2015重庆考研英语二真题及答案.pdf

20152015 重庆考研英语二真题及答案重庆考研英语二真题及答案Directions:Read the following text.Choose the best word(s)for each numbered blank andmark A,B,C or D on ANSWER SHEET.(10 points)In our contemporary culture,the prospect of communicating with-or evenlooking at-a stranger is virtually unbearable.Everyone around us seems to agreeby the way they fiddle with their phones,even without a 1 underground.Its a sad reality-our desire to avoid interacting with other human beings-because theres 2 to be gained from talking to the stranger standing by you.Butyou wouldnt know it,3 into your phone.This universal armor sends the 4:Pleasedont approach me.What is it that makes us feel we need to hide 5 our screens?One answer is fear,according to Jon Wortmann,executive mental coach.We fearrejection,or that our innocent social advances will be 6 as creepy,.We fear wellbe 7.We fear well be disruptive.Strangers are inherently 8 to us,so we are morelikely to feel 9 when communicating with them compared with our friends andacquaintances.To avoid this anxiety,we 10 to our phones.Phones become oursecurity blanket,Wortmann says.They are our happy glasses that protect us fromwhat we perceive is going to be more 11.”But once we rip off the bandaid,tuck our smartphones in our pockets and lookup,it doesnt 12 so bad.In one 2011 experiment,behavioral scientists NicholasEpley and Juliana Schroeder asked commuters to do the unthinkable:Start a 13.Theyhad Chicago train commuters talk to their fellow 14.When Dr.Epley and Ms.Schroeder asked other people in the same train station to 15 how they would feelafter talking to a stranger,the commuters thought their 16 would be more pleasantif they sat on their own,the New York Times summarizes.Though the participantsdidnt expect a positive experience,after they 17 with the experiment,not a singleperson reported having been snubbed.18,these commutes were reportedly more enjoyable compared with those sanscommunication,which makes absolute sense,19 human beings thrive off of socialconnections.Its that 20:Talking to strangers can make you feel connected.1.A ticket B permit C signal D record2.A nothing B link C another D much3.A beaten B guided C plugged D brought4.A message B cede C notice D sign5.A under B beyond C behind D from6.A misinterpret B misapplied C misadjusted D mismatched7.A fired B judged C replaced D delayed8.A unreasonable B ungrateful C unconventional D unfamiliar9.A comfortable B anxious C confident D angry10.A attend B point C take D turn11.A dangerous B mysterious C violent D boring12.A hurt B resist C bend D decay13.A lecture B conversation C debate D negotiation14.A trainees B employees C researchers D passengers15.A reveal B choose C predict D design16.A voyage B flight C walk D ride17.A went through B did away C caught up D put up18.A In turn B In particular C In fact D In consequence19.A unless B since C if D whereas20.A funny B simple C logical D rareSection II Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four texts.Answer the questions below each text by choosingA,B,C or D.Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET.(40 points)Text 1A new study suggests that contrary to most surveys,people are actually morestressed at home than at work.Researchers measured peoples cortisol,which isa stress marker,while they were at work and while they were at home and found ithigher at what is supposed to be a place of refuge.“Further contradicting conventional wisdom,we found that women as well as menhave lower levels of stress at work than at home,”writes one of the researchers,Sarah Damske.In fact women even say they feel better at work,she notes.“It ismen,not women,who report being happier at home than at work.”Another surpriseis that findings hold true for both those with children and without,but more sofor nonparents.This is why people who work outside the home have better health.What the study doesnt measure is whether people are still doing work when theyre at home,whether it is household work or work brought home from the office.Formany men,the end of the workday is a time to kick back.For women who stay home,they never get to leave the office.And for women who work outside the home,theyoften are playing catch-up-with-household tasks.With the blurring of roles,andthe fact that the home front lags well behind the workplace a making adjustmentsfor working women,its not surprising that women are more stressed at home.But its not just a gender thing.At work,people pretty much know what theyre supposed to be doing:working,marking money,doing the tasks they have to doin order to draw an income.The bargain is very pure:Employee puts in hours ofphysical or mental labor and employee draws out life-sustaining moola.On the home front,however,people have no such clarity.Rare is the householdin which the division of labor is so clinically and methodically laid out.Thereare a lot of tasks to be done,there are inadequate rewards for most of them.Yourhome colleagues-your family-have no clear