考研论坛

 找回密码
 立即注册
查看: 1457|回复: 0

2018年考研英语二真题及答案解析(完整word文字版)

[复制链接]

17

主题

17

帖子

723

积分

管理员

Rank: 9Rank: 9Rank: 9

积分
723
发表于 2017-12-6 14:38:47 | 显示全部楼层 |阅读模式

   本网讯,记者日前从相关部门获悉,2018年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试笔试将于12月23日-12月24日如期举行,本次考试历时2天,将于12月24日结束。为了让广大考生在考后更好地评估自己的考试情况,并为下一环节的备考提供参考,新都教育将在考后第一时间收集整理本次考试政治真题及参考答案并公布于本页面,敬请随时关注附录1。

    附1:2018年考研英语真题及参考答案:
    1、2018考研英语二真题及答案解析
(暂未发布,请先从本页面底部开始阅读2017年真题)
    (备注:本页面即时更新,请及时刷新本页面以便获取最新信息,刷新方法:按键盘上的F5键即可!)

 
    附2:全国硕士研究生入学统一考试历年真题及参考答案:

    1、考研数学历年真题:1995-2009年数学真题及参考答案
    2、考研英语历年真题:1986-2009年英语真题及参考答案
    3、考研政治历年真题:1991-2009年政治真题及参考答案

 


新都教育
2017年12月6日

------------------------以为部分为2017考研英语二真题及参考答案-------------------------------

 

