MBA联考英语阅读练习

2010立仁东方MBA联考阅读专题

Passage One
What accounts for the great outburst of major inventions in early America — breakthroughs
such as the telegraph, the steamboat and the weaving machine? Among the many shaping factors, I
would single out the country's excellent elementary schools; a labor force that welcomed the new
technology; the practice of giving premiums to inventors; and above all the American genius for
nonverbal, "spatial" thinking about things technological.

Why mention the elementary schools? Because thanks to these schools, our early mechanics,
especially in the New England and Middle Atlantic states, were generally literate and at home in
arithmetic and in some aspects of geometry (几何学) and trigonometry (三角学). Acute foreign
observers related American adaptiveness and inventiveness to this educational advantage. As a
member of a British commission visiting here in 1853 reported, "With a mind prepared by
thorough school discipline, the American boy develops rapidly into the skilled workman."
A further stimulus to invention came from the "premium" system, which preceded our patent
system and for years ran parallel with it. This approach, originated abroad, offered inventors
medals, cash prizes and other incentives. In the United States, multitudes of premiums for new
devices were awarded at country fairs and at the industrial fairs in major cities. Americans flocked
to these fairs to admire the new machines and thus to renew their faith in the beneficence of
technological advance.

Given this optimistic approach to technological innovation, the American worker took readily
to that special kind of nonverbal thinking required in mechanical technology. As Eugene Ferguson
has pointed out, "A technologist thinks about objects that cannot be reduced to unambiguous
verbal descriptions; they are dealt with in his mind by a visual, nonverbal process.... The designer
and the inventor... are able to assemble and manipulate in their minds devices that as yet do not exist."

This nonverbal "spatial" thinking can be just as creative as painting and writing. Robert
Fulton once wrote, "The mechanic should sit down among levers, screws, wedges, wheels, etc,
like a poet among the letters of the alphabet, considering them as exhibition of his thoughts, in
which a new arrangement transmits a new idea."

When all these shaping forces — schools, open attitudes, the premium system, a genius for
spatial thinking — interacted with one another on the rich US mainland, they produced that
American characteristic emulation. Today that word implies mere imitation. But in earlier times it
meant a friendly but competitive striving for fame and excellence.

1. According to the author, the great outburst of major inventions in early America was
mainly due to ________.
A. elementary schools
B. enthusiastic workers
C. the attractive premium system
D. a special way of thinking

2. It is implied that adaptiveness and inventiveness of the early American mechanics ________.
A. benefited a lot from their mathematical knowledge
B. shed light on disciplined school management
C. was brought about by privileged home training
D. owed a lot to the technological development

3.What can we learn about American’s “premium” system?
A. It is the earliest award to the innovation in the world.
B. Its offers various awards.
C. It is awarded in a special national ceremony.
D. It is sponsored by industrial companies.

4. A technologist can be compared to an artist because ________.
A. they are both winners of awards
B. they are both experts in spatial thinking
C. they both abandon verbal description
D. they both use various instruments

5. The best title for this passage might be ________.
A. Inventive Mind
B. Effective Schooling
C. Ways of Thinking
D. Outpouring of Inventions

Passage Two
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 apparently cutting into 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, a testimony (证据) to the widespread assumption that the MBA is vital
for young men and women who want to run companies some day.

“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.
Enrollment in business schools exploded in the 1970s and 1980s and created the assumption
that no one who pursued a business career could do without one. The growth was fueled by a
backlash (反冲) against the anti-business values of the 1960s and by the women’s movement.
Business people who have hired or worked with MBAs say those with the degrees often 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. (408 words)

1. According to Paragraph 2, on campuses ruled by purer disciplines the general attitude
towards business is ______.
A. scornful
B. positive
C. realistic
D. envious

2.Which of the following has mainly fueled the controversy over the value of MBA degree?
A. The poor performance of MBA holders at work.
B. The success of many non-MBAs.
C. The complaints from employers.
D. The criticism from the scholars of purer disciplines.

