1997年专八真题和答案详解

TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (1997)-GRADE EIGHT-PAPER ONETIME LIMIT: 95 MINPART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION 40 MIN.In Sections A, B and C you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the correct answer to each question on your answer sheet.SECTION A TALKQuestions 1 to 5 refer to the talk in this section. At the end of the talk you will be given 75 seconds to answer the questions.Now listen to the talk.1. In the Black Forest, the acid rain is said to attack all EXCEPT .A) firs B) metals C) leaves D) soil2. The percentage of firs dying in the Black Forest is .A) 41% B) 43% C) 26% D) 76%3. Germany is tackling part of the problem by introducing .A) new car designing schemesB) new car production linesC) a new type of smoke stacksD) new car safety standards4. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT? A) Germany is likely to succeed in persuading her neighbours to reduce acid rain.B) The disastrous effects of acid rain are not confined to one area.C) German tourists are allowed to drive across their neighbours borders.D) Germanys neighbours are in favour of the use of lead-free petrol.5. On the issue of future solution of acid rain, the speakers tone is that of .A) warning B) pessimism C) indifference D) optimismSECTION B INTERVIEWQuestions 6 to 10 are based on an interview. At the end of the interview you will be given 75 seconds to answer the questions.Now listen to the interview.6. What subject is Mr. Pitt good at ?A) Art. B) French. C) German. D) Chemistry.7. What does Mr. Pitt NOT do in his spare time? A) Doing a bit of acting and photography.B) Going to concerts frequently.C) Playing traditional jazz and folk music.D) Travelling in Europe by hitch-hiking.8. When asked what a managers role is Mr. Pitt sounds .A) confident B) hesitant C) resolute D) doubtful9. What does Mr. Pitt say he would like to be? A) An export salesman working overseas.B) An accountant working in the company.C) A production manager in a branch.D) A policy maker in the company.10. Which of the following statements about the management trainee scheme is TRUE?A) Trainees are required to sign contracts initially.B) Trainees performance is evaluated when necessary.C) Trainees starting salary is 870 pounds.D) Trainees cannot quit the management schemeSECTION C NEWS BROADCASTQuestion 11 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 15 seconds to answer the questions.Now listen to the news.11. Which of the following statements is TRUE? A) Five gunmen were flown to Iran in a helicopter.B) Most of the ransom was retrieved in the end.C) The children were held for five days.D) The authorities have passed sentence on the gunmen.Question 12 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 15 seconds to answer the questions.Now listen to the news.12. According to the news, American troops in Panama .A were attacked at refugee campsB were angry at delays in departureC attacked Cuban refugee camps last weekD will be increased to 2,000Question 13 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 15 seconds to answer the questions.Now listen to the news.13. Which of the following statements is CORRECT? U.S. lawmakers .A) challenged the accord for freezing Pyongyangs nuclear programmeB) required the inspection of Pyongyang s nuclear site for at least five yearsC) were worried that North Korea may take advantage of the concessionsD) blamed the U. S. negotiator for making no compromises with North KoreaQuestions 14 and 15 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 30 seconds to answer the questions.Now listen to the news.14. According to the news, the Italian Parliament was asked to act by .A) the U.N. B) the Red CrossC) the Defense Minister D) the Swedish Government15. On the issue of limited use of landmines, the Italian Parliament is .A) noncommittal B) resolute C) unsupportive D) waveringSECTION D NOTE-TAKING AND GAP-FILLINGIn this section you will hear a mini lecture. You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening to the lecture, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them to complete a 15 minute gap filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE after the mini lecture. Use the blank sheet for note taking.PART II PROOFREADING & ERROR CORRECTION 15 MINProofread the given passage on ANSWER SHEET TWO as instructed.PART III READING COMPREHENSION 40 MIN SECTION A READING COMPREHENSION30 minIn this section there are four reading passages followed by a total of fifteen multiple choice questions. Read the passages and then mark your answers on your Coloured Answer Sheet.TEXT AA magazines design is more than decoration, more than simple packaging. It expresses the magazines very