1、1Practice Test #2 Reading Comprehension(17 Essays, 57 Questions)Essay #1. 009The modern multinational corporation is described as having originated when the owner-managers of nineteenth-century British firms carrying on international trade were replaced by teams of salaried managers organized into h
2、ierarchies. Increases in the volume of transactions in such firms are commonly believed to have necessitated this structural change. Nineteenth-century inventions like the steamship and the telegraph, by facilitating coordination of managerial activities, are described as key factors. Sixteenth- and
3、 seventeenth-century chartered trading companies, despite the international scope of their activities, are usually considered irrelevant to this discussion: the volume of their transactions is assumed to have been too low and the communications and transport of their day too primitive to make compar
4、isons with modern multinationals interesting.In reality, however, early trading companies successfully purchased and outfitted ships, built and operated offices and warehouses, manufactured trade goods for use abroad, maintained trading posts and production facilities overseas, procured goods for im
5、port, and sold those goods both at home and in other countries. The large volume of transactions associated with these activities seems to have necessitated hierarchical management structures well before the advent of modern communications and transportation. For example, in the Hudsons Bay Company,
6、 each far-flung trading outpost was managed by a salaried agent, who carried out the trade with the Native Americans, managed day-to-day operations, and oversaw the posts workers and servants. One chief agent, answerable to the Court of Directors in London through the correspondence committee, was a
7、ppointed with control over all of the agents on the bay.The early trading companies did differ strikingly from modern multinationals in many respects. They depended heavily on the national governments of their home countries and thus characteristically acted abroad to promote national interests. The
8、ir top managers were typically owners with a substantial minority share, whereas senior managers holdings in modern multinationals are usually insignificant. They operated in a preindustrial world, grafting a system of capitalist international trade onto a premodern system of artisan and peasant pro
9、duction. Despite these differences, however, early trading companies organized effectively in remarkably modern ways and merit（n. 价值，优点；v.值得） further study as analogues of more modern structures.Question #1. 009-01The authors main point is that(A) modern multinationals originated in the sixteenth an
10、d seventeenth centuries with the establishment of chartered trading companies(B) the success of early chartered trading companies, like that of modern multinationals, depended primarily on their ability to carry out complex operations(C) early chartered trading companies should be more seriously con
11、sidered by scholars studying the origins of modern multinationals(D) scholars are quite mistaken concerning the origins of modern multinationals(E) the management structures of early chartered trading companies are fundamentally the same as those of modern multinationals Question #2. 009-04With whic
12、h of the following generalizations regarding management structures would the author of the passage most probably agree?(A) Hierarchical management structures are the most efficient management structures possible in a modern context.(B) Firms that routinely have a high volume of business transactions
13、 find it necessary to adopt hierarchical management structures.(C) Hierarchical management structures cannot be successfully implemented without modern communications and transportation.(D) Modern multinational firms with a relatively small volume of business transactions usually do not have hierarc
14、hically organized management structures.(E) Companies that adopt hierarchical management structures usually do so in order to facilitate expansion into foreign trade. 2Question #3. 009-05The passage suggests that modern multinationals differ from early chartered trading companies in that(A) the top
15、managers of modern multinationals own stock in their own companies rather than simply receiving a salary(B) modern multinationals depend on a system of capitalist international trade rather than on less modern trading systems(C) modern multinationals have operations in a number of different foreign
16、countries rather than merely in one or two(D) the operations of modern multinationals are highly profitable despite the more stringent environmental and safety regulations of modern governments(E) the overseas operations of modern multinationals are not governed by the national interests of their ho
17、me countries Question #4. 009-07According to the passage, early chartered trading companies are usually described as(此题定位在第一段最后一句，注意usually ，并不时询问作者的观点，而且即使是问作者观点，作者也没有提到rudimentay，只是说了类似。 )(A) irrelevant to a discussion of the origins of the modern multinational corporation(B) interesting but ultim
