-
2012
年考研英语一真题原文及答案解析完整版
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)
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)
The
ethical
judgments
of
the
Supreme
Court
justices
have
become
an
important
issue
recently.
The
court
cannot
_1_
its
legitimacy
as
guardian
of
the
rule
of
law
_2_
justices behave like
politicians. Yet, in several instances, justices
acted in ways that _3_
the court’s
reputation for being independent and
impartial.
Justice Antonin Scalia, for example,
appeared at political events. That kind of
activity
makes it less likely that the
cour
t’s decisions will be _4_ as
impartial judgments. Part of
the
problem is that the justices are not _5_by an
ethics code. At the very least, the court
should make itself _6_to the code of
conduct that _7_to the rest of the federal
judiciary.
This
and other similar cases _8_the question of whether
there is still a _9_between
the court
and politics.
The
framers
of
the
Constitution
envisioned
law
_10_having
authority
apart
from
politics. They gave justices permanent
positions _11_they would be free to _12_ those in
power and have no need to _13_
political support. Our legal system was designed
to set
law apart from politics
precisely because they are so closely _14_.
Constitutional
law is political because it results from choices
rooted in fundamental
social _15_ like
liberty and property. When the court deals with
social policy decisions, the
law it
_16_ is inescapably political-which is why
decisions split along ideological lines are
so easily _17_ as unjust.
The justices
must _18_
doubts about the
cour
t’s legitimacy by
making
themselves
_19_ to the code of conduct. That would
make rulings more likely to be seen as separate
from politics and, _20_, convincing as
law.
1.
[A]emphasize [B]maintain [C]modify [D] recognize
2. [A]when
[B]lest [C]before [D] unless
3. [A]restored [B]weakened
[C]established [D] eliminated
4. [A]challenged
[B]compromised [C]suspected [D] accepted
5. [A]advanced
[B]caught [C]bound [D]founded
6. [A]resistant [B]subject
[C]immune [D]prone
7. [A]resorts [B]sticks [C]loads
[D]applies
8.
[A]evade [B]raise [C]deny [D]settle
9. [A]line [B]barrier
[C]similarity [D]conflict
10. [A]by [B]as [C]though [D]towards
11. [A]so
[B]since [C]provided [D]though
12. [A]serve [B]satisfy
[C]upset [D]replace
13. [A]confirm [B]express [C]cultivate
[D]offer
14.
[A]guarded [B]followed [C]studied [D]tied
15. [A]concepts
[B]theories [C]divisions [D]conceptions
16. [A]excludes
[B]questions [C]shapes [D]controls
17. [A]dismissed
[B]released [C]ranked [D]distorted
18. [A]suppress [B]exploit
[C]address [D]ignore
19. [A]accessible [B]amiable
[C]agreeable [D]accountable
20. [A]by all mesns
[B]atall costs [C]in a word [D]as a result
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)
Text 1
Come
on
-
Everybody’s
doing
it.
That
whispered
message,
half
invitation
and
half
forcing,
is what most of us think of when we hear the words
peer pressure. It usually leads
to
no
good-drinking,
drugs
and
casual
sex.
But
in
her
new
book
Join
the
Club,
Tina
Rosenberg contends that
peer pressure can also be
a
positive
force
through
what she
calls the social cure, in which
organizations and officials use the power of group
dynamics
to help individuals improve
their lives and possibly the word.
Rosenberg, the
recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, offers a
host of example of the
social
cure
in
action:
In
South
Carolina,
a
state-sponsored
antismoking
program
called
Rage
Against the Haze sets
out to make cigarettes uncool. In South Africa, an
HIV-prevention
initiative known as
LoveLife recruits young people to promote safe sex
among their peers.
The idea seems
promising
,
and Rosenberg is a
perceptive observer. Her critique of
the
lameness
of
many
pubic-health
campaigns
is
spot-on:
they
fail
to
mobilize
peer
pressure
for
healthy
habits,
and
they
demonstrate
a
seriously
flawed
understanding
of
psychology.”
Dare
to
be
different,
please
don’t
smoke!” pleads
one
billb
oard
campaign
aimed at reducing
smoking among teenagers-teenagers, who desire
nothing more than
fitting
in.
Rosenberg
argues
convincingly
that
public-health
advocates
ought
to
take
a
page from advertisers, so skilled at
applying peer pressure.
But on
the general
effectiveness of the
social cure,
Rosenberg is less persuasive.
