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考研英语二真题

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下面是小编为大家准备的考研英语二真题，本文共9篇，欢迎阅读借鉴。本文原稿由网友“backhan”提供。

篇1：考研英语二真题

考研英语二真题

Section 1 Use of English

Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark [A], [B], [C] or [D] on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)

Happy people work differently. They’re more productive, more creative, and willing to take greater risks. And new research suggests that happiness might influence__1__firm’s work, too.

Companies located in places with happier people invest more, according to a recent research paper.__2__, firms in happy places spend more on R&D (research and development). That’s because happiness is linked to the kind of longer-term thinking__3__for making investments for the future.

The researchers wanted to know if the__4__and inclination for risk-taking that come with happiness would__5__the way companies invested. So they compared U.S. cities’ average happiness__6__by Gallup polling with the investment activity of publicly traded firms in those areas.

__7__enough, firms’ investment and R&D intensity were correlated with the happiness of the area in which they were__8__.But is it really happiness that’s linked to investment, or could something else about happier cities__9__why firms there spend more on R&D? To find out, the researchers controlled for various__10__that might make firms more likely to invest C like size, industry, and sales C and for indicators that a place was__11__to live in, like growth in wages or population. The link between happiness and investment generally__12__even after accounting for these things.

The correlation between happiness and investment was particularly strong for younger firms, which the authors__13__to “less codified decision making process” and the possible presence of “younger and less__14__managers who are more likely to be influenced by sentiment.” The relationship was__15__stronger in places where happiness was spread more__16__.Firms seem to invest more in places where most people are relatively happy, rather than in places with happiness inequality.

__17__ this doesn’t prove that happiness causes firms to invest more or to take a longer-term view, the authors believe it at least__18__at that possibility. It’s not hard to imagine that local culture and sentiment would help__19__how executives think about the future. “It surely seems plausible that happy people would be more forward-thinking and creative and__20__R&D more than the average,” said one researcher.

1. [A] why [B] where [C] how [D] when

2. [A] In return [B] In particular [C] In contrast [D] In conclusion

3. [A] sufficient [B] famous [C] perfect [D] necessary

4. [A] individualism [B] modernism [C] optimism [D] realism

5. [A] echo [B] miss [C] spoil [D] change

6. [A] imagined [B] measured [C] invented [D] assumed

7. [A] Sure [B] Odd [C] Unfortunate [D] Often

8. [A] advertised [B] divided [C] overtaxed [D] headquartered

9. [A] explain [B] overstate [C] summarize [D] emphasize

10.[A] stages [B] factors [C] levels [D] methods

11.[A] desirable [B] sociable [C] reputable [D] reliable

12.[A] resumed [B] held [C]emerged [D] broke

13.[A] attribute [B] assign [C] transfer [D]compare

14.[A] serious [B] civilized [C] ambitious [D]experienced

15.[A] thus [B] instead [C] also [D] never

16.[A] rapidly [B] regularly [C] directly [D] equally

17.[A] After [B] Until [C] While [D] Since

18.[A] arrives [B] jumps [C] hints [D] strikes

19.[A] shape [B] rediscover [C] simplify [D] share 20.[A] pray for [B] lean towards [C] give away [D] send out

Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension

Part A

Directions：Read the following four texts. Answer the questions after each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)

Text 1

It’s true that high-school coding classes aren’t essential for learning computer science in college. Students without experience can catch up after a few introductory courses, said Tom Cortina, the assistant dean at Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science.

However, Cortina said, early exposure is beneficial. When younger kids learn computer science, they learn that it’s not just a confusing, endless string of letters and numbers ― but a tool to build apps, or create artwork, or test hypotheses. It’s not as hard for them to transform their thought processes as it is for older students. Breaking down problems into bite-sized chunks and using code to solve them becomes normal. Giving more children this training could increase the number of people interested in the field and help fill the jobs gap, Cortina said.

Students also benefit from learning something about coding before they get to college, where introductory computer-science classes are packed to the brim, which can drive the less-experienced or-determined students away.

The Flatiron School, where people pay to learn programming, started as one of the many coding bootcamps that’s become popular for adults looking for a career change. The high-schoolers get the same curriculum, but “we try to gear lessons toward things they’re interested in,” said Victoria Friedman, an instructor. For instance, one of the apps the students are developing suggests movies based on your mood.

The students in the Flatiron class probably won’t drop out of high school and build the next Facebook. Programming languages have a quick turnover, so the “Ruby on Rails” language they learned may not even be relevant by the time they enter the job market. But the skills they learn ― how to think logically through a problem and

organize the results ― apply to any coding language, said Deborah Seehorn, an education consultant for the state of North Carolina.

Indeed, the Flatiron students might not go into IT at all. But creating a future army of coders is not the sole purpose of the classes. These kids are going to be surrounded by computers ― in their pockets, in their offices, in their homes ― for the rest of their lives. The younger they learn how computers think, how to coax the machine into producing what they want ― the earlier they learn that they have the power to do that ― the better.

21. Cortina holds that early exposure to computer science makes it easier to____.

A. complete future job training

B. remodel the way of thinking

C. formulate logical hypotheses

D. perfect artwork production

22. In delivering lessons for high-schoolers, Flatiron has considered their____.

A. experience

B. academic backgrounds

C. career prospects

D. interest

23. Deborah Seehorn believes that the skills learned at Flatiron will____.

A. help students learn other computer languages

B. have to be upgraded when new technologies come

C. need improving when students look for jobs

D. enable students to make big quick money

24. According to the last paragraph, Flatiron students are expected to____.

A. compete with a future army of programmers

B. stay longer in the information technology industry

C. become better prepared for the digitalized world

D. bring forth innovative computer technologies

25. The word “coax” (Line4, Para.6) is closest in meaning to____.

A. challenge

B. persuade

C. frighten

D. misguide

Text 2

Biologists estimate that as many as 2 million lesser prairie chickens---a kind of bird living on stretching grasslands―once lent red to the often gray landscape of the midwestern and southwestern United States. But just some 22,000 birds remain today, occupying about 16% of the species’ historic range.

The crash was a major reason the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)decided to formally list the bird as threatened. “The lesser prairie chicken is in a desperate situation,” said USFWS Director Daniel Ashe. Some environmentalists, however, were disappointed. They had pushed the agency to designate the bird as “endangered,” a status that gives federal officials greater regulatory power to crack down on threats. But Ashe and others argued that the“threatened” tag gave the federal government flexibility to try out new, potentially less confrontational conservations approaches. In particular, they called for forging closer collaborations with western state governments, which are often uneasy with federal action and with the private landowners who control an estimated 95% of the prairie chicken’s habitat.

Under the plan, for example, the agency said it would not prosecute landowner or businesses that unintentionally kill, harm, or disturb the bird, as long as they had signed a range―wide management plan to restore prairie chicken habitat. Negotiated by USFWS and the states, the plan requires individuals and businesses that damage habitat as part of their operations to pay into a fund to replace every acre destroyed with 2 new acres of suitable habitat. The fund will also be used to compensate landowners who set aside habitat, USFWS also set an interim goal of restoring prairie chicken populations to an annual average of 67,000 birds over the next 10 years. And it gives the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA), a coalition of state agencies, the job of monitoring progress. Overall, the idea is to let “states” remain in the driver’s seat for managing the species，” Ashe said.

Not everyone buys the win-win rhetoric Some Congress members are trying to block the plan, and at least a dozen industry groups, four states, and three environmental groups are challenging it in federal court Not surprisingly, doesn’t go far enough “The federal government is giving responsibility for managing the bird to the same industries that are pushing it to extinction,” says biologist Jay Lininger.

