1、考研英语-314 及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、BSection Use o(总题数：1，分数：10.00)Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank. Women oftenU (1) /Uthat dating is like a cattleU (2) /U, and a paper just published in Biology Letters by Thomas Pollet and Daniel Nettle of Newca
2、stle University, in England, suggests they areU (3) /U. They have little cause for complaint, however, because the paper also suggests that in this particular market, it isU (4) /Uwho are the buyers. Mr. Pollet and Dr. Nettle were looking forU (5) /Uto support the contention that women choose men of
3、U (6) /Ustatus and resources, as well as good looks. That may sound common sense, but it was oftenU (7) /Uby social scientists until a group of researchers who called themselves evolutionary psychologists started investigating the matter two decades ago. Since then, a series of experiments in labora
4、tories have supported the contention. But as all zoologists know, U(8) /Ucan only tell you so much. Eventually, you have to look atU (9) /U populations. And that is what Mr. Pollet and Dr. Nettle have done. They have examined data from the 19t0 census of the United States of America and discovered t
5、hat marriage is, indeed, a market. Moreover, as in any market, aU (10) /Uof buyers means the sellers have to have particularly attractive goods onU (11) /Uif they are to make the exchange. The advantage of picking 1910 was that America had not yet settled down, demographically speaking. Though the l
6、ong-colonized eastern states had a sexU (12) /Uof one man to one woman, or thereabouts, in the rest of the country the old adage “go west, young man“ had resulted in aU (13) /Uof males. Mr. Pollet and Dr Nettle were thus able to see just how picky women are, U(14) /Uthe chance. U (15) /Ulooking at t
7、he whole census, the two researchers relied on a sample of one person in 250. They thenU (16) /Uthe men in the sample a socioeconomic status score between zero and 96, on a scale drawn up in 1950 (which was as close to 1910 as they could get). They showed that in states where the sexes were equal in
8、 number, 56% of low status men were married by the age of 30, U(17) /U60% of high status men were. Even in this case, then, there are women who would prefer to remainU (18) /Urather than marry a deadbeat. When there were 110 men for every 100 women (as, for example, in Arizona), the women got really
9、U (19) /U. In that case only 24% of low-status men were married by 30 compared with 46% of high-status men. As the men went west, then, so did theirU (20) /Uopportunities. （分数：10.00）A.discussB.argueC.complainD.considerA.houseB.marketC.farmD.factoryA.rightB.wrongC.insaneD.happyA.menB.parentsC.couples
10、D.womenA.samplesB.evidenceC.storiesD.peopleA.rightB.lowC.highD.appropriateA.supportedB.deniedC.discussedD.requiredA.evidenceB.samplesC.experimentsD.moviesA.naturalB.blackC.nativeD.foreignA.sufficiencyB.numberC.populationD.scarcityA.saleB.offerC.bargainD.discountA.patternB.structureC.ratioD.mapA.surp
11、lusB.shortageC.ratioD.reinforcementA.ifB.shouldC.unlessD.givenA.WithoutB.Rather thanC.Failing toD.Required toA.conductedB.searchedC.discussedD.assignedA.whileB.andC.butD.whenA.marriedB.singleC.divorcedD.widowA.seriousB.choosyC.tolerantD.casualA.divorceB.reproductionC.marriageD.death二、BSection Readi(
12、总题数：6，分数：60.00)BPart A/BDirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D BText 1/BCabinet meetings outside London are rare and reluctant things. Harold Wilson held one in Brighton in 1966, but only because the Labour Party was already there for
13、 its annual conference. In 1921 David Lloyd George summoned the Liberals to Inverness because he didnt want to cut short his holiday. Gordon Browns decision to hold his first cabinet meeting after the summer break in Birmingham, on September 8th, was born of a nobler desire to show the almost nine t
14、enths of Britons who live outside London that they are not ignored. He will have to do better: constitutionally, they are more sidelined now than ever. Many legislatures use their second chamber to strengthen the representation of sparsely populated areas (every American state, from Wyoming to Calif
15、ornia, gets two votes in the Senate, for example). Britains House of Lords, most of whose members are appointed supposedly on merit, has the opposite bias. A survey by the New Local Government Network (NLGN), a think-tank, finds that London and two of its neighbouring regions are home to more peers
16、than the rest of Britain combined; even Birmingham, the countrys second-largest city, has just one. Oddly, this distortion is partly thanks to reforms that were supposed to make the Lords more representative. By throwing out most of the hereditary peers in 1999, Labour paved the way for a second cha
17、mber that was less posh, less white and less male than before. But in booting out the landed gentry, it also ditched many of those who came from the provinces. The Duke of Northumberland (270th in the Sunday Timess “ Rich List“) may not be a member of a downtrodden minority. But Alnwick Castle, his
