国家开放大学电大专科《英语阅读3》-期末试题（试卷号：2157）2

1、国家开放大学电大专科英语阅读(3)2022-2023期末试题及答案(试卷号：2157)Part IRead Passage 1 and decide the meaning of the following words with the help of the context. The paragraph in which the word appears is indicated in brackets. Write A, B, or C on your answer sheet. (30 points, 3 points each)Passage 1Aging Crisis in Chin

2、a1 "Aging,” says Alex Kalche, Head of the Programme on Aging at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, “is the number one problem in the world. And if it is not addressed now, there will be serious consequences. " It is the "number one problem” because the numbers of peop

3、le over 60 and particularly those over 80 are growing fast. The rapid aging trend in China's population also poses immediate challenges to Chinese society. How can China face this challenge? As the social structure changes in terms of demographics f so will tradition.2 In 1959 there were 200 mil

4、lion people over 60 in the world, accounting for 8 percent of the total population. It is predicted that in China, by 2000, the number of retired people will be several times that of the mid-90's. In 2021 they will have increased by several times again. The problem is that as more and more peopl

5、e live longer and their numbers increase both in actual numbers and relative to the general populationt there will be fewer people to care for them. The dependency ratio, as it is called, is also affected by the fact that women, who have been the traditional caretakers of the elderlyt are becoming m

6、ore career-oriented and are not at home to care for their parents.3 One solution is senior homes. Traditionally» it is considered a Chinese virtue for children to take care of their parents. But if people are working long hours, older parents feel lonely at home. At senior citizen centrest they

7、 can get good care from the nurses, who are also willing to listen to their stories. "When I first came here, 1 complained about my daughter's decision. But gradually, I began to like this place,” Wei Wenkuei, 86, said. “The nurses are more attentive than a house maid, and the food is good.

8、 " Wei is staying at the Peixin Senior Citizens Centre in Nanshi District. There are only three senior centres inthe Dongjiadu Neighbourhood in Nanshi District, which is not enough for more than 20,000 people over the age of 60. However, the neighbourhood has about 15,000 laid-off women workers

9、 who are eager for jobs, and the area expects to open several new centres in the near future. The government is not only encouraging individuals to run senior citizen's homes, but the government itself is building centres.4 Some say that these homes isolate the elderly from the rest of society a

10、nd that keeping an intergenerational bond is necessary for a rich, wise society. Another model which helps oid people to live more independently is known as "care in the community. " A unique example of this is the "SOS Bells for the Elderly” system which was introduced in Changqiao N

11、eighbourhood in the Western District in 1996, and has proved successful. Families were encouraged to volunteer to form mutual help "pairs" with elderly people who had no children nearby to care for them. Bells were affixed at the bedside of lonely and ill senior citizens and connected to t

12、he home of the "pair household- n When the bell rings, the helper goes at once. In May 1997, the Beijing Committee for the Elderly had emergency bells installed in 297 homes in Beijing's 10 districts.5 Although larger social welfare system reform needs to be undertakent these changes in the

13、 traditional way of caring for old people show a China which is ready and willing to deal with change in a creative way. Now that "over-population" and "the aging crisis" are seen as problems by modern society world-wide, it is important that the elderly are not ignored,alienated

14、 or mistreated, but rather treasured problems that need thoughtful solutions.Questions 110 are based on Passage 1.1. addressed (paragraph 1)A. discussedC. named2. consequences (paragraph 1).A. resultsC. problems3. accounting for (paragraph 2)A. giving explanations C. taking up4. care for (paragraph

15、2)A. likeC. pay attention to5. affected (paragraph 2)A. influencedC. increased6. willing (paragraph 3)A. eagerC. preparedfor their great store of experience. These areB. solved -B. reasonsB. coming fromB. take care ofB. decreasedB. unhappy7. attentive (paragraph 3)A. carelessB.caringC. hard-working8

16、. run (paragraph 3)A. joinB.manageC. move fast9. isolate. . . From (paragraph 4)A. separate. . . fromB.prevent. . . fromC. take. . from10. mistreated (paragraph 5)A. treat wellB.treat carefullyC. treat badlyPart IIRead Passage 2 and choose either A, B or C to complete each of the following statement

17、s. WriteA, B or C on your answer sheet. (30 points, 3 points each)Passage 2.Data on Ocean Floors At the water's edge of Baltimore Harbor, two freshly painted gray ships await to be sent out on their next mission. These are the workhorses of the Information Revolution.They are wiring the world to

18、 meet the explosive and seemingly limitless demand for Internet, voice and video services, projected to be a $ 1 trillion-a-year global market by 2000. The two ships, C. S Global Link and its companion the C. S Global Mariner，are among the most technologically advanced vessels in the business of lay

