考研英语范文阅读模拟试题及答案解析2.doc

考研英语范文阅读模拟试题及答案解析Much of the language used to describe monetary policy, such as steering the economy to a soft landing or a touch on the brakes, makes itself sound like a precise science. Nothing could be further from the truth. The link between interest rates and inflation is uncertain. And there are long, variable lags before policy changes have any effect on the economy. Hence there is an analogy that likens the conduct of monetary policy to driving a car with a blackened windscreen, a cracked rearview mirror and a faulty steering wheel.Given all these disadvantages, central bankers seem to have had much to boast about of late. Average inflation in the big seven industrial economies fell to a mere 2.3% last year, close to its lowest level in 30 years, before rising slightly to 2.5% this July. This is a long way below the double-digit rates which many countries experienced in the 1970s and early 1980s.It is also less than most forecasters had predicted. In late 1994 the panel of economists which The Economist polls each month said that Americas inflation rate would average 3.5% in 1995. In fact, it fell to 2.6% in August, and is expected to average only about 3% for the year as a whole. In Britain and Japan inflation is running half a percentage point below the rate predicted at the end of last year. This is no flash in the pan; over the past couple of years, inflation has been consistently lower than expected in Britain and America.Economists have been particularly surprised by favourable inflation figures in Britain and the United States, since conventional measures suggest that both economies, and especially Americas, have little productive slack. Americas capacity utilisation, for example, hit historically high levels earlier this year, and its jobless rate (5.6% in August) has fallen below most estimates of the natural rate of unemployment-the rate below which inflation has taken off on the past.Why has inflation proved so mild? The most thrilling explanation is, unfortunately, a little defective. Some economists argue that powerful structural changes in the world have upended the old economic models that were based upon the historical link between growth and inflation.1. From the passage we learn that _.（A）there is a definite relationship between inflation and interest rates（B）economy will always follow certain models（C）the economic situation is better than expected（D）economists had foreseen the present economic situation2. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?（A）Making monetary policies is comparable to driving a car.（B）An extremely low jobless rate will lead to inflation.（C）A high unemployment rate will result from inflation.（D）Interest rates have an immediate effect on the economy.3. The sentence This is no flash in the pan (line 5, paragraph 3) means that _.（A）the low inflation rate will last for some time（B）the inflation rate will soon rise（C）the inflation will disappear quickly（D）there is no inflation at present4. The passage shows that the author is _ the present situation.（A）critical of（B）puzzled by（C）disappointed at（D）amazed at1.（C）意为：经济形势比预想的好。第三段指出，它（指：平均通货膨胀率）也比多数预测者预测的低。经济学家杂志每月调查的经济学家小组称：1995年美国平均通货膨胀率会达3.5左右，但是，8月份它实际降至2.6，全年也不过3左右；在英国和日本，平均通货膨胀率比上年底预测的低0.5个百分点（或：半个百分点）。而且，在过去几年里一直是如此（this is no flash in the pan）：在英美两国，平均通货膨胀率一直比预测的要低。A意为：通货膨胀与利率有直接关系。第一段第二句明确指出：利率与通货膨胀间的关系是不确定的。B意为：经济（的运行）总是遵循某些模式（或：规律）。