2010考研英语二真题及答案
Section I Use of English
Directions:
Read the following passage. For each numbered blank there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best one and mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET l. (10 points)
The outbreak of swine flu that was first detected in Mexico was declared a global epidemic on June 11, 2009. It is the first worldwide epidemic_____1_____ by the World Health Organization in 41 years.
The heightened alert _____2_____an emergency meeting with flu experts in Geneva that convened after a sharp rise in cases in Australia, and rising_____3_____in Britain, Japan, Chile and elsewhere.
But the epidemic is \in severity, according to Margaret Chan, the organization's director general, _____5_____ the overwhelming majority of patients experiencing only mild symptoms and a full recovery, often in the _____6_____ of any medical treatment.
The outbreak came to global_____7_____in late April 2009, when Mexican authorities noticed an unusually large number of hospitalizations and deaths_____8_____healthy adults. As much of Mexico City shut down at the height of a panic, cases began to _____9_____in New York City, the southwestern United States and around the world.
In the United States, new cases seemed to fade_____10_____warmer weather arrived. But in late September 2009, officials reported there was _____11_____flu activity in almost every state and that virtually all the_____12_____tested are the new swine flu, also known as (A) H1N1, not seasonal flu. In the U.S., it has_____13_____more than one million people, and caused more than 600 deaths and more than 6,000 hospitalizations.
Federal health officials_____14_____Tamiflu for children from the national stockpile and began_____15_____orders from the states for the new swine flu vaccine. The new vaccine, which is different from the annual flu vaccine, is ____16_____ ahead of expectations. More than three million doses were to be made available in early October 2009, though most of those _____17_____doses were of the FluMist nasal spray type, which is not_____18_____for pregnant women, people over 50 or those with breathing difficulties, heart disease or several other _____19_____. But it was still possible to vaccinate people in other high-risk group: health care workers, people _____20_____infants and healthy young people.
1 [A] criticized 2 [A] proceeded 3 [A] digits 4 [A] moderate 6 [A] progress
[B] appointed [B] activated [B] numbers [B] normal
[C]commented [C] followed [C] amounts [C] unusual
[C] presence
[D] designated [D] prompted [D] sums [D] extreme [D] by [D] favor
5 [A] with [B] in [C] from
[B] absence
7 [A] reality 8. [A]over 10 [A] as
9 [A] stay up
[B] phenomenon [B] for [B] if
[B] crop up [B] enormous [B] examples [B] immerse [B] relayed [B] available [B] principal [B] restricted [B] issues
[B] caring for
[C] concept [C] among [C] fill up [C] unless
[C] significant [C] patterns [C] injected [C] taking [C] reliable
[C] relieved
[D] notice [D] to [D] cover up [D] until [D]magnificent [D] samples [D] infected [D] remained [D] giving [D] applicable [D] initial [D] introduced [D] sufferings [D] warding off
11 [A] excessive 12 [A]categories 13 [A] imparted 14 [A] released 16 [A] feasible 17 [A] prevalent
15 [A] placing [B] delivering
[C] innovative [C] agonies
18 [A] presented 19 [A] problems 20 [A] involved in
[C] recommended [C] concerned with
Section Ⅱ Reading comprehension
Part A
Text1
The longest bull run in a century of art-market history ended on a dramatic note with a sale of 56 works by Damien Hirst, ―Beautiful Inside My Head Forever‖，at Sotheby‘s in London on September 15th 2008. All but two pieces sold, fetching more than ￡70m, a record for a sale by a single artist. It was a last victory. As the auctioneer called out bids, in New York one of the oldest banks on Wall Street, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy.
The world art market had already been losing momentum for a while after rising bewilderingly since 2003. At its peak in 2007 it was worth some $65 billion, reckons Clare McAndrew, founder of Arts Economics, a research firm—double the figure five years earlier. Since then it may have come down to $50 billion. But the market generates interest far beyond its size because it brings together great wealth, enormous egos, greed, passion and controversy in a way matched by few other industries.
In the weeks and months that followed Mr Hirst‘s sale, spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable, especially in New York, where the bail-out of the banks coincided with the loss of thousands of jobs and the financial demise of many art-buying investors. In the art world that meant collectors stayed away from galleries and salerooms. Sales of contemporary art fell by two-thirds, and in the most overheated sector—for Chinese contemporary art—they were down by nearly 90% in the year to November 2008. Within weeks the world‘s two biggest auction houses, Sotheby‘s and Christie‘s, had to pay out nearly $200m in guarantees to clients who had placed works for sale with them.
The current downturn in the art market is the worst since the Japanese stopped buying Impressionists at the end of 1989, a move that started the most serious contraction in the market since the Second World War. This time experts reckon that prices are about 40% down on their peak on average, though some have been far more fluctuant. But Edward Dolman, Christie‘s chief executive, says: ―I‘m pretty confident we‘re
at the bottom.‖
What makes this slump different from the last, he says, is that there are still buyers in the market, whereas in the early 1990s, when interest rates were high, there was no demand even though many collectors wanted to sell. Christie‘s revenues in the first half of 2009 were still higher than in the first half of 2006. Almost everyone who was interviewed for this special report said that the biggest problem at the moment is not a lack of demand but a lack of good work to sell. The three Ds—death, debt and divorce—still deliver works of art to the market. But anyone who does not have to sell is keeping away, waiting for confidence to return.
21.In the first paragraph, Damien Hirst's sale was referred to as ―a last victory‖ because ____. A. the art market had witnessed a succession of victories B. the auctioneer finally got the two pieces at the highest bids C. Beautiful Inside My Head Forever won over all masterpieces
D. it was successfully made just before the world financial crisis
22.By saying ―spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable‖(Line 1-2,Para.3)，the author suggests that_____.
A. collectors were no longer actively involved in art-market auctions B .people stopped every kind of spending and stayed away from galleries C. art collection as a fashion had lost its appeal to a great extent
D .works of art in general had gone out of fashion so they were not worth buying 23. Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A .Sales of contemporary art fell dramatically from 2007 to 2008. B. The art market surpassed many other industries in momentum. C. The market generally went downward in various ways.
D. Some art dealers were awaiting better chances to come. 24. The three Ds mentioned in the last paragraph are ____ A. auction houses ' favorites B. contemporary trends
C. factors promoting artwork circulation D. styles representing impressionists
25. The most appropriate title for this text could be ___ A. Fluctuation of Art Prices B. Up-to-date Art Auctions C. Art Market in Decline D. Shifted Interest in Arts
Text2
I was addressing a small gathering in a suburban Virginia living room—a women's group that had invited men to join them. Throughout the evening one man had been particularly talkative, frequently offering ideas and anecdotes, while his wife sat silently beside him on the couch. Toward the end of the evening I commented that women frequently complain that their husbands don't talk to them. This man