1、考研英语（阅读）-试卷 117 及答案解析(总分：60.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Reading Comprehensio(总题数：6，分数：60.00)1.Section II Reading Comprehension（分数：10.00）_2.Part ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D.（分数：10.00）_It is not a question so much of what will happen as
2、 much as it is a statement of what has already happened and is still happening. Society is falling down all around us. As compared to days gone by, the family structure has weakened so much that people have developed uncaring and self serving attitudes. We see more and more with each passing year, l
3、ess and less stable homes. Kids are caring for themselves and parents are out working more than ever. Even if they are structured enough to meet around the dinner table at night, it will most likely be the only time they connect with each other for the entire day. Children learn to cope with the wor
4、ld by watching and learning from loving parents that spend time with them. It only makes sense that when the time is not invested, the children grow to adulthood lacking life skills they should have grown up with. Society is already feeling the effects of this sad trend when we see young adults with
5、 no set goals or any kind of direction as to which path they should walk in life. Schools counselors try to help these kids decide on a career choice or a direction to look towards, but often this advice is ignored. It is the parents responsibility to guide their children and raise them in homes tha
6、t are stable and caring. Ninety percent of the time, people who become successful members of society and achieve the most, come from stable, loving homes with adults that cared enough to lead them every day. If this lack of stability in the home continues to increase, then of course, society as a wh
7、ole, will suffer! As parents and caregivers, we must begin to put our priorities in order if we are to build a better tomorrow. Is it more important to have a gym membership and new car or bigger house at the expense of our child and what they will bring to the future of our society? With our nation
8、 in a recession, getting back to the basics seems to be the talk of the day. Many people are realising the value of a dollar again and cutting back on many “extras“. This could be the start of building our society back up again and saving the future of it by teaching young people to work together an
9、d be together. Maybe by work hours being cut back and layoffs happening everywhere, families will spend more time together and begin to see the value of relationships rather than the value of “things“.（分数：10.00）(1).We learn from paragraph 1 that _.（分数：2.00）A.what will happen is a minor issueB.selfis
10、hness has become prevalentC.society is on the verge of collapseD.loosely structured families persist(2).The author believes that children_.（分数：2.00）A.require the care of their parents to grow upB.depend upon certain basic skills to surviveC.have few occasions to be with their parentsD.deserve to liv
11、e in a happy home environment(3).The saying “this sad trend“ in paragraph 3 refers to the fact that _.（分数：2.00）A.caring and loving parents are scarceB.many adults lack necessary life skillsC.the family structure has got loosenedD.some people have lost direction in life(4).It is implied in the text t
12、hat home stability _.（分数：2.00）A.lays the foundation for building a happy familyB.shows the performance of parents“ obligationsC.is essential to everyone“s normal life and workD.contributes a lot to the success of one“s career(5).In the text, the author advocates_.（分数：2.00）A.harmonious family relatio
13、nshipsB.teaching young people life skillsC.keeping social stability and unityD.shifting our priorities at any timeThe next time you take a deep breath, think for a moment of Joseph Priestley, the 18th-century British scientist widely credited with discovering oxygen. As Steven Johnson explains in hi
14、s engaging study of Priestley, The Invention of Air : A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America, the circumstances surrounding Priestley“ s signature achievement are “far more vexed than the standard short-form biographies suggest“. That“s because “discovering “oxygen“ is not l
15、ike “ discovering“ the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is closer to, say, discovering America: the meaning of the phrase depends entirely on the perspective and values you bring to the issue“. Along with his contemporaries Antoine Lavoisier and Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Priestly isolated oxygen gas and was the fir
16、st to draw connections between “pure air“ and blood. Like a laboratory Moses, Priestly pointed the way for others to a destination at which he could not quite arrive. By the time he died in America in 1804, Priestly had managed to isolate and name 10 gases, become known as “the father of modern chem
