武汉大学2009级研究生英语期末考试题.doc

English Examination for Graduates (Paper A) (January 18th, 2010)II. Vocabulary (25%)Directions: There are 25 incomplete sentences in this part. For each sentence there are four choices marked A, B, C, and D. Choose the one that best completes the sentence. Then blacken the corresponding letter on the answer sheet with a single line through the center.21. We have a certain stereotypical _ of a person from a culture and we interpret his/her behaviour according to this preconception, whether or not the reason for the behaviour is what we think it. A. connotationB. preconceptionC. recuperationD. ambiguity22. Gap in educational investment across regions will _ the national economic development as a whole. A. warrantB. rationC. thwartD. retard 23. Opening the labor market might risk some increase in inequality in wages at least in the short run, as the wages of skilled workers are _.A. bid forB. bid on C. bid upD. bid to24. The market will goods that yield social benefits in excess of private benefits and will consequently produce too few of these goods. A. undervalueB. devalueC. underweightD. value25. You have taken a _ hatred to Peter; and you are unreasonably angry with me because I wont hate him. A. perseveringB. perverseC. perfect D. previous26. One of the conditions of _ is that you must keep the land under cultivation. A. tenantB. terminal C. temperament D. tenure 27. Even the increase proposed will put pressure on Congress to hold down other spending or dip into funds for Social Security. A. markedB. commissionedC. earmarkedD. commanded28. Unfortunately, what the farmers had gained in the autumn harvest was _by the heavy losses caused by a snowstorm in the winter. A. offsetB. optimized C. subsidizedD. unleashed29. The Arabs, on the other hand, coming from a culture where much closer distance is the norm, may be feeling that the Americans are being _.A. friendly B. warm C. standoffish D. selfish 30. Most little children want a dog or a cat, and they continually _ their mothers and fathers until they get one. It is only when the sweet little thing has been brought home that the parents realize how much time and money must be spent on “Tom” or “Bill”. A. peterB. pester C. worry D. whine31. As television, and to an extent the internet have _further through our society, the effects are perhaps more significant than even we realize. A. perpetuated B. persecutedC. persisted D. permeated32. “John has no_. So when his parents passed away, he inherited everything from the family-properties, bank savings, stocks and a big house. Hes really living on easy street.” A. siblingsB. soberings C. sibilants D. stillbirths33. Great efforts have been made to coordinate unemployment _ and economic development throughout the country. A. aggravationB. exaggeration C. eliminationD. alleviation 34. Upon this, Jones began to beg earnestly to be let into this secret, and faithfully promised not to _ it. A. divulge B. dispenseC. dissolve D. disperse35. In Sudan, deforestation in the last decade led to a quadrupling of the time women spent gathering fuel wood. This stimulated efforts to promote _ . A. deforestationB. afforestationC. forestsD. forestry36. In Egypt, I saw the pyramids and the damaged face of the Sphinx, smiling a (an)_ smile. An amazing journey!A. incurious B. sweet C. incredulous D. inscrutable37. There was so much pain there, _ caused by both sides over the years. I didnt want to hurt them, nor they me, but the harm had done and it was irreversible. A. invisiblyB. inappreciablyC. inadvertentlyD. inadequately38. Nobody will support such a government that _ on the rights of individuals. A. encroachesB. invadesC. involves D. interrupts 39. The development of national _ will be sped up if its officials at all levels become more conscious of its significance in economic growth. A. substructureB. portfolioC. infrastructureD. asset40. With the rapid development of modern society, the _ of the ancient civilization in the town is being erased step by step. A. prestigeB. vestige C. fameD. symptom41. The _ of “white” in Chinese includes something unhappy. At funerals, Chinese pay respect to the dead and express their sorrow by wearing white. In the West, however, white is the traditional color for the bride at weddings, and to wear white at funerals would be offensive. A. configurationB. conjunctionC. connotationD. connection42. When people cant explain a new phenomenon using their knowledge, they will firstly try to understand the new phenomenon using the logic reference of_. A. comparisonB. analysisC. counterpartD. analogy43. He has more endurance; he can swim longer and _ a canoe better than any of his people. A. conquerB. dominateC. steer D. lead44. Theres this new girl coming to my school, and I like her a lot. I want to _ our friendship before I start a serious relationship. A. cement B. lime C. clay D. concrete45. _implies an active choice to cling to something, not passively being carried along out of inability to imagine anything else. A. Tenancy B. TenacityC. TendencyD. TensionIII. Reading Comprehension (20%) Directions: Read the following passages and choose the best answer to each question.Passage 1Science fiction (SF) can provide students interested in the future with a basic introduction to the concept of thinking about the possible futures in a serious way, a sense of emotional forces in their own culture that are affecting the shape the future may take, and a multitude of extrapolations (prediction) regarding the results of present trends . There is one particular type of story that can be especially valuable as a stimulus to discussion of these issues both in courses on the future and