2022年中央电大第一学期开放本科期末英语专业高级时事英语试题及参考答案

1、中央广播电视大学第一学期“开放本科”期末考试英语专业高档时事英语试题1月注 意 事 项 一、将你旳准考证号、学生证号、姓名及分校(工作站)名称填写在答题纸旳规定栏内。考试结束后，把试卷和答题纸放在桌上。试卷和答题纸均不得带出考场。监考人收完考卷和答题纸后才可离开考场。 二、仔细读懂题目旳阐明，并按题目规定和答题示例答题。答案一定要写在答题纸旳指定位置上，写在试卷上旳答案无效。三、用蓝、黑圆珠笔或钢笔答题，使用铅笔答题无效。English in Current AffairsThis is the written examination which is part of the end-of-c

2、ourse assessment. The total marks for this examination are 100 points. The examination consists of two papers: Paper 1. Listening Test, and Paper 2. Reading and Writing. Time allowed for completing this examination is 2 hours (120 mins).Instructions: Answer all questions. You will have ten minutes a

3、t the end of the listening test to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. All answers must be transferred to the answer sheet.Paper 1: LISTENING TEST 30 pointsInformation for the candidatesThere are two parts to the test. Each part will be played twice.There will be a pause before each part to l

4、et you read through the questions and another pause at the end of each part for you to check your answers.You may write your answers in the question paper as you listen.You will have to minutes at the end of the listening test to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. Part 1. Questions 1-6. Inte

5、rview with Professor Michaelson.You are going to listen to an interview with Professor Michael Michaelson. You will hear the recording twice. Choose the best answer according to what you learn through listening. Before the first listening you have half a minute to study the questions.1. The main top

6、ic of the interview is . A. education in China B. pollution in England C. pollution in China2. As seen by the interviewer, the major problem of pollution in China concerns . A. air, land and water pollution B. people disposing of rubbish indiscriminately C. too much waste cardboard and too many empt

7、y bottles3. In his country, when Michael Michaelson sees people dropping litter he A. reports them to the police B. quietly disposes of the litter himself C. confronts the person4. Michael Michaelson was shocked in China because . A. in England people never drop litter B. in China people drop litter

8、 everywhere C. he cannot run after people in China5. Michael Michaelson the idea of using bikes to collect waste cardboard. A. cant understand B. criticizes C. likes6. In China people use bicycles . A. to carry waste cardboard B. to collect empty bottles for money C. both A and BPart 2. Questions 7-

9、13. You are going to listen to a talk about The Fourth Word.Task 1. Questions 7-13. A list of topics is given below. Find the ones that the speaker mentioned and write the letters representing them in the space provided on the Answer Sheet.A. The Fourth WorldB. AustraliaC. AfricaD. cultural marginal

10、isationE. newspaper reports of social problemsF. BushmenG. landrights strugglesH. the PitjanjaraI. the MauritaniansJ. popular cultureK. the common experiences of fourth world peoplesL. the long term consequences of colonizationTask 2. Questions 14-20. Listen again to the talk and mark the following

11、statements as True (T) or False (F) according to the text.(14) The fourth world is a term used to interpret forms of inequality in rich countries.(15) The concept is used to interpret the problems of indigenous people(16) Indigenous people means people who colonised others.(17) Fourth world people e

12、xperience cultural, political and economic poverty.(18) Fourth world people have to fight to maintain their cultural identity.(19) When Australia was colonised only one cultural group was dispossessed.(20) Australian aboriginal people are the only population of fourth world people.Paper 2: READING A

13、ND WRITINGInformation for candidates There are four parts to the reading test. There is one writing task. You should write ALL your answers on the Answer Sheet as you do the tasks.READING TEST 50 pointsPart 1. Read the following passage and answer Questions 21-30.Passage 1Changes in Australian Educa

14、tion Haralambos and his colleagues (1996) have summarised the major changes in Australian education over the past two hundred years. The major issues driving their analysis are the questions: -of the effects that education has had on society; and -why some social groups tend to enjoy more educationa

15、l success than others. They are not the only social scientists concerned with these issues. However their book contains a recent and comprehensive summary of Australian educational research. Here are some of the major points they make. There are five basic components to the Australian education syst

16、em:() primary school ( age 5-12 years of age)() compulsory secondary school (12-15 years of age) (or 12-16 years in the State of Tasmania)() post-compulsory secondary school (15-17)() technical and further education (17 years and older)() higher education or university ( 17 years and older)Before th

17、e second world war nearly haft of Australian children did not attend secondary school. In the second half of the twentieth century education expanded and changed form dramatically. Between 1956 and 1966 the number of universities grew from nine to 14, then rose to 19 in 1975. In addition, there has

18、been a significant growth in non university post secondary education. In the 1990s the percentage of women with post secondary school qualifications was 37%. The percentage of men was 47 per cent.Haralambos and his colleagues summarise the evidence about the impact of education on the creation of a

19、more equal society. They say both material and cultural factors affect the length of stay in education. Family wealth still exerts a powerful influence on access to university education. However the expansion of education has meant an expansion of educational opportunities for people from social gro

20、ups earlier denied a higher education.Bob Connell, a major writer on Australian education, has argued that the evidence of socially unequal outcomes continues to mount. It is one of the most firmly established facts about Western style educational Systems in all parts of the world.Mark the following

21、 statements as T (true) or F (false) according to the information in the text.21. Haralambos worked alone on his summary of Australian education.22. He and his colleagues were interested in studying social inequality.23. Most Australian students must stay at school until they are 15 years of age.24.

