2016年大英赛阅读大赛样题

2016National English Competition forCollege Students(Level D-Sample)参考答案及评分标准Part I.Listening Comprehension(30marks)Section A(5marks)1—5BABDCSection B(10marks)6—10CBDCA11—15BADBDSection C(5marks)16—20ACADBSection D(10marks)21.due to22.responsible to23.theoretical powers24.representing25.identify with 26.worries and anxieties27.wealthiest28.rather than29.makes a profit30.take into accountPart II Vocabulary,Grammar and Culture(15marks)Section A Vocabulary and Grammar(10marks)31—35ADABD36—40ACDDCSection B Culture(5marks)41—45ADDBCPart III Cloze(10marks)46.risen47.sing48.drastically49.maximum50.where51.increasing52.being53.without54.However55.dangerPart IV Reading Comprehension(35marks)Section A(5marks)56—60TFFFTSection B(10marks)61—65FCDBASection C(10marks)66.Pizza.67.Similarity:They are both fast food.Difference:The pizza is easy to make,easy to serve,much more varied than the hamburger.1--68.The Greeks.69.Because it is Mexico and Peru that provide the tomatoes pizza needs.70.After World War II.Section D(10marks)71.effective72.break easily73.snakebots74.modules75.versatility and affordabiliyPart V Translation(15marks)I(5marks)76.由于英国地铁图清晰且彩色编制，乘客乘坐地铁不会有太大问题。

