Directions:

Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)

In October 2002, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank 1 a new electronic market (www.gs.com/econderivs/) for economic indices that 2 substantial economic risks, such as nonfarm payroll (a measure of job availability) and retail sales. This new market was made possible by a 3 rading technology, developed by Longitude, a New York company providing software for financial markets, 4 the Parimutuel Digital Call Auction. This is “digital” 5 of a digital option: ie, it pays out only if an underlying index lies in a narrow, discrete range. In effect, Longitude has created a horse race, where each “horse” wins if and 6 the specified index falls in a specified range. By creating horses for every possible 7 of the index, and allowing people to bet 8 any number of runners, the company has produced a liquid integrated electronic market for a wide array of options on economic indices.

Ten years ago it was 9 impossible to make use of electronic information about home values. Now, mortgage lenders have online automated valuation models that allow them to estimate values and to 10 the risk in their portfolios. This has led to a proliferation of types of home loan, some of 11 have improved risk-management characteristics.

We are also beginning to see new kinds of 12 for homes, which will make it possible to protect the value of 13 , for most people, is the single most important 14 of their wealth. The Yale University-Neighbourhood Reinvestment Corporation programme, 15 last year in the city of Syracuse, in New York state, may be a model for home-equity insurance policies that 16 sophisticated economic indices of house prices to define the 17 of the policy. Electronic futures markets that are based on econometric indices of house prices by city, already begun by City Index and IG Index in Britain and now 18 developed in the United States, will enable home-equity insurers to hedge the risks that they acquire by writing these policies.

These examples are not impressive successes yet. But they 19 as early precursors of a technology that should one day help us to deal with the massive risks of inequality that 20 will beset us in coming years.

1. [A] created [B] generated [C] initiated [D] originated

2. [A] reproduce [B] restore [C] represent [D] resume

3. [A] sophisticated [B] expensive [C] available [D] established

4. [A] made [B] called [C] asked [D] read

5. [A] in the course [B] in the event [C] in the light [D] in the sense

6. [A] when [B] until [C] now that [D] only if

7. [A] extent [B] range [C] line [D] area

8. [A] for [B] in [C] on [D] up

9. [A] virtually [B] admittedly [C] absolutely [D] originally

10. [A] assume [B] assess [C] dismiss [D] erase

11. [A] them [B] which [C] that [D] whom

12. [A] management [B] insurance [C] security [D] technology

13. [A] what [B] those [C] where [D] it

14. [A] guarantee [B] protection [C] component [D] source

15. [A] secured [B] sponsored [C] released [D] launched

16. [A] look to [B] set up [C] lay down [D] rely on

17. [A] terms [B] specifications [C] concepts [D] consequences

18. [A] is [B] being [C] been [D] are

19. [A] emerge [B] appear [C] stand [D] arise

20. [A] somehow [B] anyway [C] otherwise [D] thereby

Section II Reading Comprehension

Part A

Directions:

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANAWER SHEET 1 (40 points)

Text 1

The California Public Employees\' Retirement System (CalPERS) has positioned itself as the premier champion of investor rights, regularly singling out bad managers at some of the nation\'s largest companies in its annual corporate-governance focus lists. And with $153 billion under management, Wall Street tends to listen when CalPERS speaks out. But the country\'s largest pension fund has never taken on as big a fish as it did Dec. 16, when it filed a class action against the New York Stock Exchange and seven of its member firms. CalPERS\' suit charges the NYSE and specialist firms with fraud, alleging that the exchange skirted its regulatory duties and allowed its members to trade stocks at the expense of investors.

The move is a major slap in the face for the NYSE\'s recently appointed interim Chairman John Reed. The former Citibank chairman and CEO came on board in September after the exchange\'s longtime head, Richard Grasso, resigned under pressure over public outrage about his excessive compensation.

Reed has been widely criticized by CalPERS and other institutional investors for not including representatives of investors on the exchange\'s newly constituted board and not clearly separating the exchange\'s regulatory function from its day-to-day operations. The CalPERS lawsuit is evidence that the investment communities\' dissatisfaction hasn\'t ebbed. \"Our hopes were dashed when Mr. Reed didn\'t perform,\" says Harrigan.

The suit alleges that seven specialist firms profited by abusing and overusing a series of trading tactics. The tactics, which are not currently illegal, include \"penny jumping,\" where a firm positions itself between two orders to capture a piece of the price differential, \"front running,\" which involves trading in advance of customers based on confidential information obtained by their orders, and \"freezing\" the firm\'s order book so that the firm can make trades on its own account first.

