1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 62 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 Earlier this year, psychologist Dirk Smeesters published a study that showed that varying the perspective of advertisements from the third person to the
2、first person, makes people weigh certain information more heavily in their consumer choices. Last year, Smeesters published a different study in the journal of Experimental Psychology suggesting that even manipulating colors such as blue and red can make us bend one way or another.Except that appare
3、ntly none of it is true. Last month, Dr. Smeesters acknowledged manipulating his data, an admission that has been the subject of heated discussions in the scientific community. He himself pointed out in his defense in Discover Magazine, that the academic atmosphere in the social sciences, and partic
4、ularly in psychology, effectively encourages such data manipulation to produce “statistically significant“ outcomes.Dr. Smeesters excluded some data so as to achieve the results he wished for. Insidious as this may sound, some recent analyses of psychological science suggest that fudging the math to
5、 get a false positive is all too easy. It is also far too common.The problem is not that social scientists are willfully engaging in misconduct. The problem is that methods are so fluid that psychologists, acting in good faith but having natural human biases toward their own beliefs, can unknowingly
6、 nudge data in directions they think they should go. The field of psychology offers a staggering array of competing statistical choices for scholars. I suspect, too, that many psychologists are sensitive to comparisons with the “hard“ sciences, and this may propel them to make more certain claims ab
7、out the results even when it is irresponsible to do so.Then there are the more obvious pressures, including the old “publish or perish“ issue in academia. Getting results that dont support a studys hypothesis published is a rare event. If a scholar has just convinced the federal government that, say
8、, cartoons are a possibly impending danger to children everywhere and to give him or her a grant for a million dollars to prove it, its difficult to then come back years later and say, “Nope, I got nothing. “ Some scholars function as activists for particular causes. And of course statistically sign
9、ificant results tend to grab headlines in ways that null results dont.Concerns about this problem has been raised from within the scholarly community itself. This is how science works, by identifying problems and trying to correct them. Our field needs to change the culture wherein null results are
10、undervalued and scholars should submit their data along with their manuscripts for statistical peer review when trying to get published. And we need to continue to look for ways of moving past “statistical significance“ into more sophisticated discussions of how our results may or may not have real
11、world impact. These are problems that can be fixed with greater rigor and open discussion. Without any attempt to do so, however, our field risks becoming little more than opinions with numbers.1 The two studies arc cited in the opening paragraph to_.（A）illustrate psychologists inclination to change
12、 perspectives（B） compare different psychological research results（C） spotlight Dr. Smeesters academic contributions（D）exemplify study findings of statistical significance2 Dr. Smeester is most likely to regard data manipulation as_.（A）difficult but necessary（B） undesirable but irresistible（C） ill-ma
13、nnered and contemptible（D）justified and widely-supported3 It can be learned from paragraph 4 that psychologists tend to_.（A）have more biased beliefs than other scientists（B） engage in willful misconduct frequently（C） lack confidence in their own beliefs（D）be eager to produce definite claims4 “Null r
14、esults“(Line 6, Para 5)most probably refers to study results_.（A）with little significance（B） without the expected content（C） achieved from low-cost studies（D）unappealing or unattractive5 Which of the following can be inferred from the last paragraph?（A）Peer review is an accurate filter for research
15、quality.（B） Worldwide recognition overweighs statistical significance.（C） Focus on statistical significance is a potential threat to psychology.（D）Statistical significance indicates the value of research.5 In 2008, Mark Lynas, an environmental activist, was unsparing in his criticism of genetically-
16、modified(GM)food companies, calling their claims that GM crops could feed the world “outlandish“ and dismissing arguments that they could better cope with the impact of climate change “a new line in emotional blackmail“.In his speech at the Oxford conference on January 3rd, Mr Lynas was no less unco
17、mpromising. “We will have to feed 9. 5 billion hopefully less poor people by 2050 on about the same land area as we use today, using limited fertiliser, water and pesticides and in the context of a rapidly changing climate. “ The only way of squaring this circle will be through the technology-driven
