【新航道考研英语】新航道2006考研英语命题预测题五及答案1

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北京新航道学校考研阅读主讲 印建坤

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)

FOREIGN financiers mouthing off about the legal wars they will unleash to recover bad debts in Russia rarely mean much. The expense of a lawsuit   1  the satisfaction; the chances of getting any money are  2  .

Yet Noga, a company owned by Nessim Gaon, a 78-year-old businessman  3  in Geneva, has been suing the Russian government since 1993, attempting to  4   Russian assets abroad. At Mr Gaon\"s request, bailiffs last week very nearly 5     two of Russia\"s most advanced warplanes at the Paris air  6  . The organisers  7    off  the Russian authorities, and the planes flew home, just  8   time.   9   near-misses include a sail-training ship, the Sedov, nuclear- waste shipments, and the president\"s plane.

Mr Gaon, whose previous business partners include regimes in Nigeria and Sudan, put an  10 clause in his original export deals: Russia must waive its sovereign immunity. An arbitration court  in Stockholm has found in his  11  , so far, to the  12   of $110m, out of a total  13  of $420m. Other courts  14   the world have let him have a 15  at any Russian assets  16  reach.

The odd thing is  17  Russia, now awash with cash, does not simply pay up. Mr Gaon says he was told at one point that a 10% 18   on the debt to someone high up in the finance ministry would solve things.  19  off Mr Gaon costs much in legal fees. Not accepting international judgments sits ill with the current Kremlin line  20   the rule of law. Mr Gaon says his next move will be to seize Russia\"s embassy in Paris.
1.A. outdoes   B. outperform  C. outshine  D. outweighs
2.A. thin  B. slim  C. lean  D.wiry
3.A. based  B. found  C.established  D. set
4.A. grasp  B.hold  C. seize  D. snatch
5.A. caught  B seized  C. grabbed D arrested
6.A. show  B. exhibition  C. display  D. demonstration
7 A. stilted  B tipped C. dumped  D. slanted
8.A. in  B. on  C at  D upon
9.A. Others  B.Another  C.The other  D. Other
10.A.usual  B. unusual  C. common  D.uncommon
11. A.support  B. good  C. favor  D. preference
12.A. tune  B. figure  C. account  D.count
13.A.demanded  B.requested  C.required  Dclaimed
14.A. in  B. at  C. around  D over
15A. crack  B. break C split  D snap
16.A. in  B.within  C. out of  D. beyond
17.A. how  B.when C. why  D.where
18.A. kickback  B.payment  C.cut  D. reward
19.A. avoiding   B.fending C. escaping  D. shielding
20.A. in  B. on  C. at  D. to

Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension
Part A
TEXT 1
FINE GAEL, Ireland\"s main opposition party, has a new leader. Having unceremoniously deposed John Bruton, a former prime minister, on January 31st, it quickly put in his place the man who had plotted his downfall, Michael Noonan. He is a skilled parliamentarian with wide ministerial experience, and a master of the quotable sound bite, not to say of the knife. But can he bring his party back to office?
Mr. Bruton had been ten years in the job, including 2 1/2 years at the head of a coalition government in the mid-1990s. He was a man of substance, but suffered, said party critics, from a "charisma deficit". Mr. Noonan, at 57 four years older, has both substance and image, and a keen desire for power. But he inherits a demoralized party, unsure of its identity and role in Irish politics, and divided by the manner of his succession. He has not long to turn it round: a general election is due by June 2002, and the prime minister, Bertie Ahern, leader of Fianna Fail, may be tempted to call one sooner.
Part of Fine Gael\"s trouble has been an inability to distinguish itself from Fianna Fail. Fine Gael laid the foundations of the new Irish state in the 1920s. But Fianna Fail built it up and, having first taken office in 1932, has been in government for some 50 of the years since. Fine Gael has been out of office for most of the past 14 years. Both parties are essentially conservative and centrist, both rooted in the nationalist past. Their hostility goes back to the civil war that sprang up when nationalists split over the terms of the treaty that brought freedom from Britain. But the recent modernization of Irish society has made their similarities far bigger than their differences.
Both are catch-all parties, with support across all social classes, age groups and regions. Fianna Fail, however, is better at winning it. On social and moral issues, Fine Gael has usually shown itself readier for change than Fianna Fail, notably in such controversial areas as reform of the anti-contraception law and the legalization of divorce.
One or other party has served in every government since 1922. But never both together. That iron law of Irish politics, it seems, remains. Yet the political landscape is not what it was. After the 1989 election, Fianna Fail accepted coalition with minor parties as the price of power. Since then it has swung according to its partners: centre-right, centre-left and now, since 1997, right again with the Progressive Democrats. Fine Gael must link up with Labor if it wants power. No wonder Mr. Noonan\"s first step as leader was to make noises about social justice.