character. The Atlantic Monthly has long attempted to provide a design environment in which two disparate traditions - literary and journalisticcan co-exist in pleasurable dignity. The redesign that we introduce with this issuethe work of our art director, Judy Garlan - represents, we think, a notable enhancement of that environment.Garlan explains some of what was in her mind as she began to create the new design: “I saw this as an opportunity to bring the look closer to matching the elegance and power of the writing which the magazine is known for. The overall design has to be able to encompass a great diversity of styles and subjects - urgent pieces of reporting, serious essays, lighter pieces, lifestyle-oriented pieces, short stories, poetry. We dont want lighter pieces to seem too heavy, and we dont want heavier pieces to seem too petty. We also use a broad range of art and photography, and the design has to work well with that, too. At the same time, the magazine needs to have a consistent feel, needs to underscore the sense that everything in it is part of one Atlantic World.The primary typefaces Garlan chose for this task are Times Roman, for a more readable body type, and Bauer Bodoni, for a more stylish and flexible display type(article titles, large initials, and so on). Other aspects of the new design are structural. The articles in the front of the magazine, which once flowed into one another, now stand on their own, to gain prominence. The Travel column, now featured in every issue, has been moved from the back to the front. As noted in this space last month, the word “Monthly” rejoins “The Atlantic” on the cover, after a decade long absence.Judy Garlan came to the Atlantic in 1981 after having served as the art director of several other magazines. During her tenure here The Atlantic has won more than 300 awards for visual excellence, from the Society of illustrators, the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the Art Directors Club, Communication Arts, and elsewhere. Garlan was in various ways assisted in the redesign by the entire art-department staff: Robin Gilmore, Barnes, Betsy Urrico, Gillian Kahn, and Is a Manning.The artist Nicholas Gaetano contributed as well: he redrew our colophon (the figure of Neptune that appears on the contents page) and created the symbols that will appear regularly on this page (a rendition of our building), on the Puzzler page, above the opening of letters, and on the masthead. Gaetano, whose work manages to combine stylish clarity and breezy strength, is the cover artist for this issue.16. Part of the new design is to be concerned with the following EXCEPT .A) variation in the typefacesB) reorganization of articles in the frontC) creation of the travel columnD) reinstatement of its former name17. According to the passage, the new design work involves .A) other artists as wellB) other writers as wellC) only the cover artistD) only the art director18. This article aims to .A) emphasize the importance of a magazines designB) introduce the magazines art directorC) persuade the reader to subscribe to the magazineD) inform the reader of its new design and featuresTEXT BWHY SHOULD anyone buy the latest volume in the ever-expanding Dictionary of National Biography? I do not mean that it is bad, as the reviewers will agree. But it will cost you 65 pounds. And have you got the rest of volumes? You need the basic 22 plus the largely decennial supplements to bring the total to 31. Of course, it will be answered, public and academic libraries will want the new volume. After all, it adds 1,068 lives of people who escaped the net of the original compilers. Yet in 10 years time a revised version of the whole caboodle, called the New Dictionary of National Biography, will be published. Its editor, Proessor Colin Matthew, tells me that he will have room for about 50,000 lives, some 13,000 more than in the current DNB. This rather puts the 1,068 in Missing Persons in the shade. When Dr. Nicholls wrote to The Spectator in 1989 asking for name of people whom readers had looked up in the DNB and had been disappointed not to find, she says that she received some 100,000 suggestions. (Well, she had written to ot her quality newspapers too.) As soon as her committee had whittled the numbers down, the professional problems of an editor began. Contributors didnt file copy on time; some who did sent too much: 50,000 words instead of 500 is a record, according to Dr. Nicholls.There remains the dinner-party game of whos in, whos out. That is a game that the reviewers have played and will continue to play. Criminals were my initial worry. After all, the original edition of the DNB boasted: Malefactors whose crimes excite a permanent interest have