作者：新东方研发中心
出版社：群言出版社
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(2017)考研英语题源报刊阅读：提高篇试读：
UNIT 1
Text 1Gone are the days when a mother's place was in the home: in Britain women with children are now as likely to be in paid work as their unburdened sisters. Many put their little darlings in day care long before they start school. Mindful that a poor start can spoil a person's chances of success later in life, the state has intervened ever more closely in how babies and toddlers are looked after. Inspectors call not only at nurseries but also at homes where youngsters are minded; three-year-olds follow the national curriculum. Child care has increasingly become a profession.
For years after the government first began in 2001 to twist the arms of anyone who looked after an unrelated child to register with the schools, the numbers so doing fell. Kind but clueless neighbours stopped looking after little ones, who were instead herded into formal nurseries or handed over to one of the ever-fewer registered child-minders. The decline in the number of people taking in children now appears to have halted. According to data released by the Office for Standards in Education on October 27th, the number of registered child-minders reached its lowest point in September 2010 and has since recovered slightly.
The new lot are certainly better qualified. In 2010 fully 82% of nursery workers held diplomas notionally equivalent to A-levels, the university-entrance exams taken mostly by 18-year-olds, up from 56% seven years earlier, says Anand Shukla of the Daycare Trust, a charity. Nurseries staffed by university graduates tend to be rated highest by inspectors, increasing their appeal to the pickiest parents. As a result, more graduates are being recruited.
But professionalization has also pushed up the price of child care, defying even the economic depression. A survey by the Daycare Trust finds that a full-time nursery place in England for a child aged under two, who must be intensively supervised, costs ￡ 194 ($310) per week, on average. Prices in London and the south-east are far higher. Parents in Britain spend more on child care than anywhere else in the world, according to the OECD. Some 68% of a typical second earner's net income is spent on freeing her to work, compared with an OECD average of 52%.
The price of child care is not only eye-watering, but has also become a barrier to work. Soon after it took power the coalition government pledged to ensure that people are better off in work than on benefits, but a recent survey by Save the Children, a charity, found that the high cost of day care prevented a quarter of low-paid workers from returning to their jobs once they had started a family. The government pays for free part-time nursery places for three- and four-year-olds, and contributes towards day-care costs for younger children from poor areas. Alas, extending such a subsidy during stressful economic times would appear to be anything but child's play.
1. Which of the following is true according to the first paragraph?
[A] Nursery education plays a leading role in one's personal growth.
[B] Pregnant women have to work to lighten families' economic burden.
[C] Children in nursery have to take uniform national courses.
[D] The supervision of the state makes child care professional.
2. It can be learned from Paragraphs 2 and 3 that______.
[A] the registered child-minders are required to take the university-entrance exams
[B] the number of registered child-minders have been declining since 2001
[C] anyone who looks after children at home must register with the schools
[D] the growing recognition encourages more graduates to work as child-minders
3. The high price of child care______.
[A] prevents mothers from getting employed
[B] may further depress the national economy
[C] makes many families live on benefits
[D] is far more than parents can afford
4. What is the author's attitude towards the professionalization of child care?
[A] Objective.
[B] Skeptical.
[C] Supportive.
[D] Biased.
5. Which of the following would be the subject of the text?
[A] The professionalization of child care has pushed up its price.
[B] The high cost of child nursing makes many mothers give up their jobs.
[C] The employment of more graduates makes nurseries more popular.
[D] Parents in Britain pay most for child nursing throughout the world.Text 2
It sounds like magic. But the Rorschach test, in which elements of someone's personality can be deduced by his description of what he sees in a series of inkblots, has been used for 90 years, and is still going strong. It involved a psychologist or psychiatrist asking someone to look at ten inkblot images. In each case, the interlocutor inquires of the viewer, "What might this be?", notes the response and attempts to draw conclusions.
The question has always been how reliable the connection is between the response to the blots and the alleged diagnosis. Over the years, many experiments have been done to test the link. Now Gregory Meyer of the University of Toledo and his colleagues have reviewed the data. Their results form the basis of a new manual on the topic.
Dr. Meyer's study is a review of 1,292 papers that report experimental attempts to link Rorschach responses with personality traits that have been established by other means. His main conclusion is that some of the ways the test has been used are indeed useless. He proposes, for example, axing the alleged connection between reporting mirrored images in a blot and the viewer's level of egocentricity. He would also get rid of the idea that if a viewer focuses on the details of an image rather than the broader picture, then he is likely to have an obsessive personality. A third traditional interpretation that does not pass muster, in Dr. Meyer's view, is the suggestion that when a viewer sees things in a blot that the examiner thinks do not resemble the blot, that indicates impaired perception, which can lead to a diagnosis of severe mental disorder.
