【考研类试卷】考研英语(二)分类真题5及答案解析.doc

1、考研英语(二)分类真题 5 及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：0，分数：0.00)二、Part A(总题数：0，分数：0.00)三、Text 1(总题数：1，分数：20.00)Steven Pinker is the very model of a modern intellectual. Since the 1994 publication of his first bestseller, The Language Instinct, he“s been known for his ability to boil do

2、wn complex ideas into accessible, often-funny, cocktail-party-chatter-worthy sound bites. The Better Angels of Our Nature (the phrase comes from Abraham Lincoln) is a huge book, 696 pages of text plus 74 pages of notes and references. But “it has to be,“ Pinker writes. First he has to convince his r

3、eaders violence has gone down in the face of all their incredulitythen he needs to explain how it happened. Pinker“s magic is done with numbers, starting with the hunter-gatherer societies of 10,000 years ago when life was, as philosopher Thomas Hobbes put it, “nasty, brutish, and short.“ Data shows

4、 that back then the likelihood of a man dying at the hands of another was as high as 60 percent in some regions, more than 50 times the same calculation for the United States and Europe in the 20th centuryand that includes two world wars. “If the death rate in tribal warfare had prevailed during the

5、 20th century,“ Pinker says, “there would have been 2 billion deaths from wars and homicide, rather than 100 million.“ Pinker looks for explanations for these advances within the individual. Human nature consists of a constant pull of good and evil. He identifies five “innerdemons“ sadism, revenge,

6、dominance, violence in pursuit of a practical benefit, violence in pursuit of an ideologythat struggle with four “better angels“, self-control, empathy, morality, and reason. Over the years the forces of civilization have increasingly given the good in us the upper hand. Strong centralized governmen

7、ts, international trade, the empowerment of women all help make us kinder, gentler beings, cultures that empower women.are less likely to breed dangerous subcultures of rootless young men. Also important is what Pinker calls “the escalator of reason,“ in which people reframe conflict as a problem to

8、 be solved through brain instead of muscles. Pinker realizes his message could encourage complacency, since people might not feel like working to make the world a better place if they find out that the world is actually pretty good already. But he“s an optimist by temperament, and he thinks that his

9、 message will lead not to complacency but to action: “I think it will embolden people to work harder, if they see that the stuff that people do has made a difference.“ Starry-eyed? Maybe. But the hopefulness is an outgrowth not only of Pinker“s temperament but of his larger worldview. He calls himse

10、lf a scientist and a humanist who “sees reason and science and knowledge as progressive forces, as the source of the flourishing of individuals“. Let us hope his faith in the human race holds up against those devils on our shoulders.（分数：20.00）(1).In his book Pinker“s argument is primarily based on _

11、（分数：4.00）A.notes and referencesB.the incredulity of the readersC.statistics and historical factsD.citations from political philosophers(2).In our era of wars, genocide, and terrorism, Steven Pinker says _（分数：4.00）A.we“re more peaceful than the tribal societies wereB.we are more cruel than the primit

12、ive societies wereC.our cruelties are traced to the hunter-gatherer societiesD.war does not necessarily mean the sacrifice of many lives(3).The “angels“ could defeat the “demons“ because _（分数：4.00）A.the formers were supported by empowered womenB.the formers existed in society and the latter in indiv

13、idualsC.the two existed at different levels of people“s consciousnessD.favorable forces were at work to push the society forward(4).The author“s attitude to Pinker“s idea is one _（分数：4.00）A.strong oppositionB.ardent approvalC.reserved consentD.mild criticism(5).The text is most likely to be _（分数：4.0

14、0）A.a review of a bookB.a science reportC.an abstract of an thesisD.a political editorial四、Text 2(总题数：1，分数：20.00)A country that once amazed the world with its visionary investments in transportation, from the Erie Canal to the Interstate Highway System, is now in the process of unpaving itself; in a

15、 number of states, local governments are breaking up roads they can no longer afford to maintain, and returning them to gravel. And a nation that once prized educationthat was among the first to provide basic schooling to all its childrenis now cutting back. Teachers are being laid off; programs are

16、 being canceled; in Hawaii, the school year itself is being drastically shortened. And all signs point to even more cuts ahead. We“re told that we have no choice, that basic government functionsessential services that have been provided for generationsare no longer affordable. And it“s true that sta

17、te and local governments, hit hard by the recession, are cash-strapped. But they wouldn“t be quite as cash-strapped if their politicians were willing to consider at least some tax increases. And the federal government, which can sell inflation-protected long-term bonds at an interest rate of only 1.

