专业英语八级(阅读)-试卷140

1、专业英语八级（阅读）-试卷140（ 总分： 44.00 ，做题时间： 90 分钟 ）一、READING COMPREHENSION题数：11，分数：44.00）1. PART II READING COMPREHENSION解析：2. SECTION A MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONSIn this section there are several passages followed by fourteenmultiple-choice questions. For each multiple-choice question, there are four suggest

2、ed answers marked A , B, C andD. Choose the one that you think is the best answer.解析：Americans are still chuckling about the pants suit. A mana judge, no lesssued his drycleaners for $54m for allegedly losing his trousers. A sign at the shop promised SatisfactionGuaranteed. The plaintiff was not sat

3、isfied, so he cried fraud. He then used his highly trained legal brain to calculate thedamages he was owed. He started with $1,500, a reasonable fine for consumer fraud. He multiplied it by 12, for thenumber of his complaints. Then by 1,200, for the number of days he was deprived of his trousers. An

4、d then by three, forthe three owners of the dry-cleaning shop. After adding a bit more for mental anguish, the total came to $67m, but hekindly reduced it to $54m. When the case was dismissed in 2007, many felt justice had prevailed. But the defendants hadbeen put through purgatory and saddled with

5、$100,000 in legal costs. They closed the shop and considered moving backto South Korea. The case illustrates an important truth about human nature that angry people can go nuts, observesPhilip Howard, a campaigner for legal reform. What was most shocking about the pants suit was not the idiotic clai

6、m, hesays, but that the case was allowed to go on for more than two years. Somejudges think even the nuttiest plaintiffsdeserve their day in court. As the judge who let a woman sue McDonalds for serving her the coffee with which shescalded herself put it: Who am I to judge? The rule of law is a wond

7、erful thing, as anyone who has visited countriesruled by the whims of the powerful can attest. But you can have too much of a wonderful thing. And America has far toomuch law, argues Mr. Howard in a new book, Life without Lawyers. For nearly every problem, lawmakers andbureaucrats imagine that more

8、detailed rules are the answer. But people need to exercise their common sense, too. Alas,the proliferation of rules is making that harder. At a school in Florida, for example, a five-year-old girl decided to throweveryones books and pencils on the floor. Sent to the head teachers office, she continu

9、ed to wreak havoc. Her teachersdared not restrain her physically.Instead, they summoned the police, who led her away in handcuffs, howling. The teachers acted as they did for fear ofbeing sued. A teacher at a different school was sued for $20m for putting a hand on a rowdy childs back to guide him o

10、utof the classroom. The school ended up settling for $90,000. Understandably, many schools ban teachers from touchingpupils under any circumstances. In New York City, where more than 60 bureaucratic steps are required to suspend apupil for more than five days, teachers are so frightened of violating

11、 pupils rights that they cannot keep order. Therelentless piling of law upon law the federal register has 70,000 ever-changing pages-does not make for a more justsociety. When even the most trivial daily interactions are subject to detailed rules, individual judgment is stifled.Whenrule-makers seek

12、to eliminate small risks, perverse consequences proliferate. Bureaucrats rip up climbing framesfor fear that children may fall off and break a leg. So children stay indoors and get fat. The direct costs of lawsuits are onlyone of the drawbacks of an over-legalistic society. Too many rules squeeze th

13、e joy out of life. Doctors who inflict dozensof unnecessary tests on patients to fend off lawsuits take less pride in their work. And although the legal system issupposed to be neutral, the scales are tilted in favour of whoever is in the wrong. Because the process is so expensiveand juries are so u

14、npredictable, blameless people often settle baseless claims to make them go away. The law issupposed to protect individuals from the state, but it often allows selfish individuals to harness the states power to settleprivate scores. Will any of this change under Barack Obama?At first glance, the odd

