2017年北京地区研究生学位英语真题

2017年研究生学位真题

Part II Vocabulary ( 10 minutes, 10 points)

Section A ( 0.5 point each)

21. Thousands of people left their rural homes and flocked into the cities to live beside the new factories.

A dashed

B filed

C strolled

D swarmed

22. Nothing can be more absurd than to say that human beings are doomed.

A compelling

B rational

C ridiculous

D ambiguous

23. The Chinese government continues to uphold the principle of peaceful co-existence.

A support

B restrict

C raise

D modify

24. Patie nts are expected to comply with doctors’ instructions for quick recovery.

A improve on

B abide by

C draw upon

D reflect on

25. Scientists have achieved findings substantial enough to remove our fear of GM foods.

A abundant

B controversial

C conductive

D convincing

26. Those students who have made adequate preparations for the test will be better off.

A more wealthy

B less successful

C dismissed earlier

D favorably positioned

27.If you hold on to a winning attitude, you’ll make a greater effort and also create positive momentum.

A influence

B strength

C outlook

D consequence

28. Academic integrity is deemed essential to those devoted to scientific researches.

A believed

B discarded

C advocated

D confirmed

29. Customers in these markets of antiques are good at slashing prices.

A assessing

B cutting

C elevating

D altering

30. The public attached great importance to the news that prices of housing would be brought under control .

A joined

B ascribed

C fastened

D diverted

Section B (0.5 point each)

31. It takes a year for the earth to make each ___ , or revolution, around the sun.

A tour

B travel

C visit

D trip

32. ___this dull life, the full-time mom decided to find a part-time job.

A Tied up with

B Fed up with

C Wrapped up in

D Piled up with

33. In the letter, my friend said that he would love to have me as a guest in his ___ home.

A humble

B obscure

C inferior

D lower

34. Tom is sick of city life, so he buys some land in Alaska, as far from _____ as possible.

A humidity

B humanity

C harmony

D honesty

35. As an important ___ for our emotions and ideas, music an play a huge role in our life.

A vessel

B vest

C venture

D vehicle

36. The day is past when the country can afford to give high school diploma to all who ___ six years of instruction.

A set about

B run for

C sit through

D make for

37. The wages of manual laborers stay painfully low, meaning digitalization could drive an even deeper ___ between the rich and poor.

A boundary

B difference

C wedge

D variation

38. A farmer must learn the kinds of crops best ___ the soils on his farm.

A accustomed to

B committed to

C applied to

D suited to

39. The sun is so large that if it were ___, it would hold a million earths.

A elegant

B immense

C hollow

D clumsy

40. This patient’s life could be saved only by a major operation. That would ___her to a high risk.

A expose

B lead

C contribute

D send

Part III Cloze Test ( 10 points, 1 point each)

Harvard University’s under-graduate is being reformed so that it includes some time spent outside the US and more science courses, the US Cable News Network (CNN) has reported. For the first time in 30 years, Harvard is 41 its under-graduate curriculum. William Kirby, dean of the faculty of arts and sciences, said this 42 what many people had said that Harvard’s curriculum did not provide enough choice and encourage premature specialization.

“Harvard needs to 43 its education for a world where global connections, cross disc iplinary research, and science in general are ever more important,” said Kirby.

Particularly 44 is the idea that students need to spend time overseas, either in a traditional study-abroad program or over a summer, perhaps doing an internship or research.

Students can either find the program themselves or 45 some exchange programs offered by the university.

“46 ” studying Chinese history without leaving the university, students interested in the subject should be spending a semester at a uni versity in China.”

It was also recommended that Harvard 47 its required “core curriculum”. The core curriculum was an effort created in 1978 to broaden education by requiring students to choose from a list of courses in several areas of study. Classes often focused on a highly 48 topic and emphasized “ways of knowing.”

Under a new plan, the curriculum would be replaced with a set of 49 “Harvard College Courses”, emphasizing knowledge over methodology and 50 wider territory. A life sciences course, for example, might combine molecular and evolutionary biology and psychology, rather than focusing on one of those, said Bebedict Gross, Harward College dean.

