1、考研英语（二）模拟试卷 138 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 Amtrakthe largest railway company in the U.S.was experiencing a declining in ridership.【C1 】_major concerns to Amtrak and its adve
2、rtising agency DDB Needham, were the long-distance western routes【C2】_ridership had been declining【C3】_At one time, trains were the only practical way to【C4】_the vast areas of the west. Trains were fast, very luxurious, and quite convenient【C5】_to other forms of transportation existing at the time.
3、However, times change and the automobile became Americas standard of convenience. Also, air travel had easily【C6】_itself as the fastest method of traveling great distances.【C7】_, the task for DDB Needham was to【 C8】_consumers to consider other aspects of train travel in order to【C9 】_their attitudes
4、 and increase the likelihood that trains would be considered【C10】_travel in the west.Two portions of the total market were targeted: anxious fliersthose concerned with【C11 】_, and travel-lovers those【C12】_themselves relaxed, casual, and interested in the travel experiences as part of【C13】_vacation.
5、The agency then developed a campaign that focused on travel【C14】_such as freedom, relaxation, and enjoyment of the great western outdoors. It【C15】_experiences gained by using the trains and portrayed western train trips as wonderful adventures.Advertisements showed pictures of the beautiful scenery
6、that【C16】_be enjoyed along some of the more famous western routes and emphasized the romantic names of some of these trains (Empire Builder, etc.). These ads were strategically placed among【C17】_oriented TV shows and programs involving nature and America in order to most【 C18】_reach target audiences
7、. Results were【C19】_The Empire Builder, which was focused on in one ad, had a fifteen percent【C20】_in profits on its Chicago to Seattle route.1 【C1 】（A）With（B） The（C） In（D）Of2 【C2 】（A）which（B） where（C） whose（D）that3 【C3 】（A）importantly（B） significantly（C） fundamentally（D）unnoticeably4 【C4 】（A）penetr
8、ate（B） move（C） escape（D）cross5 【C5 】（A）compared（B） recommended（C） turned（D）shown6 【C6 】（A）set（B） claimed（C） established（D）regarded7 【C7 】（A）Whereas（B） However（C） Therefore（D）Moreover8 【C8 】（A）encourage（B） induce（C） stimulate（D）discourage9 【C9 】（A）scold（B） strengthen（C） transfer（D）change10 【C10 】（A）a
9、t（B） for（C） as（D）with11 【C11 】（A）time（B） space（C） cost（D）safety12 【C12 】（A）adjusting（B） viewing（C） making（D）considering13 【C13 】（A）ones（B） theirs（C） their（D）themselves14 【C14 】（A）habits（B） attitudes（C） experiments（D）experiences15 【C15 】（A）involved（B） indicated（C） stressed（D）overlooked 16 【C16 】（A）co
10、uld（B） will（C） shall（D）should17 【C17 】（A）government（B） children（C） family（D）business18 【C18 】（A）sufficiently（B） quickly（C） unquestionably（D）effectively19 【C19 】（A）unseen（B） uncountable（C） useless（D）impressive20 【C20 】（A）expansion（B） change（C） increase（D）lossPart ADirections: Read the following four
11、texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)20 New science reveals how your brain is hard-wired when it comes to spendingand how you can reboot it.The choice to spend rather than save reflects a very humanand, some would say, Americanquirk: a preference for immed
12、iate gratification over future gains. In other words, we get far more joy from buying a new pair of shoes today, or a Caribbean vacation, or an iPhone 4S, than from imagining a comfortable life tomorrow. Throw in an instant-access culturein which we can get answers on the Internet within seconds, ha
13、ve a coffeepot delivered to our door overnight, and watch movies on demandand were not exactly training the next generation to delay gratification. “Pleasure now is worth more to us than pleasure later,“ says economist William Dickens of Northeastern University, “We much prefer current consumption t
14、o future consumption. It may even be wired into us. “As brain Scientists plumb the neurology of an afternoon at the mall, they are discovering measurable differences between the brains of people who save and those who spend with abandon, particularly in areas of the brain that predict consequences,
15、process the sense of reward, spur motivation, and control memory. In fact, neuroscientists are mapping the brains saving and spending circuits so precisely that they have been able to stir up the saving and disable the spending in some people. The result: people s preferences switch from spending li
16、ke a drunken sailor to saving like a child of the Depression. All told, the gray matter responsible for some of our most crucial decisions is finally revealing its secrets.Psychologists and behavioral economists, meanwhile, are identifying the personality types and other traits that distinguish save
17、rs from spenders, showing that people who arent good savers are neither stupid nor irrationalbut often simply dont accurately foresee the consequences of not saving. Rewire the brain to find pleasure in future rewards, and youre on the path to a future you really want.In one experiment, neuroeconomi
