2008年考研英語真題及解析

1、2008年全國碩士研究生招生考試英語（一）試題section i use of englishdirections:read the following text. choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark a, b, c or d on answer sheet 1. (10 points)the idea that some groups of people may be more intelligent than others is one of those hypotheses that dare not spe

2、ak its name. but gregory cochran is1to say it anyway. he is that2bird, a scientist who works independently3any institution. he helped popularize the idea that some diseases not4thought to have a bacterial cause were actually infections, which aroused much controversy when it was first suggested.5he,

3、 however, might tremble at the6of what he is about to do. together with another two scientists, he is publishing a paper which not only7that one group of humanity is more intelligent than the others, but explains the process that has brought this about. the group in8are a particularpeople originated

4、 from central europe. the process is natural selection.this group generally do well in iq test,912-15 points above the10value of 100, and have contributed11to the intellectual and cultural life of the west, as the12of their elites, including several world-renowned scientists,13. they also suffer mor

5、e often than most people from a number of nasty genetic diseases, such as breast cancer. these facts,14, have previously been thought unrelated. the former has been15to social effects, such as a strong tradition of16education. the latter was seen as a (an)17of genetic isolation. dr. cochran suggests

6、 that the intelligence and diseases are intimately18. his argument is that the unusual history of these people has19them to unique evolutionary pressures that have resulted in this20state of affairs.1.a selected b prepared c obliged d pleased2.a unique b particular c special d rare3.a of b with c in

7、 d against4.a subsequently b presently c previously d lately5.a only b so c even d hence6.a thought b sight c cost d risk7.a advises b suggests c protests d objects8.a progress b fact c need d question9.a attaining b scoring c reaching d calculating10.a normal b common c mean d total11.a unconscious

8、lyb disproportionatelyc indefinitelyd unaccountably12.a missions b fortunes c interests d careers13.a affirm b witness c observe d approve14.a moreover b therefore c however d meanwhile15.a given up b got over c carried on d put down16.a assessing b supervising c administering d valuing17.a developm

9、ent b origin c consequence d instrument18.a linked b integrated c woven d combined19.a limited b subjected c converted d directed20.a paradoxical b incompatible c inevitable d continuoussection ii reading comprehensionpart adirections:read the following four texts. answer the questions below each te

10、xt by choosing a, b, c or d. mark your answers on answer sheet 1. (40 points)text 1while still catching up to men in some spheres of modern life, women appear to be way ahead in at least one undesirable category. “women are particularly susceptible to developing depression and anxiety disorders in r

11、esponse to stress compared to men,” according to dr. yehuda, chief psychiatrist at new yorks veterans administration hospital.studies of both animals and humans have shown that sex hormones somehow affect the stress response, causing females under stress to produce more of the trigger chemicals than

12、 do males under the same conditions. in several of the studies, when stressed-out female rats had their ovaries (the female reproductive organs) removed, their chemical responsesbecame equal to those of the males.adding to a womans increased dose of stress chemicals, are her increased “opportunities

13、” for stress. “its not necessarily that women dont cope as well. its just that they have so much more to cope with,” says dr. yehuda. “their capacity for tolerating stress may even be greater than mens,” she observes, “its just that theyre dealing with so many more things that they become worn out f

14、rom it more visibly and sooner.”dr. yehuda notes another difference between the sexes. “i think that the kinds of things that women are exposed to tend to be in more of a chronic or repeated nature. men go to war and are exposed to combat stress. men are exposed to more acts of random physical viole

15、nce. the kinds of interpersonal violence that women are exposed to tend to be in domestic situations, by, unfortunately, parents or other family members, and they tend not to be one-shot deals. the wear-and-tear that comes from these longer relationships can be quite devastating.”adeline alvarez mar

16、ried at 18 and gave birth to a son, but was determined to finish college. “i struggled a lot to get the college degree. i was living in so much frustration that that was my escape, to go to school, and get ahead and do better.” later, her marriage ended and she became a single mother. “its the harde

17、st thing to take care of a teenager, have a job, pay the rent, pay the car payment, and pay the debt.i lived from paycheck to paycheck.”not everyone experiences the kinds of severe chronic stresses alvarez describes. but most women today are coping with a lot of obligations, with few breaks, and fee

18、ling the strain. alvarezs experience demonstrates the importance of finding ways to diffuse stress before it threatens your health and your ability to function.21. which of the following is true according to the first two paragraphs?a women are biologically more vulnerable to stress.b women are stil

