01--10考研英语真题完型填空背诵版

2001年

The government is to ban payments to witnesses by newspapers seeking to buy up people involved in prominent cases such as the trial of Rosemary West.

In a significant tightening of legal controls over the press, Lord Irvine, the Lord Chancellor, will introduce a draft bill that will propose making payments to witnesses illegal and will strictly control the amount of publicity that can be given to a case before a trial begins.

In a letter to Gerald Kaufman, chairman of the House of Commons media select committee, Lord Irvine said he agreed with a committee report this year which said that self-regulation did not offer sufficient control.

Publication of the letter came two days after Lord Irvine caused a storm of media protest when he said the interpretation of privacy controls contained in European legislation would be left to judges rather than to Parliament.

The Lord Chancellor said introduction of the Human Rights Bill, which makes the European Convention on Human Rights legally binding in Britain, laid down that everybody was entitled to privacy and that public figures could go to court to protect themselves and their families.

"Press freedoms will be in safe hands with our British judges," he said.

Witness payments became an issue after West sentenced to 10 life sentences in 1995. Up to 19 witnesses were said to have received payments for telling their stories to newspapers. Concerns were raised that witnesses might be encouraged to exaggerate their stories in court to ensure guilty verdict.

2002年

Comparisons were drawn between the development of television in the 20th century and the diffusion of printing in the 15th and 16th centuries. Yet much had happened between As was discussed before, it was not until the 19 th

century that the newspaper became the dominant pre-electronic medium, following in the wake of the pamphlet and the book and in the company of the periodical. It was during the same time that the communications revolution speeded up, beginning with transport, the railway, and leading on through the telegraph, the telephone, radio, and motion pictures into the 20th century world of the motor car and the airplane. Not everyone sees that process in perspective It is important to do so.

It is generally recognized, however, that the introduction of the computer in the early 20th century, followed by the invention of the integrated circuit during the 1960 s, radically changed the process, although its impact on the media was not immediately apparent. As time went by, computers became smaller and more powerful, and they became "personal" too, as well as institutional, with display becoming sharper and storage capacity increasing. They were thought of, like people, in terms of generations, with the distance between generations much

smaller.

It was within the computer age that the term "information society"began to be widely used to describe the context within which we now live. The communications revolution has influenced both work and leisure and how we think and feel both about place and time, but there have been controversial views about its economic, political, social and cultural implications."Benefits"have been weighed against "harmful" outcomes. And generalizations have proved difficult.

2003年

Teachers need to be aware of the emotional, intellectual, and physical changes that young adults experience. And they also need to give serious thought to how they can best accommodate such changes. Growing bodies need movement and exercise.but not just in ways that emphasize competition. Because they are adjusting to their new bodies and a whole host of new intellectual and emotional challenges, teenagers are especially self-conscious and need the confidence that comes from achieving success and knowing that their accomplishments are admired by others. However, the typical teenage lifestyle is already filled with so much competition that it would be wise to plan activities in which there are more winners than losers, for example. publishing newsletters with many student-written book reviews, displaying student artwork, and sponsoring book discussion clubs. A variety of small clubs can provide multiple opportunities for leadership, as well as for practice in successful group dynamics. Making friends is extremely important to teenagers, and many shy students need the security of some kind of organization with a supportive adult barely visible in the background.

In these activities, it is important to remember that young teens have short attention spans. A variety of activities should be organized so that participants can remain active as long as they want and then go on to something else without feeling guilty and without letting the other participants down. This does not mean that adults must accept irresponsibility. On the contrar y they can help students acquire a sense of commitment by planning for roles that are within their capabilities and their attention spans and by having clearly stated rules.

2004年

Many theories concerning the causes of juvenile delinquency (crimes committed by young people) focus either on the individual or on society as the major contributing influence. Theories centering on the individual suggest that children engage in criminal behavior because they were not sufficiently penalized for previous misdeeds or that they have learned criminal behavior through interactions with others. Theories focusing on the role of society suggest that children commit crimes in response to their failure to rise above their socioeconomic status or as a rejection of middle-class values.

Most theories of juvenile delinquency have focused on children from disadvantaged families, ignoring the fact that children from wealthy homes also commit crimes. The latter may commit crimes for lack of adequate parental control. All theories, however, are tentative and are subject to criticism.

Changes in the social structure may indirectly affect juvenile crime rates. For example, changes in the economy that lead to fewer job opportunities for youth and rising unemployment in general make gainful employment increasingly difficult to obtain. The resulting discontent may in turn lead more youths into criminal behavior.

