Text 1 Last year my federal tax bill—the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf—was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income—and that's actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent. If you make money with money, as some of my super-rich friends do, your percentage may be a bit lower than mine. But if you earn money from a job, your percentage will surely exceed mine—most likely by a lot. To understand why, you need to examine the sources of government revenue. Last year about 80 percent of these revenues came from personal income taxes and payroll taxes. The mega-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15 percent on most of their earnings but pay practically nothing in payroll taxes. It's a different story for the middle class: typically, they fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets, and then are also hit with heavy payroll taxes. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack. I know well many of the mega-rich and, by and large, they are very decent people. They love America and appreciate the opportunity this country has given them. Many have joined the Giving Pledge, promising to give most of their wealth to philanthropy. Most wouldn't mind being told to pay more in taxes as well, particularly when so many of their fellow citizens are truly suffering. Twelve members of Congress will soon take on the crucial job of rearranging our country's finances. They've been instructed to devise a plan that reduces the 10-year deficit by at least $1.5 trillion. It's vital, however, that they achieve far more than that. Americans are rapidly losing faith in the ability of Congress to deal with our country's fiscal problems. Only action that is immediate, real and very substantial will prevent that doubt from turning into hopelessness. That feeling can create its own reality. Job one for the 12 is to cut down some future promises that even a rich America can't fulfill. Big money must be saved here. The 12 should then turn to the issue of revenues. I would leave rates for 99.7 percent of taxpayers unchanged and continue the current 2-percentage-point reduction in the employee contribution to the payroll tax. This cut helps the poor and the middle class, who need every break they can get. But for those making more than $1 million, I would raise rates immediately on taxable income in excess of $1 million, including, of course, dividends and capital gains. My friends and I have been spoiled long enough by a billionaire friendly Congress. It's time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.
1. The author implies in the first paragraph that ______
A.more taxes should have been levied on the rich
B.taxes paid by the average people should be reduced
C.the rich are well acquainted with tax loopholes
D.the author is a member of the average income group
2. The rich pay lower tax rates mainly because they ______
A.pay less both as income and payroll taxes
B.pay less on their wages and salaries
C.were given tax incentives in the 1980s and 1990s
D.have contributed more to the country
A B C D
B
[解析] 第二段提到,个人交的税分作两种,一种是所得税或收入税(这里income指工资之外的收入,比如投资所得,即第一段提到的make money with money),另一种是薪金税或工薪税(payroll指the total amount of wages and salaries paid by a company to its employees,即工资总额)。根据第二段,富人和普通人的收入税都属于15%~25%这个上税范围(tax bracket),而普通人上交的薪金税率却比富人更高。
3. The author is certain that the rich ______
A.have broken their promise made at the Giving Pledge
B.have paid heavier payroll taxes than income taxes
C.are willing to pay a higher income tax if the country needs it
D.have more control over the congress than the average people
4. The last sentence of Paragraph 4 probably means ______
A.the congress will create a better future for the country
B.the country's financial situation will improve soon
C.distrust in the country's leaders will make the situation worse
D.the promises made by the congress are never put into action
A B C D
C
[解析] 在第四段中,that feeling指的是上两句中提到的losing faith in the ability of congress to deal with our country's fiscal problems以及that doubt。因此最后一句话的意思是,对领导人处理问题的能力持怀疑态度可能产生不良的后果,即这种不信任可能致使这些领导人最终无法解决美国的财政状况问题。
5. The author concludes his discussion by ______
A.expressing his unyielding faith in the congress
B.calling on the rich and poor alike to sacrifice for the country
C.proposing tax breaks for the average-income individuals
D.proposing heavier tax rates on the income of the mega-rich
Text 2 New science reveals how your brain is hard-wired when it comes to spending—and how you can reboot it. The choice to spend rather than save reflects a very human—and, some would say, American—quirk: a preference for immediate gratification over future gains. In other words, we get far more joy from buying a new pair of shoes today, or a Caribbean vacation, or an iPhone 4S, than from imagining a comfortable life tomorrow. Throw in an instant-access culture—in which we can get answers on the Internet within seconds, have a coffeepot delivered to our door overnight, and watch movies on demand—and we're not exactly training the next generation to delay gratification. "Pleasure now is worth more to us than pleasure later," says economist William Dickens of Northeastern University. "We much prefer current consumption to future consumption. It may even be wired into us." As brain scientists plumb the neurology of an afternoon at the mall, they are discovering measurable differences between the brains of people who save and those who spend with abandon, particularly in areas of the brain that predict consequences, process the sense of reward, spur motivation, and control memory. In fact, neuroscientists are mapping the brain's saving and spending circuits so precisely that they have been able to stir up the saving and disable the spending in some people. The result: people's preferences switch from spending like a drunken sailor to saving like a child of the Depression. All told, the gray matter responsible for some of our most crucial decisions is finally revealing its secrets. Psychologists and behavioral economists, meanwhile, are identifying the personality types and other traits that distinguish savers from spenders, showing that people who aren't good savers are neither stupid nor irrational—but often simply don't accurately foresee the consequences of not saving. Rewire the brain to find pleasure in future rewards, and you're on the path to a future you really want. In one experiment, neuroeconomist Paul Glimcher of New York University wanted to see what it would take for people to willingly delay gratification. He gave a dozen volunteers a choice: $20 now or more money, from $20.25 to $110, later. On one end of the spectrum was the person who agreed to take $21 in a month—to essentially wait a month in order to gain just $1. In economics-speak, this kind of person has a "flat discount function," meaning he values tomorrow almost as much as today and is therefore able to delay gratification. At the other end was someone who was willing to wait a month only if he got $68, a premium of $48 from the original offer. This is someone economists call a "steep discounter," meaning the value he puts on the future (and having money then) is dramatically less than the value he places on today; when he wants something, he wants it now.
