TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2011) -GRADE FOUR-
PART III CLOZE [15 MIN]
"Congratulations, Mr. Cooper. It's a girl."
Fatherhood is going to have a different meaning and (31) _____ a different response from every man who hears these words. Some feel (32) _____ when they receive the news, (33) _____ others worry, wondering whether they will be good fathers. (34) _____ there are some men who like children and may have had (35) experience with them, others do not particularly (36) _____ children and spend little time with them. Many fathers and mothers have been planning and looking forward to children for some time. (37) _____ other couples, pregnancy was an accident that both husband and wife have (38) _____ willingly or unwillingly.
Whatever the (39) _____ to the birth of a child, it is obvious the shift from the role of husband to (40) _____ of a father is a difficult task. (41) _____, unfortunately, few attempts have been made to (42) _____ fathers in this resocialization (43) _____. Although numerous books have been written about mothers, (44) _____ recently has literature focused on the (45) _____ of a father.
It is argued that the transition to the father's role, although difficult, is not (46) _____ as great as the transition the w ife must (47) _____ to the mother's role. The mother's role seems to require a complete (48) _____ in daily routine. (49) _____, the father's role is less demanding and (50) _____.
31. A. bring down B. bring forth C. bring off D. bring in
32. A. emotional B. sentimental C. bewildered D. proud
33. A. while B. when C. if D. as
34. A. When B. If C. Although D. Y et
35. A. considerate B. considerable C. considering D. considered
36. A. care about B. care of C. care with D. care for
37. A. For B. Of C. From D. Upon
38. A. received B. taken C. accepted D. obtained
39. A. reply B. reaction C. readiness D. reality
40. A. what B. this C. one D. that
41 .A. As a result B. For example C. Y et D. Also
42. A. educate B. cultivate C. inform D. convert
43. A. step B. process C. point D. time
44. A./ B. just C. quite D. only
45. A. role B. work C. career D. position
46. A. a little B. just C. nearly D. almost
47. A. take B. make C. carry D. accept
48. A. transformation B. realization C. socialization D. reception
49. A. In addition B. Above all C. Generally D. However
50. A. current B. immediate C. present D. quick
PART IV GRAMMAR & VOCABULARY [15 MIN]
51. My uncle is quite worn out from years of hard work. He is no longer the man _____ he was fifteen years ago.
A. which
B. whom
C. who
D. that
52. Which of the following sentences is a COMMAND?
A. Beg your pardon.
B. Have a good time.
C. Never do that again!
D. What noise you are making!
53. Which of the following italicized phrases indicates purpose?
A. She said it for fun, but others took her seriously.
B. For all its effort, the team didn't win the match.
C. Linda has worked for the firm for twenty years.
D. He set out for Beijing yesterday.
54. When you have finished with the book, don't forget to return it to Tim, _____?
A. do you
B. will you
C. don't you
D. won't you
55. In phrases like freezing cold, burning hot, or soaking wet, the -ING participle is used _____.
A. as a command
B. as a condition
C. for concession
D. for emphasis
56. Which of the following italicized phrases is INCORRECT?
A. The city is now ten times its original size.
B. I wish I had two times his strength.
C. The seller asked for double the usual price.
D. They come here four times every year.
57. It is not so much the language _____ the cultural background that makes the book difficult to understand.
A. as
B. nor
C. but
D. like
58. Which of the following italicized parts is used as an object?
A. What do you think has happened to her?
B. Who do you think the visiting professor is?
C. How much do you think he earns every month?
D. How quickly would you say he would come?
59. The additional work will take _____ weeks.
A. the other
B. another two
C. other two
D. the more
60. Which of the following italicized parts is a subject clause (主语从句)?
A. We are quite certain that we will get there in time.
B. He has to face the fact that there will be no pay rise this year.
C. She said that she had seen the man earlier that morning.
D. It is sheer luck that the miners are still alive after ten days.
61. It's getting late. I'd rather you _____ now.
A. left
B. leave
C. are leaving
D. will leave
62. In the sentence "The manager interviewed Jim himself in the morning", the italicized word is used to modify _____.
A. the object
B. the verb
C. the subject
D. the prepositional phrase
63. There is no doubt _____ the couple did the right thing in coming back home earlier than planned.
A. whether
B. that
C. why
D. when
64. The sentence that expresses OFFER is _____.
A. I'll get some drinks. What'll you have?
B. Does she need to book a ticket now?
C. May I know your name?
D. Can you return the book next week?
65. Which of the following italicized phrases indicates a subject-predicate relation (主谓关系)?
A. Mr. Smith's passport has been issued.
B. The visitor's arrival was reported in the news.
C. John's travel details have not been finalized.
D. The new bookstore sells children's stories.
66. Our office has recently _____ to a new computer system.
A. altered
B. converted
C. transformed
D. modified
67. The crowd went _____ as soon as the singer stepped onto the stage.
A. wild
B. emotional
C. uncontrolled
D. unrestricted
68. Our school library is _____ closed for repairs.
A. Shortly
B. quickly
C. temporarily
D. rapidly
69. John is up to his eves in work at the moment. The underlined part means _____.
A. very excited
B. very busy
C. very tired
D. very efficient
70. V ictoria bumped into her brother quite by chance in the supermarket. The underlined word means _____.
A. risk
B. opportunity
C. possibility
D. luck
71. "Look at those pretty girls' skirts" is _____, because it is not clear whether the girls or the skirts are "pretty".
A. ambiguous
B. hidden
C. indirect
D. indistinct
72. House repairs, holidays, school fees and other _____ have reduced his bank balance to almost nothing.
A. amount
B. payment
C. expenses
D. figures
73. It was really _____ of you to remember my birthday.
A. grateful
B. thoughtful
C. considerable
D. generous
74. Y ou can go to a travel agency and ask for a holiday _____.
A. introduction
B. advertisement
C. book
D. brochure
75. The city government is building more roads to _____.
A. accommodate
B. receive
C. accept
D. hold
76. They've lifted a two-year-long economic _____ on the country.
A. enclosure
B. restriction
C. blockade
D. prohibition
77. Everyone is surprised that she has fallen out with her boy friend. The underlined part means _____.
A. left
B. quarreled
C. attacked
D. defeated
78. His plan is carefully prepared and full of details, so it is a very _____ one.
A. elaborate
B. refined
C. ambitious
D. complex
79. The girl's voice was so low that we could ______ hear her.
A. seldom
B. almost
C. only
D. barely
80. She must have been pretty _____ to fall for such an old trick.
A. interested
B. gullible
C. enthusiastic
D. shrewd
PART V READING COMPREHENSION [25 MIN]
TEXT A
We have a crisis on our hands. Y ou mean global warming? The world economy? No, the decline of reading. People are just not doing it anymore, especially the young. Who's responsible? Actually, it's more like, What is responsible? The Internet, of course, and everything that comes with it – Facebook, Twitter (微博). Y ou can write your own list.
There's been a warning about the imminent death of literate civilization for a long time. In the 20th century, first it was the movies, then radio, then television that seemed to spell doom for the written world. None did. Reading survived; in fact it not only survived, it has flourished. The world is more literate than ever before – there are more and more readers, and more and more books.
The fact that we often get our reading material online today is not something we should worry over. The electronic and digital revolution of the last two decades has arguably shown the way forward for reading and for writing. Take the arrival of e-book readers as an example. Devices like Kindle make reading more convenient and are a lot more environmentally friendly than the traditional paper book.
As technology makes new ways of writing possible, new ways of reading are possible. Interconnectivity allows for the
possibility of a reading experience that was barely imaginable before. Where traditional books had to make do with photographs and illustrations, an e-book can provide readers with an unlimited number of links: to texts, pictures, and videos. In the future, the way people write novels, history, and philosophy will resemble nothing seen in the past.
On the other hand, there is the danger of trivialization. One Twitter group is offering its followers single-sentence-long "digests" of the great novels. War and Peace in a sentence? Y ou must be joking. We should fear the fragmentation of reading. There is the danger that the high-speed connectivity of the Internet will reduce our attention span - that we will be incapable of reading anything of length or which requires deep concentration.
In such a fast-changing world, in which reality seems to be remade each day, we need the ability to focus and understand what is happening to us. This has always been the function of literature and we should be careful not to let it disappear. Our soc iety needs to be able to imagine the possibility of someone utterly in tune with modern technology but able to make sense of a dynamic, confusing world.
In the 15th century, Johannes Guttenberg's invention of the printing press in Europe had a huge impact on civilization. Once upon a time the physical book was a challenging thing. We should remember this before we assume that technology is out to destroy traditional culture.
81. Which of the following paragraphs briefly reviews the historical challenges for reading?
A. Paragraph One.
B. Paragraph Two.
C. Paragraph Three.
D. Paragraph Four.
82. The following are all cited as advantages of e-books EXCEPT _____.
A. multimodal content
B. environmental friendliness
C. convenience for readers
D. imaginative design
83. Which of the following can best describe how the author feels toward single-sentence-long novels?
A. Ironic
B. Worried.
C. Sarcastic.
D. Doubtful.
84. According to the passage, people need knowledge of modern technology and _____ to survive in the fast-changing society.
A. good judgment
B. high sensitivity
C. good imagination
D. the ability to focus
85. What is the main idea of the passage?
A. Technology pushes the way forward for reading and writing.
B. Interconnectivity is a feature of new reading experience.
C. Technology is an opportunity and a challenge for traditional reading.
D. Technology offers a greater variety of reading practice.
TEXT B
I know when the snow melts and the first robins (知更鸟) come to call, when the laughter of children returns to the parks and playgrounds, something wonderful is about to happen.
Spring cleaning.
I'll admit spring cleaning is a difficult notion for modern families to grasp. Today's busy families hardly have time to load the dishwasher, much less clean the doormat. Asking the family to spend the weekend collecting winter dog piles from the melting snow in the backyard is like announcing there will be no more Wi-Fi. It interrupts the natural order.
"Honey, what say we spend the weekend beating the rugs, sorting through the boxes in the basement and painting our bedroom a nice lemony yellow?" I say.
"Can we at least wait until the NBA matches are over?" my husband answers.
But I tell my family, spring cleaning can't wait. The temperature has risen just enough to melt snow but not enough for Little League practice to start. Some flowers are peeking out of the thawing ground, but there is no lawn to seed, nor garden to tend. Newly wakened from our winter's hibernation (冬眠), yet still needing extra blankets at night, we open our windows to the first fresh air floating on the breeze and all of the natural world demanding "A wake and be clean!"
Biologists offer a theory about this primal impulse to clean out every drawer and closet in the house at spring's first light, which has to do with melatonin, the sleepytime hormone (激素) our bodies produce when it's dark. When spring's light comes, the melatonin diminishes, and suddenly we are awakened to the dusty, virus-filled house we've been hibernating in for four months.
I tell my family about the science and psychology of a good healthy cleaning at spring's arrival. I speak to them about life's greatest rewards waiting in the removal of soap scum from the bathtub, which hasn't been properly cleaned since the first snowfall.
"I'll do it," says the eldest child, a 21-year-old college student who lives at home.
"Y ou will? Wow!" I exclaim.
Maybe after all these years, he's finally grasped the concept. Maybe he's expressing his rightful position as eldest child and role model. Or maybe he's going to Florida for a break in a couple of weeks and he's being nice to me who is the financial-aid officer.
No matter. Seeing my adult son willingly cleaning that dirty bathtub gives me hope for the future of his 12-year-old brother who, instead of working, is found to be sleeping in the seat of the window he is supposed to be cleaning.
"A wake and be clean!" I say.
86. According to the passage, "...spring cleaning is a difficult notion for modern families to grasp" means that spring cleaning _____.
