2021年天津大学英语考试考前冲刺卷（9）.docx

2021年天津大学英语考试考前冲刺卷（9）本卷共分为1大题50小题，作答时间为180分钟，总分100分，60分及格。一、单项选择题（共50题，每题2分。每题的备选项中，只有一个最符合题意） 1.BPassage One/B Many people - especially the baby-boomers born between 1946 and 1964, who will be retiring over the next 20 years or so - will be asking themselves whether they will have enough to keep them comfortable in their old age, even if they save a lot. After all, it is generally accepted that they cannot rely on the state. The burden on the taxpayer would be too great. But, as already noted, financial wealth is just a claim on the assets produced by the economy. Making pensions a claim on the private sector rather than the public purse does not change the problem. Will businesses in 20 years time be producing enough income to pay the rewards and bond interest to pay baby-boomers their private-sector pensions And what will happen to asset prices if the boomers try to cash what they hold In demographic(人口统计学) terms, asset markets could be seen as a pyramid scheme, in which each generation aims to sell its accumulated savings to the next. Provided the next generation is larger than the one that preceded it, the savers can sell their assets at higher prices. That was the case for much of the 20th century. The baby-boomers will upset the pattern. If they retire at 65, they will start offloading their assets in 2011. And even in America, which has fewer demographic problems than Japan, there are not enough new savers coming along to replace them. Some hope that emerging markets will solve the problem, by acting as buyers of developed market assets and a source of higher returns for investors in rich countries, but: the theory is unproven. In a 136-page report, "The Business of Ageing", John Llewellyn and Camille Chaix-Viros of Nomura, a Japanese bank, examine the potential effect on financial markets of ageing Western populations. As the baby-boomers run down their savings to fund their retirement, you would expect, other things being equal, real interest rates to rise (because the supply of savings will fall, relative to demand). As a consequence of this, the valuation of assets such as bonds and equities should come under pressure. Evidence partly backs up this theory. For example, economists can plot a relationship between the proportion of the population aged between 35 and 59 (when people save most) and the level of real interest rates. The relationship has been negative, as theory would predict, since the 1980s (lots of savings kept interest rates low). The strong Western stockmarkets of the 1990s coincided with the boomers peak savings years.What can we learn about the baby-boomers in the first paragraph AThey are not among people questioning about their future.BThey believe they can live a comfortable life in old age.CMost of them dont want to depend on the state.DOther people should worry about their old age instead of them. 2.BPassage Two/B Most of Russias super-rich spend their summer holidays on yachts in the sunny Mediterranean. Boris Fyodorov preferred visiting English country churches; the older, the better. The buildings, and especially the gravestones, fascinated him. He saw in them symbols of an historical continuity that Russia had lost under communism. Born in poverty as a factory caretakers son, he delighted in malting discoveries among his roots: trinkets(小装饰品) found at his familys ruined estate, a Polish coat of arms. His house outside Moscow was notable not for pet wolves or other fashionable extravagances, but for his brave attempts to create a weedless, stripy English lawn in a hostile climate. He flew a Russian flag there too, scandalizing the neighbors, who insisted he needed a permit. It was not a great success. Like several other reformers of the time, he had a firmer grasp of economics than of politics: he was too unworldly, too impatient and perhaps too clever for the dark world of Russian government. Even so, he helped to create, almost from scratch, a Western-style financial system with capital markets, payments systems and a semi-independent central bank. Despite the wholesale theft-by-privatization that followed, these achievements look more impressive now than they did in the chaos of the time. Once out of office, Mr. Fyodorov published, among other books, a useful encyclopedia of financial terms. Some were recovered from pre-revolutionary Russian, others were new words. As a Russian patriot, however, he hated the practice of simply adapting an English word. Ofshorky ( offshore accounts离岸账户) was a pet hate, particularly because of its association with tax evasion. As head of the tax service, briefly, in 1998, he tried to decriminalize tax collecting, already well on its way to becoming an extortion excuse, and also to broaden its reach to the rich and powerful - many of them all too