2013年全国硕士研究生招生考试英语（二）试题Section I Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)Given the advantages of electronic money, you might think that we would move quickly to the cashless society in which all payments are made electronically. 1 , a true cashless society is probably not around the corner. Indeed, predictions have been 2 for two decades but have not yet come to fruition. For example, Business Week predicted in 1975 that electronic means of payment would soon “revolutionize the very 3 of money itself,” only to 4 itself several years later. Why has the movement to a cashless society been so 5 in coming?Although electronic means of payment may be more efficient than a payments system based on paper, several factors work 6 the disappearance of the paper system. First, it is very 7 to set up the computer, card reader, and telecommunications networks necessary to make electronic money the 8 form of payment. Second, paper checks have the advantage that they 9 receipts, something that many consumers are unwilling to 10 . Third, the use of paper checks gives consumers several days of “float”it takes several days 11 a check is cashed and funds are 12 from the issuers account, which means that the writer of the check can earn interest on the funds in the meantime. 13 electronic payments are immediate, they eliminate the float for the consumer. Fourth, electronic means of payment may 14 security and privacy concerns. We often hear media reports that an unauthorized hacker has been able to access a computer database and to alter information 15 there. The fact that this is not an 16 occurrence means that dishonest persons might be able to access bank accounts in electronic payments systems and 17 from someone elses accounts. The 18 of this type of fraud is no easy task, and a new field of computer science is developing to 19 security issues. A further concern is that the use of electronic means of payment leaves an electronic 20 that contains a large amount of personal data. There are concerns that government, employers, and marketers might be able to access these data, thereby violating our privacy.1. A MoreoverB HoweverC Therefore D Otherwise2. A off B back C over D around3. A power B concept C history D role4. A reverse B resist C resume D reward5. A silent B sudden C slow D steady6. A for B against C with D on7. A expensive B imaginative C sensitive D productive8. A similar B original C temporary D dominant9. A collect B copyC provide D print10. A give up B take over C bring back D pass down11. A before B after C since D when12. A kept B borrowed C withdrawn D released13. A Unless B Because C UntilD Though14. A hide B express C easeD raise15. A analyzed B shared C stored D displayed16. A unsafe B unnatural C unclear D uncommon17. A steal B choose C benefit D return18. A consideration B prevention C manipulation D justification19. A call for B fight against C adapt to D cope with20. A chunk B chip C trailD pathSection II Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four texts. Answer the questions after each text by choosing A, B, C or D Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)Text 1In an essay entitled “Making It in America,” the author Adam Davidson relates a joke from cotton country about just how much a modern textile mill has been automated: The average mill has only two employees today, “a man and a dog. The man is there to feed the dog, and the dog is there to keep the man away from the machines.”Davidsons article is one of a number of pieces that have recently appeared making the point that the reason we have such stubbornly high unemployment and declining middle-class incomes today is largely because of the big drop in demand because of the Great Recession, but it is also because of the advances in both globalization and the information technology revolution, which are more rapidly than ever replacing labor with machines or foreign workers.In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle. But, today, average is officially over. Being average just wont earn you what it used to. It cant when so many more employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius. Therefore, everyone needs to find their extratheir unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employmen