1991年考研英语阅读真题及答案解析

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　　1991年考研英语阅读真题及答案解析

　　Section II Reading Comprehension

　　Each of the passages below is followed by some questions. For each question four answers are given. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each of the questions. Put your choice in the ANSWER SHEET. (30 points)

　　Text 1

　　A wise man once said that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. So, as a police officer, I have some urgent things to say to good people.

　　Day after day my men and I struggle to hold back a tidal wave of crime. Something has gone terribly wrong with our once-proud American way of life. It has happened in the area of values. A key ingredient is disappearing, and I think I know what it is: accountability.

　　Accountability isnt hard to define. It means that every person is responsible for his or her actions and liable for their consequences.

　　Of the many values that hold civilization together -- honesty, kindness, and so on -- accountability may be the most important of all. Without it, there can be no respect, no trust, no law -- and, ultimately, no society.

　　My job as a police officer is to impose accountability on people who refuse, or have never learned, to impose it on themselves. But as every policeman knows, external controls on peoples behavior are far less effective than internal restraints such as guilt, shame and embarrassment.

　　Fortunately there are still communities -- smaller towns, usually -- where schools maintain discipline and where parents hold up standards that proclaim: In this family certain things are not tolerated -- they simply are not done!

　　Yet more and more, especially in our larger cities and suburbs, these inner restraints are loosening. Your typical robber has none. He considers your property his property; he takes what he wants, including your life if you enrage him.

　　The main cause of this break-down is a radical shift in attitudes. Thirty years ago, if a crime was committed, society was considered the victim. Now, in a shocking reversal, its the criminal who is considered victimized: by his underprivileged upbringing, by the school that didnt teach him to read, by the church that failed to reach him with moral guidance, by the parents who didnt provide a stable home.

　　I dont believe it. Many others in equally disadvantaged circumstances choose not to engage in criminal activities. If we free the criminal, even partly, from accountability, we become a society of endless excuses where no one accepts responsibility for anything.

　　We in America desperately need more people who believe that the person who commits a crime is the one responsible for it.

　　31. What the wise man said suggests that ________.

　　[A] its unnecessary for good people to do anything in face of evil

　　[B] its certain that evil will prevail if good men do nothing about it

　　[C] its only natural for virtue to defeat evil

　　[D] its desirable for good men to keep away from evil

　　32. According to the author, if a person is found guilty of a crime, ________.

　　[A] society is to be held responsible

　　[B] modern civilization is responsible for it

　　[C] the criminal himself should bear the blame

　　[D] the standards of living should be improved

　　33. Compared with those in small towns, people in large cities have ________.

　　[A] less self-discipline

　　[B] better sense of discipline

　　[C] more mutual respect

　　[D] less effective government

　　34. The writer is sorry to have noticed that ________.

　　[A] people in large cities tend to excuse criminals

　　[B] people in small towns still stick to old discipline and standards

　　[C] todays society lacks sympathy for people in difficulty

　　[D] people in disadvantaged circumstances are engaged in criminal activities

　　35. The key point of the passage is that ________.

　　[A] stricter discipline should be maintained in schools and families

　　[B] more good examples should be set for people to follow

　　[C] more restrictions should be imposed on peoples behavior

　　[D] more people should accept the value of accountability

　　Text 2

　　The period of adolescence, i.e., the period between childhood and adulthood, may be long or short, depending on social expectations and on societys definition as to what constitutes maturity and adulthood. In primitive societies adolescence is frequently a relatively short period of time, while in industrial societies with patterns of prolonged education coupled with laws against child labor, the period of adolescence is much longer and may include most of the second decade of ones life. Furthermore, the length of the adolescent period and the definition of adulthood status may change in a given society as social and economic conditions change. Examples of this type of change are the disappearance of the frontier in the latter part of the nineteenth century in the United States, and more universally, the industrialization of an agricultural society.

　　In modern society, ceremonies for adolescence have lost their formal recognition and symbolic significance and there no longer is agreement as to what constitutes initiation ceremonies. Social ones have been replaced by a sequence of steps that lead to increased recognition and social status. For example, grade school graduation, high school graduation and college graduation constitute such a sequence, and while each step implies certain behavioral changes and social recognition, the significance of each depends on the socio-economic status and the educational ambition of the individual. Ceremonies for adolescence have also been replaced by legal definitions of status roles, rights, privileges and responsibilities. It is during the nine years from the twelfth birthday to the twenty-first that the protective and restrictive aspects of childhood and minor status are removed and adult privileges and responsibilities are granted. The twelve-year-old is no longer considered a child and has to pay full fare for train, airplane, theater and movie tickets. Basically, the individual at this age loses childhood privileges without gaining significant adult rights. At the age of sixteen the adolescent is granted certain adult rights which increases his social status by providing him with more freedom and choices. He now can obtain a drivers license; he can leave public schools; and he can work without the restrictions of child labor laws. At the age of eighteen the law provides adult responsibilities as well as rights; the young man can now be a soldier, but he also can marry without parental permission. At the age of twenty-one the individual obtains his full legal rights as an adult. He now can vote, he can buy liquor, he can enter into financial contracts, and he is entitled to run for public office. No additional basic rights are acquired as a function of age after majority status has been attained. None of these legal provisions determine at what point adulthood has been reached but they do point to the prolonged period of adolescence.

