Ruth Simmons joined Goldman Sachs‘s board as an outside director in January 2000: a year later she became president of Brown University. For the rest of the decade she apparently managed both roles without attracting much eroticism. But by the end of 2009 Ms. Simmons was under fire for having sat on Goldman‘s compensation committee; how could she have let those enormous bonus payouts pass unremarked? By February the next year Ms. Simmons had left the board. The position was just taking up too much time, she said.
Outside directors are supposed to serve as helpful, yet less biased, advisers on a firm‘s board. Having made their wealth and their reputations elsewhere, they presumably have enough independence to disagree with the chief executive‘s proposals. If the sky, and the share price is falling, outside directors should be able to give advice based on having weathered their own crises.
The researchers from Ohio University used a database hat covered more than 10,000 firms and more than 64,000 different directors between 1989 and 2004. Then they simply checked which directors stayed from one proxy statement to the next. The most likely reason for departing a board was age, so the researchers concentrated on those ―surprise‖ disappearances by directors under the age of 70. They fount that after a surprise departure, the probability that the company will subsequently have to restate earnings increased by nearly 20%. The likelihood of being named in a federal class-action lawsuit also increases, and the stock is likely to perform worse. The effect tended to be larger for larger firms. Although a correlation between them leaving and subsequent bad performance at the firm is suggestive, it does not mean that such directors are always jumping off a sinking ship. Often they ―trade up.‖ Leaving riskier, smaller firms for larger and more stable firms.
But the researchers believe that outside directors have an easier time of avoiding a blow to their reputations if they leave a firm before bad news breaks, even if a review of history shows they were on the board at the time any wrongdoing occurred. Firms who want to keep their outside directors through tough times may have to create incentives. Otherwise outside directors will follow the example of Ms. Simmons, once again very popular on campus.
21. According to Paragraph 1, Ms. Simmons was criticized for . [A]gaining excessive profits [B]failing to fulfill her duty [C]refusing to make compromises [D]leaving the board in tough times 22. We learn from Paragraph 2 that outside directors are supposed to be . [A]generous investors [B]unbiased executives [C]share price forecasters [D]independent advisers
23. According to the researchers from Ohio University after an outside director‘s surprise departure, the firm is likely to . [A]become more stable [B]report increased earnings [C]do less well in the stock market [D]perform worse in lawsuits 24. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that outside directors .
[A]may stay for the attractive offers from the firm [B]have often had records of wrongdoings in the firm [C]are accustomed to stress-free work in the firm [D]will decline incentives from the firm 25. The author‘s attitude toward the role of outside directors is . [A]permissive [B]positive [C]scornful [D]critical
Whatever happened to the death of newspaper? A year ago the end seemed near. The recession threatened to remove the advertising and readers that had not already fled to the internet. Newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle were chronicling their own doom. America‘s Federal Trade commission launched a round of talks about how to save newspapers. Should they become charitable corporations? Should the state subsidize them ? It will hold another meeting soon. But the discussions now seem out of date.
In much of the world there is the sign of crisis. German and Brazilian papers have shrugged off the recession. Even American newspapers, which inhabit the most troubled come of the global industry, have not only survived but often returned to profit. Not the 20% profit margins that were routine a few years ago, but profit all the same.
It has not been much fun. Many papers stayed afloat by pushing journalists overboard. The American Society of News Editors reckons that 13,500 newsroom jobs have gone since 2007. Readers are paying more for slimmer products. Some papers even had the nerve to refuse delivery to distant suburbs. Yet these desperate measures have proved the right ones and, sadly for many journalists, they can be pushed further.
Newspapers are becoming more balanced businesses, with a healthier mix of revenues from readers and advertisers. American papers have long been highly unusual in their reliance on ads. Fully 87% of their revenues came from advertising in 2008, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD). In Japan the proportion is 35%. Not surprisingly, Japanese newspapers are much more stable.
