2012英语一真题详细解析(转自考试吧跨考：2012年考研英语一答案及解析)
2012年考研英语一真题-答案及详解
2012年考研英语一答案详解Section I Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C orD on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices have become an important issue recently.The court cannot _1_ its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law _2_ justices behave likereputation for politicians. Yet, in several instances, justices acted in ways that _3_ the court’sbeing independent and impartial.Justice Antonin Scalia, for example, appeared at political events. That kind of activity makes itless likely that the court’s decisions will be _4_ as impartial judgments. Part of the problem is that the justices are not _5_by an ethics code. At the very least, the court should make itself _6_to thecode of conduct that _7_to the rest of the federal judiciary.This and other similar cases _8_the question of whether there is still a _9_between the court andpolitics.The framers of the Constitution envisioned law _10_having authority apart from politics. Theygave justices permanent positions _11_they would be free to _12_ those in power and have noneed to _13_ political support. Our legal system was designed to set law apart from politicsprecisely because they are so closely _14_.Constitutional law is political because it results from choices rooted in fundamental social _15_like liberty and property. When the court deals with social policy decisions, the law it _16_ is inescapably political-which is why decisions split along ideological lines are so easily _17_ asunjust.The justices must _18_ doubts about the court’s legitimacy by making themselves _19_ to the code of conduct. That would make rulings more likely to be seen as separate from politics and,_20_, convincing as law.1. [A]emphasize [B]maintain [C]modify [D] recognize2. [A]when [B]lest [C]before [D] unless3. [A]restored [B]weakened [C]established [D] eliminated4. [A]challenged [B]compromised [C]suspected [D] accepted5. [A]advanced [B]caught [C]bound [D]founded6. [A]resistant [B]subject [C]immune [D]prone7. [A]resorts [B]sticks [C]loads [D]applies8. [A]evade [B]raise [C]deny [D]settle9. [A]line [B]barrier [C]similarity [D]conflict10. [A]by [B]as [C]though [D]towards11. [A]so [B]since [C]provided [D]though12. [A]serve [B]satisfy [C]upset [D]replace13. [A]confirm [B]express [C]cultivate [D]offer14. [A]guarded [B]followed [C]studied [D]tied15. [A]concepts [B]theories [C]divisions [D]conceptions16. [A]excludes [B]questions [C]shapes [D]controls17. [A]dismissed [B]released [C]ranked [D]distorted18. [A]suppress [B]exploit [C]address [D]ignore19. [A]accessible [B]amiable [C]agreeable [D]accountable20. [A]by all mesns [B]atall costs [C]in a word [D]as a resultSection II Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D.Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)Text 1doing it. That whispered message, half invitation and half forcing, is Come on –Everybody’swhat most of us think of when we hear the words peer pressure. It usually leads to no good-drinking, drugs and casual sex. But in her new book Join the Club, Tina Rosenberg contendsthat peer pressure can also be a positive force through what she calls the social cure, in which organizations and officials use the power of group dynamics to help individuals improve their lives and possibly the word.Rosenberg, the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, offers a host of example of the social cure in action:In South Carolina, a state-sponsored antismoking program called Rage Against the Haze sets outto make cigarettes uncool. In South Africa, an HIV-prevention initiative known as LoveLife recruits young people to promote safe sex among their peers.The idea seems promising，and Rosenberg is a perceptive observer. Her critique of the lamenessof many pubic-health campaigns is spot-on: they fail to mobilize peer pressure for healthy habits,Dare to be different, and they demonstrate a seriously flawed understanding of psychology.” please don’t smoke!” p leads one billboard campaign aimed at reducing smoking among teenagers-teenagers, who desire nothing more than fitting in. Rosenberg argues convincingly that public-health advocates ought to take a page from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer pressure.But on the general effectiveness of the social cure, Rosenberg is less persuasive. Join the Club is filled with too much irrelevant detail and not enough exploration of the social and biological factors that make peer pressure so powerful. The most glaring flaw of the social cure as it’sHaze failed once presented here is that it doesn’t work very well for very long. Rage Against thestate funding was cut. Evidence that the LoveLife program produces lasting changes is limited and mixed.There’s no doubt that our peer groups exert enormous influence on our behavior. An emerging body of research shows that positive health habits-as well as negative ones-spread through networks of friends via social communication. This is a subtle form of peer pressure: we unconsciously imitate the behavior we see every day.Far less certain, however, is how successfully experts and bureaucrats can select our peerlike the teacher who breaks up the groups and steer their activities in virtuous directions. It’stroublemakers in the back row by pairing them with better-behaved classmates. The tactic neverlem with a social cure engineered from the outside: in the real really works. And that’s the probworld, as in school, we insist on choosing our own friends.21. According to the first paragraph, peer pressure often emerges as[A] a supplement to the social cure[B] a stimulus to group dynamics[C] an obstacle to school progress[D] a cause of undesirable behaviors22. Rosenberg holds that public advocates should[A] recruit professional advertisers[B] learn from advertisers’ experience[C] stay away from commercial advertisers[D] recognize the limitations of advertisements23. In the author’s view, Rosenberg’s book fails to[A] adequately probe social and biological factors[B] effectively evade the flaws of the social cure[C] illustrate the functions of state funding[D]produce a long-lasting social effect24. Paragraph 5shows that our imitation of behaviors[A] is harmful to our networks of friends[B] will mislead behavioral studies[C] occurs without our realizing it[D] can produce negative health habits25. The author suggests in the last paragraph that the effect of peer pressure is[A] harmful[B] desirable[C] profound[D] questionableText 2A deal is a deal-except, apparently ,when Entergy is involved. The company, a major energysupplier in New England, provoked justified outrage in Vermont last week when it announced itwas reneging on a longstanding commitment to abide by the strict nuclear regulations.Instead, the company has done precisely what it had long promised it would not challenge theconstitutionality of Vermont’s rules in the federal court, as part of a desperate effort to keep itsVermont Yankee nuclear power plant running. It’s a stunning move.The conflict has been surfacing since 2002, when the corporatio n bought Vermont’s onlynuclear power plant, an aging reactor in Vernon. As a condition of receiving state approval for thesale, the company agreed to seek permission from state regulators to operate past 2012. In 2006,the state went a step further, requiring that any extension of the plant’slicense be subject toVermont legislature’s approval. Then, too, the company went along.Either Entergy never really intended to live by those commitments, or it simply didn’t fo what would happen next. A string of accidents, including the partial collapse of a cooling tower in207 and the discovery of an underground pipe system leakage, raised serious questions about bothmanagement–especially after the company madeVermont Yankee’s safety and Entergy’smisle ading statements about the pipe. Enraged by Entergy’s behavior, the Vermont Senate voted26 to 4 last year against allowing an extension.Now the company is suddenly claiming that the 2002 agreement is invalid because of the 2006legislation, and that only the federal government has regulatory power over nuclear issues. Thelegal issues in the case are obscure: whereas the Supreme Court has ruled that states do have someregulatory authority over nuclear power, legal scholars say that Vermont case will offer aprecedent-setting test of how far those powers extend. Certainly, there are valid concerns about thepatchwork regulations that could result if every state sets its own rules. But had Entergy kept itsword, that debate would be beside the point.The company seems to have concluded that its reputation in Vermont is already so damaged thatit has noting left to lose by going to war with the state. But there should be consequences.Permission to run a nuclear plant is a poblic trust. Entergy runs 11 other reactors in the UnitedStates, including Pilgrim Nuclear station in Plymouth. Pledging to run Pilgrim safely, the companyhas applied for federal permission to keep it open for another 20 years. But as the NuclearRegulatory Commission (NRC) reviews th e company’s application, it should keep it mind whatpromises from Entergy are worth.26. The phrase “reneging on”(Line 3.para.1) is closest in meaning to[A] condemning.[B] reaffirming.[C] dishonoring.[D] securing.27. By entering into the 2002 agreement, Entergy intended to[A] obtain protection from Vermont regulators.[B] seek favor from the federal legislature.[C] acquire an extension of its business license .[D] get permission to purchase a power plant.28. According to Paragraph 4, Entergy seems to have problems with its[A] managerial practices.[B] technical innovativeness.[C] financial goals.[D] business vision29. In the author’s view, the Vermont case will testmises.[A] Entergy’s capacity to fulfill all its pro[B] the mature of states’ patchwork regulations.[C] the federal authority over nuclear issues .[D] the limits of states’ power over nuclear issues.30. It can be inferred from the last paragraph thatt be affected.[A] Entergy’s business elsewhere migh[B] the authority of the NRC will be defied.[C] Entergy will withdraw its Plymouth application.[D] Vermont’s reputation might be damaged.Text 3In the idealized version of how science is done, facts about the world are waiting to be observedand collected by objective researchers who use the scientific method to carry out their work. Butin the everyday practice of science, discovery frequently follows an ambiguous and complicatedroute. We aim to be objective, but we cannot escape the context of our unique life experience.Prior knowledge and interest influence what we experience, what we think our experiences mean,and the subsequent actions we take. Opportunities for misinterpretation, error, and self-deceptionabound.Consequently, discovery claims should be thought of as protoscience. Similar to newly stakedmining claims, they are full of potential. But it takes collective scrutiny and acceptance totransform a discovery claim into a mature discovery. This is the credibility process, through whichthe individual researcher’s me, here, now becomes the community’s anyone, anywhere, anytime. Objective knowledge is the goal, not the starting point.Once a discovery claim becomes public, the discoverer receives intellectual credit. But, unlikewith mining claims, the community takes control of what happens next. Within the complex socialstructure of the scientific community, researchers make discoveries; editors and reviewers act asgatekeepers by controlling the publication process; other scientists use the new finding to suit theirown purposes; and finally, the public (including other scientists) receives the new discovery andpossibly accompanying technology. As a discovery claim works it through the community, theinteraction and confrontation between shared and competing beliefs about the science and thediscovery claim into the community’s credibletechnology involved transforms an individual’sdiscovery.Two paradoxes exist throughout this credibility process. First, scientific work tends to focus onsome aspect of prevailing Knowledge that is viewed as incomplete or incorrect. Little rewardaccompanies duplication and confirmation of what is already known and believed. The goal isnew-search, not re-search. Not surprisingly, newly published discovery claims and crediblediscoveries that appear to be important and convincing will always be open to challenge andpotential modification or refutation by future researchers. Second, novelty itself frequentlyprovokes disbelief. Nobel Laureate and physiologist Albert Azent-Gyorgyi once describedButdiscovery as “seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.” thinking what nobody else has thought and telling others what they have missed may not changetheir views. Sometimes years are required for truly novel discovery claims to be accepted andappreciated.to a discovery claim –a process that corresponds to what In the end, credibility “happens” philosopher Annette Baier has described as the commons of the mind. “We reason together,challenge, revise, and complete each other’s reasoning and each other’s conceptions of reason31. According to the first paragraph, the process of discovery is characterized by its[A] uncertainty and complexity.[B] misconception and deceptiveness.[C] logicality and objectivity.[D] systematicness and regularity.32. It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that credibility process requires[A] strict inspection.[B]shared efforts.[C] individual wisdom.[D]persistent innovation.33.Paragraph 3 shows that a discovery claim becomes credible after it[A] has attracted the attention of the general public.[B]has been examined by the scientific community.[C] has received recognition from editors and reviewers.[D]has been frequently quoted by peer scientists.34. Albert Szent-Gy?rgyi would most likely agree that[A] scientific claims will survive challenges.[B]discoveries today inspire future research.[C] efforts to make discoveries are justified.[D]scientific work calls for a critical mind.35.Which of the following would be the best title of the test?[A] Novelty as an Engine of Scientific Development.[B]Collective Scrutiny in Scientific Discovery.[C] Evolution of Credibility in Doing Science.[D]Challenge to Credibility at the Gate to Science.Text 4If the trade unionist Jimmy Hoffa were alive today, he would probably represent civil servant.Teamsters were in their prime in 1960, only one in ten American governmentWhen Hoffa’sworkers belonged to a union; now 36% do. In 2009 the number of unionists in America’s publ sector passed that of their fellow members in the private sector. In Britain, more than half ofpublic-sector workers but only about 15% of private-sector ones are unionized.There are three reasons for the public-sector unions’ thriving. First, they can shut things downwithout suffering much in the way of consequences. Second, they are mostly bright andwell-educated. A quarter of America’s public-sector workers have a university degree. Third, theynow dominate left-of-centre politics. Some of their ties go back a long way. Britain’s Labor Pa as its name implies, has long been associated with trade unionism. Its current leader, Ed Miliband,owes his position to votes from public-sector unions.At the state level their influence can be even more fearsome. Mark Baldassare of the PublicPolicy Institute of California points out that much of the state’s budget is patrolled by unions. T eep an eye on schools, the CCPOA on prisons and a variety of labor groups onteachers’ unions khealth care.In many rich countries average wages in the state sector are higher than in the private one. Butthe real gains come in benefits and work practices. Politicians have repeatedly “backloaded” public-sector pay deals, keeping the pay increases modest but adding to holidays and especiallypensions that are already generous.Reform has been vigorously opposed, perhaps most egregiously in education, where charterschools, academies and merit pay all faced drawn-out battles. Even though there is plenty ofevidence that the quality of the teachers is the most important variable, teachers’ unions havefought against getting rid of bad ones and promoting good ones.As the cost to everyone else has become clearer, politicians have begun to clamp down. InWisconsin the unions have rallied thousands of supporters against Scott Walker, the hardlineRepublican governor. But many within the public sector suffer under the current system, too.Kennedy School points out that the norms of culture in Western John Donahue at Harvard’scivil services suit those who want to stay put but is bad for high achievers. The only Americanpublic-sector workers who earn well above $250,000 a year are university sports coaches and thepresident of the United States. Bankers’ fat pay packets have attracted much criticism, but a public-sector system that does not reward high achievers may be a much bigger problem for America.36. It can be learned from the first paragraph that[A] Teamsters still have a large body of members.[B] Jimmy Hoffa used to work as a civil servant.[C] unions have enlarged their public-sector membership.[D]the government has improved its relationship with unionists.37. Which of the following is true of Paragraph 2?[A] Public-sector unions are prudent in taking actions.[B] Education is required for public-sector union membership.[C] Labor Party has long been fighting against public-sector unions.[D]Public-sector unions seldom get in trouble for their actions.38. It can be learned from Paragraph 4 that the income in the state sector is[A] illegally secured.[B] indirectly augmented.[C] excessively increased.[D]fairly adjusted.39. The example of the unions in Wisconsin shows that unions[A]often run against the current political system.[B]can change people’s political attitudes.[C]may be a barrier to public-sector reforms.[D]are dominant in the government.ttitude towards the public-sector system is one of40. John Donahue’s a[A]disapproval.[B]appreciation.[C]tolerance.[D]indifference.Part BDirections:In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list A-G to fit into each of the numbered blanks. There are two extra choices, which do not fit in any of the blanks. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET1.(10 points)Think of those fleeting moments when you look out of an aeroplane window and realise thatyou are flying, higher than a bird. Now think of your laptop, thinner than a brown-paper envelope,or your cellphone in the palm of your hand. Take a moment or two to wonder at those marvels.You are the lucky inheritor of a dream come true.The second half of the 20th century saw a collection of geniuses, warriors, entrepreneurs and visionaries labour to create a fabulous machine that could function as a typewriter and printing press, studio and theatre, paintbrush and gallery, piano and radio, the mail as well as the mail carrier. (41)The networked computer is an amazing device, the first media machine that serves as the mode of production, means of distribution, site of reception, and place of praise and critique. The computer is the 21st century's culture machine.But for all the reasons there are to celebrate the computer, we must also tread with caution.(42)I call it a secret war for two reasons. First, most people do not realise that there are strong commercial agendas at work to keep them in passive consumption mode. Second, the majority of people who use networked computers to upload are not even aware of the significance of whatthey are doing.All animals download, but only a few upload. Beavers build dams and birds make nests. Yet for the most part, the animal kingdom moves through the world downloading. Humans are unique in their capacity to not only make tools but then turn around and use them to create superfluous material goods - paintings, sculpture and architecture - and superfluous experiences - music, literature, religion and philosophy. (43)For all the possibilities of our new culture machines, most people are still stuck in download mode. Even after the advent of widespread social media, a pyramid of production remains, with a small number of people uploading material, a slightly larger group commenting on or modifyingthat content, and a huge percentage remaining content to just consume. (44)Television is a one-way tap flowing into our homes. The hardest task that television asks of anyone is to turn the power off after he has turned it on.(45)What counts as meaningful uploading? My definition revolves around the concept of "stickiness" - creations and experiences to which others adhere.[A] Of course, it is precisely these superfluous things that define human culture and ultimately what it is to be human. Downloading and consuming culture requires great skills, but failing tomove beyond downloading is to strip oneself of a defining constituent of humanity.[B] Applications like , which allow users to combine pictures, words and other media in creative ways and then share them, have the potential to add stickiness by amusing, entertaining and enlightening others.[C] Not only did they develop such a device but by the turn of the millennium they had also managed to embed it in a worldwide system accessed by billions of people every day.[D] This is because the networked computer has sparked a secret war between downloading and uploading - between passive consumption and active creation - whose outcome will shape ourcollective future in ways we can only begin to imagine.[E] The challenge the computer mounts to television thus bears little similarity to one formatbeing replaced by another in the manner of record players being replaced by CD players.[F] One reason for the persistence of this pyramid of production is that for the past half-century,much of the world's media culture has been defined by a single medium - television - andtelevision is defined by downloading.[G]The networked computer offers the first chance in 50 years to reverse the flow, to encouragethoughtful downloading and, even more importantly, meaningful uploading.Part CDirections:Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Yourtranslation should be written clearly on ANSWER SHEET 2. (10 points)Since the days of Aristotle, a search for universal principles has characterized the scientificenterprise. In some ways, t his quest for commonalities defines science. Newton’s laws of motion and Darwinian evolution each bind a host of different phenomena into a single explicatory frame work.(46)In physics, one approach takes this impulse for unification to its extreme, and seeks a theoryof everything—a single generative equation for all we see.It is becoming less clear, however, thatsuch a theory would be a simplification, given the dimensions and universes that it might entail,nonetheless, unification of sorts remains a major goal.This tendency in the natural sciences has long been evident in the social sciences too. (47)Here,Darwinism seems to offer justification for it all humans share common origins it seems reasonable tosuppose that cultural diversity could also be traced to more constrained beginnings. Just as thebewildering variety of human courtship rituals might all be considered forms of sexual selection,perhaps the world’s languages, music, social and religious customs and even history are governed byuniversal features. (48)To filter out what is unique from what is shared might enable us to understandhow complex cultural behavior arose and what guides it in evolutionary or cognitive terms.That, at least, is the hope. But a comparative study of linguistic traits published online todaysupplies a reality check. Russell Gray at the University of Auckland and his colleagues consider theevolution of grammars in the light of two previous attempts to find universality in language.The most famous of these efforts was initiated by Noam Chomsky, who suggested that humans areborn with an innate language—acquisition capacity that dictates a universal grammar. A fewgenerative rules are then sufficient to unfold the entire fundamental structure of a language, which iswhy children can learn it so quickly.(49)The second, by Joshua Greenberg, takes a more empirical approach to universality identifyingtraits (particularly in word order) shared by many language which are considered to represent biasesthat result from cognitive constraintsGray and his colleagues have put them to the test by examining four family trees that betweenthem represent more than 2,000 languages.(50)Chomsky’s grammar should show patterns oflanguage change that are independent of the family tree or the pathway tracked through it. WhereasGreenbergian universality predicts strong co-dependencies between particular types of word-orderrelations. Neither of these patterns is borne out by the analysis, suggesting that the structures of thelanguages are lire age-specific and not governed by universals[NxtPage]Section III WritingPart A51. Directions:Some internationals students are coming to your university. Write them an email in the name of the Students’ Union to1) extend your welcome and2) provide some suggestions for their campus life here.You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET2.Do not sign your name at the end of the letter. Use “Li Ming” instead.Do not write the address(10 points)Part B52. Directions: write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following drawing. In your essay you should1) describe the drawing briefly2) explain its intended meaning, and3) give your commentsYou should write neatly on ANSWER SHEET2.(20 points)Section Ⅰ Use of English2012年的完型填空是有关美国司法官伦理和政治关系的一篇文章，出自New York Times,一文。
2012年考研英语一真题原文及答案解析完整版
无线传感器网络中基于多目标优化的路由协议研究基于多目标优化的路由协议是无线传感器网络中一种增强网络性能的方法。
在实践中，常常需要同时考虑多种不同的目标，如最小化能耗、最大化网络生存时间、最小化延迟等。
传统的单一目标优化方法很难满足这些多重目标。
因此，基于多目标优化的路由协议应运而生。
本文将探讨无线传感器网络中基于多目标优化的路由协议研究。
一、无线传感器网络无线传感器网络，简称WSN，是一种由许多小型、低功耗、廉价的传感器节点组成的网络。
每个节点能够采集、处理和传输一定范围内的信息。
这些节点通过无线通信协议相互连接，形成一个网络。
WSN广泛应用于环境监测、智能交通、医疗保健等领域。
WSN网络的功耗和存活时间是网络设计的两个关键问题。
由于节点往往是由电池供电，因此功耗是必须考虑的问题。
另一方面，存活时间是指网络中所有节点的工作时间，这对于WSN的长期稳定运行有很大影响。
由于WSN数据包的频繁传输，节点功耗很高。
因此，WSN网络需要路由协议来优化能源消耗并延长网络寿命。
目前已经有很多路由协议被提出，但是由于路由过程中决策所受到的影响因素很多，从而使得单一目标优化方法很难处理这些复杂的问题。
于是，基于多目标优化的路由协议被提出了。
二、基于多目标优化的路由协议研究多目标优化通常需要考虑网络的多个性能目标。
流行的多目标优化路由协议是AntNet、MOEA-DA、NSGA-II等。
1. AntNetAntNet 是由Dorigo等人提出的一种蚂蚁算法路由协议。
该协议通过在网络中放置假设的蚂蚁，并且蚂蚁沿着最短路线进行移动，以优化路由表和网络拓扑结构。
通过反响信息素的概念，蚂蚁的路径会不断调整以适应当前网络环境的变化。
AntNet协议不仅考虑了两个主要目标（最小化网络延迟和最小化节点花费），而且蚂蚁算法已经被证明要比其他算法更好地适应动态网络环境。
因此，AntNet路由协议在WSN中是一种十分有效的基于多目标优化的路由协议。
2012考研英语一真题及答案解析(完整版)
2012年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices have become an important issue recently. The court cannot _1_ its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law _2_ justices behave like politicians. Yet, in several instances, justices acted in ways that _3_ the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial.Justice Antonin Scalia, for example, appeared at political events. That kind of activity makes it less likely that the court’s decisions will be _4_ as impartial judgments. Part of the problem is that the justices are not _5_by an ethics code. At the very least, the court should make itself _6_to the code of conduct that _7_to the rest of the federal judiciary.This and other similar cases _8_the question of whether there is still a _9_between the court and politics.The framers of the Constitution envisioned law _10_having authority apart from politics. They gave justices permanent positions _11_they would be free to _12_ those in power and have no need to _13_ political support. Our legal system was designed to set law apart from politics precisely because they are so closely _14_.Constitutional law is political because it results from choices rooted in fundamental social _15_ like liberty and property. When the court deals with social policy decisions, the law it _16_ is inescapably political-which is why decisions split along ideological lines are so easily _17_ as unjust.The justices must _18_ doubts about the court’s legitimacy by making themselves _19_ to the code of conduct. That would make rulings more likely to be seen as separate from politics and, _20_, convincing as law.1. [A]emphasize [B]maintain [C]modify [D] recognize2. [A]when [B]lest [C]before [D] unless3. [A]restored [B]weakened [C]established [D] eliminated4. [A]challenged [B]compromised [C]suspected [D] accepted5. [A]advanced [B]caught [C]bound [D]founded6. [A]resistant [B]subject [C]immune [D]prone7. [A]resorts [B]sticks [C]loads [D]applies8. [A]evade [B]raise [C]deny [D]settle9. [A]line [B]barrier [C]similarity [D]conflict10. [A]by [B]as [C]though [D]towards11. [A]so [B]since [C]provided [D]though12. [A]serve [B]satisfy [C]upset [D]replace13. [A]confirm [B]express [C]cultivate [D]offer14. [A]guarded [B]followed [C]studied [D]tied15. [A]concepts [B]theories [C]divisions [D]conceptions16. [A]excludes [B]questions [C]shapes [D]controls17. [A]dismissed [B]released [C]ranked [D]distorted18. [A]suppress [B]exploit [C]address [D]ignore19. [A]accessible [B]amiable [C]agreeable [D]accountable20. [A]by all mesns [B]atall costs [C]in a word [D]as a resultCome on –Everybody’s doing it. That whispered message, half invitation and half forcing, is what most of us think of when we hear the words peer pressure. It usually leads to no good-drinking, drugs and casual sex. But in her new book Join the Club, Tina Rosenberg contends that peer pressure can also be a positive force through what she calls the social cure, in which organizations and officials use the power of group dynamics to help individuals improve their lives and possibly the word.Rosenberg, the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, offers a host of example of the social cure in action: In South Carolina, a state-sponsored antismoking program called Rage Against the Haze sets out to make cigarettes uncool. In South Africa, an HIV-prevention initiative known as LoveLife recruits young people to promote safe sex among their peers.The idea seems promising，and Rosenberg is a perceptive observer. Her critique of the lameness of many pubic-health campaigns is spot-on: they fail to mobilize peer pressure for healthy habits, and they demonstrate a seriously flawed understanding of psychology.”Dare to be different, please don’t smoke!”pleads one billboard campaign aimed at reducing smoking among teenagers-teenagers, who desire nothing more than fitting in. Rosenberg argues convincingly that public-health advocates ought to take a page from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer pressure. But on the general effectiveness of the social cure, Rosenberg is less persuasive. Join the Club is filled with too much irrelevant detail and not enough exploration of the social and biological factors that make peer pressure so powerful. The most glaring flaw of the social cure as it’s presented here is that it doesn’t work very well for very long. Rage Against the Haze failed once state funding was cut. Evidence that the LoveLife program produces lasting changes is limited and mixed.There’s no doubt that our peer groups exert enormous influence on our behavior. An emerging body of research shows that positive health habits-as well as negative ones-spread through networks of friends via social communication. This is a subtle form of peer pressure: we unconsciously imitate the behavior we see every day.Far less certain, however, is how successfully experts and bureaucrats can select our peer groups and steer their activities in virtuous directions. It’s like the teacher who breaks up the troublemakers in the back row by pairing them with better-behaved classmates. The tactic never really works. And that’s the problem with a social cure engineered from the outside: in the real world, as in school, we insist on choosing our own friends.21. According to the first paragraph, peer pressure often emerges as[A] a supplement to the social cure[B] a stimulus to group dynamics[C] an obstacle to school progress[D] a cause of undesirable behaviors22. Rosenberg holds that public advocates should[A] recruit professional advertisers[B] learn from advertisers’experience[C] stay away from commercial advertisers[D] recognize the limitations of advertisements23. In the author’s view, Rosenberg’s book fails to[A] adequately probe social and biological factors[B] effectively evade the flaws of the social cure[C] illustrate the functions of state funding[D]produce a long-lasting social effect24. Paragraph 5shows that our imitation of behaviors[A] is harmful to our networks of friends[B] will mislead behavioral studies[C] occurs without our realizing it[D] can produce negative health habits25. The author suggests in the last paragraph that the effect of peer pressure is[A] harmful[B] desirable[C] profound[D] questionableA deal is a deal-except, apparently ,when Entergy is involved. The company, a major energy supplier in New England, provoked justified outrage in Vermont last week when it announced it was reneging on a longstanding commitment to abide by the strict nuclear regulations. Instead, the company has done precisely what it had long promised it would not challenge the constitutionality of Vermont’s rules in the federal court, as part of a desperate effort to keep its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant running. It’s a stunning move.The conflict has been surfacing since 2002, when the corporation bought V ermont’s only nuclear power plant, an aging reactor in Vernon. As a condition of receiving state approval for the sale, the company agreed to seek permission from state regulators to operate past 2012. In 2006, the state went a step further, requiring that any extension of the plant’s license be subject to Vermont legislature’s approval. Then, too, the company went along.Either Entergy never really intended to live by those commitments, or it simply didn’t foresee what would happen next. A string of accidents, including the partial collapse of a cooling tower in 207 and the discovery of an underground pipe system leakage, raised serious questions about both Vermont Yankee’s safety and Entergy’s management–especially after the company made misleading statements about the pipe. Enraged by Entergy’s behavior, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 last year against allowing an extension.Now the company is suddenly claiming that the 2002 agreement is invalid because of the 2006 legislation, and that only the federal government has regulatory power over nuclear issues. The legal issues in the case are obscure: whereas the Supreme Court has ruled that states do have some regulatory authority over nuclear power, legal scholars say that Vermont case will offer a precedent-setting test of how far those powers extend. Certainly, there are valid concerns about the patchwork regulations that could result if every state sets its own rules. But had Entergy kept its word, that debate would be beside the point.The company seems to have concluded that its reputation in Vermont is already so damaged that it has noting left to lose by going to war with the state. But there should be consequences.Permission to run a nuclear plant is a poblic trust. Entergy runs 11 other reactors in the United States, including Pilgrim Nuclear station in Plymouth. Pledging to run Pilgrim safely, the company has applied for federal permission to keep it open for another 20 years. But as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviews the company’s application, it should keep it mind what promises from Entergy are worth.26. The phrase “reneging on”(Line 3.para.1) is closest in meaning to[A] condemning.[B] reaffirming.[C] dishonoring.[D] securing.27. By entering into the 2002 agreement, Entergy intended to[A] obtain protection from V ermont regulators.[B] seek favor from the federal legislature.[C] acquire an extension of its business license .[D] get permission to purchase a power plant.28. According to Paragraph 4, Entergy seems to have problems with its[A] managerial practices. [B] technical innovativeness.[C] financial goals. [D] business vision29. In the author’s view, the Vermont case will test[A] Entergy’s capacity to fulfill all its promises.[B] the mature of states’patchwork regulations.[C] the federal authority over nuclear issues .[D] the limits of states’power over nuclear issues.30. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that[A] Entergy’s business elsewhere might be affected.[B] the authority of the NRC will be defied.[C] Entergy will withdraw its Plymouth application.