1、考研英语（阅读）-试卷 55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）_“It keeps you grounded, puts you in a situation that
2、keeps you out of trouble, and puts you with a group that has the same mind-set,“ says Molly Skinner, a sophomore at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, appraising the nonathletic benefits she experienced while playing soccer in high school. According to one new study, suiting up for the hi
3、gh school team does seem to give girls a boost when it comes to getting a college diploma. The recent study, conducted by professors from Brigham Young University(BYU)and West Chester University of Pennsylvania(WCUP), found that women who played sports in high school were 73 percent more likely to e
4、arn a bachelor“s degree within six years of graduating from high school than those who did not.(The study did not look at male athletes.)Their analysis of data from 5,103 women collected as part of a U.S. Department of Education study found that even among girls who face statistical challenges finis
5、hing college based on socioeconomic background, the athletes still had more than 40 percent higher college completion rates than nonathletes, regardless of whether they played at the college level. “In times when we worry about improving academic performance or outcomes, we wonder should we be devot
6、ing time and money to extracurricular activities?“ asks BYU Prof. Mikaela Dufur, one of the study“s authors. “These are important arenas forin our casegirls to make connections with others and adults who help encourage them to succeed.“ At the collegiate level, though, the measure of women“s sports
7、remains as murky(unclear)as ever, thanks to the politics of Title IX. Enacted in 1972, Title IX guarantees women equal opportunity in collegiate sports, but its critics contend that many schools reach that balance by cutting men“s teams rather than adding women“s. A July report on Title IX from the
8、Government Accountability Office(GAO)has done little to settle the debate. That study found increases in student participation in college athletics on both sides of the gender line, though the growth rate was higher for women“s teams and female athletes. Title IX critics say that the GAO report reli
9、es too heavily on National Collegiate Athletic Association(NCAA)data, which can obscure the number of men“s teams cut from particular schools as more colleges join the NCAA overall. While the political debate continues, female athletes themselves seem to be focusing on the finish line. “I think that
10、 sports teaches you to persevere,“ says Virginia Tech-bound Rachel Plumb, who raced on her high school“s cross country team. “It teaches you to keep an eye on a goal.“（分数：10.00）(1).According to the first paragraph,（分数：2.00）A.Molly Skinner is playing soccer on the university team.B.playing soccer con
11、tributed to Molly“s nonathletic life.C.playing sports helps girls to enroll at universities.D.playing sports grants girls extra credits at universities.(2).Which of the following is true about the recent study by professors from BYU and WCUP?（分数：2.00）A.Women athletes are more likely to finish colleg
12、e than nonathletes.B.Female athletes have more chance to get diplomas than male athletes.C.Statistical challenges reduce the chance for female athletes to get degrees.D.Playing sports in high school matters more than playing at colleges.(3).BYU Prof. Mikaela Dufur found that extracurricular activiti
13、es（分数：2.00）A.exert adverse effects to girls“ academic performance.B.can improve girls“ academic outcomes directly.C.bring people who are worth knowing to girls.D.may consume too much money and time of girls.(4).It can be inferred from the text that（分数：2.00）A.Title IX realizes women“s equal opportuni
14、ty in collegiate sports.B.Title IX balances men“s and women“s sports in many schools.C.Title IX isn“t successful in achieving its goal for women“s rights.D.GAO report proves the success of Title IX in college sports.(5).We can conclude from the text that（分数：2.00）A.girls who played sports in high sch
15、ools are better college students.B.girls with high school sports experience are mentally stronger.C.athletic girls are more likely to get college degrees thanks to Title IX.D.athletic girls always perform better at colleges than nonathletes.“Ah, yes, divorce“, Robin Williams once mused, “from the La
16、tin word meaning to rip out a man“s genitals through his wallet“. The derivation may not be found in dictionaries, but he was on well-trodden ground in linking divorce to money. This month a survey conducted among financial analysts, stockbrokers and hedge-fund managers by Mishcon de Reya, a law fir
17、m, suggested that the economic downturn will prompt an upsurge in divorces among high-earners in London“s financial centre. This pattern is not without precedent; Sandra Davis, who commissioned the study, says that the recession of the early 1990s led to a wave of divorces among the City“s wealthy p
