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毕金献08考研英语模拟题三阅读理解部分http://www.sina.com.cn
2007年11月12日 14:33 恩波教育
Section ⅡReading Comprehension Part A Directions: Read 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) Text1 Recently, the right of public personalities to direct and profit from all commercial exploitations of their fame has gained widespread acceptance. Recognition of this “right of publicity,” however, has raised difficult questions concerning the proper scope and duration of the right as well as its relationship to free speech and free trade interests. Often, the “type” of personality, be it an entertainer, politician, or athlete, also weighs on this decision-making process. The right of publicity protects economic interests of celebrities in their own fame by allowing them to control and profit from the publicity values which they have created. Before courts recognized this right, celebrities’ primary protection against the unauthorized commercial appropriation of their names or likenesses was a suit for invasion of privacy. Privacy law, however, proved to be an inadequate response to the legal questions presented by celebrities seeking to protect their economic interest in fame. Whereas privacy law protects a person’s right to be left alone, publicity law proceeds from adverse assumptions. Celebrities do not object to public attention—they thrive on it. However, they seek to benefit from any commercial use of their popularity. A celebrity’s public image has many aspects, each of which may be appropriated for a variety of purposes. Plaintiffs(persons bringing a suit) have sought to protect various attributes including: name, likeness, a particular routine or act, characters made famous by their celebrity, unique style, and biographical information. In deciding whether the right of publicity applies to particular attribute, courts consider underlying legal and policy goals. Two goals support recognition of the right of publicity: the promotion of creative endeavor and prevention of unjust enrichment through the theft of goodwill. Courts determine the scope of publicity rights by balancing these policies against offsetting First Amendment and free trade interests. Recognizing the celebrity’s ability to control the exercise of some personal attribute may limit the “speech” of would-be appropriators and give the celebrity a commercial monopoly. Thus, the value of promoting creativity and preventing unjust enrichment must outweigh negative constitutional and commercial repercussions(effects) before courts extend the right of publicity to any particular attribute. The value of a publicity right in a particular attribute depends largely on the length of time such a right is recognized and protected by the law. Courts disagree on whether publicity rights survive the death of their creators. Some courts advocate unconditional devisability. They emphasize that the ability to control exploitation of fame is a property right, carrying all the characteristics of the title. Other courts conclude that the right of publicity terminates at the celebritys death. These courts fear that recognizing postmortem(after-death) publicity rights would negatively affect free speech and free trade. The right of publicity, especially in the cases of well-known politicians and statesmen, often conflicts with First Amendment interests and thus should be defined with care and precision. 21. According to the author, privacy laws are inadequate for celebrities because ［A］ individuals lose privacy rights by becoming public figures. ［B］ stars wish to create higher value by keeping from the public. ［C］ the unauthorized use of celebrities’images is beyond remedy. ［D］ economic issues inherent in their fame are ignored by the laws. 22. The text implies that the judicial response to “right of publicity” issues has been ［A］ inconclusive. ［B］ impractical. ［C］ justifiable. ［D］ significant. 23. We learn that a feature of “devisability”(Par.5) is the ability to be ［A］ split into diverse legal entities. ［B］ assigned by the celebrity’s will. ［C］ structured in several equal shares. ［D］ traded with the owner’s permission. 24. Which of the following would most reasonably call upon the “right of publicity”? ［A］ A famous athlete plans to design and market a line of sportswear. ［B］ The work of a celebrated screen actor is re-edited after his death. ［C］ A portion of a professor’s book is cited in a student’s paper. ［D］ The image of a TV host is used in an ad campaign for a drug. 25. Which of the following statements best summarizes the chief ideas of the text? ［A］ Publicity law is an appropriate legal remedy for public figures. ［B］ Approaches to publicity law cases contradict free trade interests. ［C］ The legal issues about the right of publicity are unresolved fully. ［D］ The promotion of creative endeavor justifies the right of publicity. Text2 Science-fiction movies can serve as myths about the future and thus give some assurance about it. Whether the film is 2001 or Star Wars，such movies tell about progress that will expand man’s powers and his experiences beyond anything now believed possible，while they assure us that all these advances will not wipe out man or life as we now know it. Thus one great anxiety about the future—that it will have no place for us as we now are—is alleviated by such myths. They also promise that even in the most distant future，and despite the progress that will have occurred in the material world，man’s basic concerns will be the same，and the struggle of good against evil—the central moral problem of our time—will not have lost its importance.. Past and future are the lasting dimensions of our lives: the present is but a brief moment. So these visions about the future also contain our past; in Star Wars，battles are fought around issues that also motivated man in the past. Thus，any vision about the future is really based on visions of the past，because that is all we can know for certain. As our religious myths about the future never went beyond Judgment Day，so our modern myths about the future cannot go beyond the search for life’s deeper meaning. The reason is that only as long as the choice