考研英语阅读.docx

1、考研英语阅读2014年Text 11-In order to “change lives for the better” and reduce “dependency,” George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced the “upfront work search” scheme. Only if the jobless arrive at the jobcentre with a CV, register for online job search, and start looking for work will they

2、be eligible for benefit and then they should report weekly rather than fortnightly. What could be more reasonable?2-More apparent reasonableness followed. There will now be a seven-day wait for the jobseekers allowance. “Those first few days should be spent looking for work, not looking to sign on.”

3、 he claimed. “Were doing these things because we know they help people stay off benefits and help those on benefits get into work faster” Help? Really? On first hearing, this was the socially concerned chancellor, trying to change lives for the better, complete with “reforms” to an obviously indulge

4、nt system that demands too little effort from the newly unemployed to find work, and subsidises laziness. What motivated him, we were to understand, was his zeal for “fundamental fairness” protecting the taxpayer, controlling spending and ensuring that only the most deserving claimants received thei

5、r benefits.3-Losing a job is hurting: you dont skip down to the jobcentre with a song in your heart, delighted at the prospect of doubling your income from the generous state. It is financially terrifying, psychologically embarrassing and you know that support is minimal and extraordinarily hard to

6、get. You are now not wanted; you are now excluded from the work environment that offers purpose and structure in your life. Worse, the crucial income to feed yourself and your family and pay the bills has disappeared. Ask anyone newly unemployed what they want and the answer is always: a job.4-But i

7、n Osborneland, your first instinct is to fall into dependency permanent dependency if you can get it supported by a state only too ready to indulge your falsehood. It is as though 20 years of ever-tougher reforms of the job search and benefit administration system never happened. The principle of Br

8、itish welfare is no longer that you can insure yourself against the risk of unemployment and receive unconditional payments if the disaster happens. Even the very phrase “jobseekers allowance” is about redefining the unemployed as a “jobseeker” who had no fundamental right to a benefit he or she has

9、 earned through making national insurance contributions. Instead, the claimant receives a time-limited “allowance,” conditional on actively seeking a job; no entitlement and no insurance, at 71.70 a week, one of the least generous in the EU.21. George Osbornes scheme was intended to_Aprovide the une

10、mployed with easier access to benefits.Bencourage jobseekers active engagement in job seeking.Cmotivate the unemployed to report voluntarily.Dguarantee jobseekers legitimate right to benefits.22. The phrase “to sign on” (Line 3, Para.2) most probably means_Ato check on the availability of jobs at th

11、e jobcentre.Bto accept the governments restrictions on the allowance.Cto register for an allowance from the government.Dto attend a governmental job-training program.23. What promoted the chancellor to develop his scheme?A A desire to secure a better life for all.B An eagerness to protect the unempl

12、oyed.C An urge to be generous to the claimants.D A passion to ensure fairness for taxpayers.24. According to Paragraph 3, being unemployed makes one feel_Auneasy. Benraged. Cinsulted. Dguilty.25. To which of the following would the author most probably agree?A The British welfare system indulges job

13、seekers laziness.B Osbornes reforms will reduce the risk of unemployment.C The jobseekers allowance has met their actual needs.D Unemployment benefits should not be made conditional.2014年Text 21-All around the world, lawyers generate more hostility than the members of any other profession-with the p

14、ossible exception of journalism. But there are few places where clients have more grounds for complaint than America. 2-During the decade before the economic crisis, spending on legal services in America grew twice as fast as inflation. The best lawyers made skyscrapers-full of money, tempting ever

15、more students to pile into law schools. But most law graduates never get a big-firm job. Many of them instead become the kind of nuisance-lawsuit filer that makes the tort system a costly nightmare. 3-There are many reasons for this. One is the excessive costs of a legal education. There is just one

16、 path for a lawyer in most American states: a four-year undergraduate degree in some unrelated subject, then a three-year law degree at one of 200 law schools authorized by the American Bar Association and an expensive preparation for the bar exam. This leaves todays average law-school graduate with

17、 $100,000 of debt on top of undergraduate debts. Law-school debt means that they have to work fearsomely hard.4-Reforming the system would help both lawyers and their customers. Sensible ideas have been around for a long time, but the state-level bodies that govern the profession have been too conse

18、rvative to implement them. One idea is to allow people to study law as an undergraduate degree. Another is to let students sit for the bar after only two years of law school. If the bar exam is truly a stern enough test for a would-be lawyer, those who can sit it earlier should be allowed to do so.

