1、考研英语二（阅读）模拟试卷 18 及答案与解析Part ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)0 Whats the engine that drives American business? Innovation? Sweat? Capital? Try coffee. From the shop floor to the boardroom, Javaand I dont mean the so
2、ft warefuels workers and shapes office culture. Whats more, a steaming cup of coffee may be as good for your health as it is for the bottom line.Many people take their coffee with a small dose of guilt, worried that it isnt good for the body. Thats a misunderstanding from studies done in the 1950s a
3、nd 1960s showing that coffee drinkers were prone to heart disease and other sufferings. These studies failed to account for cigarette smoking, which once went hand in cup with coffee drinking. Since then, the medical community has done a gradual turn on the health effects of coffee.Large, long-term
4、studies show that coffee doesnt promote cancer and may even protect against some types. Its safe for the heartso safe that the American Heart Association says its OK for heart attack survivors to have a cup or two a day even as they recover in the coronary care unit. Results from the long-running He
5、alth Professionals Follow-Up and Nurses Health studies show that drinking coffee cuts the risk of dying early from a heart attack or stroke.Its possible that the bean improves productivity, too. A bit of caffeine wakes up millions of workers in the morning. Controlled laboratory experiments indicate
6、 that it causes feelings of well-being and increases energy, alertness, and motivation. Functional MRI scans show that coffee activates parts of the brain involved in short-term memory, the kind that helps focus attention on tasks at hand.For all that, a word of warning is in order. The average cup
7、of coffee serves up about 100 milligrams of caffeine, and a large specialty coffee can deliver five times that much. If you arent used to caffeine, it can make you restless, boost your blood pressure, and dehydrate you. But the biggest health hazard is the extra stuff that drinkers add to coffee. Ta
8、ken black, coffee is a nearly calorie-free beverage full of antioxidants and other vegetable nutrients. Add cream, sugar, fresh cream, and flavorings, and it turns into a fat- and calorie-laden dessert, which can add pounds that offset any possible health benefits. For most people, though, the healt
9、h and social benefits of coffee outweigh the hazards, and the daily grind keeps American business spreading.1 It can be inferred from Paragraph 1 that coffee _.（A）leads to the prosperity of US business（B） shapes office culture along with software（C） makes workers more innovative and efficient（D）is b
10、eneficial to both workers and companies2 The studies in the 1950s and 1960s misunderstood coffee because they _.（A）exaggerated the harmful effects of coffee（B） overlooked other factors of drinking coffee（C） wanted to arouse a sense of guilt in coffee drinkers（D）intended to reduce cigarette smoking i
11、n this way3 According to Paragraph 4, the benefits of caffeine include _.（A）inadequate hours of sleep（B） having an addictive property（C） bringing about refreshment（D）prolonging duration of attention4 The word “offset“ (Line 6, Para. 5) is closest in meaning to _.（A）get rid of（B） balance out（C） outwe
12、igh（D）weaken5 It can be learned from the last paragraph that_.（A）we should not encourage drinking coffee（B） black coffee is healthy and caffeine-free（C） coffee is regarded as a high-fat food（D）the extra stuff added to coffee does much harm5 What happens when you combine product design skills, high-p
13、owered market research techniques, and abundant customer data? Too often, the result is devices that suffer from “feature creep“ or the return of billions of dollars worth of merchandise by customers who wanted something different after all. That kind of waste is bad enough in normal times, but in a
14、 downturn it can take a fearsome toll.The trouble is that most customer-preference rating tools used in product development today are blunt instruments, primarily because consumers have a hard time articulating their real desires. Asked to rate a long list of product attributes on a scale of 1 (“com
15、pletely unimportant“) to 10 (“extremely important“), customers are apt to say they want many or even most of them. To solve that problem, companies need a way to help customers sharpen the distinction between “nice to have“ and “gotta have.“Some companies are beginning to pierce the fog using a rese
16、arch technique called “Maxdiff“ (Maximum Difference Scaling), which was pioneered in the 1990s. It requires customers to make a sequence of explicit trade-offs. Researchers begin by amassing a list of product or brand attributes that represent potential benefits. Then they present respondents with s
17、ets of four or so attributes at a time, asking them to select which attribute of each set they prefer most and least. Subsequent rounds of mixed groupings enable the researchers to identify the standing of each attribute relative to all the others by the number of times customers select it as their
