第二十一天：阅读模拟练习一

今天开始阅读练习。总结的写作词汇是关于社会生活问题的。其中与“假”有关的问题放在前面。以后会专门总结“假研究”一类的问题。

今天的结束语是：Seek truth from facts（实事求是）。

counterfeit certificates伪造证书

counterfeit currency/stamp/ ID card伪造货币/邮票/身份证件

credit-card fraud信用卡欺诈

fake and shoddy commodities假冒伪劣商品

pseudo-science/superstition伪科学/迷信

unlicensed vehicle黑车

smuggled goods黑货/走私货

population explosion/baby boom人口爆炸

population census人口普查

birth/death rate出生/死亡率

family planning计划生育

high blood pressure高血压

heart attack心脏病

cancer癌症

euthanasia安乐死

death penalty/capital punishment 死刑

bring somebody to justice缉拿归案/绳之以法

law enforcement officers执法人员

bootlegging贩卖违禁品

money laundering洗钱

cyber bars/internet café网吧

drug addiction吸毒

epidemic disease传染病

AIDS 艾滋病和性病

campus/family violence校园/家庭暴力

male chauvinist大男子主义者

child abuse虐待儿童

dropout students失学儿童

eliminate illiteracy扫盲

help those in distress and aid those in peril扶危济困

poverty-stricken areas贫困地区

remote and mountain areas边远山区

shake off poverty and set out on a road to prosperity脱贫致富

pornographic books and magazines 黄色书刊

brain drain人才流失

personnel recruitment员工招聘

investment for infrastructure基本建设投资

organization at grass-root level基层组织

institutional reorganization机构重组

corruption phenomenon腐败现象

offer or take bribes行贿受贿

on-line love affair网恋

high divorce rate/single_parent children/only child高离婚率/单亲家庭子女/独生子女

DINK (double income, no kid)丁克家庭

nuclear family核心家庭

generation gap代沟

couch potato长时间看电视的人

cosmetics surgery美容手术

go on a diet节食/减肥

well-balanced meals营养均衡的食物

maintain a low profile保持低调

tendency toward boasting and exaggeration浮夸风

enjoy banquets using public funds公款吃喝

bad construction projects豆腐渣工程

welfare-oriented public housing distribution system福利分房

high-rise apartment building高层住宅楼

down payment首期按揭／首付

middle-class lifestyle中产阶级生活方式

juvenile delinquency青少年犯罪

social stability社会安定

community services社区服务laid-off workers下岗工人

trial period试用期on-the-job training; professional training岗位培训

U.N. Security Council联合国安理会

American dream美国梦

Government-funded personnel studying abroad公费留学人员

racial/sex discrimination种族/性别歧视

traffic jam/ road congestion交通阻塞

drunk driving酒后开车violation of traffic regulations触犯交通法规

rush/peak hour高峰时间

the second/third/fourth ring road二/三/四环路

security personnel保安人员

X-Generation新新人类

globalization全球化

intellectual property right知识产权

infringement on the patent right侵犯专利权

E.T. (extra_terrestrial being)外星人

avant garde（艺术风格）前卫/先锋

quiz show（电视）快速抢答节目

Hollywood blockbuster好莱坞票房大片

preservation of cultural relics文物保护

calisthenics/body-building exercises健身操

bungee jumping蹦极跳

epoch-making event划时代的事件

permanent residence certificate户口本

Text 1

Being the founder of the Internet’s largest encyclopedia means Jimmy Wales gets a lot of bizarre e-mail. There are the correspondents who assume he wrote Wikipedia himself and is therefore an expert on everything—like the guy who found vials of mercury in his late grandfather’s attic and wanted Wales, a former options trader, to tell him what to do with them. But the e-mails that make him laugh out loud come from concerned newcomers who have just discovered they have total freedom to edit just about any Wikipedia entry at the click of a button. Oh my God, they write, you’ve got a major security flaw!

As the old techie saying goes, it’s not a bug, it’s a feature. Wikipedia is a free open-source encyclopedia, which basically means that anyone can log on and add to or edit it. And they do. It has a stunning 1.5 million entries in 76 languages-and counting. Academics are upset by what they see as info anarchy. Loyal Wikipedians argue that collaboration improves articles over time, just as free open-source software like Linux and Firefox is more robust than for-profit competitors because thousands of amateur programmers get to look at the code and suggest changes. It’s the same principle that New Yorker writer James Surowiecki asserted in his best seller The Wisdom of Crowds: large groups of people are inherently smarter than an élite few.

Wikipedia is in the vanguard of a whole wave of wikis built on that idea. A wiki is a deceptively simple piece of software (little more than five lines of computer code) that you can download for free and use to make a website that can be edited by anyone you like. Need to solve a thorny business problem overnight and all members of your team are in different time zones? Start a wiki. In Silicon Valley, at least, wiki culture has already taken root.

