考博英语254.docx

1、考博英语254考博英语-254(总分：100.00，做题时间：90分钟)一、Part Listening Comprehension(总题数：0，分数：0.00)二、Part Reading Comprehension(总题数：0，分数：0.00)三、Passage 1(总题数：1，分数：4.00)When, in the age of automation, man searches for a worker to do the tedious, unpleasant jobs that are impossible to mechanize, he may very profitably

2、consider the ape.If we tackled the problem of breeding for brains with as much as enthusiasm as we devote to breeding dogs of surrealistic shapes, we could eventually produce assorted models of useful primates, ranging in size from the gorilla down to the baboon, each adapted to a special kind of wo

3、rk. It is not putting too much strain on the imagination to assume that geneticists could produce a super-ape, able to understand some scores of words, and capable of being trained for such jobs as picking fruit, cleaning up the litter in parks, shining shoes, collecting garbage, doing household cho

4、res, and even baby-sitting (though I have known some babies I would not care to trust with a valuable ape).Apes could do many jobs, such as cleaning streets and the more repetitive types of agricultural work, without supervision, though they might need protection from those exceptional specimens of

5、Homo sapiens who think it amusing to tease or bully anything they consider lower on the evolutionary ladder. For other tasks, such as delivering papers and laboring on the docks, our man-ape would have to work under human overseers; and, incidentally, I would love to see the finale of the twenty-fir

6、st century version of the Waterfront in which the honest but hairy hero will drum on his chest afterliterally taking the wicked labor leader apart.Once a supply of nonhuman workers becomes available, a whole range of low IQ jobs could be thankfully relinquished by mankind, to its great mental and ph

7、ysical advantage. What is more, one of the problems which has plagued so many fictional Utopias would be avoided: There would be none of the deridingly subhuman Epsilons of Huxleys Brave New World to act as a permanent reproach to society, for there is a profound moral difference between breeding su

8、b-men and super-apes, though the end products are much the same. The first would introduce a form of slavery, the second would be a biological triumph which could benefit both men and animals.（分数：4.00）(1).In the authors opinion, the idea that geneticists could produce a super-ape is _.（分数：1.00）A.irr

9、ationalB.plausibleC.biologically impossibleD.demonstrably true解析：解析 从文中的“. we could eventually produce. some scores of words,”“Once a supply of nonhuman workers becomes available, .”可知，培育超级猿人似乎可能。因此B项符合题意。其他三项都不正确。(2).The type of job an ape could do without supervision would be one which is _.（分数：1.

10、00）A.repetitiveB.mechanizedC.unusualD.intricate解析：解析 本题中，B、C、D三项都与文章的意思不符。从文中第三段的第一句话“Apes could do many jobs, such as cleaning streets and the more repetitive types of agricultural work, without supervision可知，A项“repetitive重复的”符合文意。(3).A problem that has plagued some fictional Utopias is _.（分数：1.00）

11、A.creation of super-apesB.the necessity of breeding super-humansC.the necessity of breeding subhumanD.the degradation of beasts解析：解析 从文章的最后一句话“The first would introduce a form of slavery, the second would be a biological triumph which could benefit both men and animals.”可知，C项“培养低级人类的需要”符合文意。其他三项“A创造

12、超级类人猿；B培养超人的需要；D减低兽性”都不正确。(4).The author of this article is _.（分数：1.00）A.revealing his low opinion of mankindB.poking fun at geneticistsC.expressing his doubts about the possibility of breeding a super-apeD.presenting a reasonable theory in a humorous tone解析：解析 综观全文，D项“用诙谐的语调阐述一个可能的理论”与原文意思最近。其他三项“A

13、揭露人类低级想法；B与遗传学者开玩笑；C表述作者对于培育超类人猿的怀疑态度”均不正确。四、Passage 2(总题数：1，分数：4.00)As one works with color in a practical or experimental way, one is impressed by two apparently unrelated facts. Color as seen is a mobile changeable thing depending to a large extent on the relationship of the color to other colors

14、 seen simultaneously. It is not fixed in its relation to the direct stimulus which creates it. On the other hand, the properties of surfaces that give rise to color do not seem to change greatly under a wide variety of illumination colors, usually (but not always) looking much the same in artificial

15、 light as in daylight. Both of these effects seem to be due in large part to the mechanism of color adaptation mentioned earlier.When the eye is fixed on a colored area, there is an immediate readjustment of the sensitivity of the eye to color in and around the area viewed. This readjustment does no

16、t immediately affect the color seen but usually does affect the next area to which the gaze is shifted. The longer the time of viewing, the higher the intensity, and the larger the area, the greater the effect will be in terms of its persistence in the succeeding viewing situation. As indicated by t