第一段指出，使经济软着陆使经济刹车，人们经常使用这样的词来形容货币政策的作用，听起来它似乎是一门严谨的学问。事实远非如此（Nothing could be further from the truth.它根本就不是一门严谨精确的学问）。下文从持续低的通货膨胀率的意外的形势来说明了经济运行难以预测。D意为：经济学家们预测到了目前的经济形势。相反，正如第四段第一句所指出的，经济学家对目前有利的通货膨胀率始料未及。另请参阅上文分析。2.（B）意为：极低的失业率会导向通货膨胀。第四段指出，从传统的（衡量）标准来看，英美两国（特别是美国）的经济生产并没有滑坡（productive slack），例如：美国的设备（能力）利用率（capacity utilisation）今年初达到历史最高水平，其失业率已低于多数正常失业率所允许的数字-过去认为：失业率低于正常失业率时通货膨胀率就开始上升（take off）。A意为：制定货币政策如同开车。根据第一段第四、五句，在政策的变化对经济起实际作用之前，会有很长而难以确定的（variable）时间差（lag意为：滞后性）。所以，许多人把货币政策实施过程比作驾驶一辆遮住挡风玻璃、后视镜已断裂、方向盘有毛病的汽车。换言之，他们认为，货币政策的制定和实施有很大程度的不可预测性或盲目性。可见，A表达的意思不确切。C意为：通货膨胀导致高失业率。注意，在这里，inflation一词前没有修饰词，际上，过低的失业率会导致通货膨胀率的上升。参阅上文分析。D意为：利率对经济有直接而迅速的影响。参阅上文分析。3.（A）a flash in the pan意为：昙花一现，偶然出现的情况。参阅第67题题解。（B）、（C）、（D）均不对。4.（D）意为：对感到惊奇，认为不可思议。本文主要评述了目前良好的经济形势，它是由持续低的通货膨胀率造成的，是始料未及的。作者强调了目前形势的始料不及的一面（尤其是第二、三、四段的描述）。A意为：批评。B意为：因感到困惑（不解）。C意为：对感到失望。 Before 1965 many scientists pictured the circulation of the oceans water mass as consisting of large, slow-moving currents, such as the Gulf Stream. That view, based on 100 years of observations made around the globe, produced only a rough approximation of the true circulation. But in the 1950s and the 1960s, researchers began to employ newly developed techniques and equipment, including subsurface floats that move with ocean currents and emit identification signals, and oceancurrent meters that record data for months at fixed locations in the ocean. These instruments disclosed an unexpected level of variability in the deep ocean. Rather than being characterized by smooth, large-scale currents that change seasonally (if at all), the seas are dominated by what oceanographers call mesoscale fields: fluctuating, energetic flows whose velocity can reach ten times the mean velocity of the major currents.Mesoscale phenomenathe oceanic analogue of weather systemsoften extend to distances of 100 kilometers and persist for 100 days (weather systems generally extend about 1,000 kilometers and last 3 to 5 days in any given area). More than 90 percent of the kinetic energy of the entire ocean may be accounted for by mesoscale variability rather than by large-scale currents. Mesoscale phenomena may, in fact, play a significant role in oceanic mixing, air-sea interactions, and occasionalbut far-reachingclimatic events such as El Nino, the atmospheric-oceanic disturbance in the equatorial Pacific that affects global weather patterns. Unfortunately, it is not feasible to use conventional techniques to measure mesoscale fields. To measure them properly, monitoring equipment would have to be laid out on a grid at intervals of at most 50 kilometers, with sensors at each grid point lowered deep in the ocean and kept there for many months. Because using these techniques would be prohibitively expensive and time-consuming, it was proposed in 1979 that tomography be adapted to measuring the physical properties of the ocean. In medical tomography X-rays map the human bodys density variations (and hence internal organs); the information from the X-rays, transmitted through the body along many different paths, is recombined to form three-dimensional images of the bodys interior. It is primarily this multiplicative increase in data obtained from the multipath transmission of signals that accounts for oceanographers attraction to tomography: it allows the measurement of vast areas with relatively few instruments. Researchers reasoned that low-frequency sound waves, because they are so well described mathematically and because even small perturbations in emitted sound waves can be detected, could be transmitted through the ocean over many different paths and that the properties of the oceans interiorits temperature, salinity, density, and speed of currentscould be deduced on the basis of how the ocean altered the signals. Their initial trials were highly successful, and ocean acoustic tomography was born.