2009考研英语阅读真题解析和全文翻译(1994-2012)

2009

Text 1

Habits are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. “Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting herd,” William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word “habit” carries a negative implication.

So it seems paradoxical to talk about habits in the same context as creativity and innovation. But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.

Rather than dismissing ourselves as unchangeable creatures of habit, we can instead direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. In fact, the more new things we try---the more we step outside our comfort zone---the more inherently creative we become, both in the workplace and in our personal lives.

But don’t bother trying to kill off old habits; once those ruts of procedure are worn into the brain, they’re there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately ingrain into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads.

“The first thing needed for innovation is a fascination with wonder,” says Dawna Markova, author of The Open Mind and an executive change consultant for Professional Thinking Partners. “But we are taught instead to ‘decide,’ just as our president calls himself ‘the Decider.’ ” She adds, however, that “to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities.”

All of us work through problems in ways of which we’re unaware, she says. Researchers in the late 1960 discovered that humans are born with the capacity to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally, relationally (or collaboratively) and innovatively. At the end of adolescence, however, the brain shuts down half of that capacity, preserving only those modes of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so of life.

The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us inherently use our innovative and collaborative modes of thought. “This breaks the major rule in the American belief system — that anyone can do anything,” explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book This Year I Will...” and Ms. Markova’s business partner. “That’s a lie that we have perpetuated, and it fosters commonness. Knowing what you’re good at and doing even more of it creates excellence.” This is where developing new habits comes in.

21. The view of Wordsworth, “habit” is claimed by being

[A] casual [B] familiar [C] mechanical [D] changeable.

22. Brain researchers have discovered that the formation of new habit can be

[A] predicted [B] regulated [C] traced [D] guided

23. The word “ruts” (Line 1, paragraph 4) is closest in meaning to

[A] tracks [B] series [C] characteristics [D] connections

24. Dawna Markova would most probably agree that

[A] ideas are born of a relaxing mind

[B] innovativeness could be taught

[C] decisiveness derives from fantastic ideas

[D] curiosity activates creative minds

25. Ryan ’s comments suggest that the practice of standard testing

[A] prevents new habits from being formed

[B] no longer emphasizes commonness

[C]maintains the inherent American thinking model

[D] complies with the American belief system

全文翻译：

Text 1

习惯是一种有趣的现象。我们无意识地养成了习惯，任由大脑自动操作，且不知不觉在熟悉的常规中感到轻松舒

适。“并非选择，而是习惯会控制那些没有思想的人。”19 世纪时，威廉·华兹华斯说。在千变万化的 21 世纪，甚至

“习惯”这个词本身也带有负面涵义。

因此，在创造和革新的背景下来谈论习惯，似乎显得有点矛盾。但大脑研究人员发现，当我们有意识地培养新的

习惯，就创建了平行路径，甚至是全新的脑细胞，可以让我们思绪的列车跳转到新的创新轨道上来。

我们不用因为自己是受习惯影响的一成不变的生物而否定自己，相反我们可以通过有意识的培养新习惯来指导改

变。事实上，我们对新事物尝试得越多，就会越远地走出自己的舒适地带，在职场及个人生活中变得越有创造性。

但是，不要白费力气试图戒除旧习惯;一旦这些惯有程序融进脑部，它们就会留在那里。相反，我们有意使之根深

蒂固的新习惯会创建平行路径，它们可以绕过原来那些路径。

《开放思想》一书的作者达瓦纳·马克瓦说：“革新所需要的第一样东西就是对好奇的着迷。然而我们被教导去做

‘决定’，就像我们的总裁称呼自己为‘决策者’那样。”她接着说，“但是，决定意味着除了一种可能性外，其他的都

被扼杀了。优秀的具有革新精神的思想家总是在探寻着许多其他的可能性。”

