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Last weekend Kyle MacDonald in Montreal threw a party to celebrate the fact that he got his new home in exchange for a red paper clip. Starting a year ago, MacDonald bartered the clip for increasingly valuable stuff, including a camp stove and free rent in a Phoenix flat. Having announced his aim (the house) in advance, MacDonald likely got a boost from techies eager to see the Internet pass this daring test of its networking power. “My whole motto (座右铭) was ‘Start small, think big, and have fun’, ” says MacDonald, 26, “I really kept my effort on the creative side rather than the business side.”Yet as odd as the MacDonald exchange was, barter is now big business on the Net. This year more than 400,000 companies worldwide will exchange some $10 billion worth of goods and services on a growing number of barter sites. These Web sites allow companies to trade products for a virtual currency, which they can use to buy goods from other members. In Iceland, garment-maker Kapusalan sells a third of its output on the booming Vidskiptanetid exchange, earning virtual money that it uses to buy machinery and pay part of employee salaries. The Troc-services exchange in France offers more than 4,600 services, from math lessons to ironing.This is not a primitive barter system. By creating currencies, the Internet removes a major barrier—what Bob Meyer, publisher of Barter News, calls “the double coincidence of wants.” That is, two parties once not only had to find each other, but also an exchange of goods that both desired. Now, they can price the deal in virtual currency.Barter also helps firms make use of idle capacity. For example, advertising is “hugely bartered” because many media, particularly on the Web can supply new ad space at little cost. Moreover, Internet ads don’t register in industry-growth statistics, because many exchanges are arranged outside the formal exchanges. Like eBay, most barter sites allow members to “grade” trading partners for honesty quality and so on.. Barter exchanges can allow firms in countries with hyperinflation or nontradable currencies to enter global trades. Next year, a nonprofit exchange called Quick Lift Two (QL2) plans to open in Nairobi, offering barter deals to 38,000 Kenyan farmers in remote areas. Two small planes will deliver the goods. QL2 director Gacii Waciuma says the farmers are excited to be “liberated from corrupt middlemen.” For them, barter evokes a bright future, not a precapitalist past.1.The word “techies” (Line 4, Para 1) probably refers to those who are(  ).2.Many people may have deliberately helped Kyle because they (  ).  3.The Internet barter system relies heavily on (  ).  4.It is implies that Internet advertisements can help (  ).  5.Which of the follow is true of QL2 according to the author?

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Though often viewed as a problem for western states, the growing frequency of wildfires is a national concern because of its impact on federal tax dollars, says Professor Max Moritz, a specialist in fire ecology and management.In 2015, the US Forest Service for the first time spent more than half of its $5.5 billion annual budget fighting fires-nearly double the percentage it spent on such efforts 20 years ago. In effect, fewer federal funds today are going towards the agency's other work-such as forest conservation, watershed and cultural resources management, and infrastructure upkeep-that affect the lives of all Americans.Another nationwide concern is whether public funds from other agencies are going into construction in fire-prone districts. As Moritz puts it, how often are federal dollars building homes that are likely to be lost to a wildfire?“It’s already a huge problem from a public expenditure perspective for the whole country,” he says. We need to take a magnifying glass to that. Like, “Wait a minute, is this OK?”“Do we want instead to redirect those funds to concentrate on lower-hazard parts of the landscape?”Such a view would require a corresponding shift in the way US society today views fire, researchers say.For one thing, conversations about wildfires need to be more inclusive. Over the past decade, the focus has been on climate change-how the warming of the Earth from greenhouse gases is leading to conditions that worsen fires.While climate is a key element, Moritz says, it shouldn’t come at the expense of the rest of the equation.“The human systems and the landscapes we live on are linked, and the interactions go both ways," he says. Failing to recognize that, he notes, leads to "an overly simplified view of what the solutions might be. Our perception of the problem and of what the solution is becomes very limited.”At the same time, people continue to treat fire as an event that needs to be wholly controlled and unleashed only out of necessity, says Professor Balch at the University of Colorado. But acknowledging fire's inevitable presence in human life is an attitude crucial to developing the laws, policies, and practices that make it as safe as possible, she says.“We’ve disconnected ourselves from living with fire,” Balch says. “It is really important to understand and try and tease out what is the human connection with fire today.”1.More frequent wildfires have become a national concern because in 2015 they(  ).2.Moritz calls for the use of "a magnifying glass" to  (  ).  3.While admitting that climate is a key element, Moritz notes that (  ).  4.The overly simplified view Moritz mentions is a result of failing to  (  ).  5.Professor Balch points out that fire is something man should(  ).

