概要信息：

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2014 考研英语强化班 
阅读理解 A 部分 
 
编讲  商志 
 
主讲介绍： 
 
★ 高等教育出版社考研英语高分系列丛书主编，“考研路上
最不可错过的一位英语老师” 
★ 人生规划大师，考研英语辅导史上划时代的人物，考研
英语辅导高分神话的缔造者 
★ 中国单词第一人，传奇考研英语满分写作创始人，硕士
研究生入学考试英语首席主讲，应试之王 
★ 直取本质、彻底破解，主讲的考研英语保过班、标准班
都成为了考研界无人能够企及的巅峰之作，创造了多项他人
无法打破的记录 
 
拨开考研迷雾  打破英语瓶颈  揭示致命误区， 铺就高分坦途  
 
 
启航考研英语强化班   内部资料    ShineKY2014-19     应试之王  商志   2013年 8月修订 
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Part I  总论 
 
 
I．考试大纲的要求 
    最新考研英语考试大纲指出：“考生应能读懂各类书籍和报刊的不同类型的文字材料 
(生词量不超过文章总字数的 3%)，还应能读懂与本人学习或工作有关的文献资料、技术说
明和产品介绍等。对所读材料，考生应能: 
1．理解主旨要义; 
2．理解文中的具体信息; 
3．理解文中的概念性含义; 
4．进行相关的判断、推理和引申; 
5．根据上下文推测生词的词义; 
6．理解文章的总体结构以及上下文之间的关系; 
7．理解作者的意图、观点或态度; 
8．区分论点和论据。 
 
II．阅读理解的三要素： 
 
1. 课文（text）的特点 
 
(一) 题材 
        内容涉及社会科学、自然科学和人文科学各个领域的知识，其中社会科学所占比重
较大，自然科学所占比重不大，人文科学近来有增加的趋势。社会科学常涉及的领域有经济
学、心理学、社会学、教育学、传播学等，但政治、军事不涉及。自然科学主要涉及医学、
生物学、工程和科学史等。人文科学主要涉及文学评论、语言、杂文和散文等。 
 
(二) 文体 
在体裁上，大纲要求能读懂四类文章：议论文、说明文、记叙文和应用文 (如信函、
技术说明和产品介绍等)。但出题以议论文和说明文为主。 
 
(三) 文章来源 
历年考研英语试卷上阅读理解 A部分的四篇文章几乎全部选自英语国家文献资料： 
2013 
Text 1     ―Fast Fashion‖     Business Week    (《商业周刊》) 2012 年 6 月 21 日） 
Text 2     ―Microsoft and Privacy: Change of Track‖   Economist  (《经济学家》) 2012 年 6 月 9 日） 
Text 3     ―The Ever-bright Prospects of Mankind‖     New Scientist   （《新科学家》）2012 年 9 月 
Text 4     ―The Balance of Power between the Federal and the States‖  Wall Street Journal (《华尔街日报》) 
2012 年 6 月 25 日 
2012 
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Text 1   ―Herd Mentality‖      Time   (《时代》, 2011 年 3 月 24 日) 
Text 2    ―Vermont Yankee Plant‘s Owner Must Honor Its Own Promises‖  Boston.com (《波士顿网站》) 2011
年 4 月 24 日） 
Text 3   ―Everyday Practice of Science: Where Intuition and Passion Meet Objectivity and Logic‖    
Text 4   ―Enemies of Progress: the Biggest Barriers to Public-sector Reform Are the Unions‖      Economist   
(《经济学家》, 2011 年 3 月 17 日)  
2011 
Text 1   ―Selling Classical Music‖      Commentary   (《评论》, 2007 年 9 月) 
Text 2    ―Top Managers Are Quitting, Without a New Job‖   Business Week  (《商业周刊》) 2009 年 9 月 5
日） 
Text 3    ―Beyond Paid Media: Marketing's New Vocabulary‖   Forbes  (《福布斯》) 2010 年 12 月 3 日）  
Text 4   ―Not on Board with Baby‖   Newsweek     (《新闻周刊》, 2009 年 9 月 7 日) 
2010  
Text 1   ―The Amateur as Critic‖      Commentary   (《评论》, 2009 年 6 月) 
Text 2   ―A Pending Threat to Patents‖   Business Week  (《商业周刊》)  2008 年 2 月 21 日）      
Text 3   ― Who Drive Social Epidemics‖    Harvard Business Review  (《哈佛经济评论》,2007 年 2 月) 
Text 4   ―Bankers on The Wrong Planet ‖   Economist   (《经济学家》, 2009 年 4 月) 
2009 
Text 1  ―Can You Become a Creature of New Habits‖     New York Times  (《纽约时报》，2008 年 5 月 4 日) 
Text 2   ―Who‘s Your Daddy? The Answer May Be at the Drugstore‖     Scientific American  (《科学美国
人》,2008 年 11 月 14 日) 
Text 3   ― Educating Global Workers‖      Mckinsey Quarterly     (《麦肯锡季刊》, 2003 年 12 月) 
Text 4   ―Civilization‖       Intellectual Life in America: A History   (《美国历史：文化教育》 1989 年) 
2008 
Text 1  ―Gender Inequality : Women Under Stress‖       Discovery    (《探索频道》，2006 年 5 月 7 日) 
Text 2   ―The Paperless Library‖           Economist      (《经济学家》, 2005 年 9 月 24 日) 
Text 3   ― Napoleon‘s Revenge‖           Scientific American     (《科学美国人》,2001 年 7 月 17 日) 
Text 4   ―The Sorry Legacy of the Founders‖      US News and World Report     (《美国新闻与世界报道》) 
2007 
Text 1   ―A Star is Made‖                      New York Times     (《纽约时报》，2006 年 5 月 7 日) 
Text 2   ―Intelligence Considered‖                     Scientific American        (《科学美国人》) 
Text 3   ―The Middle Class on the Precipice‖            Harvard Magazine    (《哈佛杂志》,2006 年 1 月) 
Text 4   ―Information Security‖                      Economist      (《经济学家》,2005 年 6 月 23 日) 
2006 
Text 2   ―Inside Meaning‖                    The Observer    (《观察家报》) 
Text 3   ―Ocean‘s eleventh hour？‖              Economist       (《经济学家》,2003 年 5 月 15 日) 
Text 4   ―The Art of Unhappiness‖             Time           (《时代》, 2005 年 1 月 17 日) 
2005 
Text l    ―Fair and Square‖                  Economist.      (《经济学家》,  2003 年 9 月 18 日) 
Text 2    Washington Post                  (《华盛顿邮报》 时事评论) 
Text 3    ―Taking Control‖                  Newsweek     (《新闻周刊》， 2002 年 7 月 15 日) 
Text 4    ―Talking Down                    Economist     (《经济学家》,  2004 年 1 月 2 日) 
2004 
Textl   ― Putting the Net to Work‖.  US News & World Report (《美国新闻与世界报道》，1997 年 10 月 27
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日 ) 
Text2   ― As easy as ZYX‖.  Economist   (《经济学家》，2001 年 8 月 30 日 ) 
Text3   ― What‘s a Shopper to Do?‖    Newsweek   (《新闻周刊》,2000 年 12 月 18 日) 
Text4   ― Nurturing the Life of the Mind‖.   ASBJ  (2001 年 1 月美国学校董事会杂志) 
…… 
 
2.  题（questions）的特点 
题型                  ←              大纲要求 
(一) 主旨题                                     理解主旨要义 
(二) 事实细节题，判断题                         理解文中的具体信息 
(三) 句子理解题                                 理解文中的概念性含义 
(四) 推理题                                     进行相关的判断、推理和引申 
(五) 词义题                                     根据上下文推测生词的词义 
(六) 文章/段落总体结构题、例证题 & 新题型        理解文章的总体结构及上下文之间的关系 
(七) 态度题                                     理解作者的意图、观点或态度 
(八) 论据与论点之间关系题 & 新题型              区分论点和论据 
 
 
3. 选项（choices）的特点 
(一) 改写（paraphrase） 
(二) 引申（implication） 
(三) 无关（irrelevance） 
 
III．阅读理解复习的致命误区 
1. 两大误区 
在规定时间内草草看过、抓大意不求甚解的文章的太多, 认真细读、透彻分析和总结的
语言点和句子结构的太少； 
在规定时间内草草做过、甚至连蒙带猜的题太多, 对题和选项认真细读、透彻分析的太
少，对题的规律和选项的规律系统总结和归纳的太少。 
2. 发作表现 
即便有些语言点和结构已看过 n 次，在第 n+1 次再看到它时还是似会非会、似是而非、
朦胧晕眩、半死不活的感觉； 
即便有些类型的题、有些种类的选项已遇到过 n 次，在第 n+1 次遇到时还是没想到这
种题型、这种选项的规律，所以做题依然只能靠蒙。 
3. 后果 
启航考研英语强化班   内部资料    ShineKY2014-19     应试之王  商志   2013年 8月修订 
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大量做真题和模拟题成为了一种自我安慰、自欺欺人的手段，而真正的阅读水平、真正
的得分并没有得到提高，原来怎么梦游还怎么梦游、原来错几个依然错几个。 
 
IV．阅读理解复习的科学方法 
 (一) 课文（texts）    精读和泛读的合理结合 +  知识面 / 背景知识 
2004---2013 年阅读理解 A 部分共考了 40 篇文章，要做到精读，彻底分析透其中的每
一个句子中的语言点、彻底分析透每一段中句子之间的关系。此后，把这 40 篇课文按题材
横向总结。 
泛读和真题难度相当、题材一致的模拟题，乃至相关汉语读物，以扩大相关知识面。 
1. 词汇的识别能力  
“考生应能掌握 5,500 个左右的词汇以及相关词组” 
首先，历年 text 中反复出现的高频核心词汇要高度熟练掌握。 
此外，熟词生义要反复背记《3147 核心词汇宝典》(注意：必须是 2014 最新升级版。
因为只有最新升级版包含最新考研英语考试大纲新增加的单词)上给出的汉语释义：claim，
act, cause, late, modest, preserve, program, reason / reasoning, remains,… 
最后，学有余力又想考高分的同学，还要花时间对大纲里未曾考过的生僻词做到认识。 
2. 长难句的理解能力 
主语、谓语、宾语；插入成分、定语、状语、同位语；从句；非谓语动词；被动语
态；强调、倒装；虚拟语气、独立主格结构；it 的用法；with 短语的用法 
  3.   篇章的宏观把握能力和段落的分析能力  
彻底掌握每篇课文，就不仅仅要聚焦于对单词、句子的局部理解，还要对篇章以及段
落的总特点、对文章的结构进行分析。首先，要熟知考研英语文章的行文模式，抓住文章的
总体结构，了解作者中心意图, 推测全文大意；其次，要注意分析每段中句子的一致性与连
贯性： 
段落的一致性表现在全段由一个主题句统领，后面跟有若干支持句。所有的支持句必
须为主题句服务，围绕该主题句展开，或陈述原因，或罗列事实、步骤和情节。大多数段落
主题句的位置在段首，尤其是从第二段起以后的段落。但段落主题句也可能出现在段落中间
或最后，尤其是第一段。 
段落的连贯性是指段落中句子与句子之间的衔接必须合乎逻辑，即思想发展合乎逻
辑，过渡性词语使用恰当，层次分明，脉络清晰，联系紧凑，语句流畅，使读者容易掌握作
者的思路，了解段落意思。实现段落的连贯性，除了要合理地安排素材，使逻辑联系自然、
紧凑外，在结构上，还可以通过其他手段来达到连贯性的目的，如重复关键词、合理使用代
词及其他起指代作用的词、使用过渡性词语、使用平行结构等。 
要总结出每段的主旨或找出每段的主题句（区分主题句与支持句）；还要分析每段中
句与句之间的关系。 
 (二) 题（questions） 
启航考研英语强化班   内部资料    ShineKY2014-19     应试之王  商志   2013年 8月修订 
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     熟悉各种题型的解题思路, 提高各种题型的剖析能力：主旨题, 例证题, 细节题, 单词
理解题（词汇题）, 作者态度题、推理题等。 
(三) 选项（choices） 
了解出题人在造选项时的命题思路，并加强研究正确答案和干扰项的特点。 
V、特别提醒 
1．整理出（至少是反复记忆）文章中出现频率较高的 2000 个左右核心词汇； 
2．熟练掌握文中的路标词和句子；  
3．熟悉阅读中最重要的句型, 包括插入、定语从句, 状语从句, 名扩, 并列, 分词, 倒装等； 
4．熟练掌握对文章进行宏观分析的阅读方法：包括查找文章的中心（词）, 熟悉文章的结
构, 作者情感态度等； 
5．熟练掌握对文章进行微观分析的阅读方法：①根据题干，推出作者的出题意图，②根据
题干和选项能够到文章中准确定位，并准确分析相关句、句对、句段或句篇，⑶能意识到选
项中常见的陷阱、常见的线索提示信息； 
6．熟悉文章的写作的风格, 描述型, 定义型, 比较对比型, 因果型, 驳斥型, 时间变化型等 
★ 描述性结构(主要介绍事物 、问题或倾向的特点，对人物、事件的描述中，时间、
地点等往往是出题重点) 
 ★ 释义性结构(解释某一理论、学科、事物，主要用例子比喻类比阐述) 
★ 比较性结构(把两个人或事物功能、特点、优缺点进行对比) 
 ★ 原因性结构(这种结构主要分析事物的成因，客观的、主观的、直接的、间接的) 
 ★ 驳斥性结构(这种结构主要是先介绍一种观点，然后对其评论或驳斥，然后分析其
优点缺点，危害性，最后阐明自己的观点)。 
 
 
 
 
 
 
启航考研英语强化班   内部资料    ShineKY2014-19     应试之王  商志   2013年 8月修订 
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Part Two   实战演练 
 
