Bill Gates, the billionaire Microsoft chairman without a single earned university degree, is by his success raising new doubts about the worth of the business world’s favorite academic title: the MBA (Master of Business Administration).
The MBA, a 20th century product, always has borne the mark of lowly commerce and greed on the tree-lined campuses ruled by purer disciplines such as philosophy and literature.
But even with the recession(经济萎缩) apparently cutting down the hiring of business school graduates, about 79,000 people are expected to receive MBAs in 1993. This is nearly 16 times the number of business graduates in 1960.
“If you are going into the corporate world it is still a disadvantage not to have one,” said Donald Morrison, professor of marketing and management science. “But in the last five years or so, when someone says, ‘Should I attempt to get an MBA?’ the answer a lot more is: It depends.”
The success of Bill Gates and other non-MBAs, such as the late Sam Walton of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., has helped inspire self-conscious debates on business school campuses over the worth of a business degree and whether management skills can be taught.
The Harvard Business Review printed a lively, fictional exchange of letters to dramatize complaints about business degree holders. The article called MBA hires “extremely disappointing” and said “MBAs want to move up too fast, they don’t understand politics and people, and they aren’t able to function as part of a team until their third year. But by then, they’re out looking for other jobs.”
The problem, most participants in the debate acknowledge, is that the MBA has acquired an aura (光环) of future riches and power far beyond its actual importance and usefulness.
Business people who have hired or worked with MBAs say those with the degrees of ten know how to analyze systems but are not so skillful at motivating people. “They don’t get a lot of grounding in the people side of the business”, said James Shaffer, vice-president and principal of the Towers Perrin management consulting firm.According to paragraph 2, what is the general attitude towards business on campuses ruled by purer disciplines?
| A．Envious(嫉妒的). | B．Realistic. |
| C．Scornful(蔑视的). | D．Appreciative. |
. It seems that the argument over the value of MBA degrees had been fueled mainly by ___.
| A．the complaints from various employers |
| B．the success of many non-MBAs |
| C．the criticism from the scientists of purer disciplines |
| D．the poor performance of MBAs at work |
. What is the major weakness of MBA holders according to the Harvard Business Review?
| A．They are usually self-centered. |
| B．They are aggressive and greedy. |
| C．They keep complaining about their jobs. |
| D．They are not good at dealing with people. |
. From the passage we know that most MBAs ________.
| A．can climb the corporate ladder fairly quickly |
| B．quit their jobs once they are familiar with their workmates |
| C．receive salaries that do not match their professional training |
| D．cherish unrealistic expectations about their future |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Why there is an increased enrollment in MBA programs. |
| B．The necessity of reforming MBA programs in business schools. |
| C．Doubts about the worth of holding an MBA degree. |
| D．A debate held recently on university campuses. |
HOLIDAY HOMES IN MALLORCA
Holiday houses in Mallorca sailing and fishing port - quiet even in summer season. Beautifully situated houses with sights of sea and mountains, yet near to shops and restaurants. Cars and bicycles for hire. Sailing and sports clubs nearby.
ITALY IN COMFORT
Luxury coach trips of Italy, out of normal holiday season. 21 days to visit five Italian cities starting from London 1st May, 1st September. The trips are guided by Professor Martin Davis, Head of Italian Studies, London University. See the arts and culture of historic Italy.
KIBBUTZ HOLIDAYS IN ISRAEL
Working holidays on a kibbutz (co-operative farm) in Israel. All nationalities welcome for one to three months, if prepared to work morning with kibbutz members. Accommodation, food and trips to historic sights all provided free - you pay only for the special low-cost return flight.
TWO WEEKS ON A CARIBBEAN ISLAND
Two-week holidays in the Hotel Splendid, on a lovely beach with golden sands and deep-blue sea. Tennis, golf, sailing and all water sports, trips around the island arranged. Near to town of Castries with lively evening entertainment - dancing.
1st November - 31st March =￡720 per person
1st April - 30th October =￡850 per person
Jack and his wife Mary, who
have recently retired, want to see places of cultural and historic interest abroad, but Mary hates flying.
Peter and Maria, university students, want to travel as far as possible on little money, and would like to get to know a country by working there for three months with other young people.
Michael, a young computer programmer, has been working hard and needs a holiday to relax in winter. He would like to go somewhere warmer and sunny, where he can swim in the sea, and he enjoys sports and dancing.
Henry and Kate, both teachers, and their two sons, have to take their holiday during the school summer holidays. There must be plenty for the boys to do, although Harry and Kate just want to have beautiful scenery, good food and wine- and peace.
