南京财经大学2008年基础英语考研真题

relating an individual‘s accomplishments. Attached to the paper is a photograph. While the papers all say exactly the same thing the pictures are different. Some show a strikingly attractive person, some an average looking character, and some an unusually unattractive human being. Group members are asked to rate the individual on certain attributes, anything from personal warmth to the likelihood that he or she will be promoted.

Almost invariably, the better looking the person in the picture, the higher the person is rated. In the phrase, borrowed from Sappho, that the social scientists use to sum up the common perception, what is beautiful is good.

In business, however, good looks cut both ways for women, and deeper than for men. A Utah State University professor, who is an authority on the subject, explains. In terms of their careers, the impact of physical attractiveness on males is only modest. But its potential impact on females can be tremendous, making it easier, for example, for the more attractive to get jobs where they are in the public eye. On another note, though, there is enough literature now for us to conclude that attractive women who aspire (追求) to managerial positions do not get on as well as women who may be less attractive.

1. According to the passage, people often wrongly believe that in pursuing a career as a manager ______.

A. a persons property or debts do not matter much

B. a person's outward appearance is not a critical qualification C. women should always dress fashionably

D. women should not only be attractive but also high-minded

2. The result of research carried out by social scientists show that ________. A. people do not realize the importance of looking one‘s best

B. women in pursuit of managerial jobs are not likely to be paid well C. good looking women aspire to managerial positions

D. attractive people generally have an advantage over those who are not

3. Experiments by scientists have shown that when people evaluate individuals on certain attributes _______.

A. they observe the principle that beauty is only skin-deep B. they do not usually act according to the views they support C. they give ordinary-looking persons the lowest ratings

D. they tend to base their judgment on the individual's accomplishments 4. It can be inferred from the passage that in the business world _______.

A. handsome men are not affected as much by their looks as attractive women are B. physically attractive women who are in the public eye usually do quite well

C. physically attractive men and women who are in the public eye usually get along quite well

D. good looks are important for women as they are for men

TEXT B

To emphasize the stagnation and the narrowness of the society depicted in Jane Austin‘s novels is to take a narrow and mechanical view of them. Emma is not a period piece, nor is it what is sometimes called a \

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past but also the present. And we must face here in both its crudity and its importance a question. Exactly what relevance and helpfulness does Emma have for us today? In what sense does a novel dealing skillfully and realistically with a society and its standards, which are dead and gone forever, have value in our very different world today? Stated in such terms, the question itself is unsatisfactory. If Emma today captures our imagination and engages our sympathies (as, in fact, it does), then either it has some genuine value for us, or else there is something wrong with the way we give our sympathy and our values are pretty useless.

Put this way, it is clear that anyone who enjoys Emma and then remarks ―but of course it has no relevance today‖ is, in fact, debasing the novel, looking at it not as a living, enjoyable work of art but as a mere dead picture of a past society. Such an attitude is fatal both to art and to life. It can be assumed that Emma has relevance. The helpful approach is to ask why this novel still has the power to move us today.

What gives Emma its power to move us is the realism and depth of feeling behind Jane Austin‘s attitudes. She examines with a scrupulous yet passionate and critical precision the actual problems of her world. That this world is narrow cannot be denied. But the value of a work of art rests on the depth and truth of the experience it communicates, and such qualities cannot be identified with the breadth of the work‘s panorama(概要). A conversation between two people in a grocery store may tell us more about as world war than a volume of dispatches from the front. The silliest of all criticisms of Jan Austen is the one the blames her for not writing about the Battle of the Waterloo and French Revolution, which were in th4e headlines of the newspapers she read. She wrote about what she genuinely understood, and no artist can do more. 5. The main idea of the passage is that _______. A. a narrow view of Emma is natural and acceptable B. a novel should not depict a vanished society

C. a good novel is an intellectual rather than an emotional experience D. Emma should be read with sensitivity and an open mind

6. The author would probably disagree with those critics or readers who find that the society in Jane Austen‘s novels is ________. A. unsympathetic B. uninteresting C. crude

D. authoritarian

7. The author implies that a work of art is properly judged on the basis of its ________. A. universality of human experience truthfully recorded B. popularity and critical acclaim in its own age

C. openness to varied interpretations, including seemingly contradictory ones D. avoidance of political and social issues of minor importance

8. The author‘s attitude toward someone who ―enjoys Emma and then remarks ?but of course it has no relevance today‘‖ can best be described as one of ______. A. amusement B. astonishment C. disapproval

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D. resignation Text C

Joseph Jones had a criminal record, but he swore up and down that this time he was innocent. That's what the 36-year-old felon told a Los Angeles Superior Court judge last year, just moments before pleading guilty to selling cocaine. He received an eight-year sentence. On Wednesday, Jones walked out of California's Salinas Valley State Prison, his conviction overturned at the request of the Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti. Turns out, Jones really was innocent of the cocaine charge.

