1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 477 及答案与解析Part B (10 points) 0 When we compare men with animals, we must remember that a man is also an animal. But in making this comparison, it is sometimes more convenient to refer to the rest of the animal kingdom as “animals“.【R1 】_Many animals are intelligent in the sense that the
2、y can explore their surroundings or acquire new skills by learning from their parents. Animal organisms have organs whose physical power exceeds the power of men. The bodies of men have no wings and cannot fly. Men cannot imitate fish and spend long periods under water unless they carry breathing ap
3、paratus with them.【R2 】_But it is very uncommon for animals to go mad or destroy their own kind. Animals, left to themselves, do not disturb the balance of nature. They do not turn grassland into desert or make water undrinkable by filling whole lakes and rivers with waste materials. Compared with m
4、ost other organismsif we see him as a part of natureman is wasteful and destructive. Though he is more intelligent than animals, he often uses his intelligence for strange purposes.【R3 】_This power is possessed by the rich businessman in Chicago and the poor, primitive Bushman of the Kalahari Desert
5、 in Africa. It may indeed show itself more obviously in the Bushman, whose environment does not provide him with security and whose entire food supply is acquired by facing new situations. It is a power which can be wasted or misused or be weakened through neglect. But it is a power which belongs to
6、 every human being.【R4 】_Language gives depth to human communities in time. It enables one generation to hand on its experience to another, by means of stories, which are the origin of human history. It is only human beings who recognize a past and future, and who feel that they stand at a certain p
7、oint in the development of their community.【R5 】_This brings us to another aspect of human intelligence. Man is more adaptable than animals, but in the ages of civilization he has used this power in a special way. A few communities, like the African Bushman, still manage to survive in a primitive wa
8、y. But other men wish to make their future more secure and try to find a way of doing this, which is typical of civilized communities.AWe call this capacity intelligence. Its chief instrument or weapon is human language, a system of symbols(spoken or written)which enables men to communicate informat
9、ion and purpose, and see one situation in terms of another. The ability to use symbols is not possessed by animals, and it is a major aspect of human intelligence.BLike animals, men are adapted to a certain environment. They require food and water; they can digest only certain kinds of food. They re
10、quire warmth; they can survive only within certain limits of temperature.CMans sense of future leads him to provide for the future. He accumulates food, clothes, useful objects, raw materials, buildings, information and in modern times he accumulates moneythe means of exchange and therefore an impor
11、tant means of power over other men.DDifferent from an animal, man is able to convert a natural environment into a human, social environmentan environment which represents the accumulated labor of many generations.EWe cannot say that men are superior to animals. But they differ from animals in severa
12、l important ways. And all these differences are really aspects of one and the same difference. This central difference is mans unusual mental flexibility, his ability to meet a new situation in a new way and his capacity to learn from his experience and the experience of others.FIt is very doubtful
13、whether men are “superior“ to animals. It is true that their responses are more complex.GMan is concerned about his living environment. The discoveries of science and the inventions of technology have produced an environment which is almost equivalent to a second, outer shell of body and is adapted
14、not only to local conditions but also to a very wide range of variations in climate, altitude and other features of the geographical surroundings.1 【R1 】2 【R2 】3 【R3 】4 【R4 】5 【R5 】5 Rain forest structure is distinct from most other forest types because of its many layers of vegetation, referred to
15、as strata. The lowest stratum is the understory, composed of palms, herbaceous plants(such as wild ginger), and tree seedlings and saplings. 【R1】 _Many have deep red coloring on the underside of their leaves to capture some of the scarce light that does manage to reach the forest understory. This re
16、d coloring enables understory plants to absorb light of different wavelengths than do the plants with rich, green-foliaged canopy, the umbrella-shaped upper structure of trees. Above the forest floor but below the canopy are one or more midstory strata, made up of woody plants, such as large shrubs