57. Michael would most probably go to _______ for his holiday.
A. Italy B. Israel C. Mallorca D. a Caribbean island
58. The best holiday for Jack and Mary would be _______.
A. the 21 - day coach trip of Italy
B. the 2 -week stay in the Hotel Splendid
C. 
the 14 -day trip around a Caribbean island
D. the working holidays for 1 -3 months on a kibbutz in Israel
59. Harry and Kate and their sons would like _______.
A. a holiday working on a kibbutz in Israel
B. a holiday visiting cities by coach in Italy
C. a holiday house in the fishing port in Mallorca
D. a holiday hotel on a lovely beach on a Carribean Island
60. You can find this passage most probably in _______.
A. a school library B. a tourist agency C. the post office D. the museum
In the 1920s demand for American farm products fell, as European countries began to recover from World War I and started austerity (紧缩) programs to reduce their imports. The result was a sharp drop in farm prices. This period was more disastrous for farmers than earlier times had been, because farmers were no longer self-sufficient. They were paying for machinery, seed, and fertilizer, and they were also buying consumer goods. The prices of the items farmers bought remained constant, while prices they received for their products fell. These developments were made worse by the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and extended throughout the 1939s.
In 1929, under President Herbert Hoover, the Federal Farm Board was organized. It established the principle of direct interference (干预) with supply and demand, and it represented the first national commitment to provide greater economic stability for farmers.
President Hoover's successor attached even more importance to this problem. One of the first measures proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he took office in 1933 was the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which was later passed by Congress. This law gave the Secretary of Agriculture the power to reduce production through voluntary agreements with farmers who were paid to take their land out of use. A deliberate shortage of farm p
roducts was planned in an effort to raise prices. This law was declared unconstitutional (违背宪法的) by the Supreme Court on the grounds that general taxes were being collected to pay one special group of people. However, new laws were passed immediately that achieved the same result of resting soil and providing flood-control measures, but which were based on the principle of soil conservation. The Roosevelt Administration believed that rebuilding the nation’s soil was in the national interest and was not simply a plan to help farmers at the expense of other citizens. Later the government guaranteed loans to farmers so that they could buy farm machinery, hybrid (杂交) grain, and fertilizers.
53.What caused the problem in the demand for American farm products?
A. The effect of the Great Depression.
B. The shrinking of overseas markets.
C. The destruction caused by the First World War.
D. The increased exports of European countries.
54. The word “successor” refers to ______.
A. President Hoover B. US Secretary of State
C. President Franklin D. Roosevelt D. US Secretary of Agriculture
55. The Agricultural Adjustment
Act encouraged American farmers to ______.
A. reduce their scale of production
B. make full use of their land
C. adjust the prices of their farm products
D. be self-sufficient in agricultural production
56.The Supreme Court rejected the Agricultural Adjustment Act because it believed that the Act ______.
A. might cause greater shortage of farm products
B. didn't give the Secretary of Agriculture enough power
C. would benefit neither the government nor the farmers
D. benefited one group of citizens at the expense of others
The world is not coming to an end on December 21, 2012, the US space agency insisted Monday in a rare campaign to dispel widespread rumors fueled by the Internet and a new Hollywood movie.
The latest big screen offering from Sony Picture, 2012, arrives in theaters on Friday, with a 200-million-dollar production about the end of the world supposedly based on myths backed by the Mayan calendar. It is claimed that the end of time will come as a Planet X---or Nibiru---heads toward or collides with the Earth.
Some websites accuse NASA of hiding the truth on the planet’s existence, but the US space agency condemned such stories as an “Internet hoax”. “There is no factual basis for these claims,” NASA said in a question-and-anwser posting on this website. “If such a cllision were real, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012,” it insisted. “After all, our planet has been getting along just well for more than four billion years,” added NASA.
There is another planet, Eris, floating in space. But the small planet similar to Pluto will remain safely fixed in the outer solar system and it can come no closer than four billion miles to the Earth, according to NASA.
Earlier theories set the disaster for May 2003, but when nothing happened the date was moved forward to the winter in 2012 to coincide with the end of a cycle of the ancient Mayan calendar.
NASA insisted the Mayan calendar in fact does not end on December 21, 2012, as another period begins immediately afterward.
And even if the planets were to line up as some have forecast, the effect on our planet would be “negligible(unimportant)”, NASA said
“And while comets and asteroids (小行星) have always hit the Earth, big hits are very rare,” NASA noted. The last major impact was believed to be 65 million years ago, resulting in the end of dinosaurs.
“We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs,” the space agency said.
49. ______ played a key role in the spread of the rumors.