Families have also experienced changes these years. More families consist of one parent households or two working parents; Consequently, children are likely to have less supervision at home than was common in the traditional family structure. This lack of parental supervision is thought to be an influence on juvenile crime rates. Other identifiable causes of offensive acts include frustration or failure in school, the increased availability of drugs and alcohol, and the growing incidence of child abuse and child neglect. All these conditions tend to increase the probability of a child committing a criminal act, although a direct causal relationship has not yet been established.

2005年

The human nose is an underrated tool. Humans are often thought to be insensitive smellers compared with animals, but this is largely because, unlike animals, we stand upright. This means that our noses are limited to perceiving those smells which float through the air, missing the majority of smells which stick to surfaces. In fact, though , we are extremely sensitive to smells, even we do not generally realize it. Our noses are capable of detecting human smells even when these are diluted to far below one part in one million.

Strangely, some people find that they can smell one type of flower but not another,whereas others are sensitive to the smells of both flowers. This may be because some people do not have the genes necessary to generate particular smell receptors in the nose. These receptors are the cells which sense smells and send messages to the brain. However, it has been found that even people insensitive to a certain smell at first can suddenly become sensitive to it when exposed to it often enough.

The explanation for insensitivity to smell seems to be that brain finds it inefficient to keep all smell receptors working all the time but can create new receptors if necessary. This may also explain why we are not usually sensitive to our own smells we simply do not need to be. We are not aware of the usual smell of our own house but we notice new smells when we visit someone else's. The brain finds it best to keep smell receptors available for unfamiliar and emergency signals such as the smell of smoke, which might indicate the danger of fire.

2006年

The homeless make up a growing percentage of America's population. Indeed homelessness has reached such proportions that local government can't possibly cope. To help homeless people toward independence, the federal government must support job training programs, raise the minimum wage, and fund more low-cost housing.

Not everyone agrees on the numbers of Americans who are homeless. Estimates range anywhere from 600,000 to 3 million. Although the figure may vary, analysts do agree on another matter: that the number of the homeless is increasing. One of the federal government's studies predicts that the number of the homeless will reach nearly 19 million by the end of this decade.

Finding ways to assist this growing homeless population has become increasingly difficult. Even when homeless individuals manage to find a shelter that will give them three meals a day and a place to sleep at night, a good number still spend the bulk of each day wandering the street. Part of the problem is that many homeless adults are addicted to alcohol or drugs. And a significant number of the homeless have serious mental disorders. Many others, while not addicted or mentally ill, simply lack the everyday survival skills need to turn their lives around. Boston Globe reporter Chris Reidy notes that the situation will improve only when there are comprehensive programs that address the many needs of the homeless. As Edward Zlotkowski, director of community service at Bentley College in Massachusetts, puts it, “There has to be coordination of programs. What we need is a package deal.”

2007年

By 1830 the former Spanish and Portuguese colonies had become independent nations. The roughly 20 million inhabitants of these nations looked hopefully to the future. Born in the crisis of the old regime and Iberian Colonialism, many of the leaders of independence shared the ideals of representative government, careers open to talent, freedom of commerce and trade, the right to private property, and a belief in the individual as the basis of society. Generally there was a belief that the new nations should be sovereign and independent states, large enough to be economically viable and integrated by a common set of laws.

On the issue of freedom of religion and the position of the church, however, there was less agreement among the leadership. Roman Catholicism had been the state religion and the only one allowed by the Spanish crown. While most leaders sought to maintain Catholicism as the official religion of the new states, some sought to end the exclusion of other faiths. The defense of the Church became a rallying cry for the conservative forces.

The ideals of the early leaders of independence were often egalitarian, valuing equality of everything. Bolivar had received aid from Haiti and had promised in return to abolish slavery in the areas he liberated. By 1854 slavery had been abolished everywhere except Spain's remaining colonies. Early promises to end Indian tribute and taxes on people of mixed origin came much slower because the new nations still needed the revenue such policies produced. Egalitarian sentiments were often tempered by fears that the mass of the population

was unprepared for self-rule and democracy.

2008年

The idea that some groups of people may be more intelligent than others is one of those hypotheses that dare not speak its name. But Gregory Cochran is prepared to say it anyway. He is that rare bird, a scientist who works independently of any institution. He helped popularize the idea that some diseases not previously thought to have a bacterial cause were actually infections, which aroused much controversy when it was first suggested.

