2024年5月9日发(作者：谬彭泽)
四川大学考研基础英语真题2007年
(总分：150.00，做题时间：90分钟)
一、Part One Reading Comprehension(总题数：0，分数：0.00)
二、Ⅰ. Cloze Test(总题数：20，分数：10.00)
It is well known that teenage boys tend to do better 1 math than girls, that male high school students are more
likely than their female counterparts 2 advanced math courses like calculus, that virtually all the great
mathematicians 3 men. Are women born with 4 mathematical ability? Or does society's sexism slow their
progress? In 1980 two Johns Hopkins University researchers tried 5 the eternal nature/nurture debate. Julian
Stanley and Camilla Benhow 6 10,000 talented seventh-and eighth-graders between 1972 and 1979. Using the
Scholastic Aptitude Test in which math questions 7 to measure ability rather than knowledge, they
discovered 8 sex differences. 9 the verbal abilities of the males and females 10 differed, 11 girls
scored over 500 (on a scale of 200 to 800) 12 mathematical ability; at the 700 level, the ratio was 14 to 1. The
conclusion: males have 13 superior mathematical reasoning ability.
Benhow and Stanley's findings, 14 are published in Science, disturbed some men and 15 women. Now there
is 16 for those people in a new study from the University of Chicago that suggests math 17 not, after all, a
natural male domain. Prof. Zalman Usiskin studied 1,366 tenth-graders. They were selected from 18 classes and
tested on their ability to solve geometry proofs, a subject requiring 19 abstract reasoning and spatial ability. The
conclusion 20 by Usiskin: there are no sex differences in math ability.
（分数：10.00）
三、Ⅱ. Reading Comprehension(总题数：15，分数：30.00)
In addition to urge to conform which we generate ourselves, there is the external pressure of the various formal and
informal groups we belong to, the pressure to back their ideas and attitudes and to imitate their actions. Thus our urge
to conform receives continuing, even daily reinforcement. To be sure, the intensity of the reinforcement, like the
strength of urge and the ability and inclination to withstand it, differs widely among individuals. Yet some pressure is
present for everyone. And in one way or another, to some extent, everyone yields to it.
It is possible that a new member of a temperance group might object to the group's rigid insistence that all drinking
of alcoholic beverages is wrong. He might even speak out, reminding them that occasional, moderate drinking is not
harmful, that even the Bible speaks approvingly of it. But the group may quickly let him know that such ideas are
unwelcome in their presence. Every time he forgets this, he will be made to feel uncomfortable. In time if he values
their companionship he will avoid expressing that point of view. He may even keep himself from thinking.
This kind of pressure, whether spoken or unspoken, can be generated by any group, regardless of how liberal or
conservative, formal or casual it may be. Friday night poker clubs, churches, political parties, committees, fraternities,
unions. The teenage gang that steals automobile accessories may seem to have to taboos. But let one uneasy member
remark that he is beginning to feel guilty about his crimes and their wrath will descend on him.
Similarly, in high school and college, the crowd a student travels with has certain (usually unstated) expectations for
its members. If they drink or smoke, they will often make the member who does not do so feel that he doesn't fully
belong. If a member does not share their views on sex, drugs, studying, cheating, or any other subject of importance to
them, they will communicate their displeasure. The way they communicate, of c0urse, may be more or less direct. They
may tell him he'd better conform "or else". They may launch a teasing campaign against him. Or they may be even less
obvious and leave him out of their activities for a few days until he asks what is wrong or decides for himself and
resolves to behave more like them.
The urge to conform on occasion conflicts with the tendency to resist change. If group we are in advocates an idea or
action that is new and strange to us, we can be torn between seeking their acceptance and maintaining the security of
familiar ideas and behavior. In such cases, the way we turn will depend on which tendency is stronger in us or which
value we are more committed to. More often, however, the two tendencies do not conflict but reinforce each other. For
we tend to associate with those whose attitudes and actions are similar to our own.
The writer most probably discusses ______ in the previous part of the text.
（分数：10.00）
ages that conformity brings us
al urge we have to conform with others
definition of conformity
necessity of conformity
The world is going through the biggest wave of mergers and acquisitions ever witnessed. The process sweeps from
hyperactive America to Europe and reaches the emerging countries with unsurpassed might. Many in these countries
are looking at this process and worrying: "Won't the wave of business concentration turn into an uncontrollable anti-
competitive force?"
There's no question that the big are getting bigger and more powerful. Multinational corporations accounted for less
than 20% of international trade in 1982. Today the figure is more that 25% and growing rapidly. International affiliates
account for fast-growing segment of production in economies that open up and welcome foreign investment. In
Argentina, for instance, after the reforms of the early 1990s, multinationals went from 43% to almost 70% of the
industrial production of the 200 largest firms. This phenomenon has created serious concerns over the role of smaller
economic firms, of national businessmen and over the ultimate stability, of the world economy.