[D] Vermont’s reputation might be damaged.In the idealized version of how science is done, facts about the world are waiting to be observed and collected by objective researchers who use the scientific method to carry out their work. But in the everyday practice of science, discovery frequently follows an ambiguous and complicated route. We aim to be objective, but we cannot escape the context of our unique life experience. Prior knowledge and interest influence what we experience, what we think our experiences mean, and the subsequent actions we take. Opportunities for misinterpretation, error, and self-deception abound.Consequently, discovery claims should be thought of as protoscience. Similar to newly staked mining claims, they are full of potential. But it takes collective scrutiny and acceptance to transform a discovery claim into a mature discovery. This is the credibility process, through which the individual researcher’s me, here, now becomes the community’s anyone, anywhere, anytime. Objective knowledge is the goal, not the starting point.Once a discovery claim becomes public, the discoverer receives intellectual credit. But, unlike with mining claims, the community takes control of what happens next. Within the complex social structure of the scientific community, researchers make discoveries; editors and reviewers act as gatekeepers by controlling the publication process; other scientists use the new finding to suit their own purposes; and finally, the public (including other scientists) receives the new discovery and possibly accompanying technology. As a discovery claim works it through the community, the interaction and confrontation between shared and competing beliefs about the science and the technology involved transforms an individual’s discovery claim into the community’s credible discovery.Two paradoxes exist throughout this credibility process. First, scientific work tends to focus on some aspect of prevailing Knowledge that is viewed as incomplete or incorrect. Little reward accompanies duplication and confirmation of what is already known and believed. The goal is new-search, not re-search. Not surprisingly, newly published discovery claims and credible discoveries that appear to be important and convincing will always be open to challenge and potential modification or refutation by future researchers. Second, novelty itself frequently provokes disbelief. Nobel Laureate and physiologist Albert Azent-Gyorgyi once described discovery as “seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.”But thinking what nobody else has thought and telling others what they have missed may not change their views. Sometimes years are required for truly novel discovery claims to be accepted and appreciated.In the end, credibility “happens”to a discovery claim –a process that corresponds to what philosopher Annette Baier has described as the commons of the mind. “We reason together, challenge, revise, and complete each other’s reasoning and each other’s conceptions of reason.”31. According to the first paragraph, the process of discovery is characterized by its[A] uncertainty and complexity.[B] misconception and deceptiveness.[C] logicality and objectivity.[D] systematicness and regularity.32. It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that credibility process requires[A] strict inspection. [B]shared efforts.[C] individual wisdom. [D]persistent innovation.33.Paragraph 3 shows that a discovery claim becomes credible after it[A] has attracted the attention of the general public.[B]has been examined by the scientific community.[C] has received recognition from editors and reviewers.[D]has been frequently quoted by peer scientists.34. Albert Szent-Györgyi would most likely agree that[A] scientific claims will survive challenges.[B]discoveries today inspire future research.[C] efforts to make discoveries are justified.[D]scientific work calls for a critical mind.35.Which of the following would be the best title of the test?[A] Novelty as an Engine of Scientific Development.[B]Collective Scrutiny in Scientific Discovery.[C] Evolution of Credibility in Doing Science.[D]Challenge to Credibility at the Gate to Science.If the trade unionist Jimmy Hoffa were alive today, he would probably represent civil servant. When Hoffa’s Teamsters were in their prime in 1960, only one in ten American government workers belonged to a union; now 36% do. In 2009 the number of unionists in America’s public sector passed that of their fellow members in the private sector. In Britain, more than half of public-sector workers but only about 15% of private-sector ones are unionized.There are three reasons for the public-sector unions’thriving. First, they can shut things down without suffering much in the way of consequences. Second, they are mostly bright and well-educated. A quarter of America’s public-sector workers have a university degree. Third, they now dominate left-of-centre politics. Some of their ties go back a long way. Britain’s Labor Party, as its name implies, has long been associated with trade unionism. Its current leader, Ed Miliband, owes his position to votes from public-sector unions.At the state level their influence can be even more fearsome. Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of California points out that much of the state’s budget is patrolled by unions. The teachers’unions keep an eye on schools, the CCPOA on prisons and a variety of labor groups on health care.In many rich countries average wages in the state sector are higher than in the private one. But the real gains come in benefits and work practices. Politicians have repeatedly “backloaded”public-sector pay deals, keeping the pay increases modest but adding to holidays and especially pensions that are already generous.Reform has been vigorously opposed, perhaps most egregiously in education, where charter schools, academies and merit pay all faced drawn-out battles. Even though there is plenty of evidence that the quality of the teachers is the most important variable, teachers’unions have fought against getting rid of bad ones and promoting good ones.As the cost to everyone else has become clearer, politicians have begun to clamp down. In Wisconsin the unions have rallied thousands of supporters against Scott Walker, the hardline Republican governor. But many within the public sector suffer under the current system, too. John Donahue at Harvard’s Kennedy School points out that the norms of culture in Western civil services suit those who want to stay put but is bad for high achievers. The only American public-sector workers who earn well above $250,000 a year are university sports coaches and the president of the United States. Bankers’fat pay packets have attracted much criticism, but a public-sector system that does not reward high achievers may be a much bigger problem for America.36. It can be learned from the first paragraph that[A] Teamsters still have a large body of members.[B] Jimmy Hoffa used to work as a civil servant.[C] unions have enlarged their public-sector membership.[D]the government has improved its relationship with unionists.37. Which of the following is true of Paragraph 2?[A] Public-sector unions are prudent in taking actions.[B] Education is required for public-sector union membership.[C] Labor Party has long been fighting against public-sector unions.[D]Public-sector unions seldom get in trouble for their actions.38. It can be learned from Paragraph 4 that the income in the state sector is[A] illegally secured. [B] indirectly augmented.[C] excessively increased. [D]fairly adjusted.39. The example of the unions in Wisconsin shows that unions[A]often run against the current political system.[B]can change people’s political attitudes.[C]may be a barrier to public-sector reforms.[D]are dominant in the government.40. John Donahue’s attitude towards the public-sector system is one of[A]disapproval.[B]appreciation.[C]tolerance.[D]indifference.Think of those fleeting moments when you look out of an aeroplane window and realise that you are flying, higher than a bird. Now think of your laptop, thinner than a brown-paper envelope, or your cellphone in the palm of your hand. Take a moment or two to wonder at those marvels. You are the lucky inheritor of a dream come true.The second half of the 20th century saw a collection of geniuses, warriors, entrepreneurs and visionaries labour to create a fabulous machine that could function as a typewriter and printing press, studio and theatre, paintbrush and gallery, piano and radio, the mail as well as the mail carrier. (41)The networked computer is an amazing device, the first media machine that serves as the mode of production, means of distribution, site of reception, and place of praise and critique. The computer is the 21st century's culture machine.But for all the reasons there are to celebrate the computer, we must also tread with caution. (42)I call it a secret war for two reasons. First, most people do not realise that there are strong commercial agendas at work to keep them in passive consumption mode. Second, the majority of people who use networked computers to upload are not even aware of the significance of what they are doing.All animals download, but only a few upload. Beavers build dams and birds make nests. Yet for the most part, the animal kingdom moves through the world downloading. Humans are unique in their capacity to not only make tools but then turn around and use them to create superfluous material goods - paintings, sculpture and architecture - and superfluous experiences - music, literature, religion and philosophy. (43)For all the possibilities of our new culture machines, most people are still stuck in download mode. Even after the advent of widespread social media, a pyramid of production remains, with a small number of people uploading material, a slightly larger group commenting on or modifying that content, and a huge percentage remaining content to just consume. (44)Television is a one-way tap flowing into our homes. The hardest task that television asks ofanyone is to turn the power off after he has turned it on.(45)What counts as meaningful uploading? My definition revolves around the concept of "stickiness" - creations and experiences to which others adhere.[A] Of course, it is precisely these superfluous things that define human culture and ultimately what it is to be human. Downloading and consuming culture requires great skills, but failing to move beyond downloading is to strip oneself of a defining constituent of humanity.[B] Applications like , which allow users to combine pictures, words and other media in creative ways and then share them, have the potential to add stickiness by amusing, entertaining and enlightening others.[C] Not only did they develop such a device but by the turn of the millennium they had also managed to embed it in a worldwide system accessed by billions of people every day.[D] This is because the networked computer has sparked a secret war between downloading and uploading - between passive consumption and active creation - whose outcome will shape our collective future in ways we can only begin to imagine.[E] The challenge the computer mounts to television thus bears little similarity to one format being replaced by another in the manner of record players being replaced by CD players.[F] One reason for the persistence of this pyramid of production is that for the past half-century, much of the world's media culture has been defined by a single medium - television - and television is defined by downloading.[G]The networked computer offers the first chance in 50 years to reverse the flow, to encourage thoughtful downloading and, even more importantly, meaningful uploading.Part CSince the days of Aristotle, a search for universal principles has characterized the scientific enterprise. In some ways, this quest for commonalities defines science. Newton’s laws of motion and Darwinian evolution each bind a host of different phenomena into a single explicatory frame work.(46)In physics, one approach takes this impulse for unification to its extreme, and seeks a theory of everything—a single generative equation for all we see.It is becoming less clear, however, that such a theory would be a simplification, given the dimensions and universes that it might entail, nonetheless, unification of sorts remains a major goal.This tendency in the natural sciences has long been evident in the social sciences too. (47)Here, Darwinism seems to offer justification for it all humans share common origins it seems reasonable to suppose that cultural diversity could also be traced to more constrained beginnings. Just as the bewildering variety of human courtship rituals might all be considered forms of sexual selection, perhaps the world’s languages, music, social and religious customs and even history are governed by universal features. (48)To filter out what is unique from what is shared might enable us to understand how complex cultural behavior arose and what guides it in evolutionary or cognitive terms.That, at least, is the hope. But a comparative study of linguistic traits published online today supplies a reality check. Russell Gray at the University of Auckland and his colleagues considerthe evolution of grammars in the light of two previous attempts to find universality in language. The most famous of these efforts was initiated by Noam Chomsky, who suggested that humans are born with an innate language—acquisition capacity that dictates a universal grammar. A few generative rules are then sufficient to unfold the entire fundamental structure of a language, which is why children can learn it so quickly.(49)The second, by Joshua Greenberg, takes a more empirical approach to universality identifying traits (particularly in word order) shared by many language which are considered to represent biases that result from cognitive constraintsGray and his colleagues have put them to the test by examining four family trees that between them represent more than 2,000 languages.(50)Chomsky’s grammar should show patterns of language change that are independent of the family tree or the pathway tracked through it. Whereas Greenbergian universality predicts strong co-dependencies between particular types of word-order relations. Neither of these patterns is borne out by the analysis, suggesting that the structures of the languages are lire age-specific and not governed by universalsSection III WritingSome internationals students are coming to your university. Write them an email in the name of the Students’Union to1) extend your welcome and2) provide some suggestions for their campus life here.You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET2.Do not sign your name at the end of the letter. Use “Li Ming”instead.Do not write the address(10 points)Part B52. Directions: write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following drawing. In your essay you should1) describe the drawing briefly2) explain its intended meaning, and3) give your commentsYou should write neatly on ANSWER SHEET2.（20 points）1.【答案】B【解析】从空后信息可以看出，这句表达的是“_ _法官表现得像政治家”的情况下，法庭就不能保持其作为法律法规的合法卫士的形象，所以应该选C,maintain“维持，保持”，其他显然语义不通。
2012考研英语一真题(含答案解析)
2012年全国硕士研究生招生考试英语（一）试题Section I Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following text.Choose the best word(s)for each numbered blank and mark A,B,C or D on ANSWER SHEET1.(10points)The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices have become an important issue recently.The court cannot1its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law2justices behave like politicians.Yet,in several instances, justices acted in ways that3the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial.Justice Antonin Scalia,for example,appeared at political events.That kind of activity makes it less likely that the court’s decisions will be4as impartial judgments.Part of the problem is that the justices are not5by an ethics code.At the very least,the court should make itself6to the code of conduct that7to the rest of the federal judiciary.This and other similar cases8the question of whether there is still a9between the court and politics.The framers of the Constitution envisioned law10having authority apart from politics.They gave justices permanent positions11they would be free to12those in power and have no need to13political support.Our legal system was designed to set law apart from politics precisely because they are so closely14.Constitutional law is political because it results from choices rooted in fundamental social15like liberty and property.When the court deals with social policy decisions,the law it16is inescapably political—whichis why decisions split along ideological lines are so easily17as unjust.The justices must18doubts about the court’s legitimacy by making themselves19to the code of conduct. That would make their rulings more likely to be seen as separate from politics and,20,convincing as law.1.[A]emphasize[B]maintain[C]modify[D]recognize2.[A]when[B]lest[C]before[D]unless3.[A]restored[B]weakened[C]established[D]eliminated4.[A]challenged[B]compromised[C]suspected[D]accepted5.[A]advanced[B]caught[C]bound[D]founded6.[A]resistant[B]subject[C]immune[D]prone7.[A]resorts[B]sticks[C]leads[D]applies8.[A]evade[B]raise[C]deny[D]settle9.[A]line[B]barrier[C]similarity[D]conflict10.[A]by[B]as[C]through[D]towards11.[A]so[B]since[C]provided[D]though12.[A]serve[B]satisfy[C]upset[D]replace13.[A]confirm[B]express[C]cultivate[D]offer14.[A]guarded[B]followed[C]studied[D]tied15.[A]concepts[B]theories[C]divisions[D]conventions16.[A]excludes[B]questions[C]shapes[D]controls17.[A]dismissed[B]released[C]ranked[D]distorted18.[A]suppress[B]exploit[C]address[D]ignore19.[A]accessible[B]amiable[C]agreeable[D]accountable20.[A]by all means[B]at all costs[C]in a word[D]as a resultSection II Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four texts.Answer the questions below each text by choosing A,B,C or D.Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET1.(40points)Text1Come on—Everybody’s doing it.That whispered message,halfinvitation and half forcing,is what most of us think of when we hear the words peer pressure.It usually leads to no good—drinking,drugs and casual sex. But in her new book Join the Club,Tina Rosenberg contends that peer pressure can also be a positive force through what she calls the social cure,in which organizations and officials use the power of group dynamics to help individuals improve their lives and possibly the world.Rosenberg,the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize,offers a host of examples of the social cure in action:In South Carolina,a state-sponsored antismoking program called Rage Against the Haze sets out to make cigarettes uncool.In South Africa,an HIV-prevention initiative known as loveLife recruits young people to promote safe sex among their peers.The idea seems promising，and Rosenberg is a perceptive observer.Her critique of the lameness of many public-health campaigns is spot-on：they fail to mobilize peer pressure for healthy habits,and they demonstrate a seriously flawed understanding of psychology.“Dare to be different,please don’t smoke!”pleads one billboard campaign aimed at reducing smoking among teenagers—teenagers,who desire nothing more than fitting in.Rosenberg argues convincingly that public-health advocates ought to take a page from advertisers,so skilled at applying peer pressure.But on the general effectiveness of the social cure,Rosenberg is less persuasive.Join the Club is filled with too much irrelevant detail and not enough exploration of the social and biological factors that make peer pressure so powerful.The most glaring flaw of the social cure as it’s presented here is that it doesn’t work very well for very long.Rage Against the Haze failed once state funding was cut.Evidence that the loveLife program produces lasting changes is limited and mixed.There’s no doubt that our peer groups exert enormous influence on our behavior.An emerging body of research shows that positive health habits—as well as negative ones—spread through networks of friends via social communication.This is a subtle form of peer pressure:we unconsciously imitate the behavior we see every day.Far less certain,however,is how successfully experts and bureaucrats can select our peer groups and steer their activities in virtuous directions.It’s like the teacher who breaks up the troublemakers inthe back row by pairing them with better-behaved classmates.The tactic never really works.And that’s the problem with a social cure engineered from the outside:in the real world,as in school,we insist on choosing our own friends.21.According to the first paragraph,peer pressure often emerges as__________.[A]a supplement to the social cure[B]a stimulus to group dynamics[C]an obstacle to social progress[D]a cause of undesirable behaviors22.Rosenberg holds that public advocates should_________.[A]recruit professional advertisers[B]learn from advertisers’experience[C]stay away from commercial advertisers[D]recognize the limitations of advertisements23.In the author’s view,Rosenberg’s book fails to__________.[A]adequately probe social and biological factors[B]effectively evade the flaws of the social cure[C]illustrate the functions of state funding[D]produce a long-lasting social effect24.Paragraph5shows that our imitation of behaviors__________.[A]is harmful to our networks of friends[B]will mislead behavioral studies[C]occurs without our realizing it[D]can produce negative health habits25.The author suggests in the last paragraph that the effect ofpeer pressure is__________.[A]harmful[B]desirable[C]profound[D]questionableText2A deal is a deal—except,apparently,when Entergy is involved.The company,a major energy supplier in New England,provoked justified outrage in Vermont last week when it announced it wasreneging on a longstanding commitment to abide by the strict nuclear regulations.Instead,the company has done precisely what it had long promised it would not:challenge the constitutionality of Vermont’s rules in the federal court,as part of a desperate effort to keep its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant running.It’s a stunning move.The conflict has been surfacing since2002,when the corporation bought Vermont’s only nuclear power plant,an aging reactor in Vernon.As a condition of receiving state approval for the sale,the company agreed to seek permission from state regulators to operate past2012.In2006,the state went a step further,requiring that any extension of the plant’s license be subject to Vermont legislature’s approval.Then,too,the company went along.Either Entergy never really intended to live by those commitments,or it simply didn’t foresee what would happen next.A string of accidents,including the partial collapse of a cooling tower in2007and the discovery of an underground pipe system leakage,raised serious questions about both Vermont Yankee’s safety andEntergy’s management—especially after the company made misleading statements about the pipe.Enraged by Entergy’s behavior,the Vermont Senate voted26to4last year against allowing an extension.Now the company is suddenly claiming that the2002agreement is invalid because of the2006legislation, and that only the federal government has regulatory power over nuclear issues.The legal issues in the case are obscure:whereas the Supreme Court has ruled that states do have some regulatory authority over nuclear power,legalscholars say that Vermont case will offer a precedent-setting test of how far those powers extend. Certainly,there are valid concerns about the patchwork regulations that could result if every state sets its own rules.But had Entergy kept its word,that debate would be beside the point.The company seems to have concluded that its reputation in Vermont is already so damaged that it has nothing left to lose by going to war with the state.But there should be consequences.Permission to run a nuclear plant is a public trust.Entergy runs11other reactors in the United States,including Pilgrim Nuclear station in Plymouth.Pledging to run Pilgrim safely,the company has applied for federal permission to keep it open for another20years.But as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission(NRC)reviews the company’s application,it should keep it mind what promises from Entergy are worth.26.The phrase“reneging on”(Line3.para.1)is closest in meaning to_________.[A]condemning[B]reaffirming[C]dishonoring[D]securing27.By entering into the2002agreement,Entergy intended to__________.[A]obtain protection from Vermont regulators[B]seek favor from the federal legislature[C]acquire an extension of its business license[D]get permission to purchase a power plant28.According to Paragraph4,Entergy seems to have problems with its___________.[A]managerial practices[B]technical innovativeness[C]financial goals[D]business vision29.In the author’s view,the Vermont case will test___________.[A]Entergy’s capacity to fulfill all its promises[B]the mature of states’patchwork regulations[C]the federal authority over nuclear issues[D]the limits of states’power over nuclear issues30.It can be inferred from the last paragraph that__________.[A]Entergy’s business elsewhere might be affected[B]the authority of the NRC will be defied[C]Entergy will withdraw its Plymouth application[D]Vermont’s reputation might be damagedText3In the idealized version of how science is done,facts about the world are waiting to be observed and collected by objective researchers who use the scientific method to carry out their work.But in the everyday practice of science,discovery frequently follows an ambiguous and complicated route.We aim to be objective,but we cannot escape the context of our unique life experiences.Prior knowledge and interests influence what we experience,what we think our experiences mean,and the subsequent actions we take. Opportunities for misinterpretation,error,and self-deception abound.Consequently,discovery claims should be thought of as protoscience.Similar to newly staked mining claims,they are full of potential.But it takes collective scrutiny and acceptance to transform a discovery claim into a mature discovery.This is the credibility process,through which the individual researcher’s me,here, now becomes the community’s anyone,anywhere,anytime.Objective knowledge is the goal,not the starting point.Once a discovery claim becomes public,the discoverer receives intellectual credit.But,unlikewith mining claims,the community takes control of what happens next.Within the complex social structure of the scientific community,researchers make discoveries;editors and reviewers act as gatekeepers by controlling the publicationprocess;other scientists use the new finding to suit their own purposes;and finally,the public (including other scientists)receives the new discovery and possibly accompanying technology.As a discovery claim works its way through the community,the interaction and confrontation between shared and competing beliefs about the science and the technology involved transforms an individual’s discovery claim into the community’s credible discovery.Two paradoxes exist throughout this credibility process.First,scientific work tends to focus on some aspect of prevailing knowledge that is viewed as incomplete or incorrect.Little reward accompanies duplication and confirmation of what is already known and believed.The goal is new-search,not re-search.Not surprisingly,newly published discovery claims and credible discoveries that appear to be important and convincing will always be open to challenge and potential modification or refutation by future researchers.Second,novelty itself frequently provokes disbelief.Nobel Laureate and physiologist Albert Szent-Györgyi once described discovery as“seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.”But thinking what nobody else has thought and telling others what they have missed may not change their views.Sometimes years are required for truly novel discovery claims to be accepted and appreciated.In the end,credibility“happens”to a discovery claim—a process that corresponds to what philosopher Annette Baier has described as the commons of the mind.“We reason together,challenge,revise,and complete each other’s reasoning and each other’s conceptions of reason.”31.According to the first paragraph,the process of discovery is characterized by its______.[A]uncertainty and complexity[B]misconception and deceptiveness[C]logicality and objectivity[D]systematicness and regularity32.It can be inferred from Paragraph2that credibility process requires_________.[A]strict inspection[B]shared efforts[C]individual wisdom[D]persistent innovation33.Paragraph3shows that a discovery claim becomes credible after it_________.[A]has attracted the attention of the general public[B]has been examined by the scientific community[C]has received recognition from editors and reviewers[D]has been frequently quoted by peer scientists34.Albert Szent-Györgyi would most likely agree that_________.[A]scientific claims will survive challenges[B]discoveries today inspire future research[C]efforts to make discoveries are justified[D]scientific work calls for a critical mind35.Which of the following would be the best title of the text?[A]Novelty as an Engine of Scientific Development[B]Collective Scrutiny in Scientific Discovery[C]Evolution of Credibility in Doing Science[D]Challenge to Credibility at the Gate to ScienceText4If the trade unionist Jimmy Hoffa were alive today,he would probably represent civil servants.When Hoffa’s Teamsters were in their prime in1960,only one in ten American government workers belonged to a union; now36%do.In2009the number of unionists in America’s public sector passed that of their fellow members in the private sector.In Britain,more than half of public-sector workers but only about15%of private-sector ones are unionized.There are three reasons for the public-sector unions’thriving.First,they can shut things down without suffering much in the wayof consequences.Second,they are mostly bright and well-educated.A quarter of America’s public-sector workers have a university degree.Third,they now dominate left-of-centre politics. Some of their ties go back a long way.Britain’s Labor Party,as its name implies,has long been associated with trade unionism.Its current leader,Ed Miliband,owes his position to votes from public-sector unions.At the state level their influence can be even more fearsome.Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of California points out that much of the state’s budget is patrolled by unions.The teachers’unions keep an eye on schools,the CCPOA on prisons and a variety of labor groups on health care.In many rich countries average wages in the state sector are higher than in the private one.But the real gains come in benefits and work practices.Politicians have repeatedly“backloaded”public-sector pay deals, keeping the pay increases modest but adding to holidays and especially pensions that are already generous. Reform has been vigorously opposed,perhaps most egregiously in education,where charter schools,academies and merit pay all faced drawn-out battles.Even though there is plenty of evidence that the quality of the teachers is the most important variable,teachers’unions have fought against getting rid of bad ones and promoting good ones.As the cost to everyone else has become clearer,politicians have begun to clamp down.In Wisconsin the unions have rallied thousands of supporters against Scott Walker,the hardline Republican governor.But many within the public sector suffer under the current system,too.John Donahue at Harvard’s Kennedy School points out that the norms of culture in Western civil services suit those who want to stay put but is bad for high achievers.The only American public-sector workers who earn well above$250,000a year are university sports coaches and the president of the United States.Bankers’fat pay packets have attracted much criticism,but a public-sector system that does not reward high achievers may be a much bigger problem for America.36.It can be learned from the first paragraph that_________.[A]Teamsters still have a large body of members[B]Jimmy Hoffa used to work as a civil servant[C]unions have enlarged their public-sector membership[D]the government has improved its relationship with unionists37.Which of the following is true of Paragraph2?[A]Public-sector unions are prudent in taking actions.[B]Education is required for public-sector union membership.[C]Labor Party has long been fighting against public-sector unions.[D]Public-sector unions seldom get in trouble for their actions.38.It can be learned from Paragraph4that the income in the state sector is_________.[A]illegally secured[B]indirectly augmented[C]excessively increased[D]fairly adjusted39.The example of the unions in Wisconsin shows that unions__________.[A]often run against the current political system[B]can change people’s political attitudes[C]may be a barrier to public-sector reforms[D]are dominant in the government40.John Donahue’s attitude towards the public-sector system is one of_________.[A]disapproval[B]appreciation[C]tolerance[D]indifferencePart BDirections:In the following text,some sentences have been removed.For Questions41-45,choose the most suitable one from the list A-G to fit into each of the numbered blanks.There are two extra choices,which do not fit in any of the blanks.Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET1.（10points）Think of those fleeting moments when you look out of an aeroplane window and realise that you are flying,higher than a bird.Now think of your laptop,thinner than a brown-paper envelope,or your cellphone in the palm of your hand. Take a moment or two to wonder at those marvels.You are the lucky inheritor of a dream come true.The second half of the20th century saw a collection of geniuses,warriors,entrepreneurs and visionaries labour to create a fabulous machine that could function as a typewriter and printing press,studio and theatre,paintbrush and gallery, piano and radio,the mail as well as the mail carrier.(41)___________.The networked computer is an amazing device,the first media machine that serves as the mode of production,means of distribution,site of reception,and place of praise and critique.The computer is the21st century’s culture machine.But for all the reasons there are to celebrate the computer,we must also act with caution.(42)___________.I call it a secret war for two reasons.First,most people do not realise that there are strong commercial agendas at work to keep them in passive consumption mode.Second,the majority of people who use networked computers to upload are not even aware of the significance of what they are doing.All animals download,but only a few upload.Beavers build dams and birds make nests.Yet for the most part,the animal kingdom moves through the world downloading.Humans are unique in their capacity to not only make tools but then turn around and use them to create superfluous material goods—paintings,sculpture and architecture—and superfluous experiences—music,literature,religion and philosophy.(43)___________.For all the possibilities of our new culture machines,most people are still stuck in download mode.Even after the advent of widespread social media,a pyramid of production remains,with a small number of people uploading material,a slightly larger group commenting on or modifying that content,and a huge percentage remaining content to just consume.(44)___________.Television is a one-way tap flowing into our homes.The hardest task that television asks of anyone is to turn the power off after he has turned it on.(45)___________.What counts as meaningful uploading?My definition revolves around the concept of“stickiness”—creations and experiences to which others adhere.[A]Of course,it is precisely these superfluous things that define human culture and ultimately what it is to be human.Downloading and consuming culture requires great skills,but failing to move beyond downloading is to strip oneself of a defining constituent of humanity.[B]Applications like ,which allow users to combine pictures,words and other media in creative ways and then share them,have the potential to add stickiness by amusing,entertaining and enlightening others.[C]Not only did they develop such a device but by the turn of the millennium they had also managed to embed it in a worldwide system accessed by billions of people every day.[D]This is because the networked computer has sparked a secret war between downloading and uploading—between passive consumption and active creation—whose outcome will shape our collective future in ways we can only begin to imagine.[E]The challenge the computer mounts to television thus bears little similarity to one format being replaced by another in the manner of record players being replaced by CD players.[F]One reason for the persistence of this pyramid of production is that for the past half-century,much of the world’s media culture has been defined by a single medium—television—and television is defined by downloading.[G]The networked computer offers the first chance in50years to reverse the flow,to encourage thoughtful downloading and,even more importantly,meaningful uploading.Part CDirections:Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese.Your translation should be written clearlyon ANSWER SHEET2.(10points)Since the days of Aristotle,a search for universal principles has characterized the scientific enterprise.In some ways,this quest for commonalities defines science.Newton’s laws of motion and Darwinian evolution each bind a host of different phenomena into a single explicatory framework.(46)In physics,one approach takes this impulse for unification to its extreme,and seeks a theory of everything—a single generative equation for all we see.It is becoming less clear,however,that such a theory would be a simplification,given the dimensions and universes that it might entail.Nonetheless,unification of sorts remains a major goal.This tendency in the natural sciences has long been evident in the social sciences too. (47)Here,Darwinism seems to offer justification,for if all humans share common origins, it seems reasonable to suppose that cultural diversity could also be traced to more constrained beginnings.Just as the bewildering variety of human courtship rituals might all be considered forms of sexual selection,perhaps the world’s languages,music,social and religious customs and even history are governed by universal features.(48)To filter out what is unique from what is shared might enable us to understand how complex cultural behavior arose and what guides it in evolutionary or cognitive terms.That,at least,is the hope.But a comparative study of linguistic traits published online today supplies a reality check.Russell Gray at the University of Auckland and his colleagues consider the evolution of grammars in the light of two previous attempts to find universality in language.The most famous of these efforts was initiated by Noam Chomsky,who suggested that humans are born with an innate language—acquisition capacity that dictates a universal grammar.A few generative rules are then sufficient to unfold the entire fundamental structure of a language,which is why children can learn it so quickly.(49)The second,by Joshua Greenberg,takes a more empirical approach to universality,identifying traits (particularly in word order)shared by many language which are considered to represent biases that result from cognitive constraintsGray and his colleagues have put them to the test by examining four family trees that between them represent more than2,000languages.(50)Chomsky’s grammar should show patterns of language change that are independent of the family tree or the pathway tracked through it,whereas Greenbergian universality predicts strong co-dependencies between particular types of word-order relations.Neither of these patterns is borne out by the analysis,suggesting that the structures of the languages are lineage-specific and not governed by universals.Section III WritingPart A51.Directions:Some international students are coming to your university.Write them an email in the name of the Students’Union to1)extend your welcome and2)provide some suggestio ns for their campus life here.You should write about100words on ANSWER SHEET2.Do not sign your own name at the end of the e“Li Ming”instead.Do not write the address.(10points)Part B52.Directions:Write an essay of160-200words based on the following drawing.In your essay,you should1)describe the drawing briefly,2)explain its intended meaning,and3)give your comments.You should write neatly on ANSWER SHEET2.(20points)2012年全国硕士研究生招生考试英语（一）答案详解Section I Use of English一、文章题材结构分析本文摘自The New York Times（《纽约时报》）2011年6月30日一篇题为Ethics,Politics and the law(道德，政治与法律)的文章。
