2010--2013历年考研英语二真题及答案
2010考研英语二真题及答案Section I Use of EnglishDirections:The outbreak of swine flu that was first detected in Mexico was declared a global pandemic on June 11, 2009, in the first designation by the World Health Organization of a worldwide pandemic in 41 years.The heightened alert came after an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva that convened after a sharp rise in cases in Australia, and rising numbers in Britain, Japan, Chile and elsewhere.But the pandemic is "moderate" in severity, according to Margaret Chan, the organization's director general, with the overwhelming majority of patients experiencing only mild symptoms and a full recovery, often in the absence of any medical treatment.The outbreak came to global notice in late April 2009, when Mexican authorities noticed an unusually large number of hospitalizations and deaths among healthy adults. As much of Mexico City shut down at the height of a panic, cases began to crop up in New York City, the southwestern United States and around the world.In the United States, new cases seemed to fade as warmer weather arrived. But in late September 2009, officials reported there was significant flu activity in almost every state and that virtually all the samples tested are the new swine flu, also known as (A) H1N1, not seasonal flu. @Zov&01 In the U.S., it has infected more than one million people, and caused more than 600 deaths and more than 6,000 hospitalizations.Federal health officials released Tamiflu for children from the national stockpile and began taking orders from the states for the new swine flu vaccine. The new vaccine, which is different from the annual flu vaccine, is available ahead of expectations. More than three million doses were to be made available in early October 2009, though most of those initial doses were of the FluMist nasal spray type, which is not recommended for pregnant women, people over 50 or those with breathing difficulties, heart disease or several other problems. But it was still possible to vaccinate people in other high-risk group: health care workers, people caring for infants and healthy young people.Section ⅡReading comprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four passages. Answer the questions below each passage by choosing A, B, C and D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.(40 points) Text1The longest bull run in a century of art-market history ended on a dramatic note with a sale of 56 works by Damien Hirst, “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever”, at Sotheby’s in London on September 15th 2008 (see picture). All but two pieces sold, fetching more than ā70m, a record for a sale by a single artist. It wa s a last hurrah. As the auctioneer called out bids, in New York one of the oldest banks on Wall Street, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy.The world art market had already been losing momentum for a while after rising vertiginously since 2003. At its peak in 2007 it was worth some $65 billion, reckons Clare McAndrew, founder of Arts Economics, a research firm—double the figure five years earlier. Since then it may have come down to $50 billion. But the market generates interest far beyond its size because it brings together great wealth, enormous egos, greed, passion and controversy in a way matched by few other industries.In the weeks and months that followed Mr Hirst’s sale, spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable, especially in New York, where the bail-out of the banks coincided with the loss of thousands of jobs and the financial demise of many art-buying investors. In the art world that meant collectors stayed away from galleries and salerooms. Sales of contemporary art fell by two-thirds, and in the most overheated sector—for Chinese contemporary art—they were down by nearly 90% in the year to November 2008. Within weeks the world’s two biggest auction houses, Sotheby’s and Christie’s, had to pay out nearly $200m in guarantees to clients wh o had placed works for sale with them.The current downturn in the art market is the worst since the Japanese stopped buying Impressionists at the end of 1989, a move that started the most serious contraction in the market since the second world war. This time experts reckon that prices are about 40% down on their peak on average, though some have been far more volatile. But Edward Dolman, Christie’s chief executive, says: “I’m pretty confident we’re at the bottom.”What makes this slump different from the last, he says, is that there are still buyers in the market, whereas in the early 1990s, when interest rates were high, there was no demand even though many collectors wanted to sell. Christie’s revenues in the first half of 2009 were still higher than in the first half of 2006. Almost everyone who was interviewed for this special report said that the biggest problem at the moment is not a lack of demand but a lack of good work to sell. The three Ds—death, debt and divorce—still deliver works of art to the market. But anyone who does not have to sell is keeping away, waiting for confidence to return.21.In the first paragraph,Damien Hirst's sale was referred to as “a last victory”because ____-.A.the art market hadwitnessed a succession of victoryiesB.the auctioneer finally got the two pieces at the highest bidsC.Beautiful Inside My Head Forever won over all masterpiecesD.it was successfully made just before the world financial crisis22.By saying “spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable”(Line 1-2,Para.3),the author suggests that_____ .A . collectors were no longer actively involved in art-market auctionsB .people stopped every kind of spending and stayed away from galleriesC.art collection as a fashion had lost its appeal to a great extentD .works of art in general had gone out of fashion so they were not worth buying23.Which of the following statements is NOT ture?A .Sales of contemporary art fell dramatically from 2007to 2008.B.The art market surpassed many other industries in momentum.C.The market generally went downward in various ways.D.Some art dealers were awaiting better chances to come.24.The three Ds mentioned in the last paragraph are ____A.auction houses ' favoritesB.contemporary trendsC.factors promoting artwork circulationD.styles representing impressionists25.The most appropriate title for this text could be ___A.Fluctuation of Art PricesB.Up-to-date Art AuctionsC.Art Market in DeclineD.Shifted Interest in Arts（编辑）Text2I was addressing a small gathering in a suburban Virginia living room -- a women's group that had invited men to join them. Throughout the evening one man had been particularly talkative frequently offering ideas and anecdotes while his wife sat silently beside him on the couch. Toward the end of the evening I commented that women frequently complain that their husbands don't talk to them. This man quickly concurred. He gestured toward his wife and said "She's the talker in our family." The room burst into laughter; the man looked puzzled and hurt. "It's true" he explained. "When I come home from work I have nothing to say. If she didn't keep the conversation going we'd spend the whole evening in silence."This episode crystallizes the irony that although American men tend to talk more than women in public situations they often talk less at home. And this pattern is wreaking havoc with marriage.The pattern was observed by political scientist Andrew Hacker in the late '70s. Sociologist Catherine Kohler Riessman reports in her new book "Divorce Talk" that most of the women she interviewed -- but only a few of the men -- gave lack of communication as the reason for their divorces. Given the current divorce rate of nearly 50 percent that amounts to millions of cases in the United States every year -- a virtual epidemic of failed conversation.In my own research complaints from women about their husbands most often focused not on tangible inequities such as having given up the chance for a career to accompany a husband to his or doing far more than their share of daily life-support work like cleaning cooking social arrangements and errands. Instead they focused on communication: "He doesn't listen to me" "He doesn't talk to me." I found as Hacker observed years before that most wives want their husbands to be first and foremost conversational partners but few husbands share this expectation of their wives.In short the image that best represents the current crisis is the stereotypical cartoon scene of a man sitting at the breakfast table with a newspaper held up in front of his face while a woman glares at the back of it wanting to talk.26.What is most wives' main expectation of their husbands?A.Talking to them.B.Trusting them.C.Supporting their careers.D. Shsring housework.27.Judging from the context ,the phrase “wreaking havoc”(Line 3,Para.2)most probably means ___ .A generating motivation.B.exerting influenceC.causing damageDcreating pressure28.All of the following are true EXCEPT_______A.men tend to talk more in public tan womenB.nearly 50percent of recent divorces are caused by failed conversationC.women attach much importance to communication between couplesDa female tends to be more talkative at home than her spouse29.Which of the following can best summarize the mian idea of this text ?A.The moral decaying deserves more research by sociologists .B.Marriage break_up stems from sex inequalities.C.Husband and wofe have different expectations from their marriage.D.Conversational patterns between man and wife are different.30.In the following part immediately after this text,the author will most probably focuson ______A.a vivid account of the new book Divorce TalkB.a detailed description of the stereotypical cartoonC.other possible reasons for a high divorce rate in the U.S.D a brief introduction to the political scientist Andrew HackerTxet3over the past decade, many companies had perfected the art of creating automatic behaviors — habits — among consumers. These habits have helped companies earn billions of dollars when customers eat snacks, apply lotions and wipe counters almost without thinking, often in response to a carefully designed set of daily cues.“There are fundamental public health problems, like hand washing with soap, that remain killers only because we can’t figure out how to change people’s habits,” Dr. Curtis said. “We wanted to learn from private industry how to create new behaviors that happen automatically.”The companies that Dr. Curtis turned to —Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever —had invested hundreds of millions of dollarsfinding the subtle cues in consumers’ lives that corporations could use to introduce new routines.If you look hard enough, you’ll find that many of the products we use every day — chewing gums, skin moisturizers, disinfecting wipes, air fresheners, water purifiers, health snacks, antiperspirants, colognes, teeth whiteners, fabric softeners, vitamins —are results of manufactured habits. A century ago, few people regularly brushed their teeth multiple times a day. Today, because of canny advertising and public health campaigns, many Americans habitually give their pearly whites a cavity-preventing scrub twice a day, often with Colgate, Crest or one of the other brands.A few decades ago, many people didn’t drink water outside of a meal. Then beverage companies started bottling the production of far-off springs,and now office workers unthinkingly sip bottled water all day long. Chewing gum, once bought primarily by adolescent boys, is now featured in commercials as a breath freshener and teeth cleanser for use after a meal. Skin moisturizers are advertised as part of morning beauty rituals,slipped in between hair brushing and putting on makeup.“Our products succeed when they become part of daily or weekly patterns,” said Carol Berning, a consumer psychologist who recently retired from Procter & Gamble, the company that sold $76 billion of Tide, Crest and other products last year. “Creating positive habits is a huge part of improving our consumers’ lives, and it’s essential to making new product s commercially viable.”Through experiments and observation, social scientists like Dr. Berning have learned that there is power in tying certain behaviors to habitual cues through relentless advertising. As this new science of habit has emerged, controversies have erupted when the tactics have been used to sell questionable beauty creams or unhealthy foods.31.According to Dr.Curtis,habits like hand washing with soap________.[A] should be further cultivated[B] should be changed gradually[C] are deepiy rooted in history[D] are basically private concerns（编辑：）32.Bottled water,chewing gun and skin moisturizers are mentioned in Paragraph5 so as to____[A] reveal their impact on people’habits[B] show the urgent need of daily necessities[C]indicate their eff ect on people’buying power[D]manifest the significant role of good habits33.which of the following does NOT belong to products that help create people’s habits?[A]Tide[B]Crest[C]Colgate[D]Unilver34.From the text wekonw that some of consumer’s habits a re developed due to _____[A]perfected art of products[B]automatic behavior creation[C]commercial promotions[D]scientific experiments35.the author’sattitude toward the influence of advertisement on people’s habits is____[A]indifferent[B]negative[C]positive[D]biasedText4Many Americans regard the jury system as a concrete expression of crucial democratic values, including the principles that all citizens who meet minimal qualifications of age and literacy are equally competent to serve on juries; that jurors should be selected randomly from a representative cross section of the community; that no citizen should be denied the right to serve on a jury on account of race, religion, sex, or national origin; that defendants are entitled to trial by their peers; and that verdicts should represent the conscience of the community and not just the letter of the law. The jury is also said to be the best surviving example of direct rather than representative democracy. In a direct democracy, citizens take turns governing themselves, rather than electing representatives to govern for them.But as recently as in 1986, jury selection procedures conflicted with these democratic ideals. In some states, for example, jury duty was limited to persons of supposedly superior intelligence, education, and moral character. Although the Supreme Court of the United States had prohibited intentional racial discrimination in jury selection as early as the 1880 case of strauder v. West Virginia,the practice of selecting so-called elite or blue-ribbon juries provided a convenient way around this and other antidiscrimination laws.The system also failed to regularly include women on juries until the mid-20th century. Although women first served on state juries in Utah in 1898,it was not untilthe 1940s that a majority of states made women eligible for jury duty. Even then several states automatically exempted women from jury duty unless they personlly asked to have their names included on the jury list. This practice was justified by the claim that women were needed at home, and it kept juries unrepresentative of women through the 1960s.In 1968, the Congress of the United States passed the Jury Selection and Service Act, ushering in a new era of democratic reforms for the jury.This law abolished special educational requirements for federal jurors and required them to be selected at random from a cross section of the entire community. In the landmark 1975 decision Taylor v. Louisiana, the Supreme Court extended the requirement that juries be representative of all parts of the community to the state level. The Taylor decision also declared sex discrimination in jury selection to be unconstitutional and ordered states to use the same procedures for selecting male and female jurors.36.From the principles of theUS jury system,welearn that ______[A]both litcrate and illiterate people can serve on juries[B]defendants are immune from trial by their peers[C]no age limit should be imposed for jury service[D]judgment should consider the opinion of the public37.The practice of selecting so—called elite jurors prior to 1968 showed_____[A]the inadcquavy of antidiscrimination laws[B]the prevalent discrimination against certain races[C]the conflicting ideals in jury selection procedures38.Even in the 1960s,women were seldom on the jury list in some states because_____[A]they were automatically banned by state laws[B]they fell far short of the required qualifications[C]they were supposed to perform domestic duties[D]they tended to evade public engagement39.After the Jury Selection and Service Act was passed.___[A]sex discrimination in jury selection was unconstitutional and had to be abolished[B]educational requirements became less rigid in the selection of federal jurors[C]jurors at the state level ought to be representative of the entire community[D]states ought to conform to the federal court in reforming the jury system40.in discussing the US jury system,the text centers on_______[A]its nature and problems[B]its characteristics and tradition[C]its problems and their solutions[D]its tradition and developmentSection ⅢTranslation46.Directions:In this section there is a text in English .Translate it into Chinese. Write your translation on ANSWER SHEET2.(15points)（编辑：）“Suatainability” has become apopular word these days, but to Ted Ning, the concept will always have personal meaning. Having endured apainful period of unsustainability in his own life made itclear to him that sustainability-oriented values must be expressed though everyday action and choice.Ning recalls spending aconfusing year in the late 1990s sellin g insurance. He’d been though the dot-com boom and burst and,desperate for ajob,signed on with a Boulder agency.It didin’t go well. “It was a really had move because that’s not my passion,” says Ning, whose dilemma about the job translated, predictably, i nto a lack of sales. “I was miserable, I had so much anxiety that I would wake up in the middle of the night and stare at the ceiling. I had no money and needed the job. Everyone said, ‘Just wait, you’ll trun the corner, give it some time.’”翻译参考“坚持不懈”如今已成一个流行词汇，但对TedNing而言，这个概念一直有个人含义，经历了一段痛苦松懈的个人生活，使他清楚面向以坚持不懈为导向的价值观，必须贯彻到每天的行动和选择中。
2010年考研英语二
2010年考研英语二
2010年考研英语（二）真题试卷内容大致如下：
Section I Use of English
请认真阅读下面短文，并根据短文内容从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳答案。
文章主要讲述了社会学中的标签理论，并强调了标签理论在解释犯罪原因上的重要性。
Section II Reading Comprehension
Part A
本部分共有四篇文章，每篇文章后面有五个问题，请根据文章内容从每个问题后面的四个选项中选出最佳答案。
第一篇文章主要讨论了英国和欧洲大陆之间在历史和文化方面的差异。
第二篇文章介绍了现代科技对人们生活的影响，特别是对年轻人。
第三篇文章探讨了如何通过改变饮食习惯来改善身体健康。
第四篇文章讨论了全球化对不同国家经济的影响。
Part B
本部分共有两篇文章，每篇文章有五个空格，要求根据文章内容填空。
第一篇文章主要介绍了如何通过社交媒体来提高个人品牌知名度。
第二篇文章介绍了如何通过制定合理的计划来提高工作效率。
Part C
本部分选自一篇教育方面的文章，要求考生翻译成中文。
主要讲述了如何通过创新教育方式来培养孩子的创造力。
以上只是对2010年考研英语（二）真题的大致概括，建议查阅相关资料或真题集获取更准确的信息。
2013年考研英语(二)真题、答案及解析[完整版]
