2005年全国硕士研究生入学考试英语试题及答案

2005年全国硕士研究生入学考试英语试题及答案 The human nose is an underrated tool. Humans are often thought to be insensitive smellers compared with animals, 1 this is largely because, 2 animals ,we stand upright. This means that our noses are 3 to perceiving those smells which float through the air, 4 the majority of smells which stick to surfaces. In fact 5 , we are extremely sensitive to smells, 6 we do not generally realize it. Our noses are capable of 7 human smells even when these are 8 to far below one part in one million. Strangely, some people find that they can smell one type of flower but not another, 9 others are sensitive to the smells of both flowers. This may be because some people do not have the genes necessary to generate 10 smell receptors in the nose. These receptors are the cells which sense smells and send 11 to the brain. However, it has been found that even people insensitive to a certain smell 12 can suddenly become sensitive to it when 13 to it often enough. The explanation for insensitivity to smell seems to be that brain finds it 14 to keep all smell receptors working all the time but can 15 new receptors if necessary. This may 16 explain why we are not usually sensitive to our own smells we simply do not need to be. We are not 17 of the usual smell of our own house but we 18 new smells when we visit someone else's. The brain finds it best to keep smell receptors 19 for unfamiliar and emergency signals 20 the smell of smoke, which might indicate the danger of fire.1. AalthoughBasCbut Dwhile2. AaboveBunlikeCexcludingDbesides3. Alimited Bcommitted Cdedicated Dconfined4. Acatching Bignoring Cmissing Dtracking5. Aanyway Bthough Cinstead Dtherefore6. Aeven if Bif only Conly if Das if7. AdistinguishingBdiscovering CdeterminingDdetecting8. Adiluted Bdissolved CdeterminingDdiffused9. Awhen Bsince Cfor Dwhereas10. Aunusual Bparticular Cunique Dtypical11. Asigns Bstimuli Cmessages Dimpulses12. Aat first Bat all Cat large Dat times13. Asubjected Bleft Cdrawn Dexposed14. Aineffective Bincompetent CinefficientDinsufficient15.Aintroduce Bsummon Ctrigger Dcreate16. Astill Balso Cotherwise Dnevertheless17. Asure Bsick Caware Dtired18. Atolerate Brepel Cneglect Dnotice19. Aavailabe BreliableCidentifiableDsuitable20. Asimilar toBsuch as Calong with Daside fromSection Reading ComprehensionText 1Everybody loves a fat pay rise. Yet pleasure at your own can vanish if you learn that a colleague has been given a bigger one. Indeed, if he has a reputation for slacking, you might even be outraged. Such behaviour is regarded as “all too human”, with the underlying assumption that other animals would not be capable of this finely developed sense of grievance. But a study by Sarah Brosnan and Frans de Waal of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, which has just been published in Nature, suggests that it all too monkey, as well. The researchers studied the behaviour of female brown capuchin monkeys. They look cute. They are good-natured, co-operative creatures, and they share their food tardily. Above all, like their female human counterparts, they tend to pay much closer attention to the value of “goods and services” than males. Such characteristics make them perfect candidates for Dr. Brosnan's and Dr. de waal's; study. The researchers spent two years teaching their monkeys to exchange tokens for food. Normally, the monkeys were happy enough to exchange pieces of rock for slices of cucumber. However, when two monkeys were placed in separate but adjoining chambers, so that each could observe what the other was getting in return for its rock, their became markedly different. In the world of capuchins grapes are luxury goods (and much preferable to cucumbers) So when one monkey was handed a grape in exchange for her token, the second was reluctant to hand hers over for a mere piece of cucumber. And if one received a grape without having to provide her token in exchange at all, the other either tossed her own token at the researcher or out of the chamber, or refused to ;accept the slice of cucumber Indeed, the mere presence of a grape in the other chamber (without an actual monkey to eat it) was enough to reduce resentment in a female capuchin. The researches suggest that capuchin monkeys, like humans, are guided by social emotions, in the wild, they are a co-operative, groupliving species, Such co-operation is likely to be stable only when each animal feels it is not being cheated. Feelings of righteous indignation, it seems, are not the preserve of people alone, Refusing a lesser reward completely makes these feelings abundantly clear to other members of the group. However, whether such a sense of fairness evolved independently in capuchins and humans, or whether it stems form the common ancestor that the species had 35 million