2021年考研英語二真題及答案

1、2021年考研英語二真題及答案Section 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 the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points) Its not difficult to set targets for staff . It is much harder, 1 ,to understand their negative consequences. Most work-re

2、lated behaviors have multiple components. 2 one and the others become distorted. Travel on a London bus and youll 3 see how this works with drivers. Watch people get on and show their tickets. Are they carefully inspected? Never. Do people get on without paying? Of course ! Are there inspectors to 4

3、 that people have paid? Possibly, but very few. And people who run for the bus? They are 5 . How about jumping lights? Buses do so almost as frequently as cyclists. Why? Because the target is 6 . People complained that buses were late and infrequent. 7 , the number of buses and bus lanes were increa

4、sed, and drivers were 8 or punished according to the time they took. And drivers hit these targets. But they 9 hit cyclists. If the target was changed to 10 , you would have more inspectors and more sensitive pricing. If the criterion changed to safety, you would get more 11 drivers who obeyed traff

5、ic laws. But both these criteria would be at the expense of time. There is another 12 : people became immensely inventive in hitting targets. Have you 13 that you can leave on a flight an hour late but still arrive on time? Tailwinds? Of course not! Airlines have simply changed the time a 14 is mean

6、t to take. A one-hour fight is now ballad as a two-hour flight. The 15 of the story is simple. Most jobs are multidimensional, with multiple criteria. Choose one criterion and you may well 16 others. Everything Can be done faster and made cheaper, but there is a 17 . Setting targets can and does hav

7、e unforeseen negativeconsequences. This is not an argument against target-setting. But it is an argument for exploring consequences first. All good targets should have multiple criteria 18 critical factors such as time, money, quality and customer feedback. The trick is not only to 19 just one or ev

8、en two dimensions of the objective, but also to understand how to help people better 20 the objective.1. A therefore B however C again D moreover 2 .A Emphasizes B Identify C Asses D Explain 3. A nearly B curiously C eagerly D quickly 4. A claim B prove C check D recall 5. A threatened B ignored C m

9、ocked D blamed 6. A punctuality B hospitality C competition D innovation 7. A Yes B So C Besides D Still 8. A hired B trained C rewarded D grouped 9. A only B rather C once D also 10. A comfort Brevenue C efficiency D security 11. A friendly B quiet C cautious D diligent 12. A purpose B problem C pr

10、ejudice D policy 13. A reported B revealed C admitted D noticed 14. A break B trip C departure D transfer 15. A moral B background C style D form 16. A interpret B criticize C sacrifice D tolerate 17. A task Bsecret C product D cast 18. A leading to B calling for C relating to D accounting for 19. A

11、 specify B predict C restore D create 20. A modify Breview C present Dachieve參考答案： 1.B however 2.A Emphasize 3. D quickly 4. C check 5. B ignored 6. A punctuality 7. BSo 8. C rewarded 9. D also 10.B revenue 11.C cautious 12.B problem 13.D noticed 14. B trip 15.B background 16.C sacrifice 17.D cost 1

12、8. C relating to 19.Aspecify 20. D achieveSection 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 1Reskilling is something that sounds like a buzzword but

13、 is actually a requirement if we plan to have a future where a lot of would-be workers do not get left behind. We know we are moving into a period where the jobs in demand will change rapidly, as will the requirements of the jobs that remain Research by the WEF detailed in the Harvard Business Revie

14、w, finds that on average 42 percent of the “core skills within job roles will change by 2022. That is a very short timeline, so we can only imagine what the changes will be further in the future.The question of who should pay for reskilling is a thorny one. For individual companies, the temptation i

15、s always to let go of workers whose skills are no longer in demand and replace them with those whose skills are. That does not always happen. AT&T is often given as the gold standard of a company who decided to do a massive reskilling program rather than go with a fire-and-hire strategy. Other compa

16、nies had also pledged to create their own plans. When the skills mismatch is in the broader economy. Though, the focus usually tums to government to handle. Efforts in Canada and elsewhere have been arguably languid at best. And have given us a situation where we frequently hear of employers begging

17、 for workers. Even at times and in regions where unemployment is high. With the pandemic, unemployment is very high indeed. In February at 3.5 per cent and 5.5 P.C. respectively, unemployment rates in Canada and the United States were at generational lows and worker shortages were everywhere. As of

18、May, those rates had spiked up to 13.3 per centand 13.7 per cent, and although many worker shortages had disappeared, not all had done so. In the medical field, to take an obvious example, the pandemic meant that there were still clean shortages of doctors, nurses and other medical personnel. Of cou

