1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 96 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 I was 13 when Benji came into our lives. With his deep brown eyes, floppy ears and cheerful disposition, he was my constant companion throughout my teena
2、ge years. We would play together in the garden, and take long walks over the hills behind the house and on the beach. Benji would hang on my every word with his head tilted to one side. Despite being a dog, he seemed to have a sympathy for my problems that went deeper than words could express. He wa
3、s my best friend.Benji left us about 15 years ago for that great kennel in the sky. But recently Ive been thinking about him a lot. Was he really conscious? Could any animal have consciousness like we do? Does it matter whether animals are conscious or not?For many, it is a matter of life and death.
4、 On the one hand, animal research has helped prevent some of the most pressing human diseases, including hepatitis B, hepatitis C, “mad cow“ disease, malaria, cystic fibrosis and emphysema. On the other hand, this research is performed largely on chimps, our closest nonhuman relatives, with whom we
5、share 98.4% of our genetic material, and great apes, with whom we are similarly biologically close.Some people feel this connection is strong enough to warrant special treatment. An international group called the Great Ape Project is lobbying the United Nations to adopt a declaration on the rights o
6、f great apes modeled on the UN declaration On the Rights of Man. The group believes that apes are “conscious“ and so deserve legal protection of their right to life and freedom from imprisonment and torture.If great apes were shown to have consciousness something like our own, I would consider it am
7、ong the scientific discoveries of the century. I would then agree with the Australian philosopher and founder of the animal rights movement, Peter Singer, that performing medical experiments on chimps would be like experimenting on orphan children. Thats a pretty chilling thought, and no amount of h
8、uman suffering saved could justify such an action. But before we close down the laboratories and stop searching for a vaccine against AIDS, we had better take a long hard look at the evidence for ape consciousness.1 Why does the author bring up the example of Benji?（A）To show that animals have consc
9、iousness.（B） To raise the question of animal consciousness.（C） Because Benji was his best friend.（D）To illustrate the differences between dogs and chimps.2 What most likely happened to Benji about 15 years ago?（A）He ran away.（B） He became conscious.（C） He died.（D）He was the authors best friend.3 Som
10、e people feel that apes should be given special treatment because_.（A）they are genetically similar to humans（B） they can help find a cure for “mad cow“ disease（C） they possess a consciousness superior to humans（D）they are treated poorly by scientists4 The Great Ape Project believes that apes deserve
11、 legal protection because they are_.（A）humans（B） conscious（C） animals（D）imprisoned5 What does the author think about experimenting on apes?（A）It should be stopped.（B） It should not be stopped unless apes are shown to have a consciousness like our own.（C） The medical advances gained are outweighed by
12、 the suffering of the apes.（D）It is akin to experimenting on orphan children.5 The ways in which societies address environmental issues are in the midst of a profound transformation. Both the extent of this transformation and its implications for the future of environmental governance are only begin
13、ning to be appreciated.Of all the dimensions of environmental governance undergoing rapid change, most attention has been devoted to the growing urgency of the threats that need to be addressed. As argued by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, these now warrant consideration jointly with th
14、e other great global issues of the 21st century: “freedom from want, freedom from fear, and the freedom of future generations to sustain their lives on this planet.“ The first two of these issues reflect the longstanding concerns for poverty alleviation and physical security that framed the UN Chart
15、er. The last, as the secretary-general notes, was “not clearly identified in the charter because in 1945, our founders could scarcely imagine that it would ever be threatened.“ Today, that threat is increasingly clear, and our most enlightened political leaders have begun to redefine the priority ta
16、sks of governance to include sustainability.A second rapidly changing dimension of environmental governance is the scale over which it needs to operate. The trends toward “globalization“ that have entrained so many aspects of our lives in the increasingly interconnected world of the 21st century hav
17、e affected the environment as well. In response, more international environmental treaties were adopted and more international environmental institutions were founded in the last quarter of the 20th century than in the preceding hundred years. A few of these have worked relatively well. In general,