2012年考研英语(一)真题及答案详解
Section I Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices have become an important issue recently. The court cannot _1_ its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law _2_ justices behave like politicians. Yet, in several instances, justices acted in ways that _3_ the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial.Justice Antonin Scalia, for example, appeared at political events. That kind of activity makes it less likely that the court’s decisions will be _4_ a s impartial judgments. Part of the problem is that the justices are not _5_by an ethics code. At the very least, the court should make itself _6_to the code of conduct that _7_to the rest of the federal judiciary.This and other similar cases _8_the question of whether there is still a _9_between the court and politics.The framers of the Constitution envisioned law _10_having authority apart from politics. They gave justices permanent positions _11_they would be free to _12_ those in power and have no need to _13_ political support. Our legal system was designed to set law apart from politics precisely because they are so closely _14_.Constitutional law is political because it results from choices rooted in fundamental social_15_ like liberty and property. When the court deals with social policy decisions, the law it _16_ is inescapably political-which is why decisions split along ideological lines are so easily _17_ as unjust.The justices must _18_ doubts about the court’s legitimacy by making th emselves _19_ to the code of conduct. That would make rulings more likely to be seen as separate from politics and,_20_, convincing as law.1. [A]emphasize [B]maintain [C]modify [D] recognize2. [A]when [B]lest [C]before [D] unless3. [A]restored [B]weakened [C]established [D] eliminated4. [A]challenged [B]compromised [C]suspected [D] accepted5. [A]advanced [B]caught [C]bound [D]founded6. [A]resistant [B]subject [C]immune [D]prone7. [A]resorts [B]sticks [C]loads [D]applies8. [A]evade [B]raise [C]deny [D]settle9. [A]line [B]barrier [C]similarity [D]conflict10. [A]by [B]as [C]though [D]towards11. [A]so [B]since [C]provided [D]though12. [A]serve [B]satisfy [C]upset [D]replace13. [A]confirm [B]express [C]cultivate [D]offer14. [A]guarded [B]followed [C]studied [D]tied15. [A]concepts [B]theories [C]divisions [D]conceptions16. [A]excludes [B]questions [C]shapes [D]controls17. [A]dismissed [B]released [C]ranked [D]distorted18. [A]suppress [B]exploit [C]address [D]ignore19. [A]accessible [B]amiable [C]agreeable [D]accountable20. [A]by all mesns [B]atall costs [C]in a word [D]as a resultSection II Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)Text 1Come on –Everybody’s doing it. That whispered message, half invitation and half forcing, is what most of us think of when we hear the words peer pressure. It usually leads to nogood-drinking, drugs and casual sex. But in her new book Join the Club, Tina Rosenberg contends that peer pressure can also be a positive force through what she calls the social cure, in whichorganizations and officials use the power of group dynamics to help individuals improve their lives and possibly the word.Rosenberg, the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, offers a host of example of the social cure in action: In South Carolina, a state-sponsored antismoking program called Rage Against the Haze sets out to make cigarettes uncool. In South Africa, an HIV-prevention initiative known as LoveLife recruits young people to promote safe sex among their peers.The idea seems promising，and Rosenberg is a perceptive observer. Her critique of the lameness of many pubic-health campaigns is spot-on: they fail to mobilize peer pressure for healthy habits, and they demonstrate a seriously flawed understanding of psychology.‖ Dare to be different, please don’t smoke!‖ pleads one billboard campaign aimed at reducing smoking among teenagers-teenagers, who desire nothing more than fitting in. Rosenberg argues convincingly that public-health advocates ought to take a page from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer pressure.But on the general effectiveness of the social cure, Rosenberg is less persuasive. Join the Club is filled with too much irrelevant detail and not enough exploration of the social and biological factors that make peer pressure so powerful. The most glaring flaw of the social cure as it’s presented here is that it doesn’t work very well for very long. Rage Against the Haze failed once state funding was cut. Evidence that the LoveLife program produces lasting changes is limited and mixed.There’s no doubt that our peer groups exert enor mous influence on our behavior. An emerging body of research shows that positive health habits-as well as negative ones-spread through networks of friends via social communication. This is a subtle form of peer pressure: we unconsciously imitate the behavior we see every day.Far less certain, however, is how successfully experts and bureaucrats can select our peer groups and steer their activities in virtuous directions. It’s like the teacher who breaks up the troublemakers in the back row by pairing them with better-behaved classmates. The tactic never really works. And that’s the problem with a social cure engineered from the outside: in the real world, as in school, we insist on choosing our own friends.21. According to the first paragraph, peer pressure often emerges as[A] a supplement to the social cure[B] a stimulus to group dynamics[C] an obstacle to school progress[D] a cause of undesirable behaviors22. Rosenberg holds that public advocates should[A] recruit professional advertisers[B] learn from advertisers’ experience[C] stay away from commercial advertisers[D] recognize the limitations of advertisements23. In the author’s view, Rosenberg’s book fails to[A] adequately probe social and biological factors[B] effectively evade the flaws of the social cure[C] illustrate the functions of state funding[D]produce a long-lasting social effect24. Paragraph 5shows that our imitation of behaviors[A] is harmful to our networks of friends[B] will mislead behavioral studies[C] occurs without our realizing it[D] can produce negative health habits25. The author suggests in the last paragraph that the effect of peer pressure is[A] harmful[B] desirable[C] profound[D] questionableText 2A deal is a deal-except, apparently ,when Entergy is involved. The company, a major energy supplier in New England, provoked justified outrage in Vermont last week when it announced it was reneging on a longstanding commitment to abide by the strict nuclear regulations.Instead, the company has done precisely what it had long promised it would not challenge the constitutionality of Vermont’s rules in the federal court, as part of a desperate effort to keep its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant running. It’s a stunning move.The conflict has been surfacing since 2002, when the corporation bought Vermont’s only nuclear power plant, an aging reactor in Vernon. As a condition of receiving state approval for the sale, the company agreed to seek permission from state regulators to operate past 2012. In 2006, the state went a step further, requiring that any extension of the plant’s license be subject to Vermont legislature’s approval. Then, too, the company went along.Either Entergy never really intended t o live by those commitments, or it simply didn’t foresee what would happen next. A string of accidents, including the partial collapse of a cooling tower in 207 and the discovery of an underground pipe system leakage, raised serious questions about both Ve rmont Yankee’s safety and Entergy’s management– especially after the company made misleading statements about the pipe. Enraged by Entergy’s behavior, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 last year against allowing an extension.Now the company is suddenly claiming that the 2002 agreement is invalid because of the 2006 legislation, and that only the federal government has regulatory power over nuclear issues. The legal issues in the case are obscure: whereas the Supreme Court has ruled that states do have some regulatory authority over nuclear power, legal scholars say that Vermont case will offer a precedent-setting test of how far those powers extend. Certainly, there are valid concerns about the patchwork regulations that could result if every state sets its own rules. But had Entergy kept its word, that debate would be beside the point.The company seems to have concluded that its reputation in Vermont is already so damaged that it has noting left to lose by going to war with the state. But there should be consequences. Permission to run a nuclear plant is a poblic trust. Entergy runs 11 other reactors in the United States, including Pilgrim Nuclear station in Plymouth. Pledging to run Pilgrim safely, the company has applied for federal permission to keep it open for another 20 years. But as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviews the company’s application, it should keep it mind what promises from Entergy are worth.26. The phrase ―reneging on‖(Line 3.para.1) is closest in meaning to[A] condemning.[B] reaffirming.[C] dishonoring.[D] securing.27. By entering into the 2002 agreement, Entergy intended to[A] obtain protection from Vermont regulators.[B] seek favor from the federal legislature.[C] acquire an extension of its business license .[D] get permission to purchase a power plant.28. According to Paragraph 4, Entergy seems to have problems with its[A] managerial practices.[B] technical innovativeness.[C] financial goals.[D] business vision29. In the author’s view, the Vermont case will test[A] Entergy’s capacity to fulfill all its promises.[B] the mature of states’ patchwork regulations.[C] the federal authority over nuclear issues .[D] the limits of states’ power over nuclear issues.30. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that[A] Entergy’s business elsewhere might be affected.[B] the authority of the NRC will be defied.[C] Entergy will withdraw its Plymouth application.[D] Vermont’s reputation might be damaged.Text 3In the idealized version of how science is done, facts about the world are waiting to be observed and collected by objective researchers who use the scientific method to carry out their work. But in the everyday practice of science, discovery frequently follows an ambiguous and complicated route. We aim to be objective, but we cannot escape the context of our unique life experience. Prior knowledge and interest influence what we experience, what we think our experiences mean, and the subsequent actions we take. Opportunities for misinterpretation, error, and self-deception abound.Consequently, discovery claims should be thought of as protoscience. Similar to newly staked mining claims, they are full of potential. But it takes collective scrutiny and acceptance to transform a discovery claim into a mature discovery. This is the credibility process, through whichthe individual researcher’s me, here, now becomes the community’s anyone, anywhere, anytime. Objective knowledge is the goal, not the starting point.Once a discovery claim becomes public, the discoverer receives intellectual credit. But, unlike with mining claims, the community takes control of what happens next. Within the complex social structure of the scientific community, researchers make discoveries; editors and reviewers act as gatekeepers by controlling the publication process; other scientists use the new finding to suit their own purposes; and finally, the public (including other scientists) receives the new discovery and possibly accompanying technology. As a discovery claim works it through the community, the interaction and confrontation between shared and competing beliefs about the science and the technology involved transforms an individual’s discovery claim into the community’s credible discovery.Two paradoxes exist throughout this credibility process. First, scientific work tends to focus on some aspect of prevailing Knowledge that is viewed as incomplete or incorrect. Little reward accompanies duplication and confirmation of what is already known and believed. The goal is new-search, not re-search. Not surprisingly, newly published discovery claims and credible discoveries that appear to be important and convincing will always be open to challenge and potential modification or refutation by future researchers. Second, novelty itself frequently provokes disbelief. Nobel Laureate and physiologist Albert Azent-Gyorgyi once described discovery as ―seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.‖ But thinking what nobody else has thought and telling others what they have missed may not change their views. Sometimes years are required for truly novel discovery claims to be accepted and appreciated.In the end, credibility ―happens‖ to a discovery claim – a process that corresponds to what philosopher Annette Baier has described as the commons of the mind. ―We reason together, challenge, revise, and complete each other’s reasoning and each other’s conceptions of reason.‖31. According to the first paragraph, the process of discovery is characterized by its[A] uncertainty and complexity.[B] misconception and deceptiveness.[C] logicality and objectivity.[D] systematicness and regularity.32. It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that credibility process requires[A] strict inspection.[B]shared efforts.[C] individual wisdom.[D]persistent innovation.33.Paragraph 3 shows that a discovery claim becomes credible after it[A] has attracted the attention of the general public.[B]has been examined by the scientific community.[C] has received recognition from editors and reviewers.[D]has been frequently quoted by peer scientists.34. Albert Szent-Györgyi would most likely agree that[A] scientific claims will survive challenges.[B]discoveries today inspire future research.[C] efforts to make discoveries are justified.[D]scientific work calls for a critical mind.35.Which of the following would be the best title of the test?[A] Novelty as an Engine of Scientific Development.[B]Collective Scrutiny in Scientific Discovery.[C] Evolution of Credibility in Doing Science.[D]Challenge to Credibility at the Gate to Science.Text 4If the trade unionist Jimmy Hoffa were alive today, he would probably represent civil servant. When Hoffa’s Teamsters were in their prime in 1960, only one in ten American government workers belonged to a union; now 36% do. In 2009 the number of unionists in America’s public sector passed that of their fellow members in the private sector. In Britain, more than half of public-sector workers but only about 15% of private-sector ones are unionized.There are three reasons for the public-sector unions’ thriving. First, they can shut things down without suffering much in the way of consequences. Second, they are mostly bright andwell-educated. A quarter of America’s public-sector workers have a university degree. Third, they now dominate left-of-centre politics. Some of their ties go back a long way. Britain’s Labor Party, as its name implies, has long been associated with trade unionism. Its current leader, Ed Miliband, owes his position to votes from public-sector unions.At the state level their influence can be even more fearsome. Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of Califo rnia points out that much of the state’s budget is patrolled by unions. The teachers’ unions keep an eye on schools, the CCPOA on prisons and a variety of labor groups on health care.In many rich countries average wages in the state sector are higher than in the private one. But the real gains come in benefits and work practices. Politicians have repeatedly ―backloaded‖ public-sector pay deals, keeping the pay increases modest but adding to holidays and especially pensions that are already generous.Reform has been vigorously opposed, perhaps most egregiously in education, where charter schools, academies and merit pay all faced drawn-out battles. Even though there is plenty of evidence that the quality of the teachers is the most important variable, teachers’ unions have fought against getting rid of bad ones and promoting good ones.As the cost to everyone else has become clearer, politicians have begun to clamp down. In Wisconsin the unions have rallied thousands of supporters against Scott Walker, the hardline Republican governor. But many within the public sector suffer under the current system, too.John Donahue at Harvard’s Kennedy School points out that the norms of culture in Western civil services suit those who want to stay put but is bad for high achievers. The only American public-sector workers who earn well above $250,000 a year are university sports coaches and the president of the United States. Bankers’ fat pay packets have attracted much criticism, but a public-sector system that does not reward high achievers may be a much bigger problem for America.36. It can be learned from the first paragraph that[A] Teamsters still have a large body of members.[B] Jimmy Hoffa used to work as a civil servant.[C] unions have enlarged their public-sector membership.[D]the government has improved its relationship with unionists.37. Which of the following is true of Paragraph 2?[A] Public-sector unions are prudent in taking actions.[B] Education is required for public-sector union membership.[C] Labor Party has long been fighting against public-sector unions.[D]Public-sector unions seldom get in trouble for their actions.38. It can be learned from Paragraph 4 that the income in the state sector is[A] illegally secured.[B] indirectly augmented.[C] excessively increased.[D]fairly adjusted.39. The example of the unions in Wisconsin shows that unions[A]often run against the current political system.[B]can change people’s political attitudes.[C]may be a barrier to public-sector reforms.[D]are dominant in the government.40. John Donahue’s attitude towards the public-sector system is one of[A]disapproval.[B]appreciation.[C]tolerance.[D]indifference.Part BDirections:In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list A-G to fit into each of the numbered blanks. There are two extra choices, which do not fit in any of the blanks. Mark your answers on ANSWER S HEET1.(10 points)Think of those fleeting moments when you look out of an aeroplane window and realise that you are flying, higher than a bird. Now think of your laptop, thinner than a brown-paper envelope, or your cellphone in the palm of your hand. Take a moment or two to wonder at those marvels. You are the lucky inheritor of a dream come true.The second half of the 20th century saw a collection of geniuses, warriors, entrepreneurs and visionaries labour to create a fabulous machine that could function as a typewriter and printingpress, studio and theatre, paintbrush and gallery, piano and radio, the mail as well as the mail carrier. (41)The networked computer is an amazing device, the first media machine that serves as the mode of production, means of distribution, site of reception, and place of praise and critique. The computer is the 21st century's culture machine.But for all the reasons there are to celebrate the computer, we must also tread with caution.(42)I call it a secret war for two reasons. First, most people do not realise that there are strong commercial agendas at work to keep them in passive consumption mode. Second, the majority of people who use networked computers to upload are not even aware of the significance of what they are doing.All animals download, but only a few upload. Beavers build dams and birds make nests. Yet for the most part, the animal kingdom moves through the world downloading. Humans are unique in their capacity to not only make tools but then turn around and use them to create superfluous material goods - paintings, sculpture and architecture - and superfluous experiences - music, literature, religion and philosophy. (43)For all the possibilities of our new culture machines, most people are still stuc k in download mode. Even after the advent of widespread social media, a pyramid of production remains, with a small number of people uploading material, a slightly larger group commenting on or modifying that content, and a huge percentage remaining content to just consume. (44)Television is a one-way tap flowing into our homes. The hardest task that television asks of anyone is to turn the power off after he has turned it on.(45)What counts as meaningful uploading? My definition revolves around the concept of "stickiness" - creations and experiences to which others adhere.[A] Of course, it is precisely these superfluous things that define human culture and ultimately what it is to be human. Downloading and consuming culture requires great skills, but failing to move beyond downloading is to strip oneself of a defining constituent of humanity.[B] Applications like , which allow users to combine pictures, words and other media in creative ways and then share them, have the potential to add stickiness by amusing, entertaining and enlightening others.[C] Not only did they develop such a device but by the turn of the millennium they had also managed to embed it in a worldwide system accessed by billions of people every day.[D] This is because the networked computer has sparked a secret war between downloading and uploading - between passive consumption and active creation - whose outcome will shape our collective future in ways we can only begin to imagine.[E] The challenge the computer mounts to television thus bears little similarity to one format being replaced by another in the manner of record players being replaced by CD players.[F] One reason for the persistence of this pyramid of production is that for the pasthalf-century, much of the world's media culture has been defined by a single medium - television - and television is defined by downloading.[G]The networked computer offers the first chance in 50 years to reverse the flow, to encourage thoughtful downloading and, even more importantly, meaningful uploading.Part CDirections:Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be written clearly on ANSWER SHEET 2. (10 points)Since the days of Aristotle, a search for universal principles has characterized the scientific enterprise. In some ways, this quest for commonalities defines science. Newton’s laws of motion and Darwinian evolution each bind a host of different phenomena into a single explicatory frame work.(46)In physics, one approach takes this impulse for unification to its extreme, and seeks a theory of everything—a single generative equation for all we see.It is becoming less clear, however, that such a theory would be a simplification, given the dimensions and universes that it might entail, nonetheless, unification of sorts remains a major goal.This tendency in the natural sciences has long been evident in the social sciences too. (47)Here, Darwinism seems to offer justification for it all humans share common origins it seems reasonable to suppose that cultural diversity could also be traced to more constrained beginnings. Just as the bewildering variety of human courtship rituals might all be considered forms of sexual selection, perhaps the world’s languages, music, social and religious customs and even history are governed by universal features. (48)To filter out what is unique from what is shared might enable us to understand how complex cultural behavior arose and what guides it in evolutionary or cognitive terms.That, at least, is the hope. But a comparative study of linguistic traits published online today supplies a reality check. Russell Gray at the University of Auckland and his colleagues consider the evolution of grammars in the light of two previous attempts to find universality in language.The most famous of these efforts was initiated by Noam Chomsky, who suggested that humans are born with an innate language—acquisition capacity that dictates a universal grammar. A few generative rules are then suffi cient to unfold the entire fundamental structure of a language, which is why children can learn it so qui ckly.(49)The second, by Joshua Greenberg, takes a more empirical approach to universality identifying traits (particularly in word order) shared by many language which are considered to represent biases that result from cognitive constraintsGray and his colleagues have put them to the test by examining four family trees that between them represent more than 2,000 languages.(50)Chomsky’s grammar should show patterns of language change that are independent of the family tree or the pathway tracked through it. Whereas Greenbergian universality predicts strong co-dependencies between particular types of word-order relations. Neither of these patterns is borne out by the analysis, suggesting that the structures of the languages are lire age-specific and not governed by universals[NxtPage]Section III WritingPart A51. Directions:Some internationals students are coming to your university. Write them an email in the name of the Students’ Union to1) extend your welcome and2) provide some suggestions for their campus life here.You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET2.Do not sign your name at the end of the letter. Use ―Li Ming‖ instead.Do not write the address(10 points)Part B52. Directions: write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following drawing. In your essay you should1) describe the drawing briefly2) explain its intended meaning, and3) give your commentsYou should write neatly on ANSWER SHEET2.(20 points)1.B2.A3.B4.D5.C6.B7.D8.B9.A 10.B11.A 12.C 13.C 14.D 15.A16.C 17.A 18.C 19.D 20.D21.D 22.D 23.A 24.C 25.D26.C 27.A 28.A 29.B 30.B31.A 32.D 33.B 34.D 35.D36.C 37.D 38.B 39.A 40.A41.C 42.D 43.A 44.F 45.G1.【答案】B【解析】从空后信息可以看出，这句表达的是―_ _法官表现得像政治家‖的情况下，法庭就不能保持其作为法律法规的合法卫士的形象，所以应该选C,maintain―维持，保持‖，其他显然语义不通。
2012考研英语一真题及答案详解
2012考研英语（一）真题及答案Section Ⅰ Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark [A], [B], [C] or [D]on ANSWER SHEET 1. ( 10 points)The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices became an important issue recently. The court cannot_____ its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law______ justices behave like politicians. Yet, in several instances, justices acted in ways that_____ the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial。
Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito Jr., for example, appeared at political events. That kind of activity makes it less likely that the court’s decisions will be____ as impartial judgments. Part of the problem is that the justices are not _____ by an ethics code. At the very least, the court should make itself_______ to the code of conduct that ______to the rest of the federal judiciary。
考研英语(一)真题答案及解析(2012年)
2012年考研英语（一）真题答案及解析1.【答案】B【解析】从空后信息可以看出，这句表达的是"_ _法官表现得像政治家"的情况下，法庭就不能保持其作为法律法规的合法卫士的形象，所以应该选C,maintain"维持，保持"，其他显然语义不通。
2.【答案】A【解析】从第三段可以看出，文章认为法院和政治之间应该是有界限的。
所以这里应该是当法官像政治家一样行事，模糊了二者之间的区别时，就失去了其作为法律卫士的合法性。
只有B，when表示这个意思。
3.【答案】B【解析】第二段给的具体事例说明，法官出现在政治活动中会使法官形象受损，影响他们独立、公正的名声。
只有B，weaken能表示这个意思。
4.【答案】D【解析】空前信息显示，法官出席政治活动会让法院的审判收到影响，人们就会认为其审判不公正，所以选D，be accepted as..."被认为是"。
5.【答案】C【解析】空所在的语境为：产生这样的问题，部分原因在于"法官没有_ _道德规范"。
后一句话说，至少法院应该遵守行为规范，这显然是进一步说明上一句话。
所以上一句是说法官没有受到道德规范的约束，选C，bound。
6.【答案】B【解析】根据解析5可以看出，这里应该是说遵守行为规范，subject与to 连用，表示"服从某物，受…支配"。
故本题选B。
7.【答案】D【解析】分析句子结构可知，这里是由that引导的定语从句修饰说明前面的行为规范，是说法院也应当遵守适用于其他联邦司法部的行为规范。
apply to "适用于"符合题意。
resort to "求助于";stick to "坚持(原则等)"语意不通。
8.【答案】B【解析】空所在的语境为，类似这样的案例提出了这样一个问题：法院和政。
2012年考研英语一真题及答案完整解析 - 副本
