2004年9月英语高级口译考试笔试真题+音频+答案SECTION 1: LISTENING TEST (30 minutes)Every nation and region in the world has its own set of folk heroes. Sometimes, the heroes from_______ (1) are strikingly similar. When this is true, the stories connected with these figures can _______ (2) between two seemingly different cultures. Often, however, heroes from one culture or region are_______ (3). When this is the case, the heroic figure demonstrates the unique aspects of a specific people, not merely _______ (4) to similar circumstances. Now, in this lecture, we will look at a number of American folk heroes in order to focus on several aspects of _______ (5).By folk heroes, we mean figures whose stories have evolved over time and whose legends cannot be _______ (6). Instead of being created by a single writer, folk heroes evolve through time and reflect the efforts and creativity of _______ (7). Of course, professional writers sometimes _______ (8) folk heroes, just as those who create folk heroes often incorporate aspects of _______ (9) into their stories. Nonetheless, folk heroes and the folklore concerning them are _______ (10) by people who perform_______ (11) their audiences. One example of this process might be the poet Homer reciting his heroic tales to a _______ (12) audience of ancient Greeks. This was a favorite form of entertainment long before _______ (13).America is a diverse country in which various people and sub-cultures embrace their own unique history and lore. _______ (14) under these circumstances, a wide variety of heroes have become a part of _______ (15). Any yet many of these heroes share similarities that make them distinctively American, in spite of _______ (16). By focusing on these similarities, we can _______ (17) of America and its people.For hundreds of years, Americans have struggled to understand their place in the New World. There were _______ (18) in the New World. In addition, the social and economic position of people was not as _______ (19) as in Europe, Africa and Asia. As a result, storytellers created heroes _______ (20) the unique opportunities and challenges that America provided.Part B: Listening ComprehensionQuestions 1 to 5 are based on the following conversation.1. (A) In the professor's home.(B) In the professor's office.(C) In the classroom.(D) In the school library.2. (A) Children always have the same accents as their mothers.(B) Most adult language learners can lose their accents.(C) Students don't usually learn their classmates' accents.(D) There will be big misunderstandings if you speak with accents.3. (A) He used the wrong stress.(B) He used the wrong intonation.(C) He misunderstood the word.(D) He spoke the word with a very different accent.4. (A) Australian.(B) British.(C) Indian.(D) South African.5. (A) To drop the pronunciation class.(B) To sign up for a listening / speaking class.(C) To check in the library the schedule for the new semester.(D) To wait to make a decision about the pronunciation class.Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following news.6. (A) Because of the accumulation of funds in the real estate market.(B) Because of the rising house prices and government budget deficits.(C) Because of the resignation of the Finance Minister Gorden Brown.(D) Because of the increase in the number of the houses being sold.7. (A) Business confidence will probably remain unchanged for the next year.(B) Business confidence was the highest in May since April 2001.(C) Published National indexes show confidence unchanged in Germany and Italy and falling in France.(D) The index of confidence may have stayed at plus 5, the highest in 3 years.8. (A) They will deliver solid earning results this year.(B) They will break even at the end of this year.(C) They posted another year of losses due to bad loan write-offs.(D) They reported mixed results for the year ended March 31.9. (A) 50.(B) 100.(C) 150.(D) 200.10. (A) A Korean patrol boat operated illegally in Japanese waters.(B) A Korean fishing vessel overturned and the captain was fatally wounded.(C) A Japanese Coast Guard patrol boat fired teargas grenades at a Korean fishing vessel.(D) A Japanese fishing vessel was repeatedly ordered to stop operating in Korean waters.Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following interview.11. (A) Because the usage of the Internet is widespread now.(B) Because Internet addiction is growing on college campuses.(C) Because the computer is accessible to everyone on college campuses.(D) Because Internet addiction is less harmful than other addictions.12. (A) She cannot go to sleep without surfing on the Net first.(B) She and other people are surfing on the Net in the middle of the night.(C) She doesn't know when her Internet compulsiveness is turning into an addiction.(D) She isn't sure the exact amount of time is really the issue.13. (A) People's work performance and school performance may be affected.(B) People may lose social skills that make face-to-face relationships successful.(C) People may be cheated by those with false identities.(D) People may have no time for taking walks and other leisure activities.14. (A) Work performance.(B) School performance.(C) Relationships.(D) Mental health.15. (A) Practice self-discipline.(B) Have some sort of balance in life.(C) Set an alarm clock.(D) Act upon your friend's advice.Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following talk.16. (A) In the late 1940s.(B) In the early 1950s.(C) In the late 1950s.(D) In the early 1960s.17. (A) Abstract Expressionism.