1997-2012考研历年英语试题(7)

1997-2012考研历年英语试题,部分答案有意删去,以便平时练习

1997-2012年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语试题答案

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[C] meet the expectation of business people [D] fail to reflect the true state of economy

57. The author raises the question ―what about pain without gain?‖ because ________.

[A] he questions the truth of ―no gain without pain‖ [B] he does not think the productivity revolution works [C] he wonders if the official statistics are misleading

[D] he has conclusive evidence for the revival of businesses

58. Which of the following statements is NOT mentioned in the passage? [A] Radical reforms are essential for the increase of productivity.

[B] New ways of organizing workplaces may help to increase productivity. [C] The reduction of costs is not a sure way to gain long term profitability. [D] The consultants are a bunch of good-for-nothings. Text 3

Science has long had an uneasy relationship with other aspects of culture. Think of Gallileo‘s 17th century trial for his rebelling belief before the Catholic Church or poet William Blake‘s harsh remarks against the mechanistic worldview of Isaac Newton. The schism between science and the humanities has, if anything, deepened in this century.

Until recently, the scientific community was so powerful that it could afford to ignore its critics -- but no longer. As funding for science has declined, scientists have attacked ―antiscience‖ in several books, notably Higher Superstition, by Paul R. Gross, a biologist at the University of Virginia, and Norman Levitt, a mathematician at Rutgers University; and The Demon-Haunted World, by Carl Sagan of Cornell University.

Defenders of science have also voiced their concerns at meetings such as ―The Flight from Science and Reason,‖ held in New York City in 1995, and ―Science in the Age of (Mis) information,‖ which assembled last June near Buffalo.

Antiscience clearly means different things to different people. Gross and Levitt find fault primarily with sociologists, philosophers and other academics who have questioned science‘s objectivity. Sagan is more concerned with those who believe in ghosts, creationism and other phenomena that contradict the scientific worldview.

A survey of news stories in 1996 reveals that the antiscience tag has been attached to many other groups as well, from authorities who advocated the elimination of the last remaining stocks of smallpox virus to Republicans who advocated decreased funding for basic research.

Few would dispute that the term applies to the Unabomber, whose manifesto, published in 1995, scorns science and longs for return to a pre-technological utopia. But surely that does not mean environmentalists concerned about uncontrolled industrial growth are antiscience, as an essay in US News & World Report last May seemed to suggest.

The environmentalists, inevitably, respond to such critics. The true enemies of science, argues Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University, a of environmental studies, are those the global depletion ofIndeed, some epithet is in of meaningless. ―The difthings,‖ notes Harvard University philosopher Gerald Holton in his Science and Anti-Science. ―They have in common only one thing that they tend to annoy or threaten those who regard themselves as more enlightened.‖

59. The word ―schism‖ (Line 4, Paragraph 1) in the context probably means ________.

[A] confrontation [B] dissatisfaction [C] separation [D] contempt

60. Paragraphs 2 and 3 are written to ________. [A] discuss the cause of the decline of science‘s power [B] show the author‘s sympathy with scientists [C] explain the way in which science develops

[D] exemplify the division of science and the humanities

61. Which of the following is true according to the passage? [A] Environmentalists were blamed for antiscience in an essay. [B] Politicians are not subject to the labeling of antiscience. [C] The ―more enlightened‖ tend to tag others as antiscience. [D] Tagging environmentalists as ―antiscience‖ is justifiable.

62. The author‘s attitude toward the issue of ―science vs. antiscience‖ is ________. [A] impartial [B] subjective [C] biased [D] puzzling Text 4

Emerging from the 1980 census is the picture of a nation developing more and more regional competition, as population growth in the Northeast and Midwest reaches a near standstill.

This development -- and its strong implications for US politics and economy in years ahead -- has enthroned the South as America‘s most densely populated region for the first time in the history of the nation‘s head counting.

Altogether, the US population rose in the 1970s by 23.2 million people -- numerically the third largest growth ever recorded in a single decade. Even so, that gain adds up to only 11.4 percent, lowest in American annual records except for the Depression years.

Americans have been migrating south and west in larger number since World War II, and the pattern still prevails.

Three sun-belt states -- Florida, Texas and California -- together had nearly 10 million more people in 1980 than a decade earlier. Among large cities, San Diego moved from 14th to 8th and San Antonio from 15th to 10th -- with Cleveland and Washington. D. C. dropping out of the top 10.

