2014年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语（一）试题

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2014年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语（一）试题

Section II  Reading Comprehension

Part A

Directions:

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

    In order to “change lives for the better” and reduce “dependency”, George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced the "upfront work search" scheme. Only if the jobless arrive at the job centre with a CV, register for the online job search, and start looking for work will they be eligible for benefit—and then they should report weekly rather than fortnightly. What could be more reasonable?

More apparent reasonableness followed. There will now be a seven-day wait for the jobseeker’s allowance. “Those first few days should be spent looking for work, not looking to sign on.” he claimed, “We’re doing these things because we know they help people stay off benefits and help those on benefits get into work faster.” Help? Really? On first hearing, this was the socially concerned chancellor, trying to change lives for the better, complete with “reforms” to an obviously indulgent system that demands too little effort from the newly unemployed to find work, and subsidises laziness. What motivated him, we were to understand was his zeal for “fundamental fairness”—protecting the taxpayer, controlling spending and ensuring that only the most deserving claimants received their benefits.

Losing a job is hurting: you don’t skip down to the job centre with a song in your heart, delighted at the prospect of doubling your income from the generous state. It is financially terrifying, psychologically embarrassing and you know that support is minimal and extraordinarily hard to get. You are now not wanted; you are now excluded from the work environment that offers purpose and structure in your life. Worse, the crucial income to feed yourself and your family and pay the bills has disappeared. Ask anyone newly unemployed what they want and the answer is always: a job.

But in Osborneland, your first instinct is to fall into dependency—permanent dependency if you can get it—supported by a state only too ready to indulge your falsehood. It is as though 20 years of ever –tougher reforms of the job search and benefit administration system never happened. The principle of British welfare is no longer that you can insure yourself against the risk of unemployment and receive unconditional payments if the disaster happens. Even the very phrase “jobseeker’s allowance” is about redefining the unemployed as a “jobseeker” who had no fundamental right to benefit he or she has earned through making national insurance contributions. Instead, the claimant receives a time-limited “allowance”, conditional on actively seeking a job: no entitlement and no insurance, at £71.70 a week ,one of the least generous in the EU.

21. George Osborne’s scheme was intended to  

[A] provide the unemployed with easier access to benefits.

[B] encourage jobseeker’ s active engagement in job seeking.  

[C] motivate the unemployed to report voluntarily.

[D] guarantee jobseekers’ legitimate right to benefit.

22. The phase “to sign on”(Line 3,Para.2)most probably means  

[A] to check on the availability of jobs at the job centre.

[B] to accept the government’s restrictions on the government.  

[C] to register for an allowance from the government.  

[D] to attend a governmental job-training program.  

23. What prompted the chancellor to develop his scheme?   

[A] A desire to secure a better life for all.  

[B] An eagerness to protect the unemployed.  

[C] An urge to be generous to the claimants.  

[D] A passion to ensure fairness for taxpayers.  

24. According to Paragraph 3, being unemployed makes one feel  

[A] uneasy.  

[B] enraged.  

[C] insulted.  

[D] guilty.  

25. To which of the following would the author most probably agree?   

[A] The British welfare system indulges jobseekers’ laziness.  

[B] Osborne’s reform will reduce the risk of unemployment.  

[C] The jobseekers’ allowance has met their actual needs.  

[D] Unemployment benefits should not be made conditional.

Text 2

All around the world, lawyers generate more hostility than the members of any other profession—with the possible exception of journalism. But there are few places where clients have more grounds for complaint than America.

During the decade before the economic crisis, spending on legal services in America grew twice as fast as inflation. The best lawyers made skyscrapers-full of money, tempting ever more students to pile into law schools. But most law graduates never get a big-firm job. Many of them instead become the kind of nuisance-lawsuit filer that makes the tort system a costly nightmare.

There are many reasons for this. One is the excessive costs of a legal education. There is just one path for a lawyer in most American states; a four-year undergraduate degree in some unrelated subject, then a three-year law degree at one of 200 law schools authorized by the American Bar Association and an expensive preparation for the bar exam. This leaves today’s average law-school graduate with $100,000 of debt on top of undergraduate debts. Law-school debt means that they have to work fearsomely hard.

