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2012年英语二阅读理解真题及答案
Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension
Text 1
Homework has never been terribly popular with students and even many parents, but in recent years it has been particularly scorned. School districts across the country, most recently Los Angeles Unified, are revising their thinking on his educational ritual. Unfortunately, L.A. Unified has produced an inflexible policy which mandates that with the exception of some advanced courses, homework may no longer count for more than 10% of a student’s academic grade.
This rule is meant to address the difficulty that students from impoverished or chaotic homes might have in completing their homework. But the policy is unclear and contradictory. Certainly, no homework should be assigned that students cannot do without expensive equipment. But if the district is essentially giving a pass to students who do not do their homework because of complicated family lives, it is going riskily close to the implication that standards need to be lowered for poor children.
District administrators say that homework will still be a pat of schooling: teachers are allowed to assign as much of it as they want. But with homework counting for no more than 10% of their grades, students can easily skip half their homework and see vey little difference on their report cards. Some students might do well on state tests without completing their homework, but what about the students who performed well on the tests and did their homework? It is quite possible that the homework helped. Yet rather than empowering teachers to find what works best for their students, the policy imposes a flat, across-the-board rule.
At the same time, the policy addresses none of the truly thorny questions about homework. If the district finds homework to be unimportant to its students’ academic achievement, it should move to reduce or eliminate the assignments, not make them count for almost nothing. Conversely, if homework does nothing to ensure that the homework students are not assigning more than they are willing to review and correct.
The homework rules should be put on hold while the school board, which is responsible for setting educational policy, looks into the matter and conducts public hearings. It is not too late for L.A. Unified to do homework right.
21.It is implied in paragraph 1 that nowadays homework_____.
[A] is receiving more criticism
[B]is no longer an educational ritual
[C]is not required for advanced courses
[D]is gaining more preferences
22.L.A.Unified has made the rule about homework mainly because poor students_____.
[A]tend to have moderate expectations for their education
[B]have asked for a different educational standard
[C]may have problems finishing their homework
[D]have voiced their complaints about homework
23.According to Paragraph 3,one problem with the policy is that it may____.
[A]discourage students from doing homework
[B]result in students' indifference to their report cards
[C]undermine the authority of state tests
[D]restrict teachers' power in education
24. As mentioned in Paragraph 4, a key question unanswered about homework is whether______. [A] it should be eliminated
[B]it counts much in schooling
[C]it places extra burdens on teachers
[D]it is important for grades
25.A suitable title for this text could be______.
[A]Wrong Interpretation of an Educational Policy
[B]A Welcomed Policy for Poor Students
[C]Thorny Questions about Homework
[D]A Faulty Approach to Homework
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Text 2
Pretty in pink: adult women do not remember being so obsessed with the colour, yet it is pervasive in our young girls’ lives. It is not that pink intrinsically bad, but it is a tiny slice of the rainbow and, though it may celebrate girlhood in one way, it also repeatedly and firmly fused girls’ identity to appearance. Then it presents that connection, even among two-year-olds, between girls as not only innocent but as evidence of innocence. Looking around, despaired at the singular lack of imagination about girls’ lives and interests.
Girls' attraction to pink may seem unavoidable, somehow encoded in their DNA, but according to Jo Paoletti, an associate professor of American Studies, it's not. Children were not colour-coded at all until the early 20th century: in the era before domestic washing machines all babies wore white as a practical matter, since the only way of getting clothes clean was to boil them. What's more, both boys and girls wore what were thought of as gender-neutral dresses. When nursery colours were introduced, pink was actually considered the more masculine colour, a pastel version of red, which was associated with strength. Blue, with its intimations of the Virgin Mary, constancy and faithfulness, symbolised femininity. It was not until the mid-1980s, when amplifying age and sex differences became a dominant children's marketing strategy, that pink fully came into its own, when it began to seem innately attractive to girls, part of what defined them as female, at least for the first few critical years.
I had not realised how profoundly marketing trends dictated our perception of what is natural to kids, including our core beliefs about their psychological development. Take the toddler. I assumed that phase was something experts developed after years of research into children's behaviour: wrong. Turns out, according to Daniel Cook, a historian of childhood consumerism, it was popularised as a marketing gimmick by clothing manufacturers in the 1930s.
Trade publications counseled department stores that, in order to increase sales, they should create a "third stepping stone" between infant wear and older kids' clothes. It was only after "toddler" became common shoppers' term that it evolved into a broadly accepted developmental stage. Splitting kids, or adults, into ever-tinier categories has proved a sure-fire way to boost profits. And one of the easiest ways to segment a market is to magnify gender differences – or invent them where they did not previously exist.
26. By saying "it is ... The rainbow"(line 3, Para 1), the author means pink _______.
A should not be the sole representation of girlhood
B should not be associated with girls' innocence
C cannot explain girls' lack of imagination
D cannot influence girls' lives and interests
27. According to Paragraph 2, which of the following is true of colours?
A Colors are encoded in girls' DNA
B Blue used to be regarded as the color for girls
C Pink used to be a neutral color in symbolizing genders
D White is preferred by babies
28. The author suggests that our perception of children's psychological devotement was much influenced by ________.
[A] the marketing of products for children
[B] the observation of children's nature
[C] researches into children's behavior
[D] studies of childhood consumption
29. We may learn from Paragraph 4 that department stores were advised ________.
A focuses on infant wear and older kids' clothes
B attach equal importance to different genders
C classify consumers into smaller groups
D create some common shoppers' terms
30. It can be concluded that girl's attraction to pink seems to be _____.
A clearly explained by their inborn tendency
B fully understood by clothing manufacturers
C mainly imposed by profit-driven businessmen
D well interpreted by psychological experts
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Text 3
In 2010. a federal judge shook America's biotech industry to its core. Companies had won patents for isolated DNA for decades-by 2005 some 20% of human genes were parented. But in March 2010 a judge ruled that genes were unpatentable. Executives were violently agitated. The Biotechnology Industry Organisation (BIO), a trade group, assured members that this was just a “preliminary step” in a longer battle.
