1、2010年湖北省考博英语真题试卷及答案与解析 一、 Reading Comprehension 0 For most of us, work is the central, dominating fact of life. We spend more than half our conscious hours at work, preparing for work, travelling to and from work. What we do there largely determines our standard of living and to a considerable exten
2、t the status we are accorded by our fellow citizens as well. It is sometimes said that because leisure has become more important, the indignities and injustices of work can be pushed into a corner, that because more work is pretty intolerable, the people who do it should compensate for its boredom,
3、frustrations and humiliations by concentrating their hopes on the other parts of their lives. I reject that as a counsel of despair. For the foreseeable future the material and psychological rewards which work can provide, and the conditions in which work is done, will continue to play a vital part
4、in determining the satisfaction that life can offer. Yet only a small minority can control the pace at which they work or the conditions in which their work is done; only for a small minority does work offer scope for creativity, imagination, or initiative. Inequality at work and in work is still on
5、e of the cruelest and most glaring forms of inequality in our society. We cannot hope to solve the more obvious problems of industrial life, many of which arise directly or indirectly from the inequality at work. Still less can we hope to create a decent and humane society. The most glaring inequali
6、ty is that between managers and the rest. For most managers, work is an opportunity and a challenge. Their jobs engage their interest and allow them to develop their abilities. They are able to exercise responsibility; they have a considerable degree of control over their own and others working live
7、s. Most important of all, they have the opportunity to initiate. By contrast, for most manual workers, work is a boring, monotonous, even painful experience. They spend all their working lives in conditions which would be regarded as intolerable for themselves by those who take the decisions which l
8、et such conditions continue. The majority have little control over their work; it provides them with no opportunity for personal development. Often production is so designed that workers are simply part of the technology. In offices, many jobs are so routine that workers justifiably feel themselves
9、to be mere cogs in the bureaucratic machine. As a direct consequence of their work experience, many workers feel alienated from their work and their firm, whether it is in public or in private ownership. 1 According to the author, its true about work that_. （ A） ones happy life largely depends on wh
10、ether his work is rewarding （ B） concentrating on your work is counsel when you are in despair （ C） people should try to avoid the intolerable unfairness of work （ D） dignity becomes more and more important than work 2 What advantage do managers have over the other workers? （ A） They can control oth
11、er peoples lives. （ B） They can make their own decisions. （ C） They can work at whatever interests them. （ D） They can get time off to attend courses. 3 Working conditions generally remain bad because_. （ A） the workers lose their interests to change them （ B） few people can decide what to do about
12、them （ C） office workers want to protect their positions （ D） managers do not want to change them 4 What frustrates the workers in a modern society? （ A） Their work interferes with their private lives. （ B） They are incapable of doing their work properly. （ C） They feel they are just a small and sub
13、ordinate part of it. （ D） Their lives are complicated due to technological advances. 4 The uniqueness of the Japanese character is the result of two seemingly contradictory forces: the strength of traditions and selective receptivity to foreign achievements and inventions. As early as the 1860s ther
14、e were counter movements to the traditional orientation. One of the famous spokesmen of Japans “Enlightenment“ claimed “the Confucian civilization of the East seems to me to lack two things possessed by Western civilization: science in the material sphere and a sense of independence in the spiritual
15、 sphere.“ Another break of relative liberalism followed World War I, when the democratic idealism of President Woodrow Wilson had an important impact on Japanese intellectuals and especially students: but more important was the Leninist ideology of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Again in the early 1
16、930s, nationalism and militarism became dominant. Following the end of World War II, substantial changes were undertaken in Japan to liberate the individual from authoritarian restraints. The new democratic value system was accepted by many teachers, students, intellectuals, and old liberals, but it
17、 was not immediately embraced by the society as a whole. Japanese traditions were dominated by group values, and notions of personal freedom and individual rights were unfamiliar. Today, democratic processes are clearly evident in the widespread participation of the Japanese people in social and pol
