1997-2012考研历年英语试题(18)

1997-2012考研历年英语试题,部分答案有意删去,以便平时练习

1997-2012年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语试题答案

18

years ago. What was less visible then, however, were the new, positive forces that work against the digital divide. There are reasons to be optimistic.

There are technological reasons to hope the digital divide will narrow. As the Internet becomes more and more commercialized, it is in the interest of business to universalize access -- after all, the more people online, the more potential customers there are. More and more governments, afraid their countries will be left behind, want to spread Internet access. Within the next decade or two, one to two billion people on the planet will be netted together. As a result, I now believe the digital divide will narrow rather than widen in the years ahead. And that is very good news because the Internet may well be the most powerful tool for combating world poverty that we‘ve ever had.

Of course, the use of the Internet isn‘t the only way to defeat poverty. And the Internet is not the only tool we have. But it has enormous potential.

To take advantage of this tool, some impoverished countries will have to get over their outdated anti-colonial prejudices with respect to foreign investment. Countries that still think foreign investment is an invasion of their sovereignty might well study the history of infrastructure (the basic structural foundations of a society) in the United States. When the United States built its industrial infrastructure, it didn‘t have the capital to do so. And that is why America‘s Second Wave infrastructure -- including roads, harbors, highways, ports and so on -- were built with foreign investment. The English, the Germans, the Dutch and the French were investing in Britain‘s former colony. They financed them. Immigrant Americans built them. Guess who owns them now? The Americans. I believe the same thing would be true in places like Brazil or anywhere else for that matter. The more foreign capital you have helping you build your Third Wave infrastructure, which today is an electronic infrastructure, the better off you‘re going to be. That doesn‘t mean lying down and becoming fooled, or letting foreign corporations run uncontrolled. But it does mean recognizing how important they can be in building the energy and telecom infrastructures needed to take full advantage of the Internet. 55. Digital divide is something ________. [A] getting worse because of the Internet [B] the rich countries are responsible for [C] the world must guard against [D] considered positive today

56. Governments attach importance to the Internet because it ________. [A] offers economic potentials [B] can bring foreign funds

[C] can soon wipe out world poverty [D] connects people all over the world

57. The writer mentioned the case of the United States to justify the policy of ________.

[A] providing financial support overseas [B] preventing foreign capital‘s control [C] building industrial infrastructure [D] accepting f

58. [C] whether it adopts America‘s industrial pattern [D] how much control it has over foreign corporations Text 3

Why do so many Americans distrust what they read in their newspapers? The American Society of Newspaper Editors is trying to answer this painful question. The organization is deep into a long self-analysis known as the journalism credibility project.

Sad to say, this project has turned out to be mostly low-level findings about factual errors and spelling and grammar mistakes, combined with lots of head-scratching puzzlement about what in the world those readers really want.

But the sources of distrust go way deeper. Most journalists learn to see the world through a set of standard templates (patterns) into which they plug each day‘s events. In other words, there is a conventional story line in the newsroom culture that provides a backbone and a ready-made narrative structure for otherwise confusing news.

There exists a social and cultural disconnect between journalists and their readers, which helps explain why the ―standard templates‖ of the newsroom seem alien to many readers. In a recent survey, questionnaires were sent to reporters in five middle-size cities around the country, plus one large metropolitan area. Then residents in these communities were phoned at random and asked the same questions.

Replies show that compared with other Americans, journalists are more likely to live in upscale neighborhoods, have maids, own Mercedeses, and trade stocks, and they‘re less likely to go to church, do volunteer work, or put down roots in a community.

Reporters tend to be part of a broadly defined social and cultural elite, so their work tends to reflect the conventional values of this elite. The astonishing distrust of the news media isn‘t rooted in inaccuracy or poor reportorial skills but in the daily clash of world views between reporters and their readers.