2017年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语(二)试题及答案


    SectionI Use of English
    Directions:
    Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)
    People have speculated for centuries about a future without work .Today is no different, with academics, writers, and activists once again1 that technology be replacing human workers. Some imagine that the coming work-free world will be defined by2 . A few wealthy people will own all the capital, and the masses will struggle in an impoverished wasteland.
    A different and not mutually exclusive3 holds that the future will be a wasteland of a different sort, one 4 by purposelessness: Without jobs to give their lives 5 , people will simply become lazy and depressed. 6 , today’s unemployed don’t seem to be havinga great time. One Gallup poll found that 20 percent of Americans who have been unemployed for at least a year report having depression, double the rate for 7 Americans. Also, some research suggests that the 8 for rising rates of mortality, mental-health problems, and addicting 9 poorly-educated middle-aged people is shortage of well-paid jobs. Perhaps this is why many 10 the agonizing dullness of a jobless future.
    But it doesn’t 11 follow from findings like these that a world without work would be filled with unease. Such visions are based on the 12 of being unemployed in a society built on the concept of employment. In the 13 of work, a society designed with other ends in mind could 14 strikingly different circumstanced for the future of labor and leisure. Today, the 15 of work may be a bit overblown.“Many jobs are boring, degrading, unhealthy, and a waste of human potential,” says John Danaher, a lecturer at the National University of Ireland in Galway.
    These days, because leisure time is relatively 16 for most workers, people use their free time to counterbalance the intellectual and emotional 17 of their jobs. “When I come home from a hard day’s work, I often feel 18 ,” Danaher says, adding, “In a world in which I don’t have to work, I might feel rather different”—perhaps different enough to throw himself 19 a hobby or a passion project with the intensity usually reserved for 20 matters.
    1.[A] boasting [B] denying [C] warning [D] ensuring
    【答案】[C] warning
    2.[A] inequality [B] instability [C] unreliability [D] uncertainty
    【答案】[A] inequality
    3.[A] policy [B]guideline [C] resolution [D] prediction
    【答案】[D] prediction
    4.[A] characterized [B]divided [C] balanced [D]measured
    【答案】[A] characterized
    5.[A] wisdom [B] meaning [C] glory [D] freedom
    【答案】[B] meaning
    6.[A] Instead [B] Indeed [C] Thus [D] Nevertheless
    【答案】[B] Indeed
    7.[A] rich [B] urban [C]working [D] educated
    【答案】[C] working
    8.[A] explanation [B] requirement [C] compensation [D] substitute
    【答案】[A] explanation
    9.[A] under [B] beyond [C] alongside [D] among
    【答案】[D] among
    10.[A] leave behind [B] make up [C] worry about [D] set aside
    【答案】[C] worry about
    11.[A] statistically [B] occasionally [C] necessarily [D] economically
    【答案】[C] necessarily
    12.[A] chances [B] downsides [C] benefits [D] principles
    【答案】[B] downsides
    13.[A] absence [B] height [C] face [D] course
    【答案】[A] absence
    14.[A] disturb [B] restore [C] exclude [D] yield
    【答案】[D] yield
    15.[A] model [B] practice [C] virtue [D] hardship
    【答案】[C] virtue
    16.[A] tricky [B] lengthy [C] mysterious [D] scarce
    【答案】[D] scarce
    17.[A] demands [B] standards [C] qualities [D] threats
    【答案】[A] demands
    18.[A] ignored [B] tired [C] confused [D] starved
    【答案】[B] tired
    19.[A] off [B] against [C] behind [D] into
    【答案】[D] into
    20.[A] technological [B] professional [C] educational [D] interpersonal
    【答案】[B] professional
[NextPage]
    SectionII  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
    Every Saturday morning, at 9 am, more than 50,000 runners set off to run 5km around their local park. The Parkrun phenomenon began with a dozen friends and has inspired 400 events in the UK and more abroad. Events are free, staffed by thousands of volunteers. Runners range from four years old to grandparents; their times range from Andrew Baddeley’s world record 13 minutes 48 seconds up to an hour.
    Parkrun is succeeding where London’s Olympic “legacy” is failing. Ten years ago on Monday, it was announced that the Games of the 30th Olympiad would be in London. Planning documents pledged that the great legacy of the Games would be to level a nation of sport lovers away from their couches. The population would be fitter, healthier and produce more winners. It has not happened. The number of adults doing weekly sport did rise, by nearly 2 million in the run—up to 2012—but the general population was growing faster. Worse, the numbers are now falling at an accelerating rate. The opposition claims primary school pupils doing at least two hours of sport a week have nearly halved. Obesity has risen among adults and children. Official retrospections continue as to why London 2012 failed to “inspire a generation.” The success of Parkrun offers answers.
    Parkun is not a race but a time trial: Your only competitor is the clock. The ethos welcomes anybody. There is as much joy over a puffed-out first-timer being clapped over the line as there is about top talent shining.The Olympic bidders, by contrast, wanted to get more people doing sports and to produce more elite athletes. The dual aim was mixed up: The stress on success over taking part was intimidating for newcomers.
