Section I Use of English

Directions:

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)

The idea that some groups of people may be more intelligent than others is one of those hypotheses that dare not speak its name. But Gregory Cochran is 1 to say it anyway. He is that 2 bird, a scientist who works independently 3 any institution. He helped popularize the idea that some diseases not 4 thought to have a bacterial cause were actually infections, which aroused much controversy when it was first suggested.

5 he, however, might tremble at the 6 of what he is about to do. Together with another two scientists, he is publishing a paper which not only 7 that one group of humanity is more intelligent than the others, but explains the process that has brought this about. The group in 8 are a particular people originated from central Europe. The process is natural selection.

This group generally do well in IQ test, 9 12-15 points above the 10 value of 100, and have contributed 11 to the intellectual and cultural life of the West, as the 12 of their elites, including several world-renowned scientists,13 they also suffer more often than most people from a number of nasty genetic diseases, such as breast cancer. These facts, 14 ave previously been thought unrelated. The former has been 15 social effects, such as a strong tradition of 16 ucation. The latter was seen as a (an) 17 genetic isolation. Dr. Cochran suggests that the intelligence and diseases are intimately18 is argument is that the unusual history of these people has 19 em to unique evolutionary pressures that have resulted in this 20 ate of affairs.

1.[A] selected[B] prepared[C] obliged[D] pleased

2.[A] unique[B] particular[C] special[D] rare

3.[A] of[B] with[C] in[D] against

4.[A] subsequently[B] presently[C] previously[D] lately

5.[A] Only[B] So[C] Even[D] Hence

6.[A] thought[B] sight[C] cost[D] risk

7.[A] advises[B] suggests[C] protests[D] objects

8.[A] progress[B] fact[C] need[D] question

9.[A] attaining[B] scoring[C] reaching[D] calculating

10.[A] normal[B] common[C] mean[D] total

11.[A] unconsciously[B] disproportionately

[C] indefinitely[D] unaccountably

12.[A] missions[B] fortunes[C] interests[D] careers

13.[A] affirm[B] witness[C] observe[D] approve

14.[A] moreover[B] therefore[C] however[D] meanwhile

15.[A] given up[B] got over[C] carried on[D] put down

16.[A] assessing[B] supervising[C] administering[D] valuing

17.[A] development[B] origin[C] consequence[D] instrument

18.[A] linked[B] integrated[C] woven[D] combined

19.[A] limited[B] subjected[C] converted[D] directed

20.[A] paradoxical[B] incompatible[C] inevitable[D] continuous

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 SHEET 1. (40 points)

Text 1

While still catching-up to men in some spheres of modern life, women appear to be way ahead in at least one undesirable category. “Women are particularly susceptible to developing depression and anxiety disorders in response to stress compared to men,” according to Dr. Yehuda, chief psychiatrist at New York’s Veteran’s Administration Hospital.

Studies of both animals and humans have shown that sex hormones somehow affect the stress response, causing females under stress to produce more of the trigger chemicals than do males under the same conditions. In several of the studies, when stressed-out female rats had their ovaries (the female reproductive organs) removed, their chemical responses became equal to those of the males.

Adding to a woman’s increased dose of stress chemicals, are her increased “opportunities” for stress. “It’s not necessarily that women don’t cope as well. It’s just that they have so much more to cope with,” says Dr. Yehuda. “Their capacity for tolerating stress may even be greater than men’s,” she observes, “it’s just that they’re dealing with so many more things that they become worn out from it more visibly and sooner.”

Dr. Yehuda notes another difference between the sexes. “I think that the kinds of things that women are exposed to tend to be in more of a chronic or repeated nature. Men go to war and are exposed to combat stress. Men are exposed to more acts of random physical violence. The kinds of interpersonal violence that women are exposed to tend to be in domestic situations, by, unfortunately, parents or other family members, and they tend not to be one-shot deals. The wear-and-tear that comes from these longer relationships can be quite devastating.”

Adeline Alvarez married at 18 and gave birth to a son, but was determined to finish college. “I struggled a lot to get the college degree. I was living in so much frustration that that was my escape, to go to school, and get ahead and do better.” Later, her marriage ended and she became a single mother. “It’s the hardest thing to take care of a teenager, have a job, pay the rent, pay the car payment, and pay the debt. I lived from paycheck to paycheck.”

Not everyone experiences the kinds of severe chronic stresses Alvarez describes. But most women today are coping with a lot of obligations, with few breaks, and feeling the strain. Alvarez’s experience demonstrates the importance of finding ways to diffuse stress before it threatens your health and your ability to function.

21.Which of the following is true according to the first two paragraphs?

[A] Women are biologically more vulnerable to stress.

[B] Women are still suffering much stress caused by men.

[C] Women are more experienced than men in coping with stress.

