考研英语(阅读)模拟试卷271(题后含答案及解析)

考研英语（阅读）模拟试卷271 (题后含答案及解析)

全部题型 2. Reading Comprehension

Section II Reading Comprehension

Part ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)

Human language is the subject of endless scientific investigation, but the gestures that accompany speech are a surprisingly neglected area. It is sometimes jokingly said that the way to render an Italian speechless is to tie his wrists together, but almost everyone moves their hands in meaningful ways when they talk. Susan Goldin-Meadow of the University of Chicago, however, studies gestures carefully—and not out of idle curiosity. Introspection suggests that gesturing not only helps people communicate but also helps them to think. She set out to test this, and specifically to find out whether gestures might be used as an aid to children’s learning. It turns out, as she told the American Association for the Advancement of Science(AAAS), that they can. The experiment she conducted involved balancing equations. Presented with an equation of the form 2+3+4=x+4, written on a blackboard, a child is asked to calculate the value of x. In the equations Dr Goldin-Meadow always made the last number on the left the same as the last on the right; so x was the sum of the first two numbers. Commonly, however, children who are learning arithmetic will add all three of the numbers on the left to arrive at the value of x. In her previous work Dr Goldin-Meadow had noted that children often use spontaneous gestures when explaining how they solve mathematical puzzles. So to see if these hand-movements actually help a child to think, or are merely descriptive, she divided a group of children into two and asked them to balance equations. One group was asked to gesture while doing so. A second was asked not to. Both groups were then given a lesson in how to solve problems of this sort. As Dr Goldin-Meadow suspected, the first group learnt more from the lesson than the second. By observing their gestures she refined the experiment. Often, a child would touch or point to the first two numbers on the left with the first two fingers of one hand. Dr Goldin-Meadow therefore taught this gesture explicitly to another group of children. Or, rather, she taught a third of them, taught another third to point to the second and third numbers this way, and told the remainder to use no gestures. When all were given the same lesson it was found those gesturing “correctly” learnt the most. But those gesturing “incorrectly” still outperformed the non-gesturers. Gesturing, therefore, clearly does help thought. Indeed, it is so thought-provoking that even the wrong gestures have some value. Perhaps this helps to explain why the arithmetic-intensive profession of banking was invented in Italy.

1． We can learn from the first paragraph that

A．Italians cannot talk with others if they don’t move their hands in meaningful ways.

B．gesturing going with speech is rarely chosen as the subject of the scientific investigation.

C．human language is much more important than meaningful gestures. D．meaningful gestures are considered to be of help to children’s learning.

正确答案：B

解析：判断推理题。第一段讲到人类的语言是一个永恒的研究主题，然而对伴随言语的手势的研究却通常被忽视，故B项与之相符。 知识模块：阅读

2． Dr. Goldin-Meadow found that when explaining how they solve mathematical problems, children use gestures

A．purposefully. B．automatically. C．suddenly. D．naturally.

正确答案：D 解析：语义理解题。根据solving mathematical problems定位到第三段第一句。本句在原文中是用spontaneous来修饰gestures，故D项“自然地”与此最贴切。 知识模块：阅读

3． Dr. Goldin-Meadow conducted the experiment so as to

A．help children to learn how to communicate with others effectively. B．prove that gestures might be used as an aid to children’s learning. C．figure out that hand-movements of children are descriptive as well. D．prove that children doing wrong gestures learn less than non-gestures.

正确答案：B

解析：推理判断题。通过第一段“高定梅多对这一论断进行了检验，并特意考察了手势是否有助于儿童的学习”，以及第四段中的learnt more，可以推断出高定梅多博士的实验目的为确定手势对儿童学习的影响，故B项正确。 知识模块：阅读

4． Which of the following is true according to the text?

A．Most scholars study gestures because they are curious about them.

B．Italians are good at arithmetic because they gesture in meaningful ways. C．Wrong gestures as well as correct ones can aid children’s learning.

D．Correct gestures can help children to solve most mathematical problems.

