1、考研英语（阅读）-试卷 95 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）_Perhaps the most ambitious long-term health study ev
2、er planned by the National Institutes of Health (NET) has been hit by a NASA style price shock: Once estimated at $3 billion over 25 years, the actual cost could be twice that much. The problem became public last week at a Capitol Hill hearing on the NIH budget. Acting NIH Director Raynard Kington s
3、aid he has launched a high-level re-view of the plan to track the health of 100,000 children from before birth to age 21 and that the study will likely be scaled back. The National Children“s Study (NCS) grew out of a 2000 congressional directive to NIH to determine how environmental influences, fro
4、m chemical contaminants to video games, shape the development of children and affect diseases such as autism and obesity. Researchers plan to recruit a diverse group of pregnant mothers at 105 sites around the United States by knocking on randomly selected doors. Congress provided $192 million in fu
5、nding this year to set up the sites and launch a pilot study. Kington says he became concerned in early January after being informed of his staffs latest cost projections. It was since then that Kington realized “there was a fundamental problem in estimating the true costs.“ In order to turn things
6、around, Kington has now added “greatly heightened oversight.“ That includes asking Claude Lenfant, former director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, to return to NIH as his adviser on the study. NIH will also take a longer pause than originally planned after the 1-year pilot, which b
7、egan in January at two of seven sites, to revise the protocol and reassess the costs. When trimming begins, Kington says he hopes the 100,000 sample size will be “the last thing“ considered for cuts. But the size, number of hypotheses, and the protocols are all on the table. Pediatrician Philip Land
8、rigan, who helped conceive the NCS, hopes not to lose components such as in-home detailed assessments of each child“s development, which are expensive. “We“re just waiting to see how this works out,“ says Landrigan, whose team has knocked on more than 1000 doors in Queens and foundthat many women se
9、em interested. The budget problems come as no surprise to former NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, who wanted to avoid funding for the NCS. Zerhouni says he had “severe reservations“ about the potential cost and felt NIH should complete the pilot before any decisions were made about proceeding with the f
10、ull study. Instead, “Congress interfered“ by providing the money to move ahead anyway. “It was political management,“ Zerhouni says, and “I don“t think people should be shocked“ at the result.（分数：10.00）(1).It can be inferred from Paragraph 1 that the most ambitious long-term health study _.（分数：2.00）
11、A.was planned in a NASA styleB.has met personnel problemsC.will be halted for its huge costD.is very likely to reduce budget(2).National Children“s Study aims to _.（分数：2.00）A.recruit pregnant mothers as main subjects to study the environmentB.confirm 105 sites around the US are suitable for pilot st
12、udiesC.verify whether environmental pollution causes various diseaseD.explore the link between environment and the growth of children(3).After being informed of the latest cost projections, Kington _.（分数：2.00）A.asked his staff to report on the latest cost figuresB.asked Claude Lenfant to resume his
13、post in NTHC.decided that NIH would end the pilot until costs are reevaluatedD.agreed that NIH would take a while to amend the project(4).According to Paragraph 4, which of the following is true of the trimming?（分数：2.00）A.The number of hypotheses would be decreased.B.The sample size would be finaliz
14、ed later on.C.The protocols would be the focus of discussion.D.In-home assessments would be prolonged.(5).Former NIH Director Elias Zerhouni_.（分数：2.00）A.felt it reckless to complete the pilotB.had foreseen such a serious cost problemC.thought it was time to make the final decisionD.maintained that C
15、ongress interference was no goodWhy in an age of advanced technology, should so many people still cling to an ancient belief? In part it must be because astrologyclaims to tell us something about ourselves, and all of us are interested in ourselves. I think it is because astrology is presented as if
16、 it were a science by its modern practitioner, and many people are misled by this. In fact, astrology was never a science. It was not a hypothesis or theory developed to describe natural phenomena, and until fairly recent times, there was not attempt to test or verify its predictions. Astrology bega
17、n approximately three thousand years ago in Babylonia; it was applied to monarchs and kingdoms, but not to individuals. It spread in the 6th century BC as far as India, where it flourishes today. The Egyptians, meanwhile, developed their own kind of astrology. But the astrology now practiced in Euro
18、pe and America is that developed by the Greeks, who synthesized the ideas of the Babylonians and Egyptians and enriched them with concepts from their own fertile imaginations. The Greeks believed that the earth was composed of four elements, and the heavens of a perfect crystalline material. The pla
19、nets themselves were variously thought to be gods, residences of gods, or at least manifestations of gods. The gods were immortal, but otherwise had the same attributes of anger, happiness, jealousy, rage and pleasure as we do. Now if what the gods“ thought was capricious, at least the planets were
20、predictable in their movements. Because our own lot in life is so unpredictable, it must be purely at the mercy of gods. But if the gods are the planets, or somehow associated with them, then we have only to learn the rules of the motions of the planets to understand the whims of the gods and how th
21、ey shape our own lives. So the belief developed that each of our lives is preordained by the precise configuration of the planets in the sky at the time of our birth. Astrology could not, of course, have seemed as incredible to the ancients as it does to us. The role of the sun influencing our daily
