同济大学考博英语-2

1、同济大学考博英语-2( 总分： 100.00 ，做题时间： 90 分钟 )一、BPartIReading Comprehension/B( 总题数：4,分数：40.00)BPassage One/BThe study of social science is more than the study of the individual social sciences.Although it is true that to be a good social scientist you must know each of thosecomponents, you must also know how

2、 they interrelate. By specializing too early, manysocial scientists can lose sight of the interrelationships that are so essential tounderstanding modern problems. Thats why it is necessary to have a course coveringall the social sciences. In fact, it would not surprise meif one day a news story suc

3、h asthe one above should appear.The preceding passage placed you in the future. To understand how and when socialscience broke up, you must go into the past. Imagine for a moment that youre a studentin 1062, in the Italian city of Bologna, site of one of the first major universities in thewestern wo

4、rld. The university has no buildings. It consists merely of a few professorsand students.There is no tuition fee. At the end of a professors lecture, if you like it, you pay. And ifyou dont like it, the professor finds himself without students and without money. If wego back still earlier, say to Gr

5、eece in the sixth century B. C., we can see the philosopherSocrates walking around the streets of Athens, arguing with his companions. He asksthem questions, and then other questions, leading these people to reason the way hewants them to reason (this became known as the Socratic method). Times have

6、changed since then; universities sprang up throughout the world and created collegeswithin the universities. Oxford, one of the first universities, now has thirty collegesassociated with it, and the development and formalization of educational institutionshas changed the roles of both students and f

7、aculty. As knowledge accumulated, itbecame more and more difficult for one person to learn, let alone retain it all. In thesixteenth century one could still aspire to know all there was to know, and the definitionof the Renaissance man (people were even more sexist then than they are now) was ofone

8、who was expected to know about everything.Unfortunately, at least for someone who wants to know everything, the amount ofinformation continues to grow Uexponentially/U while the size of the brain hasgrown only slightly. The way to deal with the problem is not to try to know everythingabout everythin

9、g. Today we must specialize. That is why social science separated fromthe natural sciences and why it, in turn, has been broken down into various subfields,such as anthropology and sociology.（分数： 10.00 ）（1）.What is the main idea of this text? （分数： 2.00 ）A. Social science is unified.VB. Social scienc

10、e is a newborn science.C. What is social science.D. Specialization in social science is not good.解析： 解析 文章第 1 句即为题旨所在：“ The study of social science is more than the study of the individual socialsciences. ”（2）.What can we learn from the second paragraph?（分数： 2.00 ）A. Socrates can be regarded as the

11、first social scientist in the western world.B. The universities in Italy have no buildings.C. Socrates created the Socratic method.VD. Greece is not as civilized as Italy.解析： 解析 Socratic method 以苏格拉底的名字命名，并且为他所第一个使用。他是 Socratic method 无可争议的创始人。（3）.Why does the author say people were even more sexist

12、 then than they are now?（分数： 2.00 ）A. Because they are so covetous that they want to know all there was to know.B. Because it is the Renaissance Man, not Renaissance Woman or human.VC. Because no woman was formally educated at that time.D. Because all Renaissance men were men.解析： 解析 这个答案可能有些出乎意料，但这是

13、有据可依的。西方女权主义兴起之时， 类似这种名词 都受到过挑战。最为大家熟知的，就是 Ms. 这一称谓的诞生。且 作者是在括号中说到这句话，故可看出这 句话与文意本无甚大关系。（4） .What does the underlined word exponentially mean in the first sentence of the last paragraph? （分数： 2.00 ）A. Promisingly.B. Continuously.C. Drastically.D. Rapidly.V解析： 解析 exponentially 的本意是“指数地”。大家都知道“呈指数倍增长”

14、是极快速的增长，这里 的 exponentially也就是 rapidly “快速地”意思。（5）_.We can infer from the text that.（分数： 2.00）A. social science is a united science, and cannot be divided into subfieldsB. social science may be further divided into smaller parts as the amount of knowledge and information expandingVC. there may be a R

15、enaissance Man in the futureD. the best way to deal with the expansion of information is to know everything解析： 解析 人的精力是有限的，随着知识与信息的爆炸，社会科学的分科必然会越来越细，越来越专。A 认为“ Socialscience cannot be divided into subfields”，事实恰恰相反。笔者个人认为未来实在不可能出现 Renaissance Man 了。知识爆炸的速度远非人脑力可及。BPassage Two/BTo what extent are the

