2006年硕士研究生英语试题及答案(1)

　　It would be a shame to raise prices too much because it would drive away the young people who are Stratford‘s most attractive clientele. They come entirely for the plays， not the sights. They all seem to look alike （though they come from all over）–lean， pointed， dedicated faces， wearing jeans and sandals， eating their buns and bedding down for the night on the flagstones outside the theatre to buy the 20 seats and 80 standing-room tickets held for the sleepers and sold to them when the box office opens at 10：30 a.m.

　　26. From the first two paras ， we learn that

　　A. the townsfolk deny the RSC‘s contribution to the town’s revenue

　　B. the actors of the RSC imitate Shakespeare on and off stage

　　C. the two branches of the RSC are not on good terms

　　D. the townsfolk earn little from tourism

　　27. It can be inferred from Para 3 that

　　A. the sightseers cannot visit the Castle and the Palace separately

　　B. the playgoers spend more money than the sightseers

　　C. the sightseers do more shopping than the playgoers

　　D. the playgoers go to no other places in town than the theater

　　28. By saying“Stratford cries poor traditionally”（Line 2-3， Paragraph 4）， the author implies that

　　A. Stratford cannot afford the expansion projects

　　B. Stratford has long been in financial difficulties

　　C. the town is not really short of money

　　D. the townsfolk used to be poorly paid

　　29. According to the townsfolk， the RSC deserves no subsidy because

　　A. ticket prices can be raised to cover the spending

　　B. the company is financially ill-managed

　　C. the behavior of the actors is not socially acceptable

　　D. the theatre attendance is on the rise

　　30. From the text we can conclude that the author

　　A. is supportive of both sides

　　B. favors the townsfolk‘s view

　　C. takes a detached attitude

　　D. is sympathetic

Text 3

　　When prehistoric man arrived in new parts of the world， something strong happened to the large animals； they suddenly became extinct. Smaller species survived， the large， slow-growing animals were easy game， and were quickly hunted to extinction.

　　Now something similar could be happening in the oceans that the seas are being over-fished has been known for years what researchers such as Ransom Myers and Boris Worm have shown is just how fast things are changing. They have looked at half a century of data from fisheries around the world. Their methods de not attempt to estimate the actual biomass （the amount of living biological matter） of fish species in particular parts of the ocean， but rather changes in that biomass over time. According to their latest paper published in Nature， the biomass of large predators （animals that kill and eat other animals） inanes fishery is reduced on average by 80% within 15 years of the start of exploitation. In some long-fished areas， it has halved again since then Dr. Worm acknowledges that these figures are conservative， one reason for this is that fishing technology has improved Today‘s vessels can find their prey using satellites and sonar， which were not available 50 years ago that means a higher proportion of what is in the sea is being caught， so the real difference between present and past is likely to be worse than the one recorded by changes in catch sizes. In the early days， too， longlines would have been more saturated with fish. Some individuals would therefore not have been caught， since to baited hooks would have been available to trap them， leading to an underestimate of fish stocks in the past. Furthermore， in the early days of longline fishing， a lot of fish were lost to sharks after they had been hooked. That is no longer a problem， because there are fewer sharks around noise.