[外语类试卷]2008年中国传媒大学考博英语真题试卷及答案与解析.doc

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1、2008年中国传媒大学考博英语真题试卷及答案与解析 一、 Reading Comprehension 0 Pundits who want to sound judicious are fond of warning against generalizing. Each country is different, they say, and no one story fits all of Asia. This is, of course, silly: all of these economies plunged into economic crisis within a few month

2、s of each other, so they must have had something in common. In fact, the logic of catastrophe was pretty much the same in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and South Korea. (Japan is a very different story.) In each case investors-mainly, but not entirely, foreign banks who had made short-term loans-all

3、 tried to pull their money out at the same time. The result was a combined banking and currency crisis: a banking crisis because on bank can convert all its assets into cash on short notice; a currency crisis because panicked investors were trying not only to convert long-term assets into cash, but

4、to convert baht or rupiah into dollars. In the face of the stampede, governments had no good options. If they let their currencies plunge inflation would soar and companies that had borrowed in dollars would go bankrupt; if they tried to support their currencies by pushing up interest rates, the sam

5、e firms would probably go bust from the combination of debt burden and recession. In practice, countries split difference-and paid a heavy price regardless. Was the crisis a punishment for bad economic management? Like most clichs, the catchphrase “crony capitalism“ has prospered because it gets at

6、something real: excessively cozy relationships between government and business really did lead to a lot of bad investments. The still primitive financial structure of Asian business also made the economies peculiarly vulnerable to a loss of confidence. But the punishment was surely disproportionate

7、to the crime, and many investments that look foolish in retrospect seemed sensible at the time. Given that there were no good policy options, was the policy response mainly on the fight track? There was frantic blame-shifting when everything in Asia seemed to be going wrong: now there is a race to c

8、laim credit when some things have started to go right The IMF points to Koreas recovery-and more generally to the fact that the sky didnt fall after all-a s proof that its policy recommendations were right Never mind that other IMF clients have done far worse, and that the economy of Malaysia-which

9、refused IMF help, and horrified respectable opinion by imposing capital controls-also seems to be on the mend. Malaysias prime Minister, by contrast, claims full credit for any good news-even though neighbouring economies also seem to have bottomed out. The truth is that an observer without any ax t

10、o grind would probably conclude that none of the policies adopted either on or in defiance of the IMFs advice made much difference either way. Budget policies, interest rate policies, banking reform-whatever countries tried, just about all the capital that could flee, did. And when there was no mere

11、 money to run, the natural recuperative powers of the economies finally began to prevail. At best, the money doctors who purported to offer cures provided a helpful bedside manner, at worst, they were like medieval physicians who prescribed bleeding as a remedy for all ills. Will the patients stage

12、a full recovery? It depends on exactly what you mean by “full“. South Koreas industrial production is already above its pre-crisis level; but in the spring of 1997 anyone who had predicted zero growth in Korean industry over the next two years would have been regarded as a reckless doomsayer. So if

13、by recovery you mean not just a return to growth, but one that brings the regions performance back to something like what people used to regard as the Asian norm, they have a long way to go. 1 According to the passage, which of the following is NOT the writers opinion? （ A） Countries paid a heavy pr

14、ice for whichever measure taken. （ B） Countries all found themselves in an economic dilemma （ C） Withdrawal of foreign capital resulted in the crisis. （ D） Most governments chose one of the two options. 2 The writer thinks that those Asian countries_. （ A） well deserved the punishment （ B） invested

15、in a senseless way at the time （ C） were unduly punished in the crisis （ D） had bad relationships between government and business 3 In this passage, IMF is the abbreviation of_. （ A） International Marketing Federation （ B） International Metalworkers Federation （ C） International Monetary Fund （ D） I

16、nternational Manufacture Foundation 4 It can be inferred from the passage that IMF policy recommendations_. （ A） were far from a panacea in all cases （ B） were feasible in their recipient countries （ C） failed to word in their recipient countries （ D） were rejected unanimously by Asian countries 5 A

