1、大学英语六级改革适用（阅读）模拟试卷 219及答案与解析 Section C 0 Nothing succeeds in business books like the study of success. The current business-book boom was launched in 1982 by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman with In Search of Excellence. The trend has continued with a succession of experts and would-be experts who pro
2、mise to distil the essence of excellence into three (or five or seven) simple rules. The Three Rules is a self-conscious contribution to this type of writing; it even includes a bibliography of “success studies“. Michael Raynor and Mumtaz Ahmed work for a consultancy. Deloitte, that is determined to
3、 turn itself into more of a thought-leader and less a corporate repairman. They employ all the tricks of the success books. They insist that their conclusions are “measurable and actionable“ guides to behavior rather than analysis for its own sake. Success authors usually serve up vivid stories abou
4、t how exceptional businesspeople stamped their personalities on a company or rescued it from a life-threatening crisis. Messrs Raynor and Ahmed are happier chewing the numbers: they provide detailed appendices on “calculating the elements of advantage“ and “detailed analysis“. The authors spent five
5、 years studying the behavior of their 344 “ exceptional companies“, only to come up at first with nothing. Every hunch(直觉 ) led to a blind alley and every hypothesis to a dead end. It was only when they shifted their attention from how companies behave to how they think that they began to make sense
6、 of their voluminous material. Management is all about making difficult tradeoffs in conditions that are always uncertain and often fast-changing. But exceptional companies approach these tradeoffs with two simple rules in mind, sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously. First: better before ch
7、eaper. Companies are more likely to succeed in the long run if they compete on quality or performance than on price. Second: revenue before cost. Companies have more to gain in the long run from driving up revenue than by driving down costs. Most success studies suffer from two faults. There is “the
8、 (光环 ) effect“, whereby good performance leads commentators to attribute all manner of virtues to anything and everything the company does. These virtues then suddenly become vices when the company fails. Messrs Raynor and Ahmed work hard to avoid these mistakes by studying large bodies of data over
9、 several decades. But they end up embracing a different error: stating the obvious. Most businesspeople will not be surprised to learn that it is better to find a profitable niche(缝隙市场 ) and focus on boosting your revenues than to compete on price and cut your way to success. The difficult question
10、is how to find that profitable niche and protect it. There, The Three Rules is less useful. 1 What kind of business books are most likely to sell well? （ A） Books on excellence. （ B） Guides to management. （ C） Books on business rules. （ D） Analyses of market trends. 2 What does the author imply abou
11、t books on success so far? （ A） They help businessmen one way or another. （ B） They are written by well-recognized experts. （ C） They more or less fall into the same stereotype. （ D） They are based on analyses of corporate leaders. 3 How does The Three Rules differ from other success books according
12、 to the passage? （ A） It focuses on the behavior of exceptional businessmen. （ B） It bases its detailed analysis on large amounts of data. （ C） It offers practicable advice to businessmen. （ D） It draws conclusions from vivid examples. 4 What does the passage say contributes to the success of except
13、ional companies? （ A） Focus on quality and revenue. （ B） Management and sales promotion. （ C） Lower production costs and competitive prices. （ D） Emphasis on after-sale service and maintenance. 5 What is the authors comment on The Three Rules？ （ A） It can help to locate profitable niches. （ B） It ha
14、s little to offer to businesspeople. （ C） It is noted for its detailed data analysis. （ D） It fails to identify the keys to success. 5 Until recently, the University of Kent prided itself on its friendly image. Not any more. Over the past few months it has been working hard, with the help of media c
15、onsultants, to play down its cosy reputation in favour of something more academic and serious. Kent is not alone in considering an image revamp (翻新 ). Changes to next years funding regime are forcing universities to justify charging students up to 9,000 in fees. Nowadays universities are putting muc
16、h more of a focus on their brands and what their value propositions are. While in the past universities have often focused on student social life and attractions of the university town in recruitment campaigns, they are now concentrating on more tangible (实在的 ) attractions, such as employment prospe
17、cts, engagement with industry, and lecturer contact hours, making clear exactly what students are going to get for their money. The problem for universities is that if those benefits fail to materialise, students notice. That worries Rob Behrens, who deals with student complaints. “Universities need
