考研英語閲讀理解及翻譯

英譯漢部分主要測試考生根據上下文準確理解英語句子並用漢語正確予以表達的能力，下面是小編收集的考研英語閲讀理解真題及翻譯，一起來練習一下吧!

In the following article, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 21-25, choose the most suitable one from the list A-G to fit into each of the numbered blank. There is one extra choice that does not fit in any of the gaps. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)

Between 5,000 million and 4,000 million years ago the Earth was formed. By 3,000 million years ago life had arisen and we have fossils of microscopic bacterialike creatures to prove it. (21) ————. Nobody knows what happened, but theorists agree that the key was the spontaneous arising of selfreplicating entities, i.e. something equivalent to “genes” in the general sense.

The atmosphere of the early Earth probably contained gases still abundant today on other planets in the solar system. Chemists have experimentally reconstructed these ancientconditions in the laboratory. If plausible gases are mixed in a flask with water, and energy is added by an electric discharge (simulated lightning), organic substances are spontaneously synthesized. These include the building blocks of RNA and DNA. It seems probable that something like this happened on the early Earth. Consequently, the sea would have become a “soup” of prebiological organic compounds. (22)————.

Today the most famous selfreplicating molecule is DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), but it is widely thought that DNA itself could not have been present at the origin of life because its replication is too dependent on support from specialized machinery, which could not have been available before evolution itself began. DNA has been described as a “hightech” molecule which probably arose some time after the origin of life itself. Perhaps the related molecule RNA, which still plays various vital roles in living cells, was the original selfreplicating molecule. Or perhaps the primordial replicator was a different kind of molecule altogether. (23) ————. Variants that were particularly good at replication would automatically have come to predominate in the primeval soup. Varieties that did not replicate, or that did so inaccurately, would have become relatively less numerous. This led to everincreasing efficiency among replicating molecules.

As the competition between replicating molecules warmed up, success must have gone to the ones that happened to hit upon special tricks or devices for their own selfpreservation and their own rapid replication. The rest of evolution may be regarded as a continuation of the natural selection of replicator molecules, now called genes, by virtue of their capacity to build for themselves efficient devices (cells and multicellular bodies) for their own preservation and reproduction. (24)————.

Fossils were not laid down on more than a small scale until the Cambrian era, nearly 600 million years ago. The first vertebrates may date back 530 million years, according to fossil evidence—primitive, jawless fishes with fins, gills, and fishlike muscle patterns—found in China in 1999. Vertebrates appear abundantly in fossil beds between 300 and 400 million years ago. (25)————. Mammals and, later, birds, arose from two different branches of reptiles. The rapid divergence of mammals into the rich variety of types that we see today, from opossums to elephants, from anteaters to monkeys, seems to have been unleashed into the vacuum left by the catastrophic extinction of the dinosaurs, 65 million years ago.

[A] Among vertebrates, the land was first colonized by lobefinned and lungbearing fish about 250 million years ago, then by amphibians and, in more thoroughgoing fashion, by various kinds of animals that we loosely lump together as “reptiles”.

[B] Once selfreplicating molecules had been formed by chance, something like Darwinian natural selection could have begun: variation would have come into the population because of random errors in copying.

[C] It is not enough, of course, that organic molecules appeared in the primeval soup. The crucial step, as noted above, was the origin of selfreplicating molecules, molecules capable of copying themselves.

[D] Although we naturally emphasize the evolution of our own kind—the vertebrates, the mammals, and the primates—these constitute only a small branch of the great tree of life.

[E]When the environment changes, or when organisms move to a different environment, different variations are selected, leading eventually to different species. Harmful mutations usually die out quickly, so they don?t interfere with the process of beneficial mutations accumulating.

[F] Three thousand million years is a long time, and it seems to have been long enough to have produced such astonishingly complex contrivances as the vertebrate body and the insect body.

[G]Some time between these two dates—independent molecular evidence suggests about 4,000 million years ago—that mysterious event, the origin of life, must have occurred.[748 words]

　　>>>>>>答案解析<<<<<<

　　核心詞彙

by/in virtue of 憑藉(某種手段);由於，因為 例：He was exempt from charges by virtue of his youth/of being so young.他因年幼而獲得免費. / She became a British citizen by virtue of her marriage.她藉助婚姻成了英國公民。

extinction n. [U] *①(物種)滅絕，絕種 例：be threatened with extinction瀕臨滅絕 ②(信仰、生活方式等)遭毀滅，消失，消亡

hit on/upon ① (經長時間考慮後)突然想出(好主意) 例：In this way we hit upon over 20 useful methods of work.就這樣我們想出了20多種有用的工作方法。 *② 偶然發現(某物) 例： At last she hit upon a room that suited them nicely.最後她找到了一間適合他們使用的房間。

in more thoroughgoing fashion以更徹底的方式;in a... fashion以……方式 例：Leave the building in an orderly fashion.要有秩序地走出樓去。

interfere with *① 妨礙，打擾 例：Don?t allow pleasure to interfere with duty.不要讓娛樂妨礙了職責。 ② 干擾(廣播或電視播送)

lay down ① 放下(武器等) 例：The general told the troops to lay down their arms.將軍命令部隊放下武器。 ② [常用被動態](正式地或堅決地)闡述，聲明，規定 例：It is laid down that all applicants must sit a written exam.根據規定, 申請者一律需經筆試。 ③ 開始建造;開始做(奠基性的工作) 例：Crick and Watson laid down the foundations of modern genetic research.克里克和沃森為現代遺傳學研究奠定了基礎。 *④ (化石、地層等的)沉積形成