19、rse, it is not like you can take an unemployed waiter and train him to be a doctor in a few weeks, no matter who pays for it. But even if you cannot close the gap, maybe you can close others and doing so would be to the benefit of all concern. That seems to be the case in Sweden: when forced to furl

20、ough 90 PC. of their cabin staff. Scandinavian Airline decided to start up a short retaining program that reskilled the laid-off workers to support hospital staff. The effort was a collective one and involved other companies as well as a Swedish university. 21. Research by the World Economic Forum s

21、uggests . A an increase in full time employment Ban urgent demand for new job sills Ca steady growth of job opportunities Da controversy re about the“ core skills” 22. AT&T is cited to show . A an alternative to the fire-and-hire strategy B an immediate need for government support C the importance o

22、f staff appraisal standards Dthe characteristics of res- killing programs 23. Eflor1s to resolve the skills mismatch in Canada A have driven up labour costs B have proved to be inconsistent C have met with fierce opposition D have appeared to be insufficient 24. We can learn from Paragraph 3 that th

23、ere was A a call for policy adjustment B a change in hiring practices C a lack of medical workers Da sign of economic recovery25. Scandinavian Airlines decided to . A create job vacancies for the unemployed B prepare their laid of workers for other jobs C retrain their cabin staff for better service

24、s D finance their staff s college education 參考答案： 21、B an urgent demand for new job skills 22、Aan alternative to the fire and hire strategy 23、D have appeared to be insufficient 24、Ca lack of medical workers 25、B prepare their laid-off workers for other jobs Text2With the global population predicted

25、 to hit close to 10 billion by 2050, and forecasts that agricultural production in some regions will need to nearly double to keep pace, food security is increasingly making headlines. In the UK, it has become a big talking point recently too, for a rather particular reason: Brexit. Brexit is seen b

26、y some as an opportunity to reverse a recent trend towards the UK importing food. The country produces only about 60 per cent of the food it eats, down from almost three-quarters in the late 1980s. A move back to self-sufficiency, the argument goes, would boost the farming industry, political sovere

27、ignty and even the nations health. Sounds great 一 but how feasible is this vision? According to a report on UK food production from the University of Leeds, UK, 85 per cent of the countrys total land area is associated with meat and dairy production. That supplies 80 per cent of what is consumed, so

28、 even covering the whole country in livestock farms wouldnt allow us to cover all our meat and dairy needs.There are many caveats to those figures, but they are still grave. To become much more self-sufficient, the UK would need to drastically reduce its consumption of animal foods, and probably als

29、o farm more intensively 一 meaning fewer green fields, and more factory-style production. But switching to a mainly plant-based diet wouldnt help. There is a good reason why the UK is dominated by animal husbandry: most of its terrain doesnt have the right soil or climate to grow crops on a commercia

30、l basis. Just 25 per cent of the countrys land is suitable for crop-growing, most of which is already occupied by arable fields. Even if we converted all the suitable land to fields of fruit and veg - which would involve taking out all the nature reserves and removing thousands of people from their

31、homes - we would achieve only a 30 per cent boost in crop production. Just 23 per cent of the fruit and vegetables consumed in the UK are currently home-grown, so even with the most extreme measures we could meet only 30 per cent of our fresh produce needs. That is before we look for the space to gr

32、ow the grains, sugars, seeds and oils that provide us with the vast bulk of our current calorie intake. 26. Some people argue that food self-sufficiency in the UK would_. A. be hindered by its population growth B. contribute to the nations well-being C. become a priority of the government D. pose a

33、challenge to its farming industry 27. The report by the University of Leeds shows that in the UK_. A. farmland has been inefficiently utilized B. factory-style production needs reforming C. most land is used for meat and dairy production D. more green fields will be converted for farming 28. Crop-gr

34、owing in the UK is restricted due to_. A. its farming technology B. its dietary tradition C. its natural conditions D. its commercial interests 29. It can be learned from the last paragraph that British people_. A. rely largely on imports for fresh produce B. enjoy a steady rise in fruit consumption

35、 C. are seeking effective ways to cut calorie intake D. are trying to grow new varieties of grains 30. The authors attitude to food self-sufficiency in the UK is_. A. defensive B. doubtful C. tolerant D. Optimistic 參考答案 26.B contribute to the nations well. being 27.C most land is used for meat and d

36、airy production 28. C its natural conditions 29. A rely largely on imports for fresh produce 30. B doubtful Text 3When Microsoft bought task management app Wunderlist and mobile calendar Sunrise in 2015, it picked two newcomers that were attracting considerable buzz in Silicon Valley. Microsofts own

37、 Office dominates the market for productivity” software, but the start-ups represented a new wave of technology designed from the ground up for the smartphone world. Both apps, however, were later scrapped after Microsoft said it had used their best features in its own products. Their teams of engin