A. is no longer an easy practice to understand.
B. is no longer part of modern family life.
C. requires more family members to be involved.
D. calls for more complicated skills and knowledge.
87. Which of the following is LEAST likely to be included in family spring cleaning?
A. Beating the rugs.
B. Cleaning the window.
C. Restoring Wi-Fi services.
D. Cleaning the backyard.
88. Why does the author say ―spring cleaning can't wait‖?
A. Because there will be more activities when it gets warmer.
B. Because the air is fresher and the breeze is lighter.
C. Because the whole family is full of energy at spring time.
D. Because the snow is melting and the ground is thawing.
89. Which of the following interpretations of the biologists' theory about melatonin is INCORRECT?
A. The production of melatonin in our bodies varies at different times.
B. Melatonin is more likely to cause sleepiness in our bodies.
C. The reduction of melatonin will cause wakefulness in our bodies.
D. The amount of melatonin remains constant in our bodies.
90. Which of the following can best sum up the author's overall reaction to her adult son's positive response to spring cleaning?
A. Surprised and skeptical.
B. Elated and hesitant.
C. Relieved and optimistic.
D. Optimistic and hesitant.
TEXT C
These days lots of young Japanese do omiai, literally, "meet and look." Many of them do so willingly. In today's prosperous and increasingly conservative Japan, the traditional omiai kekkon, or arranged marriage, is thriving.
But there is a difference. In the original omiai, the young Japanese couldn't reject the partner chosen by his parents and their middleman. After World War II, many Japanese abandoned the arranged marriage as part of their rush to adopt the more democratic ways of their American conquerors. The Western ren'ai kekkon, or love marriage, became popular; Japanese began picking their own mates by dating and falling in love.
But the Western way was often found wanting in an important respect: it didn't necessarily produce a partner of the right economic, social, and educational qualifications. "Today's young people are quite calculating," says Chieko Akiyama, a social commentator.
What seems to be happening now is a repetition of a familiar process in the country's history, the "Japanization" of an adopted foreign practice. The Western ideal of marrying for love is accommodated in a new omiai in which both parties are free to reject the match. "Omiai is evolving into a sort of stylized introduction," Mrs. Akiyama says.
Many young Japanese now date in their early twenties, but with no thought of marriage. When they reach the age - in the middle twenties for women, the late twenties for men - they increasingly turn to omiai. Some studies suggest that as many as 40 % of marriages each year are omiai kekkon. It's hard to be sure, say those who study the matter, because many Japanese couples, when polled, describe their marriage as a love match even if it was arranged.
These days, doing omiai often means going to a computer matching service rather than to a nakodo. The nakodo of tradition was an old woman who knew all the kids in the neighbourhood and went around trying to pair them off by speaking to their parents; a successful match would bring her a wedding invitation and a gift of money. But Japanese today find it's less awkward to reject a proposed partner if the nakodo is a computer.
Japan has about five hundred computer matching services. Some big companies, including Mitsubishi, run one for their employees. At a typical commercial service, an applicant pays $80 to $125 to have his or her personal data stored in the computer for two years and $200 or so more if a marriage results. The stored information includes some obvious items, like education and hobbies, and some not-so-obvious ones, like whether a person is the oldest child. (First sons, and to some extent first daughters, face an obligation of caring for elderly parents.)
91. According to the passage, today's young Japanese prefer _____.
A. a traditional arranged marriage.
B. a new type of arranged marriage.
C. a Western love marriage.
D. a more Westernized love marriage.
92. Which of the following statements is CORRECT?
A. A Western love marriage tends to miss some Japanese values.
B. Less attention is paid to the partner's qualification in arranged marriages.
C. Y oung Japanese would often calculate their partner's wealth.
D. A new arranged marriage is a repetition of the older type.
93. According to the passage, the figure 40% (Paragraph Five) is uncertain because _____.
A. there has been a big increase in the number of arranged marriages.
B. Western love marriage still remains popular among young Japanese.
C. young Japanese start dating very early in their life in a Western tradition.
D. the tendency for arranged marriages could be stronger than is indicated.
94. One of the big differences between a traditional nakodo and its contemporary version lies in the way _____.
A. wedding gifts are presented.
B. a proposed partner is refused.
C. formalities are arranged.
D. the middleman/woman is chosen.
95. What is the purpose of the last paragraph?
A. To tell the differences between an old and modern nakodo.
B. To provide some examples for the traditional nakodo.
C. To offer more details of the computerized nakodo.
D. To sum up the main ideas and provide a conclusion.
TEXT D
Cordia Harrington was tired of standing up all day and smelling like French fries at night. She owned and operated three McDonald's shops in Illinois, but as a divorced mother of three boys, she yearned for a business that would provide for her
children and let her spend more time with them.
Her lucky moment came, strangely enough, after she was nominated in 1992 to be on the McDonald's bun committee. "The company picked me up in a corporate jet to see bakeries around the world," she recalls. "Every time I went to a meeting, I loved it. This was global!"
The experience opened her eyes to business possibilities. When McDonald's decided it wanted a new bun supplier, Harrington became determined to win the contract, even though she had no experience running a bakery.
Harrington studied the bakery business and made sure she was never off executives' radar. "If you have a dream, you can't wait for people to call you," she says. "So I'd visit a mill and send them photos of myself in a baker's hat and jacket, holding a sign that says 'I want to be your baker.'" After four years and 32 interviews, her persistence paid off.
Harrington sealed the deal with a handshake, sold her shops, and borrowed $13.5 million. She was ready to build the fastest, most automated bakery in the world.
The Tennessee Bun Company opened ahead of schedule in 1997, in time for a slump in U.S. fast-food sales for McDonald's. Before Harrington knew it, she was down to her last $20,000, not enough to cover payroll. And her agreement with McDonald's required that she sell exclusively to the company. "I cried myself to sleep many nights," she recalls. "I really did think, I am going to go bankrupt."
But Harrington worked out an agreement to supply Pepperidge Farm as well. "McDonald's could see a benefit if our production went up and prices went down, and no benefit if we went out of business," she says. "That deal saved us."
Over the next eight years, Harrington branched out even more: She started her own trucking business, added a cold-storage company, and now has three bakeries producing fresh buns and frozen dough - all now known as the Bun Companies. Speed is still a priority: It takes 11 people at the main bakery to turn out 60,000 buns an hour for clients across 40 states, South America, and the Caribbean.
Grateful for the breaks she's had, Harrington is passionate about providing opportunities to all 230 employees. "Financial success is the most fun when you can give it away," she says.
The current economy is challenging. Some of her clients' sales have declined, but she's found new clients and improved efficiencies to help sustain the company's double-digit growth.
Cordia Harrington doesn't have to stand on her feet all day anymore. Two of her three sons now work for her. And she's remarried - her husband, Tom, is now her CFO.
"This is more than a job," says Harrington. "It's a mission. I'm always thinking, How can we best serve our employees? If we support them, they'll do their best to look after our clients. That's how it works here."
96. According to the passage, which of the following was most significant in her early career?
A. Her nomination on the McDonald's bun committee.
B. Her travel and the visits to bakeries around the world.
C. A business contract with local bun suppliers.
D. The interviews and experience in running a bakery.
97. "Harrington...made sure she was never off executives' radar" (Paragraph Four) means that
she _____.
A. herself wanted to be a company executive
B. meant to hire executives to run the business
C. meant to keep her management knowledge and skills
D. focused on the management of the bakery business
98. How did she survive the crisis at the start of her bakery business?
A. By supplying buns for another company.
B. By opening her bun company ahead of schedule.
C. By keeping supplies up for McDonald's.
D. By making a new agreement with McDonald's.
99. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT in describing her current business?
A. It is fast growing.
B. It is diversified.
C. Its clients are all local.
D. It is more efficient.
100. According to the passage, which of the following is fundamental to Harrington's success?
A. Efficiency and love for the family.
B. Perseverance and concern for employees.
C. Business expansion and family support.
D. Opportunities and speed.
PART VI WRITING [45 MIN]
Recently government agencies in some big cities have been studying the possibility of putting a "pollution tax" on private cars. The amount of tax private car owners would have to pay would depend on the emission levels, i.e. engine or vehicle size. This has caused quite a stir among the public. Some regard it as an effective way to control the number of cars and reduce pollution in the city. But others don't think so. What is your opinion?
Write on ANSWER SHEET THREE a composition of about 200 words on the following topic:
Should Private Car Owners be T axed for Pollution?
Y ou are to write in three parts.
In the first part, state specifically what your opinion is.
In the second part, provide one or two reasons to support your opinion.
In the last part, bring what you have written to a natural conclusion or make a summary.
Marks will be awarded for content, organization, language and appropriateness. Failure to follow the instructions may result in a loss of marks.
Should private car owners be taxed for pollution?私家车主是否应交污染税?
With the development of society, many people can afford a car. As the number of the cars is rising, we are facing some problems. One big problem is the pollution caused by the use of cars. In order to solve this problem, government agencies in some big cities recently suggest that a “pollution tax” should be put on private cars in order to control the nu mber of cars and reduce pollution in the city. For my part, I agree to this viewpoint, and my reasons are as follows:
To begin with, cars contribute to the environmental pollution. For example, a lot of big cities in China are now plagued by serious air pollution. Then it is the responsibility of these private car owners to pay for the pollution and they should be taxed. The purpose of collecting environmental pollution tax is to raise the fund, and then utilize the tax revenue lever to protect our environment.
Secondly, it is a good way to raise people’s environmental awareness by putting a pollution tax on private cars. If people suffer from the financial loss when making a decision, they will think more about their decision. Then they will consider more when deciding to buy a private car. Consequently, the increase rate of the number of the private cars can be controlled.
In a word, it is a very good and necessary attempt to use the means of taxation to treat the pollution. Of course, it must be kept in mind that all people, including the private car owners, should try their best to protect the environment.
2011年英语专四真题参考答案：完形填空部分
31-35 BDACB36-40 DACBD41-45 CABDA46-50 CBADB
2011年英语专四真题参考答案：语法词汇部分
51-55 BCABD56-60 BACBD61-65 ACBAB66-70 BACBD71-75 ACBDA76-80 CBADB
2011年英语专四真题参考答案：阅读部分
81-85 BDBAC85-90 ACADB91-95 BADDC96-100 BCACB
TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2010)
-GRADE EIGHT-
TEXT A
Still, the image of any city has a half-life of many years. (So does its name, officially changed in 2001 from Calcutta to Kolkata, which is closer to what the word sounds like in Bengali. Conversing in English, I never heard anyone c all the city anything but Calcutta.) To Westerners, the conveyance most identified with Kolkata is not its modern subway—a facility whose spacious stations have art on the walls and cricket matches on television monitors—but the hand-pulled rickshaw. Stories and films celebrate a primitive-looking cart with high wooden wheels, pulled by someone who looks close to needing the succor of Mother Teresa. For years the government has been talking about eliminating hand-pulled rickshaws on what it calls humanitarian grounds—principally on the ground that, as the mayor of Kolkata has often said, it is offensive to see ―one man sweating and straining to pull another man.‖ But these days politicians also lament the impact of 6,000 hand-pulled rickshaws on a modern cit y‘s traffic and, particularly, on its image. ―Westerners try to associate beggars and these rickshaws with the Calcutta landscape, but this is not what Calcutta stands for,‖ the chief minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, sa id in a press confer ence in 2006. ―Our city stands for prosperity and development.‖ The chief minister—the equivalent of a state governor—went on to announce that hand-pulled rickshaws soon would be banned from the streets of Kolkata.
Rickshaws are not there to haul around tourists. (Actually, I saw almost no tourists in Kolkata, apart from the young backpackers on Sudder Street, in what used to be a red-light district and is now said to be the single place in the city where the services a rickshaw puller offers may include pr oviding female company to a gentleman for the evening.) It‘s the people in the lanes who most regularly use rickshaws—not the poor but people who are just a notch above the poor. They are people who tend to travel short distances, through lanes that are sometimes inaccessible to even the most daring taxi driver. An older woman with marketing to do, for instance, can arrive in a rickshaw, have the rickshaw puller wait until she comes back from various stalls to load her purchases, and then be taken home. People in the lanes use rickshaws as a 24-hour ambulance service. Proprietors of cafés or corner stores send rickshaws to collect their supplies. (One morning I saw a rickshaw puller take on a load of live chickens—tied in pairs by the feet so they could be draped over the shafts and the folded back canopy and even the axle. By the time he trotted off, he was carrying about a hundred upside-down chickens.) The rickshaw pullers told me their steadiest customers are schoolchildren. Middle-class families contract with a puller to take a child to school and pick him up; the puller essentially becomes a family retainer.
