Europeans benefit a lot from America's medical research
50.from the last paragraph we may learn that the ”socialized medicine“is____________.
A. a practice of Canadaand Europe
B. a policy adopted by the US government
C. intended for the retiring baby-boomers
D. administered by private enterprises
Passage Three
When Thomas Keller,one of America'sforemost chefs, announced that on Sept. I he would abolish the practice oftipping at Per Se. his luxury restaurant in New York City, and replace it withEuropean-style service charge, I knew three groups would be opposed: customers,servers and restaurant owners. These three groups are all committed totipping――as they quickly made clear on Web sites. To oppose tipping , it seems,is to be anticapitalist , and maybe even a little French
But Mr. Keller is right to move awayfrom tipping―and it's worth exploring why just about everyone else in therestaurant world is wrong to stick with the practice.
Customers believe in tipping becausethey think it makes economic sense.”Waiters know that they won't get paid ifthey don't do a good job“is how most advocates of the system would put it. Tobe sure, this is a tempting, apparently rational statement about economictheory, but it appears to have little applicability to the real world ofrestaurants.
Michael Lynn, an associate professorof consumer behavior and marketing at Cornell's School of HotelAdministration, has conducted dozens of students of tipping and has concludedthat consumers assessments of the quality of service correlate weakly to the amountthey tip.
Rather, customers are likely to tipmore in response to servers touching them lightly and leaning forward next tothe table to make conversation than to how often their water glass isrefilled――in other words, customers tip more when they like the server, notwhen the service is good. Mr. Lynn's studies also indicate that male customersincrease their tips for female servers while female customers increase theirtips for male servers,.
What's more,. consumers seem toforget that the tip increases as the bill increases. Thus, the tipping systemis an open invitation to what restaurant professionals call ”upwelling“： everybottle of imported water, every espresso and every cocktail is extra money inthe server's pocket. Aggressive upwelling for tips is often rewarded whilelow-key, quality service often goes unrecognized.
In addition , thepractice of tip pooling , which is the norm in fine-dining restaurants and isbecoming more in every kind of restaurant above the level of a greasy spoon ,has ruined whatever effect voting with your tip might have had on an individualwaiter . In an unreasonable outcome , you are punishing the good waiters in therestaurant by not tipping the bad one . Indeed , there appear to be littleconnection between tipping and good service .
Questions 41 to 45 are based on the following passage: Prior to the20th century, many languages with small numbers of speakers survived forcenturies. The increasingly interconnected modern world makes it much moredifficult for small language communities to live in relative isolation, a keyfactor in language maintenance and preservation.
It remains to be seenwhether the world can maintain its linguistic and cultural diversity in thecenturies ahead. Many powerful forces appear to work against it :populationgrowth, which pushes migrant populations into the world's last isolatedlocations; mass tourism; global telecommunications and mass media; and thespread of gigantic global corporations. All of these forces appear to signify afuture in which the language of advertising, popular culture, and consumerproducts become similar. Already English and a few other major tongues haveemerged as global languages of commerce and communication. For many of theworld's peoples, learning one of these languages is viewed as the key toeducation, economic opportunity, and a better way of life.
Only about 3,000languages now in use are expected to survive the coming century. Are most ofthe rest doomed in the century after that?
Whether most of theselanguages survive will probably depend on how strongly cultural groups wish tokeep their identity alive through a native language. To do so will require anemphasis on bilingualism（mastery of two languages）。 Bilingual speakers could use their own language in smallerspheres---at home, among friends, in community settings---and a global languageat work, in dealings with government, and in commercial spheres. In this way,many small languages could sustain their cultural and linguistic integrityalongside global languages, rather than yield to the homogenizing（同化的）forces of globalization.
Ironically, the trendof technological innovation that has threatened minority languages could alsohelp save them. For example, some experts predict that computer softwaretranslation tools will one day permit minority language speakers to browse theInternet using their native tongues. Linguists are currently usingcomputer―aided learning tools to teach a variety of threatened languages.
For many endangered languages, theline between revival and death is extremely thin. Language is remarkablyresilient（有活力的），however. It is notjust a tool for communicating, but also a powerful way of separating differentgroups, or of demonstrating group identity. Many indigenous（原生的，土著的）communities have shown that it ispossible to live in the modern world while reclaiming their unique identitiesthrough language.
51.It may be inferred that a European-style service______.
A . is tipping-free
B .charges little tip
C .is the author's initiative
D .is offered at Per-se
52.Which of the following is NOT true according to the author .
A .Tipping is a common practice in the restaurant world.
B .Waiters don't care about tipping
C .Customers generally believe in tipping.
D .Tipping has little connection with the quality of service.
