考研英語閱讀理解精讀100篇【社會文化類】

考研英語閱讀理解精讀100篇unit18
Unit 18
Hello back there! This is me, in the future. It's great here. We finally have robots that do things for us, although none of them are very attractive, at least not after the third or fourth date. Dogs and cats developed the power of speech several years ago, and turn out to have very little interesting to say beyond requests for food and, on the part of cats, expressions of condescension.

One thing that has not changed in the 50 years since you guys were merging and purging all over the place is our reliance on media. Today we have 484,567,543 channels of great programming, which correspond exactly to the population of the U.S. It's really fabulous. Each of us has his or her own mix that completely serves our interests and virtual habits. I say virtual habits because none of us have any real habits to speak of, good or bad. They were outlawed in 2025, and most of us agree that we're happier without any.

Our programming mixtures reach us through a variety of pipelines all owned by one of four Great Big Media Companies. These are all exactly alike in their collection of assets, each of them owning broadcast, narrowcast, die-cast, retrocast and cybercast, broadband, narrowband, audio, video, satellite and an upload-and-download phalanx of option-driven interfaces. Each of our Great Big Media Companies has thousands of brands that make us feel all warm and toasty and provide an emotional connection to a past that nobody can actually remember. We love our GBMCs and buy their stocks all the time.

And they're getting bigger. Not long ago, the largest GBMC declared itself to be a nation, established a virtual army and invaded Nova Scotia. Right now, it's fighting the Canadians, who are holding out for preferred stock in the new entity before they capitulate.

So things have changed a lot, except maybe for one thing. As I'm dictating this into the cyber-neural-net, I am sitting on a soft object with a rather high back, which is necessary as, like all other human beings now, I have no real bone structure. That's right, it's my beloved couch! I sit on my couch all day long. I do business from my couch, since everything is now conducted online. I am served my meals on my couch. My family members catch up with one another's virtual day while sitting on our couch. The only time we leave our couch is when we are conveyed upstairs to bed, which is just another couch. So from our couch to yours, hello! That's your future! See you there!

注（1）：本文選自Time；02/21/2000, , p58；
注（2）：本文習(xí)題命題模仿對象2003年真題text 4；
 
1.       What is implied in the first paragraph?

[A] The future life will be much greater than the present life.
[B] Robots will become as smart as human beings in the future life.
[C] What will be described in the passage is quite absurd.
[D] Cats and dogs will surely develop the power of speech in the future.

2.       The author uses the phrase “couch potato” to mean those who ________.

[A] spends a lot of time sitting at home watching television, surfing internet, reading etc.
[B] prefer to have potatoes as meals while sitting on the couch
[C] prefer to sleep on couch rather than on bed
[D] indulge themselves only in sleeping and eating

3.       The author’s attitude towards the four Great Big Media Companies is probably one of ______.

[A] strong disapproval
[B] mild satire
[C] reserved consent
[D] enthusiastic support

4.       In contrast to the great changes in the virtual future, one thing that has not changed is ______.

[A] our way of life
[B] the social status of pets like dogs and cats
[C] our habits and memories of the past
[D] our dependence on television, computer, radios, newspapers, etc.

5.       The text intends to express the idea that ______.

[A] people will live a happier life in the future
[B] people will do business at home in the future
[C] human beings tend to degenerate with increasing immobility
[D] people will have more free time to pursue their hobbies

答案：CABDC

篇章剖析
本文以調(diào)侃荒誕的筆調(diào)，向人們描述了未來過度依賴媒體的可怕場景。從開篇的貓狗能說話到媒體構(gòu)筑的虛擬世界，從媒體行業(yè)的高級發(fā)展到人類的低級退化，直到最后一段對人類的可怕描述，全文透著對未來荒唐生活的揶揄。

詞匯注釋
condescension: [] n. 優(yōu)越感
purge: [] v. 剝離；去除
virtual: [] adj. 虛擬的；不真實的
toasty: [] adj. 舒適的
capitulate: [] v. 投降

