1、考研英语（阅读）-试卷 58 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）_What if the United States of America, uniquely found
2、ed to preserve liberty, ceased to exist as a free and independent nation? What if the legal principles upon which the nation was founded, those that recognize the natural rights of man, were submerged and harmonized with the laws of other nations, laws alien to the traditions of freedom bequeathed t
3、o the nation by the brilliant wisdom of the Founding Fathers? Would individuals continue to be free to pursue their dreams? Would parents continue to be free to impart their own values to their children and to work for their future? Or would a veil of oppression slowly obscure the American dream? It
4、 seems preposterous , but the question of the age is whether America shall remain free and independent or whether it will be subordinated to some alien bureaucracy that will prevent our great country from pursuing its own destiny. An agreement was reached in 1993 through which international legal st
5、ructures might actually force the abandonment of the entire governmental framework built so carefully by the Founding Fathers. That agreement was the North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA)and upon it, as its proponents have argued, can be built the future integration of Canada and Mexico with th
6、e United States. Indeed, NAFTA alone already has had a substantially deleterious effect on the well-being of the citizens of the nation. But if left unchallenged, it poses a greater threat for the future: the potential final dissolution of the United States through the harmonization of U. S. law wit
7、h that of Canada and Mexico. The American dream is made possible by our national independence and personal freedom. But internationalists have a conflicting dream, that of an integrated hemisphere modeled after the European Union. And that integration is coming quickly if internationalists have thei
8、r way. In its report entitled Building a North American Community, the influential New York-based Council on Foreign Relations(CFR)calls for “the creation by 2010 of a North American community. . . Its boundaries will be defined by a common external tariff and an outer security perimeter within whic
9、h the movement of people, products, and capital will be legal, orderly, and safe.“ It“s a plan that has the support of President Bush who, at the White House on February 16, 2001, announced that the United States, with Canada and Mexico, “will strive to consolidate a North American economic communit
10、y. “ It is NAFTA that is the basis for this planned integration. NAFTA is not about creating jobs and prosperity, as its backers allege. Instead, NAFTA is about formulating a North American Union, the next steps of which are just over the horizon. If, for future generations, we wish to preserve the
11、American way of life, we must keep America free and independentand that means withdrawing from NAFTA before it“s too late.（分数：10.00）(1).By asking several questions in the first paragraph, the author intends to show that_.（分数：2.00）A.America is no longer a free and independent nationB.the American dre
12、am has been totally abandonedC.the tradition of freedom is an invaluable legacyD.the American way of life is being threatened(2).The word “preposterous“(Line 1, Paragraph 2)most probably means_.（分数：2.00）A.absurdB.prevalentC.deleteriousD.controversial(3).The author argues that with the agreement reac
13、hed in 1993,_.（分数：2.00）A.America will still be a free and independent nationB.America will prevent itself from pursuing its own dreamC.America will be forced to abandon its own values entirelyD.America will be harmoniously integrated with its neighbors(4).The author asserts that NAFTA_.（分数：2.00）A.th
14、reatens the future of North American nations seriouslyB.calls for the compromise between U. S. and its neighborsC.facilitates the harmonization of U. S. with other countriesD.prevents U. S. from maintaining its national independence(5).The supporters of NAFTA claims that it_.（分数：2.00）A.creates jobs
15、and prosperity for North America nationsB.sets about to consolidate a North American communityC.preserves the American way of life for future generationsD.formulates a free and independent North American UnionThe inherency of good or evil in humans is a trick question. One must assume, since there i
16、s no moral code in the animal kingdom, that humans are neither inherently good nor evil and that morality is nothing more than a valuable human invention. At one point, Humans were little more than advanced apes. We lived according to the food chain, wandering in small bands, left to the mercy of th
17、e environment and one another. We fought over women, land and food as we drudged through the very slow infancy of our species. Over this stretch of time, our minds began the assent to intelligence and we slowly went about developing communities and primitive forms of government. Our morality began t
