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2014考研英語二真題：閱讀理解部分

21.According to Dumn and Norton,which of the following is the most rewarding purchase?

　　[A]A big house

　　[B]A special tour

　　[C]A stylish car

　　[D]A rich meal

　　22.The author’s attitude toward Americans’ watching TV is

　　[A]critical

　　[B]supportive

　　[C]sympathetic

　　[D]ambiguous

　　23.Macrib is mentioned in paragraph 3 to show that

　　[A]consumers are sometimes irrational

　　[B]popularity usually comes after quality

　　[C]marketing tricks are after effective

　　[D]rarity generally increases pleasure

　　24.According to the last paragraph,Happy Money

　　[A]has left much room for readers’criticism

　　[B]may prove to be a worthwhile purchase

　　[C]has predicted a wider income gap in the us

　　[D]may give its readers a sense of achievement

　　25.This text mainly discusses how to

　　[A]balance feeling good and spending money

　　[B]spend large sums of money won in lotteries

　　[C]obtain lasting satisfaction from money spent

　　[D]become more reasonable in spending on luxuries

Text 2

　　An article in Scientific America has pointed out that empirical research says that, actually, you think you’re more beautiful than you are. We have a deep-seated need to feel good about ourselves and we naturally employ a number of self-enhancing strategies to research into what the call the “above average effect”, or “illusory superiority”, and shown that, for example, 70% of us rate ourselves as above average in leadership, 93% in driving and 85% at getting on well with others—all obviously statistical impossibilities.

　　We rose tint our memories and put ourselves into self-affirming situations. We become defensive when criticized, and apply negative stereotypes to others to boost our own esteem, we stalk around thinking we’re hot stuff.

　　Psychologist and behavioral scientist Nicholas Epley oversaw a key studying into self-enhancement and attractiveness. Rather that have people simply rate their beauty compress with others, he asked them to identify an original photogragh of themselves’ from a lineup including versions that had been altered to appear more and less attractive. Visual recognition, reads the study, is “an automatic psychological process occurring rapidly and intuitively with little or no apparent conscious deliberation”. If the subjects quickly chose a falsely flattering image- which must did- they genuinely believed it was really how they looked. Epley found no significant gender difference in responses. Nor was there any evidence that, those who self-enhance the must (that is, the participants who thought the most positively doctored picture were real) were doing so to make up for profound insecurities. In fact those who thought that the images higher up the attractiveness scale were real directly corresponded with those who showed other makers for having higher self-esteem. “I don’t think the findings that we having have are any evidence of personal delusion”, says Epley. “It’s a reflection simply of people generally thinking well of themselves’. If you are depressed, you won’t be self-enhancing. Knowing the results of Epley ‘s study,it makes sense that why people heat photographs of themselves Viscerally-on one level, they don’t even recognise the person in the picture as themselves, Facebook therefore ,is a self-enhancer’s paradise,where people can share only the most flattering photos, the cream of their wit ,style ,beauty, intellect and lifestyle it’s not that people’s profiles are dishonest,says catalina toma of Wiscon—Madison university ,”but they portray an idealized version of themselves.

　　26. According to the first paragraph, social psychologist have found that ______.

　　[A] our self-ratings are unrealistically high

　　[B] illusory superiority is baseless effect

　　[C] our need for leadership is unnatural

　　[D] self-enhancing strategies are ineffective

　　27. Visual recognition is believed to be people’s______

　　[A] rapid watching

　　[B] conscious choice

　　[C] intuitive response

　　[D] automatic self-defence

　　28. Epley found that people with higher self-esteem tended to______

　　[A] underestimate their insecurities

　　[B] believe in their attractiveness

　　[C] cover up their depressions

　　[D] oversimplify their illusions

　　29.The word “Viscerally”(Line 2,para.5) is closest in meaning to_____.

