考研英語(yǔ)閱讀理解思路透析和真題揭秘(23)

字號(hào):

1994年P(guān)assage 1
    The American economic system is organized around a basically private-enterprise, market-oriented economy in which consumers largely determine what shall be produced by spending their money in the marketplace for those goods and services that they want most. Private businessmen, striving to make profits, produce these goods and services in competition with other businessmen; and the profit motive, operating under competitive pressures, largely determines how these goods and services are produced. Thus, in the American economic system it is the demand of individual consumers, coupled with the desire of businessmen to maximize profits and the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes, that together determine what shall be produced and how resources are used to produce it.
    An important factor in a market-oriented economy is the mechanism by which consumer demands can be expressed and responded to by producers. In the American economy, this mechanism is provided by a price system, a process in which prices rise and fall in response to relative demands of consumers and supplies offered by seller-producers. If the product is in short supply relative to the demand, the price will be bid up and some consumers will be eliminated from the market. If, on the other hand, producing more of a commodity results in reducing its cost, this will tend to increase the supply offered by seller-producers, which in turn will lower the price and permit more consumers to buy the product. Thus, price is the regulating mechanism in the American economic system.
    The important factor in a private-enterprise economy is that individuals are allowed to own productive resources (private property) , and they are permitted to hire labor, gain control over natural resources, and produce goods and services for sale at a profit. In the American economy, the concept of private property embraces not only the ownership of productive resources but also certain rights, including the right to determine the price of a product or to make a free contract with another private individual.
    51. In Line 11, Para 1, "the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes" means__.
    [A] Americans are never satisfied with their incomes
    [B] Americans tend to overstate their incomes
    [C] Americans want to have their incomes increased
    [D] Americans want to increase the purchasing power of their incomes
    [答案] D
    [解題思路]
    本題詞組來(lái)自于文章第一段的最后一句話"Thus, in the American economic system it is the demand of individual consumers, coupled with the desire of businessmen to maximize profits and the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes, that together determine what shall be produced and how resources are used to produce it"(因此,在美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)體制中,消費(fèi)者個(gè)人的需求,加上商人獲取利潤(rùn)的追求及消費(fèi)者想限度提高購(gòu)買(mǎi)力的愿望三者共同決定應(yīng)該生產(chǎn)什么和如何利用資源來(lái)生產(chǎn)這些產(chǎn)品),從原句中可以看出所謂的"個(gè)人收入化"其實(shí)包含著化收入的購(gòu)買(mǎi)力這層意思,即可以以同樣的收入買(mǎi)到更多的商品。分析出這層意思后顯然只有D選項(xiàng)符合題意,而其他三個(gè)選項(xiàng)都是表面上膚淺的理解。
    [題目譯文]
    在文章第一段第11行中,"個(gè)人對(duì)于收入化的期望"的意思是__。
    [A] 美國(guó)人從來(lái)不滿足于他們的收入
    [B] 美國(guó)人往往過(guò)于強(qiáng)調(diào)他們的收入
    [C] 美國(guó)人想要增加他們的收入
    [D] 美國(guó)人想要提高他們收入的購(gòu)買(mǎi)力  1994年P(guān)assage 2
    One hundred and thirteen million Americans have at least one bank-issued credit card. They give their owners automatic credit in stores, restaurants, and hotels, at home, across the country, and even abroad, and they make many banking services available as well. More and more of these credit cards can be read automatically, making it possible to withdraw or deposit money in scattered locations, whether or not the local branch bank is open. For many of us the "cashless society" is not on the horizon-it’s already here.
    While computers offer these conveniences to consumers, they have many advantages for sellers too. Electronic cash registers can do much more than simply ring up sales. They can keep a wide range of records, including who sold what, when, and to whom. This information allows businessmen to keep track of their list of goods by showing which items are being sold and how fast they are moving. Decisions to reorder or return goods to suppliers can then be made. At the same time these computers record which hours are busiest and which employees are the most efficient, allowing personnel and staffing assignments to be made accordingly. And they also identify preferred customers for promotional campaigns. Computers are relied on by manufacturers for similar reasons. Computer-analyzed marketing reports can help to decide which products to emphasize now, which to develop for the future, and which to drop. Computers keep track of goods in stock, of raw materials on hand, and even of the production process itself.