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2013年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语(二)试题National Entrance Test of English for MA/MS Candidates(NETEM)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 ANSWER SHEET 1. (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 issuer's account, which means that the writer of the check can cam 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 else's 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] However [B] Moreover [C] Therefore [D] Otherwise2. [A] off [B] back [C] over [D] around3. [A] power [B] concept [C] history [D] role4. [A] reward [B] resist [C] resume [D] reverse5. [A] silent [B] sudden [C] slow [D] steady6. [A] for [B] against [C] with [D] on7. [A] imaginative [B] expensive [C] sensitive [D] productive8. [A] similar [B] original [C] temporary [D] dominant9. [A] collect [B] provide [C] copy [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] released [D] withdrawn13. [A] Unless [B] Until [C] Because [D] Though14. [A] hide [B] express [C] raise [D] ease15. [A] analyzed [B] shared [C] stored [D] displayed16. [A] unsafe [B] unnatural [C] uncommon [D] unclear17. [A] steal [B] choose [C] benefit [D] return18. [A] consideration [B] prevention [C] manipulation [D] justification19. [A] cope with [B] fight against [C] adapt to [D] call for20. [A] chunk [B] chip [C] path [D] trailSection II Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing [A], [B], [C] or [D]. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)Text 1In an essay entitled “Making It in America”, the author Adam Davidson relates a joke from cotton about just how much a modern textile mill has been automated: The average mill only two employees today,” a man and a dog. The man is there to feed the dog is there to keep the man away from the machines.”Davidson’s 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 also because of the advances in both globalization and theinformation technology revolution, which are more rapidly than ever replacing labor with machines or foreign worker.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 won’t earn you what it used to. It can’t when so many more employers have so much more access to so m uch more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius. Therefore, everyone needs to find their extra-their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment.Yes, new technology has been eating jobs forever, and always will. But there’s been a acceleration. As Davidson notes,” In the 10 years ending in 2009, [U.S.] factories shed workers so fast that they erased almost all the gains of the previous 70 years; roughly one out of every three manufacturing jobs-about 6 million in total -disappeared.There will always be changed-new jobs, new products, new services. But the one thing we know for sure is that with each advance in globalization and the I.T. revolution, the best jobs will require workers to have more and better education to make themselves above average.In a world where average is officially over, there are many things we need to do to support employment, but nothing would be more important than passing some kind of G.I.Bill for the 21st century that ensures that every American has access to poet-high school education.21. The joke in Paragraph 1 is used to illustrate_______.[A] the impact of technological advances [B] the alleviation of job pressure[C] the shrinkage of textile mills [D] the decline of middle-class incomes22. According to Paragraph 3, to be a successful employee, one has to______.[A] work on cheap software [B] ask for a moderate salary[C] adopt an average lifestyle [D] contribute something unique23. The quotation in Paragraph 4 explains that ______.[A] gains of technology have been erased[B] job opportunities are disappearing at a high speed[C] factories are making much less money than before[D] new jobs and services have been offered24. According to the author, to reduce unemployment, the most important is_____.[A] to accelerate the I.T. revolution [B] to ensure more education for people[C] to advance economic globalization [D] to pass more bills in the 21st century25. Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the text?[A] New Law Takes Effect [B] Technology Goes Cheap[C] Average Is Over [D] Recession Is BadText 2A century ago, the immigrants from across the Atlantic include settlers and sojourners. Along with the many folks looking to make a permanent home in the United States came those who had no intention to stay, and 7millin people arrived while about 2 million departed. About a quarter of all Italian immigrants, for example, eventually returned to Italy for good. They even had an affectionate nickname, “uccelli di passaggio,” birds of passage.Today, we are much more rigid about immigrants. We divide newcomers into two categories: legal or illegal, good or bad. We hail them as Americans in the making, or our broken immigration system and the long political paralysis over how to fix it. We don’t need more categories, but we need to change the way we think about categories. We need to look beyond strict definitions of legal and illegal. To start, we can recognize the new birds of passage, those living and thriving in the gray areas. We might then begin to solve our immigration challenges.Crop pickers, violinists, construction workers, entrepreneurs, engineers, home health-care aides and physicists are among today’s birds of passage. They are energetic participants in a global economy driven by the flow of work, money and ideas .They prefer to come and go as opportunity calls them. They can manage to have a job in one place and a family in another.With or without permission, they straddle laws, jurisdictions and identities with ease. We need them to imagine the United States as a place where they can be productive for a while without committing themselves to staying forever. We need them to feel that home can be both here and there and that they can belong to two nations honorably.Accommodating this new world of people in motion will require new attitudes on both sides of the immigration battle .Looking beyond the culture war logic of right or wrong means opening up the middle ground and understanding that managing immigration today requires multiple paths and multiple outcomes. Including some that are not easy to accomplish legally in the existing system.26. “Birds of passage” refers to those who____.[A] immigrate across the Atlantic [B] leave their home countries for good[C] stay in a foreign temporarily [D]find permanent jobs overseas27. It is implied in paragraph 2 that the current immigration system in the US____.[A] needs new immigrant categories [B] has loosened control over immigrants[C] should be adopted to meet challenges [D]has been fixed via political means28. According to the author, today’s b irds of passage want _____.[A] financial incentives [B] a global recognition[C] opportunities to get regular jobs [D]the freedom to stay and leave29. The author suggests that the birds of passage today should be treated ____.[A] as faithful partners [B] with economic favors[C] with regal tolerance [D]as mighty rivals30. Which is the most title?[A] come and go: big mistake [B] living and thriving : great risk[C] with or without : great risk [D] legal or illegal: big mistakeText 3Scientists have found that although we are prone to snap overreactions, if we take a moment and think about how we are likely to react, we can reduce or even eliminate the negative effects of our quick, hard-wired responses.Snap decisions can be important defense mechanisms; if we are judging whether someone is dangerous, our brains and bodies are hard-wired to react very quickly, within milliseconds. But we need more time to assess other factors. To accurately tell whether someone is sociable, studies show, we need at least a minute, preferably five. It takes a while to judge complex aspects of personality, like neuroticism or open-mindedness.But snap decisions in reaction to rapid stimuli aren’t exclusiv e to the interpersonal realm. Psychologists at the University of Toronto found that viewing a fast-food logo for just a few milliseconds primes us to read 20 percent faster, even though reading has little to do with eating. We unconsciously associate fast food with speed and impatience and carry those impulses into whatever else we’re doing, Subjects exposed to fast-food flashes also tend to think a musical piece lasts too long.Yet we can reverse such influences. If we know we will overreact to consumer products or housing options when we see a happy face (one reason good sales representatives and real estate agents are always smiling), we can take a moment before buying. If we know female job screeners are more likely to reject attractive female applicants, we can help screeners understand their biases-or hire outside screeners.John Gottman, the marriage expert, explains that we quickly “thin slice” information reliably only after we ground such snap reactions in “thick sliced” long-term study. When Dr. Gottman really wants to assess whether a couple will stay together, he invites them to his island retreat for a muck longer evaluation; two days, not two seconds.Our ability to mute our hard-wired reactions by pausing is what differentiates us from animals: doge can think about the future only intermittently or for a few minutes. But historically we have spent about 12 percent of our days contemplating the longer term. Although technology might change the way we react, it hasn’t changed our nature. We still have the imaginative capacity to rise above temptation and reverse the high-speed trend.31. The time needed in making decisions may ____.[A] vary according to the urgency of the situation[B] prove the complexity of our brain reaction[C] depend on the importance of the assessment[D] predetermine the accuracy of our judgment32. Our reaction to a fast-food logo shows that snap decisions ____.[A] can be associative [B] are not unconscious[C] can be dangerous [D] are not impulsive33. To reverse the negative influences of snap decisions, we should ____.[A] trust our first impression [B] do as people usually do[C] think before we act [D] ask for expert advice34. John Gottman says that reliable snap reaction are based on _____.[A] critical assessment [B] “thin sliced” study[C] sensible explanation [D] adequate information35. The author’s attitude toward reversing the high-speed trend is ______.[A] tolerant [B] uncertain [C] optimistic [D] doubtfulText 4Europe is not a gender-equality heaven. In particular, the corporate workplace will never be completely family—friendly until women are part of senior managementdecisions, and Europe’s top corpo rate-governance positions remain overwhelmingly male .indeed, women hold only 14 percent of positions on Europe corporate boards.The Europe Union is now considering legislation to compel corporate boards to maintain a certain proportion of women-up to 60 percent. This proposed mandate was born of frustration. Last year, Europe Commission Vice President Viviane Reding issued a call to voluntary action. Reding invited corporations to sign up for gender balance goal of 40 percent female board membership. But her appeal was considered a failure: only 24 companies took it up.Do we need quotas to ensure that women can continue to climb the corporate Ladder fairy as they balance work and family?“Personally, I don’t like quotas,” Reding said recently. “But i like what the quotas do.” Quotas get action: they “open the way to equality and they break through the glass ceiling,” according to Reding, a result seen in France and other countries with legally binding provisions on placing women in top business positions.I understand Reding’s reluctance-and her frustration. I don’t like quotas either; they run counter to my belief in meritocracy, government by the capable. Bur, when one considers the obstacles to achieving the meritocratic ideal, it does look as if a fairer world must be temporarily ordered.After all, four decades of evidence has now shown that corporations in Europe as the US are evading the meritocratic hiring and promotion of women to top position—no matter how much “soft pressure ” is put upon them. W hen women do break through to the summit of corporate power--as, for example, Sheryl Sandberg recently did at Facebook—they attract massive attention precisely because they remain the exception to the rule.If appropriate pubic policies were in place to help all women---whether CEOs or their children’s caregivers--and all families, Sandberg would be no more newsworthy than any other highly capable person living in a more just society.36. In the European corporate workplace, generally_____.[A] women take the lead [B] men have the final say[C] corporate governance is overwhelmed [D] senior management is family-friendly37. The European Union’s intended legislation is ________.[A] a reflection of gender balance [B] a reluctant choice[C] a response to Reding’s call[D] a voluntary action38. According to Reding, quotas may help women ______.[A] get top business positions [B] see through the glass ceiling[C] balance work and family [D] anticipate legal results39. The author’s attitude toward Reding’s appeal is one of _________.[A] skepticism [B] objectiveness [C] indifference [D] approval40. Women entering top management become headlines due to the lack of ______.[A] more social justice [B] massive media attention[C] suitable public policies [D] greater “soft pressure”Part BRead the following text and answer the questions by finding information from the left column that corresponds to each of the marked details given in the right column. There are two extra choices in the right column. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEERT 1.(10 points)[A] Live like a peasant [B] Balance your diet[C] Shopkeepers are your friends [D] Remember to treat yourself[E] Stick to what you need [F] Planning is everything[G] Waste not, want notThe hugely popular blog the Skint Foodie chronicles how Tony balances his love of good food with living on benefits. After bills, Tony has £60 a week to spend, £40 of which goes on food, but 10 years ago he was earning £130,000 a I year working in corporate communications and eating at London's best restaurants'" at least twice a week. Then his marriage failed, his career burned out and his drinking became serious. "The community mental health team saved my life. And I felt like that again, to a certain degree, when people responded to the blog so well. It gave me the validation and confidence that I'd lost. But it's still a day-by-day thing." Now he's living in a council flat and fielding offers from literary agents. He's feeling positive, but he'll carry on blogging-not about eating as cheaply as you can-"there are so many people in a much worse state, with barely any money to spend on food" - but eating well on a budget. Here's his advice for economical foodies. 41. __________________Impulsive spending isn't an option, so plan your week's menu in advance, making shopping lists for your ingredients in their exact quantities. I have an Excel template for aweek of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Stop laughing: it's not just cost effective but helps you balance your diet. It's also a good idea to shop daily instead of weekly, because, being-human, you'll sometimes change your mind about what you fancy.42. __________________This is where supermarkets and their anonymity come in handy. With them, there's not the same embarrassment as when buying one carrot in a little greengrocer. And if you plan properly, you'll know that you only need, say, 350g of shin of beef and six rashers of bacon, not whatever weight is pre-packed in the supermarket chiller.43. __________________You may proudly claim to only have frozen peas in the freezer - that's not good enough. Mine is filled with leftovers, bread, stock, meat and fish. Planning ahead should eliminate wastage, but if you have surplus vegetables you'll do a vegetable soup, and all fruits threatening to "go off' will be cooked or juiced.44. __________________Everyone says this, but it really is a top tip for frugal eaters. Shop at butchers, delis and fish-sellers regularly, even for small things, and be super friendly. Soon you'll feel comfortable asking if they've any knuckles of ham for soups and stews, or beef bones, chicken carcasses and fish heads for stock which, more often than not, they'll let you have for free.45. __________________You won't be eating out a lot, but save your pennies and once every few months treat yourself to a set lunch at a good restaurant - £1.75 a week for three months gives you £21 - more than" enough for a three-course lunch at Michelin-starred Arbutus. It's £16.95 there - or £12.99 for a large pizza from Domino's: I know which I'd rather eat.Section ⅢTranslation46. Direction:Translate the following text from English into Chinese. Write your translation on ANSWER SHEET 2.(15 points)I can pick a date from the past 53 years and know instantly where I was, what happened in the news and even the day of the week, I’ve been able to do this, since I was four.I never feel overwhelmed with the amount of information my brain absorbs. My mind seems to be able to cope and the information is stored away neatly. When I think of a sad memory, I do what everybody does-try to put it to one side. I don’t think it’s harder for me just because my memory is clearer. Powerful memory doesn’t make my emotions any more acute or vivid. I can recall the day my grandfather died and the sadness I felt when we went to the hospital the day of the week the day of the week day before. I also remember that the musical play Hair opened on Broadway on the same day-they both just pop into my mind in the same way.Section Ⅳ WritingPart A47. Direction:Suppose your class is to hold a charity sale foe kids in need of help. Write your classmates an email to1) inform them about the details and2) encourage them to participate.Don’t use your own name, use “Li Ming” instead. Don’t write your address.(10 points) Part B48. Direction:Write an essay based on the following table .In your writing you should1) interpret the chart and2) give your commentsYou should write about 150 words on the ANSWER SHEET (15points)某高校学生兼职情况2012年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语(二)试题答案Section I Use of English (10 points)1-5. ADBDC 6-10. BBDBA 11-15. ADCCC 16-20. CABADSection II Reading Comprehension (50 points)Part A (40 points) 21-25. ADBBC 26-30. CCDCD 31-35. DACDC 36-40. BAADC Part B (10 points) 41-45. FEGCDSection ⅢTranslation (15 points)46. 从过去的53年里随便找出一天，我都能够立刻想起那一天我在哪里，那一天发生了什么新闻，甚至那一天是星期几。
2010年考研英语二真题
2010年考研英语二真题Section I Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following passage.For each numbered blank there are four choices marked A,B,C and D.Choose the best one and mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET l.(10points)The outbreak of swine flu that was first detected in Mexico was declared a global epidemic on June11,2009.It is the first worldwide epidemic__1__by the World Health Organization in41years.The heightened alert__2__an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva that convened after a sharp rise in cases in Australia,and rising__3__in Britain,Japan,Chile and elsewhere.But the epidemic is"__4__"in severity,according to Margaret Chan,the organization's director general,__5__the overwhelming majority of patients experiencing only mild symptoms and a full recovery,often in the__6__of any medical treatment.The outbreak came to global __7__in late April2009,when Mexican authorities noticed an unusually large number of hospitalizations and deaths__8__healthy adults.As much of Mexico City shut down at the height of a panic,cases began to__9__in New York City,the southwestern United States and around the world.In the United States,new cases seemed to fade__10__warmer weather arrived.But in late September2009,officials reported there was__11__flu activity in almost every state and that virtually all the__12__tested are the new swine flu,also known as(A)H1N1,not seasonal flu.In the U.S.,it has__13__more than one million people,and caused more than600 deaths and more than6,000hospitalizations.Federal health officials__14__Tamiflu for children from the national stockpile and began__15__orders from the states for the new swine flu vaccine.The new vaccine,which is different from the annual flu vaccine,is__16__ahead of expectations.More than three million doses were to be made available in early October2009,though most of those__17__doses were of the FluMist nasal spray type,which is not__18__for pregnant women,people over50or those with breathing difficulties,heart disease or several other__19__.But it was still possible to vaccinate people in other high-risk group:health care workers,people __20__infants and healthy young people.1[A]criticized[B]appointed[C]commented[D]designated2[A]proceeded[B]activated[C]followed[D]prompted3[A]digits[B]numbers[C]amounts[D]sums4[A]moderate[B]normal[C]unusual[D]extreme5[A]with[B]in[C]from[D]by6[A]progress[B]absence[C]presence[D]favor7[A]reality[B]phenomenon[C]concept[D]notice8.[A]over[B]for[C]among[D]to9[A]stay up[B]crop up[C]fill up[D]cover up10[A]as[B]if[C]unless[D]until11[A]excessive[B]enormous[C]significant[D]magnificent12[A]categories[B]examples[C]patterns[D]samples13[A]imparted[B]immerse[C]injected[D]infected14[A]released[B]relayed[C]relieved[D]remained215[A]placing[B]delivering[C]taking[D]giving16[A]feasible[B]available[C]reliable[D]applicable17[A]prevalent[B]principal[C]innovative[D]initial18[A]presented[B]restricted[C]recommended[D]introduced19[A]problems[B]issues[C]agonies[D]sufferings20[A]involved in[B]caring for[C]concerned with[D]warding off SectionSectionⅡReading comprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four passages.Answer the questions below each passage by choosing A,B,C and D.Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET1.