15、s are poor. The new President is alawyer from a party dominated by lawyers. His vice-president publicly thanked God last year that lawyers are such aproblem for corporate America. When Mr. Obama was in the Senate, he once voted for a mild curb onjurisdiction-shopping by class-action lawyers, but oth

16、erwise tended to vote against tort reform. And Democrats in the newCongress are itching to reward the lawyers who donated so generously to their election campaigns, for example byrevoking the（admittedly short）statute of limitations on pay-discrimination claims, allowing lawyers to mine decades-oldgr

17、ievances.（分数： 8.00 ）（1）.In the case of pants suit,_. （分数： 2.00 ）A. the plaintiff ended up getting $54m from the shop ownersB. the defendants reluctantly agreed to pay a fine of $100,000C. both the plaintiff and the defendants suffered great agonyVD. many Americans felt relieved when the case was set

18、tled解析：解析：推断题。本题定位于第一段和第二段前半部分。 从第一段倒数第一句的关键词“ mental anguish ” 可以推知， 原告本身在该诉讼案中承受着巨大的痛苦； 而根据第二段第二句的关键词“ purgatory ”以及后 面提到的商店老板把商店关掉，考虑回韩国，亦可推知被告在本案中也承受了巨大的痛苦。综上所述，C为正确答案。 根据第二段第一句“在 2007 年本案被驳回时， 很多人都认为公正占了上风”可知， 原告请求 5400 万美元的索赔并未如愿，故 A 错误；从第二段第二句可知。 10 万美元只是被告花的诉讼费，故 B 错误； D 说“当本案被裁决时， 很多美国人悬着的心

19、已经放下来了”，而文中涉及美国大众的两句话为第 一段第一句的“美国人仍在笑谈裤子诉讼的故事”以及第二段第一句的“很多人都认为公正占了上 风”，都不能推出美国人对此案的“担心和不快”，故排除 D 。（2）_.According to the passage, Mr. Howard mightagree that_.（分数： 2.00 ）A. the claim of $54m is not absurdB. even a mad accuser deserve his day in courtC. the rule of law results in more detailed rules fo

20、r almost every problemD. the explosion of laws is not conducive to judging by ones senseV解析：解析：推断题。根据题干关键词“ Mr. Howard定位至第二和第三段。第三段第三句说Howard 先生在他的新书没有律师的生活中的观点是“美国有太多法律了”。该段最后三句的意思是“几乎对于每 个问题，立法者和官员都认为解决的办法就是更详尽的立法。但是人们也需要运用自己的常识进行判断。唉，法律的不断增加使其变得很难”，由此可推断D为正确答案。第二段倒数第三句中，Howard 说最让人震惊的不是“裤子案”的天价索赔

21、，由此可以反推出A项错误；B是第二段倒数第二句中一些法官的想法，正好与 Howard 意思相左，故排除；从第三段倒数第三句可知，官员和立法者认为应该对每个问题设 立更详尽的法规，而与rule of law 无关，故C错误。（3）.Accordingto the author, the proliferation of law upon law might lead to the following EXCEPT_ . （分数： 2.00 ）A. the obesity among school childrenB. the abuse of law for personal gainsC. t

22、he prevalence of more justice in societyVD. the decline of enjoyment in life解析：解析：推断题。从第五段第一句的“法律条文的不断增加并不能营造一个更加公平的社会”可知， C 不是法律不断增加可以导致的， 故为正确答案。 第五段后半部分说“当立法者致力于减少很少的危 险（而不断立法 ）时， （与期望 ）相左的结果不断增加。 官员因担心孩子掉下、 摔断腿， 而把攀爬的把手拆毁。 所以，孩子只得待在屋里，变胖了”，因此排除 A ；由第六段最后一句的“法律应该是用来保护个人免受 国家侵害， 但是它却让一些自私的个人利用国家权力

23、解决私人恩怨”，可排除 B ；根据第六段第二句“过 多的法律挤走了生活中的很多乐趣”可以排除 D 。(4)_ .In the lastparagraph, the odds are poor mainly because_A. the vice-President disagrees with the changesB. Obama is inconsistent in his vote toward legal reformC. Obama once supported the restriction on jurisdiction-shopping by class-action lawy

