1、全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语二真题 2014 年及答案解析(总分：84.00，做题时间：120 分钟)一、Section Use of (总题数：1，分数：20.00)Thinner isnt always better. A number of studies have _1_ that normal-weight people are in fact at higher risk of some diseases compared to those who are overweight. And there are health conditions for which being ov
2、erweight is actually _2_. For example, heavier women are less likely to develop calcium deficiency than thin women. _3_ among the elderly, being somewhat overweight is often an _4_ of good health. Of even greater _5_ is the fact that obesity turns out to be very difficult to define. It is often defi
3、ned _6_ body mass index, or BMI. BMI _7_ body mass divided by the square of height. An adult with a BMI of 18 to 25 is often considered to be normal weight. Between 25 and 30 is overweight. And over 30 is considered obese. Obesity, _8_,can be divided into moderately obese, severely obese, and very s
4、everely obese. While such numerical standards seem 9 , they are not. Obesity is probably less a matter of weight than body fat. Some people with a high BMI are in fact extremely fit, 10 others with a low BMI may be in poor 11 .For example, many collegiate and professional football players 12 as obes
5、e, though their percentage body fat is low. Conversely, someone with a small frame may have high body fat but a 13 BMI. Today we have a(an) _14 _ to label obesity as a disgrace.The overweight are sometimes_15_in the media with their faces covered. Stereotypes _16_ with obesity include laziness, lack
6、 of will power,and lower prospects for success.Teachers,employers,and health professionals have been shown to harbor biases against the obese. _17_very young children tend to look down on the overweight, and teasing about body build has long been a problem in schools.（分数：20.00）A.deniedB.concludedC.d
7、oubledD.ensuredA.protectiveB.dangerousC.sufficientD.troublesomeA.InsteadB.HoweverC.LikewiseD.ThereforeA.indicatorB.objectiveC.originD.exampleA.impactB.relevanceC.assistanceD.concernA.in terms ofB.in case ofC.in favor ofD.in respect ofA.measuresB.determinesC.equalsD.modifiesA.in essenceB.in contrastC
8、.in turnD.in partA.complicatedB.conservativeC.variableD.straightforwardA.soB.unlikeC.sinceD.unlessA.shapeB.spiritC.balanceD.tasteA.startB.qualityC.retireD.stayA.strangeB.changeableC.normalD.constantA.optionB.reasonC.opportunityD.tendencyA.employedB.imitatedC.picturedD.monitoredA.comparedB.combinedC.
9、settledD.associatedA.EvenB.StillC.YetD.OnlyA.despisedB.correctedC.ignoredD.groundedA.discussionsB.businessesC.studiesD.policiesA.forB.againstC.withD.without二、Section Reading(总题数：4，分数：20.00)Text 1 What would you do with 590m? This is now a question for Gloria Mackenzie, an 84-year-old widow who recen
10、tly emerged from her small, tin-roofed house in Florida to collect the biggest undivided lottery jackpot in history. If she hopes her new-found for tune will yield lasting feelings of fulfillment, she could do worse than read Happy Money by Elizabeth Dumn and Michael Norton. These two academics use
11、an array of behavioral research to show that the most rewarding ways to spend money can be counterintuitive. Fantasies of great wealth often involve visions of fancy cars and extravagant homes. Yet satisfaction with these material purchases wears off fairly quickly what was once exciting and new bec
12、omes old-hat; regret creeps in. It is far better to spend money on experiences, say Ms Dumn and Mr Norton, like interesting trips, unique meals or even going to the cinema. These purchases often become more valuable with time-as stories or memories-particularly if they involve feeling more connected
13、 to others. This slim volume is packed with tips to help wage slaves as well as lottery winners get the most “happiness bang for your buck.“ It seems most people would be better off if they could shorten their commutes to work, spend more time with friends and family and less of it watching televisi
14、on (something the average American spends a whopping two months a year doing, and is hardly jollier for it).Buying gifts or giving to charity is often more pleasurable than purchasing things for oneself, and luxuries are most enjoyable when they are consumed sparingly. This is apparently the reason
15、MacDonalds restricts the availability of its popular McRib - a marketing trick that has turned the pork sandwich into an object of obsession. Readers of “HappyMoney” are clearly a privileged lot, anxious about fulfillment, not hunger.Money may not quite buy happiness, but people in wealthier countri
16、es are generally happier than those in poor ones. Yet the link between feeling good and spending money on others can be seen among rich and poor people around the world, and scarcity enhances the pleasure of most things for most people. Not everyone will agree with the authors policy ideas, which ra
17、nge from mandating more holiday time to reducing tax incentives for American homebuyers. But most people will come away from this book believing it was money well spent。（分数：5.00）(1).According to Dumn and Norton,which of the following is the most rewarding purchase?（分数：1.00）A.A big houseB.A special t
