专业八级-620及答案解析.doc

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1、专业八级-620 及答案解析(总分：100.10，做题时间：90 分钟)一、READING COMPREHENSIO(总题数：2，分数：100.00)Section A MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS In this section there are several passages followed by fourteen multiple-choice questions. For each multiple-choice question, there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose t

2、he one that you think is the best answer and mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET TWO. Passage One Of all the extraordinary events in the life of John Paul , few can compare with the 21 minutes he spent in a cell in Rome“s Rebibia prison. Just after Christmas, 1983, the pope visited Mehmet Ali Agca, th

3、e man who 30 months earlier had shot him in St. Peter“s Square. He presented Agca with a silver rosary, and something else as well: his forgiveness. It requires a Christ-like forbearance to pardon a would-be assassin, of course. But how many of us are ready to forgive an unfaithful lover or a schemi

4、ng colleague? Persistent unforgiveness is part of human nature, but it appears to work to the detriment not just of our spiritual well-being but our physical health as well. The subject is one of the hottest fields of research in clinical psychology today, with more than 1,200 published studies. It

5、even has its own foundationA Campaign for Forgiveness Researchwhich sponsored a conference last year with papers on topics like “Exploring Gender Differences in Forgiveness.“ Dr. Dean Ornish, America“s all-purpose lifestyle guru, regards forgiveness as the nutrition of the soul, a healthful alternat

6、ive to the anger and vengeance. “In a way,“ Ornish says, “the most selfish thing you can do for yourself is to forgive other people.“ Research suggests that forgiveness works in at least two ways. One is by reducing the stress of the state of unforgiveness, a potent mixture of bitterness, anger, hos

7、tility, hatred, resentment and fear (of being hurt or humiliated again). These have specific physiologic consequencessuch as increased blood pressure and hormonal changeslinked to cardiovascular disease, immune suppression and, possibly, impaired neurological function and memory. One study examined

8、20 individuals in happy relationships, matched with 20 in troubled relationships. The latter had higher baseline levels of cortisol, a hormone associated with impaired immune functionwhich shot up even further when they were asked to think about their relationships. “It happens down the line, but ev

9、ery time you feel unforgiveness, you are more likely to develop a health problem,“ says Everett Worthington, executive director of A Campaign for Forgiveness Research. The other benefit of forgiveness is more subtle; it relates to research showing that people with strong social networksof friends, n

10、eighbors and familytend to be healthier than loners. Someone who nurses grudges and keeps track of every slight is obviously going to shed some relationships over the course of a lifetime. Forgiveness, says Charlotte Van Oyen Witvliet, a researcher at Hope College in Holland, Mich., should be incorp

11、orated into one“s personality, a way of life, not merely a response to specific insults. In fact, forgiveness turns out to be a surprisingly complex process, according to many researchers. Worthington distinguishes what he calls “decisional forgiveness“a commitment to reconcile with the perpetratorf

12、rom the more significant “emotional forgiveness,“ an internal state of acceptance. Forgiveness does not require us to forgo justice, or to make up to people we have every right to despise. Anger has its place in the panoply of human emotions, but it shouldn“t become a way of life. “When I talk about

13、 forgiveness, I mean letting go, not excusing the other person or reconciling with them or condoning the behavior,“ says Ornish. “Just letting go of your own suffering.“ “It“s a process, not a moment,“ says Dr. Edward M. Hallowell, a Harvard psychiatrist and the author of Dare to Forgive . Forgivene

14、ss, he emphasizes, has to be cultivated; it goes against a natural human tendency to seek revenge and the redress of injustice. For that reason, he recommends doing it with helpof friends, a therapist or through prayer. It was from his faith that John Paul drew the strength to forgive Mehmet Agca, s

15、etting (as he no doubt intended) an example for the rest of us. The message is the same whether it“s couched in the language of Christian charity, clinical psychology or the wisdom of Confucius, as quoted by Hallowell: “If you devote your life to seeking revenge, first dig two graves.“ (此文选自 The Was

16、hington Post ) Passage Two Compared with the systems in other industrialized countries, the American unemployment- insurance (UI) scheme pays lower benefits for less time and to a smaller share of the unemployed. In expansions this encourages the jobless to return quickly to workand unemployed Ameri

