1、公共英语五级-阅读理解(九)及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Section Reading Co(总题数：0，分数：0.00)二、Part A(总题数：0，分数：0.00)三、Text 1(总题数：1，分数：15.00)The striving of countries in Central Europe to enter the European Union may offer an unprecedented chance to the continents Gypsies (or Roman) to be recognized as a nation, albe
2、it one without a defined territory. And if they were to achieve that they might even seek some kind of formal placeat least a total population outnumbers that of many of the Unions present and future countries. Some experts put the figure at 4m-plus; some proponents of Gypsy rights go as high as 15m
3、.Unlike Jews, Gypsies have had no known ancestral land to hark back to. Though their language is related to Hindi, their territorial origins are misty. Romanian peasants held them to be born on the moon. Other Europeans (wrongly) thought them migrant Egyptians, hence the derivative Gypsy. Most proba
4、bly they were itinerant metal workers and entertainers who drifted west from India in the 7th century.However, since communism in Central Europe collapsed a decade ago, the notion of Romanestan as a landless nation founded on Gypsy culture has gained ground. The International Romany Union, which say
5、s it stands for 10m Gypsies in more than 30 countries, is fostering the idea of “self-rallying“. It is trying to promote a standard and written form of the language; it waves a Gypsy flag (green with a wheel) when it lobbies in such places as the United Nations; and in July it held a congress in Pra
6、gue, the Czech capital, where President Vaclav Havel said that Gypsies in his own country and elsewhere should have a better deal.At the congress a Slovak-born lawyer, Emil Scuka, was elected president of the International Tomany Union. Later this month a group of elected Gypsy politicians, includin
7、g members of parliament, mayors and local councilors from all over Europe (OSCE), to discuss how to persuade more Gypsies to get involved in politics.The International Romany Union is probably the most representative of the outfits that speak for Gypsies, but that is not saying a lot. Of the several
8、 hundred delegates who gathered at its congress, few were democratically elected; oddly, none came from Hungary, whose Gypsies are perhaps the worlds best organized, with some 450 Gypsy bodies advising local councils there. The union did, however, announce its ambition to set up a parliament, but ho
9、w it would actually be elected was left undecided.So far, the European Commission is wary of encouraging Gypsies to present themselves as a nation. They might, it is feared, open a Pandoras box already containing Basques, Corsicans and other awkward peoples. Besides, acknowledging Gypsies as a natio
10、n might backfire, just when several countries, particularly Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, are beginning to treat them better, in order to qualify for EU membership. “The EUs whole premise is to overcome differences, not to highlight them,“ says a nervous Eurocrat.But the idea that the Gy
11、psies should win some kind of special recognition as Europes largest continent wide minority, and one with a terrible history of persecution, is catching on. Gypsies have suffered many pogroms over the centuries. In Romania, the country that still has the largest number of them (more than 1m), in th
12、e 19th century they were actually enslaved. Hitler tried to wipe them out, along with the Jews.“Gypsies deserve some space within European structures,“ says Jan Marinus Wiersma, a Dutchman in the European Parliament who suggests that one of the current commissioners should be responsible for Gypsy a
13、ffairs. Some prominent Gypsies say they should be more directly represented, perhaps with a quota in the European Parliament. That, they argue, might give them a boost. There are moves afoot to help them to get money for, among other things, a Gypsy university.One big snag is that Europes Gypsies ar
14、e, in fact, extremely heterogeneous. They belong to many different, and often antagonistic, clans and tribes, with no common language or religion, Their self-proclaimed leaders have often proved quarrelsome and corrupt. Still, says, Dimitrina Petrova, head of the European Roma Rights Center in Budap
15、est, Gypsies shared experience of suffering entitles them to talk of one nation; their potential unity, she says, stems from “being regarded as sub-human by most majorities in Europe“.And they have begun to be a bit more pragmatic. In Slovakia and Bulgaria, for instance, Gypsy political parties are
16、trying to form electoral blocks that could win seats in parliament. In Macedonia, a Gypsy party already has someand even runs a municipality. Nicholas Gheorge, an expert on Gypsy affairs at the OSCE, reckons that, spread over Central Europe, there are now about 20 Gypsy MPS and mayors, 400-odd local
17、 councilors, and a growing number of businessmen and intellectuals.That is far from saying that they have the people or the cash to forge a nation. But, with the Gypsy question on the EUs agenda in Central Europe, they are making ground.（分数：15.00）(1).The Best Title of this passage is _.AGypsies Want