The whirlwind that swept through newsrooms harmed everybody, but much of the damage has been concentrated in areas where newspaper are least distinctive. Car and film reviewers have gone. So have science and general business reporters. Foreign bureaus have been savagely cut off. Newspapers are less complete as a result. But completeness is no longer a
第36 页 共 41页
virtue in the newspaper business.
26. By saying ―Newspapers like … their own doom‖ (Lines 3-4, Para. 1), the author indicates that newspaper . [A]neglected the sign of crisis [B]failed to get state subsidies [C]were not charitable corporations [D]were in a desperate situation 27. Some newspapers refused delivery to distant suburbs probably because .
[A]readers threatened to pay less [B]newspapers wanted to reduce costs
[C]journalists reported little about these areas [D]subscribers complained about slimmer products 28. Compared with their American counterparts, Japanese newspapers are much more stable because they . [A]have more sources of revenue [B]have more balanced newsrooms [C]are less dependent on advertising [D]are less affected by readership 29. What can be inferred from the last paragraph about the current newspaper business?
[A]Distinctiveness is an essential feature of newspapers. [B]Completeness is to blame for the failure of newspaper. [C]Foreign bureaus play a crucial role in the newspaper business. [D]Readers have lost their interest in car and film reviews. 30. The most appropriate title for this text would be .
[A]American Newspapers: Struggling for Survival [B]American Newspapers: Gone with the Wind [C]American Newspapers: A Thriving Business [D]American Newspapers: A Hopeless Story
We tend to think of the decades immediately following World War II as a time of prosperity and growth, with soldiers returning home by the millions, going off to college on the G. I. Bill and lining up at the marriage bureaus.
But when it came to their houses, it was a time of common sense and a belief that less could truly be more. During the Depression and the war, Americans had learned to live with less, and that restraint, in combination with the postwar confidence in the future, made small, efficient housing positively stylish.
Economic condition was only a stimulus for the trend toward efficient living. The phrase ―less is more‖ was actually first popularized by a German, the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who like other people associated with the Bauhaus, a school of design, emigrated to the United States before World War II and took up posts at American architecture schools. These designers came to exert enormous influence on the course of American architecture, but none more so that Mies.
Mies‘s signature phrase means that less decoration, properly organized, has more impact that a lot. Elegance, he believed, did not derive from abundance. Like other modern architects, he employed metal, glass and laminated wood-materials that we take for granted today buy that in the 1940s symbolized the future. Mies‘s sophisticated presentation masked the fact that the spaces he designed were small and efficient, rather than big and often empty.
The apartments in the elegant towers Mies built on Chicago‘s Lake Shore Drive, for example, were smaller-two-bedroom units under 1,000 square feet-than those in their older neighbors along the city‘s Gold Coast. But they were popular because of their airy glass walls, the views they afforded and the elegance of the buildings‘ details and proportions, the architectural equivalent of the abstract art so popular at the time.
The trend toward ―less‖ was not entirely foreign. In the 1930s Frank Lloyd Wright started building more modest and efficient houses-usually around 1,200 square feet-than the spreading two-story ones he had designed in the 1890s and the early 20th century.
The ―Case Study Houses‖ commissioned from talented modern architects by California Arts & Architecture magazine between 1945 and 1962 were yet another homegrown influence on the ―less is more‖ trend. Aesthetic effect came from the landscape, new materials and forthright detailing. In his Case Study House, Ralph everyday life – few American families acquired helicopters, though most eventually got clothes dryers – but his belief that self-sufficiency was both desirable and inevitable was widely shared.
31. The postwar American housing style largely reflected the Americans‘ . [A]prosperity and growth [B]efficiency and practicality [C]restraint and confidence [D]pride and faithfulness
32. Which of the following can be inferred from Paragraph 3 about Bauhaus?
[A]It was founded by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. [B]Its designing concept was affected by World War II. [C]Most American architects used to be associated with it. [D]It had a great influence upon American architecture.