years ago, is, as yet, an unanswered question.21. In the opening paragraph, the author introduces his topic byA. posing a contrast.B. justifying an assumption.C. making a comparison.D. explaining a phenomenon.22. The statement “it is all too monkey” (Last line, paragraph l) implies thatA. monkeys are also outraged by slack rivals.B. resenting unfairness is also monkeys' nature.C. monkeys, like humans, tend to be jealous of each other.D. no animals other than monkeys can develop such emotions.23.Female capuchin monkeys were chosen for the research most probably because they areA. more inclined to weigh what they get.B. attentive to researchers' instructions.C. nice in both appearance and temperament.D. more generous than their male companions24.Dr. Brosnan and Dr. de Waal have eventually found in their study that the monkeysA. prefer grapes to cucumbers.B. can be taught to exchange things.C. will not be co-operative if feeling cheated.D. are unhappy when separated from others.25. What can we infer from the last paragraph?A. Monkeys can be trained to develop social emotions.B. Human indignation evolved from an uncertain source.C. Animals usually show their feelings openly as humans do.D. Cooperation among monkeys remains stable only in the wild.Text 2 Do you remember all those years when scientists argued that smoking would kill us but the doubters insisted that we didn't know for sure? That the evidence was inconclusive, the science uncertain? That the antismoking lobby was out to destroy our way of life and the government should stay out of the way? Lots of Americans bought that nonsense, and over three decades, some 10 million smokers went to early graves. There are upsetting parallels today, as scientists in one wave after another try to awaken us to the growing threat of global warming. The latest was a panel from the National Academy of Sciences, enlisted by the White House, to tell us that the Earth's atmosphere is definitely warming and that the problem is largely man-made. The clear message is that we should get moving to protect ourselves. The president of the National Academy, Bruce Alberts, added this key point in the preface to the panel's report “Science never has all the answers But science does provide us with the best available guide to the future, and it is critical that out nation and the world base important policies on the best judgments that science can provide concerning the future consequences of present actions.” Just as on smoking voices now come from many quarters insisting that the science about global warming is incomplete, that it's Ok to keep pouring fumes into the air until we know for sure. this is a dangerous game: by the 100 percent of the evidence is in, it may be too late. With the risks obvious and growing, a prudent people would take out an insurance policy now. Fortunately, the White House is starting to pay attention. But it's obvious that a majority of the president's advisers still don't take global warming seriously. Instead of a plan of action, they continue to press for more research-a classic case of “paralysis by analysis”. To serve as responsible stewards of the planet, we must press forward on deeper atmospheric and oceanic research But research alone is inadequate. If the Administration won't take the legislative initiative, Congress should help to begin fashioning conservation measures A bill by Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, which would offer financial incentives for private industry is a promising start Many see that the country is getting ready to build lots of new power plants to meet our energy needs. If we are ever going to protect the atmosphere, it is crucial that those new plants be environmentally sound.26. An argument made by supporters of smoking was thatA. there was no scientific evidence of the correlation between smoking anddeath.B. the number of early deaths of smokers in the past decades was insignificant.C. people had the freedom to choose their own way of life.D. antismoking people were usually talking nonsense.27. According to Bruce Alberts, science can serve asA. a protector.B. a judge.C. a critic.D. a guide.28. What does the author mean by “paralysis by analysis” (Last line, paragraph 4)A. Endless studies kill action.B. Careful investigation reveals truth.C. prudent planning hinders.D. Extensive research helps decision-making.29. According to the author, what should the Administration do aboutA. Offer aid to build cleaner power plants.B. Raise public awareness of conservation.C. Press for further scientific research.D. Take some legislative measures.30. The author associates the issue of global warming with that of smoking becauseA. they both suffered from the government's negligence.B. a lesson from the latter is applicable to the former.C. the outcome of