1、专业英语八级-阅读理解(三)及答案解析 (总分：20.00，做题时间：90分钟)一、Text A(总题数：1，分数：5.00)Anyone believing the global economic crisis to be over should have taken a look around Europe this week. Desperate to revive his countrys feeble economy, Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan promised $6 billion worth of savings in a budg
2、et aimed at taming the countrys stubborn deficit. The plan is his second budget this year, and Irelands harshest in decades. In a mini-budget announced a couple of hours earlier, Britains Alistair Darling unveiled his governments latest plan to fix the U.K.s broken economy, including a punitive tax
3、on bankers bonuses, a rise in social security contributions and a cap on public-sector workers pay.In other parts of Europe, things are looking even worse. Shares on the Greek stock market have fallen 9% over the past two days. The parlous state of Greeces public finances has prompted credit-rating
4、agency Fitch to lower the countrys debt rating to BBB+, the lowest in the euro zone, Europes single-currency region. Further blows could follow: rival agencies Moodys and Standard & Poors have threatened similar moves in recent days.Two weeks after Dubai stunned investors by requesting a standstill
5、on $60 billion in liabilities belonging to its main corporate arm, Greeces downgrade is yet more evidence that the economic crisis is far from over. For countries left to fill gaping holes in their public finances exposed by the meltdown, theres plenty of pain still to come.Nowhere more so than Gree
6、ce. Years of debt-fueled consumption and lax fiscal policies have left the country drowning in red ink. National debt is expected to rise to 125% of GDP in 2010, the highest in the euro zone. If you want an example of a political elite that thought membership of the euro zone was a panacea, says Sim
7、on Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform in London, you dont need to look further than Greece. Theyre in very serious trouble.Getting out of it wont be easy. Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, which sets interest rates for the euro zones 16 countries, u
8、rged the country on Monday, Dec. 7, to take courageous steps to tackle the crisis. Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou, part of the socialist government that won power in the country last October, duly pledged to do whatever is required to shore up the countrys finances. Key to the recove
9、ry plan: slashing Greeces budget deficit next year from 12.7%more than four times the level allowed under E.U. rulesto 9.1%.While that has triggered revenue-raising measures like a crackdown on tax evasion, theres little sign of the deep spending cuts the country needs to rebalance its books. Whats
10、more, reviving growth will mean shifting from an economy founded on domestic consumption to one driven by exports. Thats going to be extremely difficult, given that the Greeks have allowed their cost competitiveness within the euro zone to erode massively, says Tilford. Were still seeing big increas
11、es in Greeces wages. Contrast that with Ireland. Since losing its edge in Europerising labor costs helped the countrys share of euro-zone exports fall one-fifth between 2001 and 2008the Irish havent shied from cutting their cloth in recent months. In his budget announced Dec. 9, for instance, Leniha
12、n unleashed deeply unpopular cuts in public-sector pay that look set to trigger strike action. But when it comes to a spending squeeze of their own, says Tilford, the Greeks are a long way from recognizing that they really have no choice. That surely irks the E.U., which is limited in the amount of
13、helpor punishment it can impose on Greece. Allowing the country to default, or to approach to the International Monetary Fund for emergency funds, would deal a huge blow to the credibility of the 11-year-old euro zone. Whatever financial concessions it can offer, therefore, will almost certainly com
14、e with stiff conditions. Greece may have little option but to accept.（分数：5.00）(1).Which of the following is NOT the measure taken to improve UKs economy?（分数：1.00）A.A shift of its economy.B.A severe tax on bankers bonuses.C.A limit on public-sector workers pay.D.A rise in social security contribution
15、s.(2).What does parlous mean in Paragraph 2?（分数：1.00）A.financialB.perilousC.steadyD.reviving(3).What can be inferred from the passage about the E.U.?（分数：1.00）A.It can do nothing to stop the dangerous situation in euro zone.B.It has played a limited role in economic matters in euro zone.C.It has play
16、ed an important role in economic matters in euro zone.D.It has played an important role in keeping its members out of financial crisis.(4).According to the author, which of the following is the key measure to revive Greeces economy?（分数：1.00）A.To punish those who do not pay taxes.B.To control the cou
