2021年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语（二）Section I Use of EnglishDirections:Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or Don the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)It''s not difficult to set targets for staff. It is much harder, 1 ,to understand their negative
consequences. Most work-related behaviors have multiple components. 2 one and the othersbecome distorted.Travel on a London bus and you''ll 3 see how this works with drivers. Watch people geton and show their tickets. Are they carefully inspected? Never. Do people get on without paying?Of course! Are there inspectors to 4 that people have paid? Possibly, but very few. And peoplewho run for the bus? They are 5 .How about jumping lights? Buses do so almost as frequentlyas cyclists.Why? Because the target is 6 .People complained that buses were late and infrequent.7 , the number of buses and bus lanes were increased, and drivers were 8 or punished
according to the time they took. And drivers hit these targets. But they 9 hit cyclists. If thetarget was changed to 10 ,you would have more inspectors and more sensitive pricing. If thecriterion changed to safety, you would get more 11 drivers who obeyed traftic laws. But boththese criteria would be at the expense of time.There is another 12 : people became immensely inventive in hitting targets. Have you 13that 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 meant to take. A one-hour flight is now balladas 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 madecheaper,but there is a 17 . Setting targets can and does have unforeseen negative consequences.
This is not an argument against target-setting. But it is an argument for exploringconsequences first. All good targets should have multiple criteria 18 critical factors such astime,money, quality and customer feedback. The trick is not only to 19 just one or even twodimensions of the objective, but also to understand how to help people better 20 the objective.1. A. therefore B. however C. again D. moreover2. A. Emphasize B. Identify C. Assess D. Explain3. A. nearly B. curiously C. eagerly D. quickly
4. A.claim B. prove C. check D. recall5. A. threatened B. ignored C. mocked D. blamed6. A. punctuality B. hospitality C. competition D. innovation7. A. Yet B. So C. Besides D. Still8. A. hired B. trained C. rewarded D. grouped9. A. only B. rather C. Once D. Also10. A. comfort B. revenue C. efficiency D. security
11. A. friendly B. quiet C. cautious D. diligent12. A. purpose B. problem C. prejudice D. policy13. A. interesting B. revealed C. abmitted D. noticed14. A. break B. trip C. departure D. transfer15. A. moral B. background C. style D. form16. A.interpret B. criticize C. sacrifice D. tolerate17. A. task B. secret C. product D. cost
18. A. leading to B. calling for C.relating to D. accounting for19. A. specify B. predict C. restore D. create
20. A. modify B. review C. present D. achieve参考答案：1-5：BADCB6-10：ABCDB11-15：CBDBA16-20：CDCAD Section II Reading Comprehension
Part ADirections:Read the following four texts. Answer the questions after 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 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 willthe requirements of the jobs that remain. Research by the WEF detailed in the Harvard BusinessReview, finds that on average 42 per cent of the “core skill” 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 thefuture.The question of who should pay for reskilling is a thorny one. For individual companies, thetemptation is always to let go of workers whose skills are no longer demand and replace them withthose 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 ultimately retraining 18,000 employees. Prepandemic, other companies includingAmazon and Disney had also pledged to create their own plans. When the skills mismatch is in thebroader economy though, the focus usually turns to government to handle. Efforts in Canada andelsewhere have been arguably languid at best, and have given us a situation where we frequentlyhear of employers begging 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 5.5per cent respectively, unemployment rates in Canada and the United States were at generationallows and worker shortages were everywhere. As of May, those rates had spiked up to 13.3 percent and 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 clearshortages of doctors, nurses and other medical personnel.Of course, it is not like you can take an unemployed waiter and train him to be doctor in fewweeks, no matter who pays for it. But even if you cannot close that gap, maybe you can closeothers, and doing so would be to the benefit of all concerned. That seems to be the case in Sweden,where the pandemic kick-started a retraining program where business as well as government had arole. Reskilling in this way would be challenging in a North American context. You can easilyimagine a chorus of "you can’t do that" because teachers or nurses or whoever have special skills,
