2015年考研英语二阅读理解真题及答案(阅读理解)

2015年考研英语二阅读理解真题及答案（阅读理解）

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 the ANSWER SHEET. （40

points）

Text 1

A new study suggests that contrary to most surveys. People art actually more

stressed at home than at work. Researchers measured people's cortisol ， which is

it at stress marker， while they were at work and while they were at home and

found it higher at what is supposed to be a place of refuge.

“Further contradicting conventional wisdom， we found that women as well

as men have lower levels of stress at work than at home，” writes one of the

researchers. Sarah Damaske， In fact women say they feel better at work. She notes.

“it is men not women. Who report being happier at home than at work，”

Another surprise is that the findings hold true for both those with children

without， but more so for nonparents. This is why people who work outside the

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home have better health.

What the study doesn't measure is whether people are still doing work when

they' re at home， whether it is household work or work brought home from the

office. For many men， the end of the workday is a time to kick back. For women

who stay home， they never get to leave the office. And for women who work

outside the home， they often are playing catch-up-with-household tasks. With

the blurring of roles， and the fact that the home front lags well behind the

workplace in making adjustments for working women， it' s not surprising that

women are more stressed at home.

But it's not just a gender thing. At work， people pretty much know what

they're supposed to be doing： working， making money， doing the tasks they

have to do in order to draw an income. The bargain is very pure： Employee puts in

hours of physical or mental labor and employee draws out life-sustaining moola.

On the home front， however， people have no such clarity. Rare is the

household in which the division of labor is so clinically and methodically laid out.

There are a lot of tasks to be done， there are inadequate rewards for most of them.

Your home colleagues-your family-have no clear rewards for their labor； they

need to be talked into it， or if they' re teenagers， threatened with complete

removal of all electronic devices. Plus， they' re your family. You cannot fire your

family. You never really get to go home from home.

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So it's not surprising that people are more stressed at home. Not only are the

tasks apparently infinite， the co-workers are much harder to motivate.

ing to Paragraph 1，most previous surveys found that home ______.

[A]was an unrealistic place for relaxation

[B]generated more stress than the workplace

[C]was an ideal place for stress measurement

[D]offered greater relaxation than the workplace

ing to Damaske， who are likely to be the happiest at home？

[A]Working mothers

[B]Childless husbands

[C] Childless wives

[D]Working fathers

23 The blurring of working women's roles refers to the fact that ______.

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[A]they are both bread winners and housewives

[B]their home is also a place for kicking back

[C]there is often much housework left behind

[D]it is difficult for them to leave their office

word“moola”（Line 4，Para 4）most probably means ______.

[A]energy

[B]skills

[C]earnings

[D]nutrition

home front differs from the workplace in that ______.

[A]home is hardly a cozier working environment

[B]division of labor at home is seldom clear-cut

[C]household tasks are generally more motivating

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[D]family labor is often adequately rewarded

【参考答案】21. D 22. B 23. A 24. C 25. B

【主要内容】本文主要讲述工作环境压力问题。

Text 2

For years， studies have found that first-generation college students-those

who do not have a parent with a college degree-lag other students on a range of

education achievement factors. Their grades are lower and their dropout rates are

higher. But since such students are most likely to advance economically if they

succeed in higher education， colleges and universities have pushed for decades

to recruit more of them. This has created “a paradox” in that recruiting

first-generation students， but then watching many of them fail， means that

higher education has “continued to reproduce and widen， rather than close”

achievement gap based on social class， according to the depressing beginning of

a paper forthcoming in the journal Psychological Sciense.

But the article is actually quite optimistic， as it outlines a potential solution to

this problem， suggesting that an approach（which involves a one-hour，

next-to-no-cost program） can close 63 percent of the achievement gap

（measured by such factors as grades）between first-generation and other

students.

