考研英语二试题及答案

考研英语（二）试题Section I Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following text。Choose the best word(s)for each numbered blank and markA，B，C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1(10 points)In our contemporary culture，the prospect of communicating with-or even looking ata stranger is virtually unbearable Everyone around us seems to agree by the way they fiddle with their phones，even without a 1 undergroundIts a sad realityour desire to avoid interacting with other human beingsbecause theres 2 to be gained from talking to the strange r standing by you. But you wouldnt know it， 3 into your phone. This universal armor sends the 4 ：“Please dont approach me.”What is it that makes us feel we need to hide 5 our screens?One answer is fear, according to Jon Wortmann, executive mental coach We fear rejection，or that our innocent social advances will be 6 as“creep,”We fear weII be 7 We fear weII be disruptive Strangers are inherently 8 to us，so we are more likely to feel 9 when communicating with them compared with our friends and acquaintances To avoid this anxiety, we 10 to our phones.“Phones become our security blanket，“Wortmann says.”They are our happyglasses that protect us from what we perceive is going to be more 11 .”But once we rip off the bandaid，tuck our smartphones in our pockets and look up，it doesnt 12 so bad. In one experiment，behavioral scientists Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder asked commuters to do the unthinkable: Start a 13 . They had Chicago train commuters talk to their fellow 14 . When Dr.Epley and Ms. Schroeder asked other people in the same train station to 15 how they would feel after talking to a stranger, the commuters thought their 16 would be more pleasant if they sat on their own, the New York Times summarizes. Though the participants didnt expect a positive experience, after they 17 withthe experiment, not a single person reported having been snubbed.” 18 , these commutes were reportedly more enjoyable compared with those sans communication, which makes absolute sense, 19 human beings thrive off of social connections. Its that 20 : Talking to strangers can make you feel connected.1. A ticketB permitCsignallD record2. A nothingB link Canother D much3. A beatenB guided Cplugged D brought4. A messageB cede CnoticeD sign5. A underB beyond C behindD from6. A misinterpreteB misapplied C misadjusted D mismatched7. A fired B judged C replaced D delayed8. A unreasonableB ungreatful C unconventional D unfamiliar9. A comfortable B anxious C confident D angry10. A attend B pointC takeD turn11. A dangerousB mysterious C violentD boring12. A hurtB resisC bend D decay13. A lectureB conversation C debate D negotiation14. A traineesB employees C researchers D passengers15. A revealB choose C predictl D design16. A voyage B flightC walkD ride17. A went throughB did away C caught up D put up18. A In turnB In particular CIn fact D In consequence19. A unlessB sinceC ifD whereas20. A funny B simpleC Iogical D rareSection Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Text 1A new study suggests that contrary to most surveys. People art actually more stressed at home than at work. Researchers measured peoples cortntlol. Which is it at stress marker. While they were at work and while they were at home and found it higher at what is supposed to be a place of refuge.“Further contradicting conventional wisdom, we found that women as well as men have lower levels of stress at work than at home,” writes one of the researchers. Sarah Damaske, In fact women say they feel better at work. She notes. “it is men not women. Who report being bappicr at home than at work,” Another surprise is that the findings hold true for both those with childrcn and without, but more so for nonparents. This is why pcoplc who work outside the home have better health. What the study doesnt measure is whether people are still doing work when they re at home, whether it is household work or work brought home from the office. For many men, the end of the workday is a time to kick back. For women who stay home, they never get to leave the office. And for women who work outside the home, they often are playing catch-up-with-household tasks. With the blurring of roles, and the fact that the home front lags well behind the workplace in making adjustments for working women, it s not surprising that women are more stressed at home.But its not just a gender thing. At work, people pretty much know what theyre supposed to be doing: working, making money, doing the tasks they have to do in order to draw an income. The bargain is very pure: Employee puts in hours of physical or mental labor and employee draws out life-sustaining moola.On the home front, however, people have no such clarity. Rare is the household in which the division of labor is so clinically and methodically laid out. There are a lot of tasks to be done, there are inadequate rewards for most of them. Your home colleagues-your family-have no clear rewards for their labor; they need to be talked into it, or if they re teenagers, threatened with complete removal of all electronic devices. Plus, they re your family. You cannot fire your family. You never really get to go home from home.So its not surprising that people are more stressed at home. Not only are the tasks apparently infinite, the co-workers are much harder to motivate.21.According to Pa ragraph 1，most previous su rveys found that home_Awas an un realistic place for relaxationBgenerated more stress than the workplaceCwas an ideal place for stress measurementDoffered greater relaxation than the workplace22.According to Damaske， who are likely to be the happiest at home?AWorking mothersBChildless husbandsC Childless wivesDWorking fathers23 The blurring of working womens roles refers to the fact thay_Athey are both bread winners and housewivesBtheir home is also a place for kicking backCthere is often much housework left behindDit is difficult for them to leave their office24.The word“moola”(Line 4，Para 4)most probably means_AenergyBskillsCearningsDnutrition25.The home front differs from the workplace in that_Ahome is hardly a cozier working environmentBdivision of labor at home is seldom