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Part Ⅳ Reading Comprehension(Reading in Depth)(25 minutes)
Section A
Directions: In this section, there is a short passage with 5 questions or incomplete statements. Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible words on Answer Sheet 2.
Questions 47 to 51 are based on the following passage.
For most people, shopping is still a matter of wandering down the high street or loading a cart in a shopping mall. Soon, that will change. Electronic commerce is growing fast and will soon bring people more choice. There will, however, be a cost: Protecting the consumer from fraud will be harder. Many governments therefore want to extend high street regulations to the electronic world. But politicians would be wiser to see cyberspace as a basis for a new era of corporate self-regulation.
Consumers in rich countries have grown used to the idea that the government takes responsibility for everything from the stability of the banks to the safety of the drugs, or their rights to refund(退款) when goods are faulty. But governments cannot enforce national laws on businesses whose only presence in their country is on the screen. Other countries have regulators, but the rules of consumer protection differ, as does enforcement. Even where a clear right to compensation exists, the online catalogue customer in Tokyo, say, can hardly go to New York to extract a refund for a dud purchase.
One answer is for governments to cooperate more: to recognize each other's rules. But that requires years of work and volumes of detailed rules. And plenty of countries have rules too fanciful for sober states to accept. There is, however, an alternative. Let the electronic businesses do the "regulation" themselves. They do, after all, have a self-interest in doing so.
In electronic commerce, a reputation for honest dealing will be a valuable competitive asset. Governments, too, may compete to be trusted. For instance, customers ordering medicines online may prefer to buy from the United States because they trust the rigorous screening of the Food and Drug Administration; or they may decide that the FDA's rules are too strict, and buy from Switzerland instead.
Consumers will need to use their judgment. But precisely because the technology is new, electronic shoppers are likely for a while to be a lot more cautious than consumers of the normal sort-and the new technology will also make it easier for them to complain noisily when a company lets them down. In this way, at least, the advent of cyberspace may argue for fewer consumer protection laws, not more.
47. What can people benefit from the fast-growing development of electronic commerce?
_____________________________________________________________________48. When goods are faulty, who do consumers in rich countries tend to think that it is takes responsibility for everything?
_____________________________________________________________________
49. In the author's view, why do businesses place a high premium on honest dealing in the electronic world?
_____________________________________________________________________
50. We can infer from the passage that in licensing new drugs the FDA in the United States is ______________.
51. We can learn from the passage that ______________ are probably more cautious than consumers of the normal sort when buying things.
Section B
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C)and D).You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Questions 52 to 56 are based on the following passage.
Some people say that the study of liberal arts is a useless luxury we can not afford in hard times. Students, they argue, who do not develop salable skills will find it difficult to land a job upon graduation. But there is a problem in speaking of "salable skills". What skills are salable? Right now, skills for making automobiles are not highly salable, but they have been for decades and might be again. Skills are another example of varying salability, as the job market fluctuates. What's more, if one wants to build a curriculum exclusively on what is salable, one will have to make the courses very short and change them very often, in order to keep up with the rapid changes in the job market. But will not the effort be in vain? In very few things can we be sure of future salability, and in a society where people are free to study what they want, and work where they want, and invest as they want, there is no way to keep supply and demand in labor in perfect accord.
A school that devotes itself totally to salable skills, especially in a time of high unemployment, sending young men and women into the world armed with only a narrow range of skills, is also sending lambs into the lion's den. If those people gain nothing more from their studies than supposedly salable skills, and can't make the sale because of changes in the job market, they have been cheated. But if those skills were more than salable, if study gave them a better understanding of the world around them and greater adaptability in a changing world, they have not been cheated. They will find some kind of job soon enough. Flexibility, and ability to change and learn new things, is a valuable skill. People who have learned how to learn can learn outside of school. That is where most of us have learned to do what we do, not in school. Learning to learn is one of the highest liberal skills.