24、ers分数： 2.00 )D.l awyers havestrong influence on Obamas administration and the new congressV解析：解析：推断题。最后一段第三句提到，新总统是律师出身，来自一个律师占支配地位的政党，同时 该段最后一句也说新国会中的民主党正在摩拳擦掌，要奖励那些在竞选中慷慨为他们捐钱的律师，由此可 知，正是律师在本届政府和国会中的巨大影响力，使得改变这种现状的希望变得渺茫，故D 正确。 A 只是其中的一个原因，包含在D中，故可以排除；同理，Obama 在“jurisdictionshopping”和“tortreform ”

25、中的不一致，只能说明Obama 的态度问题，只是其中一个原因，可以排除B ； C说 Obama 对改变此现状有一定积极的作为，与“希望渺茫”的论点恰恰相反，故可以排除。Not since Harry Truman seized Americas steel mills in 1952 rather than allow a strike to imperil the conduct of theKorean War has Washington toyed with nationalization, or its functional equivalent, on this kind of s

26、cale. Mr. Obamamaybe thinking what Mr. Truman told his staff; The President has the power to keep the country from going to hell. (TheSupreme Court thoughtdifferently and forced Mr. Truman to relinquishcontrol.) The fact that there is so littleprotestin the air now certainly less than Mr. Truman hea

27、rd reflects the desperation of the moment.But it is a strategy fraught with risks.The first,of course, is the one the President-electhimselfhighlighted. Governments record as a corporate manager is miserable, which is why the world has been on athree-decade-long privatization kick, turning national

28、railroads, national airlines and national defense industries intoprivate companies. The second risk is that if the effort fails, and the American car companies collapse or are auctioned offin pieces to foreign competitors, taxpayers may lose the billions about to be spent. And the third risk one bar

29、elydiscussed so far is that in trying to save the nations carmakers, the United States is violating at least the spirit of whatit has preached around the world for two decades. The United States has demanded that nations treat Americancompanies on their soil the same way they treat their home-grown

30、industries, a concept called national treatment. Yetso far, there is no talk of offering aid to Toyota, Honda, BMW or the other foreign automakers that have built factories onAmerican soil, employed American workers and managed to make a profit doing so. If Japan was doing this, wed bethreatening bi

31、llions of dollars in retaliation, said Jeffrey Garten, a professor at the Yale School of Management, who asunder secretary of commerce in the 1990s was one of many government officials who tried in vain to get Detroit preparedfor a world of international competition. In fact, when they did something

32、 a lot more subtle, we threatened exactly that,referring to calls for import restrictions. It is hard to measure just what kind of chances Mr. Obama may be taking with thisplan, in part because so many parts of it are still in motion. In the short term, Democrats are floating the idea of linking $15

33、billionin immediateloans to the designation of a car czar who, in doling out the money, could require or veto big transactions or investments essentially a one-man board of directors. The White House indicates that President Bush, who has spent his entirepresidency proclaiming that the governments r

34、ole is to create an environment that spurs free enterpriseandminimizes government regulation, wouldvery likely sign the rescue plan. The first $15 billionand the car czar who oversees it, however,are only the beginning. After that, were in uncharted water, said Malcolm S. Salter, a professor emeritu

35、s at HarvardBusiness School who has studied the auto industry for two decades and, until a few years ago, was an adviser to GeneralMotors and Ford. Think about this: Who in the federal government would have the tremendous insight needed to fix thisindustry? Depending on how the longer-term revamping

36、 of the industry proceeds, Washington could become a majorshareholder in the Big Three, it could provide loans, or, in one course that Mr. Obamaseemedto hint at on Sunday, itcould organize what amounts to a structuredbankruptcy. In that case, the government wouldconvene the creditors, the unions, th

