考研模拟考研英语必做题二

考研英语考前必做题试卷二Section 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 1. ( points)Scientists and philosophers of science tend to speak as if “scientific language” were intrinsically precise, as if those who use it must understand one anothers meaning, 1 they disagree. But, 2, scientific language is not as different from3language as is commonly believed; it, too, is 4 to imprecision and ambiguity and hence to 5 understanding. Moreover, new theories (or arguments) are rarely,6, constructed by way of clear-cut steps of induction, deduction, and 7 (or falsification). Neither are they defended, rejected, or accepted in 8 straight forward a manner. 9, scientists combine the rules of scientific with a generous mixture of intuition, aesthetics, and philosophical . The importance of what are sometimes called extralogical components of thought in the discovery of a new principle or laws is generally . We recall Einsteins description: “To these elementary laws there leads no logical path, intuition, supported by being sympathetically in with experience.” But the role of these extralogical components in persuasion and acceptance (in making an argument ) is less frequently discussed, partly because they are less . The ways in which the credibility or effectiveness of a depends on a realm of common experiences, on extensive practice in communicating those experiences in a common language, are hard to see precisely because suchare taken for granted. Only when we step out of such a “consensual domain”when we can stand out on the periphery of a 20 with a common language. 1A even ifB unlessC thoughD if 2A in questionB in reliefC in factD in prospect 3A standardB popularC vulgarD ordinary 4A susceptibleB subjectC immuneD related 5A imperfectB perfectC impersonalD personal 6A if soB if not allC if everD if any 7A vergeB verificationC justiceD certainty 8A soB suchC tooD very 9A In briefB In advanceC In practiceD In companyA psychologyB methodologyC archaeologyD theology A communityB communicationC committeeD commitment A acknowledgedB confessedC abandonedD refined A mayB ought toC were toD would A but ratherB no more thanC but onlyD less more than A pursuitB touchC proportionD terms A convincingB wordyC ensuredD unreasonable A visualB informedC imaginativeD visible A statementB argumentC assertionD style A commoditiesB commonsC commonalitiesD commonwealth 20A communityB personC countryD nation Section 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 ANWER SHEET 1. (40 points)Text 1 The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that it is trying to track down as many as 386 piglets that may have been genetically engineered and wrongfully sold into the U.S. food supply. The focus of the FDA investigation is pigs raised by researchers at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign. They engineered the animals with two genes: One is a cow gene that increases milk production in the sow. The other, a synthetic gene, makes the milk easier for piglets to digest. The goal was to raise bigger pigs faster. There has been no evidence that either genetically altered plants or animals actually trigger human illness, but critics warn that potential side effects remain unknown. University officials say their tests showed the piglets were not born with the altered genes, but FDA rules require even the offspring of genetically engineered animals to be destroyed so they dont get into the food supply. The FDA, in a quickly arranged news conference Wednesday prompted by inquiries by USATODAY, said the University of Illinois will face possible sanctions and fines for selling the piglets to a livestock broker, who in turn sells to processing plants. Both the FDA and the university say the pigs that entered the market do not pose a risk to consumers. But the investigation follows action by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in December to fine a Texas company that contaminated 500,000 bushels of soybeans with corn that had been genetically altered to produce a vaccine for pigs. Critics see such cases as evidence of the need for more government oversight of a burgeoning area of scientific research. “This is a small incident, but its incident like this that could destroy consumer confidence and export confidence, ”says Stephanie Childs of the Grocery Manufacturers of America. “We already have Europe shaky on biotech. The countries to whom we export are going to look at this.” The University of Illinois says it tested the DNA of every piglet eight times to make sure that the animal hadnt inherited the genetic engineering of its mother. Those piglets that did were put back into the study. Those that didnt were sold to the pig broker. “Any pig whos tested negative for the genes since 99 has been sent off to market, ”says Charles Zukoski, vice chancellor for research. But FDA deputy commissioner Lester Crawford says that under the terms of the universitys agreement with the FDA, the researchers were forbidden to remove the piglets without FDA approval. “The University of Illinois failed to check with FDA to see whether or not the animals could be sold on the open market. And they were not to be used under any circumstance for food.” The FDA is responsible for regulating and overseeing transgenic animals because such genetic manipulation is considered an unapproved animal drug. 21. The 386 piglets wrongfully sold into food supply are fromA EuropeB an American research organization C a meat processing plantD an animal farm 22. The purpose of the transgenic engineering research is toA get pigs of larger size in a shorter time B make sows produce more milk C make cows produce more milk D make pigs grow more lean meat 23. The 4th paragraph shows that the University of IllinoisA was criticized by the FDA B is in great troubleC