1、2014 年考研英语（二）真题试卷及答案与解析一、Section I Use of EnglishDirections: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D. (10 points) 0 Thinner isn t always better. A number of studies have【C1】_that normal-weight people are in fact at higher risk of some diseases c
2、ompared to those who are overweight. And there are health conditions for which being overweight is actually【C2】_. For example, heavier women are less likely to develop calcium deficiency than thin women. 【C3】_, among the elderly, being somewhat overweight is often an【C4】_of good health. Of even grea
3、ter【C5】_is the fact that obesity turns out to be very difficult to define. It is often defined【 C6】_body mass index, or BMI. BMI【C7 】_body mass divided by the square of height. An adult with a BMI of 18 to 25 is often considered to be normal weight. Between 25 and 30 is overweight. And over 30 is co
4、nsidered obese. Obesity, 【C8】_, can be divided into moderately obese, severely obese, and very severely obese.While such numerical standards seem【C9】_, they are not. Obesity is probably less a matter of weight than body fat. Some people with a high BMI are in fact extremely fit, 【C10】_others with a
5、low BMI may be in poor【C11】_. For example, many collegiate and professional football players【C12】_as obese, though their percentage body fat is low. Conversely, someone with a small frame may have high body fat but a【C13】_BMI.Today we have a(an) 【C14】_to label obesity as a disgrace. The overweight a
6、re sometimes【C15 】_in the media with their faces covered. Stereotypes【C16】_with obesity include laziness, lack of will power, and lower prospects for success. Teachers, employers, and health professionals have been shown to harbor biases against the obese. 【C17】_very young children tend to look down
7、 on the overweight, and teasing about body build has long been a problem in schools.Negative attitudes toward obesity, 【C18 】_in health concerns, have stimulated a number of anti-obesity【C19】_My own hospital system has banned sugary drinks from its facilities. Many employers have instituted weight l
8、oss and fitness initiatives. Michelle Obama has launched a high-visibility campaign【C20】_childhood obesity, even claiming that it represents our greatest national security threat.1 【C1 】（A）denied（B） concluded（C） doubted（D）ensured2 【C2 】（A）protective（B） dangerous（C） sufficient（D）troublesome3 【C3 】（A）
9、Instead（B） However（C） Likewise（D）Therefore4 【C4 】（A）indicator（B） objective（C） origin（D）example5 【C5 】（A）impact（B） relevance（C） assistance（D）concern6 【C6 】（A）in terms of（B） in case of（C） in favor of（D）in respect of7 【C7 】（A）measures（B） determines（C） equals（D）modifies8 【C8 】（A）in essence（B） in contras
10、t（C） in turn（D）in part9 【C9 】（A）complicated（B） conservative（C） variable（D）straightforward10 【C10 】（A）so（B） while（C） since（D）unless11 【C11 】（A）shape（B） spirit（C） balance（D）taste12 【C12 】（A）start（B） qualify（C） retire（D）stay13 【C13 】（A）strange（B） changeable（C） normal（D）constant14 【C14 】（A）option（B） rea
11、son（C） opportunity（D）tendency15 【C15 】（A）employed（B） pictured（C） imitated（D）monitored16 【C16 】（A）compared（B） combined（C） settled（D）associated17 【C17 】（A）Even（B） Still（C） Yet（D）Only18 【C18 】（A）despised（B） corrected（C） ignored（D）grounded19 【C19 】（A）discussions（B） businesses（C） policies（D）studies20 【C2
12、0 】（A）for（B） against（C） with（D）withoutPart ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)20 What would you do with? $ 590m? This is now a question for Gloria Mackenzie, an 84-year-old widow who recently emerged from her small, t
13、in-roofed house in Florida to collect the biggest undivided lottery jackpot in history. If she hopes her new-found fortune will yield lasting feelings of fulfillment, she could do worse than read Happy Money by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton.These two academics use an array of behavioral research
14、 to show that the most rewarding ways to spend money can be counterintuitive. Fantasies of great wealth often involve visions of fancy cars and extravagant homes. Yet satisfaction with these material purchases wears off fairly quickly. What was once exciting and new becomes old-hat; regret creeps in
15、. It is far better to spend money on experiences, say Ms. Dunn and Mr. Norton, like interesting trips, unique meals or even going to the cinema. These purchases often become more valuable with timeas stories or memories particularly if they involve feeling more connected to others.This slim volume i
16、s packed with tips to help wage slaves as well as lottery winners get the most “ happiness bang for your buck.“ It seems most people would be better off if they could shorten their commutes to work, spend more time with friends and family and less of it watching television(something the average Amer
17、ican spends a whopping two months a year doing, and is hardly jollier for it). Buying gifts or giving to charity is often more pleasurable than purchasing things for oneself, and luxuries are most enjoyable when they are consumed sparingly. This is apparently the reason MacDonald s restricts the ava
