1、MBA联考英语-Reading+B+Part+1 及答案解析(总分:100.00,做题时间:90 分钟)一、判断正误(总题数:5,分数:100.00)Text 1 Migration is usually defined as “permanent or semi-permanent change of residence“. However, our concern is with movement between nations, not with internal migration within nations, although such movements often exceed
2、 international movements in volume. Today, the motives of people who move short distances are very similar to those of international migrants. Students of human migration speak of “push“ and “pull“ factors, which influence an individuals decision to move from one place to another. Push factors are a
3、ssociated with the place of origin. A push factor can be as simple and mild a matter as difficulty in finding a suitable job, or as traumatic as war, or severe famine. Obviously, refugees who leave their homes with guns pointed at their heads are motivated almost entirely by push factors (although p
4、ull factors do influence their choice of destination). Pull factors are those associated with the place of destination. Most often these are economic, such as better job opportunities or the availability of good land to farm. In general, pull factors add up to an apparently better chance for a good
5、life and material well-being than is offered by the place of origin. When there is a choice between several attractive potential destinations, the deciding factor might be a non-economic consideration such as the presence of relatives, friends, or at least fellow countrymen already established in th
6、e new place who are willing to help the newcomers settle in. Besides push and pull factors, there are what the sociologists call “intervening obstacles.“ Even if push and (or) pull factors are very strong they still may be outweighed by intervening obstacles, such as the distance of the move, the tr
7、ouble and cost of moving, the difficulty of entering the new country, and the problems likely to be encountered on arrival. The decision to move is also influenced by “personal factors“ of the potential migrant. The prospect of packing up everything and moving to a new and perhaps very strange envir
8、onment may appear interesting and challenging to an unmarried young man and appallingly difficult to a slightly older man with a wife and small kids. Similarly, the need to learn a new language and customs may excite one person and frighten another. Regardless of why people move, migration of large
9、numbers of people causes conflict. The United States and other western countries have experienced adjustment problems with each new wave of immigrants. It has usually taken several decades for each group to be accepted into the mainstream of society in the host country.(分数:20.00)(1).Today it is foun
10、d that movement between nations often exceed international movements in volume.(分数:4.00)A.B.(2).Employment is a key push factor that migrants may consider in making decision.(分数:4.00)A.B.(3).Among those pull factors, non-economic ones are comparatively the least influential.(分数:4.00)A.B.(4).While mo
11、ving abroad, people wont be troubled with the difficulty of entering the destined country.(分数:4.00)A.B.(5).Each host country may experience similar difficulty of absorbing migrants into the society as a whole.(分数:4.00)A.B.Text 2 They are said to be reluctant to forsake the pleasures of single life.
12、But nothing could be further from the truth; British women are much more attached to marriage than their European counterparts, around 95.1 percent of British women have married at least once by age 49, the highest figure in the European Union. Only 91.2 percent of British men have walked up the ais
13、le by the same age. Meanwhile, the much discussed trend for delaying marriage until later in life-blamed on career women reluctant to have children-may actually reflect a return to the historical norm. The average age of first marriage in Europe 200 years ago was 28, the same as British brides in 19
14、98, according to a paper for the National Family and Parenting Institute, the independent thinktank set up by Jack Straw to advise on family issues. “The public conversation about marriage has often been conducted in an atmosphere fraught with anxiety that can easily tip over into what commentators
15、have described as a moral panic,“ the report, comparing European trends in marriage, adds. “Changes in the marriage rate and in the way people form relationships are part and parcel of a society where change is rapid and individuals feel helpless in the face of new developments; yet it is vital that
