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Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with 10 statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.Surviving the Recession A. America’s recession began quietly at the end of 2007. Since then it has evolved into a global crisis. Reasonable people may disagree about whom to blame. Financiers who were not as clever as they thought they were Regulators falling asleep at work Consumers who borrowed too much Politicians who thoughtlessly promoted home-ownership for those who could not afford it All are guilty; and what a mess they have created. B. Since 2007 America has shed 5 million jobs. More than 15% of the workforce are jobless or underemployed—roughly 25 million workers. The only industries swelling their payrolls are health care, utilities and the federal government. The value of listed shares in American firms collapsed by 57% from its peak in October 2007 to a low in March this year, though it has since bounced back somewhat. Industrial production fell by 12.8% in the year to March, the worst slide since the Second World War. Mark Zandi, an economist at Moody’s Economy.com, predicts that the recession will shrink America’s economy by 3.5% in total. For most executives, this is the worst business environment they’ve ever seen. C. Times are so tough that even bosses are taking pay cuts. Median (中位数的) pay for chief executives of S&P 500 companies fell 6.8% in 2008. The overthrown business giants of Wall Street took the biggest knock, with average pay cuts of 38% and median bonuses of zero. But there was some pain for everyone: median pay for chief executives of non-financial firms in the S&P 500 fell by 2.7%. D. Nearly every business has a sad tale to tell. For example, Arne Sorenson, the president of Marriott hotels, likens the crisis to the downturn that hit his business after September 11th, 2001. When the twin towers fell, Americans stopped travelling. Marriott had its worst quarter ever, with revenues per room falling by 25%. This year, without a terrorist attack, the hotel industry is "putting the same numbers on the board," says Mr. Sorenson. E. The hotel bust (不景气), like most busts, was preceded by a breathtaking boom. Although many other big firms resisted the temptation to over-borrow, developers borrowed heavily and built bigger and fancier hotels as if the whole world were planning a holiday in Las Vegas. When the bubble burst, demand collapsed. Hotel owners found themselves with a huge number of empty rooms even as a lot of unnecessary new hotels were ready to open. F. Other industries have suffered even more. Large numbers of builders, property firms and retailers have gone bankrupt. And a disaster has hit Detroit. Last year the American car industry had the capacity to make 17 million vehicles. Sales in 2009 could be barely haft of that. The Big Three American carmakers—General Motors, Ford and Chrysler—accumulated ruinous costs over the post-war years, such as gold-plated health plans and pensions for workers who retired as young as 48. All three are desperately restructuring. Only Ford may survive in its current form. G. Hard times breed hard feelings. Few Americans understand what caused the recession. Some are seeking scapegoats (替罪羊). Politicians are happy to take advantage. Bosses have been summoned to Washington to be scolded on live television. The president condemns their greed. Extravagance (奢侈) Is Out H. Business folk are bending over backwards to avoid seeming extravagant. Meetings at resorts are suddenly unacceptable. Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, cancelled a conference in Las Vegas at the last minute and rebooked it in San Francisco, which cost more but sounded less fun. I. Anyway, the pain will eventually end. American business will regain its shine. Many firms will die, but the survivors will emerge leaner and stronger than before. The financial sector’s share of the economy will shrink, and stay shrunk for years to come. The importance of non-financial firms will accordingly rise, along with their ability to attract the best talent. America will remain the best place on earth to do business, so long as Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress resist the temptation to interfere too much, and so long as organised labour does not overplay its hand. J. The crisis will prove hugely disruptive (破坏性的), however. Bad management techniques will be exposed. Necessity will force the swift adoption of more efficient ones. At the same time, technological innovation (创新) will barely pause for breath, and two big political changes seem likely. K. Mr. Obama’s plan to curb carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (排放), though necessary, will be far from cost-free, whatever his sunny speeches on the subject might suggest. The shift to a low-carbon economy will help some firms, hurt others and require every organisation that uses much energy to rethink how it operates. It is harder to predict how Mr. Obama’s proposed reforms to the failing health-care system will turn out. If he succeeds in curbing costs—a big if—it would be a huge gain for America. Some businesses will benefit but the vast bulk of the savings will be captured by workers, not their employers. L. In the next couple of years the businesses that thrive will be those that are tight with costs, careful of debt, cautious with cash flow and extremely attentive to what customers want. They will include plenty of names no one has yet heard of. M. Times change, and corporations change with them. In 1955 Time’s Man of the Year was Harlow Curtice, the boss of GM. His firm was leading America towards "a new economic order," the magazine wrote. Thanks to men like Curtice, "the bonds of scarcity" had been broken and America was rolling "to an all-time high of prosperity." Soon, Americans would need to spend "comparatively little time earning a living." N. Half a century later GM is a typical example of poor management. In March its chief executive was fired by Time’s current Man of the Year, Mr. Obama. The government now backs up the domestic car industry, lending it money and overseeing its turnaround plans. With luck, this will be short-lived. But there is a danger that Washington will end up micromanaging not only Detroit but also other parts of the economy. And clever as Mr. Obama’s advisers are, history suggests they will be bad at this. Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, cancelled a conference in Las Vegas in order to avoid seeming wasteful.
