The homework rules should be put on hold while the school board, which is responsible for setting educational policy, looks into the matter and conducts public hearings. It is not too late for L.A. Unified to do homework right.
21.It is implied in paragraph 1 that nowadays homework_____. [A] is receiving more criticism[B]is no longer an educational ritual [C]is not required for advanced courses[D]is gaining more preferences 22.L.A.Unified has made the rule about homework mainly because poor students_____.
[A]tend to have moderate expectations for their education [B]have asked for a different educational standard [C]may have problems finishing their homework [D]have voiced their complaints about homework
23.According to Paragraph 3,one problem with the policy is that it may____. [A]discourage students from doing homework
[B]result in students' indifference to their report cards [C]undermine the authority of state tests [D]restrict teachers' power in education
24. As mentioned in Paragraph 4, a key question unanswered about homework is whether______.
[A] it should be eliminated[B]it counts much in schooling
[C]it places extra burdens on teachers[D]it is important for grades 25.A suitable title for this text could be______. [A]Wrong Interpretation of an Educational Policy
[B]A Welcomed Policy for Poor Students [C]Thorny Questions about Homework [D]A Faulty Approach to Homework Text2
Pretty in pink: adult women do not rememer being so obsessed with the colour, yet it is pervasive in our young girls’ lives. Tt is not that pink is intrinsically bad, but it is such a tiny slice of the rainbow and, though it may celebrate girlhood in one way, it also repeatedly and firmly fuses 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, I 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 is 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 inherently 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 kins, 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, acdording to Daniel Cook, a historian of childhood consumerism, it was popularised as a marketing trick by clothing manufacrurers 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. Tt was only after “toddler”became a 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 \is...the rainbow\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]Colours are encoded in girls' DNA.
[B]Blue used to be regarded as the colour for girls. [C]Pink used to be a neutral colour in symbolising genders. [D]White is prefered by babies.
28.The author suggests that our perception of children's psychological development 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 to_____. [A]focus 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 girls' 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 2010. a federal judge shook America's biotech industry to its core. Companies had won patents for isolated DNA for decades-by 2005 some 20% of human genes were parented. But in March 2010 a judge ruled that genes were unpatentable. Executives were violently agitated. The Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO)， a trade group， assured members that this was just a “preliminary step” in a longer battle.
On July 29th they were relieved， at least temporarily. A federal appeals court overturned the prior decision， ruling that Myriad Genetics could indeed holb patents to two genss that help forecast a woman's risk of breast cancer. The chief executive of Myriad， a company in Utah，said the ruling was a blessing to firms and patients alike.
But as companies continue their attempts at personalised medicine， the courts will remain rather busy. The Myriad case itself is probably not over Critics make three main arguments against gene patents： a gene is a product of nature， so it may not be patented； gene patents suppress innovation rather than reward it； and patents' monopolies restrict access to genetic tests such as Myriad's. A growing number seem to agree.Last year a federal task-force urged reform for patents related to genetic tests. In October the Department of Justice filed a brief in the Myriad case， arguing that an isolated DNA molecule “is no less a product of nature... than are cotton fibres that have been separated from cotton seeds. ”
Despite the appeals court's decision， big questions remain unanswered. For example， it is unclear whether the sequencing of a whole genome violates the patents of indivi dual genes within it. The case may yet reach the Supreme Court. AS the industry advances ,however,other suits may have an even greater impact.companies are unlikely to file many more patents for human DNA molecules-most are already patented or in the public domain .firms are now studying how genes intcract,looking for correlations that might be used to determine the causes of disease or predict a drug’s efficacy,companies are eager to win patents for ‘connecting the dits’,expaains hans sauer,alawyer for the BIO.
Their success may be determined by a suit related to this issue, brought by the Mayo Clinic, which the Supreme Court will hear in its next term. The BIO rtcently held a convention which included seddions to coach lawyers on the shifting landscape for patents. Each meeting was packed.
31.it canbe learned from paragraph I that the biotech companies would like----- A.their executives to be activeB.judges to rule out gene patenting C.genes to be patcntablcD.the BIO to issue a warning 32.those who are against gene patents believe that----
A.genetic tests are not reliableB.only man-made products are patentable C.patents on genes depend much on innovatiaon D.courts should restrict access to gene tic tests
33.according to hans sauer ,companies are eager to win patents for---- A.establishing disease comelationsB.discovering gene interactions C.drawing pictures of genesD.identifying human DNA
34．By saying “each meeting was packed”(line4,para6)the author means that -----
A.the supreme court was authoritativeB.the BIO was a powerful organization C.gene patenting was a great concernD.lawyers were keen to attend conventiongs 35.generally speaking ,the author’s attitude toward gene patenting is---- A.criticalB.supportive C.scornfulD.objective Text 4
2010考研英语二真题及答案 Section I Use of English
Directions:The outbreak of swine flu that was first detected in Mexico was declared a global pandemic on June 11, 2009, in the first designation by the World Health Organization of a worldwide pandemic in 41 years.