16、 these issues can be discussed without blame.“ The paper does not include divorce rates. In 1997 Britain had the highest divorce rate in Europe, although by 1999 the rate had fallen to the level of the late 1980s. Despite much political consternation about the family, the report suggests British att
17、itudes are more socially conservative than those of many EU counterparts. Nine out of 10 couples in Britain living with their children are married, compared to half in Finland. And while cohabiting is becoming the norm for European twentysomethings, “change has happened much more rapidly across the
18、whole of the EU than in the UK“, the report finds. Around a third of British under-thirties live with a partner, but it is closer to half in France and 40 per cent in Germany. “This report is about lets bring a cool head to this debate,“ said Gill Keep, head of policy at the institute. “It is much e
19、asier to take the panic out of the discussion if you look at it in a comparative way; things that you think are destroying your own society are actually common trends and they may not be that destructive.“ She said that despite anxiety over later marriages-the average age of first-time brides rose f
20、rom 23 in the postwar period to 28 for women and 30 for men by 1999-historically this would have seemed normal. Social historian Christina Hardyment said that in the nineteenth century couples would not marry until they could afford to support a household. “Women below the middle classes would alway
21、s work in some capacity, mainly in domestic service, and it made sense to save; people think of kings and queens and nobility being married off at 12 but that was highly unusual,“ she said.(分数:20.00)(1).It is a well-known fact that British women are unwilling to abandon single life for a marriage.(分
22、数:4.00)A.B.(2).British women married at the same age as European women did about two centuries ago.(分数:4.00)A.B.(3).English marriage break-up is not discussed in the paper because of its low rate.(分数:4.00)A.B.(4).It can be concluded that more European youth tend to live together without getting marr
23、ied than their British counterparts.(分数:4.00)A.B.(5).Living pressure was a key factor in marriage decision in the 19th century.(分数:4.00)A.B.Text 3 Its wonderful how everyone agrees (or fears to disagree) that genetic discrimination is a bad thing. Your genes are beyond your control. Why should you b
24、e punished for them? Unfortunately, genetic discrimination is universal, inevitable and, in some ways, essential. Leaving aside the hot issue of intelligence, consider clearly genetic traits such as musical or athletic talent. Practice, practice will get you to Carnegie Hall, but only if youre born
25、on the right bus. The notion of not discriminating on the basis of inborn talent is not even an abstract ideal, the world would be a poorer place if it did not distinguish between me and Yo-Yo Ma in doling out opportunities to be a concert cellist. As we learn more about the human genome, well learn
26、 that more and more of the traits we reward have a genetic component. Martin Luther King said we should all be judged on “the content of our character.“ But if a disposition to hard work or courage or creative imagination turns out to have a large genetic component, should we still judge people base
27、d on these qualities? Then, too, the world discriminates on the basis of clearly genetic traits, such as physical beauty, that are irrelevant in most circumstances. Occasionally, some zealot proposes to ban this kind of discrimination, too. But it will never happen. So what is the limiting principle
28、 on banning genetic discrimination? Where do we stop? Right now, the universal consensus makes a distinction between the results of genetic tests and genetic traits that reveal themselves in some other way. It seems unfair and arbitrary that your fate in life should be determined in any important wa
29、y by what a drop of your blood reveals under a microscope; but logically, there is no difference between this and letting your fate be determined by how tall or musically gifted you are. A Juilliard tryout is, in part, a genetic test. If there were a blood test for musical talent, as there may be so
30、me day, it would do the same thing more efficiently. A blood test might even be fairer than the crude substitutes we use instead to judge and choose among people: It would zero in on the trait we really need to discriminate about and reduce discrimination on the basis of traits that are irrelevant.