正确答案：C

解析：推理判断题。依据原文第四段，无论手势正确与否，那些使用手势的儿童的学习效果要好于那些不使用手势的，故C项正确。 知识模块：阅读

5． What would be the best title for the text? A．Gesturing and Human Language

B．A Handwaving Approach to Arithmetic C．How to Solve Arithmetic Problems? D．Gesture: An Aid to Communication

正确答案：B

解析：主旨大意题。考查文章标题。这篇文章主要讲述高定梅多博士所做的实验，是为说明“使用手势对儿童的运算能力有帮助”这一观点。由此可以判断出B项“利用手势学习算术”最佳，它既指出了全文的关键词“手势”、“算术”，又点明了两者之间的关系。 知识模块：阅读

For the past five years, Dr. Stephen Post has been funding research projects that test how altruism(selflessness), compassion, and giving affect people’s lives and well-being. As head of the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love(IRUL), at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, he has sponsored more than 50 studies by scientists from major universities. In a wide range of disciplines—from public health to human development to neuroscience, sociology, and evolutionary biology—the studies have demonstrated that love and caring expressed in doing good for others lead people to have healthier, happier, and even longer lives. IRUL research is part of a significant shift under way within key scientific disciplines from focusing just on the deficit or disease model of human nature to studying the positive, virtuous, and thriving aspects. In the process, the research is broadening the understanding of what contributes to health and longevity. Even some in evolutionary biology, a field long known for proclaiming “the selfish gene,” are on board. “A lot of my colleagues view it very positively,” says David Sloan Wilson, a prominent evolutionary biologist famous for his work on “group selection.” Dr. Wilson has studied how altruistic teenagers fare within differing social environments—situations where they thrive and others where they are under great stress—as well as group altruism. He praises the institute for identifying and supporting “a neglected set of subjects” for research. Research on people diagnosed with various illnesses—whether it be HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, or alcoholism-revealed that those patients involved in counseling or otherwise serving others show greater improvement in their own health. Volunteerism studies have demonstrated such positive results that some people have called for doctors to prescribe volunteer activities. Post emphasizes, however, that it’s not just the activity itself, but the feelings behind the acts that benefit those taking part. Numerous studies on the brain have provided images that confirm the “helper’s high”—the warm glow that people feel from helping activities. But Post doesn’t conclude that it’s the selfish pursuit of that high that spurs people to be givers. “It’s not just from the chemicals. There is this neurological

activity in the human body,” he says, “but I think there is a spiritual presence that enlivens and elevates this kind of natural substrate.” The institute will then turn very practical, Post says, taking all that has been learned about love and seeing “how it can be applied in interventions to make the world a better place.”

6． According to the first two paragraphs, we know that IRUL research A．has been conducted by Dr. Post and scientists from other universities. B．aims to find out what contributes to healthier, happier, and longer lives. C．has shown altruistic love results in a healthier and happier life.

D．studies how altruistic teenagers get along in various social environments.

正确答案：C

解析：事实细节题。文中讲到“这些研究已经证明，帮助他人时体现出来的爱和关怀使人更健康、更快乐、甚至更长寿”，C项与此相符。 知识模块：阅读

7． In the eyes of Dr. Wilson, IRUL research A．initiates an important change. B．develops evolutionary biology. C．is positive and evolutionary. D．is praiseworthy for its efforts.

正确答案：D 解析：推理判断题。根据Dr．Wilson定位到第三段。段落结尾处讲到“IRUL提出并支持研究‘一批受忽视的学科’，威尔逊对此称赞不已”，可见D项praiseworthy“值得赞扬的”符合此意。 知识模块：阅读

8． The examples of the patients are cited in Paragraph 4 to show that A．people are helping others in order to improve their own health. B．volunteer work proves helpful to patients with various illnesses. C．altruistic acts and feelings are contributive to a healthier life. D．doctors should prescribe volunteer activities to patients.

正确答案：C 解析：事实细节题．第四段以参加志愿者活动的病人身体康复更快的事例证明全文主旨一一爱和关怀使人更健康、快乐、长寿，C项意思与此相近。 知识模块：阅读

9． The phrase “helper’s high”(Line 1, Paragraph 5)most probably means A．the excitement of helping others. B．the pleasure of doing favors. C．the thrill of pursuing happiness. D．the passion of offering help.

正确答案：B

解析：词义理解题。helper’s high是一个陌生词组，但破折号后面就是对它的解释，意为“人们在帮助别人时体验到的温暖欢愉之感”，B项“做好事的愉悦感”最符合此义。 知识模块：阅读

10． We can learn from the last paragraph that Dr. Post believes A．altruistic activities are as important as altruistic feelings. B．people help others in order to experience the “helper’s high”. C．the “helper’s high” mainly results from the chemicals in the body. D．the “helper’s high” may be more spiritual.

