1、考研英语（阅读）-试卷 48 及答案解析(总分：60.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：6，分数：60.00)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）_Men are generally better than women on tests of spat
2、ial ability, such as mentally rotating an object through three dimensions or finding their way around in a new environment. But a new study suggests that under some circumstances a woman“s way of navigating is probably more efficient. Luis Pacheco-Cobos of the National Autonomous University of Mexic
3、o and his colleagues discovered this by following mushroom gatherers from a village in the state of Tlaxcala for two rainy seasons. Two researchers, each fitted with GPS navigation devices and heart-rate monitors, followed different gatherers on different days. They recorded the weight of the mushro
4、oms each gatherer collected and where they visited. The GPS data allowed a map to be made of the routes taken and the heart-rate measurements provided an estimate of the amount of energy expended during their travels. The results, to be published in Evolution and Human Behaviour, show that the men a
5、nd women collected on average about the same weight of mushrooms. But the men travelled farther, climbed higher and used a lot more energy70% more than the women. The men did not move any faster, but they searched for spots with lots of mushrooms. The women made many more stops, apparently satisfied
6、 with, or perhaps better at finding, patches of fewer mushrooms. Previous work has shown that men tend to navigate by creating mental maps of a territory and then imagining their position on the maps. Women are more likely to remember their routes using landmarks. The study lends support to the idea
7、 that male and female navigational skills were honed differently by evolution for different tasks. Modern-day hunter-gatherers divide labor, so that men tend to do more hunting and women more gathering. It seems likely that early humans did much the same thing. The theory is that the male strategy i
8、s the most useful for hunting prey; chasing an antelope, say, would mean running a long way over a winding route. But having killed his prey, the hunter would want to make a beeline for home rather than retrace his steps exactly. Women, by contrast, would be better off remembering landmarks and retr
9、acing the paths to the most productive patches of plants. The research suggests that in certain circumstances women are better at navigating than men, which might lend some comfort to a man desperately searching for an item in a supermarket while his exasperated wife methodically moves around the ai
10、sles filling the shopping trolley. He is simply not cut out for the job, evolutionarily speaking.（分数：10.00）(1).The word “navigating“(Line 4, Paragraph 1)most probably means（分数：2.00）A.voyaging.B.guiding.C.piloting.D.maneuvering.(2).GPS navigation devices and heart-rate monitors were chosen for the re
11、search most probably because they can（分数：2.00）A.reflect the routes and the amount of used energy.B.record the overall weight of the mushrooms gathered.C.estimate the time and energy consumed during travels.D.provide the gatherers with different maps of routes.(3).The result of the experiment indicat
12、ed“ that women gatherers（分数：2.00）A.knew how to regain energy.B.were good at remembering landmarks.C.were easily content.D.travelled more efficiently.(4).By referring to evolution, the author intends to show that（分数：2.00）A.men and women are different in spatial conception and ability.B.males are bom
13、with the hunter“s mentality and females the gatherer“s.C.different ways of navigation can date back to the ancient times.D.early humans have decided the division of labor for men and women.(5).We can infer from the supermarket scene depicted in the last paragraph that man（分数：2.00）A.is always impatie
14、nt when shopping with his wife.B.may not be the right type for finding items.C.may be suitable to do this routine job.D.is sometimes unable to navigate correctly.In hindsight one of the worst things about America“s subprime housing bust is how predictable it was. Subprime borrowers were by definitio
15、n people of limited means with poor credit histories. Yet economists who have looked at the pattern of payments on subprime mortgages point out that even when house prices topped out and then began to fall, not all subprime borrowers defaulted. Only a minority of borrowers abruptly ceased to make pa
16、yments, as someone choosing to default would. More typically, payments went from being regular to being erratic: borrowers fell behind, then became current again, only to fall behind once more. Those patterns are indicative of people trying, but struggling, to keep up with their payments. A trio of
17、economists set out to find out what differentiated those borrowers who did not keep up with their payments from the rest. Their answer, according to a new working paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, is simple: numeracy. The economists tracked down a large number of subprime borrowers in
18、New England on whom they already had detailed information, including the terms of their mortgages and their repayment histories. These borrowers were then subjected to a series of questions that required simple calculations about percentages and interest rates. Even accounting for a host of differen
19、ces between peopleincluding attitudes to risk, income levels and credit scoresthose who fell behind on their mortgages were noticeably less numerate than those who kept up with their payments in the same overall circumstances. The least numerate fell behind about 25% of the time. For those who did b
20、est on the test, the number of payments they missed was almost 12%. A fifth of the least numerate group had been in foreclosure(the creditor taking possession of a property because the money has not been repaid), but only 7% of those who were more numerically adept had. Surprisingly, the least numer
21、ate were not making loan choices that differed much from their peers. They were about as likely to have a fixed-rate mortgage as the more numerically able. They did not borrow a larger share of their income. And loans were about the same fraction of the house“s value. Stephan Meier, one of the study
22、“s authors, reckons that the innumerate may be worse at managing their daily finances, leaving them with little room for manoeuvre when things get difficult. Those better at sums might, for instance, have put a bit more aside in more plentiful times. Normally, such differences might not matter much.
