“幻想”通过精心收集，向本站投稿了8篇考研英语二：MBA联考真题也值得参考，以下是小编帮大家整理后的考研英语二：MBA联考真题也值得参考，仅供参考，欢迎大家阅读。
篇1：考研英语二：MBA联考真题也值得参考
考研英语二：MBA联考真题也值得参考
冲刺阶段，对于英语二真题的复习，同学们首先要熟悉英语二考试大纲，教育部的考试分析，这可以充分了解考试结构和试卷难度，试卷构成，以及命题的重点，以及官方解题指南，以及备考的策略。
英语二因为只有四年的真题，所以MBA，MPA，MPACC过去的联考真题就显得非常重要，这是英语二试卷的前身，考研英语二的大作文短文写作，就是来自的大作文，柱状图，如果去年的英语复习不注意MBA，MPA，MPACC过去的联考真题，那是很危险的，所以有些老师认为MBA，MPA，MPACC过去的联考真题非常简单，不值得强化训练，这也是犯了主观主义的'错误，所以通过20硕士研究生入学统一考试英语二的真题我们得出除了要重视英语二的四年考过真题，同样要注意的是重视MBA，MPA，MPACC过去的联考真题，这是历史总结的重点，请各位考研辅导教师和考生务必认真对待!
同时，英语二的真题更多对词汇的基础考查，通过做真题，在具体语境中记忆单词，基础一般甚至薄弱的同学建议全文翻译，不管英语知识运用，还是阅读理解，翻译，都要全篇翻译，在全篇翻译过程中更加理解长难句，和单词以及句子结构，这都是非常重要的，更加理解句子结构，和文章主要考察类型。此外还有认真研究选项，正确选项的基本特征，错误选项即干扰选项的主要特征，都要非常熟悉，这样到了考场会提高解题速度，提高答题准确率，这个工作一定做到位。这是完形，阅读以及翻译需要做的工作。
最后写作，要了解考试大纲，通过历年真题，认真从应用文写作和短文写作两个方面把握作文复习，应用文写作更多注意书信，如建议信，道歉信，申请信，投诉信，感谢信，求职信，辞职信，邀请信，慰问信，祝贺信等，还有通知告示等，短文写作在英语二重点把握图表作文，如柱状图，饼状图，表格，也要兼顾提纲作文，图画作文，跨考教育英语教研室栾劲鹏老师认为，作文复习建议全面复习，不能投机取巧，妄图通过押题和模板搞定，这都不会取得满意的分数，通过真题和优秀范文认真学习，背诵以及仿写，一定会取得满意的结果!近期在跨考教育举办英语作文在线批改活动，同学们可通过线上提交作文，通过老师的批改了解自己的真实水平以及漏洞。请各位考生时刻铭记，天道酬勤!
在最后的复习阶段，各位考生平衡自己学科复习，公共课和专业课有规划的复习，自习阶段按照考试时间规定复习各个科目，形成良好的生物复习钟，这对备考也是有积极作用，实力和方法在考研的全程备考中也是非常重要的，细节决定成败，请各位考生注意严谨，认真，全面!越往后政治的背诵，英语作文，以及背诵的学科尤为重要。
此外当复习压力过大，一定及时和同学，老师家长及时沟通，怀着良好的心态去备考!
这是通过这本复习参考书了解的英语二以及考研复习的基本思路和方法，祝福考生考研成功!
篇2：复习英语(二)以MBA联考英语真题为主
复习英语(二)以MBA联考英语真题为主
大纲出来之前同学们的心情可能是忐忑不定，总觉得大纲会有很大的变化，但实际上一出来其实跟没有变化是一样的，如果说有变化也是对于大家比较有利的变化，删除了一些题型，所以，我们的难度，还有一些工作量就减少了，而至于增加的词汇大多数也都是已经认识到的。所以，我们的备考方向可以完全按照大纲出来之前的备考方向，以及你之前的一些目标持续的去做就可以了，也可以印证了老师一贯的教学方法也是比较正确的。
英语(二)对所有的考生都是一个新生的事物，但是今天拿到大纲样题发现考英语(二)的`大纲样题所有的题型中发现大多数都跟以往的MBA联考的真题是重合的，比如我们大纲样题当中完形填空就是MBA联考的真题，阅读一共四篇文章，其中有三篇全部都是历年MBA联考英语真题。第一篇文章是20第一篇文章，第三篇文章是第三篇文章，第四篇文章是第一篇文章。包括大作文也是一样的，完全是20MBA联考英语的真题，所以，对于考英语(二)的同学而言，之前总觉得没有任何复习的材料，其实这个样题也告诉我们，我们考英语(二)的同学复习的主要材料是MBA英语，而并非是英语(一)。所以，MBA联考英语真题为主，英语(一)的真题为辅这样的一种复习策略。
() ■篇3：考研英语二真题
考研英语二真题
Section 1 Use of English
Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark [A], [B], [C] or [D] on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)
Happy people work differently. They’re more productive, more creative, and willing to take greater risks. And new research suggests that happiness might influence__1__firm’s work, too.
Companies located in places with happier people invest more, according to a recent research paper.__2__, firms in happy places spend more on R&D (research and development). That’s because happiness is linked to the kind of longer-term thinking__3__for making investments for the future.
The researchers wanted to know if the__4__and inclination for risk-taking that come with happiness would__5__the way companies invested. So they compared U.S. cities’ average happiness__6__by Gallup polling with the investment activity of publicly traded firms in those areas.