2012年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语（一）Section I Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices have become an important issue recently. The court cannot _1_ its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law _2_ justices behave like politicians. Yet, in several instances, justices acted in ways that _3_ the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial.Justice Antonin Scalia, for example, appeared at political events. That kind of activity makes it less likely that the court’s decisi ons will be _4_ as impartial judgments. Part of the problem is that the justices are not _5_by an ethics code. At the very least, the court should make itself _6_to the code of conduct that _7_to the rest of the federal judiciary.This and other similar cases _8_the question of whether there is still a_9_between the court and politics.The framers of the Constitution envisioned law _10_having authority apart from politics. They gave justices permanent positions _11_they would be free to _12_ those in power and have no need to _13_ political support. Our legal system was designed to set law apart from politics precisely because they are so closely _14_.Constitutional law is political because it results from choices rooted in fundamental social _15_ like liberty and property. When the court deals with social policy decisions, the law it _16_ is inescapably political-which is why decisions split along ideological lines are so easily _17_ as unjust.The justices must _18_ doubts about the court’s legitimacy by making themselves _19_ to the code of conduct. That would make rulings more likely to be seen as separate from politics and, _20_, convincing as law.1. [A]emphasize [B]maintain [C]modify [D] recognize2. [A]when [B]lest [C]before [D] unless3. [A]restored [B]weakened [C]established [D] eliminated4. [A]challenged [B]compromised [C]suspected [D] accepted5. [A]advanced [B]caught [C]bound [D]founded6. [A]resistant [B]subject [C]immune [D]prone7. [A]resorts [B]sticks [C]loads [D]applies8. [A]evade [B]raise [C]deny [D]settle9. [A]line [B]barrier [C]similarity [D]conflict10. [A]by [B]as [C]though [D]towards11. [A]so [B]since [C]provided [D]though12. [A]serve [B]satisfy [C]upset [D]replace13. [A]confirm [B]express [C]cultivate [D]offer14. [A]guarded [B]followed [C]studied [D]tied15. [A]concepts [B]theories [C]divisions [D]conceptions16. [A]excludes [B]questions [C]shapes [D]controls17. [A]dismissed [B]released [C]ranked [D]distorted18. [A]suppress [B]exploit [C]address [D]ignore19. [A]accessible [B]amiable [C]agreeable [D]accountable20. [A]by all mesns [B]atall costs [C]in a word [D]as a resultSection II Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)Text 1Come on –Everybody’s doing it. That whispered message, half invitation and half forcing, is what most of us think of when we hear the words peer pressure. It usually leads to no good-drinking, drugs and casual sex. But in her new book Join the Club, Tina Rosenberg contends that peer pressure can also be a positive force through what she calls the social cure, in which organizations and officials use the power of group dynamics to help individuals improve their lives and possibly the word.Rosenberg, the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, offers a host of example of the social cure in action: In South Carolina, a state-sponsored antismoking program called Rage Against the Haze sets out to make cigarettes uncool. In South Africa, an HIV-prevention initiative known as LoveLife recruits young people to promote safe sex among their peers.The idea seems promising，and Rosenberg is a perceptive observer. Her critique of the lameness of many pubic-health campaigns is spot-on: they fail to mobilize peer pressure for healthy habits, and they demonstrate a seriously flawed understanding of psychology.” Dare to be different, please don’t smoke!” pleads one billboard campaign aimed at reducing smoking amongteenagers-teenagers, who desire nothing more than fitting in. Rosenberg argues convincingly that public-health advocates ought to take a page from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer pressure.But on the general effectiveness of the social cure, Rosenberg is less persuasive. Join the Club is filled with too much irrelevant detail and not enough exploration of the social and biological factors that make peer pressure so powerful. The most glaring flaw of the social cure as it’s presented here is that it doesn’t work very well for very long. Rage Against the Haze failed once state funding was cut. Evidence that the LoveLife program produces lasting changes is limited and mixed.There’s no doubt that our peer groups exert enormous influence on our behavior. An emerging body of research shows that positive health habits-as well as negative ones-spread through networks of friends via social communication. This is a subtle form of peer pressure: we unconsciously imitate the behavior we see every day.Far less certain, however, is how successfully experts and bureaucrats can select our peer groups and steer their activities in virtuous directions. It’s like the teacher w ho breaks up the troublemakers in the back row by pairing them with better-behaved classmates. The tactic never really works. And that’s the problem with a social cure engineered from the outside: in the real world, as in school, we insist on choosing our own friends.21. According to the first paragraph, peer pressure often emerges as[A] a supplement to the social cure[B] a stimulus to group dynamics[C] an obstacle to school progress[D] a cause of undesirable behaviors22. Rosenberg holds that public advocates should[A] recruit professional advertisers[B] learn from advertisers’ experience[C] stay away from commercial advertisers[D] recognize the limitations of advertisements23. In the author’s view, Rosenberg’s book fails to[A] adequately probe social and biological factors[B] effectively evade the flaws of the social cure[C] illustrate the functions of state funding[D]produce a long-lasting social effect24. Paragraph 5shows that our imitation of behaviors[A] is harmful to our networks of friends[B] will mislead behavioral studies[C] occurs without our realizing it[D] can produce negative health habits25. The author suggests in the last paragraph that the effect of peer pressure is[A] harmful[B] desirable[C] profound[D] questionableText 2A deal is a deal-except, apparently ,when Entergy is involved. The company, a major energy supplier in New England, provoked justified outrage in Vermont last week when it announced it was reneging on a longstanding commitment to abide by the strict nuclear regulations.Instead, the company has done precisely what it had long promised it would not challenge the constitutionality of Vermont’s rules in the federal court, as part of a desperate effort to keep its Vermont Yankee nuclear powe r plant running. It’s a stunning move.The conflict has been surfacing since 2002, when the corporation bought Vermont’s only nuclear power plant, an aging reactor in Vernon. As a condition of receiving state approval for the sale, the company agreed to seek permission from state regulators tooperate past 2012. In 2006, the state went a step further, requiring that any extension of the plant’s license be subject to Vermont legislature’s approval. Then, too, the company went along.Either Entergy never real ly intended to live by those commitments, or it simply didn’t foresee what would happen next. A string of accidents, including the partial collapse of a cooling tower in 207 and the discovery of an underground pipe system leakage, raised serious questions about both Vermont Yankee’s safety and Entergy’s management–especially after the company made misleading statements about the pipe. Enraged by Entergy’s behavior, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 last year against allowing an extension.Now the company is suddenly claiming that the 2002 agreement is invalid because of the 2006 legislation, and that only the federal government has regulatory power over nuclear issues. The legal issues in the case are obscure: whereas the Supreme Court has ruled that states do have some regulatory authority over nuclear power, legal scholars say that Vermont case will offer a precedent-setting test of how far those powers extend. Certainly, there are valid concerns about the patchwork regulations that could result if every state sets its own rules. But had Entergy kept its word, that debate would be beside the point.The company seems to have concluded that its reputation in Vermont is already so damaged that it has noting left to lose by going to war with the state. But there should be consequences. Permission to run a nuclear plant is a poblic trust. Entergy runs 11 other reactors in the United States, including Pilgrim Nuclear station in Plymouth. Pledging to run Pilgrim safely, the company has applied for federal permission to keep it open for another 20 years. But as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviews the company’s application, it should keep it mind what promises from Entergy are worth.26. The phrase “reneging on”(Line 3.para.1) is closest in meaning to[A] condemning.[B] reaffirming.[C] dishonoring.[D] securing.27. By entering into the 2002 agreement, Entergy intended to[A] obtain protection from Vermont regulators.[B] seek favor from the federal legislature.[C] acquire an extension of its business license .[D] get permission to purchase a power plant.28. According to Paragraph 4, Entergy seems to have problems with its[A] managerial practices.[B] technical innovativeness.[C] financial goals.[D] business vision29. In the author’s view, th e Vermont case will test[A] Entergy’s capacity to fulfill all its promises.[B] the mature of states’ patchwork regulations.[C] the federal authority over nuclear issues .[D] the limits of states’ power over nuclear issues.30. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that[A] Entergy’s business elsewhere might be affected.[B] the authority of the NRC will be defied.[C] Entergy will withdraw its Plymouth application.[D] Vermont’s reputation might be damaged.Text 3In the idealized version of how science is done, facts about the world are waiting to be observed and collected by objective researchers who use the scientific method to carry out their work. But in the everyday practice of science, discovery frequently follows an ambiguous and complicated route. We aim to be objective, but we cannot escape the context of our unique life experience. Prior knowledge and interest influence what we experience, what we think our experiences mean, and the subsequent actions we take. Opportunities for misinterpretation, error, and self-deception abound.Consequently, discovery claims should be thought of as protoscience. Similar to newly staked mining claims, they are full of potential. But it takes collective scrutiny and acceptance to transform a discovery claim into a mature discovery. This is the credibility process, through which the individual researcher’s me, here, now becomes the community’s anyone, anywhere, anytime. Objective knowledge is the goal, not the starting point.Once a discovery claim becomes public, the discoverer receives intellectual credit. But, unlike with mining claims, the community takes control of what happens next. Within the complex social structure of the scientific community, researchers make discoveries; editors and reviewers act as gatekeepers by controlling the publication process; other scientists use the new finding to suit their own purposes; and finally, the public (including other scientists) receives the new discovery and possibly accompanying technology. As a discovery claim works it through the community, the interaction and confrontation between shared andcompeting beliefs about the science and the technology involved transforms an individual’s discovery claim into the community’s credible discovery.Two paradoxes exist throughout this credibility process. First, scientific work tends to focus on some aspect of prevailing Knowledge that is viewed as incomplete or incorrect. Little reward accompanies duplication and confirmation of what is already known and believed. The goal is new-search, not re-search. Not surprisingly, newly published discovery claims and credible discoveries that appear to be important and convincing will always be open to challenge and potential modification or refutation by future researchers. Second, novelty itself frequently provokes disbelief. Nobel Laureate and physiologist AlbertAzent-Gyorgyi once described discovery as “seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.” But thinking what nobody else has thought and telling others what they have missed may not change their views. Sometimes years are required for truly novel discovery claims to be accepted and appreciated.In the end, credibility “happens” to a discovery claim – a process that corresponds to what philosopher Annette Baier has described as the commons of the mind. “We reason together, challenge, revise, and complete each other’s reasoning and each other’s conceptions of reason.”31. According to the first paragraph, the process of discovery is characterized by its[A] uncertainty and complexity.[B] misconception and deceptiveness.[C] logicality and objectivity.[D] systematicness and regularity.32. It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that credibility process requires[A] strict inspection.[B]shared efforts.[C] individual wisdom.[D]persistent innovation.33.Paragraph 3 shows that a discovery claim becomes credible after it[A] has attracted the attention of the general public.[B]has been examined by the scientific community.[C] has received recognition from editors and reviewers.[D]has been frequently quoted by peer scientists.34. Albert Szent-Györgyi would most likely agree that[A] scientific claims will survive challenges.[B]discoveries today inspire future research.[C] efforts to make discoveries are justified.[D]scientific work calls for a critical mind.35.Which of the following would be the best title of the test?[A] Novelty as an Engine of Scientific Development.[B]Collective Scrutiny in Scientific Discovery.[C] Evolution of Credibility in Doing Science.[D]Challenge to Credibility at the Gate to Science.Text 4If the trade unionist Jimmy Hoffa were alive today, he would probably represent civil servant. When Hoffa’s Teamsters were in their prime in 1960, only one in ten American government workers belonged to a union; now 36% do. In 2009 the number of unionists in America’s public sector passed that of their fellow members in the private sector. In Britain, more than half of public-sector workers but only about 15% of private-sector ones are unionized.There are three reasons for the public-sector unions’ thriving. First, they can shut things down without suffering much in the way of consequences. Second, they are mostly bright and well-educated. A quarter of America’s public-sector workers have a university degree. Third, they now dominate left-of-centre politics. Some of their ties go back a long way. Britain’s Labor Party, as its name implies, has long been associated with trade unionism. Its current leader, Ed Miliband, owes his position to votes from public-sector unions.At the state level their influence can be even more fearsome. Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of California points out that much of the state’s budget is patrolled by unions. The teachers’ unio ns keep an eye on schools, the CCPOA on prisons and a variety of labor groups on health care.In many rich countries average wages in the state sector are higher than in the private one. But the real gains come in benefits and work practices. Politicians h ave repeatedly “backloaded” public-sector pay deals, keeping the pay increases modest but adding to holidays and especially pensions that are already generous.Reform has been vigorously opposed, perhaps most egregiously in education, where charter schools, academies and merit pay all faced drawn-outbattles. Even though there is plenty of evidence that the quality of the teachers is the most important variable, teachers’ unions have fought against getting rid of bad ones and promoting good ones.As the cost to everyone else has become clearer, politicians have begun to clamp down. In Wisconsin the unions have rallied thousands of supporters against Scott Walker, the hardline Republican governor. But many within the public sector suffer under the current system, too.John Donahue at Harvard’s Kennedy School points out that the norms of culture in Western civil services suit those who want to stay put but is bad for high achievers. The only American public-sector workers who earn well above $250,000 a year are university sports coaches and the president of the United States. Bankers’ fat pay packets have attracted much criticism, but apublic-sector system that does not reward high achievers may be a much bigger problem for America.36. It can be learned from the first paragraph that[A] Teamsters still have a large body of members.[B] Jimmy Hoffa used to work as a civil servant.[C] unions have enlarged their public-sector membership.[D]the government has improved its relationship with unionists.37. Which of the following is true of Paragraph 2?[A] Public-sector unions are prudent in taking actions.[B] Education is required for public-sector union membership.[C] Labor Party has long been fighting against public-sector unions.[D]Public-sector unions seldom get in trouble for their actions.38. It can be learned from Paragraph 4 that the income in the state sector is[A] illegally secured.[B] indirectly augmented.[C] excessively increased.[D]fairly adjusted.39. The example of the unions in Wisconsin shows that unions[A]often run against the current political system.[B]can change people’s political attitudes.[C]may be a barrier to public-sector reforms.[D]are dominant in the government.40. John Donahue’s attitude towards the public-sector system is one of[A]disapproval.[B]appreciation.[C]tolerance.[D]indifference.Part BDirections:In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list A-G to fit into each of the numbered blanks. There are two extra choices, which do not fit in any of the blanks. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET1.（10 points）Think of those fleeting moments when you look out of an aeroplane window and realise that you are flying, higher than a bird. Now think of your laptop, thinner than a brown-paper envelope, or your cellphone in the palm of your hand. Take a moment or two to wonder at those marvels. You are the lucky inheritor of a dream come true.The second half of the 20th century saw a collection of geniuses, warriors, entrepreneurs and visionaries labour to create a fabulous machine that could function as a typewriter and printing press, studio and theatre, paintbrush and gallery, piano and radio, the mail as well as the mail carrier. (41)The networked computer is an amazing device, the first media machine that serves as the mode of production, means of distribution, site of reception, and place of praise and critique. The computer is the 21st century's culture machine.But for all the reasons there are to celebrate the computer, we must also tread with caution. (42)I call it a secret war for two reasons. First, most people do not realise that there are strong commercial agendas at work to keep them in passive consumption mode. Second, the majority of people who use networked computers to upload are not even aware of the significance of what they are doing.All animals download, but only a few upload. Beavers build dams and birds make nests. Yet for the most part, the animal kingdom moves through the world downloading. Humans are unique in their capacity to not only make tools but then turn around and use them to create superfluous material goods - paintings, sculpture and architecture - and superfluous experiences - music, literature, religion and philosophy. (43)For all the possibilities of our new culture machines, most people are still stuck in download mode. Even after the advent of widespread social media, a pyramid of production remains, with a small number of people uploading material, a slightly larger groupcommenting on or modifying that content, and a huge percentage remaining content to just consume. (44)Television is a one-way tap flowing into our homes. The hardest task that television asks of anyone is to turn the power off after he has turned it on.(45)What counts as meaningful uploading? My definition revolves around the concept of "stickiness" - creations and experiences to which others adhere.[A] Of course, it is precisely these superfluous things that define human culture and ultimately what it is to be human. Downloading and consuming culture requires great skills, but failing to move beyond downloading is to strip oneself of a defining constituent of humanity.[B] Applications like , which allow users to combine pictures, words and other media in creative ways and then share them, have the potential to add stickiness by amusing, entertaining and enlightening others.[C] Not only did they develop such a device but by the turn of the millennium they had also managed to embed it in a worldwide system accessed by billions of people every day.[D] This is because the networked computer has sparked a secret war between downloading and uploading - between passive consumption and active creation - whose outcome will shape our collective future in ways we can only begin to imagine.[E] The challenge the computer mounts to television thus bears little similarity to one format being replaced by another in the manner of record players being replaced by CD players. [F] One reason for the persistence of this pyramid of production is that for the pasthalf-century, much of the world's media culture has been defined by a single medium - television - and television is defined by downloading.[G]The networked computer offers the first chance in 50 years to reverse the flow, to encourage thoughtful downloading and, even more importantly, meaningful uploading.Part CDirections:Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be written clearly on ANSWER SHEET 2. (10 points)Since the days of Aristotle, a search for universal principles has characterized the scientific enterprise. In some ways, this quest for commonalities defines science. Newton’s laws of motion and Dar winian evolution each bind a host of different phenomena into a single explicatory frame work.(46)In physics, one approach takes this impulse for unification to its extreme, and seeks a theory of everything—a single generative equation for all we see.It isbecoming less clear, however, that such a theory would be a simplification, given the dimensions and universes that it might entail, nonetheless, unification of sorts remains a major goal.This tendency in the natural sciences has long been evident in the social sciences too. (47)Here, Darwinism seems to offer justification for it all humans share common origins it seems reasonable to suppose that cultural diversity could also be traced to more constrained beginnings. Just as the bewildering variety of human courtship rituals might all be considered forms of sexual selection, perhaps the world’s languages, music, social and religious customs and even history are governed by universal features. (48)To filter out what is unique from what isshared might enable us to understand how complex cultural behavior arose and what guides it in evolutionary or cognitive terms.That, at least, is the hope. But a comparative study of linguistic traits published online today supplies a reality check. Russell Gray at the University of Auckland and his colleagues consider the evolution of grammars in the light of two previous attempts to find universality in language.The most famous of these efforts was initiated by Noam Chomsky, who suggested that humans are born with an innate language—acquisition capacity that dictates a universal grammar. A few generative rules are then sufficient to unfold the entire fundamental structure of a language, which is why children can learn it so quickly.(49)The second, by Joshua Greenberg, takes a more empirical approach touniversality identifying traits (particularly in word order) shared by manylanguage which are considered to represent biases that result from cognitiveconstraintsGray and his colleagues have put them to the test by examining four family trees that between them represent more than 2,000 languages.(50)Chomsky’s grammar should show patterns of language change that are independent of the family tree or the pathway tracked through it. Whereas Greenbergian universality predicts strong co-dependencies between particular types of word-order relations.Neither of these patterns is borne out by the analysis, suggesting that thestructures of the languages are lire age-specific and not governed by universalsSection III WritingPart A51. Directions:Some internationals students are coming to your university. Write them an email in the name of the Students’ Union to1)extend your welcome and2)provide some suggestions for their campus life here.You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET2.Do not sign your name at the end of the letter. Use “Li Ming” instead.Do not write the address(10 points)Part B52. Directions: write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following drawing. In your essay you should1) describe the drawing briefly2) explain its intended meaning, and3) give your commentsYou should write neatly on ANSWER SHEET2.（20 points）1.【答案】B【解析】从空后信息可以看出，这句表达的是“_ _法官表现得像政治家”的情况下，法庭就不能保持其作为法律法规的合法卫士的形象，所以应该选C,maintain“维持，保持”，其他显然语义不通。
2012年考研英语(一)真题及答案详解
2012年全国硕士生入学考试英语(一)试题Section I Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices have become an important issue recently. The court cannot _1_ its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law _2_ justices behave like politicians. Yet, in several instances, justices acted in ways that _3_ the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial.Justice Antonin Scalia, for example, appeared at political events. That kind of activity makes it less likely that the court’s decisions will be _4_ as impartial judgments. Part of the problem is that the justices are not _5_by an ethics code. At the very least, the court should make itself _6_to the code of conduct that _7_to the rest of the federal judiciary.This and other similar cases _8_the question of whether there is still a _9_between the court and politics.The framers of the Constitution envisioned law _10_having authority apart from politics. They gave justices permanent positions _11_they would be free to _12_ those in power and have no need to _13_ political support. Our legal system was designed to set law apart from politics precisely because they are so closely _14_.Constitutional law is political because it results from choices rooted in fundamental social_15_ like liberty and property. When the court deals with social policy decisions, the law it _16_ is inescapably political-which is why decisions split along ideological lines are so easily _17_ as unjust.The justices must _18_ doubts about the court’s legitimacy by making themselves _19_ to the code of conduct. That would make rulings more likely to be seen as separate from politics and,_20_, convincing as law.1. [A]emphasize [B]maintain [C]modify [D] recognize2. [A]when [B]lest [C]before [D] unless3. [A]restored [B]weakened [C]established [D] eliminated4. [A]challenged [B]compromised [C]suspected [D] accepted5. [A]advanced [B]caught [C]bound [D]founded6. [A]resistant [B]subject [C]immune [D]prone7. [A]resorts [B]sticks [C]loads [D]applies8. [A]evade [B]raise [C]deny [D]settle9. [A]line [B]barrier [C]similarity [D]conflict10. [A]by [B]as [C]though [D]towards11. [A]so [B]since [C]provided [D]though12. [A]serve [B]satisfy [C]upset [D]replace13. [A]confirm [B]express [C]cultivate [D]offer14. [A]guarded [B]followed [C]studied [D]tied15. [A]concepts [B]theories [C]divisions [D]conceptions16. [A]excludes [B]questions [C]shapes [D]controls17. [A]dismissed [B]released [C]ranked [D]distorted18. [A]suppress [B]exploit [C]address [D]ignore19. [A]accessible [B]amiable [C]agreeable [D]accountable20. [A]by all mesns [B]atall costs [C]in a word [D]as a resultSection II Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)Text 1Come on –Everybody’s doing it. That whispered message, half invitation and h alf forcing, is what most of us think of when we hear the words peer pressure. It usually leads to nogood-drinking, drugs and casual sex. But in her new book Join the Club, Tina Rosenberg contends that peer pressure can also be a positive force through what she calls the social cure, in which organizations and officials use the power of group dynamics to help individuals improve their lives and possibly the word.Rosenberg, the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, offers a host of example of the social cure in action: In South Carolina, a state-sponsored antismoking program called Rage Against the Haze sets out to make cigarettes uncool. In South Africa, an HIV-prevention initiative known as LoveLife recruits young people to promote safe sex among their peers.The idea seems promising，and Rosenberg is a perceptive observer. Her critique of the lameness of many pubic-health campaigns is spot-on: they fail to mobilize peer pressure for healthy habits, and they demonstrate a seriously flawed understanding of psyc hology.‖ Dare to be different, please don’t smoke!‖ pleads one billboard campaign aimed at reducing smoking among teenagers-teenagers, who desire nothing more than fitting in. Rosenberg argues convincingly that public-health advocates ought to take a page from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer pressure.But on the general effectiveness of the social cure, Rosenberg is less persuasive. Join the Club is filled with too much irrelevant detail and not enough exploration of the social and biological factors that make peer pressure so powerful. The most glaring flaw of the social cure as it’s presented here is that it doesn’t work very well for very long. Rage Against the Haze failed once state funding was cut. Evidence that the LoveLife program produces lasting changes is limited and mixed.There’s no doubt that our peer groups exert enormous influence on our behavior. An emerging body of research shows that positive health habits-as well as negative ones-spread through networks of friends via social communication. This is a subtle form of peer pressure: we unconsciously imitate the behavior we see every day.Far less certain, however, is how successfully experts and bureaucrats can select our peer groups and steer their activities in virtuous directio ns. It’s like the teacher who breaks up the troublemakers in the back row by pairing them with better-behaved classmates. The tactic never really works. And that’s the problem with a social cure engineered from the outside: in the real world, as in school, we insist on choosing our own friends.21. According to the first paragraph, peer pressure often emerges as[A] a supplement to the social cure[B] a stimulus to group dynamics[C] an obstacle to school progress[D] a cause of undesirable behaviors22. Rosenberg holds that public advocates should[A] recruit professional advertisers[B] learn from advertisers’ experience[C] stay away from commercial advertisers[D] recognize the limitations of advertisements23. In the author’s view,Rosenberg’s book fails to[A] adequately probe social and biological factors[B] effectively evade the flaws of the social cure[C] illustrate the functions of state funding[D]produce a long-lasting social effect24. Paragraph 5shows that our imitation of behaviors[A] is harmful to our networks of friends[B] will mislead behavioral studies[C] occurs without our realizing it[D] can produce negative health habits25. The author suggests in the last paragraph that the effect of peer pressure is[A] harmful[B] desirable[C] profound[D] questionableText 2A deal is a deal-except, apparently ,when Entergy is involved. The company, a major energy supplier in New England, provoked justified outrage in Vermont last week when it announced it was reneging on a longstanding commitment to abide by the strict nuclear regulations.Instead, the company has done precisely what it had long promised it would not challenge the constitutionality of Vermont’s rules in the federal court, as part of a desperate effort to keep its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant running. It’s a stunning move.The conflict has been surfacing since 2002, when the corporation bought Vermont’s only nuclear power plant, an aging reactor in Vernon. As a condition of receiving state approval for the sale, the company agreed to seek permission from state regulators to operate past 2012. In 2006, the state went a step further, requiring that any extension of the plant’s license be subject to Vermont legislature’s a pproval. Then, too, the company went along.Either Entergy never really intended to live by those commitments, or it simply didn’t foresee what would happen next. A string of accidents, including the partial collapse of a cooling tower in 207 and the discovery of an underground pipe system leakage, raised serious questions about both Vermont Yankee’s safety and Entergy’s management– especially after the company made misleading statements about the pipe. Enraged by Entergy’s behavior, the Vermont Senate vo ted 26 to 4 last year against allowing an extension.Now the company is suddenly claiming that the 2002 agreement is invalid because of the 2006 legislation, and that only the federal government has regulatory power over nuclear issues. The legal issues in the case are obscure: whereas the Supreme Court has ruled that states do have some regulatory authority over nuclear power, legal scholars say that Vermont case will offer a precedent-setting test of how far those powers extend. Certainly, there are valid concerns about the patchwork regulations that could result if every state sets its own rules. But had Entergy kept its word, that debate would be beside the point.The company seems to have concluded that its reputation in Vermont is already so damaged that it has noting left to lose by going to war with the state. But there should be consequences. Permission to run a nuclear plant is a poblic trust. Entergy runs 11 other reactors in the United States, including Pilgrim Nuclear station in Plymouth. Pledging to run Pilgrim safely, the company has applied for federal permission to keep it open for another 20 years. But as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviews the company’s application, it should keep it mind what promises from Entergy are worth.26. The phrase ―reneging on‖(Line 3.para.1) is closest in meaning to[A] condemning.[B] reaffirming.[C] dishonoring.[D] securing.27. By entering into the 2002 agreement, Entergy intended to[A] obtain protection from Vermont regulators.[B] seek favor from the federal legislature.[C] acquire an extension of its business license .[D] get permission to purchase a power plant.28. According to Paragraph 4, Entergy seems to have problems with its[A] managerial practices.[B] technical innovativeness.[C] financial goals.[D] business vision29. In the author’s view, the Vermont case will test[A] Entergy’s capacity to fulfill all its promises.[B] the mature of states’ patchwork regulations.[C] the federal authority over nuclear issues .[D] the limits of states’ power over nuclear issues.30. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that[A] Entergy’s business elsewhere might be affected.[B] the authority of the NRC will be defied.[C] Entergy will withdraw its Plymouth application.[D] Vermont’s reputation might be damaged.Text 3In the idealized version of how science is done, facts about the world are waiting to be observed and collected by objective researchers who use the scientific method to carry out their work. But in the everyday practice of science, discovery frequently follows an ambiguous and complicated route. We aim to be objective, but we cannot escape the context of our unique life experience. Prior knowledge and interest influence what we experience, what we think ourexperiences mean, and the subsequent actions we take. Opportunities for misinterpretation, error, and self-deception abound.Consequently, discovery claims should be thought of as protoscience. Similar to newly staked mining claims, they are full of potential. But it takes collective scrutiny and acceptance to transform a discovery claim into a mature discovery. This is the credibility process, through which the individual researcher’s me, here, now becomes the community’s anyone, anywhere, anytime. Objective knowledge is the goal, not the starting point.Once a discovery claim becomes public, the discoverer receives intellectual credit. But, unlike with mining claims, the community takes control of what happens next. Within the complex social structure of the scientific community, researchers make discoveries; editors and reviewers act as gatekeepers by controlling the publication process; other scientists use the new finding to suit their own purposes; and finally, the public (including other scientists) receives the new discovery and possibly accompanying technology. As a discovery claim works it through the community, the interaction and confrontation between shared and competing beliefs about the science and the technology involved transforms an individual’s discovery claim into the community’s credible discovery.Two paradoxes exist throughout this credibility process. First, scientific work tends to focus on some aspect of prevailing Knowledge that is viewed as incomplete or incorrect. Little reward accompanies duplication and confirmation of what is already known and believed. The goal is new-search, not re-search. Not surprisingly, newly published discovery claims and credible discoveries that appear to be important and convincing will always be open to challenge and potential modification or refutation by future researchers. Second, novelty itself frequently provokes disbelief. Nobel Laureate and physiologist Albert Azent-Gyorgyi once described discovery as ―seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.‖ But thinking what nobody else has thought and telling others what they have missed may not change their views. Sometimes years are required for truly novel discovery claims to be accepted and appreciated.In the end, credibility ―happens‖ to a discovery claim – a process that corresponds to what philosopher Annette Baier has described as the commons of the mind. ―We reason together, challenge, revise, and complete each other’s reasoning and each other’s conceptions of reason.‖31. According to the first paragraph, the process of discovery is characterized by its[A] uncertainty and complexity.[B] misconception and deceptiveness.[C] logicality and objectivity.[D] systematicness and regularity.32. It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that credibility process requires[A] strict inspection.[B]shared efforts.[C] individual wisdom.[D]persistent innovation.33.Paragraph 3 shows that a discovery claim becomes credible after it[A] has attracted the attention of the general public.[B]has been examined by the scientific community.[C] has received recognition from editors and reviewers.[D]has been frequently quoted by peer scientists.34. Albert Szent-Györgyi would most likely agree that[A] scientific claims will survive challenges.[B]discoveries today inspire future research.[C] efforts to make discoveries are justified.[D]scientific work calls for a critical mind.35.Which of the following would be the best title of the test?[A] Novelty as an Engine of Scientific Development.[B]Collective Scrutiny in Scientific Discovery.[C] Evolution of Credibility in Doing Science.[D]Challenge to Credibility at the Gate to Science.Text 4If the trade unionist Jimmy Hoffa were alive today, he would probably represent civil servant. When Hoffa’s Teamsters were in their prime in 1960, only one in ten American government workers belonged to a union; now 36% do. In 2009 the number of unionists in America’s public sector passed that of their fellow members in the private sector. In Britain, more than half of public-sector workers but only about 15% of private-sector ones are unionized.There are three reasons for the public-sector unions’ thriving. First, they can shut things down without suffering much in the way of consequences. Second, they are mostly bright and well-educated. A quarter of America’s public-sector workers have a university degree. Third, they now dominate left-of-centre politics. Some of their ties go back a long way. Britain’s Labor Party, as its name implies, has long been associated with trade unionism. Its current leader, Ed Miliband, owes his position to votes from public-sector unions.At the state level their influence can be even more fearsome. Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of Californ ia points out that much of the state’s budget is patrolled by unions. The teachers’ unions keep an eye on schools, the CCPOA on prisons and a variety of labor groups on health care.In many rich countries average wages in the state sector are higher than in the private one. But the real gains come in benefits and work practices. Politicians have repeatedly ―backloaded‖ public-sector pay deals, keeping the pay increases modest but adding to holidays and especially pensions that are already generous.Reform has been vigorously opposed, perhaps most egregiously in education, where charter schools, academies and merit pay all faced drawn-out battles. Even though there is plenty of evidence that the quality of the teachers is the most important variable, teac hers’ unions have fought against getting rid of bad ones and promoting good ones.As the cost to everyone else has become clearer, politicians have begun to clamp down. In Wisconsin the unions have rallied thousands of supporters against Scott Walker, the hardline Republican governor. But many within the public sector suffer under the current system, too.John Donahue at Harvard’s Kennedy School points out that the norms of culture in Western civil services suit those who want to stay put but is bad for high achievers. The only American public-sector workers who earn well above $250,000 a year are university sports coaches and the president of the United States. Bankers’ fat pay packets have attracted much criticism, but a public-sector system that does not reward high achievers may be a much bigger problem for America.36. It can be learned from the first paragraph that[A] Teamsters still have a large body of members.[B] Jimmy Hoffa used to work as a civil servant.[C] unions have enlarged their public-sector membership.[D]the government has improved its relationship with unionists.37. Which of the following is true of Paragraph 2?[A] Public-sector unions are prudent in taking actions.[B] Education is required for public-sector union membership.[C] Labor Party has long been fighting against public-sector unions.[D]Public-sector unions seldom get in trouble for their actions.38. It can be learned from Paragraph 4 that the income in the state sector is[A] illegally secured.[B] indirectly augmented.[C] excessively increased.[D]fairly adjusted.39. The example of the unions in Wisconsin shows that unions[A]often run against the current political system.[B]can change people’s political attitudes.[C]may be a barrier to public-sector reforms.[D]are dominant in the government.40. John Donahue’s attitude towards the public-sector system is one of[A]disapproval.[B]appreciation.[C]tolerance.[D]indifference.Part BDirections:In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list A-G to fit into each of the numbered blanks. There are two extra choices, which do not fit in any of the blanks. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET1.(10 points)Think of those fleeting moments when you look out of an aeroplane window and realise that you are flying, higher than a bird. Now think of your laptop, thinner than a brown-paper envelope,or your cellphone in the palm of your hand. Take a moment or two to wonder at those marvels. You are the lucky inheritor of a dream come true.The second half of the 20th century saw a collection of geniuses, warriors, entrepreneurs and visionaries labour to create a fabulous machine that could function as a typewriter and printing press, studio and theatre, paintbrush and gallery, piano and radio, the mail as well as the mail carrier. (41)The networked computer is an amazing device, the first media machine that serves as the mode of production, means of distribution, site of reception, and place of praise and critique. The computer is the 21st century's culture machine.But for all the reasons there are to celebrate the computer, we must also tread with caution.(42)I call it a secret war for two reasons. First, most people do not realise that there are strong commercial agendas at work to keep them in passive consumption mode. Second, the majority of people who use networked computers to upload are not even aware of the significance of what they are doing.All animals download, but only a few upload. Beavers build dams and birds make nests. Yet for the most part, the animal kingdom moves through the world downloading. Humans are unique in their capacity to not only make tools but then turn around and use them to create superfluous material goods - paintings, sculpture and architecture - and superfluous experiences - music, literature, religion and philosophy. (43)For all the possibilities of our new culture machines, most people are still stuck in download mode. Even after the advent of widespread social media, a pyramid of production remains, with a small number of people uploading material, a slightly larger group commenting on or modifying that content, and a huge percentage remaining content to just consume. (44)Television is a one-way tap flowing into our homes. The hardest task that television asks of anyone is to turn the power off after he has turned it on.(45)What counts as meaningful uploading? My definition revolves around the concept of "stickiness" - creations and experiences to which others adhere.[A] Of course, it is precisely these superfluous things that define human culture and ultimately what it is to be human. Downloading and consuming culture requires great skills, but failing to move beyond downloading is to strip oneself of a defining constituent of humanity.[B] Applications like , which allow users to combine pictures, words and other media in creative ways and then share them, have the potential to add stickiness by amusing, entertaining and enlightening others.[C] Not only did they develop such a device but by the turn of the millennium they had also managed to embed it in a worldwide system accessed by billions of people every day.[D] This is because the networked computer has sparked a secret war between downloading and uploading - between passive consumption and active creation - whose outcome will shape our collective future in ways we can only begin to imagine.[E] The challenge the computer mounts to television thus bears little similarity to one format being replaced by another in the manner of record players being replaced by CD players.[F] One reason for the persistence of this pyramid of production is that for the pasthalf-century, much of the world's media culture has been defined by a single medium - television - and television is defined by downloading.[G]The networked computer offers the first chance in 50 years to reverse the flow, to encourage thoughtful downloading and, even more importantly, meaningful uploading.Part CDirections:Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be written clearly on ANSWER SHEET 2. (10 points)Since the days of Aristotle, a search for universal principles has characterized the scientific enterprise. In some ways, this quest for commonalities defines science. Newton’s laws of motion and Darwinian evolution each bind a host of different phenomena into a single explicatory frame work.(46)In physics, one approach takes this impulse for unification to its extreme, and seeks a theory of everything—a single generative equation for all we see.It is becoming less clear, however, that such a theory would be a simplification, given the dimensions and universes that it might entail, nonetheless, unification of sorts remains a major goal.This tendency in the natural sciences has long been evident in the social sciences too. (47)Here, Darwinism seems to offer justification for it all humans share common origins it seems reasonable to suppose that cultural diversity could also be traced to more constrained beginnings. Just as the bewildering variety of human courtship rituals might all be considered forms of sexual selection,pe rhaps the world’s languages, music, social and religious customs and even history are governed by universal features. (48)To filter out what is unique from what is shared might enable us to understand how complex cultural behavior arose and what guides it in evolutionary or cognitive terms.That, at least, is the hope. But a comparative study of linguistic traits published online today supplies a reality check. Russell Gray at the University of Auckland and his colleagues consider the evolution of grammars in the light of two previous attempts to find universality in language.The most famous of these efforts was initiated by Noam Chomsky, who suggested that humans are born with an innate language—acquisition capacity that dictates a universal grammar. A few generative rules are then sufficient to unfold the entire fundamental structure of a language, which is why children can learn it so quickly.(49)The second, by Joshua Greenberg, takes a more empirical approach to universality identifying traits (particularly in word order) shared by many language which are considered to represent biases that result from cognitive constraintsGray and his colleagues have put them to the test by examining four family trees that between them represent more than 2,000 languages.(50)Chomsky’s grammar should show patterns of language change that are independent of the family tree or the pathway tracked through it. Whereas Greenbergian universality predicts strong co-dependencies between particular types of word-order relations. Neither of these patterns is borne out by the analysis, suggesting that the structures of the languages are lire age-specific and not governed by universals[NxtPage]Section III WritingPart A51. Directions:Some internationals students are coming to your university. Write them an email in the name of the Students’ Union to1) extend your welcome and2) provide some suggestions for their campus life here.You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET2.Do not sign your name at the end of the letter. Use ―Li Ming‖ instead.Do not write the address(10 points)Part B52. Directions: write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following drawing. In your essay you should1) describe the drawing briefly2) explain its intended meaning, and3) give your commentsYou should write neatly on ANSWER SHEET2.(20 points)1.B2.A3.B4.D5.C6.B7.D8.B9.A 10.B11.A 12.C 13.C 14.D 15.A16.C 17.A 18.C 19.D 20.D21.D 22.D 23.A 24.C 25.D26.C 27.A 28.A 29.B 30.B31.A 32.D 33.B 34.D 35.D36.C 37.D 38.B 39.A 40.A41.C 42.D 43.A 44.F 45.G1.【答案】B【解析】从空后信息可以看出，这句表达的是―_ _法官表现得像政治家‖的情况下，法庭就不能保持其作为法律法规的合法卫士的形象，所以应该选C,maintain―维持，保持‖，其他显然语义不通。
2012年考研英语(一)真题及答案详解
Section I Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices have become an important issue recently. The court cannot _1_ its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law _2_ justices behave like politicians. Yet, in several instances, justices acted in ways that _3_ the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial.Justice Antonin Scalia, for example, appeared at political events. That kind of activity makes it less likely that the court’s decisions will be _4_ as impartial judgments. Part of the problem is that the justices are not _5_by an ethics code. At the very least, the court should make itself _6_to the code of conduct that _7_to the rest of the federal judiciary.This and other similar cases _8_the question of whether there is still a _9_between the court and politics.The framers of the Constitution envisioned law _10_having authority apart from politics. They gave justices permanent positions _11_they would be free to _12_ those in power and have no need to _13_ political support. Our legal system was designed to set law apart from politics precisely because they are so closely _14_.Constitutional law is political because it results from choices rooted in fundamental social _15_ like liberty and property. When the court deals with social policy decisions, the law it _16_ is inescapably political-which is why decisions split along ideological lines are so easily _17_ as unjust.The justices must _18_ doubts about the court’s legitimacy by making them selves _19_ to the code of conduct. That would make rulings more likely to be seen as separate from politics and, _20_, convincing as law.1. [A]emphasize [B]maintain [C]modify[D] recognize2. [A]when [B]lest [C]before [D] unless3. [A]restored [B]weakened[C]established [D] eliminated4. [A]challenged [B]compromised[C]suspected [D] accepted5. [A]advanced [B]caught [C]bound[D]founded6. [A]resistant [B]subject [C]immune[D]prone7. [A]resorts [B]sticks [C]loads[D]applies8. [A]evade [B]raise [C]deny [D]settle9. [A]line [B]barrier [C]similarity[D]conflict10. [A]by [B]as [C]though [D]towards11. [A]so [B]since [C]provided[D]though12. [A]serve [B]satisfy [C]upset[D]replace13. [A]confirm [B]express [C]cultivate[D]offer14. [A]guarded [B]followed [C]studied[D]tied15. [A]concepts [B]theories [C]divisions[D]conceptions16. [A]excludes [B]questions [C]shapes[D]controls17. [A]dismissed [B]released [C]ranked[D]distorted18. [A]suppress [B]exploit [C]address[D]ignore19. [A]accessible [B]amiable[C]agreeable [D]accountable20. [A]by all mesns [B]atall costs [C]in a word [D]as a resultSection II Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points) Text 1Come on –Everybody’s doing it. That whispered message, half invitation and half forcing, is what most of us think of when we hear the words peer pressure. It usually leads to no good-drinking, drugs and casual sex. But in her new book Join the Club, Tina Rosenberg contends that peer pressure can also be a positive force through what she calls the social cure, in which organizations and officials use the power of group dynamics to help individuals improve their lives and possibly the word.Rosenberg, the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, offers a host of example of the social cure in action: In South Carolina, a state-sponsored antismoking program called Rage Against the Haze sets out to make cigarettes uncool. In South Africa, an HIV-prevention initiative known as LoveLife recruits young people to promote safe sex among their peers.The idea seems promising，and Rosenberg is a perceptive observer. Her critique of the lameness of many pubic-health campaigns is spot-on: they fail to mobilize peer pressure for healthy habits, and they demonstrate a seriously flawed understanding of psychology.” Dare to be different, please don’t smoke!” pleads one billboard campaign aimed at reducing smoking among teenagers-teenagers, who desire nothing more than fitting in. Rosenberg argues convincingly that public-health advocates ought to take a page from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer pressure.But on the general effectiveness of the social cure, Rosenberg is less persuasive. Join the Club is filled with too much irrelevant detail and not enough exploration of the social and biological factors that make peer pressure so powerful. The most glaring flaw of the social cure as it’s presented here is that it doesn’t work very well for very long. Rage Against the Haze failed once state funding was cut. Evidence that the LoveLife program produces lasting changes is limited and mixed.There’s no doubt that our peer groups exert enormous influence on our behavior. An emerging body of research shows that positive health habits-as well as negative ones-spread through networks of friends via social communication. This is a subtle form of peer pressure: we unconsciously imitate the behavior we see every day.Far less certain, however, is how successfully experts and bureaucrats can select our peer groups and steer their activities in virtuous directions. It’s like the teacher who breaks up the troublemakers in the back row by pairing them with better-behaved classmates. The tactic never really works. And that’s the problem with a social cure engineered from the outside: in the real world, as in school, we insist on choosing our own friends.21. According to the first paragraph, peer pressure often emerges as[A] a supplement to the social cure[B] a stimulus to group dynamics[C] an obstacle to school progress[D] a cause of undesirable behaviors22. Rosenberg holds that public advocates should[A] recruit professional advertisers[B] learn fro m advertisers’ experience[C] stay away from commercial advertisers[D] recognize the limitations of advertisements23. In the author’s view, Rosenberg’s book fails to[A] adequately probe social and biological factors[B] effectively evade the flaws of the social cure[C] illustrate the functions of state funding[D]produce a long-lasting social effect24. Paragraph 5shows that our imitation of behaviors[A] is harmful to our networks of friends[B] will mislead behavioral studies[C] occurs without our realizing it[D] can produce negative health habits25. The author suggests in the last paragraph that the effect of peer pressure is[A] harmful[B] desirable[C] profound[D] questionableText 2A deal is a deal-except, apparently ,when Entergy is involved. The company, a major energy supplier in New England, provoked justified outrage in Vermont last week when it announced it was reneging on a longstanding commitment to abide by the strict nuclear regulations.Instead, the company has done precisely what it had long promised it would not challenge the constitutionality of Vermont’s rules in the federal court, as part of a desperate effort to keep its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant running. It’s a stunning move.The conflict has been surfacing since 2002, when the corporation bought Vermont’s only nuclear power plant, an aging reactor in Vernon. As a condition of receiving state approval for the sale, the company agreed to seek permission from state regulators to operate past 2012. In 2006, the state went a step further, requiring that any extension of the plant’s license be subject to Vermont legislature’s approval. Then, too, the company went along.Either Entergy never really intended to live by those commitments, or it simply didn’t foresee what would happen next. A string of accidents, including the partial collapse of a cooling tower in 207 and the discovery of an underground pipe system leakage, raised serious questions about both Vermont Yankee’s safety and Entergy’s management–especially after the company made misleading statements about the pipe. Enraged by Entergy’s behavior, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 last year against allowing an extension.Now the company is suddenly claiming that the 2002 agreement is invalid because of the 2006 legislation, and that only the federal government has regulatory power over nuclear issues. The legal issues in the case are obscure: whereas the Supreme Court has ruled that states do have some regulatory authority over nuclear power, legal scholars say that Vermont case will offer a precedent-setting test of how far those powers extend. Certainly, there are valid concerns about the patchwork regulations that could result if every state sets its own rules. But had Entergy kept its word, that debate would be beside the point.The company seems to have concluded that its reputation in Vermont is already so damaged that it has noting left to lose by going to war with the state. But there should be consequences. Permission to run a nuclear plant is a poblic trust. Entergy runs 11 other reactors in the United States, including Pilgrim Nuclear station in Plymouth. Pledging to run Pilgrim safely, the company has applied for federal permission to keep it open for another 20 years. But as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviews the company’s application, it should keep it mind what promises from Entergy areworth.26. The phrase “reneging on”(Line 3.para.1) is closest in meaning to[A] condemning.[B] reaffirming.[C] dishonoring.[D] securing.27. By entering into the 2002 agreement, Entergy intended to[A] obtain protection from Vermont regulators.[B] seek favor from the federal legislature.[C] acquire an extension of its business license .[D] get permission to purchase a power plant.28. According to Paragraph 4, Entergy seems to have problems with its[A] managerial practices.[B] technical innovativeness.[C] financial goals.[D] business vision29. In the author’s view, the Vermont case will test*A+ Entergy’s capacity to fulfill all its promises.*B+ the mature of states’ patchwork regulations.[C] the federal authority over nuclear issues .*D+ the limits of states’ power over nuclear issues.30. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that*A+ Entergy’s business elsewhere might be affected.[B] the authority of the NRC will be defied.[C] Entergy will withdraw its Plymouth application.*D+ Vermont’s reputation might be damaged.Text 3In the idealized version of how science is done, facts about the world are waiting to be observed and collected by objective researchers who use the scientific method to carry out their work. But in the everyday practice of science, discovery frequently follows an ambiguous and complicated route. We aim to be objective, but we cannot escape the context of our unique life experience. Prior knowledge and interest influence what we experience, what we think our experiences mean, and the subsequent actions we take. Opportunities for misinterpretation, error, and self-deception abound.Consequently, discovery claims should be thought of as protoscience. Similar to newly staked mining claims, they are full of potential. But it takes collective scrutiny and acceptance to transform a discovery claim into a mature discovery. This is the credibility process, through which the individual researcher’s me, here, now becomes the community’s anyone, anywhere, anytime. Objective knowledge is the goal, not the starting point.Once a discovery claim becomes public, the discoverer receives intellectual credit. But, unlike with mining claims, the community takes control of what happens next. Within the complex social structure of the scientific community, researchers make discoveries; editors and reviewers act as gatekeepers by controlling the publication process; other scientists use the new finding to suit their own purposes; and finally, the public (including other scientists) receives the new discovery and possibly accompanying technology. As a discovery claim works it through the community, the interaction and confrontation between shared and competing beliefs about the science and the technology involved transforms an individual’s discovery claim into the community’s credible discovery.Two paradoxes exist throughout thiscredibility process. First, scientific work tends to focus on some aspect of prevailing Knowledge that is viewed as incomplete or incorrect. Little reward accompanies duplication and confirmation of what is already known and believed. The goal is new-search, not re-search. Not surprisingly, newly published discovery claims and credible discoveries that appear to be important and convincing will always be open to challenge and potential modification or refutation by future researchers. Second, novelty itself frequently provokes disbelief. Nobel Laureate and physiologist Albert Azent-Gyorgyi once described discovery as “seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.” But thinking what nobody else has thought and telling others what they have missed may not change their views. Sometimes years are required for truly novel discovery claims to be accepted and appreciated.In the end, credibility “happens” to a discovery claim – a process that corresponds to what philosopher Annette Baier has described as the commons of the mind. “We reason together, challenge, revise, and complete each other’s reasoning and each other’s conceptions of reason.”31. According to the first paragraph, the process of discovery is characterized by its[A] uncertainty and complexity.[B] misconception and deceptiveness.[C] logicality and objectivity.[D] systematicness and regularity.32. It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that credibility process requires[A] strict inspection.[B]shared efforts.[C] individual wisdom.[D]persistent innovation.33.Paragraph 3 shows that a discovery claim becomes credible after it[A] has attracted the attention of the general public.[B]has been examined by the scientific community.[C] has received recognition from editors and reviewers.[D]has been frequently quoted by peer scientists.34. Albert Szent-Györgyi would most likely agree that[A] scientific claims will survive challenges.[B]discoveries today inspire future research.[C] efforts to make discoveries are justified.[D]scientific work calls for a critical mind.35.Which of the following would be the best title of the test?[A] Novelty as an Engine of Scientific Development.[B]Collective Scrutiny in Scientific Discovery.[C] Evolution of Credibility in Doing Science.[D]Challenge to Credibility at the Gate to Science.Text 4If the trade unionist Jimmy Hoffa were alive today, he would probably represent civil servant. When Hoffa’s Teamsters were in their prime in 1960, only one in ten American government workers belonged to a union; now 36% do. In 2009 the number of unionists in America’s public secto r passed that of their fellow members in the private sector. In Britain, more than half of public-sector workers but only about 15% of private-sector ones are unionized.There are three reasons for the public-sector unions’ thriving. First, they can shut things down without suffering much in the way of consequences. Second, they are mostly bright and well-educated. A quarterof America’s public-sector workers have a university degree. Third, they now dominate left-of-centre politics. Some of their ties go back a long way. Britain’s Labor Party, as its name implies, has long been associated with trade unionism. Its current leader, Ed Miliband, owes his position to votes from public-sector unions.At the state level their influence can be even more fearsome. Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of California points out that much of the state’s budget is patrolled by unions. The teachers’ unions keep an eye on schools, the CCPOA on prisons and a variety of labor groups on health care.In many rich countries average wages in the state sector are higher than in the private one. But the real gains come in benefits and work practices. Politicians have repeatedly “backloaded” public-sector pay deals, keeping the pay increases modest but adding to holidays and especially pensions that are already generous.Reform has been vigorously opposed, perhaps most egregiously in education, where charter schools, academies and merit pay all faced drawn-out battles. Even though there is plenty of evidence that the quality of the teachers is the most important variable, teachers’ unions have fought against getting rid of bad ones and promoting good ones.As the cost to everyone else has become clearer, politicians have begun to clamp down. In Wisconsin the unions have rallied thousands of supporters against Scott Walker, the hardline Republican governor. But many within the public sector suffer under the current system, too.John Donahue at Harvard’s Ke nnedy School points out that the norms of culture in Western civil services suit those who want to stay put but is bad for high achievers. The only American public-sector workers who earn well above $250,000 a year are university sports coaches and the president of the United States. Bankers’ fat pay packets have attracted much criticism, but a public-sector system that does not reward high achievers may be a much bigger problem for America.36. It can be learned from the first paragraph that[A] Teamsters still have a large body of members.[B] Jimmy Hoffa used to work as a civil servant.[C] unions have enlarged their public-sector membership.[D]the government has improved its relationship with unionists.37. Which of the following is true of Paragraph 2?[A] Public-sector unions are prudent in taking actions.[B] Education is required for public-sector union membership.[C] Labor Party has long been fighting against public-sector unions.[D]Public-sector unions seldom get in trouble for their actions.38. It can be learned from Paragraph 4 that the income in the state sector is[A] illegally secured.[B] indirectly augmented.[C] excessively increased.[D]fairly adjusted.39. The example of the unions in Wisconsin shows that unions[A]often run against the current political system.*B+can change people’s political attitudes.[C]may be a barrier to public-sector reforms.[D]are dominant in the government.40. John Donahue’s attitude towards the public-sector system is one of[A]disapproval.[B]appreciation.[C]tolerance.[D]indifference.Part BDirections:In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list A-G to fit into each of the numbered blanks. There are two extra choices, which do not fit in any of the blanks. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET1.(10 points)Think of those fleeting moments when you look out of an aeroplane window and realise that you are flying, higher than a bird. Now think of your laptop, thinner than a brown-paper envelope, or your cellphone in the palm of your hand. Take a moment or two to wonder at those marvels. You are the lucky inheritor of a dream come true.The second half of the 20th century saw a collection of geniuses, warriors, entrepreneurs and visionaries labour to create a fabulous machine that could function as a typewriter and printing press, studio and theatre, paintbrush and gallery, piano and radio, the mail as well as the mail carrier. (41)The networked computer is an amazing device, the first media machine that serves as the mode of production, means of distribution, site of reception, and place of praise and critique. The computer is the 21st century's culture machine.But for all the reasons there are to celebrate the computer, we must also tread with caution. (42)I call it a secret war for two reasons. First, most people do not realise that there are strong commercial agendas at work to keep them in passive consumption mode. Second, the majority of people who use networked computers to upload are not even aware of the significance of what they are doing.All animals download, but only a few upload. Beavers build dams and birds make nests. Yet for the most part, the animal kingdom moves through the world downloading. Humans are unique in their capacity to not only make tools but then turn around and use them to create superfluous material goods - paintings, sculpture and architecture - and superfluous experiences - music, literature, religion and philosophy.(43)For all the possibilities of our new culture machines, most people are still stuck in download mode. Even after the advent of widespread social media, a pyramid of production remains, with a small number of people uploading material, a slightly larger group commenting on or modifying that content, and a huge percentage remaining content to just consume. (44)Television is a one-way tap flowing into our homes. The hardest task that television asks of anyone is to turn the power off after he has turned it on.(45)What counts as meaningful uploading? My definition revolves around the concept of "stickiness" - creations and experiences to which others adhere.[A] Of course, it is precisely these superfluous things that define human culture and ultimately what it is to be human. Downloading and consuming culture requires great skills, but failing to move beyond downloading is to strip oneself of a defining constituent of humanity.[B] Applications like , which allow users to combine pictures, words and other media in creative ways and then share them, have the potential to add stickiness by amusing, entertaining and enlightening others.[C] Not only did they develop such a device but by the turn of the millenniumthey had also managed to embed it in a worldwide system accessed by billions of people every day.[D] This is because the networked computer has sparked a secret war between downloading and uploading - between passive consumption and active creation - whose outcome will shape our collective future in ways we can only begin to imagine.[E] The challenge the computer mounts to television thus bears little similarity to one format being replaced by another in the manner of record players being replaced by CD players.[F] One reason for the persistence of this pyramid of production is that for the past half-century, much of the world's media culture has been defined by a single medium - television - and television is defined by downloading.[G]The networked computer offers the first chance in 50 years to reverse the flow, to encourage thoughtful downloading and, even more importantly, meaningful uploading.Part CDirections:Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be written clearly on ANSWER SHEET 2. (10 points) Since the days of Aristotle, a search for universal principles has characterized the scientific enterprise. In some ways, this quest for commonalities defines science. Newton’s laws of motion and Darwinian evolution each bind a host of different phenomena into a single explicatory frame work.(46)In physics, one approach takes this impulse for unification to its extreme, and seeks a theory of everything—a single generative equation for all we see.It is becoming less clear, however, that such a theory would be a simplification, given the dimensions and universes that it might entail, nonetheless, unification of sorts remains a major goal.This tendency in the natural sciences has long been evident in the social sciences too. (47)Here, Darwinism seems to offer justification for it all humans share common origins it seems reasonable to suppose that cultural diversity could also be traced to more constrained beginnings. Just as the bewildering variety of human courtship rituals might all be considered forms of sexual selection, perhaps the world’s languages, music, social and religious customs and even history are governed by universal features. (48)To filter out what is unique from what is shared might enable us to understand how complex cultural behavior arose and what guides it in evolutionary or cognitive terms.That, at least, is the hope. But a comparative study of linguistic traits published online today supplies a reality check. Russell Gray at the University of Auckland and his colleagues consider the evolution of grammars in the light of two previous attempts to find universality in language.The most famous of these efforts was initiated by Noam Chomsky, who suggested that humans are born with an innate language—acquisition capacity that dictates a universal grammar. A few generative rules are then sufficient to unfold the entire fundamental structure of a language, which is why children can learn it so quickly.(49)The second, by Joshua Greenberg, takes a more empirical approach to universality identifying traits (particularly in word order) shared by many language which are considered to represent biases that result from cognitive constraintsGray and his colleagues have put themto the test by examining four family trees that between them represent more than 2,000 languages.(50)Chomsky’s grammar should show patterns of language change that are independent of the family tree or the pathway tracked through it. Whereas Greenbergian universality predicts strong co-dependencies between particular types of word-order relations. Neither of these patterns is borne out by the analysis, suggesting that the structures of the languages are lire age-specific and not governed by universals[NxtPage]Section III WritingPart A51. Directions:Some internationals students are coming to your university. Write them an email in the name of the Students’ Union to1) extend your welcome and2) provide some suggestions for their campus life here.You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET2.Do not sign your name at the end of the lett er. Use “Li Ming” instead.Do not write the address(10 points)Part B52. Directions: write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following drawing. In your essay you should1) describe the drawing briefly2) explain its intended meaning, and3) give your commentsYou should write neatly on ANSWER SHEET2.(20 points)1.B2.A3.B4.D5.C6.B7.D8.B9.A 10.B11.A 12.C 13.C 14.D 15.A16.C 17.A 18.C 19.D 20.D21.D 22.D 23.A 24.C 25.D26.C 27.A 28.A 29.B 30.B31.A 32.D 33.B 34.D 35.D36.C 37.D 38.B 39.A 40.A41.C 42.D 43.A 44.F 45.G1.【答案】B【解析】从空后信息可以看出，这句表达的是“_ _法官表现得像政治家”的情况下，法庭就不能保持其作为法律法规的合法卫士的形象，所以应该选C,maintain“维持，保持”，其他显然语义不通。
2012年考研英语一真题原文及答案解析完整版
2012年考研英语一真题原文及答案解析完整版Section I Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following text。
Choose the best word（s）for each numbered blank and mark A，B，C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. （10 points)Read the following text。
Choose the best word(s）for each numbered blank and mark A，B，C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points）The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices have become an important issue recently。
