| 考研易错题（2016-1-28） |
| 第1题：More and more, it seems, the same tech tools we depend on to get through the day are often the source of our frustrations. Gadgets have gotten better: They do more, are smaller, and cost less. But they don’t work quite the way we want them too, do they? Text-messaging and camera phone features that obscure access to your voice mail. Camcorder batteries that die in the middle of your sister’s wedding. The sick PC that sends copies of its virus to everyone in your E-mail address book. But there is reason for renewed hope. More companies are discovering that one key to reining in unruly tech is simplicity itself; that is, less is actually more. A few years ago, it seemed only a sprinkling of companies offered products that in their design emphasized ease of use and dependability over frilly, rarely used features. Now analysts report that whole industries—among them cellphones, consumer electronics, and, yes, even computers—seem to be shifting back to basics, with a few companies taking the lead. The downside to this switch for now is that simplicity and reliability oddly enough tend to cost extra. An Apple Macintosh, widely considered user-friendly, costs at least several hundred dollars more than a Windows-based PC. Verizon Wireless, rated by many the most reliable cellphone service, generally costs more than Sprint, Cingular, or T-Mobile. But that effective surcharge could fade if brand loyalty surges for companies that prioritize efficient, friendly design. So how did we go from the days of small, color TVs and bricklike mobile phones to high definition home theaters and smart phones that are too clever by half? The blame for the personal tech mess goes both ways. Companies are eager to crank out new products with new features. It’s a quick way to get attention, distancing a product from competitors and dusting upstarts in a cutthroat arena. Shoppers, meanwhile, are routinely seduced by the new bells and whistles. Consumer electronics tend to be among the more expensive purchases people make during the year, so why not get the gizmo that does more? “We’re all trapped in an economic myth that more is better,” says John Maeda, a media arts and sciences professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Haddon Fisher’s Motorola phone locks up a couple of times a day, says the Syracuse University sophomore. He has also had to put up with a PC that would spontaneously reboot while he slept or attended class. “You learn to live with a certain level of pain,” he says. Such vexations, repeated across the country, have eroded confidence in tech manufacturers. A recent survey conducted for Royal Philips Electronics found that two thirds of American consumers have lost interest in a tech product because it looks too complex—and half think the manufacturers are just guessing at what will sell, rather than listening to their customers. 26.In paragraph 1, the author cites the examples in order to demonstrate that__________ [A] gadgets do not function as we would like. [B] gadgets work, but we do not use them properly. [C] gadgets are smaller and cost less. [D] people need clear instructions on how to use new gadgets. 27. Why might less mean more as far as modern gadgets are concerned? [A] Gadgets cost less and do more things. [B] Simple gadgets cost more than complex ones. [C] Gadgets with fewer features are less likely to let you down. [D] Most people prefer simple gadgets. 28. “Dusting upstarts in a cutthroat arena” in paragraph 3 means________________ [A] matching your competitors in the marketplace. [B] introducing new features in gadgets that are on the market. [C] defeating competitors in a competitive market. [D] competing effectively with companies that introduce new, unnecessary features. 29. Why do people buy products that do more, even if they are less efficient or less user friendly? [A] Because people usually purchase brand-name products, regardless of actual quality. [B] Because we live in a consumer society. [C] Because we think we are getting a better deal. [D] Because people are unaware of what exactly they are purchasing. 30. American consumers losing interest in tech products because__________________ [A] the products are too difficult to use. [B] the companies don’t listen to consumer complaints. [C] US-made electronics are unreliable. [D] consumers are losing faith in products that don’t do what they want them to do. |