received hardly less attention than benefactors. Mr. John Gross clearly had similar anxieties, for he complains that, while the murderer Christie is in, Crippen is out. One might say in reply that the injustice of the hanging of Evans instead of Christie was a force in the repeal of capital punishment in Britain, as Ludovie Kennedy (the author of Christies entry in Missing Persons) notes. But then Crippen was reputed as the first murderer to be caught by telegraphy (he had tried to escape by ship to America).It is surprising to find Max Miller excluded when really not very memorable names get in. There has been a conscious effort to put in artists and architects from the Middle Ages. About their lives not much is always known.Of Hugo of Bury St Edmunds, a 12th-century illuminator whose dates of birth and death are not recorded, his biographer comments: Whether or not Hugo was a wall-painter, the records of his activities as carver and manuscript painter attest to his versatility. Then there had to be more women, too (12 percent, against the original DBN s 3), such as Roy Strong s subject, the Tudor painter Levina Teerlinc, of whom he remarks: Her most characteristic feature is a head attached to a too small, spindly body. Her technique remained awkward, thin and often cursory. Doesnt seem to qualify her as a memorable artist. Yet it may be better than the record of the original DNB, which included lives of people who never existed (such as Merlin) and even managed to give thanks to J. W. Clerke as a contributor, though, as a later edition admits in a shamefaced footnote, “except for the entry in the List of Contributors there is no trace of J. W. Clerke”.19. The writer suggests that there is no sense in buying the latest volume .A) because it is not worth the priceB) because it has fewer entries than beforeC) unless one has all the volumes in the collectionD) unless an expanded DNB will come out shortly20. On the issue of who should be included in the DNB, the writer seems to suggest that .A) the editors had clear roles to followB) there were too many criminals in the entriesC) the editors clearly favoured benefactorsD) the editors were irrational in their choices21. Crippen was absent from the DNB .A) because he escaped to the U.S.B) because death sentence had been abolishedC) for reasons not clarifiedD) because of the editors mistake22. The author quoted a few entries in the last paragraph to .A) illustrate some features of the DNBB) give emphasis to his argumentC) impress the reader with its contentD) highlight the people in the Middle Ages23. Throughout the passage, the writers tone towards the DNB was .A) complimentary B) supportive C) sarcastic D) bitterTEXT CMedical consumerism - like all sorts of consumerism, only more menacingly - is designed to be unsatisfying. The prolongation of life and the search for perfect health (beauty, youth, happiness) are inherently self-defeating. The law of diminishing returns necessarily applies. You can make higher percentages of people survive into their eighties and nineties. But, as any geriatric ward shows, that is not the same as to confer enduring mobility, awareness and autonomy. Extending life grows medically feasible, but it is often a life deprived of every thing, and one exposed to degrading neglect as resources grow over-stretched and politics turn mean.What an ignoramus destiny for medicine if its future turned into one of bestowing meager increments of unenjoyed life! It would mirror the fate of athletes in which disproportionate energies and resources - not least medical ones, like illegal steroids - are now invested to shave records by milliseconds. And, it goes without saying, the logical extension of longevism - the “ abolition” of death - would not be a solution but only an exacerbation. To air these predicaments is not anti-medical spleen - a churlish reprisal against medicine for its victories - but simply to face the growing reality of medical power not exactly without responsibility but with dissolving goals.Hence medicines finest hour becomes the dawn of its dilemmas. For centuries, medicine was impotent and hence unproblematic. From the Greeks to the Great War, its job was simple: to struggle with lethal diseases and gross disabilities, to ensure live births, and to manage pain. It performed these uncontroversial tasks by and large with meager success. Today, with mission accomplished, medicines triumphs are dissolving in disorientation. Medicine has led to vastly inflated expectations, which the public has eagerly swallowed. Yet as these expectations grow unlimited, they become unfulfillable. The task facing medicine in the twenty-first century will be to redefine its limits even as it extends its capacities.24. In