2021年考研《英语一》阅读真题(文字版)

2021年考研《英语一》阅读真题（文字版）

Section II Reading Comprehension

Part A

Directions:

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by

choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

Among the annoying challenges facing the middle class is one that will

probably go unmentioned in the next presidential campaign: What happens when

the robots come for their jobs?

Don't dismiss that possibility entirely. About half of U.S. jobs are at high risk of

being automated, according to a University of Oxford study, with the middle class

disproportionately squeezed. Lower-income jobs like gardening or day care don't

appeal to robots. But many middle-class occupations-trucking, financial advice,

software engineering — have aroused their interest, or soon will. The rich own the

robots, so they will be fine.

This isn't to be alarmist. Optimists point out that technological upheaval has

benefited workers in the past. The Industrial Revolution didn't go so well for

第 1 页

共 18 页

Luddites whose jobs were displaced by mechanized looms, but it eventually raised

living standards and created more jobs than it destroyed. Likewise, automation

should eventually boost productivity, stimulate demand by driving down prices,

and free workers from hard, boring work. But in the medium term, middle-class

workers may need a lot of help adjusting.

The first step, as Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee argue in The Second

Machine Age, should be rethinking education and job training. Curriculums —

from grammar school to college- should evolve to focus less on memorizing facts

and more on creativity and complex communication. Vocational schools should do

a better job of fostering problem-solving skills and helping students work

alongside robots. Online education can supplement the traditional kind. It could

make extra training and instruction affordable. Professionals trying to acquire new

skills will be able to do so without going into debt.

The challenge of coping with automation underlines the need for the U.S. to

revive its fading business dynamism: Starting new companies must be made easier.

In previous eras of drastic technological change, entrepreneurs smoothed the

transition by dreaming up ways to combine labor and machines. The best uses of

3D printers and virtual reality haven't been invented yet. The U.S. needs the new

companies that will invent them.

Finally, because automation threatens to widen the gap between capital

income and labor income, taxes and the safety net will have to be rethought. Taxes

on low-wage labor need to be cut, and wage subsidies such as the earned income

第 2 页

共 18 页

tax credit should be expanded: This would boost incomes, encourage work, reward

companies for job creation, and reduce inequality.

Technology will improve society in ways big and small over the next few years,

yet this will be little comfort to those who find their lives and careers upended by

automation. Destroying the machines that are coming for our jobs would be nuts.

But policies to help workers adapt will be indispensable.

will be most threatened by automation?

[A] Leading politicians.

[B]Low-wage laborers.

[C]Robot owners.

[D]Middle-class workers.

22 .Which of the following best represent the author’s view?

[A] Worries about automation are in fact groundless.

[B]Optimists' opinions on new tech find little support.

[C]Issues arising from automation need to be tackled

第 3 页

共 18 页

[D]Negative consequences of new tech can be avoided

ion in the age of automation should put more emphasis on

[A] creative potential.

[B]job-hunting skills.

[C]individual needs.

[D]cooperative spirit.

author suggests that tax policies be aimed at

[A] encouraging the development of automation.

[B]increasing the return on capital investment.

[C]easing the hostility between rich and poor.

[D]preventing the income gap from widening.

this text, the author presents a problem with

[A] opposing views on it.

第 4 页

共 18 页

[B]possible solutions to it.

[C]its alarming impacts.

[D]its major variations.

Text 2

A new survey by Harvard University finds more than two-thirds of young

Americans disapprove of President Trump’s use of Twitter. The implication is that

Millennials prefer news from the White House to be filtered through other source,

Not a president’s social media platform.

Most Americans rely on social media to check daily headlines. Yet as distrust

has risen toward all media, people may be starting to beef up their media literacy

skills. Such a trend is badly needed. During the 2021 presidential campaign, nearly

a quarter of web content shared by Twitter users in the politically critical state of

Michigan was fake news, according to the University of Oxford. And a survey

conducted for BuzzFeed News found 44 percent of Facebook users rarely or never

trust news from the media giant.