17、and midsized trees.The overstory is the canopy, in which the tree crowns form a continuous layer that captures the major part of the rainwater and sunlight hitting the forest. The height of the canopy varies from region to region and forest to forest, ranging from 20 to 50 m(65 to 165 ft). 【R2】_Rese
18、archers use hot air balloons, cables, catwalks, towers, sophisticated tree-climbing gear, and even robots to study the millions of plants and animals that make their home high up in the forest canopy. Canopy researchers also use huge cranes that are dropped into the heart of the forest by helicopter
19、s. Suspended from the crane s long, movable arm is a large cabin that functions as a mobile treetop laboratory. Moving from tree to tree, forest researchers collect specimens, conduct experiments, and observe life in the canopy frontier.The highest stratum of the rain forest is made up of the emerge
20、nt trees, those individuals that stick up above the forest canopy. Emergents, which do not form a continuous layer, are usually the giants of the forest , reaching heights of 35 to 70 m(115 to 230 ft)or more, and trunk sizes of over 2 m(6.6 ft)in diameter.【R3 】_However, these trees tend to be so lar
21、ge that they collectively account for the vast majority of the woody mass, or biomass, of the forest.The nicely ordered strata of the rain forest, including the continuous layer of the canopy, are regularly disturbed by naturally occurring events, such as falling trees. Trees in a rain forest canopy
22、 are often interconnected by vines, and a falling tree may pull as well as push other trees down with it, producing a domino effect of falling trees. The resulting opening in the forest canopy enables light to pour onto the forest floor. 【R4】 _Other natural disturbances create even larger openings i
23、n the forest canopies. For example, along the hurricane belt in the Caribbean and the typhoon belt along the western Pacific, some forests are substantially altered when high winds and storms blow down hundreds of trees every few decades. 【R5】_Scientists have found that these natural disturbances an
24、d the subsequent forest regeneration are a vital process that leads to healthy and diverse forests.ANew plants and animals then move into the area and begin to grow.BJust 2 percent of the sunlight goes through the many layers of leaves and branches above, so understory plant species have developed s
25、pecial traits to cope with low light levels.COn a smaller scale, large mammals, such as elephants, regularly destroy rain forest vegetation in the Congo River Basin in Africa.DAn understory of shorter trees and a lacework of woody vines, or lianas, produce a forest of such complex internal architect
26、ure that many animals, including some sizable ones, rarely or never descend to the groundELess than one percent of the trees in the forest reside in the canopy and emergent layers.FBecause more light penetrates the canopy, however, the vegetation of the understory and forest floor is better develope
27、d than in the tropics.GThe rich, green canopy is teeming with life, and forest researchers have developed ingenious methods for accessing this mysterious ecosystem.6 【R1 】7 【R2 】8 【R3 】9 【R4 】10 【R5 】10 Several months ago, planning to visit a friend hospitalized with AIDS, I asked a doctor whether I
28、 should take any precautions. “Youre more of a risk to him than he is to you, “ said the doctor, Fred Valentine, an associate professor of medicine at New York University Medical Center. “You might have a cold or some minor infection that would be very serious for him if he caught it because he has
29、no resistance.“ The risk to me, the doctor said, was almost nonexistent.【R1 】_Doctors now think they understand how it infects, can test whether someone has been exposed to the virus, and know how to prevent its spread to others.【R2 】_AIDS is a silent epidemic. According to recent figures from the C
30、enters for Disease Control(CDC), since 1979, 15, 172 people in the United States have been diagnosed as having AIDS, and 7, 111 of them have died. These numbers are doubling every 10 to 12 months. Another 60, 000 to 120, 000 people have AIDS-related-complex(ARC), a milder form of the disease which w
31、ill turn into AIDS in 5 to 20 percent of the cases.【R3 】_Dr. Harold Jaffe, chief epidemiologist of the AIDS task force at the CDC, says that over five years perhaps 10 percent of the people carrying the virus will get AIDS. Another 25 percent will develop ARC. Since in a majority of cases AIDS is fa
32、talat least so farthe death toll could be enormous.Though the medical community is overwhelmingly convinced that AIDS cant be caught by causal contact, that is what most people worry about. Part of the problem is semantic. Doctors are taught never to say “never“ because theres no such thing as 100-p
33、ercent certainty in science. 【R4】_But the facts do speak strongly against transmission of AIDS through casual contact. To begin with, no researcher has found a single case contracted that way. Of all the AIDS cases reported in the past five years, not one resulted from sharing a residence, a school-
