2009年考研英语完形填空真题解析
Rearch on animal intelligence always makes me wonder just how smart humans are. 1 the fruit-fly experiments described in Carl Zimmer’s piece in the Science Times on Tuesday. Fruit flies who were taught to be smarter than the average fruit fly 2 to live shorter lives. This suggests that 3 bulbs burn longer, that there is an 4 in not being too terrifically bright.
Intelligence, it 5 , is a high-priced option. It takes more upkeep, burns more fuel and is slow 6 the starting line becau it depends on learning—a 7 process—instead of instinct. Plenty of other species are able to learn, and one of the things they’ve apparently learned is when to 8 .
Is there an adaptive value to 9 intelligence? That’s the question behind this new rearch. I like it. Instead of casting a wistful glance 10 at all the species we’ve left in the dust I.Q.-wi, it implicitly asks what the real 11 of our own intelligence might be. This is 12 the mind of every animal I’ve ever met.
Rearch on animal intelligence also makes me wonder what experiments animals would 13 on humans if they had the chance. Every cat with an owner, 14 , is running a small scale study in operant conditioning. We believe that 15 animals ran the labs, they would test us to 16 the limits of our patience, our faithfulness, our memory for terrain. They would try to decide what intelligence in humans is really 17 , not merely how much of it there is. 18 , they would hope to study a 19 question: Are humans actually aware of the world they live in? 20 the results are inconclusive.
1. ［A］ Suppo［B］ Consider［C］ Obrve［D］ Imagine
2. ［A］ tended［B］ feared［C］ happened［D］ threatened
3. ［A］ thinner［B］ stabler［C］ lighter［D］ dimmer
4. ［A］ tendency［B］ advantage［C］ inclination［D］ priority
5. ［A］ insists on［B］ sums up［C］ turns out［D］ puts forward
6. ［A］ off ［B］ behind［C］ over［D］ along
7. ［A］ incredible［B］ spontaneous［C］inevitable［D］ gradual
8. ［A］ fight［B］ doubt［C］ stop［D］ think
9. ［A］ invisible［B］ limited［C］ indefinite［D］ different
10. ［A］ upward［B］ forward［C］ afterward［D］ backward
11. ［A］ features［B］ influences［C］ results［D］ costs
12. ［A］ outside［B］ on［C］ by［D］ across
13. ［A］ deliver［B］ carry［C］ perform［D］ apply
14. ［A］ by chance［B］ in contrast［C］ as usual［D］ for instance
15. ［A］ if［B］ unless［C］ as［D］ lest
16. ［A］ moderate［B］ overcome［C］ determine［D］ reach
17. ［A］ at［B］ for［C］ after［D］ with
18. ［A］ Above all［B］ After all［C］ However［D］ Otherwi
19. ［A］ fundamental［B］ comprehensive［C］ equivalent［D］ hostile
20. ［A］ By accident［B］ In time［C］ So far［D］ Better still
文章背景
本文是一篇讲述动物智能、偏重科技的文章。此文章最先刊登在2008年5月7日的《纽约时报》上，原文的标题是 The Cost of Smarts，翻译过来是“聪明的代价”。文中通过对“果蝇”的试验研究得出“聪明是要付出代价”的结论，最后提出引人深思的问题——人类是否真正意识到自己所生存的世界。
文章结构
本文采用了对比的方式展开文章，叙述了人类智慧发展的代价。第一二三段围绕人类对动物智能的研究对动物以及人类自己造成的影响。文章的最后一段作者展开丰富的联想，如果动物对人类做实验的话，它们想从人类身上获取什么信息呢？
答案详解
1.【解析】［B］ 语义衔接/词汇辨析题。本题目选择动词，放在祈使句句首。选项A. suppo认为，假定；B. consider考虑；C. obrve 观察；D. imagine 想象。文章开篇指出：Rearch on animal intelligence always makes us wonder just how smart humans are.“对动物智慧的研究总是让我对人类到底有多聪明感到好奇”，接着举了果蝇的例子，该句要选择的动词应与上句在语义上衔接。用consider意为“让读者考虑一下(果蝇实验)”，从而引出下文，其他选项均不符合题意。
2.【解析】［A］ 语义衔接/固定搭配题。本题目选择动词(过去式)，与介词“to”构成动词短语，在句子中充当谓语。选项A. tended to易于，往往会……；B. feared to 害怕做某事；C. happened to 碰巧做某事；D. threatened to 威胁要做某事。Fruit flies who were taught to be smarter than the average fruit flyto live shorter lives. 原文讲述的是在实验中经常发生的一种情况，即“通过训练变得更聪明的果蝇，其寿命往往比普通果蝇短”。故选A。
3.【解析】［D］ 语义衔接/词汇辨析题。本题目选择形容词比较级，在句中作定语修饰bulbs。This suggests thatbulbs burn longer, …“这让人想起……的灯泡照明时间比较长……
。”上句讲到“聪明的果蝇寿命往往较短”，这句接着用灯泡作类比，承接上句语义，应该是越不亮的灯泡用的时间越长，所以选D. dimmer 较暗的；选项C. lighter更亮的，与前文意思相悖； A. thinner 更薄的，更瘦的；B. stable 更稳定的；该两项均不符合题意。
4.【解析】［B］ 词汇辨析/固定搭配题。本题目选择名词，并与in搭配。选项A. tendency 趋势，倾向，后面常接介词for或动词不定式，如：a tendency for sth.或a tendency to do sth.(做)某事的倾向；B. advantage 优势，后常接介词in，即an advantage in sth. 在某方面具有优势；C. inclination倾向，意愿，倾斜度，后常接介词for或动词不定式，即an inclination for sth.或an inclination to do sth.想做某事；D. priority 优先权，后常接over，如：take priority over sth./sb. (比某事/某人)具有优先权。且从上下文语义来看，前面说聪明的果蝇寿命短，越不亮的灯泡用的时间越长，所以这里语义应为“不太聪明(灯泡不太亮)是有优势的”，故B为正确选项。注意，bright在此处是一语双关，既可表示“灯泡不那么亮”，也可表示“人不那么聪明”。
5.【解析】［C］ 语义衔接/词汇辨析题。本题目要选择动词短语，使插入语完整。从上文可知，“聪明的果蝇寿命往往较短”，以及“不太聪明是有优势的”，由此推出的结果是：聪明
也是要付出代价的。C. turn out意为“结果是……”，把it turns out用作插入语，使该句与上段内容紧紧联系起来，因此选C。A. insist on坚持；B. sum up总计，总结；D. put forward提出。这三项均不符合题意。
6.【解析】［A］ 语义衔接题。本题目选择介词，体现与the starting line(起跑线)的逻辑关系。选项B. behind和C. over可以首先排除，因为这里没有涉及空间位置关系；若选D. along则是“沿着起跑线徘徊”之意，这与后面的process意思不符；选项A. off 有“离开”之意，slow off the starting line表示“离开起跑线慢了”，即“起步慢了”，但仍在进步，与后文逻辑一致，故选A。