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| 第2题：Americans have always been excessive worshippers of what William James called “the bitch goddess success”. Self-help gurus have topped the bestseller lists since Benjamin Franklin published his autobiography. Americans are much more likely than Europeans to believe that people can get ahead in life so long as they are willing to work hard. And they are much more likely to choose a high-paying job that carries a risk of redundancy than a lower-paid job that guarantees security. But you can’t have winners without losers (or how would you know how well you are doing?). And you can’t broaden opportunity without also broadening the opportunity to fail. For instance, until relatively recently, blacks could not blame themselves for their failure in the “race of life”, in Abraham Lincoln’s phrase, because they were debarred from so many parts of it. Now the barriers are lifted, the picture is more complicated. All of which creates a huge problem: how exactly should a hyper-competitive society deal with its losers? It’s all very well to note that drunkards and slackers get what they deserve. But what about the honest toilers? One way to deal with the problem is to offer people as many second chances as possible. In his intriguing new book “Born Losers: A History of Failure in America”, Scott Sandage argues that the mid-nineteenth century saw a redefinition of failure—from something that had described a lousy business to something that defined a whole life. Yet one of the striking things about America is how valiantly it has resisted the idea that there is any such thing as a born loser. American schools resist streaming their pupils much longer than their European counterparts: the whole point is to fit in rather than stand out. American higher education has numerous points of entry and reentry. And the American legal system has some of the most generous bankruptcy rules in the world. In Europe, a bankrupt is often still a ruined man; in America, he is a risk-taking entrepreneur. American history—not to mention American folklore—is replete with examples of people who tried and tried again until they made a success of their lives. Lincoln was a bankrupt storekeeper. Henry Ford was a serial failure. At 40, Thomas Watson, the architect of IBM, faced prison. America’s past is also full of people who came back from the brink. A second way to deal with losers is to celebrate them. Perhaps in reaction to the relentless boosterism of business life, American popular culture often sympathises with losers. But even in the loser-loving bits of popular culture, the American obsession with success has a habit of winning through. More often than not, born losers turn out to be winners in disguise. 31. According to paragraph 1, why are Americans “much more likely to choose a high-paying job that carries a risk of redundancy than a lower-paid job that guarantees security”? [A] Because they don’t mind taking risks. [B] Because Americans believe in the idea of “no pain, no gain”. [C] Because Americans rely a lot on self瞙elp books written by famous people. [D] Because a having high瞤aying job is how many Americans view success. 32. Paragraph 2 suggests that ________________ [A] America was once a racist country. [B] black Americans now have equal rights. [C] if you give someone the chance to succeed, you also give them the chance to fail. [D] you can know how successful you are by seeing how many people are failing. 33. The “honest toilers” mentioned in paragraph 3 refer to__________________ [A] lazy people and alcoholics. [B] trustworthy workers. [C] people who fail even though they try hard. [D] born losers—people who need lots of second chances in order to succeed. 34. We can learn from paragraph 4____________ [A] that the United States is better than Europe. [B] that American society is designed to give people many opportunities. [C] that the American system is better for children and businessmen. [D] that Scott Sandage’s book is largely irrelevant to modern American society. 35. According to paragraph 5, which of these is NOT an example of why Americans might like losers? [A] They often succeed in the end. [B] Losers often have legal problems. [C] There is sometimes a dislike of people who enthusiastically promote business. [D] Some very famous Americans were once losers. |