2016“外研社杯”全国英语阅读大赛样题Part I Read and KnowIn Part I, you will read short texts of various kinds. Read the instructions carefully and answer the questions. (Time allowed: 22 minutes)Questions 1-3 (Suggested completion time: 5 minutes)Directions: Read the following quotes. Match the quotes on the left with the people on the right. Please note there are two extra options you do not need to use.Questions 4 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text, and answer the question according to the text.To ensure the high standards of facilities we need to build new wards, laboratories and consulting rooms. In short, we need your help now. Complete the coupon today and rest assured that your donation is going to the best possible cause.4. Where is the piece of text taken from?A. an advertisementB. an instruction bookletC. a storyD. a newspaperQuestions 5 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text, and answer the question according to the text.Few corners of the world remain untainted by intrepid tourists, and their impact is often devastating. Too frequently they trample heedlessly on fragile environments, displacing wildlife and local populations in their insatiable quest for unexplored locations.5. What is the best title for this text?A. The future of tourismB. The role of tourismC. The price of tourismD. The benefits of tourismQuestions 6 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text, and answer the question according to the text.Buying and selling anything is your forte now. If you visit a jumble or car-boot sale or the like, a romantic encounter is more than probable! News linked to the family is brilliant!6. What type of text is this?A. A personal advertisement.B. A personal horoscope.C. A friend’s letter of advice.D. A written warning.Questions 7 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text, and answer the question according to the text.With our travel agency, the holiday you book is the holiday you get. If you arrive and find we’ve failed to live up to our promises, let us know what the problem is within one day of your arrival. We’ll spend 24 hours doing everything possible to sort the problem out. In the unlikely event that we can’t resolve your problem and make you happy within 24 hours, we’ll fly you home and give your money back.7. The text could best be described as __________.A. a commitmentB. an appealC. a warningD. a vowQuestions 8 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text, and answer the question according to the text.The new digital cameras are great fun and very easy to use. They let you review your pictures the moment you take them, so you can re-shoot right away if you’re not satisfied. But remember, a digital camera is just a computer XXXX. It’s not a replacement for your ordinary camera.8. What is the meaning of the missing word (XXXX) in the text?A. “something that is poor quality”B. “an item that is not essential, something extra”C. “something expensive but good value for money”D. “a fashion which always remains popular”Questions 9 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text, and answer the question according to the text.She had gone alone, but the children were to go to the station to meet her. And loving the station as they did, it was only natural that they should be there a good hour before there was any chance of Mother’s train arriving, even if the train were punctual, which was most unlikely.9. What can you say about their mother’s train?A. It would probably be early.B. It would probably be on time.C. It would probably be late.D. It had been cancelled.Question 10 (Suggested completion time: 5 minutes)Directions: The bar chart shows the number and proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions, from 1990¬1992 to 2014¬2016. Answer the question according to the information in the chart.Source: The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Report201510. Choose the INCORRECT description about the chart.A.Current estimates suggest that nearly one in nine individuals do not have enough to eatbetween 2014 and 2016.B.Projections indicate that the 2015 MDG target is nearly reached, with 12.9 per cent ofundernourished population.C.The situation noticeably improved during the years 1995-1999, but went down in thefirst five years of the new millennium.D.The proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions has fallen by almosthalf since 1990.Part II Read and ReasonIn Part II, you will read short texts on different subjects. Read the instructions carefully and answer the questions based on logical inference and reasoning. (Time allowed: 38 minutes)Question 11-12 (Suggested completion time: 10 minutes)Directions: Read the definitions of two types of logical fallacy. Answer the questions according to the definitions.11. Which of the following provides a typical example of poisoning the well?A. That’s my stance on funding the education system, and anyone who disagrees with mehates children.B. You are so weird. That means—we are pretty much sure—that your whole family is weird,too.C. God exists because the Bible says so. The Bible is inspired. Therefore, we know that Godexists.D. I don’t care what you say. We don’t need any more booksh elves. As long as the carpet isclean, we are fine.12. Which of the following provides a typical example of a false dilemma?A. Smoking is harmful to health, so you are supposed to quit smoking.B. If the government doesn’t reduce public spendi ng, our economy will collapse.C. You may as well avoid overeating, or else you might be obese in no time.D. You are the worst of the classmates; therefore, what you say is incredible.Questions 13 (Suggested completion time: 4 minutes)Directions: Read the passage about syllogism. Decide whether the reasonings are Valid or Invalid based on the principles of syllogism.Syllogism is a kind of logical argument that applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion based on two or more propositions tha t are asserted or assumed to be true. It is perhaps today’s most commonly accepted form of logical reasoning in aptitude tests. The most commonly used type of syllogisms is elucidated in a frequently used example:Premise 1: All men are mortal.Premise 2: Socrates is a man.Conclusion: Socrates is mortal.Now practice syllogisms for IQ tests. Please note that the conclusion is based on logical reasoning and doesn’t necessarily represent the “truth” always.13. Valid ( ); Invalid ( )Premise 1: All human action is conditioned by circumstances.Premise 2: All human action involves morality.Conclusion: All that involves morality is conditioned by circumstances.Questions 14 (Suggested completion time: 4 minutes)Directions: Read the passage about contraposition. Decide whether the reasonings are Valid or Invalid based on the principles of contraposition.In logic, contraposition is a law that says that a conditional statement is logically equivalent to its contrapositive. The contrapositive of the statement has its antecedent and consequent inverted and flipped. The most commonly used type of contraposition is elucidated in the following example:Premise 1: If it is raining, then there are clouds in the sky.Premise 2: There are no clouds in the sky.Conclusion: It is not raining.Now practice contraposition for IQ tests. Please note that the conclusion is based on logical reasoning and doesn’t necessarily represent the “truth” always.14. Valid ( ); Invalid ( )Premise 1: If he is not an American, he is not from Texas.Premise 2: He is from Texas.Conclusion: He is an American.Questions 15-17 (Suggested completion time: 6 minutes)Directions: Read the text about a science discovery. Answer the questions according to the text.Manipulating MemoryMemory is notoriously malleable. Our recollections fade and take onnew meanings; sometimes we remember things that never evenhappened. But 15 .Recently, however, scientists have started to grasp and tinker with memory’s physical basis. L ast year, in work evocative of films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Inception, researchers discovered ways to manipulate specific memories in mice using optogenetics, a powerful technique that can trigger nerve cells in animals’ brains b y zapping them with beams of laser light. In a series of experiments, they showed that they could delete existing memories and “incept” false ones.This year, researchers went even further: switching the emotional content of a memory in mice from bad to good and vice versa. Under the laser, for example, male mice that had once associated a certain room with being shocked were tricked into acting as though they had once met friendly female mice there instead.Whether the mice in these experiments actually experienced vivid false memories or just a fuzzy sense of pleasure or fear is unclear. Nor is it clear whether the findings apply to the tricks of memory so familiar to people. Long-sought therapeutic advances, such as treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder, could remain far off. One thing is certain, however: Once considered beyond scientific dissection, memory is finally starting to yield its secrets.15. Which of the following best fits the numbered space in the passage?A.what is really happening in our brain as memories are remodeled remains mysteriousB.scientists are curious about why people are oblivious to what have happened to themC.advanced technology has helped scientists discover the workings of our brainD.some scientists argue that what we observe about human memory is not what it really is16. The word “incept” is closest in meaning to ________.A. operateB. startC. detectD. occupy17. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?A.People’s false memories result from the im pact of different emotion provoked by laterexperience on the same spot.B.The success in research indicates that it won’t be long that a therapy is worked out forpeople disturbed by painful memory.C.By zapping the brain cells of mice with light, researchers are able to create, erase, or altertheir memories, good or bad.D.Many fancy ideas in science fictions or movies that are based on them actually drawgreatly upon scientific achievement.Questions 18-19 (Suggested completion time: 4 minutes)Directions: Read the following passage about cholera. Decide whether the statements are True or False according to the passage.A child receives the oral cholera vaccine ShancholCholera is caused by a bacterial infection of the intestine. Approximately one in 20 people infected with cholera has a serious case, with symptoms including severe diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps. These symptoms quickly cause dehydration and shock, and can result in death within hours if the infected person doesn’t receive treatment. C holera is typically transmitted by contaminated food or water. In areas with poor treatment of sewage and drinking water, the feces of people with cholera can enter the water supply and spread quickly, resulting in an epidemic. The cholera bacterium may also live in the environment in some coastal waters, so shellfish eaten raw can be a source of cholera in affected areas.18. Cholera is known to be a life-threatening disease which easily causes death of most of the patients.True ( ) False ( )19. Cholera typically occurs in areas near the sea or the river where contaminated food is a major source of the disease.True ( ) False ( )Questions 20-21 (Suggested completion time: 5 minutes)Directions: Read the abstract of a research paper from the DeepMind website. Decide whether the statements are True or False according to the abstract.Teaching Machines to Read and ComprehendAuthors: K. M. Hermann, T. Kočiský, E. Grefenstette, L. Espeholt, W. Kay, M. Suleyman, P. Blunsom Published: NIPS 2015Abstract: Teaching machines to read natural language documents remains an elusive challenge. Machine reading systems can be tested on their ability to answer questions posed on the contents of documents that they have seen, but until now large scale training and test datasets have been missing for this type of evaluation. In this work we define a new methodology that resolves this bottleneck and provides large scale supervised reading comprehension data. This allows us to develop a class of attention based deep neural networks that learn to read real documents and answer complex questions with minimal prior knowledge of language structure.20. Previous studies didn’t take constant effort to evaluate the reading ability of artificial intelligence machines, which was why the present research was conducted.True ( ) False ( )21. One implication of the research is that a methodology that helps gather and handle big data is indispensible to artificial intelligence related studies.True ( ) False ( )Questions 22-23 (Suggested completion time: 5 minutes)Directions: Read the passage about the “Think small” advertising campaign. Answer the questions according to the passage.Think SmallI f you’re interested in marketing and advertising, Volkswagen’s“Think small” campaign for the Beetle when it was firstintroduced to North America in 1959 looms large as one of thegreatest advertising campaigns of all time. It wasn’t just arevolution in automotive advertising; it changed the entireindustry.Until the Beetle hit the market, automotive marketing copy wasfull of bluster, and the images were flights of fancy, emphasizinglow, long lines and a fantasy lifestyle.The clean, simple photography on a white background that emphasized the Beetle’s compact, practical form may seem commonplace these days, but it was a revolution in a world where Americans grew up obsessed with muscle cars, horsepower, and tire smoke. Making the car small, when the convention was to make it fill the page, was also novel. The simplistic approach to design and layout was totally contrary to the advertising conventions of the time.__ 22__ The text was minimalist in both look and content, presenting the facts simply instead of trying to weave tall tales and fantasies; and instead of bluster, it ushered in an intelligent sense of humor that made readers feel like they were in on the joke. The message was one of smartanti-luxury, and took gentle aim at an industry obsessed with superficiality and styling, rather than the substance underneath the car bodies.Not only does “Think small” continue to inspire Volkswagen advertising to this day, it ushered in a creative revolution in the advertising business and changed the world of marketing forever. “Think small” showed the power of hum or and honesty, and its photographic and design principles brought about a major shift in the look and feel of marketing around the world.22. Which of the sentences below best fits the numbered space in the passage?A.What defined the ad even more than its visual style was the tone of its copy.B.This ad starts off doing the exact opposite of what you would expect in a car ad.C.This was an exercise in minimalism and a very accurate reflection on the product itself.D.The car wasn’t depicted as an integral piece o f the daily lives of a middle class family.23. It can be inferred that the advertising conventions of the 1950s were reflected in the following except that ___________.A.the ads in the 1950s typically showed proud owners and passengers evoking great joyabout new shiny big acquisitions.B.the marketing concept then focused on providing as much information as possible to thereader such as the way it’s created.C.the marketing schemes associated the advertised product with an idea or a way of livingfrom average consumers’ perspective.D.the marketing practice may attach importance to a sense of humor brought by the use ofexaggerated language.Part III Read and QuestionIn Part III, you will read passages on the same subject. You will be required to identify th e writer’s position and evaluate the effectiveness of the writer’s arguments. (Time allowed: 30 minutes)Questions 24-35 (Suggested completion time: 30 minutes)Directions: Read three passages about fashion. Answer the questions according to the passages.Passage AIt’s not that easy to answer the question, “what is fashion?” because it means different things to different people. Fashion is an art. It’s a religion. It’s a job. It’s a peek into a personality. It’s playfulness. It’s an escape or a disguis e. It is a feast for the eyes. But ultimately, 25 . French fashion designer Coco Chanel once said, “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is ha ppening.”It’s true. Fashion isn’t defined solely by our clothing choices, but is also conveyed through the way we carry ourselves, our personalities and our views of the world. At its most fundamental, fashion is simply the prevailing style or custom, as in dress or behavior.So, who exactly answers the question “what is fashion”? Who decides what’s fashionable and what isn’t? What’s in or what’s out?Fashion Designers. The iconic fashion houses—Prada, Gucci, Chanel—are referred to as haute couture, Frenc h for “high sewing.” These designers lead the way in creating trend-setting fashion. While some of their designs are outrageous and completely unrealistic when it comes to everyday wear, generally the theme is adapted into versions suitable for wearing.Media. Fashion trends are often sparked by characters on popular television shows and movies as well as adopted from magazine pages. “Sex and the City,” “The Devil Wears Prada,” these shows introduced us to new, cutting-edge designs. While you might not be caught dead wearing a Carrie Bradshaw original, you might take ideas inspired from her look and piece together your own creation.Celebrities. A prime example of a celebrity-driven fashion trend? UGGs. Until Kate Hudson and Jessica Simpson were spotted wearing them around L.A. several years ago, no one had given any thought to UGG boots. Now they are everywhere.Musicians. Musicians have always been very influential when it comes to dictating fashion. Rock ‘n’ roll is fashion. Elvis is an iconic example. In the 1950s, everyone wanted to dress like Elvis. What about the heavy metal hair bands so popular in the 1980s? Axl Rose reinvented the head bandana while Poison, Motley Crue and Bon Jovi set the pace for big, rocker hair.Just because you don’t know if a Prada bag is fall 2007 or spring 2008 doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you like it and it’s an expression of you. That is fashion.Passage BFashion is more prevalent in modern society than in primitive tribes or peasant communities. The modern society is an open society where class distinctions are not so rigid as in primitive society. Its urban and mobile class structure enables people to cultivate individual taste and adopt new course. The modern society is more tolerant of differences and therefore places few shackles on the cycle of fashion. Our standards of judgment have also changed. Today the individual is rated more by observable externalities than by his ancestry, his character or his genuine accomplishments. The clothes a man wears, the language he speaks, the manners he shows have more weight in ascribing a status than his simplicity, patriotism and integrity.If he can keep himself up to date in the matters of his dress, speech and manners, he will assure himself a high social esteem. Not only the mobile and urban character of modern society but its affluence also speaks for greater prevalence of fashion in it. Men today are richer than their ancestors and have more leisure. They have the necessary means and time to play with luxuries and to think of fashion. Maclver writes: We do not think of fashion in overalls; there is more of fashion in the body of an automobile than in its chassis. There is no fashion in steam shovels. Consequently the higher the standard of living the more material there is for fashion to operate upon.Passage CAs summer has officially faded into the colder weather of autumn, I assumed the days of Nike shorts, comically large T-shirts and polos would be only a memory of yesterday. This has not been the case.Fashion, in and of itself, is already a type of conformism. In order to be considered fashion, a look, a garment or a stylistic choice must be deemed fashionable.Who gets to decide this—what is fashionable? While certain fashion heavyweights play a role in this decision, the ultimate decision is left to the public.As I was surfing the Web recently for inspiration for this column, I came across the Prada website. What I discovered literally caused me to gasp. Of course, everyone knows Prada is an expensive brand—a luxury—but what I discovered shocked me: a keychain priced at $180. No, this keychain was not solid gold or encased in diamonds. It was simply a keychain: a skull with the word “Prada” on a small charm.How can a company charge $180 for a keychain? The answer: people are willing to pay for it. People know the brand and conform to the idea of owning a piece of such an Italian “luxury.”This is nonsensical. Why do we choose to wear miniscule shorts in frigid weather or spend nearly $200 on a charm? Such decisions are influenced by peers, the media and the personal resolution to not make rational, individualistic choices. We cling to the idea of acceptance.In short, we often choose to abide by the pressures of social conventionality, and this leads us to make ridiculous selections—pairing Ugg boots with shorts or wearing neon with camouflage—which we would otherwise not make.I am certainly shamefaced in my occasional conformity to these ludicrous fashion folkways. I am guilty of donning Crocs in public. Yikes!Transient, often preposterous trends referred to as fads inspire some rather strange ideas. Who can recall the pet rocks of the ‘70s or Popples of the ‘80s? Such pop trends are not confined to behavior; they bleed into the fashion world, evidenced in overly distressed jeans, the most painful of neon shades, shoes that resemble Swiss cheese and a host of other fads I do not have the space to mention.I refuse to give up hope for societal common sense.One day we will comprehend that shorts are for the summer and ridiculously expensive keychains are for “never.” Do not allow others to dictate for you. Be bold. Be an individual. Do not buy the keychain.24. The phrase “might not be caught dead” in Passage A most probably means ______.A.would rather not die anywayB.might not be caught red handedC.would refuse completely to do somethingD.might be uneasy though doing something25. Which of the following best fits the numbered space in Passage A?A.fashion is an individual statement of expression for each of usB.fashion facilitates social change by providing a transitional stageC.fashion is not an individual choice but a group choiceD.fashion determines our speech, opinion, dress, music, art, etc.26. It can be inferred from Passage A that fashion designers, media, celebrities and musicians share the following views except ______.A.that fashion is anything but separated from the daily life of ordinary people.B.that nothing completely absurd and unrealistic can finally become fashion.C.that fashion is what society accepts and has an element of social sanction behind it.D.that if a particular choice remains confined to an individual it can’t be called fashion.27. The word “affluence” in Passage B is closest in meaning to ______.A. versatilityB. wealthinessC. peculiarityD. charisma28. According to Passage B, which of the following attributes may probably be more important than others for an individual to be favorably received now?A. A wide range of erudition.B. Loyalty to his or her friends.C. A passion for popular novels.D. Good virtues such as honesty.29. Which of the following is NOT true about the author’s attitude towards fashion according to Passage C?A.The author thinks it a waste of time mentioning a list of examples of irrational fads.B.People are mad about fashion and therefore lose their own good judgment.C.The author never allows himself to be carried away by the fashion trends.D.Behind the behavior of keeping up with fashion is a need to stay in the crowd.30-31. Decide whether the statements are True or False according to the three passages.30. All the three passages agree that fashion plays a role in the interplay of class relations that it satisfies the contrary desires for novelty and for conformity.True ( ) False ( )31. None of the three passages are denying conventional social values in people’s judgment, for example, what’s considered good about things or people.True ( ) False ( )Part IV Read and CreateIn Part IV, you will read a passage and then write a short essay according to it. You should write with clarity and logic. (Time allowed: 40 minutes)Question 32 (Suggested completion time: 40 minutes)Directions: Read a passage from Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking the Truth in the Sciences. Write a short essay according to the passage.… And as a multitude of laws often only hampers justice, so that a state is best governed when, with few laws, these are rigidly administered; in like manner, instead of the great number of precepts of which logic is composed, I believed that the four following would prove perfectly sufficient for me, provided I took the firm and unwavering resolution never in a single instance to fail in observing them.The first was never to accept anything for true which I did not clearly know to be such; that is to say, carefully to avoid precipitancy and prejudice, and to comprise nothing more in my judgment than what was presented to my mind so clearly and distinctly as to exclude all ground of doubt.The second, to divide each of the difficulties under examination into as many parts as possible, and as might be necessary for its adequate solution.The third, to conduct my thoughts in such order that, by commencing with objects the simplest and easiest to know, I might ascend by little and little, and, as it were, step by step, to the knowledge of the more complex; assigning in thought a certain order even to those objects which in their own nature do not stand in a relation of antecedence and sequence.And the last, in every case to make enumerations so complete, and reviews so general, that I might be assured that nothing was omitted.The long chains of simple and easy reasonings by means of which geometers are accustomed to reach the conclusions of their most difficult demonstrations, had led me to imagine that all things, to the knowledge of which man is competent, are mutually connected in the same way, and that there is nothing so far removed from us as to be beyond our reach, or so hidden that we cannot discover it, provided only we abstain from accepting the false for the true, and always preserve in our thoughts the order necessary for the deduction of one truth from another. And I had little difficulty in determining the objects with which it was necessary to commence, for I was already persuaded that it must be with the simplest and easiest to know, and, considering that of all those who have hitherto sought truth in the sciences, the mathematicians alone have been able to find any demonstrations, that is, any certain and evident reasons, I did not doubt but that such must have been the rule of their investigations.32. Answer the topic questions with no less than 300 words. You should write in YOUR OWN words:What is the main issue that Descartes explores in this part of the text, and w hat’s his method?。