（460 words）1. According to the passage, scientists are able to use ocean acoustic tomography to deduce the properties of the oceans interior in part becauseAdensity variations in the ocean are mathematically predictable.Bmesoscale phenomena are so large as to be easily detectable.Cinformation from sound waves can be recombined more easily than information from X-rays.Dlow-frequency sound waves are well described mathematically.2. Which of the following is most similar to medical tomography as it is described in the passage?AThe use of earthquake shock-wave data collected at several different locations and combined to create a three-dimensional image of the Earths interior.BThe use of ocean-current meters to determine the direction and velocity of the oceans mesoscale fields.CThe use of a grid-point sensory system to map global weather patterns.DThe use of subsurface floats to map large-scale circulation in the ocean.3. Which of the following best describes the organization of the third paragraph of the passage?AAn argument is advanced, then refuted, and an alternative is suggested.BOpposing views are presented, elaborated, and then reconciled.CA problem is described, then a solution is discussed and its effectiveness is affirmed.DA theory is proposed, considered and then amended.4. Which of the following, if presented as the first sentence of a succeeding paragraph, would most logically continue the discussion presented in the passage?AShips are another possibility, but they would need to stop every 50 kilometers to lower measuring instruments.BTo understand how ocean acoustic tomography works, it is necessary to know how sound travels in the ocean.CTimekeeping in medical tomography must be precise because the changes in travel time caused by density fluctuations are slight.DThese variations amount to only about 2 to 3 percent of the average speed of sound in water, which is about 1500 meters per second.5. The author mentions EL Nino primarily in order to emphasizeAthe difficulty of measuring the oceans large-scale currents.Bthe variability of mesoscale phenomena.Cthe brief duration of weather patterns.Dthe possible impact of mesoscale fields on weather conditions.核心词汇circulation n. 流通,循环,发行量identify v.识别; (with)把和看成一样,打成一片dominate v. 支配,占优势mesoscale n. & a.气 中尺度(的) ,中等规模的fluctuate v. 变动,上下,动摇 v. 使动摇velocity n. 速度,速率phenomenon n. 现象(pl.phenomena)equatorial a. 近赤道的,赤道的prohibitive a. 禁止的,抑制的,类同禁止的conventional a. 普通的,常见的,习惯的,常规的feasible a. 可行的,可能的tomography n. 断层摄影术salinity n. 盐浓度,盐分density n. 密度acoustic a. 美声的，听觉的,音感教育,音响学的 1965年以前，科学家们认为海水的循环主要由缓慢的洋流构成，如海湾洋流等。这种观点虽然是建立在对全球海水100多年的观察基础之上，却只是对真实情况的近似描绘。但是到了二十世纪五六十年代，研究者们开始使用新技术和新设备进行研究，其中包括：能够跟随洋流移动并发射出辨识信号的水下漂流仪器和能够在海洋中的一个固定地点持续数月纪录数据的洋流仪表。这些仪器向人们揭示，海洋深处的变化程度远比人们预想的剧烈。海洋不是平稳的，其中有大规模的洋流按季节变化，但主要是一种海洋学家们称之为所谓“紊流”区域的一种汹涌澎湃的、速度能达到主要洋流平均速度十倍的水流。第一段：首先指出使用新技术和新设备研究表明，海水的循环不是主要由缓慢的洋流构成，而是一种汹涌澎湃的、速度能达到主要洋流平均速度十倍的水流，海洋学家们称之为“紊流”。紊流现象本来是天气用语，这里把它类比用于海洋系统，它经常延续100公里，持续100天（在天气系统，它经常延续1000公里，在所有地区持续3到5天）。