Reforming the system would help both lawyers and their customers. Sensible ideas have been around for a long time, but the state-level bodies that govern the profession have been too conservative to implement them. One idea is to allow people to study law as an undergraduate degree. Another is to let students sit for the bar after only two years of law school. If the bar exam is truly a stern enough test for a would-be lawyer, those who can sit it earlier should be allowed to do so. Students who do need the extra training could cut their debt mountain by a third.

The other reason why costs are so high is the restrictive guild-like ownership structure of the business. Except in the District of Columbia, non-lawyers may not own any share of a law firm. This keeps fees high and innovation slow. There is pressure for change from within the profession, but opponents of change among the regulators insist that keeping outsiders out of a law firm isolates lawyers from the pressure to make money rather than serve clients ethically.

In fact, allowing non-lawyers to own shares in law firms would reduce costs and improve services to customers, by encouraging law firms to use technology and to employ professional managers to focus on improving firms’ efficiency. After all, other countries, such as Australia and Britain, have started liberalizing their legal professions. America should follow.

26. A lot of students take up law as their profession due to

[A] the growing demand from clients

[B] the increasing pressure of inflation

[C] the prospect of  working in big firms

[D] the attraction of financial rewards

27. Which of the following adds to the costs of legal education in most American states?

[A] Higher tuition fees for undergraduate studies

[B] Receiving training by professional associations

[C] Admissions approval from the bar association

[D] Pursuing a bachelors degree in another major

28. Hindrance to the reform of the legal system originates from

[A] the rigid bodies governing the profession

[B] lawyers’ and clients’ strong resistance

[C] the stern exam for would-be lawyers.

[D] non-professionals’ sharp criticism

29. The guild-like ownership structure is considered “restrictive” partly because

[A] prevents lawyers from gaining due profits.

[B] bans outsiders’ involvement in the profession.

[C] aggravates the ethical situation in the trade.

[D] keeps lawyers from holding law-firm shares.

30. In the text, the author mainly discusses

[A] the factors that help make a successful lawyer in America.

[B] a problem in America’s legal profession and solutions to it.

[C] the role undergraduate studies in America’s legal education.

[D] flawed ownership of America’s law firms and its causes.

Text 3

The US＄3 million Fundamental Physics is indeed an interesting experiment, as Alexander Polyakov said when he accepted this year’s award in March. And it is fair from the only one of this type. As a New Feature article in Nature discusses, a string of lucrative awards for research have joined the Nobel Prizes in recent years. Many, like the Fundamental Physics Prize, are funded from the telephones-number-sized bank accounts of Internet entrepreneurs. These benefactors have succeeded in their chosen fields, they say, and they want to use their wealth to draw attention to those who have succeeded in science.

What’s not to like? Quite a lot, according to a handful of scientists quoted in the News Feature. You cannot buy class, as the old saying goes, and these upstart entrepreneurs cannot buy their prizes the prestige of the Nobels. The new awards are an exercise in self-promotion for those behind them, say scientists. They could distort the achievement-based system of peer-review-led research. They could cement the status quo of peer-reviewed research. They do not fund peer-reviewed research. They perpetuate the myth of the lone genius.

The goals of the prize-givers seem as scattered as the criticism. Some want to shock, others to draw people into science, or to better reward those who have made their careers in research.

As Nature has pointed out before, there ere some legitimate concerns about how science prize—both new and old—are distributed. The Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, launched this year, takes an unrepresentative view of what the life science include. But the Nobel Foundation’s limit three recipients per prize, each of whom must still be living, has long been outgrown by the collaborative nature of modern research—as will be demonstrated by the inevitable row over who is ignored when it comes to acknowledging the discovery of the Higgs boson. The Nobel were, of course, themselves set up by a very rich individual who had decided what he wanted to do with his own money. Time, rather than intention, has given them legitimacy.

As much as some scientists may complain about the new awards, two things seem clear. First, most researchers would accept such a prize if they were offered one. Second, it is surely a good thing that the money and attention come to science rather than go elsewhere. It is fair to criticize and question the mechanism—that is the culture of research, after all-but it is the prize-givers’ money to do with as they please. It is wise to take such gifts with gratitude and grace.