Join the
Club is filled with too much irrelevant detail and
not enough exploration of the
social
and biological factors that make peer pressure so
powerful. The most glaring flaw of
t
he social cure as it’s
presented here is that it doesn’t work very well
for very long. Rage
Against the Haze
failed once state funding was cut. Evidence that
the LoveLife program
produces lasting
changes is limited and mixed.
There’s no doubt that our
pe
er groups exert enormous influence on
our behavior. An
emerging
body
of
research
shows
that
positive
health
habits-as
well
as
negative
ones-spread through
networks of friends via social communication. This
is a subtle form of
peer pressure: we
unconsciously imitate the behavior we see every
day.
Far less
certain, however, is how successfully experts and
bureaucrats can select our
peer groups
and steer their activities in virtuous directions.
It’s like the teacher who breaks
up the
troublemakers in the back row by pairing them with
better-behaved classmates.
The tactic
never really works. And that’s the problem with a
social cure engineered from
the
outside: in the real world, as in school, we
insist on choosing our own friends.
21. According to the first
paragraph, peer pressure often emerges as
[A] a
supplement to the social cure
[B] a stimulus to group
dynamics
[C] an
obstacle to school progress
[D] a cause of undesirable
behaviors
22.
Rosenberg holds that public advocates should
[A] recruit
professional advertisers
[B] learn from advertisers’
experience
[C] stay away from commercial
advertisers
[D]
recognize the limitations of advertisements
23. In the
author’s view, Rosenberg’s book fails
to
[A] adequately probe social and
biological factors
[B] effectively evade the flaws of the
social cure
[C]
illustrate the functions of state funding
[D]produce a
long-lasting social effect
24. Paragraph 5shows that our imitation
of behaviors
[A] is harmful to our networks of
friends
[B]
will mislead behavioral studies
[C] occurs without our
realizing it
[D] can produce negative health habits
25. The author
suggests in the last paragraph that the effect of
peer pressure is
[A] harmful
[B] desirable
[C] profound
[D] questionable
Text
2
A
deal is a deal-except, apparently ,when Entergy is
involved. The company, a major
energy
supplier in New England, provoked justified
outrage in Vermont last week when it
announced it was reneging on a
longstanding commitment to abide by the strict
nuclear
regulations.
Instead,
the
company
has
done
precisely
what
it
had
long
promised
it
would
not
challenge
the
constitutionality
of
Vermont’s
rules
in
the
federal
court,
as
part
of
a
desperate
effort to keep its Vermont Yankee nuclear
power plant running. It’s a stunning
move.
The conflict has been surfacing since
2002, when the corporation bought Vermont’s
only nuclear power plant, an
aging
reactor in Vernon. As
a
condition
of receiving
state
approval for the sale, the
company agreed to
seek permission
from state
regulators to
operate past 2012. In 2006, the state
went a step further, requiring that any extension
of
the plant’s license be subject to
Vermont legislature’s approval. Then, too, the
company
went along.
Either Entergy
n
ever really intended to live by those
commitments, or it simply didn’t
foresee what would happen next. A
string of accidents, including the partial
collapse of a
cooling tower in 207 and
the discovery of an underground pipe system
leakage, raised
serious
q
uestions
about
both
Vermont
Yankee’s
safety
and
Entergy’s
management
-
especially
after
the
company
made
misleading
statements
about
the
pipe.
Enraged
by
Entergy’s
behavior,
the
Vermont
Senate
voted
26
to
4
last
year
against
allowing
an
extension.
Now the company is suddenly claiming
that the 2002 agreement is invalid because of
the
2006
legislation,
and
that
only
the
federal
government
has
regulatory
power
over
nuclear issues. The legal issues in the
case are obscure: whereas the Supreme Court has
ruled that states do have some
regulatory authority over nuclear power, legal
scholars say
that
Vermont
case
will
offer
a
precedent-setting
test
of
how
far
those
powers
extend.
Certainly,
there
are
valid
concerns
about
the
patchwork
regulations
that
could
result
if
every state sets its own rules. But had
Entergy kept its word, that debate would be beside
the point.
The company seems to have concluded
that its reputation in Vermont is already so
damaged that it has noting left to lose
by going to war with the state. But there should
be
consequences. Permission to run a
nuclear plant is a poblic trust. Entergy runs 11
other
reactors in the United States,
including Pilgrim Nuclear station in Plymouth.
Pledging to
run
Pilgrim
safely,
the
company
has
applied
for
federal
permission
to
keep
it
open
for
another
20
years.
But
as
the
Nuclear
Regulatory
Commission
(NRC)
reviews
the
company’s application, it should keep
it mind what promises from Entergy are
worth.