18、 to be extremely careful in describing whats going to happen to students,“ he says. “As competition is going to get greater for attracting gifted students, there is a danger that universities will go the extra mile.“ One university told prospective engineering students they would be able to design a
19、 car and race it at Brands Hatch, which never happened, he says. Others have promised use of sophisticated equipment that turned out to be broken or unavailable. “If universities spent as much money on handling complaints and appeals appropriately as they spend on marketing, they would do better at
20、keeping students, and in the National Student Survey returns,“ he says. Ongoing research tracking prospective 2012 students suggests that they are not only becoming more sophisticated in thinking about what they want from a university, but are also spending more time researching evidence to back up
21、institutional claims. Hence the growing importance of the student survey. From next September, all institutions will also be expected to publish on their websites key information sets, allowing easier comparison between institutions, between promises and reality, and the types of jobs and salaries g
22、raduates go on to. As a result, it is hardly surprising that universities are beginning to change the way they market themselves. While the best form of marketing for institutions is to be good at what they do, they also need to be clear about how they are different from others. And it is vital that
23、 once an institution claims to be particularly good at something, it must live up to it. The moment you position yourself, you become exposed, and if you fail in that you are in trouble. 6 What was the University of Kent famous for? （ A） Its comfortable campus life. （ B） Its up-to-date course offeri
24、ngs. （ C） Its distinguished teaching staff. （ D） Its diverse academic programmes. 7 What are universities trying to do to attract students? （ A） Improve their learning environment. （ B） Offer more scholarships to the gifted. （ C） Upgrade their campus facilities. （ D） Present a better academic image.
25、 8 What does Rob Behrens suggest universities do in marketing themselves? （ A） Publicise the achievements of their graduates. （ B） Go to extra lengths to cater to students needs. （ C） Refrain from making promises they cannot honour. （ D） Survey the expectations of their prospective students. 9 What
26、is students chief consideration in choosing a university? （ A） Whether it promises the best job prospects. （ B） Whether it is able to deliver what they want. （ C） Whether it ranks high among similar institutions. （ D） Whether it offers opportunities for practical training. 10 What must universities
27、show to win recruitment campaigns? （ A） They are positioned to meet the future needs of society. （ B） They are responsible to students for their growth. （ C） They are ever ready to improve themselves. （ D） They are unique one way or another. 10 It is easy to miss amid the day-to-day headlines of glo
28、bal economic recession, but there is a less conspicuous kind of social upheaval (剧变 ) underway that is fast altering both the face of the planet and the way human beings live. That change is the rapid acceleration of urbanization. In 2008, for the first time in human history, more than half the worl
29、ds population was living in towns and cities. And as a recently published paper shows, the process of urbanization will only accelerate in the decades to come with an enormous impact on biodiversity and potentially on climate change. As Karen Seto, the lead author of the paper, points out, the wave
30、of urbanization isnt just about the migration of people into urban environments, but about the environments themselves becoming bigger to accommodate all those people. The rapid expansion of urban areas will have a huge impact on biodiversity hotspots and on carbon emissions in those urban areas. Hu
31、mans are the ultimate invasive species when they move into new territory, they often displace the wildlife that was already living there. And as land is cleared for those new cities especially in the dense tropical forests carbon will be released into the atmosphere as well. Its true that as people
32、in developing nations move from the countryside to the city, the shift may reduce the pressure on land, which could in turn be good for the environment. This is especially so in desperately poor countries, where residents in the countryside slash and burn forests each growing season to clear, space
33、for farming. But the real difference is that in developing nations, the move from rural areas to cities often leads to an accompanying increase in income and that increase leads to an increase in the consumption of food and energy, which in turn causes a rise in carbon emissions. Getting enough to e