and using any support staff who has been quickly trained is bound to end in disaster. Maybe. Ormaybe it is something that can work well in Sweden, with its history of co-operation betweenbusiness, labour and government, but not in North America where our history is very different.Then again, maybe it is akin to wartime, when extraordinary things take place, but it is business asusual after the fact. And yet, as in war the pandemic is teaching us that many things, includingrapid reskilling, can be done if there is a will to do them. In any case, Swedens’ work force is nowmore skilled, in more things, and more flexible than it was before.Of course, reskilling programs, whether for pandemic needs or the postpandemic world, areexpensive and at a time when everyone’s budgets are lean this may not be the time to implement
them. Then again, extending income support programs to get us through the next months isexpensive, too, to say nothing of the cost of having a swath of long-term unemployed in thePOST-COVID years Given that, perhaps we should think hard about whether the pandemic can
jump-start us to a place where reskilling becomes much more than a buzzword.21. Research by the World Economic Forum suggestsA. an increase in full-time employmentB. an urgent demand for new job skillsC. a steady growth of job opportunitiesD. a controversy about the “core skills”22. AT&T is cited to showA. an alternative to the fire-and-hire strategyB. an immediate need for government support
C. the importance of staff appraisal standardsD. the characteristics of reskilling program23. Efforts to resolve the skills mismatch in CanadaA. have driven up labour costsB. have proved to be inconsistentC. have met with fierce oppositionD. have appeared to be insufficient24. We can learn from Paragraph 3 that there wasA. a call for policy adjustment.
B. a change in hiring practices.C. a lack of medical workers.D. a sign of economic recovery.25. Scandinavian Airlines decided toA. Great job vacancies for the unemployed.B. Prepare their laid-off workers for other jobs.C. Retrain their cabin staff for better services.D. finance their staff'' s college education.
Text 2With the global population predicted 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 isincreasingly making headlines. In the UK, it has become a big talking point recently too, for arather particular reason: Brexit.Brexit is seen by some as an opportunity to reverse a recent trend towards the UK importingfood. The country produces only about 60 per cent of the food it eats, down from almostthree-quarters in the late 1980s. A move back to self-sufficiency, the argument goes, would boostthe farming industry, political sovereignty and even the nations health. Sounds great- but howfeasible is this vision?According to a report on UK food production from the University of Leeds, UK, 85 percent
of the country''s total land area is associated with meat and dairy production. That supplies 80percent of what is consumed, so even covering the whole country in livestock farms wouldn’tallow us to cover all our meat and dairy needs.There are many caveats to those figures, but they are still grave. To become much moreself-sufficient, the UK would need to drastically reduce its consumption of animal foods, andprobably also farm more intensively meaning fewer green fields and more factory-styleproduction.But switching to a mainly plant-based diet wouldn’t help. There is a good reason why the UKis dominated by animal husbandry: most of its terrain doesn’t have the right soil or climate to
grow crops on commercial basis. Just 25 per cent of the country’s land is suitable forcrop-growing, most of which is already occupied by arable fields. Even if we converted all thesuitable land to fields of fruit and veg--- which would involve taking out all the nature reservesand removing thousands of people from their homes—we would achieve only a 30 percent boostin crop production.Just 23 per cent of the fruit and vegetables consumed in the UK are currently home-grown, soeven 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 grow the grains, sugars, seeds and oils that provide us withthe vast bulk of our current calorie intake.
26. Some people argue that food self-sufficiency in the UK would____.[A]a be hindered by its population growth[B]contribute to the nations well-being
[C]become a priority of the government[D]post a challenge to its farming industry27. The report by the University of Leeds showed that in the UK[A] farmland has been inefficiently utilised[B] factory style production needs reforming[C] most land is used for meat and dairy production[D] more green fields will be converted for farming28. Crop-growing in the UK is restricted due to ____.
