历年考研英语阅读理解mp3(06-1)

[00:00.00]在线英语听力室(www.tingroom.com)友情制作
[00:06.07]2006 Text1
[00:11.21]In spite of "endless talk of difference,"
[00:14.54]American society is an amazing machine
[00:17.56]for homogenizing people.
[00:20.18]There is "the democratizing uniformity of dress
[00:23.72]and discourse,
[00:25.16]and the casualness and absence of deference"
[00:28.28]characteristic of popular culture.
[00:31.60]People are absorbed into "a culture of consumption"
[00:35.31]launched by the 19th-century department stores
[00:38.63]that offered "vast arrays of goods in an elegant atmosphere.
[00:43.48]Instead of intimate shops catering¹ to a knowledgeable² elite"
[00:47.81]these were stores "anyone could enter,
[00:50.59]regardless of class or background.
[00:54.34]This turned shopping into a public and democratic act."
[00:59.17]The mass media, advertising³ and sports are
[01:02.40]other forces for homogenization.
[01:05.33]Immigrants are quickly fitting into this common culture,
[01:08.88]which may not be altogether elevating
[01:11.89]but is hardly poisonous.
[01:14.73]Writing for the National Immigration Forum,
[01:17.44]Gregory Rodriguez reports that today's immigration is
[01:21.29]neither at unprecedented⁴ level
[01:23.51]nor resistant⁵ to assimilation.
[01:26.74]In 1998 immigrants were 9.8 percent of population;
[01:32.42]in 1900, 13.6 percent.
[01:36.63]In the 10 years prior to 1990,
[01:39.75]3.1 immigrants arrived for every 1,000 residents;
[01:44.69]in the 10 years prior to 1890,
[01:47.81]9.2 for every 1,000.
[01:51.45]Now, consider three indices of assimilation--
[01:55.46]language, home ownership and intermarriage.
[02:00.01]The 1990 Census⁶ revealed
[02:02.83]that "a majority of immigrants
[02:04.24]from each of the fifteen most common countries of
[02:06.98]origin spoke⁷ English 'well' or 'very well'
[02:10.50]after ten years of residence."
[02:13.42]The children of immigrants tend to be bilingual
[02:16.66]and proficient⁸ in English.
[02:19.18]"By the third generation,
[02:20.80]the original language is lost
[02:22.70]in the majority of immigrant families."
[02:26.34]Hence the description of America as a "graveyard⁹" for languages.
[02:31.17]By 1996 foreign-born immigrants
[02:34.60]who had arrived before 1970
[02:37.23]had a home ownership rate of 75.6 percent,
[02:41.56]higher than the 69.8 percent rate
[02:44.69]among native-born Americans.
[02:47.52]Foreign-born Asians and Hispanics
[02:50.05]"have higher rates of intermarriage
[02:51.90]than do U.S.-born whites and blacks."
[02:55.93]By the third generation,
[02:57.95]one third of Hispanic women are married to non-Hispanics,
[03:02.10]and 41 percent of Asian-American women
[03:04.90]are married to non-Asians.
[03:07.53]Rodriguez notes that children in remote villages
[03:10.44]around the world
[03:11.65]are fans of superstars like Arnold Schwarzenegger
[03:15.00]and Garth Brooks,
[03:17.22]yet "some Americans fear
[03:19.12]that immigrant living within the United States
[03:21.43]remain somehow immune to the nation's assimilative power."
[03:25.72]在线英语听力室(www.tingroom.com)友情制作
[03:27.04]Are there divisive issues and pockets of seething
[03:29.95]anger in America? Indeed.
[03:32.87]It is big enough to have a bit of everything.
[03:35.40]But particularly when viewed against America's turbulent past,
[03:39.73]today's social indices hardly suggest a dark
[03:43.09]and deteriorating¹⁰ social environment.

1 catering   

n. 给养

参考例句：

• Most of our work now involves catering for weddings. 我们现在的工作多半是承办婚宴。
• Who did the catering for your son's wedding? 你儿子的婚宴是由谁承办的？

2 knowledgeable   

adj.知识渊博的；有见识的

参考例句：

• He's quite knowledgeable about the theatre.他对戏剧很有心得。
• He made some knowledgeable remarks at the meeting.他在会上的发言颇有见地。

3 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

4 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

5 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

6 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 proficient   

adj.熟练的，精通的；n.能手，专家

参考例句：

• She is proficient at swimming.她精通游泳。
• I think I'm quite proficient in both written and spoken English.我认为我在英语读写方面相当熟练。

9 graveyard   

n.坟场

参考例句：

• All the town was drifting toward the graveyard.全镇的人都象流水似地向那坟场涌过去。
• Living next to a graveyard would give me the creeps.居住在墓地旁边会使我毛骨悚然。

10 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。