翻译硕士英语样题及参考答案(2)

The Enron employees’ retirement disaster is part of the larger trend away from guaranteed economic security. That’s why preventing such a thing from ever happening again may be impossible. The huge attitudinal shift to I’ll-be-taken-care-of took at least a generation. The shift back may take just as long. It won’t be complete until a new generation of employees see assured economic comfort as a 20th-century quirk, and understand not just intellectually but in their bones that, like most people in most times and places, they’re on their own.

6. Why does the author say at the beginning “The miserable fate of Enron’s employees will be a landmark in business history…”?

A. Because the company has gone bankrupt. B. Because such events would never happen again.

C. Because many Enron workers lost their retirement savings. D. Because it signifies a turning point in economic security.

7. According to the passage, the combined efforts by governments, layout unions and big corporations to guarantee economic comfort have led to a significant change in A. people’s outlook on life. B. people’s life styles.

C. people’s living standard. D. people’s social values.

8. Changes in pension schemes were also part of A. the corporate lay-offs.

B. the government cuts in welfare spending. C. the economic restructuring. D. the warning power of labors unions.

9. Thousands of employees chose Enron as their sole investment option mainly because A. the 401(k) made them responsible for their own future. B. Enron offered to add company stock to their investment. C. their employers intended to cut back on pension spending. D. Enron’s offer was similar to a defined-benefit plan.

10. Which is NOT seen as a lesson drawn from the Enron disaster? A. The 401(k) assets should be placed in more than one investment option. B. Employees have to take up responsibilities for themselves.

C. Such events could happen again as it is not easy to change people’s mind. D. Economic security won’t be taken for granted by future young workers.

Section 2 Answering questions (20’)

Directions: Read the following passages and then answer IN COMPLETE SENTENCES the questions which follow each passage. Use only information from the passage you have just read and write your answer in the corresponding space in your answer sheet.

Questions 1～3

For 40 years the sight of thousands of youngsters striding across the open moorland has been as much an annual fixture as spring itself. But the 2,400 school pupils who join the grueling Dartmoor Ten Tors Challenge next Saturday may be among the last to take part in the May tradition. The trek faces growing criticism from environmentalists who fear that the presence of so many walkers on one weekend threatens the survival of some of Dartmoor’s internationally rare bird species.

The Ten Tors Challenge takes place in the middle of the breeding season, when the slightest disturbance can jeopardize birds’ chances of reproducing successfully. Experts at the RSPB and the Dartmoor National Park Authority fear that the walkers could frighten birds and even crush eggs. They are now calling for the event to be moved to the autumn, when the breeding season is over and chicks should be well established. Organisers of the event, which is led by about 400 Territorial Army volunteers, say moving it would be impractical for several reasons and would mean pupils could not train properly for the 55-mile trek. Dartmoor is home to 10 rare species of ground-nesting birds, including golden plovers, dunlins and lapwings. In some cases, species are either down to their last two pairs on the moor or are facing a nationwide decline.

Emma Parkin, South-west spokeswoman for the PASPB, took part in the challenge as a schoolgirl. She said the society had no objections to the event itself but simply wanted it moved to another time of year. “It is a wonderful activity for the children who take part but, having thousands of people walking past in one weekend when birds are breeding is hardly ideal,” she said. “We would prefer it to take place after the breeding and nesting season is over. There is a risk of destruction and disturbance. If the walkers put a foot in the wrong place they can crush the eggs and if there is sufficient disturbance the birds might abandon the nest.” Helen Booker, an RSPB upland conservation officer, said there was no research into the scale of the damage but there was little doubt the walk was detrimental. “If people are tramping past continually it can harm the chances of successful nesting. There is also the fear of direct trampling of eggs.” A spokesman for the Dartmoor National Park Authority said the breeding season on the moor lasted from early March to mid-July, and the Ten Tors Challenge created the potential for disturbance for March, when participants start training.

To move the event to the autumn was difficult because children would be on holiday during the training period. There was a possibility that some schools in the Southwest move to a four-term year in 2004, “but until then any change was unlikely. The authority last surveyed bird life on Dartmoor two year ago and if the next survey showed any further decline, it would increase pressure to move the Challenge,” he said.

Major Mike Pether, secretary of the army committee that organises the Challenge, said the event could be moved if there was the popular will. “The Ten Tors has been running for 42 years and it has always been at this time of the year. It is almost in tablets of stone but that’s not to say we won’t consider moving if there is a consensus in favour. However, although the RSPB would like it moved, 75 per cent of the people who take part want it to stay as it is,” he said. Major Pether said the trek could not be moved to earlier in the year because it would conflict with the lambing season, most of the children were on holiday in the summer, and the winter weather was too harsh.

Datmoor National Park occupies some 54 sq km of hills topped by granite outcrops known

as “Tors” with the highest Tor-capped hill reaching 621m. The valleys and dips between the hills are often sites of bogs to snare the unwary hiker. The moor has long been used by the British Army as a training and firing range. The origin of the event stretches back to 1959 when three Army officers exercising on the moor thought it would provide a challenge for civilians as well as soldiers. In the first year 203 youngsters took up the challenges. Since then teams, depending on age and ability, face hikes of 35, 45 or 55 miles between 10 nominated Tors over two days. They are expected to carry everything they need to survive.

1. What is the Ten Tors Challenge? Give a brief introduction of its location and history. 2. Why is it suggested that the event be moved to the autumn or other seasons? 3. What are the difficulties if the event is moved to the autumn or other seasons?