2016年“外研社杯”全国英语阅读大赛一、大赛主题“‘外研社杯’全国英语阅读大赛”于2015年举办，旨在通过比赛的设计，为大学生提供阅读实践的机会和自我挑战的舞台。

赛题将以国际化人才要求为标准，融入思辨性、拓展性和创造性等关键要素，增强学生的跨文化交际意识，开拓其国际视野，提升其国际素养。

二、大赛组织主办单位：外语教学与研究出版社、北京外研在线教育科技有限公司合办单位：教育部高等学校大学外语教学指导委员会教育部高等学校英语专业教学指导分委员会中国外语教育研究中心三、参赛对象全国具有高等学历教育招生资格的普通高等学校在校本、专科学生、研究生（不包括在职研究生），35岁以下，中国国籍。

曾获得往届“‘外研社杯’全国英语写作大赛”出国及港澳交流奖项的选手不包括在内。

四、参赛方式初赛：符合参赛资格的高校学生可直接向本校外语院（系）或大学外语教学部咨询、报名和参加初赛。

复赛：初赛结束后，举办初赛的外语院（系）或大学外语教学部向本省（市、自治区）大学外语教学研究会报名参加复赛。

每校参赛人数由本省（市、自治区）大学外语教学研究会确定并公布。

决赛：复赛结束后，各省（市、自治区）大学外语教学研究会将获得决赛资格的3名选手向大赛组委会秘书处报名参加全国决赛。

五、参赛注册（报名）大赛官方网站将于2016年6月27日起开放注册窗口。

所有报名参赛的选手必须在大赛官网注册，填写个人信息。

参赛选手在大赛网站注册时所用的电子邮箱及手机号将作为参加复赛和决赛时登录大赛写作系统的重要认证信息。

没有注册的选手无法参加复赛。

参赛选手注册的个人信息须准确、真实。

如经组委会查证与真实情况不符，将取消其参赛资格。

六、赛题构成“‘外研社杯’全国英语阅读大赛”比赛内容包含四个环节：Part I. Read and Know（读以明己）Part II. Read and Reason（读以察世）Part III. Read and Question（读以启思）Part VI. Read and Create（读以言志）七、组织形式初赛参赛方式：各参赛学校作为初赛赛点，由本校外语院（系）或大学外语教学部负责组织实施。