From June to September Kolkata can get torrential rains, and its drainage system doesn‘t need torrential rain to begin backing up. Residents who fav or a touch of hyperbole say that in Kolkata ―if a stray cat pees, there‘s a flood.‖ During my stay it once rained for about 48 hours. Entire neighborhoods couldn‘t be reached by motorized vehicles, and the newspapers showed pictures of rickshaws being pull ed through water that was up to the pullers‘ waists. When it‘s raining, the normal customer base for rickshaw pullers expands greatly, as does the price of a journey. A writer in Kolkata told me, ―When it rains, even the governor takes rickshaws.‖
While I was in Kolkata, a magazine called India Today published its annual ranking of Indian states, according to such measurements as prosperity and infrastructure. Among India‘s 20 largest states, Bihar finished dead last, as it has for four of the past five years. Bihar, a couple hundred miles north of Kolkata, is where the vast majority of rickshaw pullers come from. Once in Kolkata, they sleep on the street or in their rickshaws or in a dera—a combination garage and repair shop and dormitory
managed by someone called a sardar. For sleeping privileges in a dera, pullers pay 100 rupees (about $2.50) a month, which sounds like a pretty good deal until you‘ve visited a dera. They gross between 100 and 150 rupees a day, out of which they ha ve to pay 20 rupees for the use of the rickshaw and an occasional 75 or more for a payoff if a policeman stops them for, say, crossing a street where rickshaws are prohibited. A2003 study found that rickshaw pullers are near the bottom of Kolkata occupations in income, doing better than only the ragpickers and the beggars. For someone without land or education, that still beats trying to make a living in Bihar.
There are people in Kolkata, particularly educated and politically aware people, who will not ride in a rickshaw, because they are offended by the idea of being pulled by another human being or because they consider it not the sort of thing people of their station do or because they regard the hand-pulled rickshaw as a relic of colonialism. Ironically, some of those people are not enthusiastic about banning rickshaws. The editor of the editorial pages of Kolkata‘s Telegraph—Rudrangshu Mukherjee, a former academic who still writes history books—told me, for instance, that he sees humanitarian considerations as coming down on the side of keeping hand-pulled rickshaws on the road. ―I refuse to be carried by another human being myself,‖ he said, ―but I question whether we have the right to take away their livelihood.‖ Rickshaw supporters point out that when it comes to demeaning occupations, rickshaw pullers are hardly unique in Kolkata.
When I asked one rickshaw puller if he thought the government‘s plan to rid the city of rickshaws was based on a genuine interest in his welfare, he smiled, with a quick shake of his head—a gesture I interpreted to mean, ―If you are so naive as to ask such a question, I will answer it, but it is not worth wasting words on.‖ Some rickshaw pullers I met were resigned to the imminent end of their livelihood and pin their hopes on being offered something in its place. As migrant workers, they don‘t have the political clout enjoyed by, say, Kolkata‘s sidewalk hawkers, who, after supposedly being scaled back at the beginnin g of the modernization drive, still clog the sidewalks, selling absolutely everything—or, as I found during the 48 hours of rain, absolutely everything but umbrellas. ―The government was the government of the poor people,‖ one sardar told me. ―Now they shake hands with the capitalists and try to get rid of poor people.‖
But others in Kolkata believe that rickshaws will simply be confined more strictly to certain neighborhoods, out of the view of World Bank traffic consultants and California investment delegations—or that they will be allowed to die out naturally as they‘re supplanted by mor e modern conveyances. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, after all, is not the first high West Bengal official to say that rickshaws would be off the streets of Kolkata in a matter of months. Similar statements have been made as far back as 1976. The ban decreed by Bhattacharjee has been delayed by a court case and by a widely held belief that some retraining or social security settlement ought to be offered to rickshaw drivers. It may also have been delayed by a quiet reluctance to give up something that has been part of the fabric of the city for more than a century. Kolkata, a resident told me, ―has difficulty letting go.‖ One day a city official handed me a report from the municipal government laying out options for how rickshaw pullers might be rehabilitated.
“Wh ich option has been chosen?‖ I asked, noting that the report was dated almost exactly a year before my visit.
“That hasn‘t been decided,‖ he said.
“When will it be decided?‖
“That hasn‘t been decided,‖ he said.
11. According to the passage, rickshaws are used in Kolkata mainly for the following EXCEPT
A. taking foreign tourists around the city.
B. providing transport to school children.
C. carrying store supplies and purchases
D. carrying people over short distances.
12. Which of the following statements best describes the rickshaw pullers from Bihar?
A. They come from a relatively poor area.
B. They are provided with decent accommodation.
C. Their living standards are very low in Kolkata.
D. They are often caught by policemen in the streets.
13. That ―For someone without land or education, that still beats trying to make a living in Bihar‖ (4 paragraph) means that
even so,
A. the poor prefer to work and live in Bihar.
B. the poor from Bihar fare better than back home.
C. the poor never try to make a living in Bihar.
D. the poor never seem to resent their life in Kolkata.
14. We can infer from the passage that some educated and politically aware people
A. hold mixed feelings towards rickshaws.
B. strongly support the ban on rickshaws.
C. call for humanitarian actions fro rickshaw pullers.
D. keep quiet on the issue of banning rickshaws.
15. Which of the following statements conveys the author‘s sense of humor?
A. ―…not the poor but people who are just a notch above the poor.‖ (2 paragraph)
B. ―…,.which sounds like a pretty good deal until you‘ve visited a dera.‖ (4 paragraph)
C. Kolkata, a resident told me, ― has difficulty letting go.‖ (7 paragraph).
D.―…or, as I found during the 48 hours of rain, absolutely everything but umbrellas.‖ (6 paragraph)
16. The dialogue between the author and the city official at the end of the passage seems to suggest
A. the uncertainty of the court‘s decision.
B. the inefficiency of the municipal government.
C. the difficulty of finding a good solution.
D. the slowness in processing options.
TEXT B
Depending on whom you believe, the average American will, over a lifetime, wait in lines for two years (says National Public Radio) or five years (according to customer-loyalty experts).
The crucial word is average, as wealthy Americans routinely avoid lines altogether. Once the most democratic of institutions, lines are rapidly becoming the exclusive province of suckers(people who still believe in and practice waiting in lines). Poor suckers, mostly.
Airports resemble France before the Revolution: first-class passengers enjoy "élite" security lines and priority boarding, and disembark before the unwashed in coach, held at bay by a flight attendant, are allowed to foul the Jetway.
At amusement parks, too, you can now buy your way out of line. This summer I haplessly watched kids use a $52 Gold Flash Pass to jump the lines at Six Flags New England, and similar systems are in use in most major American theme parks, from Universal Orlando to Walt Disney World, where the haves get to watch the have-mores breeze past on their way to their seats.
Flash Pass teaches children a valuable lesson in real-world economics: that the rich are more important than you, especially when it comes to waiting. An NBA player once said to me, with a bemused chuckle of disbelief, that when playing in Canada--get this--"we have to wait in the same customs line as everybody else."
Almost every line can be breached for a price. In several U.S. cities this summer, early arrivers among the early adopters waiting to buy iPhones offered to sell their spots in the lines. On Craigslist, prospective iPhone purchasers offered to pay "waiters" or "placeholders" to wait in line for them outside Apple stores.
Inevitably, some semi-populist politicians have seen the value of sort-of waiting in lines with the ordinary people. This summer Philadelphia mayor John Street waited outside an A T&T store from 3:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. before a stand-in from his office literally stood in for the mayor while he conducted official business. And billionaire New Y ork mayor Michael Bloomberg often waits for the subway with his fellow citizens, though he's first driven by motorcade past the stop nearest his house to a station 22 blocks away, where the wait, or at least the ride, is shorter.
As early as elementary school, we're told that jumping the line is an unethical act, which is why so many U.S. lawmakers have framed the immigration debate as a kind of fundamental sin of the school lunch line. Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, to cite just one legislator, said amnesty would allow illegal immigrants "to cut in line ahead of millions of people."
Nothing annoys a national lawmaker more than a person who will not wait in line, unless that line is in front of an elevator at the U.S. Capitol, where Senators and Representatives use private elevators, lest they have to queue with their constituents.
But compromising the integrity of the line is not just antidemocratic, it's out-of-date. There was something about the orderly boarding of Noah's Ark, two by two, that seemed to restore not just civilization but civility during the Great Flood.
How civil was your last flight? Southwest Airlines has first-come, first-served festival seating. But for $5 per flight, an unaffiliated company called https://www.doczj.com/doc/e215418138.html, will secure you a coveted "A" boarding pass when that airline opens for online check-in 24 hours before departure. Thus, the savvy traveler doesn't even wait in line when he or she is online.
Some cultures are not renowned for lining up. Then again, some cultures are too adept at lining up: a citizen of the former Soviet Union would join a queue just so he could get to the head of that queue and see what everyone was queuing for.
And then there is the U.S., where society seems to be cleaving into two groups: V ery Important Persons, who don't wait, and V ery Impatient Persons, who do--unhappily.
For those of us in the latter group-- consigned to coach, bereft of Flash Pass, too poor or proper to pay a placeholder --what do we do? We do what Vladimir and Estragon did in Waiting for Godot: "We wait. We are bored."
17. What does the following sentence mean? ―Once the most democratic of institutions, lines are rapidly becoming the
exclusive province of suckers…Poor suckers, mostly.‖ (2 paragraph)
A. Lines are symbolic of America‘s democracy.
B. Lines still give Americans equal opportunities.
C. Lines are now for ordinary Americans only.
D. Lines are for people with democratic spirit only.
18. Which of the following is NOT cited as an example of breaching the line?
A. Going through the customs at a Canadian airport.
B. Using Gold Flash Passes in amusement parks.
C. First-class passenger status at airports.
D. Purchase of a place in a line from a placeholder.
19. We can infer from the passage that politicians (including mayors and Congressmen)
A. prefer to stand in lines with ordinary people.
B. advocate the value of waiting in lines.
C. believe in and practice waiting in lines.
D. exploit waiting in lines for their own good.
20. What is the tone of the passage?
A. Instructive.
B. Humorous.
C. Serious.
D. Teasing.
TEXT C
A bus took him to the West End, where, among the crazy coloured fountains of illumination, shattering the blue dusk with green and crimson fire, he found the café of his choice, a tea-shop that had gone mad and turned. Bbylonian, a while palace with ten thousand lights. It towered above the other building like a citadel, which indeed it was, the outpost of a new age, perhaps a new civilization, perhaps a new barbarism; and behind the thin marble front were concrete and steel, just as behind the careless profusion of luxury were millions of pence, balanced to the last halfpenny. Somewhere in the background, hidden away, behind the ten thousand llights and acres of white napery and bewildering glittering rows of teapots, behind the thousand waitresses and cash-box girls and black-coated floor managers and temperamental long-haired violinists, behind the mounds of cauldrons of stewed steak, the vanloads of ices, were a few men who went to work juggling with fractions of a farming, who knew how many units of electricity it took to finish a steak-and-kidney pudding and how many minutes and seconds a waitress( five feet four in height and in average health) would need to carry a tray of given weight from the kitchen life to the table in the far corner. In short, there was a warm, sensuous, vulgar life flowering in the upper storeys, and a cold science working in the basement. Such as the gigantic tea-shop into which Turgis marched, in search not of mere refreshment but of all the enchantment of unfamiliar luxury. Perhaps he knew in his heart that men have conquered half the known world, looted whole kingdoms, and never arrived in such luxury. The place was built for him.
It was built for a great many other people too, and, as usual, they were al there. It seemed with humanity. The marble entrance hall, piled dizzily with bonbons and cakes, was as crowded and bustling as a railway station. The gloom and grime of the streets, the raw air, all November, were at once left behind, forgotten: the atmosphere inside was golden, tropical, belonging to some high mid-summer of confectionery. Disdaining the lifts, Turgis, once more excited by the sight, sound, and smell of it all, climbed the wide staircase until he reached his favourite floor, whre an orc hestra, led by a young Jewish violinist with wandering lustrous eyes and a passion for tremolo effects, acted as a magnet to a thousand girls, scented air, the sensuous clamour of the strings; and, as he stood hesitating a moment, half dazed, there came, bowing, s sleek grave man, older than he was and far more distinguished than he could ever hope to be, who murmured deferentially: ― For one, sir? This way, please,‖Shyly, yet proudly, Turgis followed him.