23、 But in bleaker circumstances, a small pot of savings may be all that stands between homeownership and foreclosure.（分数：10.00）(1).When house prices drop, most subprime borrowers would（分数：2.00）A.stop making payments immediately.B.fail to meet the financial obligation.C.struggle to meet the deadline of
24、 the payment.D.choose to delay the payment.(2).The typical pattern of payment shows that（分数：2.00）A.subprime housing bust is not foreseeable for some of the borrowers.B.with great efforts people finally manage to pay their loans regularly.C.numeracy accounts for the difference between defaulters and
25、the rest borrowers.D.the borrowers cannot ensure that all payments are on time.(3).We can infer from the New England research that（分数：2.00）A.people“s attitude toward risks was a great factor affecting the pattern of payment.B.those who were poor at calculating were likely to fall behind on their mor
26、tgages.C.those who were numerically adept tended to make wiser loan choices.D.people“s ability with numbers decided whether they could pay their loans on time.(4).Stephan Meier holds that the innumerate（分数：2.00）A.are not informed to prepare for a bleak future.B.are confident about their earning powe
27、r.C.tend to live beyond their means.D.do not take precautions before it is too late.(5).Which of the following is the best title for the text?（分数：2.00）A.Numeracy might explainB.Save early, save wiselyC.How to handle the crisis?D.The erratic pattern of paymentPartly due to a historical development ma
28、rked by worldwide colonialism, urbanization, and globalization, in the course of this century humankind is likely to experience its most extreme cultural loss. As K. David Harrison notes in When Languages Die, “The last speakers of probably half of the world“s languages are alive today.“ Their child
29、ren or grandchildren are pressured to speak only the dominant language of their community or country. Under one estimate, more than 50% of the 6,900 or so languages identified nowadays are expected to become extinct in a matter of a few decades. The precise criteria for what counts as a distinct lan
30、guage are controversialespecially those regarding closely related linguistic systems, which are often inaccurately referred to as dialects of the same language. The problem is complicated by the insufficiency of studies about the grammar of many of the world“s endangered languages. In addition, from
31、 a cognitive standpoint any two groups of individuals whose languages are mutually intelligible may in fact have distinct mental grammars. As a cognitive system, a language shows dynamic properties that cannot exist independently of its speakers. This is the sense in which the Anatolian languages an
32、d Dalmatian are extinct. Therefore, language preservation depends on the maintenance of the native-speaking human groups. Unfortunately, the most accelerated loss of distinct languages takes place where economic development is rapid, worsening the breakdown of minority communities that speak differe
33、nt languages. In this perspective, a language often begins to die long before the passing of the last speaker: New generations may start using it only for limited purposes, increasingly shifting to the community“s dominant language. In this process, knowledge of the dying language erodes both at the
34、 individual level and at the community level. Linguistic diversity itself may be the worst loss at stake, because it may be the most promising and precise source of evidence for the range of variation allowed in the organization of the human cognitive system. For instance, Harrison discusses many st
35、rategies for manipulating quantities across languages, often endangered ones. The rapid loss of linguistic diversity substantially hinders comparative investigation about the multiple ways in which a single cognitive domain can be organized. Linguists are well aware that their efforts alone cannot p
36、revent this loss. Community involvement, especially with government support, has proven essential in slowing or even reversing language loss in different cases(e.g., Basque and Irish). Crucially, endangered languages must be acquired by new generations of speakers. Here the biological metaphor adopt