18、itical life. School textbooks emphasize equality over hierarchy and rationalism over tradition; but in practice these values are often misinterpreted and distorted, particularly by the youth who translate the individualistic and humanistic goals of democracy into egoistic and materialistic ones. Mos
19、t Japanese people have consciously rejected Confucianism, but leftovers of the old order remain. An important feature of relationships in many institutions, including political parties and university is, the oyabun-kobun or parent-child relation. The corresponding loyalty of the individual to his pa
20、tron reinforces his allegiance to the group to which they both belong. A willingness to cooperate with other members of the group and to support without qualification the interests of the group in all its external relations is still a widely respected virtue. The oyabun-kobun creates ladders of mobi
21、lity which an individual can ascend, rising as far as abilities permit, so long as he maintains successful personal ties with a superior in the vertical channel, the latter requirement usually taking precedence over a need for exceptional competence. As a consequence, there is little horizontal rela
22、tionship between people with the same profession. 5 The spokesman of Japans “Enlightenment“ thought that_. （ A） the traditional culture should be replaced by western modernization （ B） Japanese ought to forsake the Confucian civilization of the East （ C） the Confucian civilization in Japan should be
23、 dominant （ D） Japan should introduce western civilization 6 Which of the following statements about Japans culture is true? （ A） Substantial changes in democratic process have taken place during World War II. （ B） Nowadays the traditional Confucianism is a necessary part of the society in Japan. （
24、C） Today the Confucianism outweighs the democratic value system in universities of Japan. （ D） The democratic idea was not accepted by the society after World War II. 7 The relationship of oyabun-kobun can be between_. （ A） a shop owner and a customer （ B） a CEO and an employee （ C） a politician and
25、 an opponent （ D） a judge and a lawyer 8 In the last paragraph, the author implies that _. （ A） respect for authority plays a more important role in promotion （ B） western values have overwhelmed traditional Japanese attitudes （ C） colleagues are more closely related to each other than before （ D） m
26、ost Japanese workers are members of a single party 8 Before a big exam, a sound nights sleep will do you more good than poring over textbooks. That, at least, is the folk wisdom. And science, in the form of behavioral psychology, supports that wisdom. But such behavioral studies cannot distinguish b
27、etween two competing theories of why sleep is good for the memory. One says that sleep is when permanent memories form. The other says that they are actually formed during the day, but then “edited“ at night, to flush away what is superfluous. To tell the difference, it is necessary to look into the
28、 brain of a sleeping person, and that is hard. But after a decade of painstaking work, a team led by Pierre Maquet at Liege University in Belgium has managed to do it. The particular stage of sleep in which the Belgian group is interested in is rapid eye movement(REM)sleep, when brain and body are a
29、ctive, heart rate and blood pressure increase, the eyes move back and forth behind the eyelids as if watching a movie, and brainwave traces resemble those of wakefulness. It is during this period of sleep that people are most likely to relive events of the previous day in dreams. Dr. Maquet used an
30、electronic device called PET to study the brains of people as they practiced a task during the day, and as they slept during the following night. The task required them to press a button as fast as possible, in response to a light coming on in one of six positions. As they learnt how to do this, the
31、ir response times got faster. What they did not know was that the appearance of the lights sometimes followed a pattern what is referred to as “artificial grammar“. Yet the reductions in response time showed that they learnt faster when the pattern was present than when there was not. What is more,
32、those with more to learn(i.e., the “grammar“, as well as the mechanical task of pushing the button)have more active brains. The “editing“ theory would not predict that, since the number of irrelevant stimuli would be the same in each case. And to eliminate any doubts that the experimental subjects w
33、ere learning as opposed to unlearning, their response times when they woke up were even quicker than when they went to sleep. The team, therefore, concluded that the nerve connections involved in memory are reinforced through reactivation during REM sleep, particularly if the brain detects an inhere
