2024年考研英语阅读理解试题及答案完整版！考研必看

      2024年考研初试英语已结束，为了帮助考生们了解2024年考研英语阅读理解，高顿小编第一时间为考生整理考研英语阅读理解真题及答案完整版，一起来了解下吧！

　　Text 1
　　Nearly 2000 years ago,as the Romans began to pull out of Scotland,they left behind a curious treasure:10 tons of nails,nearly a million of the things.The nail hoard was discovered in 1960 in a four-metre-deep pit covered by two metres of gravel.
　　Why had the Romans buried a million nails?The likely explanation is that the withdrawal was rushed,and they didn't want the local Caledonians getting their hands on 10 tons of weapon-grade iron.The Romans buried the nails so deep that they would not be discovered for almost two millennia.
　　Later civilisations would value the skilled blacksmith's labour in a nail even more than the raw material.As Roma Agrawal explains in her new delightful book Nuts and Bolts,early 17th-century Virginians would sometimes burn down their homes if they were planning to relocate.This was an attempt to recover the valuable nails,which could be reused after sifting the ashes.The idea that one might burn down an entire house just to reclaim the nails underlines how scarce,costly and valuable the simple-seeming technology was.
　　The price of nails fell by 90%between the late 1700s and mid-1900s,as economist Daniel Sichel points out in a research paper.According to Sichel,although the falling price of nails was driven partly by cheaper
　　iron and cheaper energy,most of the credit goes to nail manufactures who simply found more efficient ways to turn steel into nails.
　　Nails themselves have changed over the years,but Sichel studied them because they haven't changed much.Roman lamps and Roman chariots are very different from LED strips and sports cars,but Roman nails are still clearly nails.It would be absurd to try to track the changing price of sports cars since 1695,but to ask the same question of nails makes perfect sense.
　　I make no apology for being obsessed by a particular feature of these objects:their price.I am an economist,after all.After writing two books about the history of inventions,one thing I've learnt is that while it is the enchantingly sophisticated technologies that get all the hype,it’s the cheap technologies that change the world.
　　The Gutenberg printing press transformed civilisation not by changing the nature of writing but by changing its cost-and it would have achieved little without a parallel collapse in the price of surfaces to write on,thanks to an often-overlooked technology called paper.Solar panels had few niche uses until they became cheap;now they are transforming the global energy system.
　　21.The Romans buried the nails probably for the sake of ________.
　　A.saving them for future use
　　B.keeping them from rusting
　　C.letting them grow in value
　　D.hiding them from the locals
　　22.The example of early 17th-century Virginians is used to _____.
　　A.highlight the thriftiness of early American colonists
　　B.illustrate the high status of blacksmiths in that period
　　C.contrast the attitudes of different civilisations toward nails
　　D.show the preciousness of nail-making technology at that time
　　23.What played the major role in lowering the price of nails after the late 1700s?
　　A.Increased productivity
　　B.Wider use of new energies
　　C.Fiercer market competition
　　D.Reduced cost of raw materials
　　24.It can be learned from Paragraph 5 that nails________.
　　A.have undergone many technological improvements
　　B.have remained basically the same since Roman times
　　C.are less studied than other everyday products
　　D.are one of the world's most significant inventions
　　25.Which of the following best summarises the last two paragraphs?
　　A.Cheap technologies bring about revolutionary change
　　B.Technological innovation is integral to economic success
　　C.Technology defines people’s understanding of the world
　　D.Sophisticated technologies develop from small inventions
　　Text 2
　　Parenting tips obtained from hunter-gatherers in Africa may be the key to bringing up more contented children,researchers have suggested.The idea is based on studies of communities such as the Kung of Botswana,where each child is cared for by many adults.Kung children as young as four will help to look after younger ones and“baby-wearing”,in which infants are carried in slings,is considered the norm.
　　According to Dr Nikhil Chaudhary,an evolutionary anthropologist at Cambridge University,these practices,Known as alloparenting,could lead to less anxiety for children and parents.
　　Dr Annie Swanepoel,a child psychiatrist,believes that there are ways to incorporate them into western life.In Germany,one scheme has paired an old people's home with a nursery.The residents help to look after the children,an arrangement akin to alloparenting.Another measure could be encouraging friendships between children indifferent school years to mirror the unsupervised mixed-age playgroups in hunter-gatherer communities.