2016年全国大学生英语竞赛样题（C级）2016National English Competition for College Students(Level C-Sample)（Total:150marks Time:120minutes）Part I Listening Comprehension(30marks)Section A(5marks)In this section,you will hear five short conversations.Each conversation will be read only once.A t the end of each conversation,there will be a twenty-second pause.During the pause,read the question and the four choices marked A,B,C and D,and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on the answer sheet with a single line through the centre.1.How will the man go to the ski slopes after his air journey?A.He will fly another short journey.B.The travel agency booked him a coach ticket.C.A friend will provide him with a lift.D.The man would like to take a taxi.2.What is the woman’s opinion towards e-learning?A.She is in favour of it.B.The woman doesn’t like it.C.Nobody knows what it is.D.E-learning will encourage people reading more.3.Which topic are they going to choose for their project?A.Recycling.B.Greenhouse effect.C.Environment.D.Pollution.4.What is the man planning to do next week?A.Hold a small business expo.B.Visit an expo and meet specialists.C.Register a computer training course.D.Represent the company to attend an expo.5.What is the relationship between the two speakers probably?A.Doctor and patient.B.Professor and student.C.Mother and son.D.Teacher and colleague.1--Section B(10marks)In this section,you will hear two long conversations.Each conversation will be read only once. At the end of each conversation,there will be a one-minute pause.During the pause,read the questions and the four choices marked A,B,C and D,and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on the answer sheet with a single line through the centre. Conversation One6.Why is Rachel coming to see Dr.Jones?A.Dr Jones needs her further explanation of an extension for her essay.B.She happened to meet him and stopped to have a chat.C.Rachel needs some suggestions from Dr.Jones.D.They had an appointment to talk about her degree.7.What is Rachel’s decision on her topic of the essay?A.Environmental conditions in19th century factories.B.Working conditions of hospitals in19th century northern towns.C.Pros and Cons of changing working conditions in19th century.D.How to improve working conditions in southern towns in19th century.8.Why did Rachel choose the topic at last?A.There are lots of sources that she can refer to.B.No one else chose the topic as it is a rare one.C.That is the topic Dr.Jones recommended to her.D.She can finish the project on the internet.9.What is Dr.Jones’attitude toward Racher’s essay?A.He would rather her choosing another topic.B.The essay is only80percent completed.C.She needs to rewrite it because he was too down about it.D.There are still much further editing job to do.10.Which part of Rachel’s essay did Dr.Jones appreciate most?A.The introduction.B.The middle part.C.The end of it.D.The bibliography.Conversation Two11.What is Glaeser’s opinion towards cities?A.It is very dirty and no longer good to live in cities.B.They are too crowded with exploded population.C.Cities are extraordinary in creating opportunities.D.We need to save the industry and garments in cities.2--12.What did globalization bring to older cities,such as New York,in1970s?A.New technologies and prosperity.B.The rising of garment industry.C.Reductions in population.D.A severe depression.13.What is the current role of cities in the world?A.Cities are more and more important.B.They are less important than before.C.People believe cities are always the heart of manufacturing.D.There are advantages in cities in market opportunities.14.What is the main focus of Glaeser’s book Triumph of the City?A.Techniques of looking for jobs in cities.B.His legend in travelling around the world.C.Pleasure and prospects of living in cities.parisons between living in cities and countryside.15.According to Glaeser,what is the advantage of countries with more than half population living in urban areas comparing to those with less than half population living in urban areas?A.Less happier.B.Much richer.C.More relaxed.D.Very depressed. Section C(5marks)In this section,you will hear five short news items.After each item,which will be read only once,there will be a twenty-second pause.During the pause,read the question and the four choices marked A,B,C and D,and decide which is the best answer.Then mark the corre原sponding letter on the answer sheet with a single line through the centre.16.Where is the Consumer Electronics Show held each year?A.New York.s Vegas.C.WashingtonD.C. D.Around the world.17.What is the side effect of convertional three-balde wind turbines?A.The blades are easily broken.B.They are slow in catching wind.C.They cause serious pollution.D.They kill lots of birds while rotating.18.Why bicycles-riding accidents increase in big cities?A.As there are no bicycle lanes in most cities.B.Because riders sometimes distract attention from riding.C.Because of riders’lack of maps and navigation in the dark.D.Due to riders’always making phone calls while riding.3--19.Which of the following is mentioned to be an importanted part of October celebration?A. B. C. D.20.What are scientists going to do with the tiny clumps of organic matter drifting in the ocean?A.To do the research on food chain in the ocean.B.To collect samples of new species in the ocean.C.To predict future changes in our climate.D.To calculate certain sensitive instruments.Section D(10marks)In this section,you will hear a short passage.There are10missing words or phrases.Fill in the blanks with the exact words or phrases you hear.The passage will be read twice.Remember to write the answers on the answer sheet.Barcelona,Spain in a privileged position on the northeastern coast of the Iberian peninsula and the shores of the Mediterranean,Barcelona is the21.city in Spain in both size and population.It is also the capital of Catalonia,an Autonomous Community within Spain.There are two official languages spoken in Barcelona:Catalan,generally spoken in all of Catalonia, and Castillian Spanish.The city of Barcelona has a population of1.510.000,but this number 22.more than4.000.000if the outlying areas are also included.The capital of Catalonia is unequivocally a Mediterranean city,not only because of its23.but also and above all because of its history,tradition and24..The documented history of the city25. the founding of a Roman colony on its soil in the second century B.C.Modern Barcelona experienced spectacular growth and26.at the onset of industrialization during the second half of the19th century.The1888World蒺s Fair became a symbol of the capacity for hard work and the international outlook projected for the city.Culture and the arts27. Barcelona and in all of Catalonia;the splendor achieved by Catalonian modernism is one of the most patent displays.Barcelona,more than just a single city,is really a collection of28.cities.The visitor unfamiliar with its history might be surprised by the fact that such a29.city preserves its historic Gothic center almost intact,or by the curious contrast between the maze of narrow streets and the grid-like layout of the Eixample,the urban planning“Enlargement”project of the end of the19th century;or that beside a modern high-rise,we can also find a quaint square where the most outstanding decorative element is30.,an echo of the old factories that were installed there in the past.4--Part II Vocabulary,Grammar&Culture(15marks)There are15incomplete sentences in this section.For each blank there are four choices marked A,B,C and D.Choose the one that best completes the sentence.Then mark the corre原sponding letter on the answer sheet with a single line through the centre.Section A Vocabulary and Grammar(10marks)31.Most elderly people have to live the money they when they were working.A.off;laid upB.up;set upC.on;put asideD.by;put back32.It is certain that American English has very influenced British English,especially in the last quarter of the century.A.extremelyB.numerouslyC.excessivelyD.considerably33.—Why doesn’t Janet stay with her relatives in New York?—She in Boston.A.has only relativesB.has relatives onlyC.only has relativesD.relatives has only34.The Mayor and his fellow were for some way of ridding the town of Rats.A.at their wit’s endB.at their wits endC.in their wit’s endD.for their wits end35.Scientists will have to come new methods of increasing the world’s food supply.A.up withB.down withC.up forD.down to36.When shopping in a supermarket,people just put items they like into the basket and then pay them at the entrance.A.that;ofB.Which;forC.Whichever;beforeD.Whatsover;off37.in a worldwide competition,the two students were awarded scholarships totaling $30,000.A.To be judged the bestB.Having judged the bestC.Judged the bestD.Judging the best38.They continue to buy proper books,too,on good paper and bound hard covers.A.printed;betweenB.planned;inC.arranged;ofD.published;among39.—Listen!Do you feel like going out for Greek food tonight?—Well,I have exams tomorrow,Thursday and Friday.—That’s too bad,Well,maybe next week.A.I was thinking about6:00.B.How about French food?C.I can’t make it this week.D.I can’t agree with you more.5--40.—Anna,I wanted to ask you about my marketing report.I’m not sure about it...—That’s OK,Leo..—Choose a product or service then compare two organisations that produce it.I’m doing in-stant coffee.A.Would you like coffee or tea?B.So what would you have to do?C.Any hints for the project?D.How much have you actually written?Section B Culture(5marks)41.The annual between Oxford and Cambridge universities on the river Thames is, however,one of the most popular sporting events of the year.A.Motor-cycling RaceB.Boat RaceC.Swimming RaceD.Waterball Race42.The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City,in the United States.The statue was a gift to the United States from the people of.A.the U.K.B.FranceC.ItalyD.Germany43.The Nobel Prize in Literature2015was awarded to Svetlana Alexievich“for her polyphonic writings,a monument to suffering and courage in our time”.Svetlana is a Belarusian investigative journalist and non-fiction prose writer who writes in.A.RussianB.EnglishC.SwdishD.German44.Built in ancient times to keep invading Mongols out,is a historical treasure for China.Stretching for thousands of kilometers across northern China,the World Heritage site is a marvel that attracts tens of thousands of tourists every year.A.the StonehengeB.the Forbidden CityC.the Great WallD.the Summer Palace45.Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated in and the United States as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year.A.CanadaB.IrelandC.ScotlandD.the U.K.Part III Cloze(10marks)Read the following passage and fill in each blank with one word.Choose the correct word in one of the following three ways:according to the context,by using the correct form of the given word,or by using the given letter(s)of the word.Remember to write the answers on the answer sheet.The latest issue of the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences reports that Asians and Westerners in fact view the world differently.6--The study,led by Hannah-Faye Chua,Juilie Boland and Richard Nisbett,tracked theeye46.(move)of students when lookingat a picture.The students involved in the study47.in25European Americans and27native Chinese.The researchers found thatAsian students spent more time studying thebackground of the picture.In48.,theEuropean American students concentrated on the foreground of the picture.It has been observed that Westerners attend more to focal objects,whereas Asians attend more to contextual49.inf.In this study,the researchers examined the differences in cognitive processing styles between Asians and Westerners.They showed the difference between the two races are cultural,which dates50.thousands of years.The key to Chinese culture is51.har.Successful rice farmers in Asia long ago relied on close bonds with other farmers.often shared water and new techniques. Meanwhile,the West focuses on ways to get things done,while paying little attention to52. .Asians live in a more socially complicated world than Westerners do,so they are inclined to pay more attention to others whereas Westerners are53.(individual).Reinforcing the belief that the perceptual differences are cultural,Asians raised in North America viewed the pictures similarly to those of Westerners54.des.In this issue,there are other studies that have shown differences between Asians and European Americans when reading and writing.The studies,though,do not suggest that a particular race is more advanced55.(intellect).Rather,they confirm that people from one culture do better on some tasks while people from other cultures do better on different tasks.Therefore,it would be hard to argue that one culture is generally outperforming the other.Part IV Reading Comprehension(35marks)Section A(5marks)A lot of people in the world today are used to working,going on holiday,and having money-but many of them aren’t happy.Yet other people seem to be really happy,even if they are poor, or have no job,or are surrounded by problems.Why?Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi,from the University of Chicago,has interviewed thousands of people who have a happy life to find out how they do it.‘I’ve been studying happiness for over30years,’says Csikszentmihalyi.‘My interest in the subject came from my own experience as a child during World War II,when I saw many adults destroyed by the terrible events.But there were always a few who kept their courage,helped others,and were able to give a sense of purpose and meaning to their lives.I wanted to find out how a person could build a fulfilling and enjoyable life.7--In general,his research showed that people were unhappy doing nothing.The professor stresses that happy people don’t waste time,either at work or when they’re free.‘Many people feel that the time they spend at work or at school is wasted.But often their free time is also wasted.’Many people are used to doing passive things-watching television,for example-without using any skills.As a result,life goes past in a series of boring experiences.But it doesn’t have to be this way.Theprofessor has found that people are happy whenthey get into something he calls‘flow’.Whenpeople get very involved in a task that they havechosen,and which is well-defined andchallenging,they experience‘flow’,a statewhere they don’t notice time passing.They also experience enjoyment.ProfessorCsikszentmihalyi makes a contrast between enjoyment and pleasure.‘I used to think they were the same thing-but they’re not!Pleasure is a bit bowl of ice cream,or taking a hot bath on a cold day-nothing bad at all!But enjoyment is about doing something and achieving something.It isn’t really important what we do,it’s more important to do something,and feel positive about it,and to try to do it well.’People who are not used to happiness can learn how to be happy,says the professor,if they constantly get into‘flow’states.Is happiness as easy as that?Perhaps it is.Questions56—60Decide the following statements are true(T)or false(F)according to the passage.56.Professor Csikszentmihalyi has been studying happiness for more than30years.57.Professor Csikszentmihalyi thinks that many people use their free time well.58.As Csikszentmihalyi stated,watching TV in your free time is a passive thing.59.We can experience‘flow’when we do things that are impossible for us and people in‘flow’can easily forget what time it is.60.Enjoyment and pleasure are the same and they are both positive according to Professor Csikszentmihalyi.Section B(10marks)Questions61—65are based on the following passage.61.The type and amount of food that we usually eat is known as our diet. Eating a healthy,raried diet will help keep you strong and fit throughout your life.On the other hand,an unhealthy diet can lead to many problems and even shorten your life.62.Your body cannot make most of these nutrients,so you have to get them from the food you eat.The exact amount you need depends on your age,your size,how8--much you are growing,whether you are a boy ora girl,and how active you are.63.But you also needenergy for things that you rarely think about,such as breathing,digestion,keeping your heartbeating,and fueling your brain.The energy infood is measured in units called calories.A sliceand a half of bread contains about100calories.Any calories that your body does not use are stored as fat.64.The most important thing is making sure you get a balanced diet.A balanced diet provides you with just the right amount of nutrients and calories.Because just one food cannot give you all the nutrients you need,the best way to make sure you get enough nutrients you need,the best way to make sure you get enough nutrients is to eat a variety of different kinds of food.No foods are“good”or“bad”in themselves.The key is to get a balance.Food are classified into five different groups,based on the nutrients they provide.These are:bread,other cereals,and potatoes;fruits and vegetables;milk and dairy foods;meat,fish and alternatives;fatty and sugary foods.65.By following these guidelines and making sure you have a good breakfast,lunch,and dinner each day,you should get a healthy,balanced diet.You can also eat two or three small snacks a day―just be sure that they are healthy ones and not“junk food”. Questions61—65Complete the article with the following sentences.There are two extra sentences that you do not need to use.A.Your body uses the food you eat to help you grow,to provide you with energy,and tohelp you fight against infection and disease.B.Another important task of food is to provide your body with energy,which you need foractivities such as walking,swimming,skating,and dancing.C.In order to live,you need nutrients―nourishing substances that enable the cells ofyour body to work.D.People蒺s diet varies greatly throughout the world.E.If you eat foods from each of the first five four groups(not the fatty and sugary foods)everyday,you should have no problem staying healthy.F.A diet that gives you the right amount of nutrients and calories is a balanced diet.G.How should we get all the nutrients we need in a day?9--Section C(10marks)Questions66—70are based on the following passage.Photography is enthralling because it is both anart and a science.It is an art over which thephotographer has creative control but only to acertain extent:unlike a painter,you can onlytake photographs of what is there.If the sun isnot shining,you cannot photograph sunlight.Soyou need to find a subject.But the greatestphotographs are of subjects that most people would have walked past without noticing.The truly great photographers are those who can see, in their mind蒺s eye,the photograph that they can create through their vision,artistry and skill. Vision comes first.If you cannot see the potential,you can never be a true photographer. Artistry,by contrast,can be photographer.Artistry,by contrast,can be learned and developed; you can read a book or you take lessons.You can learn from a great practitioner.Perhaps the simplest aspect to describe is framing.The human eye has a huge field of view,stretching from horizon to horizon.The lens of a camera,by contrast,has a very restricted field of view.This is both a curse and a blessing.Try as you might,you cannot capture the sheer scale of the human perspective of the world.But you can,and must,select the image that you are attempting to capture-or rather,to create.Look through the viewfinder:learn to see the world through the lens.Understand the difference it makes when you remove the irrelevant and select only what really matters.This is artistry.Then comes skill.This is the technical part.Skill is exercised long before you even start to look for a subject:first you must select the kind and model of camera you will use.Will it have advanced features,inter-changeable lenses,a motor-wind,a build-in flash,automatic focusing? How much do you want to do manually every time you wish to take a photograph,and how much will you leave to the electronics inside?Then you must choose a make and speed of film. The actual taking of the picture requires choices about exposure and shutter speed.After taking the shot,there are more decisions about developing and printing;every decision makes an enormous difference.Experience teaches you about all of these;there is no other way to learn than to try,possibly to fail,but to learn from the experience and improve.This is what marks out the photographer from those who merely take snapshots.There is always a better photograph that could have been taken-the ultimate photograph,if you like.All photographers pursue this goal of perfection.In the process,though,they take some beautiful photographs that bring them joy thereafter.10--Questions66—70Answer the following questions according to the passage.66.What do true photographers differ from others?67.How can a photographer achieve the goal of artistry?68.What is artistry according to the writer?69.How can a photographer be skillful?70.What marks out the photographer from those ordinary ones?Section D(10marks)Questions71—75are based on the following passage.Have you heard about the great flood?Perhaps you have heard about a man named Noah who built a huge boat to escape the flood.In this legend of the great flood,water covered all the land,killing most of the people and animals on Earth.Only Noah’s immediate family,including his wife,three sons,and the sons’wives,survived the flood along with all of the animals on his boat.After the flood waters receded,the people and animals on Noah’s boat set about repopulating the Earth.This legend of Noah and his family is familiar to many people.But it is not the only legend about a great flood.Actually,many cultures have similar stories about a great flood that wiped out almost everyone on Earth.In the Jewish,Muslim,and Christian legend of the flood,Noah was warned by God that a great flood would kill every human and animal on land.God told Noah to construct the boat that would save his family and two of every animal.In a Hindu legend of the flood,a fish warned a man about the flood,and only the man was saved.Then the gods made a woman for this man, and the man and woman had many children.The Greek,Roman,and Chinese legends of the flood say only people on the highest mountain survived the flood.In Scandinavian and Celtic legends,the water of the flood was actually the blood of a giant.When the giant was killed,its body became the Earth,and its blood covered all of the land.There are also Incan,Mayan,and American Indian legends about a great flood.In each a of these legends,a few people live through the flood by climbing mountains or by constructing boats.Many people today believe the great flood is only a legend.However,other people say that the striking similarities among all of theflood legends suggest a real flood coveredthe Earth at some point long ago.In fact,some scientists speculate that the ancientflood waters are now frozen in glaciers atthe poles of the Earth.But why do thelegends disagree with each other?The floodhappened long before humans could write,11--so the story of the flood could only be passed down through generations by oral retellings.As the story was passed by words of mouth,it may have changed as various cultures learned the story.That may explain why some parts of the legends differ.Through careful examinations of the similar elements in these legends,however,certain facts about an ancient catastrophic flood may be revealed.Questions71—75Complete the summary with words from the passage,changing the form where necessary,with only one word for each blank.Part V Translation(15marks)Section A(5marks)Translate the following paragraph into Chinese.Remember to write the answers on the answer sheet.cation will lead to better life for the people;and it is through education that civilisation sustains itself.Every family wishes to have good education for its children.Knowledge gives one more opportunities in life,sustains civilisations and ensures that ethical norms are observed.To maintain sustainable growth,improve people’s lives and promote social equity are the three major goals of this government.Equity in education gives everyone a fair chance at the beginning of life and therefore constitutes an important foundation of social equity.Section B(10marks)Translate the following sentences into English by using the hints given in brackets.Remember to write the answers on the answer sheet.77.我不反对再听一遍你的解释。

