09英语考研真题.pdf

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 real11 of our own intelligence might be. This is 12 the mind of every animal I’ve ever met.

Research o n 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 ch 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 D Markova, author of “The Open Mind”　and an executive change consultant for

just as our

Professional Thinking Partners. “But we are taught instead to ‘decide,’　

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 i n 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

that anyone can

thought. “This breaks the major rule in the American belief system —

do anything,” explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book “This Year I Will... 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

developing new habits comes in.

excellence.” This is where

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

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

s dad. All he needs to

paternal (fatherly) wisdom –or at least confirm that he’s the kid’

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

geographic genealogists-a nd supports businesses t hat offer to search for a family’s

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.

But some observers are skeptical, “There is a kind of false precision being

hawked by people claiming they a re doing ancestry testing,” says Trey Duster, a New

York University sociologist. He notes that each individual has many

ancestors-numbering i n 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

t

collections to which a sample is compared. Databases used by some companies don’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

[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 n ew

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 g started. When our ancestors were hunters and gatherers 10,000 years ago, they didn

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.

productivity potential, they could in turn As education improved, humanity’s

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

developing more quickly there than it is.

education isn’ｔ

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

[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

According to many books and articles, important attached to intellectual pursuits ”　

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 theological innovations and their distinctive ideas about the Puritans’　

church-important subjects that we may not neglect. But in keeping with our

examination of southern intellectual life, we may consider the original Puritans as carriers of European culture adjusting to New world circumstances. The New England colonies were the scenes o f important episodes in the pursuit of widely understood ideals of civility and virtuosity.

The early settlers of Massachusetts Bay included men of impressive education and influence in England. `Besides the ninety or so learned ministers who came to Massachusetts church in the decade after 1629,There were political leaders like John Winthrop, an educated gentleman, lawyer, and official of the Crown before he journeyed to Boston. There men wrote and published extensively, reaching both New World and Old World audiences, and giving New England an atmosphere of intellectual earnestness.

We should not forget , however, that most New Englanders were less well

educated. While few crafts men or farmers, let alone dependents a nd servants, left

literary compositions to be analyzed, The in thinking often had a traditional

superstitions quality. A tailor named John Dane, who emigrated in the late 1630s, left

an account of his reasons for leaving England that is filled with signs. sexual

confusion, economic frustrations , and religious hope-all name together in a decisive

moment when he opened the Bible, told his father the first line he saw would settle his

fate, and read the magical words: “come out from among them, touch no unclean

thing , and I will be your God and you shall be my people.” One wonders what Dane thought of the careful sermons explaining the Bible that he heard in puritan churched.

Mean while , many settles had slighter religious commitments than Dane’s, as o clergyman learned in confronting folk along the coast who mocked that they had not

come to the New world for religion . “Our main end was to catch fish. ”

36. The author notes that in the seventeenth-century New England___________.

[A] Puritan tradition dominated political life.

[B] intellectual interests were encouraged.

[C] Politics benefited much from intellectual endeavors.

[D] intellectual pursuits enjoyed a liberal environment.

37. It is suggested in paragraph 2 that New Englanders__________.

[A] experienced a comparatively peaceful early history.

[B] brought with them the culture of the Old World

[C] paid little attention to southern intellectual life

[D] were obsessed with religious innovations

38. The early ministers and political leaders in Massachusetts Bay__________.

[A] were famous in the New World for their writings

[B] gained increasing importance in religious affairs

[C] abandoned high positions before coming to the New World

[D] created a new intellectual atmosphere in New England

39. The story of John Dane shows that less well-educated New Englanders were often

__________.

[A] influenced by superstitions

[B] troubled with religious beliefs

[C] puzzled by church sermons

[D] frustrated with family earnings

40. The text suggests that early settlers in New England__________.

[A] were mostly engaged in political activities

[B] were motivated by an illusory prospect

[C] came from different backgrounds.

[D] left few formal records for later reference

Part B

Directions:

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 blank. There are two extra choices, which do not fit in any of

the gaps.Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)

Coinciding with the groundbreaking theory of biological evolution proposed by British naturalist Charles Darwin in the 1860s, British social philosopher Herbert Spencer put forward his own theory of biological and cultural evolution. Spencer argued that all worldly phenomena, i ncluding human societies, changed over time, advancing toward perfection. 41.____________.

American social scientist Lewis Henry Morgan introduced another theory of cultural evolution in the late 1800s. Morgan, along with Tylor, was one of the founders of modern anthropology. In his work, he attempted to show how all aspects of culture changed together in the evolution of societies.42._____________.