3. According to the Harvard Business Review, what is the major weakness of MBA holders?
A. They are not good at dealing with people.
B. They keep complaining about their jobs.
C. They are aggressive and greedy.
D. They are usually self-centered.

4. According to the passage, which of the following statements about MBA holders is true?
A. They get promoted very quickly.
B.What they get from their job does not match their performance.
C. They quit their jobs once they are familiar with their colleagues.
D. They cherish unrealistic expectations about their future.

5.What is the main idea of this passage?
A. A debate held recently on college campus.
B. The reasons of an increased enrollment in MBA programs.
C. Doubts about the worth of holding an MBA degree.
D. The necessity of improving MBA programs in college.

Passage Three

We have all heard of counterfeiting before. Usually it refers to people making money —
printing it instead of earning it. But counterfeiting also can involve all sorts of consumer goods
and manufactured products. From well known brand names such as Calven Klein jeans to auto
parts, counterfeiters have found ways to produce goods that look authentic. In some instances,
counterfeit products look better than the original!

The demand of brand name products has helped counterfeiting grow into a very profitable
business throughout the world and into a serious problem for legal manufacturers and consumers
alike. Faulty counterfeit parts have caused more than two dozen plane crashes. Most counterfeit
auto parts do not meet federal safety standards.

Counterfeiting hurts manufacturers in many ways. Analysts estimate that, in the United States
alone, annual revenue lost runs from $ 6 billion to $ 8billion. Perhaps even worse, consumers
blame the innocent manufacturer when they unknowingly buy a counterfeit product and find it
doesn’t perform as expected. Sometimes entire economies can suffer. For instance, when farmers
in Kenya and Zaire used counterfeit fertilizers, both countries lost most of their crops.

In 1984 the U. S. government enacted the Trademark Counterfeiting Act and made
counterfeiting of products a criminal offense punishable by fines and tiff jail terms. Unfortunately
counterfeiting does not receive top priority from law enforcement officers and inspectors.
Legitimate firms therefore have the burden of finding their own raids and to fight the problem.
IBM, with a court order, conducted its own raids and found keyboards, and boxes with its logo.
The fake parts were used to create counterfeits of IBM’s personal computer “XT”.

Some companies have developed secret product codes to identify the genuine article. They
must change the codes periodically because counterfeiters learn the codes and duplicate them,
Perhaps the most effective way for manufacturers to fight counterfeiting is to monitor the
distribution network and make sure counterfeit products are not getting into the network. Some
companies even hire investigators to track counterfeit products.

By copying other firms’ products, counterfeiters avoid research and development costs and
most marketing costs. Hightech products such as computers and their software products are
especially vulnerable. As long as counterfeiting is profitable, an abundance of products are
available to copy, and the laws are difficult to enforce, counterfeiters can be expected to prosper
for a long time.

1. The harms mentioned in the text is mainly focused on to .
A. consumers B. manufacturers C. salesmen D. governments

2.Which of the following is not a measure taken to prevent counterfeiting .
A. Governments have issued related banning policy.
B. Trackers are employed.
C. Identifications of products are used.
D. Officers place considerable emphasis on the problem.

3. The author used the example of IBM to .
A. companies themselves play the role governments should play
B. only the legal companies realize the harm counterfeiting does
C. legal companies are eager to know what products are counterfeited
D. counterfeiting is really doing harm to legal companies

4. It is almost impossible to eliminate counterfeiting because _______.
A. consumers want to save money
B. national or local economy can be promoted
C. legal firms can benefit from counterfeiting in one way.
D. a lot of products are easy to counterfeit

5. It can be inferred from the passage that hand-made products are _____.
A. easier to counterfeited than high-tech products
B. more difficult to counterfeited than high-tech products
C. less profitable to counterfeit then high-tech products
D. more profitable to counterfeit then high-tech products

Passage Four
Although fathers are becoming increasingly involved as caregivers for children, mothers at
home and women outside the home (in day care and schools) are still the adults who interact with
children the most on a daily basis. When women go to work outside the home and take on
demanding jobs, how does it affect their stress and health?