18、family pile, is in the North-east region, home to just 2% of the Lords members now. Geographically speaking, the duke and his fellow toffs were champions of diversity. The government now wants to reintroduce some geographical fairness, but minus dukes. Long-incubated plans to reform the Lords would
19、see it converted during the next parliament into a body that is mainly or entirely elected. A white paper in July outlined various electoral systems, all based on regional or sub-regional constituencies. Some would like to see the seat of government prised out of the capital altogether, though in th
20、e past this has normally required a civil war or a plague. Southerners whisper that no one would show up if Parliament were based in a backwater such as Manchester. But many dont now. The NLGN found that peers resident in Northern Ireland vote least often. But next from the bottom are the London-dwe
21、llers, who show up for less than a third of the votes on their doorstep. Even the eight who live abroad are more assiduous. The north may seem an awfully long way away, but apparently so is Westminster. （分数：10.00）(1).Why will Gordon Brown hold his first cabinet in Birmingham?（分数：2.00）A.Labour Party
22、will have its annual conference there.B.To tell citizens outside London that they are not ignored.C.He did not want to cut short his holidays.D.Many British feel that they are more sidelined now than ever.(2).In most countries, what is the purpose of establishing the second chamber of the legislatur
23、e?（分数：2.00）A.To compromise with those who have vested interests in existing bodies and those who wish to have more rights and power in political life.B.To be more representative, as House of Lords usually consists of citizens from urban area while House of Commons usually come from rural.C.To help a
24、llocate those with high merit as a result of civil service special treatment.D.To ensure to the most possible extent that citizens all across the country may enjoy the same right of claiming and being heard etc.(3).According to the text, which of the following is the reason of UK having such a popul
25、ation-basis distorted second chamber?（分数：2.00）A.Seats in the Lords are mainly elected.B.Citizens outside London care little about politics.C.Endeavours trying to change the situation went to the opposite.D.Great London area possesses more political and economic resources.(4).What is governments meas
26、ure in tackling such distortion?（分数：2.00）A.Reform the Lords into a body that is mainly or entirely electedB.Restrict the number of dukes in the Lords.C.Allocate the number of MOP in the Lords more evenly in all the shires of UK.D.Combine the two bodies of legislature into one.(5).What can we infer f
27、rom the last paragraph?（分数：2.00）A.People still think that political focus is in London.B.London now enjoys less political focus than before.C.Citizens in Northern Ireland have the highest political enthusiasm.D.Westminster will not be the place for cabinet meetings in the future.BText 2/BThe hauntin
28、g paintings of Helene Schjerfbeck, on show in the final leg of a travelling tour that has already attracted thousands of visitors in Hamburg and The Hague, may come as a surprise to many. Few outside the Nordic world would recognise the work of this Finnish artist who died in 1946 More people should
29、. The 120 works have at their core 20 self-portraits, half the number she painted in all. The first, dated 1880, is of a wide-eyed teenager eager to absorb everything. The last is a sighting of the artists ghost-to-be; Schjerfbeck died the year after it was made. Together this series is among the mo
30、st moving and accomplished autobiographies-in-paint. Precociously gifted, Schjerfbeck was 11 when she entered the Finnish Art Societys drawing school. “The Wounded Warrior in the Snow“, a history painting, was bought by a private collector and won her a state travel grant when she was 17Schjerfbeck
31、studied in Paris, went on to Pont-Aven, Brittany, where she painted for a year, then to Tuscany, Cornwall and St Petersburg. During her 1887 visit to St Ives, Cornwall, Schjerfbeck painted “The Convalescent“. A child wrapped in a blanket sits propped up in a large wicker chair, toying with a sprig.
32、The picture won a bronze medal at the 1889 Paris World Fair and was bought by the Finnish Art Society. To a modern eye it seems almost sentimental and is redeemed only by the somewhat stunned, melancholy expression on the childs face, which may have been inspired by Schjerfbecks early experiences. A
33、t four, she fell down a flight of steps and never fully recovered. In 1890, Schjerfbeck settled in Finland. Teaching exhausted her, she did not like the work of other local painters, and she was further isolated when she took on the care of her mother (who lived until 1923). “If I allow myself the f
34、reedom to live a secluded life“, she wrote, “then it is because it has to be that way. “ In 1902, Scherfbeck and her mother settled in the small, industrial town of Hyvinkaa, 50 kilometers north of Hetsinki. Isolation had one desired effect for it was there that Schjerfbeck became a modern painter.
