1、考研英语-试卷 115及答案解析(总分：146.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Use of English(总题数：2，分数：80.00)1.Section I Use of EnglishDirections: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D.（分数：40.00）_A new study finds that blacks on death row【1】of killing whites are more likely to be e
2、xecuted than whites who kill minorities. It also concludes that blacks who kill【2】minorities are【3】likely to be executed than blacks who kill whites. For example, there is more than a twofold greater risk that an African-American who killed a white will be executed than a white person who kills a【4】
3、victim. A Hispanic is at least 1.4【5】more likely to be executed【6】such an offender kills a white. The researchers of the study believe that there are two【7】explanations First, prosecutors often win【8】office if they win well-publicized cases. When a black kills a white, such killings gets more【9】and
4、this idea can be【10】by many famous cases. 【11】, the court judges at the state level are often【12】to elections, called retention elections. Retention election or judicial retention within the United States court system, is a periodic process, in which the voter【13】approval or disapproval for the judg
5、es presently【14】their position, and a judge can be removed from the position if the【15】of the citizens vote him or her out. Just as the researchers【16】out, death penalty is【17】political. The findings of the study, in short, show that American justice systems clearly【18】white lives more than those of
6、 blacks or Hispanics. The researchers also say their findings【19】serious doubts about【20】that the U.S. criminal justice system is colorblind.（分数：40.00）A.convictedB.chargedC.believedD.sentencedA.theB.aC.someD.otherA.evenB.sameC.lessD.moreA.nonwhiteB.AmericanC.foreignD.minorA.longerB.yearsC.timeD.time
7、sA.onlyB.evenC.ifD.unlessA.paradoxicalB.plausibleC.absurdD.ironicA.previousB.sameC.lowerD.higherA.attendanceB.attractionC.temptD.publicityA.supportedB.approvedC.ratifiedD.holdA.moreoverB.secondlyC.accordinglyD.generallyA.submitB.proneC.subjectD.familiarA.decideB.expressesC.makesD.takesA.presentingB.
8、chargingC.preservingD.holdingA.majorityB.minorityC.priorityD.superiorityA.pointB.showC.workD.implyA.intuitionallyB.instinctivelyC.intrinsicallyD.distinctivelyA.convictB.valueC.indictD.accuseA.riseB.raiseC.ariseD.rinseA.dissertationsB.affirmsC.claimsD.suggestions二、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：11，分数：62.00
9、)2.Section II Reading Comprehension_3.Part ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D._Children attending schools located in high-traffic zones have a 45 percent increased risk of developing asthma, even though time spent at school only
10、accounts for about one-third of a child“s waking hours, according to new research. Asthma is the most common chronic childhood illness in developed countries and has been linked to environmental factors such as traffic-related air pollution. “While residential traffic-related pollution has been asso
11、ciated with asthma, there has been little study of the effects of traffic exposure at school on new onset asthma,“ says Rob McConnell, professor of preventive medicine at USC“s Keck School of Medicine. “Exposure to pollution at locations other than home, especially where children spend a large porti
12、on of their day and may engage in physical activity, appears to influence asthma risk as well.“ The study appears online in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The study drew upon data from the Children“s Health Study (CHS), a longitudinal study of children in Southern California communit
13、ies that was designed to investigate the chronic effects of air pollution on respiratory health. Using a cohort of 2 497 kindergarten and first grade children who were asthma-free when they entered the study, researchers examined the relationship of local traffic around schools and homes to diagnosi
14、s new onset asthma that occurred during three years of follow-up. Traffic-related pollution exposure was assessed based on a model that took into account traffic volume, distance to major roadways from home and school and local weather conditions. Regional ambient ozone, nitrogen dioxide (二氧化氮) and
15、particulate matter were measured continuously at one central site in each of the 13 study communities. The design allowed investigators to examine the joint effects of local traffic-related pollution exposure at school and at home and of regional pollution exposure affecting the entire community. Re
16、searchers found 120 cases of new asthma. The risk associated with traffic-related pollution exposure at schools was almost as high as for residential exposure, and combined exposure accounting for time spent at home and at school had a slightly larger effect. Although children spend less time at sch
