历年考研英语阅读真题及答案解析
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1985年考研英语阅读真题及答案解析
Section III Reading Comprehension
Each sentence or passage below is followed by four statements. One of the statements is a suggestion which can be made from the information given in the original sentence or passage. Read them carefully and make your choice. Put your choice in the brackets on the left. (10 points)
EXAMPLE:
[A] You should get up when he comes in.
[B] You should support him.
[C] You shouldn't be afraid to argue with him.
[D] You must be of the same height as he is.
ANSWER: [B]
26. Watch your step when your turn comes to have an interview with the general manager.
[A] When you are asked to see the general manager, be sure not to step into his office without his permission.
[B] Watch the steps when you go upstairs to see the general manager at his office.
[C] Be sure to be careful when it is your turn to go to the general manager's office for an interview with him.
[D] Watch out and don't step into the general manager's office until it is your turn to have an interview with him.
27. Since no additional fund is available, the extension of the building is out of the question.
[A] The extension of the building is impossible because we are unable to get extra fund for the purpose.
[B] There is some problem about the extension of the building owing to lack of fund.
[C] Since no additional fund is available, we have to solve the problem regarding the extension of the building with our own resources.
[D] We can undertake the extension of the building even without additional fund. It is no problem at all.
28. All along he has been striving not to fall short of his parents' expectations.
[A] He has been trying hard all the time to live up to what his parents expect of him.
[B] His parents have been expecting him to work hard.
[C] All the time he has been trying hard to balance himself so as not to fall down as his parents thought he would.
[D] All the time, as his parents expect him to do, he has been trying hard to save and not to be short of money.
29. The various canals which drain away the excessive water have turned this piece of land into a highly productive agricultural area.
[A] The canals have been used to water the land.
[B] The canals have been used to raise agricultural production.
[C] Excessive water has been helpful to agricultural production.
[D] The production has been mainly agricultural.
30. The replacement of man by machines has not led to unemployment. On the contrary, the total numbers engaged in the textile industry have continued to rise. The fact should not be ignored by those who maintain that unemployment and machinery are inseparable companions.
[A] The belief that the use of machinery causes unemployment is unfounded.
[B] The use of machinery results in a rise in production.
[C] Many people lose their jobs when machines are introduced.
[D] Contrary to general belief, machinery and unemployment are inseparable companions.
答案解析
Section III: Reading Comprehension (10 points)
26.[C]27.[A]28.[A]29.[B]30.[A]
1986年考研英语阅读真题及答案解析
Section III Reading Comprehension
Each of the two passages below is followed by five questions. For each question there are four answers. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each of the questions. Put your choice in the brackets on the left. (10 points)
Text 1
There are a great many careers in which the increasing emphasis is on specialization. You find these careers in engineering, in production, in statistical work, and in teaching. But there is an increasing demand for people who are able to take in great area at a glance, people who perhaps do not know too much about any one field. There is, in other words, a demand for people who are capable of seeing the forest rather than the trees, of making general judgments. We can call these people “generalists.” And these “generalists” are particularly needed for positions in administration, where it is their job to see that other people do the work, where they have to plan for other people, to organize other people’s work, to begin it and judge it.
The specialist understands one field; his concern is with technique and tools. He is a “trained” man; and his educational background is properly technical or professional. The generalist -- and especially the administrator -- deals with people; his concern is with leadership, with planning, and with direction giving. He is an “educated” man; and the humanities are his strongest foundation. Very rarely is a specialist capable of being an administrator. And very rarely is a good generalist also a good specialist in particular field. Any organization needs both kinds of people, though different organizations need them in different proportions. It is your task to find out, during your training period, into which of the two kinds of jobs you fit, and to plan your career accordingly.
Your first job may turn out to be the right job for you -- but this is pure accident. Certainly you should not change jobs constantly or people will become suspicious of your ability to hold any job. At the same time you must not look upon the first job as the final job; it is primarily a training job, an opportunity to understand yourself and your fitness for being an employee.