18、o grow within these primitive cultures. It isn“ t hard to imagine how developing a moral code would be useful in preserving and strengthening a community. It is always preferable to not kill, rape or steal from your neighbor in that it builds solidarity and trust. One might occasionally lend a hand
19、in the hopes that one day he or she would be repaid in some way. In these modest beginnings we find the bud that is now the flower of our morality, our sense of good and evil. Through moral eyes, we put qualities or draws on things that aren“t necessarily good or evil. A driver who lets us into his
20、lane during a traffic gridlock is good. The corner of your doorframe that you constantly stub your foot against is a piece of shit. When you watch a nature channel and see a lion chasing a gazelle, the lion is the bad guy. One might define “good“ in this way: good is anything that strengthens, prese
21、rves or enables the positive movement and evolution of our communities, countries and our species. This is an extremely broad definition, one that must be open to revision and question(I warn the reader that the process of proving the good to be good is ridiculous and tedious). Obviously, anything b
22、ad would be the opposite of the defined good. Labeling a newborn as inherently evil is, frankly, nothing more than religious stupidity. One must safely say that they are good, and that they are innocent and worthy of love, care and deserve an upbringing in the most positive environment possible. Hum
23、anity presupposes morality; therefore it is not possible for a human to be born inherently moral or immoral. The truth is simple and devastating: humans are inherently human.（分数：10.00）(1).The author assumes that humans_.（分数：2.00）A.inherit morality from their ancestorsB.have limited sense of morality
24、 at birthC.are born with no sense of morality at allD.have the ability to tell right from wrong(2).The author thinks that humans_.（分数：2.00）A.live and die in the world just like animalsB.developed their morality in the evolutionC.have disposition to be kind and forgivingD.are still at the mercy of th
25、e Mother Nature(3).The author argues that a moral code_.（分数：2.00）A.defines suitable activity for a communityB.is based upon well-defined value systemsC.cultivates and regulates all social activitiesD.arises from the development of self-identity(4).In the author“s opinion, the definition of good_.（分数
26、：2.00）A.is inseparable from social moresB.varies widely in different culturesC.varies according to circumstancesD.is subject to challenge and change(5).According to the text, humans at their birth_.（分数：2.00）A.deserve living in a positive environmentB.are innocent and worthy of love and careC.can be
27、labeled neither moral nor immoralD.inherit valuable legacy from predecessorsThe United States economy produced roughly $15 trillion worth of goods and services in 2008, making it easily the largest in the world. China is next, at about $ 12 trillion, according to one widely used estimate. Per person
28、, the American economy has the fourth largest outputmore than $45,000 for every man, woman and child, on averagebehind Luxembourg, Bermuda and Liechtenstein, all havens for offshore banking. In 2007, the American economy began to slow significantly, mostly because of a real-estate slump and related
29、financial problems. In December 2007, the economy entered a recession, according to a committee of academic economists, overseen by the National Bureau of Economic Research, that is widely considered the arbiter of recessions. The committee defines a recession as a broad-based and protracted downtur
30、n in economic activity, and its members typically wait many months before announcing that a recession has ended. By nearly all accounts, the recession continued into early 2009, making it the longest one in decades. The economy was last in recession in 2001. Contrary to widespread belief, the terror
31、ist attacks of 2001 did not cause the downturn that year. The economy slowed as the dot-com bubble started leaking in early 2000 and began to shrink in early 2001. The recession ended in November 2001. Over the last few decades, recessions have become less common than they once were. Ben S. Bernanke
32、, the Federal Reserve chairman, and others have described this development as the “great moderation“. While the economy used to swing between expansion and contraction every few years, there had been only two relatively brief recessions over the last 25 years before the current downturn. Perhaps the
33、 most important reason for the change is the new flexibility of businesses. Executives can now track the ups and downs of their sales and inventories more closely than they used to, thanks in large part to computers. Better transportation, like FedEx, also helps companies to keep their warehouses le