Inspired by Wikipedia, a Silicon Valley start-up called Socialtext has helped set up wikis at a hundred companies, including Nokia and Kodak. Business wikis are being used for project management, mission statements and cross-company collaborations. Instead of e-mailing a vital Word document to your co-workers—and creating confusion about which version is the most up-to-date—you can now literally all be on the same page: as a wiki Web page, the document automatically reflects all changes by team members. Socialtext CEO Ross Mayfield claims that accelerates project cycles 25%. “A lot of people are afraid because they have to give up control over information,” he says. “But in the end, wikis foster trust.”

21. Why do many people think that Wikipedia has a “major security flaw”?

［A］ It has lots of bugs.

［B］ Because they don’t understand the concept of a wiki.

［C］ Because Jimmy Wales is not a computer expert.

［D］ Because a wiki is a simple computer code.

22. Why are many academics unhappy with the idea of a Wikipedia?

［A］ Because they don’t trust online encyclopaedias.

［B］ Because all information in Wikipedia is inherently unreliable.

［C］ Because they believe that certain information should not be available on the internet.

［D］ Because anyone can add or change the information in it.

23. Which of the following is NOT given as an advantage of a wiki?

［A］ You can choose who edits it.

［B］ Wiki software is free.

［C］ Any bugs in the code can be changed easily.

［D］ It’s easy to use.

24. Why do “wikis foster trust”?

［A］ Because the people who use it need to trust the information other users post on it.

［B］ Because they are used in business contexts.

［C］ Because they can be used in a wide variety of situations.

［D］ Because only trustworthy people use them.

25. What kind of reader is the article aimed at?

［A］ Computer specialists.

［B］ Academics who don’t like wikis.

［C］ Computer science students.

［D］ The general reader with an interest in computing.

Text 2

What to do with the jerk at work, the person who is so disliked by their colleagues that no one wants to work with them? The traditional answer is to tolerate them if they are at least half competent—on the grounds that competent jerks can be trained to be otherwise, while much loved bunglers cannot.

A recent study suggests that such an approach seriously underestimates the value of being liked. In a study of over 10,000 work relationships at five very different organisations, Tiziana Casciaro and Miguel Sousa Lobo, academics at Harvard Business School and the Fuqua School of Business respectively, found that (given the choice) people consistently and overwhelmingly prefer to work with a “lovable fool” than with a competent jerk.

The authors suggest that as well as training jerks to be more charming—although “sadly there are people who are disliked because they are socially incompetent, and probably never will be truly charming”—companies should also “leverage the likeable”. Amiable folk should be turned into “affective hubs”, people who can bridge gaps “between diverse groups that might not otherwise interact”.

Re-evaluating jolly types who spend long hours hanging round water coolers is currently fashionable. Ronald Burt, a sociologist at the University of Chicago and a leading proponent of “social capital”—an explanation of “how people do better because they are somehow better connected with other people”—has written a book (“Brokerage and Closure”) in which he describes the “clusters” and “bridges” that are typical of organisations’ informal networks. Mr Burt calls the people who form bridges between clusters “brokers”; they resemble Ms Casciaro’s and Mr Sousa Lobo’s affective hubs. In practice, Mr Burt has found that brokers do better than people without the social skills to cross the spaces between clusters.

A book published in English this week, but already a cause célèbre in France, portrays most employees as fools—lovable or otherwise. Corinne Maier’s “Bonjour Laziness” is a worm’s eye view of a corporate world where only three creatures exist: sheep (“weak and inoffensive”); pests (“poisoning the general atmosphere”); and loafers (“their only aim is to do as little as possible”). In the view of Ms Maier, a practising psychoanalyst, pests (ie, jerks) rule the corporate world. (So does being a jerk give you the skills needed to get to the top? And only in France?) The rest can only hope to lie low and await their pension. But, assuming you are lovable, far better, surely, to follow the Burt route: head straight for the water cooler.

26. According to paragraph 1, what has been the traditional attitude to jerks at work?

［A］ Fire them, even if they are good workers.

［B］ Fire them, because they are not good workers.

［C］ Accept them, if they are good workers.

［D］ Accept them, because they are good workers.

27. According to the study mentioned in paragraph 2, why is this incorrect?

［A］ Being liked is more important than being competent.

［B］ Being liked and incompetent is worse than being disliked and competent.

［C］ Being disliked and competent is worse than being liked and incompetent.

［D］ Being liked and incompetent is better than being disliked and competent.

28. What could incompetent jerks be used for in companies?

［A］ To enhance communication between different workgroups.

［B］ For training people to be nice.

［C］ For making companies appear charming.

［D］ To charm people who are not particularly liked.

29. Which of the following is the best definition of “social capital”?

［A］ The ability to use people to your advantage.

［B］ The ability to form social networks.

［C］ The ability to do well in life because you have connections.

［D］ The ability to make business connections.

30. According to the final paragraph, lovable jerks can be considered to be

［A］ sheep.［B］ pests.［C］ loafers.［D］ none of the above.

参考答案：21-25 BDCAD 26-30 CDACD

以上摘自胡敏《考研英语阅读理解精读200篇》