The heightened alert came after an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva that convened after a sharp rise in cases in Australia, and rising numbers in Britain, Japan, Chile and elsewhere.
But the pandemic is \in severity, according to Margaret Chan, the organization's director general, with the overwhelming majority of patients experiencing only mild symptoms and a full recovery, often in the absence of any medical treatment.
The outbreak came to global notice in late April 2009, when Mexican authorities noticed an unusually large number of hospitalizations and deaths among healthy adults. As much of Mexico City shut down at the height of a panic, cases began to crop up in New York City, the southwestern United States and around the world. In the United States, new cases seemed to fade as warmer weather arrived. But in late September 2009, officials reported there was significant flu activity in almost every state and that virtually all the samples tested are the new swine flu, also known as (A) H1N1, not seasonal flu. @Zov&0
1 In the U.S., it has infected more than one million people, and caused more than 600 deaths and more than 6,000 hospitalizations.
Federal health officials released Tamiflu for children from the national stockpile and began taking orders from the states for the new swine flu vaccine. The new vaccine, which is different from the annual flu vaccine, is available ahead of expectations. More than three million doses were to be made available in early October 2009, though most of those initial doses were of the FluMist nasal spray type, which is not recommended for pregnant women, people over 50 or those with breathing difficulties, heart disease or several other problems. But it was still possible to vaccinate people in other high-risk group: health care workers, people caring for infants and healthy young people.
Section Ⅱ Reading comprehension
Part A Directions:
Read the following four passages. Answer the questions below each passage by choosing A, B, C and D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.(40 points) Text1
The longest bull run in a century of art-market history ended on a dramatic note with a sale of 56 works by Damien Hirst, “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever”, at Sotheby?s in London on September 15th 2008 (see picture). All but two pieces sold, fetching more than ā70m, a record for a sale by a single artist. It was a last hurrah. As the auctioneer called out bids, in New York one of the oldest banks on Wall Street, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy.
The world art market had already been losing momentum for a while after rising vertiginously since 2003. At its peak in 2007 it was worth some $65 billion, reckons Clare McAndrew, founder of Arts Economics, a research firm—double the figure five years earlier. Since then it may have come down to $50 billion. But the market generates interest far beyond its size because it brings together great wealth, enormous egos, greed, passion and controversy in a way matched by few other industries. In the weeks and months that followed Mr Hirst?s sale, spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable, especially in New York, where the bail-out of the banks coincided with the loss of thousands of jobs and the financial demise of many art-buying investors. In the art world that meant collectors stayed away from galleries and salerooms. Sales of contemporary art fell by two-thirds, and in the most overheated sector—for Chinese contemporary art—they were down by nearly 90% in the year to November 2008. Within weeks the world?s two biggest auction houses, Sotheby?s and Christie?s, had to pay out nearly $200m in guarantees to clients who had placed works for sale with them.
The current downturn in the art market is the worst since the Japanese stopped buying Impressionists at the end of 1989, a move that started the most serious contraction in the market since the second world war. This time experts reckon that prices are about 40% down on their peak on average, though some have been far more volatile. But Edward Dolman, Christie?s chief executive, says: “I?m pretty confident we?re at the bottom.”
What makes this slump different from the last, he says, is that there are still buyers in the market, whereas in the early 1990s, when interest rates were high, there was no demand even though many collectors wanted to sell. Christie?s revenues in the first half of 2009 were still higher than in the first half of 2006. Almost everyone who was interviewed for this special report said that the biggest problem at the moment is not a lack of demand but a lack of good work to sell. The three Ds—death, debt and divorce—still deliver works of art to the market. But anyone who does not have to sell is keeping away, waiting for confidence to return.
21.In the first paragraph,Damien Hirst's sale was referred to as “a last victory”because ____-.
A.the art market hadwitnessed a succession of victoryies B.the auctioneer finally got the two pieces at the highest bids C.Beautiful Inside My Head Forever won over all masterpieces D.it was successfully made just before the world financial crisis
22.By saying “spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable”(Line 1-2,Para.3),the author suggests that_____ .
A . collectors were no longer actively involved in art-market auctions B .people stopped every kind of spending and stayed away from galleries C.art collection 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 following statements is NOT ture?