18、ourC.A stylish carD.A rich meal(2).The authors attitude toward Americans watching TV is（分数：1.00）A.criticalB.supportiveC.sympatheticD.ambiguous(3).Macrib is mentioned in paragraph 3 to show that（分数：1.00）A.consumers are sometimes irrationalB.popularity usually comes after qualityC.marketing tricks are
19、 after effectiveD.rarity generally increases pleasure(4).According to the last paragraph,Happy Money（分数：1.00）A.has left much room for readerscriticismB.may prove to be a worthwhile purchaseC.has predicted a wider income gap in the usD.may give its readers a sense of achievement(5).This text mainly d
20、iscusses how to（分数：1.00）A.balance feeling good and spending moneyB.spend large sums of money won in lotteriesC.obtain lasting satisfaction from money spentD.become more reasonable in spending on luxuriesText 2 An article in Scientific America has pointed out that empirical research says that, actual
21、ly, you think youre more beautiful than you are. We have a deep-seated need to feel good about ourselves and we naturally employ a number of self-enhancing strategies to research into what the call the “above average effect”, or “illusory superiority”, and shown that, for example, 70% of us rate our
22、selves as above average in leadership, 93% in driving and 85% at getting on well with othersall obviously statistical impossibilities. We rose tint our memories and put ourselves into self-affirming situations. We become defensive when criticized, and apply negative stereotypes to others to boost ou
23、r own esteem, we stalk around thinking were hot stuff. Psychologist and behavioral scientist Nicholas Epley oversaw a key studying into self-enhancement and attractiveness. Rather that have people simply rate their beauty compress with others, he asked them to identify an original photogragh of them
24、selves from a lineup including versions that had been altered to appear more and less attractive. Visual recognition, reads the study, is “an automatic psychological process occurring rapidly and intuitively with little or no apparent conscious deliberation”. If the subjects quickly chose a falsely
25、flattering image- which must did- they genuinely believed it was really how they looked. Epley found no significant gender difference in responses. Nor was there any evidence that, those who self-enhance the must (that is, the participants who thought the most positively doctored picture were real)
26、were doing so to make up for profound insecurities. In fact those who thought that the images higher up the attractiveness scale were real directly corresponded with those who showed other makers for having higher self-esteem. “I dont think the findings that we having have are any evidence of person
27、al delusion”, says Epley. “Its a reflection simply of people generally thinking well of themselves. If you are depressed, you wont be self-enhancing. Knowing the results of Epley s study,it makes sense that why people heat photographs of themselves Viscerally-on one level, they dont even recognise t
28、he person in the picture as themselves, Facebook therefore ,is a self-enhancers paradise,where people can share only the most flattering photos, the cream of their wit ,style ,beauty, intellect and lifestyle its not that peoples profiles are dishonest,says catalina toma of WisconMadison university ,
29、”but they portray an idealized version of themselves.（分数：5.00）(1).According to the first paragraph, social psychologist have found that _.（分数：1.00）A.our self-ratings are unrealistically highB.illusory superiority is baseless effectC.our need for leadership is unnaturalD.self-enhancing strategies are
30、 ineffective(2).Visual recognition is believed to be peoples_（分数：1.00）A.rapid watchingB.conscious choiceC.intuitive responseD.automatic self-defence(3).Epley found that people with higher self-esteem tended to_（分数：1.00）A.underestimate their insecuritiesB.believe in their attractivenessC.cover up the
31、ir depressionsD.oversimplify their illusions(4).The word “Viscerally”(Line 2,para.5) is closest in meaning to_.（分数：1.00）A.instinctivelyB.occasionallyC.particularlyD.aggressively(5).It can be inferred that Facebook is self-enhancers paradise because people can _.（分数：1.00）A.present their dishonest pro
32、filesB.define their traditional life stylesC.share their intellectual pursuitsD.withhold their unflattering sidesThe concept of man versus machine is at least as old as the industrial revolution, but this phenomenon tends to be most acutely felt during economic downturns and fragile recoveries. And
33、yet, it would be a mistake to think we are right now simply experiencing the painful side of a boom and bust cycle. Certain jobs have gone away for good, outmoded by machines. Since technology has such an insatiable appetite for eating up human jobs, this phenomenon will continue to restructure our
