考研历年英语试题复习整理

考研英语阅读真题

He emerged, all of a sudden, in 1957: the most explosive new poetic talent of the English post-war era. Poetry specialised, at that moment, in the wry chronicling of the everyday. The poetry of Yorkshire-born Ted Hughes, first published in a book called "The Hawk in the Rain" when he was 27, was unlike anything written by his immediate predecessors. Driven by an almost Jacobean rhetoric, it had a visionary fervour. Its most eye-catching characteristic was Hughes’s ability to get beneath the skins of animals: foxes, otters, pigs. These animals were the real thing all right, but they were also armorial devices-symbols of the countryside and lifeblood of the earth in which they were rooted. It gave his work a raw, primal stink.

It was not only England that thought so either. Hughes’s book was also published in America, where it won the Galbraith prize, a major literary award. But then, in 1963, Sylvia Plath, a young American poet whom he had first met at Cambridge University in 1956, and who became his wife in the summer of that year, committed suicide. Hughes was vilified for long after that, especially by feminists in America. In 1998, the year he died, Hughes broke his own self-imposed public silence about their relationship in a book of loose-weave poems called "Birthday Letters".In this new and exhilarating collection of real letters, Hughes returns to the issue of his first wife’s death, which he calls his "big and unmanageable event". He felt his talent muffled by the perpetual eavesdropping upon his every move. Not until he decided to publish his own account of their relationship did the burden begin to lighten.

The analysis is raw, pained and ruthlessly self-aware. For all the moral torment, the writing itself has the same rush and vigour that possessed Hughes’s early poetry. Some books of letters serve as a personalised historical chronicle. Poets’ letters are seldom like that, and Hughes’s are no exception. His are about a life of literary engagement: almost all of them include some musing on the state or the nature of writing, both Hughes’s own or other people’s. The trajectory of Hughes’s literary career had him moving from obscurity to fame, and then, in the eyes of many, to life-long notoriety. These letters are filled with his wrestling with the consequences of being the part-private, part-public creature that he became, desperate to devote himself to his writing, and yet subject to endless invasions of his privacy.

Hughes is an absorbing and intricate commentator upon his own poetry, even when he is standing back from it and good-humouredly condemning himself for "its fantasticalia, its pretticisms and its infinite verballifications". He also believed, from first to last, that poetry had a special place in the education of children. "What kids need", he wrote in a 1988 letter to the secretary of state for education in the Conservative government, "is a headfull [sic] of songs that are not songs but blocks of refined and achieved and exemplary language." When that happens, children have "the guardian angel installed behind the tongue". Lucky readers, big or small.

1.The poetry of Hughes’s forerunners is characteristic of ______

[A] its natural, crude flavor.

[B] its distorted depiction of people’s daily life.

[C] its penetrating sight.

[D] its fantastical enthusiasm.

2.The word "vilified" most probably means _____

[A] tortured

[B] harassed

[C] scolded

[D] tormented

3.According to the third paragraph, Hughes’s collection of letters are _____

[A] personal recollection of his life.

[B] personalised historical chronicle of his literary engagement.

[C] reflections of his struggle with his devotion and the reality.

[D] his meditation on the literary world.

4. From the letters, we may find the cause of Hughes’s internal struggle is _____

[A] his devotion to the literary world.

[B] that he is a part-private, part-public creature.

[C] that he is constrained by the fear of his privacy being invaded.

[D] his fame and notoriety.

5. By "lucky readers" in the last sentence, the author means_____

[A] children who read poetry.

[B] children who have a headfull of songs.

[C] children who own blocks of refined and achieved and exemplary language.

[D] children who have the guardian angel installed behind the tongue

考研英语阅读片段真题

In 1960-1961, Chad (乍得) harvested 9800 tons of cotton seed for the first time in its history, and put out the flag a little too soon. The efforts of the authorities to get the peasants back to work, as they had slacked off (松懈) a great deal the previous year during independence celebrations, largely contributed to it. Also, rains were well spaced, and continued through the whole month of October. If the 1961-1962 total is back to the region of 45000 tons, it is mostly because efforts slackened again and sowing was started too late.

The average date of sowing is about July 1st. If this date is simply moved up fifteen or twenty days, 30000 to 60000 tons of cotton are gained, depending on the year. The peasant in Chad sows his millet (小米) first, and it is hard to criticize this instinctive priority given to his daily bread. An essential reason for his lateness with sowing cotton is that at the time when he should leave to prepare the fields he has just barely sold the cotton of the previous season. The work required to sow, in great heat, is psychologically far more difficult if one's pockets are full of money. The date of cotton sales should therefore be moved forward as much as possible, and purchases of equipment and draught animals encouraged.

Peasants should also be encouraged to save money, to help them through the difficult period between harvests. If necessary they should be forced to do so, by having the payments for cotton given to them in installments (分期付款). The last payment would be made after proof that the peasant has planted before the deadline, the date being advanced to the end of June. Those who have done so would receive extra money whereas the last planters would not receive their last payment until later.

