1、考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷 427 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 Neuroscientists have long understood that the brain can rewire itself in response to experiencea phenomenon known as neuroplasticity. But until recently
2、, they didnt know what causes gray matter to become plastic, to begin changing. Breakthrough research by a team at MITs Picower Institute for Learning and Memory has documented one type of environmental feedback that triggers plasticity: success. Equally important and somewhat surprising: Its opposi
3、te, failure, has no impact.Earl Miller, the lead researcher on the study, says understanding the link to environmental feedback is crucial to improving how people teach and motivate because its a big part of how we learn. But we absorb more from success than from failure, according to the study.Mill
4、ers researchers gave monkeys a simple learning task: They presented one of two pictures. If it was Picture A, the monkeys were supposed to look to the left; if Picture B, to the right. When the monkeys looked in the correct direction, they were rewarded with a drop of juice. All the while the team r
5、ecorded brain function.“Neurons(cells specialized to conduct nerve impulses)in the prefrontal cortex and striatum, where the brain tracks success and failure, sharpened their tuning after success,“ says Miller. Whats more, those changes lingered for several seconds, making brain activity more effici
6、ent the next time the monkey did the task. Thereafter, each success was processed more efficiently. That is, the monkey had learned. “But after failure,“ Miller points out, “there was little change in brain activity.“ In other words, the brain didnt store any information about what went wrong and us
7、e it the next time. The monkey just tried, tried again.Miller says this means that on a neurological level, success is actually a lot more informative than failure. If you get a reward, the brain remembers what it did right. But with failure(unless there is a clear negative consequence, like the sho
8、ck a child feels when she sticks something in an electrical outlet), the brain isnt sure what to store, so it doesnt change at all.Does this research confirm the management tenet of focusing on yourand your teamsstrengths and successes? Miller cautions against making too tidy a connection between hi
9、s findings and an environment like the workplace, but he offers this suggestion: “Maybe the lesson is to know that the brain will learn from success, and you dont need to dwell on that. You need to pay more attention to failures and challenge why you fail.“1 Which of the following is true of Earl Mi
10、llers research?（A）It discovers neuroplasticity.（B） It is the first study of this kind.（C） It studies one environmental feedback.（D）It attests to one cause of neuroplasticity.2 According to Millers study, failure as an environmental feedback（A）has a great impact on our neuro-system.（B） can cause gray
11、 matter to become plastic.（C） plays a more important role in learning than success.（D）provides less benefits than success.3 During the experiment each failure made the monkey（A）repeat the task fruitlessly.（B） realize the right way to do the task.（C） give up trying eventually.（D）become more efficient
12、 and closer to success.4 The example of an electric shock to a child in Paragraph 5 is given to show（A）success is much more informative than failure.（B） failure is instructive if it is impressive.（C） failure confuses the storing process of the brain.（D）failure is stored only when it brings obvious n
13、egative outcomes.5 In the last paragraph, Miller suggests that we should（A）apply his findings to the workplace.（B） be cautious while pursuing success.（C） not think about the satisfaction of success.（D）strive to learn from failures as well.5 Newspapers are becoming more balanced businesses, with a he
14、althier mix of revenues from readers and advertisers. American papers have long been highly unusual in their reliance on ads. Fully 87% of their revenues came from advertising in 2006, according to the OECD. In Japan the proportion is 35%. Not surprisingly, Japanese newspapers are much more stable.T
15、he whirlwind that swept through newsrooms harmed everybody, but much of the damage has been concentrated in areas where newspapers are least distinctive. Car and film reviewers have gone. So have science and general business reporters. Foreign bureaus have been savagely pruned. Newspapers are less c
16、omplete as a result. But completeness is no longer a virtue in the newspaper business. Just look at the fate of Otis Chandlers creation.Thanks to family connections, Chandler ended up in control of the Los Angeles Times in 1960. The paper he inherited was parochial and conservative, reflecting the c
17、ity it served. Chandler abandoned the anti-union dogma and set about building a west-coast rival to the New York Times. His paper was heavy on foreign news and serious, objective reporting. The result was hugely impressivebut not, as it turned out, suited to the internet era. In the past few years t