(40 points)Text1The longest bull run in a century of art-market history ended on a dramatic note with a sale of56works by Damien Hirst,“Beautiful Inside My Head Forever”,at Sotheby’s in London on September15th2008(see picture).All but two pieces sold, fetching more thanā70m,a record for a sale by a single artist.It was a last hurrah.As the auctioneer called out bids,in New York one of the oldest banks on Wall Street, Lehman Brothers,filed for bankruptcy.The world art market had already been losing momentum for a while after rising vertiginously since2003.At its peak in2007it was worth some$65billion, reckons Clare McAndrew,founder of Arts Economics,a research firm—double the figure five years earlier.Since then it may have come down to$50billion.But themarket generates interest far beyond its size because it brings together great wealth, enormous egos,greed,passion and controversy in a way matched by few other industries.In the weeks and months that followed Mr Hirst’s sale,spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable,especially in New York,where the bail-out of the banks coincided with the loss of thousands of jobs and the financial demise of many art-buying investors.In the art world that meant collectors stayed away from galleries and salerooms.Sales of contemporary art fell by two-thirds,and in the most overheated sector—for Chinese contemporary art—they were down by nearly90%in the year to November2008.Within weeks the world’s two biggest auction houses, Sotheby’s and Christie’s,had to pay out nearly$200m in guarantees to clients who had placed works for sale with them.The current downturn in the art market is the worst since the Japanese stopped buying Impressionists at the end of1989,a move that started the most serious contraction in the market since the second world war.This time experts reckon that prices are about40%down on their peak on average,though some have been far more volatile.But Edward Dolman,Christie’s chief executive,says:“I’m pretty confident we’re at the bottom.”What makes this slump different from the last,he says,is that there are still buyers in the market,whereas in the early1990s,when interest rates were high,there was no demand even though many collectors wanted to sell.Christie’s revenues in the first half of2009were still higher than in the first half of2006.Almost everyone who was interviewed for this special report said that the biggest problem at the moment is not a lack of demand but a lack of good work to sell.The three Ds—death,debt and divorce—still deliver works of art to the market.But anyone who does not have to sell is keeping away,waiting for confidence to return.21.In the first paragraph,Damien Hirst's sale was referred to as“a last victory”because____.A.the art market had witnessed a succession of victoryiesB.the auctioneer finally got the two pieces at the highest bidsC.Beautiful Inside My Head Forever won over all masterpiecesD.it was successfully made just before the world financial crisis22.By saying“spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable”(Line1-2,Para.3),the author suggests that_____.A.collectors were no longer actively involved in art-market auctionsB.people stopped every kind of spending and stayed away from galleriesC.art collection as a fashion had lost its appeal to a great extentD.works of art in general had gone out of fashion so they were not worth buying23.Which of the following statements is NOT ture?A.Sales of contemporary art fell dramatically from2007to2008.B.The art market surpassed many other industries in momentum.C.The market generally went downward in various ways.D.Some art dealers were awaiting better chances to come.24.The three Ds mentioned in the last paragraph are____A.auction houses'favoritesB.contemporary trendsC.factors promoting artwork circulationD.styles representing impressionists25.The most appropriate title for this text could be___A.Fluctuation of Art PricesB.Up-to-date Art AuctionsC.Art Market in DeclineD.Shifted Interest in ArtsText2I was addressing a small gathering in a suburban Virginia living room--a women's group that had invited men to join them.Throughout the evening one man had been particularly talkative frequently offering ideas and anecdotes while his wife sat silently beside him on the couch.Toward the end of the evening I commented that women frequently complain that their husbands don't talk to them.This man quickly concurred.He gestured toward his wife and said"She's the talker in our family."The room burst into laughter;the man looked puzzled and hurt."It's true"he explained. "When I come home from work I have nothing to say.If she didn't keep the conversation going we'd spend the whole evening in silence."This episode crystallizes the irony that although American men tend to talk more than women in public situations they often talk less at home.And this pattern is wreaking havoc with marriage.The pattern was observed by political scientist Andrew Hacker in the late'70s. Sociologist Catherine Kohler Riessman reports in her new book"Divorce Talk"that most of the women she interviewed--but only a few of the men--gave lack of communication as the reason for their divorces.Given the current divorce rate of nearly50percent that amounts to millions of cases in the United States every year--a virtual epidemic of failed conversation.In my own research complaints from women about their husbands most often focused not on tangible inequities such as having given up the chance for a career to accompany a husband to his or doing far more than their share of daily life-support work like cleaning cooking social arrangements and errands.Instead they focused on communication:"He doesn't listen to me""He doesn't talk to me."I found as Hacker observed years before that most wives want their husbands to be first and foremost conversational partners but few husbands share this expectation of their wives.In short the image that best represents the current crisis is the stereotypical cartoon scene of a man sitting at the breakfast table with a newspaper held up in front of his face while a woman glares at the back of it wanting to talk.26.What is most wives'main expectation of their husbands?A.Talking to them.B.Trusting them.C.Supporting their careers.D.Shsring housework.27.Judging from the context,the phrase“wreaking havoc”(Line3,Para.2)mostprobably means___.A.generating motivation.B.exerting influenceC.causing damageD.creating pressure28.All of the following are true EXCEPT_______A.men tend to talk more in public tan womenB.nearly50percent of recent divorces are caused by failed conversationC.women attach much importance to communication between couplesD.a female tends to be more talkative at home than her spouse29.Which of the following can best summarize the mian idea of this text?A.The moral decaying deserves more research by sociologists.B.Marriage break_up stems from sex inequalities.C.Husband and wofe have different expectations from their marriage.D.Conversational patterns between man and wife are different.30.In the following part immediately after this text,the author will most probablyfocus on______A.a vivid account of the new book Divorce TalkB.a detailed description of the stereotypical cartoonC.other possible reasons for a high divorce rate in the U.S.D.a brief introduction to the political scientist Andrew HackerTxet3over the past decade,many companies had perfected the art of creating automatic behaviors—habits—among consumers.These habits have helped companies earn billions of dollars when customers eat snacks,apply lotions and wipe counters almost without thinking,often in response to a carefully designed set of daily cues.“There are fundamental public health problems,like hand washing with soap, that remain killers only because we can’t figure out how to change people’s habits,”Dr.Curtis said.“We wanted to learn from private industry how to create new behaviors that happen automatically.”The companies that Dr.Curtis turned to—Procter&Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever—had invested hundreds of millions of dollars finding the subtle cues in consumers’lives that corporations could use to introduce new routines.If you look hard enough,you’ll find that many of the products we use every day —chewing gums,skin moisturizers,disinfecting wipes,air fresheners,water purifiers, health snacks,antiperspirants,colognes,teeth whiteners,fabric softeners,vitamins—are results of manufactured habits.A century ago,few people regularly brushed their teeth multiple times a day.Today,because of canny advertising and public health campaigns,many Americans habitually give their pearly whites a cavity-preventing scrub twice a day,often with Colgate,Crest or one of the other brands.A few decades ago,many people didn’t drink water outside of a meal.Then beverage companies started bottling the production of far-off springs,and now office workers unthinkingly sip bottled water all day long.Chewing gum,once bought primarily by adolescent boys,is now featured in commercials as a breath freshener and teeth cleanser for use after a meal.Skin moisturizers are advertised as part of morning beauty rituals,slipped in between hair brushing and putting on makeup.“Our products succeed when they become part of daily or weekly patterns,”said Carol Berning,a consumer psychologist who recently retired from Procter&Gamble, the company that sold$76billion of Tide,Crest and other products last year.“Creating positive habits is a huge part of improving our consumers’lives,and it’s essential to making new products commercially viable.”Through experiments and observation,social scientists like Dr.Berning have learned that there is power in tying certain behaviors to habitual cues through relentless advertising.As this new science of habit has emerged,controversies have erupted when the tactics have been used to sell questionable beauty creams or unhealthy foods.31.According to Dr.Curtis,habits like hand washing with soap________.[A]should be further cultivated[B]should be changed gradually[C]are deepiy rooted in history[D]are basically private concerns32.Bottled water,chewing gun and skin moisturizers are mentioned in Paragraph5soas to____[A]reveal their impact on people’habits[B]show the urgent need of daily necessities[C]indicate their effect on people’buying power[D]manifest the significant role of good habits33.which of the following does NOT belong to products that help create people’shabits?[A]Tide[B]Crest[C]Colgate[D]Unilver34.From the text wekonw that some of consumer’s habits are developed due to_____[A]perfected art of products[B]automatic behavior creation[C]commercial promotions[D]scientific experiments35.the author’sattitude toward the influence of advertisement on people’s habitsis____[A]indifferent[B]negative[C]positive[D]biasedText4Many Americans regard the jury system as a concrete expression of crucial democratic values,including the principles that all citizens who meet minimal qualifications of age and literacy are equally competent to serve on juries;that jurors should be selected randomly from a representative cross section of the community; that no citizen should be denied the right to serve on a jury on account of race, religion,sex,or national origin;that defendants are entitled to trial by their peers;and that verdicts should represent the conscience of the community and not just the letter of the law.The jury is also said to be the best surviving example of direct rather than representative democracy.In a direct democracy,citizens take turns governing themselves,rather than electing representatives to govern for them.But as recently as in1986,jury selection procedures conflicted with these democratic ideals.In some states,for example,jury duty was limited to persons of supposedly superior intelligence,education,and moral character.Although the Supreme Court of the United States had prohibited intentional racial discrimination in jury selection as early as the1880case of strauder v.West Virginia,the practice of selecting so-called elite or blue-ribbon juries provided a convenient way around this and other antidiscrimination laws.The system also failed to regularly include women on juries until the mid-20th century.Although women first served on state juries in Utah in1898,it was not until the1940s that a majority of states made women eligible for jury duty.Even then several states automatically exempted women from jury duty unless they personllyasked to have their names included on the jury list.This practice was justified by the claim that women were needed at home,and it kept juries unrepresentative of women through the1960s.In1968,the Congress of the United States passed the Jury Selection and Service Act,ushering in a new era of democratic reforms for the jury.This law abolished special educational requirements for federal jurors and required them to be selected at random from a cross section of the entire community.In the landmark1975decision Taylor v.Louisiana,the Supreme Court extended the requirement that juries be representative of all parts of the community to the state level.The Taylor decision also declared sex discrimination in jury selection to be unconstitutional and ordered states to use the same procedures for selecting male and female jurors.36.From the principles of theUS jury system,welearn that______[A]both litcrate and illiterate people can serve on juries[B]defendants are immune from trial by their peers[C]no age limit should be imposed for jury service[D]judgment should consider the opinion of the public37.The practice of selecting so—called elite jurors prior to1968showed_____[A]the inadcquavy of antidiscrimination laws[B]the prevalent discrimination against certain races[C]the conflicting ideals in jury selection procedures38.Even in the1960s,women were seldom on the jury list in some statesbecause_____[A]they were automatically banned by state laws[B]they fell far short of the required qualifications[C]they were supposed to perform domestic duties[D]they tended to evade public engagement39.After the Jury Selection and Service Act was passed.___[A]sex discrimination in jury selection was unconstitutional and had to be abolished[B]educational requirements became less rigid in the selection of federal jurors[C]jurors at the state level ought to be representative of the entire community[D]states ought to conform to the federal court in reforming the jury system40.in discussing the US jury system,the text centers on_______[A]its nature and problems[B]its characteristics and tradition[C]its problems and their solutions[D]its tradition and developmentPart BDirections:Read the following text and decide whether each of the statements is true or false.Choose T if the statement is true or F it the statement is not true.Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET1.(10 points)Copying Birds May Save Aircraft FuelBOTH Boeing and Airbus have trumpeted the efficiency of their newest aircraft, the787and A350respectively.Their clever designs and lightweight composites certainly make a difference.But a group of researchers at Stanford University,led by Ilan Kroo,has suggested that airlines could take a more naturalistic approach to cutting jet-fuel use,and it would not require them to buy new aircraft.The answer,says Dr Kroo,lies with birds.Since1914,and a seminal paper by a German researcher called Carl Wieselsberger,scientists have known that birds flying in formation—a V-shape,echelon or otherwise—expend less energy.The air flowing over a birds wings curls upwards behind the wingtips,a phenomenon known as up wash.Other birds flying in the up wash experience reduced drag,and spend less energy propelling themselves.Peter Lissaman,an aeronautics expert who was formerly at Caltech and the University of Southern California,has suggested that a formation of25birds might enjoy a range increase of71%.When applied to aircraft,the principles are not substantially different.Dr Kroo and his team modelled what would happen if three passenger jets departing from Los Angeles,San Francisco and Las Vegas were to rendezvous over Utah,assume an inverted V-formation,occasionally swap places so all could have a turn in the most favourable positions,and proceed to London.They found that the aircraft consumed as much as15%less fuel(with a concomitant reduction in carbon-dioxide output). Nitrogen-oxide emissions during the cruising portions of the flight fell by around a quarter.There are,of course,kinks to be worked out.One consideration is safety,or at least the perception of it.Would passengers feel comfortable travelling in convoy?DrKroo points out that the aircraft could be separated by several nautical miles,and would not be in the unnervingly cosy groupings favoured by display teams like the Red Arrows.A passenger peering out of the window might not even see the other planes.Whether the separation distances involved would satisfy air-traffic-control regulations is another matter,although a working group at the International Civil anisation has included the possibility of formation flying in a blueprint for new operational guidelines.It remains to be seen how weather conditions affect the air flows that make formation flight more efficient.In zones of increased turbulence,the planes’wakes will decay more quickly and the effect will diminish.Dr Kroo says this is one of the areas his team will investigate further.It might also be hard for airlines to co-ordinate the departure times and destinations of passenger aircraft in a way that would allow them to gain from formation flight.Cargo aircraft,in contrast,might be easier to reschedule,as might routine military flights.As it happens,America’s armed forces are on the case already.Earlier this year the country’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency announced plans to pay Boeing to investigate formation flight,though the programme has yet to begin.There are reports that some military aircraft flew in formation when they were low on fuel during the second world war,but Dr Lissaman says they are apocryphal.“My father was an RAF pilot and my cousin the skipper of a Lancaster lost over Berlin,”he adds. So he should know.41.Findings of the Stanford University researchers will promote the sales of new Boeing and Airbus aircraft.42.The upwash experience may save propelling energy as well as reducing resistance.43.Formation flight is more comfortable because passengers can not see the other planes.44.The role that weather plays in formation flight has not yet been clearly defined.45.It has been documented that during World War II,America’s armed forces once tried formation flight to save fuel.SectionⅢTranslation46.Directions:In this section there is a text in English.Translate it into Chinese. Write your translation on ANSWER SHEET2.(15points)“Suatainability”has become a popular word these days,but to Ted Ning,the concept will always have personal meaning.Having endured a painful period of unsustainability in his own life made it clear to him that sustainability-oriented values must be expressed though everyday action and choice.Ning recalls spending a confusing year in the late1990s selling insurance.He’d been though the dot-com boom and burst and,desperate for a job,signed on with a Boulder agency.It didn’t go well.“It was a really had move because that’s not my passion,”says Ning,whose dilemma about the job translated,predictably,into a lack of sales.“I was miserable,I had so much anxiety that I would wake up in the middle of the night and stare at the ceiling.I had no money and needed the job.Everyone said,‘Just wait, you’ll trun the corner,give it some time.’”SectionⅣWritingPart A47.Directions:You have just come back from the U.S.as a member of a Sino-American cultural exchange program.Write a letter to your American colleague to1)Express your thanks for his/her warm reception;2)Welcome him/her to visit China in due course.You should write about100words on ANSWER SHEET2.Do not sign your own name at the end of the e“Zhang Wei”instead.Do not write your address.(10points)Part B48.Directions:In this section,you are asked to write an essay based on the following chart.In your writing,you should1)Interpret the chart and2)Give your comments.You should write at least150words.Write your essay on on ANSWER SHEET2.(15points)。
考研英语二历年真题及答案解析(2010-2014年)