17、he work of Wright and Shouted, it appears that, at least for a first approximation, full adaptation takes place over a very brief time if the adapting source is moderately bright and the eye has been in relative darkness just previously. As the stimulus is allowed to act, however, the effect becomes

18、 more persistent in the sense that it takes the eye longer to regain its sensitivity to lower intensities. The net result is that, if the eye is so exposed and then the gaze is transferred to an area of lower intensity, the loss of sensitivity produced by the first area will still be present and app

19、ear as an afterimage superimposed on the second. The effect not only is present over the actual area causing the local adaptation but also spreads with decreasing strength to adjoining areas of the eye to produce lateral adaptation. Also, because of the persistence of the effect if the eye is shifte

20、d around from one object to another, all of which are at similar brightness or have similar colors, the adaptation will tend to become uniform over the whole eye.（分数：4.00）(1).This selection is primarily concerned with _.（分数：1.00）A.the eyes adaptation to colorB.the properties of colored surfacesC.the

21、 color of colorsD.the effect of changes in color intensity解析：解析 从文中的“Both of these effects seem to be due in large part to the mechanism of color adaptation mentioned earlier.”可知，A项“眼睛对色彩的适应性”符合文意。其他三项“B道具表面颜色；C色彩本身；D颜色突然转换的影响”都不正确。(2).Whether a colored object would, on two viewings separated in tim

22、e, appear to the viewer as similar or different in color would depend mostly on _.（分数：1.00）A.the color mechanism of the eye in use at the time of each viewingB.whether the object was seen in artificial or natural lightC.what kind of viewing had immediately preceded each of the viewingsD.the individu

23、als power of lateral adaptation解析：解析 从文中的第二段的第三句话“The longer the time of viewing, the higher the intensity, and the larger the area, the greater the effect will be in terms of its persistence in the succeeding viewing situation.”可知，C项“转移视线前所见景物”符合文意。其他三项“A眼睛的视觉机能；B是在自然光下还是在灯光下；D个人适应能力”都不正确。(3).If a

24、persons eye has been looking at an object in bright sunlight for some time, and then shifts to an object not well lit, we can expect _.（分数：1.00）A.a time lag in the focusing ability of the eyeB.some inability to see colors of the latter-named objects until loss of sensitivity has been regained.C.the

25、immediate loss of the afterimage of the first objectD.the adaptation in the central area of the eye but little adaptation in the lateral areas to the new intensity level.解析：解析 本题中，A、C、D三项在文中未被提及。从最后一段可知，B项“直到失去的感觉恢复后才能看见东西”符合文意。因此B项为正确答案。(4).The present selection has apparently been preceded by some

26、 explanation of _.（分数：1.00）A.some experiments with color pigmentsB.the nature of colorC.the color properties of various surfacesD.the mechanism of the eyes adaptation to color解析：解析 本题中，A、B、C三项都与文章的意思不符。从文中可知，D项“眼睛的颜色适应能力”符合文意。因此D项为正确答案。五、Passage 3(总题数：1，分数：4.00)The Greeks lofty attitude toward scien

27、tific researchand the scientists contempt of utilitywas a long time dying. For a millennium after Archimedes, this separation of mechanics from geometry inhibited fundamental technological progress and in some areas repressed it altogether. But there was a still greater obstacle to change until the

28、very end of the middle ages: the organization of society. The social system of fixed class relationships that prevailed through the Middle Ages (and in some areas much longer) itself hampered improvement. Under this system, the laboring masses, in exchange for the bare necessities of life, did all t

29、he productive work, while the privileged fewpriests, nobles, and kingsconcerned themselves only with ownership and maintenance of their own position. In the interest of their privileges they did achieve considerable progress in defense, in warmaking, in government, in trader in the arts of leisure,

30、and in the extraction of labor from their dependents, but they had no familiarity with the process of production. On the other hand, the laborers, who were familiar with manufacturing techniques, had no incentive to improve or increase production to the advantage of their masters. Thus, with one cla

31、ss possessing the requisite knowledge and experience, but lacking incentive and leisure, and the other class lacking the knowledge and experience, there was no means by which technical progress could be achieved.The whole ancient world was built upon this relationshipa relationship as sterile as it

32、was inhuman. The availability of slaves nullified the need for more efficient machinery. In many of the conmonplace fields of human endeavor, actual stagnation prevailed for thousands of years. Not all the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome could develop the windmill or contrive so simple an instrument as the wheelbarrowproducts of the tenth and thirteenth centuries respectively.For about twenty-five cen