历年考研英语真题及答案解析(2003-2010年)英语阅读.doc

2009年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语试题 Section II 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 ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points) Text 1 Habits are a funny thing. We reach for them mindlessly, setting our brains on auto-pilot and relaxing into the unconscious comfort of familiar routine. Not choice, but habit rules the unreflecting herd, William Wordsworth said in the 19th century. In the ever-changing 21st century, even the word habit carries a negative connotation. So it seems antithetical to talk about habits in the same context as creativity and innovation. But brain researchers have discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells, that can jump our trains of thought onto new, innovative tracks. But dont bother trying to kill off old habits; once those ruts of procedure are worn into the hippocampus, theyre there to stay. Instead, the new habits we deliberately ingrain into ourselves create parallel pathways that can bypass those old roads. The first thing needed for innovation is a fascination with wonder, says Dawna Markova, author of The Open Mind and an executive change consultant for Professional Thinking Partners. But we are taught instead to decide, just as our president calls himself the Decider.? She adds, however, that to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one. A good innovational thinker is always exploring the many other possibilities. All of us work through problems in ways of which were unaware, she says. Researchers in the late 1960 covered that humans are born with the capacity to approach challenges in four primary ways: analytically, procedurally, relationally (or collaboratively) and innovatively. At puberty, however, the brain shuts down half of that capacity, preserving only those modes of thought that have seemed most valua