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1、第一套：Section Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)Text 1 “Ive never met a human worth cloning,” says cloning expert Mark Westhusin from the cramped confines o

2、f his lab at Texas A&M University. “Its a stupid endeavor.” Thats an interesting choice of adjective, coming from a man who has spent millions of dollars trying to clone a 13-year-old dog named Missy. So far, he and his team have not succeeded, though they have cloned two calves and expect to cl

3、one a cat soon. They just might succeed in cloning Missy later this yearor perhaps not for another five years. It seems the reproductive system of mans best friend is one of the mysteries of modern science.Westhusins experience with cloning animals leaves him vexed by all this talk of human cloning.

4、 In three years of work on the Missyplicity project, using hundreds upon hundreds of canine eggs, the A&M team has produced only a dozen or so embryos carrying Missys DNA. None have survived the transfer to a surrogate mother. The wastage of eggs and the many spontaneously aborted fetuses may be

5、 acceptable when youre dealing with cats or bulls, he argues, but not with humans. “Cloning is incredibly inefficient, and also dangerous,” he says.Even so, dog cloning is a commercial opportunity, with a nice research payoff. Ever since Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1997, Westhusins phone at A&

6、M College of Veterinary Medicine has been ringing busily. Cost is no obstacle for customers like Missys mysterious owner, who wishes to remain unknown to protect his privacy. Hes plopped down $3.7 million so far to fund the research because he wants a twin to carry on Missys fine qualities after she

7、 dies. But he knows her clone may not have her temperament. In a statement of purpose, Missys owners and the A&M team say they are “both looking forward to studying the ways that her clone differs from Missy.”The fate of the dog samples will depend on Westhusins work. He knows that even if he ge

8、ts a dog viably pregnant, the offspring, should they survive, will face the problems shown at birth by other cloned animals: abnormalities like immature lungs and heart and weight problems. “Why would you ever want to clone humans,” Westhusin asks, “when were not even close to getting it worked out

9、in animals yet?” 1. Which of the following best represents Mr. Westhusins attitude toward cloning?A Animal cloning is a stupid attempt.B Human cloning is not yet close to getting it worked out.C Cloning is too inefficient and should be stopped.D Animals cloning yes, and human cloning at least not no

10、w.2. The Missyplicity project does not seem very successful probably because _.A there isnt enough fund to support the researchB cloning dogs is more complicated than cloning cats and bullsC Mr. Westhusin is too busy taking care of the businessD the owner is asking for an exact copy of his pet3. Whe

11、n Mr. Westhusin says “. cloning is dangerous,” he implies that _.A lab technicians may be affected by chemicalsB cats and dogs in the lab may die of diseasesC experiments may waste lots of livesD cloned animals could outlive the natural ones4. We can infer from the third paragraph that _.A rich peop

12、le are more interested in cloning humans than animalsB cloning of animal pets is becoming a prosperous industryC there is no distinction between a cloned and a natural dogD Missys master pays a lot in a hope to revive the dog5. We may conclude from the text that _.A human cloning will not succeed un

13、less the technique is more efficientB scientists are optimistic about cloning techniqueC many people are against the idea of human cloningD cloned animals are more favored by owners even if they are weakerText 2For more than two decades, U.S. courts have been limiting affirmative-action programs in

14、universities and other areas. The legal rationale is that racial preferences are unconstitutional, even those intended to compensate for racism or intolerance. For many colleges, this means students can be admitted only on merit, not on their race or ethnicity. It has been a divisive issue across th

15、e U.S., as educators blame the prolonged reaction to affirmative-action for declines in minority admissions. Meanwhile, activists continue to battle race preferences in courts from Michigan to North Carolina.Now, chief executives of about two dozen companies have decided to plunge headfirst into thi

16、s politically unsettled debate. They, together with 36 universities and 7 nonprofitable organizations, formed a forum that set forth an action plan essentially designed to help colleges circumvent court-imposed restrictions on affirmative action. The CEOs motive: “Our audience is growing more divers

17、e, so the communities we serve benefit if our employees are racially and ethnically diverse as well”, says one CEO of a compang that owns nine television stations.Among the steps the forum is pushing: finding creative yet legal ways to boost minority enrollment through new admissions policies; promo

18、ting admissions decisions that look at more than test scores; and encouraging universities to step up their minority outreach and financial aid. And to counter accusations by critics to challenge these tactics in court, the group says it will give legal assistance to colleges sued for trying them. “

19、Diversity diminished by the court must be made up for in other legitimate, legal ways,” says, a forum member.One of the more controversial methods advocated is the so-called 10% rule. The idea is for public universitieswhich educate three-quarters of all U.S. undergraduatesto admit students who are