17、ool than at home, physical education, and other activities that take place at school may increase ventilation rates and the dose of pollutants getting into the lungs, McConnell notes. Traffic-related pollutant levels may also be higher during the morning hours when children are arriving at school. D
18、espite a state law that prohibits school districts from building campuses within 500 feet of a freeway, many Southern California schools are located near high-traffic areas, including busy surface streets. “It“s important to understand how these micro-environments where children spent a lot of their
19、 time outside of the home are impacting their health,“ McConnell says. “Policies that reduce exposure to high-traffic environments may help to prevent this disease. “ The study was funded by grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the US Environmental Protection Agency,
20、the South Coast Air Quality Management District, and the Hastings Foundation.（分数：10.00）(1).Which one is NOT the reason that children increase risk of developing asthma?（分数：2.00）A.There exists traffic-related pollution.B.Schools are located in heavy-traffic areas.C.Children are frequently exposed to
21、pollution.D.The vehicles increase rapidly.(2).What kind of illness does “asthma“ belong to?（分数：2.00）A.Mental sickness.B.Respiratory disease.C.Influenza.D.Infectious disease.(3).We can infer from McConnell“s view that_.（分数：2.00）A.there has been little study of the residential traffic-related pollutio
22、nB.activities that take place at school may increase the risk of asthmaC.traffic-related pollutant level is lower during the morning hoursD.frequent exposure to outdoors appears to influence the risk of asthma(4).The method of preventing asthma is to_.（分数：2.00）A.reduce exposure to schoolsB.do more a
23、ctivities at homeC.reduce exposure to heavy traffic zonesD.understand the micro-environments(5).Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?（分数：2.00）A.In Southern California, many schools are located near heavy traffic zones.B.The study was carried out by many organizations.C.Rob McConnell
24、is the leader of the study.D.Asthma is the most common chronic childhood illness around the world.A few milliamps of electricity can cause plants to increase synthesis of chemicals. These compounds often also have a pharmacological (related to medicine) or commercial value, so the trick could be use
25、d to help increase yields of commercially useful biologicals. Artemisinic acid, from sweet wormwood, for example, is used in malarial medications, and shikonin (紫草素), from the purple gromwell plant, is used against skin infections. Researchers have long known that stressing plants can force them to
26、take defensive action, often ramping up the production of protective chemicals that, for example, make them more resistant to insect attack. It has become common practice to stress such plants into increasing their yields. This is usually clone using physical stress elicitors (诱导子), including bits o
27、f the micro-organisms that normally attack the plants, or irritants made from metallic compounds such as copper chloride. These are effective, but they come at a cost. Most elicitors are toxic to plants and can build up in tissues, making it necessary to occasionally “clean“ a plant of the chemicals
28、 so they keep having the same effect. Recently, research groups at the University of Arizona in Tucson found that the application of an electric current to the hairy roots of the poisonous herb Hyoscyamus muticus stimulated the production of the herb“s toxin hyoscyamine (天仙子胺). This unpublished find
29、ing inspired Hans Van Etten, also of the University of Arizona, and his colleagues to test sub-lethal levels of electrical currents on other plants, to assess electricity“s potential to elevate chemical production. The researchers exposed eight different plant species (ranging from Japanese pagoda t
30、ree seedlings to pea plants) to weak electrical currents of 30 milliamps. Seven of the plants increased their production o defensive chemicals. The average boost of chemical production was 20 times, they report in Biotechnology Progress. One plant, a type of alfalfa, increased its chemical yield by
31、168 times. These values are very similar to those achieved using chemical elicitors, and seem to have no lethal effects-just a negative effect on growth. The treatment can be used over and over again without the build-up of any unwanted material. The useful compounds would be very easy to harvest: t
32、hey simply pour out into solution if the plants are grown hydroponically. “The fact that we can use electricity instead of toxic materials to elicit chemical production is very exciting because it means we get to look at how these chemicals form without having to constantly add and remove toxins fro
33、m the system,“ says Van Etten. “This is a really novel and creative approach that I“ve never seen before,“ says plant metabolic engineer Fabricio Medina Bolivar from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. “The possibilities for using electricity with plants in this way are absolutely tremendous. “（
