2011年苏州大学考博英语试卷【4篇阅读理解真题与答案】

2011年苏州大学考博英语阅读理解真题

基本题型一般，其中翻译占25分，包括英译汉和汉译英，

作文题目是：Changes and Opportunities.

阅读理解：四六级难度

第一篇阅读：

In today's world, insurance plays a vital role in the economic and social welfare of the entire population. The wish to guard against dangers to life and property is basic to human nature. By using various kinds of insurance, society has been able to reduce the effects of such hazards.

Nowhere is insurance more important than in the management of a business. In many instances, losses in a small firm can mean the difference between growth and failure, vitality and stagnation (停滞).Very few small businesses have even a portion of the financial resources available to larger enterprises. Frequently, they must operate on a very slight margin if they hope to stay in business. And thus, they are particularly sensitive to unexpected losses.

Without enough insurance, what happens to such a firm when the owner dies or is suddenly disabled? When a fire breaks out and destroys the firm's building or stock? When an employee is found to have stolen company funds? When a customer is awarded a liability judgment for an accident? Too often, the business is forced to the wall, its future operations drastically curbed; sometimes, it is damaged beyond repair, its ability to continue completely crushed.

Almost always, a small businessman would find it impossible to handle the full burden of his potential risk. The amount of money he would have to set aside to cover possible losses would leave him nothing, or almost nothing, to run his business with. If loss were to occur which he could repair by using his reserve fund, what assurance would he have that another loss—the same kind or different—might not occur next week, next month? But then he would have no reserve fund and little likelihood of staying in business at all.

1. This selection deals mainly with_______.

A. the relation between insurance and society

B. accidents and losses

C. business failures

D. the importance of insurance to business

2. In Paragraph 3, "forced to the wall" means "_______".

A. driven to despair

B. staying in a strong position

C. doing well

D. climbing up

3. The author thinks that_______.

A. accidents always happen

B. a businessman should take risks

C. businesses should have adequate insurance

D. insurance is a social welfare project

4. Adequate insurance will do all of the following EXCEPT that it will_______.

A. free some business funds

B. add to benefits for employees

C. relieve some management problems

D. provide for unexpected incidents

5. The word "curbed" in Paragraph 3 is nearest in meaning to_______.

A. Checked

B. advanced

C. expanded

D. disturbed

第二篇阅读：

Greece, economically, is in the black. With very little to export other than such farm products as tobacco, cotton and fruit, the country earns enough from 'invisible earnings' to pay for its needed, growing imports. From the sending out of things the Greeks, earn only $285 million; from tourism, shipping and the remittances of Greeks abroad, the country takes in an additional #375 million and this washes out the almost $400 million by which imports exceed exports.

It has a balanced budget. Although more than one drachma out of four goes for defense, the government ended a recent year with a slight surplus -- $66 million. Greece has a decent reserve of almost a third of a billion dollars in gold and foreign exchange. It has a government not dependent on coalescing incompatible parties to obtain parliamentary majorities.

In thus summarizing a few happy highlights, I don't mean to minimize the vast extent of Greece's problems. It is the poorest country by a wide margin in Free Europe, and poverty is widespread. At best an annual income of $60 to $70 is the lot of many a peasant, and substantial unemployment plagues the countryside, cities, and towns of Greece. There are few natural resources on which to build any substantial industrial base. Some years ago I wrote here: "Greek statesmanship will have to create an