    Numerous other commercial enterprise, from theaters to magazine publishers, from gas and electric utilities to milk processors, bring better and more efficient services to consumers through the use of computers.
    57. The phrase "ring up sales" (Line 3, Para. 2) most probably means "____".
    [A] make an order of goods
    [B] record sales on a cash register
    [C] call the sales manager
    [D] keep track of the goods in stock
    [答案] B
    [解題思路]
    題干中的詞組出現(xiàn)在文章第二段的第二句話 "Electronic cash registers can do much more than simply ring up sales"。文中沒(méi)有直接相關(guān)的指代或解釋信息,但從該句的"registers"和下一個(gè)句子中的"keep records"等信息中可以推測(cè)"ring up"就是"登記"的意思。實(shí)際上第二段的第二、三句話的意思是"電子收銀機(jī)能做的遠(yuǎn)不止記錄銷(xiāo)售額,它們可進(jìn)行各種各樣的記錄,包括誰(shuí)賣(mài)了什么,什么時(shí)候賣(mài)的,賣(mài)給誰(shuí)了等",因此B為正確選項(xiàng)。同時(shí)也可以將其他三個(gè)選項(xiàng)分別代入原句看上下文是否連貫一致,從而可以分別排除三個(gè)選項(xiàng)。
    [題目譯文]
    第二段第三行中的詞組"ring up sales"的意思很可能是____ 。
    [A] 制定貨物訂單
    [B] 在現(xiàn)金簿上紀(jì)錄銷(xiāo)售狀況
    [C] 打電話給銷(xiāo)售經(jīng)理
    [D] 查明儲(chǔ)存的貨物狀況  1994年P(guān)assage 4
    "I have great confidence that by the end of the decade we’ll know in vast detail how cancer cells arise," says microbiologist Robert Weinberg, an expert on cancer. "But," he cautions, "some people have the idea that once one understands the causes, the cure will rapidly follow. Consider Pasteur. He discovered the causes of many kinds of infections, but it was fifty or sixty years before cures were available."
    This year, 50 percent of the 910,000 people who suffer from cancer will survive at least five years. In the year 2000, the National Cancer Institute estimates, that figure will be 75 percent. For some skin cancers, the five-year survival rate is as high as 90 percent. But other survival statistics are still discouraging-----13 percent for lung cancer, and 2 percent for cancer of the pancreas (胰腺).
    With as many as 120 varieties in existence, discovering how cancer works is not easy. The researchers made great progress in the early 1970s, when they discovered that oncogenes, which are cancer-causing genes (基因), are inactive in normal cells. Anything from cosmic rays to radiation to diet may activate a dormant oncogene, but how remains unknown. If several oncogenes are driven into action, the cell, unable to turn them off, becomes cancerous.
    The exact mechanisms involved are still mysterious, but the likelihood that many cancers are initiated at the level of genes suggests that we will never prevent all cancers. "Changes are a normal part of the evolutionary process, " says oncologist William Haywar. Environmental factors can never be totally eliminated; as Hayward points out, "We can’ t prepare a medicine against cosmic rays. "
    The prospects for cure, though still distant, are brighter. "First, we need to understand how the normal cell controls itself. Second, we have to determine whether there are a limited number of genes in cells which are always responsible for at least part of the trouble. If we can understand how cancer works, we can counteract its action. "
