1、考研英语（阅读）-试卷 57 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）_King Juan Carlos of Spain once insisted “kings don“t
2、 abdicate, they die in their sleep.“ But embarrassing scandals and the popularity of the republican left in the recent Euro-elections have forced him to eat his words and stand down. So, does the Spanish crisis suggest that monarchy is seeing its last days? Does that mean the writing is on the wall
3、for all European royals, with their magnificent uniforms and majestic lifestyles? The Spanish case provides arguments both for and against monarchy. When public opinion is particularly polarised, as it was following the end of the Franco regime, monarchs can rise above “mere“ politics and “embody“ a
4、 spirit of national unity. It is this apparent transcendence of politics that explains monarchs, continuing popularity as heads of state. And so, the Middle East excepted, Europe is the most monarch-infested region in the world, with 10 kingdoms(not counting Vatican City and Andorra). But unlike the
5、ir absolutist counterparts in the Gulf and Asia, most royal families have survived because they allow voters to avoid the difficult search for a non-controversial but respected public figure. Even so, kings and queens undoubtedly have a downside. Symbolic of national unity as they claim to be, their
6、 very historyand sometimes the way they behave todayembodies outdated and indefensible privileges and inequalities. At a time when Thomes Piketty and other economists are warning of rising inequality and the increasing power of inherited wealth, it is bizarre that wealthy aristocratic families shoul
7、d still be the symbolic heart of modern democratic states. The most successful monarchies strive to abandon or hide their old aristocratic ways. Prince and princesses have day-jobs and ride bicycles, not horses(or helicopters). Even so, these are wealthy families who party with the international 1%,
8、 and media intrusiveness makes it increasingly difficult to maintain the right image. While Europe“ s monarchies will no doubt be smart enough to strive for some time to come, it is the British royals who have most to fear from the Spanish example. It is only the Queen who has preserved the monarchy
9、“ s reputation with her rather ordinary(if well-healed)granny style. The danger will come with Charles, who has both an expensive taste of lifestyle and a pretty hierarchical view of the world. He has failed to understand that monarchies have largely survived because they provide a serviceas non-con
10、troversial and non-political heads of state. Charles ought to know that as English history shows, it is kings, not republicans, who are the monarchy“ s worst enemies.（分数：10.00）(1).According to the first two paragraphs, King Juan Carl of Spain（分数：2.00）A.used to enjoy high public support.B.was unpopul
11、ar among European royals.C.ended his reign in embarrassment.D.eased his relationship with his rivals.(2).Monarchs are kept as heads of state in Europe mostly（分数：2.00）A.owing to their undoubted and respectable status.B.to achieve a balance between tradition and reality.C.to give voters more public fi
12、gures to look up to.D.due to their everlasting political embodiment.(3).Which of the following is shown to be odd, according to Paragraph 4?（分数：2.00）A.Aristocrats“ excessive reliance on inherited wealth.B.The simple lifestyle of the aristocratic families.C.The role of the nobility in modern democrac
13、ies.D.The nobility“ s adherence to their privileges.(4).The British royals “have most to fear“ because Charles（分数：2.00）A.takes a tough line on political issues.B.fails to change his lifestyle as advised.C.takes republicans as his potential allies.D.fails to adapt himself to his future role.(5).Which
14、 of the following is the best title of the text?（分数：2.00）A.Carlos, Glory and Disgrace CombinedB.Carlos, a Lesson for All European MonarchsC.Charles, Slow to React to the Coming ThreatsD.Charles, Anxious to Succeed to the ThroneIf you were to examine the birth certificates of every soccer player in 2
15、006“s World Cup tournament, you would most likely find a noteworthy quirk: elite soccer players are more likely to have been born in the earlier months of the year than in the later months. If you then examined the European national youth teams that feed the World Cup and professional ranks, you wou
16、ld find this strange phenomenon to be even more pronounced. What might account for this strange phenomenon? Here are a few guesses: a)certain astrological signs confer superior soccer skills; b)winter-born babies tend to have higher oxygen capacity, which increases soccer stamina; c)soccer-mad paren
17、ts are more likely to conceive children in springtime, at the annual peak of soccer mania ; d)none of the above. Anders Ericsson, a 58-year-old psychology professor at Florida State University, says he believes strongly in“none of the above.“ Ericsson grew up in Sweden, and studied nuclear engineeri
