1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 429 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 Men are generally better than women on tests of spatial ability, such as mentally rotating an object through three dimensions or finding their way aroun
2、d in a new environment. But a new study suggests that under some circumstances a womans way of navigating is probably more efficient.Luis Pacheco-Cobos of the National Autonomous University of Mexico and his colleagues discovered this by following mushroom gatherers from a village in the state of Tl
3、axcala for two rainy seasons. Two researchers, each fitted with GPS navigation devices and heart-rate monitors, followed different gatherers on different days. They recorded the weight of the mushrooms each gatherer collected and where they visited. The GPS data allowed a map to be made of the route
4、s taken and the heart-rate measurements provided an estimate of the amount of energy expended during their travels. The results, to be published in Evolution and Human Behaviour, show that the men and women collected on average about the same weight of mushrooms. But the men travelled farther, climb
5、ed higher and used a lot more energy70% more than the women. The men did not move any faster, but they searched for spots with lots of mushrooms. The women made many more stops, apparently satisfied with, or perhaps better at finding, patches of fewer mushrooms.Previous work has shown that men tend
6、to navigate by creating mental maps of a territory and then imagining their position on the maps. Women are more likely to remember their routes using landmarks. The study lends support to the idea that male and female navigational skills were honed differently by evolution for different tasks. Mode
7、rn-day hunter-gatherers divide labor, so that men tend to do more hunting and women more gathering. It seems likely that early humans did much the same thing.The theory is that the male strategy is the most useful for hunting prey; chasing an antelope, say, would mean running a long way over a windi
8、ng route. But having killed his prey, the hunter would want to make a beeline for home rather than retrace his steps exactly. Women, by contrast, would be better off remembering landmarks and retracing the paths to the most productive patches of plants.The research suggests that in certain circumsta
9、nces women are better at navigating than men, which might lend some comfort to a man desperately searching for an item in a supermarket while his exasperated wife methodically moves around the aisles filling the shopping trolley. He is simply not cut out for the job, evolutionarily speaking.1 The wo
10、rd “navigating“(Line 4, Paragraph 1)most probably means（A）voyaging.（B） guiding.（C） piloting.（D）maneuvering.2 GPS navigation devices and heart-rate monitors were chosen for the research most probably because they can（A）reflect the routes and the amount of used energy.（B） record the overall weight of
11、the mushrooms gathered.（C） estimate the time and energy consumed during travels.（D）provide the gatherers with different maps of routes.3 The result of the experiment indicated that women gatherers（A）knew how to regain energy.（B） were good at remembering landmarks.（C） were easily content.（D）travelled
12、 more efficiently.4 By referring to evolution, the author intends to show that（A）men and women are different in spatial conception and ability.（B） males are bom with the hunters mentality and females the gatherers.（C） different ways of navigation can date back to the ancient times.（D）early humans ha
13、ve decided the division of labor for men and women.5 We can infer from the supermarket scene depicted in the last paragraph that man（A）is always impatient when shopping with his wife.（B） may not be the right type for finding items.（C） may be suitable to do this routine job.（D）is sometimes unable to
14、navigate correctly.5 In hindsight one of the worst things about Americas subprime housing bust is how predictable it was. Subprime borrowers were by definition people of limited means with poor credit histories. Yet economists who have looked at the pattern of payments on subprime mortgages point ou
15、t that even when house prices topped out and then began to fall, not all subprime borrowers defaulted.Only a minority of borrowers abruptly ceased to make payments, as someone choosing to default would. More typically, payments went from being regular to being erratic: borrowers fell behind, then be
16、came current again, only to fall behind once more. Those patterns are indicative of people trying, but struggling, to keep up with their payments. A trio of economists set out to find out what differentiated those borrowers who did not keep up with their payments from the rest. Their answer, accordi
17、ng to a new working paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, is simple: numeracy.The economists tracked down a large number of subprime borrowers in New England on whom they already had detailed information, including the terms of their mortgages and their repayment histories. These borrowers
