1、MBA 联考-英语(二)-2 及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Section Use of Eng(总题数：1，分数：10.00)Have you ever wondered what our future is like? Practically all people (1) a desire to predict their future (2) . Most people seem inclined to (3) this task using causal reasoning. First we (4) recognize that future circum
2、stances are (5) caused or conditioned by present ones. We learn that getting an education will (6) how much money we earn later and that swimming beyond the reef may bring an unhappy (7) with a shark. Second, people also learn that such (8) of cause and effect are probabilistic (可能的) in nature. That
3、 is, the effects occur more often when the causes occur than when the causes are (9) but not always. Thus, students learn that studying hard (10) good grades in most instances, but not every time.Science makes these concepts of causality and probability more (11) and provides techniques for dealing
4、(12) then more accurately than does causal human inquiry. In looking at ordinary human inquiry, we need to (13) between prediction and understanding. Often, even if we dont understand why, we are willing to act (14) the basis of a demonstrated predictive ability. Whatever the primitive drives (15) m
5、otivate human beings, satisfying them depends heavily on the ability to (16) future circumstances. The attempt to predict is often played in a (17) of knowledge and understanding. If you can understand why certain regular patterns (18) , you can predict better than if you simply observe those patter
6、ns. Thus, human inquiry aims (19) answering both “what“ and “why“ question, and we pursue these (20) by observing and figuring out.（分数：10.00）(1).A. exhibit B. exaggerate C. examine D. exceed（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.(2).A. contexts B. circumstances C. inspections D. intuitions（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.(3).A. underest
7、imate B. undermine C. undertake D. undergo（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.(4).A. specially B. particularly C. always D. generally（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.(5).A. somehow B. somebody C. someone D. something（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.(6).A. enact B. affect C. reflect D. inflect（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.(7).A. meeting B. occurrence C. encounter
8、 D. contact（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.(8).A. patterns B. designs C. arrangements D. pictures（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.(9).A. disappointed B. absent C. inadequate D. absolute（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.(10).A. creates B. produces C. loses D. protects（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.(11).A. obscure B. indistinct C. explicit D. explosive（分数：0.50）A
9、.B.C.D.(12).A. for B. at C. in D. with（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.(13).A. distinguish B. distinct C. distort D. distract（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.(14).A. at B. on C. to D. under（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.(15).A. why B. how C. that D. where（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.(16).A. predict B. produce C. pretend D. precede（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.(17).A. c
10、ontent B. contact C. contest D. context（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.(18).A. happen B. occur C. occupy D. incur（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.(19).A. at B. on C. to D. beyond（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.(20).A. purposes B. ambitions C. drives D. goals（分数：0.50）A.B.C.D.二、Section Reading Co(总题数：0，分数：0.00)三、Part A(总题数：0，分数：0.00)四、Text 1(总题数：
11、1，分数：10.00)The standardized educational or psychological tests, which are widely used to aid in selecting, assigning or promoting students, employees and military personnel, have been the target of recent attacks in books, magazines, the daily press, and even in Congress. The target is wrong, for, i
12、n attacking the tests, critics divert attention from the fault that lies with ill-informed or incompetent users. The tests themselves are merely tools. Whether the results will be valuable, meaningless, or even misleading depends partly upon the tool itself but largely upon the user.All informed pre
13、dictions of future performance are based upon some knowledge of relevant past performance. How well the predictions will be validated by hater performance depends upon the amount, reliability and appropriateness of the information used and on the skill and wisdom with which it is interpreted. Anyone
14、 who keeps careful score knows that the information available is always incomplete and that the predictions are always subject to error.Standardized tests should be considered in this context: they provide a quick, objective method of getting some kind of information about what a person has learned,
15、 the skills he has developed, or the kind of person he is. The information so obtained has, qualitatively, the same advantages and shortcomings as other kinds of information. Whether to use tests, other kinds of information, or both in a particular situation depends, therefore, upon the empirical ev
16、idence concerning comparative validity and upon such factors as cost and availability.In general, the tests work most effectively when the traits or qualities to be measured can be most precisely defined (for example, ability to do well in a particular course of training program) and least effective
17、ly when what is to be measured or predicted cannot be well defined, for example, personality or creativity. Properly used, they provide a rapid means of getting comparable information about many people. Sometimes they identify students whose high potential has not been previously recognized.（分数：10.0
18、0）(1).In this passage, the author is primarily concerned with _.A. the necessity of standardized testsB. the validity of standardized testsC. the method used in interpreting the results of standardized testsD. the theoretical grounds of standardized tests（分数：2.00）A.B.C.D.(2).We can infer from the pa
19、ssage that _.A. standardized tests should no longer be usedB. results of standardized tests accurately reflect the abilities of the testeesC. the value of standardized tests lies in their proper interpretationD. special methods must be applied to the result of standardized tests（分数：2.00）A.B.C.D.(3).