I believe that the most important forces behind the massive M&A wave are the same that underlie the globalization
process: falling transportation, and communication costs, lower trade and investment barriers and enlarged markets that
require enlarged operations capable of meeting customers' demands. All these are beneficial, not detrimental to
consumers. As productivity grows, the world's wealth increases.
Examples of benefits or costs of the current concentration-wave are scanty. Yet it is hard to imaging that the merge
of a few oil firms today could recreate the same threats to competition that were feared nearly a century ago in the U.
S., when the Standard Oil trust was broken up. The mergers of telecom companies, such as World Corn, hardly seem to
bring higher prices for consumers or a reduction in the pace of technical progress. On the contrary, the price of
communications is coming down fast. In cars, too, concentration is increasing—witness Daimler and Chrysler, Renault
and Nissan—but it does not appear that consumers are being hurt.
Yet the fact remains that the merger movement must be watched. A few weeks ago, Alan Greenspan warned against
the mega mergers in the banking industry. Who is going to supervise, regulate and operate, as lender of last resort with
the gigantic banks that are being created? Won't multinationals shift production from one place to another when a
nation gets too strict about infringements to fair corn petition? And should one country take upon itself the role of
"defending competition" on issues that affect many other nations, as in the U. S.
What is the typical trend of businesses today?
（分数：10.00）
take in more foreign funds
invest more abroad
combine and become bigger.
trade with more countries
Discussion of the assimilation of Puerto Ricans in the United States has focused on two factors: social standing and
the loss of national culture. In general, excessive stress is placed on one fact or the other, depending on whether fine
commentator is North American or Puerto Rica. Many American Social scientists, such as Oscar Handlin, Joseph
Fitzpatrick, and Oscar Lewis, consider Puerto Ricans as the most recent in a long line of ethnic entrants to occupy the
lowest rung on the social ladder. Such a "socio-demographic" approach tends to regard assimilation as a benign
process, taking for granted increased economic advantage and inevitable cultural integration, in a supposedly
egalitarian context. However, this approach fails to take into account the colonial nature of the Puerto Rican case, with
this group, unlike their European predecessors, coming from a nation politically subordinated to the United States.
2024年5月9日发(作者：谬彭泽)
四川大学考研基础英语真题2007年
(总分：150.00，做题时间：90分钟)
一、Part One Reading Comprehension(总题数：0，分数：0.00)
二、Ⅰ. Cloze Test(总题数：20，分数：10.00)
It is well known that teenage boys tend to do better 1 math than girls, that male high school students are more
likely than their female counterparts 2 advanced math courses like calculus, that virtually all the great
mathematicians 3 men. Are women born with 4 mathematical ability? Or does society's sexism slow their
progress? In 1980 two Johns Hopkins University researchers tried 5 the eternal nature/nurture debate. Julian
Stanley and Camilla Benhow 6 10,000 talented seventh-and eighth-graders between 1972 and 1979. Using the
Scholastic Aptitude Test in which math questions 7 to measure ability rather than knowledge, they
discovered 8 sex differences. 9 the verbal abilities of the males and females 10 differed, 11 girls
scored over 500 (on a scale of 200 to 800) 12 mathematical ability; at the 700 level, the ratio was 14 to 1. The
conclusion: males have 13 superior mathematical reasoning ability.
Benhow and Stanley's findings, 14 are published in Science, disturbed some men and 15 women. Now there
is 16 for those people in a new study from the University of Chicago that suggests math 17 not, after all, a
natural male domain. Prof. Zalman Usiskin studied 1,366 tenth-graders. They were selected from 18 classes and
tested on their ability to solve geometry proofs, a subject requiring 19 abstract reasoning and spatial ability. The
conclusion 20 by Usiskin: there are no sex differences in math ability.
（分数：10.00）
三、Ⅱ. Reading Comprehension(总题数：15，分数：30.00)
In addition to urge to conform which we generate ourselves, there is the external pressure of the various formal and
informal groups we belong to, the pressure to back their ideas and attitudes and to imitate their actions. Thus our urge
to conform receives continuing, even daily reinforcement. To be sure, the intensity of the reinforcement, like the
strength of urge and the ability and inclination to withstand it, differs widely among individuals. Yet some pressure is
present for everyone. And in one way or another, to some extent, everyone yields to it.