the latter aggravates the former.D. both of them have turned from bad to worse.Text 3 Of all the components of a good night's sleep, dreams seem to be least within our control. In dreams, a window opens into a world where logic is suspended and dead people speak. A century ago, Freud formulated his revolutionary theory that dreams were the disguised shadows of our unconscious desires and rears, by the late 1970s. neurologists had switched to thinking of them as just “mental noise” the random byproducts of the neural-repair work that goes on during sleep. Now researchers suspect that dreams are part of the mind's emotional thermostat, regulating moods while the brain is “off-line” And one leading authority says that these intensely powerful mental events can be not only harnessed but actually brought under conscious control, to help us sleep and feel better, “It's your dream” says Rosalind Cartwright, chair of psychology at Chicago's Medical Center. “If you don't like it , change it.” Evidence from brain imaging supports this view. The brain is as active during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep-when most vivid dreams occur-as it is when fully awake, says Dr, Eric Nofzinger at the University of Pittsburgh. But not all parts of the brain are equally involved, the limbic system (the “emotional brain”)is especially active, while the prefrontal cortex (the center of intellect and reasoning) is relatively quiet. “We wake up from dreams happy of depressed, and those feelings can stay with us all day” says Stanford sleep researcher Dr, William Dement. And this process need not be left to the unconscious. Cartwright believes one can exercise conscious control over recurring bad dreams As soon as you awaken, identify what is upsetting about the dream. Visualize how you would like it to end instead, the next time is occurs, try to wake up just enough to control its course. With much practice people can learn to, literally, do it in their sleep. At the end of the day, there's probably little reason to pay attention to our dreams at all unless they keep us from sleeping of “we wake u in a panic,” Cartwright says Terrorism, economic uncertainties and general feelings of insecurity have increased people's anxiety. Those suffering from persistent nightmares should seek help from a therapist For the rest of us, the brain has its ways of working through bad feelings. Sleep-or rather dream-on it and you'll feel better in the morning.31. Researchers have come to believe that dreamsA. can be modified in their courses.B. are susceptible to emotional changes.C. reflect our innermost desires and fears.D. are a random outcome of neural repairs.32. By referring to the limbic system, the author intends to showA. its function in our dreams.B. the mechanism of REM sleep.C. the relation of dreams to emotions.D. its difference from the prefrontal cortex.33. The negative feelings generated during the day tend toA. aggravate in our unconscious mind.B. develop into happy dreams.C. persist till the time we fall asleep.D. show up in dreams early at night.34.Cartwright seems to suggest thatA. waking up in time is essential to the ridding of bad dreams.B. visualizing bad dreams helps bring them under con troll.C. dreams should be left to their natural progression.D. dreaming may not entirely belong to the unconscious.35. What advice might Cartwright give to those who sometimes have had dreams?A. lead your life as usual.B. Seek professional help.C. Exercise conscious control.D. Avoid anxiety in the daytime.Text 4 American no longer expect public figures, whether in speech or in writing, to command the English language with skill and gift. Nor do they aspire to such command themselves. In his latest book, Doing Our Own Thing. The Degradation of language and Music and why we should like, care, John McWhorter, a linguist and controversialist of mixed liberal and conservative views, sees the triumph of 1960s counter-culture as responsible for the decline of formal English. But the cult of the authentic and the personal, “doing our own thing”, has spelt the death of formal speech, writing, poetry and music. While even the modestly educated sought an elevated tone when they put pen to paper before the 1960s, even the most well regarded writing since then has sought to capture spoken English on the page. Equally, in poetry, the highly personal, performative genre is the only form that could claim real liveliness. In both oral and written English, talking is triumphing over speaking, spontaneity over craft. Illustrated with an entertaining array of examples from both high and low culture, the trend that Mr. McWhorter documents is unmistakable. But it is less clear, to take the question of his subtitle, why we should, like care. As a linguist, he acknowledges that all varieties