[D] Men and women show different inclinations when faced with stress.

22.Dr. Yehuda’s research suggests that women

[A] need extra doses of chemicals to handle stress.

[B] have limited capacity for tolerating stress.

[C] are more capable of avoiding stress.

[D] are exposed to more stress.

23.According to Paragraph 4, the stress women confront tends to be

[A] domestic and temporary.

[B] irregular and violent.

[C] durable and frequent.

[D] trivial and random.

24.The sentence “I lived from paycheck to paycheck.” (Line 6, Para. 5) shows that

[A] Alvarez cared about nothing but making money.

[B] Alvarez’s salary barely covered her household expenses.

[C] Alvarez got paychecks from different jobs.

[D] Alvarez paid practically everything by check.

25.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

[A] Strain of Stress: No Way Out?

[B] Responses to Stress: Gender Difference

[C] Stress Analysis: What Chemicals Say

[D] Gender Inequality: Women Under Stress

Text 2

It used to be so straightforward. A team of researchers working together in the laboratory would submit the results of their research to a journal. A journal editor would then remove the authors’ names and affiliations from the paper and send it to their peers for review. Depending on the comments received, the editor would accept the paper for publication or decline it. Copyright rested with the journal publisher, and researchers seeking knowledge of the results would have to subscribe to the journal.

No longer. The Internet - and pressure from funding agencies, who are questioning why commercial publishers are making money from government-funded research by restricting access to it - is making access to scientific results a reality. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has just issued a report describing the far-reaching consequences of this. The report, by John Houghton of Victoria University in Australia and Graham Vickery of the OECD, makes heavy reading for publishers who have, so far, made handsome profits. But it goes further than that. It signals a change in what has, until now, been a key element of scientific endeavor.

The value of knowledge and the return on the public investment in research depends, in part, upon wide distribution and ready access. It is big business. In America, the core scientific publishing market is estimated at between $7 billion and $11 billion. The International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers says that there are more than 2,000 publishers worldwide specializing in these subjects. They publish more than 1.2 million articles each year in some 16,000 journals.

This is now changing. According to the OECD report, some 75% of scholarly journals are now online. Entirely new business models are emerging; three main ones were identified by the report’s authors. There is the so-called big deal, where institutional subscribers pay for access to a collection of online journal titles through site-licensing agreements. There is open-access publishing, typically supported by asking the author (or his employer) to pay for the paper to be published. Finally, there are open-access archives, where organizations such as universities or international laboratories support institutional repositories. Other models exist that are hybrids of these three, such as delayed open-access, where journals allow only subscribers to read a paper for the first six months, before making it freely available to everyone who wishes to see it. All this could change the traditional form of the peer-review process, at least for the publication of papers.

26.In the first paragraph, the author discusses

[A] the background information of journal editing.

[B] the publication routine of laboratory reports.

[C] the relations of authors with journal publishers.

[D] the traditional process of journal publication.

27.Which of the following is true of the OECD report?

[A] It criticizes government-funded research.

[B] It introduces an effective means of publication.

[C] It upsets profit-making journal publishers.

[D] It benefits scientific research considerably.

28.According to the text, online publication is significant in that

[A] it provides an easier access to scientific results.

[B] it brings huge profits to scientific researchers.

[C] it emphasizes the crucial role of scientific knowledge.

[D] it facilitates public investment in scientific research.

29.With the open-access publishing model, the author of a paper is required to

[A] cover the cost of its publication.

[B] subscribe to the journal publishing it.

[C] allow other online journals to use it freely.

[D] complete the peer-review before submission.

30.Which of the following best summarizes the main idea of the text?

[A] The Internet is posing a threat to publishers.

[B] A new mode of publication is emerging.

[C] Authors welcome the new channel for publication.

[D] Publication is rendered easier by online service.

Text 3

In the early 1960s Wilt Chamberlain was one of only three players in the National Basketball Association (NBA) listed at over seven feet. If he had played last season, however, he would have been one of 42. The bodies playing major professional sports have changed dramatically over the years, and managers have been more than willing to adjust team uniforms to fit the growing numbers of bigger, longer frames.

The trend in sports, though, may be obscuring an unrecognized reality: Americans have generally stopped growing. Though typically about two inches taller now than 140 years ago, today’s people - especially those born to families who have lived in the U.S. for many generations - apparently reached their limit in the early 1960s. And they aren’t likely to get any taller. “In the general population today, at this genetic, environmental level, we’ve pretty much gone as far as we can go,” says anthropologist William Cameron Chumlea of Wright State University. In the case of NBA players, their increase in height appears to result from the increasingly common practice of recruiting players from all over the world.