考研英语二历年真题及答案解析(2010-2014年)LT2010年考研英语二真题Section I Use of EnglishDirections: Read the following passage. For each numbered blank there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best one and mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET l. (10 points)The outbreak of swine flu that was first detected in Mexico was declared a global epidemic on June 11, 2009. It is the first worldwide epidemic__1__ by the World Health Organization in 41 years. The heightened alert__2__an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva that convened after a sharp rise in cases in Australia, and rising__3__in Britain, Japan, Chile and elsewhere. But the epidemic is "__4__" in severity, according to Margaret Chan, the organization's director general, __5__ the overwhelming majority of patients experiencing only mild symptoms and a full recovery, often in the __6__ of any medical treatment. The outbreak came to global __7__ in late April 2009, when Mexican authorities noticed an unusually large number of hospitalizations and deaths __8__ healthy adults. As much of Mexico City shut down at the height of a panic, cases began to __9__ in New York City, the southwestern United States and around the world. In the United States, new cases seemed to fade __10__ warmer weather arrived. But in late September 2009, officials reported there was __11__ flu activity in almost every state and that virtually all the__12__ tested are the new swine flu, also known as (A) H1N1, not seasonal flu. In the U.S., it has __13__ more than one million people, and caused more than 600 deaths and more than 6,000 hospitalizations. Federal health officials __14__Tamiflu for children from the national stockpile and began__15__orders from the states for the new swine flu vaccine. The new vaccine, which is different from the annual flu vaccine, is __16__ ahead of expectations. More than three million doses were to be made available in early October 2009, though most of those __17__doses were of the FluMist nasal spray type, which is not__18__for pregnant women, people over 50 or those with breathing difficulties, heart disease or several other __19__. But it was still possible to vaccinate people in other high-risk group: health care workers, people __20__ infants and healthy young people.1 [A] criticized [B] appointed [C]commented [D] designated2 [A] proceeded [B] activated [C] followed [D] prompted3 [A] digits [B] numbers [C] amounts [D] sums4 [A] moderate [B] normal [C] unusual [D] extreme5 [A] with [B] in [C] from [D] by6 [A] progress [B] absence [C] presence [D] favor7 [A] reality [B] phenomenon [C] concept [D] notice8. [A]over [B] for [C] among [D] to9 [A] stay up [B] crop up [C] fill up [D] cover up10 [A] as [B] if [C] unless [D] until11 [A] excessive [B] enormous [C] significant [D]magnificent12 [A]categories [B] examples [C] patterns [D] samples13 [A] imparted [B] immerse [C] injected [D] infected14 [A] released [B] relayed [C] relieved [D] remained 215 [A] placing [B] delivering [C] taking [D] giving16 [A] feasible [B] available [C] reliable [D] applicable17 [A] prevalent [B] principal [C] innovative [D] initial18 [A] presented [B] restricted [C] recommended [D] introduced19 [A] problems [B] issues [C] agonies [D] sufferings20 [A] involved in [B] caring for [C] concerned with [D] warding off SectionSection Ⅱ Reading comprehensionPart ADirections: Read the following four passages. Answer the questions below each passage by choosing A, B ,C and D.Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.(40 points)Text1The longest bull run in a century of art-market history ended on a dramatic note with a sale of 56 works by Damien Hirst, “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever”, at Sotheby’s in London on September 15th 2008 (see picture). All but two pieces sold, fetching more than ā70m, a record for a sale by a single artist. It was a last hurrah. As the auctioneer called out bids, in New York one of the oldest banks on Wall Street, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy.The world art market had already been losing momentum for a while after rising vertiginously since 2003. At its peak in 2007 it was worth some $65 billion, reckons Clare McAndrew, founder of Arts Economics, a research firm—double the figure five years earlier. Since then it may have come down to $50 billion. But the market generates interest far beyond its size because it brings together great wealth, enormous egos, greed, passion and controversy in a way matched by few other industries.In the weeks and months that followed Mr Hirst’s sale, spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable, especially in New York, where the bail-out of the banks coincided with the loss of thousands of jobs and the financial demise of many art-buying investors. In the art world that meant collectors stayed away from galleries and salerooms. Sales of contemporary art fell by two-thirds, and in the most overheated sector—for Chinese contemporary art—they were down by nearly 90% in the year to November 2008. Within weeks the world’s two biggest auction houses, Sotheby’s and Christie’s, had to pay out nearly $200m in guarantees to clients who had placed works for sale with them.The current downturn in the art market is the worst since the Japanese stopped buying Impressionists at the end of 1989, a move that started the most serious contraction in the market since the second world war. This time experts reckon that prices are about 40% down on their peak on average, though some have been far more volatile. But Edward Dolman, Christie’s chief executive, says: “I’m pretty confident we’re at the bottom.”What makes this slump different from the last, he says, is that there are still buyers in the market, whereas in the early 1990s, when interest rates were high, there was no demand even though many collectors wanted to sell. Christie’s revenues in the first half of 2009 were still higher than in the first half of 2006. Almost everyone who was interviewed for this special report said that the biggest problem at the moment is not a lack of demand but a lack of good work to sell. The three Ds—death, debt and divorce—still deliver works of art to the market. But anyone who does not have to sell is keeping away, waiting for confidence to return.21. In the first paragraph, Damien Hirst's sale was referred to as “a last victory” because ____.A. the art market had witnessed a succession of victoryiesB. the auctioneer finally got the two pieces at the highest bidsC. Beautiful Inside My Head Forever won over all masterpiecesD. it was successfully made just before the world financial crisis22. By saying “spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable”(Line 1-2,Para.3),the authorsuggests that_____ .A. collectors were no longer actively involved in art-market auctionsB. people stopped every kind of spending and stayed away from galleriesC. art collection as a fashion had lost its appeal to a great extentD. works of art in general had gone out of fashion so they were not worth buying23. Which of the following statements is NOT ture?A .Sales of contemporary art fell dramatically from 2007to 2008.B. The art market surpassed many other industries in momentum.C. The market generally went downward in various ways.D. Some art dealers were awaiting better chances to come.24. The three Ds mentioned in the last paragraph are ____[A]Tide[B]Crest[C]Colgate[D]Unilver34. Fr om the text wekonw that some of consumer’s habits are developed due to _____[A]perfected art of products[B]automatic behavior creation[C]commercial promotions[D]scientific experiments35. the author’sattitude toward the influence of advertisement on people’s habits is____[A]indifferent[B]negative[C]positive[D]biasedText4Many Americans regard the jury system as a concrete expression of crucial democratic values, including the principles that all citizens who meet minimal qualifications of age and literacy are equally competent to serve on juries; that jurors should be selected randomly from a representative cross section of the community; that no citizen should be denied the right to serve on a jury on account of race, religion, sex, or national origin; that defendants are entitled to trial by their peers; and that verdicts should represent the conscience of the community and not just the letter of the law. The jury is also said to be the best surviving example of direct rather than representative democracy. In a direct democracy, citizens take turns governing themselves, rather than electing representatives to govern for them.But as recently as in 1986, jury selection procedures conflicted with these democratic ideals. In some states, for example, jury duty was limited to persons of supposedly superior intelligence, education, and moral character. Although the Supreme Court of the United States had prohibited intentional racial discrimination in jury selection as early as the 1880 case of strauder v. West Virginia,the practice of selecting so-called elite or blue-ribbon juries provided a convenient way around this and other antidiscrimination laws.The system also failed to regularly include women on juries until the mid-20th century. Although women first served on state juries in Utah in 1898,it was not until the 1940s that a majority of states made women eligible for jury duty. Even then several states automatically exempted women from jury duty unless they personlly asked to have their names included on the jury list. This practice was justified by the claim that women were needed at home, and it kept juries unrepresentative of women through the 1960s.In 1968, the Congress of the United States passed the Jury Selection and Service Act, ushering in a new era of democratic reforms for the jury.This law abolished special educational requirements for federal jurors and required them to be selected at random from a cross section of the entire community. In the landmark 1975 decision Taylor v. Louisiana, the Supreme Court extended the requirement that juries be representative of all parts of the community to the state level. The Taylor decision also declared sex discrimination in jury selection to be unconstitutional and ordered states to use the same procedures for selecting male and female jurors.36. From the principles of theUS jury system,welearn that ______[A]both litcrate and illiterate people can serve on juries[B]defendants are immune from trial by their peers[C]no age limit should be imposed for jury service[D]judgment should consider the opinion of the public37. The practice of selecting so—called elite jurors prior to 1968 showed_____[A]the inadcquavy of antidiscrimination laws[B]the prevalent discrimination against certain races[C]the conflicting ideals in jury selection procedures38. Even in the 1960s,women were seldom on the jury list in some states because_____[A]they were automatically banned by state laws[B]they fell far short of the required qualifications[C]they were supposed to perform domestic duties[D]they tended to evade public engagement39. After the Jury Selection and Service Act was passed.___[A]sex discrimination in jury selection was unconstitutional and had to be abolished[B]educational requirements became less rigid in the selection of federal jurors[C]jurors at the state level ought to be representative of the entire community[D]states ought to conform to the federal court in reforming the jury system40. in discussing the US jury system,the text centers on_______[A]its nature and problems[B]its characteristics and tradition[C]its problems and their solutions[D]its tradition and developmentPart BDirections:Read the following text and decide whether each of the statements is true or false. Choose T if the statement is true or F it the statement is not true. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET1.(10 points)Copying Birds May Save Aircraft FuelBOTH Boeing and Airbus have trumpeted the efficiency of their newest aircraft, the 787 and A350 respectively. Their clever designs and lightweight composites certainly make a difference. But a group of researchers at Stanford University, led by Ilan Kroo, has suggested that airlines could take a more naturalistic approach to cutting jet-fuel use, and it would not require them to buy new aircraft.The answer, says Dr Kroo, lies with birds. Since 1914, and a seminal paper by a German researcher called Carl Wieselsberger, scientists have known that birds flying in formation—a V-shape, echelon or otherwise—expend less energy. The air flowing over a birds wings curls upwards behind the wingtips, a phenomenon known as up wash. Other birds flying in the up wash experience reduced drag, and spend less energy propelling themselves. Peter Lissaman, an aeronautics expert who was formerly at Caltech and the University of Southern California ,has suggested that a formation of 25 birds might enjoy a range increase of 71%.When applied to aircraft, the principles are not substantially different. Dr Kroo and his team modelled what would happen if three passenger jets departing from Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas were to rendezvous over Utah, assume an inverted V-formation, occasionally swap places so all could have a turn in the most favourable positions, and proceed to London. They found that the aircraft consumed as much as 15% less fuel (with a concomitant reduction in carbon-dioxide output). Nitrogen-oxide emissions during the cruising portions of the flight fell by around a quarter.There are, of course, kinks to be worked out. One consideration is safety, or at least the perception of it. Would passengers feel comfortable travelling in convoy? Dr Kroo points out that the aircraft could be separated by several nautical miles, and would not be in the unnervingly cosy groupings favoured by display teams like the Red Arrows. A passenger peering out of the window might not even see the other planes. Whether the separation distances involved would satisfy air-traffic-control regulations is another matter, although a working group at the InternationalCivil Aviation. Organisation has included the possibility of formation flying in a blueprint for new operational guidelines.It remains to be seen how weather conditions affect the air flows that make formation flight more ef ficient. In zones of increased turbulence, the planes’ wakes will decay more quickly and the effect will diminish. Dr Kroo says this is one of the areas his team will investigate further. It might also be hard for airlines to co-ordinate the departure times and destinations of passenger aircraft in a way that would allow them to gain from formation flight. Cargo aircraft, in contrast, might be easier to reschedule, as might routine military flights.As it happens, America’s armed forces are on the case already. Earlier this year the country’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency announced plans to pay Boeing to investigate formation flight, though the programme has yet to begin. There are reports that some military aircraft flew in formation when they were low on fuel during the second world war, but Dr Lissaman says they are apocryphal. “My father was an RAF pilot and my cousin the skipper of a Lancaster lost over Berlin,” he adds. So he should know.41. Findings of the Stanford University researchers will promote the sales of new Boeing and Airbus aircraft.42. The upwash experience may save propelling energy as well as reducing resistance.43.Formation flight is more comfortable because passengers can not see the other planes.44. The role that weather plays in formation flight has not yet been clearly defined.45. It has been documented that during World War II, America’s armed forces once tried formation flight to save fuel.Section Ⅲ Translation46.Directions: In this section there is a text in English .Translate it into Chinese. Write your translation on ANSWER SHEET2.(15points)“Suatainability” has become a popular word these days, but to Ted Ning, the concept will always have personal meaning. Having endured a painful period of unsustainability in his own life made it clear to him that sustainability-oriented values must be expressed though everyday action and choice.Ning recalls spending a confusing year in the late 1990s selling insurance. He’d been though the dot-com boom and burst and, desperate for a job, signed on with a Boulder agency.It didn’t go well. “It was a really had move because that’s not my passion,” says Ning, whose dilemma about the job translated, predictably, into a lack of sales. “I was miserable, I had so much anxiety that I would wake up in the middle of the night and stare at the ceiling. I had no money and needed the job. Everyone said, ‘Just wait, you’ll trun the corner, give it some time.’”Section ⅣWritingPart A47.Directions: You have just come back from the U.S. as a member of a Sino-American cultural exchange program. Write a letter to your American colleague to1)Express your thanks for his/her warm reception;2) Welcome him/her to visit China in due course.You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2.Do no t sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use “Zhang Wei” instead.Do not write your address. (10 points)Part B48. Directions: In this section, you are asked to write an essay based on the following chart. In your writing, you should1) Interpret the chart and2)Give your comments.You should write at least 150 words.Write your essay on on ANSWER SHEET 2. (15 points)2010年考研英语二答案Section I USE of English1 [D]2 [C]3 [B]4 [A]5 [A]6 [B]7 [D]8 [C] 9[B] 10 [A]11[C] 12 [D] 13 [D] 14 [A] 15 [C] 16 [B] 17 [D] 18 [C] 19 [A] 20 [B]Section II Reading Comprehension21 D选【D】，因为第一段段尾句As the auctioneer called out bids, in New York one of the oldest banks on Wall Street, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy. 即雷曼兄弟公司破产。
2013年考研英语(二)真题及答案详解
2013年考研英语（二）真题及答案详解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 ANSWER SHEET 1. (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 telecornmunications networks necessary to make electronic money the 8 form of payment. Second, paper checks have the advantage that they 9 receipts, something thai 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 issuer's account, which means that the writer of the check can cam interest on the funds in the meantime. 13 electronic payments arc 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 else's 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 e lectronic 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] However [B] Moreover [C] Therefore [D] Otherwise2. [A] off [B] back [C] over [D] around3. [A] power [B] concept [C] history [D] role4. [A] reward [B] resist [C] resume [D] reverse5. [A] silent [B] sudden [C] slow [D] steady6. [A] for [B] against [C] with [D] on7. [A] imaginative [B] expensive [C] sensitive [D] productive8. [A] similar [B] original [C] temporary [D] dominant9. [A] collect [B] provide [C] copy [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] released [D] withdrawn13. [A] Unless [B] Until [C] Because [D] Though14. [A] hide [B] express [C] raise [D]ease15. [A] analyzed [B] shared [C] stored [D] displayed16. [A] unsafe [B] unnatural [C] uncommon [D] unclear17. [A] steal [B] choose [C] benefit [D] return18. [A] consideration [B] prevention [C] manipulation [D] justification19. [A] cope with [B] fight against [C] adapt to [D] call for20. [A] chunk [B] chip [C] path [D] trailSection II Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)Text 1In an essay entitled “Making It in America”, the author Adam Davidson relates a joke from cotton about just how much a modern textile mill has been automated: The average mill only two employees today,” a man and a dog. The man is there to feed the dog is there to keep the man away from the machines.”Davidson’s 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 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 worker.In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job，could earn anaverage lifestyle ,But ,today ,average is officially over. Being average just won’t earn you what it used to. It can’t 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 extra-their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment.Yes, new technology has been eating jobs forever, and always will. But there’s been an acceleration. As Davidson notes,” In the 10 years ending in 2009, [U.S.] factories shed workers so fast that they erased almost all the gains of the previous 70 years; roughly one out of every three manufacturing jobs-about 6 million in total -disappeared.There will always be changed-new jobs, new products, new services. But the one thing we know for sure is that with each advance in globalization and the I.T. revolution, the best jobs will require workers to have more and better education to make themselves above average.In a world where average is officially over, there are many things we need to do to support employment, but nothing would be more important than passing some kind of G.I.Bill for the 21st century that ensures that every American has access to poet-high school education.21. The joke in Paragraph 1 is used to illustrate_______[A] the impact of technological advances[B] the alleviation of job pressure[C] the shrinkage of textile mills[D] the decline of middle-class incomes22. According to Paragraph 3, to be a successful employee, one has to______[A] work on cheap software[B] ask for a moderate salary[C] adopt an average lifestyle[D] contribute something unique23. The quotation in Paragraph 4 explains that ______[A] gains of technology have been erased[B] job opportunities are disappearing at a high speed[C] factories are making much less money than before[D] new jobs and services have been offered24. According to the author, to reduce unemployment, the most important is_____[A] to accelerate the I.T. revolution[B] to ensure more education for people[C] ro advance economic globalization[D] to pass more bills in the 21st century25. Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the text?[A] New Law Takes Effect[B] Technology Goes Cheap[C] Average Is Over[D] Recession Is BadText 2A century ago, the immigrants from across the Atlantic inclued settlers and sojourners. Along with the many folks looking to make a permanent home in the United States came those who had no intention to stay, and 7millin people arrived while about 2 million departed. About a quarter of all Italian immigrants, for exanmle, eventually returned to Italy for good. They even had an affectionate nickname, “uccelli di passaggio,” birds of passage. Today, we are much more rigid about immigrants. We divide nemcomers into two categories: legal or illegal, good or bad. We hail them as Americans in the making, or our broken immigrantion system and the long political paralysis over how to fix it. We don’t need more categories, but we need to change the way we think about categories. We need to look beyond strick definitions of legal and illegal. To start, we can recognize the new birds of passage, those living and thriving in the gray areas. We might then begin to solve our immigration challenges.Crop pickers, violinists, construction workers, entrepreneurs, engineers, home health-care aides and physicists are among today’s birds of passage. They are energetic participants in a global economy driven by the flow of work, money and ideas .They prefer to come and go as opportunity calls them , They can manage to have a job in one place and a family in another.With or without permission, they straddle laws, jurisdictions and identities with ease. We need them to imagine the United States as a place where they can be productive for a while without committing themselves to staying forever. We need them to feel that home can be both here and there and that they can belong to two nations honorably.Accommodating this new world of people in motion will require new attitudes on both sides of the immigration battle .Looking beyond the culture war logic of right or wrong means opening up the middle ground and understanding that managing immigration today requires multiple paths andmultiple outcomes. Including some that are not easy to accomplish legally in the existing system.26 “Birds of passage” refers to those who____[A] immigrate across the Atlantic.[B] leave their home countries for good.[C] stay in a foregin temporaily.[D] find permanent jobs overseas.27 It is implied in paragraph 2 that the current immigration stystem in the US____[A] needs new immigrant categories.[B] has loosened control over immigrants.[C] should be adopted to meet challenges.[D] has been fixeed via political means.28 According to the author, today’s birds of passage want___[A] fiancial incentives.[B] a global recognition.[C] opportunities to get regular jobs.[D] the freedom to stay and leave.29 The author suggests that the birds of passage today should be treated __[A] as faithful partners.[B] with economic favors.[C] with regal tolerance.[D] as mighty rivals.30 .which is the most title?[A] come and go: big mistake.[B] living and thriving : great risk.[C] with or without : great risk.[D] legal or illegal: big mistake.他是一个建筑工地的工人，有一个美丽的妻子，还有一个漂亮的女儿，女儿五岁多了，很幸福的一家，为了这个家他在工地上干最脏、最累、最危险的活。
