考研英语二（阅读）模拟试卷24
(总分：40.00，做题时间：90分钟)
一、<B>Part B</B>(总题数：4，分数：40.00)
A. Gender differentiator B. Mark of Personality C. Adoption of foreign drinks D. Statement of affiliation E. Situation definer F. Classification of drinking pattern G. Status indicator It is clear that in all cultures where more than one type of alcoholic beverage is available, drinks are classified in terms of their social meaning, and the classification of drinks is used to define the social world. Few, if any, alcoholic beverages are "socially neutral": every drink is loaded with symbolic meaning, every drink conveys a message. Alcohol is a symbolic vehicle for identifying, describing, constructing and manipulating cultural systems, values, interpersonal relationships, behavioral norms and expectations. Choice of beverage is rarely a matter of personal taste. 1 At the simplest level, drinks are used to define the nature of the occasion. The type of drink served defines both the nature of the event and the social relationship between the drinkers. The choice of drink also dictates behavior. In many Western cultures, c
hampagne is synonymous with celebration, such that if champagne is ordered or served at an otherwise "ordinary" occasion, someone will invariably ask "What are we celebrating?" 2 Choice of beverage is also a significant indicator of social status. In Poland, for example, wine is regarded as a high-status, middle-class drink, while native beers and vodkas are "ordinary" or working-class. 3 Choice of beverage may also be a statement of affiliation, a declaration of membership in a particular group, generation, class, "tribe", sub-culture or nation and its associated values, attitudes and beliefs. Certain drinks, for example, have become symbols of national identity: Guinness for the Irish, tequila for Mexicans, whisky for Scots, ouzo for Greeks etc. One's national beverage can be a powerful expression of one's loyalties and cultural identity. 4 While differences in age, class, status, aspirations and affiliations are frequently expressed through beverage choice, the most consistent and widespread use of alcohol as a social "differentiator" is in the gender-based classification of drinks. Almost all societies make some distinction between "masculine" and "feminine" beverages: even where no other differentiation is found, this primary division is likely to be evident, and, often, to be rigidly observed. Even in societies where only one alcoholic bever
age is available, such as palm wine among the Lele of Zaire, a weaker, sweeter version, Mana ma piya, is considered suitable for women, while Mana ma kobo, described as "strong" and "fierce", is a man's drink. 5 It appears that the adoption of foreign drinks also involves the adoption of the drinking patterns, attitudes and behavior associated with the alien culture, while other societies absorb foreign drinks without "taking in" any of the associated cultural approaches. When the British go to France, they exhibit a tendency to drink wine in beer quantities and display all of the behavioral excesses associated with their native drinking patterns, with the result that young British tourists "are now renowned in France and elsewhere in Europe for their drinking and drunkenness". In Spain, by contrast, the young males appear more sensitive to alien cultural influences. In spite of many areas covered, information on the symbolic meanings of different types of alcoholic drink is still incomplete. Therefore, further and more precise research on the symbolic functions of alcoholic beverages is needed.
（分数：10.00）
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：E）
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：G）
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：D）
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：A）
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：C）
解析：解析：由首句的关键词adoption of foreign drinks、foreign drinks及英国的事例可知，本段与接收外国的饮料或文化有关，故确定C项“引进外国饮料”正确。
All men are created equal, or so reckoned Thomas Jefferson as he drafted America's Declaration of Independence in 1776. Subsequent Americans have had reason to question the founding father. So too have people in the land from which the new nation gained its freedom. America and Britain are among the most unequal countries in the rich world and Britain, at any rate, is more unequal now than it was a generation ago. That is the conclusion of a study commissioned by Harriet Harman, the equalities minister. Class and money have always strongly affected how people do in life in Britain, with well-heeled families breeding affluent children just as the offspring of the desperately poor tend to remain poor. All that was supposed to have ceased at the end of the Second World War, with the birth of a welfare state designed to meet basic needs and promote social mobility. But despite devoting much thought and more money to improving the lot of the poor, governments have failed to boost those at the bottom of the pile as much as those at the top have boosted themselves. The new study, led by John Hills of the London School of Economics, found, for example, that the richest tenth of households received income more than four times that of the poorest tenth; just a generation ago, it was three times as much.