It is possible that a new member of a temperance group might object to the group's rigid insistence that all drinking
of alcoholic beverages is wrong. He might even speak out, reminding them that occasional, moderate drinking is not
harmful, that even the Bible speaks approvingly of it. But the group may quickly let him know that such ideas are
unwelcome in their presence. Every time he forgets this, he will be made to feel uncomfortable. In time if he values
their companionship he will avoid expressing that point of view. He may even keep himself from thinking.
This kind of pressure, whether spoken or unspoken, can be generated by any group, regardless of how liberal or
conservative, formal or casual it may be. Friday night poker clubs, churches, political parties, committees, fraternities,
unions. The teenage gang that steals automobile accessories may seem to have to taboos. But let one uneasy member
remark that he is beginning to feel guilty about his crimes and their wrath will descend on him.
Similarly, in high school and college, the crowd a student travels with has certain (usually unstated) expectations for
its members. If they drink or smoke, they will often make the member who does not do so feel that he doesn't fully
belong. If a member does not share their views on sex, drugs, studying, cheating, or any other subject of importance to
them, they will communicate their displeasure. The way they communicate, of c0urse, may be more or less direct. They
may tell him he'd better conform "or else". They may launch a teasing campaign against him. Or they may be even less
obvious and leave him out of their activities for a few days until he asks what is wrong or decides for himself and
resolves to behave more like them.
The urge to conform on occasion conflicts with the tendency to resist change. If group we are in advocates an idea or
action that is new and strange to us, we can be torn between seeking their acceptance and maintaining the security of
familiar ideas and behavior. In such cases, the way we turn will depend on which tendency is stronger in us or which
value we are more committed to. More often, however, the two tendencies do not conflict but reinforce each other. For
we tend to associate with those whose attitudes and actions are similar to our own.
The writer most probably discusses ______ in the previous part of the text.
（分数：10.00）
ages that conformity brings us
al urge we have to conform with others
definition of conformity
necessity of conformity
The world is going through the biggest wave of mergers and acquisitions ever witnessed. The process sweeps from
hyperactive America to Europe and reaches the emerging countries with unsurpassed might. Many in these countries
are looking at this process and worrying: "Won't the wave of business concentration turn into an uncontrollable anti-
competitive force?"
There's no question that the big are getting bigger and more powerful. Multinational corporations accounted for less
than 20% of international trade in 1982. Today the figure is more that 25% and growing rapidly. International affiliates
account for fast-growing segment of production in economies that open up and welcome foreign investment. In
Argentina, for instance, after the reforms of the early 1990s, multinationals went from 43% to almost 70% of the
industrial production of the 200 largest firms. This phenomenon has created serious concerns over the role of smaller
economic firms, of national businessmen and over the ultimate stability, of the world economy.
I believe that the most important forces behind the massive M&A wave are the same that underlie the globalization
process: falling transportation, and communication costs, lower trade and investment barriers and enlarged markets that
require enlarged operations capable of meeting customers' demands. All these are beneficial, not detrimental to
consumers. As productivity grows, the world's wealth increases.
Examples of benefits or costs of the current concentration-wave are scanty. Yet it is hard to imaging that the merge
of a few oil firms today could recreate the same threats to competition that were feared nearly a century ago in the U.
S., when the Standard Oil trust was broken up. The mergers of telecom companies, such as World Corn, hardly seem to
bring higher prices for consumers or a reduction in the pace of technical progress. On the contrary, the price of
communications is coming down fast. In cars, too, concentration is increasing—witness Daimler and Chrysler, Renault
and Nissan—but it does not appear that consumers are being hurt.
Yet the fact remains that the merger movement must be watched. A few weeks ago, Alan Greenspan warned against
the mega mergers in the banking industry. Who is going to supervise, regulate and operate, as lender of last resort with
the gigantic banks that are being created? Won't multinationals shift production from one place to another when a
nation gets too strict about infringements to fair corn petition? And should one country take upon itself the role of
"defending competition" on issues that affect many other nations, as in the U. S.
What is the typical trend of businesses today?
（分数：10.00）
take in more foreign funds
invest more abroad
combine and become bigger.
trade with more countries
Discussion of the assimilation of Puerto Ricans in the United States has focused on two factors: social standing and
the loss of national culture. In general, excessive stress is placed on one fact or the other, depending on whether fine
commentator is North American or Puerto Rica. Many American Social scientists, such as Oscar Handlin, Joseph
Fitzpatrick, and Oscar Lewis, consider Puerto Ricans as the most recent in a long line of ethnic entrants to occupy the
lowest rung on the social ladder. Such a "socio-demographic" approach tends to regard assimilation as a benign
process, taking for granted increased economic advantage and inevitable cultural integration, in a supposedly
egalitarian context. However, this approach fails to take into account the colonial nature of the Puerto Rican case, with
this group, unlike their European predecessors, coming from a nation politically subordinated to the United States.