考研公共课
问答题Human beings in all times and places think about their world and wonder at their place in it. Humans are thoughtful and creative, possessed of insatiable curiosity.1) Furthermore, humans have the ability to modify the environment in which they live, thus subjecting all other life forms to their own peculiar ideas and fancies.Therefore, it is important to study humans in all their richness and diversity in a calm and systematic manner, with the hope that the knowledge resulting from such studies can lead humans to a more harmonious way of living with themselves and with all other life forms on this planet Earth. “Anthropology” derives from the Greek words anthropos “human” and logos “the study of.” By its very name, anthropology encompasses the study of all humankind. Anthropology is one of the social sciences.2) Social science is that branch of intellectual enquiry which seeks to study humans and their endeavors in the same reasoned, orderly, systematic, and dispassioned manner that natural scientists use for the study of natural phenomena. Social science disciplines include geography, economics, political science, psychology, and sociology. Each of these social sciences has a subfield or specialization which lies particularly close to anthropology. All the social sciences focus upon the study of humanity. Anthropology is a field-study oriented discipline which makes extensive use of the comparative method in analysis.3)The emphasis on data gathered first-hand, combined with a cross-cultural perspective brought to the analysis of cultures past and present, makes this study a unique and distinctly important social science. Anthropological analyses rest heavily upon the concept of culture. Sir Edward Tylor’s formulation of the concept of culture was one of the great intellectual achievements of 19th century science. 4) Tylor defined culture as “… that complex whole which includes belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”This insight, so profound in its simplicity, opened up an entirely new way of perceiving and understanding human life. Implicit within Tylor’s definition is the concept that culture is learned, shared, and patterned behavior. 5) Thus, the anthropological concept of “culture,” like the concept of “set” in mathematics, is an abstract concept which makes possible immense amounts of concrete research and understanding.
问答题Directions: Study the following cartoon carefully and write an essay in which you should (1)describe the situation the drawing indicates, interpret its meaning, and (2)give comments on this phenomenon. You should write 160-200 words neatly on the ANSWER SHEET 2.
问答题Although the American economy has transformed itself over the years, certain issues have persisted since the early days of the republic. One is the continuing debate over the proper role for government in what is basically a marketplace economy. An economy based on free enterprise is generally characterized by private ownership and initiative, with a relative absence of government involvement. However, government intervention has been found necessary from time to time to ensure that economic opportunities are fair and accessible to the people, to prevent flagrant abuses, to dampen inflation and to stimulate growth. Ever since colonial times, the government has been involved, to some extent, in economic decision-making. The federal government, for example, has made huge investments in infrastructure, and it has provided social welfare programs that the private sector was unable or unwilling to provide. In a myriad of ways and over many decades, the government has supported and promoted the development of agriculture.
问答题Putin will finish the second of two terms as President in 2008. Under his leadership, Russia has re-emerged as a significant world power. 1) I have friends who predict that Vladimir Putin will find his new position as Russian prime minister a comedown after eight years as President.I doubt it. Putin is more likely to define his job than be defined by it. After our first meetings, in 1999 and 2000, I described him in my journal as “shrewd, confident, hard-working, patriotic, and ingratiating.” In the years since, he has become more confident and—to Westerners—decidedly less ingratiating. Born in Leningrad (today’s St. Petersburg) Putin is the son of a sailor and a factory worker. From 1976 to 1990, Putin served in the foreign intelligence branch of the notorious Soviet spy agency. For many of those years, he was stationed in Germany. In 1998, Putin was tapped to run the FSB (successor to the KGB) by then Russian President Boris Yeltsin. 2) When Yeltsin resigned shortly before the end of his second term, Putin was chosen to serve as acting President, putting him in an ideal position to win the office in the election that followed. 3) Some believe Putin’s KGB background explains everything, but his allegiance to the KGB is in turn explained by his intense nationalism—which accounts for his popularity in Russia.Timing matters in history, and Putin has had the benefit of high oil prices and the contrast with his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin. 4) His vision of Russia is that of a great power in the old-fashioned European sense. Such powers have spheres of influence and subjugate lesser powers. At home, they celebrate national traditions and prize collective glory, not individual freedom. Tolstoy described the 19th century count Mikhail Speransky as a “rigorous-minded man of immense intelligence, who through his energy...had come to power and used it solely for the good of Russia.” What one found disconcerting, though, “was Speransky’s cold, mirror-like gaze, which let no one penetrate to his soul.” It is possible to love the idea of a nation without caring too much for its citizens. 5) It is unlikely that Putin, 55, will wear out his welcome at home anytime soon, as he has nearly done with many democracies abroad.In the meantime, he will remain an irritant to nato, a source of division within Europe and yet another reason for the West to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.