33. Mies held that elegance of architectural design .
第37 页 共 41页
[A]was related to large space [B]was identified with emptiness [C]was not reliant on abundant decoration [D]was not associated with efficiency 34. What is true about the apartments Mies building Chicago‘s Lake Shore Drive?
[A]They ignored details and proportions. [B]They were built with materials popular at that time. [C]They were more spacious than neighboring buildings. [D]They shared some characteristics of abstract art. 35. What can we learn about the design of the ―Case Study House‖?
[A]Mechanical devices were widely used. [B]Natural scenes were taken into consideration [C]Details were sacrificed for the overall effect. [D]Eco-friendly materials were employed.
Will the European Union make it? The question would have sounded strange not long ago. Now even the project‘s greatest cheerleaders talk of a continent facing a ―Bermuda triangle‖ of debt, population decline and lower growth.
As well as those chronic problems, the EU face an acute crisis in its economic core, the 16 countries that use the single currency. Markets have lost faith that the euro zone‘s economies, weaker or stronger, will one day converge thanks to the discipline of sharing a single currency, which denies uncompetitive members the quick fix of devaluation.
Yet the debate about how to save Europe‘s single currency from disintegration is stuck. It is stuck because the euro zone‘s dominant powers, France and Germany, agree on the need for greater harmonization within the euro zone, but disagree about what to harmonies.
Germany thinks the euro must be saved by stricter rules on borrow spending and competitiveness, barked by quasi-automatic sanctions for governments that do not obey. These might include threats to freeze EU funds for poorer regions and EU mega-projects and even the suspension of a country‘s voting rights in EU ministerial councils. It insists that economic co-ordination should involve all 27 members of the EU club, among whom there is a small majority for free-market liberalism and economic rigour; in the inner core alone, Germany fears, a small majority favour French interference.
A ―southern‖ camp headed by French wants something different: ‖European economic government‖ within an inner core of euro-zone members. Translated, that means politicians intervening in monetary policy and a system of redistribution from richer to poorer members, via cheaper borrowing for governments through common Eurobonds or complete fiscal transfers. Finally, figures close to the France government have murmured, curo-zone members should agree to some fiscal and social harmonization: e.g., curbing competition in corporate-tax rates or labour costs.
It is too soon to write off the EU. It remains the world‘s largest trading block. At its best, the European project is remarkably liberal: built around a single market of 27 rich and poor countries, its internal borders are far more open to goods, capital and labour than any comparable trading area. It is an ambitious attempt to blunt the sharpest edges of globalization, and make capitalism benign.
36. The EU is faced with so many problems that .
[A] it has more or less lost faith in markets [B] even its supporters begin to feel concerned [C] some of its member countries plan to abandon euro [D] it intends to deny the possibility of devaluation 37. The debate over the EU‘s single currency is stuck because the dominant powers . [A] are competing for the leading position [B] are busy handling their own crises
[C] fail to reach an agreement on harmonization [D] disagree on the steps towards disintegration 38. To solve the euro problem ,Germany proposed that .
[A] EU funds for poor regions be increased [B] stricter regulations be imposed
[C] only core members be involved in economic co-ordination [D] voting rights of the EU members be guaranteed 39. The French proposal of handling the crisis implies that __ __.