37、e shareholders and the companys management, and apportiona share of the hit to each of them. If that consensus building sounds a lot like the role of the Japanese Ministry ofInternational Trade and Industry in the 1970s and the 1980s, well, it is. To promote the Japanese car industry on the wayup, t

38、he trade ministry nudged companies toward consolidation, and even tried to mandate which parts of the market eachcould go into. (Soichiro Honda, the founder of the company, rebelled when bureaucrats told him he was supposed to limithimself to making motorcycles. ) By the 1980s, Congress was denounci

39、ng this as industrial policy, and arguing that itput American makers at a competitive disadvantage and polluted free enterprise. Now, it is Congress doing exactlythat, but this time as emergency surgery. Other nations will doubtless complain, or begin doing the same for their owncompanies. Were at t

40、his moment in history, in which the Chinese are touting that their system is better than ours withtheir mix of capitalism and state control, said Mr. Garten, who has long experience in Asia. And our response, it lookslike, is to begin replicating what theyve been doing. (分数： 8.00 )(1)_.The relations

41、hip between the firstparagraph and the second one is that_. (分数：2.00 )A. each presents one side of the pictureB. the first exposes an event, and the second commentsVC. the second is the logical result of the firstD. the first generalizes, and the second gives examples解析：解析：篇章题。第一段提出奥巴马为应付金融危机带来的冲击，推

42、出大规模国有化举措，第二段对 这一事件做了一个简洁的点评，然后在接下来的几个段落展开论述做出这一点评的理由。故B 正确。 A是说两个段落是平行的，分别指出一个事物的两面，不符合文章结构，故排除； C 是说第二段是第一段的 逻辑结果，由分析可知，第二段是对第一段做的点评，故排除； D 是说第一段综述，第二段举例，这同样 与文章结构不符合，故排除。(2) .Which of the following is NOT the risk of nationalization this time?(分数： 2.00)A. Government, more often than not, is inade

43、quate in running business.B. Taxpayers money would be lost if the nationalization of the car companies fails.C. When saving the nations car companies, America is reducing their competitiveness.VD. America is eating its word that each country should treat all companies within its territory equally.解析

44、： 解析： 细节题。 原文提到三个危险因素： 第一是第三段第二句提到的“政府充当企业管理者角色的 时候记录惨淡”；第二是第四段提到的“万一国有化后仍不能扭转颓势而最终使得汽车巨头被国外竞争者 买下，那么纳税人将损失数以十亿计的钱”；第三是第五段最后一句提到的“美国仅仅拯救境内的美国汽 车业的做法显然违背了它一直在世界上倡导的公平原则即公平对待本土企业和境内的国外企业”， 这三个因素分别对应 A 、B 、 D 三个选项，只有 C 是文中没有提到的，故为答案。(3) .The phrase car czar in Paragraph Nine means_.(分数： 2.00 )A. one of

45、 the current biggest carmakers in AmericaB. a combination of the biggest car companies in AmericaC. a brand new car company set up with $15 billionD. a new organization with $15 billionV解析：解析：语义题。第九段第一句提到，民主党人正酝酿着成立一个“汽车沙皇”，它可以借钱给各个 陷入困境的汽车公司，但同时也拥有控制被援助公司的生产和销售的权力。第十段最后一句中MalcolmSSalter 教授的话可以帮助我们判

46、断这里的“ car czar ”所指到底是谁，他说：“想一想，联邦政府当 中有谁能有如此敏锐的洞察力， 可以修复目前处于困境中的汽车业 ?”从这里我们可以推断，这个“汽车沙皇”是由政府中的人来出面充当，所以它不是现有汽车公司中的任何一家或它们的联合体，也不可能成立 一个新的汽车公司来担当这一重任，故可以排除 A 、B 、 C ，所以 D 为正确答案。(4) .Why does the author mention Japanese Ministry of International Trade and industry?(分数：2.00 )A. To make a comparison bet