The court cannot _1_ its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law _2_ justices behave like politicians。
Yet, in several instances，justices acted in ways that _3_ the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial。
Justice Antonin Scalia，for example，appeared at political events。
That kind of activity makes it less likely that the court's decisions will be _4_ as impartial judgments。
Part of the problem is that the justices are not _5_by an ethics code。
2012全国统一考试I卷--英语答案解析
2012年普通高等学校招生全国统一考试英语第Ⅰ卷【答案及解析】单项选择：1-20CABCA CBBCC ABBBC BAACA21. A。
I don't mind 我不介意。
22. C。
考查冠词，with satisfaction 满意地，the finished painting 完成了的画，可以加the。
23. C。
一般现在时表示事物的一般属性和状态。
在雪地上行走，走下去一步脚印就会显现出来。
24. D。
主语从句，what作为do的宾语。
25. B。
although "但是"，表转折。
虽然你很脸熟，但是我很确定，我们以前没有见过。
26. D。
so much the…甚至更好或者更糟。
27. B。
put down 写下、记下。
28. A。
weather permitting 天气允许。
独立主格结构。
29. A。
half as + adj. + as30. D。
needn't 不需要31. C。
neither 两个都不。
32. D。
(when it is)compared to33. C。
一般过去时。
34. B。
Or 否则。
35. A。
presuade说服。
完型填空：36.B 谚语“action speaks louder than words”事实胜于雄辩37.D 身体释放更多的信息38.D 真正意味着什么39.C 重要性40.C 身体当中的如此之多41.A 在进一步解释，来举例子42.B 根据后面的例子讲的是距离的问题43.C bodily身体的欧洲的人不喜欢跟人有身体接触44.A 关系远一点的人指的是陌生人45.B 表转折46.B 对话中47.D48.A 更接近49.C 下意识反应退后一步50.D 认为你很冷漠51.A52.A 来自不同文化的人更容易产生误解53.C 整篇文章讲的是误解54.D55.B 被对待阅读理解：56.B these nests are high up in trees, and it is difficult to find them 第一段，因为蜂巢很高藏着树里，所以很难找到。
2012年考研英语（一）真题及答案详解
Section I Use of English Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points) Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points) The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices have become an important issue recently. The court cannot _1_ its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law _2_ justices behave like politicians. Yet, in several instances, justices acted in ways that _3_ the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial. Justice Antonin Scalia, for example, appeared at political events. That kind of activity makes s impartial judgments. Part of the problem is it less likely that the court’s decisions will be _4_ athat the justices are not _5_by an ethics code. At the very least, the court should make itself _6_to the code of conduct that _7_to the rest of the federal judiciary. This and other similar cases _8_the question of whether there is still a _9_between the court and politics. The framers of the Constitution envisioned law _10_having authority apart from politics. They gave justices permanent positions _11_they would be free to _12_ those in power and have no need to _13_ political support. Our legal system was designed to set law apart from politics precisely because they are so closely _14_. Constitutional law is political because it results from choices rooted in fundamental social _15_ like liberty and property. When the court deals with social policy decisions, the law it _16_ is inescapably political-which is why decisions split along ideological lines are so easily _17_ as unjust. emselves _19_ to the The justices must _18_ doubts about the court’s legitimacy by making thcode of conduct. That would make rulings more likely to be seen as separate from politics and, _20_, convincing as law. 1. [A]emphasize [B]maintain [C]modify [D] recognize 2. [A]when [B]lest [C]before [D] unless 3. [A]restored [B]weakened [C]established [D] eliminated 4. [A]challenged [B]compromised [C]suspected [D] accepted 5. [A]advanced [B]caught [C]bound [D]founded 6. [A]resistant [B]subject [C]immune [D]prone 7. [A]resorts [B]sticks [C]loads [D]applies 8. [A]evade [B]raise [C]deny [D]settle 9. [A]line [B]barrier [C]similarity [D]conflict 10. [A]by [B]as [C]though [D]towards 11. [A]so [B]since [C]provided [D]though 12. [A]serve [B]satisfy [C]upset [D]replace 13. [A]confirm [B]express [C]cultivate [D]offer 14. [A]guarded [B]followed [C]studied [D]tied 15. [A]concepts [B]theories [C]divisions [D]conceptions 16. [A]excludes [B]questions [C]shapes [D]controls 17. [A]dismissed [B]released [C]ranked [D]distorted 18. [A]suppress [B]exploit [C]address [D]ignore 19. [A]accessible [B]amiable [C]agreeable [D]accountable 20. [A]by all mesns [B]atall costs [C]in a word [D]as a result 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 ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points) Text 1 –Everybody’s doing it. That whispered message, half invitation and half forcing, is Come on –Everybody’s doing it. That whispered message, half invitation and half forcing, is what most of us think of when we hear the words peer pressure. It usually leads to no good-drinking, drugs and casual sex. But in her new book Join the Club, Tina Rosenberg contends that peer pressure can also be a positive force through what she calls the social cure, in which organizations and officials use the power of group dynamics to help individuals improve their lives and possibly the word. Rosenberg, the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, offers a host of example of the social cure in action: In South Carolina, a state-sponsored antismoking program called Rage Against the Haze sets out to make cigarettes uncool. In South Africa, an HIV-prevention initiative known as LoveLife recruits young people to promote safe sex among their peers. The idea seems promising，and Rosenberg is a perceptive observer. Her critique of the lameness of many pubic-health campaigns is spot-on: they fail to mobilize peer pressure for healthy habits, and they demonstrate a seriously flawed understanding of psychology.ǁ Dare to be different, please don’t smoke!ǁ pleads one billboard campaign aimed at reducing smoking among teenagers-teenagers, who desire nothing more than fitting in. Rosenberg argues convincingly that public-health advocates ought to take a page from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer pressure. But on the general effectiveness of the social cure, Rosenberg is less persuasive. Join the Club is filled with too much irrelevant detail and not enough exploration of the social and biological factors that make peer pressure so powerful. The most glaring flaw of the social cure as it’s presented here is that it doesn’t work very well for very long. Rage Against the Haze failed once state funding was cut. Evidence that the LoveLife program produces lasting changes is limited and mixed. mous influence on our behavior. An There’s no doubt that our peer groups exert enoremerging body of research shows that positive health habits-as well as negative ones-spread through networks of friends via social communication. This is a subtle form of peer pressure: we unconsciously imitate the behavior we see every day. Far less certain, however, is how successfully experts and bureaucrats can select our peer groups and steer their activities in virtuous directions. It’s like the teacher who breaks up the troublemakers in the back row by pairing them with better-behaved classmates. The tactic never really works. And that’s the problem with a social cure engineered from the outside: in the real world, as in school, we insist on choosing our own friends. 21. According to the first paragraph, peer pressure often emerges as [A] a supplement to the social cure [B] a stimulus to group dynamics [C] an obstacle to school progress [D] a cause of undesirable behaviors 22. Rosenberg holds that public advocates should [A] recruit professional advertisers [B] learn from advertisers’ experience[C] stay away from commercial advertisers [D] recognize the limitations of advertisements 23. In the author’s view, Rosenberg’s book fails to[A] adequately probe social and biological factors [B] effectively evade the flaws of the social cure [C] illustrate the functions of state funding [D]produce a long-lasting social effect 24. Paragraph 5shows that our imitation of behaviors [A] is harmful to our networks of friends [B] will mislead behavioral studies [C] occurs without our realizing it [D] can produce negative health habits25. The author suggests in the last paragraph that the effect of peer pressure is [A] harmful [B] desirable [C] profound [D] questionable Text 2 A deal is a deal-except, apparently ,when Entergy is involved. The company, a major energy supplier in New England, provoked justified outrage in Vermont last week when it announced it was reneging on a longstanding commitment to abide by the strict nuclear regulations. Instead, the company has done precisely what it had long promised it would not challenge the constitutionality of Vermont’s rules in the federal court, as part of a desperate effort to keep its It’s a stunning move.Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant running. The conflict has been surfacing since 2002, when the corporation bought Vermont’s only nuclear power plant, an aging reactor in Vernon. As a condition of receiving state approval for the sale, the company agreed to seek permission from state regulators to operate past 2012. In 2006, the state went a step further, requiring that any extension of the plant’s license be subject to Vermont legislature’s approval. Then, too, the company went along.o live by those commitments, or it simply didn’t foresee Either Entergy never really intended twhat would happen next. A string of accidents, including the partial collapse of a cooling tower in 207 and the discovery of an underground pipe system leakage, raised serious questions about both V e rmont Yankee’s safety and Entergy’s management– especially after the company made misleading statements about the pipe. Enraged by Entergy’s behavior, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 last year against allowing an extension.Now the company is suddenly claiming that the 2002 agreement is invalid because of the 2006 legislation, and that only the federal government has regulatory power over nuclear issues. The legal issues in the case are obscure: whereas the Supreme Court has ruled that states do have some regulatory authority over nuclear power, legal scholars say that Vermont case will offer a precedent-setting test of how far those powers extend. Certainly, there are valid concerns about the patchwork regulations that could result if every state sets its own rules. But had Entergy kept its word, that debate would be beside the point. The company seems to have concluded that its reputation in Vermont is already so damaged that it has noting left to lose by going to war with the state. But there should be consequences. Permission to run a nuclear plant is a poblic trust. Entergy runs 11 other reactors in the United States, including Pilgrim Nuclear station in Plymouth. Pledging to run Pilgrim safely, the company has applied for federal permission to keep it open for another 20 years. But as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviews the company’s application, it should keep it mind what promises from Entergy are worth. 26. The phrase ―reneging onǁ(Line 3.para.1) is closest in meaning to[A] condemning. [B] reaffirming. [C] dishonoring. [D] securing. 27. By entering into the 2002 agreement, Entergy intended to [A] obtain protection from Vermont regulators. [B] seek favor from the federal legislature. [C] acquire an extension of its business license . [D] get permission to purchase a power plant. 28. According to Paragraph 4, Entergy seems to have problems with its [A] managerial practices. [B] technical innovativeness. [C] financial goals. [D] business vision 29. In the author’s view, the Vermont case will test[A] Entergy’s capacity to fulfill all its promises.[B] the mature of states’ patchwork regulations.[C] the federal authority over nuclear issues . [D] the limits of states’ power over nuclear issues.30. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that [A] Entergy’s business elsewhere might be affected.[B] the authority of the NRC will be defied. [C] Entergy will withdraw its Plymouth application. [D] Vermont’s reputation might be damaged.Text 3 In the idealized version of how science is done, facts about the world are waiting to be observed and collected by objective researchers who use the scientific method to carry out their work. But in the everyday practice of science, discovery frequently follows an ambiguous and complicated route. We aim to be objective, but we cannot escape the context of our unique life experience. Prior knowledge and interest influence what we experience, what we think our experiences mean, and the subsequent actions we take. Opportunities for misinterpretation, error, and self-deception abound. Consequently, discovery claims should be thought of as protoscience. Similar to newly staked mining claims, they are full of potential. But it takes collective scrutiny and acceptance to transform a discovery claim into a mature discovery. This is the credibility process, through which the individual researcher’s me, here, now becomes the community’s anyone, anywhere, anytime. Objective knowledge is the goal, not the starting point. Once a discovery claim becomes public, the discoverer receives intellectual credit. But, unlike with mining claims, the community takes control of what happens next. Within the complex social structure of the scientific community, researchers make discoveries; editors and reviewers act as gatekeepers by controlling the publication process; other scientists use the new finding to suit their own purposes; and finally, the public (including other scientists) receives the new discovery and possibly accompanying technology. As a discovery claim works it through the community, the interaction and confrontation between shared and competing beliefs about the science and the technology involved transforms an individual’s discovery claim into the community’s credible discovery. Two paradoxes exist throughout this credibility process. First, scientific work tends to focus on some aspect of prevailing Knowledge that is viewed as incomplete or incorrect. Little reward accompanies duplication and confirmation of what is already known and believed. The goal is new-search, not re-search. Not surprisingly, newly published discovery claims and credible discoveries that appear to be important and convincing will always be open to challenge and potential modification or refutation by future researchers. Second, novelty itself frequently provokes disbelief. Nobel Laureate and physiologist Albert Azent-Gyorgyi once described discovery as ―seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.ǁ But thinking what nobody else has thought and telling others what they have missed may not change their views. Sometimes years are required for truly novel discovery claims to be accepted and appreciated. In the end, credibility ―happensǁ to a discovery claim – a process that corresponds to what philosopher Annette Baier has described as the commons of the mind. ―We reason together, challenge, revise, and complete each other’s reasoning and each other’s conceptions of reason.ǁ31. According to the first paragraph, the process of discovery is characterized by its [A] uncertainty and complexity.[B] misconception and deceptiveness. [C] logicality and objectivity.[D] systematicness and regularity. 32. It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that credibility process requires [A] strict inspection. [B]shared efforts. [C] individual wisdom. [D]persistent innovation. 33.Paragraph 3 shows that a discovery claim becomes credible after it[A] has attracted the attention of the general public. [B]has been examined by the scientific community. [C] has received recognition from editors and reviewers. [D]has been frequently quoted by peer scientists. rgyi would most likely agree that 34. Albert Szent-Györ gyi would most likely agree that [A] scientific claims will survive challenges. [B]discoveries today inspire future research. [C] efforts to make discoveries are justified. [D]scientific work calls for a critical mind.35.Which of the following would be the best title of the test? [A] Novelty as an Engine of Scientific Development. [B]Collective Scrutiny in Scientific Discovery. [C] Evolution of Credibility in Doing Science. [D]Challenge to Credibility at the Gate to Science. Text 4 If the trade unionist Jimmy Hoffa were alive today, he would probably represent civil servant. When Hoffa’s Teamsters were in their prime in 1960, only one in ten American government workers belonged to a union; now 36% do. In 2009 the number of unionists in America’s public sector passed that of their fellow members in the private sector. In Britain, more than half of public-sector workers but only about 15% of private-sector ones are unionized. There are three reasons for the public-sector unions’ thriving. First, they can shut things down without suffering much in the way of consequences. Second, they are mostly bright and well-educated. A quarter of America’s public-sector workers have a university degree. Third, they now dominate left-of-centre politics. Some of their ties go back a long way. Britain’s Labor Party, as its name implies, has long been associated with trade unionism. Its current leader, Ed Miliband, owes his position to votes from public-sector unions. At the state level their influence can be even more fearsome. Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of Califo rnia points out that much of the state’s budget is patrolled by unions. The teachers’ unions keep an eye on schools, the CCPOA on prisons and a variety of labor groups on health care. In many rich countries average wages in the state sector are higher than in the private one. But the real gains come in benefits and work practices. Politicians have repeatedly ―backloadedǁ public-sector pay deals, keeping the pay increases modest but adding to holidays and especially pensions that are already generous. Reform has been vigorously opposed, perhaps most egregiously in education, where charter schools, academies and merit pay all faced drawn-out battles. Even though there is plenty of teachers’ unions have evidence that the quality of the teachers is the most important variable, fought against getting rid of bad ones and promoting good ones. As the cost to everyone else has become clearer, politicians have begun to clamp down. In Wisconsin the unions have rallied thousands of supporters against Scott Walker, the hardline Republican governor. But many within the public sector suffer under the current system, too. John Donahue at Harvard’s Kennedy School points out that the norms of culture in Western civil services suit those who want to stay put but is bad for high achievers. The only American public-sector workers who earn well above $250,000 a year are university sports coaches and the president of the United States. Bankers’ fat pay packets have attracted much criticism, but a public-sector system that does not reward high achievers may be a much bigger problem for America. 36. It can be learned from the first paragraph that [A] Teamsters still have a large body of members. [B] Jimmy Hoffa used to work as a civil servant. [C] unions have enlarged their public-sector membership. [D]the government has improved its relationship with unionists. 37. Which of the following is true of Paragraph 2? [A] Public-sector unions are prudent in taking actions. [B] Education is required for public-sector union membership. [C] Labor Party has long been fighting against public-sector unions. [D]Public-sector unions seldom get in trouble for their actions. 38. It can be learned from Paragraph 4 that the income in the state sector is [A] illegally secured. [B] indirectly augmented. [C] excessively increased. [D]fairly adjusted. 39. The example of the unions in Wisconsin shows that unions [A]often run against the current political system. [B]can change people’s political attitudes.[C]may be a barrier to public-sector reforms. [D]are dominant in the government. -sector system is one of 40. John Donahue’s attitude towards the public[A]disapproval. [B]appreciation. [C]tolerance. [D]indifference. Part B Directions: In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list A-G to fit into each of the numbered blanks. There are two extra HEET1.(10 choices, which do not fit in any of the blanks. Mark your answers on ANSWER Spoints) Think of those fleeting moments when you look out of an aeroplane window and realise that you are flying, higher than a bird. Now think of your laptop, thinner than a brown-paper envelope, or your cellphone in the palm of your hand. Take a moment or two to wonder at those marvels. You are the lucky inheritor of a dream come true. The second half of the 20th century saw a collection of geniuses, warriors, entrepreneurs and visionaries labour to create a fabulous machine that could function as a typewriter and printing press, studio and theatre, paintbrush and gallery, piano and radio, the mail as well as the mail carrier. (41) The networked computer is an amazing device, the first media machine that serves as the mode of production, means of distribution, site of reception, and place of praise and critique. The computer is the 21st century's culture machine. But for all the reasons there are to celebrate the computer, we must also tread with caution. (42)I call it a secret war for two reasons. First, most people do not realise that there are strong commercial agendas at work to keep them in passive consumption mode. Second, the majority of people who use networked computers to upload are not even aware of the significance of what they are doing. All animals download, but only a few upload. Beavers build dams and birds make nests. Yet for the most part, the animal kingdom moves through the world downloading. Humans are unique in their capacity to not only make tools but then turn around and use them to create superfluous material goods - paintings, sculpture and architecture - and superfluous experiences - music, literature, religion and philosophy. (43) k in download For all the possibilities of our new culture machines, most people are still stucmode. Even after the advent of widespread social media, a pyramid of production remains, with a small number of people uploading material, a slightly larger group commenting on or modifying that content, and a huge percentage remaining content to just consume. (44) Television is a one-way tap flowing into our homes. The hardest task that television asks of anyone is to turn the power off after he has turned it on. (45) What counts as meaningful uploading? My definition revolves around the concept of "stickiness" - creations and experiences to which others adhere. [A] Of course, it is precisely these superfluous things that define human culture and ultimately what it is to be human. Downloading and consuming culture requires great skills, but failing to move beyond downloading is to strip oneself of a defining constituent of humanity. [B] Applications like , which allow users to combine pictures, words and other media in creative ways and then share them, have the potential to add stickiness by amusing, entertaining and enlightening others. [C] Not only did they develop such a device but by the turn of the millennium they had also managed to embed it in a worldwide system accessed by billions of people every day. [D] This is because the networked computer has sparked a secret war between downloading and uploading - between passive consumption and active creation - whose outcome will shape our collective future in ways we can only begin to imagine. [E] The challenge the computer mounts to television thus bears little similarity to one format being replaced by another in the manner of record players being replaced by CD players. [F] One reason for the persistence of this pyramid of production is that for the past half-century, much of the world's media culture has been defined by a single medium - television - and television is defined by downloading. [G]The networked computer offers the first chance in 50 years to reverse the flow, to encourage thoughtful downloading and, even more importantly, meaningful uploading. Part C Directions: Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be written clearly on ANSWER SHEET 2. (10 points) Since the days of Aristotle, a search for universal principles has characterized the scientific enterprise. In some ways, this quest for commonalities defines science. Newton’s laws of motion and Darwinian evolution each bind a host of different phenomena into a single explicatory frame work. (46)In physics, one approach takes this impulse for unification to its extreme, and seeks a theory of everything—a single generative equation for all we see.It is becoming less clear, however, that such a theory would be a simplification, given the dimensions and universes that it might entail, nonetheless, unification of sorts remains a major goal. This tendency in the natural sciences has long been evident in the social sciences too. (47)Here, Darwinism seems to offer justification for it all humans share common origins it seems reasonable to suppose that cultural diversity could also be traced to more constrained beginnings. Just as the bewildering variety of human courtship rituals might all be considered forms of sexual selection, perhaps the world’s languages, music, social and religious customs and even history are governed by universal features. (48)To filter out what is unique from what is shared might enable us to understand how complex cultural behavior arose and what guides it in evolutionary or cognitive terms. That, at least, is the hope. But a comparative study of linguistic traits published online today supplies a reality check. Russell Gray at the University of Auckland and his colleagues consider the evolution of grammars in the light of two previous attempts to find universality in language. The most famous of these efforts was initiated by Noam Chomsky, who suggested that humans —acquisition capacity that dictates a universal grammar. A few are born with an innate languagegenerative rules are then suffi cient to unfold the entire fundamental structure of a language, which is why children can learn it so quickly. (49)The second, by Joshua Greenberg, takes a more empirical approach to universality identifying traits (particularly in word order) shared by many language which are considered to represent biases that result from cognitive constraints Gray and his colleagues have put them to the test by examining four family trees that between them represent more than 2,000 languages.(50)Chomsky’s grammar should show patterns of language change that are independent of the family tree or the pathway tracked through it. Whereas Greenbergian universality predicts strong co-dependencies between particular types of word-order relations. Neither of these patterns is borne out by the analysis, suggesting that the structures of the languages are lire age-specific and not governed by universals [NxtPage] Section III Writing Part A 51. Directions: Some internationals students are coming to your university. Write them an email in the name of the Students’ Union to1) extend your welcome and 2) provide some suggestions for their campus life here. You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET2.Do not sign your name at the end of the letter. Use ―Li Mingǁ instead.Do not write the address(10 points) Part B 52. Directions: write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following drawing. In your essay you should 1) describe the drawing briefly 2) explain its intended meaning, and 3) give your comments You should write neatly on ANSWER SHEET2.(20 points)1.B2.A3.B4.D5.C6.B7.D8.B9.A 10.B11.A 12.C 13.C 14.D 15.A16.C 17.A 18.C 19.D 20.D21.D 22.D 23.A 24.C 25.D26.C 27.A 28.A 29.B 30.B31.A 32.D 33.B 34.D 35.D36.C 37.D 38.B 39.A 40.A41.C 42.D 43.A 44.F 45.G1.【答案】B 【解析】从空后信息可以看出，这句表达的是―_ _法官表现得像政治家ǁ的情况下，法庭就不能保持其作为法律法规的合法卫士的形象，所以应该选C,maintain―维持，保持ǁ，其他显然语义不通。
(完整word)2012年考研英语一真题及答案完整解析(1),推荐文档
2012年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语（一）The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices have become an important issue recently. The court cannot _1_ its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law _2_ justices behave like politicians. Yet, in several instances, justices acted in ways that _3_ the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial.Justice Antonin Scalia, for example, appeared at political events. That kind of activity makes it less likely that the court’s decisions will be _4_ as impartial judgments. Part of the problem is that the justices are not _5_by an ethics code. At the very least, the court should make itself _6_to the code of conduct that _7_to the rest of the federal judiciary.This and other similar cases _8_the question of whether there is still a_9_between the court and politics.The framers of the Constitution envisioned law _10_having authority apart from politics. They gave justices permanent positions _11_they would be free to _12_ those in power and have no need to _13_ political support. Our legal system was designed to set law apart from politics precisely because they are so closely _14_.Constitutional law is political because it results from choices rooted in fundamental social _15_ like liberty and property. When the court deals with social policy decisions, the law it _16_ is inescapably political-which is why decisions split along ideological lines are so easily _17_ as unjust.The justices must _18_ doubts about the court’s legitimacy by making themselves _19_ to the code of conduct. That would make rulings more likely to be seen as separate from politics and, _20_, convincing as law.1. [A]emphasize [B]maintain [C]modify [D] recognize2. [A]when [B]lest [C]before [D] unless3. [A]restored [B]weakened [C]established [D] eliminated4. [A]challenged [B]compromised [C]suspected [D] accepted5. [A]advanced [B]caught [C]bound [D]founded6. [A]resistant [B]subject [C]immune [D]prone7. [A]resorts [B]sticks [C]loads [D]applies8. [A]evade [B]raise [C]deny [D]settle9. [A]line [B]barrier [C]similarity [D]conflict10. [A]by [B]as [C]though [D]towards11. [A]so [B]since [C]provided [D]though12. [A]serve [B]satisfy [C]upset [D]replace13. [A]confirm [B]express [C]cultivate [D]offer14. [A]guarded [B]followed [C]studied [D]tied15. [A]concepts [B]theories [C]divisions [D]conceptions16. [A]excludes [B]questions [C]shapes [D]controls17. [A]dismissed [B]released [C]ranked [D]distorted18. [A]suppress [B]exploit [C]address [D]ignore19. [A]accessible [B]amiable [C]agreeable [D]accountable20. [A]by all mesns [B]atall costs [C]in a word [D]as a resultCome on –Everybody’s doing it. That whispered message, half invitation and hal f forcing, is what most of us think of when we hear the words peer pressure. It usually leads to no good-drinking, drugs and casual sex. But in her new book Join the Club, Tina Rosenberg contends that peer pressure can also be a positive force through what she calls the social cure, in which organizations and officials use the power of group dynamics to help individuals improve their lives and possibly the word.Rosenberg, the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, offers a host of example of the social cure in action: In South Carolina, a state-sponsored antismoking program called Rage Against the Haze sets out to make cigarettes uncool. In South Africa, an HIV-prevention initiative known as LoveLife recruits young people to promote safe sex among their peers.The idea seems promising，and Rosenberg is a perceptive observer. Her critique of the lameness of many pubic-health campaigns is spot-on: they fail to mobilize peer pressure for healthy habits, and they demonstrate a seriously flawed understanding of psychology.” Dare to be different, please don’t smoke!” pleads one billboard campaign aimed at reducing smoking amongteenagers-teenagers, who desire nothing more than fitting in. Rosenberg arguesconvincingly that public-health advocates ought to take a page from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer pressure.But on the general effectiveness of the social cure, Rosenberg is less persuasive. Join the Club is filled with too much irrelevant detail and not enough exploration of the social and biological factors that make peer pressure so powerful. The most glaring flaw of the social cure as it’s presented here is that it doesn’t work very well for very long. Rage Against the Haze failed once state funding was cut. Evidence that the LoveLife program produces lasting changes is limited and mixed.There’s no doubt that our peer groups exert enormous influence on our behavior. An emerging body of research shows that positive health habits-as well as negative ones-spread through networks of friends via social communication. This is a subtle form of peer pressure: we unconsciously imitate the behavior we see every day.Far less certain, however, is how successfully experts and bureaucrats can select our peer groups and steer their activities in virtuous directions. It’s lik e the teacher who breaks up the troublemakers in the back row by pairing them with better-behaved classmates. The tactic never really works. And that’s the problem with a social cure engineered from the outside: in the real world, as in school, we insist on choosing our own friends.21. According to the first paragraph, peer pressure often emerges as[A] a supplement to the social cure[B] a stimulus to group dynamics[C] an obstacle to school progress[D] a cause of undesirable behaviors22. Rosenberg holds that public advocates should[A] recruit professional advertisers[B] learn from advertisers’ experience[C] stay away from commercial advertisers[D] recognize the limitations of advertisements23. In the author’s view, Rosenberg’s book fails to[A] adequately probe social and biological factors[B] effectively evade the flaws of the social cure[C] illustrate the functions of state funding[D]produce a long-lasting social effect24. Paragraph 5shows that our imitation of behaviors[A] is harmful to our networks of friends[B] will mislead behavioral studies[C] occurs without our realizing it[D] can produce negative health habits25. The author suggests in the last paragraph that the effect of peer pressure is[A] harmful[B] desirable[C] profound[D] questionableA deal is a deal-except, apparently ,when Entergy is involved. The company, a major energy supplier in New England, provoked justified outrage in Vermont last week when it announced it was reneging on a longstanding commitment to abide by the strict nuclear regulations.Instead, the company has done precisely what it had long promised it would not challenge the constitutionality of Vermont’s rules in the federal court, as part of a desperate effort to keep its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant running. It’s a stunning move.The conflict has been surfacing since 2002, when the corporation bought Vermont’s only nuclear power plant, an aging reactor in Vernon. As a condition of receiving state approval for the sale, the company agreed to seek permission from state regulators to operate past 2012. In 2006, the state went a step further, requiring that any extension of the plant’s license be subject to Vermont legislature’s approval. Then, too, the company went along.Either Entergy never really intended to live by those commitments, or it simply didn’t foresee what would happen next. A string of accidents, including the partial collapse of a cooling tower in 207 and the discovery of an underground pipe system leakage, raised serious quest ions about both Vermont Yankee’s safety and Entergy’s management–especially after the company made misleading statements about the pipe. Enraged by Entergy’s behavior, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 last year against allowing an extension.Now the company is suddenly claiming that the 2002 agreement is invalid because of the 2006 legislation, and that only the federal government has regulatory power over nuclear issues. The legal issues in the case are obscure: whereas the Supreme Court has ruled that states do have some regulatory authority over nuclear power, legal scholars say that Vermont case will offer a precedent-setting test of how far those powers extend. Certainly, there are valid concerns about the patchwork regulations that could result if every state sets its own rules. But had Entergy kept its word, that debate would be beside the point.The company seems to have concluded that its reputation in Vermont is already so damaged that it has noting left to lose by going to war with the state. But there should be consequences. Permission to run a nuclear plant is a poblictrust. Entergy runs 11 other reactors in the United States, including Pilgrim Nuclear station in Plymouth. Pledging to run Pilgrim safely, the company has applied for federal permission to keep it open for another 20 years. But as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviews the company’s application, it should keep it mind what promises from Entergy are worth.26. The phrase “reneging on”(Line 3.para.1) is closest in meaning t o[A] condemning.