2015年考研英语(二)真题解析+答案.docx

2015年考研英语(二)真题解析+答案[完整版] 　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. (10 points) 　　In our contemporary culture, the prospect of communicating with – or even looking at – a stranger is virtually unbearable. Everyone around us seems to agree by the way they cling to the phones, even without a __1__ on a subway. 　　It’s a sad reality – our desire to avoid interacting with other human beings – because there’s __2__ to be gained from talking to the stranger standing by you. But you wouldn’t know it, __3__ into your phone. This universal protection sends the __4__:”Please don’t approach me.” 　　What is it that makes us feel we need to hide __5__ our screens? 　　One answer is fear, according to Jon Wortmann, an executive mental coach. We fear rejection, or that our innocent social advances will be __6__ as “weird.” We fear we’ll be __7__. We fear we’ll be disruptive. 　　Strangers are inherently__8__to us, so we are more likely to feel__9__when communicating with them compared with our friends and acquaintances. To avoid this uneasiness, we_ 10_ to our phones.” Phones become our security blanket,” Wortmann says.” They are our happy glasses that protect us from what we perceive is going to be more __11___” 　　But once we rip off the band-aid, tuck our smartphones in our pockets and look up, it doesn’t ___12___so bad. In one 2011 experiment, behavioral scientists Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder asked commuters to do the unthinkable: Start a __13___. They had Chicago train commuters talk to their fellow __14___.”When Dr. Epley and Ms.Schroeder asked other people in the same train station to __15___how they would feel after talking to a stranger, the commuters thought their __16___ would be more pleasant if they sat on their own,” The New York Times summarizes. Though the participants didn’t expect a positive experience, after they __17__with the experiment,” not a single person reported having been embarrassed” 　　__18__, these commutes were reportedly more enjoyable compared with those without communication, whichmakes absolute sense, ___19___human beings thrive off of social connections. It’s that ___20___: Talking to strangers can make you feel connected. 　　选项及答案： 　　1. [A]signal [B]permit [C]ticket [D]record 　　2. [A]nothing [B]little [C]another [D]much 　　3. [A]beaten [B]guided [C]plugged [D]brought 　　4. [A]sign [B]code [C]notice [D]message 　　5. [A]under [B]behind [C]beyond [D]from 　　6. [A]misapplied [B]mismatched [C]misadjusted [D]misinterpreted 　　7. [A]replaced [B]fired [C]judged [D]delayed 　　8. [A]unreasonable [B]ungrateful [C]unconventional [D]unfamiliar 　　9. [A]comfortable [B]confident [C]anxious [D]angry 　　10. [A]attend [B]point [C]take [D]turn 　　11. [A]dangerous [B]mysterious [C]violent [D]boring 　　12. [A]hurt [B]resist [C]bend [D]decay 　　13. [A]lecture [B]conversation [C]debate [D]negotiation 　　14. [A]passengers [B]employees [C]researchers [D]trainees 　　15. [A]reveal [B]choose [C]predict [D]design 　　16. [A]voyage [B]ride [C]walk [D]flight 　　17. [A]went through [B]did away [C]caught up [D]put up 　　18. [A]In turn [B]In fact [C]In particular [D]In consequence 　　19. [A]unless [B]since [C]if [D]whereas 　　20. [A]funny [B]logical [C]simple [D]rare[page] 　　原文及答案： 　　While the subway's arrival may be ambiguous, one thing about your commute is certain: No one wants to talk to each other. In our contemporary culture, the prospect of communicating with -- or even looking at -- a stranger is virtually unbearable. Everyone around us seems to agree by the way they fiddle with their phones, even without a 1 signal underground. 　　It's a sad reality -- our desire to avoid interacting with other human beings -- because there's 2 much to be gained from talking to the stranger standing by you. But you wouldn't know it,3 plugged into your phone. This universal armor sends the 4 message: 'Please don't approach me.' 　　What is it that makes us feel we need to hide 5 behind our screens? 　　One answer is fear, according to Jon Wortmann, executive mental coach and author of 'Hijacked by Your Brain: How to Free Yourself When Stress Takes Over.' We fear rejection, or that our innocent social advances will be 6 misinterpreted as 'creepy,' he told The Huffington Post. We fear we'll be 7 judged. We fear we'll be disruptive. 　　Strangers are inherently8 unfamiliar to us, so we are more likely to feel 9 anxious when communicating with them compared with our friends and acquaintances. To avoid this anxiety, we 10 turn to our phones. 'Phones become our security blanket,' Wortmann says. 'They are our happy glasses that protect us from what we perceive is going to be more 11 dangerous.' 　　But once we rip off the bandaid, tuck our smartphones in our pockets and look up, it doesn't12 hurt so bad. In one 2011 experiment, behavioral scientists Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder asked commuters to do the unthinkable: Start a 13 conversation. The duo had Chicago train commuters talk to their fellow14 passengers. 