单选题In listening to a person the important thing is ______.
问答题Pollution is a problem because man, in an increasingly populated and industrialized world, is upsetting the environment in which he lives. Many scientists maintain that one of man’s greatest errors has been to equate growth with advancement. Now “growth” industries are being looked on with suspicion in case their side effects damage the environment and disrupt the relationship of different forms of life. The growing population makes increasing demands on the world’s fixed supply of air, water and land. This rise in population is accompanied by the desire of more and more people for a better standard of living. Thus still greater demands for electricity, water and goods result in an ever increasing amount of waste material to be disposed of.The problem has been causing increasing concern to living things and their environment. Many believe that man is not solving these problems quickly enough and that his selfish pursuit of possessions takes him past the point of no return before be fully appreciates the damage.
问答题The Oscar is a mere 8-pound, 13 and 1/2-inch statue, coated in layers of copper, silver and 24-karat gold. 1)But it reduces, in that split second when the envelope opens and the world holds its collective breath, even the most respectful celebrity to be an unwilling comedian. The early ceremonies, in the late 1920s, were held in private. Explaining why they were so low-key, Cary Grant remarked that there is something embarrassing about all these wealthy people congratulating each other. But by 1933, the stage was set for well-dressed celebrities to trip over their own egos. 2) It makes you wonder what .Louis B. Mayer and other founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would say if they, could see what became of the organization they started to further the welfare and protect the honor and good repute of the profession,or so the charter says.. 3) But even among the people in the business, there are those who are happy to have their award, even if some mistake sentences them to a lifetime of teasing, and others who probably wish they were home watching the four-hour celebrity get-together on TV, like the rest of us. 4) Director Frank Capra was so certain he would win that he began to rise before Will Rogers finished announcing the winner. He kept saying, “Over here, over here!” because the spotlight was thrown on the other side of the room and he wanted to enjoy his triumph. Capra was even more confused on his way to the Stage when Rogers said, “Come on up and get it, Frank.” It turned out that the winner was another Frank, Frank Lloyd for Cavalcade. Capra called his return to his seat the longest, saddest, and most shattering walk in his life. Countless others have taken that Oscar night walk of embarrassment. And there are even more funny, if not embarrassing, incidences. Think about Jack Palance dropping to the stage floor and doing one-armed pushups, to celebrate this Best Supporting Actor award or City Slickers? In 1947, Ronald Reagan narrated a silent montage of past Oscar winners. 5) Much to Reagan's surprise, the crowd was laughing hysterically as he said, “This picture embodies the glories of our past, the memories of our present and the inspiration of our future ”What he didn't know: the reel was upside down. And comedian Marry Feldman probably was trying too hard to be funny. Presenting the 1976 Oscar, he called the two winning producers to the stage, then threw the statue to the floor, handed a piece of the award to each one. He said, “It said 'made in Hong Kong’ on the bottom.”
