1、上海交通大學(xué)2013 年博士研究生入學(xué)考試英語真題part i: reading comprehensionpassage 1 there are desert plants which survive the dry season in the form of inactive seeds. there are also desert insects which survive as inactive larvae (high). in addition, difficult as it is to believe, there are desert fish which can survi

2、ve through years of drought in the form of inactive eggs. these are the shrimps that live in the mojave desert, an intensely dry region in the south-west of the united states where shade temperatures of over 50 are open recorded. the eggs of the mojave shrimps are the size and have the appearance of

3、 grains of sand. when sufficient spring rain falls to form a lake, once every two to five years, these eggs hatch. then the water is soon filled with millions of tiny shrimps about a millimeter long which feed on tiny plant and animal organisms which also grow in the temporary des- ert lake. within

4、a week, the shrimps grow from their original 1 millimeter to a length of a- bout 1.5 centimeters. throughout the time that the shrimps are rapidly maturing, the water in the lake equally rapidly evaporates. therefore, for the shrimps it is a race against time. by the twelfth day, however, when they

5、are about 3 centimeters long, hundreds of tiny eggs form on the un- derbodies of the females. usually by this time, all that remains of the lake is a large, mud- dy patch of wet soil. on the thirteenth day and the next, during the final hours of their brief lives, the shrimps lay their eggs in the m

6、ud. then, having ensured that their species will survive, the shrimps die as the last of the water evaporates. if sufficient rain falls the next year to form another lake, the eggs hatch, and once a- gain the shrimps pass rapidly through their cycle of growth, adulthood, egg-laying，and death. some y

7、ears is insufficient rain to form a lake: in this case, the eggs will remain dor- mant for another year, or even longer if necessary. very, very occasionally, perhaps twice in a hundred years, sufficient rain falls to form a deep lake that lasts a month or more. in this case, the species passes thro

8、ugh two cycles of growth, egg-laying, and death. thus, on such occasions, the species multiplies considerably, which further ensures its survival. 1. which of the following is the most distinctive feature of mojave shrimps? a. their lives are brief. 巳.they feed on plant and animal organisms. a. thei

9、r eggs can survive years of drought. b. they lay their eggs in the mud. 2. by saying “for the shrimps it is a race against time”(para. 3) the author means _ . a. they have to swim fast to avoid danger in the rapidly evaporating licks b. they have to swim fast to catch the animal organisms on which t

10、hey survive. c. they have to multiply as many as possible within thirteen days. d. they have to complete their life cycle within a short span of time permitted by the environment. 3. the passage mainly deals with _ . a. the life span of mojave shrimps b. the survival of desert shrimps c. the importa

11、nce of water to life d. life in the mojave desert 4. the word “dormant ” (para. 4) most probably means_ . a. inactive b. strong c. alert d. soft 5. it may be inferred from the passage that _ . a. appearance and size are most important for life to survive in the desert. b. a species must be able to m

12、ultiply quickly in order to survive. c. for some species one life cycle in a year is enough to survive the desert drought. d. some species develop a unique life pattern to survive in extremely harsh condi- tions. passage 2 the welsh language has always been the ultimate marker of welsh identity, but

13、 a gen- eration ago it looked as if welsh would go the way of manx. once widely spoken on the isle of man but not extinct. government financing and central planning, however, have helped reverse the decline of welsh. road signs and official public documents are written in both welsh and english, and

14、 schoolchildren are required to learn both languages, welsh is now one of the most successful of europes regional languages, spoken by more than a half- million of the countrys three million people. the revival of the language, particularly among young people, is part of a resurgence of national ide

15、ntity sweeping through this small, proud nation. last month wales marked the second anniversary of the opening of the national assembly, the first parliament to be convened here since 1404. the idea behind devolution was to restore the balance within the union of nations making up the united kingdom

16、. with most of the people and wealth, england has always had bragging rights. the partial transfer of legislative powers from westminster, implemented by tony blair, was designed to give the other members of the club scotland, northern ireland, and wales a bigger say and to counter centrifugal force

17、s that seemed to threaten the very idea of the union. the welsh showed little enthusiasm for devolution. whereas the scots voted over- whelmingly for a parliament, the vote for a welsh assembly scraped through by less than one percent on a turnout of less than 25 percent. its powers were proportiona

18、tely limited. the assembly can decide how money from westminster or the european union is spent. it cannot, unlike its counterpart in edinburgh, enact laws. but now that it is here, the welsh are growing to like their assembly. many people would like it to have more powers. its im- portance as figur

19、ehead will grow with the opening in 2003，of a new debating chamber, one of many new buildings that are transforming cardiff from a decaying seaport into a bal- timore-style waterfront city. meanwhile a grant of nearly two million dollars from the europe- an union will tackle poverty. wales is one of

20、 the poorest regions in western europe-only spain, portugal, and greece have a lower standard of living. newspapers and magazines are filled with stories about great welsh men and women, boosting self-esteem. to familiar faces such as dylan thomas and richard burton have been added new icons such as

