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2017 年全国硕士研究生考试模拟测试卷-英语一
Section I Use of English
Directions:
Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER
SHEET 1. (10 points)
America's Federal Reserve cut interest rates by another quarter-point, to %. Wall Street, which had been
1 for a sixth half-point cut, was disappointed. The Dow fell by 2% 2 the week. The past week's
economic statistics gave mixed signals. Exports dropped by 2% in both March and April, largely 3 a
decline in high-tech investment 4 ; the merchandise-trade 5 widened to $458 billion in the 12
months 6 April. 7 , The Conference Board's index of consumer confidence was higher than
8 in June.
Concerns 9 inflation in the euro area 10 . Preliminary data 11 that German
consumer-price inflation fell to % in the year to June, from % in May; wage growth 12 to %
in April, a real pay cut of %. Some economists fear that Germany is on the 13 of recession. The IFO
index of business confidence dropped more 14 than expected in May, and the institute has cut its
forecast of GDP 15 this year to only %, well 16 the German government's forecast of
2%.
The euro area's current-account deficit narrowed to $30 billion in the 12 months to April. Britain's deficit in
the first quarter was its smallest 17 1998, 18 record investment income.
There was more bad news from Japan, 19 retail sales in large stores fell by % in May, the 37th
consecutive monthly fall. The yen fell 20 the dollar, touching almost Yen 125 On one point.
1. A. expecting B. hoping C. wishing D. dreaming
2. A. in B. above C. during D. about
3. A. because of B. since C. because D. thanks to
4. A. at home B. home C. from abroad D. abroad
5. A. deficit B. shortage C. scarcity D. shortfall
6. A. to B. until C. up D. onto
7. A. Although B. Therefore C. However D. Hence
8. A. projected B. planned C. predicted D. expected
9. A. on B. for C. of D. over
10. A. stopped B. eased C. relieved D. improved
11. A. showed B. demonstrated C. illustrated D. explained
12. A. reduced B. cut C. slow D. lessened
13. A. edge B. rim C. lip D. brink
14. A. harshly B. huskily C. strictly D. severely
15. A. growth B. rise C. increase D. escalation
16. A. above B. below C. high D. low
17. A. after B. since C. until D. towards
18. A. owe to B. because of C. on account of D. thanks to
19. A. where B. which C. what D. who
20. A. in opposition to B. opposed to C. against D. versus
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SectionⅡ Reading Comprehension
Part A
Directions:
Reading the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your
answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)
Text 1
That everyone’s too busy these days is a cliché. But one specific complaint is made especially mournfully：
There’s never any time to read.
What makes the problem thornier is that the usual time-management techniques don’t seem sufficient. The
web’s full of articles offering tips on making time to read: “Give up TV” or “Carry a book with you at all times”
But in my experience, using such methods to free up the odd 30 minutes doesn’t work. Sit down to read and the
flywheel of work-related thoughts keeps spinning—or else you’re so exhausted that a challenging book’s the last
thing you need. The modern mind, Tim Parks, a novelist and critic, writes, “is overwhelmingly inclined toward
communication...It is not simply that one is interrupted; it is that one is actually inclined to interruption”. Deep
reading requires not just time, but a special kind of time which can’t be obtained merely by becoming more
efficient.
In fact, “becoming more efficient” is part of the problem. Thinking of time as a resource to be maximised
means you approach it instrumentally, judging any given moment as well spent only in so far as it advances
progress toward some goal. Immersive reading, by contrast, depends on being willing to risk inefficiency,
goallessness, even time-wasting. Try to slot it as a to-do list item and you’ll manage only goal-focused
reading-useful, sometimes, but not the most fulfilling kind. “The future comes at us like empty bottles along an
unstoppable and nearly infinite conveyor belt,” writes Gary Eberle in his book Sacred Time, and “we feel a
pressure to fill these different-sized bottles (days, hours, minutes）as they pass, for if they get by without being
filled, we will have wasted them”. No mind-set could be worse for losing yourself in a book.
