2014年全国硕士研究生入学考试英语(二)试题

Section I Use of English

　　Directions:

　　Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

　　Thinner isn’t 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 overweight 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 defined ___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 severely 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 obese, 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 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.

　　1. [A] denied [B] conduced [C] doubled [D] ensured

　　2. [A] protective [B] dangerous [C] sufficient [D]troublesome

　　3. [A] Instead [B] However [C] Likewise [D] Therefore

　　4. [A] indicator [B] objective [C] origin [D] example

　　5. [A] impact [B] relevance [C] assistance [D] concern

　　6. [A] in terms of [B] in case of [C] in favor of [D] in of

　　7. [A] measures [B] determines [C] equals [D] modifies

　　8. [A] in essence [B] in contrast [C] in turn [D] in part

　　9. [A] complicated [B] conservative [C] variable [D] straightforward

　　10. [A] so [B] unlike [C] since [D] unless

　　11. [A] shape [B] spirit [C] balance [D] taste

　　12. [A] start [B] quality [C] retire [D] stay

　　13. [A] strange [B] changeable [C] normal [D] constant

　　14. [A] option [B] reason [C] opportunity [D] tendency

　　15. [A] employed [B] pictured [C] imitated [D] monitored

　　16. [A] [B] combined [C] settled [D] associated

　　17. [A] Even [B] Still [C] Yet [D] Only

　　18. [A] despised [B] corrected [C] ignored [D] grounded

　　19. [A] discussions [B] businesses [C] policies [D] studies

　　20. [A] for [B] against [C] with [D] without

　　Section II Reading Comprehension

　　Part A

　　Directions:

　　Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

　　Text 1

　　What would you do with 590m? This is now a question for Gloria Mackenzie, an 84-year-old widow who recently 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 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 becomes 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 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 television (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 MacDonald's 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 countries 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 range 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。

　　21.According to Dumn and Norton,which of the following is the most rewarding purchase?

　　[A]A big house

　　[B]A special tour

　　[C]A stylish car

　　[D]A rich meal

　　22.The author’s attitude toward Americans’ watching TV is

　　[A]critical

　　[B]supportive

　　[C]sympathetic

　　[D]ambiguous

　　23.Macrib is mentioned in paragraph 3 to show that

　　[A]consumers are sometimes irrational

　　[B]popularity usually comes after quality

　　[C]marketing tricks are after effective

　　[D]rarity generally increases pleasure

　　24.According to the last paragraph,Happy Money

　　[A]has left much room for readers’criticism

　　[B]may prove to be a worthwhile purchase

　　[C]has predicted a wider income gap in the us

　　[D]may give its readers a sense of achievement

　　25.This text mainly discusses how to

　　[A]balance feeling good and spending money

　　[B]spend large sums of money won in lotteries

　　[C]obtain lasting satisfaction from money spent

　　[D]become more reasonable in spending on luxuries

　　Text 2

　　An article in Scientific America has pointed out that empirical research says that, actually, you think you’re 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 ourselves as above average in leadership, 93% in driving and 85% at getting on well with others—all 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 our own esteem, we stalk around thinking we’re 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 themselves’ 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 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) 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 don’t think the findings that we having have are any evidence of personal delusion”, says Epley. “It’s a reflection simply of people generally thinking well of themselves’. If you are depressed, you won’t 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 don’t even recognise the person in the picture as themselves, Facebook therefore ,is a self-enhancer’s paradise,where people can share only the most flattering photos, the cream of their wit ,style ,beauty, intellect and lifestyle it’s not that people’s profiles are dishonest,says catalina toma of Wiscon—Madison university ,”but they portray an idealized version of themselves.

　　26. According to the first paragraph, social psychologist have found that ______.

　　[A] our self-ratings are unrealistically high

　　[B] illusory superiority is baseless effect

　　[C] our need for leadership is unnatural

　　[D] self-enhancing strategies are ineffective

　　27. Visual recognition is believed to be people’s______

　　[A] rapid watching

　　[B] conscious choice

　　[C] intuitive response

　　[D] automatic self-defence

　　28. Epley found that people with higher self-esteem tended to______

　　[A] underestimate their insecurities

　　[B] believe in their attractiveness

　　[C] cover up their depressions

　　[D] oversimplify their illusions

　　29.The word “Viscerally”(Line 2,para.5) is closest in meaning to_____.