35、She produced still lives and landscapes but above all moody yet incisive portraits of her mother, local school girls, women workers in town (profiles of a pensive, aristocratic looking seamstress dressed in black stand out ). And of course she painted herself. Comparisons have been made with James M
36、cNeill Whistler and Edvard Munch. But from 1905, her pictures became pure Schjerfbeck. “I have always searched for the dense depths of the soul, that have not yet discovered themselves“, she wrote, “where everything is still unconscious-there one can make the greatest discoveries. “ She experimented
37、 with different kinds of underpainting, scraped and rubbed, made bright rosy red spots; doing whatever had to be done to capture the subconscious-her own and that of her models. In 1913, Schjerfbeck was rediscovered by an art dealer and journalist, Gosta Stenman. Once again she was a success. Retros
38、pectives, touring exhibitions and a biography followed, yet Schjerfbeck remained little known outside Scandinavia. Th_at may have had something to do with her indifference to her renown. “I am nothing, absolutely nothing“, she wrote. “All I want to do is paint“. Schjerfbeck was possessed of a unique
39、 vision, and it is time the world recognised that. （分数：10.00）(1).What does “More people should“ in the first paragraph mean?（分数：2.00）A.More people should be able to recognise the work.B.More people will not be able to recognise the painter.C.More people should go to the exhibition.D.More people shou
40、ld know the painter is Finnish.(2).Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?（分数：2.00）A.Schjerfbeck started to learn painting when she was 10.B.Schjerfbeck presented “The Wounded Warrior in the Snow“ to the school.C.Schjerfbeck went to many countries, including Greece, on her travel grant
41、.D.Schjerfbeck stayed in France for a year.(3).Why did Schjerfbeck choose to live a secluded life?（分数：2.00）A.She was exhausted by her teaching job.B.Her personality preferred this kind of life style.C.She could not appreciate the work of the other local painters.D.Her mothers health condition requir
42、ed her to adopt such a fife style.(4).Which of the following may be the reason why Schjerfbeck remained little known outside the Nordic world?（分数：2.00）A.She did not make efforts to publicize her works.B.She knew that her works would gain worldwide recognition one day.C.She only cared about her paint
43、ing instead of personal fame.D.The last thing she was interested in was to have people disturb her.(5).We can infer from the text that the most outstanding characteristics of Schjerfbecks paintings is_.（分数：2.00）A.her vivid characterization of common peopleB.her capture of the characters soulC.the me
44、lancholy expression of the charactersD.her unconscious sense of some mysterious elementsBText 3/BMost firms annual general meetings (AGMs) owe more to North Korea than ancient Greece. By long-standing tradition, bosses make platitudinous speeches, listen to lone dissidents with the air of psychiatri
45、c nurses towards patients and wait for their own proposals to be rubber-stamped by the proxy votes of obedient institutional investors. According to Manifest, a shareholder-advice firm, 97% of votes cast across Europe last year backed management. So should corporate democrats be cheered by the rebel
46、lion over pay at Royal Dutch Shell? At the oil giants AGM on May 19th, 59% of voting shareholders sided against pay packages for top executives. In particular they disliked 4.2 million ($ 5.8 million) in shares dished out to five executives, which comprised about 12% of their total pay for 2008Under
47、 the firms rules, such awards should be granted only if Shells total return in the year is in the top three of its peer group. In 2007 and 2008, Shell came a very close fourth, so the firm decided to pay out anyway. Shell is hardly a poster child for malfeasance: it is performing well, its pay is si
48、milar to that at other big oil firms and its shareholders previously gave directors discretion to bend the rules. They have used it to cut pay in the past. Still, although the vote is not binding, it is seriously embarrassing. The turnout was decent, at about 50%, and several big fund managers were
49、clearly furious. The payouts have already been made and probably cannot be reversed, but Shell will be in disgrace for a while. Jorma Ollila, its chairman, said he took the vote “very seriously“ and promised to “reflect carefully“. After GSK, a British drugs firm, had a rebellion on pay in 2003, it completely redrew its pay policy. It is not just Shell that is facin