Some Rorschach diagnoses do seem to stand up, though. People who report seeing representations of passivity or helplessness in the blots are thought to have a dependent personality, meaning they rely on others to satisfy their needs. Some of the studies Dr. Meyer looked at did indeed find that people who produce such responses are more likely to request guidance in a classroom, ask an experimenter for help when solving puzzles, or hold on to a guide when they are blindfolded. And responses in which a viewer combines several elements in an inkblot to show how they are interrelated do seem to be correlated with intellect; such responses are found most often in people who also score highly on an unrelated psychological assessment, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale.
Dr. Meyer disposes, too, of one constant criticism of the Rorschach test—that it is culture-dependent. Studies in numerous countries come to broadly the same conclusions. A qualified thumbs-up, then, for inkblots. Perhaps the biggest threat to the test is that no one uses fountain pens any more, and so inkblots themselves have more or less become things of the past.
6. According to Paragraph 1, Rorschach test______.
[A] is a kind of magic used in psychological researches
[B] connects one's characteristics with his response to certain inkblot images
[C] is a method for treating patients suffering from mental illness
[D] requires the viewers to response and draw conclusions of the study
7. According to Paragraph 2, the researchers' attitude towards the Rorschach test is______.
[A] biased
[B] negative
[C] skeptical
[D] critical
8. On which of the following would Dr Meyer most probably agree?
[A] The viewer's response to inkblots reflects whether he is self-centered.
[B] If a viewer focuses on the broader picture, he isn't an obsessive.
[C] A viewer's wrong perception of the blots may result from mental illness.
[D] Some diagnoses by the Rorschach test cannot bear closer analysis.
9. Dr. Meyer believes that viewers who see passivity in the blots______.
[A] tend to be more independent in real life
[B] are often diagnosed of mental disorder
[C] are more likely to ask for outside assistance
[D] often score low in the intelligence tests
10. Which of the following best summarizes the text?
[A] Many experiments have been done to justify the Rorschach test.
[B] The inkblot test is effective except for some traditional claims.
[C] The Rorschach test can help to diagnose one's personality.
[D] An old psychological test is in danger of extinction.Text 3
From e-mail to broadcast TV programming, search engines to roadside billboards, consumers are accustomed to being inundated with advertisements at every turn. Typically, the tradeoff for being subjected to ads is that consumers get some sort of free or subsidized service. Could this business model also work for ATM transactions, thereby eliminating annoying $3 fees for consumers?
According to a recent survey conducted by Ally Bank, 77% of Americans feel that it's not OK for banks to charge ATM fees. More than half (56%) of those surveyed said that the proper fee for an ATM transaction is $0. It's your money you're accessing, after all, the thinking goes. But, as we all know, banks do charge fees of $2 or $3 at a time to non-customers accessing their cash, and these fees add up in a big way, totaling $7.1 billion in 2010 alone.
Everyone can avoid these fees by using only affiliated ATMs, but, quite obviously, plenty of consumers find it necessary from time to time to use another bank's machine—even if doing so incurs a fee. But what if there was an ATM that anyone could use that never charged fees? There is one such ATM, actually, and there could be more to come. A company called Free ATMs NYC operates an ATM at a music venue in Brooklyn. All users are welcomed to make withdrawals, entirely fee-free. The sacrifice is that while the transaction is occurring, a 15-inch video screen above the ATM shows an advertisement. When the transaction is complete, the customer gets a receipt, along with a little more advertising/marketing in the form of a coupon good for a discount to a local business, perhaps a nearby restaurant.
Even with the ads, the transaction's done in roughly the same time it takes to get money from any other ATM. The one notable side note is that while the Free ATMs NYC machine doesn't add on any fees, many banks charge their customers for using non-affiliated machines, and there's nothing the fee-free ATMs can do about that. You, the customer, could switch to a bank that doesn't charge such fees—and by some indication, millions of consumers are doing just that.
Free ATMs NYC is the brainchild of a 25-year-old entrepreneur named Clinton Townsend. The company's home page says that it is aggressively "rolling out a portfolio of Free ATMs throughout New York City," but so far, there's just the one fee-free machine in Brooklyn—and only one throughout all of the U.S. for that matter. Will the idea catch on, with no-fee ATMs popping up left and right? The concept would surely be popular with consumers. As mentioned earlier, most people think that the proper fee for an ATM transaction is no fee at all, and that's what Free ATMs NYC delivers.
