2000年Passage 5

If ambition is to be well regarded, the rewards of ambition health, distinction, control over one's destiny must be deemed worthy of the sacrifices made on ambition's behalf. If the tradition of ambition is to have vitality, it must be widely shared; and it especially must be highly regarded by people who are themselves admired, the educated not least among them. In an odd way, However, it is the educated who have claimed to have give up on have give up on ambition as an ideal. What is odd is that they have perhaps most benefited from ambition-if not always their own the that of their parents and grandparents. There is heavy note of hypocrisy in this, a case of closing the barn door after the horses have escaped with the educated themselves riding on them.

Certainly people do not seem less interested in success and its signs now than formerly. Summer homes, European travel, BMWs. The locations, place names and name brands may change, but such items do not seem less in demand today than a decade or two years ago. What has happened is that people cannot confess fully to their dreams, as easily and openly as once they could, lest they be thought pushing, acquisitive and vulgar. Instead, we are treated to fine hypocritical spectacles, which now more than ever seem in ample supply: the critic of American materialism with a Southampton summer home; the publisher of radical books who takes his meals in three-star restaurants; the journalist advocating participatory democracy in all phases of life, whose own children are enrolled in private schools. For such people and many more perhaps not so exceptional, the proper formulation is," Succeed at all costs but avoid appearing ambitious."

The attacks on ambition are many and come from various angles; its public defenders are few and unimpressive, where they are not extremely unattractive. As a result, the support for ambition as a healthy impulse, a quality to be admired and fixed in the mind of the young, is probably lower than it has ever been in the United States. This does not mean that ambition is at an end, that people no longer feel its stirrings and promptings, but only that, no longer openly honored, it is less openly underground, or made sly. Such, then, is the way things stand: on the left angry critics, on the right stupid supporters, and in the middle, as usual, the majority of earnest people trying to get on in life.

67. It is generally believed that ambition may be well regarded if _____.
[A] its returns well compensate for the sacrifices
[B] it is rewarded with money, fame and power
[C] its goals are spiritual rather than material
[D] it is shared by the rich and the famous

[答案] A

[解題思路]

本題的對應信息在文章的第一句話"If ambition is to be well regarded, the rewards of ambition health, distinction, control over one's destiny must be deemed worthy of the sacrifices made on ambition's behalf"（個人的雄心如果能被正確看待的話，那么它的回報--財富、聲譽、對命運的掌握--則應該被認為是值得為之付出的犧牲），其中A選項returns對應原文的rewards，well compensate of sacrifice對應于well worthy of，因而A為正確選項。B選項體現了這句話前半句的意思，卻沒有抓住全句重點，因而是錯誤選項。C和D選項則與原文對應信息無關。

[題目譯文]

人們普遍認為擁有抱負是一件好事，如果             。
[A] 其回報很好地補償了付出
[B] 可以得到金錢、名譽和權力等的回報
[C] 其目標是精神的，而不是物質的
[D] 富人和名人分享共同的抱負

69. Some people do not openly admit they have ambition because____ .
[A] they think of it as immoral
[B] their pursuits are not fame or wealth
[C] ambition is not closely related to material benefits
[D] they do not want to appear greedy and contemptible

[答案] D

[解題思路]

本題對應于文章的第二段第三句話"What has happened is that people cannot confess fully to their dreams, as easily and openly as once they could, lest they be thought pushing, acquisitive and vulgar."（現在的情況是人們不能像以前那樣輕易地、公開地坦陳自己的夢想，惟恐別人認為自己愛出風頭、貪婪、庸俗），其中D選項的greedy and comtemptible對應于原文的aquisitive and vulgar，因此D是正確選項。

[題目譯文]

一些人不公開承認他們有抱負是因為           。
[A] 他們認為這樣做是不道德的
[B] 他們追求的東西并不是名利
[C] 抱負與物質利益之間沒有必然聯系
[D] 他們不想顯得貪婪和可鄙

　　相關推薦：考研英語閱讀理解命題思路透析和真題揭秘(32)

　　　　　　　2009年考研英語翻譯最新模擬題及答案詳解(四)