26. The major reason for listing the lesser prairie as threatened is____

[A]its drastically decreased population

[B]the underestimate of the grassland acreage

[C]a desperate appeal from some biologists

[D]the insistence of private landowners

27.The “threatened” tag disappointed some environmentalists in that it_____

[A]was a give-in to governmental pressure

[B]would involve fewer agencies in action

[C]granted less federal regulatory power

[D]went against conservation policies

28.It can be learned from Paragraph3 that unintentional harm-doers will not be prosecuted if they_____

[A]agree to pay a sum for compensation

[B]volunteer to set up an equally big habitat

[C]offer to support the WAFWA monitoring job

[D]promise to raise funds for USFWS operations

29.According to Ashe， the leading role in managing the species in______

[A]the federal government

[B]the wildlife agencies

[C]the landowners

[D]the states

30.Jay Lininger would most likely support_______

[A]industry groups

[B]the win-win rhetoric

[C]environmental groups

[D]the plan under challenge

Text 3

That everyone’s too busy these days is a cliché. But one specific complaint is made especially mournfully： There’s never any time to read.

What makes the problem thornier is that the usual time-management techniques don’t seem sufficient. The web’s full of articles offering tips on making time to read: “Give up TV” or “Carry a book with you at all times” But in my experience, using such methods to free up the odd 30 minutes doesn’t work. Sit down to read and the flywheel of work-related thoughts keeps spinning-or else you’re so exhausted that a challenging book’s the last thing you need. The modern mind, Tim Parks, a novelist and critic, writes, “is overwhelmingly inclined toward communication…It is not simply that one is interrupted; it is that one is actually inclined to interruption”. Deep reading requires not just time, but a special kind of time which can’t be obtained merely by becoming more efficient.

In fact, “becoming more efficient” is part of the problem. Thinking of time as a resource to be maximised means you approach it instrumentally, judging any given moment as well spent only in so far as it advances progress toward some goal immersive reading, by contrast, depends on being willing to risk inefficiency, goallessness, even time-wasting. Try to slot it as a to-do list item and you’ll manage only goal-focused reading-useful, sometimes, but not the most fulfilling kind. “The future comes at us like empty bottles along an unstoppable and nearly infinite conveyor belt,” writes Gary Eberle in his book Sacred Time, and “we feel a pressure to fill these different-sized bottles (days, hours, minutes)as they pass, for if they get by without being filled, we will have wasted them”. No mind-set could be worse for losing yourself in a book.

So what does work? Perhaps surprisingly, scheduling regular times for reading. You’d think this might fuel the efficiency mind-set, but in fact, Eberle notes, such ritualistic behaviour helps us “step outside time’s flow” into “soul time”. You could limit distractions by reading only physical books, or on single-purpose e-readers. “Carry a book with you at all times” can actually work, too-providing you dip in often enough, so that reading becomes the default state from which you temporarily surface to take care of business, before dropping back down. On a really good day, it no longer feels as if you’re “making time to read,” but just reading, and making time for everything else.

31. The usual time-management techniques don’t work because?????

[A] what they can offer does not ease the modern mind

[B] what challenging books demand is repetitive reading

[C] what people often forget is carrying a book with them

[D] what deep reading requires cannot be guaranteed

32. The “empty bottles” metaphor illustrates that people feel a pressure to?????

[A] update their to-do lists

[B] make passing time fulfilling

[C] carry their plans through

[D] pursue carefree reading

33. Eberle would agree that scheduling regular times for reading helps?????

[A] encourage the efficiency mind-set

[B] develop online reading habits

[C] promote ritualistic reading

[D] achieve immersive reading

34. “Carry a book with you at all times” can work if?????

[A] reading becomes your primary business of the day

[B] all the daily business has been promptly dealt with

[C] you are able to drop back to business after reading

[D] time can be evenly split for reading and business

35. The best title for this text could be?????

[A] How to Enjoy Easy Reading

[B] How to Find Time to Read

[C] How to Set Reading Goals

[D] How to Read Extensively

Text 4

Against a backdrop of drastic changes in economy and population structure, younger Americans are drawing a new 21st-century road map to success, a latest poll has found.

Across generational lines, Americans continue to prize many of the same traditional milestones of a successful life, including getting married, having children, owning a home, and retiring in their sixties. But while young and old mostly agree on what constitutes the finish line of a fulfilling life, they offer strikingly different paths for reaching it.

Young people who are still getting started in life were more likely than older adults to prioritize personal fulfillment in their work, to believe they will advance their careers most by regularly changing jobs, to favor communities with more public services and a faster pace of life, to agree that couples should be financially secure before getting married or having children, and to maintain that children are best served by two parents working outside the home, the survey found.

From career to community and family, these contrasts suggest that in the aftermath of the searing Great Recession, those just starting out in life are defining priorities and expectations that will increasingly spread through virtually all aspects of American life, from consumer preferences to housing patterns to politics.

Young and old converge on one key point: Overwhelming majorities of both groups said they believe it is harder for young people today to get started in life than it was for earlier generations. While younger people are somewhat more optimistic than their elders about the prospects for those starting out today, big majorities in both groups believe those “just getting started in life” face a tougher a good-paying job, starting a family, managing debt, and finding affordable housing.

Pete Schneider considers the climb tougher today. Schneider, a 27-yaear-old auto technician from the Chicago suburbs says he struggled to find a job after graduating from college. Even now that he is working steadily, he said.” I can’t afford to pay ma monthly mortgage payments on my own, so I have to rent rooms out to people to mark that happen.” Looking back, he is struck that his parents could provide a comfortable life for their?children even though neither had completed college when he was young. “I still grew up in an upper middle-class home with parents who didn’t have college degrees,” Schneider said. “I don’t think people are capable of that anymore.”

36. One cross-generation mark of a successful life is_____.????

[A] trying out different lifestyles

[B] having a family with children

[C] working beyond retirement age

[D] setting up a profitable business

37. It can be learned from Paragraph 3 that young people tend to?____.???

[A] favor a slower life pace

[B] hold an occupation longer

[C] attach importance to pre-marital finance

[D] give priority to childcare outside the home

38. The priorities and expectations defined by the young will?____.???

[A] become increasingly clear

[B] focus on materialistic issues

[C] depend largely on political preferences

[D] reach almost all aspects of American life

39. Both young and old agree that?____.

[A] good-paying jobs are less available

[B] the old made more life achievements

[C] housing loans today are easy to obtain

[D] getting established is harder for the young

40. Which of the following is true about Schneider?

[A] He found a dream job after graduating from college.

[B] His parents believe working steadily is a must for success.

[C] His parents’ good life has little to do with a college degree.

[D] He thinks his job as a technician quite challenging.

Part B

Directions:

Read the following text and answer the questions by choosing the most suitable subheading from the list A-G for each of the numbered paragraphs(41-45).There are two extra subheadings which you do not need to use.Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.

[A]Be silly

[B]Have fun

[C]Express your emotions

[D]Don't overthink it

[E]Be easily pleased

[F]Notice things

[G]Ask for help

As adults,it seems that we are constantly pursuing happiness,often with mixed results.Yet children appear to have it down to an art-and for the most part they don't need self-help books or therapy.instead,they look after their wellbeing instinctively,and usually more effectively than we do as grownups.Perhaps it's time to learn a few lessons from them.