In almost all studies, employed women are healthier than non-employed women. Women
who stay at home and who perceived their lives as stressful and unhappy, who feel extremely
vulnerable, and who engage in little physical activity or exercise are especially at risk for health
problems. However, figuring out the causality in these associations is like the old chicken and egg
question. It may be that employment directly promotes health and reduces risks for women, or it
may be that women in poor health are unable to obtain or keep jobs.

Women and men have always had multiple roles, but women experience more conflict
between roles and overload than men do. An important difference in women and men is women’s
family responsibilities. Even when both the couple work, wives perform a disproportionate share
of child care and household tasks. In spite of all the strain, though, the more roles women play, the
healthier they seem to be. Women who take on varied roles benefit from the new sources of
self-esteem, control, and social support, which in turn may improve both their mental and physical
health.

The nature and quality of a woman’s experiences within a role are also important
considerations in understanding her stress and health. Roles with time constraints, irregular
schedules, and little independence, such as a factory worker, may threaten health. Female clerical
workers, in particular, are especially liable to have health problems, such as eye strain and back
pains. However, contrary to the belief that a high powered career is more stressful to a woman’s
well being, the more authority and independence a woman has on the job, the greater her sense of
well being, the more authority and autonomy a woman has on the job, the greater her sense of well
being.

We found that poverty is associated with increased stress and poor health. Women are
disproportionately among the poor. What’s more, poor women face the double threatens of poverty
and sexism. For example, women are paid less than men and, at the same time, may be denied
opportunities to work because of their sex. Women’s low income, divorce, and disadvantaged
status in the resolution of divorce cases by the judicial system — which leave women with less
money than they and their children need to adequately function — are the likely causes of the
feminization of poverty. Approximately one of every two marriages will end in a divorce,
meaning that far more women today than in the past must support themselves and, in many cases,
one or more children as well. Further, women today are far less likely to receive alimony (抚养费)
or the devoiced husband support than in the past. Even when alimony or child support payments
are awarded to a women, they are poorly enforced. An important agenda is to pay more attention
to the physical and mental health risks that poverty impose on women, how that burden affects
children’s development, and what can be done about it .

1. By saying that “figuring out the causality in these associations is like the old
chicken-and-egg questions”, the author means that .
A. it is not clear whether it is work that makes women healthier
B. the relation between working and health is being studied
C. there is little evidence that women who stay at home suffer from health problems
D. the cause for the health problems is difficult to determine in the case of working women

2. Women who play more roles both at home and at work .
A. feel unfairness
B. fare better in health
C. experience more stress
D. are usually less healthy

3.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Factory women workers usually have little autonomy.
B. Women clerks are usually healthier than factory women workers.
C. Demanding careers are not easy to suffer from illness.
D. Poor women often suffer discrimination in employment.

4. The expression “feminization of poverty” (Line 6, Para.5) refers to the phenomenon
that .
A. Poor women are usually in poor health
B. women usually take care of the children after divorces
C. poor women are more likely to be divorced by their husbands
D. women are generally poorer than men

5. The passage primary focus on ______.
A. the best policy to help poor women to become rich
B. the approaches to improve women’s health when they are working
C. the relation between women working and their health
D. the reasons for women with a career to be healthier than housewives

2009年MBA 联考真题

Section III Reading Comprehension (40 points)

Questions 41 to 45 are based on the following passage:

