新东方在线考研 [http://kaoyan.koolearn.com ]网络课堂电子教材系列

2012年全国硕士研究生入学考试英语一真题

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)

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.

新东方在线考研 [http://kaoyan.koolearn.com ]网络课堂电子教材系列

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 means [B]at all 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

新东方在线考研 [http://kaoyan.koolearn.com ]网络课堂电子教材系列

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 Love Life 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

新东方在线考研 [http://kaoyan.koolearn.com ]网络课堂电子教材系列

[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.