I. Explain the underlined parts in the following sentences in plain words. (15%)
1. he will price it high and yield little in the bargaining
2. Mark twain digested the new American experience before sharing it with the world as writer and lecturer.
3. Imagine the conversation: “Have I got a compatible user for you!”
4. “Interactivity” may be the biggest buzzword of the moment, but “convergence” is a close second.
5. The widest benefits of the electronic revolution will accrue to the young.
6. He lowered the level of his incongruous falsetto voice.
7. The house detective clucked his tongue reprovingly.
8. I will unsay no word that I have spoken about it.
9. Like good looks and money, quickness passed her by.
10. Johnny Carson has much to do to keep up with my quick and witty tongue.
11. he moved his finger back in time to the ice of two decades ago
12. we seem oblivious of the fragility of the earth’s natural systems
13. I experienced a twinge of embarrassment at the prospect of meeting the mayor of Hiroshima in my socks.
14. After three days in Japan, the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.
15. bargaining is the order of the day
II. Choose the appropriate word to fill in the blanks below. (15%)
1. In the advanced course students must take objective tests at monthly __.
A. intervals B. length C. gaps D. distance
2. Many icebergs are as large as small islands and become a __ to navigation.
A. caution B. warning C. menace D. forecast
3. A sense of taste is triggered when the tongue touches a wide __ of chemical substances.
A. span B. range C. series D. chain
4. There are several fine department stores in the __ of our house.
A. dimension B. inclination C. threshold D. vicinity
5. The audience went into the classroom in __.
A. two and three B. two’s and three’s
C. twos and threes D. two-and-three
6. Please accept my __ on your promotion.
A. my congratulations B. my congratulation
C. the congratulations D. a congratulation
7. They were not __ to have done such a thing.
A. a man enough B. the man enough
C. men enough D. man enough
8. The remarkable __ of life on the Galopagos Island inspired Charles Darwin to establish his theory of evolution.
A. variation B. variety C. varying D. diversion
9. The farmers were more anxious for rain than the people in the city because they had more at __.
A. stake B. danger C. loss D. threat
10. Today chemical are used to destroy crop insects, to preserve food, and to purify our water, among other __.
A. matters B. business C. things D. accounts
11. Once you have made your point clear at the __ of the essay, you must then proceed to convince readers about the position you have taken.
A. outline B. outset C. initiation D. body
12. The economists are quite optimistic about the economic __ for Asia.
A. outlook B. lookout C. foresight D. perspective
13. When our lab bought this instrument we were given a one year’s __.
A. security B. guarantee C. prolific D. reservation
14. On New Year’s Eve, there is a firework __ at the big square.
A. show B. exhibition C. display D. exhibit
15. The manufacturers are advertising a new __ of perfume.
A. brand B. tag C. pack D. mark
III. Reading comprehension. (20%)
Passage I
Taste is such a subjective matter that we don’t usually conduct preference tests for food. The most you can say about anyone’s preference is that it’s one person’s opinion. But because the two big cola companies—Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola—are marketed so aggressively, we’ve wondered how big a role taste preference actually plays in brand loyalty. We set up a taste test that challenged people who identified themselves as either Coca-Cola or Pepsi fans: find your brand in a blind tasting.
We invited staff volunteers who had a strong liking for either Coca-Cola Classic or Pepsi, Diet Coke, or Diet Pepsi. There were people who thought they would have no trouble telling their brand from the other brand.
We eventually located 19 regular cola drinkers and 27 diet cola drinkers. Then we fed them four unidentified samples of cola one at a time, regular cola for the one group, diet version for the other. We asked them to tell us whether each sample was Coca-Cola or Pepsi; then we analyzed the records statistically to compare the participants’ choices with what mere guesswork could have accomplished.
Getting all four samples right was a tough test, but not too tough, we thought, for people who believed they could recognize their brand. In the end only 7 out of 19 regular cola drinkers correctly identified their brand of choice in all four trials. The diet-cola drinkers did a little worse—only 7 of 27 identified all four samples correctly.
While both groups did better than chance would predict, nearly half the participants in each group made the wrong choice two or three times. Two people got all four samples wrong. Overall half the participants did about as well on the last round of tasting as on the first; so fatigue, or taste burnout, was not a factor. Our preference test results suggest that only a few Pepsi participants and Coke fans may really be able to tell their favorite brand by taste and price.