41. A reviewing B inspecting C searching D underlying

42. A in accordance with B in line with C in response to D in charge of

43. A uphold B update C upset D upward

44. A note-worthy B trust-worthy C praise-worthy D reward-worthy

45. A turn out B turn in C turn over D turn to

46. A In spite of B As if C Rather than D Let alone

47. A perish B destroy C denounce D abolish

48. A appropriate B imaginative C specific D special

49. A optional B optical C opposite D optimistic

50. A sparing B spiraling C sparkling D spanning

Part IV Reading Comprehension ( 45 minutes, 30 points, 1 point each)

Passage One

A report published recently brings bad news about air pollution. It suggests that it could be as damaging to our health as exposure to the radiation from the 1986 Ukraine nuclear power disaster. The report was published by the UK Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. But what can city people do to reduce exposure to air pollution? Quite a lot, it turns out.

Avoid walking in busy streets. Choose side streets and parks instead. Pollution levels can fall a considerable amount just by moving a few meters away from the main pollution source----exhaust

fumes. Also don’t walk behind smokers. Walk on the windward side of the street where exposure to pollutants can be 50 percent less than on the downwind side.

Sitting on the driver’s side of a bus can increase your exposure by 10 percent, compared with sitting on the side nearest the pavement. Sitting upstairs on a double-decker can reduce exposure. It is difficult to say whether traveling on an underground train is better or worse than taking the bus. Air pollution on underground trains tends to be less toxic than that at street level, because underground pollution is mostly made up of tiny iron particles thrown up by wheels hitting the rails. But diesel and petrol fumes have a mixture of pollutants.

When you are crossing a road, stand well back from the curb while you wait for the light to change. Every meter really does count when you are close to traffic. As the traffic begins to move, fumes can be reduced in just a few seconds. So holding your breath for just a moment can make a difference, even though it might sound silly.

There are large sudden pollution increases during rush hours. Pollution levels fall during nighttime. The time of year also makes a big difference. Pollution levels tend to be at their lowest during spring and autumn when winds are freshest. Extreme cold or hot weather has a trapping effect and tends to cause a build-up of pollutants.

51. What is the passage mainly about?

A How to fight air pollution in big cities.

B How to avoid air pollution in big cities.

C How serious air pollution is in big cities.

D How to breathe fresh air in big cities.

52. According to the report, air pollution in big cities ____

A can be more serious than Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

B cannot be compared with the disaster in Chernobyl.

C can be more serious that we used to think .

D can release as damaging radiation as the Chernobyl disaster.

53. When you walk in a busy street, you should walk on the side ____

A where the wind is going .

B where the wind is coming.

C where the wind is weaker

D where the wind is stronger

54. If you take a bus in a big city in China, you should sit _____

A on the right side in the bus

B on the left side of the bus .

C in the middle of the bus

D at the back of the bus

55. It is implied in the passage that ____

A people should not take street level transportation

Ｂtiny iron particles will not cause health problems.

Ｃtraveling on an underground train is better than taking the bus.

D air pollution on an underground train is less poisonous.

56. While waiting to cross a busy street, you should ____

A wait a few seconds until the fumes reduce.

B stay away from the traffic as far as possible.

C hold you breath until you get to the other side of the street.

D count down for the light to change.

Passage Two

The patient needed a spinal tap, and a senior attending physician asked a medical resident whether a preparatory blood test had been checked. The medical student was stunned to hear him answer in the affirmative, because she was quite certain it had not been checked.

Well, almost certain.

Doctors in training sometimes confront situations in which they worry that their supervising

physicians are making mistakes or bending the truth. Yet even though such acts can jeopardize patients, the inclination and ability of young doctors to speak up is hampered by the hierarchies in teaching hospitals.

On the top were the senior physicians who made rounds on the wards once or twice daily. Next were the overworked. Residents, who essentially lived in the hospital while training. Last were the medical students who were most assuredly a the bottom of the heap.

The students whose resident seemingly lied to the attending physician about the blood test did not speak up. The resident was a good doctor, she said, and so she had given him the benefit of the doubt. And, she added, both the resident and the attending physician would be grading her.

What should a medical student do in such a situation ? One possibility is to take the matter up with a more senior doctor. Or the student might go directly to the patient or family, telling them that the physicians have a genuine disagreement and that they deserve to know about it.

These options seem logical on paper. As the ethicist James Dwyer has written in The Hastings Center Report, “The practice of always keeping quiet is a failure of caring.” But in the real world, it may be extremely difficult to go up the chain of command.

Fortunately, medical educators are increasingly recognizing the dilemmas that doctors in training confront when they witness behavior that makes them uncomfortable. Students and residents are now expected to provide routine feedback ----positive and negative ---about their supervising physicians at the close of their rotation.