Not all that shift can be attributed to the movement out of the snow belt, census

officials say, Nonstop waves of immigrants played a role, too -- and so did bigger crops of babies as yesterday‘s ―baby boom‖ generation reached its child bearing years.

Moreover, demographers see the continuing shift south and west as joined by a related but newer phenomenon: More and more, Americans apparently are looking not just for places with more jobs but with fewer people, too. Some instances -- ■Regionally, the Rocky Mountain states reported the most rapid growth rate -- 37.1 percent since 1970 in a vast area with only 5 percent of the US population. ■Among states, Nevada and Arizona grew fastest of all: 63.5 and 53.1 percent respectively. Except for Florida and Texas, the top 10 in rate of growth is composed of Western states with 7.5 million people -- about 9 per square mile.

The flight from overcrowdedness affects the migration from snow belt to more bearable climates.

Nowhere do 1980 census statistics dramatize more the American search for spacious living than in the Far West. There, California added 3.7 million to its population in the 1970s, more than any other state.

In that decade, however, large numbers also migrated from California, mostly to other parts of the West. Often they chose -- and still are choosing -- somewhat colder climates such as Oregon, Idaho and Alaska in order to escape smog, crime and other plagues of urbanization in the Golden State.

As a result, California‘s growth rate dropped during the 1970s, to 18.5 percent -- little more than two thirds the 1960s‘ growth figure and considerably below that of other Western states.

63. Discerned from the perplexing picture of population growth the 1980 census provided, America in 1970s ________.

[A] enjoyed the lowest net growth of population in history [B] witnessed a southwestern shift of population

[C] underwent an unparalleled period of population growth

[D] brought to a standstill its pattern of migration since World War II

64. The census distinguished itself from previous studies on population movement in that ________.

[A] it stresses the climatic influence on population distribution

[B] it highlights the contribution of continuous waves of immigrants [C] it reveals the Americans‘ new pursuit of spacious living [D] it elaborates the delayed effects of yesterday‘s ―baby boom‖ 65. We can see from the available statistics that ________.

[A] California was once the most thinly populated area in the whole US

[B] the top 10 states in growth rate of population were all located in the West [C] cities with better climates benefited unanimously from migration [D] Arizona ranked second of all states in its growth rate of population

66. The word ―demographers‖ (Line 1, Paragraph 8) most probably means ________.

[A] people in favor of the trend of democracy [B] advocates of migration between states

more isolated volcanic activity geologists as hot spots. Unlike most of the world‘s volcanoes, they are not always found at the boundaries of the great drifting plates that make up the earth’s surface; on the contrary, many of them lie deep in the interior of a plate. Most of the hot spots move only slowly, and in some cases the movement of the plates past them has left trails of dead volcanoes. The hot spots and their volcanic trails are milestones that mark the passage of the plates.

That the plates are moving is now beyond dispute. Africa and South America, for example, are moving away from each other as new material is injected into the sea floor between them. The complementary coastlines and certain geological features that seem to span the ocean are reminders of where the two continents were once joined. The relative motion of the plates carrying these continents has been constructed in detail, but the motion of one plate with respect to another cannot readily be translated into motion with respect to the earth‘s interior. It is not possible to determine whether both continents are moving in opposite directions or whether one continent is stationary and the other is drifting away from it. Hot spots, anchored in the deeper layers of the earth, provide the measuring instruments needed to resolve the question. From an analysis of the hot-spot population it appears that the African plate is stationary and that it has not moved during the past 30 million years.

The significance of hot spots is not confined to their role as a frame of reference. It now appears that they also have an important influence on the geophysical processes that propel the plates across the globe. When a continental plate come to rest over a hot spot, the material rising from deeper layer creates a broad dome. As the dome grows, it develops seed fissures (cracks); in at least a few cases the continent may break entirely along some of these fissures, so that the hot spot initiates the formation of a new ocean. Thus just as earlier theories have explained the mobility of the continents, so hot spots may explain their mutability (inconstancy).

67. The author believes that ________.

[A] the motion of the plates corresponds to that of the earth‘s interior [B] the geological theory about drifting plates has been proved to be true [C] the hot spots and the plates move slowly in opposite directions [D] the movement of hot spots proves the continents are moving apart

68. That Africa and South America were once joined can be deduced from the fact that ________.

[A] the two continents are still moving in opposite directions [B] they have been found to share certain geological features [C] the African plates has been stable for 30 million years [D] over 100 hot spots are scattered all around the globe

69. The hot spot theory may prove useful in explaining ________. [A] the structure of the African plates [B] the revival of dead volcanoes