22、 There is a common compulsory school leaving age across all of Australia.25. There are two major forms of education for 17 year olds to choose.26. Post secondary education is compulsory in Australia.27. Only a small number of children attended secondary school before 1939.28. Major changes in educat

23、ion occurred in the latter half of the 20th century.29. By the 1990s, a higher percentage of women than men had post secondary qualifications.30. The expansion of education has meant that there is now no social inequality in access to higher education in Australia.Part 2. Read Passage 2 and answer Q

24、uestions 31-40.Passage 2My ComputerTen years ago I occasionally used a typewriter for important documents such as my curriculum vitae and job application letters. I couldnt really type so I tapped away at the keyboard with my two index fingers and made lots of mistakes. One simple letter would often

25、 require at least a dozen attempts before I managed to produce the final, neat document. When a course that I was doing demanded typed assignments I begged friends with good typing skills to help me. In other words, to type them for me and when my final project had to be typed up, I actually paid a

26、professional typist to do it ! I was a pen and paper person. I had never been interested in machines and artificial intelligence and sincerely believed I could live happily without advanced technology in my personal life!The situation has changed, of course. Its been a gradual change but these days

27、I hardly know myself! I even have a computer and a printer. I have never learned to use all ten fingers on the keyboard but I can work quite quickly and produce documents which have an impressive layout and which use different sizes and styles of typeface (or font). I know how to underline, how to w

28、rite words in bold or italic script, how to give parts of a text a border, how to insert illustrations and so on! I feel a great sense of achievement when I finish a document, print it out and see the finished product. Such documents seem professional I suspect, however, that impressive layout may c

29、amouflage inferior content ! I hope this is not true in my case.Five years ago, I had no idea what friends were talking about when they mentioned “E-mail (even if they used the full term, electronic mail), the internet and modem but my computer now has a modem, and through this device, it is connect

30、ed to the international network known as the Internet. As a result, I can now send and receive E-mail messages to and from friends and organisations around the world whose computers are also connected to the Internet. There is no time delay. Its possible to read messages in Beijing as they are being

31、 written in London or Hong Kong. This is indeed progress !Choose the best answer from the choices given ( Write the letter representing your choice in the space provided on the Answer Sheet):(31) In the article the writer compares changes over a period of . A. a decade B. a century C. five years(32)

32、 The writers typed essays were often produced by . A. himself. B. friends and paid professionals. C. both A and B.(33) How many different kinds of electronic possessions does the writer list? A. Moro than five. B. Three. C. Two.(34) The writer feels a sense of achievement because . A. he produces an

33、 impressive looking document B. his document cleverly camouflages inferior content C. he can work quickly(35) The author is an . A. accomplished ten finger typist B. illustrator C. accomplished internet user(36) The author started to use the Internet . A. ten years ago B. exactly five years ago C. p

34、robably within the past five years(37) The author sends e-mail messages . A. to all his friends B. to organisations around the world C. both A and B.(38) Five years ago, the authors friends . A. were all connected to the Internet B. knew more about the Internet than he did C. worked in organisations

35、 all around the world(39) It is now possible .A. to send immediate answers to correspondents on the Internet B. to assess the feelings of friends on the Internet C. to become a ten finger typist by using the Internet(40) It is . A. inferable that the author approves of the Internet B. likely that th

36、e author is no longer employed C. unlikely that the author is a manPart 3. Read Passage 3 and answer Questions 41-50.Passage 3Income EqualityAdapted from Work by Yang Chunya and Kate ThorneA system to regulate income inequality should be mapped out in time to prevent income gaps from broadening. The

37、 lopsided individual income pattern in China has tended to worsen since the country initiated economic reform and the open-door policy 17 years ago.Although official statistics have not yet been made available to indicate how large income gaps have become, the people in the street have tested enough

38、 of this inequality in their daily life. While a couple of restaurant owners in Shanghai have revealed that their monthly income has reached 100, 000 yuan ( $11,900) ,630,000 residents in Hnnan Province are struggling for a bare subsistence wage of 132 yuan ( $16) a month, according to the weekly ma

39、gazine Outlook.Gone are the days when people who had 10,000 yuan ( $1,190) were dubbed upstarts. Nowadays, a person who has 100,000 yuan ( $11,900) is barely considered rich. At the same time, around 10 million people across the country are living such a scanty life that they cant afford enough vege