2001 年 
Passage  1 
 
Specialization can be seen as a response to the problem of an increasing accumulation of 
scientific knowledge. By splitting up the subject matter into smaller units, one man could continue 
to handle the information and use it as the basis for further research. But specialization was only 
one of a series of related developments in science affecting the process of communication. 
Another was the growing professionalisation of scientific activity. 
No clear-cut distinction can be drawn between professionals and amateurs in science: 
exceptions can be found to any rule. Nevertheless, the word ―amateur‖ does carry a connotation 
that the person concerned is not fully integrated into the scientific community and, in particular, 
may not fully share its values. The growth of specialization in the nineteenth century, with its 
consequent requirement of a longer, more complex training, implied greater problems for amateur 
participation in science. The trend was naturally most obvious in those areas of science based 
especially on a mathematical or laboratory training, and can be illustrated in terms of the 
development of geology in the United Kingdom. 
A comparison of British geological publications over the last century and a half reveals not 
simply an increasing emphasis on the primacy of research, but also a changing definition of what 
constitutes an acceptable research paper. Thus, in the nineteenth century, local geological studies 
represented worthwhile research in their own right; but, in the twentieth century, local studies 
have increasingly become acceptable to professionals only if they incorporate, and reflect on, the 
wider geological picture. Amateurs, on the other hand, have continued to pursue local studies in 
the old way. The overall result has been to make entrance to professional geological journals 
harder for amateurs, a result that has been reinforced by the widespread introduction of refereeing, 
first by national journals in the nineteenth century and then by several local geological journals in 
the twentieth century. As a logical consequence of this development, separate journals have now 
appeared aimed mainly towards either professional or amateur readership. A rather similar process 
of differentiation has led to professional geologists coming together nationally within one or two 
specific societies, whereas the amateurs have tended either to remain in local societies or to come 
together nationally in a different way. 
Although the process of professionalisation and specialization was already well under way in 
British geology during the nineteenth century, its full consequences were thus delayed until the 
twentieth century. In science generally, however, the nineteenth century must be reckoned as the 
crucial period for this change in the structure of science.  
51．The growth of specialization in the 19th century might be more clearly seen in sciences 
such as _________.  
［A］ sociology and chemistry     
［B］ physics and psychology  
［C］ sociology and psychology  
［D］ physics and chemistry  
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52．We can infer from the passage that _________.  
［A］ there is little distinction between specialization and professionalisation  
［B］ amateurs can compete with professionals in some areas of science  
［C］ professionals tend to welcome amateurs into the scientific community  
［D］ amateurs have national academic societies but no local ones  
53．The author writes of the development of geology to demonstrate _________.  
［A］ the process of specialization and professionalisation   
［B］ the hardship of amateurs in scientific study  
［C］ the change of policies in scientific publications   
［D］ the discrimination of professionals against amateurs  
54．The direct reason for specialization is _________.  
［A］ the development in communication     
［B］ the growth of professionalisation  
［C］ the expansion of scientific knowledge    
［D］the splitting up of academic societies 
Passage  2 
A great deal of attention is being paid today to the so called digital divide — the division of 
the world into the info(information) rich and the info poor. And that divide does exist today. My 
wife and I lectured about this looming danger twenty 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 
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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 foreign investment  
58．It seems that now a country's economy depends much on _________.  
［A］ how well-developed it is electronically    
［B］ whether it is prejudiced against immigrants  
［C］ whether it adopts America's industrial pattern 
［D］ how much control it has over foreign corporations  
Passage  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.  
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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  
Passage   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. 
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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 re-create 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, Renault and Nissan — but it does not appear that consumers are being 
hurt. 
Yet the fact remains that the merger movement must be watched. A few weeks ago, Alan 
Greenspan warned against the megamergers in the banking industry. Who is going to supervise, 
regulate and operate as lender of last resort with the gigantic banks that are being created? Won't 
multinationals shift 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  
Passage  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 buildup of stress, that abandoning the doctrine of "juggling your life", and 
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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 politics and the limitations of being a parent on "quality time". 
In America, the move away from juggling to a simpler, less materialistic lifestyle is a 
well-established trend. Downshifting — also known in America as "voluntary simplicity" — 
has ironically, even bred a new area of what might be termed anticonsumerism. There are a 
number of best-selling downshifting self-help books for people who want to simplify their lives; 
there are newsletters, such as The Tightwad Gazette, that give hundreds of thousands of 
Americans useful tips on anything from recycling their cling-film to making their own soap; there 
are even support groups for those who want to achieve the mid-'90s equivalent of dropping out.  
While in America the trend started as a reaction to the economic decline — after the mass 
redundancies caused by downsizing in the late '80s — and is still linked to the politics of thrift, in 
Britain, at least among the middle-class down-shifters of my acquaintance, we have different 
reasons for seeking to simplify our lives.  
For the women of my generation who were urged to keep juggling through the 80s, 
downshifting in the mid-'90s is not so much a search for the mythical good life—growing your 
own organic vegetables, and risking turning into one — as a personal recognition of your 
limitations.  
67．Which of the following is true according to paragraph 1?  
［A］ Full-time employment is a new international trend.  
［B］ The writer was compelled by circumstances to leave her job.  
［C］ "A lateral move" means stepping out of full-time employment.  
［D］ The writer was only too eager to spend more time with her family. 
68．The writer's experiment shows that downshifting _________.  
［A］ enables her to realize her dream   
［B］ helps her mold a new philosophy of life  
［C］ prompts her to abandon her high social status   
［D］ leads her to accept the doctrine of She magazine  
69．"Juggling one's life" probably means living a life characterized by _________.  
［A］ non-materialistic lifestyle      ［B］ a bit of everything  
［C］ extreme stress               ［D］ anti-consumerism  
70．According to the passage, downshifting emerged in the U.S. as a result of _________.  
［A］ the quick pace of modern life          
［B］ man's adventurous spirit  
［C］ man's search for mythical experiences 
［D］ the economic situation  
 
 
2002 年  
Passage  1 
If you intend using humor in your talk to make people smile, you must know how to identify 
shared experiences and problems. Your humor must be relevant to the audience and should help to 
show them that you are one of them or that you understand their situation and are in sympathy 
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with their point of view. Depending on whom you are addressing, the problems will be different. 
If you are talking to a group of managers, you may refer to the disorganized methods of their 
secretaries; alternatively if you are addressing secretaries, you may want to comment on their 
disorganized bosses.  
Here is an example, which I heard at a nurses' convention, of a story which works well 
because the audience all shared the same view of doctors. A man arrives in heaven and is being 
shown around by St. Peter. He sees wonderful accommodations, beautiful gardens, sunny weather, 
and so on. Everyone is very peaceful, polite and friendly until, waiting in a line for lunch, the new 
arrival is suddenly pushed aside by a man in a white coat, who rushes to the head of the line, grabs 
his food and stomps over to a table by himself. ―Who is that?" the new arrival asked St. Peter. ―Oh, 
that's God," came the reply, ―but sometimes he thinks he's a doctor." 
If you are part of the group which you are addressing, you will be in a position to know the 
experiences and problems which are common to all of you and it'll be appropriate for you to make 
a passing remark about the inedible canteen food or the chairman's notorious bad taste in ties. 
With other audiences you mustn't attempt to cut in with humor as they will resent an outsider 
making disparaging remarks about their canteen or their chairman. You will be on safer ground if 
you stick to scapegoats like the Post Office or the telephone system.  
If you feel awkward being humorous, you must practice so that it becomes more natural. 
Include a few casual and apparently off-the-cuff remarks which you can deliver in a relaxed and 
unforced manner. Often it's the delivery which causes the audience to smile, so speak slowly and 
remember that a raised eyebrow or an unbelieving look may help to show that you are making a 
light-hearted remark.  
Look for the humor. It often comes from the unexpected. A twist on a familiar quote ―If at 
first you don't succeed, give up" or a play on words or on a situation. Search for exaggeration and 
understatements. Look at your talk and pick out a few words or sentences which you can turn 
about and inject with humor.     
 
41. To make your humor work, you should  
［A］ take advantage of different kinds of audience.  
［B］ make fun of the disorganized people.  
［C］ address different problems to different people.  
［D］ show sympathy for your listeners.  
42. The joke about doctors implies that, in the eyes of nurses, they are   
［A］ impolite to new arrivals.      ［B］ very conscious of their godlike role. 
［C］ entitled to some privileges.    ［D］ very busy even during lunch hours. 
43. It can be inferred from the text that public services   
［A］ have benefited many people.  
［B］ are the focus of public attention.  
［C］ are an inappropriate subject for humor.  
［D］ have often been the laughing stock.  
44. To achieve the desired result, humorous stories should be delivered   
［A］ in well-worded language.   ［B］ as awkwardly as possible.  
［C］ in exaggerated statements.  ［D］ as casually as possible.  
45. The best title for the text may be   
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［A］ Use Humor Effectively.  
［B］ Various Kinds of Humor.  
［C］ Add Humor to Speech.  
［D］ Different Humor Strategies.  
 
Passage  2 
Since the dawn of human ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning tools to cope 
with work that is dangerous, boring, burdensome, or just plain nasty. That compulsion has resulted 
in robotics — the science of conferring various human capabilities on machines. And if scientists 
have yet to create the mechanical version of science fiction, they have begun to come close.  
As a result, the modern world is increasingly populated by intelligent gizmos whose presence 
we barely notice but whose universal existence has removed much human labor. Our factories 
hum to the rhythm of robot assembly arms. Our banking is done at automated teller terminals that 
thank us with mechanical politeness for the transaction. Our subway trains are controlled by 
tireless robo-drivers. And thanks to the continual miniaturization of electronics and 
micro-mechanics, there are already robot systems that can perform some kinds of brain and bone 
surgery with submillimeter accuracy — far greater precision than highly skilled physicians can 
achieve with their hands alone.  
But if robots are to reach the next stage of laborsaving utility, they will have to operate with 
less human supervision and be able to make at least a few decisions for themselves — goals that 
pose a real challenge. ―While we know how to tell a robot to handle a specific error," says Dave 
Lavery, manager of a robotics program at NASA, ―we can't yet give a robot enough 'common 
sense' to reliably interact with a dynamic world."  
Indeed the quest for true artificial intelligence has produced very mixed results. Despite a 
spell of initial optimism in the 1960s and 1970s when it appeared that transistor circuits and 
microprocessors might be able to copy the action of the human brain by the year 2010, researchers 
lately have begun to extend that forecast by decades if not centuries.  
What they found, in attempting to model thought, is that the human brain's roughly one 
hundred billion nerve cells are much more talented — and human perception far more complicated 
— than previously imagined. They have built robots that can recognize the error of a machine 
panel by a fraction of a millimeter in a controlled factory environment. But the human mind can 
glimpse a rapidly changing scene and immediately disregard the 98 percent that is irrelevant, 
instantaneously focusing on the monkey at the side of a winding forest road or the single 
suspicious face in a big crowd. The most advanced computer systems on Earth can't approach that 
kind of ability, and neuroscientists still don't know quite how we do it.  
  
46. Human ingenuity was initially demonstrated in   
［A］ the use of machines to produce science fiction.  
［B］ the wide use of machines in manufacturing industry.  
［C］ the invention of tools for difficult and dangerous work.  
［D］ the elite's cunning tackling of dangerous and boring work. 
47. The word “gizmos" (line 1, paragraph 2) most probably means  
［A］ programs ［B］ experts ［C］ devices    ［D］ creatures 
48. According to the text, what is beyond man's ability now is to design a robot that can   
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［A］ fulfill delicate tasks like performing brain surgery.  
［B］ interact with human beings verbally.  
［C］ have a little common sense.  
［D］ respond independently to a changing world. 
49. Besides reducing human labor, robots can also   
［A］ make a few decisions for themselves.  
［B］ deal with some errors with human intervention.  
［C］ improve factory environments.  
［D］ cultivate human creativity. 
50. The author uses the example of a monkey to argue that robots are  
［A］ expected to copy human brain in internal structure.  
［B］ able to perceive abnormalities immediately.  
［C］ far less able than human brain in focusing on relevant information.  
［D］ best used in a controlled environment.  
 
