2012年考研英语一真题答案

　　Section I：Use of English

　　1.B 2.A 3.B 4.D 5.C 6.B 7.D 8.B 9.A 10.B

　　11.A 12.C 13.C 14.D 15.A 16.C 17.A 18.C 19.D 20.D

　　Section II：Reading Comprehension

　　Part A

　　21.D 22.B 23.A 24.C 25.D

　　26.C 27.D 28.A 29.D 30.A

　　31.A 32.B 33.B 34.D 35.D

　　36.C 37.D 38.B 39.C 40.A

　　Part B

　　41.C 42.D 43.A 44.F 45.G

　　Part C

　　2012年研究生入学考试英语一的翻译文章出自美国杂志《Nature》，题目是Universal truths。这篇文章的理论性比较强，对于大家来说应该会感觉很有难度，大家首先要理解文章大意，依据专业性来定词义。

　　文章原文如下，选入2012考研英语一翻译真题时有部分删改：

　　Since at least the days of Aristotle, a search for universal principles has characterized the scientific enterprise. In some ways, this quest for commonalities defines science: without it, there is no underlying order and pattern, merely as many explanations as there are things in the world. Newton's laws of motion, the oxygen theory of combustion and Darwinian evolution each bind a host of different phenomena into a single explicatory framework.

　　46. In physics, one approach takes this impulse for unification to its extreme, and seeks a theory of everything — a single generative equation for all we see. It is becoming less clear, however, that such a theory would be a simplification, given the proliferation of dimensions and universes that it might entail. Nonetheless, unification of sorts remains a major goal.

　　46. 在物理学上，一种方法就是把这种统一性的冲动发挥到了极端，并努力寻找一种万能的理论---一条唯一的我们都明白的普遍公式。

　　This tendency in the natural sciences has long been evident in the social sciences too. 47. Here, Darwinism seems to offer justification, for if all humans share common origins, it seems reasonable to suppose that cultural diversity could also be traced to more constrained beginnings.

　　47. 在这里，达尔文主义似乎提供了一个理由，因为如果所有的人类都有共同的起源，那么文化多样性也能够追溯到更多可控的起源，这似乎是有道理的。

　　Just as the bewildering variety of human courtship rituals might all be considered to be for rms of sexual selection, perhaps the world's languages, music, social and religious customs and even history are governed by universal features. 48. To filter out what is unique from what is shared might enable us to understand how complex cultural behavior arose and what guides it in evolutionary or cognitive terms.

　　48. 从我们的共性中过滤出独特性能够使我们理解复杂的文化行为是怎样出现的，以及用进化或认知的概念来说，是什么在引导这种文化行为。

　　That, at least, is the hope. But a comparative study of linguistic traits published online today (M. Dunn et al. Nature doi:10.1038/nature09923; 2011) supplies a reality check. Russell Gray at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and his colleagues consider the evolution of grammars in the light of two previous attempts to find universality in language.

　　The most famous of these efforts was initiated by Noam Chomsky, who postulated that humans are born with an innate language-acquisition capacity — a brain module or modules specialized for language — that dictates a universal grammar. A few generative rules are then sufficient to unfold the entire fundamental structure of a language, which is why children can learn it so quickly. Languages would diversify through changes to the 'parameter settings' of the generative rules.

　　49.The second, by Joshua Greenberg, takes a more empirical approach to universality, identifying traits (particularly in word order) shared by many languages, which are considered to represent biases that result from cognitive constraints. Chomsky's and Greenberg's are not the only theories on the table for how languages evolve, but they make the strongest predictions about universals.

　　49.其次/由约书亚格林伯提出的第二个观点，就是把一个更为经验主义的普遍性方法，识别许多语言所共有的特征(特别是词序)，这些特征认为是代表了由认知限制所造成的偏见。

　　Gray and his colleagues have put them to the test by examining four family trees that between them represent more than 2,000 languages. 50. Chomsky's grammar should show patterns of language change that are independent of the family tree or the pathway tracked through it, whereas Greenberg Ian universality predicts strong co-dependencies between particular types of word-order relations. Neither of these patterns is borne out by the analysis, suggesting that the structures of the languages are lineage-specific and not governed by universals.

　　This does not mean that cognitive constraints are irrelevant, or that there are no other universals dictated by communication efficiency. It is surely inevitable that cognition sets limits on, say, word length. But such 'universals' seem likely to be relatively trivial features of languages, just as may be the case for putative universals in music and other aspects of culture.

　　The conclusion? We should perhaps learn the lesson of Darwinism: a 'universal' mechanism of adaptation says little in itself about how a particular feature got to be the way it is, or about how it works. This truth has dawned on physicists too: universal equations are all very well, but the world actually consists of particular solutions, and these are generally the result of contingent history. One size does not always fit all.

