2017年上海交通大学考博英语试题回忆

2017年上海交通大学博士入学测试英语试题回忆阅读理解Passage OneRent control is the system whereby the local government tells building owners how much they can charge their tenants in rent. In the United States, rent controls date back to at least World War II.In 1943 the federal government imposed rent controls to help solve the problem of housing shortages during wartime. The federal program ended after the war, but in some locations, including New York City, controls continued. Under New York's controls, a landlord generally cannot raise rents on apartments as long as the tenants continue to renew their leases. In places such as Santa Monica, California, rent controls are more recent. They were spurred by the inflation of the 1970's, which, combined with California's rapid population growth, pushed housing prices, as well as rents, to record levels. In 1979 Santa Monica's municipal government ordered landlords to roll back their rents to the levels charged in 1978. Future rents could only go up by two-thirds as much as any increase in the overall price level.In any housing market, rental prices perform three functions: (1) promoting the efficient maintenance of existing housing and stimulating the construction of new housing, (2) allocating existing scarce housing among competing claimants, and (3) rationing use of existing housing by potential renters.One result of rent control is a decrease in the construction of new rental units. Rent controls have artificially depressed the most important long-term determinant of profitability —rents. Consider some examples. In a recent year in Dallas, Texas, with a 16 percent rental vacancy rate but no rent control laws, 11,000 new housing units were built. In the same year, in San Francisco, California, only 2,000 units were built. The major difference? San Francisco has only a 1.6 percent vacancy rate but stringent rent control laws. In New York City, except for government-subsidized construction, the only rental units being built are luxury units, which are exempt from controls. In Santa Monica, California, new apartments are not being constructed. New office rental space and commercial developments are, however. They are exempt from rent controls.1. What does the passage mainly discuss?(A) The construction of apartments in the United States.(B) Causes and effects of rent control(C) The fluctuations of rental prices(D) The shortage of affordable housing in the United States.2. Which of the following was NOT a reason for the introduction of rent controls in Santa Monica, California?(A) rapid population growth(B) inflation(C) economic conditions during wartime(D) record-high housing prices3. It can be inferred that the purpose of rent control is to(A) protect tenants(B) promote construction(C) increase vacancy rates(D) decrease sales of rental units10. The word "stringent" in line 23 is closest in meaning to(A) straightforward(B) strict(C) expanded(D) efficient11. According to the passage , which of the following is NOT exempt from rent control?(A) Luxury apartments(B) Commercial development(C) Moderately priced apartments(D) Office space.Passage TwoThere are many theories about the beginning of drama in ancient Greece. The on most widely accepted today is based on the assumption that drama evolved from ritual. The argument for this view goes as follows. In the beginning, human beings viewed the natural forces of the world-even the seasonal changes-as unpredictable, and they sought through various means to control these unknown and feared powers. Those measures which appeared to bring the desired results were then retained and repeated until they hardened into fixed rituals. Eventually stories arose which explained or veiled the mysteries of the rites. As time passed some rituals were abandoned, but the stories, later called myths, persisted and provided material for art and drama.Those who believe that drama evolved out of ritual also argue that those rites contained the seed of theater because music, dance, masks, and costumes were almost always used, Furthermore, a suitable site had to be provided for performances and when the entire community did not participate, a clear division was usually made between the "acting area" and the "auditorium." In addition, there were performers, and, since considerable importance was attached to avoiding mistakes in the enactment of rites, religious leaders usually assumed that task. Wearing masks and costumes, they often impersonated other people, animals, or supernatural beings, and mimed the desired effect-success in hunt or battle, the coming rain, the revival of the Sun-as an actor might. Eventually such dramatic representations were separated from religious activities.Another theory traces the theater's origin from the human interest in storytelling. According to this vies tales (about the hunt, war, or other feats) are gradually elaborated, at first through the use of impersonation, action, and dialogue by a narrator and then through the assumption of each of the roles by a differentperson. A closely related theory traces theater to those dances that are primarily rhythmical and gymnastic or that are imitations of animal movements and sounds.题目回忆：1.文章讲述了几种戏剧的起源2.宗教仪式和戏剧的区别是什么Passage ThreeThere were two widely divergent influences on the early development of statistical methods. Statistics had a mother who was dedicated to keeping orderly records of governmental units (state and statistics come from the same Latin root, status) and a gentlemanly gambling father who relied on mathematics to increase his skill at playing the odds in games of chance. The influence of the mother on the offspring, statistics, is represented by counting, measuring, describing, tabulating, ordering, and the taking of censuses-all of which led to modern descriptive statistics. From the influence of the father came modern inferential statistics, which is based squarely on theories of probability.\;Descriptive statistics involves tabulating, depicting, and describing collections of data. These data may be either quantitative, such as measures of height, intelligence, or grade level-variables that are characterized by an underlying continuum-or the data many represent qualitative variables, such as sex, college major, or personality type. Large masses of data must generally undergo a process of summarization or reducing to comprehensibly form the properties of an otherwise unwieldy mass of data.