2010年MBA英语模拟试题（二）

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)

　　Research on animal intelligence always makes me wonder just how smart humans are. 1 the fruit-fly experiments described in Carl Zimmer’s piece in the Science Times on Tuesday. Fruit flies who were taught to be smarter than the average fruit fly 2 to live shorter lives. This suggests that 3 bulbs burn longer, that there is an 4 in not being too terrifically bright.

　　Intelligence, it 5 out, is a high-priced option. It takes more upkeep, burns more fuel and is slow 6 the starting line because it depends on learning — a gradual 7 — instead of instinct. Plenty of other species are able to learn, and one of the things they’ve apparently learned is when to 8 .

　　Is there an adaptive value to 9 intelligence? That’s the question behind this new research. I like it. Instead of casting a wistful glance 10 at all the species we’ve left in the dust I.Q.-wise, it implicitly asks what the real 11 of our own intelligence might be. This is 12 the mind of every animal I’ve ever met.

　　Research on animal intelligence also makes me wonder what experiments animals would 13 on humans if they had the chance. Every cat with an owner, 14 , is running a small-scale study in operant conditioning. we believe that 15 animals ran the labs, they would test us to 16 the limits of our patience, our faithfulness, our memory for terrain. They would try to decide what intelligence in humans is really 17 , not merely how much of it there is. 18 , they would hope to study a 19 question: Are humans actually aware of the world they live in? 20 the results are inconclusive.

 1. [A] Suppose　[B] Consider 　[C] Observe   　[D] Imagine

 2. [A] tended 　 [B] feared         [C] happened      [D] threatened

 3. [A] thinner 　 [B] stabler 　　 [C] lighter          [D] dimmer

 4. [A] tendency    [B] advantage      [C] inclination    [D] priority 

 5. [A] insists on 　　[B] sums up 　　[C] turns out   [D] puts forward

 6. [A] off               [B] behind           [C] over           [D] along

 7. [A] incredible     [B] spontaneous   [C]inevitable    [D] gradual

 8. [A] fight             [B] doubt             [C] stop           [D] think

 9. [A] invisible       [B] limited            [C] indefinite     [D] different

 10. [A] upward     [B] forward          [C] afterward    [D] backward

 11. [A] features     [B] influences       [C] results         [D] costs

 12. [A] outside      [B] on                  [C] by               [D] across

 13. [A] deliver       [B] carry              [C] perform       [D] apply

 14. [A] by chance  [B] in contrast      [C] as usual       [D] for instance

 15. [A] if               [B] unless             [C] as                [D] lest

 16. [A] moderate   [B] overcome       [C] determine    [D] reach

 17. [A] at              [B] for                  [C] after            [D] with

 18. [A] Above all  [B] After all          [C] However     [D] Otherwise

 19. [A] fundamental [B] comprehensive  [C] equivalent  [D] hostile

 20. [A] By accident  [B] In time        [C] So far          [D] Better still

 Section Ⅱ Reading comprehension

Part A

Directions:

Read the following four passages. Answer the questions below each passage by choosing A, B, C and D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1 . (40 points)

Text 1

　　Roger Rosenblatt’s book Black Fiction, in attempting to apply literary rather than sociopolitical criteria to its subject, successfully alters the approach taken by most previous studies. As Rosenblatt notes, criticism of Black writing has often served as a pretext for expounding on Black history. Addison Gayle’s recent work, for example, judges the value of Black fiction by overtly political standards, rating each work according to the notions of Black identity which it propounds.

　　Although fiction assuredly springs from political circumstances, its authors react to those circumstances in ways other than ideological, and talking about novels and stories primarily as instruments of ideology circumvents much of the fictional enterprise. Rosenblatt’s literary analysis discloses affinities and connections among works of Black fiction which solely political studies have overlooked or ignored.

　　Writing acceptable criticism of Black fiction, however, presupposes giving satisfactory answers to a number of questions. First of all, is there a sufficient reason, other than the facial identity of the authors, to group together works by Black authors? Second, how does Black fiction make itself distinct from other modern fiction with which it is largely contemporaneous?

