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 Don the ANSWER SHEET.(IO points)
Even if families don't sit down to eat together as frequently as before,millions of Britons will nonetheless have got a share this weekend of one of that nation's great traditions:the Sunday roast.l a cold winter's day,few culinary pleasures can l it.Yet as we report now,the food police are determined our health.That this_J should be rendered yet another guilty pleasure4to damage our health
The Food Standards Authority(FSA)has i a public worming about the risks of a compound called acrylamide that forms in some foods cooked high temperatures.This means that people should l crisping their roast potatoes,reject thin-crust pizzas and only toast their bread.But where is the evidence to support such alam邯t advice?2studies have shown that acrylamide can cause neurological damage in mice,there is no l Q evidence that it causes cancer in humans
Scientists say the compound is ll_to cause cancer but have no hard scientific proof lLthe precautionary
pnnc1ple it could be argued that it is l1_to follow the FSA advice.l4,it was rumoured that smoking caused cancer for years before the evidence was found to prove a12
Doubtless a piece of boiled beef can always be lLup on Sunday alongside some steamed vegetables,without the Yorkshire pudding and no wme But would life be worth living?l1,the FSA says it1s not telling people to cut out roast foods18,but reduce their lifetime intake However its19nsks commg a cross as bemg pushy and overprotective Constant health scares Just2.Q_with no one listening
I[A]In[B]Towards[C]On[D]Till
2[A]match[B]express[C]satisfy[D]influence
3[A]patience[B]enJoyment[C]surpnse[D]concem
4[A]intensified[B]privileged[C]compelled[D]guaranteed
5[A]1ssued[B]rece1ved[C]1gnored[D]cancelled
6[A]under[B]at[C]for[D]by
7[A]forget[B]regret[C]finish[D]avmd
8[A]partially[B]regularly[C]easily[D]initially
9[A]Unless[B]Smce[C]If[D]While
IO[A]secondary[B]extemal[C]conclusive[D]negative
11[A]msuffic1ent[B]bound[C]likely[D]slow
12[A]On the basis of[B]At the cost of[C]In addition to[D]In contrast to
13[A]interesting[B]advisable[C]urgent[D]fortunate
14[A]As usual[B]In particular[C]By definition[D]A仆er all
15[A]resemblance[B]combination[C]connection[D]pattem
16[A]made[B]served[C]saved[D]used
17[A]To be fair[B]For mstance[C]To be brief[D]In general
18.[A]reluctantly
19.[A]promise
20.[A]follow up [B]entirely
[B]expenence
[B]pick up
[C]gradually
[C]campaign
[C]open up
[D]carefully
[D]competition
[D]end up
Part A
Section II Reading Comprehension
Directions:Read the following four texts.Answer the questions below each text by choosing A,B,C or D.Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.(40points)
Text1
A group of labour MPs,among them Yvette Cooper,are bringing in the new year with a call to institute a UK "town of culture"award.The proposal is that it should sit alongside the existing city of culture title,which was held by Hull in2017and has been awarded to Coventry for2021.Cooper and her colleagues argue that the success of the crown for Hull,where it brought in立20m of investment and an avalanche of arts,ought not to be confined to cities Britain'town,it is true are not prevented from applying,but they generally lack the resources to put together a bid to beat their bigger competitions.A town of culture award could,it is argued,become an annual event,attracting funding and creating jobs
Some might see the proposal as a booby prize for the fact that Britain is no longer be able to apply fo
r the much more prestigious title of European capital of culture,a sought-after award bagged by Glasgow in1990and Liverpool in2008.A cynic might speculate that the UK is on the verge of disappearing into an endless fever of self-celebration in its desperation to reinvent itself for the post-Brexit world:after town of culture,who knows that will follow—village of culture?Suburb of culture?Hamlet of culture?
