2012年全国硕士研究生入学考试英语(一)试题

　　2012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 ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)

　　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)

　　The ethical judgments of the Supreme Court justices have become an important issue recently. The court cannot _1_ its legitimacy as guardian of the rule of law _2_ justices behave like politicians. Yet, in several instances, justices acted in ways that _3_ the court’s reputation for being independent and impartial.

　　Justice Antonin Scalia, for example, appeared at political events. That kind of activity makes it less likely that the court’s decisions will be _4_ as impartial judgments. Part of the problem is that the justices are not _5_by an ethics code. At the very least, the court should make itself _6_to the code of conduct that _7_to the rest of the federal judiciary.

　　This and other similar cases _8_the question of whether there is still a _9_between the court and politics.

　　The framers of the Constitution envisioned law _10_having authority apart from politics. They gave justices permanent positions _11_they would be free to _12_ those in power and have no need to _13_ political support. Our legal system was designed to set law apart from politics precisely because they are so closely _14_.

　　Constitutional law is political because it results from choices rooted in fundamental social _15_ like liberty and property. When the court deals with social policy decisions, the law it _16_ is inescapably political-which is why decisions split along ideological lines are so easily _17_ as unjust.

　　The justices must _18_ doubts about the court’s legitimacy by making themselves _19_ to the code of conduct. That would make rulings more likely to be seen as separate from politics and, _20_, convincing as law.

　　1. [A]emphasize [B]maintain [C]modify [D] recognize

　　2. [A]when [B]lest [C]before [D] unless

　　3. [A]restored [B]weakened [C]established [D] eliminated

　　4. [A]challenged [B]compromised [C]suspected [D] accepted

　　5. [A]advanced [B]caught [C]bound [D]founded

　　6. [A]resistant [B]subject [C]immune [D]prone

　　7. [A]resorts [B]sticks [C]loads [D]applies

　　8. [A]evade [B]raise [C]deny [D]settle

　　9. [A]line [B]barrier [C]similarity [D]conflict

　　10. [A]by [B]as [C]though [D]towards

　　11. [A]so [B]since [C]provided [D]though

　　12. [A]serve [B]satisfy [C]upset [D]replace

　　13. [A]confirm [B]express [C]cultivate [D]offer

　　14. [A]guarded [B]followed [C]studied [D]tied

　　15. [A]concepts [B]theories [C]divisions [D]conceptions

　　16. [A]excludes [B]questions [C]shapes [D]controls

　　17. [A]dismissed [B]released [C]ranked [D]distorted

　　18. [A]suppress [B]exploit [C]address [D]ignore

　　19. [A]accessible [B]amiable [C]agreeable [D]accountable

　　20. [A]by all mesns [B]atall costs [C]in a word [D]as a result

　　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 ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)

　　Text 1

　　Come on –Everybody’s doing it. That whispered message, half invitation and half forcing, is what most of us think of when we hear the words peer pressure. It usually leads to no good-drinking, drugs and casual sex. But in her new book Join the Club, Tina Rosenberg contends that peer pressure can also be a positive force through what she calls the social cure, in which organizations and officials use the power of group dynamics to help individuals improve their lives and possibly the word.

　　Rosenberg, the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, offers a host of example of the social cure in action: In South Carolina, a state-sponsored antismoking program called Rage Against the Haze sets out to make cigarettes uncool. In South Africa, an HIV-prevention initiative known as LoveLife recruits young people to promote safe sex among their peers.

　　The idea seems promising，and Rosenberg is a perceptive observer. Her critique of the lameness of many pubic-health campaigns is spot-on: they fail to mobilize peer pressure for healthy habits, and they demonstrate a seriously flawed understanding of psychology.” Dare to be different, please don’t smoke!” pleads one billboard campaign aimed at reducing smoking among teenagers-teenagers, who desire nothing more than fitting in. Rosenberg argues convincingly that public-health advocates ought to take a page from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer pressure.

　　But on the general effectiveness of the social cure, Rosenberg is less persuasive. Join the Club is filled with too much irrelevant detail and not enough exploration of the social and biological factors that make peer pressure so powerful. The most glaring flaw of the social cure as it’s presented here is that it doesn’t work very well for very long. Rage Against the Haze failed once state funding was cut. Evidence that the LoveLife program produces lasting changes is limited and mixed.

　　There’s no doubt that our peer groups exert enormous influence on our behavior. An emerging body of research shows that positive health habits-as well as negative ones-spread through networks of friends via social communication. This is a subtle form of peer pressure: we unconsciously imitate the behavior we see every day.

　　Far less certain, however, is how successfully experts and bureaucrats can select our peer groups and steer their activities in virtuous directions. It’s like the teacher who breaks up the troublemakers in the back row by pairing them with better-behaved classmates. The tactic never really works. And that’s the problem with a social cure engineered from the outside: in the real world, as in school, we insist on choosing our own friends.