2009年考研英语真命题及其解析.doc

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1、.2009年全国硕士研究生招生考试英语（一）试题Section I Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)Research on animal intelligence always makes us wonder just how smart humans are.1the fruit-fly experiments describe

2、d by Carl Zimmer in theScience Times. Fruit flies who were taught to be smarter than the average fruit fly2to live shorter lives. This suggests that3bulbs burn longer, that there is a(n)4innot being too bright.Intelligence, it5, is a high-priced option. It takes more upkeep, burns more fuel and is s

3、low6the starting line because it depends on learning a(n)7process instead of instinct. Plenty of other species are able to learn, and one of the things theyve apparently learned is when to8.Is there an adaptive value to9intelligence? Thats the question behind this new research. Instead of casting a

4、wistful glance10at all the species weve left in the dust I.Q.-wise, it implicitly asks what the real11of our own intelligence might be. This is12the mind of every animal weve ever met.Research on animal intelligence also makes us wonder what experiments animals would13on humans if they had the chanc

5、e. Every cat with an owner,14, is running a small-scale study in operant conditioning. We believe that15animals ran the labs, they would test us to16the limits of our patience, our faithfulness, our memory for locations. They would try to decide what intelligence in humans is really17, not merely ho

6、w much of it there is.18, they would hope to study a(n)19question: Are humans actually aware of the world they live in?20the results are inconclusive.1.A Suppose B Consider C Observe D Imagine2.A tended B feared C happened D threatened3.A thinner B stabler C lighter D dimmer4.A tendency B advantage

7、C inclination D priority5.A insists on B sums up C turns out D puts forward6.A off B behind C over D along7.A incredible B spontaneous C inevitable D gradual8.A fight B doubt C stop D think9.A invisible B limited C indefinite D different10.A upward B forward C afterward D backward11.A features B inf

8、luences C results D costs12.A outside B on C by D across13.A deliver B carry C perform D apply14.A by chance B in contrast C as usual D for instance15.A if B unless C as D lest16.A moderate B overcome C determine D reach17.A at B for C after D with18.A Above all B After all C However D Otherwise19.A

9、 fundamental B comprehensive C equivalent D hostile20.A By accident B In time C So far D Better stillSection II Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)Text 1Ha

10、bits are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. “Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting herd,” William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word “ha

11、bit” carries a negative connotation.So it seems paradoxical to talk about habits in the same contextas creativity and innovation. But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains o

12、f thought onto new, innovative tracks.Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we trythe more we step outside our comfort zonethe more inherently creative we become, bo

13、th in the workplace and in our personal lives.But dont bother trying to kill off old habits; once thoserutsof procedure are worn into the brain, theyre there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately press into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads.“The first thin

14、g needed for innovation is a fascination with wonder,” says Dawna Markova, author ofThe Open Mind. “But we are taught instead to decide, just as our president calls himself the Decider. ” She adds, however, that “to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is alwa

15、ys exploring the many other possibilities.”All of us work through problems in ways of which were unaware, she says. Researchers in the late 1960 discovered that humans are born with the capacity to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally, relationally (or collaboratively

16、) and innovatively. At the end of adolescence, however, the brain shuts down half of that capacity, preserving only those modes of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life.The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that

17、 few of us inherently use our innovative and collaborative modes of thought. “This breaks the major rule in the American belief system that anyone can do anything,” explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 bookThis Year I Will.and Ms. Markovas business partner. “Thats a lie that we have perpetuated,

18、and it fosters commonness. Knowing what youre good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.” This is where developing new habits comes in.21. In Wordsworths view, “habits” is characterized by being .A casualB familiarC mechanicalD changeable.22. Brain researchers have discovered that the for

19、mation of habit can be .A predictedB regulatedC tracedD guided23. “ruts”(Line 1, Paragraph 4) is closest in meaning to .A tracksB seriesC characteristicsD connections24. Dawna Markova would most probably agree that .A ideas are born of a relaxing mindB innovativeness could be taughtC decisiveness de

20、rives from fantastic ideasD curiosity activates creative minds25. Ryans comments suggest that the practice of standardized testingA prevents new habits from being formedB no longer emphasizes commonnessC maintains the inherent American thinking modelD complies with the American belief systemText 2It

21、 is a wise father that knows his own child, but today a man can boost his paternal (fatherly) wisdomor at least confirm that hes the kids dad. All he needs to do is shell out $30 for paternity testing kit (PTK) at his local drugstoreand another $120 to get the results.More than 60,000 people have pu

22、rchased the PTKs since theyfirst become available without prescriptions last years, according to Doug Fogg, chief operating officer of Identigene, which makes the over-the-counter kits. More than two dozen companies sell DNA tests directly to the public, ranging in price from a few hundred dollars t

23、o more than $2500.Among the most popular: paternity and kinship testing, which adopted children can use to find their biological relatives and families can use to track down kids put up for adoption. DNA testing is also the latest rage among passionate genealogistsand supports businesses that offer

24、to search for a familys geographic roots .Most tests require collecting cells by swabbing saliva in the mouth and sending it to the company for testing. All tests require a potential candidate with whom to compare DNA.But some observers are skeptical. “There is a kind of false precision being hawked

25、 by people claiming they are doing ancestry testing,” says Troy Duster, a New York University sociologist. He notes that each individual has many ancestorsnumbering in the hundreds just a few centuries back. Yet most ancestry testing only considers a single lineage, either the Y chromosome inherited

26、 through men in a fathers line or mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down only from mothers. This DNA can reveal genetic information about only one or two ancestors, even though, for example, just three generations back people also have six other great-grandparents or, four generations back, 14 othe

27、r great-great-grandparents.Critics also argue that commercial genetic testing is only as good as the reference collections to which a sample is compared. Databases used by some companies dont rely on data collected systematically but rather lump together information from different research projects.