问答题The publisher’s techniques for book promotion have become increasingly sophisticated in all advanced countries. The typical traveler or book salesman is likely to hold a college degree, certainly in the United States; he receives a careful briefing from the home office, with elaborate samples and sales aids, and perhaps a car provided, or partly provided, by the firm. 1)A well-run publishing house issues two or three seasonal announcement lists with details of its forthcoming books, as well as an annual catalog of its present and past books still in print, which are sent to the principal booksellers and librarians.For many books, a prospectus may be issued, both for the use of booksellers and for direct mailing by the publisher. The distribution of review copies to the press is the last item in the normal program. These three steps, traveling, catalogs, and reviews, are the vital elements in the machinery of book distribution, which it is virtually impossible to accomplish without the professional work of a publisher. 2)The capacity of some authors to produce a quite presentable book with the help of a printer still leaves them far from their objective unless they can find a publisher to undertake its distribution. Newspaper and periodical advertising is the publisher’s principal means of reaching the public, and standards here have also risen considerably since World War II. 3)Originally handled entirely by the publisher’s own staff, it is now not uncommon for the larger houses, especially in the United States and in some European countries, to employ advertising agencies to prepare the copy and the general details of the campaign for any important book.4) While few authors consider that their books are advertised adequately and most publishers are highly doubtful whether press advertising does in fact sell books, the amounts spent in relation to sales revenue are much higher than for most other commodities, seldom less than 5 percent for new books. 5)Over the whole field of sales promotion, as publishing houses have grown in size and profitability, there has been a marked tendency for the more commercial methods of general business to be applied to books, which are aggressively promoted to retailers and the public in the same manner as are many other commodities.Though this may increase sales, at least in the short term, it may be doubted whether it is in the interests of the public and to the long-term advantage of good publishing.
单选题Human ingenuity was initially demonstrated in ______.
单选题According to the passage, why did museums and cultural centers in inner cities decline in attendance?
问答题Directions: You are a professor in a department. One of your graduates asks you to write a letter of recommendation to a company which she wants to work for. Your letter should include: (1)an brief introduction of yourself; (2)the student’s performance and main strengths; (3)the main accomplishments at university. You should write about l00 words ,Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use “Li Ming” instead. You don’t need to write the address.
问答题Directions: Study the following charts carefully and write an essay in 160-200 words. In the essay you should cover the following three points: (1)Effect of the country’s growing poaching cases on its precious wild lives. (2)Possible reasons for the effect. (3)Your suggestions for wildlife protection.
问答题Directions: Study the following set of drawings carefully and write an essay in which you should (1)describe the set of drawings, interpret its meaning, and (2)point out its implications in our life. You should write about 160-200 words neatly on the ANSWER SHEET.
问答题Directions: Suppose you are Li Ming and your friend Li Hua has just won the first-class science award because of the work in the field of applied chemistry. Write a letter of congratulation to her, and the letter should include the following information: (1)express your congratulations on the award-winning. (2)express your opinion that she deserves the award. (3)express your hope for greater success in her field. You should write about 100 words. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use “Li Ming” instead. You do not need write the address.
单选题What caused the roast turkey to drop onto the door?
问答题Despite the basic biological, chemical, and physical similarities found in all living things, a diversity of life exists not only among and between species but also within every natural population. The phenomenon of diversity has had a long history of study because so many of the variations that exist in nature are visible to the eye. 1) It has been suggested that sexual reproduction became the dominant type of reproduction among organisms because of its inherent advantage of variability, which is the mechanism that enables a species to adjust to changing conditions.New variations are potentially present in genetic differences, but how preponderant a variation becomes in a gene pool depends upon the number of offspring the mutants or variants produce (differential reproduction). 2)It is possible for a genetic novelty (new variation) to spread in time to all members of a population, especially if the novelty enhances the population’s chances for survival in the environment in which it exists.Thus, when a species is introduced into a new habitat, it either adapts to the change by natural selection or by some other evolutionary mechanism or else it eventually dies off. Because each new habitat means new adaptations, habitat changes have been responsible for the millions of different kinds of species and for the heterogeneity within each species. The total number of animal and plant species is estimated at between 2,000,000 and 4,500,000; authoritative estimates of the number of extinct species range from 15,000,000 up to 16,000,000,000. 3)Although the use of classification as a means of producing some kind of order out of this staggering number of different types of organisms appears as early as the book of Genesis—with references to cattle, beasts, fowl, creeping things, trees, etc.—the first scientific attempt at classification is attributed to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, who tried to establish a system that would indicate the relationship of all things to each other.He arranged everything along a scale, or “ladder of nature”, with nonliving things at the bottom; plants were placed below animals, and man was at the top. 4)Other schemes that have been used for grouping species include large anatomical similarities, such as wings or fins, which indicate a natural relationship, and also similarities in reproductive structures. 5)At the present time taxonomy is based on two major assumptions: one is that similar body construction can be used as a criterion for a classification grouping; the other is that, in addition to structural similarities, evolutionary and molecular relationships between organisms can be used as a means for determining classification.
