1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 301 及答案与解析Part ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)0 In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell argues that “social epidemics“ are driven in large part by the actions of a tiny minority of special ind
2、ividuals, often called influentials, who are unusually informed, persuasive, or well-connected. The idea is intuitively compelling, but it doesnt explain how ideas actually spread.The supposed importance of influentials derives from a plausible-sounding but largely untested theory called the “two-st
3、ep flow of communication“: Information flows from the media to the influentials and from them to everyone else. Marketers have embraced the two-step flow because it suggests that if they can just find and influence the influentials, those selected people will do most of the work for them. The theory
4、 also seems to explain the sudden and unexpected popularity of certain looks, brands, or neighborhoods. In many such cases, a cursory search for causes finds that some small group of people was wearing, promoting, or developing whatever it is before anyone else paid attention. Anecdotal evidence of
5、this kind fits nicely with the idea that only certain special people can drive trends.In their recent work, however, some researchers have come up with the finding that influentials have far less impact on social epidemics than is generally supposed. In fact, they dont seem to be required of all.The
6、 researchers argument stems from a simple observation about social influence: With the exception of a few celebrities like Oprah Winfreywhose outsize presence is primarily a function of media, not interpersonal, influenceeven the most influential members of a population simply dont interact with tha
7、t many others. Yet it is precisely these noncelebrity influentials who, according to the two-step-flow theory, are supposed to drive social epidemics, by influencing their friends and colleagues directly. For a social epidemic to occur, however, each person so affected must then influence his or her
8、 own acquaintances, who must in turn influence theirs, and so on; and just how many others pay attention to each of these people has little to do with the initial influential. If people in the network just two degrees removed from the initial influential prove resistant, for example the cascade of c
9、hange wont propagate very far or affect many people.Building on the basic truth about interpersonal influence, the researchers studied the dynamics of social influence by conducting thousands of computer simulations of populations, manipulating a number of variables relating to people s ability to i
10、nfluence others and their tendency to be influenced. They found that the principal requirement for what is called “global cascades“the widespread propagation of influence through networksis the presence not of a few influentials but, rather, of a critical mass of easily influenced people.1 By citing
11、 the book The Tipping Point, the author intends to（A）analyze the consequences of social epidemics.（B） discuss influentials function in spreading ideas.（C） exemplify people s intuitive response to social epidemics.（D）describe the essential characteristics of influentials.2 The author suggests that th
12、e “two-step flow theory“（A）serves as a solution to marketing problems.（B） has helped explain certain prevalent trends.（C） has won support from influentials.（D）requires solid evidence for its validity.3 What the researchers have observed recently shows that（A）the power of influence goes with social i
13、nteractions.（B） interpersonal links can be enhanced through the media.（C） influentials have more channels to reach the public.（D）most celebrities enjoy wide media attention.4 The underlined phrase “these people“ in Paragraph 4 refers to the ones who（A）stay outside the network of social influence.（B）
14、 have little contact with the source of influence.（C） are influenced and then influence others.（D）are influenced by the initial influential.5 What is the essential element in the dynamics of social influence?（A）The eagerness to be accepted.（B） The impulse to influence others.（C） The readiness to be
15、influenced.（D）The inclination to rely on others.5 Up until a few decades ago, our visions of the future were largelythough by no means uniformly glowingly positive. Science and technology would cure all the ills of humanity, leading to lives of fulfillment and opportunity for all.Now Utopia has grow
16、n unfashionable, as we have gained a deeper appreciation of the range of threats facing us, from asteroid strike to epidemic flu to climate change. You might even be tempted to assume that humanity has little future to look forward to.But such gloominess is misplaced. The fossil record shows that ma
17、ny species have endured for millions of yearsso why shouldnt we? Take a broader look at our species place in the universe, and it becomes clear that we have an excellent chance of surviving for tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of years. Look up Homo sapiens in the “Red List“ of threatened species