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The authors of the paper are from different universities， and their finding are

based on a study involving 147 students（who completed the project）at an

unnamed private generation was defined as not having a parent

with a four-year college degree Most of the first-generation students（59.1

percent） were recipients of Pell Grants，a federal g rant for undergraduates with

financial need，while this was true only for 8.6 percent of the students wit at least

one parent with a four-year degree

Their thesis-that a relatively modest intervention could have a big impact-was

based on the view that first-gene ration students may be most lacking not in

potential but in practical knowledge about how to deal with the issues that face

most college students They cite past research by several authors to show that this

is the gap that must be narrowed to close the achievement gap.

Many first-gene ration students “struggle to navigate the middle-class culture

of higher education，learn the rules of the game，'and take advantage of college

resources，” they write And this becomes more of a problem when collages don't

talk about the class advantage and disadvantages of different groups of students

Because US colleges and universities seldom acknowledge how social class can

affect students' educational experience，many first-gene ration students lack sight

about why they are struggling and do not understand how students' like them can

improve

26. Recruiting more first-generation students has______.

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[A]reduced their dropout rates

[B]narrowed the achievement ago

[C] missed its original purpose

[D]depressed college students

27 The author of the research article are optimistic because______.

[A]the problem is solvable

[B]their approach is costless

[C]the recruiting rate has increased

[D]their finding appeal to students

28 The study suggests that most first-gene ration students______.

[A]study at private universities

[B]are from single-pa rent families

[C]are in need of financial support

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[D]have failed their collage

29. The author of the paper believe that first-generation students______.

[A]are actually indifferent to the achievement gap

[B]can have a potential influence on other students

[C] may lack opportunities to apply for research projects

[D]are inexperienced in handling their issues at college

may infer from the last paragraph that______.

[A]universities often reject the culture of the middle-class

[B]students are usually to blame for their lack of resources

[C]social class greatly helps en rich educational experiences

[D]colleges are partly responsible for the problem in question

【参考答案】26. C 27. A 28. C 29. D 30. D

【主要内容】本文主要讲述第一代大学生（也就是父母均无大学学位的大学生）的问

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题。

Text 3

Even in traditional offices，“the lingua franca of corporate America has gotten

much more emotional and much more right-brained than it was 20 years ago，”

said Harvard Business School professor Nancy Koehn She started spinning off

examples.“If you and I parachuted back to Fortune 500 companies in 1990，we

would see much less frequent use of terms like Journey， mission，passion. There

were goals，there were strategies，there were objectives，but we didn't talk about

energy；we didn't talk about passion.”

Koehn pointed out that this new era of corporate vocabulary is very “team”

-oriented-and not by coincidence.“Let's not forget sDorts-in male-dominated

corporate America，it's still a big deal. It's not explicitly conscious；it's the idea that

I'm a coach，and you're my team，and we're in this togethec. There are lots and lots

of CEOs in very different companies，but most think of themselves as coaches and

this is their team and they want to win”。

These terms are also intended to infuse work with meaning-and，as Khurana

points out，increase allegiance to the firm.“You have the importation of

terminology that historically used to be associated with non-profit organizations

and religious organizations：Terms like vision，values，passion，and purpose，”

said Khurana

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This new focus on personal fulfillment can help keep employees motivated

amid increasingly loud debates over work-life balance The “mommy wars” of the

1990s are still going on today， prompting arguments about why women still can't

have it all and books like Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In，whose title has become a buzz

word in its own right. Terms like unplug，offline，life-hack，bandwidth，and capacity

are all about setting boundaries between the office and the home But if your work

is your “passion，” you'll be more likely to devote yourself to it，even if that means

going home for dinner and then working long after the kids are in bed

But this seems to be the irony of office speak：Everyone makes fun of it，but

managers love it，companies depend on it，and regular people willingly absorb it.

As Nunberg said，“You can get people to think it's nonsense at the same time that

you buy into it.” In a workplace that's fundamentally in different to your life and its

meaning office speak can help you figure out how you relate to your work-and

how your work defines who you are

31. According to Nancy Koehn， office language has become ______.

[A]more emotional

[B]more objective

[C]less energetic

[D]less energetic

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[E]less strategic

32.“team”-oriented corporate vocabulary is closely related to ______.

