1、武汉大学考博英语-10 及答案解析(总分：79.50，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Part Reading Compr(总题数：5，分数：39.50)Public speaking fills most people with dread. Humiliation is the greatest fear; self- exposure and failing to appeal to the audience come a close second. Women hate it most, since girls are pressurized from an early age to be
2、concerned with appearances of all kinds. Most people have plenty of insecurities, and this seems like a situation that will bring them out. If you were under pressure to be perfect, you are terrified of falling in the most public of ways. Extroverts, on the contrary, will feel less fear before the o
3、rdeal. It does not mean they will necessarily do it better. Some very shy people manage to shine. When I met the British comedian Julian Clary, he was shy and cautious, yet his TV performances are perfect. In fact, personality is not the best predictor of who does it well. Regardless of what you are
4、 like in real life, the key seems to be to act yourself. Actual acting, as in performing the scripted lines of a character other than yourself, does not do the job. While politicians may limit damage by having carefully rehearsed, written scripts to speak from, there is always a hidden awareness amo
5、ng the audience that the words might not be true. Likewise, the incredibly perfect speeches of many American academics are far from natural. You may end up buying their book on the way out, but soon afterwards, it is much like fast food, and you get a nameless sense that you“ve been cheated. Althoug
6、h, as Earl Spencer proved at his sister Princess Diana“s funeral, it is possible both to prepare every word and to act naturally. A script rarely works and it is used to help most speakers. But, being yourself doesn“t work either. If you spoke as if you were in your own kitchen, it would be too auth
7、entic, too unaware of the need to communicate with an audience. I remember going to see British psychiatrist R. D. Laing speak in public. He behaved like a seriously odd person, talking off the top of his head. Although he was talking about madness and he wrote on mental illness, he seemed to be exh
8、ibiting rather than explaining it. The best psychological place from which to speak is an unselfconscious self- consciousness, providing the illusion of being natural. Studies suggest that this state of “flow“, as psychologists call it, is very satisfying.（分数：8.00）(1).Women hate public speaking most
9、 mainly because of _.（分数：2.00）A.their upbringing very early onB.their inability to appeal to the audienceC.their sense of greater public pressureD.their sense of greater humiliation(2).Which of the following is NOT the author“s viewpoint?（分数：2.00）A.Acting like performers spoils the message in a spee
10、chB.Perfection of scripts is necessary in making good impressionsC.Acting naturally means less dependence on the prepared scriptD.There should be a balance between actual acting and acting naturally(3).What is the author“s view on personality?（分数：2.00）A.Personality is the key to success in public sp
11、eakingB.Extroverts are better public speakersC.Introverts have to learn harder to be good speakersD.Factors other than personality ensure better performance(4).In the last paragraph the author recommends that _.（分数：2.00）A.you forget about your nervousnessB.you feel natural and speak naturallyC.you m
12、ay feel nervous, but appear naturallyD.you may imagine yourself to be naturalOver the past decade, American companies have tried hard to find ways to discourage senior managers from feathering their own nests at the expense of their shareholders. The three most popular reforms have been recruiting m
13、ore outside directors in order to make boards more independent, linking bosses“ pay to various performance measures, and giving bosses share options, so that they have the same long-term interests as their shareholders. These reforms have been widely adopted by America“s larger companies, and survey
14、s suggest that many more companies are thinking of following their lead. But have they done any good? Three papers presented at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management in Boston this week suggest not. Start with those independent boards. On the face of it, dismissing the boss“s friends from
15、the board and replacing them with outsiders looks a perfect way to make senior managers more accountable. But that is not the conclusion of a study by Professor James Westphal. Instead, he found that bosses with a boardroom full of outsiders spend much of their time building alliances, doing persona
16、l favors and generally pleasing the outsiders. All too often, these seductions succeed. Mr. Westphal found that, to a remarkable degree, “independent“ boards pursue strategies that are likely to favor senior managers rather than shareholders. Such companies diversify their business, increase the pay
