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2011年考研英语二阅读真题及参考答案

Section II Reading Comprehension

Part A

Directions:

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions after each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)

Text 1

Ruth Simmons joined Goldman Sachs's board as an outside director in January 2000; a year later she became president of Brown University. For the rest of the decade she apparently managed both roles without attracting much criticism. But by the end of 2009 Ms. Simons was under fire for having sat on Goldman's compensation omitee; how could she have let those enormous bonus payouts pass unremarked? By February the next year Ms.

Simmons had left the board. The position was just taking up too much time, she said. Outside directors are supposed to serve as helpful, yet less biased, advisers on a firm's board. Having made their wealth and their reputations elsewhere, they presumably have enough independence to disagree with the chief executive' s proposals. If the sky, and the share price, is flling, outside directors should be able to give advice based on having weathered their own crises.

The researchers from Ohio University used a database that covered more than 10.000 firms and more than 64,000 different directors between 1989 and 2004. Then they simply checked which directors stayed from one proxy statement to the next. The most likely reason for departing a board was age, so the researchers concentrated on those “surprisc" disappcaranccs by dircctors under the agc of 70. They found that aftcr a surprisc departurc, the probability that the company will subsequently have to restate earnings increases by nearly 20%. The likelihood of being named in a federal class-action lawsuit also increases, and the stock is likely to perform worse. The efect tended to be larger for larger firms. Although a corrclation bctween them leaving and subscqucnt bad performance at the firm is suggestive, it does not mean that such diretors are always jumping off a sinking ship. Often they“"trade up," leaving riskier, smaller firms for larger and more stable firms.

But the researchers believe that outside directors have an easier time of avoiding a blow to their reputations if they Icave a firm before bad ncws breaks, cvcn if a revicw of history shows they were on the board at the timc any wrongdoing occured. Firms who want to keep thcir outside dircctors through tough timcs may have to crcate incentives. Otherwise outside directors will follow the example of Ms. Simmons, once again very popular on campus.

21. According to Paragraph 1, Ms. Simmons was criticized for.

[A] gaining excessive profits

[B] failing to fulfll her duty

[C] refusing to make compromises

[D] leaving the board in tough times

22. We learn from Paragraph 2 that outside directors are supposed to be

[A] generous investors

[B] unbiased executives

[C] share price forecasters

[D] independent advisers

23. According to the researchers from Ohio University, after an outside director 's surprise departure, the firm is

likely to

[A] become more stable

[B] report increased eamnings

[C] do less well in the stock market

[D] perform worse in lawsuits

24. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that outside directors.

[A] may stay for the attrctivc offers fom the firm

[B] havc oftcn had rcords of wrongdoings in the frm

[C] arc accustomed to stress-ficc work in thc firm

[D] will declinc inccntivcs frorm the firm

25. The author's atitudc toward the rolc of outside dircctors is____.

[A] permissivce

[B] positive

[C] scornful

[D] critical

Text 2

Whatever happened to the death of newspapers? A year ago the end seemed near. The recession threatened to remove the advertising and readers that had not already fled to the internet. Newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle were chronicling their own doom. America's Federal Trade Comission launched a round of talks about how to save newspapers. Should they become charitable corporations? Should the state subsidize them? It will hold another meeting soon. But the discussions now seem out of date.

In much of the world there is lite sign of crisis. German and Brazilian papers have shrugged off the recession. Even American newspapers, which inhabit the most troubled comer of the global industry, have not only survived but often returmed to profit. Not the 20% profit margins that were routine a few years ago, but profit all the same. 

It has not been much fiun. Many papers stayed afloat by pushing journalists overboard. The American Society of News Editors reckons that 13,500 newsroom jobs have gone since 2007. Readers are paying more for slimmer products. Some papers even had the nerve to refuse delivery to distant suburbs. Y et these desperate measures have proved the right ones and, sadly for many journalists, they can be pushed further.

Newspapers are becoming more balanced businesses, with a healthier mix of revenues from readers and advertisers. American papers have long been highly unusual in their reliance on ads. Fully 87% of their revenues came from advertsing in 2008, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD).