21、 catherine zeta-jones, the movie star, and bryn terfel, the opera singer. indigenous foods like salt marsh lamb are in vogue. and wales now boasts a national airline, awyr cymru. cymru, weans “l(fā)and of compatriots” is the welsh name for wales. the red dragon, the nation s symbol since the time of kin

22、g arthur, is everywhere on t-shirts, rugby jerseys and even cell phone covers. “until very recent times most welsh people had this feeling of being second-class citi- zens ,said dyfan jonos，an 18-year old student. it was a warm summer night, and i was siding on the grass with a group of young people

23、 in llanelli, an industrial town in the south, outside rock music venue of the national eisteddfod, waless annual cultural festive dis- used factory in front of us echoed to the sounds of new welsh bands. “there was almost a genetic tendency for lack of confidence，” dyfan continued. equally comfo rt

24、able in his membership in the english-speaking, global youth culture and a new federal europe, dy- fan, like the rest of his generation, is .growing up with a sense of possibility unimaginable ten years ago. “we used to think. we cant do fig，were only welsh. now i think thatschanging. ”6. according

25、to the passage, devolution was mainly means to _ . a. maintain the present status among the nations b. reduce legislative powers of england c. create a better state of equality among the nations d. grant more say to all the nations in the union 7. the word “centrifugal” in the second paragraph means

26、_ .a. separatist b. conventional c. feudal d. political 8. wales is different from scotland in all the following aspects except _. a. people desire for devolutionb. localsturnout for the voting c. powers of the legislative body d. status of the national language 9. which of the following is not cite

27、d as an example of the resurgence of welsh nation- al identity. a. welsh has witnessed a revival as a national language. b. poverty-relief funds have come from the european union. c. a welsh national airline is currently in operation. d. the national symbol has become a familiar sight. 10. according

28、 to dyfan jones what has changed is _ . a. people s mentalityb. pop culture c. towns appearanced. possibilities for the people passage 3 barbed wire, first patented in the united sees in 1867, played an important part in the development of american farming, as it enabled them make elective fencing t

29、o enclose their land and keep cattle away from their crops. this had a considerable effect on cattle ranching, since the herds no longer had unrestricted use of the plans for grazing, and the fencing led to conflict between the farmers and the cattle ranchers. before barbed wire came into general us

30、e, fencing was open made from serrated wire, which was unsatisfactory because it broke easily when under strain, and could snap in cold weather due to contraction. the first practical machine for producing barbed wire was invented in 1874 by illinois farmer and between then and the end of the centur

31、y about 400 types of barbed wire were devised, of which only about a dozen were ever put to prac- tice. modern barbed wire is made from mild steel high-tensile steel, or aluminum. mild steel and aluminum barbed wire have two strands twisted together to form a cable which is stronger than single-stra

32、nd wire and less affected by temperature changes. single-strand, round or oval, is made from high-tensile steel with the barbs crimped or welded on. the steel wires used are galvanized 一coated with zinc to make them rustproof. the two wires that make up the line wire or cable are fed separately into

33、 a machine at one end. they leave it at the other end twisted-together and barbed. the wire co-make the barbs is fed into the machine from the sides and cut to length by knives that cut diagonally through the wire to produce a sharp point. this process continues automatically and the finished barbed

34、 wire is wound onto reels, usually made of wire in length of 400 meters or in weights of up to 50 kilograms. a variation of barbed wire is also used for military purposes. it is formed into long coils or entanglements called concertina wire. 11. what is the main topic of the passage? a. cattle ranch

35、ing in the united states b. a type of fencing c. industrial uses of wire d. a controversy over land use 12. what is the benefit of using two-stranded barbed wire? a. improved rust-resistance 巳.increased strength c. more rapid attachment of barbs d. easier installation 13. according to the author, th

36、e steel wires used to make barbed wire are specially processed to_ . a. protect them against rust 巳.make them more flexible c. prevent contraction in cold weather d. straighten them 14. the word “fect in line 20 is closest in meaning to _ . a. put b. eaten c. bitten d. nourished 15. what is the auth

37、ors purpose in the third paragraph?a. to explain the importance of the wire b. to outline the difficulty of making the wire c. to describe how the wire is made d. to suggest several different uses of the wire passage 4 without regular supplied of some hormones our capacity to behave would be gloriou

38、sly impaired；without others we would soon die. tiny amounts of some hormones can modify moods and actions, our inclination to eat or drink, our aggressiveness of submissiveness and our reproductive and parental behavior. and hormones do more than influence adult behavior；early in life they help to d

39、etermine the development of bodily form and may even determine an individuals behavioral capacities. later in life the changing outputs of some endocrine glands and the bodys changing sensitivity to some hormon es are essential as- pects of the phenomena of aging. communication within the body and t

40、he consequent integration of behavior were con- sidered the exclusive province of the nervous system up to the beginning of the present century. the emergence of endocrinology as a separate discipline can probably be traced to the experiments of bayliss and starling on the hormone secretion. this su