34、economy in ways we can“t immediately foresee. When there is rapid improvement in the price and performance of technology, jobs that were once thought to be immune from automation suddenly become threatened. This argument has attracted a lot of attention, via the success of the book Race Against the
35、Machine , by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee, who both hail from MITs Center for Digital Business. This is a powerful argument, and a scary one. And yet, John Hagel, author of The Power of Pull and other books, says Brynjolfsson and McAfee miss the reason why these jobs are so vulnerable to tech
36、nology in the first place. Hagel says we have designed jobs in the U.S. that tend to be “tightly scripted“ and “highly standardized“ ones that leave no room for “individual initiative or creativity.“ In short, these are the types of jobs that machines can perform much better at than human beings. Th
37、at is how we have put a giant target sign on the backs of American workers, Hagel says. It“s time to reinvent the formula for how work is conducted, since we are still relying on a very 20th century notion of work, Hagel says. In our rapidly changing economy, we more than ever need people in the wor
38、kplace who can take initiative and exercise their imagination “to respond to unexpected events.“ That“s not something machines are good at. They are designed to perform very predictable activities. As Hagel notes, Brynjolfsson and McAfee indeed touched on this point in their book. We need to reframe
39、 race against the machine as race with the machine. In our works, we need to look at the ways in which machines can augment human labor rather than replace it. So then the problem is not really about technology, but rather, “how do we innovate our institutions and our work practices?“ （分数：5.00）(1).A
40、ccording to the first paragraph, economic downturns would _ （分数：1.00）A.ease the competition of man vsB.highlight machines“ threat to human jobsC.provoke a painful technological revolutionD.outmode our current economic structure(2).The authors of Race Against the Machine argue that _ （分数：1.00）A.techn
41、ology is diminishing man“s job opportunitiesB.automation is accelerating technological developmentC.certain jobs will remain intact after automationD.man will finally win the race against machine(3).Hagel argues that jobs in the U.S. are often _ （分数：1.00）A.performed by innovative mindsB.scripted wit
42、h an individual styleC.standardized without a clear targetD.designed against human creativity(4).According to the last paragraph, Brynjolfsson and McAfee discussed _ （分数：1.00）A.the predictability of machine behavior in practiceB.the formula for how work is conducted efficientlyC.the ways machines re
43、place human labor in modern timesD.the necessity of human involvement in the workplace(5).Which of the following could be the most appropriate title for text?（分数：1.00）A.How to Innovate Our Work PracticesB.Machines Will Replace Human LaborC.Can We Win the Race Against Machines?D.Economic Downturns St
44、imulate InnovationsText 4 When the government talks about infrastructure contributing to the economy the focus is usually on roads, railways, broadband and energy. Housing is seldom mentioned. Why is that? To some extent the housing sector must shoulder the blame. We have not been good at communicat
45、ing the real value that housing can contribute to economic growth. Then there is the scale of the typical housing project. It is hard to shove for attention among multibillion-pound infrastructure project, so it is inevitable that the attention is focused elsewhere. But perhaps the most significant
46、reason is that the issue has always been so politically charged. Nevertheless, the affordable housing situation is desperate. Waiting lists increase all the time and we are simply not building enough new homes. The comprehensive spending review offers an opportunity for the government to help rectif
47、y this. It needs to put historical prejudices to one side and take some steps to address our urgent housing need. There are some indications that it is preparing to do just that. The communities minister, Don Foster, has hinted that George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, may introduce more fle
48、xibility to the current cap on the amount that local authorities can borrow against their housing stock debt. Evidence shows that 60,000 extra new homes could be built over the next five years if the cap were lifted, increasing GDP by 0.6%. Ministers should also look at creating greater certainty in
49、 the rental environment, which would have a significant impact on the ability of registered providers to fund new developments from revenues. But it is not just down to the government. While these measures would be welcome in the short term, we must face up to the fact that the existing 4.5bn programme of grants to fund new affordable housing, set to expire in 2015,is unlikely to be extended beyond then. The Labour party has recently announced that it will retain a large part of