41.______________

What does a child do when he's sad? He cries.When he's angry?He shouts.Scared?Probably a bit of both.As we grow up,we learn to control our emotions so they are manageable and don't dictate our behaviours,which is in many ways a good thing.But too often we take this process too far and end up suppressing emotions,especially negative ones.that's about as effective as brushing dirt under a carpet and can even make us ill.What we need to do is find a way to acknowledge and express what we feel appropriately, and then-again like children-move.

42.____________

A couple of Christmases ago, my youngest stepdaughter, who was nine years old at the time, got a Superman T-shirt for Christmas. It cost less than a fiver but she was overjoyed, and couldn't stop talking about it.Too often we believe that a new job,bigger house or better car will be the magic silver bullet that will allow us to finally be content,but the reality is these things have very little lasting impact on our happiness levels. Instead, being grateful for small things every day is a much better way to improve wellbeing.

43.______________________

Have you ever noticed how much children laugh? If we adults could indulge in a bit of silliness and giggling, we would reduce the stress hormones in our bodies , increase good hormones like endorphins, improve blood flow to our hearts and even have a greater chance of fighting off enfection. All of which, of course, have a positive effect on happiness levels.

44.__________________

篇2：考研英语二作文真题及

Directions:

Write a short essay based on the following chart. In your writing, you should

1) interpret the chart and

2) give your comments.

You should write at least 150 words.

Write your essay on ANWER SHEET 2.(15 points)

审题谋篇：

继考察关于“手机入网”的图表作文之后，考研英语(二)连续第二年考察图表作文。巧合的是，本题与英语(二)大纲样题同为关于汽车或交通问题的图表作文，有些表达可以借鉴。201月，日本丰田汽车召回事件引起汽车业关注，日系轿车在中国大陆的形象一落千丈，销量急剧下降。3月，中国吉利汽车集团收购沃尔沃再次震惊世界，中国国产品牌引以为豪，销量日增。本题即考察了“汽车”这一今年热门话题。

本题要求为两点，第一点提纲应写成第一段图表描述，无需发表太多议论，就图论图进行描述即可。第二段可以进行原因列举，最好从国产汽车销量上升、日系下降的具体原因着手分析。一方面，由于国产轿车科技进步、价格促销，从而销量大涨;另一方面，由于日系轿车深陷丑闻、行业欺诈，从而优势殆尽。

第三段可进行归纳结论或提出建议措施，针对国产轿车品牌如何保持并继续扩大市场份额，进行具体的评论或总结。

Direction: Suppose your cousin, Liming, has just been admitted to a university, write him/her a letter to

1) congratulate him/her, and

2) give him/her suggestions on how to get prepared for university life.

Your should write about 100 words on ANSER SHEET 2.

Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use “Zhang Wei” instead.

Do not write the address. (10 points)

参考范文

Dear Li Ming,

Congratulations on your admittance to the University you have dreamed about! I’m absolutely delighted to learn that you have just been admitted to Stanford University. I know there was fierce competition this year but your diligence and perseverance definitely paid off.

I’d like to offer you several proposals on how to prepare for your university life. Above all, I do recommend you to take advantage of the library in your university by reading books beside the normal curriculum. In addition, I believe that you may spare your free-time for three main activities: building your body, expanding your knowledge, and communicating with friends and family.

I wish you further success in future and hope you will invite me to your graduation ceremony four years later.

Yours faithfully,

Zhang Wei

范文分析：

本文首先书信格式完整、正确。段落安排合理，层次清楚，内容连贯，使用了Above all, In addition 等引导文章开展，符合英文书信写作套路。第一段开门见山，向朋友提出祝贺，以及祝贺的理由。第二段从课外学习和生活两个角度对大学生活提出建议。最后，祝贺对方在未来阶段获得更大的成就。另外，本文语言自然流畅，句式和用词都相对丰富多样。因为是给同辈亲戚写信，因此文中适当使用了祈使句和缩写。符合私人信函的语域。很好的完成了写作任务。

篇3：考研英语二真题完形填空

Would a Work-Free World Be So Bad?

People have speculated for centuries about a future without work, and today is no different, with academics, writers, and activists once again warning that technology is replacing human workers. Some imagine that the coming work-free world will be defined by inequality: A few wealthy people will own all the capital, and the masses will struggle in an impoverished wasteland.

A different, less paranoid, and not mutually exclusive prediction holds that the future will be a wasteland of a different sort, one characterized by purposelessness: Without jobs to give their lives meaning, people will simply become lazy and depressed. Indeed, today’s unemployed don’t seem to be having a great time. One Gallup poll found that 20 percent of Americans who have been unemployed for at least a year report having depression, double the rate for working Americans. Also, some research suggests that the explanation for rising rates of mortality, mental-health problems, and addiction among poorly-educated, middle-aged people is a shortage of well-paid jobs. Another study shows that people are often happier at work than in their free time. Perhaps this is why many worry about the agonizing dullness of a jobless future.

But it doesn’t necessarily follow from findings like these that a world without work would be filled with malaise. Such visions are based on the downsides of being unemployed in a society built on the concept of employment. In the absence of work, a society designed with other ends in mind could yield strikingly different circumstances for the future of labor and leisure. Today, the virtue of work may be a bit overblown. “Many jobs are boring, degrading, unhealthy, and a squandering of human potential,” says John Danaher, a lecturer at the National University of Ireland in Galway who has written about a world without work. “Global surveys find that the vast majority of people are unhappy at work.”

These days, because leisure time is relatively scarce for most workers, people use their free time to counterbalance the intellectual and emotional demands of their jobs. “When I come home from a hard day’s work, I often feel tired,” Danaher says, adding, “In a world in which I don’t have to work, I might feel rather different”―perhaps different enough to throw himself into a hobby or a passion project with the intensity usually reserved for professional matters.

Having a job can provide a measure of financial stability, but in addition to stressing over how to cover life’s necessities, today’s jobless are frequently made to feel like social outcasts. “People who avoid work are viewed as parasites and leeches,” Danaher says. Perhaps as a result of this cultural attitude, for most people, self-esteem and identity are tied up intricately with their job, or lack of job.

Plus, in many modern-day societies, unemployment can also be downright boring. American towns and cities aren’t really built for lots of free time: Public spaces tend to be small islands in seas of private property, and there aren’t many places without entry fees where adults can meet new people or come up with ways to entertain one another.

The roots of this boredom may run even deeper. Peter Gray, a professor of psychology at Boston College who studies the concept of play, thinks that if work disappeared tomorrow, people might be at a loss for things to do, growing bored and depressed because they have forgotten how to play. “We teach children a distinction between play and work,” Gray explains. “Work is something that you don’t want to do but you have to do.” He says this training, which starts in school, eventually “drills the play” out of many children, who grow up to be adults who are aimless when presented with free time.

“Sometimes people retire from their work, and they don’t know what to do,” Gray says. “They’ve lost the ability to create their own activities.” It’s a problem that never seems to plague young children. “There are no three-year-olds that are going to be lazy and depressed because they don’t have a structured activity,” he says.

But need it be this way? Work-free societies are more than just a thought experiment―they’ve existed throughout human history. Consider hunter-gatherers, who have no bosses, paychecks, or eight-hour workdays. Ten thousand years ago, all humans were hunter-gatherers, and some still are. Daniel Everett, an anthropologist at Bentley University, in Massachusetts, studied a group of hunter-gathers in the Amazon called the Pirah? for years. According to Everett, while some might consider hunting and gathering work, hunter-gatherers don’t. “They think of it as fun,” he says. “They don’t have a concept of work the way we do.”