20102013年考研英语二新题型与解析
2010－2013年考研英语二新题型2013年新题型Y ou are going to read a list of headings and a text. Choose the most suitable heading from the list A-F for each numbered paragraph (41-45).Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET1. (10 points)[A] Live like a peasant[B] Balance your diet[C] Shopkeepers are your friends[D] Remember to treat yourself[E] Stick to what you need[F] Planning is evervthing[G] Waste not, want notThe hugely popular blog the Skint Foodie chronicles how T ony balances his love of good food with living on benefits. After bills, T ony has ?60 a week to spend, ?40 of which goes on food, but 10 years ago he was earning ?130,000 a I year working in corporate communications and eating at London's betft restaurants'" at least twice a week. Then his marriage failed, his career burned out and his drinking became serious. "The community mental health team saved my life. And I felt like that again, to a certain degree, when people responded to the blog so well. It gave me the validation and confidence that I'd lost. But it's still a day-by-day thing." Now he's living in a council flat and fielding offers from literary agents. He's feeling positive, but he'll carry on blogging - not about eating as cheaply as you can - "there are so many people in a much worse state, with barely any money to spend on food" - but eating well on a budget. Here's his advice for economical foodies.41._____________________Impulsive spending isn't an option, so plan your week's menu in advance, making shopping lists for your ingredients in their exact quantities. I have an Excel template for a week of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Stop laughing: it's not just cost effective but helps you balance your diet. It's also a good idea to shop daily instead of weekly, because, being-human, you'll sometimes change your mind about what you fancy.42____________________________________________________________ This is where supermarkets and thci; anonymity come in handy. With them,there's not the same embarrassment as when buying one carrot in a little greengrocer. And if you plan properly, you'll know that you only need, say, 350g of shin of beef and six rashers of bacon, not whatever weight is pre-packed in the supermarket chiller.43_________Y ou may proudly claim to only have frozen peas in the freezer - that's not good enough. Mine is filled with leftovers, bread, stock, meat and fish. Planning ahead should eliminate wastage, but if you have surplus vegetables you'll do a vegetable soup, and all fruits threatening to "go off' will be cooked or juiced.44___________________________________Everyone says this, but it really is a top tip for frugal eaters. Shop at butchers,delis and fish-sellers regularly, even for small things, and be super friendly. Soon you'll feel comfortable asking if they've any knuckles of ham forsoups and stews,or beef bones, chicken carcasses and fish heads for stock which, more often than not, Theyil let you have for free.45__________________Y ou won't be eating out a lot, but save your pennies and once every few months treat yourself to a set lunch at a good restaurant - ?1.75 a week for three months gives you ?21 - more than" enough for a three-course lunch at Michelin-starred Arbutus. It's ?16.95 there - or ?12.99 for a large pizza from Domino's: I know which I'd rather eat.2012年新题型Part BDirections:Read the following text and answer the questions by finding information from the left column that corresponds to each of the marked details given in the right column. There are two extra choices in the right column. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEERT 1.(10 points)“Universal history, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here,” wrote the Victorian sage Thomas Carlyle. Well, not any more it is not.Suddenly, Britain looks to have fallen out with its favourite historical form. This could be no more than a passing literary craze, but it also points to a broader truth about how we now approach the past: less concerned with learning from forefathers and more interested in feeling their pain. Today, we want empathy, not inspiration.From the earliest days of the Renaissance, the writing of history meant recounting the exemplary lives of great men. In 1337, Petrarch began work on his rambling writing De VirisIllustribus - On Famous Men, highlighting the virtus (or virtue) of classical heroes. Petrarch celebrated their greatness in conquering fortune and rising to the top. This was the biographical tradition whichNiccolo Machiavelli turned on its head. In The Prince, the championed cunning, ruthlessness, and boldness, rather than virtue, mercy and justice, as the skills of successful leaders.Over time, the attributes of greatness shifted. The Romantics commemorated the leading painters and authors of their day, stressing the uniqueness of the artist's personal experience rather than public glory. By contrast, the Victorian author Samual Smiles wrote Self-Help as a catalogue of the worthy lives of engineers , industrialists and explores . "The valuable examples which they furnish of the power of self-help, if patient purpose, resolute working and steadfast integrity, issuing in the formulation of truly noble and many character, exhibit,"wroteSmiles."what it is in the power of each to accomplish for himself"His biographies of James Walt, Richard Arkwright and Josiah Wedgwood were held up as beacons to guide the working man through his difficult life.This was all a bit bourgeois for Thomas Carlyle, who focused his biographies on the truly heroic lives of Martin Luther, Oliver Cromwell and Napoleon Bonaparte. These epochal figures represented lives hard to imitate, but to be acknowledged as possessing higher authority than mere mortals.Communist Manifesto. For them, history did nothing, it possessed no immense wealth nor waged battles:“It is man, real, living man who does all that.” And history should be the story of the masses and their record of struggle. As such, it needed to appreciate the economic realities, the social contexts and power relations in whic h each epoch stood. For:“Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly found, given and transmitted from the past.”This was the tradition which revolutionized our appreciation of the past. In place of Thomas Carlyle, Britain nurtured Christopher Hill, EP Thompson and Eric Hobsbawm. History from below stood alongside biographies of great men. Whole new realms of understanding - from gender to race to cultural studies - were opened up as scholars unpicked the multiplicity of lost societies. And it transformed public history too: downstairs became just as fascinating as2011年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语（二）试题（新题型、翻译、作文）Part BDirections:（7选5）In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions (41-45), choose the most suitable one from the list A-G to fit into each of the numbered blank. There are two extra choices, which do not fit in any of the gaps. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)Such a move could affect firms such as McDonald‟s, which sponsors the youth coaching scheme run by the Football Association. Fast-food chains should also stop offering “inducements” such as toys, cute animals and mobile phone credit to lure young customers, Stephenson said.Professor Dinesh Bhugra, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “If children are taught about the impact that food has on their growth, and that some things can harm, at least information is available up front.”He also urged councils to impose “fast-food-free zones” around school and hospitals-areas within which takeaways cannot open.A Department of Health spokesperson said: “We need to create a new visionfor public health where all of society works together to get healthy and live longer. This includes creating a new …responsibility deal‟ with business, built on social responsibility, not state regulation. Later this year, we will publish a white paper setting out exactly how we will achieve this.”The food industry will be alarmed that such senior doctors back such radical moves, especially the call to use some of the tough tactics that have been deployed against smoking over the last decade.2010年新题型本文出处：The Economist print edition；Dec 3rd 2009/sciencetechnology/displaystory.cfm?story_id=1500 9915原文标题：Copying birds may save aircraft fuelBOTH Boeing and Airbus have trumpeted the efficiency of their newest aircraft, the 787 and A350 respectively. Their clever designs and lightweight composites certainly make a difference. But a group of researchers at Stanford University, led by IlanKroo, has suggested that airlines could take a more naturalistic approach to cutting jet-fuel use, and it would not require them to buy new aircraft。
(免费2010考研英语二真题+答案
Directions:Read the following passage. For each numbered blank there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best one and mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET l. (10 points) The outbreak of swine flu that was first detected in Mexico was declared a global epidemic on June 11, 2009. It is the first worldwide epidemic_____1_____ by the World Health Organization in 41 years.The heightened alert _____2_____an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva that convened after a sharp rise in cases in Australia, and rising_____3_____in Britain, Japan, Chile and elsewhere.But the epidemic is "_____4_____" in severity, according to Margaret Chan, the organization's director general, _____5_____ the overwhelming majority of patients experiencing only mild symptoms and a full recovery, often in the _____6_____ of any medical treatment.The outbreak came to global_____7_____in late April 2009, when Mexican authorities noticed an unusually large number of hospitalizations and deaths_____8_____healthy adults. As much of Mexico City shut down at the height of a panic, cases began to _____9_____in New York City, the southwestern United States and around the world.In the United States, new cases seemed to fade_____10_____warmer weather arrived. But in late September 2009, officials reported there was _____11_____flu activity in almost every state and that virtually all the_____12_____tested are the new swine flu, also known as (A) H1N1, not seasonal flu. In the U.S., it has_____13_____more than one million people, and caused more than 600 deaths and more than 6,000 hospitalizations.Federal health officials_____14_____Tamiflu for children from the national stockpile and began_____15_____orders from the states for the new swine flu vaccine. The new vaccine, which is different from the annual flu vaccine, is ____16_____ ahead of expectations. More than three million doses were to be made available in early October 2009, though most of those _____17_____doses were of the FluMist nasal spray type, which is not_____18_____for pregnant women, people over 50 or those with breathing difficulties, heart disease or several other _____19_____. But it was still possible to vaccinate people in other high-risk group: health care workers, people _____20_____infants and healthy young people.1 [A] criticized [B] appointed [C]commented [D] designated2 [A] proceeded [B] activated [C] followed [D] prompted3 [A] digits [B] numbers [C] amounts [D] sums4 [A] moderate [B] normal [C] unusual [D] extreme5 [A] with [B] in [C] from [D] by6 [A] progress [B] absence [C] presence [D] favor7 [A] reality [B] phenomenon [C] concept [D] notice8. [A]over [B] for [C] among [D] to9 [A] stay up [B] crop up [C] fill up [D] cover up10 [A] as [B] if [C] unless [D] until11 [A] excessive [B] enormous [C] significant [D]magnificent12 [A]categories [B] examples [C] patterns [D] samples13 [A] imparted [B] immerse [C] injected [D] infected14 [A] released [B] relayed [C] relieved [D] remained15 [A] placing [B] delivering [C] taking [D] giving16 [A] feasible [B] available [C] reliable [D] applicable17 [A] prevalent [B] principal [C] innovative [D] initial18 [A] presented [B] restricted [C] recommended [D] introduced19 [A] problems [B] issues [C] agonies [D] sufferings20 [A] involved in [B] caring for [C] concerned with [D] warding offSection Ⅱ Reading comprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four passages. Answer the questions below each passage by choosing A, B, C and D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)Text1The longest bull run in a century of art-market history ended on a dramatic note with a sale of 56 works by Damien Hirst, “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever”，at Sotheby’s in London on September 15th 2008. All but two pieces sold, fetching more than ￡70m, a record for a sale by asingle artist. It was a last victory. As the auctioneer called out bids, in New York one of the oldest banks on Wall Street, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy.The world art market had already been losing momentum for a while after rising bewilderingly since 2003. At its peak in 2007 it was worth some $65 billion, reckons Clare McAndrew, founder of Arts Economics, a research firm—double the figure five years earlier. Since then it may have come down to $50 billion. But the market generates interest far beyond its size because it brings together great wealth, enormous egos, greed, passion and controversy in a way matched by few other industries.In the weeks and months that followed Mr Hirst’s sale, spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable, especially in New York, where the bail-out of the banks coincided with the loss of thousands of jobs and the financial demise of many art-buying investors. In the art world that meant collectors stayed away from galleries and salerooms. Sales of contemporary art fell by two-thirds, and in the most overheated sector—for Chinese contemporary art—they were down by nearly 90% in the year to November 2008. Within weeks the world’s two biggest auction houses, Sotheby’s and Christie’s, had to pay out nearly $200m in guarantees to clients who had placed works for sale with them.The current downturn in the art market is the worst since the Japanese stopped buying Impressionists at the end of 1989, a move that started the most serious contraction in the market since the Second World War. This time experts reckon that prices are about 40% down on their peak on average, though some have been far more fluctuant. But Edward Dolman, Christie’s chief executive, says: “I’m pretty confident we’re at the bottom.”What makes this slump different from the last, he says, is that there are still buyers in the market, whereas in the early 1990s, when interest rates were high, there was no demand even though many collectors wanted to sell. Christie’s revenues in the first half of 2009 were still higher than in the first half of 2006. Almost everyone who was interviewed for this special report said that the biggest problem at the moment is not a lack of demand but a lack of good work to sell. The three Ds—death, debt and divorce—still deliver works of art to the market. But anyone who does not have to sell is keeping away, waiting for confidence to return.21.In the first paragraph, Damien Hirst's sale was referred to as “a last victory” because ____.A. the art market had witnessed a succession of victoriesB. the auctioneer finally got the two pieces at the highest bidsC. Beautiful Inside My Head Forever won over all masterpiecesD. it was successfully made just before the world financial crisis22.By saying “spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable”(Line 1-2,Para.3)，the author suggests that_____.A. collectors were no longer actively involved in art-market auctionsB .people stopped every kind of spending and stayed away from galleriesC. art collection as a fashion had lost its appeal to a great extentD .works of art in general had gone out of fashion so they were not worth buying23. Which of the following statements is NOT true?A .Sales of contemporary art fell dramatically from 2007 to 2008.B. The art market surpassed many other industries in momentum.C. The market generally went downward in various ways.D. Some art dealers were awaiting better chances to come.24. The three Ds mentioned in the last paragraph are ____A. auction houses ' favoritesB. contemporary trendsC. factors promoting artwork circulationD. styles representing impressionists25. The most appropriate title for this text could be ___A. Fluctuation of Art PricesB. Up-to-date Art AuctionsC. Art Market in DeclineD. Shifted Interest in ArtsText2I was addressing a small gathering in a suburban Virginia living room—a women's group that had invited men to join them. Throughout the evening one man had been particularly talkative, frequently offering ideas and anecdotes, while his wife sat silently beside him on the couch. Toward the end of the evening I commented that women frequently complain that their husbands don't talk to them. This man quickly nodded in agreement. He gestured toward his wife and said,"She's the talker in our family." The room burst into laughter; the man looked puzzled and hurt. "It's true," he explained. "When I come home from work, I have nothing to say. If she didn't keep the conversation going, we'd spend the whole evening in silence."This episode crystallizes the irony that although American men tend to talk more than women in public situations, they often talk less at home. And this pattern is wreaking havoc with marriage.The pattern was observed by political scientist Andrew Hacker in the late 1970s. Sociologist Catherine Kohler Riessman reports in her new book "Divorce Talk" that most of the women she interviewed—but only a few of the men—gave lack of communication as the reason for their divorces. Given the current divorce rate of nearly 50 percent，that amounts to millions of cases in the United States every year —a virtual epidemic of failed conversation.In my own research complaints from women about their husbands most often focused not on tangible inequities such as having given up the chance for a career to accompany a husband to his or doing far more than their share of daily life-support work like cleaning, cooking, social arrangements and errands. Instead they focused on communication: "He doesn't listen to me." "He doesn't talk to me." I found as Hacker observed years before that most wives want their husbands to be first and foremost conversational partners but few husbands share this expectation of their wives.In short the image that best represents the current crisis is the stereotypical cartoon scene of a man sitting at the breakfast table with a newspaper held up in front of his face, while a woman glares at the back of it, wanting to talk.26. What is most wives' main expectation of their husbands?A. Talking to them.B. Trusting them.C. Supporting their careers.D. Sharing housework.27. Judging from the context, the phrase “wreaking havoc”(Line 3,Para.2)most probably means ___ .A. generating motivation.B. exerting influenceC. causing damageD. creating pressure28. All of the following are true EXCEPT_______A. men tend to talk more in public than womenB. nearly 50 percent of recent divorces are caused by failed conversationC. women attach much importance to communication between couplesD. a female tends to be more talkative at home than her spouse29. Which of the following can best summarize the main idea of this text?A. The moral decaying deserves more research by sociologists.B. Marriage break-up stems from sex inequalities.C. Husband and wife have different expectations from their marriage.D. Conversational patterns between man and wife are different.30. In the following part immediately after this text, the author will most probably focus on ______A. a vivid account of the new book Divorce TalkB. a detailed description of the stereotypical cartoonC. other possible reasons for a high divorce rate in the U.S.D. a brief introduction to the political scientist Andrew HackerText 3Over the past decade, many companies had perfected the art of creating automatic behaviors — habits — among consumers. These habits have helped companies earn billions of dollars when customers eat snacks, apply lotions and wipe counters almost without thinking, often in response to a carefully designed set of daily cues.