1、考博英语-216 及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、BPart Reading (总题数：4，分数：40.00)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.BPassage One/BTh
2、e study of social science is more than the study of the individual social sciences. Although it is tree that to be a good social scientist you must know each of those components, you must also know how they interrelate. By specializing too early, many social scientists can lose sight of the interrel
3、ationships that are so essential to understanding modem problems. Thats why it is necessary to have a course covering all the social sciences. In fact, it would not surprise me if one day a news story, such as the one above should appear.The preceding passage placed you in the future. To understand
4、how and when social science broke up, you must go into the past. Imagine for a moment that youre a student in 1062, in the Italian city of Bologna, site of one of the first major universities in the western world. The university has no buildings. It consists merely of a few professors and students.
5、There is no tuition fee. At the end of a professors lecture, if you like it, you pay. And if you dont like it, the professor finds himself without students and without money. If we go back still earlier, say to Greece in the sixth century B. C. , we can see the philosopher Socrates walking around th
6、e streets of Athens, arguing with his companions. He asks them questions, and then other questions, leading these people to reason the way he wants them to reason (this became known as the Socratic method).Times have changed since then; universities sprang up throughout the world and created college
7、s within the universities. Oxford, one of the first universities, now has thirty colleges associated with it, and the development and formalization of educational institutions has changed the roles of both students and faeuhy. As knowledge accumulated, it became more and more difficult for one perso
8、n to learn, let alone retain it all. In the sixteenth century one could still aspire to know all there was to know, and the definition of the Renaissance man (people were even more sexist then than they are now) was of one who was expected to know about everything.Unfortunately, at least for someone
9、 who wants to know everything, the amount of information continues to grow Uexponentially/U while the size of the brain has grown only slightly. The way to deal with the problem is not to try to know everything about everything. Today we must specialize. That is why social science separated from the
10、 natural sciences and why it, in turn, has been broken down into various subfields, such as anthropology and sociology.（分数：10.00）(1).What is the main idea of this text?（分数：2.00）A.Social science is unified.B.Social science is a newborn science.C.What is social science.D.Specialization in social scien
11、ce is not good.(2).What can we learn from the second paragraph?（分数：2.00）A.Socrates can be regarded as the first social scientist in the western world.B.The universities in Italy have no buildings.C.Socrates created the “Socratic method“.D.Greece is not as civilized as Italy.(3).Why does the author s
12、ay “people were even more sexist then than they are now“?（分数：2.00）A.Because they are so covetous that they want to know all there was to know.B.Because it is the Renaissance “Man“, not Renaissance “Woman“ or “human“.C.Because no woman was formally educated at that time.D.Because all Renaissance men
13、were men.(4).What does the underlined word “exponentially“ mean in the first sentence of the last paragraph ?（分数：2.00）A.Promisingly.B.Continuously.C.Drastically.D.Rapidly.(5).We can infer from the text that _.（分数：2.00）A.social science is a united science, and cannot be divided into subfieldsB.social
14、 science may be further divided into smaller parts as the amount of knowledge and information expandingC.there may be a Renaissance Man in the futureD.the best way to deal with the expansion of information is to know everythingBPassage Two/BTo what extent are the unemployed failing in their duty to
15、society to work, and how far has the State an obligation to ensure that they have work to do?It is by now increasingly recognized that workers may be thrown out of work by industrial forces beyond their control, and that the unemployed are in some sense paying the price of the economic progress of t
16、he rest of the community. But concern with unemployment and the unemployed varies sharply. The issues of duty and responsibility were reopened and revitalized by the unemployment scare of 1971-1972. Rising unemployment and increased sums paid out in benefits to the workless had reawakened controvers
17、ies which had been inactive during most of the period of fuller employment since the war ended the Depression. It looked as though in future there would again be too little work to go round, so there were arguments about how to produce more work, how the available work should be shared out, and who
