2016考研英语一：考前终极预测卷一及答案解析

Psychologists have known for a century that individuals vary in their cognitive ability. But are some groups, like some people, reliably smarter than others? In order to answer that question. we grouped 697 volunteer participants into teams of two to five members. Each team worked together to complete a series of short tasks, which were selected to represent the varied kinds of problems that groups are called upon to solve in the real world. One task involved logical analysis, another brainstorming; others emphasized coordination, planning and moral reasoning.

Individual intelligence, as psychologists measure it, is defined by its generality: People with good vocabularies, for instance, also tend to have good math skills, even though we often think of those abilities as distinct. The results of our studies showed that this same kind of general intelligence also exists for teams. On average, the groups that did well on one task did well on the others, too. In other words, some teams were simply smarter than others.

We found the smartest teams were distinguished by three characteristics. First, their members contributed more equally to the team’s discussions, rather than letting one or two people dominate the group. Second, their members scored higher on a test called Reading the Mind in the Eyes, which measures how well people can read complex emotional states from images of faces with only the eyes visible. Finally, teams with more women outperformed teams with more men. This last effect, however, was partly explained by the fact that women, on average, were better at “mindreading” than men.

In a new study, we replicated these earlier findings. We randomly assigned each of 68 teams to complete our collective intelligence test in one of two conditions. Half of the teams worked face to face. The other half worked online, with no ability to see any of their teammates. We wanted to see whether groups that worked online would still demonstrate collective intelligence, and whether social ability would matter as much when people communicated purely by typing messages into a browser.

And they did. Online and off, some teams consistently worked smarter than others. More surprisingly, the most important ingredients for a smart team remained constant regardless of its mode of interaction: members who communicated a lot, participated equally and possessed good emotion-reading skills.

31. It can be inferred from the first paragraph that________ .

[A] some groups are really smarter than others

[B] the 697 volunteer participants need to complete a series of short tasks together

[C] the selected short tasks must have practical significance

[D] logical analysis and brainstorming are important in each task

32. According to psychologists, individual intelligence________ .

[A] is characterized by generality [B] is related to math skills

[C] is not related to teams [D] is key to smarter teams

33. According to the author, the characteristics of smarter teams include all the following EX-CEPT________ .

[A] The members have relatively equal contribution to the team’s discussions

[B] The members have a higher IQ

[C] The members have a stronger ability of reading complex facial expressions

[D] There are more female members than other teams

34. In a new study, the other half of people work online because________ .

[A] it’s necessary to ensure the accuracy of the experiment

[B] online collaboration is becoming more and more important

[C] the experimenters want to see whether collective intelligence will be showed

[D] the experimenters want to prove social ability is vital to every team

35. The best title for the passage may be________ .

[A] How to Develop a Smarter Team

[B] Why Some Teams Are Smarter Than Others

[C] The Characteristics of Smarter Team

[D] What Factors can Affect a Team

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Over the weekend, NASA’s newest Mars rover, the Curiosity, which landed early on Aug. 6 after an eight-month flight, started sending back a 360-degree high-resolution panorama of its surroundings.

At a news conference on Wednesday, John P. Grotzinger, a professor of geology at the Califor- nia Institute of Technology who serves as the mission’s project scientist, compared the view with a place just a few hours’ drive from Pasadena, Calif, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the rover’s birthplace. “You would really be forgiven for thinking that NASA was trying to pull a fast one on you,” he said, “and we actually put a rover out in the Mojave Desert and took a picture—a little L.A.(Los Angeles) smog coming in there.” He added, “To a certain extent, the first impression you get is how Earth-like it seems.”

Where the Curiosity actually sits is a 96-mile-wide crater named Gale near the Martian equator. To the north, the images show part of the crater rim that is believed to have been eroded by flowing water. To the south is a 3.4-mile-high peak that the scientists call Mount Sharp, which Curiosity is meant to reach and to climb. By investigating the layers of sedimentary rock on Mount Sharp, mis-sion scientists hope to reconstruct the climate and environment of early Mars and tell whether it could have been once been habitable for life.

The photos also show marks that Curiosity has made at the landing site. As Curiosity was lowered to the surface of Mars, blasts from the descent-stage engines created indentations in the nearby soil, exposing the bedrock below. This exposed bedrock is likely to be one of the first areas of scientific exploration on the rover’s planned two-year journey.

After the flawless landing, the first week of operations of the rover on the ground also proceeded almost perfectly, too, as engineers started checking out the rover’s system, deployed the high-gain antenna, and raised the mast that holds the cameras.

So far, no significant trouble has arisen. The weather instrument experienced a problem that engineers figured out a day later. The rover’s internal temperatures are slightly warmer than expected, possibly because the crater is warmer than predicted or because NASA’s computer models of Curiosity were not quite right. Worries about overheating could put constraints on when certain instruments can be used. But the heat is also a boon, reducing the energy Curiosity needs to

warm up its joints and wheels before moving.

36. The phrase “pull a fast” (Para. 2) most probably means ________.

[A] hasten [B] conceal [C] deceive [D] beautify

37. Where is the rover Curiosity’s real location?

[A] In the middle Mojave Desert near its birthplace in the US.

[B] To the south of crater Gale that is near the Martian equator.

[C] Near the Martian equator which is eroded by flowing water.

[D] On top of a 3.4-mile-high peak which used to be habitable.

38. It can be inferred from the passage that the rover’s investigation________ .

[A] is likely to start with the study of the rocks on Mars

[B] is determined on the reconstruction of the climate on Mars

[C] started immediately after the rover’s perfect landing

[D] can only begin after a week’s preparation on the ground

39. What caused the rover’s unexpected warmer internal temperature?

[A] A minor problem of the weather instrument.

[B] Problems of NASA’s computer models of Curiosity.

[C] The impact on the rover during landing.

[D] Overheating of certain instrument in the rover.

40. What is the main idea of the passage?

[A] How earthlike the surface of Mars is. [B] The success landing of Curiosity.

[C] NASA’s achievement in investigating Mars. [D] How far the mission of Curiosity has gone.