- 考博英语全国名校真题精解
- 博士研究生入学考试辅导用书编审委员会编著
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- 2020-06-25 22:22:13
中国矿业大学2016年博士研究生入学考试英语试题
Section I Reading Comprehension (40 points, 50 minutes)
Directions: There are 5 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the ANSWER SHEET.
Passage One
Facebook and mobile phones mean that many feel they can never have time off from playground gossip. Parents told me how their daughters worried about their body image from as young an age as seven. For parents of my generation, contemplating how our children are fearing, and whether we are giving them what they truly need, is not an easy thing to do. I have two sons aged seven and four;my husband and I both work full-time. There is the inevitable push and pull of timetables, anxiety about having enough time with the boys, and particularly about whether we're equipping them to cope with the academic and social pressures that lie ahead.
When we polled more than 1,000 parents who use the website Mumsnet, the results revealed widespread concern among parents about pressures children face today. About two thirds (64 percent) said there is too much testing in schools, 78 percent said children don't get to play outdoors enough on their own, and three quarters (75 percent) felt that long working hours made it difficult to spend enough time with their family. The statistics also point to a dramatic rise in the level of childhood depression over the course of a generation.
Three years ago, Britain ranked bottom out of 21 countries in a UN survey of children's well-being in the world. One in four of the parents we questioned said they believed their kids are less happy than they were at the same age. A worrying consequence of all of this is the dramatic rise in mental health problems in the young, up by a shocking 70 percent since the 1970s. One in ten of our teenage children now has a diagnosable mental health condition.
I met Annabelle Davies, a 19-year-old who had been an outgoing, academically gifted young schoolgirl. After she missed a few weeks of school aged 15 due to a virus, she fell behind with her schoolwork, and found she could no longer cope. The depression that set in was punctuated by suicide attempts and periods in acute psychiatric units. At her lowest points, her exhausted parents couldn't risk leaving her alone. Annabelle has suffered severe depression for nearly five years, is now painfully thin and exists on heavy medication. We sat and chatted on her mum's sofa.“I felt pressured to be doing well in my exams, to get good grades, to go on to university—and was scared I was going to let people down, that I was going to fail. I felt physically sick. I couldn't stop crying.I felt that whatever I did wouldn't be enough. And you hate yourself because you're weak.”
One of the experts I spoke to, Tim Gill, a childhood play consultant, believes that contemporary pressures, combined with the way we now raise and educate our children, is leaving many unable to cope. For him, it's time to go back to basics—freedom to play, to explore and to make mistakes.“I think back to my own childhood, when my generation roamed far and wide. But today's children are not free-ranged—they're battery-reared.”
Happily, there are signs that some parents, schools and even politicians are now starting to wise up.
1. It can be inferred from the author's family that______.
A. sons cause more pressure to parents than daughters
B. one of the parents should leave work for their children
C. social pressure is good for children's future development
D. it's hard to make children equipped to various pressures
2. How many parents have limited time with their children according to the poll?
A. Two-thirds.
B. Seventy-eight percent.
C. Three quarters.
D. More than one thousand.
3. According to the passage, Tim Gill holds the idea that______.
A. people should educate their children by themselves
B. social pressure is good for children to become mature
C. today's children bear more study burden than before
D. children need more stimuli from schools and society
4. How does the author think about the childhood depression by now?
A. It's optimistic to see some changes on this problem.
B. She is totally depressed by the politicians' efforts.
C. Most schools begin to do a better job than before.
D. It's reflection of the parents' childhood failure.
Passage Two
A Republican plan to control the rising cost of Social Security would greatly reduce retirement benefits for middle-and upper-income Americans, especially those now younger than 25, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the program's chief actuary（精算师）. The plan, by Rep. Paul Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, would reduce benefits by gradually raising the retirement age and gradually cutting benefits for the top 70 percent of earners.
Together, the two provisions would reduce initial benefits by about a quarter for middle-income Americans who turn 65 in 2050, according to the analysis. Wealthier retirees would see even deeper cuts, losing about a third of scheduled benefits in 2050 and more than half of scheduled benefits if they turn 65 in 2080.
With congressional elections less than two weeks away, the Ryan plan has been a frequent target for Democrats accusing the GOP of plotting to gut Social Security. But the report by Stephen Goss, chief actuary for the Social Security Administration, also examines other ideas for overhauling the program, including several under discussion by a deficit（赤字）-reduction commission appointed by President Obama. Leaders in both parties say Social Security may present the best opportunity for compromise on the commission, which is due to issue a report on Dec. 1.
