Section A: Banked Cloze

Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.

Global Poverty and Charitable Giving

About 23% of the global population lives in absolute poverty. In developing countries, there is a low life expectancy, a high infant (26) ______ rate, high levels of unemployment and illiteracy, nutritional levels below acceptable standards and widespread disease with very little or poor-quality medical assistance. Others live (27) ______ wealthy and luxurious lives and so the wealth is distributed in a very (28) ______ manner. These are the central problems to questions of charity though charity also includes many other areas such as assisting the elderly.

We all (29) ______ when very rich people pledge to give away most of their billions, but they are usually left with millions to pass on, still much more than most people would expect to earn in their lifetime. Even comparatively (30) ______ salaries in the west are very high when compared globally. Someone on £20,000 could easily afford to give away £2,000 per year and still have plenty to live on plus some luxuries.

Most people agree that giving to charity is morally (31) ______ but charitable behaviour tends to be regarded as above and beyond the call of duty. Some argue, however, that charitable behaviour is morally required. This means that to fail to behave charitably would be wrong. The majority of arguments in this vein refer to giving aid to poorer nations but they may also refer to giving time within one’s (32) ______ community. Arguments tend to place different requirements on people in different income brackets and (33) ______ entirely people who are merely making ends meet. Some argue that people should all contribute a certain percentage of their earnings. I will (34) ______ together all those arguments that place a moral requirement on people to give to charity, despite the fact that there is wide disagreement as to the (35) ______ of that moral requirement.

A) applaud

B) casualty

C) exclude

D) extent

E) group

F) hierarchical

G) immediate

H) incredibly

I) moderate

J) mortality

K) overt

L) praiseworthy

M) probe

N) sceptically

O) unequal

Answers & Explanations (答案与解析)

Section A: Banked Cloze

26. J (mortality)。解析：空格在 infant 和 rate 之间。infant mortality rate 是固定的人口学术语，意为“婴儿死亡率”，是衡量发展中国家绝对贫困的常见指标。

27. H (incredibly)。解析：空格修饰形容词 wealthy and luxurious，需要填入副词。前文描述绝对贫困，此处为了形成强烈对比，说明另一些人过着“极其”富有和奢侈的生活，incredibly（难以置信地，极其）最符合语境。

28. O (unequal)。解析：空格位于 a very 和 manner 之间，需要填入形容词。前一句描述了绝对贫困与极其富有的对比，因此财富的分配方式是“不平等的”（unequal）。

29. A (applaud)。解析：空格位于主语 We all 之后，when 引导的从句之前，需要谓语动词。当富人承诺捐出数十亿时，我们的普遍反应是“赞赏/鼓掌”（applaud）。

30. I (moderate)。解析：空格修饰名词 salaries，且被副词 comparatively (相对地)修饰。后半句说即便如此在世界范围内也是很高的，说明在西方这些只是“中等的/适度的”（moderate）薪水。

31. L (praiseworthy)。解析：空格在副词 morally 之后，作系动词 is 的表语。句子大意是：大多数人同意向慈善机构捐款在道德上是“值得赞扬的”（praiseworthy），但往往被认为是超越职责范围的。

32. G (immediate)。解析：空格修饰名词 community。前一句对比了向贫穷国家提供援助，此处 immediate community 指“直接相关的/紧邻的社区”，即本地社区。

33. C (exclude)。解析：空格与前面的谓语动词 tend to place 并列，需要填入动词原形。句意：论点倾向于对不同收入群体提出不同要求，并“完全排除”（exclude entirely）那些仅仅勉强维持生计的人。

34. E (group)。解析：空格位于情态动词 will 和副词 together 之间，需要动词原形。group together 意为“把...归为一类”。作者表示将把所有强调慈善是道德要求的论点归为一类。

35. D (extent)。解析：空格位于 the 和 of that moral requirement 之间，需要填入名词。句意：尽管对于这种道德要求的“程度/范围”（extent）存在广泛分歧。

【核心搭配与亮点句型】

infant mortality rate：婴儿死亡率

above and beyond the call of duty：超越职责所在

in this vein：在这方面，按此思路

make ends meet：勉强维持生计，收支相抵

group together：把...归为一类，组合在一起

全文翻译

全球约23%的人口生活在绝对贫困中。在发展中国家，预期寿命低、婴儿死亡率高、失业率和文盲率高、营养水平低于可接受的标准、疾病广泛传播且几乎没有或只有质量很差的医疗援助。另一些人则过着富裕奢侈的生活，因此财富以一种非常不平等的方弎进行分配。这些是慈善问题的核心，尽管慈善还包括许多其他领域，如帮助老人。

当非常富有的人承诺捐出他们大部分数十亿资产时，我们都会表示赞赏，但他们通常还会留下数百万供传承，这仍然比大多数人一辈子预期能赚到的要多得多。即使是西方相对普通的薪资，在全球范围内比较时也是非常高的。一个年收入两万英镑的人完全可以轻松每年捐出两千英镑，仍然有足够的钱来生活并享受一些奢侈品。

大多数人都同意慈善捐赠在道德上是值得赞赏的，但慈善行为往往被视为超出职责要求的额外善举。然而，一些人认为慈善行为在道德上是必要的。这意味着，不进行慈善行为将是错误的。这类论点大部分指的是向较贫穷国家提供援助，但它们也可能指的是在自己所在社区内投入时间。论据往往对处于不同收入等级的人提出不同的要求，并完全豁免那些仅勉强维持生计的人。一些人认为每个人都应该捐出自己收入的一定比例。我将把所有那些对人们施加道德义务要求人们进行慈善捐赠的论点归为一组，尽管关于这一道德义务的程度存在广泛的分歧。