17、istry,“ and, perhaps most wonderfully, invented soda water. He had emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1794, after inspiring an English mob to burn down his laboratory due to his radical Unitarian views, which blended respect for Jesus“ moral teachings and an insistence on his lack of divinity.(That may be
18、 Priestley“ s most amazing achievement: Stoking people to violence through Unitarianism!)He was a major influence on his friend Benjamin Franklin and other leading scientists of the day, and his political and pedagogical work left a huge impression on Founding Fathers such as Thomas Jefferson. Johns
19、on paints Priestley not as a man of the past but precisely the sort of figure the world needs more than ever: A searcher who shared his discoveries openly and willingly, crossed disciplinary boundaries with impunity and insight, who conceived of the world as a large laboratory. As important, Priestl
20、ey exemplifies “ the temperament that we expect to find at the birth of Americabountiful optimism, an untroubled sense that the world must inevitably see the light of reason“. We live in troubling times, filled with signs of a great economic apocalypse, politicized science on topics from birth contr
21、ol to climate change, and religious zealots who kill innocents rather than live peacefully with them. This is exactly the moment to learn from Priestley, who survived riots, threats of prosecution, and other hardships and yet never doubted that “the world was headed naturally toward an increase in l
22、iberty and understanding“. Ironically, The Invention of Air underscores that there is nothing natural about progress and liberty, each of which must be fought for and defended every single day by visionary individuals.（分数：10.00）(1).The author regards Joseph Priestley as a great historical figure pri
23、marily because of_.（分数：2.00）A.his brilliant achievement in circumstances beyond controlB.his remarkable accomplishment in discovering oxygen gasC.his spectacular success in many fields other than chemistryD.his fame as an outstanding thinker of the eighteenth century(2).Steven Johnson suggests that
24、Joseph Priestley_.（分数：2.00）A.made a discovery not so striking as that of the Dead Sea ScrollsB.lived in an era far more troubled than popular biographies revealC.made a contribution as great as what Christopher Columbus didD.invented air and contributed to the cause of American Revolution(3).Johnson
25、 thinks of Priestley as a man we need more than ever on account of_.（分数：2.00）A.his open mind, broad vision, and American temperamentB.his lasting influence and impression on Founding FathersC.his stubborn adherence to the radical Unitarianism for lifeD.his amazing achievements in science, politics,
26、and religion(4).What we should currently learn from Joseph Priestley is_.（分数：2.00）A.his courage to face up to troubles in life manfullyB.his determination and optimism even in hardshipsC.his achievements in science and many other fieldsD.his brilliant vision and insight in scientific research(5).Ste
27、ven Johnson says with emphasis in his study that liberty_.（分数：2.00）A.increases with unremitting efforts of famous scientistsB.is apt to degenerate if we do not endeavour to defend itC.serves as an unattainable ideal for visionary individualsD.is a goal which cannot be attained if nobody fights for i
28、tIn 2004 a few dozen members of Congress asked the Federal Communications Commission whether the government could define and regulate “excessively violent programming that is harmful to children“ without violating the First Amendment. Last month, after thinking about it for three years, the FCC had
29、an answer; Sure. Go ahead. Emboldened by the FCC report, Sen. Jay Rockefeller plans to introduce legislation aimed at regulating TV violence any day now. If he takes the same approach he did in a 2005 bill he sponsored, he will knock the ball back to the FCC, asking it to define excessively violent
30、programming and adopt measures to protect children from it. There“s a reason no one is keen to define excessively violent programming. Anyone who tries will face insoluble practical and constitutional problems. Because opinions about what is appropriate for children vary widely, any definition of ex
31、cessively violent programming would be attacked as too narrow, too broad, or both. Some critics say TV violence encourages imitation; others worry that it causes anxiety by making the world seem dangerous. The most troubling violence, some say, is the “explicit“ and “graphic“ kind, because it“s both
32、 disturbing and desensitizing. Others worry about the “sanitized“ and “glamorized“ kind, which separates violence from its real-world consequences. I“d say CSI, Schindler“ s List, and History Channel war documentaries are not appropriate for small children. Does that mean such programming should be
33、banished to late-night hours, a solution the FCC proposes? If not, what use is “time channeling“? If so, it“s hard to see why news shows covering crime and war, or sports such as football and boxing, should be exempt. For those who worry about imitation of sanitized violence, even children“s cartoon