'When Dr. Epley and Ms. Schroeder asked other people in the same train station to15 predict how they would feel after talking to a stranger, the commuters thought their16 ride would be more pleasant if they sat on their own,' the New York Times summarizes. Though the participants didn't expect a positive experience, after they17 went through with the experiment, 'not a single person reported having been snubbed.' 　　18 In fact, these commutes were reportedly more enjoyable compared with those sans communication, which makes absolute sense, 19 since human beings thrive off of social connections. It's that 20 simple: Talking to strangers can make you feel connected. The train ride is a fortuity for social connection -- 'the stuff of life,' Wortmann says. Even seemingly trivial interactions can boost mood and increase the sense of belonging. A study similar in hypothesis to Eply and Schroder's published in Social Psychological & Personality Science asked participants to smile, make eye contact and chatwith their cashier. Those who engaged with the cashier experienced better moods -- and even reported a better shopping experience than those who avoided superfluous conversation. 　　分析：文章节选自2014.5.16 赫芬顿邮报，难度与2014/2013持平，明显比模考时的文章容易。选项ABCD各出现五次。   　　Section II Reading Comprehension 　　Part A 　　Directions: 　　Read the following four texts. Answer the questions after each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points) 　　Text1 　　A new study suggests that contrary to most surveys, people are actually more stressed at home that at work. Researchers measured people's cortisol, which is a stress marker, while they were at word and while they were at home and found it higher at what is supposed to be a place of refuge. 　　"Further contradicting conventional wisdom, we found that women as well as men have lower levels of stress at work that at home," writer one of the researchers, Sarah Damaske. In fact women even say they feel better at work, she notes."It is men, not women, who report being happier at home that at work." Another surprise is that the findings hold true for both those with children and without, but more so for nonparents. This is why people who work outside the home have better health. 　　What the study doesn't measure is whether people are still doing work when they're at home, whether it is household work or work brought home from the office. For many men, the end of the workday is a time to kick back. For women who stay home, they never get to leave the office. And for women who work outside the home, they often are playing catch-up-with-household tasks. With the blurring of roles, and the fact that the home front lags well behind the workplace in making adjustments for working women it's not surprising that women are more stressed at home. 　　But it's not just a gender thing. At work, people pretty much know what they're supposed to be doing to be doing: wording, making money, doing the tasks they have to do in order to draw an income. The bargain is very pure: Employee puts in hours of physical or mental labor and employee draws out life-sustaining moola. 　　On the home front, however, people have no such clarity. Rare is the household in which the division of labor is so clinically and methodically laid out. There are a lot of tasks to be done, there are inadequate rewards for most of them. Your home colleagues-your family-have no clear rewards for their labor; they need to be talked into is, of if they're teenagers, threatened with complete removal of all electronic devices. Plus, they’re teenagers, threatened with complete removal of all electronic devices. Plus, they're your family. You cannot fire your family. You never really get to go home from home. 　　So it's not surprising that people are more stressed at home. Not only are the tasks apparently infinite, the co-workers are much harder to motivate. 　　21. According to Paragraph 1, most previous surveys found that home________. 　　[A] offered greater relaxation than the workplace 　　[B] was an ideal place for stress measurement 　　[C] generated more stress than the workplace 　　[D] was an unrealistic place for relaxation 　　22. According to Damaske, who are likely to be the happiest at home? 　　