1. When it comes to spending, new evidence shows that it ______
A.are still at a loss about what causes some people to save or spend
B.can predict whether people spend or save by controlling people's memory
C.can change people's buying habits by making them drunk like sailors
D.can change those who spend with abandon into those who save
A B C D
D
[解析] 参阅上一小题题解。
4. If you are rewarded for saving, you are likely to ______
A.demand more rewards
B.abandon unnecessary purchases
C.care less about the consequences
D.become irrational and stupid
A B C D
B
[解析] 第三段提到,科学家发现,许多人乱花钱不是因为他们愚蠢或不理智,而是因为他们不能准确预见乱花钱的后果。如果改变大脑的神经脉络(rewire the brain),让他们看到节省可能带来的好处,那么他们就会向着好的方向发展(即学会不乱花钱)。选择项B基本上表达了这个意思。
5. Neuroeconomist Paul Glimcher wants to find out ______
A.what creates the flat discount function
B.how steep discounters gratify themselves
C.what makes people postpone satisfaction
D.whether people agree to delay a bigger gratification
A B C D
C
[解析] 第五段第一句提到,神经经济学家Paul Glimcher想弄明白:what it would take for people to willingly delay gratification。他设计了一个实验,结果发现,对未来可能得到的奖赏的看法和期待,决定了人们是否延迟欲望的满足。实际上,最后一段通过描述一个实验,为第四段提到的观点提供了论据。对第四段的理解请参阅上一小题题解。
Text 3 Studies have found that roughly 40 percent of students planning engineering and science majors end up switching to other subjects or failing to get any degree. That increases to as much as 60 percent when pre-medical students, who typically have the strongest SAT scores and high school science preparation, are included, according to new data from the University of California at Los Angeles. That is twice the combined attrition rate of all other majors. For educators, the big question is how to keep the momentum being built in the lower grades from dissipating once the students get to college. "We're losing an alarming proportion of our nation's science talent once the students get to college," says Mitchell J. Chang, an education professor at U.C.L.A. who has studied the matter. "It's not just a K-12 preparation issue." Professor Chang says that rather than losing mainly students from disadvantaged backgrounds or with poor records, the attrition rate can be higher at the most selective schools, where he believes the competition overwhelms even well-qualified students. The bulk of attrition comes in engineering and among pre-med majors, who typically leave STEM fields (fields of science, technology, engineering and math) if their hopes for medical school fade. There is no doubt that the main majors are difficult and growing more complex. Some students still lack math preparation or aren't willing to work hard enough. Other barriers are the tough freshman classes, typically followed by two years of fairly abstract courses leading to a senior research or design project. In September, the Association of American Universities, which represents 61 of the largest research institutions, announced a five-year initiative to encourage faculty members in the STEM fields to use more interactive teaching techniques. The latest research also suggests that there could be more subtle problems at work, like the proliferation of grade inflation in the humanities and social sciences, which provides another incentive for students to leave STEM majors. It is no surprise that grades are lower in math and science, where the answers are clear-cut and there are no bonus points for talented answers. Professors also say they are strict because science and engineering courses build on one another, and a student who fails to absorb the key lessons in one class will have to struggle in the next. No one doubts that students need a strong theoretical foundation. But what frustrates education experts is how long it has taken for most schools to make changes. Notre Dame's engineering dean, Peter Kilpatrick, will be the first to concede that sophomore and junior years, which focus mainly on theory, remain a "weak link" in technical education. He says his engineering school has gradually improved its retention rate over the past decade by creating design projects for freshmen and breaking "a deadly lecture" for 400 students into groups of 80. Only 50 to 55 percent of the school's students stayed through graduation 10 years ago. But that figure now tops 75 percent, and efforts to create more labs in the middle years could help raise it further.
