Section II Reading Comprehension

　　Part A

　　Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C, D. Mark your choice on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)

　　Text 1

　　In order to “change lives for the better” and reduce “dependency,” George Orbome, Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced the “upfront work search” scheme. Only if the jobless arrive at the jobcentre with a CV register for online job search, and start looking for work will they be eligible for benefit-and then they should report weekly rather than fortnightly. What could be more reasonable?

　　More apparent reasonableness followed. There will now be a seven-day wait for the jobseeker’s allowance. “Those first few days should be spent looking for work, not looking to sign on.” he claimed. “We’re doing these things because we know they help people say off benefits and help those on benefits get into work faster” Help? Really? On first hearing, this was the socially concerned chancellor, trying to change lives for the better, complete with “reforms” to an obviously indulgent system that demands too little effort from the newly unemployed to find work, and subsides laziness. What motivated him, we were to understand, was his zeal for “fundamental fairness”-protecting the taxpayer, controlling spending and ensuring that only the most deserving claimants received their benefits.

　　Losing a job is hurting: you don’t skip down to the jobcentre with a song in your heart, delighted at the prospect of doubling your income from the generous state. It is financially terrifying, psychologically embarrassing and you know that support is minimal and extraordinarily hard to get. You are now not wanted; you support is minimal and extraordinarily hard to get. You are now not wanted; you are now excluded from the work environment that offers purpose and structure in your life. Worse, the crucial income to feed yourself and your family and pay the bills has disappeared. Ask anyone newly unemployed what they want and the answer is always: a job.

　　But in Osborneland, your first instinct is to fall into dependency —permanent dependency if you can get it — supported by a state only too ready to indulge your falsehood. It is as though 20 years of ever-tougher reforms of the job search and benefit administration system never happened. The principle of British welfare is no longer that you can insure yourself against the risk of unemployment and receive unconditional payments if the disaster happens. Even the very phrase “jobseeker’s allowance” — invented in 1996 — is about redefining the unemployed as a “jobseeker” who had no mandatory right to a benefit he or she has earned through making national insurance contributions.Instead, the claimant receives a time-limited “allowance,” conditional on actively seeking a job; no entitlement and no insurance, at £71.70 a week, one of the least generous in the EU.

　　真題解析：文章概括：政府大臣Grorge Osbome提出了一個項目幫助失業(yè)的人找工作。

　　21.George Osborne’s scheme was intended to

　　[A]provide the unemployed with easier access to benefits.

　　[B]encourage jobseekers’ active engagement in job seeking.

　　[C]motivate the unemployed to report voluntarily.

　　[D]guarantee jobseekers’ legitimate right to benefits.

　　答案：B 細(xì)節(jié)題。本道題的關(guān)鍵是intended to問的是目的，所以我們也應(yīng)該去尋找體現(xiàn)目的性的詞匯，所以在首段首句看到了in order to ,則后面的內(nèi)容即為本題答案，結(jié)合后面找工作的內(nèi)容則選擇B選項。

　　22.The phrase “to sign on”(Line 3,Para.2) most probably means

　　[A]to check on the availability of jobs at the jobcentre.

　　[B]to accept the government’s restrictions on the allowance.

　　[C]to register for an allowance from the government.

　　[D]to attend a governmental job-training program.

　　答案： C 詞義句意題。先根據(jù)題干定位到第二段第三行，to sign on前面有一個很明顯的not，則我們可以推知，這一定是前面的反義，我們只要讀懂前面半部分就可以了，前面說應(yīng)該spend looking for work，正好和A選項相符，所以我們只要選擇一個相反的選項即可，則選擇C選項。

　　23.What promoted the chancellor to develop his scheme?

　　[A]A desire to secure a better life for all.

　　[B]An eagerness to protect the unemployed.

　　[C]An urge to be generous to the claimants.

　　[D]A passion to ensure fairness for taxpayers.

　　答案:A 細(xì)節(jié)題。本道題的關(guān)鍵是題目中的prompted和chancellor，根據(jù)chancellor能定位到二段第五行，再向下尋找則可發(fā)現(xiàn)motivate和prompt是對應(yīng)的，所以看本句即可發(fā)現(xiàn)和A選項是對應(yīng)的。

　　24.According to Paragraph 3, being unemployed makes one one feel

　　[A]uneasy.

　　[B]enraged.

　　[C]insulted.

　　[D]guilty.

　　答案: A 細(xì)節(jié)題。本道題根據(jù)unemployed回到文中定位在第三段的最后一句，沒有感覺相關(guān)內(nèi)容，所以需要向前找答案，再根據(jù)本段第一句話中的losing a job即可判定答案在第二句，因此選擇A選項。另我們會發(fā)現(xiàn)BCD三個選項趨于強烈和負(fù)面，所以，我們選擇A選項。

　　25.To which of the following would the author most probably agree?

　　[A]The British welfare system indulges jobseekers’ laziness.

　　[B]Osborne’s reforms will reduce the risk of unemployment.

　　[C]The jobseekers’ allowance has met their actual needs.

　　[D]Unemployment benefits should not be made conditional.

　　答案:B 細(xì)節(jié)題。本題題根據(jù)選項定位。A選項根據(jù)大寫字母The British welfare system定位到最后一段的第三句，原文是“no longer”，選項與原文反向干擾。B選項根據(jù)Osborne’s reforms

　　定位到第一段第二句，可以得出該項目可減少失業(yè)危險，所以B為正確答案。C選項根據(jù)題干“the jobseekers’ allowance”定位到最后一段倒數(shù)第二句，該句提到“no fundamental right”，恰與C選項表意相反，所以C是反向干擾。D選項根據(jù)題干“conditional”定位到最后一段最后一句，其中只提到“conditional on actively seeking a job…”，并沒有要說以后應(yīng)該怎樣，所以屬于無中生有。

　　相關(guān)推薦：

　　2014考研真題及答案解析專題 

　　2014考研真題在線交流專區(qū)

　　2014考研成績查詢免費提醒

　　2014考研復(fù)試分?jǐn)?shù)線發(fā)布通知