__7__enough, firms’ investment and R&D intensity were correlated with the happiness of the area in which they were__8__.But is it really happiness that’s linked to investment, or could something else about happier cities__9__why firms there spend more on R&D? To find out, the researchers controlled for various__10__that might make firms more likely to invest C like size, industry, and sales C and for indicators that a place was__11__to live in, like growth in wages or population. The link between happiness and investment generally__12__even after accounting for these things.
The correlation between happiness and investment was particularly strong for younger firms, which the authors__13__to “less codified decision making process” and the possible presence of “younger and less__14__managers who are more likely to be influenced by sentiment.” The relationship was__15__stronger in places where happiness was spread more__16__.Firms seem to invest more in places where most people are relatively happy, rather than in places with happiness inequality.
__17__ this doesn’t prove that happiness causes firms to invest more or to take a longer-term view, the authors believe it at least__18__at that possibility. It’s not hard to imagine that local culture and sentiment would help__19__how executives think about the future. “It surely seems plausible that happy people would be more forward-thinking and creative and__20__R&D more than the average,” said one researcher.
1. [A] why [B] where [C] how [D] when
2. [A] In return [B] In particular [C] In contrast [D] In conclusion
3. [A] sufficient [B] famous [C] perfect [D] necessary
4. [A] individualism [B] modernism [C] optimism [D] realism
5. [A] echo [B] miss [C] spoil [D] change
6. [A] imagined [B] measured [C] invented [D] assumed
7. [A] Sure [B] Odd [C] Unfortunate [D] Often
8. [A] advertised [B] divided [C] overtaxed [D] headquartered
9. [A] explain [B] overstate [C] summarize [D] emphasize
10.[A] stages [B] factors [C] levels [D] methods
11.[A] desirable [B] sociable [C] reputable [D] reliable
12.[A] resumed [B] held [C]emerged [D] broke
13.[A] attribute [B] assign [C] transfer [D]compare
14.[A] serious [B] civilized [C] ambitious [D]experienced
15.[A] thus [B] instead [C] also [D] never
16.[A] rapidly [B] regularly [C] directly [D] equally
17.[A] After [B] Until [C] While [D] Since
18.[A] arrives [B] jumps [C] hints [D] strikes
19.[A] shape [B] rediscover [C] simplify [D] share 20.[A] pray for [B] lean towards [C] give away [D] send out
Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension
Part A
Directions：Read the following four texts. Answer the questions after each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)
Text 1
It’s true that high-school coding classes aren’t essential for learning computer science in college. Students without experience can catch up after a few introductory courses, said Tom Cortina, the assistant dean at Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science.
However, Cortina said, early exposure is beneficial. When younger kids learn computer science, they learn that it’s not just a confusing, endless string of letters and numbers ― but a tool to build apps, or create artwork, or test hypotheses. It’s not as hard for them to transform their thought processes as it is for older students. Breaking down problems into bite-sized chunks and using code to solve them becomes normal. Giving more children this training could increase the number of people interested in the field and help fill the jobs gap, Cortina said.
Students also benefit from learning something about coding before they get to college, where introductory computer-science classes are packed to the brim, which can drive the less-experienced or-determined students away.
The Flatiron School, where people pay to learn programming, started as one of the many coding bootcamps that’s become popular for adults looking for a career change. The high-schoolers get the same curriculum, but “we try to gear lessons toward things they’re interested in,” said Victoria Friedman, an instructor. For instance, one of the apps the students are developing suggests movies based on your mood.
The students in the Flatiron class probably won’t drop out of high school and build the next Facebook. Programming languages have a quick turnover, so the “Ruby on Rails” language they learned may 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 any coding language, said Deborah Seehorn, an education consultant for the state of North Carolina.
Indeed, the Flatiron students might not go into IT at all. But creating a future army of coders is not the sole purpose of the classes. These kids are going to be surrounded by computers ― in their pockets, in their offices, in their homes ― for the rest of their lives. The younger they learn how computers think, how to coax the machine into producing what they want ― the earlier they learn that they have the power to do that ― the better.
21. Cortina holds that early exposure to computer science makes it easier to____.
A. complete future job training
B. remodel the way of thinking
C. formulate logical hypotheses
D. perfect artwork production
22. In delivering lessons for high-schoolers, Flatiron has considered their____.
A. experience
B. academic backgrounds
C. career prospects
D. interest
23. Deborah Seehorn believes that the skills learned at Flatiron will____.
A. help students learn other computer languages
B. have to be upgraded when new technologies come
C. need improving when students look for jobs
D. enable students to make big quick money
24. According to the last paragraph, Flatiron students are expected to____.
A. compete with a future army of programmers
B. stay longer in the information technology industry
C. become better prepared for the digitalized world
D. bring forth innovative computer technologies
25. The word “coax” (Line4, Para.6) is closest in meaning to____.
A. challenge
B. persuade
C. frighten
D. misguide
Text 2
Biologists estimate that as many as 2 million lesser prairie chickens---a kind of bird living on stretching grasslands―once lent red to the often gray landscape of the midwestern and southwestern United States. But just some 22,000 birds remain today, occupying about 16% of the species’ historic range.
The crash was a major reason the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)decided to formally list the bird as threatened. “The lesser prairie chicken is in a desperate situation,” said USFWS Director Daniel Ashe. Some environmentalists, however, were disappointed. They had pushed the agency to designate the bird as “endangered,” a status that gives federal officials greater regulatory power to crack down on threats. But Ashe and others argued that the“threatened” tag gave the federal government flexibility to try out new, potentially less confrontational conservations approaches. In particular, they called for forging closer collaborations with western state governments, which are often uneasy with federal action and with the private landowners who control an estimated 95% of the prairie chicken’s habitat.