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Office jobs are among the positions hardest hit by computation (计算机自动化). Word processors and typists will lose about 93,000 jobs over the next few years, while 57,000 secretarial jobs will vanish. Blame the PC: Today, many executives type their own memos and carry there” secretaries” in the palms of their hands. Time is also hard for stock clerks, whose ranks are expected to decrease by 68,000. And employees in manufacturing firms and wholesalers are being replaced with computerized systems.But not everyone who loses a job will end up in the unemployment line. Many will shift to growing positions within their own companies. When new technologies shook up the telecomm business, telephone operator Judy Dougherty pursued retraining. She is now a communications technician, earning about $ 64,000 per year. Of course, if you’ve been a tollbooth collector for the past 30 years, and you find yourself replaced by an E-ZPass machine, it may be of little consolation(安慰) to know that the telecom field is booming. And that’s just it: The service economy is fading: welcome to the expertise(专门知识) economy. To succeed in the new job market, you must be able to handle complex problems. Indeed, all but one of the 50 highest-paying occupations—air-traffic controller—demand at least a bachelor’s degree.For those with just a high school diploma(毕业证书).It’s going to get tougher to find a well-paying job. Since fewer factory and clerical jobs will be available .what’s left be the jobs that computations can’t kill, computers cant clean offices, or for Alzheimer’s patients(老年痴呆病人). But, since most people have the skills to fill those positions, the wages stay painfully low, meaning computation could drive an even deeper wedge (楔子) between the and poor, The best advice now, Never stop learning, and keep up with new technology.For busy adults of course that can be tough, the good news is that very technology that’s reducing so many jobs is a making it easier to go back to school without having to sit in a classroom. So called internet distance learning is hot, with more than three million students currently enrolled , and it’s gaining credibility with employers.Are you at risk of losing your job to a computer? Check the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook ,which is available online at bls.gov.1.From the first paragraph we can infer that all of the following persons are easily thrown into unemployment EXCEPT(  ).2.In the second paragraph the anther mentions the tollbooth collector to (  ).  3.By saying “...computation could drive an even deeper wedge between the rich and poor” (line 5. Para 4 )the author means (  ).  4.What is the author’s attitude towards computers?5.Which of the following might serve as the best title of passage?

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The longest bull run in a century of art-market history ended on a dramatic note with a sale of 56 works by Damien Hirst, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, at Sotheby’s in London on September 15th 2008. All but two pieces sold, fetching more than $70m, a record for a sale by a single artist. It was a last victory. As the auction¬eer called out bids, in New York one of the oldest banks on Wall Street, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy.The world art market had already been losing momentum for a while after rising bewilderingly since 2003. At its peak in 2007 it was worth some $65 billion, reckons Clare McAndrew, founder of Arts Economics, a re¬search firm—double the figure five years earlier. Since then it may have come down to $50 billion. But the market generates interest far beyond its size because it brings together great wealth, enormous egos, greed, passion and controversy in a way matched by few other industries.In the weeks and months that followed Mr. Hirst’s sale, spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable. In the art world that meant collectors stayed away from galleries and salerooms. Sales of contemporary art fell by two-thirds, and in the most overheated sector, they were down by nearly 90% in the year to November 2008. Within weeks the world’s two biggest auction houses, Sotheby’s and Christie’s, had to pay out nearly $200m in guarantees to clients who had placed works for sale with them.The current downturn in the art market is the worst since the Japanese stopped buying Impressionists at the end of 1989. This time experts reckon that prices are about 40% down on their peak on average, though some have been far more fluctuant. But Edward Dolman, Christie’s chief executive, says: I’m pretty confident we’re at the bottom.What makes this slump different from the last, he says, is that there are still buyers in the market. Almost everyone who was interviewed for this special report said that the biggest problem at the moment is not a lack of demand but a lack of good work to sell. The three Ds—death, debt and divorce—still deliver works of art to the market. But anyone who does not have to sell is keeping away, waiting for confidence to return. (394 words)1.In the first paragraph, Damien Hirst’s sale was referred to as “a last victory” because (  ).2.By saying “spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable" ( Para. 3) , the author suggests that (  ).  3.Which of the following statements is NOT true?4.The three Ds mentioned in the last paragraph are (  ).  5.The most appropriate title for this text could be(  ).