26. There is an increasing demand for ________.
[A] all round people in their own fields
[B] people whose job is to organize other people’s work
[C] generalists whose educational background is either technical or professional
[D] specialists whose chief concern is to provide administrative guidance to others
27. The specialist is ________.
[A] a man whose job is to train other people
[B] a man who has been trained in more than one fields
[C] a man who can see the forest rather than the trees
[D] a man whose concern is mainly with technical or professional matters
28. The administrator is ________.
[A] a “trained” man who is more a specialist than a generalist
[B] a man who sees the trees as well as the forest
[C] a man who is very strong in the humanities
[D] a man who is an “educated” specialist
29. During your training period, it is important ________.
[A] to try to be a generalist
[B] to choose a profitable job
[C] to find an organization which fits you
[D] to decide whether you are fit to be a specialist or a generalist
30. A man’s first job ________.
[A] is never the right job for him
[B] should not be regarded as his final job
[C] should not be changed or people will become suspicious of his ability to hold any job
[D] is primarily an opportunity to fit himself for his final job
Text 2
At the bottom of the world lies a mighty continent still wrapped in the Ice Age and, until recent times, unknown to man. It is a great land mass with mountain ranges whose extent and elevation are still uncertain. Much of the continent is a complete blank on our maps. Man has explored, on foot, less than one per cent of its area. Antarctica differs fundamentally from the Arctic regions. The Arctic is an ocean, covered with drifting packed ice and hemmed in by the land masses of Europe, Asia, and North America. The Antarctic is a continent almost as large as Europe and Australia combined, centered roughly on the South Pole and surrounded by the most unobstructed water areas of the world -- the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.
The continental ice sheet is more than two miles high in its centre, thus, the air over the Antarctic is far more refrigerated than it is over the Arctic regions. This cold air current from the land is so forceful that it makes the nearby seas the stormiest in the world and renders unlivable those regions whose counterparts at the opposite end of the globe are inhabited. Thus, more than a million persons live within 2,000 miles of the North Pole in an area that includes most of Alaska, Siberia, and Scandinavia -- a region rich in forest and mining industries. Apart from a handful of weather stations, within the same distance of the South Pole there is not a single tree, industry, or settlement.
31. The best title for this selection would be ________.
[A] Iceland
[B] Land of Opportunity
[C] The Unknown Continent
[D] Utopia at Last
32. At the time this article was written, our knowledge of Antarctica was ________.
[A] very limited
[B] vast
[C] fairly rich
[D] nonexistent
33. Antarctica is bordered by the ________.
[A] Pacific Ocean
[B] Indian Ocean
[C] Atlantic Ocean
[D] All three
34. The Antarctic is made uninhabitable primarily by ________.
[A] cold air
[B] calm seas
[C] ice
[D] lack of knowledge about the continent
35. According to this article ________.
[A] 2,000 people live on the Antarctic Continent
[B] a million people live within 2,000 miles of the South Pole
[C] weather conditions within a 2,000 mile radius of the South Pole make settlements impractical
[D] only a handful of natives inhabit Antarctica
答案解析
Section III: Reading Comprehension (10 points)
26.[B]27.[D]28.[C]29.[D]30.[B]
31.[C]32.[A]33.[D]34.[A]35.[C]
1987年考研英语阅读真题及答案解析
Section II Reading Comprehension
Each of three passages below is followed by five questions. For each question there are four answers, read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each of the questions. Put your choice in the ANSWER SHEET. (15 points)
Text 1
For centuries men dreamed of achieving vertical flight. In 400 A.D. Chinese children played with a fan-like toy that spun upwards and fell back to earth as rotation ceased. Leonardo da Vinci conceive the first mechanical apparatus, called a “Helix,” which could carry man straight up, but was only a design and was never tested.
The ancient-dream was finally realized in 1940 when a Russian engineer piloted a strange looking craft of steel tubing with a rotating fan on top. It rose awkwardly and vertically into the air from a standing start, hovered a few feet above the ground, went sideways and backwards, and then settled back to earth. The vehicle was called a helicopter.