海洋90%多的动能都包含在剧烈变化的紊流中，而不是包含在大规模的洋流中。事实上，紊流现象可能在空气和海洋的互相影响中扮演了重要角色，也在一些偶尔发生但却影响深远的气候现象中扮演重要角色，比如厄尔尼诺就是这样一种在赤道太平洋地区通过大气和海洋的相互干扰来影响全球气候的现象。第二段：具体介绍了紊流现象并指出其重要性。不幸的是，用常规的技术无法实现紊流的测量。为了准确测量紊流，必须在海洋中每隔至多五十公里就放置一个方格，在每个方格中摆放监视设备，其中传感器要深放水下达数月之久。由于运用这样的技术太过昂贵，而且耗时太长，所以在1975年，有人建议采用X射线断层摄影技术来测量海洋的物理性质。在医学上X射线断层摄影技术应用X射线通过测量人体的密度变化情况，来间接测量人体的内部器官。X射线通过多条路径穿过人体，把它所携带的信息与其他技术结合，就能够形成人体内部的三维影像。从信号的多条传输路径中获得的数据可以成倍增加，正是这一点说明了X射线断层射影技术引起海洋学家注意的原因：它可以使用较少的设备测量广大的区域。研究人员推测说，低频声波可以很好地从数学上加以描绘，即使是非常微小的干扰也能够发现，因此可以发射低频声波使它通过多条路径在海洋中行进，从而海洋内部的性质，如温度、盐度、密度和水流速度等，都能够通过海洋对声波信号的影响推断出来。他们的首次试验非常成功，海洋声学X线断层射影技术就这样诞生了。第三段：先说明测量紊流的难度很大，然后介绍了利用医学X射线断层摄影技术的原理来测量紊流的方法，从而推断海洋内部的性质，如温度、盐度、密度和水流速度等。最后引出海洋声学X线断层摄影技术的诞生。难句剖析1. But in the 1950s and the 1960s, researchers began to employ newly developed techniques and equipment, including subsurface floats that move with ocean currents and emit identification signals, and oceancurrent meters that record data for months at fixed locations in the ocean.【解析】这是一个复合句。本句的主干结构为researchers began to employ techniques and equipment; that move signals 和that record data in the ocean 均为定语从句，先行词分别是floats 和meters，floats 和meters 为并列成分。【译文】但是到了二十世纪五六十年代，研究者们开始使用新技术和新设备进行研究，其中包括：能够跟随洋流移动并发射出辨识信号的水下漂流仪器和能够在海洋中的一个固定地点持续数月纪录数据的洋流仪表。2. Mesoscale phenomena may, in fact, play a significant role in oceanic mixing, air-sea interactions, and occasionalbut far-reachingclimatic events such as El Nino, the atmospheric-oceanic disturbance in the equatorial Pacific that affects global weather patterns.【解析】 这是一个复合句。 句子结构为Mesoscale phenomena may, in fact, play a significant role in;in fact 是插入语；interactions和climate events 是并列成分；that affects global weather patterns 是定语从句，修饰disturbance.【译文】 事实上，紊流现象可能在空气和海洋的互相影响中扮演了重要角色，也在一些偶尔发生但却影响深远的气候现象中扮演重要角色，比如厄尔尼诺就是这样一种在赤道太平洋地区通过大气和海洋的相互干扰来影响全球气候的现象。3. It is primarily this multiplicative increase in data obtained from the multipath transmission of signals that accounts for oceanographers attraction to tomography: it allows the measurement of vast areas with relatively few instruments.【解析】这是一个复合句。句子主干为 It is increasethat accounts for attraction; obtained fromsignals 为过去分词短语作定语，修饰data；冒号表示解释说明。【译文】从信号的多条传输路径中获得的数据可以成倍增加，正是这一点说明了X射线断层射影技术引起海洋学家注意的原因：它可以使用较少的设备测量广大的区域。文章类型：科普类紊流以及测量方法和意义这篇文章介绍了海洋中的紊流以及测量这一现象的意义和方法。 Seventeenth-century houses in colonial North America were simple structures that were primarily functional, carrying over traditional designs that went back to the Middle Ages. During the first half of the eighteenth century, however, houses began to show a new elegance. As wealth increased, more and more colonists built fine houses.Since architecture was not yet a specialized profession in the colonies, the design of buildings was life either to amateur designers or to carpenters who undertook to interpret architectural manuals imported from England. Inventories of colonial libraries show an astonishing number of these handbooks for builders, and the houses erected during the eighteenth century show their influence. Nevertheless, most domestic architecture of the first three-quarters of the eighteenth century displays a wide divergence of taste and freedom of application of the rules laid down in these books.Increasing wealth and growing sophistication throughout the colonies resulted in houses of improved design, whether the material was wood, stone, or brick. New England still favored wood, though brick houses became common in Boston