2012考研英语真题英语一阅读部分
2018假期-上海高招网
2012年
Text 1
①Come on—Everybody's
doing it. ②That whispered message, half invitation
and half forcing, is what
most of us think of
when we hear the words peer pressure. ③It usually
leads to no good—drinking, drugs
and casual
sex. ④But 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
world.
①Rosenberg, the recipient of a Pulitzer
Prize, offers a host of examples 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.
②In South Africa, an HIV-prevention initiative
known as loveLife recruits young people
to
promote safe sex among their peers.
①The idea
seems promising, and Rosenberg is a perceptive
observer. ②Her critique of the lameness of
many public-health campaigns is spot-on: they
fail to mobilize peer pressure for healthy habits,
and they
demonstrate a seriously flawed
understanding of psychology. ③“Dare to be
different, please don't smoke!”
pleads one
billboard campaign aimed at reducing smoking among
teenagers—teenagers, who desire nothing
more
than fitting in. ④Rosenberg argues convincingly
that public-health advocates ought to take a page
from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer
pressure.
①But on the general effectiveness of
the social cure, Rosenberg is less persuasive.
②Join 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. ③The most glaring flaw
of the social cure as it's presented here is that
it
doesn't work very well for very long. ④Rage
Against the Haze failed once state funding was
cut. ⑤
Evidence that the loveLife program
produces lasting changes is limited and mixed.
①There's no doubt that our peer groups exert
enormous influence on our behavior. ②An emerging
body of research shows that positive health
habits—as well as negative ones—spread through
networks of
friends via social communication.
③This is a subtle form of peer pressure: we
unconsciously imitate the
behavior we see
every day.
①Far less certain, however, is how
successfully experts and bureaucrats can select
our peer groups and
steer their activities in
virtuous directions. ②It's like the teacher who
breaks up the troublemakers in the
back row by
pairing them with better-behaved classmates. ③The
tactic never really works. ④And 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.
2012年
ing 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
erg holds that public-health advocates should
__________.
[A] recruit professional
advertisers
[B] learn from advertisers'
experience
[C] stay away from commercial
advertisers
[D] recognize the limitations of
advertisements
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
aph 5
shows 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
author
suggests in the last paragraph that the effect of
peer pressure is __________.
[A] harmful
[B] desirable
[C] profound
[D]
questionable
2012年
Text 2
①A deal is a deal—except, apparently, when
Entergy is involved. ②The 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 state's strict nuclear regulations.
①Instead, 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. ②It's a stunning move.
①The conflict
has been surfacing since 2002，when the corporation
bought Vermont's only nuclear
power plant, an
aging reactor in Vernon. ②As a condition of
receiving state approval for the sale, the
company agreed to seek permission from state
regulators to operate past 2012. ③In 2006，the
state went a
step further, requiring that any
extension of the plant's license be subject to the
Vermont legislature's approval.
④Then, too,
the company went along.
①Either Entergy never
really intended to live by those commitments, or
it simply didn't foresee what
would happen
next. ②A string of accidents, including the
partial collapse of a cooling tower in 2007 and
the
discovery of an underground pipe system
leakage, raised serious questions about both
Vermont Yankee's
safety and Entergy's
management—especially after the company made
misleading statements about the pipe.
③Enraged
by Entergy's behavior, the Vermont Senate voted 26
to 4 last year against allowing an extension.
①Now 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. ②The 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 the Vermont case
will offer a precedent-setting test of how
far
those powers extend. ③Certainly, there are valid
concerns about the patchwork regulations that
could
result if every state sets its own
rules. ④But had Entergy kept its word, that debate
would be beside the
point.
①The company
seems to have concluded that its reputation in
Vermont is already so damaged that it has
nothing left to lose by going to war with the
state. ②But there should be consequences.
③Permission to run
a nuclear plant is a public
trust. ④Entergy runs 11 other reactors in the
United States, including Pilgrim
Nuclear
station in Plymouth. ⑤Pledging to run Pilgrim
safely, the company has applied for federal
permission to keep it open for another 20
years. ⑥But as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC)
reviews the company's application, it
should keep in mind what promises from Entergy are
worth.
2012年
phrase “reneging
on”(Lines 2-3，Para.1) is closest in meaning to
__________.
[A] condemning
[B] reaffirming
[C] dishonoring
[D] securing
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
ing to Paragraph
4，Entergy seems to have problems with its
__________.
[A] managerial practices
[B]
technical innovativeness
[C] financial goals
[D] business vision
the author's view,
the Vermont case will test __________.