難句突破
1.       Each of our Great Big Media Companies has thousands of brands that make us feel all warm and toasty and provide an emotional connection to a past that nobody can actually remember.
主體句式： Each…h(huán)as thousands of breands…
結(jié)構(gòu)分析：這一長句中有兩個定語從句。一個是由that引導(dǎo)的修飾brands，從句的謂語是make和provide，一個是由that引導(dǎo)的修飾past，從句的謂語是remember。
句子譯文：四大媒體巨頭中的每一家都有幾千個讓我們感到溫暖舒適的名牌節(jié)目。這些節(jié)目使我們感情上和忘得一干二凈的過去保持聯(lián)系。

題目分析
1．答案是C，屬推理判斷題。從作者的調(diào)侃的口氣以及描寫的內(nèi)容可以讀出這將是一篇荒誕文章。
2．答案是A，屬猜測詞義題。指那些長時間臥在沙發(fā)里看電視、上網(wǎng)或閱讀的人。
3．答案是B，屬推理判斷題。作者在調(diào)侃揶揄未來那種所謂的高級生活，對主宰未來生活的媒體業(yè)也是同樣的態(tài)度。
4．答案是D，屬事實細(xì)節(jié)題。從第二段第一句話可以看出。
5．答案是C，屬推理判斷題。最后一段虛構(gòu)了人類的退化---幾乎成了軟體動物。

參考譯文
住在過去的人們，你們好！這就是我，正生活在未來。這兒真的很棒！機器人可以幫我們做事，雖然它們長得不那么好看，至少打三、四次交道后更覺它們難看。貓呀狗呀早在幾年前就會說話，不過除了開口要吃的，它們對說話幾乎沒什么興趣。當(dāng)然，對貓而言，開口說話還能表明它比別的物種優(yōu)越。

50年后，有一件事情沒變，那就是我們對媒體的依賴。這一點自從你們在此地生活以來就沒變�，F(xiàn)在我們有484，567，543個播放各種各樣節(jié)目的頻道，和美國的人口一樣多。這可太好了。每個人都有自己喜歡的頻道。這些頻道能滿足他們的興趣愛好及虛擬的習(xí)慣。我說虛擬的習(xí)慣，是因為沒有哪個人有真正的說得出來的習(xí)慣，不管是好習(xí)慣還是壞習(xí)慣。到2025年，習(xí)慣就是非法的。大多數(shù)人會承認(rèn)沒有習(xí)慣反倒更幸福。

各種各樣的電視節(jié)目會通過各種管線傳輸給我們。這些管線被四大媒體巨頭中的某一個所擁有。他們旗下的資產(chǎn)十分相似。每個巨頭都擁有廣播、窄播、印刷廣播、懷舊廣播以及網(wǎng)絡(luò)廣播、寬波段、窄波段、視聽、視頻、衛(wèi)星、隨意選擇的界面上隨意上傳或下載的強大系統(tǒng)。四大媒體巨頭中的每一家都有幾千個讓我們感到溫暖舒適的名牌節(jié)目。這些節(jié)目使我們感情上和忘得一干二凈的過去保持聯(lián)系。我們愛死了四大媒體巨頭，一直買他們的股票。

他們的事業(yè)也蒸蒸日上。前不久，最大的一家媒體巨頭宣布自己是一個獨立王國，建立了自己的虛擬軍隊并入侵新斯科細(xì)亞省。目前它正同加拿大人作戰(zhàn)，因為后者堅持在這個新領(lǐng)域購買喜歡的股票并拒絕投降。

看來變化真是很大�；蛟S只有一件事沒變。當(dāng)我把這篇文章口述到神經(jīng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)時，我正坐在有高高椅背的軟座上。高椅背是很有必要的。因為我現(xiàn)在像其他人一樣，骨骼不發(fā)揮什么作用了。這就對了，這就是我喜歡的大沙發(fā)！我每天都坐在沙發(fā)上。我在沙發(fā)上做生意因為任何事情都可以在網(wǎng)上完成。有人給我端來飯菜，我就在沙發(fā)上進餐。我的家人坐在沙發(fā)上就能知道每個人的一天怎么過的。我們唯一離開沙發(fā)的時候是上樓睡覺時。當(dāng)然，床和沙發(fā)也沒什么兩樣。我在沙發(fā)上向沙發(fā)上的你問好！這就是你的未來！那兒見！

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