18、04 percent, isn“t cash-strapped at all. It could and should be offering aid to local governments, to protect the future of our infrastructure and our children. But Washington is providing only a trickle of help, and even that grudgingly. We must place priority on reducing the deficit, say Republican

19、s and “centrist“ Democrats. And then, virtually in the next breath, they declare that we must preserve tax cuts for the very affluent, at a budget cost of $700 billion over the next decade. In effect, a large part of our political class is showing its priorities: given the choice between asking the

20、richest 2 percent or so of Americans to go back to paying the tax rates they paid during the Clinton-era boom, or allowing the nation“s foundations to crumbleliterally in the case of roads, figuratively in the case of educationthey“re choosing the latter. It“s a disastrous choice in both the short r

21、un and the long run. In the short run, those state and local cutbacks are a major burden on the economy, perpetuating devastatingly high unemployment. And what about the economy“s future? Everything we know about economic growth says that a well-educated population and high-quality infrastructure ar

22、e crucial. Emerging nations are making huge efforts to upgrade their roads, their ports and their schools. Yet in America we“re going backward. How did we get to this point? It“s the logical consequence of three decades of antigovernment rhetoric, rhetoric that has convinced many voters that a dolla

23、r collected in taxes is always a dollar wasted, that the public sector can“t do anything right. So the end result of the long campaign against government is that we“ve taken a disastrously wrong turn. America is now on the unlit, unpaved road to nowhere.（分数：20.00）(1).America“s investment in roads us

24、ed to _（分数：4.00）A.be one of the nation“s top prioritiesB.save the country from recessionC.pave the way for high quality educationD.meet a lot of resistance and setbacks(2).To get money for maintaining infrastructure, the state and local governments can _（分数：4.00）A.cut back on other expensesB.raise t

25、axes for the richC.issue long-term bonds at low interest ratesD.reduce the deficit(3).It is implied in the third paragraph that _（分数：4.00）A.the federal government is willing to invest in infrastructureB.most Americans support a deficit-cutting policyC.the author is in favor of preserving the low-tax

26、 policyD.the government“s policy is contradictory to its rhetoric(4).The author attributes the present dire situation mainly to _（分数：4.00）A.the lack of a long-term plan for infrastructureB.the perpetuation of high unemployment ratesC.the wrongly targeted tax-cut policyD.the nation“s inability to edu

27、cate its population(5).The best title for the passage is _（分数：4.00）A.America Goes DarkB.America Sees a Silver LiningC.America Has Come to a Crucial PointD.Americans Have Gone Desperate五、Text 3(总题数：1，分数：20.00)The latest research on caloric restrictions shows that near-starvation diets may not be the

28、Fountain of Youth. Decades ago, in the 1930s, researchers found that animals that had been deprived of food seemed to live longer than rodents that were fed to satisfaction, raising the intriguing idea that maybe near-starvation was a good, rather than bad thing, for health. But the latest research

29、conducted on close human cousins, rhesus monkeys, shows that the connection may not be as solid as once hoped. Published in the journal Nature, the results suggest that dramatically cutting back on daily caloriesby 30%does not help monkeys to live longer than those who ate normally. The restriction

30、did help older monkeys to lower their levels of triglycerides, a risk factor for heart disease, but otherwise conferred no significant health or longevity benefit. Caloric restriction may have its evolutionary roots as a survival mechanism, allowing species to survive on scraps when food is scarce i

31、n order to continue to reproduce. But that restriction only has lasting positive effects if the overall diet is a balanced one, which may not always be the case in conditions of famine. It“s possible the strategy developed as a way to protect species from consuming toxic plants or foods, when it was

32、n“t always obvious which sources were prohibited. The study, begun in 1987 and one of the longest running trials to investigate the effects of caloric restriction, contradicts the only prior research conducted with rhesus monkeys, which found the opposite effect, highlighting the complex relationshi