18、 of the International Union for the Conversation of Nature(IUCN)and you will read: “Listed as Least Concern as the species is very widely distributed, adaptable, currently increasing, and there are no major threats resulting in an overall population decline.“So what does our deep future hold? A grow
19、ing number of researchers and organizations are now thinking seriously about that question. For example, the Long Now Foundation has its flagship project a mechanical clock that is designed to still be marking time thousands of years hence.Perhaps willfully , it may be easier to think about such len
20、gthy timescales than about the more immediate future. The potential evolution of todays technology, and its social consequences, is dazzlingly complicated, and its perhaps best left to science fiction writers and futurologists to explore the many possibilities we can envisage. That s one reason why
21、we have launched Arc, a new publication dedicated to the near future.But take a longer view and there is a surprising amount that we can say with considerable assurance. As so often, the past holds the key to the future: we have now identified enough of the long-term patterns shaping the history of
22、the planet, and our species, to make evidence-based forecasts about the situations in which our descendants will find themselves.This long perspective makes the pessimistic view of our prospects seem more likely to be a passing fad. To be sure, the future is not all rosy. But we are now knowledgeabl
23、e enough to reduce many of the risks that threatened the existence of earlier humans, and to improve the lot of those to come.6 Our vision of the future used to be inspired by（A）our desire for lives of fulfillment.（B） our faith in science and technology.（C） our awareness of potential risks.（D）our be
24、lief in equal opportunity.7 The IUCN s “Red Lisf“ suggest that human beings are（A）a sustained species.（B） the worlds dominant power.（C） a threat to the environment.（D）a misplaced race.8 Which of the following is true according to Paragraph 5?（A）Arc helps limit the scope of futurological studies.（B）
25、Technology offers solutions to social problem.（C） The interest in science fiction is on the rise.（D）Our immediate future is hard to conceive.9 To ensure the future of mankind, it is crucial to（A）explore our planet s abundant resources.（B） adopt an optimistic view of the world.（C） draw on our experie
26、nce from the past.（D）curb our ambition to reshape history.10 Which of the following would be the best title for the text?（A）Uncertainty about Our Future（B） Evolution of the Human Species（C） The Ever-bright Prospects of Mankind（D）Science, Technology and Humanity10 Hunting for a job late last year, la
27、wyer Gant Redmon stumbled across Career Builder, a job database on the Internet. He searched it with no success but was attracted by the sites “personal search agent.“ Its an interactive feature that lets visitors key in job criteria such as location, title, and salary, then E-mails them when a matc
28、hing position is posted in the database. Redmon chose the keywords legal, intellectual property, and Washington, D.C Three weeks later, he got his first notification of an opening. “I struck gold,“ says Redmon, who E-mailed his resume to the employer and won a position as in-house counsel for a comp
29、any.With thousands of career-related sites on the Internet, finding promising openings can be time-consuming and inefficient. Search agents reduce the need for repeated visits to the databases. But although a search agent worked for Redmon, career experts see drawbacks. Narrowing your criteria, for
30、example, may work against you: “Every time you answer a question you eliminate a possibility.“ says one expert.For any job search, you should start with a narrow conceptwhat you think you want to do then broaden it. “None of these programs do that,“ says another expert. “Theres no career counseling
31、implicit in all of this.“ Instead, the best strategy is to use the agent as a kind of tip service to keep abreast of jobs in a particular database; when you get E-mail, consider it a reminder to check the database again. “I would not rely on agents for finding everything that is added to a database
32、that might interest me,“ says the author of a job-searching guide.Some sites design their agents to tempt job hunters to return. When Career Site s agent sends out messages to those who have signed up for its service, for example, it includes only three potential jobs those it considers the best mat
33、ches. There may be more matches in the database; job hunters will have to visit the site again to find themand they do. “On the day after we send our messages, we see a sharp increase in our traffic,“ says Seth Peets, vice president of marketing for Career Site.Even those who arent hunting for jobs