“It’s a pretty laid-back life most of the time,” Everett says. He described a typical day for the Pirah?: A man might get up, spend a few hours canoeing and fishing, have a barbecue, go for a swim, bring fish back to his family, and play until the evening. Such subsistence living is surely not without its own set of worries, but the anthropologist Marshall Sahlins argued in a 1968 essay that hunter-gathers belonged to “the original affluent society,” seeing as they only “worked” a few hours a day; Everett estimates that Pirah? adults on average work about 20 hours a week (not to mention without bosses peering over their shoulders). Meanwhile, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average employed American with children works about nine hours a day.

Does this leisurely life lead to the depression and purposelessness seen among so many of today’s unemployed? “I’ve never seen anything remotely like depression there, except people who are physically ill,” Everett says. “They have a blast. They play all the time.” While many may consider work a staple of human life, work as it exists today is a relatively new invention in the course of thousands of years of human culture. “We think it’s bad to just sit around with nothing to do,” says Everett. “For the Pirah?, it’s quite a desirable state.”

Gray likens these aspects of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle to the carefree adventures of many children in developed countries, who at some point in life are expected to put away childish things. But that hasn’t always been the case. According to Gary Cross’s 1990 book A Social History of Leisure Since 1600, free time in the U.S. looked quite different before the 18th and 19th centuries. Farmers―which was a fair way to describe a huge number of Americans at that time―mixed work and play in their daily lives. There were no managers or overseers, so they would switch fluidly between working, taking breaks, joining in neighborhood games, playing pranks, and spending time with family and friends. Not to mention festivals and other gatherings: France, for instance, had 84 holidays a year in 1700, and weather kept them from farming another 80 or so days a year.

This all changed, writes Cross, during the Industrial Revolution, which replaced farms with factories and farmers with employees. Factory owners created a more rigidly scheduled environment that clearly divided work from play. Meanwhile, clocks―which were becoming widespread at that time―began to give life a quicker pace, and religious leaders, who traditionally endorsed most festivities, started associating leisure with sin and tried to replace rowdy festivals with sermons.

As workers started moving into cities, families no longer spent their days together on the farm. Instead, men worked in factories, women stayed home or worked in factories, and children went to school, stayed home, or worked in factories too. During the workday, families became physically separated, which affected the way people entertained themselves: Adults stopped playing “childish” games and sports, and the streets were mostly wiped clean of fun, as middle- and upper-class families found working-class activities like cockfighting and dice games distasteful. Many such diversions were soon outlawed.

With workers’ old outlets for play having disappeared in a haze of factory smoke, many of them turned to new, more urban ones. Bars became a refuge where tired workers drank and watched live shows with singing and dancing. If free time means beer and TV to a lot of Americans, this might be why.

At times, developed societies have, for a privileged few, produced lifestyles that were nearly as play-filled as hunter-gatherers’. Throughout history, aristocrats who earned their income simply by owning land spent only a tiny portion of their time minding financial exigencies. According to Randolph Trumbach, a professor of history at Baruch College, 18th-century English aristocrats spent their days visiting friends, eating elaborate meals, hosting salons, hunting, writing letters, fishing, and going to church. They also spent a good deal of time participating in politics, without pay. Their children would learn to dance, play instruments, speak foreign languages, and read Latin. Russian nobles frequently became intellectuals, writers, and artists. “As a 17th-century aristocrat said, ‘We sit down to eat and rise up to play, for what is a gentleman but his pleasure?’” Trumbach says.

It’s unlikely that a world without work would be abundant enough to provide everyone with such lavish lifestyles. But Gray insists that injecting any amount of additional play into people’s lives would be a good thing, because, contrary to that 17th-century aristocrat, play is about more than pleasure. Through play, Gray says, children (as well as adults) learn how to strategize, create new mental connections, express their creativity, cooperate, overcome narcissism, and get along with other people. “Male mammals typically have difficulty living in close proximity to each other,” he says, and play’s harmony-promoting properties may explain why it came to be so central to hunter-gatherer societies. While most of today’s adults may have forgotten how to play, Gray doesn’t believe it’s an unrecoverable skill: It’s not uncommon, he says, for grandparents to re-learn the concept of play after spending time with their young grandchildren.

When people ponder the nature of a world without work, they often transpose present-day assumptions about labor and leisure onto a future where they might no longer apply; if automation does end up rendering a good portion of human labor unnecessary, such a society might exist on completely different terms than societies do today.

So what might a work-free U.S. look like? Gray has some ideas. School, for one thing, would be very different. “I think our system of schooling would completely fall by the wayside,” says Gray. “The primary purpose of the educational system is to teach people to work. I don’t think anybody would want to put our kids through what we put our kids through now.” Instead, Gray suggests that teachers could build lessons around what students are most curious about. Or, perhaps, formal schooling would disappear altogether.

Trumbach, meanwhile, wonders if schooling would become more about teaching children to be leaders, rather than workers, through subjects like philosophy and rhetoric. He also thinks that people might participate in political and public life more, like aristocrats of yore. “If greater numbers of people were using their leisure to run the country, that would give people a sense of purpose,” says Trumbach.

Social life might look a lot different too. Since the Industrial Revolution, mothers, fathers, and children have spent most of their waking hours apart. In a work-free world, people of different ages might come together again. “We would become much less isolated from each other,” Gray imagines, perhaps a little optimistically. “When a mom is having a baby, everybody in the neighborhood would want to help that mom.” Researchers have found that having close relationships is the number-one predictor of happiness, and the social connections that a work-free world might enable could well displace the aimlessness that so many futurists predict.

In general, without work, Gray thinks people would be more likely to pursue their passions, get involved in the arts, and visit friends. Perhaps leisure would cease to be about unwinding after a period of hard work, and would instead become a more colorful, varied thing. “We wouldn’t have to be as self-oriented as we think we have to be now,” he says. “I believe we would become more human.”

新题型

The surprising truth about American manufacturing

The decline in American manufacturing is a common refrain, particularly from Donald Trump. “We don’t make anything anymore,” he told Fox News last October, while defending his own made-in-Mexico clothing line.

On Tuesday, in rust belt Pennsylvania, he doubled down, saying that he had “visited cities and towns across this country where a third or even half of manufacturing jobs have been wiped out in the last 20 years.” The Pacific trade deal, he added, “would be the death blow for American manufacturing.”

Without question, manufacturing has taken a significant hit during recent decades, and further trade deals raise questions about whether new shocks could hit manufacturing.

But there is also a different way to look at the data.

In reality, United States manufacturing output is at an all-time high, worth $2.2 trillion in , up from $1.7 trillion in . And while total employment has fallen by nearly a third since 1970, the jobs that remain are increasingly skilled.

Across the country, factory owners are now grappling with a new challenge: Instead of having too many workers, as they did during the Great Recession, they may end up with too few. Despite trade competition and outsourcing, American manufacturing still needs to replace tens of thousands of retiring boomers every year. Millennials may not be that interested in taking their place. Other industries are recruiting them with similar or better pay. And those industries don’t have the stigma of 40 years of recurring layoffs and downsizing.

“We’ve never had so much attention from manufacturers. They’re calling and saying: ‘Can we meet your students?’ They’re asking, ‘Why aren’t they looking at my job postings?' ” says Julie Parks, executive director of workforce training at Grand Rapids Community College in western Michigan.

The region is a microcosm of the national challenge. Unemployment here is low (around 3 percent, compared with a statewide average of 5 percent). There aren’t many extra workers waiting for a job. And the need is high:1 in 5 people work in manufacturing, churning out auto parts, machinery, plastics, office furniture, and medical devices. Other industries, including agribusiness and life sciences, are vying for the same workers.