18、 were then subjected to a series of questions that required simple calculations about percentages and interest rates.Even accounting for a host of differences between peopleincluding attitudes to risk, income levels and credit scoresthose who fell behind on their mortgages were noticeably less numer
19、ate than those who kept up with their payments in the same overall circumstances. The least numerate fell behind about 25% of the time. For those who did best on the test, the number of payments they missed was almost 12%. A fifth of the least numerate group had been in foreclosure(the creditor taki
20、ng possession of a property because the money has not been repaid), but only 7% of those who were more numerically adept had.Surprisingly, the least numerate were not making loan choices that differed much from their peers. They were about as likely to have a fixed-rate mortgage as the more numerica
21、lly able. They did not borrow a larger share of their income. And loans were about the same fraction of the houses value.Stephan Meier, one of the studys authors, reckons that the innumerate may be worse at managing their daily finances, leaving them with little room for manoeuvre when things get di
22、fficult. Those better at sums might, for instance, have put a bit more aside in more plentiful times. Normally, such differences might not matter much. But in bleaker circumstances, a small pot of savings may be all that stands between homeownership and foreclosure.6 When house prices drop, most sub
23、prime borrowers would（A）stop making payments immediately.（B） fail to meet the financial obligation.（C） struggle to meet the deadline of the payment.（D）choose to delay the payment.7 The typical pattern of payment shows that（A）subprime housing bust is not foreseeable for some of the borrowers.（B） with
24、 great efforts people finally manage to pay their loans regularly.（C） numeracy accounts for the difference between defaulters and the rest borrowers.（D）the borrowers cannot ensure that all payments are on time.8 We can infer from the New England research that（A）peoples attitude toward risks was a gr
25、eat factor affecting the pattern of payment.（B） those who were poor at calculating were likely to fall behind on their mortgages.（C） those who were numerically adept tended to make wiser loan choices.（D）peoples ability with numbers decided whether they could pay their loans on time.9 Stephan Meier h
26、olds that the innumerate（A）are not informed to prepare for a bleak future.（B） are confident about their earning power.（C） tend to live beyond their means.（D）do not take precautions before it is too late.10 Which of the following is the best title for the text?（A）Numeracy might explain（B） Save early,
27、 save wisely（C） How to handle the crisis?（D）The erratic pattern of payment10 Partly due to a historical development marked by worldwide colonialism, urbanization, and globalization, in the course of this century humankind is likely to experience its most extreme cultural loss. As K. David Harrison n
28、otes in When Languages Die, “The last speakers of probably half of the worlds languages are alive today.“ Their children or grandchildren are pressured to speak only the dominant language of their community or country. Under one estimate, more than 50% of the 6,900 or so languages identified nowaday
29、s are expected to become extinct in a matter of a few decades.The precise criteria for what counts as a distinct language are controversialespecially those regarding closely related linguistic systems, which are often inaccurately referred to as dialects of the same language. The problem is complica
30、ted by the insufficiency of studies about the grammar of many of the worlds endangered languages. In addition, from a cognitive standpoint any two groups of individuals whose languages are mutually intelligible may in fact have distinct mental grammars.As a cognitive system, a language shows dynamic
31、 properties that cannot exist independently of its speakers. This is the sense in which the Anatolian languages and Dalmatian are extinct. Therefore, language preservation depends on the maintenance of the native-speaking human groups. Unfortunately, the most accelerated loss of distinct languages t
32、akes place where economic development is rapid, worsening the breakdown of minority communities that speak different languages. In this perspective, a language often begins to die long before the passing of the last speaker: New generations may start using it only for limited purposes, increasingly
33、shifting to the communitys dominant language. In this process, knowledge of the dying language erodes both at the individual level and at the community level.Linguistic diversity itself may be the worst loss at stake, because it may be the most promising and precise source of evidence for the range