    Indeed, there is something a little absurd in the state getting involved in the planning of such a fundamentally “grassroots”, concept as community sports associations. If there is a role for government, it should really be getting involved in providing common goods—making sure there is space for playing fields and the money to pave tennis and netball courts, and encouraging the provision of all these activities in schools. But successive governments have presided over selling green spaces, squeezing money from local authorities and declining attention on sport in education. Instead of wordy, worthy strategies, future governments need to do more to provide the conditions for sport to thrive. Or at least not make them worse.
    21. According to Paragraph1, Parkrun has.
    [A] gained great popularity
    [B] created many jobs
    [C] strengthened community ties
    [D] become an official festival
    【答案】[A] gained great popularity
    22. The author believes that London’s Olympic“legacy” has failed to.
    [A] boost population growth
    [B] promote sport participation
    [C] improve the city’s image
    [D] increase sport hours in schools
    【答案】[B] promote sport participation
    23. Parkrun is different from Olympic games in that it.
    [A] aims at discovering talents
    [B] focuses on mass competition
    [C] does not emphasize elitism
    [D] does not attract first-timers
    【答案】[C] does not emphasize elitism
    24. With regard to mass sport, the author holds that governments should.
    [A] organize “grassroots” sports events
    [B] supervise local sports associations
    [C] increase funds for sports clubs
    [D] invest in public sports facilities
    【答案】[D] invest in public sports facilities
    25. The author’s attitude to what UK governments have done for sports is.
    [A] tolerant
    [B] critical
    [C] uncertain
    [D] sympathetic
    【答案】[B] critical
[NextPage]
    Text 2
    With so much focus on children’s use of screens, it’s easy for parents to forget about their own screen use. “Tech is designed to really suck on you in,” says Jenny Radesky in her study of digital play, “and digital products are there to promote maximal engagement. It makes it hard to disengage, and leads to a lot of bleed-over into the family routine. ”
    Radesky has studied the use of mobile phones and tablets at mealtimes by giving mother-child pairs a food-testing exercise. She found that mothers who sued devices during the exercise started 20 percent fewer verbal and 39 percent fewer nonverbal interactions with their children. During a separate observation, she saw that phones became a source of tension in the family. Parents would be looking at their emails while the children would be making excited bids for their attention.
    Infants are wired to look at parents’ faces to try to understand their world, and if those faces are blank and unresponsive—as they often are when absorbed in a device—it can be extremely disconcerting foe the children. Radesky cites the “still face experiment” devised by developmental psychologist Ed Tronick in the 1970s. In it, a mother is asked to interact with her child in a normal way before putting on a blank expression and not giving them any visual social feedback; The child becomes increasingly distressed as she tries to capture her mother’s attention. “Parents don’t have to be exquisitely parents at all times, but there needs to be a balance and parents need to be responsive and sensitive to a child’s verbal or nonverbal expressions of an emotional need,” says Radesky.
    On the other hand, Tronick himself is concerned that the worries about kids’ use of screens are born out of an “oppressive ideology that demands that parents should always be interacting” with their children: “It’s based on a somewhat fantasized, very white, very upper-middle-class ideology that says if you’re failing to expose your child to 30,000 words you are neglecting them.” Tronick believes that just because a child isn’t learning from the screen doesn’t mean there’s no value to it—particularly if it gives parents time to have a shower, do housework or simply have a break from their child. Parents, he says, can get a lot out of using their devices to speak to a friend or get some work out of the way. This can make them feel happier, which lets then be more available to their child the rest of the time.
    26. According to Jenny Radesky, digital products are designed to ______.
    [A] simplify routine matters
    [B] absorb user attention
    [C] better interpersonal relations
    [D] increase work efficiency
    【答案】[B] absorb user attention
    27. Radesky’s food-testing exercise shows that mothers’ use of devices ______.
    [A] takes away babies’ appetite
    [B] distracts children’s attention
    [C] slows down babies’ verbal development
    [D] reduces mother-child communication
    【答案】[D] reduces mother-child communication
    28. Radesky’s cites the “still face experiment” to show that _______.
    [A] it is easy for children to get used to blank expressions
    [B] verbal expressions are unnecessary for emotional exchange
    [C] children are insensitive to changes in their parents’ mood
    [D] parents need to respond to children’s emotional needs
    【答案】[D] parents need to respond to children’s emotional needs
    29. The oppressive ideology mentioned by Tronick requires parents to_______.
    [A] protect kids from exposure to wild fantasies
    [B] teach their kids at least 30,000 words a year
    [C] ensure constant interaction with their children
    [D] remain concerned about kid’s use of screens
    【答案】[C] ensure constant interaction with their children
    30. According to Tronick, kid’s use of screens may_______.
    [A] give their parents some free time
    [B] make their parents more creative
    [C] help them with their homework