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I was addressing a small gathering in a suburban Virginia living room—a women’s group that had invited men to join them. Throughout the evening, one man had been particularly talkative, frequently offering ideas and anecdotes, while his wife sat silently beside him on the couch. Toward the end of the evening, I commented that women frequently complain that their husbands don’t talk to them. This man quickly nodded in agreement. He gestured toward his wife and said, “She’s the talker in our family.” The room burst into laughter; the man looked puzzled and hurt. “ It’s true," he explained. “When I come home from work I have nothing to say. If she didn’t keep the conversation going, we’d spend the whole evening in silence.This episode crystallizes the irony that although American men tend to talk more than women in public situa-tions ,they often talk less at home. And this pattern is wreaking havoc with marriage.The pattern was observed by political scientist Andrew Hacker in the late 1970s. Sociologist Catherine Kohler Riessman reports in her new book Divorce Talk that most of the women she interviewed——but only a few of the men—gave lack of communication as the reason for their divorces. Given the current divorce rate of nearly 50 percent, that amounts to millions of cases in the United States every year—a virtual epidemic of failed conversation.In my own research, complaints from women about their husbands most often focused not on tangible inequities such as having given up the chance for a career to accompany a husband to his, or doing far more than their share of daily life-support work like cleaning, cooking and social arrangements. Instead, they focused on communication: "He doesn’t listen to me.” “He doesn’t talk to me.” I found, as Hacker observed years before, that most wives want their husbands to be, first and foremost, conversational partners, but few husbands share this expectation of their wives.In short, the image that best represents the current crisis is the stereotypical cartoon scene of a man sitting at the breakfast table with a newspaper held up in front of his face, while a woman glares at the back of it, wanting to talk. (374 words)1.What is most wives’ main expectation of their husbands?2.Judging from the context, the phrase “wreaking havoc”(Para. 2) most probably means(  ).3.All of the following are true EXCEPT (  ).  4.Which of the following can best summarize the main idea of this text?5.In the following part immediately after this text,the author will most probably focus on(  ).

