1、考研英语（阅读）-试卷 156 及答案解析(总分：70.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：7，分数：70.00)1.Section II Reading Comprehension（分数：10.00）_2.Part ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D.（分数：10.00）_In response to scandals rocking the student loan in
2、dustry, the House has quickly passed reform legislation to require more disclosure from lenders as well as university codes of conduct, and Senate action is expected. But the larger issues of rising college costs and students“ increasing dependence on private loans have, for the moment at least, tak
3、en a back seat. Yet that doesn“t mean they“ve gone away. College costs have risen far faster than inflation and also outpaced the growth of grant aid and federal loans. Pell grants, for example, which provide money to low-income students, covered nearly 60 percent of the cost of attending a public f
4、our-year school in 1986, but by 2005, their value had dropped to 33 percent of the cost, according to the College Board. As a result, more students must turn to costly private loans to finance their education or not go at all. The cost of information technology, the increasing salaries of tenured pr
5、ofessors, and even federal loans themselves have all been blamed for college tuition hikes. On the last point, an analysis by the Cato Institute suggests that when aid is provided by the federal government, states and universities reduce their own efforts to make college affordable. Whatever the cau
6、ses, the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, an independent committee created by Congress, estimates that 400,000 students who are qualified to attend a four-year college don“t do so each year because of financial restrictions. The committee estimates that roughly 40 percent of this
7、group does not attend college at all, which significantly limits future earnings. Many students who do go to college face daunting piles of debt. The College Board estimates that the median debt level of bachelor“s degree recipients was $19,300 in the 2003-04 school year. In his fiscal 2008 budget,
8、President Bush proposed increasing the maximum Pell grant award to $5,400 by 2012 from $4,050 today, a change he would pay for with cuts in other loan programs. Even though the scandals are dominating most of the current discussions on Capitol Hill, some education experts praise the fact that studen
9、t loans are getting any attention at all. Stephen Burd, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation, says, “This is the first time everyone is dealing with the reality of the fact that private loans have become essential financing for undergraduates.“（分数：10.00）(1).The reform legislation m
10、ight result in _.（分数：2.00）A.more expensive educational costsB.the boom of loan industryC.more transparent loansD.the depression of private loans(2).It is stated in Paragraph 2 that Pell grants _.（分数：2.00）A.cover the majority of the college costsB.are intended to help impoverished studentsC.have main
11、tained their value from 1986 to 2005D.keep pace with the rise of living costs(3).The analysis by the Cato Institute seems to suggest that _.（分数：2.00）A.the introduction of new information technologies will result in more costsB.college tuition increase has something to do with the federal aidsC.more
12、tenured professors who get large salaries will increase government aidsD.universities are not responsible to lower the college tuition(4).400,000 qualified students don“t attend a four-year college in that they are_.（分数：2.00）A.indebted to the Advisory CommitteeB.afraid future earning might be limite
13、dC.faced with other preconditionsD.confronted with financial constraints(5).Which of the following is the best title for this text?（分数：2.00）A.Loan Issues Come DueB.Costs Up, Enrollments DownC.Reform Legislation NeededD.College Loan ScandalNeuroscientists have long understood that the brain can rewir
14、e itself in response to experiencea phenomenon known as neuroplasticity. But until recently, they didn“t know what causes gray matter to become plastic, to begin changing. Breakthrough research by a team at MIT“s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory has documented one type of environmental feed
15、back that triggers plas-ticity: success. Equally important and somewhat surprising: Its opposite, failure, has no impact. Earl Miller, the lead researcher on the study, says understanding the link to environmental feedback is crucial to improving how people teach and motivate because it“s a big part
16、 of how we learn. But we absorb more from success than from failure, according to the study. Miller“s researchers gave monkeys a simple learning task: They presented one of two pictures. If it was Picture A, the monkeys were supposed to look to the left; if Picture B, to the right. When the monkeys