18、 to Form a Nation BAre They a NationCEU Is Afraid of Their Growth DThey Are a Tribe（分数：3.00）A.B.C.D.(2).Where are the most probable Gypsy territory origins?AMost probably they drifted west from India in the 7th century.BThey are scattered everywhere in the world.CProbably, they stemmed from Central
19、Europe.DThey probably came from the International Romany Union.（分数：3.00）A.B.C.D.(3).What does the International Romany lobby for?AIt lobbies for a demand to be accepted by such international organizations as EU and UN.BIt lobbies for a post in any international Romany Union.CIt lobbies for the right
20、 as a nation.DIt lobbies for a place in such international organizations as the EU or UN.（分数：3.00）A.B.C.D.(4).Why is the Europe Commission wary of encouraging Gypsies to present themselves as a nation?AIt may open a Pandoras Box.BEncouragement may lead to some unexpected results.CIt fears that the B
21、asgnes, Corsicans and other nations seeking separation may raise the same demand.DGyspsies demand may highlight the difference in the EU.（分数：3.00）A.B.C.D.(5).The big problem lies in the fact thatAGypsies belong to different and antagonistic clans and tribes without a common language or religionBthei
22、r leaders prove corruptCtheir potential unity stems from “being regarded as sub-human“Dthey are a bit more pragmatic（分数：3.00）A.B.C.D.四、Text 2(总题数：1，分数：15.00)On the 36th day after they had voted, Americans finally learned Wednesday who would be their next president: Governor George W. Bush of Texas.V
23、ice President A1 Gore, his last realistic avenue for legal challenge closed by a U. S. Supreme Court decision late Tuesday, planned to end the contest formally in a televised evening speech of perhaps 10 minutes, advisers said.They said that Senator Joseph Lieberman, his vice presidential running ma
24、te, would first make brief comments. The men would speak from a ceremonial chamber of the Old Executive office Building, to the west of the White House.The dozens of political workers and lawyers who had helped lead Mr. Gores unprecedented fight to claw a come-from-behind electoral victory in the pi
25、votal state of Florida were thanked Wednesday and asked to stand down.“The vice president has directed the recount committee to suspend activities,“ William Daley, the Gore campaign chairman, said in a written statement.Mr. Gore authorized that statement after meeting with his wife, Tipper, and with
26、 top advisers including Mr. Daley.He was expected to telephone Mr. Bush during the day. The Bush campaign kept a low profile and moved gingerly, as if to leave space for Mr. Gore to contemplate his next steps.Yet, at the end of a trying and tumultuous process that had focused world attention on slee
27、pless vote counters across Florida, and on courtrooms from Miami to Tallahassee to Atlanta to Washington the Texas governor was set to become the 43rd U.S. president.The news of Mr. Gores plans followed the longest and most rancorous dispute over a U.S. presidential election in more than a century,
28、one certain to leave scars in a badly divided country.It was a bitter ending for Mr. Gore, who had outpolled Mr. Bush nationwide by some 300,000 votes, but, without Florida, fell short in the Electoral College by 271 votes to 267the narrowest Electoral College victory since the turbulent election of
29、 1876.Mr. Gore was said to be distressed by what he and many Democratic activists felt was a partisan decision from the nations highest court.But at the end of five seemingly endless weeks, during which the physical, legal and constitutional machines of the U. S. election were pressed and sorely tes
30、ted in ways unseen in more than a century, the system finally produced a result, and one most Americans appeared to be willing at lease provisionally to support.The Bush team welcomed the news with an outward show of restraint and aplomb. The governors hopes had risen and fallen so many times since
31、Election night, and the legal warriors of each side suffered through so many dramatic reversals, that there was little energy left for celebration.（分数：15.00）(1).The main idea of this passage is _.ABushs victory in presidential election bore a political taintBthe process of the American presidential
32、electionCthe Supreme Court plays a very important part in the presidential electionDGore is distressed（分数：3.00）A.B.C.D.(2).What does the sentence “as if to leave space for Mr. Gore to contemplate his next step“ mean?ABush hopes Gore to join his administration.BBush hopes Gore to concede defeat and t
33、o support him.CBush hopes Gore to congratulate him.DBush hopes Gore go on fighting with him.（分数：3.00）A.B.C.D.(3).Why couldnt Mr. Gore win the presidential election after, he outpolled Mr. Bush in the popular vote? Because _.Athe American president is decided by the supreme courts decisionBpeople can