Questions 4～5

Mike and Adam Hurewitz grew up together on Long Island, in the suburbs of New York City. They were very close, even for brothers. So when Adam’s liver started failing, Mike offered to give him half of his. The operation saved Adam’s life. But Mike, who went into the hospital in seemingly excellent health, developed a complication—perhaps a blood colt—and died last week. He was 57. Mike Hurewitz’s death has prompted a lot of soul searching in the transplant community. Was it a tragic fluke or a sign that transplant surgery has reached some kind of ethical limit? The Mount Sinai Medical Center, the New York City hospital where the complex double operation was performed, has put on hold its adult living donor liver transplant program, pending a review of Hurewitz’s death. Mount Sinai has performed about 100 such operations in the past three years.

A 1-in-100 risk of dying may not seem like bad odds, but there’s more to this ethical dilemma than a simple ratio. The first and most sacred rule of medicine is to do no harm. “For a normal healthy person a mortality rate 1% is hard to justify,” says Dr. John Fung, chief of transplantation at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “If the rate stays at 1%, it’s just not going to be accepted.” On the other hand, there’s an acute shortage of traditional donor organs from people who have died in accidents or suffered fatal heart attacks. If family members fully understand the risks and are willing to proceed, is there any reason to stand in their way? Indeed, a recent survey showed that most people will accept a mortality rate for living organ donors as high as 20%. The odds, thankfully, aren’t nearly that bad. For kidney donors, for example, the risk ranges from 1 in 2, 500 to 1 in 4, 000 for a healthy volunteer. That helps explain why nearly 40% of kidney transplants in the U.S. come from living donors.

The operation to transplant a liver, however, is a lot trickier than one to transplant a kidney. Not only is the liver packed with blood vessels, but it also makes lots of proteins that need to be produced in the right ratios for the body to survive. When organs from the recently deceased are used, the surgeon gets to pick which part of the donated liver looks the best and to take as much of it as needed. Assuming all goes well, a healthy liver can grow back whatever portion of the organ is missing, sometimes within a month.

A living-donor transplant works particularly well when an adult donates a modest portion of the liver to a child. Usually only the left lobe of the organ is required, leading to a mortality rate for living-donors in the neighborhood of 1 in 500 to 1 in 1, 000. But when the recipient is another adult, as much as 60% of the donor’s liver has to be removed. “There really is very little margin

for error,” says Dr. Fung. By way of analogy, he suggests, think of a tree. “An adult-to-child living-donor transplant is like cutting off a limb. With an adult-to-adult transplant, you’re splitting the trunk in half and trying to keep both halves alive.”

Even if a potential donor understand and accepts these risks, that doesn’t necessarily mean the operation should proceed. All sorts of subtle pressures can be brought to bear on such a decision, says Dr. Mark Siegler, director of the MacLean for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago. “Sometimes the sicker the patient, the greater the pressure and the more willing the donor will be to accept risks.” If you feel you can’t say no, is your decision truly voluntary? And if not, is it the medical community’s responsibility to save you from your own best intentions?

Transplant centers have developed screening programs to ensure that living donors fully understand the nature of their decision. But unexamined, for the most part, is the larger issue of just how much a volunteer should be allowed to sacrifice to save another human being. So far, we seem to be saying some risk is acceptable, although we’re still vaguer about where the cutoff should be. There will always be family members like Mike Hurewitz who are heroically prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for a loved one. What the medical profession and society must decide is if it’s appropriate to let them do so.

4. Describe in your own words the liver transplant between the two brothers Mike and Adam. 5. What is the major issue raised in the article?

III. Writing (30’)

Some people see education simply as going to school or college, or as a means to secure good jobs; other people view education as a lifelong process. In your opinion, how important is education to people in the modern society?

Write a composition of about 400 words on your view of the topic.

《翻译硕士英语》样题参考答案

I. Vocabulary and grammar (30’) 1-10 DABAC ACDDB 11-20 AABBD ACBBC

II. Reading comprehension (40’)

Section 1 Multiple choice (20’) 1. C 2. A 3. D 4. B 5. A 6. D 7. A 8. C 9. B 10. B

Section 2 Answering questions (20’)

Key points

1. located in Dartmoor Park／with 54 sq km of hills covered by “Tors”／an event starting from 1959／young people walking over a distance of 55-mile trek in two days／in Spring (May)／ a kind of outdoor physical training

2. environmentalism／threatening of some “internationally rare bird species”／breeding season／nesting season／destroying eggs／frightening birds／declining of birds

3. if moved to autumn／children “on holiday” during the training period／majority unwilling to change the time／if moved earlier: lambing season／winter: too harsh and cold

4. Mike and Adam／one’s liver “failing”, Mike donated half of his liver／Adam survived／Mike, the healthy brother, due to the “complication” developed in the operation, died after the successful transplant

5. when there is a risk of donors’ dying from organ transplant between family members／1 in 100 risk／higher or lower／Shall such transplant operations be encouraged?／different viewpoints／heated argument

III. Writing (30’)

Education as a Lifelong Process?

When we talk about education, we can easily think of schools, colleges and young people. As a matter of fact, education is so important in modern society that it can be viewed as a lifelong process.?

Firstly, it’s the requirement of fast-developing society to receive education despite of your age. Our world is changing dramatically with the development of new science and technology. A person who completed his education at school in the 1970s or the 1980s may have encountered new problems when he is working now. The problems might have something to do with his major or other aspects. For example an accountant now must master the skills of accounting through computers, which is a basic tool for him, so he should also learn how to apply his job in a computer no matter how old he is.?

Secondly, education creates human character and moralities. Through education, youth may learn how to make contributions to the world. And the old may learn new things to enrich their lives. Through education, a healthy person can become stronger and a disabled person can have a new hope on his life. Man can find great pleasure in education.?

Thirdly, our modem society has provided everyone with the chance to receive education. As long as you wish you could get education by attending night-schools, adult colleges, training centers and even long-distance education through Internet and TV.?

In a word, knowledge is boundless, and life is limited. So education is a lifelong process.?

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