2000考研英语阅读真题及详细解析

1、part onea history of long and effortless success can be a dreadful handicap, but, if properly handled, it may become a driving force. when the united states entered just such a glowing period after the end of the second world war, it had a market eight times larger than any competitor, giving its in

2、dustries unparalleled economies of scale. its scientists were the worlds best, its workers the most skilled. america and americans were prosperous beyond the dreams of the europeans and asians whose economies the war had destroyed.it was inevitable that this primacy should have narrowed as other cou

3、ntries grew richer. just as inevitably, the retreat from predominance proved painful. by the mid 1980s americans had found themselves at a loss over their fading industrial competitiveness. some huge american industries, such as consumer electronics, had shrunk or vanished in the face of foreign com

4、petition. by 1987 there was only one american television maker left, zenith. （now there is none: zenith was bought by south koreas lg electronics in july.）foreign made cars and textiles were sweeping into the domestic market. americas machine tool industry was on the ropes. for a while it looked as

5、though the making of semiconductors, which america had invented and which sat at the heart of the new computer age, was going to be the next casualty.all of this caused a crisis of confidence. americans stopped taking prosperity for granted. they began to believe that their way of doing business was

6、 failing, and that their incomes would therefore shortly begin to fall as well. the mid 1980s brought one inquiry after another into the causes of americas industrial decline. their sometimes sensational findings were filled with warnings about the growing competition from overseas.how things have c

7、hanged! in 1995 the united states can look back on five years of solid growth while japan has been struggling. few americans attribute this solely to such obvious causes as a devalued dollar or the turning of the business cycle. self-doubt has yielded to blind pride. american industry has changed it

8、s structure, has gone on a diet, has learnt to be more quick-witted, according to richard cavanagh, executive dean of harvards kennedy school of government. it makes me proud to be an american just to see how our businesses are improving their productivity, says stephen moore of the cato institute,

9、a think-tank in washington, dc. and william sahlman of the harvard business school believes that people will look back on this period as a golden age of business management in the united states.1. the u.s. achieved its predominance after world war ii because _. a it had made painstaking efforts towa

10、rds this goal b its domestic market was eight times larger than before c the war had destroyed the economies of most potential competitors d the unparalleled size of its workforce had given an impetus to its economy2. the loss of u.s. predominance in the world economy in the 1980s is manifested in t

11、he fact that the american _. a tv industry had withdrawn to its domestic market b semiconductor industry had been taken over by foreign enterprises c machine tool industry had collapsed after suicidal actions d auto industry had lost part of its domestic market3. what can be inferred from the passag

12、e? a it is human nature to shift between self-doubt and blind pride. b intense competition may contribute to economic progress. c the revival of the economy depends on international cooperation. d a long history of success may pave the way for further development.4. the author seems to believe the r

13、evival of the u.s. economy in the 1990s can be attributed to the _ a turning of the business cycle b restructuring of industry c improved business management d success in educationunit 7 （2000） part1重点词汇：1handicap （v.阻碍；使不利）hand+i（n）+cap，据说源自古代一种赌博：将罚金置于帽子里，手进入帽子抽签，抽中者处不利地位。cultural handicap 文化障碍；la

14、nguage handicap 语言障碍。2unparalleled（无可比拟的）un+parallel+ed；parallel（n.v.a.平行；相似）即para+llel，para-前缀“在旁边”=beside，llel三个l看作是“平行线”。parallel points in the characters of different men 不一样人的个性的相同之处。3prosperous（繁荣的）prosper（v.繁荣）+ous；prosperityprosper+ity名词后缀。tpredominance（优势）即pre+domin+ance，pre-“在前”，domin词根“支配

15、”（如dominatedomin+ate动词后缀支配；占优势），-ance名词后缀；predominant（占优势的；起主要作用的）pre+domin+ant形容词后缀。the predominant feature of sb.s character 某人性格的主要特征。4sensational ?（激动的；引起轰动的）即sens（e）+ation+al，sense词根“感觉”，-sation名词后缀，-al形容词后缀。sensational literature 令人激动的作品；a sensational crime 骇人听闻的罪行。attribute （属性v.归因于）即at+tribu

16、te，at-（=to），tribute词根“给”，于是“把属性给某物”归因于；contribute（v.贡献；捐献；投稿）即con一起+tribute，“一起给”捐献引申为“投稿”。5executive?（执行的；执行官）可看作exe+cut+ive，exe即“可执行文件”后缀名，cut切，-ive后缀，“执行（exe）官的任务是如果你不听话，就把你cut掉”。the business system is blessed with a built-in corrective, namely, that one executives mistakes become his competitors