21. In the opening paragraph, the author introduces his topic by
A. posing a contrast
B. justifying an assumption
C. presenting a doubt
D. explaining a phenomenon

22. “The manner” of the 2nd paragraph refers to
A  Noonan’s mastering of the quotable sound bite.
B  his power desire
C  too substantial
D  Charisma deficit

23．Michael Noonan became the leader of FINE GAEL through
A  rebellion
B  coalition
C  election
D  negotiation

24.  It can be inferred from the text that
A  there is still some time to change FINE GAEL’s image.
B  Fianna Fail and FINE GAEL will have a large difference in many aspects.
C it is hopeful Fianna Fail probably win the election.
D Fianna Fail, like FINE GAEL, is also conservative and reformist.

25.  What can we infer from the passage?
A  FINE GAEL built the foundations of the England at the beginning.
B  Who will form the next government is unclear.
C  FINE GAEL is less influential than its rival.
D  FINE GAEL governed the Irish State longer than Fianna Fail.

TEXT 2
ARE burgers and fries a product of the profound social changes of the past 50 years, or were they to a large extent responsible for them? The author of this diatribe against multinational restaurant brands opts for the latter explanation. "There is nothing inevitable about the fast food nation that surrounds us," he concludes. "The triumph of  McDonald\"s and its imitators was by no means pre- ordained." But it happened nevertheless and, in his view, it is to be blamed for many of the evils of modern America and their global spread. The emergence of the corporate colossus, followed inexorably by its deionization, is a familiar pattern in American business history.
The modern phenomenon of fast food originated in California just before the Second World War. Its first manifestation was kerb service, with meals delivered to motorists by comely young carhops. Richard and Maurice McDonald, who ran a drive-in burger bar in San Bernardino near Los Angeles, became tired of having constantly to replace their carhops and wash up crockery and cutlery. In 1948 they decided to make customers serve themselves, while restricting the menu to items that could be prepared by unskilled cooks and eaten without plates, knives or forks.
The McDonald brothers were soon bought out by the entrepreneurial Ray Kroc, who franchised their name and techniques so successfully that there is now scarcely a corner of the world that is free from their trademark golden arches, invariably spawning a cluster of rival chains selling hamburgers, pizzas, or fried chicken, doled out by smiling teenagers willing to accept minimal pay. They are cheap, cheerful, popular, and children love them.
So just what is Mr. Schlosser\"s beef? Apart from his nutritional reservations--too much fat, salt and sugar--he documents how, as the chains expanded, they were able to dictate terms to the suppliers of potatoes and ground beef, their staple ingredients. This caused an upheaval in agribusiness, as a few large suppliers quickly forced less efficient producers out of the market. The drive to keep down costs and increase the speed of production led to the employment of cheap unskilled labor and to the widespread toleration of dangerous and unhygienic practices among growers and processors, which regulatory bodies have failed to police.
Mr. Schlosser, who is a skilful and persuasive investigative reporter, sees all this as a damaging corruption of the free market. He is especially incensed by promotional techniques aimed at impressionable children. A 1997 giveaway of Teenie Beanie Babies increased the sale of McDonalds\" Happy Meals from 10m a week to 10m a day. And a survey found that 96% of American schoolchildren could identify Ronald McDonald, the chain\"s mascot. Only Santa Claus scored higher.