Under the plan, for example, the agency said it would not prosecute landowner or businesses that unintentionally kill, harm, or disturb the bird, as long as they had signed a range―wide management plan to restore prairie chicken habitat. Negotiated by USFWS and the states, the plan requires individuals and businesses that damage habitat as part of their operations to pay into a fund to replace every acre destroyed with 2 new acres of suitable habitat. The fund will also be used to compensate landowners who set aside habitat, USFWS also set an interim goal of restoring prairie chicken populations to an annual average of 67,000 birds over the next 10 years. And it gives the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA), a coalition of state agencies, the job of monitoring progress. Overall, the idea is to let “states” remain in the driver’s seat for managing the species，” Ashe said.
Not everyone buys the win-win rhetoric Some Congress members are trying to block the plan, and at least a dozen industry groups, four states, and three environmental groups are challenging it in federal court Not surprisingly, doesn’t go far enough “The federal government is giving responsibility for managing the bird to the same industries that are pushing it to extinction,” says biologist Jay Lininger.
26. The major reason for listing the lesser prairie as threatened is____
[A]its drastically decreased population
[B]the underestimate of the grassland acreage
[C]a desperate appeal from some biologists
[D]the insistence of private landowners
27.The “threatened” tag disappointed some environmentalists in that it_____
[A]was a give-in to governmental pressure
[B]would involve fewer agencies in action
[C]granted less federal regulatory power
[D]went against conservation policies
28.It can be learned from Paragraph3 that unintentional harm-doers will not be prosecuted if they_____
[A]agree to pay a sum for compensation
[B]volunteer to set up an equally big habitat
[C]offer to support the WAFWA monitoring job
[D]promise to raise funds for USFWS operations
29.According to Ashe， the leading role in managing the species in______
[A]the federal government
[B]the wildlife agencies
[C]the landowners
[D]the states
30.Jay Lininger would most likely support_______
[A]industry groups
[B]the win-win rhetoric
[C]environmental groups
[D]the plan under challenge
Text 3
That everyone’s too busy these days is a cliché. But one specific complaint is made especially mournfully： There’s never any time to read.
What makes the problem thornier is that the usual time-management techniques don’t seem sufficient. The web’s full of articles offering tips on making time to read: “Give up TV” or “Carry a book with you at all times” But in my experience, using such methods to free up the odd 30 minutes doesn’t work. Sit down to read and the flywheel of work-related thoughts keeps spinning-or else you’re so exhausted that a challenging book’s the last thing you need. The modern mind, Tim Parks, a novelist and critic, writes, “is overwhelmingly inclined toward communication…It is not simply that one is interrupted; it is that one is actually inclined to interruption”. Deep reading requires not just time, but a special kind of time which can’t be obtained merely by becoming more efficient.
In fact, “becoming more efficient” is part of the problem. Thinking of time as a resource to be maximised means you approach it instrumentally, judging any given moment as well spent only in so far as it advances progress toward some goal immersive reading, by contrast, depends on being willing to risk inefficiency, goallessness, even time-wasting. Try to slot it as a to-do list item and you’ll manage only goal-focused 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,” writes Gary Eberle in his book 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”. No mind-set could be worse for losing yourself in a book.
So what does work? Perhaps surprisingly, scheduling regular times for reading. You’d think this might fuel the efficiency mind-set, but in fact, Eberle notes, such ritualistic behaviour helps us “step outside time’s flow” into “soul time”. You could limit distractions by reading only physical books, or on single-purpose e-readers. “Carry a book with you at all times” can actually work, too-providing you dip in often enough, so that reading becomes the default state from which you temporarily surface to take care of business, before dropping back down. On a really good day, it no longer feels as if you’re “making time to read,” but just reading, and making time for everything else.
31. The usual time-management techniques don’t work because?????
[A] what they can offer does not ease the modern mind
[B] what challenging books demand is repetitive reading
[C] what people often forget is carrying a book with them
[D] what deep reading requires cannot be guaranteed
32. The “empty bottles” metaphor illustrates that people feel a pressure to?????
[A] update their to-do lists
[B] make passing time fulfilling
[C] carry their plans through
[D] pursue carefree reading
33. Eberle would agree that scheduling regular times for reading helps?????
[A] encourage the efficiency mind-set
[B] develop online reading habits
[C] promote ritualistic reading
[D] achieve immersive reading
34. “Carry a book with you at all times” can work if?????
[A] reading becomes your primary business of the day
[B] all the daily business has been promptly dealt with
[C] you are able to drop back to business after reading
[D] time can be evenly split for reading and business
35. The best title for this text could be?????
[A] How to Enjoy Easy Reading
[B] How to Find Time to Read
[C] How to Set Reading Goals
[D] How to Read Extensively
Text 4
Against a backdrop of drastic changes in economy and population structure, younger Americans are drawing a new 21st-century road map to success, a latest poll has found.
Across generational lines, Americans continue to prize many of the same traditional milestones of a successful life, including getting married, having children, owning a home, and retiring in their sixties. But while young and old mostly agree on what constitutes the finish line of a fulfilling life, they offer strikingly different paths for reaching it.
Young people who are still getting started in life were more likely than older adults to prioritize personal fulfillment in their work, to believe they will advance their careers most by regularly changing jobs, to favor communities with more public services and a faster pace of life, to agree that couples should be financially secure before getting married or having children, and to maintain that children are best served by two parents working outside the home, the survey found.