Of course, physicians and students need to be educated about how to give feedback in professional and nonconfrontational ways. Medical educators are only now beginning to teach this skill. Still, it will be hard to change the unfortunate perception that constructive feedback, even for a patient’s benefit, is whistle-blowing.

57. As mentioned in the passage, the hospital hierarchy ____

A is useful to the people on the lower layer.

B is built on a performance-reward system.

C is a barrier to the exchange of medical views.

D is an effective way of teaching medical views.

58. “the benefit of the doubt” in Paragraph 5 shows that _____

A the student was not quite certain that she was right.

B the resident did not respond to the student’s doubt.

C the student was denied the chance to doubt the superior.

D the resident benefited from the student’s suggestion.

59. James Dwyer’s words mean that ____

A students should learn to speak both kindly and professionally.

B students should challenge the superior for the benefit of patients.

C students should retain their faith even after facing some difficulties.

D students should be educated on who to care more about the patients.

60. What is the attitude of medical educators toward teaching students to give feedback?

A Confused

B Indifferent

C Reluctant

D Enthusiastic

61. The author tends to believe that the problem faced by medical students ____

A will remain for a long time

B will disappear in the near future.

C should not be exaggerated.

D can’t be solved successfully.

62. The passage focuses on ___

A the development of teaching hospitals’ hierarchies.

B different roles in teaching hospitals’ hierarchies.

C the future reform on teaching hospitals’ hierarchies.

D the problems caused by teaching hospitals’ hierarchies.

Passage Three

Global warming poses a threat to the earth, but humans can probably ease the climate threats brought on by rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere , global climate specialist Richard Alley told an audience at the University of Vermont. Alley said his research in Greenland suggested that subtle changes in atmospheric patterns leave parts of the globe susceptible to abrupt and dramatic climate shifts that can last decades or centuries.

Almost all scientists agree that increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere created as humans burn fossil fuel is warming the planet. How to respond to the warming is a matter of intense political, scientific and economic debate worldwide.

Alley said he was upbeat about global warming because enough clever people existed in the world to find other reliable energy sources besides fossil fuels. He said people can get rich finding marketable alternatives to fossil fuel. “ Wouldn’t it be useful if the United States were to have a piece of the action. Wouldn’t it be useful if some bright students from University of Vermont were to have a piece of the action,” Alley said.

Alley said that Europe and parts of eastern North America could in a matter of a few years revert to a cold, windy region, like the weather in Siberia, such shifts have occurred frequently over the millennia, Alley’s research shows. A gradual change in atmospheric temperature, such as global warming, could push the climate to a threshold where such a shift suddenly occurs, he said.

Alley told his audience of about 200 people in a University of Vermont lecture hall Wednesday evening that he couldn’t predict if , when or where sudden shifts toward cold, heat, drought or water could occur under global warming, but it is something everyone should consider.

“This is not the biggest problem in the world. The biggest problem in the world is getting along with each other. But it’s part of that because we’re not going to get along with each other if we’re not getting along with the planet,” Alley sai d.

63. According to Ally the climate threats to the earth brought by global warming ____

A can be eased

B can be ended

C will become worse

D will last for decades.

64. Ally’s research shows that dramatic climate changes may be caused by ___

A abrupt changes in atmospheric patterns.

B subtle changes in atmospheric patterns.

C humans’ burning of fossil fuel .

D increasing levels of carbon dioxide.

65. The word “upbeat” ( in paragraph 3) probably means “_______”

A pessimistic

B optimistic

C worried

D insensible

66. What does Ally suggest people do in order to reduce global warming?

A To find other energy sources besides fossil fuels.

B To start a political, scientific and economic debate.

C To take action to burn no fossil fuels.

D To call on people worldwide to protect our earth.

67. Alley predicts that global warming could turn European and parts of eastern North America into ___

A a region like Siberia

B A warmer and warmer place

C a tropical region

D a place like North Pole

68. Ally thinks the biggest problem in the world is ___

A lack of harmony

B violence

C global warming

D climate shift

Passage Four

We’re talking about money here, and the things you buy with it---and about what attitude we should take to spending.

Across most of history and in most culture, there has been a general agreement that we should work hard, save for the future and spend no more than we can afford. It’s nice to have a comfortable life right now, but it is best to think of the future. Yet economists have long known that things don’t work out that way. They point to an idea called the “paradox of thrift.” Imagine you are the owner of a big business making consumer goods. You want your own staff to work hard and save their money. That w ay, you don’t have to pay them as much. But you want everybody else to spend all the money they can. That way you make bigger profits.

