1、Part I Reading Comprehension(2*25=50 points)Directions:There are five passages in this section.Each passage is followedby some questions or unfinished statements.For each of them,there are fourchoices marked A,B,C and D.Decide on the best choice.Passage 1Economic inequality is the“defining challenge
2、 of our time,”PresidentBarack Obama declared in a speech last month to the Center for AmericanProgress.Inequality is dangerous,he argued,not merely because it doesntlook good to have a large gap between the rich and the poor,but becauseinequality itself destroys upward mobility,making it harder for
3、the poor toescape from poverty.“Increased inequality and decreasing mobility pose afundamental threat to the American Dream,”he said.Obama is only the most prominent public figure to declare inequality.Public Enemy No.1 and the greatest threat to reducing poverty in America.Anumber of prominent econ
4、omists have also argued that its harder for the poorto climb the economic ladder today because the rungs in that ladder havegrown farther apart.For all the new attention devoted to the 1 percent,a new data set from theEquality of Opportunity Project at Harvard and Berkeley suggests that,if wecare ab
5、out upward mobility overall,were vastly exaggerating the dangers ofthe rich-poor gap.Inequality itself is not a particularly strong predictor ofeconomic mobility,as sociologist Scott Winship noted in a recent article basedon his analysis of this data.So what factors,at the community level,do predict
6、if poor children will move up the economic ladder as adults?What explains,for instance,why the Salt Lake City metro area is one of the 100 largestmetropolitan areas most likely to lift the fortunes of the poor and the Atlantametro area is one of the least likely?Harvard economist Raj Chetty has poin
7、ted to economic and racialsegregation,community density,the size of a communitys middle class,thequality of schools,community religiosity,and family structure,which he callsthe“single strongest correlate of upward mobility.”Chetty finds thatcommunities like Salt Lake City,with high levels of two-par
8、ent families andreligiosity,are much more likely to see poor children get ahead thancommunities like Atlanta,with high levels of racial and economic segregation.Chetty has not yet issued a comprehensive analysis of the relativepredictive power of each of these factors.Based on my analyses of the dat
9、a,ofthe factors that Chetty has highlighted,the following three seem to be mostpredictive of upward mobility in a given community:No.1Income growthNo.2Prevalence of single mothers(where correlation is strong,but negative)No.3Per-capita local government spendingIn other words,communities with high le
10、vels of per-capita incomegrowth,high percentages of two-parent families,and high local governmentspending which may stand for good schools are the most likely to help poorchildren relive Horatio Algers rags-to-riches story.1.How does Obama view economic inequality?A.It is the biggest obstacle to soc
11、ial mobility.B.It is the greatest threat to social stability.C.It is the No.1 enemy of income growth.D.It is the most malicious social evil of our time.2.What do we learn about the inequality gap from Scott Winships dataanalysis?A.It is fast widening across most parts of America.B.It is not a reliab
12、le indicator of economic mobility.C.It is not correctly interpreted.D.It is overwhelmingly ignored.3.Compared with Atlanta,metropolitan Salt Lake City is said to_.A.have placed religious beliefs above party politicsB.have bridged the gap between the rich and the poorC.offer poor children more chance
13、s to climb the social ladderD.suffer from higher levels of racial and economic segregation4.What is strongly correlated with social mobility according to economist RajChetty?A.Family structure.B.Racial equality.C.School education.D.Community density.5.What does the author seem to suggest?A.It is imp
14、ortant to increase the size of the middle class.B.It is highly important to expand the metropolitan areas.C.It is most imperative to focus our efforts on the elimination of incomeinequality.D.It is better to start from the community to help poor children move upthe social ladder.Passage 2Clothes pla
15、y a critical part in the conclusions we reach by providingclues to who people are,who they are not,and who they would like to be.They tell us a good deal about the wearers background,personality,status,mood,and social outlook.Since clothes are such an important source of social information,wecan use