18、ng until he realized he would have more opportunity to conduct his own research if he switched to psychology. His first experiment, nearly 30 years ago, involved memory: training a person to hear and then repeat a random series of numbers. “With the first subject, after about 20 hours of training, h
19、is digit span had risen from 7 to 20,“ Ericsson recalls. “He kept improving, and after about 200 hours of training he had risen to over 80 numbers.“ This success, coupled with later research showing that memory itself is not genetically determined, led Ericsson to conclude that the act of memorizing
20、 is more of a cognitive exercise than an intuitive one. In other words, whatever inborn differences two people may exhibit in their abilities to memorize, those differences are swamped by how well each person “encodes“ the information. And the best way to learn how to encode information meaningfully
21、, Ericsson determined, was a process known as deliberate practice. Deliberate practice entails more than simply repeating a task. Rather, it involves setting specific goals, obtaining immediate feedback and concentrating as much on technique as on outcome. Ericsson and his colleagues have thus taken
22、 to studying expert performers in a wide range of pursuits, including soccer. They gather all the data they can, not just performance statistics and biographical details but also the results of their own laboratory experiments with high achievers. Their work makes a rather startling assertion: the t
23、rait we commonly call talent is highly overrated. Or, put another way, expert performerswhether in memory or surgery, ballet or computer programmingare nearly always made, not born.（分数：10.00）(1).The birthday phenomenon found among soccer players is mentioned to（分数：2.00）A.stress the importance of pro
24、fessional training.B.spotlight the soccer superstars in the World Cup.C.introduce the topic of what makes expert performance.D.explain why some soccer teams play better than others.(2).The word “mania“(Para. 2)most probably means（分数：2.00）A.fun.B.craze.C.hysteria.D.excitement.(3).According to Ericsso
25、n, good memory（分数：2.00）A.depends on meaningful processing of information.B.results from intuitive rather than cognitive exercises.C.is determined by genetic rather than psychological factors.D.requires immediate feedback and a high degree of concentration.(4).Ericsson and his colleagues believe that
26、（分数：2.00）A.talent is a dominating factor for professional success.B.biographical data provide the key to excellent performance.C.the role of talent tends to be overlooked.D.high achievers owe their success mostly to nurture.(5).Which of the following proverbs is closest to the message the text tries
27、 to convey?（分数：2.00）A.Faith will move mountains.B.One reaps what one sows.C.Practice makes perfect.D.Like father, like son.Many things make people think artists are weird. But the weirdest may be this: artists“ only job is to explore emotions, and yet they choose to focus on the ones that feel bad.
28、This wasn“t always so. The earliest forms of art, like painting and music, are those best suited for expressing joy. But somewhere from the 19th century onward, more artists began seeing happiness as meaningless, phony or, worst of all, boring, as we went from Wordsworth“s daffodils to Baudelaire“s
29、flowers of evil. You could argue that art became more skeptical of happiness because modern times have seen so much misery. But it“s not as if earlier times didn“t know perpetual war, disaster and the massacre of innocents. The reason, in fact, may be just the opposite: there is too much damn happin
30、ess in the world today. After all, what is the one modern form of expression almost completely dedicated to depicting happiness? Advertising. The rise of anti-happy art almost exactly tracks the emergence of mass media, and with it, a commercial culture in which happiness is not just an ideal but an
31、 ideology. People in earlier eras were surrounded by reminders of misery. They worked until exhausted, lived with few protections and died young. In the West, before mass communication and literacy, the most powerful mass medium was the church, which reminded worshippers that their souls were in dan
32、ger and that they would someday be meat for worms. Given all this, they did not exactly need their art to be a bummer too. Today the messages the average Westerner is surrounded with are not religious but commercial, and forever happy. Fast-food eaters, news anchors, text messengers, all smiling, sm
33、iling, smiling. Our magazines feature beaming celebrities and happy families in perfect homes. And since these messages have an agendato lure us to open our walletsthey make the very idea of happiness seem unreliable. “Celebrate!“commanded the ads for the arthritis drug Celebrex, before we found out
