2005辅导班讲义05考博英语强化班讲义—阅读部分

1 2005年北京新九州考博英语辅导班讲义 阅读部分 Passage One

Why do so many Americans distrust what they read in their newspapers? The American Society of Newspaper Editors is trying to answer this painful question. The organization is deep into a long self-analysis known as the journalism credibility project. Sad to say, this project has turned out to be mostly low-level findings about factual errors and spelling and grammar mistakes, combined with lots of head-scratching puzzlement about what in the world those readers really want. But the sources of distrust go way deeper. Most journalists learn to see the world though a set of standard templates into which they plug each day’s events. In other words, there is a conventional story line in the newsroom culture that provides a backbone and a ready-made narrative structure for otherwise confusing news. There exists a social and cultural disconnect between journalists and their readers, which helps explain why the “standard templates” of the newsroom seem alien to many readers. In a recent survey, questionnaires were sent to reporters in five middle-size cities around the country, plus one large metropolitan area. Then residents in these communities were phoned at random and asked the same questions. Replies show that compared with other Americans, journalists are more likely to live in upscale neighborhoods, have maids, own Mercedeses, and trade stocks, and they’re less likely to go to church, do volunteer work, or put down roots in a community. Reporters tend to be part of broadly defined social and cultural elite, so their work tends to reflect the conventional values of this elite. The astonishing distrust of the news media isn’t rooted in inaccuracy or poor reportorial skills but in the daily clash of world views between reporters and their readers. This is an explosive situation for any industry, particularly a declining one. Here is a troubled business that keeps hiring employees whose attitudes vastly annoy the customers. Then it sponsors lots of symposiums and a credibility project dedicated to wondering why customers are annoyed and fleeing in large numbers. But it never seems to get around to noticing the cultural and class biases that so many former buyers are complaining about. If it did, it would open up its diversity program, now focused narrowly on race and gender, and look for reporters who differ broadly by outlook, values, education, and class.

1. What is the main idea of this passage? A. The origins of the declining newspaper industry. B. The aims of a journalism credibility project. C. The causes of the public disappointment about newspapers. D. The needs of the readers all over the world. 2. Which of the following best describes the result of the journalism credibility project? A. Very illuminating. B. Quite trustworthy. C. Rather superficial. D. Somewhat contradictory. 2

3. According to the passage, the basic problem of journalists ______. A. is related to their educational background B. derives from their working attitude C. lies in their world outlook D. depends on their conventional lifestyle 4. In spite of its efforts, the newspaper industry still cannot satisfy the readers because of its ______. A. prejudice on matters of race and gender B. failure to realize its real problem C. tendency to hire annoying reporters D. likeliness to do inaccurate reporting 5. What does the word “did” in the last sentence probably refer to? A. Sponsoring credibility project. B. Getting around to noticing the cultural and class biases. C. Hiring the employees whose attitudes annoy the customers. D. Opening up its diversity program.

Passage Two Our current system of unemployment compensation has increased nearly all sources of adult unemployment. First, for those who are already unemployed, the system greatly reduces the cost of extending the period of unemployment. Second, for all types of unsteady work—seasonal, cyclical and casual--it raises the net wage to the employee, relative to the cost of the employer. As for the first, consider a worker who earns $500 per month or $6,000 per year if she experiences no unemployment. If she is unemployed for one month, she loses $500 in gross earnings but only $116 in net income. How does this occur? A reduction of $500 in annual earnings reduces her federal payroll and state tax liability by $134. Unemployment compensation consists of 50% of her wage or $250. Her net income therefore falls from $366 if she is employed, to $250 paid as unemployment compensation. Moreover, part of the higher income from employment is offset by the cost of transportation to work and other expenses associated with employment; and in some industries, the cost of unemployment is reduced further or even made negative by the supplementary unemployment benefits paid by employers under collective bargaining agreement. The over-all effect is to increase the duration of a typical period of unemployment and to increase the frequency with which individuals lose jobs and become unemployed. The more general effect of unemployment compensation is to increase the seasonal and cyclical fluctuations in the demand for labor and the relative number of short-lived casual jobs. A worker who accepts such work knows she will be laid off when the season ends. If there were no unemployment compensation, workers could be induced to accept such unstable jobs only if the wage rate were sufficiently higher in those jobs than in the more stable ones. The higher cost of the labor, then, would induce employers to reduce the instability of employment, among other things, by additional development of off-season work and by the introduction of new production techniques, e.g. new methods of outdoor work in bad weather. Employers contribute to the state unemployment compensation fund on the basis of the