[A]poor countries are more likely to get funds [B]strict monetary policy will be applied to poor countries [C]loans will be readily available to rich countries [D]rich countries will basically control Eurobonds 40. Regarding the future of the EU, the author seems to feel __ __. [A]pessimistic [B]desperate [C]conceited [D]hopeful
2012年MBA全国考试英语真题和解析
第38 页 共 41页
Homework has never been terribly popular with students and even many parents, but in recent years it has been particularly scorned. School districts across the country, most recently
Los Angeles Unified, are revising their thinking on his educational ritual. Unfortunately, L.A. Unified has produced an inflexible policy which mandates that with the exception of some advanced courses, homework may no longer count for more than 10% of a student‘s academic grade。
This rule is meant to address the difficulty that students from impoverished or chaotic homes might have in completing their homework. But the policy is unclear and contradictory. Certainly, no homework should be assigned that students cannot do without expensive equipment. But if the district is essentially giving a pass to students who do not do their homework because of complicated family lives, it is going riskily close to the implication that standards need to be lowered for poor children。
District administrators say that homework will still be a pat of schooling: teachers are allowed to assign as much of it as they want. But with homework counting for no more than 10% of their grades, students can easily skip half their homework and see vey little difference on their report cards. Some students might do well on state tests without completing their homework, but what about the students who performed well on the tests and did their homework? It is quite possible that the homework helped. Yet rather than empowering teachers to find what works best for their students, the policy imposes a flat, across-the-board rule。
At the same time, the policy addresses none of the truly thorny questions about homework. If the district finds homework to be unimportant to its students‘ academic achievement, it should move to reduce or eliminate the assignments, not make them count for almost nothing. Conversely, if homework does nothing to ensure that the homework students are not assigning more than they are willing to review and correct。
The homework rules should be put on hold while the school board, which is responsible for setting educational policy, looks into the matter and conducts public hearings. It is not too late for L.A. Unified to do homework right。
21.It is implied in paragraph 1 that nowadays homework_____。
[A] is receiving more criticism [B]is no longer an educational ritual [C]is not required for advanced courses [D]is gaining more preferences 22.L.A.Unified has made the rule about homework mainly because poor students_____。
[A]tend to have moderate expectations for their education [B]have asked for a different educational standard [C]may have problems finishing their homework [D]have voiced their complaints about homework 23.According to Paragraph 3,one problem with the policy is that it may____。
[A]discourage students from doing homework [B]result in students' indifference to their report cards [C]undermine the authority of state tests [D]restrict teachers' power in education 24. As mentioned in Paragraph 4, a key question unanswered about homework is whether______. [A] it should be eliminated [B]it counts much in schooling [C]it places extra burdens on teachers [D]it is important for grades 25.A suitable title for this text could be______。
[A]Wrong Interpretation of an Educational Policy [B]A Welcomed Policy for Poor Students [C]Thorny Questions about Homework [D]A Faulty Approach to Homework
Pretty in pink: adult women do not rememer being so obsessed with the colour, yet it is pervasive in our young girls‘ lives. Tt is not that pink is intrinsically bad, but it is such a tiny slice of the rainbow and, though it may celebrate girlhood in one way, it also repeatedly and firmly fuses girls‘ identity to appearance. Then it presents that connection, even among two-year-olds, between girls as not only innocent but as evidence of innocence. Looking around, I despaired at the singular lack of imagination about girls‘ lives and interests。
Girls‘ attraction to pink may seem unavoidable, somehow encoded in their DNA, but according to Jo Paoletti, an associate professor of American Studies, it is not. Children were not colour-coded at all until the early 20th century: in the era before domestic washing machines all babies wore white as a practical matter, since the only way of getting clothes clean was to boil them. What‘s more, both boys and girls wore what were thought of as gender-neutral dresses.When nursery colours were introduced, pink was actually considered the more masculine colour, a pastel version of red, which was associated with strength. Blue, with its intimations of the Virgin Mary, constancy and faithfulness, symbolised femininity. It was not until the mid-1980s, when amplifying age and sex differences became a dominant children‘s marketing strategy, that pink fully came into its own, when it began to seem inherently attractive to girls, part of what defined them as female, at least for the first few critical years。
I had not realised how profoundly marketing trends dictated our perception of what is natural to kins, including our core beliefs about their psychological development. Take the toddler. I assumed that phase was something experts developed after years of research into children‘s behaviour: wrong. Turns out, acdording to Daniel Cook, a historian of childhood consumerism, it was popularised as a marketing trick by clothing manufacrurers in the 1930s。
第39 页 共 41页
Trade publications counselled department stores that, in order to increase sales, they should create a ―third stepping stone‖ between infant wear and older kids‘ clothes. Tt was only after ―toddler‖became a common shoppers‘ term that it evolved into a broadly accepted developmental stage. Splitting kids, or adults,into ever-tinier categories has proved a sure-fire way to boost profits. And one of the easiest ways to segment a market is to magnify gender differences – or invent them where they did not previously exist。
26.By saying \，the author means pink______。
[A]should not be the sole representation of girlhood [B]should not be associated with girls' innocence [C]cannot explain girls' lack of imagination [D]cannot influence girls' lives and interests 27.According to Paragraph 2, which of the following is true of colours?
