专业英语八级(阅读)模拟试卷190(题后含答案及解析)

专业英语八级（阅读）模拟试卷190(题后含答案及解析)
题型有：1.2 percent in 2008. Some analysts believe that if the trend continues for much longer, further consolidation in the automotive sector(already under competitive pressure)is likely. (4)Japanese demographics have something to do with the problem. The country’s urban population has grown by nearly 20 percent since 1990, and most city dwellers use mass transit(the country’s system is one of the best developed in the world)on a daily basis, making it less essential to own a car. Experts say Europe, where the car market is also quite mature, may be in for a similar shift.
(5)But in Japan, the “demotorization”process, or kuruma banare, is also driven by cost factors. Owning and driving a car can cost up to $500 per month in Japan, including parking fees, car insurance, toll roads and various taxes. Taxes on a $17,000 car in Japan are 4.1 times higher than in the United States, 1.7 times higher than in Germany and 1.25 times higher than in the U.K., according to JAMA. “Automobiles used to represent a symbol of our status, a Western, modern lifestyle that we aspired for,”says Kitamura. For today’s young people, he argues, “such thinking is completely gone.”(6)Cars are increasingly just a mobile utility; the real consumer time and effort goes into picking the coolest mobile phones and personal computers, not the hippest hatchback. The rental-car industry has grown by more than 30 percent in the past eight years, as urbanites book weekend wheels over the Internet. Meanwhile, government surveys show that spending on cars per household per year fell by 14 percent, to $600, between 2000 and 2005, while spending on Net and mobile-phone subscriptions rose by 39 percent, to $1,500, during the same period.
(7)For Japanese car companies, the implications are enormous. “Japan is the world’s second largest market, with a 17 to 18 percent share of our global sales. It’s important,”says Takao Katagiri, corporate vice president at Nissan Motor Co. The domestic market is where Japanese carmakers develop technology and build their know-how, and if it falters, it could gut an industry that employs 7.8 percent of the Japanese work force. (8)While surging exports, particularly to emerging markets, have more than offset the decline in domestic sales so far, companies are looking for ways to turn the tide. Nissan, for example, is trying to appeal to the digital generation with promotional blogs and even a videogame. A racing game for Sony’s PlayStation, for example, offers players the chance to virtually drive the company’s latest sporty model, the GT-R—a new marketing approach to create buzz and tempt them into buying cars. Toyota Motors has opened an auto mall as part of a suburban shopping complex near Tokyo, hoping to attract the kinds of shoppers who have long since stopped thinking about dropping by a car dealership. It’s a bit akin to the Apple strategy of moving electronics out of the soulless superstore, and into more appealing and well-trafficked retail spaces. It worked for Apple, but then Apple is so 21st century.
1．It can be inferred from the passage all of the following EXCEPT that _____.
A．Japanese carmakers develop technology in overseas market
B．the young in Japan have little interest in having a car
C．Japan’s minicar industry didn’t lose its market share
D．Japan can be regarded as a nation at the wheel
正确答案：A
解析：第7段第3句提到，日本主要在国内市场创新技术，A与原文不符，故为答案。

根据第3段第4句可推出B；从文章大意出发可得出D；由第2段第2句中的While minicars and luxury foreign brands arestill popular可推知C，均排除。

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2．Which of the following is NOT the hidden reason for Japan’s poor car market performance?
A．A conspicuous disparity of wealth among countries.
B．Changes of the distribution of population.
C．Little interest in cars and relevant industry.
D．Poor function of Japan’s public transportation.
正确答案：D
解析：由第4段第2句的mass transit(…one of the best developed in the world)可知，D“日本公共交通业的衰败”与原意相反，故选D。

第3段提到，造成日本汽车业表现不佳的三大原因为：财富差距的日益增大、人口结构的变化及对汽车缺乏兴趣，A、B、C均有提及，故不选。

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3．According to the passage, what can we learn about Japan’s car industry?
A．Most young still regard automobiles as a symbol of status.
B．Car-booking industry grows rapidly and is popular at weekends.
C．Japan’s car companies develop technology mainly for overseas market.
D．Exports can’t compensate for the decrease of domestic sales.
正确答案：B
解析：根据第6段第2句可知，B符合文意，即汽车租售业增长迅速，有很多人在周末租车，故选B。