她说，我们都是通过一些自己没有意识到的方法解决问题的。研究人员在 20 世纪 60 年代末发现人类天生主要用

四种方法应对挑战：分析法，程序法，相关法(或合作法)和创新法。但是在青春期结束，大脑关闭一半的能力，仅仅保

留了那些大约在生命最开始的十几年时间里似乎是最为宝贵的思维方式。

目前标准化测试主要强调分析法和程序法这两种方式，也就是说，我们中很少有人会本能地使用创新和合作的思

维方式。M.J.瑞恩是 2006 年出版的著作《今年我将……》一书的作者以及马克瓦女士的商业合作伙伴，她解释说：“这

打破了美国信念体系里的主要规则—任何人都可以做任何事。这是一个我们已经使之永久化的谎言，这会造成平庸。

了解你擅长什么，再多做一些就会成就卓越。”这正是培养新习惯的用武之地。

Text 2

It is a wise father that knows his own child, but today a man can boost his paternal (fatherly) wisdom — or at least confirm that he’s the kid’s dad. All he needs to do is shell our $30 for paternity testing kit (PTK) at his local drugstore— and another $120 to get the results.

More than 60,000 people have purchased the PTKs since they first become available without prescriptions last years, according to Doug Fog, chief operating officer of Identigene, which makes the over-the-counter kits. More than two dozen companies sell DNA tests directly to the public, ranging in price from a few hundred dollars to more than $2500.

Among the most popular: paternity and kinship testing , which adopted children can use to find their biological relatives and families can use to track down kids put up for adoption. DNA testing is also the latest rage among passionate genealogists-and supports businesses that offer to search for a family’s geographic roots.

Most tests require collecting cells by swabbing saliva in the mouth and sending it to the company for testing. All tests require a potential candidate with whom to compare DNA.

But some observers are skeptical, “There is a kind of false precision being hawked by people

claiming they are doing ancestry testing,” says Trey Duster, a New York University sociologist. He notes that each individual has many ancestors-numbering in the hundreds just a few centuries back. Yet most ancestry testing only considers a single lineage, either the Y chromosome inherited through men in a father’s line or mitochondrial DNA, which a passed down only from mothers. This DNA can reveal genetic information about only one or two ancestors, even though, for example, just three generations back people also have six other great-grandparents or, four generations back, 14 other great-great-grandparents.

Critics also argue that commercial genetic testing is only as good as the reference collections to which a sample is compared. Databases used by some companies don’t rely on data collected systematically but rather lump together information from different research projects. This means that a DNA database may have a lot of data from some regions and not others, so a person’s test results may differ depending on the company that processes the results. In addition, the computer programs a company uses to estimate relationships may be patented and not subject to peer review or outside evaluation.