　　Rosenblatt shows that Black fiction constitutes a distinct body of writing that has an identifiable, coherent literary tradition. Looking at novels written by Black over the last eighty years, he discovers recurring concerns and designs independent of chronology. These structures are thematic, and they spring, not surprisingly, from the central fact that the Black characters in these novels exist in a predominantly white culture, whether they try to conform to that culture or rebel against it.

　　Black Fiction does leave some aesthetic questions open. Rosenblatt’s thematic analysis permits considerable objectivity; he even explicitly states that it is not his intention to judge the merit of the various works — yet his reluctance seems misplaced, especially since an attempt to appraise might have led to interesting results. For instance, some of the novels appear to be structurally diffuse. Is this a defect, or are the authors working out of, or trying to forge, a different kind of aesthetic? In addition, the style of some Black novels, like Jean Toomer’s Cane, verges on expressionism or surrealism; does this technique provide a counterpoint to the prevalent theme that portrays the fate against which Black heroes are pitted, a theme usually conveyed by more naturalistic modes of expression?

　　In spite of such omissions, what Rosenblatt does include in his discussion makes for an astute and worthwhile study. Black Fiction surveys a wide variety of novels, bringing to our attention in the process some fascinating and little-known works like James Weldon Johnson’s Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man. Its argument is tightly constructed, and its forthright, lucid style exemplifies levelheaded and penetrating criticism.

21. The author of the text is primarily concerned with __________.

[A] evaluating the soundness of a work of criticism.

[B] comparing various critical approaches to a subject.

[C] discussing the limitations of a particular kind of criticism.

[D] summarizing the major points made in a work of criticism.

22. The author of the text believes that Black Fiction would have been improved had Rosenblatt __________.

[A] evaluated more carefully the ideological and historical aspects of Black fiction.

[B] attempted to be more objective in his approach to novels and stories by Black authors.

[C] explored in greater detail the recurrent thematic concerns of Black fiction throughout its history.

[D] assessed the relative literary merit of the novels he analyzes thematically.

23. The author’s discussion of Black Fiction can be best described as __________.

[A] pedantic and contentious.

[B] critical but admiring.

[C] ironic and deprecating.

[D] argumentative but unfocused.

24. The author of the text employs all of the following in the discussion of Rosenblatt’s book EXCEPT ： __________.

[A] rhetorical questions.

[B] specific examples.

[C] comparison and contrast.

[D] definition of terms.

25. The author of the text refers to James Weldon Johnson’s Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man most probably in order to __________.

[A] point out affinities between Rosenblatt’s method of thematic analysis and earlier criticism.

[B] clarify the point about expressionistic style made earlier in the passage.

[C] qualify the assessment of Rosenblatt’s book made in the first paragraph of the passage.

[D] give a specific example of one of the accomplishments of Rosenblatt’s work.

Text 2

　　Although recent years have seen substantial reductions in noxious pollutants from individual motor vehicles, the number of such vehicles has been steadily increasing. Consequently, more than 100 cities in the United States still have levels of carbon monoxide, particulate matter, and ozone (generated by photochemical reactions with hydrocarbons from vehicle exhaust) that exceed legally established limits. There is a growing realization that the only effective way to achieve further reductions in vehicle emissions — short of a massive shift away from the private automobile — is to replace conventional diesel fuel and gasoline with cleaner-burning fuels such as compressed natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, ethanol, or methanol.

　　All of these alternatives are carbon-based fuels whose molecules are smaller and simpler than those of gasoline. These molecules burn more cleanly than gasoline, in part because they have fewer, if any, carbon-carbon bonds and the hydrocarbons they do emit are less likely to generate ozone. The combustion of larger molecules, which have multiple carbon-carbon bonds involves a more complex series of reactions. These reactions increase the probability of incomplete combustion and are more likely to release uncombusted and photo chemically active hydrocarbon compounds into the atmosphere. On the other hand, alternative fuels do have drawbacks. Compressed natural gas would require that vehicles have set of heavy fuel tanks — a serious liability in terms of performance and fuel efficiency — and liquefied petroleum gas faces fundamental limits on supply.

　　Ethanol and methanol, on the other hand, have important advantages over other carbon-based alternative fuels: they have higher energy content per volume and would require minimal changes in the existing network for distributing motor fuel. Ethanol is commonly used as a gasoline supplement, but it is currently about twice as expensive as methanol, the low cost of which is one of its attractive features. Methanol’s most attractive feature, however, is that it can reduce by about 90 percent the vehicle emissions that form ozone, the most serious urban air pollutant.