Growth, which rarely continues beyond the age of 20, demands calories and nutrients - notably, protein - to feed expanding tissues. At the start of the 20th century, under-nutrition and childhood infections got in the way. But as diet and health improved, children and adolescents have, on average, increased in height by about an inch and a half every 20 years, a pattern known as the secular trend in height. Yet according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, average height - 5′9″ for men, 5′4″ for women - hasn’t really changed since 1960.

Genetically speaking, there are advantages to avoiding substantial height. During childbirth, larger babies have more difficulty passing through the birth canal. Moreover, even though humans have been upright for millions of years, our feet and back continue to struggle with bipedal posture and cannot easily withstand repeated strain imposed by oversize limbs. “There are some real constraints that are set by the genetic architecture of the individual organism,” says anthropologist William Leonard of Northwestern University.

Genetic maximums can change, but don’t expect this to happen soon. Claire C. Gordon, senior anthropologist at the Army Research Center in Natick, Mass., ensures that 90 percent of the uniforms and workstations fit recruits without alteration. She says that, unlike those for basketball, the length of military uniforms has not changed for some time. And if you need to predict human height in the near future to design a piece of equipment, Gordon says that by and large, “you could use today’s data and feel fairly confident.”

31.Wilt Chamberlain is cited as an example to

[A] illustrate the change of height of NBA players.

[B] show the popularity of NBA players in the U.S..

[C] compare different generations of NBA players.

[D] assess the achievements of famous NBA players.

32.Which of the following plays a key role in body growth according to the text?

[A] Genetic modification.

[B] Natural environment.

[C] Living standards.

[D] Daily exercise.

33.On which of the following statements would the author most probably agree?

[A] Non-Americans add to the average height of the nation.

[B] Human height is conditioned by the upright posture.

[C] Americans are the tallest on average in the world.

[D] Larger babies tend to become taller in adulthood.

34.We learn from the last paragraph that in the near future

[A] the garment industry will reconsider the uniform size.

[B] the design of military uniforms will remain unchanged.

[C] genetic testing will be employed in selecting sportsmen.

[D] the existing data of human height will still be applicable.

35.The text intends to tell us that

[A] the change of human height follows a cyclic pattern.

[B] human height is becoming even more predictable.

[C] Americans have reached their genetic growth limit.

[D] the genetic pattern of Americans has altered.

Text 4

In 1784, five years before he became president of the United States, George Washington, 52, was nearly toothless. So he hired a dentist to transplant nine teeth into his jaw - having extracted them from the mouths of his slaves.

That’s a far different image from the cherry-tree-chopping George most people remember from their history books. But recently, many historians have begun to focus on the roles slavery played in the lives of the founding generation. They have been spurred in part by DNA evidence made available in 1998, which almost certainly proved Thomas Jefferson had fathered at least one child with his slave Sally Hemings. And only over the past 30 years have scholars examined history from the bottom up. Works of several historians reveal the moral compromises made by the nation’s early leaders and the fragile nature of the country’s infancy. More significantly, they argue that many of the Founding Fathers knew slavery was wrong - and yet most did little to fight it.

More than anything, the historians say, the founders were hampered by the culture of their time. While Washington and Jefferson privately expressed distaste for slavery, they also understood that it was part of the political and economic bedrock of the country they helped to create.

For one thing, the South could not afford to part with its slaves. Owning slaves was “l(fā)ike having a large bank account,” says Wiencek, author of An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America. The southern states would not have signed the Constitution without protections for the “peculiar institution,” including a clause that counted a slave as three fifths of a man for purposes of congressional representation.

And the statesmen’s political lives depended on slavery. The three-fifths formula handed Jefferson his narrow victory in the presidential election of 1800 by inflating the votes of the southern states in the Electoral College. Once in office, Jefferson extended slavery with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803; the new land was carved into 13 states, including three slave states.

Still, Jefferson freed Hemings’s children - though not Hemings herself or his approximately 150 other slaves. Washington, who had begun to believe that all men were created equal after observing the bravery of the black soldiers during the Revolutionary War, overcame the strong opposition of his relatives to grant his slaves their freedom in his will. Only a decade earlier, such an act would have required legislative approval in Virginia.

36.George Washington’s dental surgery is mentioned to

[A] show the primitive medical practice in the past.

[B] demonstrate the cruelty of slavery in his days.

[C] stress the role of slaves in the U.S. history.

[D] reveal some unknown aspect of his life.

37.We may infer from the second paragraph that

[A] DNA technology has been widely applied to history research.

[B] in its early days the U.S. was confronted with delicate situations.

[C] historians deliberately made up some stories of Jefferson’s life.

[D] political compromises are easily found throughout the U.S. history.

38.What do we learn about Thomas Jefferson?

[A] His political view changed his attitude towards slavery.

[B] His status as a father made him free the child slaves.

[C] His attitude towards slavery was complex.

