一、Part Ⅱ Listening Comprehension
1、Question 1 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、Project organizer.
B、Public relations officer.
C、Marketing manager.
D、Market research consultant.
解析：
原文：
Conversation One
M: (1)So how long have you been a market research consultant?
W: Well, I started straight after finishing university.
M: Did you study market research?
W: Yeah, and it really helped me to get into the industry, but I have to say that it's more important to get experience in different types of market research to find out exactly what you're interested in.M: So what are you interested in?
W: (2)Well, at the moment, I specialize in quantitative advertising research, which means that I do two types of projects. (3)Trackers, which are ongoing projects that look at trends or customer satisfaction over a long period of time. The only problem with trackers is that it takes up a lot of your time. But you do build up a good relationship with the client. I also do a couple of ad-hoc jobs which are much shorter projects.
M: What exactly do you mean by ad-hoc jobs?
W: It's basically when companies need quick answers to their questions about their consumers' habits. They just ask for one questionnaire to be sent out for example, so the time you spend on an ad-hoc project tends to be fairly short.
M: Which do you prefer, trackers or ad-hoc?
W: I like doing both and in fact I need to do both at the same time to keep me from going crazy. I need the variety.
M: Can you just explain what process you go through with a new client?
W: Well, together we decide on the methodology and the objectives of the research. I then design a questionnaire. Once the interviewers have been briefed, I send the client a schedule and then they get back to me with deadlines. Once the final charts and tables are ready, I have to check them and organize a presentation.
M: Hmm, one last question, what do you like and dislike about your job?
W: (4)As I said, variety is important and as for what I don't like, it has to be the checking of charts and tables.
1 What position does the woman hold in the company?
解析：D。四个选项都是职位，推测题目是询问职业，听录音时注意留意原词。对话一开头男士就问女士做市场调查顾问多久了，故D选项为原词复现，故为正确答案。A选项“项目策划”、B选项“公共关系职员”和C选项“营销经理”均未提及，故排除。
2、Question 2 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、Quantitative advertising research.
B、Questionnaire design.
C、Research methodology.
D、Interviewer training.
解析：
2 What does the woman specialize in at the moment?
解析：A。四个选项是调查工作的四个方面，听音时注意细节信息。对话中女士明确提及她目前专攻quantitative advertising research，A选项是录音原词复现，为正确答案。B选项“问卷设计”和C选项“研究方法论”虽然录音中有提及，但不是女士目前专攻的内容；D选项“受访者培训”则未提及，排除。
3、Question 3 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、They are intensive studies of people’s spending habits.
B、They examine relations between producers and customers.
C、They look for new and effective ways to promote products.
D、They study trends or customer satisfaction over a long period.
解析：
3 What does the woman say about trackers?
解析：D。四个选项都与they相关，且均为对they的解释性说明，可推测题目问they的相关信息。对话中女士对trackers的解释是：这个正在进行的项目研究在长时间段内的趋势和客户满意度。D选项与录音信息基本一致，故为正确选项。A选项“它们是对用客户消费习惯的集中研究”、B选项“它们调查生产者和客户之间的关系”和C选项“它们寻找促销产品新的有效方法”均未提及，排除。
4、Question 4 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、The lack of promotion opportunity.
B、Checking charts and tables.
C、Designing questionnaires.
D、The persistent intensity.
解析：
4 What does the woman dislike about her job?
解析：B。四个选项均为工作的某一方面，推测题目与工作相关。对话最后，男士问女士最后一个问题：工作上喜欢和不喜欢的分别是什么，女士回答不喜欢图表的核对。B选项是对录音原词的复现，为正确答案。A选项“缺乏晋升机会”和D选项“持续的紧张”均为提及，排除；C选项“设计调查问卷”是女士工作的一部分，但并非女士不喜欢的内容，排除。
5、Question 5 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、His view on Canadian universities.
B、His understanding of higher education.
C、His suggestions for improvements in higher education.
D、His complaint about bureaucracy in American universities.
解析：
原文：
Conversation Two
W: Hello, I'm here with Frederick. Now Fred, you went to university in Canada?
M: Yeah, that's right.
W: (5)OK, and you have very strong views about universities in Canada. Could you please explain?
M: Well, we don't have private universities in Canada They're all public. (6)All the universities are owned by the government, so there is the Ministry of Education in charge of creating the curriculum for the universities and so there is not much room for flexibility. Since it's a government-operated institution, things don't move very fast. If you want something to be done, then their staff do not have so much incentive to help you because he's a worker for the government. So I don't think it's very efficient However, there are certain advantages of public universities, such as the fees being free. You don't have to pay for your education. But the system isn’t efficient, and it does not work that well.