1. According to the passage the preference test was conducted in order to __.
A. find out the role taste preference plays in a person’s drinking
B. reveal which cola is more to the liking of the drinkers
C. show that a person’s opinion about taste is mere guesswork
D. compare the ability of the participants in choosing their drinks
2. The statistics recorded in the preference tests show __.
A. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are people’s two most favorite drinks
B. there is not much difference in taste between Coca-Cola and Pepsi
C. few people had trouble telling Coca-Cola from Pepsi
D. people’s tastes differ from one another
3. It is implied in the first paragraph that __.
A. the purpose of taste test is to promote the sale of colas
B. the improvement of quality is the chief concern of the two cola companies
C. the competition between the two colas is very strong
D. blind tasting is necessary for identifying fans
4. The underlined word “burnout” (Para. 5) refers to the state of __.
A. being seriously burnt in the skin
B. being unable to burn for lack of fuel
C. being badly damaged by fire
D. being unable to function because of excessive use
5. The author’s purpose in writing this passage is to __.
A. show that taste preference is highly subjective
B. argue that taste testing is an important marketing strategy
C. emphasize that taste and price are closely related to each other
D. recommend that blind tasting be introduced in the quality control of colas
Passage II
Attention to detail is something everyone can and should do—especially in tight job market. Bob Crossley, a human-resources expert notices this in the job applications that come across his desk every day. “It’s amazing how many candidates eliminate themselves,” he says.
“Resumes arrive with stains. Some candidates don’t bother to spell the company’s name correctly. Once I see a mistake, I eliminate the candidate,” Crossley concludes. “If they cannot take care of these details, why should we entrust them with a job?”
Can we pay too much attention to details? Absolutely. Perfectionists struggle over little things at the cost of something larger they work toward. “To keep from losing the forest for the tree,” says Charles Garfield, associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco, “we must constantly ask ourselves how the details we are working on fit into the larger picture. If they don’t, we should drop them and move to something else.”
Garfield compares this process to his work as a computer scientist at NASA. “The Apollo II moon launch was lightly off-course 90% of the time,” says Garfield. “But a successful landing was still likely because we knew the exact coordinates of our goal. This allowed us to make adjustments as necessary.” Knowing where we want to go helps us judge the importance of every task we undertake.
Too often we believe what accounts for others’ success is some special secret or a lucky break. But rarely is success so mysterious. Again and again, we see that by doing little things within our grasp well, large rewards follow.
1. According to the passage, some job applicants were rejected because __.
A. they eliminated their names from the applicants’ list themselves
B. of their inadequate education as shown in their poor spelling in writing a resume
C. they failed to give a detailed description of their background in their applications
D. of their carelessness as shown in their failure to present a clean copy of resume
2. The underlined word “perfectionists” (Para. 3) refers to those who __
A. pay too much attention to details only to lose their major objectives
B. know how to adjust their goals according to the circumstances
C. demand others to get everything absolutely right
D. are capable of achieving perfect results in whatever they do
3. Which of the following is the author’s advice to the reader?
A. Careless applicants are not to be trusted.
B. Don’t forget details when drawing pictures.
C. Be aware of the importance of a task before undertaking it.
D. Although too much attention to the details may be costly, they shouldn’t be overlooked.
4. The example of the Apollo II moon launch is given to illustrate that __.
A. minor mistakes can be ignored in achieving major objectives
B. keeping one’s goal in mind helps in deciding which details can be overlooked
C. adjustments are the key to the successful completion of any work
D. failure is the mother of success
5. The best title for this passage would be __.
A. Don’t Be a Perfectionist B. Details and Major Objectives
C. Importance of Adjustments D. Hard Work Plus Good Luck
Passage III
For some time past it has been widely accepted that babies—and other creatures—learn to do things because certain acts lead to “rewards”; and there is no reason to doubt that this is true. But it used also to be widely believed that effective rewards, at least in the early stages, had to be directly related to such basic physiological drives as thirst or hunger. In other words, a baby would learn if he got food or drink or some sort of physical comfort, not otherwise.
It is now clear that it is not so. Babies will learn to behave in ways that produce results in the world with no reward except the successful outcome.
Papousek began his studies by using milk in the normal way to “reward” the babies and so teach them to carry out some simple movements, such as turning the head to one side or the other. Then he noticed that a baby who had enough to drink would refuse the milk but would still go on making the learned response with clear signs of pleasure. So he began to study the children’s response in situations where no milk was provided. He quickly found that children as young as four months would learn to turn their heads to right or left if the movement “switched on” a display of lights—and indeed that they were capable of learning quite complex turns to bring about this result, for instance, two left or two right, or even to make as many as three turns to one side.
Papousek’s light display was placed directly in front of the babies and he made the interesting observation that sometimes they wouldn’t turn back to watch the lights closely although they would “smile and bubble” when the display came on. Papousek concluded that it was not primarily the sight of lights which pleased them, it was the success they were achieving in solving the problem, in mastering the skill, and that there exists a fundamental human urge to make sense of the world and bring it under intentional control.
