2012年考研英语一阅读理解

Section II 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 ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)

Text 1

Come on — Everybody’s doing it. That whispered message, half invitation and half forcing, is what most of us think of when we hear the words peer pressure. It usually leads to no good — drinking, drugs and casual sex. But in her new book Join the Club, Tina Rosenberg contends that peer pressure can also be a positive force through what she calls the social cure, in which organizations and officials use the power of group dynamics to help individuals improve their lives and possibly the world.

Rosenberg, the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, offers a host of examples of the social cure in action: In South Carolina, a state-sponsored antismoking program called Rage Against the Haze sets out to make cigarettes uncool. In South Africa, an HIV-prevention initiative known as loveLife recruits young people to promote safe sex among their peers.

The idea seems promising，and Rosenberg is a perceptive observer. Her critique of the lameness of many public-health campaigns is spot-on：they fail to mobilize peer pressure for healthy habits, and they demonstrate a seriously flawed understanding of psychology. “Dare to be different, please don’t smoke!” pleads one billboard campaign aimed at reducing smoking among teenagers — teenagers, who desire nothing more than fitting in. Rosenberg argues convincingly that public-health advocates ought to take a page from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer pressure.

But on the general effectiveness of the social cure, Rosenberg is less persuasive. Join the Club is filled with too much irrelevant detail and not enough exploration of the social and biological factors that make peer pressure so powerful. The most glaring flaw of the social cure as it’s presented here is that it doesn’t work very well for very long. Rage Against the Haze failed once state funding was cut. Evidence that the loveLife program produces lasting changes is limited and mixed.

There’s no doubt that our peer groups exert enormous influence on our behavior. An emerging body of research shows that positive health habits — as well as negative ones — spread through networks of friends via social communication. This is a subtle form of peer pressure: we unconsciously imitate the behavior we see every day.

Far less certain, however, is how successfully experts and bureaucrats can select our peer groups and steer their activities in virtuous directions. It’s like the teacher who breaks up the troublemakers in the back row by pairing them with better-behaved classmates. The tactic never really works. And that’s the problem with a social cure engineered from the outside: in the real world, as in school, we insist on choosing our own friends.

21. According to the first paragraph, peer pressure often emerges as __________.

[A] a supplement to the social cure                                   [B] a stimulus to group dynamics

[C] an obstacle to social progress                                     [D] a cause of undesirable behaviors

22. Rosenberg holds that public advocates should _________.

[A] recruit professional advertisers                                   [B] learn from advertisers’ experience

[C] stay away from commercial advertisers                       [D] recognize the limitations of advertisements

23. In the author’s view, Rosenberg’s book fails to __________.

[A] adequately probe social and biological factors              [B] effectively evade the flaws of the social cure

[C] illustrate the functions of state funding                        [D] produce a long-lasting social effect

24. Paragraph 5 shows that our imitation of behaviors __________.

[A] is harmful to our networks of friends                          [B] will mislead behavioral studies

[C] occurs without our realizing it                                    [D]can produce negative health habits

25. The author suggests in the last paragraph that the effect ofpeer pressure is __________.

[A] harmful     [B] desirable     [C] profound      [D] questionable

Text 2

A deal is a deal — except, apparently, when Entergy is involved. The company, a major energy supplier in New England, provoked justified outrage in Vermont last week when it announced it was reneging on a longstanding commitment to abide by the strict nuclear regulations.

Instead, the company has done precisely what it had long promised it would not: challenge the constitutionality of Vermont’s rules in the federal court, as part of a desperate effort to keep its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant running. It’s a stunning move.

The conflict has been surfacing since 2002, when the corporation bought Vermont’s only nuclear power plant, an aging reactor in Vernon. As a condition of receiving state approval for the sale, the company agreed to seek permission from state regulators to operate past 2012. In 2006, the state went a step further, requiring that any extension of the plant’s license be subject to Vermont legislature’s approval. Then, too, the company went along.