正确答案：D

解析：推理判断题。主要考查对Dr．Post的几句话的理解。他提到“这种快感不仅仅来自体内的化学物质”，“有一种精神存在激活并升华了自然基质”，可见他认为这种快感与精神的关系更大，故D项正确。 知识模块：阅读

When George Bush left the presidency on January 20th, many Americans were keen to turn the page. They have warmly welcomed a new cast of characters, from Barack and Michelle down to Bo the Portuguese water dog. But some members of the Bush crew are much in the news. Karl Rove, an influential adviser, is penning weekly editorials and has been scrapping with Joe Biden, the vice president. Dick Cheney has been on television growling about Mr. Obama’s approach to national security. In Spain, a court is deciding whether Alberto Gonzales, the former attorney-general, and five other administration officials can be accused of torture. Mr. Bush himself has mostly kept a low profile since returning to Texas. He and Laura settled into their new house, in a select part of Dallas. He threw the first ball at a Texas Rangers baseball game and visited a hardware shop. He has been jogging and riding his bicycle. He has given one speech, in Canada, at which he declined to criticize the new president. “He deserves my silence,” said Mr. Bush. But Mr. Bush will not be silent for ever. He has started to write his memoirs, which will skip the usual format and be organized around a series of 12 momentous decisions. The format makes sense, given Mr. Bush’s view of history and his role in it. “I’m the decider,” he said in 2006, defending his decision to keep Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary. It was one of his least popular decisions, and Mr. Bush’s many critics thought it was a bull-headed thing to say. But perhaps it was simply an existential comment. The president is the decider. There is no getting round that. The “decider” idea will extend to the George W. Bush Presidential Centre, to be housed at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. The centre will include a policy institute as well as the usual library and museum. On April 14th Mr. Bush gathered about 20 of his old employees in Dallas, including the former secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and a former speechwriter, Michael Gerson, to work out strategy. The policy institute will be unashamedly ideological. The museum, like the memoirs, will be organized around a series of decisions. The list has not been finalized, though some are obvious choices, such as the decisions to invade Iraq and Afghanistan. Mark

Langdale, president of the George W. Bush Foundation, thinks that Mr. Bush’s 2007 decision to pursue immigration reform should make the cut. The effort failed in the Senate, but failure is part of any human story. That goes for presidents, too. “Sometimes they succeed, and sometimes they don’t, but the journey continues,” says Mr. Langdale.

11． It can be inferred from the opening paragraph that

A．the Obama administration takes on some members of the Bush crew. B．some members of the Bush crew are involved in negative publicity.

C．Obama’s approach to national security is proved by Cheney to be a failure. D．George Bush is not popular with Americans as a president at all.

正确答案：B

解析：事实细节题，考查是非细节。文中第一段提到布什班底某些成员正因为虐囚事件而接受法庭调查，这是一起负面的公共事件，B项正确。 知识模块：阅读

12． Bush’s life is described in the second paragraph to show that A．Bush is still actively engaged in social and political activities. B．Bush becomes more popular after his retirement from presidency. C．Bush is rather silent compared with his former colleagues.

D．Bush shows no interest in Obama’s administration and policies.

正确答案：C

解析：推理判断题，考查例证用意。第二段首句点明布什卸任之后表现得相当低调，而不像他的老同事切尼等仍在媒体上高谈阔论。随后的具体事例则是“低调”的表现，C项正确。 知识模块：阅读

13． What does the phrase “bull-headed”(Line 5, Paragraph 3)most probably mean?

A．Stubborn. B．Stupid. C．Mad.

D．Unpopular.

正确答案：A 解析：语义理解题，考查词语含义。第三段提到，布什总统坚持让唐纳德·拉姆斯菲尔德担任国防，并为此辩护说，“我才是决定者”。根据文中的defending,least popular decisions可知布什当初做这一决定的时候势必遭受到巨大的阻力，但他还是这样做了，并说自己才是“决定者”，由此可推断，bull-headed的意思是“固执的”，因此选A。 知识模块：阅读

14． Mr. Bush gathered some of his former colleagues

A．to extend the “decider” idea to the George W. Bush Presidential Centre. B．to discuss his house at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. C．to formulate strategy with them.

D．to recapture the experience of the “decider”.

正确答案：C

解析：事实细节题。文章第四段提到布什召集了约20名老部下制定策略，C项“制定策略”与之相符。 知识模块：阅读

15． What does Mark Langdale think of Bush’s decision to pursue immigration reform?

A．It brought negative influence to the Bush administration. B．It should be one of the decisions included in the museum. C．It should be regarded as part of the human history.

D．It was a failure like the decisions to invade Iraq and Afghanistan.