17、ntrys deficit.C.To increase peoples wages.D.To cut peoples spendin(5).Which of the following is NOT true about Greece?（分数：1.00）A.Its economy is based on exports.B.It is very likely to be the next Dubai.C.Its people have realized their situation.D.Its debt rating is the lowest in the euro zon二、Text B
18、(总题数：1，分数：5.00)Women are getting unhappier, I told my friend Carl.How can you tell? he deadpanned. Its always been whine-whine-whine.Why are we sadder? I persisted.Because you care, he replied with a mock sneer. You have feelings.Oh, that.In the early 70s, breaking out of the domestic cocoon, leavin
19、g their mothers circumscribed lives behind, young women felt exhilarated and bold.But the more women have achieved, the more they seem aggrieved. Did the feminist revolution end up benefiting men more than women?According to the General Social Survey, which has tracked Americans mood since 1972, and
20、 five other major studies around the world, women are getting gloomier and men are getting happier.Before the 70s, there was a gender gap in America in which women felt greater well- being. Now theres a gender gap in which men feel better about their lives.As Arianna Huffington points out in a blog
21、post headlined The Sad, Shocking Truth About How Women Are Feeling: It doesnt matter what their marital status is, how much money they make, whether or not they have children, their ethnic background, or the country they live in. Women around the world are in a funk.(The one exception is black women
22、 in America, who are a bit happier than they were in 1972, but still not as happy as black men.)Marcus Buckingham, a former Gallup researcher who has a new book out called Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently, says that men and women passed each other
23、midpoint on the graph of life.Though women begin their lives more fulfilled than men, as they age, they gradually become less happy, Buckingham writes in his new blog on The Huffington Post, pointing out that this darker view covers feelings about marriage, money and material goods. Men, in contrast
24、, get happier as they get older.Buckingham and other experts dispute the idea that the variance in happiness is caused by women carrying a bigger burden of work at home, the second shift. They say that while women still do more cooking, cleaning and child-caring, the trend lines are moving toward mo
25、re parity, which should make them less stressed.When women stepped into male-dominated realms, they put more demandsand stresson themselves. If they once judged themselves on looks, kids, hubbies, gardens and dinner parties, now they judge themselves on looks, kids, hubbies, gardens, dinner partiesa
26、nd grad school, work, office deadlines and meshing a two-career marriage. Choice is inherently stressful, Buckingham said in an interview. And women are being driven to distraction.One area of extreme distraction is kids. Across the happiness data, the one thing in life that will make you less happy
27、 is having children, said Betsey Stevenson, an assistant professor at Wharton who co-wrote a paper called The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness. Its true whether youre wealthy or poor, if you have kids late or kids early. Yet I know very few people who would tell me they wish they hadnt had kids
28、 or who would tell me they feel their kids were the destroyer of their happiness.The more important things that are crowded into their lives, the less attention women are able to give to each thing.Add this to the fact that women are hormonally more complicated and biologically more vulnerable. Wome
29、n are much harder on themselves than men.They tend to attach to other people more strongly, beat themselves up more when they lose attachments, take things more personally at work and pop far more antidepressants.Women have lives that become increasingly empty, Buckingham said. Theyre doing more and
30、 feeling less.Another daunting thing: America is more youth and looks obsessed than ever, with an array of expensive cosmetic procedures that allow women to be their own Frankenstein Barbies.Men can age in an attractive way while women are expected to replicateand Restylanetheir 20s into their 60s.B
31、uckingham says that greater prosperity has made men happier. And they are also relieved of bearing sole responsibility for their family finances, and no longer have the pressure of having women totally dependent on them.Men also tend to fare better romantically as time wears on. There are more widow
32、s than widowers, and men have an easier time getting younger mates.Stevenson looks on the bright side of the dark trend, suggesting that happiness is beside the point. Were happy to have our newfound abundance of choices, she said, even if those choices end up making us unhappier.A paradox, indeed.（
33、分数：5.00）(1).According to Marcus Buckingham, which of the following is true?（分数：1.00）A.Men are luckier than women.B.Men and women do things differently.C.Men and women have different demands on themselves.D.Men and women meet each other on the halfway of their lif(2).Which of the following is the rea