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| 第3题：The BBC, Britain’s mammoth public-service broadcaster, has long been a cause for complaint among its competitors in television, radio and educational and magazine publishers. Newspapers, meanwhile, have been protected from it because they published in a different medium. That’s no longer the case. The internet has brought the BBC and newspapers in direct competition—and the BBC looks like coming off best. The improbable success online of Britain’s lumbering giant of a public service broadcaster is largely down to John Birt, a former director general who “got” the internet before any of the other big men of British media. He launched the corporation’s online operations in 1998, saying that the BBC would be a trusted guide for people bewildered by the variety of online services. The BBC now has 525 sites. It spends ￡15m ($27m) a year on its news website and another ￡51m on others ranging from society and culture to science, nature and entertainment. But behind the websites are the vast newsgathering and programme making resources, including over 5,000 journalists, funded by its annual ￡2.8 billion public subsidy. For this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, for instance, the BBC’s gardening micro site made it possible to zoom around each competing garden, watch an interview with the designer and click on “leaf hotspots” about individual plants. For this year’s election, the news website offered a wealth of easy-to-use statistical detail on constituencies, voting patterns and polls. This week the BBC announced free downloads of several Beethoven symphonies performed by one of its five in-house orchestras. That particularly annoys newspapers, whose online sites sometimes offer free music downloads—but they have to pay the music industry for them. It is the success of the BBC’s news website that most troubles newspapers. Its audience has increased from 1.6m unique weekly users in 2000 to 7.8m in 2005; and its content has a breadth and depth that newspapers struggle to match. Newspapers need to build up their online businesses because their offline businesses are flagging. Total newspaper readership has fallen by about 30% since 1990 and readers are getting older as young people increasingly get their news from other sources—principally the internet. In 1990, 38% of newspaper readers were under 35. By 2002, the figure had dropped to 31%. Just this week, Dominic Lawson, the editor of the Sunday Telegraph, was sacked for failing to stem its decline. Some papers are having some success in building audiences online—the Guardian, which has by far the most successful newspaper site, gets nearly half as many weekly users as the BBC—but the problem is turning them into money. 36. What does “John Birt … ‘got’ the internet before any of the other big men of British media” mean? [A] John Birt was connected to the internet before his competitors. [B] John Birt launched the BBC website before his competitors launched theirs. [C] John Birt understood how the internet could be used by news media before his competitors did. [D] John Birt understood how the internet worked before his competitors did. 37. Why does the text state that the BBC’s success in the field of internet news was “improbable”? [A] Because the BBC is a large organisation. [B] Because the BBC is not a private company. [C] Because the BBC is not a successful media organisation. [D] Because the BBC doesn’t make a profit. 38. The author cites the examples in paragraph 3 in order to demonstrate that [A] the BBC’s websites are innovative and comprehensive. [B] the BBC’s websites are free and wide-ranging. [C] the BBC spends its money well. [D] the BBC uses modern technology. 39. The BBC needn’t to pay the music industry to provide classical music downloads for users of its websites because [A] the BBC is Britain’s state-owned media organisation. [B] the BBC has a special copyright agreement with the big music industry companies. [C] the BBC produces classical music itself. [D] the BBC lets the music industry use its orchestras for free. 40. According to the final paragraph, the main advantage that the BBC has over newspapers is that [A] more people use the BBC website. [B] the BBC doesn’t need to make a profit. [C] the BBC has more competent managers. [D] young people are turning to the internet for news coverage. |
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| 第4题：From Southeast Asia to the Black Sea, fishing nets have become deathtraps for thousands of whales, dolphins and porpoises—species whose survival will be threatened unless fishing methods change. The World Wildlife Fund, a U.S. based environmental group, lists species threatened by accidental catch, and recommends low cost steps to reduce their entanglement in fishing gear. (41) . Dolphins in the Philippines, India and Thailand are urgent priorities. Threatened populations include Irrawaddy dolphins in Malampyaya Sound off the Philippines’ Palawan island, about 220 miles south of Manila. Only 77 remain. Dolphins also face the threat of traders who sell them to aquariums, especially in Asia. (42) . The WWF report said up to 3,000 Spinner dolphins may be caught each year in gillnets, which stretch from the sea floor to the surface and are hard for dolphins to see or detect with their sonar. (43). Dolphins are also under threat in