　　Like any alternative fuel, methanol has its critics. Yet much of the criticism is based on the use of “gasoline clone” vehicles that do not incorporate even the simplest design improvements that are made possible with the use of methanol. It is true, for example, that a given volume of methanol provides only about one-half of the energy that gasoline and diesel fuel do; other things being equal, the fuel tank would have to be somewhat larger and heavier. However, since methanol-fueled vehicles could be designed to be much more efficient than “gasoline clone” vehicles fueled with methanol they would need comparatively less fuel. Vehicles incorporating only the simplest of the engine improvements that methanol makes feasible would still contribute to an immediate lessening of urban air pollution.

26. The author of the text is primarily concerned with
[A] countering a flawed argument that dismisses a possible solution to a problem.
[B] reconciling contradictory points of view about the nature of a problem.
[C] identifying the strengths of possible solutions to a problem.
[D] discussing a problem and arguing in favor of one solution to it.

27. According to the text, incomplete combustion is more likely to occur with gasoline than with an alternative fuel because
[A] the combustion of gasoline releases photo chemically active hydrocarbons.
[B] the combustion of gasoline embraces an intricate set of reactions.
[C] gasoline molecules have a simple molecular structure.
[D] gasoline is composed of small molecules.

28. The text suggests which of the following about air pollution?
[A] Further attempts to reduce emissions from gasoline-fueled vehicles will not help lower urban air-pollution levels.
[B] Attempts to reduce the pollutants that an individual gasoline-fueled vehicle emits have been largely unsuccessful.
[C] Few serious attempts have been made to reduce the amount of pollutants emitted by gasoline-fueled vehicles.
[D] Pollutants emitted by gasoline-fueled vehicles are not the most critical source of urban air pollution.

29 . Which of the following most closely parallels the situation described in the first sentence of the text?
[A] Although a town reduces its public services in order to avoid a tax increase, the town’s tax rate exceeds that of other towns in the surrounding area.
[B] Although a state passes strict laws to limit the type of toxic material that can be disposed of in public landfills, illegal dumping continues to increase.
[C] Although a town’s citizens reduce their individual use of water, the town’s water supplies continue to dwindle because of a steady increase in the total populating of the town.
[D] Although a country attempts to increase the sale of domestic goods by adding a tax to the price of imported goods, the sale of imported goods within the country continues to increase.

30. It can be inferred that the author of the text most likely regards the criticism of methanol as
[A] flawed because of the assumptions on which it is based.
[B] inapplicable because of an inconsistency in the critics’ arguments.
[C] misguided because of its exclusively technological focus.
[D] inaccurate because it ignores consumers’ concerns.

Text 3

　　The use of heat pumps has been held back largely by skepticism about advertisers’ claims that heat pumps can provide as many as two units of thermal energy for each unit of electrical energy used, thus apparently contradicting the principle of energy conservation.

　　 Heat pumps circulate a fluid refrigerant that cycles alternatively from its liquid phase to its vapor phase in a closed loop. The refrigerant, starting as a low-temperature, low-pressure vapor, enters a compressor driven by an electric motor. The refrigerant leaves the compressor as a hot, dense vapor and flows through a heat exchanger called the condenser, which transfers heat from the refrigerant to a body of air. Now the refrigerant, as a high-pressure, cooled liquid, confronts a flow restriction which causes the pressure to drop. As the pressure falls, the refrigerant expands and partially vaporizes, becoming chilled. It then passes through a second heat exchanger, the evaporator, which transfers heat from the air to the refrigerant, reducing the temperature of this second body of air. Of the two heat exchangers, one is located inside, and the other one outside the house, so each is in contact with a different body of air: room air and outside air, respectively.

　　 The flow direction of refrigerant through a heat pump is controlled by valves. When the refrigerant flow is reversed, the heat exchangers switch function. This flow-reversal capability allows heat pumps either to heat or cool room air.

　　 Now, if under certain conditions a heat pump puts out more thermal energy than it consumes in electrical energy, has the law of energy conservation been challenged? No, not even remotely: the additional input of thermal energy into the circulating refrigerant via the evaporator accounts for the difference in the energy equation.

