2012年考研英语阶段测试试题及答案

　　II Reading and Vocabulary: 50 points

　　Text 1

　　Tight-lipped elders used to say, “It’s not what you want in this world, but what you get。”

　　Psychology teaches that you do get what you want if you know what you want and want the right things。

　　You can make a mental blueprint of a desire as you would make a blueprint of a house, and each of us is continually making these blueprints in the general routine of everyday living. If we intend to have friends to dinner, we plan the menu, make a shopping list, decide which food to cook first, and such planning is an essential for any type of meal to be served。

　　Likewise, if you want to find a job, take a sheet of paper, and write a brief account of yourself. In making a blueprint for a job, begin with yourself, for when you know exactly what you have to offer, you can intelligently plan where to sell your services。

　　This account of yourself is actually a sketch of your working life and should include education, experience and references. Such an account is valuable. It can be referred to in filling out standard application blanks and is extremely helpful in personal interviews. While talking to you, your could-be employer is deciding whether your education, your experience, and other qualifications, will pay him to employ you and your “wares” and abilities must be displayed in an orderly and reasonably connected manner。

　　When you have carefully prepared a blueprint of your abilities and desires, you have something tangible to sell. Then you are ready to hunt for a job. Get all the possible information about your could-be job. Make inquiries as to the details regarding the job and the firm. Keep your eyes and ears open, and use your own judgment. Spend a certain amount of time each day seeking the employment you wish for, and keep in mind: Securing a job is your job now。1.What do the elders mean when they say, “It’s not what you want in this world, but what you get。”？。

　　[B] It’s no use dreaming。

　　[C] You should be dissatisfied with what you have。

　　[D] It’s essential to set a goal for yourself。

　　2.A blueprint made before inviting a friend to dinner is used in this passage as ________。

　　[A] an illustration of how to write an application for a job

　　[B] an indication of how to secure a good job

　　[C] a guideline for job description

　　[D] a principle for job evaluation

　　3.According to the passage, one must write an account of himself before starting to find a job because ________。

　　[A] that is the first step to please the employer

　　[B] that is the requirement of the employer

　　[C] it enables him to know when to sell his services

　　[D] it forces him to become clearly aware of himself

　　4.When you have carefully prepared a blueprint of your abilities and desires, you have something ________。

　　[A] definite to offer

　　[B] imaginary to provide

　　[C] practical to supply

　　[D] desirable to present

　　写出下列词汇(词组)在文章中的意思。

　　Para. 1

　　tight-lipped (L1)

　　Para. 3

　　essential (L4)

　　Para. 4

　　account (L1)

　　Para. 5

　　wares (L5)

　　reasonably (L6)

　　Para. 6

　　inquiry (L3)

　　regarding (L3)

　　Text 2

　　It’s a rough world out there. Step outside and you could break a leg slipping on your doormat. Light up stove and you could burn down the house. Luckily, if the doormat or stove failed to warn of coming disaster, a successful lawsuit might compensate you for your troubles. Or so the thinking has gone since the early 1980s, when juries began holding more companies liable for their customers’ misfortunes。Feeling threatened, companies responded by writing ever-longer warning labels, trying to anticipate every possible accident. Today, stepladders carry labels several inches long that warn, among other things, that you might — surprise! — fall off. The label on a child’s Batman cape cautions that the toy “does not enable user to fly。”While warnings are often appropriate and necessary — the dangers of drug interactions, for example — and many are required by state or federal regulations, it isn’t clear that they actually protect the manufacturers and sellers from liability if a customer is injured. About 50 percent of the companies lose when injured customers take them to court。

　　Now the tide appears to be turning. As personal injury claims continue as before, some courts are beginning to side with defendants, especially in cases where a warning label probably wouldn’t have changed anything. In May, Julie Nimmons, president of Schutt Sports in Illinois, successfully fought a lawsuit involving a football player who was paralyzed in a game while wearing a Schutt helmet. “We’re really sorry he has become paralyzed, but helmets aren’t designed to prevent those kinds of injuries,” says Nimmons. The jury agreed that the nature of the game, not the helmet, was the reason for the athlete’s injury. At the same time, the American Law Institute — a group of judges, lawyers, and academics whose recommendations carry substantial weight — issued new guidelines for tort law stating that companies need not warn customers of obvious dangers or bombard them with a lengthy list of possible ones. “Important information can get buried in a sea of trivialities,” says a law professor at Cornell Law School who helped draft the new guidelines. If the moderate end of the legal community has its way, the information on products might actually be provided for the benefit of customers and not as protection against legal liability。