2012年全国硕士研究生入学考试英语(一)试题—2
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.
21. According to the first paragraph, peer pressure often emerges as
[A] a supplement to the social cure
[B] a stimulus to group dynamics
[C] an obstacle to school progress
[D] a cause of undesirable behaviors
22. Rosenberg holds that public advocates should
[A] recruit professional advertisers
[B] learn from advertisers' experience
[C] stay away from commercial advertisers
[D] recognize the limitations of advertisements
23. In the author's view, Rosenberg's book fails to
[A] adequately probe social and biological factors
[B] effectively evade the flaws of the social cure
[C] illustrate the functions of state funding
[D]produce a long-lasting social effect
24. Paragraph 5shows that our imitation of behaviors
[A] is harmful to our networks of friends
[B] will mislead behavioral studies
[C] occurs without our realizing it
[D] can produce negative health habits
25. The author suggests in the last paragraph that the effect of peer pressure is
[A] harmful
[B] desirable
[C] profound
[D] questionable
Text 2
A deal is a deal-except, apparently ,when Entergy is involved. The company, a major energy supplier in New England, provoked justified outrage in Vermont last week when it announced it was reneging on a longstanding commitment to abide by the strict nuclear regulations.
Instead, the company has done precisely what it had long promised it would not challenge the constitutionality of Vermont's rules in the federal court, as part of a desperate effort to keep its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant running. It's a stunning move.
The conflict has been surfacing since 2002, when the corporation bought Vermont's only nuclear power plant, an aging reactor in Vernon. As a condition of receiving state approval for the sale, the company agreed to seek permission from state regulators to operate past 2012. In 2006, the state went a step further, requiring that any extension of the plant's license be subject to Vermont legislature's approval. Then, too, the company went along.
Either Entergy never really intended to live by those commitments, or it simply didn't foresee what would happen next. A string of accidents, including the partial collapse of a cooling tower in 207 and the discovery of an underground pipe system leakage, raised serious questions about both Vermont Yankee's safety and Entergy's management- especially after the company made misleading statements about the pipe. Enraged by Entergy's behavior, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 last year against allowing an extension.
Now the company is suddenly claiming that the 2002 agreement is invalid because of the 2006 legislation, and that only the federal government has regulatory power over nuclear issues. The legal issues in the case are obscure: whereas the Supreme Court has ruled that states do have some regulatory authority over nuclear power, legal scholars say that Vermont case will offer a precedent-setting test of how far those powers extend. Certainly, there are valid concerns about the patchwork regulations that could result if every state sets its own rules. But had Entergy kept its word, that debate would be beside the point.
The company seems to have concluded that its reputation in Vermont is already so damaged that it has noting left to lose by going to war with the state. But there should be consequences. Permission to run a nuclear plant is a poblic trust. Entergy runs 11 other reactors in the United States, including Pilgrim Nuclear station in Plymouth. Pledging to run Pilgrim safely, the company has applied for federal permission to keep it open for another 20 years. But as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission （NRC） reviews the company's application, it should keep it mind what promises from Entergy are worth.
26. The phrase “reneging on”（Line 3.para.1） is closest in meaning to
[A] condemning.
[B] reaffirming.
[C] dishonoring.
[D] securing.
27. By entering into the 2002 agreement, Entergy intended to
[A] obtain protection from Vermont regulators.
[B] seek favor from the federal legislature.
[C] acquire an extension of its business license .
[D] get permission to purchase a power plant.
28. According to Paragraph 4, Entergy seems to have problems with its
[A] managerial practices.
[B] technical innovativeness.
[C] financial goals.
[D] business vision
29. In the author's view, the Vermont case will test
[A] Entergy's capacity to fulfill all its promises.
[B] the mature of states' patchwork regulations.
[C] the federal authority over nuclear issues .
[D] the limits of states' power over nuclear issues.
30. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that
[A] Entergy's business elsewhere might be affected.
[B] the authority of the NRC will be defied.
[C] Entergy will withdraw its Plymouth application.
[D] Vermont's reputation might be damaged.
2012年全国硕士研究生入学考试英语(一)试题—2的延伸阅读——复习英语要讲究技巧
一，重视单词。
从第一天开始复习到考试的前一天，考试大纲词汇就应不离手，因为这是一切的基础。考试大纲是命题专家出题的依据、基础，所以考生一定要重视。背单词时，可以总结同义词、一词多义以及包含“高级”短语的句子，然后跟同桌的研友们对话，或者“厚颜无耻”地主动向他们“炫耀”，同时也坚持参加英语辩论活动，把自己最新积累的词句一一“亮”出，这样考生会感觉记得特别牢固。
二，日积月累。
作为一门语言，充满了繁琐与细节的，想一口吃成大胖子是不太现实的，必须耐心地积累“量变”以求“质变”。学习英语的时间安排也是有规律可循的，如果你一天安排3个小时学英语，那么与其一鼓作气学3个小时倒不如改成上下午各1.5小时。持续学习、及时复习才能收到较为理想的效果。可以参照着名的“艾宾浩斯遗忘曲线”来合理安排时间，最大限度地降低遗忘率，以获得较好的学习效果。
三，研读真题。
历年考研英语全真试题是了解考研水平的最快途径，也是熟悉命题规律的唯一途径。所以要在老师的指导下分阶段复习考研英语真题。找一个安静的环境，先用一周的时间做一套真题，做完后，对自己的错题先看一下怎么错的，错在哪里，能不能解决。剩下的时间要分析题型，也就是看这些题目是属于细节题、推理题，还是主旨大意题……当复习完十年的真题，建议考生放20天左右的时间，重新再做真题，分析自己的做题思路，考前一个月适当做些高质量的模拟题练练手。另外，希望考生真题至少看三遍。第一遍先做，做完之后归纳总结错题的原因。第二遍主要精读文章解决单词句子翻译。第三遍前两遍的内容都要看。
四，增加课外阅读。
课外阅读在考研英语复习中占有重要地位，对提高成绩有很大作用，建议大家订一份《英语世界》杂志，阅读上面的文章，也会有不少收获。如果有条件，看看自己学校图书馆是否有这本书，有的话坚持看，肯定会有收获的！
希望以上的介绍对2013的考研同学有所帮助，另外，大家在学习英语学习方法时，要从自身实际出发，选择真正适合自己的复习方法。 | 