[D] His affair with a slave stained his prestige.

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

[A] Some Founding Fathers benefit politically from slavery.

[B] Slaves in the old days did not have the right to vote.

[C] Slave owners usually had large savings accounts.

[D] Slavery was regarded as a peculiar institution.

40.Washington’s decision to free slaves originated from his

[A] moral considerations.

[B] military experience.

[C] financial conditions.

[D] political stand.

Part B

Directions:

In the following article, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list A-G to fit into each of the numbered blanks. There are two extra choices, which do not fit in any of the blanks. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)

The time for sharpening pencils, arranging your desk, and doing almost anything else instead of writing has ended. The first draft will appear on the page only if you stop avoiding the inevitable and sit, stand up, or lie down to write. (41)

Be flexible. Your outline should smoothly conduct you from one point to the next, but do not permit it to railroad you. If a relevant and important idea occurs to you now, work it into the draft. (42) Grammar, punctuation, and spelling can wait until you revise. Concentrate on what you are saying. Good writing most often occurs when you are in hot pursuit of an idea rather than in a nervous search for errors.

(43) Your pages will be easier to keep track of that way, and, if you have to clip a paragraph to place it elsewhere, you will not lose any writing on the other side.

If you are working on a word processor, you can take advantage of its capacity to make additions and deletions as well as move entire paragraphs by making just a few simple keyboard commands. Some software programs can also check spelling and certain grammatical elements in your writing. (44) These printouts are also easier to read than the screen when you work on revisions.

Once you have a first draft on paper, you can delete material that is unrelated to your thesis and add material necessary to illustrate your points and make your paper convincing. The student who wrote “The A & P as a State of Mind” wisely dropped a paragraph that questioned whether Sammy displays chauvinistic attitudes toward women. (45)

Remember that your initial draft is only that. You should go through the paper many times - and then again - working to substantiate and clarify your ideas. You may even end up with several entire versions of the paper. Rewrite. The sentences within each paragraph should be related to a single topic. Transitions should connect one paragraph to the next so that there are no abrupt or confusing shifts. Awkward or wordy phrasing or unclear sentences and paragraphs should be mercilessly poked and prodded into shape.

[A]To make revising easier, leave wide margins and extra space between lines so that you can easily add words, sentences, and corrections. Write on only one side of the paper.

[B]After you have clearly and adequately developed the body of your paper, pay particular attention to the introductory and concluding paragraphs. It’s probably best to write the introduction last, after you know precisely what you are introducing. Concluding paragraphs demand equal attention because they leave the reader with a final impression.

[C]It’s worth remembering, however, that though a clean copy fresh off a printer may look terrific, it will read only as well as the thinking and writing that have gone into it. Many writers prudently store their data on disks and print their pages each time they finish a draft to avoid losing any material because of power failures or other problems.

[D]It makes no difference how you write, just so you do. Now that you have developed a topic into a tentative thesis, you can assemble your notes and begin to flesh out whatever outline you have made.

[E]Although this is an interesting issue, it has nothing to do with the thesis, which explains how the setting influences Sammy’s decision to quit his job. Instead of including that paragraph, she added one that described Lengel’s crabbed response to the girls so that she could lead up to the A & P “policy” he enforces.

[F]In the final paragraph about the significance of the setting in “A & P,” the student brings together the reasons Sammy quit his job by referring to his refusal to accept Lengel’s store policies.

[G]By using the first draft as a means of thinking about what you want to say, you will very likely discover more than your notes originally suggested. Plenty of good writers don’t use outlines at all but discover ordering principles as they write. Do not attempt to compose a perfectly correct draft the first time around.

Part C

Directions:

Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be written clearly on ANSWER SHEET 2. (10 points)

In his autobiography, Darwin himself speaks of his intellectual powers with extraordinary modesty. He points out that he always experienced much difficulty in expressing himself clearly and concisely, but (46) he believes that this very difficulty may have had the compensating advantage of forcing him to think long and intently about every sentence, and thus enabling him to detect errors in reasoning and in his own observations. He disclaimed the possession of any great quickness of apprehension or wit, such as distinguished Huxley. (47) He asserted, also, that his power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought was very limited, for which reason he felt certain that he never could have succeeded with mathematics. His memory, too, he described as extensive, but hazy. So poor in one sense was it that he never could remember for more than a few days a single date or a line of poetry. (48) On the other hand, he did not accept as well founded the charge made by some of his critics that, while he was a good observer, he had no power of reasoning. This, he thought, could not be true, because the “Origin of Species” is one long argument from the beginning to the end, and has convinced many able men. No one, he submits, could have written it without possessing some power of reasoning. He was willing to assert that “I have a fair share of invention, and of common sense or judgment, such as every fairly successful lawyer or doctor must have, but not, I believe, in any higher degree.” (49) He adds humbly that perhaps he was “superior to the common run of men in noticing things which easily escape attention, and in observing them carefully.”