From career to community and family, these contrasts suggest that in the aftermath of the searing Great Recession, those just starting out in life are defining priorities and expectations that will increasingly spread through virtually all aspects of American life, from consumer preferences to housing patterns to politics.
Young and old converge on one key point: Overwhelming majorities of both groups said they believe it is harder for young people today to get started in life than it was for earlier generations. While younger people are somewhat more optimistic than their elders about the prospects for those starting out today, big majorities in both groups believe those “just getting started in life” face a tougher a good-paying job, starting a family, managing debt, and finding affordable housing.
Pete Schneider considers the climb tougher today. Schneider, a 27-yaear-old auto technician from the Chicago suburbs says he struggled to find a job after graduating from college. Even now that he is working steadily, he said.” I can’t afford to pay ma monthly mortgage payments on my own, so I have to rent rooms out to people to mark that happen.” Looking back, he is struck that his parents could provide a comfortable life for their?children even though neither had completed college when he was young. “I still grew up in an upper middle-class home with parents who didn’t have college degrees,” Schneider said. “I don’t think people are capable of that anymore.”
36. One cross-generation mark of a successful life is_____.????
[A] trying out different lifestyles
[B] having a family with children
[C] working beyond retirement age
[D] setting up a profitable business
37. It can be learned from Paragraph 3 that young people tend to?____.???
[A] favor a slower life pace
[B] hold an occupation longer
[C] attach importance to pre-marital finance
[D] give priority to childcare outside the home
38. The priorities and expectations defined by the young will?____.???
[A] become increasingly clear
[B] focus on materialistic issues
[C] depend largely on political preferences
[D] reach almost all aspects of American life
39. Both young and old agree that?____.
[A] good-paying jobs are less available
[B] the old made more life achievements
[C] housing loans today are easy to obtain
[D] getting established is harder for the young
40. Which of the following is true about Schneider?
[A] He found a dream job after graduating from college.
[B] His parents believe working steadily is a must for success.
[C] His parents’ good life has little to do with a college degree.
[D] He thinks his job as a technician quite challenging.
Part B
Directions:
Read the following text and answer the questions by choosing the most suitable subheading from the list A-G for each of the numbered paragraphs(41-45).There are two extra subheadings which you do not need to use.Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.
[A]Be silly
[B]Have fun
[C]Express your emotions
[D]Don't overthink it
[E]Be easily pleased
[F]Notice things
[G]Ask for help
As adults,it seems that we are constantly pursuing happiness,often with mixed results.Yet children appear to have it down to an art-and for the most part they don't need self-help books or therapy.instead,they look after their wellbeing instinctively,and usually more effectively than we do as grownups.Perhaps it's time to learn a few lessons from them.
41.______________
What does a child do when he's sad? He cries.When he's angry?He shouts.Scared?Probably a bit of both.As we grow up,we learn to control our emotions so they are manageable and don't dictate our behaviours,which is in many ways a good thing.But too often we take this process too far and end up suppressing emotions,especially negative ones.that's about as effective as brushing dirt under a carpet and can even make us ill.What we need to do is find a way to acknowledge and express what we feel appropriately, and then-again like children-move.
42.____________
A couple of Christmases ago, my youngest stepdaughter, who was nine years old at the time, got a Superman T-shirt for Christmas. It cost less than a fiver but she was overjoyed, and couldn't stop talking about it.Too often we believe that a new job,bigger house or better car will be the magic silver bullet that will allow us to finally be content,but the reality is these things have very little lasting impact on our happiness levels. Instead, being grateful for small things every day is a much better way to improve wellbeing.
43.______________________
Have you ever noticed how much children laugh? If we adults could indulge in a bit of silliness and giggling, we would reduce the stress hormones in our bodies , increase good hormones like endorphins, improve blood flow to our hearts and even have a greater chance of fighting off enfection. All of which, of course, have a positive effect on happiness levels.
44.__________________
篇4：考研英语二作文真题及
Directions:
Write a short essay based on the following chart. In your writing, you should
1) interpret the chart and
2) give your comments.
You should write at least 150 words.
Write your essay on ANWER SHEET 2.(15 points)
审题谋篇：
继考察关于“手机入网”的图表作文之后，考研英语(二)连续第二年考察图表作文。巧合的是，本题与英语(二)大纲样题同为关于汽车或交通问题的图表作文，有些表达可以借鉴。201月，日本丰田汽车召回事件引起汽车业关注，日系轿车在中国大陆的形象一落千丈，销量急剧下降。3月，中国吉利汽车集团收购沃尔沃再次震惊世界，中国国产品牌引以为豪，销量日增。本题即考察了“汽车”这一今年热门话题。
本题要求为两点，第一点提纲应写成第一段图表描述，无需发表太多议论，就图论图进行描述即可。第二段可以进行原因列举，最好从国产汽车销量上升、日系下降的具体原因着手分析。一方面，由于国产轿车科技进步、价格促销，从而销量大涨;另一方面，由于日系轿车深陷丑闻、行业欺诈，从而优势殆尽。
第三段可进行归纳结论或提出建议措施，针对国产轿车品牌如何保持并继续扩大市场份额，进行具体的评论或总结。
Direction: Suppose your cousin, Liming, has just been admitted to a university, write him/her a letter to
1) congratulate him/her, and
2) give him/her suggestions on how to get prepared for university life.
Your should write about 100 words on ANSER SHEET 2.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use “Zhang Wei” instead.
Do not write the address. (10 points)
参考范文
Dear Li Ming,
Congratulations on your admittance to the University you have dreamed about! I’m absolutely delighted to learn that you have just been admitted to Stanford University. I know there was fierce competition this year but your diligence and perseverance definitely paid off.