　　超綱詞彙

anteater n.食蟻獸, 食蟻動物

contrivance n. *① 發明，發明物，發明的才能 ② 計謀，詭計

DNA 脱氧核糖核酸，deoxyribonucleic acid的縮寫，指細胞核內攜帶基因信息的物質，具有雙螺旋結構

gill n. *① 魚鰓 ② (蘑菇或其他菌類的)菌褶

lobe n. *① (生物身體上的)肉垂，圓形的突出物 ② (=earlobe)耳垂 ③ (尤指腦、肺等的)葉

mutation n.(動物、植物的)突變，變異

opossum n. 尾有卷握力的小有袋動物，負鼠

primeval a. *① 太古的，太初的(地球或宇宙存在的最早期) ② 原始的，遠古的 例：a primeval forest一片原始森林

primordial a. *① 太古的，太初的，自原始時代的 例：primordial soup原生漿液(地球上生命開始之前存在的物質、氣體等混合物) ② 形式最簡單的，基本的 例：primordial passions最基本的情感

RNA 核糖核酸，ribonucleic acid的縮寫，指存在於生物細胞以及部分病毒、類病毒中的遺傳信息載體，將DNA攜帶的遺傳信息轉移至蛋白質中，並參與其他細胞內的化學反應

selfreplicating a. 自我複製的

synthesized a. ① 組合的，綜合的 *② 人工合成的

vertebrate n. 脊椎動物

　　長難句分析

Today the most famous selfreplicating molecule is DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), but it is widely thought that DNA itself could not have been present at the origin of life because its replication is too dependent on support from specialized machinery, which could not have been available before evolution itself began.

該句是一個由but連接的並列句。前一個分句較簡單，主幹為The most famous selfreplicating molecule is DNA... 。後一個分句結構複雜，嵌套了多層從句，其主幹是it is widely thought that...;it為形式主語，真主語是that引導的從句;because引導了一個較長的原因狀語從句，其中又嵌套了which...非限定性定語從句做 machinery 的後置定語;from... 介詞短語後置修飾support。

　　語篇分析

本文的選材領域是生命科學。作者介紹了自我複製分子在生命起源與動物進化中的重要作用。它是一篇事理説明文，大體按照時間順序展開介紹。全文總計五段，可分成三大部分。

全文的寫作順序：第一至三段主要圍繞生命起源的關鍵：自我複製分子展開介紹;第四段是過渡段，指出從自我複製分子到複雜生物體的出現，自然選擇發揮了關鍵作用。第五段圍繞脊椎動物的進化過程展開介紹。因此作者大體按照時間先後順序安排全文內容。

　　一、第一至三段為第一部分，介紹生命起源的關鍵是自我複製分子的出現。

第一段內容概括：前三句利用時間線索從地球的形成(the Earth was formed)和生命的興起(life had arisen)，引出生命的起源(the origin of life)這一話題。第三句([G])起承上啟下的作用，其中these two dates回指上文提到的兩個時間;the origin of life與下文末句中的“關鍵是自我複製實體即基因的出現(the key was the spontaneous arising of selfreplicating entities)”在內容上相呼應。末句提出了全文論述的對象——自我複製實體。

連貫性：前三句句首的時間狀語(分別為between 5,000 million and 4,000 million years ago, by 3,000 million years ago, some time between these two dates)相互呼應，是段內句子間連貫性的明顯體現。

第二段內容概括：通過介紹生命起源的模擬實驗，説明自我複製分子出現的條件。該段內容分為兩個部分。第一部分是前四句，圍繞“生命起源實驗”展開論述。首句指出了進行實驗的條件：原始地球大氣中的氣體現在仍然存在(the atmosphere of the early Earth contained gases still abundant today)。二至四句具體介紹化學家模擬原始大氣狀況進行生命起源的實驗(reconstructed these ancient conditions in the laboratory)，包括實驗的材料(gases, water, energy)和結果(organic substances are synthesized)。第二部分是後四句，介紹自我複製分子的出現。第五、六句推理原始地球上出現了模擬實驗中發生的情況(something like this happened on the early Earth)：原始海洋成為生命起源以前有機化合物彙集的地方(a “soup” of prebiological organic compounds)。第七、八句([C])轉折指出，但更重要的不是有機分子的產生，而是自我複製分子的出現(the origin of selfreplicating molecules)。末句中的selfreplicating molecules與第一段末句中的selfreplicating entities是同一主題詞的復現，達到語篇上下銜接。