18、most or least important consideration.A popular restaurant chain recently used MaxDiff to understand why its expansion efforts were failing. In a series of focus groups and preference surveys, consumers agreed about what they wanted: more healthful meal options and updated decoration. But when the c
19、hains heavily promoted new menu was rolled out, the marketing team was dismayed by the results. Customers found the complex new choices confusing, and sales were sluggish in the more contemporary new outlets. The companys marketers decided to cast the range of preferences more broadly. Using MaxDiff
20、, they asked customers to compare eight attributes and came to a striking realization. The results showed that prompt service of hot meals and a convenient location were far more important to customers than healthful items and modern furnishings.The ability to predict how customers will behave can b
21、e extremely powerful. Companies planning cross-border product rollouts need a tool that is free of cultural bias. And as customer tastes fragment, product development teams need reliable techniques for drawing bright lines between customer segments based on the features that matter most to each grou
22、p. Companies are starting to apply MaxDiff analysis to those issues as well.6 The result of the combination of the three things mentioned in Paragraph 1 is _.（A）the possibility of billions of dollars profit（B） that customers suffer from “feature creep“（C） worsening economic situation, or even downtu
23、rn（D）a waste of products different from customers need7 Most customer-preference rating tools are _.（A）accurate because of the numerical rating scale（B） effective in distinguishing customer needs（C） too blunt to measure customers real desires（D）difficult to manipulate in actual measurement8 Compared
24、 with traditional preference rating tools, “Maxdiff“ _.（A）involves more product attributes for options（B） is better at distinguishing customers needs（C） requires more customers to participate in（D）is a much more easier rating method9 The restaurant chain fails in expansion for the lack of_.（A）health
25、y options（B） a modern decoration（C） a convenient access（D）new menus10 Which of the following would be the most appropriate title of the text?（A）What Do Customers Really Want（B） How to Use Preference Rating Tools（C） Why Maxdiff is Better in Measurement（D）How to Run a Successful Restaurant Chain10 Und
26、erstanding what distinguishes people who battle with Alzheimers as they age from those whose mental acuteness remains strong well into their 80s, 90s and even older, is a major focus of current psychiatric research Previous studies have pointed to the potentially protective value of exercise, social
27、 support and even language skills. And other studies have also shown that having a strong sense of purpose in life is, unsurprisingly, associated with greater overall mental health, happiness, and even longevity. A study published recently in the Archives of General Psychiatry expands on that resear
28、ch, finding that people who reported feeling a greater sense of purpose in life were less likely to develop Alzheimers disease than those who reported feeling less fulfilled.The study, conducted by researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, analyzed medical records and life outlook am
29、ong 951 participants from the Rush Memory and Aging Project. At the beginning of the study, participants overall sense of purpose in life was measured by assessing their level of agreement with 10 statementssuch as, “I have a sense of direction and purpose in life,“derived from a psychological well-
30、being scale.After an average of four years of follow-up, 16.3% (155) participants had developed Alzheimers disease. When researchers analyzed the relationship between the psychological well-being scale and risk of Alzheimers, they found that participants who reported higher levels of fulfillment wer
31、e significantly less likely to have developed the degenerative mental disease than those who expressed less sense of validation in life. In fact, participants with high scores on the life purpose test were 2.4 times less likely to develop Alzheimers compared with those who had the lowest scores.Rese
32、archers say that what drives the correlation between reduced risk and heightened sense of purpose is not clear, and should be explored with future research Still, they expressed optimism at the findings, which add to studies that have linked sense of fulfillment in life everything from better sleep
33、to improved psychological health. Whats more, because a sense of purpose is something that can be cultivated, researchers say that these findings could point toward new treatments designed to improve sense of fulfillment in older adults. If these findings are replicated, they say, “the implications
