2017“外研社杯”全国英语阅读大赛初赛样题

2017“外研社杯”全国英语阅读大赛初赛（90min）Part I Read and KnowIn Part I, you will read short texts of various kinds. Read the instructions carefully and answer the questions. (Time suggested: 20 minutes) Questions 1-3 (Suggested completion time: 3 minutes)A. William ShakespeareB. Nelson MandelaC. Thomas A. EdisonD. Steve JobsE. Mark ZuckerbergF. Lucius Annaeus SenecaDirections: Read the following quotes. Match the quotes with the people. Please note there are three extra options you do not need._1. Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air._2. I havent failed. Ive just found 10,000 ways that wont work._3. Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.Questions 4 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text, and answer the question according to the text.A few intuitive, sensitive visionaries may understand and comprehend XXXX (the book title), XXXX (the author)s new and mammoth volume, without going through a course of training or instruction, but the average intelligent reader will glean little or nothing from iteven from careful perusal, one might properly say study, of itsave bewilderment and a sense of disgust. It should be companioned with a key and a glossary like the Berlitz books.4. Which of the following works does the book review address? A. UlyssesB. The OdysseyC. In Search of Lost TimeD. One Hundred Years of SolitudeQuestion 5 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text and answer the question according to the text.I like the fact that the study focuses on a French classroom, which receives less attention in Second Language Acquisition research than other foreign language classrooms.However, for reasons that I elaborate on below, I do not recommend this manuscript for publication. I recommend that the author consults the Journal of Language, Identity, and Education. That journal might be a better fit for this paper.5. The text could best be described as _.A. a conclusionB. a summaryC. a reviewD. a pledgeQuestion 6 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text, and answer the question according to the text.My Lord,I have been lately informed, by the proprietor of The World, that two papers, in which my Dictionary is recommended to the public, were written by your lordship. To be so distinguished is an honor which, being very little accustomed to favors from the great, I know not well how to receive, or in what terms to acknowledge.Seven years, my lord, have now passed, since I waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door; during which time I have been pushing on my work through difficulties, of which it is useless to complain, and have brought it, at last, to the verge of publication, without one act of assistance, one word of encouragement, or one smile of favor. Such treatment I did not expect, for I never had a patron before.6. This text is taken from a letter which showed the writers _ the Lord.A. gratitude towardsB. indifference toC. contempt forD. respect forQuestion 7 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text and answer the question according to the text.Because of social media, words are moving around the world within weeks and months, whereas in the past, it could take a few years,saysJulie Coleman, author ofThe Life of Slang. “Its not necessarily that language is changing more quickly, but technologies have developed and they allow the transmission of slang terms to pass from one group to another much more quickly.”7. The main purpose of the text is to _.A. explain the quick migration of slangB. imply the unnecessary change of languageC. exemplify the advancement of technologyD. introduce the book The Life of SlangQuestions 8 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the text, and answer the question according to the text.When hunting raccoons for fur was a popular sport, hunting dogs were used to sniff them out of trees. As they are XXXX animals, the hunting party had to work at night, and the dogs would sometimes end up choosing the wrong tree, or as the idiom goes, “bark up the wrong tree.” The term was first printed in a book by Davy Crockett in 1833.8. Which word is the best substitution for the missing word XXXX? A. solitaryB. aggressive C. nocturnalD. herbivorousQuestion 9 (Suggested completion time: 2 minutes)Directions: Read the details about a euphemism, and answer the question according to the details.l It was first used by British journalists in 1967 to describe a state of alcohol intoxication exhibited by Labour Cabinet Minister George Brown.l It is now used as a stock phrase. The Guardian describes it as having joined those “that are part of every journalists vocabulary.”l In fact, one source cautions professional British journalists against its use “even if the journalist meant it literally.”9. The euphemism described above most probably refers to _.A. people with special needsB. downright overwroughtC. tired and emotionalD. mentally challengedQuestion 10 (Suggested completion time: 5 minutes)Directions: The bar chart shows the share of UN procurement from Global Compact members from 2010 to 2014. Answer the question according to the information in the chart.Source: 2014 Annual Statistical Report on United Nations Procurement, the United Nations Office for Project Services, 201510. Choose the INCORRECT description of the chart. A. The share of UN procurement volume from Global Compact members grew steadily over the five years in terms of absolute volume.B. In 2013, the total procurement volume dropped noticeably, and so did the procurement from Global Compact members.C. In 2014, the total procurement volume increased greatly, causing a drop in the share of procurement from Global Compact members.D. The proportion of procurement from Global Compact members was not in line with the general trend of procurement from Global Compact members.