So what does work? Perhaps surprisingly, scheduling regular times for reading. You’d think this might fuel
the efficiency mind-set, but in fact, Eberle notes, such ritualistic behaviour helps us “step outside time’s flow” into
“soul time”. You could limit distractions by reading only physical books, or on single-purpose e-readers. “Carry a
book with you at all times” can actually work, too-providing you dip in often enough, so that reading becomes the
default state from which you temporarily surface to take care of business, before dropping back down. On a really
good day, it no longer feels as if you’re “making time to read,” but just reading, and making time for everything
else.
21. The usual time-management techniques don’t work because
[A] what they can offer does not ease the modern mind
[B] what challenging books demand is repetitive reading
[C] what people often forget is carrying a book with them
[D] what deep reading requires cannot be guaranteed
22. The “empty bottles” metaphor illustrates that people feel a pressure to
[A] update their to-do lists
[B] make passing time fulfilling
[C] carry their plans through
[D] pursue carefree reading
23. Eberle would agree that scheduling regular times for reading helps
[A] encourage the efficiency mind-set
[B] develop online reading habits
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[C] promote ritualistic reading
[D] achieve immersive reading
24. “Carry a book with you at all times” can work if
[A] reading becomes your primary business of the day
[B] all the daily business has been promptly dealt with
[C] you are able to drop back to business after reading
[D] time can be evenly split for reading and business
25. The best title for this text could be
[A] How to Enjoy Easy Reading
[B] How to Find Time to Read
[C] How to Set Reading Goals
[D] How to Read Extensively
Text 2
Biologists estimate that as many as 2 million lesser prairie chickens---a kind of bird living on stretching
grasslands—once lent red to the often gray landscape of the midwestern and southwestern United States. But just
some 22,000 birds remain today, occupying about 16% of the species’ historic range.
The crash was a major reason the Fish and Wildlife Service （USFWS）decided to formally list the bird
as threatened. “The lesser prairie chicken is in a desperate situation,” said USFWS Director Daniel Ashe. Some
environmentalists, however, were disappointed. They had pushed the agency to designate the bird as
“endangered,” a status that gives federal officials greater regulatory power to crack down on threats. But Ashe and
others argued that the“ threatened” tag gave the federal government flexibility to try out new, potentially less
confrontational conservation approaches. In particular, they called for forging closer collaborations with western
state governments, which are often uneasy with federal action and with the private landowners who control an
estimated 95% of the prairie chicken’s habitat.
Under the plan, for example, the agency said it would not prosecute landowner or businesses that
unintentionally kill, harm, or disturb the bird, as long as they had signed a range-wide management plan to restore
prairie chicken habitat. Negotiated by USFWS and the states, the plan requires individuals and businesses that
damage habitat as part of their operations to pay into a fund to replace every acre destroyed with 2 new acres of
suitable habitat. The fund will also be used to compensate landowners who set aside habitat, USFWS also set an
interim goal of restoring prairie chicken populations to an annual average of 67,000 birds over the next 10 years.
And it gives the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA), a coalition of state agencies, the
job of monitoring progress. Overall, the idea is to let “states” remain in the driver’s seat for managing the species,
Ashe said.
Not everyone buys the win-win rhetoric. Some Congress members are trying to block the plan, and at least a
dozen industry groups, four states, and three environmental groups are challenging it in federal court. Not
surprisingly, industry groups and states generally argue it goes too far; environmentalists say it doesn’t go far
enough. “The federal government is giving responsibility for managing the bird to the same industries that are
pushing it to extinction,” says biologist Jay Lininger.
26. The major reason for listing the lesser prairie as threatened is____
[A]its drastically decreased population
[B]the underestimate of the grassland acreage
[C]a desperate appeal from some biologists
[D]the insistence of private landowners
27. The “threatened” tag disappointed some environmentalists in that it_____
[A]was a give-in to governmental pressure
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[B]would involve fewer agencies in action
[C]granted less federal regulatory power
[D]went against conservation policies
28. It can be learned from Paragraph3 that unintentional harm-doers will not be prosecuted if they_____
[A]agree to pay a sum for compensation
[B]volunteer to set up an equally big habitat
[C]offer to support the WAFWAmonitoring job
[D]promise to raise funds for USFWS operations
29. According to Ashe， the leading role in managing the species in______
[A]the federal government
[B]the wildlife agencies
[C]the landowners
[D]the states
30. Jay Lininger would most likely support_______
[A]industry groups
[B]the win-win rhetoric
[C]environmental groups
[D]the plan under challenge
Text 3
The term “joint international business venture”, joint venture for short, has come to mean many things to
many people. It sometimes is taken to mean any joint relationship between one or more foreign firms and one or
more local firms. Such a broad definition is excluded here. Joint venture will be taken to mean joint ownership of
an operation in which at least one of the partners is foreign based.