Indonesia, Myanmar, India’s Chilka Lake and Thailand’s Songkhla Lake. Fishing gear kills thousands of porpoises each year in the Black Sea. Atlantic humpback dolphins face the same fate off the coasts of Ghana and Togo in Africa, as do Franciscana dolphins in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. Indo Pacific humpback and bottlenose dolphins often die in nets off the south coast of Zanzibar. (44) .U.S. fisheries in 1993 2003 introduced changes that reduced by a third the number of dolphins accidentally killed by fishing, or bycatch. But few other countries have followed that example and in much of the rest of the world, progress on bycatch mitigation has been slow to nonexistent. (45). Slight modifications in fishing gear can mean the difference between life and death for dolphins. |
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| 第5题：The current French bestseller lists are wonderfully eclectique. In 1 , there is everything 2 blockbuster thrillers to Catherine Millet's "La vie sexuelle de Catherine M.", a novel which has been 3 praised as high art and 4 as upmarket porn. Then there are novels 5 the sticky questions of good and 6 ("Le demon et mademoiselle Prym") and faith versus science in the modern world ("L'apparition"). Philosophical 7 continue in the non-fiction list, 8 this week by Michel Onfray's "Antimanuel de philosophie", a witty take 9 some of philosophy's perennial debates. Those who like their big issues in small chunks are also enjoying Frederic Beigbeder's "Dernier inventaire avant liquidation", a survey of France's 10 20th-century books, 11 with Mr Beigbeder's 12 humour from the title on ("The 50 books of the century chosen by you and critiqued by me"). In Britain, meanwhile, there is olive oil all over the non- fiction list. It's a staple 13 for Nigella Lawson, a domestic divinity and celebrity 14 , whose latest 15 of recipes tops the list. Annie Hawes, in second 16 , took herself 17 to the sun- drenched hills of Italy to grow her own olives and write a book about them-as did Carol Drinkwater, just 18 the border in France. Fiction-wise, it's business as 19 , with the requisite holiday mix of thrillers, romance, fantasy-and Harry Potter, with "The Goblet of Fire" still burning 20 at number three. 1. A. literature B. narrative C. story D. fiction 2. A. on B. from C. about D. of 3. A. both B. equally C. rather D. together 4. A. approved B. admired C. derided D. scolded 5. A .attempting B, dealing C. tackling D. talking 6. A. .evil B. sin C. wickedness D. bad 7. A. topics B. ideas C. arguments D. themes 8.A. topped B. covered C. overdone D. surpassed 9. A. of B. by C. at D. on 10. A good B. favourite C. favorable D. satisfying 11. A. dealt B. handled C. touched D. managed 12.A. brand B. trademark C. marked D. obvious 13. A. ingredient B. constitution C. part D. factor 14.A. writer B. novelist C. chef D. journalist 15.A. set B. anthology C. collection D. album 16. A. rank B. place C. point D. status 17.A. up B. on C. off D. in 18. A. above B. around C. about D. across 19. A. usual B. usually C. common D. commonly 20. A. bright B. intense C. dazzling D. brilliant |
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| 第6、7、8、9、10题： "MAKING money is a dirty game," says the Institute of Economic Affairs, summing up the attitude of British novelists towards business. The IEA, a free market think-tank, has just published a collection of essays ("The Representation of Business in English Literature") by five academics chronicling the hostility of the country's men and women of letters to the sordid business of making money. The implication is that Britain's economic performance is retarded by an anti-industrial culture. Rather than blaming recalcitrant workers and incompetent managers for Britain's economic worries, then, we can put George Orwell and Martin Amis in the dock instead. From Dickens's Scrooge to Amis’s John Self in his 1980s novel "Money", novelists have conjured up a rogue's gallery of mean, greedy, amoral money-men that has alienated their impressionable readers from the noble pursuit of capitalism. The argument has been well made before, most famously in 1981 by Martin Wiener, an American academic, in his "English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit". Lady Thatcher was a devotee of Mr. Wiener's, and she led a crusade to revive the "entrepreneurial culture" which the liberal elite had allegedly trampled underfoot. The present Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, sounds as though he agrees with her. At a recent speech to the Confederation of British Industry, he declared that it should be the duty of every teacher in the country to "communicate the virtues of business and