47、ween the practices of nationalization in America and Japan.B. To show that America is violating the spirit it has preached for long.VC. To show that Japanese enjoys an industrial development because of its nationalization.D. To criticize America for its inadequacy in innovation. 解析：解析：细节题。作者在倒数第二、三段

48、提到，日本国际贸易与工业部在 20 世纪七、八十年代为了推 进日本汽车业向前发展，敦促各汽车公司联合，并规定每个汽车公司该进入哪部分市场，结果使日本的汽 车业得到了飞速发展，使得美国在日本的汽车业处于不利地位，当时美国就批评这一政策行为违反了自由 竞争的原则。而现在美国重复当年日本的做法，却不自我检讨。这实际上还是在进一步解说第三个危险因 素即美国只救援自己本土的汽车公司，违反了它自己一直以来所倡导的公平竞争原则。所以正确答案 是B。It may be no surprise that the best-selling computer book so far this year is Pho

49、ne: The Missing Manual, by my colleagueDavid Pogue. But here is something that did surprise me: The most popular edition of this book isnt on paper or the PDFfile that OReilly Media also sells. It is the downloadable application for the iPhone, according to Tim OReilly, the chiefexecutive ofOReilly

50、Media. Amid all the discussion of micropayments and other ways that the creators of news and other content canbe paid for their work, the iTunes App store is shaping up to be a surprisingly viable way to sell all sorts of information andentertainment. There is a lot more content of the sort you woul

51、d have bought in the past but now you can get free on theWeb: a directory ofCongressional offices, standup comedy routines, gym workout videos, Zagat restaurant guides and a growing library ofbooks. There is also a fair bit of free content, public-domain e-books like the complete works of Shakespear

52、e and lots ofadvertising-supported media. (Business Week has a report this week on the App stores role in music.) Whats mostinteresting is how iPhone users are willing to spend money in ways that Web users are not. Ive criticized Apple from timeto time for not having a coherent approach to deliverin

53、g free content with advertising. But in some ways, the developmentof a market for paid content is a bigger and less expected achievement.Why has this happened? Apple has created an environment that makes buying digital goods easy and common. With aninfrastructure that supports one-click purchases of

54、 songs and videos, it was easy to add applications in the sameparadigm. Paying for software, especially games, is not new to Apple customers. So when you see the iPhone manual orthe Frommers Paris guidebook, it feels natural to click. (And of course, your credit card is already on file with Apple. )

55、There are certainly other precedents. Many people who steal songs through Lime-wire nonetheless pay $1.99 to use thesame tunes as ringtones. And for avid book readers, Amazons Kindle has found a market willing to pay for electronicbooks. Apple is also starting to sell subscriptions to bundles of mus

56、ic, video and images from certain bands, like DepecheMode. This is technically a product of the Music store, not the App store, but it still shows how people may be willing topay for various bundles of content online. There is a lot of work to do here. For example, I find the OReilly iPhone book ali

57、ttle hard to use. The text doesnt seem particularlywell-formatted for the iPhonepage. And I would love to see more interactive features that utilizethe phone interface (includingsome of Davids videos). Andrew Savikas, OReillys vice president for digital initiatives, agrees with me, saying that theiP

58、hone manual was rushed to get it out before Christmas. The company now has 20 titles in development for the iPhone(and eventually other mobile phones), and it is spending more time weaving in hyperlinks and adding other features.There is a lot more we can do to take advantage of this as a new medium

59、, he said. OReilly, which sells to a lot of earlyadopters, has a range of digital distribution media. We try to say all of our writing is writing for the Web, and all of ourpublishing is digital publishing, so all our focus is building things into the content that makeit more friendly to be digital,

60、he said. Before media companies rejoice that Apple has found a way to persuade a generation used to getting everythingfree on the Web to pay for some content, they should look a bit more closely at OReillys experience with the iPhonemanual. The book, which sells for $24.99, was initially offered as