1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 229 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 Shortly before he died of lymphoma, the great writer and physician Lewis Thomas, whose books turned science into a way of appreciating the grandeur of t
2、he world, told me he thought the true measure of a life was that it be useful. He wondered in those last days if his own life had been useful, and many thousands of readers assured him that it had. “Grow old along with me! The best isyet to be,“ cried Robert Brownings Rabbi Ben Ezra. Not always. Poe
3、try replies to Rabbi Ben with A.E. Housmans “To an Athlete Dying Young“ and comes up with no more startling a conclusion than that a life is what one makes of it.Celebrity is hardly a precondition. Kennedys life would have been just as valuable had he been, to use another poets phrase, a “mute, ingl
4、orious Milton“.A beloved colleague at TIME died recently who was unknown to most of the world, except the friends she cherished. The measure of a life is often taken in the smallest units. On television, a parking attendant in the garage that Kennedy used mentioned that Kennedy came over personally
5、to wish the man a merry Christmas every year.A middle aged African American woman with whom he worked in one of the programs he supported was in tears at the recollection of continuous small acts of kindness.The sudden garden that has developed on the front steps of Kennedys loft building began simp
6、ly with neighbors paying respect to a neighbor. From such fragments of evidence a whole life is constructed, or reconstructed.When a man dies, a civilization dies with him. Everything dies but the reverberation of his works in the lives of others; and so, while an individual civilization dies, the g
7、reater one profits. We call such deaths tragedies because the force of the life has been of great magnitude; yet tragedy from the point of view of the audience is high art, and one is filled with as much admiration as grief.Keats chose as his epitaph “Here lies one whose name was writ in water.“ He
8、believed that his life would be viewed as without consequence, and that he would debut one more transitory figure among the yearning and striving masses. Kennedy, too, I think, would have had his name writ in water, thus the appropriateness of his sea burial, because the best public servants disappe
9、ar into the world, whose pain they feel. Every name is writ in water, which flows through us all.1 We can infer from Paragraph 1 that Lewis Thomas believes that _.（A）your life is important if it is meaningful for others（B） you can build meaning into your life if it is long（C） work while alive is the
10、 most important thing（D）usefulness of ones life is hard to measure2 Which of the following statements is TRUE of Robert Browning?（A）He believes that longer life is no good thing.（B） He believes that true life lies in how one makes of it.（C） He is identical with Lewis Thomas, regarding the life issue
11、.（D）He is opposite to AE.Housman, regarding the death issue.3 What message does the author mainly want to convey in Paragraph 2?（A）The importance of ones life is not related with his reputation or fame.（B） Poets and politicians make the same contribution to society.（C） Statesmen are always ready to
12、do small things for people around them.（D）The beloved colleague at TIME is as respectable as Kennedy.4 By saying “The measure of a life is often taken in the smallest units“ (Para. 2), the author means that _.（A）Kennedy was most respected by the ordinary people（B） Kennedys life can be reflected by t
13、he small deeds he has done（C） Kennedy has done many small deeds for the people around him（D）Kennedy devoted his life to serving the people from the lower class5 Which of the following can be inferred from the last paragraph about the Keats?（A）He finally drowned in the seawater.（B） His dream of his g
14、reat popularity came true finally.（C） He didnt predict the importance of his life.（D）He held that life is transitory, so dont waste it.5 Time was, old people knew their place. Power was passed to sons and daughters, crowns placed on younger heads. Not any more. The elderly are no longer a sidelined
15、sliver of society, but its mainstream. During the next two generations, the number of the worlds people older than 60 will quadruple, rising from 606 million now to 2 billion in 2050. For the first time in human history,the elderly will outnumber children. More and more, its not the children who are
16、 our future, its the seniors. The graying of the globe is quite simply the “most significant population shift in history,“ says Ann Pawliczko of the United Nations Population Fund.And growing old doesnt mean what it used to. Better medical care has increased the average global life expectancy by two
17、 decadesto 66in as many generations. “One hundred is the new 60,“ says Marty Davis, of the American Association of Retired People. In the West, technology and wealth are empowering the aged. They are an increasingly vocal political lobby and muscular consumers. The portfolio of Senioragency, Europes