17、t the end of the passage, the writer seems to think that a full recovery of the Asian economy is_. （ A） due （ B） remote （ C） imaginative （ D） unpredictable 5 Among the most powerful engines of modern economic growth have been technological changes that raise output relative to inputs. But compared w

18、ith those of the nineteenth century, technological changes remained minor and sporadic in the colonial period. It preceded the era of the cotton gin, steam power, and the many metallurgical advances that vastly increased the tools available to workers. In iron production, learning by doing and adapt

19、ing remained the key source of labor and fuel saving in the late colonial period-learning to reduce the fuel input to minimal levels saved on labor needed to gather charcoal and work the forges. Technology remained static and forged sizes constant, however. The evidence in agriculture also indicates

20、 no significant leaps in technology-old ways prevailed and farming was typically stable and uniform. In shipping, the same conclusion is reached. This period preceded the era of iron ships and steam, and both ship material and the power source of ships remained unchanged. Even increasingly complex s

21、ails and rigs and the alterations of hull shapes failed to increase ship speed and, in any case, did not represent fundamental advances in knowledge. As a matter of fact, during the early 17th century, Dutch shipping had already displayed many of the essential characteristics of design, manning, and

22、 other input requirements that were found on the most advanced vessels in the western Atlantic in the 1760s and 1770s. The Dutch first introduced the flyboat, or flute, a specialized merchant vessel designed go carry bulk commodities. The flyboat was exceptionally long compared with its width, had a

23、 flat bottom, and was lightly built In addition its rig was simple, and its crew size was small. In contrast, English and colonial vessels were built, gunned, and manned more heavily to meet the dual purpose of trade and defense. Their solid construction and armaments were costly-not only in materia

24、ls but in manpower. Larger crews were needed to handle the more complex riggings on these vessels as well as their guns. It became evident that the flyboat could be used advantageously in certain bulk trades where the danger of piracy was low. However, in the rich but dangerous trades into the Medit

25、erranean and the West Indies, more costly ships were required. In general, high risks in all colonial waters led to one of the most notable features of 17th century shipping? -the widespread use of cannons and armaments on trading vessels. Such characteristics were still observed in certain waters t

26、hroughout much of the 18 th century. Until a-round 1750 in the Caribbean, especially near Jamaica, vessels weighing more than 100 tons were almost always armed and even small vessels usually carried some guns. Privateering also added to the disorder. As a common practice, nation-states often gave pr

27、ivate citizens license to harass the ships of rivals states. These privateering commissions or “letters of marque“ were issued without constraint in wartime, and even in peacetime they were occasionally given to citizens who had suffered losses due to the actions of subjects from an offending state.

28、 Since privateers frequently ignored the constraints of their commissions, privateering was often difficult to distinguish from common piracy. Other government policies also tended to aggravate existing sea hazards. Adding to the supply of privateer and pirates, some of the island were deliberately

29、peopled with convicts. Of course, piracy was not confined to the Caribbean. Pirates lurked safely in the inlets of North Carolina, from which they regularly raided vessels trading at Charleston. In 1718 it was exclaimed that “every month brought intelligence of renewed outrages of vessels sacked on

30、the high seas, burned with their cargo, or seized and converted to the nefarious uses of the outlaws. “ Local traders, shippers, and government officials in the Carolinas repeatedly solicited the Board of Trade for protection. In desperation, Carolinas Assembly appropriated funds in 1719 to support

31、private vessels in the hope of driving the pirates from their seas. These pleas and protective actions were mostly in vain, but finally, as the benefits of assuring safe trade lanes rose relative to the costs of eliminating piracy, the Royal Navy took action. By the early 1740s, piracy had been elim

32、inated from the western Atlantic. The fall of piracy was paralleled by the elimination of ship armaments and the reduction of crew sizes. As such, this was a process of technical diffusion. Without piracy, specialized cargo-carrying vessels similar to the flyboat were designed, thereby substantially

33、 reducing the costs of shipping. 6 Which of the following adjectives does NOT describe technological changes in the colonial period? （ A） Irregular. （ B） Inactive. （ C） Flourishing. （ D） Small-scaled. 7 It can be inferred from the fourth paragraph that in the mid-18th century_. （ A） pirates frequent

34、ly attacked ships sailing along the Caribbean. （ B） besides trading vessels, others ships were also equipped with guns. （ C） it was mores dangerous to trade in the Mediterranean. （ D） the flyboat was often used in the Caribbean. 8 In the colonial period, it was difficult to tell privateering from pi

35、racy because those with private citizen license_. （ A） attacked every ship they saw. （ B） didnt observe the restrictions （ C） were attacked by other states. （ D） cooperated with pirates. 9 One thing that people did to fight against pirates is that_. （ A） they appealed to some organizations for aid.