40、tables and fruit.Although the disparity is inevitable when the country is in the stage of transition from the planned economy to a market-oriented economy, it does not mean that such unequal distribution of wealth is acceptable or fair. If the income gap keeps widening and finally develops to a pola

41、risation, it will lead to deep resentment among the poor. A growing fear in the public is that chronic disaffection will trigger social disruption.Research cited by Keith Windschuttle in his Australian book on unemployment shows that low income people usually suffer higher levels of sickness and mor

42、tality and have few opportunities to enable their children to progress. The Left Realist school in the UK have shown that people living in communities suffering poverty and unemployment are at higher risks of becoming victims of crime. On the other hand, the rich who rise to fortune through illegal

43、profiteering will frustrate fair competition in the market pace. Moreover, their self-indulgent life style has a negative effect on social values. To narrow the income gap, the most common practice exercised in western countries is to levy strictly regulated personal income tax.Unfortunately, this p

44、ractice does not function well in China due to the fledgling financial and banking systems of the country, even though it has been pursued for about ten years, the weekly said.Questions 41-50. Fill in all the empty cells with either one-word or short-phrase (no more than three words) answers in the

45、following Table:Examples of Rich PeopleExamples of Poor PeopleMonthly income in RMB100,000 yuan132 yuanMonthly income in dollars$ (41)$16Unaffordable foodsNot stated (42)Polarisation could lead toNot stated (43)Health conditionsLower levels of (44) and (45)Higher rates of these conditions.Childrens

46、opportunitiesNot stated (46)Levies paid within the western regulated taxation system (47)Not statedLife styles (48)scantyEffect on social values (49)Not statedLeft Realist view of risk of crime victimisationNot stated (50)Part 4. Read passage 4 and answer Questions 51-60.Passage 4Analysing the Media

47、People in todays global society know about their own lives, they also know something about what is happening in their local community and they have news about the wider world, the world they never experience directly, the world in which they never meet the people in the news face-to-face.We can lear

48、n about the culture, politics, economics, social problems, and achievements of people in distant countries and foreign societies. Mainly the knowledge we have of this wider world is communicated, almost always, through the media, and the details we receive are instant and multitudinous.It is in the

49、news broadcasts of radio, television and the press, that the majority of people learn about the wider world. Today, people live in a global world: the occurrences in far-off countries affect us all. We cannot be isolated from the events of foreign societies because those events can impinge on our ow

50、n lives. So it is important to ask How well do the media do in their job of providing us with news of the wider world?. Not too well is the conclusion of some media analysts. Galtung and Ruge ( 1981 ), studied the way that Western news agencies mediate world events. To summarise their work: we only

51、get to hear, read of, or view, news events if they fulfill at least two or three of the following criteria:(i) if the people concerned have elite status(ii) if the country concerned has an elite status(iii) if the news is negative(iv) if the news has immediacy Journalists define a top story as one t

52、hat fulfills all four criteria. The sudden death of a glamorous member of a royal family in a rich country would have the very top billing. This kind of top story occurs infrequently. We are much more likely to receive stories fulfilling only three of the criteria. A slightly less appealing story bu

53、t still a good news story might be about rich people from rich countries being charitable to poor people. A story about poor women in Uganda or Laos running a successful long term community project would not fulfill any of the criteria. It would not be a good news story. Peasants in developing count

54、ries feature in the Western media only if they suffer large scale sudden disasters, like floods, earthquakes, famine or war. Large scale death of poor people is a good news storySo Western viewers develop a very imbalanced picture of the world at large. An image of the world develops in which only r

55、ich people in First World countries are good, competent and charitable. Poor people in non-Western countries come to be seen, only and inevitably, as the incompetent and passive recipients of all the disasters the world can bring them, and, if they are lucky, the charity of the rich people in the ri

56、ch nations of the world.Give short answers to the following questions (Write your answers on the Answer Sheet).(51 ) What are the three areas of social life we hear news about according to the author?(52) What is different about the wider world ?(53) How, mainly, do we learn about overseas countries

57、?(54) Why is it important for us to have news of people in different countries?(55) What, according to the article, arc the major media forms providing global news?(56) What was the research focus of Galtung and Ruges 1981 publication?(57) What does negative news mean?(58) What is the difference bet

58、ween a top news story and a lesser good news story?(59) What do poor people from poor countries have to do to enter the consciousness of Western television viewers?(60) Why dont Westerners believe that peasants can be competent and successful?End of Reading TestWRITING TEST 20 pointsWrite a short es

59、say about development in Western societies. You may write about some of the key changes of the past fifty years or so, the benefits of these changes and/or the disadvantages of these developments. You may include material comparing changes in Western society with those in China. You may include as a conclusion a summary and an evaluation of the material you have covered. You may use your own personal experience, or write about one specific Weste