17、cans do indeed work harder at finding jobs than their European counterparts (see chart). But in recessions, when there is less work to return to, it causes hardship. Like America“s training system, UI is ripe for attention from the incoming Obama administration. Like much of the social safety net, t

18、he current UI system was a product of Franklin Roosevelt“s New Deal. States were prodded to provide benefits in accordance with federal guidelines; in return the federal government paid their administrative costs. But the system has not kept up with changes in America“s labor force. States often req

19、uire beneficiaries to have worked or earned an amount that disqualifies many part-time and low-wage workers. They also disqualify people seeking only part-time workeven though many people now work part-time for family reasons. Benefits typically last for only six months, more than enough time to fin

20、d a new job in normal times but not in recessions. Extended benefits kick in automatically when unemployment reaches certain thresholds, but those thresholds are so high that they are almost never triggered. Congress therefore has to pass special legislation to extend benefits, as it did twice last

21、year, but political wrangling often delays such action. In the week that ended on December 20th, 586,000 workers filed a first claim for unemployment benefits, the largest number for 26 years. Yet such claimants are, in one sense, lucky: typically, 60% of unemployed people don“t qualify for the bene

22、fits at all. Unemployment insurance is one of the economy“s most important automatic stabilisers, helping to maintain household purchasing power when the economy weakens. But that role is impaired by the short duration of benefits and their skimpy level. At just under $300, the average weekly benefi

23、t is less than half the average private-sector wage. Mississippi“s maximum benefit of $230 is not much more than the federal poverty threshold of $200 for an individual. Benefits are low, in part, because they are financed by payroll taxes that states levy on their employers. States don“t like to ra

24、ise such taxes, even when times are good. But that means they lack the funds to pay benefits when times are bad, forcing them to raise other taxes or borrow from the federal government, as some 30 states are now considering. One of the best features of America“s system is “experience rating“: employ

25、ers that frequently lay workers off must pay higher payroll taxes, thereby discouraging such lay-offs. But according to Alan Krueger of Princeton, many states have neutered that feature by charging most employers the lowest tax rate. Several moves are afoot to mend the flaws in the UI system. Under

26、a bill put forward by Jim McDermott, a congressman from Seattle, the government would offer cash incentives to states to expand eligibility to part-time workers and make the benefit formula more generous. A second bill would significantly expand eligibility for the 46-year old Trade Adjustment Assis

27、tance programme, for example by including service-sector workers and providing more generous benefits. Both measures passed the House of Representatives but stalled in the Senate. As a senator, Barack Obama backed both. As president, he might make them reality. (此文选自 The Economist ) Passage Three At

28、 the Hemingway Memorial, just past the Sun Valley Resort, it is quiet. In the background, mountains rise up. There is a curved stone bench, like a tiny amphitheater facing the memorial. I sit for a while and watch the stream swirl around a corner, then look up at Hemingway“s image on the columnold,

29、bearded and balding. My mind runs around this strange, complicated person who seemed in so many ways to embody the American Dream. He was a self-made man, a self-made writer, and a self-made celebrity. He was our prodigal son, and we watched him grow up all over the world, but knew that his heart wa

30、s always here, at home. As the afternoon light fades, I move to a nearby campground and cook dinner. When night comes, the moon is bright and the Milky Way is a wide, pale stripe across the sky. In the north, the big dipper is sinking behind a hill. Next to the campground is Trail Creek, a stream fi

31、lled with rocks that the water rushes over. In the dark, I go down to the stream, sit next to it and let the bubbling stir my thoughts. Moonlight glints off the water. When it gets too cold, I go back to camp to sleep for the night. But on my way, I hear a rustle and shine my light where the sound c

32、ame from. A fox runs past me and its eyes shine in the light. He disappears into the bushes. I stand there. A few seconds later he comes back. The fox stops tentatively, then walks toward me, eyes glowing. He stops again and spins around in three nervous circles. His fur looks gray and black. He is

33、followed by a huge tail. The fox looks at me again and we both stand still for a minute, engaged in some kind of mutual regard. Then he turns into the bushes and disappears. It was his favorite shotgun, and his third try. Things had gone badly for Ernest in his marriage, in his writing and in his mi