    [D] help them become more attentive
    【答案】[A] give their parents some free time
[NextPage]
    Text 3
    Today, widespread social pressure to immediately go to college in conjunction with increasingly high expectations in a fast-moving world often causes students to completely overlook the possibility of taking a gap year. After all, if everyone you know is going to college in the fall, it seems silly to stay back a year, doesn’t it? And after going to school for 12 years, it doesn’t feel natural to spend a year doing something that isn’t academic.
    But while this may be true, it’s not a good enough reason to condemn gap years. There’s always a constant fear of falling behind everyone else on the socially perpetuated “race to the finish line,” whether that be toward graduate school, medical school or lucrative career. But despite common misconceptions, a gap year does not hinder the success of academic pursuits—in fact, it probably enhances it.
    Studies from the United States and Australia show that students who take a gap year are generally better prepared for and perform better in college than those who do not. Rather than pulling students back, a gap year pushes them ahead by preparing them for independence, new responsibilities and environmental changes—all things that first-year students often struggle with the most. Gap year experiences can lessen the blow when it comes to adjusting to college and being thrown into a brand new environment, making it easier to focus on academics and activities rather than acclimationblunders.
    If you’re not convinced of the inherent value in taking a year off to explore interests, then consider its financial impact on future academic choices. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, nearly 80 percent of college students end up changing their majors at least once. This isn’t surprising, considering the basic mandatory high school curriculum leaves students with a poor understanding of themselves listing one major on their college applications, but switching to another after taking college classes. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but depending on the school, it can be costly to make up credits after switching too late in the game. At Boston College, for example, you would have to complete an extra year were you to switch to the nursing school from another department. Taking a gap year to figure things out initially can help prevent stress and save money later on.
    31. One of the reasons for high-school graduates not taking a gap year is that .
    [A] they think it academically misleading
    [B] they have a lot of fun to expect in college
    [C] it feels strange to do differently from others
    [D] it seems worthless to take off-campus courses
    【答案】[C] it feels strange to do differently from others
    32. Studies from the US and Australia imply that taking a gap year helps .
    [A] keep students from being unrealistic
    [B] lower risks in choosing careers
    [C] ease freshmen’s financial burdens
    [D] relieve freshmen of pressures
    【答案】[D] relieve freshmen of pressures
    33. The word “acclimation” (Line 8, Para. 3) is closest in meaning to .
    [A] adaptation
    [B] application
    [C] motivation
    [D] competition
    【答案】[A] adaptation
    34. A gap year may save money for students by helping them .
    [A] avoid academic failures
    [B] establish long-term goals
    [C] switch to another college
    [D] decide on the right major
    【答案】[D] decide on the right major
    35. The most suitable title for this text would be .
    [A] In Favor of the Gap Year
    [B] The ABCs of the Gap Year
    [C] The Gap Year Comes Back
    [D] The Gap Year: A Dilemma
    【答案】[A] In Favor of the Gap Year
[NextPage]
    Text 4
    Though often viewed as a problem for western states, the growing frequency of wildfires is a national concern because of its impact on federal tax dollars, says Professor Max Moritz, a specialist in fire ecology and management.
    In 2015, the US Forest Service for the first time spent more than half of its $5.5 billion annual budget fighting fires—nearly double the percentage it spent on such efforts 20 years ago. In effect, fewer federal funds today are going towards the agency’s other work—such as forest conservation, watershed and cultural resources management, and infrastructure upkeep—that affect the lives of all Americans.
    Another nationwide concern is whether public funds from other agencies are going into construction in fire-prone districts. As Moritz puts it, how often are federal dollars building homes that are likely to be lost to a wildfire?
    “It’s already a huge problem from a public expenditure perspective for the whole country,” he says.” We need to take a magnifying glass to that. Like, “Wait a minute, is this OK?” “Do we want instead to redirect those funds to concentrate on lower-hazard parts of the landscape?”
    Such a view would require a corresponding shift in the way US society today views fire, researchers say.
    For one thing, conversations about wildfires need to be more inclusive. Over the past decade, the focus has been on climate change—how the warming of the Earth from greenhouse gases is leading to conditions that worsen fires.
    While climate is a key element, Moritz says, it shouldn’t come at the expense of the rest of the equation.
    “The human systems and the landscapes we live on are linked, and the interactions go both ways,” he says. Failing to recognize that, he notes, leads to “an overly simplified view of what the solutions might be. Our perception of the problem and of what the solution is becomes very limited.”