Young people who are digital natives are indeed becoming more skillful at

separating fact from fiction in cyberspace. A Knight Foundation focus-group

survey of young people between ages 14and24 found they use “distributed trust”

to verify stories. They cross-check sources and prefer news from different

第 5 页

共 18 页

perspectives—especially those that are open about any bias. “Many young people

assume a great deal of personal responsibility for educating themselves and

actively seeking out opposing viewpoints,” the survey concluded.

Such active research can have another effect. A 2021 survey conducted in

Australia, Britain, and the United States by the University of Wisconsin-Madison

found that young people’s reliance on social media led to greater political

engagement.

Social media allows users to experience news events more intimately and

immediately while also permitting them to re-share news as a projection of their

values and interests. This forces users to be more conscious of their role in passing

along information. A survey by Barna research group found the top reason given

by Americans for the fake news phenomenon is “reader error,” more so than

made-up stories or factual mistakes in reporting. About a third say the problem of

fake news lies in “misinterpretation or exaggeration of actual news” via social

media. In other words, the choice to share news on social media may be the heart

of the issue. “This indicates there is a real personal responsibility in counteracting

this problem,” says Roxanne Stone, editor in chief at Barna Group.

So when young people are critical of an over-tweeting president, they reveal a

mental discipline in thinking skills – and in their choices on when to share on

social media.

26. According to the Paragraphs 1 and 2, many young Americans cast doubts

第 6 页

共 18 页

on

[A] the justification of the news-filtering practice.

[B] people’s preference for social media platforms.

[C] the administrations ability to handle information.

[D] social media was a reliable source of news.

27. The phrase “beer up”(Line 2, Para. 2) is closest in meaning to

[A] sharpen

[B] define

[C] boast

[D] share

28. According to the knight foundation survey, young people

[A] tend to voice their opinions in cyberspace.

[B] verify news by referring to diverse resources.

第 7 页

共 18 页

[C] have s strong sense of responsibility.

[D] like to exchange views on “distributed trust”

29. The Barna survey found that a main cause for the fake news problem is

[A] readers outdated values.

[B] journalists’ biased reporting

[C] readers’ misinterpretation

[D] journalists’ made-up stories.

30. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

[A] A Rise in Critical Skills for Sharing News Online

[B] A Counteraction Against the Over-tweeting Trend

[C] The Accumulation of Mutual Trust on Social Media.

[D] The Platforms for Projection of Personal Interests.

Text 3

第 8 页

共 18 页

Any fair-minded assessment of the dangers of the deal between Britain's

National Health Service (NHS) and DeepMind must start by acknowledging that

both sides mean well. DeepMind is one of the leading artificial intelligence (AI)

companies in the world. The potential of this work applied to healthcare is very

great, but it could also lead to further concentration of power in the tech giants. It

Is against that background that the information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham,

has issued her damning verdict against the Royal Free hospital trust under the

NHS, which handed over to DeepMind the records of 1.6 million patients In 2021

on the basis of a vague agreement which took far too little account of the patients'

rights and their expectations of privacy.

DeepMind has almost apologized. The NHS trust has mended its ways. Further

arrangements- and there may be many-between the NHS and DeepMind will be

carefully scrutinised to ensure that all necessary permissions have been asked of

patients and all unnecessary data has been cleaned. There are lessons about

informed patient consent to learn. But privacy is not the only angle in this case and

not even the most important. Ms Denham chose to concentrate the blame on the

NHS trust, since under existing law it “controlled” the data and DeepMind merely

“processed" it. But this distinction misses the point that it is processing and

aggregation, not the mere possession of bits, that gives the data value.

The great question is who should benefit from the analysis of all the data that

our lives now generate. Privacy law builds on the concept of damage to an

individual from identifiable knowledge about them. That misses the way the

surveillance economy works. The data of an individual there gains its value only

第 9 页

共 18 页