(B) The artistic movement that immediately preceded it.(C) The internal struggles of the individual artists.(D) Mass-produced visual media and the design of common household objects.18. (A) Abstract Expressionism was a very personal art.(B) Abstract Expressionism was more easily accessible to the masses than Pop Art.(C) Abstract Expressionism reflected a direct relationship to the actual world.(D) Abstract Expressionism was a little bit influenced by Pop Art.19. (A) To direct art from the personalities of the individual artists towards the world.(B) To impose a unified symbolic meaning on his collection of materials.(C) To concentrate less on the objects and more on the images he found.(D) To set the stage for further development in Pop Art.20. (A) Because their use of found objects and images from everyday life was innovative.(B) Because they believed that these images reflected the cultural values of contemporary society.(C) Because they use everyday objects found on the street as the material for their art.(D) Because they combined and repeated images from print media to make one single artwork.SECTION 2: LISTENING TEST (30 minutes)Questions 1-5Valentine's Day is tomorrow, and we are all thinking about true love and heart-shaped chocolate candy. Well, maybe not all of us. Some of us, actually, are considering the quantifiable aspects of divorce. In America today, some 50 percent of marriages are predicted to end in divorce. And at the University of Washington in Seattle they say they can tell you exactly—well, almost exactly—which ones those will be.A psychologist, a mathematician, and a pathologist have devised what they call a proven mathematical formula for detecting which relationships will go sour—thereby holding out hope that such couples can overcome their problems, and avoid divorce. "We have been able to predict that divorce will happen before [it does]. That's old news," says John Gottman, emeritus professor of psychology. "But what we have now is a scientific model for understanding why we can predict it with such accuracy."The work marks the first time a mathematic model is being used to understand such deep personal human interactions, adds James Murray, professor of applied mathematics. "It is totally objective. And our prediction of which couples would divorce within a four-year period was 94 percent accurate." This ishow it works: Couples face each other and discuss—each speaking in turn—a subject over which they have disagreed more than once in the past. They are wired to detect various physiological data, such as pulse rates, and they're also videotaped. A session lasts a mere 15 minutes. The research team watches and analyzes the tapes and data, awarding plus or minus points depending on the type of interactions and according to a standard scoring system. Everything is then translated into equations and plotted on a graph, which the researchers have dubbed the "Dow-Jones Industrial Average for marital conversation." Once this is done, different situations are simulated and analyzed from the equations and graphs, and predictions are made.Over the past 16 years more than 700 couples (at different stages of their marriages) took part in the research. But let's go back a moment. It all starts, say, with a chat about mothers-in-law—apparently one of the hot topics of contention among couples, along with money and sex, according to Dr. Murray. "The husband might say to his wife, 'Your mother really is a pain in the neck.' Well, that's a minus two points.A shrug, that's a no-no——so minus one. And rolled eyes——very negative; that's minus two." If however, the husband were to say, "Your moth er is a pain in the neck…but she is sometimes funny," then, according to the researchers, you would take away two pints and then give one back. If the husband cracked a smile, he would get another point. At the end of all the additions and subtractions, a stable marriage is indicated by having five more positive points than negative ones. Otherwise, warns the team, the marriage is in trouble.In trouble——but not doomed. The whole point of the model, says Dr. Gottman, is that it gives therapists new understanding with which they can help couples overcome patterns of interaction and prevent divorce. "What we are suggesting," says Murray, "is that couples who take this experiment then be told the prediction and realize they are going to have to both change their behavior and repair what is wrong."Not everyone buys into this model. Bonnie Jacobson, a clinical psychologist and processor at New York University, says it is "absolutely impossible" to understand the workings of a relationship via aone-size-fits-all model. "For mostly every couple I have seen, it's hard to see how they got together in the first place," she says. "So unless you really get to know the nuanced dynamics, you will never 'get it' or be able to help."Christine Fasano was married for only 14 months before getting a divorce last year. She agrees the dynamics of a relationship are nuanced and complex—but also sees merit in the University of Washington study's basic assumption that if one looks starkly at interaction between a couple, it is possible to ascertain whether the relationship is headed toward demise. "I'm not surprises the model works," she says. "It's actually not that profound. My basic observation of couples that are happily married is that they treat each other well. That is basically what they are saying, and that is hard to argue with."So, any final advice for Valentine's Day from the divorce research team out in Washington? "I would never give advice on matters of the heart," says Murray, who, incidentally, has been married 45 years. "But I suppose the bottom line is, yes, communication. And being good to one another. That is nice to quantify."1. The mathematical model is designed by these scientists ________.