26．The example of McDonald is to be concluded that
A  the fast food is the great social change of the past 50 years.
B  the success of multinational brands was destined.
C  the corporate demonizing contributed some social changes.
D  McDonald is popular in America.

27. The word“kerb service”(line 2, para 2) equates to
A  restaurants’ service
B  hotel service
C  family service
D  motor restaurant

28.What does the author mean by “mascot”(last line, para 3)?
A. benefit
B. danger
C. shortcoming
D. feedback

29. The writer airs Mr. Schlosser’s opinion in the 4th  paragraph in order to
A  list the nutritional reservation.
B  be for the proper dictate terms.
C  ask the police to regulate the productive process.
D  criticize fast-food for being junk food.

30. McDonald’s is successful
A  and defeats a lot of other rivals.
B  and the world is full of its subsections.
C  because it doesn’t need the cutlery.
D  because it is cheap and highly nutritional.

TEXT 3
SOMETIMES people seem to regard their old arguments rather like family heirlooms. They treasure them and polish them even though the world has moved on. Something like that seems to have been behind the curious events in Carfin, a Lanarkshire village, over the past few days.
The controversy began when Bertie Ahern, the Irish taoiseach (Prime Minister), cancelled a visit he was due to make to Carfin on February 11th to unveil a memorial to Irish immigrants fleeing the Irish famine of the 1840s. It turned out that the local MP, Frank Roy, had advised the taoiseach to stay away as his presence might have provoked sectarian violence in the wake of the "old firm derby" (a football match) between Glasgow rivals Celtic and Rangers. In the past this match has resulted in violence, as Scotland\"s two biggest football clubs stand proxy for the local Catholic and Protestant populations.
But Mr. Roy\"s constituents were so outraged at being depicted as senseless religious bigots by their own MP that he felt obliged to resign his unpaid government post as parliamentary private secretary to the Scottish secretary. And the men and women of Carfin would seem to have been vindicated by events. There were only 16 arrests in the ground after the match, but none in Carfin, where disappointed Rangers fans drowned their sorrows perfectly amicably side by side with Celtic fans celebrating their team\"s 1-0 win.
Maybe Mr. Roy should have got out and about a bit more. Then he would have realised how times have changed. Historically, religious sectarianism has certainly been rife in Lanarkshire, and Ireland\"s marching season of parades by northern Orangemen and southern Hibernian orders are still paralleled in the county today. But the economic and social inequalities which gave this division a vicious edge (Orange-dominated trade unionism kept Catholics out of better- paid skilled jobs) have long gone, together with the mining and steel industries that sustained them.
These days there are more Muslims in and around Carfin, a predominantly Catholic village, than there are Protestants. The Church of Scotland sold its Kirk in the village a decade ago: it is now a mosque. The Protestant congregation has lacked a minister for nearly two years and is down to about 70 souls, easily out-numbered by the 400-500 Muslims who attend prayers in Carfin every Friday. For it is Islam that is the big growth religion in Lanarkshire just now. The county\"s Muslims have outgrown the Carfin mosque and have raised 2m for a new one. They have set up mosques in two other towns and are looking for a site in a third.
But as the old sectarianism dies out, is it being replaced by a new sort of bigotry? Ghulam Siddiquie, a spokesman for Lanarkshire\"s Muslims, says that the local people are very helpful in trying to stamp out racism. But anger still smolders at the bungled investigation and prosecution of the white men believed to have murdered a Sikh, Surjit Singh Chhokar, in a stabbing in a street near Wishaw in 1998. The new wave of immigration has brought with it its own problems, more familiar to the inner cities of England than the historical divisions of Belfast.

31. Why did the Irish taoiseach cancel a Carfin visit?
A  Beause he was stopped by the stubborn secretary.
B  Beause his presence would provoke a violence.
C  Beause the local football match resulted in violence.
D  Beause the local residents didn’t like him.