Either Entergy never really intended to live by those commitments, or it simply didn’t foresee what would happen next. A string of accidents, including the partial collapse of a cooling tower in 2007 and the discovery of an underground pipe system leakage, raised serious questions about both Vermont Yankee’s safety and Entergy’s management — especially after the company made misleading statements about the pipe. Enraged by Entergy’s behavior, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 last year against allowing an extension.

Now the company is suddenly claiming that the 2002 agreement is invalid because of the 2006 legislation, and that only the federal government has regulatory power over nuclear issues. The legal issues in the case are obscure: whereas the Supreme Court has ruled that states do have some regulatory authority over nuclear power, legal scholars say that Vermont case will offer a precedent-setting test of how far those powers extend. Certainly, there are valid concerns about the patchwork regulations that could result if every state sets its own rules. But had Entergy kept its word, that debate would be beside the point.

The company seems to have concluded that its reputation in Vermont is already so damaged that it has nothing left to lose by going to war with the state. But there should be consequences. Permission to run a nuclear plant is a public trust. Entergy runs 11 other reactors in the United States, including Pilgrim Nuclear station in Plymouth. Pledging to run Pilgrim safely, the company has applied for federal permission to keep it open for another 20 years. But as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviews the company’s application, it should keep it mind what promises from Entergy are worth.

26. The phrase “reneging on” (Line 3.para.1) is closest in meaning to _________.

[A] condemning    [B] reaffirming     [C] dishonoring      [D] securing

27. By entering into the 2002 agreement, Entergy intended to __________.

[A] obtain protection from Vermont regulators   [B] seek favor from the federal legislature

[C] acquire an extension of its business license   [D] get permission to purchase a power plant

28. According to Paragraph 4, Entergy seems to have problems with its ___________.

[A] managerial practices  [B] technical innovativeness  [C] financial goals  [D] business vision

29. In the author’s view, the Vermont case will test ___________.

[A] Entergy’s capacity to fulfill all its promises                 [B] the mature of states’ patchwork regulations

[C] the federal authority over nuclear issues                      [D] the limits of states’ power over nuclear issues

30. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that __________.

[A] Entergy’s business elsewhere might be affected           [B] the authority of the NRC will be defied

[C] Entergy will withdraw its Plymouth application           [D] Vermont’s reputation might be damaged 

Text 3

In the idealized version of how science is done, facts about the world are waiting to be observed and collected by objective researchers who use the scientific method to carry out their work. But in the everyday practice of science, discovery frequently follows an ambiguous and complicated route. We aim to be objective, but we cannot escape the context of our unique life experiences. Prior knowledge and interests influence what we experience, what we think our experiences mean, and the subsequent actions we take. Opportunities for misinterpretation, error, and self-deception abound.

Consequently, discovery claims should be thought of as protoscience. Similar to newly staked mining claims, they are full of potential. But it takes collective scrutiny and acceptance to transform a discovery claim into a mature discovery. This is the credibility process, through which the individual researcher’s me, here, now becomes the community’s anyone, anywhere, anytime. Objective knowledge is the goal, not the starting point.

Once a discovery claim becomes public, the discoverer receives intellectual credit. But, unlike with mining claims, the community takes control of what happens next. Within the complex social structure of the scientific community, researchers make discoveries; editors and reviewers act as gatekeepers by controlling the publication process; other scientists use the new finding to suit their own purposes; and finally, the public (including other scientists) receives the new discovery and possibly accompanying technology. As a discovery claim works its way through the community, the interaction and confrontation between shared and competing beliefs about the science and the technology involved transforms an individual’s discovery claim into the community’s credible discovery.

Two paradoxes exist throughout this credibility process. First, scientific work tends to focus on some aspect of prevailing knowledge that is viewed as incomplete or incorrect. Little reward accompanies duplication and confirmation of what is already known and believed. The goal is new-search, not re-search. Not surprisingly, newly published discovery claims and credible discoveries that appear to be important and convincing will always be open to challenge and potential modification or refutation by future researchers. Second, novelty itself frequently provokes disbelief. Nobel Laureate and physiologist Albert Szent-Györgyi once described discovery as “seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.” But thinking what nobody else has thought and telling others what they have missed may not change their views. Sometimes years are required for truly novel discovery claims to be accepted and appreciated.