W: Yeah, I can see your point, but in the United States we have many private universities, and I think they are large bureaucracies also. Maybe people don't act that much differently, because it's the same thing working for a private university. They get paid for their job. I don't know if they're that much more motivated to help people. Also, we have a problem in the United States that usually only wealthy kids go to the best schools and it’s kind of a problem actually.
M: (7)I agree with you. I think it’s a problem because you're not giving equal access to education to everybody. It's not easy, but having only public universities also might not be the best solution. Perhaps we can learn from Japan where they have a system of private and public universities. Now, in Japan, public universities are considered to be the best.
W: Right. It’s the exact opposite in the United States.
M: (8)So, as you see, it's very hard to say which one is better.
W: Right, a good point.
5 What does the woman want Frederick to talk about?
解析:A。 四个选项都是抽象名词性短语，推测题目是问男士的相关想法或感受。对话一开始女士就邀请男士就加拿大的大学发表看法，A选项“view on Canadian universities”是对录音中“views about universities in Canada”的同义转述，为正确答案。B选项“他对高等教育的理解”和C选项“他对高等教育的改进建议”均未提及，排除；D选项“他对美国官僚主义的抱怨”错误，对美国官僚主义的抱怨是女士的看法。
6、Question 6 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、It is well designed.
B、It is rather inflexible.
C、It varies among universities.
D、It has undergone great changes.
解析：
6 What does the man say about the curriculum in Canadian universities?
解析：B。四个选项都是对it的客观描述，听录音时注意it指代的内容。对话中男士提及加拿大的大学属于政府所有，教育部负责设计大学课程，因而没有太多灵活变通的空间。B选项“它很不灵活”是对录音信息的同义转述，为正确答案。A选项“它设计得很好”、C选项“它在各所大学都不一样”和D选项“它经历了巨大变化”均未提及，排除。
7、Question 7 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、The United States and Canada can learn from each other.
B、Public universities are often superior to private universities.
C、Everyone should be given equal access to higher education.
D、Private schools work more efficiently than public institutions.
解析：
7. On what point do the speakers agree?
解析：C。选项没有明确指向性，需要听音时注意对照。对话中女士表示在美国教育存在问题：只有有钱人家的孩子才能上最好的大学，男士对此表示赞同，问题的原因在于不能给予每个人平等的教育机会。故C选项正确。A选项“美国和加拿大可以互相学习”未提及，排除；B选项“公立大学比私立大学更优越”和D选项“私立学校比公立学校更有效率”无从判断，排除。
8、Question 8 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、University systems vary from country to country.
B、Efficiency is essential to university management.
C、It is hard to say which is better, a public university or a private one.
D、Many private universities in the U.S. are actually large bureaucracies.
解析：
8. What point does the man make at the end of the conversation?
解析：C。四个选项依然是围绕大学话题的宽泛总结，需要听音时注意对照。对话最后男士总结说：很难说哪一个更好。C选项是对录音信息的复现和补充，为正确答案。A选项“大学制度岁国家不同而不同”、B选项“效率对大学管理至关重要”和D选项“美国的很多私立大学世纪上都是巨大的官僚机构”均不是男士最后的观点，排除。
9、Question 9 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、Government’s role in resolving an economic crisis.
B、The worsening real wage situation around the world.
C、Indications of economic recovery in the United States.
D、The impact of the current economic crisis on people’s life.
解析：
原文：
Passage One
W: (9)A recent International Labor Organization report says the deterioration of real wages around the world calls into question the true extent of an economic recovery, especially if government rescue packages are phased out too early. The report warns the picture on wages is likely to get worse this year, despite indications of an economic rebound. Patrick Belser, an international labor organization specialist, says declining wage rates are linked to the levels of unemployment.
M: The quite dramatic unemployment features, which we now see in some of the countries, strongly suggest that there will be a great pressure on wages in the future as more people will be unemployed, more people will be looking for jobs and (10)the pressure on employers to raise wages to attract workers will decline. So we expect that the second part of the year would not be very good in terms of wage growth.
W: The report finds more than a quarter of the countries experienced flat or falling monthly wages in real terms. They include the United States, Austria, Costa Rica, South Africa and Germany. International Labor Organization economists say some nations have come up with policies to lessen the impact of lower wages during the economic crisis. An example of these is work sharing with government subsidies. (11)Under this scheme, the number of individual working hours is reduced in an effort to avoid layoffs. For this scheme to work, the government must provide wage subsidies to compensate for lost pay due to the shorter hours.
9. What is the International Labor Organization's report mainly about?
解析：B。四个选项均为概括性名词短语，推测题目与主旨或话题有关。录音一开始就指出：国际劳工组织最近的一份报告指出，世界各地实际工资水平的恶化情况让人质疑经济复苏的真实程度。B选项中“worsening real wage”是对录音中“the deterioration of real wages”的同义改写，为正确答案。A选项“政府在解决经济危机中的作用”、C选项“美国经济复苏的迹象”和D选项“目前经济危机对人们生活的影响”均不是国际劳工组织报告的内容。
10、Question 10 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、They will feel less pressure to raise employees’ wages.