the authors opinion, the prolongation of life is equal to .A) mobility B) deprivation C) autonomy D) awareness25. In the second paragraph a comparison is drawn between .A) medicine and lifeB) resources and energiesC) predicaments and solutionsD) athletics and longevismTEXT DThe biggest problem facing Chile as it promotes itself as a tourist destination to be reckoned with, is that it is at the end of the earth. It is too far south to be a convenient stop on the way to anywhere else and is much farther than a relatively cheap half-days flight away from the big tourist markets, unlike Mexico, for example. Chile, therefore, is having to fight hard to attract tourists, to convince travellers that it is worth coming halfway round the world to visit. But it is succeeding, not only in existing markets like the USA and Western Europe but in new territories, in particular the Far East. Markets closer to home, however, are not being forgotten. More than 50% of visitors to Chile still come from its nearest neighbour, Argentina, where the cost of living is much higher.Like all South American countries, Chile sees tourism as a valuable earnerof foreign currency, although it has been far more serious than most in promoting its image abroad. Relatively stable politically within the region, it has benefited from the problems suffered in other areas. In Peru, guerrilla warfare in recent years has dealt a heavy blow to the tourist industry and fear of street crime in Brazil has reduced the attraction of Rio de Janeiro as a dream destination for foreigners.More than 150,000 people are directly involved in Chiles tourist sector, an industry which earns the country more than US $ 950 million each year. The state-run National Tourism Service, in partnership with a number of private companies, is currently running a worldwide campaign, taking part in trade fairs and international events to attract visitors to Chile.Chiles great strength as a tourist destination is its geographical diversity. From the parched Atacama Desert in the north to the Antarctic snowfields of the south, it is more than 5,000km long. With the Pacific on one side and the Andean mountains on the other, Chile boasts natural attractions. Its beaches are not up to Caribbean standards but resorts such as Vina del Mar are generally clean and unspoilt and have a high standard of services.But the tromp card is the Andes mountain range. There are a number of excellent ski resorts within one hours drive of the capital, Santiago, and the national parks in the south are home to rare animal and plant species. The parks already attract specialist visitors, including mountaineers, who come to climb the technically difficult peaks, and fishermen, lured by the salmon and trout in theregions rivers.However, infrastructural development in these areas is limited. The ski resorts do not have as many lifts and pistes as their European counterparts and the poor quality of roads in the south means that only the most determined travelers see the best of the national parks.Air links between Chile and the rest of the world are, at present, relatively poor. While Chiles two largest airlines have extensive networks within South America, they operate only a small number of routes to the United States and Europe, while services to Asia are almost non-existent.Internal transport links are being improved and luxury hotels are being built in one of its national parks. Nor is development being restricted to the Andes. Easter Island and Chiles Antarctic Territory axe also on the list of areas where the Government believes it can create tourist markets.But the rush to open hitherto inaccessible areas to mass tourism is not being welcomed by everyone. Indigenous and environmental groups, including Greenpeace, say that many parts of the Andes will suffer if they become over-developed. There is a genuine fear that areas of Chile will suffer the cultural destruction witnessed in Mexico and European resorts.The policy of opening up Antarctica to tourism is also politically sensitive. Chile already has permanent settlements on the ice and many people see the decision to allow tourists there as a political move, enhancing Santiago s territorial claim over part of Antarctica.The Chilean Government has promised to respect the environment as it seeks to bring tourism to these areas. But there are immense commercial pressures to exploit the countrys tourism potential. The Government will have to monitor developments closely if it is genuinely concerned in creating a balanced, controlled industry and if the price of an increasingly lucrative tourist market is not going to mean the loss of many of Chiles natural riches.26. Chile is disadvantaged in the promotion of its tou