二、主旨题
中心思想
1． With the possible exception of equal rights, perhaps the most controversial issue across the United States today is the death penalty. Many argue that it is an effective deterrent （威慑） to murder, while others maintain there is no convincing evidence that the death penalty reduces the number of murders.
The principal argument advanced by those opposed to the death penalty, basically, is that it is cruel and inhuman punishment, that it is the mark of a brutal society, and finally that it is of questionable effectiveness as a deterrent to crime anyway.
In our opinion, the death penalty is a necessary evil. Throughout recorded history there have always been those extreme individuals in every society who were capable of terribly violent crimes such as murder. But some are more extreme than others.
For example, it is one thing to take the life of another in a fit of blind rage, but quite another to coldly plot and carry out the murder of one or more people in the style of a butcher. Thus, murder, like all other crimes, is a matter of relative degree. While it could be argued with some conviction that the criminal in the first instance should be merely isolated from society, such should not be the fate of the latter type murderer.
The value of the death penalty as a deterrent to crime may be open to debate. But the overwhelming majority of citizens believe that the death penalty protects them. Their belief is reinforced by evidence which shows that the death penalty deters murder. For example, from 1954 to 1963, when the death penalty was consistently imposed in California, the murder rate remained between three and four murders for each 100,000 population. Since 1964 the death penalty has been imposed only once, and the murder rate has risen to 10.4 murders for each 100,000 population. The sharp climb in the state's murder rate, which began when executions stopped, is no coincidence （巧合）. It is convincing evidence that the death penalty does deter many murderers. If the bill reestablishing the death penalty is vetoed （否决）, innocent people will be murdered — some whose lives may have been saved if the death penalty were in effect. This is literally a life or death matter. The lives of thousands of innocent people must be protected.
64. In the passage the author is primarily concerned with ______.
A） analyzing a problem objectively B） settling a dispute
C） supporting a position D） describing an event （99年）
2. After retirement from medical, my wife and I built our home in a gated community surrounded by yacht clubs and golf courses on Hilton Head Island. But when I left for the other side of the island, I was traveling on unpaved roads lined with leaky cottages. The “lifestyle” of many of the native islanders stood in shocking contrast to my comfortable existence.
By talking to the local folks, I discovered that the vast majority of the maids, gardeners, waitresses and construction workers who make this island work had little or no access to medical care. It seemed outrageous to me. I wondered why someone didn’t do something about that. Then my father’s words, which he had asked his children daily when they were young, rang in my head again: “What did you do for someone today?”
Even though my father had died several years before, I guess I still didn’t want to disappoint him. So I started working on a solution. The island was full of retired doctors. If I could persuade them to spend a few hours a week volunteering their services, we could provide free primary health care to those so desperately in need of it. Most of the doctors I approached liked the idea, so long as they could be relicensed without troubles. It took one year and plenty of persistence, but I was able to persuade the state legislators to create a special license for doctors volunteering in not-for-profit clinics.
The town donated land, local residents contributed office and medical equipment and some of the potential patients volunteered their weekends ornamenting the building that would become the clinic. We named it volunteers in Medicine and we opened its doors in 1994, fully staffed by retired physicians, nurses and dentists as well as nearly 150 nonprofessional volunteers. That year we had 5,000 patient visits; last year we had 16,000.
Somehow word of what we were doing got around. Soon we were receiving phone calls from retired physicians all over the country, asking for help in starting VIM clinics in their communities. We did the best we could－there are now 15 other clinics operating----but we couldn’t keep up with the need. Yet last month I think my father’s words found their way up north, to McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the maker of Tylenol （泰诺感冒药）. A major grant from McNeil will allow us to respond to these requests and help establish other free clinics in communities around the country.
61. What is the passage mainly about?
A. The contrast between the rich and the poor on an island.
B. The story of a man who likes to give others advice.
C. The life and work of a great father.
D. The inspiration of a father’s words （02年）
3. It is all very well to blame traffic jams, the cost of petrol and the quick pace of modern life, but manners on the roads are becoming horrible. You might tolerate the rude and inconsiderate driver, but nowadays the well-mannered motorist is the exception to the rule. Perhaps the situation calls for a “Be Kind to Other Drivers” campaign, otherwise, it may get completely out of hand.
