2024年暨南大学211翻译硕士英语考研真题
Passage 3
Questions 45 to 50 are based on the following passage.
In the eighteenth century, Japan’s feudal overlords, from the shogun to the humblest samurai, found themselves under financial stress. In part, this stress can be attributed to the overlords’ failure to adjust to a rapidly expanding economy, but the stress was also due to factors beyond the overlords’ control. Concentration of the samurai in castle-towns had acted as a stimulus to trade. Commercial efficiency, in turn, had put temptations in the way of buyers. Since most samurai had been reduced to idleness by years of peace, encouraged to engage in scholarship and martial exercises or to perform administrative tasks that took little time, it is not surprising that their tastes and habits grew expensive. Overlords’ income, despite the increase in rice production among their tenant farmers, failed to keep pace with their expenses. Although shortfalls in overlordsincome resulted almost as much from laxity among their tax collectors (the nearly inevitable outcome of hereditary office-holding) as from their higher standards of living, a misfortune like a fire or flood, bringing an increase in expenses or a drop in revenue, could put a domain in debt to the city rice-brokers who handled its finances. Once in debt, neither the individual samurai nor the shogun himself found it easy to recover. It was difficult for individual samurai overlords to increase their income because the amount of rice that farmers could be made to pay in taxes was not unlimited, and since the income of Japan’central government consisted in s part of taxes collected by the shogun from his huge domain, the government too was constrained. Therefore, the Tokugawa shoguns began to look to other sources for revenue. Cash profits from government-owned mines were already on the decline because the most easily worked deposits of silver and gold had been exhausted, although debasement of the coinage had compensated for the loss. Opening up new farmland was a possibility, but most of what was suitable had already been exploited and further reclamation was technically unfeasible. Direct taxation of the samurai themselves would be politically dangerous. This left the shoguns only commerce as a potential source of government income.
Most of the country’s wealth, or so it seemed, was finding its way into the hands of city merchants. It appeared reasonable that they should contribute part of that revenue to ease the shogun’s burden of financing the state. A means of obtaining such revenue was soon found by levying forced loans, known as goyo-kin; although these were not taxes in the strict sense, since they were irregular in timing and arbitrary in amount, they were high in yield. Unfortunately, they pushed up prices. Thus, regrettably, the Tokugawa shoguns’ search for solvency for the government made it increasingly difficult for individual Japanese who lived on fixed stipends to make ends meet.
45. Which of the following financial situations is most analogous to the financial situation
in which Japan’s Tokugawa shoguns found themselves in the eighteenth century?
A. A small business borrows heavily to invest in new equipment, but is able to pay off
its debt early when it is awarded a lucrative government contract.
考试科目：翻译硕士英语共14 页，第10 页
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2024年暨南大学211翻译硕士英语考研真题
B. Fire destroys a small business, but insurance covers the cost of rebuilding.
C. A small business is turned down for a loan at a local bank because the owners have
no credit history. D. A small business has to struggle to meet operating expenses when its profits
decrease.
46. According to the passage, the major reason for the financial problems experienced by
Japan’s feudal overlords in the eighteenth century was that ________.
A. spending had outdistanced income B. trade had fallen off
C. profits from mining had declined D. the coinage had been sharply debased
47. The passage implies that individual samurai did not find it easy to recover from debt
for which of the following reasons?
A. Agricultural production had increased.
B. Taxes were irregular in timing and arbitrary in amount.
C. There was a limit to the amount in taxes that farmers could be made to pay. D. The domains of samurai overlords were becoming smaller and poorer as
government revenues increased.
48. The passage suggests that, in eighteenth-century Japan, the office of tax collector
A. was a source of personal profit to the officeholder B. was regarded with derision by many Japanese C. remained within families D. existed only in castle-towns
49. The passage implies that which of the following was the primary reason why the
Tokugawa shoguns turned to city merchants for help in financing the state?
A. A series of costly wars had depleted the national treasury. B. Most of the country
’s wealth appeared to be in city merchants
’ hands.
C. Japan had suffered a series of economic reversals due to natural disasters such as
floods. D. The merchants were already heavily indebted to the shoguns.
50. According to the passage, the actions of the Tokugawa shoguns in their search for
solvency for the government were regrettable because those actions
考试科目：翻译硕士英语
共14 页，第11 页
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2024年暨南大学211翻译硕士英语考研真题
A. raised the cost of living by pushing up prices
B. resulted in the exhaustion of the most easily worked deposits of silver and gold C. were far lower in yield than had originally been anticipated D. did not succeed in reducing government spending Section B Short-Answer Questions (20%)
Passage 4
Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.
