专业英语八级真题1998年+附答案详解.doc

TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (1998)GRADE EIGHTPAPER ONE PART LISTENING COMPREHENSION (40 MIN. ) In Sections A, B and C you will hear everything once only. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. SECTION A TALK Questions 1 to 5 refer to the talk in this section. At the end of the talk you will be given 15 seconds to answer each of the following five questions. Now listen to the talk. 1. According to the talk, compulsive gambling and alcoholic addiction share similarities because A. no actual figure of addicts has been reported. B. no scientific studies have yielded effective solutions. C. both affect all sectors of society. D. both cause serious mental health problems. 2. The development of the gambling compulsion can be described as being A. gradual. B. slow. C. periodic. D. radical. 3. G. A. mentioned in the talk is believed to be a(n) A. anonymous group. B. charity organization. C. gamblers club. D. treatment centre. 4. At the end of the talk, the speakers attitude towards the cure of gambling addiction is A. unclear. B. uncertain. C. optimistic. D. pessimistic. 5. Throughout the talk, the speaker examines the issue of gambling in a _ way. A. balanced B. biased C. detached D. lengthy SECTION B INTERVIEW Questions 6 to 10 are based on an interview. At the end of the interview you will be given 15 seconds to answer each of the following five questions. Now listen to the interview. 6. What strikes the woman most about the male robber is his A. clothes. B. age. C. physique. D. appearance. 7. The most detailed information about the woman robber is her A. manners. B. talkativeness. C. height. D. jewelry. 8. The interviewee is believed to be a bank A. receptionist. B. manager. C. customer. D. cashier. 9. Which of the following about the two robbers is NOT true? A. Both were wearing dark sweaters. B. Neither was wearing glasses. C. Both were about the same age. D. One of them was marked by a scar. 10. After the incident the interviewee sounded A. calm and quiet. B. nervous and numb. C. timid and confused. D. shocked and angry. SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST Questions 11 and 12 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 30 seconds to answer the questions. Now listen to the news. 11. According to the news, the enormous food shortage in Iraq has the most damaging effect on its A. national economy. B. adult population. C. young children. D. national currency. 12. The WFP is appealing to donor nations to A. double last years food-aid. B. raise $ 122 million for Iraqi people. C. provide each Iraqi family with $ 26 a month. D. help Iraqs 12 million population. Question 13 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 15 seconds to answer the question. Now listen to the news. 13. As a result of the agreement, the two countries arsenals are to be A. upgraded in reliability and safety. B. reduced in size and number. C. dismantled partly later this year. D. maintained in their present conditions. Questions 14 and 15 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 30 seconds to answer the two questions. Now listen to the news. 14. We can infer from the news that _ of teenagers under survey in 1993 were drug users. A. 28% B. 22% C. 25% D. 21% 15. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT? A. Parents are asked to join in the anti-drug efforts. B. The use of both cocaine and LSD are on the increase. C. Teenagers hold a different view of drugs today. D. Marijuana is as powerful as it used to be. SECTION D NOTE-TAKING AND GAP-FILLING In this section you will hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the lecture once only. While listening to the lecture, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them to complete a 15-minute gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET after the mini-lecture. Use the blank paper for note-taking.ANSWER SHEETThe Rise of RP Historical reasons Received pronunciation was originally associated with a (1) spoken in the region between central England and London, including Oxford and Cambridge. Its survival was due to its use by the (2) in the 14th century and by university students in the (3) Ages. Its rise in importance resulted from its application in government and official documents. The prestige of its (4) pattern of pronunciation came about with its use in (5) schools in the 19th century. As a result, its (6) is accepted by television and the radio, the professions and teaching English as a foreign language. Three characteristics of RP 1)its speakers dont regard themselves as connected with any geographical region; 2) RP is largely used in England; 3) RP is a class accent, associated with (7) social classes. Its present status Decline in the prestige of RP is the result of a) loss of monopoly of education by the privileged; b) (8) of high education in the post-war period. However, it still retains its eminence among certain professional people. There is a rise in the status of all (9) accents. We are moving towards the (10) position: general acceptance of all regional accents and absence of a class accent that transcends all regions. PART PROOFREADING AND ERROR CORRECTION (15 MIN. ) Proofread the given passage on ANSWER SHEET as instructed.The following passage contains TEN errors. Each line contains a maximum of one error. In each case, only one word is involved. You should proofread the passage and correct it. When a human infant is born into any community in any part of theworld it has two things in common with any infant, provided neither of them (1) _ have been damaged in any way either before or during birth. Firstly, and (2) _most obviously, new born children are completely helpless. Apart from apowerful capacity to pay attention to their helplessness by using sound, there (3) _is nothing the new born child can do to ensure his own survival. Withoutcare from some other human being or beings, be it mother, grandmother, orhuman group, a child is very unlikely to survive. This helplessness of humaninfants is in marked contrast with the capacity of many new born animals toget on their feet within minutes of birth and run with herd within a few (4) _hours. Although young animals are certainly in risk ,sometimes for weeks (5) _or even months after birth, compared with the human infant they very quicklygrow the capacity to fend for them. (6) _ It is during this very long period in which the human infant is totallydependent on the others that it reveals the second feature which it shares (7) _with all other undamaged human infants, a capacity to learn language. Forthis reason, biologists now suggest that language be species specific to the (8) _human race, that is to say, they consider the human infant to be genetic (9) _programmed in such way that it can acquire language. (10) _ This suggestion implies that just as human beings are designed to seethree-dimentionally and in colour, and just as they are designed to standupright rather than to move on all fours, so they are designed to learn anduse language as part of their normal developments as well-formedhuman beings. PART READING COMPREHENSION (40 MIN. ) SECTION A READING COMPREHENSION (30 MIN. ) In this section there are five reading passages followed by a total of fifteen multiple choice questions. Read the passages and then answer the questions. TEXT AOn Society1 Low self-esteem pops up regularly in academic reports as an explanation for all sorts of violence, from hate crimes and street crimes to terrorism. But despite the popularity of the explanation, not much evidence backs it up. In a recent issue of Psychological Review, three researchers examine this literature at length and conclude that a much stronger link connects high self-esteem to violence. It is difficult to maintain belief in the low self-esteem view after seeing that the more violent groups are generally the ones with higher self-esteem, write Roy Baumeister of Case Western Reserve University and Laura Smart and Joseph Boden of the University of Virginia.2 The conventional view is that people without self-esteem try to gain it by hurting others. The researchers find that violence is much more often the work of people with unrealistically high self-esteem attacking others who challenge their self-image. Under this umbrella come bullies, rapists, racists, psychopaths and members of street gangs and organized crime.3 The study concludes, Certain forms of high self-esteem seem to increase ones proneness to violence. An uncritical endorsement of the cultural value of self-esteem may therefore be counterproductive and even dangerous. The societal pursuit of high self- esteem for everyone may literally end up doing considerable harm. 4 As for prison programs intended to make violent convicts feel better about themselves, perhaps it would be better to try instilling modesty and humility, the researchers write.5 In an interview with the Boston Globe, Baumeister said he believes the self- promoting establishment is starting to crumble. What would work better for the country is to forget about self-esteem and concentrate on self-control, he said.6 In the schools, this would mean turning away from psychic boosterism and emphasizing self-esteem as a by-product of real achievement, not as an end in itself. The self-esteem movement, still entrenched in schools of education, is deeply implicated in the dumbing down of our schools, and in the spurious equality behind the idea that it is a terrible psychic blow if one student does any better or any worse than another. Lets hope it is indeed crumbling. 16. The researchers find that there are stronger connections between A. low self-esteem and violence. B. low self-cotrol and violence. C. high self-image and violence. D. high self-control and violence. 17. The researchers would most probably agree with the following EXCEPT A. self-esteem should be promoted and encouraged. B. schools should change their concept of self-esteem. C. the traditional view is beginning to lose ground. D. prisons should change their present practice. TEXT B1 Social change is more likely to occur in heterogeneous societies than in homogeneous ones, simply because there are more diverse points of view available in the former. There are more ideas, more conflicts of interest, and more groups and organizations of different persuasions. In addition, there is usually a greater worldly interest and tolerance in heterogeneous societies. All these factors tend to promote social change by opening more areas of life to decision rather than subjecting them to authority. In a quite homogeneous society, there are fewer occasions for people to perceive the need or the opportunity for change, because everything seems to be the same and, if not satisfactory, at least customary and undisputed.2 Within a society, social change is also likely to occur more frequently and more readily (1) in the material aspects of the culture than in the non-material, for example, in technology rather than in values; (2) in what has been learned later in life rather than what was learned early; (3) in the less basic, less emotional, or less sacred aspects of society than in their opposites, like religion or a system of prestige; (4) in the simple elements rather than in the complex ones; (5) in form rather than in substance; and (6) in elements congenial to the culture rather than in strange elements. 