Goss's analysis shows that those ideas may not be much more pleasant than Ryan's plan. For example, allowing the retirement age to continue rising two months per year until it hits age 70 would cut initial benefits by nearly 20 percent for anyone turning 65 in 2050. Meanwhile, the commission is talking about cutting the cost-of-living increase retirees receive each year, as well as cutting their initial benefits.
“There's been a lot of discussion about how easy it would be to cut Social Security in order to save it,”said Rep. Earl Pomeroy, Democrat of North Dakota, who requested the report as chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security. “The new analysis reveals that these proposals result in benefit cuts ranging from 10 percent to as high as 50 percent…That's not what I'd call‘saving’ Social Security.”
Ryan spokesman Conor Sweeney said Goss did not analyze the full effect of Ryan's plan to balance the federal budget and ignored Ryan's proposal to guarantee a higher minimum benefit to low-income retirees. More to the point, Sweeney said, failing to overhaul Social Security—which is already paying out more than it collects from payroll taxes—will cause more immediate harm.“According to the Social Security Administration, Congressman Pomeroy's do-nothing play will impose painful, across-the-board benefit cuts on current seniors and those nearing retirement,”Sweeney said.“It is deeply irresponsible for elected leaders to stand idle with icy indifference as the social safety net collapses.”
5. What can be inferred from the plan by Paul Ryan?
A. It encourages people to retire as early as possible.
B. It has little influence on the upper-income retirees.
C. It was made to control the cost of Social Security.
D. It will increase the lower-income Americans' benefits.
6. What does the word“gut”in the 3rd paragraph mean?
A. Cut.
B. Spoil.
C. Misuse.
D. Abolish.
7. Earl Pomeroy holds the idea that______.
A. retiring at 70 will lead to no initial benefit cuts
B. Ryan's plan is the best way to save Social Security
C. initial benefit cuts should be limited under 20%
D. initial benefit cuts are helpless for Social Security
8. As to the low-income retirees,______.
A. they were ignored by Goss in his analysis
B. Ryan paid no attention to them in the plan
C. Sweeney proposed a higher minimum benefit
D. they afford more payroll taxes than the others
Passage Three
What if architects could build living systems rather than static buildings—dynamic structures that modify their internal and external forms in response to changes in their environment? This idea is making waves in the field of architecture. Houses, for example, might shrink in the winter to reduce surface area and volume, thus cutting heating costs. They could cover themselves to escape the heat of the summer sun or shake snow off the roof in winter. Skyscrapers could change their aerodynamic profiles, swaying slightly to distribute increased loads during hurricanes.
Such “responsive architecture” would depend on two sorts of technology: control systems capable of deciding what to do, and structural components able to change the building's shape as required. Architects have been working to improve the control systems in buildings for many years, but shape-shifting technology is at a much earlier stage of development.
One approach being pursued by researchers is to imitate nature. Many natural constructions, including spiders' webs, are“tensegrity systems”—strong structures made up of many interconnected elements which can be manipulated to change shape without losing their structural integrity.“These structures can bend and twist, but no element in the structure bends and twists,” says Robert Skelton of the Structural Systems and Control Laboratory at the University of California in San Diego.“It's the architecture of life.”
While Dr. Skelton is working on solving the engineering equations associated with tensegrity systems, Tristan d'Estrée Sterk at the Office for Robotic Architectural Media & the Bureau for Responsive Architecture, an architectural practice based in Vancouver, Canada, has begun to construct prototypes of shape-changing “building envelopes” based on tensegrity structures. Lightweight skeletal frameworks, composed of rods and wires and controlled by pneumatic （气动的）“muscles”, serve as the walls of a building; adjusting their configuration to change the building's shape. Mr. Sterk is also developing the“brain”needed to control such a building based on information from internal and external sensors.
Cars are already capable of monitoring their own performance and acting with a certain degree of autonomy, from cruise-control systems to airbag sensors. Such responsive behavior is considered normal for a car;architects argue that the same sort of ideas should be incorporated into buildings, too. And just as the performance of a car can be simulated in advance to choose the best design for a range of driving conditions, the same should be done for buildings, argues Gian Carlo Magnoli, an architect and the co-director of the Kinetic Design Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is devising blueprints for responsive houses. “We need to evolve designs for the best performing responsive-building models,”he says.