[A] its farming technology[B] its dietary tradition[C] its natural conditions[D] its commercial interests29. 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[C] are seeking effective ways to cut calorie intakeD] are trying to grow new varieties of grains
30. The author''s attitude to food self-efficiency in the UK is ____.[A] defensive[B] doubtful[C] tolerant[D] optimistic Text 3When Microsoft bought task management app Wunerlist and mobile calendar Sunrise in
2015, it picked up two newcomers that were attracting considerable buzz in Silicon Valley.Microsoft’ s own Office dominates the market for “ productivity” software, but the start-upsrepresented 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 bestfeatures in its own products. Their teams of engineers stayed on, making them two of the many“acqui-hires” that the biggest companies have used to feed their insatiable hunger for tech talent.To Microsoft’s critics, the fates of Wunderlist and Sunrise are examples of a remorselessdrive by Big Tech to chew up any innovative companies that lie in their path. “ They bought theseedlings and closed them down,” complained Paul Arnold, a partner at San Francisco-basedSwitch Ventures, putting paid to businesses that might one day turn into competitors. Microsoftdeclined to comment.
Like other start-up investors, Mr Arnold’s own business often depends on sellingstart-ups to larger tech companies, though he admits to mixed feelings about the result: “ I thinkthese things are good for me, if I put my selfish hat on. But are they good for the Americaneconomy? I don’t know.”The US Federal Trade Commission says it wants to find the answer to that question. Thisweek, it asked the five most valuable US tech companies for information about their many smallacquisitions over the past decade. Although only a research project at this stage, the request hasraised the prospect of regulators wading into early-stage tech markets that until now have been
beyond their reach.Given their combined market value of more than $5.5tm, rifling through such smalldeals---many of them much less prominent than Wunderlist and Sunrise---might seem beside thepoint. Between them, the five companies(Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Facebook) havespent an average of only $3.4bn a year on sub-$1bn acquisitions over the past five years---a dropin the ocean compared with their massive financial reserves, and the more than $130bn of venturecapital that was invested in the US last year.However, critics say that the big companies use such deals to buy their most threatening
potential competitors before their businesses have a chance to gain momentum, in some cases aspart of a “buy and kill” tactic to simply close them down.31. What is true about Wuderlist and Sunrise after their acquisitions?
A. Their market values declined.B. Their tech features improved.C. Their engineers were retained.D. Their products were re-priced.32. Microsoft’s critics believe that the big tech companies tend to___A. ignore public options
B. treat new tech talent unfairlyC. exaggerate their product qualityD. eliminate their potential competitors33. Paul Arnold is concerned that small acquisitions might___A. harm the national economyB. worsen market competition
C. discourage start-up investorsD. weaken big tech companies34. The US Federal Trade Commission intend to___A. examine small acquisitionsB. limit Big Tech’s expansionC. supervise start-ups operations
D. encourage research collaboration
35. For the five biggest tech companies, their small acquisition have ___A. brought little financial pressureB. raised few management challengesC. set an example for future dealsD. generate considerable profits
Text 4We'' re fairly good at judging people based on first impression, thin slices ofexperience ranging from a glimpse of a photo to five-minute interaction, anddeliberation can be not only extraneous but intrusive. In one study of the ability shedubbed "thin slicing," the late psychologist Nalini Ambady asked participants towatch silent 10-second video clips of professors and to rate the instructor''s overalleffectiveness. Their ratings correlated strongly with students'' end-of-semester ratings.Another set of participants had count backward from 1,000 by nines as they watchedthe clips, occupying their conscious working memory. Their ratings were just asaccurate, demonstrating the intuitive nature of the social processing.