19、l suffering much stress caused by men.c women are more experienced than men in coping with stress.d men and women show different inclinations when faced with stress.22. dr. yehudas research suggests that women .a need extra doses of chemicals to handle stressb have limited capacity for tolerating st

20、ressc are more capable of avoiding stressd are exposed to more stress23. according to paragraph 4, the stress women confront tends to be .a domestic and temporaryb irregular and violentc durable and frequentd trivial and random24. the sentence “i lived from paycheck to paycheck.” (line 5, para. 5) s

21、hows that .a alvarez cared about nothing but making moneyb alvarezs salary barely covered her household expensesc alvarez got paychecks from different jobsd alvarez paid practically everything by check25. which of the following would be the best title for the text?a strain of stress: no way out?b re

22、sponse to stress: gender differencec stress analysis: what chemicals say?d gender inequality: women under stresstext 2it used to be so straightforward. a team of researchers working together in the laboratory would submit the results of their research to a journal. a journal editor would then remove

23、 the authors names and affiliations from the paper and send it to their peers for review. depending on the comments received, the editor would accept the paper for publication or decline it. copyright rested with the journal publisher, and researchers seeking knowledge of the results would have to s

24、ubscribe to the journal.no longer. the internetand pressure from funding agencies, who are questioning why commercial publishers are making money fromgovernmentfunded research by restricting access to itis making access to scientific results a reality. the organization for economic co-operation and

25、development (oecd) has just issued a report describing the far-reaching consequences of this. the report, by john houghton of victoria university in australia and graham vickery of the oecd, makes heavy reading for publishers who have, so far, made handsome profits. but it goes further than that. it

26、 signals a change in what has, until now, been a key element of scientific endeavor.the value of knowledge and the return on the public investment in research depends, in part, upon wide distribution and ready access. it is big business. in america, the core scientific publishing market is estimated

27、 at between $7 billion and $11 billion. the international association of scientific, technical and medical publishers says that there are more than 2,000 publishers worldwide specializing in these subjects. they publish more than 1.2 million articles each year in some 16,000 journals.this is now cha

28、nging. according to the oecd report, some 75% of scholarly journals are now online. entirely new business models are emerging; three main ones were identified by the reports authors. there is the so-called big deal, where institutional subscribers pay for access to a collection of online journal tit

29、les through site-licensing agreements. there is open-access publishing, typically supported by asking the author (orhis employer) to pay for the paper to be published. finally, there are open-access archives, where organizations such as universities or international laboratories support institutiona

30、l repositories. other models exist that are hybrids of these three, such as delayed open-access, where journals allow only subscribers to read a paper for the first six months, before making it freely available to everyone who wishes to see it. all this could change the traditional form of the peer-

31、review process, at least for the publication of papers.26. in the first paragraph, the author discusses .a the background information of journal editingb the publication routine of laboratory reportsc the relations of authors with journal publishersd the traditional process of journal publication27.

32、 which of the following is true of the oecd report?a it criticizes government-funded research.b it introduces an effective means of publication.c it upsets profit-making journal publishers.d it benefits scientific research considerably.28. according to the text, online publication is significant in

33、that .a it provides an easier access to scientific resultsb it brings huge profits to scientific researchersc it emphasizes the crucial role of scientific knowledged it facilitates public investment in scientific research29. with the open-access publishing model, the author of a paper is required to

34、 .a cover the cost of its publicationb subscribe to the journal publishing itc allow other online journals to use it freelyd complete the peer-review before submission30. which of the following best summarizes the text?a the internet is posing a threat to publishers.b a new mode of publication is em

35、erging.c authors welcome the new channel for publication.d publication is rendered easily by online service.text 3in the early 1960s wilt chamberlain was one of the only three players in the national basketball association (nba) listed at over seven feet. if he had played last season, however, he wo

36、uld have been one of 42. the bodies playing major professional sports have changed dramatically over the years, and managers have been more than willing to adjust team uniforms to fit the growing numbers of bigger, longer frames.the trend in sports, though, may be obscuring an unrecognized reality:

37、americans have generally stopped growing. though typically about two inches taller now than 140 years ago, todays peopleespecially those born to families who have lived in the u.s. for many generationsapparently reached their limit in the early 1960s.and they arent likely to get any taller. “in the

38、general population today, at this genetic, environmental level, weve pretty much gone as far as we can go,” says anthropologist william cameron chumlea of wright state university. in the case of nba players, their increase in height appears to result from the increasingly common practice of recruiti

