2021年考研《英语二》阅读真题(文字版)

2021年考研《英语二》阅读真题（文字版）

Section II Reading Comprehension

Part A

Directions:

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below

each text by choosing [A],[B], [C] or [D]. Mark your answers

on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

It is curious that Stephen Koziatek feels almost as though

he has to justify his efforts to give his students a better

future.

Mr. Koziatek is part of something pioneering. He is a

teacher at a New Hampshire high school where learning is not

something of books and tests and mechanical memorization, but

practical. When did it become accepted wisdom that students

should be able to name the 13th president of the United States

but be utterly overwhelmed by a broken bike Chain?

As Koziatek know, there is learning in just about

everything. Nothing is necessarily gained by forcing students

to learn geometry at a graffitied desk stuck with generations

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of discarded chewing gum. They can also learn geometry by

assembling a bicycle.

But he’s also found a kind of insidious prejudice. Working

with your hands is seen as almost a mark of inferiority. School

in the family of vocational education “have that

hat it’s for kids who can’t make it

academically,” he says.

On one hand,that viewpoint is a logical product of America’s cturing is not the economic engine that it

once job security that the US economy once offered to

high school graduates has largely evaporated. More education

is the new want more for our kids,and rightfully

so.

But the headlong push into bachelor’s degrees for all—and the subtle devaluing of anything less—misses an

important point:That’s not the only thing the American economy

,a bachelor’s degree opens n now,54

percent of the jobs in the country are middle-skill jobs,such

as construction and high-skill only 44

percent of workers are adequately trained.

In other words,at a time when the working class has turned

the country on its political head,frustrated that the

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opportunity that once defined America is vanishing,one obvious

solution is staring us in the is a gap in

working-class jobs, but the workers who need those jobs most

aren’t equipped to do ek’s Manchester School of

Technology High School is trying to fill that gap.

Koziatek’s school is a wake-up call. When education becomes

one-size-fits-all,it risks overlooking a nation’s diversity

of gifts.

21.A broken bike chain is mentioned to show students’ lack

of.

ic training

cal ability

ring spirit

ical memorization

exists the prejudice that vocational education is

for kids who.

a stereotyped mind

no career motivation

financially disadvantaged

not academically successful

can infer from Paragraph 5 that high school graduates.

to have more job opportunities

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to have big financial concerns

entitled to more educational privileges

reluctant to work in manufacturing

headlong push into bachelors degrees for all.

create a lot of middle-skill jobs

narrow the gap in working-class jobs

tes the overvaluing of higher education

expected to yield a better-trained workforce

author’s attitude toward Koziatek’s school can be

described as.

nt

us

tive

ointed

Text 2

While fossil fuels—coal，oil，gas—still generate roughly

85 percent of the world’s energy supply, it's clearer than ever

that the future belongs to renewable sources such as wind and

move to renewables is picking up momentum around the

world：They now account for more than half of new power sources

going on line.

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Some growth stems from a commitment by governments and

farsighted businesses to fund cleaner energy sources. But

increasingly the story is about the plummetingprices of

renewables，especially wind and cost of solar panels

has dropped by 80 percent and the cost of wind turbines by close

to one-third in the past eight years.

In many parts of the world renewable energy is already a

principal energy Scotland，for example，wind turbines

provide enough electricity to power 95 percent of

the rest of the world takes the lead，notably China and Europe，the United States is also seeing a remarkable March，for the first time，wind and solar power accounted for more than

10 percent of the power generated in the US，reported the US

Energy Information Administration.

President Trump has underlined fossil fuels—especially

coal—as the path to economic a recent speech in Iowa，he dismissed wind power as an unreliable energy that

message did not play well with many in Iowa，where wind turbines

dot the fields and provide 36 percent of the state’s electricity

generation—and where tech giants like Microsoft are being

attracted by the availability of clean energy to power their

data centers.

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The question“what happens when the wind doesn’t blow or

the sun doesn’t shine?”has provided a quick put-down for

a boost in the storage capacity of batteries is

making their ability to keep power flowing around the clock more

likely.

The advance is driven in part by vehicle manufacturers，who are placing big bets on battery-powered electric

gh electric cars are still a rarity on roads

now,this massive investment could change the picture rapidly

in coming years.