A. A new book B. The Internet and a new Hollywood movie
C. NASAD. An Indian calendar
50. We can infer that ______.
A. people didn’t take the rumor seriously
B. Planet X --- or Nibiru does exist
C. astronomers have been tracking Planet X for over ten years
D. the rumor caused a panic among some people
51. NASA thinks that Eris ______.
A. might have a threat to the Earth
B. dosen’t have any threat to the Earth
C. is too fa
r away to be visible
D. is similar to our planet, where life might exist
52. Which of the following is the best title?
A. New Hollywood movie 2012
B. December 21, 2012, Not the end of the world
C. End of the ancient Mayan calendar
D. How rumors came into being
第二部分阅读理解（共两节，满分 40分）
第一节（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列四篇短文，从每小题后所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。
Fun-loving Paul Johnson earned the title of the Scarborough Evening News Teacher of the Year 2008. Mr Johnson, of Hinderwell School, was presented with the award after four of his pupils nominated(recommended) him for the prestigious title
Evening News editor Ed Asquith presented Mr Johnson with his certificate — and a cheque for £100. His class is also set to enjoy a free trip to the Sea Life Centre which includes being picked up by a complimentary Shorel
ine Suncruisers open-top bus.
The 30-year-old, who lives in Hunmanby, said: “I am just so shocked. I have been nominated for this award for a few years and I never thought I would win it. It is fantastic. It is completely out of the blue.”
Mr Johnson has worked as a Year 5 teacher at the school for seven years. He also works as an advanced teacher, which involves visiting other schools in the county once a week to offer cross-curricular teaching.
He was chosen as the winner because of his dynamic but educationally engaging approach to teaching, and based on the real way he has demonstrated that every child matters. Each term he picks a theme for his class and the c
urriculum is based around it. This term they are studying medieval times — and his classroom has a castle in one corner. He also treated his class to a three-day trip to London earlier this year.
His nominators were Lucy and Emily Desborough, Rachel Laverick and Rebecca Miller. Classmate Callum Macdonald, 10, said: “He is the best teacher in the world and he deserves this. He is brilliant with us and he is just so funny. He tells lots of jokes which always make us laugh.” Beth Lawty, nine, added: “Our classroom is the best ever. We have really enjoyed being in his class and I will miss him next year.”
46. Paul Johnson visits other schools in the county to ______.
A. show his teaching experience B. learn from other teachers
C. improve his teaching skills D. offer a different course
47. Why is there a castle in one corner of Paul Johnson’s classroom?
A. It is used to train the students’ imagination.
B
. It is a prize from the Scarborough Evening News
C. The students can play in it after class.
D. It is probably a symbol of medieval times.
48. The underlined part “out of the blue” probably means ______.
A. of surprise B. frustrating C. of great fame D. within easy reach
Our brains work in complex and strange ways．There are some people who can calculate the day of the week for any given date in 40,000 years, but who cannot add two plus two．Others can perform complex classical piano pieces after hearing them once, but they cannot read or write．
Dr．J．Langdon Down first described this condition in 1887．He called these people idiot savants．An idiot savant is a person who has significant mental impairment （损伤） , such as in autism ( 孤独症，自闭症) or retardation．At the same time, the person also exhibits some extraordinary skills, which are unusual for most people．The skills of the savant may vary from being exceptionally gifted in music or in mathematics, or having a photographic memory．
One of the first descriptions of a human who could calculate quickly was written in 1789 by Dr．Benjamin Rush, an American doctor．His patient, Thomas Fuller, was brought to Virginia as a slave in1724．It took Thomas only 90 seconds to work out that a man who has lived 70 years, 17 days, and 12 hours has lived 2,210,500,800 seconds．Despite this ability, he died in 1790 without ever learning to read or write．
Another idiot savant slave became famous as a pianist in the 1860s．Blind Tom had a vocabulary of only 100 words, but he played 5 ,000 musical 
pieces beautifully．
In the excellent movie Rain Man, made in 1988 and available on video cassette, Dustin Hoffman plays an idiot savant who amazes his brother played by Tom Cruise, with his ability to perform complex calculations very rapidly．
Today we more clearly recognize that the idiot savant is special because of brain impairment．Yet not all brain impairment leads to savant skills．Some studies have shown that people who have purposeful interruption of the left side of the brain can develop idiot savant skills．However few people wish to participate in such experiments．There are many excellent reasons for not undergoing unnecessary experimentation on one's brain．The term idiot savant is outdated and inappropriate．Virtually all savants have a high degree of intelligence and are thus not idiots．
72．What does the passage mainly talk about?
A．Idiot savants have areas of outstanding abilities．
B．Human Beings have complicated thinking process．
C．The brains of the idiot savants are partly impaired．
D．The reasons why people have wonderful skills vary．
73．Which of the following can be done by Rain Man?
A．He can play wonderful pieces of classical music．
B．He can guess out exactly the lengt
h of a man's life．
C．He can memorize the contents of the pictures fast．
D．He can count matches dropped on the floor quickly．
64．What can you infer from the passage?
A．Idiot savants have real talents for art and math．
B．Dr．Down is the first person who found idiot savants．
C．Few people wish to risk becoming savants by brain operations．
D．Intentional left brain impairments will surely lead to idiot savants．
75．Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?