“There are fundamental public health problems, like dirty hands instead of a soap habit, that remain killers only because we can’t figure out how to change people’s habits,” Dr. Curtis said. “We wanted to learn from private industr y how to create new behaviors that happen automatically.”The companies that Dr. Curtis turned to —Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever —had invested hundreds of millions of dollars finding the subtle cues in consumers’ lives that corporations could use to introduce new routines.If you look hard enough, you’ll find that many of the products we use every day — chewing gums, skin moisturizers, disinfecting wipes, air fresheners, water purifiers, health snacks, antiperspirants, colognes, teeth whiteners, fabric softeners, vitamins— are results of manufactured habits. A century ago, few people regularly brushed their teeth multiple times a day. Today, because of canny advertising and public health campaigns, many Americans habitually give their pearly whites a cavity-preventing scrub twice a day, often with Colgate, Crest or one of the other brands.A few decades ago, many people didn’t drink water outside of a meal. Then beverage companies started bottling the production of far-off springs, and now office workers unthinkingly sip bottled water all day long. Chewing gum, once bought primarily by adolescent boys, is now featured in commercials as a breath freshener and teeth cleanser for use after a meal. Skin moisturizers are advertised as part of morning beauty rituals, slipped in between hair brushing and putting on makeup.“Our products succeed when they become part of daily or weekly patterns,” said Carol Berning, a consumer psychologist who recently retired from Procter & Gamble, the company that sold $76 billion of Tide, Crest and other products last year. “Creating positive habits is a huge part of improving our consumers’ lives, and it’s essential to making new products commercially viable.”Through experiments and observation, social scientists like Dr. Berning have learned that there is power in tying certain behaviors to habitual cues through relentless advertising. As this new science of habit has emerged, controversies have erupted when the tactics have been used to sell questionable beauty creams or unhealthy foods.31. According to Dr. Curtis, habits like hand washing with soap________.[A] should be further cultivated[B] should be changed gradually[C] are deeply rooted in history[D] are basically private concerns32. Bottled water, chewing gun and skin moisturizers are mentioned in Paragraph 5 so as to____[A] reveal their impact on people’s habits[B] show the urgent need of daily necessities[C] indicate their effect on people’s buying power[D] manifest the significant role of good habits33. W hich of the following does NOT belong to products that help create people’s habits?[A]Tide[B] Crest[C] Colgate[D] Unilever34. From the text we know that some of consumer’s habits are developed due to _____[A]perfected art of products[B]automatic behavior creation[C]commercial promotions[D]scientific experiments35. T he author’s attitude toward the influence of advertisement on people’s habits is____[A] indifferent[B] negative[C] positive[D] biasedText4Many Americans regard the jury system as a concrete expression of crucial democratic values, including the principles that all citizens who meet minimal qualifications of age and literacy are equally competent to serve on juries; that jurors should be selected randomly from a representative cross section of the community; that no citizen should be denied the right to serve on a jury on account of race, religion, sex, or national origin; that defendants are entitled to trial by their peers; and that verdicts should represent the conscience of the community and not just the letter of the law. The jury is also said to be the best surviving example of direct rather than representative democracy. In a direct democracy, citizens take turns governing themselves, rather than electing representatives to govern for them.But as recently as in 1986, jury selection procedures conflicted with these democratic ideals. In some states, for example, jury duty was limited to persons of supposedly superior intelligence,education, and moral character. Although the Supreme Court of the United States had prohibited intentional racial discrimination in jury selection as early as the 1880 case of Strauder v. West Virginia, the practice of selecting so-called elite or blue-ribbon juries provided a convenient way around this and other antidiscrimination laws.The system also failed to regularly include women on juries until the mid-20th century. Although women first served on state juries in Utah in 1898, it was not until the 1940s that a majority of states made women eligible for jury duty. Even then several states automatically exempted women from jury duty unless they personally asked to have their names included on the jury list. This practice was justified by the claim that women were needed at home, and it kept juries unrepresentative of women through the 1960s.In 1968, the Congress of the United States passed the Jury Selection and Service Act, ushering in a new era of democratic reforms for the jury. This law abolished special educational requirements for federal jurors and required them to be selected at random from a cross section of the entire community. In the landmark 1975 decision Taylor vs. Louisiana, the Supreme Court extended the requirement that juries be representative of all parts of the community to the state level. The Taylor decision also declared sex discrimination in jury selection to be unconstitutional and ordered states to use the same procedures for selecting male and female jurors.36. From the principles of the US jury system, we learn that ______[A]both liberate and illiterate people can serve on juries[B]defendants are immune from trial by their peers[C]no age limit should be imposed for jury service[D]judgment should consider the opinion of the public37. The practice of selecting so-called elite jurors prior to 1968 showed_____[A]the inadequacy of antidiscrimination laws[B]the prevalent discrimination against certain races[C]the conflicting ideals in jury selection procedures[D]the arrogance common among the Supreme Court justices38. Even in the 1960s, women were seldom on the jury list in some states because_____[A]they were automatically banned by state laws[B]they fell far short of the required qualifications[C]they were supposed to perform domestic duties[D]they tended to evade public engagement39. After the Jury Selection and Service Act was passed.___[A] sex discrimination in jury selection was unconstitutional and had to be abolished[B] educational requirements became less rigid in the selection of federal jurors[C] jurors at the state level ought to be representative of the entire community[D] states ought to conform to the federal court in reforming the jury system40. In discussing the US jury system, the text centers on_______[A]its nature and problems[B]its characteristics and tradition[C]its problems and their solutions[D]its tradition and development2010年考研英语二真题答案：1 [D] designated2 [C] followed3 [B] numbers4 [A] moderate5 [A] with6 [B] absence7 [D] notice8. [C] among9 [B] crop up 10 [A] as 11 [C] significant 12 [D] samples13 [D] infected14 [A] released 15 [C] taking16 [B] available 17 [D] initial18 [C] recommended19 [A] problems20 [B] caring for21 D 22 A 23 B 24 C 25 C26 A 27 C 28 B 29 C 30 C31 A 32 A 33 D 34 C 35 B36 D 37 C 38 C 39 B 40 A。
2013年考研英语二真题及问题详解
2013全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语二试题MBA, MPA, MPAcc 专业硕士统一考试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 ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)（本题答案在题号后）Given the advantage of electronic money, you might think that we should move quickly to the cashless society in which all payments are made electronically. _1 However , a true cashless society is probably not around the corner. Indeed, predictions have been 2around_ 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.concept of money itself,” only to 4.reverse itself several years later. Why has the movement to a cashless society been so 5.slow in coming?Although e-money might be more convenient and may be more efficient than a payments system based on paper, several factors work 6.against the disappearance of the paper system. First, it is very 7.expensive to set up the computer, card reader, and telecommunications networks necessary to make electronic money the 8.dominant form of payment.Second, electronic means of payment 14.raise 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.stored there.Because this is not an 16.uncommon occurrence, unscrupulous persons might be able to access bank accounts in electronic payments systems and 17.steal funds by moving them from someone else’s accounts into their own. The 18.prevention of this type of fraud is no easy task, and a whole new field of computer science has developed to 19.cope with security issues. A further concern is that the use of electronic means of payment leaves an electronic 20.trail that contains a large amount of personal data on buying habits.1. [A] However [B] Moreover [C] Therefore [D] Otherwise2. [A] off [B] back [C] over [D] around3. [A] power [B] concept [C] history [D] role4. [A] reward [B] resist [C] resume [D] reverse5. [A] silent [B] sudden [C] slow [D] steady6. [A] for [B] against [C]with [D] on7. [A] imaginative [B] expensive [C] sensitive [D] productive8. [A] similar [B] original [C] temporary [D] dominant9. [A] collect [B] provide [C] copy [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] released [D] withdrawn13. [A] Unless [B] Until [C] Because [D] Though14. [A] hide [B] express [C] raise [D]ease15. [A] analyzed [B] shared [C] stored [D] displayed16. [A] unsafe [B] unnatural [C] uncommon [D] unclear17. [A] steal [B] choose [C] benefit [D] return18. [A] consideration [B] prevention [C] manipulation [D] justification19. [A] cope with [B] fight against [C] adapt to [D] call for20. [A] chunk [B] chip [C] path [D] trailSection 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 ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)Text 1In an essay, enti tled “Making It in America,” in the latest issue of The Atlantic, 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.”Davidson’s 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 sagging 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 quantum 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 won’t earn you what it used to. It can’t 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 extra — their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment. Average is over.Yes, new technology has been eating jobs forever, and always will. As they say, if horses could have voted, there never would have been cars. But there’s been an acceleration. As Davidson notes, “In the 10 years ending in 2009, [U.S.] factories shed work ers so fast that they erased almost all the gains of the previous 70 years; roughly one out of every three manufacturing jobs — about 6 million in total —disappeared.”And you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Last April, Annie Lowrey of Slate wrote about a start-up called “E la Carte” that is out to shrink the need for waiters and waitresses: The company “has produced a kind of souped-up iPad that lets you order and pay right at your table. The brainchild of a bunch of M.I.T. engineers, the nifty invention, known as the Presto, might be found at a restaurant near you soon. ... You select what you want to eat and add items to a cart. Depending on the restaurant’s preferences, the console could show you nutritional information, ingredients lists and photographs. You can make special requests, like ‘dressing on the side’ or ‘quintuple bacon.’ When you’re done, the order zings over to the kitchen, and the Presto tells you how long it will take for your items to come out. ... Bored with your companions? Play games on the machine. When you’re through with your meal, you pay on the console, splitting the bill item by item if you wish and paying however you want. And you can have your receipt e-mailed to you. ... Eachconsole goes for $100 per month. If a restaurant serves meals eight hours a day, seven days a week, it works out to 42 cents per hour per table — making the Presto cheaper than even the very cheapest waiter.”What the iPad won’t do in an above average way a Chinese worker will. Consider this paragraph from Sund ay’s terrific article in The Times by Charles Duhigg and Keith Bradsher about why Apple does so much of its manufacturing in China: “Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly-line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the [Chinese] plant near midnight. A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day. ‘The speed and flexibility is breathtaking,’ the executive said. ‘There’s no American plant that can match that.’ ”And automation is not just coming to manufacturing, explains Curtis Carlson, the chief executive of SRI International, a Silicon Valley idea lab that invented the Apple iPhone program known as Siri, the digital personal assistant. “Siri is the beginning of a huge transfor mation in how we interact with banks, insurance companies, retail stores, health care providers, information retrieval services and product services.”There will always be change — new jobs, new products, new services. But the one thing we know for sure is that with each advance in globalization and the I.T. revolution, the best jobs will require workers to have more and better education to make themselves above average. Here are the latest unemployment rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for Americans over 25 years old: those with less than a high school degree, 13.8 percent; those with a high school degree and no college, 8.7 percent; those with some college or associate degree, 7.7 percent; and those with bachelor’s degree or higher, 4.1 percent.In a world where average is officially over, there are many things we need to do to buttress employment, but nothing would be more important than passing some kind of G.I. Bill for the 21st century that ensures that every American has access to post-high school education.21. The joke in Paragraph 1 is used to illustrate_______[A] the impact of technological advances[B] the alleviation of job pressure[C] the shrinkage of textile mills[D] the decline of middle-class incomes22. According to Paragraph 3, to be a successful employee, one has to______[A] work on cheap software[B] ask for a moderate salary[C] adopt an average lifestyle[D] contribute something unique23. The quotation in Paragraph 4 explains that ______[A] gains of technology have been erased[B] job opportunities are disappearing at a high speed[C] factories are making much less money than before[D] new jobs and services have been offered24. According to the author, to reduce unemployment, the most important is_____[A] to accelerate the I.T. revolution[B] to ensure more education for people[C] ro advance economic globalization[D] to pass more bills in the 21st century25. Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the text?[A] New Law Takes Effect[B] Technology Goes Cheap[C] Average Is Over[D] Recession Is BadText 2Imagine a new immigration policyA century ago, the immigrants from across the Atlantic included settlers and sojourners. Along with the many folks looking to make a permanent home in the United States came those who had no intention to stay, and who would make some money and then go home. Between 1908 and 1915, about 7 million people arrived while about 2 million departed. About a quarter of all Italian immigrants, for example, eventually returned to Italy for good. They even had an affectionate nickname, "uccelli di passaggio," birds of passage.Today, we are much more rigid about immigrants. We divide newcomers into two categories: legal or illegal, good or bad. We hail them as Americans in the making, or brand them as aliens fit for deportation. That framework has contributed mightily to our broken immigration system and the long political paralysis over how to fix it.We don't need more categories, but we need to change the way we think about categories. We need to look beyond strict definitions of legal and illegal. To start, we can recognize the new birds of passage, those living and thriving in the gray areas. We might then begin to solve our immigration challenges.Crop pickers, violinists, construction workers, entrepreneurs, engineers, home health-care aides and particle physicists are among today's birds of passage. They are energetic participants in a global economy driven by the flow of work, money and ideas. They prefer to come and go as opportunity calls them. They can manage to have a job in one place and a family in another.With or without permission, they straddle laws, jurisdictions and identities with ease. We need them to imagine the United States as a place where they can be productive for a while without committing themselves to staying forever. We need them to feel that home can be both here and there and that they can belong to two nations honorably.Imagine life with a radically different immigration policy: The Jamaican woman who came as a visitor and was looking after your aunt until she died could try living in Canada for a while. You could eventually ask her to come back to care for your mother.The Indian software developer could take some of his Silicon Valley earnings home to join friends in a little start-up, knowing that he could always work in California again. Or the Mexican laborer who busts his back on a Wisconsin dairy farm for wages that keep milk cheap would come and go as needed because he could decide which dairy to work for, and a bi-national bank program was helping him save money to build a better life for his kids in Mexico.Accommodating this new world of people in motion will require new attitudes on both sides of the immigration battle. Looking beyond the culture war logic of right or wrong means opening up the middle ground and understanding that managing immigration today requires multiple paths and multiple outcomes, including some that are not easy to accomplish legally in the existing system.A new system that encourages both sojourners and settlers would not only help ensure that our society receives the human resources it will need in the future, it also could have an added benefit: Changing the rigid framework might help us resolve the status of the estimated 11 million unauthorized migrants who are our shared legacy of policy failures.Currently, we do not do gray zones well. Hundreds of thousands of people slosh around in indeterminate status because they're caught in bureaucratic limbo or because they have been granted temporary stays that are repeatedly extended. President Barack Obama created a paler shade of gray this summer by exercising prosecutorial discretion not to deport some young people who were brought to this country illegally as children. But these are exceptions, not rules.The basic mechanism for legal immigration today, apart from the special category of refugee, is the legal permanent resident visa, or green card. Most recipients are people sponsored by close relatives who live in the United States. As the name implies, this mechanism is designed for immigrants who are settling down. The visa can be revoked if the holder does not show "intent to remain" by not maintaining a U.S. address, going abroad to work full time or just traveling indefinitely. Legal residents are assumed to be on their way to becoming Americans, physically, culturally and legally. After five years of living here, they become eligible for citizenship and a chance to gain voting rights and full access to the social safety net.This is a fine way to deal with people who arrive with deep connections to the country and who resolve to stay. That can and should be most immigrants. But this mechanism has two problems: The nation is not prepared to offer citizenship to every migrant who is offered a job. And not everyone who comes here wants to stay forever.It may have once made sense to think of immigrants as sodbusters who were coming to settle empty spaces. But that antique reasoning does not apply when the country is looking at a long, steep race to remain competitive in the world economy, particularly not when innovation and entrepreneurship are supposed to be our comparative advantage. To succeed, we need modern birds of passage.The challenges differ depending on whether you are looking at the high end of the skills spectrum, the information workers or at low-skilled laborers.A frequent proposal for highly skilled workers comes with the slogan, "Staple a green card to the diploma." That is supposed to ensure that a greater share of brainy international students remain in the United States after earning degrees in science and technology. But what if they are not ready for a long-term commitment? No one would suggest that investment