34、nd. He had three big books unfinished, perhaps unfinishable: Islands in the Stream, The Garden of Eden , and True at First Light . Of these, biographer Michael Reynolds said, “They were to be his legacy, his most complex undertaking. It was like working a crossword puzzle in three dimensions. All he

35、 needed was time, which, unfortunately, was no longer on his side.“ His account of the Bullfights in Spain, The Dangerous Summer , was more or less finished, as was his memoir of Paris, A Moveable Feast . But they were not published because Hemingway remained unhappy with them. In his last two years

36、 at Ketchum, he worked intermittently on them, sometimes making progress, sometimes not. But things weren“t right in Ernest“s head. Two decades after he first came to Ketchum, he looked like he had aged four decades. At 61, he was a shadow of the man who arrived at Sun Valley with Martha in 1939 to

37、write For Whom the Bell Tolls and with Mary in 1947 to work on Islands in the Stream . He threatened to kill himself, but Mary talked him out of it. A few days later, he tried again, but was stopped by a friend. The next day he flew to the Mayo clinic for his second course of electroshock. Two month

38、s later, he was released from the clinic and drove back to Ketchum with Mary. They arrived on June 30th. Two days later, Ernest Hemingway walked downstairs, put his favorite gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. The shot must have rung out through the valley. At Trail Creek Campground, I wake to

39、the sound of water rushing over rocks. It“s cold and my hands are stiff. But the sky is clear and I watch as the sun drips down the hills like honey. I eat some breakfast, make a cup of coffee, and pack up to leave. On the way out, I stop again at the Hemingway Memorial. On the ground I notice small

40、, wet, paw prints. They had come out of the stream by the memorial, wind through the open area by the bench and go up the path from where I just came. I sit for a while and watch the water swirl in the stream. It is so clear you can see to the bottom. In the distance is the rush of Trail Creek, and

41、just above is the profile of Ernest Hemingway framed against, “the high blue windless sky.“ His head is turned away from where I sit, towards the mountains. The inscription of eulogy Hemingway wrote for another friendtalks about how he loved the trees and hills and sky. It ends: “Now he will be part

42、 of them forever.“ It is a beautiful place to die. (此文选自 Literary Traveler ) Passage Four In the old days, historiansat least some of themwere patriotic and moralistic. No longer. We live in what Andrew Ferguson, in his brilliant new book, Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe“s America , calls “a wise

43、d-up era.“ Now, Ferguson explains, “skepticism about the country, its heroes and its history“ is “a mark of worldliness and sophistication.“ Ferguson is himself a worldly and sophisticated observer of contemporary America. But his guided tour of the often amusing, sometimes bizarre ways we remember

44、Lincoln today leads us gently from being wised-up toward wisdom. Lincoln expected that America would become a nation doubtful about its heroes and its history. In his astonishing address to the Young Men“s Lyceum of Springfield, ., on Jan. 27, 1838, on “the perpetuation of our political institutions

45、“, the 28-year-old Lincoln foresaw the inevitable rise in a modern democracy like ours of skepticism and worldliness. Indeed, he worried about the fate of free institutions in a maturing nation no longer shaped by a youthful, instinctive and mostly healthy patriotism. Such a patriotism is natural in

46、 the early years after a revolutionary struggle for independence. To the generation that experienced the Revolution and the children of that generation, Lincoln explained, the events of the Revolution remained “living history,“ and those Americans retained an emotional attachment to the political in

47、stitutions that had been created. But the living memories of the Revolution and the founding could no longer be counted on. Those memories “were a fortress of strength; but what invading foemen could never do, the silent artillery of time has done; the leveling of its walls.“ So, Lincoln concluded,

48、the once mighty “pillars of the temple of liberty“ that supported our political institutions were gone. Lincoln implored his fellow citizens in 1838 to replace those old pillars with new ones constructed by “reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason.“ He knew that such a recommendationsuch a h

49、opewas problematic. In politics, cold, calculating reason has its limits. In the event, it was Lincoln“s foreboding of trouble, not his hope for renewal, that turned out to be correct. The nation held together for only one more generation. Twenty-three years after Lincoln“s speech, the South seceded, and civil war came. Lincoln managed, of course, in a supreme act of leadership, to win that war, preserve the union and end slavery. He was also able to interpret that war as producing a “new birth of freedom“ explaining its extraordinary sacrifices in a way that provided a ren