1、考研英语-试卷 158 及答案解析(总分：142.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Use of English(总题数：2，分数：80.00)1.Section I Use of EnglishDirections: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D.（分数：40.00）_Some time between digesting Christmas dinner and putting your head back down to work,
2、 spare a thought or two for the cranberry. It is, of course, a (1)_ of Christmas: merry bright red, bittersweetly delicious with turkey and the very devil to get out of the tablecloth (2)_ spilled. But the cranberry is also a symbol of the modern food industry and in the tale of its (3)_ from coloni
3、al curiosity to business-school case study (4)_ a deeper understanding of the opportunities and (5)_ of modern eating. The fastest growing part of today“s cranberry market is for cranberries that do not taste like cranberries. Ocean Spray“s “flavoured fruit pieces“ (FFPS, to the trade) taste like or
4、ange, cherry, raspberry or any (6)_ of other fruits. They are in fact cranberries. Why make a cranberry taste like an orange? Mostly because it is a (7)_ little fruit: FF PS have a shelf-life of two years. Better (8)_, they keep a chewy texture (9)_ baked, unlike the fruits whose flavours they mimic
5、, which turn to (10)_. The dynamic that has brought the cranberry to this point is (11)_ to the dynamic behind most mass-produced goods. Growing (12)_ provided the (13)_ to create cheaper and more reliable supply. Cheaper and more reliable supply, (14)_, created incentives to find new markets, which
6、 increased demand. Thus was the (15)_ kept churning. The cranberry is one of only three fruits native (16)_ North America, growing wild from Maine to North Carolina. (The others are the Concord grape and the blueberry.) The American Indians had several names for cranberries, many (17)_ the words for
7、 “bitter“ or, more (18)_, “noisy“. They ate the berries mostly (19)_ pemmican, but also used them for dye and medicine. And they introduced them to the white settlersat the first Thanksgiving dinner in 1621, it is said. The settlers promptly renamed this delicacy the “crane berry“, (20)_ the pointy
8、pink blossoms of the cranberry look a bit like the head of the Sandhill crane.（分数：40.00）A.signB.trailC.symbolD.markA.whileB.if onlyC.long beforeD.ifA.progressB.propositionC.prophetD.proportionA.obtainB.mouldC.assimilateD.liesA.dilemmasB.remedyC.ingredientD.remainsA.memberB.numberC.kindD.flavorA.deli
9、ciousB.dubiousC.durableD.deliberateA.offB.thanC.itselfD.stillA.whenB.whetherC.albeitD.whereasA.mercuryB.mushC.muscleD.messA.similarB.feasibleC.inferiorD.incredibleA.commandB.yieldC.demandD.quantityA.immensityB.inadequacyC.immunityD.incentiveA.at every turnB.in turnC.to a turnD.by turnsA.cycleB.mirac
10、leC.missionD.carnivalA.fromB.toC.offD.beyondA.qualifyingB.incorporatingC.denotingD.coiningA.intrinsicallyB.marginallyC.intuitivelyD.mysteriouslyA.inB.forC.byD.throughA.althoughB.only ifC.becauseD.as though二、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：10，分数：58.00)2.Section II Reading Comprehension_3.Part ADirections: R
11、ead the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D._There“s one thing above all wrong with the new British postal codes: not everyone has that sort of memory. Some of us, of course, forget even h6use numbers and the present postal districts, but that matters
12、less when there is a human being at every stage to spot the mistake. When all the sorting is done in one operation by a man sitting at a machine, typing special marks onto an envelope, one slip on your part could send your letter way outside the area where the local postman or a friendly neighbor kn
13、ows your name. Otherwise the new codes are all the Post Offices claims. They are the most carefully designed in the world, ideal for computers. A confusion of letters and numbers, they have two parts separated by the gap in the middle. Together they classify a letter not only the city where it is go
14、ing but right down to the round of the particular postman who is to carry it, and even to a group of houses or a single big building. In the long run this will speed the mail and cut costs. The long run is 10 years away, though. In fact there are only 12 Post Offices in the country which have the ri
15、ght machines fully working, and the system cannot work at full efficiency until it is nationwide. Yet the Post Office wants us to start using the codes now, so that we shall be trained when the machines are ready. But will we? A businessman I met, praising the virtues of the new system, explained th
16、at large companies like his could have codes of their own. What was his code? “Oh, dear me. Now you“ve got me. Awfully sorry. Hold on a minute while I find a sheet of my headed notepaper.“ Then he read painfully, as if spelling out a word in a foreign language, “W-I-X-6A-B“.（分数：10.00）(1).According t