In the end, credibility “happens” to a discovery claim — a process that corresponds to what philosopher Annette Baier has described as the commons of the mind. “We reason together, challenge, revise, and complete each other’s reasoning and each other’s conceptions of reason.”

31. According to the first paragraph, the process of discovery is characterized by its ______.

[A] uncertainty and complexity                                        [B] misconception and deceptiveness

[C] logicality and objectivity                                           [D] systematicness and regularity

32. It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that credibility process requires _________.

[A] strict inspection     [B] shared efforts     [C] individual wisdom     [D] persistent innovation

33. Paragraph 3 shows that a discovery claim becomes credible after it _________.

[A] has attracted the attention of the general public            [B] has been examined by the scientific community

[C] has received recognition from editors and reviewers     [D] has been frequently quoted by peer scientists

34. Albert Szent-Györgyi would most likely agree that _________.

[A] scientific claims will survive challenges                      [B] discoveries today inspire future research

[C] efforts to make discoveries are justified                       [D]scientific work calls for a critical mind

35. Which of the following would be the best title of the text?

[A] Novelty as an Engine of Scientific Development          [B] Collective Scrutiny in Scientific Discovery

[C] Evolution of Credibility in Doing Science                   [D] Challenge to Credibility at the Gate to Science

Text 4

If the trade unionist Jimmy Hoffa were alive today, he would probably represent civil servants. When Hoffa’s Teamsters were in their prime in 1960, only one in ten American government workers belonged to a union; now 36% do. In 2009 the number of unionists in America’s public sector passed that of their fellow members in the private sector. In Britain, more than half of public-sector workers but only about 15% of private-sector ones are unionized.

There are three reasons for the public-sector unions’ thriving. First, they can shut things down without suffering much in the way of consequences. Second, they are mostly bright and well-educated. A quarter of America’s public-sector workers have a university degree. Third, they now dominate left-of-centre politics. Some of their ties go back a long way. Britain’s Labor Party, as its name implies, has long been associated with trade unionism. Its current leader, Ed Miliband, owes his position to votes from public-sector unions.

At the state level their influence can be even more fearsome. Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of California points out that much of the state’s budget is patrolled by unions. The teachers’ unions keep an eye on schools, the CCPOA on prisons and a variety of labor groups on health care.

In many rich countries average wages in the state sector are higher than in the private one. But the real gains come in benefits and work practices. Politicians have repeatedly “backloaded” public-sector pay deals, keeping the pay increases modest but adding to holidays and especially pensions that are already generous.

Reform has been vigorously opposed, perhaps most egregiously in education, where charter schools, academies and merit pay all faced drawn-out battles. Even though there is plenty of evidence that the quality of the teachers is the most important variable, teachers’ unions have fought against getting rid of bad ones and promoting good ones.

As the cost to everyone else has become clearer, politicians have begun to clamp down. In Wisconsin the unions have rallied thousands of supporters against Scott Walker, the hardline Republican governor. But many within the public sector suffer under the current system, too.

John Donahue at Harvard’s Kennedy School points out that the norms of culture in Western civil services suit those who want to stay put but is bad for high achievers. The only American public-sector workers who earn well above $250,000 a year are university sports coaches and the president of the United States. Bankers’ fat pay packets have attracted much criticism, but a public-sector system that does not reward high achievers may be a much bigger problem for America.

36. It can be learned from the first paragraph that _________.

[A] Teamsters still have a large body of members             

[B] Jimmy Hoffa used to work as a civil servant

[C] unions have enlarged their public-sector membership   

[D] the government has improved its relationship with unionists

37. Which of the following is true of Paragraph 2?

[A] Public-sector unions are prudent in taking actions.     