A中的still regard与文中的used to be不符；C中的overseas market与文中的domestic market不符；D中的can’t compensate for与文中的more than offset不符。

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(1)Pundits who want to sound judicious are fond of warning against generalizing. Each country is different, they say, and no one story fits all of Asia. This is, of course, silly: all of these economies plunged into economic crisis within a few months of each other, so they must have had something in common. (2)In fact, the logic of catastrophe was pretty much the same in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and South Korea.(Japan is a very different story.)In each case investors—mainly, but not entirely, foreign banks who had made short-term loans—all tried to pull their money out at the same time. The result was a combined banking and currency crisis: a
banking crisis because no bank can convert all its assets into cash on short notice; a currency crisis because panicked investors were trying not only to convert long-term assets into cash, but to convert baht or rupiah into dollars. In the face of the stampede, governments had no good options. If they let their currencies plunge, inflation would soar and companies that had borrowed in dollars would go bankrupt; if they tried to support their currencies by pushing up interest rates, the same firms would probably go bust from the combination of debt burden and recession. In practice, countries split the difference—and paid a heavy price regardless. (3)Was the crisis a punishment for bad economic management? Like most cliches, the catchphrase “crony capitalism”has prospered because it gets at something real: excessively cozy relationships between government and business really did lead to a lot of bad investments. The still primitive financial structure of Asian business also made the economies peculiarly vulnerable to a loss of confidence. But the punishment was surely disproportionate to the crime, and many investments that look foolish in retrospect seemed sensible at the time. (4)Given mat there were no good policy options, was the policy response mainly on the right track? There was frantic blame-shifting when everything in Asia seemed to be going wrong; now there is a race to claim credit when some things have started to go right. The International Monetary Fund points to Korea’s recovery —and more generally to the fact that the sky didn’t fall after all—as proof that its policy recommendations were right. Never mind that other IMF clients have done far worse, and that the economy of Malaysia—which refused IMF help, and horrified respectable opinion by imposing capital controls—also seems to be on the mend. Malaysia’s Prime Minister, by contrast, claims full credit for any good news—even though neighbouring economies also seem to have bottomed out. (5)The truth is that an observer without any ax to grind would probably conclude that none of the policies adopted either on or in defiance of the IMF’s advice made much difference either way. Budget policies, interest rate policies, banking reform—whatever countries tried, just about all me capital that could flee, did. And when mere was no more money to run, me natural recuperative powers of the economies finally began to prevail. At best, the money doctors who purported to offer cures provided a helpful bedside manner; at worst, they were like medieval physicians who prescribed bleeding as a remedy for all ills. (6)Will me patients stage a full recovery? It depends on exactly what you mean by “full”. South Korea’s industrial production is already above its pre-crisis level; but in the spring of 1997 anyone who had predicted zero growth in Korean industry over the next two years would have been regarded as a reckless doomsayer. So if by recovery you mean not just a return to growth, but one that brings the region’s performance back to something like what people used to regard as the Asian norm, they have a long way to go.
4．According to the passage, which of the following is NOT the writer’s opinion?
A．Countries paid a heavy price for whichever measure taken.
B．Countries all found themselves in an economic dilemma.
C．Withdrawal of foreign capital resulted in me crisis.
D．Most governments chose one of the two options.
正确答案：D
解析：第2段倒数第3句提到政府no good options，接下来分析能采取的两种措施都不可行，只能折中而行，因此D所说的chose one不正确，为答案。

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5．The writer thinks that those Asian countries _____.
A．well deserved the punishment
B．invested in a senseless way at the time
C．were unduly punished in the crisis
D．had bad relationships between government and business
正确答案：C
解析：第3段末句提到亚洲国家受到的惩罚与所犯的过失不成比例，故选C “在危机中受到了过度惩罚”。

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6．At the end of the passage, the writer seems to think that a full recovery of the Asian economy is ______.
A．due
B．remote
C．imaginative
D．unpredictable
正确答案：B
解析：最后一段末句提到，“经济复苏”不仅指经济重新出现增长，而且指恢复到“正常的”发展水平，这就需要很长的时间(a long way to go)。

