1、考研英语（阅读）-试卷 159 及答案解析(总分：40.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：7，分数：40.00)1.Section II Reading Comprehension_2.Part B_In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 15, choose the most suitable one from the list AG to fit into each of the numbered blanks. There are two
2、extra choices, which do not fit in any of the blanks. For the endangered North Atlantic right whale, these arc trying times. These leviathans who live and migrate in waters along the East Coast of North America teeter closer to the brink of extinction than perhaps any other whale species. Their popu
3、lation is tinyless than 350and continues to shrink. 1 Yet for scientists and conservationists anxious about the future of these creatures, rays of hope are beginning to pierce an otherwise gloomy horizon. Thanks to a surge of scientific research and new tools for conducting it, they expect to learn
4、far more about right whales, their interaction with the environment, and how to better protect them from their biggest threat: man. 2 For the right whales, the leading causes of mortality are collisions with ships and encounters with fishing gear, researchers say. Females appear to have the toughest
5、 time surviving the range of human and natural threats. It“s these challenges scientists hope to address with a growing momentum in right-whale research. 3 Conservationists are working with governments and the shipping industry to move or control traffic on heavily used sea lanes that ships and whal
6、es share. And recent research is yielding potentially useful insights into the impact of factors ranging from water quality to shifts in climate. “I“m not much of a Pollyannaj 1 can be very grumpy about the progress of right-whale biology and conservation,“ says Scott Kraus, director of research at
7、the New England Aquarium in Boston. But “in the next couple of years we“re going to see a tremendous burst of very creative scientific energy“ applied to fundamental biological and ecological questions surrounding the whales. “When those questions get answered, we“ re going to have very specific ide
8、as about what management strategies will reduce mortality and perhaps enhance reproduction,“ he says. 4 In principle, preventing “two female deaths a year would have a major impact on the prospects for the population,“ says Hal Caswell, a marine zoologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
9、in Woods Hole, Mass. 5 From 1500 to 1600, Basque whalers decimated right-whale populations in the eastern Atlantic, taking an estimated 25,000 to 40,000. In the late 1600s, by some accounts, it would have been possible to walk across Cape Cod Bay on the backs of whales. But by the mid-1700s, New Eng
10、landers had taken another 3,000, Mr. Kraus says. By the early 20th century, “only a few dozen whales survived in the western North Atlantic“. AIf they can save a population this small, then it could boost hopes of saving other species from the unintended impact of humans on the environment. BYet ach
11、ieving that means untangling a web of intertwined human and environmental factors that contribute to the whales“ plight. The one factor that weighs most heavily is human. CIn addition, researchers are exploring a number of acoustic approaches to avoiding ship-whale collisions. One technique scientis
12、ts hope to test later this month involves the use of moored buoys that use passive sonar systems to listen for whales. DTo an outsider, the goal looks deceivingly within reach. The population is so small that it would take only modest pains in saving whales to help turn the situation around. EThat p
13、opulation had slowly rebuilt. Over the past 20 years, researchers have built an impressive collection of 250,000 photosa catalog of some 460 North Atlantic right whales. Each animal bears unique growths of hardened skin, or callosities, in places where hair would appear on humans. The callosity patt
14、erns act as visual tags, allowing researchers to follow the whales“ life history. FLater this month, for example, researchers are set to test new approaches to tracking the elusive whales in hopes of alerting ships to their presence. Meanwhile, chemists and engineers are developing whale-friendly co
15、mmercial-fishing gear. GBy some estimates, if current population trends hold, the species will vanish within the next 200 years.（分数：10.00）填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 15, choose the most suitable one from the list AG to fit
16、 into each of the numbered blanks. There are two extra choices, which do not fit in any of the blanks. For Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and many Wall Street number-crunchers, the dollar supplied one of the nastiest surprises of 2005. The world“s two richest men and most financial-market seers predicte
17、d that the greenback would fall last year, dragged down by America“s colossal current-account deficit. Many forecasters were predicting that the euro would buy $ 1. 40-odd by now and that a dollar would fetch less than ￥ 100. 1 Against the euro and yen, the greenback did even better. It ended the ye
18、ar at $ 1. 18 per euro, up by 14%. Despite a wobble in December, the dollar made a similar advance against the yen. Not surprisingly, the pundits are more cautious about 2006. Although most expect the greenback to end this year weaker than it began it, the typical forecast is that any decline will b
19、e fairly modest and take place mainly in the latter part of 2006. 2 The Federal Reserve raised short-term interest rates eight times in 2005, to 4. 25%. Japan, in contrast, kept the liquidity taps open and interest rates at zero, while the European Central Bank raised rates only once, in December, t
20、o 2. 25%. Relatively higher American interest rates brought foreign capital pouring into dollar assets and pushed the currency up. 3But as America“s tightening campaign levels off and European or(maybe)Japanese rates rise, the dollar will weaken. The Consensus, according to a recent compilation of f
21、orecasts by Reuters, suggests that the dollar could reach $ 1. 25 per euro and ￥108 by the end of the year. Judged by the first few days of 2006, those forecasts may prove too sanguine. The dollar suffered its biggest two-day drop against the euro in two years, and hit a two month low of $ 1. 21 aga
22、inst the European currency on January 4th. 4 An interest-rate gap that was merely stable ought to imply a weaker dollar. According to economic theory, it is the widening of interest-rate differentials that temporarily strengthens the exchange rale. 5 Financial markets may also have become too obsess
23、ed with the influence of interest rates on currencies. Historically interest-rate differentials have been little more use than anything else at predicting short-term movements in exchange rates. ABy this logic, as long as America raises rates faster than others, the dollar will stay strong. BThey we