While there’s a long way to go，the trend lines for

renewables are pace of change in energy sources

appears to be speeding up—perhaps just in time to have a

meaningful effect in slowing climate Washington

does—or doesn’t do—to promote alternative energy may mean

less and less at a time of a global shift in thought.

word“plummeting”(Line 3，Para.2)is closest in

meaning to.

izing

ng

g

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ing to Paragraph 3，the use of renewable energy

in America.

progressing notably

as extensive as in Europe

many challenges

proved to be impractical

can be learned that in Iowa, .

is a widely used energy source

energy has replaced fossil fuels

giants are investing in clean energy

is a shortage of clean energy supply

ofthe following is true about clean energy

according to Paragraphs 5&6?

application has boosted battery storage.

is commonly used in car manufacturing.

continuous supply is becoming a reality.

sustainable exploitation will remain difficult.

can be inferred from the last paragraph that

renewable energy.

bring the US closer to other countries

accelerate global environmental change

not really encouraged by the US government

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not competitive enough with regard to its cost

Text 3

The power and ambition of the giants of the digital economy

is astonishing—Amazon has just announced the purchase of the

upmarket grocery chain Whole Foods for$13.5bn，but two years

ago Facebook paid even more than that to acquire the WhatsApp

messaging service，which doesn’t have any physical product at

all. What WhatsApp offered Facebook was an intricate and finely

detailed web of its users’friendships and social lives.

Facebook promised the European commission then that it

would not link phone numbers to Facebook identities，but it

broke the promise almost as soon as the deal went

without knowing what was in the messages，the knowledge of who

sent them and to whom was enormously revealing and still could

political journalist，what party whip，would not want

to know the makeup of the WhatsApp groups in which Theresa May’s enemies are currentlyplotting?It may be that the value of

Whole Foods to Amazon is not so much the 460 shops it owns, but

the records of which customers have purchased what.

Competition law appears to be the only way to address these

imbalances of it is clumsy. For one thing, it is very

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slow compared to the pace of change within the digital economy.

By the time a problem has been addressed and remedied it may

have vanished in the marketplace, to be replaced by new abuses

of there is a deeper conceptual problem, too.

Competition law as presently interpreted deals with financial

disadvantage to consumers and this is not obvious when the users

of these services don’t pay for users of their services

are not their would be the people who buy

advertising from them—and Facebook and Google，the two virtual

giants，dominate digital advertising to the disadvantage of all

other media and entertainment companies.

The product they’re selling is data，and we，the users，convert our lives to data for the benefit of the digital giants.

Just as some ants farm the bugs called aphidsfor the honeydew

they produce when they feed, so Google farms us for the data

that our digital lives keep predatory insects away

from where their aphids feed; Gmail keeps the spammers out of

our doesn’t feel like a human or democratic

relationship，even if both sides benefit.

31. According to Paragraph 1, Facebook acquired WhatsApp

for its.

l products

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information

al assets

y service

g phone numbers to Facebook identities may.

political disputes

up customer records

a risk to Facebook users

d the European commission

ing to the author,competition law.

serve the new market powers

worsen the economic imbalance

not provide just one legal solution

keep pace with the changing market

ition law as presently interpreted can hardly

protect Facebook users because.

are not defined as customers

are not financially reliable

services are generally digital

services are paid for by advertisers

ants analogy is used to illustrate.

A.a win-win business model between digital giants

B.a typical competition pattern among digital giants

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benefits provided for digital giants’customers

relationship between digital giants and their users

Text 4

To combat the trap of putting a premium on being busy,Cal

Newport,author of Deep work: Rules for Focused Success in a

Distracted world,recommends building a habit of “deep work”—the ability to focus without distraction.

There are a number of approaches to mastering the art of

deep work—be it lengthy retreats dedicated to a specific

task;developing a daily ritual;or taking a “journalistic”

approach to seizing moments of deep work when you can throughout

the day. Whichever approach,the key is to determine your length

of focus time and stick to it.

Newport also recommends “deepscheduling” to combat

constant interruptions and get more done in less time.“At any

given point,Ishould have deep work scheduled for roughly the

next on the calendar I protect this time like Iwould

a doctor’s appointment or important meeting”,he writes.

Another approach to getting more done in less time is to

rethink how you prioritize your day—in particular how we craft

our to-do Harford, author of Messy:The Power of

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Disorder to Transform Our Lives,points to a study in the early

1980s that divided undergraduates into two groups:some were

advised to set out monthly goals and study activities;others

were told to plan activities and goals in much more detail,day

by day.

