Dear Economist,My newly-wedded wife and I are deeply in love. There is, however,
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Dear Economist,
My newly-wedded wife and I are deeply in love. There is, however, one issue that threatens the happiness of our marriage. I absolutely insist on shopping at Walmart. My wife, meanwhile, would rather avoid Walmart at all costs.
I have recently tried to convince her that not only does Walmart offer the lowest prices known to man, but that the chain is also a force for good―lower prices mean better standards of living for all consumers, increased global trade means a tighter-knit(紧密团结的) international community, and efficient operations translate into higher productivity growth for the economy. My wife complains about poor labour policies, the “fact” that Walmart squeezes suppliers, and that it puts local shops out of business.
Who is right? Will our marriage survive?
Brian Gee
Dear Brian,
I have to agree with you about Walmart. Jason Furman, then an economist at New York University, now an adviser to President Obama, famously argued in 2005 that Walmart was unwittingly (不知不觉地) a progressive success story. The chain’s prices don’t much affect me (I prefer Whole Foods) but Furman estimated that they benefited low-and-middle-income Americans to the sum of around $250 billion a year.
Walmart does not pay much, so it may depress wages. Then again, it may increase wages by offering jobs to the otherwise-unemployed. Either way, the benefits of low prices to Walmart shoppers far outweigh any seemingly reasonable costs to Walmart employees. And while it is true that Walmart employees tend to be poor, the same is true of Walmart shoppers.
Armed with this information you can face your wife with confidence. You are sure to win the conversation. The divorce is likely to be more argued.
Economist
68. What concerns Brian Gee so much that he wrote the letter?
A. His wife refuses to shop at Walmart.
B. They are faced with a divorce.
C. They can’t afford the costs of shopping at Walmart.
D. They are in conflict about shopping at Walmart.
69. Brian Gee’s wife tends to hold the opinion that _________.
A. it is wrong for Walmart to depress its employees’ wages
B. consumers’ lives have improved thanks to Walmart
C. Walmart’s business operation increases productivity in economy
D. Walmart’s business increases global trade
70. What can be inferred from the reply letter?
A. Some employees accept the low pay to keep the job.
B. Walmart appeals to only poor consumers and poor employees.
C. Employees suffer from Walmart’s low prices more than consumers.
D. Jason Furman, a New York University economist, spoke highly of Walmart. |
答案
| 68-70 DAA |
解析
| 略 |
举一反三
The summer beach season is prime time for shark attacks. It seems like sharks are attacking all the time. But that is something of an illusion. The number of attacks is very small.
How does a shark hunt? Muscles and fins give the shark its speed and maneuverability in the water. A shark’s front fins act like the wings of a plane and let it “fly” through the water. The tail acts like a high-power propeller
But the big thing that gives the shark its edge in the ocean is its sensory package. The package includes the shark’s eyes, ears, skin, nose and mouth, as weir as electric sensing.
A shark’s nose is probably its most important sense. If you were to put a single drop of blood in a swimming pool, a great white shark could smell that. And they can tell the direction that the smell is coming from.
Sharks handle their electric sensing using cell located in the head. Whenever something moves using its muscles, a shark can detect the electrical impulses flowing to those muscles. A shark can electrically “see” anything that has muscles even if it is hiding or the water is not clear.
Sharks even have vibration sensors in their skin. Even something moves near the shark, tubes pick up the pressure changes and hairs inside the tubes send signals to the brain. This extra sense allows a shark to turn quickly and attack again.
When you put all these different senses together , it makes the shark a nearly ideal hunter. A shark can detect prey from miles away and then use eyes, electrosensing and movement sensing to home in.
Strangely, sharks do not seem to use these senses to home in on people. The very low number of sharks tells us that sharks do not hunt people in a regular basis. On the other hand, people love to hunt sharks, Millions of sharks die every year. Without protection, extinction is a definite possibility.
68.From the text, we can know that_________________.
A. it is true that sharks are attacking all the time
B. a shark can see anything that has muscles even if it is hiding.
C. sharks deal with their electric sensing using cell located in the skin
D. what gives the shark its speed and maneuverability is fins and muscles
69.What gives the shark its edge in the ocean according to the text?
A. Its muscle. B. Its nose.
C. Its sensory package. D. Its fins
70. The underlined phrase home in on means___________.
A. swim B. move C. hunt D. smell
71.In this text, the writer implies that__________.
A.there ara many shark attacks B. humans beings should protect sharks
C. human beings dislike hunting shark D. sharks’ nose is very important |
完形填空（共20小题，每小题1.5分，满分30分）
Once there was a very brilliant, creative and educated man. He gained much 36 while traveling throughout the world. Unfortunately he lost his legs and left arm in a tragic accident, leaving only a finger and thumb on his right hand. He became so 37 that he was afraid he would spend his life 38 and would no longer be able to use his life in a(n) 39 way.
One day, he remembered how he had always loved getting 40 . He realized that he still had partial 41 of his right hand and could write with 42 . Then, he had an idea. “Why not write to other people who need encouragement?”