　　[A]instinctively

　　[B]occasionally

　　[C]particularly

　　[D]aggressively

　　30. It can be inferred that Facebook is self-enhancer’s paradise because people can _____.

　　[A]present their dishonest profiles

　　[B]define their traditional life styles

　　[C]share their intellectual pursuits

[D]withhold their unflattering sides

Text 3

Up until a few decades ago, our visions of the future were largely - though 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 grown unfashionable, as we have gained a deeper appreciation of the range of threats facing us, from asteroid strike to epidemic flu and 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 many species have endured for millions of years - so why shouldn't 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 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 growing number of researchers and organizations are now thinking seriously about that question. For example, the Long Now Foundation has its flagship project a medical clock that is designed to still be marking time thousands of years hence.

Perhaps willfully, it may be easier to think about such lengthy timescales than about the more immediate future. The potential evolution of today's technology, and its social consequences, is dazzlingly complicated, and it's perhaps best left to science fiction writers and futurologists to explore the many possibilities we

can envisage. That's one reason why 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 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 knowledgeable enough to reduce many of the risks that threatened the existence of earlier humans, and to improve the lot of those to come.

31. Our vision of the future used to be inspired by 

  [A] ourdesire for lives of fulfillment   

[B] ourfaith in science and technology   

[C] our awareness of potential risks   

[D] our belief in equal opportunity

32. The IUCN’s “Red List” suggest that human being are   

[A] a sustained species

[B] a threaten to the environment   

[C] the world’s dominant power   

[D] a misplaced race

33. Which of the following is true according to Paragraph 5?

[A] Arc helps limit the scope of futurological studies.   

[B] Technology offers solutions to social problem.   

[C] The interest in science fiction is on the rise.   

[D] Our Immediate future is hard to conceive.   

34. To ensure the future of mankind, it is crucial to   

[A] explore our planet’s abundant resources   

[B] adoptan optimistic view of the world   

[C] drawon our experience from the past   

[D] curbour ambition to reshape history

35. 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 Humanity

　　Text 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 communicating 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 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 rectify 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 flexibility 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 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 the coalition’s spending plans if returns to power. The housing sector needs to accept that we are very unlikely to ever return to era of large-scale public grants. We need to adjust to this changing climate.

　　36. The author believes that the housing sector__

　　[A] has attracted much attention

　　[B] involves certain political factors

　　[C] shoulders too much responsibility

　　[D] has lost its real value in economy

　　37. It can be learned that affordable housing has__

　　[A] increased its home supply

　　[B] offered spending opportunities

　　[C] suffered government biases

　　[D] disappointed the government

　　38. According to Paragraph 5,George Osborne may_______.

　　[A] allow greater government debt for housing

　　[B] stop local authorities from building homes

　　[C] prepare to reduce housing stock debt

　　[D] release a lifted GDP growth forecast

　　39.It can be inferred that a stable rental environment would_______.

　　[A]lower the costs of registered providers

　　[B]lessen the impact of government interference

　　[C]contribute to funding new developments

　　[D]relieve the ministers of responsibilities

　　40.The author believes that after 2015,the government may______.

　　[A]implement more policies to support housing

　　[B]review the need for large-scale public grants

　　[C]renew the affordable housing grants programme

　　[D]stop generous funding to the housing sector

Section III Translation

Part B    Directions: 

  In the following article, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list A-G to fit into each of the numbered blank. There are two extra choices, which do not fit in any of the gaps. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points) 

  The social sciences are flourishing. As of 2005, there were almost half a million professional social scientists from all fields in the world, working both inside and outside academia. According to the World Social Science Report 2010, the number of social-science students worldwide has swollen by about 11% every year since 2000. 

  Yet this enormous resource in not contributing enough to today’s global challenges including climate change, security, sustainable development and 

health.(41)______Humanity has the necessary agro-technological tools to eradicate hunger, from genetically engineered crops to artificial fertilizers . Here, too, the problems are social: the organization and distribution of food, wealth and prosperity. 

