1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 166 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 Custom has not commonly been regarded as a subject of any great moment. The inner workings of our brains we feel to be uniquely worthy of investigation,
2、 but custom, we have a way of thinking, is behavior at its most commonplace. As a matter of fact, it is the other way around. Traditional custom, taken the world over, is a mass of detailed behavior more astonishing than what any one person can ever evolve in individual actions, no matter how aberra
3、nt. Yet that is a rather trivial aspect of the matter. The fact of first-rate importance is the predominant role that custom plays in experience and belief, and the very great varieties it may manifest.No man ever looks at the world with pristine eyes. Even in his philosophical probings he cannot go
4、 behind certain stereotypes. John Dewey has said that the part played by custom in shaping the behavior of the individual, as against any way in which he can affect traditional custom, is as the proportion of the total vocabulary of his mother tongue against those words of his own baby talk that are
5、 taken up into the vernacular of his family. There is no social problem it is more incumbent upon us to understand than this of the role of custom. Until we are intelligent as to its laws and varieties, the main complicating facts of human life must remain unintelligible.The study of custom can be p
6、rofitable only after certain preliminary propositions have been accepted, and some of these propositions have been violently opposed. In the first place, any scientific study requires that there be no preferential weighting of one another of the items in the series it selects for its consideration.
7、In all the less controversial fields, like the study of cacti or termites or the nature of nebulae, the necessary method of study is to group the relevant material and to take note of all possible variant forms and conditions. It is only in the study of man himself that the major social sciences hav
8、e substituted the study of one local variation, that of Western civilization.Anthropology was by definition impossible, as long as distinctions between ourselves and the primitive, ourselves and the barbarian, ourselves and the pagan, held sway over peoples minds. It was necessary first to arrive at
9、 that degree of sophistication where we no longer set our own belief against our neighbors superstition. It was necessary to recognize that these institutions which are based on the same premises, let us say the supernatural, must be considered together, our own among the rest.1 According to the aut
10、hor, our view of life and the world is largely the product of（A）the inner workings of our own brains.（B） individual development and preference.（C） a mass of detailed behaviors.（D）the society we are born into.2 John Dewey indicates that the thoughts and ideas of an individual are（A）determined by the
11、environment around him.（B） minimal compared with the power of tradition.（C） more closely related to his family than the society.（D）often completely unintelligible.3 We learn from the third paragraph that the study of custom（A）requires consensus on preliminary propositions among the public.（B） will i
12、nvolve preferential weighting of some social items.（C） is different from the study of less controversial fields.（D）should take note of any possible variant forms and conditions.4 According to the author, anthropologists can only study human societies objectively if they（A）regard all cultures as havi
13、ng equal values.（B） distinguish between themselves and barbarians.（C） believe in supernatural.（D）have a good understanding of Western civilization.5 The authors attitude toward superstition is（A）critical.（B） indifferent.（C） tolerant.（D）favorable.5 Planes may account for only 2 per cent of the worlds
14、 carbon emissions, but it is a figure destined to rise. The aviation industry is expanding at a dramatic rate, around 5% a year. Twice as many passengers are likely to be passing through British airports in 2020 compared with today, and three times by 2030.As the developed world acknowledges climate
15、 change warnings, the carbon emissions from other industries will fall. The aviation industrys output will therefore account for an even larger percentage of emissions. One calculation, by the Climate Change Research(CCR), suggests the U. K. aviation industry could end up accounting for every gram o
16、f our carbon quota by 2040. Such calculations suppose aircraft designers cannot clean up their act, a suggestion firmly rejected by experts who point to a massive research program aimed at cutting fuel use by planes by around 50% by 2020, a move that would also halve their carbon emissions.To reach
17、that aim, a key factor will be lightweight composites, materials made of several components, including carbon fibers. These are as strong and flexible as metal but as light as plastic. Planes such as the Airbus A340 are already made of material that is 10 per cent carbon composite. This cuts weight,