B、They will feel free to choose the most suitable employees.
C、They will feel inclined to expand their business operations.
D、They will feel more confident in competing with their rivals.
解析：
10 According to an International Labor Organization's specialist, how will employers feel if there are more people looking for jobs?
解析：A。四个选项都与they有关，结合选项可以看出指得是雇主。录音中指出，雇主以涨薪手段吸引员工的压力随之下降。故A选项“他们在给员工涨工资方面的压力变小”为正确答案。B选项“他们可以自由选择最适合的员工”、C选项“他们想扩展经营范围”和D选项“他们与对手竞争时会更自信”均未提及，排除。
11、Question 11 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、Employees and companies cooperate to pull through the economic crisis.
B、Government and companies join hands to create jobs for the unemployed.
C、Employees work shorter hours to avoid layoffs.
D、Team work will be encouraged in companies.
解析：
11. What does the speaker mean by the work sharing scheme?
解析：C。四个选项均与雇员，失业相关，推测题目与失业情况相关。录音结尾提到，该计划通过减少个人工时来避免裁员。C选项是对录音内容的同义转述，为正确答案。A选项“员工和公司携手共度经济危机”、B选项“政府与企业联手为失业者创造工作岗位”和D选项“公司将鼓励团队合作”均未提及，排除。
12、Question 12 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、Whether memory supplements work.
B、Whether herbal medicine works wonders.
C、Whether exercise enhances one’s memory.
D、Whether a magic memory promises success.
解析：
原文：
Passage Two
Is there really a magic memory pill or a herbal recall remedy? (12)I have been frequently asked if these memory supplements work. You know, one of the first things I like to tell people when they ask me about the supplements, is that a lot of them are promoted as a cure for your memory. But your memory doesn't need a cure. What your memory needs is a good workout. So really those supplements aren't going to give you that perfect memory in the way that they promise. The other thing is that a lot of these supplements aren't necessarily what they claim to be, and you really have to be wary when you take any of them. (13)The science isn't there behind most of them. They're not really well-regulated unless they adhere to some industry standard. You don't really know that what they say is in there, isn't there. What you must understand is that those supplements, especially in some eastern cultures, are part of a medical practice tradition. People don't just go in a local grocery store and buy these supplements. (14)In fact, they are prescribed and they're given at a certain level, a dosage that is understood by a practitioner who's been trained. And that's not really the way they're used in this country. The other thing that people do forget is that these are medicines, so they do have an impact. (15)A lot of times people are not really aware of the impact they have, or the fact that taking them in combination with other medications might put you at increased risk for something that you wouldn't otherwise being countering or be at risk for.
12. What question is frequently put to the speaker?
解析：A。四个选项都与memory有关，且都由whether引导，听音时注意相关信息。录音一开始就提到：我经常被问及记忆力补品是否有效。A选项中whether是if的同义替换，为正确答案。B选项“才要是否有效”、C选项“锻炼是否有助于提高记忆力”和D选项“神奇的记忆力是否能保证成功”均不是男士被问到的问题，排除。
13、Question 13 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、They help the elderly more than the young.
B、They are beneficial in one way or another.
C、They generally do not have side effects.
D、They are not based on real science.
解析：
13. What does the speaker say about most memory supplements?
解析：D。四个选项都包含代词，没有明确的指向性，听音时注意对照。录音中指出大部分记忆力补品背后缺乏科学依据。故D选项“它们并非以真正的科学为基础”为正确答案。A选项“它们对年长者比对年轻人更有效”未提及，排除；录音中明确指出这些补品效果并不像它们声称的那样好，而且作为药物也是有不好的影响的，故B选项“它们无论怎样都是有益的”和C选项“它们大多没有副作用”错误，排除。
14、Question 14 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、They are available at most country fairs.
B、They are taken in relatively high dosage.
C、They are collected or grown by farmers.
D、They are prescribed by trained practitioners.
解析：
14. What do we learn about memory supplements in eastern cultures?
解析：D。选项中dosage, prescribed表明they指药品，推测题目与药品的来源和用量相关。录音中提到，这类药在一些东方国家需要开处方，剂量也由经过训练的执业医师所定。故D选项“它们必须由经过训练的执业医师开处方”为正确答案。A选项“他们在多数乡村集市上有售”和C选项“它们由农民种植和采集”均未提及。B选项“它们的服用剂量相对较大”与录音信息不符，录音说用量必须控制在一定水平，故排除。
15、Question 15 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、They have often proved to be as helpful as doing mental exercise.
