Section Ⅰ Use of English
Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A,B,C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1(10 points)
STOP fretting about recession. That is the message from American R-word index. For each quarter, we 1 how many stories in the New York Times and the Washington Post include the word "recession". 2 bells were set 3 by the sharp jump in the "R-count" in the first quarter of this year, at a rate that in the past has 4 the start of a recession. In the second quarter, 5 , the number of articles 6 by more than one-third. A conspiracy theorist might suggest that newspaper editors, 7 about dwindling advertising revenues, have 8 the R-word.
The Economist has found that 9 the past two decades, the R- word index has been good at 10 turning-points in the American economy. 11 GDP figures which appear 12 after a lag, the numbers are instantly available. But how does the index perform in Germany, 13 there have also been 14 fears of recession? Using our idea, HypoVereinsbank has 15 an R-word index for Germany, counting the number of times the word recession 16 in Handelsblatt.
Worryingly, Germany\'s R-count for the first quarter of 2001 showed the second-steepest 17 in the past two decades. But in the second quarter, the index dropped by one-third, 18 in American. 19 the world economy has nothing to worry about, or journalists are more worried about a 20 than a mere recession.
1. A. count B. calculate C. account D. reckon
2. A. warning B alarm C. siren D. danger
3.A. up B out C. off D. about
4.A hint at B. gestured C. sign D. signaled
5.A but B. yet C. however D. although
6,A. reduced B. fell C. drop D. descended
7.A. bothered B. harassed C. troubled D. worried
8.A. prohibited B. proscribed C. banned D. interdicted
9.A.over B. in C. through D. by
10. A. pointing B setting C. placing D. spotting
11.A. Unlike B. Like C. As D. Not as
12.A. generally B. usually C. always D. only
13A.whicn B. where C. who D. what
14.A. grown B grow C grew D growing
15.A. coined B built C. constructed D. set up
16.A. appearing B. appeared C. appearance D. appears
17.A. growth B. rise C. rising D. climb
18.A. as B. like C. as if D. as that
19.A.Either B. Whichever C. Neither D. Whatever
20 A. depression B decline C. despair D. dejection
Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension
Part A
TEXT 1
EVEN to his contemporaries, Rochester was a legendary figure. One of the youngest and most handsome courtiers of the restored Charles II, he was the favorite of a king whose wit, lasciviousness and serious intellectual interests he shared. He was banished from court several times, but Charles's pleasure in his conversation always resulted in his recall. His authentic adventures included the attempted abduction of an heiress (whom he later married), smashing a phallic-shaped sundial in the royal gardens during a drunken spree, and a violent affray with the watch at Epsom in which one of his companions was killed.
Quite apart from his reputation as a poet, he was feted in the writings of his friends, notably in Sir George Etherege's comedy, "The Man of Mode". Just before he died in 1680, at the age of 33, destroyed by alcoholism and syphilis, Rochester's legend took a surprising turn. After a series of conversations with an Anglican rationalist divine, Gilbert Burnet, the skeptical libertine made a death-bed conversion which was celebrated in the devotional literature of the succeeding century.
Engaging as it is, the Rochester legend has always been a distraction. It has resulted in many apocryphal stories and dubious attributions, and it can still divert attention from the poetry. It is Rochester's achievement as a poet which commands our interest and makes him something more than a luridly colorful period figure. For all the brevity of his career, Rochester is a crucial figure in the development of English verse satire and the Horatian epistle, a student of his elder French contemporary Boileau, and an important exemplar for later poets as different as Alexander Pope and Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea.
Cephas Goldsworthy's "The Satyr" gives us the legend. Although there are no footnotes to sources, the book shows some acquaintance with modern Rochester scholarship and its rejection of spurious verse from his canon-but only intermittently. Anecdotes concerning Rochester and his crony George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, are retailed without any indication that they have, in fact, been discredited; poems no longer attributed to Rochester are cited as if they were authentic. Mr. Goldsworthy quotes liberally from the poetry, but repeatedly reads it as straightforward autobiography. For example, we are told that "My dear mistress has a heart" is addressed to. Elizabeth Barry, an actress, which is incautious given the uncertain dating of this song, and indeed of most of Rochester's poems. More generally, while of course some of the satires include references to actual persons, as often as not in 17th-century love poetry the emotion is genuine but the addressee is fictitious.
A less simplistic way to relate Rochester's poetry to his life would be to read the former as an exploration of what it means to live according to libertine values. In his best satires and even some of the lyrics he articulated an anti-rational nihilistic vision scarcely found elsewhere in English verse. Such a task belongs to a critical biography. There is no mistaking Mr. Goldsworthy's enthusiasm for his subject, but his book is essentially biography as entertainment.
21. Rochester was not .
A. a troublemaker. B. a fictional legendary figure.
C. an excellent Solomon. D. the favorite of Charles II.
22. Rochester didn’t have a reputation of .
A. comedian B. legend
C. libertine D. poet
23. The word “nihilistic” (line 4, para. 5)means .
A. rational B. practical
C. opposed moral beliefs D. pro-government
24. Rochester’s legend gave others a surprising turn when .
A he was dying B he got syphilis
C he appeared in an anti-rational state
D he changed his life-style
25. Rochester was not .
A crucial in the development of English verse satire
B a comedy writer C Boileau’s student
D am important model for later poets
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