(A) to figure out the of probability of divorce(B) to predict and help avoid divorce(C) for the newly-married young couples(D) on the basis of physiological data2. Which of the following CANNOT be found about the mathematical formula?(A) It is quite popular and has been widely accepted.(B) It has been experimented with over 700 couples.(C) It has been invented by a number of scientists from related fields.(D) It is proved useful as more marriages end in divorce.3. In the sentence "Not every one buys into the model." (para.6) the expression "buys into" can be interpreted as ________.(A) pays to acquire(B) supports fully(C) have confidence in(D) understands and accepts4. Christine Fasano is introduced in the passage because ________.(A) her divorce was predicted and avoided by the formula(B) her divorce proved the effectiveness of the mathematical model(C) she thought the rationale behind the formula is understandable(D) she argued that divorce could be prevented by frequent communication5. The love equation employs all of the following methods EXCEPT ________.(A) It is based on the analysis of recordings of marital conversation(B) It uses and addition and subtraction system to record the data(C) It makes predictions from analysis of equations and graphs(D) It uses the interviews of each of the spouses separatelyQuestions 6-10When Timothy Spahr finally knocked off work on Jan.13, after more than 10 hours on the job, he figured he was at last done for the night. Spahr's task as an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center fro Astrophysics, in Cambridge, Mass., is to collect reports of asteroids that might one day pass near Earth. On that Tuesday, he had been processing observations from an automated telescope in New Mexico when he noticed a pinpoint of light that might fit the profile. He calculated the object's orbit and, as usual, posted the information on the Minor Planet Center website for other astronomers to see. Then he went off to dinner with a friends.What happened next guaranteed that Spahr's workday wasn't nearly over. It also triggered a debate among astronomers about how quickly the public should be informed about dangers from space—and how sure scientists need to be before issuing such warnings. Several times in the past, sky watchers have announced that a rogue asteroid might threaten Earth—triggering the usual banner headlines—only to retract the warning a few days later. But while saying "never mind" is embarrassing, it would be much worse to keep a real danger quiet. And that's why Spahr's drawn-out workday was a prime topic of discussion at the Planetary Defense conference organized by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and held last week in Garden Grove, Calif.While Spahr dined, a German amateur astronomer visited the Minor Planet website, noted the new object, called 2004 AS1, and noticed further that its brightness was expected to increase an almost unbelievable 4,000% in the next day or so—an indication that it was approaching with blistering speed.Then he plotted the orbit Spahr had calculated and realized that the chunk of rock, estimated at the time to be about 100 ft. across, was on a direct collision course with Earth—specifically, somewhere in the northern hemisphere—and only days away. At that size, it would probably explode in the atmosphere a few miles up with the force of a one-megaton H-bomb, enough to wreak havoc on anything directly below.When the German amateur posted an alert on an asteroid watchers e-mail list, astronomers around the world went into high gear. "By the time I got home at around midnight," says Spahr, "there were five messages waiting on my answering machine." Over the next several hours, he and others raced to try to figure out whether Earth truly was in danger. "All of us were initially very skeptical," says Clark Chapman, an astronomer at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo. "We thought it was a mistake or bad data or someone playing a trick."But when Steve Chesley, at NASA'S Jet Propulsion Laboratory, checked Spahr's calculations, he came up with a 1-in-4 probability of a strike. "It was a responsible analysis," says Chapman. "It wasn't mistaken in any obvious way." There was one hitch: the asteroid's projected trajectory was based on only four observations over a one-hour period, hardly enough to be definitive. It would take another look to nail down its path.Usually a threatening asteroid is potted years in advance. This time, with just days to spare, astronomers had to get their second look right away. So Chesley did some more calculations to find what's called the keyhole—the tiny region of sky where 2004 AS1 should be if the orbit was correct—and put those coordinates out on the Internet. "It clearly wasn't time to make an announcement," says Chapman, who denies a BBC report that he was on the verge of telephoning the White House that night. "But if we still didn't know the next morning, I think we would have been obliged to alert people."Fortunately, the wait was not long. At around 3:30 E.T. that morning, Brian Warner, an amateur astronomer from Colorado Springs. Colo., aimed a telescope at the keyhole and found it was empty.2004 AS1 wasn't going to hit Earth after all, and probably never will—luckily, since it turns out to be more like 1,600 ft. across. Next time, Spahr won't be depending on a sharp-eyed amateur. "Within two days after the incident," he say, "we had software to check for future impacts automatically."6. Which of the following cannot be concluded from the statement "What happened next guaranteed that Spahr's workday wasn't nearly over." (para.2)?