enterprise". Certainly, most novelists are hostile to capitalism, but this refrain risks scapegoating writers for failings for which they are not to blame. Britain's culture is no more anti-business than that of other countries. The Romantic Movement, which started as a reaction against the industrial revolution of the century, was born and flourished in Germany, but has not stopped the Germans from being Europe's most successful entrepreneurs and industrialists. Even the Americans are guilty of blackening business's name. SMERSH and SPECTRE went out with the cold war. James Bond now takes on international media magnates rather than Rosa Kleb. His films such as "Erin Brockovich" have pitched downtrodden, moral heroes against the evil of faceless corporatism. Yet none of this seems to have dented America's lust for free enterprise. The irony is that the novel flourished as an art form only after, and as a result of, the creation of the new commercial classes of Victorian England, just as the modern Hollywood film can exist only in an era of mass consumerism. Perhaps the moral is that capitalist societies consume literature and film to let off steam rather than to change the world. 21. In the first paragraph, the author introduces his topic by A. posing a contract B. justifying an assumption C. making a comparison D. explaining a phenomenon 22. The word “sordid”(line 6, para 1)implies A. holy B. dirty C. sainty D. pure 23. George Orwell and Martin Amis are defendants because A. no accusation of the inefficient management B. the decline of the country’s economy C. the novelists are in favor of them D. novelists depict them as merciful people 24. American academic Martin Wiener’s argument A. sides with the liberal elite B. is neutral about the virtue of business and enterprise C. inclines towards the revival of the entrepreneurial culture D. is hostile to the industrial spirit 25. What can we infer from the last paragraph? A. the novel existed after the creation of the new commercial classes B. capital doesn’t pollute social morality C. capitalist societies change the world D. the modern holy world has nothing to do with consumers |
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| 第11、12、13、14、15题： JOSEPH RYKWERT entered his field when post-war modernist architecture was coming under fire for its alienating embodiment of outmoded social ideals. Think of the UN building in New York, the city of Brasilia, the UNESCO building in Paris, the blocks of housing "projects" throughout the world. These tall, uniform boxes are set back from the street, isolated by windswept plazas. They look inward to their own functions, presenting no "face" to the inhabitants of the city, no "place" for social interaction. For Mr. Rykwert, who rejects the functionalist spirit of the Athens Charter of 1933, a manifesto for much post-war building, such facelessness destroys the human meaning of the city. Architectural form should not rigidly follow function, but ought to reflect the needs of the social body it represents. Like other forms of representation, architecture is the embodiment of the decisions that go into its making, not the result of impersonal forces, market or historical. Therefore, says Mr. Rykwert, adapting Joseph de Maistre's dictum that a nation has the government it deserves, our cities have the faces they deserve, In this book, Mr. Rykwert, a noted urban historian of anthropological bent, offers a flaneur's approach to the city's exterior surface rather than an urban history from the conceptual inside out. He does not drive, so his interaction with the city affords him a warts-and-all view with a sensual grasp of what it is to be a "place". His story of urbanization begins, not surprisingly, with the industrial revolution when populations shifted and increased, exacerbating problems of housing and crime. In the 19th century many planning programs and utopias (Ebenezer Howard's garden city and Charles Fourier's “phalansteries" among them) were proposed as remedies. These have left their mark on 20th-century cities, as did Baron Hausmann's boulevards in Paris, Eugene Viollet-le-Duc's and Owen Jones's arguments for historical style, and Adolf Loos's fateful turn-of-the-century call to abolish ornament which, in turn, inspired Le Corbusier's austere modem functionalism. The reader will recognize all these ideas in the surfaces of the cities that hosted them: New York, Paris, London, and Vienna. Cities changed again after the Second World War as populations grew, technology raced and prosperity spread. Like it or not, today's cities are the muddled product, among other things, of speed, greed, outmoded social agendas and ill-suited postmodern aesthetics. Some bemoan the old city's death; others welcome its replacement by the electronically driven "global village". Mr. Rykwert has his worries, to be sure, but he does not see ruin or anomie everywhere. He defends the city as a human and social necessity. In Chandigarh, Canberra and New York he sees overall success; in New Delhi, Paris and Shanghai, large areas of failing. For Mr. Rykwert, a man on foot in the age of speeding virtual, good architecture may still show us a face where flaneurs can read the story of their urban setting in familiar metaphors. 