考研英语历年真题阅读理解精读笔记。
美国人不再期望公众人物在演讲或写作文章之时可以巧妙地、富有天分地使用英语了，而他们自己本身也不奢望自己能够做到这一点。语言学家约翰·麦克沃特喜好争论，他的观点混杂着保守派与自由派的看法，在他的近作《做我们自己的事，语言和音乐的退化：我们干吗在乎?!》一书中，这位学者认为20世纪60年代反文化运动的胜利要对正式英语的退化负责。
怪罪放纵的60年代并不新鲜，但这并不是另一份批评教育滑坡的长篇大论。麦克沃特先生的学术专长在于语言史和语言变化，举例来说，他认为"whom"一词的逐渐消失是很自然的，并不比旧式英语中词格的消失更让人惋惜。
然而，"做我们自己的事"--这一对事物真实性和个性的崇拜信条，已经给正式的演讲、写作、诗歌和音乐画上了句号。在60年代以前，甚至仅受过一般教育的人在下笔时都要寻求一种更高雅的腔调，但在那之后，即使是最受关注的文章也开始把口语用于写作。同样，在诗歌领域，惟一能够具有真正活力的就是那种高度个人化和富有表现力的文学形式。无论作为口语还是书面语言的英语，说话胜过了讲话，而自由发挥也胜过了精心准备。
麦克沃特先生从上层和下层文化中列举了一系列有趣的例子，从中我们可以看出他所记录的这种趋势不可避免。但考虑到其副标题所提的问题：我们干吗在乎?!答案还不够明白。作为一位语言学家，他承认多种多样的人类语言，包括那些非标准的语言，比如黑人英语，都具有极强的表达力--世上没有传达不了复杂思想的语言和方言。不像其他大多数人，麦克沃特先生并不认为我们说话方式不规范就不能使我们直接思考。
俄罗斯人深爱着他们自己的语言，并在他们的脑海中存储了大量诗歌，而意大利的政客们却更倾向于精心准备的演讲，虽然这在大多数讲英语的人们眼里已经过时。麦克沃特先生认为正式英语并非不可或缺，他也没有提出激烈的教育改革--他其实只是在哀痛美丽的丧失而非实用的丢失。也许我们现在是用"纸盘子而非瓷盘子"盛着我们的英语大餐。这也许令人羞愧，但可能是不可避免的事。
36. 麦克沃特先生认为，正式英语的衰落。
［A］ 是在激烈的教育改革中不可避免的事
［B］ 是在语言发展中再自然不过的事了
［C］ 已经造成了反文化运动中的对立
［D］ 引起了20世纪60年代公众态度的变化
37. 单词"talking"（第3段，第6行)的意思是。
［A］ 谦虚
［B］ 个性化
［C］ 具有活力
［D］ 非正式
38. McWhorter最可能会赞同下面哪种说法？
［A］ 逻辑思维和我们谈话方式没有必然的联系。
［B］ 黑人英语比标准英语更有表达力。
［C］ 非标准的语言种类如同儿戏。
［D］ 在所有类别的语言中，标准语言最能表达复杂的思维。
39. 描述俄罗斯人喜欢记忆诗歌说明作者。
［A］ 对他们的语言感兴趣
［B］ 赞赏他们的努力
［C］ 羡慕他们的记忆
［D］ 轻视他们的守旧
40. 根据最后一段,纸盘子相对瓷盘子是。
［A］ 临时与永恒
［B］ 激进与保守
［C］ 实用与艺术
［D］ 卑微与高尚
TEXT 1 Hunting for a job late last year, lawyer Gant Redmon stumbled across CareerBuilder, a job database on the Internet. He searched it with no success but was attracted by the site’s "personal search agent". It’s an interactive feature that lets visitors key in job criteria such as location, title, and salary, then E-mails them when a matching position is posted in the database. Redmon chose the keywords legal, intellectual property, and Washington, D.C. Three weeks later, he got his first notification of an opening. "I struck gold," says Redmon, who E-mailed his resume to the employer and won a position as in house counsel for a company.
With thousands of career related sites on the Internet, finding promising openings can be timeconsuming and inefficient. Search agents reduce the need for repeated visits to the databases. But although a search agent worked for Redmon, career experts see drawbacks. Narrowing your criteria, for example, may work against you: "Every time you answer a question you eliminate a possibility." says one expert.
For any job search, you should start with a narrow concept-what you think you want to do-then broaden it. "None of these programs do that," says another expert. "There’s no career counseling implicit in all of this." Instead, the best strategy is to use the agent as a kind of tip service to keep abreast of jobs in a particular database; when you get E-mail, consider it a reminder to check the database again. "I would not rely on agents for finding everything that is added to a database that might interest me," says the author of a job searching guide.
Some sites design their agents to tempt job hunters to return. When CareerSite’s agent sends out messages to those who have signed up for its service, for example, it includes only three potential jobs-those it considers the best matches. There may be more matches in the database; job hunters will have to visit the site again to find them-and they do. "On the day after we send our messages, we see a sharp increase in our traffic," says Seth Peets, vice president of marketing for CareerSite.
Even those who aren’t hunting for jobs may find search agents worthwhile. Some use them to keep a close watch on the demand for their line of work or gather information on compensation to arm themselves when negotiating for a raise. Although happily employed, Redmon maintains his agent at CareerBuilder. "You always keep your eyes open," he says. Working with a personal search agent means having another set of eyes looking out for you.
41. How did Redmon find his job?
［A］ By searching openings in a job database.
［B］ By posting a matching position in a database.
［C］ By using a special service of a database.
［D］ By E-mailing his resume to a database.
42. Which of the following can be a disadvantage of search agents?
［A］ Lack of counseling.
［B］ Limited number of visits.
［C］ Lower efficiency.
［D］ Fewer successful matches.
43. The expression " tip service " (Line 3, Paragraph 3) most probably means .
［A］ advisory
［B］ compensation
［C］ interaction
［D］ reminder
44. Why does CareerSite’s agent offer each job hunter only three job options?
［A］ To focus on better job matches.
［B］ To attract more returning visits.
［C］ To reserve space for more messages.
［D］ To increase the rate of success.
45. Which of the following is true according to the text?
［A］ Personal search agents are indispensable to job hunters.
［B］ Some sites keep E-mailing job seekers to trace their demands.
［C］ Personal search agents are also helpful to those already employed.
［D］ Some agents stop sending information to people once they are employed.
