【考研类试卷】考研英语(二)分类真题6及答案解析.doc

1、考研英语(二)分类真题 6 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)Last year my federal tax billthe income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalfwas $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was on

2、ly 17.4 percent of my taxable incomeand that“s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent. If you make money with money, as some of my super-rich friends do, your percentage may

3、 be a bit lower than mine. But if you earn money from a job, your percentage will surely exceed minemost likely by a lot. To understand why, you need to examine the sources of government revenue. Last year about 80 percent of these revenues came from personal income taxes and payroll taxes. The mega

4、-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15 percent on most of their earnings but pay practically nothing in payroll taxes. It“s a different story for the middle class: typically, they fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets, and then are also hit with heavy payroll taxes. Back in the

5、 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack. I know well many of the mega-rich and, by and large, they are very decent people. They love America and appreciate the opportunity this country has given them. Many have joined the Giving

6、Pledge, promising to give most of their wealth to philanthropy. Most wouldn“t mind being told to pay more in taxes as well, particularly when so many of their fellow citizens are truly suffering. Twelve members of Congress will soon take on the crucial job of rearranging our country“s finances. They

7、“ve been instructed to devise a plan that reduces the 10-year deficit by at least $1.5 trillion. It“s vital, however, that they achieve far more than that. Americans are rapidly losing faith in the ability of Congress to deal with our country“s fiscal problems. Only action that is immediate, real an

8、d very substantial will prevent that doubt from turning into hopelessness. That feeling can create its own reality. Job one for the 12 is to cut down some future promises that even a rich America can“t fulfill. Big money must be saved here. The 12 should then turn to the issue of revenues. I would l

9、eave rates for 99.7 percent of taxpayers unchanged and continue the current 2-percentage-point reduction in the employee contribution to the payroll tax. This cut helps the poor and the middle class, who need every break they can get. But for those making more than $1 million, I would raise rates im

10、mediately on taxable income in excess of $1 million, including, of course, dividends and capital gains. My friends and I have been spoiled long enough by a billionaire friendly Congress. It“s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.（分数：20.00）(1).The author implies in the first

11、paragraph that _（分数：4.00）A.more taxes should have been levied on the richB.taxes paid by the average people should be reducedC.the rich are well acquainted with tax loopholesD.the author is a member of the average income group(2).The rich pay lower tax rates mainly because they _（分数：4.00）A.pay less

12、both as income and payroll taxesB.pay less on their wages and salariesC.were given tax incentives in the 1980s and 1990sD.have contributed more to the country(3).The author is certain that the rich _（分数：4.00）A.have broken their promise made at the Giving PledgeB.have paid heavier payroll taxes than

13、income taxesC.are willing to pay a higher income tax if the country needs itD.have more control over the congress than the average people(4).The last sentence of Paragraph 4 probably means _（分数：4.00）A.the congress will create a better future for the countryB.the country“s financial situation will im

14、prove soonC.distrust in the country“s leaders will make the situation worseD.the promises made by the congress are never put into action(5).The author concludes his discussion by _（分数：4.00）A.expressing his unyielding faith in the congressB.calling on the rich and poor alike to sacrifice for the coun

15、tryC.proposing tax breaks for the average-income individualsD.proposing heavier tax rates on the income of the mega-rich四、Text 2(总题数：1，分数：20.00)New science reveals how your brain is hard-wired when it comes to spendingand how you can reboot it. The choice to spend rather than save reflects a very hu

16、manand, some would say, Americanquirk: a preference for immediate gratification over future gains. In other words, we get far more joy from buying a new pair of shoes today, or a Caribbean vacation, or an iPhone 4S, than from imagining a comfortable life tomorrow. Throw in an instant-access culturei

17、n which we can get answers on the Internet within seconds, have a coffeepot delivered to our door overnight, and watch movies on demandand we“re not exactly training the next generation to delay gratification. “Pleasure now is worth more to us than pleasure later,“ says economist William Dickens of

