2002年12月大学英语六级(CET-6)真题试卷(2)Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre. Passage OneQuestions 21 to 25 are based on the following
passage. Bill Gates, the billionaire Microsoft chairman without a single earned university degree, is by his success raising new doubts about the worth of the business world’s favorite academic title: the MBA (Master of Business Administration). The MBA, a 20th-century product, always has borne the mark of lowly commerce and greed (贪婪) on the tree-lined campuses ruled by purer disciplines such as philosophy and literature. But even with the recession apparently cutting into the hiring of business school graduates, about 79,000 people are expected to receive MBAs in 1993. This is nearly 16 times the number of business graduates in 1960, a testimony to the wide spread assumption that the MBA is vital for young men and women who want to run companies some day. “If you are going into the corporate world it is still a disadvantage not to have one,” said Donald Morrison, professor of marketing and management science. “But in the last five years or so, when someone says, ‘Should I attempt to get an MBA,’ the answer a lot more is: It depends.” The success of Bill Gates and other non-MBAs, such as the late Sam Walton of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., has helped inspire self-conscious debates on business school campuses over the worth of a business degree and whether management skills can be taught. The Harvard Business Review printed a lively, fictional exchange of letters to dramatize complaints about business degree holders. The article called MBA hires “extremely disappointing” and said “MBAs want to move up too fast, they don’t understand politics and people, and they aren’t able to function as part of a team until their third year. But by then, they’re out looking for other jobs.” The problem, most participants in the debate acknowledge, is that the MBA has acquired an aura (光环) of future riches and power far beyond its actual importance and usefulness. Enrollment in business schools exploded in the 1970s and 1980s and created the assumption that no one who pursued a business career could do without one. The growth was fueled by a backlash (反冲) against the anti-business values of the 1960s and by the women’s movement. Business people who have hired or worked with
MBAs say those with the degrees of ten know how to analyze systems but are not
so skillful at motivating people. “They don’t get a lot of grounding in the
people side of the business”, said James Shaffer, vice-president and principal
of the Towers Perrin management consulting firm. 21. According to Paragraph 2, what is the general attitude towards business on campuses dominated by purer disciplines? A) Scornful. B) Appreciative. C) Envious. D) Realistic. 22. It seems that the controversy over the value of MBA degrees had been fueled mainly by ________. A) the complaints from various employers B) the success of many non-MBAs C) the criticism from the scientists of
purer disciplines D) the poor performance of MBAs at work 23. What is the major weakness of MBA holders according to the Harvard Business Review? A) They are usually self-centered. B) They are aggressive and greedy. C) They keep complaining about their jobs. D) They are not good at dealing with people. 24. From the passage we know that most MBAs ________. A) can climb the corporate ladder fairly
quickly B) quit their jobs once they are familiar
with their workmates C) receive salaries that do not match
their professional training D) cherish unrealistic expectations about
their future 25. What is the passage mainly about? A) Why there is an increased enrollment
in MBA programs. B) The necessity of reforming MBA
programs in business schools. C) Doubts about the worth of holding an
MBA degree. D) A debate held recently on university
campuses. Passage TwoQuestions 26 to 30 are based on the following
passage. When school officials in Kalkaska, Michigan,
closed classes last week, the media flocked to the story, portraying the town’s
2,305 students as victims of stingy (吝啬的) taxpayers. There is some truth
to that; the property-tax rate here is one-third lower than the state average.
But shutting their schools also allowed Kalkask’s educators and the state’s
largest teachers’ union, the Michigan Education Association, to make a
political point. Their aim was to spur passage of legislation It was no coincidence that Kalkaska shut its
schools two weeks after residents rejected a 28 percent property-tax increase.