26. An argument made by supporters of functionism is that A. post-war modernist architecture was coming under fire B. UN building in New York blocks the housing projects C. windswept plazas present “face” to the inhabitants of the city D. functionism reflects the needs of the social body 27. According to Mr Rykwert, “dictum” can serve as A. book B. market C. form D. words 28.The word “exacerbating”(line 3, para 4) means A.deteriorating B.inspiring C. encouraging D. surprising 29.According to Mr Rykwert, he A. sees damage here and there B. is absolutely a functionist C. is completely disappointed with the city’s death D. is objectively commenting the city ? 30. The author associates the issue of functionism with post-war modernist architecture because A. they are both Mr Rykwert’s arguments B. it is a comparison to show the importance of post-war modernist architecture C. functionism and post-war modernism architecture are totally contradictory D. Mr Rykwert supports functionism |
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| 第16、17、18、19、20题： JOY WILLIAMS'S quirky fourth novel "The Quick and the Dead" follows a trio of 16-yearold misfits in a warped "Charlie's Angels" set in the American south-west. Driven hazily to defend animal rights, the girls accomplish little beyond diatribe: they rescue a putrefied ram and hurl stones at stuffed elephants. In what is structurally a road novel that ends up where it began, the desultory threesome stumbles upon both cruelty to animals and unlikely romance. A mournful dog is strangled by an irate neighbor, a taxidermist falls in love with an 8-year-old direct-action firebrand determined that he atone for his sins. A careen across the barely tamed Arizona prairie, this peculiar book aims less for a traditional storyline than a sequence of jangled (often hilarious) conversations, ludicrous circumstances, and absurdist tableaux. The consequent long-walk-to-nowhere is both the book's limitation and its charm. All three girls are motherless. Fiercely political Alice discovers that her erstwhile parents are her grandparents, who thereupon shrivel: "Deceit had kept them young whereas the truth had accelerated them practically into decrepitude." Both parents of the doleful Corvus drowned while driving on a flooded interstate off-ramp. The mother of the more conventional Annabel ("one of those people who would say, `We'll get in touch soonest' when they never wanted to see you again") slammed her car drunkenly into a fish restaurant. Later, Annabel's father observes to his wife's ghost, "You didn't want to order what I ordered, darling." The sharp-tongued wraith snaps back: "That's because you always ordered badly and wanted me to experience your miserable mistake." Against a roundly apocalyptic world view, the great pleasures of this book are line-by-line. Ms Williams can lacerate setting and character alike in a few slashes: "It was one of those rugged American places, a remote, sad-ass, but plucky downwind town whose citizens were flawed and brave." Alice's acerbity spits little wisdoms: putting lost teeth under a pillow for money is "a classic capitalistic consumer ploy, designed to wean you away at an early age from healthy horror and sensible dismay to greedy, deluded, sunny expectancy." Whether or not the novel, like Alice, expressly advocates animal rights, an animal motif crops up in every scene, as flesh-and blood "critters" (usually dead) or insipid decoration on crockery. If Ms Williams does not intend to induce human horror at a pending bestial Armageddon, she at least invokes a future of earthly loneliness, where animals appear only as ceramic-hen butter dishes and endangered-species Elastoplasts. One caution: when flimsy narrative superstructure begins to sag, anarchic wackiness can grow wearing. While "The Quick and the Dead" is edgy from its first page, the trouble with starting at the edge is there is nowhere to go. Nevertheless, Ms Williams is original, energetic and viscously funny: Carl Hiaasen with a conscience. 31. The girls in the novel A.did nothing about reflecting the society facts.? B.protected animals successfully. C.were cruel to the animals. D.murdered their neighbor’s dog. 32. This novel is attentive to each of the following except A.backgrounds B.conversations C.traditional storyline D.scenes 33. The main idea of the novel is A.care about the children B.how to make crockery C.fight with the animal-killers D.animal protection 34. The second paragraph tells us A.the miserable life of the girls. B.the girls’ parents are growing old. C.society contradiction and circumstances the girls live in. D.the backgrounds of the story and the heroines. 35. For Alice, putting lost teeth under a pillow for money is not A.just a beautiful dream. B.a way to be away the cheating.? C.a way to be away the lust .? D.a way to prevent one from illness. |