clear-cutChousehold tasks are generally more motivatingDfamily labor is often adequately rewardedText 2For years, studies have found that first-generation college students-those who do not have a parent with a college degree-lag other students on a range of education achievement factors. Their grades are lower and their dropout rates are higher. But since such students are most likely to advance economically if they succeed in higher education, colleges and universities have pushed for decades to recruit more of them. This has created “a paradox” in that recruiting first-generation students, but then watching many of them fail, means that higher education has “continued to reproduce and widen, rather than close” achievement gap based on social class, according to the depressing beginning of a paper forthcoming in the journal Psychological Sciense.But the article is actually quite optimistic, as it outlines a potential solution to this problem, suggesting that an approach(which involves a one-hour, next-to-no-cost program) can close 63 percent of the achievement gap(measured by such factors as grades)between first-generation and other students.The authors of the paper are from different universities, and their findins are based on a study involving 147 students(who completed the project)at an unnamed private unive rsityFirst generation was defined as not having a parent with a fou r-year college degree Most of the first-generation students(59.1 percent) were recipients of Pell Grants，a federal g rant for undergraduates with financial need，while this was true only for 8.6 percent of the students wit at least one parent with a four-year degreeTheir thesis-that a relatively modest inte rvention could have a big impact-was based on the view that first-gene ration students may be most lacking not in potential but in practical knowledge about how to deal with the issues that face most college students They cite past resea rch by several authors to show that this is the gap that must be na rrowed to close the achievement gap. Many first-gene ration students”struggle to navigate the middle-class culture of higher education，learn therules of the game，and take advantage of college resou rces,” they write And this becomes more of a problem when collages dont talk about the class advantage and disadvantages of different groups of students Because US colleges and universities seldom acknowledge how social class can affect students educational expe rience，many first-gene ration students lack sight about why they a re struggling and do not unde rstand how students like them can improve26. Recruiting more first-generation students hasAreduced their d ropout ratesBnarrowed the achievement gaoC missed its original pu rposeDdepressed college students27 The author of the research article are optimistic because Athe problem is solvableBtheir approach is costlessq the recruiting rate has increasedDtheir finding appeal to students28 The study suggests that most first-gene ration students Astudy at private universitiesBare from single-pa rent familiesq are in need of financial supportDhave failed their collage29. The author of the paper believe that first-generation students Aa re actually indifferent to the achievement gapBcan have a potential influence on othe r studentsC may lack opportunities to apply for resea rch projectsDare inexperienced in handling their issues at college30.We mayinfer from the last paragraph thatAuniversities often rect the culture of the middle-classBstudents are usually to blame for their lack of resourcesCsocial class g reatly helps en rich educational experiencesDcolleges are partly responsible for the problem in question Text3Even in traditional offices，“the lingua franca of corporate America has gottenmuch more emotional and much more right-brained than it was 20 years ago， said Ha rva rd Business School professor Nancy Koehn She sta rted spinning off examples.“If you and I pa rachuted back to Fortune 500 companies in 1990，we would see much less frequent use of terms like Journey, mission,passion. There were goals，there were strategies，there were objectives，but we didnt talk about energy；we didnt talk about passion.”Koehn pointed out that this new era of corporate vocabula ry is very “team”-oriented-and not by coincidence.“Lets not forget sDorts-in male-dominated corporate America，its still a big deal. Its not explicitly conscious；its the idea that Im a coach，and youre my team，and were in this togethec. There are lots and lots of CEOs in very different companies，but most think of themselves as coaches and this is their team and they want to win.These terms a re also intended to infuse work with meaning-and，as Khu rana points out，increase allegiance to the firm.“You have the importation of terminology that historically used to be associated with non-profit organizations and religious organizations：Terms like vision，values，passion，and purpose，”said Khurana This new focus on personal fulfillment can help keep employees motivated amid increasingly loud debates over work-life balance The “mommy wars” of the 1990s a re still going on today, prompting arguments about why women still cant have it all and books like Sheryl Sandbergs Lean In，whose title has become a buzzword in its own right. Terms like unplug，offline，life-hack，bandwidth，and capacity are all about setting boundaries between the office and the home But if your work is your “passion,” youII be more likely to devote yourself to it，even if that means going home for dinner and then working long after the kids are in bedBut this seems to be the irony of office speak：Everyone makes fun of it，but manage rs love it，companies depend on it，and regular people willingly absorb it As Nunberg said，“You can get people to think its nonsense at the same time that you buy into it.” In a workplace thats fundamentally indiffe rent to your life and its meaning office speak can help you figu re out how you relate to your work-and how your work defines who you are31. According to Nancy Koehn, office language has become_Amore e motionalBmore objectiveCless energeticDless energeticEless strategic32.