Critically, another group was asked to spend a minute writing down reasons fortheir judgment, before giving the rating. Accuracy dropped dramatically. Ambadysuspected that deliberation focused them on vivid but misleading cues, such as certaingestures or utterances, rather than letting the complex interplay of subtle signals forma holistic impression. She found similar interference when participants watched15-second clips of pairs of people and judged whether they were strangers, friends, ordating partners.Other research shows we'' re better at detecting deception an sexual orientationfrom thin slices when we rely on intuition instead of reflection. “It'' s as if you'' re
driving a stick shift,” says Judith Hall, a psychologist at Northeastern University, “andif you start thinking about it too much, you can'' t remember what you'' re doing. But ifyou go on automatic pilot, you'' re fine. Much of our social life is like that.”Thinking too much can also harm our ability to form preferences. Collegestudents'' ratings of strawberry jams and college course aligned better with experts''opinions when the students weren''t asked to analyze their rationale. And people madecar-buying decisions that were both objectively better and more personally satisfyingwhen asked to focus on their feelings rather than on details, but only if the decisionwas complex-when they had a lot of information to process.Intuition'' s special powers are unleashed only in certain circumstances. In one
study, participants completed a battery of eight tasks, including four that tappedreflective thinking (discerning rule comprehending vocabulary) and four that tappedintuition an creativity (generating new products or figures of speech). Then the ratedthe 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 helpedthem on the rest. Sometimes the heart is smarter than the head.36. NaliniAmbaby'' s study deals withA. instructor student interactionB. the power of people'' s memory
C. the reliability of first impressionsD.People'' s ability to influence others37. InAmbaby’s study, rating accuracy dropped when participants .A.gave the rating in limited timeC.watched shorter video clipsB.focused on specific detailsD. discussed with on another38. Judith Hall mentions driving to mention that .
A.memory can be selectiveB. reflection can be distractingC. social skills must be cultivatedD. deception is difficult to detect39. When you are making complex decisions, it is advisable to .A.follow your feelingsB. list your preferencesC. seek expert adviceD.collect enough data
40. What can we learn from the last paragraph?A. Generating mew products takes time.B. Intuition may affect reflective tasks.C. Vocabulary comprehension needs creativity.D. Objective thinking may boost intuitiveness.Part BDirections:
Read the following text and answer the questions by choosing the most suitable subheading fromthe list A-G for each of the numbered paragraphs (41-45). There are two extra subheadings whichyou do not need to use. Mark your answers on theANSWER SHEET. (10 points)A.Stay calmB.Stay humbleC. Don’t make judgmentsD. Be realistic about the risksE. Decide whether to wait
F.Ask permission to disagreeG. Identify a shared goal
How to Disagree wit Someone More Powerful than YouYour boss proposes a new initiative you think won’t work. Your senior colleague outlines aproject timeline you think is unrealistic. What do you say when you disagree with someone whohas more power than you do? How do you decide whether it’s worth speaking up? And if you do,what exactly should you say? Here’s how to disagree with someone more powerful than you.41. You may decide it’s best to hold off on voicing your opinion. Maybe you haven’t finishedthinking the problem through, the whole discussion was a surprise to you, or you want to get aclearer sense of what the group thinks. If you think other people are going to disagree too, you
might want to gather your army first. People can contribute experience or information to yourthink— all the things that would make the disagreement stronger or more valid. It’s also a goodidea to delay the conversation if you’re in a meeting or other public space. Discussing the issue inprivate will make the powerful person feel less threatened.42. Before you share your thoughts, think about what the powerful person cares about— it maybe “the credibility of their team on getting a project done on time,” says Grenny. You’re morelikely to be heard if you can connect your disagreement to a “higher purpose”. When you do speakup, don’t assume the link will be clear. You’ll want to state it overtly, contextualizing your
statements so that you’re seen not as a disagreeable underling but as a colleague who’s trying toadvance a shared goal. The discussion will then become more like a chess game than a boxingmatch.43. This step may sound overly deferential, but it’s a smart way to give the powerful personpsychological safety and control. You can say something like, “I know we seem to be movingtoward a first-quarter commitment here. I have reasons to think that won’t work. I’d like to lay outmy reasoning. Would that be OK?” This gives the person a choice, allowing them to verbally optin. And, assuming they say yes, it will make you feel more confident about voicing your