  (42)____This is a shame—the community should be grasping the opportunity to raise its influence in the real world. To paraphrase the great social scientist Joseph Schumpeter: there is no radical innovation without creative destruction. 

  Today, the social sciences are largely focused on disciplinary problems and internal scholarly debates, rather than on topics with external impact. 

  Analyses reveal that the number of papers including the keywords “environmental changed” or “climate change” have increased rapidly since 2004,(43)____ 

  When social scientists do tackle practical issues ,their scope is often local: Belgium is interested mainly in the effects of poverty on Belgium for example .And whether the community’s work contributes much to an overall accumulation of knowledge is doubtful. 

  The problem is not necessarily the amount of available funding (44)____this is an adequate amount so long as it is aimed in the right direction. Social scientists who complain about a lack of funding should not expect more in today’s economic climate. 

  The trick is to direct these funds better. The European union   Framework funding programs have long had a category specifically targeted at social scientists. This year, it was proposed that system be changed: Horizon 2020,a new program to be enacted in 2014,would not have such a category ,This has resulted in protests from social scientists. But the intention is not to neglect social science; rather, the complete opposite. (45)____That should create more collaborative endeavors and help to develop projects aimed directly at solving global problems. 

  [A] It could be that we are evolving two communities of social scientists: one that is discipline-oriented and publishing in highly specialized journals, and one that is problem-oriented and publishing elsewhere, such as policy briefs. 

  [B] However, the numbers are still small: in 2010, about 1,600 of the 100,000 social-sciences papers published globally included one of these Keywords. 

  [C] the idea is to force social to integrate their work with other categories, including health and demographic change food security, marine research and the bio-economy, clear, efficient energy; and inclusive, innovative and secure societies. 

  [D] the solution is to change the mindset of the academic community, and what it considers to be its main goal. Global challenges and social innovation ought to receive much more attention from scientists, especially the young ones. 

  [E] These issues all have root causes in human behavior. All require behavioral change and social innovations, as well as technological development. Stemming climate change, for example, is as much about changing consumption patterns and promoting tax acceptance as it is about developing clean energy. 

  [F] Despite these factors, many social scientists seem reluctant to tackle such problems. And in Europe, some are up in arms over a proposal to drop a specific funding category for social-science research and to integrate it within cross-cutting topics of sustainable development. 

  [G]During the late 1990s , national spending on social sciences and the humanities as a percentage of all research and development funds-including government, higher education, non-profit and corporate -varied from around 4% to 25%; in most European nations , it is about 15%.

　　Directions:

　　Translate the following text from English into Chinese. Write your translation on ANSWER SHEET 2. (15 points)

　　Most people would define optimism as endlessly happy, with a glass that’s perpetually half fall. But that’s exactly the kind of false deerfulness that positive psychologists wouldn’t recommend. “Healthy optimists means being in touch with reality.” says Tal Ben-Shahar, a Harvard professor, According to Ben- Shalar,realistic optimists are these who make the best of things that happen, but not those who believe everything happens for the best.

　　Ben-Shalar uses three optimistic exercisers. When he feels down-sag, after giving a bad lecture-he grants himself permission to be human. He reminds himself that mot every lecture can be a Nobel winner; some will be less effective than others. Next is reconstruction, He analyzes the weak lecture, leaning lessons, for the future about what works and what doesn’t. Finally, there is perspective, which involves acknowledging that in the ground scheme of life, one lecture really doesn’t matter.

　　Section IV Writing

　　Part A

　　47. Directions: Suppose you are going to study abroad and share an apartment with John, a local student. Write him to email to

　　1)tell him about your living habits, and

　　2)ask for advice about living there.

　　You should write about 100 words on answer sheet.

　　Do not use your own name.

　　Part B

　　48. Directions:

　　Write your essay on ANSWER SHEET. (15 points)

　　You should

　　interpret the chart, and

　　give your comments.

　　You should write about 150 words on the ANSWER SHEET. (15points)