T ext 1
①Of all the change s that have takenplacein Englis h-langua ge newspa persduring the past quarte r-centur y, perhap s the most far-reachi ng has been the inexor abledeclin e in the scopeand seriou sness of theirarts covera ge.
①It is diffic ult to the pointof imposs ibili ty for the averag e reader underthe age of fortyto imagin e a time when high-qualit y arts critic ism couldbe foundin most big-city newspa pers.②Yet a consid erabl e number of the most signif icant collec tions of critic ism publis hed in the 20th centur y consis ted in largepart of newspa per review s. ③ To read such bookstodayis to marvel at the fact that theirlearne d conten ts were once deemed suitab le for public ation in genera l-circul ation dailie s.
① We are even farthe r remove d from the unfocu sed newspa per review s publis hed in Englan d betwee n the turn of the 20th centur y and the eve of WorldWar 2,at a time when newspr int was dirt-cheapand stylis h arts critic ism was consid eredan orname nt to the public ation s in whichit appear ed. ②In thosefar-off days, it was takenfor grante d that the critic s of majorpapers wouldwritein detail and at length aboutthe events they covere d. ③Theirs was a seriou s busine ss. and even thosereview s who wore theirlearni ng lightl y, like George Bernar d Shaw and Ernest Newman, couldbe truste d to know wh
at they were about.④Thesemen believ ed in journa lismas a callin g, and were proudto be publis hed in the dailypress.⑤So few author s have brains enough or litera ry gift enough to keep theirown end up in ournal ism,Newman wrote, "that I am tempte d to define "journa lism" as "a term of contem pt applie d by writer s who are not read to writer s who are".
①Unfort unate ly, thesecritic s are virtua lly forgot ten. ②Nevill e Cardus, who wrotefor the Manche sterGuardi an from 1917 untilshortl y before his deathin 1975, is now knownsolely as a writer of essays on the game of cricke t. ③During his lifeti me, though, he was also one of Englan d's foremo st classi cal-musiccritic s, and a stylis t so widely admire d that his Autobi ograp hy (1947) became a best-seller. ④He was knight ed in 1967, the firstmusiccritic to be so honore d.
⑤Yet only one of his booksis now in print, and his vast body of writin gs on musicis unknow n save to specia lists.
①Is thereany chance that Cardus's critic ism will enjoya reviva l? ②The prospe ct seemsremote.③Journa listi c tastes had change d long before his death, and postmo dernreader s have little use for the richly uphost eredVicwar dianprosein whichhe specia lized. ④Moreov er,the amateu r tradit ion in musiccritic ism has been in headlo ng retrea t.
全文翻译：
在过去的25 年英语报纸所发生的变化中，影响最深远的可能就是它们对艺术方面的报道在范围上毫无疑问的缩小了，而且这些报道的严肃程度也绝对降低了。
sp文对于年龄低于40岁的普通读者来讲，让他们想象一下当年可以在许多大城市报纸上读到精品的文艺评论简直几乎是天方夜谭。然而，在20世纪出版的最重要的文艺评论集中，人们读到的大部分评论文章都是从报纸上收集而来。现在，如果读到这些集子，人们肯定会惊诧，当年这般渊博深奥的内容竟然被认为适合发表在大众日报中。
从20世纪早期到二战以前，当时的英国报纸上的评论主题广泛，包罗万象，我们现在离此类报纸评论越来越远。当时的报纸极其便宜，人们把高雅时尚的文艺批评当作是所刊登报纸的一个亮点。在那些遥远的年代，各大报刊的评论家们都会不遗余力地详尽报道他们所报道的事情，这在当时被视为是理所当然的事情。他们的写作是件严肃的事情，人们相信：甚至那些博学低调不喜欢炫耀的评论家，比如 George Bernar d Shaw 和 Ernest Newman也知道自己在做什么（即他们的文章会高调出现在报纸上）。这些批评家们相信报刊评论是一项职业，并且对于他们的文章能够在报纸上发表感到很自豪。“鉴于几乎没有作家能拥有足够的智慧或文学天赋以保证他们在新闻报纸写作中站稳脚跟”， Newman曾写道，“我倾向于把…新闻写作‟定义为不受读者欢迎的作家用来嘲讽受读者欢迎的作家的一个…轻蔑之词‟”
不幸的是，这些批评家们现在实际上已被人们遗忘。从1917 年开始一直到1975 年去世不久前还在为曼彻斯特《卫报》写文章的 Nevill e Cardus，如今仅仅作为一个撰写关于板球比赛文章的作家被人们所知。但是，在他的一生当中，他也是英国首屈一指的古典音乐评论家之一。他也是一位深受读者青睐的文体家，所以1947 年他的《自传》一书就成为热销读物。1967 年他被授予爵士称号，也是第一位获此殊荣的音乐评论家。然而，他的书现在只有一本可以在市面上买到。他大量的音乐批评，除了专门研究音乐评论的人以外，已鲜为人知。
Cardus的评论有没有机会重新流行？前景似乎渺茫。在他去世之前，新闻业的品味早已改变很长时间了，而且他所擅长的措词华丽的维多利亚爱德华时期的散文风格对后现代的读者没有什么用处。何况，由业余爱好者作音乐批评的传统早已经成为昨日黄花了。
Text 2
Over the past decade, thousa nds of patent s have seen grante d for what are called busine ss method s. Amazon receiv edoneforits“one-click”online paymen t system. Merril l Lynchgot legalprotec tionfor an assetalloca tionstrate gy. One invent or patent ed a techni que for lyinga box. Now the nation‟stoppatent courtappear s comple tely-proper ty lawyer s abuzzthe U.S. courtof Appeal s for the federa l circui t said it woulduse a partic ularcase to conduc t a broadreview of busine ss-method paten
t s. In the Bilski, as the case is known,isa“verybigdeal”, says Dennis‟DCrouch of the Univer sityof Missou ri School of law. It“hasthepotent ial to elimin ate an entire classof patent s.”