B. A personal horoscope.C. A friend’s letter of advice.D. A written warning.Questions 7 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text, and answer the question according to the text.With our travel agency, the holiday you book is the holiday you get. If you arrive and find we’ve failed to live up to our promises, let us know what the problem is within one day of your arrival. We’ll spend 24 hours doing everything possible to sort the problem out. In the unlikely event that we can’t resolve yourpr oblem and make you happy within 24 hours, we’ll fly you home and give your money back.7. The text could best be described as __________.A. a commitmentB. an appealC. a warningD. a vowQuestions 8 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text, and answer the question according to the text.The new digital cameras are great fun and very easy to use. They let you review your pictures the moment you take them, so you can re-shoot right away if you’re not satisfied. But remember, a digital camera is just a computer XXXX. It’s not a replacement for your ordinary camera.8. What is the meaning of the missing word (XXXX) in the text?A. “something that is poor quality”B. “an item that is not essential, something extra”C. “something expensive but good value for money”D. “a fashion which always remains popular”Questions 9 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text, and answer the question according to the text.She had gone alone, but the children were to go to the station to meet her. And loving the station as they did, it was only natural that they should be there a good hour before there was any chance of Mother’s train arriving, even if the train were punctual, which was most unlikely.9. What can you say ab out their mother’s train?A. It would probably be early.B. It would probably be on time.C. It would probably be late.D. It had been cancelled.Question 10 (Suggested completion time: 5 minutes)Directions: The bar chart shows the number and proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions, from 1990¬1992 to 2014¬2016. Answer the question according to the information in the chart.Source: The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Report2015Recently, however, scientists have started to grasp and tinker with memory’s physical basis. Last year, in work evocative of films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Inception, researchersdiscovered ways to manipulate specific memories in mice using optogenetics, a powerful technique that can trigger nerve cells in animals’ brains by zapping them with beams of laser light. In a series of experiments, they showed that they could delete existing memories and “incept” false ones.This year, researchers went even further: switching the emotional content of a memory in mice from bad to good and vice versa. Under the laser, for example, male mice that had once associated a certain room with being shocked were tricked into acting as though they had once met friendly female mice there instead.Whether the mice in these experiments actually experienced vivid false memories or just a fuzzy sense of pleasure or fear is unclear. Nor is it clear whether the findings apply to the tricks of memory so familiar to people. Long-sought therapeutic advances, such as treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder, could remain far off. One thing is certain, however: Once considered beyond scientific dissection, memory is finally starting to yield its secrets.15. Which of the following best fits the numbered space in the passage?A. what is really happening in our brain as memories are remodeled remains mysteriousB. scientists are curious about why people are oblivious to what have happened to themC. advanced technology has helped scientists discover the workings of our brainD. some scientists argue that what we observe about human memory is not what it really is16. The word “incept” is closest in meaning to ________.E. operateF. startG. detectH. occupy17. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?I. People’s false memories result from the impact of different emotion provoked by later experience on thesame spot.J. The success in research indicates that it won’t be long that a therapy is worked out for people disturbed by painful memory.K. By zapping the brain cells of mice with light, researchers are able to create, erase, or alter their memories, good or bad.L. Many fancy ideas in science fictions or movies that are based on them actually draw greatly upon scientific achievement.Questions 18-19 (Suggested completion time: 4 minutes)Directions: Read the following passage about cholera. Decide whether the statements are True or False according to the passage.A child receives the oral cholera vaccine ShancholCholera is caused by a bacterial infection of the intestine. Approximately one in 20 people infected with cholera has a serious case, with symptoms including severe diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps. Thesesymptoms quickly cause dehydration and shock, and can result in death within hours if the infected person doesn’t receive treatment. Cholera is typically transmitted by contaminated food or water. In areas with poor treatment of sewage and drinking water, the feces of people with cholera can enter the water supply and spread quickly, resulting in an epidemic. The cholera bacterium may also live in the environment in some coastal waters, so shellfish eaten raw can be a source of cholera in affected areas.18. Cholera is known to be a life-threatening disease which easily causes death of most of the patients.True ( ) False ( )19. Cholera typically occurs in areas near the sea or the river where contaminated food is a major source of the disease.True ( ) False ( )Questions 20-21 (Suggested completion time: 5 minutes)Directions: Read the abstract of a research paper from the DeepMind website. Decide whether the statements are True or False according to the abstract.Teaching Machines to Read and ComprehendAuthors: K. M. Hermann, T. Kočiský, E. Grefenstette, L. Espeholt, W. Kay, M. Suleyman, P. Blunsom Published: NIPS 2015Abstract: Teaching machines to read natural language documents remains an elusive challenge. Machine reading systems can be tested on their ability to answer questions posed on the contents of documents that they have seen, but until now large scale training and test datasets have been missing for this type of evaluation. In this work we define a new methodology that resolves this bottleneck and provides large scale supervised reading comprehension data. This allows us to develop a class of attention based deep neural networks that learn to read real documents and answer complex questions with minimal prior knowledge of language structure.20. Previous studies didn’t take constant effort to evaluate the reading ability of artificial intelligence machines, which was why the present research was conducted.True ( ) False ( )21. One implication of the research is that a methodology that helps gather and handle big data is indispensible to artificial intelligence related studies.True ( ) False ( )Questions 22-23 (Suggested completion time: 5 minutes)Directions: Read the passage about the “Think small” advertising campaign. Answer the questions according to the passage.Think SmallDirections: Read three passages about fashion. Answer the questions according to the passages.Passage AIt’s not that easy to answer the question, “what is fashion?” because it means different things to different people. Fashion is an art. It’s a religion. It’s a job. It’s a peek into a personality. It’s playfulness. It’s an escape or a disguise. It is a feast for the eyes. But ultimately, 25 . French fashion designer Coco Chanel once said, “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the str eet, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”It’s true. Fashion isn’t defined solely by our clothing choices, but is also conveyed through the way we carry ourselves, our personalities and our views of the world. At its most fundamental, fashion is simply the prevailing style or custom, as in dress or behavior.So, who exactly answers the question “what is fashion”? Who decides what’s fashionable and what isn’t? What’s in or what’s out?Fashion Designers. The iconic fashion houses—Prada, Gucci, Chanel—are referred to as haute couture, French for “high sewing.” These designers lead the way in creating trend-setting fashion. While some of their designs are outrageous and completely unrealistic when it comes to everyday wear, generally the theme is adapted into versions suitable for wearing.Media. Fashion trends are often sparked by characters on popular television shows and movies as well as adopted from magazine pages. “Sex and the City,” “The Devil Wears Prada,” these shows introdu ced us to new, cutting-edge designs. While you might not be caught dead wearing a Carrie Bradshaw original, you might take ideas inspired from her look and piece together your own creation.Celebrities. A prime example of a celebrity-driven fashion trend? UGGs. Until Kate Hudson and Jessica Simpson were spotted wearing them around L.A. several years ago, no one had given any thought to UGG boots. Now they are everywhere.Musicians. Musicians have always been very influential when it comes to dictating fash ion. Rock ‘n’ roll is fashion. Elvis is an iconic example. In the 1950s, everyone wanted to dress like Elvis. What about the heavy metal hair bands so popular in the 1980s? Axl Rose reinvented the head bandana while Poison, Motley Crue and Bon Jovi set the pace for big, rocker hair.Just because you don’t know if a Prada bag is fall 2007 or spring 2008 doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you like it and it’s an expression of you. That is fashion.Passage BFashion is more prevalent in modern society than in primitive tribes or peasant communities. The modern society is an open society where class distinctions are not so rigid as in primitive society. Its urban and mobile class structure enables people to cultivate individual taste and adopt new course. The modern society is more tolerant of differences and therefore places few shackles on the cycle of fashion. Our standards of judgment have also changed. Today the individual is rated more by observable externalities than by his ancestry, his character or his genuine accomplishments. The clothes a man wears, the language he speaks, the manners he shows have more weight in ascribing a status than his simplicity, patriotism and integrity.If he can keep himself up to date in the matters of his dress, speech and manners, he will assure himself a high social esteem. Not only the mobile and urban character of modern society but its affluence also speaks for greater prevalence of fashion in it. Men today are richer than their ancestors and have more leisure. Theyhave the necessary means and time to play with luxuries and to think of fashion. Maclver writes: We do not think of fashion in overalls; there is more of fashion in the body of an automobile than in its chassis. There is no fashion in steam shovels. Consequently the higher the standard of living the more material there is for fashion to operate upon.Passage CAs summer has officially faded into the colder weather of autumn, I assumed the days of Nike shorts, comically large T-shirts and polos would be only a memory of yesterday. This has not been the case.Fashion, in and of itself, is already a type of conformism. In order to be considered fashion, a look, agarment or a stylistic choice must be deemed fashionable.Who gets to decide this—what is fashionable? While certain fashion heavyweights play a role in thisdecision, the ultimate decision is left to the public.As I was surfing the Web recently for inspiration for this column, I came across the Prada website. What I discovered literally caused me to gasp. Of course, everyone knows Prada is an expensive brand—aluxury—but what I discovered shocked me: a keychain priced at $180. No, this keychain was not solid gold or e ncased in diamonds. It was simply a keychain: a skull with the word “Prada” on a small charm.How can a company charge $180 for a keychain? The answer: people are willing to pay for it. People know the brand and conform to the idea of owning a piece of su ch an Italian “luxury.”This is nonsensical. Why do we choose to wear miniscule shorts in frigid weather or spend nearly $200 on a charm? Such decisions are influenced by peers, the media and the personal resolution to not make rational, individualistic choices. We cling to the idea of acceptance.In short, we often choose to abide by the pressures of social conventionality, and this leads us to make ridiculous selections—pairing Ugg boots with shorts or wearing neon with camouflage—which we would otherwise not make.I am certainly shamefaced in my occasional conformity to these ludicrous fashion folkways. I am guilty ofdonning Crocs in public. Yikes!Transient, often preposterous trends referred to as fads inspire some rather strange ideas. Who can recall the pet rocks of the ‘70s or Popples of the ‘80s? Such pop trends are not confined to behavior; they bleed into the fashion world, evidenced in overly distressed jeans, the most painful of neon shades, shoes that resemble Swiss cheese and a host of other fads I do not have the space to mention.I refuse to give up hope for societal common sense.One day we will comprehend that shorts are for the summer and ridiculously expensive keychains are for “never.” Do not allow others to dictate for you. Be bold. Be an individual. Do not buy the keychain.24. The phrase “might not be caught dead” in Passage A most probably means ______.A. would rather not die anywayB. might not be caught red handedC. would refuse completely to do somethingD. might be uneasy though doing something25. Which of the following best fits the numbered space in Passage A?A. fashion is an individual statement of expression for each of usB. fashion facilitates social change by providing a transitional stageC. fashion is not an individual choice but a group choiceD. fashion determines our speech, opinion, dress, music, art, etc.26. It can be inferred from Passage A that fashion designers, media, celebrities and musicians share thefollowing views except ______.A. that fashion is anything but separated from the daily life of ordinary people.B. that nothing completely absurd and unrealistic can finally become fashion.C. that fashion is what society accepts and has an element of social sanction behind it.D. that if a particular choice remains confined to an individual it can’t be called fashion.27. The word “affluence” in Passage B is closest in meaning to ______.A. versatilityB. wealthinessC. peculiarityD. charisma28. According to Passage B, which of the following attributes may probably be more important than othersfor an individual to be favorably received now?A. A wide range of erudition.B. Loyalty to his or her friends.C. A passion for popular novels.D. Good virtues such as honesty.29. Which of the following is NOT true about the author’s attitude towards fashion according to Passage C?A. The author thinks it a waste of time mentioning a list of examples of irrational fads.B. People are mad about fashion and therefore lose their own good judgment.C. The author never allows himself to be carried away by the fashion trends.D. Behind the behavior of keeping up with fashion is a need to stay in the crowd.30-31. Decide whether the statements are True or False according to the three passages.30. All the three passages agree that fashion plays a role in the interplay of class relations that it satisfiesthe contrary desires for novelty and for conformity.True ( ) False ( )31. None of the three passages are denying conventional social values in people’s judgment, for example,what’s considered good about things or people.True ( ) False ( )Part IV Read and CreateIn Part IV, you will read a passage and then write a short essay according to it. You should write with clarity and logic. (Time allowed: 40 minutes)Question 32 (Suggested completion time: 40 minutes)Directions: Read a passage from Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking the Truth in the Sciences. Write a short essay according to the passage.… And as a multitude of laws often only hampers justice, so that a state is best governed when, with few laws, these are rigidly administered; in like manner, instead of the great number of precepts of which logic iscomposed, I believed that the four following would prove perfectly sufficient for me, provided I took the firm and unwavering resolution never in a single instance to fail in observing them.The first was never to accept anything for true which I did not clearly know to be such; that is to say, carefully to avoid precipitancy and prejudice, and to comprise nothing more in my judgment than what was presented to my mind so clearly and distinctly as to exclude all ground of doubt.The second, to divide each of the difficulties under examination into as many parts as possible, and as might be necessary for its adequate solution.The third, to conduct my thoughts in such order that, by commencing with objects the simplest and easiest to know, I might ascend by little and little, and, as it were, step by step, to the knowledge of the more complex; assigning in thought a certain order even to those objects which in their own nature do not stand in a relation of antecedence and sequence.And the last, in every case to make enumerations so complete, and reviews so general, that I might be assured that nothing was omitted.The long chains of simple and easy reasonings by means of which geometers are accustomed to reach the conclusions of their most difficult demonstrations, had led me to imagine that all things, to the knowledge of which man is competent, are mutually connected in the same way, and that there is nothing so far removed from us as to be beyond our reach, or so hidden that we cannot discover it, provided only we abstain from accepting the false for the true, and always preserve in our thoughts the order necessary for the deduction of one truth from another. And I had little difficulty in determining the objects with which it was necessary to commence, for I was already persuaded that it must be with the simplest and easiest to know, and, considering that of all those who have hitherto sought truth in the sciences, the mathematicians alone have been able to find any demonstrations, that is, any certain and evident reasons, I did not doubt but that such must have been the rule of their investigations.32. Answer the topic questions with no less than 300 words. You should write in YOUR OWN words:What is the main issue that Descartes explores in this part of the text, and what’s his method? What’s your OWN understanding of the methods proposed by Descartes?。

