2012年考研《英语》基础阶段冲刺模拟试题及答案详解(1)—3
Section III Reading Comprehension
Directions:
Each of the passages below is followed by some questions. For each question four answers are given. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each of the questions. Put your choice in the ANSWER SHEET. （40 points）
Text 1
The entrepreneur, according to French economist J.B. Say, “is a person who shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and yield.” But Say's definition does not tell us who this entrepreneur is. Some define the entrepreneur simply as one who starts his or her own new and small business. For our purposes, we will define the entrepreneur as a person who takes the necessary risks to organize and manage a business and receives the financial profits and nonmonetary rewards.
The man who opens a small pizza restaurant is in business, but is he an entrepreneur? He took a risk and did something, but did he shift resources or start the business? If the answer is yes, then he is considered an entrepreneur. Ray Kroc is an example of an entrepreneur because he founded and established McDonald's. His hamburgers were not a new idea, but he applied new techniques, resource allocations, and organizational methods in his venture. Ray Kroc upgraded the productivity and yield from the resources applied to create his fast-food chain. This is what entrepreneurs do; this is what entrepreneurship means.
Many of the sharp, black-and-white contrasts between the entrepreneur and the professional have faded to gray color. Formerly, professionals such as doctors, lawyers, dentists, and accountants were not supposed to be entrepreneurial, aggressive, or market oriented. They were “above” the market-driven world. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, were the mavericks of society. They were risk-takers who aggressively sought to make something happen. Long hours were about all the two worlds had in common. However, increased competition, saturated markets, and a more price-conscious public have changed the world of the professionals. Today they need to market their skills, talents, and competencies. Lawyers advertise their services. Doctors specialize in one form of surgery. Accounting firms join with other businesses （e.g., consulting and law） to serve clients.
Entrepreneurs exhibit many different behaviors; searching for a specific personality pattern is very difficult. Some entrepreneurs are quiet, introverted, and analytical. On the other hand, some are brash, extroverted, and very emotional. Many of them share some qualities. Viewing change as the norm, entrepreneurs usually search for it, respond to it, and treat it as an opportunity. An entrepreneur such as Ray Kroc of McDonald's is able to take resources and shift them to meet a need. Making the decision to shift resources works better if a person is creative, experienced, and confident.
41. According to the first paragraph, who can be regarded as an entrepreneur?
[A] The CEO of a big company.
[B] The owner of a profitable restaurant.
[C] A man who started a new kind of business.
[D] A successful salesman.
42. According to the text, the professionals .
[A] are quite different from entrepreneurs even now
[B] were considered to be enterprising and market-centered
[C] were price-conscious
[D] have to advertise themselves in nowadays
43. From the text, we learn that .
[A] an entrepreneur should be very extroverted
[B] an entrepreneur should be quick to seize opportunities
[C] change is not norm in an entrepreneur's eyes
[D] the French economist J.B. Say is the first person who gave the definition of “entrepreneur”
44. The purpose of the author in writing the passage is to .
[A] complete the definition of entrepreneur
[B] tell the readers what is entrepreneur and the main characteristics of entrepreneurs
[C] show what kind of people can become entrepreneurs
[D] illustrate why Ray Kroc can become an entrepreneur
45. What will most possibly follow the text?
[A] An example of how an entrepreneur operates.
[B] Another theory about entrepreneurship.
[C] The bad effects of entrepreneurs.
[D] The good effects of entrepreneurs.
Text 2
St. Paul didn't like it. Moses warned his people against it. Hesiod declared it “mischievious” and “hard to get rid of it,” but Oscar Wilder said, “Gossip is charming.”
“History is merely gossip,” he wrote in one of his famous plays. “But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.”
In times past, under Jewish law, gossipmongers might be fined or flogged. The Puritans put them in stocks or ducking stools, but no punishment seemed to have the desired effect of preventing gossip, which has continued uninterrupted across the back fences of the centuries.
Today, however, the much-maligned human foible is being looked at in a different light. Psychologists, sociologists, philosophers, even evolutionary biologists are concluding that gossip may not be so bad after all.
Gossip is “an intrinsically valuable activity,” philosophy professor Aaron Ben-Ze'ev states in a book he has edited, entitled Good Gossip. For one thing, gossip helps us acquire information that we need to know that doesn't come through ordinary channels, such as: “What was the real reason so-and-so was fired from the office?” Gossip also is a form of social bonding, Dr. Ben-Ze'ev says. It is “a kind of sharing” that also “satisfies the tribal need—namely, the need to belong to and be accepted by a unique group.” What's more, the professor notes, “Gossip is enjoyable.”