18、 only ad agency aimed at the 50-plus market, used to consist of hearing aids and insurance. Now mainstream companies like Coca-Cola and Siemens are approaching the firm. “Were used to thinking of a 60-year-old who looks like“ Whistlers Mother, “but we should be thinking about someone who looks like
19、Tina Turner,“ says Gloria Gutman, president of the International Association of Gerontology.The rapidly shifting demographics are forcing a radical rethinking of many facets of our lives. Two billion elderly will need new systems of care and support. The growing number of old people who want to live
20、 independently will need housing, streets and cityscapes that will accommodate their slower pace. Smart technology will have to plug nursing shortages; architects and social planners will have to start catering for populations with dementia and failing eyesight or hearing.In contrast to the youth-dr
21、iven culture of the last half century, the elderly will set the agenda for how the late-21st century lives. Already societies have begun facing the pension crisis, the scariest specter haunting Western treasuries. For one thing, 80 percent of the world already cant afford to retire. Even in Western
22、Europe and the United States, say experts, the very concept of retirement may soon be viewed as a historical aberrational social curiosity from the era between World War II and the war on terror. And paying for the elderly is just a fraction of the massive upheaval underway. Whats been dubbed “the s
23、ilent revolution“ is changing everything from politics to tax structures to the width of the worlds doorways (for wheelchairs).6 In the opening paragraph, the author introduces his topic by_.（A）giving an example（B） showing a trend（C） justifying an assumption（D）explaining a phenomenon7 Mainstream com
24、panies like Coca-Cola and Siemens are approaching the Europe-based Senioragencybecause _.（A）Europe has the highest proportion of aged population（B） Coca-Cola and Siemens are still unfamiliar with the majority of the elderly（C） the aged are considered to be important potential consumers（D）the two com
25、panies are developing elderly-targeted products8 We may safely assume that_.（A）existing pension system needs reform（B） problems brought by population aging will be solved soon（C） people have to slow their pace down（D）people are living longer and better9 The phrase “the silent revolution“ (Para. 4) i
26、mplies that population aging will _.（A）be a violent process（B） take the world by surprise（C） make the world different（D）happen unnoticed10 We can conclude from this article that _.（A）growing old is inevitable（B） population aging is changing the society（C） the elderly will show rapid physical and men
27、tal decline（D）global aging is a disaster10 When one of his employees phoned in sick last year, Scott McDonald, CEO of Monument Security in Sacramento, California., decided to investigate. He had already informed his staff of 400 security guards and patrol drivers that he was installing Xora, a softw
28、are program that tracks workers whereabouts through GPS technology on their company cell phones.A Web-based “geo-fence“ aroundwork territories would alert the boss if workers strayed or even drove too fast. It also enabled him to route workers more efficiently. So when McDonald logged on, the progra
29、m told him exactly where his worker wasand it wasnt in bed with the sniffles. “How come youre eastbound on 80 heading to Reno right now if youre sick?“ asked the boss. There was a long silencethe sound of a job endingfollowed by, “You got me.“Learn that truth, and learn it well: what you do at work
30、is the bosss business. Xora is just one of the new technologies from a host of companies that have sprung up in the past two years peddling products and servicesoftware, GPS, video and phone surveillance, even investigatorsthat let managers get to know you really well.“Virtually nothing you do at wo
31、rk on a computer cant be monitored,“ says Jeremy Gruber, legal director of the National Workrights Institute, which advocates workplace privacy. Nine out of 10 employers observe your electronic behavior, according to the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley College.A study by the American Managemen
32、t Association and the ePolicy Institute found 76% of employers watch you surf the Web and 36% track content, keystrokes and time spent at the keyboard.You cant really blame companies for watching our Web habits, since 45% of us admit that surfing is our favorite time waster, according to a joint sur
33、vey by S and AOL.A Northeast technology company found that several employees who frequently complained of overwork spent all day on MyS-.Businesses argue that their snooping is justified. Not only are they trying to guard trade secrets and intellectual property, but they also must ensure that worker
