1、2003 年中国科学技术大学考博英语真题试卷（精选）及答案解析(总分：114.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：5，分数：40.00)When, in the age of automation, man searches for a worker to do the tedious, unpleasant jobs that are impossible to mechanize, he may very profitably consider the ape. If we tackled the problem of breeding for
2、 brains with as much as enthusiasm as we devote to breeding dogs of surrealistic shapes, we could eventually produce assorted models of useful primates, ranging in size from the gorilla down to the baboon, each adapted to a specific kind of work. It is not putting too much strain on the imagination
3、to assume that geneticists could produce a super-ape, able to understand some scores of words, and capable of being trained for such jobs as picking fruit, cleaning up the litter in parks, shining shoes, collecting garbage, doing household chores, and even baby-sitting(though I have known some babie
4、s I would not care to trust with a valuable ape). Apes could do many jobs, such as cleaning streets and the more repetitive types of agricultural work, without supervision, though they might need protection from those exceptional specimens of Homo sapiens who think it amusing to tease or bully anyth
5、ing they consider lower on the evolutionary ladder. For other tasks, such as delivering papers and laboring on the docks, our man-ape would have to work under human overseers; and, incidentally, I would love to see the finale of the twenty-first century version of on the Waterfront in which the hone
6、st but hairy hero will drum on his chest after-literally taking the wicked labor leader apart. Once a supply of nonhuman workers becomes available, a whole range of low IQ jobs could be thankfully relinquished by mankind, to its great mental and physical advantage. What is more, one of the problems
7、which have plagued so many fictional Utopias would be avoided: There would be none of the degradingly subhuman Epsilons of Huxleys Brave New World to act as a permanent reproach to society, for there is a profound moral difference between breeding sub-men and super-apes, though the end products are
8、much the same. The first would introduce a form of slavery; the second would be a biological triumph which could benefit both men and animals.（分数：8.00）(1).In the authors opinion, the idea that geneticists could produce a super-ape is_.（分数：2.00）A.irrationalB.plausibleC.biologically impossibleD.demons
9、trably true(2).The type of job an ape could do without supervision would be one which is_.（分数：2.00）A.repetitiveB.mechanizedC.unusualD.intricate(3).A problem that has plagued some fictional Utopias is_.（分数：2.00）A.creation of super-apesB.the necessity of breeding super-humansC.the necessity of breedin
10、g subhumansD.the degradation of beasts(4).The author of this article is_.（分数：2.00）A.revealing his low opinion of mankindB.poking fun at geneticistsC.expressing his doubts about the possibility of breeding a super-apeD.presenting a reasonable theory in a humorous toneAs one works with color in a prac
11、tical or experimental way, one is impressed by two apparently unrelated facts. Color as seen is a mobile changeable thing depending to a large extent on the relationship of the color to other colors seen simultaneously. It is not fixed in its relation to the direct stimulus which creates it. On the
12、other hand, the properties of surfaces that give rise to color do not seem to change greatly under a wide variety of illumination colors, usually(but not always)looking much the same in artificial light as in daylight. Both of these effects seem to be due in large part to the mechanism of color adap
13、tation mentioned earlier. When the eye is fixed on a colored area, there is an immediate readjustment of the sensitivity of the eye to color in and around the area viewed. This readjustment does not immediately affect the color seen but usually does affect the next area to which the gaze is shifted.