Another gossip groupie, Dr. Ronald De Sousa, a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, describes gossip basically as a form of indiscretion and a “saintly virtue”， by which he means that the knowledge spread by gossip will usually end up being slightly beneficial. “It seems likely that a world in which all information were universally available would be preferable to a world where immense power resides in the control of secrets,” he writes.
Still, everybody knows that gossip can have its ill effects, especially on the poor wretch being gossiped about. And people should refrain from certain kinds of gossip that might be harmful, even though the ducking stool is long out of fashion.
By the way, there is also an interesting strain of gossip called medical gossip, which in its best form, according to researchers Jerry M. Suls and Franklin Goodkin, can motivate people with symptoms of serious illness, but who are unaware of it, to seek medical help.
So go ahead and gossip. But remember, if （as often is the case among gossipers） you should suddenly become one of the gossipees instead, it is best to employ the foolproof defense recommended by Plato, who may have learned the lesson from Socrates, who as you know was the victim of gossip spread that he was corrupting the youth of Athens: When men speak ill of thee, so live that nobody will believe them. Or, as Will Rogers said, “Live so that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.”
46. Persons' remarks are mentioned at the beginning of the text to ____.
[A] show the general disapproval of gossip
[B] introduce the topic of gossip
[C] examine gossip from a historical perspective
[D] prove the real value of gossip
47. By “Gossip also is a form of social bonding” （Para. 5）， Professor Aaron Ben-Ze'ev means gossip ____.
[A] is a valuable source of social information
[B] produces a joy that most people in society need
[C] brings people the feel of being part of a group
[D] satisfies people's need of being unusual
48. Which of the following statements is true according to the text?
[A] everyone involved will not benefit from gossip.
[B] philosophers may hold different attitudes toward gossip.
[C] Dr. Ronald De Sousa regards gossips as perfectly advantageous.
[D] people are generally not conscious of the value of medical gossip.
49. We learn from the last paragraph that ____.
[A] gossipers will surely become gossipees someday
[B] Socrates was a typical example of a gossiper becoming a gossipee
[C] Plato escaped being a victim of gossip by no gossiping
[D] an easy way to confront gossip when subjected to it is to live as usual
50. The author's attitude toward “gossip” can be best described as ____.
[A] neutral
[B] positive
[C] negative
[D] indifferent
2012年考研《英语》基础阶段冲刺模拟试题及答案详解(1)—3的延伸阅读——复习英语要讲究技巧
一，重视单词。
从第一天开始复习到考试的前一天，考试大纲词汇就应不离手，因为这是一切的基础。考试大纲是命题专家出题的依据、基础，所以考生一定要重视。背单词时，可以总结同义词、一词多义以及包含“高级”短语的句子，然后跟同桌的研友们对话，或者“厚颜无耻”地主动向他们“炫耀”，同时也坚持参加英语辩论活动，把自己最新积累的词句一一“亮”出，这样考生会感觉记得特别牢固。
二，日积月累。
作为一门语言，充满了繁琐与细节的，想一口吃成大胖子是不太现实的，必须耐心地积累“量变”以求“质变”。学习英语的时间安排也是有规律可循的，如果你一天安排3个小时学英语，那么与其一鼓作气学3个小时倒不如改成上下午各1.5小时。持续学习、及时复习才能收到较为理想的效果。可以参照着名的“艾宾浩斯遗忘曲线”来合理安排时间，最大限度地降低遗忘率，以获得较好的学习效果。
三，研读真题。
历年考研英语全真试题是了解考研水平的最快途径，也是熟悉命题规律的唯一途径。所以要在老师的指导下分阶段复习考研英语真题。找一个安静的环境，先用一周的时间做一套真题，做完后，对自己的错题先看一下怎么错的，错在哪里，能不能解决。剩下的时间要分析题型，也就是看这些题目是属于细节题、推理题，还是主旨大意题……当复习完十年的真题，建议考生放20天左右的时间，重新再做真题，分析自己的做题思路，考前一个月适当做些高质量的模拟题练练手。另外，希望考生真题至少看三遍。第一遍先做，做完之后归纳总结错题的原因。第二遍主要精读文章解决单词句子翻译。第三遍前两遍的内容都要看。
四，增加课外阅读。
课外阅读在考研英语复习中占有重要地位，对提高成绩有很大作用，建议大家订一份《英语世界》杂志，阅读上面的文章，也会有不少收获。如果有条件，看看自己学校图书馆是否有这本书，有的话坚持看，肯定会有收获的！
希望以上的介绍对2013的考研同学有所帮助，另外，大家在学习英语学习方法时，要从自身实际出发，选择真正适合自己的复习方法。 |