Curbson busine ss-method claims wouldbe a dramat ic about-face, becaus e it was the federa l circui t itself that introd ucedsuch patent s with is 1998 decisi on in the so-called stateStreet Bank case, approv ing a patent on a way of poolin g mutual-fund assets. That ruling produc ed an explos ion in busine ss-method patent filing s, initia lly by emergi ng intern et compan ies trying to stakeout exclus ive pinhts to specif ic typesof online transa ction s. Later,move establ ished compan ies racedto add such patent s to theirfiles, if only as a defens ive move agains t rivals that mightbent them to the punch. In 2005, IBM notedin a courtfiling that it had been issued more than 300 busine ss-method patent s despit e the fact that it questi onedthe legalbasisfor granti ng them. Simila rly, some Wall Street invest mentfilmsarmedthemse lveswith patent s for financ ial produc ts, even as they took positi ons in courtcasesopposi ng the practi ce.
The Bilski case involv es a claime d patent on a method for hedgin g risk in the energy market. The Federa l circui t issued an unusua l orderstatin g that the case wouldbe heardby all 12 of the court‟sjudges, rather than a typica l panelof threeand that one issueit wantsto evalua te is
weathe r it should“recons ider”itss tatestreet Bank ruling.
The Federa l Circui t‟saction comesin the wake of a series of recent decisi ons by the suprem e Countthat has narrow ed the scopeof protec tions for patent holder s. Last April, for exampl e the justic es signal ed that too many patent s were beingupheldfor“invent ions”thatareobviou s. The judges on the Federa l circui tare“reacti ng to the anti_p atent trendat the suprem e court”, says Harole C.wegner, a parten d attorn ey and profes sor at aeorge Washin gtonUniver sityLaw School.
Text 3
① In his book The Tippin g Point, Malcol m Aladue ll arguesthat“social epidem ics”aredriven in largepart by the action s of a tiny minori ty of specia l indivi duals, oftencalled influe ntial s, who are unusua lly inform ed, persua sive, or well connec ted. ②The idea is intuit ively compel ling, but it doesn‟texplai n how ideasactual ly spread.
①The suppos ed import anceof influe ntial s derive s from a plausi ble-soundi ng but largel y untest ed theory calledthe“two-step flow of commun icati on”: Inform ation flowsfrom the media
to the influe ntial s and from them to everyo ne else. ② Market ers have embrac ed the two-step flow becaus e it sugges ts that if they can just find and influe nce the influe ntial s, thoseselect people will do most of the work for them. ③The theory also seemsto explai n the sudden and unexpe ctedpopula r
ityof certai n looks, brands, or neighb orhoo ds. ④In many such cases, a cursor y search for causes findsthat some smallgroupof people was wearin g, promot ing, or develo pingwhatev er it
is before anyone else paid attent ion. ⑤Anecdo tal eviden ce of this kind fits nicely with the idea that only certai n specia l people can drivetrends.
①In theirrecent work, howeve r, some resear chers have come up with the findin g that
influe ntial s have far less impact on social epidem ics than is genera lly suppos ed. ② In fact, they don‟tseemtoberequir ed of all. ③ The resear chers‟argume nt stemsfrom a simple observ ation aboutsocial influe nce, with the except ion of a few celebr ities like OprahWinfre y — whose
outsiz e presen ce is primar ily a functi on of media, not interp erson al, influe nce — even the most influe ntial member s of a popula tionsimplydon‟tintera ct with that many others. ④Yet it is
precis ely thesenoncel ebrit y influe ntial s who, accord ing to the two-step-flow theory, are suppos ed to drivesocial epidem ics by influe ncing theirfriend s and collea guesdirect ly. ⑤ For a social epidem ic to occur, howeve r, each person so affect ed, must then influe nce his or her own
acquai ntanc es, who must in turn influe nce theirs, and so on; ⑥and just how many others pay attent i
on to each of thesepeople has little to do with the initia l influe ntial. ⑦ If people in the networ k just two degree s remove d from the initia l influe ntial proveresist ant, for exampl e, the cascad e of changewon‟tpro pag ate very far or affect many people.
