Part III

Reading Comprehension

(40 minutes)

Section A

Directions: In this  section, there is a  passage with ten blanks.  You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a ward bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter.  Please mark the corresponding letter  for each item on  Answer Sheet 2 with  a single line through  the centre. You  may not use  any of the  words in the  bank more than once.

Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.Innovation, the elixir (灵丹妙药)  of proGREss, has always cost  people their jobs.In the  Industrial  Revolution hand  weavers were36 aside by  the mechanical many  of  theloom.  Over  the  past  30  years  the  digital  revolution  has 37 mid-skill  jobs  that   underpinned  20th-century  middle-class   life.  Typists,  ticket agents, bank tellers and many production-line jobs have been  dispensed with, just as the weavers were. 

For those who believe that technological proGREss has made the world a better place, such  disruption is a natural  part of rising some  jobs, it  creates  new and  better  ones,  as a  more richer and its  wealthier inhabitants demand  more goods and services.  A hundred years ago one in three American workers was             on a farm. Today less than 2% 38   .  Although innovation kills 39 society  becomes 40 of them produce far more food. The millions freed from the land were not rendered 41   , but  found better-paid work as the economy GREw  more sophisticated. Today the pool of secretaries has     42   , but there are ever more computer programmers and web designers.

Optimism  remains  the right  starting-point,  but  for  workers  the dislocating effects of technology may  make themselves evident faster than  its 43   .  Even if new jobs and wonderful products emerge, in the short term income gaps will widen, causing huge social dislocation and perhaps even changing politics. Technology’s

44 will feel like a tornado (旋风), hitting the rich world first, but 45 sweeping through poorer countries too. No government is prepared for it.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡 2  上作答。

A) benefits

B) displaced

C) employed

D) eventually

E) impACT

I) prosperity

J) responsive

K) rhythm

L) sentiments

M) shrunk

F) jobless

N) swept

G) primarily

H) productive

O) withdrawn

Section B

Directions: In  this section,  you are going  to read a  passage with  ten statements attached to it.   Each statement  contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived.You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer  the questions by marking the  corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.

Inequality: It doesn’t have to be this way

[A] An dangerous trend has  developed over this past third of a century.  A country that  experienced shared  growth after  World  War II  began to  tear  apart, so much so that  when the GREat Recession hit  in late 2007, one  could no longer ignore the fissures that had come to define the American economic landscape.

How did this “shining  city on a hill” become the  advanced country with the GREatest level of inequality?

[B] Over  the past year  and a half,  “The GREat Divide,”  a series in  the New York Times for which I have served as moderator, has also presented a wide range of examples that undermine the notion that there are any truly fundamental laws of  capitalism. The  dynamics  of  the  imperial capitalism  of  the  19th century

needn’t apply  in the democracies  of the 21st. We  don’t need  to have this much inequality in America.

[C] Our current brand of capitalism is a fake capitalism. For proof of this, go back to our response  to the GREat  Recession, where we  socialized losses, even  as we privatized  gains.  Perfect  competition  should  drive  profits to  zero,  at  least theoretically,  but  we have  monopolies  and  oligopolies  making  persistently

high profits.  CEOs enjoy  incomes that  are on  average 295  times that  of the typical worker, a much higher ratio than in the past, without any evidence of  a proportionate increase in productivity.

[D] If it is  not the inexorable laws of  economics that have led to America’s  GREat divide, what  is  it? The  straightforward answer:  our  policies and  our politics. People get tired of  hearing about Scandinavian success stories, but  the fACT is that Sweden, Finland and Norway have all succeeded in having about as much

or faster growth in per capita incomes as the United States and with far GREater equality.

[E]   So  why has America  chosen these inequality-enhancing  policies? Part  of the answer is that as  World War II faded into memory,  so did the solidarity it had engendered. As America triumphed in the Cold War, there didn’t  seem to be a  viable   competitor  to   our  economic   model.  Without   this  international

competition, we no longer had to show that our system could deliver for most of our citizens.