between good and evil remains man’s supreme moral problem does life retain that special dignity that derives from our ability to choose between the two. A world in which this conflict has been permanently resolved eliminates man as we know him. It might be a universe peopled by angels，but it has no place for man. The moving picture is a visual art，based on sight. Speaking to our vision，it ought to provide us with the visions enabling us to live the good life; it ought to give us insight into ourselves. About a hundred years ago，Tolstoy wrote,“Art is a human activity having for its purpose the transmission to others of the highest and best feelings to which men have risen.” Later，Robert Frost defined poetry as “beginning in delight and ending in wisdom.” Thus it might be said that the state of the art of the moving image can be assessed by the degree to which it meets the mythopoetic task of giving us myths suitable to live by in our time—visions that transmit to us the highest and best feelings to which men have risen—and by how well the moving images give us that delight which leads to wisdom. Let us hope that the art of the moving image, this most genuine American art，will soon meet the challenge of becoming truly the great art of our age. 26. In the author’s view，science-fiction movies ［A］ assure us of the scientific miracles created. ［B］ predict likely advances in human experiences. ［C］ offer invented stories concerning man’s fate. ［D］ signify human powers to a fantastic extent. 27. In science-fiction movies,man can find ［A］ fantasies that may relieve his anxiety for future existence. ［B］ forecasts that his domination will be extended indefinitely. ［C］ promises that his swelling demands will be fully satisfied. ［D］ assurances that confirm the importance of moral principles. 28. The movies such as Star Wars ［A］ fail to reflect contemporary problems for their transience. ［B］ fail to free their subjects from issues of man’s concerns. ［C］ succeed in depicting magic scenes irrelevant to the past. ［D］ succeed in offering imaginary visions irrespective of reality. 29. The theme of modern myths could be drastically changed ［A］ only if the struggle for good life were fully discarded. ［B］ if only the conflict between good and evil had ceased. ［C］ on condition that man as he is now became extinct. ［D］ provided that average people were converted to angels. 30. The quotes from Tolstoy are used to ［A］ reinforce the author’s account about visual art. ［B］ provide fresh points about the moving picture. ［C］ define the basic characteristics of art activities. ［D］ describe the requirements for the art transmission. Text3 Depletion is a natural phenomenon that characterizes the development of all non-renewable resources and oil in particular. Narrowly speaking, depletion refers to the decline of production associated with a particular field, reservoir, or well. If it were not for changes in prices, costs, and technology, depletion of the world’s resources would resemble the simple decline curve of a single well. Estimates of oil resources by field are routinely made by geologists and engineers, but the estimates are a “best guess” given the available data and are revised as more knowledge becomes available. There is no time frame or probability associated with estimates of total resources in place. In contrast, proved reserves of crude oil are the estimated quantities that are demonstrated with reasonable certainty to be recoverable in the future from known reservoirs under existing economic and operating conditions. Each year, production is taken from proved reserves, reducing both proved reserves and the total resource. Innovative production techniques such as well recompletions, secondary and tertiary enhanced recovery techniques, and expanded production of unconventional resources have reduced net depletion rates at the well and field levels. Advanced exploration and drilling techniques have reduced the cost of finding new pools, reduced the risk of dry holes and their costs, and allowed new pools to be developed and produced more quickly. More rapid production of resources from a field increases the return on capital because earnings are realized sooner, and therefore, discounted less. Higher returns make some fields that are too expensive to develop under “normal” circumstances economically feasible, because reduced costs allow firms to make profits where they could not before. On the other hand, more rapid development and production of a field by definition increases the rate of depletion. While the rate of depletion increases with technological progress, the adverse effects of depletion are diminished, and higher levels of production can be maintained for longer periods of time. As depletion leads producers to abandon older fields and develop new ones, the process of developing domestic oil resources leads producers to find and develop the larger, more economical fields first. Later fields tend to be less desirable because they are farther away from existing infrastructure or smaller in size. Thus, as time progresses more effort is required to produce the same level of the resource from the same exploration area. While the frontier for new resources is diminishing, increased innovation has, thus far, served to offset depletion at least partially, keeping production stronger than it would have been in the absence of the innovations. But eventually, as field sizes decrease, the ultimate recovery from discovered fields will shrink. Thus, despite technological improvements, ultimate recovery from the average field of the future will be smaller than from the average field today. [词汇提示] ① depletion n. 耗尽，枯竭；大量减少 ② recoverable a. 可开采的 31. The text is primarily intended to [A] sketch a plan to delay exhaustion of existing resources. [B] warn of the consequence of overexploiting oil reserves. [C] introduce more efficient techniques for oil exploration. [D] analyse economic factors in oil production and depletion. 32. According to the text, proved oil reserves [A] are determined by geological principles. [B] require advanced techniques for recovery. [C] can parallel natural resources in diminution. [D] exist until their depletion is verified by experts. 