rewards for their labor;they need to betalked into it,or if theyre teenagers,threatened with complete removal of allelectronic devices.Plus,theyre your family.You cannot fire your family.Younever really get to go home from home.So its not surprising that people are more stressed at home.Not only are thetasks apparently infinite,the co-workers are much harder to motivate.21.According to Paragraph 1,most previous surveys found that home_A offered greater relaxation than the workplaceB was an ideal place for stress measurementC generated more stress than the workplaceD was an unrealistic place for relaxation22.According to Damaske,who are likely to be the happiest at home?A Childless wivesB Working mothersC Childless husbandsD Working fathers23.The blurring of working womens roles refers to the fact that_A it is difficult for them to leave their officeB their home is also a place for kicking backC there is often much housework left behindD they are both bread winners and housewives24.The word“moola”(Line4,Para4)most probably means_A skillsB energyC earningsD nutrition25.The home front differs from the workplace in that_A division of labor at home is seldom clear-cutB home is hardly a cozier working environmentC household tasks are generally more motivatingD family labor is often adequately rewardedText 2For years,studies have found that first-generation college students-those whodo not have a parent with a college degree-lag other students on a range of educationachievement factors.Their grades are lower and their dropout rates are higher.Butsince such students are most likely to advance economically if they succeed in highereducation,colleges and universities have pushed for decades to recruit more of them.This has created“a paradox”in that recruiting first-generation students,butthen watching many of them fail,means that higher education has“continued toreproduce and widen,rather than close”ab achievement gap based on social class,according to the depressing beginning of a paper forthcoming in the journalPsychological Science.But the article is actually quite optimistic,as it outlines a potential solutiontothisproblem,suggestingthatanapproach(whichinvolvesaone-hour,next-to-no-cost program)can close 63 percent of the achievement gap(measured bysuch factors as grades)between first-generation and other students.The authors of the paper are from different universities,and their findingsare based on a study involving 147 students(who completed the project)at an unnamedprivate university.First generation was defined as not having a parent with afour-year college degree.Most of the first-generation students(59.1 percent)wererecipients of Pell Grants,a federal grant for undergraduates with financial need,while this was true only for 8.6 percent of the students wit at least one parentwith a four-year degree.Their thesis-that a relatively modest intervention could have a big impact-was based on the view that first-generation students may be most lacking not inpotential but in practical knowledge about how to deal with the issues that facemost college students.They cite past research by several authors to show that thisis the gap that must be narrowed to close the achievement gap.Many first-generation students“struggle to navigate the middle-class cultureof higher education,learn the rules of the game,and take advantage of collegeresources,”they write.And this becomes more of a problem when collages donttalk about the class advantage and disadvantages of different groups of students.Because US colleges and universities seldom acknowledge how social class can affectstudents educational experience,many first-generation students lack sight aboutwhy they are struggling and do not understand how students like them can improve.26.Recruiting more first-generation students has_A reduced their dropout ratesB narrowed the achievement gapC missed its original purposeD depressed college students27.The author of the research article are optimistic because_A the problem is solvableB their approach is costlessC the recruiting rate has increasedD their finding appeal to students28.The study suggests that most first-generation students_A study at private universitiesB are from single-parent familiesC are in need of financial supportD have failed their collage29.The author of the paper believe that first-generation students_A are actually indifferent to the achievement gapB can have a potential influence on other studentsC may lack opportunities to apply for research projectsD are inexperienced in handling their issues at college30.We may infer from the last paragraph that_A universities often reject the culture of the middle-classB students are usually to blame for their lack of resourcesC social class greatly helps enrich educational experiencesDcolleges are partly responsible for the problem in questionText 3Even in traditional offices,“the lingua franca of corporate America has gottenmuch more emotional and much more right-brained than it was 20 years ago,”saidHarvard Business School professor Nancy Koehn.She started spinning off examples.