18、Northeastern University. “We much prefer current consumption to future consumption. It may even be wired into us.“ As brain scientists plumb the neurology of an afternoon at the mall, they are discovering measurable differences between the brains of people who save and those who spend with abandon,

19、particularly in areas of the brain that predict consequences, process the sense of reward, spur motivation, and control memory. In fact, neuroscientists are mapping the brain“s saving and spending circuits so precisely that they have been able to stir up the saving and disable the spending in some p

20、eople. The result: people“s preferences switch from spending like a drunken sailor to saving like a child of the Depression. All told, the gray matter responsible for some of our most crucial decisions is finally revealing its secrets. Psychologists and behavioral economists, meanwhile, are identify

21、ing the personality types and other traits that distinguish savers from spenders, showing that people who aren“t good savers are neither stupid nor irrationalbut often simply don“t accurately foresee the consequences of not saving. Rewire the brain to find pleasure in future rewards, and you“re on t

22、he path to a future you really want. In one experiment, neuroeconomist Paul Glimcher of New York University wanted to see what it would take for people to willingly delay gratification. He gave a dozen volunteers a choice: $20 now or more money, from $20.25 to $110, later. On one end of the spectrum

23、 was the person who agreed to take $21 in a monthto essentially wait a month in order to gain just $1. In economics-speak, this kind of person has a “flat discount function,“ meaning he values tomorrow almost as much as today and is therefore able to delay gratification. At the other end was someone

24、 who was willing to wait a month only if he got $68, a premium of $48 from the original offer. This is someone economists call a “steep discounter,“ meaning the value he puts on the future (and having money then) is dramatically less than the value he places on today; when he wants something, he wan

25、ts it now.（分数：20.00）(1).When it comes to spending, new evidence shows that it _（分数：4.00）A.is an inherent dispositionB.is a difficult habit to explainC.is a difficult mental decisionD.can be stopped and restarted(2).When brain scientists “plumb the neurology of an afternoon at the mall“, they _（分数：4.

26、00）A.study current consumption rather than future consumptionB.measure the brain activity of people engaged in shoppingC.spend a whole afternoon watching shoppers going roundD.interview shoppers to ask them embarrassing questions(3).The scientists studying spending habits _（分数：4.00）A.are still at a

27、loss about what causes some people to save or spendB.can predict whether people spend or save by controlling people“s memoryC.can change people“s buying habits by making them drunk like sailorsD.can change those who spend with abandon into those who save(4).If you are rewarded for saving, you are li

28、kely to _（分数：4.00）A.demand more rewardsB.abandon unnecessary purchasesC.care less about the consequencesD.become irrational and stupid(5).Neuroeconomist Paul Glimcher wants to find out _（分数：4.00）A.what creates the flat discount functionB.how steep discounters gratify themselvesC.what makes people po

29、stpone satisfactionD.whether people agree to delay a bigger gratification五、Text 3(总题数：1，分数：20.00)Studies have found that roughly 40 percent of students planning engineering and science majors end up switching to other subjects or failing to get any degree. That increases to as much as 60 percent whe

30、n pre-medical students, who typically have the strongest SAT scores and high school science preparation, are included, according to new data from the University of California at Los Angeles. That is twice the combined attrition rate of all other majors. For educators, the big question is how to keep

31、 the momentum being built in the lower grades from dissipating once the students get to college. “We“re losing an alarming proportion of our nation“s science talent once the students get to college,“ says Mitchell J. Chang, an education professor at U.C.L.A. who has studied the matter. “It“s not jus

32、t a K-12 preparation issue.“ Professor Chang says that rather than losing mainly students from disadvantaged backgrounds or with poor records, the attrition rate can be higher at the most selective schools, where he believes the competition overwhelms even well-qualified students. The bulk of attrit

33、ion comes in engineering and among pre-med majors, who typically leave STEM fields (fields of science, technology, engineering and math) if their hopes for medical school fade. There is no doubt that the main majors are difficult and growing more complex. Some students still lack math preparation or

34、 aren“t willing to work hard enough. Other barriers are the tough freshman classes, typically followed by two years of fairly abstract courses leading to a senior research or design project. In September, the Association of American Universities, which represents 61 of the largest research instituti