Road politeness is not only good manners, but good sense too. It takes the most cool-headed and good-tempered of drivers to resist the temptation to revenge when subjected to uncivilized behaviors. On the other hand, a little politeness goes a long way towards relieving the tensions of motoring. A friendly nod or a wave of acknowledgement in response to an act of politeness helps to create an atmosphere of goodwill and tolerance so necessary in modern traffic conditions. But such acknowledgements of politeness are all too rare today. Many drivers nowadays don't even seem able to recognize politeness when they see it. However, improper politeness can also be dangerous. A typical example is the driver who waves a child across a crossing into the path of oncoming vehicles that may be unable to stop in time. The same goes for encouraging old ladies to cross the road wherever and whenever they care to.
A veteran driver, whose manners are faultless, told me it would help if motorists learn to filter correctly into traffic streams one at a time without causing the total blockages （堵塞） that give rise to bad temper. Unfortunately, modern motorists can't even learn to drive, let alone be well-mannered on the road. Years ago the experts warned us that the car-ownership explosion would demand a lot more give-and-take from all road users. It is high time for all of us to take this message to heart.
51. According to this passage, troubles on the road are primarily caused by _____.
A） people's attitude towards drivers B） the rhythm of modern life
C） traffic conditions D） the behavior of the driver （00年）
4. Americans usually consider themselves a friendly people. Their friendships, however, tend to be shorter and more casual than friendships among people from other cultures. It is not uncommon for Americans to have only one close friend during their lifetime, and consider other “friends” to be just social acquaintances. This attitude probably has something to do with American mobility and the fact that Americans do not like to be dependent on other people. They tend to “compartmentalize” （划分） friendships, having “friends at work”, “friends on the softball team”, “family friends”, etc.
Because the United States is a highly active society, full of movement and change, people always seem to be on the go. In this highly charged atmosphere, Americans can sometimes seem brusque （无礼的） or impatient. They want to get to know you as quickly as possible and then move on to something else. Sometimes, early on, they will ask you questions that you may feel are very personal. No insult is intended; the questions usually grow out of their genuine interest or curiosity, and their impatience to get to the heart of the matter. And the same goes for you. If you do not understand certain American behavior or you want to know more about them, do not hesitate to ask them questions about themselves. Americans are usually eager to explain all about their country or anything “American” in which you may be interested. So much so in fact that you may become tired of listening. It doesn't matter, because Americans tend to be uncomfortable with silence during a conversation. They would rather talk about the weather or the latest sports scores, for example, than deal with silence.
On the other hand, don't expect Americans to be knowledgeable about international geography or world affairs, unless those subjects directly involve the United States. Because the United States is not surrounded by many other nations, some Americans tend to ignore the rest of the world.
46. The general topic of the passage is ______.
A） American society B） American culture
C） Americans' personality D） Americans' activities （01年）
文章标题
1. The media can impact current events. As a graduate student at Berkeley in the 1960s, I remember experiencing the events related to the People's Park that were occurring on campus. Some of these events were given national media coverage in the press and on TV. I found it interesting to compare my impressions of what was going on with perceptions obtained from the news media. I could begin to see events of that time feed on news coverage. This also provided me with some healthy insights into the distinctions between these realities.
Electronic media are having a greater impact on the people's lives every day. People gather more and more of their impressions from representations. Television and telephone communications are linking people to a global village, or what one writer calls the electronic city. Consider the information that television brings into your home every day. Consider also the contact you have with others simply by using telephone. These media extend your consciousness and your contact. For example, the video coverage of the 1989 San Francisco earthquake focused on “live action”such as the fires or the rescue efforts. This gave the viewer the impression of total disaster. Television coverage of the Iraqi War also developed an immediacy. CNN reported events as they happened. This coverage was distributed worldwide. Although most people were far away from these events, they developed some perception of these realities.