20、in the top 10% of their high school graduating class. Doing so allows colleges to take minorities who excel in average urban schools, even if they wouldnt have made the cut under the current statewide ranking many universities use.1. U.S. court restrictions on affirmative action signifies that_.Amin

21、orities no longer hold the once favored statusBthe quality of American colleges has improvedCracial preferences has replaced racial prejudiceDthe minority is on an equal footing with the majority2. What has been a divisive issue across the United States?AWhether affirmative action should continue to

22、 exist.BWhether this law is helping minorities or the white majority.CWhether racism exists in American college admission.DWhether racial intolerance should be punished. 3. CEOs of big companies decided to help colleges enroll more minority students because they_.Athink it wrong to deprive the minor

23、ities of their rights to receive educationBwant to conserve the fine characteristics of American nationCwant a workforce that reflects the diversity of their customersDthink it their duty to help develop education of the country4. The major tactic the forum uses is to_.Abattle the racial preferences

24、 in courtBsupport colleges involved in lawsuits of racismCstrive to settle this political debate nationwideDfind legally viable ways to ensure minority admissions5. If the 10% rule is applied, _.Athe best white high school students can get into collegesBpublic universities can get excellent students

25、Cstudents from poor rural families can go to collegesDgood minority students can get into public universitiesText 3Positive surprises from government reports on retail sales, industrial production, and housing in the past few months are leading economists to revise their real gross domestic product

26、(GDP) forecasts upward supporting the notion that the recession ended in December or January.Bear in mind: This recovery wont have the vitality normally associated with an upturn. Economists now expect real GDP growth of about 1.5 in the first quarter. Thats better than the 0.4 the consensus project

27、ed in December, but much of the additional growth will come from a slower pace of inventory drawdowns, not from surging demand.Moreover, the economy wont grow fast enough to help the labor markets much. The only good news there is that jobless claims have fallen back from their spike after September

28、 11 and that their current level suggests the pace of layoffs is easing. The recovery also does not mean the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates soon. The January price indexes show that inflation remains tame. Consequently, the Fed can take its time shifting monetary policy from extreme accom

29、modation to relative neutrality.Perhaps the best news from the latest economic reports was the January data on industrial production. Total output fell only 0.1, its best showing since July. Factory output was flat, also the best performance in six months. Those numbers may not sound encouraging, bu

30、t manufacturers have been in recession since late 2000. The data suggest that the factory sector is finding a bottom from which to start its recovery.Production of consumer goods, for instance, is almost back up to where it was a year ago. Thats because consumer demand for motor vehicles and other g

31、oods and the housing industry remained healthy during the recession, and they are still growing in early 2002.Besides, both the monthly homebuilding starts number and the housing market index for the past two months are running above the averages for all of 2001, suggesting that home-building is off

32、 to a good start and probably wont be big drag on GDP growth this year.Equally important to the outlook is how the solid housing market will help demand for home-related goods and services. Traditionally, consumers buy the bulk of their furniture, electronics, and textiles within a year of purchasin

33、g their homes. Thus, spending on such items will do well this year, even as car sales slip now that incentives are less attractive. Look for the output of consumer goods to top year-ago level in coming months. Even the business equipment sector seems to have bottomed out. Its output rose 0.4% in Jan

34、uary, led by a 0.6% jump computer gear. A pickup in orders for capital goods in the fourth quarter suggests that production will keep increasingalthough at a relaxed pacein coming months.1. American economists are surprised to see that_.Athey have to revise the GDP forecasts so oftenBtheir governmen

35、t is announcing the end of a recessionCUS economy is showing some signs of an upturnDGDP growth reflects stronger domestic demand2. The most encouraging fact about the US economy is that_ .Aemployment rates have risen faster than expectedBthe Federal Reserve will raise interest rates soonCindustrial

36、 production is reaching its lowest pointDsome economic sectors have become leading industries3. Of which of the following did the author provide a guardedly optimistic view?AGDP growth.BThe number of layoffs.CPrice indexes.DOutput of consumer goods.4. Which of the following is the guarantee of a bet

37、ter future for US economy?AMotor vehicles.BHousing market.CBusiness equipment.DComputer gear.5. Which of the following best summarizes the U. S. economic situation today?AAmerican economists are painting a gloomy picture.BIt is slowly warming up with moderate growth.CRecession may come back anytime

38、in the coming months.DMost sectors are picking up at a surprisingly fast pace.Text 4Timothy Berners-Lee might be giving Bill Gates a run for the money, but he passed up his shot at fabulous wealthintentionallyin 1990. Thats when he decided not to patent the technology used to create the most importa