33. The author implies that an oil well is removed from production when [A] the capital for running it has been recovered. [B] the cost of its operation exceeds the return. [C] new wells are superior to it in capacity. [D] its supply of oil is entirely interrupted. 34. Technological innovations offset natural depletion because they [A] make it profitable to locate and exploit more resources. [B] reduce the ratio of proved reserves to actual quantities. [C] permit to explore more fields with larger reservoirs. [D] minimize capital expenditures in fuel production. 35. Which of the following is most likely to result in an increase in proved reserves? [A] Increased oil production by foreign sources. [B] A significant soaring in the price of crude oil. [C] A reduction in estimates of total oil resources. [D] Federal regulations requiring cleaner engines. Text4 While disease is present prior to social organization，communal life creates special hazards. While the organization of society can reduce the dangers of disease，trade and urbanization，with their consequent problems of sanitation and pollution，can also aggravate such dangers. Even in the mid-twentieth century，during the brief calm between the polio and AIDS epidemics，epidemic health risks associated with carcinogens(cancer-producing substances) from polluted air threatened the industrialized world. To the economist，efforts to combat these risks are at least partially public goods. The benefits from public goods are indivisible among beneficiaries. A sole private purchaser of health care would give others in society a “free ride” with respect to the benefits obtained. To market theorists，such goods are lawful objects of governmental intervention in the market. While the theory of public goods helps explain aspects of public health law and assists in fitting it into modern economic theory，it omits a critical point. Ill health is not a mere byproduct of economic activity，but an inevitable occurrence of human existence. As a result，wherever there is human society，there will be public health. Every society has to face the risks of disease. And because it must，every society searches to make disease comprehensible within the context of the society’s own particular culture，religion，or science. In this sense，health care is public not only because its benefits are indivisible and threats to it arise from factors outside of the individual but also because communal life gives individuals the cultural context in which to understand it. Governments typically have assumed an active role with respect to health care，acting as if their role were obligatory. How governments have fulfilled that duty has varied throughout time and across societies，according not only to the wealth and scientific sophistication of the culture but also to its fundamental values—because health is defined in part by a community’s belief system，public health measures will necessarily reflect cultural norms and values. Those who criticize the United States government today for not providing health care to all citizens equate the provision of health care with insurance coverage for the costs of medical expenses. By this standard，seventeenth and eighteenth-century America lacked any significant conception of public health law. However，despite the general paucity (scarcity) of bureaucratic organization in preindustrial America，the vast extent of health regulation and provision stands out as remarkable. Of course，the public role in the protection and regulation of eighteenth-century health was carried out in ways quite different from those today. Organizations responsible for health regulation were less stable than modern bureaucracies，tending to appear in crises and fade away in periods of calm. The focus was on epidemics which were seen as unnatural and warranting a response，not to the many prevalent and chronic conditions which were accepted as part and parcel of daily life. Additionally，and not surprisingly，religious influence was significant，especially in the seventeenth century. Finally，in an era which lacked sharp divisions between private and governmental bodies，many public responsibilities were carried out by what we would now consider private associations. Nevertheless，the extent of public health regulation long before the dawn of the welfare state is remarkable and suggests that the founding generation’s assumptions about the relationship between government and health were more complex than commonly assumed. 36. The author’s primary purpose is to ［A］ comment on the government role in health-care provision. ［B］ argue about the social organization’s tasks concerning health care. ［C］ trace the historical development of the national health-care system. ［D］ discuss the societal duty to make provision against epidemic diseases. 37. The author mentions all of the following as causes of epidemic diseases EXCEPT ［A］ expanding international trade. ［B］ rapid general urbanization. ［C］ inadequate sanitation facilities. ［D］ poor preventive measures. 38. Health care is inherently a public concern for all of the following reasons EXCLUDING ［A］ the indivisibility of its benefits among its receivers. ［B］ the impact of societal factors on the individual’s health. ［C］ the government obligation to provide health care for its people. ［D］ the comprehension of disease within a particular cultural context. 39. Which of the following finds the LEAST support in the text? ［A］ Government involvement in health care is characterized by action. ［B］ Philosophical considerations weigh less in making health policies. ［C］ Health organizations took common diseases as an essential part of daily life. ［D］ Modern public health agencies provide comprehensive protection against most diseases. 40. Which of the following best expresses the main point of the last paragraph? ［A］ The government precautions against diseases have failed many critics. ［B］ The government should spare no efforts on preventing epidemic diseases. ［C］ History witnessed government contribution to the provision of health care. ［D］ Health problems prior to the welfare state arose largely for lack of funds. 