disagreement.44. You might feel your heart racing or your face turning red, but do whatever you can to remain
neutral in both your words and actions. When your body language communicates reluctance oranxiety, it undercuts the message. It sends a mixed message, and your counterpart gets to choosewhat to read. Deep breaths can help, as can speaking more slowly and deliberately. When we feelpanicky we tend to talk louder and faster. Simply slowing the pace and talking in an even tonehelps the other person calm down and does the same for you. It also makes you seem confident,even if you aren’t.45. Emphasize that you’re offering your opinion, not gospel truth. It may be a well-informed,well-researched opinion, but it’s still an opinion,my talk tentatively and slightly understate your
confidence. Instead of saying something like “If we set an end-of-quarter deadline, we’ll nevermake it,” say, “This is just my opinion, but I don’t see how we will make that deadline.” Havingasserted your perfectly willing to talk- and may even be flattered to receive your attention.答案：EGFAB Section III Translation
46. Directions:Translate the following text into Chinese. Write your translation on ANSWER SHEET. (15points)We tend to think that friends and family members are our biggest source of connection，laughter and warmth. While that may well be true, researchers have also recently found thatinteracting with strangers actually brings a boost in mood and feelings of belonging that we didn’texpect.In one series of studies, researchers instructed Chicago-area commuters using publictransportation to strike up a conversation with someone near them. On average, participants whofollowed this instruction felt better than those who had been told to stand or sit in silence. Theresearchers also argued that when we shy away from casual interactions with strangers, it is often
due to a misplaced anxiety that they might not want to talk to us. Much of that time, however, thisbelief is false. As it turns out, many people are actually perfectly willing to talk and may even beflattered to receive your attention.
参考译文：我们往往认为朋友和家人是我们关系、笑容和温暖的最大来源。尽管这个想法很有可能是真的，但是研究人员们最近也发现，同陌生人打交道实际也能提升我们的情绪，并且带来一种意想不到的归属感。在一系列研究中，研究人员引导在芝加哥地区乘坐公共交通工具上下班的人同周围的人进行攀谈。平均说来，那些听从了该指令的参与者比那些被要求仅仅默默坐着或站着的参与者感觉更好一些。研究人员们还认为当我们不好意思同陌生人随意交流时，这常常是由于我们不必要的担心——他们可能不想同我们说话。然而，大多数时候，这种想法都是错误的。正如研究结果显示，许多人实际上非常愿意交谈——而且甚至觉得能被你注意到是一件很荣幸的事。
Section IV WritingPart A47. Directions:Suppose you are organizing an online meeting, write an email to Jack, an international student,1) invite him to participate;2) tell him about the details.Dear Jack,As the chairman of the Student Union, I am writing the letter to invite you to participate inthe upcoming online meeting, which will be held from 8:30 to 11:30 on September 1
st.There are some details which require your keen attention. First of all, a decision has beenmade that all the international students should delay your arrival to our university due to theinfluence of Covid-19. However, regular classes will continue to be lectured through oureducational system, which will be elaborated in detail in the meeting. Besides, please do not forgetto register an account in order to have access to the meeting.
If you have future inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am looking forward toyour participation. Yours,Li MingPart B48. Directions:Write an essay based on the chart below. In your writing, you should
1) interpret the chart, and2) give your comments.You should write about 150 words on theANSWER SHEET. (15 points)
参考范文：The chart above clearly demonstrates the distribution in terms of the manners of residents''physical exercise. Based upon the data of the graph, we can see that the percentage of doingexercise alone is 54.3%, which is the highest within all of the parts. The figure is followed bydoing sports with friends and with families, reaching 47.7% and 23.9% respectively. By contrast,the lowest percentage is doing exercise in team, with only 15.8% involved.It is not difficult for us to come up with some possible factors to account for this trend. Firstand foremost, in the contemporary era, so high is the quality of people''s life that more and more
individuals are willing to pursue spiritual wealth other than material fortune. No one can deny thefact that a sound body is to a man what a good engine is to a car, which will give us more lastingmotivation. In addition, it is universally acknowledged that all of the globe has suffered from thecoronavirus pandemic last year. It is not safe to act on a collective scale during this period.Consequently, staying at home and doing exercise alone has become the best choice for manycitizens.From my personal perspective, life is like a marathon. The healthier you are, the more likelyyou will stick to the end. Different people will choose the different way suitable for themselvesbest. Just move from this movement on!
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