I’d like to offer you several proposals on how to prepare for your university life. Above all, I do recommend you to take advantage of the library in your university by reading books beside the normal curriculum. In addition, I believe that you may spare your free-time for three main activities: building your body, expanding your knowledge, and communicating with friends and family.
I wish you further success in future and hope you will invite me to your graduation ceremony four years later.
Yours faithfully,
Zhang Wei
范文分析：
本文首先书信格式完整、正确。段落安排合理，层次清楚，内容连贯，使用了Above all, In addition 等引导文章开展，符合英文书信写作套路。第一段开门见山，向朋友提出祝贺，以及祝贺的理由。第二段从课外学习和生活两个角度对大学生活提出建议。最后，祝贺对方在未来阶段获得更大的成就。另外，本文语言自然流畅，句式和用词都相对丰富多样。因为是给同辈亲戚写信，因此文中适当使用了祈使句和缩写。符合私人信函的语域。很好的完成了写作任务。
篇5：考研英语二真题完形填空
Would a Work-Free World Be So Bad?
People have speculated for centuries about a future without work, and today is no different, with academics, writers, and activists once again warning that technology is replacing human workers. Some imagine that the coming work-free world will be defined by inequality: A few wealthy people will own all the capital, and the masses will struggle in an impoverished wasteland.
A different, less paranoid, and not mutually exclusive prediction holds that the future will be a wasteland of a different sort, one characterized by purposelessness: Without jobs to give their lives meaning, people will simply become lazy and depressed. Indeed, today’s unemployed don’t seem to be having a great time. One Gallup poll found that 20 percent of Americans who have been unemployed for at least a year report having depression, double the rate for working Americans. Also, some research suggests that the explanation for rising rates of mortality, mental-health problems, and addiction among poorly-educated, middle-aged people is a shortage of well-paid jobs. Another study shows that people are often happier at work than in their free time. Perhaps this is why many worry about the agonizing dullness of a jobless future.
But it doesn’t necessarily follow from findings like these that a world without work would be filled with malaise. Such visions are based on the downsides of being unemployed in a society built on the concept of employment. In the absence of work, a society designed with other ends in mind could yield strikingly different circumstances for the future of labor and leisure. Today, the virtue of work may be a bit overblown. “Many jobs are boring, degrading, unhealthy, and a squandering of human potential,” says John Danaher, a lecturer at the National University of Ireland in Galway who has written about a world without work. “Global surveys find that the vast majority of people are unhappy at work.”
These days, because leisure time is relatively scarce for most workers, people use their free time to counterbalance the intellectual and emotional demands of their jobs. “When I come home from a hard day’s work, I often feel tired,” Danaher says, adding, “In a world in which I don’t have to work, I might feel rather different”―perhaps different enough to throw himself into a hobby or a passion project with the intensity usually reserved for professional matters.
Having a job can provide a measure of financial stability, but in addition to stressing over how to cover life’s necessities, today’s jobless are frequently made to feel like social outcasts. “People who avoid work are viewed as parasites and leeches,” Danaher says. Perhaps as a result of this cultural attitude, for most people, self-esteem and identity are tied up intricately with their job, or lack of job.
Plus, in many modern-day societies, unemployment can also be downright boring. American towns and cities aren’t really built for lots of free time: Public spaces tend to be small islands in seas of private property, and there aren’t many places without entry fees where adults can meet new people or come up with ways to entertain one another.
The roots of this boredom may run even deeper. Peter Gray, a professor of psychology at Boston College who studies the concept of play, thinks that if work disappeared tomorrow, people might be at a loss for things to do, growing bored and depressed because they have forgotten how to play. “We teach children a distinction between play and work,” Gray explains. “Work is something that you don’t want to do but you have to do.” He says this training, which starts in school, eventually “drills the play” out of many children, who grow up to be adults who are aimless when presented with free time.
“Sometimes people retire from their work, and they don’t know what to do,” Gray says. “They’ve lost the ability to create their own activities.” It’s a problem that never seems to plague young children. “There are no three-year-olds that are going to be lazy and depressed because they don’t have a structured activity,” he says.
But need it be this way? Work-free societies are more than just a thought experiment―they’ve existed throughout human history. Consider hunter-gatherers, who have no bosses, paychecks, or eight-hour workdays. Ten thousand years ago, all humans were hunter-gatherers, and some still are. Daniel Everett, an anthropologist at Bentley University, in Massachusetts, studied a group of hunter-gathers in the Amazon called the Pirah? for years. According to Everett, while some might consider hunting and gathering work, hunter-gatherers don’t. “They think of it as fun,” he says. “They don’t have a concept of work the way we do.”
“It’s a pretty laid-back life most of the time,” Everett says. He described a typical day for the Pirah?: A man might get up, spend a few hours canoeing and fishing, have a barbecue, go for a swim, bring fish back to his family, and play until the evening. Such subsistence living is surely not without its own set of worries, but the anthropologist Marshall Sahlins argued in a 1968 essay that hunter-gathers belonged to “the original affluent society,” seeing as they only “worked” a few hours a day; Everett estimates that Pirah? adults on average work about 20 hours a week (not to mention without bosses peering over their shoulders). Meanwhile, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average employed American with children works about nine hours a day.
Does this leisurely life lead to the depression and purposelessness seen among so many of today’s unemployed? “I’ve never seen anything remotely like depression there, except people who are physically ill,” Everett says. “They have a blast. They play all the time.” While many may consider work a staple of human life, work as it exists today is a relatively new invention in the course of thousands of years of human culture. “We think it’s bad to just sit around with nothing to do,” says Everett. “For the Pirah?, it’s quite a desirable state.”