18、ilability of its popular McRib a marketing trick that has turned the pork sandwich into an object of obsession.Readers of Happy Money are clearly a privileged lot, anxious about fulfillment, not hunger. Money may not quite buy happiness, but people in wealthier countries are generally happier than t
19、hose in poor ones. Yet the link between feeling good and spending money on others can be seen among rich and poor people around the world, and scarcity enhances the pleasure of most things for most people. Not everyone will agree with the authors policy ideas, which range from mandating more holiday
20、 time to reducing tax incentives for American homebuyers. But most people will come away from this book believing it was money well spent.21 According to Dunn and Norton, which of the following is the most rewarding purchase?（A）A big house.（B） A special tour.（C） A stylish car.（D）A rich meal.22 The a
21、uthor s attitude toward Americans watching TV is_.（A）critical（B） supportive（C） sympathetic（D）ambiguous23 McRib is mentioned in Paragraph 3 to show that_.（A）consumers are sometimes irrational（B） popularity usually comes after quality（C） marketing tricks are often effective（D）rarity generally increase
22、s pleasure24 According to the last paragraph, Happy Money_.（A）has left much room for readers criticism（B） may prove to be a worthwhile purchase（C） has predicted a wider income gap in the US（D）may give its readers a sense of achievement25 This text mainly discusses how to_.（A）balance feeling good and
23、 spending money（B） spend large sums of money won in lotteries（C） obtain lasting satisfaction from money spent（D）become more reasonable in spending on luxuries25 An article in Scientific American has pointed out that empirical research says that, actually, you think you re more beautiful than you are
24、. We have a deep-seated need to feel good about ourselves and we naturally employ a number of self-enhancing strategies to achieve this. Social psychologists have amassed oceans of research into what they call the “ above average effect“ , or “ illusory superiority“ ,and shown that, for example, 70%
25、 of us rate ourselves as above average in leadership, 93% in driving and 85% at getting on well with othersall obviously statistical impossibilities.We rose-tint our memories and put ourselves into self-affirming situations. We become defensive when criticised, and apply negative stereotypes to othe
26、rs to boost our own esteem. We stalk around thinking we re hot stuff.Psychologist and behavioral scientist Nicholas Epley oversaw a key study into self-enhancement and attractiveness. Rather than have people simply rate their beauty compared with others,he asked them to identify an original photogra
27、ph of themselves from a lineup including versions that had been altered to appear more and less attractive. Visual recognition,reads the study, is “an automatic psychological process occurring rapidly and intuitively with little or no apparent conscious deliberation“. If the subjects quickly chose a
28、 falsely flattering image which most did they genuinely believed it was really how they looked.Epley found no significant gender difference in responses. Nor was there any evidence that those who self-enhanced the most(that is, the participants who thought the most positively doctored pictures were
29、real)were doing so to make up for profound insecurities. In fact, those who thought that the images higher up the attractiveness scale were real directly corresponded with those who showed other markers for having higher self-esteem. “ I don t think the findings that we have are any evidence of pers
30、onal delusion“, says Epley. “Its a reflection simply of people generally thinking well of themselves“. If you are depressed, you wont be self-enhancing.Knowing the results of Epley s study, it makes sense that many people hate photographs of themselves so viscerallyon one level, they don t even reco
31、gnise the person in the picture as themselves. Facebook, therefore, is a self-enhancer s paradise, where people can share only the most flattering photos, the cream of their wit, style, beauty, intellect and lifestyle. “It s not that people s profiles are dishonest“, says Catalina Toma of Wisconsin-
32、Madison University, “but they portray an idealized version of themselves“.26 According to the first paragraph, social psychologists have found that_.（A）our self-ratings are unrealistically high（B） illusory superiority is baseless effect（C） our need for leadership is unnatural（D）self-enhancing strate
33、gies are ineffective27 Visual recognition is believed to be people s_.（A）rapid watching（B） conscious choice（C） intuitive response（D）automatic self-defence28 Epley found that people with higher self-esteem tended to_.（A）underestimate their insecurities（B） believe in their attractiveness（C） cover up t