33、p between caloric processing and metabolic functions that contribute to aging and health. For example, the study“s lead author, Rafael de Cabo of the National Institute on Aging, notes that the effects of caloric restriction on the immune system may not be all good: some studies show slower wound he

34、aling and increased risk for infectious disease. In young animals, restricting calories also reduces fertility. It“s not entirely clear why the two monkey studies had such varying results. Ricki Colman, a co-author of the first monkey study and an associate scientist at the Wisconsin National Primat

35、e Research Center, believes that the differences may reflect variance in the diets given to the animals in the two studies. “They may be modeling different things,“ she says, explaining that in her study, the control animals were allowed to eat freely while in the new research, both controls and tho

36、se on the restricted diet were limited to specific maximum amounts. Her control animals, she says, may reflect more of a typical American diet, while the controls in the new research are more like people who already eat healthy amounts. Indeed, the NIA study implies that the benefits of simply eatin

37、g a balanced, healthy diet may provide as much life extension as dietary restrictions can produce. Even with the findings, however, some experts are still holding out hope that restricting calories may prove beneficial for certain health outcomes, specifically in combating cancer and heart disease.

38、The question, of course, is how much restriction can you get away with in order to still get these benefits.（分数：20.00）(1).The new research has found that _（分数：4.00）A.rhesus monkeys react to caloric restriction as humans doB.dramatic reduction in caloric intake reduces longevityC.caloric restriction

39、increases the risk for heart diseaseD.restricting calories doesn“t lead to a healthy and longer life(2).In evolutionary terms, caloric restriction is considered to be _（分数：4.00）A.a result from the necessity to learn to starveB.a means of survival when food becomes a problemC.a mechanism for preventi

40、ng species from overfeedingD.an effective way of figuring out a balanced diet(3).The old study on rhesus monkeys was different in that _（分数：4.00）A.it did not have control animals in its experimentB.it simplified the relationship between diet and longevityC.it found caloric restriction contributed to

41、 longevityD.it used young rhesus monkeys in the experiment(4).Colman interprets the contradictory results by noting that _（分数：4.00）A.the two studies were conducted in different historical periodsB.the control monkeys in the two studies were treated differentlyC.the animals in her study were given he

42、althier food to eatD.the objectives of the two studies were largely different(5).The new research would advise _（分数：4.00）A.taking on a balanced diet rather than restricting dietB.restricting caloric intake to lead a longer lifeC.combating such diseases as cancer with caloric restrictionD.putting cal

43、oric restriction on a daily basis for better effect六、Text 4(总题数：1，分数：20.00)Cannes was quiet this week. Although the stars and the paparazzi went through the usual red-carpet routine, there was less extravagance and a smaller contingent of film-buyers than usual. Yet for makers of independent films,

44、that was not the end of the world. In their business the action increasingly takes place not on the French Riviera but in American living rooms. Tricky, intelligent films are finding a home in the least glamorous corner of the television business. Getting independent films into cinemas, never easy,

45、has become much harder in the past year. Some specialist distributors, such as Warner Independent Pictures, have closed and others are buying fewer films. The credit crunch and the strong dollar have cut foreign sales. Meanwhile cheap digital-video cameras and editing software have produced a flood

46、of content. Some 5,500 films are chasing buyers in Cannes this year. Last year just 606 new films were released in American cinemas. Many lost money. “The economics just do not make sense,“ says Jonathan Sehring of IFC Films, an independent distributor. Hence the rapid growth of an alternative. This

47、 year IFC will release about 100 films “on demand“, meaning they can be called up for a fee in most households that get their television via cable or satellite. Many will be available on the same day that they first appear at film festivals such as Sundance and South by Southwest. Later this year IF

48、C plans to launch a new on-demand channel to showcase documentary films. Cinetic, a powerful independent-film broker, will also get into the game this summer. The reason for the rush is that, for low-budget films, the economics of video on demand do make sense. Cable companies, which take a cut when

49、 they sell a film, help with advertising. Mr Sehring says IFC makes about as much when a film is sold on demand as when a customer buys a cinema ticket, even though the ticket costs almost twice as much. He reckons he recoups his costs and returns money to filmmakers more than half the timenot bad for films that might otherwise have disappeared without trace. Distributors are learning what kinds of films are best suited to video on demand. Whether accessed via cable television or the Internet, video on dema