17、o the passage, what matters most in letter delivery in Britain is that_（分数：2.00）A.the new postal codes must be memorizedB.house numbers must not be forgottenC.present postal districts must be borne in mindD.special marks on an envelope must be accurate(2).The British Post Office praises the codes as
18、_（分数：2.00）A.giving an efficient serviceB.being new and improvedC.being suitable to be processed by computersD.being free from confusion(3).The British codes are described as being_.（分数：2.00）A.letters spaced outB.numbers in orderC.sets of letters and numbersD.letters and numbers separately(4).Only wh
19、en_ can the postal code system achieve its full efficiency.（分数：2.00）A.all the post offices in the country have the fight machinesB.all the post offices have trained staffC.most post offices have the right machinesD.most post offices have trained staff(5).The businessman found that his postal code wa
20、s difficult_.（分数：2.00）A.to find outB.to rememberC.to writeD.to spellWhat we know of prenatal development makes all this attempt made by a mother to mold the character of her unborn child by studying poetry, art or mathematics during pregnancy seem utterly impossible. How could such extremely complex
21、 influences pass from the mother to the child? There is no connection between their nervous systems. Even the blood vessels of mother and child do not join directly. An emotional shock to the mother will affect her child, because it changes the activity of her glands and so the chemistry of her bloo
22、d. Any chemical change in the mother“s blood will affect the child for better or worse. But we can not see how a liking for mathematics or poetic genius can be dissolved in blood and produce a similar liking or genius in the child. In our discussion of instincts we saw that there was reason to belie
23、ve that whatever we inherit must be of some very simple sort rather than any complicated or very definite kind of behavior. It is certain that no one inherits a knowledge of mathematics. It may be, however, that children inherit more or less of a rather, general ability that we may call intelligence
24、. If very intelligent children become deeply interested in mathematics, they will probably make a success of that study. As for musical ability, it may be that what is inherited if an especially sensitive ear, a peculiar structure of the hands or of the vocal organs connections between nerves and mu
25、scles that make it comparatively easy to learn the movements a musician must execute, and particularly vigorous emotions. If these factors are all organized around music the child may become a musician. The same factors, in other circumstance, might be organized about some other center of interest.
26、The rich emotional equipment might find expression in poetry. The capable fingers might develop skill in surgery. It is not the knowledge of music that makes it comparatively easy to acquire musical knowledge and skill. Whether that ability shall be directed toward music or some other under taking m
27、ay be decided entirely by forces in the environment in which a child grows up.（分数：10.00）(1).Which of the following is not true?_.（分数：2.00）A.Some mothers try to influence their unborn children studying art and other subjects during their pregnancyB.It is utterly impossible for us to learn anything in
28、 prenatal developmentC.The blood vessels of mother and child do not join directlyD.There are no connection between mother“s nervous system and her unborn child“s(2).A mother will affect her unborn baby if_.（分数：2.00）A.she is emotionally shockedB.she has a good knowledge of inheritanceC.she takes part
29、 in all kinds of activitiesD.she sticks to studying(3).According to the passage, a child may inherit_.（分数：2.00）A.everything from his motherB.a knowledge of mathematicsC.a rather general ability that we call intelligenceD.her mother“s musical ability(4).If a child inherits something from his mother,
30、such as an especially sensitive ear, a peculiar structure of the hands or of the vocal organs, he will_.（分数：2.00）A.surely become a musicianB.mostly become a poetC.possibly become a doctorD.become a musician on the condition that all these factors are organized around music(5).Which of the following
31、is an appropriate title for the passage?_.（分数：2.00）A.Role of InheritanceB.An Unborn ChildC.Function of InstinctsD.Poetry and MusicMore than one in ten people who are regularly exposed to organophosphate pesticides(有机磷酸脂农药) will suffer unrecoverable physical and mental damage, a team of psychiatrists
32、 warns. The investigators say that theirs is the first serious attempt to estimate the number of people suffering because of chronic low-level exposure to the pesticides. “This is a worrying high level of illness,“ says one researcher. The findings by the researcher, who also treats many of the vict