Gray likens these aspects of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle to the carefree adventures of many children in developed countries, who at some point in life are expected to put away childish things. But that hasn’t always been the case. According to Gary Cross’s 1990 book A Social History of Leisure Since 1600, free time in the U.S. looked quite different before the 18th and 19th centuries. Farmers―which was a fair way to describe a huge number of Americans at that time―mixed work and play in their daily lives. There were no managers or overseers, so they would switch fluidly between working, taking breaks, joining in neighborhood games, playing pranks, and spending time with family and friends. Not to mention festivals and other gatherings: France, for instance, had 84 holidays a year in 1700, and weather kept them from farming another 80 or so days a year.
This all changed, writes Cross, during the Industrial Revolution, which replaced farms with factories and farmers with employees. Factory owners created a more rigidly scheduled environment that clearly divided work from play. Meanwhile, clocks―which were becoming widespread at that time―began to give life a quicker pace, and religious leaders, who traditionally endorsed most festivities, started associating leisure with sin and tried to replace rowdy festivals with sermons.
As workers started moving into cities, families no longer spent their days together on the farm. Instead, men worked in factories, women stayed home or worked in factories, and children went to school, stayed home, or worked in factories too. During the workday, families became physically separated, which affected the way people entertained themselves: Adults stopped playing “childish” games and sports, and the streets were mostly wiped clean of fun, as middle- and upper-class families found working-class activities like cockfighting and dice games distasteful. Many such diversions were soon outlawed.
With workers’ old outlets for play having disappeared in a haze of factory smoke, many of them turned to new, more urban ones. Bars became a refuge where tired workers drank and watched live shows with singing and dancing. If free time means beer and TV to a lot of Americans, this might be why.
At times, developed societies have, for a privileged few, produced lifestyles that were nearly as play-filled as hunter-gatherers’. Throughout history, aristocrats who earned their income simply by owning land spent only a tiny portion of their time minding financial exigencies. According to Randolph Trumbach, a professor of history at Baruch College, 18th-century English aristocrats spent their days visiting friends, eating elaborate meals, hosting salons, hunting, writing letters, fishing, and going to church. They also spent a good deal of time participating in politics, without pay. Their children would learn to dance, play instruments, speak foreign languages, and read Latin. Russian nobles frequently became intellectuals, writers, and artists. “As a 17th-century aristocrat said, ‘We sit down to eat and rise up to play, for what is a gentleman but his pleasure?’” Trumbach says.
It’s unlikely that a world without work would be abundant enough to provide everyone with such lavish lifestyles. But Gray insists that injecting any amount of additional play into people’s lives would be a good thing, because, contrary to that 17th-century aristocrat, play is about more than pleasure. Through play, Gray says, children (as well as adults) learn how to strategize, create new mental connections, express their creativity, cooperate, overcome narcissism, and get along with other people. “Male mammals typically have difficulty living in close proximity to each other,” he says, and play’s harmony-promoting properties may explain why it came to be so central to hunter-gatherer societies. While most of today’s adults may have forgotten how to play, Gray doesn’t believe it’s an unrecoverable skill: It’s not uncommon, he says, for grandparents to re-learn the concept of play after spending time with their young grandchildren.
When people ponder the nature of a world without work, they often transpose present-day assumptions about labor and leisure onto a future where they might no longer apply; if automation does end up rendering a good portion of human labor unnecessary, such a society might exist on completely different terms than societies do today.
So what might a work-free U.S. look like? Gray has some ideas. School, for one thing, would be very different. “I think our system of schooling would completely fall by the wayside,” says Gray. “The primary purpose of the educational system is to teach people to work. I don’t think anybody would want to put our kids through what we put our kids through now.” Instead, Gray suggests that teachers could build lessons around what students are most curious about. Or, perhaps, formal schooling would disappear altogether.
Trumbach, meanwhile, wonders if schooling would become more about teaching children to be leaders, rather than workers, through subjects like philosophy and rhetoric. He also thinks that people might participate in political and public life more, like aristocrats of yore. “If greater numbers of people were using their leisure to run the country, that would give people a sense of purpose,” says Trumbach.
Social life might look a lot different too. Since the Industrial Revolution, mothers, fathers, and children have spent most of their waking hours apart. In a work-free world, people of different ages might come together again. “We would become much less isolated from each other,” Gray imagines, perhaps a little optimistically. “When a mom is having a baby, everybody in the neighborhood would want to help that mom.” Researchers have found that having close relationships is the number-one predictor of happiness, and the social connections that a work-free world might enable could well displace the aimlessness that so many futurists predict.
In general, without work, Gray thinks people would be more likely to pursue their passions, get involved in the arts, and visit friends. Perhaps leisure would cease to be about unwinding after a period of hard work, and would instead become a more colorful, varied thing. “We wouldn’t have to be as self-oriented as we think we have to be now,” he says. “I believe we would become more human.”
新题型
The surprising truth about American manufacturing
The decline in American manufacturing is a common refrain, particularly from Donald Trump. “We don’t make anything anymore,” he told Fox News last October, while defending his own made-in-Mexico clothing line.
On Tuesday, in rust belt Pennsylvania, he doubled down, saying that he had “visited cities and towns across this country where a third or even half of manufacturing jobs have been wiped out in the last 20 years.” The Pacific trade deal, he added, “would be the death blow for American manufacturing.”