31. The Fundamental Physics Prize is seen as

[A] a symbol of the entrepreneurs’ wealth.

[B] a handsome reward for researchers.

[C] a possible replacement of the Nobel Prizes.

[D] an example of bankers’ investments.

32. The critics think that the new awards will most benefit

[A] the profit-oriented scientists.

[B] the achievement-based system.

[C] the founders of the new awards

[D] peer-review-led research.

33. The discovery of the Higgs boson is a typical case which involves

[A] legitimate concerns over the new prizes.

[B] controversies over the recipients’ status.

[C] the joint effort of modern researchers.

[D] the demonstration of research finding.

34. According to Paragraph 4, which of the following is true of the Nobels?

[A] History has never cast doubt on them.

[B] their endurance has done justice to them.

[C] They are the most representative honor.

[D] Their legitimacy has long been in dispute.

35. The author believes that the new awards are

[A] unworthy of public attention.

[B] subject to undesirable changes.

[C] harmful to the culture of research.

[D] acceptable despite the criticism.

Text 4

“The Hear of the Matter”, the just-released report by the American Academy of Arts and sciences (AAAS), deserves praise for affirming the importance of the humanities and social sciences to the prosperity and security of liberal democracy in America. Regrettably, however, the report’s failure to address the true nature of the crisis facing liberal education may cause more harm than good.

In 2010, leading congressional Democrats and Republicans sent letters to the AAAS asking that it identify actions that could be taken by “federal，state and local government, universities，foundations, educators, individual benefactor and others” to “maintain national excellence in humanities and social scientific scholarship and education”. In response, the American  Academy formed the Commission on the Humanities and Social Science .Among the commission’s 51 members are top-tier-university presidents, scholars, lawyers, judges, and business executives as well as prominent figures from diplomacy, filmmaking, music and journalism.

The goals identified in the report are generally admirable .Because representative government presupposes an informed citizenry, the report supports full literacy; stresses the study of history and government, particularly American history and American government; and encourages the use of new digital technologies. To encourage innovation and competition, the report calls for increased investment in research, the crafting of coherent curricula that improve students’ ability to solve problems and communicate effectively in the 21st century, increased funding for teachers and the encouragement of scholars to bring greater study of foreign languages, international affairs and the expansion of study abroad programs.

Unfortunately, despite 2.5 years in the making, “The Heart of the Matter” never gets to the heart of the matter: the illiberal nature of liberal education at our leading colleges and universities. The commission ignores that for several decades America’s colleges and universities have produced graduates who don't know the content and character of liberal education and are thus deprived of its benefits. Sadly, the spirit of inquiry once at home on campus has been replaced by the use of the humanities and social sciences as vehicles for publicizing "progressive," or left-liberal propaganda.

Today, professors routinely treat the progressive interpretation of history and progressive public policy as the proper subject of study while portraying conservative or classical liberal ideas-such as free markets and self-reliance-as falling outside the boundaries of routine, and something legitimate, intellectual investigation.

    The AAAS displays great enthusiasm for liberal education. Yet its report may well set back reform by obscuring the depth and breadth of the challenge that Congress asked it to illuminate.

36. According to Paragraph 1, what is the author’s attitude toward the AAAS’s report?

[A] Critical

[B] Appreciative

[C] Contemptuous

[D]Tolerant

37. Influential figures in the congress required that the AAAS report on how to

[A] define the government’s role in education

[B] safeguard individuals’ rights to education

[C] retain people’s interest in liberal education

[D] keep a leading position in liberal education

38. According to paragraph 3, the report suggests

[A] an exclusive study of American history.

[B] a greater emphasis on theoretical subjects.

[C] the application of emerging technologies.

[D] funding for the study of foreign languages.

39. The author implies in paragraph 5 that professors are

[A] supportive of free markets

[B] conservative about public policy.

[C] biased against classical liberal ideas.

[D] cautious about intellectual investigation.

40. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

[A] Ways to Grasp “The Heart of the matter”

[B] Illiberal Education and “The Heart of the Matter”

[C] The AAAS’s contribution to Liberal Education

[D] Progressive Policy vs Liberal Education