21. That ―behind the thin marble front were concrete and steel‖ suggests that
A. modern realistic commercialism existed behind the luxurious appearance.
B. there was a fundamental falseness in the style and the appeal of the café..
C. the architect had made a sensible blend of old and new building materials.
D. the café was based on physical foundations and real economic strength.
22. The following words or phrases are somewhat critical of the tea-shop EXCEPT
A. ―…turned Babylonian‖.
B. ―perhaps a new barbarism‘.
C. ―acres of white napery‖.
D. ―balanced to the last halfpenny‖.
23. In its context the statement that ― the place was built for him‖ means that the café was intended to
A. please simple people in a simple way.
B. exploit gullible people like him.
C. satisfy a demand that already existed.
D. provide relaxation for tired young men.
24. Which of the following statements about the second paragraph is NOT true?
A. The café appealed to most senses simultaneously.
B. The café was both full of people and full of warmth.
C. The inside of the café was contrasted with the weather outside.
D. It stressed the commercial determination of the café owners.
25. The following are comparisons made by the author in the second paragraph EXCEPT that
A. the entrance hall is compared to a railway station.
B. the orchestra is compared to a magnet.
C. Turgis welcomed the lift like a conquering soldier.
D. the interior of the café is compared to warm countries.
26. The author‘s attitude to the café is
A. fundamentally critical.
B. slightly admiring.
C. quite undecided.
D. completely neutral.
TEXT D
I Now elsewhere in the world, Iceland may be spoken of, somewhat breathlessly, as western Europe‘s last pristine wilderness. But the environmental awareness that is sweeping the world had bypassed the majority of Icelanders. Certainly they were connected to their land, the way one is complicatedly connected to, or encumbered by, family one can‘t do anything about. But the truth is, once you‘re off the beat-en paths of the low-lying coastal areas where everyone lives, the roads are few, and
they‘re all bad, so Iceland‘s natural wonders have been out of reach and unknown even to its own inhab-itants. For them the land has always just been there, something that had to be dealt with and, if possible, exploited—the mind-set being one of land as commodity rather than land as, well, priceless art on the scale of the ―Mona Lisa.‖
When the opportunity arose in 2003 for the national power company to enter into a 40-year contract with the American aluminum company Alcoa to supply hydroelectric power for a new smelter, those who had been dreaming of some-thing like this for decades jumped at it and never looked back. Iceland may at the moment be one of the world‘s richest countries, with a 99 percent literacy rate and long life expectancy. But the proj-ect‘s advocates, some of them getting on in years, were more emotionally attuned to the country‘s century upon century of want, hardship, and colonial servitude to Denmark, which officially had ended only in 1944 and whose psychological imprint remained relatively fresh. For the longest time, life here had meant little more than a sod hut, dark all winter, cold, no hope, children dying left and right, earthquakes, plagues, starvation, volcanoes erupting and destroying all vegeta-tion and livestock, all spirit—a world revolving almost entirely around the welfare of one‘s sheep and, later, on how good the cod catch was. In the outlying regions, it still largely does.
Ostensibly, the Alcoa project was intended to save one of these dying regions—the remote and sparsely populated east—where the way of life had steadily declined to a point of desperation and gloom. After fishing quotas were imposed in the early 1980s to protect fish stocks, many indi-vidual boat owners sold their allotments or gave them away, fishing rights ended up mostly in the hands of a few companies, and small fishermen were virtually wiped out. Technological advances drained away even more jobs previously done by human hands, and the people were seeing every-thing they had worked for all their lives turn up worthless and their children move away. With the old way of life doomed, aluminum projects like this one had come to be perceived, wisely or not, as a last chance. ―Smelter or death.‖
The contract with Alcoa would infuse the re-gion with foreign capital, an estimated 400 jobs, and spin-off service industries. It also was a way for Iceland to develop expertise that potentially could be sold to the rest of the world; diver sify an economy historically dependent on fish; and, in an appealing display of Icelandic can-do verve, perhaps even protect all of Iceland, once and for all, from the unpredictability of life itself.
“We have to live,‖ Halldór Ásgrímsson said in his sad, sonorous voice. Halldór, a former prime minister and longtime mem ber of parliament from the region, was a driving force behind the project. ―We have a right to live.‖
27. According to the passage, most Icelanders view land as something of
A. environmental value.
B. commercial value.
C. potential value for tourism.
D. great value for livelihood.
28. What is Iceland‘s old-aged advocates‘ feeling towards the Alcoa project?
A. Iceland is wealthy enough to reject the project.
B. The project would lower life expectancy.
C. The project would cause environmental problems.
D. The project symbolizes and end to the colonial legacies.
29. The disappearance of the old way of life was due to all the following EXCEPT
A. fewer fishing companies.
B. fewer jobs available.
C. migration of young people.
D. impostion of fishing quotas.
30. The 4 paragraph in the passage
A. sums up the main points of the passage.
B. starts to discuss an entirely new point.
C. elaborates on the last part of the 3 paragraph.
D. continues to depict the bleak economic situation.
PART III GENERAL KNOWLEDGE (10 MIN)
34. The Emancipation Proclamation to end the slavery plantation system in the South of the U.S. was issued by
A. Abraham Lincoln.
B. Thomas Paine.
C. George Washington.
D. Thomas Jefferson.
35. ________ is best known for the technique of dramatic monologue in his poems..
A. Will Blake
B. W.B. Yeats
C. Robert Browning
D. William Wordsworth
36. The Financier is written by
A. Mark Twain.
B. Henry James.
C. William Faulkner.
D. Theodore Dreiser.
37. In literature a story in verse or prose with a double meaning is defined as
A. allegory.
B. sonnet.
C. blank verse.
D. rhyme.
38. ________ refers to the learning and development of a language.
A. Language acquisition
B. Language comprehension
C. Language production
D. Language instruction
39. The word ― Motel‖ comes from ―motor + hotel‖. This is an example of ________ in morphology.
A. backformation
B. conversion
C. blending
D. acronym
40. Language is t tool of communication. The symbol ― Highway Closed‖ on a highway serves
A. an expressive function.
B. an informative function.
C. a performative function.
D. a persuasive function.
Part IV Proofreading & Error Correction (15 min)
The passage contains TEN errors. Each indicated line contains a maximum of ONE error. In each case, only ONE word is involved. Y ou should proofread the passage and correct it in the following way:
For a wrong word, underline the wrong word and write the correct one in the blank provided at the end of the line.
For a missing word, mark the position of the missing word with a "∧" sign and write the word you believe to be missing in the blank provided at the end of the line.
For a unnecessary word, cross the unnecessary word with a slash "/" and put the word in the blank provided at the end of the line.
So far as we can tell, all human languages are equally complete and perfect as
instruments of communication: that is, every language appears to be well equipped as any other to say the things their speakers want to say.
There may or may not be appropriate to talk about primitive peoples or cultures, but that is another matter. Certainly, not all groups of people are equally competent in nuclear physics or psychology or the cultivation of rice or the engraving of Benares brass. Whereas this is not the fault of their language. The Eskimos can speak about snow with a great deal more precision and subtlety than we can in English, but this is not because the Eskimo language (one of those sometimes miscalled 'primitive') is inherently more precise and subtle than English. This example does not come to light a defect in English, a show of unexpected 'primitiveness'. The position is simply and obviously that the Eskimos and the English live in similar environments. The English language will be just as rich in terms for similar kinds of snow, presumably, if the environments in which English was habitually used made such distinction as important.
Similarly, we have no reason to doubt that the Eskimo language could be as precise and subtle on the subject of motor manufacture or cricket if these topics formed the part of the Eskimos' life. For obvious historical reasons, Englishmen in the nineteenth century could not talk about motorcars with the minute discrimination which is possible today: cars were not a part of their culture. But they had a host of terms for horse-drawn vehicles which send us, puzzled, to a historical dictionary when we are reading Scott or Dickens. How many of us could distinguish between a chaise, a landau, a victoria, a brougham, a coupe, a gig, a diligence, a whisky, a calash, a tilbury, a carriole, a phaeton, and a clarence ? 1 2 3
4
5 6 7 8 9
10
PART V TRANSLATION (60 MIN)
朋友关系的存续是以相互尊重为前提的, 容不得半点强求、干涉和控制。朋友之间, 情趣相投、脾气对味则合、则交; 反之, 则离、则绝。朋友之间再熟悉, 再亲密, 也不能随便过头，不恭不敬。不然，默契和平衡将被打破, 友好关系将不复存在。每个人都希望拥有自己的私密空间，朋友之间过于随便，就容易侵入这片禁区，从而引起冲突，造成隔阂。待友不敬，或许只是一件小事，却可能已埋下了破坏性的种子。维持朋友亲密关系的最好办法是往来有节，互不干涉。
I thought that it was a Sunday morning in May; that it was Easter Sunday, and as yet very early in the morning. I was standing at the door of my own cottage. Right before me lay the very scene which could really be commanded from that situation, but exalted, as was usual, and solemnized by the power of dreams. There were the same mountains, and the same lovely valley at their feet; but the mountains were raised to more than Alpine height, and there was interspace far larger between them of meadows and forest lawns; the hedges were rich with white roses; and no living creature was to be seen except that in the green churchyard there were cattle tranquilly reposing upon the graves, and particularly round about the grave of a child whom I had once tenderly loved, just as I had really seen them, a little before sunrise in the same summer, when that child
died.
PART II READING COMPREHENSION
11.A 12.C 13.B 14.A 15.D16.C 17.C18.A 19.D 20.B21. A22.B23. B 24.B 25. C26.A27.D 28.D 29.A30.C
PART III GENERAL KNOWLEDGE (10 MIN)
34. The Emancipation Proclamation to end the plantation slavery in the south of US was issued by
答案A：Abraham Lincoln
答题说明：本题为美国历史常识题，林肯发布解放黑奴宣言
35．Who was best known for the technique of dramatic monologue in his poems?
答案C：Robert Browning
答题说明：本题为文学常识题
文化背景：罗伯特·勃朗宁（Robert Browning)（1812-1889），维多利亚时期代表诗人之一。主要作品有《戏剧抒情诗》、《剧中人物》、《指环与书》等。与丁尼生齐名，是维多利亚时代两大诗人之一。他以精细入微的心理探索而独步诗坛，对⒚?0世纪诗歌产生了重要影响。朗宁对英国诗歌的最大贡献，是发展和完善了戏剧独白诗（Dramaticmonologue）这样一种独特的诗歌形式，并且用它鲜明而生动地塑造了各种不同类型的人物性格，深刻而复杂地展示了人的内在心理。
36. The Financier was written by
答案D：Theodore Dreiser
答题说明：本题为文学常识题
人文背景：西奥多·德莱塞（Theodore Dreiser，1871～1945），美国小说家。生于印第安纳州特雷霍特镇。父亲是贫苦的德国移民。他在公立学校接受了早期教育，以后进印第安纳大学学习。一生的大部分时间从事新闻工作。走遍芝加哥、匹兹堡、纽约等大城市，广泛深入地观察了解社会，为日后的文学创作积累了丰富的素材。代表作：《嘉莉妹妹》、《金融家》、《美国悲剧》等
37. In literature a strory in verse or prose with a double meaning is difined as
答案A：Allegory
答题说明：即使你不认识选项A，也可以通过排除法排除B. sonnet, C. blank verse, D. rhyme. 因为BCD涉及的主要是形式或音韵，不涉及内容和意义。
38．… refers to the learning and development of a language
答案A：language acqisition
答题说明：本题为语言学常识题。
背景知识：语言习得最基本的定义，其余选项一看就不符合题干内容。
39. The word “motel” comes from “motor –hotel”. This is an example of “…” in morphology.
答案C：blending
答题说明：本题为语言学分支形态学最基本常识，也是比较活跃的一种构词方式
背景知识：A 逆生法；B 转类法；C拼缀法；D 首字母构词
40．Langua ge is tool of communication, the sybol “highway closed” serves
答案B：informative function
答题说明：语言学基本常识；认识选项单词都不会选错答案
Part IV Proofreading & Error Correction
1 be后插入as;
2 their改为its;
3 There改为It;
4 Whereas改为But
5 further 改为much
6 come改为bring;
7 similar改为different;
8 will改为would;
9 as important去掉as; 10 the part去掉the
SECTION A CHINESE TO ENGLISH
Friends tend to become more intimated if they have the same interests and temper, they can get along well and keep contacting; otherwise they will separate and end the relationship. Friends who are more familiar and closer can not be too casual and show no respect. Otherwise the harmony and balance will be broken, and the friendship will also be nonexistent any more. Everyone hopes to have his own private space, and if too casual among friends, it is easy to invade this piece of restricted areas, which will lead to the conflict, resulting in alienation. It may be a small matter to be rude to friends; however, it is likely to plant the devastating seeds. The best way to keep the close relationship between friends is to keep contacts with restraint, and do not bother each other.