Joint ventures can take many forms. A foreign firm may take a majority share, a minority share, or an equal
share in ownership. While it is not necessary to have financial control or to have operating control, some firms
refuse to use the joint venture form if it is not possible to have a majority position in ownership. There are firms
that have few qualms about holding minority position, however, so long as they can have operating control. They
achieve this through technical-aid, management, or supply contracts.
It should be recognized that maintaining operating control is sometimes difficult if one does not have
financial control too. Objectives of the participants may diverge; when they do,financial control becomes
important. Management may wish to reinvest earnings while the majority of the board may wish earnings
distributed as dividends. Unless policy issues of this kind can be settled amicably, lack of financial control can
prove to be very unsatisfactory, if not fatal.
Many joint ventures emerge as matters of necessity: that is, no single firm is willing to assume the risks
entailed, while a consortium of firms is. Large, capital-intensive, long-lived investments are natural candidates for
the joint venture. Exploitation of resource deposits often is done by a consortium of several petroleum or mining
firms. Roles are parceled out even though each phase of the operation is owned jointly. One firm does the actual
mining, another provides transportation, and still another does the refining and extraction. There is a wide variety
of combinations.
Also the joint venture can pose problems, especially if it is an enforced marriage of partners. For many
ventures in small countries, it is difficult to find a suitable local partner, that is, one with sufficient capital and
know how to be able to contribute to the partnership. In some developing countries, a small handful of families
control the entire locally-owned part of the industrial structure. Under these circumstances, a joint venture merely
insulates them further from independent, foreign-owned plants that would compete against them. For this and
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other reasons, the only suitable partner may end up being the government itself. Most multinational firms,
however, shy away from such arrangements where possible.
31. The phrase "joint venture" mentioned in the first paragraph refers to ______.
[A] any joint relationship between one foreign firm and one local firm
[B] any joint relationship between foreign firms
[C] joint ownership of an operation in which at least one of the partners is foreign based
[D] all of the above
32. The word "qualms" in the second paragraph may have the equal meaning with ______.
[A] abilities [B] worries [C] possibilities [D] limits
33. According to the author, which of the following is most important?
[A] Majority position [B] Operating control
[C] Financial control [D] Support of the government
34. Which of the following is not the advantages of the joint venture?
[A] It can assume more risks
[B] It may gather more capital
[C] Large and long-lived investment can be carried out
[D] The partners will make concerted efforts towards one target
35. Which of the following is true according to the text?
[A] A foreign firm often takes a majority share in a joint venture
[B] Lack of financial control may be fatal to a firm participating in joint venture
[C] Joint venture is very helpful to developing countries
[D] Government is the best partner in a joint venture
Text 4
Healthy soda? That may strike some as an oxymoron. But for Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, it’s a marketing
opportunity.
In coming months, both companies will introduce new carbonated drinks that are fortified with vitamins and
minerals: Diet Coke Plus and Tava, which is PepsiCo’s new offering. They will be promoted as “sparkling
beverages.” The companies are not calling them soft drinks because people are turning away from traditional soda,
which has been hurt in part by publicity about its link to obesity.
While the soda business remains a $68 billion industry in the United States, consumers are increasingly
reaching for bottled water, sparkling juices and green tea drinks. In 2005, the amount of soda sold in this country
dropped for the first in recent history. Even the diet soda business has slowed.
Coca-Cola's chief executive, E. Neville Isdell, clearly frustrated that his industry has been singled out in the
obesity debate, insisted at a recent conference that his diet products should be included in the health and wellness
category because, with few or no calories, they are a logical answer to expanding waistlines.
“Diet and light brands are actually health and wellness brands,” Mr. Isdell said. He asserted that Diet Coke
Plus was a way to broaden the category to attract new consumers.