26. The phrase “reneging on”(Line .1)
is closest in m
eaning to
[A] condemning.
[B] reaffirming.
[C]
dishonoring.
[D] securing.
27. By entering into the 2002
agreement, Entergy intended to
[A] obtain protection from
Vermont regulators.
[B] seek favor from the federal
legislature.
[C] acquire an extension of its
business license .
[D] get permission to purchase a power
plant.
28.
According to Paragraph 4, Entergy seems to have
problems with its
[A] managerial practices.
[B] technical
innovativeness.
[C] financial goals.
[D] business vision
29. In the
author’s view, the Vermont case will
test
[A] Entergy’s capacity to fulfill all
its promises.
[B] the mature of states’ patchwork
regulations.
[C] the federal authority over nuclear
issues .
[D]
the limits of states’ power over
nuclear issues.
30. It can be inferred from the last
paragraph that
[A] Entergy’s business elsewhere might
be affected.
[B] the authority of the NRC will be
defied.
[C]
Entergy will withdraw its Plymouth application.
[D] Vermont’s
reputation mig
ht be damaged.
Text 3
In the idealized version of
how science is done, facts about the world are
waiting to
be observed and collected by
objective researchers who use the scientific
method to carry
out their work. But in
the everyday practice
of science,
discovery frequently follows an
ambiguous
and
complicated
route. We
aim
to
be
objective,
but
we
cannot
escape
the
context
of
our
unique
life
experience.
Prior
knowledge
and
interest
influence
what
we
experience, what we think our
experiences mean, and the subsequent actions we
take.
Opportunities for
misinterpretation, error, and self-deception
abound.
Consequently,
discovery
claims
should
be
thought
of
as
protoscience.
Similar
to
newly staked mining
claims, they are full of potential. But it takes
collective scrutiny and
acceptance to
transform a discovery claim into a mature
discovery. This is the credibility
process,
through
which
the
individual
researcher’s
me,
here,
now
becomes
the
community’s anyone, anywhere, anytime.
Objective knowledge is the goa
l, not
the starting
point.
Once a discovery claim
becomes public, the discoverer receives
intellectual credit.
But, unlike with
mining claims, the community takes control of what
happens next. Within
the complex social
structure of the scientific community, researchers
make discoveries;
editors
and
reviewers
act
as
gatekeepers
by
controlling
the
publication
process;
other
scientists use the new
finding to suit their own purposes; and finally,
the public (including
other scientists)
receives the new discovery and possibly
accompanying technology. As a
discovery
claim works it through the community, the
interaction and confrontation between
shared and competing beliefs about the
science and the technology involved transforms
an individual’s discovery claim into
the community’s credible discovery.
Two paradoxes
exist throughout this credibility process. First,
scientific work tends to
focus on some
aspect of prevailing Knowledge that is viewed as
incomplete or incorrect.
Little
reward
accompanies
duplication
and
confirmation
of
what
is
already
known
and
believed.
The
goal
is
new-
search,
not
re-search.
Not
surprisingly,
newly
published
discovery claims and credible
discoveries that appear to be important and
convincing will
always be open to
challenge and potential modification or refutation
by future researchers.
Second,
novelty
itself
frequently
provokes
disbelief.
Nobel
Laureate
and
physiologist
Albert
Azent-
Gyorgyi once described discovery
as “seeing what everybody has seen and
thinking what nobody has
thou
ght.” But thinking what nobody else
has thought and telling
others what
they have missed may not change their views.
Sometimes years are required
for truly
novel discovery claims to be accepted and
appreciated.
In
the end, credibility “happens” to a
disc
overy claim - a process that
corresponds to
what philosopher Annette
Baier has described as the commons of the mind.
“We reason
together,
challenge,
revise,
and
complete
each
other’s
reasoning
and
each
other’s
conceptions of reason.”
31. According
to the first paragraph, the process of discovery
is characterized by its
[A] uncertainty and complexity.
[B]
misconception and deceptiveness.
[C] logicality and
objectivity.
[D] systematicness and regularity.
32. It can be
inferred from Paragraph 2 that credibility process
requires
[A]
strict inspection.
[B]shared efforts.
[C] individual wisdom.
[D]persistent
innovation.
aph
3 shows that a discovery claim becomes credible
after it
[A]
has attracted the attention of the general public.
[B]has been
examined by the scientific community.
[C] has received
recognition from editors and reviewers.
[D]has been
frequently quoted by peer scientists.
34. Albert Szent-Gy?rgyi
would most likely agree that
[A] scientific claims will
survive challenges.