18、was responsible for unemployment and the unemployed.In 1972 there were critics who said that the States action in allowing unemployment to rise was a faithless act, a breaking of the social contract between society and the worker. Yet in the main any contribution by employers to unemployment such as
19、 lying off workers in order to introduce technological changes and maximize profits tended to be ignored. And it was the unemployed who were accused of failing to honor the social contract, by not fulfilling their duty to society to work. In spite of general concern at the scale to the unemployment
20、statistics, when the unemployed were considered as individuals, they tended to attract scorn and threats of punishment. Their capacities and motivation as workers and their value as members of society became suspect. Of all the myths of the Welfare State, stories of the work shy and borrowers have b
21、een the least well founded on evidence, yet they have proved the most persistent. The unemployed were accused of being responsible for their own workless condition, and doubts were expressed about the States obligation either to provide them with the security of work or to support them through Socia
22、l Security.Underlying the arguments about unemployment and the unemployed is a basic disagreement about the nature and meaning of work in society. To what extent can or should work be regarded as a service, not only performed by the worker for society but also made secure for the worker by the State
23、. and supported if necessary? And apart from cash are there social pressures and satisfactions which cause individuals to seek and keep work, so that the workless need work rather than just cash?（分数：10.00）(1).It is the authors belief that _.（分数：2.00）A.unemployment must lead to inevitable depression
24、of national economyB.the unemployed are the victims of economical and social developmentC.unemployment should be kept under the control of industrial forcesD.the unemployed are not entitled to share the benefits from technological progress(2).What the author proposes to examine is _.（分数：2.00）A.how f
25、ar the unemployed are to blame for their failure in working and how far it is the States faultB.to what extent the State should insist on the unemployed working if they fail to do soC.whether being at work is a social duty which the State should ensure everybody carries outD.whether work should be o
26、bligatory, and if so, whether the State or the individual is responsible for enforced obligation(3).The effect of the 1971-1972 unemployment scare was to _.（分数：2.00）A.make people think for the first time about the problem of the availability of workB.make concern for unemployment and the unemployed
27、varyC.make the subject of unemployment controversial againD.show that there would in future be too little work to go round(4).According to the author, in the 1971-1972 crisis _.（分数：2.00）A.the State and the employers were equally to blame for allowing unemployment to riseB.the unemployed did not fulf
28、ill their social duty to find jobsC.the role played by the employers in creating unemployment was not recognizedD.the state was guilty of breaking the social contract by letting unemployment increase(5).The basic disagreement about the nature and meaning of work in society rests on the problem of wh
29、ether or not _.（分数：2.00）A.the unemployed ought to be supported by society as a wholeB.the state should recognize that people work for more than just moneyC.it is a service to provide people with work rather than cashD.the states duty to provide work is as great as the individuals duty to workBPassag
30、e Three/BSuccessful business tends to continue implementing the ideas that made them successful. But in a rapidly changing world, ideas often become obsolete overnight. What worked in the past wont necessarily work in the future. In order to thrive in the future, you must constantly create new ideas
31、 for every aspect of your business. In fact, you must continually generate new ideas just to keep your head above water. Businesses that arent creative about their future may not survive.Although Bill Gates is the richest, most successful man on the planet, he did not anticipate the Internet. Now he
32、s scrambling to catch up. If Bill Gates can miss a major aspect of his industry, it can happen to you in your industry. Your business needs to continually innovate and create its future. Gates is now constantly worried about the future of Microsoft. Heres what he said in a recent interview in U.S. N
33、ews World Report: “Will we be replaced tomorrow? No. In a very short time frame, Microsoft is an incredibly strong company. But when you look to the two to three-year time frame, I dont think anyone can say with a straight face that any technology company has a guaranteed position. Not Intel, not Mi
