2015年武汉大学考博英语考试真题

2015 年武汉大学考博英语考试真题 一、阅读理解 Justice in society must include both a fair trial to the accused and the selection of an appropriate punishment for those proven guilty. Because justice is regarded as one form. of equality, we find in its earlier expressions the idea of a punishment equal to the crime. Recorded in the Old Testament is the expression "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." That is, the individual who has done wrong has committed an offence against society. To make up for his offence, society must get even. This can be done only by doing an equal injury to him. This conception of retributive justice is reflected in many parts of the legal documents and procedures of modern times. It is illustrated when we demand the death penalty for a person who has committed murder. This philosophy of punishment was supported by the German idealist Hegel. He believed that society owed it to the criminal to give a punishment equal to the crime he had committed. The criminal had by his own actions denied his true self and it is necessary to do something that will counteract this denial and restore the self that has been denied. To the murderer nothing less than giving up his own will pay his debt. The demand of the death penalty is a right the state owes the criminal and it should not deny him his due. Modern jurists have tried to replace retributive justice with the notion of corrective justice. The aim of the latter is not to abandon the concept of equality but to find a more adequate way to express it. It tries to preserve the idea of equal opportunity for each individual to realize the best that is in him. The criminal is regarded as being socially ill and in need of treatment that will enable him to become a normal member of society. Before a treatment can be administered, the cause of his antisocial behavior. must be found. If the cause can be removed, provisions must be made to have this done. Only those criminals who are incurable should be permanently separated front the rest of the society. This does not mean that criminals will escape punishment or be quickly returned to take up careers of crime. It means that justice is to heal the individual, not simply to get even with him. If severe punishments is the only adequate means for accompanying this, it should be administered. However, the individual should be given every opportunity to assume a normal place in society. His conviction of crime must not deprive him of the opportunity to make his way in the society of which he is a part. 1. The best title for this selection is （ ） A. Fitting Punishment to the Crime B. Approaches to Just Punishment C. Improvement in Legal Justice D. Attaining Justice in the Courts 2.The passage implies that the basic difference between retributive justice an d corrective justice is the （ ） . A. type of crime that was proven B. severity for the punishment C. reason for the sentence D. outcome of the trial 3. The punishment that would be most inconsistent with the views of correcti ve justice would be（ ）. A. forced brain surgery B. whipping C. solitary confinement D. the electric chair 4. The Biblical expression "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” was pre sented in order to （ ）. A. prove，that equality demands just punishment B. justify the need for punishment as a part of law C. give moral backing to retributive justice D. prove that man has long been interested in justice "In every known human society the male's needs for achievement can be recognized... In a great number of human societies men's sureness of their sex role is tied up wi th their right, or ability, to practice some activity that women are not allowed to practice. Their maleness in fact has to be underwritten by preventing women from entering some field or perf orming some feat." This is the conclusion of the anthropologist Margaret Mead about the way i n which the roles of men and women in society should be distinguished. If talk and print are considered it would seem that the formal emancipatio n of women is far from complete. There is a flow of publications about the continuing domestic bonda ge of women and about the complicated system of defences which men have thrown up aro und their hitherto accepted advantages, taking sometimes the obvious form of exclusio n from types of occupation and sociable groupings, and sometimes the more subtle form of au tomatic doubt of the seriousness of women's pretensions to the level of intellect and resoluti on that men, it is supposed, bring to the business of running the world. There are a good many objective pieces of evidence for the erosion of me n's status. In the first place, there is the widespread postwar phenomenon of the woman Prime Minister, in India, Sri Lanka and Israel. Secondly, there is the very large increase in the number of women who w ork, especially married women and mothers of children. More diffusely there are the increasingly num erous convergences between male and female behaviour: the approximation to iden tical styles in dress and coiffure, the sharing of domestic tasks, and the admission of women to all sorts of hitherto exclusively male leisure-time activities. Everyone carries round with him a fairly definite idea of the primitive or n atural conditions of human life. It is acquired more by the study of humorous cartoons than of arc haeology, but