1、考研英语-168 及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、BSection Use o(总题数：1，分数：10.00)Niagara is an Indian word which means “roaring water“. Indeed, the roar of the falling water of Niagara can be heard U(1) /U a distance of 5 kms. Imagine U(2) /U of water flowing over a cliff 90 feet high and you will get an idea of
2、 that terrible noise. And U(3) /U tremendous power the Niagara River has! It moves big rocks about and throws them into the boiling water below. U(4) /U ago an old ship without single person on board was put in mid-stream. It sailed down the river U(5) /U a toy boat with great speed. Having reached
3、the fall, the ship dropped into the boiling water, never U(6) /U again. There were some people who wanted to become famous U(7) /U swimming across the most dangerous part of the Niagara River. One of them was Captain Webb who said that he would try to swim cross the Niagara, which U(8) /U crowds of
4、people. On the evening of July 1st, 1893, Captain Webb came up to the river and U(9) /U a plunge. His having jumped into the water U(10) /U many people with horror. Soon, he appeared in the middle of the river. A loud shout went up from the crowd, but a moment later there was U(11) /U silence. The m
5、an had disappeared under the water. Thousands of eyes U(12) /U on the river, but the man was drowned. In 1902, a certain Miss Taylor decided to go over the falls in a barrel. There were different kinds of pillows inside the barrel to prevent her from U(13) /U. Having examined the barrel carefully, M
6、iss Taylor got in. The barrel was closed and then U(14) /U into the water. Having reached the falls, it overturned and was shot down by the terrible U(15) /U of the water. When the barrel was finally caught and opened, Miss Taylor came out alive U(16) /U with a frightened look in her eyes. Once a cr
7、owd of visitors saw a rope U(17) /U over from one bank of the river to the other. Then they saw a man U(18) /U the rope. The man was an actor, Blondin U(19) /U. He managed to cross Niagara Falls on a tight rope. The people on the bank were surprised at his U(20) /U it so well.（分数：10.00）A.withinB.ins
8、ideC.atD.onA.muchB.a great numberC.massD.a massA.how muchB.whatC.soD.howA.SometimesB.Many timesC.Much timeD.Some timeA.asB.as ifC.likeD.likelyA.to appearB.appearingC.appearedD.appearA.forB.byC.throughD.fromA.attractedB.drewC.causedD.pulledA.gaveB.madeC.didD.tookA.fillingB.full ofC.filledD.was filled
9、A.deadB.dyingC.diedD.deathA.being stoppedB.were fixingC.were fixedD.fixedA.being hurtB.having hurtC.hurtingD.hurtA.being throwB.throwingC.thrownD.threwA.powerB.strengthC.forceD.capacityA.thereforeB.howeverC.soD.butA.being putB.putC.having putD.puttingA.step acrossB.step out ontoC.step alongD.step on
10、A.in nameB.under the name ofC.by nameD.to the name ofA.doneB.having doneC.having been doneD.being done二、BSection Readi(总题数：4，分数：40.00)BText 1/BThe Amazon River basin boasts the largest river system on Earth and harbors an ecosystem that is tremendously complex. Early travelers from renaissance Europ
11、e were overwhelmed by their first encounters. In 1531, Francisco Pizarro overthrew the Incan empire, removing the emperor from his throne and taking for Spain the Incan imperial treasures. A decade later his younger brother ventured east from the high plateau of the Andes Mountains in pursuit of the
12、 famous cities of gold and spices thought to be hidden in the jungle forest. Going down the river the expedition soon exhausted its supplies and a small group was sent ahead to search for food. Eight months later, this group emerged at the mouth of the Amazon, having made what would prove to be the
13、first descent of the length of the river.A missionary who accompanied the group sent a remarkable account of their adventures to the Pope, including mention of the great signal drums that sounded from village to village far in advance of their arrival, warning of the coming of the European strangers
14、. His manuscript records seeing innumerable settlements along the riveron one day they passed more than twenty villages in succession, and some of these are said to have stretched for six miles or more. Such reports have intrigued scientists ever since, for they describe dense populations and large
15、federations of tribes which, if verified, would be entirely at odds with modern stereotypes of hidden, thinly scattered tribes scratching out an uncertain existence.Beginning in the late seventeenth-century, the successors to the first explorers recorded and collected many of the everyday objects fa
16、shioned from wood and other organic materials that usually rot in a tropical climate. Such collections housed in European museums preserve a “window“ into cultures that were soon to experience huge changes brought about by foreign diseases and cruel abuse at the hands of Europeans.Population collaps
17、e and movement along the principal rivers of the Amazon system have contributed to a veil of misunderstanding that has long covered the cultural achievements of tropical forest societies. Diffuse bands hunting deep in the forest interior eventually came to be seen as the typical tropical forest adap
18、tation. So much so that when archaeological studies began in earnest at the mouth of the Amazon in the 1950s, scientists argued that the sophisticated culture they were discovering could not have originated in the Amazon Basin itself, but must have been derived from more advanced cultures elsewhere.