　　36. The period of adolescence is much longer in industrial societies because ________.

　　[A] the definition of maturity has changed

　　[B] the industrialized society is more developed

　　[C] more education is provided and laws against child labor are made

　　[D] ceremonies for adolescence have lost their formal recognition and symbolic significance

　　37. Former social ceremonies that used to mark adolescence have given place to ________.

　　[A] graduations from schools and colleges

　　[B] social recognition

　　[C] socio-economic status

　　[D] certain behavioral changes

　　38. No one can expect to fully enjoy the adulthood privileges until he is ________.

　　[A] eleven years old

　　[B] sixteen years old

　　[C] twenty-one years old

　　[D] between twelve and twenty-one years old

　　39. Starting from 22, ________.

　　[A] one will obtain more basic rights

　　[B] the older one becomes, the more basic rights he will have

　　[C] one wont get more basic rights than when he is 21

　　[D] one will enjoy more rights granted by society

　　40. According to the passage, it is true that ________.

　　[A] in the late 19th century in the United States the dividing line between adolescence and adulthood no longer existed

　　[B] no one can marry without the permission of his parents until the age of twenty-one

　　[C] one is considered to have reached adulthood when he has a drivers license

　　[D] one is not free from the restrictions of child labor laws until he can join the army

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　　Text 3

　　Most growing plants contain much more water than all other materials combined. C. R. Barnes has suggested that it is as proper to term the plant a water structure as to call a house composed mainly of brick a brick building. Certain it is that all essential processes of plant growth and development occur in water. The mineral elements from the soil that are usable by the plant must be dissolved in the soil solution before they can be taken into the root. They are carried to all parts of the growing plant and are built into essential plant materials while in a dissolved state. The carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air may enter the leaf as a gas but is dissolved in water in the leaf before it is combined with a part of the water to form simple sugars -- the base material from which the plant body is mainly built. Actively growing plant parts are generally 75 to 90 percent water. Structural parts of plants, such as woody stems no longer actively growing, may have much less water than growing tissues.

　　The actual amount of water in the plant at any one time, however, is only a very small part of what passes through it during its development. The processes of photosynthesis, by which carbon dioxide and water are combined -- in the presence of chlorophyll (叶绿素) and with energy derived from light -- to form sugars, require that carbon dioxide from the air enter the plant. This occurs mainly in the leaves. The leaf surface is not solid but contains great numbers of minute openings, through which the carbon dioxide enters. The same structure that permits the one gas to enter the leaf, however, permits another gas -- water vapor -- to be lost from it. Since carbon dioxide is present in the air only in trace quantities (3 to 4 parts in 10,000 parts of air) and water vapor is near saturation in the air spaces within the leaf (at 80℉, saturated air would contain about 186 parts of water vapor in 10,000 parts of air), the total amount of water vapor lost is many times the carbon dioxide intake. Actually, because of wind and other factors, the loss of water in proportion to carbon dioxide intake may be even greater than the relative concentrations of the two gases. Also, not all of the carbon dioxide that enters the leaf is synthesized into carbohydrates (碳水化合物).

　　41. A growing plant needs water for all of the following except ________.

　　[A] forming sugars

　　[B] sustaining woody stems

　　[C] keeping green

　　[D] producing carbon dioxide

　　42. The essential function of photosynthesis in terms of plant needs is ________.

　　[A] to form sugars

　　[B] to derive energy from light

　　[C] to preserve water

　　[D] to combine carbon dioxide with water

　　43. The second paragraph uses facts to develop the essential idea that ________.

　　[A] a plant efficiently utilizes most of the water it absorbs

　　[B] carbon dioxide is the essential substance needed for plant development

　　[C] a plant needs more water than is found in its composition

　　[D] the stronger the wind, the more the water vapor loss

　　44. According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?

　　[A] The mineral elements will not be absorbed by the plant unless they are dissolved in its root.

　　[B] The woody stems contain more water than the leaves.

　　[C] Air existing around the leaf is found to be saturated.

　　[D] Only part of the carbon dioxide in the plants is synthesized.

　　45. This passage is mainly about ________.

　　[A] the functions of carbon dioxide and water

　　[B] the role of water in a growing plant

　　[C] the process of simple sugar formation

　　[D] the synthesis of water with carbon dioxide

　　答案解析

　　Section II: Reading Comprehension (30 points)

31.[B]

32.[C]

33.[A]

34.[A]

35.[D]

36.[C]

37.[A]

38.[C]

39.[C]

40.[A]

41.[D]

42.[A]

43.[C]

44.[D]

45.[B]