A .Sales of contemporary art fell dramatically from 2007to 2008. B.The art market surpassed many other industries in momentum. C.The market generally 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 ' favoritesB.contemporary trends
C.factors promoting artwork circulationD.styles representing impressionists 25.The most appropriate title for this text could be ___ A.Fluctuation of Art PricesB.Up-to-date Art Auctions C.Art Market in DeclineD.Shifted Interest in Arts（编辑） Text2
I was addressing a small gathering in a suburban Virginia living room -- a women's group that had invited men to join them. Throughout the evening one man had been particularly talkative frequently offering ideas and anecdotes while his wife sat silently beside him on the couch. Toward the end of the evening I commented that women frequently complain that their husbands don't talk to them. This man quickly concurred. He gestured toward his wife and said \in our family.\room burst into laughter; the man looked puzzled and hurt. \true\he explained. \I come home from work I have nothing to say. If she didn't keep the conversation going we'd spend the whole evening in silence.\
This episode crystallizes the irony that although American men tend to talk more than women in public situations they often talk less at home. And this pattern is wreaking havoc with marriage.
The pattern was observed by political scientist Andrew Hacker in the late '70s. Sociologist Catherine Kohler Riessman reports in her new book \Talk\that most of the women she interviewed -- but only a few of the men -- gave lack of communication as the reason for their divorces. Given the current divorce rate of nearly 50 percent that amounts to millions of cases in the United States every year -- a virtual epidemic of failed conversation.
In my own research complaints from women about their husbands most often focused not on tangible inequities such as having given up the chance for a career to accompany a husband to his or doing far more than their share of daily life-support work like cleaning cooking social arrangements and errands. Instead they focused on communication: \listen to me\\talk to me.\I found as Hacker observed years before that most wives want their husbands to be first and foremost conversational partners but few husbands share this expectation of their wives. In short the image that best represents the current crisis is the stereotypical cartoon scene of a man sitting at the breakfast table with a newspaper held up in front of his face while a woman glares at the back of it wanting to talk.
26.What is most wives' main expectation of their husbands? A.Talking to them.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 damageDcreating pressure
28.All of the following are true EXCEPT_______ A.men tend to talk more in public tan women
B.nearly 50percent of recent divorces are caused by failed conversation C.women attach much importance to communication between couples Da female tends to be more talkative at home than her spouse
29.Which of the following 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 inequalities.
C.Husband and wofe have different expectations from their marriage. D.Conversational patterns between man and wife are different.
30.In the following part immediately after this text,the author will most probably focuson ______
A.a vivid account of the new book Divorce Talk B.a detailed description of the stereotypical cartoon C.other possible reasons for a high divorce rate in the U.S. D a brief introduction to the political scientist Andrew Hacker Txet3
over the past decade, many companies had perfected the art of creating automatic behaviors — habits — among consumers. These habits have helped companies earn billions of dollars when customers eat snacks, apply lotions and wipe counters almost without thinking, often in response to a carefully designed set of daily cues.
“There are fundamental public health problems, like hand washing with soap, that remain killers only because we can?t figure out how to change people?s habits,” Dr. Curtis said. “We wanted to learn from private industry how to create new behaviors that happen automatically.”
The companies that Dr. Curtis turned to — Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever — had invested hundreds of millions of dollars
Part B
41.E 42.D 43.C 44.B 45.G Section Ⅳ Writing Part A Dear xxx,
I would like to convey my heartfelt thanks to you for your kindness to receive me when I participated in an exchange program in USA. Your generous help made it possible that I had a very pleasant stay and a chance to know American cultures better. Besides, I think it is an honor for me to make friends with you and I will cherish the goodwill you showed to me wherever I go. I do hope that you will visit China one day, so that I could have the opportunity to repay your kindness and refresh our friendship.
I feel obliged to thank you again.
Sincerely yours,
Zhang Wei
Part B Directions:
Read the following text and answer the questions by finding information from the left column that corresponds to each of the marked details given in the right column. There are two extra choices in the right column. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEERT 1.(10 points)
“Universal history, the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men who have worked here,” wrote the Victorian sage Thomas Carlyle. Well, not any more it is not.
Suddenly, Britain looks to have fallen out with its favourite historical form. This could be no more than a passing literary craze, but it also points to a broader truth about how we now approach the past: less concerned with learning from
forefathers and more interested in feeling their pain. Today, we want empathy, not inspiration.