Writing in the last year of his life, he expressed the opinion that in two or three respects his mind had changed during the preceding twenty or thirty years. Up to the age of thirty or beyond it poetry of many kinds gave him great pleasure. Formerly, too, pictures had given him considerable, and music very great, delight. In 1881, however, he said: “Now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry. I have also almost lost my taste for pictures or music.” (50) Darwin was convinced that the loss of these tastes was not only a loss of happiness, but might possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character.

Section IIIWriting

Part A

51.Directions:

You have just come back from Canada and found a music CD in your luggage that you forgot to return to Bob, your landlord there. Write him a letter to

1) make an apology, and

2) suggest a solution.

You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2.

Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use “Li Ming” instead.

Do not write the address. (10 points)

Part B

52.Directions:

Write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following drawing. In your essay, you should

1) describe the drawing briefly,

2) explain its intended meaning, and then

3) give your comments.

You should write neatly on ANSWER SHEET 2. (20 points)

2008年考研英語真題答案詳解

完型填空

1、答案：B

解析：本題測試語義邏輯銜接。 “ selected” 意為 “挑選”; “prepared”意為 “準備”; “obliged”意為“迫使，責成”;“pleased”意為“高興地，滿足地”， 前一句“人們不敢說”，本句中由“but ”一詞可推出意思與上句相反，即“Cochran 準備說”， 所以選B.

2、答案：D

解析：本題測試詞義辨析 ?！皍nique”意為“， 獨特的”;“particular”意為“特殊的， 獨特的”;“special”意為“特別的， 特殊的”;“rare”意為“稀罕的，珍貴的”，rare bird 意為“稀有的人”，空格相關(guān)意思是“只有Cochra準備說”， 而且 “rare bird” 是固定搭配,所以選D

3、答案：A

解析：本題測試介詞的語意搭配, independently of 意為“不依賴于， 獨立”，所以選A

4、答案：C

解析：本題測試詞義辨析。由“actually”推出本句是對現(xiàn)在和以前對疾病看法的對比，所以選C

5、答案：C

解析：本題測試副詞的用法及語段的連貫性。Even 做程度副詞，表示遞進關(guān)系，意為“即使他自己也…”.所以選C

6、答案：A

解析：本題測試詞義搭配?？崭裣嚓P(guān)意思是“一想到他即將要做的，即使他自己也….” “At thought of ”意為“一看到…”; at sight of意為年“一看見”;at cost of 意為“以…的代價”;at risk of意為“冒著….的危險”，所以選A

7、答案：B

解析：本題測試動詞辨析。advice意為 “建議”; suggest意為“建議，提出’”; protest“主張，斷言”; object“反對”，此句指“在論文中， 他建議…”，所以選B

8、答案：D

解析：本題測試詞組搭配，in progress 意為“進行中”;in fact 意為“事實上”; in need意為“在危難中”; in question 意為“正在被討論的”，前一句正在談論 “ group群體” ,本句銜接上一句表達“正在被討論的這個群體”，所以選D

9. 答案：B

解析：本題考查動詞辨析。從該句中的12-15 points 可知，前面的動詞是與分數(shù)相關(guān)的。score的意思是得分，打分，而其他三項沒有這層意思。故答案為B。

10. 答案：C

解析：本題考查形容詞辨析。文中提到這組人IQ測試得分比100分高12-15分，按照常識，100分是平均分，mean的意思是平均的。所以答案為C。

11. 答案：B

解析：本題考查上下文的邏輯關(guān)系和副詞辨析。disproportionately的意思是不成比例地，不相稱地，比例太大(或太小的)。這句話要傳達的意思是這組人做貢獻的比例非常大，故答案選B。

12. 答案：D

解析：本題考查上下文的邏輯關(guān)系和名詞辨析。as引導的狀語從句用一些精英(包括科學家)的職業(yè)證明前面提到的這組人所做的貢獻非常大，career的意思是職業(yè)，事業(yè)，符合此意，故選D。

13. 答案：A

解析：本題考查動詞辨析。選項[A]affirm意為確認，肯定，符合題意。而[B]witness常用作及物動詞，表示見證，表明;[C]observe, 表示觀察，評論，以人作主語;[D]意思為批準，通過的意思，也是人作主語。故答案為A。

14. 答案：C

解析：本題考查邏輯關(guān)系。前文同時敘述了關(guān)于這組人的兩種現(xiàn)象，這兩種現(xiàn)象明顯是有關(guān)聯(lián)的，但是這句話說到先前人們認為兩者沒有關(guān)系，上下文構(gòu)成轉(zhuǎn)折關(guān)系，故選C。

