【考研类试卷】四川大学考博英语2012年真题及答案解析.doc

1、四川大学考博英语 2012 年真题及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)二、Passage One(总题数：1，分数：5.00)There are people in Italy who can“t stand soccer. Not all Canadians love hockey. A similar situation exists in America, where there are those individuals you may be one of them who yawn or even frown when somebody mentions baseb

2、all. Baseball to them means boring hours watching grown men in funny tight outfits standing around in a field staring away while very little of anything happens. They tell you it“s a game better suited to the 19 th century, slow, quiet, gentlemanly. These are the same people you may be one of them w

3、ho love football because there“s the sport that glorifies “the hit“. By contrast, baseball seems abstract, cool, silent, still. On TV the game is fractured into a dozen perspectives, replays, close-ups. The geometry of the game, however, is essential to understanding it. You will contemplate the gam

4、e from one point as a painter does his subject; you may, of course, project yourself into the game. It is in this projection that the game affords so much space and time for involvement. The TV won“t do it for you. Take, for example, the third baseman. You sit behind the third base dugout and you wa

5、tch him watching home plate. His legs are apart, knees flexed. His arms hang loose. He does a lot of this. The skeptic still cannot think of any other sports so still, so passive. But watch what happens every time the pitcher throws: the third baseman goes up on his toes, flexes his arms or brings t

6、he glove to a point in front of him, takes a step fight or left, backward or forward, perhaps he glances across the field to check his first baseman“s position. Suppose the pitch is a ball. “Nothing happened,“ you say. “I could have had my eyes closed.“ The skeptic and the innocent must play the gam

7、e. And this involvement in the stands is no more intellectual than listening to music is. Watch the third baseman. Smooth the dirt in frontof you with one foot; smooth the pocket in your glove; watch the eyes of the batter, the speed of the bat, the sound of horsehide on wood. If football is a symph

8、ony of movement and theatre, baseball is chamber music, a spacious interlocking of notes, chores and responses.（分数：5.00）(1).The passage is mainly concerned with _.（分数：1.00）A.the different tastes of people for sportsB.the different characteristics of sportsC.the attraction of footballD.the attraction

9、 of baseball(2).Those who don“t like baseball may complain that _.（分数：1.00）A.it is only to the taste of the oldB.it involves fewer players than footballC.it is not exciting enoughD.it is pretentious and looks funny(3).The author admits that _.（分数：1.00）A.baseball is too peaceful for the youngB.baseba

10、ll may seem boring when watched on TVC.football is more attracting than baseballD.baseball is more interesting than football(4).By stating “I could have had my eyes closed.“ (paragraph 4, last sentence), the author means _.（分数：1.00）A.The third baseman would rather sleep than play the gameB.Even if t

11、he third baseman closed his eyes a moment ago, it could make no different to the resultC.The third baseman is so good at baseball that he could finish the game with eyes closed all the time and do his work wellD.The consequent was too bad he could not bear to see it(5).We can safely conclude that th

12、e author _.（分数：1.00）A.likes footballB.hates footballC.hates baseballD.likes baseball三、Passage Two(总题数：1，分数：5.00)Among the more colorful characters of Leadville“s golden age were H.A.W.Tabor and his second wife, Elizabeth McCourt, better known as “Baby Doe“. Their history is fast becoming one of the

13、legends of the Old West. Horace Austin Warner Tabor was a school teacher in Vermont. With his first wife and two children he left Vermont by covered wagon in 1855 to homes tread in Kansas. Perhaps he did not find farming to his liking, or perhaps he was lured by rumors of fortunes to be made in Colo

14、rado mines. At any rate, a few years later he moved west to the small Colorado mining camp known as California Gulch, which he later renamed Leadville when he became its leading citizen. “Great deposits of lead are sure to be found here.“ he said. As it turned out, it was silver, not lead, that was

15、to make Leadville“s fortune and wealth. Tabor knew little about mining himself, so he opened a general store, which sold everything from boots to salt, flour, and tobacco. It was his custom to “grubstake“ prospective miners, in other words, to supply them with food and supplies, or “grub“, while the

16、y looked for ore, in return for which he would get a share in the mine if one was discovered. He did this for a number of years, but no one that he aided ever found anything of value. Finally one day in the year 1878, so the story goes, two miners came in and asked for “grub“. Tabor had decided to q