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 suggested: 40 minutes)Question 11 (Suggested completion time: 3 minutes)Directions: Read the following definition of a logical fallacy. Answer the question according to the definition.Confusion of “Necessary” with “Sufficient” ConditionA causal fallacy. You commit this fallacy when you assume that a necessary condition of an event is sufficient for the event to occur. A necessary condition is a condition that must be present for an event to occur. A sufficient condition is a condition or set of conditions that will produce the event. A necessary condition must be there, but it alone does not provide sufficient cause for the occurrence of the event. Only the sufficient grounds can do this. In other words, all of the necessary elements must be there.11. Which of the following provides a typical example of Confusion of “Necessary” with “Sufficient” Condition? A. You said that I would have to run the mile in less than six minutes to be on the track team, and I did. So why did I get cut from the team?B. Dina has to be rich or at least to be an heiress. She after all belongs to the Alpha Phi Lambda sorority which is the richest sorority on campus.C. Its supposed to be in the low twenties tonight, so surely were not going to the football game, are we?D. To see viruses, one must have a microscope. This follows if William Carroll said he saw viruses,he must have used a microscope.Question 12 (Suggested completion time: 3 minutes)Directions: Read the definition of one type of logical fallacy. Answer the question according to the definition.Texas Sharpshooter FallacyTexas Sharpshooter fallacy is an informal fallacy which occurs when someone jumps to theconclusionthat a cluster in some data must be the result of a cause, usually one that it is clustered around.12. Which of the following provides a typical example of Texas Sharpshooter fallacy?A. I wont pay the parking ticket because the traffic sign here says “Fine for Parking”!B. Cola is healthy because it sells best among the top five healthiest countries in the world.C. We cant exploit the outer space because many people on Earth hardly make ends meet. D. Nobody at school can speak French because neither teachers nor the principal can speak it.Questions 13-14 Reasoning. (Suggested completion time: 8 minutes)In a swimming competition, Matt, Alen and Johnson won a medal respectively: the gold medal, the silver medal and the bronze medal. The coach made a guess: “Matt won the gold medal, Alen didnt win the gold medal and Johnson didnt win the bronze medal.” Unfortunately, only one of them is right. 13. Who won the gold medal, who won the silver, and who won the bronze medal? A. Matt: gold medal; Johnson: silver medal; Alen: bronze medal.B. Alen: gold medal; Johnson: silver medal; Matt: bronze medal.C. Johnson: gold medal; Alen: silver medal; Matt: bronze medal.D. Matt: gold medal; Alen: silver medal; Johnson: bronze medal.14. Richard: The national budget should provide significant increases in all levels of education in the upcoming year.Natalie: Thats not fair. A reduction in defense spending in peacetime may bring us excessive risks. We cant afford it.Which of the following is the best interpretation of Natalies argument?A. Funds saved from defense have been diverted to all levels of education.B. Highlighting spending on education dangerously impacts on spending on the military.C. The size of the military budget reflects a states ability to fund educational activities.D. Compared with military spending, investing in education will create a financial crisis. Questions 15-16 (Suggested completion time: 5 minutes)Directions: Read the text and decide whether the statements are True or False according to the text.QuestionsQuestions define tasks, express problems, and delineate issues. They drive thinking forward. Answers, on the other hand, often signal a full stop in thought. Only when an answer generates further questions does thought continue as inquiry. A mind with no questions is a mind that is not intellectually alive. No questions (asked) equals no understanding (achieved). Superficial questions equal superficial understanding, unclear questions equal unclear understanding. If your mind is not actively generating questions, you are not engaged in substantial learning.15. The main purpose of the text is to define “questions”.True ( ) False ( )16. It can be inferred that a mind filled with questions will surely be engaged in substantial learning.True ( ) False ( )Questions 17-18 (Suggested completion time: 7 minutes)Directions: Read the text about the sugar industry, and answer the questions according to the information in the text.How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to FatThe internal sugar industry documents, recently discovered by a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, and published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, suggest that the sugar industry may have manipulated the research into the role of sugar in heart disease.The documents show that a trade group called the Sugar Research Foundation, known today as the Sugar Association, paid three Harvard scientists the equivalent of about $50,000 in todays terms to publish a 1967 review of research into sugar, fat and heart disease. The studies used in the review were handpicked by the sugar group, and the article, which was published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, minimized the link between sugar and heart health and cast aspersions on the role of saturated fat.Even though the influence-meddling revealed in the documents dates back nearly 50 years, more recent reports show that the food industry has continued to influence nutrition science.Last year, an article in The New York Times revealed that Coca-Cola, the worlds largest producer of sugary beverages, had provided millions of dollars in funding to researchers who sought to play down the link between sugary drinks and obesity. In June, The Associated Press reported that candy makers were funding studies that claimed that children who eat candy tend to weigh less than those who do not.The revelations are important because the debate about the relative harms of sugar and saturated fat continues today, Dr. Glantz said. For many decades, health officials encouraged Americans to reduce their fat intake, which led many people to consume low-fat, high-sugar foods that some experts now blame for fueling the obesity crisis.Today, the saturated fat warnings still remain a cornerstone of the governments dietary guidelines, though in recent years the American Heart Association, the World Health Organization and other health authorities have also begun to warn that too much added sugar may increase risks of cardiovascular disease.17. The word handpicked in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to _.A. carefully chosen in a highly scientific wayB. carried out with the best research findingsC. tailored