34、room or an office with another AIDS patient, says Dr. Jaffe. 【R5】_Theoretically, there is a small risk from a barbershop shave with a straight edged razor(which may produce a minute amount of bleeding)if the razor has been contaminated with AIDS-carrying blood and left uncleaned. A similar situation
35、 holds if bleeding occurs during a manicure and the instruments are contaminated and not disinfected between customers.AFor example, dental patients arent thought to be at risk. Instruments are sterilized by boiling, or autoclavingthe use of superheated steam under pressure. Either would kill the AI
36、DS virus if it were present. Furthermore, most dentists use disposable needles for injections.BAIDS(acquired immune deficiency syndrome)was identified only four years ago and is still as mystifying to the public as it is frightening. Though a great deal remains to be learned about the disease, the s
37、tore of information is increasing quickly.CNor have any friends or family members who have tended AIDS victims come down with the disease, unless they had sexual contact with the victim. “Mothers who ve taken care of sons through their terminal illness, handling blood, body secretions, vomitnone of
38、them has caught AIDS.“ says Dr. Valentine.DBecause 392 AIDS victims contracted AIDS from contaminated blood given in a transfusion or from blood products used to treat hemophilia, many people worry about giving or receiving blood. To begin with, it is impossible to get AIDS by giving blood. A new, s
39、terilized needle is used for each donor and is disposed of afterward.EMore disturbing is that as many as 1.2 million Americans may have antibodies to the virus, and a majority of these may be carrying it, even though they have no symptoms. Some of them can spread the disease.FThough the public s att
40、ention has been focused on fears of casual contact with AIDS victims, medical authorities agree that the disease is not easy to catch. Indeed, the key to containing AIDS lies in two areas of contact that are anything but casual: sex and sharing intravenous drug needles. But sex and drug abuse are th
41、ings that people can control. Research indicates that worries of this sort are unfounded.GSo researchers say things like “Theres no evidence of casual spread of AIDS“. The public, not recognizing the underlying principle, is suspicious and tends to overestimate the uncertainty.11 【R1 】12 【R2 】13 【R3
42、 】14 【R4 】15 【R5 】15 Life, at least for a seed, is better out in the world. 【R1】_Seeds know how to get around. 【R2】_But they all have the same goal: to take root and give rise to the next generation.Scientists can understand what type of dispersal strategy a plant employs by looking at its environme
43、nt. For example, dispersal by sea currents is important for plants that grow on seashores, and wind is important in open grasslands. And for each type of dispersal, there is a type of design. 【R3】_“Among species with seeds dispersed internally by animals, the size of the seed or fruit, its color, an
44、d the presence of protective husks will reflect the swallowing, visual, and processing abilities of the seed disperser, “ Birkinshaw said. For example, seeds spread by small birds will be small in size, covered with plant flesh(to give the birds a reward for eating it), huskless(since most birds are
45、 ill equipped to remove such an outer shell), and brightly colored(since birds have good color vision).Some seeds have no specific dispersal strategy, like the coco-de-mer, a palm tree that only grows in the Seychelles, an island chain in the Indian Ocean. These palms have the largest seeds of any p
46、lant and lack any seed dispersal method other than gravity, Birkinshaw said. In other cases, as with the rare Mada-gascan palms Satranala decussilvae and Voanioala gerardii, the seeds collect in piles beneath their parent trees. 【R4】 _According to John Dransfield, an expert on Madagascan palms with
47、the United Kingdoms Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, both of these palms have very large seeds that animals alive today are incapable of moving. “You start dreaming up stories that it could have been distributed by a now extinct animal“ , he said.Possible extinct dispersers of the palms are large lemurs t
48、hat once roamed Madagascar or flightless elephant birds, which were the largest birds known to have lived in Madagascar.There are only a few of these Madagascan palms left standing. 【R5】_Donald Drake is a botanist with the University of Hawaii in Honolulu who studies how plant and animal interaction
49、 affects reproduction of native plants and food for native animals in the Pacific Ocean islands. He said loss of animals to disperse seeds certainly impacts a plants viability, but “hard, conclusive data are difficult to come by“.He and colleague Kim McConkey are currently engaged in research that suggests animals may stop performing ecological functions such as seed dispersal long before they go extinct. “We found this to be