15. 答案：D

解析：本題考查固定搭配。get down to的意思是歸因于，符合句意。而give up to的意思是讓給，get over to的意思是讓某人明白某事，carry on的意思是繼續(xù)開展，堅持，均不合題意。故答案為D。

16. 答案：D

解析：本題考查動詞辨析。此處要傳達的意思是重視教育的傳統(tǒng)，只有[D]valuing符合題意。

17. 答案：C

解析：本題考查名詞辨析。此句的意思是后者是由genetic isolation導致的結(jié)果，consequence的意思是結(jié)果，后果，故答案為C。

18. 答案：A

解析：本題考查動詞辨析。此句Dr. Cochran的觀點是這兩者是密切關(guān)聯(lián)的。link表示兩者之間的關(guān)聯(lián)或聯(lián)系;integrate表示兩者結(jié)合為一個整體;wave表示兩者交織在一起;combine表示兩者結(jié)合。只有l(wèi)ink符合題意。故選A。

19. 答案：B

解析：本題考查動詞辨析。subject to意為使…經(jīng)受或遭受;limit to表示限制;convert to表示轉(zhuǎn)變;direct to表示指向。本句的意思是說這些人不同尋常的歷史使他們經(jīng)受了獨特的進化壓力，只有B符合題意。

20. 答案：A

解析：本題考查形容詞辨析。此處要傳達的意思是獨特的進化壓力導致了這種似乎矛盾的狀況。paradoxical 表示似乎矛盾的，似是而非的;incompatible表示不兼容的，不協(xié)調(diào)的;inevitable表示不可避免的;continuous表示連續(xù)的。只有A符合題意。

閱讀理解Part A

Passage one

21.A

題目問的是通過對前兩段的了解選出正確選項。通過對原文的了解可知，文章前兩段主要描寫男女因為生理上的差異，所以可能在相同的情況下，女性可能更容易在壓力下產(chǎn)生焦慮和沮喪。B項和C項不符合文意，B項所指的女性遭受壓力多來自男性偏離文章線索。C項所說的女性相比男性更有處理壓力的經(jīng)驗也是斷章取義 。D選項只是單純描述男女之間在面對壓力的差異，與中心偏離。

22.D

Dr.Ychuda 的研究中指出，女性實際上或許更善于容忍壓力，是因為面對的壓力比男性要多得多，所以才容易在壓力面前表現(xiàn)出焦慮。A項意思錯誤，文章含義是指其因為身體所具備的化學物質(zhì)而更易焦慮。B選項錯在文中第三段第三行所提的女性容忍壓力的能力或許比男性要更好。

23.C

第四段中指出，女性面臨的壓力大多來自家庭內(nèi)部而且時常發(fā)生，并非如男性所面臨的壓力大多是戰(zhàn)爭和具有偶然性的動態(tài)情況中。C選項中的“持久性”和“頻繁性”符合文意。A項意思是“家庭內(nèi)部的”和“暫時性的”，B項是“不規(guī)則型的”和“暴力性的”，D項是“瑣碎的”和“偶然的”。

24.B

句子意思是指“我活在不停的支付支票生活中”。從文中我們可以看出，因為是單身母親，Alvarez面臨很大的生存壓力，付房租，支付用車花銷，償還貸款等。只有B項中所指的她的薪水幾乎不能滿足日常生活開銷符合文意。

25. D

因為性別上的差異，女性在壓力面前的主要表現(xiàn)。A項過于寬泛，離開了文中關(guān)于性別之間討論的中心。C項只是文章中的一個具體考點，不能概括文章全部內(nèi)容。B項只是單純指出了男女在壓力面前的差異，但沒有注意文章中側(cè)重女性壓力前表現(xiàn)的文意。

Passage two

26.D

解析：本題對作者在第一段中論述的問題進行提問，但由于本段沒有主題句，因此要通讀全段才能概括出本段的中心思想。本段首句作者指出在過去，這是簡單直接的( It used to be so straightforward)。顯然，作者要論述的是“過去的”一種情況，而接下來作者提到了論文發(fā)表的一系列流程：研究人員將論文提交給某期刊——期刊編輯將論文交給同行評估——編輯根據(jù)評估結(jié)果決定是否發(fā)表論文，由此分析可知首段主要講述了過去期刊出版的過程，即選項[D],其中 traditional是原文首句中 used to be的同義替換，故選項[D)為答案。

27.C

解析：從文章

本題的答案信息來源在文章的第二段。第二段說到，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)使接觸到科學結(jié)果成為一個現(xiàn)實。OECD剛剛發(fā)布一個報告，描寫了其深遠的影響。這份報告使到目前為止贏得不菲利潤的很多出版商爭相閱讀(the report make heavy reading for publishers)。第三段說到核心科學出版市場利潤巨大，第四段說到，這種情況正在改變，也是在線出版可能讓他們利潤下滑，所以讓他們有些不安，故答案為C。