18、however, our capacity for effective implementation lags far behind the recognized need.Finally, the actors and institutions involved in environmental governance are changing. The political transformation of “a closed public policy process into a more open and participatory one“ for Southeast Asia, i
19、s under way for much of the rest of the world as well, shifting power away from central governments toward local communities and civil society organizations. Simultaneously, the globalization trends noted above have pushed in the other direction, moving power toward multinational corporations and in
20、ternational institutions.In the midst of all these transformations, two things can nonetheless be said with confidence about environmental governance: Neither its complexity nor its importance have ever been greater.6 Which of the following is true according to the first paragraph?（A）The extent of t
21、he transformation of the ways in which societies address environmental issues has always been appreciated.（B） The ways in which societies address environmental issues are currently undergoing change.（C） The environment is in the midst of a profound transformation.（D）The future of environmental gover
22、nance is in doubt.7 Which changing aspect of environmental governance has been given the most attention?（A）The scale over which it needs to operate.（B） The growing urgency of the threats.（C） The actors and institutions involved.（D）Its complexity.8 The issue of sustainability was neglected in the UN
23、Charter because_.（A）at the time the charter was written it was virtually unthinkable that sustainability would become a problem（B） other issues were more important（C） the tasks of governance did not include sustainability（D）the concerns for poverty alleviation and physical security that framed the U
24、N Charter were longstanding9 According to the text, local communities are_.（A）lacking resources（B） driving globalization（C） becoming more powerful（D）moving power towards multinational corporations10 The main message the author wishes to convey in the text is that_.（A）the issue of environmental gover
25、nance is both complex and important（B） environmental governance is a new issue on the horizon（C） globalization is affecting the entire world（D）in response to globalization, there are issues we need to deal with10 Mid-June, legions of New York City students are starting to shudder at the prospect of
26、summer school: a sweaty month of math, reading and writing drills that many view as a tedious waste of time.Could they be right? Three years ago, the city had its hopes pinned on a vastly expanded summer school program as the latest most promising cure for its woebegone public schools.It was Mayor R
27、udolph W. Giuliani who pressured the Board of Education into ending “social promotion“the longstanding practice of promoting students despite failing gradesand organizing the nations largest summer school program. It began in July 2000 and, in theory, the five-week summer sessions should by now have
28、 given a few hundred thousand students the extra push they needed to pass standardized tests and earn promotion to the next grade.But as another school year ends and another mayor staggers under the burden of fixing the system, the idea of summer school as panacea seems to have fallen flat. Problems
29、 have plagued the program from the get-go, despite expensive attempts to solve them.Absenteeism has hobbled the program each year, even though educators have tried everything from hunting down truants to rewarding students who show up, with pizza parties and movie tickets. Without a state law making
30、 summer school compulsory for failing studentswhich legislators have not pursued because of the potentially astronomical expense and the risk of angering parents who votea significant percentage of those who desperately need extra academic help will not take advantage of the program.Even more troubl
31、ing are the results of the 2000, 2001 and 2002 summer programs, which are decidedly mixed. In all three years, fewer than half of students who showed up for summer school passed the end-of-summer reading and math exams. For eighth graders, summer school has in fact seemed to do more harm than good:
32、the report found that in 2000 and 2002, they scored much lower on the end-of-summer tests than they had on spring exams.11 We can learn from the text that New York City schools_.（A）have been having problems（B） are among the best in the world（C） require all students to attend summer school（D）are prom
33、ising in their potential12 According to the article, what is “social promotion“?（A）Promoting students to a higher social class despite failing grades.（B） Allowing students to move on to the next grade despite failing grades.（C） Giving students failing grades.（D）Attending summer school.13 According t