35、ons, announced a five-year initiative to encourage faculty members in the STEM fields to use more interactive teaching techniques. The latest research also suggests that there could be more subtle problems at work, like the proliferation of grade inflation in the humanities and social sciences, whic

36、h provides another incentive for students to leave STEM majors. It is no surprise that grades are lower in math and science, where the answers are clear-cut and there are no bonus points for talented answers. Professors also say they are strict because science and engineering courses build on one an

37、other, and a student who fails to absorb the key lessons in one class will have to struggle in the next. No one doubts that students need a strong theoretical foundation. But what frustrates education experts is how long it has taken for most schools to make changes. Notre Dame“s engineering dean, P

38、eter Kilpatrick, will be the first to concede that sophomore and junior years, which focus mainly on theory, remain a “weak link“ in technical education. He says his engineering school has gradually improved its retention rate over the past decade by creating design projects for freshmen and breakin

39、g “a deadly lecture“ for 400 students into groups of 80. Only 50 to 55 percent of the school“s students stayed through graduation 10 years ago. But that figure now tops 75 percent, and efforts to create more labs in the middle years could help raise it further.（分数：20.00）(1).It is important for educa

40、tors to _（分数：4.00）A.keep the freshmen and sophomores from changing their majorsB.keep up the quality of their teaching so that it does not degradeC.foster the right attitude of the first-and second-year studentsD.be conscious of the possible shifts of majors by their students(2).The word “attrition“

41、 probably refers to _（分数：4.00）A.the possible disappearance of some majorsB.the proportion of science students to other majorsC.the proportion of disadvantaged college studentsD.the gradual reduction in the number of students(3).Medical students are more likely to change their majors because _（分数：4.0

42、0）A.they cannot afford the large tuitionB.the courses are more difficult to handleC.many medical schools are on the declineD.they have not prepared adequately(4).Which of the following is not mentioned as a cause for the shift in major?（分数：4.00）A.Possible deficiency in mathematicsB.Rigorous training

43、 in researchC.Less access to courses in humanitiesD.Higher demand put on students(5).To correct the situation, the author would be likely to advocate _（分数：4.00）A.lowering the requirementsB.designing more research projectsC.making teaching more interactiveD.teaching more mathematics六、Text 4(总题数：1，分数：

44、20.00)Conspicuous consumption has been an object of fascination going back at least as far as 1899, when the economist Thorstein Veblen published The Theory of the Leisure Class, a book that analyzed, in part, how people spent their money in order to demonstrate their social status. And it“s been we

45、ll-known for a long time that extra cash always makes life a little easier. Studies over the last few decades have shown that money, up to a certain point, makes people happier because it lets them meet basic needs. The latest round of research is, for lack of a better term, all about emotional effi

46、ciency, how to reap the most happiness for your dollar. So just where does happiness reside for consumers? Scholars and researchers haven“t determined whether Armani will put a bigger smile on your face than Dolce hence, anything that promotes stronger social bonds has a good chance of making us fee

47、l all warm and fuzzy. And the creation of complex, sophisticated relationships is a rare thing in the world. As Professor Dunn and her colleagues point out in their forthcoming paper, only termites, naked mole rats and certain insects like ants and bees construct social networks as complex as those

48、of human beings. In that elite little club, humans are the only ones who shop.（分数：20.00）(1).The expression “conspicuous consumption“ refers to _（分数：4.00）A.unrestricted spending for displaying income or wealthB.deliberate purchase of large quantities of material goodsC.clever spending for raising emo

49、tional efficiencyD.obvious tendency for purchasing delightful experience(2).All of the following affect “emotional efficiency“ except _（分数：4.00）A.when something is boughtB.what kinds of things are boughtC.how often things are boughtD.how large things purchased are(3).It is implied that spending money for an experience _（分数：4.00）A.is a newly found fashionable activityB.represents a revival of an old practiceC.means spending staycations in the backyardD.is especially popular among baby boomers(4).Spen