[B] reaffirming.[C] dishonoring.[D] securing.27. By entering into the 2002 agreement, Entergy intended to[A] obtain protection from Vermont regulators.[B] seek favor from the federal legislature.[C] acquire an extension of its business license .[D] get permission to purchase a power plant.28. According to Paragraph 4, Entergy seems to have problems with its[A] managerial practices. [B] technical innovativeness.[C] financial goals. [D] business vision29. In the auth or’s view, the Vermont case will test[A] Entergy’s capacity to fulfill all its promises.[B] the mature of states’ patchwork regulations.[C] the federal authority over nuclear issues .[D] the limits of states’ power over nuclear issues.30. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that[A] Entergy’s business elsewhere might be affected.[B] the authority of the NRC will be defied.[C] Entergy will withdraw its Plymouth application.[D] Vermont’s reputation might be damaged.In the idealized version of how science is done, facts about the world are waiting to be observed and collected by objective researchers who use the scientific method to carry out their work. But in the everyday practice of science, discovery frequently follows an ambiguous and complicated route. We aim to be objective, but we cannot escape the context of our unique life experience. Prior knowledge and interest influence what we experience, what we think our experiences mean, and the subsequent actions we take. Opportunities for misinterpretation, error, and self-deception abound.Consequently, discovery claims should be thought of as protoscience. Similar to newly staked mining claims, they are full of potential. But it takes collective scrutiny and acceptance to transform a discovery claim into a mature discovery. This is the credibility process, through which the individual researcher’s me, here, now becomes the community’s anyone, anywhere, anytime. Objective knowledge is the goal, not the starting point.Once a discovery claim becomes public, the discoverer receives intellectual credit. But, unlike with mining claims, the community takes control of what happens next. Within the complex social structure of the scientific community, researchers make discoveries; editors and reviewers act as gatekeepers by controlling the publication process; other scientists use the new finding to suit their own purposes; and finally, the public (including other scientists) receives the new discovery and possibly accompanying technology. As a discovery claim works it through the community, the interaction and confrontation between shared and competing beliefs about the science and the technology involved transforms an individual’s discovery claim into the community’s credible discovery.Two paradoxes exist throughout this credibility process. First, scientific work tends to focus on some aspect of prevailing Knowledge that is viewed as incomplete or incorrect. Little reward accompanies duplication and confirmation of what is already known and believed. The goal is new-search, not re-search. Not surprisingly, newly published discovery claims and credible discoveries that appear to be important and convincing will always be open to challenge and potential modification or refutation by future researchers. Second, novelty itself frequently provokes disbelief. Nobel Laureate and physiologist AlbertAzent-Gyorgyi once described discovery as “seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.” But thinking what nobody else has thought and telling others what they have missed may not change their views. Sometimes years are required for truly novel discovery claims to be accepted and appreciated.In the end, credibility “happens” to a discovery claim – a process that corresponds to what philosopher Annette Baier has described as the commons of the mind. “We reason together, challenge, revise, and complete each other’s reasoning and each other’s conceptions of reason.”31. According to the first paragraph, the process of discovery is characterized by its[A] uncertainty and complexity.[B] misconception and deceptiveness.[C] logicality and objectivity.[D] systematicness and regularity.32. It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that credibility process requires[A] strict inspection. [B]shared efforts.[C] individual wisdom. [D]persistent innovation.33.Paragraph 3 shows that a discovery claim becomes credible after it[A] has attracted the attention of the general public.[B]has been examined by the scientific community.[C] has received recognition from editors and reviewers.[D]has been frequently quoted by peer scientists.34. Albert Szent-Györgyi would most likely agree that[A] scientific claims will survive challenges.[B]discoveries today inspire future research.[C] efforts to make discoveries are justified.[D]scientific work calls for a critical mind.35.Which of the following would be the best title of the test?[A] Novelty as an Engine of Scientific Development.[B]Collective Scrutiny in Scientific Discovery.[C] Evolution of Credibility in Doing Science.[D]Challenge to Credibility at the Gate to Science.If the trade unionist Jimmy Hoffa were alive today, he would probably represent civil servant. When Hoffa’s Teamsters were in their prime in 1960, only one in ten American government workers belonged to a union; now 36% do. In 2009 the number of unionists in America’s public sector passed that of their fellow members in the private sector. In Britain, more than half of public-sector workers but only about 15% of private-sector ones are unionized.There are three reasons for the public-sector unions’ thriving. First, they can shut things down without suffering much in the way of consequences. Second, they are mostly bright and well-educated. A quarter of A merica’s public-sector workers have a university degree. Third, they now dominate left-of-centre politics. Some of their ties go back a long way. Britain’s Labor Party, as its name implies, has long been associated with trade unionism. Its current leader, Ed Miliband, owes his position to votes from public-sector unions.At the state level their influence can be even more fearsome. Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of California points out that much of the state’s budget is patrolled by unions. The teachers’ unions keep an eye on schools, the CCPOA on prisons and a variety of labor groups on health care.In many rich countries average wages in the state sector are higher than in the private one. But the real gains come in benefits and work practices.Politicians have repeatedly “backloaded” public-sector pay deals, keeping the pay increases modest but adding to holidays and especially pensions that are already generous.Reform has been vigorously opposed, perhaps most egregiously in education, where charter schools, academies and merit pay all faced drawn-out battles. Even though there is plenty of evidence that the quality of the teachers is the most important variable, teachers’ unions have fought against getting rid of bad ones and promoting good ones.As the cost to everyone else has become clearer, politicians have begun to clamp down. In Wisconsin the unions have rallied thousands of supporters against Scott Walker, the hardline Republican governor. But many within the public sector suffer under the current system, too.John Donahue at Harvard’s Kennedy School points out that the norms of culture in Western civil services suit those who want to stay put but is bad for high achievers. The only American public-sector workers who earn well above $250,000 a year are university sports coaches and the president of the United States. Bankers’ fat pay packets have attracted much criticism, but apublic-sector system that does not reward high achievers may be a much bigger problem for America.36. It can be learned from the first paragraph that[A] Teamsters still have a large body of members.[B] Jimmy Hoffa used to work as a civil servant.[C] unions have enlarged their public-sector membership.[D]the government has improved its relationship with unionists.37. Which of the following is true of Paragraph 2?[A] Public-sector unions are prudent in taking actions.[B] Education is required for public-sector union membership.[C] Labor Party has long been fighting against public-sector unions.[D]Public-sector unions seldom get in trouble for their actions.38. It can be learned from Paragraph 4 that the income in the state sector is[A] illegally secured. [B] indirectly augmented.[C] excessively increased. [D]fairly adjusted.39. The example of the unions in Wisconsin shows that unions[A]often run against the current political system.[B]can change people’s political attitudes.[C]may be a barrier to public-sector reforms.[D]are dominant in the government.40. John Donahue’s a ttitude towards the public-sector system is one of[A]disapproval.[B]appreciation.[C]tolerance.[D]indifference.Think of those fleeting moments when you look out of an aeroplane window and realise that you are flying, higher than a bird. Now think of your laptop, thinner than a brown-paper envelope, or your cellphone in the palm of your hand. Take a moment or two to wonder at those marvels. You are the lucky inheritor of a dream come true.The second half of the 20th century saw a collection of geniuses, warriors, entrepreneurs and visionaries labour to create a fabulous machine that could function as a typewriter and printing press, studio and theatre, paintbrush and gallery, piano and radio, the mail as well as the mail carrier. (41)The networked computer is an amazing device, the first media machine that serves as the mode of production, means of distribution, site of reception, and place of praise and critique. The computer is the 21st century's culture machine.But for all the reasons there are to celebrate the computer, we must also tread with caution. (42)I call it a secret war for two reasons. First, most people do not realise that there are strong commercial agendas at work to keep them in passive consumption mode. Second, the majority of people who use networked computers to upload are not even aware of the significance of what they are doing.All animals download, but only a few upload. Beavers build dams and birds make nests. Yet for the most part, the animal kingdom moves through the world downloading. Humans are unique in their capacity to not only make tools but then turn around and use them to create superfluous material goods - paintings, sculpture and architecture - and superfluous experiences - music, literature, religion and philosophy. (43)For all the possibilities of our new culture machines, most people are still stuck in download mode. Even after the advent of widespread social media, a pyramid of production remains, with a small number of people uploading material, a slightly larger group commenting on or modifying that content, and a huge percentage remaining content to just consume. (44)Television is a one-way tap flowing into our homes. The hardest task that television asks of anyone is to turn the power off after he has turned it on.(45)What counts as meaningful uploading? My definition revolves around the concept of "stickiness" - creations and experiences to which others adhere.[A] Of course, it is precisely these superfluous things that define human culture and ultimately what it is to be human. Downloading and consuming culturerequires great skills, but failing to move beyond downloading is to strip oneself of a defining constituent of humanity.[B] Applications like , which allow users to combine pictures, words and other media in creative ways and then share them, have the potential to add stickiness by amusing, entertaining and enlightening others.[C] Not only did they develop such a device but by the turn of the millennium they had also managed to embed it in a worldwide system accessed by billions of people every day.[D] This is because the networked computer has sparked a secret war between downloading and uploading - between passive consumption and active creation - whose outcome will shape our collective future in ways we can only begin to imagine.[E] The challenge the computer mounts to television thus bears little similarity to one format being replaced by another in the manner of record players being replaced by CD players. [F] One reason for the persistence of this pyramid of production is that for the pasthalf-century, much of the world's media culture has been defined by a single medium - television - and television is defined by downloading.[G]The networked computer offers the first chance in 50 years to reverse the flow, to encourage thoughtful downloading and, even more importantly, meaningful uploading.Part CSince the days of Aristotle, a search for universal principles has characterized the scientific enterprise. In some ways, this quest for commonalities defines science. Newton’s laws of motion and Darwinian evolution each bind a host of different phenomena into a single explicatory frame work.(46)In physics, one approach takes this impulse for unification to its extreme, and seeks a theory of everything—a single generative equation for all we see.It is becoming less clear, however, that such a theory would be a simplification, given the dimensions and universes that it might entail, nonetheless, unification of sorts remains a major goal.This tendency in the natural sciences has long been evident in the social sciences too. (47)Here, Darwinism seems to offer justification for it all humans share common origins it seems reasonable to suppose that cultural diversity could also be traced to more constrained beginnings. Just as the bewildering variety of human courtship rituals might all be considered forms of sexual selection, perhaps the world’s languages, music, social and religious customs and even history are governed by universal features. (48)To filter out what is unique from what is shared might enable us to understand how complex cultural behavior arose and what guides it in evolutionary or cognitive terms.That, at least, is the hope. But a comparative study of linguistic traits published online today supplies a reality check. Russell Gray at the University of Auckland and his colleagues consider the evolution of grammars in the light of two previous attempts to find universality in language.The most famous of these efforts was initiated by Noam Chomsky, who suggested that humans are born with an innate language—acquisition capacity that dictates a universal grammar. A few generative rules are then sufficient to unfold the entire fundamental structure of a language, which is why children can learn it so quickly.(49)The second, by Joshua Greenberg, takes a more empirical approach to universality identifying traits (particularly in word order) shared by many language which are considered to represent biases that result from cognitive constraintsGray and his colleagues have put them to the test by examining four family trees that between them represent more than 2,000 languages.(50)Chomsky’s grammar should show patterns of language change that are independent of the family tree or the pathway tracked through it. Whereas Greenbergian universality predicts strong co-dependencies between particular types of word-order relations. Neither of these patterns is borne out by the analysis, suggesting that the structures of the languages are lire age-specific and not governed by universalsSection III WritingSome internationals students are coming to your university. Write them an email in the name of the Students’Union to1) extend your welcome and2) provide some suggestions for their campus life here.You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET2.Do not sign your name at the end of the letter. Use “Li Ming”instead.Do not write the address(10 points)Part B52. Directions: write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following drawing. In your essay you should1) describe the drawing briefly2) explain its intended meaning, and3) give your commentsYou should write neatly on ANSWER SHEET2.（20 points）1.【答案】B【解析】从空后信息可以看出，这句表达的是“_ _法官表现得像政治家”的情况下，法庭就不能保持其作为法律法规的合法卫士的形象，所以应该选C,maintain“维持，保持”，其他显然语义不通。
2012年考研英语一真题及答案完整解析
2012年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语（一）The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices have become an important issue recently. The court cannot _1_ its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law _2_ justices behave like politicians. Yet, in several instances, justices acted in ways that _3_ the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial.Justice Antonin Scalia, for example, appeared at political events. That kind of activity makes it less likely that the court’s decisions will be _4_ as impartial judgments. Part of the problem is that the justices are not _5_by an ethics code. At the very least, the court should make itself _6_to the code of conduct that _7_to the rest of the federal judiciary.This and other similar cases _8_the question of whether there is still a _9_between the court and politics.The framers of the Constitution envisioned law _10_having authority apart from politics. They gave justices permanent positions _11_they would be free to _12_ those in power and have no need to _13_ political support. Our legal system was designed to set law apart from politics precisely because they are so closely _14_.Constitutional law is political because it results from choices rooted in fundamental social _15_ like liberty and property. When the court deals with social policy decisions, the law it _16_ is inescapably political-which is why decisions split along ideological lines are so easily _17_ as unjust.The justices must _18_ doubts about the court’s legitimacy by making themselves _19_ to the code of conduct. That would make rulings more likely to be seen as separate from politics and, _20_, convincing as law.[A]emphasize [B]maintain[C]modify [D] recognize2.[A]when [B]lest[C]before [D] unless3.[A]restored [B]weakened [C]established [D] eliminated4.[A]challenged [B]compromised [C]suspected[D] accepted5.[A]advanced [B]caught[C]bound [D]founded6.[A]resistant [B]subject [C]immune [D]prone7.[A]resorts [B]sticks[C]loads [D]applies8.[A]evade [B]raise[C]deny [D]settle9.[A]line [B]barrier[C]similarity [D]conflict10.[A]by [B]as[C]though [D]towards[A]so [B]since[C]provided [D]though12.[A]serve [B]satisfy[C]upset [D]replace13.[A]confirm [B]express[C]cultivate [D]offer14.[A]guarded [B]followed[C]studied [D]tied15.[A]concepts [B]theories[C]divisions [D]conceptions16.[A]excludes [B]questions [C]shapes[D]controls17.[A]dismissed [B]released[C]ranked [D]distorted18.[A]suppress [B]exploit[C]address [D]ignore19.[A]accessible [B]amiable [C]agree able [D]accountable20. [A]by all mesns [B]atall costs [C]in a word [D]as a resultCome on –Everybody’s doing it. That whispered message, half invitation and half forcing, is what most of us think of when we hear the words peer pressure. Itusually leads to no good-drinking, drugs and casual sex. But in her new book Join the Club, Tina Rosenberg contends that peer pressure can also be a positive force through what she calls the social cure, in which organizations and officials use the power of group dynamics to help individuals improve their lives and possibly the word.Rosenberg, the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, offers a host of example of the social cure in action: In South Carolina, a state-sponsored antismoking program called Rage Against the Haze sets out to make cigarettes uncool. In South Africa, an HIV-prevention initiative known as LoveLife recruits young people to promote safe sex among their peers.The idea seems promising，and Rosenberg is a perceptive observer. Her critique of the lameness of many pubic-health campaigns is spot-on: they fail to mobilize peer pressure for healthy habits, and they demonstrate a seriously flawed understanding of psychology.” Dare to be different, please don’t smoke!” pleads one billboard campaign aimed at reducing smoking among teenagers-teenagers, who desire nothing more than fitting in. Rosenberg argues convincingly that public-health advocates ought to take a page from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer pressure.But on the general effectiveness of the social cure, Rosenberg is less persuasive. Join the Club is filled with too much irrelevant detail and not enough exploration of the social and biological factors that make peer pressure so powerful. The most glaring flaw of the social cure as it’s presented here is that it doesn’t work very well for very long. Rage Against the Haze failed once state funding was cut. Evidence that the LoveLife program produces lasting changes is limited and mixed.There’s no doubt that our peer groups exert enormous influence on our behavior. An emerging body of research shows that positive health habits-as well as negative ones-spread through networks of friends via social communication. This is a subtle form of peer pressure: we unconsciously imitate the behavior we see every day. Far less certain, however, is how successfully experts and bureaucrats can select our peer groups and steer their activities in virtuous directions. It’s lik e the teacher who breaks up the troublemakers in the back row by pairing them with better-behaved classmates. The tactic never really works. And that’s the problem with a social cure engineered from the outside: in the real world, as in school, we insist on choosing our own friends.21. According to the first paragraph, peer pressure often emerges as[A] a supplement to the social cure[B] a stimulus to group dynamics[C] an obstacle to school progress[D] a cause of undesirable behaviors22. Rosenberg holds that public advocates should[A] recruit professional advertisers[B] learn from advertisers’ experience[C] stay away from commercial advertisers[D] recognize the limitations of advertisements23. In the author’s view, Rosenberg’s book fails to[A] adequately probe social and biological factors[B] effectively evade the flaws of the social cure[C] illustrate the functions of state funding[D]produce a long-lasting social effect24. Paragraph 5shows that our imitation of behaviors[A] is harmful to our networks of friends[B] will mislead behavioral studies[C] occurs without our realizing it[D] can produce negative health habits25. The author suggests in the last paragraph that the effect of peer pressure is[A] harmful[B] desirable[C] profound[D] questionableA deal is a deal-except, apparently ,when Entergy is involved. The company, a major energy supplier in New England, provoked justified outrage in Vermont last week when it announced it was reneging on a longstanding commitment to abide by the strict nuclear regulations.Instead, the company has done precisely what it had long promised it would not challenge the constitutionality of Vermont’s rules in the federal court, as part of a desperate effort to keep its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant running. It’s a stunning move.The conflict has been surfacing since 2002, when the corporation bought Vermont’s only nuclear power plant, an aging reactor in Vernon. As a condition of receiving state approval for the sale, the company agreed to seek permission from state regulators to operate past 2012. In 2006, the state went a step further,requiring that any extension of the plant’s license be subject to Vermont legislature’s approval. Then, too, the company went along.Either Entergy never really intended to live by those commitments, or it simply didn’t foresee what would happen next. A string of accidents, including the partial collapse of a cooling tower in 207 and the discovery of an underground pipe system leakage, raised serious quest ions about both Vermont Yankee’s safety and Entergy’s management–especially after the company made misleading statements about the pipe. Enraged by Entergy’s behavior, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 last year against allowing an extension.Now the company is suddenly claiming that the 2002 agreement is invalid because of the 2006 legislation, and that only the federal government has regulatory power over nuclear issues. The legal issues in the case are obscure: whereas the Supreme Court has ruled that states do have some regulatory authority over nuclear power, legal scholars say that Vermont case will offer a precedent-setting test of how far those powers extend. Certainly, there are valid concerns about the patchwork regulations that could result if every state sets its own rules. But had Entergy kept its word, that debate would be beside the point.The company seems to have concluded that its reputation in Vermont is already so damaged that it has noting left to lose by going to war with the state. But there should be consequences. Permission to run a nuclear plant is a poblic trust. Entergy runs 11 other reactors in the United States, including Pilgrim Nuclear station in Plymouth. Pledging to run Pilgrim safely, the company has applied for federal permission to keep it open for another 20 years. But as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviews the company’s application, it should keep it mind what promises from Entergy are worth.26. The phrase “reneging on”(Line is closest in meaning to[A] condemning.[B] reaffirming.[C] dishonoring.[D] securing.27. By entering into the 2002 agreement, Entergy intended to[A] obtain protection from Vermont regulators.[B] seek favor from the federal legislature.[C] acquire an extension of its business license .[D] get permission to purchase a power plant.28. According to Paragraph 4, Entergy seems to have problems with its[A] managerial practices. [B] technical innovativeness.[C] financial goals. [D] business vision29. In the author’s view, the Vermont case will test[A] Entergy’s capacity to fulfill all its promises.[B] the mature of states’ patchwork regulations.[C] the federal authority over nuclear issues .[D] the limits of states’ power over nuclear issues.30. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that[A] Entergy’s business elsewhere might be affected.[B] the authority of the NRC will be defied.[C] Entergy will withdraw its Plymouth application.[D] Vermont’s reputation might be damaged.In the idealized version of how science is done, facts about the world are waiting to be observed and collected by objective researchers who use the scientific method to carry out their work. But in the everyday practice of science, discovery frequently follows an ambiguous and complicated route. We aim to be objective, but we cannot escape the context of our unique life experience. Prior knowledge and interest influence what we experience, what we think our experiences mean, and the subsequent actions we take. Opportunities for misinterpretation, error, andself-deception abound.Consequently, discovery claims should be thought of as protoscience. Similar to newly staked mining claims, they are full of potential. But it takes collective scrutiny and acceptance to transform a discovery claim into a mature discovery. This is the credibility process, through which the individual researcher’s me, here, now becomes the community’s anyone, anywhere, anytime. Objective knowledge is the goal, not the starting point.Once a discovery claim becomes public, the discoverer receives intellectual credit. But, unlike with mining claims, the community takes control of what happens next. Within the complex social structure of the scientific community, researchers make discoveries; editors and reviewers act as gatekeepers by controlling the publication process; other scientists use the new finding to suit their own purposes; and finally, the public (including other scientists) receives the new discovery and possibly accompanying technology. As a discovery claim works it through the community, the interaction and confrontation between shared and competing beliefs about the science and the technology involved transforms an individual’s discovery claim into the community’s credible discovery.Two paradoxes exist throughout this credibility process. First, scientific work tends to focus on some aspect of prevailing Knowledge that is viewed as incomplete or incorrect. Little reward accompanies duplication and confirmation of what is already known and believed. The goal is new-search, not re-search. Not surprisingly, newly published discovery claims and credible discoveries that appear to be important and convincing will always be open to challenge and potential modification or refutation by future researchers. Second, novelty itself frequently provokes disbelief. Nobel Laureate and physiologist Albert Azent-Gyorgyi once described discovery as “seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.” But thinking what nobody else has thought and telling others what they have missed may not change their views. Sometimes years are required for truly novel discovery claims to be accepted and appreciated.In the end, credibility “happens” to a discovery claim – a process that corresponds to what philosopher Annette Baier has described as the commons of the mind. “We reason together, challenge, revise, and complete each other’s reasoning and each other’s conceptions of reason.”31. According to the first paragraph, the process of discovery is characterized by its[A] uncertainty and complexity.[B] misconception and deceptiveness.[C] logicality and objectivity.[D] systematicness and regularity.32. It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that credibility process requires[A] strict inspection. [B]shared efforts.[C] individual wisdom. [D]persistent innovation.3 shows that a discovery claim becomes credible after it[A] has attracted the attention of the general public.[B]has been examined by the scientific community.[C] has received recognition from editors and reviewers.[D]has been frequently quoted by peer scientists.34. Albert Szent-Györgyi would most likely agree that[A] scientific claims will survive challenges.[B]discoveries today inspire future research.[C] efforts to make discoveries are justified.[D]scientific work calls for a critical mind.of the following would be the best title of the test?[A] Novelty as an Engine of Scientific Development.[B]Collective Scrutiny in Scientific Discovery.[C] Evolution of Credibility in Doing Science.[D]Challenge to Credibility at the Gate to Science.If the trade unionist Jimmy Hoffa were alive today, he would probably represent civil servant. When Hoffa’s Teamsters were in their prime in 1960, only one in ten American government workers belonged to a union; now 36% do. In 2009 the number of unionists in America’s public sector passed that of their fellow members in the private sector. In Britain, more than half of public-sector workers but only about 15% ofprivate-sector ones are unionized.There are three reasons for the public-sector unions’ thriving. First, they can shut things down without suffering much in the way of consequences. Second, they are mostly bright and well-educated. A quarter of America’s public-sector workers have a university degree. Third, they now dominate left-of-centre politics. Some of their ties go back a long way. Britain’s Labor Party, as its name implies, has long been associated with trade unionism. Its current leader, Ed Miliband, owes his position to votes from public-sector unions.At the state level their influence can be even more fearsome. Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of California points out that much of the state’s budget is patrolled by unions. The teachers’ unions keep an eye on schools, the CCPOA on prisons and a variety of labor groups on health care.In many rich countries average wages in the state sector are higher than in the private one. But the real gains come in benefits and work practices. Politicians have repea tedly “backloaded” public-sector pay deals, keeping the pay increases modest but adding to holidays and especially pensions that are already generous.Reform has been vigorously opposed, perhaps most egregiously in education, where charter schools, academies and merit pay all faced drawn-out battles. Even though there is plenty of evidence that the quality of the teachers is the most important variable, teachers’ unions have fought against getting rid of bad ones and promoting good ones.As the cost to everyone else has become clearer, politicians have begun to clamp down. In Wisconsin the unions have rallied thousands ofsupporters against Scott Walker, the hardline Republican governor. But many within the public sector suffer under the current system, too.John Donahue at Harvard’s Kennedy School points out that the norms of culture in Western civil services suit those who want to stay put but is bad for high achievers. The only American public-sector workers who earn well above $250,000 a year are university sports coaches and the president of the United States. Bankers’ fat pay packets have attracted much criticism, but a public-sector system that does not reward high achievers may be a much bigger problem for America.36. It can be learned from the first paragraph that[A] Teamsters still have a large body of members.[B] Jimmy Hoffa used to work as a civil servant.[C] unions have enlarged their public-sector membership.[D]the government has improved its relationship with unionists.37. Which of the following is true of Paragraph 2?[A] Public-sector unions are prudent in taking actions.[B] Education is required for public-sector union membership.[C] Labor Party has long been fighting against public-sector unions.[D]Public-sector unions seldom get in trouble for their actions.38. It can be learned from Paragraph 4 that the income in the state sector is[A] illegally secured. [B] indirectly augmented.[C] excessively increased. [D]fairly adjusted.39. The example of the unions in Wisconsin shows that unions[A]often run against the current political system.[B]can change people’s political attitudes.[C]may be a barrier to public-sector reforms.[D]are dominant in the government.40. John Donahue’s attitude towards the public-sector system is one of[A]disapproval.[B]appreciation.[C]tolerance.[D]indifference.Think of those fleeting moments when you look out of an aeroplane window and realise that you are flying, higher than a bird. Now think of your laptop, thinner than a brown-paper envelope, or your cellphone in the palm of your hand. Take a moment or two to wonder at those marvels. You are the lucky inheritor of a dream come true.The second half of the 20th century saw a collection of geniuses, warriors, entrepreneurs and visionaries labour to create a fabulous machine that could function as a typewriter and printing press, studio and theatre, paintbrush and gallery, piano and radio, the mail as well as the mail carrier. (41) The networked computer is an amazing device, the first media machine that serves as the mode of production, means of distribution, site of reception, and place of praise and critique. The computer is the 21st century's culture machine.But for all the reasons there are to celebrate the computer, we must also tread with caution. (42)I call it a secret war for two reasons. First, most people do not realise that there are strong commercial agendas at work to keep them in passive consumption mode. Second, the majority of people who use networked computers to upload are not even aware of the significance of what they are doing.All animals download, but only a few upload. Beavers build dams and birds make nests. Yet for the most part, the animal kingdom moves through the world downloading. Humans are unique in their capacity to not only make tools but then turn around and use them to create superfluous material goods - paintings, sculpture and architecture - and superfluous experiences - music, literature, religion and philosophy. (43)For all the possibilities of our new culture machines, most people are still stuck in download mode. Even after the advent of widespread social media, a pyramid of production remains, with a small number of people uploading material, a slightly larger group commenting on or modifying that content, and a huge percentage remaining content to just consume. (44)Television is a one-way tap flowing into our homes. The hardest task that television asks of anyone is to turn the power off after he has turned it on. (45)What counts as meaningful uploading? My definition revolves around the concept of "stickiness" - creations and experiences to which others adhere.[A] Of course, it is precisely these superfluous things that define human culture and ultimately what it is to be human. Downloading and consuming culture requires great skills, but failing to move beyond downloading is to strip oneself of a defining constituent of humanity.[B] Applications like , which allow users to combine pictures, words and other media in creative ways and then share them, have the potential to add stickiness by amusing, entertaining and enlightening others.[C] Not only did they develop such a device but by the turn of the millennium they had also managed to embed it in a worldwide system accessed by billions of people every day.[D] This is because the networked computer has sparked a secret war between downloading and uploading - between passive consumption and active creation - whose outcome will shape our collective future in ways we can only begin to imagine. [E] The challenge the computer mounts to television thus bears little similarity to one format being replaced by another in the manner of record players being replaced by CD players.[F] One reason for the persistence of this pyramid of production is that for the past half-century, much of the world's media culture has been defined by a single medium - television - and television is defined by downloading.[G]The networked computer offers the first chance in 50 years to reverse the flow, to encourage thoughtful downloading and, even more importantly, meaningful uploading.Part CSince the days of Aristotle, a search for universal principles has characterized the scientific enterprise. In some ways, this quest for commonalities defines science. Newt on’s laws of motion and Darwinian evolution each bind a host of different phenomena into a single explicatory frame work.(46)In physics, one approach takes this impulse for unification to its extreme, and seeks a theory of everything—a single generative equation for all we is becoming less clear, however, that such a theory would be a simplification, given the dimensions and universes that it might entail, nonetheless, unification of sorts remains a major goal.This tendency in the natural sciences has long been evident in the social sciences too. (47)Here, Darwinism seems to offer justification for it all humans share common origins it seems reasonable to suppose that cultural diversity could also be traced to more constrained beginnings. Just as the bewildering variety of human courtship rituals might all be considered forms of sexual selection, perhaps the world’s languages, music, social and religious customs and even history are governed by universal features. (48)To filter out what is unique from what is shared might enable us to understand how complex cultural behavior arose and what guides it in evolutionary or cognitive terms.That, at least, is the hope. But a comparative study of linguistic traits published online today supplies a reality check. Russell Gray at the University of Auckland and his colleagues consider the evolution of grammars in the light of two previous attempts to find universality in language.The most famous of these efforts was initiated by Noam Chomsky, who suggested that humans are born with an innate language—acquisition capacity that dictates a universal grammar. A few generative rules are then sufficient to unfold the entire fundamental structure of a language, which is why children can learn it so quickly.(49)The second, by Joshua Greenberg, takes a more empirical approach to universality identifying traits (particularly in word order) shared by many language which are considered to represent biases that result from cognitive constraintsGray and his colleagues have put them to the test by examining four family trees that between them represent more than 2,000languages.(50)Chomsky’s grammar should show patterns of language change that are independent of the family tree or the pathway tracked through it. Whereas Greenbergian universality predicts strong co-dependencies between particular types of word-order relations. Neither of these patterns is borne out by the analysis, suggesting that the structures of the languages are lire age-specific and not governed by universalsSection III WritingSome internationals students are coming to your university. Write them an email in the name of the Students’ Union to1) extend your welcome and2) provide some suggestions for their campus life here.You should write about 100 words on ANSWER not sign your name at the end of the letter. Use “Li Ming” instead.Do not write the address(10 points)Part B52. Directions: write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following drawing. In your essay you should1) describe the drawing briefly2) explain its intended meaning, and3) give your commentsYou should write neatly on ANSWER SHEET2.（20 points）1.【答案】B【解析】从空后信息可以看出，这句表达的是“_ _法官表现得像政治家”的情况下，法庭就不能保持其作为法律法规的合法卫士的形象，所以应该选C,maintain“维持，保持”，其他显然语义不通。