18、he paper has suffered repeated staff cuts. In 2007 it was acquired by a property magnate and in 2008 filed for bankruptcy protection.The problem with such newspapers is that, although they do much that is excellent, they do little that is distinctive enough for people to pay for it. The Los Angeles
19、Times foreign reporting is extremely good. But it is hard to argue that it is better than the stuff supplied by the New York Times or foreign papers. Similarly, it has never been clear why each major newspaper needs its own car reviewer a Corolla is a Corolla, whether it is driven in Albuquerque or
20、Atlanta. Papers should concentrate on what they do best, which means, in many cases, local news and sport. If the rest is bought in from wire services or national organizations, readers are unlikely to complainas long as there is enough competition between those larger providers to keep up standards
21、. Specialization generally means higher quality.It is grim to forecast still more writers losing their jobs. But whether newspapers are thrown onto doorsteps or distributed digitally, they need to deliver something that is distinctive. New technologies like Apples iPad only make this more true. The
22、mere acquisition of a smooth block of metal and glass does not magically persuade people that they should start paying for news. They will pay for news if they think it has value. Newspapers need to focus relentlessly on that.6 From Paragraph 1 we learn that American newspapers（A）are balanced busine
23、sses now.（B） are more stable than Japanese ones.（C） get most revenues from readers.（D）have been heavily relying on ads.7 Newspapers in America are becoming less complete in that（A）newspaper industry is in depression.（B） newsrooms have suffered a whirlwind.（C） many columns and foreign agencies are cu
24、t.（D）Otis Chandlers creation has failed.8 Los Angeles Times managed by Chandler（A）is narrow and conservative.（B） now is a rival to New York Times.（C） once was very successful.（D）is serious and subjective.9 According to the author, Los Angeles Times failure is due to its（A）focus on foreign report.（B）
25、 lack of unique features.（C） ignorance of wire service.（D）ignorance of complaints.10 The author would most likely agree that（A）newspaper industry will disappear soon.（B） newspapers should strive to attract people.（C） no more writers would lose their jobs in future.（D）technology helps newspaper attra
26、ct more readers.10 Many will doubt tobacco industry claims that it is sharpening its science to evaluate “healthier cigarettes“. But thats what will happen if the US Food and Drug Administration(FDA)gets the job of regulating the industry, as a Senate vote on the issue was expected to decide this we
27、ek. Then the health agency will be placed in the bizarre situation of deciding whether to approve new versions of products that have killed millions.Radicals will argue that the only way of preventing tobacco-related death and disease is to ban cigarettes, not encourage more tobacco products onto th
28、e marketeven if they might be safer. However, a ban is unlikely, and so helping people to quit, dissuading teens from smoking in the first place and helping people avoid second-hand smoke should remain at the heart of health policies. Such measures have already cut the number of US smokers from arou
29、nd 50 per cent of the population in the 1960s to around 20 per cent todaybut this is still well short of the US governments target of 12 per cent by 2010.Abstinence cannot be the only policy, however. Pragmatists will see the sense of safer cigarettes. There is a hard core of people who cannot or wi
30、ll not give up, and safer cigarettes could also help in poorer parts of the world, where more and more people are taking up smoking: the World Health Organization predicts that by 2030 more than 80 per cent of tobacco-related deaths will be in low to middle-income countries.We need to find new ways
31、of cutting the risks of tobacco. Nicotine replacements are one solution; reduced-harm products like modified cigarettes might be another. Without robust science to back up the claims of safety, however, they could make things worse, as has happened before. The marketing of “light“, “ultra-light“ and
32、 “low-tar“ cigarettes led many smokers to believe that these were healthier alternatives to stronger brands, yet we now know that they cause just as much cancer. The tobacco industry has a poor history of transparency when it comes to research.Tobacco companies are now developing biomarkers to asses
33、s risk more accurately. They should be applauded, but only if they are prepared to subject their research to tough examination. FDA regulation may force them to do this. It should also make the labeling of cigarettes even clearer, so that consumers understand the relative risks. Only good science ca
