2009年11月北京成人英语三级考试A卷试题及答案
Part I Reading Comprehension (30%)
Directions: There are three passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice and blacken the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet。 Passage 1
Questions I to 5 are based on the following passage:
According to a recent survey, employees in many companies today work longer hours than employees did in 1979. They also take shorter vacations than employees in 1979. It seems that Americans are working harder today than ever before. Or are they? A management consultant. Bill Meyer, decided to find out. For three days, he observed an investment banker hard at work. Meyer wrote down everything the banker did during his long workday. At the end of the three-day period, Meyer reviewed the banker's activities with him. What did they find out? They discovered that the man spent 80 percent of his time doing unnecessary work. For example, he attended unnecessary meetings, made redundant (多余的) telephone calls, and spent time packing and unpacking his two big briefcases。
(76) Apparently, many people believe that the more time a person spends at work. the more he or she accomplishes. When employers evaluate employees, they often consider the amount of time on the job in addition to job performance. Employees know this. Although many working people can do their job effectively during a regular 40-hour work week, they feel they have to spend more time on the job after normal working hours so that the people
A group of headhunters (猎头) were asked their opinion about a situation. They had a choice of two candidates for an executive position with an important company. The candidates had similar qualifications for the job. For example, they were both reliable. One could do the job well in a 40-hour work week. The other would do the same job in an 80-hour work week just as well. According to a headhunting expert, the 80-hour-a-week candidate would get the job. The time
productivity and creativity begin to decrease. Some employees are not willing to spend so much extra, unproductive time at the office. Once they finish their work satisfactorily, they want to relax and enjoy themselves. For these people, the solution is to find a company that encourages people to do both。
【翻译】最近一项调查显示许多公司的员工现在花在工作上的时间比1979年的时间要长，休假的时间也比1979那时候的短，似乎美国人比从前时间长一些了。或者他们真是的？一位管理顾问Bill Meyer想弄明白。一连三天，他对一位努力工作的投资银行家做了观察，他记下了那位银行家在漫长的工作日中所做的一切。三天的观察最后，Meyer跟那位银行家一起重温了他的全部活动，他们发现什么？他们发现：银行家三天内80%的时间都花在了不必要的事情上了。比如说，他出席的那些不必要的会议；打的那些个冗长的电话；花些时间拆、装他那两个大公文包。
很明显，许多人相信一个人工作的时间越长，他取得的成就越大。雇主评估他的员工时，他们通常看的是花在工作上的时间多少，以及工作业绩。员工们也知道这点。尽管很多工作的人常规在一周40个小时内能有效的工作，但为了让能给他们升职的人看见（他们尽职），他们还不得不在正常的工作时间以外，还花更多时间。
有人拿下列情形问过许多猎头公司的人：两个应聘者竞聘一个重要公司的行管岗位，二者的条件相似，比方说二人都很可靠。其中一位能在一周40个小时内把工作做好，而另一位是在一周80个小时内把同样一件工作做好。根据猎头公司专家的意见，一周80个小时的那位得到了那份工作；这位应聘者花在工作上的时间也可以鼓励别的员工花更多的时间在工作上。老板们相信：员工做工作的时间长，实际上做的工作就多。
然而，时间与生产力之间的联系并不总是正向的。事实上，许多研究都表明：过了某一特定的点，人的生产效率和创造性就开始下降。一些员工不愿意花在办公室花如此多的额外的、没效率的时间。一旦他们圆满完成工作，他们想放松享受一下。对这样的人而言，是能做到二者兼顾才好。+