“team”-oriented corporate vocabulary is closely related to_Ahistorical incidentsBgender differenceCsports cultureDathletic executives33.Khurana believes that the importation of terminology aims to_Arevive historical termsBpromote company imageCfoster corporate cooperationDstrengthen employee loyalty34.It can be inferred that Lean In_Avoices for working womenBappeals to passionate workaholicsCtriggers dcbates among mommiesDpraises motivated employees35.Which of the following statements is true about office speak?AManagers admire it but avoid itBLinguists believe it to be nonsenseCCompanies find it to be fundamentalDRegular people mock it but accept itText 4Many people talked of the 288,000 new jobs the Labor Department reporled for Jure, along with the drop in the unemployment take to 6 J percent. at good news. And they were right. For now it appears the economy is creating jobs at a decent pace. We still have a long way to go to get back to full employment, but at least we are now finally moving forward at a faster pace.However there is another important part of the jobs picture that was targely ovedookcd. There was a big jump in the number of people who report voluntarily working part-time. This figure is now 830,000（4,4 percent）above its year ago level.Before explaining the connection to the Obamacare, it is worth making an important distinction. Many people who work part-time jobs actually want full-time jobs. They take part-time work because this is all they can get. An increase in involuntary part-time work is evidence of weakness in the labor market and it means that many people will be having a very hard time making ends meet.There was an increase in involuntary part-time in June, but the general direction has been down. Involuntary part-time employment is still far higher than before the recession, but it is down by 640,000(7.9 percent)from its year ago level.We know the difference between voluntary and involuntary part-time employment because people tell us. The survey used by the Labor Department asks people if they worked less than 35 hours in the reference week. If the answer is “yes.”they are classified as working part-time. The survey then asks whether they worked less than 35 hours in that week because they wanted to work less than full time or because they had no choice. They are only elassified as voluntary part-time workers if they tell the survey taker they chose to work less than 35 hours a week.The issue of voluntary part-time relates to Obamacare becanse one of the main purposes was to allow people to get insurance outside of employment. For many people, especially those with serious health conditions or family members with serious health conditions, before Obamacare the only way to get insurance was through a job that provided health insurance.However, Obamacare has allowed more than 12 million people to either get insurance through Medicaid or the exchanges. These are people who may previously have felt the need to get a full-time job that provided insurance in order to cover themselves and their families. With Obamacare there is no longer a link between employment and insurance.36. Which part of the jobs picture was neglected?A. The prospect of a thriving job market.B. The increase of voluntary part-time jobs.C. The possibility of full employment.D. The acceleration of job creation.37. Many people work part-time because theyA. prefer part-time jobs to full-time jobsB. feel that is enough to make ends meetC. cannot get their hands on full-time jobsD. haven t seen the weakness of the market38. Involuntary part-time employment in the USA. is harder to acquire than one year agoB. shows a general tendency of declineC. satisfies the real need of the joblessD. is lower than before the recession39. It can be learned that with Obamacare, .A. it is no longer easy for part-timers to get insuranceB. employment is no longer a precondition to get insuranceC. it is still challenging to get insurance for family membersD. full-time employment is still essential for insurance40. The text mainly discusses .A. employment in the USB. part-timer classificationC. insurance through MedicaidD. Obamacares trouble Part BDirections:In the following text, 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. (10 points)A You are not aloneB Dont fear responsibility for your lifeC Pave your own unique pathD Most of your fears are unrealE Think about the present momentF Experience helps you growG There are many things to be grateful forSome Old Truths to Help You Overcorne Toucgh TimesUefortunately, life is not a bed of roses, We are going through life facing sad experiences. Moreover, we are grieving various kinds of loss: a friendship, a rontantic relatlonshlp of a house. Hard times may hold you down at what usually seems like the most inopportune time,but you should remember that they wont last forever.When our time of mourning is over, we press forward, stronger with a greater understanding and respect for life. Furthermore, these losses make us mature and eventally move as toward future opportunities for growth and happiness. I want to share these old truths Ive learned along the way.41. Fear is both useful and harmful. This normal human reaction is used to protect us by signaling danger and preparing us to deal with it. Unfortunately, people create inner barriers with a help of exaggerating fears. My favorite actor will smith once said, “Fear is not real. It is a product of thoughts you create. Do not misunderstand me. Danger is very real. But fear is a choice.” I do completely agree that fears are just the product of our luxuriant imagination.42 . If you are surrounded by problems and cannot stop thinking about the past, try to focus on the present moment. Many of us are weighed down by the past or anxious about the future. You may feel guilt over your past, but you are poisoning the present with the things and circumstances you cannot change. Value the present moment and remember how fortunate you are to be alive. Enjoy the beauty of the world around and keep the eyes open to see the possibilities before you. Happiness is not a point of future and not a moment from the past, but a mindset that can be designed into the present.43. . Sometimes it is casy to feel bad because you are going through tough times. You can be eas