1. According to the author, babies learn to do things which __.
A. are directly related to pleasure B. will meet their physical needs
C. will bring them a feeling of success D. will satisfy their curiosity
2. Papousek noticed in his studies that a baby __.
A. would make the learned responses when it saw the milk
B. would carry out learned movements when it had enough to drink
C. would continue the simple movements without being given milk
D. would turn its head to right or left when it had enough to drink
3. In Papousek’s experiment babies make learned movements of the head in order to __.
A. have the lights turned on B. be rewarded with milk
C. please their parents D. be praised
4. The babies would “smile and bubble” at the lights because __.
A. the lights were directly related to some basic drives
B. the sight of lights was interesting
C. they need not turn back to watch the lights
D. they succeeded in “switching on” the lights
5. According to Papousek, the pleasure babies get in achieving something is a reflection of __.
A. a basic human desire to understand and control the world
B. the satisfaction of certain physiological needs
C. their strong desire to solve complex problems
D. a fundamental human urge to display their learned skills
Passage IV
A breakthrough in the provision of energy from the European Economic Community could be brought forward by up to two decades, if a modest increase could be provided in the EEC’s research effort in this field, according to the senior EEC scientists engaged in experiments in solar energy at EEC’s scientific lab at Ispra, near Milan.
The senior West German scientist in charge of the community’s solar program, Mr. Joachim Gretz, told journalists that at present levels of research spending it was most unlikely that solar energy would provide as much as three of the Community’s energy requirements even after the year 2000. but he said that a modest increase in the present sums, devoted by the EEC to this work it was possible that the breakthrough could be achieved by the end of the next decade.
Mr. Gretz calculates that if solar energy only provided three percent of the EEC’s needs, this could still produce a saving of about a billion pounds in the present bill for imported energy each year. And he believes that with the possibility of utilizing more advanced technology in this field it might be possible to satisfy a much bigger share of the Community’s future energy needs.
At present the EEC spends about $2.6 million a year on solar research at Ispra, one of the EEC’s official joint research centers, and another $3 million a year in indirect research with universities and other independent bodies.
1. The underlined phrase “ be brought forward” (Para 1) most probably means __.
A. be advanced B. be completed
C. be expected D. be introduced
2. Scientists believe that a breakthrough in the use of solar energy depends on __.
A. advanced technology B. further experiments
C. sufficient finding D. well-equipped laboratories
3. According to Mr. Gretz, the present sum of money will enable the scientists to provide __.
A. less than 3% of the EEC’s needs before the year 2000
B. 3% of the EEC’s needs before the year 2000
C. a little more than 3% of the EEC’s needs after the year 2000
D. only 3% of the EEC’s needs even after the year 2000
4. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. the desired breakthrough could be obtained by the end of the next decade if investment were increased
B. at the present level of research spending, it is difficult to make any significant progress in the provision of energy from the sun.
C. the EEC spends one billion pounds on imported energy each year
D. the total yearly spending of the EEC on solar energy research amounted to almost 6 million dollars
5. The application of advanced technology to research in solar energy __.
A. would lead to a big increase in research finding
B. would make it unnecessary to import oil
C. would make it possible to meet the future energy needs of the EEC
D. would provide a much greater proportion of the Community’s future energy needs
IV. For each word in column A find a word in column B, which is opposite in meaning to it.(15%)
A B
1. pathetic pitiful pathless apathetic joyful grievous
2. sophisticated sincere naïve worldly kind sarcastic
3. incongruous correct faulty harmonious discordant
4. cluster clasp gather scatter call disgraceful
5. consequence weight concord equity insignificance
6. sullen friendly sulky cool cheerful cold
7. ramshackle free shackle shaky steady imprisoned
8. pungent proper indecent mild rude sharp
9. conspicuous unclear changeable inconstant noticeable
10. dreary cheerful dry moist cheerless
11. antique modern opposed ancient acceptable
12. dynamic lazy active shaky steady static
13. explicit clever clear vivid ambiguous dull
14. concur expose incite prolong dissent forgive
15. indigenous thoughtful acquired redundant unworthy
V. Translate the following sentences into English. (20%)
1. 洞庭湖盛产鱼虾。
2. 历史课使我对古代文明有所了解。
3. 一些小报竭力迎合部分读者的低级趣味以便挣钱。
4. 他喜欢这些聚会，喜欢与年轻人交往并就各种问题交换意见。
5. 大家在几分钟后才领悟他话中的含意。
6. 一看见纪念碑就想起在战斗中死去的好友。
7. 徒工仔细地观察他的师傅，然后照着干。
8. 我不知道到底是什么事情让他如此生气。
9. 只要你为人正直，不怕失去什么，那你对任何人都不会畏惧。
10. 这对于农村和城市都一样适用。
VI. Composition. (15%)
Write a composition in about 150 words on the following subject:
Computer and Modern Life
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