考研英语考研英语二10-16历年真题及答案解析

考研英语二10-16历年真题及答案解析

2010年考研英语二真题Section I Use of Engl ish

Directions:Read the fol lowing passage.For each numbered blank there are four choices marked A,B,C and D.Choose the best one and markyour answers on ANSWER SHEET l . (10 points)

The outbreak of swineflu thatwas firstdetected in Mexico was declared a global epidemic on June1 1,2009. It is the first worldwide epidemic__1__by the World Health Organization in 41 years.Theheightened alert__2__an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva that convened after a sharprise in cases in Austral ia,and rising__3__in Britain, Japan,Chi le and elsewhere.But the epidemic is"__4__"in severity,according to Margaret Chan, the organization's director general ,__5__theoverwhelming majority of patients experiencing only mild symptoms and a ful l recovery,often in the__6__of any medical treatment.The outbreak came to global__7__in late Apri l 2009,when Mexicanauthorities noticed an unusual ly large number of hospital izations and deaths__8__healthy adults.Asmuch of Mexico City shut down at the height of a panic,cases began to__9__in New York City, thesouthwestern United States and around the world. In the United States, new cases seemed to fade__10__warmer weather arrived.But in late September 2009,officials reported there was__1 1__fluactivity in almost every state and that virtual ly al l the__12__tested are the new swine flu,also known as(A)H1N1, not seasonal flu. In the U.S. , it has__13__more than one mi l l ion people,and caused morethan 600 deaths and more than 6,000 hospital izations.Federal health officials__14__Tamiflu forchi ldrenfromthenational stockpi leand began__15__orders from the states forthe new swine flu vaccine.The new vaccine,which isdifferent from the annual flu vaccine, is__16__ahead of expectations.More than three mi l l ion doseswere to be made avai lable in early October 2009, though most of those__17__doses were of theFluMist nasal spray type,which is not__18__for pregnant women,people over 50 or those withbreathing difficulties,heart disease or several other__19__.But it was sti l l possible to vaccinate peoplein other high-risk group:health care workers, people__20__infants and healthy young people.1 [A]criticized [B]appointed[C]commented [D]designated

2 [A]proceeded [B]activated [C] fol lowed [D]prompted

3 [A]digits[B]numbers[C]amounts[D]sums

4 [A]moderate[B] normal [C]unusual [D]extreme

5 [A]with [B] in[C] from[D]by

6 [A]p rog ress[B]absen ce[C]p resen ce[D] favor

7 [A] real ity[B]phenomenon[C]concept [D]notice

8. [A]over [B] for [C]among[D] to

9 [A]stay up[B]crop up[C] fi l l up[D]cover up

10 [A]as[B] if[C]unless[D]unti l

1 1 [A]excessive[B]enormous[C]sign ificant [D]magn ificent

12 [A]categories[B]examples[C]patterns[D]samples

13 [A] imparted [B] immerse[C] injected[D] infected

14 [A] released [B] relayed[C] rel ieved [D] remained 2

15 [A]placing[B]del ivering[C] taking[D]giving

16 [A] feasible[B]avai lable[C] rel iable[D]appl icable

17 [A]prevalent [B]principal [C] innovative[D] in itial

18 [A]presented[B] restricted [C] recommended[D] introduced

19 [A]problems[B] issues[C]agonies[D]sufferings

20 [A] involved in [B]caring for [C]concerned with[D]warding off SectionSection n Reading comprehension

Part A

Directions:Read the following four passages.Answer the questions below each passage by choosing AfB,C and D.Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.(40 points)

Textl

The longest bul l run in a century of art-market history ended on a dramatic note with a sale of 56works by Damien Hirst, "Beautiful Inside My Head Forever”,at Sotheby's in London on September 15th2008(see picture).Al l buttwo pieces sold, fetching more than a70m,a record fora sale by a single artist.It was a last hurrah.As the auctioneer cal led out bids, in New York one of the oldest banks on Wal lStreet, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy.

The world art market had already been losing momentum for a whi le after rising vertiginouslysince 2003.At its peak in 2007 it was worth some$65 bil l ion, reckons Clare McAndrew, founder of ArtsEconomics,a research firm—double the figure five years earl ier.Since then it may have come down to$50 bi l l ion.But the market generates interest far beyond its size because it brings togethergreat wealth,enormous egos,greed,passion and controversy in a way matched by few other industries.