20、The word “empirical“ (Line 4, Para 3) most probably means “_“.A. theoretical B. criticalC. indisputable D. experiential（分数：2.00）A.B.C.D.(4).According to the passage, standardized tests work most effectively when _.A. the user knows how to interpret the results in advanceB. the objectives are most cl
21、early definedC. the persons who take the test are intelligent or skillfulD. they measure the traits or qualities of the tests（分数：2.00）A.B.C.D.(5).The authors attitude toward standardized tests could be described as _.A. positive B. criticalC. prejudiced D. indifferent（分数：2.00）A.B.C.D.五、Text 2(总题数：1，
22、分数：10.00)Natural disasters strike rich countries as well as needy ones, but the trail of devastation they leave behind is usually far greater in poor places. Worse, insurance payouts cover a much larger chunk of the costs of recovery in rich countries than in poor ones, where few individuals or comp
23、anies take out disaster cover. Most of the burden of financing reconstruction falls on foreign governments and multilateral agencies. It will be no different in Haiti after the earthquake that struck this month.Developing countries have some options to help them manage the fallout from natural disas
24、ters. The World Bank helped the Mexican government raise $290m in October by placing “catastrophe bonds“, which pay investors generous yields against the loss of their principal in the event that disaster strikes. Until now such bonds have largely been the preserve of rich-country issuers: in 2009 M
25、unich Re estimates that 80% of issuance was to cover risks in America. But Francis Ghesquiere of the World Bank doubts that a country as poor as Haiti, with no experience on international bond markets, will start issuing catastrophe bonds.Risk-sharing mechanisms can enable the poorest nations to poo
26、l their insurance-buying power. Haiti is getting a payout of around $8m from the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility. (CCRIF), which came into being in 2007. The CCRIF has a fund made up of contributions from donors and member countries, which allows it to cover payouts of up to $10m itsel
27、f and has additional capacity of $110m obtained through international reinsurance markets. Payouts are based simply on the severity of the disaster (in Haitis case, the magnitude of the earthquake), and the amount of coverage purchased, and are paid out in two weeks. The money is intended to ensure
28、that lack of cash does not hamper basic government functions.But Pamela Cox, the World Banks vice-president for Latin America and the Caribbean, points out that it is sometimes politically difficult for the government of a poor country to explain why it is spending scarce money on insurance premiums
29、 rather than things that may seem more pressing in normal times. Not every disaster triggers a payout. Haiti purchased significantly more hurricane insurance than earthquake insurance through the CCRIF. And purchasing enough cover to meet the need for funds after something like the Haitian quake wou
30、ld prove prohibitively expensive. Countries as poor as Haiti are far more likely to have their premiums paid by donors, who funded its CCRIF premium of $385,000.（分数：10.00）(1).The suffering of Haiti after the earthquake would be worse than that of rich countries because _.A. the insurance money cover
31、s only a small part of its reconstruction costsB. the insurance payout might be kept by individuals or companiesC. foreign governments cant offer enough help because of financial burdenD. its government might transfer the burden of recovery of multilateral agencies（分数：2.00）A.B.C.D.(2).What does the
32、author imply by “ Until now such bonds have largely been the preserve of rich- country issuers“?A. The catastrophe bonds are mainly reserved by rich countries.B. Only rich countries have the ability to issue the catastrophe bonds.C. Rich countries seldom issue the catastrophe bonds.D. Most of the ca
33、tastrophe bonds are raised in rich countries.（分数：2.00）A.B.C.D.(3).Which of the following statements is NOT true about the CCRIF?A. The sources of its fund are private donations and financing of member countries.B. Its supplemental payouts are attainable from international reinsurance markets.C. The
34、amount of the insurance payout is decided by the seriousness of the natural disaster.D. The government can resume is overall operation with the insurance money after the strike.（分数：2.00）A.B.C.D.(4).What is the obstacle that poor countries might experience in preparing their disaster insurance?A. It