28.A

解析：從文章結(jié)構(gòu)看，文章第一段重點地介紹了傳統(tǒng)的出版方式，這種方式使科學工作者只有訂購了該科學雜志才可以獲得科學的結(jié)果。文章第二段介紹一種新型的出版方式——網(wǎng)絡出版，使得科技人員容易獲得科學結(jié)果。第三段談到科學的價值和投資回報取決于雜志的發(fā)行量和易獲得性。第四段具體介紹了這一新趨勢的主要出版模式。從文章的中心是關(guān)于一種新的出版方式，以及它給科學雜志出版帶來的影響——可以更方便的獲得科學結(jié)果。中心詞含有access，反應中心的是解，可以確定答案為A。

29.A

解析：從文中“there is open-access publishing,typically supported by asking the author to pay for the paper to be publish”可知答案為A。

30.B

解析：正于28題分析的，本文中心介紹了一種出版新的趨勢——網(wǎng)絡出版。B正是這一觀點的高度概括，故答案為B.

Passage three

31. A

文中“…listed at over seven feet. If he had ….The bodies.. changed dramatically over the years”可以看出此段主要講述NBA球員身高的變化;另外，從文章中心來看，可以排出B，C，D。因此選A

32. C

從第三段“but as diet and health improved, children and adolescents have increased in height by…..”可以看出生活水平對于身體成長起著非常重要的作用;另外，A，B，D選項所涉及的genetic modification ,natural environment 和daily exercise文中并沒有提到;

33. B

題干中提到“most probably..”，通過排出法，可以確定B為最佳選項。

34. D

最后一段Claire C. Gordon提到90%的制服和工作站仍將會適合新招人員，這就暗示了D選項所提到的內(nèi)容。另外，可以依據(jù)排出法可以知道A，B，C不正確。

35. C

從全文中心來看，文章并不是以“predict human height”為中心的，而是在談美國人身高問題。所以C選項為正確選項。

Passage four

36. C

根據(jù)文章的邏輯一致性和聯(lián)系，從第二段的“But recently, many historians have begun to focus on the roles of slavery…..”可以看出作者在第一段舉George Washing(第一任美國總統(tǒng))對待奴隸的例子是為了說明“美國歷史上奴隸制的作用”。因此選C

37. D

根據(jù)排除法A項中的widely是錯誤的，排除;B項中說的太籠統(tǒng)，而第二段在講關(guān)于slavery. C項中deliberately和made up是不對的。因此選D。

38. C

從文章的內(nèi)容來看，Jefferson知道奴隸制是錯誤的，但是他又作出了compromise(妥協(xié))，從此而知，其對待奴隸制的態(tài)度是復雜的(complex).

39. A

從最后第二段第二句中可以看出Jefferson能在1800年大選中以微弱優(yōu)勢勝出是得意于其“將努力看作3/5人”，A選項是正確的。

40. B

從最后一段“after observing the bravery of the black soldiers during the Revolutionary War…. ”可以看出Washington做出釋放奴隸的決定是在他看見黑人士兵在獨立戰(zhàn)爭中的英勇作戰(zhàn)以后，因此B為正確選項。

2008年考研英語真題答案詳解之閱讀新題型

Part B

08 年考試的新題型 仍舊是考生熟悉的七選五題型。本文主要內(nèi)容是告訴讀者如何利用好寫作中的第一稿(草稿)。

41題 D

空前面出現(xiàn)的內(nèi)容告訴讀者如果寫文章時只要作者不再試圖避免一些事情第一稿就會躍然紙上，在空后第一句里出現(xiàn)了outline這個詞，因此41題中也會出現(xiàn)和outline相關(guān)的內(nèi)容。D選項的內(nèi)容就中提到用什么方式來寫作不重要，重要的是定下一個題目，然后可以通過整理筆記來填充你的outline(提綱)?？涨懊嫠岬降淖鴮憽⒄局鴮?、躺著寫說的正是寫作的方式。

42 題 G

選項是在講draft的問題，所以答案中還會涉及到draft。選項后的句子中提到：一些寫作中的錯誤可以等到修改的時候才去處理。選項的最后提到不要嘗試在第一次的時候?qū)懗鐾耆珱]有任何錯誤的文稿，因此G選項符合這個邏輯。

43 題 A

在選項后面出現(xiàn)了that way 所以上文中會說到具體的哪種方式，只有A選項提到了具體的方式，因此符合題意。

44. 題 C

選項后面提到了these printouts，空前面提到:“在修改過程中，看打印出來的材料比看電腦屏幕容易?！币虼?4題選項中也會有和打印出來的材料相關(guān)的內(nèi)容。C選項中很明顯地有copy 還有 printer對應下文中所提及的打印出來的材料。