From the earliest days of the Renaissance, the writing of history meant recounting the exemplary lives of great men. In 1337, Petrarch began work on his rambling writing De Viris Illustribus – On Famous Men, highlighting the virtus (or virtue) of classical heroes. Petrarch celebrated their greatness in conquering fortune and rising to the top. This was the biographical tradition which Niccolo Machiavelli turned on its head. In The Prince, the championed cunning, ruthlessness, and boldness, rather than virtue, mercy and justice, as the skills of successful leaders.
Over time, the attributes of greatness shifted. The Romantics commemorated the leading painters and authors of their day, stressing the uniqueness of the artist's personal experience rather than public glory. By contrast, the Victorian author Samual Smiles wrote Self-Help as a catalogue of the worthy lives of engineers , industrialists and explores . \valuable examples which they furnish of the power of self-help, if patient purpose, resolute working and steadfast integrity, issuing in the formulation of truly noble and many character, exhibit,\it is in the power of each to accomplish for himself\biographies of James Walt, Richard Arkwright and Josiah Wedgwood were held up as beacons to guide the working man through his difficult life.
This was all a bit bourgeois for Thomas Carlyle, who focused his biographies on the truly heroic lives of Martin Luther, Oliver Cromwell and Napoleon Bonaparte. These epochal figures represented lives hard to imitate, but to be acknowledged as possessing higher authority than mere mortals.
Communist Manifesto. For them, history did nothing, it possessed no immense wealth nor waged battles:“It is man, real, living man who does all that.” And history should be the story of the masses and their record of struggle. As such, it needed to appreciate the economic realities, the social contexts and power relations in which each epoch stood. For:“Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly found, given and transmitted from the past.”
This was the tradition which revolutionized our appreciation of the past. In place of Thomas Carlyle, Britain nurtured Christopher Hill, EP Thompson and Eric Hobsbawm. History from below stood alongside biographies of great men. Whole new realms of understanding — from gender to race to cultural studies — were opened up as scholars unpicked the multiplicity of lost societies. And it transformed public history too: downstairs became just as fascinating as upstairs.
[A] emphasized the virtue of classical heroes.
41. Petrarch 42. Niccolo Machiavellli 43. Samuel Smiles 44. Thomas Carlyle 45. Marx and Engels [B] highlighted the public glory of the leading artists. [C] focused on epochal figures whose lives were hard to imitate. [D] opened up new realms of understanding the great men in history. [E] held that history should be the story of the masses and their record of struggle. [F] dismissed virtue as unnecessary for successful leaders. [G] depicted the worthy lives of engineer industrialists and explorers.
2012年研究生入学考试真题及解析
Section 1 Use of Eninglish Directions :
Millions of Americans and foreigners see GI.Joe as a mindless war toy ,the symbol of American military adventurism, but that’s not how it used to be .To the men and women who 1 )in World War II and the people they liberated ,the GI.was the 2) man grown into hero ,the pool farm kid torn away from his home ,the guy who 3) all the burdens of battle ,who slept in cold foxholes,who went without the 4) of food and shelter ,who stuck it out and drove back the Nazi reign of murder .this was not a volunteer soldier ,not someone well paid ,5) an average guy ,up 6 )the best trained ,best equipped ,fiercest ,most brutal enemies seen in centuries. His name is not much.GI. is just a military abbreviation 7) Government Issue ,and it was on all of the article 8) to soldiers .And Joe? A common name for a guy who never 9) it to the top .Joe Blow ,Joe Magrac ?a working class name.The United States has 10) had a president or vicepresident or secretary of state Joe.
GI .joe had a (11)career fighting German ,Japanese , and Korean troops . He appers as a character ,or a (12 ) of american personalities, in the 1945 movie The Story of GI. Joe, based on the last days of war correspondent Ernie Pyle. Some of the soldiers Pyle(13)portrayde themselves in the film. Pyle was famous for covering the (14)side of the warl, writing about the dirt-snow –and-mud soldiers, not how many miles were(15)or what towns were captured or liberated, His
reports(16)the “willie” cartoons of famed Stars and Stripes artist Bill Maulden. Both men(17)the dirt and exhaustion of war, the (18)of civilization that the soldiers shared with each other and the civilians: coffee, tobacco, whiskey, shelter, sleep. (19)Egypt, France, and a dozen more countries, G.I. Joe was any American soldier,(20)the most important person in their lives.