SECTION B ENGLISH TO CHINESE
我想那是五月的一个周日的早晨；那天是复活节，一个大清早上。我站在自家小屋的门口。就在我的面前展现出了那
么一番景色，从我那个位置其实能够尽收眼底，可是梦里的感觉往往如此，由于梦幻的力量，这番景象显得超凡出尘，一派肃穆气象。群山形状相同，其山脚下都有着同样可爱的山谷；不过群山挺然参天，高于阿尔卑斯峰，诸山相距空旷，丰草如茵，林地开阔，错落其间；树篱上的白玫瑰娟娟弥望；远近看不见任何生物，唯有苍翠的教堂庭院里，牛群静静地卧躺在那片郁郁葱葱的墓地歇息，好几头围绕着一个小孩的坟墓。我曾对她一腔柔情，那年夏天是在旭日东升的前一刻，那孩子死去了，我如同当年那样望着牛群。
TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2009)
-GRADE EIGHT-
PART II READING COMPREHENSION (30 MIN)
TEXT A
We had been wanting to expand our children's horizons by taking them to a place that was unlike anything we'd been exposed to during our travels in Europe and the United States. In thinking about what was possible from Geneva, where we are based, we decided on a trip to Istanbul, a two-hour plane ride from Zurich.
We envisioned the trip as a prelude to more exotic ones, perhaps to New Delhi or Bangkok later this year, but thought our 11- and 13-year-olds needed a first step away from manicured boulevards and pristine monuments.
What we didn't foresee was the reaction of friends, who warned that we were putting our children "in danger," referring vaguely, and most incorrectly, to disease, terrorism or just the unknown. To help us get acquainted with the peculiarities of Istanbul and to give our children a chance to choose what they were particularly interested in seeing, we bought an excellent guidebook and read it thoroughly before leaving.
Friendly warnings didn't change our planning, although we might have more prudently checked with the U.S. State Department's list of troublespots. We didn't see a lot of children among the foreign visitors during our six-day stay in Istanbul, but we found the tourist areas quite safe, very interesting and varied enough even to suit our son, whose oft-repeated request is that we not see "every single" church and museum in a given city.
Vaccinations weren't needed for the city, but we were concemed about adapting to the water for a short stay. So we used bottled water for drinking and brushing our teeth, a precaution that may seem excessive, but we all stayed healthy.
Taking the advice of a friend, we booked a hotel a 20-minute walk from most of Istanbul's major tourist sites. This not only got us some morning exercise, strolling over the Karakoy Bridge, but took us past a colorful assortment of fishermen, vendors and shoe shiners.
From a teenager and pre-teen's view, Istanbul street life is fascinating since almost everything can be bought outdoors. They were at a good age to spend time wandering the labyrinth of the Spice Bazaar, where shops display mounds of pungent herbs in sacks. Doing this with younger children would be harder simply because the streets are so packed with people; it would be easy to get lost.
For our two, whose buying experience consisted of department stores and shopping mall boutiques, it was amazing to discover that you could bargain over price and perhaps end up with two of something for the price of one. They also learned to figure out the relative value of the Turkish lira, not a small matter with its many zeros.
Being exposed to Islam was an important part of our trip. Visiting the mosques, especially the enormous Blue Mosque, was our first glimpse into how this major religion is practiced. Our children's curiosity already had been piqued by the five daily calls to prayer over loudspeakers in every corner of the city, and the scarves covering the heads of many women.
Navigating meals can be troublesome with children, but a kebab, bought on the street or in restaurants, was unfailingly popular. Since we had decided this trip was not for gourmets, kebabs spared us the agony of trying to find a restaurant each day that would suit the adults' desire to try something new amid children's insistence that the food be served immediately. Gradually, we branched out to try some other Turkish specialties.
Although our son had studied Islam briefly, it is impossible to be prepared for every awkward question that might come up, such as during our visits to the Topkapi Sarayi, the Ottoman Sultans' palace. No guides were available so it was do-it-yourself, using our guidebook, which cheated us of a lot of interesting history and anecdotes that a professional guide could provide. Next time, we resolved to make such arrangements in advance.
On this trip, we wandered through the magnificent complex, with its imperial treasures, its courtyards and its harem. The last required a bit of explanation that we would have happily lef~ to a learned third party.
11. The couple chose Istanbul as their holiday destination mainly because
A. the city is not too far away from where they lived.
B. the city is not on the list of the U.S. State Department.
C. the city is between the familiar and the exotic.
D. the city is more familiar than exotic.
12. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT?
A. The family found the city was exactly what they had expected.
B. Their friends were opposed to their holiday plan.
C. They could have been more cautious about bringing kids along.
D. They were a bit cautious about the quality of water in the city.
13. We learn from the couple's shopping experience back home that
A. they were used to bargaining over price.
B. they preferred to buy things outdoors.
C. street markets were their favourite.
D. they preferred fashion and brand names.
14. The last two paragraphs suggest that to visit places of interest in Istanbul
A. guidebooks are very useful.
B. a professional guide is a must.
C. one has to be prepared for questions.
D. one has to make arrangements in advance.
15. The family have seen or visited all the following in Istanbul EXCEPT
A. religious prayers.
B. historical buildings. C local-style markets.D. shopping mall boutiques. TEXT B
Last month the first baby-boomers turned 60. The bulky generation born between 1946 and 1964 is heading towards retirement. The looming "demographic cliff" will see vast numbers of skilled workers dispatched from the labour force.
The workforce is ageing across the rich world. Within the EU the number of workers aged between 50 and 64 will increase by 25% over the next two decades, while those aged 20-29 will decrease by 20%. In Japan almost 20% of the population is already over 65, the highest share in
the world. And in the United States the number of workers aged 55-64 will have increased by
more than half in this decade, at the same time as the 35- to 44-year-olds decline by 10%.
Given that most societies are geared to retirement at around 65, companies have a looming problem of knowledge management, of making sure that the boomers do not leave before they have handed over their expertise along with the office keys and their e-mail address. A survey of human-resources directors by IBM last year concluded: "When the baby-boomer generation retires, many companies will find out too late that a career's worth of experience has walked out
the door, leaving insufficient talent to fill in the void."
Some also face a shortage of expertise. In aerospace and defence, for example, as much as 40% of the workforce in some companies will be eligible to retire within the next five years. At
the same time, the number of engineering graduates in developed countries is in steep decline.
A few companies are so squeezed that they are already taking exceptional measures. Earlier this year the Los Angeles Times interviewed an enterprising Australian who was staying in
Beverly Hills while he tried to persuade locals to emigrate to Toowoomba, Queensland, to work
for his engineering company there. Toowoomba today; the rest of the developed world tomorrow?
If you look hard enough, you can find companies that have begun to adapt the workplace to older workers. The AARP, an American association for the over-50s, produces an annual list of
the best employers of its members. Health-care firms invariably come near the top because they are one of the industries most in need of skilled labour. Other sectors similarly affected, says the Conference Board, include oil, gas, energy and government.
Near the top of the AARP's latest list comes Deere & Company, a no-nonsense
industrial-equipment manufacturer based in Illinois; about 35% of Deere's 46,000 employees are over 50 and a number of them are in their 70s. The tools it uses to achieve that - flexible working, telecommuting, and so forth - also coincidentaUy help older workers to extend their working lives. The company spends "a lot of time" on the ergonomics of its factories, making
jobs there less tiring, which enables older workers to stay at them for longer.
Likewise, for more than a decade, Toyota, arguably the world's most advanced manufacturer, has adapted its workstations to older workers. The shortage of skilled labour available to the automotive industry has made it unusually keen to recruit older workers. BMW recently set up a factory in Leipzig that expressly set out to employ people over the age of 45. Needs must when the devil drives.
Other firms are polishing their alumni networks. IBM uses its network to recruit retired people for particular projects. Ernst & Young, a professional-services firm, has about 30,000 registered alumni, and about 25% of its "experienced" new recruits are former employees who return after an absence.
But such examples are unusual. A survey in America last month by Ernst & Young found
that "although corporate America foresees a significant workforce shortage as boomers retire, it
is not dealing with the issue." Almost three-quarters of the 1,400 global companies questioned
by Deloitte last year said they expected a shortage of salaried staff over the next three to five years. Yet few of them are looking to older workers to fill that shortage; and even fewer are looking to them to fill another gap that has already appeared. Many firms in Europe and America complain that they struggle to find qualified directors for their boards - this when the pool of retired talent from those very same firms is growing by leaps and bounds.
Why are firms not working harder to keep old employees? Part of the reason is that the crunch has been beyond the horizon of most managers. Nor is hanging on to older workers the
only way to cope with a falling supply of labour. The participation of developing countries in the world economy has increased the overall supply - whatever the local effect of demographics in
the rich countries. A vast amount of work is being sent offshore to such places as China and
India and more will go in future. Some countries, such as Australia, are relaxing their
immigration policies to allow much needed skills to come in from abroad. Others will avoid the
need for workers by spending money on machinery and automation.
16. According to the passage, the most serious consequence of baby-boomers approaching
retirement would be
A. a loss of knowledge and experience to many companies.
B. a decrease in the number of 35- to 44- year-olds.
C. a continuous increase in the number of 50-to 64-year-olds.
D. its impact on the developed world whose workforce is ageing.
17. The following are all the measures that companies have adopted to cope with the ageing
workforce EXCEPT
A. making places of work accommodate the needs of older workers.
B. using alumni networks to hire retired former employees.
C. encouraging former employees to work overseas.
D. granting more convenience in working hours to older workers.
18. "The company spends 'a lot of time' on the ergonomics of its factories" (Paragraph Seven)
means that
A. the company attaches great importance to the layout of its factories.
B. the company improves the working conditions in its factories.
C. the company attempts to reduce production costs of its factories.
D. the company intends to renovate its factories and update equipment.
19. In the author's opinion American firms are not doing anything to deal with the issue of the
ageing workforce mainly because
A. they have not been aware of the problem.
B. they are reluctant to hire older workers.
C. they are not sure of what they should do.
D. they have other options to consider.
20. Which of the following best describes the author's development of argument?
A. introducing the issue---citing ways to deal with the issue---describing the actual
status---offering reasons.
B. describing the actual status--- introducing the issue---citing ways to deal with the
issue---offering reasons.
C. citing ways to deal with the issue---introducing the issue----describing the actual
status---offering reasons.
D. describing the actual status--offering reasons---introducing the issue---citing ways to
deal with the issue.
TEXT C
(1) The other problem that arises from the employment of women is that of the working wife.
It has two aspects: that of the wife who is more of a success than her husband and that of the wife
who must rely heavily on her husband for help with domestic tasks. There are various ways in which the impact of the first difficulty can be reduced. Provided that husband and wife are not in the same or directly comparable lines of work, the harsh fact of her greater success can be obscured by a genial conspiracy to reject a purely monetary measure of achievement as intolerably crude. Where there are ranks, it is best if the couple work in different fields so that the husband can find some special reason for the superiority of the lowest figure in his to the most elevated in his wife's.
