2009考研英语长篇连载：阅读理解A命题思路透析（6-13更新）

Part II、真题解题

1993年Passage 3

When an invention is made, the inventor has three possible courses of action open to him: he

can give the invention to the world by publishing it, keep the idea secret, or patent it.

A granted patent is the result of a bargain struck between an inventor and the state, by which the inventor gets a limited period of monopoly (垄断) and publishes full details of his invention to the public after that period terminates. Only in the most exceptional circumstances is the lifespan of a patent extended to alter this normal process of events.

The longest extension ever granted was to Georges Valensi; his 1939 patent for color TV receiver circuitry was extended until 1971 because for most of the patent’ s normal life there was no colour TV to receive and thus no hope of reward for the invention.

Because a patent remains permanently public after it has terminated, the shelves of the library attached to the patent office contain details of literally millions of ideas that are free for anyone to use and, if older than half a century, sometimes even re-patent. Indeed, patent experts often advise anyone wishing to avoid the high cost of conducting a search through live patents that the one sure way of avoiding violation of any other inventor’ s right is to plagiarize a dead patent. Likewise , because publication of an idea in any other form permanently invalidates further patents on that idea, it is traditionally safe to take ideas from other areas of print. Much modern technological advance is based on these presumptions of legal security.

Anyone closely involved in patents and inventions soon learns that most "new" ideas are, in fact, as old as the hills. It is their reduction to commercial practice, either through necessity or dedication, or through the availability of new technology, that makes news and money. The basic patent for the theory of magnetic recording dates back to 1886. Many of the original ideas behind television originate from the late 19th and early 20th century. Even the Volkswagen rear engine car was anticipated by a 1904 patent for a cart with the horse at the rear.

41. The passage is mainly about

[A] an approach to patents

[B] the application for patents

[C] the use of patents

[D] the access to patents

[答案] D

[解题思路]

本题有一定难度。纵观全文，作者首先提出了发明者对于其发明的东西可以用三种方式处理其发明，引出专利这个话题。第二和三段介绍了关于专利的一些情况，而最后两段则进入了本篇文章主要关注的一个方面，即如何得到专利的信息、以及如何把一些专利项目用于商业用途。因此这篇文章的关注点是人们怎么样才能够取得一些获得专利权的发明的相关信息，因此正确答案为D。

[题目译文]

这篇的主要内容是

[A] 关于取得专利的方法

[B] 关于专利的申请

[C] 关于专利的使用

[D] 关于专利的获取

1994年Passage 1

The American economic system is organized around a basically private-enterprise, market-oriented economy in which consumers largely determine what shall be produced by spending their money in the marketplace for those goods and services that they want most. Private businessmen, striving to make profits, produce these goods and services in competition with other businessmen; and the profit motive, operating under competitive pressures, largely determines how these goods and services are produce[D] Thus, in the American economic system it is the demand of individual consumers, coupled with the desire of businessmen to maximize profits and the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes, that together determine what shall be produced and how resources are used to produce it.

An important factor in a market-oriented economy is the mechanism by which consumer demands can be expressed and responded to by producers. In the American economy, this mechanism is provided by a price system, a process in which prices rise and fall in response to relative demands of consumers and supplies offered by seller-producers. If the product is in short supply relative to the demand, the price will be bid up and some consumers will be eliminated from the market. If, on the other hand, producing more of a commodity results in reducing its cost, this will tend to increase the supply offered by seller-producers, which in turn will lower the price and permit more consumers to buy the product. Thus, price is the regulating mechanism in the American economic system.

The important factor in a private-enterprise economy is that individuals are allowed to own productive resources (private property) , and they are permitted to hire labor, gain control over natural resources, and produce goods and services for sale at a profit. In the American economy, the concept of private property embraces not only the ownership of productive resources but also certain rights, including the right to determine the price of a product or to make a free contract with another private individual.

54. The passage is mainly about__.

[A] how American goods are produced

[B] how American consumers buy their goods

[C] how American economic system works

[D] how American businessmen make their profits

[答案] C

[解题思路]

本文的第一句话就直截了当地说明了文章的中心思想，即“The American economic system is organized around a basically private-enterprise, market-oriented economy in which consumers largely determine what shall be produced by spending their money in the marketplace for those goods and services that they want most”（从根本上说，美国经济体制是围绕私有企业、在以市场为导向的经济基础上建立起来的。在这种体制下需要生产什么在很大程度上是消费者通过到市场花钱购买他们最需要的商品和服务来决定的），文章最后两段随即就美国经济体系运作的两个方面进行讨论，因此正确答案为C选项。

[题目译文]

本文的主要是关于 。

[A] 美国的产品是如何生产的

[B] 美国的顾客是如何购买产品的

[C] 美国的经济体系是如何运作的

[D] 美国的商人是如何取得利润的

1994年Passage 2

One hundred and thirteen million Americans have at least one bank-issued credit card. They give their owners automatic credit in stores, restaurants, and hotels, at home, across the country, and even abroad, and they make many banking services available as well. More and more of these credit cards can be read automatically, making it possible to withdraw or deposit money in scattered locations, whether or not the local branch bank is open. For many of us the "cashless society" is not on the horizon—it’s already here.