B、Taking them with other medications might entail unnecessary risks.
C、Their effect lasts only a short time.
D、Many have benefited from them.
解析：
15. What does the speaker say about memory supplements at the end?
解析：B。四个选项都是对they或them的效果的描述，推测题目问药品的作用。录音结尾指出，很多时候人们没有意识到这类药物的危害，也不知道和其他药同服可能增加风险。故B选项“与其他药物同服可能带来不必要的危险”为正确答案。A选项“事实证明它们和脑力训练同样有效”、C选项“它们的药效只持续一小段时间”和D选项“它们使很多人收益”均未提及，排除。
16、Question 16 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、How catastrophic natural disasters turn out to be to developing nations.
B、How the World Meteorological Organization studies natural disasters.
C、How powerless humans appear to be in face of natural disasters.
D、How the negative impacts of natural disasters can be reduced.
解析：
原文：
Recording One
W: The negative impacts of natural disasters can be seen everywhere. In just the past few weeks, the world has witnessed the destructive power of earthquakes in Indonesia, typhoons in the Philippines, and the destructive sea waves that struck Samoa and neighboring islands. A study by the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters finds that, between 1980 and 2007, nearly 8,400 natural disasters killed more than two million people. These catastrophic events caused more than $1.5 trillion in economic losses. U.N. weather expert Geoffrey Love says that is the bad news.
M: "Over the last 50 years, economic losses have increased by a factor of 50. That sounds pretty terrible, but the loss of life has decreased by a factor of 10 simply because we are getting better at warning people. We are making a difference. Extreme events, however, will continue to occur. But, the message is that they need not be disasters. "
W: Love, who is director of Weather and Disaster Risk Reduction at the World Meteorological Organization, says most of the deaths and economic losses were caused by weather, climate, or water-related extremes. These include droughts, floods, windstorms, strong tropical winds and wildfires. (17)He says extreme events will continue. But, he says extreme events become disasters only when people fail to prepare for them.
M: "Many of the remedies are well-known. From a planning perspective, it is pretty simple. Build better buildings. Don't build where the hazards will destroy them. From an early-warning perspective, make sure the warnings go right down to the community level. Build community action plans."
W: (18)The World Meteorological Organization points to Cuba and Bangladesh as examples of countries that have successfully reduced the loss of life caused by natural disasters by taking preventive action. It says tropical storms formerly claimed dozens, if not hundreds of lives, each year, in Cuba. But, the development of an early-warning system has reversed that trend. In 2008, Cuba was hit by five successive hurricanes, but only seven people were killed. Bangladesh also has achieved substantial results. Major storm surges in 1970 and 1991 caused the deaths of about 440,000 people. Through careful preparation, the death toll from a super tropical storm in November 2007 was less than 3,500.
16. What is the talk mainly about?
解析：D。四个选项均为概括性语言，且都与自然灾害有关，推测题目是主题相关。录音一开始介绍了自然灾害的负面影响，之后详细介绍如何采取预防措施减少自然灾害，故D选项“如何减少自然灾害的负面影响”为正确答案。A选项“自然灾害对于发展中国家的意味着什么”和B选项“世界气象组织如何研究自然灾害”不是录音主题，排除；D选项“人类在自然灾害面前显得多么无力”与主题相反，错误。
17、Question 17 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、By training rescue teams for emergencies.
B、By taking steps to prepare people for them.
C、By changing people’s views of nature.
D、By relocating people to safer places.
解析：
17. How can we stop extreme events from turning into disasters?
解析：B。四个选项都是By+doing的结构，推测题目与某事的方式相关。录音中提到：极端事件还会继续发生，但只有当人们未能做好准备工作时，极端事件才会演变成灾难。故B选项“采取行动使人们作好准备”为正确答案。A选项“训练救援队伍来应对突发事件”、C选项“改变人们对自然的看法”和D选项“把人们迁置到更安全的地方”均未提及，排除。
18、Question 18 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、How preventive action can reduce the loss of life.
B、How courageous Cubans are in face of disasters.
C、How Cubans suffer from tropical storms.
D、How destructive tropical storms can be.
解析：
18. What does the example of Cuba serve to show?
解析：A。录音最后，世界气象组织列举了古巴和孟加拉国的例子来说明采取预防措施可以成功减少自然灾害带来的人员伤亡，故A选项“预防措施是如何减少死亡的”为正确答案。B选项“勇敢的古巴人如何面对灾难”并未提及；C选项“古巴人如何遭受热带风暴袭击”和D选项“热带风暴的破坏力有多大”并不是举例的目的。
19、Question 19 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、Pay back their loans to the American government.
B、Provide loans to those in severe financial difficulty.
C、Contribute more to the goal of a wider recovery.
D、Speed up their recovery from the housing bubble.