　　 Unfortunately there is one real problem. The heating capacity of a heat pump decreases as the outdoor temperature falls. The drop in capacity is caused by the lessening amount of refrigerant mass moved through the compressor at one time. The heating capacity is proportional to this mass flow rate: the less the mass of refrigerant being compressed, the less the thermal load it can transfer through the heat-pump cycle. The volume flow rate of refrigerant vapor through the single-speed rotary compressor used in heat pumps is approximately constant. But cold refrigerant vapor entering a compressor is at lower pressure than warmer vapor. Therefore, the mass of cold refrigerant — and thus the thermal energy it carries — is less than if the refrigerant vapor were warmer before compression.

　　Here, then, lies a genuine drawback of heat pumps: in extremely cold climates — where the most heat is needed — heat pumps are least able to supply enough heat.
 

31. The primary purpose of the text is to
[A] explain the differences in the working of a heat pump when the outdoor temperature changes.
[B] contrast the heating and the cooling modes of heat pumps.
[C] describe heat pumps, their use, and factors affecting their use.
[D] advocate the more widespread use of heat pumps.
 

32. The author resolves the question of whether heat pumps run counter to the principle of energy conservation by
[A] carefully qualifying the meaning of that principle.
[B] pointing out a factual effort in the statement that gives rise to this question.
[C] supplying additional relevant facts.
[D] denying the relevance of that principle to heat pumps.
 

33. It can be inferred from the text that, in the course of a heating season, the heating capacity of a heat pump is greatest when
[A] heating is least essential.
[B] electricity rates are lowest.
[C] its compressor runs the fastest.
[D] outdoor temperatures hold steady.
 

34. If the author’s assessment of the use of heat pumps (lines 1-4) is correct, which of the following best expresses the lesson that advertisers should learn from this case?
[A] Do not make exaggerated claims about the products you are trying to promote.
[B] Focus your advertising campaign on vague analogies and veiled implications instead of on facts.
[C] Do not use facts in your advertising that will strain the prospective client’s ability to believe.
[D] Do not assume in your advertising that the prospective clients know even the most elementary scientific principles.
 

35. The text suggests that heat pumps would be used more widely if
[A] they could also be used as air conditioners.
[B] they could be moved around to supply heat where it is most needed.
[C] their heat output could be thermostatically controlled.
[D] people appreciated the role of the evaporator in the energy equation.

Text 4

　　“I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at work, at its most intense.” Virginia Woolf’s provocative statement about her intentions in writing Mrs. Dalloway has regularly been ignored by the critics, since it highlights an aspect of her literary interests very different from the traditional picture of the “poetic” novelist concerned with examining states of reverie and vision and with following the intricate pathways of individual consciousness. But Virginia Woolf was a realistic as well as a poetic novelist, a satirist and social critic as well as a visionary: literary critics’ cavalier dismissal of Woolf’s social vision will not withstand scrutiny.

　　In her novels, Woolf is deeply engaged by the questions of how individuals are shaped (or deformed) by their social environments, how historical forces impinge on people’s lives, how class, wealth, and gender help to determine people’s fates. Most of her novels are rooted in a realistically rendered social setting and in a precise historical time.

　　Woolf’s focus on society has not been generally recognized because of her intense antipathy to propaganda in art. The pictures of reformers in her novels are usually satiric or sharply critical. Even when Woolf is fundamentally sympathetic to their causes, she portrays people anxious to reform their society and possessed of a message or program as arrogant or dishonest, unaware of how their political ideas serve their own psychological needs. (Her Writer’s Diary notes: “the only honest people are the artists,” whereas “these social reformers and philanthropists… harbor… discreditable desires under the disguise of loving their kind…”) Woolf detested what she called “preaching” in fiction, too, and criticized novelist D. H. Lawrence (among others) for working by this method.

　　 Woolf’s own social criticism is expressed in the language of observation rather than in direct commentary, since for her, fiction is a contemplative, not an active art. She describes phenomena and provides materials for a judgment about society and social issues; it is the reader’s work to put the observations together and understand the coherent point of view behind them. As a moralist, Woolf works by indirection, subtly undermining officially accepted mores, mocking, suggesting, calling into question, rather than asserting, advocating, bearing witness: hers is the satirist’s art.