18、 decreases fuel use and reduces carbon emissions. The next generation of aircrafts, will make even more use of composites: a tremendous saving in weight, fuel and carbon.Then there is the simple matter of air traffic control. At present, individual countries have their own routes for aircraft crossi
19、ng their airspaces. “Essentially aircraft travel on doglegs across Europe, and that is very inefficient in terms of fuel use,“ said Dr. John Green, of the Royal Aeronautical Society. “We need to rationalize air traffic control so that planes fly in straight, energy-efficient lines, an idea that is n
20、ow being discussed in the EU. “Finally, there is aviation fuel. Making it ecologically friendly poses the greatest challenges of all. Biofuels can be used as petrol and diesel substitutes for cars and lorries, but not in planes. “Biofuel is essentially alcohol, and that burns at the wrong temperatur
21、e for aircraft engines,“ says Green. “We can use coal to make kerosene, which we could burn in aircraft engines, but that does not help the issue of global warming, of course. “ But this does not stop scientists from dreaming. One idea, put forward by the U. S. geneticist Craig Venter last week, wou
22、ld be to create micro-organisms, fitted with artificial chromosomes, which could convert sunlight into fuels that could be burnt in aircraft. These would not involve burning fossil carbon and would be the perfect green fuel. It is still a far-off prospect but realistic, say biologists.6 The fact tha
23、t passengers passing British airports will double or even triple indicates that（A）the British aviation industry is growing very rapidly.（B） more and more British people tend to choose flying when traveling.（C） the aviation industry develops much faster than other industries in developed countries.（D
24、）the aviation industry will cause more pollutants when compared with other industries.7 The experts in aviation industry disapproved the claim by the CCR because（A）the calculation of aviation industrys carbon emission is based on prediction instead of facts.（B） the figure calculated is much more tha
25、n the experts in aviation industry expected.（C） airlines are also making great efforts to reduce their oil consumption and carbon emissions.（D）the experts didnt agree with the way of their calculation of the carbon emissions by planes.8 People are using more composites in making aircrafts mainly bec
26、ause（A）composites themselves are very light, strong and as flexible as metal.（B） composites can reduce the plane weight leading to less fuel consumption and carbon emissions.（C） composites can cause less carbon emissions in the process of flying.（D）composites are less expensive than metal.9 In order
27、 to reduce carbon emissions, airlines can（A）change air traffic routes to make it straight and shorter for a flight.（B） use lighter materials like composites in building a plane.（C） reduce the number of engines on a plane to cut weight.（D）produce environment-friendly fuels.10 According to the text, w
28、hat can we learn about aviation fuels?（A）Biofuels can be used as replacement for vehicles as well as planes.（B） Neither biofuels nor coals can be used for planes.（C） The idea of green fuel is to change solar energy into fuels.（D）The idea of green-fuel, which is only an illusion, is challenged and do
29、ubted by scientists.10 To much of the world, bullfighting has always been distinctly Iberian. But these days, parts of the southern France are laying claim to the ancient rite. From the Cote Basque to the arenas of Aries and Beziers, the traditions of the corrida have spread to towns where bullfight
30、ing has long been banned, and been embraced with such enthusiasm youd think the sport had been born there. The rising passion for blood and sand has been denounced by animal-rights activists. Last month someone set off a bomb near the bullring in Carcassonne, 100 miles southeast of Toulouse. Yet Fra
31、nces impassioned aficionados fiercely defend their right to these moral rituals. Bullfighting, they insist, is part of their indigenous heritage, an expression of a shared regional culture that should be protected.The rest of the Continent should take note. The paradox of an ever-more-united Europe
32、is that as borders between member states become less important, so do the nations themselvesand regional identities assert themselves. Its easy to forget that most European nation-states were created as we know them only during the 19th century, after a long succession of bloody conflicts. “If the c
33、hances of war had been a little different, all the regions sharing the corrida might have been together,“ argues Jean Michel Mariou, a stalwart fan of bullfighting. On both side of the Pyrenees there are Basques, there are Catalans, there are common cultures, he says. “The corrida is only one expres