Henric Ibsen, author of the play “A Doll’s House”, in which a pretty, helpless housewife
abandons her husband and children to seek a more serious life, would surely have approved. From
January 1st, 2008, all public companies in Norway are obliged to ensure that at least 40﹪of their
board directors are women. Most firms have obeyed the law, which was passed in 2003. But about
75 out of the 480 or so companies it affects are still too male for the government’s liking. They
will shortly receive a letter informing them that they have until the end of February to act, or face
the legal consequences –which could include being dissolved.
Before the law was proposed, about 7﹪of board members in Norway were female, according
to the Centre for Corporate Diversity. The number has since jumped to 36﹪. That is far higher
than the average of 9﹪ for big companies across Europe or America’s 15﹪ for the Fortune 500.
Norway’s stock exchange and its main business lobby oppose the law, as do many businessmen. “I
am against quotas for women or men as a matter of principle,” says Sverre Munck, head of
international operations at a media firm. “Board members of public companies should be chosen
solely on the basis of merit and experience,” he says. Several firms have even given up their status
in order to escape the new law.
Companies have had to recruit about 1000 women in four years. Many complain that it has
been difficult to find experienced candidates. Because of this, some of the best women have
collected as many as 25-35 directorships each, and are known in Norwegian business circles as the
“golden skirts”. One reason for the scarcity is that there are fairly few women in management in
Norwegian companies -- They occupy around 15﹪ of senior positions. It has been particularly
hard for firms in the oil, technology and financial industries to find women with enough
experience.
Some people worry that their relative lack of experience may keep women quiet on boards,
and that in turn could mean that boards might become less able to hold managers to account.
Recent history in Norway, however, suggests that the right women can make strong directors.
“Women feel more compelled than men to do their homework,” says Ms Reksten Skaugen, who
was voted Norway’s chair man of the year for 2007, “and we can afford to ask the hard question,
because women are not always expected to know the answers.”

41. The author mentions Ibsen’s play in the first paragraph in order to .
A. depict women’s dilemma at work
B. explain the newly passed law
C. support Norwegian government
D. introduce the topic under discussion

42. A public company that fails to obey the new law could be forced to .
A. pay a heavy fine
B. close to a private business
C. change to a private business
D. sign a document promising to act

43. To which of the following is Sverre Munck most likely to agree?
A. A set ratio of women in a board is unreasonable
B. A reasonable quota for women at work needs to be set
C. A common principle should be followed by all companies
D. An inexperienced businessman is not subject to the new law

44. The author attributes the phenomenon of “golden skirts” to .
A. the small number of qualified females in management
B. the over-recruitment of female managers in public companies
C. the advantage women enjoy when competing for senior positions
D. the discrimination toward women in Norwegians business circles

45. The main idea of the passage might be .
A. female power and liberation in Norway
B. the significance of Henric Ibsen’s play
C. women’s status in Norwegian firms
D. the constitution of board members in Norway

Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage:

While there’s never a good age to get cancer, people in their 20s and 30s can feel particularly
isolated. The average age of a cancer patient at diagnosis is 67.Children with cancer often are
treated at pediatric cancer centers, but young adults have a tough time finding peer, often sitting
side-by-side during treatments with people who could be their grandparents.
In her new book Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips, writer Kris Carr looks at cancer from the
perspective of a young adult who confronts death just as she’s discovering life. Ms. Carr was 31
when she was diagnosed with a rate form of cancer that had generated rumors on her liver and
lungs.

Ms. Carr reacted with the normal feelings of shock and sadness. She called her parents and
stocked up on organic food, determined to become a “full-time healing addict”. Then she picked
up the phone and called everyone in her address book, asking if they knew other young women
with cancer. The result was her personal “cancer posse”: a rock concert tour manager, a model, a
fashion magazine editor, a cartoonist and a MTV celebrity, to name a few. This club of “cancer
babes” offered support, advice, and fashion tips, among other things.

Ms. Carr put her cancer experience in a recent Learning Channel documentary, and she has
written a practical guide about how she coped. Cancer isn’t funny, but Ms. Carr often is. She
swears, she makes up names for the people who treat her (Dr. Fabulous and Dr. Guru), and she
calls them.

