1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 202 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 Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, allowing us to do things more quickly and efficiently. But too often it seems to make things harder. Th
2、is spiral of complexity, often called “feature creep,“ costs consumers time, but it also costs businesses money. Product returns in the U.S. cost a hundred billion dollars a year, and a recent study by Elke den Ouden, of Philips Electronics,found that at least half of returned products have nothing
3、wrong with them. Consumers just couldnt figure out how to use them. Companies now know a great deal about problems of usability and consumer behavior, so why is it that feature creep proves unstoppable?In part, feature creep is the product of the so-called internal-audience problem: the people who d
4、esign and sell products are not the ones who buy and use them, and what engineers and marketers think is important is not necessarily whats best for consumers. The engineers tend not to notice when more options make a product less usable. And marketing and sales departments see each additional featu
5、re as a new selling point, and a new way to lure customers.You might think, then, that companies could avoid feature creep by just paying attention to what customers really want But thats where the trouble begins, because although consumers find overloaded gadgets unmanageable, they also find them a
6、ttractive. It turns out that when we look at a new product in a store we tend to think that the more features there are, the better. Its only once we get the product home and try to use it that we realize the virtues of simplicity.It seems odd that we dont anticipate feature fatigue and thus avoid i
7、t But, as numerous studies have shown, people are not, in general, good at predicting what will make them happy in the future. As a result, we will pay more for more features because we systematically overestimate how often well use them. We also overestimate our ability to figure out how a complica
8、ted product works.The fact that buyers want bells and whistles but users want something clear and simple creates a peculiar problem for companies. A product that doesnt have enough features may fail to catch our eye in the store. But a product with too many features is likely to annoy consumers and
9、generate bad word of mouth, as BMWs original iDrive system did.1 In the first paragraph, the author mainly discusses（A）the benefits brought by the advanced technology.（B） the recent study conducted by Elke den Ouden.（C） the loss incurred by the feature creep of technology.（D）many problems of usabili
10、ty known by the consumers.2 Which of the following is true according to the second paragraph?（A）It is the audience problem that leads to feature creep.（B） What matters to designers and marketers is not good for consumers.（C） Feature creep brings blessings to the people in marketing and sales.（D）The
11、engineers will not pay attention to the quality of the products.3 Companies find it difficult to avoid feature creep because consumers（A）find complex gadgets easy to manage.（B） are attracted by gadgets with more features.（C） do not like the gadgets featured by simplicity.（D）know the virtues of compl
12、exity very well.4 It is stated in Paragraph 4 that the buyers generally（A）are too confident of their ability to use the complicated products properly.（B） are deeply convinced that all the products work in a simple way.（C） are fed up with the more and more features of the products.（D）are quite clear
13、about the products which will make them happy in the future.5 By saying “buyers want bells and whistles“ (Line 1, Paragraph 5), the author means that they want to buy（A）a variety of products which they could use to generate loud noises.（B） the product which will generate good word of mouth for its f
14、eatures.（C） the product which has many features but doesnt annoy consumers.（D）the product with many non-essential but often engaging features.5 Humanitys greatest accomplishment of the past five decades, declared Bill Gates this week, is the reduction in the number of deaths among young children by
15、half, to 10 million a year in 2007.The worlds most successful capitalist heaped praise on the World Health Organization (WHO), while unveiling an ambitious new global scheme to eliminate polio within a few years. For hispart, the agencys top polio man, Bruce Aylward, described the fight against the
