2010考研英语二真题及答案

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 "__4__" 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 [B] appointed [C]commented [D] designated 2 [A] proceeded [B] activated [C] followed [D] prompted 3 [A] digits [B] numbers [C] amounts [D] sums 4 [A] moderate [B] normal [C] unusual [D] extreme 5 [A] with [B] in [C] from [D] by 6 [A] progress [B] absence [C] presence [D] favor 7 [A] reality [B] phenomenon [C] concept [D] notice 8 [A]over [B] for [C] among [D] to 9 [A] stay up [B] crop up [C] fill up [D] cover up 10 [A] as [B] if [C] unless [D] until 11 [A] excessive [B] enormous [C] significant [D]magnificent 12 [A]categories [B] examples [C] patterns [D] samples 13 [A] imparted [B] immerse [C] injected [D] infected 14 [A] released [B] relayed [C] relieved [D] remained 15 [A] placing [B] delivering [C] taking [D] giving 16 [A] feasible [B] available [C] reliable [D] applicable 17 [A] prevalent [B] principal [C] innovative [D] initial 18 [A] presented [B] restricted [C] recommended [D] introduced 19 [A] problems [B] issues [C] agonies [D] sufferings 20 [A] involved in [B] caring for [C] concerned with [D] warding off Section Ⅱ Reading comprehension Part A Directions: Read the following four passages. Answer the questions below each passage by choosing A, B, C and D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points) 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 Mc Andrew, 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 12,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