考研英语（阅读）-试卷33
(总分70,考试时间90分钟)
2. Reading Comprehension
Section II Reading Comprehension
Part ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D.
Since the pre-historic times, man has had an urge to satisfy his needs. Be it hunger, shelter or arch for a mate, he has always manipulated the circumstances to the best of his advantages. Probably this might be the reason why we human are the most developed of all living species on the earth, and probably also in the univer. As we climbed the steps of evolution with giant leaps, wesomehow left **mon n and logical thinking—we forgot that we have stopped thinking ahead of times. If you are hungry, what do you do? Grab a piece of your favorite meal and stay quiet after that? Just like your stomach, even your min
d is hungry. But it never lets you know, becau you keep it busy thinking about your dream lover, favorite star and many such absurd things. So it silently began to heed to your needs and never let itlf grow. When mind los its freedom to grow, creativity gets a full stop. This might be the reason why we all sometimes think "What happens next?", "Why can"t I think?", "Why am I always given the difficult problems?" Well this is the aftermath of our own karma of using our brain for flunking of not-so-worthy things. Hunger of the mind can be actually satiated through extensive reading. Now why reading and not watching TV? Becau reading has been the most educative tool ud by us right from the childhood. Just like that to develop other aspects of our life, we have to take help of reading. You have innumerable number of books in this world which will answer all your "How to?" questions. Once you read a book, you just don"t run your eyes through the lines, but even your mind decodes it and explains it to you. The interesting part of the book is stored in your mind as a ed. Now this ed is unknowingly ud by you in your future to develop new ideas. The same ed if ud many times, can help you link and relate a lot of things, of which you would have never thought of in your wilde
st dreams! This is nothing but creativity. More the number of books you read, your mind will open up like never before. Also this improves your oratory skills to a large extent and also makes a significant contribution to your vocabulary. Within no time you start speaking English or any language fluently with your friends or other people and you never em to run out of the right words at the right time.
1. According to Paragraph 1, the human are the most developed of all living species most probably becau we have _____.
A. had needs and desires to satisfy
B. been able to think ahead of times
C. taken advantage of the environment
D. **mon n and logical thinking
2. When you are busy thinking about your dream lover, _____.
A. you are not actually thinking
B. your mind is no longer hungry
C. your mind doesn"t let itlf grow
D. you are not aware of what you need
3. The author most probably agrees that thinking about "What happens next?" is _____.
A. uncreative B. unreliable
C. worthless D. thoughtless
4. The word "satiated" (Para. 3) can best be replaced by "_____".
A. expresd B. satisfied
C. enhanced D. aroud
5. Oratory skills will be improved when _____.
A. your vocabulary is powerful
B. you can link and relate things
C. your creativity grows
D. you read extensively
Divorce doesn"t necessarily make adults happy. But toughing it out in an unhappy marriage until it turns around just might do, a new study says. The rearch identified happy and unhappy spous, culled from a national databa. Of the unhappy partners who divorced, about half were happy five years later. But unhappy spous who stuck it out often did better. About two-thirds were happy five years later. Study results contradict what ems to be common n, says David Blankenhorn of the Institute for American Values, a think-tank on the family. The institute helped sponsor the rearch team bad at the University of Chicago. Findings will be prented in Arlington, Va., at the "Smart Marriage" conference, sponsored by the Coalition for Marriage, Families and Couples Ed
ucation. The study looked at data on 5,232 married adults from the National Survey of Families and Houholds. It included 645 who were unhappy. The adults in the national sample were analyzed through 13 measures of psychological well-being. Within the five years, 167 of the unhappy were divorced or parated and 478 stayed married. Divorce didn"t reduce symptoms of depression, rai lf-esteem or increa a n of **pared with tho who stayed married, the report says. Results were controlled for factors including race, age, gender and income. Staying married did not tend to trap unhappy spous in violent relationships. What helped the unhappy married turn things around? To supplement the formal study data, the rearch team asked professional firms to recruit focus groups totaling 55 adults who were "marriage survivors". All had moved from unhappy to happy marriages. The 55 once-discontented married felt their unions got better via one of three routes, the report says: Marital endurance. "With time, job situations improved, children got older or better, or chronic ongoing problems got put into new perspective." Partners did not work on their marriages. Marital work. Spous actively worked "to solve problems, change behavior or **munication". Personal change.
Partners found "alternative ways to improve their own happiness and build a good and happy life despite a mediocre marriage." In effect, the unhappy partner changed.
6. According to David Blankenhorn, **monly believe that _____.
A. divorce is a better solution to an unhappy marriage than staying together
B. divorce is not necessarily the only solution to an unhappy marriage
C. keeping an unhappy marriage needs much courage and endurance
D. to end an unhappy marriage or not is a tough decision for the spous
7. Which of the following is true about the rearch under discussion?
A. It was conducted by the Institute for the American Values headed by David Blankenhorn.
B. It was sponsored by the Coalition for Marriage, Families and Couples Education.
C. Its subjects were chon from a national databa bad at the University of Chicago.
D. Its report will be included in the schedule of the "Smart Marriage" conference.
8. The 13 measures of psychological well-being mentioned in Paragraph 3 are ud to _____.
A. rve as the standards for choosing the subjects of the rearch
B. rve as the ways to help adults to get over their unhappy marriage
C. examine all the 5, 232 married adults
D. examine all the adults in the databa
9. The author"s attitude toward divorce may best be described as "_____".
A. critical B. impersonal
C. arbitrary D. scornful
10. According to the report, tho unhappily-wedded may not survive their marriage by _____.
A. waiting for the living conditions to get improved
B. achieving children"s understanding
C. changing their own attitude towards mediocre marriages
D. working on their problems and **munication
A recent ca in Australia shows how easily fear can frustrate an informant"s good intentions. In December, a woman wrote anonymously to the country"s antitrust watchdog, the ACCC, alleging that her employer was colluding with others in breach of the Trade Practices Act. Her evidence was sufficient to suggest to the ACCC that fines of A$10m could be impod on "a **pany". But theagency needed more details. So just before Christmas it advertid extensively to try and persuade the woman to come forward again. Some days later her husband rang the ACCC, but he hung up before discl
osing vital information. Now the agency is trying to contact the couple again. In America, there is some evidence that the events of September 11th have made people more public-spirited and more inclined to blow the whistle. The Government Accountability Project, a Washington bad group, received 27 reproaches from potential informants in the three months before September 11th, and 66 in the three months after. Many of **plaints were about curity issues. They included a Federal Aviation Adininistration employee who claimed that the agency had repeatedly failed to respond to known cas of curity violations at airports. Legislation to give greater protection to people who expo corporate or government misbehavior externally (after having received no satisfaction internally) is being introduced in a number of countries. In America, it focus on informants among federal employees. According to Billy Garde, a lawyer who was a member of BP"s Alaska inquiry team, they "have less rights than prisoners".A bill introduced last year by Senator Daniel Akaka to improve protection for them is currently stuck in **mittees. In Britain, the Public Interest Disclosure Act came fully into force last year. Described by one American as "the most far-reaching informant
protection in the world", it treats informants as witness acting in the public interest. This parates them from people who are merely pursuing a personal grievance. But even in Britain, the protection is limited. Rupert Walker, a fund manager, was fired by Govett Investments in September 2001 for expressing concerns in the Financial Times about a group of people of investment trusts that invest in each other.