In the early 1900s in North America, German-born American anthropologist Franz Boas developed a new theory of culture known as historical particularism. Historical particularism, which emphasized the uniqueness of all cultures, gave new direction to anthropology. 43._____________ .

Boas felt that the culture of any society must be understood as the result of a unique history and not as one of many cultures belonging to a broader evolutionary stage or type of culture. 44._______________.

Historical particularism became a dominant approach to the study of culture in American anthropology, largely through the influence of many students of Boas. But a number of anthropologists in the early 1900s also rejected the particularist theory of culture in favor of diffusionism. Some attributed virtually every important cultural achievement to the inventions of a few, especially gifted peoples that, according to diffusionists, then spread to other cultures. 45.________________.

Also in the early 1900s, French sociologist émile Durkheim developed a theory of culture that would greatly influence anthropology. Durkheim proposed that religious beliefs functioned to reinforce social solidarity. An interest in the relationship between the function of society and culture—known as functionalism—became a major theme in European, and especially British, anthropology.

[A] Other anthropologists believed that cultural innovations, such as inventions, had a single origin and passed from society to society. This theory was known as diffusionism.

[B] In order to study particular cultures as completely as possible, Boas became

skilled in linguistics, the study of languages, and in physical anthropology, the study

of human biology and anatomy.

[C] He argued that human evolution was characterized by a struggle he called the

“survival of the fittest,” in which weaker races and societies must eventually be replaced by stronger, more advanced races and societies.

[D] They also focused on important rituals that appeared to pr eserve a people’s social structure, such as initiation ceremonies that formally signify children’s entranc adulthood.

[E] Thus, in his view, diverse aspects of culture, such as the structure of families,

forms of marriage, categories of kinship, ownership of property, forms of government,

technology, and systems of food production, all changed as societies evolved.

[F]Supporters of the theory viewed as a collection of integrated parts that work

together to keep a society functioning.

[G] For example, British anthropologists Grafton Elliot Smith and W. J. Perry

incorrectly suggested, on the basis of inadequate information, that farming, pottery

making, and metallurgy all originated in ancient Egypt and diffused throughout the

world. In fact, all of these cultural developments occurred separately at different times

in many parts of the world.

Part C

Directions:

Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into

Chinese. Your translation should be written carefully on ANSWER SHEET 2. (10

points)

There is a marked difference between the education which every one gets from living with

others, and the deliberate educating of the young. In the former case the education is incidental; it

is natural and important, but it is not the express reason of the association.46It may be said that

the measure of the worth of any social institution is its effect in enlarging and improving

experience; but this effect is not a part of its original motive. Religious associations began, for

example, in the desire to secure the favor of overruling powers and to ward off evil influences;

family life in the desire to gratify appetites and secure family perpetuity; systematic labor, for the

most part, because of enslavement to others, etc. 47Only gradually was the by-product of the

institution noted, and only more gradually still was this effect considered as a directive factor in

the conduct of the institution. Even today, in our industrial life, apart from certain values of

industriousness and thrift, the intellectual and emotional reaction of the forms of human

association under which the world's work is carried on receives little attention as compared with

physical output.

But in dealing with the young, the fact of association itself as an immediate human fact, gains

in importance.48 While it is easy to ignore in our contact with them the effect of our acts upon

their disposition, it is not so easy as in dealing with adults. The need of training is too evident; the pressure to accomplish a change in their attitude and habits is too urgent to leave these consequences wholly out of account. 49Since our chief business with them is to enable them to share in a common life we cannot help considering whether or no we are forming the powers which will secure this ability.If humanity has made some headway in realizing that the ultimate value of every institution is its distinctively human effect we may well believe that this lesson has been learned largely through dealings with the young.

50 We are thus led to distinguish, within the broad educational process which we have been

so far considering, a more formal kind of education -- that of direct tuition or schooling. In undeveloped social groups, we find very little formal teaching and training. These groups mainly

rely for instilling needed dispositions into the young upon the same sort of association which keeps the adults loyal to their group.

Section Ⅲ Writing

Part A

51. Directions:

Restrictions on the use of plastic bags have not been so successful in some regions. “White pollution ”is still going on. Write a letter to the editor(s) of your local newspaper to

1)give your opinions briefly and

2)make two or three suggestions

You should write about 100 words. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead. You do not need to write the address.

Part B

52. Directions:

In your essay, you should

1) describe the drawing briefly,

2) explain its intended meaning, and then

3) give your comments.

You should write neatly on ANSHWER SHEET 2. (20 points)