39、ng players from all over the world.growth, which rarely continues beyond the age of 20, demands calories and nutrientsnotably, proteinto feed expanding tissues. at the start of the 20th century, under-nutrition and childhood infections got in the way. but as diet and health improved, children and ad

40、olescents have, on average, increased in height by about an inch and a half every 20 years, a pattern known as the secular trend in height. yet according to the centers for disease control and prevention, average height59 for men, 54 for womenhasnt really changed since 1960.genetically speaking, the

41、re are advantages to avoiding substantial height. during childbirth, larger babies have more difficulty passing through the birth canal. moreover, even though humans have been upright for millions of years, our feet and back continue to struggle with bipedal posture and cannot easily withstand repea

42、ted strain imposed by oversize limbs. “there are some real constraints that are set by the genetic architecture of the individual organism,” says anthropologist william leonard of northwestern university.genetic maximums can change, but dont expect this to happen soon. claire c. gordon, senior anthr

43、opologist at the army research center in natick, mass., ensures that 90 percent of the uniforms and workstations fit recruits without alteration. she says that, unlike those for basketball, the length of military uniforms has not changed for some time. and if you need to predict human height in the

44、near future to design a piece of equipment, gordon says that by and large, “you could use todays data and feel fairly confident.”31. wilt chamberlain is cited as an example to .a illustrate the change of height of nba playersb show the popularity of nba players in the u.s.c compare different generat

45、ions of nba playersd assess the achievements of famous nba players32. which of the following plays a key role in body growth according to the text?a genetic modification.b natural environment.c living standards.d daily exercise.33. on which of the following statements would the author most probably

46、agree?a non-americans add to the average height of the nation.b human height is conditioned by the upright posture.c americans are the tallest on average in the world.d larger babies tend to become taller in adulthood.34. we learn from the last paragraph that in the near future .a the garment indust

47、ry will reconsider the uniform sizeb the design of military uniforms will remain unchangedc genetic testing will be employed in selecting sportsmend the existing data of human height will still be applicable35. the text intends to tell us that .a the change of human height follows a cyclic patternb

48、human height is becoming even more predictablec americans have reached their genetic growth limitd the genetic pattern of americans has alteredtext 4in 1784, five years before he became president of the united states, george washington, 52, was nearly toothless. so he hired a dentist to transplant n

49、ine teeth into his jawhaving extracted them from the mouths of his slaves.thats a far different image from the cherry-tree-chopping george most people remember from their history books. but recently,many historians have begun to focus on the role slavery played in the lives of the founding generatio

50、n. they have been spurred in part by dna evidence made available in 1998, which almost certainly proved thomas jefferson had fathered at least one child with his slave sally hemings. and only over the past 30 years have scholars examined history from the bottom up. works of several historians reveal

51、 the moral compromises made by the nations early leaders and the fragile nature of the countrys infancy. more significant, they argue that many of the founding fathers knew slavery was wrongand yet most did little to fight it.more than anything, the historians say, the founders were hampered by the

52、culture of their time. while washington and jefferson privately expressed distaste for slavery, they also understood that it was part of the political and economic bedrock of the country they helped to create.for one thing, the south could not afford to part with its slaves. owning slaves was “l(fā)ike

53、having a large bank account,” says wiencek, author ofan imperfect god: george washington, his slaves, and the creation of america. the southern states would not have signed the constitution without protections for the “peculiar institution,” including a clause that counted a slave as three fifths of

54、 a man for purposes of congressional representation.and the statesmens political lives depended on slavery. the three-fifths formula handed jefferson his narrow victory in the presidential election of 1800 by inflating the votes of the southern states in the electoral college. once in office, jeffer

55、son extended slavery with the louisiana purchase in 1803; the new land was carved into 13 states, including three slave states.still, jefferson freed hemingss childrenthough not hemings herself or his approximately 150 other slaves. washington, who had begun to believe thatallmen were created equal

56、after observing the bravary of the black soldiers during the revolutionary war, overcame the strong opposition of his relatives to grant his slaves their freedom in his will. only a decade earlier, such an act would have required legislative approval in virginia.36. george washingtons dental surgery is mentioned to .a show the primitive medical practice in the past.b demonstrate the cruelty of slavery in his days.c stress the role of slaves in the u.s. history.d reveal some unknown aspect of his life.37. we may infer from the second paragraph that .a dna technology has be