[A]historical incidents

[B]gender difference

[C]sports culture

[D]athletic executives

a believes that the importation of terminology aims to ______.

[A]revive historical terms

[B]promote company image

[C]foster corporate cooperation

[D]strengthen employee loyalty

can be inferred that Lean In ______.

[A]voices for working women

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[B]appeals to passionate workaholics

[C]triggers debates among mommies

[D]praises motivated employees

of the following statements is true about office speak？

[A]Managers admire it but avoid it

[B]Linguists believe it to be nonsense

[C]Companies find it to be fundamental

[D]Regular people mock it but accept it

【参考答案】31. A 32. C 33. D 34. A 35. C

【主要内容】本文主要讲述办公室语言的问题。

Text 4

Many people talked of the 288，000 new jobs the Labor Department reported

for June， along with the drop in the unemployment rate to 6.1 percent， as good

news. And they were right. For now it appears the economy is creating jobs at a

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decent pace. We still have a long way to go to get back to full employment， but at

least we are now finally moving forward at a faster pace.

However， there is another important part of the jobs picture that was largely

overlooked. There was a big jump in the number of people who report voluntarily

working part-time. This figure is now 830，000（4.4 percent） above its year ago

level.

Before explaining the connection to the Obamacare， it is worth making an

important distinction. Many people who work part-time jobs actually want

full-time jobs. They take part-time work because this is all they can get. An

increase in involuntary part-time in June， but the general direction has been

down. Involuntary part-time employment is still far higher than before the

recession， but it is down by 640，000（7.9 percent） from its year ago level.

We know the difference between voluntary and involuntary part-time

employment because people tell us. The survey used by the Labor Department

asks people if they worked less than 35 hours in the reference week. If the answer

is “yes，” they are classified as working part-time. They survey then asks whether

they worked less than 35 hours in that week because they wanted to work less

than full time or because they had no choice. They are only classified as voluntary

part-time workers if they tell the survey taker they chose to work less than 35

hours a week.

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The issue of voluntary part-time relates to Obamacare because one of the

main purposes was to allow people to get insurance outside of employment. For

many people， especially those with serious health conditions of family members

with serious health conditions， before Obamacare the only way to get insurance

was through a job that provided health insurance.

However， Obamacare has allowed more than 12 million people to either get

insurance through Medicaid or the exchanges. These are people who may

previously have felt the need to get a full-time job that provided insurance in order

to cover themselves and their families. With Obamacare there is no longer a link

between employment and insurance.

36. Which part of the jobs picture was neglected？

A. The prospect of a thriving job market.

B. The increase of voluntary part-time jobs.

C. The possibility of full employment.

D. The acceleration of job creation.

37. Many people work part-time because they______.

A. prefer part-time jobs to full-time jobs

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B. feel that is enough to make ends meet

C. cannot get their hands on full-time jobs

D. haven‘t seen the weakness of the market

38. Involuntary part-time employment in the US

A. is harder to acquire than one year ago

B. shows a general tendency of decline

C. satisfies the real need of the jobless

D. is lower than before the recession

39. It can be learned that with Obamacare， ______.

A. it is no longer easy for part-timers to get insurance

B. employment is no longer a precondition to get insurance

C. it is still challenging to get insurance for family members

D. full-time employment is still essential for insurance.

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40. The text mainly discusses______.

A. employment in the US

B. part-timer classification

C. insurance through Medicaid

D. Obamacare‘s trouble

【参考答案】36. B 37. C 38. B 39. B 40. A

【主要内容】本文主要讲述美国兼职问题。

【试题点评】今年四篇文章难度都不太大。在我们整体的考研阅读当中， 所需要具备

的一个最重要的能力就是如何去看到题目之后， 定准了位， 并且找到那个我们真正应该

找到的位置， 在四个选项当中去找意思的原文最匹配的选项。具体相关知识点和解题思路

在冲刺阶段英语冲刺班阅读理解部分有重点讲解， 在基础班阅读基础部分的段与篇、谋篇、

题型精析课程，和强化班的阅读理解A部分也均有涉及。

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