34、at and enjoying the safety and comfort of living fully on the grid is certainly a good thing but it does carry an environmental price. The urbanization wave cant be stopped and it shouldnt be. But Setos paper does underscore the importance of managing that transition. If we do it the right way, we c
35、an reduce urbanizations impact on the environment. “Theres an enormous opportunity here, and a lot of pressure and responsibility to think about how we urbanize,“ says Seto. One thing thats clear is that we cant build cities the way we have over the last couple of hundred years. The scale of this tr
36、ansition wont allow that. Were headed towards an urban planet no matter what, but whether it becomes heaven or hell is up to us. 11 What issue does the author try to draw peoples attention to? （ A） The shrinking biodiversity worldwide. （ B） The rapid increase of world population. （ C） The ongoing gl
37、obal economic recession. （ D） The impact of accelerating urbanization. 12 In what sense are humans the ultimate invasive species? （ A） They are much greedier than other species. （ B） They are a unique species born to conquer. （ C） They force other species out of their territories. （ D） They have an
38、urge to expand their living space. 13 In what way is urbanization in poor countries good for the environment? （ A） More land will be preserved for wildlife. （ B） The pressure on farmland will be lessened. （ C） Carbon emissions will be considerably reduced. （ D） Natural resources will be used more ef
39、fectively. 14 What does the author say about living comfortably in the city? （ A） It incurs a high environmental price. （ B） It brings poverty and insecurity to an end. （ C） It causes a big change in peoples lifestyle. （ D） It narrows the gap between city and country. 15 What can be done to minimize
40、 the negative impact of urbanization according to Seto? （ A） Slowing down the speed of transition. （ B） Innovative use of advanced technology. （ C） Appropriate management of the process. （ D） Enhancing peoples sense of responsibility. 15 When Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg launched the facebook. co
41、m in Feb. 2004, even he could not imagine the forces it would let loose. His intent was to connect college students. Facebook, which is what this website rapidly evolved into, ended up connecting the world. To the children of this connected era, the world is one giant social network. They are not bo
42、und as were previous generations of humans by what they were taught. They are only limited by their curiosity and ambition. During my childhood, all knowledge was local. You learned everything you knew from your parents, teachers, preachers, and friends. With the high-quality and timely information
43、at their fingertips, todays children are rising above the fears and biases of their parents. Adults are also participating in this revolution. Indias normally tame middle class is speaking up against social ills. Silicon Valley executives are being shamed into adding women to their boards. Political
44、 leaders are marshalling the energy of millions for elections and political causes. All of this is being done with social media technologies that Facebook and its competitors set free. As does every advancing technology, social media has created many new problems. It is commonly addictive and create
45、s risks for younger users. Social media is used by extremists in the Middle East and elsewhere to seek and brainwash recruits. And it exposes us and our friends to disagreeable spying. We may leave our lights on in the house when we are on vacation, but through social media we tell criminals exactly
46、 where we are, when we plan to return home, and how to blackmail(敲诈 ) us. Governments dont need informers any more. Social media allows government agencies to spy on their own citizens. We record our thoughts, emotions, likes and dislikes on Facebook; we share our political views, social preferences
47、, and plans. We post intimate photographs of ourselves. No spy agency or criminal organization could actively gather the type of data that we voluntarily post for them. The marketers are also seeing big opportunities. Amazon is trying to predict what we will order. Google is trying to judge our need
48、s and wants based on our social-media profiles. We need to be aware of the risks and keep working to alleviate the dangers. Regardless of what social media people use, one thing is certain: we are in a period of accelerating change. The next decade will be even more amazing and unpredictable than th
49、e last. Just as no one could predict what would happen with social media in the last decade, no one can accurately predict where this technology will take us. I am optimistic, however, that a connected humanity will find a way to uplift itself. 16 What was the purpose of Facebook when it was first created? （ A） To help students connect with the outside world. （ B） To bring university students into closer contact. （ C） To help students learn to live in a connected era. （ D） To combine the world into an integral whole. 17 What difference does social m