35、is not easy to explain the important items of insurance in normal times.B. The severity of the disaster is not big enough to trigger a payout.C. The insurance premiums are too expensive for poor countries to afford.D. The insurance payout cant meet the need for recovery.（分数：2.00）A.B.C.D.(5).The auth
36、ors attitude towards the insurance facility is _.A. objective B. negativeC. positive D. biased（分数：2.00）A.B.C.D.六、Text 3(总题数：1，分数：10.00)Two decades ago only spies and systems administrators had to worry about passwords. But today you have to enter one even to do humdrum things like turning on your co
37、mputer, downloading an album or buying a book online. No wonder many people use a single, simple password for everything.Analysis of password databases, often stolen from websites, shows that the most common choices include “password“, “123456“ and “abc123“. But using these, or any word that appears
38、 in a dictionary, is insecure. Even changing some letters to numbers (“e“ to “3“, “i“ to “1“ and so forth) does little to reduce the vulnerability of such passwords to an automated “dictionary attack“, because these substitutions are so common. The fundamental problem is that secure passwords tend t
39、o be hard to remember, and memorable passwords tend to be insecure.Weak passwords open the door to fraud, identity theft and breaches of privacy. An analysis by Verizon, an American telecoms firm, found that the biggest reason for successful security breaches was easily guessable passwords. Some vir
40、uses spread by trying common passwords.The solution, say security researchers, is to upgrade the software in peoples heads, by teaching them to choose more secure passwords. One approach is to use passphrases containing unrelated words, such as “correct horse battery staple“, linked by a mental imag
41、e. Passphrases are, on average, several orders of magnitude harder to crack than passwords. But a new study by researchers at the University of Cambridge finds that people tend to choose phrases made up not of unrelated words but of words that already occur together, such as “dead poets society“ . S
42、uch phrases are vulnerable to a dictionary attack based on common phrases taken from the Internet. And many systems limit the length of passwords, making a long phrase impractical.An alternative approach, championed by Bruce Schneier, a security guru, is to turn a sentence into a password, taking th
43、e first letter of each word and substituting numbers and punctuation marks where possible. “Too much food and wine will make you sick“ thus becomes “2mf countries go to war over oil. But the worlds most expensive commodities are worth nothing in the absence of water. Fresh water is essential for lif
44、e, with no substitute. Although mostly unpriced, it is the most valuable stuff in the world.Nature has decided that the supply of water is fixed. Meanwhile demand rises as the worlds population increases and enriches itself Homes, factories and offices are sucking up ever more. But it is the planets
45、 growing need for food that matters most. Farming accounts for 70% of withdrawals.Few of the worlds great rivers that run through grain-growing areas now reach the sea all the year round or, if they do, they do so as a trickle. Less obvious, though even more serious, are the withdrawals from undergr
46、ound, which are hidden from sight but big enough to produce changes in the Earths gravitational field that can be monitored by NASAs satellites in space. Water tables are now falling in many parts of the world, including America, India and China.So far the world has been spared a true water war, and
47、 competition for water can sometimes bring rivals together as well as drive them apart. But since over 60% of the worlds population lives in a river basin shared by two or more countries, the scope for squabbles is plain. Even if acute water shortages were to become widespread in just one countryInd
48、iathey could lead to mass migration and fighting.Although the supply of water cannot be increased, mankind can use what there is betterin four ways. One is through the improvement of storage and delivery, by creating underground reservoirs, replacing leaking pipes, lining earth-bottomed canals, irri
49、gating plants at their roots with just the right amount of water, and so on. A second route focuses on making farming less thirstyfor instance by growing newly bred, perhaps genetically modified, crops that are drought-resistant or higher-yielding. A third way is to invest in technologies to take the salt out of sea water and thus increase supply of the fresh stuff. The fourth is of a different kind: release the market on water-users and let the price mechanism bring supply and demand into balance. And once water is properly priced, tra