53.According to Michael Lynn's studies, waiters will likely get more tips ifthey______
A. have performed good service
B. frequently refill customers' water glass
C. win customers' favor
D. serve customers of the same sex
54.We may infer from the context that ”upwelling“（Line 2, Para 6） probablymeans ________
A. selling something up
B. selling something fancy
C. selling something unnecessary
D. selling something more expensive
55.This passage is mainly about __________
A. reasons to abolish the practice of tipping
B. economic sense of tipping
C. consumers' attitudes towards tipping
D. tipping for good service
Passage Four
”I promise.“ ” I swearto you it'll never happen again.“ ”I give you my word.“ ”Honestly. Believe me.“Sure, I trust. Why not? I teach English composition at a private college. Witha certain excitement and intensity. I read my students' essays, hoping to findthe person behind the pen. As each semester progresses, plagiarism（剽窃）appears. Not only is myintelligence insulted as one assumes I won't detect a polished piece of prosefrom an otherwise-average writer, but I feel a sadness that a student hasresorted to buying a paper from a peer. Writers have styles like fingerprintsand after several assignments, I can match a student's work with his or hername even if it's missing from the upper left-hand corner.
Why is learning less important than a higher grade-point average（GPA）？ When we're threatened or sick, we make conditional promises. ”Ifyou let me pass math I will …“ ”Lord, if you get me over this before the bighomecoming game I'll…“ Once the situation is behind us, so are the promises.Human nature? Perhaps, but we do use that cliché（陈词滥调）to get us out of uncomfortable bargains. Divineinterference during distress is asked; gratitude is unpaid. After all, fewfulfill the contract, so why should anyone be the exception. Why not ?
Six years ago, I took a student before the dean. He had turned inan essay with the vocabulary and sentence structure of PhD thesis. Up untilthat time, both his out-of-class and in-class work were borderline passing.
I questioned the person regarding his essay and he swore it I'd understand thiscopy would not have the time and attention an out-of-class paper is given,but he had already a finished piece so he understood what was asked. Hesat one hour, then turned in part of a page of unskilled writing and faultylogic. I confronted him with both essays. ”I promise…， I'm not lying. I swearto you that I wrote the essay. I'm just nervous today.“
The head of the English department agreed with my finding, and themeeting with the dean had the boy's parents present. After an hour ofdiscussion, touching on eight of the boy's previous essays and his grade-pointaverage, which indicated he was already on academic probation（留校察看）， the dean agreed that thestudent had plagiarized. His parents protested, ”He's only a child“ and weinstructors are wiser and should be compassionate. College people are notreally children and most times would resent being labeled as such… Except inthis uncomfortable circumstance.
56.According to the author, students commit plagiarism mainlyfor_____.
A.money
B.degree
C.higherGPA
D.reputation
57.the sentence ” Once the situation is behind us , so are the promises'implies that_________.
A.students usually keeptheir promises
B.some students tend tobreak their promises
C.the promises arealways behind the situation
D.we cannot judge thesituation in advance, as we do to the promises
58.The “borderline passing”（Line 3,Para.3）probably means____________.
A.fairlygood
B.extremely poor
C.aboveaverage
D.below average
59.The boy's parents thought their son should be excused mainlybecause_______________.
A.teachers should becompassionate
B.he was only a child
C.instructors were wiser
D.he was threatened
60.Which of the following might serve as the title of this passage?
A.HumanNature
B.Conditional Promises
C.How to DetectCheating D.The Sadness of Plagiarism
SectionIV
Translation （20 points）Directions:
In this section there is apassage in English. Translate the five sentences underlined into Chinese andwrite your translation on ANSWER SHEET 2.
Powering the great ongoing changes of our time is the riseof human creativity as the defining feature of economic life. Creativity hascome to be valued, because new technologies, new industries and new wealth flowfrom it. And as a result, our lives and society have begun to echo withcreative ideas. It is our commitment to creativity in its varied dimensionsthat forms the underlying spirit of our age.
Creativity is essential to the way welive and work today, and in many senses always has been. The big advances instandard of living ?-not to mention the big competitive advantages in themarketplace--always have come from“ better recipes, not just more cooking.” Onemight argue that's not strictly true. One might point out, for instance, thatduring the long period from the early days on the Industrial Revolution tomodern times, much of the growth in productivity and material wealth in theindustrial nations came not just from creative inventions like the steamengine, but from the widespread application of “cooking in quantity” businessmethods like massive division of labor ,concentration of assets, verticalintegration and economies of scale. But those methods themselves were creativedevelopments.
Section V
Writing （20 points）
Directions:
In this part,you are asked to write a composition according to the information below. You should write more than 150 words neatly on ANSWER SHEET 2.
Accidents in a Chinese City （2005）
in 2005
Main accident causes
Number of accidents
Percentage rise （+） or fall （-）
Drivers training left without due care
608
+10%
Drivers turning too close to other vehicles
411
+9%
pedestrians crossing roads carelessly
401
+12%
Drivers driving under the influence of alcohol
281
+15%
Drivers failing to give a signal
264
-5% |
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