18、eople. A third of current inquiries to lawyers by those deciding to break the knot, she claims, are linked to the credit crunch. One explanation is that the defecting spouses of high earners are getting out before the crunch reduces the potential for profitable settlements. As the City boom turns to
19、 bust, redundancies are becoming commonplace and huge bonuses a distant dream. Since recent earnings are one of the factors taken into account in divorce settlements, it makes sense to divorce sooner rather than later. Others argue that money and the distractions it buys allow couples to avoid addre
20、ssing difficulties in their relationship, which come to the fore in more financially-distressed times. For middle earners, the link between divorce rates and economic conditions is less clear-cut, not least since the main marital asset is houses rather than spouses. Rising inflation and falling hous
21、e prices put pressure on marriages and might thus contribute to higher divorce rates. Yet the same factors also make splitting up more complicated. Falling property prices mean that selling the family home may not provide sufficient funds for two separate homes, especially now that lenders have beco
22、me much more choosy. “A flagging economy clearly leads to an increase in misery; whether or not it causes a rise in the divorce rate is a debatable point,“ sums up Stephen Jenkins, director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research. One consequence is that more couples are living together af
23、ter divorce, which raises its own problems. Godfrey Freeman, chairman of Resolution, an association of family lawyers, points out that the lower-earning partners in such couples may find it harder to claim benefits. They are usually refused help, he says, on the grounds that their mortgage is being
24、paid, even if they have no cash of their own to cover everyday expenses.（分数：10.00）(1).In the opening paragraph, the author introduces his topic by providing（分数：2.00）A.a well-known definition of divorce in the dictionary.B.a downright fact that divorce is linked to economy.C.an interesting quote of a
25、 famous person about divorce.D.a statistic survey that was conducted a long time ago.(2).According to Sandra Davis, recession of the early 1990s is regarded to have（分数：2.00）A.affected the whole society in their life style.B.caused some changes in family structures.C.encouraged more lawyers to consid
26、er divorce cases.D.resulted from the divorce trends.(3).The statement “it makes sense to divorce sooner rather than later“(Line 4, Paragraph 3)is used to show that（分数：2.00）A.the relationship between divorce and economy is well-grounded.B.the divorce wave will finally calm down and disappear.C.wealth
27、y couples are encouraged to settle down as soon as possible.D.people would like to protect their own earnings.(4).By referring to the middle earners, the author intends to show that（分数：2.00）A.some couples would like to spend life together even if they break up.B.they are forced to consider economic
28、situations after the divorce.C.the link between divorce and money is as evident as in the cases of rich couples.D.they are faced with different problems compared with wealthy classes.(5).Which of the following is true of the text?（分数：2.00）A.There should be some correlations between economy and famil
29、y.B.Economic depression is sure to have caused the social instability.C.If the economy grows fast, the lower-earning partners will claim more help.D.Economic growth depends upon the happy relationship between social members.Mothers interfere with their children“s lives even more than most offspring
30、realize. That they nag about eating habits is well known. What goes unnoticed is that mothers leave cells inside their children“s bodies, which may help with repairs when a child“s own cells go disorderly. This form of maternal interference is called microchimerismthe presence of a small number of c
31、ells that originate from another individual and therefore genetically distinct from the cells of the host individual. A mother“s cells can endure until a child reaches adulthood and perhaps throughout life. But scientists do not know exactly how common microchimerism is. It is detected more often in
32、 people with autoimmune conditions, which has led to the suggestion that the maternal cells could trigger those diseases. But healthy people have them too, seemingly with no ill effects. Lee Nelson, of the University of Washington, suspects that everybody has a few maternal cells. Her most recent wo
33、rk argues that, at least in some cases, they help rather than harm. Dr Nelson and her colleagues took blood samples from three groups of young volunteers and their mothers. The first group comprised 94 young volunteers who had type 1 diabetes; the second were 54 of their healthy siblings(brothers or