11. The word "tradeoff" (Line 2, Para.1) is closest in meaning to______.
[A] outcome
[B] principle
[C] compromise
[D] return
12. The author quotes the results of the survey conducted by Ally Bank to show that______.
[A] the concept of free ATM is feasible
[B] it is better to use only affiliated ATMs
[C] it is appropriate to charge ATM fees
[D] banks have made a profit from ATM fees
13. Which of the following is true of the transaction on the fee-free ATM?
[A] People can use the ATM to deposit cash for free.
[B] Video commercials are presented on the ATM screen.
[C] Gifts are distributed when the transaction is finished.
[D] Users are subjected to ads in exchange for the free service.
14. It can be inferred from Paragraph 4 that______.
[A] the ads time is as long as it takes to go to another ATM
[B] you may still be charged when using Free ATMs NYC machine
[C] the Free ATMs NYC machine is affiliated to many banks
[D] customers can avoid the ATM fee by making transactions in a bank
15. According to the last paragraph, Free ATMs NYC______.
[A] is an affiliated corporation of a big one
[B] has a long way to go to fulfill its ambition
[C] is thinking over the location of the ATMs
[D] is annoyed by cross-bank ATM fees as wellText 4
Being smart is the most expensive thing we do. Not in terms of money, but in a currency that is vital to all living things: energy. One study found that newborn humans spend close to 90 percent of their calories on building and running their brains. (Even as adults, our brains consume as much as a quarter of our energy.) If, during childhood, when the brain is being built, some unexpected energy cost comes along, the brain will suffer. Infectious disease is a factor that may rob large amounts of energy away from a developing brain. A great deal of research has shown that average IQ varies around the world, both across nations and within them.
Higher IQ predicts a wide range of important factors, including better grades in school, a higher level of education, better health, better job performance, higher wages, and reduced risk of obesity. So having a better understanding of variations in intelligence might yield a greater understanding of these other issues as well.
In a study in 2010, it was found that, among all the factors that affect intelligence, infectious disease works as the best predictor of the bunch. A recent study by Christopher Hassall and Thomas Sherratt repeated the study using more sophisticated statistical methods, and concluded that infectious disease may be the only really important predictor of average national IQ.
Support for this hypothesis comes not only from cross-national studies, but from studies of individuals. There have been many studies, for example, showing that children infected with intestinal worms have lower IQ later in life. Another study by Atheendar Venkataramani found that regions in Mexico that were the target of malaria eradication programs had higher average IQ than those that were not. In practical terms, however, this means that human intelligence is mutable. If differences in IQ across the world are largely due to exposure to infectious disease during childhood, then reducing exposure to disease should increase IQ.
Despite the strength of the findings, the study was not without its limitations. The researchers did their best to control for the effects of education. But what they really needed was to repeat their analysis across regions within a single nation, preferably one with standardized, compulsory education. The nation they chose was the United States. Average IQ varies in the states. Again, infectious disease was an excellent predictor of average state IQ. The states with the five lowest average IQ all have higher levels of infectious disease than the states with the five highest average IQ, and the relationship was good across all of the states in between.
So far, the evidence suggests that infectious disease is a primary cause of the global variation in human intelligence. Since this is a developmental cause, rather than a genetic one, it's good news for anyone who is interested in reducing global inequality associated with IQ. It will allow people interested in using this information to raise the IQ of people around the world to target their efforts most effectively and efficiently.
16. We can learn from the first paragraph that______.
[A] energy is the most important factor that affects intelligence
[B] newborn babies spend more calories than adults in running their brains
[C] extra energy cost may cause intellectual damage to children
[D] there are IQ variations among and within nations
17. Higher average IQ in one place may______.
[A] explain why people there can get a better understanding
[B] indicate the possibility of having an infectious disease
[C] show the history of less infectious diseases there
[D] show that people there are slimmer than those with lower IQ
18. The word "mutable" (Line 5, Para. 4) is closest in meaning to______.
[A] changeable
[B] exchangeable
[C] acceptable
[D] susceptible
19. Which of the following is true according to Paragraphs 4 and 5?
[A] Children with higher IQ may have suffered from intestinal worms.
[B] Malaria affects most Mexicans' physical health.
[C] Average IQ variation in the U.S. is not so obvious.
[D] Education is also a factor that affects intelligence.
