of inner-city life. Now, you want to shout “Lookin? good!”at this place that has been
neglected for so long. Crowds push into Harlem USA, a new shopping centre on 125th, where a Disney store shares space with HMV Records,
the New York Sports Club, and a nine-screen Magic Johnson theatre complex. Nearb, a Rite Aid drugstore also opened. Maybe part of the
reason Harlem seems to be undergoing a rebirth is that it is finally
getting what most people take for granted. Harlem is also part of an “empowerment zone”—a federal designation aimed at fostering economic growth that will bring over half a billion
in federal, state, and local dollars. Just the shells of once elegant
old brownstones now can cost several hundred thousand dollars. Rents
are skyrocketing. An improved economy, tougher law enforcement, and
community efforts against drugs have contributed to a 60 percent drop
in crime since 1993.
19. At the beginning the author seems to indicate that Harlem ____.
A.has remained unchanged all these years B.has undergone drastic changes
C.has become the capital of Black America
D.has remained a symbol of dangers of inner-city life 20. When the author recalls Harlem in the old days, he has a feeling of ____.
A.indifference B.discomfort C.delight D.nostalgia 240
21. Harlem was called the capital of Black America in the 1920s and ?
30s mainly because of its ____.
A.art and culture B.immigrant population
C.political enthusiasm D.distinctive architecture
22. From the passage we can infer that, generally speaking, the author ____.
A.has strong reservations about the changes B.has slight reservations about the changes C.welcomes the changes in Harlem
D.is completely opposed to the changes TEXT C The senior partner, Oliver Lambert, studied the resume for the
hundredth time and again found nothing he disliked about Mitchell Y.
McDeere, at least not on paper. He had the brains, the ambition, the
good looks. And he was hungry; with his background, he had to be. He was married, and that was mandatory. The firm had never hired an
unmarried lawyer, and it frowned heavily on divorce, as well as
womanizing and drinking. Drug testing was in the contract. He had a degree in accounting, passed the CPA exam the first time he took it
and wanted to be a tax lawyer, which of course was a requirement with
a tax firm. He was white, and the firm had never hired a black. They managed this by being secretive and clubbish and never soliciting job applications. Other firms solicited, and hired blacks. This firm recruited, and remained lily white. Plus, the firm was in Memphis, and the top blacks wanted New York or Washington or Chicago. McDeere was 241 a male, and there were no women in the firm. That mistake had been made in the mid-seventies when they recruited the number one grad from
Harvard, who happened to be a she and a wizard at taxation. She lasted
four turbulent years and was killed in a car wreck.
He looked good, on paper. He was their top choice. In fact, for this
year there were no other prospects. The list was very short. It was
McDeere, or no one. The managing partner, Royce McKnight, studied a dossier labeled “Mitchell Y. McDeere—Harvard.”An inch thick with small print and
a few photographs; it had been prepared by some exCIA agents in a private
intelligence outfit in Bethesda. They were clients of the firm and each year did the investigating for no fee. It was easy work, they said,
checking out unsuspecting law students. They learned, for instance,
that he preferred to leave the Northeast, that he was holding three job offers, two in New York and one in Chicago, and that the highest
offer was $ 76 000 and the lowest was $ 68 000. He was in demand. He had been given the opportunity to cheat on a securities exam during his second year. He declined, and made the highest grade in the class.
Two months ago he had been offered cocaine at a law school party. He said no and left when everyone began snorting. He drank an occasional
beer, but drinking was expensive and he had no money. He owed close
to $ 23 000 in student loans. He was hungry. Royce McKnight flipped through the dossier and smiled. McDeere was their man. Lamar Quin was thirty-two and not yet a partner. He had been brought along to look young and act young and project a youthful image for Bendini, Lambert & Locke, which in fact was a young firm, since most
of the partners retired in their late forties or early
fifties with money to burn. He would make partner in this firm. With a six-figure income guaranteed for the rest of his life, Lamar could enjoy the
twelve-hundred-dollar tailored suits that hung so comfortably from his
tall, athletic frame. He strolled nonchalantly across the thousand
dollar a day suite and poured another cup of decaf. He checked
his watch. He glanced at the two partners sitting at the small
conference table near the windows. 242
Precisely at two-thirty someone knocked on the door. Lamar looked at
the partners, who slid the resume and dossier into an open briefcase. All three reached for their jackets. Lamar buttoned his top button and opened the door. 23. Which of the following is NOT the firm?s recruitment requirement?
A.Marriage. B.Background. C.Relevant degree. D.Male. 24. The details of the private investigation show that the firm ____.
A.was interested in his family background B.intended to check out his other job offers C.wanted to know something about his preference D.was interested in any personal detail of the man 25. According to the passage, the main reason Lama Quin was there at
the interview was that ____.
A.his image could help impress McDeere B.he would soon become a partner himself C.he was good at interviewing applicants D.his background was similar to McDeere?s 243
26. We get the impression from the passage that in job recruitment the firm was NOT ____.
A.selective B.secretive C.perfunctory D.racially biased
TEXT D
Harry Truman didn?t think his successor had the right training to be president. “Poor Ike—it won?t be a bit like the Army,”he said.
“He?ll sit there all day saying ?do this, do that,?and nothing will
happen.”Truman was wrong about Ike. Dwight Eisenhower had led a
fractious alliance—you didn?t tell Winston Churchill what to do—in
a massive, chaotic war. He was used to politics. But Truman?s insight
could well be applied to another, even more venerated Washington figure:
the CEO-turned cabinet secretary.
A 20-year bull market has convinced us all that CEOs are geniuses, so watch with astonishment the troubles of Donald Rumsfeld and Paul O?
Neill. Here are two highly regarded businessmen, obviously intelligent
and well-informed, foundering in their jobs.
Actually, we shouldn?t be surprised. Rumsfeld and O? Neill are not
doing badly despite having been successful CEOs but because of it. The
record of senior businessmen in government is one of almost unrelieved
disappointment. In fact, with the exception of Robert Rubin, it is difficult to think of a CEO who had a successful career in government.
Why is this? Well, first the CEO has to recognize that he is no longer
the CEO. He is at best an adviser to the CEO, the president. But even
the president is not really the CEO. No one is. Power in a corporation
is concentrated and vertically structured. Power in Washington is
diffuse and horizontally spread out. The secretary might think he?s
in charge of his agency. But the chairman of the