故应选B “遥远的”。

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(1)Cooperative competition. Competitive cooperation. Confused? Airline alliances have travellers scratching their heads over what’s going on in the skies. Some folks view alliances as a blessing to travellers, offering seamless travel, reduced fares and enhanced frequent-flyer benefits. Others see a conspiracy of big businesses, causing decreased competition, increased fares and fewer choices. Whatever your opinion, there’s no escaping airline alliances: the marketing hype is unrelenting, with each of the two mega-groupings, Oneworld and Star Alliance, promoting itself as the best choice for all travellers. And, even if you turn away from their ads, chances are they will figure in any of your travel plans. By the end of the year, Oneworld and Star Alliance will between them control more than 40% of the traffic in the sky. Some pundits predict that figure will be more like 75% in 10 years. (2)But why, after years of often ferocious competition, have airlines decided to band together? Let’s just say the timing is mutually convenient. North American airlines, having exhausted all means of earning customer loyalty at home, have been looking for ways to reach out
to foreign flyers. Asian carriers are still hurting from the region-wide economic downturn that began two years ago—just when some of the airlines were taking delivery of new aircraft. Alliances also allow carriers to cut costs and increase profits by pooling manpower resources on the ground(rather than each airline maintaining its own ground crew)and code-sharing—the practice of two partners selling tickets and operating only one aircraft. (3)So alliances are terrific for airlines—but are they good for the passenger? Absolutely, say the airlines: think of the lounges, the joint FFP(frequent flyer programme)benefits, the round-the-world fares, and the global service networks. Then there’s the promise of “seamless”travel: the ability to, say, travel from Singapore to Rome to New York to Rio de Janiero, all on one ticket, without having to wait hours for connections or worry about your bags. Sounds utopian? Peter Buecking, Cathay Pacific’s director of sales and marketing, thinks that seamless travel is still evolving. “It’s fair to say that these links are only in their infancy. The key to seamlessness rests in infrastructure and information sharing. We’re working on this.”Henry Ma, spokesperson for Star Alliance in Hong Kong, lists some of the other benefits for consumers: “Global travellers have an easier time making connections and planning their itineraries.”Ma claims alliances also assure passengers consistent service standards. (4)Critics of alliances say the much-touted benefits to the consumer are mostly pie in the sky, that alliances are all about reducing costs for the airlines, rationalizing services and running joint marketing programmes. Jeff Blyskal, associate editor of Consumer Reports magazine, says the promotional ballyhoo over alliances is much ado about nothing. “I don’t see much of a gain for consumers: alliances are just a marketing gimmick. And as far as seamless travel goes, I’ll believe it when I see it. Most airlines can’t even get their own connections under control, let alone coordinate with another airline.”
(5)Blyskal believes alliances will ultimately result in decreased flight choices and increased costs for consumers. Instead of two airlines competing and each operating a flight on the same route at 70% capacity, the allied pair will share the route and run one full flight. Since fewer seats will be available, passengers will be obliged to pay more for tickets. (6)The truth about alliances and their merits probably lies somewhere between the travel utopia presented by the players and the evil empires portrayed by their critics. And how much they affect you depends on what kind of traveller you are. (7)Those who’ve already made the elite grade in the FFP of a major airline stand to benefit the most when it joins an alliance: then they enjoy the FFP perks and advantages on any and all of the member carriers. For example, if you’re a Marco Polo Club “gold” member of Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles FFP, you will automatically be treated as a valuable customer by all members of Oneworld, of which Cathay Pacific is a member—even if you’ve never flown with them before.
(8)For those who haven’t made the top grade in any FFP, alliances might be a way of simplifying the earning of frequent flyer miles. For example, I belong to United Airline’s Mileage Plus and generally fly less man 25,000 miles a year. But I earn miles with every flight I take on Star Alliance member—All Nippon Airways and Thai Airways. (9)If you fly less than I do, you might be smarter to stay out of the FFP game altogether. Hunt for bargains when booking flights and you might be able
to save enough to take that extra trip anyway. The only real benefit infrequent flyers can draw from an alliance is an inexpensive round-the-world fare. (10)The bottom line: for all me marketing hype, alliances aren’t all things to all people—but everybody can get some benefit out of them.
7．Which is the best word to describe air travellers’ reaction to airline alliances?
A．Delight.
B．Indifference.
C．Objection.
D．Puzzlement.
正确答案：D
解析：首段第2、3句提到confused和scratching their heads over what’s going on in the skies，表明乘客很困惑(挠头皮)，不知道航空公司之间到底发生了什么。