31、Some people say the danger is that genetic testing will encourage irrelevant discrimination; employers will overreact and refuse to hire you even though your actual likelihood of getting Alzheimers before your retirement is minuscule. But discriminationby mistake will often bring its own punishment,
32、 like any business misjudgment. The real problem is discrimination that makes perfect sense. A health insurer is not crazy or stupid to want to keep people out of its insurance pool if theyre more likely to get sick. Nor is the company evil to do this if the law allows it. The idea of insurance is t
33、o protect against unpredictable costs. Ignoring predictable costs, when your competitors arent required to do the same, is a recipe for bankruptcy.(分数:20.00)(1).The author holds that genetic discrimination is a part of every day life.(分数:4.00)A.B.(2).Most of the public favor a strict ban against gen
34、etic discrimination by following Martin Luther King.(分数:4.00)A.B.(3).Genetic testing is based on solid scientific evidence that nobody can argue against.(分数:4.00)A.B.(4).If an employee gets Alzheimers, he is likely to be discriminated by his colleagues.(分数:4.00)A.B.(5).It can be concluded that genet
35、ic testing can be used to prevent predictable costs.(分数:4.00)A.B.Text 4 Non-indigenous (non-native) species of plants and animals arrive by way of two general types of pathways. First, species having origins outside the United States may enter the country and become established either as free-living
36、 populations or under human cultivation-for example, in agriculture, horticulture, aquaculture, or as pets. Some cultivated species subsequently escape or are released and also become established as free-living populations. Second, species of either U.S. or foreign origin and already within the Unit
37、ed States may spread to new locales. Pathways of both types include intentional as well as unintentional species transfers. Rates of species movement driven by human transformations of natural environments as well as by human mobility-through commerce, tourism, and travel-greatly exceed natural rate
38、s by comparison. While geographic distributions of species naturally expand or contract over historical time intervals (tens to hundreds of years), species ranges rarely expand thousands of miles or across physical barriers such as oceans or mountains. Habitat modification can create conditions favo
39、rable to the establishment of non-indigenous species. Soil disturbed in construction and agriculture is open for colonization by non-indigenous weeds, which in turn may provide habitats for the non-indigenous insects that evolved with them. Human-generated changes in fire frequency, grazing intensit
40、y, as well as soil stability and nutrient levels similarly facilitate the spread and establishment of non-indigenous plants. When human changes to natural environments span large geographical areas, they effectively create passages for species movement between previously isolated locales. The rapid
41、spread of the Russian wheat aphid to fifteen states in just two years following its 1986 arrival has been attributed in part to the prevalence of alternative host plants that are available when wheat is not. Many of these are non-indigenous grasses recommended for planting on the forty million or mo
42、re acres enrolled in the U.S. Department of Agriculture Conservation Reserve Program. A number of factors perplex quantitative evaluation of the relative importance of various entry pathways. Time lags often occur between establishment of non-indigenous species and their detection, and tracing the p
43、athway for a long-established species is difficult. Experts estimate that non-indigenous weeds are usually detected only after having been in the country for thirty years or having spread to at least ten thousand acres. In addition, federal port inspection, although a major source of information on
44、non-indigenous species pathways, especially for agriculture pests, provides data only when such species enter via closely-examined routes. Finally, some comparisons between pathways defy quantitative analysis-for example, which is more “important“: the entry path of one very harmful species or one b
45、y which many but less harmful species enter the country?(分数:20.00)(1).The first pathway of a foreign species of plants to enter America is independent of human assistance.(分数:4.00)A.B.(2).Human beings play a greater part in species movement than does nature.(分数:4.00)A.B.(3).It usually takes a longer
46、 time for species to expand naturally.(分数:4.00)A.B.(4).Non-indigenous species are not subject to those habitat changes produced by human being.(分数:4.00)A.B.(5).Foreign weeds can be discovered after researchers had observed them for more than thirty years.(分数:4.00)A.B.Text 5 Resistance to the 1954 Un
47、ited States Supreme Court decision terminating segregation placed the schools in the middle of a bitter and sometimes violent dispute. By 1965, when a measure of genuine integration had become a reality in many school districts, the schools again found themselves in the eye of a stormy controversy.
48、This time the question was not which children were going to what schools but what kind of education society should provide for the students; the goal of high academic performance, which had been revived by criticisms and reforms of the 1950s and early 1960s, began to be challenged by demands for mor
49、e liberal and free schooling. Many university and some high-school students from all ethnic groups and classes had been growing more and more frustrated-some of them desperately so-over what they felt was a cruel and senseless war in Vietnam and a cruel, discriminatory, competitive, loveless society at home. They demanded curriculum reform, improved teaching methods, and greater stress and action on such problems as overpopulation, pollution, international strife, deadly weaponry, and discrimination. Pressure for reform came not only from students but also from many educat