34、n cut through the smokescreen that for decades has obscured the hazards of cigarettes.11 From the first two paragraphs we know that（A）it is impossible for the tobacco industry to make safer cigarettes.（B） the US Food and Drug Administration is going to ban smoking.（C） discouraging people from smokin
35、g should be the first priority.（D）the US government has met its target of reducing the smoking population.12 When it comes to smoking, pragmatists believe（A）people should be encouraged to smoke considering economic interests.（B） it is sensible to introduce safer cigarettes since many people wont qui
36、t.（C） the US government should spare no effort to ban smoking in public.（D）the tobacco industry should export cigarettes to undeveloped countries.13 The marketing of “light“, “ultra-light“ and “low-tar“ cigarettes is mentioned to（A）introduce some kinds of safer cigarettes.（B） prove that its possible
37、 to cut the risks of tobacco.（C） illustrate the inability of tobacco industry to do science research.（D）show that the claimed safer cigarettes are risky.14 It is important for FDA to regulate the tobacco industry in that（A）it will impose tough examination on the tobacco industry in the US.（B） it has
38、 stronger scientific methods to boost Americas tobacco industry.（C） it can evaluate the risks in the tobacco industry more accurately.（D）it will introduce policies to ban smoking in the public places in the US.15 Which adjective best describes the authors attitude towards tobacco industry?（A）Radical
39、.（B） Supportive.（C） Objective.（D）Disgustful.15 It was supposed to be the new-media election. E-mail, blogging, social networking and tweeting were expected to surge in importance and perhaps to decide the race. Something else has happened. Britains first television debate, on April 15th, was followe
40、d by a ten-point swing to the Liberal Democrats. The debate and its aftermath dominated political news for several days and has transformed the race. It is a triumph for old media.There were signs even before the debate that new media were not living up to expectations. A survey carried out during t
41、he first week in April by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts(NESTA)found that 79% of Britons could not recall seeing any online electioneeringnot even an e-mail. The organization concluded that politicians were failing to take advantage of new medias huge potential to engage
42、 with voters. Perhaps. Or perhaps this is to confuse novelty with importance. For several reasons, traditional media are rattier good at delivering political messages.The first television debate, on ITV, was watched by 9.4m Britons. That works out to 37% of the prime-time audiencebetter than the sha
43、re of Americans who watched the first round between John McCain and Barack Obama in 2008. Television is the only technology that can reach so many people in a single day. But others are not far behind. Although their circulation has declined, newspapers still reach large audiences. The Sun, which su
44、pports the Conservatives, is read by 8m people each day. By comparison, much-touted social media like Twitter are so niche as to be almost invisible.And old media take up a big proportion of peoples leisure time. Each televised debate lasts for 90 minutes. The average reader spends 40 minutes with h
45、is daily newspaper and an hour with the Saturday and Sunday papers. It takes just seconds to read an e-mail or a politicians tweet. One must make some heroic assumptions about the appeal of digital media to think they influence people as much as traditional outlets.Unlike the internet, newspapers an
46、d television tilt towards the old, with fully 47% of the audience for the first debate being aged 55 or older. Advertisers are less keen to reach the old than the young, which is one reason newspapers are losing money. But an aged audience is precisely what politicians want. The old are much more li
47、kely to vote than the young. Of course, the television debates have been circulated through tweets and e-mails, just as they have been dissected by newspapers. New media are handy for firing up committed supporters, too. But when it comes to reaching the voters who matter, the old technologies are s
48、till the best.16 In the opening paragraph, the author introduces his topic by（A）posing a contrast（B） explaining a phenomenon.（C） making a analogy.（D）citing an example.17 The author mentions the survey conducted by NESTA to show that（A）around 80% of the British people forget online-electioneering.（B）
49、 new media are not as effective as expected in the election.（C） most politicians have not put the new media into full play to win voters.（D）the novelty of the new media should not be confused with its importance. 18 The underlined word “others“ in Paragraph 3 refers to（A）other countries（B） the Americans.（C） large audiences.（D）other media.19 It is indicated in Paragraph 4 that（A）old media waste people more time than digital media do.（B） digital media are superior to old media in terms of rapidity.（C） digital media are more appealing and interesting th
