评论
打印
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 word 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.
When Elon Musk says that his new priority is using artificial intelligence to build domestic robots, we should look forward to the day in admiration.
Mr. Musk is a guy who gets things done. The founder of two tech companies, Tesla Motors and SpaceX, is bringing electric vehicles to mass market and ___26___ humans to live on other planets. This sounds like so much hot air, but the near $13 billion fortune this entrepreneur has ___27___ comes from practical achievements rather than hypothetical ones.
A lot of clever people are ___28___ about artificial intelligence, fearing that robots will one day become so ___29___ that they'll murder all of us. These fears are mostly ___30___: as with hysteria about genetic modification, we humans are generally wise enough to manage these problems with speed and care.
And just think of how wonderful it would be if you had a live-in robot. It could, ___31___, be like having a babysitter and a nurse rolled into one—or, if that required ___32___ intelligence beyond the power of Mr. Musk's imagined machine, at least someone to chop the carrots, wash the car and mow the lawn. Once purchased and trained, this would allow the ___33___ user to save money and time, freeing up ___34___ space in our busy lives to read a good book.
That is why we welcome Mr. Musk's latest ___35___, and wish him well. As long as robots add to the sum of human happiness, reduce suffering, and create time to read world-class journalism, we should be their fans. Especially since journalism is one job robots will never do.
A) amassed B) casual C) emotional D enabling E) eventually F) exaggerated G) extravagant H) generously I) misleading J) precious K) reward L) smart M) sphere N) terrified O) venture
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.
In the real world, nobody cares that you went to an Ivy League school
A) As a high school junior, everything in my life revolved around getting into the right college. I diligently attended my SAT, ACT, and Advanced Placement test preparation courses. I juggled (尽力应付) cross-country and track schedules, newspaper staff, and my church's youth group and drama team. I didn't drink, party, or even do much dating. The right college, I thought, was one with prestige, one with a name. It didn't have to be the Ivy League, but it needed to be a "top school."
B) Looking back now, nine years later, I can't remember exactly what it was about these universities that made them seem so much better. Was it a curriculum that appeared more rigorous, perhaps? Or an alumni network that I hoped would open doors down the line? Maybe. "I do think there are advantages to schools with more recognition," notes Marybeth Gasman, a professor of higher education at the University of Pennsylvania. "I don't necessarily think that's a reason to go to one."
C) In reflection, my firm belief in the power of the brand was naive, not to mention a bit snobby. I quickly passed over state schools and southern schools, believing their curriculums to be automatically inferior to northeastern or western counterparts. Instead, I dreamed of living in New York City and my parents obliged me with a visit to New York University's (NYU) campus. During the tour, tuition fees were discussed. (NYU is consistently ranked one of the country's most expensive schools, with room and board costs totaling upwards of $ 64,000 a year.) Up until then, I hadn't truly realized just how expensive an education can be. Over the next few months, I realized not only could I not afford my dream school, I couldn't even afford the ones where I'd been accepted. City University of New York (CUNY), Rutgers University, and Indiana University were out of reach as were Mississippi State and the University of Alabama, where I would have to pay out-of-state fees. Further complicating my college search was a flourishing track career—I wanted to keep running but my times weren't quite fast enough to secure a scholarship.
D) And so, at 11 pm on the night of Georgia State University's (GSU) midnight deadline, I applied online. Rated No. 466 overall on Forbes' Lists Top Colleges, No. 183 in Research Universities, and No. 108 in the South, I can't say it was my top choice. Still, the track coach had offered me a walk-on spot, and I actually found the urban Atlanta campus a decent consolation prize after New York City.
E) While it may have been practical, it wasn't prestigious. But here's the thing: I loved my "lower-tier" (低层次的) university. (I use the term "low-tier" cautiously, because GSU is a well-regarded research institution that attracts high quality professors and faculty from all over the country.) We are taught to believe that only by going to the best schools and getting the best grades can we escape the rat race and build a better future. But what if lower-tier colleges and universities were the ticket to escaping the rat race? After all, where else can you leave school with a decent degree—but without a lifetime of debt?
F) My school didn't come prepackaged like the more popular options, so we were left to take care of ourselves, figuring out city life and trying to complete degree programs that no one was championing for us to succeed in. What I'm saying is, I loved my university because it taught us all to be resourceful and we could make what we wanted out of it.
G) I was lucky enough to have my tuition covered by a lottery-funded scholarship called HOPE (Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally). When I started college, the HOPE scholarship was funded by the state of Georgia and offered to graduating high school seniors with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Living costs and books I paid for with money earned during high school, supplemented by a small college fund my deceased grandfather left for me and a modest savings account my parents created when I was born.
H) So what about all that name recognition? Sure, many of my colleagues and competitors have more glamorous alma maters (母校) than I do. As a journalist, I have competed against NYU, Columbia, and Northeastern graduates for jobs. And yet, not a single interviewer has ever asked me about my educational background. In fact, almost every interview I've ever had was due to a connection—one that I've gained through pure determination, not a school brand.