Only the first steps are hard, because once work has started the peasants continue willingly on their way. Educational campaigns among the peasants will play an essential role in this basic advance, early sowing, on which all the others depend. It is not a matter of controlling the peasants. Each peasant will remain master of his fields. One could, however, suggest the need for the time being of kind but firm rule, which, as long as it cannot be realized by the people, should at least be for the people.

21. In 1960-1961, Chad had a good harvest of cotton because　　　　　　.

A)　the government greatly encouraged peasants

B)　rains favored the growth of cotton

C)　Chad gained independence in the previous year

D)　Both A)and B)

22. We learn from the passage that the date of sowing cotton is usually　　　.

A) on June 15th

B) on July 15th

C) on July 1st

D) on July 20th

23. As used in the third sentence of the second paragraph,daily breadrefers to　　　　　.

A) breakfast

B)bread and butter

C)rice

D)millet

24. In order to help them through the difficult time between harvests the peasants have to　　　.

A)　sell cotton in advance

B)　be encouraged to save money

C)　sow cotton in time

D)　plant millet first

25. Which of the following is NOT true?

A)　Educational campaigns are very important to early sowing.

B)　Of all the advances that the writer hopes for, early sowing is the most important.

C)　Peasants should remain the masters of their fields.

D)　Government might as well make good and firm rule for peasants.

历年考研英语阅读真题

For the past severalyears, the Sunday newspaper supplement Paradehas featured a column called "Ask Marilyn." People are invited to query Marilynvos Savant, who at age 10 had tested at a mental level of someone about 23years old; that gave her an IQ of 228 - the highest score ever recorded. IQtests ask you to complete verbal and visual analogies, to envision paper afterit has been folded and cut, and to deduce numerical sequences, among othersimilar tasks. So it is a bit confusing when vos Savant fields such queriesfrom the average Joe (whose IQ is 100) as, What's the difference between loveand fondness? Or what is the nature of luck and coincidence? ①It'snot obvious how the capacity to visualize objects and to figure out numericalpatterns suits one to answer questions that have eluded some of the best poetsand philosophers.

Clearly, intelligenceencompasses more than a score on a test. Just what does it mean to be smart?How much of intelligence can be specified, and how much can we learn about itfrom neurology, genetics, computer science and other fields?

The defining term ofintelligence in humans still seems to be the IQ score, even though IQ tests arenot given as often as they used to be. The test comes primarily in two forms:the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and the Wechsler Intelligence Scales(both come in adult and children's version). Generally costing several hundreddollars, they are usually given only by psychologists, although variations ofthem populate bookstores and the World Wide Web. ②Superhigh scores like vos Savant's are nolonger possible, because scoring is now based on a statistical populationdistribution among age peers, rather than simply dividing the mental age by thechronological age and multiplying by 100. Other standardized tests,such as the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) and the Graduate Record Exam(GRE), capture the main aspects of IQ tests.

Such standardized testsmay not assess all the important elements necessary to succeed in school and inlife, argues Robert J. Sternberg. In his article "How Intelligent IsIntelligence Testing?", ③Sternberg notes that traditionaltest best assess analytical and verbal skills but fail to measure creativityand practical knowledge, components also critical to problem solving and lifesuccess. Moreover, IQ test do not necessarilypredict so well once populations or situations change. Research has found thatIQ predicted leadership skills when the tests were given under low-stressconditions, but under high-stress conditions, IQ was negatively correlated withleadership - that is, it predicted the opposite. Anyone who has toiled throughSAT will testify that test-taking skill also matters, whether it's knowing whento guess or what questions to skip.

1. Which of the following may be required in anintelligent test?

[A] Answeringphilosophical questions.

[B] Foldingor cutting paper into different shapes.

[C] Tellingthe difference between certain concepts.(D)

[D] Choosingwords or graphs similar to the given ones.

2. What can be inferred about intelligence testingfrom Paragraph 3?

[A] People nolonger use IQ scores as an indicator of intelligence.

[B] Moreversions of IQ tests are now available on the Internet.

[C] The testcontents and formats for adults and children may be different.(C)

[D]Scientists have defined the important elements of human intelligence.

3. People nowadays can no longer achieve IQ scoresas high as vos Savant's because

[A] thescores are obtained through different computational procedures.

[B]creativity rather than analytical skills is emphasized now.

[C] vosSavant's case is an extreme one that will not repeat.(A)

[D] thedefining characteristic of IQ tests has changed.

4. We can conclude from the last paragraph that

[A] testscores may not be reliable indicators of one's ability.

[B] IQ scoresand SAT results are highly correlated.

[C] testinginvolves a lot of guesswork.(A)

[D]traditional test are out of date.

5. What is the author's attitude towards IQ test?

[A]Supportive.

[B]Skeptical.

[C]Impartial.(B)

[D] Biased.