 
Passage 3 
 
 
 Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return? Since OPEC agreed to 
supply-cuts in March, the price of crude oil has jumped to almost $26 a barrel, up from less than 
$10 last December. This near-tripling of oil prices calls up scary memories of the 1973 oil shock, 
when prices quadrupled, and 1979-1980, when they also almost tripled. Both previous shocks 
resulted in double-digit inflation and global economic decline. So where are the headlines warning 
of gloom and doom this time? 
The oil price was given another push up this week when Iraq suspended oil exports. 
Strengthening economic growth, at the same time as winter grips the northern hemisphere, could 
push the price higher still in the short term.  
Yet there are good reasons to expect the economic consequences now to be less severe than 
in the 1970s. In most countries the cost of crude oil now accounts for a smaller share of the price 
of petrol than it did in the 1970s. In Europe, taxes account for up to four-fifths of the retail price, 
so even quite big changes in the price of crude have a more muted effect on pump prices than in 
the past.  
Rich economies are also less dependent on oil than they were, and so less sensitive to swings 
in the oil price. Energy conservation, a shift to other fuels and a decline in the importance of heavy, 
energy-intensive industries have reduced oil consumption. Software, consultancy and mobile 
telephones use far less oil than steel or car production. For each dollar of GDP (in constant prices) 
rich economies now use nearly 50% less oil than in 1973. The OECD estimates in its latest 
Economic Outlook that, if oil prices averaged $22 a barrel for a full year, compared with $13 in 
1998, this would increase the oil import bill in rich economies by only 0.25-0.5% of GDP. That is 
less than one-quarter of the income loss in 1974 or 1980. On the other hand, oil-importing 
emerging economies — to which heavy industry has shifted — have become more 
energy-intensive, and so could be more seriously squeezed.  
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One more reason not to lose sleep over the rise in oil prices is that, unlike the rises in the 
1970s, it has not occurred against the background of general commodity-price inflation and global 
excess demand. A sizable portion of the world is only just emerging from economic decline. The 
Economist's commodity price index is broadly unchanging from a year ago. In 1973 commodity 
prices jumped by 70%, and in 1979 by almost 30%.   
51. The main reason for the latest rise of oil price is 
［A］ global inflation. 
［B］ reduction in supply.  
［C］ fast growth in economy. 
［D］ Iraq's suspension of exports. 
52. It can be inferred from the text that the retail price of petrol will go up dramatically if 
［A］ price of crude rises. 
［B］ commodity prices rise. 
［C］ consumption rises. 
［D］ oil taxes rise. 
53. The estimates in Economic Outlook show that in rich countries 
［A］ heavy industry becomes more energy-intensive. 
［B］ income loss mainly results from fluctuating crude oil prices. 
［C］ manufacturing industry has been seriously squeezed. 
［D］ oil price changes have no significant impact on GDP. 
54. We can draw a conclusion from the text that 
［A］ oil-price shocks are less shocking now. 
［B］ inflation seems irrelevant to oil-price shocks. 
［C］ energy conservation can keep down the oil prices. 
［D］ the price rise of crude leads to the shrinking of heavy industry. 
55. From the text we can see that the writer seems   
［A］ optimistic.    ［B］ sensitive.  ［C］ gloomy.   ［D］ scared. 
Passage  4 
The Supreme Court's decisions on physician-assisted suicide carry important implications for 
how medicine seeks to relieve dying patients of pain and suffering.  
Although it ruled that there is no constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide, the Court 
in effect supported the medical principle of ―double effect," a centuries-old moral principle 
holding that an action having two effects—a good one that is intended and a harmful one that is 
foreseen—is permissible if the actor intends only the good effect.  
Doctors have used that principle in recent years to justify using high doses of morphine to 
control terminally ill patients' pain, even though increasing dosages will eventually kill the patient.  
Nancy Dubler, director of Montefiore Medical Center, contends that the principle will shield 
doctors who ―until now have very, very strongly insisted that they could not give patients 
sufficient mediation to control their pain if that might hasten death."  
George Annas, chair of the health law department at Boston University, maintains that, as 
long as a doctor prescribes a drug for a legitimate medical purpose, the doctor has done nothing 
illegal even if the patient uses the drug to hasten death. ―It's like surgery," he says. ―We don't call 
those deaths homicides because the doctors didn't intend to kill their patients, although they risked 
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their death. If you're a physician, you can risk your patient's suicide as long as you don't intend 
their suicide."  
On another level, many in the medical community acknowledge that the assisted-suicide 
debate has been fueled in part by the despair of patients for whom modern medicine has prolonged 
the physical agony of dying.  
Just three weeks before the Court's ruling on physician-assisted suicide, the National 
Academy of Science (NAS) released a two-volume report, Approaching Death: Improving Care at 
the End of Life. It identifies the undertreatment of pain and the aggressive use of ―ineffectual and 
forced medical procedures that may prolong and even dishonor the period of dying" as the twin 
problems of end-of-life care.  
The profession is taking steps to require young doctors to train in hospices, to test knowledge 
of aggressive pain management therapies, to develop a Medicare billing code for hospital-based 
care, and to develop new standards for assessing and treating pain at the end of life.  
Annas says lawyers can play a key role in insisting that these well-meaning medical 
initiatives translate into better care. ―Large numbers of physicians seem unconcerned with the pain 
their patients are needlessly and predictably suffering," to the extent that it constitutes ―systematic 
patient abuse." He says medical licensing boards ―must make it clear…that painful deaths are 
presumptively ones that are incompetently managed and should result in license suspension."  
 
56. From the first three paragraphs, we learn that   
［A］ doctors used to increase drug dosages to control their patients' pain.  
［B］ it is still illegal for doctors to help the dying end their lives.  
［C］ the Supreme Court strongly opposes physician-assisted suicide.  
［D］ patients have no constitutional right to commit suicide.  
57. Which of the following statements is true according to the text ? 
［A］ Doctors will be held guilty if they risk their patients' death.  
［B］ Modern medicine has assisted terminally ill patients in painless recovery.  
［C］ The Court ruled that high-dosage pain-relieving medication can be prescribed.  
［D］ A doctor's medication is no longer justified by his intentions.  
58. According to the NAS's report, one of the problems in end-of-life care is  
［A］ prolonged medical procedures.  
［B］ inadequate treatment of pain.  
［C］ systematic drug abuse.  
［D］ insufficient hospital care. 
59. Which of the following best defines the word “aggressive" (line 3, paragraph 7) ?  
［A］ Bold.     ［B］ Harmful.     
［C］ Careless.    ［D］Desperate. 
60. George Annas would probably agree that doctors should be punished if they 
［A］ manage their patients incompetently.  
［B］ give patients more medicine than needed.  
［C］ reduce drug dosages for their patients.  
［D］ prolong the needless suffering of the patients.  
 
 
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2003 年 
Passage  1 
  Wild Bill Donovan would have loved the Internet. The American spymaster who built the 
Office of Strategic Services in the World War II and later laid the roots for the CIA was fascinated 
with information. Donovan believed in using whatever tools came to hand in the "great game " of 
espionage — spying as a "profession". These days the Net, which has already re-made pastimes 
as buying books and sending mail, is reshaping Donovan's vocation as well.  
  The latest revolution isn't simply a matter of gentlemen reading other gentlemen's e-mail. 
That kind of electronic spying has been going on for decades. In the past three or four years, the 
World Wide Web has given birth to a whole industry of point-and-click spying. The spooks call it 
"open source intelligence," and as the Net grows, it is becoming increasingly influential. in 1995 
the CIA held a contest to see who could compile the most data about Burundi. The winner, by a 
large margin, was a tiny Virginia company called Open-Source Solutions, whose clear advantage 
was its mastery of the electronic world.  
  Among the firms making the biggest splash in the new world is Straitford, Inc., a private 
intelligence-analysis firm based in Austin, Texas. Straitford makes money by selling the results of 
spying (covering nations from Chile to Russia) to corporations like energy-services firm 
McDermott International. Many of its predictions are available online at www.Fstraitford.com.  
  Straitford president George Friedman says he sees the online world as a kind of mutually 
reinforcing tool for both information collection and distribution, a spymaster's dream. Last week 
his firm was busy vacuuming up data bits from the far corners of the world and predicting a crisis 
in Ukraine." As soon as that report runs, we'll suddenly get 500 new internet sign-ups from 
Ukraine," says Friedman, a former political science professor. "And we'll hear back from some of 
them." Open-source spying does have its risks, of course, since it can be difficult to tell good 
information from bad. That's where Straitford earns its keep.  
Friedman relies on a lean staff in Austin. Several of his staff of 20 members have 
military-intelligence backgrounds. He sees the firm's outsider status as the key to its success. 
Straitford's briefs don't sound like the usual Washington back-and-forthing, whereby agencies 
avoid dramatic declarations on the chance they might be wrong. Straitford, says Friedman, takes 
pride in its independent voice.  
 
41. The emergence of the Net has  
  A. received support from fans like Donovan.  
  B. remolded the intelligence services.  
  C. restored many common pastimes.  
  D. revived spying as a profession.  
42. Donovan's story is mentioned in the text to  
  A. introduce the topic of online spying.  
  B. show how he fought for the U.S.  
  C. give an episode of the information war.  
  D. honor his unique services to the CIA.  
43. The phrase “making the biggest splash”(line 1,paragraph 3)most probably means  
  A. causing the biggest trouble.       B. exerting the greatest effort.  
  C. achieving the greatest success.    D. enjoying the widest popularity.  
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44. It can be learned from paragraph 4 that  
  A. Straitford's prediction about Ukraine has proved true.  
  B. Straitford guarantees the truthfulness of its information.  
  C. Straitford's business is characterized by unpredictability.  
  D. Straitford is able to provide fairly reliable information.  
45. Straitford is most proud of its  
  A. official status.  
  B. nonconformist image.  
  C. efficient staff.  
D. military background.  
 
Passage  2 
To paraphrase 18th-century statesman Edmund Burke, ―all that is needed for the triumph of a 
misguided cause is that good people do nothing.‖ One such cause now seeks to end biomedical 
research because of the theory that animals have rights ruling out their use in research. Scientists 
need to respond forcefully to animal rights advocates, whose arguments are confusing the public 
and thereby threatening advances in health knowledge and care. Leaders of the animal rights 
movement target biomedical research because it depends on public funding, and few people 
understand the process of health care research. Hearing allegations of cruelty to animals in 
research settings, many are perplexed that anyone would deliberately harm an animal.  
  For example, a grandmotherly woman staffing an animal rights booth at a recent street fair 
was distributing a brochure that encouraged readers not to use anything that comes from or is 
tested in animals — no meat, no fur, no medicines. Asked if she opposed immunizations, she 
wanted to know if vaccines come from animal research. When assured that they do, she replied, 
―Then I would have to say yes.‖ Asked what will happen when epidemics return, she said, ―Don‘t 
worry, scientists will find some way of using computers.‖ Such well-meaning people just don't 
understand.  
  Scientists must communicate their message to the public in a compassionate, understandable 
way — in human terms, not in the language of molecular biology. We need to make clear the 
connection between animal research and a grandmother's hip replacement, a father's bypass 
operation, a baby's vaccinations, and even a pet's shots. To those who are unaware that animal 
research was needed to produce these treatments, as well as new treatments and vaccines, animal 
research seems wasteful at best and cruel at worst.  
Much can be done. Scientists could ―adopt‖ middle school classes and present their own 
research. They should be quick to respond to letters to the editor, lest animal rights misinformation 
go unchallenged and acquire a deceptive appearance of truth. Research institutions could be 
opened to tours, to show that laboratory animals receive humane care. Finally, because the 
ultimate stakeholders are patients, the health research community should actively recruit to its 
cause not only well-known personalities such as Stephen Cooper, who has made courageous 
statements about the value of animal research, but all who receive medical treatment. If good 
people do nothing, there is a real possibility that an uninformed citizenry will extinguish the 
precious embers of medical progress.  
 
46. The author begins his article with Edmund Burke's words to  
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  A. call on scientists to take some actions.  
  B. criticize the misguided cause of animal rights.  
  C. warn of the doom of biomedical research.  
  D. show the triumph of the animal rights movement.  
47. Misled people tend to think that using an animal in research is  
  A. cruel but natural.                 B. inhuman and unacceptable.  
  C. inevitable but vicious.             D. pointless and wasteful.  
48. The example of the grandmotherly woman is used to show the public's  
  A. discontent with animal research.     B. ignorance about medical science.  
  C. indifference to epidemics.          D. anxiety about animal rights. 
49. The author believes that, in face of the challenge from animal rights advocates, scientists 
should  
  A. communicate more with the public.   B. employ hi-tech means in research.  
  C. feel no shame for their cause.        D. strive to develop new cures.  
50. From the text we learn that Stephen Cooper is  
  A. a well-known humanist.            B. a medical practitioner.  
C. an enthusiast in animal rights.       D. a supporter of animal research. 
 
 
Passage 3 
 
  In recent years, railroads have been combining with each other, merging into supersystems, 
causing heightened concerns about monopoly. As recently as 1995, the top four railroads 
accounted for under 70 percent of the total ton-miles moved by rails. Next year, after a series of 
mergers is completed, just four railroads will control well over 90 percent of all the freight moved 
by major rail carriers.  
  Supporters of the new super systems argue that these mergers will allow for substantial cost 
reductions and better coordinated service. Any threat of monopoly, they argue, is removed by 
fierce competition from trucks. But many shippers complain that for heavy bulk commodities 
traveling long distances, such as coal, chemicals, and grain, trucking is too costly and the railroads 
therefore have them by the throat.  
  The vast consolidation within the rail industry means that most shippers are served by only 
one rail company. Railroads typically charge such ―captive‖ shippers 20 to 30 percent more than 
they do when another railroad is competing for the business. Shippers who feel they are being 
overcharged have the right to appeal to the federal government's Surface Transportation Board for 
rate relief, but the process is expensive, time consuming, and will work only in truly extreme 
cases.  
  Railroads justify rate discrimination against captive shippers on the grounds that in the long 
run it reduces everyone's cost. If railroads charged all customers the same average rate, they argue, 
shippers who have the option of switching to trucks or other forms of transportation would do so, 
leaving remaining customers to shoulder the cost of keeping up the line. It's a theory to which 
many economists subscribe, but in practice it often leaves railroads in the position of determining 
which companies will flourish and which will fail. ―Do we really want railroads to be the arbiters 
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of who wins and who loses in the marketplace?‖ asks Martin Bercovici, a Washington lawyer who 
frequently represents shipper.  
Many captive shippers also worry they will soon be hit with a round of huge rate increases. 
The railroad industry as a whole, despite its brightening fortunes, still does not earn enough to 
cover the cost of the capital it must invest to keep up with its surging traffic. Yet railroads 
continue to borrow billions to acquire one another, with Wall Street cheering them on. Consider 
the $ 10.2 billion bid by Norfolk Southern and CSX to acquire Conrail this year. Conrail's net 
railway operating income in 1996 was just $ 427 million, less than half of the carrying costs of the 
transaction. Who's going to pay for the rest of the bill? Many captive shippers fear that they will, 
as Norfolk Southern and CSX increase their grip on the market.  
 
51. According to those who support mergers railway monopoly is unlikely because  
  A. cost reduction is based on competition.  
  B. services call for cross-trade coordination.  
  C. outside competitors will continue to exist.  
  D. shippers will have the railway by the throat.  
52. What is many captive shippers' attitude towards the consolidation in the rail industry?  
  A. Indifferent.                     B. Supportive.  
  C. Indignant.                       D. Apprehensive.  
53. It can be inferred from paragraph 3 that  
  A. shippers will be charged less without a rival railroad.  
  B. there will soon be only one railroad company nationwide.  
  C. overcharged shippers are unlikely to appeal for rate relief.  
  D. a government board ensures fair play in railway business.  
54. The word “arbiters” (line 6,paragraph 4)most probably refers to those  
  A. who work as coordinators.  
  B. who function as judges.  
  C. who supervise transactions.  
  D. who determine the price.  
55. According to the text, the cost increase in the rail industry is mainly caused by  
  A. the continuing acquisition.           B. the growing traffic.  
C. the cheering Wall Street.            D. the shrinking market.  
 
