博士入学考试2011-英语

English Test

March, 2011

Part I Reading Comprehension (40%) (55 minutes)

Directions: There are five reading passages in this section. Each passage is followed

by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are

four suggested answers marked A), B), C) and D). Choose the best answer

to each question.

Passage One

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the

longing for love, the search for knowledge, and the unbearable pity for the suffering

of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a

wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy -- ecstasy so great that I would

often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it,

next, because it relieves loneliness -- that terrible loneliness in which one shivering

consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless

abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic

miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined.

This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what

-- at least -- I have found.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the

hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to

apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A

little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the

heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain

reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless

old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty,

and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil,

but I can’t, and I too suffer.

This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again

if the chance were offered me.

1. What rhetorical device does the author use in the first paragraph?

A) Hyperbole and simile.

B) personification and hyperbole.

C) parallelism, simile and metaphor.

D) All of the above.

2. For how many reasons has the author sought love?

A) 1. B) 2. C) 3. D) 4. 3. The reason why the author mentions Pythagorean power is

_______________________.

A) to substantiate his viewpoint

B) that he is a mathematician

C) to show his talent in mathematics

D) that this essay is based on Pythagorean theory

4. Why does the author say he suffers too?

A) Because he is homeless.

B) Because he is ill.

C) Because he cannot alleviate all the evil that he hates.

D) Because he does not have enough money to support the poor.

Passage Two

Since Tiger was so fortunate with the game of golf, he decided to start a

foundation called: The Tiger Woods Foundation which starts schools in urban

American cities that provided an education for less fortunate kids. Tiger also supports

and donates money to The First Tee program. The First Tee program’s goal is to

provide learning facilities and educational programs that promote character

development and life enhancing values through the game of golf. Tiger himself has

also been an idol or hero for many kids around the world because of his dominance

and records throughout his golfing career. Because of this many kids have started

learning the game of golf.

Tiger’s real first name is Eldrick. He was born on December 30, 1975 and grew

up in Cypress California. He began taking an interest in golf when he was just six

months old. He would watch his dad, Earl, hit golf balls into a net and would try to

copy his swing. He was given the nickname Tiger after a Vietnamese soldier and

friend of his father. Tiger Woods appeared on TV practicing his swing at the age of

two and by the time he was three, he had already shot a 48 on a nine-hole course.

When he was five, the golf world began to take notice of Tiger and he was featured on

the cover of Golf Digest. Tiger Woods was just 16 and still in high school when he

played in his first professional golf tournament - the Nissan Los Angeles Open. Two

years later, he went to college at Stanford University where he won ten collegiate

events and the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) title. While he

appeared in only a handful of professional tournaments during his years in college, it

wasn’t long before Tiger Woods would be winning pro events at a ridiculous rate.