[考研类试卷]考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷254及答案与解析.doc

1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 254 及答案与解析Part ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)0 When Congress passed the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, it gave older Americans a broad right to sue for discrimination. But the Supreme Court ha

2、s narrowed that right with a 5-to-4 ruling that union members cannot file lawsuits when their contracts call for arbitration of age-discrimination claims. The decision, which reversed the courts precedents, sets back antidiscrimination law significantly.A group of New York City building-services wor

3、kers sued after they were moved from positions like night lobby watchman to less desirable assignments, including cleaning jobs. The workers charged, among oilier claims, that they had been reassigned based on age.The contract negotiated by the workers union required employees to submit claims of di

4、scrimination to binding arbitration. The workers sued in federal court, asserting that their job reassignments violated the federal age-discrimination statute and other laws. The employer moved to dismiss the suit, arguing that the union contract required that the claims be arbitrated. The Federal C

5、ourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied the motion, citing a 1974 Supreme Court case, Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Company. It held that collective bargaining agreements cannot waive workers rights to sue under federal antidiscrimination laws. The Supreme Court reversed, in an opinion by Justic

6、e Clarence Thomas. In the majoritys view, the union agreed to the arbitration clause, and it was binding on all of its members.The four dissenters, in an opinion by Justice David Souter, had by far the better argument. Rights that Congress grants, they argued, cannot be waived in a collective-bargai

7、ning contract. Union contracts represent group rightsand unions often sacrifice the interests of a minority of their members for the good of the whole.Laws like the Age Discrimination in Employment Act give individuals a right to sue for discrimination -no matter what deal their union decides to str

8、ike for the workers as a group. The dissenters protested that the majority was too quick to abandon the well-established, 35-year-old precedent of Gardner-Denver.The fight over who will hear these claims matters because workers who have been discriminated against are more likely to get a fair hearin

9、g in federal court than in arbitration. That is why employers are eager to arbitrateand it may be why the court s most conservative justices voted in favor of compulsory arbitration.When Congress passed the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, it protected Americans from discrimination on the basis

10、 of ageand gave them the chance to vindicate that right in federal court. There is no reason to believe that Congress intended this right to sue to be so weak that unions could freely bargain it away.1 It is implied that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act（A）fails to effectively protect America

11、ns from discrimination（B） calls for arbitration of age-discrimination claims（C） flies in the face of the earlier judicial decisions（D）impedes antidiscrimination law tremendously2 The example of a group of building-service workers is cited to show that（A）cleaning jobs are less desirable for average w

12、orkers（B） workers claims of discrimination are subject to arbitration（C） the enforcement of age discrimination law has been hindered（D）job reassignments disregard the federal age discrimination law 3 Justice Clarence Thomas believes that the Supreme Court（A）defends the age-discrimination law unswerv

13、ingly（B） has changed its attitude toward age discrimination law（C） safeguards the interests of both the union and its members（D）adheres to its position of protecting the majoritys interests 4 In the opinion of Justice David Souter.（A）the interests of the minority can be sacrificed sometimes（B） the d

14、eals struck by the union are for the good of the whole（C） group rights are under the full protection of union contract（D）it is reasonable to defend the rights granted by the Congress 5 According to the text. Congress（A）gives workers a chance for a fair hearing in federal court（B） grants Americans th

15、e right to sue for age-discrimination（C） vindicates the legal rights of Americans in federal court（D）waives the right of Americans to sue for discrimination5 The 1st Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press, takes the view that the people should dictate to the governmen

16、t, not the other way around. But no one told a group of 32 state attorneys general, who have taken it upon themselves to instruct the film industry on the appropriate content of movies. This time, the cause is not raunchy sex, foul language or blood-spattering violence. Its cigarettes. Many experts

17、think that when actors puff away, they cause teenagers to do likewise. One study went so far as to say that 38 percent of all the kids who acquire the habit do so because of the influence of films. So all these state government officials want filmmakers to stop depicting tobacco use.Its hard to full