1. It is important for educators to ______
A.keep the freshmen and sophomores from changing their majors
B.keep up the quality of their teaching so that it does not degrade
C.foster the right attitude of the first-and second-year students
D.be conscious of the possible shifts of majors by their students
A B C D
A
[解析] 第一段提到,很大比例的理工科学生——尤其是医学专业学生——改学其他专业,这对国家的人才培养很不利。第二段第一句指出,对教育工作者来说,重要的问题是阻止这一改专业的势头在低年级的学生中蔓延。在本句中,句子的主干结构是the big question is how to keep the momentum...from dissipating(重要的问题是如何阻止这一势头……扩散),这里momentum指上一段所说的转专业率提高的趋势,being built in the lower grades修饰momentum,动词dissipate这里不是“消失”的意思,而是“扩散”(scatter)的意思。
2. The word "attrition" probably refers to ______
A.the possible disappearance of some majors
B.the proportion of science students to other majors
C.the proportion of disadvantaged college students
D.the gradual reduction in the number of students
A B C D
D
[解析] 词组attrition rate经常指学生的退学率,本文指转专业率。
3. Medical students are more likely to change their majors because ______
Text 4 Conspicuous consumption has been an object of fascination going back at least as far as 1899, when the economist Thorstein Veblen published The Theory of the Leisure Class, a book that analyzed, in part, how people spent their money in order to demonstrate their social status. And it's been well-known for a long time that extra cash always makes life a little easier. Studies over the last few decades have shown that money, up to a certain point, makes people happier because it lets them meet basic needs. The latest round of research is, for lack of a better term, all about emotional efficiency, how to reap the most happiness for your dollar. So just where does happiness reside for consumers? Scholars and researchers haven't determined whether Armani will put a bigger smile on your face than Dolce & Gabbana. But they have found that our types of purchases, their size and frequency, and even the timing of the spending all affect long-term happiness. One major finding is that spending money for an experience—concert tickets, French lessons, sushi rolling classes, a hotel room in Monaco—produces longer-lasting satisfaction than spending money on plain old stuff. According to retailers and analysts, consumers have attracted more toward experiences than possessions over the last couple of years, choosing to use their extra cash for nights at home with family, watching movies and playing games—or for "staycations" in the backyard. Many retailing professionals think this is not a fad, but rather "the new normal." Jennifer Black, president of the retailing research company Jennifer Black Associates, largely attributes this to baby boomers' continuing concerns about the job market and their ability to send their children to college. While they will still spend, they will spend less, she said, having reset their priorities. While it is unlikely that most consumers will downsize, many have been, well, happily surprised by the pleasures of living a little more simply. The Boston Consulting Group said in a June report that recession anxiety had prompted a "back-to-basics movement," with things like home and family increasing in importance over the last two years, while things like luxury and status have declined. Current research suggests that, unlike consumption of material goods, spending on leisure and services typically strengthens social bonds, which in turn helps amplify happiness. Academics are already in broad agreement that there is a strong correlation between the quality of people's relationships and their happiness; hence, anything that promotes stronger social bonds has a good chance of making us feel all warm and fuzzy. And the creation of complex, sophisticated relationships is a rare thing in the world. As Professor Dunn and her colleagues point out in their forthcoming paper, only termites, naked mole rats and certain insects like ants and bees construct social networks as complex as those of human beings. In that elite little club, humans are the only ones who shop.