45. 題 E

前文提到Sammy這個人，這是一個線索詞，選項中E 和F中都包含這個詞，但是此段的主題句提到，在寫作中要刪去與主題不相關(guān)的素材，E選項中instead of adding that paragraph，也就意味著刪去了這段。和主題句對應。

而F選項只是在說最后一段的具體內(nèi)容，和本段的主題句不相關(guān)，故不符合題意。

2008年考研英語真題答案詳解之翻譯題

Part C

46. He believes that this very difficulty may have had the compensating advantage of forcing him to think long and intently about every sentence, and thus enabling him to detect errors in reasoning and in his own observations.

本句的考查點是that引導的賓語從句，主干是he believes that….that從句的結(jié)構(gòu)是this very difficulty may have the….advantage of forcing…, and thus enabling…。Of后面forcing和enabling組成的并列結(jié)構(gòu)做advantage的同位語。

參考譯文：達爾文認為正是因為這個困難，促使他對每一個句子進行長時間和針對性的思考，同時也使得他在觀察和推理中發(fā)現(xiàn)錯誤。這也就使他具有了別人所不具備的優(yōu)勢。

47. He asserted, also, that his power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought was very limited, for which reason he felt certain that he never could have succeeded with mathematics.

本句考查點是賓語從句，非限制性定語從句。主干是He asserted that…。賓語從句的結(jié)構(gòu)是his power to… was…。其中不定式to引導的部分 follow …of thought做power的定語;for which reason所引導的非限制性定語從句中又包含一個that引導的表語從句。

參考譯文：達爾文同時聲稱，對于冗長而且純抽象的思想，自己的理解能力并不強。因為這個原因，他相信自己在數(shù)學方面根本不會成功。

48. On the other hand, he did not accept as well founded the charge made by some of his critics that, while he was a good observer, he had no power of reasoning.

本句考查點是同位語從句，讓步狀語從句。主干是he did not accept… the charge made by… that…。其中as well founded作為一個插入成分，對charge進行修飾。made引導的過去分詞短語作定語修飾charge。That引導的從句是charge的同位語，包括一個while引導的讓步狀語從句。

參考譯文：另一方面，雖然有些批評他的人一致認為他善于觀察，但不具備推理能力，但是他不同意這種說法。

49. He adds humbly that perhaps he was “superior to the common run of men in noticing things which easily escape attention, and in observing them carefully.”

本句考查點是賓語從句，定語從句。主干是he adds …that… 其中賓語從句的結(jié)構(gòu)是he was superior to …in…, and in…。which引導的是things的定語從句。

參考譯文：達爾文很謙虛的補充到，有些事情需要高度的注意力和細心的觀察，也許他自己在觀察此類事情時比一般人有優(yōu)勢。

50. Darvin was convinced that the loss of these tastes was not only a loss of happiness, but might possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character.

本題考查點是賓語從句。主干是Darvin was convinced that…。其中賓語從句的結(jié)構(gòu)是the loss of these tastes was not only…, but…be injurious to …, and to …。

參考譯文：達爾文認為，對(音樂和繪畫方面)興趣的喪失，失去的不僅僅是一種樂趣，而且可能會傷害到智力，更有甚者還可能傷害到道德。

2008年考研英語真題答案詳解之大小作文

應用文范文

Dear Bob,

I am writing to express my apology to you.

Several days ago, I borrowed your music CD when I lived in your house. Unfortunately, after I came back from Canada, I found it in my luggage. I was in such a hurry that I forgot to return it to you. I will send it to you by post or express as soon as possible. If necessary, I will compensate for any troubles it may cause.

Once again, I feel so sorry for any inconvenience caused. Please accept my apologies.

Sincerely yours,

Li Ming

大作文范文

As is illustrated in the picture, the two disabled persons whose crippled legs are bound together do a lot of traveling. Accordingly, this far-reaching picture reflects a common phenomenon in today’s society: the people who are in the dark want to turn the corner but they can not make it respectively and in turn they have to choose to pull together in times of trouble.

There are several reasons accounting for this. Since we have to live in an on-the-move lifestyle, we may encounter various plights, where we would be at a loss rather than to seek for others’ assistance. Further more, if we do not offer help to each other when we confront dilemma, we would not realize our dream. And no issue in China is as basic to build up the society in harmony as to conduct coordination in face of disasters.

Judging from what have been argued above, people have come to realize the value of mutual aid. It is, therefore, necessary that some effective steps be made to advocate spirit of supporting each other. To begin with, the government should make laws to encourage people to unite. In addition, people should enhance the awareness of caring each other especially when they are in trouble. Only in those ways, can we make people, even not being acquaintance, help each other.