1. What is the main idea of this passage?
A. Many people work long hours but do not always do a lot of work。 B. Most people can get more work done by working longer hours。 C. Most Americans work 80 hours a week, and some work even longer。 D. People can make more money by working longer hours。 【答案】A
【安通名师解析】主旨题
【安通名师点评】文章第一段开头就说：最近一项调查显示许多公司的员工现在花在工作上的时间比1979年的时间要长，休假的时间也比1979那时候的短，似乎美国人比从前时
间长一些了。是吗？接着有一位管理顾问所做的为期三天的观察表明：被观察对象三天内80%的时间都花在了无用的事情上了。
原因何在？就因为\很明显，许多人相信一个人工作的时间越长，他取得的成就越大。\员工们知道这点；为雇主们招聘的猎头公司也是按这个标准去招人；雇主们也相信：员工上班时间越长，做的活儿就越多。
但是，最后一段说明：时间与生产力二者之间的联系并不总是积极的。事实上，许多研究都表明过了某一特定的点，人的生产效率和创造性就开始下降。接下来有用一些员工的实际做法加以佐证。
所以只有A最符合全文之意。B太片面；C, D与原文不符。 2. The management consultant wanted to find out ______。 A. how hard the investment banker worked during his work hours B. when people spent time doing unnecessary work in their office
C. if people needed vacation after working hard for a certain period of time D. whether Americans were really working harder than they had done before 【答案】D
【安通名师解析】细节题
【安通名师解析】根据文章第一段前几句：最近一项调查显示许多公司的员工现在花在工作上的时间比1979年的时间要长，休假的时间也比1979那时候的短，似乎美国人比从前时间长一些了。或者他们真是的？一位管理顾问Bill Meyer想弄明白。所以选D。 3. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. The more time a person spends at work, the more he or she accomplishes。 B. Employers do not judge their employees' job performance according to the amount of working time。
C. Some people work more than 40 hours a week in the hope of getting promotion。 D. All employees are willing to spend extra time at work。 【答案】C
【安通名师解析】细节题
【安通名师解析】根据第二段最后一句，可以看出是选C。
4. The 80-hour-a-week candidate would get the job because employers believe ______。
A. that he is more reliable
B. his example would lead other employees to work longer hours C. he has better qualifications
D. he could encourage other employees to do a better job 【答案】B
【安通名师解析】细节题
【安通名师解析】从第三段倒数第二句\这位应聘者花在工作上的时间也可以鼓励别的员工花更多的时间在工作上\得出。
5. The expression \。 A. to finish their work satisfactorily and relax and enjoy themselves B. to pay attention to both performance and productivity C. to work long hours and have short vacations D. to relax and enjoy themselves quite frequently 【答案】 A
【安通名师解析】细节题
【安通名师解析】把文章最后一段的最后两句结合起来看，只能得出A是对的。 Passage 2
Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage:
Many private institutions of higher education around the country are in danger. Not all will be saved, and perhaps not all deserve to be saved. There are low-quality schools just as there are low-quality businesses. We have no obligation to save them simply because they exist. But many thriving institutions that deserve to continue are threatened. They are doing a fine job educationally, but they are caught in a financial difficulty, with no way to reduce rising costs or increase revenues (收入) significantly. Raising fees doesn't bring in more revenue, for each time fees go up, the enrollment (注册人数) goes down, or the amount that must be given away in student aid goes up. (78) Schools are bad businesses, whether public or private. not usually because of bad management but because of the nature of the business. They lose money on every customer, and they can go bankrupt either from too few students or too many students. Even a very good college is a very bad business。
It is such colleges, thriving but threatened, that I worry about. Low enrollment is not their chief problem. Even with full enrollments, they may go under. Efforts to save them, and preferably to keep them private, are a national necessity. (79) There is no basis for arguing that private schools are bound to be better than public schools. There are plentiful examples to the contrary. Anyone can name state universities and colleges that rank as the finest in the nation and the world. It is now inevitable that public institutions will be dominant, and therefore diversity (多样性) is a national necessity. Diversity in the way we support schools tends to give us a healthy diversity in the forms of education. In an imperfect society such as ours, uniformity of education throughout the nation could be dangerous. In an imperfect society, diversity is a positive good. Eager supporters of public higher education know the importance of keeping private higher education healthy。 【翻译】全国范围内许多私人高等教育机构都处在困境中。不是所有的都能得以挽救，也许不是都值得挽救。就像有低质量的业务一样，也有低质量的学校，我们不能仅仅因为有他们的存在而负有责任去振救他们。但确实有很多值得继续生存的学校也招受到威胁，他们从教育的角度来讲，工作仔细，但他们遭遇危险，没有办法减少日益增长的成本、明显增加自己的收入。每次增加学费，注册人数就会减少，或者要援助的学生量就得加多。学校是糟糕的产业，无论是公立还是私立，通常这都不是因为糟糕的管理，而是由于这一行业本身的性质使然。每一位顾客都能让他们赔钱，学生太少或学生太多都能叫学校破产，即使是非常好的大学也是一份非常糟糕的产业。
我所担心的正是那些挣扎中的、遭遇危险的那些学校。注册率低不是他们遇到的主要问题，即使注册率满满的，他们还是会遇到麻烦。拯救这些学校、或让其保留私立成了全国范围性的事情了。私立学校就一定好于公立学校，这一辩解是毫无根据的，有大量与这相反的实例。任何人都能说出公办在全国乃至全球排名很好的学校。目前公立学校不可避免地处于支配地位，因此全国范围内都必然需要多样化，我们支持学校的方式的多样化，势必形成健康的教育多样形式；在我们这样一个不完美的国度，全国教育形式统一化可能是危险的。积极支持公立高等教育的人们也知道保留私立高校的重要性。
6. In the passage, the author asks the public to support _____。 A. private higher education in general B. public higher education in general
C. high-quality private universities and colleges D. high-quality state universities and colleges 【答案】C
【安通名师解析】归纳题。