　　In a paper published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,researchers said that the western nuclear family was a recent invention which family broke with evolutionary history.This abrupt shift to an“intensive mothering narrative”,which suggests that mothers should manage childcare alone,was likely to have been harmful.“Such narratives can lead to maternal exhaustion and have dangerous consequences,”they wrote.
　　By contrast,in hunter-gatherer societies adults other than the parents can provide almost half of a child's care.One previous study looked at the Efe people of the Democratic Republic of Congo.It found
　　that infants had an average of 14 alloparents a day by the time they were 18 weeks old and were passed between caregivers eight times an hour.
　　Chaudhary said that parents now had less childcare support from family and social networks than during most of humans'evolutionary history,but introducing additional caregivers could reduce stress and maternal depression,which could have a“knock-on”benefit to a child's wellbeing.An infant born to a hunter-gatherer society could have more than ten caregivers---this contrasts starkly to nursery settings in the UK where regulations call for a ratio of one carer to four children aged two to three.
　　While hunter-gatherer children learnt from observation and imitation in mixed-age playgroups,researchers said that western“instructive teaching”,where pupils are asked to sit still,may contribute to conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.Chaudhary said that Britain should explore the possibility that older siblings helping their parents“might also enhance their own social development.”
　　26.According to the first two paragraph,alloparenting refers to the practice of _______.
　　A.sharing child care among community members
　　B.assigning babies to specific adult caregivers
　　C.teaching parenting details to older children
　　D.carrying infants around by their parent
　　27.The scheme in Germany is mentioned to illustrate _______.
　　A.an attempt to facilitate intergenerational communication
　　B.an approach to integrating alloparenting into western culture
　　C.the conventional parenting style in western culture
　　D.the differences between western African ways of living
　　28.According to Paragraph 4,the“intensive mothering narrative”_________.
　　A.alleviate parenting pressure
　　B.considerate family relationships
　　C.results in the child-centered family
　　D.departs from the course of evolution
　　29.According to paragraph 6,what can we learn about nursery in the UK？
　　A.They tend to fall short of official requirements.
　　B.They have difficulty finding enough caregivers.
　　C.They ought to improve their carer-to-child ratio.
　　D.They should try to prevent parental depression.
　　30.Which of the following would be the best title？
　　A.Instructive teaching:a dilemma for anxious parents
　　B.For a happier family,learn from the hunter-gatherers
　　C.Mix-aged playgroup,a better choice for lonely children
　　D.Tracing the history of parenting:from Africa to Europe
　　Text 3
　　Rutkowski is a Polish digital artist who uses classical painting styles to create dreamy fantasy landscapes.He has made illustrations for games such as Sony’s Horizon Forbidden West,Ubisoft’s Anno,Dungeons&Dragons,and Magic:The Gathering.And he’s become a sudden hit in the new world of text-to-image AI generation.
　　His distinctive style is now one of the most commonly used prompts in the new open-source AI art generator Stable Diffusion,which was launched late last month.The tool,along with other popular image-generation AI models,allows anyone to create impressive images based on text prompts.For example,type in“Wizard with sword and a glowing orb of magic fire fights a fierce dragon Greg Rutkowski,”and the system will produce something that looks not a million miles away from works in Rutkowski’s style.
　　But these open-source programs are built by scraping images from the Internet,often without permission and proper attribution to artists.As a result,they are raising tricky questions about ethics and copyright.And artists like Rutkowski have had enough.
　　According to the website Lexica,which tracks over 10 million images and prompts generated by Stable Diffusion,Rutkowski’s name has been used as a prompt around 93,000 times.Some of the world’s most famous artists,such as Michelangelo,Pablo Picasso,and Leonardo da Vinci,brought up around 2,000 prompts each or less.Rutkowski’s name also features as a prompt thousands of times in the Discord of another text-to-image generator,Midjourney.Rutkowski was initially surprised but thought it might be a good way to reach new audiences.Then he tried searching for his name to see if a piece he had worked on had been published.The online search brought back work that had his name attached to it but wasn’t his.
　　“It’s been just a month.What about in a year?I probably won’t be able to find my work out there because[the internet]will be flooded with AI art,”Rutkowski says.“That’s concerning.”
　　31.What can be learned from the first two paragraphs?
　　A.He is enthusiastic about AI generation painting.
　　B.He is popular with the users of an AI art generator.