26. In paragraphs 1 and 2, the text shows PTK’s ___________.

[A]easy availability

[B]flexibility in pricing

[C] successful promotion

[D] popularity with households

27. PTK is used to __________.

[A]locate one’s birth place

[B]promote genetic research

[C] identify parent-child kinship

[D] choose children for adoption

28. Skeptical observers believe that ancestry testing fails to__________.

[A]trace distant ancestors

[B] rebuild reliable bloodlines

[C] fully use genetic information

[D] achieve the claimed accuracy

29. In the last paragraph, a problem commercial genetic testing faces is __________.

[A]disorganized data collection

[B] overlapping database building

[C]excessive sample comparison

[D]lack of patent evaluation

30. An appropriate title for the text is most likely to be__________.

[A] Fors and Againsts of DNA testing

[B] DNA testing and It’s problems

[C] DNA testing outside the lab

[D] Lies behind DNA testing

Text 2

俗话说，贤父知己子，但是如今男人可以提升自己的智慧，至少可以确认自己是孩子的父亲了。他所要做的就是

在住所附近的药店里付 30美元买一个父子关系测试包(PTK)，然后另支付 120美元以获得结果。

道格·福格是 Identigene(生产这种在药店可以出售的测试包的公司)的首席运营官，他指出，自从去年 PTK 无需

处方就可以买到以来，购买者已经超过 6 万人。超过 24家公司直接向公众出售 DNA 检测工具，价格从几百美元到 2500

多美元不等。

最受欢迎的 DNA 测试是父子和血缘关系检测，被收养的孩子可以利用它找到自己的生物学亲属，家庭也可以用它

来追踪到被收养的孩子。DNA 检测最近不受到许多热心的族谱学家追捧，还为那些提供家族寻根服务的公司提供了支

持。

许多测试需要从唾液中获取细胞，将唾液送至公司进行检测。所有的测试都需要另外一个相关人员的 DNA 进行比

对。

但是观察家们持怀疑态度。纽约州立大学的社会学家特洛伊·达斯特说，“那些声称可以进行血统检测的人，他们

兜售的测试有一定的不准确性”。他注意到每个人都有许多祖先，仅几个世纪以前就有几百个之多。但是多数血统检测

只考虑某个单一系统，或者是遗传自父亲的 Y 染色体，或者是只由母亲遗传的线粒体 DNA。这个 DNA 只揭示了一两

个祖先的基因信息。但是，仅仅 3 代之前，除了曾祖父母，他们还有 6 个外曾祖父母，或者 4 代以前，除了曾曾祖父

母，他们还有 14个外曾曾祖父母。

批评家们还争论说商业性基因检测的好坏取决于参照基因数据库的好坏，参照基因数据库是用来同样本进行对比

的。一些公司使用的数据库里的数据并非系统性的采集而得，而是将不同研究项目的信息胡乱搜集在一起。这意味某

个 DNA 数据库可能会从某些地区收集很多信息，而在别的地区不收集信息，所以一个人的测试结果会随着测试公司的

不同而不同。此外，公司用来评估血缘关系的电脑程序可能申请了专利，不能对其进行同行审查或外界评估。

Text 3

The relationship between formal education and economic growth in poor countries is widely misunderstood by economists and politicians alike, progress in both area is undoubtedly necessary for the social, political and intellectual development of these and all other societies; however, the conventional view that education should be one of the very highest priorities for promoting rapid economic development in poor countries is wrong. We are fortunate that it is, because building new educational systems there and putting enough people through them to improve economic performance would require two or three generations. The findings of a research institution have consistently shown that workers in all countries can be trained on the job to achieve radically higher productivity and, as a result, radically higher standards of living.

Ironically, the first evidence for this idea appeared in the United States. Not long ago, with the country entering a recession and Japan at its pre-bubble peak. The U.S. workforce was derided as poorly educated and one of primary cause of the poor U.S. economic performance. Japan was, and remains, the global leader in automotive-assembly productivity. Yet the research revealed that the U.S. factories of Honda Nissan, and Toyota achieved about 95 percent of the productivity of their Japanese counterparts -a result of the training that U.S. workers received on the job.

More recently, while examining housing construction, the researchers discovered that illiterate, non-English- speaking Mexican workers in Houston, Texas, consistently met best-practice labor productivity standards despite the complexity of the building industry’s work.

What is the real relationship between education and economic development? We have to suspect that continuing economic growth promotes the development of education even when governments don’t force it. After all, that’s how education got started. When our ancestors were hunters and gatherers 10,000 years ago, they didn’t have time to wonder much about anything besides finding food. Only when humanity began to get its food in a more productive way was there time for other things.

As education improved, humanity’s productivity increased as well. When the competitive environment pushed our ancestors to achieve that potential, they could in turn afford more education. This increasingly high level of education is probably a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for the complex political systems required by advanced economic performance. Thus poor countries might not be able to escape their poverty traps without political changes that may be possible only with broader formal education. A lack of formal education, however, doesn’t constrain the ability of the developing world’s workforce to substantially improve productivity for the foreseeable future. On the contrary, constraints on improving productivity explain why education isn’t developing more quickly there than it is.