解析：
原文：
Recording Two
W: As U.S. banks recovered with the help of the American government and the American taxpayer, President Obama held meetings with top bank executives, telling them it's time to return the favor. (19)"The way I see it are banks now having a greater obligation to the goal of a wider recovery," he said. But the president may be giving the financial sector too much credit "It was in a free fall，and it was a very scary period." Economist Martin Neil Baily said. After the failure of Lehman Brothers, many of the world's largest banks feared the worst as the collapse of the housing bubble exposed in investments in risky loans. Although he says the worst is just over, Baily says the banking crisis is not. More than 130 US banks failed in 2009. (20)He predicts high failure rates for smaller, regional banks in 2010 as commercial real estate loans come due.
M: "So there may actually be a worsening of credit availability to small and medium sized businesses in the next year or so."
W: Analysts say the biggest problem is high unemployment, which weakens demand and makes banks reluctant to lend. But US Bankcorp chief Richard Davis sees the situation differently.
M:“We're probably more optimistic than the experts might be. With that in mind, we're putting in everything we can, lending is the coal to our engine, (21)so we want to make more loans. We have to find a way to qualify more people and not put ourselves at risk."
W: While some economists predict continued recovery in the future, Baily says the only certainty is that banks are unlikely to make the same mistakes twice.
M: "You know, forecasting's become a very hazardous business so I don't want to commit myself too much. I don't think we know exactly what's going to happen but it’s certainly possible that we could get very slow growth over the next year or two."
W: (22)If the economy starts to shrink again, Baily says it would make a strong case for a second stimulus—something the Obama administration hopes will not be necessary.
19. What does President Obama hope the banks will do?
解析：C。四个选项都是动词短语，推测题目与行为动作有关。录音中提到，奥巴马说银行有义务完成更大范围的经济复苏目标。C选项是对录音内容的同义转述，为正确答案。A选项“向美国政府偿还贷款”、B选项“向经济严重困难者提供贷款”和D选项“加快从房地产泡沫的复苏”并未提及，排除。
20、Question 20 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、Some banks may have to merge with others.
B、Many smaller regional banks are going to fail.
C、It will be hard for banks to provide more loans.
D、Many banks will have to lay off some employees.
解析：
20. What is Martin Neil Baily's prediction about the financial situation in the future?
解析：B。四个选项均与banks有关，推测题目与银行业有关。录音中指出：他预测由于2010年商业地产贷款到期，会有很多规模小的地区性银行倒闭。B选项中fail是对原文high failure rates的同义替换，为正确答案。A选项“一些银行不得不与别的银行合并”和D选项“一些银行不得不解雇员工”并未提及，排除；C选项“银行将难以提供更多贷款”不是Baily的预测内容，排除。
21、Question 21 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、It will work closely with the government.
B、It will endeavor to write off bad loans.
C、It will try to lower the interest rate.
D、It will try to provide more loans.
解析：
21. What does U.S. Bankcorp chief Richard Davis say about its future operation?
解析：D。四个选项都是it即将采取的措施，从loans和interest rate可以看出it指代某家银行，推测题目与某家银行未来的措施相关。录音中Davis他们准备放出更多贷款。D选项是对原文的同义替换，为正确答案。A选项“与政府密切合作”、B选项“努力核销坏账”和C选项“尝试降低利率”均未提及，排除。
22、Question 22 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、It won’t help the American economy to rum around.
B、It won’t do any good to the major commercial banks.
C、It will win the approval of the Obama administration.
D、It will be necessary if the economy starts to shrink again.
解析：
22. What does Martin Neil Baily think of a second stimulus to the economy?
解析：D。录音最后提到，Baily认为，如果美国经济再次下滑，就有充足理由二度刺激经济。故D选项“如果经济再次萎缩，就很有必要”为正确答案。A选项“不会使美国经济好转”和B选项“不会对主要商业银行有好处”均未提及；录音中说Obama Administration不希望二次刺激经济，因而是不赞成的态度，故C选项与原文意思相反，排除。
23、Question 23 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、Being unable to learn new things.
B、Being rather slow to make changes.
C、Losing temper more and more often.
D、Losing the ability to get on with others.
解析：
原文：
Recording Three
W: A new study has failed to find any conclusive evidence that lifestyle changes can prevent cognitive decline in older adults. Still there are good reasons to make positive changes in how we live and what we eat as we age. (23)Cognitive decline is the loss of ability to learn new skills, or recall words, names, and faces that is most common as we age. To reduce or avoid it, researchers have examined the effect of smoking, diet, brain-challenging games, exercise and other strategies. Researchers at Duke University scrutinized more than 160 published studies and found an absence of strong evidence that any of these approaches can make a big difference. Co-author James Burke helped design the study.