32. The Rangers fans and Celtic fans performed _____when the match over.
A  sorrowfully
B  delightfully
C  reasonably
D  crazily

33. The sentence “Maybe Mr. Roy should have got out and about a bit more?”means
A  Mr. Roy should attend the Ireland’s marching of parades
B  Religious sectarianism in history has been gradually vanishing.
C  Mr. Roy should get out of the door and communicate with people.
D  Times changed and Mr. Roy should clean his mind.

34. The last sentence implies
A  more and more Muslins bring new problems.
B  England’s sectarianism is spreading.
C  the immigration of people of other religions is destroying the inner balance of England.
D  Northern Ireland now has the religious problems, but England has others.

35. From this passage, the author’s real meaning of the 1st sentence is
A as time changes, so should the arguments
B the world goes on, the old arguments seem too old.
C the old argugments are vanishing in the current society.
D a lot of people like to listen and spread the old argument.

TEXT 4
WHAT an elegant party! The Press Complaints Commission\"s glittering bash this week to celebrate its tenth anniversary was the nearest London gets to high society. In a gathering too close to parody for comfort, the PCC succeeded in bringing together Prince William, the heir to the throne, his father, Prince Charles, the royal mistress, Camilla Parker-Bowles, as well as pop stars, super- models, cabinet ministers, senior civil servants and other wannabes.
The one thing this disparate bunch had in common was that most of them had sought the protection of the PCC over the past decade. Their principal tormentors, the editors of the nation\"s tabloid newspapers, were there in force to greet their victims, so it was not surprising that a certain frisson swirled around the party.
That so many prominent glitterati turned up to devour the PCC\"s canapé and rub shoulders with the royals is, no doubt, a triumph for its chairman, Lord Wakeham. He can fairly claim to have restored confidence in self-regulation and saved the press from privacy legislation. A skilled political fixer, he has used his chairmanship to pressure the press barons such as Rupert Murdoch into corralling their editors.
The PCC's (?) code of conduct, drawn up by a panel of editors, is generally observed. Press standards have improved and complaints have fallen by nearly a third over the past five years. The industry, which not so long ago was said to be "drinking in the last-chance saloon", with self-regulation in terminal disrepute, is grateful.
The party was meant to celebrate this success. The soap stars and the models, judging by the amount of drink going down their throats, certainly enjoyed themselves, as did the editors. But whether Prince Charles and Prince William were wise to associate themselves with this lot is doubtful. "Never sup with the enemy" is a good motto. At least the royals could tell who to avoid because all the guests had name tabs.
Lord Wakeham, who helped get rid of Lady Thatcher without her even knowing, is a skilled operator. But this lavish party has given an opening to those critics who claim he is too close to the industry and too protective of the powerful. "We\"re here to protect the vulnerable" was the slogan of a big banner that greeted the guests. That was not the main impression the evening made on the minds of those who staggered out of the grandeur of Somerset House, high on champagne and celebrity. The truly vulnerable were nowhere to be seen.

36．The party was so elegant, because
A. Price William was there
B. PCC succeeded in bringing together so many personalities
C. PCC was celebrating
D. It was too close to parody

37. “Drinking in the last-chance salon”(line 4, para 4) denotes
A  there was only once saloon held by the PCC in the last 5 years.
B  the industry had got a lot complaints from high society.
C press standards was not actually revived by Lord Wakeham self-regulation.
D  the PCC has ever in a very dangerous state of going bankrupt.

38. The purpose Lord Wakeham holding this party is to
A  celebrate its revival from the despair
B  protect the high society big shots.
C  self-regulate and improve standards.
D  revive the PPC and seek the confidence.

39. From the text, we can see Lord Wakeham is not
A  capable
B  insidious
C  sociable
D  intelligent

40. Which one isn’t true about this passage?
A  The author is sarcastic with the banquet slogan.
B  The attendants of the party were satisfied with this gathering.
C  The PPC can protect the big ones’ benefits.
D  The PPC is actually the tongue of politics.

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