I) According to The Boston Globe, students who earned their bachelor's in 2012 have an average monthly loan payment of $312, which is one-third more than those who graduated in 2004. Ultimately, that's the thing universities don't want to admit. Private universities are money-making institutions. If you can afford to buy prestige, that's your choice. For the rest of us, however, our hearty lower-tiered universities are just fine, thank you.
J) Wealthy universities talk up the benefits their name will give graduates: namely, strong alumni networks, star faculty, and a résumé boost. But you needn't attend an Ivy League school to reap those rewards. Ludacris and the former CEO of Bank of America Ken Lewis are alumni of my college, as well as VICE's first female editor-in-chief, Ellis Jones. Successful people tend to be successful no matter where they go to school, and lower-tier schools can have alumni networks just as strong as their big name counterparts. In fact, lower-tier school alumni networks are arguably stronger, because fellow alumni recognize that you didn't necessarily have an easy path to follow. They might be more willing to offer career help, because your less famous school denotes that, like them, you are also full of energy and perseverance.
K) The Washington Post reported on a recent study by Princeton economists, in which college graduates who applied to the most selective schools in the 12th grade were compared to those who applied to slightly less selective schools. They found that students with more potential earned more as adults, and the reverse held true as well, no matter where they went to school.
L) Likewise, star faculty are not always found where you'd expect. Big name schools are not necessarily the best places for professors; plus, many professors split teaching time between multiple colleges and/or universities. This means, for instance, a CUNY student could reasonably expect to receive the same quality of instruction from a prestigious professor as they would if they were enrolled in the same class at NYU.
M) It's possible that some hiring managers may be drawn to candidates with a particular educational résumé, but it's no guarantee. According to a 2012 survey described in The Atlantic, college reputation ranked lowest in relative importance of attributes in evaluating graduates for hire, beaten out by top factors like internships, employment during college, college major, volunteer experience, and extracurriculars.
N) Maybe students who choose less prestigious universities are bound to succeed because they are determined to. I tend to think so. In any case, if I could do it again, I'd still make the same choice. Today I'm debt-free, resourceful—and I understand that even the shiniest packaging can't predict what you'll find on the inside.
36. Modest institutions can also have successful graduates and strong alumni networks.
37. The money the author made in high school helped pay for her living expenses and books at college.
38. The author came to see how costly college education could be when she was trying to choose a university to attend.
39. A recent study found that a graduate's salary is determined by their potential, not the university they attended.
40. The author cannot recall for sure what made certain top universities appear a lot better.
41. None of the author's job interviewers cared which college she went to.
42. The author thinks she did the right thing in choosing a less prestigious university.
43. In order to be admitted to a prestigious university, the author took part in various extracurricular activities and attended test preparation courses.
44. The author liked her university which was not prestigious but less expensive.
45. Colleges are reluctant to admit that graduates today are in heavier debt.
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 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.
Economically speaking, are we better off than we were ten years ago? Twenty years ago?
In their thirst for evidence on this issue, commentators seized on the recent report by the Census Bureau, which found that average household income rose by 5.2% in 2015. Unfortunately, that conclusion puts too much weight on a useful, but flawed and incomplete, statistic. Among the more significant problems with the Census's measure are that: 1) it excludes taxes, transfers, and compensation like employer-provided health insurance; and 2) it is based on surveys rather than data. Even if precisely measured, income data exclude important determinants of economic well-being, such as the hours of work needed to earn that income.
While thinking about the question, we came across a recently published article by Charles Jones and Peter Klenow, which proposes an interesting new measure of economic welfare. While by no means perfect, it is considerably more comprehensive than average income, taking into account not only growth in consumption per person but also changes in working time, life expectancy, and inequality. Moreover, it can be used to assess economic performance both across countries and over time.
The Jones-Klenow method can be illustrated by a cross-country example. Suppose we want to compare the economic welfare of citizens of the U.S. and France in 2005.
In 2005, as the authors observe: real consumption per person in France was only 60% as high as the U.S., making it appear that Americans were economically much better off than the French on average. However, that comparison omits other relevant factors: leisure time, life expectancy, and economic inequality. The French take longer vacations and retire earlier, so typically work fewer hours; they enjoy a higher life expectancy, presumably reflecting advantages with respect to health care, diet, lifestyle, and the like; and income and consumption are somewhat more equally distributed there than in the U.S. Because of these differences, comparing France's consumption with the U.S.'s overstates the gap in economic welfare.
Similar calculations can be used to compare the U.S. and other countries. For example, this calculation puts economic welfare in the United Kingdom at 97% of U.S. levels, but estimates Mexican well-being at 22%.