20. The finding of the researches is beneficial in that______.
[A] it gives people the hope of eliminating social inequality
[B] it enables people to raise the IQ levels of mankind in a better way
[C] it helps to improve people's intelligence genetically
[D] it reduces the possibility of people's suffering from diseases答案及解析Text 1文章大意
本文围绕英国儿童保育的职业化展开探讨。政府对儿童保育的监管使其逐步走向职业化，从而提高了保育员的素质，也减少了从业人员的数量，但另一方面，这也推高了托管费用，增加了家庭和国家的经济负担。试题透析
1. 由第一段可知，下列哪种说法正确？
[A] 幼儿教育对个人成长起主要作用。
[B] 为缓解家庭经济压力，孕妇不得不外出工作。
[C] 托儿所的孩子们不得不学习全国统一课程。
[D] 国家的监管使儿童保育职业化。
[试题类型] 具体信息题。
[解题思路] 根据题干关键词the first paragraph可定位至第一段。该段第三句提到，政府考虑到早期教育失当可能会使孩子们在以后生活中失去成功的机会，因此对幼儿的托管问题格外关注（the state has intervened ever more closely in how babies and toddlers are looked after）。接着第四 五句具体解释政府的干预措施及其结果，视察人员检查托儿所和照看孩子的家庭，要求三岁的孩子学习全国统一课程，这些措施使儿童保育逐渐成为一种职业(child care has increasingly become a profession)，由此可知，是国家的监管使儿童保育变得职业化，故选项 [D] 正确。
[干扰排除] 第三句提到，政府担心幼儿教育失当可能会影响他们未来的成就，但早期幼儿教育只会影响未来发展，而非对个人成长起主要作用（a leading role），故排除选项 [A] 。第一句只提到，在英国，有孩子的妇女如今可以与没有子女的妇女一样外出工作，但没有提到怀孕的妇女(pregnant women)是否为了减轻家庭经济负担而外出工作，故排除选项 [B] 。第四句提到，要学习全国统一课程的是三岁的孩子，而不是托儿所里所有的孩子，故排除选项 [C] 。
2. 从第二、三段可推知______。
[A] 登记在案的儿童托管员需要参加大学入学考试
[B] 儿童托管员的数量自2001年以来一直在下降
[C] 任何在家照看孩子的人必须到学校登记
[D] 社会的逐渐认可使更多毕业生从事儿童托管工作
[试题类型] 具体信息题。
[解题思路] 根据题干关键词Paragraphs 2 and 3可定位至第二和第三段。第三段第三、四句指出，雇用大学生的托儿所被检察员评为最高级（be rated highest by inspectors），也增加了它们对最挑剔的儿童家长的吸引力（increasing their appeal to the pickiest parents），因此，越来越多的大学毕业生被聘为托管员（more graduates are being recruited）。由此可知，大学生托管员获得了越来越多的认可，这促使更多的大学生毕业后成为托管员，故选项 [D] 正确。
[干扰排除] 第三段第二句提到，共有82%的托管员所持的文凭相当于A-level证书的文凭，而A-level主要是18岁的学生进入大学的入学考试，即多数托管员所持的证书相当于大学入学要求获得的A-level证书，而不是说所有的托管员都要参加大学入学考试，故排除选项 [A] 。第二段第一句提到，自从2001年政府强制儿童托管员去学校登记以后，托管员人数越来越少。但本段最后一句又指出，登记在案的托管员数目在2010年9月跌到谷底以后稍有增加，即2010年9月以后托管员人数有所增加，所以并不是自2001年至今一直在下滑，故排除选项 [B] 。第二段第一句指出，2001年政府强制所有为别人看护孩子的人（anyone who looked after an unrelated child）去学校登记，而不是所有在家照看孩子的人都要去登记，故排除选项 [C] 。
3. 高额儿童托管费用______。
[A] 使母亲无法找到工作
[B] 可能会加剧国家的经济萧条
[C] 使许多家庭靠救济金为生
[D] 远不是父母所能支付的
[试题类型] 推理引申题。
[解题思路] 根据题干关键词the high price of child care定位至第五段。该段首句指出，儿童托管费高得令人咂舌（eye-watering），第三句提出了政府的对策：为三至四岁的儿童提供免费的非全日托管，并资助贫困地区儿童接受日托。作者在最后一句感叹，经济萧条时期还要加大这类资助可不是儿戏（extending such a subsidy during stressful economic times...anything but child's play）。由此可知，高昂的托管费迫使政府采取的资助措施加重了政府负担，也可能会进一步加剧经济萧条，故选项 [B] 正确。
[干扰排除] 第五段首句指出，高昂的托管费阻碍了很多人外出工
试读结束[说明：试读内容隐藏了图片]