Many of the suit\'s allegations are based on a previously disclosed investigation of the exchange conducted by the Securities Exchange Commission. According to the suit, the October SEC report found \"serious deficiencies in the NYSE\'s surveillance and investigative procedures, including a habit of ignoring repeat violations by specialist firms.\"

The suit highlights the growing frustration that institutional investors have expressed with what they perceive as a system that needs to be revamped -- if not eliminated. According to California State Comptroller Steve Westley, a CalPERS board member who participated in the Dec. 16 press conference, he has repeatedly called on the NYSE to end its use of specialist firms to facilitate trades and move to a system of openly matching of buyers and sellers. BLIND EYE? \"There\'s no reason not to move to a fully automated exchange,\" Westley says. \"Every exchange in the world is using such a system. The time is now for the NYSE to move into the 21st century and remove the cloud that there\'s self-dealing working against investors.\"

21. What does the word “ a fish” (Para. 1) probably refer to ?

A. CalPERS. B.pension fund. C. Wall Street. D. NYSE.

22. The CalPERS lawsuit indicates that ____.

A. the NYSE did ignore its regulatory duties

B. John Reed should resign like his predecessor

C. the investors were dissatisfied with the NYSE

D. the exchange should have its board reelected

23. Which of the following statements is Not true ?

A. Investors were not sufficiently represented on NYSE’s board.

B. The seven specialist firms made profits by illegal procedures.

C. CalPERS’ suit against the NYSE resulted largely from a SEC’s report.

D. NYSE had ignored the firms’ improper operations for a long time.

24. According to Westley, NYSE’s problem results from ____.

A. its reliance on specialist firms

B. its system of matching traders

C. its automated exchange

D. its violation of investors’ interests

25. The best title for the text may be ____.

A. Champion of investor rights

B. Seven specialist firms

C. CalPERS speaks out to Wall Street

D. Lawsuits against NYSE

Text 2

Multifunction superpills aren\'t nearly as farfetched as they may sound. And reducing such serious risks to heart health as soaring cholesterol, diabetes, and high blood pressure potentially could save many lives and be highly lucrative for drug companies. A combo pill from Pfizer (PFE ) of its hypertension drug Norvasc and cholesterol-lowering agent Lipitor \"could have huge potential,\" says Shaojing Tong, analyst at Mehta Partners. \"Offering two functions in one pill itself is a huge convenience.\"

If such pills catch on, they could generate significant revenues for drug companies. In Pfizer\'s case, the goal is to transfer as many qualified patients as possible to the combo pill. Norvasc\'s patents expire in 2007, but Pfizer could avoid losing all its revenues from the drug at once if it were part of a superpill. Sena Lund, an analyst at Cathay Financial, sees Pfizer selling $4.2 billion worth of Norvasc-Lipitor by 2007. That would help take up the slack for falling sales of Lipitor, which he projects will drop to $5 billion in 2007, down from $8 billion last year.

Pfizer argues that addressing two distinct and serious cardiovascular risk factors in one pill has advantages. People with both hypertension and high LDL cholesterol (the \"bad\" kind) number around 27 million in the U.S., notes Craig Hopkinson, medical director for dual therapy at Pfizer, and only 2% of that population reaches adequate treatment goals. Taking two treatments in one will increase the number of patients who take the medications properly and \"assist in getting patients to goal,\" he says.

Doctors also may be quick to adopt Norvasc-Lipitor, Pfizer figures, because it\'s made up of two well-studied drugs, which many physicians are already familiar with. But Dr. Stanley Rockson, chief of consultative cardiology at Stanford University Medical Center, says fixed-dose combination pills represent \"an interesting crossroads\" for physicians, who are typically trained to \"approach each individual problem with care.\" Combining treatments would challenge doctors to approach heart disease differently. But better patient compliance is important enough, says Rockson, that he expects doctors to be open to trying the combined pill.

Some other physicians are more skeptical. \"If you want to change dosage on one of the new pill\'s two drugs, you\'re stuck,\" fears Dr. Irene Gavris, professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. She says she would feel most comfortable trying the combination pill on patients who \"have been on the drugs for a while\" and are thus unlikely to need changes in dosage.