34、sion of it. “Bullfighting isnt the only cultural tradition that has begun to transcend borders, of course. To name but one other: the Celtic revival, built largely around musical affinities that encompass the coast of Ireland, Scotland and Cornwall, Brittany and Normandy. But while bagpipes may stir
35、 the blood, they dont spill it. And the violence of bullfighting appalls many people who dont feel they share in the culture of the corrida.“The concept of lasting local tradition doesnt mean anything anymore,“ says Josyane Wuerelle, coordinator of the Federation de Liasions Anti-Corrida in Agde, ju
36、st south of Montpellier. Bullfighting is about attracting tourists, not honoring local history, she argues. Robert Marge doesnt see it that way, of course. He recently declined an invitation to organize a bullfighting in Pariss enormous Stade de France. “We didnt want to sell our souls by bringing t
37、he corrida to a region where it doesnt exist,“ he explains. But he has also got the sense to know that some traditions dont travel well.11 We learn from the beginning of the passage that bullfighting（A）has become lawful in France.（B） will boom tourism in France.（C） is part of the valuable heritage o
38、f French.（D）has become more popular in France.12 Jean Michel Mariou indicates that（A）bullfighting is nothing more than a culture popular in many regions.（B） regions sharing the corrida were separated because of the war.（C） bloody conflicts might have been avoided if bullfighting had been allowed off
39、icially.（D）regions sharing the same culture are likely to be united as a result of the war.13 By saying “But while bagpipes may stir the blood, they dont spill it“, the author means（A）music can stimulate peoples enthusiasm but will not create conflicts.（B） music as a culture is not spread as fast as
40、 bullfighting.（C） music as a culture can be accepted by the general public while bullfighting cant.（D）music can purify ones spirit but cannot cultivate ones character.14 According to Robert Marge, he refused to organize a bullfight in Paris because he（A）believes that bullfight shows an ignorance of
41、animal rights.（B） thinks that bullfight is an activity of honoring local history.（C） thinks that bullfight is not just for economic benefits.（D）thinks that Paris is a place of romance instead of violence.15 What is the best title for this passage?（A）Fight over Bullfight（B） Culture or Violence?（C） Bu
42、llfight and Tourism（D）Passion for Blood and Sand15 Aristotle wrote that men come together in cities to live, but stay in them to live the good life. It was the Greeks who invented the idea of the city, and urbanity continues as a thriving tradition. But in the first decade of the 21st century, urban
43、 life is changing. “Cities are now junctions in the flows of people, information, finance and freight,“ says Nigel Harris, a professor of development planning. “Theyre less and less places where people live and work. “The enlargement of the European Union in December in 2002 has given residents of u
44、p to 13 new member nations freedom of movement within its borders. At the same time, an additional 13. 5 million immigrants a year will be needed in the EU just to keep a stable ratio between workers and pensioners over the next half century. All this mobility will make Europes cities nodes of nomad
45、ism, linked to each other by high-speed trains and cheap airline flights. The bustle around airports and train stations will make the crowds in Europes great piazza look thin by comparison. Urban designers, with a freshly pricked interest in transience rather than stasis, are even now dreaming up ci
46、tyscapes that focus on flows of people and fungible uses for buildings.Public spaces are due for a revamp. Earlier architects conceived of train stations as single buildings; todays designers are thinking of them as transit zones that link to the city around them, pouring travelers into bus stations
47、 and surrounding shops. In Amsterdam, urban planner Ben van Berkel, codirector of the design firm UN Studio, has developed what he calls Deep Planning Strategy, which inverts the traditional “top down“ approach: The creation of a space comes before the flow of people through it. With 3-D modeling an
48、d animation, hes able to look at different population groups use public spaces at different times of the day. He uses the data to design spaces that accommodate mobs at rush hour and sparser crowds at other times.The growing mobility of Europe has inspired a debate about the look and feel of urban s
49、prawl. “Up until now, all our cultural heritage has been concentrated in the city center,“ notes Prof. Heinrich Moding of the German Institute of Urban Affairs. “But weve got to imagine how its possible to have joyful vibrancy in these outlying parts, so that theyre not just about garages, highways and gasoline tanks. “ The designs of new buildings are also changing to anticipate the emerging city as a way station. Buildings have been seen as disconnecting, isolating, defining. But increasingly, the quality of space thats in demand is movement.16 What