    At the same time, people continue to treat fire as an event that needs to be wholly controlled and unleashed only out of necessity, says Professor Balch at the University of Colorado. But acknowledging fire’s inevitable presence in human life is an attitude crucial to developing the laws, policies, and practices that make it as safe as possible, she says.
    “We’ve disconnected ourselves from living with fire,” Balch says. “It is really important to understand and try and tease out what is the human connection with fire today.”
    36. More frequent wildfires have become a national concern because in 2015 they.
    [A] exhausted unprecedented management efforts
    [B] consumed a record-high percentage of budget
    [C] severely damaged the ecology of western states
    [D] caused a huge rise of infrastructure expenditure
    【答案】[B] consumed a record-high percentage of budget
    37. Moritz calls for the use of “a magnifying glass” to.
    [A] raise more funds for fire-prone areas
    [B] avoid the redirection of federal money
    [C] find wildfire-free parts of the landscape
    [D] guarantee safer spending of public funds
    【答案】[D] guarantee safer spending of public funds
    38. While admitting that climate is a key element, Moritz notes that.
    [A] public debates have not settled yet
    [B] fire-fighting conditions are improving
    [C] other factors should not be overlooked
    [D] a shift in the view of fire has taken place
    【答案】[C] other factors should not be overlooked
    39. The overly simplified view Moritz mentions is a result of failing to.
    [A] discover the fundamental makeup of nature
    [B] explore the mechanism of the human systems
    [C] maximize the role of landscape in human life
    [D] understand the interrelations of man and nature
    【答案】[D] understand the interrelations of man and nature
    40. Professor Balch points out that fire is something man should.
    [A] do away with
    [B] come to terms with
    [C] pay a price for
    [D] keep away from
    【答案】[B] come to terms with
[NextPage]
    Part B
    Directions:
    Read the following text and match each of the numbered items in the left column to its corresponding information in the right column. There are two extra choices in the right column. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)
    The decline in American manufacturing is a common refrain, particularly from Donald Trump. “We don’t make anything anymore,” he told Fox News, while defending his own made-in-Mexico clothing line.
    Without question, manufacturing has taken a significant hit during recent decades, and further trade deals raise questions about whether new shocks could hit manufacturing.
    But there is also a different way to look at the data.
    Across the country, factory owners are now grappling with a new challenge: instead of having too many workers, they may end up with too few. Despite trade competition and outsourcing, American manufacturing still needs to replace tens of thousands of retiring boomers every years. Millennials may not be that interested in taking their place, other industries are recruiting them with similar or better pay.
    For factory owners, it all adds up to stiff competition for workers—and upward pressure on wages. “They’re harder to find and they have job offers,” says Jay Dunwell, president of Wolverine Coil Spring, a family-owned firm, “They may be coming [into the workforce], but they’ve been plucked by other industries that are also doing an well as manufacturing,” Mr. Dunwell has begun bringing high school juniors to the factory so they can get exposed to its culture.
    At RoMan Manufacturing, a maker of electrical transformers and welding equipment that his father cofounded in 1980, Robert Roth keep a close eye on the age of his nearly 200 workers, five are retiring this year. Mr. Roth has three community-college students enrolled in a work-placement program, with a starting wage of $13 an hour that rises to $17 after two years.
    At a worktable inside the transformer plant, young Jason Stenquist looks flustered by the copper coils he’s trying to assemble and the arrival of two visitors. It’s his first week on the job. Asked about his choice of career, he says at high school he considered medical school before switching to electrical engineering. “I love working with tools. I love creating.” he says.
    But to win over these young workers, manufacturers have to clear another major hurdle: parents, who lived through the worst US economic downturn since the Great Depression, telling them to avoid the factory. Millennials “remember their father and mother both were laid off. They blame it on the manufacturing recession,” says Birgit Klohs, chief executive of The Right Place, a business development agency for western Michigan.
    These concerns aren’t misplaced: Employment in manufacturing has fallen from 17 million in 1970 to 12 million in 2013. When the recovery began, worker shortages first appeared in the high-skilled trades. Now shortages are appearing at the mid-skill levels.
    “The gap is between the jobs that take to skills and those that require a lot of skill,” says Rob Spohr, a business professor at Montcalm Community College. “There’re enough people to fill the jobs at McDonalds and other places where you don’t need to have much skill. It’s that gap in between, and that’s where the problem is. ”
    Julie Parks of Grand Rapids Community points to another key to luring Millennials into manufacturing: a work/life balance. While their parents were content to work long hours, young people value flexibility. “Overtime is not attractive to this generation. They really want to live their lives,” she says.