M: "In the observational studies we found that some of the B vitamins were beneficial." "(24)Exercise, diet, cognitive stimulation showed some positive effects, although the evidence was not so strong that we could actually consider these firmly established."
W: Some previous studies have suggested that challenging your brain with mentally stimulating activities might help. And Burke says that actually does seem to help, based on randomized studies—the researcher's gold standard
M: "Cognitive stimulation is one of the areas where we did find some benefit. The exact type of stimulation that an individual uses is not as important as being intellectually engaged."
W: The expert review also found insufficient evidence to recommend any drugs or dietary supplements that could prevent or slow cognitive decline. However, given that there is at least some evidence for positive effects from some of these lifestyle changes, plus other benefits apparently unrelated to cognitive decline, Burke was willing to offer some recommendations.
M: "(25)I think that by having people adopt a healthy lifestyle, both from a medical standpoint as well as nutritional and cognitive stimulation standpoint, we can reduce the incidence of cognitive decline, which will be proof that these factors are, in fact, important."
W: James Burke of Duke University is one of the authors of a study reviewing previous research on cognitive decline. The paper is published online by the Annals of Internal Medicine.
23. According to the speaker, what might be a symptom of cognitive decline in older adults?
解析：A。录音开头女士提到，认知能力下降意味着丧失学习的能力，A选项中being unable to learn是对原文中the loss of ability to learn的同义替换，为正确答案。B选项“作出改变很缓慢”、C选项“越来越经常发脾气”和D选项“失去与他人相处的能力”均未提及，排除。
24、Question 24 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、Cognitive stimulation.
B、Community activity.
C、Balanced diet.
D、Fresh air.
解析：
24. According to James Burke, what does seem to help reduce cognitive decline?
解析：A。录音中提到运动、饮食和认知刺激发挥一定的积极作用，故A选项正确。B选项“社区活动”和D选项“新鲜空气”并未提及，排除；C选项“饮食均衡”属于过度推断，录音中只说饮食有一定积极作用，没有说饮食均衡，故排除。
25、Question 25 is based on the recording you have just heard.
A、Ignoring the signs and symptoms of aging.
B、Adopting an optimistic attitude towards life.
C、Endeavoring to give up unhealthy lifestyles.
D、Seeking advice from doctors from time to time.
解析：
25. What did James Burke recommend to reduce the incidence of cognitive decline?
解析：C。录音最后，Burke提到：人们采取健康的生活方式，可以减少认知衰退的发生。故C选项“放弃不健康的生活方式”为正确答案。A选项“忽略衰老的症状”、B选项“采取积极生活态度”和D选项“是不是征求医生建议”均未提及，排除。
二、Part III Reading Comprehension
The robotics revolution is set to bring humans face to face with an old fear—man-made creations as smart and capable as we are but without a moral compass. As robots take on ever more complex roles, the question naturally (26)_____: Who will be responsible when they do something wrong? Manufacturers? Users? Software writers? The answer depends on the robot.
Robots already save us time, money and energy. In the future, they will improve our health care, social welfare and standard of living. The (27)_____ of computational power and engineering advances will (28)_____ enable lower-cost in-home care for the disabled, (29)_____ use of driverless cars that may reduce drunk- and distracted-driving accidents and countless home and service-industry uses for robots,from street cleaning to food preparation.
But there are (30)_____ to be problems. Robot cars will crash. A drone (遥控飞行器) operator will (31)_____ someone’s privacy. A robotic lawn mower will run over a neighbor’s cat. Juries sympathetic to the (32)_____ of machines will punish entrepreneurs with company-crushing (33)_____ and damages. What should governments do to protect people while (34)_____ space for innovation?
Big, complicated systems on which much public safety depends, like driverless cars, should be built, (35)_____ and sold by manufacturers who take responsibility for ensuring safety and are liable for accidents. Governments should set safety requirements and then let insurers price the risk of the robots based on the manufacturer’s driving record not the passenger’s.