[B] Education is required for public-sector union membership.

[C] Labor Party has long been fighting against public-sector unions.

[D] Public-sector unions seldom get in trouble for their actions.

38. It can be learned from Paragraph 4 that the income in the state sector is _________.

[A] illegally secured    [B] indirectly augmented    [C] excessively increased    [D] fairly adjusted

39. The example of the unions in Wisconsin shows that unions __________.

[A] often run against the current political system               [B] can change people’s political attitudes

[C] may be a barrier to public-sector reforms                    [D] are dominant in the government

40. John Donahue’s attitude towards the public-sector system is one of _________.

[A] disapproval    [B] appreciation     [C] tolerance     [D] indifference

Section II Reading Comprehension

Part A

Text 1

21.【答案】D

【解析】文章首段包含了两方面的内容，作者先简单介绍Peer pressure，再引出Tina Rosenberg在她的新书Join the Club中对于peer pressure的看法，这篇文章是以一篇书评的形式出现。而题目"根据第一段，同伴压力的出现常常是…"问的仅仅是同伴压力，并无涉及到Tina Rosenberg或者她的新书，因此答案则应主要涉及文章对于peer pressure的介绍，而非Tina对于peer pressure的看法。首段第三句说"(同伴压力)通常引起不好的事情，如酗酒，嗑药，乱交"，故答案选D，说明同伴压力出现导致的结果，这里的答案使用了同义替换的方式。

22.【答案】B

【解析】根据题干关键词"public-health advocates"可以定位到第三段最后一句话"Rosenberg argues convincingly that public-health advocates ought to take a page from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer pressure",即应该向广告商学习，这里主要是对于短语"take a page from"的理解，答案选B

23.【答案】A

【解析】根据题干"在作者看来，Rosenberg的书没能…"，所选答案是要找出作者看来这本书的缺点是什么。文章第四段第一句话说"但是，在…方面，Rosenberg不太有说服力"，紧接着说"Join the Club中太多无关的细节，而对于使同伴压力能产生如此大作用的社会和生物因素并未做足够的探究"，这句话充分说明了在作者心目中这本书的不足在哪儿，故答案选A

24.【答案】C

【解析】这是一道细节题。文章第五段首句告诉我们peer groups确实会对行为产生很大的影响，第二句具体说明影响的内容，即好的习惯和不好的习惯都会通过社会交际在朋友圈中传递，最后一句则对这种影响进行了总结，"这是同伴压力的细微表现，我们无意识地模仿日常所见到的行为"。而分析题干和选项，我们发现该题是对"imitation of behavior"进行归纳，回到原文，找到"我们无意识地模仿日常所见到的行为"，答案即刻清晰，这里是对unconsciously一词进行了释义，因此C选项正确。

25.【答案】D

【解析】这道题考查作者对于peer pressure所能带来的影响的态度，作者通过最后一段第一句话首先向我们表明他对"希赛网和其他人员是否能成功选择同伴来引导他们的行为朝好的方向发展"的不肯定，接下来以教师指导学生的例子为说明，得出结论"The tactic never really works."(这个策略从来没有真正起作用)。通过作者的这样一番描述，可以看出，作者对于peer pressure是否能有效果是质疑的，故答案选D。

Text 2

26.【答案】C

【解析】

reneging 的原形是renege，本议是"食言""否认"之意，为反向意义词。而四个选项中A 中的condemning 意为"谴责""处刑"B中的reaffirming 意为"重申""再肯定，再断言"，C中的dishonoring的意为"拒付，不兑付"，在意思和方向上都符合，D中securing 意为"保证，使保险"的含义。本文主要在说Entergy这个公司不兑现自己的诺言，所以应选C项。

27.【答案】D

【解析】

本题答案定位在文中第三段每二句话，As a condition of receiving state approval for the sale , the company agreed to seek permission from state regulators to operate past 2012. "as a condition of"可以理解为"为了"，D 项中的"purchase "一词就是对文中"sale"的替换。