34、an. So a company is less likely to find itself suddenly stuck with too many workers and productsand then have to make sharp cutbacks. Yet there are also now increasing worries that a boom in consumer spending, helped along by more consumer debt, played a large role in lifting economic growthand mode
35、rating its swingsover the last generation. If this is the caseand if the end of the debt boom leads to slower consumer spending, as seems to be happeningeconomic growth may slow significantly in coming years, even after the recession ends.（分数：10.00）(1).It is implied in the text that the United State
36、s is _.（分数：2.00）A.clearly behind several European countries in economyB.a country with the highest output value in the worldC.likely to fall behind China soon in the value of outputD.much more productive than other developed countries(2).The economic recession in the United States _.（分数：2.00）A.deser
37、ves particular attention of academic economistsB.is on doubt unprecedented in the severity and durationC.embodies in the prolonged decline of economic activityD.came after the financial crisis sweeping around the world(3).The last economic recession in 2001 in the U. S._.（分数：2.00）A.resulted from the
38、 dot-com bubble burstB.was caused by the September 11th eventC.was not in accord with what was expectedD.reflected the inevitability of economic law(4).Economic recessions have become fewer since_.（分数：2.00）A.there is a new mechanism to avoid economic swingB.businesses have become more flexible in pr
39、oductionC.new technologies have been employed in businessesD.no companies keep too many workers and products(5).The author suggests that_contributes to economic growth.（分数：2.00）A.the expected spending boomB.the reduction of national debtC.the end of economic recessionD.the robust consumer spendingSo
40、me publications that rank schools and colleges say they do it to promote accountability; others say they do it to provide information to consumers. Those of us who work with students and parents have grave doubts about these motivations, doubts that were confirmed when The Wall Street Journal“ s rep
41、orter told one of us that “this type of story gets a lot of readers“. Indeed. Our belief is that rankings exist not because they help, but because they sell. The reality we see every day is that the choice of a college is a very personal matter, one that takes into account many different factors tha
42、t all combine, sometimes mysteriously, into what we can only characterize as the right “fit. “ Rankings never help us find that fit, for they misuse data in suggesting one can capture a general reality for all applicants, failing to understand the great differences we see between individual human be
43、ings trying to make sense of their own situations amid a wide array of options. If there is any type of ranking to be developed, it can only be a personal one, done based on one“s own unique set of criteria. No one ranking “fits“ all. Far more important than where one goes to college is how well one
44、 engages with the opportunities afforded by that college, how much one learns at that college, and how well one is prepared for further study and adult life“s real challenges. Some highly ranked places turn out tragically wrong for students who manage to get in but find the burden of additional comp
45、etition just too much to bear, while less-publicized colleges turn out to be powerfully positive places for young people we know. Each year, especially in the selective, college-preparatory, tuition-conscious schools where we work, we see students and parents who are vulnerable to the rankings-drive
46、n reasoning that they must matriculate at a certain set of places; otherwise, goes the conventional wisdom, they will have failed at someone else“s notion of what constitutes early adult success. We understand the desire to simplify the complex, to quantify the qualitative, to post a Top 10 or a ran
47、king to satisfy the market-driven need to sell ad space an publications. But we reject doing so when it comes to colleges and schools. We who counsel young people and their parents would urge that such ratings and rankings concern matters of entertainment, not the educations of individual human bein
48、gs who need more real help from the adults in their lives.（分数：10.00）(1).The author believes that ranking schools and colleges helps publications become more_.（分数：2.00）A.marketableB.informativeC.trustworthyD.well-known(2).The author points out that the choice of a college for an applicant is_.（分数：2.0
49、0）A.a unique ranking of schools and collegesB.consistent with his ideal and qualificationsC.a rational rather than an impulsive decisionD.based on a sensible analysis of many factors(3).It is true that_.（分数：2.00）A.any ranking of colleges must be based on a set of criteriaB.each applicant has his own ranking of schools and