in social science courses in general-the story which presents well-worked-out, detailed societies that differ significantly from the society of the reader. In fact, whatever the reliability of its predictions, SF is actually a more important vehicle for speculative visions about macroscopic social change. At this level, it is hard to deal with any precision as to when general value changes or evolving social institutions might appear, but it is most important to think about the kinds of societies that could result from the rise of new forms of interaction, even if one cannot predict exactly when they might occur. In performing this “what if ” function, SF can act as a social laboratory as authors ruminate upon (think about) the forms social relationships could take if key variables in their own societies were different, and upon what new belief systems or mythologies could arise in the future to provide the basic rationalizations for human activities. If it is true that more people find it difficult to conceive of the ways in which their society, or human nature itself, could undergo fundamental changes, then SF of this type may provoke ones imagination to consider the diversity of paths potentially open to society. Moreover, if SF is the laboratory of the imagination, its experiments are often of the kind that may significantly alter the subject matter even as they are being carried out. That is, SF has always had a certain cybernetic effect on society, as its visions emotionally engage the future-consciousness of the mass public regarding especially desirable and undesirable possibilities. The shape a society takes in the present is in part influenced by its image of the future; in this way particularly powerful SF images may become self-fulfilling or self-avoiding prophecies for society. For that matter, some individuals in recent years have even shaped their own life-styles after appealing models provided by SF stories. The reincarnation (reappearance) and diffusion of SF futuristic images of alternative societies through the media of movies and television may have speeded up an augmented SFs social feedback effects. Thus SF is not only change speculator but change agent, sending an echo form the future that is becoming into the present that is sculpting it. This fact alone makes imperative in any education system the study of the kinds of works discussed in this section. It must be noted that this perspective of SF has been questioned by some critics. It is often pointed out that, however ingenious they may be about future technologies, many SF writers exhibit an impact conservative bias in their stories, insofar as social projections (new ideas ) are either ignored or based on variations of the present status quo or of historical social systems reshuffled whole-cloth into the future. Robert Bloch has conveniently summarized the kind of future society presented by the average SF writer as consisting of a totalitarian state in which psychochemical techniques (the use of mind- altering drugs) keep the populace quiet; an underground which the larger-than-life hero can join; and scientists who gladly turn over their discoveries to those in power. Such tales covertly assume that human nature as we know it will remain stable and that twentieth-century Anglo-American culture and moral values, especially traditional economic incentives, will continue to dominate the world. Most SF authors have found it as hard as most other mortals to extrapolate (guess)social mores different from those operating within their own milieu (environment), so that, it has been charged, far from preparing the reader for future shock, SF is a literature that comfortably and smugly reassures him that the future will not be radically different from the present.There is much truth to this analysis of SF. It is not easy to explain why so many stories seem to take as their future social settings nothing more ambiguous than the current status quo or its totally evil variant. Part of the answer may be that many authors of commercial SF writing received their professional training in science and engineering prior to World War II and were therefore not equipped or inclined to devise sophisticated social backgrounds in their plots. Be that as it may, the situation has changed dramatically in recent decades. There are an increasing number of stories which explicitly assume that future social patterns of family, government, religion, and the like need not be exactly the same as those of the present and that the forces which motivate men may also be subject to change. It is from such stories, and their predecessors in classical SF, that one may study examples of the impact of SF on the individual and collective imagination.46. Science fiction shows us happen in the future.A. what may B. what must c. when changes will D. what we wish to47. Science fiction plays an important role in .A. forming social value and institutionsB. providing the basic rationalizations for human activitiesC. predicting the future societyD. providing the possible vision of social change in macro-scope48. A self-fulfilling prophecy is one that .A. predicts something unpleasant B. predicts something pleasantC. helps prediction to come true D. does not come true49. Science fiction images will surely . A. influence the images of the present society partially B. influence the images of the present society negatively C. influence the images of the present society positively D. influence the images of the present society imperatively 50. The authors opinion appears to be that SF .A. has little to offer society B. can help to shape the way we behave in the present societyC. is