that does not matter since it is not significant as theory but only as an express ion of inwardly felt expectations of people's sense of what is fundamentally proper in the diffe rentiation between the roles of the two sexes. In this rudimentary natural society men g o out to hunt and fish and to fight off the tribe next door while women keep the fire going. A morous initiative is firmly reserved to the man, who sets about courtship with a club. 5. The phrase "men's sureness of their sex role" in the first paragraph suggest s that they （ ） A. are confident in their ability to charm women. B. take the initiative in courtship. C. have a clear idea of what is considered "manly". D. tend to be more immoral than women are. 6. The third paragraph （） A. generally agrees with the first paragraph B. has no connection with the first paragraph C. repeats the argument of the second paragraph D. contradicts the last paragraph 7. The usual idea of the cave man in the last paragraph（） A. is based on the study of archaeology B. illustrates how people expect men to behave C. is dismissed by the author as an irrelevant joke D. proves that the man, not woman, should be the wooer 8. The opening quotation from Margaret Mead sums up a relationship between man and woman which the author（ ） A. approves of B. argues is natural C. completely rejects D. expects to go on changing Farmers in the developing world hate price fluctuations. It makes it hard to plan ahead. But most of them have little choice: they sell at the price the market sets. Farmers in Europe, the U.S. and Japan are luckier: they receive massive government subsidies in the form of guaranteed prices or direct handouts. Last month U.S. President Bush signed a new farm bill that gives American farmers $190 billion over the next 10 years, or $83 billion more than they had been scheduled to get, and pushes U.S. agricultural support close to crazy European levels. Bush said the step was necessary to "promote farmer independence and preserve the farm way of life for generations". It is also designed to help the Republican Party win control of the Senate in November's mid term elections. Agricultural production in most poor countries accounts for up to 50% of GDP, compared to only 3% in rich countries. But most farmers in poor countries grow just enough for themselves and their families. Those who try exporting to the West find their goods whacked with huge tariffs or competing against cheaper subsidized goods. In 1999 the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development concluded that for each dollar developing countries receive in aid they lose up to $14 just because of trade barriers imposed on the export of their manufactured goods. It's not as if the developing world wants any favours, says Gerald Ssendwula, Uganda's Minister of Finance. "What we want is for the rich countries to let us compete." Agriculture is one of the few areas in which the Third World can compete. Land and labour are cheap, and as farming methods develop, new technologies should improve output. This is no pie in the sky speculation. The biggest success in Kenya's economy over the past decade has been the boom in exports of cut flowers and vegetables to Europe. But that may all change in 2008, when Kenya will be slightly too rich to qualify for the "least developed country" status that allows African producers to avoid paying stiff European import duties on selected agricultural products. With trade barriers in place, the horticulture industry in Kenya will shrivel as quickly as a discarded rose. And while agriculture exports remain the great hope for poor countries, reducing trade barriers in other sectors also works: Americas African Growth and Opportunity Act, which cuts duties on exports of everything from handicrafts to shoes, has proved a boon to Africa's manufacturers. The lesson: the Third World can prosper if the rich world gives it a fair go. This is what makes Bush's decision to increase farm subsidies last month all the more depressing. Poor countries have long suspected that the rich world urges trade liberalization only so it can wangle its way into new markets. Such suspicions caused the Seattle trade talks to break down three years ago. But last November members of the World Trade Organization, meeting in Doha, Qatar, finally agreed to a new round of talks designed to open up global trade in agriculture and textiles. Rich countries assured poor countries, that their concerns were finally being addressed. Bush's handout last month makes a lie of America's commitment to those talks and his personal devotion to free trade. 9.By comparison, farmers （ ） receive more government subsidies than othe rs.? A.in the developing world B.in Japan C.in Europe D.in America? 10.In addition to the economic considerations, there is a （ ） motive behind Bush’s signing of the new farm bill.? A.partisan B.social C.financial D.cultural? 11.The message the writer attempts to convey throughout the passage is that （ ）? A.poor countries should be given equal opportunities in trade? B.“the least?developed country” status benefits agricultural countries? C.poor countries should remove their suspicions about trade liberalization? D.farmers in poor countries should also receive the benefit of subsidies 12.The writer’s attitude towards new farm subsidies in the U.S. is （ ）? A.favourable B.ambiguous C.critical