\;Inferential statistics is a formalized body of methods for solving another class of problems that present great difficulties for the unaided human mind. This general class of problems characteristically involves attempts to make predictions using a sample of observations. For example, a school superintendent wishes to determine the proportion of children in a large school system who come to school without breakfast, have been vaccinated for flu, or whatever. Having a little knowledge of statistics, the superintendent would know that it is unnecessary and inefficiency to question each child; the proportion for the entire district could be estimated fairly accurately from a sample of as few as 100 children. Thus, the purpose of inferential statistics is to predict or estimate characteristics of a population from a knowledge of the characteristics of only a sample of the population.1. Why does the author mention the "mother" and "father" in the first paragraph?(A) To point out that parents can teach their children statistics(B) To introduce inferential statistic(C) To explain that there are different kinds of variables(D) To present the background of statistics in a humorous and understandable way2. According to the passage, what is the purpose of examining a sample of a population?(A) To compare different groups(B) To predict characteristics of the entire population(C) To detect differences not observable in the whole population(D) To compile more accurate data3. According to the passage, what is the purpose of examining a sample of a population?(A) To compare different groups(B) To predict characteristics of the entire population(C) To detect differences not observable in the whole population(D) To compile more accurate dataPassage FourMany of the most damaging and life-threatening types of weather -torrential rains, severe thunderstorm, and tornadoes -begin quickly, strike suddenly, and dissipate rapidly, devastating small regions while leaving neighboring areas untouched. One such event, a tornado, struck the northeastern section of Edmonton, Alberta, in July 1987. Total damages from the tornado exceeded '250 million, the highest ever for any Canadian storm. Conventional computer models of the atmosphere have limited value in predicting short-lived local storms like the Edmonton tornado, because the available weather data are generally not detailed enough to allow computers to discern the subtle atmospheric changes that precede these storms. In most nations, for example, weather-balloon observations are taken just once every twelve hours at locations typically separated by hundreds of miles. With such limited data, conventional forecasting models do a much better job predicting general weather conditions over large regions than they do forecasting specific local events.Until recently, the observation -intensive approach needed for accurate, very short-range forecasts, or "Nowcast", was not feasible. The cost of equipping thousands of conventional weather stations was prohibitively high, and the difficulties involved in rapidly collecting and processing the raw weather data from such a network were insurmountable. Fortunately, scientific and technological advances have overcome most of these problems. Radar systems, automated weather instruments, and satellites are all capable of making detailed, nearly continuous observations over large regions at a relatively low cost. Communications satellites can transmit data around the world cheaply and instantaneously, and modern computers can quickly compile and analyze thislarge volume of weather information. Meteorologists and computer scientists now work together to design computer programs and video equipment capable of transforming raw weather data into words, symbols, and vivid graphic displays that forecasters can interpret easily and quickly. As meteorologists have begun using these new technologies in weather forecasting offices, Nowcasting is becoming a reality.1．The author mentions the tornado in Edmonton, Canada, in order to ______.A. indicate that tornadoes are B. give an example of a damaging stormC. explain different types of weatherD. show that tornadoes occur frequently in Canada2. All the following are mentioned as an advance in short-range weather forecasting EXCEPT ______.A. weather balloonsB. radar systemsC. automated instrumentsD. satellites3. With Nowcasting, it first became possible to provide information about ______.A. short-lived local stormsB. radar networksC. long-range weather forecastsD．general weather conditions4. Nowcasting would be best illustrated by ______.A. a five-day forecastB. a warning about a severe thunder-storm on the radioC. the average rainfall for each monthD. a list of temperatures in major citiesPassage FivePassage Six还有一篇是关于潜水员减压病的，与我的学业背景有关，所以记得的东西不足以查到原文Cloze Two （标红的是要添进去的词）Japan is a nation built entirely on the tips of giant, suboceanic volcanoes. Little of the land is flat and suitable for agriculture. Terraced hillsides make use of every available square foot of arable land. Small homes built very close together further conserve the land. Japan also suffers from natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes. Traditionally homes are made of light construction materials, soa house falling down during a disaster will not crush its occupants and also could be quickly and inexpensively rebuilt. During the feudal period until the Meiji restoration of 1868, each feudal lord sought to restrain his subjects from moving from one village to the next for fear that a neighboring lord might amass enough peasants with which to produce a large agricultural surplus, hire an army and pose a threat. Apparently bridges were not commonly built across rivers and streams until the late nineteenth century, since bridges increased mobility between villages.Taken all together, this characteristic style of living paints the picture of a nation of people who are homogeneous with respect to race, history, language, religion, and culture. For centuries and generations these people have lived in the same village next door to the same neighbors. Living in close proximity and in dwellings which gave very little privacy, the Japanese survived through their capacity to work together in harmony. In this situation, it was inevitable that the one most central social value which emerged, the one value without which the society could not continue, was that an individual does not matter.作文关于marital relations的观点By all means marry, if you get a good wife, you'll be happy, if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher --- Socrates。