33、ims, conflict with those of the Britain“s government agency monitoring occupational health, which says there is no good evidence to suggest chronic exposure leads to widespread illness. The research team sent questionnaires to 400 farmers selected at random from a phone book. Of 179 who replied, 130
34、 reported that they had been exposed to organophosphates. And 21 farmers complained of enough symptoms to be classed as suffering from organophosphate poisoning. Allowing for bias inherent in the survey method, they suggest that around 10 percent of farmers exposed to the pesticides suffer from pois
35、oning. The researchers also uncovered a consistent pattern of symptoms ranging from extreme tiredness and speech difficulty to suicidal impulses. Again this contrasts with the government agency“s view that there is no clear pattern of symptoms for pesticide poisoning, making a diagnosis difficult. T
36、hey believe the real figure for poisoning is much higher, once you include cancers and heart disease linked to the pesticide. Last year, British specialists also found evidence of a link between organophosphates and severe bone abnormalities in eight men. One of the researchers, Anthony Lyons of Que
37、en“s Medical centre in Nottingham, says preliminary results from a larger follow-up study suggest the extent of bone damage may be worse than they feared. All those who suffer from organophosphate poisoning complain of becoming “exquisitely sensitive“ to any further exposure. This is bad news for an
38、y Gulf War veterans sent back to the Middle East. Many scientists and doctors are convinced that Gulf War Syndrome is at least partly caused by organophosphate pesticides, which were sprayed in tents and on clothes to protect troops from biting insects. A spokesman for Britain“s Ministry of Defense
39、says there are no immediate plans to send ground troops to the Gulf. But the US is moving 5,000 troops into the region. Returning troops “would be more vulnerable to poisoning“, says one of the leading US authorities on such poisoning.（分数：10.00）(1).In which area do the findings of the researchers ha
40、ve confliction with those Britain“s Health and Safety Executive(HSE), the government agency monitoring occupational health? _.（分数：2.00）A.Whether exposure to organophosphate will do any harm to manB.Whether chronic exposure to organophosphate would lead to widespread illnessC.Whether it is worthwhile
41、 to find out the number of people suffering from organophosphate poisoningD.Whether organophosphate is a good pesticide(2).Among the farmers investigated, how many of them claimed to be suffering from organophosphate poisoning?_（分数：2.00）A.179B.130C.21D.10%(3).Which of the following is excluded in a
42、symptom of organophosphate poisoning?_（分数：2.00）A.ExhaustionB.Speech difficultyC.Impulses to kill oneselfD.Impulse to commit crimes(4).Which of tie following illnesses has been proved to be linked with organophosphate poisoning?_（分数：2.00）A.CancerB.Heart diseaseC.Bone abnormalitiesD.All of the above(5
43、).What is considered to be bad news for Gulf War veterans?_（分数：2.00）A.They will be more vulnerable to poisoningB.They will be exposed more to organophosphateC.The Iraq troops will use chemical weapons to poison themD.The Gulf War will start soon againScience has long since had an uneasy relationship
44、 with other aspects of culture. Think of Galileo“s 17th-century trial for his rebelling belief the Catholic Church or poet William Black“s harsh remarks against the mechanistic worldview of Isaac Newton. The schism between science and the humanities has, if anything, deepened in this century. Until
45、recently, the scientific community was so powerful that it could afford to ignore its critics-but no longer. As funding for science has declined, scientists have attacked “antiscience“ in several books, notably Higher Superstition, by Paul R. Gross, a biologist at the University of Virginia, and Nor
46、man Levitt, a mathematician at Rutgers University; and The Demon-Haunted World, by Carl Sagan of Cornell University. Defenders of science have also voiced their concerns at meetings such as “The Flight from Science and Reason“, held in New York City in 1995, and “Science in the Age of (Miss) informa
47、tion“, which assembled last June near Buffalo. Antiscience clearly means different things to different people; Gross and Levitt find fault primarily with sociologists, philosophers and other academics who have questioned sciences objectivity. Sagan is more concerned with those who believe in ghosts,
48、 creationism and other phenomena that contradict the scientific worldview. A survey of news stories in 1996 reveals that the antiscience tag has been attached to many other groups as well, from authorities who advocated the elimination of the last remaining stocks of smallpox virus to Republicans who advocated decreased funding for basic research. Few would dispute that the term applies to the Unabomber, those manifesto, published in 1995, scorns science and longs for retu