34、s are not appropriate for children. Should Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles be shown only between 10 p. m. and 6 a. m. ? Another FCC suggestion, forcing cable and satellite companies to offer channels “a la carte,“ is even less promising. Blocking entire channels is a clumsy way to shield kids from inap
35、propriate material. In any case, cable and satellite subscribers already have this ability, the FCC is just saying they shouldn“t have to pay for the channels they decide to block. The effectiveness of these rules will be an important question when courts address their constitutionality, since conte
36、nt-based speech regulation generally can be justified only if it“s the least restrictive means of serving a compelling government interest. No restriction on violent entertainment has ever met this test. As the First Amendment lawyer Robert Corn-Revere notes, regulations that take the context of vio
37、lence into account would be scrutinized especially closely, because the government would be targeting speech based on viewpoint as well as subject. “ Any attempt to regulate televised violence would face insurmountable First Amendment barriers,“ he concludes.（分数：10.00）(1).It seems that FCC is_.（分数：2
38、.00）A.reluctant to regulate televised violenceB.anxious to adopt measures to protect kidsC.really worried about violent programmingD.impatient to define and regulate TV violence(2).The author believes that TV violence_.（分数：2.00）A.disturbs viewers for its graphic featureB.makes the world seem dangero
39、usC.encourages children to imitateD.lacks appropriate definition(3).The author challenges_.（分数：2.00）A.the broadcasting of war documentariesB.the news shows covering crime and warC.the “time channeling“ proposed by FCCD.the distinction between violence and reality(4).According to the text, it“s injud
40、icious for cable and satellite companies to_.（分数：2.00）A.impose restrictions on subscribersB.block channels to shield childrenC.transmit inappropriate materialsD.worry about sanitized violence(5).In the opinion of Robert Corn-Revere, any restriction on TV violence_.（分数：2.00）A.cannot but face some ins
41、oluble constitutional problemsB.cannot be free from the careful scrutiny of governmentC.is justifiable if it does not violate the First AmendmentD.is inevitably based on viewpoint as well as subjectThere“s no news like bad news . The tabloids are full of accidents, gory murders, and mayhem, and peop
42、le eat it up. But there may be a silver lining , at least for seniors. A new study finds that the human brain reacts less strongly to emotionally negative stimuli as we age, in effect making us more responsive to all things positive and less responsive to the dark and dismal. This bolsters a growing
43、 body of evidence showing that aging changes how the brain reacts to emotional stimuli. Much of the media exploits what psychologists call the “negativity bias“: our tendency to pay more attention to the bad than to the good. This bias plays a role in a wide range of cognitive areas, making a headli
44、ne about a murder more attention grabbing than one about a marriage, for example. However, in recent years, research has revealed that as we get older our emotional responses to the world around us become more positive and that the stereotype of the “grumpy old man“ may actually be a myth. A number
45、of studies have found that older people typically report a higher sense of well-being than younger people. But is that because the negativity bias declines with age, or does the brain become more responsive to positive stimuli? To explore this question, psychologists Michael Kisley of the University
46、 of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and Stacey Wood of Scripps College in Claremont, California, presented 51 participants with images of puppies, car crashes, toasters, and other things for 1 second at a time. The participants, who ranged from 18 to 81 years of age, were attached to electroencephalogra
47、ph electrodes and then pressed buttons to categorize the images as emotionally positive, negative, or neutral. As expected, electrical activity spiked in the brains of the young participants when they saw something discomfiting. But older brains reacted less, and they didn“t vary between negative an
48、d positive images. “Our data show that the negativity bias is gradually declining with age,“ comments Kisley, who reports the findings in the September issue of Psychological Science. “This study is so important because it gives us a window into the way we process information at different stages of
49、our lives,“ says psychologist Derek Isaacowitz of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. Why the negativity bias wanes with age is an unresolved question, but psychologist Mara Mather of the University of California, Santa Cruz, argues that “it might be the result of a human desire to surround ourselves with the pleasant and the positiv