is required by the FDA to call back the sold piglets D may have to pay the penalty 24. The FDA declares that the wrongfully sold pigletsA may have side effects on consumers B may be harmful to consumers C are safe to consumersD may cause human illness 25. It can be inferred from this passage thatA all the offspring have their mothers genetic engineering B part of the offspring have their mothers genetic engineering C none of the offspring have their mothers genetic engineering D half of the offspring have their mothers genetic engineering Text 2 Foods are overwhelmingly the most advertised group of all consumer products in the United States. Food products lead in expenditures for network and spot television advertisements, discount coupons, trading stamps, contests, and other forms of premium advertising. In other medianewspapers, magazines, newspaper supplements, billboards, and radiofood advertising expenditures rank near the top. Food manufacturers spend more on advertising than any other manufacturing group, and the nations grocery stores rank first among all retailers. Through the 70s, highly processed foods have accounted for the bulk of total advertising. Almost all coupons, electronic advertising, national printed media advertising, consumer premiums (other than trading stamps) as well as most push promotion come from processed and packaged food products. In 78, breakfast cereals, soft drinks, candy and other desserts, oils and salad dressings, coffee, and prepared foods accounted for only an estimated 20 percent of the consumer food dollar. Yet these items accounted for about one half of all media advertising. By contrast, highly perishable foods such as unprocessed meats, poultry, fish and eggs, fruits and vegetables, and diary products accounted for over half of the consumer food-at-home dollar. Yet these products accounted for less than 8 percent of national media advertising in 78, and virtually no discount coupons. These products tend to be most heavily advertised by the retail sector in local newspaper, where they account for an estimated 40 percent of retail grocery newspaper ads. When measured against total food-at-home expenditures, total measured food advertising accounts for between 3 and 3.7 cents out of every dollar spent on food in the nations grocery stores. A little less than one cent of these amounts is accounted for by electronic advertising (mostly television) while incentives account for 0.6 cents. The printed media accounts for 0.5cents and about one-third of one cent is comprised of discount coupon redemptions. The estimate for the cost of push promotion ranged from 0.7 to 1.4 cents. This range is necessary because of the difficulty in separating non-promotional aspects of direct selling-transportation, technical, and other related services. Against this gross consumer must be weighed the joint products or services provided by advertising. In the case of electronic advertising, the consumer who views commercial television receives entertainment, while readers of magazines and newspapers receive reduced prices on these publications. The consumer pays directly for some premiums, but also receives nonfood merchandise as an incentive to purchase the product. The “benefits” must, therefore, be subtracted form the gross cost to the consumer to fully assess the net cost of advertising. Also significant are the impacts of advertising on food demand, nutrition, and competition among food manufactures. The bulk of manufacturers advertising is concentrated on a small portion of consumer food products. Has advertising changed the consumption of these highly processed products relative to more perishable foods such as meats, produce, and dairy products? Has the nutritional content of the U.S. food consumption been influenced by food advertisings? Has competition among manufacturers and retailers been enhance or weakened by advertising? These are important questions and warrant continued research. 26. The authors attitude toward advertising can be characterized asA admiring condemning C uncertain D inquisitive 27. The term “push promotion” （L. 3, P. 2） means. A coupon redemption retail advertising C direct selling D advertising in trade journals 28. The author implies that advertising costs. A should be discounted by the benefits of advertising to the consumer are greater for restaurants than for at home foods C are much higher in the United Stated than any where else in the world D cause highly processed foods to outsell unprocessed outsell foods 29. The purpose of the article is toA warm about rising food advertising costs describe the costs of food advertising and the issues yet to be understood about its effectsC congratulate the food industry on its effective advertising D calculate the final balance sheet for food advertising 30. According to the passage, all of the following are definitely false EXCEPTA more food is advertised in newspapers than on television less money is spent advertising food than automobiles C more of the food advertising budget is probably spent on push promotion than on television ads D less money is spent on food store advertising than on clothing store ads Text 3 The early retirement of experienced workers is seriously harming the U.S. economy, according to a new report from the Hudson Institute, a public policy research organization. Currently, many older experienced workers retire at an early age. According to the recently issued statistics, 79 percent of qualified workers begin collecting retirement benefits at age 62; if that trend continues, there will be a labor shortage that will hinder the economic growth in the twenty-first century. Older Americans constitute an increasing proportion of the population, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, and the population of