part ii reading comprehension (35 minutes) directions:there are four reading passages in this part. each passage is followed by some questions. for each question there are four suggested answers marked a,b,c and d, you should choose the one best answer and blacken the corresponding letter on the answer sheet with a pencil. passage 1
legal and accounting firms throughout australia could streamline their advice to clients seeking a divorce with a new expert program that “thinks" like family court judges.
the software package, appropriately called “split up" was developed by dr. john zeleznikow and a team of researchers in la trobe university s department of computer science.
it is the first in the world designed to weigh up court judgments in previous cases to predict the way property would be divided for a particular divorce if proceeded to court.
while anyone can get a divorce, the rules on the division of property are up to the judge. deciding who gets what is a complex procedure based on future needs and past contributions.
split up, which can be installed on any pc, asks a sequence of relevant questions about the health, work history, children, property and future needs of the partners in a divorce. it then decides what percentage allocation to each partner would be in court and provides a series of arguments in favour of the decision.
its major advantage, says dr. zeleznikow, is that people are less likely to litigate once they know the likely court outcome. “let s say the program predicts that each partner will get $250 000 from a property settlement. if they go to court the cost to each could be $ 50 000 to litigate. this is a powerful incentive to negotiate instead."
the la trobe research team has attracted international attention for its devleopment of systems which can reason with both statutes (rules) and precedents (cases). the systems are being used in fields which include legal aid and credit law.
1. in the passage means “previous cases”.分析与解答 a. statutes b. precedents c. clients d. incentives
2. what is not taken into consideration during a divorce case? 分析与解答 a. the family house. b. the bank deposit. c. the time duration of the marriage. d. children s education.
3. split up can do all but . 分析与解答 a. to persuade the judge that its decision is the right one b. to recall past divorce cases when necessary c. to seek and then process the information it need d. to do complex calculation and reasoning
4. the second “it" in para. 3 refers to . 分析与解答 a. the software b. a previous case c. the way the property would be divided d. a particular divorce
5. what is not implied in the passage? 分析与解答 a. family law court judges judge according to both rules and precedents. b. if the parties in a divorce know they will not profit from a lawsuit, they would settle outside the court. c. there is clear-cut law on how to divide property between parties in a divorce. d. split up will help reduce the number of divorce cases presented in court.
passage 2
the producers of instant coffee found their product strongly resisted in the market places despite their product s obvious advantages. furthermore, the advertising expenditure for instant coffee was far greater than that for regular coffee. efforts were made to find the cause of the consumers seemingly unreasonable resistance to the product. the reason given by most people was dislike for the taste. the producer suspected that there might be deeper reasons, however. this was confirmed by one of motivation research s classic studies, one often cited in the trade.
mason haire, of the university of california, constructed two shopping lists that were identical except for one item. there were six items common to both lists: hamburger, carrots, bread, baking powder, canned peaches, and potatoes, with the brands or amounts specified. the seventh item, in fifth place on both lists, read “one pound maxwell house coffee" on the list and “nescafe instant coffee" on the other. one list was given to each one in a group of fifty women, and the other list to those in the other group of the same size. the women were asked to study their list and then to describe, as far as they could, the kind of woman (“personality and character")who would draw up that shopping list. nearly half of those who had received the list including instant coffee described a housewife who was lazy and a poor planner. on the other hand, only one woman in the other group described the housewife, who had included regular coffee on her list, as lazy. only six of that group suggested that she was probably not a good wife. no one in the other group drew such a conclusion about the housewife who intended to buy regular coffee.
6. in the opinion of instant coffee producers, .分析与解答 a. people should buy regular coffee b. regular coffee is superior to instant coffee c. instant coffee should have a good market because of its obvious advantages d. the advertising expenditure for regular coffee is very great
7. in this instance, the purpose of motivation study was to discover .分析与解答 a. why there were deeper reasons b. why instant coffee did not taste good c. why regular coffee was successful d. the reason why people resisted instant coffee
8. the list on which “nescafe instant coffee" was written as an item was given to a group consisting of .分析与解答 a. 7 people b. 7 women c. 14 people d. 50 women