(2) A problem that affects a much larger number of working wives is the need to re-allocate
domestic tasks if there are children. In The Road to Wigan Pier George Orwell wrote of the
unemployed of the Lancashire coalfields: "Practically never ... in a working-class home, will you
see the man doing a stroke of the housework. Unemployment has not changed this convention,
which on the face of it seems a little unfair. The man is idle from morning to night but the woman is as busy as ever - more so, indeed, because she has to manage with less money. Yet so far as my
experience goes the women do not protest. They feel that a man would lose his manhood if, merely because he was out of work, he developed in a 'Mary Ann'."
(3) It is over the care of young children that this re-allocation of duties becomes really
significant. For this, unlike the cooking of fish fingers or the making of beds, is an inescapably
time-consuming occupation, and time is what the fully employed wife has no more to spare of than her husband.
(4) The male initiative in courtship is a pretty indiscriminate affair, something that is tried on with any remotely plausible woman who comes within range and, of course, with all degrees of
tentativeness. What decides the issue of whether a genuine courtship is going to get under way is the woman's response. If she shows interest the engines of persuasion are set in movement. The truth is that in courtship society gives women the real power while pretending to give it to men.
(5) What does seem clear is that the more men and women are together, at work and away
from it, the more the comprehensive amorousness of men towards women will have to go, despite
all its past evolutionary services. For it is this that makes inferiority at work abrasive and, more
indirectly, makes domestic work seem unmanly, if there is to be an equalizing redistribution of
economic and domestic tasks between men and women there must be a compensating redistribution of the erotic initiative. If women will no longer let us beat them they must allow us to join them as the blushing recipients of flowers and chocolates.
21. Paragraph One advises the working wife who is more successful than her husband to
A. work in the same sort of job as her husband.
B. play down her success, making it sound unimportant.
C. stress how much the family gains from her high salary.
D. introduce more labour-saving machinery into the home.
22. Orwell's picture of relations between man and wife in Wigan Pier (Paragraph Two) describes a
relationship which the author of the passage
A. thinks is the natural one.
B. wishes to see preserved.
C. believes is fair.
D. is sure must change.
23. Which of the following words is used literally, NOT metaphorically?
A. Abrasive (Paragraph Five).
B. Engines (Paragraph Four).
C. Convention (Paragraph Two).
D. Heavily (Paragraph One).
24. The last paragraph stresses that if women are to hold important jobs, then they must
A. sometimes make the first advances in love.
B. allow men to flirt with many women.
C. stop accepting presents of flowers and chocolates.
D. avoid making their husbands look like "Mary Anns".
25. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT about the present form of courtship?
A. Men are equally serious about courtship.
B. Each man "makes passes" at many women.
C. The woman's reaction decides the fate of courtship.
D. The man leaves himself the opportunity to give up the chase quickly.
TEXT D
From Namche Bazaar, the Sherpa capital at 12,000 feet, the long line threaded south,
dropping 2,000 feet to the valley floor, then trudged down the huge Sola-Khumbu canyon until it
opened out to the lush but still daunting foothills of Central Nepal.
It was here at Namche that one man broke rank and leaned north, slowly and arduously
climbing the steep walls of the natural amphitheater behind the scatter of stone huts, then past
Kunde and Khumjong.
Despite wearing a balaclava on his head, he had been frequently recognized by the Tibetans,
and treated with the gravest deference and respect. Even among those who knew nothing about
him, expressions of surprise lit up their dark, liquid eyes. He was a man not expected to be there.
Not only was his stature substantially greater than that of the diminutive Tibetans, but it
was also obvious from his bearing - and his new broadcloak, which covered a much-too-tight
army uniform - that he came from a markedly loftier station in life than did the average Tibetan.
Among a people virtually bereft of possessions, he had fewer still, consisting solely of a rounded
bundle about a foot in diameter slung securely by a cord over his shoulder. The material the
bundle was wrapped in was of a rough Tibetan weave, which did not augur that the content was
of any greater value - except for the importance he seemed to ascribe to it, never for a moment
releasing his grip.
His objective was a tiny huddle of buildings perched halfway up an enormous valley wall
across from him, atop a great wooded spur jutting out from the lower lap of the 22,493-foot Ama
Dablum, one of the most majestic mountains on earth. There was situated Tengboche, the most
famous Buddhist monastery in the Himalayas, its setting unsurpassed for magnificence
anywhere on the planet.
From the top of the spur, one's eyes sweep 12 miles up the stupendous Dudh Kosi canyon
to the six-mile-long granite wall of cliff of Nuptse at its head. If Ama Dablum is the Gatekeeper,
then the sheer cliff of Nuptse, never less than four miles high, is the Final Protector of the
highest and mightiest of them all: Chomolongma, the Mother Goddess of the World, to the
Tibetans; Sagarmatha, the Head of the Seas, to the Nepalese; and Everest to the rest of us. And
over the great barrier of Nuptse She demurely peaks.
It was late in the afternoon - when the great shadows cast by the colossal mountains were
descending into the deep valley floors - before he reached the crest of the spur and shuffled to a
stop just past Tengboche's entrance gompa. His chest heaving in the rarefied air, he removed his
hand from the bundle--the first time he had done so - and wiped grimy rivulets of sweat from
around his eyes with the fingers of his mitted hand.
His narrowed eyes took in the open sweep of the quiet grounds, the pagoda-like monastery
itself, and the stone buildings that tumbled down around it like a protective skirt. In the distance
the magic light of the magic hour lit up the plume flying off Chomolongma's 29,029-foot-high
crest like a bright, welcoming banner.
His breathing calmed, he slowly, stiffly struggled forward and up the rough stone steps to
the monastery entrance. There he was greeted with a respectful nameste -"I recognize the divine
in you" - from a tall, slim monk of about 35 years, who hastily set aside a twig broom he had
been using to sweep the flagstones of the inner courtyard. While he did so, the visitor noticed
that the monk was missing the small finger on his left hand. The stranger spoke a few formal
words in Tibetan, and then the two disappeared inside.
Early the next morning the emissary - lightened of his load - appeared at the monastery
entrance, accompanied by the same monk and the elderly abbot. After a bow of his head, which
was returned much more deeply by the two ocher-robed residents, he took his leave. The two
solemn monks watched, motionless, until he dipped over the ridge on which the monastery sat,
and out of sight.
Then, without a word, they turned and went back inside the monastery.
26. Which of the following words in Paragraph One implies difficulty in walking?
A. "threaded".
B. "dropping".
C. "trudged".
D. "daunting".
27. In the passage the contrast between the Tibetans and the man is indicated in all the following
aspects EXCEPT
A. clothing.
B. height.
C. social status.
D. personal belongings.
28. It can be inferred from the passage that one can get ______ of the region from the
monastery.
A. a narrow view
B. a hazy view
C. a distant view
D. a panoramic view
29. Which of the following details shows that the man became relaxed after he reached the
monastery?
A. "...he reached the crest of the spur and shuffled to a stop..."
B. "...he removed his hand from the bundle..."
C. "His narrowed eyes took in the open sweep of the quiet grounds..."
D. "...he slowly, stiffly struggled forward and up the rough stone steps..."
30. From how it is described in the passage the monastery seems to evoke
A. a sense of awe.
B. a sense of piety.
C. a sense of fear.
D. a sense of mystery.
PART III GENERAL KNOWLEDGE (10 MIN)
35. Ode to the West Windwas written by
A. William Blake.
B. William Wordsworth.
C. Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
D. Percy B. Shelley.
36. Who among the following is a poet of free verse?
A. Ralph Waldo Emerson.
B. Walt Whitman.
C. Herman Melville
D. Theodore Dreiser.
37. The novel Sons andLovers was written by
A. Thomas Hardy.
B. John Galsworthy.
C.
D.H. Lawrence. D. James Joyce.
38. The study of the mental processes of language comprehension and production is
A. corpus linguistics.
B. sociolinguistics.
C. theoretical linguistics.
D. psycholinguistics.
39. A special language variety that mixes languages and is used by speakers of different languages
for purposes of trading is called
A. dialect.
B. idiolect.
C. pidgin.
D. register.
40. When a speaker expresses his intention of speaking, such as asking someone to open the
window, he is performing
A. an illocutionary act.
B. a perlocutionary act.
C. a locutionary act.
D. none of the above. PART IV PROOFREADING & ERROR CORRECTION (15 MIN)
The previous section has shown how quickly a rhyme passes
from one schoolchild to the next and illustrates the further difference ____1____
between school lore and nursery lore. In nursery lore a verse, learnt
in early childhood, is not usually passed on again when the little listener ____2____
has grown up, and has children of their own, or even grandchildren. ____3_____
The period between learning a nursery rhyme and transmitting
it may be something from 20 to 70 years. With the playground ____4____
lore, therefore, a rhyme may be excitedly passed on within the very hour ____5____
it is learnt; and, in the general, it passes between children of the ____6____
same age, or nearly so, since it is uncommon for the differnce in age
between playmates to be more than five years. If, therefore, a playground
rhyme can be shown to have been currently for a hundred years, or ____7____
even just for fifty, it follows that it has been retransmitted over
and over, very possibly it has passed along a chain of two or three ____8____
hundred young hearers and tellers, and the wonder is that it remains live ____9____
after so much handling, to let alone that it bears resemblance to the ____10____
original wording.
PART V TRANSLATION (60 MIN)
我想不起来哪一个熟人没有手机。今天没有手机的人是奇怪的，这种人才需要解释。我
们的所有社会关系都储存在手机的电话本里，可以随时调出使用。古代只有巫师才能拥有这
种法宝。
手机刷新了人与人的关系。会议室门口通常贴着一条通告：请与会者关闭手机。可是会
议室里的手机铃声仍然响成一片。我们都是普通人，并没有多少重要的事情。尽管如此，我
们也不会轻易关掉手机。打开手机象征我们与这个世界的联系。手机反映出我们的“社交饥
渴症”。最为常见的是，一个人走着走着突然停下来，眼睛盯着手机屏幕发短信。他不在乎停在马路中央还是厕所旁边。
为什么对于手机来电和短信这么在乎?因为我们迫切渴望与社会保持联系。
We, the human species, are confronting a planetary emergency - a threat to the survival of our
civilization that is gathering ominous and destructive potential even as we gather here. But there
is hopeful news as well: we have the ability to solve this crisis and avoid the worst - though not
all - of its consequences, if we act boldly, decisively and quickly.
However, too many of the world's leaders are still best described in the words of Winston
Churchill applied to those who ignored Adolf Hitler's threat: "They go on in strange paradox,
decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, all powerful to be impotent."
So today, we dumped another 70 million tons of global-warming pollution into the thin shell
of atmosphere surrounding our planet, as if it were an open sewer. And tomorrow, we will dump
a slightly larger amount, with the cumulative concentrations now trapping more and more heat
from the sun.
TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2008)
-GRADE EIGHT-
TEXT A
At the age of 16, Lee Hyuk Joon's life is a living hell. The South Korean 10th grader gets up at 6 in the morning to go to school, and studies most of the day until returning home at 6 p. m. After dinner, it's time to hit the books again – at one of Seoul's many so-called cram schools. Lee gets back home at 1 in the morning, sleeps less than five hours, then repeats the routine –five days a week. It's a grueling schedule, but Lee worries that it may not be good enough to get him into a top university. Some of his classmates study even harder.
South Korea's education system has long been highly competitive. But for Lee and the other 700,000 high-school sophomores in the country, high-school studies have gotten even more intense. That's because South Korea has conceived a new college-entrance system, which will be implemented in 2008. This year's 10th graders will be the first group evaluated by the new admissions standard, which places more emphasis on grades in the three years of high school and less on nationwide SA T-style and other selection tests, which have traditionally determined which students go to the elite colleges.
The change was made mostly to reduce what the government says is a growing education gap in the country: wealthy students go to the best colleges and get the best jobs, keeping the children of poorer families on the social margins. The aim is to reduce the importance of costly tutors and cram schools, partly to help students enjoy a more normal high-school life. But the new system has had the opposite effect. Before, students didn't worry too much about their grade-point averages; the big challenge was beating the standardized tests as high-school seniors. Now students are competing against one another over a three-year period, and every midterm and final test is crucial. Fretful parents are relying even more heavily on tutors and cram schools to help their children succeed.
