考研英语阅读命题思路透析和真题揭秘(37)
2007年Text 4
It never rains but it pours. Just as bosses and boards have finally sorted out their worst accounting and compliance troubles, and improved their feeble corporation governance, a new problem threatens to earn them -- especially in America -- the sort of nasty headlines that inevitably lead to heads rolling in the executive suite: data insecurity. Left, until now, to odd, low-level IT staff to put right, and seen as a concern only of data-rich industries such as banking, telecoms and air travel, information protection is now high on the boss's agenda in businesses of every variety.
Several massive leakages of customer and employee data this year - from organizations as diverse as Time Warner, the American defense contractor Science Applications International Corp and even the University of California, Berkeley -- have left managers hurriedly peering into their intricate IT systems and business processes in search of potential vulnerabilities.
"Data is becoming an asset which needs to be guarded as much as any other asset," says Haim Mendelson of Stanford University's business school. "The ability to guard customer data is the key to market value, which the board is responsible for on behalf of shareholders". Indeed, just as there is the concept of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), perhaps it is time for GASP, Generally Accepted Security Practices, suggested Eli Noam of New York's Columbia Business School. "Setting the proper investment level for security, redundancy, and recovery is a management issue, not a technical one," he says.
The mystery is that this should come as a surprise to any boss. Surely it should be obvious to the dimmest executive that trust, that most valuable of economic assets, is easily destroyed and hugely expensive to restore -- and that few things are more likely to destroy trust than a company letting sensitive personal data get into the wrong hands.
The current state of affairs may have been encouraged -- though not justified -- by the lack of legal penalty (in America, but not Europe) for data leakage. Until California recently passed a law, American firms did not have to tell anyone, even the victim, when data went astray. That may change fast: lots of proposed data-security legislation is now doing the rounds in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, the theft of information about some 40 million credit-card accounts in America, disclosed on June 17th, overshadowed a hugely important decision a day earlier by America's Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that puts corporate America on notice that regulators will act if firms fail to provide adequate data security.
36. The statement "It never rains but it pours" is used to introduce
[A] the fierce business competition.
[B] the feeble boss-board relations.
[C] the threat from news reports.
[D] the severity of data leakage.
[答案] D
[解题思路]
一般文章开头的谚语都是用来引出文章的主要话题的。文章第一段的第二句话就进一步指出了问题所在"Just as bosses and boards have finally sorted out their worst accounting and compliance troubles, and improved their feeble corporation governance, a new problem threatens to earn them -- especially in America -- the sort of nasty headlines that inevitably lead to heads rolling in the executive suite: data insecurity"（ 就在老板和董事会最终解决了令人头疼的财务问题和违纪问题、改善了缺乏效率的公司管理之后，又一个新问题（尤其是在美国）将成为令高层们头疼的头条新闻：数据的不安全性），即数据的不安全问题，第二段第一句话"Several massive leakages of customer and employee data this year"（今年，几起客户和员工数据的重大泄密事件）则进一步作了说明，可见正确答案是D选项。这句谚语的意思是"雨不下则已，下则倾盆"。
[题目译文]
"It never rains but it pours"这句话用来介绍
[A] 激烈的商业竞争
[B] 脆弱的老板-董事关系
[C] 新报道的威胁
[D] 数据泄漏的严峻性
37. According to Paragraph 2, some organizations check their systems to find out
[A] whether there is any weak point.
[B] what sort of data has been stolen.
[C] who is responsible for the leakage.
[D] how the potential spies can be located.
[答案] A
[解题思路]
本题对应于文章第二段第二个破折号之后的内容"have left managers hurriedly peering into their intricate IT systems and business processes in search of potential vulnerabilities"（ 使得管理人员们匆忙去检查其复杂的数据系统和商业流程，以便寻找潜在的弱点），原文的potential vulnerabilities对应于A选项的weak point，因此是正确答案。B和C选项都与原文无关，D选项中的spies在文章中没有涉及。
[题目译文]
根据文章第二段，一些组织检查的它们的系统是为了发现
[A] 是否存在弱点
[B] 哪种数据被盗
[C] 谁应该为泄漏负责
[D] 如何定位可能的间谍
38. In bringing up the concept of GASP the author is making the point that
[A] shareholders' interests should be properly attended to.
[B] information protection should be given due attention.
[C] businesses should enhance their level of accounting security.
[D] the market value of customer data should be emphasized.
[答案] B
[解题思路]
本题对应于文章第三段的第三句话"Indeed, just as there is the concept of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), perhaps it is time for GASP, Generally Accepted Security Practices"（ 事实上，正如存在公认会计原则一样，现在或许应该是建立公认安全措施的时候了），可见GASP这个概念主要是用来提醒人们应该对信息保护给与更多关注，因此B为正确选项。C选项显然是与GAAP这个概念混淆了，是错误答案。A和D选项对应于该段第二句话"The ability to guard customer data is the key to market value, which the board is responsible for on behalf of shareholders"（ 保护客户数据的能力是市值的关键因素，这是董事会应该为股东利益而承担的责任），但两个选项都与原文的表述有出入。
[题目译文]
作者引入GASP这个概念是为了说明
[A] 股东的利益应该得到适当的关注
[B] 信息保护应该得到应有的重视
[C] 商业界应该改进他们的会计安全水准
[D] 客户数据的市场价值应该得到强调
39. According to Paragraph 4, what puzzles the author is that some bosses fail to
[A] see the link between trust and data protection.
[B] perceive the sensitivity of personal data.
[C] realize the high cost of data restoration.
[D] appreciate the economic value of trust
[答案] A
[解题思路]
本题对应于文章第四段，其中破折号后面的内容指出"and that few things are more likely to destroy trust than a company letting sensitive personal data get into the wrong hands"（ 很少有什么比一个公司让敏感的个人数据落入不法人员之手更可能破坏公司的诚信了），这里强调了数据保护和公司信誉之间的密切关系，而很多老板们正是忽视了这层关系，因此正确答案为A。而B、C、D选项都只提到了data protection和trust中的一点，不具有概括性，因而是错误答案。
[题目译文]
根据文章第四段，让作者感到意外的是一些老板们没有
[A] 看到诚信与数据保护之间的关系
[B] 看到个人数据的敏感性
[C] 意识到数据恢复的高成本
[D] 认识到诚信的经济价值
