2021年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语（一）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 the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)
Fluid intelligence is the type of intelligence that has to do with short-term memory and the ability to think quickly, logically, and abstractly in order to solve new problems. It 1 in young adulthood, levels out for a period of time, and then 2 starts to slowly decline as we age. But 3 aging is inevitable, scientists are finding out that certain changes in brain function may not be.
One study found that muscle loss and the 4 of body fat around the abdomen are associated with a decline in fluid intelligence. This suggests the 5 that lifestyle factors might help prevent or 6 this type of decline.
The researchers looked at data that 7 measurements of lean muscle and abdominal fat from more than 4,000 middle-to-older-aged men and women and 8 that data to reported changes in fluid intellig
ence over a six-year period. They found that middle-aged people 9 higher measures of abdominal fat 10 worse on measures of fluid intelligence as the years 11 .
For women, the association may be 12 to changes in immunity that resulted from excess abdominal fat; in men, the immune system did not appear to be 13 . It is hoped that future studies could 14 these differences and perhaps lead to different 15 for men and women.
16 , there are steps you can 17 to help reduce abdominal fat and maintain lean muscle mass as you age in order to protect both your physical and mental 18 . The two highly recommended lifestyle approaches are maintaining or increasing your 19 of aerobic exercise and following a Mediterranean-style 20 that is high in fiber and eliminates highly processed foods.
1. [A] pauses [B] returns [C] fades [D] peaks
2. [A] generally [B] formally [C] accidentally [D] alternatively
3. [A] since [B] while [C] once [D] until
4. [A] detection [B] consumption [C] accumulation [D] separation
5. [A] decision [B] possibility [C] goal [D] requirement
7. [A] modified [B] supported [C] predicted [D] included
8. [A] devoted [B] converted [C] compared [D] applied
9. [A] above [B] with [C] by [D] against
10. [A] lived [B] managed [C] played [D] scored
11. [A] went by [B] set off [C] drew in [D] ran out
12. [A] superior [B] parallel [C] attributable [D] resistant
13. [A] restored [B] isolated [C] controlled [D] involved
14. [A] explain [B] spread [C] remove [D] alter
15. [A] treatments [B] symptoms [C] demands [D] compensations
16. [A] Likewise [B] Therefore [C] Meanwhile [D] Instead
17. [A] take [B] watch [C] count [D] change
18. [A] process [B] wellbeing [C] formation [D] coordination
19. [A] love [B] level [C] knowledge [D] space
20. [A] design [B] diet [C] prescription [D] routine
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
How can Britain’s train operators possibly justify yet another increase rail passenger fares? It has become a grimly reliable annual ritual: every January the cost of travelling by train rises, imposing a
significant extra burden on those who have no option but to use the rail network to get to work or otherwise. This year’s rise, an average of 2.7 percent, may be a fraction lower than last year’s, but it is still well above the official Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation.
Successive governments have permitted such increases on the grounds that the cost of investing in and running the rail network should be borne by those who use it, rather than the general taxpayer. Why, the argument goes, should a car-driving pensioner from Lincolnshire have to subsidise the daily commute of a stockbroker from Surrey? Equally, there is a sense that the travails of commuters in the South East, many of whom will face among the biggest rises, have received too much attention compared to those who must endure the relatively poor infrastructure of the Midlands and the North.
However, over the past 12 months, those commuters have also experienced some of the worst rail strikes in years. It is all very well train operators trumpeting the improvements they are making to the network, but passengers should be able to expect a basic level of service for the substantial sums they are now paying to travel. The responsibility for the latest wave of strikes rests on the unions. However, there is a strong case that those who have been worst affected by industrial action should receive compensation for the disruption they have suffered.
The Government has pledged to change the law to introduce a minimum service requirement so that, even when strikes occur, services can continue to operate. This should form part of a wider package of measures to address the long-running problems on Britain’s railways. Yes, more investment is needed, but passengers will not be willing to pay more indefinitely if they must also endure cramped, unreliable services, interrupted by regular chaos when timetables are changed, or planned maintenance is managed incompetently. The threat of nationalisation may have been seen off for now, but it will return with a vengeance if the justified anger of passengers is not addressed
in short order.
21. The author holds that this year’s increase in rail passengers fares .
[A] has kept pace with inflation
[B] remains an unreasonable measure
[C] is a big surprise to commuters
[D] will ease train operators’ burden
22. The stockbroker in Paragraph 2 is used to stand for .
[A] local investors
[B] ordinary taxpayers
[C] car drivers
[D] rail travellers
23. It is indicated in Paragraph 3 that train operators .
公务员考试准考证打印要求[A] have failed to provide an adequate service
[B] have suffered huge losses owing to the strikes
[C] are offering compensations to commuters
[D] are tying to repair relations with the unions
24. If unable to calm down passengers, the railways may have to face .
[A] the loss of investment
[B] the collapse of operations
山西招生网入口[C] a change of ownership
[D] a reduction of revenue
25. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
[A] Who Are to Blame for the Strikes?
[B] Constant Complaining Doesn’t Work
[C] Ever-rising Fares Aren’t Sustainable
[D] Can Nationalisation Bring Hope?
Text 2
Last year marked the third year in a row that Indonesia’s bleak rate of deforestation has slowed in pace. One reason for the turnaround may be the country’s antipoverty program.