19、ing undersea fiber-optic communications cables. They are part of a worldwide fleet，owned by Tyco International Ltd. , that has installed more transoceanic fiber than any other company.2 Most of the world' s telephone and Internet traffic courses through these hair-thin capillaries of glass 9 whi

20、ch stretch from one continent to another along the ocean floor. In constant pulses of light* coded in the computer language of ones and zeros, they flash millions of phone calls, electronic mail messages, video clips and World Wide Web pages at light speed.3 Undersea fiber-optic cables have become o

21、ne of the most crucial components of today's communications-based global economy despite mid-1960s predictions that satellites would make earthbound long-distance communications obsolete.4 "Most people really do not realize the amount of telephone cables that are undersea, and that their ca

22、lls actually go through them,” said Rob Jones, captain of the C. S. Global Link. There are 228,958 miles (368,472 kilometers) of fiber-optic cable on the floors of the world's sea, enough to encircle Earth almost 10 times, according to KMI Corp, of Rhode Island. Another 177, 717 miles of cable a

23、re planned for installation worldwide by 2000，KMI estimates.5 That figure does not count the most ambitious program, Project Oxygen, which backers describe as a $ 14 billion uSuper Internet, that would pay out 198,844 miles of mainly undersea fiber-optic cable touching 175 countries. Oxygen already

24、has the backing of 30 international tele-communications providers and is scheduled for completion in 2003. Project Oxygen is “the most ambitious project of communications in the 20th century," said President John Kestrel of KM1. The internet is a major driver of the expansion. I he second drive

25、r is the need for video transmissions.6 Global deregulation of telecommunications markets is also playing a key role in the subsea fiber boom. Phone companies around the world are rapidly going private and governments are opening their markets to competition. Chinese officials, for example, cleverly

26、 played 14 competitors off each other in bids to build the first link between (>hina andthe United States and then ultimately told them all to share the $ 1 billion contract.7 Phrases such as "quantum leap" and aorders of magnitude” frequently come up in discussions about advances in un

27、dersea fiber optics. In 1998, when glass fibers began to replace copper in telecommunications people stopped talking in terms of hundreds of simultaneous phone calls per cable and started talking about tens of thousands. Scientists at companies such as Ciena Corp, of Maryland have more than quadrupl

28、ed fiber-cable capacity by using lasers to split light into colors, sending data through each path in a process called “wave division multiplexing. " The newest trans-Atlantic cable can handle 2. 4 million voice conversations at one time or hundreds of thousands of compressed video images. The

29、China-U. S. project will handle 4 million calls at once.8 Lucent Technology Inc- , one of the leading fiber optic companies, unveiled the latest breakthrough. The ability to transmit as many as 10 million calls over a single fiber by dividing the strand into 80 separate wavelengths of light instead

30、of 16. Lucent says the cable's 400-gigabit (billions of computer instructions per second) speed is enough to carry the world's Internet traffic at any given time on one fiber. One voice phone call requires 64,000 bits. Is there any limit to the capacity increase? uAbsolutely not,” said Neil

31、Tagare, Project Oxygen's founder and an undersea fiber veteran, “There is in sight. ”9 And as the boom in fiber-optics continues, the cost of fiber decreases. Each voice circuit in a pre-fiber trans-Atlantic cable in 1987 cost about $40,00 annually to build and maintain, Mr. Kessler said. Today,

32、 the cost has dropped to roughly to $ 100 to $ 200 per circuit, he said. The plunging costs, combined with deregulation and competition in phone markets, have made distance meaningless in communications and the price of calls.10 Aboard the C. S. Global Link, Captain Jones remains very busy. The ship

33、 returned to Blatimore from the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, after dropping 2,000 miles of cable from Bombay to Malaysia as part of another major project, called Fiber Link Around the Globe. Before Bombay, it helped to lay Atlantic Crossing, covering 3, 557 miles of fiber-optic cables at an average

34、 speed of 6 knots over 21 days. It takes less than two monthsto install a trans-Atlantic cable. Ships use computers that are programmed to follow a specific route using global positioning satellite navigation systems. The routes are chosen after careful undersea topographical surveys that consider s

35、uch factors as underwater earthquake faults, canyons and shipping and fishing routes. "H global links continue to grow as they have in the last decade, it's going to get kind of crowded down there,” says Jones.Questions 1120 are based on Passage 2.11. Tyco International Ltd. .A. is a compan

36、y which owns many shipsB. is a telephone and Internet companyC. is a company in charge of Project Oxygen12. Rob Jones.A. is captain of the C. S. Global MarinerB. is captain of the C. S. Global LinkC. is President of KMI13. There are of fiber-optic cable on the floors of the world's seas.A. 228,9