capital or design processes need to reside permanently in one nation. Talent today yearns to be equally mobile. Rather than try to oblige smart young people from abroad to stay here, we should allow them to think of the United States as a place where they can always return, a place where they will spend part, not all, of their lives, one of several places where they can live and work and invest.Temporary-worker programs are a conventional approach to meeting low-skilled labor needs without illegal immigration. That's what President George W. Bush proposed in 2004, saying the government should "match willing foreign workers with willing American employers." An immigrant comes to do a particular job for a limited period of time and then goes home. But such programs risk replacing one kind of rigidity with another. The relatively small programs currently in place don't manage the matchmaking very well.Competing domestic workers need to be protected, as do the migrant workers, and the process must be nimble enough to meet labor market demand. Nobody really has pulled that off, and there is no reason to believe it can be done on a grand scale. Rather than trying to link specific migrants to specific jobs, different types of temporary work visas could be pegged to industries, to places or to time periods. You could get an engineering visa, not only a visa to work at Intel.Both short-term visas and permanent residence need to be part of the mix, but they are not the whole answer. Another valuable tool is the provisional visa, which Australia uses as a kind of intermediary stage in which temporary immigrants spend several years before becoming eligible for permanent residency. The U.S. system practically obliges visitors to spend time here without authorization when they've married a citizen, gotten a job or done something else that qualifies them to stay legally.We also could borrow from Europe and create long-term permission to reside for certain migrants that is contingent on simply being employed, not on having a specific job. And, legislation could loosen the definitions of permanent residency so that migrants could gain a lifetime right to live and work in the United States without having to be here (and pay taxes here) more or less continuously.The idea that newcomers are either saints or sinners is not written indelibly either in our hearts or in our laws. As the size of the unauthorized population has grown over the past 20 years or so, the political response has dictated seeing immigration policy through the stark lens of law enforcement:Whom do we lock up, kick out, fence off? Prominent politicians of both parties, including both presidential candidates, have engaged in macho one-upmanship when it comes to immigration. So, President Obama broke records for deportations. Mitt Romney, meanwhile, vows to break records for border security.Breaking out of the either/or mentality opens up many avenues for managing future immigration. It could also help break the stalemate over the current population of unauthorized migrants. No election result will produce a Congress that offers a path to citizenship for everybody, but there is no support for total deportation, either.If we accept that there are spaces between legal and illegal, then options multiply.Citizenship could be an eventual outcome for most, not all, people here illegally, but everyone would get some kind of papers, and we can engineer a way for people to work their way from one status to another. The newly arrived and least attached could be granted status for a limited time and receive help with returning to their home countries. Others might be offered life-long privileges to live and work here, but not citizenship. We'd give the fullest welcome to those with homes, children or long time jobs.By insisting that immigrants are either Americans or aliens, we make it harder for some good folks to come and we oblige others to stay for the wrong reasons. Worse, we ensure that there will always be people living among us who are outside the law, and that is not good for them or us.26 “Birds of passage” refers to those who____[A] immigrate across the Atlantic.[B] leave their home countries for good.[C] stay in a foregin temporaily.[D]find permanent jobs overseas.27 It is implied in paragraph 2 that the current immigration stystem in the US____[A] needs new immigrant categories.[B] has loosened control over immigrants.[C] should be adopted to meet challenges.[D]has been fixeed via political means.28 According to the autho r, today’s birds of passage want___[A] fiancial incentives.[B] a global recognition.[C] opportunities to get regular jobs.[D]the freedom to stay and leave.29 The author suggests that the birds of passage today should be treated __[A] as faithful partners.[B] with economic favors.[C] with regal tolerance.[D]as mighty rivals.30 which is the most title?[A] come and go: big mistake.[B] living and thriving : great risk.[C] with or without : great risk.[D]legal or illegal: big mistake.Text 3Beyond the BlinkWhen the Supreme Court announced its decision on the Affordable Care Act last month, the media went wild. The rush to judgment took seconds. CNN and Fox News initially described the decision incorrectly, saying five justices had struck down the law. Even after corrections, the snap analysis that followed wasn’t very helpful. The multipart decision is complex, and its ramifications will take months or even years to understand.The blink response to this case is only the latest example of a troubling increase in the speed of our reactions. E-mail, social media and the 24-hour news cycle are informational amphetamines, a cocktail of pills that we pop at an increasingly fast pace — and that lead us to make mistaken split-second decisions. Economists label the problem “present bias”: we are vulnerable to fast, salient stimulation.Fortunately, there is an antidote: the conscious pause. Scientists have found that although we are prone to snap overreactions, if we take a moment and think about how we are likely to react, we can reduce or even eliminate the negative effects of our quick, hard-wired responses.For example, countless studies have shown that physicians’ immediate, unconscious reactions to racial minorities lead them to undertreat black patients. In one study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine in 2007, researchers asked several hundred doctors about a hypothetical 50-year-old male patient who showed up with chest pain. The researchers gave the doctors a photograph of the man, randomly varying his race. Half saw him as white; half saw him as black.Sure enough, although the doctors insisted they were not racially biased, they were more likely to prescribe thrombolysis, an anti-blood-clotting procedure, for the white patient, while giving the black patient a less-aggressive prescription. The doctors didn’t appear racist, yet thei r unconscious snap reactions led them to treat blacks differently — the very definition of racism.However, about one in four of the doctors guessed that the study was designed to test racial bias. They stopped for a moment and considered how they might react differently depending onrace. The researchers found that this “aware” subgroup did not treat patients differently. Once they paused to consider whether race was an issue, race was no longer an issue.Snap decisions can be important defense mechanisms; if we are judging whether someone is dangerous, our brains and bodies are hard-wired to react very quickly, within milliseconds. But we need more time to assess other factors. To accurately tell whether someone is sociable, studies show, we need at least a minute, preferably five. It takes a while to judge complex aspects of personality, like neuroticism or open-mindedness. If we need to understand how nine justices resolved a difficult legal issue, we need even more time.But snap decisions in react ion to rapid, even subliminal stimuli aren’t exclusive to the interpersonal realm. Sanford DeVoe and Chen-Bo Zhong, psychologists at the University of Toronto, found that viewing a fast-food logo for just a few milliseconds primes us to read 20 percent faster, even though reading has little to do with eating. We unconsciously associate fast food with speed and impatience and carry those impulses into whatever else we’re doing. Subjects exposed to fast-food flashes also tend to think a musical piece lasts too long.Yet we can reverse such influences. If we know we will overreact to consumer products or housing options when we see a happy face (one reason good sales representatives and real estate agents are always smiling), we can take a moment before buying. If we know female job screeners are more likely to reject attractive female applicants, as a study by the economists Bradley Ruffle and Ze’ev Shtudiner shows, we can help screeners understand their biases — or hire outside screeners.John Gottman, the marriage guru made famous in Malcolm Gladwell’s best-selling book “Blink,” explains that we quickly “thin slice” information reliably only after we ground such snap reactions in “thick sliced” long-term study. When Dr. Gottman really wants to assess whether a couple will stay together, he invites them to his island retreat for a much longer evaluation: two days, not two seconds.Our ability to mute our hard-wired reactions by pausing is what differentiates us from animals: primates and dogs can think about the future only intermittently or for a few minutes. But historically we have spent about 12 percent of our days contemplating the longer term.The beginning of summer is supposed to be the time for us to slow down and take a breath. Go to the beach with a few books. Spend downtime with family. Tune out. But instead of jumping into the swimming pool, we have leapt into a whirlpool of news.Still, although technology might change the way we react, it hasn’t changed our nature. We still have the imaginative capacity to rise above temptation and reverse the high-speed trend. There are a couple of summer months left, and no time to waste.Frank Partnoy is a law professor at the University of San Diego and the author of “Wait: The Art and Science of Delay.”31. The time needed in making decisions may____.[A] vary according to the urgency of the situation[B] prove the complexity of our brain reaction[C] depend on the importance of the assessment[D] predetermine the accuracy of our judgment32. Our reaction to a fast-food logo shows that snao decisions____.[A] can be associative[B] are not unconscious[C] can be dangerous[D] are not impulsive33. Toreverse the negative influences of snap decisions,we should____.[A] trust our first impression[B] do as people usually do[C] think before we act[D] ask for expert advice34. John Gottman says that reliable snap reaction are based on____.[A] critical assessment[B]‘‘thin sliced ’’study[C] sensible explanation[D] adequate information35. The author’s attitude toward reversing the high-speed trend is____.[A] tolerant[B] uncertain[C] optimistic[D] doubtfulText4Europe is not a gender-equality heaven.In particular, the corporate workplace will never be completely family—friendly until women are part of senior management decisions,and Europe,s top corporate-governance positions remain overwhelmingly male .indeed,women hold only 14 percent of positions on Europe corporate boards.The Europe Union is now considering legislation to compel corporate boards to maintain a certain proportion of women-up to 60 percent.This proposed mandate was born of frustration. Last year, Europe Commission Vice President Viviane Reding issued a call to voluntary action. Reding invited corporations to sign up for gender balance goal of 40 percent female board membership. But her appeal was considered a failure: only 24 companies took it up.Do we need quotas to ensure that women can continue to climb the corporate Ladder fairy as they balance work and family?“Personally, I don’t like quotas,” Reding said recently. “But i like what the quotas do.” Quotas get action: they “open the way to equality and they break through the glass ceiling,” according to Reding, a result seen in France and other countries with legally binding provisions on placing women in top business positions.I understand Reding’s reluctance-and her frustration. I don’t like quotas either; they run counter to my belief in meritocracy, government by the capable. Bur, when one considers the。
《英语二》2010考研试题及答案
Section I Use of EnglishRead the following text.Choose the best word(s)for each numbered blank and mark A,B,C or D on ANSWER SHEET1.(10points) Research on animal intelligence always makes me wonder just how smart humans are.1the fruit-fly experiments described in Carl Zimmer’s piece in the Science Times on Tuesday.Fruit flies who were taught to be smarter than the average fruit fly2to live shorter lives.This suggests that3bulbs burn longer,that there is an4in not being too terrifically bright.Intelligence,it5out,is a high-priced option.It takes more upkeep,burns more fuel and is slow6the starting line because it depends on learning—a gradual7—instead of instinct.Plenty of other species are able to learn,and one of the things they’ve apparently learned is when to8.Is there an adaptive value to9intelligence?That’s the question behind this new research.I like it.Instead of casting a wistful glance10at all the species we’ve left in the dust I.Q.-wise,it implicitly asks what the real11of our own intelligence might be.This is12the mind of every animal I’ve ever met.Research on animal intelligence also makes me wonder what experiments animals would13on humans if they had the chance.Every cat with an owner,14, is running a small-scale study in operant conditioning.we believe that15animals ran the labs,they would test us to16the limits of our patience,our faithfulness, our memory for terrain.They would try to decide what intelligence in humans is really17,not merely how much of it there is.18,they would hope to study a19 question:Are humans actually aware of the world they live in?20the results are inconclusive.1.[A]Suppose[B]Consider[C]Observe[D]Imagine2.[A]tended[B]feared[C]happened[D]threatened3.[A]thinner[B]stabler[C]lighter[D]dimmer4.[A]tendency[B]advantage[C]inclination[D]priority5.[A]insists on[B]sums up[C]turns out[D]puts forward6.[A]off[B]behind[C]over[D]along7.[A]incredible[B]spontaneous[C]inevitable[D]gradual8.[A]fight[B]doubt[C]stop[D]think9.[A]invisible[B]limited[C]indefinite[D]different10.[A]upward[B]forward[C]afterward[D]backward11.[A]features[B]influences[C]results[D]costs12.[A]outside[B]on[C]by[D]across13.[A]deliver[B]carry[C]perform[D]apply14.[A]by chance[B]in contrast[C]as usual[D]for instance15.[A]if[B]unless[C]as[D]lest16.[A]moderate[B]overcome[C]determine[D]reach17.[A]at[B]for[C]after[D]with18.[A]Above all[B]After all[C]However[D]Otherwise19.[A]fundamental[B]comprehensive[C]equivalent[D]hostile20.[A]By accident[B]In time[C]So far[D]Better stillSection II Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four texts.Answer the questions below each text by choosing A,B,C or D.Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET1.(40 points)Text1Habits are a funny thing.We reach for them mindlessly,setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine.“Not choice,but habit rules the unreflecting herd,”William Wordsworth said in the19th century.In the ever-changing21st century,even the word“habit”carries a negative connotation.So it seems antithetical to talk about habits in the same context as creativity and innovation.But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits,we create parallel synaptic paths,and even entirely new brain cells,that can jump our trains of thought onto new,innovative tracks.But don’t bother trying to kill off old habits;once those ruts of procedure are worn into the hippocampus,they’re there to stay.Instead,the new habits we deliberately ingrain into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads.“The first thing needed for innovation is a fascination with wonder,”says Dawna Markova,author of“The Open Mind”and an executive change consultant for Professional Thinking Partners.“But we are taught instead to‘decide,’just as our president calls himself‘the Decider.’”She adds,however,that“to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one.A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities.”All of us work through problems in ways of which we’re unaware,she says. Researchers in the late1960covered that humans are born with the capacity to approach challenges in four primary ways:analytically,procedurally,relationally (or collaboratively)and innovatively.At puberty,however,the brain shuts down half of that capacity,preserving only those modes of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life.The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure,meaning that few of us inherently use our innovative and collaborative modes of thought.“This breaks the major rule in the American belief system—that anyone can do anything,”explains M.J.Ryan,author of the2006book“This Year I Will...”and Ms.Markova’s business partner.“That’s a lie that we have perpetuated,and it fosters commonness.Knowing what you’re good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.”This is where developing new habits comes in.21.The view of Wordsworth habit is claimed by beingA.casualB.familiarC.mechanicalD.changeable.22.The researchers have discovered that the formation of habit can beA.predictedB.regulatedC.tracedD.guided23.”ruts”(in line one,paragraph3)has closest meaning toA.tracksB.seriesC.characteristicsD.connections24.Ms.Markova’s comments suggest that the practice of standard testing?A,prevents new habits form being formedB,no longer emphasizes commonnessC,maintains the inherent American thinking modelD,complies with the American belief system25.Ryan most probably agree thatA.ideas are born of a relaxing mindB.innovativeness could be taughtC.decisiveness derives from fantastic ideasD.curiosity activates creative mindsText2It is a wise father that knows his own child,but today a man can boost his paternal(fatherly)wisdom–or at least confirm that he’s the kid’s dad.All he needs to do is shell our$30for paternity testing kit(PTK)at his local drugstore–and another$120to get the results.More than60,000people have purchased the PTKs since they first become available without prescriptions last years,according to Doug Fog,chief operating officer of Identigene,which makes the over-the-counter kits.More than two dozencompanies sell DNA tests Directly to the public,ranging in price from a few hundred dollars to more than$2500.Among the most popular:paternity and kinship testing,which adopted children can use to find their biological relatives and latest rage a many passionate genealogists-and supports businesses that offer to search for a family’s geographic roots.Most tests require collecting cells by webbing saliva in the mouth and sending it to the company for testing.All tests require a potential candidate with whom to compare DNA.But some observers are skeptical,“There is a kind of false precision being hawked by people claiming they are doing ancestry testing,”says Trey Duster,a New York University sociologist.He notes that each individual has many ancestors-numbering in the hundreds just a few centuries back.Yet most ancestry testing only considers a single lineage,either the Y chromosome inherited through men in a father’s line or mitochondrial DNA,which a passed down only from mothers.This DNA can reveal genetic information about only one or two ancestors,even though,for example,just three generations back people also have six other great-grandparents or,four generations back,14othergreat-great-grandparents.Critics also argue that commercial genetic testing is only as good as the reference collections to which a sample is compared.Databases used by some companies don’t rely on data collected systematically but rather lump together information from different research projects.This means that a DNA database may differ depending on the company that processes the results.In addition,the computer programs a company uses to estimate relationships may be patented and not subject to peer review or outside evaluation.26.In paragraphs1and2,the text shows PTK’s___________.[A]easy availability[B]flexibility in pricing[C]successful promotion[D]popularity with households27.PTK is used to__________.[A]locate one’s birth place[B]promote genetic research[C]identify parent-child kinship[D]choose children for adoption28.Skeptical observers believe that ancestry testing fails to__________.[A]trace distant ancestors[B]rebuild reliable bloodlines[C]fully use genetic information[D]achieve the claimed accuracy29.In the last paragraph,a problem commercial genetic testing faces is __________.[A]disorganized data collection[B]overlapping database building30.An appropriate title for the text is most likely to be__________.