1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 70 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 In 1995 George Gilder, an American writer, declared that “cities are leftover baggage from the industrial era. “ Electronic communications would become s
2、o easy and universal that people and businesses would have no need to be near one another. Humanity, Mr Gilder thought, was “headed for the death of cities“.It hasnt turned out that way. People are still flocking to cities. In Silicon Valley and the newer tech hubs what Edward Glaeser, a Harvard eco
3、nomist, calls “the urban ability to create collaborative brilliance“ is alive and well.Cheap and easy electronic communication has probably helped rather than hindered this. First, connectivity is usually better in cities than in the countryside, because it is more lucrative to build telecoms networ
4、ks for dense populations than for sparse ones. Second, electronic chatter may reinforce rather than replace the face-to-face kind. Cheap electronic communication may have made modern economies more “relationship-intensive“, requiring more contact of all kinds.A third factor is becoming increasingly
5、important; the production of huge quantities of data by connected devices, including smartphones. These are densely concentrated in cities, because that is where the people, machines, buildings and infrastructures that carry and contain them are packed together. They are turning cities into vast dat
6、a factories. “That kind of merger between physical and digital environments presents an opportunity for us to think about the city almost like a computer in the open air,“ says Assaf Biderman of the SENSEable lab.As those data are collected and analysed, and the results are recycled into urban life,
7、 they may turn cities into even more productive and attractive places. Some of these “open-air computers“ are being designed from scratch, but most cities are stuck with the infrastructure they have, at least in the short term. Exploiting the data they generate gives them a chance to upgrade it. And
8、, particularly in poorer countries, places without a well-planned infrastructure have the chance of a leap forward. Researchers from the SENSEable lab have been working with informal waste-collecting cooperatives in So Paulo whose members sift the citys rubbish for things to sell or recycle. By atta
9、ching tags to the trash, the researchers have been able to help the co-operatives work out the best routes through the city so they can raise more money and save time and expense.Enforcing the law may also become easier. Andrew Hudson-Smith, director of the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at Un
10、iversity College London, thinks that within five years or so police forces will be able to predict and prevent some crimes by watching Twitter and other social media. The thought may give civil libertarians the creeps, but some Londoners, recalling the part played by instant messaging in last years
11、riots in their city, may wish the police already had such foresight.However, the real prize, says John Day of IBM Research, lies not in single areas such as infrastructure or policing but in making whole cities better by drawing on data from multiple sources for multiple purposes.1 According to the
12、first two paragraphs, cities_.（A）are facing threats from electronic communications（B） are becoming less densely populated（C） are seeing less physical communication among citizens（D）are enjoying great potential for development2 Which of the following is true according to Paragraph 3?（A）Telecom networ
13、ks are moving from urban to suburban areas.（B） Electronic communication may cause physical isolation among people.（C） Contemporary economy relies heavily on social interaction.（D）Digital communication costs less than traditional contacts.3 The phrase “merger between physical and digital environments
14、“(Line 4, Para. 4)means_.（A）connection between city residents and the data they produce（B） combination of existing infrastructures and the internet（C） joining of real-life neighbourhoods and virtual communities（D）integration of the urban world and the data it generates4 The example of So Paulo is me
15、ntioned mainly to show_.（A）the right way of data exploitation for developing countries（B） the role played by data utilization in improving urban life（C） the necessity of urban rubbish classification（D）the design modes of “open-air computers“5 The last sentence in Paragraph 6 implies that instant mes
16、saging_.（A）may produce negative effect in curbing crime（B） might cause harm to citizens privacy（C） encouraged the occurrence of London riots（D）contributed greatly to the suppression of London riots5 If you have ever bought something because it had the most positive reviews, or joined in with a stand
17、ing ovation simply because you didnt want to be the only one left sitting, then you are at least as smart as a honeybee and as steadfast as a bird in a flock.Peter Miller argues that there is a lot we can learn from group behaviour in other animals. In The Smart Swarm he has extracted a few vital ru