38、eers stayed on, making them two of the many“acqui-hires that the biggest companies have used to feed their great hunger for tech talentTo Microsofts critics, the fates of Wunderlist and Sunrise are examples of a remorseless drive by Big Tech to chew up any innovative companies that lie in their path

39、. They bought the seedlings and closed them down, complained Paul Arnold, a partner at San Francisco-based Switch Ventures, putting an end to businesses that might one day turn into competitors. Microsoft declined to comment. Like other start-up investors, Mr Arnolds own business often depends on se

40、lling start: ups to larger tech companies, though he admits to mixed feelings about the result:“I think these things are good for me, if I put my selfish hat on. But are they good for the American economy? I dont know.The US Federal Trade Commission says it wants to find the answer to that question.

41、 This week, it asked the five most valuable US tech companies for information about their many small acquisitions over the past decade. Although only a rescarch project at this stage, the request has raised the prospect of regulators wading into early-stage tech markets that until now have been beyo

42、nd their reach. Given their combined market value of more than 5.5 trillion, rifling through such small Deals - many of them much less prominent than Wunderlist and Sunrise- might seem beside the point. Between them, the five biggest tech companies have spent an average of only 3.4 billion a year on

43、 sub-$1 billion acquisitions over the past five years- a drop in the ocean compared with their massive financial reserves, and the more than 130 billion of venture capital that was invested in the Us last year. However, critics say the big companies use such deals to buy their most threatening poten

44、tial competitors before their businesses have a chance to gain momentum, in some cases as part of a buy and kill tactic to simply close them down. 31. What is true about Wunderlist and Sunrise after their acquisitions? A. Their engineers were retained. B. Their market values declined. C. Their tech

45、features improved. D. Their products were re priced. 32. Microsofts critics believe that the big tech companies tend to _A exaggerate their product quality B. eliminate their potential competitors C. treat new tech talent unfairly D. ignore public opinions 33. Paul Arnold is concerned that small acq

46、uisitions might . A. weaken big tech companies B. worsen market competition C. harm the national economy D. discourage start-up investors 34. The US Federal Trade Commission intends to _. A. limit Big Techs expansion B. encourage research collaboration C. examine small acquisitions D. supervise star

47、t-ups operations 35. For the five biggest tech companies, their small acquisitions have . A. brought little financial pressure B. raised few management challenges C. set a example for future deals D. generated considerable profits 參考答案： 31. A Their engineers were retained. 32.B eliminate their poten

48、tial competitors 33.C harm the national economy 34.C examine small acquisitions 35.Abrought little financial pressureText 4Were fairly good at judging people based on first impressions, thin slices of experience ranging from a glimpse of a photo to a five minute interaction, and deliberation can be

49、not only extraneous but intrusive. In one study of the ability she called“thin slicing. the late psychologist Nalini Ambady asked participants to watch silent 10-second video clips of professors and to rate the instructors overall effectiveness. Their ratings correlated strongly. with students end-o

50、f-semester ratings. Another set of participants had to count backward from 1,000 by nines as they watched the clips, occupying their conscious working memory. Their ratings were just as accurate, demonstrating the intuitive nature of the social processing . Critically, another group was asked to spe

51、nd a minute writing down reasons for their judgment, before giving the rating. Accuracy, dropped dramatically. Ambady suspected that deliberation focused them on vivid but misleading cues, such as certain gestures or utterances, rather than letting the complex interplay of subtle signals form a holi

52、stic impression. She found similar interference when participants watched 15- second clips of pairs of people and judged whether they were strangers, friends, or dating partners. Other research shows we re better at detecting deception from thin slices when we rely on intuition instead of reflection

53、. Its as if youre driving a stick shit, says Judith Hall, a psychologist at Northeastern University, “and if you start thinking about it too much, you cant remember what you re doing. But if you go on automatic pilot, you re fine. Much of our social life is like that. Thinking too much can also harm

54、 our ability to form preferences. College students ratings of strawberry jams and college courses aligned better with experts opinions when the students werent asked to analyze their rationale. And people made car-buying decisions that were both objectively better and more personally satisfying when

55、 asked to focus on their feelings rather than on details, but only if the decision was complex- -when they had a lot of information to process. Intuitions special powers are unleashed only in certain circumstances. In one study, participants completed a battery of eight tasks, including four that ta

56、pped relctive thinking (discerning nules, comprehending vocabulary) and four that tapped intuition and creativity (generating new products or figures of speech). Then they rated the degree to which they had used intuition ( gut feelings. hunches,“my heart). Use of their gut hurt their performance on the first four tasks, as expected, and helped them on the rest. Sometimes the heart is smarter than the head. 36. Nalini Ambadys study deals w