34、could be far-reaching, and efforts to increase purpose in life may help reduce the rapidly increasing burden of cognitive impairment in old age.“Perhaps Marlow and Frances Cowan can offer some insight into how to make the most of life as you age. Its hard to watch the elderly couples playfuland off-
35、handpiano performance in a lobby at the Mayo Clinic without admiring their sense of fulfillment, and breaking into a grin.11 It can be learned from Paragraph 1 that_.（A）those who speak two languages do not develop Alzheimers（B） most people do not develop Alzheimers in their 80s and 90s（C） a strong s
36、ense of purpose contributes to mental health（D）a strong sense of purpose in life makes people feel unhappy12 Researchers measure participants overall sense of purpose in life by _.（A）analyzing their medical records and life outlook（B） rating their level of agreement with 10 statements（C） assessing p
37、sychological well-being scale（D）tracking their attitude towards everyday life13 According to the study, participants with high levels of life fulfillment_.（A）account for 16.3% of those who developed Alzheimers（B） are generally less likely to develop Alzheimers disease（C） are more likely to develop d
38、egenerative mental disease（D）are less healthy than those who have less sense of validation14 Researchers attitude toward their study result is _.（A）negative（B） pessimistic（C） doubtful（D）optimistic15 It can be inferred from the last paragraph that _.（A）Marlow and Frances Cowans performances are ridic
39、ulous（B） people benefit from Marlow and Frances Cowans study（C） old people should learn from Marlow and Frances Cowan（D）Mayo Clinic can help old people maintain mental health15 When George Price died in January 1975, his funeral in London was attended by five homeless men: untidy, smelly and cold. A
40、longside them were Bill Hamilton and John Maynard Smith, both distinguished British evolutionary biologists. All seven men had come to mourn an American scientist who helped to unpick the riddle of why people should ever be kind to one another, who had chosen to give away his clothes, his possession
41、s and his home, and who, when his generosity was exhausted, slashed his own throat with a pair of scissors, aged 52.Ever since Charles Darwin had published his theory of evolution in 1859, scientists have pondered whether it can explain the existence of altruism: behavior that decreases an individua
42、ls fitness but which increases the average fitness of the group to which he belongs. Such kindness is not unique to humans but exists also in complex insect societies. Bees, for example, live in colonies headed by a queen and populated by sterile workers. One reading of Darwins theory says that, bec
43、ause the workers do not breed, evolution should result in their elimination. Yet this is not what happens in nature.In the 1960s, Hamilton proposed that evolution acts on characteristics that favor the survival of close relatives of a certain individual. The bee colonies that survive are those in wh
44、ich sterile workers provide the “fittest“ service to their mother. Each worker thus strives to favor the reproductive success of the queen, even at the price of her own reproductive failure.Price wanted to describe mathematically how a genetic predisposition to altruism could evolve. He devised a fo
45、rmula, now called the Price equation, that describes how characteristics that can, in some cases, prove disadvantageous, nevertheless persist in the population By slightly changing the variables, he was able to describe populations in which kindness was widespread, everyone benefited and altruism wa
46、s passed down the generations, and other, more brutal worlds, where charity was abused and kindness died out.Ultimately, Price ended up in such a place. In 1967 he moved to London, where he hooked up with Hamilton and derived the equation for which he is famed. At the same time, his interest in altr
47、uism blossomed into something less kin-based and more practical: he began to seek out needy strangers. At one stage, he had four homeless men staying in his flat, while he slept in his office. As he became increasingly unwell, both physically and mentally, he redoubled his efforts to help the poor,
48、moving into a dirty cabin where, one freezing night, he committed suicide. Price ultimately became one of the homeless he had set out to save.16 It can be learned that George Price _.（A）was a famous British evolutionary biologist（B） gave away his possessions after he died（C） tried to describe altrui
49、sm in theory and practice（D）committed suicide because of mental disorder17 Darwins theory of evolution is mentioned in Paragraph 2 to _.（A）explain why altruism exists（B） show its inability to explain altruism（C） show survival of the fittest（D）show altruism also exists in insect societies18 According to Hamiltons proposal, sterile bees survive because _.（A）their biological characteristics are similar to the queens（B） they do not breed, but provide food for the queen（C） they