Passage   4 
   It is said that in England death is pressing, in Canada inevitable and in California optional. 
Small wonder. Americans' life expectancy has nearly doubled over the past century. Failing hips 
can be replaced, clinical depression controlled, cataracts removed in a 30-minute surgical 
procedure. Such advances offer the aging population a quality of life that was unimaginable when 
I entered medicine 50 years ago. But not even a great health-care system can cure death — and 
our failure to confront that reality now threatens this greatness of ours.  
  Death is normal; we are genetically programmed to disintegrate and perish, even under ideal 
conditions. We all understand that at some level, yet as medical consumers we treat death as a 
problem to be solved. Shielded by third-party payers from the cost of our care, we demand 
everything that can possibly be done for us, even if it's useless. The most obvious example is 
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late-stage cancer care. Physicians — frustrated by their inability to cure the disease and fearing 
loss of hope in the patient —  too often offer aggressive treatment far beyond what is 
scientifically justified.  
  In 1950, the U.S. spent $ 12.7 billion on health care. In 2002, the cost will be $ 1,540 billion. 
Anyone can see this trend is unsustainable. Yet few seem willing to try to reverse it. Some 
scholars conclude that a government with finite resources should simply stop paying for medical 
care that sustains life beyond a certain age-----say 83 or so. Former Colorado governor Richard 
Lamm has been quoted as saying that the old and infirm ―have a duty to die and get out of the 
way‖, so that younger, healthier people can realize their potential.  
  I would not go that far. Energetic people now routinely work through their 60s and beyond, 
and remain dazzlingly productive. At 78, Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone jokingly claims to 
be 53.Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is in her 70s, and former surgeon general C. 
Everett Koop chairs an Internet start-up in his 80s.These leaders are living proof that prevention 
works and that we can manage the health problems that come naturally with age. As a mere 
68-year-old, I wish to age as productively as they have.  
Yet there are limits to what a society can spend in this pursuit. As a physician, I know the 
most costly and dramatic measures may be ineffective and painful. I also know that people in 
Japan and Sweden, countries that spend far less on medical care, have achieved longer, healthier 
lives than we have. As a nation, we may be overfunding the quest for unlikely cures while 
underfunding research on humbler therapies that could improve people's lives.  
 
56. What is implied in the first sentence?  
  A. Americans are better prepared for death than other people.  
  B. Americans enjoy a higher life quality than ever before.  
  C. Americans are over-confident of their medical technology.  
  D. Americans take a vain pride in their long life expectancy.  
57. The author uses the example of cancer patients to show that  
  A. medical resources are often wasted.  
  B. doctors are helpless against fatal diseases.  
  C. some treatments are too aggressive.  
  D. medical costs are becoming unaffordable.  
58. The author's attitude toward Richard Lamm's remark is one of  
  A. strong disapproval.          B. reserved consent.  
  C. slight contempt.             D. enthusiastic support.  
59. In contrast to the U.S. , Japan and Sweden are funding their medical care  
  A. more flexibly.               B. more extravagantly.  
  C. more cautiously.             D. more reasonably.  
60. The text intends to express the idea that  
  A medicine will further prolong people's lives.  
  B. life beyond a certain limit is not worth living.  
  C. death should be accepted as a fact of life.  
D. excessive demands increase the cost of health care. 
 
 
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2004 年 
Passage  1 
 
Hunting for a job late last year, lawyer Gant Redmon stumbled across CareerBuilder, a job 
database on the Internet. He searched it with no success but was attracted by the site‘s ―personal 
search agent‖. It‘s an interactive feature that lets visitors key in job criteria such as location, title, 
and salary, then E-mails them when a matching position is posted in the database. Redmon chose 
the keywords legal, intellectual property, and Washington, D.C. Three weeks later, he got his first 
notification of an opening. ―I struck gold,‘ says Redmon, who E-mailed his resume to the 
employer and won a position as in-house counsel for a company.  
    With thousands of career-related sites on the Internet, finding promising openings can be 
time-consuming and inefficient. Search agents reduce the need for repeated visits to the databases. 
But although a search agent worked for Redmon, career experts see drawbacks. Narrowing your 
criteria, for example, may work against you: ―Every time you answer a question you eliminate a 
possibility.‖ says one expert.  
    For any job search, you should start with a narrow concept —— what you think you want to 
do —— then broaden it. ―None of these programs do that,‖ says another expert. ―There‘s no 
career counseling implicit in all of this.‖ Instead, the best strategy is to use the agent as a kind of 
tip service to keep abreast of jobs in a particular database; when you get E-mail, consider it a 
reminder to check the database again. ―I would not rely on agents for finding everything that is 
added to a database that might interest me,‖ says the author of a job-searching guide.  
    Some sites design their agents to tempt job hunters to return. When CareerSite‘s agent sends 
out messages to those who have signed up for its service, for example, it includes only three 
potential jobs —— those it considers the best matches. There may be more matches in the 
database; job hunters will have to visit the site again to find them —— and they do. ―On the day 
after we send our messages, we see a sharp increase in our traffic,‖ says Seth Peets, vice president 
of marketing for CareerSite.  
    Even those who aren‘t hunting for jobs may find search agents worthwhile. Some use them to 
keep a close watch on the demand for their line of work or gather information on compensation to 
arm themselves when negotiating for a raise. Although happily employed, Redmon maintains his 
agent at CareerBuilder. ―You always keep your eyes open,‖ he says. Working with a personal 
search agent means having another set of eyes looking out for you.  
 
41. How did Redmon find his job?  
[A] By searching openings in a job database.  
[B] By posting a matching position in a database.  
[C] By using a special service of a database.  
[D] By E-mailing his resume to a database.  
42. Which of the following can be a disadvantage of search agents?  
[A] Lack of counseling.  
[B] Limited number of visits.  
[C] Lower efficiency.  
[D] Fewer successful matches.  
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43. The expression “tip service” (Line 4, Paragraph 3) most probably means  
[A] advisory.               [B] compensation.  
[C] interaction.             [D] reminder.  
44. Why does CareerSite’s agent offer each job hunter only three job options?  
[A] To focus on better job matches.  
[B] To attract more returning visits.  
[C] To reserve space for more messages.  
[D] To increase the rate of success.  
45. Which of the following is true according to the text?  
[A] Personal search agents are indispensable to job-hunters.  
[B] Some sites keep E-mailing job seekers to trace their demands.  
[C] Personal search agents are also helpful to those already employed.  
[D] Some agents stop sending information to people once they are employed.  
Passage  2 
Over the past century, all kinds of unfairness and discrimination have been condemned or 
made illegal. But one insidious form continues to thrive: alphabetism. This, for those as yet 
unaware of such a disadvantage, refers to discrimination against those whose surnames begin with 
a letter in the lower half of the alphabet.  
    It has long been known that a taxi firm called AAAA cars has a big advantage over Zodiac 
cars when customers thumb through their phone directories. Less well known is the advantage that 
Adam Abbott has in life over Zoe Zysman. English names are fairly evenly spread between the 
halves of the alphabet. Yet a suspiciously large number of top people have surnames beginning 
with letters between A and K.  
    Thus the American president and vice-president have surnames starting with B and C 
respectively; and 26 of George Bush‘s predecessors (including his father) had surnames in the first 
half of the alphabet against just 16 in the second half. Even more striking, six of the seven heads 
of government of the G7 rich countries are alphabetically advantaged (Berlusconi, Blair, Bush, 
Chirac, Chrétien and Koizumi). The world‘s three top central bankers (Greenspan, Duisenberg and 
Hayami) are all close to the top of the alphabet, even if one of them really uses Japanese 
characters. As are the world‘s five richest men (Gates, Buffett, Allen, Ellison and Albrecht).  
    Can this merely be coincidence? One theory, dreamt up in all the spare time enjoyed by the 
alphabetically disadvantaged, is that the rot sets in early. At the start of the first year in infant 
school, teachers seat pupils alphabetically from the front, to make it easier to remember their 
names. So short-sighted Zysman junior gets stuck in the back row, and is rarely asked the 
improving questions posed by those insensitive teachers. At the time the alphabetically 
disadvantaged may think they have had a lucky escape. Yet the result may be worse qualifications, 
because they get less individual attention, as well as less confidence in speaking publicly.  
    The humiliation continues. At university graduation ceremonies, the ABCs proudly get their 
awards first; by the time they reach the Zysmans most people are literally having a ZZZ. Shortlists 
for job interviews, election ballot papers, lists of conference speakers and attendees: all tend to be 
drawn up alphabetically, and their recipients lose interest as they plough through them.  
46. What does the author intend to illustrate with AAA A cars and Zodiac cars?  
[A] A kind of overlooked inequality.  
[B] A type of conspicuous bias.  
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[C] A type of personal prejudice.  
[D] A kind of brand discrimination.  
47. What can we infer from the first three paragraphs?  
[A] In both East and West, names are essential to success.  
[B] The alphabet is to blame for the failure of Zoe Zysman.  
[C] Customers often pay a lot of attention to companies‘ names.  
[D] Some form of discrimination is too subtle to recognize.  
48. The 4th paragraph suggests that  
[A] questions are often put to the more intelligent students.  
[B] alphabetically disadvantaged students often escape form class.  
[C] teachers should pay attention to all of their students.  
[D] students should be seated according to their eyesight.  
49. What does the author mean by “most people are literally having a ZZZ” (Lines 2-3, 
Paragraph 5)?  
[A] They are getting impatient.  
[B] They are noisily dozing off.  
[C] They are feeling humiliated.  
[D] They are busy with word puzzles.  
50. Which of the following is true according to the text?  
[A] People with surnames beginning with N to Z are often ill-treated.  
[B] VIPs in the Western world gain a great deal from alphabetism.  
[C] The campaign to eliminate alphabetism still has a long way to go.  
[D] Putting things alphabetically may lead to unintentional bias.  
Passage 3 
When it comes to the slowing economy, Ellen Spero isn‘t biting her nails just yet. But the 
47-year-old manicurist isn‘t cutting, filing or polishing as many nails as she‘d like to, either. Most 
of her clients spend $12 to $50 weekly, but last month two longtime customers suddenly stopped 
showing up. Spero blames the softening economy. ―I‘m a good economic indicator,‖ she says. ―I 
provide a service that people can do without when they‘re concerned about saving some dollars.‖ 
So Spero is downscaling, shopping at middle-brow Dillard‘s department store near her suburban 
Cleveland home, instead of Neiman Marcus. ―I don‘t know if other clients are going to abandon 
me, too‖ she says.  
    Even before Alan Greenspan‘s admission that America‘s red-hot economy is cooling, lots of 
working folks had already seen signs of the slowdown themselves. From car dealerships to Gap 
outlets, sales have been lagging for months as shoppers temper their spending. For retailers, who 
last year took in 24 percent of their revenue between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the cautious 
approach is coming at a crucial time. Already, experts say, holiday sales are off 7 percent from last 
year‘s pace. But don‘t sound any alarms just yet. Consumers seem mildly concerned, not panicked, 
and many say they remain optimistic about the economy‘s long-term prospects, even as they do 
some modest belt-tightening.  
    Consumers say they‘re not in despair because, despite the dreadful headlines, their own 
fortunes still feel pretty good. Home prices are holding steady in most regions. In Manhattan, 
―there‘s a new gold rush happening in the $4 million to $10 million range, predominantly fed by 
Wall Street bonuses,‖ says broker Barbara Corcoran. In San Francisco, prices are still rising even 
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as frenzied overbidding quiets. ―Instead of 20 to 30 offers, now maybe you only get two or three,‖ 
says John Deadly, a Bay Area real-estate broker. And most folks still feel pretty comfortable about 
their ability to find and keep a job.  
    Many folks see silver linings to this slowdown. Potential home buyers would cheer for lower 
interest rates. Employers wouldn‘t mind a little fewer bubbles in the job market. Many consumers 
seem to have been influenced by stock-market swings, which investors now view as a necessary 
ingredient to a sustained boom. Diners might see an upside, too. Getting a table at Manhattan‘s hot 
new Alain Ducasse restaurant used to be impossible. Not anymore. For that, Greenspan & Co. 
may still be worth toasting.  
51. By “Ellen Spero isn’t biting her nails just yet”(Line 1, Paragraph 1), the author means  
[A] Spero can hardly maintain her business.  
[B] Spero is too much engaged in her work.  
[C] Spero has grown out of her bad habit.  
[D] Spero is not in a desperate situation.  
52. How do the public feel about the current economic situation?  
[A] Optimistic.                     [B] Confused.  
[C] Carefree.                       [D] Panicked.  
53. When mentioning “the $4 million to $10 million range” (Lines 3-4, Paragraph 3) the 
author is talking about 
[A] gold market.                    [B] real estate.  
[C] stock exchange.                 [D] venture investment.  
54. Why can many people see “silver linings” to the economic slowdown?  
[A] They would benefit in certain ways.  
[B] The stock market shows signs of recovery.  
[C] Such a slowdown usually precedes a boom.  
[D] The purchasing power would be enhanced.  
55. To which of the following is the author likely to agree?  
[A] A new boom, on the horizon.       [B] Tighten the belt, the single remedy.  
[C] Caution all right, panic not.        [D] The more ventures, the more chances.  
                                 Passage  4 
Americans today don‘t place a very high value on intellect. Our heroes are athletes, 
entertainers, and entrepreneurs, not scholars. Even our schools are where we send our children to 
get a practical education —— not to pursue knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Symptoms of 
pervasive anti-intellectualism in our schools aren‘t difficult to find.  
    ―Schools have always been in a society where practical is more important than intellectual,‖ 
says education writer Diane Ravitch. ―Schools could be a counterbalance.‖ Ravitch‘s latest book, 
Left Back: A Century of Failed School Reforms, traces the roots of anti-intellectualism in our 
schools, concluding they are anything but a counterbalance to the American distaste for 
intellectual pursuits.  
    But they could and should be. Encouraging kids to reject the life of the mind leaves them 
vulnerable to exploitation and control. Without the ability to think critically, to defend their ideas 
and understand the ideas of others, they cannot fully participate in our democracy. Continuing 
along this path, says writer Earl Shorris, ―We will become a second-rate country. We will have a 
less civil society.‖  
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    ―Intellect is resented as a form of power or privilege,‖ writes historian and professor Richard 
Hofstadter in Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, a Pulitzer Prize winning book on the roots of 
anti-intellectualism in US politics, religion, and education. From the beginning of our history, says 
Hofstadter, our democratic and populist urges have driven us to reject anything that smells of 
elitism. Practicality, common sense, and native intelligence have been considered more noble 
qualities than anything you could learn from a book.  
    Ralph Waldo Emerson and other Transcendentalist philosophers thought schooling and 
rigorous book learning put unnatural restraints on children: ―We are shut up in schools and college 
recitation rooms for 10 or 15 years and come out at last with a bellyful of words and do not know 
a thing.‖ Mark Twain‘s Huckleberry Finn exemplified American anti-intellectualism. Its hero 
avoids being civilized —— going to school and learning to read —— so he can preserve his 
innate goodness.  
    Intellect, according to Hofstadter, is different from native intelligence, a quality we 
reluctantly admire. Intellect is the critical, creative, and contemplative side of the mind. 
Intelligence seeks to grasp, manipulate, re-order, and adjust, while intellect examines, ponders, 
wonders, theorizes, criticizes and imagines.  
    School remains a place where intellect is mistrusted. Hofstadter says our country‘s 
educational system is in the grips of people who ―joyfully and militantly proclaim their hostility to 
intellect and their eagerness to identify with children who show the least intellectual promise.‖ 
56. What do American parents expect their children to acquire in school?  
[A] The habit of thinking independently.  
[B] Profound knowledge of the world.  
[C] Practical abilities for future career.  
[D] The confidence in intellectual pursuits.  
57. We can learn from the text that Americans have a history of  
[A] undervaluing intellect.          [B] favoring intellectualism.  
[C] supporting school reform.       [D] suppressing native intelligence.  
58. The views of Ravitch and Emerson on schooling are 
[A] identical.                    [B] similar.  
[C] complementary.               [D] opposite.  
59. Emerson, according to the text, is probably  
[A] a pioneer of education reform.   [B] an opponent of intellectualism.  
[C] a scholar in favor of intellect.    [D] an advocate of regular schooling.  
60. What does the author think of intellect?  
[A] It is second to intelligence.      [B] It evolves from common sense.  
[C] It is to be pursued.             [D] It underlies power.  
 