18、ately too unusual to be good subjects for economic study(C) analogues of nineteenth-century British trading firms(D) rudimentary and very early forms of the modern multinational corporation(E) important national institutions because they existed to further the political aims of the governments of th
19、eir home countries 3Essay #2. 091More selective than most chemical pesticides in that they ordinarily destroy only unwanted species, biocontrol agents (such as insects, fungi, and viruses) eat, infect, or parasitize targeted plant or animal pests. However, biocontrol agents can negatively affect non
20、target species by, for example, competing with them for resources: a biocontrol agent might reduce the benefits conferred by a desirable animal species by consuming a plant on which the animal prefers to lay its eggs. Another example of indirect negative consequences occurred in England when a virus
21、 introduced to control rabbits reduced the amount of open ground (because large rabbit populations reduce the ground cover), in turn reducing underground ant nests and triggering the extinction of a blue butterfly that had depended on the nests to shelter its offspring. The paucity of known extincti
22、ons or disruptions resulting from indirect interactions may reflect not the infrequency of such mishaps but rather the failure to look for or to detect them: most organisms likely to be adversely affected by indirect interactions are of little or no known commercial value and the events linking a bi
23、ocontrol agent with an adverse effect are often unclear. Moreover, determining the potential risks of biocontrol agents before they are used is difficult, especially when a nonnative agent is introduced, because, unlike a chemical pesticide, a biocontrol agent may adapt in unpredictable ways so that
24、 it can feed on or otherwise harm new hosts.Question #5. 091-01The passage is primarily concerned with(A) explaining why until recently scientists failed to recognize the risks presented by biocontrol agents(B) emphasizing that biocontrol agents and chemical pesticides have more similarities than di
25、fferences(C) suggesting that only certain biocontrol agents should be used to control plant or animal pests(D) arguing that biocontrol agents involve risks, some of which may not be readily discerned(E) suggesting that mishaps involving biocontrol agents are relatively commonplace Question #6. 091-0
26、3According to the passage, which of the following is a concern that arises with biocontrol agents but not with chemical pesticides?(A) Biocontrol agents are likely to destroy desirable species as well as undesirable ones.(B) Biocontrol agents are likely to have indirect as well as direct adverse eff
27、ects on nontarget species.(C) Biocontrol agents may change in unforeseen ways and thus be able to damage new hosts.(D) Biocontrol agents may be ineffective in destroying targeted species.(E) Biocontrol agents may be effective for only a short period of time. Question #7. 091-06The passage suggests w
28、hich of the following about the blue butterfly mentioned in the highlighted text?(A) The blue butterflys survival was indirectly dependent on sustaining a rabbit population of a particular size.(B) The blue butterflys survival was indirectly dependent on sustaining large amounts of vegetation in its
29、 habitat.(C) The blue butterflys survival was threatened when the ants began preying on its offspring.(D) The blue butterfly was infected by the virus that had been intended to control rabbit populations.(E) The blue butterfly was adversely affected by a biocontrol agent that competed with it for re
30、sources. 4Essay #3. 114Ethnohistoric documents from sixteenth-century Mexico suggesting that weaving and cooking were the most common productive activities for Aztec women may lead modern historians to underestimate the value of womens contributions to Aztec society. Since weaving and cooking occurr
31、ed mostly (but not entirely) in a domestic setting, modern historians are likely to apply to the Aztec culture the modern Western distinction between “private“ and “public“ production. Thus, the ethnohistoric record conspires with Western culture to foster the view that womens production was not cen
32、tral to the demographic, economic, and political structures in sixteenth-century Mexico.A closer examination of Aztec culture indicates that treating Aztec womens production in Mexico in such a manner would be a mistake. Even if the products of womens labor did not circulate beyond the household, su
33、ch products were essential to population growth. Researchers document a tenfold increase in the population of the valley of Mexico during the previous four centuries, an increase that was crucial to the developing Aztec political economy. Population growth-which could not have occurred in the absenc