Imaginations were fired. Men dreamed of going to work in their own personal helicopters. People anticipate that vertical flight transports would carry millions of passengers as do the airliners of today. Such fantastic expectations were not fulfilled.
The helicopter has now become an extremely useful machine. It excels in military missions, carrying troops, guns and strategic instruments where other aircraft cannot go. Corporations use them as airborne offices, many metropolitan areas use them in police work, construction and logging companies employ them in various advantageous ways, engineers use them for site selection and surveying, and oil companies use them as the best way to make offshore and remote work stations accessible to crews and supplies. Any urgent mission to a hard-to-get-to place is a likely task for a helicopter. Among their other multitude of used: deliver people across town, fly to and from airports, assist in rescue work, and aid in the search for missing or wanted persons.
11. People expect that ________.
[A] the airliners of today would eventually be replaced by helicopters
[B] helicopters would someday be able to transport large number of people from place to place as airliners are now doing
[C] the imaginations fired by the Russian engineer’s invention would become a reality in the future
[D] their fantastic expectations about helicopters could be fulfilled by airliners of today
12. Helicopters work with the aid of ________.
[A] a combination of rotating devices in front and on top
[B] a rotating device topside
[C] one rotating fan in the center of the aircraft and others at each end
[D] a rotating fan underneath for lifting
13. What is said about the development of the helicopter?
[A] Helicopters have only been worked on by man since 1940.
[B] Chinese children were the first to achieve flight in helicopters.
[C] Helicopters were considered more dangerous than the early airplanes.
[D] Some people thought they would become widely used by average individuals.
14. How has the use of helicopters developed?
[A] They have been widely used for various purposes.
[B] They are taking the place of high-flying jets.
[C] They are used for rescue work.
[D] They are now used exclusively for commercial projects.
15. Under what conditions are helicopters found to be absolutely essential?
[A] For overseas passenger transportation.
[B] For extremely high altitude flights.
[C] For high-speed transportation.
[D] For urgent mission to places inaccessible to other kinds of craft.
Text 2
In ancient Greece athletic festivals were very important and had strong religious associations. The Olympian athletic festival held every four years in honor of Zeus, king of the Olympian Gods, eventually lost its local character, became first a national event and then, after the rules against foreign competitors had been abolished, international. No one knows exactly how far back the Olympic Games go, but some official records date from 776 B.C. The games took place in August on the plain by Mount Olympus. Many thousands of spectators gathered from all parts of Greece, but no married woman was admitted even as a spectator. Slaves, women and dishonored persons were not allowed to compete. The exact sequence of events uncertain, but events included boy’s gymnastics, boxing, wrestling, horse racing and field events, though there were fewer sports involved than in the modern Olympic Games.
On the last day of the Games, all the winners were honored by having a ring of holy olive leaves placed on their heads. So great was the honor that the winner of the foot race gave his name to the year of his victory. Although Olympic winners received no prize money, they were, in fact, richly rewarded by their state authorities. How their results compared with modern standards, we unfortunately have no means of telling.
After an uninterrupted history of almost 1,200 years, the Games were suspended by the Romans in 394 A.D. They continued for such a long time because people believed in the philosophy behind the Olympics: the idea that a healthy body produced a healthy mind, and that the spirit of competition in sports and games was preferable to the competition that caused wars. It was over 1,500 years before another such international athletic gathering took place in Athens in 1896.
Nowadays, the Games are held in different countries in turn. The host country provides vast facilities, including a stadium, swimming pools and living accommodation, but competing courtiers pay their own athletes’ expenses.
The Olympics start with the arrival in the stadium of a torch, lighted on Mount Olympus by the sun’s rays. It is carried by a succession of runners to the stadium. The torch symbolized the continuation of the ancient Greek athletic ideals, and it burns throughout the Games until the closing ceremony. The well-known Olympic flag, however, is a modern conception: the five interlocking rings symbolize the uniting of all five continents participating in the Games.