34、 sisters); and a further 24 were children without diabetes who were not related to anyone else in the study. The researchers then compared DNA from the mothers and their children. Because mothers pass copies of about half their genes to their children, some genes in any child-mother pairs will be un
35、ique to the motherthose that the child has not inherited from her. Othersversions of genes that came from dadwill be unique to the child. Dr Nelson used the uniquely maternal genes to find mothers“ cells in the volunteers“ blood. The technique found maternal cells in about half the diabetics“ sample
36、s, but in only about one-third of the healthy siblings“ samples and in less than one-fifth of those from the unrelated volunteers. Moreover, the microchimerism was not only more common but also more pronounced in diabetics. Dr Nelson also looked for signs that the maternal cells had caused the diabe
37、tes but found no evidence. So, contrary to established opinion, she believes maternal cells can do children good. These cells may help any bodily organ work better, she says, apart from the reproductive kind. Mothers“ protective interference goes onseen and unseen.（分数：10.00）(1).“Microchimerism“ refe
38、rs to a form of maternal interference in which mothers（分数：2.00）A.keep telling their children what they should eat all day long.B.help sick children with their own cells left inside children“s bodies.C.interfere with children“s lives in an all-round way.D.leave all of their own cells, good or bad, in
39、side their children“s bodies.(2).It is stated in Paragraph 2 that microchimerism could（分数：2.00）A.only be detected in people with autoimmune conditions.B.be found in people of all ages and of all races.C.also be found in people who enjoy good health.D.be detected in people with all unhealthy conditio
40、ns.(3).Some genes in child-mother pairs will be unique to the mother in that（分数：2.00）A.these genes haven“t been passed to the child.B.less than half of the genes have been passed to the child.C.these genes come from the father.D.the child is not willing to inherit these genes.(4).According to Dr Nel
41、son in the last paragraph, maternal cells would（分数：2.00）A.lead to the diabetes.B.trigger various diseases.C.exert positive impact on children.D.harm rather than help.(5).What is the author“s attitude towards maternal interference?（分数：2.00）A.Supportive.B.Biased.C.Impartial.D.Ironic.With Japan“s welfa
42、re system buckling under the demands of an ageing society, the world“s oldest man apologized yesterday for his longevity. As Tomoji Tanabe, 111, received his certificate from Guinness World Records, the former engineer, who never touches alcohol, said that his feat of survival was nothing special. “
43、I have been around too long,“ he joked, “I am sorry.“ Mr. Tanabe added his customary explanation of how he has managed to reach such a ripe old age: “Not drinking alcohol is the best formula for keeping myself healthy,“ he said. Other residents of his village attributed Mr. Tanabe“s long life to a d
44、iet that consists chiefly of vegetables and very little fried food. His explanation fuels a continuing mystery about the ideal formula for longevityas each new holder of the title is crowned, each attributes his or her success to diets, lifestyles and habits that differ widely. Some have said that f
45、resh air is the key, others have been heavy smokers. Some have taken vigorous exercise, others have sworn by periods of inactivity. The Mayor of Miyakonojo, the village where Mr. Tanabe lives with his family, presented the certificate to its famous resident after nearly five months of birthdate veri
46、fication by the Guinness World Records team. Mr. Tanabe unofficially inherited the title when its previous record-holder, Emiliano Mer-cado del Toro, of Puerto Rico, died in January, aged 115. The crowning of Mr. Tanabe, who was born in the southern island of Kyushi in 1895, brings the desired “doub
47、le trophy“ back to Japan. Yone Minagawa, who lives in the same area, is 114 and holds the title of world“s oldest woman. Japan“s population of the centenarians is the largest in the world. Most of the 28,000 Japanese who have made it beyond 100 are women and the highest concentration of the very eld
48、erly is in the southern part. The area around Hiroshima and the island of Okinawa are especially rich in former “world“s oldest“ title holders. The number of centenarians has risen 160-fold since records began in the 1960s. Although Japan is proud of its record-breaking longevity, the success of Mr.
49、 Tanabe comes as the country is running short of ideas for how to solve its ageing crisis. With the fertility rate still at record lows, government and private sector efforts to stimulate the birthrate have met with little success. As the number of children decreases, the future welfare burden for working-age Japanese may become intolerably large.（分数：10.00）(1).The word “buckling“(Line 1, Paragraph 1)most probab
