2009 年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语试题
Section I Use of English
Directions:
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 me wonder just how smart
humans are. 1 the fruit-fly experiments described in Carl Zimmer’s piece
in the Science Times on Tuesday. Fruit flies who were taught to be smarter
than the average fruit fly 2 to live shorter lives. This suggests that
3 bulbs burn longer, that there is an 4 in not being too terrifically bright.
Intelligence, it 5 out, is a high-priced option. It takes more upkeep,
burns more fuel and is slow 6 the starting line because it depends on
learning — a gradual 7 — instead of instinct. Plenty of other species
are able to learn, and one of the things they’ve apparently learned is
when to 8 .
Is there an adaptive value to 9 intelligence? That’s the question behind
this new research. I like it. Instead of casting a wistful glance 10 at
all the species we’ve left in the dust I.Q.-wise, it implicitly asks what
the real 11 of our own intelligence might be. This is 12 the mind of every
animal I’ve ever met.
Research on animal intelligence also makes me wonder what experiments
animals would 13 on humans if they had the chance. Every cat with an owner,
14 , is running a small-scale study in operant conditioning. we believe
that 15 animals ran the labs, they would test us to 16 the limits of our
patience, our faithfulness, our memory for terrain. They would try to
decide what intelligence in humans is really 17 , not merely how much of
it there is. 18 , they would hope to study a 19 question: Are humans
actually aware of the world they live in? 20 the results are inconclusive.
1. [A] Suppose [B] Consider [C] Observe [D] Imagine
2. [A] tended [B] feared [C] happened [D] threatened
3. [A] thinner [B] stabler [C] lighter [D] dimmer
4. [A] tendency [B] advantage [C] inclination [D] priority
5. [A] insists on [B] sums up [C] turns out [D] puts forward
6. [A] off [B] behind [C] over [D] along
7. [A] incredible [B] spontaneous [C]inevitable [D] gradual
8. [A] fight [B] doubt [C] stop [D] think
9. [A] invisible [B] limited [C] indefinite [D] different
10. [A] upward [B] forward [C] afterward [D] backward
11. [A] features [B] influences [C] results [D] costs
12. [A] outside [B] on [C] by [D] across
13. [A] deliver [B] carry [C] perform [D] apply
14. [A] by chance [B] in contrast [C] as usual [D] for instance
15. [A] if [B] unless [C] as [D] lest
16. [A] moderate [B] overcome [C] determine [D] reach
17. [A] at [B] for [C] after [D] with
18. [A] Above all [B] After all [C] However [D] Otherwise
19. [A] fundamental [B] comprehensive [C] equivalent [D] hostile
20. [A] By accident [B] In time [C] So far [D] Better still
Section II Reading Comprehension
Part A
Directions:
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)
Text1
Habits 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 “habit” carries a negative connotation.
So it seems antithetical to talk about habits in the same context as
creativity and innovation. But brain researchers have discovered that
when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths,
and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought
onto new, innovative tracks.
But don’t bother trying to kill off old habits; once those ruts of
procedure are worn into the hippocampus, they’re there to stay. Instead,
the new habits we deliberately ingrain into ourselves create parallel
pathways that can bypass those old roads.
“The first thing needed for innovation is a fascination with wonder,”
says Dawna Markova, author of “The Open Mind” and an executive change
consultant for Professional Thinking Partners. “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 always exploring
the many other possibilities.”
All of us work through problems in ways of which we’re unaware, she says.
Researchers in the late 1960 covered that humans are born with the capacity
to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally,
relationally (or collaboratively) and innovatively. At puberty, 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 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 book “This Year I Will...” and Ms. Markova’s
business partner. “That’s a lie that we have perpetuated, and it fosters
commonness. Knowing what you’re good at and doing even more of it creates
excellence.” This is where developing new habits comes in.
21. The view of Wordsworth habit is claimed by being
A. casual B. familiar C. mechanical D. changeable.
22. The researchers have discovered that the formation of habit can be
A. predicted B. regulated C. traced D. guided
23.” ruts”(in line one, paragraph 3) has closest meaning to
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A. tracks B. series C. characteristics D. connections
24. Ms. Markova’s comments suggest that the practice of standard
testing ?
A, prevents new habits form being formed
B, no longer emphasizes commonness
C, maintains the inherent American thinking model
D, complies with the American belief system
25. Ryan most probably agree that
A. ideas are born of a relaxing mind
B. innovativeness could be taught
C. decisiveness derives from fantastic ideas
D. curiosity activates creative minds
Text 2
It is a wise father that knows his own child, but today a man can boost
his paternal (fatherly) wisdom – or at least confirm that he’s the kid’s
dad. All he needs to do is shell our $30 for paternity testing kit (PTK)
at his local drugstore – and another $120 to get the results.