So will we end up with cities of skyscrapers that wave in the breeze? It sounds crazy. But, says Mr. Sterk, many ideas that were once considered crazy are now commonplace.“Electricity was a strange idea, but now it's universal,” he says. Dynamic, intelligent, adaptable buildings are “the logical next step”, he claims.
9. Which technology is needed for such“responsive architecture”?
A. The change of internal and external forms.
B. The alteration of aerodynamic profiles.
C. Control systems applied to manual controls.
D. Structural components capable of changing the building's shape.
10. According to Paragraph 3, many natural constructions______.
A. can cause change to elements in the structure
B. are motivated by biological material architecture
C. can change their shape without affecting their structural integrity
D. are fragile structures made up of many interconnected elements
11. What contribution does Sterk make to responsive architecture?
A. He makes archetypes of shape-changing building frames.
B. He uses rods and wires to be the walls of a building.
C. He does more for responsive architecture than Dr. Skelton.
D. He has invented the“brain”to control buildings.
12. To which of the following is Magnoli likely to agree?
A. Cruise-control systems should be incorporated into buildings.
B. Architects need to perfect the designs of responsive buildings for the best models.
C. The development of buildings is nothing compared to that of cars.
D. The performance of a building should be monitored in advance.
Passage Four
Farmland in parts of Japan is no longer safe because of high levels of radiation in the soil, scientists have warned, as the country struggles to recover from the Fukushima atomic disaster. A team of international researchers said food production would likely be“severely impaired”by the elevated levels of caesium（放射性铯）found in soil samples across eastern Fukushima in the wake of meltdowns at the tsunami-hit plant. The study suggests farming in neighboring areas may also suffer because of radiation, although levels discovered there were within legal limits.
“Fukushima area as a whole is highly polluted,” especially to the northwest of the nuclear power plant, the researchers said. The study looked at caesium-137, which has a half-life of 30 years and therefore affects the environment for decades.
The legal limit for concentrations in soil where rice is grown of the sum of caesium-134 and caesium-137, which are always produced together, is 5,000 becquerels per kilogram in Japan.
“The east Fukushima area exceeded this limit and some neighboring areas such as Miyagi, Tochigi and Ibaraki are partially close to the limit under our upper-bound estimate,”the study said.“Estimated and observed pollution in the western parts of Japan were not as serious, even though some areas were likely affected to some extent,”it added.
“Concentrations in these areas are below 25 becquerels per kilogram, which is far below the threshold for farming. However, we strongly recommend each area to quickly carry out some supplementary soil samplings at city levels to validate our estimates.”
The study said“food production in eastern Fukushima area is likely severely impaired by the caesim-137 loads of more than 2,500 becquerels per kilogram”.
The study was led by Teppei Yasunari of the Universities Space Research Association in the US state of Maryland. He and his team used daily observations in each Japanese area and computer-simulated particle dispersion models based on weather patterns.
Japan has been on alert for the impact of radiation since an earthquake and resulting tsunami struck the northeast of the country on March 11, damaging the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Its cooling systems were knocked offline and reactors were sent into meltdown, resulting in the leaking of radiation into the air, oceans and food chain.
Shipments of a number of farm products from the affected regions were stopped and even those that were not subject to official controls have found little favor with Japanese consumers cautious of the potential health effects.
13. According to the text, which of the following statements is correct?
A. Japanese farmland is no longer safe because of the neighboring farmland is highly polluted.
B. The concentrations in soil of the sum of caesium-134 and caesium-137 cannot exceed 5,000 becquerels per kilogram.
C. Miyagi, Tochigi and Ibaraki areas exceed the legal limit for concentrations in soil.
D. Japanese consumers from the affected regions don't worry about the potential health effects of the food at all.
14. Fukushima atomic disaster's direct cause is______.
A. the falling of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
B. the hurricane
C. the food production is“severely impaired”
D. not mentioned
15. The radiation didn't go into______.
A. the ocean
B. the air
C. the cooling system
D. the food chain
16. According to the last paragraph, which attitude do the Japanese have?
A. Angry.
B. Worried.
C. Scared.
D. Unconcerned.
Passage Five
You have probably heard about elite universities offering free online courses through Coursera. In just the past few weeks, Coursera has added 12 universities, including Princeton, Duke and Johns Hopkins.