    【答案】
    41[E] says that for factory owners, workers are harder to find because of stiff competition.
    42 [A] says that he switched to electrical engineering because he loves working with tools.
    43 [G] says that the manufacturing recession is to blame for the lay-off the young people’s parents.
    44 [B] points out that there are enough people to fill the jobs that don’t need much skill
    45 [F] points out that a work/life balance can attract young people into manufacturing
[NextPage]
    Section III  Translation
    46.Directions:
    Translate the following text into Chinese. Write your translation neatly on the ANSWER SHEET.(15 points)
    My dream has always been to work somewhere in an area between fashion and publishing. Two years before graduating from secondary school, I took a sewing and design course thinking that I would move on to a fashion design course. However, during that course I realized I was not good enough in this area to compete with other creative personalities in the future, so I decided that it was not the right path for me. Before applying for university I told everyone that I would study journalism, because writing was, and still is, one of my favourite activities. But, to be honest, I said it , because I thought that fashion and me together was just a dream—I knew that no one could imagine me in the fashion industry at all! So I decided to look for some fashion-related courses that included writing. This is when I noticed the course “Fashion Media & Promotion.”
     【参考译文】
    我一直梦想着能找到一个结合时尚与出版的工作。中学毕业前两年,我学习了缝纫设计课程,认为自己继而能够学习时尚设计。然而,期间,发现自己在该领域不够优秀,不足以在未来与其他富有创造力的人竞争。因此,得出结论:这条道路不适合我。在申请大学之前,我告诉大家自己会选择新闻专业,因为写作一直都是我最喜欢的事情之一。但是,说实话,当时这样说,是因为我认为时尚于我而言就是个梦想。我知道完全没有人相信我会进入时尚这一行。因此,我决定去寻找一些课程,既与时尚相关、又涉及写作。就在这时,我注意到了《时尚媒体与营销》这门课程。
    Section IVWriting
    Part A
    47. Directions:
    Suppose you are invited by Professor Williams to give a presentation about Chinese culture to a group of international students. Write a reply to
    1) accept the invitation, and
    2) introduce the key points of your presentation
    You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
    Don’t use your own name, use “LiMing” instead.
    Don’t write your address. (10 points)
    47、
    【参考范文】
    Dear Professor Williams,
    I felt much honored when I received your invitation to give a presentation about Chinese culture to the international students of your college. I would much like to do this job. So I am writing to tell you something about the presentation to be given.
    The focus of my presentation will be Chinese traditional festivals, such as the Spring Festival and the Mid-autumn Day. In the speech, I will introduce the origin and conventions of these festivals. For example, the Mid-Autumn Day, falling on the 15th of August in the Chinese lunar calendar, is a traditional Chinese holiday for family members and loved ones to gather together. In addition to enjoying the glorious full moon on this day, Chinese people will also eat festival-moon cakes, recite ancient Chinese poems as well as guess lantern riddles. I believe these knowledge will help the foreign students obtain a deeper understanding of Chinese culture.
    I am really looking forward to sharing these with all of the international students.
    Yours sincerely,
    Li Ming
    Part B
[NextPage]
    48. Directions:
    You should write about 150 words neatly on the ANSWER SHEET. (15 points)