always conservative D. is unable to prepare the reader for future shock51. The inability of some SF writers to imagine alternative forms of society was due to their professional training.A. possibly B. definitely C. occasionally D. known to be 52. The author thinks the criticism that SF writers usually show a conservative bias is .A. just B. unjust C. becoming less true than it was D. only true of classical SF53. In some critics eyes, classical science fiction is a literature . A. that displays the radically different social images in the future B. that reveals what science fiction writers sincerely believed C. that does not show totally imaginary images of the future societyD. that informs readers of the future society 54. The authors main aim would seem to be to show how useful SF can be to .A. politicians B. scientists C. cyberneticists D. students 55. The overall tone of the piece is best described as . A. ironic B. humorous C. indignant D. informativePassage 21 Many years ago trying to help people with every kind of trouble left me with one sure conviction: In case after case the difficulty could have been overcome - or might never have arisen - if the people involved had just treated one another with common courtesy.2 Courtesy, politeness, good manners - call it what you will, the supply never seems to equal the demand. “Its not so much what my husband says,” a tearful wife confides, “as the way he says it. Why does he have to yell at me?” “I hate my boss,” a grim-faced office worker mutters. “He never shows appreciation for anything.” “All we get from our teenagers,” a harassed parent says, “is a sullen surliness.”3 Such complaints are not limited to people who sit in my study. Human beings everywhere hunger for courtesy. “Good manners,” said Ralph Waldo Emerson, “are the happy way of doing things.” And the reverse is equally true. Bad manners can ruin a day - or wreck a friendship.4 What are the basic ingredients of good manners? Certainly a strong sense of justice is one; courtesy is often nothing more than a highly developed sense of fair play. A friend once told me of driving along a one-lane, unpaved mountain road. Ahead was another car that produced clouds of choking dust, and it was a long way to the nearest paved highway. Suddenly, at a wider place, the car ahead pulled off the road. Thinking that its owner might have engine trouble, my friend stopped and asked if anything was wrong. “No,” said the other driver. “But youve endured my dust this far; Ill put up with yours the rest of the way.” There was a man with manners, and an innate sense of fair play.5 Another ingredient of courtesy is empathy, a quality that enables a person to see into the mind or heart of someone else, to understand the pain or unhappiness there and to do something to minimize it. Recently in a book about a famous restaurant chain I came across such an episode.6 A man dining alone was trying to unscrew the cap of a bottle of catsup but his fingers were so badly crippled by arthritis that he couldnt do it. He asked a young busboy to help him. The boy took the bottle, turned his back momentarily and loosened the cap without difficulty. Then he tightened it again. Turning back to the man, he feigned a great effort to open the bottle without success. Finally he took it into the kitchen and returned shortly, saying that he had managed to loosen it - but only with a pair of pliers. What impelled the boy to take so much trouble to spare the feelings of a stranger? Courtesy, compassionate courtesy.7 Yet another component of politeness is the capacity to treat all people alike, regardless of all status or importance. Even when you have doubts about some people, act as if they are worthy of your best manners. You may also be astonished to find out that they really are.8 I truly believe that anyone can improve his or her manners by doing 3 things. First, by practicing courtesy. All skills require constant repetition to become second nature; good manners are no exception.9 One simple way is to concentrate on your performance in a specific area for about a week. Telephone manners, for example. How often do you talk too long, speak abruptly, and fail to identify yourself, keep people waiting, display impatience with the operator or fail to return a call?10 One difficult but essential thing to remember is to refuse to let other peoples bad manners goad you into retaliating in kind. I recall a story told by a young man who was in a car with his father one night when a driver in an oncoming vehicle failed to dim his lights. “Give him the brights, Dad!” the young man urged in exasperation. “Son,” replied the father, “that driver is certainly discourteous and probably stupid. But if I give him the brights hell be discourteous, stupid and blind - and thats a combination I dont want to tangle with!”11 The second requirement for improving your manners is to think in a courteous way. In the long run, the kind of person you are is the result of what youve been thinking over the past 20 or 30 years. If your thoughts are predominantly self-directed, a discourteous person is what you will be. If on the other hand you train yourself to be considerate of others, if you can acquire the habit of identifying with their problems and hopes and fears, good manners will follow almost automatically.12 Nowhere is thinking courtesy more important than in marriage. In the intimacy of the home it is easy to displace disappointment or frustration or anger onto the nearest person, and that person is often a husband or wife.13 “When you feel your anger getting out of control,” I have often said to married couples, “force yourself for the next ten minutes to tr