1、2012 年真题1. He shifted his position a little in order to (alleviate) the pain in his leg.Acontrol B. easy C. experience D. suffer2. Our aim was to (update) the health service, and we succeeded.A.offer B. provide C. modernize D. fund3. She moves from one (exotic) location to another.A.unusual B. famil
2、iar C. similar D. proper4. Nothing would (induce) me to vote for him again.A.teach B. help C. discourage D. attract5. The photographs (evoked) strong memories of our holiday in France.A.refreshed B. stored C. blocked D. erased6. The weather was (crisp) and clear and you could see the mountains fifty
3、 miles away.A.hot B. heavy C. fresh D. windy7. Every week the magazine presents the (profile) of a well-known sports personality.A.success B. description C. evidence D. plan8. Her comments about men are (utterly) ridiculous completely.A.slightly B. completely C. partly D. faintly9. The walls are mad
4、e of (hollow) concrete blocks.A . big B. empty C. long D. now10. We almost (ran into) a Rolls-Royce that pulled out in front of us without signaling.A. overtook B. hit C. passed D. found11. When I heard the noise in the next room, I couldnt resist having a (peep) look.A.chance B. visit C. look D. tr
5、y12. He has been granted (asylum) in France.A. power B. relief C. protection D. license13. He was (weary) of the constant battle between them.A. fond B. tired C. proud D. afraid14. Newborn babies can (discriminate) between a mans and a womans voice.A. treat B. distinguish C. express D. analyzes15. A
6、ll the flats in the building had the same (layout) arrangement.A. color B. size C. function D. arrangement答案：alleviate ease updatemodernize exoticunusualinduceattract evokedrefreshed crispfreshprofiledescription utterlycompletely hollowempty ran intohit peeplookasylumprotection wearytireddiscriminat
7、edistinguish layoutarrangement第二部分：阅读判断(第 1622 题，每题 1 分，共 7 分) 下面的短文后列出了 7 个句子，请根据短文的内容对每个句子做出判断;如果该句提供的是正确信息，请选择 A;如果该句提供的是错误信息，请选择 B;如果该句的信息文中没有提及，请选择 C。In Sports, Red is the Winning ColorWhen opponents of a game are equally matched, the team dressed in red is more likely to win, according to a ne
8、w study.British anthropologists Russell Hill and Robert Barton of the University of Durham reached that conclusion by studying the outcomes of one-on-one boxing, tae kwon do, Greco-Roman-wresting, and freestyle-wrestling matches at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.In each event Olympic sta
9、ff randomly assigned red or blue clothing or body protection to competitors. When otherwise equally matched with their opponent in fitness and skill, athletes wearing red were more likely to win the bout.“Where there was a large point differencepresumably because one contestant was far superior to t
10、he othercolor had no effect on the outcome,“ Barton said. “Where there was a small point difference, the effect of color was sufficient to tip the balance.“In equally matched bouts, the preponderance of red wins was great enough that it could not be attributed to chance, the anthropologists say. Hil
11、l and Barton found similar results in a review of the colors worn at the Euro 2004 international soccer tournament. Their report will be published in tomorrows issue of the journal Nature.Joanna Setchell, a primate researcher at the University of Cambridge in England, has found similar results in na
12、ture. Her work with the large African monkeys known as mandrills shows that red coloration gives males an advantage when it comes to mating.The finding that red also has an advantage in human sporting events does not surprise her, addding that “the idea of the study is very clever.“Hill and Barton g
13、ot the idea for their study out of a mutual interest in the evolution of sexual signals in primates“red seems to be the color, across species, that signals male dominance and testosterone levels,“ Barton said.For example, studies by Setchell, the Cambridge primate researcher, show that dominant male
14、 mandrills have increased red coloration in their faces and rumps. Another study by other scientists shows that red plastic rings experimentally placed on the legs of male zebra finches increase the birds dominance.Barton said he and Hill speculated some speculated that “there might be a similar eff
15、ect in humans. And if so, it could be apparent in sporting contests.“The pair say their results indicate that sexual selection may have influenced the evolution of humans response to color.Setchell, the primatologist, agrees. “As Hill and Barton say, humans redden when we are angry and pale when wer
16、e scared. These are very important signals to other individuals,“ she said.The advantage of red may be intuitively known, judging from the prevalence of red uniforms in sports“though it is clearly not very widely appreciated, on a conscious level at least,“ Barton said.He adds that the finding of re
17、ds advantage might have implications for regulations that govern sporting attire. In the Olympic matches he surveyed for the new study, for example, it is possible some medal winners may have reached the pedestal with an unintended advantage.“That is the implication, though we cannot say that it mad