16. In ancient Greece, the Olympic Games ________.
[A] were merely national athletic festivals
[B] were in the nature of a national event with a strong religious colour
[C] had rules which put foreign participants in a disadvantageous position
[D] were primarily national events with few foreign participants
17. In the early days of ancient Olympic Games ________.
[A] only male Greek athletes were allowed to participate in the games
[B] all Greeks, irrespective of sex, religion or social status, were allowed to take part
[C] all Greeks, with the exception of women, were allowed to compete in Games
[D] all male Greeks were qualified to compete in the Games
18. The order of athletic events at the ancient Olympics ________.
[A] has not definitely been established
[B] varied according to the number of foreign competitors
[C] was decided by Zeus, in whose honor the Games were held
[D] was considered unimportant
19. Modern athletes’ results cannot be compared with those of ancient runners because ________.
[A] the Greeks had no means of recording the results
[B] they are much better
[C] details such as the time were not recorded in the past
[D] they are much worse
20. Nowadays, the athletes’ expenses are paid for ________.
[A] out of the prize money of the winners
[B] out of the funds raised by the competing nations
[C] by the athletes themselves
[D] by contributions
焦点导航
考研英语完型 | 考研英语真题 | 考研英语阅读 | 考研英语翻译 | 考研英语经验交流
考研英语作文 | 考研常见问题 | 专家解读
Text 3
In science the meaning of the word “explain” suffers with civilization’s every step in search of reality. Science cannot really explain electricity, magnetism, and gravitation; their effects can be measured and predicted, but of their nature no more is known to the modern scientist than to Thales who first looked into the nature of the electrification of amber, a hard yellowish-brown gum. Most contemporary physicists reject the notion that man can ever discover what these mysterious forces “really” are. “Electricity,” Bertrand Russell says, “is not a thing, like St. Paul’s Cathedral; it is a way in which things behave. When we have told how things behave when they are electrified, and under what circumstances they are electrified, we have told all there is to tell.” Until recently scientists would have disapproved of such an idea. Aristotle, for example, whose natural science dominated Western thought for two thousand years, believed that man could arrive at an understanding of reality by reasoning from self-evident principles. He felt, for example, that it is a self-evident principle that everything in the universe has its proper place, hence one can deduce that objects fall to the ground because that’s where they belong, and smoke goes up because that’s where it belongs. The goal of Aristotelian science was to explain why things happen. Modern science was born when Galileo began trying to explain how things happen and thus originated the method of controlled experiment which now forms the basis of scientific investigation.
21. The aim of controlled scientific experiments is ________.
[A] to explain why things happen
[B] to explain how things happen
[C] to describe self-evident principles
[D] to support Aristotelian science
22. What principles most influenced scientific thought for two thousand years?
[A] the speculations of Thales
[B] the forces of electricity, magnetism, and gravity
[C] Aristotle’s natural science
[D] Galileo’s discoveries
23. Bertrand Russell’s notion about electricity is ________.
[A] disapproved of by most modern scientists
[B] in agreement with Aristotle’s theory of self-evident principles
[C] in agreement with scientific investigation directed toward “how” things happen
[D] in agreement with scientific investigation directed toward “why” things happen
24. The passage says that until recently scientists disagreed with the idea ________.
[A] that there are mysterious forces in the universe
[B] that man cannot discover what forces “really” are
[C] that there are self-evident principles
[D] that we can discover why things behave as they do
25. Modern science came into being ________.
[A] when the method of controlled experiment was first introduced
[B] when Galileo succeeded in explaining how things happen
[C] when Aristotelian scientist tried to explain why things happen
[D] when scientists were able to acquire an understanding of reality of reasoning
[C] grants
[D] credits
答案解析
Section II: Reading Comprehension (15 points)
11.[B]12.[B]13.[D]14.[A]15.[D]
16.[B]17.[A]18.[A]19.[C]20.[B]
21.[B]22.[C]23.[C]24.[B]25.[A]
1988年考研英语阅读真题及答案解析
Section II Reading Comprehension
Each of the three passages below is followed by some questions. For each question there are four answers. Read the passages carefully and chose the best answer to each of the questions. Put your choice in the ANSWER SHEET. (20 points)
Text 1
It doesn’t come as a surprise to you to realize that it makes no difference what you read or study if you can’t remember it. You just waste your valuable time. Maybe you have already discovered some clever ways to keep yourself from forgetting.