In the weeks and months that fol lowed Mr Hirsfs sale^ spending of any sort became deeplyunfashionable, especial ly in New York,where the bai l-out of the banks coincided with the loss ofthousands of jobs and the financial demise of many arf・buying investors. In the art world that meantcol lectors stayed away from gal leries and salerooms.Sales of contemporary art fel l by two-thirds5 and inthe most overheated sector—for Chinese contemporary art—they were down by nearly 90%in the yearto November 2008.Within weeks the world's two biggest auction houses,Sotheby's and Christie^,hadto pay out nearly$200m in guarantees to cl ients who had placed works for sale with them.

The current downturn in the art market is the worst since the Japanese stopped buyingImpressionists at the end of 1989,a move that started the most serious contraction in the market sincethe second world war. This time experts reckon that prices are about 40%down on their peak onaverage, though some have been far more volati le. But Edward Dolman^Christie^s chief executive^says: 'Tm pretty confident we9re at the bottom."

What makes this slump different from the last^he says, is that there are sti l l buyers in the market,whereas in the early 1990头when interest rates were high, there was no demand even though manycol lectors wanted to sel l .Christie's revenues in the first half of 2009 were sti l l higherthan in the first halfof 2006.Almost everyone who was interviewed for this special report said that the biggest problem atthe moment is not a lack of demand but a lack of good work to sel l .The three Ds—cath, debt anddivorce—sti l l del iver works of art to the market.But anyone who does not have to sel l is keeping away,waiting for confidence to return.

2L In the first paragraph,Damien Hirstfs sale was referred to as“a last victory^because_______•

A. the art market had witnessed a succession of victoryics

B. the auctioneerfinal lygot the two pieces at the highest bids

C. Beautiful Inside My Head Forever won over al l masterpieces

D<it was successful ly madejust before the world financial crisis

22. By saying^spending of any sort became deeply unfashionableM(Line 2,Para.3)5the authorsuggests that____•

A. col lectors were no longer actively involved in art-market auctions

B. peuple slopped every kind of spending and stayed away from gal leries

C. art col lection as a fashion had lost its appeal to a great extent

D.works of art in general had gone out of fashion so they were not worth buying

23.Which of the fol lowing statements is NOT ture?

A.Sales of contemporary art fel l dramatical ly from 2007to 2008.

B. The art market surpassed many other industries in momentum.

C. The market general ly went downward in various ways.

D. Some art dealers were awaiting better chances to come.

24. The three Ds mentioned in the last paragraph are___

A. auction houses'favorites

B. contemporary trends

C. factors promoting artwork circulation

D. styles representing impressionists

25. The most appropriate title forthis text could be___

A. Fluctuation of Art Prices

B. Up-to-date Art Auctions

C. Art Market in Decl ine

D. Shifted Interest in Arts

Text2

I was addressing a smal l gathering in a suburban Virginia l iving room --a women's groupthat had invited men tojoin them.Throughout the evening one man had been particularly talkative frequentlyoffering ideas and anecdotes whi le his wife sat si lently beside him on the couch.Toward the end of the evening Icommented that women frequently complain that their husbands don't talk to them.This man quickly concurred.He gestured toward his wife and said"She's the talker in ourfami ly."The room burst into laughter; the man lookedpuzzled and hurt. "It's true"he explained. "When I come home from work I have nothing to say. If she didn't keepthe conversation going we'd spend the whole evening in si lence."

This episode crystal l izes the ironythat although American men tend to talk more than women in publ icsituations they often talk less at home.And this pattern is wreaking havoc with marriage.

The pattern was observed by pol itical scientist Andrew Hacker in the late'70s.Sociologist Catherine KohlerRiessman reports in her new book"Divorce Talk" that most of thewomen she interviewed--but only a fewof themen--gave lack of communication as the reason for their divorces.Given the current divorce rate of nearly 50percent that amounts to mi l l ions of cases in the United States every year --a virtual epidemic of fai ledcon versati on.

In my own research complaints from women about their husbands most often focused not on tangibleinequities such as having given up the chancefora careerto accompany a husband to his ordoing far more thantheir share of dai ly l ife-support work l ike cleaning cooking social arrangements and errands. Instead they focusedon communication: "He doesn't l isten to me""He doesn't talkto me." I found as Hacker observed years before thatmost wives want their husbands to be first and foremost conversational partners but few husbands share thisexpectation of their wives.

In short the image that best represents the current crisis is the stereotypical cartoon scene of a man sitting atthe breakfast table with a newspaper held up in front of his face whi le a woman glares at the back of itwanting totalk.

26.What is most wives'main expectation of their husbands?

