历年考研英语真题及答案解析(2003-2010年)英语阅读

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2009 年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语试题

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
Habits are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into
the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. "Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting herd," William
Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word "habit" carries a negative
connotation.
So it seems antithetical to talk about habits in the same context as creativity and innovation. But brain
researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths,
and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks.
But don't bother trying to kill off old habits; once those ruts of procedure are worn into the hippocampus,
they're there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately ingrain into ourselves create parallel pathways
that can bypass those old roads.
"The first thing needed for innovation is a fascination with wonder," says Dawna Markova, author of "The
Open Mind" and an executive change consultant for Professional Thinking Partners. "But we are taught instead
to 'decide,' just as our president calls himself 'the Decider.' " She adds, however, that "to decide is to kill
off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities."
All of us work through problems in ways of which we're unaware, she says. Researchers in the late 1960 covered
that humans are born with the capacity to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally,
relationally (or collaboratively) and innovatively. At puberty, however, the brain shuts down half of that
capacity, preserving only those modes of thought that have seemed most valuable during the first decade or so
of life.
The current emphasis on standardized testing highlights analysis and procedure, meaning that few of us
inherently use our innovative and collaborative modes of thought. "This breaks the major rule in the American
belief system — that anyone can do anything," explains M. J. Ryan, author of the 2006 book "This Year I Will..."
and Ms. Markova's business partner. "That's a lie that we have perpetuated, and it fosters commonness. Knowing
what you're good at and doing even more of it creates excellence." This is where developing new habits comes
in.
21. The view of Wordsworth habit is claimed by being ________.
A. casual B. familiar C. mechanical D. changeable
22. The researchers have discovered that the formation of habit can be ________
A. predicted B. regulated C. traced D. guided
23. "ruts"(in line one, paragraph 3) has closest meaning to ________
A. tracks B. series C. characteristics D. connections
24. Ms. Markova's comments suggest that the practice of standard testing ________?
A, prevents new habits form being formed
B, no longer emphasizes commonness
C, maintains the inherent American thinking model
D, complies with the American belief system
25. Ryan most probably agree that
A. ideas are born of a relaxing mind