17、 assets.商界有一条天然的校正法则，即：决策者的失误会变成竞争对手的资产。executive a person who always decides; sometimes he decides correctly 管理人员总在做决定的人；有时候他也能做出正确决定。6productivity （生产率）即produc（e）+tiv（e）+ity，produce生产，-tive形容词后缀，-ity名词后缀。raise the labour productivity 提高劳动生产率。7impetus（n.推动；推动力）可看作im+pet+us，im-即in-（in-在p前变形为im-），pet

18、宠物，us我们，宠物（pet）里面（im）有我们（us）的动力（impetus）。the primary impetus behind the economic recovery 促使经济复苏的主要推动力。8manifest ?（明白的；v.表明）看作man+if+est，man男人，if是否，est形容词最高级，“男人是否最明白”。no amount of manifest absurdity. could deter those who wanted to believe from believing.无论明显的荒唐有多大都无法阻止那些由于相信而相信的人。8withdraw（v.撤销；缩回

19、；提取）with+draw，with-（=back, against），draw拉，“拉回来”。9 restructure （v.重组）re+structure，re-再=again，structure（v.n.构造）。the past has revealed to me the structure of the future.过去向我揭示了未来的结构。10at a loss 不知所措；11on the ropes 岌岌可危；12take sth. for granted 认为理所当然；13quick-witted 机智的；14think-tank 智囊团。难句解析： a history o

20、f long and effortless success can be a dreadful handicap, but, if properly handled, it may become a driving force.该句是一个并列句，由前后两个转折关系的分句组成，其间的连词为but。but与后一个分句之间又插入一个由if引导的条件状语if properly handled，该状语过去是一个if引导的条件状语从句，即if it（a history of long and effortless success） is properly handled，其中的it is由于和该分句的主句

21、部分主谓语一致而被省略掉了。本句结构比较简明，只需注意but与it may become a driving force之间的if结构是一个插入语，并且是一个省略了主语和系动词的被动语态。此外handicap意为“不利条件”。 its scientists were the worlds best, its workers the most skilled. america and americans were prosperous beyond the dreams of the europeans and asians whose economies the war had destroy

22、ed.前一句中its workers the most skilled是一个伴随状语，省略了其中的being，补齐成分后应为its workers being the most skilled。后一句中beyond the dreams of the europeans and asians作prosperous的状语，beyond为介词，是“超越，超出”的意思。而whose economies the war had destroyed作定语从句修饰the europeans and asians，原形是the war had destroyed the economies of the e

23、uropeans and asians。注意beyond一词的意思，它表示“在之外”。 for a while it looked as though the making of semiconductors, which america had invented and which sat at the heart of the new computer age, was going to be the next casualty.该句带有一个表语从句，其表语从句中又套有两个并列的定语从句。全句主句部分的主谓结构是it looked.，as though（即as if好像）引导的从句是loo

24、ked（看上去）的表语。表语从句中主语为the making of semiconductors，谓语为was going to be，而逗号之间的两个which从句是the making of semiconductors的非限定性定语，同时又是插入语。注意理解the next casualty的含义，casualty本意为“伤亡”，此处是“被国外产品击败的美国本土产业”。 their sometimes sensational findings were filled with warnings about the growing competition from overseas.英语的

25、句式词汇一般都比较简练，如果将本句用中国人习惯的语式讲出应该如下：their sometimes surprising findings about the causes of americans industrial decline are full of the warnings about the growing competition from overseas nations.sensational即surprising。另外注意本句的中心意思在句末的the growing competition from overseas。 few americans attribute this

26、 solely to such obvious causes as a devalued dollar or the turning of the business cycle. self-doubt has yielded to blind pride.attribute. to.将归功或归咎于。solely作状语修饰attribute，this指代上一句中的five years of solid growth，此外as a devalued dollar or the turning of the business cycle作宾语such obvious causes的补语。yield

27、to是“向屈服”，即“被取代”。此处使用了现在完成时，证明这种状态到现在已成型。试题解析：1【正确答案】 c 意为：战争摧毁了多数潜在的竞争国的经济。问题中predominance意为“优势”。第一段指出，第二次世界大战以后，美国进入一个欣欣向荣的（glowing）成长时期，它拥有八倍于其他任何一个竞争国家的市场，工业经济成长到空前规模，它拥有世界上最优秀的科学家和技术最高的工人。美国的繁荣和美国人的富裕水平，是欧洲人和亚洲人做梦也达不到的，因为战争摧毁了他们的经济。a意为：它已经为实现这一目标付出了艰苦的努力。b意为：其国内市场比以前大八倍。d意为：其劳动力（数量）空前的规模促进了经济的成长