18、y credit the notion that kids start smoking just because they see Scarlett Johansson doing it. If movies exert such a mammoth influence on impressionable youngsters, shouldnt teen tobacco use be on the rise?The studies themselves are not as damning as they purport to be. They indicate that kids who

19、watch more movies with smoking are more likely to smoke. But a correlation does not necessarily show a cause: Just because there is lots of beer drinking at baseball games doesnt mean beer drinking causes baseball. It may be that kids see a star light up and rush out to imitate him. Or it may be tha

20、t teens who are inclined to smoke anyway are also inclined to see the sort of movies that feature smoking. Michael Siegel, a physician and professor, believes the studies greatly exaggerate the impact of tobacco in films. “It is simply one of a large number of ways in which youths are exposed to pos

21、itive images of smoking(which includes advertisements, television movies, television shows, DVDs, Internet, music videos, and a variety of other sources),“ he told me in an e-mail interview. “To single out smoking in movies as THE cause of youth smoking initiation for a large percentage of kids is r

22、idiculous. Putting an R rating on smoky movies probably wouldnt do much to reduce teenagers exposure. Some 75 percent of new releases that feature smoking are already rated R and a lot of them are accessible even to preteens.Siegel points out that applying R ratings to films just because they featur

23、e full-frontal shots of cigarettes may backfire. Parents anxious about sex and violence may stop paying attention to the rating system once it factors in smoking. “ So you could actually end up with more kids seeing films with smoking.6 It is implied in the text that the government _.（A）has to abide

24、 by the 1st Amendment strictly（B） has no right to restrict the content of movies（C） has responsibility to protect freedom of speech（D）knows well about what is inappropriate for movies7 Some government officials intend to stop the depiction of smoking in movies because they think that_.（A）children ar

25、e not immune to the habit of smoking（B） smoking is as harmful as blood-spattering violence（C） the harmful influence of smoking has been confirmed（D）the influence of movies is too great for kids to ward off 8 The author believes that_.（A）the influence of movies on youngsters is substantial（B） no kids

26、 can get rid of the harmful influence of movies（C） kids start smoking just because they often watch movies（D）smoking in movies doesnt necessarily start kids smoking9 Some studies claim that if kids watch more movies with smoking, they will_.（A）admire the star smoking elegantly（B） be interested in il

27、lusory smoking（C） be more likely to start smoking（D）become passionate about them 10 The author suggests that applying R ratings to smoky movies would_.（A）do little to reduce kids watching movies with smoking（B） end up with more kids watching movies with smoking（C） induce parents to pay attention to

28、the harm of smoking（D）alleviate the harmful influence of smoking on children10 Its bad biology to argue against the existence of animal emotions. Scientific research in evolutionary biology, cognitive ethology and social neuroscience support the view that numerous and diverse animals have rich and d

29、eep emotional lives. Emotions have evolved as adaptations in numerous species and they serve as a social glue to bond animals with one another. Emotions also catalyze and regulate a wide variety of social encounters among friends and competitors and permit animals to protect themselves adaptively an

30、d flexibly using various behavior patterns in a wide variety of venues. Charles Darwins well-accepted ideas about evolutionary continuity, that differences among species are differences in degree rather than kind, argue strongly for the presence of animal emotions, empathy, and even moral behavior.

31、In practice, continuity allows us to connect the “evolutionary dots“ among different species to highlight similarities in evolved traits including individual feelings and passions. What we have since learned about animal emotions and empathy fits in well with what we know about the lifestyle of diff

32、erent specieshow complex their social interactions and social networks are. Emotions, empathy, and knowing right from wrong are keys to survival, without which animalsboth human and nonhuman-would perish. Thats how important they are. The borders between “them“(animals)and “us“ are murky and permeab

33、le.Studying animal emotions addresses a number of big questions concerning how science is conducted. Many skeptics feel that we are so uncertain about whether other animals have any sort of emotional life that they prefer to put off weighing in until we know more. For some, this really means waiting