He 43 where he could find those who could be encouraged if they read his letters. He thought of people in 44 . Many of them had hope of regaining their 45 . Others would keep feeling depressed and remain put away for the rest of their lives. He decided that he must try to 46 them. So he wrote to a prison ministry about sending letters to the prisoners. The prison minister replied that writing to the prisoners would be 47 . However, it would be against prison rules for the prisoners to write back.
48 with the intention, the man began sending 49 messages of God’s love, hope, strength, and encouragement. He wrote twice a week, testing his strength and ability to the 50 . He poured his heart and soul into his words, 51 his experience, sense of humor, optimism, and faith.
It was difficult to write those letters, especially without hope of any 52 . Frequently, he felt discouraged, wondering if anyone 53 read his letters. However, this was his 54 chance，so he determined to continue.
At last, he received a letter from the prison officer, which said, “Please write on the best paper you can afford. Your letters are passed from cell (牢房) to cell until they almost fall to 55 !”
We all have unique experiences, abilities and talents. We can discover ways to reach others in need of encouragement and strength.
36. A. wealth B. faith C. experience D. confidence
37. A. depressed B. embarrassed C. ashamed D. thrilled
38. A. writing B. suffering C. weeping D. wandering
39. A. abnormal B. regular C. comfortable D. meaningful
40. A. presents B. e-mails C. letters D. prizes
41. A. sense B. strength C. shape D. function
42. A. affection B. caution C. difficulty D. confidence
43. A. estimated B. doubted C. assumed D. wondered
44. A. hospitals B. churches C. prisons D. charities
45. A. families B. letters C. freedom D. conscience
46. A. release B. reach C. defend D. know
47. A. acceptable B. reasonable C. prohibited D. considered
48. A. Faced B. Filled C. Satisfied D. Impressed
49. A. holy B. daily C. one-way D. round-way
50. A. point B. worst C. degree D. limit
51. A. sharing B. learning C. gaining D. enriching
52. A. success B. reply C. help D. progress
53. A. curiously B. patiently C. carefully D. actually
54. A. only B. better C. extra D. lost
55. A. ruin B. pieces C. the ground D. the bottom |
D
The thing is, my luck’s always been ruined. Just look at my name: Jean. Not Jean Marie, or Jeanine, or Jeanette, or even Jeanne. Just Jean. Did you know in France, they name boys Jean? It’s French for John. And okay, I don’t live in France. But still, I’m basically a girl named John. If I lived in France, anyway.
This is the kind of luck I’ve had since before Mom even filled out my birth certificate. So it wasn’t any big surprise to me when the cab driver didn’t help me with my suitcase. I’d already had to tolerate arriving at the airport to find no one there to greet me, and then got no answer to my many phone calls, asking where my aunt and uncle were. Did they not want me after all? Had they changed their minds? Had they heard about my bad luck—all the way from Iowa—and decided they didn’t want any of it to rub off on them?
So when the cab driver, instead of getting out and helping me with my bags, just pushed a little button so that the trunk (汽车后备箱) popped open a few inches, it wasn’t the worst thing that had ever happened to me. It wasn’t even the worst thing that had happened to me that day.
According to my mom, most brownstones in New York City were originally single-family homes when they were built way back in the 1800s. But now they’ve been divided up into apartments, so that there’s one—or sometimes even two or more families—per floor.
Not Mom’s sister Evelyn’s brownstone, though. Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted Gardiner own all four floors of their brownstone. That’s practically one floor per person, since Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted only have three kids, my cousins Tory, Teddy, and Alice.
Back home, we just have two floors, but there are seven people living on them. And only one bathroom. Not that I’m complaining. Still, ever since my sister Courtney discovered blow-outs, it’s been pretty frightful at home.
But as tall as my aunt and uncle’s house was, it was really narrow—just three windows across. Still, it was a very pretty townhouse, painted gray. The door was a bright, cheerful yellow. There were yellow flower boxes along the base of each window, flower boxes from which bright red—and obviously newly planted, since it was only the middle of April, and not quite warm enough for them.
It was nice to know that, even in a sophisticated (世故的) city like New York, people still realized how homey and welcoming a box of flowers could be. The sight of those flowers cheered me up a little.
Like maybe Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted just forgot I was arriving today, and hadn’t deliberately failed to meet me at the airport because they’d changed their minds about letting me come to stay.
Like everything was going to be all right, after all.
Yeah. With my luck, probably not.
I started up the steps to the front door of 326 East Sixty-Ninth Street, then realized I couldn’t make it with both bags and my violin. Leaving one bag on the sidewalk, I dragged the other up the steps with me. Maybe I took the steps a little too fast, since I nearly tripped and fell flat on my face on the sidewalk. I managed to catch myself at the last moment by grabbing some of the fence the gardeners had put up…
67. Why did the author go to New York?
A. She intended to go sightseeing there.
B. She meant to stay with her aunt’s family.
C. She was homeless and adopted by her aunt.
D. She wanted to try her luck and find a job there.
68. According to the author, some facts account for her bad luck EXCEPT that ________.
A. she was given a boy’s name in French
B. the cab driver didn’t help her with her bags
C. her sister Courtney discovered blow-outs
D. nobody had come to meet her at the airport
69. The underlined phrase “rub off on” in Paragraph 3 probably means _________.
A. have an effect on B. play tricks on C. put pressure on D. throw doubt on
70. From the passage, we can know that _________.
A. the author left home without informing her mother
B. the author arrived in New York in a very warm season
C. her aunt’s family lived a much better life than her own
D. her aunt and uncle were likely to forget about her arrival |
第三节 完形填空（共20小题；每小题1. 5分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Friendship has great power, and it can inspire the people in trouble as well as in easy circumstances.