28.【答案】A

【解析】

题干："根据第四段Entergy公司似乎在它的••••上存在着问题"，题目中已清晰把答案范围确定在第四段，通过阅读第四段我们可以看到Entergy公司出现了一系列的事故"a string of accidents",而后面的这句"raised serious questions about both Vermont Yankee's safety and Entergy's management"就是本题的答案所在了。其中 "managerial" "management"仍是同一单词的变形。

29.【答案】D

【解析】

首先从题干知道考查的是作者的观点。 "佛蒙特州事件"和will test在文章中的定位是在第5段第5句话，"Vermont case will offer a precedent-setting test of how far those powers extend"意思是"佛蒙特州事件将会检验是这些权利延伸多远的先例"。这句话是legal scholars的观点。重点是理解certainly和but后面的意思。虽然作者承认担忧如果每个周各行其是的后果是合理的，但是But后面是个虚拟语气，与事实相反。所以作者的真正态度是支持legal scholars的观点，即佛蒙特州事件是对州法规的权限的考验。How far those power extended与D选项的the limits of states' power与选项D"各州在核问题上的权限"是相匹配的，因此正确答案为D。其他选项与"佛蒙特州事件"带来的检验，文中并未直接提及。

30.【答案】A

【解析】

最后一段主要讲的是"Entergy公司的名誉已严重受创。该公司向联邦申请：许可Pilgrim核电站获得另外20年的开放权。但是作者认为，核管理委员会在审核该公司的申请的时候，务必要考虑下该公司的信誉问题。"A选项"Entergy公司在其它地方的生意将会受到影响"由最后一段的第一句话"Entergy公司的名誉已严重受创"就可以推断出来;B"核管理委员会的权威将会被藐视"最后一段没给出任何要藐视核管理委员会的暗含信息，因此B选项错误;C "Entergy公司将会撤回关于Pilgrim核电站的申请"，最后一段同样没给出类似的暗含信息;D "Vermont的名声将会受到破坏" 同样，从最后一段，根本无法推断出。因此，最佳答案是A。

Text 3

31.【答案】A

【解析】

这篇文章选自The Scientist,文章题目是The Evolution of Credibility。文章第一段第二句话提到"But in the everyday practice of science, discovery frequently follows an ambiguous and complicated route."，即在每天的科学实践中，发现所遵循的规律是模棱两可和复杂的。A项uncertainty and complexity 是对文中ambiguous and complicated的同义替换，所以为正确答案。

B项是利用文中最后一句话的干扰"Opportunities for misinterpretation, error, and self-deception abound"，这句话是说"有误解和自我欺骗的可能"，从而导致了科学发现的模棱两可和复杂性;C项和D项是受文章第一句话的干扰，但是第一句同时提出只有"在理想中(in the idealized version of ...)，科学发现才能够很客观。

32.【答案】B

【解析】

第二段第二句中提到"But it takes collective scrutiny and acceptance to...",其中it指的是将科学发现获得公众可信度的过程。接下来的第四句话具体讲到了这个过程："through which the individual researcher's me, here, now becomes the community's anyone, anywhere, anytime."，即要经历从个人到集体的过程，需要每个人共同的努力，故答案为B。

33.【答案】B

【解析】

本段第三句话中提到"Within the complex social structure of the scientific community, researchers make discoveries"，即"研究者需要在科学团体复杂的社会结构中实现科学发现"，在这句话的后面有一个分号，分号后面的三个短句分别解释了在科学团体中不同身份的人所做的不同工作，如新闻编辑者和评论家需要控制科学发现公开的过程,而另外一些科学家需要同过新的发现来证明已有的发现等。除此之外，最后一句话"transform an individual's discovery claim into the community's credible discovery"即将个人的发现转换为集体可信的科学发现，故答案为B，即科学发现获得公众的可信度需要集体的努力和验证。