18、 intensification of farmingie, GM.Tom Macmillan of the Soil Association, which promotes the practice of organic farming, dismissed his views and said that popular opposition to GM crops is still strong and that GM crops require extra herbicides and dearer seeds while producing more resistant weeds a
19、nd pests.Mr Lynass speech spotlights a growing tension within the environmental movement over how far to embrace technologies that have environmental benefits, when they work, but which raise fears of environmental disaster if they dont. Mr Lynas makes the point that greens are happy to accept scien
20、tific findings when it comes to climate change, but dismiss them as biased when they attribute benefits to GM.Mr Lynass speech also added intriguing twists to an old debate. As he pointed out, regulatory delays introduced as a result of anti-GM movements are getting longer. Many GM crops have been w
21、aiting a decade or more for approval. And this has a cost. Mr Lynas quotes figures from CropLife, a Brussels based agricultural-technology association, which show that it now costs $ 139m to move from discovering a new crop trait to full commercialisation. That means only big companies can afford to
22、 do it, says Mr Lynas: “anti-tech campaigners complain about GM crops only being marketed by big corporations when this is a situation they have done more than anyone to help bring about. “Once, criticism of GM crops advanced on all fronts; these things were unnatural, an abuse of science; they woul
23、d spread rogue genes uncontrollably; they would be bad for human health and so forth. The scientific fears have so far proved groundless and opponents seem to be playing upon them much lessat least to judge by the narrow sample of criticism of Mr Lynass speech. The main burden of complaint now seems
24、 to be that GM technology is a product of large companies which are unresponsive to public concerns. There is obviously much to be said for and against that charge. But for the moment it is worth noting two things. First, how much narrower the complaint is than the anti-GM criticism of only a few ye
25、ars ago. And second, as Mr Lynas himself points out, how much critics of the technology have themselves contributed to the dominance of large firms, by raising the cost of developing GM crops so high.6 The word “outlandish“(Line 2, Paragraph 1)most probably means（A）funny and unreasonable（B） creative
26、 and beneficial（C） strikingly out of the ordinary（D）emotionally threatening7 Tom Macmillan criticizes GM crops for their_.（A）incompatibility with organic crops（B） contribution to climate change（C） unpopularity among the public（D）high cost and harmful outcomes8 Environmentalists hold that GM technolo
27、gies_.（A）are trustworthy when they work（B） are posing a threat to environment（C） have misled scientific reseach（D）can bring benefits to environment9 Figures from CropLife associations are mentioned to show_.（A）the high expenses for developing new GM crops（B） big companies strengths in GM crops marke
28、ting（C） the great costs of anti-GM movement（D）the worsening of regulatory delays10 Which of the following can be inferred from the last paragraph?（A）GM foods have so far proved good for human health.（B） The critics are committed to the dominance of large firms.（C） The target of GM criticism has chan
29、ge dramatically（D）Big corporations ignore public concerns over GM issues.10 Three years ago, French entrepreneur Gary Cige was helping a friend hang a mirror in his country house when they realized they needed a drill. But where to get one? Buying one would cost 150 euros, a huge waste considering t
30、hey needed it for only half an hour. And since it was Sunday, every rental shop would be closed. Yet as Cige realized, they were likely surrounded by drills. Odds are, at least one of his friends neighbors had a drill that was sitting idle. Why wasnt there some easy way to find a drill to rentfor ju
31、st a few bucks?Propelled by that idea, Cige cofounded Zilok, a startup that offers precisely this service: People post possessions theyre willing to rent out, along with a price. Ciges Web site processes the fee, tracks the reputation of your renting partner, andin France -even issues insurance for
32、your item. After two years in business, Zilok has 150,000 items listed, with 6,000 transactions a month, and its the fastest-growing renter of cars in France.Peer-to-peer rentingand similar serviceshas boomed in the past few years. Some work like Zilok, while others let people exchange things they o
33、wn(such as books and CDs at Swaptree). A few e-ven let you take advantage of space thats lying fallow, like Shared Earth, where landowners hook up with gardeners.In essence, were seeing a new relationship to property where access trumps ownership. Were u-sing bits to help us share atoms. The genius