---------------------------------------------------------------最新资料推荐------------------------------------------------------ 2016年全国大学生英语竞赛C类样题参考答案2016 National English Competition for College Students(Level C - Sample)参考答案及评分标准Part I. Listening Comprehension （30 marks） Section A (5 marks) 1—5 CBABD Section B (10 marks) 6—10 CBADC 11—15 CDACB Section C (5 marks) 16—20 BDBBC Section D (10 marks) 21. second largest 22. spirals to 23. geographic location 24. cultural influences 25. dates back to 26. economic revival 27. flourished in 28. multi-faceted and diverse 29. modern and enterprising 30. a chimney Part II Vocabulary, Grammar & Culture (15 marks) Section A Vocabulary & Grammar (10 marks) 31—35 CDBAA 36—40 BCACB Section B Culture (5 marks) 41—45 BBACA Part III Cloze (10 marks) 46. movement 47. included 48. contrast 51. harmony 52. others 53. individualists 49. information 54. descent 50. back 55. intellectuallyPart IV Reading Comprehension (35 marks) Section A 56. T 57. F 58. F 59. F 60.F Section B 61—65 ACBDE Section C (10 marks) 66. They notice the subjects that most people don’t. 67. Artistry can be learned and developed through reading or taking lessons. 68. Understand the difference it makes when you remove the irrelevant and select only what really matters while taking a picture. - 1 -1/ 1469. Take more exercises. 70. To learn from experience and improve marks out the photographer from others. Section D (10 marks) 71. different 72. constructing/building 73. agree 74. similarities 75. speculationPart V Translation (15marks) Section A (5marks) 76. 教育是民生改善的来源，传承文明的载体。