familiar with ofshorky. Bravely, he set his inspectors on such prominent figures as Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a funny extremist with connections to Russias rulers. He also tried to scare bankers into paying taxes on their salaries ( amounting to 5 billion a year, he thought) and their local landlords into declaring the rents extracted from such foreigners ( 1 billion). Mr. Fyodorov had by this time also gone into business, founding United Financial Group, an investment bank, with an American friend in 1994. Yet neither wealth, connections, nor the flashing blue tight on his black car (a hallmark of status in Russia) made Mr. Fyodorov quite typical of the elite that moved so smoothly from burying communism to hugging capitalism red in tooth and claw. On the contrary, he despised such people for their lack of hesitation.Which of the following may cater for Boris Fyodorov more according to the passage ASpending a summer holiday in the sunny Mediterranean.BVisiting some places that symbolize the continuity of history.CViewing magnificent buildings with fashionable extravagances.DVisiting English country churches of modern flavor. 3. History tells us that the origin of Santa Claus begins in the 4th century with Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra (an area in present day Turkey). One of the legends tells about that he U (62) /Ua fortune when his parents died while he was still in his teens. By U (63) /U St. Nicholas was an honest and U (64) /U man. He cared deeply for the poor, and particularly U (65) /U to children. He brought various gifts, money and other useful items to the houses of the poor. He did this at night, and in U (66) /U, so that no one knew, U (67) /Uhe wanted no glory, he just wanted to help people. He became widely known for his generosity. There is one famous U (68) /U about Saint Nicholas. The story tells U (69) /U Nicholas hearing one day of three beautiful sisters who lived in a miserable U (70) /U on the edge of Myra. The three sisters were very poor. They could U (71) /U earn enough to keep themselves and their old mother from starving to death. When Nicholas heard of their U (72) /U, he was very concerned. He decided to do U (73) /U to help them. One night, when everyone was asleep, Nicholas crept through the streets to the U (74) /U of town. He tiptoed up to the hut U (75) /U where the three sisters lived. He climbed onto the roof and U (76) /U three bags of gold through the hole in the roof where the smoke from the fire came out. Now it so U (77) /U that the three sisters has washed their stockings before they went to bed. The stockings have been hung by the fire to U (78) /U. When Nicholas dropped the gold through the smoke hole, each bag of gold fell into a stocking, The three sisters were overjoyed to find three bags of gold in their stockings when they woke up the next morning. Soon, the story began to U (79) /U. Other people began to hang U (80) /U stockings in the hope of finding bags of gold when they woke up in the morning. From this legend sprang the U (81) /U of hanging stockings up by the chimney on Christmas Eve. Over the years, Saint Nicholas became associated with Christmas.AacquiredBrequiredCinquiredDlost 4.BQuestions 11 to 18 are based on the conversation you have just heard./BAHe grew up in England.BHe was born in Spain.CHe spent his teen years in London.DHe went to a college in the USA. 5.BPassage One/B Many people - especially the baby-boomers born between 1946 and 1964, who will be retiring over the next 20 years or so - will be asking themselves whether they will have enough to keep them comfortable in their old age, even if they save a lot. After all, it is generally accepted that they cannot rely on the state. The burden on the taxpayer would be too great. But, as already noted, financial wealth is just a claim on the assets produced by the economy. Making pensions a claim on the private sector rather than the public purse does not change the problem. Will businesses in 20 years time be producing enough income to pay the rewards and bond interest to pay baby-boomers their private-sector pensions And what will happen to asset prices if the boomers try to cash what they hold In demographic(人口统计学) terms, asset markets could be seen as a pyramid scheme, in which each generation aims to sell its accumulated savings to the next. Provided the next generation is larger than the one that preceded it, the savers can sell their assets at higher prices. That was the case for much of the 20th century. The baby-boomers will upset the pattern. If they retire at 65, they will start offloading their assets in 2011. And even in America, which has fewer demographic problems than Japan, there are not enough new savers coming along to replace them. Some hope that emerging markets