16、 them to manipulate peoples impression of us.Our appearanceassumes particular significance in the initial phases of interaction that is likelyto occur.An elderly middle-class man or woman may be alienated by a youngadult who is dressed in an unconventional manner,regardless of the personseducation,b
17、ackground,or interests.People tend to agree on what certain types of clothes mean.Adolescentgirls can easily agree on the lifestyles of girls who wear certain outfits,including the number of boyfriends they likely have had and whether theysmoke or drink.Newscasters,or the announcers,who read the new
18、s on TV,are considered to be more convincing,honest,and competent when they aredressed conservatively.And college students who view themselves as takingan active role in their interpersonal relationships say they are concerned aboutthe costumes they must wear to play these roles successfully.Moreove
19、r,manyof us can relate instances in which the clothing we wore changed the way wefelt about ourselves and how we acted.Perhaps you have used clothing to gainconfidence when you anticipated a stressful situation,such as a job interview,or a court appearance.In the workplace,men have long had well-def
20、ined precedents and rolemodels for achieving success.It has been otherwise for women.A good manywomen in the business world are uncertain about the appropriate mixture of“masculine”and“feminine”attributestheyshouldconveybytheirprofessional clothing.The variety of clothing alternatives to women has a
21、lsobeen greater than that available for men.Male administrators tend to judgewomen more favorably for managerial positions when the women display less“feminine”grooming-shorter hair,moderate use of make-up,and plain tailoredclothing.As one male administrator confessed,“An attractive woman isdefinite
22、ly going to get a longer interview,but she wont get a job.”6.According to the passage,the way we dress _.A.provides clues for people who are critical of usB.indicates our likes and dislikes in choosing a careerC.has a direct influence on the way people regard usD.is of particular importance when we
23、get on in age7.Form the third paragraph of the passage,we can conclude that young adultstend to believe that certain types of clothing can _.A.change peoples conservative attitudes toward their lifestyleB.help young peoples make friends with the opposite sexC.make them competitive in the job marketD
24、.help them achieve success in their inter personal relationships8.The word“precedent”(Para.4)probably refers to _.A.early acts for men to follow as examplesB.particular places for men to occupy especially because of theirimportanceC.things that men should agree uponD.mens beliefs that everything in
25、the world has already been decided9.According to the passage,many career women find themselves in difficultsituations because _.A.the variety of professional clothing is too wide for them to chooseB.women are generally thought to be only good at being fashion modelsC.men are more favorably judged fo
26、r managerial positionsD.they are not sure to what extent they should display their femininequalities through Clothing10.What is the passage mainly about?A.Dressing for effectB.How to dress appropriatelyC.Managerial positions and clothingD.Dressing for the occasionPassage 3In bringing up children,eve
27、ry parent watches eagerly the childsacquisition of each new skillthe first spoken words,the first independentsteps,or the beginning of reading and writing.It is often tempting to hurry thechild beyond his natural learning rate,but this can set up dangerous feelings offailure and states of worry in t
28、he child.This might happen at any stage.A babymight be forced to use a toilet too early,a young child might be encouraged tolearn to read before he knows the meaning of the words he reads.On the otherhand,though,if a child is left alone too much,or without any learningopportunities,he loses his natu
29、ral enthusiasm for life and his desire to find outnew things for himself.Parents vary greatly in their degree of strictness towards their children.Some may be especially strict in money matters,others are severe over timesof coming home at night or punctuality for meals.In general,the controlsimpose
30、d represent the needs of the parents and the values of the community asmuch as the childs own happiness.As regards the development of moral standards in the growing child,consistency is very important in parental teaching.To forbid a thing one dayand excuse it the next is no foundation for morality.
