2009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 onANSWER SHEET 1.(10 points)Research on animal intelligence always makes us wonder just how smart humans are.I the fruit-flyexperiments described by Carl Zimmer in the Science Times.Fruit flies who were taught to be smarter thanthe average fruit fly 2 to live shorter lives.This suggests that 3 bulbs burn longer,that there is a(n)4 in notbeing too bright.Intelligence,it 5,is a high-priced option.It takes more upkeep,burns more fuel and is slow 6 the starting linebecause it depends on learning-a(n)2 process-instead of instinct.Plenty of other species are able to learn,and one of the things they've apparently learned is when to 8.Is there an adaptive value to9 intelligence?That's the question behind this new research.Instead of casting awistful glance 10 at all the species we've left in the dust I.Q.-wise,it implicitly asks what the real 11 ofourown intelligence might be.This is 12 the mind of every animal we've ever met.Research on animal intelligence also makes us wonder what experiments animals would 13 on humans ifthey had the chance.Every cat with an owner,14,is running a small-scale study in operant conditioning.Webelieve that 15 animals ran the labs,they would test us to 16 the limits of our patience,our faithfulness,ourmemory for locations.They would try to decide what intelligence in humans is really 17,not merely howmuch of it there is.18,they would hope to study a(n)19 question:Are humans actually aware of the worldthey live in?20 the results are inconclusive.1.[A]Suppose[B]Consider[C]Observe[D]Imagine2.[A]tended[B]feared[C]happened [D]threatened3.[A]thinner[B]stabler[C]lighter[D]dimmer4.[A]tendency[B]advantage[C]inclination[D]priority5.[A]insists on[B]sums up[C]turns out[D]puts forward6.[A]off[B]behind[C]over[D]along7.[A]incredible[B]spontaneous[C]inevitable[D]gradual8.[A]fight[B]doubt[C]stop[D]think9.[A]invisible[B]limited[C]indefinite[D]different10.[A]upward[B]forward[C]afterward[D]backward11.[A]features[B]influences[C]results[D]costs12.[A]outside[B]on[C]by[D]across13.[A]deliver[B]carry[C]perform[D]apply14.[A]by chance[B]in contrast[C]as usual[D]for instance15.[A]if[B]unless[C]as[D]lest16.[A]moderate [B]overcome[C]determine[D]reach[B]for[C]after[D]with18.[A]Above all[B]After all[C]However[D]Otherwise19.[A]fundamental[B]comprehensive [C]equivalent[D]hostile20.[A]By accident[B]In time[C]So far[D]Better stillSection II Reading ComprehensionPartADirections:Read the following four texts.Answer the questions below each text by choosing [A],[B],[C]or [D].Mark youranswers on ANSWER SHEET 1.(40 points)Text 1Habits are a funny thing.We reach for them mindlessly,setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing intothe unconscious comfort of familiar routine."Not choice,but habit rules the unreflecting herd,"WilliamWordsworth said in the 19th century.In the ever-changing 2Ist century,even the word"habit"carries anegative connotation.So it seems paradoxical to talk about habits in the same contextas creativity and innovation.But brainresearchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits,we create parallel paths,and evenentirely new brain cells,that can jump our trains of thought onto new,innovative tracks.Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit,we can instead direct our own changeby consciously developing new habits.In fact,the more new things we try-the more we step outside ourcomfort zone-the more inherently creative we become,both in the workplace and in our personal lives.But don't bother trying to kill off old habits;once those ruts of procedure are worn into the brain,they'rethere to stay.Instead,the new habits we deliberately press into ourselves create parallel pathways that canbypass those old roads."The first thing needed for innovation is a fascination with wonder,"says Dawna Markova,author of TheOpen Mind."But we are taught instead to'decide,'just as our president calls himself'the Decider.'"Sheadds,however,that"to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one.A good innovational thinker is alwaysexploring the many other possibilities."All of us work through problems in ways of which we're unaware,she says.Researchers in the late 1960discovered that humans are born with the capacity to approach challenges in four primary ways:analytically,procedurally,relationally (or collaboratively)and innovatively.At the end of adolescence,however,the brainshuts down half of that capacity,preserving only those modes of thought that have seemed most valuableduring the first decade or so of life.The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure,meaning that few of usinherently use our innovative and collaborative modes of thought."This breaks the major rule in the Americanbeliefsystem-that anyone can do anything,"explains M.J.Ryan,author of the 2006 book This YearI2Will...and Ms.Markova's business partner."That's a lie that we have perpetuated,and it fosters commonness.Knowing what you're good at and doing even more of it creates excellence."This is where developing newhabits comes in21.In Wordsworth's view,"habits"is characterized by being.[A]casual[B]familiar[C]mechanical[D]changeable.22.Brain researchers have discovered that the formation of habit can be.[A]predicted[B]regulated[C]traced[D]guided23."ruts"(Line 1,Paragraph 4)is closest in meaning to.[A]tracks[B]series[C]characteristics[D]connections24.Dawna Markova would most probably agree that.