2014年山东大学考博英语完型填空和阅读试题

Passage Four ( 2004 年 6 月)

Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.

When we worry about who might be spying on our private lives, we usually think about the Federal agents. But the private sector outdoes the government every time. It's Linda Tripp, not the FBI, who is facing charges under Maryland 's laws against secret telephone taping. 'Ist our banks, not the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), that pass our private financial data to telemarketing firms. Consumer activists are pressing Congress for better privacy laws without much result so far. The legislators lean toward letting business people track our financial habits virtually at will.

As an example of what 's going on, consider U.S. Bancorp, which was recently sued for deceptive practices by the state of Minnesota. According to the lawsuit, the bank supplied a

telemarketer called Member Works with sensitive customer data such as names, phone numbers, bank-account and credit-card numbers, Social Security numbers, account balances and credit limits. With these customer lists in hand, Member Works started dialing for dollars-selling dental

plans, videogames, computer software and other products and services. Customers who accepted a “ freetrial offer ”had 30 days to cancel. If the deadline passed,they were charged automatically through their bank or credit-card accounts. U.S. Bancorp collected a share of the revenues.

Customers were doubly deceived, the lawsuit claims. They, didn't know that the bank was giving account numbers to MemberWorks. And if customers asked, they were led to think the answer was no.

The state sued MemberWorks separately for deceptive selling. The company denies that it did anything wrong. For its part, U.S. Bancorp settled without admitting any mistakes. But it agreed to stop exposing its customers to nonfinancial products sold by outside firms. A few top banks decided to do the same. Many other banks will still do business with MemberWorks and similar firms. And banks will still be mining data from your account in order to sell you financial products, including things of little value, such as credit insurance and credit-card protection plans.

You have almost no protection from businesses that use your personal accounts for profit. For example, no federal law shields “ transactionand experience ” information-mainly the details of your bank and credit-card accounts. Social Security numbers are for sale by private firms. They've generally agreed not to sell to the public. But to businesses, the numbers are an open book. Self-regulation doe'stnwork. A firm might publish a privacy-protection policy, but who enforces it?

Take U.S. Bancorp again. Customers were told, in writing, that “ allpersonal information you supply to us will be considered confidential.

merely “ shares ” it and reaps a profit. Now you know.

36. Contrary to popular belief, the author finds that spying on people's privacy

A) is practiced exclusively by the FBI B) is more prevale nt in bus in ess circles

u”r daTthaen it sold yo

to MemberWorks. The bank even claims that it doesn' t“ sell y”our data at all. It

C) has bee n in ten sified with the help of the IRS D) is mainly carried out by means of secret tap ing 37. We know from the passage that _______ .

A) the state of Minnesota is considering drawing up laws to protect private

in formatio n B) most states are turning a blind eye to the deceptive practices of private

bus in esses C) legislators are acting to pass a law to provide better privacy protect ion D) lawmakers are in cli ned to give a free hand to bus in esses to inquire into

customers' buying habits 38. When the “ freerial deadline is over, you ' be charged without notice for a

product or service if _______ .

A) you happe n to reveal your credit card nu mber B) you fail to can cel it with in the specified period C) you fail to apply for exte nsion of the deadli ne D) you find the product or service un satisfactory

39. Bus in esses do not regard in formati on concerning pers onal bank acco unts as

private because _______ .

A) it is con sidered law

B) it has always bee n con sidered an ope n secret by the gen eral public C) its sale can be brought under control through self-regulation

D) its revelation will do no harm to consumers under the current protection

policy 40. We can infer from the passage that ________ .

A) banks will have to cha nge their ways of doing bus in ess B) “ free trial ” practice will eventually be banned C) privacy protectio n laws will soon be en forced D) consumers privacy will continue to be invaded 36. B 37. D 1997年 6月

38. B 39. A 40. D “ tran sact ion and experie nee ” in formati on un protected by

Whether the eyes are “ thewindows of the soul ”is debatable, that they are intensely important in interpersonal communication is a fact. During the first two months of a baby's life, the stimulus that produces a smile is a pair of eyes. The eyes need not be real: a mask with two dots will produce a smile. Significantly, a real human face with eyes then the face will not motivate a smile, nor will the sight of only one eye then the face is presented in profile. This attraction to eyes as

opposed to the nose or mouth continues as the baby matures. In one study, when American four-year-olds were asked to draw people, 75 percent of them drew people with mouths, but 99 percent of them drew people with eyes. In Japan, however, where babies are carried on their mothe'rs back, infants to not acquire as much attachment to eyes as they do in other cultures. As a result, Japanese adults make little use of the face either to encode or decode meaning. In fact, Argyle revaels that the “ proper place to focus one's gaze during a conversation in Japan is on the neck of one's conversation partner. ” The role of eye contact in a conversational exchange between two Americans is well defined: speakers make contact with the eyes of their listener for about one second, then glance away as they talk; in a few moments they re-establish eye contact with the listener or reassure themselves that their audience is still attentive, then shift their gaze away once more. Listeners, meanwhile, keep their eyes on the face of the speaker, allowing themselves-to glance away only briefly. It is important that they be look ing at the speaker at the 'precise mome nt whe n the speaker

reestablisheseye contact: if they are not looking, the speaker assumes that they are disinterested and either will pause until eye contact is resumed or will terminate the conversation. Just how critical this eye maneuvering is to the maintenance of conversational flow becomes evident when two speakers are wearing dark glasses: there may be a sort of traffic jam of words caused by interruption, false starts, and unpredictable pauses. 36. The author is convinced that the eyes are _______ .

A) of extreme importance in expressing feelings and exchanging ideas B) something through which one can see a perso'sninner world C) of considerable significance in making conversations interesting D) something the value of which is largely a matter of long debate 37. Babies will not be stimulated to smile by a person _______ .

A) whose front view is fully perceived B) whose face is covered with a mask C) whose face is seen from the side D) whose face is free of any covering

38. According to the passage, the Japanesefix their gaze on their conversation

partner'sneck because _______ .

A) they don 'like to keep their eyes on the face of the speaker B) they n eed not com muni cate through eye con tact C) they don 'tth ink it polite to have eye con tact

D) they did n' have much opport un ity to com muni cate through eye con tact in

babyhood

39. Accord ing to the passage,a conv ersati on betwee n two America ns may break dow n due to _______ .