2005 年 
Passage  1 
Everybody loves a fat pay rise. Yet pleasure at your own can vanish if you learn that a 
colleague has been given a bigger one. Indeed, if he has a reputation for slacking, you might even 
be outraged. Such behaviour is regarded as ―all too human‖, with the underlying assumption that 
other animals would not be capable of this finely developed sense of grievance. But a study by 
Sarah Brosnan and Frans de Waal of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, which has just been 
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published in Nature, suggests that it is all too monkey, as well. 
The researchers studied the behaviour of female brown capuchin monkeys. They look cute. 
They are good-natured, co-operative creatures, and they share their food readily. Above all, like 
their female human counterparts, they tend to pay much closer attention to the value of ―goods and 
services‖ than males. 
Such characteristics make them perfect candidates for Dr. Brosnan‘s and Dr. de Waal‘s study. 
The researchers spent two years teaching their monkeys to exchange tokens for food. Normally, 
the monkeys were happy enough to exchange pieces of rock for slices of cucumber. However, 
when two monkeys were placed in separate but adjoining chambers, so that each could observe 
what the other was getting in return for its rock, their behaviour became markedly different. 
In the world of capuchins, grapes are luxury goods (and much preferable to cucumbers). So 
when one monkey was handed a grape in exchange for her token, the second was reluctant to hand 
hers over for a mere piece of cucumber. And if one received a grape without having to provide her 
token in exchange at all, the other either tossed her own token at the researcher or out of the 
chamber, or refused to accept the slice of cucumber. Indeed, the mere presence of a grape in the 
other chamber (without an actual monkey to eat it) was enough to induce resentment in a female 
capuchin. 
The researchers suggest that capuchin monkeys, like humans, are guided by social emotions. 
In the wild, they are a co-operative, group-living species. Such co-operation is likely to be stable 
only when each animal feels it is not being cheated. Feelings of righteous indignation, it seems, 
are not the preserve of people alone. Refusing a lesser reward completely makes these feelings 
abundantly clear to other members of the group. However, whether such a sense of fairness 
evolved independently in capuchins and humans, or whether it stems from the common ancestor 
that the species had 35 million years ago, is, as yet, an unanswered question. 
21. In the opening paragraph, the author introduces his topic by 
[A] posing a contrast. 
[B] justifying an assumption. 
[C] making a comparison. 
[D] explaining a phenomenon. 
22. The statement “it is all too monkey” (Last line, Paragraph 1) implies that 
[A] monkeys are also outraged by slack rivals. 
[B] resenting unfairness is also monkeys‘ nature. 
[C] monkeys, like humans, tend to be jealous of each other. 
[D] no animals other than monkeys can develop such emotions. 
23. Female capuchin monkeys were chosen for the research most probably because they are 
[A] more inclined to weigh what they get. 
[B] attentive to researchers‘ instructions. 
[C] nice in both appearance and temperament. 
[D] more generous than their male companions. 
24. Dr. Brosnan and Dr. de Waal have eventually found in their study that the monkeys 
[A] prefer grapes to cucumbers. 
[B] can be taught to exchange things. 
[C] will not be co-operative if feeling cheated. 
[D] are unhappy when separated from others. 
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25. What can we infer from the last paragraph? 
[A] Monkeys can be trained to develop social emotions. 
[B] Human indignation evolved from an uncertain source. 
[C] Animals usually show their feelings openly as humans do. 
[D] Cooperation among monkeys remains stable only in the wild.  
 
                        Passage  2 
 
Do you remember all those years when scientists argued that smoking would kill us but the 
doubters insisted that we didn‘t know for sure? That the evidence was inconclusive, the science 
uncertain? That the antismoking lobby was out to destroy our way of life and the government 
should stay out of the way? Lots of Americans bought that nonsense, and over three decades, some 
10 million smokers went to early graves. 
There are upsetting parallels today, as scientists in one wave after another try to awaken us to 
the growing threat of global warming. The latest was a panel from the National Academy of 
Sciences, enlisted by the White House, to tell us that the Earth‘s atmosphere is definitely warming 
and that the problem is largely man-made. The clear message is that we should get moving to 
protect ourselves. The president of the National Academy, Bruce Alberts, added this key point in 
the preface to the panel‘s report: ―Science never has all the answers. But science does provide us 
with the best available guide to the future, and it is critical that our nation and the world base 
important policies on the best judgments that science can provide concerning the future 
consequences of present actions.‖ 
Just as on smoking, voices now come from many quarters insisting that the science about 
global warming is incomplete, that it‘s OK to keep pouring fumes into the air until we know for 
sure. This is a dangerous game: by the time 100 percent of the evidence is in, it may be too late. 
With the risks obvious and growing, a prudent people would take out an insurance policy now. 
Fortunately, the White House is starting to pay attention. But it‘s obvious that a majority of 
the president‘s advisers still don‘t take global warming seriously. Instead of a plan of action, they 
continue to press for more research—a classic case of ―paralysis by analysis.‖ 
To serve as responsible stewards of the planet, we must press forward on deeper atmospheric 
and oceanic research. But research alone is inadequate. If the Administration won‘t take the 
legislative initiative, Congress should help to begin fashioning conservation measures. A bill by 
Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, which would offer financial incentives for 
private industry, is a promising start. Many see that the country is getting ready to build lots of 
new power plants to meet our energy needs. If we are ever going to protect the atmosphere, it is 
crucial that those new plants be environmentally sound. 
 
26. An argument made by supporters of smoking was that 
[A] there was no scientific evidence of the correlation between smoking and death. 
[B] the number of early deaths of smokers in the past decades was insignificant. 
[C] people had the freedom to choose their own way of life. 
[D] antismoking people were usually talking nonsense. 
27. According to Bruce Alberts, science can serve as 
[A] a protector.                   [B] a judge. 
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[C] a critic.                      [D] a guide. 
28. What does the author mean by “paralysis by analysis” (Last line, Paragraph 4)? 
[A] Endless studies kill action. 
[B] Careful investigation reveals truth. 
[C] Prudent planning hinders progress. 
[D] Extensive research helps decision-making. 
29. According to the author, what should the Administration do about global warming? 
[A] Offer aid to build cleaner power plants. 
[B] Raise public awareness of conservation. 
[C] Press for further scientific research. 
[D] Take some legislative measures. 
30. The author associates the issue of global warming with that of smoking because 
[A] they both suffered from the government‘s negligence. 
[B] a lesson from the latter is applicable to the former. 
[C] the outcome of the latter aggravates the former. 
[D] both of them have turned from bad to worse. 
Passage   3 
Of all the components of a good night‘s sleep, dreams seem to be least within our control. In 
dreams, a window opens into a world where logic is suspended and dead people speak. A century 
ago, Freud formulated his revolutionary theory that dreams were the disguised shadows of our 
unconscious desires and fears; by the late 1970s, neurologists had switched to thinking of them as 
just ―mental noise‖—the random byproducts of the neural-repair work that goes on during sleep. 
Now researchers suspect that dreams are part of the mind‘s emotional thermostat, regulating 
moods while the brain is ―off-line.‖ And one leading authority says that these intensely powerful 
mental events can be not only harnessed but actually brought under conscious control, to help us 
sleep and feel better. ―It‘s your dream,‖ says Rosalind Cartwright, chair of psychology at 
Chicago‘s Medical Center. ―If you don‘t like it, change it.‖ 
Evidence from brain imaging supports this view. The brain is as active during REM (rapid 
eye movement) sleep—when most vivid dreams occur—as it is when fully awake, says Dr. Eric 
Nofzinger at the University of Pittsburgh. But not all parts of the brain are equally involved; the 
limbic system (the ―emotional brain‖) is especially active, while the prefrontal cortex (the center 
of intellect and reasoning) is relatively quiet. ―We wake up from dreams happy or depressed, and 
those feelings can stay with us all day,‖ says Stanford sleep researcher Dr. William Dement. 
The link between dreams and emotions shows up among the patients in Cartwright‘s clinic. 
Most people seem to have more bad dreams early in the night, progressing toward happier ones 
before awakening, suggesting that they are working through negative feelings generated during 
the day. Because our conscious mind is occupied with daily life we don‘t always think about the 
emotional significance of the day‘s events—until, it appears, we begin to dream. 
And this process need not be left to the unconscious. Cartwright believes one can exercise 
conscious control over recurring bad dreams. As soon as you awaken, identify what is upsetting 
about the dream. Visualize how you would like it to end instead; the next time it occurs, try to 
wake up just enough to control its course. With much practice people can learn to, literally, do it in 
their sleep. 
At the end of the day, there‘s probably little reason to pay attention to our dreams at all unless 
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they keep us from sleeping or ―we wake up in a panic,‖ Cartwright says. Terrorism, economic 
uncertainties and general feelings of insecurity have increased people‘s anxiety. Those suffering 
from persistent nightmares should seek help from a therapist. For the rest of us, the brain has its 
ways of working through bad feelings. Sleep—or rather dream—on it and you‘ll feel better in the 
morning. 
31. Researchers have come to believe that dreams 
[A] can be modified in their courses. 
[B] are susceptible to emotional changes. 
[C] reflect our innermost desires and fears. 
[D] are a random outcome of neural repairs. 
32. By referring to the limbic system, the author intends to show 
[A] its function in our dreams. 
[B] the mechanism of REM sleep. 
[C] the relation of dreams to emotions. 
[D] its difference from the prefrontal cortex. 
33. The negative feelings generated during the day tend to 
[A] aggravate in our unconscious mind.        [B] develop into happy dreams. 
[C] persist till the time we fall asleep.          [D] show up in dreams early at night. 
34. Cartwright seems to suggest that 
[A] waking up in time is essential to the ridding of bad dreams. 
[B] visualizing bad dreams helps bring them under control. 
[C] dreams should be left to their natural progression. 
[D] dreaming may not entirely belong to the unconscious. 
35. What advice might Cartwright give to those who sometimes have bad dreams? 
[A] Lead your life as usual.                  [B] Seek professional help. 
[C] Exercise conscious control.               [D] Avoid anxiety in the daytime. 
 
Passage  4 
Americans no longer expect public figures, whether in speech or in writing, to command the 
English language with skill and gift. Nor do they aspire to such command themselves. In his latest 
book, Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, 
Care, John McWhorter, a linguist and controversialist of mixed liberal and conservative views, 
sees the triumph of 1960s counter-culture as responsible for the decline of formal English. 
Blaming the permissive 1960s is nothing new, but this is not yet another criticism against the 
decline in education. Mr. McWhorter‘s academic speciality is language history and change, and he 
sees the gradual disappearance of ―whom‖, for example, to be natural and no more regrettable 
than the loss of the case — endings of Old English. 
But the cult of the authentic and the personal, ―doing our own thing‖, has spelt the death of 
formal speech, writing, poetry and music. While even the modestly educated sought an elevated 
tone when they put pen to paper before the 1960s, even the most well regarded writing since then 
has sought to capture spoken English on the page. Equally, in poetry, the highly personal, 
performative genre is the only form that could claim real liveliness. In both oral and written 
English, talking is triumphing over speaking, spontaneity over craft. 
Illustrated with an entertaining array of examples from both high and low culture, the trend 
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that Mr. McWhorter documents is unmistakable. But it is less clear, to take the question of his 
subtitle, why we should, like, care. As a linguist, he acknowledges that all varieties of human 
language, including non-standard ones like Black English, can be powerfully expressive — there 
exists no language or dialect in the world that cannot convey complex ideas. He is not arguing, as 
many do, that we can no longer think straight because we do not talk proper. 
Russians have a deep love for their own language and carry large chunks of memorized 
poetry in their heads, while Italian politicians tend to elaborate speech that would seem 
old-fashioned to most English-speakers. Mr. McWhorter acknowledges that formal language is not 
strictly necessary, and proposes no radical education reforms — he is really grieving over the loss 
of something beautiful more than useful. We now take our English ―on paper plates instead of 
china‖. A shame, perhaps, but probably an inevitable one. 
 