34、nt structure in the material being learnt. So now, on the eve of that crucial test, maths students can sleep soundly in the knowledge that what they will remember the next day are the basic rules of algebra and not the incoherent talk from the radio next door. 9 The phrase “poring over“ in the first
35、 sentence of the passage may be best interpreted as_. （ A） looking interestingly at （ B） learning without hesitation （ C） studying with close attention （ D） memorizing with a fast pace 10 The reason why sleep is good for the memory_. （ A） is to be clarified by behavior psychology （ B） is rooted in i
36、ts function of relaxing the brain （ C） lies in its contribution to the formation of lasting memories （ D） sterns from its compiling memories and ridding things unwanted 11 The experimenters found that their subjects_. （ A） learned quickly how to respond to the light stimuli （ B） picked up the “artif
37、icial grammar“ during their REM sleep （ C） pushed the button faster in the absence of the light pattern （ D） increased their response time as they learnt the “artificial grammar“ 12 The Belgian group reached the conclusion that_. （ A） the brain works more efficiently by knowing a set pattern of thin
38、gs （ B） the second theory failed to cover all the brain response during sleep （ C） REM sleep reactivates connections between the nerves and the memory （ D） its beyond doubt that the subjects were learning in contrast to unlearning 12 The history of modern pollution problems shows that most have resu
39、lted from negligence and ignorance. We have an appalling tendency to interfere with nature before all of the possible consequences of our actions have been studied in depth. We produce and distribute radioactive substances, synthetic chemicals, and many of other powerful compounds before fully compr
40、ehending their effects on living organisms. Our education is dangerously incomplete. It will be argued that the purpose of science is to move into unknown territory, to explore, and to discover. It can be said that similar risks have been taken before, and that these risks are necessary to technolog
41、ical progress. These arguments overlook an important element. In the past, risks taken in the name of scientific progress were restricted to a small place and a brief period of time. The effects of the processes we now strive to master are neither localized nor brief. Air pollution covers vast urban
42、 areas. Ocean pollutants have been discovered in nearly every part of the world. Synthetic chemicals spread over huge stretches of forest and farmland may remain in the soil for decades. Radioactive pollutants will be found in the biosphere for generations. The size and persistence of these problems
43、 have grown with the expanding power of modern science. One might also argue that the hazards of modern pollutants are small compared with the dangers associated with other human activity. No estimate of the actual harm done by smog, fallout, or chemical residues can obscure the reality that the ris
44、ks are being taken before being fully understood. The importance of these issues lies in the failure of science to predict and control human intervention into natural processes. The true measure of the danger is represented by the hazards we will encounter if we enter the new age of technology witho
45、ut first evaluating our responsibility to the environment. 13 According to the author, the major cause of pollution is the result of_. （ A） a strong desire to move into unknown territory （ B） a lack of understanding the history of technology （ C） designing synthetic chemicals to kill living organism
46、s （ D） changing our environment without fully considering risks 14 According to the passage, the risks brought about by modern science are greater than those by earlier scientific efforts because_. （ A） the effects may be felt by more people for a long time （ B） technology has produced more dangerou
47、s chemicals （ C） science is progressing faster than ever before （ D） the modern pollutants have been localized 15 In the authors opinion, the key to the settlement of the modern pollution lies in_. （ A） the expansion of modern science （ B） the disposal of potential pollutants （ C） the awareness of o
48、ur responsibility （ D） the human interference with nature 16 It can be inferred that the attitude of scientists towards pollution has been_. （ A） naive （ B） concerned （ C） worried （ D） nonchalant 16 Crimes by children have been rising at a faster rate than the juvenile population. About half of such
49、 crimes involve the traditional youthful offenses of theft, breaking and entering, and vandalism, but serious, violent crimes are going up at a startling rate. The rate of armed robbery, rape, and murder by juveniles has doubled in a decade. If all the need of the adolescent could be met adequately and without delay, without violating laws, there would be no point in violation, and a minimum of internal, indirect, and direct control would suffice to secure conformity. The objection may be made that many viola