She leaves the medical advice to doctors, instead offering insightful and practical tips that
reflect the world view of a young adult. “I refused to let cancer ruin my party,” she writes. ”There
are just too many cooling things to do and plan and live for.” Ms. Carr still has cancer, but it has
stopped progressing. Her cancer tips include using time-saving mass e-mails to keep friends
informed, sewing or buying fashionable hospital gowns so you’re not stuck with regulation blue or
gray and playing Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” so loud Your neighbors call the police. Ms Carr
also advises an eyebrow wax and a new outfit before you tell the important people in your life
about your illness. “People you tell are going to cautiously and not so cautiously try to see the
cancer, so dazzle them instead with your miracle, ”she writes.

While her advice may sound superficial, it gets to her heart of what every cancer patient
wants the chance to live life just as she always did, and maybe better.

46.Which of the following groups is move vulnerable to cancer?
A. Children
B. People in their 20s and 30s.
C. Young adults.
D. Elderly people.

47. All of the following statements are sure EXCEPT .
A. Kris Carr is female writer.
B. Kris Carr is more than 31-year-old.
C. Kris Carr works in a cancer center.
D. Kris Carr is very optimistic.

48. The phrase” cancer posse” (Line 4.Para 3) probably refer to .
A. a cancer research organization
B. a group of people who suffer from cancer
C. people who have recovered from cancer.
D. people who cope with cancer.

49. Kris Carr makes up names for the people who treat her because .
A. she is depressed and likes swearing.
B. she is funny and likes playing jokes on doctors.
C. she wants to leave the medical advice to doctors.
D. she tries to leave a good impression on doctors.

50. From Kris Carr’s cancer tips we may infer that .
A. she learned to use e-mails after she got cancer.
B. she wears fashionable dress even after suffering from cancer.
C. hospital gowns for cancer patients are usually not in bright colors.
D. the neighbors are very friendly with cancer patients.

Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage:

Should a leader strive to be loved or feared? This question, famously posed by Machiavelli,
lies at the heart of Joseph Nye’s new book. Mr. Nye, a former dean of the Kennedy School of
Government at Harvard and one-time chairman of America’s National Intelligence Council, is
beast known for promoting the idea of “soft power”, based on persuasion and influences, as a
counterpoint to “hard power”, based on coercion (强迫) and force.

Having analyzed the use of soft and hard power in policies and diplomacy in his previous
books, Mr. Nye has now turned his attention to the relationship between power and leadership, in
both the political and business spheres. Machiavelli, he notes, concluded that “one ought to be
both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the two to go together, it is much safer to be feared
than loved.” In short, hard power is preferable to soft power. But modern leadership theories have
come to the opposite conclusion.

The context of leadership is changing, they observe, and the historical emphasis on hard
power is becoming outdated. In modern companies and democracies, power is increasingly
diffused and traditional hierarchies (等级制) are being undermined, making soft power ever more
important. But that does not mean coercion should now take a back seat to persuasion, Mr. Nye
argues. Instead, he advocates a synthesis of these two views. The conclusion of The Powers to
Lead, his survey of the theory of leadership, is that a combination of hard and soft power, which
he calls “smart power”, is the best approach.

The domination theoretical model of leadership at the moment is, apparently, the
“transformational leadership pattern”. Anyone allergic (反感) to management term will already be
running for the exit, but Mr. Nye has performed a valuable service in rounding up and
summarizing the various academic studies and theories of leadership into a single, slim volume.
He examines different approaches to leadership, the morality of leadership and how the wider
context can determine the effectiveness of a particular leader. There are plenty of anecdotes and
examples, both historical and contemporary, political and corporate.

Ales, leadership is a slippery subject, and as he depicts various theories, even Mr. Nye never
quite nails the jerry to the wall. He is at his most interesting when discussing the moral aspects of
leadership – in particular, the question of whether it is sometimes necessary for good leaders to lie
– and he provides a helpful 12-point summary of his conclusions. A recurring theme is that as
circumstances change, different sorts of leaders are required, a leader who thrives in one
environment may struggle in another, and vice versa. Ultimately that is just a fancy way of saying
that leadership offers no easy answers.

