第二十一天：閱讀模擬練習一

今天開始閱讀練習。總結的寫作詞匯是關于社會生活問題的。其中與“假”有關的問題放在前面。以后會專門總結“假研究”一類的問題。

今天的結束語是：Seek truth from facts（實事求是）。

counterfeit certificates偽造證書

counterfeit currency/stamp/ ID card偽造貨幣/郵票/身份證件

credit-card fraud信用卡欺詐

fake and shoddy commodities假冒偽劣商品

pseudo-science/superstition偽科學/迷信

unlicensed vehicle黑車

smuggled goods黑貨/走私貨

population explosion/baby boom人口爆炸

population census人口普查

birth/death rate出生/死亡率

family planning計劃生育

high blood pressure高血壓

heart attack心臟病

cancer癌癥

euthanasia安樂死

death penalty/capital punishment 死刑

bring somebody to justice緝拿歸案/繩之以法

law enforcement officers執法人員

bootlegging販賣違禁品

money laundering洗錢

cyber bars/internet café網吧

drug addiction吸毒

epidemic disease傳染病

AIDS 艾滋病和性病

campus/family violence校園/家庭暴力

male chauvinist大男子主義者

child abuse虐待兒童

dropout students失學兒童

eliminate illiteracy掃盲

help those in distress and aid those in peril扶危濟困

poverty-stricken areas貧困地區

remote and mountain areas邊遠山區

shake off poverty and set out on a road to prosperity脫貧致富

pornographic books and magazines 黃色書刊

brain drain人才流失

personnel recruitment員工招聘

investment for infrastructure基本建設投資

organization at grass-root level基層組織

institutional reorganization機構重組

corruption phenomenon腐敗現象

offer or take bribes行賄受賄

on-line love affair網戀

high divorce rate/single_parent children/only child高離婚率/單親家庭子女/獨生子女

DINK (double income, no kid)丁克家庭

nuclear family核心家庭

generation gap代溝

couch potato長時間看電視的人

cosmetics surgery美容手術

go on a diet節食/減肥

well-balanced meals營養均衡的食物

maintain a low profile保持低調

tendency toward boasting and exaggeration浮夸風

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高層住宅樓

down payment首期按揭／首付

middle-class lifestyle中產階級生活方式

juvenile delinquency青少年犯罪

social stability社會安定

community services社區服務laid-off workers下崗工人

trial period試用期on-the-job training; professional training崗位培訓

U.N. Security Council聯合國安理會

American dream美國夢

Government-funded personnel studying abroad公費留學人員

racial/sex discrimination種族/性別歧視

traffic jam/ road congestion交通阻塞

drunk driving酒后開車violation of traffic regulations觸犯交通法規

rush/peak hour高峰時間

the second/third/fourth ring road二/三/四環路

security personnel保安人員

X-Generation新新人類

globalization全球化

intellectual property right知識產權

infringement on the patent right侵犯專利權

E.T. (extra_terrestrial being)外星人

avant garde（藝術風格）前衛/先鋒

quiz show（電視）快速搶答節目

Hollywood blockbuster好萊塢票房大片

preservation of cultural relics文物保護

calisthenics/body-building exercises健身操

bungee jumping蹦極跳

epoch-making event劃時代的事件

permanent residence certificate戶口本

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.

參考答案：21-25 BDCAD 26-30 CDACD

以上摘自胡敏《考研英語閱讀理解精讀200篇》