18、e the difference in any one specific case,“ Barton said.Meanwhile, Setchell notedtongue-in-cheekthat a red advantage may not be limited to sports. “Going by the recent U.S. election results, red is indeed quite successful,“ she said.16. Both Hill and Barton wanted to find out if color affects the ou
19、tcome of sports matched.17. Hill and Barton are both interested in primates.18. Male mandrills use yellow coloration to attract a mate.19. Red is not an advantage for zebra finches.20. The red plastic rings were left on the finches permanently.21. Hill and Barton believe athletes in red are more lik
20、ely to win.22. Many athletes oppose the new regulations on sports uniforms.答案：16. Both Hill and Barton wanted to find out if color affects the outcomes of sports matches.答案为 A(right).相关句：They (Hill and Barton) reached the conclusion by studying the outcomes of boxingThe outcomes 回应上文中提到的“the team dr
21、essed in red is more likely to win”17. Hill and Barton are both interested in primates(灵长目).答案为 A(right).相关句：Hill and Barton got the idea for the study from a mutual interest in primates.18. Male mandrills use yellow coloration to attract a mate.答案为 B(wrong).相关句：Red coloration gives males an advanta
22、ge when it comes to mating.19. Red is not an advantage for Zebra finches(斑胸草雀).答案为 B(wrong).相关句：Scientists put red plastic rings on the legs of male Zebra females, which increased the birds success in finding a mate.20. The red plastic rings were left on the finches permanently.答案为 C(not mentioned).
23、21. Hill and Barton believe athletes in red are more likely to win.答案为 A(right).相关句：Across a range of sports, we find that wearing red is consistently associated with a higher probability of winning.22. Many athletes oppose the new regulations on sport uniforms.答案为 C(not mentioned)相关句：the discovery
24、of reds advantage might lead to new regulations on sports uniforms. 第三部分：概括大意和完成句子(第 2330题，每题 1 分，共 8 分)下面的短文后有 2 项测试任务：(1)第 2326 题要求从所给的 6 个选项中为指定段落每段选择 1 个小标题;(2)第 2730 题要求从所给的 6 个选项中为每个句子确定一个最佳选项。How technology pushes down priceThe Treaty of Breda, signed in 1667 after a war between the English a
25、nd Dutch in which the English were worsted, gave the Dutch the big prize: Run, a small island in the Indonesian archipelago which was the worlds principal source of nutmeg. The margin on nutmeg at the time was around 3,200%. The English, as a consolation prize, got Manhattan. As an illustration of t
26、he long-term fall in food prices compared with other goods, that is a sharp one. But deflation has characterized the food business for centuries, because of continual advances in food production and distribution technology.Consumers have benefited greatly from those advances. Malthusians, whose desc
27、endants until quite recently predicted that the world would run out of food, have thereby been confounded. More and more food is being produced by fewer and fewer people with less and less capital; it is therefore ever more plentiful and cheaper. Since demand is to some extent limited by the size of
28、 peoples stomachs, spending on food compared with other goods has been falling for many years, and continues to drop (see chart 4).Genetically modified (GM) seeds are the latest manifestation of a production revolution that started with Charles “Turnip” Townsend, who in the 18th century laid the bas
29、is for crop rotation. Organic fertilisers were replaced by chemical ones in the 19th century. The railway opened up the American mid-west. The horse replaced the cow, the combine harvester the horse. After the second world war, dwarf varieties of wheat and rice (which overcame the problem that heavi
30、ly fertilised crops in hot countries grew too tall and fell over) boosted developing-country output. The “green revolution” helped trigger a more recent “livestock revolution”, documented by Chris Delgado, who works jointly for the International Food Policy Research Institute and the International L
31、ivestock Research Institute. Higher incomes and urbanisation, combined with falling food prices, have boosted meat and milk consumption in developing countries. By 1997, real beef prices were a third their level in 1971. Over that period, meat consumption in developing countries rose five-fold, thre
32、e times as fast as in developed countries. Milk consumption rose three-fold.By the 1980s, advances in conventional plant breeding had tailed off, but GM made it possible to do things with DNA that conventional breeding could not do. Despite scaremongering in Europe, GM technology is spreading elsewh
33、ere: most of the worlds soya is now GM. Producing lots of food is not much good unless you can distribute it, so advances in distribution technology have been as important as those in production technology. Salt, used to preserve food, which meant that it could be stored and traded, was an early aid