(A) He continued work after dinner with a friend.(B) He sent more information on the Minor Planet Center website.(C) His approach caused much attention and confusion.(D) His approach led to heated debate and discussion.7. "Spahr's drawn-out workday was a prime topic of discussion at the Planetary Defense conference" (para.2) because ________.(A) it is concerned with the protection of Earth from asteroids(B) it leads to an important discovery in astronautics(C) it is related to professional ethics of astronomers in issuing warnings(D) it caused panic and confusion among the general public8. It can be found from the introduction of the German amateur astronomer that ________.(A) his prediction of the asteroid's collision with Earth was out of imagination(B) his calculation of the speed and direction of the asteroid was correct(C) amateurs are amateurs, and their prediction is often nonsensical(D) warnings of dangers from space should be cautious and careful9. When NASA's Steve Chesleys reached the 1-in-4 probability of a strike from the asteroid, he________.(A) supposed that the German amateur astronomer was playing a trick(B) disagreed with the practice of giving such warnings so casually(C) implied that the movement of the asteroid should be closely watched(D) strongly proposed that action must be taken to defend Earth10. Which of the following conveys the major message from the last two paragraphs?(A) Amateurs and professional astronomers coordinate closely in their effort.(B) The scientists reported to the White House about their discovery.(C) The hasty prediction of the threatening asteroid came off eventually.(D) It turned out that the 2004AS1 did not hit Earth as predicted by amateurs.Questions 11-15Twenty years ago there was panic in Cupertino, Calif. Only a week remained before the team of whiz kids designing Apple's radical new computer had to turn in the final code. The giant factory was ready. The soon-to-be-famous Super Bowl commercial was ready. But the computer wasn't.As recounted by software wizard Andy Hertzfeld on a new cyberdigital history site (), the already overworked Mac team trudged back to the cubicles for seven days of debugging hell, fueledby espresso chocolate beans and a dream. And on Jan.24, 1984, their leader, Apple confounder Steve Jobs, recited a verse from "The Times They Are A-Changin," then formally unveiled the Macintosh, a boxy little guy with a winning smile icon on its nine-inch monochrome screen. The Mac-oids fully expected to make computer history, and they did. What surprises them now is that their creation is still around two decades later.Only nine years after the first personal computer (a build-it-yourself box whose only input was a set of switches), Apple's team had delivered an experience that would persist into the next century. This was the graphical user interface (GUI), a mind-blowing contrast to the pre-1984 standard of glowing green characters and arcane commands. Though Apple didn't come up with the idea of windows on a screen and a mouse to let people naturally manipulate information, the Macintosh refined and popularized those concepts. Lots of people criticized and some made fun of those advances at the time. But even Apple's rivals became convinced that the GUI was groovy. Now, no matter what computer you use, you're using, essentially, a Mac.The original Mac was costly, underpowered and had no cursor keys. Early sales disappointed Apple, and the then CEO John Sculley fired Jobs in 1985. Eventually, Mac became equipped with more memory and storage, and people began to discover the machine's ability to become a tool for the new pursuit of desktop publishing. The machine began to take off. But the business world never warmed to Macintosh, and by the mid-90's tech pundits were crafting Apple obituaries. In 1997 prodigal cofounder Jobs returned and restored Apple's luster with innovations like the eye-popping iMac."I think Apple's now doing the best work it's ever done," says Jobs. "But all of us on the Mac team consider it the high point of our professional careers. I only wish we knew a fraction of what we knownow." Even now for its 25 million users, the Macintosh is a source of passion. (Journalists know that a disparaging word about an iMac or a PowerBook will unleash a hundred flames from rabid Apple-heads.) Steve Jobs thinks he knows why. "In the modern world there aren't a lot of products where the people who make them love them. How many products are made that way these days?"If that's so, then why is the Mac market share, even after Apple's recent revival, sputtering at a measly 5 percent? Jobs has a theory about that, too. Once a company devises a great product, he says, it has a monopoly in that realm, and concentrates less on innovation that protecting its turf. "The Mac-user interface was a 10-year monopoly," says Jobs. "Who ended up running the company? Sales guys . At the critical juncture in the late '80s, when they should have gone for market share, they went for profits. They made obscene profits for several years. And their products became mediocre. And then their monopoly ended with Windows 95. They behaved like a monopoly, and it came back to bite them, which always happens."A wicked smile cracks the bearded, crinkly Steve Jobs's visage, and for a moment he could be the playful upstart who shocked the world 20 years ago. "Hmm, look who's running Microsoft now," he says, referring to former Procter & Gamble marketer Steve Ballmer."A sales guy!" The smile gets broader. "I wonder…" he says.11. The sentence "their creation is still around two decades later." (para.2) can be paraphrased as which of the following?