考研英语二真题三

1、ublication of his first bestseller, The Language Instinct, he“s been known for his ability to boil down complex ideas into accessible, often-funny, cocktail-party-chatter-worthy sound bites. The Better Angels of Our Nature (the phrase comes from Abraham Lincoln) is a huge book, 696 pages of text plus 74 pages of notes and references. But “it has to be,“ Pinker writes. First he has to convince his readers violence has gone down in the face of all their incredulitythen he needs to explain how it 。

2、ion of people around you. A study published in a recent issue of Psychological Science found that people with a particular genetic profile are far more likely than others without the gene to drink more when they see someone else drinking heavily. The finding is quite meaningful and illustrates “how much genetics determines drinking patterns of individuals exposed to other drinkers,“ said psychiatrist Dr. Marc Galanter of New York University Langone Medical Center. The study focused on different 。

3、 a shortage of celebrity breakups. From Jennifer Aniston“s split with Brad Pitt in January to Jessica Simpson“s divorce from Nick Lachey in December, 2005 was filled with ruined romance. But hold the tearsat least for the ex-wives. Bad marriages might have been making them sick. Researchers say that long-term anger and hostility between partners is much more dangerous for women than men and can impair our immune system and put us at risk for depression, high blood pressure and even heart diseas。

4、 crime to help someone else to die. Anyone who “aids, assists, counsels or procures“ a suicide out of compassion or something more sinisterrisks up to 14 years in prison. It is a risk that many are willing to take. About 120 Britons have committed suicide at Dignitas, a Zurich suicide clinic that takes advantage of liberal Swiss laws, and many have had relatives or friends with them for moral or practical support. None of these companions has been charged with a crime. But such cases are not un。

5、development,“ used for many years in the formal government statistics kept by the National Science Foundation are, unfortunately, insufficient for discussions of policy for government investment in technical activities. Indeed, definitions are the source of much of the confusion over the appropriate role for government in the national scientific and technical enterprise. One cannot distinguish in any meaningful way “basic“ from “applied research“ by observing what a scientist is doing. “Applied 。

6、 researchers at the University of Michigan suggests it cana finding that adds a wrinkle to the prevailing notion that IQ is largely fixed by genes. The study involved 62 elementary- and middle-school children from southeast Michigan who were randomly assigned to train on one of two video game-like computer tasks. One group performed a mental-training exercise aimed at improving working memory, the ability to hold and retrieve information in the short term. The other group practiced general know。

7、e exists in any part of it, they may cheer themselves by remembering that life need not resemble closely the life that exists on Earth. Mars looks like the only planet where life like ours could exist, and even this is doubtful. But there may be other kinds of life based on other kinds of chemistry, and they may multiply on Venus or Jupiter. At least we cannot prove at present that they do not. Even more interesting is the possibility that life on other planets may be in a more advanced state of。

8、Everyone around us seems to agree by the way they cling to their phones, even without a 1 on a subway. It“s a sad realityour desire to avoid interacting with other human beingsbecause there“s 2 to be gained from talking to the stranger standing by you. But you wouldn“t know it, 3 into your phone. This universal protection sends the 4 : “Please don“t approach me.“ What is it that makes us feel we need to hide 5 our screens? One answer is fear, according to Jon Wortmann, an executive mental coac。

9、choked to bursting. To ease the pressure, nearly all convicted felons are released earlyor not locked up at all. “About three of every four convicted criminals,“ says John DiIulio, a noted Princeton criminologist, “are on the streets without meaningful probation or parole supervision.“ And while everyone knows that amateur thugs should be deterred before they become career criminals, it is almost unheard-of for judges to send first- or second-time offenders to prison. Meanwhile, the price of ke。

10、y 2000: a year later she became president of Brown University. For the rest of the decade she apparently managed both roles without attracting much criticism. But by the end of 2009 Ms. Simmons was under fire for having sat on Goldman“s compensation committee; how could she have let those enormous bonus payouts pass unremarked? By February the next year Ms. Simmons had left the board. The position was just taking up too much time, she said. Outside directors are supposed to serve as helpful, yet。