It’s a problem on a global scale. Many people in the UK and the United States are worried about level of personal debt. Yet if people suddenly stopped buying things and started paying back what they owe to credit card companies, all the economies of the Western world would collapse. The banks would be happy, but everybody else would be in trouble.

Traditionally, economists have believed that spending money is about making rational choices. People buy things to make their life better in some way. But in recent years, they have noticed that people often do not actually behave in that way. We all know people who take pleasure in buying useless things. And there are many people around who won’t buy things that they need.

In a recent series of experiments, scientists at Stanford University in the US confirmed something that many people have long suspected. People spend money because the act of buying gives them pleasure. And they refuse to spend when it causes them pain. The scientists discovered that different areas of the brain that anticipate pleasure and pain become more active when we are making a decision to buy things. People who spend a lot have their pleasure centers stimulated. People who like to save find buying things painful .

If you think you really want that product because it’s beautiful or useful, you are wrong, say the scientists. The desire to buy something is a product of the reaction between chemicals released by different parts of the brain when the eyes see a product. 69

69. Across most of history and in most cultures, people are advised to _______

A enjoy their present life as much as possible.

B spend every penny they have earned.

C save every penny for the future.

D save some money for later use.

70. According to the context, “paradox” ( in Paragraph 2) probably means “_______”.

A contradiction

B hypothesis

C declaration

D assertion

71. It is implied that many people in the UK and the United States ________

A have to work hard to make ends meet

B spend more than they can afford.

C have trouble in paying back their debts.

D don’t pay back their debts on time .

72. According to the recent studies made by economists, people ____

A take pleasures in buying useless things.

B won’t buy things that they need.

C spend their money irrationally

D make rational choices while spending their money.

73. It has been proved by the scientists at Stanford University that some people like to save money because ____

A they like keeping their money in the bank.

B they will feel safe if they save enough money for the future.

C they don’t want to spend their money on useless things.

D spending money gives them pain

74. The passage mainly tells us ________

A how to spend our money.

B It is better to save some money for the future.

C It is the chemicals released from the brain that decide our spending.

D how to form a habit of rational spending.

Passage Five

Trees are good. Good enough to hug. Planting trees will make the world cooler than it would otherwise be. This is the subject of a newly published by Govindasamy Bala, of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in California, and his colleagues. Dr Bala has found, rather counter-intuitively, that removing all of the world’s trees might actually cool the planet down.

The reason for this is that trees affect the world’s temperature by means other than the carbon they take in. For instance forests remain quite a dark shade even after a snowstorm. They are certainly darker than grasslands, and thus they can absorb more of the sun’s heat than vegetation which might otherwise cover the same stretch of land. That warms things up.

Dr Bala and his colleagues took such effects into account using a computer model called the Integrated Climate and Carbon Model. Unlike most climate-change models, which calculate how the Earth should absorb and radiate heat in response to a list of greenhouse-gas concentrations, this one has many subsections that represent how the carbon cycle works, and how it influences the climate.

Overall, Dr Bala’s model suggests that complete deforestation would cause an additional 1.30 C temperature rise compared with business as usual, because of the higher carbon-dioxide levels that would result. However, the additional reflectivity of the planet would cause 1.6 0 C of cooling. A treeless world would thus be 0.3 0 C cooler than otherwise.

No one, of co urse, would consider chopping down the world’s forests to keep the planet cool. But having made their point, Dr. Bala and his colleagues then went on to look at forest growth and loss at different latitudes. Planting trees in convenient places such as Europe and North America may actually be counterproductive. In Russia and Canada, cutting trees down lead mostly to local cooling the carbon dioxide this released into the atmosphere, though, warmed the world all over. Around the equator, by contrast, warming acted locally (as well as globally), so a tropical country would experience warming created by cutting down trees.

The results follow increasing criticism from climate scientists of the benefits of forestry schemes to offset carbon emissions. Planting trees to neutralize carbon emissions has become a big business: ￡60m worth of trees have been bought this year, up from ￡20m in 2005. By 2010 the market is expected to reach ￡300m.

75. According to the passage, trees make the world warmer because of their ____

A deep color

B round shape

C enormous size

D high reflectivity

76. Dr Bala’s Integrated Climate and Carbon Model ________

A supports the findings of other climate models.

B is based on the results of other climate models.

C uses a system different from other climate models.