[F] Ideology and  interests combined viciously.  Some drew the wrong  lesson from the collapse of the Soviet  system. The pendulum swung from much too much government  there  to  much  too  little  here. Corporate  interests  argued  for getting rid of regulations,  even when those regulations had  done so much to

protect and improve our environment, our safety, our health and the economy itself.  But this  ideology was  hypocritical.  The bankers,  among the  strongest advocates of laissez-faire economics, were only too willing to accept hundreds of billions  of  dollars from  the government  in the  bailouts that  have been  a

recurring   feature   of  the   global   economy   since   the   beginning   of   the Thatcher-Reagan era of “free” markets and deregulation.

[G]  The  American  political  system   is  overrun  by  money.  Economic  inequality translates  into  political  inequality, and  political  inequality  yields  increasing economic inequality. In fACT, as he recognizes, Piketty’s argument rests on the ability of wealth-holders  to keep their after-tax  rate of return  high relative to

economic growth. How do they do this? By designing the rules of the game to ensure this outcome.

[H]   So  corporate welfare  increases as we  curtail welfare  for the  poor. ConGREss maintains subsidies for  rich farmers as we cut  back on nutritional support  for the needy. Drug companies have been given  hundreds of billions of dollars as we limit Medicaid benefits. The banks that brought on the global financial crisis

got billions, while a pittance went to the homeowners and victims of the same banks’ predatory lending prACTices. This last decision was particularly foolish. There were alternatives  to throwing money at the  banks and hoping it would circulate  through   increased  lending.   We  could   have   helped  underwater

homeowners and  the  victims of  predatory behavior  directly. This  would not only have  helped the  economy, it  would have  put us  on the path  to robust recovery.

[I]   Our divisions are deep. Economic and geographic seGREgation have immunized those at the top from the problems of those down below. Like the kings of yore, they have  come to perceive  their privileged positions  essentially as a  natural right. How else  to explain the recent  comments of the venture  capitalist Tom Perkins, who suggested that criticism of the 1 percent was akin to Nazi fascism, or those  coming from  the private  equity titan  Stephen A. Schwarzman,  who compared asking financiers to pay taxes at the same rate as those who work for a living to Hitler’s invasion of Poland?

[J]

Our  economy,  our  democracy  and  our  society  have paid  for  these  gross inequities. The true test of an economy is not how much wealth its princes can accumulate in tax havens, but how well off the typical citizen is — even more so in  America,  where  our  self-image  is  rooted  in  our  claim  to  be  the  GREat middle-class  society.   But   median  incomes   are  lower   than  they   were  a quarter-century ago. Growth  has gone to the  very, very top, whose share  has almost quadrupled since  1980. Money that  was meant to  have trickled down has instead evaporated in the balmy climate of the Cayman Islands.

[K] With  almost a quarter  of American children  younger than 5  living in  poverty, and with America doing so little for its poor, the deprivations of one generation are being visited upon the next.  Of course, no country has ever come close  to providing  complete equality  of opportunity.  But why  is  America one  of the advanced countries  where  the life  prospects of  the young  are most  sharply determined by the income and education of their parents?

[L] Among the most poignant stories in The GREat Divide were those that portrayed the frustrations  of the young, who  yearn to enter  our shrinking middle  class. Soaring tuitions  and declining incomes  have resulted in  larger debt burdens. Those with only a  high school diploma have seen their incomes  decline by 13

percent over the past 35 years.

[M] Where justice  is concerned, there  is also a yawning  divide. In the  eyes of the rest   of  the   world  and   a   significant  part   of   its  own   population,  mass incarceration has come to define America — a country, it bears repeating, with about  5  percent  of  the  world’s  population   but  around  a  fourth  of  the

world’s prisoners.

[N] Justice  has become a commodity,  affordable to only  a few. While  Wall Street executives used their high-retainer lawyers to ensure that their  ranks were not held  accountable  for  the  misdeeds  that  the   crisis  in  2008  so  graphically revealed, the  banks abused our  legal system  to foreclose on  mortgages and

evict people, some of whom did not even owe money.

[O]  More  than a  half-century  ago,  America  led  the way  in  advocating  for  the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948. Today, access to health care  is among the most universally accepted rights, at least in  the advanced  countries. America,  despite the implementation  of the

Affordable  Care ACT,  is  the  exception.  It has  become  a  country  with GREat divides in life expectancy, health status and access to health care.