34、heir depressions（D）oversimplify their illusions29 The word “viscerally“(Line 2,Para.5)is closest in meaning to_.（A）instinctively（B） occasionally（C） particularly（D）aggressively30 It can be inferred that Facebook is self-enhancer s paradise because people can（A）present their dishonest profiles（B） defi
35、ne their traditional lifestyles（C） share their intellectual pursuits（D）withhold their unflattering sides30 The concept of man versus machine is at least as old as the industrial revolution, but this phenomenon tends to be most acutely felt during economic downturns and fragile recoveries. And yet, i
36、t would be a mistake to think we are right now simply experiencing the painful side of a boom and bust cycle. Certain jobs have gone away for good, outmoded by machines. Since technology has such an insatiable appetite for eating up human jobs, this phenomenon will continue to restructure our econom
37、y in ways we can t immediately foresee.When there is exponential improvement in the price and performance of technology, jobs that were once thought to be immune from automation suddenly become threatened. This argument has attracted a lot of attention, via the success of the book Race Against the M
38、achine, by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, who both hail from MIT s Center for Digital Business.This is a powerful argument, and a scary one. And yet, John Hagel, author of The Power of Pull and other books, says Brynjolfsson and McAfee miss the reason why these jobs are so vulnerable to techno
39、logy in the first place.Hagel says we have designed jobs in the U.S. that tend to be “tightly scripted“ and “highly standardized“ ones that leave no room for “individual initiative or creativity.“ In short, these are the types of jobs that machines can perform much better at than human beings. That
40、is how we have put a giant target sign on the backs of American workers, Hagel says.It s time to reinvent the formula for how work is conducted, since we are still relying on a very 20th century notion of work, Hagel says. In our rapidly changing economy, we more than ever need people in the workpla
41、ce who can take initiative and exercise their imagination “to respond to unexpected events.“ That s not something machines are good at. They are designed to perform very predictable activities.As Hagel notes, Brynjolfsson and McAfee indeed touched on this point in their book. We need to reframe race
42、 against the machine as race with the machine. In other words, we need to look at the ways in which machines can augment human labor rather than replace it. So then the problem is not really about technology, but rather, “how do we innovate our institutions and our work practices?“31 According to th
43、e first paragraph, economic downturns would_.（A）ease the competition of man vs. machine（B） highlight machines threat to human jobs（C） provoke a painful technological revolution（D）outmode our current economic structure32 The authors of Race Against the Machine argue that_.（A）technology is diminishing
44、 man s job opportunities（B） automation is accelerating technological development（C） certain jobs will remain intact after automation（D）man will finally win the race against machine33 Hagel argues that jobs in the U.S. are often_.（A）performed by innovative minds（B） scripted with an individual style（C
45、） standardized without a clear target（D）designed against human creativity34 According to the last paragraph, Brynjolfsson and McAfee discussed_.（A）the predictability of machine behavior in practice（B） the formula for how work is conducted efficiently（C） the ways machines replace human labor in moder
46、n times（D）the necessity of human involvement in the workplace35 Which of the following could be the most appropriate title for the text?（A）How to Innovate Our Work Practices（B） Machines will Replace Human Labor（C） Can We Win the Race Against Machines（D）Economic Downturns Stimulate Innovations35 When
47、 the government talks about infrastructure contributing to the economy the focus is usually on roads, railways, broadband and energy. Housing is seldom mentioned.Why is that? To some extent the housing sector must shoulder the blame. We have not been good at communicating the real value that housing
48、 can contribute to economic growth. Then there is the scale of the typical housing project. It is hard to shove for attention among multibillion-pound infrastructure projects, so it is inevitable that the attention is focused elsewhere. But perhaps the most significant reason is that the issue has a
49、lways been so politically charged. This government does not want to see a return to large-scale provision of council housing, so it is naturally wary of measures that will lead us down that route.Nevertheless, the affordable housing situation is desperate. Waiting lists increase all the time and we are simply not building enough new homes.The comprehensive spending review offers an opportunit