　　46. 在物理学上，一种方法就是把这种统一性的冲动发挥到了极端，并努力寻找一种万能的理论---一条唯一的我们都明白的普遍公式。

　　47. 在这里，达尔文主义似乎提供了一个理由，因为如果所有的人类都有共同的起源，那么文化多样性也能够追溯到更多可控的起源，这似乎是有道理的。

　　48. 从我们的共性中过滤出独特性能够使我们理解复杂的文化行为是怎样出现的，以及用进化或认知的概念来说，是什么在引导这种文化行为。

　　49.其次/由约书亚格林伯提出的第二个观点，就是把一个更为经验主义的普遍性方法，识别许多语言所共有的特征(特别是词序)，这些特征认为是代表了由认知限制所造成的偏见。

　　50. 乔姆斯基的语法应该表现了语言变化的模式，这些模式和语言这个家族或或由它所追溯的路径无关的，而Greenberg Ian的普遍性预测了特定词序关系之间更紧密的相互依赖关系。

　　Section III：Writing

　　Part A

　　51：参考作文

　　范文一：黄涛

　　Dear my friends,

　　I am writing this letter to welcome you to our university. I expect you to arrive here with increasing joy as well as excitement. It is of great pleasure to anticipate your coming soon.

　　As foreign students, you will find everything on our campus quite different, fresh and alien. Therefore, after arriving, you can take full advantage of every opportunity to communicate with us directly to bridge the gap. To be more specific, the climate in Beijing is considerably different from your hometown, but you will soon get accustomed to living here. Finally, I hope to accompany you and introduce some special or unique campus characteristics and cultures to you so as to let you better understand our college life.

　　We shall strive to make your visit as pleasant as possible by providing the best service as well as support for you. All of our students are looking forward to your early coming eagerly.

　　Students’ union  

　　范文二：商志

　　Dear friends,

　　On behalf of all the faculty members and students of our university, we take pleasure in welcoming you to our university.

　　In order to make your life here much comfortable and convenient, we would like to present you some instructions and directions. It is cold now in Beijing, so please be sure to bring with you proper dresses and clothes. What is more, you’d better be acquainted with some daily expressions and cultures in China in advance so that you can communicate and interact with the teachers and native students well.

　　It is our sincere hope that you would enjoy yourselves and acquire a great deal of knowledge in our university. And we are all greatly delighted and honored to have all of you stay with us for quite a long period of time.

　　The Students’ union  

　　Part B

　　52 参考范文

　　范文一：黄涛

　　As is apparently drawn in this miniature, in the middle stand two individuals, one feeling gloomy while the other optimistic. The Chinese characters above inform our readers of the message that various folks take different attitudes toward the same event. How impressive this drawing seems to be in depicting one of the most prevalent themes that attitudes make everything in our life.

　　After careful reflection and mediation, we examinees come to understand the enlightening drawing. I contend that this thought-provoking image conveys one profound layer of implication concerning attitude or optimism. It is universally acknowledged that life is by no means perfect and whether we feel optimistic or not depends on what attitudes we take.

　　When confronted with an adverse situation, some youths feel in low spirits and fall into depression. Others, on the contrary, look at the positive side of the situation and remain cheerful. As a consequence, it is our attitude rather than the situation itself that determines how we feel.

　　In my personal sense, the message applies to our youths especially. In such a rat-race society, everyone is bound to encounter hardships and difficulties. In this sense, I should keep an optimistic attitude to pull through any hardship. Just as a famous figure puts it, it is our attitude that has changed everything in our life.

　　范文二：商志

　　How instructive and impressive the above image is! Indeed, few things could be so symbolic and philosophic as this picture. Portrayed in it are two men, who respond to the same scene in entirely different ways: When their bottle is overturned, one expresses his disappointment and discouragement, while the other is hurry to raise the bottle up, with a smile on his face and optimism in his mind. What on earth does the illustration virtually intend to mirror?

　　That this picture does carry rather important intended meanings goes far beyond any reasonable dispute. Studying it further, we may learn that simple as it may seem at first glance, what the illustrator really aims to convey is apparently far-reaching —— different people may come up with different outlooks on life. When facing with stresses, setbacks or feelings of inadequacy, some tend to be optimistic, but others might be pessimistic. Looking around, we may find that similar happenings are too numerous to list. A convincing illustration occurring to me goes to an acquaintance of mine, who is always confident and optimistic in school and in life, even when there is little hope. When he failed in the Students’ union   election last semester, he, instead of being upset, viewed it as an opportunity to exercise his ability and felt no sorry about it at all.

　　“ However much importance we attach to people’s lack of optimism , it is far from enough, ” notes Dr. Gao Lei, a pioneer of behavioral studies of Tsinghua University. It is the responsibility of the government, mass media and schools of all levels to take the lead to promote optimism，awakening people to the significance of optimism. Moreover, we should strive to help people develop a positive outlook on life and the world. I am strongly convinced that only when we are equipped with optimism and confidence can we achieve more rapid progress and even greater success in problem-solving and life success.