While the researchers assumed that the well-structured

daily plans would be most effective when it came to the

execution of tasks,they were wrong:the detailed daily plans

demotivated

distractions

d

often render

argues

the

that inevitable

list daily to-do

ineffective,while leaving room for improvisation in such a list

can reap the best results.

In order to make the most of our focus and energy. We also

need to embrace downtime,or as Newport suggests,“be lazy.”

“Idleness is not just a vacation,an indulgence or a vice;it

is as indispensable to be brain as Vitamin D is to the

[idleness]is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any

work done,”he argues.

Srini Pillay,an assistant professor of psychiatry at

Harvard Medical School,believes this counter-intuitive link

between downtime and productivity may be due to the way our

brains operate When our brains switch between being focused and

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unfocused on a task,they tend to be more efficient.

“What people don’t realise is that in order to complete

these tasks they need to use both the focus and unfocus circuits

in their brain”. says Pillay.

36. The key to mastering the art of deep work is to ________.

to your focus time

your immediate tasks

specific daily plans

every minute to work

37. The study in the early 1980s cited by Harford shows that

________.

ctions may actually increase efficiency

schedules are indispensable to studying

ts are hardly motivated by monthly goals

ed plans many not be as fruitful as expected

38. According to Newport, idleness is ________.

A.a desirable mental state for busy people

B.a major contributor to physical health

effective way to save time and energy

essential factor in accomplishing any work

39. Pillay believes that our brains’ shift between being

focused and unfocused _______.

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result in psychological well-being

ng about greater efficiency

aimed at better balance in work

driven by task urgency

40. This text is mainly about _______.

to relieve the tension of busy life

ches to getting more done in less time

key to eliminating distractions

cause of the lack of focus time

Part B

Directions:

Read the following text and match each of the numbered items

in the left column to its corresponding information in the right

column. There are two extra choices in the right column. Mark

your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

A. Just say it

B. Be present

C. Pay a unique compliment

D. Name, places, things

E. Find the “me too”s

F. Skip the small talk

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G. Ask for an opinion

Five ways to make conversation with anyone

Conversations are links, which means when you have a

conversation with a new person a link gets formed and every

conversation you have after that moment will strengthen the

link.

You meet new people every day: the grocery worker, the cab

driver, new people at work or the security guard at the door.

Simply starting a conversation with them will form a link.

Here are five simple ways that you can make the first move

and start a conversation with strangers.

41._____A_______

Suppose you are in a room with someone you don’t know and

something within you says“I want to talk with this person”—this is something the mostly happens with all of us. You

wanted to say something—the first word—but it just won’t come

out. It feels like itis stuck somewhere, I know the feeling and

here is my advice just get it out.

Just think: that is the worst that could happen? They won’t talk with you? Well, they are not talking with you now!

I truly believe that once you get that first word out

everything else will just flow. So keep it simple: “Hi”,第 15 页

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“Hey”or“Hello”—do the best you can to gather all of the

enthusiasm and energy you can, put on a big smile and say“Hi”.

42.______F______

It’s a problem all of us face: you have limited time with

the person that you want to talk with and you want to make this

talk memorable.

Honestly, if we got stuck in the rut of“hi”,“hello”,

“how are you?”and“what’s going on?”you will fail to give

the initial jolt to the conversation that’s can make it so

memorable.

So don’t be afraid to ask more personal questions. Trust

me, you’ll be surprised to see how much people are willing to

share if you just ask.

43._____E_______

When you meet a person for the first time, make an effort

to find the things which you and that person have in common so

that you can build the conversation from that point. When you

start conversation from there and then move outwards, you’ll find all of a sudden that the conversation becomes a lot

easier.

44._____B_______

Imagine you are pouring your heart out to someone and they

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are just busy on their phone, and if you ask for their attention

you get the response “I can multitask”.

So when someone tries to communicate with you, just be in

that communication wholeheartedly. Make eye contact, you can

feel the conversation.

45._____D_______

You all came into a conversation where you first met the

person, but after some time you may have met again and have

forgotten their name. Isn’t that awkward!

So remember the little details of the people you met or you

talked with; perhaps the places they have been to the place they

want to go, the things they like, the thing the hate—whatever

you talk about.

When you remember such thing you can automatically become

investor in their wellbeing. So the feel a responsibility to

you to keep that relationship going.

That’s it. Five amazing ways that you can make conversation

with almost anyone. Every person is a really good book to read,

or to have a conversation with!

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