of human language, including non-standard ones like Black English, can be powerfully expressive-there exists no language or dialect in the world that cannot convey complex ideas He is not arguing, as many do, that we can no longer think straight because we do not talk proper. Russians have a deep love for their own language and carry large chunks of memorized poetry in their heads, while Italian politicians tend to elaborate speech that would seem old-fashioned to most English-speakers. Mr. McWhorter acknowledges that formal language is not strictly necessary, and proposes no radical education reforms-he is really grieving over the loss of something beautiful more than useful. We now take our English “on paper plates instead of china”. A shame, perhaps, but probably an inevitable one.36. According to Mc Whorter, the decline of formal EnglishA. is inevitable in radical education reforms.B. is but all too natural in language development.C. has caused the controversy over the counter-culture.D. brought about changes in public attitudes in the 1960s.37. The word “talking” (Linge6, paragraph3) denotesA. modesty.B. personality.C. liveliness.D. informality.38. To which of the following statements would Mc Whorter most likely agree?A. Logical thinking is not necessarily related to the way we talk.B. Black English can be more expressive than standard English.C. Non-standard varieties of human language are just as entertaining.D. Of all the varieties, standard English Can best convey complex ideas.39. The description of Russians' love of memorizing poetry shows the author'sA. interest in their language.B. appreciation of their efforts.C. admiration for their memory.D. contempt for their old-fashionedness.40. According to the last paragraph, “paper plates” is to “china” asA. “temporary” is to “permanent”.B. “radical” is to “conservative”.C. “functional” is to “artistic”.D. “humble” is to “noble”.Part BIn the following text, some sentences have removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list A-G to fit into of the numbered blank there are two extra choices, which do not fit in any of the gaps. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET1. (10 points)Canada's premiers (the leaders of provincial governments), if they have any breath left after complaining about Ottawa at their late July annual meeting, might spare a moment to do something, to reduce health-care costs.They're all groaning about soaring health budgets, the fastest-growing component of which are pharmaceutical costs.41. What to do? Both the Romanow commission and the Kirby committee on health care-to say nothing of reports from other experts recommended the creation of a national drug agency. Instead of each province having its own list of approved drugs , bureaucracy, procedures and limited bargaining power, all would pool resources ,work with Ottawa, and create a national institution.42. But “national” doesn't have to mean that. “National” could mean interprovincial-provinces combining efforts to create one body. Either way, one benefit of a “national” organization would be to negotiate better prices, if possible, with drug manufacturers. Instead of having one province-or a series of hospitals within a province-negotiate a price for a given drug on the provincial list, the national agency would negotiate on behalf of all provinces. Rather than, say, Quebec, negotiating on behalf of seven million people, the national agency would negotiate on behalf 31 million people. Basic economics suggests the greater the potential consumers, the higher the likelihood of a better price.43. A small step has been taken in the direction of a national agency with the creation of the Canadian Co-ordinating Office for Health Technology Assessment, funded by Ottawa and the provinces. Under it, a Common Drug Review recommends to provincial lists which new drugs should be included, predictably and regrettably Quebec refused to join. A few premiers are suspicious of any federal-provincial deal-making. They (particularly Quebec and Alberta) just want Ottawa to fork over additional billions with few, if any, strings attached. That's one reason why the idea of a nationalist hasn't gone anywhere while drug costs keep rising fast.44. Premiers love to quote Mr. Romanow's report selectively, especially the parts about more federal money perhaps they should read what he had to say a bout drugs. “A national drug agency would provide governments more influence on pharmaceutical companies in order to constrain the ever-increasing cost of drugs.” 45. So when the premiers gather in Niagara Falls to assemble their usual complaint list, they should also get cracking about something in their jurisdiction that would help their budgets and patients.A. Quebec's resistance to a national agency is provincialist