复合题

Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.

Text 2

Not long ago, chief executive officers (CEOS) were landed as heroes, leaders of the brave new economy. Bill Gates and Jack Welch were the two most celebrated American CEOs, hailed as geniuses, superstars and revolutionaries.

But since Eaton and other scandals, Americans don’t need much convincing when it comes to mistrusting business leaders. A recent poll in Investor’s Business Daily found that only eight percent of Americans have high confidence in the honesty and integrity of corporate CEOs, and only four percent hold CEOs in “high esteem”.

In today’s CEO-bashing environment, executives’ actions ate more scrutinized and regulated than ever before.

In the USA, congress has passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which among other things, requires CEOs to personally certify to the accuracy of the company’s accounts. In Britain, investment banker Derek Higgs has proposed a new code of corporate governance, spelling out new responsibilities and liabilities for executives and boards of directors.

Fortune has praised the “new breed” of CEO: the latest crop pf CEOs is disciplined, deferential, even a bit dull. Less self-reliant, today’s CEOs turn to counselors to help “rehab behavior” to become self-aware, ever-improving and “the opposite of the Eronesque narcissist”. The opportunity to run a major company used to be an executive’s highest aspiration. Now more than half of senior executives surveyed said they would turn down the CEO position.

It happens that most CEOs have decided to lie low, hoping that the storm will pass. The Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs, has been relatively quiet of late; as Fortune reported, during key debates the organization ‘chose to work behind the scenes—and mostly to water down reforms’.

Some might feel little affinity with CEOs—their roles are not, after all, altruistic (利他的) or public-serving ones. But in slamming CEOs, critics often knock values worth defending in everyone—like leadership, individual achievement and ambition. Even the pursuit of self-interest and simply wanting more can be progressive. On the other hand, caution and modesty have their place, but they are not likely to produce innovative technology, build great cities or fight disease.

Geniuses, superstars, revolutionaries—we could do with some. 

单选题 According to the passage, that a great majority of American don’t put trust in CEOs is the outcome of _____.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】从第二段首句“But since Eaton and other scandals…mistrusting business leaders.”可知， 正是因为伊顿公司和其他一些丑闻的出现， 人们不再相信CEOs。
单选题 It can be inferred from the passage that _____.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】从第一段第一句即可推断CEO曾经被高度崇拜， B项正确。 选项A的说法过于绝对化， 因为第二段只是说现在CEO受到更多的管制与检查， 但不代表之前他们不受任何监督管理， 所以A项不正确。 从第二段第二句可看出， 人们现在已经不相信CEO了。 所以D项也不正确。
单选题 The new-generation CEOs show the following qualities except _____.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】文中未提及C项。 第五段第二句提到“Less self-reliant, today’s CEOs…become self-aware, ever-improving and ‘the opposite of the Eronesque narcissist’.”self-aware与A项相符， 都表示自我控制能力。 “ever-improving”与B项相符， 都表示自我提升能力。 “less self-reliant”与D项相符， 都表示更少的自力更生能力。
单选题 Which of the following statements is true?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】第六段第一句提到“It happens that most CEOs have decided to lie low, hoping that the storm will pass.”， 所以D正确。 第六段第二句提到“The Business Roundtable…water down reforms’”， 可见， 商业圆桌会议保持相对的沉默， 尽力淡化改革。 而C项的说法太绝对化了。 第五段最后一句说到“Now more than half of senior executives … CEO position.”大多半CEOs想拒绝这个职位， 但不是说没有一个人想担任这个职位， B项太过绝对化， 所以也不正确。
单选题 The author believes that _____.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】从最后一段“critics often knock…ambition.”可看作， 作者认为这些批评会打击那些值得每个人都维护的品质， 即leadership, individual achievement and ambition， 所以可见作者认为这些品质对人还是有积极作用的。 选项B正确， 从而A项可排除。 第七段最后一句说到“On the other hand, caution and modesty have their place…”， 可见作者也不否定caution and modesty的作用， 所以C项不正确。 从最后一段我们可以看出作者认为世界需要创新与改革， 所以D项也是不正确的。