(A) Their creation is still being widely used 20 years later.(B) They have been fascinated by their own creation for 20 years.(C) Mac models being used today are based on their creation 20 years ago.(D) Their creation has surpassed other models over the past 20 years.12. In the sentence "that the GUI was groovy" (para.3), the word "groovy" can be interpreted as________.(A) fashionably modern(B) practical and inexpensive(C) most sophisticated(D) odd and strange looking13. When Steve Jobs thinks "he knows why" (para.5), he implies that ________.(A) people do not love the product they make today(B) Apple people have special passion for what they make(C) some products are liked by those who make them(D) Apple people either love iMac or PowerBook14. According to Jobs, the main reason the Mac market share did not go up much was that ________.(A) sales people were only concerned about profits(B) the monopoly of Mac lasted too long(C) any monopoly would end sooner or later(D) market share and company profit were treated equally15. The purpose of the passage is to tell ________.(A) how the Macintosh was unveiled twenty years ago by the team of whiz kids(B) Apple's popularizing the idea of windows on a screen and a mouse(C) Macintosh's contribution to the development of computers over the past two decades.(D) the ups and downs in the development of Macintosh over the past two decadesQuestions 16-20"Two centuries ago, Meriwether Lewis and William Clerk left St. Lois to explore the new lands acquired in the Louisiana Purchase," George W. Bush said, announcing his desire for a program to send men and women to Mars. "They made that journey in the spirit of discovery… America has ventured forth into space for the same reasons."Yet there are vital differences between Lewis and Clark's expedition and a Mars mission. First, Lewis and Clark were headed to a place amenable to life; hundred of thousands of people were already living there. Second, Lewis and Clark were certain to discover places and things of immediate value to the new nation. Third, the Lewis and Clark venture cost next to nothing by today's standards.In 1989 NASA estimated that a people-to-Mars program would cost $400 billion, which inflates to $600 billion today. The Hoover Dam cost $700 million in today's money, meaning the sending people to Mars might cost as much as building about 800 new Hoover dams. A Mars mission may be the single most expensivenon-wartime undertaking in U.S. history.The thought of travel to Mars is exhilarating. Surely men and women will someday walk upon that planet, and surely they will make wondrous discoveries about geology and the history of the solar system, perhaps even about the vary origin of life. Many times I have stared up at Mars in the evening sky in the mountains, away from cities, you can almost see the red tint and wondered what is there, or was there.But the fact that a destination is tantalizing does not mean the journey makes sense, even considering the human calling to explore. And Mars as a destination for people makes absolutely no sense with current technology.Present systems for getting from Earth's surface to low-Earth orbit are so fantastically expensive that merely launching the 1,000 tons or so of spacecraft and equipment a Mars mission would require could be accomplished only by cutting health-care benefits, education spending or other important programs or by raising taxes. Absent some remarkable discovery, astronauts, geologists and biologists once on Mars could do little mare than analyze rocks and feel awestruck beholding the sky of another world. Yet rocks can be analyze by automated probes without risk to human life, and at a tiny fraction of the cost of sending people.It is interesting to note that when President Bush unveiled his proposal, he listed these recent major achievements of space exploration: pictures of the rings of Saturn and the outer planets, evidence of water on Mars and the moon of Jupiter, discovery of more than 100 planets outside our solar system and study of the soil of Mars. All these accomplishments came from automated probes or automated space telescopes. Bush's proposal, which calls for "reprogramming" some ofNASA's present budget into the Mars effort, might actually lead to a reduction in such unmanned science the one aspect of space exploration that's working really well.Rather than spend hundreds of billions of dollars to hurl tons toward Mars using current technology, why not take a decade or two decades, or however much time is required researching new launch systems and advanced propulsion? If new launch systems could put weight into orbit affordably, and if advanced propulsion could speed up that long, slow transit to Mars, then the dreams of stepping onto the Red Planet might become reality. Mars will still be there when the technology is ready.。