17、 of executives and weaken the link between pay and performance. To assess the impact of performance-related pay, Mr. Westphal asked the bosses of 103 companies with sales of over $1 billion what measurements were used to determine their pay. The measurements varied widely, ranging from sales to earn
18、ings per share. But the researcher“s big discovery was that bosses attend to measures that affect their own incomes and ignore or play down other factors that affect a company“s overall success. In short, bosses are quick to turn every imaginable system of corporate government to their advantage-whi
19、ch is probably why they are the people who are put in charge of things. Here is a paradox for the management theorists: any boss who cannot beat a system designed to keep him under control is probably not worth having.（分数：8.00）(1).What is the purpose of the large companies in recruiting outsiders an
20、d putting them on the board of directors?（分数：2.00）A.To diversify the business of corporationB.To enhance the cooperation between the senior managers and the board directorsC.To introduce effective reforms in business managementD.to protect the interests of the shareholders(2).What does professor Jam
21、es Westphal“s study suggest?（分数：2.00）A.Boardroom reforms have failed to achieve the desired resultB.Outside board directors tend to be more independentC.With a boardroom full of outsiders, senior managers work more conscientiouslyD.Cooperation between senior managers and board directors suffered fro
22、m the reforms(3).Which of the following statements is true?（分数：2.00）A.Corporate executives in general are worth the high pay they receiveB.The income of corporate executives is proportional to the growth of corporate profitsC.Corporate executives tend to take advantage of their position to enrich th
23、emselvesD.The performance of corporate executives affects their own interests more than those of the shareholders(4).How does the author feel about the efforts to control senior executives?（分数：2.00）A.DoubtfulB.OptimisticC.PositiveD.ApprovingStanding on the rim of the Grand Canyon, gazing across this
24、 giant wound in the Earth“s surface, a visitor might assume that the canyon had been caused by some ancient convulsion. In fact the events that produced the canyon, far from being sudden and cataclysmic, simply add up to the slow and orderly process of erosion. Many millions of years ago the Colorad
25、o Plateau in the Grand Canyon area contained 10, 000 more feet of rock than it does today and was relatively level. The additional material consisted of some 14-layered formations of rock. In the Grand Canyon region these layers were largely worn away over the course of millions of years. Approximat
26、ely 65 million years ago the plateau“s flat surface in the Grand Canyon area bulged upward from internal pressure; geologists refer to this bulging action as upwarping; it was followed by a general elevation of the whole Colorado Plateau, a process that is still going on. As the plateau gradually ro
27、se, shallow rivers that meandered across it began to run more swiftly and cut more definite courses. One of these rivers, located east of the upwarp, was the ancestor of the Colorado. Another river system called the Hualapai, flowing west of the upwarp, extended itself eastward by cutting back into
28、the upwarp; it eventually connected with the ancient Colorado and captured its waters. The new river then began to carve out the 277- mile-long trench that eventually became the Grand Canyon. Geologists estimate that this initial cutting action began no earlier than 10 million years go. Since then,
29、the canyon forming has been cumulative. To the corrosive force of the river itself have been added other factors. Heat and cold, rain and snow, along with the varying resistance of the rocks, increase the opportunities for erosion. The canyon walls crumble; the river acquires a cutting tool, tons of
30、 debris, rainfall running off the high plateau creates feeder streams that carve side canyons. Pushing slowly backward into the plateau, the side canyons expose new rocks, and the pattern of erosion continues.（分数：8.00）(1).What does the passage mainly discuss?（分数：2.00）A.Patterns of erosion in differe
31、nt mountain rangesB.Forces that made the Grand CanyonC.The increasing pollution of the Colorado RiverD.The sudden appearance of the Grand Canyon(2).According to the passage, the first phenomenon to contribute to the formation of the Grand Canyon was _.（分数：2.00）A.a series of volcanic eruptionsB.the c
32、ollapse of rock formations in the Colorado PlateauC.a succession of floods from the Hualapai River and what is now the Colorado RiverD.the Earth“s internal pressure lifting the Colorado Plateau region(3).Which of the following conclusions about the Grand Canyon can be drawn from the passage?（分数：2.00
33、）A.Its contours are constantly changingB.It contains approximately 14 million tons of rockC.Its eruptions have increased in recent yearsD.It is being eroded by toxic waste and pollutants(4).The passage would most likely be found in a textbook on which of the following subjects?（分数：2.00）A.AstronomyB.