1.[A] performed [B]served [C]rebelled [D]betrayed 2.[A] actual [B]common [C]special [D]normal 3.[A]bore [B]cased [C]removed [D]loaded
4.[A]necessities [B]facilitice [C]commodities [D]propertoes 5.[A]and [B]nor [C]but [D]hence 6.[A]for [B]into [C] form [D]against
7.[A]meaning [B]implying [C]symbolizing [D]claiming
8.[A]handed out [B]turn over [C]brought back [D]passed down 9.[A]pushed [B]got [C]made [D]managed 10.[A]ever [B]never [C]either [D]neither
11.[A]disguised [B]disturbed [C]disputed [D]distinguished 12.[A]company [B]collection [C]community [D]colony 13.[A]employed [B]appointed [C]interviewed [D]questioned 14.[A]ethical [B]military [C]political [D]human 15.[A]ruined [B]commuted [C]patrolled [D]gained
16.[A]paralleled [B]counteracted [C]duplicated [D]contradicted 17.[A]neglected [B]avoided [C]emphasized [D]admired 18.[A]stages [B]illusions [C]fragments [D]advancea 19.[A]With [B]To [C]Among [D]Beyond
20.[A]on the contrary [B] by this means [C]from the outset [D]at that point
Section II Resdiong Comprehension Part A Directions:
Read the following four texts. answer the question after each text by choosing A,B,C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.(40 points)
Text 1
Homework has never been terribly popular with students and even many parents, but in recent years it has been particularly scorned. School districts across the country, most recently Los Angeles Unified, are revising their thinking on his educational ritual. Unfortunately, L.A. Unified has produced an inflexible policy which mandates that with the exception of some advanced courses, homework may no longer count for more than 10% of a student’s academic grade.
This rule is meant to address the difficulty that students from impoverished or chaotic homes might have in completing their homework. But the policy is unclear and contradictory. Certainly, no homework should be assigned that students cannot do without expensive equipment. But if the district is essentially giving a pass to students who do not do their homework because of complicated family lives, it is going riskily close to the implication that standards need to be lowered for poor children.
District administrators say that homework will still be a pat of schooling: teachers are allowed to assign as much of it as they want. But with homework counting for no more than 10% of their grades, students can easily skip half their homework and see vey little difference on their report cards. Some students might do well on state tests without completing their homework, but what about the students who performed well on the tests and did their homework? It is quite possible that the homework helped. Yet rather than empowering teachers to find what works best for their students, the policy imposes a flat, across-the-board rule.
At the same time, the policy addresses none of the truly thorny questions about homework. If the district finds homework to be unimportant to its students’ academic achievement, it should move to reduce or eliminate the assignments, not make them count for almost nothing. Conversely, if homework does nothing to ensure that the homework students are not assigning more than they are willing to review and correct.
[A]neglected the sign of crisis[B]failed to get state subsidies [C]were not charitable corporations[D]were in a desperate situation 27. Some newspapers refused delivery to distant suburbs probably because .
[A]readers threatened to pay less [B]newspapers wanted to reduce costs
[C]journalists reported little about these areas [D]subscribers complained about slimmer products
28. Compared with their American counterparts, Japanese newspapers are much more stable because they .
[A]have more sources of revenue [B]have more balanced newsrooms [C]are less dependent on advertising [D]are less affected by readership
29. What can be inferred from the last paragraph about the current newspaper business?
[A]Distinctiveness is an essential feature of newspapers. [B]Completeness is to blame for the failure of newspaper.
[C]Foreign bureaus play a crucial role in the newspaper business. [D]Readers have lost their interest in car and film reviews. 30. The most appropriate title for this text would be . [A]American Newspapers: Struggling for Survival [B]American Newspapers: Gone with the Wind [C]American Newspapers: A Thriving Business [D]American Newspapers: A Hopeless Story
Text 3
We tend to think of the decades immediately following World War II as a time of prosperity and growth, with soldiers returning home by the millions, going off to college on the G. I. Bill and lining up at the marriage bureaus.
But when it came to their houses, it was a time of common sense and a belief that less could truly be more. During the Depression and the war, Americans had learned to live with less, and that restraint, in combination with the postwar confidence in the future, made small, efficient housing positively stylish.
Economic condition was only a stimulus for the trend toward efficient living. The phrase “less is more” was actually first popularized by a German, the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who like other people associated with the Bauhaus, a school of design, emigrated to the United States before World War II
and took up posts at American architecture schools. These designers came to exert enormous influence on the course of American architecture, but none more so that Mies.
Mies’s signature phrase means that less decoration, properly organized, has more impact that a lot. Elegance, he believed, did not derive from abundance. Like other modern architects, he employed metal, glass and laminated wood-materials that we take for granted today buy that in the 1940s symbolized the future. Mies’s sophisticated presentation masked the fact that the spaces he designed were small and efficient, rather than big and often empty.