those over age 65 will grow by 60% between and . During the same period, the group aged to 44 will increase by only 4%. Keeping older skilled workers employed, even part time, would increase U.S. economic output and strengthen the tax base; but without significant policy reforms, massive early retirement among baby boomers seems more likely. Retirement at age 62 is an economically rational decision today. Social Security and Medicaid earnings limits and tax penalties subject our most experienced workers to marginal tax rates as high as 67%. Social Security formulas encourage early retirement. Although incomes usually rise with additional years of work, any pay increases after the 35-year mark result in higher social Security taxes but only small increases in benefits. Hudson Institute researchers believe that federal tax and benefit policies are at fault and reforms are urgently needed, but they disagree with the popular proposal that much older Americans will have to work because Social Security will not support them and that baby boomers are not saving enough for retirement. According to the increase in 4 (k) and Keogh retirement plans, the ongoing stock market on Wall Street, and the likelihood of large inheritances, there is evidence that baby boomers will reach age 65 with greater financial assets than previous generations. The Hudson institute advocates reforming government policies that now discourage work and savings, especially for older worker. Among the reports recommendations: Tax half of all Social Security benefits, regardless of other income; provide 8% larger benefits for each year beyond 65; and permit workers nearing retirement to negotiate compensation packages that may include alower salary but with greater healthcare benefits. However, it may take real and fruitful planning to find the right solution to the early retirement of older experienced workers; any measures taken must be allowed to prolong the serviceability of older experienced workers. 31.According to Hudson Institute researchers, the effect of the early retirement of qualified workers in the U.S. economy isA constructive significant C inconclusive D detrimental 32.The older experienced workers in America tend to retire early because their prolonged service mayA do harm to younger generations end up with few or no benefits C give play to their potentialsD shed light on social trends 33.The second paragraph is written chiefly to show thatA there will be an acute labor shortage in the near future baby-boomers contribute much to the US economic output C government policies concerning older people are out-dated D older workers are enthusiastic about collecting social benefits 34.When mentioning “the ongoing stock market on Wall Street”, the writerA is calling attention to the privileges to which baby-boomers are entitled is calling for the government to take countermeasures against labor shortage C is refuting a notion about experienced workers early retirement D is justifying the ineffectiveness of federal tax and benefit policies 35.Towards the issue, what the writer is most concerned about will beA to advocate radically reforming government policies to take into account the benefits upon retirement C to put in practice what Hudson researchers believe inD to prolong the practicability of older experienced employees Text 4 Before a big exam, a sound nights sleep will do you more good than poring over textbooks. That, at least, is the folk wisdom. And science, in the form of behavioral psychology, supports that wisdom. But such behavioral studies cannot distinguish between two competing theories of why sleep is good for the memory. One says that sleep is when permanent memories form. The other says that they are actually formed during the day, but then “edited” at night, to flush away what is superfluous. To tell the difference, it is necessary to look into the brain of a sleeping person, and that is hard. But after a decade of painstaking work, a team led by Pierre Maquet at Liege University in Belgium has managed to do it. The particular stage of sleep in which the Belgian group is interested in is rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, when brain and body are active, heart rate and blood pressure increase, the eyes move back and forth behind the eyelids as if watching a movie, and brainwave traces resemble those of wakefulness. It is during this period of sleep that people are most likely to relive events of the previous day in dreams. Dr. Maquet used an electronic device called PET to study the brains of people as they practiced a task during the day, and as they slept during the following night. The task required them to press a button as fast as possible, in response to a light coming on in one of six positions. As they learnt how to do this, their response times got faster. What they did not know was that the appearance of the lights sometimes followed a pattern- what is referred to as“artificial grammar” . Yet the reductions in response time showed that they learnt faster when the pattern was present than when there was not. What is more, those with more to learn (i.e., the “grammar”, as well as the mechanical task of pushing the button) have more active brains. The “editing” theory would not predict that, since the number of irrelevant stimuli would be the same in each case. And to eliminate any doubts that the experimental subjects were learning as opposed to unlearning, their response times when they woke up were even quicker than when they went to sleep. The team, therefore, concluded that the nerve connections involved in memory are reinforced through reactivation during REM sleep, particularly if the brain detects an inherent structure in the material being learnt. So now, on the eve of that crucial test, maths students can sl