26、(1)
A、ascends
B、eventually
C、preserving
D、bound
E、proximately
F、interfere
G、definite
H、penalties
I、victims
J、programmed
K、arises
L、combination
M、widespread
N、manifesting
O、invade
解析：
名词：combination（结合）, penalties（处罚，惩罚）, victims（受害者）
动词：arises（出现，上升）, ascends（上升）, bound（束缚，弹起）, interfere（干涉）, invade（侵略）
形容词：bound（必定的）, definite（一定的，确切的）, manifesting（显现的）, programmed（程序化的）, widespread（普遍的，广泛的）
副词：eventually（最后，终于）, proximately（近似地）
非谓语：manifesting（证明，显示）, preserving（保存，保护）, programmed（规划）
26. arises 此处应该填入动词第三人称单数作谓语，ascends不能与主语question搭配，故只能填入arises，表示问题出现。
27. combination 此处应该填入名词做主语，结合句意：计算能力和工程学进步的____将会降低残疾人家庭护理的费用。显然只有combination符合句意。combination of A and B表示A与B的结合。
28. eventually 此处应该填入副词，结合句意：计算能力和工程学进步的结合____会降低残疾人家庭护理的费用。proximately不符合语义，故填入eventually。
29. widespread 此处应该填入形容词修饰use，与后面的countless uses for robots形成并列，故填入widespread。指机器人最终将普遍运用在无人驾驶汽车、家用和服务业等方面。
30 bound 此处考查固定搭配，be bound to do表示“必定，一定”。本句表示一定会有问题。
31. invade 此处应该填入动词原形作谓语，与privacy构成动宾搭配，invade one’s privacy表示“侵犯某人隐私”，属于惯用搭配。
32. victims 此处应该填入名词作介词to的宾语，结合句意：同情机器____的陪审团会让企业家受到惩罚。前文提到的机器人碰撞，无人机侵犯隐私，机器人割草机辗轧邻居的猫，这些都有受害者，故填入victims。
33. penalties 此处应该填入名词与damages并列，只有penalties一个备选项，且符合语义：足以摧毁公司的罚金和损失。
34. preserving 此处应该填入非谓语，结合句意：政府在给创新____空间的同时，如何保护人们呢？显然符合句意的是preserving。
35. programmed 此处应该填入过去分词，与built和sold构成并列，只有programmed一个备选项。
27、(2)
A、ascends
B、eventually
C、preserving
D、bound
E、proximately
F、interfere
G、definite
H、penalties
I、victims
J、programmed
K、arises
L、combination
M、widespread
N、manifesting
O、invade
解析：见上一题！
28、(3)
A、ascends
B、eventually
C、preserving
D、bound
E、proximately
F、interfere
G、definite
H、penalties
I、victims
J、programmed
K、arises
L、combination
M、widespread
N、manifesting
O、invade
解析：见上一题！
29、(4)
A、ascends
B、eventually
C、preserving
D、bound
E、proximately
F、interfere
G、definite
H、penalties
I、victims
J、programmed
K、arises
L、combination
M、widespread
N、manifesting
O、invade
解析：见上一题！
30、(5)
A、ascends
B、eventually
C、preserving
D、bound
E、proximately
F、interfere
G、definite
H、penalties
I、victims
J、programmed
K、arises
L、combination
M、widespread
N、manifesting
O、invade
解析：见上一题！
31、(6)
A、ascends
B、eventually
C、preserving
D、bound
E、proximately
F、interfere
G、definite
H、penalties
I、victims
J、programmed
K、arises
L、combination
M、widespread
N、manifesting
O、invade
解析：见上一题！
32、(7)
A、ascends
B、eventually
C、preserving
D、bound
E、proximately
F、interfere
G、definite
H、penalties
I、victims
J、programmed
K、arises
L、combination
M、widespread
N、manifesting
O、invade
解析：见上一题！
33、(8)
A、ascends
B、eventually
C、preserving
D、bound
E、proximately
F、interfere
G、definite
H、penalties
I、victims
J、programmed
K、arises
L、combination
M、widespread
N、manifesting
O、invade
解析：见上一题！
34、(9)
A、ascends
B、eventually
C、preserving
D、bound
E、proximately
F、interfere
G、definite
H、penalties
I、victims
J、programmed
K、arises
L、combination
M、widespread
N、manifesting
O、invade
解析：见上一题！
35、(10)
A、ascends
B、eventually
C、preserving
D、bound
E、proximately
F、interfere
G、definite
H、penalties
I、victims
J、programmed
K、arises
L、combination
M、widespread
N、manifesting
O、invade
解析：见上一题！
Reform and Medical Costs
【A】 Americans are deeply concerned about the relentless rise in health care costs and health insurance premiums. They need to know if reform will help solve the problem. The answer is that no one has an easy fix for rising medical costs. The fundamental fix—reshaping how care is delivered and how doctors are paid in a wasteful.abnormal system—is likely to be achieved only through trial and error and incremental (渐进的) gains.
【B】 The good news is that a bill just approved by the House and a bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee would implement or test many reforms that should help slow the rise in medical costs over the long term. As a report in The New England Journal of Medicine concluded, “Pretty much every proposed innovation found in the health policy literature these days is contained in these measures.”
【C】 Medical spending, which typically rises faster than wages and the overall economy, is propelled by two things: the high prices charged for medical services in this country and the volume of unnecessary care delivered by doctors and hospitals, which often perform a lot more tests and treatments than a patient really needs.
【D】 Here are some of the important proposals in the House and Senate bills to try to address those problems, and why it is hard to know how well they will work.