     【参考范文】
    Reflected in the chart given above are the respective changes in the numbers of museums and their visitors in China from the year 2013 to 2015. It can be clearly seen that the number of museums was on a continuous rise from 6378 to 7811 in the two years, up more than 22%, and so did that of the visitors, with an increase of nearly 13% from 4165 to 4692.
    What might account for the notable growths? Reasons are many, but the most important one, as far as I am concerned, is that with the boom of Chinese economy in recent years, our government has been placing an increasingly high value on the inheritance of traditional culture, which connects modern people with the historical past, allowing them to acquire a cultural and
    historical identity. What’s more, more attention is paid to tour Chinese traditional culture since the Chinese have improved living standards.
    With the development of China, the increasing trend is bound to continue for some time in the future. From my perspective, it is a positive trend and should be encouraged, for it is not only beneficial for the preservation and rejuvenation of our ancestral heritages but also conducive to the cultural diversity of the world.

[NextPage]

2017考研英语二阅读真题及答案解析


    来源:有道考研/@建昆老师
    As wildfires challenge California, the causes go beyond climate
    A SHIFT IN THOUGHT
    Wildfire season has become longer and more intense lately。 But beyond addressing climate change, some researchers call for a paradigm shift to address the various human factors relating to prevention and safety。
    By Jessica Mendoza, Staff writer JULY 1, 2016
    AZUSA, CALIF。 — On a chain-link fence along Route 39 hangs a homemade poster, peppered with hearts, thanking firefighters and police。
    The sign, one of a handful scattered across town, salutes efforts to battle the San Gabriel Complex fire, twin blazes that had erupted on June 20 in the mountains of Angeles National Forest just to the north of the city。 Within a day of igniting, the fire had burned through nearly 5,000 acres and forced hundreds to evacuate。
    Nearly a week passed before the US Forest Service and local and state authorities managed to contain even half of the inferno。
    Recommended: Could you be a Hotshot? Take our quiz!
    “Three days in, you could still see the flames,” says Jasmine Perez, a teacher’s assistant and resident of Azusa, which sits northeast of Los Angeles。 And because of the smoke, she adds, “In the mornings, it kind of looked like nighttime still。”
    The San Gabriel Complex was one of 12 large fires that about 4,000 firefighters were battling across California as of Thursday。 Such numbers so early in the fire season are a testament to the growing frequency and intensity of wildfires in the western US, fire officials say – a shift that many experts say is likely intertwined with climate change and its associated consequences, such as drought。
    But climate, however critical, is only part of the problem, scientists say。 A growing body of evidence suggests that other human activity and policy have at least as much impact on wildfires as climate change。 To effectively address a longer and more intense wildfire season – and ensure the safety of residents in fire-prone areas – both environmental and human factors have to be taken into account in more holistic ways, they say。
    That means more than just sweeping dry brush off the front porch。 Though such steps are an important part of the process, officials and researchers alike are calling for a comprehensive approach to wildfires: one that incorporates fire safety and behavior in key policy decisions and legislation。 Such an effort would also recognize that fire can be helpful as well as harmful and embrace fire’s place in human society。
[NextPage]
    “We need not just a policy shift but also a cultural shift in the dialogue around fires in our landscape and how to manage them,” says Jennifer Balch, director of Earth Lab and a professor of geography at the University of Colorado in Boulder。 “Fire is not something we can remove。 A large majority of the country is living in fire-prone areas。 How do we live with wildfire? How do we manage?”
    “More and more researchers are arguing that anthropogenic influences are really important [to understanding wildfires],” adds Max Moritz, a specialist in fire ecology and management and a professor at the College of Natural Resources at the University of California, Berkeley。 “By leaving them out we’re missing a critical piece of the solution。”
    Changing attitudes on fire
    选取部分:
    Though often viewed as a problem for western states, the growing frequency of wildfires is a national concern because of its impact on federal tax dollars, Professor Moritz and others say。
    In 2015, the US Forest Service for the first time spent more than half of its $5.5 billion annual budget fighting fires – nearly double the percentage it spent on such efforts 20 years ago。 In effect, fewer federal funds today are going towards the agency’s other work – such as forest conservation, watershed and cultural resources management, and infrastructure upkeep – that affect the lives of all Americans。
    Another nationwide concern is whether public funds from other agencies, such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development, are going into construction in fire-prone districts。 As Moritz puts it, how often are federal dollars building homes that are likely to be lost to a wildfire?
    “It’s already a huge problem from a public expenditure perspective for the whole country,” he says。 “We need to take a magnifying glass to that。 Like, ‘Wait a minute, is this OK?’ Do we want instead to redirect those funds to concentrate on lower-hazard parts of the landscape?”
    Such a pivot would require a corresponding shift in the way US society today views fire, researchers say。
    For one thing, conversations about wildfires need to be more inclusive。 Over the past decade, the focus has been on climate change – how the warming of the Earth from greenhouse gases (including human carbon emissions) is leading to conditions that exacerbate fires。
    While climate is a key element, Moritz says, it shouldn’t come at the expense of the rest of the equation。
    “The human systems and the landscapes we live on are linked, and the interactions go both ways,” he says。 Failing to recognize that, he notes, leads to “an overly simplified view of what the solutions might be。 Our perception of the problem and perception of what the solution is [becomes] very limited。”
    At the same time, people continue to treat fire as an event that needs to be wholly controlled and unleashed only out of necessity, says Professor Balch at the University of Colorado。 But acknowledging fire’s inevitable presence in human life is an attitude crucial to developing the laws, policies, and practices that make it as safe as possible, she says。
    “We’ve disconnected ourselves from living with fire,” Balch says。 “It is really important to understand and try and tease out what is the human connection [with fire] today。”
    Role for citizens 。。。 and for policy
    After nearly 30 years in the state fire service, Janet Upton understands the value of that connection。
    During her early days with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), veterans would tell war stories of huge fires that happened once in a career, she recalls。
    “But in my generation, those of us who’ve come up through the ‘80s, ’90s, 2000s … we feel like we don’t have the license to use the word ‘unprecedented’ any more。 We’ve seen it all in the last few years,” she says。 “I’ve probably had 15 once-in-a-career fires。”
[NextPage]
    And people caused most of them, Ms。 Upton says。 About 90 percent of all fires in California can be traced to human activity, whether it’s a stove left on or a campfire left burning。 Which is why public education has been Upton’s main goal since 2008, when then-Gov。 Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed her Cal Fire’s deputy communications director。
    The department has since made strides, playing a major role in launching state and nationalcampaigns that underscore the public’s role in fire safety。 But people’s tendency to put danger out of their minds until it’s too late continues to pose serious challenges, Upton says。
    “This is going to sound cold。 But if someone chooses to live in a rural area and continues to not be responsive to [fire-safety] education, sadly, the worst punishment they’re going to get is they’re going to lose their home in a fire,” she says。
    A paradigm shift, some researchers hope, can address that gap between education and action。 Environmental policy specialist Ray Rasker, for instance, envisions whole communities designed around the concept of fire safety, and a slate of fire-prevention policies at the local, state, and national level。
    “What we’re telling the public now is, ‘Reduce the risk of fires – if you so choose。’ Imagine if we tried driving our cars like that,” says Dr。 Rasker, who is also executive director of Headwaters Economics, a nonprofit research firm based in Bozeman, Mont。 “Why not use regulations, building codes, and subdivision design standards, development codes and ordinances that say, ‘Look if you’re going to build there, there are certain conditions you have to meet first’?”
    Some places are already taking steps。 San Diego’s municipal code, for instance, requires property owners to maintain landscape and vegetation standards – or face a penalty equivalent to the cost of hiring a private contractor to do so。 Austin, Texas, has set aside close to 30 percent of city land as conservation areas, curbing the number of new structures that can be built within the fire-prone “wildland-urban interface” (WUI) – the space between unoccupied natural land and human developments。 Flagstaff, Ariz。, Boulder, Colo。, and Santa Fe, N.M。, have all enacted similar policies。
    But the need for action continues to grow。 As bad as wildfires have been in recent years, research shows they’re likely to get worse as the US population increases and people build more homes in the WUI, more than 80 percent of which remain undeveloped。
    “We keep building more and more homes in harm’s way,” Rasker notes。 “Unless we get a handle on development, we’re really not addressing the problem。”
    Mind-set matters, too – for everyone, says Upton at Cal Fire。
    “It’s a mitigation issue。 You can take the lens we’re looking at [in California] and take it to Tornado Alley or the Eastern Seaboard,” she says。 In the end, “it’s about informing yourself as a member of the public or a policymaker。 How can you do something comprehensive?”

