考研网：2014考研英语二真题及答案之阅读题

　　Text 2

　　An article in Scientific America has pointed out that empirical research says that, actually, you think you’re more beautiful than you are. We have a deep-seated need to feel good about ourselves and we naturally employ a number of self-enhancing strategies to research into what the call the “above average effect”, or “illusory superiority”, and shown that, for example, 70% of us rate ourselves as above average in leadership, 93% in driving and 85% at getting on well with others—all obviously statistical impossibilities.

　　We rose tint our memories and put ourselves into self-affirming situations. We become defensive when criticized, and apply negative stereotypes to others to boost our own esteem, we stalk around thinking we’re hot stuff.

　　Psychologist and behavioral scientist Nicholas Epley oversaw a key studying into self-enhancement and attractiveness. Rather that have people simply rate their beauty compress with others, he asked them to identify an original photogragh of themselves’ from a lineup including versions that had been altered to appear more and less attractive. Visual recognition, reads the study, is “an automatic psychological process occurring rapidly and intuitively with little or no apparent conscious deliberation”. If the subjects quickly chose a falsely flattering image- which must did- they genuinely believed it was really how they looked. Epley found no significant gender difference in responses. Nor was there any evidence that, those who self-enhance the must (that is, the participants who thought the most positively doctored picture were real) were doing so to make up for profound insecurities. In fact those who thought that the images higher up the attractiveness scale were real directly corresponded with those who showed other makers for having higher self-esteem. “I don’t think the findings that we having have are any evidence of personal delusion”, says Epley. “It’s a reflection simply of people generally thinking well of themselves’. If you are depressed, you won’t be self-enhancing. Knowing the results of Epley ‘s study,it makes sense that why people heat photographs of themselves Viscerally-on one level, they don’t even recognise the person in the picture as themselves, Facebook therefore ,is a self-enhancer’s paradise,where people can share only the most flattering photos, the cream of their wit ,style ,beauty, intellect and lifestyle it’s not that people’s profiles are dishonest,says catalina toma of Wiscon—Madison university ,”but they portray an idealized version of themselves.

　　26. According to the first paragraph, social psychologist have found that ______.

　　[A] our self-ratings are unrealistically high

　　[B] illusory superiority is baseless effect

　　[C] our need for leadership is unnatural

　　[D] self-enhancing strategies are ineffective

　　27. Visual recognition is believed to be people’s______

　　[A] rapid watching

　　[B] conscious choice

　　[C] intuitive response

　　[D] automatic self-defence

　　28. Epley found that people with higher self-esteem tended to______

　　[A] underestimate their insecurities

　　[B] believe in their attractiveness

　　[C] cover up their depressions

　　[D] oversimplify their illusions

　　29.The word “Viscerally”(Line 2,para.5) is closest in meaning to_____.

　　[A]instinctively

　　[B]occasionally

　　[C]particularly

　　[D]aggressively

　　30. It can be inferred that Facebook is self-enhancer’s paradise because people can _____.

　　[A]present their dishonest profiles

　　[B]define their traditional life styles

　　[C]share their intellectual pursuits

　　[D]withhold their unflattering sides

　　Text 4

　　When the government talks about infrastructure contributing to the economy the focus is usually on roads, railways, broadband and energy. Housing is seldom mentioned.

　　Why is that? To some extent the housing sector must shoulder the blame. We have not been good at communicating the real value that housing can contribute to economic growth. Then there is the scale of the typical housing project. It is hard to shove for attention among multibillion-pound infrastructure project, so it is inevitable that the attention is focused elsewhere. But perhaps the most significant reason is that the issue has always been so politically charged.

　　Nevertheless, the affordable housing situation is desperate. Waiting lists increase all the time and we are simply not building enough new homes.

　　The comprehensive spending review offers an opportunity for the government to help rectify this. It needs to put historical prejudices to one side and take some steps to address our urgent housing need.

　　There are some indications that it is preparing to do just that. The communities minister, Don Foster, has hinted that George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, may introduce more flexibility to the current cap on the amount that local authorities can borrow against their housing stock debt. Evidence shows that 60,000 extra new homes could be built over the next five years if the cap were lifted, increasing GDP by 0.6%.

　　Ministers should also look at creating greater certainty in the rental environment, which would have a significant impact on the ability of registered providers to fund new developments from revenues.

　　But it is not just down to the government. While these measures would be welcome in the short term, we must face up to the fact that the existing £4.5bn programme of grants to fund new affordable housing, set to expire in 2015,is unlikely to be extended beyond then. The Labour party has recently announced that it will retain a large part of the coalition’s spending plans if returns to power. The housing sector needs to accept that we are very unlikely to ever return to era of large-scale public grants. We need to adjust to this changing climate.