16、disease in the language of markets: “Elimination is the venture capital of public health: the risks are huge but so too are the rewards.“The use of this sort of language captures a change in public health in the past decade. The Gates Foundation, with its pots of money and businesslike approach, has
17、 transformed the bureaucratic and disheartened world of public health. It has helped revive ailing campaigns, including the fight against polio. This will now get a fresh $600m-plus, from British and German taxpayers, from the Rotary Club International, as well as from the Gates Foundation ($255m).T
18、he decline from 350,000 new cases in 1988 (when the goal of rapid polio eradication was first declared) to 2,000 cases now (chiefly in Nigeria, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan) looks like a near victory. But the final stretch is the hardest. Only one in 200 cases is readily vulnerable to early detec
19、tion (as opposed to most victims of smallpoxa serious infectious disease that causes spots which leave deep marks on the skin, already eliminated). Polio is also far more infectious.Other obstacles are that the usual vaccine has not worked well in densely populated, disease-ridden central India. Res
20、earchers are now trying to find a vaccine that fits those conditions better. Neal Halsey, of Johns Hopkins University, says the “live“ vaccines used commonly today must be backed up with further doses of “inactivated“ vaccines. These need to become cheaper.The fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan ha
21、s hampered vaccination programs there. So have rumors among Muslims in northern Nigeria that the vaccination program was in fact a conspiracy to sterilize children That allowed the polio virus to strengthen and spread. The Nigerian strain may have now reached a dozen other countries.The final push t
22、owards elimination will certainly be costly, though several recent studies suggest that it is cheaper to spend money on a big elimination effort now than to pay the price later for sustained vigilance and health costs. The prospect of a global revival is concentrating minds. That is why, despite the
23、 daunting challenges and potential donor fatigue, the world may end up making a go of elimination this time.6 According to Paragraph, 2, a change in the world of public health refers to the fact that public health（A）is more businesslike than what it used to be.（B） has received pots of money from the
24、 Gates Foundation.（C） is no longer bureaucratic and demoralized.（D）restarts the campaigns which had slim chance of success.7 It can be inferred from the third paragraph that eradication of polio is the hardest in that（A）there are still as many as 2,000 new cases at present.（B） it is very infectious
25、and not easy to be detected earlier.（C） there were as many as 350,000 new cases in 1988.（D）it is impossible to be detected at an early stage.8 Muslims in northern Nigeria is cited as an example to show that（A）eradication of polio has been hampered by the conspiracy of Muslims.（B） eradication of poli
26、o met many obstacles there.（C） vaccination program was harmful to the children there.（D）vaccination program strengthened and spread virus.9 By saying “the world may end up making a go of elimination this time“(Lines 4-5, Paragraph 6), the author implies that the world may（A）manage to eradicate polio
27、.（B） fail to achieve the eradication of polio.（C） give up the goal of eradication of polio.（D）begin to eliminate polio.10 Which of the following would be the best title of the text?（A）The Success of Eradication of Polio（B） The Ambition of Gates Foundation（C） The Greatest Accomplishment in Public Hea
28、lth（D）Eradication of Polio so Near, yet So Far10 Nice guys knew it, now two studies have confirmed it: bad boys get the most girls. The finding may help explain why a nasty suite of anti-social personality traits known as the “dark triad“ persists in the human population, despite their potentially g
29、rave cultural costs.The traits are the self-obsession of narcissism; the impulsive, thrill-seekingand unfeeling behavior of psychopaths; and the deceitful and exploitative nature of Machiavellianism. At their extreme, these traits would be highly detrimental for life in traditional human societies.