Tom Pirko, president of Bevmark, a food and beverage consulting firm, said it was “a joke” to market
artificially sweetened soft drinks as healthy, even if they were fortified with vitamins and minerals. Research by
his firm and others shows that consumers think of diet soft drinks as “the antithesis of healthy,” he said. These
consumers “Comment on putting something synthetic and not natural into their bodies when they consume diet
colas,” Mr. Pirko said. “And in the midst of a health and welfare boom, that ain’t good.”
The idea of healthy soda is not entirely new. In 2004, Cadbury Schweppes caused a stir when it unveiled 7Up
Plus, a low-calorie soda fortified with vitamins and minerals. Last year, Cadbury tried to extend the healthy halo
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over its regular 7Up brand by labeling it “100 percent natural.” But the company changed the label to “100
percent natural flavor” after complaints from a nutrition group that a product containing high-fructose corn syrup
should not be considered natural, and 7Up Plus has floundered.
The new fortified soft drinks earned grudging approval from Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the
Center for Science in the Public Interest, A nutrition advocacy group and frequent critic of regular soft drinks,
which it has labeled “liquid candy.”
A survey by Morgan Stanley found that only 10 percent of consumers interviewed in 2006 considered diet
colas a healthy choice, compared with 14 percent in 2003. Furthermore, 30 percent of the consumers who were
interviewed last year said that they were reluctant to drink beverages with artificial sweeteners, up from 21
percent in 2004.
36. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo call their new drinks "sparkling beverages" instead of " soft drinks" because
______.
[A] the new name sounds more brilliant and attracts more people
[B] the old name reminds people that they may cause people adding weight
[C] the new drinks are fortified with vitamins and minerals
[D] people are turning away from traditional soda
37. The sentence "with few or no calories, they are a logical answer to expanding waistlines" (Para. 4) means
_______.
[A] they can give a reasonable answer to waistlines
[B] they are the logical reason of make people expand waistlines
[C] they will not cause obesity since they have few or no calories
[D] it is logical that they may expand people's waistlines
38. Tom Pirko's attitude on promoting the soft drinks as healthy is _______.
[A] joking [B] positive [C] negative [D] indifferent
39. The word "floundered" (Line 6, ) implies _______.
[A] stumbled [B] struggled [C] flustered [D] troubled
40. The data in the last paragraph implies _______.
[A] the soft drinks will be singled out in the near future
[B] the marketing opportunities for these companies are not successful
[C] people are paying more and more attention to their health
[D] people think the soft drink is not healthy
Part B
Directions:
The following paragraphs are given in a wrong order. For Questions 41-45, you are required to reorganize these
paragraphs into a coherent article by choosing from the list A-E to fill in each numbered box. The first and the
last paragraphs have been placed for you in boxes. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.(10 points)
[A] The rise of a tycoon who is fond of America and South Africa, and who prints English slogans on his bottles
of milk and mineral water, is a snub to Mr. Ratsiraka. The president, who has dominated politics since 1975—with
a few years' absence in the mid-1990s—steers close to France, the former colonial power. He has been unwell,
and spends much of his time having medical treatment in Paris. His government, predictably, is accused of
widespread corruption. But he offers stability—and declares that "any other president" would usher in years of
uncertainty.
[B] Mr. Ratsiraka might indeed feel aggrieved if he did lose power just as the economy is coming right. After a
two-decade spell as a socialist, then a few years of exile, he bounced back into the presidency in 1996 to impose
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austere neo-liberal reforms. These are now paying off. Many people are still desperately badly off, living in
villages without roads, electricity or doctors. But, according to an optimistic IMF report on December 13th, the
economy may turn out to have enjoyed % growth this year and inflation is low.
[C] In a high turnout, he took nearly 80% of the votes in the capital, and well over half in other cities. Results
from the less susceptible countryside are slowly coming in. They narrow the gap, but he still seems to have a
chance of either beating the incumbent, Didier Ratsiraka, outright or facing him in a run-off next year.
[D] A swelling flow of tourists comes to the island to see its rainforests, lemurs and tropical beaches. Sales of
textiles to America are doing well, thanks to tariff reductions there. And, in the past few years, Asian investors
have opened dozens of factories in special export zones around the capital. Mr. Ratsiraka has managed to
negotiate debt relief that almost halves the amount the country spends on servicing its debts. It is thus able to
spend a bit more on schools and hospitals. Incomes in the cities are clearly up. A good rice harvest this year, and
the absence of cyclones, has eased hunger in the countryside.