39、nt software innovation in the final decade of the 20th century: the World Wide Web. Berners-Lee wanted to make the world a richer place, not a mass personal wealth. So he gave his brainchild to us all. Berners-Lee regards todays Web as a rebellious adolescent that can never fulfill his original expe

40、ctations. By 2005, he hopes to begin replacing it with the Semantic Weba smart network that will finally understand human languages and make computers virtually as easy to work with as other humans. As envisioned by Berners-Lee, the new Web would understand not only the meaning of words and concepts

41、 but also the logical relationships among them. That has awesome potential. Most knowledge is built on two pillars: semantics and mathematics. In number-crunching, computers already outclass people. Machines that are equally adroit at dealing with language and reason wont just help people uncover ne

42、w insights; they could blaze new trails on their own.Even with a fairly crude version of this future Web, mining online repositories for nuggets of knowledge would no longer force people to wade through screen after screen of extraneous data. Instead, computers would dispatch intelligent agents, or

43、software messengers, to explore Web sites by the thousands and logically sift out just whats relevant. That alone would provide a major boost in productivity at work and at home. But theres far more. Software agents could also take on many routine business chores, such as helping manufacturers find

44、and negotiate with lowest-cost parts suppliers and handling help-desk questions. The Semantic Web would also be a bottomless trove of eureka insights. Most inventions and scientific breakthroughs, including todays Web, spring from novel combinations of existing knowledge. The Semantic Web would make

45、 it possible to evaluate more combinations overnight than a person could juggle in a lifetime. Sure scientists and other people can post ideas on the Web today for others to read. But with machines doing the reading and translating technical terms, related ideas from millions of Web pages could be d

46、istilled and summarized. That will lift the ability to assess and integrate information to new heights. The Semantic Web, Berners-Lee predicts, will help more people become more intuitive as well as more analytical. It will foster global collaborations among people with diverse cultural perspectives

47、, so we have a better chance of finding the right solutions to the really big issueslike the environment and climate warming.1. Had he liked, Berners-Lee could have _.Acreated the most important innovation in the 1990sBaccumulated as much personal wealth as Bill GatesCpatented the technology of Micr

48、osoft softwareDgiven his brainchild to us all2. The Semantic Web will be superior to todays web in that it _.Asurpasses people in processing numbersBfulfills users original expectationsCdeals with language and reason as well as numberDresponds like a rebellious adult3. To search for any information

49、needed on tomorrows Web, one only has to _. Awade through screen after screen of extraneous dataBask the Web to dispatch some messenger to his doorCuse smart software programs called “agents”Dexplore Web sites by the thousands and pick out whats relevant4. Thanks to the Web of the future, _.Amillion

50、s of web pages can be translated overnightBone can find most inventions and breakthroughs onlineCsoftware manufacturers can lower the cost of computer partsDscientists using different specialty terms can collaborate much better5. The most appropriate title for this text is. ADifferences between Two

51、WebsBThe Humanization of Computer SoftwareCA New Solution to World ProblemsDThe Creator and His Next Creation第二套：Section Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points

52、)Text 1The author of some forty novels, a number of plays, volumes of verse, historical, critical and autobiographical works, an editor and translator, Jack Lindsay is clearly an extraordinarily prolific writera fact which can easily obscure his very real distinction in some of the areas into which

53、he has ventured. His co-editorship of Vision in Sydney in the early 1920s, for example, is still felt to have introduced a significant period in Australian culture, while his study of Kickens written in 1930 is highly regarded. But of all his work it is probably the novel to which he has made his mo

54、st significant contribution.Since 1916 when, to use his own words in Fanfrolico and after, he “reached bedrock,” Lindsay has maintained a consistent Marxist viewpointand it is this viewpoint which if nothing else has guaranteed his novels a minor but certainly not negligible place in modern British

55、literature. Feeling that “the historical novel is a form that has a limitless future as a fighting weapon and as a cultural instrument” (New Masses, January 1917), Lindsay first attempted to formulate his Marxist convictions in fiction mainly set in the past: particularly in his trilogy in English n

56、ovels1929, Lost Birthright, and Men of Forty-Eight (written in 1919, the Chartist and revolutionary uprisings in Europe). Basically these works set out, with most success in the first volume, to vivify the historical traditions behind English Socialism and attempted to demonstrate that it stood, in

57、Lindsays words, for the “true completion of the national destiny.” Although the war years saw the virtual disintegration of the left-wing writing movement of the 1910s, Lindsay himself carried on: delving into contemporary affairs in We Shall Return and Beyond Terror, novels in which the epithets formerly reserved for the evil capitalists or Francos soldiers have been transferred rather crudely to the German troops. After the war Lindsay continued to write mainly about the presenttrying with varying degrees of success to come to terms with the unradical political realities of post