51. From the first paragraphs we may learn that Mr.Machiavelli’s idea of hard power is ___.
A. well accepted by Joseph Nye
B. very influential till nowadays
C. based on sound theories
D. contrary to that of modern leadership theories

52.Which of the following makes soft power more important today according to Mr. Nye?
A. Coercion is widespread.
B. Morality is devalued.
C. Power is no longer concentrated.
D. Traditional hierarchies are strengthened.

53. In his book The Powers to Lead, Mr. Nye has examined all the following aspects of leadership
EXCEPT ______.
A. authority
B. context
C. approaches
D. morality

54. Mr. Nye’s book is particularly valuable in that it ______.
A. makes little use of management terms
B. summarizes various studies concisely
C. serves as an exit for leadership researches
D. sets a model for contemporary corporate leaders

55. According to the author, the most interesting part of Mr. Nye’s book lies in his ______.
A. view of changeable leadership
B. definition of good leadership
C. summary of leadership history
D. discussion of moral leadership

Questions 56 to560are based on the following passage:

Americans don't like to lose wars. Of course, a lot depends on how you define just what a war
is. There are shooting wars-the kind that test patriotism and courage-and those are the kind at
which the U.S. excels. But other struggles test those qualities too. What else was the Great
Depression or the space race or the construction of the railroads? If America indulges in a bit of
flag—when the job is done, they earned it.

Now there is a similar challenge, Global warming. The steady deterioration(恶化)of the very
climate of this very planet is becoming a war of the first order, and by any measure, the U.S.
produces nearly a quarter of the world's greenhouse gases each year and has stubbornly made it
clear that it doesn't intend to do a whole lot about it. Although 174 nations approved the
admittedly flawed Kyoto accords to reduce carbon levels, the U.S. walked away from them. There
are vague promises of manufacturing fuel from herbs or powering cars with hydrogen. But for a
country that tightly cites patriotism as one of its core values, the U.S. is taking a pass on what
might be the most patriotic struggle of all. It's hard to imagine a bigger fight than one for the
survival of a country's coasts and farms, the health of its people and stability of its economy.
The rub is, if the vast majority of people increasingly agree that climate change is a global
emergency, there's far less agreement on how to fix it. Industry offers its pans, which too often
would fix little. Environmentalists offer theirs, which too often amount to native wish lists that
could weaken American's growth. But let's assume that those interested parties and others will
always bent the table and will always demand that their voices be heard and that their needs be
addressed. What would an aggressive, ambitious, effective plan look like-one that would leave the
U.S. both environmentally safe and economically sound?

Halting climate change will be far harder. One of the more conservative plans for addressing
the problem calls for a reduction of 25 billion tons of carbon emissions over the next 52 year. And
yet by devising a consistent strategy that mixes and blends pragmatism(实用主义)with ambition,
the U.S. can, without major damage to the economy, help halt the worst effects of climate change
and ensure the survival of its way of life for future generations. Money will do some of the work,
but what's needed most is will. "I'm not saying the challenge isn't almost overwhelming," says
Fred Krupp. "But this is America, andAmerica has risen to these challenges before."

56. What does the passage mainly discuss?
A. Human wars.
B. Economic crisis.
C. America's environmental policies.
D. Global environment in general.

57. From the last sentence of paragraph 2 we may learn that the survival of a country's coasts and
farms, the health of its people and the stability of its economy is .
A. of utmost importance
B. a fight no one can win
C. beyond people's imagination
D. a less significant issue

58. Judging from the context, the word "rub"(Line 1, Para.3) probably means_______.
A. friction
B. contradiction
C. conflict
D. problem

59.What is the author's attitude towardAmerica's policies on global warming?
A. Critical
B. Indifferent
C. Supportive
D. Compromising

60. The paragraphs immediately following this passage would most probably deal with .
A. the new book written by Fred Krupp
B. how America can fight against global warming
C. the harmful effects of global warming
D. how America can tide over economic crisis