[A]Colours are encoded in girls' DNA。 [B]Blue used to be regarded as the colour for girls。 [C]Pink used to be a neutral colour in symbolising genders。 [D]White is prefered by babies。 28.The author suggests that our perception of children's psychological development was much influenced by_____。 [A]the marketing of products for children [B]the observation of children's nature [C]researches into children's behavior [D]studies of childhood consumption 29.We may learn from Paragraph 4 that department stores were advised to_____。
[A]focus on infant wear and older kids' clothes [B]attach equal importance to different genders [C]classify consumers into smaller groups [D]create some common shoppers' terms 30.It can be concluded that girls' attraction to pink seems to be____。
[A] clearly explained by their inborn tendency [B]fully understood by clothing manufacturers [C] mainly imposed by profit-driven businessmen [D]well interpreted by psychological experts
In2010.afederaljudgeshookAmerica'sbiotechindustrytoitscore.CompanieshadwonpatentsforisolatedDNAfordecades-
by2005some20%ofhumangeneswereparented.ButinMarch2010ajudgeruledthatgeneswereunpatentable.Executiveswereviolentlyagitated.TheBiotechnologyIndustryOrganisation(BIO)atradegroup,assuredmembersthatthiswasjusta―preliminarystep‖inalongerbattle。
OnJuly29ththeywererelieved,atleasttemporarily.Afederalappealscourtoverturnedthepriordecision,rulingthatMyriadGeneticscouldindeedholbpatentstotwogenssthathelpforecastawoman'sriskofbreastcancer.ThechiefexecutiveofMyriad,acompanyinUtah,saidtherulingwasablessingtofirmsandpatientsalike。
Butascompaniescontinuetheirattemptsatpersonalisedmedicine,thecourtswillremainratherbusy.TheMyriadcaseitselfisprobablynotoverCriticsmakethreemainargumentsagainstgenepatents:ageneisaproductofnature,soitmaynotbepatented;
genepatentssuppressinnovationratherthanrewardit;andpatents'monopoliesrestrictaccesstogenetictestssuchasMyriad's.Agrowingnumberseemtoagree.Lastyearafederaltask-
forceurgedreformforpatentsrelatedtogenetictests.InOctobertheDepartmentofJusticefiledabriefintheMyriadcase,arguingthatanisolatedDNAmolecule―isnolessaproductofnature...thanarecottonfibresthathavebeenseparatedfromcottonseeds。‖
Despitetheappealscourt'sdecision,bigquestionsremainunanswered.Forexample,itisunclearwhetherthesequencingofawholegenomeviolatesthepatentsofindividualgeneswithinit.ThecasemayyetreachtheSupremeCourt。
AS the industry advances ,however,other suits may have an even greater impact.companies are unlikely to file many more patents for human DNA molecules-most are already patented or in the public domain .firms are now studying how genes intcract,looking for correlations that might be used to determine the causes of disease or predict a drug‘s efficacy,companies are eager to win patents for ?connecting the dits‘,expaains hans sauer,alawyer for the BIO。
Their success may be determined by a suit related to this issue, brought by the Mayo Clinic, which the Supreme Court will hear in its next term. The BIO rtcently held a convention which included seddions to coach lawyers on the shifting landscape for patents. Each meeting was packed。
31.it canbe learned from paragraph I that the biotech companies would like-----
A.their executives to be active B.judges to rule out gene patenting C.genes to be patcntablc D.the BIO to issue a warning 32.those who are against gene patents believe that----
A.genetic tests are not reliable B.only man-made products are patentable C.patents on genes depend much on innovatiaon D.courts should restrict access to gene tic tests 33.according to hans sauer ,companies are eager to win patents for----
，
第40 页 共 41页
A.establishing disease comelations B.discovering gene interactions C.drawing pictures of genes D.identifying human DNA 34.By saying ―each meeting was packed‖(line4,para6)the author means that -----