1. The expression "conspicuous consumption" refers to ______
A.unrestricted spending for displaying income or wealth
B.deliberate purchase of large quantities of material goods
C.clever spending for raising emotional efficiency
D.obvious tendency for purchasing delightful experience
A B C D
A
[解析] 词组conspicuous consumption指wasteful spending on goods and services acquired mainly for the purpose of displaying income or wealth(大肆花钱购买商品和服务,主要是为了炫耀收入或财富)。在第一段第一句中,spent their money in order to demonstrate their social status实际上是对conspicuous consumption的最好解释。
2. All of the following affect "emotional efficiency" except ______
A.when something is bought
B.what kinds of things are bought
C.how often things are bought
D.how large things purchased are
A B C D
D
[解析] 第二段提到影响长期幸福感或情感效率的因素,包括types of purchases,their size and frequency,and even the timing of the spending,其中their size中的their指purchases,即the size of our purchases,这里不是指所买东西的尺寸大小,而是指买东西的量(即购买量)。另一方面,types of purchases指购买东西的类型(选项B),frequency指购物频率(选项C),the timing of the spending指购买时间(选项A)。
3. It is implied that spending money for an experience ______
4. Spending on leisure and services is synonymous to spending on ______
A.relationships
B.experience
C.material goods
D.happiness
A B C D
B
[解析] 在本文中,spending on leisure and services就是指上文提到的spending on experience,即花钱搞家庭聚会、到国外度假、听音乐会、看电影、上技能课等等,区别于花钱买东西(如本文提到的material goods和possessions)。作者认为这种花钱方式能加强人际关系,良好的人际关系能使人感到温暖舒心(warm and fuzzy:这是一个词组,常用于口语)。注:在提问中,be synonyrmous to意为“与……同义”。
5. Compared with some animals and insects, humans ______
A.are less committed to their community
B.build less complicated relationships
C.strengthen social bonds by spending wisely
D.can create clubs to strengthen mutual relationships
Text 5 The idea that meditation is good for you is certainly not new, but scientists are still trying to figure out exactly why meditating so reliably improves mental and physical health. One old theory is that meditation is just like exercise, it trains the brain as if gray matter were a bundle of muscles. You work those muscles and they get stronger. A recent paper in the journal Psychological Science tries to identify brain functions that are actually enhanced by meditating. The study shows that intensive meditation can help people focus their attention and sustain it—even during the most boring of tasks. But while participants who meditated were able to pick up visual cues better than a control group, it was not clear whether meditating helped them process the new information in a meaningful way. The study, which was authored by 13 researchers and led by Katherine MacLean of the University of California, Davis, begins by noting that everyone gets tired after concentrating. It also notes that research going back to the 1970s has established that Buddhist monks who have regularly meditated for years perform better than most of us on concentration tests. In the past five years, other studies have shown that meditation also yields substantial gains in concentration for laypeople who take up the practice. In the new study, 60 enthusiasts who signed up to attend a three-month meditation retreat were randomized into two groups. That's an extraordinary commitment to meditation that most of us can't relate to. (The attendees even paid $5,300 for the privilege of attending the retreats.) But while all the participants were highly willing, the strength of this new study lies in comparing their mental performance before, during and after they began meditative practice. And the results are clear: it's not wanting to meditate but actually meditating that improves your brain's performance. The participants were all asked to watch a series of lines flash on a computer screen and click a mouse when they saw a line that was shorter than the others. It was a boring test, and that was the point: in order to concentrate on those little line changes, they had to focus intently. Those who were meditating at the retreat were significantly more likely than those in the wait-list group to see increasingly small differences in the lines. Their abilities improved as meditative training continued. As the paper puts it, their powers of "visual discrimination" had significantly increased. This suggests that meditation can help you concentrate. But the study found that while meditators were more accurate, they were not faster, those who had meditated saw differences in the lines more often than those who hadn't, but they didn't react any faster than the control group when both saw the same line discrepancies on the screen. That's important because it suggests that meditation helps your brain do something automatic— process visual stimuli—but not something more complicated, react when it happens.
1. In what way is the new study different from previous ones?
A.It trained the brain's muscles rather than its mental power.
B.It shows that meditation is beneficial to mental and physical health.
C.It discovers that medication helps to process new stimuli faster.
D.It suggests that intensive medication improves concentration.
A B C D
D
[解析] 第一段提到,科学家仍然想弄清楚冥想到底为什么能改进身心健康;第二段第一句也提到,这项新的研究想弄清楚冥想能提高哪方面的大脑功能。第二段第二句紧接着陈述出它的发现,即intensive meditation can help people focus their attention and sustain it(集中冥想有助于人们集中并保持注意力)。
2. The participants were so committed to the meditative practice that ______
A.they never missed a single day of the three months
B.they were unwilling to relate themselves to the outside world
C.they paid a 1-arge sum of money to attend the experiment
D.they were willing to do whatever the researchers asked them to
4. Those who practiced meditation are not able to ______
A.increase their attention span
B.sustain their attention longer
C.discern subtler differences between the lines
D.give faster response to a new situation
A B C D
D
[解析] 根据最后一段,处理视觉刺激(指在计算机屏幕上看出线的长短),与对它做出反应相比,是一种更简单的、机械的大脑活动,而对它做出反应是一种复杂的活动。这里所谓反应速度,指从辨认出线的长度,到点击鼠标做出反应所占用的时间。因此所谓react when it happens指当辨认出线的长度时做出反应。研究发现,受试者做出反应的速度并不比控制组快。
5. If you lose focus, ______
A.mediation may help you to gain it
B.visual stimuli may improve your attention
C.you should learn to react to complicated stimuli
D.you should learn to process visual stimuli faster
A B C D
A
[解析] 这个选择项表达的内容实际上是本文介绍的那项研究的主要结论。对于那些不能集中精力的人来说,通过冥想训练可以帮助人提高注意力,即meditation can help you concentrate(见最后一段第一句)。