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—G to fill in each numbered box. The first and last paragraphs have been placed for you in Boxes. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points) ［A］ These difficulties are compounded by question-marks caused by government policy proposals，for example，concerning moves from direct to indirect taxation or regulations concerning the introduction of lead-free petrol. Increasingly，consumers may find that structural changes in the world economy are undermining expectations about employment and promotion prospects that they have long taken for granted; yet new opportunities may not instantly stand out. Added to these worries are new puzzles arising from social changes such as the rise of the Women’s Movement—for example，how a couple might carve out two careers as a joint future without these endangering each other. Given this，one might expect that economists would devote a good deal of attention to the ways in which consumers set about making up their minds in situations of uncertainty and complexity. ［B］ Unfortunately，this has not been the case. The typical economist proceeds to analyze consumer behavior in a way which makes the problem of choice trivial. The individual consumer is portrayed as if she already has a completely specified set of preferences and seeks to maximize her utility subject to three constraints: her accumulated human and non-human capital，the state of technology，and the prevailing set of relative prices. The consumer’s prior investments in her own skills，coupled with her initial endowment of human capital，determine her employment opportunities. The latter，in turn，constrain her in respect of the commodities she will be able and inclined to purchase，given the prevailing set of prices. ［C］ If opportunities are not to be thrown needlessly away，the consumer must be a skilled spectator and strategist. Instability in exchange rates and inflation rates，and the unevenness with which inflationary forces feed through the system，makes it difficult to assess trends in respect to relative prices，including real wages. ［D］ Having assumed that the consumer is able to rank hypothetical bundles of consumption goods and employment obligations in order of preference，it is not surprising that the typical economist comes to think of the consumer simply as if she selects the highest-ranking bundle from her feasible set. What we have is an example of what Herbert Simon calls “substantive rationality”: the achievement of given goals within the limits imposed by given conditions. ［E］ Technological change results in flux in the qualities and varieties of goods on offer，while the increasing complexity of modern products opens up scope for expensive errors when consumer durables are being purchased: the modern consumer cannot hope to be an expert buyer in all markets. ［F］How the consumer works out what these “given conditions” might be is not discussed. The economist theories as if the consumer has defined her problem in advance in a way that makes its solution transparent，and then allows her on to the stage seemingly to solve it. ［G］Being a consumer is not an easy role to play successfully，even in an affluent society. Consumers have to act in a complex，unsettled world where surprises are commonplace and not more deviations around a trend，a world full of novelty and obsolescence，a world that is，in short，turbulent. 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 must be written neatly on ANSWER SHEET 2. (10 points) Justice in society must include both a fair trial to the accused and the selection of an appropriate punishment for those proven guilty. Because justice is regarded as one form of equality，we find in its earlier expressions the idea of a punishment equal to the crime. Recorded in the Bible is the expression “an eye for an eye，and a tooth for a tooth.” That is，the individual who has done wrong has committed an offense against society. 46) To make repayment for this offense，society must get equally balanced，which can be done only by imposing an equal injury upon him. 47) This conception of deserved-punishment justice is reflected in many parts of the legal codes and procedures of modern times，which is illustrated when we demand the death penalty for a person who has committed murder. This philosophy of punishment was supported by the German idealist Hegel，who believed that society owed it to the criminal to put into operation a punishment equal to the crime he had committed. 48) The criminal had by his own actions denied his true self and it is necessary to do something that will eliminate this denial and restore the self that has been denied. To the murderer nothing less than giving up his own life will pay his debt. The demand for the death penalty is a right the state owes the criminal and it should not deny him what he deserves. Modern jurists have tried to replace deserved-punishment justice with the notion of corrective justice. The aim of the latter is not to abandon the concept of equality but to find a more adequate way to express it. It tries to preserve the idea of equal opportunity for each individual to realize the best that is in him. 49) The criminal is regarded as being socially ill and in need of treatment that will enable him to become a normal member of society. Before a treatment can be put into operation，the cause of his antisocial behavior must be found. If the cause can be removed，provisions must be made to have this done. Only those criminals who are incurable should be permanently separated from the rest of society. This does not mean that criminals will escape punishment or be quickly returned to take up careers of crime. It means that justice is to heal the individual，not simply to get even with him. If severe punishment is the only adequate means for accomplishing this，it should be administered. 50) However，the individual should be given every opportunity to assume a normal place in society，and his conviction of crime must not deprive him of the opportunity to make his way in the society of which he is a part. 特别说明：由于各方面情况的不断调整与变化，新浪网所提供的所有考试信息仅供参考，敬请考生以权威部门公布的正式信息为准。
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