For factory owners, it all adds up to stiff competition for workers C and upward pressure on wages. “They’re harder to find and they have job offers,” says Jay Dunwell, president of Wolverine Coil Spring, a family-owned firm. “They may be coming [into the workforce], but they’ve been plucked by other industries that are also doing as well as manufacturing,”

Mr. Dunwell has begun bringing high school juniors to the factory so they can get exposed to its culture. He is also part of a public-private initiative to promote manufacturing to students that includes job fairs and sending a mobile demonstration vehicle to rural schools. One of their messages is that factories are no longer dark, dirty, and dangerous; computer-run systems are the norm and recruits can receive apprenticeships that include paid-for college classes.

At RoMan Manufacturing, a maker of electrical transformers and welding equipment that his father cofounded in 1980, Robert Roth keeps a close eye on the age of his nearly 200 workers. Five are retiring this year. Mr. Roth has three community-college students enrolled in a work-placement program, with a starting wage of $13 an hour that rises to $17 after two years.

At a worktable inside the transformer plant, young Jason Stenquist looks flustered by the copper coils he’s trying to assemble and the arrival of two visitors. It’s his first week on the job; this is his first encounter with Roth, his boss. Asked about his choice of career, he says at high school he considered medical school before switching to electrical engineering.

“I love working with tools. I love creating,” he says.

But to win over these young workers, manufacturers have to clear another major hurdle: parents, who lived through the worst US economic downturn since the Great Depression, telling them to avoid the factory. Millennials “remember their father and mother both were laid off. They blame it on the manufacturing recession,” says Birgit Klohs, chief executive of The Right Place, a business development agency for western Michigan.

These concerns aren’t misplaced: Employment in manufacturing has fallen from 17 million in 1970 to 12 million in 2015. The steepest declines came after , when China gained entry to the World Trade Organization and ramped up exports of consumer goods to the US and other rich countries. In areas exposed to foreign trade, every additional $1,000 of imports per worker meant a $550 annual drop in household income per working-age adult, according to a study in the American Economic Review. And unemployment, Social Security, and other government benefits went up $60 per person.

The -09 recession was another blow. And advances in computing and robotics offer new ways for factory owners to increase productivity using fewer workers.

When the recovery began, worker shortages first appeared in the high-skilled trades. Electricians, plumbers, and pipefitters are in in short supply across Michigan and elsewhere; vocational schools and union-run apprenticeships aren’t keeping pace with demand and older tradespeople are leaving the workforce. Now shortages are appearing at the mid-skill levels.

“The gap is between the jobs that take no skills and those that require a lot of skill,” says Rob Spohr, a business professor at Montcalm Community College an hour from Grand Rapids. “There’s enough people to fill the jobs at McDonalds and other places where you don’t need to have much skill. It’s that gap in between, and that’s where the problem is.”

Ms. Parks of Grand Rapids Community College points to another key to luring Millennials into manufacturing: a work/life balance. While their parents were content to work long hours, young people value flexibility. “Overtime is not attractive to this generation. They really want to live their lives,” she says.

Roth says he gets this distinction. At RoMan, workers can set their own hours on their shift, choosing to start earlier or end later, provided they get the job done. That the factory floor isn’t a standard assembly line C everything is custom-built for industrial clients C makes it easier to drop the punch-clocks.

“People have lives outside,” Roth says. “It’s not always easy to schedule doctors’ appointments around a ‘punch-in at 7 and leave at 3:30’ schedule.”

While factory owners like Roth like to stress the flexibility of manufacturing careers, one aspect is nonnegotiable: location. Millennials looking for a job that allow them to work from home are not likely to get a callback. “I'm not putting a machine tool in your garage,” says Roth.

篇4：考研英语作文真题及（英语二）

write an essay based on the following table .In your writing you should

1) Describe the table, and

2) Give your comments

You should write at least 150 words (15points)

参考范文

The table above revealed an overall picture of job satisfaction among employment of different age groups. Based upon the data of the table, most people under 40 are unclear or dissatisfied with their job, and 64% of those between 40 and 50 are not satisfied. For people over 50, the degree of satisfaction largely exceeds the younger groups under 40, amounting to 40%.

The phenomenon that elder people find more pleasure in job compared with the young may be rooted in the following reasons. First, people between 30 and 50 face more pressure to support the family, both the children and the senior, so that they neglect to enjoy in work. Second, the senior citizens have developed a lot in personality, so they are more prone to see the optimistic aspects of the work. Last, the current family pattern of “one family one Child” cause the aging of the society, which has posed more social responsibility to people under 50.

To sum up, the senior citizens enjoys more content than the young people. In order to improve this situation, and make life of those who are between 40s and 50s easier, the authorities, relevant departments and certain enterprises, should adopt some measures to increase salaries and perfect welfare system. What’s more, adults under 40 themselves should also treat their work with a positive and proper attitude and spare more time on physical practice after long-hour work. Only in this way can we assure that as many people as possible will live a contented life.

Directions

Suppose you have found something wrong with the electronic dictionary that you bought from an online store the other day, Write an email to the customer service center to

1) Make a complaint and

2) Demand a prompt solution

You should write about 100words on ANSERE SHEET 2

Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter, Use “zhang wei ”instead.

参考范文：

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to express my disappointment regarding the electronic dictionary that I bought from your on-line store last week, with the invoice number of ED53407.

I have to complain about the poor quality of the dictionary. For one thing, the dictionary often automatically turns off at the very moment I am eager to see the word explanations. For another, it seems loose in the conjunction part. The screen part can not be properly settled.

Since the problems are unaccepted to me, I would like to get a refund or a new dictionary that can work well. Your prompt response will be highly appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Zhang Wei

篇5：考研英语二作文真题及

Directions:

Write an essay based on the following chart. In your writing, you should

1) interpret the chart, and

2) give your comments.

You should write about 150 words.(15 points)

参考范文：

What can be seen from the chart is the proportion change of students having part-time jobs during the four years’ college study. The proportion increases slightly from the first year to the third year, however, the fourth year has witnessed a dramatic increase, surging to 88.24%.

There is no denying the fact that this trend is very pervasive in current colleges and, to some extent, quite proper. It is not difficult to come up with some possible factors accounting for this trend. To begin with, the major jobs of freshman and sophomore are to study, and to lay a solid foundation for their future work. What’s more, when students are going to step out of school and enter into society, they have to master lots of practical skills, for example, how to deal with challenges outside, so they have to take part in some part-time jobs. Apparently, doing part time job has many advantages. On the one hand, students can learn how to get along well with others and know the society more profoundly. On the other hand, to take a part-time job provides students with a valuable opportunity to put what they have learned from books into practice and make some money, which helps to reduce their families’ financial burden.

Due to the analysis above, this trend will continue for quite a while in the future. And it should be pointed out that study is the major task for college students though work experience is valuable. Students have to strike a balance between study and part-time job.

Directions:

Suppose your class is to hold a charity sale for kids in need of help. Write your classmates an email to

1) inform them about the details and

2) encourage them to participate.

You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use “Li Ming” instead. Don?t write your address.(10 points)

【经典范文】

Dear classmates,

I am writing this letter to inform that our class is going to hold a charity sale for the needy children in rural area of our province who have dropped out of school because their parents cannot afford their education. This activity will be held on our school’s playground on next Monday, January 22.

It is universally acknowledged that children are regarded as flowers and future of our nation; however, because of poverty, a growing number of kids in remote villages lost their learning opportunities which are not only crucial for their personal growth, but also essential for the sound development of the whole society. Consequently, there is no doubt that it is a noble cause to donate money to needy children through charity sale.