37、58 kilometersB. 177,717 kilometersC. 368,472 kilometers14. Project Oxygen A. is a project of communications in the 21st centuryB. is described as "Super Internet” by its backersC. already has the backing of 175 countries15. were used for telecommunications in 1998.A. Optic fibersB- Copper cable

38、sC. Glass fibers16. The newest trans-Atlantic cable can handle at one time.A. 2. 4 million voice conversationsB. hundreds of compressed video imagesC. 2. 4 million calls17. One voice phone call requiresA. 400-gigabitB. 16 billion bitsC. 64,000 bits18. Neil Tagare isA. President of Tyco International

39、 LtdB. captain of the C. S. Global LinkC. founder of Project Oxygen19. Which of, the following is NOT true? A. Captain Jones, has nothing to do after boarding the C. S. Global Link.B. The C. S. Global Link returned to Baltimore from the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.C. rhe C. S. Global Link dropped 2

40、,000 miles of cable from Bombay to Malaysia.20. It takes to install a trans-Atlantic cable.A. less than 21 daysB. less than 2 monthsC. more 2 monthsPart IDRead Passage 3 and decide whether the following statements are true or false. Write T for true and F for false on your answer sheet. (20 points&g

41、t; 2 points each)Passage 3Mario, a lucky dog?1 On his fifty-fifth birthday the President decided to release some prisoners of the same age as a gesture of goodwill. Not too many, but one, say from each of the twenty or thirty overcrowded prisons in the small state. They would have to be carefully se

42、lected so as not to give trouble once they were out, men perhaps who had been so long in prison that they had ceased to have any real contact with the outside world. None of them was to be told in advance of his liberty.2 Mario was therefore astonished when he was called to the GovernorJ s office on

43、e morning and told he was to be set free next day. He had spent almost three quarters of his life in gaol, working out a life sentence for stabling a policeman to death. He was a dull-witted man with no relations living and no friends except his prison mates.3 The following morning was clear and bri

44、ght. Mario was given no opportunity to say goodbye to anyone, but a guard escorted him to the prison gates and wished him good luck. Alone, he set off up the long white road leading to the town. The traffic, the noise, the absence of the secure prison walls terrified him. Presently he sat down by th

45、e side of the road to think a little. After he had thought for a long time, for his brain worked slowly, he came to a decision. He remained where he was, waiting patiently until at last he saw a police car approaching. When it was near enough, he darted out into the road, obliging it to stopWith a 冲

46、曲 of brakes. He had with him a little knife which he had been allowed to use to carve some wooden figures for the prison church. When the young police ofheer got out o the car demanding to know what was wrong, Mario stabbed him very neatly g behmd the right ear.Questions 2130 are based on Passage 3.

47、21. The President decided to release some prisoners because he thought it would look good as a sign of kindness.22. The prisoners chosen to be released were men who had always been well-behaved.23. Mario was astonished because he had been told his release beforehand.24. From the passage we understan

48、d that Mario had been in prison all his adult life.25. When he was in the road outside the prison, Mario found that he was terrified of being alone.26. Mario thought for a long time, because he was a dull-witted man27. When Mario dashed into the road, the police car stopped slowly.28. The knife that

49、 Mario carried had been used to cut firewood for the prison.29. Mario finally decided to stab the policeman because he wanted to be sent to prison again.30. From Mario's example, we can say that the President succeeded in his plan.Part IVRead Passage 4 and answer the following questions. Make yo

50、ur answers as short and clear as possible. (20 points, 4 points each)Passage 4The Pleasures of Eating1 The first man who cooked his food, instead of eating it raw, lived so long ago that we have no idea who he was or where he lived. We do know, however, that for thousands of years, food was always e

51、aten cold and raw. Perhaps the first cooked food was heated accidentally by a forest fire or by the molten lava from an erupting volcano. No doubt, when people first tasted food that had been cooked, they Found it tasted better. However, even after this discovery, cooked food must have remained a ra

52、rity until man learned how to make and control fire.2 karly peoples who lived in hot regions could depend on the heat of the sun to cook their food. For example, in the desert areas of the southwestern United States, the Indians cooked their food by placing it on a flat stone in the hot sun. They co

53、oked pieces of meat and thin cakes of com meal in this fashion.3 We can imagine that the earliest kitchen utensil was a stick to which a piece of meat could be attached and held over a fire. Later this stick was replaced by an iron rod or spit which could be turned frequently to cook the meat on all sides.4 Cooking food in water was impossible before man learned to make water containers that could not be destroyed by fire. The first cooking pots were reed or grass baskets in which soups and stews could