16、 unemployed failing in their duty to society to work, and how farhas the State an obligation to ensure that they have work to do?It is by now increasingly recognized that workers may be thrown out of work byindustrial forces beyond their control, and that the unemployed are in some sensepaying the p

17、rice of the economic progress of the rest of the community. But concernwith unemployment and the unemployed varies sharply. The issues of duty andresponsibility were reopened and revitalized by the unemployment scare of 1971-1972.Rising unemployment and increased sums paid out in benefits to the wor

18、kless hadreawakened controversies which had been inactive during most of the period of fulleremployment since the war ended the Depression. It looked as though in future therewould again be too little work to go round, so there were arguments about how toproduce more work, how the available work sho

19、uld be shared out, and who wasresponsible for unemployment and the unemployed.In 1972 there were critics who said that the States action in allowing unemployment torise wasa faithless act, a breaking of the social contract between society and the worker.Yet in the main any contribution by employers

20、to unemployment such as lying offworkers in order to introduce technological changes and maximize profits tended to beignored. And it was the unemployed who were accused of failing to honor the socialcontract, by not fulfilling their duty to society to work. In spite of general concern at thescale t

21、o the unemployment statistics, when the unemployed were considered asindividuals, they tended to attract scorn and threats of punishment. Their capacities andmotivation as workers and their value as membersof society became suspect. Of all themyths of the Welfare State, stories of the work shy and b

22、orrowers have been the leastwell founded on evidence, yet they have proved the most persistent. The unemployedwere accused of being responsible for their own workless condition,anddoubts were expressed about the States obligationeitherto provide them with the security of work or to support them thro

23、ugh Social Security.Underlying the arguments about unemployment and the unemployed is a basicdisagreement about the nature and meaning of work in society. To what extent can orshould work be regarded as a service, not only performed by the worker for society butalso madesecure for the worker by the

24、State, and supported if necessary? And apartfrom cash are there social pressures and satisfactionswhich cause individuals to seekand keep work, so thatthe workless need work rather than just cash?（分数： 10.00 ）（1）.It is the authors belief that_. （分数： 2.00）A. unemployment must lead to inevitable depres

25、sion of national economyB. the unemployed are the victims of economical and social developmentVC. unemployment should be kept under the control of industrial forcesD. the unemployed are not entitled to share the benefits from technological progress解析：解析B 项与第 2 段第 1 句意思相符，其中 victi ms of（.的受害者）相当于该句的

26、paying theprice of（为.付出代价）。其余三项皆非作者之意。（2）.What the author proposes to examine is_ .（分数： 2.00 ）A. how far the unemployed are to blame for their failure in working and how far it is the States faultVB. to what extent the State should insist on the unemployed working if they fail to do soC. whether bei

27、ng at work is a social duty which the State should ensure everybody carries outD. whether work should be obligatory, and if so, whether the State or the individual is responsible for enforcedobligation 解析： 解析 A 项与起始句的内容一致，此问句点出了本文的主题。（3）.The effect of the 1971-1972 unemployment scare was to_. （分数： 2

28、.00 ）A. make people think for the first time about the problem of the availability of workB. make concern for unemployment and the unemployed varyC. make the subject of unemployment controversial againVD. show that there would in future be too little work to go round解析：解析此题出自第 2 段第 3 句，句中 revitalize

29、 意为“使恢复活力”；unemployment scare 是“失 业大恐慌”。C 项“使失业问题再起争论”符合该句中： reopened and revitalized 及下句中的 reawakened controversies（ 重新引起争论 ） ，故 C 为正确答案。（4）_.According to the author, in the 1971-1972 crisis .（分数： 2.00 ）A. the State and the employers were equally to blame for allowing unemployment to riseB. the une

30、mployed did not fulfill their social duty to find jobsC. the role played by the employers in creating unemployment was not recognizedVD. the state was guilty of breaking the social contract by letting unemployment increase解析： 解析第 3 段第 2 句说“雇主对失业的促成作用往往被忽视”（句中 in the main 意为“基本 上， 大体上”）。C 项恰合此意，为正确答案