It is also wise to recall that such titles are not a cure-all.A badly run"year of culture"washes in and out of a place like the tide,bringing prominence for a spell but leaving no lasting benefits to the con皿unity.The really successful holders of such titles are those that do a great deal more than fill hotel bedrooms and bring in high-profile arts events and good press for a year.They transform the aspirations of the people who live there;they nudge the self-image of the city into a bolder and more optimistic light.It is hard to get right,and requires a remarkable degree of vision,as well as cooperation between city authorities,the private sector,community groups and cultural organisations.But it can be done:Glasgow's year as European capital of culture can certainly be seen as one of complex series of factors that have turned the city into the power of art,music and theatre that it remains today A"town of culture"could be not just about the arts but about honouring a town's peculiarities-helping sustain its high street,supporting local facilities and above all celebrating its people and turn it into action
21.Cooper and her colleagues argue that a"town of culture"award could
[A]consolidate the town-city ties in Britain
[B]promote cooperation among Britain's towns
[C]increase the economic strength of Britain's towns
[D]focus Britain's limited resources on cultural events
22.According to Paragraph2,the proposal might be regarded by some as
[A]a sensible compromise [C]an eye-cotching bonus [B]a self-deceiving attempt [D]an inaccessible target
23.The author suggests that a title holder is successful only if it
[A]endeavours to maintain its image.[B]meets the aspirations of its people
[C]brings its local arts to prommence[D]commits to its long-term growth
24.Glasgow is mentioned in Paragraph3to present
[A]a contrasting case [C]a background story [B]a supporting example [D]a related topic
25.What is the author's attitude towards the proposal?
[A]Skeptical[B]Objective[C]Favourable
Text2
[D]Critical
Scientific publishing has long been a licence to print money.Scientists need journals in which to publish their research,so they will supply the articles without monetary reward.Other scientists perform the specialised work of peer review also for free,because it is a central element in the acquisition of status and the production of scientific knowledge
With the content of papers secured for free,the publisher needs only find a market for its journal.Until this century,university libraries were not very price sensitive.Scientific publishers routinely report profit margins approaching40%on their operations,at a time when the rest of the publishing industry is in an existential crisis The Dutch giant Elsevier,which claims to publish25%of the scientific papers produced in the world,made profits of more than£900m last year,while UK universities alone spent m
ore than立10m in2016to enable researchers to access their own publicly funded research:both figures seem to rise unstoppably despite increasingly desperate efforts to change them
The most drastic,and thoroughly illegal,reaction has been the emergence of Sci-Hub,a kind of global photocopier for scientific papers,set up in2012,which now claims to offer access to every paywalled article published since2015.The success of Sci-Hub,which relies on researchers passing on copies they have themselves legally accessed,shows the legal ecosystem has lost legitimacy among its users and must be transformed so that it works for all participants
In Britain the move towards open access publishing has been driven by funding bodies.In some ways it has been very successful.More than half of all British scientific research is now published under open access terms:either freely available from the moment of publication,or paywalled for a year or more so that the publishers can make a profit before being placed on general release
Yet the new system has not worked out any cheaper for the universities.Publishers have responded to the demand that they make their product free to readers by charging their writers fees to cover the costs of preparing an article.These range from around£500to$5,000.A report last year pointed out that the costs both of subscriptions and of these"article preparation costs"had been steadily rising at
a rate above inflation.In some ways the scientific publishing model resembles the economy of the social internet:labour is provided free in exchange for the hope of status,while huge profits are made by a few big firms who run the market places.In both cases,we need a rebalancing of power
26.Scientific publishing is seen as"a licence to print money"partly because
[A]its content acquisition costs nothing [C]its payment for peer review is reduced [B]its marketing strategy has been successful [D]its funding has enjoyed a steady mcrease
27.According to Paragraphs2and3,scientific publishers Elsevier have
[A]financed researchers generously [C]revived the publishing industry [B]gone through an existential cns1s [D]thrived mainly on university libraries
28.How does the author feel about the success of Sci-Hub?
[A]Relieved[B]Concerned[C]Puzzled[D]Encouraged
29.It can be learned from Paragraphs5and6that open access terms
[A]free universities from financial burdens [C]reduce the cost of publication substantially [B]render publishing much easier for scientists [D]allow publishers some room to make money
30.Which of the following characterises the scientific publishing model?
