1、考研英语(一)-31 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)三、Text 1(总题数：1，分数：20.00)Many things make people think artists are weird. But the weirdest may be this: artists“ only job is to explore emotions, and yet they choose to focus on the ones that feel bad. This wasn“t always so. T
2、he earliest forms of art, like painting and music, are those best suited for ex-pressing joy. But somewhere from the 19th century onward, more artists began seeing happiness as meaningless, phony or, worst of all, boring, as we went from Wordsworth“s daffodils to Baudelaire“s flowers of evil. You co
3、uld argue that art became more skeptical of happiness because modem times have seen so much misery. But it“s not as if earlier times didn“t know perpetual war, disaster and the massacre of innocents. The reason, in fact, may be just the opposite: there is too much damn happiness in the world today.
4、After all, what is the one modern form of expression almost completely dedicated to depicting happiness? Advertising. The rise of anti-happy art almost exactly tracks the emergence of mass media, and with it, a commercial culture in which happiness is not just an ideal but an ideology. People in ear
5、lier eras were surrounded by reminders of misery. They worked until exhausted, lived with few protections and died young. In the West, before mass communication and literacy, the most powerful mass medium was the church, which reminded worshippers that their souls were in danger and that they would
6、someday be meat for worms. Given all this, they did not exactly need their art to be a bummer too. Today the messages the average Westerner is surrounded with are not religious but commercial, and forever happy. Fast-food eaters, news anchors, text messengers, all smiling, smiling, smiling. Our maga
7、zines feature beaming celebrities and happy families in perfect homes. And since these messages have an agendato lure us to open our walletsthey make the very idea of happiness seem unreliable. “Celebrate!“ commanded the ads for the arthritis drug Celebrex, before we found out it could increase the
8、risk of heart attacks. But what we forgetwhat our economy depends on us forgettingis that happiness is more than pleasure without pain. The things that bring the greatest joy carry the greatest potential for loss and disappointment. Today, surrounded by promises of easy happiness, we need art to tel
9、l us, as religion once did, Memento mori: remember that you will die, that everything ends, and that happiness comes not in denying this but in living with it. It“s a message even more bitter than a clove cigarette, yet, somehow, a breath of fresh air.（分数：20.00）(1).By citing the examples of poets Wo
10、rdsworth and Baudelaire, the author intends to show that（分数：4.00）A.poetry is not as expressive of joy as painting or music.B.art grows out of both positive and negative feelings.C.poets today are less skeptical of happiness.D.artists have changed their focus of interest.(2).The word “bummer“ (Para.
11、5) most probably means something（分数：4.00）A.religious.B.unpleasant.C.entertaining.D.commercial.(3).In the author“s opinion, advertising（分数：4.00）A.emerges in the wake of the anti-happy art.B.is a cause of disappointment for the general public.C.replaces the church as a major source of information.D.cr
12、eates an illusion of happiness rather than happiness itself.(4).We can learn from the last paragraph that the author believes（分数：4.00）A.happiness more often than not ends in sadness.B.the anti-happy art is distasteful but refreshing.C.misery should be enjoyed rather than denied.D.the anti-happy art
13、flourishes when economy booms.(5).Which of the following is true of the text?（分数：4.00）A.Religion once functioned as a reminder of misery.B.Art provides a balance between expectation and reality.C.People feel disappointed at the realities of modern society.D.Mass media are inclined to cover disasters
14、 and deaths.四、Text 2(总题数：1，分数：20.00)Homework has never been terribly popular with students and even many parents, but in recently years it has been particularly scorned. School districts across the country, most recently Los Angeles Unified, are revising their thinking on this educational ritual. Un
15、fortunately, L.A. Unified has produced an inflexible policy which mandates that with the exception of some advanced courses, homework may no longer count for more than 10% of a student“s academic grade. This rule is meant to address the difficulty that students from impoverished or chaotic homes mig
16、ht have in completing their homework. But the policy is unclear and contradictory. Certainly, no homework should be assigned that students cannot complete on their own or that they cannot do without expensive equipment. But if the district is essentially giving a pass to students who do not do their
17、 homework because of complicated family lives, it is going riskily close to the implication that standards need to be lowered for poor children. District administrators say that homework will still be a part of schooling; teachers are allowed to as-sign as much of it as they want. But with homework