31. The author holds in paragraph 1 that the important of education in poor countries

___________.

[A] is subject to groundless doubts

[B] has fallen the victim of bias

[C] is conventional downgraded

[D] has been overestimated

32. It is stated in paragraph 1 that construction of a new education system__________.

[A]challenges economists and politicians

[B]takes efforts of generations

[C] demands priority from the government

[D] requires sufficient labor force

33. A major difference between the Japanese and U.S workforces is that __________.

[A] the Japanese workforce is better disciplined

[B] the Japanese workforce is more productive

[C]the U.S workforce has a better education

[D] the U.S workforce is more organized

34. The author quotes the example of our ancestors to show that education emerged __________.

[A] when people had enough time

[B] prior to better ways of finding food

[C] when people no longer went hungry

[D] as a result of pressure on the government

35. According to the last paragraph, development of education __________.

[A] results directly from competitive environments

[B] does not depend on economic performance

[C] follows improved productivity

[D] cannot afford political changes

Text 3

贫穷国家中正规教育与经济发展之间的关系为经济学家及政治家们普遍误解。毫无疑问，在这两个方面都有所进

步，对于这些国家及其他国家的社会、政治及学术发展而言是必要的，但是那种认为教育是促进贫穷国家经济快速发

展的重中之重的传统观点是错误的。我们庆幸这个观念不对，因为创立新的教育体制，让足够多的人接受教育以推动

经济发展需要两代或三代人来完成。一家研究机构的研究成果一再表明：所有国家的工人都可以进行在职培训以大幅

度提高生产率，从而提高生活水平。

具有讽刺意味的是，这一观点的首个证据出现在美国。不久前，随着美国经济陷入衰退，日本正处于泡沫破灭前

的高峰期，美国工人被嘲讽没有受过良好教育，并且被认为这是美国经济不景气的主要原因之一。在全球，不管过去

还是现在，日本一直是汽车组装生产力的领袖。然而，研究表明丰田、尼桑和本田位于美国工厂的生产率大约是日本

同行的 95%，这是美国工人接受在职培训的结果。

最近，在进行住户建设检查时，研究人员发现在德克萨斯州的休斯顿，尽管房地产行业的工作非常复杂，但是未

受过教育的，英语不是母语的墨西哥工人总是能够达到最佳的劳动生产率标准。

教育与经济发展之间的关系到底如何?我们不得不怀疑，即使政府不强迫发展教育，经济持续增长也会促进教育事

业的发展。毕竟，教育就是那样开始的。一万年前当我们的祖先还在狩猎和采集野果时，除了寻找食物他们没有时间

想其它很多的东西。只有当人类能够更高效地获取食物时，才有时间做其它的事情。

随着教育的进步，人类的生产潜力也增加了。当竞争的环境推动我们的祖先实现这一潜力，他们又可以获得更多

的教育机会。先进的经济水平要求复杂的政治制度，越来越高的教育水平可能是这种复杂政治制度的必要的，但不是

充分的条件。因此，如果没有政治改革，贫穷国家可能无法摆脱其贫困陷阱，而政治改革则只能靠更广泛的正规教育

实现。但是，发展中国家的劳动力在可预见的未来持续提高生产力的能力没有因缺乏正规教育而受到限制。相反，生

产力的提高受到限制解释了为什么教育的发展速度不是更快了。

Text 4

The most thoroughly intellectuals studied in the history of the new world are the ministers and political leaders of seventeenth-century New England. According to the standard history of American philosophy, nowhere else in colonial America was “So much importance attached to intellectual pursuits.” According to many books and articles, New England’s leaders established the basic themes and preoccupations of an unfolding, dominant Puritan tradition in American intellectual life.

To take this approach to the New Englanders normally mean to start with the Puritans’ theological innovations and their distinctive ideas about the church-important subjects that we may not neglect. But in keeping with our examination of southern intellectual life, we may consider the original Puritans as carriers of European culture adjusting to New World circumstances. The New England colonies were the scenes of important episodes in the pursuit of widely understood ideals of civility and virtuosity.

The early settlers of Massachusetts Bay included men of impressive education and influence in England. `Besides the ninety or so learned ministers who came to Massachusetts church in the decade

after 1629,There were political leaders like John Winthrop, an educated gentleman, lawyer, and official of the Crown before he journeyed to Boston. There men wrote and published extensively, reaching both New World and Old World audiences, and giving New England an atmosphere of intellectual earnestness.

We should not forget, however, that most New Englanders were less well educated. While few craftsmen or farmers, let alone dependents and servants, left literary compositions to be analyzed, it is obvious that their views were less fully intellectualized. Their thinking often had a traditional superstitious quality. A tailor named John Dane, who emigrated in the late 1630s, left an account of his reasons for leaving England that is filled with signs. sexual confusion, economic frustrations , and religious hope-all came together in a decisive moment when he opened the Bible, told his father the first line he saw would settle his fate, and read the magical words: “come out from among them, touch no unclean thing , and I will be your God and you shall be my people.” One wonders what Dane thought of the careful sermons explaining the Bible that he heard in puritan churched.