18、st Paul Glimcher of New York University wanted to see what it would take for people to willingly delay gratification. He gave a dozen volunteers a choice: $ 20 now or more money, from $ 20.25 to $ 110, later. On one end of the spectrum was the person who agreed to take $21 in a monthto essentially w
19、ait a month in order to gain just $ 1. In economics-speak, this kind of person has a “flat discount function“, meaning he values tomorrow almost as much as today and is therefore able to delay gratification. At the other end was someone who was willing to wait a month only if he got $ 68, a premium
20、of $48 from the original offer. This is someone economists call a “steep discounter“, meaning the value he puts on the future (and having money then) is dramatically less than the value he places on today; when he wants something, he wants it now.21 When it comes to spending, new evidence shows that
21、 it_.（A）is a difficult habit to explain（B） can be stopped and restarted（C） is a difficult mental decision（D）is an inherent disposition22 When brain scientists “plumb the neurology of an afternoon at the mail“, they_.（A）spend a whole afternoon watching shoppers going round（B） interview shoppers to as
22、k them embarrassing questions（C） measure the brain activity of people engaged in shopping（D）study current consumption rather than future consumption23 The scientists studying spending habits_.（A）can change peoples buying habits by making them drunk like sailors（B） are still at a loss about what caus
23、es some people to save or spend（C） can change those who spend with abandon into those who save（D）can predict whether people spend or save by controlling peoples memory24 If you are rewarded for saving, you are likely to_.（A）abandon unnecessary purchases（B） demand more rewards（C） become irrational an
24、d stupid（D）care less about the consequences25 Neuroeconomist Paul Glimcher wants to find out_.（A）whether people agree to delay a bigger gratification（B） what makes people postpone satisfaction（C） how steep discounters gratify themselves（D）what creates the flat discount function25 Although Consumers
25、Union concedes that “no confirmed cases of harm to humans from manufactured nanoparticles have been reported“, it adds that “there is cause for concern based on several worrisome findings from the limited laboratory and animal research so far.“ It worries that particles that are nontoxic at normal s
26、izes may become toxic when nanosized; that these nanoparticles, which are already present in cosmetics and food, can more easily “enter the body and its Vital organs, including the brain“, than normal particles; and that nanomaterials will linger longer in the environment. All of this really comes d
27、own to pointing out that some particles are smaller than others. Size is not a reliable indicator of potential harm to human beings, and nature itself is filled with nanoparticles. But the default assumption of danger from the new is palpable.Anti-nanotech sentiment has not been restricted to Consum
28、ers Unions relatively short list of concerns. In France, groups of hundreds of protesters have rallied against even such benign manifestations of the technology as the carbon nanotubules that allow Parkinson s sufferers to stop tremors by directing medicine to their own brains. In England members of
29、 a group called THRONG (The Heavenly Righteous Opposed to Nanotech Greed) have disrupted nanotech business conferences dressed as angels. In 2005 naked protesters appeared in front of an Eddie Bauer store in Chicago to condemn one of the more visible uses of nanotech: stain-resistant pants.These nan
30、opants employ billions of tiny whiskers to create a layer of air above the rest of the fabric, causing liquids to roll off easily. Its not quite what Kurzweil and Crichton had in mind, nor is it “little robots in your pants“, as CNN put it. But nanotechnology arguably embraces any item that incorpor
31、ates engineering at the molecular level, including mundane products like this one.Just as the nano label can be broadly applied to products for branding and attention-grabbing purposes, so too can critics use the label to condemn barely related developments by linking them to the (still hypothetical
32、) problems of nanopollution and gray goo. But theres a danger in thinking of nanotech only in god-or-goo terms. People at both extremes of the controversy fail to appreciate the humble, incremental, yet encouraging progress that nanotech researchers are making. And focusing on dramatic visions of na
33、notech heaven or hell may foster restrictions that delay or block innovations that can extend and improve our lives.26 What worries Consumers Union is that nanoparticles_.（A）become essential components of cosmetics and food（B） linger in environment and are omnipresent in nature（C） present in product