34、BotanyC.GeologyD.ChemistryThere is extraordinary exposure in the United States to the risks of injury and death from motor vehicle accidents. More than 80 percent of all households own passenger cars or light trucks and each of these is driven an average of more than 11,000 miles each year. Almost o
35、ne-half of fatally injured drivers have a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.1 percent or higher. For the average adult, over five ounces of 80 proof spirits would have to be consumed over a short period of time attain these levels. One third of drivers who have been drinking, but fewer than 4 p
36、ercent of all drivers, demonstrate levels. Although less than 1 percent of drivers with BACs of 0.1 percent or more are involved in fatal crashes, the probability of their involvement is 27 times higher than for those without alcohol in their blood. There are a number of different approaches to redu
37、cing injuries in which intoxication plays a role. Based on the observation that excessive consumption correlates with the total alcohol consumption of a country“s population, it has been suggested that higher taxes on alcohol would reduce both. While the heavier drinkers would be taxed the most, any
38、one who drinks at all would be penalized by this approach. To make drinking and driving a criminal offense is an approach directed only at intoxicated drivers. In some states, the law empowers police to request breath tests of drivers cited for any traffic offense and elevated BAC can be the basis f
39、or arrest. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates, however, that even with increased arrests, there are about 700 violations for every arrest. At this level there is little evidence that laws serve as deterrents to drinking while intoxicated. In Britain, motor vehicle fatalitie
40、s fell 25 percent immediately following implementation of the Road Safety Act in 1967. As the British increasingly recognized that they could drink and not be stopped, the effectiveness declined, although in the ensuing three years the fatality rate seldom reached that observed in the seven years pr
41、ior to the Act. Whether penalties for driving with a high BAC or excessive taxation on consumption of alcoholic beverages will deter the excessive drinkers responsible for most fatalities is unclear. In part, the answer depends on the extent to which those with high BACs involved in crashes are capa
42、ble of controlling their intake in response to economic or penal threat. Therapeutic programs which range from individual and group counseling and psychotherapy to chemotherapy constitute another approach, but they have not diminished the proportion of accidents in which alcohol was a factor. In the
43、 few controlled trials that have been reported there is little evidence that rehabilitation programs for those repeatedly arrested for drunken behavior have reduced either the recidivism or crash rates. Thus far, there is no firm evidence that Alcohol Safety Action Project supported programs, in whi
44、ch rehabilitation measures are requested by the court, have decreased recidivism or crash involvement for clients exposed to them, although knowledge and attitudes have improved. One thing is clear, however: unless we deal with automobile and highway safety and reduce accidents in which alcoholic in
45、toxication plays a role, many will continue to die.（分数：8.00）(1).The author is primarily concerned with _（分数：2.00）A.interpreting the results of surveys on traffic fatalitiesB.reviewing the effectiveness of attempts to curb drunk drivingC.suggesting reasons for the prevalence of drunk driving in the U
46、nited StatesD.analyzing the causes of the large number of annual traffic fatalities(2).It can be inferred that the 1967 Road Safety Act in Britain_（分数：2.00）A.changed an existing law to lower the BAC level which defined driving while intoxicatedB.made it illegal to drive while intoxicatedC.increased
47、the number of drunk driving arrestsD.placed a tax on the sale of alcoholic drinks(3).The author cites the British example in order to_（分数：2.00）A.prove that a slight increase in the number of arrests of intoxicated drivers will not deter drunk drivingB.prove that stricter enforcement of laws against
48、intoxicated drivers would reduce traffic deathsC.show that the problem of drunk driving is worse in Britain that in UD.suggest that taxation of alcohol consumption may be more effective than criminal laws(4).The author“s closing remarks can best be described as_（分数：2.00）A.ironicB.indignantC.indiffer
49、entD.indecisiveThe Commercial Revolution was not confined, of course, to the growth of trade and banking. Included in it also were fundamental changes in methods of production. The system of manufacture developed by the craft guilds in the later Middle Ages was rapidly becoming defunct. The guilds themselves, dominated by the master craftsmen, had grown selfish and exclusive. Membership in them was commonly restricted to a few privileged families. Besides, they were so completely choked by tradition that they were unable to make adjustments to changing con