34、son that women feel unhappy?（分数：1.00）A.Their husbands do little housework.B.They have to do a lot of housework.C.They ask too much from themselves.D.They have to take care of the children.(3).According to Betsey Stevenson, which one can be inferred?（分数：1.00）A.Women wild have no children.B.Women know
35、 that having children make them less happy.C.Women will feel less happy if they cannot afford to support their children.D.Women are doomed to unhappiness because they will definitely have children.(4).What can be inferred from the passage?（分数：1.00）A.The feminist revolution did not improve womens pos
36、ition.B.A woman who has more choices will be less happy.C.Men and women have different roles in society.D.Women are unluckier than men.(5).The purpose in writing the passage is（分数：1.00）A.to explain why men feel happy.B.to ask women not to have children.C.to show women how to live a happy life.D.to a
37、nalyze the causes that make women less happy.三、Text C(总题数：1，分数：5.00)If Najibullah Zazi is everything the FBI says he is, then the Afghan-born Denver airport-shuttle-bus driver represents a new kind of menace for the U.S. His arrest is a double blessing: it may have thwarted a terrorism plot, and it
38、could give counter terrorism officials a goldmine of information on al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the state of the global jihad.It may be weeks before we know if Zazi is indeed a terrorist. Although the FBI believes he and others were plotting to bomb targets in the U.S., Zazi has been charged only with
39、 lying to the authorities. He and his father Mohammed have denied involvement in any terrorism plot. The FBI is working to build a stronger case against the pair, and terrorism-related charges are expected imminently. But if it turns out the FBIs suspicions are accurate, then counter terrorism exper
40、ts will be especially interested in Zazinot least because of his origins.Afghans have not been a major component of the transnational jihadi network, says Kamran Bokhari, director of Middle East analysis at the intelligence firm Stratfor. Afghan jihadis have tended to join the Taliban, which has tra
41、ditionally limited its attentions to Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. But Robert Grenier, a former CIA station chief in Pakistan, believes the Talibans worldview has changed a great deal since the government it ran was overthrown by the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. The Afghan Taliban see themselves
42、quite differently now from 9/11: many of the leaders now see themselves as part of the global jihad, says Grenier, who now heads the consulting firm ERG Partners.So it wouldnt be a surprise if the Taliban decided to mount a plot against targets in the U.S. There are probably people in the Taliban wh
43、o are saying, To get rid of the U.S., its not enough to fight them here, says Lawrence Korb, a national-security expert at the Center for American Progress. After all, he points out, al-Qaedas rationale for attacks on the U.S. was to get us out of Saudi Arabia.Nor is the sentiment restricted to the
44、ranks of the Taliban. Lots of Afghans see the U.S. presence as an occupation, and I can easily see how some of them would be motivated to strike at the U.S. wherever they can, Grenier says. Korb points out that there is a great deal of anger among Afghans over U.S. policies in their country. There a
45、re people who feel we didnt keep our promisesPresident Bush talked of a Marshall Plan for Afghanistan, he says. Some Afghans now wonder if were not just like the Soviets.Its hard to know if the Taliban has been specifically recruiting Afghans for international operations. If Zazi turns out to be lin
46、ked to a terrorism plot, he may be no more than an instrument of opportunity, someone who got in touch with them, who shared their ideology, and whom they thought they could use, says Bokhari.Apart from Zazis Afghan background, counter terrorism experts will be especially keen to know about his asso
47、ciations in Pakistan. The FBI says Zazi has admitted he spent time at an al-Qaeda camp in Pakistan in 2008, receiving training in weapons and explosives. If that is true, then Zazi could be a very valuable source of information on how al-Qaeda trains jihadis now. What U.S. counter terrorism official
48、s know about jihadi training camps is based mostly on intelligence gleaned after al-Qaedas.bases in Afghanistan were overrun in 2001. Relatively little is known about the camps in Pakistan, which are located close to the border with Afghanistan.If Zazi met or trained with terrorists along the Afghan-Pakistan border, any insights we glean could add considerably to our ever expanding base of knowledge on al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups, says a U.S. counter terrorism official. Thats a good thing for us and ver