17、uit supplying it because he had lost too much money that way. These were persistent, however, and Tabor was too busy to argue with them. “Oh help yourself. One more time wont“s make any difference,“ he said and went on selling shoes and hats to other customers. The two miners took $17 worth of suppl

18、ies, in return for which they gave Tabor a one-third interest in their findings. They picked a barren place on the mountainside and began to dig. After nine days they struck a rich vein of silver. Tabor bought the shares of the other two men, and so the mine belonged to him alone. This mine, known a

19、s the “Pittsburgh Mine,“ made 1,300,000 for Tabor in return for his $17 investment. Later Tabor bought the Matchless Mine on another barren hillside just outside the town for $17,000. This turned out to be even more fabulous than the Pittsburgh, yielding $35,000 worth of silver per day at one time.

20、Leadville grew. Tabor became its first mayor, and later became lieutenant governor of the state.（分数：5.00）(1).Leadville got its name for the following reasons EXCEPT _.（分数：1.00）A.because Tabor became its leading citizenB.because great deposits of lead is expected to be found thereC.because it could b

21、ring good fortune to TaborD.because it was renamed(2).The word “grubstake“ in Paragraph 2 means _.（分数：1.00）A.to supply miners with food and suppliesB.to open a general storeC.to do one“s contribution to the development of the mineD.to supply miners with food and supplies and in return get a share in

22、 the mine, if one was discovered(3).Tabor made his first fortune _.（分数：1.00）A.by supplying two prospective miners and getting in return a one-third interest in the findingsB.because he was persuaded by the two miners to quit supplyingC.by buying the shares of the otherD.as a land speculator(4).The u

23、nderlying reason for Tabor“s life career is _.（分数：1.00）A.purely accidentalB.based on the analysis of miner“s being very poor and their possibility of discovering profitable mining siteC.through the help from his second wifeD.he planned well and accomplished targets step by step(5).If this passage is

24、 the first part of an article, who might be introduced in the following part?（分数：1.00）A.Tabor“s lifeB.Tabor“s second wife, Elizabeth McCourtC.Other colorful charactersD.Tabor“s other careers四、Passage Three(总题数：1，分数：5.00)Open up most fashion magazines and you will see incredibly thin models with impo

25、ssible hair and wearing unreasonably expensive, impracticably styled clothes. But shouldn“t clothes be comfortably durable and make a principle of being simple for the individual who wears them? Why are we constantly told that we need to buy new clothes and add fresh pieces to our collection? Fashio

26、ns change year after year so lots of people can make piles of money. If folks are convinced that they need a different look each season, that this year“s sweater“s length and shoes style are important, they can be persuaded to buy. The fashion industry would have you ignore your shortcomings and jus

27、t make you feel beautiful and happy. In fact it is not only a phenomenon we can find in people“s dressing. Fashion controls our lives. Fashion controls what we wear, what we eat, what we drink, the way we cut our hair, the makeup we buy and use, the color of the cars we drive. Fashion even controls

28、our ideas. You don“t believe me? How many of your friends are vegetarians? Why are they vegetarians? Because it is fashionable! Where does fashion come from? Often the reasons are quite logical. Scientists and historians study the fashions of the past and discover the secrets of each fashion. When g

29、irls see an attractive guy, their blood pressure rises and their lips become redder. That“s why guys think that girls wearing lipstick are beautiful. Why do guys shave their heads? In the past soldiers shaved their heads to kill the insects that lived in their hair. Now guys shave their heads so tha

30、t they look strong and masculine, like soldiers. People spend a lot of time and money on fashion. But are they wasting their money? Changes in fashion help to develop new technologies. Changes in style create work for people all over the world. Many people work in the fashion industry, particularly

31、in the fashion capitals of London, New York, Paris and Milan. And finally, fashion makes you feel good, doesn“t it? When you are dressed in the latest style, dancing to the most fashionable music, after watching the latest hit film, you feel great, don“t you?（分数：5.00）(1).What“s the author“s viewpoin

32、t about the models and their hairstyles and clothes?（分数：1.00）A.UnbiasedB.IndifferentC.CriticalD.Appreciative(2).It is indicated by the author that clothes should be _.（分数：1.00）A.comfortable and durableB.new and freshC.expensive and fashionableD.simple and unique(3).The fashion industry makes profits

33、 by _.（分数：1.00）A.selling the products at high pricesB.creating a need in youC.helping you get rid of your shortcomingsD.making you look more beautiful(4).The author thinks what has been found about fashions by the scientists and the historians is _.（分数：1.00）A.incredibleB.amazingC.reasonableD.creativ