[B]discoveries today inspire future
research.
[C]
efforts to make discoveries are justified.
[D]scientific
work calls for a critical mind.
of the following would be
the best title of the test?
[A] Novelty as an Engine of
Scientific Development.
[B]Collective Scrutiny in Scientific
Discovery.
[C]
Evolution of Credibility in Doing Science.
[D]Challenge to
Credibility at the Gate to Science.
Text 4
If the trade unionist Jimmy
Hoffa were alive today, he would probably
represent civil
servant. When Hoffa’s
Teamsters were in their prime in 1960, only one in
ten American
government workers
belonged to a union; now 36% do. In 2009 the
number of unionists in
America’s public
sector passed that of their fellow members in
th
e private sector. In Britain,
more
than
half
of
public-sector
workers
but
only
about
15%
of
private-sector
ones
are
unionized.
There
are
three
reasons
for
the
public-
sector
unions’
thriving.
First,
they
can
shut
things down without
suffering much in the way of consequences. Second,
they are mostly
bright and
well-
educated. A quarter of America’s
public
-sector workers have a university
degree. Third, they now dominate left-
of-centre politics. Some of their ties go back a
long
way.
Britain’s
Labor
Party,
as
its
name
implies,
has
long
been
associated
with
trade
unionism. Its current
leader, Ed
Miliband, owes his position
to
votes
from
public-sector
unions.
At the state level their
influence can be even more fearsome. Mark
Baldassare of the
Public Policy
Ins
titute of California points out that
much of the state’s budget is patrolled
by unions. The teachers’ unions keep an
eye on schools, the CCPOA on prisons and a
variety of labor groups on health care.
In
many
rich
countries
average
wages
in
the
state
sector
are
higher
than
in
the
private
one.
But
the
real
gains
come
in
benefits
and
work
practices.
Politicians
have
repeatedly “backloaded”
public
-sector pay deals, keeping the
pay increases modest but
adding to
holidays and especially pensions that are already
generous.
Reform has been vigorously opposed,
perhaps most egregiously in education, where
charter schools, academies and merit
pay all faced drawn-out battles. Even though there
is
plenty
of
evidence
that
the
quality
of
the
teachers
is
the
most
important
variable,
teachers’ unions
have fought against getting rid of bad ones and
promoting good ones.
As the cost to everyone
else has become clearer, politicians have begun to
clamp
down. In Wisconsin the unions
have rallied thousands of supporters against Scott
Walker,
the
hardline
Republican
governor.
But
many
within
the
public
sector
suffer
under
the
current system, too.
John Donahue at Harvard’s
Kennedy School points out that the norms of
culture in
Western civil services suit
those who want to stay put but is bad for high
achievers. The
only American public-
sector workers who earn well above $$250,000 a year
are university
sports
coaches
and
the
president
of
the
United
States.
Bankers’
fat
pay
packets
have
attracted much criticism, but a public-
sector system that does not reward high achievers
may be a much bigger problem for
America.
36. It
can be learned from the first paragraph that
[A] Teamsters
still have a large body of members.
[B] Jimmy Hoffa used to
work as a civil servant.
[C] unions have enlarged their public-
sector membership.
[D]the government has improved its
relationship with unionists.
37. Which of the following
is true of Paragraph 2?
[A] Public-sector unions are prudent in
taking actions.
[B] Education is required for public-
sector union membership.
[C] Labor Party has long been fighting
against public-sector unions.
[D]Public-sector unions
seldom get in trouble for their actions.
38. It can be
learned from Paragraph 4 that the income in the
state sector is
[A] illegally secured.
[B] indirectly augmented.
[C] excessively
increased.
[D]fairly adjusted.
39. The example of the
unions in Wisconsin shows that unions
[A]often run against the
current political system.
[B]can change people’s political
a
ttitudes.
[C]may be a barrier to public-sector
reforms.
[D]are
dominant in the government.
40. John Donahue’s attitude
towards the public
-sector system is one
of
[A]disapproval.
[B]appreciation.
[C]tolerance.
[D]indifference.
Part B
Directions:
In
the
following
text,
some
sentences
have
been
removed.
For
Questions
41-45,
choose the most suitable one from the
list A-G to fit into each of the numbered blanks.
There are two extra choices, which do
not fit in any of the blanks. Mark your answers on
ANSWER SHEET1.(10 points)
Think
of
those
fleeting
moments
when
you
look
out
of
an
aeroplane
window
and
realise
that
you
are
flying,
higher
than
a
bird. Now
think
of
your
laptop,
thinner
than
a