34、 to distribution. Canning arrived in the early 19th century, when a Frenchman discovered that food could be stored longer if it was heated before it was bottled, and a Briton worked out that tin cans were easier to transport than bottles; and both the British and the French armies used the technolog
35、y to feed their troops in the Napoleonic wars. Francis Bacon, a British scientist and essayist, was an early victim of the struggle to develop refrigeration technology: he died in 1626 after eating some chicken that he had stuffed with snow as part of an experiment. In 1877 the first shipload of fro
36、zen beef was carried from Argentina to France. The impact on the food industry of the spread of the domestic refrigerator in the 20th century was rivalled only by that of the car, which changed the face of retailing by allowing supermarkets to develop. Supermarkets have helped push down prices princ
37、ipally because of their scale. Big businesses can invest in IT systems that make them efficient. And their size allows them to buy in bulk. The more concentrated the retail business becomes, the bigger supermarkets get, the further prices get pushed down until, of course, there is so much concentrat
38、ion that there is not enough competition. Britains Competition Commission indicated earlier this year that the supermarket industry was moving towards that point: it refused to let any of the top three supermarket chains buy one of the smaller players. In America, however, where the size of the coun
39、try means a more fragmented retail business, there is still scope for further concentration: the “black death”, as Wal-Mart is known in the trade, is expected to claim more victims. Wal-Marts scale, the efficiency of its IT systems and the cheapness of its non-unionised labour force ($8-10 an hour c
40、ompared with $17-18 for mid-sized players such as Albertsons, A hold, Safeway and Kroger), give it a massive advantage. It sells Colgate toothpaste for an average of 63% of its competitors price, Tropicana orange juice for 58% and Kelloggs Corn Flakes for 56%. Analysts expect at least one of the mid
41、-sized firms to disappear.The concentration of power among retailers has led to another stage in the shift in power down the food chain. Once upon a time, power lay with landlords. In the 20th century, as processing and distribution became more important, so did the food producers. Lord Haskins, Ton
42、y Blairs adviser on farming, recalls going to food industry conferences in the 1970s, when there would be a line of Rolls-Royces outside, all belonging to producers.Retailer concentration has shifted power (and profits) further down the food chainNo longer. Retailer concentration has shifted power (
43、and profits) further down the food chain. But the retailers are not the type to swank around in flash cars. They are ostentatiously parsimonious, advertising their determination to keep prices down. Wal-Marts headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, is in a converted warehouse. Tesco, Britains biggest
44、 private-sector employer, has its headquarters in a Stalinist bunker in a nasty bit of north-east London. Beside the main reception its share price is proudly displayed on one of those blackboards with white plastic letters stuck on to it that you see in the cheapest sandwich bars. One of the manife
45、stations of retailers power (which also reinforces it) is the growth of private-label (ie, supermarket- not producer-branded) goods. In 2002, according to the Boston Consulting Group, own-label made up 39% of grocery sales in Britain, 21% in France and only 16% in the United States, but everybody th
46、inks that, as retailing becomes more concentrated, America is going the way of Britain. Retailers can sell private-label only if the price cuts they offer mean more to consumers than a producers brand. As own-label has expanded, so supermarkets have been taking all but the most successful brands off
47、 their shelves. “If you are a must-have brand its fine,” says Dido Harding, Tescos commercial director. “If youre a sub-global brand, lifes much harder.”The shift in power to retailers has put pressure on producers margins, hence huge programmes of cuts. Since 2000, Uni-lever has cut its workforce b
48、y 33,000 to 245,000 and dropped lots of minor brands as part of its “path to growth” strategy. Cadbury is the latest to announce big cuts: in October it said that it will be shutting 20% of its 133 factories and cutting 10% of its 55,000 global workforce. These cuts should help keep costs, and thus
49、the price of food, low.Does cheap food make people unhealthy? In some ways. Hydrogenated vegetable oil, for instancevegetable fat made solid by adding hydrogen atomsis the nutritionists current bte noire. Widely used as a cheap substitute for butter and cream, it is the main dietary source of trans fats. Trans fats are heavily implicated in heart disease; companies are taking them out of products for fear of lawsuits.Cheap food may also make people eat more. In a paper entitled “Why have Americans become more obese?” David Cutle
