全国硕士研究生入学考试英语试题及答案1997年(3)

“Substance abuse” (Line 5, Paragraph 1) is preferable to “drug abuse” in that _____.
A)substances can alter our bodily or mental functioning if illegally used
B)“drug abuse” is only related to a limited number of drug takers
C)alcohol and tobacco are as fatal as heroin and cocaine
D)many substances other than heroin or cocaine can also be poisonous

The word “pervasive” (Line 1, Paragraph 2) might mean _____.
A)widespread
B)overwhelming
C)piercing
D)fashionable

Physical dependence on certain substances results from _____.
A)uncontrolled consumption of them over long periods of time
B)exclusive use of them for social purposes
C)quantitative application of them to the treatment of diseases
D)careless employment of them for unpleasant symptoms

From the last paragraph we can infer that _____.
A)stimulants function positively on the mind
B)hallucinogens are in themselves harmful to health
C)depressants are the worst type of psychoactive substances
D)the three types of psychoactive substances are commonly used in groups
　
Passage 4
        No company likes to be told it is contributing to the moral decline of a nation. “Is this what you intended to accomplish with your careers?” Senator Robert Dole asked Time Warner executives last week. “You have sold your souls, but must you corrupt our nation and threaten our children as well?” At Time Warner, however, such questions are simply the latest manifestation of the soul searching that has involved the company ever since the company was born in 1990. It's a self?examination that has, at various times, involved issues of responsibility, creative freedom and the corporate bottom line.
        At the core of this debate is chairman Gerald Levin, 56, who took over for the late Steve Ross in 1992. On the financial front, Levin is under pressure to raise the stock price and reduce the company's mountainous debt, which will increase to ?17.3 billion after two new cable deals close. He has promised to sell off some of the property and restructure the company, but investors are waiting impatiently.
        The flap over rap is not making life any easier for him. Levin has consistently defended the company's rap music on the grounds of expression. In 1992, when Time Warner was under fire for releasing Ice T's violent rap song Cop Killer, Levin described rap as a lawful expression of street culture, which deserves an outlet. “The test of any democratic society,” he wrote in a Wall Streel Journal column, “lies not in how well it can control expression but in whether it gives freedom of thought and expression the widest possible latitude, however disputable or irritating the results may sometimes be. We won't retreat in the face of any threats.”
        Levin would not comment on the debate last week, but there were signs that the chairman was backing off his hard line stand, at least to some extent. During the discussion of rock singing verses at last month's stockholders' meeting, Levin asserted that “music is not the cause of society's ills” and even cited his son, a teacher in the Bronx, New York, who uses rap to communicate with students. But he talked as well about the “balanced struggle” between creative freedom and social responsibility, and he announced that the company would launch a drive to develop standards for distribution and labeling of potentially objectionable music.
        The 15 member Time Warner board is generally supportive of Levin and his corporate strategy. But insiders say several of them have shown their concerns in this matter. “Some of us have known for many, many years that the freedoms under the First Amendment are not totally unlimited,” says Luce. “I think it is perhaps the case that some people associated with the company have only recently come to realize this.”

Senator Robert Dole criticized Time Warner for _____.
A)its raising of the corporate stock price
B)its self?examination of soul
C)its neglect of social responsibility
D)its emphasis on creative freedom

According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
A)Luce is a spokesman of Time Warner.
B)Gerald Levin is liable to compromise.
C)Time Warner is united as one in the face of the debate.
D)Stever Ross is no longer alive

In face of the recent attacks on the company, the chairman _____.
A)stuck to a strong stand to defend freedom of expression
B)softened his tone and adopted some new policy
C)changed his attitude and yielded to objection
D)received more support from the 15?member board