The company's website says its goal is to“give everyone access to the world-class education that has so far been available only to a selected few”, and much of the news coverage has focused on how this will democratize learning. Two weeks after Coursera announced its initial round of partnerships, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced a plan to invest $60 million in a similar course platform called edX, and a third company, Udacity, announced that it too would join the fray.
Despite near universal enthusiasm for such projects, it's important to take a few steps back. First, although the content is free now, it's unlikely that it will remain that way for long. According to Coursera's contracts, both the company and the schools plan to make a profit—they just haven't figured out the best way to do that yet. But more important, I'm concerned that computer-aided instruction will actually widen the gap between the financially and educationally privileged and everyone else, instead of closing it.
In terms of learning on the college level, the Department of Education looked at thousands of research studies from 1996 to 2008 and found that in higher education, students rarely learned as much from online courses as they did in traditional classes. In fact, the report found that the biggest benefit of online instruction came from a learning environment that combined technology with traditional methods, but warned that the uptick had more to do with the increased amount of individualized instruction students got in that environment, not the presence of technology. For all but the brightest, the more time students spend with traditional instruction, the better they seem to do.
Supporters of online learning say that all anyone needs to access a great education is a stable Internet connection. But only 35% of households earning less than $25,000 have broadband access to the Internet, compared with 94% of households with income more than $100,000. In addition, according to the 2010 Report on Mobile Access, only half of black and Latinos primarily use their cell phones to access the Internet, a much more expensive and less-than-ideal method for taking part in online education. In short, the explosion of this type of education, though free now, may leave behind the students who need education the most.
It's not hard to understand why the chance to watch lectures, pass tests and even get a formal certificate from an elite school would stir excitement. But the recently released report on the American Dream makes it clear: a four-year college degree is the only type of educational intervention that promotes upward mobility from the lower-middle class. If we really want to democratize education, finding creative ways to realistically open up colleges to different communities will do more to help than a model that is more beneficial for students who are already wealthy, academically prepared and highly motivated. We ought to make sure that everyone has access to the same opportunities, or we will further widen the opportunity gaps we mean to close.
17. It can be inferred from the research studies from 1996 to 2008 in Paragraph 4 that in online instruction,______.
A. students can benefit the most from the presence of technology
B. what matters is the increased amount of individualized instruction
C. students can learn more compared with in traditional instruction
D. the more time the cleverest students spend, the higher scores they get
18. According to the author, which of the following is NOT the reason why computer-aided instruction will actually widen the educational gap?
A. Companies and schools want to make a profit from online courses.
B. Online instruction won't help students as much as traditional classes.
C. Not everyone has the equal access to Internet connection.
D. It's unrealistic to provide online courses to people from different communities.
19. The author concludes that if we want to democratize education, we should______.
A. attend lectures, and get a college degree in an elite school
B. sign up for various online courses and get a formal certificate
C. establish colleges for students of different backgrounds creatively and realistically
D. guarantee that highly motivated students have the same opportunity as others
20. Which of the following best describes the author's development of the text?
A. Introducing the issue→raising his own point of view→offering reasons and describing the actual status→citing ways to deal with the issue.
B. Citing ways to deal with the issue→offering reasons and describing the actual status→raising his own point of view→introducing the issue.
C. Raising his own point of view→citing ways to deal with the issue→offering reasons and describing the actual status→introducing the issue.
D. Raising his own point of view→introducing the issue→citing ways to deal with the issue→offering reasons and describing the actual status.
Section II Use of English (10 points, 20 minutes)
Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET.
Environment has taken rather a back seat politically since the Earth summit in Rio de Janeiro nearly five years ago. 21 the problems that meeting 22 had not gone away. One environment 23 tank—the International Food Policy Research Institute—has been looking at the future of water and 24 report reflects growing concern at the huge leap in usage over the past few years. In some parts of the world, water consumption has 25 five fold. And the institute, known by its 26 IFPRI, says shortages could soon become the 27 for conflict and a major barrier to 28 the world's growing population. Here's Richard Black of our Science Unit.
“It's often been said that water 29 oil will be the cause of warfare in the next century. According to the IFPRI report, the time 30 that happens might not be far away. The number of people 31 by water shortages will increase ten 32 over the next 30 years, it says, 33 could well lead to large scale conflicts.