3 Furthermore, social change is easier if it is gradual. For example, it comes more readily in human relations on a continuous scale rather than one with sharp dichotomies. This is one reason why change has not come more quickly to Black Americans as compared to other American minorities, because of the sharp difference in appearance between them and their white counterparts.18. According to the passage, the main difference between a homogeneous society and a heterogeneous one lies in A. the number of opportunities offered. B. the nature of conflicts of interest. C. the awareness of the need for change. D. the role of social organizations.19. The author would most probably agree that changes are more likely to be successful in A. production methods. B. ideological concepts. C. religious beliefs. D. social behaviour. TEXT C1 One argument used to support the idea that employment will continue to be the dominant form of work, and that employment will eventually become available for all who want it, is that working time will continue to fall. People in jobs will work fewer hours in the day, fewer days in the week, fewer weeks in the year, and fewer years in a lifetime, than they do now. This will mean that more jobs will be available for more people. This, it is said, is the way we should set about restoring full employment.2 There is no doubt that something of this kind will happen. The shorter working week, longer holidays, earlier retirement, job-sharing these and other ways of reducing the amount of time people spend on their jobs are certainly likely to spread. A mix of parttime paid work and part-time unpaid work is likely to become a much more common work pattern than today, and a flexi-life pattern of work involving paid employment at certain stages of life, but not at others will become widespread. But it is surely unrealistic to assume that this will make it possible to restore full employment as the dominant form of work.3 In the first place, so long as employment remains the overwhelmingly important form of work and source of income for most people, it is very difficult to see how reductions in employees working time can take place on a scale sufficiently large and at a pace sufficiently fast to make it possible to share out the available paid employment to everyone who wants it. Such negotiations as there have recently been, for example in Britain and Germany, about the possibility of introducing a 35-hour working week, have highlighted some of the difficulties. But, secondly, if changes of this kind were to take place at a pace and on a scale sufficient to make it possible to share employment among all who wanted it, the resulting situation in which most people would not be working in their jobs for more than two or three short days a week could hardly continue to be one in which employment was still regarded as the only truly valid form of work. There would be so many people spending so much of their time on other activities, including other forms of useful work, that the primacy of employment would be bound to be called into question, at least to some extent. 20. The author uses the negotiations in Britain and Germany as an example to A. support reductions in employees working time. B. indicate employees are unwilling to share jobs. C. prove the possibility of sharing paid employment. D. how that employment will lose its dominance. 21. At the end of the passage the author seems to imply that as a result of shorter working time A. employment may not retain its usual importance. B. employment may not be regarded as valid work. C. people can be engaged in far less unpaid work. D. people can be engaged in far more unpaid work. 22. The authors attitude towards future full employment is generally A. supportive. B. wavering. C. skeptical. D. unclear. TEXT D1 During the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, advertising was a relatively straightforward means of announcement and communication and was used mainly to promote novelties and fringe products. But when factory production got into full swing and new products, e. g. processed foods, came onto the market, national advertising campaigns and brandnaming of products became necessary. Before large-scale factory production, the typical manufacturing unit had been small and adaptable and the task of distributing and selling goods had largely been undertaken by wholesalers. The small non-specialized factory which did not rely on massive investment in machinery had been flexible enough to adapt its production according to changes in public demands.2 But the economic depression which lasted from 1873 to 1894 marked a turning point between the old method of industrial organization and distribution and the new. From the beginning of the nineteenth century until the 1870s, production had steadily expanded and there had been a corresponding growth in retail outlets. But the depression brought on a crisis of over-production and under-consumption manufactured goods piled up unsold and prices and profits fell. Towards the end of the century many of the small industrial firms realized that they would be in a better position to weather economic depressions and slumps if they combined with other small businesses and widened the range of goods they produced so that all their eggs were not in one basket. They also realized that they would have to take steps to ensure that once their goods had been produced there was a market for them. This period ushered in the first phase of what economists now call monopoly capitalism, which, roughly speak