The best title for this passage could be _____.
A)A Company under Fire
B)A Debate on Moral Decline
C)A Lawful Outlet of Street Culture
D)A Form of Creative Freedom
　
Passage 5
        Much of the language used to describe monetary policy, such as “steering the economy to a soft landing” or “a touch on the brakes”, makes it sound like a precise science. Nothing could be further from the truth. The link between interest rates and inflation is uncertain. And there are long, variable lags before policy changes have any effect on the economy. Hence the analogy that likens the conduct of monetary policy to driving a car with a blackened windscreen, a cracked rear view mirror and a faulty steering wheel.
        Given all these disadvantages, central bankers seem to have had much to boast about of late. Average inflation in the big seven industrial economies fell to a mere 2.3% last year, close to its lowest level in 30 years, before rising slightly to 2.5% this July. This is a long way below the double digit rates which many countries experienced in the 1970s and early 1980s.
        It is also less than most forecasters had predicated. In late 1994 the panel of economists which The Economist polls each month said that America's inflation rate would average 3.5% in 1995. In fact, it fell to 2.6% in August, and expected to average only about 3% for the year as a whole. In Britain and Japan inflation is running half a percentage point below the rate predicted at the end of last year. This is no flash in the pan; over the past couple of years, inflation has been consistently lower than expected in Britain and America.
        Economists have been particularly surprised by favorable inflation figures in Britain and the United States, since conventional measures suggest that both economies, and especially America's, have little productive slack. America's capacity utilization, for example, his historically high levels earlier this year, and its jobless rate (5.6% in August) has fallen bellow most estimates of the natural rate of unemployment — the rate below which inflation has taken off in the past.
        Why has inflation proved so mild? The most thrilling explanation is, unfortunately, a little defective. Some economists argue that powerful structural changes in the world have up ended the old economic models that were based upon the historical link between growth and inflation.

From the passage we learn that _____.
A)there is a definite relationship between inflation and interest rates
B)economy will always follow certain models
C)the economic situation is better than expected
D)economists had foreseen the present economic situation

According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
A)Making monetary policies is comparable to driving a car
B)An extremely low jobless rate will lead to inflation
C)A high unemployment rate will result from inflation
D)Interest rates have an immediate effect on the economy

The sentence “This is no flash in the pan” (Line 5, Paragraph 3) means that _____.
A)the low inflation rate will last for some time
B)the inflation rate will soon rise
C)the inflation will disappear quickly
D)there is no inflation at present

The passage shows that the author is _____ the present situation.
A)critical of
B)puzzled by
C)disappointed at
D)amazed at
　
Part IV English Chinese Translation
Directions:Read the following passage carefully and then translate the underlined sentences into Chinese. Your translation must be written clearly on the ANSWER SHEET. (15 points).
    Do animals have rights? This is how the question is usually put. It sounds like a useful, ground?clearing way to start. 71) Actually, it isn't, because it assumes that there is an agreed account of human rights, which is something the world does not have.
    On one view of rights, to be sure, it necessarily follows that animals have none. 72) Some philosophers argue that rights exist only within a social contract, as part of an exchange of duties and entitlements. Therefore, animals cannot have rights. The idea of punishing a tiger that kills somebody is absurd, for exactly the same reason, so is the idea that tigers have rights. However, this is only one account, and by no means an uncontested one. It denies rights not only to animals but also to some people — for instance to infants, the mentally incapable and future generations. In addition, it is unclear what force a contract can have for people who never consented to it, how do you reply to somebody who says “I don't like this contract”?
    The point is this: without agreement on the rights of people, arguing about the rights of animals is fruitless. 73) It leads the discussion to extremes at the outset: it invites you to think that animals should be treated either with the consideration humans extend to other humans, or with no consideration at all. This is a false choice. Better to start with another, more fundamental, question: is the way we treat animals a moral issue at all?
    Many deny it. 74) Arguing from the view that humans are different from animals in every relevant respect, extremists of this kind think that animals lie outside the area of moral choice. Any regard for the suffering of animals is seen as a mistake — a sentimental displacement of feeling that should properly be directed to other humans.
    This view which holds that torturing a monkey is morally equivalent to chopping wood, may seem bravely “logical”. In fact it is simply shallow: the confused center is right to reject it. The most elementary form of moral reasoning — the ethical equivalent of learning to crawl — is to weigh others' interests against one's own. This in turn requires sympathy and imagination: without there is no capacity for moral thought. To see an animal in pain is enough, for most, to engage sympathy. 75) When that happens, it is not a mistake: it is mankind's instinct for moral reasoning in action, an instinct that should be encouraged rather than laughed at.
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全国硕士研究生入学考试英语试题及答案1997年(3)