31、。 A 项，文中无此说法。B 项是对失业者的不正当指责。 D 项是 一些 critics（ 批评家 ） 的说法，而非作者的意见。（5） .The basic disagreement about the nature and meaning of work in society rests on the problemof whether or not_ . （分数： 2.00 ）A. the unemployed ought to be supported by society as a wholeB. the state should recognize that people work

32、for more than just moneyC. it is a service to provide people with work rather than cashD. the states duty to provide work is as great as the individuals duty to workV解析： 解析 此文末段第 2 句中 not only performed by the worker for society but also made securefor the worker by the State（ 工作不仅是工人对社会应尽的义务，而且国家应保

33、证工人能够工作着 ） ，表 明 D 项说法正确。A、B 两项文中未提。C 项只是论据之一。BPassage Three/BSuccessful business tends to continue implementing the ideas that made themsuccessful. But in a rapidly changing world, ideas often become obsolete overnight.What worked in the past wont necessarily work in the future. In order to thrive i

34、n thefuture, you must constantly create new ideas for every aspect of your business. In fact,you must continually generate new ideas just to keep your head above water.Businesses that arent creative about their future may not survive.Although Bill Gates is the richest, most successful man on the pla

35、net, he did notanticipate the Internet. Now hes scrambling to catch up. If Bill Gates can miss a majoraspect of his industry, it can happen to you in your industry. Your business needs tocontinually innovate and create its future. Gates is nowconstantly worried about thefuture of Microsoft. Heres wh

36、at he said in a recent interview in U.S. NewsWorld Report:Will we be replaced tomorrow? No. In a very short time frame, Microsoft is anincredibly strong company. But when you look to the two to three-year time frame, Idont think anyone can say with a straight face that any technology company has agu

37、aranteed position. Not Intel, not Microsoft, not Compaq, not Dell, take any of yourfavorites. And thats totallyhonest.You may remember that in 1985 the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls were the best-selling toyon the market. But after Coleco Industries introduced their sensational line of dolls theybecame c

38、omplacent and didnt create any new toys worth mentioning. As a result,Coleco went bankrupt in 1988. The most successful businesses survive in the long termbecause they constantly reassess their situations and reinvest themselves accordingly.The 3M Company has a 15% rule: Employees are encouraged to

39、spend 15% of theirtime developing new ideas on any project they desire. Its no surprise, then, that 3M hasbeen around since 1902.Most businesses are not willing to tear apart last years model of success and build anew one. Heres a familiar analogy to explain why they are lulled into complacency;imag

40、ine that your business is like a pot of lobsters. To cook lobsters, you put them intoa pot of warm water and gradually turn up the heat. The lobsters dont realize theyrebeing cooked because the process is so gradual. As a result, they become complacentand die without a struggle. However, if you thro

41、w a lobster into the pot whenthe water isboiling,it will desperately try to escape.This lobster is not lulledby a slowly changing environment. It realizesinstantly that its in a bad environment and takes immediate action to change its status.(分数： 10.00 )(1)_ .Judging from thecontext, to keep your he

42、ad above water (Para. 1) probably means_.(分数： 2.00 )A. to be drownB. to keep out of financial difficultyVC. to keep away from dangerD. to protect you from water解析： 解析 英语成语 to keep ones head above water 意为“使自己免遭灭顶之灾”，结合本文的的 意境为“免于负债”之意，即 to keep out of financial difficulty。(2) .Why is Gates now const

43、antly worried about the future of Microsoft?(分数： 2.00 )A. Because he is the richest, most successful man on the planet.B. Because his company will be replaced tomorrow.C. Because in a very short time frame, Microsoft is an incredibly strong company.D. Because he doesnt think that any technology comp

44、any has a guaranteed position.V解析： 解析 见原文第 3 段最后两句：“ I dont think anyone can say with a straight face that any technology companyhas a guaranteed position. Not Intel, not Microsoft, not Compaq, not Dell,take any of your favorites. And thats totally honest.”盖茨认为任何一个技术公司，包括英特尔、康柏、戴尔都在努力维持和确保自身的地位。而微软的

45、市场地位将来势必受到威胁和冲击。(3) .Coleco Industries case suggests that_.(分数： 2.00 )A. the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls were the best selling toy on the marketB. the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls are sensational line of dollsC. complacency and lack of creation will ultimately ruin a businessVD. the most successful busines