Without question, manufacturing has taken a significant hit during recent decades, and further trade deals raise questions about whether new shocks could hit manufacturing.
But there is also a different way to look at the data.
In reality, United States manufacturing output is at an all-time high, worth $2.2 trillion in , up from $1.7 trillion in . And while total employment has fallen by nearly a third since 1970, the jobs that remain are increasingly skilled.
Across the country, factory owners are now grappling with a new challenge: Instead of having too many workers, as they did during the Great Recession, they may end up with too few. Despite trade competition and outsourcing, American manufacturing still needs to replace tens of thousands of retiring boomers every year. Millennials may not be that interested in taking their place. Other industries are recruiting them with similar or better pay. And those industries don’t have the stigma of 40 years of recurring layoffs and downsizing.
“We’ve never had so much attention from manufacturers. They’re calling and saying: ‘Can we meet your students?’ They’re asking, ‘Why aren’t they looking at my job postings?' ” says Julie Parks, executive director of workforce training at Grand Rapids Community College in western Michigan.
The region is a microcosm of the national challenge. Unemployment here is low (around 3 percent, compared with a statewide average of 5 percent). There aren’t many extra workers waiting for a job. And the need is high:1 in 5 people work in manufacturing, churning out auto parts, machinery, plastics, office furniture, and medical devices. Other industries, including agribusiness and life sciences, are vying for the same workers.
For factory owners, it all adds up to stiff competition for workers C and upward pressure on wages. “They’re harder to find and they have job offers,” says Jay Dunwell, president of Wolverine Coil Spring, a family-owned firm. “They may be coming [into the workforce], but they’ve been plucked by other industries that are also doing as well as manufacturing,”
Mr. Dunwell has begun bringing high school juniors to the factory so they can get exposed to its culture. He is also part of a public-private initiative to promote manufacturing to students that includes job fairs and sending a mobile demonstration vehicle to rural schools. One of their messages is that factories are no longer dark, dirty, and dangerous; computer-run systems are the norm and recruits can receive apprenticeships that include paid-for college classes.
At RoMan Manufacturing, a maker of electrical transformers and welding equipment that his father cofounded in 1980, Robert Roth keeps a close eye on the age of his nearly 200 workers. Five are retiring this year. Mr. Roth has three community-college students enrolled in a work-placement program, with a starting wage of $13 an hour that rises to $17 after two years.
At a worktable inside the transformer plant, young Jason Stenquist looks flustered by the copper coils he’s trying to assemble and the arrival of two visitors. It’s his first week on the job; this is his first encounter with Roth, his boss. Asked about his choice of career, he says at high school he considered medical school before switching to electrical engineering.
“I love working with tools. I love creating,” he says.
But to win over these young workers, manufacturers have to clear another major hurdle: parents, who lived through the worst US economic downturn since the Great Depression, telling them to avoid the factory. Millennials “remember their father and mother both were laid off. They blame it on the manufacturing recession,” says Birgit Klohs, chief executive of The Right Place, a business development agency for western Michigan.
These concerns aren’t misplaced: Employment in manufacturing has fallen from 17 million in 1970 to 12 million in 2015. The steepest declines came after , when China gained entry to the World Trade Organization and ramped up exports of consumer goods to the US and other rich countries. In areas exposed to foreign trade, every additional $1,000 of imports per worker meant a $550 annual drop in household income per working-age adult, according to a study in the American Economic Review. And unemployment, Social Security, and other government benefits went up $60 per person.
The -09 recession was another blow. And advances in computing and robotics offer new ways for factory owners to increase productivity using fewer workers.
When the recovery began, worker shortages first appeared in the high-skilled trades. Electricians, plumbers, and pipefitters are in in short supply across Michigan and elsewhere; vocational schools and union-run apprenticeships aren’t keeping pace with demand and older tradespeople are leaving the workforce. Now shortages are appearing at the mid-skill levels.
“The gap is between the jobs that take no skills and those that require a lot of skill,” says Rob Spohr, a business professor at Montcalm Community College an hour from Grand Rapids. “There’s enough people to fill the jobs at McDonalds and other places where you don’t need to have much skill. It’s that gap in between, and that’s where the problem is.”
Ms. Parks of Grand Rapids Community College points to another key to luring Millennials into manufacturing: a work/life balance. While their parents were content to work long hours, young people value flexibility. “Overtime is not attractive to this generation. They really want to live their lives,” she says.
Roth says he gets this distinction. At RoMan, workers can set their own hours on their shift, choosing to start earlier or end later, provided they get the job done. That the factory floor isn’t a standard assembly line C everything is custom-built for industrial clients C makes it easier to drop the punch-clocks.
“People have lives outside,” Roth says. “It’s not always easy to schedule doctors’ appointments around a ‘punch-in at 7 and leave at 3:30’ schedule.”
While factory owners like Roth like to stress the flexibility of manufacturing careers, one aspect is nonnegotiable: location. Millennials looking for a job that allow them to work from home are not likely to get a callback. “I'm not putting a machine tool in your garage,” says Roth.
篇6：考研英语作文真题及（英语二）
write an essay based on the following table .In your writing you should
1) Describe the table, and
2) Give your comments
You should write at least 150 words (15points)
参考范文
The table above revealed an overall picture of job satisfaction among employment of different age groups. Based upon the data of the table, most people under 40 are unclear or dissatisfied with their job, and 64% of those between 40 and 50 are not satisfied. For people over 50, the degree of satisfaction largely exceeds the younger groups under 40, amounting to 40%.