17、looked in the correct direction, they were rewarded with a drop of juice. All the while the team recorded brain function. “Neurons (cells specialized to conduct nerve impulses) in the prefrontal cortex and striatum, where the brain tracks success and failure, sharpened their tuning after success,“ s
18、ays Miller. What“s more, those changes lingered for several seconds, making brain activity more efficient the next time the monkey did the task. Thereafter, each success was processed more efficiently. That is, the monkey had learned. “But after failure,“ Miller points out, “there was little change
19、in brain activity.“ In other words, the brain didn“t store any information about what went wrong and use it the next time. The monkey just tried, tried again. Miller says this means that on a neurological level, success is actually a lot more informative than failure. If you get a reward, the brain
20、remembers what it did right. But with failure (unless there is a clear negative consequence, like the shock a child feels when she sticks something in an electrical outlet), the brain isn“t sure what to store, so it doesn“t change at all. Does this research confirm the management tenet of focusing o
21、n yourand your team“sstrengths and successes? Miller cautions against making too tidy a connection between his findings and an environment like the workplace, but he offers this suggestion: “Maybe the lesson is to know that the brain will learn from success, and you don“t need to dwell on that. You
22、need to pay more attention to failures and challenge why you fail.“（分数：10.00）(1).What is true about Earl Miller“s research?（分数：2.00）A.It discovers neuroplasticity.B.It is the first study of this kind.C.It studies one environmental feedback.D.It attests to one cause of neuroplasticity.(2).According t
23、o Miller“s study, failure as an environmental feedback _.（分数：2.00）A.has a great impact on our neuro-systemB.can cause gray matter to become plasticC.plays a more important role in learning than successD.provides less benefits than success(3).During the experiment each failure made the monkey _.（分数：2
24、.00）A.repeat the task fruitlesslyB.realize the right way to do the taskC.give up trying eventuallyD.become more efficient and closer to success(4).The example of an electric shock to a child in Paragraph 5 is given to show_.（分数：2.00）A.success is much more informative than failureB.failure is instruc
25、tive if it is impressiveC.failure confuses the storing process of the brainD.failure is stored only when it brings obvious negative outcomes(5).In the last paragraph, Miller suggests that we should _.（分数：2.00）A.apply his findings to the workplaceB.be cautious while pursuing successC.not think about
26、the satisfaction of successD.strive to learn from failures as wellDo patents help or hinder innovation? Instinctively, they would seem a blessing. Patenting an idea gives its inventor a 20-year monopoly to exploit the fruit of his labor in the marketplace, in exchange for publishing a full account o
27、f how the new product, process or material works for everyone to see. For the inventor, that may be a reasonable trade-off. For society, however, the loss ofcompetition through the granting sole rights to an individual or organization is justified only if it stimulates the economy and delivers goods
28、 that change people“s lives for the better.Invention, though, is not innovation. It may take a couple of enthusiasts working evenings and weekends for a year or twonot to mention tens of thousands of dollars of their savingsto get a pet idea to the patenting stage. But that is just the beginning. In
29、novations based on patented inventions or discoveries can take teams of researchers, engineers and marketing experts a decade or more, and tens of millions of dollars, to transfer to the marketplace. And for every bright idea that goes on to become a commercial winner, literally thousands fall by th
30、e wayside. Most economists would argue that, without a patent system, even fewer inventions would lead to successful innovations, and those that did would be kept secret for far longer in order to maximize returns. But what if patents actually discourage the combining and recombining of inventions t
31、o yield new products and processesas has happened in biotechnology, genetics and other disciplines? Or what about those ridiculous business-process patents, like A“s “one-click“ patent or the “name-your-price“ auction patent assigned to P? Instead of stimulating innovation, such patents seem more ab
32、out extracting “rents“ from innocent bystanders going about their business. One thing has become clear since business-process patents took off in America during the 1990s: the quality of patents has deteriorated markedly. And with sloppier patenting standards, litigation has increased. The result is
33、 higher transaction costs all round. It is not simply a failure of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to examine applications more rigorously. The Federal Circuit has been responsible for a number of bizarre rulings. Because of its diverse responsibilities, the Federal Circuitunli