Internationally, only six of the 30 members of the OECD, a club of mainly rich countries, show greater inequality. Wealth is distributed far more unequally than income, with the richest tenth in Britain holding assets worth almost 100 times those of the poorest. Although the study found that some of the widest gaps between social groups have diminished over time, deep-seated differences between haves and have-nots persist, ruining the life chances of the less fortunate. Politicians of all stripes talk up equality of opportunity, arguing that it makes for a fairer and more mobile society, and a more prosperous one. The goal of greater equality of outcomes also has its boosters. In "The Spirit Level", epidemic disease experts Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson claim that more equal societies are healthier than unequal ones, as well as happier. Not all agree, but in a country where the National Health Service accounts for almost a fifth of public spending, it is worth considering. The difficulty arises in putting these notions into practice, through severe tax increases for the middle-class and wealthy, or expanding government intervention. These have not recently been vote-winning propositions, but the recession that Britain is now limping away from may have changed things. So Gordon Brown, at any r
ate, must be hoping. Recently the prime minister said he would put social mobility at the heart of his campaign for re-election. The trouble is that he has had 13 years to work on it already. Despite his pledge to invest in education to "make a reality of genuine equality of opportunity for all", opinion polls suggest that his prospects are poor. （分数：10.00）
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：正确答案：D）
解析：解析：全文的第一句就提到了Thomas Jefferson，文中提到他在起草《独立宣言》时认为“众生是平等的”。D项中的principle of equality与原文的All men are created equal对应，且复现了关键词Declaration of Independence，故为本题答案。
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：正确答案：A）
解析：解析：第一段最后两句提到英美社会的贫富不平等问题。倒数第二句提到英国现在的贫富差距比一代人之前加剧了，而这是Harriet Harman得出的结论。综合这两句可知A项为本题答案。
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：正确答案：F）
解析：解析：第三段提到由John Hills主持的一项研究，该研究表明10%最富有的人的收入现在是10％最贫穷的人的四倍，而之前只是三倍。由此可推断，他们之间的收入差距扩大了，故确定F为答案。
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：正确答案：B）
解析：解析：第四段第四句讲述了流行病专家Kate Pickett和Richard Wilkinson的观点。他们认为，公平的社会更健康，也更幸福。B项复现了原文的an equal society，healthier，happier等关键信息，为本题答案。
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：正确答案：G）
解析：解析：最后一段末句提到，Gordon Brown曾作出资助教育的承诺(pledge)，使所有人都能获得真正均等的机会(genuine equality of opportunity)。G项复现了遣一信息，promised对应文中的pledge，故G为本题答案。
You've finally finished the book your co-worker recommended, so what to read next? If it is , chances are that you're reaching for a romance novel—especially if you're in Texas or Georgia. By early morning, thrillers might start to look more appealing. These are some of the insights from Scribd Inc. and Oyster, two startups that offer unlimited e-book rentals for a monthly subscription fee. Scribd, Oyster and Entitle Books—which just launched in December—are tracking reader behavior in hopes of figuring out recommendations of exactly what you'll want to pick up next. Subscription services are popular because they "reduce the emotional burden" of purchasing, says Julie Haddon, Scribd vice president of marketing. Buying a book creates pressure to finish and get your money's worth, she adds. In addition, people might try to save money by buying a cheaper book instead of the one they really want. An all-access subscription "lowers the activation energy for reading," says Oyster CEO Eric Stromberg. Reading often has a high "activation energy" because there's a time gap between wanting to read a book and then actually getting your hands on it, he says. "When you can order a book and instantly get it on your tablet, you can hear about the book and then read it right there," says Willem van Lancker, Oyster's chief product offic
er. "From the publishing perspective, the biggest problem is how to get people to care about a new book," says Otis Chandler, CEO of Goodreads, a site where people share what they're reading and post recommendations. Goodreads, which was acquired by Amazon in March, uses an algorithm that recommends books that users with similar taste have enjoyed. Oyster and Scribd ask readers to rate books, what they call an "active signal." They also track "passive signals," such as the percentage of a book that a reader finishes and the click rate, or how many people who are shown a book click through to learn more. The companies use that information among other factors to recommend books. Active signals represent what we wish we read, while passive signals are more honest, says Jared Friedman, Scribd chief technology officer. A lot of people give a 5-star rating to "The Great Gatsby," while they read greedily, but don't necessarily rate, thrillers like "The Da Vinci Code," for example. Personalized recommendations drive 10 times more browsing traffic than lists based on themes such as "globe-trotting memoirs" or "bad role models" that copy racks at the front of bookstores, Scribd's Mr. Friedman says. The company is interested in combining algorithms with lists to create a list of best sellers that s
