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2016 考研真题单词（英语二）
（例句来源于考研英语二真题）
说明：1. (pl.)代表复数形式。2.考研词汇的意思大部分比较抽象，建议结合短语例句理解
记忆。
完形填空
They're more productive, more crea-
productive adj tive, and willing to take greater risks.
Companies located in places with hap-
locate v pier people invest more, according to a
recent research paper.
The researchers wanted to know if the
optimism and inclination for risk-
inclination n taking that come with happiness would
change the way companies invested.
So they compared U.S. cities’ average
happiness measured by Gallup polling
polling n with the investment activity of public-
ly traded firms(公开交易的公司，上
市公司) in those areas.
Sure enough ， firms’ investment and
intensity n
R&D intensity were correlated with
the happiness of the area in which they
correlate v were headquartered.
To find out, the researchers controlled
for[考虑（某种因素) ]various factors
that might make firms more likely to
indicators n invest - like size, industry, and sales -
and for indicators that a place was de-
sirable to live in, like growth in wages
or population.
The correlation between happiness and
investment was particularly strong for
codified adj younger firms, which the authors at-
tribute to “less codified decision mak-
ing process” and the possible presence
of “younger and less experienced
sentiment n managers who are more likely to be
influenced by sentiment.”
Firms seem to invest more in places
where most people are relatively hap-
relatively adv py, rather than in places with happi-
ness inequality.
“It surely seems plausible that happy
plausible adj people would be more forward-
thinking and creative and lean towards
forward-
thinking adj R&D more than the average," said one
researcher.
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阅读理解 Text1
coding n It's true that high-school coding clas-
ses aren't essential for learning com-
essential adj puter science in college.
Students without experien ce can
introductory adj catch up after a few introductory
courses, said Tom Cortina, the assis-
tant dean[（学院）副院长] at Car-
course n negie Mellon’s School of Computer
Science.
exposure n However, Cortina said, early expo-
adj
beneficial sure is beneficial.
confusing adj When younger kids learn computer
science, they learn that it's not just a
string n confusing endless string of letters
n
artwork and numbers - but a tool to build
apps, or create artwork, or test hy-
hypothesis n potheses.
It's not as hard for them to transform
transform v their thought processes as it is for
older students.
bite-sized adj Breaking down（拆分） problems
into bite-sized chunks and using
chunk n code to solve them becomes normal.
Students also benefit from learning
pack v something about coding before they
get to college, where introductory
brim n computer-science classes are packed
to the brim, which can drive the less-
experienced or -determined students
determined adj
away.
The Flatiron School, where people
start v pay to learn programming ，started
as one of the many coding
bootcamp n bootcamps that's become popular for
adults looking for a career change.
curriculum n The high-schoolers get the same cur-
riculum, but “we try to gear lessons
gear v toward things they're interested in,”
instructor n said Victoria Friedman, an instructor.
Programming languages have a
turnover n quick turnover, so the “Ruby on
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Rails” language they learned may
relevant adj not even be relevant by the time they
enter the job market.
But the skills they learn - how to
think logically through a problem
and organize the results - apply to
consultant n any coding language, said Deborah
Seehorn, an education consultant for
the state of North Carolina.
But creating a future army of coders
sole adj is not the sole purpose of the classes.
The younger they learn how comput-
ers think, how to coax the machine
coax□
超
v into producing what they want - the
earlier they learn that they have the
power to do that - the better.
阅读理解 Text2
v
estimate Biologists estimate that as many as 2
million lesser prairie chickens-a kind
prairie n of bird living on stretching grass-
lands-once lent red to the often grey
stretch v landscape of the midwestern and
southwestern United States.
occupy v But just some 22,000 birds remain
today, occupying about 16% of the
range n species' historic range.
The crash was a major reason the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ( )
crash n decided to formally list the bird as
threatened.
“The lesser prairie chicken is in a
desperate adj desperate situation,” said USFWS
Director Daniel Ashe.
Some environmentalists, however,
environmentalist n were disappointed.
v
designate They had pushed the agency to des-
ignate the bird as “endangered,” a
status that gives federal officials
endangered adj greater regulatory power to crack
down on threats.
tag n
n
flexibility But Ashe and others argued that the
“threatened” tag gave the federal
confrontational adj government flexibility to try out new,
potentially less confrontational con-
conservation n servation approaches.
approach n
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In particular, they called for forging
forge v
closer collaborations with western
collaboration n state governments, which are often
uneasy with federal action, and with
uneasy adj the private landowners who control
an estimated 95% of the prairie
habitat n chicken's habitat.