14、 The longer the time of viewing, the higher the intensity, and the larger the area, the greater the effect will be in terms of its persistence in the succeeding viewing situation. As indicated by the work of Wright and Shouted, it appears that, at least for a first approximation, full adaptation tak
15、es place over a very brief time if the adapting source is moderately bright and the eye has been in relative darkness just previously. As the stimulus is allowed to act, however, the effect becomes more persistent in the sense that it takes the eye longer to regain its sensitivity to lower intensiti
16、es. The net result is that, if the eye is so exposed and then the gaze is transferred to an area of lower intensity, the loss of sensitivity produced by the first area will still be present and appear as an “afterimage“ superimposed on the second. The effect not only is present over the actual area
17、causing the “local adaptation“ but also spreads with decreasing strength to adjoining areas of the eye to produce “lateral adaptation“. Also, because of the persistence of the effect of the eye is shifted around from one object to another, all of which are at similar brightness or have similar color
18、s, the adaptation will tend to become uniform over the whole eye.（分数：8.00）(1).This selection is primarily concerned with_.（分数：2.00）A.the eyes adaptation to colorB.the properties of colored surfacesC.the color of colorsD.the effect of changes in color intensity(2).Whether a colored object would, on t
19、wo viewings separated in time, appear to the viewer as similar or different in color would depend mostly on_.（分数：2.00）A.the color mechanism of the eye in use at the time of each viewingB.whether the object was seen in artificial or natural lightC.what kind of viewing had immediately preceded each of
20、 the viewingsD.the individuals power of lateral adaptation(3).If a persons eye has been looking at an object in bright sunlight for some time, and then shifts to an object not well lit, we can expect_.（分数：2.00）A.a time lag in the focusing ability of the eyeB.some inability to see colors of the latte
21、r-named objects until loss of sensitivity has been regainedC.the immediate loss of the “afterimage“ of the first objectD.the adaptation in the central area of the eye but little adaptation in the lateral areas to the new intensity level(4).The present selection has apparently been preceded by some e
22、xplanation of_.（分数：2.00）A.some experiments with color pigmentsB.the nature of colorC.the color properties of various surfacesD.the mechanism of the eyes adaptation to colorThe Greeks lofty attitude toward scientific researchand the scientists contempt of utility was a long time dying. For a millenni
23、um after Archimedes, this separation of mechanics from geometry inhibited fundamental technological progress and in some areas repressed it altogether. But there was a still greater obstacle to change until the very end of the middle ages: the organization of society. The social system of fixed clas
24、s relationships that prevailed through the Middle Ages(and in some areas much longer)itself hampered improvement. Under this system, the laboring masses, in exchange for the bare necessities of life, did all the productive work, while the privileged few priests, nobles, and kings concerned themselve
25、s only with ownership and maintenance of their own position. In the interest of their privileges they did achieve considerable progress in defense, in war making, in government, in trade, in the arts of leisure, and in the extraction of labor from their dependents, but they had no familiarity with t
26、he process of production. On the other hand, the laborers, who were familiar with manufacturing techniques, had no incentive to improve or increase production to the advantage of their masters. Thus, with one class possessing the requisite knowledge and experience, but lacking incentive and leisure,
27、 and the other class lacking the knowledge and experience, there was no means by which technical progress could be achieved. The whole ancient world was built upon this relationship a relationship as sterile as it was inhuman. The availability of slaves nullified the need for more efficient machiner
28、y. In many of the commonplace fields of human endeavor, actual stagnation prevailed for thousands of years. Not all the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome could develop the windmill or contrive so simple an instrument as the wheelbarrowproducts of the tenth and thirteenth centuries
29、 respectively. For about twenty-five centuries, two-thirds of the power of the horse was lost because he wasnt shod, and much of the strength of the ox was wasted because his harness wasnt modified to fit his shoulders. For more than rive thousand years, sailors were confined to rivers and coasts by
30、 a primitive steering mechanism which required remarkably little alteration(in the thirteenth century)to become a rudder. With any ingenuity at all, the ancient plough could have been put on wheels and the ploughshare shaped to bite and turn the sod instead of merely scratching it but the ingenuity
31、wasnt forthcoming. And the villager of the Middle Ages, like the men who first had fire, had a smoke hole in the center of the straw and reed thatched roof of his one-room dwelling(which he shared with his animals), while the medieval charcoal burner(like his Stone Age ancestor)made himself a hut of