[A]Fors and Againsts of DNA testing[B]DNA testing and It’s problems[C]DNA testing outside the lab[D]lies behind DNA testingText3The relationship between formal education and economic growth in poor countries is widely misunderstood by economists and politicians alike progress in both area is undoubtedly necessary for the social,political and intellectual development of these and all other societies;however,the conventional view that education should be one of the very highest priorities for promoting rapid economic development in poor countries is wrong.We are fortunate that is it, because new educational systems there and putting enough people through them to improve economic performance would require two or three generations.The findings of a research institution have consistently shown that workers in all countries can be trained on the job to achieve radical higher productivity and,as a result,radically higher standards of living.Ironically,the first evidence for this idea appeared in the United States.Not long ago,with the country entering a recessing and Japan at its pre-bubble peak. The U.S.workforce was derided as poorly educated and one of primary cause of the poor U.S.economic performance.Japan was,and remains,the global leader in automotive-assembly productivity.Yet the research revealed that the U.S. factories of Honda Nissan,and Toyota achieved about95percent of the productivity of their Japanese countere pants a result of the training that U.S. workers received on the job.More recently,while examing housing construction,the researchers discovered that illiterate,non-English-speaking Mexican workers in Houston, Texas,consistently met best-practice labor productivity standards despite the complexity of the building industry’s work.What is the real relationship between education and economic development? We have to suspect that continuing economic growth promotes the development of education even when governments don’t force it.After all,that’s how education got started.When our ancestors were hunters and gatherers10,000years ago,they didn’t have time to wonder much about anything besides finding food.Only when humanity began to get its food in a more productive way was there time for other things.As education improved,humanity’s productivity potential,they could in turn afford more education.This increasingly high level of education is probably a necessary,but not a sufficient,condition for the complex political systems required by advanced economic performance.Thus poor countries might not be able to escape their poverty traps without political changes that may be possibleonly with broader formal education.A lack of formal education,however,doesn’t constrain the ability of the developing world’s workforce to substantially improve productivity for the forested future.On the contrary,constraints on improving productivity explain why education isn’t developing more quickly there than it is.31.The author holds in paragraph1that the important of education in poor countries___________.[A]is subject groundless doubts[B]has fallen victim of bias[C]is conventional downgraded[D]has been overestimated32.It is stated in paragraph1that construction of a new education system __________.[A]challenges economists and politicians[B]takes efforts of generations[C]demands priority from the government[D]requires sufficient labor force33.A major difference between the Japanese and U.S workforces is that__________.[A]the Japanese workforce is better disciplined[B]the Japanese workforce is more productive[C]the U.S workforce has a better education[D]]the U.S workforce is more organize34.The author quotes the example of our ancestors to show that education emerged__________.[A]when people had enough time[B]prior to better ways of finding food[C]when people on longer went hung[D]as a result of pressure on government35.According to the last paragraph,development of education__________.[A]results directly from competitive environments[B]does not depend on economic performance[C]follows improved productivity[D]cannot afford political changesText4The most thoroughly studied in the history of the new world are the ministers and political leaders of seventeenth-century New England.According to the standard history of American philosophy,nowhere else in colonial America was “So much important attached to intellectual pursuits”According to many books and articles,New England’s leaders established the basic themes and preoccupations of an unfolding,dominant Puritan tradition in American intellectual life.To take this approach to the New Englanders normally mean to start with the Puritans’theological innovations and their distinctive ideas about thechurch-important subjects that we may not neglect.But in keeping with our examination of southern intellectual life,we may consider the original Puritans as carriers of European culture adjusting to New world circumstances.The New England colonies were the scenes of important episodes in the pursuit of widely understood ideals of civility and virtuosity.The early settlers of Massachusetts Bay included men of impressive education and influence in England.`Besides the ninety or so learned ministers who came to Massachusetts church in the decade after1629,There were political leaders like John Winthrop,an educated gentleman,lawyer,and official of theCrown before he journeyed to Boston.There men wrote and published extensively, reaching both New World and Old World audiences,and giving New England an atmosphere of intellectual earnestness.We should not forget,however,that most New Englanders were less well educated.While few crafts men or farmers,let alone dependents and servants,left literary compositions to be analyzed,The in thinking often had a traditional superstitions quality.A tailor named John Dane,who emigrated in the late1630s, left an account of his reasons for leaving England that is filled with signs.sexual confusion,economic frustrations,and religious hope-all name together in a decisive moment when he opened the Bible,told his father the first line he saw would settle his fate,and read the magical words:“come out from among them, touch no unclean thing,and I will be your God and you shall be my people.”One wonders what Dane thought of the careful sermons explaining the Bible that he heard in puritan churched.Mean while,many settles had slighter religious commitments than Dane’s,as one clergyman learned in confronting folk along the coast who mocked that they had not come to the New world for religion.“Our main end was to catch fish.”36.The author notes that in the seventeenth-century NewEngland___________.[A]Puritan tradition dominated political life.[B]intellectual interests were encouraged.[C]Politics benefited much from intellectual endeavors.[D]intellectual pursuits enjoyed a liberal environment.37.It is suggested in paragraph2that New Englanders__________.[A]experienced a comparatively peaceful early history.[B]brought with them the culture of the Old World[C]paid little attention to southern intellectual life[D]were obsessed with religious innovations38.The early ministers and political leaders in MassachusettsBay__________.[A]were famous in the New World for their writings[B]gained increasing importance in religious affairs[C]abandoned high positions before coming to the New World[D]created a new intellectual atmosphere in New England39.The story of John Dane shows that less well-educated New Englanders were often__________.[A]influenced by superstitions[B]troubled with religious beliefs[C]puzzled by church sermons[D]frustrated with family earnings40.The text suggests that early settlers in New England__________.[A]were mostly engaged in political activities[B]were motivated by an illusory prospect[C]came from different backgrounds.[D]left few formal records for later referencePart BDirections:Directions:In the following text,some sentences have been removed.For Questions(41-45),choose the most suitable one from the list A-G to fit into each of the numbered blank.There are two extra choices,which do not fit in any of the gaps.Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET1.(10points)Coinciding with the groundbreaking theory of biological evolution proposed by British naturalist Charles Darwin in the1860s,British social philosopher Herbert Spencer put forward his own theory of biological and cultural evolution. Spencer argued that all worldly phenomena,including human societies,changed over time,advancing toward perfection.41.____________.American social scientist Lewis Henry Morgan introduced another theory of cultural evolution in the late1800s.Morgan,along with Tylor,was one of the founders of modern anthropology.In his work,he attempted to show how all aspects of culture changed together in the evolution ofsocieties.42._____________.In the early1900s in North America,German-born American anthropologist Franz Boas developed a new theory of culture known as historical particularism. Historical particularism,which emphasized the uniqueness of all cultures,gave new direction to anthropology.43._____________.Boas felt that the culture of any society must be understood as the result of a unique history and not as one of many cultures belonging to a broader evolutionary stage or type of culture.44._______________.Historical particularism became a dominant approach to the study of culture in American anthropology,largely through the influence of many students of Boas. But a number of anthropologists in the early1900s also rejected the particularist theory of culture in favor of diffusionism.Some attributed virtually every important cultural achievement to the inventions of a few,especially gifted peoples that,according to diffusionists,then spread to other cultures.45.________________.Also in the early1900s,French sociologist?mile Durkheim developed a theory of culture that would greatly influence anthropology.Durkheim proposed that religious beliefs functioned to reinforce social solidarity.An interest in the relationship between the function of society and culture—known as functionalism—became a major theme in European,and especially British, anthropology.[A]Other anthropologists believed that cultural innovations,such as inventions,had a single origin and passed from society to society.This theory was known as diffusionism.[B]In order to study particular cultures as completely as possible,Boas became skilled in linguistics,the study of languages,and in physical anthropology, the study of human biology and anatomy.[C]He argued that human evolution was characterized by a struggle he called the“survival of the fittest,”in which weaker races and societies must eventually be replaced by stronger,more advanced races and societies.[D]They also focused on important rituals that appeared to preserve a people’s social structure,such as initiation ceremonies that formally signify children’s entrance into adulthood.[E]Thus,in his view,diverse aspects of culture,such as the structure of families,forms of marriage,categories of kinship,ownership of property,forms of government,technology,and systems of food production,all changed as societies evolved.[F]Supporters of the theory viewed as a collection of integrated parts that work together to keep a society functioning.[G]For example,British anthropologists Grafton Elliot Smith and W.J.Perry incorrectly suggested,on the basis of inadequate information,that farming,pottery making,and metallurgy all originated in ancient Egypt and diffused throughout the world.In fact,all of these cultural developments occurred separately at different times in many parts of the world.Part CDirections:Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese.Your translation should be written carefully on ANSWER SHEET2.(10points)There is a marked difference between the education which every one gets from living with others,and the deliberate educating of the young.In the former case the education is incidental;it is natural and important,but it is not the express reason of the association.46It may be said that the measure of the worth of any social institution is its effect in enlarging and improving experience;but this effectis not a part of its original motive.Religious associations began,for example,in the desire to secure the favor of overruling powers and to ward off evil influences; family life in the desire to gratify appetites and secure family perpetuity; systematic labor,for the most part,because of enslavement to others,etc.47Only gradually was the by-product of the institution noted,and only more gradually still was this effect considered as a directive factor in the conduct of the institution. Even today,in our industrial life,apart from certain values of industriousness and thrift,the intellectual and emotional reaction of the forms of human association under which the world's work is carried on receives little attention as compared with physical output.But in dealing with the young,the fact of association itself as an immediate human fact,gains in importance.48While it is easy to ignore in our contact with them the effect of our acts upon their disposition,it is not so easy as in dealing with adults.The need of training is too evident;the pressure to accomplish a change in their attitude and habits is too urgent to leave these consequences wholly out of account.49Since our chief business with them is to enable them to share in a common life we cannot help considering whether or no we are forming the powers which will secure this ability.If humanity has made some headway in realizing that the ultimate value of every institution is its distinctively human effect we may well believe that this lesson has been learned largely through dealings with the young.50We are thus led to distinguish,within the broad educational process which we have been so far considering,a more formal kind of education--that of direct tuition or schooling.In undeveloped social groups,we find very little formal teaching and training.These groups mainly rely for instilling needed dispositions into the young upon the same sort of association which keeps the adults loyal to their group.SectionⅢWritingPart A51.Directions:Restrictions on the use of plastic bags have not been so successful in some regions.“White pollution”is still going on.Write a letter to the editor(s)of your local newspaper to1)give your opinions briefly and2)make two or three suggestionsYou should write about100words.Do not sign your own name at the end of the e"Li Ming"instead.You do not need to write the address.Part B52.Directions:In your essay,you should1)describe the drawing briefly,2)explain its intended meaning,and then3)give your comments.You should write neatly on ANSHWER SHEET2.(20points)Section I Use of English答案解析：1.B.本题考查动词，后面的宾语是“the fruit-fly experiments described…”，suppose表示“假设”，observe表示“观察”，image表示“想象”，Consider“考虑”，代入文中表示“考虑已经被描述出来的实验”，符合语境。
2010年考研英语二试题
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Section I Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following passage. For each numbered blank there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best one and mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET l. (10 points)The outbreak of swine flu that was first detected in Mexico was declared a global pandemic on June 11, 2009, in the first designation by the World Health Organization of a worldwide pandemic in 41 years. The heightened alert came after an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva that convened after a sharp rise in cases in Australia, and rising numbers in Britain, Japan, Chile and elsewhere.But the pandemic is "moderate" in severity, according to Margaret Chan, the organization's directorgeneral, with the overwhelming majority of patients experiencing only mild symptoms and a full recovery, often in the absence of any medical treatment.The outbreak came to global notice in late April 2009,when Mexican authorities noticed an unusually large number of hospitalizations and deaths among healthy adults. As much of Mexico City shut down at the height of a panic, cases began to crop up in New York City, the southwestern United States and around the world.In the United States, new cases seemed to fade as warmer weather arrived. But in late September 2009, officials reported there was significant flu activity in almost every state and that virtually all the samples tested are the new swine flu, also known as (A) H1N1, not seasonal flu. @Zov&01 In the U.S., it has infected more than one million people, and caused more than 600 deaths and more than 6,000 hospitalizations.Federal health officials released Tamiflu for children from the national stockpile and began taking orders from the states for the new swine flu vaccine. The new vaccine, which is different from the annual flu vaccine, is available ahead of expectations. More than three million doses were to be made available in early October 2009, though most of those initial doses were of the FluMist nasal spray type, which is not recommended for pregnant women, people over 50 or those with breathing difficulties, heart disease or several other problems. But it was still possible to vaccinate people in other high-risk group: health care workers, people caring for infants and healthy young people.Section II Reading comprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four passages. Answer the questions below each passage by choosing A, B, C and D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.(40 points) Text1The longest bull run in a century of art-market history ended on a dramatic note with a sale of 56 works by Damien Hirst, “ Beautiful Inside My Head Forever”a,t Sotheby ?s inLondon on September 15th 2008 (see picture). All but two pieces sold, fetching more than a 70m, a record for a sale by a single artist. It was a last hurrah. As the auctioneer called out bids, in New York one of the oldest banks on Wall Street, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy.The world art market had already been losing momentum for a while after rising vertiginously since 2003. At its peak in 2007 it was worth some $65 billion, reckons Clare McAndrew, founder of Arts Economics, a research firm —double the figurefive years earlier. Since then it may have come down to $50 billion. But the market generates interest far beyond its size because it brings together great wealth, enormous egos, greed, passion and controversy in a way matched by few other industries.In the weeks and months that followed Mr Hirst ?s sale, spending of any sort became deeplyunfashionable, especially in New York, where the bail-out of the bankscoincided with the loss of thousands of jobs and the financial demise of manyart-buying investors. In the art world that meantcollectors stayed away from galleries and salerooms. Sales of contemporary art fell by two-thirds, and in the most overheated sector —for Chinese contemporary art —they weredown by nearly 90% in the year to November 2008. Within weeks the world ?s two biggest auction houses, Sotheby ?s and Christie ?s, had to pay out nearly $200m in guarantees to clients who had placed works for sale with them.The current downturn in the art market is the worst since the Japanese stopped buying Impressionists at the end of 1989, a move that started the most serious contraction in the market since the second world war. This time experts reckonthat prices are about 40% down on their peak on average, though some have been far more volatile. But Edward Dolman, Christie ?s chief executive, says: ?m pretty “co I nfident we ?re atthe bottom. ”What makes this slump different from the last, he says, is that there are still buyers in the market, whereas in the early 1990s, when interest rates were high, there was no demand even though many collectors wanted to sell. Christie ?s revenues in the first half of 2009 were still higher than in the first half of 2006. Almost everyone who was interviewed for this special report said that the biggestproblem at the moment is not a lack of demand but a lack of good work to sell. The three Ds —death, debt anddivorce —still deliver works of art to the market. But anyone who does not have to sell is keeping away, waiting for confidence to return.21.In the first paragraph,Damien Hirst's sale was referred to as “ a last victory ” e ________________________A. the art market hadwitnessed a succession of victoryiesB. the auctioneer finally got the two pieces at the highest bidsC. Beautiful Inside My Head Forever won over allmasterpiecesD. it was successfully made just before the world financialcrisis22. By saying “ spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable ” (Line 1-2,Para.3),the author suggests that .A . collectors were no longer actively involved in art-market auctionsB .people stopped every kind of spending and stayed away from galleriesC.art collection as a fashion had lost its appeal to a great extentD .works of art in general had gone out of fashion so they were not worth buying23. Which of the following statements is NOT ture?A .Sales of contemporary art fell dramatically from 2007to 2008.B. The art market surpassed many other industries in momentum.C. The market generally went downward in various ways.D.Some art dealers were awaiting better chances to come.24. ___________________________________________ The three Ds mentioned in the last paragraph are ____________________A. auction houses ' favoritesB. contemporary trendsC. factors promoting artwork circulationD. styles representing impressionists25. The most appropriate title for this text could be ___A. Fluctuation of Art PricesB. Up-to-date Art AuctionsC. Art Market in DeclineD. Shifted Interest in Arts。