2012硕士研究生招生考试英语试题（跨考版）

　　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 SHEET1. (40 points)

　　Text 2
　　TEXT2
　　Pretty in pink: adult women do not remember being so obsessed with the colour, yet it is pervasive in our young girls’ lives. It is not that pink intrinsically bad, but it is a tiny slice of the rainbow and, though it may celebrate girlhood in one way, it also repeatedly and firmly fused girls’ identity to appearance. Then it presents that connection, even among two-year-olds, between girls as not only innocent but as evidence of innocence. Looking around, despaired at the singular lack of imagination about girls’ lives and interests.
　　Girls' attraction to pink may seem unavoidable, somehow encoded in their DNA, but according to Jo Paoletti, an associate professor of American Studies, it's not. Children were not colour-coded at all until the early 20th century: in the era before domestic washing machines all babies wore white as a practical matter, since the only way of getting clothes clean was to boil them. What's more, both boys and girls wore what were thought of as gender-neutral dresses. When nursery colours were introduced, pink was actually considered the more masculine colour, a pastel version of red, which was associated with strength. Blue, with its intimations of the Virgin Mary, constancy and faithfulness, symbolised femininity. It was not until the mid-1980s, when amplifying age and sex differences became a dominant children's marketing strategy, that pink fully came into its own, when it began to seem innately attractive to girls, part of what defined them as female, at least for the first few critical years.
　　I had not realised how profoundly marketing trends dictated our perception of what is natural to kids, including our core beliefs about their psychological development. Take the toddler. I assumed that phase was something experts developed after years of research into children's behaviour: wrong. Turns out, according to Daniel Cook, a historian of childhood consumerism, it was popularised as a marketing gimmick by clothing manufacturers in the 1930s.
　　Trade publications counselled department stores that, in order to increase sales, they should create a "third stepping stone" between infant wear and older kids' clothes. It was only after "toddler" became common shoppers' term that it evolved into a broadly accepted developmental stage. Splitting kids, or adults, into ever-tinier categories has proved a sure-fire way to boost profits. And one of the easiest ways to segment a market is to magnify gender differences – or invent them where they did not previously exist.

　　26 By saying "it is ... The rainbow"(line 3, Para 1), the author means pink _______.
　　A should not be the sole representation of girlhood
　　B should not be associated with girls' innocence
　　C cannot explain girls' lack of imagination
　　D cannot influence girls' lives and interests

　　27 According to Paragraph 2, which of the following is true of colours?
　　A Colors are encoded in girls' DNA
　　B Blue used to be regarded as the color for girls
　　C Pink used to be a neutral color in symbolizing genders
　　D White is preferred by babies

　　28 The author suggests that our perception of children's psychological devotement was much influenced by ________.
　　[A] the marketing of products for children
　　[B] the observation of children's nature
　　[C] researches into children's behavior
　　[D] studies of childhood consumption

　　29 We may learn from Paragraph 4 that department stores were advised ________.
　　A focuses on infant wear and older kids' clothes
　　B attach equal importance to different genders
　　C classify consumers into smaller groups
　　D create some common shoppers' terms

　　30. it can be concluded that girl's attraction to pink seems to be _____.
　　A clearly explained by their inborn tendency
　　B fully understood by clothing manufacturers
　　C mainly imposed by profit-driven businessmen
　　D well interpreted by psychological experts

 

　　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 experience. Prior knowledge and interest 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 it 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 Azent-Gyorgyi 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 test?
　　[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 servant. 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.