Passage One The relationship between formal education and economic growth in poor countries is widely misunderstood by economists and politicians alike. Progress in both areas is undoubtedly necessary for the social, political and intellectual development of these and all other societies, however, the conventional view that education should be one of the very highest priorities for promoting rapid economic development in poor countries is wrong. We are fortunate that it is, because building new educational systems there and putting enough people through them to improve economic performance would require two or three generations. The findings of a research institution have consistently shown that workers in all countries can be trained on the job to achieve radical higher productivity and, as a result, radically higher standards of living. Ironically, the first evidence for this idea appeared in the United States. Not long ago, with the country entering a recession and Japan at its pre-bubble peak. The U.S. workforce was derided as poorly educated and one of primary cause of the poor U.S. economic performance. Japan was, and remains, the global leader in automotive-assembly productivity. Yet the research revealed that the U.S. factories of Honda, Nissan, and Toyota achieved about 95 percent of the productivity of their Japanese counterparts—a result of the training that U.S. workers received on the job. More recently, while examining housing construction, the researchers discovered that illiterate, non-English-speaking Mexican workers in Houston, Texas, consistently met best-practice labor productivity standards despite the complexity of the building industry's work. What is the real relationship between education and economic development? We have to suspect that continuing economic growth promotes the development of education even when governments don't force it. After all, that's how education got started. When our ancestors were hunters and gatherers 10,000 years ago, they didn't have time to wonder much about anything besides finding food. Only when humanity began to get its food in a more productive way was there time for other things. As education improved, humanity's productivity potential increased as well. When the competitive environment pushed our ancestors to achieve that potential, they could in turn afford more education. This increasingly high level of education is probably a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for the complex political systems required by advanced economic performance. Thus poor countries might not be able to escape their poverty traps without political changes that may be possible only with broader formal education. A lack of formal education, however, doesn't constrain the ability of the developing world's workforce to substantially improve productivity to the forested future. On the contrary, constraints on improving productivity explain why education isn't developing more quickly there than it is.
1. The author holds in paragraph 1 that the important of education in poor countries ______.
2. It is stated in paragraph 1 that construction of a new education system ______.
A.challenges economists and politicians
B.takes efforts of generations
C.demands priority from the government
D.requires sufficient labor force
A B C D
B
[解析] 本题的依据句是文章第1段的第3句:We are fortunate that is it, because new educational systems there and putting enough people through them to improve economic performance would require two of three generations. 从中可知,B项为正确答案。
3. A major difference between the Japanese and U.S. workforces is that ______.
A.the Japanese workforce is better disciplined
B.the Japanese workforce is more productive
C.the U.S. workforce has a better education
D.the U.S. workforce is more organized
A B C D
B
[解析] 本题的依据句是文章第1段的最后1句话:The findings of a research institution have consistently shown that workers in all countries call be trained on the job to achieve radical higher productivity and, as a result, radically higher standards of living. 从中可知,B项为正确答案。
4. The author quotes the example of our ancestors to show that education emerged ______.
5. According to the last paragraph, development of education ______.
A.results directly from competitive environments
B.does not depend on economic performance
C.follows improved productivity
D.cannot afford political changes
A B C D
C
[解析] 本题的依据句是文章第5段的第2句:This increasingly high level of education is probably a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for the complex political systems required by advanced economic performance. 从中可知,C项为正确答案。
Passage Two A little more than a century ago, Michael Faraday, the noted British physicist, managed to gain audience with a group of high government officials, to demonstrate an electro-chemical principle, in the hope of gaining support for his work. After observing the demonstrations closely, one of the officials remarked bluntly, "It's a fascinating demonstration, young man, but just what practical application will come of this?" "I don't know," replied Faraday, "but I do know that 100 years from now you'll be taxing them." From the demonstration of a principle to the marketing of products derived from that principle is often a long way, involved series of steps. The speed and effectiveness with which these steps are taken are closely related to the history of management, the art of getting things done. Just as management applies to the wonders that have evolved from Faraday and other inventors, so it applied some 4,000 years ago to the working of the great Egyptian and Mesopotamian import and export firms...to Hannibal's remarkable feat of crossing the Alps in 218 B.C. with 90,000 foot soldiers, 12,000 horsemen and a "conveyor belt" of 40 elephants...or to the early Christian Church, with its world-shaking concepts of individual freedom and equality. These ancient innovators were deeply involved in the problems of authority, divisions of labor, discipline, unity of command, clarity of direction and the other basic factors that are so meaningful to management today. But the real impetus to management as an emerging profession was the Industrial Revolution. Originating in 18-century England, it was triggered by a series of classic inventions and new processes; among them John Kay's Flying Shuttle in 1733, James Hargrove's Spinning Jenny in 1770, Samuel Compton's Mule Spinner in 1779 and Edmund Cartwright's Power Loom in 1785.