①Buildi ng on the basictruthaboutinterp erson al influe nce, the resear chers studie d the
dynami cs of social contag ion by conduc tingthousa nds of comput er simula tions of popula tions, manipu latin g a number of variab les relati ng to people‟sabilit y to influe nce others and their
tenden cy to be influe nced.
全文翻译：
在《引爆流行》这本书中，作者 Malcol m Gladwe ll 认为社会流行潮流在很大程度上是由一小部分特殊个体的行为引起的，这些人就是人们常说的影响者。他们异乎寻常的博闻多识，
能言善辩，人脉广泛。从直觉上讲，Malcol m Gladwe ll的理论似乎很有说服力，但是它没有解释流行观念的实际传播过程。
人们之所以认为影响者很重要，是因为受到了“两级传播”理论的影响，即信息先从媒体流向影响者，然
后再从影响者流向其他人。这一理论看似合理，但未经验证。营销人员接受两级传播理论是因为该理论认为，如果他们能够到影响者，并对他们施加影响，这些精英们就会替他们完成大部分的营销传播工作。这一理论似乎还可以解释某些装扮、品牌或社区为何会突然受到出乎意料的追捧。对于许多诸如此类的情况，如果只是走马观花地寻原因，你会发现总是有一小人开风气之先，率先穿上、宣传和开发人们此前从未留意的东西。这种事实证据与该观点正好一拍即合——只有一些特别的人才能引领潮流。
但是，在最近的研究中，一些研究人员发现，影响者对社会流行潮流的影响力远比人们认为的要小。事实上，他们似乎根本就是无关紧要。
研究者的观点源于对社会影响力的简单观察：除了少数像OprahWinfre y 这样的名人之外（她强大的人气影响力主要来自媒体影响力，而非她与观众互动的人际影响力），即使人中最有影响力的人也无法与那么多的“其他人”互动，从而引领潮流。然而，根据两级传播理论，正是这些非名人影响者直接影响了他们的朋友和同事，从而推动了社会流行潮流。但是，要让一种社会流行潮流真正发生，每个受影响的人还必须影响他的熟人，而他的熟人又必须影响其他熟人，依此类推；但是会有多少人去关注这些熟人中的每个人，与最初的影响者几乎没有关系。举个例子来说，在这个人际影响的网络中，如果第一个影响者受到两次抵制，那么他的连锁影响范围就不会继续扩大，或者说影响的人不会很多。
基于这一人际影响力的基本事实，研究者们研究了社会影响的动力机制。我们对不同人进行了成千上万次计算机模拟，不断调整人们影响他人和受他人影响的各种变量。他们发现，人们所说的“全球连锁反应”——影响力通过（人际）网络进行广泛传播——发生的主要前提，并不取决于是否存在着那么几个影响者，而主要取决于易受影响的人们是否达到了临界数量。
Text 4
（注：本文含有的生词和难句较多，考研阅读的原则是过难的单词和句子一定不会出题，在考场上紧紧抓住能看懂的句子即可，因为文章上下文的意思都是有密切关联的。笔者把本文无需看懂的句子用删除线标出来，以便于学生更好的复习。示例：not the pricemanage rs and regula torswouldlike them to fetch.）
第一部分：36题
全文翻译：
台面上，银行家们将他们的麻烦归咎于己身，台面下，他们一直把目标对准他人：会计准则制定者。银行业抱怨会计规则迫使他们报告巨大损失，认为这不公平。规则规定他们必须以第三方付出价格来评估部分资产的价值，而非按照管理者和监管者期望该资产能够获得的价格。
不幸的是，银行的游说活动看来已显成效。其中细节可能无法获知，但是准则制定者在独立性方面——这正是资产市场正常运行的关键——已经做出妥协了。银行如果不以能够吸引买家的价格计量有毒资产，银行系统的复苏将会非常困难。
美国FASB（财务会计准则委员会）在与国会激烈摩擦之后，匆匆通过了规则的修改。这些修改使得银行在使用模型评估非流动资产方面用有更大的自由，同时使得它们确认收益表中长期资产损失时更为灵活。FASB 主席Bob Herz大声反对那些“怀疑我们的动机”的人们。然而银行股票上涨了，这些修改强化了“管理层使用理性判断”的说法，这种说法是一个游说团的客气之言。
欧洲的部长们立刻要求国际会计准则委员会(IASB)也这么做。IASB 表示它不想没有完整计划就冒然行动，但它在今年下半年完成规则修订时必须屈服的压力十分巨大。欧洲委
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