34、of these sites is that they make a virtue of modern societys ecological sin: oversupply. In developed countries, were prosperous but horribly wasteful. We buy tons of things we use rarelyand which sit unused in basements and storage lockers.Peer renting and sharing is, of course, an old idea. But it
35、 never took off before, for logistical reasons: It was too hard to connect millions of renters to owners. The Internets eBaysian ability to make markets solved that problem. The Net also provides crucial social glue, as the new startup Zimride proves. Ride-sharing systems have historically petered o
36、ut because it can be kind of creepy to pick up strangers. So instead, Zimride lets people share rides with friends of friends from Facebook through either Facebook Connect or networks it sets up for individual organizations. “The limiting factor before was trust,“ Zimride cofounder Logan Green says,
37、 “and Facebook solved that. “Besides the environmental benefits, there are economic ones; Some users of Zilok make more than $ 1,000 a month circulating their possessions. Granted, its not enough to quit your day job, but a little extra dough for almost no effort never hurts.As peer-to-peer renting
38、and swapping evolves, tools like geolocation and micropayments could make it even smoother and more ubiquitous. Rachel Botsman, coauthor of Whats Mine Is Yours -a. new book that documents “collaborative consumption“envisions a world in which everyones stuff reports its status in real time: Where is
39、it right now? Is it available for use by someone else? Your property could circulate for days or months, making you money instead of moldering in your garage. “Were facing a revolution in the way we think of ownership,“ Botsman says. Or, to put it another way, your drill may be my drill, too.11 In t
40、he opening paragraph, the author introduces his topic by_.（A）bringing up a hypothesis（B） giving an example（C） tracing back the origin（D）making a comparison12 Which of the following is true of Zilok?（A）It is responsible for pricing the items for rent.（B） It develops vigorously in the past few years.（
41、C） It provides insurance for valuable items rented.（D）It offers the fastest car rental services in France.13 Peer-to-peer renting essentially features_.（A）flexible ownership（B） a wide range of services（C） high-tech marketing（D）ecological conservation14 It can be concluded that the success of Zimride
42、 mainly lies in its ability of_,（A）persuading people to share rides（B） establishing trust among strangers（C） building a vast interpersonal network（D）finding sufficient potential customers 15 Toward the prospect of peer-to-peer renting, the authors attitude can be said to be_.（A）objective（B） pessimis
43、tic（C） suspicious（D）optimistic15 If you lock a bunch of high-IQ people in a room and tell them to get on with a task, what will they e-merge with? Lower IQs, for one thing. A study done by Virginia Tech tried to replicate how people think under social pressure. Subjects with an average IQ of 126 wer
44、e clustered into problem-solving groups and exposed to judgments about their work. A pecking order formed. The low performers showed high responses in the part of the brain that regulates fear. The scientists concluded that “individuals express diminished cognitive capacity in groups, an effect that
45、 is worsened by perceived lower status“.This is the first ill word any scientist has had for the way groups think in a very long time. Over the past decade or two, story after story has spoken glowingly of “hive mind“ and the “wisdom of crowds“. Are these profound new insights or are they a cognitiv
46、e-science trend on which the tide is now receding?They are both. There is certainly something measurable that can be called collective intelligence. A fascinating study of its operation was published in the magazine Science two years ago. They asked small groups to do a variety of mental tests and t
47、hen play a game of draughts. A collective equivalent of general intelligence is just what they found. Moreover, it was not just an artefact of the individual intelligences that made up the groups. The correlation of group thinking with the average intelligence of the group, or with the intelligence
48、of the groups smartest member, was weak. Strong correlations were with the “average social sensitivity of group members and the equality in distribution of conversation turn-taking“. Office bullies and those who cant shut up drive down productivity.These two findingsthat there is such a thing as col
49、lective intelligence and that working in groups makes individuals a bit duller are not necessarily contradictory. A human being probably loses a bit of thinking capacity in subordinating himself to a group, no matter what feats the collective is able to carry out. Whether this trade-off is worthwhile depends on what the groups are doing. If western culture as it existed until two decades ago stood for any one thing, it was the defence of the individual against the herd. Individuals produced Ki