所以应该选D(感到疑惑)。

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8．Which of the following is NOT a perceived advantage of alliances?
A．Baggage allowance.
B．Passenger comfort.
C．Convenience.
D．Quality.
正确答案：A
解析：第3段提到，航空公司认为联盟对乘客有好处，其中包括：候机室、联合的常客奖励计划、全球旅行的机票及全球服务网络。

段末还提到service standards。

分别对应B、C、D。

A未提及，故正确。

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9．One disadvantage of alliances foreseen by the critics is that air travel may be more expensive as a result of _____.
A．less convenience
B．higher operation costs
C．less competition
D．more joint marketing
正确答案：C
解析：第5段第1句，Blyskal认为，联盟会导致可选择的航班数量减少，并使消费者费用增加。

下文即说明具体如何减少航班、增加费用的。

航空公司联盟后不必竞争，可以共享一条航线，但总座位数减少，旅客将不得不花更多的钱买机票。

故造成航空旅行费用提高的原因是缺乏竞争，答案为C。

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(1)Harry Truman didn’t think his successor had the right training to be president. “Poor Ike—it won’t be a bit like the Army,” he said. “He’ll sit there all day
saying ‘do this, do that,’and nothing will happen.”Truman was wrong about Ike. Dwight Eisenhower had led a fractious alliance—you didn’t tell Winston Churchill what to do—in a massive, chaotic war. He was used to politics. But Truman’s insight could well be applied to another, even more venerated Washington figure: the CEO-turned cabinet secretary. (2)A 20-year bull market has convinced us all that CEOs are geniuses, so watch with astonishment the troubles of Donald Rumsfeld and Paul O’Neill. Here are two highly regarded businessmen, obviously intelligent and well-informed, foundering in their jobs. (3)Actually, we shouldn’t be surprised. Rumsfeld and O’Neill are not doing badly despite having been successful CEOs but because of it. The record of senior businessmen in government is one of almost unrelieved disappointment. In fact, with the exception of Robert Rubin, it is difficult to think of a CEO who had a successful career in government. (4)Why is this? Well, first the CEO has to recognize that he is no longer the CEO. He is at best an adviser to the CEO, the president. But even the president is not really the CEO. No one is. Power in a corporation is concentrated and vertically structured. Power in Washington is diffuse and horizontally spread out. The secretary might think he’s in charge of his agency. But the chairman of the congressional committee funding that agency feels the same. In his famous study “Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents,” Richard Neustadt explains how little power the president actually has and concludes that the only lasting presidential power is “the power to persuade.”
(5)Take Rumsfeld’s attempt to transform the cold-war military into one geared for the future. It’s innovative but deeply threatening to almost everyone in Washington. The Defense secretary did not try to sell it to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Congress, the budget office or the White House. As a result, the idea is collapsing. (6)Second, what power you have, you must use carefully. For example, O’Neill’s position as Treasury secretary is one with little formal authority. Unlike Finance ministers around the world, Treasury does not control the budget. But it has symbolic power. The secretary is seen as the chief economic spokesman for the administration and, if he plays it right, the chief economic adviser for the president. (7)O’Neill has been publicly critical of the IMF’s bailout packages for developing countries while at the same time approving such packages for Turkey, Argentina and Brazil. As a result, he has gotten the worst of both worlds. The bailouts continue, but their effect in holstering investor confidence is limited because the markets are rattled by his skepticism. (8)Perhaps the government doesn’t do bailouts well. But that leads to a third rule: you can’t just quit. Jack Welch’s famous law for re-engineering General Electric was to be first or second in any given product category, or else get out of that business. But if the government isn’t doing a particular job at peak level, it doesn’t always have the option of relieving itself of that function. The Pentagon probably wastes a lot of money. But it can’t get out of the national-security business.
(9)The key to former Treasury secretary Rubin’s success may have been that he fully understood that business and government are, in his words, “necessarily and properly very different.”In a recent speech he explained, “Business functions around one predominate organizing principle, profitability... Government, on the other hand, deals with a vast number of equally legitimate and often potentially competing objectives—
for example, energy production versus environmental protection, or safety regulations versus productivity.”(10)Rubin’s example shows that talented people can do well in government if they are willing to treat it as its own separate, serious endeavour. But having been bathed in a culture of adoration and flattery, it’s difficult for a CEO to believe he needs to listen and learn, particularly from those despised and poorly paid specimens, politicians, bureaucrats and the media. And even if he knows it intellectually, he just can’t live with it.
10．Which of the following is NOT true about Ike?
A．He was the successor to President Harry Truman.
B．He once worked together with Winston Churchill.
C．He had been a CEO in an international company.
D．He had been a commander of the allied forces.
正确答案：C
解析：文章没有说Ike做过CEO，故答案是C。