24、re all wrong. Although America“s current-account deficit headed towards $800 billion in 2005, the dollar rose. It was up by 3. 5% against a broad trade-weighted basket of currencies, the first rise in four years. COver time, an international difference in interest rates is offset by a drop in the cu
25、rrency with the higher interest rate. DChina is yet another cause of uncertainty. Its eagerly awaited but ultimately minuscule exchange-rate shift in July 2005 was a boon for the dollar because it did not set in train a wider realignment of Asian currencies. EThat is because most analysts attribute
26、the dollar“s recent strength to widening differences between American, European and Japanese interest rates. These gaps are expected to grow for a few more months before closing slightly later in the year. FAn alternative view is that the exporters, like others, were attracted by rising American int
27、erest rates. A recent study by the Bank for International Settlements, for instance, suggested that the currency composition of OPEC members“ deposits has become more sensitive to interest-rate differentials. GOne reason is that investors are becoming jittery about how soon the interest-rate gap mig
28、ht stop growing. The dollar swooned after the release this week of the minutes of the Fed“s December meeting, which suggested that short-term interest rates might not need to go much higher.（分数：10.00）填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_5.Part CDirections: Read the following text carefully and then tr
29、anslate the underlined segments into Chinese._Human beings have the unique ability to formulate personal goals for themselves. Without this form of personal development, the world would not be what it is today.【F1】 Having dreams gives us the opportunities to find out whom we are, to find what really
30、 lays beneath the surface of flesh and bone. Dreams can change a person and just as the seasons change, a person can change their dreams as well. When one has a goal set in mind, he or she should chase it with gusto.【F2】 However, not everyone sticks to his or her dreams, some just give up entirely n
31、ot always because of choice, but because of the circumstances surrounding them. Many people give up on their dreams because of procrastination.【F3】 Waiting until the last minute to do something is a terrible habit, especially if the dream or goal is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Not to say that
32、there won“t be other chances, but it is better to reap the spoils of your labor the first time around. 【F4】 Procrastination can be born when people look at their dreams in its entirety and they become disheartened because their goal looks difficult and a lot to take in at one time. One can eliminate
33、 this fear by breaking down their goals into segments and tackling the smaller pieces to make the process less arduous. A fear of rejection lies within all of us. More specifically, being told “no“. Some people let this fear incapacitate their minds and let it take over. While rejection is a terribl
34、e feeling, we shouldn“t let it dictate our goals or aspirations. I tend to think that rejection is a stepping-stone to reaching our dreams. Besides, everything doesn“t always go our way all the time, if it did then it wouldn“t be called life. Some people“s dreams are reliant upon support from friend
35、s and family. However, the support is not always there. Many people are not blessed with having others that offer a shoulder to lean on in tough times. The path to following one“s goals can be hard at times and will require more than one person to make the dream into a reality. There are people that
36、 will give up on their dreams because of this. This goes hand-in-hand with having low self-esteem or a lack of confidence in one“s ability to succeed.【F5】 Losing sight of one“s dreams is one of the most regrettable mistakes a person can ever make. That is why we should push on and believe in ourselv
37、es that we can attain any goal we choose to, no matter how far away it seems.（分数：10.00）(1).【F1】（分数：2.00）_(2).【F2】（分数：2.00）_(3).【F3】（分数：2.00）_(4).【F4】（分数：2.00）_(5).【F5】（分数：2.00）_The fundamental fact of our time is the gradual encroachment of principled individualism, or unregulated personal freedom,
38、into all areas of our lives. Every moral and communal certainty, except those that can be justified through contract and consent, has heen transformed into a question. Every human attachment seems basically voluntary. The great institutions that shape the character of human beings- the family, the c
39、hurch, the community, and the country are weakened and still eroding.【F1】 Young people who have grown up in this cultural environment are deprived of what it takes to develop firm moral bearings, and, with them, a sense of purpose. New students arrive at college not knowing who they are or what thei
40、r lives are for. 【F2】 Professors, meanwhile, used to believe their primary responsibility was to shape souls: to pass on the truths embedded in a religious tradition or other moral code that should thoughtfully define the lives of educated men and women. 【F3】 At the very least, they believed they ha
41、d to open students“ eyes to the varied forms of human excellence displayed in the greatest works of philosophy and literature: the saint, the sage, the poet, the warrior, the inventor, the entrepreneur, the scientist, the statesman. By means of these models of human greatness, professors could offer
42、 guidance to students discerning who they are and what they want to do. But, arriving at college with characters already formed, those students were less in need of direction than are students today. In those days, the real experience of professors was often a kind of blithe irresponsibility that ca
43、me with moral impotence. They could say what they wanted without the fear of doing much harm, or much good.【F4】 In many cases, students 1 bought(with good reason)that their professors were basically reinforcing what they already knew from more firsthand, or not merely bookish, communal experience. C
44、ollege seems to have inherited the job that religion used to do.【F5】 Today“s colleges at their secular bestat, say, Great Books schools like St. John“s approach education by articulating perennial questions of human identity and purpose. But even the Great Books model of education has morphed into a
45、 celebration of the questions in the absence of real answers. Who can be satisfied with merely reveling in Socratic indecision about who we are and what to do? Great Books education seems to present us with the alternatives of being a self-knowing philosopher or losing oneself in either fundamentalist dogmatism or aimless relativism. But the searcher neither needs nor wants to be told that the point of life is searching.（分数：10.00）(1).【F1】（分数：2.00）_(2).【F2】（分数：2.00）_(3).【F3】（分数：2.00）_(4).【F4】（分数：2.00）_(5).【F5】（分数：2.00）_
