2014英语考研最新的真题word完整版.doc

2014年考研英语(一)真题(完整版)SectionI Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following text. Choose the bestword(s) for each numbered blank and mark A,B,C or D on the ANSWER SHEET.(10points)As many people hit middle age, they often start to notice that theirmemory and mental clarity are not what they used to be. We suddenly cantremember _1_ we put the keys just a moment ago, or an old acquaintancesname, or the name of an old band we used to love. As the brain _2_, werefer to these occurrences as “senior moments.” _3_ seemingly innocent,this loss of mental focus can potentially have a (n) _4_ impact on ourprofessional, social, and personal _5_. Neuroscientists,experts who study the nervous system, are increasingly showing that theresactually a lot that can be done. It _6_ out that the brain needs exercisein much the same way our muscles do, and the right mental _7_ cansignificantly improve our basic cognitive _8_. Thinking is essentially a_9_ of making connections in the brain. To a certain extent, our ability to_10_ in making the connections that drive intelligence is inherited._11_, because these connections are made through effort and practice,scientists believe that intelligence can expand and fluctuate _12_ mentaleffort.Now, a newWeb-based company has taken it a step _13_ and developed the first “braintraining program” designed to actually help people improve and regain theirmental _14_.The Web-basedprogram _15_ you to systematically improve your memory and attentionskills. The program keeps _16_ of your progress and provides detailedfeedback _17_ your performance and improvement. Most importantly, it_18_modifies and enhances the games you play to _19_ on the strengthsyou are developingmuch like a(n) _20_exercise routine requires you toincrease resistance and vary your muscle use.1. Awhere Bwhen Cthat Dwhy2. Aimproves Bfades Crecovers Dcollapses3. AIf BUnless COnce DWhile4. Auneven Blimited Cdamaging Dobscure5. Awellbeing Benvironment Crelationship Doutlook6. Aturns Bfinds Cpoints Dfigures7. Aroundabouts Bresponses Cworkouts Dassociations8. Agenre Bfunctions Ccircumstances Dcriterion9. Achannel Bcondition Csequence Dprocess10. Apersist Bbelieve Cexcel Dfeature11. A Therefore B Moreover C Otherwise DHowever12. Aaccording to Bregardless of Capart from Dinstead of13. Aback Bfurther Caside Daround14. Asharpness Bstability Cframework Dflexibility15. Aforces Breminds Churries Dallows16. Ahold Btrack Corder Dpace17. Ato Bwith Cfor Don18. Airregularly Bhabitually Cconstantly Dunusually19. Acarry Bput Cbuild Dtake20. Arisky Beffective Cidle DfamiliarSectionReading ComprehensionPartADirections:Read the following four texts. Answer thequestions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on theANSWER SHEET. (40 points)Text1In order to “changelives for the better” and reduce “dependency” George Osborne, Chancellor of theExchequer, introduced the “upfront work search” scheme. Only if the joblessarrive at the jobcentre with a CV, register for online job search, and startlooking for work will they be eligible for benefit and then they should reportweekly rather than fortnightly. What could be more reasonable? Moreapparent reasonableness followed. There will now be a seven-day wait for thejobseekers allowance. “Those first few days should be spent looking for work,not looking to sign on.” he claimed. “Were doing these things becausewe know they help people stay off benefits and help those on benefits get intowork faster.” Help? Really? On first hearing, this was the socially concernedchancellor, trying to change lives for the better, complete with “reforms” toan obviously indulgent system that demands too little effort from the newlyunemployed to find work, and subsidises laziness. What motivated him, we wereto understand, was his zeal for “fundamental fairness” protecting thetaxpayer, controlling spending and ensuring that only the most deserving claimantsreceived their benefits. Losinga job is hurting: you dont skip down to the jobcentre with a song in yourheart, delighted at the prospect of doubling your income from the generousstate. It is financially terrifying, psychologically embarrassing and you knowthat support is minimal and extraordinarily hard to get. You are now notwanted; you support is minimal and extraordinarily hard to get. You are now notwanted; you are now excluded from the work environment that offers purpose andstructure in your life. Worse, the crucial income to feed yourself and yourfamily and pay the bills has disappeared. Ask anyone newly unemployed what theywant and the answer is always: a job.But in Osborneland, your first instinct is to fall into dependency permanent dependency if you can get it supported by a state only too ready toindulge your falsehood. It is as though 20 years of ever-tougher reforms of thejob search and benefit administration system never happened. The principle ofBritish welfare is no longer that you can insure yourself against the risk ofunemployment and receive unconditional payments if the disaster happens. Eventhe very phrase “jobseekers allowance” invented in 1996 is aboutredefining the unemployed as a “jobseeker” who had no mandatory right to abenefit he or she has earned through making national insurance contributions.Instead, the claimant receives a time-limited “allowance,” conditional onactively seeking a job; no entitlement and no insurance, at 71.70 a week, oneof the least generous in the EU. 21. George Osbornes scheme was intended toAprovide the unemployed with easieraccess to