[NextPage]

2017考研英语二翻译真题参考译文及解析
文都教育


    [原文题目]
    My Dream
    My dream has always been to work somewhere in an area between fashion and publishing。 Two years before graduating from secondary school, I took a sewing and design course thinking that I would move on to a fashion design course。 However, during that course I realized that I was not good enough in this area to compete with other creative personalities in the future, so I decided that it was not the right path for me。 Before applying for university I told everyone that I would study journalism, because writing was, and still is, one of my favourite activities。 But, to be absolutely honest, I said it, because I thought that fashion and me together was just a dream - I knew that no one, apart from myself, could imagine me in the fashion industry at all!
    [参考译文]
    我的梦想
    我的梦想一直是在时装设计和出版界之间找寻一个工作。在我中学毕业的两年前,我参加了一个缝纫和设计课程,原以为我能再继续参加一个时装设计的课程。然而,就在这个课程上,我意识到,将来在这个领域,我是无法和那些富于创新精神的精英们相媲美的。于是,我断定到这条路走不通。在申请上大学之前,我和所有人都讲,我想学新闻学,因为,写作曾经是,现在也是我最喜欢的活动之一。但是,说实话,我之所以这样说,是因为我以为从事时装设计不过是一个梦想,我也知道,除了我之外,没有人能想象出我会从事时装设计的工作。
    [翻译解析]
    My dream has always been to work somewhere in an area between fashion and publishing。
    参考译文:我的梦想一直是在时装设计和出版界之间找寻一个工作。
    句子分析:这个句子是简单句,句子主干是My dream has always been to work,后面的部分是状语。难点的地方在于状语部分somewhere in an area between fashion and publishing, 这里somewhere不需要翻译出来避免后面的介词短语重复,抽象理解为在时尚设计和出版界之间找寻一个工作。
    Two years before graduating from secondary school, I took a sewing and design course thinking that I would move on to a fashion design course。
    参考译文:在我中学毕业的两年前,我参加了一个缝纫和设计课程,原以为我能再继续参加一个时装设计的课程。
    句子分析:句子主干为I took a sewing and design course 后面是现在分词短语thinking that I would move on to a fashion design course作伴随状语。
    However, during that course I realized that I was not good enough in this area to compete with other creative personalities in the future, so I decided that it was not the right path for me。
    参考译文:然而,就在这个课程上,我意识到,将来在这个领域,我是无法和那些富于创新精神的精英们相媲美的。于是,我断定到这条路走不通。
    句子分析:句子结构是i realized +that 引导的宾语从句,so引导的结果状语从句,结果状语从句中that引导宾语从句。第一个宾语从句中主干是I was not good enough in this area,其后有动词不定式短语做目的状语。
    Before applying for university I told everyone that I would study journalism, because writing was, and still is, one of my favourite activities。
    参考译文:在申请上大学之前,我和所有人都讲,我想学新闻学,因为,写作曾经是,现在也是我最喜欢的活动之一。
    句子分析:句子结构为i told everyone +that引导的宾语从句,because引导的状语从句。
    But, to be absolutely honest, I said it, because I thought that fashion and me together was just a dream - I knew that no one, apart from myself, could imagine me in the fashion industry at all!
    参考译文:但是,说实话,我之所以这样说,是因为我以为从事时装设计不过是一个梦想,我也知道,除了我之外,没有人能想象出我会从事时装设计的工作
    句子分析:本句主句为i said it ,其后又because 引导原因状语从句,原因状语从句中that 引导了宾语从句。破折号之后的句子结构为I know +that引导的宾语从句。
    总体来说,今年英语二翻译不论是从句式还是从词汇方面都比往年要简单。

回复

使用道具 举报

您需要登录后才可以回帖 登录 | 立即注册

本版积分规则

小黑屋|手机版|Archiver|新都网 ( 京ICP备09058993号 )

GMT+8, 2024-3-29 21:09 , Processed in 0.081653 second(s), 13 queries , WinCache On.

Powered by Discuz! X3.4

© 2001-2017 Comsenz Inc.

快速回复 返回顶部 返回列表