In 2007, Indonesia started phasing in a program that gives money to its poorest residents under certain conditions, such as requiring people to keep kids in school or get regular medical care. Called conditional cash transfers or CCTs, these social assistance programs are designed to reduce inequality and break the cycle of poverty. They’re already used in dozens of countries worldwide. In Indonesia, the program has provided enough food and medicine to substantially reduce severe growth problems among children.
But CCT programs don’t generally consider effects on the environment. In fact, poverty alleviation and environmental protection are often viewed as conflicting goals, says Paul Ferraro,
an economist at Johns Hopkins University.
That’s because economic growth can be correlated with environmental degradation, while protecting the environment is sometimes correlated with greater poverty. However, those correlations don’t prove cause and effect. The only previous study analyzing causality, based on an area in Mexico that had instituted CCTs, supported the traditional view. There, as people got more money, some of them may have more cleared land for cattle to raise for meat, Ferraro says.
Such programs do not have to negatively affect the environment, though. Ferraro wanted to see if In
donesia’s poverty-alleviation program was affecting deforestation. Indonesia has the third-largest area of tropical forest in the world and one of the highest deforestation rates.
Ferraro analyzed satellite data showing annual forest loss from 2008 to 2012—including during Indonesia’s phase-in of the antipoverty program—in 7,468 forested villages across 15 provinces. “We see that the program is associated with a 30 percent reduction in deforestation,”Ferraro says.
That’s likely because the rural poor are using the money as makeshift insurance policies against inclement weather, Ferraro says. Typically, if rains are delayed, people may clear land to plant more rice to supplement their harvests. With the CCTs, individuals instead can use the money to supplement their harvests.
Whether this research translates elsewhere is anybody’s guess. Ferraro suggests the results may transfer to other parts of Asia, due to commonalities such as the importance of growing rice and market access. And regardless of transferability, the study shows that what’s good for people may also be good for the environment. Even if this program didn’t reduce poverty, Ferraro says, “the value of the avoided deforestation just for carbon dioxide emissions alone is more than the program costs.”
26. According to the first two paragraphs, CCT programs aim to .
[A] help poor families get better off许昌市疫情最新公告
[B] facilitate health care reform
[C] improve local education systems
[D] lower deforestation rates
27. The study based on an area in Mexico is cited to show that .
[A] cattle rearing has been a major means of livelihood for the poor
[B] CCT programs have helped preserve traditional lifestyles
[C] economic growth tends to cause environmental degradation
[D] antipoverty efforts require the participation of local farmers
28. In his study about Indonesia, Ferraro intends to find out .
[A] its annual rate of poverty alleviation
英语四级成绩什么时候公布[B] the relation of CCTs to its forest loss
[C] the role of its forests in climate change
[D] its acceptance level of CCTs
29. According to Ferraro, the CCT program in Indonesia is most valuable in that .
[A] it can boost grain production
[B] it can protect the environment
[C] it will reduce regional inequality
[D] it will benefit other Asian countries
30. What is the text centered on?
[A] The process of a study.
广西省考公务员时间2022
[B] The transferability of a study.
[C] The debates over a program.
[D] The effects of a program.
Text 3
As a historian who’s always searching for the text or the image that makes us re-evaluate the past, I’ve become preoccupied with looking for photographs that show our Victorian ancestors smiling (what better way to shatter the image of 19th-century prudery?). I’ve found quite a few, and—since I started posting them on Twitter—they have been causing quite a stir. People have been surprised to see evidence that Victorians had fun and could, and did, laugh. They are noting that the Victorians suddenly seem to become more human as the hundred-or-so years that separate us fade away through our common experience of laughter.
Of course, I need to concede that my collection of ‘Smiling Victorians’ makes up only a tiny percentage of the vast catalogue of photographic portraiture created between 1840 and 1900, the majority of which show sitters posing miserably and stiffly in front of painted backdrops, or staring absently into the middle distance. How do we explain this trend?
During the 1840s and 1850s, in the early days of photography, exposure times were notoriously long: the daguerreotype photographic method (producing an image on a silvered copper plate) could take several minutes to complete, resulting in blurred images as sitters shifted position or adjusted their limbs. The thought of holding a fixed grin as the camera performed its magical duties was too much to contemplate, and so a non-committal blank stare became the norm.
But exposure times were much quicker by the 1880s, and the introduction of the Box Brownie and other portable cameras meant that, though slow by today’s digital standards, the exposure was almost instantaneous. Spontaneous smiles were relatively easy to capture by the 1890s, so we must look elsewhere for an explanation of why Victorians still hesitated to smile.
One explanation might be the loss of dignity displayed through a cheesy grin. “Nature gave us lips to conceal our teeth,” ran one popular Victorian saying, alluding to the fact that before the birth of proper dentistry, mouths were often in a shocking state of hygiene. A flashing set of healthy and clean, regular ‘pearly whites’ was a rare sight in Victorian society, the preserve of the super-rich (and even then, dental hygiene was not guaranteed).
A toothy grin (especially when there were gaps or blackened teeth) lacked class: drunks, tramps and
music hall performers might gurn and grin with a smile as wide as Lewis Carrol’s gum-exposing Cheshire Cat, but it was not a becoming look for properly bred persons. Even Mark Twain, a man who enjoyed a hearty laugh, said that when it came to photographic portraits there could be “nothing more damning than a silly, foolish smile fixed forever”.
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