34、e of successful household economy, in which womens work was essential-made possible the large-scale development of labor-intensive chinampa (ridged-field) agriculture in the southern valley of Mexico which, in turn, supported urbanization and political centralization in the Aztec capital.But the pro
35、ducts of womens labor did in fact circulate beyond the household. Aztec women wove cloth, and cloth circulated through the market system, the tribute system, and the redistributive economy of the palaces. Cotton mantles served as a unit of currency in the regional market system. Quantities of woven
36、mantles, loincloths, blouses, and skirts were paid as tribute to local lords and to imperial tax stewards and were distributed to ritual and administrative personnel, craft specialists, warriors, and other faithful servants of the state. In addition, woven articles of clothing served as markers of s
37、ocial status and clothing fulfilled a symbolic function in political negotiation. The cloth that was the product of womens work thus was crucial as a primary means of organizing the flow of goods and services that sustained the Aztec state.Question #8. 114-01The author of the passage would be most l
38、ikely to agree with which of the following statements about the documents mentioned in the first sentence of the passage?(A) They contain misleading information about the kinds of productive activities Aztec women engaged in.(B) They overlook certain crucial activities performed by women in Aztec so
39、ciety.(C) They provide useful information about the way that Aztec society viewed women.(D) They are of limited value because they were heavily influenced by the bias of those who recorded them.(E) They contain information that is likely to be misinterpreted by modern-day readers. Question #9. 114-0
40、2According to the passage, Aztec womens cloth production enabled Aztec society to do which of the following?(A) Expand womens role in agriculture(B) Organize the flow of goods and services(C) Develop self-contained communities(D) Hire agricultural laborers from outside the society(E) Establish a hig
41、her standard of living than neighboring cultures Question #10. 114-03Which of the following best describes the function of the third paragraph of the passage?(A) It attempts to reconcile conflicting views presented in the previous paragraphs.(B) It presents evidence intended to undermine the argumen
42、t presented in the second paragraph.(C) It provides examples that support the position taken in the first sentence of the second paragraph.(D) It describes the contents of the documents mentioned in the first paragraph.(E) It suggests that a distinction noted in the first paragraph is valid.5Questio
43、n #11. 114-06The passage is primarily concerned with(A) using modern understanding of cultural bias to challenge ethnohistoric documents(B) evaluating competing descriptions of womens roles in Aztec society(C) comparing the influence of gender on womens roles in Aztec society and in modern society(D
44、) remedying a potential misconception about the significance of womens roles in Aztec society(E) applying new evidence in a reevaluation of ethnohistoric documents 6Essay #4. 156Solar ponds are bodies of water in which circulation is incomplete and there is a very high salt concentration that increa
45、ses with depth. This vertical change in salinity serves to trap heat because concentrated brine in the lowest water level acts as a collector and storage area for solar heat, while the less saline, lighter water at the upper levels provides insulation. Heat is thus retained in the depths.An artifici
46、al pond of this type has been constructed on the western shore of the Dead Sea in Israel in order to test its suitability as a source of low-grade heat for conversion into electricity. An immediate threat to the success of the venture was the growth of algae. Water in solar ponds must be kept maxima
47、lly transparent to allow penetration of light to the deep storage area. Therefore, any particles of matter in the water, such as algae cells, that scatter or absorb light will interfere with the collection of heat.One proposed method of controlling the algae was the application of an algicide. Howev
48、er, the Dead Sea is a closed body of water without any outlet and as such is very easily contaminated. Extensive use of chemicals in numerous future full-scale solar ponds would lead to such contamination of the Dead Sea, which now enjoys a lucrative tourist trade.A recent experiment has supplied a
49、more promising method for controlling the algae. To repress the algae cells capacity for accommodating themselves to environmental changes, the water in the solar pond was first made more saline through evaporation and then diluted（稀释） by a rapid inflow of fresh water. This shock reduced the cells ability to regulate the movement of water through their membranes. They rapidly absorbed water, resulting in distortions of shape, increase in volume, and impairment to motility（移动能力）. Their buoyancy（浮力） adversely affected, t