28、。2. 【正确答案】 d 意为：汽车工业失去了部分国内市场。第二段第六句提到，进口车和纺织品涌进（美国）国内市场。a意为；电视工业萎缩回到了国内市场（即：该工业失去了国际市场）。根据第二段，到80年代中期，面对其工业竞争力的日益衰退，美国人感到无计可施（at a loss），美国某些大的行业如电子消费品在园际竞争的压力下，面临萎缩或消亡的威胁。到1987年为止，美国仅存的电视制造商只有zenith一家了（现在已荡然无存：zenith于7月份（指文章写作年代的7月份）被韩国lg电子有限企业购买）。这里并没有直接提到美国电视失去国际市场，事实上，它连国内市场也保不住了。b意为：半导体行业被外国企业

29、接管。第二段最后一句提到，在一段时间内，半导体制造业似乎要成为下一个受害者，虽然美国是半导体的发明者，而且半导体又处于新的计算机时代的核心位置（即：在新的时代中起着关键作用）。本句中casualty意为“伤亡”、“受害者”，与上一句中be on the ropes（美语俚语，意为“即将完蛋”）相照应。这里所说的是半导体制造商似乎（as though）要失去国内外市场而不是被国外企业接管。c意为：机床制造业自取灭亡。第二段提到了机床制造业“即将完蛋”（on the ropes）。这显然也是说它正在失去国内外市场，并未提到它的灭亡是由其自身缘故造成的。3【正确答案】. b 意为：激烈的竞争可能促进

30、经济的成长。第三段提到，严峻的现实（this指上一段中提到的诸多现状）使美国人失去了自信，他们不再认为繁荣是自然而至的事，他们开始认识到自己的经营方法存在严重问题（failing）。在80年代中期，他们开始挖掘美国经济衰退的缘故，他们有时有些惊人的（sensational）发现，其中往往提示人们警惕外来竞争。第四段提到了90年代的经济复苏。其中的含义是：在竞争的压力下，美国人在80年代开展了自我反思和产业结构调整，因此带来了90年代的经济复苏。a意为：在自我怀疑和盲目骄傲之间摆来摆去是人的本性。（即：人倾向于在这两种心态之间摇摆）。c意为：经济的复苏取决于国际间的合作。d意为：长期的成功可以为

31、进一步的成长铺平道路。4. 【正确答案】 a 意为：经济周期的转机。在第四段，作者指出，截止到1995年，美国已经经历了五年的稳定（经济）增长，而日本却在困境中挣扎，但是，美国人并不将这一增长看做是美元贬值或经济周期的转机等明显的因素直接带来的，而是由自我怀疑变为盲目的骄傲。这里作者现实上对当前美国人的盲目乐观情绪开展了批评，认为，90年代的增长是由美元贬值或经济周期的转机等因素造成的。b意为：产业结构的调整。根据richard cavanaugh的看法，美国经济的持续增长是由产业结构的调整造成，他认为美国的产业正在“节食”（go on a diet），正在变得更加理智。但这并不是作者的观点。

32、参阅第四段。c意为：经营管理的改善。根据stephen moore的看法，美国的经济正在提高其生产率。但这也不是作者的观点。参阅第四段。d意为：教育上的成功。全文翻译：一段长时间并且不费力而成功的历史可能成为一种可怕的不利因素，但若处理得当，这种不利因素也有可能转化为一种积极的推动力。二战完毕后，美国恰好进入了这样的一 个辉煌时期，当时，它拥有比任何竞争者大8倍的市场，这使其工业经济具有前所未有的规模经济。美国的科学家是世上最优秀的，它的工人是最富于技术的。美国的国富民强是那些经济遭到战争破坏的欧亚诸国做梦也无法达不到的。随着其他国家日益强盛，美国的这一优势地位逐渐下降是不可避免的。从优势地位

33、上退出的痛苦也同样是不可避免的。到了80年代中期，面对其日益衰退的工业竞争力，美国人感到不知所措。面对国外竞争，一些大型的美国工业，如消费电子产业，已经萎缩或渐渐消失。到1987年，美国只剩下zenith这一家电视生产商。（现在一家也没有了：zenith于当年7月被韩国lg电器企业收购。）外国制造的汽车和纺织品正在大举进入国内市场。美国的机床工业也即将灭亡。人们曾一度感觉下一个在海外品牌面前全军覆没的似乎该轮到美国的半导体制造业了，而在新计算机时代有着核心作用的半导体正是美国人发明的。所有这一切导致了信任危机。美国不再视繁荣为理所当然之事。他们开始相信自己的商业经营方法不灵了，也相信不久他们的