18、les from research on the decision-making skills of birds, insects and fish, that can improve the way we approach even the most complex of our problems. How is it that honeybees can employ debate and democracy to decide where to relocate, when across the world boardroom meetings adjourn, week after w
19、eek, without agreement? Do animals know something that we have either forgotten along the way or have yet to learn?Millers book advocates a new kind of problem-solving: one that offers a kind of collective resilience and flexibility that we simply cannot achieve as individuals. Collective solutions
20、have already been adapted to solve some tricky human problems. The way termites maintain a constant temperature inside their mounds has inspired climate control features in skyscrapers, and the navigation techniques of ants have been used to optimise the routes of delivery trucks. Miller also descri
21、bes how one CEO got more accurate sales forecasts using the average of the best guesses of a large number of entry-level employees than from his small team of finance experts.The Smart Swarm blends zoology, entertaining anecdotes and conceptual discussion in an approachable and insightful way. While
22、 not all the examples are equally interesting, and some belabour the point, one cannot help but be inspired by the ideas. What would life be like if we sought to excel as a group rather than as individuals?The book is more than a philosophical exercise. Humans have the swarm sensibility built-in; we
23、 simply havent fully applied it. That may be because we havent had the opportunity, until now. The collaborative possibilities opened up by the internet are bringing smart swarming to the fore. As an example, Miller cites Intellipediaa Wikipedia-style collaborative site developed by US intelligence
24、services, with information available at various levels of security clearance. Wiki sites have been around for a while, but now that contributors can be drawn from all parts of the globe and their numbers are climbing rapidly, we may finally be able to exploit what the birds and the bees have been up
25、 to all along.Of course, Miller cautions, swarm behaviour in humans can have a downside, especially when it manifests as groupthink or peer pressure.6 The first two paragraphs imply that in group decision-making_.（A）human beings are anything but as smart as honeybees（B） human beings seldom employ de
26、mocracy as honeybees do（C） human beings have yet a lot to learn from honeybees（D）human beings make a discussion without a decision as honeybees do7 According to Paragraph 3, which of the following is correct?（A）The collective wisdom of ordinary people is better than experts.（B） Collectivism rather t
27、han individualism makes problem solving easier.（C） Group decisions are often a balance among the preferences of participants.（D）An entry-level employee can offer a solution better than an expert.8 In the authors view, in his book Miller fails to_.（A）make it approachable by readers（B） present ideas i
28、n a concise manner（C） offer readers inspiring ideas（D）address readers confusion9 Intellipedia is cited as an example of illustrating_.（A）the philosophical significance of swarm behaviours（B） the popularity of smart swarming in information industry（C） the potential of full application of human swarm
29、sensibility（D）the promise of human using animals for their own benefit10 In Millers view, the effect of swarm sensibility in groupthink is_.（A）profound（B） desirable（C） questionable（D）adverse10 The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, reminded himself of saying This is mine, and found pe
30、ople simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. Now it is not the land is being enclosed, but the rest of the natural world. In many countries, nature is being valued and commodified so that it can be exchanged for cash. We dont call it nature any more; now the proper term
31、is “natural capital“. Natural processes have become “ecosystem services“, as they exist only to serve us.The argument in favour of this approach is coherent and plausible. Business currently treats the natural world as if it is worth nothing. Pricing nature and incorporating that price into the cost
32、 of goods and services creates an economic incentive for its protection. It certainly appeals to both business and the self-hating states.Payments for ecosystem services look to me like the prelude to the greatest privatization. The government has already begun describing land owners as the “provide
33、rs“ of ecosystem services, as if they had created the rain and the hills and the rivers and the wildlife that inhabits them. They are to be paid for these services, either by the government or by “users“. Land ownership since the time of the first deceiver has involved the gradual accumulation of ex