　　C.He attracts admiration from other illustrators.
　　D.He specializes in classical painting digitalization.
　　32.The problem with open-source AI art generators is that they ____.
　　A.lack flexibility in responding to prompts
　　B.produce artworks in unpredictable styles
　　C.make unauthorized use of online images
　　D.collect user information without consent
　　33.After searching online,Rutkowski found ____.
　　A.a unique way to reach audiences
　　B.a new method to identify AI images
　　C.AI-generated work bearing his name
　　D.heated disputes regarding his copyright
　　34.According to Ortiz,AI companies are advised to ____.
　　A.campaign for new policies or regulations
　　B.offer their services to public institutions
　　C.strengthen their relationships with AI users
　　D.adopt a different strategy for AI model training
　　35.What is the text mainly about？
　　A.Artists’responses to Al art generation.
　　B.AI’s expanded role in artistic creation.
　　C.Privacy issues in the application of Al.
　　D.Opposing views on AI development.
　　Text 4
　　The miracle of the Chesapeake Bay lies not in its depths,but in the complexity of its natural construction,the interaction of fresh and saline water and the mix of land and water.The shallows provide homes for hundreds of species while storing floodwaters,filtering pollutants from water,and protecting nearby communities from potentially destructive storm surges.
　　All this was put at great risk late last month,when the US Supreme Court issued a ruling in an Idaho case that provides the EPA far less authority to regulate wetlands and waterways.Specifically,a 5-4 majority decided that wetlands protected by the EPA under it Clean Water Act authority must have a“continuous surface connection”to bodies of water.This narrowing of the regulatory scope was a victory for builders,mining operators and other commercial interests often at odds with environmental rules.And it carries“significant repercussions for water quality and flood control throughout the US,”as Justice Brett kavanaugh observed.
　　In Maryland,the good news is that there are many state laws in place that provide wetlands protections.But that's a very shortsighted view,particularly when it comes to the Chesapeake Bay.The reality is that water and the pollutants that so often come with it,don't respect state boundaries.The Chesapeake draws from a 64000-square-mile watershed that extends to Virginia,Pennsylvania,New York,West Virginia,the District of Columbia and Delaware.Will those jurisdictions extend the same protections now denied under Sackett V.EPA?Perhaps some,but all?That seems unlikely.
　　It is too easy,and misleading,to see such court rulings as merely standing up for the rights of land owners when the consequences can be so dire for their neighbors.And it’s a reminder that they EPA's involvement in the Chesapeake Bay program has long been crucial as the means to transcend the influence of deep-pocketed special interests in neighboring states.Pennsylvania farmers,to use one telling example,aren't thinking about next year’s blue crab harvest in Maryland when they decide whether to spread animal waste on their fields,the runoff into nearby creeks can have enormous impacts downstream.
　　And so we would also call on state lawmakers from Richmond to Albany to consider reviewing their own wetlands protections and see for themselves the enormous stakes involved.We can’t offer them a trip to the Chesapeake Bay model.It’s been gone since the 1980s but perhaps a visit to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Dorchester County where American bald eagles fly over tidal marshes so shallow you could not paddle a boat across them but teaming with aquatic life.It’s worth the scenic drive.
　　37.The U.S.Supreme Court’s ruling in the Idaho case _________.
　　A.reinforces water pollution control
　　B.weakens the EPA's regulatory power
　　C.will end conflicts among local residents
　　D.may face opposition from mining operators
　　38.How does the author feel about the future of the Chesapeake Bay?
　　A.Worried
　　B.Puzzled
　　C.Relieved
　　D.Encouraged
　　39.What can be inferred about the EPA's involvement in the Chesapeake Bay Program?
　　A.It has restored the balance among neighboring jurisdictions.B.It has triggered a radical reform in commercial fisheries.C.It has set a fine example of respecting state authorities.D.It has ensured the coordination of protection efforts.
　　40.The author holds that the state lawmakers should _______.
　　A.be cautious about the influence of landowners
　　B.attach due importance to wetlands protections
　　C.recognize the need to expand wildlife refuges
　　D.improve the wellbeing of endangered species
　　以上内容来源网络，仅供参考！
　　以上是小编整理的关于【2024年考研英语阅读理解试题及答案完整版！考研必看】的全部内容，如果想要了解更多关于模拟试卷、考研真题、答案解析等资料，可直接点击下方下载！