Recently, one of my best friends, whom I"ve 21 just about everything with since the first day of kindergarten, spent the weekend with me. Since I 22 to a new town several years ago, we"ve both always looked forward to 23 times a year when we can see each other.
Over the weekend, we 24 hours and hours, staying up late 25 the night, talking about the people she was hanging around with. She started telling me stories about her new boyfriend, about how he 26 with drugs and was into other self-destructive[自毁] 27 . I was blown away! She told me how she had been 28 to her parents about where she was going and even sneaking out to see this guy because they didn"t want her around him. No matter 29 hard I tried to tell her that she deserved better, she didn"t believe me. Her self-respect seemed to have disappeared.
I tried to convince her that she was ruining her future and heading for big 30 . I felt like I was getting 31 . I just couldn"t believe that she really thought it was acceptable to hang with a bunch of losers, especially her boyfriend.
By the time she left, I was really worried about her and 32 by the experience. It had been so 33 , I had come close to telling her several times during the weekend that maybe we had just grown too far apart to continue our friendship - but I didn"t. I put the 34 of friendship to the 35 test. We"d been friends for far too long. I had to hope that she 36 me enough to know that I was trying to save her from hurting herself. I wanted to believe that our friendship could conquer anything.
A few days 37 , she called to say that she had thought long and hard about our 38 , and then she told me that she had 39 with her boyfriend. I just listened on the other end of the phone with tears of joy running down my face. It was one of the 40 rewarding moments in my life. Never had I been so proud of a friend.
21. A. divided B. shared C. experienced D. enjoyed
22. A. got B. traveled C. moved D. arrived
23. A. the few B. the little C. few D. little
24. A. took B. spared C. offered D. spent
25. A. into B. in C. for D. at
26. A. supplied B. experimented C. tried D. provided
27. A. action B. movements C. behavior D. activities
28. A. explaining B. speaking C. calling D. lying
29. A. what B. why C. how D. however
30. A. trouble B. worry C. difficulty D. task
31. A. somewhere B. nowhere C. anywhere D. everywhere
32. A. burned down B. turned down C. turned out D. worn out
33. A. discouraging B. encouraging C. exciting D. inspiring
34. A. strength B. force C. power D. energy
35. A. last B. final C. late D. recent
36. A. treated B. regarded C. honored D. valued
37. A. later B. after C. ago D. before
38. A. information B. dialogue C. conversation D. communication
39. A. broken out B. broken up C. broken away D. broken off
40. A. luckily B. correctly C. naturally D. truly |
B
Honesty may well be the policy, but it often deserts us when no one is watching, psychologists report today. Experiments with an honesty box to collect payments for hot drinks show that people are better at paying up when under the gaze(注视) of a pair of eyes. The surprise was that the eyes were not real, but photographed.
Researchers at Newcastle University set up the experiment in secret. They attached a poster to a cupboard of mugs above an-honesty box alongside a kettle, with tea, coffee and milk. Over 10 weeks, they alternated each week between images of eyes and pictures of flowers.
Dr. Bateson, a behavioral biologist and leader of the study, said that even though the eyes were not real they still seemed to make people behave more honestly. They effect may arise from behavioral characteristics that developed as early humans formed social groups that increased their chances of survival. Individuals had to co-operate for the good of the group, rather than act selfishly.
"If nobody is watching us it is in our interests to behave selfishly. But when we think we"re being watched we should behave better, so people see us as co-operative and behave the same way towards us, "Dr. Bateson said.
"We thought we"d get a slight effect with eyes, but it was quite striking how much difference they made. Even at a subconscious(潜意识的) level, it seems people respond to eyes, and that might be because eyes send a strong biological signal we have evolved(进化) to respond to."
The finding, which researchers believe sheds light on our evolutionary past, could be turned to practical use. The psychologists say images of eyes could promote ticket sales on public transport and improve monitor systems to prevent antisocial behavior.
45. This passage is mainly about _______________.
A. the policy of honesty B. an honesty box to collect money
C. evolution on honesty D. an experiment on honesty
46. The reason for doing the experiment secretly is that the researchers _____________.
A. wanted to get a comparatively more exact result
B. had known they wanted to do something illegally
C. meant to get the co-operation of their colleagues
D. intended to sell the hot drinks at a higher price
47. People behave honestly under watchful gaze of eyes because _____________.
A. they want to leave a good impression B. they fear to be laughed at by others
C. they"ve got the nature through evolutionD. they take the photo for a real pair of eyes
48. Images of a pair of eyes can be applied to all except _____.
A. tickets sales on public transport B. cold drink sales in public places
C. places with “No spitting!” signs D. Christmas decorations in one’s home |
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