Under the plan, for example, the
prosecute v agency said it would not prosecute
landowners or businesses that unin-
unintentionally adv tentionally kill, harm, or disturb the
bird, as long as they had signed a
range-wide management plan to re-
restore v
store prairie chicken habitat.
Negotiated by USFWS and the
states, the plan requires individuals
and businesses that damage habitat
acre n as part of their operations to pay into
a fund to replace every acre de-
stroyed with 2 new acres of suitable
habitat.
The fund will also be used to com-
compensate v pensate landowners who set aside
habitat.
USFWS also set an interim goal of
restoring prairie chicken populations
interim adj to an annual average of 67,000 birds
over the next 10 years.
And it gives the Western Association
coalition n of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
(WAFWA) ， a coalition of state
monitor v agencies, the job of monitoring pro-
gress.
Not everyone buys the win-win rhet-
rhetoric n oric.
Some Congress members are trying
block v to block the plan, and at least a doz-
en industry groups, four states, and
challenge v three environmental groups are chal-
lenging it in federal court.
“The federal government is giving
responsibility for managing the bird
extinction n to the same industries that are push-
ing it to extinction,” says biologist
Jay Lininger.
阅读理解 Text3
That everyone's too busy these days
cliche□
超
n is a cliche.
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But one specific complaint is made
mournfully adv especially mournfully: There's never
any time to read.
What makes the problem thornier is
thorny adj that the usual time-management
techniques don't seem sufficient.
But in my experience, using such
odd adj methods to free up the odd 30
minutes doesn't work.
n
flywheel Sit down to read and the flywheel of
work-related thoughts keeps spin-
spin v ning-or else you're so exhausted that
a challenging book's the last thing
exhausted adj you need.
The modern mind, Tim Parks, a nov-
overwhelmingly adv elist and critic ， writes ， “is over-
whelmingly inclined toward
incline v
communication...It is not simply that
one is interrupted; it is that one is
interrupt v actually inclined to interruption.”
Deep reading requires not just time,
but a special kind of time which can't
merely adv be obtained merely by becoming
more efficient.
maximise v Thinking of time as a resource to be
maximised means you approach it
approach v instrumentally judging any given
adv
instrumentally moment as well spent only in so far
as it advances progress toward some
advance v goal.
Immersive reading, by contrast, de-
pends on being willing to risk ineffi-
immersive adj ciency, goallessness, even time-
wasting.
Try to slot it in as a to-do list item
and you'll manage only goal-focused
fulfilling adj reading-useful, sometimes, but not
the most fulfilling kind.
“The future comes at us like empty
bottles along an unstoppable and
nearly infinite conveyor belt( 传 送
带)," writes Gary Eberle in his book
infinite adj Sacred Time, and “we feel a pressure
to fill these different-sized bottles
(days, hours, minutes) as they pass,
for if they get by without being
filled, we will have wasted them. ”
schedule v Perhaps surprisingly, scheduling reg-
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adj
regular ular times for reading.
v
fuel You'd think this might fuel the effi-
ciency mind-set, but in fact, Eberle
ritualistic adj notes, such ritualistic behaviour
helps us “step outside time's flow”
soul n into “soul time. ”
You could limit distractions by read-
distraction n ing only physical books, or on sin-
gle-purpose e-readers.
providing conj.
“ Carry a book with you at all
dip v times” can actually work, too-
providing you dip in often enough,
default adj so that reading becomes the default
state from which you temporarily
temporarily adv surface to take care of business, be-
fore dropping back down.
surface v
阅读理解 Text4
Against a backdrop of drastic chang-
超
□
backdrop n es in economy and population struc-
ture, younger Americans are
drawing a new 21st-century road
poll n map to success, a latest poll has
found.