While computers offer these conveniences to consumers, they have many advantages for sellers too. Electronic cash registers can do much more than simply ring up sales. They can keep a wide range of records, including who sold what, when, and to whom. This information allows businessmen to keep track of their list of goods by showing which items are being sold and how fast they are moving. Decisions to reorder or return goods to suppliers can then be made. At the same time these computers record which hours are busiest and which employees are the most efficient, allowing personnel and staffing assignments to be made accordingly. And they also identify preferred customers for promotional campaigns. Computers are relied on by manufacturers for similar reasons. Computer-analyzed marketing reports can help to decide which products to emphasize now, which to develop for the future, and which to drop. Computers keep track of goods in stock, of raw materials on hand, and even of the production process itself.

Numerous other commercial enterprise, from theaters to magazine publishers, from gas and electric utilities to milk processors, bring better and more efficient services to consumers through the use of computers.

58. What is this passage mainly about?

[A] Approaches to the commercial use of computers.

[B] Conveniences brought about by computers in business.

[C] Significance of automation in commercial enterprises.

[D] Advantages of credit cards in business.

[答案] B

[解题思路]

本题考察的是文章的中心思想。通过文章第二段和第三段的首句“While computers offer these conveniences to consumers, they have many advantages for sellers too”（计算机在为消费者提供诸多方便的同时，也给商家带来很多优势）和“Numerous other commercial enterprise, from theaters to magazine publishers, from gas and electric utilities to milk processors, bring better and more efficient services to consumers through the use of computers”（许多其他商业企业，从剧院到杂志社，从燃气电器公司到牛奶加工厂都通过计算机的使用为消费者提供更好、效率更高的服务）可以看出，本文主要讨论的是计算机给商业带来的便利，因此B为正确答案。D选项与文章第一段有一定联系，但信用卡的例子仅仅是为了引出主要话题，并不是文章关注的重点。而A和C选项都与文章强调“计算机带来的便利”这一侧重点不同。

[题目译文]

这篇文章的主要内容是什么？

[A] 计算机商业化的形式

[B] 计算机给商业带来的便利

[C] 自动化在商业企业中的重要性

[D] 商业中信用卡的优势

1994年Passage 3

Exceptional children are different in some significant way from others of the same age. For these children to develop to their full adult potential, their education must be adapted to those differences.

Although we focus on the needs of exceptional children, we find ourselves describing their environment as well. While the leading actor on the stage captures our attention, we are aware of the importance of the supporting players and the scenery of the play itself. Both the family and the society in which exceptional children live are often the key to their growth and development. And it is in the public schools that we find the full expression of society’ s understanding—the knowledge, hopes, and fears that are passed on to the next generation.

Education in any society is a mirror of that society. In that minor we can see the strengths, the weaknesses, the hopes, the prejudices, and the central values of the culture itself. The great interest in exceptional children shown in public education over the past three decades indicates the strong feeling in our society that all citizens, whatever their special conditions, deserve the opportunity to fully develop their capabilities.

"All men are created equal.”We’ve heard it many times, but it still has important meaning for education in a democratic society. Although the phrase was used by this country’s founders to denote equality before the law, it has also been interpreted to mean equality of opportunity. That concept implies educational opportunity for all children-the right of each child to receive help in learning to the limits of his or her capacity, whether that capacity be small or great. Recent court decisions have confirmed the right of all children-disabled or not-to an appropriate education, and have ordered that public schools take the necessary steps to provide that education. In response, schools are modifying their programs, adapting instruction to children who are exceptional, to those who cannot profit substantially from regular programs.

61. This passage mainly deals with__.

[A] the differences of children in their learning capabilities

[B] the definition of exceptional children in modern society

[C] the special educational programs for exceptional children

[D] the necessity of adapting education to exceptional children

[答案] D

[解题思路]

文章第一句就提出了“Exceptional children are different in some significant way from others of the same age”（特殊儿童与其他同龄的正常孩子相比有一些重要的不同之处），第二段的第一句话“Although we focus on the needs of exceptional children, we find ourselves describing their environment as well”（尽管我们关注的焦点是特殊儿童的需要，但我们发现自己也在描述他们的生活环境）进而揭示了文章的重点是关于exceptional children的教育，因而D为正确答案。结合文章其余部分内容也进一步确证该选项概括了全文。

[题目译文]

这篇文章主要讨论的问题是 。

[A] 儿童学习能力的不同

[B] 现在社会中特殊儿童的定义

[C] 为特殊儿童制定的特殊教育项目

[D] 为特殊儿童而调整教育的必要性

1996年Passage 4

What accounts for the great outburst of major inventions in early America-breakthroughs such as the telegraph, the steamboat and the weaving machine?