A.the supreme court was authoritative B.the BIO was a powerful organization C.gene patenting was a great concern D.lawyers were keen to attend conventiongs 35.generally speaking ,the author‘s attitude toward gene patenting is----
A.critical B.supportive C.scornful D.objective
The great recession may be over, but this era of high joblessness is probably beginning. Before it ends,
it will likely change the life course and character of a generation of young adults. And ultimately, it is likely to reshape our politics,our culture, and the character of our society for years。 No one tries harder than the jobless to find silver linings in this national economic disaster. Many said that unemployment, while extremely painful, had improved them in some ways; they had become less materialistic and more financially prudent; they were more aware of the struggles of others. In limited respects, perhaps the recession will leave society better off. At the very least, it has awoken us from our national fever dream of easy riches and bigger houses, and put a necessary end to an era of reckless personal spending。
But for the most part, these benefits seem thin, uncertain, and far off. In The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, the economic historian Benjamin Friedman argues that both inside and outside the U.S. ,lengthy periods of economic stagnation or decline have almost always left society more mean-spirited and less inclusive, and have usually stopped or reversed the advance of rights and freedoms. Anti-immigrant sentiment typically increases, as does conflict between races and classes。
Income inequality usually falls during a recession, but it has not shrunk in this one,. Indeed, this period of economic weakness may reinforce class divides, and decrease opportunities to cross them--- especially for young people. The research of Till Von Wachter, the economist in Columbia University, suggests that not all people graduating into a recession see their life chances dimmed: those with degrees from elite universities catch up fairly quickly to where they otherwise would have been if they had graduated in better times; it is the masses beneath them that are left behind。
In the internet age, it is particularly easy to see the resentment that has always been hidden winthin American society. More difficult, in the moment , is discerning precisely how these lean times are affecting society‘s character. In many respects, the U.S. was more socially tolerant entering this resession than at any time in its history, and a variety of national polls on social conflict since then have shown mixed results. We will have to wait and see exactly how these hard times will reshape our social fabric. But they certainly it, and all the more so the longer they extend。
36.By saying ―to find silver linings‖(Line 1,Para.2)the author suggest that the jobless try to___。 [A]seek subsidies from the govemment [B]explore reasons for the unermployment [C]make profits from the troubled economy [D]look on the bright side of the recession 37.According to Paragraph 2,the recession has made people_____。
[A]realize the national dream [B]struggle against each other [C]challenge their lifestyle [D]reconsider their lifestyle 38.Benjamin Friedman believe that economic recessions may_____。 [A]impose a heavier burden on immigrants [B]bring out more evils of human nature [C]Promote the advance of rights and freedoms [D]ease conflicts between races and classes
39.The research of Till Von Wachther suggests that in recession graduates from elite universities tend to _____。 [A]lag behind the others due to decreased opportunities [B]catch up quickly with experienced employees [C]see their life chances as dimmed as the others‘ [D]recover more quickly than the others
40.The author thinks that the influence of hard times on society is____。
[A]certain [B]positive [C]trivial [D]destructive
第41 页 共 41页