问答题[A] Americans’ ability to take the mortgage interest deduction ranks up there with the right to bear arms and watch football games. Homeownership is part of the American dream, and the U.S. government has long done its part to encourage home buying among citizens of all economic strata. Economist Edmund Phelps, a 2006 Nobel laureate and Columbia University professor, has criticized the U.S. financial sector’s orientation toward financing residential construction and away from business investment and innovation. [B] So, I grew up thinking that renting is perfectly normal. And then, strangely enough, I never did buy a house. I live in New York City and I’m still renting. My own personal narrative shows that it is possible to live a respectable life without ever having owned a home. [C] Is the sacrifice of business investment and innovation the key negative to the financial sector’s focus on housing? That was my key negative, but I also had some animus against the idea that everybody ought to own his or her own home. I thought this was a bizarre social goal. [D] Haven’t you noted in the past that homeownership can reduce the mobility of a workforce? That’s not true in New York or Los Angeles, where there are so many employers. But if you own your home in Peoria and you’re working for some specialized firm, and things don’t go so well there—at that point, you’d like to have the mobility of picking up stakes at no cost and looking for some similar kind of firm elsewhere. To be perfectly honest, that the other side of the coin is that mobility isn’t necessarily right up there with apple pie as something that’s good for us. Because when people are very mobile, they can be very difficult employees. [E] There has been research that shows homeownership makes for better citizens. I can well imagine that some unemployed sociologist would look into that hypothesis. I’m not attacking the idea that people live in conglomerations of houses in proximity to one another, sharing the same water mains and the same newspaper delivery boy and so forth. I’m not objecting to that. That could happen with or without homeownership. [F] Is it emotional, as in, part of the American dream? Or has it just been the best way for people to build wealth? We could argue whether or not it’s the best way. But what is surprising is this new ethos, this new enthusiasm for homeownership suggests that it should be—for people who aren’t rich anyway—the main way they hold their wealth and that there’s something almost un-American about holding your wealth in stocks and bonds. The celebration of homeownership seems to be part of a countermovement against popular owning of shares in corporations. [G] Of course, I come from more of an urban culture. I grew up, until age 6, in Chicago. My parents rented their apartment and, at the end of the Depression, my parents wanted to replicate that situation. So, again, we lived in a somewhat suburban setting outside of New York City and, again, they rented. [H] U.S. government’s improper real estate and financial policies for the crisis paved the way for the seeds. Home Ownership was the American dream. In the 1930s the Great Depression, the United States flagging domestic demand, Roosevelt’s New Deal of the decision-making is one of the establishment of Fannie Mac, to provide for the national housing finance to help people buy housing, to stimulate domestic demand. [I] So, will the next economic expansion look very different? I think we very much need to reorient the financial sector away from housing. The level of housing construction was unsustainable. It had to come to a crashing end. But what we have to hope for is that the financial sector will be able to reinvent itself and start learning to serve the classical functions of allocating finance to competing investment project sand competing innovations and activities. I think somehow the banking industry has lost the expertise to be able to choose among rival investment projects and innovation projects. I don’t think the bankers know anything about alternative energy projects. They’re going to have to acquire that expertise if they’re going to be, as the New York Times put it, “useful” to the economy. (此文选自U.S. News & World Report 2008年刊 ) Order:
问答题Most U.S. businesses, large or small, belong to what is called the private enterprise system. 1)This means simply that firms operate in a dynamic environment where success or failure is determined by how well they match and counter the offerings of competitors. Competition is the battle among businesses for consumer acceptance. 2)Sales and profits are the yardsticks by which such acceptance is measured. 3)The business world has abundant examples of firms that were once successful but that failed to continue satisfying consumer demands.Competition assures that, over the long run, firms that satisfy consumer demands will be successful and those that do not will be replaced. The private enterprise system requires that firms continually adjust their strategies, product offerings, service standards, operating procedures, and the like. 4)Otherwise the competition will gain higher shares of an industry’s sales and profits.Consider the following cases. A & P was long the largest supermarket chain. Now Safeway is the largest, and A & P is attempting a recovery. Ford once was the dominant automaker. Today, it is second to General Motors, among domestic producers. These events suggest the dynamic environment of the private enterprise system. 5)Competition is a critical mechanism for guaranteeing that the private enterprise system will continue to provide the goods and services that make for high living standards and sophisticated life styles.Few organizations that offer a product or service can escape the influence of competition. The American Cancer Society competes for contributions with the American Heart Association, your own college, and other nonprofit enterprises. The armed forces compete in the labor market with private employers. Even the U.S. Postal Service faces competition. United Parcel Service competes for package shipments. Express Mail faces competition from Western Union’s mailgrams. And firms like The Mailbox, which rents post office boxes in the Seattle area, compete for the post-office-box business.