正确答案：B

解析：推理判断题。根据Mark Langdale定位文章末段，其中提到马克·兰代尔认为2007年布什总统寻求移民改革，这一决定也应该入围这张清单，B项正确。 知识模块：阅读

How stupid does one need to be to get a job reading the television news? Is it actually beneficial for TV newsreaders to have, instead of a brain, a plate of lemon jelly? Last week the debate was raging once again about the controversial and important point as to whether the newsreaders write their own copy, read someone else’s or simply make it up as they go along. Angela Rippon reckoned that she had never heard of a newsreader writing stuff, but her modern counterpart, the beautiful Sophie Raworth, claims that they do the writing and adds that she has a postgraduate degree in journalism. This is the core of the issue: what on earth is there to learn about journalism at postgraduate level? The point and purpose of our lowly, occasionally useful, trade could be scribbled on the back of a postage stamp and would easily be comprehended by a 14-year-old boy with ADHD(attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Who has decided that it must be dignified with a doctoral thesis? Nor is reading the news even what one might call “journalism”. It is an even simpler business called “reading”. All that the BBC demands of its female newsreaders is an ability to read in an impartial way words like “Israel has murdered more Lebanese children again today” from the teleprompter without belching or lisping. It helps if they have the eminently presentable manner of a girl guide leader from Esher. They are forbidden to express an opinion. They are not required to go undercover, analyze the news or add witty asides. They are required to be that which they are known as in the trade—”a gob on a stick”. A penetrating intelligence is not merely unnecessary, it is counterproductive. Newsreaders who are too intelligent soon stop being newsreaders, much as John Humphrys did, stifled by the commonplace of their duties. Or they give the game away by doing what that German

newsreader did and end the programme, shaking their heads sadly, muttering, “it’s all lies, all lies”. Which is not to say BBC newsreaders are bad at their jobs: quite the reverse. But we should not confuse competence with intelligence. Newsreaders believe that because they are reading out serious stuff and everybody is listening to them, they must therefore be creatures possessed of a high IQ. They are confusing the message with the medium.

16． The author holds in the first two paragraphs that a postgraduate degree in journalism

A．is quite unnecessary for newsreaders. B．is vital for a newsreader to write stuff. C．matters quite a lot for a newsreader. D．involves no learning about journalism.

正确答案：A

解析：观点态度题。第一段结尾出现postgraduate degree in journalism，第二段开头作者就以一个反问句表明自己对新闻学硕士学位的置疑，接下来的句子也直接说明作者并不觉得高学历有必要。该段以反问句结尾，“谁说干这行非得有博士文凭才够品?”可以看出作者并不认为播音员一定要具备硕士文凭，故A项正确。 知识模块：阅读

17． The author cites the example of BBC in Paragraph 3 to show that A．it is concerned about international affairs and widely reports them. B．reading the news mainly involves required reading capability. C．it has laid down a lot of dos and don’ts for its newsreaders.

D．reading the news is an easy job that most people are qualified for.

正确答案：B

解析：事实细节题。例证法中，例子是论据，是为了证明论点的。此处以BBC对其女播音员的要求为例，证明前面所说的“播音只是一种朗读的技能”这个论点，故B项正确。 知识模块：阅读

18． What does the author mean by saying “a gob on a stick”(Lane 7, Paragraph 3)?

A．A newsreader is like a magician with a magic stick. B．A newsreader only says what he/she is directed to say. C．A newsreader possesses penetrating intelligence.

D．A newsreader does not usually express his/her opinion.

正确答案：B

解析：词义理解题。解题关键是利用语境推断词义。前面说到BBC女播音员只需要按照要求读出讲词提示机上的文字，不需要做其他的事情，然后归纳说她们被要求做业界的“a gob on a stick”。可见，B项中“只说该说的话”意义最

接近。 知识模块：阅读

19． If the newsreaders are too intelligent, they are likely to A．be fired by the TV stations and start all over again. B．keep telling lies until they shut the programs. C．be cynical about life and discontent with work. D．suffer from a sense of guilt and dissatisfaction.

正确答案：D

解析：事实细节题。根据too intelligent定位到第四段。其中讲到太聪明的播音员后来都改行不做播音员，或苦于工作平庸，或苦于节目虚假，可见太聪明的播音员都会感受到一些dissatisfaction或者guilt，故D项正确。 知识模块：阅读

20． It can be inferred from the last paragraph that

A．sometimes competence and intelligence are unrelated.

B．some newsreaders are at a loss as to how they should perform better. C．newsreaders have to possess a high IQ to handle difficult stuff. D．mass media have imposed great pressure on newsreaders.

正确答案：A 解析：推理判断题。最后一段主要讲述不能将播音员的能力和智力混为一谈，播音员需要具备一定的业务能力，但是这和智力并不怎么相关，因此A项正确。 知识模块：阅读