Parents and kids have sent thousands of angry online letters to the Education Ministry complaining that the new admissions standard is setting students against each other. "One can succeed only when others fail," as one parent said.
Education experts say that South Korea's public secondary-school system is foundering, while private education is thriving. According to critics, the country's high schools are almost uniformly mediocre –the result of an egalitarian government education policy. With the number of elite schools strictly controlled by the government, even the brightest students typically have to settle for ordinary schools in their neighbourhoods, where the curriculum is centred on average students. To make up for the mediocrity, zealous parents send their kids to the expensive cram schools.
Students in affluent southern Seoul neighbourhoods complain that the new system will hurt them the most. Nearly all
Korean high schools will be weighted equally in the college-entrance process, and relatively weak students in provincial schools, who may not score well on standardized tests, often compile good grade-point averages.
Some universities, particularly prestigious ones, openly complain that they cannot select the best students under the new system because it eliminates differences among high schools. They've asked for more discretion in picking students by giving more weight to such screening tools as essay writing or interviews.
President Roh Moo Hyun doesn't like how some colleges are trying to circumvent the new system. He recently criticized "greedy" universities that focus more on finding the best students than faying to "nurture good students". But amid the crossfire between the government and universities, the country's 10th graders are feeling the stress. On online protest sites, some are calling themselves a "cursed generation" and "mice in a lab experiment". It all seems a touch melodramatic, but that's the South Korean school system.
11. According to the passage, the new college-entrance system is designed to ________.
A. require students to sit for more college-entrance tests
B. reduce the weight of college-entrance tests
C. select students on their high school grades only
D. reduce the number of prospective college applicants
12. What seems to be the effect of introducing the new system?
A. The system has given equal opportunities to students.
B. The system has reduced the number of cram schools.
C. The system has intensified competition among schools.
D. The system has increased students' study load.
13. According to critics, the popularity of private education is mainly the result of ________.
A. the government's egalitarian policy
B. insufficient number of schools:
C. curriculums of average quality
D. low cost of private education
14. According to the passage, there seems to be disagreement over the adoption of the new system between the following
groups EXCEPT
A. between universities and the government
B. between school experts and the government
C. between parents and schools
D. between parents and the government
15. Which of the following adjectives best describes the author's treatment of the topic?
A. Objective.
B. Positive.
C. Negative.
D. Biased.
TEXT B
Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones was a teenager before he saw his first cow in his first field. Born in Jamaica, the 47-year-old grew up in inner-city Birmingham before making a career as a television producer and launching his own marketing agency. But deep down he always nurtured every true Englishman's dream of a rustic life, a dream that his entrepreneurial wealth has allowed him to satisfy. These days he's the owner of a thriving 12-hectare farm in deepest Devon with cattle, sheep and pigs. His latest business venture: pushing his brand of Black Fanner gourmet sausages and barbecue sauces. "My background may be very urban," says Emmanuel-Jones. "But it has given me a good idea of what other urbanites want."
And of how to sell it. Emmanuel-Jones joins a herd of wealthy fugitives from city life who are bringing a new commercial know-how to British farming. Britain's burgeoning farmers' markets-numbers have doubled to at least 500 in the last five years – swarm with specialty cheesemakers, beekeepers or organic smallholders who are redeploying the business skills they learned in the city. "Everyone in the rural community has to come to terms with the fact that things have changed," says Emmanuel-Jones. "Y ou can produce the best food in the world, but if you don't know how to market it, you are wasting your time. We are helping the traditionalists to move on."
The emergence of the new class of superpeasants reflects some old yearnings. If the British were the first nation to industrialize, they were also the first to head back to the land. "There is this romantic image of the countryside that is particularly English," says Alun Howkins of the University of Sussex, who reckons the population of rural England has been rising since 1911. Migration into rural areas is now running at about 100,000 a year, and the hunger for a taste of the rural life has kept land prices buoyant even as agricultural incomes tumble. About 40 percent of all farmland is now sold to "lifestyle buyers" rather than the dwindling number of traditional farmers, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
What's new about the latest returnees is their affluence and zeal for the business of producing quality foods, if only at a micro-level. A healthy economy and surging London house prices have helped to ease the escape of the would-be rustics. The media recognize and feed the fantasy. One of the big TV hits of recent years, the "River Cottage" series, chronicled the attempts of a London chef to run his own Dorset farm.
Naturally, the newcomers can't hope to match their City salaries, but many are happy to trade any loss of income for the extra job satisfaction. Who cares if there's no six-figure annual bonus when the land offers other incalculable compensations?
Besides, the specialist producers can at least depend on a burgeoning market for their products. Today's eco-aware generation loves to seek out authentic ingredients. "People like me may be making a difference in a small way," Jan McCourt, a onetime investment banker now running his own 40-hectare spread in the English Midlands stocked with rare breeds.
Optimists see signs of far-reaching change: Britain isn't catching up with mainland Europe; it's leading the way. "Unlike most other countries, where artisanal food production is being eroded, here it is being recovered," says food writer Matthew Fort. "It may be the mark of the next stage of civilization that we rediscover the desirability of being a peasant." And not an investment banker.
16. Which of the following details of Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones is INCORRECT?
A. He was born and brought up in Birmingham.
B. He used to work in the television industry.
C. He is wealthy, adventurous and aspiring.
D. He is now selling his own quality foods.
17. Most importantly, people like Wilfred have brought to traditional British farming ________.
A. knowledge of farming
B. knowledge of brand names
C. knowledge of lifestyle
D. knowledge of marketing,
18. Which of the following does NOT contribute to the emergence of a new class of farmers?
A. Strong desire for country life.
B. Longing for greater wealth.
C. Influence of TV productions.
D. Enthusiasm for quality food business.
19. What is seen as their additional source of new income?
A. Modern tendency to buy natural foods.
B. Increase in the value of land property.
C. Raising and selling rare live stock.
D. Publicity as a result of media coverage.
20. The sentence in the last paragraph "... Britain isn't catching up with mainland Europe; it's leading the way" implies that
________.
A. Britain has taken a different path to boost economy.
B. more authentic foods are being produced in Britain
C. the British are heading back to the countryside
D. the Europeans are showing great interest in country life
TEXT C
In Barcelona the Catalonians call them castells, but these aren't stereotypical castles in Spain. These castles are made up of human beings, not stone. The people who perform this agile feat of acrobatics are called castellers, and to see their towers take shape is to observe a marvel of human cooperation.
First the castellers form what looks like a gigantic rugby scrummage. They are the foundation blocks of the castle. Behind them, other people press together, forming outward-radiating ramparts of inward-pushing muscle: flying buttresses for the castle. Then sturdy but lighter castellers scramble over the backs of those at the bottom and stand, barefoot, on their shoulders –then still others, each time adding a higher "story".
These human towers can rise higher than small apartment buildings: nine "stories", 35 feet into the air. Then, just When it seems this tower of humanity can't defy gravity any longer, a little kid emerges from the crowd and climbs straight up to the top. Arms extended, the child grins while waving to the cheering crowd far below.
Dressed in their traditional costumes, the castellers seem to epitomize an easier time, before Barcelona became a world metropolis arid the Mediterranean's most dynamic city. But when you observe-them tip close, in their street clothes, at practice, you see there's nothing easy about what the castellers do-and that they are not merely reenacting an ancient ritual.
None of the castellers can-give a logical answer as to why they love doing this. But V ictor Luna, 16, touches me on the shoulder and says in English: "We do it because it's beautiful. We do it because we are Catalan."
Barcelona's mother tongue is Catalan, and to understand Barcelona, you must understand two words of Catalan: seny and rauxa. Seny pretty much translates as common sense, or the ability to make money, arrange things, and get things done. Rauxa is reminiscent of our words "raucous" and "ruckus".
What makes the castellers revealing of the city is that they embody rauxa and seny. The idea of a human castle is rauxa – it defies common sense – but to watch one going up is to see seny in action. Success is based on everyone working together to achieve a shared goal.
The success of Carlos Tusquets' bank, Fibanc, shows seny at work in everyday life. The bank started as a family concern and now employs hundreds. Tusquets said it exemplifies how the economy in Barcelona is different.
Entrepreneurial seny demonstrates why Barcelona and Catalonia – the ancient region of which Barcelona is the capital –are distinct from the rest of Spain yet essential to Spain's emergence, after centuries of repression, as a prosperous, democ ratic European country. Catalonia, with Barcelona as its dynamo, has turned into an economic powerhouse. Making up 6 percent of Spain's territory, with a sixth of its people, it accounts for nearly a quarter of Spain's production – everything from textiles to computers – even though the rest of Spain has been enjoying its own economic miracle.
Hand in hand with seny goes rauxa, and there's no better place to see rauxa in action than on the Ramblas, the venerable, tree-shaded boulevard that, in gentle stages, leads you from the centre of Barcelona down to the port. There are two narrow lanes each way for cars and motorbikes, but it's the wide centre walkway that makes the Ramblas a front-row seat for Barcelona's longest running theatrical event. Plastic armchairs are set out on the sidewalk. Sit in one of them, and an attendant will come and charge you a small fee. Performance artists throng the Ramblas –stilt walkers, witches caked in
2009年6月英语四级考试真题与答案真题： Part I Writing (30 minutes) Directions: F or this part, you are allowed 30 minute to write a short essay on the topic of students selecting their lectures. You should write at least 120 words following the outline given bellow: 1. 越来越多的博物馆免费对外开放的目的是什么？ 2. 也会带来一些问题 3. 你的看法？ Free admission to museums Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes) Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1.For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choices marked A),B),C) and D). For questions 8-10, complete the
sentences with the information given in the passage. How Do You See Diversity? As a manager, Tiffany is responsible for interviewing applicants for some of the positions with her company .During one interview, she noticed that the candidate never made direct eye contact. She was puzzled and somewhat disappointed because she liked the individual otherwise. He had a perfect resume and gave good responses to her questions, but the fact that he never looked her in the eye said “untrustworthy,” so she decided to offer the job to her second choice. “It wasn’t until I attended a diversity workshop that I realized the person we passed over was the perfect person,” Tiffany confesses. What she hadn’t known at the time of the interview was that the candidate’s “different” behavior was simply a cultural misunde rstanding . He was an Asian-American raised in a household where respect for those in authority was shown by averting(避开) your eyes. “I was just thrown off by the lack of ye contact; not realizing it was cultural,” Tiffany says. “I missed out ,but will not miss that opportunity again.” Many of us have had similar encounters with behaviors we perceive
2017年12月大学英语四级考试真题及答案（第一套）Part I Writing （25 minutes） Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short easy on how to best handle the relationship between doctors and patients. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words. Part II Listening Comprehension （25 minutes） Section A Directions: In this section, you will hear three news reports. At the end of each news report, you will hear two or three questions. Both the news report and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre. Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard. 1. A) Her friend Erika. C) Her grandfather. B) Her little brother. D) Her grandmother. 2. A) By taking pictures for passers-by. C) By selling lemonade and pictures. B) By working part time at a hospital. D) By asking for help on social media. Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard. 3. A) Finding cheaper ways of highway construction. B) Generating electric power for passing vehicles. C) Providing clean energy to five million people. D) Testing the efficiency of the new solar panel. 4. A) They can stand the wear and tear of natural elements. B) They can be laid right on top of existing highways. C) They are only about half an inch thick. D) They are made from cheap materials. Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard. 5. A) Endless fighting in the region. C) Inadequate funding for research. B) The hazards from the desert. D) The lack of clues about the species. 6. A) To observe the wildlife in the two national parks. B) To identify the reasons for the lions’ disappearance. C) To study the habitat of lions in Sudan and Ethiopia.
TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2013) —GRADE FOUR— TIME LIMIT: 130 MIN PART 3 CLOZE 15 MIN Decide which of the choices given below would best complete the passage if inserted in the corresponding blanks. Mark the best choice for each blank on Answer Sheet Two. Everyone knows that taxation is necessary in a modern state: without it, it (31) _____ not be po ssible to pay the soldiers and policemen who protect us; (32) _____ the workers in government of fices who (33) _____ our health, our food, our water, and all the other things that we cannot do for ourselves. (34) _____ taxation, we pay for things that we need just (35) _____ we need somewhe re to live and something to eat. But (36) _____ everyone knows that taxation is necessary, differe nt people have different ideas about (37)____ taxation should be arranged. In most countries, a direct tax on (38) _____, which is called income tax, (39) _____. It is arrang ed in such (40)______ that the poorest people pay nothing, and the percentage of tax grows (41) _ ___ as the taxpayer's income grows. In some countries, for example, the tax on the richest people (42)______ as high as ninety-five per cent! (43) _____ countries with taxation nearly (44) _____ have indirect taxation too. Many things imported into the country have to pay taxes or “duties.”Of course, it is the men and women who buy these imported things in the shops (45)______ really have to pay the duties, in the (46) ______ of higher prices. In some countries, (47) _____, there is a tax on things sold in the shops. If the most necessary things are taxed, a lot of money is (48) _ ___ but the poor people suffer most. If unnecessary things (49)___ jewels and fur coats are taxed, less money is obtained but the tax is (50) ______ as the rich pay it. Probably this last kind of indirect tax, together with a direct tax on incomes which is low for the p oor and high for the rich, is the best arrangement. PART 4 GRAMMAR & VOCABULARY 15 MIN There are thirty sentences in this section. Beneath each sentence there are four words or phrases marked A, B, C and D. Choose one word or phrase that best completes the sentence. Mark your an swers on Answer Sheet Two. 51. Facing the board of directors, he didn?t deny ________ breaking the agreement. A. him B. it C. his D. its 52. Xinchun returned from aboard a different man. The italicized part functions as a (n) ______. A. appositive (同位语) B. object C. adverbial D. complement. 53. Which of the following is a compound word (复合词)? ______. A. Nonsmoker. B. Deadline. C. Meanness.
2014年6月大学英语四级考试真题及答案(完整版) Part I Writing (30 minutes) Directions: You should write atleast 120 words but no more than 180 words. Supposea foreign friend of yours is coming to visit your hometown, what is the mostinteresting place you would like to take him/her to see and why? Part III Reading Comprehension (40 minutes) Section A Questions 36 to 45 are based onthe following passage. Global warming is a trend towardwarmer conditions around the world. Part of the warming is natural; we haveexperienced a 20,000 -year -long warming as the last ice age ended and the ice 36 away.However, we have already reached temperatures that are in 37 withother minimum-ice periods, so continued warming is likely not natural. We are 38 toa predicted worldwide increase in temperatures 39 between 1℃and 6℃over the next 100 years. The warming will be more 40 in some areas, less in others, and some placesmay even cool
大学英语四级历年真题及答案（经典版） 2012年6月英语四级 Part ⅠWriting (30minutes) Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled Excessive Packaging following the outline given below. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words. 1.目前许多商品存在过度包装的现象 2.出现这一现象的原因 3.我对这一现象的看法和建议 On Excessive Packaging Part ⅡReading Comprehension(Skimming and Scanning)(15minutes) Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer sheet 1. For questions 1-7,choose the best answer from the four choices marked A)，B)，C）and D). For questions 8-10,complete the sentences with the information given in the passage. Small Schools Rising This year's list of the top 100 high schools shows that today, those with fewer students are flourishing. Fifty years ago, they were the latest thing in educational reform: big, modern, suburban high schools with students counted in the thousands. As baby boomers(二战后婴儿潮时期出生的人) came of high-school age, big schools promised economic efficiency. A greater choice of courses, and, of course, better football teams. Only years later did we understand the trade-offs this involved: the creation of excessive bureaucracies(官僚机构)，the difficulty of forging personal connections between teachers and students.SAT scores began dropping in 1963;today,on average,30% of students do not complete high school in four years, a figure that rises to 50% in poor urban neighborhoods. While the emphasis on teaching to higher, test-driven standards as set in No Child Left Behind resulted in significantly better performance in elementary(and some middle)schools, high schools for a variety of reasons seemed to have made little progress. Size isn't everything, but it does matter, and the past decade has seen a noticeable countertrend toward smaller schools. This has been due ,in part ,to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has invested $1.8 billion in American high schools, helping to open about 1,000 small schools-most of them with about 400 kids each with an average enrollment of only 150 per grade, About 500 more are on the drawing board. Districts all over the country are taking notice, along with mayors in cities like New York, Chicago and
英语四级考试真题 Part I Writing （30 minutes） Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay on the topic of Due Attention Should Be Given To Spelling. You should write at least 120 words following the outline given below: 1. 目前不少父母为孩子包办一切 2. 为了让孩子独立, 父母应该…… How Should Parents Help Children to Be Independent? Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes) Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choices marked [A], [B], [C] and [D]. For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage. A Grassroots Remedy Most of us spend our lives seeking the natural world. To this end, we walk the dog, play golf, go fishing, sit in the garden, drink outside rather than inside the pub, have a picnic, live in the suburbs, go to the seaside, buy a weekend place in the country. The most popular leisure activity in Britain is going for a walk. And when joggers (慢跑者) jog, they don’t run the streets. Every one of them instinctively heads to the park or the river. It is my profound belief that not only do we all need nature, but we all seek nature, whether we know we are doing so or not. But despite this, our children are growing up nature-deprived (丧失). I spent my boyhood climbing trees on Streatham Common, South London. These days, children are robbed of these ancient freedoms, due to problems like crime, traffic, the loss of the open spaces and odd new perceptions about what is best for children, that is to say, things that can be bought, rather than things that can be found. 1 / 29
大学英语四级考试真题及答案(绝对完整） Part I Writing (30 minutes) Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minute to write a short essay on the topic of students selecting their lectures. You should write at least 120 words following the outline given bellow: 1. 越来越多的博物馆免费对外开放的目的是什么？ 2. 也会带来一些问题 3. 你的看法？ Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choices marked A),B),C) and D). For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage. How Do You See Diversity? As a manager, Tiffany is responsible for interviewing applicants for some of the positions with her company .During one interview, she noticed that the candidate never made direct eye contact. She was puzzled and somewhat disappointed because she liked the individual otherwise. He had a perfect resume and gave good responses to her questions, but the fact that he never looked her in the eye said “untrustworthy,” so she decided to offer the job to her second choice. “It wasn’t until I attended a diversity workshop that I realized the person we passed over was the perfect person,” Tiffany confesses. What she hadn’t known at the time of the interview was that the candidate’s “different” behavior was simply a cultural misunderstanding . He was an Asian-American raised in a household where respect for those in authority was shown by averting(避开) your eyes. “I was just thrown off by the lack of ye contact; not realizing it was cultural,” Tiffany says. “I missed out ,but will not miss that opportunity again.” Many of us have had similar encounters with behaviors we perceive as different. As the world becomes smaller and our workplaces more diverse, it is becoming essential to expand our under-standing of others and to reexamine some of our false assumptions . Hire Advantage At a time when hiring qualified people is becoming more difficult ,employers who can eliminate invalid biases(偏爱) from the process have a distinct advantage .My company, Mindsets LLC ,helps organizations and individuals see their own blind spots . A real estate recruiter we worked with illustrates the positive difference such training can make .
历年英语四级的真题作|文往年英语四级真题（精选）2011年6月英语四级作文题目： 网购Online Shopping 1. 现在网上购物已成为一种时尚 2. 网上购物有很多好处，但也有不少问题 3. 我的建议 参考范文1 Nowadays with the ever rapid development and increasing popularity of the information technology , shopping on the internet has been a fashion especially among the youngsters. Online shopping has made our daily life more convenient and comfortable. For example , shopping on the internet can save students a great deal of time on the way between home and store, so they would be able to concentrate more time and energy on their academic work. The internet has shorten the distance between manufacturers and consumers and thus we can even buy goods in other countries .On the other hand , lack of the face to face deal makes online shopping less reliable and trustworthy. What’ s more the delivery will increase the risk of items’ damage. In my opinion, shopping on the internet is a irreversible trend. More and more people will be accustomed to it. It will
英语专业四级考试真题及答案（完整版） TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2013) —GRADE FOUR— TIME LIMIT: 135 MIN PART I DICTATION [15 MIN] Listen to the following passage. Altogether the passage will be read to you four times. During the first reading, which will be done at normal speed, listen and try to understand the meaning. For the second and third readings, the passage will be read sentence by sentence, or phrase by phrase, with intervals of 15 seconds. The last reading will be done at normal speed again and during this time you should check your work. You will then be given 2 minutes to check through your work once more. Please write the whole passage on ANSWER SHEET ONE. PART II LISTENING COMPREHENSION [20 MIN] In Sections A, B and C you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the best answer to each question on Answer Sheet Two. SECTION A CONVERSATIONS In this section you will hear several conversations. Listen to the conversations carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Questions 1 to 3 are based on the following conversation. At the end of the conversation, you will be given 15 seconds to answer the questions.
英语四级考试真题及答案(卷一完整 版) 范文： Writing：家长角色 There are several possible reasons accountable for this phenomenon(中心句). To begin with, family in growing numbers has only one child; therefore, parents oftentimes focus all their attentions on that child and exert much pressure on him or her(原因一). Moreover, numerous parents intend to realize their unfulfilled dreams by letting their children learn what they failed to learn and apply for the college by which they failed to be accepted, because they have become richer and they believe that they have the power to make what they wanted and want come true now(原因二). For instance, my uncle used to be a poor man and his dream that one day he would become a violinist was broken because of lack of money. But he made a fortune by selling coals, and then forced his son, my younger brother to practice playing violin. My brother was a huge fan of sports, but now he has to play violin everyday unwillingly and ofter quarrels with their parents(举例：原来-然后-结局). To sum up, it is unreasonable for parents to control their children’s life(总结句). In order to help them grow happily
2011年12月英语四级真题 Part Ⅰ Writing (30 minutes) 注意：此部分试题在答题卡1上． For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled Nothing Succeeds Without a Strong Will by commenting on the humorous saying, "Quitting smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I've done it hundreds of times." You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words. Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) Why Integrity Matters What is Integrity? The key to integrity is consistency--not only setting high personal standards for oneself (honesty, responsibility, respect for others, fairness) but also living up to those standards each day. One who has integrity is bound by and follows moral and ethical standards even when making life's hard choices, choices which may be clouded by stress, pressure to succeed, or temptation. What happens if we lie, cheat, steal, or violate other ethical standards? We feel disappointed in ourselves and ashamed. But a lapse of integrity also affects our relationships with others. Trust is essential in any important relationship, whether personal or professional. Who can trust someone who is dishonest or unfair? Thus, integrity must be one of our most important goals. Risky Business We are each responsible for our own decisions, even if the decision-making process has been undermined by stress or peer pressure. The real test of character is whether we can learn from our mistake, by understanding why we acted as we did, and then exploring ways to avoid similar problems in the future. Making ethical decisions is a critical part of avoiding future problems. We must learn to recognize risks, because if we can't see the risks we're taking, we can't make responsible choices. To identify risks, we need to know the rules and be aware of the facts. For example, one who doesn't know the rules about plagiarism may accidentally use words or ideas without giving proper credit, or one who fails to keep careful research notes may unintentionally fail to quote and cite sources as required. But the fact that such a violation is "unintentional" does not excuse the misconduct. Ignorance is not a defense. "But Everybody Does It" Most people who get in trouble do know the rules and facts, but manage to fool themselves about the risks they're taking by using excuses: "Everyone else does it," "I'm not hurting anyone," or "I really need this grade." Excuses can get very elaborate: "I know I'm looking at another's exam, even though I'm supposed to keep my eyes on my own paper, but that's not cheating because I'm just checking my answers, not copying." We must be honest about our actions, and avoid excuses. If we fool ourselves into believing we're not doing anything wrong, we can't see the real choice we're making--and that leads to bad decisions. To avoid fooling yourself, watch out for excuses and try this test: Ask how you would feel if your actions were public, and anyone could be watching over your shoulder. Would you feel proud or ashamed of your actions? If you'd rather hide your actions, that's a good indication that you're taking a risk and rationalizing it to yourself.