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How seriously should parent take kid’s opinions when searching for a home?In choosing a new home, Camille McClain’s kids have a single demand: a backyard.That seemingly reasonable request turned the Chicago family’s home hunt upside down, as there weren’t many three-bedroom apartments on the North Side — where the family was looking — that came with yard space. Still, McClain and her husband chose to honor their 4- and 6-year-old’s request.“We worked with a few apartment brokers, and it was strange that many of them didn’t even know if there was outdoor space, so they’d bring us to an apartment. We’d see that it didn’t have a yard, and we’d move on,” said McClain, who runs Merry Music Makers in Lakeview, a business focused on music education for children.McClain’s little ones aren’t the only kids who have an opinion when it comes to housing, and in many cases youngsters’ views weigh heavily on parents’ real estate decisions, according to a 2018 Harris Poll survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults.Renters paid attention to their kids’ preferences even more: 83 percent said their children’s opinions will be a factor when they buy a home.The idea of involving children in a big decision is a great idea because it can help them feel a sense of control and ownership in what can be an overwhelming process, said Ryan Hooper, clinical psychologist in Chicago.“Children may face serious difficulties in coping with significant moves, especially if it removes them from their current school or support system,” he said.Younger children should feel like they’re choosing their home — without actually getting a choice in the matter, said Adam Bailey, real estate attorney based in New York and author of the upcoming children’s book Home, about the search for the perfect home from the viewpoint of a child.Asking them questions about what they like about the backyard of a potential home—or asking them where their toys would go in the house — will make them feel like they’re being included in the decision-making process, Bailey said.Many of the aspects of home buying aren’t a consideration for children, said Tracey Hampson, a real estate agent based in Santa Clarita, Calif. And placing too much emphasis on their opinions can ruin a fantastic home purchase.She has a client who has been house-hunting for a while, and he always asks his young children their opinion. But when this buyer finally decided to write an offer on a home with a pool, his children burst into tears because they didn’t want a pool.“They ended up not submitting an offer,” Hampson said. “So speaking with your children before you make a real estate decision is wise, but I wouldn’t base the purchasing decision solely on their opinions.”The other issue is that many children — especially older ones — may base their real estate knowledge on HGTV shows, which tend to focus on superficial aspects of real estate, said Aaron Norris of The Norris Group in Riverside, Calif.“They love Chip and  Joanna Gaines  just as much as the rest of us,” he said. “HGTV has seriously changed how people view real estate. It’s not shelter, it’s a lifestyle. With that mindset change comes some serious money consequences.”Kids tend to get stuck in the features and the immediate benefits to them personally, Norris said. And while their opinions on those elements shouldn’t reign supreme, the homebuying process could be a time to start talking to kids about money, budgeting, homeownership and other financial decisions.Parents also need to remind their children that their needs and desires may change over time, said Julie Gurner, a real estate analyst with FitSmallBusiness.com.“Their opinions can change tomorrow,”Gurner said. “Harsh as it may be to say, that decision should likely not be made contingent on a child’s opinions, but rather made for them with great consideration into what home can meet their needs best — and give them an opportunity to customize it a bit and make it their own.”This advice is more relevant now than ever before, even as more parents want to embrace the ideas of their children, despite the current housing crunch.Today, wanna-be home buyers have to be more open when it comes to must-haves andwhat you can compromise on, Hampson said.And speaking of compromise: The McClain kids, hungry for outdoor space, fell in love with a home in the North Park neighborhood that had a large yard. But it wasn’t ideal by their parents’ standards.The family ended up renting a house in North Center that had a smaller yard, but it was still big enough for playtime.“I had to do a bit of a sales job with the kids since they loved the yard in North Park,” McClain said. “But there’s a hammock they lounge on, a spot to jump rope, a place to play in the sprinkler, and an area to write with sidewalk chalk.”1.Ryan Hoopper (  )2.Adam Bailey (  )  3.Tracey Hampson (  )  4.Aaron Norris (  )  5.Julie Gurner (  )

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Given the advantages of electronic money, you might think that we would move quickly to the cashless society in which all payments are made electronically.(1), a true cashless society is probably not around the corner. Indeed, predictions have been (2)  for two decades but have not yet come to fruition. For example, Business Week predicted in 1975 that electronic means of payment would soon “revolutionize the very (3)  of money itself, ’’ only to (4)  itself several years later. Why has the movement to a cashless society been so (5)  in coming?Although electronic means of payment may be more efficient than a payments system based on paper, several factors work (6)  the disappearance of the paper system. First, it is very (7)  to set up the computer, card reader, and telecommunications networks necessary to make electronic money the (8)  form of payment. Second, paper checks have the advantage that they (9)  receipts, something that many consumers are unwilling to(10 ).  Third, the use of paper checks gives consumers several days of “float” ——it takes several days(11) a check is cashed and funds are  (12)   from the issuer’s account, which means that the writer of the check can earn interest on the funds in the meantime.  (13)  electronic payments are immediate, they eliminate the float for the consumer.Fourth, electronic means of payment may  (14)   security and privacy concerns. We often hear media reports that an unauthorized hacker has been able to access a computer database and to alter information(15)  there. The fact that this is not an (16)  occurrence means that dishonest persons might be able to access bank accounts in electronic payments systems and (17)  from someone else’s accounts. The (18) of this type of fraud is no easy task, and a new field of computer science is developing to (19)  security issues. A further concern is that the use of electronic means of payment leaves an electronic (20)  that contains a large amount of personal data. There are concerns that government, employers, and marketers might be able to access these data, thereby violating our privacy.