The apartments in the elegant towers Mies built on Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive, for example, were smaller-two-bedroom units under 1,000 square feet-than those in their older neighbors along the city’s Gold Coast. But they were popular because of their airy glass walls, the views they afforded and the elegance of the buildings’ details and proportions, the architectural equivalent of the abstract art so popular at the time.
The trend toward “less” was not entirely foreign. In the 1930s Frank Lloyd Wright started building more modest and efficient houses-usually around 1,200 square feet-than the spreading two-story ones he had designed in the 1890s and the early 20th century.
The “Case Study Houses” commissioned from talented modern
architects by California Arts & Architecture magazine between 1945 and 1962 were yet another homegrown influence on the “less is more” trend. Aesthetic effect came from the landscape, new materials and forthright detailing. In his Case Study House, Ralph everyday life - few American families acquired helicopters, though most eventually got clothes dryers
- but his belief that self-sufficiency was both desirable and inevitable was widely shared.
31. The postwar American housing style largely reflected the Americans’ .
[A]prosperity and growth[B]efficiency and practicality [C]restraint and confidence[D]pride and faithfulness
32. Which of the following can be inferred from Paragraph 3 about Bauhaus?
[A]It was founded by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
[B]Its designing concept was affected by World War II. [C]Most American architects used to be associated with it. [D]It had a great influence upon American architecture. 33. Mies held that elegance of architectural design . [A]was related to large space[B]was identified with emptiness [C]was not reliant on abundant decoration [D]was not associated with efficiency
34. What is true about the apartments Mies building Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive?
[A]They ignored details and proportions.
[B]They were built with materials popular at that time. [C]They were more spacious than neighboring buildings. [D]They shared some characteristics of abstract art.
35. What can we learn about the design of the “Case Study House”? [A]Mechanical devices were widely used.
[B]Natural scenes were taken into consideration
[C]Details were sacrificed for the overall effect. [D]Eco-friendly materials were employed.
Text 4
Will the European Union make it? The question would have sounded strange not long ago. Now even the project’s greatest cheerleaders talk of a continent facing a “Bermuda triangle” of debt, population decline and lower growth.
As well as those chronic problems, the EU face an acute crisis in its economic core, the 16 countries that use the single currency. Markets have lost faith that the euro zone’s economies, weaker or stronger, will one day converge thanks to the discipline of sharing a single currency, which denies uncompetitive members the quick fix of devaluation.
Yet the debate about how to save Europe’s single currency from disintegration is stuck. It is stuck because the euro zone’s dominant powers, France and Germany, agree on the need for greater harmonization within the euro zone, but disagree about what to harmonies.
Germany thinks the euro must be saved by stricter rules on borrow spending and competitiveness, barked by quasi-automatic sanctions for governments that do not obey. These might include threats to freeze EU funds for poorer regions and EU mega-projects and even the suspension of a country’s voting rights in EU ministerial councils. It insists that economic co-ordination should involve all 27 members of the EU club, among whom there is a small majority for free-market liberalism and economic rigour; in the inner core alone, Germany fears, a small majority favour French interference.
A “southern” camp headed by French wants something
different: ”European economic government” within an inner core of euro-zone members. Translated, that means politicians intervening in monetary policy and a system of redistribution from richer to poorer members, via cheaper borrowing for governments through common Eurobonds or complete fiscal transfers. Finally, figures close to the France government have murmured, curo-zone members should agree to some fiscal and social harmonization: e.g., curbing competition in corporate-tax rates or labour costs.
It is too soon to write off the EU. It remains the world’s largest trading block. At its best, the European project is remarkably liberal: built around a single market of 27 rich and poor countries, its internal borders are far more open to goods, capital and labour than any comparable trading area. It is an ambitious attempt to blunt the sharpest edges of globalization, and make capitalism benign.
36. The EU is faced with so many problems that . [A] it has more or less lost faith in markets
[B] even its supporters begin to feel concerned
[C] some of its member countries plan to abandon euro [D] it intends to deny the possibility of devaluation
37. The debate over the EU’s single currency is stuck because the dominant powers .
[A] are competing for the leading position [B] are busy handling their own crises
[C] fail to reach an agreement on harmonization [D] disagree on the steps towards disintegration
38. To solve the euro problem ,Germany proposed that . [A] EU funds for poor regions be increased [B] stricter regulations be imposed
[C] only core members be involved in economic co-ordination [D] voting rights of the EU members be guaranteed
39. The French proposal of handling the crisis implies that __ __. ［A］poor countries are more likely to get funds
［B］strict monetary policy will be applied to poor countries ［C］loans will be readily available to rich countries ［D］rich countries will basically control Eurobonds
40. Regarding the future of the EU, the author seems to feel __ __. ［A］pessimistic［B］desperate ［C］conceited［D］hopeful
Part B Directions:
Read the following text and answer the questions by finding
information from the right column that corresponds to each of the marked details given in the left column. There are two extra choices in the right column. Mark your answer on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)
In this section there is a text in English. Translate it into Chinese, write your translation on ANSWER SHEET 2. (15points)
Who would have thought that, globally, the IT industry produces about the same volumes of greenhouse gases as the world’s airlines do-rough 2 percent of all CO2 emissions?