benefits.Bencourage jobseekers active engagementin job seeking.Cmotivate the unemployed to reportvoluntarily.Dguarantee jobseekers legitimate rightto benefits.22. The phrase, “to sign on” (Line 3, Para.2) most probably meansAto check on the availability of jobs atthe jobcentre.Bto accept the governments restrictionson the allowance.Cto register for an allowance from thegovernment.Dto attend a governmental job-trainingprogram.23. What prompted the chancellor to develophis scheme?AA desire to secure a better life forall.BAn eagerness to protect the unemployed.CAn urge to be generous to the claimants.DA passion to ensure fairness fortaxpayers.24. According to Paragraph 3, beingunemployed makes one feelAuneasyBenraged.Cinsulted.Dguilty.25. To which of the following would theauthor most probably agree?AThe British welfare system indulgesjobseekers laziness.BOsbornes reforms will reduce the riskof unemployment.CThe jobseekers allowance has met theiractual needs.DUnemployment benefits should not be madeconditional. Text 2All around theworld, lawyers generate more hostility than the members of any otherprofessionwith the possible exception of journalism. But there are few placeswhere clients have more grounds for complaint than America.During the decade before the economic crisis, spending on legalservices in America grew twice as fast as inflation. The best lawyers madeskyscrapers-full of money, tempting ever more students to pile into lawschools. But most law graduates never get a big-firm job. Many of them insteadbecome the kind of nuisance-lawsuit filer that makes the tort system a costlynightmare. There are manyreasons for this. One is the excessive costs of a legal education. There isjust one path for a lawyer in most American states: a four-year undergraduatedegree in some unrelated subject, then a three-year law degree at one of 200law schools authorized by the American Bar Association and an expensivepreparation for the bar exam. This leaves todays average law-school graduatewith $100,000 of debt on top of undergraduate debts. Law-school debt means thatmany cannot afford to go into government or non-profit work, and that they haveto work fearsomely hard.Reforming the system would help bothlawyers and their customers. Sensible ideas have been around for a long time,but the state-level bodies that govern the profession have been tooconservative to implement them. One idea is to allow people to study law as anundergraduate degree. Another is to let students sit for the bar after only twoyears of law school. If the bar exam is truly a stern enough test for awould-be lawyer, those who can sit it earlier should be allowed todo so. Students who do not need the extratraining could cut their debt mountain by a third.The other reasonwhy costs are so high is the restrictive guild-like ownership structure of thebusiness. Except in the District of Columbia, non-lawyers may not own any shareof a law firm. This keeps fees high and innovation slow. There is pressure forchange from within the profession, but opponents of change among the regulatorsinsist that keeping outsiders out of a law firm isolates lawyers from thepressure to make money rather than serve clients ethically.In fact,allowing non-lawyers to own shares in law firms would reduce costs and improveservices to customers, by encouraging law firms to use technology and to employprofessional managers to focus on improving firms efficiency. After all, othercountries, such as Australia and Britain, have started liberalizing their legalprofessions. America should follow.26.a lot of students take up law as theirprofession due toAthe growing demand from clients.Bthe increasing pressure of inflation.Cthe prospect of working in big firms.Dthe attraction of financial rewards.27.Which of the following adds to the costsof legal education in most American states?AHigher tuition fees for undergraduatestudies.BAdmissions approval from the barassociation.CPursuing a bachelors degree in anothermajor.DReceiving training by professionalassociations.28.Hindrance to the reform of the legalsystem originates fromAlawyers and clients strong resistance.Bthe rigid bodies governing theprofession.Cthe stem exam for would-be lawyers.Dnon-professionals sharp criticism.29.The guild-like ownership structure isconsidered “restrictive”partly because itAbans outsiders involvement in theprofession.Bkeeps lawyers from holding law-firmshares.Caggravates the ethical situation in thetrade.Dprevents lawyers from gaining dueprofits.30.In this text, the author mainlydiscussesAflawed ownership of Americas law firmsand its causes.Bthe factors that help make a successfullawyer in America.Ca problem in Americas legal professionand solutions to it.Dthe role of undergraduate studies inAmericas legal education.Text 3The US$3-million Fundamental physics prize is indeed an interestingexperiment, as Alexander Polyakov said when he accepted this years award inMarch. And it is far from the only one of its type. As a News Feature articlein Nature discusses, a string of lucrative awards for researchers havejoined the Nobel Prizes in recent years. Many, like the Fundamental PhysicsPrize, are funded from the telephone-number-sized bank accounts of Internetentrepreneurs. These benefactors have succeeded in their chosen fields, theysay, and they want to use their wealth to draw attention to those who havesucceeded in science.Whats not to like? Quite a lot, according to a handful ofscientists quoted in the News Feature. You cannot buy class, as the old sayinggoes, and these upstart