34、may find search agents worthwhile. Some use them to keep a close watch on the demand for their line of work or gather information on compensation to arm themselves when negotiating for a raise. Although happily employed, Redmon maintains his agent at Career Builder. “You always keep your eyes open,“
35、 he says. Working with a personal search agent means having another set of eyes looking out for you.11 How did Redmon find his job?（A）By searching openings in a job database.（B） By posting a matching position in a database.（C） By using a special service of a database.（D）By E-mailing his resume to a
36、database.12 Which of the following can be a disadvantage of search agents?（A）Lack of counseling.（B） Limited number of visits.（C） Lower efficiency.（D）Fewer successful matches.13 The expression “tip service“(Para. 3)most probably means（A）advisory.（B） compensation.（C） interaction（D）reminder.14 Why does
37、 Career Site s agent offer each job hunter only three job options?（A）To focus on better job matches.（B） To attract more returning visits.（C） To reserve space for more messages.（D）To increase the rate of success.15 Which of the following is true according to the text?（A）Personal search agents are ind
38、ispensable to job-hunters.（B） Some sites keep E-mailing job seekers to trace their demands.（C） Personal search agents are also helpful to those already employed.（D）Some agents stop sending information to people once they are employed.15 All around the world, lawyers generate more hostility than the
39、members of any other professionwith the possible exception of journalism. But there are few places where clients have more grounds for complaint than America.During the decade before the economic crisis, spending on legal services in America grew twice as fast as inflation. The best lawyers made sky
40、scrapers-full of money, tempting ever more students to pile into law schools. But most law graduates never get a big-firm job. Many of them instead become the kind of nuisance-lawsuit filer that makes the tort system a costly nightmare.There are many reasons for this. One is the excessive costs of a
41、 legal education. There is just one path for a lawyer in most American states: a four-year undergraduate degree in some unrelated subject, then a three-year law degree at one of 200 law schools authorized by the American Bar Association and an expensive preparation for the bar exam. This leaves toda
42、ys average law-school graduate with $ 100, 000 of debt on top of undergraduate debts. Law-school debt means that they have to work fearsomely hard.Reforming the system would help both lawyers and their customers. Sensible ideas have been around for a long time, but the state-level bodies mat govern
43、the profession have been too conservative to implement them. One idea is to allow people to study law as an undergraduate degree. Another is to let students sit for the bar after only two years of law school. If the bar exam is truly a stern enough test for a would-be lawyer, those who can sit it ea
44、rlier should be allowed to do so. Students who do not need the extra training could cut their debt mountain by a third.The other reason why costs are so high is the restrictive guild-like ownership structure of the business. Except in the District of Columbia, non-lawyers may not own any share of a
45、law firm. This keeps fees high and innovation slow. There is pressure for change from within the profession, but opponents of change among the regulators insist that keeping outsiders out of a law firm isolates lawyers from the pressure to make money rather than serve clients ethically.In fact, allo
46、wing non-lawyers to own shares in law firms would reduce costs and improve services to customers, by encouraging law firms to use technology and to employ professional managers to focus on improving firms efficiency. After all, other countries, such as Australia and Britain, have started liberalizin
47、g their legal professions. America should follow.16 A lot of students take up law as their profession due to（A）the growing demand from clients.（B） the increasing pressure of inflation.（C） the prospect of working in big firms.（D）the attraction of financial rewards.17 Which of the following adds to th
48、e costs of legal education in most American states?（A）Higher tuition fees for undergraduate studies.（B） Admissions approval from the bar association.（C） Pursuing a bachelors degree in another major.（D）Receiving training by professional associations.18 Hindrance to the reform of the legal system orig
49、inates from（A）lawyers and clients strong resistance.（B） the rigid bodies governing the profession.（C） the stern exam for would-be lawyers.（D）non-professionals sharp criticism.19 The guild-like ownership structure is considered “restrictive“ partly because it（A）bans outsiders involvement in the profession.（B） keeps lawyers from holding law- firm shares.（C） aggravates the ethical situation in the trade.（D）prevents lawyers from gaining due profits.20 In this text, the author mainly discusses（A）flawed ownership of Americas law firms and its causes.