One dependable aid that does help you remember what you study is to have a specific purpose or reason for reading. You remember better what you read when you know why you’re reading.
Why does a clerk in a store go away and leave you when your reply to her offer to help is, “No, thank you. I’m just looking”? Both you and she know that if you aren’t sure what you want, you are not likely to find it. But suppose you say instead, “Yes, thank you. I want a pair of sun glasses.” She says, “Right this way, please.” And you and she are off -- both eager to look for exactly what you want.
It’s quite the same with your studying. If you chose a book at random, “just looking” for nothing in particular, you are likely to get just that -- nothing. But if you do know what you want, and if you have the right book, you are almost sure to get it. Your reasons will vary; they will include reading or studying “to find out more about”, “to understand the reasons for”, “to find out how”. A good student has a clear purpose or reason for what he is doing.
This is the way it works. Before you start to study, you say to yourself something like this, “I want to know why Stephen Vincent Benet happened to write about America. I’m reading this article to find out.” Or, “I’m going to skim this story to see what life was like in medieval England.” Because you know why you are reading or studying, you relate the information to your purpose and remember it better.
Reading is not one single activity. At least two important processes go on at the same time. As you read, you take in ideas rapidly and accurately. But at the same time you express your own ideas to yourself as you react to what you read. You have a kind of mental conversation with the author. If you expressed your ideas orally, they might sound like this: “Yes, I agree. That’s my opinion too.” or “Ummmm, I thought that record was broken much earlier. I’d better check those dates,” or “But there are some other facts to be considered!” You don’t just sit there taking in ideas -- you do something else, and that something else is very important.
This additional process of thinking about what you read includes evaluating it, relating it to what you already know, and using it for your own purposes. In other words, a good reader is a critical reader. One part of critical reading, as you have discovered, is distinguishing between facts and opinions. Facts can be checked by evidence. Opinions are one’s own personal reactions.
Another part of critical reading is judging sources. Still another part is drawing accurate inferences.
16. If you cannot remember what you read or study, ________.
[A] it is no surprise
[B] it means you have not really learned anything
[C] it means you have not chosen the right book
[D] you realize it is of no importance
17. Before you start reading, it is important ________.
[A] to make sure why you are reading
[B] to relate the information to your purpose
[C] to remember what you read
[D] to choose an interesting book
18. Reading activity involves ________.
[A] only two simultaneous processes
[B] primarily learning about ideas and evaluating them critically
[C] merely distinguishing between facts and opinions
[D] mainly drawing accurate inferences
19. A good reader is one who ________.
[A] relates what he reads to his own knowledge about the subject matter
[B] does lots of thinking in his reading
[C] takes a critical attitude in his reading
[D] is able to check the facts presented against what he has already known
Text 2
If you live in a large city, you are quite familiar with some of the problems of noise, but because of some of its harmful effects, you may not be aware of the extent of its influence on human behavior. Although everyone more or less knows what noise is, i.e., it is sounds that one would rather not hear, it is perhaps best to define it more precisely for scientific purposes. One such definition is that noise is sounds that are unrelated to the task at hand. Thus stimuli that at one time might be considered relevant will at another time be considered noise, depending on what one is doing at the moment. In recent years there has been a great deal of interest in the effects of noise on human behavior, and concepts such as “noise pollution” have arisen, together with movements to reduce noise.
Exposure to loud noises can definitely produce a partial or complete loss of hearing, depending on the intensity, duration, and frequency composition of the noise. Many jobs present noise hazards, such as working in factories and around jet aircraft, driving farm tractors, and working (or sitting) in music halls where rock bands are playing. In general, continuous exposure to sounds of over 80 decibels (a measure of the loudness of sound) can be considered dangerous. Decibel values correspond to various sounds. Sounds above about 85 decibels may, if exposure is for a sufficient period of time, produce significant hearing loss. Actual loss will depend upon the particular frequencies to which one is exposed, and whether the sound is continuous or intermittent.