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11．In commenting on O’Neill’s record as Treasury Secretary, the passage seems to indicate that _____.
A．O’Neill has failed to use his power well
B．O’Neill’s policies were well received
C．O’Neill has been consistent in his policies
D．O’Neill is uncertain about the package he’s approved
正确答案：A
解析：第6段第1句是主题句，该句说：不论你拥有什么权力，都一定要小心认真地行使自己的权力。

然后就举了奥尼尔做财政部长的例子。

可见奥尼尔的例子是用来说明未能正确使用自己权力的，A正确。

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12．The author seems to suggest that CEO-turned government officials _____.
A．are able to fit into their new roles
B．are unlikely to adapt to their new roles
C．can respond to new situations intelligently
D．may feel uncertain in their new posts
正确答案：B
解析：文中最后一段说，CEO们长期身处崇拜、奉承的文化氛围，很难去听取别人的意见或学习他人的优点。

他们清楚地认识到他们必须这样做，但实际上他们无法做到。

换言之，即这样的官员无法适应新的角色，故B正确。

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SECTION B SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONSIn this section there are eight short-answer questions based on the passages in SECTION A. Answer each question
in NO more than 10 words in the space provided.
13．What’s the main point of the last paragraph?
正确答案：Japanese car companies tried best to promote car sales．
解析：最后一段首句即本段的主题句，指出日本汽车公司正寻求各种方法逆转其业绩下降的现象，随后以三家日本公司的营销策略为例对该主题观点进行说明，故本题答案可表述为Japanese car companies tried bestto promote car sales。

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14．What can we infer about IMF policy recommendations from the passage?
正确答案：They were far from a panacea in all cases．
解析：第4段谈到了IMF对亚洲国家的作用。

其中，由第3句可知IMF的政策对韩国的经济复苏起到了促进的作用，但接下来提到别的IMF成员国情况却很糟，而没有采用IMF政策的马来西亚的经济在好转中(on themend)，这说明IMF的政策并非放之四海而皆准的，因此答案可表述为They were far from a panacea in an cases。

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15．According to the passage, what kind of travellers will gain most from airline alliances?
正确答案：Travellers who fly frequently business class．
解析：倒数第4段第1句文中提到：那些在常客奖励计划中已经达到精英级别的乘客能从航空公司联盟得到最多好处。

而能够达到FFP的高级程度(即较高的里程累积)，应该是经常乘坐飞机并且座位较好的人，故答案可表述为Travellers who fly frequently business class。

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16．Why did Rumsfeld’s attempt to reform the US military fail?
正确答案：Because Rumsfeld worked like a CEO in pursuing the reform．
解析：原文说，Rumsfeld想要对军队改革，但他“没想过要把自己的想法兜售给”有关各方，结果，改革的计划落空了。

本段是一个例子，用来说明前一个段落中的主题：政府权力机构与公司不同，政府首脑不可把自己当作CEO来运作。

故本题答案可表述为Because Rumsfeld worked like a CEO in pursuing the reform。

知识模块：阅读。