entrepreneurs cannot buy their prizes the prestige ofthe Nobels, The new awards are an exercise in self-promotion for those behindthem, say scientists. They could distort the achievement-based system of peer-review-led research. They could cement the status quo ofpeer-reviewed research. They do not fund peer-reviewed research. Theyperpetuate the myth of the lone genius.The goals of the prize-givers seem as scattered as the criticism.Some want to shock, others to draw people into science, or to better rewardthose who have made their careers in research.As Naturehas pointed out before, there are some legitimateconcerns about how science prizesboth new and oldare distributed. The Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, launchedthis year, takes an unrepresentative view of what the life sciences include.But the Nobel Foundations limit of three recipients per prize, each of whommust still be living, has long been outgrown by the collaborative nature ofmodern researchas will bedemonstrated by the inevitable row over who is ignored when it comes toacknowledging the discovery of the Higgs boson. The Nobels were, of course,themselves set up by a very rich individual who had decided what he wanted todo with his own money. Time, rather than intention, has given them legitimacy.As much as some scientists may complain about the new awards, twothings seem clear. First, most researchers would accept such a prize if theywere offered one. Second, it is surely a good thing that the money andattention come to science rather than go elsewhere, It is fair to criticize andquestion the mechanismthat is the culture of research, after allbut it is the prize-givers moneyto do with as they please. It is wise to take such gifts with gratitude andgrace.31. The Fundamental Physics Prize is seenasAa symbol of the entrepreneurs wealth.Ba possible replacement of the NobelPrizes.Can example of bankers investments.Da handsome reward for researchers.32. The critics think that the new awardswill most benefitAthe profit-oriented scientists.Bthe founders of the new awards.Cthe achievement-based system.Dpeer-review-led research.33. The discovery of the Higgs boson is atypical case which involvesAcontroversies over the recipientsstatus.Bthe joint effort of modern researchers.Clegitimate concerns over the new prizes.Dthe demonstration of research findings.34. According to Paragraph 4,which of thefollowing is true of the Nobels?ATheir endurance has done justice tothem.BTheir legitimacy has long been indispute.CThey are the most representative honor.DHistory has never cast doubt on them.35.The author believes that the now awardsareAacceptable despite the criticism.Bharmful to the culture of research.Csubject to undesirable changes.Dunworthy of public attention.Text 4“The Heart of the Matter,” the just-released report by the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS), deserves praise for affirming the importanceof the humanities and social sciences to the prosperity and security of liberaldemocracy in America. Regrettably, however, the reports failure to address thetrue nature of the crisis facing liberal education may cause more harm thangood.In 2010, leading congressional Democrats and Republicans sentletters to the AAAS asking that it identify actions that could be taken by“federal, state and local governments, universities, foundations, educators,individual benefactors and others” to “maintain national excellence inhumanities and social scientific scholarship and education.” In response, theAmerican Academy formed the Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences. Amongthe commissions 51 members are top-tier-university presidents, scholars, lawyers,judges, and business executives, as well as prominent figures from diplomacy,filmmaking, music and journalism.The goals identified in the report are generally admirable. Becauserepresentative government presupposes an informed citizenry, the reportsupports full literacy; stresses the study of history and government,particularly American history and American government; and encourages the useof new digital technologies. To encourage innovation and competition, thereport calls for increased investment in research, the crafting of coherentcurricula that improve students ability to solve problems and communicateeffectively in the 21st century, increased funding for teachers and theencouragement of scholars to bring their learning to bear on the greatchallenges of the day. The report also advocates greater study of foreignlanguages, international affairs and the expansion of study abroad programs.Unfortunately, despite 2 years in the making, The Heart ofthe Matter never gets to the heart of the matter: the illiberal nature ofliberal education at our leading colleges and universities. The commissionignores that for several decades Americas colleges and universities haveproduced graduates who dont know the content and character of liberaleducation and are thus deprived of its benefits. Sadly, the spirit of inquiryonce at home on campus has been replaced by the use of the humanities andsocial sciences as vehicles for publicizing “progressive,” or left-liberalpropaganda.Today, professors routinely treat the progressive interpretation ofhistory and progressive public policy as the proper subject of study whileportraying conservative or classical liberal ideassuch as free markets andself-relianceas falling outside the boundaries of routine, and sometimeslegitimate, intellectual investigation.The AAAS displays great enthusiasm for liberal edu