[A] More effective. [B] Less bureaucracy.
[C] More business. [D] Better staff.
4 Young clerks often lack interpersonal skills chiefly because they____________
[A]are skilled in dealing with machines, not people
[B] are not trained in simple manners at home
[C] fall victims to generational change
[D] take retailing to be a temporary job
5 The author's attitude towards businesses and bad service is_________.
[A]attacking [B] understanding [C] regretting [D] warning
Text 10
“I've never met a human worth cloning, ” says cloning expert Mark Westhusin from the cramped confines of his lab at Texas A&M University. “It's a stupid endeavor.” That's an interesting choice of adjective, coming from a man who has spent millions of dollars trying to clone a 13-year-old dog named Missy. So far, he and his team have not succeeded, though they have cloned two calves and expect to clone a cat soon. They just might succeed in cloning Missy later this year—or perhaps not for another five years. It seems the reproductive system of man's best friend is one of the mysteries of modern science. Westhusin's experience with cloning animals leaves him vexed by all this talk of human cloning. In three years of work on the Missyplicity project, using hundreds upon hundreds of canine eggs, the A&M team has produced only a dozen or so embryos carrying Missy's DNA. None have survived the transfer to a surrogate mother. The wastage of eggs and the many spontaneously aborted fetuses may be acceptable when you're dealing with cats or bulls, he argues, but not with humans.“Cloning is incredibly inefficient, and also dangerous, ” he says.
Even so, dog cloning is a commercial opportunity, with a nice research payoff. Ever since Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1997, Westhusin's phone at A&M College of Veterinary Medicine has been ringing busily. Cost is no obstacle for customers like Missy's mysterious owner, who wishes to remain unknown to protect his privacy. He's plopped down $3.7 million so far to fund the research because he wants a twin to carry on Missy’s fine qualities after she dies. But he knows her clone may not have her temperament. In a statement of purpose, Missy's owner and the A&M team say they are “both looking forward to studying the ways that her clone differs from Missy.”
The fate of the dog samples will depend on Westhusin's work. He knows that even if he gets a dog viably pregnant, the offspring, should they survive, will face the problems shown at birth by other cloned animals: abnormalities like immature lungs and heart and weight problems. “Why would you ever want to clone humans,” Westhusin asks, “when we’re not even close to getting it worked out in animals yet?” [397 words]
1. Mr. Westhusin thinks cloning is dangerous because____ .
[A] animals are tortured to death in the experiments
[B]the public has expressed strong disapproval
[C] too many lives are wasted for laboratory use
[D] cloning becomes a quest only for profit
2. What is the problem confronting the Missyplicity project?
[A] The client holds a suspicious view toward it.
[B] There is a lack of funds to support the research.
[C] The owner is unwilling to disclose the information.
[D] Cloning dogs is a difficult biological problem.
3. Which of the following is true about animal cloning?
[A]Few private cloning companies could afford it
[B]Few people have realized its significance.
[C] An exact copy of a cat or bull can be made.
[D] It is becoming a prosperous industry.
4. From the passage we can infer that _____.
[A] Mr. Westhusin is going to clone a dog soon
[B] scientists are pessimistic about human cloning
[C] human reproductive system has not been understood
[D] rich people are only interested in cloning animals
5. Mr. Westhusin seems to believe that cloning__ ___.
[A] is stupid and should be abandoned [B] has been close to success
[C] should be taken cautiously [D] is now in a dilemma
Text 11
Talk to any parent of a student who took an adventurous gap year (a year between school and university when somestudents earn money, travel, etc.) and a misty look will come into their eyes. There are some disasters and even the most motivated, organised gap student does require family back-up, financial, emotional and physical. The parental mistiness is not just about the brilliant experience that has matured their offspring; it is vicarious living. We all wish pre university gap
years had been the fashion in our day. We can see how much tougher our kids become; how much more prepared to benefit from university or to decide positively that they are going to do something other than a degree.
Gap years are fashionable, as is reflected in the huge growth in the number of charities and private companies offering them. Pictures of Prince William toiling in Chile have helped, but the trend has been gathering steam for a decade. The range of gap packages starts with backpacking, includes working with charities, building hospitals and schools and, very commonly, working as a language assistant, teaching English. With this trend, however, comes a danger. once parents feel
that a well-structured year is essential to their would be undergraduate s progress to a better university, a good degree,an impressive CV and well paid employment, as the gap companies blurbs suggest it might be, then parents will start organising—and paying for—the gaps.
Where there are disasters, according to Richard Oliver, director of the gap companies' umbrella organisation, the Year Out Group, it is usually because of poor planning. That can be the fault of the company or of the student, he says, but the best insurance is thoughtful preparation. “When people get it wrong, it is usually medical or, especially among girls, it is that they have not been away from home before or because expectation does not match reality.”
The point of a gap year is that it should be the time when the school leaver gets to do the thing that he or she fancies. Kids don't mature if mum and dad decide how they are going to mature. If the 18-year-old's way of maturing is to slob out on Hampstead Heath soaking up sunshine or spending a year working with fishermen in Cornwall, then that s what will be productive for that person. The consensus, however, is that some structure is an advantage and that the prime mover needs to be the student.
The 18-year-old who was dispatched by his parents at two weeks' notice to Canada to learn to be a snowboarding instructor at a cost of ￡5,800, probably came back with little more than a hangover. The 18-year-old on the same package who worked for his fare and spent the rest of his year instructing in resorts from New Zealand to Switzerland, and came back to apply for university, is the positive counterbalance. [502 words]
1. It can be inferred from the first paragraph that parents of gap students may____.
[A] help children to be prepared for disasters
[B] receive all kinds of support from their children
[C] have rich experience in bringing up their offspring
[D] experience watching children grow up
2. According to the text, which of the following is true?
[A] The popularity of gap years results from an increasing number of charities.
[B] Prince William was working hard during his gap year.
[C] Gap years are not as fashionable as they were ten years ago.
[D] A well-structured gap year is a guarantee of university success.
3. The word “packages” (Line 3, Para. 2) means________.
[A] parcels carried in traveling [B] a comprehensive set of activities
[C] something presented in a particular way [D] charity actions
4. What can cause the disasters of gap years?
[A] Intervention of parents. [B] Irresponsibility of the companies.
[C] A lack of insurance. [D] Low expectation.
5. An 18-year-old is believed to take a meaningful gap year when he/she.________
[A] lives up to his/her parents'expectations
[B] spends time being lazy and doing nothing
[C] learns skills by spending parents'money
[D] earns his or her living and gains working experience
阅读参考答案
Text 1 DDCDB
Text 2 ADBDD
Text 3 ACDAC
Text 4 BADAD
Text 5 ACDDA
Text 6 ABACD
Text 7 BADBC
Text 8 DCBAC
Text 9 BCCAD
Text 10 CDDBC
Text 11 DBBAD
跨考网编辑整理推荐：2014考研英语作文热点预测28篇汇总