Many everyday tasks take a surprising toll on the environment. A Google search can leak between 0.2 and 7.0 grams of CO2 depending on how many attempts are needed to get the “right” answer. To deliver results to its users quickly, then, Google has to maintain vast data centres round the world, packed with powerful computers. While producing large quantities of CO2, these computers emit a great deal of heat, so the centres need to be well air-conditioned, which uses even more energy. However, Google and other big tech providers monitor their efficiency closely and make improvements. Monitoring is the first step on the road to reduction, but there is much to be done, and not just by big companies.
参考答案
从全球范围来看，有谁会想到IT 行业释放的温室气体与全球航空公司产生的一样多呢？它大约占总二氧化碳总排量的2%。
许多日常工作对环境造成了令人震惊的破坏。根据每次你搜索并得到正确答案的尝试次数，谷歌会排放0.2至7克的二氧化碳。为了迅速将结果传递给用户，谷歌在全球设置了大量充斥着能量巨大的电脑的数据中心。这些电脑在排放大量二氧化碳的同时，也产生大量的能量。因此，这些数据中心需要良好的空调降温，这又会同时产生大量的能量。
然而，谷歌和其他技术提供商严密检测他们的效果并不断进行改进。监控是减排的第一步，但这仍任重道远，且不仅只由大公司来承担。
小作文参考答案 Dear Li Ming,
We are very happy to know that you have successfully passed the college entrance examination this year and have been admitted into Peking
University. Allow us to give our most sincere congratulations on this exciting occasion.
You have all along been working hard at your professional studies, and you are excellent in most subjects. Your success shows that only hard work can yield good results，so I suggest that you should make a great progress in university life.
We take this opportunity to express our best wishes to you. Wish you greater achievements in your college education.
Yours sincerely,
Zhang Wei
【马鹏老师版】 Dear Ming,
Congratulations! I am glad to hear that you have been admitted by MIT. Your efforts and commitment have been paid off. You are the honor of our family.
Here come some my own advices of being a pre college student. First and foremost, you need to improve your communication because you will meet different people with different personalities in campus. Moreover, reading some reference books will help you to accumulate more knowledge and terms, which boost your competitiveness in campus.
Once again congratulate for your achievement!
Yours sincerely,
Zhang Wei
Section I Use of English
1．A 2．C 3．B 4．D 5．D 6．B 7．A 8．C 9．C 10．B
11．D 12．B 13．A 14．C 15．A 16．A 17．D 18．A 19．C 20．D
Section II Reading Comprehension Part A
Text 1
21.[B] failing to fulfill her duty. 22.[D] independent advisers.
23.[C] do less well in the stock market.
24.[A] may stay for the attractive offers from the firm. 25.[D] critical. Text 2
26.[D] were in a desperate situation. 27.[B] newspapers wanted to reduce costs. 28.[C] are less dependent on advertising.
29.[A] Distinctiveness is an essential feature of newspapers.. 30.[A]American Newspapers: Struggling for Survival Text3
31.[C] restraint and confidence.
32.[D] It had a great influence upon American architecture. 33.[C] was not reliant on abundant decoration.
34.[D] They shared some characteristics of abstract art. 35.[B] Natural scenes were taken into consideration. Text 4
36.[B] even its supporters begin to feel concerned 37.[C] fail to reach an agreement on harmonization 38.[B] stricter regulations be imposed.
39.[A] poor countries are more likely to get funds 40.[D] hopeful
The great recession may be over, but this era of high joblessness is probably beginning. Before it ends,
it will likely change the life course and character of a generation of young adults. And ultimately, it is likely to reshape our politics,our culture, and the character of our society for years.
No one tries harder than the jobless to find silver linings in this national economic disaster. Many said that unemployment, while extremely painful, had improved them in some ways; they had become less materialistic and more financially prudent; they were more aware of the struggles of others. In limited respects, perhaps the recession will leave society better off. At the very least, it has awoken us from our national fever dream of easy riches and bigger houses, and put a necessary end to an era of reckless personal spending.