The phenomenon that elder people find more pleasure in job compared with the young may be rooted in the following reasons. First, people between 30 and 50 face more pressure to support the family, both the children and the senior, so that they neglect to enjoy in work. Second, the senior citizens have developed a lot in personality, so they are more prone to see the optimistic aspects of the work. Last, the current family pattern of “one family one Child” cause the aging of the society, which has posed more social responsibility to people under 50.
To sum up, the senior citizens enjoys more content than the young people. In order to improve this situation, and make life of those who are between 40s and 50s easier, the authorities, relevant departments and certain enterprises, should adopt some measures to increase salaries and perfect welfare system. What’s more, adults under 40 themselves should also treat their work with a positive and proper attitude and spare more time on physical practice after long-hour work. Only in this way can we assure that as many people as possible will live a contented life.
Directions
Suppose you have found something wrong with the electronic dictionary that you bought from an online store the other day, Write an email to the customer service center to
1) Make a complaint and
2) Demand a prompt solution
You should write about 100words on ANSERE SHEET 2
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter, Use “zhang wei ”instead.
参考范文：
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to express my disappointment regarding the electronic dictionary that I bought from your on-line store last week, with the invoice number of ED53407.
I have to complain about the poor quality of the dictionary. For one thing, the dictionary often automatically turns off at the very moment I am eager to see the word explanations. For another, it seems loose in the conjunction part. The screen part can not be properly settled.
Since the problems are unaccepted to me, I would like to get a refund or a new dictionary that can work well. Your prompt response will be highly appreciated.
Yours sincerely,
Zhang Wei
篇7：考研英语二作文真题及
Directions:
Write an essay based on the following chart. In your writing, you should
1) interpret the chart, and
2) give your comments.
You should write about 150 words.(15 points)
参考范文：
What can be seen from the chart is the proportion change of students having part-time jobs during the four years’ college study. The proportion increases slightly from the first year to the third year, however, the fourth year has witnessed a dramatic increase, surging to 88.24%.
There is no denying the fact that this trend is very pervasive in current colleges and, to some extent, quite proper. It is not difficult to come up with some possible factors accounting for this trend. To begin with, the major jobs of freshman and sophomore are to study, and to lay a solid foundation for their future work. What’s more, when students are going to step out of school and enter into society, they have to master lots of practical skills, for example, how to deal with challenges outside, so they have to take part in some part-time jobs. Apparently, doing part time job has many advantages. On the one hand, students can learn how to get along well with others and know the society more profoundly. On the other hand, to take a part-time job provides students with a valuable opportunity to put what they have learned from books into practice and make some money, which helps to reduce their families’ financial burden.
Due to the analysis above, this trend will continue for quite a while in the future. And it should be pointed out that study is the major task for college students though work experience is valuable. Students have to strike a balance between study and part-time job.
Directions:
Suppose your class is to hold a charity sale for kids in need of help. Write your classmates an email to
1) inform them about the details and
2) encourage them to participate.
You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use “Li Ming” instead. Don?t write your address.(10 points)
【经典范文】
Dear classmates,
I am writing this letter to inform that our class is going to hold a charity sale for the needy children in rural area of our province who have dropped out of school because their parents cannot afford their education. This activity will be held on our school’s playground on next Monday, January 22.
It is universally acknowledged that children are regarded as flowers and future of our nation; however, because of poverty, a growing number of kids in remote villages lost their learning opportunities which are not only crucial for their personal growth, but also essential for the sound development of the whole society. Consequently, there is no doubt that it is a noble cause to donate money to needy children through charity sale.
I really appeal to all the students to take part in this event and I will be grateful if you could come and give your donation.
Yours sincerely,
Li Ming
篇8：考研英语作文二真题及
Directions:
In this section, you are asked to write an essay based on the following chart. In your writing, you should
1) Interpret the chart and
2) Give your comments
Write your essay on ANSWER SHEET 2. (15 points)
参考范文：
The column chart on mobile-phone subscriptions above shows a striking contrast between those developing countries and developed countries in the past decade. Since 2004, people in growing numbers in developing countries use mobile phone, while those in developed countries far lag behind. By 2008, there are 4 billion mobile-phone users in developing countries, which is 3 times more than that in developed countries.
Two reasons may contribute to the contrast above. On the one hand, with the rapid increase in economy of developing countries, the telecommunication industry there surges to meet the demand of globalization. Therefore, mobile phone users grows at an incredible speed. On the other hand, developed countries had reached a state of prosperity in economy, and created less rooms for further developments in mobile subscriptions. Maybe that is the reason why the number mobile phone users in the developed countries keep even over the last decade.
To sum up, mobile phone is convenient for interpersonal communications, and gradually become the indispensable tools in people's life. When enjoying the convenience of cell phones, we should also keep an eye on the negative effects itmight bring to our environment. Only in this way can people in developing countries see a sustainable grow in telecommunications.
Directions:
You have just come back from the U.S. as a member of a Sino-American cultural exchange program. Write a letter to your American colleague to
1) Express your thanks for his/her warm reception;
2) Welcome him/her to visit China in due course。
You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use “Zhang Wei” instead。
Do not write your address. (10 points)
参考范文：
Dear Jack:
I would like to convey my heartfelt thanks to you for your warm reception when I participated in the exchange program in your country.
Your generous help made it possible for me to have a very pleasant stay and a chance to know American culture better. Besides, I think it is a great honor for me to make friends with you and I will cherish the goodwill you showed to me wherever I go. I do hope that you can visit China someday, so that I could have the opportunity to repay your kindness and refresh our friendship.
I feel obliged to thank you again.
Sincerely Yours,
Zhang Wei