Meanwhile, many settles had slighter religious commitments than Dane’s, as one clergyman learned in confronting folk along the coast who mocked that they had not come to the New World for religion. “Our main end was to catch fish.”

36. The author notes that in the seventeenth-century New England___________.

[A] Puritan tradition dominated political life.

[B] intellectual interests were encouraged.

[C] Politics benefited much from intellectual endeavors.

[D] intellectual pursuits enjoyed a liberal environment.

37. It is suggested in paragraph 2 that New Englanders__________.

[A] experienced a comparatively peaceful early history.

[B] brought with them the culture of the Old World

[C] paid little attention to southern intellectual life

[D] were obsessed with religious innovations

38. The early ministers and political leaders in Massachusetts Bay__________.

writings

their

[A] were famous in the New World

for

[B] gained increasing importance in religious affairs

[C] abandoned high positions before coming to the New World

[D] created a new intellectual atmosphere in New England

39. The story of John Dane shows that less well-educated New Englanders were often __________.

[A] influenced by superstitions

[B] troubled with religious beliefs

[C] puzzled by church sermons

[D] frustrated with family earnings

40. The text suggests that early settlers in New England__________.

[A] were mostly engaged in political activities

[B] were motivated by an illusory prospect

[C] came from different backgrounds.

[D] left few formal records for later reference

Text 4

在新大陆的历史上，被研究的最彻底的学者是 17世纪新英格兰的牧师和政治领袖们。根据美国标准哲学史的记载，

在美洲殖民地中,“其他地区的人对学术的追求都没有这么狂热。”据许多书籍及文章记载，新英格兰的领袖们在美国学

术界中确立了正在发展、后来成为主流的清教传统的基本主题和关注点。

通过这条途径来了解新英格兰人，通常意味着要首先研究清教徒的神学创新和对于教会的不同理念——这是我们

不可忽略的重要课题。但是为了与我们对南部学术界的研究保持一致，我们可以将最初的清教徒们视作欧洲文化的传

递者，他们根据新大陆的情况进行了调整。新英格兰作为殖民地，在追求广为人知的礼貌及艺术鉴赏力的过程中发生了许多重要事件。

到达马萨诸塞州的最早定居者包括那些在英格兰接受过良好的教育并深具影响力的英国人。在 1629 年之后的十年

间，除了 90多位来到马萨诸塞教堂的有学识的牧师，还有像约翰·温斯罗普这样的政治领袖，在到达波士顿之前，他

是一位受过良好教育的绅士、律师及皇室官员。这些人大量写作、出版书籍，新旧大陆都有读者，这样便给新大陆带

来了热衷学术的氛围。

但是，我们不应该忘记，大多数新英格兰人没有受过良好教育。极少有工匠或农民(更不用说靠他们养活的家人及

仆人)留下文学作品以供分析，但是很明显，他们的观点并不具有很大的学术性。他们的思想中往往有一种传统的迷信

成份。一个名为约翰·戴恩的裁缝于 17 世纪 30 年代末移民到新大陆，他留下一个记录，陈述了离开英格兰的理由，

内容充满了预兆。在一个决定性的时刻，他打开圣经，告诉父亲说，自己看到的第一行字会决定他的命运，他读了那

些神奇的话语：“(圣经原文)从他们中间出来，不要沾不洁净之物，我将成为你们的神，你们将成为我的子民”。性的混

乱，经济挫折和宗教希望——这所有的一切在他打开圣经的一刹那都出现了。人们想知道戴恩在清教教堂里听到布道

牧师认真解释圣经时会作何感想。

与此同时，许多定居者并没有戴恩那样虔诚，就像一位牧师在海边遇到一些人时听到的那样，那些人嘲弄说他们

不是为了宗教来到新大陆的。“我们的主要目的是为了捕鱼。”