I really appeal to all the students to take part in this event and I will be grateful if you could come and give your donation.

Yours sincerely,

Li Ming

篇6：考研英语作文二真题及

Directions:

In this section, you are asked to write an essay based on the following chart. In your writing, you should

1) Interpret the chart and

2) Give your comments

Write your essay on ANSWER SHEET 2. (15 points)

参考范文：

The column chart on mobile-phone subscriptions above shows a striking contrast between those developing countries and developed countries in the past decade. Since , people in growing numbers in developing countries use mobile phone, while those in developed countries far lag behind. By , there are 4 billion mobile-phone users in developing countries, which is 3 times more than that in developed countries.

Two reasons may contribute to the contrast above. On the one hand, with the rapid increase in economy of developing countries, the telecommunication industry there surges to meet the demand of globalization. Therefore, mobile phone users grows at an incredible speed. On the other hand, developed countries had reached a state of prosperity in economy, and created less rooms for further developments in mobile subscriptions. Maybe that is the reason why the number mobile phone users in the developed countries keep even over the last decade.

To sum up, mobile phone is convenient for interpersonal communications, and gradually become the indispensable tools in people's life. When enjoying the convenience of cell phones, we should also keep an eye on the negative effects itmight bring to our environment. Only in this way can people in developing countries see a sustainable grow in telecommunications.

Directions:

You have just come back from the U.S. as a member of a Sino-American cultural exchange program. Write a letter to your American colleague to

1) Express your thanks for his/her warm reception;

2) Welcome him/her to visit China in due course。

You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2.

Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use “Zhang Wei” instead。

Do not write your address. (10 points)

参考范文：

Dear Jack:

I would like to convey my heartfelt thanks to you for your warm reception when I participated in the exchange program in your country.

Your generous help made it possible for me to have a very pleasant stay and a chance to know American culture better. Besides, I think it is a great honor for me to make friends with you and I will cherish the goodwill you showed to me wherever I go. I do hope that you can visit China someday, so that I could have the opportunity to repay your kindness and refresh our friendship.

I feel obliged to thank you again.

Sincerely Yours,

Zhang Wei

篇7：考研英语（二）真题完整版

随着一年一度的研究生入学考试的结束，的研究生入学考试慢慢临近，现在20考研的同学最关心的就是今年的真题了，所以我们在这里给出今年考研英语(二)的真题，仅供各位同学参考!

全国硕士研究生入学统一考试

英语(二)试题

Section I Use of English

Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Thinner isn’t always better. A number of studies have 1 that normal-weight people are in fact at higher risk of some diseases compared to those who are overweight. And there are health conditions for which being overweight is actually 2 . For example, heavier women are less likely to develop calcium deficiency than thin women. 3 among the elderly, being somewhat overweight is often an 4 of good health.

Of even greater 5 is the fact that obesity turns out to be very difficult to define. It is often defined 6 body mass index, or BMI. BMI 7 body mass divided by the square of height. An adult with a BMI of 18 to 25 is often considered to be normal weight. Between 25 and 30 is overweight. And over 30 is considered obese. Obesity, 8 ,can be divided into moderately obese, severely obese, and very severely obese.

While such numerical standards seem 9 , they are not. Obesity is probably less a matter of weight than body fat. Some people with a high BMI are in fact extremely fit, 10 others with a low BMI may be in poor 11 .For example, many collegiate and professional football players 12 as obese, though their percentage body fat is low. Conversely, someone with a small frame may have high body fat but a 13 BMI.

Today we have a(an) 14 to label obesity as a disgrace.The overweight are sometimes 15 in the media with their faces covered. Stereotypes 16 with obesity include laziness, lack of will power,and lower prospects for success.Teachers,employers,and health professionals have been shown to harbor biases against the obese. 17 very young children tend to look down on the overweight, and teasing about body build has long been a problem in schools.

Negative attitudes toward obesity, 18 in health concerns, have stimulated a number of anti-obesity 19 .My own hospital system has banned sugary drinks from its facilities. Many employers have instituted weight loss and fitness initiatives. Michelle Obama launched a high-visibility campaign 20 childhood obesity, even claiming that it represents our greatest national security threat.

1. [A] denied [B] conduced [C] doubled [D] ensured

2. [A] protective [B] dangerous [C] sufficient [D]troublesome

3. [A] Instead [B] However [C] Likewise [D] Therefore

4. [A] indicator [B] objective [C] origin [D] example

5. [A] impact [B] relevance [C] assistance [D] concern

6. [A] in terms of [B] in case of [C] in favor of [D] in of

7. [A] measures [B] determines [C] equals [D] modifies

8. [A] in essence [B] in contrast [C] in turn [D] in part

9. [A] complicated [B] conservative [C] variable [D] straightforward

10. [A] so [B] while [C] since [D] unless

11. [A] shape [B] spirit [C] balance [D] taste

12. [A] start [B] quality [C] retire [D] stay

13. [A] strange [B] changeable [C] normal [D] constant

14. [A] option [B] reason [C] opportunity [D] tendency

15. [A] employed [B] pictured [C] imitated [D] monitored

16. [A] compare [B] combined [C] settled [D] associated

17. [A] Even [B] Still [C] Yet [D] Only

18. [A] despised [B] corrected [C] ignored [D] grounded

19. [A] discussions [B] businesses [C] policies [D] studies

20. [A] for [B] against [C] with [D] without

篇8：考研英语二真题及答案

Section I Use of English

Directions:

Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

People have speculated for centuries about a future without work .Today is no different, with academics, writers, and activists once again 1 that technology be replacing human workers. Some imagine that the coming work-free world will be defined by 2 . A few wealthy people will own all the capital, and the masses will struggle in an impoverished wasteland.

A different and not mutually exclusive 3 holds that the future will be a wasteland of a different sort, one 4 by purposelessness: Without jobs to give their lives 5 , people will simply become lazy and depressed. 6 , today’s unemployed don’t seem to be having a great time. One Gallup poll found that 20 percent of Americans who have been unemployed for at least a year report having depression, double the rate for 7 Americans. Also, some research suggests that the 8 for rising rates of mortality, mental-health problems, and addicting 9 poorly-educated middle-aged people is shortage of well-paid jobs. Perhaps this is why many 10 the agonizing dullness of a jobless future.

But it doesn’t 11 follow from findings like these that a world without work would be filled with unease. Such visions are based on the 12 of being unemployed in a society built on the concept of employment. In the 13 of work, a society designed with other ends in mind could 14 strikingly different circumstanced for the future of labor and leisure. Today, the 15 of work may be a bit overblown. “Many jobs are boring, degrading, unhealthy, and a waste of human potential,” says John Danaher, a lecturer at the National University of Ireland in Galway.

These days, because leisure time is relatively 16 for most workers, people use their free time to counterbalance the intellectual and emotional 17 of their jobs. “When I come home from a hard day’s work, I often feel 18 ,” Danaher says, adding, “In a world in which I don’t have to work, I might feel rather different”―perhaps different enough to throw himself 19 a hobby or a passion project with the intensity usually reserved for 20 matters.