The school board argued that without the increase it lacked the $1.5 million
needed to keep schools open. But the school system had not done all it could to keep the schools open. Officials declined to borrow against next year’s state aid, they refused to trim extra curricular activities and they did not consider seeking a smaller—perhaps more acceptable—tax increase. In fact, closing early is costing Kalkaska a significant amount, including $600,000 in unemployment payments to teachers and staff and $250,000 in lost state aid. In February, the school system promised teachers and staff two months of retirement payments in case schools closed early, a deal that will cost the district $275,000 more. Other signs suggest school authorities were at least as eager to make a political statement as to keep schools open. The Michigan Education Association hired a public relations firm to stage a rally marking the school closing, which attracted 14 local and national television stations and networks. The president of the National Education Association, the MEA’s parent organization, flew from Washington, D. C., for the event. And the union tutored school officials in the art of television interviews. School supervisor Doyle Disbrow acknowledges the district could have kept schools open by cutting programs but denies the moves were politically motivated. 26. We
learn from the passage that schools in A) by both the local and state
governments B) exclusively by the local government C) mainly by the state government D) by the National Education Association 27. One of the purposes for which school officials closed classes was ________. A) to avoid paying retirement benefits to
teachers and staff B) to draw the attention of local
taxpayers to political issues C) to make the financial difficulties of
their teachers and staff known to the public D) to pressure 28. The author seems to disapprove of ________. A) the B) the shutting of schools in Kalkaska C) the involvement of the mass media D) delaying the passage of the school
funding legislation 29. We learn from the passage that school authorities in Kalkaska are concerned about ________. A) a raise in the property-tax rate in B) reopening the schools there
immediately C) the attitude of the MEA’s parent
organization D) making a political issue of the
closing of the schools 30. According to the passage, the closing of the schools developed into a crisis because of ________. A) the complexity of the problem B) the political motives on the part of
the educators C) the weak response of the state
officials D) the strong protest on the part of the
students’ parents Passage ThreeQuestions 31 to 35 are based on the following
passage. German
Chancellor (首相) Otto Von
Bismarck may be most famous for his military and diplomatic talent, but his legacy (遗产) includes many of today’s social insurance programs. During the
middle of the 19th century, By 1908, the After World War II, benefit payments to American workers did not keep up with the cost of living. In fact, real benefit levels were lower in the 1970s than they were in the 1940s, and in most states the maximum benefit was below the poverty level for a family of four. In 1970, President Richard Nixon set up a national commission to study the problems of workers’ compensation. Two years later, the commission issued 19 key recommendations, including one that called for increasing compensation benefit levels to 100 percent of the states’ average weekly wages. In fact, the average compensation benefit in 31. The
world’s first workers’ compensation law was introduced by A) to make industrial production safer B) to speed up the pace of
industrialization C) out of religious and political
considerations D) for fear of losing the support of the
socialist labor movement 32. We
learn from the passage that the process of industrialization in A) was accompanied by an increased number
of workshop accidents B) resulted in the development of popular
social insurance programs C) required workers to be aware of the
potential dangers at the workplace D) met growing resistance from laborers
working at machines 33. One of the problems the American injured workers faced in getting compensation in the early 19th century was that ________. A) they had to have the courage to sue
for damages in a court of law B) different states in the C) America’s average compensation benefit
was much lower than the cost of living D) they had to produce evidence that
their employers were responsible for the accident 34. After
1972 workers’ compensation insurance in the A) the poverty level for a family of four
went up drastically B) there were fewer legal barriers when
they filed for claims C) the number of workers suing for
damages increased D) more money was allocated to their
compensation system 35. The author ends the passage with the implication that ________. A) compensation benefits in B) the workers are not the only ones to
benefit from the compensation system C) people from all walks of life can
benefit from the compensation system D) money floating in the compensation
system is a huge drain on the Passage FourQuestions 36 to 40 are based on the following
passage. Early in the age of affluence (富裕) that followed World War II, an American retailing analyst named Victor Lebow proclaimed, “Our enormously productive economy... We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever increasing rate.” Americans have responded to Lebow’s call, and much of the world has followed. Consumption has become a central pillar of
life in industrial lands and is even embedded in social values. Opinion surveys
in the world’s two largest economies— Overconsumption by the world’s fortunate is an environmental problem unmatched in severity by anything but perhaps population growth. Their surging exploitation of resources threatens to exhaust or unalterably spoil forests, soils, water, air and climate. Ironically, high consumption may be a mixed blessing in human terms, too. The time-honored values of integrity of character, good work, friendship, family and community have often been sacrificed in the rush to riches. Thus many in the industrial lands have a sense that their world of plenty is somehow hollow—that, misled by a consumerist culture, they have been fruitlessly attempting to satisfy what are essentially social, psychological and spiritual needs with material things. Of course, the opposite of over-consumption—poverty—is no solution to either environmental or human problems. It is infinitely worse for people and bad for the natural world too. Dispossessed (被剥夺得一无所有的) peasants slash-and-burn their way into the rain forests of Latin America, and hungry nomads (游牧民族) turn their herds out onto fragile African grassland, reducing it to desert. If environmental destruction results when people have either too little or too much, we are left to wonder how much is enough. What level of consumption can the earth support? When does having more cease to add noticeably to human satisfaction? 36. The emergence of the affluent society after World War II ________. A) gave birth to a new generation of
upper class consumers B) gave rise to the dominance of the new
egoism C) led to the reform of the retailing
system D) resulted in the worship of consumerism 37. Apart from enormous productivity, another important impetus to high consumption is ________. A) the conversion of the sale of goods
into rituals B) the people’s desire for a rise in
their living standards C) the imbalance that has existed between
production and consumption D) the concept that one’s success is
measured by how much they consume 38. Why does the author say high consumption is a mixed blessing? A) Because poverty still exists in an
affluent society. B) Because moral values are sacrificed in
pursuit of material satisfaction. C) Because overconsumption won’t last long due to unrestricted population growth. D) Because traditional rituals are often neglected in the process of modernization. 39. According to the passage, consumerist culture ________. A) cannot thrive on a fragile economy B) will not aggravate environmental
problems C) cannot satisfy human spiritual needs D) will not alleviate poverty in wealthy
countries 40. It can be inferred from the passage that ________. A) human spiritual needs should match
material affluence B) there is never an end to satisfying
people’s material needs C) whether high consumption should be
encouraged is still an issue D) how to keep consumption at a
reasonable level remains a problem |