19、 They imagined the tropical forest to be an “imitation paradise“ unable to support much beyond a simple hunting-and-gathering way of life. This mistaken idea has exerted a persistent influence ever since.（分数：10.00）(1).According to the first paragraph, a small group succeeded _.（分数：2.00）A.in searchin
20、g for foodB.going down the riverC.proving the length of the riverD.covering the length of the Amazon River(2).From the missionarys manuscript we may infer that _.（分数：2.00）A.the great signal drums were very popular thereB.people there were hostile to the European strangersC.the Amazon River area was
21、densely populated thenD.the tribes along the river were always at odds(3).The everyday objects recorded and collected by the successors to the first explorers may reveal _.（分数：2.00）A.where these objects came fromB.how they rotted in a tropical climateC.a glimpse of the Incan civilizationD.the viciss
22、itude of Amazon cultures(4).“This mistaken idea“ (Line 10, Para. 4) refers to _.（分数：2.00）A.the sophisticated culture in the Amazon BasinB.the view that Amazon culture derived from other cultures elsewhereC.an “imitation paradise“D.a simple hunting-and-gathering way of life(5).The purpose of the auth
23、or in writing the text is to _.（分数：2.00）A.introduce the Amazon RiverB.illustrate some facts about Amazon River culturesC.show the present situation of Amazon RiverD.compare the differences between world culturesBText 2/BIt is widely believed that our never-ending quest for material goods is part of
24、the basic character of human beings. According to the popular belief, we may not like it, but theres little we can do about it.Despite its popularity, this view of human nature is wrong. While human beings may have a basic desire to strive towards something, there is nothing inevitable about materia
25、l goods. There are numerous examples of societies in which things have played a highly restricted rule. In medieval Europe, the acquisition of goods was relatively unimportant. The common people, whose lives were surely poor by modern standards, showed strong preferences for leisure rather than mone
26、y. In the nineteenth-and early twentieth-century United States, there is also considerable evidence that many working people also exhibited a restricted appetite for material goods.Materialism is not a basic trait of human nature, but a specific product of capitalism. With the development of the mar
27、ket system, materialism “spilled over“, for the first time, beyond the circles of the rich. The growth of the middle class created a large group of potential buyers and the possibility that mass culture could be oriented around material goods. This process can be seen not only in historical experien
28、ces but is now going on in some parts of the developing world, where the growth of a large middle class has contributed to extensive materialism and the breakdown of traditional values.In the United States, the turning point was the 1920sthe point at which the “psychology of shortage“ gave way to th
29、e “psychology of abundance“. This was a crucial period for the development of modern materialism. Economy and discipline were out; waste and excess were in. Materialism flourishedboth as a social ideology and in terms of high rates of real spending. In the midst of all this buying, we can detect the
30、 origins of modern consumer discontent.This was the decade during which the American dream, or what was then called “the American standard of living“, captured the nations imagination. But it was always something of an illusion. Americans complained about items they could not afforddespite the fact
31、that in the 1920s most families had telephones, virtually all had purchased life insurance, two-thirds owned their own homes and took vacations, and over half had motor cars.The discontent expressed by many Americans was promotedand to a certain extent even createdby manufacturers. The explosion of
32、consumer credit made the task easier, as automobiles, radios, electric refrigerators, washing machineseven jewelry and foreign travelcould be paid for in installments. By the end of the 1920s, 60 percent of cars, radios, and furniture were being purchased this way. The ability to buy without actuall
33、y having money helped encourage a climate of instant satisfaction, expanding expectations, and ultimately, materialism.（分数：10.00）(1).We can learn from the first 2 paragraphs that _.（分数：2.00）A.the quest for material goods is the basic character of human beingsB.theres little we can do about the quest
34、 for material goodsC.in many cases, the function of material goods is very limited in the societyD.the common people tend to prefer leisure to money(2).According to the passage, materialism _.（分数：2.00）A.is a by-product of capitalismB.originated from the circles of the richC.was first created among t