As usual, economics could tip the scales. Patients now taking both Lipitor and Norvasc \"could cut their insurance co-pay in half\" by switching to the combo drug, Gavris notes. That\'s a key advantage. Controlling hypertension, for instance, can require three or more drugs, and the financial burden on patients mounts quickly. If patients also benefit -- as Pfizer and other drug companies contend -- making the switch to superpills could be advantageous for everyone.

26. Pfizer could avoid the loss caused by expiration of Norvasc’s patents by ____.

A. reducing the various risks to heart health

B. switching the patients to the superpills

C. offering greater convenience to patients

D. increasing the sales of Lipitor

27. Which of the following is Not one of the advantages of superpills ?

A. Lessening several risks to the heart at the same time.

B. Restoring the lost body functions of the patients.

C. Contributing enormously to the income of drug companies.

D. Helping more patients to reach treatment goals.

28. The fourth paragraph is intended mainly to _____.

A. contrast different responses to combopills

B. explain Pfizer’s expectation of doctors’ support

C. illustrate doctors’ possible reception of combopills

D. stress the importance of patient compliance

29. It can be inferred from the text that ____.

A. doctors’ approval is decisive for the invention of medicines

B. drug companies will benefit a lot from the new pills financially

C. different people exhibit different attitudes toward the new pills

D. switch in medications is up to a combination of factors

30. The author’s attitude towards superpills can best be described as one of _____.

A. approval

B. neutral

C. tolerance

D. disapproval

Text 3

After their 20-year-old son hanged himself during his winter break from the University of Arizona five years ago, Donna and Phil Satow wondered what signs they had overlooked, and started asking other students for answers.

What grew from this soul searching was Ulifeline (www.ulifeline.org), a Web site where students can get answers to questions about depression by logging on through their universities. The site has been adopted as a resource by over 120 colleges, which can customize it with local information, and over 1.3 million students have logged on with their college ID\'s.

\"It\'s a very solid Web site that raises awareness of suicide, de-stigmatizes mental illness and encourages people to seek the help they need,\" said Paul Grayson, the director of counseling services at New York University, which started using the service nearly a year ago.

The main component of the Web site is the Self-E-Valuator, a self-screening program developed by Duke University Medical Center that tests students to determine whether they are at risk for depression, suicide and disorders like anorexia and drug dependence. Besides helping students, the service compiles anonymous student data, offering administrators an important window onto the mental health of its campus.

The site provides university users with links to local mental health services, a catalog of information on prescription drugs and side effects, and access to Go Ask Alice, a vast archive developed by Columbia University with hundreds of responses to anonymously posted inquiries from college students worldwide. For students concerned about their friends, there is a section that describes warning signs for suicidal behavior and depression.

Yet it is hard to determine how effective the service is. The anonymity of the online service can even play out as a negative. \"There is no substitute for personal interaction (个人互动才能解决) ,\" said Dr. Lanny Berman, executive director of the American Association of Suicidology, based in Washington.

Ulifeline would be the first to say that its service is no replacement for an actual therapist. \"The purpose is to find out if there are signs of depression and then direct people to the right places,\" said Ron Gibori, executive director of Ulifeline.

Mrs. Satow, who is still involved with Ulifeline, called it \"a knowledge base\" that might have prevented the death of her son, Jed. \"If Jed\'s friends had known the signs of depression, they might have seen something,\" she said.