A. Talking tothem.

B. Trusting them.

C. Supporting their careers.

D. Shsring housework.

27. Judging from the context ,the phrase wreaking havoc”(Line 3,Para.2)most probably means

A. generating motivation.

B. exerting influence

C. causing damage

D. creating pressure

28. Al l of the fol lowing are true EXCEPT______

A. men tend to talk more in publ ictan women

B. nearly 50percent of recent divorces are caused by fai led conversation

C.women attach much importance to communication between couples

D. a female tends to be more talkative at home than her spouse

29.Which of the fol lowing can best summarize the mian idea of this text?

A. The moral decaying deserves more research by sociologists .

B. Marriage break_up stems from sex inequal ities.

C. Husband and wofe have different expectations from their marriage.

D. Conversational patterns between man and wife are different.

30. In thefol lowing part immediately after this text,the authorwi l l most probably focus on_____

A. a vivid account of the new book Divorce Talk

B. a detai led description of the stereotypical cartoon

C. other possible reasons for a high divorce rate in the U.S.

D. a brief introduction to the pol itical scientist Andrew Hacker

T xe t 3over the past decade,many companies had perfected the art of creating automatic behaviors—habits—among consumers.These habits have helped companies earn bi l l ions of dol lars when customers eat snacks,apply lotions and wipe counters almost without thinking,often in response to a careful ly designed set of dai lycues.

“There are fundamental publ ic health problems, l ike hand washing with soap, that remain ki l lers onlybecause we can 'ftigure out how to change people'hsabits, ”Dr.Curtis said. “We w anted to learn from privateindustry how to create new behaviors that happen automatical ly.

The companies that Dr.Curtis turned to—Procter&Gamble,Colgate-Palmol ive and Unilever—hadinvested hundreds of mil l ions of dol lars finding the subtle cues i n consumers'l ives that corporations could use tointroduce new routines.

If you look hard enough,you 'l l find that many of the products we use reyvdeay—chewinggums,skin moisturizers,disinfecting wipes,air fresheners,water purifiers, health snacks,antiperspirants,colognes, teeth whiteners, fabric softeners,vitamins—are results of manufactured habits.A century ago, fewpeople regularly brushed their teeth multiple times a day.Today,because of canny advertising and publ ic healthcampaigns,many Americans habitual ly give their pearly whites a cavity-preventing scrub twice a day,often withColgate,Crest or one of the other brands.

A few decades ago,many people didn 'tdrink water outside of a meal .Then beverage companies startedbottl ing the production of far-off springs,and now office workers unthinkingly sip bottled water al l day long.Chewinggum,onceboughtprimari lybyadolescentboys, is nowfeatured in commercials as a breath freshener and teeth cleanser for use after a meal .Skin moisturizers areadvertised as part of morning beauty rituals,sl ipped in between hair brushing and putting on makeup.

“Our products succeed when they become part of dai ly orweekly patterns, ”said Carol Berning,a consumer

sold$76 bil l ion of Tide,Crest and other products last year. “Creating posiativheugheabitsispart of impro ving our consumers'l ives,and it 's essential to making new products commercial lyviable. ”

Through experiments and observation,social scientists l ike Dr.Berning have learned that there is power intying certain behaviors to habitual cues through relentless advertising.As this new science of habit has emerged,controversies have erupted when the tactics have been used to sel l questionable beauty creams or unhealthyfoods.

31. According to Dr.Curtis,habits l ike hand washing with soap______.

[A] should be further cultivated

[B] should be changed gradual ly

[C] are deepiy rooted in history

[D] are basical ly private concerns

32. Bottled water,chewing gun and skin moisturizers are mentioned in Paragraph 5 so as to___

[A] reveal their impact on people 'habits

[B] showthe urgent need of dai ly necessities

[C] indicate their effect on people 'buying power

[D] manifest the significant role of good habits

33.which of thefol lowing does NOT belong to products that help create people 's habits?

[A]Tide

[B]Crest

[C] Colgate

[D] Uni lver

34. From the text wekonw that some of consumer 's habits are developed due to ______

[A]perfected art of products

[B]automatic behavior creation

[C] commercial promotions

[D] scientific experiments

35. the author 'sattitude toward the influence of advertisement on people 's habits is_____

[A] ind ifferent

[B]negative

[C] positive

[D] biased

Text4

Many Americans regard the jury system as a concrete expression of crucial democratic values, includingthe principles that al l citizenswho meet minimal qual ifications of age and l iteracy are equal ly competentto serveon juries; thatjurors should be selected randomly from a representative cross section of the community; that nocitizen should be denied the right to serve on a jury on account of race, rel igion,sex,or national origin; thatdefendants are entitled to trial by their peers;and that verdicts should represent the conscience of thecommunity and notjust the letterof the law.Thejury is also said to be the best surviving example of direct ratherthan representative democracy. In a direct democracy,citizens take turns governing themselves, rather thanelecting representatives to govern for them.