1.[A] boasting [B] denying [C] warning [D] ensuring

【答案】[C] warning

2.[A] inequality [B] instability [C] unreliability [D] uncertainty

【答案】[A] inequality

3.[A] policy [B]guideline [C] resolution [D] prediction

【答案】[D] prediction

4.[A] characterized [B]divided [C] balanced [D]measured

【答案】[A] characterized

5.[A] wisdom [B] meaning [C] glory [D] freedom

【答案】[B] meaning

6.[A] Instead [B] Indeed [C] Thus [D] Nevertheless

【答案】[B] Indeed

7.[A] rich [B] urban [C]working [D] educated

【答案】[C] working

8.[A] explanation [B] requirement [C] compensation [D] substitute

【答案】[A] explanation

9.[A] under [B] beyond [C] alongside [D] among

【答案】[D] among

10.[A] leave behind [B] make up [C] worry about [D] set aside

【答案】[C] worry about

11.[A] statistically [B] occasionally [C] necessarily [D] economically

【答案】[C] necessarily

12.[A] chances [B] downsides [C] benefits [D] principles

【答案】[B] downsides

13.[A] absence [B] height [C] face [D] course

【答案】[A] absence

14.[A] disturb [B] restore [C] exclude [D] yield

【答案】[D] yield

15.[A] model [B] practice [C] virtue [D] hardship

【答案】[C] virtue

16.[A] tricky [B] lengthy [C] mysterious [D] scarce

【答案】[D] scarce

17.[A] demands [B] standards [C] qualities [D] threats

【答案】[A] demands

18.[A] ignored [B] tired [C] confused [D] starved

【答案】[B] tired

19.[A] off [B] against [C] behind [D] into

【答案】[D] into

20.[A] technological [B] professional [C] educational [D] interpersonal

【答案】[B] professional

Section II Reading Comprehension

Part A

Directions:

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

Every Saturday morning, at 9 am, more than 50,000 runners set off to run 5km around their local park. The Parkrun phenomenon began with a dozen friends and has inspired 400 events in the UK and more abroad. Events are free, staffed by thousands of volunteers. Runners range from four years old to grandparents; their times range from Andrew Baddeley’s world record 13 minutes 48 seconds up to an hour.

Parkrun is succeeding where London’s Olympic “legacy” is failing. Ten years ago on Monday, it was announced that the Games of the 30th Olympiad would be in London. Planning documents pledged that the great legacy of the Games would be to level a nation of sport lovers away from their couches. The population would be fitter, healthier and produce more winners. It has not happened. The number of adults doing weekly sport did rise, by nearly 2 million in the run―up to ―but the general population was growing faster. Worse, the numbers are now falling at an accelerating rate. The opposition claims primary school pupils doing at least two hours of sport a week have nearly halved. Obesity has risen among adults and children. Official retrospections continue as to why London 2012 failed to “inspire a generation.” The success of Parkrun offers answers.

Parkun is not a race but a time trial: Your only competitor is the clock. The ethos welcomes anybody. There is as much joy over a puffed-out first-timer being clapped over the line as there is about top talent shining. The Olympic bidders, by contrast, wanted to get more people doing sports and to produce more elite athletes. The dual aim was mixed up: The stress on success over taking part was intimidating for newcomers.

Indeed, there is something a little absurd in the state getting involved in the planning of such a fundamentally “grassroots”, concept as community sports associations. If there is a role for government, it should really be getting involved in providing common goods―making sure there is space for playing fields and the money to pave tennis and netball courts, and encouraging the provision of all these activities in schools. But successive governments have presided over selling green spaces, squeezing money from local authorities and declining attention on sport in education. Instead of wordy, worthy strategies, future governments need to do more to provide the conditions for sport to thrive. Or at least not make them worse.

21. According to Paragraph1, Parkrun has .

[A] gained great popularity

[B] created many jobs

[C] strengthened community ties

[D] become an official festival

【答案】[A] gained great popularity

22. The author believes that London’s Olympic“legacy” has failed to .

[A] boost population growth

[B] promote sport participation

[C] improve the city’s image

[D] increase sport hours in schools

【答案】[B] promote sport participation

23. Parkrun is different from Olympic games in that it .

[A] aims at discovering talents

[B] focuses on mass competition

[C] does not emphasize elitism

[D] does not attract first-timers

【答案】[C] does not emphasize elitism

24. With regard to mass sport, the author holds that governments should .

[A] organize “grassroots” sports events

[B] supervise local sports associations

[C] increase funds for sports clubs

[D] invest in public sports facilities

【答案】[D] invest in public sports facilities

25. The author’s attitude to what UK governments have done for sports is .

[A] tolerant

[B] critical

[C] uncertain

[D] sympathetic

【答案】[B] critical

Text 2

With so much focus on children’s use of screens, it’s easy for parents to forget about their own screen use. “Tech is designed to really suck on you in,” says Jenny Radesky in her study of digital play, “and digital products are there to promote maximal engagement. It makes it hard to disengage, and leads to a lot of bleed-over into the family routine. ”

Radesky has studied the use of mobile phones and tablets at mealtimes by giving mother-child pairs a food-testing exercise. She found that mothers who sued devices during the exercise started 20 percent fewer verbal and 39 percent fewer nonverbal interactions with their children. During a separate observation, she saw that phones became a source of tension in the family. Parents would be looking at their emails while the children would be making excited bids for their attention.

Infants are wired to look at parents’ faces to try to understand their world, and if those faces are blank and unresponsive―as they often are when absorbed in a device―it can be extremely disconcerting foe the children. Radesky cites the “still face experiment” devised by developmental psychologist Ed Tronick in the 1970s. In it, a mother is asked to interact with her child in a normal way before putting on a blank expression and not giving them any visual social feedback; The child becomes increasingly distressed as she tries to capture her mother’s attention. “Parents don’t have to be exquisitely parents at all times, but there needs to be a balance and parents need to be responsive and sensitive to a child’s verbal or nonverbal expressions of an emotional need,” says Radesky.

On the other hand, Tronick himself is concerned that the worries about kids’ use of screens are born out of an “oppressive ideology that demands that parents should always be interacting” with their children: “It’s based on a somewhat fantasized, very white, very upper-middle-class ideology that says if you’re failing to expose your child to 30,000 words you are neglecting them.” Tronick believes that just because a child isn’t learning from the screen doesn’t mean there’s no value to it―particularly if it gives parents time to have a shower, do housework or simply have a break from their child. Parents, he says, can get a lot out of using their devices to speak to a friend or get some work out of the way. This can make them feel happier, which lets then be more available to their child the rest of the time.

26. According to Jenny Radesky, digital products are designed to ______.

[A] simplify routine matters

[B] absorb user attention

[C] better interpersonal relations

[D] increase work efficiency

【答案】[B] absorb user attention

27. Radesky’s food-testing exercise shows that mothers’ use of devices ______.

[A] takes away babies’ appetite

[B] distracts children’s attention

[C] slows down babies’ verbal development

[D] reduces mother-child communication

【答案】[D] reduces mother-child communication

28. Radesky’s cites the “still face experiment” to show that _______.

[A] it is easy for children to get used to blank expressions

[B] verbal expressions are unnecessary for emotional exchange

[C] children are insensitive to changes in their parents’ mood

[D] parents need to respond to children’s emotional needs

【答案】[D] parents need to respond to children’s emotional needs

29. The oppressive ideology mentioned by Tronick requires parents to_______.

[A] protect kids from exposure to wild fantasies

[B] teach their kids at least 30,000 words a year

[C] ensure constant interaction with their children

[D] remain concerned about kid’s use of screens

【答案】[C] ensure constant interaction with their children

30. According to Tronick, kid’s use of screens may_______.

[A] give their parents some free time

[B] make their parents more creative

[C] help them with their homework

[D] help them become more attentive

【答案】[A] give their parents some free time

Text 3

Today, widespread social pressure to immediately go to college in conjunction with increasingly high expectations in a fast-moving world often causes students to completely overlook the possibility of taking a gap year. After all, if everyone you know is going to college in the fall, it seems silly to stay back a year, doesn’t it? And after going to school for 12 years, it doesn’t feel natural to spend a year doing something that isn’t academic.