31. The first paragraph is written to ____.

A. report the suicide of a young man

B. show the suffering of Mr. And Mrs. Satow

C. describe the Satows’ confusion over their son’s death

D. introduce the topic of a website called Ulifeline

32. One reason that many colleges adopt the website is to ____.

A. provide their students with campus information

B. offer medical treatment to students in mental disorder

C. encourage their students to seek advice about depression

D. give their students various help they may need

33. Go Ask Alice as mentioned in the passage is ____.

A. a side effect caused by some prescription drugs

B. intended to counsel college students on mental problems

C. a collection of medical responses from students the world over

D. meant to describe the various signs of mental disorders

34. The first sentence of the sixth paragraph implies that ____.

A. only actual therapy can ensure adequate treatment

B. the help given by the web service is doubtful

C. doctors have expressed a negative view of the service

D. a therapist’s office is the first place for the depressed to go

35. Mrs. Satow would probably agree that ____.

A. Jed’s friends can prevent her son’s death

B. her son’s suicide is unavoidable

C. Ulifeline is a worthwhile website

D. depression is the final cause of suicides

Text 4

The meanings of \"science\" and \"technology\" have changed significantly from one generation to another. More similarities than differences, however, can be found between the terms. Both science and technology imply a thinking process, both are concerned with causal relationships in the material world, and both employ an experimental methodology that results in empirical demonstrations that can be verified by repetition. Science, at least in theory, is less concerned with the practicality of its results and more concerned with the development of general laws, but in practice science and technology are inextricably involved with each other. The varying interplay of the two can be observed in the historical development of such practitioners as chemists, engineers, physicists, astronomers, carpenters, potters, and many other specialists. Differing educational requirements, social status, vocabulary, methodology, and types of rewards, as well as institutional objectives and professional goals, contribute to such distinctions as can be made between the activities of scientists and technologists; but throughout history the practitioners of \"pure\" science have made many practical as well as theoretical contributions.

Indeed, the concept that science provides the ideas for technological innovations and that pure research is therefore essential for any significant advancement in industrial civilization is essentially a myth. Most of the greatest changes in industrial civilization cannot be traced to the laboratory. Fundamental tools and processes in the fields of mechanics, chemistry, astronomy, metallurgy, and hydraulics were developed before the laws governing their functions were discovered. The steam engine, for example, was commonplace before the science of thermodynamics elucidated the physical principle underlying its operations.

In recent years a sharp value distinction has grown up between science and technology. Advances in science have frequently had their bitter opponents, but today many people have come to fear technology much more than science. For these people, science may be perceived as a serene, objective source for understanding the eternal laws of nature, whereas the practical manifestations of technology in the modern world now seem to them to be out of control.

Many historians of science argue not only that technology is an essential condition of advanced, industrial civilization but also that the rate of technological change has developed its own momentum in recent centuries. Innovations now seem to appear at a rate that increase geometrically, without respect to geographical limits or political systems. These innovations tend to transform traditional cultural systems, frequently with unexpected social consequences. Thus technology can be conceived as both a creative and a destructive process.

36. Science is, as the author argues, similar to technology in that ____.

A. it involves a long process of change

B. it focuses on the casual aspects of the material world

C. it resorts to experiments as an exclusive method of research

D. it is concerned about the theoretical development

37. Which of the following does the author NOT agree with?

A. Scientific activities are deeply involved with those of technology.

B. Industrial civilization is largely based on the scientific progress.

C. Science and technology move forward at a comparable speed.

D. Either of science and technology is necessary for the advance of each other.

38. The example of the steam engine is presented to ____.

A. refute the belief that industrial progress feeds off scientific ideas

B. illustrate the remarkable achievements of industrial civilization

C. indicate that many great inventions originate from the laboratory

D. laws come out much earlier than related functions

39. What does “the practical manifestations…out of control” (Para.3) mean?

A. Technology is losing its traditional practicality.

B. Technology is moving further away from science.

C. Technological progress is benefiting the whole world.

D. Technology is threatening the existence of human civilization.

40. The “historians” as mentioned in the last paragraph regard the technology with ____.

A. absolute enthusiasm

B. total indifference

C. obvious resentment

D. reserved approval

Part B

Directions:

In the following article, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41—45, choose the most suitable one from the list A—G to fit into each of the numbered blank. There are two extra choices, which do not fit in any of the gaps. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)

The patriotic outpouring that followed the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks—80 percent of Americans displayed the flag on their car, house, or lapel—brought hopes of renewed voter interest. Yet turnout in this year’s congressional primaries was a mere 17 percent, no better than four yea__________________________________. But it’s time to stop blaming the citizens. Candidates, public officials, and journalists are not giving Americans the type of campaign they deserve.

America’s politicians have also managed to invent the most unappetizing campaigns imaginable. If equivalent offerings were served at restaurants, Americans would never eat out. Attack ads have doubled in frequency since the 1770s and now account for a majority of the ads featured prominently in campaigns. Many of the attacks are so twisted that even a whiff of fresh air would topple them.

42) ____________________________________________________.

And where are the news media? They’re so enamored of infotainment and sensationalism that they can’t find time for the midterm elections. In the 1998 midterms, coverage was down by more than half over 1994. And it’s falling again—a comparison of news coverage in 10 states shows the midterm election is getting 13 percent less coverage this year than in 1998.

When Journalists deign to cover elections, they magnify the very things they rail against. Candidates are ignored or portrayed as boring if they run issue-based campaigns. Attack sound bites get airtime; positive statements land on the cutting-room floor. 43) ____________ _________________________________.