But as recently as in 1986, jury selection procedures confl icted with these democratic ideals. In some states,for example, jury duty was l imited to persons of supposedly superior intel l igence,education,and moral character.Although the Supreme Court of the United States had prohibited intentional racial discrimination in jury selectionas early as the 1880 case of strauder v.West

Virginia,the practice of selecting so-cal led el ite or blue-ribbon juries provided a convenient way around this andother antidiscrimination laws.

The system also fai led to regularly include women onjuries unti l the mid-20th century.Although women firstserved on statejuries in Utah in 1898, it was not until the 1940s that a majority of states made women el igible forjury duty.Even then several states automatical ly exempted women from jury duty unless they personl ly asked tohave their names included on thejury l ist.This practice wasjustified bythe claim thatwomen were needed athome,and it keptjuries unrepresentative of women through the 1960s.

In 1968, the Congress of the United States passed the Jury Selection and Service Act,ushering in a new eraof democratic reforms for thejury.This law abol ished special educational requirements for federal jurors andrequired them to be selected at random from a cross section of the entire community. In the landmark 1975decision Taylor v. Louisiana, the Supreme Court extended the requirement thatjuries be representative of al lparts of the community to the state level .The Taylor decision also declared sex discrimination in jury selection tobe unconstitutional and ordered states to use the same procedures for selecting male and femalejurors.

36. From the principles of theUS jury system,welearn that ____

[A]both l itcrate and il l iterate people can serve on juries

[B]defendants are immune from trial by their peers

[C] no age l imit should be imposed forjury service

[D] judgmentshould consider the opinion of the publ ic

37. The practice of selecting so—cal led el itejurors prior to 1968 showed___

[A]the inadcquavy of antidiscrimination laws

[B]the prevalent discrimination against certain races

[C] the confl icting ideals in jury selection procedures

38. Even in the 1960s,women were seldom on the jury l ist in some states because____

[A]they were automatical ly banned by state laws

[B]they fel l far short of the required qual ifications

[C] they were supposed to perform domestic duties

[D] they tended to evade publ ic engagement

39. After the Jury Selection and Service Act was passed.___

[A]sex discrimination in jury selection was unconstitutional and had to be abol ished

[B]educational requirements became less rigid in the selection of federal jurors

[C] jurors at the state level ought to be representative of the entire community

[D]_________________________________________________states ought to conform to the federal courtin reforming the jury system

40. in discussing the US jury system,the text centers on______

[A] its nature and problems

[B]its characteristics and tradition

[C] its problems and theirsolutions

[D] its tradition and development

Part B

Directions:

Read the fol lowing text and decide whether each of the statements is true or false.Choose T if the statement istrue or F it the statement is not true.Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET1.(10 points)

Copying Birds May Save Aircraft Fuel

BOTH Boeing and Airbus have trumpeted the efficiency of their newest aircraft, the 787 and A350respectively.Their clever designs and l ightweight composites certainly make a difference.第7页共91页But a group of researchers at Stanford University, led by I lan Kroo, has suggested that airl ines could take a morenatural istic approach to cutting jet-fuel use,and it would not require them to buy new aircraft.

The answer,says Dr Kroo, l ies with birds.Since 1914,and a seminal paper by a German researcher cal led

Carl Wieselsberger,scientists have known that birds flying in formation—a V-shape,echelon or otherwise—expend less energy.The airflowing overa birds wings curls upwards behind the wingtips,a phenomenonknown as up wash.Other birds flying in the up wash experience reduced drag,and spend less energy propel l ingthemselves.Peter Lissaman,an aeronautics expert who was formerly at Caltech and the University of SouthernCal ifornia,has suggested that a formation of 25 birds might enjoy a range increase of 71%.

When appl ied to aircraft, the principles are not substantial ly different.Dr Kroo and his team model led whatwould happen if three passengerjets departing from Los Angeles,San Francisco and Las Vegas were torendezvous over Utah,assume an inverted V-formation,occasional ly swap places so al l could have a turn in themost favourable positions,and proceed to London.They found that the aircraft consumed as much as 15%lessfuel (with a concomitant reduction in carbon-dioxide output).Nitrogen-oxide emissions during the cruising portionsof the fl ight fel l by around a quarter.