　　[A]instinctively

　　[B]occasionally

　　[C]particularly

　　[D]aggressively

　　30. It can be inferred that Facebook is self-enhancer’s paradise because people can _____.

　　[A]present their dishonest profiles

　　[B]define their traditional life styles

　　[C]share their intellectual pursuits

　　[D]withhold their unflattering sides

Text 4

　　When the government talks about infrastructure contributing to the economy the focus is usually on roads, railways, broadband and energy. Housing is seldom mentioned.

　　Why is that? To some extent the housing sector must shoulder the blame. We have not been good at communicating the real value that housing can contribute to economic growth. Then there is the scale of the typical housing project. It is hard to shove for attention among multibillion-pound infrastructure project, so it is inevitable that the attention is focused elsewhere. But perhaps the most significant reason is that the issue has always been so politically charged.

　　Nevertheless, the affordable housing situation is desperate. Waiting lists increase all the time and we are simply not building enough new homes.

　　The comprehensive spending review offers an opportunity for the government to help rectify this. It needs to put historical prejudices to one side and take some steps to address our urgent housing need.

　　There are some indications that it is preparing to do just that. The communities minister, Don Foster, has hinted that George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, may introduce more flexibility to the current cap on the amount that local authorities can borrow against their housing stock debt. Evidence shows that 60,000 extra new homes could be built over the next five years if the cap were lifted, increasing GDP by 0.6%.

　　Ministers should also look at creating greater certainty in the rental environment, which would have a significant impact on the ability of registered providers to fund new developments from revenues.

　　But it is not just down to the government. While these measures would be welcome in the short term, we must face up to the fact that the existing £4.5bn programme of grants to fund new affordable housing, set to expire in 2015,is unlikely to be extended beyond then. The Labour party has recently announced that it will retain a large part of the coalition’s spending plans if returns to power. The housing sector needs to accept that we are very unlikely to ever return to era of large-scale public grants. We need to adjust to this changing climate.

　　36. The author believes that the housing sector__

　　[A] has attracted much attention

　　[B] involves certain political factors

　　[C] shoulders too much responsibility

　　[D] has lost its real value in economy

　　37. It can be learned that affordable housing has__

　　[A] increased its home supply

　　[B] offered spending opportunities

　　[C] suffered government biases

　　[D] disappointed the government

　　38. According to Paragraph 5,George Osborne may_______.

　　[A] allow greater government debt for housing

　　[B] stop local authorities from building homes

　　[C] prepare to reduce housing stock debt

　　[D] release a lifted GDP growth forecast

　　39.It can be inferred that a stable rental environment would_______.

　　[A]lower the costs of registered providers

　　[B]lessen the impact of government interference

　　[C]contribute to funding new developments

　　[D]relieve the ministers of responsibilities

　　40.The author believes that after 2015,the government may______.

　　[A]implement more policies to support housing

　　[B]review the need for large-scale public grants

　　[C]renew the affordable housing grants programme

　　[D]stop generous funding to the housing sector

Section III Translation

　　Directions:

　　Translate the following text from English into Chinese. Write your translation on ANSWER SHEET 2. (15 points)

　　Most people would define optimism as endlessly happy, with a glass that’s perpetually half fall. But that’s exactly the kind of false deerfulness that positive psychologists wouldn’t recommend. “Healthy optimists means being in touch with reality.” says Tal Ben-Shahar, a Harvard professor, According to Ben- Shalar,realistic optimists are these who make the best of things that happen, but not those who believe everything happens for the best.

　　Ben-Shalar uses three optimistic exercisers. When he feels down-sag, after giving a bad lecture-he grants himself permission to be human. He reminds himself that mot every lecture can be a Nobel winner; some will be less effective than others. Next is reconstruction, He analyzes the weak lecture, leaning lessons, for the future about what works and what doesn’t. Finally, there is perspective, which involves acknowledging that in the ground scheme of life, one lecture really doesn’t matter.

　　Section IV Writing

　　Part A

　　47. Directions: Suppose you are going to study abroad and share an apartment with John, a local student. Write him to email to

　　1)tell him about your living habits, and

　　2)ask for advice about living there.

　　You should write about 100 words on answer sheet.

　　Do not use your own name.