It’s not surprising voters are disenchanted with campaigns. During the 2000 election, as part of the Vanishing Voter Project at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, we interviewed 100,000 Americans to discover why they’re disengaging from elections. 44) _________________________________________________________.

Officials unfailingly urge citizens“to do your duty and vote.” Yet, these officials embrace policies that make it harder to do that. 45) ____________________________________.

So look for a small turnout Tuesday, but don’t ask citizens to look in the mirror. Some or them have cast their eye on what’s going on in candidate—land media—land and are asking why they should be bit players in that artifice.

[A] Electoral competition is key to democracy, and America’s voters aren’t getting the full benefit of that. Only a couple of dozen of this year’s 435 US House races are competitive. Two years ago, 98.5 percent of incumbents won, typically by margins of 70 percent or more.

[B] True leadership has become so rare that politicians may no longer even dream of stepping forward to say something other than what polls tell them is safe. Tuesday’s election will surely pass without much of a debate on the momentous foreign and domestic issues facing the nation.

[C] Amid the uproar over Florida’s ballot irregularities, no commentator has seen fit to ask why polls there close at 7 p.m. Florida is one of 26 states that close their polls before 8 p.m. Unsurprisingly, turnout in these states is several percentage points below that of states where polls are open until 8 p.m. or later.

[D] As for trivial issues, why did candidate Bush’s 1970s drunk—driving arrest get more time on the network newscasts in the final days of the 2000 election than Gore’s foreign policy statements got in the entire general election?

[E] No doubt, ordinarily Americans share responsibility for their lapse in participation; it is always easier to leave the work of democracy to others.

[F] Today, 87 percent of Americans reside in states that close registration two weeks or more before the election. The majority of unregistered Americans who otherwise would cast a vote are out of luck. Only six states allow election—day registration.

[G] Their responses tell the story: 81 percent believe “most political candidates will say almost anything to get themselves elected”; 75 percent feel “political candidates are more concerned with fighting each other than with solving the nation’s problems”.

Part C

Directions:

Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be written clearly on ANSWER SHEET 2.

Why has global inequality increased? The answer is in four parts: (1) faster economic growth in developed OECD countries than developing countries as a group; (2) faster population growth in developing countries than in OECD countries; (3) slow growth of output in rural China, rural India, and Africa; and (4) rapidly widening output and income differences between urban China on the one hand, and rural China and rural India on the other.

These trends in turn have deeper causes. (46) Technological change and financial liberalization result in a disproportionately fast increase in the number of households at the extreme rich end, without shrinking the distribution at the poor end. Population growth, meanwhile, adds disproportionately to numbers at the poor end. (47) These deep causes yield an important intermediate cause that makes things worse: the prices of industrial goods and services exported from high-income countries are increasing faster than the prices of goods and services exported by low-income countries, and much faster than the prices of goods and services produced in low-income countries that do little international trade.

These price trends mean that the majority of the population of poor countries are able to buy fewer and fewer of the goods and services that enter into the consumption patterns of rich-country populations. The poorer countries and the poorer two-thirds of the world’s population therefore suffer a double marginalization: once through incomes, again through prices.

(48) The result is a lot of unemployed and angry young people, to whom new information technologies have given the means to threaten the stability of the societies they live in and even to threaten social stability in countries of the wealthy zone. Economic growth in these countries often depletes natural capital and therefore future potential. More and more people see migration to the wealthy zone as their only salvation.

It is striking that most of the organized opposition to more globalization comes from North America, Western Europe and Oceania. (49) Why have elites from developing countries for the most part subscribed to the globalization agenda that western states, businesses, and multilateral organizations have been promoting, if a case can be made that the gains of free markets for goods and capital tend to be concentrated in the top levels of the income distributions of their countries? Why are they doing so little to integrate their economies into the world economy in a strategic way, not open-endedly?

Part of the reason may be that elites in developing countries, like their counterparts in the rich world, are content to believe either that world inequality is falling, or that inequality is good because it is the source of incentives. They, like the multilateral economic organizations (and the reformers of Victorian England), worry about poverty. (50) But they see no link between widening world income distribution and poverty; and they think that poverty can be fixed by providing the poor with welfare and opportunities without changing larger structures like income and asset distributions. Academic analysts have a responsibility to counter the current neglect by analysing the relationship between trends in world income distribution and poverty as a way of getting distribution issues on to the world agenda.

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