　　Woolf’s literary models were acute social observers like Chekhov and Chaucer. As she put it in The Common Reader, “It is safe to say that not a single law has been framed or one stone set upon another because of anything Chaucer said or wrote; and yet, as we read him, we are absorbing morality at every pore.” Like Chaucer, Woolf chose to understand as well as to judge, to know her society root and branch — a decision crucial in order to produce art rather than polemic.
36. Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the text?
[A] Poetry and Satire as Influences on the Novels of Virginia Woolf.
[B] Virginia Woolf: Critic and Commentator on the Twentieth-Century Novel.
[C] Trends in Contemporary Reform Movements as a Key to Understanding Virginia Woolf’s Novels.
[D] Virginia Woolf’s Novels: Critical Reflections on the Individual and on Society.

37. In the first paragraph of the text, the author’s attitude toward the literary critics mentioned can best be described as
[A] disparaging.
[B] ironic.
[C] facetious.
[D] skeptical but resigned.
 

38. It can be inferred from the text that Woolf chose Chaucer as a literary example because she believed that
[A] Chaucer was the first English author to focus on society as a whole as well as on individual characters.
[B] Chaucer was an honest and forthright author, whereas novelists like D. H. Lawrence did not sincerely wish to change society.
[C] Chaucer was more concerned with understanding his society than with calling its accepted mores into question.
[D] Chaucer’s writing was greatly, if subtly, effective in influencing the moral attitudes of his readers.
 

39. It can be inferred from the text that the most probable reason Woolf realistically described the social setting in the majority of her novels was that she
[A] was aware that contemporary literary critics considered the novel to be the most realistic of literary genres.
[B] was interested in the effect of a person’s social milieu on his or her character and actions.
[C] needed to be as attentive to detail as possible in her novels in order to support the arguments she advanced in them.
[D] wanted to show that a painstaking fidelity in the representation of reality did not in any way hamper the artist.
 

40. Which of the following phrases best expresses the sense of the word “contemplative” as it is used in line 2, paragraph 4 of the text?
[A] Gradually elucidating the rational structures underlying accepted mores.
[B] Reflecting on issues in society without prejudice or emotional commitment.
[C] Avoiding the aggressive assertion of the author’s perspective to the exclusion of the reader’s judgment.
[D] Conveying a broad view of society as a whole rather than focusing on an isolated individual consciousness.

Part B

Directions:

Read the following text and answer question by deciding each of the statements after the text is True or False. Choose T if the statement is true or F if the statement is not true. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)

　　If you were to examine the birth certificates of every soccer player in 2006’s World Cup tournament, you would most likely find a noteworthy quirk: elite soccer players are more likely to have been born in the earlier months of the year than in the later months. If you then examined the European national youth teams that feed the World Cup and professional ranks, you would find this strange phenomenon to be even more pronounced.

　　What might account for this strange phenomenon? Here are a few guesses: a) certain astrological signs confer superior soccer skills; b) winter-born babies tend to have higher oxygen capacity, which increases soccer stamina; c) soccer-mad parents are more likely to conceive children in springtime, at the annual peak of soccer mania; d) none of the above.

　　Anders Ericsson, a 58-year-old psychology professor at Florida State University, says he believes strongly in “none of the above.” Ericsson grew up in Sweden, and studied nuclear engineering until he realized he would have more opportunity to conduct his own research if he switched to psychology. His first experiment, nearly 30 years ago, involved memory: training a person to hear and then repeat a random series of numbers. “With the first subject, after about 20 hours of training, his digit span had risen from 7 to 20,” Ericsson recalls. “He kept improving, and after about 200 hours of training he had risen to over 80 numbers.”

　　This success, coupled with later research showing that memory itself is not genetically determined, led Ericsson to conclude that the act of memorizing is more of a cognitive exercise than an intuitive one. In other words, whatever inborn differences two people may exhibit in their abilities to memorize, those differences are swamped by how well each person “encodes” the information. And the best way to learn how to encode information meaningfully, Ericsson determined, was a process known as deliberate practice. Deliberate practice entails more than simply repeating a task. Rather, it involves setting specific goals, obtaining immediate feedback and concentrating as much on technique as on outcome.