34、 it could increase the risk of heart attacks. But what we forgetwhat our economy depends on us forgettingis that happiness is more than pleasure without pain. The things that bring the greatest joy carry the greatest potential for loss and disappointment. Today, surrounded by promises of easy happin
35、ess, we need art to tell us, as religion once did, Memento mori: remember that you will die, that everything ends, and that happiness comes not in denying this but in living with it. It“s a message even more bitter than a clove cigarette, yet, somehow, a breath of fresh air.（分数：10.00）(1).By citing t
36、he examples of poets Wordsworth and Baudelaire, the author intends to show that（分数：2.00）A.poetry is not as expressive of joy as painting or music.B.art grows out of both positive and negative feelings.C.poets today are less skeptical of happiness.D.artists have changed their focus of interest.(2).Th
37、e word “bummer“(Para. 5)most probably means something（分数：2.00）A.religious.B.unpleasant.C.entertaining.D.commercial.(3).In the author“s opinion, advertising（分数：2.00）A.emerges in the wake of the anti-happy art.B.is a cause of disappointment for the general public.C.replaces the church as a major sourc
38、e of information.D.creates an illusion of happiness rather than happiness itself.(4).We can learn from the last paragraph that the author believes（分数：2.00）A.happiness more often than not ends in sadness.B.the anti-happy art is distasteful but refreshing.C.misery should be enjoyed rather than denied.
39、D.the anti-happy art flourishes when economy booms.(5).Which of the following is true of the text?（分数：2.00）A.Religion once functioned as a reminder of misery.B.Art provides a balance between expectation and reality.C.People feel disappointed at the realities of modern society.D.Mass media are inclin
40、ed to cover disasters and deaths.Homework has never been terribly popular with students and even many parents, but in recently years it has been particularly scorned. School districts across the country, most recently Los Angeles Unified, are revising their thinking on this educational ritual. Unfor
41、tunately, L.A. Unified has produced an inflexible policy which mandates that with the exception of some advanced courses, homework may no longer count for more than 10% of a student“ s academic grade. This rule is meant to address the difficulty that students from impoverished or chaotic homes might
42、 have in completing their homework. But the policy is unclear and contradictory. Certainly, no homework should be assigned that students cannot complete on their own or that they cannot do without expensive equipment. But if the district is essentially giving a pass to students who do not do their h
43、omework because of complicated family lives, it is going riskily close to the implication that standards need to be lowered for poor children. District administrators say that homework will still be a part of schooling; teachers are allowed to assign as much of it as they want. But with homework cou
44、nting for no more than 10% of their grades, students can easily skip half their homework and see very little difference on their report cards. Some students might do well on state tests without completing their homework, but what about the students who performed well on the tests and did their homew
45、ork? It is quite possible that the homework helped. Yet rather than empowering teachers to find what works best for their students, the policy imposes a flat, across-the-board rule. At the same time, the policy addresses none of the truly thorny questions about homework. If the district finds homewo
46、rk to be unimportant to its students“ academic achievement, it should move to reduce or eliminate the assignments, not make them count for almost nothing. Conversely, if homework matters, it should account for a significant portion of the grade. Meanwhile, this policy does nothing to ensure that the
47、 homework students receive is meaningful or appropriate to their age and the subject, or that teachers are not assigning more than they are willing to review and correct. The homework rules should be put on hold while the school board, which is responsible for setting educational policy, looks into
48、the matter and conducts public hearings. It is not too late for L.A. Unified to do homework right.（分数：10.00）(1).It is implied in Paragraph 1 that nowadays homework（分数：2.00）A.is receiving more criticism.B.is no longer an educational ritual.C.is not required for advanced courses.D.is gaining more pref
49、erences.(2).L.A. Unified has made the rule about homework mainly because poor students（分数：2.00）A.tend to have moderate expectations for their education.B.have asked for a different educational standard.C.may have problems finishing their homework.D.have voiced their complaints about homework.(3).According to Paragraph 3, one problem with the policy is that it may（分数：2.00）A.discourage students from doing homewo