34、收入也会因此而下降。80年代中期，人们对美国工业衰退的成因作了一次又一次的探寻。在美国人那些有时耸人听闻的发现中充满着对其他国家日益增长的经济竞争的警告之词。情况的变化真快！1995年，当日本还在奋力拼搏的时候，美国却可以对5年的稳固成长作一回顾了。没几个美国人将这一巨变单纯归因于美元贬值或商业周期循环这些显而易见的缘故。到如今，对自身的怀疑已被盲目乐观所取代。“美国的工业已经改变了结构，消除了滞胀，学会了明智”，这是哈佛大学肯尼迪管理学院行政院长理查德?卡佛纳的看法。华盛顿特区的智囊团卡托研究院的史蒂芬?莫尔说：“看到我们的企业正在提高自身的生产率，作为一个美国人，我感到自豪。”哈佛商学院的

35、威廉?萨尔曼相信人们将会把这一时期视为“美国企业管理的黄金时代。being a man has always been dangerous. there are about 105 males born for every 100 females, but this ratio drops to near balance at the age of maturity, and among 70-year-olds there are twice as many women as men. but the great universal of male mortality is being ch

36、anged. now, by babies survive almost as well as girls do. this means that, for the first time, there will be an excess of boys in those crucial years when they are searching for a mate. more important, another chance for natural selection has been removed. fifty years ago, the chance of a baby （part

37、icularly a boy baby）surviving depended on its weight. a kilogram too light or too heavy meant almost certain death. today it makes almost no difference. since much of the variation is due to genes one more agent of evolution has gone.there is another way to commit evolutionary suicide: stay alive, b

38、ut have fewer children. few people are as fertile as in the past. except in some religious communities, very few women has 15 children. nowadays the number of births, like the age of death, has become average. most of us have roughly the same number of offspring. again, differences between people an

39、d the opportunity for natural selection to take advantage of it have diminished. india shows what is happening. the country offers wealth for a few in the great cities and poverty for the remaining tribal peoples. the grand mediocrity of today -everyone being the same in survival and number of offsp

40、ring-means that natural selection has lost 80% of its power in upper-middle-class india compared to the tribes.for us, this means that evolution is over; the biological utopia has arrived. strangely, it has involved little physical change no other species fills so many places in nature. but in the p

41、ass 100,000 years- even the past 100year -our lives have been transformed but our bodies have not. we did not evolve, because machines and society did it for us. darwin had a phrase to describe those ignorant of evolution: they look at an organic being as a savage looks at a ship, as at something wh

42、olly beyond his comprehension. no doubt we will remember a 20th century way of life beyond comprehension for its ugliness. but however amazed our descendants may be at how far from utopia we were, they will look just like us.5. what used to be the danger in being a man according to the first paragra

43、ph? aa lack of mates. ba fierce competition. ca lower survival rate. da defective gene.6. what does the example of india illustrate?awealthy people tend to have fewer children than poor people.bnatural selection hardly works among the rich and the poor.cthe middle class population is 80% smaller tha

44、n that of the tribes.dindia is one of the countries with a very high birth rate.7. the author argues that our bodies have stopped evolving because_ . alife has been improved by technological advance bthe number of female babies has been declining cour species has reached the highest stage of evoluti

45、on dthe difference between wealth and poverty is disappearing8. which of the following would be the best title for the passage? asex ration changes in human evolution bways of continuing mans evolution cthe evolutionary future of nature dhuman evolution going nowhereunit 7 （2000） part2重点词汇：1.maturit

46、y （成熟）matur（e）+ity，mature（成熟的v.成熟），-ity名词后缀。love is quiet understanding and the mature acceptance of imperfection.爱情是静静的理解和对不足之处的成熟接受。2.mortality（死亡率）mortal+ity，mortal（致命的；凡人），-ity名词后缀。3.survive（v.幸存；比活的长）即sur+vive，sur-（=super-）前缀“超”，vive词根“活的”，于是“超过别人活的长度”比别人活得长幸存；survival（n.幸存；幸存者）surviv（e）+al名词后缀

47、。同根词：revive（v.恢复；复苏）。evolution? （n.进化；成长），动词形式为evolve 4.diminish（v.缩小，减少）即di+min+ish，di-前缀“使”，min词根“小”=mini，-ish动词后缀。5.mediocrity（平常）可看作medi+ocr+ity，medi-前缀“中间”（如mediummedi+um后缀中间的；媒介），ocr看作optical character recognition（光学字符识别），-ity名词后缀，用中等（medi）识别率ocr的效果是平常（medicocrity）的。6.upper-middle-class 上中阶层。7