1. The anecdote about Michael Faraday indicates that ______.
A.politicians tax everything
B.people are skeptical about the values of pure research
[解析] 本题的依据是文章第4段的第2句话:are closely related to the history of management, the art of getting things done,从中可知C项为正确答案。
3. Management came into its own ______.
A.in the Egyptian and Mesopotamian import and export firms
B.in Hannibal's famous trip across the Alps
C.in the development of early Christian Church
D.in the eighteenth century
A B C D
D
[解析] 本题的依据是文章最后一段的But the real impetus to management as an emerging profession was the Industrial Revolution,从中可知D项是正确答案。
4. A problem of management NOT mentioned in this passage is ______.
A.the problem of command
B.division of labor
C.control by authority
D.competition
A B C D
D
[解析] 本题的依据是文章最后一段的the problems of authority, divisions of labor, discipline, unity of command, clarity of direction,从中可知,提到了管理学上的政令、分工、权威等因素,但没提到竞争。因此D项为正确答案。
Passage Three Astronaut Jim Voss has enjoyed many memorable moments in his career, including three space flights and one space walk. But he recalls with special fondness a decidedly earthbound (为地球引力所束缚的) experience in the summer of 1980,when he participated in the NASA-ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program. Voss, then a science teacher at West Point, was assigned to the Marshall Space Flight Center's propulsion (推进) lab in Alabama to analyze why a hydraulic fuel pump seal on the space shuttle was working so well when previous seals had failed. It was a seemingly tiny problem among the vast complexities of running the space program. Yet it was important to NASA because any crack in the seals could have led to destructive results for the astronauts who relied on them. "I worked a bit with NASA engineers," says Voss, "but I did it mostly by analysis. I used a handheld calculator, not a computer, to do a thermodynamic (热力学) analysis." At the end of the summer, he, like the other NASA-ASEE fellows working at Marshall, summarized his findings in a formal presentation and detailed paper. It was a valuable moment for Voss because the ASEE program gave him added understanding of NASA, deepened his desire to fly in space, and intensified his application for astronaut status. It was not an easy process. Voss was actually passed over when he first applied for the astronaut program in 1978. Over the next nine years he reapplied repeatedly, and was finally accepted in 1987. Since then he has participated in three space missions. The 50 year-old Army officer, who lives in Houston, is now in training for a four-month mission as a crew member on the International Space Station starting in July 2000. Voss says the ASEE program is wonderful for all involved. "It brings in people from the academic world and gives NASA a special property for a particular period of time. It brings some fresh eyes and fresh ideas to NASA, and establishes a link with our colleges and universities," Voss explains. "There is an exchange of information and an exchange of perspectives that is very important." For the academic side, Voss says, the ASEE program also "brings institutions of higher learning more insight into new technology. We give them an opportunity to work on real-world problems and take it back to the classroom."
1. Why was the hydraulic fuel pump seal important for the space shuttle?
A.Because previous seals all failed.
B.Because it was very complex in running the space program.
C.Because great care has to be taken of the hydraulic fuel pump sealing.
D.Because any crack in the seals would cause disastrous results for the astronauts.