Noise can have unexpected harmful effects on performance of certain kinds of tasks, for instance, if one is performing a watch keeping task that requires vigilance, in which he is responsible for detecting weak signals of some kind (e.g., watching a radar screen for the appearance of aircraft).
Communicating with other people is unfavorably affected by noise. If you have ridden in the rear of a jet transport, you may have noticed that it was difficult to carry on a conversation at first, and that, eventually, you adjusted the loudness of your speech to compensate for the effect. The problem is noise.
20. Noise differs from sound in that ________.
[A] it is sounds that interfere with the task being done
[B] it is a special type of loud sound
[C] it is usually unavoidable in big cities
[D] it can be defined more precisely than the latter
21. One of the harmful effects of noise on human performance is that ________.
[A] it reduces one’s sensitivity
[B] it renders the victim helpless
[C] it deprives one of the enjoyment of music
[D] it drowns out conversations at worksites
22. The purpose of this passage is ________.
[A] to define the effects of noise on human behavior
[B] to warn people of the danger of noise pollution
[C] to give advice as to how to prevent hearing loss
[D] to tell the difference between noise and sound
Text 3
The traditional belief that a woman’s place is in the home and that a woman ought not to go out to work can hardly be reasonably maintained in present conditions. It is said that it is a woman’s task to care for the children, but families today tend to be small and with a year or two between children. Thus a woman’s whole period of childbearing may occur within five years. Furthermore, with compulsory education from the age of five or six her role as chief educator of her children soon ceases. Thus, even if we agree that a woman should stay at home to look after her children before they are of school age, for many women, this period would extend only for about ten years.
It might be argued that the house-proud woman would still find plenty to do about the home. That may be so, but it is certainly no longer necessary for a woman to spend her whole life cooking, cleaning, mending and sewing. Washing machines take the drudgery out of laundry, the latest models being entirely automatic and able to wash and dry a large quantity of clothes in a few minutes. Refrigerators have made it possible to store food for long periods and many pre-cooked foods are obtainable in tins. Shopping, instead of being a daily task, can be completed in one day a week. The new man-made fibers are more hardwiring than natural fibers and greatly reduce mending, while good ready-made clothes are cheap and plentiful.
Apart from women’s own happiness, the needs of the community must be considered. Modern society cannot do well without the contribution that women can make in professions and other kinds of work. There is a serious shortage of nurses and teachers, to mention only two of the occupations followed by women. It is extremely wasteful to give years of training at public expense only to have the qualified teacher or nurse marry after a year or two and be lost forever to her profession. The training, it is true, will help her in duties as a mother, but if she continued to work, her service would be more widely useful. Many factories and shops, too, are largely staffed by women, many of them married. While here the question of training is not so important, industry and trade would be seriously short of staff if married women did not work.
23. The author holds that ________.
[A] the right place for all women, married or otherwise, is the home, not elsewhere
[B] all married women should have some occupation outside the home
[C] a married woman should give first priority to her duties as a mother
[D] it is desirable for uneducated married women to stay at home and take care of the family
24. A house-proud woman ________.
[A] would devote her whole life to her family
[B] would take her own happiness and that of her family as her chief concern
[C] would still need some special training at public expense to help her in her duties as a housewife
[D] would take full advantage of modern household appliances
25. According to the author, modern society ________.
[A] can operate just as well even without women participation
[B] has been greatly hampered in its development by the shortage of women nurses and women teachers
[C] cannot operate properly without the contribution of women
[D] will be seriously affected by the continuing shortage of working women in heavy industries and international trade
答案解析
II: Reading Comprehension (20 points)
16.[B]17.[A]18.[B]19.[C]20.[A]
21.[A]22.[A]23.[B]24.[D]25.[C]
看过历年考研英语阅读真题及答案解析