48、.utopia ?（乌托邦）是英国空想社会主义者托马斯?莫尔（thomas more）所著书名的简称，书中描写了作者所想象的没有阶级的幸福社会乌托邦，意即“没有的地方”。8.involve （v.陷入；涉及）in+volve，in-前缀=into，volve词根“卷”，“把东西卷到里面”9.transform （v.转变；改造）即trans+form，trans-前缀“改变”，form词根“形状”。marriage is the miracle that transform a kiss from a pleasure into a duty, and a life from a luxury

49、 into a necessity.婚姻是个奇迹，它把接吻从快乐化为义务，把生活从享乐化为必需。10.describe（v.描述，形容）de向下+scribe写，“写下来”，名词为description。a man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes anothers.在描述另一个人的性格时，人最清楚地显露自己的性格。11.descendant （后裔）即de+scend+ant，de-向下，scend词根“爬”，-ant名词后缀表“人”。同根词：descendde+scend“向下爬”下降；asc

50、enda+scend“向上爬”攀登。one of the best things people could do for their descendants would be to sharply limit the number of them.人们能为后代做的最好的事情之一也许就是严格限定自己的数量。难句解析： there are about 105 males born for every 100 females, but this ratio drops to near balance at the age of maturity, and among 70-year-olds the

51、re are twice as many women as men.该句是由三个递进关系的简单句组成的并列句，句法结构比较清晰。第一个分句的关键词在born，表明该比数是婴儿出生时的性别比例；第二个分句的关键词在near balance（接近持平）和at the age of maturity，表示性别比例的持平状态发生在成年时期；第三个分句的70-year-olds指代的是“70岁的人们”，作名词。 again, differences between people and the opportunity for natural selection to take advantage of

52、it have diminished. 注意differences between people和the opportunity for natural selection to take advantage of it是两个并列的主语，千万不要理解成people与the opportunity是between的并列宾语。and连接的两个并列部分是differences between people和the opportunity for natural selection to take advantage of it，而不是people和the opportunity。另外注意句中的it指

53、代的是differences between people。 the grand mediocrity of today everyone being the same in survival and number of offspring means that natural selection has lost 80 of its power in upper-middle-class india compared to the tribes.该句的主语是the grand mediocrity，谓语是means，其后跟着that引导的宾语从句that natural selection

54、has lost 80 of its power in upper-middle-class india compared to the tribes，其中compared to the tribes是分词结构作状语，省略了if/when being。破折号中间everyone being the same in survival and number of offspring是典型的插入语，其中survival和number of offspring都是介词in的宾语。grand在此处不是“宏伟，壮丽”的意思，而是“程度很深”；mediocrity也非“平庸，平常”，而是“平均化”或“折衷”

55、；offspring是“后代”。另外要理解natural selection has lost 80 of its power in upper-middle-class india的意思，这里是指在过去的社会不平等的情况下，印度中上层阶级拥有一些能使自己在自然选择中处于优势的特权，而随着医疗和卫生条件的改变，下层人民也拥有同样的生存条件，因此中上层阶级就丧失了80的自然选择中的优势。 darwin had a phrase to describe those ignorant of evolution: they look at an organic being as a savage lo

56、oks at a ship, as at something wholly beyond his comprehension.冒号后的句子是主句中a phrase的同位语。该同位语从句中的结构是a does something as b does something（a做某事的样子正像b做某事的样子）。those ignorant of evolution指对生物进化过程一无所知的人，其后的they也指代这些人。最后的his指代前面的a savage。beyond his comprehension超出了他的理解范围。试题解析：5. 【正确答案】c 意为；较低的存活率。第一段第一、二句指出，做

57、男人总是有危险的。出生时男孩比例高于女孩，到成熟期时男女比例已持平，到70岁时男人仅剩女人数量的一半了。a意为：配偶的缺乏。第一段第四、五句提到，现在，男孩的存活率基本上与女孩一样了，这意味着，到寻找配偶的关键年龄时，就会有多余的男孩（找不到配偶）。这两句话仅是论据，说明本段第三句指出的现象：过去通通存在的男人死亡率高的现象正在改变。b意为：激烈的竞争。d意为：有缺陷的基因。第一段最后一句指出，既然其中的差别都是由基因造成的，另一个进化因素不复存在了。这里并未提到基因的缺陷造成男人的高死亡率。6. 【正确答案】 b 意为：自然选择的法则基本不适用于穷富的差别。印度的例子用于说明第二段第六句指出的观点：不一样的人面对自然选择时所可利用的优劣势差别已经变小。根据下文这一句应理解为：在存活率问题上，富人和穷人基本上面临着同样的机遇，即富人已渐失其优势。另请参