The Merton/Scholes choice also highlighted another enduring problem with the prize:untimely deaths. Fischer Black, co-originator of the options-pricing model for which MessrsMerton and Scholes were recognised, died a year too soon to join his collaborators on thepodium. Last year, many economists hoped that Zvi Griliches, a noted econometrician who wasunquestionably deserving of the prize, and was suffering from a long illness, would win. He didnot, and died soon afterwards. Because the prize came into being so late, there is still a backlogof elderly luminaries waiting to be recognised. Paul Samuelson, one of the younger winners,and Mr Becker, who was a friend of Griliches, want the committee to take old age explicitlyinto account.
The committee could also cast its net more widely across the profession. Almost ail the laureates are also theoreticians; advances in empirical work and applications in the past two decades have yet to be paid due respect, a fact bemoaned by Mr Becker. Mr Samuelson adds
that the economics committee's selection methods have excessively mimicked those used for
the prizes in natural sciences: "If the right apple fell on your head, and you saw it, then you got
the prize. But if you had a lifetime of excellence in all branches of physics, you didn't get it."
31. From the first paragraph, we learned that
[A] the Nobel prize in economics was created under Alfred Nobel's will.
[B] Gunnar Myrdal was one of the Nobel prize winners in economics.
[C] Milton Friedman refused to accept the prize.
[D]the Nobel committee had not the ability to make decisions.
32. We can learn from the text that about the winners of the Nobel prize in economics during 1990s,
[A] Gary Becker won the prize after he forced the committee to act.
[B]Mr Nash's illness delayed his receiving of the prize.
[C]obert Lucas received the prize earlier than expected.
[D] Robert Merton and Myron Scholes played jokes on the prize.
33. According to the text, the author's attitude toward Nobel prize in economics is
[A]doubtful.
[B]positive.
[C] hostile.
[DJ indifferent.
34. From the third paragraph, we learn that
[A] Fisher Black did not live long enough to win the Nobel prize.
[B] the Nobel committee will soon take old age into account.
[C] younger people are more likely to win the prize.
[D] Zvi Griliches won the prize after he died.
35. In the last paragraph of the text, Mr Samuelson's attitude toward the economics committee's selection methods is
[A] critical.
[B] approving.
[C] angry.
[D] ironic.
Text 4
In America alone, tipping is now a $16 billion-a-year industry - all the more surprising since it is a behavioural oddity. Consumers acting rationally ought not to pay more than they have to for a given service, Tips, which are voluntary, above and beyond a service's contracted cost, and delivered afterwards, should not exist. So why do they? The conventional wisdom is that tips both reward the efforts of good service and reduce uncomfortable feelings of inequality. The better the service, the bigger the tip.
A paper analysing data from 2,547 groups dining at 20 different restaurants shows that the correlation between larger tips and better service was very weak: only a tiny part of the variability in the size of the tip had anything to do with the quality of service. Customers who rated a meal as "excellent" still tipped anywhere between 8% and 37% of the meal price.
Tipping is better explained by culture than by economics. In America, the custom hasbecome institutionalised: it is regarded as part of the accepted cost of a service. In a New Yorkrestaurant, failing to tip at least 15% could well mean abuse from the waiter. Hairdressers canexpect to get 15-20%, the man who delivers your groceries $2. In Europe, tipping is lesscommon; in many restaurants, discretionary tipping is being replaced by a standard servicecharge. In many Asian countries, tipping has never really caught on at all.
How to account for these national differences? Look no further than psychology.According to Michael Lynn, the Cornell paper's co-author, countries in which people are moreextrovert, sociable or neurotic tend to tip more. Tipping relieves anxiety about being served bystrangers: And, says' Mr Lynn, "in America, where people are outgoing and expressive, tippingis about social approval. If you tip badly, people think less of you. Tipping well is a chance toshow off." Icelanders, by contrast, do not usually tip - a measure of their introversion and lackof neuroses, no doubt.
While such explanations may be crude, the hard truth seems to be that tipping does notwork. It does not benefit the customer. Nor, in the case of restaurants, does it actuallyincentivise the waiter, or help the restaurant manager to monitor and assess his staff. The cry ofstingy tippers that service people should "just be paid a decent wage" may actually makeeconomic sense.
36. From the text we learn that Americans
[A] are willing to give tips because they love the practice.
[B] like to givetips to service people to help them financially.
[C] are reluctant to give tips, but they still do so.
[D] are giving less and less tips.
37. According to Paragraph 3, we learn that
[A] tips are voluntary in America.
[B] people don't tip in Europe.
[C] tipping is rare in many Asian countries.
[D] tipping is now popular in Iceland.
38. According to Michael Lynn,
[A] nervous people do not usually tip.
[B] A merican people are anxious.
[C] Icelanders don't like to show off.
[D] people will ignore you if you tip bakly.
39. The text indicates that in America
[A] customers tip 8% to 37% of the meal price if a meal was "excellent".
[B] a waiter can abuse a customer if he fails to tip 15%.
[C] the amount of tipping is standardized with different services.
[D] the man who carry groceries for you can expect to get 15-20%.
40. According to the text, the author believes that in America
[A] the better the service, the bigger the tip.
[BI tips can reward the effort of good service.
[C] tips can reduce feelings of inequality.
[D] tips cannot prompt better service.
Part B (20%)
slation shouM be written clearly on ANSWER SHEET 2 (主观答题纸).
(41) There are plenty of grim statistics about childhood in the Third World. showing thatthe journey for survival is long and hard. But in the rich world, children can suffer from adifferent kind of poverty - of the spirit. For instance, one Western country alone now sees 14,000 attempted suicides every year by children under 15, and one child in five needsprofessional psychiatric counselling.
There are many good things about childhood in the Third World. Take the close andconstant contact between children and their parents, relatives and neighbours. In the West, the very nature of work puts distance between adults and children. (42) But itl most Third World villages mother and father do not go miles away each day to do abstract work in offices, shuffling paper to make money mysteriously appear in banks. Instead. the child sees mother an(t father, relations and neighbours working nearby, and often shares in that work.
A child growing up in this way learns his or her role through participating in the community's work: helping to dig or build, plant or water, tend to animals or look after babies - rather than through playing with water and sand in kindergarten, building with construction toys, keeping pets or playing with dolls.
(43) These children may grow up with a less oppressive limitation of space and time than their Western counterparts. Set days and times are few and self-explanatory, determined mostly by the rhythm of the seasons and the different jobs they bring. (44) A child in the rich world, on the other hand. is provided with a wrist-watch as one of the earliest symbols of ~owing up. so that he or she can worry, along with their parents about being late for school times, meal times clinic times, bed times, the times of TV shows..;
Third World children are not usually cooped up indoors, still less in high-rise apartments.Instead of fenced-off play areas, dangerous roads, 'keep off the grass' signs and 'don't speak tostrangers', there is often a sense of freedom to play. (45) Parents can see their children outsiderather than observe them anxiously from ten floors up. And other adults in the community canusually be counted on to be caring rather than indifferent or threatening.
Of course twelve million children under five still die every year through malnutrition anddisease. But children in the Third World is not all bad.
Section m Writing (30%)
Teachers often consider some students as good students. What do you think good studentsare like? Describe the characteristics of good students according to your own opinion. Provideone or two examples where necessary. You may also need to use knowledge in education andpsychology to support your argument.
You shouM write 240-280 words. Write your essay on ANSWER SHEET 2 (主观答题纸).
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