34、crosoft, not Compaq, not Dell, take any of your favorites. And thats totally honest. “You may remember that in 1985 the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls were the best-selling toy on the market. But after Coleco Industries introduced their sensational line of dolls they became complacent and didnt create any
35、 new toys worth mentioning. As a result, Coleco went bankrupt in 1988.The most successful businesses survive in the long term because they constantly reassess their situations and reinvest themselves accordingly. The 3M Company has a 15% rule: Employees are encouraged to spend 15% of their time deve
36、loping new ideas on any project they desire. Its no surprise, then, that 3M has been around since 1902.Most businesses are not willing to tear apart last years model of success and build a new one. Heres a familiar analogy to explain why they are lulled into complacency; imagine that your business i
37、s like a pot of lobsters. To cook lobsters, you put them into a pot of warm water and gradually turn up the heat. The lobsters dont realize theyre being cooked because the process is so gradual. As a result, they become complacent and die without a struggle. However, if you throw a lobster into the
38、pot when the water is boiling, it will desperately try to escape. This lobster is not lulled by a slowly changing environment. It realizes instantly that its in a bad environment and takes immediate action to change its status.（分数：10.00）(1).Judging from the context, “to keep your head above water“ (
39、Para. 1) probably means _.（分数：2.00）A.to be drownB.to keep out of financial difficultyC.to keep away from dangerD.to protect you h-ore water(2).Why is Gates now constantly worried about the future of Microsoft?（分数：2.00）A.Because he is the richest, most successful man on the planet.B.Because his compa
40、ny will be replaced tomorrow.C.Because in a very short time frame, Microsoft is an incredibly strong company.D.Because he doesnt think that any technology company has a guaranteed position.(3).Coleco Industries case suggests that _.（分数：2.00）A.the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls were the best selling toy on
41、 the marketB.the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls are sensational line of dollsC.complacency and lack of creation will ultimately ruin a businessD.the most successful businesses survive in the long term(4).According to this passage, the 3M Companys success lies in its _.（分数：2.00）A.constant reassessment of t
42、heir situationsB.reinventionC.15% ruleD.being around since 1902(5).By using the analogy of “throwing a lobster into a pot“, the author tries to imply that _.（分数：2.00）A.some managers are really foolish peopleB.its cruel to cook lobstersC.people are tend to become complacentD.bad environment calls for
43、 immediate actionBPassage Four/BThe study of philosophies should make our own ideas flexible. We are all of us apt to take certain general ideas for granted, and call them common sense. We should learn that other people have held quite different ideas, and that our own have started as very original
44、guesses of philosophers.A scientist is apt to think that all the problems of philosophy will ultimately be solved by science. I think this is true for a great many of the questions on which philosophers still argue. For example, Plato thought that when we saw something, one ray of light came to it f
45、rom the sun, and another from our eyes and that seeing was something like feeling with a stick. We now know that the light comes from the sun, and is reflected into our eyes. We dont know in much detail how the changes in our eyes give rise to sensation. But there is every reason to think that as we
46、 learn more about the physiology of the brain, we shall do so, and that the great philosophical problems about knowledge are going to be pretty fully cleared up.But if our descendants know the answers to these questions and others that perplex us today, there will still be one field of which they do
47、 not know, namely the future. However exact our science; we cannot know it as we know the past. Philosophy may be described as argument about things of which we are ignorant. And where science gives us a hope of knowledge it is often reasonable to suspend judgment. That is one reason why Marx and En
48、gels quite rightly wrote to many philosophical problems that interested their contemporaries.But we have got to prepare for the future, and we cannot do so rationally without some philosophy. Some people say we have only got to do the duties revealed in the past and laid down by religion, and god wi
49、ll look after the future. Others say that the world is a machine and the course of future events is certain, whatever efforts we may make. Marxists say that the future depends on ourselves, even though we are part of the historical process. This philosophical view certainly does inspire people to wry great achievements. Whether it is true or not, it is powerful guide to action.We need a philosophy, then, to help us to tackle the future. Agnosticism easily becomes an excus