Jones‘ case is not all that unusual. In Los Angeles lately, it is the prosecutors who are asking that defendants be set free. The criminal justice system seems to have been turned inside out as authorities probe what might become the most widespread police corruption scandal in the city‘s history. ―I wouldn't say the system is in shambles, but it has certainly been seriously disrupted,‖ says Michael Judge, chief public defender for Los Angeles. A high-ranking police official who asked not to be named adds: ―I‘ve never seen anything like this before in Los Angeles. It's the kind of thing you hear about in other places. I don't know if we'll ever get over it.‖

Police authorities say at least one officer has been fired, 11 placed on administrative leave, and one, Rafael Perez, has resigned, as allegations swirl that they stole contraband, lied, planted evidence, roughed up witnesses and kept a crash pad where they had sex with prostitutes. Perez admitted shooting an unarmed man, then framing him by planting a semiautomatic rifle near his unconscious body and accusing him of attacking officers. Five Los Angeles prosecutors and a special police task force are reviewing hundreds of cases that might have been compromised. More than 200 police department supervisors and assistants are part of a board of inquiry expected to make recommendations to Police Chief Bernard Parks as early as next week. Five criminal convictions that Perez and his partner obtained have been overturned, and more could follow, a spokeswoman for Garcetti said.

On Wednesday, public defenders received a list of more than 1 000 cases involving eight law enforcement officers targeted in the probe. Each must be reviewed for possibly tainted testimony. If evidence is suspect, lawyers say, they‘ll argue for new trials or dismissal of charges. The courts could be tied up for years. Adding to the morass, officials expect an onslaught of civil law-suits against the police department from defendants who were wrongly convicted. The first has been filed.

―This is a tarnish on our badge,‖ says Officer Ted Hunt, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which provides lawyers for accused officers. He cautioned, however, against jumping to the conclusion that police corruption is widespread. Only Perez has been proved guilty, he notes. ―Other than this one tiny person who embarrassed all of us, LAPD coppers are honest and ethical, and they want to do the right thing,‖ Hunt adds.

In September, Perez admitted in court that he had stolen about 8 pounds of cocaine from the police evidence room last year. In an attempt to lower his sentence, he offered to blow the whistle on alleged corruption in the department's Rampart Division.

Assigned to a tough, mostly minority neighborhood west of downtown, Rampart Division police are known as pro-active. ―Their job is to go out and get the street hoodlums,

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the ones who cause ordinary citizens to be afraid‖ Hunt says. ―Rampart had the highest crime rate in the city, and they turned it around.‖

According to Perez, some officers at Rampart were doing more than good police work. Perez contends, for example, that in 1996, he and his partner, Nino Durden, shot 19-year-old Javier Francisco Ovando, then framed him for assaulting them. The shooting paralyzed Ovando. Though he had no prior record, the judge handed down the stiffest sentence possible because, the judge said, the defendant showed no remorse. Ovando was released from prison in September after serving three years of a 23-year sentence. Tamar Toiser, Ovando‘s criminal defense lawyer, says Perez and his partner testified brilliantly at the trial. ―They were wonderful witnesses,‖ she said. ―They knew just when to look the jury in the eye. They called (Ovando) a ?gang assassin.‘ ‖ David Brockway, the lawyer who advised Jones to take an eight-year deal and admit selling cocaine, also remembers the same two cops as effective witnesses. If Jones had gone up against them, ―Who would the jury have believed?‖ he asks. By going to trial, Jones would have risked being found guilty and receiving a sentence of 32 years to life in prison under California‘s ―three-strikes‘‖ law, Brockway says.

―Innocent people are being convicted,‖ public defender Judge says. ―That's the magnitude of the consequences, and this is really devastating for the system.‖ But Hunt and other police officers say that the system is working. It‘s the police department, they say, that uncovered the problem by aggressively investigating the evidence room theft, which led to Perez.

9. What‘s the main idea of the article? A. Policemen also do some illegal things.

B. There are more and more police scandals these days. C. Police scandal puts convictions in doubt.

D. Only 1 cop has admitted guilt, so it is unreasonable to question the criminal convictions.

10. The phrase ―hand down‖ is in close meaning to which of the following? A. put down B. take down C. state publicly D. deny angrily

11. This article can be found most probably in ________. A. novels B. anthology C. newspaper D. encyclopedia

12. If the information offered by Perez in paragraph 8 was wrong and other information were true, it helps to confirm that ________.

A. all Brockway says at the last paragraph is right B. Perez is really not a good cop C. Nino and Perez are not friends

D. No innocent people are being conceived

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