[P]   We need not  just a new war on poverty but a war to protect the middle  class. Solutions to these problems do not have to be newfangled. Far from it. Making markets ACT  like markets  would  be a  good place  to start.  We must  end the rent-seeking society  we have gravitated  toward, in  which the wealthy  obtain

profits by manipulating the system.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

46. In theory,  free competition is supposed to  reduce the margin of  profits to the minimum.

47. The United States is now charACTerized by a GREat division between the rich and the poor.

48. America lacked the incentive to care for the majority of its citizens as it found no rival for its economic model.

49. The wealthy top have come to take privileges for granted.

50. Many examples  show the basic  laws of imperial capitalism  no longer apply  in present-day America.

51. The author suggests a return to the true spirit of the market.

52. A quarter of the world’s prisoner population is in America.

53. Government regulation in  America went from one extreme  to the other in the past two decades.

54.  Justice  has become  so  expensive  that  only a  small  number  of  people  like corporate executives can afford it.

55.  No country  in  the world  so  far has  been  able to  provide  completely equal opportunities for all.

Section C

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 56 to 60 are based on the following passage. When  the right  person  is  holding  the right  job  at  the right  moment,  that person’s influence is GREatly expanded.  That is the position in which Janet Yellen,

who is expected to be confirmed as the next chair of the Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) in January, now finds herself. If you believe, as many do, that  unemployment is the major economic and social concern of our day, then it is no stretch to think Yellen is the most powerful person in the world right now.

Throughout  the  2008  financial  crisis  and  the  recession  and  recovery  that followed, central banks have taken on the role of stimulators of last resort, holding up markets  and the global  economy with vast  amounts of  money in the  form of asset buying. Yellen, previously a Fed  vice chair, was one of the principal architects

of   the  Fed's   $3.8   trillion  money   dump.   A  star   economist   known   for  her groundbreaking work on labor markets, Yellen was a kind of prophetess early on in the crisis for her warnings about the subprime (次级债) meltdown. Now it will be her job to  get the Fed  and the markets  out of  the biggest and  most unconventional monetary program in history without derailing the fragile recovery. The  good news  is  that  Yellen, 67,  is  particularly  well  suited to  meet  these challenges. She has a keen understanding  of financial markets, an appreciation for their imperfections  and a strong belief  that human suffering was  more related to

unemployment than anything else.

Some experts worry that Yellen will be  inclined to chase unemployment to the neglect of inflation. But with wages still relatively flat and the economy increasingly divided between the  well-off and the long-term  unemployed, more people worry about  the  opposite,  deflation  (通货紧缩 )  that  would  aggravate  the economy's problems.

Either way, the incoming Fed chief will have to walk a fine line in slowly ending the  stimulus  It must  be  steady  enough  to  deflate  bubbles  (去泡沫)  and  bring markets back down to earth but not so quick that it creates another credit crisis. Unlike  many  past  Fed  leaders,  Yellen  is  not  one  to  buy  into  the  finance

industry's argument  that  it should be  left  alone to regulate  itself. She  knows all along the Fed was being too slack on regulation of finance. Yellen is likely to address the issue right after she pushes unemployment below 6%,  stabilizes markets  and  makes  sure that  the  recovery  is more  inclusive  and

robust. As  Princeton Professor  Alan Blinder  says,  "She's smart  as a  whip, deeply logical, willing to argue but also a good listener. She can persuade without creating hostility." All those traits  will be useful as the  global economy's new power  player takes on its most annoying problems.

注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

56. What do many people think is the biggest problem facing Janet Yellen?

A) Lack of money.

B) Unemployment.

C) Subrprime crisis.

D) Social instability.

57. What did Yellen help the Fed do to tackle the 2008 financial crisis?

A) Take effective measures to curb inflation.

B) Deflate the bubbles in the American economy.

C) Formulate policies to help financial institutions.

D) Pour money into the market through asset buying.

58. What is a GREat concern of the general public?

A) Recession.

B) Inequality.

C) Deflation.

D) Income.

59. What is Yellen likely to do in her positon as the Fed chief?

A) Develop a new monetary program.

B) Tighten financial regulation.

C) Restore public confidence.

D) Reform the credit system.

60. How does Alan Blinder portray Yellen?

A) She possesses strong persuasive power.

B) She has confidence in what she is doing.

C) She is one of the world’s GREatest economists.

D) She is the most powerful Fed chief in history.

Passage Two

Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.