34、clusive rights, which were seized from commoners. Payments for ecosystem services extend this encroachment by appointing the landlord as the owner of the wildlife, the water flow, the natural processes that were previously deemed to belong to everyone and no one.But it doesnt end there. Once a resou
35、rce has been commodified, speculators and traders step in. The Ecosystem Markets Task Force now talks of “harnessing City financial expertise to assess the ways that these blended revenue streams and securitisations enhance the ROIreturn on investmentof an environmental bond“. This gives you an idea
36、 of how far this process has gone and of the officialese it has begun to generate.Like other aspects of neoliberalism, the commodification of nature forestalls democratic choice. No longer will we be able to argue that an ecosystem or a landscape should be protected because it affords us wonder and
37、delight; well be told that its intrinsic value has already been calculated and, doubtless, that it turns out to be worth less than the other uses to which the land could be put. The market has spoken; end of debate.All those messy, subjective matters, the motivating forces of democracy, will be reso
38、lved in a column of figures. Governments wont need to regulate; the market will make the decisions that politicians have ducked. But trade is an unstable master, and unresponsive to anyone except those with the money. The costing and sale of nature represents another transfer of power to corporation
39、s and the very rich.11 According to the advocates, the commodification of nature offers a stimulus to_.（A）business development（B） resources conservation（C） economic growth（D）political progress12 The author argues in paragraph 3 that payments for ecosystem services may bring_.（A）the full privatizatio
40、n of land（B） the robbery of common resources（C） the rational exploitation of natural resources（D）desirable ecosystem services13 By citing The Ecosystem Markets Task Force, the author intends to show_,（A）the specific ways that resources are commodified（B） the profitability of the commodification of n
41、ature（C） in what ways the return on investment are assessed（D）to what extent commodification of nature has gone14 We can infer from paragraph 5 that neoliberalism mainly claims_.（A）democratic choice（B） spiritual enjoyment（C） free competition（D）government guidance15 What is the best title for this te
42、xt?（A）Resources Privatization Since the Land Enclosure（B） A New Thinking on Nature Protection（C） A Looming Threat to Ecosystem（D）Pricing Nature Will Diminish Us All15 Robert Triverss new book the Folly of Fools is a curious document a book about deception and self-deception that is itself deceptive,
43、 in structure, voice and argument.A celebrated evolutionary biologist, Trivers uses the tools of his trade to answer a basic question: Why are deception and self-deception so prevalent? Our eyes, noses, tongues, ears and skin tell us so much about the world, why is it that our brains then deny some
44、of this information, hide it from ourselves and others? Natural selection should have rooted out such tendenciesunless they offer some evolutionary advantage.Trivers thinks they do. Lying can obviously be helpful, keeping us out of trouble, making us seem better than we are. But our bodies are not s
45、o good at fibbing. We have “tells“ an uptick in our voices, sweating palms and as lies multiply, it becomes difficult to keep track of them. Much better, then, to first deceive ourselves, to believe the lie, so that when we present it to the world all those giveaways are gone.Trivers offers this bit
46、 of reasoning as the basis of a “science of self-deception. “ But in making his arguments, he turns away from the algebraic logic of modern evolutionary biology and opts, instead, for the approach of 19th-century romantic natural history. “The Folly of Fools“ assumes the unity of all nature and seek
47、s to comprehend it not merely by observation and reason, but also by subjective impressions, intuition and imagination. And thus Trivers ranges across biology, anthropology, history and politics to find examples of deception and self-deception in action.Two problems arise from this arrangement. Firs
48、t, it is unclear for whom this book is meant. Scientists are unlikely to find the argument rigorous enough to be persuasive. But the book may not appeal to lay readers, either. Many of Triverss examples feel underdeveloped, and the quick jumps from one to another may give the uninitiated reader vert
49、igo. Fewer examples, more fully developed, could have better drawn in the interested non-scientist. The second problem with his method is its breadth. The examples never gel into a coherent argument. Rather, deception comes to mean so many things that it means nothing at all: The deception that plays out between a cuckoo and the bird in whose nest it has left its eggs is not the deception that explains Japans refusal to come to terms with the Rape of Nanking and neither seems related to the use of