[E] As mayor, Mr. Ravalomanana won many citizens' hearts by cleaning up the capital, and seeing to new roads
and street lighting. He oversaw a building boom, the rise of a dozen flashy new supermarkets, more policemen on
the streets and cut in crime. He is known in the country at large, too, thanks to his Tiko food empire, which
delivers yoghurt and other good things to Madagascar's emerging middle class. His-face is everywhere on T-shirts,
baseball caps and bags— all parts of a slick campaign that was helped along by his own radio and television
stations. His Christian fervour, and his job on a council of Protestant churches, have also helped him, especially
among the rural poor.
[F] All this is rare good news for Africa. Might it be risked if there were a change of president? Some point to
possible ethnic tension: Mr. Ravalomanana is from the highland Imerina people, who have a mix of Asian-settler
and African blood, who have never before held political office over the blacker coastal communities. Others worry
that he will have little support in parliament, and that his business career has not prepared him for political
compromises. A bigger concern, perhaps, is that he might not seriously undertake to spread the good times
enjoyed in the capital into the impoverished countryside.
[G] Excitement is in the air in Madagascar, a vast island of 15m people off the east coast of Africa. On December
16th, its voters trudged to the polls from their homes in highland towns and remote forest villages to pick a
president. Many favoured Marc Ravalomanana, a tycoon who is also the handsome young mayor of the capital,
Antananarivo.
Order:
G→ 41| →42| →43| →44| →45| →F
Part C
Directions:
Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should
be written clearly on ANSWER SHEET 2. (10 points)
AMGEN, the world's biggest biotechnology company, made its fortune from a drug that fortifies the blood of
patients who are undergoing dialysis. On December 17th, the California company acquired some new blood of its
own with the purchase of Immunex, a Seattle-based biotechnology company, for $16 billion.
This deal, a biotech-industry record, gives Amgen a firm footing in the multibillion-dollar market in
inflammation control. Immunex's most profitable product is Enbrel, a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. (46)
Amgen hopes to triple the drug's sales to more than $3 billion by 2005, widening its use to other diseases and
overcoming manufacturing constraints that have kept the drug in short supply.
With this takeover, Immunex passes from one parent to another. American Home Products (AHP) holds 41%
of the shares, and has given the firm sales and marketing support. (47) But AHP (American Household Products)
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has been selling down its stake since last year, in part to finance a $ billion settlement of claims against its diet
drugs.
(48) Although Amgen calls itself a biotech company, its market capitalisation of around $62 billion makes it
larger than Pharmacia and several other well-known mainstream drug companies, traditionally considered the big
brothers of biotech. But Amgen likes to think of itself as less bureaucratic and more entrepreneurial than its
pharmaceutical brethren, and it is free of such big-pharma woes as imminent patent expiry. (49) However, as
Joseph Dougherty, a biotech analyst at Lehman Brothers, points out, Amgen will find it hard to retain the freedom
of its youth as it strives to expand its sales by more than 30% a year.
Historically, pharmaceutical companies have used their deep pockets to buy biotech companies. Now,
increasingly, biotech companies are buying each other (see chart). Such industry consolidation is Young. (50)
Companies are pooling their resources to build scale in research and development, and in sales, or to fill holes in
their product pipelines, as Amgen has just done. With almost 1,400 biotech companies in America, and a
comparable number in Europe, there is plenty of room for more togetherness.
Section III Writing
Part A
51. Directions:
Imagine you are a student who wants to apply for the New Star scholarship offered by your university. Write
a letter to the person concerned which should include (1) the purpose of writing the letter; (2) your qualifications
for the scholarship; (3) your thanks.
You should write about 100 words. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead.
You do not need to write the address.
Part B
52. Directions:
Study the picture above carefully and write an essay
entitled "After Graduation." In the essay, you should (1)
describe the picture; (2) interpret its meaning; (3) give your
opinion about the phenomenon.
You should write about 200 words neatly on ANSWER
SHEET 2. (20 points)