52. From the passage, we can learn that the author is in favor of ____.
A) teaching practical skills that can be sold in the current job market
B) a flexible curriculum that changes with the times
C) a liberal education
D) keeping a balance between the supply and demand in the labor market
53. The word "fluctuate"(Line 5,Para.1) most probably means_______ .
A) remain steady B) change in an irregular way
C) follow a set pattern D) become worse and worse
54. According to the author, who of the following is more likely to get a job in times of high unemployment?
A) A person with the ability to learn by himself.
B) A construction worker.
C) A car repairman.
D) A person with quite a few salable skills.
55. According to the author, in developing a curriculum school should _______.
A) predict the salability of skills in the future job market
B) take the current job market into consideration
C) consider what skills are salable
D) focus on the ability to adapt to changes
56. We can learn from the passage that _______.
A) liberal arts education is being challenged now
B) schools that teach practical skills fare better during hard times
C) extracurricular activities are more important than classroom learning
D) many students feel cheated by the educational system
Passage Two
Questions 57 to 61 are based on the following passage.
Over the past decade, American companies have tried hard to find ways to discourage senior from feathering their own nests at the expense of their shareholders. The three most popular reforms have been recruiting more outside directors in order to make boards more independent, linking bosses' pay to various performance measures, and giving bosses share options, so that they have the same long-term interests as their shareholders.
These reforms have been widely adopted by American's larger companies, and surveys suggest that many more companies are thinking of following their lead. But have they done any good? Three papers presented at the annual meeting of the Academy of Management in Boston this week suggest not. As is usually the case with boardroom tinkering, the consequences have differed from those intended.
Start with those independent boards. On the face of it, dismissing the boss's friends from the board and replacing them with outsiders looks a perfect way to make senior managers more accountable. But that is not the conclusion of a study by Professor James Westphal. Instead, he found that bosses with a boardroom full of outsides spend much of their time building alliances, doing personal favors and generally pleasing the outsiders.
All too often, these seductions succeed. Mr.Westphal found that, to a remarkable degree, "independent" boards pursue strategies that are likely to favor senior managers rather than shareholders. Such companies diversify their business, increase the pay of executives and weaken the link between pay and performance.
To assess the impact of performance related pay, Mr.Westphal asked the bosses of 103 companies with sales of over $1 billion what measurements were used to determine their pay. The measurements varied widely, ranging from sales to earnings per share. But the researcher's big discovery was that bosses attend to measures that affect their own incomes and ignore or play down other factors that affect a company's overall success.
In short, bosses are quick to turn every imaginable system of corporate government to their advantage-which is probably why they are the people who are put in charge of things. Here is a paradox for the management theorists: any boss who cannot beat a system designed to keep him under control is probably not worth having.
57. What is the purpose of the large companies in recruiting outsiders and putting them on the board of directors?
A) To diversify the business of the corporation.
B) To enhance the cooperation between the senior managers and the board directors.
C) To introduce effective reforms in business management.
D) To protect the interests of the shareholders.
58. What does Professor James Westphal's study suggest?
A) Boardroom reforms have failed to achieve the desired result.
B) Outside board directors tend to be more independent.
C) With a boardroom full of outsiders, senior managers work more conscientiously.
D) Cooperation between senior managers and board directors suffered from the reforms.
59. The word "seduction"(Line 1,Para.4) probably means "________ ".
A) efforts to conquer
B) attempts to win over
C) endeavors to increase profits
D) exertions to understand
60. Which of the following statements is true?
A) Corporate executives in general are worth the high pay they receive.
B) The income of corporate executives is proportional to the growth of corporate profits.
C) Corporate executives tend to take advantage of their position to enrich themselves.
D) The performance of corporate executives affects their own interests more than those of the shareholders.
61. How does the author feel about the efforts to control senior executives?
A) Doubtful. B) Optimistic. C) Positive. D) Approving.
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发表于 2016-7-29 08:44:20