Across generational lines, Americans
prize v continue to prize many of the same
traditional milestones of a successful
life, including getting married, hav-
milestone n ing children, owning a home, and
retiring in their sixties.
v
constitute But while young and old mostly
agree on what constitutes the finish
fulfilling adj line of a fulfilling life, they offer
strikingly different paths for reaching
strikingly adv it.
start v Young people who are still getting
started in life were more likely than
older adults to prioritize personal
prioritize v fulfillment in their work, to believe
they will advance their careers most
by regularly changing jobs, to favor
advance v communities with more public ser-
vices and a faster pace of life, to
agree that couples should be finan-
maintain v cially secure before getting married
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or having children, and to maintain
that children are best served by two
serve v parents working outside the home,
the survey found.
contrast n From career to community and fami-
ly, these contrasts suggest that in the
aftermath□
超
n aftermath of the searing Great Re-
cession, those just starting out in life
are defining priorities and expecta-
searing□
超
adj tions that will increasingly spread
through virtually all aspects of
define v American life, from consumer pref-
erences to housing patterns to poli-
virtually adv tics.
Young and old converge on one key
converge v point: Overwhelming majorities of
both groups said they believe it is
harder for young people today to get
overwhelming adj started in life than it was for earlier
generations.
somewhat adv
While younger people are somewhat
more optimistic than their elders
optimistic adj about the prospects for those starting
out today, big majorities in both
prospect n groups believe those “just getting
started in life” face a tougher climb
climb n than earlier generations in reaching
such signpost achievements as secur-
ing a good-paying job, starting a
signpost n family, managing debt, and finding
affordable housing.
secure v
technician n Schneider, a27-year-old auto techni-
cian from the Chicago suburbs, says
he struggled to find a job after grad-
struggle v uating from college.
Even now that he is working
steadily adv steadily，he said, “I can't afford to
pay my monthly mortgage payments
mortgage n on my own, so I have to rent rooms
out to people to make that happen.”
新题型
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As adults, it seems that we are con-
mixed adj stantly pursuing happiness, often with
mixed results.
Yet children appear to have it down to
therapy n an art - and for the most part they
don't need self-help books or therapy.
wellbeing n Instead, they look after their wellbe-
ing instinctively and usually more ef-
instinctively adv fectively than we do as grownups.
As we grow up, we learn to control
manageable adj our emotions so they are manageable
and don't dictate our behaviours,
dictate v which is in many ways a good thing.
But too often we take this process too
suppress v far and end up suppressing emotions,
especially negative ones.
What we need to do is find a way to
acknowledge and express what we
acknowledge v feel appropriately, and then - again,
like children-move on.
fiver n It cost less than a fiver but she was
overjoyed, and couldn't stop talking
overjoyed adj about it.
If we adults could indulge in a bit of
indulge v
silliness and giggling, we would re-
giggle v duce the stress hormones in our bod-
ies, increase good hormones like en-
endorphin n dorphins，improve blood flow to our
hearts and even have a greater chance
infection n of fighting off infection.
The problem with being a grownup is
that there's an awful lot of serious
mortgage n stuff to deal with - work, mortgage
payments, figuring out what to cook
for dinner.
But as adults we also have the luxury
diary n of being able to control our own dia-
ries and it's important that we sched-
schedule v ule in time to enjoy the things we
love.
Those things might be social, sport-
ing, creative or completely random
random adj (dancing around the living room, an-
yone?)- it doesn't matter, so long as
they're enjoyable, and not likely to
have negative side effects, such as
spree n drinking too much alcohol or going
on a wild spending spree if you're on
a tight budget.
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Scientists tell us this can backfire and
backfire v actually have a negative impact on
our wellbeing.
And in that, once more, we need to
look to the example of our children,
byproduct n to whom happiness is not a goal but a
natural byproduct of the way they
live.
翻译
The supermarket is designed to lure
lure v customers into spending as much time
as possible within its doors.
The average supermarket, according to
carry v the Food Marketing Institute, carries
some 44,000 different items, and many
item n carry tens of thousands more.
sheer adj The sheer volume of available choice
is enough to send shoppers into a state
overload n of information overload.
According to brain-scan experiments,
the demands of so much decision-
demand n making quickly become too much for
us.
After about 40 minutes of shopping,
rationally adv most people stop struggling to be ra-
tionally selective, and instead begin
selective adj shopping emotionally-which is the
point at which we accumulate the 50
percent of stuff in our cart that we nev-
accumulate v
er intended buying.
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