36. According to McWhorter, the decline of formal English 
[A] is inevitable in radical education reforms. 
[B] is but all too natural in language development. 
[C] has caused the controversy over the counter-culture. 
[D] brought about changes in public attitudes in the 1960s. 
37. The word “talking” (Line 5, Paragraph 3) denotes 
[A] modesty.        [B] personality.       [C] liveliness.      [D] informality. 
38. To which of the following statements would McWhorter most likely agree? 
[A] Logical thinking is not necessarily related to the way we talk. 
[B] Black English can be more expressive than standard English. 
[C] Non-standard varieties of human language are just as entertaining. 
[D] Of all the varieties, standard English can best convey complex ideas. 
39. The description of Russians’ love of memorizing poetry shows the author’s 
[A] interest in their language.         [B] appreciation of their efforts. 
[C] admiration for their memory.      [D] contempt for their old-fashionedness. 
40. According to the last paragraph, “paper plates” is to “china” as 
[A] ―temporary‖ is to ―permanent‖.    [B] ―radical‖ is to ―conservative‖. 
[C] ―functional‖ is to ―artistic‖.       [D] ―humble‖ is to ―noble‖. 
 
 
2006 年  
Passage  1 
 
In spite of ―endless talk of difference,‖ American society is an amazing machine for 
homogenizing people. There is ―the democratizing uniformity of dress and discourse, and the 
casualness and absence of deference‖ characteristic of popular culture. People are absorbed into ―a 
culture of consumption‖ launched by the 19th-century department stores that offered ―vast arrays 
of goods in an elegant atmosphere. Instead of intimate shops catering to a knowledgeable elite,‖ 
these were stores ―anyone could enter, regardless of class or background. This turned shopping 
into a public and democratic act.‖ The mass media, advertising and sports are other forces for 
homogenization. 
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Immigrants are quickly fitting into this common culture, which may not be altogether 
elevating but is hardly poisonous. Writing for the National Immigration Forum, Gregory 
Rodriguez reports that today‘s immigration is neither at unprecedented level nor resistant to 
assimilation. In 1998 immigrants were 9.8 percent of population; in 1900, 13.6 percent. In the 10 
years prior to 1990, 3.1 immigrants arrived for every 1,000 residents; in the 10 years prior to 1890, 
9.2 for every 1,000. Now, consider three indices of assimilation —language, home ownership and 
intermarriage. 
The 1990 Census revealed that ―a majority of immigrants from each of the fifteen most 
common countries of origin spoke English ‗well‘ or ‗very well‘ after ten years of residence.‖ The 
children of immigrants tend to be bilingual and proficient in English. ―By the third generation, the 
original language is lost in the majority of immigrant families.‖ Hence the description of America 
as a ―graveyard‖ for languages. By 1996 foreign-born immigrants who had arrived before 1970 
had a home ownership rate of 75.6 percent, higher than the 69.8 percent rate among native-born 
Americans. 
Foreign-born Asians and Hispanics ―have higher rates of intermarriage than do U.S.-born 
whites and blacks.‖ By the third generation, one third of Hispanic women are married to 
non-Hispanics, and 41 percent of Asian-American women are married to non-Asians. 
Rodriguez notes that children in remote villages around world are fans of superstars like 
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Garth Brooks, yet ―some Americans fear that immigrants living 
within the United States remain somehow immune to the nation‘s assimilative power.‖ 
Are there divisive issues and pockets of seething in America? Indeed. It is big enough to have 
a bit of everything. But particularly when viewed against America‘s turbulent past, today‘s social 
indices hardly suggest a dark and deteriorating social environment. 
21. The word “homogenizing” (Line 2, Paragraph 1) most probably means ________. 
[A] identifying                    [B] associating 
[C] assimilating                    [D] monopolizing 
22. According to the author, the department stores of the 19th century ________. 
[A] played a role in the spread of popular culture 
[B] became intimate shops for common consumers 
[C] satisfied the needs of a knowledgeable elite 
[D] owed its emergence to the culture of consumption 
23. The text suggests that immigrants now in the U.S. ________. 
[A] are resistant to homogenization 
[B] exert a great influence on American culture 
[C] are hardly a threat to the common culture 
[D] constitute the majority of the population 
24. Why are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Garth Brooks mentioned in Paragraph 5? 
[A] To prove their popularity around the world. 
[B] To reveal the public‘s fear of immigrants. 
[C] To give examples of successful immigrants 
[D] To show the powerful influence of American culture. 
25. In the author’s opinion, the absorption of immigrants into American society is 
________. 
[A] rewarding       [B] successful        [C] fruitless        [D] harmful 
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                                  Passage  2 
 
Stratford-on-Avon, as we all know, has only one industry —William Shakespeare — but 
there are two distinctly separate and increasingly hostile branches. There is the Royal Shakespeare 
Company (RSC), which presents superb productions of the plays at the Shakespeare Memorial 
Theatre on the Avon. And there are the townsfolk who largely live off the tourists who come, not 
to see the plays, but to look at Anne Hathaway‘s Cottage, Shakespeare‘s birthplace and the other 
sights. 
The worthy residents of Stratford doubt that the theatre adds a penny to their revenue. They 
frankly dislike the RSC‘s actors, them with their long hair and beards and sandals and noisiness. 
It‘s all deliciously ironic when you consider that Shakespeare, who earns their living, was himself 
an actor (with a beard) and did his share of noise-making. 
The tourist streams are not entirely separate. The sightseers who come by bus—and often take 
in Warwick Castle and Blenheim Palace on the side — don‘t usually see the plays, and some of 
them are even surprised to find a theatre in Stratford. However, the playgoers do manage a little 
sight-seeing along with their playgoing. It is the playgoers, the RSC contends, who bring in much 
of the town‘s revenue because they spend the night (some of them four or five nights) pouring 
cash into the hotels and restaurants. The sightseers can take in everything and get out of town by 
nightfall. 
The townsfolk don‘t see it this way and local council does not contribute directly to the 
subsidy of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Stratford cries poor traditionally. Nevertheless every 
hotel in town seems to be adding a new wing or cocktail lounge. Hilton is building its own hotel 
there, which you may be sure will be decorated with Hamlet Hamburger Bars, the Lear Lounge, 
the Banquo Banqueting Room, and so forth, and will be very expensive. 
Anyway, the townsfolk can‘t understand why the Royal Shakespeare Company needs a 
subsidy. (The theatre has broken attendance records for three years in a row. Last year its 1,431 
seats were 94 percent occupied all year long and this year they‘ll do better.) The reason, of course, 
is that costs have rocketed and ticket prices have stayed low. 
It would be a shame to raise prices too much because it would drive away the young people 
who are Stratford‘s most attractive clientele. They come entirely for the plays, not the sights. They 
all seem to look alike (though they come from all over) — lean, pointed, dedicated faces, 
wearing jeans and sandals, eating their buns and bedding down for the night on the flagstones 
outside the theatre to buy the 20 seats and 80 standing — room tickets held for the sleepers and 
sold to them when the box office opens at 10:30 a.m. 
 
 
26. From the first two Paragraphs, we learn that ________. 
[A] the townsfolk deny the RSC‘s contribution to the town‘s revenue 
[B] the actors of the RSC imitate Shakespeare on and off stage 
[C] the two branches of the RSC are not on good terms 
[D] the townsfolk earn little from tourism 
27. It can be inferred from Paragraph 3 that ________. 
[A] the sightseers cannot visit the Castle and the Palace separately 
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[B] the playgoers spend more money than the sightseers 
[C] the sightseers do more shopping than the playgoers 
[D] the playgoers go to no other places in town than the theater 
28. By saying “Stratford cries poor traditionally” (Line 2, Paragraph 4), the author 
implies that ________. 
[A] Stratford cannot afford the expansion projects 
[B] Stratford has long been in financial difficulties 
[C] the town is not really short of money 
[D] the townsfolk used to be poorly paid 
29. According to the townsfolk, the RSC deserves no subsidy because ________. 
[A] ticket prices can be raised to cover the spending 
[B] the company is financially ill-managed 
[C] the behavior of the actors is not socially acceptable 
[D] the theatre attendance is on the rise 
30. From the text we can conclude that the author ________. 
[A] is supportive of both sides 
[B] favors the townsfolk‘s view 
[C] takes a detached attitude 
[D] is sympathetic to the RSC 
 
Passage  3 
 
When prehistoric man arrived in new parts of the world, something strange happened to the 
large animals. They suddenly became extinct. Smaller species survived. The large, slow-growing 
animals were easy game, and were quickly hunted to extinction. Now something similar could be 
happening in the oceans. 
That the seas are being overfished has been known for years. What researchers such as 
Ransom Myers and Boris Worm have shown is just how fast things are changing. They have 
looked at half a century of data from fisheries around the world. Their methods do not attempt to 
estimate the actual biomass (the amount of living biological matter) of fish species in particular 
parts of the ocean, but rather changes in that biomass over time. According to their latest paper 
published in Nature, the biomass of large predators (animals that kill and eat other animals) in a 
new fishery is reduced on average by 80% within 15 years of the start of exploitation. In some 
long-fished areas, it has halved again since then. 
Dr. Worm acknowledges that these figures are conservative. One reason for this is that fishing 
technology has improved. Today‘s vessels can find their prey using satellites and sonar, which 
were not available 50 years ago. That means a higher proportion of what is in the sea is being 
caught, so the real difference between present and past is likely to be worse than the one recorded 
by changes in catch sizes. In the early days, too, longlines would have been more saturated with 
fish. Some individuals would therefore not have been caught, since no baited hooks would have 
been available to trap them, leading to an underestimate of fish stocks in the past. Furthermore, in 
the early days of longline fishing, a lot of fish were lost to sharks after they had been hooked. That 
is no longer a problem, because there are fewer sharks around now. 
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Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm argue that their work gives a correct baseline, which future 
management efforts must take into account. They believe the data support an idea current among 
marine biologists, that of the ―shifting baseline.‖ The notion is that people have failed to detect the 
massive changes which have happened in the ocean because they have been looking back only a 
relatively short time into the past. That matters because theory suggests that the maximum 
sustainable yield that can be cropped from a fishery comes when the biomass of a target species is 
about 50% of its original levels. Most fisheries are well below that, which is a bad way to do 
business. 
 
 
31. The extinction of large prehistoric animals is noted to suggest that ________. 
[A] large animals were vulnerable to the changing environment 
[B] small species survived as large animals disappeared 
[C] large sea animals may face the same threat today 
[D] slow-growing fish outlive fast-growing ones 
32. We can infer from Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm’s paper that ________. 
[A] the stock of large predators in some old fisheries has reduced by 90% 
[B] there are only half as many fisheries as there were 15 years ago 
[C] the catch sizes in new fisheries are only 20% of the original amount 
[D] the number of larger predators dropped faster in new fisheries than in the old 
33. By saying “These figures are conservative"  (Line 1, paragraph 3), Dr. Worm 
means that ________. 
[A] fishing technology has improved rapidly 
[B] the catch-sizes are actually smaller than recorded 
[C] the marine biomass has suffered a greater loss 
[D] the data collected so far are out of date 
34. Dr. Myers and other researchers hold that ________. 
[A] people should look for a baseline that can work for a longer time 
[B] fisheries should keep the yield below 50% of the biomass 
[C] the ocean biomass should be restored to its original level 
[D] people should adjust the fishing baseline to the changing situation 
35. The author seems to be mainly concerned with most fisheries’ ________. 
[A] management efficiency 
[B] biomass level 
[C] catch-size limits 
[D] technological application 
 
            
 
 
                             Passage   4 
 
Many things make people think artists are weird. But the weirdest may be this: artists‘ only job 
is to explore emotions, and yet they choose to focus on the ones that feel bad. 
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This wasn‘t always so. The earliest forms of art, like painting and music, are those best suited 
for expressing joy. But somewhere in the 19th century onward, more artists began seeing 
happiness as insipid, phony or, worst of all, boring as we went from Wordsworth‘s daffodils to 
Baudelaire‘s flowers of evil. 
You could argue that art became more skeptical of happiness because modern times have seen 
such misery. But it‘s not as if earlier times didn‘t know perpetual war, disaster and the massacre of 
innocents. The reason, in fact, may be just the opposite: there is too much damn happiness in the 
world today. 
After all, what is the one modern form of expression almost completely dedicated to depicting 
happiness? Advertising. The rise of anti-happy art almost exactly tracks the emergence of mass 
media, and with it, a commercial culture in which happiness is not just an ideal but an ideology. 
People in earlier eras were surrounded by reminders of misery. They worked until exhausted, 
lived with few protections and died young. In the West, before mass communication and literacy, 
the most powerful mass medium was the church, which reminded worshippers that their souls 
were in peril and that they would someday be meat for worms. Given all this, they did not exactly 
need their art to be a bummer too. 
Today the messages the average Westerner is surrounded with are not religious but 
commercial, and forever happy. Fast-food eaters, news anchors, text messengers, all smiling, 
smiling, smiling. Our magazines feature beaming celebrities and happy families in perfect homes. 
And since these messages have an agenda -- to lure us to open our wallets -- they make the very 
idea of happiness seem unreliable. ―Celebrate!‖ commanded the ads for the arthritis drug Celebrex, 
before we found out it could increase the risk of heart attacks. 
But what we forget -- what our economy depends on us forgetting -- is that happiness is more 
than pleasure without pain. The things that bring the greatest joy carry the greatest potential for 
loss and disappointment. Today, surrounded by promises of easy happiness, we need someone to 
tell us as religion once did, Memento mori: remember that you will die, that everything ends, and 
that happiness comes not in denying this but in living with it. It‘s a message even more bitter than 
a clove cigarette, yet, somehow, a breath of fresh air. 
 