This is an explosive situation for any industry, particularly a declining one. Here is a troubled business that keeps hiring employees whose attitudes vastly annoy the customers. Then it sponsors lots of symposiums and a credibility project dedicated to wondering why customers are annoyed and fleeing in large numbers. But it never seems to get around to noticing the cultural and class biases that so many former buyers are complaining about. If it did, it would open up its diversity program, now focused narrowly on race and gender, and look for reporters who differ broadly by outlook, values, education, and class. 59. What is the passage mainly about? [A] needs of the readers all over the world

[B] causes of the public disappointment about newspapers [C] origins of the declining newspaper industry [D] aims of a journalism credibility project

60. The results of the journalism credibility project turned out to be ________. [A] quite trustworthy

[B] somewhat contradictory [C] very illuminating [D] rather superficial

61. The basic problem of journalists as pointed out by the writer lies in their ________.

[A] working attitude [B] conventional lifestyle [C] world outlook

[D] educational background

62. Despite its efforts, the newspaper industry still cannot satisfy the readers owing to its ________.

[A] failure to realize its real problem [B] tendency to hire annoying reporters [C] likeliness to do inaccurate reporting [D] prejudice in matters of race and gender Text 4

The world is going through the biggest wave of mergers and acquisitions ever witnessed. The process sweeps from hyperactive America to Europe and reaches the emerging countries with unsurpassed might. Many in these countries are looking at this process and worrying: ―Won‘t the wave of business concentration turn into an uncontrollable anti-competitive force?‖

There‘s no question that the big are getting bigger and more powerful. Multinational corporations accounted for less than 20% of international trade in 1982. Today the figure is more than 25% and growing rapidly. International affiliates account for a fast-growing segment of production in economies that open up and welcome foreign investment. In Argentina, for instance, after the reforms of the early 1990s, multinationals went from 43% to almost 70% of the industrial production of the 200 largest firms. This phenomenon has created serious concerns over the role of smaller economic firms, of national businessmen and over the ultimate stability of the world economy.

I believe that the most important forces behind the massive M&A wave are the same that underlie the globalization process: falling transportation and communication costs, lower trade and investment barriers and enlarged markets that require enlarged operations capable of meeting customer‘s demands. All these are beneficial, not detrimental, to consumers. As productivity grows, the world‘s wealth increases.

Examples of benefits or costs of the current concentration wave are scanty. Yet it is hard to imagine that the merger of a few oil firms today could recreate the same threats to competition that were feared nearly a century ago in the U.S., when the Standard Oil trust was broken up. The mergers of telecom companies, such as WorldCom, hardly seem to bring higher prices for consumers or a reduction in the pace of technical progress. On the contrary, the price of communications is coming down fast. In cars, too, concentration is increasing -- witness Daimler and Chrysler, Y few weeks ago, the in banking industry. Who is last with the gigantic t production from one place to another when a nation gets too strict about infringements to fair competition? And should one country take upon itself the role of ―defending competition‖ on issues that affect many other nations, as in the U.S. vs. Microsoft case? 63. What is the typical trend of businesses today? [A] to take in more foreign funds [B] to invest more abroad

[C] to combine and become bigger [D] to trade with more countries

64. According to the author, one of the driving forces behind M&A wave is ________.

[A] the greater customer demands [B] a surplus supply for the market [C] a growing productivity

[D] the increase of the world‘s wealth

65. From paragraph 4 we can infer that ________.

[A] the increasing concentration is certain to hurt consumers

[B] WorldCom serves as a good example of both benefits and costs [C] the costs of the globalization process are enormous

[D] the Standard Oil trust might have threatened competition

66. Toward the new business wave, the writer‘s attitude can be said to be ________. [A] optimistic [B] objective [C] pessimistic [D] biased Text 5

When I decided to quit my full time employment it never occurred to me that I might become a part of a new international trend. A lateral move that hurt my pride and blocked my professional progress prompted me to abandon my relatively high profile career although, in the manner of a disgraced government minister, I covered my exit by claiming ―I wanted to spend more time with my family‖.

Curiously, some two-and-a-half years and two novels later, my experiment in what the Americans term ―downshifting‖ has turned my tired excuse into an absolute reality. I have been transformed from a passionate advocate of the philosophy of ―having it all,‖ preached by Linda Kelsey for the past seven years in the page of She magazine, into a woman who is happy to settle for a bit of everything.

I have discovered, as perhaps Kelsey will after her much-publicized resignation from the editorship of She after a build up of stress, that abandoning the doctrine of ―juggling your life,‖ and making the alternative move into ―downshifting‖ brings with it far greater rewards than financial success and social status. Nothing could persuade me to return to the kind of life Kelsey used to advocate and I once enjoyed: 12-hour working days, pressured deadlines, the fearful strain of office