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In an essay entitled "Making It in America”, the author Adam Davidson relates a joke from cotton country about just how much a modern textile mill has been automated: The average mill has only two employees today, “a man and a dog. The man is there to feed the dog, and the dog is there to keep the man away from the machines.”Davidson’s article is one of a number of pieces that have recently appeared making the point that the reason we have such stubbornly high unemployment and declining middle-class incomes today is largely because of the big drop in demand because of the Great Recession, but it is also because of the advances in both globalization and the information technology revolution, which are more rapidly than ever replacing labor with machines or foreign workers.In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle. But, today, average is officially over. Being average just won’t earn you what it used to. It can’t when so many more employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius. Therefore, everyone needs to find their extra——their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment.Yes, new technology has been eating jobs forever, and always will. But there’s been an acceleration. As Davidson notes, “In the 10 years ending in 2009, [ U. S. ] factories shed workers so fast that they erased almost all the gains of the previous 70 years; roughly one out of every three manufacturing jobs—about 6 million in total—disappeared.”There will always be change—new jobs, new products, new services. But the one thing we know for sure is that with each advance in globalization and the I. T. revolution, the best jobs will require workers to have more and better education to make themselves above average.In a world where average is officially over, there are many things we need to do to support employment, but nothing would be more important than passing some kind of G. I. Bill for the 21st century that ensures that every American has access to poet-high school education.1.The joke in Paragraph 1 is used to illustrate (  ).2.According to Paragraph 3, to be a successful employee, one has to (  ).  3.The quotation in Paragraph 4 explains that (  ).  4.According to the author, to reduce unemployment, the most important is  (  ).  5.Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the text?

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A century ago, the immigrants from across the Atlantic included settlers and sojourners. Along with the many folks looking to make a permanent home in the United States came those who had no intention to stay, and who would make some money and them go home. Between 1908 and 1915, about 7 million people arrived while about 2 million departed. About a quarter of all Italian immigrants, for example, eventually returned to Italy for good. They even had an affectionate nickname, “uccelli di passaggio”, birds of passage.Today, we are much more rigid about immigrants. We divide newcomers into two categories: legal or illegal, good or bad. We hail them as Americans in the making, or brand them as aliens to be kicked out. That framework has contributed mightily to our broken immigration system and the long political paralysis over how to fix it. We don’t need more categories, but we need to change the way we think about categories. We need to look beyond strict definitions of legal and illegal. To start, we can recognize the new birds of passage, those living and thriving in the gray areas. We might then begin to solve our immigration challenges.Crop pickers, violinists, construction workers, entrepreneurs, engineers, home health-care aides and physicists are among today’s birds of passage. They are energetic participants in a global economy driven by the flow of work, money and ideas. They prefer to come and go as opportunity calls them. They can manage to have a job in one place and a family in another.With or without permission, they straddle laws, jurisdictions and identities with ease. We need them to imagine the United States as a place where they can be productive for a while without committing themselves to staying forever. We need them to feel that home can be both here and there and that they can belong to two nations honorably.Accommodating this new world of people in motion will require new attitudes on both sides of the immigration battle. Looking beyond the culture war logic of right or wrong means opening up the middle ground and understanding that managing immigration today requires multiple paths and multiple outcomes, including some that are not easy to accomplish legally in the existing system.1.“Birds of passage” refers to those who (  ).2.It is implied in Paragraph 2 that the current immigration system in the U. S.  (  ).  3.According to the author, today’s birds of passage want  (  ).  4.The author suggests that the birds of passage today should be treated (  ).    5.The most appropriate title for this text would be(  ).