19、Students who do not need the extra training could cut their debt mountain by a third.5-The other reason why costs are so high is the restrictive guild-like ownership structure of the business. Except in the District of Columbia, non-lawyers may not own any share of a law firm. This keeps fees high a

20、nd innovation slow. There is pressure for change from within the profession, but opponents of change among the regulators insist that keeping outsiders out of a law firm isolates lawyers from the pressure to make money rather than serve clients ethically.6-In fact, allowing non-lawyers to own shares

21、 in law firms would reduce costs and improve services to customers, by encouraging law firms to use technology and to employ professional managers to focus on improving firms efficiency. After all, other countries, such as Australia and Britain, have started liberalizing their legal professions. Ame

22、rica should follow.26. A lot of students take up law as their profession due to_.Athe growing demand from clientsBthe increasing pressure of inflationCthe prospect of working in big firms Dthe attraction of financial rewards27. Which of the following adds to the costs of legal education in most Amer

23、ican states?AHigher tuition fees for undergraduate studies.BAdmissions approval from the bar association.CPursuing a bachelors degree in another major.DReceiving training by professional associations.28. Hindrance to the reform of the legal system originates from_.Alawyers and clients strong resista

24、nce.Bthe rigid bodies governing the profession.Cthe stern exam for would-be lawyers.Dnon-professionals sharp criticism.29. The guild-like ownership structure is considered “restrictive” partly because it_.Abans outsiders involvement in the profession.Bkeeps lawyers from holding law-firm shares.Caggr

25、avates the ethical situation in the trade.Dprevents lawyers from gaining due profits.30. In this text, the author mainly discusses_.Aflawed ownership of Americas law firms and its causes.Bthe factors that help make a successful lawyer in America.Ca problem in Americas legal profession and solutions

26、to it.Dthe role of undergraduate studies in Americas legal education. 2014年 Text 31-The US$3-million Fundamental physics prize is indeed an interesting experiment, as Alexander Polyakov said when he accepted this years award in March. And it is far from the only one of its type. As a News Feature ar

27、ticle in Nature discusses, a string of lucrative awards for researchers have joined the Nobel Prizes in recent years. Many, like the Fundamental Physics Prize, are funded from the telephone-number-sized bank accounts of Internet entrepreneurs. These benefactors have succeeded in their chosen fields,

28、 they say, and they want to use their wealth to draw attention to those who have succeeded in science.2-Whats not to like? Quite a lot, according to a handful of scientists quoted in the News Feature. You cannot buy class, as the old saying goes, and these upstart entrepreneurs cannot buy their priz

29、es the prestige of the Nobels. The new awards are an exercise in self-promotion for those behind them, say scientists. They could distort the achievement-based system of peer-review-led research. They could cement the status quo of peer-reviewed research. They do not fund peer-reviewed research. The

30、y perpetuate the myth of the lone genius.3-The goals of the prize-givers seem as scattered as the criticism. Some want to shock, others to draw people into science, or to better reward those who have made their careers in research.4-As Nature has pointed out before, there are some legitimate concern

31、s about how science prizes both new and old are distributed. The Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, launched this year, takes an unrepresentative view of what the life sciences include. But the Nobel Foundations limit of three recipients per prize, each of whom must still be living, has long been outgrown by the collaborative nature of modern research as will be demonstrated by the inevitable row over who is ignored when it comes to acknowledging the discovery of the Higgs boson. The Nobels were, of course, themselve