18、counting for no more than 10% of their grades, students can easily skip half their homework and see very little difference on their report cards. Some students might do well on state tests without completing their homework, but what about the students who performed well on the tests and did their ho
19、mework? It is quite possible that the homework helped. Yet rather than empowering teachers to find what works best for their students, the policy imposes a flat, across-the-board rule. At the same time, the policy addresses none of the truly thorny questions about homework. If the district finds hom
20、ework to be unimportant to its students“ academic achievement, it should move to reduce or eliminate the assignments, not make them count for almost nothing. Conversely, if homework matters, it should account for a significant portion of the grade. Meanwhile, this policy does nothing to ensure that
21、the homework students receive is meaningful or appropriate to their age and the subject, or that teachers are not assigning more than they are willing to review and correct. The homework rules should be put on hold while the school board, which is responsible for setting educational policy, looks in
22、to the matter and conducts public hearings. It is not too late for L.A. Unified to do homework right.（分数：20.00）(1).It is implied in Paragraph 1 that nowadays homework（分数：4.00）A.is receiving more criticism.B.is no longer an educational ritual.C.is not required for advanced courses.D.is gaining more p
23、references.(2).L.A. Unified has made the rule about homework mainly because poor students（分数：4.00）A.tend to have moderate expectations for their education.B.have asked for a different educational standard.C.may have problems finishing their homework.D.have voiced their complaints about homework.(3).
24、According to Paragraph 3, one problem with the policy is that it may（分数：4.00）A.discourage students from doing homework.B.result in students“ indifference to their report cards.C.undermine the authority of state tests.D.restrict teachers“ power in education.(4).As mentioned in Paragraph 4, a key ques
25、tion unanswered about homework is whether（分数：4.00）A.it should be eliminated.B.it counts much in schooling.C.it places extra burdens on teachers.D.it is important for grades.(5).A suitable title for this text could be（分数：4.00）A.Wrong Interpretations of an Educational PolicyB.A Welcomed Policy for Poo
26、r StudentsC.Thorny Questions about HomeworkD.A Faulty Approach to Homework五、Text 3(总题数：1，分数：20.00)The most thoroughly studied intellectuals in the history of the New World are the ministers and political leaders of seventeenth-century New England. According to the standard history of American philos
27、ophy, nowhere else in colonial America was “So much importance attached to intellectual pursuits.“ According to many books and articles, New England“s leaders established the basic themes and preoccupations of an unfolding, dominant Puritan tradition in American intellectual life. To take this appro
28、ach to the New Englanders normally mean to start with the Puritans“ theological innovations and their distinctive ideas about the churchimportant subjects that we may not neglect. But in keeping with our examination of southern intellectual life, we may consider the original Puritans as carriers of
29、European culture, adjusting to New world circumstances. The New England colonies were the scenes of important episodes in the pursuit of widely understood ideals of civility and virtuosity. The early settlers of Massachusetts Bay included men of impressive education and influence in England. Besides
30、 the ninety or so learned ministers who came to Massachusetts churches in the decade after 1629, there were political leaders like John Winthrop, an educated gentleman, lawyer, and official of the Crown before he journeyed to Boston. These men wrote and published extensively, reaching both New World
31、 and Old World audiences, and giving New England an atmosphere of intellectual earnestness. We should not forget, however, that most New Englanders were less well educated. While few craftsmen or farmers, let alone dependents and servants, left literary compositions to be analyzed, it is obvious tha
32、t their views were less fully intellectualized. Their thinking often had a traditional superstitious quality. A tailor named John Dane, who emigrated in the late 1630s, left an account of his reasons for leaving England that is filled with signs. Sexual confusion, economic frustrations, and religiou
33、s hopeall came together in a decisive moment when he opened the Bible , told his father the first line he saw would settle his fate, and read the magical words: “come out from among them, touch no unclean thing, and I will be your God and you shall be my people.“ One wonders what Dane thought of the