But for the most part, these benefits seem thin, uncertain, and far off. In The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, the economic historian Benjamin Friedman argues that both inside and outside the U.S. ,lengthy periods of economic stagnation or decline have almost always left society more mean-spirited and less inclusive, and have usually stopped or reversed the advance of rights and freedoms. Anti-immigrant sentiment typically increases, as does conflict between races and classes.
Income inequality usually falls during a recession, but it has not shrunk in this one,. Indeed, this period of economic weakness may reinforce class divides, and decrease opportunities to cross them--- especially for young people. The research of Till Von Wachter, the economist in Columbia University, suggests that not all people graduating into a recession see their life chances dimmed: those with degrees from elite universities catch up fairly quickly to where they otherwise would have been if they had graduated in better times; it is the masses beneath them that are left behind.
In the internet age, it is particularly easy to see the resentment that has always been hidden winthin American society. More difficult, in the moment , is discerning precisely how these lean times are affecting society’s character. In many respects, the U.S. was more socially tolerant entering this resession than at any time in its history, and a variety of national polls on social conflict since then have shown mixed results. We will have to wait and see exactly how these hard times will reshape our social fabric. But they certainly it, and all the more so the longer they extend. 36.By saying “to find silver linings”（Line 1,Para.2）the author suggest that the jobless try to___.
[A]seek subsidies from the govemment [B]explore reasons for the unermployment [C]make profits from the troubled economy [D]look on the bright side of the recession
37.According to Paragraph 2,the recession has made people_____. [A]realize the national dream[B]struggle against each other [C]challenge their lifestyle[D]reconsider their lifestyle 38.Benjamin Friedman believe that economic recessions may_____.
[A]impose a heavier burden on immigrants[B]bring out more evils of human nature [C]Promote the advance of rights and freedoms [D]ease conflicts between races and classes
39.The research of Till Von Wachther suggests that in recession graduates from elite universities tend to _____.
[A]lag behind the others due to decreased opportunities [B]catch up quickly with experienced employees [C]see their life chances as dimmed as the others’ [D]recover more quickly than the others
40.The author thinks that the influence of hard times on society is____. [A]certain[B]positive [C]trivial[D]destructive Section III Translation
46.Directions:
Translate the following text from English into Chinese.Write your translation on ANSWER SHEET2.(15 points)
When people in developing countries worry about migration,they are
usually concerned at the prospect of ther best and brightest departure to Silicon Valley or to hospitals and universities in the developed world ,These are the kind of workers that countries like Britian ,Canada and Australia try to attract by using immigration rules that privilege college graduates .
Lots of studies have found that well-educated people from developing countries are particularly likely to emigrate .A big survey of Indian households in 2004 found that nearly 40%of emigrants had more than a
high-school education,compared with around 3.3%of all Indians over the age of 25.This \\long bothered policymakers in poor countries ,They fear that it hurts their economies ,depriving them of much-needed skilled workers who could have taught at their universities ,worked in their hospitals and come up with clever new products for their factories to make .
Section IV Writing Part A 47.Directions
Suppose you have found something wrong with the electronic dictionary that you bought from an onlin store the other day ,Write an email to the customer service center to
1)make a complaint and 2)demand a prompt solution
You should write about 100words on ANSERE SHEET 2
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter ,Use \2012考研英语二海天考研完整参考答案 完形填空：
1.B 2.B 3.A 4.A 5.C 6.B 7.C 8.A 9.D 10.B 11.D 12.B 13.C 14.D 15.B 16.A 17.C 18.B 19.B 20.D
TEXT1：21. A 22.C 23.A 24.B 25.D TEXT2：26.A 27.B 28.A 29.C 30.C TEXT3：31.C 32.B 33.A 34.D 35.D TEXT4：36.D 37.D 38.B 39.D 40.A 新题型：41-45：AFGCE 小作文范文：
Dear International Students,
On behalf of the Students' Union, I am writing this E-mail to extend my heartfelt welcome to you, and we are all feeling delighted to share the wonderful college life with you in the following two years.
In order to help you fit into this brand-new life more quickly, here are some useful suggestions and tips: First and forest, living in a Chinese-language environment, you'd better take certain courses to improve your communication skills and get a better understanding of Chinese cultures. In addition, our canteen not only provides the Chinese dishes, but also offers traditional western foods, such as steak, hamburgers, fish and chips, and so forth. Thus, you can choose any food as you wish. Last but not least, every student is supposed to comply with the college rules, which you may look up on our website.
Enclosed with this E-mail are a campus map and a brief introduction of our university, which I hope are beneficial for you.
Our warmest welcome to you again and look forward to your arrival. Yours truly, Li Ming