【E】 Both bills would reduce the rate of growth in annual Medicare payments to hospitals, nursing homes and other providers by amounts comparable to the productivity savings routinely made in other industries with the help of new technologies and new ways to organize work. This proposal could save Medicare more than $100 billion over the next decade. If private plans demanded similar productivity savings from providers, and refused to let providers shift additional costs to them, the savings could be much larger. Critics say Congress will give in to lobbyists and let inefficient providers off the hook (放过). That is far less likely to happen if Congress also adopts strong “pay-go” rules requiring that any increase in payments to providers be offset by new taxes or budget cuts.
【F】 The Senate Finance bill would impose an excise tax (消费税) on health insurance plans that cost more than $8,000 for an individual or $21,000 for a family. It would most likely cause insurers to redesign plans to fall beneath the threshold. Enrollees would have to pay more money for many services out of their own pockets, and that would encourage them to think twice about whether an expensive or redundant test was worth it. Economists project that most employers would shift money from expensive health benefits into wages. The House bill has no similar tax. The final legislation should.
【G】 Any doctor who has wrestled with multiple forms from different insurers, or patients who have tried to understand their own parade of statements, know that simplification ought to save money. When the health insurance industry was still cooperating in reform efforts, its trade group offered to provide standardized forms for automated processing. It estimated that step would save hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade. The bills would lock that pledge into law.
【H】 The stimulus package provided money to convert the inefficient, paper-driven medical system to electronic records that can be easily viewed and transmitted. This requires open investments to help doctors convert. In time it should help restrain costs by eliminating redundant tests, preventing drug interactions, and helping doctors find the best treatments.
【I】 Virtually all experts agree that the fee-for-service system—doctors are rewarded for the quantity of care rather than its quality or effectiveness—is a primary reason that the cost of care is so high. Most agree that the solution is to push doctors to accept fixed payments to care for a particular illness or for a patient’s needs over a year. No one knows how to make that happen quickly. The bills in both houses would start pilot projects within Medicare. They include such measures as accountable care organizations to take charge of a patient’s needs with an eye on both cost and quality, and chronic disease management to make sure the seriously ill, who are responsible for the bulk of all health care costs.are treated properly. For the most part, these experiments rely on incentive payments to get doctors to try them.
【J】 Testing innovations do no good unless the good experiments are identified and expanded and the bad ones are dropped. The Senate bill would create an independent commission to monitor the pilot programs and recommend changes in Medicare’s Payment policies to urge providers to adopt reforms that work. The changes would have to be approved or rejected as a whole by Congress, making it hard for narrow-interest lobbies to bend lawmakers to their will.
【K】 The bills in both chambers would create health insurance exchanges on which small businesses and individuals could choose from an array of private plans and possibly a public option. All the plans would have to provide standard benefit packages that would be easy to compare. To get access to millions of new customers, insurers would have a strong incentive to sell on the exchange. And the head-to-head competition might give them a strong incentive to lower their prices, perhaps by accepting slimmer profit margins or demanding better deals from providers.
【L】 The final legislation might throw a public plan into the competition, but thanks to the fierce opposition of the insurance industry and Republican critics, it might not save much money. The one in the House bill would have to negotiate rates with providers, rather than using Medicare rates as many reformers wanted.
【M】 The president’s stimulus package is pumping money into research to compare how well various treatments work. Is surgery, radiation or careful monitoring best for prostate (前列腺) cancer? Is the latest and most expensive cholesterol-lowering drug any better than its common competitors? The pending bills would spend additional money to accelerate this effort.
【N】 Critics have charged that this sensible idea would lead to rationing of care. (That would be true only if you believed that patients should have an unrestrained right to treatments proven to be inferior.) As a result, the bills do not require, as they should, that the results of these studies be used to set payment rates in Medicare.
【O】 Congress needs to find the courage to allow Medicare to Pay preferentially for treatments proven to be superior. Sometimes the best treatment might be the most expensive. But overall, we suspect that spending would come down through elimination of a lot of unnecessary or even dangerous tests and treatments.
【P】 The House bill would authorize the secretary of health and human services to negotiate drug prices in Medicare and Medicaid. Some authoritative analysts doubt that the secretary would get better deals than private insurers already get. We believe negotiation could work. It does in other countries.
【Q】 Missing from these bills is any serious attempt to rein in malpractice costs. Malpractice awards do drive up insurance premiums for doctors in high-risk specialties, and there is some evidence that doctors engage in “defensive medicine” by performing tests and treatments primarily to prove they are not negligent should they get sued.
36、36. With a tax imposed on expensive health insurance plans, most employers will likely transfer money from health expenses into wages.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
J、J
K、K
L、L
M、M
N、N
O、O
P、P
Q、Q
解析：36. With a tax imposed on expensive health insurance plans, most employers will likely transfer money from health expenses into wages.