36. By citing the example of poets Wordsworth and Baudelaire, the author intends to 
show that ________. 
[A] poetry is not as expressive of joy as painting or music 
[B] art grow out of both positive and negative feeling 
[C] poets today are less skeptical of happiness 
[D] artists have changed their focus of interest 
37. The word “bummer” (Line 5. paragraph 5) most probably means something 
________. 
[A] religious                                [B] unpleasant 
[C] entertaining                              [D] commercial 
38. In the author’s opinion, advertising ________. 
[A] emerges in the wake of the anti-happy art 
[B] is a cause of disappointment for the general public 
[C] replace the church as a major source of information 
[D] creates an illusion of happiness rather than happiness itself 
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39. We can learn from the last paragraph that the author believes ________. 
[A] happiness more often than not ends in sadness 
[B] the anti-happy art is distasteful but refreshing 
[C] misery should be enjoyed rather than denied 
[D] the anti-happy art flourishes when economy booms 
40. Which of the following is true of the text? 
[A] Religion once functioned as a reminder of misery. 
[B] Art provides a balance between expectation and reality. 
[C] People feel disappointed at the realities of morality. 
[D] Mass media are inclined to cover disasters and deaths. 
 
 
2007 年 
Passage  1 
 
   If you were to examine the birth certificates of every soccer player in 2006‘s World Cup 
tournament, you would most likely find a noteworthy quirk: elite soccer players are more likely to 
have been born in the earlier months of the year than in the late months. If you then examined the 
European national youth teams that feed the World Cup and professional ranks, you would find 
this strange phenomenon to be ever more pronounced. 
  What might account for this strange phenomenon? Here are a few guesses: a）certain 
astrological signs confer superior soccer skills; b）winter-born babies tend to have higher oxygen 
capacity, which increases soccer stamina; c）soccer-mad parents are more likely to conceive 
children in springtime, at the annual peak of soccer mania; d ） none of the above. 
  Anders Ericsson, a 58-year-old psychology professor at Florida State University, says he 
believes strongly in ―none of the above.‖ Ericsson grew up in Sweden, and studied nuclear 
engineering until he realized he would have more opportunity to conduct his own research if he 
switched to psychology. His first experiment, nearly 30 years ago, involved memory: training a 
person to hear and then repeat a random series of numbers. ―With the first subject, after about 20 
hours of training, his digit span had risen from 7 to 20,‖ Ericsson recalls. ―He kept improving, and 
after about 200 hours of training he had risen to over 80 numbers.‖ 
  This success, coupled with later research showing that memory itself is not genetically 
determined, led Ericsson to conclude that the act of memorizing is more of a cognitive exercise 
than an intuitive one. In other words, whatever inborn differences two people may exhibit in their 
abilities to memorize, those differences are swamped by how well each person ―encodes‖ the 
information. And the best way to learn how to encode information meaningfully, Ericsson 
determined, was a process known as deliberate practice. Deliberate practice entails more than 
simply repeating a task. Rather, it involves setting specific goals, obtaining immediate feedback 
and concentrating as much on technique as on outcome. 
  Ericsson and his colleagues have thus taken to studying expert performers in a wide range of 
pursuits, including soccer. They gather all the data they can, not just performance statistics and 
biographical details but also the results of their own laboratory experiments with high achievers. 
Their work makes a rather startling assertion: the trait we commonly call talent is highly overrated. 
Or, put another way, expert performers –---- whether in memory or surgery, ballet or computer 
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programming –---- are nearly always made, not born. 
 
21. The birthday phenomenon found among soccer players is mentioned to 
  [A] stress the importance of professional training. 
  [B] spotlight the soccer superstars in the World Cup. 
  [C] introduce the topic of what makes expert performance. 
  [D] explain why some soccer teams play better than others. 
22. The word “mania” （ Line 4, Paragraph 2 ） most probably means 
  [A] fun.     [B] craze.     [C] hysteria.      [D] excitement. 
23. According to Ericsson, good memory 
  [A] depends on meaningful processing of information. 
  [B] results from intuitive rather than cognitive exercises. 
  [C] is determined by genetic rather than psychological factors. 
  [D] requires immediate feedback and a high degree of concentration. 
24. Ericsson and his colleagues believe that 
  [A] talent is a dominating factor for professional success. 
  [B] biographical data provide the key to excellent performance. 
  [C] the role of talent tends to be overlooked. 
  [D] high achievers owe their success mostly to nurture. 
25. Which of the following proverbs is closest to the message the text tries to convey? 
  [A] ―Faith will move mountains.‖    
[B] ―One reaps what one sows.‖ 
  [C] ―Practice makes perfect.‖      
[D] ―Like father, like son.‖ 
 
                                 Passage  2 
 
For the past several years, the Sunday newspaper supplement Parade has featured a column 
called ―Ask Marilyn.‖ People are invited to query Marilyn vos Savant, who at age 10 had tested at 
a mental level of someone about 23 years old; that gave her an IQ of 228 – the highest score ever 
recorded. IQ tests ask you to complete verbal and visual analogies, to envision paper after it has 
been folded and cut, and to deduce numerical sequences, among other similar tasks. So it is a bit 
confusing when vos Savant fields such queries from the average Joe （whose IQ is 100）as, What‘s 
the difference between love and fondness? Or what is the nature of luck and coincidence? It‘s not 
obvious how the capacity to visualize objects and to figure out numerical patterns suits one to 
answer questions that have eluded some of the best poets and philosophers. 
  Clearly, intelligence encompasses more than a score on a test. Just what does it mean to be 
smart? How much of intelligence can be specified, and how much can we learn about it from 
neurology, genetics, computer science and other fields? 
  The defining term of intelligence in humans still seems to be the IQ score, even though IQ 
tests are not given as often as they used to be. The test comes primarily in two forms: the 
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and the Wechsler Intelligence Scales （both come in adult and 
children‘s version）. Generally costing several hundred dollars, they are usually given only by 
psychologists, although variations of them populate bookstores and the World Wide Web. 
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Superhigh scores like vos Savant‘s are no longer possible, because scoring is now based on a 
statistical population distribution among age peers, rather than simply dividing the mental age by 
the chronological age and multiplying by 100. Other standardized tests, such as the Scholastic 
Assessment Test （SAT）and the Graduate Record Exam （GRE）, capture the main aspects of IQ 
tests. 
  Such standardized tests may not assess all the important elements necessary to succeed in 
school and in life, argues Robert J. Sternberg. In his article ―How Intelligent Is Intelligence 
Testing?‖, Sternberg notes that traditional test best assess analytical and verbal skills but fail to 
measure creativity and practical knowledge, components also critical to problem solving and life 
success. Moreover, IQ test do not necessarily predict so well once populations or situations change. 
Research has found that IQ predicted leadership skills when the tests were given under low-stress 
conditions, but under high-stress conditions, IQ was negatively correlated with leadership – that is, 
it predicted the opposite. Anyone who has toiled through SAT will testify that test-taking skill also 
matters, whether it‘s knowing when to guess or what questions to skip. 
 
 
26. Which of the following may be required in an intelligent test? 
  [A] Answering philosophical questions. 
  [B] Folding or cutting paper into different shapes. 
  [C] Telling the difference between certain concepts. 
  [D] Choosing words or graphs similar to the given ones. 
27. What can be inferred about intelligence testing from Paragraph 3? 
  [A] People no longer use IQ scores as an indicator of intelligence. 
  [B] More versions of IQ tests are now available on the Internet. 
  [C] The test contents and formats for adults and children may be different. 
  [D] Scientists have defined the important elements of human intelligence. 
28. People nowadays can no longer achieve IQ scores as high as vos Savant’s because 
  [A] the scores are obtained through different computational procedures. 
  [B] creativity rather than analytical skills is emphasized now. 
  [C] vos Savant‘s case is an extreme one that will not repeat. 
  [D] the defining characteristic of IQ tests has changed. 
29. We can conclude from the last paragraph that 
  [A] test scores may not be reliable indicators of one‘s ability. 
  [B] IQ scores and SAT results are highly correlated. 
  [C] testing involves a lot of guesswork. 
  [D] traditional tests are out of date. 
30. What is the author’s attitude towards IQ test? 
  [A] Supportive.   [B] Skeptical.   [C] Impartial.   [D] Biased. 
 
 
passage 3 
 
During the past generation, the American middle-class family that once could count on hard 
work and fair play to keep itself financially secure had been transformed by economic risk and 
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new realities. Now a pink slip, a bad diagnosis, or a disappearing spouse can reduce a family from 
solidly middle class to newly poor in a few months. 
  In just one generation, millions of mothers have gone to work, transforming basic family 
economics. Scholars, policymakers, and critics of all stripes have debated the social implications 
of these changes, but few have looked at the side effect: family risk has risen as well. Today‘s 
families have budgeted to the limits of their new two-paycheck status. As a result, they have lost 
the parachute they once had in times of financial setback – a back-up earner （usually Mom）who 
could go into the workforce if the primary earner got laid off or fell sick. This ―added-worker 
effect‖ could support the safety net offered by unemployment insurance or disability insurance to 
help families weather bad times. But today, a disruption to family fortunes can no longer be made 
up with extra income from an otherwise stay-at-home partner. 
  During the same period, families have been asked to absorb much more risk in their 
retirement income. Steelworkers, airline employees, and now those in the auto industry are joining 
millions of families who must worry about interest rates, stock market fluctuation, and the harsh 
reality that they may outlive their retirement money. For much of the past year, President Bush 
campaigned to move Social Security to a saving-account model, with retirees trading much or all 
of their guaranteed payments for payments depending on investment returns. For younger families 
the picture is not any better. Both the absolute cost of healthcare and the share of it borne by 
families have risen – and newly fashionable health-saving plans are spreading from legislative 
halls to Wal-Mart workers, with much higher deductibles and a large new dose of investment risk 
for families‘ future healthcare. Even demographics are working against the middle class family, as 
the odds of having a weak elderly parent – and all the attendant need for physical and financial 
assistance – have jumped eightfold in just one generation. 
  From the middle-class family perspective, much of this, understandably, looks far less like an 
opportunity to exercise more financial responsibility, and a good deal more like a frightening 
acceleration of the wholesale shift of financial risk onto their already overburdened shoulders. The 
financial fallout has begun, and the political fallout may not be far behind. 
 
31. Today’s double-income families are at greater financial risk in that 
   [A] the safety net they used to enjoy has disappeared. 
   [B] their chances of being laid off have greatly increased. 
   [C] they are more vulnerable to changes in family economics. 
   [D] they are deprived of unemployment or disability insurance. 
32. As a result of President Bush’s reform, retired people may have 
  [A] a higher sense of security.   [B] less secured payments. 
  [C] less chance to invest.       [D] a guaranteed future. 
33. According to the author, health-savings plans will 
  [A] help reduce the cost of healthcare.     [B] popularize among the middle class. 
  [C] compensate for the reduced pensions.  [D] increase the families‘ investment risk. 
34. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that 
  [A] financial risks tend to outweigh political risks. 
  [B] the middle class may face greater political challenges. 
  [C] financial problems may bring about political problems. 
  [D] financial responsibility is an indicator of political status. 
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35. Which of the following is the best title for this text? 
  [A] The Middle Class on the Alert        [B] The Middle Class on the Cliff 
  [C] The Middle Class in Conflict     [D] The Middle Class in Ruins 
 
 
Passage 4 
 
It never rains but it pours. Just as bosses and boards have finally sorted out their worst 
accounting and compliance troubles, and improved their feeble corporation governance, a new 
problem threatens to earn them – especially in America – the sort of nasty headlines that 
inevitably lead to heads rolling in the executive suite: data insecurity. Left, until now, to odd, 
low-level IT staff to put right, and seen as a concern only of data-rich industries such as banking, 
telecoms and air travel, information protection is now high on the boss‘s agenda in businesses of 
every variety. 
  Several massive leakages of customer and employee data this year — from organizations as 
diverse as Time Warner, the American defense contractor Science Applications International Corp 
and even the University of California, Berkeley — have left managers hurriedly peering into 
their intricate IT systems and business processes in search of potential vulnerabilities. 
  ―Data is becoming an asset which needs to be guarded as much as any other asset,‖ says Haim 
Mendelson of Stanford University‘s business school. ―The ability to guard customer data is the 
key to market value, which the board is responsible for on behalf of shareholders.‖ Indeed, just as 
there is the concept of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles （GAAP）, perhaps it is time for 
GASP, Generally Accepted Security Practices, suggested Eli Noam of New York‘s Columbia 
Business School. ―Setting the proper investment level for security, redundancy, and recovery is a 
management issue, not a technical one,‖ he says. 
  The mystery is that this should come as a surprise to any boss. Surely it should be obvious to 
the dimmest executive that trust, that most valuable of economic assets, is easily destroyed and 
hugely expensive to restore – and that few things are more likely to destroy trust than a company 
letting sensitive personal data get into the wrong hands. 
  The current state of affairs may have been encouraged – though not justified – by the lack of 
legal penalty （in America, but not Europe）for data leakage. Until California recently passed a 
law, American firms did not have to tell anyone, even the victim, when data went astray. That may 
change fast: lots of proposed data-security legislation is now doing the rounds in Washington, D.C. 
Meanwhile, the theft of information about some 40 million credit-card accounts in America, 
disclosed on June 17th, overshadowed a hugely important decision a day earlier by America‘s 
Federal Trade Commission（FTC） that puts corporate America on notice that regulators will act if 
firms fail to provide adequate data security. 
 