37、ed by Harrison applies appropriately documentation of dead languages is akin to a fossil record, providing only partial clues about complex cognitive systems.（分数：10.00）(1).According to the first paragraph, language loss（分数：2.00）A.is caused partly by colonialism, urbanization and globalization.B.is t
38、he most extreme cultural loss people experiences.C.is expected to occur in a few centuries.D.occurs in less than half of the world“s 6,900 languages.(2).One of the difficulties in differentiating one language from another is that（分数：2.00）A.one language may have many dialects.B.grammar study on some
39、languages is not enough.C.they are dialects of the same languages.D.grammars reflected by languages are different.(3).The start of language dying is indicated by（分数：2.00）A.the disappearance of its last speakers.B.the fact that new generations stop using it.C.the official ban on speaking it.D.its new
40、 generations“ decreased use of it.(4).Measures that can be taken to prevent language loss include（分数：2.00）A.turning endangered languages into dominant languages.B.protecting minority groups by slowing economic growth.C.relying on the joint efforts of linguists and government.D.conducting comparative
41、 investigation across languages.(5).We can infer from the metaphor in the last paragraph that（分数：2.00）A.dead languages are similar to fossils in biological sense.B.documentation is not enough for us to understand dead languages.C.fossil records give a complete picture of ancient lives.D.dead languag
42、es can remain alive if they are documented properly.In George Orwell“s Animal Farm the mighty cart-horse, Boxer, inspires the other animals with his heroic cry of “I will work harder“. He gets up at the crack of dawn to do a couple of hours“ extra ploughing. He even refuses to take a day off. And hi
43、s reward for all this effort? As soon as he collapses on the job he is sent to the knacker“s yard to be turned into glue and bone-meal. Animal Farm looks ever more like an allegory about capitalism as well as socialism. Everybody knows about the plague of unemployment. But unemployment is bringing a
44、nother plague in its wake overwork. The Hay Group, a British consultancy which recently surveyed 1,000 people, says that two-thirds of workers report they are putting in unpaid overtime. The reward for all this effort is frozen pay and shrinking perks. The only difference between these overstretched
45、 workers and Boxer is that they can see the knacker“s van coming. So far workers have borne all this with remarkable perseverancepartly because they feel lucky to keep their jobs and partly because they want to save their firms from going under. But the Dunkirk spirit is beginning to fade . The Hay
46、survey notes that 63% of workers say that their employers do not appreciate their extra effort. Half report that their current level of work is unsustainable. People are wearying of frantic reorganization as well as the added toil-floods of memos and meetings, endless reshuffles, earnest persuasions
47、 to do more with less. For their part, companies are beginning to notice the downside of all this overstretching. Absenteeism is on the rise. Corporate loyalty is on the wane. And the biggest danger for companies is if workers head for the door as the economy picks up. Most problematic of all is whe
48、n star employees decide to look for work elsewhere. These “high-potentials“(HiPos)are doubly frustrated: they have been asked to shoulder a disproportionate share of the growing burden of work and they have seen senior jobs dry up as older managers try to cling to their positions. What can organizat
49、ions do to cope with this new era of overwork? Most obviously they can redouble efforts to make staff feel valued. Cash-strapped companies are making more use of symbolic rewards. A second strategy is to make more use of that old favorite, “empowerment“. This means trying harder to explain why companies are acting as they are. A third strategy is to pay particular attention to high performers. A striking number