　　Ericsson and his colleagues have thus taken to studying expert performers in a wide range of pursuits, including soccer. They gather all the data they can, not just performance statistics and biographical details but also the results of their own laboratory experiments with high achievers. Their work makes a rather startling assertion: the trait we commonly call talent is highly overrated. Or, put another way, expert performers – whether in memory or surgery, ballet or computer programming – are nearly always made, not born.

41. The birthday phenomenon found among soccer players is mentioned to explain why some soccer teams play better than others.

42. The word “mania” (Line 4, Paragraph 2) most probably means fan.

43. According to Ericsson, good memory depends on meaningful processing of information.

44. Ericsson and his colleagues believe that high achievers owe their success mostly to nurture.

45. The text tries to convey “One reaps what one sows.”

Section Ⅲ Translation

Directions:

In this section there is a paragraph in English .Translate it into Chinese and write your translation on ANSWER SHEET 2 (15 points).

　　Genetically speaking, there are advantages to avoiding substantial height. During childbirth, larger babies have more difficulty passing through the birth canal. Moreover, even though humans have been upright for millions of years, our feet and back continue to struggle with bipedal posture and cannot easily withstand repeated strain imposed by oversize limbs. “There are some real constraints that are set by the genetic architecture of the individual organism,” says anthropologist William Leonard of Northwestern University.

　　Genetic maximums can change, but don’t expect this to happen soon. Claire C. Gordon, senior anthropologist at the Army Research Center in Natick, Mass., ensures that 90 percent of the uniforms and workstations fit recruits without alteration. She says that, unlike those for basketball, the length of military uniforms has not changed for some time. And if you need to predict human height in the near future to design a piece of equipment, Gordon says that by and large, “you could use today’s data and feel fairly confident.”

Section Ⅳ Writing

Part A

Directions:

Read the following Chinese text and write an abstract of it in 80-100 English words. You should write your abstract on ANSWER SHEET 2 (10 points)

规划股份投资

　　我们周围不乏情报贩子，向人们提供迅速发财致富的机遇。但是，如果你是一个认真的私人投资者，就把拉斯韦加斯的心态留给那些有钱可供挥霍的人。认真的投资者需要一份正规的投资组合表 -- 一种计划很周密的投资选择，包括你的投资结构和明确的目标。但是 , 一个股票市场的新手又如何能做到这一点呢？

　　如果你去向 5 位有威望的股票经纪人咨询，询问你应该如何使用你的资金，你可能得到 5 种不同的答复，即便你提供了有关于你的年龄、家庭、财源和你想从投资中获得好处的信息。这是个道德问题吗？没有一种完全“正确”的方法来排列这种投资组合，然而，却毫无疑问地有几种错误的方法。可以相信 5 位经纪人中不会有人建议你把全部（或一部份）资金投入佩里威格斯公司。

　　那么你该怎么做呢？我们假定你已把基本情况弄清楚了，如抵押贷款、养老金、保险金和动用现金储备的机会。然后，你一定要建立起自己的目标。这里一方面是个所处的环境，另一方面是个心理学的问题。

　　比如说，如果你年纪较大，你从重大投资损失中恢复过来的时间就较少，你就很希望能够提高你的养老金收入。因此，你的首要任务就是保护你的资金和引发额外的收入。在这种情况下，你大概想制定一份包括某些股份（但不是风险很大的股份）的投资组合，同时还有高度可靠的证券、现金储蓄，可能还有可换证券，或分割资本投资信托公司的所得股。

　　如果你年轻一些，并且经济状况可靠，你可能会采取一种积极进取的方式 -- 你必须性格开朗，不会因股票价格的浮动而夜不能眠。如果你觉得你的情况是这样的话，你可在投资组合中包括几项有令人陶醉的增值前景的增长股，和其他比较平淡的投资项目放在一起。一旦你的投资组合中包括几项有令人陶醉的增值前景的增长股，和其他比较平淡的投资项目放在一起。一旦你的投资目标确立以后，你就可以决定你的钱投向何处。这里的指导原则是：分散你的投资风险。如果你把所有资金投入佩里威格斯国际公司，你就把自己当成了命运的人质。