    66. The word "dormant" in the third paragraph most probably means__.
    [A] dead
    [B] ever-present
    [C] inactive
    [D] potential
    [答案] C
    [解題思路]
    "dormant"一詞出現(xiàn)在文章第三段的倒數(shù)第二句"Anything from cosmic rays to radiation to diet may activate a dormant oncogene, but how remains unknown"。通過(guò)上下文的"activate"(激活)以及下一句中的"driven into action",這些線索都可以說(shuō)明"dormant"表示的是"inactive"的意思,正確答案為C。"dormant"的意思是"休眠的",原句的意思是"從宇宙射線、輻射到日常飲食,任何東西都可能激活一個(gè)處于靜止?fàn)顟B(tài)的致癌基因,但如何激活的原因卻尚不為人知"。
    [題目譯文]
    第三段中的"dormant"這個(gè)詞語(yǔ)的意思很可能是__。
    [A] 死的
    [B] 經(jīng)常存在的
    [C] 不活躍的
    [D] 潛在的 1994年P(guān)assage 5
    Discoveries in science and technology are thought by "untaught minds" to come in blinding flashes or as the result of dramatic accidents. Sir Alexander Fleming did not, as legend would have it, look at the mold (霉) on a piece of cheese and get the idea for penicillin there and then. He experimented with antibacterial substances for nine years before he made his discovery. Inventions and innovations almost always come out of laborious trial and error. Innovation is like soccer; even the best players miss the goal and have their shots blocked much more frequently than they score.
    The point is that the players who score most are the ones who take most shots at the goal-and so it goes with innovation in any field of activity. The prime difference between innovation and others is one of approach. Everybody gets ideas, but innovators work consciously on theirs, and they follow them through until they prove practicable or otherwise. What ordinary people see as fanciful abstractions, professional innovators see as solid possibilities.
    "Creative thinking may mean simply the realization that there’s no particular virtue in doing things the way they have always been done," wrote Rudolph Flexh, a language authority, this accounts for our reaction to seemingly simple innovations like plastic garbage bags and suitcases on wheels that make life more convenient : "How come nobody thought of that before?" The creative approach begins with the proposition that nothing is as it appears. Innovators will not accept that there is only one way to do anything. Faced with getting from A to B, the average person will automatically set out on the best-known and apparently simplest route. The innovator will search for alternate courses, which may prove easier in the long run and are bound to be more interesting and challenging even if they lead to dead ends.
    Highly creative individuals really do march to a different drummer.
    67. What does the author probably mean by "untaught mind" in the first paragraph?
    [A] A person ignorant of the hard work involved in experimentation.
    [B] A citizen of a society that restricts personal creativity.
    [C] A person who has had no education.
    [D] An individual who often comes up with new ideas by accident.
    [答案] A
    [解題思路]
    文章第一句話指出"Discoveries in science and technology are thought by "untaught minds" to come in blinding flashes or as the result of dramatic accidents",接著下文以Sir Alexander Fleming的例子來(lái)反證第一句話的論點(diǎn)??梢?jiàn)作者認(rèn)為科學(xué)技術(shù)中的新發(fā)現(xiàn)都是辛勤研究和做實(shí)驗(yàn)的結(jié)果,而"untaught mind"對(duì)這些情況不了解,因此正確答案為A。C選項(xiàng)是最這個(gè)詞語(yǔ)的表面意思理解,頗具迷惑性。B和D選項(xiàng)則與原文不符。第一句話的意思為"科學(xué)技術(shù)上的發(fā)明創(chuàng)造被"不知內(nèi)情者"看做靈感的眩目閃現(xiàn)或戲劇性事件的結(jié)果"。
    [題目譯文]
    第一段中作者所說(shuō)的"untaught mind"是什么意思?
    [A] 一個(gè)不懂得實(shí)驗(yàn)過(guò)程中包含了辛勤工作的人
    [B] 在一個(gè)限制個(gè)人創(chuàng)造力的社會(huì)中的人
    [C] 一個(gè)沒(méi)有接受過(guò)教育的人
    [D] 一個(gè)時(shí)不時(shí)偶然地發(fā)現(xiàn)新想法的人