[A] Childless wives 　　[B] working mothers 　　[C] Childless husbands 　　[D] Working fathers 　　23. The blurring of working women’s roles refers to the fact that____ 　　[AJ it is difficult for them to leave their office 　　{B] their home is also a place for kicking back 　　[C] there is often much housework left behind 　　[DJ they are both bread winners and housewives 　　24. The word "moola"(Line 4, para.4) most probably means____ 　　[A]skills 　　[B]energy 　　[C]earnings 　　[D]nutrition 　　25. The home front differs from the workplace in that_____ 　　[A]division of labor at home is seldom clear-cut 　　[B]home is hardly a cozier working environment 　　[C]household tasks are generally more motivating 　　[D]family labor is often adequately rewarded 　　参考答案：21--25 ACDCA[page] 　　Text2 　　For years, studies have found that first-generation collage students-those who do not have a parent with a college degree-lag other students on a range of education achievement factors. Their grades are lower and their dropout rates are higher. But since such students are most likely to advance economically if they succeed in higher education, colleges and universities have pushed for decades to recruit more of them. This has created "a paradox" in that recruiting first-generation students, but then watching many of them fail, means that higher education has "continued to reproduce and widen, rather than close" an achievement gap based on social class, according to the depressing beginning of a paper forthcoming in the journal Psychological Science. 　　But the article is actually quite optimistic, as it outlines a potential solution to this problem, suggesting that an approach (which involves a one-hour, next-to-no-cost program) can close 63 percent of the achievement gap (measured by such factors as grades) between first-generation and other students. 　　The authors of the paper are from different universities, and their findings are based on a study involving 147 students (who completed the project) at an unnamed private university. First generation was defined as not having a parent with a four-year college degree. Most of the first-generation students (59.1 percent) were recipients of Pell Grants, a federal grant for undergraduates with financial need, while this was true only for 8.6 percent of the students with at least one parent with a four-year degree. 　　Their thesis-that a relatively modest intervention could have a big impact-was based on the view that first-generation students may be most lacking not in potential but in practical knowledge about how to deal with the issues that face most college students. They cite past research by several authors to show that this is the gap that must be narrowed to close the achievement gap. 　　Many first-generation students "struggle to navigate the middle-class culture of higher education, learn the 'rules of the game,' and take advantage of colleges resources,” they write, And this becomes more of a problem when colleges don't talk about the class advantages and disadvantages of different groups of students."Because US colleges and universities seldom acknowledge how social class can affect students' educational experiences, many first-generation students lack insight about why they are struggling and do not understand how students "like them' can improve." 　　26. Recruiting more first-generation students has . 　　[A] reduced their dropout rates 　　[B] narrowed the achievement gap 　　[C] depressed college students 　　[D] missed its original purpose 　　27. The authors of the research article are optimistic because . 　　[A] their findings appeal to students 　　[B] the recruiting rate has increased 　　[C] the problem is solvable 　　[D] their approach is costless 　　28. The study suggests that most first-generation students . 　　[A] study at private universities 　　[B] are from single-parent families 　　[C] are in need of financial support 　　[D] have failed their college 　　29. The authors of the paper believe that first-generation students . 　　[A] are actually indifferent to the achievement gap 　　[B] can have a potential influence on other students 　　[C] may lack opportunities to apply for research projects 　　[D] are inexperienced in handling their issues at college 　　30. We may infer from the last paragraph that . 　　[A] universities often reject the culture of the middle-class 　　[B] colleges are partly responsible for the problem in question 　　[C] social class greatly helps enrich educational experiences 　　[D] students are usually to blame for their lack of resources 　　参考答案：26--30 DCCDB[page] 　　Even in traditional offices, “the lingua franca of corporate America has gotten much more emotional and much more right-brained than it was 20 years ago,” said Harvard Business School professor Nancy Koehn. She started spinning off examples. “If you and I parachuted back to Fortune 500 companies in 1990, we would see much less frequent use of terms like journey, mission, passion. There were goals, there were strategies, there were objectives, but we didn’t talk about energy; we didn’t talk about passion.” 　　Koehn pointed out that this new era of corporate vocabulary is very “team”-oriented—and not by coincidence. “Let’s not forget sports—in male-dominated corporate America, it’s still a big deal. It’s not explicitly conscious; it’s the idea that I’m a coach, and you’re my team, and we’re in this together. There are lots and lots of CEOs in very different companies, but most think ofthemselves as coaches and this is their team and they want to win.” These terms are also intended to infuse work with mea