34、ke its counterparts in Europe and Japan-has never really acquired adequate expertise in patent law. To be eligible for a patent, an invention must not just be novel, but also useful and non-obvious. Anything that relies on natural phenomena, abstract ideas or the laws of nature does not qualify. The
35、 USPTO has taken to requiring a working prototype of anything that supposedly breaches the laws of physics. So, no more perpetual-motion machines, please.（分数：10.00）(1).What can we learn from the first paragraph?（分数：2.00）A.It is a natural tendency for people to believe that innovation is stimulated b
36、y patents.B.The inventors cannot reap the fruits of their patents until many years later.C.Individuals and organizations welcome competitions brought about by the patentees.D.Patenting can never be a blessing to society if it fails to benefit people at large.(2).The phrase “fall by the wayside“ (Par
37、a. 2) most probably means _.（分数：2.00）A.give upB.break downC.drop offD.fall over(3).According to the author, the “one-click“ patent and the “name-your-price“ patent are _.（分数：2.00）A.comicalB.shockingC.absurdD.unreasonable(4).The author holds that business-process patents _.（分数：2.00）A.should have been
38、 introduced earlierB.have helped innovationC.should be responsible for rising pricesD.should achieve a higher standardization(5).According to the text, which of the following is eligible for a patent?（分数：2.00）A.The perpetual-motion machine.B.A solar-powered automobile.C.The “one-click“ online paymen
39、t system.D.A words-memorizing approach.At the Museum of Sex in New York City, artificial-intelligence researcher David Levy projected a mock image on a screen of a smiling bride in a wedding dress holding hands with a short robot groom. “Why not marry a robot? Look at this happy couple,“ he said to
40、a laughing crowd. When Levy was then asked whether anyone who would want to marry arobot was deceived, his face grew serious. “If the alternative is that you are lonely and sad and miserable, is it not better to find a robot that claims to love you and acts like it loves you?“ Levy responded. “Does
41、it really matter, if you“re a happier person?“ In his 2007 book, Love and Sex with Robots, Levy contends that sex, love and even marriage between humans and robots are coming soon and, perhaps, are even desirable. “I know some people think the idea is totally peculiar,“ he says. “But I am totally co
42、nvinced it“s inevitable.“ The 62-year-old London native has not reached this conclusion on a whim. Levy“s academic love affair with computing began in his last year of university, during the vacuum-tube era. That is when he broadened his horizons beyond his passion for chess. “Back then people wrote
43、 chess programs to simulate human thought processes,“ he recalls. He later became engrossed in writing programs to carry on intelligent conversations with people, and then he explored the way humans interact with computers, a topic for which he earned his doctorate last year from the University of M
44、aastricht in the Netherlands. Over the decades, Levy notes, interactions between humans and robots have become increasingly personal. Whereas robots initially found work, say, building cars in a factory, they have now moved into the home in the form of Roomba the robotic vacuum cleaner and digital p
45、ets such as Tamagotchis and the Sony Aibo. Science-fiction fans have witnessed plenty of action between humans and characters portraying artificial life-forms, such as with Data from the Star Trek franchise or the Cylons from the re-imagined Batttestar Galactica. And Levy is betting that a lot of pe
46、ople will fall in love with such devices. Programmers can tailor the machines to match a person“s interests or render them some what disagreeable to create a desirable level of friction in a relationship. “It“s not that people will fall in love with an algorithm but that people will fall in love wit
47、h a convincing simulation of a human being, and convincing simulations can have a remarkable effect on people,“ he says.（分数：10.00）(1).In the opening paragraph, the snapshot at the Museum of Sex serves to_.（分数：2.00）A.introduce the topicB.provide a backgroundC.explain a phenomenonD.summarize the main
48、idea(2).David Levy would most probably agree that _.（分数：2.00）A.the idea of a human marrying a robot is totally crazyB.deception might result in a human marrying a robotC.robots can be created capable of loving just as humans doD.it is not impossible for a human to marry a robot(3).The phrase “on a w
49、him“ (Para. 3) most probably means _.（分数：2.00）A.in hasteB.all of a suddenC.on his ownD.out of the blue(4).Roomba, Tamagotchis, and the Sony Aibo are mentioned to show that_.（分数：2.00）A.the development of robots is really fascinatingB.robots have made their contributions to houseworkC.robots have been transferred from factories to homes