[A]ideas are born of a relaxing mind[B]innovativeness could be taught[C]decisiveness derives from fantastic ideas[D]curiosity activates creative minds25.Ryan's comments suggest that the practice of standardized testing[A]prevents new habits from being formed[B]no longer emphasizes commonness[C]maintains the inherent American thinking model[D]complies with the American belief systemText 2It is a wise father that knows his own child,but today a man can boost his paternal(fatherly)wisdom-or at least confim that he's the kid's dad.All he needs to do is shell out $30 for paternity testingkit(PTK)at his local drugstore-and another $120 to get the results.More than 60,000 people have purchased the PTKs since theyfirst become available without prescriptions last years,according to Doug Fogg,chief operating officer ofIdentigene,which makes the over-the-counter kits.More than two dozen companies sell DNA tests directly tothe public,ranging in price from a few hundred dollars to more than $2500.3Among the most popular:paternity and kinship testing,which adopted children can use to find theirbiological relatives and families can use to track down kids put up for adoption.DNA testing is also the latestrage among passionate genealogists-and supports businesses that offer to search for a family's geographicrootsMost tests require collecting cells by swabbing saliva in the mouth and sending it to the company fortesting.All tests require a potential candidate with whom to compare DNA.But some observers are skeptical."There is a kind of false precision being hawked by people claiming theyare doing ancestry testing,"says Troy Duster,a New York University sociologist.He notes that eachindividual has many ancestors-numbering in the hundreds just a few centuries back.Yet most ancestrytesting only considers a single lineage,either the Y chromosome inherited through men in a father's line ormitochondrial DNA,which is passed down only from mothers.This DNA can reveal genetic informationabout only one or two ancestors,even though,for example,just three generations back people also have sixother great-grandparents or,four generations back,14 other great-great-grandparents.Critics also argue that commercial genetic testing is only as good as the reference collections to which asample is compared.Databases used by some companies don't rely on data collected systematically but ratherlump together infommation from different research projects.This means that a DNA database may have a lot ofdata from some regions and not others,so a person's test results may differ depending on the company thatprocesses the results.In addition,the computer programs a company uses to estimate relationships may bepatented and not subject to peer review or outside evaluation.26.In paragraphs I and 2,the text shows PTK's[A]easy availability[B]flexibility in pricing[C]successful promotion[D]popularity with households27.PTK is used to[A]locate one's birth place[B]promote genetic research[C]identify parent-child kinship[D]choose children for adoption28.Skeptical observers believe that ancestry testing fails to[A]trace distant ancestors[B]rebuild reliable bloodlines[C]fully use genetic information[D]achieve the claimed accuracy29.In the last paragraph,a problem commercial genetic testing faces is[A]disorganized data collection[B]overlapping database building[C]excessive sample comparison[D]lack of patent evaluation30.An appropriate title for the text is most likely to be[A]Fors and Againsts of DNA Testing[B]DNA Testing and Its Problems[C]DNA Testing Outside the Lab[D]Lies Behind DNA TestingText3The relationship between formal education and economic growth in poor countries is widelymisunderstood by economists and politicians alike.Progress in both areas is undoubtedly necessary for thesocial,political,and intellectual development of these and all other societies;however,the conventional viewthat education should be one of the very highest priorities for promoting rapid economic development in poorcountries is wrong.We are fortunate that it is,because building new educational systems there and puttingenough people through them to improve economic performance would require two or three generations.Thefindings of a research institution have consistently shown that workers in all countries can be trained on thejob to achieve radically higher productivity and,as a result,radically higher standards of living.Ironically,the first evidence for this idea appeared in the United States.Not long ago,with the countryentering a recession and Japan at its pre-bubble peak,the U.S.workforce was derided as poorly educated andone of primary causes of the poor U.S.economic performance.Japan was,and remains,the global leader inautomotive-assembly productivity.Yet the research revealed that the U.S.factories of Honda,Nissan,andToyota achieved about 95 percent of the productivity of their Japanese counterparts-a result of the trainingthat U.S.workers received on the job.More recently,while examing housing construction,the researchers discovered that illiterate,non-English-speaking Mexican workers in Houston,Texas,consistently met best-practice labor productivitystandards despite the complexity of the building industry's work.What is the real relationship between education and economic development?We have to suspect thatcontinuing economic growth promotes the development ofeducation even when governments don't force it.After all,that's how education got started.When our ancestors were hunters and gatherers 10,000 years ago,they didn't have time to wonder much about anything besides finding food.Only when humanity began to getits food in a more productive way was there time for other things.As education improved,humanity's productivity potential increased as well.When the competitiveenvironment pushed our ancestors to achieve that potential,they could in turn afford more education.Thisincreasingly high level ofeducation is probably a necessary,but not a sufficient,condition for the complexpolitical systems required by advanced economic performance.Thus poor countries might not be able toescape their poverty traps without political changes that may be possible only with broader formal education.A lack of formal education,however,doesn't constrain the ability of the developing world's workforce to5