11、y not have committed. Had a jury heard all of the evidence in David Junior Brown“s case, he likely would not be contemplating death by lethal injection on November 19, 1999. The deaths of Shelly Diane Chalflinch and her daughter, Christine, surely deserve justice, but justice is not served by the execution of a man whom prosecutors cheated of the opportunity to prove his innocence. Concerned citizens, international human rights organizations, and religious leaders throughout the state are callin。

12、ex and love type, but the workplace kind. Irately, it seems, I keep hearing career counselors advising the unemployed to identify and develop their passion. Then they need to turn that passion into paid work and presto! They“re now in a career they love. I know I“m being somewhat flippant, but I do wonder if passion is being oversold. Are we falling into a trap of believing that our work, and indeed, our lives, should always be fascinating and all-consuming? Are we somehow lacking if we“re bored。

13、 students can“t take notes, turn to a textbook, or ask any questions. Yet at the end of the final exam, one participant may face life in jail or even death. That“s the task handed to American jurors, briefly thrown together to decide accused criminals“ fate. In “A Trial by Jury,“ Princeton history professor D. Graham Burnett offers a rare glimpse inside jury deliberations at a New York murder trial where he served as foreman last year. According to the prosecutor, the case seems clear cut: a sex。

14、tion on drugs? Outraged by the seemingly endless deaths, violence, crime, corruption, border searches, and social costs generated by world drug trafficking, a growing number of public officials and scholars are arguing that it is time to consider the possibilities of selective drug legalization. The legalization argument rests on the proposition that drug lawsnot drugs themselvescause the greatest harm to society. If drugs were legal, the argument goes, drug black markets worth tens of billion。

15、ace them back to banking under the Knights Templar in 1135they have been derided by their critics as greedy rich-world beasts. If there was ever any truth to that accusation, it is fast disappearing. While globalisation has opened new markets to rich-world companies, it has also given birth to a pack of fast-moving, sharp-toothed new multinationals that is emerging from the poor world. The newcomers have some big advantages over the old firms. They are not restricted by the accumulated legacies。

16、 note with a sale of 56 works by Damien Hirst, “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever“, at Sotheby“s in London on September 15th 2008. All but two pieces sold, fetching more than 70m, a record for a sale by a single artist. It was a last victory. As the auctioneer called out bids, in New York one of the oldest banks on Wall Street, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy. The world art market had already been losing momentum for a while after rising bewilderingly since 2003. At its peak in 2007 it was。

17、arch suggests that happiness might influence 1 firms work, too. Companies located in places with happier people invest more, according to a recent research paper. 2 , firms in happy places spend more on R it is that one is actually inclined to interruption.“ Deep reading requires not just time, but a special kind of time which can“t be obtained merely by becoming more efficient. In fact, “becoming more efficient“ is part of the problem. Thinking of time as a resource to be maximized means you ap。

18、e underway. Whether it“s one of London“s parks full of people playing softball, and Russians taking up rugby, or the Superbowl rivaling the British Football Cup Final as a televised spectator event in Britain, the patterns of players and spectators are changing beyond recognition. We are witnessing a globalization of our sporting culture. That annual bicycle race, the Tour de France, much loved by the French is a good case in point. Just a few years back it was a strictly continental affair with。

19、often than is reported by official child protective agencies, according to the findings of the first in a comprehensive series of reports on child maltreatment, published Dec. 2 in the British medical journal The Lancet. The issue lies in the delicate nature of the crimesand the consequences of intervention. Many cases of abuse have the potential for long-term harm of the child, whether or not the assault is reported. The decision to report is rarely clear-cut, says Theresa Costello, “Professio。

20、 first worldwide epidemic 1 by the World Health Organization in 41 years. The heightened alert 2 an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva that assembled after a sharp rise in cases in Australia, and rising 3 in Britain, Japan, Chile and elsewhere. But the epidemic is “ 4 “ in severity, according to Margaret Chan, the organization“s director general, 5 the overwhelming majority of patients experiencing only mild symptoms and a full recovery, often in the 6 of any medical treatment. The out。