A B C D
D
[解析] 该题的答案见第一段的最后一句:Yet it was important to NASA because any crack in the seals could have led to destructive results for the astronauts who relied on them.(但是,这对美国航空航天局来说很重要,因为密封蜡一旦破裂,将给航天飞机上的宇航员带来灾难性的后果。)句中的it指的是上文提到的Voss在这个项目中的任务,即分析航天飞机上的液体燃料泵这次为什么没出问题,而以前用的为什么出了问题。
2. The great significance of Voss's findings lies in ______. Ⅰ. strengthening his determination to join in space flights Ⅱ. furthering his understanding of NASA Ⅲ. consolidating his astronaut status in NASA programs
A.Ⅰ only
B.Ⅱ only
C.Ⅰ, Ⅱ and Ⅲ all included
D.Ⅰ and Ⅱ only
A B C D
D
[解析] 该题的答案为第二段的最后一句It was a valuable moment for Voss because the ASEE program gave him added understanding of NASA, deepened his desire to fly in space,and intensified his application for astronaut status.这句话很直接地告诉我们因为参与了ASEE项目,Voss加深了对NASA的了解,加强了他参与太空飞行的愿望,使他更想申请做一名宇航员。这与Ⅰ,Ⅱ的含义相符。 该句还传达了另一条信息:Voss当时还不是宇航员,因此还谈不上要“巩固”这一地位,据此我们可以排除Ⅲ。故D项为正确答案。
3. How many flights will Voss have finished if his four-month mission starting in July 2000 ends up successfully?
A.Three.
B.Two.
C.Four.
D.Five.
A B C D
C
[解析] 回答该题应注意问题中的动词时态“将来完成时”,其意思为:如果开始于2000年7月长达4个月的太空项目能顺利结束的话,Voss一共飞行了多少次?根据第三段中Since then he has participated in three space missions.我们得知Voss过去已经完成了三次飞行,故答案应为C项。
4. Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to what Voss said on the ASEE program?
A.Fresh members from the academic world participate in the program.
B.The program brings new outlooks to NASA space programs.
C.It is important for the space scientists to exchange information and perspectives.
D.American colleges and universities are a special property of NASA.
A B C D
D
[解析] 该题的答案见第四段Voss所说的话:It brings in people from the academic world and gives NASA a special property for a particular period of time.文中的it指的就是上文所说的the ASEE program。Voss认为,ASEE项目对所有参与者都有好处,这个项目将学术界的人聚集在一起,在一定时间内,这些人成为NASA的一份特殊的财富。ASEE给予NASA的财富是来自学术界的人,而非American colleges和universities,因此,除了D项之外,选项A、B和C都可以得到印证。
5. What does Voss want to stress in the last paragraph?
Passage Four Every night she listened to her father going around the house, locking the doors and windows. She listened: the back door closed; she could hear the fastener of the kitchen window's click, and the restless pad of his feet going back to try the front door. It wasn't only the outside doors he locked; he locked the empty kitchen too. He was looking something out, but obviously it was something capable of entering into his first defenses. He raised his second line all the way up to bed. In fourteen years, she thought unhappily, the house will be his; he had paid twenty-five pounds down and the rest he was paying month by month as rent. "Of course," he was in the habit of saying, "I've improved the property." "Yes," he repeated, "I've improved the property," looking around for a nail to drive in, a weed to uproot. It was more than a sense of property; it was a sense of honesty. Some people who bought their homes through the society let them go to rack and ruin and then cleared out. She stood with her ear against the wall, a small, dark, angry, immature figure. There was no more to be heard from the other room; but in her inner ear she still heard the footsteps of a property owner, the tap-tap of a hammer, the scrape of a spade, the whistle of radiator steam, a key turning, a bolt pushed home, the little busy sounds of men building barriers. She stood planning.
1. Which of the following is TRUE of the father in the passage?
5. All of the following are true EXCEPT that ______.
A.the father built his defenses carefully
B.some property owners let their homes go worse
C.the daughter was thin and very young
D.the father punished the girl when she was young
A B C D
D
[解析] 细节题。根据第二段最后一句话“Some people who bought their homes through the society let them go to rack and ruin and then cleared out.”可知,有些房主会毁坏房子。根据最后一段第一句话“She stood with her ear against the wall, a small, dark, angry, immature figure.”可推出,女儿很瘦小,年纪也比较小。根据最后一段倒数第二句话“the little busy sounds of men building barriers”可知,他修建栅栏很用心。由此可推出,A、B和C选项均为文章细节内容。本题选不正确选项,因此正确答案是D选项。