2020年考研《英语一》阅读理解答案(海文版)
  Section II Reading Comprehension
  Part A
  Directions：
  Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)
  Text 1
  King Juan Carlos of Spain once insisted “kings don’t abdicate, they dare in their sleep.” But embarrassing scandals and the popularity of the republican left in the recent Euro-elections have forced him to eat his words and stand down. So, does the Spanish crisis suggest that monarchy is seeing its last days? Does that mean the writing is on the wall for all European royals, with their magnificent uniforms and majestic lifestyle?
  The Spanish case provides arguments both for and against monarchy. When public opinion is particularly polarised, as it was following the end of the Franco regime, monarchs can rise above “mere” politics and “embody” a spirit of national unity.
  It is this apparent transcendence of politics that explains monarchs’ continuing popularity polarized. And also, the Middle East excepted, Europe is the most monarch-infested region in the world, with 10 kingdoms (not counting Vatican City and Andorra). But unlike their absolutist counterparts in the Gulf and Asia, most royal families have survived because they allow voters to avoid the difficult search for a non-controversial but respected public figure.
  Even so, kings and queens undoubtedly have a downside. Symbolic of national unity as they claim to be, their very history—and sometimes the way they behave today – embodies outdated and indefensible privileges and inequalities. At a time when Thomas Piketty and other economists are warning of rising inequality and the increasing power of inherited wealth, it is bizarre that wealthy aristocratic families should still be the symbolic heart of modern democratic states.
  The most successful monarchies strive to abandon or hide their old aristocratic ways. Princes and princesses have day-jobs and ride bicycles, not horses (or helicopters). Even so, these are wealthy families who party with the international 1%, and media intrusiveness makes it increasingly difficult to maintain the right image.
  While Europe’s monarchies will no doubt be smart enough to survive for some time to come, it is the British royals who have most to fear from the Spanish example.
  It is only the Queen who has preserved the monarchy’s reputation with her rather ordinary (if well-heeled) granny style. The danger will come with Charles, who has both an expensive taste of lifestyle and a pretty hierarchical view of the world. He has failed to understand that monarchies have largely survived because they provide a service – as non-controversial and non-political heads of state. Charles ought to know that as English history shows, it is kings, not republicans, who are the monarchy’s worst enemies.
  21. According to the first two Paragraphs, King Juan Carlos of Spain
  [A] used turn enjoy high public support
  [B] was unpopular among European royals
  [C] cased his relationship with his rivals
  [D]ended his reign in embarrassment
  【答案】[D] ended his reign in embarrassment
  【解析】事实细节题。根据题干要求，定位到文章前两段。而文章第一段的第二句话提到“But embarrassing scandals and the popularity of the republican left in the recent Euro-elections have forced him to eat his words and stand down.”(在最近的欧洲选举中，令人尴尬的丑闻和受欢迎的共和党，均迫使Carlos收回前言并退位)。D选项中，“stand down”是“end reign”的同义置换，且“embarrassment”与导致Carlos卸任的原因“embarrassing scandals”是相呼应的。故D是准确答案。A、B、C均属于无中生有。
  22. Monarchs are kept as heads of state in Europe mostly
  [A] owing to their undoubted and respectable status
  [B] to achieve a balance between tradition and reality
  [C] to give voter more public figures to look up to
  [D]due to their everlasting political embodiment
  【答案】[A] owing to their undoubted and respectable status
  【解析】事实细节题。根据题干关键词“monarchs”和“heads of state”，定位到第三段的最后一句话“...most royal families have survived because they allow voters to avoid the difficult search for a non-controversial but respected public figure.”(绝大部分的王室幸存下来是因为他们让选民能够避免去寻一个不受争议且受尊敬的公众人物的困难)其中“non-controversial but respected public figure”正是A选项中“undoubted and respectable status”的同义置换。故A是准确答案。
  23. Which of the following is shown to be odd, according to Paragraph 4?
  [A] Aristocrats’ excessive reliance on inherited wealth
  [B] The role of the nobility in modern democracies
  [C] The simple lifestyle of the aristocratic families
  [D]The nobility’s adherence to their privileges
  【答案】[B] The role of the nobility in modern democracies
>polarised