35、he middle classD.is not popular in the developing world(3).The development of modern materialism was promoted by _.（分数：2.00）A.the United States in the 1920sB.the “psychology of abundance“C.a social ideologyD.modern consumer discontent(4).In the authors view the American dream was _.（分数：2.00）A.the Am
36、erican standard of livingB.a sheer imaginationC.something unrealisticD.an illusion people could never attain(5).According to the passage, the practice of installment _.（分数：2.00）A.was adopted by manufacturersB.made consumer credit easierC.promoted consumers expectationsD.ultimately led to materialism
37、BText 3/BAlthough many factors affect human health during periods in space, weightlessness is the dominant and single most important one. The direct and indirect effects of weightlessness lead to a series of related responses. Ultimately, the whole body, from bones to brain, kidneys to bowels, react
38、s.When space travelers grasp the wall of their spacecraft and jerk their bodies back and forth, they say it feels as though they are stationary and the spacecraft is moving. The reason is based in our reliance on gravity to perceive our surroundings.The continuous and universal nature of gravity rem
39、oves it from our daily notice, but our bodies never forget. Whether we realize it or not, we have evolved a large number of silent, automatic reactions to cope with the constant stress of living in a downward-pulling world. Only when we decrease or increase the effective force of gravity on our bodi
40、es do our minds perceive it.Our senses provide accurate information about the location of our center of mass and the relative positions of our body parts. Our brains integrate signals from our eyes and ears with other information from the organs in our inner ear, from our muscles and joints, and fro
41、m our senses of touch and pressure.The apparatus of the inner ear is partitioned into two distinct components: circular, fluid-filled tubes that sense the angle of the head, and two bags filled with calcium crystals embedded in a thick fluid, which respond to linear movement. The movement of the cal
42、cium crystals sends a signal to the brain to tell us the direction of gravity. This is not the only cue the brain receives. Nerves in the muscles, joints, and skinparticularly the slain on the bottom of the feetrespond to the weight of limb segments and other body parts.Removing gravity transforms t
43、hese signals. The inner ear no longer perceives a downward tendency when the head moves. The limbs no longer have weight, so muscles are no longer required to contract and relax in the usual way to maintain posture and bring about movement. Nerves that respond to touch and pressure in the feet and a
44、nkles no longer signal the direction of down. These and other changes contribute to orientation illusions, such as a feeling that the body or the spacecraft spontaneously changes direction. In 1961 a Russian astronaut reported vivid sensations of being upside down; one space shuttle specialist in as
45、tronomy said, “When the main engines cut off, I immediately felt as though we had inverted 180 degrees.“ Such illusions can recur even after some time in space.（分数：10.00）(1).From the first two paragraphs we learn that weightlessness is caused by _.（分数：2.00）A.many factorsB.the dominant and single mov
46、ementC.jerking the bodies back and forthD.losing the dependence of gravity(2).“Whether we realize it or not“ (Line 2, Para. 3), “it“ refers _.（分数：2.00）A.weightlessnessB.the continuous and universal nature of gravityC.the fact that our bodies never forgetD.the previous statements(3).According to the
47、passage we do not perceive gravity because _.（分数：2.00）A.we live in a downward-pulling worldB.there is no decrease or increase force of gravity on our bodiesC.our senses provide accurate information about the locationD.our brains integrate signals from all apparatus of the body(4).The function of app
48、aratus of the inner ear is _.（分数：2.00）A.to partition into two distinct componentsB.to respond to linear movementC.to send a signal to the brain to tell us the direction of gravityD.to respond to the weight of limb segments and other body parts(5).Which of the following apparatus of the body may be l
49、ess affected by removing gravity?（分数：2.00）A.The inner ear.B.The limbs.C.The nerves.D.The brain.BText 4/BFor centuries, explorers have risked their lives venturing into the unknown for reasons of economic benefit and national glory. Following the lunar missions of the early 1970s, Mars now looms as humanitys