On July 29th they were relieved, at least temporarily. A federal appeals court overturned the prior decision, ruling that Myriad Genetics could indeed hold patents to two genes that help forecast a woman's risk of breast cancer. The chief executive of Myriad, a company in Utah, said the ruling was a blessing to firms and patients alike.
But as companies continue their attempts at personalised medicine, the courts will remain rather busy. The Myriad case itself is probably not over. Critics make three main arguments against gene patents: a gene is a product of nature, so it may not be patented; gene patents suppress innovation rather than reward it; and patents' monopolies restrict access to genetic tests such as Myriad's. A growing number seem to agree. Last year a federal task-force urged reform for patents related to genetic tests. In October the Department of Justice filed a brief in the Myriad case, arguing that an isolated DNA molecule “is no less a product of nature... than are cotton fibres that have been separated from cotton seeds.”
Despite the appeals court's decision, big questions remain unanswered. For example, it is unclear whether the sequencing of a whole genome violates the patents of individual genes within it. The case may yet reach the Supreme Court.
AS the industry advances, however, other suits may have an even greater impact. Companies are unlikely to file many more patents for human DNA molecules - most are already patented or in the public domain .firms are now studying how genes interact, looking for correlations that might be used to determine the causes of disease or predict a drug’s efficacy. Companies are eager to win patents for ‘connecting the dots’, explains Hans Sauer, a lawyer for the BIO.
Their success may be determined by a suit related to this issue, brought by the Mayo Clinic, which the Supreme Court will hear in its next term. The BIO recently held a convention which included sessions to coach lawyers on the shifting landscape for patents. Each meeting was packed.
31. It can be learned from paragraph I that the biotech companies would like______
A. their executives to be active
B. judges to rule out gene patenting
C. genes to be patentable
D. the BIO to issue a warning
32. Those who are against gene patents believe that_____
A. genetic tests are not reliable
B. only man-made products are patentable
C. patents on genes depend much on innovations
D. courts should restrict access to genetic tests
33. According to Hans Sauer, companies are eager to win patents for_____
A. establishing disease compellations
B. discovering gene interactions
C. drawing pictures of genes
D. identifying human DNA
34.By saying “each meeting was packed”(line4,para6)the author means that_____
A. the Supreme Court was authoritative
B. the BIO was a powerful organization
C. gene patenting was a great concern
D. lawyers were keen to attend conventions
35. Generally speaking, the author’s attitude toward gene patenting is_____
A. critical
B. supportive
C. scornful
D. objective
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Text 4
The great recession may be over, but this era of high joblessness is probably beginning. Before it ends,
It will likely change the life course and character of a generation of young adults. And ultimately, it is likely to reshape our politics, our culture, and the character of our society for years.
No one tries harder than the jobless to find silver linings in this national economic disaster. Many said that unemployment, while extremely painful, had improved them in some ways; they had become less materialistic and more financially prudent; they were more aware of the struggles of others. In limited respects, perhaps the recession will leave society better off. At the very least, it has awoken us from our national fever dream of easy riches and bigger houses, and put a necessary end to an era of reckless personal spending.
But for the most part, these benefits seem thin, uncertain, and far off. In The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, the economic historian Benjamin Friedman argues that both inside and outside the U.S. , lengthy periods of economic stagnation or decline have almost always left society more mean-spirited and less inclusive, and have usually stopped or reversed the advance of rights and freedoms. Anti-immigrant sentiment typically increases, as does conflict between races and classes.
Income inequality usually falls during a recession, but it has not shrunk in this one. Indeed, this period of economic weakness may reinforce class divides, and decrease opportunities to cross them--- especially for young people. The research of Till Von Wachter, the economist in Columbia University, suggests that not all people graduating into a recession see their life chances dimmed: those with degrees from elite universities catch up fairly quickly to where they otherwise would have been if they had graduated in better times; it is the masses beneath them that are left behind.
In the internet age, it is particularly easy to see the resentment that has always been hidden within American society. More difficult, in the moment, is discerning precisely how these lean times are affecting society’s character. In many respects, the U.S. was more socially tolerant entering this recession than at any time in its history, and a variety of national polls on social conflict since then have shown mixed results. We will have to wait and see exactly how these hard times will reshape our social fabric. But they certainly it, and all the more so the longer they extend.
36.By saying “to find silver linings”(Line 1,Para.2)the author suggest that the jobless try to___.
[A]seek subsidies from the government
[B]explore reasons for the unemployment
[C]make profits from the troubled economy
[D]look on the bright side of the recession
37. According to Paragraph 2,the recession has made people_____.
[A]realize the national dream
[B]struggle against each other
[C]challenge their lifestyle
[D]reconsider their lifestyle
38. Benjamin Friedman believed that economic recession may_____.
[A]impose a heavier burden on immigrants
[B]bring out more evils of human nature
[C]Promote the advance of rights and freedoms
[D]ease conflicts between races and classes
39. The research of Till Von Wachther suggests that in recession graduates from elite universities tend to _____.
[A]lag behind the others due to decreased opportunities
[B]catch up quickly with experienced employees
[C]see their life chances as dimmed as the others’
[D]recover more quickly than the others
40. The author thinks that the influence of hard times on society is____.
[A]certain
[B]positive
[C]trivial
[D]destructive
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