34、t directly elect their presidentCthe American president is elected by a slate of presidential electorsDthe people of each state support Mr. Bush（分数：3.00）A.B.C.D.(4).What was the result of the decision of the supreme court?AIt was in fact for the vote recount.BIt had nothing to do with the presidenti
35、al election.CIt decided the fate of the winner.DIt was in essence against the vote recount.（分数：3.00）A.B.C.D.(5).What did the “turbulent election of 1876“ imply?AThe process of presidential election of 2000 was the same as that.BThere were great similarities between the two presidential elections (20
36、00 and 1876).CIt was compared to presidential election of 2000.DIt was given an example.（分数：3.00）A.B.C.D.五、Text 3(总题数：1，分数：15.00)It was the worst tragedy in maritime (航海的) history, six times more deadly than the Titanic.When the German cruise ship Wilhelm Gustloff was hit by torpedoes (鱼雷) fired fro
37、m a Russian submarine in the final winter of World War II, more than 10,000 peoplemostly women, children and old people fleeing the final Red Army push into Nazi Germany were packed aboard. An ice storm had turned the decks into frozen sheets that sent hundreds of families sliding into the sea as th
38、e ship tilted and began to go down. Others desperately tried to put lifeboats down. Some who succeeded fought off those in the water who had the strength to try to claw their way aboard. Most people froze immediately. “Ill never forget the screams,“ says Christa Ntitzmann, 87, one of the 1,200 survi
39、vors. She recalls watching the ship, brightly lit, slipping into its dark graveand into seeming nothingness, rarely mentioned for more than half a century;Now Germanys Nobel Prize-winning author Gtinter Grass has revived the memory of the 9,000 dead, including more than 4,000 childrenwith his latest
40、 novel Crab Walk, published last month. The book, which will be out in English next year, doesnt dwell on the sinking; its heroine is a pregnant young woman who survives the catastrophe only to say later: “Nobody wanted to hear about it, not here in the West (of Germany) and not at all in the East.
41、“ The reason was obvious. As Grass put it in a recent interview with the weekly Die Woche: “Because the crimes we Germans are responsible for were and are so dominant, we didnt have the energy left to tell of our own sufferings. “The long silence about the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff was probabl
42、y unavoidable-and necessary. By unreservedly owning up to their countrys monstrous crimes in the Second World War, Germans have managed to win acceptance abroad, marginalize (使不得势) the neo-Nazis at home and make peace with their neighbors. Todays unified Germany is more prosperous and stable than at
43、 any time in its long, troubled history. For that, a half century of willful forgetting about painful memories like the German Titanic was perhaps a reasonable price to pay. But even the most politically correct Germans believe that they yet now earned the right to discuss the full historical record
44、. Not to equate German suffering with that of its victims, but simply to acknowledge a terrible tragedy.（分数：15.00）(1).Why does the author say the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff was the worst tragedy in maritime history?AIt was attacked by Russian torpedoes.BMost of its passengers were frozen to dea
45、th.CIts victims were mostly women and children.DIt caused the largest number of casualties.（分数：3.00）A.B.C.D.(2).Hundreds of families dropped into the sea when _.Aa strong ice storm tilted the shipBthe cruise ship sank all of a suddenCthe badly damaged ship leaned toward one sideDthe frightened passe
46、ngers fought desperately for lifeboats（分数：3.00）A.B.C.D.(3).The Wilhelm Gustloff tragedy was little talked about for more than half a century because Germans _.Awere eager to win international acceptanceBfelt guilty for their crimes in World War IIChad been pressured to keep silent about itDwere afra
47、id of offending their neighbors（分数：3.00）A.B.C.D.(4).How does Gunter Grass revive the memory of the Wilhelm Gustloff tragedy?ABy presenting the horrible scene of the torpedo attack.BBy describing the ships sinking in great detail.CBy giving an interview to the weekly Die Woche.DBy depicting the survi
48、val of a young pregnant woman.（分数：3.00）A.B.C.D.(5).It can be learned from the passage that Germans no longer think that _.Athey will be misunderstood if they talk about the Wilhelm Gustloff tragedyBthe Wilhelm Gustloff tragedy is a reasonable price to pay for the nations past misdeedsCGermany is res
49、ponsible for the horrible crimes it committed in World War IIDit is wrong to equate their sufferings with those of other countries（分数：3.00）A.B.C.D.六、Part B(总题数：1，分数：15.00)The press is constantly reminding us that the dramatic increase in the age of our population over the next 30 or so years will cause national healthcare systems to collapse, economies to crumple under the strain of pension demands and disintegrating families to buckle under increasing care commitments