34、s may cause harm to human beings（D）can enter the brain more easily than normal particles27 The word “palpable“ in the last sentence of the first paragraph most probably means_.（A）detectable（B） available（C） understandable（D）tangible28 The example of carbon nanotubules is cited to show that_.（A）even p
35、otential benefit of nanotech may cause worry（B） anti-nanotech sentiment predominates in France（C） Consumers Unions worry about nanotech is negligible（D）nanotech relieves the pain of Parkinsons sufferers29 It seems that nanopants_.（A）initiate engineering at the molecular level（B） tend to provoke anti
36、-nanotech sentiment（C） are as ordinary as any mundane product（D）are not as harmful as some people think30 The author argues that nanotech is_.（A）neither inferior nor superior（B） neither credible nor reliable（C） neither god nor devil（D）neither harmful nor beneficial30 “Whats the difference between Go
37、d and Larry Ellison?“ asks an old software industry joke. Answer: God doesnt think hes Larry Ellison. The boss of Oracle is hardly alone a-mong corporate chiefs in having a reputation for being rather keen on himself.Indeed, until the bubble burst and the public turned nasty at the start of the deca
38、de, the worship of the celebrity chief executive seemed to demand bossly narcissism, as evidence that a firm was being led by an all-conquering hero.Narcissus met a nasty end, of course. And in recent years, boss-worship has come to be seen as bad for business. In his management bestseller,“ Good to
39、 Great“, Jim Collins argued that the truly successful bosses were not the self-proclaimed stars who adorn the covers of Forbes and Fortune, but instead self-effacing, thoughtful sorts who lead by inspiring example.A statistical answer may be at hand. For the first time, a new study, “Its All About M
40、e“, to be presented next week at the annual gathering of the American Academy of Manage ment, offers a systematic, empirical analysis of what effect narcissistic bosses have on the firms they run. The authors, Arijit Chatterjee and Donald Hambrick, of Pennsylvania State University, examined narcissi
41、sm in the upper rank of 105 firms in the computer and software industries.To do this, they had to solve a practical problem: studies of narcissism have relied on surveying individuals personally, something for which few chief executives are likely to have time or inclination. So the authors devised
42、an index of narcissism using six publicly available indicators obtainable without the co-operation of the boss. These are: the prominence of the bosss photo in the annual report; his prominence in company press releases; the length of his “Whos Who“ entry; the frequency of his use of the first perso
43、n singular in interviews; and the ratios of his cash and non-cash compensation to those of the firms second-highest paid executive.Narcissism naturally drives people to seek positions of power and influence, and because great self-esteem helps your professional advance, say the authors, chief execut
44、ives will tend on average to be more narcissistic than the general population. Messrs Chatterjee and Hambrick found that highly narcissistic bosses tended to make bigger changes in the use of important resources, such as research and development, or in spending; they carried out more and bigger merg
45、ers and acquisitions; and their results were both more extreme (more big wins or big losses) and more unstable than those of firms run by their humbler peers.31 Larry Ellison is mentioned in the first paragraph to show that_.（A）many corporate chiefs are notorious for being selfish（B） a boss narcissi
46、sm might have an effect on his business（C） some corporate chiefs like to compare themselves to God（D）egotism of a boss is fundamental to the success of a firm32 The statement “Narcissus met a nasty end“ (Line 1, Para. 2) implies that_.（A）boss-worship will result in self-asserted leaders（B） selfishne
47、ss of a boss will be subject to public criticism（C） a self-centered boss is always troubled with business disasters（D）egotism of chief executives may lead to undesirable consequences33 The study “Its All About Me“ is designed to_.（A）analyze the effect of selfishness on a boss as well as company empl
48、oyees（B） test whether narcissism should be valued in the computer industry（C） explore the relationship between a boss narcissism and business performance（D）offer all-encompassing answers to the American Academy of Management34 In Paragraph 4, the author mainly talks about_.（A）how to use an index of
49、narcissism to conduct surveys（B） six indicators that might reveal a boss narcissism（C） the reason why a boss might be unwilling to be surveyed（D）a way of improving survey results in the studies of narcissism35 Which of the following might the author most likely agree with?（A）Chief executives are more likely to become self-absorbed.（B） The humbler the boss is, the easier his mana