Kazuko Nakane’s history of the early Japanese immigrants to central CaliforniaPajaro Valley focuses on the development of farming communities there from 1890 to 1940. The Issei (first-generation immigrants) were brought into the Pajaro Valley to raise sugar beets. Like Issei laborers in American cities, Japanese men in rural areas sought employment via the “boss” system. The system comprised three elements: immigrant wage laborers; Issei boardinghouses where laborers stayed; and labor contractors, who gathered workers for a particular job and then negotiated a contract between workers and employer. This same system was originally utilized by the Chinese laborers who had preceded the Japanese. A related institution was the “labor club,” which provided job information and negotiated employment contracts and other legal matters, such as the rental of land, for Issei who chose to belong and paid an annual fee to the cooperative for membership.
When the local sugar beet industry collapsed in 1902, the Issei began to lease land from the valley’s strawberry farmers. The Japanese provided the labor and the crop was divided between laborers and landowners. The Issei thus moved quickly from wage-labor employment to sharecropping agreements. A limited amount of economic progress was made as some Issei were able to rent or buy farmland directly, while others joined together to form farming corporations. As the Issei began to operate farms, they began to marry and start families, forming an established Japanese American community. Unfortunately, the Issei’efforts s to attain agricultural independence were hampered by government restrictions, such as the Alien Land Law of 1913. But immigrants could circumvent such exclusionary laws by leasing or purchasing land in their American-born children’s names.
Nakane’s case study of one rural Japanese American community provides valuable information about the lives and experiences of the Issei. It is, however, too particularistic. This limitation derives from Nakane’s methodology—that of oral history—which csubstitute for a broader theoretical or comparative perspective. Future research might well consider two issues raised by her study: were the Issei of the Pajaro Valley similar to or different from Issei in urban settings, and what variations existed between rural Japanese American communities?
考试科目：翻译硕士英语共14 页，第12 页
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2024年暨南大学211翻译硕士英语考研真题
51. What is the primary purpose of the passage?
52. According to the passage, what is the name of the cooperative association whose members were dues-paying Japanese laborers? 53. What can you infer from the passage about immigrants’ landownership as prescribed by the Alien Land Law of 1913? 54. Several Issei families join together to purchase a strawberry field and the necessary farming equipment. What does such a situation best exemplify, as is described in the passage? 55. In the last paragraph, why does the author say that the study is too particularistic? Passage 5
Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.
All of the cells in a particular plant start out with the same complement of genes. How then can these cells differentiate and form structures as different as roots, stems, leaves, and fruits? The answer is that only a small subset of the genes in a particular kind of cell are expressed, or turned on, at a given time. This is accomplished by a complex system of chemical messengers that in plants include hormones and other regulatory molecules. Five major hormones have been identified: auxin, abscisic acid, cytokinin, ethylene, and gibberellin. Studies of plants have now identified a new class of regulatory molecules called oligosaccharins.
Unlike the oligosaccharins, the five well-known plant hormones are pleiotropic rather than specific; that is, each has more than one effect on the growth and development of plants. The five has so many simultaneous effects that they are not very useful in artificially controlling the growth of crops. Auxin, for instance, stimulates the
rate of cell elongation, causes shoots to grow up and roots to grow down, and inhibits the growth of lateral shoots. Auxin also causes the plant to develop a vascular system, to form lateral roots, and to produce ethylene.
The pleiotropy of the five well-studied plant hormones is somewhat analogous to that of certain hormones in animal. For example, hormones from the hypothalamus in the brain stimulate the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland to synthesize and release many different hormones, one of which stimulates the release of hormones from the adrenal cortex. These hormones have specific effects on target organs all over the body. One hormone stimulates the thyroid gland, for example, another the ovarian follicle cells, and so forth. In other words, there is a hierarchy of hormones. Such a hierarchy may also exist in plants. Oligosaccharins are fragments of the cell wall released by enzymes: different enzymes release different oligosaccharins. There are indications that pleiotropic plant hormones may actually function by activating the enzymes that release these other, more specific chemical messengers from the cell wall.
考试科目：翻译硕士英语共14 页，第13 页
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2024年暨南大学211翻译硕士英语考研真题
56. According to the passage, why are the five well-known plant hormones not useful in artificially controlling the growth of crops? 57. In terms of their place in hormonal hierarchies, which hormones in animals are similar to the five well-known plant hormones? 58. What does the author intend to illustrate by mentioning specific effects that auxin has on plant development? 59. Why does the author discuss animal hormones?
60. How do plant hormones work in the process of cells differentiating and forming different structures of plants? III. Writing (30%)
Directions:In this part you are going to write an essay of about 400-500 words within
60 minutes on the following topic. Write your essay on the Answer Sheet. Extracurricular classes or private supplementary tutoring is growing around the world, particularly in China. Normally, in major Chinese cities, children have two or three extra lessons outside school. Parents in China pay much for their children to be tutored as they may feel inadequate if they do not help their child succeed in every way. However, it does pile economic pressure on parents and increase study burden of pupils. Are extracurricular classes necessary for students in China? Please develop your point of view into a 400-500 words article.
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暨南大学211翻译硕士英语专业课考研真题(2024年)