答案A是利用本段首句设置的干扰，属于主观臆断;答案C为干扰项目，以偏概全;答案D文中没有提及。

34.【答案】D

【解析】

第四段主要讲到了科学发现获得大众可信度的过程中面临的两个矛盾。Albert Szent-Gyorygi的观点主要针对第二个矛盾，即创新本身经常会引起怀疑。同时他认为科学发现需要"seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought"，即看到每个人都已经看到的，并想到别人没有想到的。这句话暗示了科学发现的过程需要有评判性思维，即我们应该去探求事物。故答案为D。

答案A与本段中讲到的第一个矛盾有关;答案B的过渡推断来自本段最后一句话，这句话的意思是，真正有创新的发现需要时间的验证来得到公众的认可。答案C文中没有提到，属于主观臆断。

35.【答案】C

【解析】

此题考察对全文主旨大意的准确归纳。从整个文章脉络来看，文章第一段指出任何发现最终的目标是使之客观化，然而此过程或多或少会受到不同的生活环境的影响;第二段指出这个过程需要公众共同的努力;第三段具体论述了不同的人在这个过程中需要完成的工作;第四段则提出了使科学发现获得可信度的过程中所遇到的两个矛盾;最后一段用Annette Baier的一句话总结了这个过程。由此可知，C项统领全文，为正确答案。答案A项与原文不符;答案B 是第二段中提到的一部分;而答案D只是对第四段的概括。

Text 4

36.【答案】C

【解析】

根据题干定位于第一段When …were in their prime in 1960, only one in ten American government workers belonged to a union; now 36% do. 意思是1960年时，美国政府部门只有1/10的人是工会成员，但是现在比例是36%。所以C选项正确：工会增加了政府部门成员。A选项：Teamster 仍然拥有很多成员。文中只提到了比例，并没有讲具体人数;B：吉米过去是一个公仆。而文中第一句是一个虚拟语气的句子，"如果他还活着的话，他今天可能代表一名公仆"，曲解文意;D：政府改善了与社团的关系。文中并未提及。

37.【答案】D

【解析】

该题很容易根据题干定位于第二段。第二段中有很明显的first, second, third这些词，属于典型的列举处，最容易出细节题。只需要将各选项与这三点仔细比对即可。A 公共部门组织在采取行动时很谨慎文中并示提及，是对"they now dominate left-of-centre politics"这句话设置的干扰项，"左派"为激进派，不可能谨慎;而B错在教育不是需要的，而是公务员社团成员受教育程度普遍偏高，并非必需;D选项为First, they can shut things down without suffering much in the way of consequences.这句话的同义改写。意思是"他们可以息事宁人并不用遭受不好的后果"。

38.【答案】B

【解析】

该题很容易定位于文章的第四段。题干是"部门人员的工资状况是"。做这道题要把第四段整体理解。注意But后面的内容，尤其是keeping the pay increases modest but adding to holidays and especially pensions that are already generous。大意是公共部门员工的工资涨幅很小，但是节假日福利津贴很多。B选项的indirectly augment意思是"间接地增加"。和原文意思"公有部门人员的收入是来源于福利等间接收入，而非正常的工资收入"符合。A 通过非法得来文中只提到了部门人员的工资比私人企业的要高，整段都未提及来源，故该选项属于过度推理;C 过度地增长文中并未提及增长的幅度，提到只是通过"暗厢操作"的方式，容易使考生产生误解;D 很公正地调整与"backloaded"不符。

39.【答案】C

40.【答案】A

【解析】

文中人物的观点态度题。该题定位于最后一段，第一句话指出John认为西方公共服务中的文化准则适用于想维持原状的人们而对于有比较高成就的人们就不利了，很明显持否定态度，最后再次指出不能造福于高成就人们的公共服务系统对于美国可能是一个更大的麻烦，也再次证实了作者的观点是不支持的即A选项。disapproval"反对"，appreciation"欣赏"，tolerance"宽容"，indifference"冷漠"。