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| 第21、22、23、24、25题： FEW people, except conspiracy theorists, would have expected so public a spat as the one this week between the two ringmasters of Formula One (F1) motor racing. Bernie Ecclestone, a fabulously wealthy British motor sport entrepreneur, is at odds, it would seem, with his longstanding associate, Max Mosley, president of F1's governing body, the Federation International de l'Automobile (FIA). Ostensibly, the dispute has broken out over what looked like a done deal. Last June, the FIA voted unanimously to extend Mr. Ecclestone's exclusive rights to stage and broadcast F1 racing, which expire in 2010, by 100 years. For these lucrative rights, Mr. Ecclestone was to pay the FIA a mere $360m in total, and only $60m immediately. The FIA claims that Mr. Ecclestone has not made the payment of $60m, a claim denied by Mr. Ecclestone, who insists the money has been placed in an escrow account. Mr. Mosley has asked Mr. Ecclestone to pay up or risk losing the deal for the F1 rights after 2010, perhaps to a consortium of car makers that own F1 teams. For his part, Mr. Ecclestone has, rather theatrically, accused Mr. Mosley of "trying to do some extortion". What is going on? Only three things can be stated with confidence. First, the idea that Mr. Ecclestone cannot find the $60m is ludicrous: his family trust is not exactly short of cash, having raised around $2 billion in the past two years. Second, it would not be in Mr. Ecclestone's long-term financial interest to forgo a deal which could only enhance the value of his family's remaining 50% stake in SLEC, the holding company for the group of companies that runs the commercial side of F1. Third, the timing of the dispute is very interesting. Why? Because the other 50% stake in SLEC, owned by EM. TV, a debt- ridden German media company, is up for sale. EM. TV badly needs to sell this stake in the near future to keep its bankers at bay. The uncertainty created by the dispute between Mr. Ecclestone and Mr. Mosley might depress the value of EM. TV's holding. Could that work to Mr. Ecclestone's advantage? Quite possibly. The lower the value of EM. TV's stake, the higher the relative value of an option Mr. Ecclestone holds to sell a further 25% of SLEC to EM. TV for around $1 billion--and the better the deal Mr. Ecclestone might be able to extract for surrendering the option. Whoever buys EM. TV's stake in SLEC will have to negotiate with Mr. Ecclestone over this instrument. The Economist understands that Mr. Ecclestone has the right to veto a plan proposed last December by Kirch, a privately owned German media group, to buy half of EM. TV's holding for $550m. In the coming weeks, Mr. Ecclestone will doubtless be deploying his formidable negotiating skills to best advantage. It would be rash to bet against his securing a good deal out of EM. TV's difficulties. His dispute with the FIA may then be easily resolved. As usual, he holds all the cards. 36. FIA would give its partner the right to stage the racing till A.Mr. Ecclestone gave all the money. B.The contract time is reached. C.The 100th year after 2010. D.Mr. Ecclestone gave it 60m$. 37. The word “extortion”(last line, para 2 ) means A.abjection B.negotiation C.cheating D.racketeering 38. Which statement is probably true? A.Mr. Ecclestone just wanted to get more benefits through the EM.TV sale. B.Mr. Ecclestone wanted to give up the benefits from the contract. C.The timing of the dispute is very improper. D.Mr. Ecclestone cannot afford the money. 39. The last sentence of the passage implies A.Mr. Ecclestone can win at cards. B.Mr. Ecclestone will achieve great success in the negotiation. C.Mr. Ecclestone cheated all his partners. D.Mr. Eccestone will lose the whole contract with FIA. 40. According to the last paragraph, “he holds all the cards” as A. he deploys to best advantage B. he wins all the cards C. he never fails himself D. he takes the cards in hand |