“If you and I parachuted back to Fortune 500 companies in 1990,we would see muchless frequent use of terms like journey,mission,passion.There were goals,therewere strategies,there were objectives,but we didnt talk about energy;we didnt talk about passion.”Koehn pointed out that this new era of corporate vocabulary is very“team”-orientedand not by coincidence.“Lets not forget sportsin male-dominatedcorporate America,its still a big deal.Its not explicitly conscious;itsthe idea that Im a coach,and youre my team,and were in this together.Thereare lots and lots of CEOs in very different companies,but most think of themselvesas coaches and this is their team and they want to win.”These terms are also intended to infuse work with meaningand,as Khurana pointsout,increase allegiance to the firm.“You have the importation of terminology thathistorically used to be associated with non-profit organizations and religiousorganizations:Terms like vision,values,passion,and purpose,”said Khurana.This new focus on personal fulfillment can help keep employees motivated amidincreasingly loud debates over work-life balance.The“mommy wars”of the 1990sare still going on today,prompting arguments about why women still cant have itall and books like Sheryl Sandbergs Lean In,whose title has become a buzzwordin its own right.Terms like unplug,offline,life-hack,bandwidth,and capacityare all about setting boundaries between the office and the home.But if your workis your“passion,”youll be more likely to devote yourself to it,even if thatmeans going home for dinner and then working long after the kids are in bed.But this seems to be the irony of office speak:Everyone makes fun of it,butmanagers love it,companies depend on it,and regular people willingly absorb it.As Nunberg said,“You can get people to think its nonsense at the same time thatyou buy into it.”In a workplace thats fundamentally indifferent to your lifeand its meaning,office speak can help you figure out how you relate to your workand how your work defines who you are.31.According to Nancy Koehn,office language has become_A more emotionalB more objectiveC less energeticD less strategic32.“Team”-oriented corporate vocabulary is closely related to_A historical incidentsB gender differenceC sports cultureD athletic executives33.Khurana believes that the importation of terminology aims to_A revive historical termsB promote company imageC foster corporate cooperationD strengthen employee loyalty34.It can be inferred that Lean In_A voices for working womenB appeals to passionate workaholicsC triggers debates among mommiesD praises motivated employees35.Which of the following statements is true about office speak?A Managers admire it but avoid itB Linguists believe it to be nonsenseC Companies find it to be fundamentalD Regular people mock it but accept itText 4Many people talked of the 288,000 new jobs the Labor Department reported forJune,along with the drop in the unemployment rate to 6.1 percent,as good news.And they were right.For now it appears the economy is creating jobs at a decentpace.We still have a long way to go to get back to full employment,but at leastwe are now finally moving forward at a faster pace.However,there is another important part of the jobs picture that was largelyoverlooked.There was a big jump in the number of people who repot voluntarily workingpart-time.This figure is now 830,000(4.4 percent)above its year ago level.Before explaining the connection to the Obamacare,it is worth making animportant distinction.Many people who work part-time jobs actually want full-timejobs.They take part-time work because this is all they can get.An increase ininvoluntary part-time work is evidence of weakness in the labor market and it meansthat many people will be having a very hard time making ends meet.There was an increase in involuntary part-time in June,but the general directionhas been down.Involuntary part-time employment is still far higher than before therecession,but it is down by 640,000(7.9percent)from is year ago level.We know the difference between voluntary and involuntary part-time employmentbecause people tell us.The survey used by the Labor Department asks people is theyworked less than 35 hours in the reference week.If the answer is“yes”,they areclassified as worked less than 35hours in that week because they wanted to work lessthan full time or because they had no choice.They are only classified as voluntarypart-time workers if they tell the survey taker they chose to work less than 35 hoursa week.The issue of voluntary part-time relates to Obamacare because one of the mainpurposes was to allow people to get insurance outside of employment.For manypeople,especially those with serious health conditions or family members withserious health conditions,before Obamacare the only way to get insurance was througha job that provided health insurance.However,Obamacare has allo