to the needs of the sugar industryD. done by scientists from Harvard University18. Which of the following can be inferred from the text?A. Manufacturers of sugar related food are funding studies aimed at finding the relationship between sugar and health.B. Scientific research may not produce accurate results when funding for the research is provided by agents who are not impartial.C. It is now accepted in the US that sugar and saturated fat are both responsible for an increasing risk of heart disease.D. The industry-funded research plays an important and informative role in that it shapes the overall scientific debate.Questions 19-20 (Suggested completion time: 7 minutes)Directions: Read the passage about MasterCard. Answer the questions according to the passage. MasterCardMasterCardis making it easier for charities to get help quickly to the people who really need it, and ensure that donations are actually being used for good. The MasterCard Aid Network, launched last September, distributes a version of the companys plastic cards that come loaded with points that can be redeemed at certain merchants for groceries, medicine, shelter and even building materials or business supplies. The chip-enabled system can be deployed in a day or two compared to the weeks required to create and import paper vouchers.The system doesnt require an Internet connectiona boon in off-the-grid areas where many refugees and disaster victims are concentrated. Still, the transactions enable organizations to collect data on what card recipients redeem, allowing charities to protect against fraudulent use and gather insight into beneficiaries needs.So far, organizations including Save the Children, World Vision and Mercy Corps have distributed cards to more than 75,000 people, from earthquake victims in Nepal to those in war-torn Yemen. MasterCard, which charges the charities fees for the service, says the program is profitable. The United Nations also recently named MasterCard the leader of an initiative to improve the distribution of humanitarian aid in emergencies, with a focus on the data management and privacy aspect.19. What is the passage mainly about?A. How MasterCard as for-profit company joins hands with world charity organizations.B. How MasterCard can keep an edge by its technological innovation in the world market.C. How MasterCard made its transformation from a for-profit company to a non-profit one.D. How MasterCard shortened the path between troubled populations and the aid they need.20. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?A. Without the efforts of the MasterCard Company, charities could not have protected against fraudulent use of donations.B. MasterCard will perform a more important role in the international rescue and aid programs with technology developments. C. The plastic cards the MasterCard Aid Network distributes to needed people are similar to credit cards but paid by donators.D. MasterCard earns money from charging fees for service and then gives the money to refugees and natural disaster victims.Questions 21-23 (Suggested completion time: 7 minutes)Directions: Read the text about virtual reality and augmented reality, and answer the questions according to the information in the text. Virtual Reality vs. Augmented RealityOne of the biggest confusions in the world of augmented reality is the difference between augmented reality and virtual reality. Both are earning a lot of media attention and are promising tremendous growth. Virtual reality (VR) is an artificial, computer-generated simulation or recreation of a real-life environment or situation. It immerses the user by making them feel they are experiencing the simulated reality firsthand, primarily by stimulating their vision and hearing.Augmented reality (AR) is a technology that layers computer-generated enhancements atop an existing reality in order to make it more meaningful through the ability to interact with it. AR is developed into apps and used on mobile devices to blend digital components into the real world in such a way that they enhance one another, but can also be told apart easily.Augmented reality and virtual reality are similar in that both are inverse reflections of one in another with what each technology seeks to accomplish and deliver for the user. Virtual reality offers a digital recreation of a real-life setting, while augmented reality delivers virtual elements as an overlay to the real world. Both leverage some of the same types of technology, and they each exist to serve the user with an enhanced or enriched experience.However, the two also differ from each other in various ways. Augmented reality enhances experiences by adding virtual components such as digital images, graphics, or sensations as a new layer of interaction with the real world. It is being used more and more in mobile devices such as laptops, smart phones, and tablets to change how the real world and digital images, graphics intersect and interact. Contrastingly, virtual reality creates its own reality that is completely computer generated and driven. It is usually delivered to the user through a head-mounted or hand-held controller. This equipment connects people to the virtual reality, and allows them to control and navigate their actions in an environment meant to simulate the real world.21-23. Which THREE of the following statements can be inferred from the text?A. Augmented reality shows virtual elements on top of the real world, while virtual reality recreates real-life situations in a digital way.B. A virtual reality dressing room may allow shoppers to virtually try on their purchases quickly and easily without really having to put them on.C. Virtual reality is able to transpose us by taking us to some other place, while augmented reality, in contrast, never moves us elsewhere.D. With augmented reality, you canswim with sharks, and with virtual reality, you canwatch a shark pop out of your business card.E. Both augmented and virtual realities utilize some of the same types of technology and offer people enriched experiences.F. Augmented reality will enable an immobile patient to go out of the room and enjoy his/her favorite sights, sounds and smells in the country. Part III Read and QuestionIn Part III, you will read passages on the same subject. You will be required to identify the writers position and evaluate the effectiveness of the writers arguments. (