34、 until we are absolutely sure. But science is never as certain as many would like it to be. Climate change researcher Henry Pollack says it well in his book Uncertain Science. Uncertain World: “Because uncertainty never disappears, decisions about the future, big and small, must always be made in th

35、e absence of certainty. Waiting until uncertainty is eliminated is an implicit endorsement of the status quo, and often an excuse for maintaining it. . . Uncertainty, far from being a barrier to progress, is actually a strong stimulus for, and an important ingredient of, creativity. “I often begin m

36、y lectures with the question: “Is there anyone in this audience who thinks that dogs dont have feelings that they dont experience joy and sadness?“ Ive never had an enthusiastic response to this question, even in scientific gatherings, although on occasion a hand or two goes up slowly, usually halfw

37、ay, as the person glances around to see if anyone is watching. But if I ask, “How many of you believe that dogs have feelings?“ then almost every hand waves wildly and people smile and nod in vigorous agreement. Using behavior as our guide, by analogy we map the feelings of other beings onto our own

38、 emotional templates, and we do it very reliably.11 It can be inferred from the text that animal emotions _ .（A）originate from natural evolution（B） remain uncertain until we are sure（C） develop faster in social encounters（D）are as rich and deep as human emotions12 It is implied by the ideas of evolu

39、tionary continuity that（A）the lifestyle of different species is continuous in evolution（B） there is no clear border between human beings and animals（C） all species depend on complex social interactions to survive（D）more similarities among species have been evolved than dissimilarities13 Some people

40、maintain a scientific skepticism because they_.（A）fail to realize what uncertainty really means to science（B） are uncertain about whether animals have emotions（C） prefer to put off whatever they do in science（D）ignore the nature of scientific research14 According to Henry Pollack, uncertainty _.（A）h

41、inders scientific progress（B） catalyzes creativity in science（C） means the absence of certainty（D）accounts for all our decisions in life15 By citing the example of the response to his questions, the author shows that _,（A）people usually prefer positive questions to negative ones（B） whether dogs have

42、 feelings is a desirable question to ask（C） whether dogs dont have feelings is a silly question to ask（D）human behavior can serve as a guide to study animal feelings15 In the prevailing paradigm we have been conditioned to believe that power is a scarce commodity)it comes as a by-product of having a

43、chieved some sort of status. Whenever we see ourselves(individually, corporately, or nationally)as less powerful than some other party, its only logical to conclude that we lack whatever it takes to confer sufficient status. It could be wealth, education, good looks, toughness, strength, connections

44、, intelligence, and so on, depending on our particular social milieu. It is natural to keep trying to get more of that attribute that will elevate you to more power.One consequence of concluding that relative powerlessness is due to a personal deficiency of some kind is the tendency to become preocc

45、upied with pointing the finger of blame, “Its my parents fault,“ “My employer is to blame,“ “The government did it to me,“ “I didnt have the appropriate education,“ “Ive got the wrong genes. “ The list is only limited by our imagination.Another consequence of blaming others or circumstances outside

46、our control for lack of power is that it promotes feelings of self-pity, jealousy, anxiety, discouragement, resentment, and resignation. Its not that there are no legitimate limitations to our power; limitations based on gender, physical disability, prejudice, etc. are all too common. Its that the p

47、rocess of assessing blame keeps us from moving on with our lives. The victim mentality saps resolve and strength. Eventually it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy as people caught up in this mindset do indeed become increasingly powerless. Helping to keep people stuck in this morass are the perceive

48、d benefits of being seen as a victim. Not only does the victim get sympathy and attention, be or she is also able to exploit the sympathetic feelings of others for purposes of manipulation and control. Sometimes we point the finger of blame at ourselves. “If only we had done something differently,“

49、we reason, “we wouldnt be in this position. “ We tell ourselves that “we should have known better“ or “only a loser would have let this happen. “ In this way we gradually condition ourselves to believe that we are unworthy of success.This way of thinking is quite prevalent, even among those who are regarded as successful or powerful. For many, this thought process leads them to try even harder work harder, compete harder, be more aggressive all with the aim of compensating for their deficiencies. Some e