In Japan the propotion is 35%. Not surprisingly, Japanese newspapers are much more stable. The whirlwind that swept through newsrooms harmed everybody, but much of the damage has been concentrated in areas where newspapers are least distinctive. Car and film reviewers have gone. So bave science and general business reporters. Foreign bureaus have been savagely cut off. Newspapers are less complete as a result. But completeness is no longer a virtue in the newspaper business.

26. By saying“Ncwspapcrs like ... thcir own doom" (Lincs 3-4, Para. l), the author indicates that newspapcrs

[A] neglected the sign of crisis

[B] failed to get state subsidies

[C] were not charitable corporations

[D] were in a desperate situation

27. Somc ncwspapers refuscd dclivery to distant suburbs probably bccausc

[A] readers thrcatcncd to pay less

[B] newspapcrs wanted to reduce costs

[C] journalists reportcd litte about thesc arcas

[D] subscribers complained about slimmcr products

28. Compared with thcir Amcrican counterparts, Japancse ncwspapcrs arc much morc stablc bcausc they.

[A] havc morc sourccs of revenuc

[B] have more balanced newsrooms

[C] are less dependent on advertising

[D] are less affected by readership

29. What can be inferred from the last paragraph about the current newspaper business?

[A] Distinctiveness is an essential feature of newspapers.

[B] Completeness is to blame for the failure of newspapers.

[C] Foreign bureaus play a crucial role in the newspaper business.

[D] Readers have lost their interest in car and film reviews.

30. The most appropriate title for this text would be,

[A] American Newspapers: Struggling for Survival

[B] American Newspapers: Gone with the Wind

[C] American Newspapers: A Thriving Business

[D] American Newspapers: A Hopeless Story

Text 3

We tend to think of the decades immediately following World War II as a time of prosperity and growth, with soldicrs rcturning homc by the millions, going off to collgc on the G. L Bill and lining up at the marriagc burcaus.

But when it camc to thcir houscs, it was a timc of common scnsc and a bclicf that less could truly be morc.During the Depression and the war, Americans had learned to live with less, and that restraint, in combination with the postwar confidence in the future, made small, efficient housing positively stylish.

Economic condition was only a stimulus for the trend toward efficient living. The phrase“less is more" was actually first popularized by a German, the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who like other people associated with the Bauhaus, a school of design, emigrated to the Unitcd Statcs beforc World War II and took up posts at

American architecture schools. These designers came to exert enormous influence on the course of American architecture, but none more so than Mies.

Mies's signature phrase means that less decoration, properly organized, has more impact than a lot. Elegance, hc bclieved, did not derive from abundancc. Likc other modern architects, he cmployed mctal, glass and laminated wood - materials that we take for granted today but that in the 1940s symbolized the future. Mies's sophisticated presentation masked the fact that the spaces he designed were small and efficient, rather than big and often empty.

The apartments in the elegant towers Mies built on Chicago's Lake Shore Drive, for example, were smaller - two-bedroom units under 1,000 square feet - than those in their older neighbors along the city's Gold Coast. But they were popular because of their airy glass walls, the views they afforded and the elegance of the buildings' details and proportions, the architectural equivalent of the abstract art so popular at the time.

The trend toward "Iess"" was not entirely foreign. In the 1930s Frank Lloyd Wright started building more modest and efficient houses - usually around 1,200 square feet - than the spreading two-story ones he had designed in the 1890s and the early 20th century.

The“Case Study Houses" commissioned from talented moderm architects by California Arts & Architecture magazine between 1945 and 1962 were yet another homegrown influence on the“'less is more" trend. Aesthetic effect came from the landscape, new materials and forthright detailing. In his Case Study House, Ralph Rapson may have mispredicted just how the mechanical revolution would impact everyday life - few American families acquired helicopters, though most eventually got clothes dryers - but his belief that slf-ffcincy was both desirable and inevitable was widely shared.