30、People with these personalities risk being shunned by others and shut out of relationships, leaving them without a mate, hungry and vulnerable to predators.But being just slightly evil could have an upside: a prolific sex life, says Peter Jonason at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. “We hav
31、e some evidence that the three traits are really the same thing and may represent a successful evolutionary strategy.“ Jonason and his colleagues subjected 200 college students to personality tests designed to rank them for each of the dark triad traits. They also asked about their attitudes to sexu
32、al relationships and about their sex lives, including how many partners theyd had and whether they were seeking brief affairs. The study found that those who scored higher on the dark triad personality traits tended to have more partners and more desire for short-term relationships. But the correlat
33、ion only held in males.James Bond epitomizes this set of traits, Jonason says. “Hes clearly disagreeable, very extroverted and likes trying new thingskilling people, new women“ Just as Bond seduces woman after woman, people with dark triad traits may be more successful with a quantity style or shotg
34、un approach to reproduction, even if they dont stick around for parenting. “The strategy seems to have worked. We still have these traits,“ Jonason says.This observation seems to hold across cultures. David Schmitt of Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, presented preliminary results at the same
35、meeting from a survey of more than 35,000 people in 57 countries. He found a similar link between the dark triad and reproductive success in men. “It is universal across cultures for high dark triad scorers to be more active in short-term mating,“ Schmitt says. “They are more likely to try and poach
36、 other peoples partners for a brief affair.“ Matthew Keller of the University of Colorado in Boulder remarks: “They still have to explain why it hasnt spread to everyone? There must be some cost of the traits.“ One possibility, both Keller and Jonason suggest, is that the strategy is most successful
37、 when dark triad personalities are rare. Otherwise, others would become more wary and guarded.11 Which of the following would be the best title for this text?（A）Dark Triad Personality Traits（B） Bad Is Good as a Mating Strategy（C） Dark Side of Human Beings（D）Being Evil and Lucky12 Unlike others, peop
38、le with slight dark triad personalities are more likely to（A）run the risk of being avoided by others.（B） be left atone and attacked by predators.（C） enjoy a productive and successful sex life（D）ruin the good relationship!13 On which of the following statements would Jonason and his colleagues most p
39、robably agree?（A）Both men and women scoring higher had more partners in life.（B） There is a tie between the dark triad and sex success among all the people.（C） Being a monster could bring people a prolific sex life.（D）A close tie between the dark triad and sex success could be found in males.14 The
40、word “epitomize“ (line 1, Paragraph 4) most probably means（A）enjoy.（B） appreciate.（C） typify.（D）despise.15 It can be inferred from the last paragraph that（A）the dark triad personality traits have spread to both men and women.（B） people are extremely cautious about people with dark triad personalitie
41、s.（C） the dark triad personality traits may cost people much sometimes.（D）the strategy is most successful without dark triad personalities.15 In 1956, when the cold war was at its peak, America deployed a “secret sonic weapon“, as a newspaper headline put it at the time. That weapon was Dizzy Gilles
42、pie, a famed jazz musician, who was given the task of changing the worlds view of American culture through rhythm and beat Crowds poured into the street to dance. Cultural diplomacy died down after the cold war ended.But the attacks of September 11th 2001 convinced the State Department to send out A
43、mericas musicians once again to woo hearts and minds with melody.Rhythm Road, a program run by the State Department and a non-profit organization, Jazz at Lincoln Centre, has made informal diplomats out of both musicians and audiences. Since it began in 2005, musicians have travelled to 96 countries
44、. One band went to Mauritania, a country in northwestern Africa, after last years coup; many depart for countries that have strained relationships with America The musicians travel to places where some people have never seen an American.Jazz, so participants in the program, is well-suited to diploma
45、cy. It is collaborative, allowing individuals both to harmonize and play solomuch like a democracy, says Ari Roland, who plays bass for a band that left New York to tour the Middle East on March 31st. Jazz is also a reminder of musics power. It helped break down racial barriers, as enthusiasts of al
46、l colors gathered to listen to jazz when segregation was still the law of the land.The State Department spent 10 million US dollars on cultural diplomacy programs in the year to September 30th 2008. But most expect funding for the initiative to increase under Barack Obama, who pledged his support fo
47、r cultural diplomacy during his campaign. Rhythm Road now sends out hip-hop and bluegrass bands as well.There are some dissenters. Nick Cull, the director of the Public Diplomacy Program at the University of Southern California, thinks that these diplomatic projects would be more productive if they
48、were not administered by the same agency that oversees the countrys foreign-policy agenda. And there is also clamor for Mr. Obama to appoint a secretary of culture in his cabinet. What good, they ask, is sending American culture abroad, when the country is not giving it proper attention at home?16 W
49、hy was Dizzy Gillespie regarded as a “secret sonic weapon“ in 1956?（A）He was deployed to help the U.S. gain the victory of the cold war.（B） He was assigned to beat enemies at the peak of the cold war.（C） He had the power to influence the world during the cold war.（D）He could help to reshape a new image of American culture to the world.17 What is the position of cultural diplomacy in American politics?（A）It has always been highly valued throughout history.（B） It was a vital weapon in the second half of the 20th century.（C） It was neglected for decades after once