will solve the problem, by acting as buyers of developed market assets and a source of higher returns for investors in rich countries, but: the theory is unproven. In a 136-page report, "The Business of Ageing", John Llewellyn and Camille Chaix-Viros of Nomura, a Japanese bank, examine the potential effect on financial markets of ageing Western populations. As the baby-boomers run down their savings to fund their retirement, you would expect, other things being equal, real interest rates to rise (because the supply of savings will fall, relative to demand). As a consequence of this, the valuation of assets such as bonds and equities should come under pressure. Evidence partly backs up this theory. For example, economists can plot a relationship between the proportion of the population aged between 35 and 59 (when people save most) and the level of real interest rates. The relationship has been negative, as theory would predict, since the 1980s (lots of savings kept interest rates low). The strong Western stockmarkets of the 1990s coincided with the boomers peak savings years.What can we learn about the asset markets from the passage AIt is questionable whether American economy can produce enough assets.BIf pensions are owned by private sector, baby-boomers dont need to worry.CThe pyramid-scheme pattern of asset markets is undeniablly fixed.DSavers can always sell assets at higher prices. 6.BPassage Two/B Most of Russias super-rich spend their summer holidays on yachts in the sunny Mediterranean. Boris Fyodorov preferred visiting English country churches; the older, the better. The buildings, and especially the gravestones, fascinated him. He saw in them symbols of an historical continuity that Russia had lost under communism. Born in poverty as a factory caretakers son, he delighted in malting discoveries among his roots: trinkets(小装饰品) found at his familys ruined estate, a Polish coat of arms. His house outside Moscow was notable not for pet wolves or other fashionable extravagances, but for his brave attempts to create a weedless, stripy English lawn in a hostile climate. He flew a Russian flag there too, scandalizing the neighbors, who insisted he needed a permit. It was not a great success. Like several other reformers of the time, he had a firmer grasp of economics than of politics: he was too unworldly, too impatient and perhaps too clever for the dark world of Russian government. Even so, he helped to create, almost from scratch, a Western-style financial system with capital markets, payments systems and a semi-independent central bank. Despite the wholesale theft-by-privatization that followed, these achievements look more impressive now than they did in the chaos of the time. Once out of office, Mr. Fyodorov published, among other books, a useful encyclopedia of financial terms. Some were recovered from pre-revolutionary Russian, others were new words. As a Russian patriot, however, he hated the practice of simply adapting an English word. Ofshorky ( offshore accounts离岸账户) was a pet hate, particularly because of its association with tax evasion. As head of the tax service, briefly, in 1998, he tried to decriminalize tax collecting, already well on its way to becoming an extortion excuse, and also to broaden its reach to the rich and powerful - many of them all too familiar with ofshorky. Bravely, he set his inspectors on such prominent figures as Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a funny extremist with connections to Russias rulers. He also tried to scare bankers into paying taxes on their salaries ( amounting to 5 billion a year, he thought) and their local landlords into declaring the rents extracted from such foreigners ( 1 billion). Mr. Fyodorov had by this time also gone into business, founding United Financial Group, an investment bank, with an American friend in 1994. Yet neither wealth, connections, nor the flashing blue tight on his black car (a hallmark of status in Russia) made Mr. Fyodorov quite typical of the elite that moved so smoothly from burying communism to hugging capitalism red in tooth and claw. On the contrary, he despised such people for their lack of hesitation.The authors attitude towards Russian government is _. AaffirmativeBnostalgicCneutralDnegative 7. BThe End of the Cash Era/B In the spring Adam Smith will replace Sir Edward Elgar as the face on Britains 20 note. The first economic thinker to be so honored could well be the last. Not because economists are especially undeserving, but because cash, after millennia as one of mankinds most versatile and enduring technologies, looks set over the next 15 years or so finally to melt away into an electronic stream of ones and zeros. If an era is represented by its money, the information age is at hand. Notes and coins are already a small fracti