Even he, however, might tremble at the thought of what he is about to do. Together with another two scientists, he is publishing a paper which not only suggests that one group of humanity is more intelligent than the others, but explains the process that has brought this about. The group in question is a particular people originated from central Europe. The process is natural selection.

This group generally does well in IQ test, common12-15 points above the mean value of 100, and have contributed disproportionately to the intellectual and cultural life of the West, as the careers of their elites, including several world-renowned scientists, affirm . They also suffer more often than most people from a number of nasty genetic diseases, such as breast cancer. These facts, however , have previously been thought unrelated. The former has been put down to social effects, such as a strong tradition of valuing education. The latter was seen as a (an) consequenc e of genetic isolation. Dr. Cochran suggests that the intelligence and diseases are intimately linked. His argument is that the unusual history of these people has subjected them to unique evolutionary pressures that have resulted in this paradoxical state of affairs.

2009年

Research on animal intelligence always makes me wonder just how smart humans are. Consider the fruit-fly experiments described in Carl Zimmer’s piece in the Science Times on Tuesday. Fruit flies who were taught to be smarter than the average fruit fly tended to live shorter lives. This suggests that dimmer bulbs burn longer, that there is an advantage in not being too terrifically bright。

Intelligence, it turns out , is a high-priced option. It takes more upkeep, burns more fuel and is slow off the starting line because it depends on learning—a gradual process—instead of instinct. Plenty of other species are able to learn, and one of the things they’ve apparently learned is when to stop.

Is there an adaptive value to limited intelligence? That’s the question behind this new research. I like it. Instead of casting a wistful glance backward at all the species we’ve left in the dust I.Q.-wise, itimplicitly asks what the real costs of our own intelligence might be. This is on the mind of every animal I’ve ever met。

Research on animal intelligence also makes me wonder what experiments animals would perform on humans if they had the chance. Every cat with an owner, for instance , is running a small scale study in operant conditioning. We believe that if animals ran the labs, they would test us to determine the limits of our patience, our faithfulness, our memory for terrain. They would try to decide what intelligence in humans is really for , not merely how much of it there is. Above all , they would hope to study a fundamental question: Are humans actually aware of the world they live in? So far the results are inconclusive。

2010年

In 1924 America's National Research Council sent two engineers to supervise a series of experiments at a telephone-parts factory called the Hawthorne Plant near Chicago. It hoped they would learn how shop-floor lighting affected workors' productivity. Instead，the studies ended up giving their name to the“Hawthorne effect”, the extremely influential idea that the very act_to being experimented upon changes subjects’behavior.

The idea arose because of the perplexing behavior of the women in the plant．According to accounts of the experiments, their hourly output rose when lighting was increased,but also when it was dimmed. It did not matter what was done in the experiment.;so long as something was changed, productivity rose. A(n) awareness that they were bemg experimented upon seemed to be enough to alter workers' behavior by itself.

After several decades，the same data were subjected to econometric the analysis. The Hawthorne experiments had another surprise in store.Contrary to the descriptions on record，no systematic evidence was found that lcvcls of productivity were related to changes in lighting. It turns out that peculiar way of conducting the experiments may have led to misleading interpretations of what happed．For example，lighting was always changed on a Sunday.When work started again on Monday, output duly rose compared with the previous Saturday and continued to rise for the next couple of days. However, a comparison with data for weeks when

there was no experimentation showed that output always went up on Monday. Workers tended to be diligent for the first few days of the week in any case，before hitting a plateau and then slackening off .This suggests that the alleged“Hawthorne effect" is hard to pin down.

大纲样题

During the 1980 s, unemployment and underemployment in some countries was as high as 90 per cent. Some countries did not product enough food; basic needs in housing and clothing were not met.Many of these countries looked to the industrial processes of the developed nations for solutions.

However,problems cannot always be solved by copying the industrialise nations. Industry in the developed nations is highly automated and very expensive. It provides fewer jobs than labor-intensive industrial processes, and highly skilled workers are needed to maintain and repair the equipment. These workers must be trained,yet many nations do not have the necessary training institutions. Thus, the cost of importing industry becomes higher. Students must be sent abroad to receive vocational and professional training. Frequently, just to begin training, the students must first learn English, French, German, or Japanese. The students then spend many years abroad, and some do not return home.

All nations agree that science and technology should be shared. The point is: countries adopting the industrial processes of the developed nations need to look care-fully at the costs, because many of these costs are hidden. Students from these nations should study the problems of the industrialized countries closely. study care, they will take home not the problems of science and technology, but the benefits.