41、bstance is se- creted from cells in the intestinal walls when food enters the stomach；it travels through the bloodstream and stimulates the pancreas to liberate pancreatic juice, which aids in diges- tion. by showing that special cells secret chemical agents that are conveyed by the blood- stream an

42、d regulate distant target organs or tissues. bayliss and starling demonstrated that chemical integration could occur without participation of the nervous system. the term “hormone” was first used with reference to secretion. starling derived the term from the greek hormone, meaning to excite or set

43、in motion. the term “endocrine ”was introduced shortly thereafter. “endocrine ” is used to refer to glands that secret prod- ucts into the bloodstream. the term “endocrine ” contrasts with “exocrine ”，which is ap- plied to glands that secret their products though ducts to the site of action. example

44、s of exocrine glands are the tear glands, the sweat glands, and the pancreas, which secrets pancreatic juice through a duct into the intestine. exocrine glands are aim called duct glands, while endocrine glands are called ductless. 16. what is the aut hor s main purpose in the passage?a. to explain

45、the specific functions of various hormones b. to provide general information about hormones c. to explain how the term “hormone” evolvedd. to report on experiments in endocrinology 17. the passage supports which of the following conclusions? a. the human body requires large amounts of most hormones.

46、 巳.synthetic hormones can replace a persons natural supply of hormones if necessa- ry. c. the quantity of hormones produced and sects on the body are related to a person sage. d. the short child of tall parents very had a hormone deficiency early in life. 18. it can be inferred from the passage that

47、 before the bayliss and starling experi- ments ,most people believed that chemical integration occurred only _ . a. during sleep b. in the endocrine glands c. under control of the nervous system d. during strenuous exercise 19. the word “l(fā)iberate” could best be replaced by which of the following?a.

48、emancipate 巳.discharge c. surrender d. save 20. according to the passage another term for exocrine gland is _ . a. duct glands 巳.endocrine glands c. ductless glands d. intestinal glands passage 5 hostility to gypsies has existed almost from the time they first appeared in europe in the 14th century.

49、 the origins of the gypsies, with little written history, were shrouded in mystery. what is known now from clues in the various dialects of their language, romany, is that they came from northern india to the middle east a thousand years ago, working as minstrels and mercenaries, metalsmiths and ser

50、vants. europeans misnamed them egyp- tians, soon shortened to gypsies, a clan system, based mostly on their traditional crafts and geography, has made them a deeply fragmented and fractious people, only really uni- fying in the face of enmity from non-gypsies, whom they call gadje. today many gypsy

51、activists prefer to be called roma, which comes from the romany word for “man ”. but on my travels among them most still referred to themselves as gypsies, and i have cried to re- flect the common usage of the people themselves. in europe their persecution by the gadje began quickly with the church

52、seeing heresy in their fortunetelling and the state seeing anti-social behavior in their nomadism. at various times they have been forbidden to wear distinctive bright clothes, to speak their own lan- guage, to travel, to marry one another, or to ply their traditional crafts. in some countries they

53、were reduced to slavery it wasrvt until the mi-1800s that gypsy slaves were freed in romania. in more recent times the gypsies were caught up in nazi ethnic hysteria, and perhaps half a million perished in the holocaust, which the gypsies call porraimos the great devouring. their horses have been sh

54、ot and the wheels removed from their wagons, their names have been changed, their women have been sterilized, and their children have been forcibly given for adoption to non-gypsy families practice in switzerland until 1973. but the gypsies have confounded prediction of their disappearance as a dist

55、inct ethnic group, and their numbers have burgeoned. today there are an estimated 8 to 12 million gypsies scattered across europe, making them the continents largest minority. the exact number is hard to pin down. gypsies have regularly been undercounted, both by regimes anxious to downplay their pr

56、ofile and by gypsies themselves, seeking to avoid bureaucra- cies. attempting to remedy past inequities, activist groups may overcount. hundreds of thousands more have emigrated to the america and elsewhere. with very few exceptions gypsies have expressed no great desire for a country to call their

57、own unlike the jews to whom the gypsy experience is often compared. “romanestan，” said ronald lee，the ca- nadian gypsy writer, “is where my two feet stand. ”21. gypsies are united only when they _ . a. are engaged in traditional cram 巳.call themselves roma c. live under a clan system d. face externa

58、l threats 22. in history hostility to gypsies in europe resulted in their persecution by all the fol- lowing except _ . a. the egyptians b. the state c. the church d. the nazis 23. according to the passage, the main difference between the gypsies and the jews lies in their concepts of _ .a. language

59、 b. culture c. identity d. custom passage 6 it is a curious paradox that we think of the physical science as “hard ”，the social sci- ences as “soft ”，and the biological sciences as somewhere in between. this is interpreted to mean that our knowledge of physical system is more certain than our knowle

60、dge of bio- logical systems, and these in turn are more certain than our knowledge of social systems. in terms of our capacity of sample the relevant universes, however, and the probability that our image of these universes are at least approximately correct, one suspects that a re- verse order is m