2015年MPA考试辅导英语讲义难点精析(42)

　　Passage 4

　　The world history of science has demonstrated that no scientific hypothesis (假设) is permanently correct. A scientific hypothesis can never be absolutely confirmed. It can only be partly confirmed. This is because we can never be absolutely certain that somewhere, someday, fresh evidence will not appear which will disprove the hypothesis. So the very general statements made by scientists are, strictly speaking, all hypothetical However, when a hypothesis has been in existence for a long period, and when a great deal of evidence of different kinds has been collected in its favor, scientists accept it as part of established scientific theory. Theory and fact depend on and mutually support each other. (112 words)

　　Passage 5

　　Banks are closely concerned with the flow of money into and out of the economy. They often co-operate with governments in efforts to stabilize economies and to prevent inflation. They are specialists in the business of providing capital, and in allocating funds on credit. Banks originated as places to which people took their valuables for safe, keeping, but today the great banks of the world have many functions in addition to acting as guardians of valuable private possessions.

　　We can say that the primary function of a bank today is to act as an intermediary between depositors who wish to make interest on their savings, and borrowers who wish to obtain capital. The bank is a reservoir of loanable money, with streams of money flowing in and out. For this reason, economists and financiers often talk of money being "liquid", or of the "liquidity" of money. (145 words)

　　Passage 6

　　Jobs and work do much more than most of us realize to provide happiness and contentment. We' re all used to thinking that work provides the material things of life- the goods and services that make possible our modern civilization. But we are much less conscious of the extent to which work provides the cultural life that can make the difference between a full or an empty life.

　　Rather than a punishment or a burden, work is the opportunity to realize one' s potential. The human being longs for a sense of being accomplished, of being able to do things, with his hand, with his mind, with his will. Each of us wants to feel he or she has the ability to do something that is meaningful. (127 words)

　　Passage 7

　　Many companies may be cutting expenses as much as possible, but arts sponsorship is doing better than ever. The trend is steadily upwards. Sponsorship overall now takes up perhaps $ 50 million, or three times as much as it did five years ago. Most of that may go on sport—but the spending on arts has risen the fastest of all and may now be worth $ 4 million a year.

　　The extra help is easy to explain. Banks, insurance companies, the oil industry and tobacco firms provide three quarters of the funds going into arts sponsorship. All four groups tend to be unpopular---which makes them all the keener to display their social concern and so build up some good will. (122 words)

　　Passage 8

　　It may also be said that reasonable, industrious, useful human beings are divided into two classes: first, those whose work is work and whose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly, those whose work and pleasure are one. Of these the former are the majority. They have their compensations. The long hours in'the-0'i'fice or the factory bring with them as their reward, not only the means of living, but a keen appetite for pleasure even in its simplest and most modest forms. But Fortune's favored children belong to the second class. Their life is a natural harmony. For them the working hours are never long enough. Each day is a holiday, and ordinary holidays when they come are regarded as enforced interruptions in their absorbing work. (124 words)

　　Passage 9

　　One of the really nice features about e-mails is that they allow us to send files as attachment s to Other users. This is a very good thing. If I'm working with a colleague and want to send him an image file or a word file, I can do so very quickly and easily, without having to fax it to him. This saves on long distance bills and printing costs. It also, however, presents a problem, because attachments can take a long time to download. For those of us who pay by the hour for Internet service, unwanted attachments can be quite costly and time-consuming. I once had someone send me fifteen large image files, and it tied up my computer for 20 minutes just to download one of them.. So, in short, if you’re going to send an attachment, get permission first. (143 words )

　　Passage 10

　　Locating a book online is one thing, reading it is quite another, for there is no artistically sensible substitute for the physical object. The computer revolution rolls on pitilessly, but the world is reading more paper books than ever. Indeed, so far from destroying libraries, the internet has protected the written word as never before, and rendered knowledge genuinely democratic. Enthusiasts always attack the libraries first, dictators seek to control the literature, elites keep hidden the knowledge that is power. With the online library, the books are finally safe, and the book destroyers have been beaten, for ever.

　　But the traditional library will also survive, because a library is central to our understanding of what it is to be human. Eve since the first clay tablets were collected in Mesopotamia, Man has wanted not merely to obtain and master knowledge, but to preserve it, to hold it in is hand. Moreover, libraries are not just for reading in, but for sociable thinking, exploring, and exchanging ideas. They were never silent and technology will not change that. Finding a book online should be the beginning not the end, of the processes of discovery. ( 192 words )