2009年考研英语真题及答案

2009

年考研英语真题和答案

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

1

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.

2

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 taugh

t 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 p

roblems 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

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

3

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.

B

ut 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.

paragraphs 1 and 2 , the text shows PTK’s _____

______.

[A]easy availability

[B]flexibility in pricing

4

[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

[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

5

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.

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 __________.

6

[A]challenges economists and politicians

[B]takes efforts of generations

[C] demands priority from the government

[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.

7