34、e(5).The passage mentions the advantages of fashion EXCEPT that _.（分数：1.00）A.it can help promote technological developmentB.it enables people to remain up-to-dateC.it can create more job opportunities for peopleD.it can make people achieve a great feeling五、Passage Four(总题数：1，分数：5.00)Sign has become

35、a scientific hot button. Only in the past 20 years have specialists in language study realized that signed languages are uniquea speech of the hand. They offer a new way to probe how the brain generates and understands language, and throw new light on an old scientific controversy; whether language,

36、 complete with grammar, is something that we are born with, or whether it is a learned behavior. The current interest in sign language has roots in the pioneering work of one rebel teacher at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., the world“s only liberal arts university for deaf people. When Bil

37、l Stokoe went to Gallaudet to teach English, the school enrolled him in a course in signing. But Stokoe noticed something odd: among themselves, students signed differently from his classroom teacher. Stokoe had been taught a sort of gesture code, each movement of the hands representing a word in En

38、glish. At the time, American Sign Language (ASL) was thought to be on more than a form of pidgin English (混杂英语). But Stokoe believed the “hand talk“ his students used looked richer. He wondered: might deaf people actually have a genuine language? And could that language be unlike any other on Earth?

39、 It was 1955, when even deaf people dismissed their signing as “substandard“. Stokoe“s idea was academic heresy ( 异端邪说). It is 37 years later. Stokoenow devoting his time to writing and editing books and journals and to producing video materials on ASL and the deaf cultureis having lunch at a cafe n

40、ear the Gallaudet campus and explaining how he started a revolution. For decades educators fought his idea that signed languages are natural languages like English, French and Japanese. They assumed language must be based on speech, the modulation (调节) of sound. But sign language is based on the mov

41、ement of hands, the modulation of space. “What I said,“ Stokoe explains, “is that language is not mouth stuffit“s brain stuff.“（分数：5.00）(1).The study of sign language is thought to be _.（分数：1.00）A.an approach to simplifying the grammatical structure of a languageB.an attempt to clarify misunderstand

42、ing about the origin of languageC.a challenge to traditional views on the nature of languageD.a new way to took at the learning of language(2).The present growing interest in sign language was stimulated by _.（分数：1.00）A.a leading specialist in the study of liberal artsB.an English teacher in a unive

43、rsity for the deafC.some senior experts in American Sign LanguageD.a famous scholar in the study of the human brain(3).According to Stokoe, sign language is _.（分数：1.00）A.an international languageB.a substandard languageC.an artificial languageD.a genuine language(4).Most educators objected to Stokoe

44、“s idea because they thought _.（分数：1.00）A.a language should be easy to use and understandB.sign language was too artificial to be widely acceptedC.a language could only exist in the form of speech soundsD.sign language was not extensively used even by deaf people(5).Stokoe“s argument is based on his

45、 belief that ._（分数：1.00）A.language is a product of the brainB.language is a system of meaningful codesC.sign language is derived from natural languageD.sign language is as efficient as any other language六、Passage Five(总题数：1，分数：5.00)Give the lack of fit between gifted students and their schools, it i

46、s not surprising that such students often have little good to say about their school experience. In one study of 400 adults who had achieved distinction in all areas of life, researchers found that three-fifths of these individuals either did badly in school or were unhappy in school. Few MacArthur

47、Prize fellows, winners of the MacArthur Award for creative accomplishment, had good things to say about their precollege schooling if they had not been placed in advanced programs. Anecdotal (名人轶事) reports support this. Pablo Picasso, Charles Darwin, Mark Twain, Oliver Goldsmith, and William Butler

48、Yeats all disliked school. So did Winston Churchill, who almost failed out of Harrow, an elite British school. About Oliver Goldsmith, one of his teachers remarked, “Never was so dull a boy.“ Often these children realize that they know more than their teachers, and their teachers often feel that the

49、se children are arrogant, inattentive, or unmotivated. Some of these gifted people may have done poorly in school because their gifts were not scholastic. Maybe we can account for Picasso in this way. But most fared poorly in school not because they lacked ability but because they found school unchallenging and consequently lost interest. Yeats described the lack of fit between his mind and school: “Because I had found it difficult to attend to anything less interesting than my own thoughts, I was di