More than 60,000 people have purchased the PTKs since they first become
available without prescriptions last years, according to Doug Fog, 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 to more than $2500.
Among the most popular : paternity and kinship testing , which adopted
children can use to find their biological relatives and latest rage a many
passionate genealogists-and supports businesses that offer to search for
a family’s geographic roots .
Most tests require collecting cells by webbing saliva in the mouth and
sending it to the company for testing. All tests require a potential
candidate with whom to compare DNA.
。 5
But some observers are skeptical, “There is a kind of false precision
being hawked by people claiming they are doing ancestry testing,” says
Trey Duster, a New York University sociologist. He notes that each
individual has many ancestors-numbering in the hundreds just a few
centuries back. Yet most ancestry testing only considers a single lineage,
either the Y chromosome inherited through men in a father’s line or
mitochondrial DNA, which a 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 other
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 don’t rely on data collected systematically but rather
lump together information from different research projects. This means
that a DNA database 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 review or outside
evaluation.
26.In paragraphs 1 and 2 , the text shows PTK’s ___________.
[A]easy availability
[B]flexibility in pricing
[C] successful promotion
[D] popularity with households
27. PTK is used to __________.
[A]locate one’s birth place
[B]promote genetic research
[C] identify parent-child kinship
[D] choose children for adoption
28. Skeptical observers believe that ancestry testing fails to__________.
[A]trace distant ancestors
[B] rebuild reliable bloodlines
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[C] fully use genetic information
[D] achieve the claimed accuracy
29. In the last paragraph ,a problem commercial genetic testing faces is
__________.
[A]disorganized data collection
[B] overlapping database building
30. An appropriate title for the text is most likely to be__________.
[A]Fors and Againsts of DNA testing
[B] DNA testing and It’s problems
[C]DNA testing outside the lab
[D] lies behind DNA testing
Text 3
The relationship between formal education and economic growth in poor
countries is widely misunderstood by economists and politicians alike
progress in both area 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 very highest
priorities for promoting rapid economic development in poor countries is
wrong. We are fortunate that is it, because new educational systems there
and putting enough people through them to improve economic performance
would require two or three generations. The findings of a research
institution have consistently shown that workers in all countries can be
trained on the job to achieve radical 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 country entering a recessing and Japan at its
pre-bubble peak. The U.S. workforce was derided as poorly educated and
one of primary cause 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 of Honda Nissan, and Toyota
achieved about 95 percent of the productivity of their Japanese countere
pants a result of the training that U.S. workers received on the job.
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More recently, while examing housing construction, the researchers
discovered that illiterate, non-English- speaking Mexican workers in
Houston, Texas, consistently met best-practice labor productivity
standards despite the complexity of the building industry’s work.
What is the real relationship between education and economic development?
We have to suspect that continuing economic growth promotes the
development of education even when governments don’t force it. After all,
that’s how education got started. When our ancestors were hunters and
gatherers 10,000 years ago, they didn’t 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 other things.
As education improved, humanity’s productivity potential, they could in
turn afford more education. This increasingly high level of education is
probably a necessary, but not a sufficient, 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, doesn’t constrain the ability of
the developing world’s workforce to substantially improve productivity
for the forested future. On the contrary, constraints on improving
productivity explain why education isn’t developing more quickly there
than it is.
31. The author holds in paragraph 1 that the important of education in
poor countries ___________.
[A] is subject groundless doubts
[B] has fallen victim of bias
[C] is conventional downgraded
[D] has been overestimated
32. It is stated in paragraph 1 that construction of a new education system
__________.
[A]challenges economists and politicians
[B]takes efforts of generations
[C] demands priority from the government
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[D] requires sufficient labor force
33.A major difference between the Japanese and U.S workforces is that
__________.
[A] the Japanese workforce is better disciplined
[B] the Japanese workforce is more productive
[C]the U.S workforce has a better education
[D] ]the U.S workforce is more organize
34. The author quotes the example of our ancestors to show that education
emerged __________.
[A] when people had enough time
[B] prior to better ways of finding food
[C] when people on longer went hung
[D] as a result of pressure on government
35. According to the last paragraph , development of education __________.
[A] results directly from competitive environments
[B] does not depend on economic performance
[C] follows improved productivity
[D] cannot afford political changes
Text 4
The most thoroughly studied in the history of the new world are the
ministers and political leaders of seventeenth-century New England.
According to the standard history of American philosophy, nowhere else
in colonial America was “So much important attached to intellectual
pursuits ” According to many books and articles, New England’s 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 mean to start with
the Puritans’ theological innovations and their distinctive ideas about
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