31、Also,parents shouldrealize that“example is better than precept”.If they are not sincere and do notpractice what they preach,their children may grow confused and emotionallyinsecure when they grow old enough to think for themselves,and realize theyhave been to some extent fooled.A sudden awareness of
32、 a marked differencebetween their parents principles and their morals can be a dangerousdisappointment.11.Eagerly watching the childs acquisition of new skills.A.should be avoidedB.is universal among parentsC.sets up dangerous states of worry in the childD.will make him lose interest in learning new
33、 things12.In the process of childrens learning new skills parents.A.should encourage them to read before they know the meaning of thewords they readB.should not expect too much of themC.should achieve a balance between pushing them too hard and leavingthem on their ownD.should create as many learnin
34、g opportunities as possible13.The second paragraph mainly tells us that.A.parents should be strict with their childrenB.parental controls reflect only the needs of the parents and the values ofthe communityC.parental restrictions vary,and are not always enforced for the benefitof the children aloneD
35、.parents vary in their strictness towards their children according to thesituation.14.The underlined word“precept”in Para.3 probably means“”.A.ideaB.instructionC.behaviourD.punishment15.In moral matters,parents should.A.observe the rules themselvesB.be aware of the marked difference between adults a
36、nd childrenC.forbid things which have no foundation in moralityD.consistently ensure the security of their childrenPassage 4A multinational corporation is a corporate enterprise,which thoughheadquartered in one country,conducts its operations through branches that itowns or controls the world.The or
37、ganizations,mostly based in the UnitedStates,Western Europe,and Japan,have become major actors on theinternational stage,for some of them are wealthier than many of the countriesthey operate in.The less developed countries often welcome the multinationalsbecause they are a source of investment and j
38、obs.Yet their presence has itsdrawbacks,for these organizations soon develop immense political andeconomic influence in the host countries.Development becomes concentratedin a few industries that are oriented to the needs of the outsiders;profits arefrequently exported rather than reinvested;and loc
39、al benefits go mainly to asmall ruling group whose interests are tied to those of the foreigners ratherthan to those of their own people.The effect is to further increase exportdependency and to limit the less developed countries control of their owneconomies.It seems that both the modernization and
40、 world-system approaches maybe valid in certain respects.The modernization model does help us make senseof historical fact of industrialization and of the various internal adjustmentsthat societies undergo during this process.The world-system model reminds usthat countries do not develop in isolatio
41、n.They do so in a context of fierceinternational political and economic competition,a competition whoseoutcome favors the stronger parties.Today,the less developed countries are struggling to achieve in the courseof a few years the material advantages that the older industrialized nationshave taken
42、generations to gain.The result is often a tug-of-war between theforces of modernization and the sentiments of tradition,with serious socialdisturbance as the result.The responses have taken many different forms:military overthrow by army officers determined to impose social order;fundamentalist reli
43、gious movements urging a return to absolute moralities andcertainties of the past;nationalism as a new ideology to unite the people for thechallenge of modernization.And sometimes social change takes place in a waythat is not evolutionary,but revolutionary.16.Why do the less developed countries welc
44、ome the multinationals?A.Because multinationals are more developed.B.Because multinationals bring investment and jobs.C.Because multinationals conduct their operations through branches.D.Because multinational are wealthier.17.Which of the following is NOT the problems brought by multinationals?A.The
45、y limit the host countrys control of their own economies.B.Profits are frequently exported rather than reinvested.C.Various industries develop in the host country.D.They increase the host countrys export dependency.18.Which of the following is most likely to benefit from the fierceinternational poli
46、tical and economic competition?A.The host industries.B.The local people.C.Those stronger and richer countries.D.The local ruling group.19.What does the word“tug-of-war”probably refer to?A.Serious social disorder.B.Military overthrow by army officers.C.Fierce international political and economic comp
47、etition.D.Struggle between modernization and the sentiments of tradition.20.What is the root cause of serious social disturbance in less developedcountries?A.Violent social change.B.Military overthrow.C.Nationalism.D.Fundamentalist religious movements.Passage 5British universities,groaning under the
48、 burden of a huge increase instudent numbers,are warning that the tradition of a free education is at risk.The universities have threatened to impose an admission fee on students toplug a gap in revenue if the government does not act to improve their financesand scrap some public spending cutbacks.T
49、he government responded to the universities threat by setting up themost fundamental review of higher education for a generation,under anon-party troubleshooter,Sir Ron Dearing.One in three school-leavers enters higher education,five times thenumber when the last review took place thirty years ago.E
50、veryone agrees a system that is feeling the strain after rapid expansionneeds a lot more money-but there is little hope of getting it from the taxpayerand not much scope for attracting more finance from business.Most colleges believe students should contribute to tuition costs,something that is comm