2012年考研英语一真题原文及答案解析完整版
2012年考研英语一真题原文及答案解析完整版Section I Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following text. Choose the best word（s）for each numbered blank and mark A，B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1。
(10 points）Read the following text. Choose the best word(s）for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1。
（10 points)The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices have become an important issue recently。
The court cannot _1_ its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law _2_ justices behave like politicians. Yet, in several instances, justices acted in ways that _3_ the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial.Justice Antonin Scalia，for example, appeared at political events。
That kind of activity makes it less likely that the cour t’s decisions will be _4_ as impartial judgments. Part of the problem is that the justices are not _5_by an ethics code。
2012年考研英语一真题及答案完整解析pdf
2012年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语（一） Section I Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices have become an important issue recently. The court cannot _1_ its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law _2_ justices behave like politicians. Yet, in several instances, justices acted in ways that _3_ the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial.Justice Antonin Scalia, for example, appeared at political events. That kind of activity makes it less likely that the court’s decisions will be _4_ as impartial judgments. Part of the problem is that the justices are not _5_by an ethics code. At the very least, the court should make itself _6_to the code of conduct that _7_to the rest of the federal judiciary.This and other similar cases _8_the question of whether there is still a_9_between the court and politics.The framers of the Constitution envisioned law _10_having authority apart from politics. They gave justices permanent positions _11_they would be free to _12_ those in power and have no need to _13_ political support. Our legal system was designed to set law apart from politics precisely because they are so closely _14_.Constitutional law is political because it results from choices rooted in fundamental social _15_ like liberty and property. When the court deals with social policy decisions, the law it _16_ is inescapably political-which is why decisions split along ideological lines are so easily _17_ as unjust.The justices must _18_ doubts about the court’s legitimacy by making themselves _19_ to the code of conduct. That would make rulings more likely to be seen as separate from politics and, _20_, convincing as law.1. [A]emphasize [B]maintain [C]modify [D] recognize2. [A]when [B]lest [C]before [D] unless3. [A]restored [B]weakened [C]established [D] eliminated4. [A]challenged [B]compromised [C]suspected [D] accepted5. [A]advanced [B]caught [C]bound [D]founded6. [A]resistant [B]subject [C]immune [D]prone7. [A]resorts [B]sticks [C]loads [D]applies8. [A]evade [B]raise [C]deny [D]settle9. [A]line [B]barrier [C]similarity [D]conflict10. [A]by [B]as [C]though [D]towards11. [A]so [B]since [C]provided [D]though12. [A]serve [B]satisfy [C]upset [D]replace13. [A]confirm [B]express [C]cultivate [D]offer14. [A]guarded [B]followed [C]studied [D]tied15. [A]concepts [B]theories [C]divisions [D]conceptions16. [A]excludes [B]questions [C]shapes [D]controls17. [A]dismissed [B]released [C]ranked [D]distorted18. [A]suppress [B]exploit [C]address [D]ignore19. [A]accessible [B]amiable [C]agreeable [D]accountable20. [A]by all mesns [B]atall costs [C]in a word [D]as a resultSection II Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)Text 1Come on –Everybody’s doing it. That whispered message, half invitation and half forcing, is what most of us think of when we hear the words peer pressure. It usually leads to no good-drinking, drugs and casual sex. But in her new book Join the Club, Tina Rosenberg contends that peer pressure can also be a positive force through what she calls the social cure, in which organizations and officials use the power of group dynamics to help individuals improve their lives and possibly the word.Rosenberg, the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, offers a host of example of the social cure in action: In South Carolina, a state-sponsored antismoking program called Rage Against the Haze sets out to make cigarettes uncool. In South Africa, an HIV-prevention initiative known as LoveLife recruits young people to promote safe sex among their peers.The idea seems promising，and Rosenberg is a perceptive observer. Her critique of the lameness of many pubic-health campaigns is spot-on: they fail to mobilize peer pressure for healthy habits, and they demonstrate a seriously flawed understanding of psychology.” Dare to be different, please don’t smoke!” pleads one billboard campaign aimed at reducing smoking amongteenagers-teenagers, who desire nothing more than fitting in. Rosenberg argues convincingly that public-health advocates ought to take a page from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer pressure.But on the general effectiveness of the social cure, Rosenberg is less persuasive. Join the Club is filled with too much irrelevant detail and not enough exploration of the social and biological factors that make peer pressure so powerful. The most glaring flaw of the social cure as it’s presented here is that it doesn’t work very well for very long. Rage Against the Haze failed once state funding was cut. Evidence that the LoveLife program produces lasting changes is limited and mixed.There’s no doubt that our peer groups exert enormous influence on our behavior. An emerging body of research shows that positive health habits-as well as negative ones-spread through networks of friends via social communication. This is a subtle form of peer pressure: we unconsciously imitate the behavior we see every day.Far less certain, however, is how successfully experts and bureaucrats can select our peer groups and steer their activities in virtuous directions. It’s like the teacher who breaks upthe troublemakers in the back row by pairing them with better-behaved classmates. The tactic never really works. And that’s the problem with a social cure engineered from the outside: in the real world, as in school, we insist on choosing our own friends.21. According to the first paragraph, peer pressure often emerges as[A] a supplement to the social cure[B] a stimulus to group dynamics[C] an obstacle to school progress[D] a cause of undesirable behaviors22. Rosenberg holds that public advocates should[A] recruit professional advertisers[B] learn from advertisers’ experience[C] stay away from commercial advertisers[D] recognize the limitations of advertisements23. In the author’s view, Rosenberg’s book fails to[A] adequately probe social and biological factors[B] effectively evade the flaws of the social cure[C] illustrate the functions of state funding[D]produce a long-lasting social effect24. Paragraph 5shows that our imitation of behaviors[A] is harmful to our networks of friends[B] will mislead behavioral studies[C] occurs without our realizing it[D] can produce negative health habits25. The author suggests in the last paragraph that the effect of peer pressure is[A] harmful[B] desirable[C] profound[D] questionableText 2A deal is a deal-except, apparently ,when Entergy is involved. The company, a major energy supplier in New England, provoked justified outrage in Vermont last week when it announced it was reneging on a longstanding commitment to abide by the strict nuclear regulations.Instead, the company has done precisely what it had long promised it would not challenge the constitutionality of Vermont’s rules in the federal court, as part of a desperate effort to keep its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant running. It’s a stunning move.The conflict has been surfacing since 2002, when the corporation bought Vermont’s only nuclear power plant, an aging reactor in Vernon. As a condition of receiving state approval for the sale, the company agreed to seek permission from state regulators tooperate past 2012. In 2006, the state went a step further, requiring that any extension of the plant’s license be subject to Vermont legislature’s approval. Then, too, the company went along.Either Entergy never really intended to live by those commitments, or it simply didn’t foresee what would happen next. A string of accidents, including the partial collapse of a cooling tower in 207 and the discovery of an underground pipe system leakage, raised serious questions about both Vermont Yankee’s safety and Entergy’s management– especially after the company made misleading statements about the pipe. Enraged by Entergy’s behavior, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 last year against allowing an extension.Now the company is suddenly claiming that the 2002 agreement is invalid because of the 2006 legislation, and that only the federal government has regulatory power over nuclear issues. The legal issues in the case are obscure: whereas the Supreme Court has ruled that states do have some regulatory authority over nuclear power, legal scholars say that Vermont case will offer a precedent-setting test of how far those powers extend. Certainly, there are valid concerns about the patchwork regulations that could result if every state sets its own rules. But had Entergy kept its word, that debate would be beside the point.The company seems to have concluded that its reputation in Vermont is already so damaged that it has noting left to lose by going to war with the state. But there should be consequences. Permission to run a nuclear plant is a poblic trust. Entergy runs 11 other reactors in the United States, including Pilgrim Nuclear station in Plymouth. Pledging to run Pilgrim safely, the company has applied for federal permission to keep it open for another 20 years. But as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviews the company’s application, it should keep it mind what promises from Entergy are worth.26. The phrase “reneging on”(Line 3.para.1) is closest in meaning to[A] condemning.[B] reaffirming.[C] dishonoring.[D] securing.27. By entering into the 2002 agreement, Entergy intended to[A] obtain protection from Vermont regulators.[B] seek favor from the federal legislature.[C] acquire an extension of its business license .[D] get permission to purchase a power plant.28. According to Paragraph 4, Entergy seems to have problems with its[A] managerial practices.[B] technical innovativeness.[C] financial goals.[D] business vision29. In the author’s view, the Vermont case will test[A] Entergy’s capacity to fulfill all its promises.[B] the mature of states’ patchwork regulations.[C] the federal authority over nuclear issues .[D] the limits of states’ power over nuclear issues.30. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that[A] Entergy’s business elsewhere might be affected.[B] the authority of the NRC will be defied.[C] Entergy will withdraw its Plymouth application.[D] Vermont’s reputation might be damaged.Text 3In the idealized version of how science is done, facts about the world are waiting to be observed and collected by objective researchers who use the scientific method to carry out their work. But in the everyday practice of science, discovery frequently follows an ambiguous and complicated route. We aim to be objective, but we cannot escape the context of our unique life experience. Prior knowledge and interest influence what we experience, what we think our experiences mean, and the subsequent actions we take. Opportunities for misinterpretation, error, and self-deception abound.Consequently, discovery claims should be thought of as protoscience. Similar to newly staked mining claims, they are full of potential. But it takes collective scrutiny and acceptance to transform a discovery claim into a mature discovery. This is the credibility process, through which the individual researcher’s me, here, now becomes the community’s anyone, anywhere, anytime. Objective knowledge is the goal, not the starting point.Once a discovery claim becomes public, the discoverer receives intellectual credit. But, unlike with mining claims, the community takes control of what happens next. Within the complex social structure of the scientific community, researchers make discoveries; editors and reviewers act as gatekeepers by controlling the publication process; other scientists use the new finding to suit their own purposes; and finally, the public (including other scientists) receives the new discovery and possibly accompanying technology. As a discovery claim works it through the community, the interaction and confrontation between shared andcompeting beliefs about the science and the technology involved transforms an individual’s discovery claim into the community’s credible discovery.Two paradoxes exist throughout this credibility process. First, scientific work tends to focus on some aspect of prevailing Knowledge that is viewed as incomplete or incorrect. Little reward accompanies duplication and confirmation of what is already known and believed. The goal is new-search, not re-search. Not surprisingly, newly published discovery claims and credible discoveries that appear to be important and convincing will always be open to challenge and potential modification or refutation by future researchers. Second, novelty itself frequently provokes disbelief. Nobel Laureate and physiologist AlbertAzent-Gyorgyi once described discovery as “seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.” But thinking what nobody else has thought and telling others what they have missed may not change their views. Sometimes years are required for truly novel discovery claims to be accepted and appreciated.In the end, credibility “happens” to a discovery claim – a process that corresponds to what philosopher Annette Baier has described as the commons of the mind. “We reason together, challenge, revise, and complete each other’s reasoning and each other’s conceptions of reason.”31. According to the first paragraph, the process of discovery is characterized by its[A] uncertainty and complexity.[B] misconception and deceptiveness.[C] logicality and objectivity.[D] systematicness and regularity.32. It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that credibility process requires[A] strict inspection.[B]shared efforts.[C] individual wisdom.[D]persistent innovation.33.Paragraph 3 shows that a discovery claim becomes credible after it[A] has attracted the attention of the general public.[B]has been examined by the scientific community.[C] has received recognition from editors and reviewers.[D]has been frequently quoted by peer scientists.34. Albert Szent-Györgyi would most likely agree that[A] scientific claims will survive challenges.[B]discoveries today inspire future research.[C] efforts to make discoveries are justified.[D]scientific work calls for a critical mind.35.Which of the following would be the best title of the test?[A] Novelty as an Engine of Scientific Development.[B]Collective Scrutiny in Scientific Discovery.[C] Evolution of Credibility in Doing Science.[D]Challenge to Credibility at the Gate to Science.Text 4If the trade unionist Jimmy Hoffa were alive today, he would probably represent civil servant. When Hoffa’s Teamsters were in their prime in 1960, only one in ten American government workers belonged to a union; now 36% do. In 2009 the number of unionists in America’s public sector passed that of their fellow members in the private sector. In Britain, more than half of public-sector workers but only about 15% of private-sector ones are unionized.There are three reasons for the public-sector unions’ thriving. First, they can shut things down without suffering much in the way of consequences. Second, they are mostly bright and well-educated. A quarter of America’s public-sector workers have a university degree. Third, they now dominate left-of-centre politics. Some of their ties go back a long way. Britain’s Labor Party, as its name implies, has long been associated with trade unionism. Its current leader, Ed Miliband, owes his position to votes from public-sector unions.At the state level their influence can be even more fearsome. Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of California points out that much of the state’s budget is patrolled by unions. The teachers’ unions keep an eye on schools, the CCPOA on prisons and a variety of labor groups on health care.In many rich countries average wages in the state sector are higher than in the private one. But the real gains come in benefits and work practices. Politicians have repeatedly “backloaded” public-sector pay deals, keeping the pay increases modest but adding to holidays and especially pensions that are already generous.Reform has been vigorously opposed, perhaps most egregiously in education, where charter schools, academies and merit pay all faced drawn-outbattles. Even though there is plenty of evidence that the quality of the teachers is the most important variable, teachers’ unions have fought against getting rid of bad ones and promoting good ones.As the cost to everyone else has become clearer, politicians have begun to clamp down. In Wisconsin the unions have rallied thousands of supporters against Scott Walker, the hardline Republican governor. But many within the public sector suffer under the current system, too.John Donahue at Harvard’s Kennedy School points out that the norms of culture in Western civil services suit those who want to stay put but is bad for high achievers. The only American public-sector workers who earn well above $250,000 a year are university sports coaches and the president of the United States. Bankers’ fat pay packets have attracted much criticism, but apublic-sector system that does not reward high achievers may be a much bigger problem for America.36. It can be learned from the first paragraph that[A] Teamsters still have a large body of members.[B] Jimmy Hoffa used to work as a civil servant.[C] unions have enlarged their public-sector membership.[D]the government has improved its relationship with unionists.37. Which of the following is true of Paragraph 2?[A] Public-sector unions are prudent in taking actions.[B] Education is required for public-sector union membership.[C] Labor Party has long been fighting against public-sector unions.[D]Public-sector unions seldom get in trouble for their actions.38. It can be learned from Paragraph 4 that the income in the state sector is[A] illegally secured.[B] indirectly augmented.[C] excessively increased.[D]fairly adjusted.39. The example of the unions in Wisconsin shows that unions[A]often run against the current political system.[B]can change people’s political attitudes.[C]may be a barrier to public-sector reforms.[D]are dominant in the government.40. John Donahue’s attitude towards the public-sector system is one of[A]disapproval.[B]appreciation.[C]tolerance.[D]indifference.Part BDirections:In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list A-G to fit into each of the numbered blanks. There are two extra choices, which do not fit in any of the blanks. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET1.（10 points）Think of those fleeting moments when you look out of an aeroplane window and realise that you are flying, higher than a bird. Now think of your laptop, thinner than a brown-paper envelope, or your cellphone in the palm of your hand. Take a moment or two to wonder at those marvels. You are the lucky inheritor of a dream come true.The second half of the 20th century saw a collection of geniuses, warriors, entrepreneurs and visionaries labour to create a fabulous machine that could function as a typewriter and printing press, studio and theatre, paintbrush and gallery, piano and radio, the mail as well as the mail carrier. (41)The networked computer is an amazing device, the first media machine that serves as the mode of production, means of distribution, site of reception, and place of praise and critique. The computer is the 21st century's culture machine.But for all the reasons there are to celebrate the computer, we must also tread with caution. (42)I call it a secret war for two reasons. First, most people do not realise that there are strong commercial agendas at work to keep them in passive consumption mode. Second, the majority of people who use networked computers to upload are not even aware of the significance of what they are doing.All animals download, but only a few upload. Beavers build dams and birds make nests. Yet for the most part, the animal kingdom moves through the world downloading. Humans are unique in their capacity to not only make tools but then turn around and use them to create superfluous material goods - paintings, sculpture and architecture - and superfluous experiences - music, literature, religion and philosophy. (43)For all the possibilities of our new culture machines, most people are still stuck in download mode. Even after the advent of widespread social media, a pyramid of production remains, with a small number of people uploading material, a slightly larger groupcommenting on or modifying that content, and a huge percentage remaining content to just consume. (44)Television is a one-way tap flowing into our homes. The hardest task that television asks of anyone is to turn the power off after he has turned it on.(45)What counts as meaningful uploading? My definition revolves around the concept of "stickiness" - creations and experiences to which others adhere.[A] Of course, it is precisely these superfluous things that define human culture and ultimately what it is to be human. Downloading and consuming culture requires great skills, but failing to move beyond downloading is to strip oneself of a defining constituent of humanity.[B] Applications like , which allow users to combine pictures, words and other media in creative ways and then share them, have the potential to add stickiness by amusing, entertaining and enlightening others.[C] Not only did they develop such a device but by the turn of the millennium they had also managed to embed it in a worldwide system accessed by billions of people every day.[D] This is because the networked computer has sparked a secret war between downloading and uploading - between passive consumption and active creation - whose outcome will shape our collective future in ways we can only begin to imagine.[E] The challenge the computer mounts to television thus bears little similarity to one format being replaced by another in the manner of record players being replaced by CD players. [F] One reason for the persistence of this pyramid of production is that for the pasthalf-century, much of the world's media culture has been defined by a single medium - television - and television is defined by downloading.[G]The networked computer offers the first chance in 50 years to reverse the flow, to encourage thoughtful downloading and, even more importantly, meaningful uploading.Part CDirections:Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese. Your translation should be written clearly on ANSWER SHEET 2. (10 points)Since the days of Aristotle, a search for universal principles has characterized the scientific enterprise. In some ways, this quest for commonalities defines science. Newton’s laws of motion and Darwinian evolution each bind a host of different phenomena into a single explicatory frame work.(46)In physics, one approach takes this impulse for unification to its extreme, and seeks a theory of everything—a single generative equation for all we see.It isbecoming less clear, however, that such a theory would be a simplification, given the dimensions and universes that it might entail, nonetheless, unification of sorts remains a major goal.This tendency in the natural sciences has long been evident in the social sciences too. (47)Here, Darwinism seems to offer justification for it all humans share common origins it seems reasonable to suppose that cultural diversity could also be traced to more constrained beginnings. Just as the bewildering variety of human courtship rituals might all be considered forms of sexual selection, perhaps the world’s languages, music, social and religious customs and even history are governed by universal features. (48)To filter out what is unique from what isshared might enable us to understand how complex cultural behavior arose and what guides it in evolutionary or cognitive terms.That, at least, is the hope. But a comparative study of linguistic traits published online today supplies a reality check. Russell Gray at the University of Auckland and his colleagues consider the evolution of grammars in the light of two previous attempts to find universality in language.The most famous of these efforts was initiated by Noam Chomsky, who suggested that humans are born with an innate language—acquisition capacity that dictates a universal grammar. A few generative rules are then sufficient to unfold the entire fundamental structure of a language, which is why children can learn it so quickly.(49)The second, by Joshua Greenberg, takes a more empirical approach touniversality identifying traits (particularly in word order) shared by manylanguage which are considered to represent biases that result from cognitiveconstraintsGray and his colleagues have put them to the test by examining four family trees that between them represent more than 2,000 languages.(50)Chomsky’s grammar should show patterns of language change that are independent of the family tree or the pathway tracked through it. Whereas Greenbergian universality predicts strong co-dependencies between particular types of word-order relations.Neither of these patterns is borne out by the analysis, suggesting that thestructures of the languages are lire age-specific and not governed by universalsSection III WritingPart A51. Directions:Some internationals students are coming to your university. Write them an email in the name of the Students’ Union to1)extend your welcome and2)provide some suggestions for their campus life here.You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET2.Do not sign your name at the end of the letter. Use “Li Ming” instead.Do not write the address(10 points)Part B52. Directions: write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following drawing. In your essay you should1) describe the drawing briefly2) explain its intended meaning, and3) give your commentsYou should write neatly on ANSWER SHEET2.（20 points）1.【答案】B【解析】从空后信息可以看出，这句表达的是“_ _法官表现得像政治家”的情况下，法庭就不能保持其作为法律法规的合法卫士的形象，所以应该选C,maintain“维持，保持”，其他显然语义不通。
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Section Ⅰ Use of English2012年的完型填空是有关美国司法官伦理和政治关系的一篇文章，出自New York Times, June, 30th , 2011的“Ethics, Politics and the Law”一文。
选材回归了2000年完型曾出过的法律类文章，而且和当年一样，也是包含几个小段落，不像以往的文章，三段或者四段论，脉络比较清晰，结构容易把握。
而且，较去年比较“平易近人”的文章，这篇法律类文章背后有一定的背景知识，比较关注时事或者对这一块儿有所了解的同学，会相应得心应手一些。
另外，20道题目中，多达13题都是在考查动词，虽然选项中基本不存在干扰项，除了15题一道考查两词的辨析之外，其他的选项含义都差别甚远，按理说值得高兴。
但是这些考查动词的题目中，许多都考查对于熟词僻义的掌握情况，往年就是08年出现了3处，今年也出现3处。
仅有2道题考查逻辑词，而且这两道题是送分题，不需要考虑太多。
一向是命题人偏爱的以“able”作后缀的形容词依然出现(19题)。
下面就真题作一个详细解析。
和以往一样，第一句话不设空，帮助同学们理解全文探讨的话题：美国高等法庭司法官的伦理道德问题。
题1选B。
maintain. 此空有赖于对后文的理解。
这直接体现了我们作完型的整体思路，也就是首先通读全文。
尤其是看到最后一段直接给出提议：希望法官和政治划清界限从而保证自己的权威性，因此全文的导向和逻辑就非常清晰了。
同时，题2答案(when)也顺势而出：如果法官们和政治家一样，法庭就不能捍卫自己作为法律卫道士的权威。
题2选A。
这里的when其实表示条件关系，即“如果……。
”题3选择 weakened。
上下文语义题+词义辨析。
选项含义差别较大，要求对上下文逻辑关系掌握清楚。
Yet表示一个转折：“即使这样，还是有很多法官这样做，损害了法庭独立和公正的名声。
” 本题如果能把导向把握准，即可定位在B和D两项，D项eliminated 过于绝对，排除。
题4 选 D. accepted。
上下文语义。
依然是通过上下文逻辑关系，按段精度解题。
这段用两个法官参与政治事件的例子说明他们的行为使得法院的裁决不偏不倚而被认可变得不太可能。
A选项challenged 和C项suspected意义相反，和主旨矛盾，即肯定了法官参与政治行为。
B项compromised “调停” 和主题无关。
题5 选C。
上下文语义题。
本段属于总分形式。
首先提出法官参与政治导致的问题，然后分析问题的原因：“这种情况有一部分是由于法官们不受伦理道德准则的约束。
” 其他三项不合逻辑，均不具干扰性。
题 6 选B。
完型填空在历史上对于subject这个词一向情有独钟。
04年，05年，08年以及10年选项中都出现，只有05年落选。
而且这3年考查的意思都一致，即“易遭受……”，考查形式有“is subjected to”，“is subject to” 以及“subject sb. to sth。
(使得某人容易遭受)”。
今年依然是“subject”入选，但是这次取了大家最熟悉的意思，即“使服从，受…管制”，“法院应该依行为准则办事”。
至于选项 A resistant 和 C immune 两个选项和subject 这三个词在04年的第8道题也同时出现。
“Be immune to”指“对…免疫，不起作用”。
可见很多时候命题人不总以内容为基础来设置干扰选项，也提醒大家要重视对于历年真题的复习。
题7 选 D. applied。
上下文语义题。
选项所在的句子是定语从句，修饰前面的“code of conduct”，即“法院应该让自己服从于那些也同样应用于其他联邦法院的行为准则”。
A 项resort to：诉诸于，求助于; B项sticks to: 坚持;这两项的主语都不能是“code”，属搭配不当。
C项lead to，导致。
意义不符，直接排除。
题8 选B. raise。
上下文语义+固定搭配。
“raise the question of” 提出了……的问题。
这一句是承上启下段。
全文的导向是“法官法庭应该和政治分离开来”，然后引出负面例子，紧接着就引出了这句话：“这些案件提出了问题：究竟法庭和政治之间是否还存在界限。
” 言下之意，法官和法庭和政治总是撇不清关系，符合全文导向。
A. evade “规避，逃避” 和D项“处理，解决”，不符合上下文逻辑。
C项“否决”和后面的“question whether…” 构不成搭配。
题 9 选 A. line。
上下文语义+固定搭配。
“a line between…”：“在…存在或划清界限”。
题10选B. as。
介词用法。
envision…as… 把……预想成为…题11选 A. so。
逻辑关系词。
前后句明显是因果关系，so 引导一个结果状语从句。
题12选 C. upset. 上下文语义题。
“法官被赋予永恒地位，因而可以不用顾忌惩戒那些有权力的人。
”其他三个选项均不符合上下文逻辑。
题13 选 C. cultivate. 上下文语义题。
“有了这种地位做保障，也就不需要再去花心思培养发展政治支持。
”题14 选 D. tied。
上下文语义题。
“法制系统旨在将政治与法律相分隔，因为它们彼此联系太紧。
”其他三项完全构不成干扰。
题15 选 A. concepts。
词义辨析题。
“liberty”和“property”同属社会基本理念，而不是 theories (理论) 或divisions (分支)。
D项conception 常指具体的或个人的理念而非笼统意义的理念。
题16 选 C. shapes。
考查熟词僻义。
“Shape a plan”，作出计划。
本词所在的句子为省略了that 的定语从句。
“当法院处理社会政策决议的问题时，它们制定出来的法律将不可避免的政治化。
”题17 选 A. dismissed。
考查熟词僻义。
Dismiss 在这里意为“拒绝考虑，遭拒”。
“这就解释了为什么不同意识形态导致的决议分歧总是被认为不公正因而不予考虑。
题18 选 C. address。
依然考查熟词僻义。
最后一段提出建议。
希望法官们必须处理人们对于法庭合法性的质疑。
“address” 一词作为“处理，解决”的意思在完型中不是第一次出现。
06年的完型中最后一段“address the needs of the homeless”，解决无家可归者的需求。
只不过当年这里并没有设空。
其他三项均不符合逻辑。
题19. 选D. accountable. 考查点：同义复现+熟词僻义。
此题和第二段的题6构成同义复现。
“be accountable to…”不是“可解释的”，而是指“有义务，对…负责”。
“be agreeable to” 是“愉快的;同意的”;虽然也有“适合的，符合品位的”的意思，但题中to后面接的是code，不合逻辑。
“agreeable to everybody: 适合于所有人”。
A项“be accessible to…,可接近…，能得到的” 和B项“amiable” 和蔼可亲的，与主题无关。
题20. 选D. as a result。
考查逻辑关系词。
A项 by all means 和B 项at all costs 用法一致，切含义相近，首先排除。
C项in a word 是“总之”，总结全文下结论时用，而且多用在句首。
这里and连接词前面的内容是“让法律法规和政治分离开来”，后面的内容是“更能服人”，显然两者是因果关系。
Section Ⅱ Reading ComprehensionPart AText 121. According to the first paragraph, peer pressure often emerges as根据第一段，同龄人的压力通常以什么样的状态出现：[A] a supplement to the social cure对于社会治疗的补充[B] a stimulus to group dynamics对团队活力的刺激[C] an obstacle to school progress学校进步的阻碍[D] a cause of undesirable behaviors一些不良行为的原因解析：答案为D。
细节题：选项：a cause of undesirable behaviors对应文中It usually leads to no good-drinking, drugs and casual sex。
题干中的often对应原文中的usually;选项中undesirable behaviors对应no good-drinking, drugs and casual sex. lead与cause。
同义替换，难度不大。
22. Rosenberg holds that public advocates should罗森博格认为公共支持者应该：[A] recruit professional advertisers 招募职业的广告人[B] learn f rom advertisers’ experience从广告人那里学习经验[C] stay away from commercial advertisers 远离商业广告人[D] recognize the limitations of advertisements认识到广告的局限性解析：答案为B。
细节题，首先根据题干中的关键词public advocates 和should 定位到：三段最后一句：Rosenberg argues convincingly that public-health advocates ought to take a page from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer pressure。
分别对应句中的public-health advocates和ought to，从四个选项中课看出来正确选项可能和advertiser或者advertisement有关，从而把目光锁定在take a page from advertisers，但是很多同学都不知道它是什么意思，但是这可从后文的，so skilled at applying，(也能熟练的运用)，再对照四个选项不难选出正确答案B，学习才能运用啊。
23. In the author’s view, Rosenberg’s book fails to作者认为Rosenberg的书未能：[A] adequately probe social and biological factors 足够的探究社会和生物因素[B] effectively evade the flaws of the social cure有效地逃避社会治疗的缺[C] illustrate the functions of state funding 例证出国家基金的功能[D]produce a long-lasting social effect产生长期的社会影响解析：答案为A。