问答题Do animals have rights? This is how the question is usually put. It sounds like a useful, ground-clearing way to start. 1) Actually, it isn’t, because it assumes that there is an agreed account of human rights, which is something the world does not have. On one view of rights, to be sure, it necessarily follows that animals have none. 2) Some philosophers argue that rights exist only within a social contract, as part of an exchange of duties and entitlements.Therefore, animals cannot have rights. The idea of punishing a tiger that kills somebody is absurd, for exactly the same reason, so is the idea that tigers have rights. However, this is only one account, and by no means an uncontested one. It denies rights not only to animals but also to some people—for instance to infants, the mentally incapable and future generations. In addition, it is unclear what force a contract can have for people who never consented to it, how do you reply to somebody who says “I don’t like this contract”? The point is this: without agreement on the rights of people, arguing about the rights of animals is fruitless. 3) It leads the discussion to extremes at the outset: it invites you to think that animals should be treated either with the consideration humans extend to other humans, or with no consideration at all.This is a false choice. Better to start with another, more fundamental, question: is the way we treat animals a moral issue at all? Many deny it. 4) Arguing from the view that humans are different from animals in every relevant respect, extremists of this kind think that animals lie outside the area of moral choice.Any regard for the suffering of animals is seen as a mistake—a sentimental displacement of feeling that should properly be directed to other humans. This view which holds that torturing a monkey is morally equivalent to chopping wood, may seem bravely “logical.” In fact it is simply shallow: the confused center is right to reject it. The most elementary form of moral reasoning—the ethical equivalent of learning to crawl—is to weigh others’ interests against one’s own. This in turn requires sympathy and imagination: without which there is no capacity for moral thought. To see an animal in pain is enough, for most, to engage sympathy. 5) When that happens, it is not a mistake: it is mankind’s instinct for moral reasoning in action, an instinct that should be encouraged rather than laughed at.
问答题For centuries, explorers have risked their lives venturing into the unknown for reasons that were to varying degrees economic and nationalistic. Columbus went west to look for better trade routes to the Orient and to promote the greater glory of Spain, Lewis and Clark journeyed into the American wilderness to find out what the U.S. had acquired when it purchased Louisiana, and the Apollo astronauts rocketed to the moon in a dramatic show of technological muscle during the cold war. Although their missions blended commercial and political-military imperatives, the explorers involved all accomplished some significant science by going where no scientists had gone before. Today Mars looms as humanity’s next great terra incognita. And with doubtful prospects for a short-term financial return, with the cold war a rapidly fading memory and amid a growing emphasis on international cooperation in large space ventures, it is clear that imperatives other than profits or nationalism will have to compel human beings to leave their tracks on the planet’s reddish surface. Could it be that science, which has long played a minor role in exploration, is at last destined to take a leading role? The question naturally invites a couple of others; Are there experiment that only human could do on Mars? Could those experiments provide insights profound enough to justify the expense of sending people across interplanetary space? With Mars the scientific stakes are arguably higher than they have ever been. The issue of whether life ever existed on the planet, and whether it persists to this day, has been highlighted by mounting evidence that the Red Planet once had abundant stable, liquid water and by the continuing controversy over suggestions that bacterial fossils rode to Earth on a meteorite from Mars. A more conclusive answer about life on Mars, past or present, would give researchers invaluable data about the range of conditions under which a planet can generate the complex chemistry that leads to life. If it could be established that life arose independently on Mars and Earth, the finding would provide the first concrete clues in one of the deepest mysteries in all of science: the prevalence of life in the universe.
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