22、 and yearly lives is obvious; it was a natural extension to attribute other powers to the other planets as well. It wasn“t until the time of Newton that we understood that the laws of Nature apply to the celestial worlds as well as to the terrestrial one. During antiquity, however, all great scholar
23、s believed in astrology.（分数：10.00）(1).Many people are misled by astrology because it is presented by the practitioners as _.（分数：2.00）A.a theory that can describe natural phenomenaB.a magical key to understanding themselvesC.an ancient belief that had long been applied to monarchsD.a mysterious power
24、 beyond the explanation of science(2).While the Greeks developed astrology, they believed that _.（分数：2.00）A.the earth was made up of four elements and the heavensB.the heavens were made up of a material of pure crystalC.the ideas of the Babylonians were not imaginativeD.their ideas would soon spread
25、 throughout Europe(3).It is implied in Paragraph 2 that astrology is based on the belief that _.（分数：2.00）A.the gods“ intentions were hard to predictB.the fate of our lives are unpredictableC.the gods are closely related to the planetsD.the gods have the same attributes as we do(4).What is true about
26、 the scholars before the time of Newton?（分数：2.00）A.Some of them were convinced by astrology.B.They didn“t know the laws of Nature apply to all planets.C.They played important roles in the development of astrology.D.Most of them found astrology incredible.(5).What is the author“s purpose in writing t
27、he text?（分数：2.00）A.To cast doubt on the origin of astrology.B.To compare astrology with real sciences.C.To point out the popularity of astrology.D.To justify the incredibility of astrology.“Ah, yes, divorce“, Robin Williams once mused, “from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man“s genitals through
28、 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 firm, suggested that theeconomic downturn will prompt a
29、n 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 people.A third of current inquiries to lawyers by thos
30、e 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 bust, redundancies are becoming commonplace and huge
31、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 addressing difficulties in their relationship, which come t
32、o 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 house prices put pressure on marriages and might thus cont
33、ribute 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 become much more choosy. “A flagging economy clearly leads
34、 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 after divorce, which raises its own problems. Godfrey Fr
35、eeman, 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 paid, even if they have no cash of their own to cover
36、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 dictionaryB.a downright fact that divorce is linked to economyC.an interesting quote of a famous person about divorceD.a statistic survey that
37、 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 styleB.caused some changes in family structuresC.encouraged more lawyers to consider divorce casesD.resulted from the divorce trends(3).
38、The statement “it makes sense to divorce sooner rather than later“ (Para 3) is used to show that_.（分数：2.00）A.the relationship between divorce and economy is well-groundedB.the divorce wave will finally calm down and disappearC.wealthy couples are encouraged to settle down as soon as possibleD.people
39、 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 upB.they are forced to consider economic situations after the divorceC.the link between divorce and money is
40、 as evident as in the cases of rich couplesD.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 family.B.Economic depression is sure to have caused the social instability.
41、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.A woman with a twin brother has fewer children. Twin brothers can leave quite an impression. The mere presence of a boy in the same womb as his si
42、ster causes her to develop bigger teeth than she otherwise would. Girls with twin brothers perform better on spatial-ability tests. They have better ball skills than most females and are more likely to be short-sighted. Now it seems that sharingthe womb also has a harmful effect on the sexual reprod
43、uction of women with a twin brother. Virpi Lummaa of the University of Sheffield, in Britain, and her colleagues made the claim after studying detailed data from several generations of church records from many parishes in Finland. They report that women with a twin brother were 15% less likely to ge
44、t married than were women with a twin sister. Those with a male twin also had a 25% lower chance of giving birth even though they lived just as long as those with a female twin. When the researchers considered only married women, those with a twin brother on average had two fewer children during the
45、ir lifetimes than did women with a twin sister. And finallyto rule out any influence of sharing a house as well as a wombDr Lummaa checked the results were the same for women whose twin brothers died before they were three months old. The researchers reported their findings in this week“s Proceeding
46、s of the National Academy of Sciences. As with the teeth, the supposed cause of untypical female biology is early exposure to testosterone. This hormone is made by a male fetus“s developing testes from about seven weeks after conception and is thought to diffuse, thus influencing his sister“s growth
47、. But the exact mechanism by which a twin brother lowers his sister“s chances of reproductive success is unclear. Dr Lummaa“s results also suggest that, if a woman wishes to maximize the chances of passing on her genes, she would do better to avoid producing pairs of twins consisting of one boy and
48、one girl and go for a single-sex combination instead. Mothers included in the study who produced opposite-sex twins had 19% fewer grandchildren than did mothers who gave birth to same-sex twins. Evolutionary theory thus predicts that there should be fewer pairs of girl-and-boy non-identical twins th
49、an single-sex pairs of non-identical twins. Whether that is so requires another set of figures. Finnish church records, helpful as they are, do not distinguish non-identical same-sex twins from identical ones. In the eyes of God, unlike those of natural selection, twin girls are created equal.（分数：10.00）(1).Which of the following can be an impression on the sisters by twin