34、s comply with government regulations, such as keeping medical records and credit-card numbers private. And companies are liable for allowing a hostile work environmentsay, one filled with porn-filled computer screensthat may lead to lawsuits. “People write very loosely with their e-mails, but they c
35、an unintentionally reach thousands, like posters throughout a work site,“ says Charles Spearman of diversity-management consultants Tucker Spearman & Associates. “In an investigation, that e-mail can be one of the most persuasive pieces of evidence.“11 Scott McDonald fired one of his employees becau
36、se the employee _.（A）didnt accomplish his job well（B） drove too fast（C） covered up his illness（D）cheated when he asked for leave12 Xora is a software program used to_.（A）improve management expertise of administrators（B） familiarize people with the investigated person（C） pinpoint peoples location and
37、 whereabouts（D）combat GPS in surveillance technology13 The study by the American Management Association showed that _.（A）information on a public computer is not confidential（B） people should try to prevent themselves from being spied（C） using computers at work might pose a threat to privacy（D）employ
38、ees should stop their electronic behavior unrelated to work14 The word “snooping“ (Para. 5) most probably means _.（A）scrambling（B） mquiring（C） invading（D）researching15 What can we infer from the last paragraph?（A）Business snooping is reasonable and should be promoted.（B） Employers are in favor of th
39、e idea of business snooping.（C） Upgraded surveillance can help guard against legal charges.（D）Privacy can be always revealed to the public as evidence.15 The satisfying thump of a bass drum sounds every time Gil Weinberg strikes thin air with his iPhone.A pal nearby swings his Nokia smartphone back
40、and forth, adding a rippling bass line.A third phone-waving friend sprinkles piano and guitar phrases on top.Weinbergs trios are using software that turns ordinary cellphones into musicalinstruments. “People can play on their own, but we are more excited about them jamming like a band,“ says Weinber
41、g, a music technologist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta Commuters regularly bombarded with tinny recorded music played on other passengers phones might not share his enthusiasm, but air guitarists and would-be drummers will probably be delighted. Weinberg claims his smart gesture-r
42、ecognition software will democratize music-making as never before. “With the right tools, everyone can be creative and expressive musicallyeven if they dont know anything about music theory,“ he says. The software, dubbed ZoozBeats and launched this week, monitors a phones motion and plays a corresp
43、onding sound. For example, you might play a rhythm based on a snare drum by beating the air with the phone as if its a drumstick. Or you could strum with it to play a sequence of guitar chords. The software runs on a wide range of phones because it uses many different ways to sense gestures. The obv
44、ious way is to use the accelerometers built into small devices like the Apple iPhone and Nokia N96 smartphone. But ZoozBeats can also trigger sounds when the view through a phones camera lens changes rapidly, or generate a beat or bass line from simple taps on the mobiles microphone.Of course, peopl
45、e who arent well skillful in music-making are more likely to make unpleasant noises than beautiful melodies, so ZoozBeats incorporates a system called Musical Wizard to make sure their musical decisions are harmonious. It wont do everything, though. The system has been built to ensure that practice
46、still makes perfect: “The big challenge was not to make it sound OK whatever you do,“ says Weinberg. “It will fit, but not perfectly, so you can still learn to improve the music yourself.“ZoozBeats comes with instruments for three types of music: rock, techno (a form of modern electronic music with
47、a very fast beat) and hip hop. It also allows users to produce vocal effects by singing into the phone and will be downloadable in two versions. One of these will be for solo use, the other a Bluetooth networkable version that supports jamming by groups of peopleusing the Musical Wizard to keep ever
48、ybodys input melodious.16 Some commuters might not be delighted in others cellphone music in that _.（A）they are not interested in the tinny recorded music（B） they are not identified with the music made by the software（C） they are fed up with the music played on the cellphones（D）they are more interes
49、ted in jamming like a band17 By saying “. software will democratize music-making as never before“ (Para. 2), Weinberg means that _.（A）this software will help people to be creative and expressive（B） music-making will be accessible to all the people because of this software（C） music-making will gain popularity among the people due to this software（D）this software can let everybody make perfect melody by themselves18 According to the third paragraph, the examples cited