The main reason why water is becoming a 34 resource is agriculture, which now 35 70% of water consumption worldwide, 90% in some 36 countries. Countless farmers have switched from growing indigenous crops for the 37 market to high yield export varieties, which 38 need far more water. But the IFPRI report says that in some regions water shortage is now the single biggest impediment to feeding the population. Water scarcity 39 leads to water pollution. In the Indian State of West Bengal, for example, over extraction of water from boreholes has led to arsenic poisoning which is 40 to have affected two million people so far. But the IFPRI report calls for better water management worldwide including financial incentives to encourage conservation.
21. A. But
B. So
C. And
D. For
22. A. overcame
B. highlighted
C. motivated
D. confronted
23. A. thoughtful
B. thought
C. thinking
D. think
24. A. those
B. whose
C. its
D. their
25. A. decreased
B. increased
C. expanded
D. dwindled
26. A. initials
B. capitals
C. beginnings
D. letters
27. A. trigger
B. effect
C. initiation
D. consequence
28. A. feed
B. raise
C. feeding
D. raising
29. A. instead of
B. in response to
C. in place of
D. rather than
30. A. which
B. how
C. why
D. when
31. A.affecting
B. affected
C. is affected
D. is affecting
32. A.double
B. multiple
C. fold
D. time
33. A.what
B. /
C. which
D. that
34. A.natural
B. scarce
C. plentiful
D. dormant
35. A.accounts for
B. runs for
C. speaks for
D. counts for
36. A.developed
B. developing
C. advanced
D. industrialized
37. A.home
B. export
C. exchange
D. foreign
38. A.remarkably
B. formidably
C. inevitably
D. consumedly
39. A.though
B. so
C. however
D. also
40. A.assessed
B. appraised
C. rated
D. estimated
Section III Translation (30 points, 60 minutes)
Part A
Directions: There are two passages in this part. Read them carefully and then translate them into Chinese. Your translation should be written neatly on the ANSWER SHEET.
1. Family is, if anything, the link between generations, the focal point of social reproduction, and cultural transmission. The whole point of marriage is that it imposes clear obligations, not just the right to pursue your own happiness. And the main obligation is to provide both emotional and practical nurture for children. The glow of burning passion may well have faded, your love for your spouse may not be as exciting or satisfying as it once was, but going off in search of another love will not help your children. The Love Family is either too amorphous for children—your friends have no obligation to provide for them, or it's too unstable, with adults moving on if the relationship no longer answers their search for perfect happiness. I would venture to suggest that love is not enough to sustain an ongoing marital relationship. The Love Family, in the end, doesn't have to care. And unfettered freedom will become our chain, leaving us with no recourse but lonely isolation.
2. It's noble to seek truth, and it is beautiful to find it. It is the ancient feeling of the human heart, that knowledge is better than riches;and it is deeply and sacredly true. To mark the course of human passions as they have flowed on in the ages that are past;to see why nations have risen, and why they have fallen; to speak of heat, and light, and the winds; to know what man has discovered in the heavens above and in the earth beneath…It is worthwhile in the days of our youth to strive hard for this great discipline. A man who dedicates his life to knowledge, becomes habituated to pleasure which carries with it no regret.
Part B
Directions: There is a passage in Chinese in this part. Read it carefully and then translate it into English. Your translation should be written neatly on the ANSWER SHEET.
许多国际体育比赛的业余组织者经常抱怨说，体育道德已不复存在了。他们把体育方面出现的问题全部归咎于日益增长的职业化。他们震惊地看到，现在有些运动员把赛跑当工作，参加赛跑就要得到报酬。他们宣称，当现代奥林匹克运动会兴起时，运动员觉得参加比赛本身就是一种奖励，别无他求了。
事实上如此崇高的理想向来只是一种愿望而已，同现实从来就没有多少关系。1900年和1904年的两届奥运会就和商业有着密切的关系，因为当时就是为国际贸易会招徕顾客而举办那两次奥运会的。这些比赛组织者们有时忽视的一点是，任何想成为奥运冠军的人必须牺牲业余时间，可能还得中断学业，运动员们想得到一些实惠的奖赏，也就不足为奇了。
Section IV Writing (20 points, 50 minutes)
Directions: Some people hold the opinion that “everyone is born the same, and then as we grow up we're taught to behave the way we do”, while others think “we're born with different characteristics—it's in our genes—and these control how we behave in our lives”. Do we, as individuals, behave in a certain way because we were“born that way”, or do we behave that way because our environment “taught” us to behave that way? Write an essay of at least 200 words based on the topic Nature vs Nurture.