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| 第26题： AFTER its misadventures in 1993, when American marines were driven out of Somalia by skinny gunmen, America has used a long spoon in supping with Somalia's warlords. This, like so much else, changed on September 11th.(41)_____. Clandestine, up to a point: within hours of the arrival in Baidoa of nine closely cropped Americans sporting matching satellite phones and shades, their activities were broadcast. After meeting various warlords, the group inspected a compound that had apparently been offered to them as their future base. They also saw an old military depot. Neither can have been encouraging: the compound has been taken over by war-displaced families, and the depot by thorn-scrub. America was already convinced of al-Qaeda's presence in Somalia. It had listed a Somali Islamic group, al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (Islamic Unity), as a terrorist organisation. (42)_____. It fears that lawless Somalia could become a haven for escapes from Afghanistan. The American navy is currently patrolling the country's long coastline, while spy planes are said to be criss-crossing the heavens. (43)_____. With a little bit of help, he told his American visitors, he would be ready "to liberate the country from these evil forces". America had already heard as much through its embassies in Nairobi and Addis Ababa, which maintain contact with the warlords, and from Ethiopia. The warlords are supported by Ethiopia, which has a historical fear of a strong Somalia, in a bid to oppose the government. But their differing views on where to strike at the "terrorists" reveal that their individual ambitions are even sharper than their dislike of the government. Mr Ismail says that Merca, which is claimed by his Rahanwein clan, is the capital of terror. (44)____. The UN says there is only an orphanage there now. But the island is close to Mr Morgan's home town of Kismaayo, which he failed to capture from a pro-government militia in July, and he is determined not to fail again. None of this looks good for Somalia's official president, Abdiquassim Salad Hassan, whose government is in control of about half the capital, Mogadishu. He has formed his own anti-terrorism unit, and invited America to send investigators, or even troops. America, armed with stories about the presence of al-Itihaad members held back, but on December 18th sent an envoy to Mogadishu. Both Mr Hassan and the UN say that al-Itihaad is not a terrorist organisation. It emerged as an armed force in 1991, battling for power in the aftermath of Siad Barre's fall. It had some early successes, briefly taking Kismaayo. But it was always dependent on the blessing of its members' clan elders. When the elders eventually called their fighters back, a hard core of Islamists fled to the Gedo border region where, in 1997, they were crushed by Ethiopian troops(45)_____. The Baidoa alliance plainly hopes to be supported as proxies in a fight against "terrorism" and the Mogadishu regime. But the latest intelligence leaks suggest that the first reports may have overestimated al-Qaeda's presence in Somalia. Nor would Mr bin Laden and his henchmen find it easy to lie low in an oral culture that considers rumour-mongering to be a form of manners. Even so, the warlords seem to believe that they have won some promise of help. Soon after the arrival of the American group, they pulled out of the peace talks they had been holding with their government in Nairobi. [A] Al-Itihaad subsequently infiltrated Somalia's business class, and now runs Islamic schools, courts and clinics with the money it has accumulated. [B] According to Abdullahi Sheikh Ismail, the acting chairman of the loose alliance of warlords who control most of Somalia and are based in Baidoa, there are "approximately 20,480 armed extremists" in Somalia and "85% of the government is al-Itihaad". [C] Muhammad Hersi Morgan, known as the "butcher of Hargeisa" because he once razed that town to the ground, says an al-Itihaad camp on Ras Kamboni island is still active. [D] But since September 11th 2001, western governments, anxious to prevent al-Qaeda from using Somalia as a base, have pressed the warlords to make peace. [E] American intelligence officers are working with two warlords to gather information about suspected al-Qaeda people in Somalia. [F] On December 9th America sent a clandestine mission to talk to a collection of Somali warlords, who like to claim that their country, in particular their UN-sponsored government, is overrun with terrorists. [G] It had also forced the closure of Barakaat, Somalia's biggest banking and telecoms company, which handles most of the remittances that Somalis working abroad send back to their families. |
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