The Jones-Klenow measure can also assess an economy's performance over time. According to this measure, as of the early-to-mid-2000s, the U.S. had the highest economic welfare of any large country. Since 2007, economic welfare in the U.S. has continued to improve. However, the pace of improvement has slowed markedly.
Methodologically, the lesson from the Jones-Klenow research is that economic welfare is multi-dimensional. Their approach is flexible enough that in principle other important quality-of-life changes could be incorporated-for example, decreases in total emissions of pollutants and declines in crime rates.
46. What does the author think of the 2015 report by the Census Bureau?
A) It is based on questionable statistics.
B) It reflects the economic changes.
C) It evidences the improved-welfare.
D) It provides much food for thought.
47. What does the author say about the Jones-Klenow method?
A) It is widely used to compare the economic growth across countries.
B) It revolutionizes the way of measuring ordinary people's livelihood.
C) It focuses on people's consumption rather than their average income.
D) It is a more comprehensive measure of people's economic well-being.
48. What do Jones and Klenow think of the comparison between France and the U. S. in terms of real consumption per person?
A) It reflected the existing big gap between the two economies.
B) It neglected many important indicators of people's welfare.
C) It covered up the differences between individual citizens.
D) It failed to count in their difference in natural resources.
49. What is an advantage of the Jones-Klenow method?
A) It can accurately pinpoint a country's current economic problems.
B) It can help to raise people's awareness of their economic well-being.
C) It can diagnose the causes of a country's slowing pace of economic improvement.
D) It can compare a country's economic conditions between different periods of time.
50) What can we infer from the passage about American people's economic well-being?
A) It is much better than that of their European counterparts.
B) It has been on the decline ever since the turn of the century.
C) It has not improved as much as reported by the Census Bureau.
D) It has not been accurately assessed and reported since mid-2000s.
Passage Two
Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.
If you've ever started a sentence with, "If I were you..." or found yourself scratching your head at a colleague's agony over a decision when the answer is crystal-clear, there's a scientific reason behind it. Our own decision-making abilities can become depleted over the course of the day causing indecision or poor choices, but choosing on behalf of someone else is an enjoyable task that doesn't suffer the same pitfalls.
The problem is "decision fatigue," a psychological phenomenon that takes a toll on the quality of your choices after a long day of decision making, says Evan Polman, a leading psychologist.
Physicians who have been on the job for several hours, for example, are more likely to prescribe antibiotics to patients when it's unwise to do so. "Presumably it's because it's simple and easy to write a prescription and consider a patient case closed rather than investigate further," Polman says.
But decision fatigue goes away when you are making the decision for someone else. When people imagine themselves as advisers and imagine their own choices as belonging to someone else, they feel less tired and rely less on decision shortcuts to make those choices. "By taking upon the role of adviser rather than decision maker, one does not suffer the consequences of decision fatigue," he says. "It's as if there's something fun and liberating about making someone else's choice."
Getting input from others not only offers a fresh perspective and thought process; it often also includes riskier choices. While this sounds undesirable, it can be quite good, says Polman. "When people experience decision fatigue-when they are tired of making choices—they have a tendency to choose to go with the status quo (现状)," he says. "But the status quo can be problematic, since a change in the course of action can sometimes be important and lead to a positive outcome."
In order to achieve a successful outcome or reward, some level of risk is almost always essential. "People who are susceptible to decision fatigue will likely choose to do nothing over something," he says, "That's not to say that risk is always good, but it is related to taking action9whereas decision fatigue assuredly leads to inaction and the possible chagrin (懊恼) of a decision maker who might otherwise prefer a new course but is unfortunately hindered."
Just because you can make good choices for others doesn't mean you'll do the same for yourself, Polman cautions. "Research has found that women negotiate higher salaries for others than they do for themselves," he says, adding that people slip in and out of decision roles.
51. What does the author say about people making decisions?
A) They may become exhausted by making too many decisions for themselves.
B) They are more cautious in making decisions for others than for themselves.
C) They tend to make decisions the way they think advantageous to them.
D) They show considerable differences in their decision-making abilities.
52. What does the example about the physicians illustrate?
A) Patients seldom receive due care towards the end of the day.
B) Prescription of antibiotics can be harmful to patients' health.
C) Decision fatigue may prevent people making wise decisions.
D) Medical doctors are especially susceptible to decision fatigue.
53. When do people feel less decision fatigue?
A) When they take decision shortcuts.
B) When they help others to make decisions.
C) When they have major decisions to make.
D) When they have advisers to turn to.
54. What are people likely to do when decision fatigue sets in?
A) They turn to physicians for advice.
B) They tend to make risky decisions.
C) They adopt a totally new perspective.
D) They refrain from trying anything new.
55. What does the passage say about taking some risk in decision making?
A) It is vital for one to reach the goal desired.
B) It is likely to entail serious consequences.
C) It will enable people to be more creative.
D) It will more often than not end in regret.
