Part A: Reading Comprehension

Directions: Read the following text. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 4

Two years ago, Rupert Murdoch’s daughter, Elisabeth, spoke of the “unsettling dearth of integrity across so many of our institutions.” Integrity had collapsed, she argued, because of a collective acceptance that the only “sorting mechanism” in society should be profit and the market. But “it’s us, human beings, we the people who create the society we want, not profit.”

Driving her point home, she continued: “It’s increasingly apparent that the absence of purpose, of a moral language within government, media or business could become one of the most dangerous own goals for capitalism and freedom.” This same absence of moral purpose was wounding companies such as News International, she thought, making it more likely that it would lose its way as it had with widespread illegal telephone hacking.

As the hacking trial concludes-finding guilty one ex-editor of the News of the World, Andy Coulson, for conspiring to hack phones, and finding his predecessor, Rebekah Brooks, innocent of the same charge-the wider issue of dearth of integrity still stands. Journalists are known to have hacked the phones of up to 5,500 people. This is hacking on an industrial scale, as was acknowledged by Glenn Mulcaire, the man hired by the News of the World in 2001 to be the point person for phone hacking. Others await trial. This long story still unfolds.

In many respects, the dearth of moral purpose frames not only the fact of such widespread phone hacking but the terms on which the trial took place. One of the astonishing revelations was how little Rebekah Brooks knew of what went on in her newsroom, how little she thought to ask and the fact that she never inquired how the stories arrived. The core of her successful defence was that she knew nothing.

In today’s world, it has become normal that well-paid executives should not be accountable for what happens in the organisations that they run. Perhaps we should not be so surprised. For a generation, the collective doctrine has been that the sorting mechanism of society should be profit. The words that have mattered are efficiency, flexibility, shareholder value, business-friendly, wealth generation, sales, impact and, in newspapers, circulation. Words degraded to the margin have been justice, fairness, tolerance, proportionality and accountability.

The purpose of editing the News of the World was not to promote reader understanding, to be fair in what was written or to betray any common humanity. It was to ruin lives in the quest for circulation and impact. Ms Brooks may or may not have had suspicions about how her journalists got their stories, but she asked no questions, gave no instructions-nor received traceable, recorded answers.

36. According to the first two paragraphs, Elisabeth was upset by

[A]

the consequences of the current sorting mechanism. 

[B]

companies’ financial loss due to immoral practices. 

[C]

governmental ineffectiveness on moral issues. 

[D]

the wide misuse of integrity among institutions. 

37. It can be inferred from Paragraph 3 that

[A]

Glenn Mulcaire may deny phone hacking as a crime. 

[B]

more journalists may be found guilty of phone hacking. 

[C]

Andy Coulson should be held innocent of the charge. 

[D]

phone hacking will be accepted on certain occasions. 

38. The author believes that Rebekah Brooks’s defence

[A]

was hardly convincing. 

[B]

centered on trivial issues. 

[C]

revealed a cunning personality. 

[D]

was part of a conspiracy. 

39. The author holds that the current collective doctrine shows

[A]

a marginalized lifestyle. 

[B]

unfair wealth distribution. 

[C]

generally distorted values. 

[D]

a rigid moral code. 

40. Which of the following is suggested in the last paragraph?

[A]

The quality of writings is of primary importance. 

[B]

Moral awareness matters in editing a newspaper. 

[C]

Common humanity is central to news reporting. 

[D]

Journalists need stricter industrial regulations. 

Answers & Explanations (答案与深度解析)

试题精解

36. [A] the consequences of the current sorting mechanism.
【解析】细节原因题。第一、二段中，Elisabeth 抱怨了我们机构中“令人不安的诚信匮乏”，她认为其原因在于社会共同接受了“利润和市场”作为唯一的“筛选机制（sorting mechanism）”。第二段指出，这种道德目的的缺失（即筛选机制带来的后果）可能成为资本主义最危险的“乌龙球”，并且正在“伤害（wounding）”新闻国际等公司。因此，让她感到不安的正是当前筛选机制所带来的“后果（consequences）”。

37. [B] more journalists may be found guilty of phone hacking.
【解析】段落推理题。第三段提到，除了已被定罪的前编辑，已知记者窃听了多达 5500 人的电话，这是工业规模的窃听。而且“Others await trial. This long story still unfolds.（其他人正在等待审判。这个长篇故事仍在展开）”。由此可以推断，随着审判的进行，可能会有“更多的记者被判犯有窃听电话罪（more journalists may be found guilty）”。

38. [A] was hardly convincing.
【解析】观点态度题。第四段中，作者使用了强烈的讽刺语调：“令人震惊的启示之一是 Rebekah Brooks 对自己新闻编辑室里发生的事知道得少之又少... 她成功辩护的核心竟是她什么都不知道（she knew nothing）”。作者用“astonishing revelations（令人震惊的启示）”来形容这一现象，显然认为一个高管对自己部门发生的大规模窃听案一无所知是极其荒谬的，即她的辩护是“难以令人信服的（hardly convincing）”。

39. [C] generally distorted values.
【解析】细节推断题。第五段指出，我们这一代人的“集体信条（collective doctrine）”是社会的筛选机制应该是利润。因此，“效率、灵活性、股东价值、销售额”等词语变得重要，而“正义、公平、宽容、问责”等词语却被“贬低到了边缘（degraded to the margin）”。这清楚地表明，当前社会的信条展现出了一种“普遍扭曲的价值观（generally distorted values）”。

40. [B] Moral awareness matters in editing a newspaper.
【解析】段落推理题。最后一段指出，《世界新闻报》编辑的目的不是为了促进读者理解，不是为了公平，甚至不惜违背任何共同的人性（betray any common humanity）。其目的是“为了追求发行量和影响力而毁掉别人的生活（ruin lives）”。作者通过强烈批判这种丧失道德底线的办报目的，从反面暗示了：在编辑报纸时，“道德意识至关重要（Moral awareness matters）”。

考研核心句型与长难句

【长难句剖析】

1. 精彩的体育隐喻：
"It’s increasingly apparent that the absence of purpose, of a moral language within government, media or business could become one of the most dangerous own goals for capitalism and freedom."
【解析】句中的 own goals 是一个绝佳的隐喻，原指足球比赛中的“乌龙球”，在这里引申为资本主义和自由因为自身道德约束的缺失而“搬起石头砸自己的脚”。

2. 并列宾语与讽刺语调：
"One of the astonishing revelations was how little Rebekah Brooks knew of what went on in her newsroom, how little she thought to ask and the fact that she never inquired how the stories arrived."
【解析】was 后面接了三个并列的表语部分：两个由 how little 引导的从句，以及一个名词短语 the fact (后面带 that 引导的同位语从句)。作者连用三个长句排比，将身为高管却以“无知”来逃避责任的荒谬感推向高潮。

3. 被动语态与价值错位：
"Words degraded to the margin have been justice, fairness, tolerance, proportionality and accountability."
【解析】这是一个主语被很长后置定语修饰的句子，正常语序是 Justice, fairness... have been words (which are) degraded to the margin。作者故意把 Words degraded to the margin 放在句首，与上一句的 The words that have mattered 形成工整的对仗，凸显了当今社会金钱至上、道德边缘化的严重错位。