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Europe is not a gender-equality heaven. In particular, the corporate workplace will never be completely family-friendly until women are part of senior management decisions, and Europe’s top corporate-governance positions remain overwhelmingly male. Indeed, women hold only 14 percent of positions on Europe corporate boards.The Europe Union is now considering legislation to compel corporate boards to maintain a certain proportion of women一up to 60 percent. This proposed mandate was born of frustration. Last year, Europe an Commission Vice President Viviane Reding issued a call to voluntary action. Reding invited corporations to sign up for gender balance goals of 40 percent female board membership. But her appeal was considered a failure: only 24 companies took it up.Do we need quotas to ensure that women can continue to climb the corporate ladder fairly as they balance work and family?“Personally, I don’t like quotas,” Reding said recently. “But I like what the quotas do.” Quotas get action: they “open the way to equality and they break through the glass ceiling,” according to Reding, a result seen in France and other countries with legally binding provisions on placing women in top business positions.I understand Reding’s reluctance—and her frustration. I don’t like quotas either; they run counter to my belief in meritocracy, government by the capable. But, when one considers the obstacles to achieving the meritocratic ideal, it does look as if a fairer world must be temporarily ordered.After all, four decades of evidence has now shown that corporations in Europe as well as the US are evading the meritocratic hiring and promotion of women to top position一no matter how much “soft pressure” is put upon them. When women do break through to the summit of corporate power—as, for example, Sheryl Sandberg recently did at Facebook—they attract massive attention precisely because they remain the exception to the rule.If appropriate pubic policies were in place to help all women—whether CEOs or their children’s caregivers一 and all families, Sandberg would be no more newsworthy than any other highly capable person living in a more just society.1.In the European corporate workplace, generally (  ).2.The European Union’s intended legislation is (  ).  3.According to Reding, quotas may help women (  ).  4.The author’s attitude toward Reding’s appeal is one of  (  ).  5.Women entering top management become headlines due to the lack of(  ).

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The hugely popular blog the Skint Foodie chronicles how Tony balances his love of good food with living on benefits. After bills, Tony has £60 a week to spend, £40 of which goes on food, but 10 years ago he was earning £130, 000 a year working in corporate communications and eating at London’s best restaurants at least twice a week. Then his marriage failed, his career burned out and his drinking became serious. “The community mental health team saved my life. And I felt like that again, to a certain degree, when people responded to the blog so well. It gave me the validation and confidence that I’d lost. But it’s still a day-by-day thing.’’ Now he’s living in a council flat and fielding offers from literary agents. He’s feeling positive, but he’ll carry on blogging---not about eating as cheaply as you can--- “there are so many people in a much worse state, with barely any money to spend on food” ---but eating well on a budget. Here’s his advice for economical foodies.1.                                                Impulsive spending isn’t an option, so plan your week’s menu in advance,making shopping lists for your ingredients in their exact quantities. I have an Excel template for a week of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Stop laughing: it’s not just cost effective but helps you balance your diet. It’s also a good idea to shop daily instead of weekly, because, being human, you’ll sometimes change your mind about what you fancy.2.                                                                 This is where supermarkets and their anonymity come in handy. With them,there’s not the same embarrassment as when buying one carrot in a little greengrocer. And if you plan properly, you’ll know that you only need, say,350 g of shin of beef and six rashers of bacon, not whatever weight is prepacked in the supermarket chiller.3.                                                You may proudly claim to only have frozen peas in the freezer—that’s not good enough. Mine is filled with leftovers, bread, stock, meat and fish. Planning ahead should eliminate wastage, but if you have surplus vegetables you’ll do a vegetable soup, and all fruits threatening to “go off” will be cooked or juiced.4.                                                 Everyone says this, but it really is a top tip for frugal eaters. Shop at butchers, delis and fish-sellers regularly, even for small things, and be super friendly. Soon you’ll feel comfortable asking if they’ve any knuckles of ham for soups and stews, or beef bones, chicken carcasses and fish heads for stock, which, more often than not, they’ll let you have for free.5.                                                 You won’t be eating out a lot, but save your pennies and once every few months treat yourself to a set lunch at a good restaurant—£ 1.75 a week for three months gives you £21 —more than enough for a three-course lunch at Michelin-starred Arbutus. It’s £16.95 there—or £12.99 for a large pizza from Domino’s: I know which I’d rather eat.

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