34、of variation allowed in the organization of the human cognitive system. For instance, Harrison discusses many strategies for manipulating quantities across languages, often endangered ones. The rapid loss of linguistic diversity substantially hinders comparative investigation about the multiple ways
35、 in which a single cognitive domain can be organized.Linguists are well aware that their efforts alone cannot prevent this loss. Community involvement, especially with government support, has proven essential in slowing or even reversing language loss in different cases(e.g., Basque and Irish). Cruc
36、ially, endangered languages must be acquired by new generations of speakers. Here the biological metaphor adopted by Harrison applies appropriately documentation of dead languages is akin to a fossil record, providing only partial clues about complex cognitive systems.11 According to the first parag
37、raph, language loss（A）is caused partly by colonialism, urbanization and globalization.（B） is the most extreme cultural loss people experiences.（C） is expected to occur in a few centuries.（D）occurs in less than half of the worlds 6,900 languages.12 One of the difficulties in differentiating one langu
38、age from another is that（A）one language may have many dialects.（B） grammar study on some languages is not enough.（C） they are dialects of the same languages.（D）grammars reflected by languages are different.13 The start of language dying is indicated by（A）the disappearance of its last speakers.（B） th
39、e fact that new generations stop using it.（C） the official ban on speaking it.（D）its new generations decreased use of it.14 Measures that can be taken to prevent language loss include（A）turning endangered languages into dominant languages.（B） protecting minority groups by slowing economic growth.（C）
40、 relying on the joint efforts of linguists and government.（D）conducting comparative investigation across languages.15 We can infer from the metaphor in the last paragraph that（A）dead languages are similar to fossils in biological sense.（B） documentation is not enough for us to understand dead langua
41、ges.（C） fossil records give a complete picture of ancient lives.（D）dead languages can remain alive if they are documented properly.15 In George Orwells Animal Farm the mighty cart-horse, Boxer, inspires the other animals with his heroic cry of “I will work harder“. He gets up at the crack of dawn to
42、 do a couple of hours extra ploughing. He even refuses to take a day off. And his reward for all this effort? As soon as he collapses on the job he is sent to the knackers yard to be turned into glue and bone-meal.Animal Farm looks ever more like an allegory about capitalism as well as socialism. Ev
43、erybody knows about the plague of unemployment. But unemployment is bringing another plague in its wake overwork. The Hay Group, a British consultancy which recently surveyed 1,000 people, says that two-thirds of workers report they are putting in unpaid overtime. The reward for all this effort is f
44、rozen pay and shrinking perks. The only difference between these overstretched workers and Boxer is that they can see the knackers van coming.So far workers have borne all this with remarkable perseverancepartly because they feel lucky to keep their jobs and partly because they want to save their fi
45、rms from going under. But the Dunkirk spirit is beginning to fade. The Hay survey notes that 63% of workers say that their employers do not appreciate their extra effort. Half report that their current level of work is unsustainable. People are wearying of frantic reorganization as well as the added
46、 toil-floods of memos and meetings, endless reshuffles, earnest persuasions to do more with less.For their part, companies are beginning to notice the downside of all this overstretching. Absenteeism is on the rise. Corporate loyalty is on the wane. And the biggest danger for companies is if workers
47、 head for the door as the economy picks up. Most problematic of all is when star employees decide to look for work elsewhere. These “high-potentials“(HiPos)are doubly frustrated: they have been asked to shoulder a disproportionate share of the growing burden of work and they have seen senior jobs dr
48、y up as older managers try to cling to their positions.What can organizations do to cope with this new era of overwork? Most obviously they can redouble efforts to make staff feel valued. Cash-strapped companies are making more use of symbolic rewards. A second strategy is to make more use of that o
49、ld favorite, “empowerment“. This means trying harder to explain why companies are acting as they are. A third strategy is to pay particular attention to high performers. A striking number of companies have introduced “HiPo schemes“ to identify and nurture potential stars. Yet this approach is less divisive than it sounds because some animals are more equal than others.16 By citing the book Animal Farm, the author intends to（A）show the suffering of the cart-horse Boxer.（B） discuss the issue of unemployment.（C） introduce the issue of overwork.（D）illustrate the