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The discovery that language can be a barrier to communication is quickly made by all who travel, study, govern or sell. Whether the activity is tourism, research, government or business, the lack of a common language can 21 hinder progress or can halt it altogether. 22 communication problems of this kind must happen thousands of times each day, very few become public knowledge. Publicity comes only when a failure to communicate has major 23 , such as strikes, lost orders, legal problems, or fatal accidents—even, at times of war. One reported instance of communication failure took place in 1970, when 24 Americans ate a species of poisonous mushroom. No remedy was known, and two of the people 25 within days. A radio report of the case was heard by a chemist who knew of a treatment that had been 26 used in 1959 and published in 1963. Why had the American doctors not heard of it seven years later Presumably because the report of the treatment had been published only in 27 written in European languages other than English. The language barrier presents itself to firms who 28 to market their products in other countries. British industry, in particular, had in recent decades often been criticized for its 29 insularity—for its assumption that foreign buyers will be happy to communicate in English, and that awareness of other language is not therefore a priority. The criticism and publicity given to this problem since the 1960s seems to have greatly 30 the situation. It is now much more readily appreciated that marketing efforts can be delayed, damaged, or disrupted by a failure to take account of the linguistic needs of the customer. The changes in awareness have been most marked in English-speaking countries, where the realization has gradually dawned that by no means everyone in the world knows English well enough to negotiate in it. A. journals B. native C. magazines D. improved E. reduced F. wish G. linguistic H. died I. successfully J. several K. severely L. although M. consequences N. medical O. separately
Directions: In this section, there is a passage with 10 blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.Americans still follow many of the old ways. Young people still get married. Of course, many do get divorced, but they 1 at astonishing rates. They are willing to pay taxes for education, and they generously support institutions like hospitals, museums and libraries. In fact, when you 2 the America of today with that of 1950, the 3 are far greater than the differences. But American women are changing the rules. Thirty years ago I could not have imagined a group of women employees suing a major corporation for millions of dollars of salary. Nor could I imagine women in universities going up to the men who ran the 4 programs and demanding a just share of the physical education budget. At work, at play, at all levels of living women are suggesting 5 rules. America is worried about its schools. The problem is that good public schools are becoming 6 rare. Moreover, America can not find housing for its young families. I 7 this as the serious danger confronting family life in America, and I’m appalled that the condition has been allowed to develop. Our prospects, however, are still good. We also have a magnificent 8 of peoples from all the continents with 9 traditions and strengths. But most of all, we have a unique and balanced system of government. I think of America as having the oldest form of government on earth, because since we 10 our present democracy in 1789, every other nation has suffered either parliamentary change or revolutionary change. It is our system which has survived and should survive, giving the maximum number of people a maximum chance for happiness. A. started B. remarry C. make D. similarities E. exchanged F. varied G. consider H. traditionally I. pitifully J. dominant K. new L. mixture M. athletic N. compare O. advance
A monkey is sitting expectantly in a laboratory, wearing earphones that keep its head in an upright fixed position. Its hand rests at its waist near a telegraph key that it can feel but can not see. Soon a green light begins to blink and the monkey 11 the key to signal that it is ready. Then it hears two syllables coming through the earphones, realizes that the syllables are different, and correctly lifts the key. This is not an amazing event in the field of research on primate behavior. Scientific studies on animal 12 have been conducted for many years. Chimpanzees, gorillas, and monkeys have all been taught to 13 messages from humans. What is new about this study is what the researcher noticed about the monkey’s use of its hands. Although either hand could have been used for pressing the key, everyone of the monkeys used its right hand. In other tasks, however, like grabbing food from a feeder or taking something that is offered to them, the monkeys seemed to have no 14 for one hand over the other. It has 15 been assumed that only humans have the trait of 16 one hand. The right hemisphere of the brain controls the left arm and hand, and the left hemisphere of the brain controls the right arm and hand. 17 mental abilities such as speaking and understanding language are handled by the left side of the brain, so it is thought that this produces a dominance of right-handed humans. However, a 18 number of researchers are challenging this notion that nonhuman primates have no hand preferences. They argue that these traits can be 19 back to primates living tens of millions of years ago. Their contention is that primates use their right hands to perform precise manipulations where they can not clearly see what they are doing. And then why haven’t 20 noticed this before It is difficult to set up experiments that require the kind of task where handedness is important. A. researchers B. doctors C. growing D. generally E. comprehend F. offer G. important H. preference I. traced J. followed K. behavior L. favoring M. presses N. shows O. strange
I have had just about enough of being treated like a second-class citizen, simply because I happen to be that put-upon member of society—a customer. The more I go into shops and hotels, banks and post offices, railway stations, airports and the like, the more I am convinced the things are being run solely to suit the firm, the system, or the union. There seems to be a deceptive new motto for so-called "service" organizations—Staff Before Service. How often, for example, have you queued for what seems like hours at the post office or the supermarket because there were not enough staff on duty to man all the service grilles or checkout counters Sure In these days of high unemployment it must be possible to hire cashiers and counter staff. Yet supermarkets, hinting darkly at higher prices, claim that uncovering all their cash registers at any one time would increase overheads. And the post office says we cannot expect all their service grilles to be occupied "at times when demand is low." It is the same with hotels. Because waiters and kitchen staff must finish when it suits them, dining rooms close earlier or menu choice is cut short. As for us guests, we just have to put up with it. There is also the nonsense of so many friendly hotel night porters having been thrown out of their jobs in the interests of "efficiency" (i.e. profits) and replaced by coin-eating machines which offer everything from lager to laxatives. Not to mention the creeping threat of the tea-making kit in your room: a kettle with a mixed collection of tea bags, plastic milk cartons and lump sugar. Who wants to wake up to a raw teabag I do not, especially when I am paying for "service." Can it be stopped, this worsening of service, this growing attitude that the customer is always a nuisance I angrily hope so because it is happening, sadly, in all walks of life. Our only hope is to hammer home our anger whenever and wherever we can and, if all else fails, bring back into practice that other, older slogan—Take Our Custom Elsewhere. Service organizations contend that keeping all checkout counters operated can result in ______.
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