Among the many shaping factors, I would single out the country’s excellent elementary schools; a labor force that welcomed the new technology; the practice of giving premiums to inventors; and above all the American genius for nonverbal , “spatial” thinking about things technological .

Why mention the elementary schools? Because thanks to these schools our early mechanics ,especially in the New England and Middle Atlantic states, were generally literate and at home in arithmetic and in some aspects of geometry and trigonometry.

Acute foreign observers related American adaptiveness and inventiveness to this educational advantage. As a member of a British commission visiting here in 1853 reported, “With a mind prepared by thorough school discipline, the American boy develops rapidly into the skilled workman.”

A further stimulus to invention came from the “premium” system, which preceded our patent system and for years ran parallel with it. This approach, originated abroad, offered inventors medals, cash prizes and other incentives.

In the United States, multitudes of premiums for new devices were awarded at country fairs and at the industrial fairs in major cities. Americans flocked to these fairs to admire the new machines and thus to renew their faith in the beneficence of technological advance.

Given this optimistic approach to technological innovation, the American worker took readily to that special kind of nonverbal thinking required in mechanical technology. As Eugene Ferguson has pointed out , “A technologist thinks about objects that cannot be reduced to unambiguous verbal descriptions; they are dealt with in his mind by a visual, nonverbal process . . . The designer and the inventor . . . are able to assemble and manipulate in their minds devices that as yet do not exist.”

This nonverbal “spatial” thinking can be just as creative as painting and writing. Robert Fulton once wrote, “The mechanic should sit down among levers, screws, wedges, wheels, etc., like a poet among the letters of the alphabet, considering them as an exhibition of his thoughts, in which a new arrangement transmits a new idea.”

When all these shaping forces--schools, open attitudes, the premium system, a genius for spatial thinking--interacted with one another on the rich U. S. mainland, they produced that American characteristic, emulation. Today that word implies mere imitation. But in earlier times it meant a friendly but competitive striving for fame and excellence.

66. The best title for this passage might be__

[A]Inventive Mind

[B]Effective Schooling

[C]Ways of Thinking

[D] Outpouring of Inventions

[答案] A

[解题思路]

本文一开始首先提出问题，指出美国早期涌现了大量的创造发明，从第二段开始讨论出现这种现象的多种原因，并指出有创造力的空间思维能力是最重要的因素。文章的主要内容也是围绕这一因素展开，因此A为正确答案。B选项不是文章讨论的重点。C选项的错误在于文章没有讨论各种不同的思维方式。而D选项则是文章第一段用来引出话题的讨论，不能代表文章主要思想。

[题目译文]

本文的最佳标题可能是 。

[A] 具有创造性的头脑

[B] 有效的学校教育

[C] 思维方式

[D] 发明的涌现

1996年Passage 5

Rumor has it that more than 20 books on creationism/evolution are in the publisher’s pipelines. A few have already appeared. The goal of all will be to try to explain to a confused and often unenlightened citizenry that there are not two equally valid scientific theories for the origin and evolution of universe and life. Cosmology , geology , and biology have provided a consistent , unified, and constantly improving account of what happened. "Scientific" creationism, which is being pushed by some for “equal time” in the classrooms whenever the scientific accounts of evolution are evil, is based on religion, not science. Virtually all scientists and the majority of nonfunda mentalist religious leaders have come to regard “scientific” creationism as bad science and bad religion.

The first four chapters of Kitcher’s book give a very brief introduction to evolution. At appropriate places, he introduces the criticisms of the creationists and provides answers. In the last three chapters, he takes off his gloves and gives the creationists a good beating. He describes their programmes and tactics, and, for those unfamiliar with the ways of creationists, the extent of their deception and distortion may come as an unpleasant surprise. When their basic motivation is religious, one might have expected more Christian behavior.

Kitcher is a philosopher, and this may account, in part, for the clarity and effectiveness of

his arguments. The nonspecialist will be able to obtain at least a notion of the sorts of data and

argument that support evolutionary theory. The final chapter on the creationists will be extremely clear to all. On the dust jacket of this fine book, Stephen Jay Gould says: “This book stands for reason itself.” And so it does-and all would be well were reason the only judge in the creationism/evolution debate.

70. This passage appears to be a digest of__

[A]a book review

[B]a scientific paper

[C]a magazine feature

[D] a newspaper editorial

[答案] A

[解题思路]

本题考察文章的来源，实际上也就是对中心思想的考查。综合全文，尤其是每段的第一句话、以及文章对Kitcher这本书的大量评论，可见文章是一篇书评，A为正确选项。

[题目译文]

这篇文章是一片 的摘要。

[A] 书评

[B] 科学论文

[C] 杂志上的特别文章

[D] 报纸社论

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