31. The postwar American housing style largely reflected the Americans'

[A] prosperity and growth

[B] fficiency and practicality

[C] restraint and confidence

[D] pride and faithfulness

32. Which of the following can be inferrcd from Paragraph 3 about the Bauhaus?

[A] It was founded by Ludwig Mics van der Rohc.

[B] Its designing conccpt was afected by World War II.

[C] Most Amcrican archiects uscd to be associatcd with it.

[D] It had a great infuencc upon Amcrican archiccturc.

33. Mies held that elegance of architectural design

[A] was related to large space

[B] was identified with emptiness

[C] was not reliant on abundant decoration

[D] was not associated with efficiency

34. What is tmue about the apartments Mies built on Chicago's Lake Shore Drive?

[A] They ignored details and proportions.

[B] They were built with materials popular at that time.

[C] They were more spacious than neighboring buildings.

[D] They shared some characteristics of abstract art.

35. What can we learn about the design of the“Case Study Houses"?

[A] Mechanical devices were widely used.

[B] Natural scenes were taken into consideration.

[C] Details were sacrificed for the overall effect.

[D] Eco-friendly materials were employed.

Text4

Will the European Union make it? The question would have sounded strange not long ago. Now even the project's greatest cheerleaders talk of a continent facing a“Bermuda triangle" of debt, population decline and lower growth.

As well as those chronic problems, the EU faces an acute crisis in its economic core, the 16 countries that use the singlc currcncy. Markcts havc lost faith that the curo zonc's cconomics, weaker or strongcr, will onc day converge thanks to the discipline of sharing a single currency, which denies uncompetitive members the quick fix of devaluation.

Yet the debate about how to save Europe's single currency from disintegration is stuck. It is stuck because the curo zonc' s dominant powers, Francc and Germany, agrce on the nccd for grcatcr harmonisation within the curo zone, but disagree about what to harmonise.

Germany thinks the curo must be saved by stricter rulcs on borrowing, spcnding and competitivencss, backed by quasi-automatic sanctions for govemments that do not obey. These might include threats to freeze EU fiunds for poorer regions and EU mega-projects, and even the suspension of a country's voting rights in EU ministerial councils. It insists that cconomic co-ordination should involve all 27 members of the EU club, among whom thcre is a small majority for free-market liberalism and economic rigour, in the inner core alone, Germany fears, a small majority favour French interference.

A“*southern" camp headed by France wants something different: "European economic government within an inner core of curo zonc members. Translated, that mcans politicians intervening in monctary policy and a systcm of redistribution from richer to poorer members, via cheaper borrowing for governments through common Eurobonds or complete fiscal transfers. Finally, figures close to the French govenment have murmured, euro-zone members should agrcc to somc fiscal and social harmonisation: c.g., curbing competition in corporate-tax ratcs or labour costs.

It is too soon to write off the EU. It remains the world's largest trading block. At its best, the European project is remarkably liberal: built around a single market of 27 rich and poor countries, its intemal borders are far more open to goods, capital and labour than any comparable trading area. It is an ambitious attempt to blunt the sharpest edges of globalsation, and make capitalism benign.

36. The EU is faced with so many problems that

[A] it has more or less lost fath in markets

[B] even its supporters begin to feel concerned

[C] some of its member countries plan to abandon euro

[D] it intends to deny the pssibili of devaluation

37. The debate over the EU's single currency is stuck because the dominant powers.

[A] are competing for the leading position

[B] are busy handling their own crises

[C] fail to reach an agreement on harmonisation

[D] disagrcc on the stcps towards disintcgration

38. To solve the curo problcm, Germany proposcd that

[A] EU fiunds for poor rcgions be incrcascd

[B] stricter regulations be imposed

[C] only core mcmbers be involved in cconomic co-ordination

[D] voting rights of thc EU mcmbers be guarantced

39. The French proposal of handling the crisis implics that

[A] poor countrics arc morc likcly to gct funds

[B] strict monctary policy will be applicd to poor countrics

[C] loans will be readily available to rich countrics

[D] rich countrics will basically control Eurobonds

40. Rcgarding the futurc of the EU, the author sccms to fccl

[A] pessimistic

[B] desperate

[C] conceited

[D] hopeful