[A]Trial subscription is offered [C]The few feed on the many [B]Labour triumphs over status [D]Costs are well controlled Text3
Progressives often support diversity mandates as a path to equality and a way to level the playing field.But all too often such policies are an insincere form of virtue-signaling that benefits only the most privileged and does little to help average people
A pair of bills sponsored by Massachusetts state Senator Jason Lewis and House Speaker Pro Tempore Patricia Haddad,to ensure"gender parity"on boards and commissions,provide a case in point
Haddad and Lewis are concerned that more than half the state-government boards are less than40percent female.In order to ensure that elite women have more such opportunities.they have proposed imposing government quotas.If the bills become law,state boards and con皿issions will be required to set aside50percent of board seats for women by2022
考研时间2021考试时间
The bills are similar to a measure recently adopted in California,which last year became the first state to reqmre gender quotas for private companies.In signing the measure.California Governor Jerry Brown admitted that the law, which expressly classifies people on the basis of sex,is probably unconstitutional
The US Supreme Court frowns on sex-based classifications unless they are designed to address an"important" policy interest,Because the California law applies to all boards,even where there is no history of prior discrimination, courts are likely to rule that the law violates the constitutional guarantee of"equal protection"
But are such government mandates even necessary?Female participation on corporate boards may not currently ml订or the percentage of women in the general population.but so what?
The number of women on corporate boards has been steadily increasing without government interference According to a study by Catalyst,between20IO and2015the share of women on the boards of global corporations increased by54percent
Requiring companies to make gender the primary qualification for board membership will inevitably lead to less experienced private sector boards.That is exactly what happened when Norway adopted
a nationwide corporate gender quota
Writing in The New Republic,Alice Lee notes that increasing the number of opportunities for board membership without increasing the pool of qualified women to serve on such boards has led to a"golden skirt"phenomenon, where the same elite women scoop up multiple seats on a variety of boards
Next time somebody pushes corporate quotas as a way to promote gender equity,remember that such policies are largely self-serving measures that make their sponsors feel good but do little to help average women
31.The author believes that the bills sponsored by Lewis and Haddad will
[A]help little to reduce gender bias [C]raise women's position in politics [B]pose a threat to the state government [D]greatly broaden career options
32.Which of the following is true of the California measure?
[A]It has irritated private busmess owners [C]It may go against the Constitution [B]It is welcomed by the Supreme Court [D]It will settle the prior controversies
33.The author mentions the study by Catalyst to illustrate
[A]the harm from arbitrary board decision.[B]the importance of constitutional guarantees
[C]the pressure on women in global corporations.[D]the needlessness of government interventions
34.Norway's adoption of a nationwide corporate gender quota has led to
[A]the underestimation of elite women's role
[B]the objection to female participation on boards
[C]the entry of unqualified candidates into the board
[D]the growing tension between labor and management
35.Which of the following can be inferred from the text?
[A]Women's need in employment should be considered
[B]Feasibility should be a prime concern in policymaking
[C]Everyone should try hard to promote social justice
[D]Major social issues should be the focus of legislation
Text4
Last Thursday,the French Senate passed a digital services tax,which would impose an entirely new tax on large multinationals that provide digital services to consumers or users in France.Digital services include everything from providing a platform for selling goods and services online to targeting advertising based on user data,and the tax applies to gross revenue from such services.Many French politicians and media outlets have refe订ed to this as a "GAF A tax,"meaning that it is designed to apply primarily to companies such as Google,Apple,Facebook and Amazon—in other words,multinational tech companies based in the United States。
The digital services tax now awaits the signature of President Emmanuel Macron,who has expressed support for the measure,and it could go into effect within the next few weeks.But it has already sparked significant controversy,with the Unite Sates trade representative opening an investigation into whether the tax discriminates against American companies,which in turn could lead to trade sanctions against France
The digital services tax now awaits the signature of President Emmanuel Macron,who has expressed support for the measure,and it could go into effect within the next few weeks.But it has already sparked significant controversy, with the Unite Sates trade representative opening an investigation into whether the tax.discriminates against American companies,which in turn could lead to trade sanctions against France
The French tax is not just a unilateral move by one country in need of revenue.Instead,the digital services tax1s part of a much larger trend,with countries over the past few years proposing or putting in place an alphabet soup of new international tax provisions.These have included Britain's DPT(diverted profits tax),Australia's M凡让(multinational antiavoidance law),and India's SEP(significant economic presence)test,to name but a few.At the same time,the European Union,Spain,Britain and several other countries have all seriously contemplated digital services taxes
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