and towns, where the danger of fire gave an impetus to the use of more durable material. A few houses in New England were built of store, but only in Pennsylvania and adjacent area was stone widely used in dwellings. An increased use of brick in houses and outbuildings is noticeable in Virginia and Maryland, but wood remained the most popular material even in houses built by wealthy landowners. In the Carolinas, even in closely packed Charleston, wooden houses were much more common than brick.Eighteenth-century houses showed great interior improvement over their predecessors. Windows were made larger and shutters removed. Large, clear panes replaced the small leaded glass of the seventeenth century. Doorways were larger and more decorative. Fireplaces became decorative features of rooms. Walls were made of plaster of wood, sometimes elaborately paneled. White paint began to take the place of blues, yellows, greens, and lead colors, which had been popular for walls in the earlier years. After about 1730, advertisements for wallpaper styles in scenic patterns began to appear in colonial newspapers. (346 words)1. What does the passage mainly discuss?AThe improved design of eighteenth-century colonial houses.BA comparison of eighteenth-century houses and modern houses.CThe decorations used in eighteenth-century houses.DThe role of carpenters in building eighteenth-century houses.2. According to the passage, who was responsible for designing in eighteenth-century North America?AProfessional architects.BCustomers.CInterior decorators.DCarpenters.3. Where were wood houses less common?AVirginia.BPennsylvania.CBoston.DCharleston.4. The word “predecessors” (Line 1, Para. 4) refer toAcolonists who arrived in North America in the seventeenth century.Bhouses constructed before the eighteenth-century.Cinterior improvements.Dwooden houses in Charleston.5. What does the author imply about the use of wallpaper before 1730?AWallpaper samples appeared in the architectural manuals.BWallpaper was the same color as the paints used.CPatterned wallpaper was not widely used.DWallpaper was not in stone houses.核心词汇architecture n. 建筑学，建筑术；建筑风格，建筑式样amateur a. 业余的, 非职业的；外行的n. 业余爱好者；外行, 生手impetus n. 推动, 促进, 刺激；推动力elaborate vi. 详尽说明vt. 详细制定a. 复杂的；精心制作的全文精译17世纪北美殖民时期的房屋结构简单，基本上是为使用而设计的，继续着能够追溯到中世纪的传统设计。然而在18世纪前半叶，房屋开始显示出新的优雅风格。随着财富的增加，越来越多的殖民者建造起比较精美的房屋。第一段：指出随着时代的变迁，财富的增加引起殖民地房屋建造风格的改变。由于建筑在殖民地还不是一项专门的职业，房屋设计或者由业余设计者来做，或者由那些承担对从英国进口的建筑手册的翻译任务的木匠来做。殖民时期图书馆中的详细目录显示了这种为建造者所编的手册有惊人的数目，而18世纪建造起来的房屋也体现出它们的影响。然而18世纪的70年代前大多数家庭建筑都展现了品味上的广泛不同和这些书中的规则在运用上的自由。第二段：指出殖民地时期房屋建造者和图书等对房屋设计的影响。整个殖民地日渐增长的财富和精密性导致了设计的改进，不管其材料是木料、石料，还是砖料。尽管砖房在波士顿和其他由于火灾的危险促进了耐用材料的使用的城镇已经变得很普通，但新英格兰仍然偏爱木料。在新英格兰有一些房屋是用石料造的，但只有在宾夕法尼亚及其邻近地区石料才被广泛应用到房屋的建造上。在弗吉尼亚和马里兰房屋和外屋的建造上使用砖料的增长是显而易见的，但甚至在富有的土地主建造的房屋里面，木料仍然是最流行的材料。在南北卡罗纳州，甚至在拥挤的查理斯顿，木制房屋也比砖房要普遍。第三段：指出整个殖民地日渐增长的财富和精密性导致了设计的改进。18世纪的房屋与它们的前身相比显示出巨大的内部改善。窗子做得更大，拆除了活动遮板。大而透明的窗玻璃代替了17世纪小小的铅制玻璃。门廊更大更有装饰性。炉壁成为房间的装饰特征。墙壁用灰泥或木料制作有时还精心镶嵌而成。白色涂料开始替代早些年墙上曾很普遍的蓝色、黄色、绿色和铅色。大概1730年后，殖民地报纸上开始出现了风景画形式的壁纸风格广告。第四段：18世纪的房屋与它们的前身相比显示出巨大的内部改善。难句剖析1. Since architecture was not yet a specialized profession in the colonies, the design of buildings was life either to amateur designers or to carpenters who undertook to interpret architectural manuals imported from England.【解析】句子主干是the design of buildings was life either to amateur designers or to carpenters。since引导的是原因状语从句。who undertook to interpret architectural manual