34、 careful sermons explaining the Bible that he heard in puritan churches. Meanwhile, many settles had slighter religious commitments than Dane“s, as one clergyman learned in confronting folk along the coast who mocked that they had not come to the New world for religion. “Our main end was to catch fi
35、sh.“（分数：20.00）(1).The author holds that in the seventeenth-century New England（分数：4.00）A.Puritan tradition dominated political life.B.intellectual interests were encouraged.C.Politics benefited much from intellectual endeavors.D.intellectual pursuits enjoyed a liberal environment.(2).It is suggested
36、 in Paragraph 2 that New Englanders（分数：4.00）A.experienced a comparatively peaceful early history.B.brought with them the culture of the Old World.C.paid little attention to southern intellectual life.D.were obsessed with religious innovations.(3).The early ministers and political leaders in Massachu
37、setts Bay（分数：4.00）A.were famous in the New World for their writings.B.gained increasing importance in religious affairs.C.abandoned high positions before coming to the New World.D.created a new intellectual atmosphere in New England.(4).The story of John Dane shows that less well-educated New Englan
38、ders were often（分数：4.00）A.influenced by superstitions.B.troubled with religious beliefs.C.puzzled by church sermons.D.frustrated with family earnings.(5).The text suggests that early settlers in New England（分数：4.00）A.were mostly engaged in political activities.B.were motivated by an illusory prospec
39、t.C.came from different backgrounds.D.left few formal records for later reference.六、Text 4(总题数：1，分数：20.00)For the past several years, the Sunday newspaper supplement Parade has featured a column called “Ask Marilyn.“ People are invited to query Marilyn vos Savant, who at age 10 had tested at a menta
40、l level of someone about 23 years old; that gave her an IQ of 228the highest score ever recorded. IQ tests ask you to complete verbal and visual analogies, to envision paper after it has been folded and cut, and to deduce numerical sequences, among other similar tasks. So it is a bit confusing when
41、vos Savant fields such queries from the average Joe (whose IQ is 100) as, what“s the difference between love and fondness? Or what is the nature of luck and coincidence? It“s not obvious how the capacity to visualize objects and to figure out numerical patterns suits one to answer questions that hav
42、e eluded some of the best poets and philosophers. Clearly, intelligence encompasses more than a score on a test. Just what does it mean to be smart? How much of intelligence can be specified, and how much can we learn about it from neurology, genetics, computer science and other fields? The defining
43、 term of intelligence in humans still seems to be the IQ score, even though IQ tests are not given as often as they used to be. The test comes primarily in two forms: the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and the Wechsler Intelligence Scales (both come in adult and children“s version). Generally cos
44、ting several hundred dollars, they are usually given only by psychologists, although variations of them populate bookstores and the World Wide Web. Superhigh scores like vos Savant“s are no longer possible, because scoring is now based on a statistical population distribution among age peers, rather
45、 than simply dividing the mental age by the chronological age and multiplying by 100. Other standardized tests, such as the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) and the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), capture the main aspects of IQ tests. Such standardized tests may not assess all the important elements nec
46、essary to succeed in school and in life, argues Robert J. Sternberg. In his article “How Intelligent Is Intelligence Testing?“, Sternberg notes that traditional test best assess analytical and verbal skills but fail to measure creativity and practical knowledge, components also critical to problem s
47、olving and life success. Moreover, IQ tests do not necessarily predict so well once populations or situations change. Research has found that IQ predicted leadership skills when the tests were given under low-stress conditions, but under high-stress conditions, IQ was negatively correlated with lead
48、ershipthat is, it predicted the opposite. Anyone who has toiled through SAT will testify that test-taking skill also matters, whether it“s knowing when to guess or what questions to skip.（分数：20.00）(1).Which of the following may be required in an intelligence test?（分数：4.00）A.Answering philosophical q
49、uestions.B.Folding or cutting paper into different shapes.C.Telling the differences between certain concepts.D.Choosing words or graphs similar to the given ones.(2).What can be inferred about intelligence testing from Paragraph 3?（分数：4.00）A.People no longer use IQ scores as an indicator of intelligence.B.More versions of IQ tests are now available on the Internet.C.The test contents and formats for adults and children may be different.D.Scientists have defined the important elements of human intelligence.(3).People nowadays can no longer achieve IQ scores as high as vos Savant“s becau