Early decision — you  apply to one school, and  admission is binding —  seems like a  GREat choice  for nervous  applicants. Schools  let in  a higher  percentage of early-decision applicants, which  arguably means that you have  a better chance of getting  in.  And if  you  do,  you’re done  with  the  whole  agonizing process  by December. But what most students and parents don’t realize  is that schools have hidden motives for offering early decision.

Early  decision,  since  it`s  binding,  allows   schools  to  fill  their  classes  with qualified students; it allows admissions  committees to select the students that are in particular  demand for their college  and know those  students will come. It  also gives schools a higher yield rate, which is often used as one of the ways to measure college selectivity and popularity.

The  problem  is  that  this process  effectively  shortens  the  window  of  time students have to make one of the most important decisions of their lives up to that point. Under regular admissions, seniors  have until May 1 to  choose which school to attend; early decision effectively steals six months from them, months that could

be used  to visit  more schools,  do more  research, speak  to current  students and alumni (校友) and arguably make a more informed decision.

There are, frankly,  an astonishing number  of exceptional colleges  in America, and for any given student, there are a number of schools that are a GREat fit. When students become too  fixated (专注) on  a particular school early  in the admissions process, that fixation can lead  to severe disappointment if they don’t get in  or, if they do, the possibility that they are now bound to  go to a school that, given time for further reflection, may not ACTually be right for them.

Moreover, the advantage early decision seems to give its applicants is probably not so GREat  as the numbers might  imply, since recruited student athletes  (whose admission is all but  guaranteed) and legacies (who have  a much higher chance of admission) tend  to apply through  early decision, and  the quality  of applicants in

general tends to be higher. But insofar as early decision offers a genuine admissions edge,  that  advantage   goes  largely  to   students  who  already   have  numerous advantages.  The  students  who use  early  decision  tend  to  be  those  who  have received higher-quality  college guidance, usually  a result of  coming from a  more privileged background. In  this regard, there’s  something of an  ethical argument against early decision, as students  from lower-income families are far less likely  to have the admissions savvy to navigate the often confusing early deadlines. Students who  have done  their research  and are  confident that  there’s one school they would be thrilled to get into should, under the current system, probably

apply  under  early  decision.  But  for  students  who  haven’t  yet  done  enough research, or who  are still constantly changing their  minds on favorite schools,  the early-decision system  needlessly and  prematurely narrows the  field of  possibility just at  a time when  students should be  opening themselves to  a whole  range of thrilling options.

61. What are students obliged to do under early decision?

A) Look into a lot of schools before they apply.

B) Attend the school once they are admitted.

C) Think twice before they accept the offer.

D) Consult the current students and alumni.

62. Why do schools offer early decisions?

A) To make sure they get qualified students.

B) To avoid competition with other colleges.

C) To provide more opportunities for applicants.

D) To save students the agony of choosing a school.

63. What is said to be the problem with early decision for students?

A) It makes their application process more complicated.

B) It places too high a demand on their research ability.

C) It allows them little time to make informed choice.

D) It exerts much more psychological pressure on them.

64. Why are some people opposed to early decision?

A) It interferes with students’ learning in high school.

B) It is biased against students at ordinary high school.

C) It causes unnecessary confusion among college applicants.

D) It places students from lower-income families at a disadvantage.

65. What does the author advise college applicants to do?

A) Refrain from competing with students from privileged families.

B) Avoid choosing early decision unless they are fully prepared.

C) Find sufficient information about their favorite schools.

D) Look beyond the few supposedly thrilling options.

Part III Reading Comprehension

Section A

36. N) swept

37. B) displaced

38. I) prosperity

39. H) productive

40. C) employed

41. F) jobless

42. M) shrunk

43. A) benefits

44. E) impACT

45. D) eventually

Section B

46. C)

47. A)

48. E)

49. I)

50. B)

51. P)

52. M)

53. F)

54. N)

55. K)

Section C

Passage One

56. C) Unemployment.

57. D) Pour money into the market through asset buying.

58. B) Deflation.

59. C) Tighten financial regulation.

60. A) She possesses strong persuasive power.

Passage Two

61. B) Attend the school once they are admitted.

62. A) To make sure they get qualified students.

63. C) It allows them little time to make informed choice.

64. D) It places students from lower-income families at a disadvantage.

65. B) Avoid choosing early decision unless they are fully prepared.

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