34、分数：10.00）(1).Electricity acting on plants can be used to _.（分数：2.00）A.take precautions against skin infectionsB.increase production of useful biologicalsC.increase pharmacological and commercial valueD.make plants more resistant to attack(2).The traditional ways of increasing the yields of chemical
35、do NOT include _.（分数：2.00）A.being attacked by micro-organismsB.using physical stress elicitorsC.applying copper chlorideD.employing electrical currents on plants(3).Which one of the followings is NOT the advantage of using electricity?（分数：2.00）A.It can achieve the same values as using chemical elici
36、tors.B.It can be used time and again.C.It can boost chemical production.D.It has no adverse impacts on the growth of plants.(4).The views of Fabricio and Van Etten towards the way of using electricity to elicit chemical production are _.（分数：2.00）A.differentB.oppositeC.similarD.complementary(5).What
37、is the main idea of the passage?（分数：2.00）A.Reactions to the electric stress lead to more chemical yields.B.Yields of commercially useful biologicals are increased.C.Using electricity to elicit chemical production is very exciting.D.Using electricity has a negative effect on plant growth.Feeling anxi
38、ous? Your mood may actually change how your dinner tastes, making the bitter and salty flavors recede, according to new research. This link between the chemical balance in your brain and your sense of taste could one day help doctors to treat depression. There are currently no on-the-spot tests for
39、deciding which medication will work best in individual patients with this condition. Researchers hope that a test based on flavor detection could help doctors to get more prescriptions right first time. It has long been known that people who are depressed have lower-than-usual levels of the brain ch
40、emicals serotonin or noradrenaline, or in some cases both. Many also have a blunted sense of taste, which is presumably caused by changes in brain chemistry. To unpick the relationship between the two, Lucy Donaldson and her colleagues at the University of Bristol, UK, gave 20 healthy volunteers two
41、 antidepressant drugs, and checked their sensitivity to different tastes. The drug that raised serotonin levels made people more sensitive to sweet and bitter tastes, the team reports in the Journal of Neuroscience. The other, which increased noradrenaline, enhanced recognition of bitter and sour ta
42、stes. In healthy people, volunteers whose anxiety levels were naturally higher were less sensitive to bitter and salty tastes. “What hasn“t been done beore is to look precisely at which tastes are affected in depression,“ says Donaldson. Now the results are in, “we can discriminate between the chemi
43、cals and the tastes that seem to be altered,“ she says. Testing sensitivity to sweet and sour tastes could potentially help doctors to pick up on which chemicals are dipping, guiding them when choosing which drug to rectify the problem. Currently, doctors rely on physical and emotional symptoms to m
44、ake a best guess at an individual“s imbalance, prescribe a drug and wait about a month to check on any improvement. Good doctors have about a 60-80% success rate in selecting the right drug the first time, says psychiatrist Jan Melichar, a co-author on the paper. Are there any decent tests for presc
45、ribing drugs for depression? “No. We do a best guesstimate,“ says Melichar. “I“m excited by this finding because in 3, 5 or 7 years we could have a simple taste test. “ Next, the team plans to perform similar tests in depressed people, and in healthy volunteers given another brain chemical called tr
46、yptophan. This chemical would lower the healthy subjects“ levels of serotonin, as actually happens in depressed patients. The work has also generated interest from flavor houses-companies that develop chemicals for the food and drink industry-who are interested in making foods taste just as sweet wi
47、th half the amount of sugar. “Theoretically there would be the possibility of enhancing your meal with drugs that affect brain chemicals so that things would taste better-you couid have a “designer taste tablet“,“ Donaldson says.（分数：10.00）(1).The study of the link between mood and taste can help_.（分
48、数：2.00）A.people to gain better moodB.doctor to cure depressionC.people to increase appetiteD.researchers to get prescriptions(2).The word “blunted“ (Line 2, Paragraph 2) most probably means _.（分数：2.00）A.sharpB.painfulC.insensitiveD.sweet(3).Which of the following is TRUE as to the results of the research?（分数：2.00）A.Increased serotonin weakens sensitivity to the tastes of bitter and sour.B.The more anxious people are, the more sensitive to sour taste.C.The tryptophan can add healthy people“s serotonin amount.D.The tryptophan can lower healthy people“s serotonin level.(4).The flavour hous