28、 This means that a DNA database may have a lot of data from some regions and not others, so a persons test results may differ depending on the company that processes the results. In addition, the computer programs a company uses to estimate relationships may be patented and not subject to peer revie

29、w or outside evaluation.26. In paragraphs 1 and 2, the text shows PTKs _.A easy availabilityB flexibility in pricingC successful promotionD popularity with households27. PTK is used to _.A locate ones birth placeB promote genetic researchC identify parent-child kinshipD choose children for adoption2

30、8. Skeptical observers believe that ancestry testing fails to_.A trace distant ancestorsB rebuild reliable bloodlinesC fully use genetic informationD achieve the claimed accuracy29. In the last paragraph, a problem commercial genetic testing faces is _.A disorganized data collectionB overlapping dat

31、abase buildingC excessive sample comparisonD lack of patent evaluation30. An appropriate title for the text is most likely to be_.A Fors and Againsts of DNA TestingB DNA Testing and Its ProblemsC DNA Testing Outside the LabD Lies Behind DNA TestingText 3The relationship between formal education and

32、economic growth in poor countries is widely misunderstood by economists and politicians alike. Progress in both areas is undoubtedly necessary for the social, political, and intellectual development of these and all other societies; however, the conventional view that education should be one of the

33、very highest priorities for promoting rapid economic development in poor countries is wrong. We are fortunate that it is, because building new educational systems there and putting enough people through them to improve economic performance would require two or three generations. The findings of a re

34、search institution have consistently shown that workers in all countries can be trained on the job to achieve radically higher productivity and, as a result, radically higher standards of living.Ironically, the first evidence for this idea appeared in the United States. Not long ago, with the countr

35、y entering a recession and Japan at its pre-bubble peak, the U.S. workforce was derided as poorly educated and one of primary causes of the poor U.S. economic performance. Japan was, and remains, the global leader in automotive-assembly productivity. Yet the research revealed that the U.S. factories

36、 of Honda, Nissan, and Toyota achieved about 95 percent of the productivity of their Japanese counterpartsa result of the training that U.S. workers received on the job.More recently, while examing housing construction, the researchers discovered that illiterate, non-English-speaking Mexican workers

37、 in Houston, Texas, consistently met best-practice labor productivity standards despite the complexity of the building industrys work.What is the real relationship between education and economic development? We have to suspect that continuing economic growth promotes the development of education eve

38、n when governments dont force it. After all, thats how education got started. When our ancestors were hunters and gatherers 10,000 years ago, they didnt have time to wonder much about anything besides finding food. Only when humanity began to get its food in a more productive way was there time for

39、other things.As education improved, humanitys productivity potential increased as well. When the competitive environment pushed our ancestors to achieve that potential, they could in turn afford more education. This increasingly high level of education is probably a necessary, but not a sufficient,

40、condition for the complex political systems required by advanced economic performance. Thus poor countries might not be able to escape their poverty traps without political changes that may be possible only with broader formal education. A lack of formal education, however, doesnt constrain the abil

41、ity of the developing worlds workforce to substantially improve productivity for the foreseeable future. On the contrary, constraints on improving productivity explain why education isnt developing more quickly there than it is.31. The author holds in paragraph 1 that the importance of education in

42、poor countries _.A is subject to groundless doubtsB has fallen victim of biasC is conventionally downgradedD has been overestimated32. It is stated in paragraph 1 that the construction of a new education system _.A challenges economists and politiciansB takes efforts of generationsC demands priority

43、 from the governmentD requires sufficient labor force33. A major difference between the Japanese and U.S workforces is that _.A the Japanese workforce is better disciplinedB the Japanese workforce is more productiveC the U.S workforce has a better educationD the U.S workforce is more organize34. The

44、 author quotes the example of our ancestors to show that education emerged _.A when people had enough timeB prior to better ways of finding foodC when people on longer went hungryD as a result of pressure on government35. According to the last paragraph, development of education _.A results directly

45、 from competitive environmentsB does not depend on economic performanceC follows improved productivityD cannot afford political changesText 4The most thoroughly studied intellectuals in the history of the new world are the ministers and political leaders of seventeenth-century New England. According

46、 to the standard history of American philosophy, nowhere else in colonial America was “so much importance attached to intellectual pursuits.” According to many books and articles, New Englands leaders established the basic themes and preoccupations of an unfolding, dominant Puritan tradition in American intellectual life.To take this approach to the New Englanders normally means to start with the Puritans theological innovations and their distinctive ideas about the church-important subjects that we may not neglect. But in keepin