46、ses survive in the long term解析：解析见原文第 4 段: “they became complacent and didnt create any new toys worth mentioning.As a result, Coleco went bankrupt in 1998.”作者以 Coleco 公司为例，指出“故步自封和因循守旧必将使一个企业走向毁灭”。(4).According to this passage, the 3MCompanys success lies in its(分数： 2.00 )A. constant reassessment o

47、f their situationsB. reinventionC. 15% ruleVD. being around since 1902解析： 解析 见原文第 5 段： The 3M company has a 15%rule: Employees are encouraged to spend 15% of their timedeveloping Hew ideas on any project they desire.作者认为 3M 公司的成功在于它的“15%原则”，即“创新意识”。(5)_ .Byusing the analogy of throwing a lobster int

48、o a pot, the author tries to imply that_ .(分数： 2.00 )A. some managers are really foolish peopleB. its cruel to cook lobstersC. people are tend to become complacentD. bad environment calls for immediate actionV解析： 解析 见原文末句： It realizes instantly that its in a bad environment and takes immediate actio

49、n to change itsstatus.BPassage Four/BThe study of philosophies should make our own ideas flexible. We are all of us apt totake certain general ideas for granted, and call them common sense. Weshould learnthat other people have held quite different ideas, and that our own have started as veryoriginal

50、 guesses of philosophers.A scientist is apt to think that all the problems of philosophy will ultimately be solved byscience. I think this is true for a great many of the questions on which philosophers stillargue. For example, Plato thought that when we saw something, one ray of light cameto it fro

51、m the sun, and another from our eyes and that seeing was something like feelingwith a stick. We now know that the light comes from the sun, and is reflected into oureyes. We dont know in much detail how the changes in our eyes give rise to sensation.But there is every reason to think that as we lear

52、n more about the physiology of thebrain, we shall do so, and that the great philosophical problems about knowledge aregoing to be pretty fully cleared up.But if our descendants know the answers to these questions and others that perplex ustoday, there will still be one field of which they do not kno

53、w, namely the future. Howeverexact our science; we cannot know it as we know the past. Philosophy may bedescribed as argument about things of which we are ignorant. And where science givesus a hope of knowledge it is often reasonable to suspend judgment. That is one reasonwhy Marx and Engels quite r

54、ightly wrote to manyphilosophical problems that interestedtheir contemporaries.But we have got to prepare for the future, and we cannot do so rationally withoutsomephilosophy. Somepeople say wehave only got to do the duties revealed in thepast and laid down by religion, and god will look after the f

55、uture. Others say that theworld is a machine and the course of future events is certain, whatever efforts we maymake. Marxists say that the future depends on ourselves, even though we are part ofthe historical process. This philosophical view certainly does inspire people to verygreat achievements.

56、Whether it is true or not, it is powerful guide to action.We need a philosophy, then, to help us to tackle the future. Agnosticism easilybecomesan excuse for laziness and conservatism. Whether we adopt Marxism or anyother philosophy, we cannot understand it without knowing something of how itdevelop

57、ed. That is why knowledge of the history of philosophy is important to Marxists,even during the present critical days.（分数： 10.00 ）（1）.What is the main idea of this passage? （分数： 2.00 ）A. The argument whether philosophy will ultimately be solved by science or not.B. The importance of learning philoso

58、phies, especially the history of philosophy.VC. The difference between philosophy and science.D. A discuss about how to set a proper attitude towards future.解析：解析 文章第 1 段介绍了我们为什么要学习哲学； 第 2 段和第 3 段介绍了哲学和科学的联系和差别； 第 4 段说明了学习哲学的必然性； 最后一段总结了我们为什么要学习哲学。 因此， 本文的大意应是学习哲 学的必要性， 所以选 B。（2）_.The example of wha

59、t Plato thought in thepassage shows that_ .（分数： 2.00 ）A. the development of science really can solve a great many of the problems on which philosophers still argue.VB. Plato knew nothing about physics.C. the scientists have achieved a lot in terms of light theory.D. different people have different w

60、ays of perception.解析： 解析 第 2 段第 1 句指出，“科学家都倾向于认为，所有有关哲学的问题最终会由科学来解决。我认为对于许多哲学家仍争论不休的问题，这一点是千真万确的。”因此，A 项正确，而 B 项显然错误。CD 项虽说法正确，但不符合题意。（3）.What field can our descendants know?（分数： 2.00 ）A. The origin of human beings.B. Some questions that perplex us today.C. Many philosophical problems which Marx and