[A]
Entergy's capacity to fulfill all its promises
[B] the nature of states' patchwork
regulations
[C] the federal authority over
nuclear issues
[D] the limits of states' power
over nuclear issues
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 might be damaged
2012年
Text 3
①In 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. ②But in the
everyday practice of science, discovery
frequently follows an ambiguous and complicated
route. ③We aim
to be objective, but we cannot
escape the context of our unique life experience.
④Prior knowledge and
interests influence what
we experience, what we think our experiences mean,
and the subsequent actions we
take.
⑤Opportunities for misinterpretation, error, and
self-deception abound.
①Consequently,
discovery claims should be thought of as
protoscience. ②Similar to newly staked
mining
claims, they are full of potential. ③But it takes
collective scrutiny and acceptance to transform a
discovery claim into a mature discovery. ④This
is the credibility process, through which the
individual
researcher's me, here, now becomes
the community's anyone, anywhere, anytime.
⑤Objective knowledge is
the goal, not the
starting point.
①Once a discovery claim
becomes public, the discoverer receives
intellectual credit. ②But, unlike
with mining
claims, the community takes control of what
happens next. ③Within 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. ④As a
discovery claim works its way 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.
①Two paradoxes
exist throughout this credibility process. ②First,
scientific work tends to focus on
some aspect
of prevailing knowledge that is viewed as
incomplete or incorrect. ③Little reward
accompanies
duplication and confirmation of
what is already known and believed. ④The goal is
new-search, not
re-search. ⑤Not 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. ⑥Second, novelty itself
frequently provokes disbelief. ⑦Nobel Laureate and
physiologist
Albert Szent-Györgyi once
described discovery as “seeing what everybody has
seen and thinking what
nobody has thought.”
⑧But thinking what nobody else has thought and
telling others what they have missed
may not
change their views. ⑨Sometimes years are required
for truly novel discovery claims to be accepted
and appreciated.
①In the end, credibility
“happens” to a discovery claim—a process that
corresponds to what
2012年
philosopher Annette Baier has described as the
commons of the mind. ②“We reason together,
challenge,
revise, and complete each other's
reasoning and each other's conceptions of reason.”
2012年
ing 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
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
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 text?
[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
2012年
Text 4
①If the trade
unionist Jimmy Hoffa were alive today, he would
probably represent civil servants. ②
When
Hoffa's Teamsters were in their prime in 1960，only
one in ten American government workers
belonged to a union；now 36% do. ③In 2009 the
number of unionists in America's public sector
passed that
of their fellow members in the
private sector. ④In Britain, more than half of
public-sector workers but only
about 15% of
private-sector ones are unionized.
①There are
three reasons for the public-sector unions'
thriving. ②First, they can shut things down
without suffering much in the way of
consequences. ③Second, they are mostly bright and
well-educated. ④
A quarter of America's public-
sector workers have a university degree. ⑤Third,
they now dominate
left-of-centre politics.
⑥Some of their ties go back a long way. ⑦Britain's
Labor Party, as its name implies,
has long
been associated with trade unionism. ⑧Its current
leader, Ed Miliband, owes his position to votes
from public-sector unions.
①At the state
level their influence can be even more fearsome.
②Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy
Institute of California points out that much
of the state's budget is patrolled by unions. ③The
teachers'
unions keep an eye on schools, the
CCPOA on prisons and a variety of labor groups on
health care.
①In many rich countries average
wages in the state sector are higher than in the
private one. ②But the
real gains come in
benefits and work practices. ③Politicians have
repeatedly “backloaded” public-sector
pay
deals, keeping the pay increases modest but adding
to holidays and especially pensions that are
already
generous.
①Reform has been
vigorously opposed, perhaps most egregiously in
education, where charter schools,
academies
and merit pay all faced drawn-out battles. ②Even
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.
①As the cost to everyone else has become
clearer, politicians have begun to clamp down. ②In
Wisconsin the unions have rallied thousands of
supporters against Scott Walker, the hardline
Republican
governor. ③But many within the
public sector suffer under the current system,
too.
①John 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. ②The only American
public-sector
workers who earn well above
$$250,000 a year are university sports coaches and
the president of the United
States. ③Bankers'
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.
2012年
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
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.
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
example of the unions
in Wisconsin shows that unions __________.
[A]
often run against the current political system
[B] can change people's political attitudes
[C] may be a barrier to public-sector reforms
[D] are dominant in the government
Donahue's attitude towards the public-sector
system is one of __________.
[A] disapproval
[B] appreciation
[C] tolerance
[D]
indifference