34、o the article, which is one of the reasons why legislators have not made summer school compulsory?（A）Students dont like summer school.（B） Instituting such a program would be very expensive.（C） Students who need help the most dont even attend.（D）The program has had mixed results.14 What percentage of
35、 students who attended summer school from 2000-2002 passed the end-of-summer reading and math exams?（A）50%.（B） Over 50%.（C） Under 50%.（D）100%.15 The New York City summer school program has_.（A）been a smashing success（B） been a miserable failure（C） produced mixed results（D）angered many state legislat
36、ors15 Less than five years ago, Scottish Opera was trapped in a financial quagmire from which few thought it could recover. Today, however, the national company seals its comeback by announcing its most wide-reaching program to date. In an interview with The Times, Alex Reedjik, general director of
37、Scottish Opera, explained that a series of collaborations with other companies would enable it to maximize its output without compromising its budget. He admitted that the partnerships were borne of financial necessity, but argued they would allow the company to reach greater audiences than ever bef
38、ore. “Collaborations are the way forward,“ he said. “We have often done co-productions in the past but they are more important to us now to enable us to achieve all of our hopes. The problem is that sets are very expensive. If you can share those costs with another organization and not impact on art
39、istic integrity, that is a positive, welcome and necessary thing.“Highlights of the 2009-10 season will include a new co-production with New Zealand Opera of Rossinis The Italian Girl in Algiers, and a joint venture with Opera North The Adventures of Mr. Broucek, by Leos Janacek, featuring a 40-stro
40、ng choir singing Hussite hymns, along with bagpipes and an organ. An unashamedly Italianate season this Autumn begins with a revival of Giles Havergals popular 1994 production of The Elixir of Love. There will also be a revival of the Tony-award winning director Stewart Laings production of Puccinis
41、 La Boheme.The turnaround in the companys fortunes is striking. In 2005, the year before Mr. Reedjik joined the organization, Scottish Opera was forced to make half of its staff, including the entire chorus, redundant and abandon its main-scale productions for a season after accumulating debts of ar
42、ound 4.5 million. The companys core grant, which at that time came from the Scottish Arts Council(it is now funded directly by the government)had not risen for several years. However, it had also haemorrhaged funds by staging the hugely expensive Ring Cycle, and according to some critics, had been o
43、verspending on props, with rumors of cast members wearing 300 designer shoes.A 7 million rescue package put together by the then Labor-led Scottish Executive saved the company from going dark on a permanent basis, but the ease with which it almost went under forced a rethink of priorities. While the
44、 company continues to stage several major productions each season, it has also introduced smaller touring worksthe acclaimed Five: 15 serieswhich pairs leading writers with composers to create 15-minute chamber pieces that could be developed into longer productions. The aim, says Mr. Reedjik, is to
45、put on as much opera in Scotland as possible without breaking the bank. So far the strategy seems to be working, with audiences averaging at around 95,000 people in the past three years, a rise of almost 50 per cent compared with 2004-05, the season before the company went dark. “What we are trying
46、to do now is live within our means and raise as much as possible from philanthropic means,“ said Mr. Reedjik. “We seemed to have dropped out of the news for dumb stuff now were in the news for our interesting work.“16 The original purpose of Scottish Operas collaboration with others lies in_.（A）maxi
47、mizing of its output（B） compromising its budget（C） sharing financial pressure（D）producing wide-reaching programs17 It can be inferred from Paragraph 1 that_.（A）no one believed Scottish Opera would recover from the financial problems（B） co-production is equally important to Scottish Opera now and bef
48、ore（C） potential risk of breaking its artistic integrity exists in Scottish Operas partnerships（D）collaboration with others is significant to Scottish Operas recovery18 The underlined word in Paragraph 3 refers to_.（A）promoted（B） unemployed（C） well-trained（D）registered19 By mentioning the high price
49、 of cast members shoes, the author intends to_.（A）prove the formality of management of Scottish Opera（B） compliment the skill of the shoes designer（C） provide another possible reason of Scottish Operas bad financial status（D）emphasize the high expense of Ring Cycle20 Which of the following would the author LEAST probably agree on?（A）Scottish Opera has been funded by Scottish Arts Council since its establishment.（B） Five is a well-recognized small touring work.（C） The company is striving for more charitab