36、（ B） they financed private ship to combat pirates. （ C） they mobilized more peoples in all walks of like. （ D） they bid a high price for the elimination of pirates. 10 The best title for the passage is_. （ A） Technological change. （ B） Pirates, Vessels and Technological Change. （ C） Pirates and Vess

37、els. （ D） The Historical Development of Vessels. 10 Human beings have never before had such a bad press. By all reports, we are unable to get anything right these days, and there seems to be almost nothing good to say for ourselves. In just the past century we have increased our population threefold

38、 and will double it before the next has run out We have swarmed over the open face of the earth, occupies every available acre of livable space, displaced numberless other creatures from their accustomed niches, caused one extinction after another-with ore to come-and polluted all our waterway and e

39、ven parts of the oceans. Now, in our efforts to make energy and keep warm, we appear to be witlessly altering the earths climate by inserting too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere; if we do not pull up short, we will produce a new greenhouse around the planet, melting the Antarctic ice shelf a

40、nd swamping all coastlines. Not to mention what we are doing to each other, and what we are thinking seriously of doing in the years just ahead with the most remarkable toy ever made by man, the thermonuclear bomb. Our capacity for folly has never been matched by any other species. The long record o

41、f evolution instructs us that the way other creatures get along in nature is to accommodate, to fit in, to give a little whenever they take a little. The rest of life does this all the time, setting up symbiotic arrangement whenever the possibility comes into view. Except for us, the life an intrica

42、te system, even, all see it, organism. An embryo may be conceived, as each one of us was first brought to life, as a single successful cell. I have no memory of ever having been a single cell, 70years age. But I was, and whenever I think of it, at the sheer luck. But the thought that the whole biosp

43、here-all that conjoining life, all 10 million or whatever the number is (a still incalculable number) of what we call species of living things-had its collective beginning as a single, solitary cell, 3.5 or so billion years ago, sweep me off my feet Our deepest folly is the notion that we are in cha

44、rge of the place, that we own it and can somehow run it We are beginning to treat the earth as a sort of domesticated household pet, living in an environment invented by us, part kitchen garden, part park, household pet, living in an environment invented by us, part kitchen garden, part park, part z

45、oo. It is an idea we must rid ourselves of soon, for it is not so. It is the other way around. We are not separate beings. We are a living part of the earths life, owned and operated by the earth, probably specialized for functions on its behalf that we have not yet glimpsed. Conceivably, and this i

46、s the best thought I have about us, we might turn out to be a sort of sense-organ for the whole creature, a set of eyes, even a storage place for thought Perhaps, if we continue our own embryo-logic development as a species, it will be our privilege to carry seeds of life to other parts of the galax

47、y. But right now, we have a lot to learn. One of our troubles may be that we still so new and so young. In the way evolution clocks time, we arrived on the scene only a moment age, down from the trees and puzzling over our appeasing thumbs, wondering what we are supposed to do with the flabbergastin

48、g gift of language and metaphor. Our very juvenility could account for the ways in which we fumble, drop things, get thing wrong. I like this thought, even though the historians might prefer to put it otherwise. They might say, some of them do say, that we have been at it thousands of years, trying

49、out one failed culture after another, folly after folly, and now we are about to run out our string. As a biologist, I do not agree. I say that a few thousand years is hardly enough time for a brand-new species to draw breath. Now, with that thought, for the moment anyway, I feel better about us. We have the making of exceedingly useful working parts. We are just new to the task, thats our trouble. Indeed, we are not yet clear in our minds what the ta