omeone would, based on past reading behavior, find interesting. Another possible approach is to suggest different books or genres depending on time of day to take advantage of what the company knows about time-based preferences. These services, of course, compete with the library. But libraries have had limited e-book offerings and there are often waits for the books. While libraries' budget for e-books has been growing, licensing restrictions mean that popular titles often aren't available, says Laura Girmscheid, research manager for the trade publication Library Journal. This, combined with holds on e-books, is the largest hurdle preventing people from using library e-books more. "It's just not convenient for instant access," Ms. Girmscheid says. （分数：10.00）
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：正确答案：C）
解析：解析：第三段提到了Julie Haddon的几个观点，其中最后一句提到了他认为人们在买纸质书时，会为了省钱而买较便宜的书，而非实际所需要的书。C项所述与此相符，故为本题答案。
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：正确答案：G）
解析：解析：第四段前两句提到Eric Stromberg认为无限量订阅“会减少激发阅读所需的能量”。而阅读往往需要很强的“激发能量”，因为从你想读一本书到真正着手去读它之间有个时间差。G项复现了该部分的关键词high activation energy及time gap，为本题答案。
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：正确答案：E）
解析：解析：Otis Chandler认为从出版的角度来看，最大的问题就是如何让读者关心一本新书，E项中的how to raise reader’s interests“如何提高读者的兴趣”与文中的how to get people to care about对应。
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：正确答案：A）
解析：解析：第六段第二句解释了passive signals包括the click rate，而第四句则引用Jared Friedman的话指出，passive signals是一种更真实的信号，A项复现了原文的关键词，为本题答案。
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：正确答案：F）
解析：解析：最后一段提到了制约人们使用图书馆电子书的因素，即由于借阅许可证的限制及电子书的获取延误(holds on e-books)，最后一段总结到，图书馆的电子书就是不方便获取。F项inconvenience对应原文的not convenient，为本题答案。
A. Plan for the Financial Transition B. Examine Your Investment Portfolio C. Contribute to an IRA D. Save before You Spend E. Max out Your Retirement Plans F. Set a Retirement Savings Goal G. Review Your Own Retirement Plan One month into the new year, it's time to check in on your promises to yourself to start saving more for retirement. Fully 70 percent of Americans are concerned about not having enough money for a comfortable retirement, a recent Fidelity Investments study found. Here are strategies to boost your retirement savings this year. 1 "Pay yourself first, and find ways to invest automatically," says Heather Dzielak of Lincoln Financial Group. "Get in the discipline of setting aside money for your retirement" Many companies will let you automatically deposit part of your paycheck into savings or investment accounts. 2 Most Americans are counting on individual retirement accounts (IRA) to help fund their retirement. But as of 2004, only 29 percent of families owned an IRA or Keogh, with a median value of $30,000, according to t
he Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). The deadline for making a 2006 contribution to a tax-advantaged IRA is April 17, the date your federal tax return is due. 3 Be sure to contribute enough to get your employer's full match. "The way to really do well," says Ed Slott, author of Your Complete Retirement Planning Road Map, "is to keep putting more money in as much as you can. I try to fund all the retirement accounts I can to the max." You should also account for all 401(k) plans you've had at previous employers and consolidate them in your current employer's plan or transfer them into a rollover IRA, says Dallas Salisbury, EBRI president. Rolling a 401 (k) over into an IRA allows you to avoid most fees and penalties. 4 Only 4 in 10 workers have actually calculated how much they need to save for retirement, according to EBRI. And many of those created their own estimate or guessed. It's a good idea to sit down with a financial adviser or use an online calculator or retirement worksheet. You should review your retirement accounts annually to make sure you are getting a good return on your investments. "Over the long term, diversified stocks and bonds should return you 7 percent," says Jonathan Pond, the author of You Can Do It! The Boomer's Guide to a Great Retirement. "The average investor makes
about 4 percent." Pond recommends constructing a diversified portfolio and regularly monitoring it. 5 You'll need a plan to convert retirement savings into a stream of income. "It's the way you take it out that will determine how much you and your family keep and how much goes to the government," says Slott. "If you take it out the wrong way, it all goes back to the government." A financial adviser can help you determine the most tax-advantaged way to withdraw money from retirement accounts. You'll also want to double-check the beneficiary forms on all your retirement accounts. Says Slott: "Most people think that somebody else took care of this. ... The beneficiary form is the key document that's going to determine who gets all this money you've saved."
tablet2（分数：10.00）
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：D）
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：C）
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：E）
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：B）
填空项1:__________________ （正确答案：A）
解析：解析：第六段段首提到的convert retirement savings into…income和段末withdraw money from…皆与如何运用账户中的存款有关，故A中的financial transition“金融转型”，即如何转换账户的存款，符合文意，为正确答案。

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