2016“外研社杯”全国英语阅读大赛样题Part I Read and KnowIn Part I, you will read short texts of various kinds. Read the instructions carefully and answer the questions. (Time allowed: 22 minutes)Questions 1-3 (Suggested completion time: 5 minutes)Directions: Read the following quotes. Match the quotes on the left with the people on the right. Please note there are two extra options you do not need to use.Questions 4 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text, and answer the question according to the text.To ensure the high standards of facilities we need to build new wards, laboratories and consulting rooms. In short, we need your help now. Complete the coupon today and rest assured that your donation is going to the best possible cause.4. Where is the piece of text taken from?A. an advertisementB. an instruction bookletC. a storyD. a newspaperQuestions 5 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text, and answer the question according to the text.Few corners of the world remain untainted by intrepid tourists, and their impact is often devastating. Too frequently they trample heedlessly on fragile environments, displacing wildlife and local populations in their insatiable quest for unexplored locations.5. What is the best title for this text?A. The future of tourismB. The role of tourismC. The price of tourismD. The benefits of tourismQuestions 6 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text, and answer the question according to the text.Buying and selling anything is your forte now. If you visit a jumble or car-boot sale or the like, a romantic encounter is more than probable! News linked to the family is brilliant!6. What type of text is this?A. A personal advertisement.B. A personal horoscope.C. A friend’s letter of advice.D. A written warning.Questions 7 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text, and answer the question according to the text.With our travel agency, the holiday you book is the holiday you get. If you arrive and find we’ve failed to live up to our promises, let us know what the problem is within one day of your arrival. We’ll spend 24 hours doing everything possible to sort the problem out. In the unlikely event that we can’t resolve your problem and make you happy within 24 hours, we’ll fly you home and give your money back.7. The text could best be described as __________.A. a commitmentB. an appealC. a warningD. a vowQuestions 8 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text, and answer the question according to the text.The new digital cameras are great fun and very easy to use. They let you review your pictures the moment you take them, so you can re-shoot right away if you’re not satisfied. But remember, a digital camera is just a computer XXXX. It’s not a replacement for your ordinary camera.8. What is the meaning of the missing word (XXXX) in the text?A. “something that is poor quality”B. “an item that is not essential, something extra”C. “something expensive but good value for money”D. “a fashion which always remains popular”Questions 9 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text, and answer the question according to the text.She had gone alone, but the children were to go to the station to meet her. And loving the station as they did, it was only natural that they should be there a good hour before there was any chance of Mother’s train arriving, even if the train were punctual, which was most unlikely.9. What can you say about their mother’s train?A. It would probably be early.B. It would probably be on time.C. It would probably be late.D. It had been cancelled.Question 10 (Suggested completion time: 5 minutes)Directions: The bar chart shows the number and proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions, from 1990¬1992 to 2014¬2016. Answer the question according to the information in the chart.Source: The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Report201510. Choose the INCORRECT description about the chart.A.Current estimates suggest that nearly one in nine individuals do not haveenough to eat between 2014 and 2016.B.Projections indicate that the 2015 MDG target is nearly reached, with 12.9per cent of undernourished population.C.The situation noticeably improved during the years 1995-1999, but went downin the first five years of the new millennium.D.The proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions has fallenby almost half since 1990.Part II Read and ReasonIn Part II, you will read short texts on different subjects. Read the instructions carefully and answer the questions based on logical inference and reasoning. (Time allowed: 38 minutes)Question 11-12 (Suggested completion time: 10 minutes)Directions: Read the definitions of two types of logical fallacy. Answer the questions according to the definitions.11. Which of the following provides a typical example of poisoning the well?A. That’s my stance on funding the education system, and anyone who disagreeswith me hates children.B. You are so weird. That means—we are pretty much sure—that your whole familyis weird, too.C. God exists because the Bible says so. The Bible is inspired. Therefore, weknow that God exists.D. I don’t care what you say. We don’t need any more bookshelves. As long asthe carpet is clean, we are fine.12. Which of the following provides a typical example of a false dilemma?A. Smoking is harmful to health, so you are supposed to quit smoking.B. If the government doesn’t reduce public spending, our economy will collapse.C. You may as well avoid overeating, or else you might be obese in no time.D. You are the worst of the classmates; therefore, what you say is incredible.Questions 13 (Suggested completion time: 4 minutes)Directions: Read the passage about syllogism. Decide whether the reasonings are Valid or Invalid based on the principles of syllogism.Syllogism is a kind of logical argument that applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion based on two or more propositions that are asserted or assumed to be true. It is perhaps today’s most commonly accepted form of logical reasoning in aptitude tests. The most commonly used type of syllogisms is elucidated in a frequently used example:Premise 1: All men are mortal.Premise 2: Socrates is a man.Conclusion: Socrates is mortal.Now practice syllogisms for IQ tests. Please note that the conclusion is based on logical reasoning and doesn’t necessarily represent the “truth” always.13. Valid ( ); Invalid ( )Premise 1: All human action is conditioned by circumstances.Premise 2: All human action involves morality.Conclusion: All that involves morality is conditioned by circumstances.Questions 14 (Suggested completion time: 4 minutes)Directions: Read the passage about contraposition. Decide whether the reasonings are Valid or Invalid based on the principles of contraposition.In logic, contraposition is a law that says that a conditional statement is logically equivalent to its contrapositive. The contrapositive of the statement has its antecedent and consequent inverted and flipped. The most commonly used type of contraposition is elucidated in the following example: Premise 1: If it is raining, then there are clouds in the sky.Premise 2: There are no clouds in the sky.Conclusion: It is not raining.Now practice contraposition for IQ tests. Please note that the conclusion is based on logical reasoning and doesn’t necessarily represent the “truth” always.14. Valid ( ); Invalid ( )Premise 1: If he is not an American, he is not from Texas.Premise 2: He is from Texas.Conclusion: He is an American.Questions 15-17 (Suggested completion time: 6 minutes)Directions: Read the text about a science discovery. Answer the questions according to the text.Manipulating MemoryMemory is notoriously malleable. Our recollections fade andtake on new meanings; sometimes we remember things that nevereven happened. But 15 .Recently, however, scientists have started to grasp and tinker with memory’s physical basis. Last year, in work evocative of films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Inception, researchers discovered ways to manipulate specific memories in mice using optogenetics, a powerful technique that can trigger nerve cells in animals’ brains by zapping them with beams of laser light. In a series of experiments, they showed that they could delete existing memories and “incept”false ones.This year, researchers went even further: switching the emotional content of a memory in mice from bad to good and vice versa. Under the laser, for example, male mice that had once associated a certain room with being shocked were tricked into acting as though they had once met friendly female mice there instead.Whether the mice in these experiments actually experienced vivid false memories or just a fuzzy sense of pleasure or fear is unclear. Nor is it clear whether the findings apply to the tricks of memory so familiar to people. Long-sought therapeutic advances, such as treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder, could remain far off. One thing is certain, however: Once considered beyond scientific dissection, memory is finally starting to yield its secrets.15. Which of the following best fits the numbered space in the passage?A.what is really happening in our brain as memories are remodeled remainsmysteriousB.scientists are curious about why people are oblivious to what have happenedto themC.advanced technology has helped scientists discover the workings of our brainD.some scientists argue that what we observe about human memory is not whatit really is16. The word “incept” is closest in meaning to ________.A. operateB. startC. detectD. occupy17. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?A.People’s false memories result from the impact of different emotion provokedby later experience on the same spot.B.The success in research indicates that it won’t be long that a therapy isworked out for people disturbed by painful memory.C.By zapping the brain cells of mice with light, researchers are able to create,erase, or alter their memories, good or bad.D.Many fancy ideas in science fictions or movies that are based on them actuallydraw greatly upon scientific achievement.Questions 18-19 (Suggested completion time: 4 minutes)Directions: Read the following passage about cholera. Decide whether the statements are True or False according to the passage.A child receives the oral cholera vaccine ShancholCholera is caused by a bacterial infection of the intestine. Approximately one in 20 people infected with cholera has a serious case, with symptoms including severe diarrhea, vomiting, and leg cramps. These symptoms quickly cause dehydration and shock, and can result in death within hours if the infected person doesn’t receive treatment. Cholera is typically transmitted by contaminated food or water. In areas with poor treatment of sewage and drinking water, the feces of people with cholera can enter the water supply and spread quickly, resulting in an epidemic. The cholera bacterium may also live in the environment in some coastal waters, so shellfish eaten raw can be a source of cholera in affected areas.18. Cholera is known to be a life-threatening disease which easily causes death of most of the patients.True ( ) False ( )19. Cholera typically occurs in areas near the sea or the river where contaminated food is a major source of the disease.True ( ) False ( )Questions 20-21 (Suggested completion time: 5 minutes)Directions: Read the abstract of a research paper from the DeepMind website. Decide whether the statements are True or False according to the abstract.Teaching Machines to Read and ComprehendAuthors: K. M. Hermann, T. Kočiský, E. Grefenstette, L. Espeholt, W. Kay, M. Suleyman, P. BlunsomPublished: NIPS 2015Abstract: Teaching machines to read natural language documents remains an elusive challenge. Machine reading systems can be tested on their ability to answer questions posed on the contents of documents that they have seen, but until now large scale training and test datasets have been missing for this type of evaluation. In this work we define a new methodology that resolves this bottleneck and provides large scale supervised reading comprehension data. This allows us to develop a class of attention based deep neural networks that learn to read real documents and answer complex questions with minimal prior knowledge of language structure.20. Previous studies didn’t take constant effort to evaluate the reading ability of artificial intelligence machines, which was why the present research was conducted.True ( ) False ( )21. One implication of the research is that a methodology that helps gather and handle big data is indispensible to artificial intelligence related studies.True ( ) False ( )Questions 22-23 (Suggested completion time: 5 minutes)Directions: Read the passage about the “Think small” advertising campaign. Answer the questions according to the passage.Think SmallI f you’re interested in marketing and advertising,Volkswagen’s “Think small” campaign for the Beetlewhen it was first introduced to North America in 1959looms large as one of the greatest advertising campaignsof all time. It wasn’t just a revolution in automotiveadvertising; it changed the entire industry.Until the Beetle hit the market, automotive marketingcopy was full of bluster, and the images were flightsof fancy, emphasizing low, long lines and a fantasylifestyle.The clean, simple photography on a white background that emphasized the Beetle’s compact, practical form may seem commonplace these days, but it was a revolution in a world where Americans grew up obsessed with muscle cars, horsepower, and tire smoke. Making the car small, when the convention was to make it fill the page, was also novel. The simplistic approach to design and layout was totally contrary to the advertising conventions of the time.__ 22__ The text was minimalist in both look and content, presenting the facts simply instead of trying to weave tall tales and fantasies; and instead of bluster, it ushered in an intelligent sense of humor that made readers feel like they were in on the joke. The message was one of smart anti-luxury, and took gentle aim at an industry obsessed with superficiality and styling, rather than the substance underneath the car bodies.Not only does “Think small” continue to inspire Volkswagen advertising to this day, it ushered in a creative revolution in the advertising business and changed the world of marketing forever. “Think small” showed the power of humor and honesty, and its photographic and design principles brought about a major shift in the look and feel of marketing around the world.22. Which of the sentences below best fits the numbered space in the passage?A.What defined the ad even more than its visual style was the tone of its copy.B.This ad starts off doing the exact opposite of what you would expect in acar ad.C.This was an exercise in minimalism and a very accurate reflection on theproduct itself.D.The car wasn’t depicted as an integral piece of the daily lives of a middleclass family.23. It can be inferred that the advertising conventions of the 1950s were reflected in the following except that ___________.A.the ads in the 1950s typically showed proud owners and passengers evokinggreat joy about new shiny big acquisitions.B.the marketing concept then focused on providing as much information aspossible to the reader such as the way it’s created.C.the marketing schemes associated the advertised product with an idea or away of living from average consumers’ perspective.D.the marketing practice may attach importance to a sense of humor brought bythe use of exaggerated language.Part III Read and QuestionIn Part III, you will read passages on the same subject. You will be required to identify the writer’s position and evaluate the effectiveness of the writer’s arguments. (Time allowed: 30 minutes)Questions 24-35 (Suggested completion time: 30 minutes)Directions: Read three passages about fashion. Answer the questions according to the passages.Passage AIt’s not that easy to answer the question, “what is fashion?” because it means different things to different people. Fashion is an art. It’s a religion. It’s a job. It’s a peek into a personality. It’s playfulness. It’s an escape or a disguise. It is a feast for the eyes. But ultimately, 25 . French fashion designer Coco Chanel once said, “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”It’s true. Fashion isn’t defined solely by our clothing choices, but is also conveyed through the way we carry ourselves, our personalities and our views of the world. At its most fundamental, fashion is simply the prevailing style or custom, as in dress or behavior.So, who exactly answers the question “what is fashion”? Who decides what’s fashionable and what isn’t? What’s in or what’s out?Fashion Designers. The iconic fashion houses—Prada, Gucci, Chanel—are referred to as haute couture, French for “high sewing.” These designers lead the way in creating trend-setting fashion. While some of their designs are outrageous and completely unrealistic when it comes to everyday wear, generally the theme is adapted into versions suitable for wearing.Media. Fashion trends are often sparked by characters on popular television shows and movies as well as adopted from magazine pages. “Sex and the City,”“The Devil Wears Prada,” these shows introduced us to new, cutting-edge designs. While you might not be caught dead wearing a Carrie Bradshaw original, you might take ideas inspired from her look and piece together your own creation.Celebrities. A prime example of a celebrity-driven fashion trend? UGGs. Until Kate Hudson and Jessica Simpson were spotted wearing them around L.A. several years ago, no one had given any thought to UGG boots. Now they are everywhere.Musicians. Musicians have always been very influential when it comes to dictating fashion. Rock ‘n’ roll is fashion. Elvis is an iconic example. In the 1950s, everyone wanted to dress like Elvis. What about the heavy metal hair bands so popular in the 1980s? Axl Rose reinvented the head bandana while Poison, Motley Crue and Bon Jovi set the pace for big, rocker hair.Just because you don’t know if a Prada bag is fall 2007 or spring 2008 doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you like it and it’s an expression of you. That is fashion.Passage BFashion is more prevalent in modern society than in primitive tribes or peasant communities. The modern society is an open society where class distinctions are not so rigid as in primitive society. Its urban and mobile class structure enables people to cultivate individual taste and adopt new course. The modern society is more tolerant of differences and therefore places few shackles on the cycle of fashion. Our standards of judgment have also changed. Today the individual is rated more by observable externalities than by his ancestry, his character or his genuine accomplishments. The clothes a man wears, the language he speaks, the manners he shows have more weight in ascribing a status than his simplicity, patriotism and integrity.If he can keep himself up to date in the matters of his dress, speech and manners, he will assure himself a high social esteem. Not only the mobile and urban character of modern society but its affluence also speaks for greater prevalence of fashion in it. Men today are richer than their ancestors and have more leisure. They have the necessary means and time to play with luxuries and to think of fashion. Maclver writes: We do not think of fashion in overalls; there is more of fashion in the body of an automobile than in its chassis. There is no fashion in steam shovels. Consequently the higher the standard of living the more material there is for fashion to operate upon.Passage CAs summer has officially faded into the colder weather of autumn, I assumed the days of Nike shorts, comically large T-shirts and polos would be only a memory of yesterday. This has not been the case.Fashion, in and of itself, is already a type of conformism. In order to be considered fashion, a look, a garment or a stylistic choice must be deemed fashionable.Who gets to decide this—what is fashionable? While certain fashion heavyweights play a role in this decision, the ultimate decision is left to the public.As I was surfing the Web recently for inspiration for this column, I came across the Prada website. What I discovered literally caused me to gasp. Of course, everyone knows Prada is an expensive brand—a luxury—but what I discovered shocked me: a keychain priced at $180. No, this keychain was not solid gold or encased in diamonds. It was simply a keychain: a skull with the word “Prada” on a small charm.How can a company charge $180 for a keychain? The answer: people are willing to pay for it. People know the brand and conform to the idea of owning a piece of such an Italian “luxury.”This is nonsensical. Why do we choose to wear miniscule shorts in frigid weather or spend nearly $200 on a charm? Such decisions are influenced by peers, the media and the personal resolution to not make rational, individualistic choices. We cling to the idea of acceptance.In short, we often choose to abide by the pressures of social conventionality, and this leads us to make ridiculous selections—pairing Ugg boots with shorts or wearing neon with camouflage—which we would otherwise not make.I am certainly shamefaced in my occasional conformity to these ludicrous fashion folkways. I am guilty of donning Crocs in public. Yikes!Transient, often preposterous trends referred to as fads inspire some rather strange ideas. Who can recall the pet rocks of the ‘70s or Popples of the ‘80s? Such pop trends are not confined to behavior; they bleed into the fashion world, evidenced in overly distressed jeans, the most painful of neon shades, shoes that resemble Swiss cheese and a host of other fads I do not have the space to mention.I refuse to give up hope for societal common sense.One day we will comprehend that shorts are for the summer and ridiculously expensive keychains are for “never.”Do not allow others to dictate for you. Be bold. Be an individual. Do not buy the keychain.24. The phrase “might not be caught dead” in Passage A most probably means ______.A.would rather not die anywayB.might not be caught red handedC.would refuse completely to do somethingD.might be uneasy though doing something25. Which of the following best fits the numbered space in Passage A?A.fashion is an individual statement of expression for each of usB.fashion facilitates social change by providing a transitional stageC.fashion is not an individual choice but a group choiceD.fashion determines our speech, opinion, dress, music, art, etc.26. It can be inferred from Passage A that fashion designers, media, celebrities and musicians share the following views except ______.A.that fashion is anything but separated from the daily life of ordinarypeople.B.that nothing completely absurd and unrealistic can finally become fashion.C.that fashion is what society accepts and has an element of social sanctionbehind it.D.that if a particular choice remains confined to an individual it can’t becalled fashion.27. The word “affluence” in Passage B is closest in meaning to ______.A. versatilityB. wealthinessC. peculiarityD. charisma28. According to Passage B, which of the following attributes may probably be more important than others for an individual to be favorably received now?A. A wide range of erudition.B. Loyalty to his or her friends.C. A passion for popular novels.D. Good virtues such as honesty.29. Which of the following is NOT true about the author’s attitude towards fashion according to Passage C?A.The author thinks it a waste of time mentioning a list of examples ofirrational fads.B.People are mad about fashion and therefore lose their own good judgment.C.The author never allows himself to be carried away by the fashion trends.D.Behind the behavior of keeping up with fashion is a need to stay in the crowd.30-31. Decide whether the statements are True or False according to the three passages.30. All the three passages agree that fashion plays a role in the interplay of class relations that it satisfies the contrary desires for novelty and for conformity.True ( ) False ( )31. None of the three passages are denying conventional social values in people’s judgment, for example, what’s considered good about things or people.True ( ) False ( )Part IV Read and CreateIn Part IV, you will read a passage and then write a short essay according to it. You should write with clarity and logic. (Time allowed: 40 minutes)Question 32 (Suggested completion time: 40 minutes)Directions: Read a passage from Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason and Seeking the Truth in the Sciences. Write a short essay according to the passage.… And as a multitude of laws often only hampers justice, so that a state is best governed when, with few laws, these are rigidly administered; in like manner, instead of the great number of precepts of which logic is composed, I believed that the four following would prove perfectly sufficient for me, provided I took the firm and unwavering resolution never in a single instance to fail in observing them.The first was never to accept anything for true which I did not clearly know to be such; that is to say, carefully to avoid precipitancy and prejudice, and to comprise nothing more in my judgment than what was presented to my mind so clearly and distinctly as to exclude all ground of doubt.The second, to divide each of the difficulties under examination into as many parts as possible, and as might be necessary for its adequate solution.The third, to conduct my thoughts in such order that, by commencing with objects the simplest and easiest to know, I might ascend by little and little, and, as it were, step by step, to the knowledge of the more complex; assigning in thought a certain order even to those objects which in their own nature do not stand in a relation of antecedence and sequence.And the last, in every case to make enumerations so complete, and reviews so general, that I might be assured that nothing was omitted.The long chains of simple and easy reasonings by means of which geometers are accustomed to reach the conclusions of their most difficult demonstrations, had led me to imagine that all things, to the knowledge of which man is competent, are mutually connected in the same way, and that there is nothing so far removed from us as to be beyond our reach, or so hidden that we cannot discover it, provided only we abstain from accepting the false for the true, and always preserve in our thoughts the order necessary for the deduction of one truth from another. And I had little difficulty in determining the objects with which it was necessary to commence, for I was already persuaded that it must be with the simplest and easiest to know, and, considering that of all those who have hitherto sought truth in the sciences, the mathematicians alone have been able to find any demonstrations, that is, any certain and evident reasons, I did not doubt but that such must have been the rule of their investigations.。