But while this may be true, it’s not a good enough reason to condemn gap years. There’s always a constant fear of falling behind everyone else on the socially perpetuated “race to the finish line,” whether that be toward graduate school, medical school or lucrative career. But despite common misconceptions, a gap year does not hinder the success of academic pursuits―in fact, it probably enhances it.

Studies from the United States and Australia show that students who take a gap year are generally better prepared for and perform better in college than those who do not. Rather than pulling students back, a gap year pushes them ahead by preparing them for independence, new responsibilities and environmental changes―all things that first-year students often struggle with the most. Gap year experiences can lessen the blow when it comes to adjusting to college and being thrown into a brand new environment, making it easier to focus on academics and activities rather than acclimation blunders.

If you’re not convinced of the inherent value in taking a year off to explore interests, then consider its financial impact on future academic choices. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, nearly 80 percent of college students end up changing their majors at least once. This isn’t surprising, considering the basic mandatory high school curriculum leaves students with a poor understanding of themselves listing one major on their college applications, but switching to another after taking college classes. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but depending on the school, it can be costly to make up credits after switching too late in the game. At Boston College, for example, you would have to complete an extra year were you to switch to the nursing school from another department. Taking a gap year to figure things out initially can help prevent stress and save money later on.

31. One of the reasons for high-school graduates not taking a gap year is that .

[A] they think it academically misleading

[B] they have a lot of fun to expect in college

[C] it feels strange to do differently from others

[D] it seems worthless to take off-campus courses

【答案】[C] it feels strange to do differently from others

32. Studies from the US and Australia imply that taking a gap year helps .

[A] keep students from being unrealistic

[B] lower risks in choosing careers

[C] ease freshmen’s financial burdens

[D] relieve freshmen of pressures

【答案】[D] relieve freshmen of pressures

33. The word “acclimation” (Line 8, Para. 3) is closest in meaning to .

[A] adaptation

篇9：考研英语二真题和答案

Section I Use of English

Directions:

Read the following text。Choose the best word(s)for each numbered blank and markA，B，C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1(10 points)

In our contemporary culture，the prospect of communicating with-or even looking at-a stranger is virtually unbearable Everyone around us seems to agree by the way they fiddle with their phones，even without a 1 underground

Its a sad reality-our desire to avoid interacting with other human beings-because theres 2 to be gained from talking to the strange r standing by you. But you wouldnt know it， 3 into your phone. This universal armor sends the 4 ：Please dont approach me.

What is it that makes us feel we need to hide 5 our screens?

One answer is fear, according to Jon Wortmann, executive mental coach We fear rejection，or that our innocent social advances will be 6 ascreep,We fear weII be 7 We fear weII be disruptive Strangers are inherently 8 to us，so we are more likely to feel 9 when communicating with them compared with our friends and acquaintances To avoid this anxiety, we 10 to our phones.Phones become our security blanket，Wortmann says.They are our happy

glasses that protect us from what we perceive is going to be more 11 .

But once we rip off the bandaid，tuck our smartphones in our pockets and look up，it doesnt 12 so bad. In one 2011 experiment，behavioral scientists Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder asked commuters to do the unthinkable: Start a 13 . They had Chicago train commuters talk to their fellow 14 . When Dr.Epley and Ms. Schroeder asked other people in the same train station to 15 how they would feel after talking to a stranger, the commuters thought their 16 would be more pleasant if they sat on their own, the New York Times summarizes. Though the participants didnt expect a positive experience, after they 17 with

the experiment, not a single person reported having been snubbed.

18 , these commutes were reportedly more enjoyable compared with those sans communication, which makes absolute sense, 19 human beings thrive off of social connections. Its that 20 : Talking to strangers can make you feel connected.

1. [A] ticket [B] permit [C]signall [D] record

2. [A] nothing [B] link [C]another [D] much

3. [A] beaten [B] guided [C]plugged [D] brought

4. [A] message [B] cede [C]notice [D] sign

5. [A] under [B] beyond [C] behind [D] from

6. [A] misinterprete [B] misapplied [C] misadjusted [D] mismatched

7. [A] fired [B] judged [C] replaced [D] delayed

8. [A] unreasonable [B] ungreatful [C] unconventional [D] unfamiliar

9. [A] comfortable [B] anxious [C] confident [D] angry

10. [A] attend [B] point [C] take [D] turn

11. [A] dangerous [B] mysterious [C] violent [D] boring

12. [A] hurt [B] resis [C] bend [D] decay

13. [A] lecture [B] conversation [C] debate [D] negotiation

14. [A] trainees [B] employees [C] researchers [D] passengers

15. [A] reveal [B] choose [C] predictl [D] design

16. [A] voyage [B] flight [C] walk [D] ride

17. [A] went through [B] did away [C] caught up [D] put up

18. [A] In turn [B] In particular [C]In fact [D] In consequence

19. [A] unless [B] since [C] if [D] whereas

20. [A] funny [B] simple [C] Iogical [D] rare

答案：

1. signal 2. Much 3. plugged 4. message 5. behind

6. misinterpreted 7. judged 8. unfamiliar 9. anxious 10. turn

11. dangerous 12. hurt 13. Conversation 14. passengers

15. predict 16. ride 17. went through 18. in fact

19. since 20. simple

Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension

Part A

Text 1

A new study suggests that contrary to most surveys. People art actually more stressed at home than at work. Researchers measured peoples cortntlol. Which is it at stress marker. While they were at work and while they were at home and found it higher at what is supposed to be a place of refuge.

Further contradicting conventional wisdom, we found that women as well as men have lower levels of stress at work than at home, writes one of the researchers. Sarah Damaske, In fact women say they feel better at work. She notes. it is men not women. Who report being bappicr at home than at work, Another surprise is that the findings hold true for both those with childrcn and without, but more so for nonparents. This is why pcoplc who work outside the home have better health.

What the study doesnt measure is whether people are still doing work when they re at home, whether it is household work or work brought home from the office. For many men, the end of the workday is a time to kick back. For women who stay home, they never get to leave the office. And for women who work outside the home, they often are playing catch-up-with-household tasks. With the blurring of roles, and the fact that the home front lags well behind the workplace in making adjustments for working women, it s not surprising that women are more stressed at home.

But its not just a gender thing. At work, people pretty much know what theyre supposed to be doing: working, making money, doing the tasks they have to do in order to draw an income. The bargain is very pure: Employee puts in hours of physical or mental labor and employee draws out life-sustaining moola.

On the home front, however, people have no such clarity. Rare is the household in which the division of labor is so clinically and methodically laid out. There are a lot of tasks to be done, there are inadequate rewards for most of them. Your home colleagues-your family-have no clear rewards for their labor; they need to be talked into it, or if they re teenagers, threatened with complete removal of all electronic devices. Plus, they re your family. You cannot fire your family. You never really get to go home from home.

So its not surprising that people are more stressed at home. Not only are the tasks apparently infinite, the co-workers are much harder to motivate.

21.According to Pa ragraph 1，most previous su rveys found that home

[A]was an un realistic place for relaxation

[B]generated more stress than the workplace

[C]was an ideal place for stress measurement

[D]offered greater relaxation than the workplace

22.According to Damaske， who are likely to be the happiest at home?

[A]Working mothers

[B]Childless husbands

[C] Childless wives

[D]Working fathers

23 The blurring of working womens roles refers to the fact thay