There are,of course, kinks to be worked out.One consideration is safety,or at least the perception of it.Would passengers feel comfortable travel l ing in convoy?Dr Kroo points out that the aircraft could be separated byseveral nautical miles,and would not be in the unnervingly cosygroupings favoured bydisplayteams l ike the RedArrows.A passenger peering out of the window might not even see the other planes.Whether the separationdistances involved would satisfy air-traffic-control regulations is another matter,although a working group at theInternational Civi l Aviation.Organisation has included the possibi l ity of formation flying in a blueprint for newoperational guidel ines.

It remains to be seen how weather conditions affect the air flows that make formation fl ight more efficient. Inzones of increased turbulence, the planes 'wakes wi l l decay more quickly a the effect wi l l diminish.Dr Kroo saysthis is one of the areas his team wi l l investigate further. It mightalso be hard for airl ines to co-ordinate thedeparture times and destinations of passenger aircraft in a way that would al low them to gain from formation fl ight.Cargo aircraft, in contrast,might be easier to reschedule,as might routine mil itary fl ights.

As it happens,America 's armed forces are on the case already.Earl ier this year the countryDefence Advanced Research Projects Agency announced plans to pay Boeing to investigate formation fl ight,though the programme has yet to begin.There are reports thatsome mi l itary aircraft flew in formation when theywere low on fuel during the second world war,but Dr Lissaman says they are apocryphal .y fa“thMer was anRAF pi lot and my cousin the skipperof a

Lancaster lost over Berl in,”he adds.So he should know.

41. Findings of the Stanford University researchers wi l l promote the sales of new Boeing and Airbus aircraft.

42. The upwash experience may save propel l ing energy as wel l as reducing resistance.

43. Formation fl ight is more comfortable because passengers can not see the other planes.

44. The role thatweather plays in formation fl ight has not yet been clearly defined.

45. It has been documented that during World War I I ,America'sarmed forces once tried formation fl ight to savefuel .

Sect ion川Tran slati on

46. Directions: In this section there is a text in Engl ish .Translate it into Chinese.Write your translation onANSWER SHEET2.(15points)

pers onal meaning.Having en dured a painful period of un susta in abil ity in his own l ife made it clear to him thatsustai nabi l ity-orie nted values must be expressed though everyday actio n and choice.

Ning recal ls spe nding a confusing year in the late 1990s sel l i ng in sura nee.He 'd bee n th(the dot-com boom and burst and,desperate for ajob,sig ned on with a Boulder age ncy.

It didn 't go wel l . “It was a real ly had move because that 's not my passion, ”saysdi lemma about thejob translated,predictably, into a lack of sales. “Iwas miserable, I had so much an xiety that Iwould wake up in the middle of the ni ght and stare at the cei l i ng. I had no moneyand n eeded thejob.Everyonesaid, „Just wait,you 'l l trun the corner,give it some time.

Sectio n IV Writi ng

Part A

47. Direct ions:You havejust come backfrom the U.S.as a member of a Sino-America n cultural excha ngeprogram.Write a letter to your America n col league to

1) Express your thanks for his/her warm reception;

2)Welcome him/her to visit China in due course.

You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2.

Do not sig n yourown n ame at the end of the letter.Use “Zha ng Wei ”in stead.

Do not write your address. (10 poin ts)

Part B

48. Directions: In this sect ion,you are asked to write an essay based on the fol lowi ng chart. In yourwrit ing,youshould

1) In terpret the chart and

2) Give your comments.

You should write at least 150 words.

Write your essay on on ANSWER SHEET 2. (15 points)

M4»hi le-phnne耳uMoiptiGn几

(2000^2008)

---------------------------------------------n—斗bLUkm

LJ Dex'clop&>untricji

■Davel npid courimis

—bill icm

丽T卅冊am

Sectio n I USE of En gl ish

1 [D]2[C]3[B]4[A]5[A] 6[B]7[D]8[C]9[B] 10[A]

1 1[C] 12[D] 13[D] 14[A] 15[C] 16[B] 17[D] 18[C] 19[A]20[B]

2010年考研英语二答案

Sect ion I I Read ing Comprehe nsion

21 D选【D],因为第一段段尾句As the auctioneercal led out bids, in NewYork one of the oldestbanks on Wal l Street, Lehma n Brothers, filed for ban kruptcy. 即雷曼兄弟公司破产。

22 A选【A]本题迷惑选项为C,文章第三段只强调了col lectors stayed away Sales fel l 并没有强调“收藏时尚早在这之前就已经大大降温了”。