16级全国大学生英语竞赛c类试题全国大学生英语竞赛（National English Contest for College Students，简称NECCS）是一项面向全国大学生的英语能力竞赛，旨在提高大学生的英语应用能力。

C类试题通常针对非英语专业的本科生。

以下是一份模拟试题的内容：Part I Listening Comprehension（听力理解）Section A (短对话理解)1. 根据听到的对话，选择正确的答案。

2. 听对话，回答相关问题。

Section B (长对话理解)1. 听一段长对话，回答几个问题。

Section C (短文理解)1. 听一篇短文，回答几个问题。

Part II Reading Comprehension（阅读理解）Section A (快速阅读)1. 阅读一篇短文，选择正确的答案。

Section B (深度阅读)1. 阅读几篇短文，回答相关问题。

Part III Cloze Test（完形填空）1. 阅读一篇短文，从所给选项中选择正确的词填入空白处。

Part IV Vocabulary and Grammar（词汇和语法）1. 根据句子上下文，选择正确的词汇或语法形式。

Part V Reading Comprehension Task（阅读理解任务）1. 阅读一篇较长的文章，完成多项任务，如回答问题、概括段落大意等。

Part VI Translation（翻译）Section A (英译汉)1. 将给定的英文句子翻译成中文。

Section B (汉译英)1. 将给定的中文句子翻译成英文。

Part VII Writing（写作）Section A (小作文)1. 根据给定的提示，写一篇短文。

Section B (大作文)1. 根据给定的主题，写一篇议论文。

请注意，以上内容仅为模拟试题示例，并非真实的16级全国大学生英语竞赛C类试题。

实际的试题会由主办方根据竞赛要求和标准进行命题。

2016年全国大学生英语竞赛d类试题2016年全国大学生英语竞赛D类试题涵盖了英语语言知识、应用能力、阅读理解、翻译、写作等多个方面，旨在全面考察大学生的英语综合能力。

以下是试题的大致内容：一、听力理解（Listening Comprehension）1. 短对话理解：包含若干段简短对话，考生需根据所听内容选择正确答案。

2. 长对话理解：一段较长的对话或访谈，考生需回答相关问题。

3. 短文听力：播放一篇短文，考生需根据短文内容选择或回答相关问题。

二、词汇和语法（Vocabulary and Grammar）1. 词汇题：提供一系列词汇选择题，考生需根据上下文选择最合适的词汇。

2. 语法题：包含一系列语法问题，考生需根据语法规则选择或填空。

三、阅读理解（Reading Comprehension）1. 快速阅读：提供一篇或多篇文章，考生需快速阅读并回答相关问题。

2. 深度阅读：提供较长的文章，考生需仔细阅读并回答深入理解的问题。

四、完形填空（Cloze Test）考生需阅读一篇有空白处的文章，从所给选项中选择最合适的词汇填入空白处，使文章意思通顺、完整。

五、翻译（Translation）1. 英译汉：提供一段英文材料，考生需将其翻译成中文。

2. 汉译英：提供一段中文材料，考生需将其翻译成英文。

六、写作（Writing）1. 应用文写作：考生需根据给定情景写一封书信、通知或其他应用文。

2. 议论文写作：考生需就某一话题发表自己的观点，并进行论证。

七、智力测试（Intelligence Test）包含逻辑推理、数学问题解决等题型，考察考生的逻辑思维和问题解决能力。

注意：- 所有试题均需在规定时间内完成。

- 听力部分可能包含录音材料，考生需仔细聆听并迅速作答。

- 阅读和写作部分要求考生具备良好的语言组织和表达能力。

- 翻译部分考察考生的语言转换能力，需注意语言的准确性和流畅性。

- 智力测试部分要求考生具备快速思考和逻辑分析的能力。

2016年全国大学生英语竞赛a类初赛试题
2016年全国大学生英语竞赛A类初赛试题主要分为以下几个部分：听
力理解、阅读理解、完形填空、翻译、写作和词汇语法。

以下是各部
分的大致内容概述：
听力理解：
- 对话理解：包含若干短对话，考生需根据所听内容选择正确答案。

- 短文理解：包括一到两篇短文，考生需根据短文内容回答相关问题。

阅读理解：
- 快速阅读：考生需快速浏览文章，回答几个基于文章大意的问题。

- 深度阅读：包含几篇较长的文章，考生需仔细阅读并回答细节问题。

完形填空：
- 考生需阅读一篇有空白处的短文，并从四个选项中选择最合适的词
填入空白处，使文章通顺、意义完整。

翻译：
- 英译汉：考生需将给定的英文句子翻译成中文。

- 汉译英：考生需将给定的中文句子翻译成英文。

写作：
- 议论文写作：考生需根据给定的题目写一篇议论文，表达自己的观
点并提供支持论据。

- 图表作文：考生需根据所提供的图表信息写一篇文章，分析图表所
展示的趋势或特点。

词汇语法：
- 词汇题：包含若干词汇选择题，考生需根据句子的语境选择最合适
的词汇。

- 语法题：包含若干语法选择题，考生需根据语法规则选择正确答案。

请注意，以上内容仅为概述，具体的题目和题型可能会根据实际的考
试要求有所变化。

考生在准备时应参考最新的考试大纲和样题进行复习。