36. The statement “It never rains but it pours” is used to introduce 
  [A] the fierce business competition.    [B] the feeble boss-board relations. 
[C] the threat from news reports.      [D] the severity of data leakage. 
37. According to Paragraph 2, some organizations check their systems to find out 
  [A] whether there is any weak point.     [B] what sort of data has been stolen. 
  [C] who is responsible for the leakage.   [D] how the potential spies can be located. 
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38. In bringing up the concept of GASP the author is making the point that 
  [A] shareholders‘ interests should be properly attended to. 
  [B] information protection should be given due attention. 
  [C] businesses should enhance their level of accounting security. 
  [D] the market value of customer data should be emphasized. 
39. According to Paragraph 4, what puzzles the author is that some bosses fail to 
  [A] see the link between trust and data protection. [B] perceive the sensitive of personal data. 
  [C] realize the high cost of data restoration.    [D] appreciate the economic value of trust. 
40. It can be inferred from Paragraph 5 that 
   [A] data leakage is more severe in Europe. 
   [B] FTC‘s decision is essential to data security. 
   [C] California takes the lead in security legislation. 
   [D] legal penalty is a major solution to data leakage. 
 
 
2008 年 
                                      Passage  1 
While still catching up to men in some spheres of modern life, women appear to be way 
ahead in at least one undesirable category. ―Women are particularly susceptible to developing 
depression and anxiety disorders in response to stress compared to men.‖ according to Dr. Yehuda, 
chief psychiatrist at New York‘s Veteran‘s Administration Hospital. 
Studies of both animals and humans have shown that sex hormones somehow affect the stress 
response, causing females under stress to produce more of the trigger chemicals than do males 
under the same conditions. In several of the studies, when stressed-out female rats had their 
ovaries (the female reproductive organs) removed, their chemical responses became equal to those 
of the males. 
Adding to a woman‘s increased dose of stress chemicals, are her increased ―opportunities‖ 
for stress. ―It‘s not necessarily that women don‘t cope as well. It‘s just that they have so much 
more to cope with.‖ says Dr. Yehuda. ―Their capacity for tolerating stress may even be greater 
than men‘s,‖ she observes, ―it‘s just that they‘re dealing with so many more things that they 
become worn out from it more visibly and sooner.‖ 
 Dr. Yehuda notes another difference between the sexes. ―I think that the kinds of things that 
women are exposed to tend to be in a chronic or repeated nature. Men go to war and are exposed 
to combat stress. Men are exposed to more acts of random physical violence. The kinds of 
interpersonal violence that women are exposed to tend to be in domestic situations, by, 
unfortunately, parents or other family members, and they tend not to be one-shot deals. The 
wear-and-tear that comes from these longer relationships can be quite devastating.‖  
Adeline Alvarez married at 18 and gave birth to a son, but was determined to finish college. 
―I struggled a lot to get the college degree. I was living in so much frustration that that was my 
escape, to go to school, and get ahead and do better.‖ Later, her marriage ended and she became a 
single mother. ―It‘s the hardest thing to take care of a teenager, have a job, pay the rent, pay the 
car payment, and pay the debt. I lived from paycheck to paycheck.‖ 
Not everyone experiences the kinds of severe chronic stresses Alvarez describes. But most 
women today are coping with a lot of obligations, with few breaks, and feeling the strain. 
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Alvarez‘s experience demonstrates the importance of finding ways to diffuse stress before it 
threatens your health and your ability to function. 
 
21. Which of the following is true according to the first two paragraphs? 
[A] Women are biologically more vulnerable to stress. 
[B] Women are still suffering much stress caused by men. 
[C] Women are more experienced than men in coping with stress. 
[D] Men and women show different inclinations when faced with stress. 
22. Dr. Ychuda’s research suggests that women___________. 
[A] need extra doses of chemicals to handle stress. 
[B] have limited capacity for tolerating stress. 
[C] are more capable of avoiding stress. 
[D] are exposed to more stress. 
23. According to Paragraph 4, the stress women confront tends to be__________. 
[A] domestic and temporary 
[B] irregular and violent 
[C] durable and frequent 
[D] trivial and random 
24. The sentence “I lived from paycheck to paycheck.” (Line 6, Para. 5) shows 
that_________. 
[A] Alvarez cared about nothing but making money. 
[B] Alvarez‘s salary barely covered her household expenses. 
[C] Alvarez got paychecks from different jobs. 
[D] Alvarez paid practically everything by check. 
25. Which of the following would be the best title for the text? 
[A] Strain of Stress: No Way Out? 
[B] Response to Stress: Gender Difference 
[C] Stress Analysis: What Chemicals Say? 
[D] Gender Inequality: Women Under Stress 
 
Passage  2  
It used to be so straightforward. A team of researchers working together in the laboratory 
would submit the results of their research to a journal. A journal editor would then remove the 
author‘s names and affiliations from the paper and send it to their peers for review. Depending on 
the comments received, the editor would accept the paper for publication or decline it. Copyright 
rested with the journal publishers, and researchers seeking knowledge of the results would have to 
subscribe to the journal. 
    No longer. The Internet — and pressure from funding agencies, who are questioning why 
commercial publishers are making money from government-funded research by restricting access 
to it -- is making access to scientific results a reality. The Organization for Economic Co-operation 
and Development (OECD) has just issued a report describing the far-reaching consequences of 
this. The report, by John Houghton of Victoria University in Australia and Graham Vickery of the 
OECD, makes heavy reading for publishers who have, so far, made handsome profits. But it goes 
further than that. It signals a change in what has, until now, been a key element of scientific 
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endeavor. 
    The value of knowledge and the return on the public investment in research depends, in part, 
upon wide distribution and ready access. It is big business. In America, the core scientific 
publishing market is estimated at between $7 billion and $11 billion. The International 
Association of Scientific Technical and Medical Publishers says that there are more than 2,000 
publishers worldwide specializing in these subjects. They publish more than 1.2 million articles 
each year in some 16,000 journals. 
This is now changing. According to the OECD report, some 75% of scholarly journals are 
now online. Entirely new business models are emerging; three main ones were identified by the 
report‘s authors. There is the so-called big deal, where institutional subscribers pay for access to a 
collection of online journal titles through site-licensing agreements. There is open-access 
publishing, typically supported by asking the author (or his employer) to pay for the paper to be 
published. Finally, there are open-access archives, where organizations such as universities or 
international laboratories support institutional repositories. Other models exist that are hybrids of 
these three, such as delayed open-access, where journals allow only subscribers to read a paper for 
the first six months, before making it freely available to everyone who wishes to see it. All this 
could change the traditional form of the peer-review process, at least for the publication of papers. 
 
26. In the first paragraph, the author discusses____________. 
[A] the background information of journal editing 
[B] the publication routine of laboratory reports 
[C] the relations of authors with journal publishers 
[D] the traditional process of journal publication 
27. Which of the following is true of the OECD report? 
[A] It criticizes government-funded research. 
[B] It introduces an effective means of publication. 
[C] It upsets profit-making journal publishers. 
[D] It facilitates public investment in scientific research. 
28. According to the text, online publication is significant in that__________. 
[A] it provides an easier access to scientific results. 
[B] it brings huge profits to scientific researchers. 
[C] it emphasizes the crucial role of scientific knowledge. 
[D] it facilitates public investment in scientific research. 
29. With the open-access publishing model, the author of a paper is required 
to____________. 
[A] cover the cost of its publication. 
[B] subscribe to the journal publishing it. 
[C] allow other online journals to use it freely. 
[D] complete the peer-review before submission. 
30. Which of the following best summarizes the text? 
[A] the internet is posing a threat to publishers. 
[B] a new mode to publication in laboratory. 
[C] authors welcome the new channel for publication. 
[D] publication is rendered easily by online service. 
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Passage  3 
In the early 1960s Wilt Chamberlain was one of the only three players in the National 
Basketball Association (NBA) listed at over seven feet. If he had played last season, however, he 
would have been one of 42. The bodies playing major professional sports have changed 
dramatically over the years, and managers have been more than willing to adjust team uniforms to 
fit the growing numbers of bigger, longer frames.  
The trend in sports, though, may be obscuring an unrecognized reality: Americans have 
generally stopped growing. Though typically about two inches taller now than 140 years ago, 
today's people--especially those born to families who have lived in the U.S. for many 
generations--apparently reached their limit in the early 1960s. And they aren't likely to get any 
taller. "In the general population today, at this genetic, environmental level, we've pretty much 
gone as far as we can go," says anthropologist William Cameron Chumlea of Wright State 
University. In the case of NBA players, their increase in height appears to result from the 
increasingly common practice of recruiting players from all over the world.  
Growth, which rarely continues beyond the age of 20, demands calories and nutrients—
notably, protein—to feed expanding tissues. At the start of the 20th century, under-nutrition and 
childhood infections got in the way. But as diet and health improved, children and adolescents 
have, on average, increased in height by about an inch and a half every 20 years, a pattern known 
as the secular trend in height. Yet according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
average height—5'9" for men, 5'4" for women—hasn't really changed since 1960.  
Genetically speaking, there are advantages to avoiding substantial height. During childbirth, 
larger babies have more difficulty passing through the birth canal. Moreover, even though humans 
have been upright for millions of years, our feet and back continue to struggle with bipedal 
posture and cannot easily withstand repeated strain imposed by oversize limbs. "There are some 
real constraints that are set by the genetic architecture of the individual organism," says 
anthropologist William Leonard of Northwestern University.  
Genetic maximums can change, but don't expect this to happen soon. Claire C. Gordon, 
senior anthropologist at the Army Research Center in Natick, Mass., ensures that 90 percent of the 
uniforms and workstations fit recruits without alteration. She says that, unlike those for basketball, 
the length of military uniforms has not changed for some time. And if you need to predict human 
height in the near future to design a piece of equipment, Gordon says that by and large, "you could 
use today's data and feel fairly confident."  
 
31. Wilt Chamberlain is cited as an example to____________. 
[A] illustrate the change of height of NBA players. 
[B] show the popularity of NBA players in the U.S.. 
[C] compare different generations of NBA players. 
[D] assess the achievements of famous NBA players. 
32. Which of the following plays a key role in body growth according to the text? 
[A] Genetic modification.             [B] Natural environment. 
[C] Living standards.                 [D] Daily exercise. 
33. On which of the following statement would the author most probably agree? 
[A] Non-Americans add to the average height of the nation. 
[B] Human height is conditioned by the upright posture. 
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[C] Americans are the tallest on average in the world. 
[D] Larger babies tend to become taller in adulthood. 
34. We learn from the last paragraph that in the near future_____________. 
[A] the garment industry will reconsider the uniform size. 
[B] the design of military uniforms will remain unchanged. 
[C] genetic testing will be employed in selecting sportsmen. 
[D] the existing data of human height will still be applicable. 
35. The text intends to tell us that__________________. 
[A] the change of human height follows a cyclic pattern. 
[B] human height is becoming even more predictable. 
[C] Americans have reached their genetic growth limit. 
[D] the genetic pattern of Americans has altered. 
 
                         Passage 4 
In 1784, five years before he became president of the United States, George Washington, 52, 
was nearly toothless. So he hired a dentist to transplant nine teeth into his jaw—having extracted 
them from the mouths of his slaves. 
That's a far different image from the cherry-tree-chopping George most people remember 
from their history books. But recently, many historians have begun to focus on the roles slavery 
played in the lives of the founding generation. They have been spurred in part by DNA evidence 
made available in 1998, which almost certainly proved Thomas Jefferson had fathered at least one 
child with his slave Sally Hemings. And only over the past 30 years have scholars examined 
history from the bottom up. Works of several historians reveal the moral compromises made by 
the nation's early leaders and the fragile nature of the country's infancy. More significantly, they 
argue that many of the Founding Fathers knew slavery was wrong--and yet most did little to fight 
it. 
More than anything, the historians say, the founders were hampered by the culture of their 
time. While Washington and Jefferson privately expressed distaste for slavery, they also 
understood that it was part of the political and economic bedrock of the country they helped to 
create. 
For one thing, the South could not afford to part with its slaves. Owning slaves was "like 
having a large bank account," says Wiencek, author of An Imperfect God: George Washington, His 
Slaves, and the Creation of America. The southern states would not have signed the Constitution 
without protections for the "peculiar institution," including a clause that counted a slave as three 
fifths of a man for purposes of congressional representation. 
And the statesmen's political lives depended on slavery. The three-fifths formula handed 
Jefferson his narrow victory in the presidential election of 1800 by inflating the votes of the 
southern states in the Electoral College. Once in office, Jefferson extended slavery with the 
Louisiana Purchase in 1803; the new land was carved into 13 states, including three slave states. 
Still, Jefferson freed Hemings's children—though not Hemings herself or his approximately 
150 other slaves. Washington, who had begun to believe that all men were created equal after 
observing the bravery of the black soldiers during the Revolutionary War, overcame the strong 
opposition of his relatives to grant his slaves their freedom in his will. Only a decade earlier, such 
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an act would have required legislative approval in Virginia.  
 
36. George Washington’s dental surgery is mentioned to_____________. 
[A] show the primitive medical practice in the past. 
[B] demonstrate the cruelty of slavery in his days. 
[C] stress the role of slaves in the U.S history. 
[D] reveal some unknown aspect of his life. 
37. We may infer from the second paragraph that____________. 
[A] DNA technology has been widely applied to history research. 
[B] in its early days the U.S. was confronted with delicate situations. 
[C] historians deliberately made up some stories of Jefferson‘s life. 
[D] political compromises are easily found throughout the U.S history. 
38. What do we learn from the text about Jefferson? 
[A] His political view changed his attitude towards slavery. 
[B] His status as a father made him free the child slaves. 
[C] His attitude towards slavery was complex. 
[D] His affair with a slave stained his prestige. 
39. Which of the following is true according to the text? 
[A] Some Founding Fathers benefit politically from slavery. 
[B] Slaves in the old days did not have the right to vote. 
[C] Slave owners usually had large savings accounts. 
[D] Slavery was regarded as a peculiar institution. 
40. Washington’s decision to free slaves originated from his___________. 
[A] moral considerations.                [B] military experience. 
[C] financial conditions.                 [D] political stand.  
 
有志者，事竟成。 
                      祝各位启航学员金榜题名！ 
 
 
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