32、 small branches.（分数：8.00）(1).Lack of technological progress in the ancient and medieval worlds was primarily due to the absence of_.（分数：2.00）A.natural resourcesB.inventive abilityC.peoples desire for the “better things of life“D.proper social organization(2).During the Middle Ages, productivity of l
33、abor_.（分数：2.00）A.was a primary concern of societyB.was hampered by class relationshipsC.began to improve over levels reached by the GreeksD.was in a period of technical progress(3).We may infer that a change in class relationships after the close of the Middle Ages produced greater productivity beca
34、use_.（分数：2.00）A.freemen had incentive to produce moreB.masters had greater incentive to work their workers harderC.slaves never starved, no matter what they producedD.productivity could go in only one direction(4).In supporting his contentions about the ancient world, the author relies mainly on ill
35、ustrations drawn from_.（分数：2.00）A.examples of the separation of mechanics and geometryB.case studies of lack of social communication between classesC.technologyD.his concern with the plight of the laboring classesThe evolution of sex ratios has produced, in most plants and animals with separate sexe
36、s, approximately equal numbers of males and females. Why should this be so? Two main kinds of answers have been offered. One is couched in terms of advantage to population. It is argued that the sex ratio will evolve so as to maximize the number of meetings between individuals of the opposite sex. T
37、his is essentially a “group selection“ argument. The other, and in my view correct, type of answer was first put forward by Fisher in 1930. This “genetic“ argument starts from the assumption that genes can influence the relative numbers of male and female offspring produced by an individual carrying
38、 the genes. That sex ratio will be favored which maximizes the number of descendants an individual will have and hence the number of gene copies transmitted. Suppose that the population consisted mostly of females, then an individual who produced sons only would have more grandchildren. In contrast,
39、 if the population consisted mostly of males, it would pay to have daughters. If, however, the population consisted of equal numbers of males and females, sons and daughters would be equally valuable. Thus a one-to-one sex ratio is the only stable ratio; it is an “evolutionarily stable strategy“. Al
40、though Fisher wrote before the mathematical theory of games had been developed, his theory incorporates the essential feature of a game that the best strategy to adopt depends on what others are doing. Since Fishers time, it has been realized that genes can sometimes influence the chromosome or game
41、te in which they find themselves so that the gamete will be more likely to participate in fertilization. If such a gene occurs on a sex-determining(X or Y)chromo-some, then highly aberrant sex ratios can occur. But more immediately relevant to game theory are the sex ratios in certain parasitic wasp
42、 species that have a large excess of females. In these species, fertilized eggs develop into females and unfertilized eggs into males. A female stores sperm and can determine the sex of each egg she lays by fertilizing it or leaving it unfertilized. By Fishers argument, it should still pay a female
43、to produce equal numbers of sons and daughters. Hamilton, noting that the eggs develop within their host the larva of another insect and that the newly emerged adult wasps mate immediately and disperse, offered a remarkably cogent analysis. Since only one female usually eggs in a given larva, it wou
44、ld pay her to produce one male only, because this one could fertilize all his sisters on emergence. Like Fisher, Hamilton looked for an evolutionarily stable strategy, but he went a step further in recognizing that he was looking strategy.（分数：8.00）(1).The author suggests that the work of Fisher and
45、Hamilton was similar in that both scientists_.（分数：2.00）A.conducted their research at approximately the same timeB.sought to manipulate the sex ratios of some of the animals they studiedC.sought an explanation of why certain sex ratios exist and remain stableD.studied reproduction in the same animal
46、species(2).It can be inferred from the passage that the author considers Fishers work to be_.（分数：2.00）A.definitive and thoroughB.inaccurate but popular, compared with Hamiltons workC.accurate, but trivial compared with Hamiltons workD.admirable, but not as up-to-date as Hamiltons work(3).According t
47、o the passage, successful game strategy depends on_.（分数：2.00）A.the ability to adjust ones behavior in light of the behavior of othersB.the degree of stability one can create in ones immediate environmentC.the accuracy with which one can predict future eventsD.the success one achieves in conserving a
48、nd storing ones resources(4).It can be inferred from the passage that the mathematical theory of games has been_.（分数：2.00）A.developed by scientists with an interest in geneticsB.useful in explaining some biological phenomenaC.adopted by Hamilton in his researchD.based on animal studies conducted pri
49、or to 1930Surprisingly enough, modern historians have rarely interested themselves in the history of the American South in the period before the South began to become self-consciously and distinctively “Southern“ the decades after 1815. Consequently, the cultural history of Britains North American empire in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries has been written almost as if the Southern colonies had never existed. The American culture that emerged during the Colonial and Re