In 1992, many people watched in horror as riots broke out on a sad Wednesday evening in Los Angeles, seemingly fed by video coverage from helicopters. This event was triggered by the verdict （裁定） in the Rodney King beating. We are now in an age where the public can have access to information that enables it to make its own judgments, and most people, who had seen the video of this beating, could not understand how the jury （陪审团） was able to acquit （宣布无罪） the policemen involved. Media coverage of events as they occur also provides powerful feedback that influences events. This can have harmful results, as it seemed on that Wednesday night in Los Angeles. By Friday night the public got to see Rodney King on television pleading, “Can we all get along?” By Saturday, television seemed to provide positive feedback as the Los Angeles riot turned out into a rally for peace. The television showed thousands of people marching with banners and cleaning tools. Because of that, many more people turned out to join the peaceful event they saw unfolding （展开） on television. The real healing, of course, will take much longer, but electronic media will continue to be a part of that process.
46. The best title for the passage is ______.
A） the 1989 San Francisco Earthquake and the 1992 Los Angeles Riots
B） how Media Cover Events
C） the 1992 Los Angeles Riots
D） the Impact of Media on Current Events （99年）
2. The word science is heard so often in modern times that almost everybody has some notion of its meaning. On the other hand, its definition is difficult for many people. The meaning of the term is confused, but everyone should understand its meaning and objectives. Just to make the explanation as simple as possible, suppose science is defined as classified knowledge （facts）.
Even in the true sciences distinguishing fact from fiction is not always easy. For this reason, great care should be taken to distinguish between beliefs and truths. There is no danger as long as a clear difference is made between temporary and proved explanations. For example, hypotheses （假设） and theories are attempts to explain natural phenomena. From these positions the scientist continues to experiment and observe until they are proved or discredited （使不相信）. The exact status of any explanation should be clearly labeled to avoid confusion.
The objectives of science are primarily the discovery and the subsequent understanding of the unknown. Man cannot be satisfied with recognizing that secrets exist in nature or that questions are unanswerable; he must solve them. Toward that end specialists in the field of biology and related fields of interest are directing much of their time and energy.
Actually, two basic approaches lead to the discovery of new information. One, aimed at satisfying curiosity, is referred to as pure science. The other is aimed at using knowledge for specific purposes — for instance, improving health, raising standards of living, or creating new consumer products. In this case knowledge is put to economic use. Such an approach is referred to as applied science.
Sometimes practical-minded people miss the point of pure science in thinking only of its immediate application for economic rewards. Chemists responsible for many of the discoveries could hardly have anticipated that their findings would one day result in applications of such a practical nature as those directly related to life and death. The discovery of one bit of information opens the door to the discovery of another. Some discoveries seem so simple that one is amazed they were not made years ago; however, one should remember that the construction of the microscope had to precede the discovery of the cell. The host of scientists dedicating their lives to pure science are not apologetic （抱歉） about ignoring the practical side of their discoveries; they know from experience that most knowledge is eventually applied.
60. The best title for the passage is ______.
A）Hypotheses and Theories B） On Distinguishing Fact from Fiction
C） The Nature of Science and Scientists D） Biology and the Scientific Age （99年）
3. Want a glimpse of the future of health care? Take a look at the way the various networks of people involved in patient care are being connected to one another, and how this new connectivity is being exploited to deliver medicine to the patient — no matter where he or she may be.
Online doctors offering advice based on standardized symptoms are the most obvious example. Increasingly, however, remote diagnosis （tele-medicine） will be based on real physiological data from the actual patient. A group from the University of Kentucky has shown that by using an off-the-shelf （现成的） PDA （personal data assistance） such as a Palm Pilot plus a mobile phone, it is perfectly feasible to transmit a patient's vital signs over the telephone. With this kind of equipment in a first-aid kit （急救包）, the cry asking whether there was a doctor in the house could well be a thing of the past.
Other medical technology groups are working on applying tele-medicine to rural care. And at least one team wants to use tele-medicine as a tool for disaster response — especially after earthquakes. Over all, the trend is towards providing global access to medical data and expertise.
But there is one problem. Bandwidth is the limiting factor for transmitting complex medical images around the world — CT scans being one of the biggest bandwidth consumers. Communications satellites may be able to cope with the short-term needs during disasters such as earthquakes, wars or famines. But medicine is looking towards the second-generation Internet and third-generation mobile phones for the future of distributed medical intelligence.
Doctors have met to discuss computer-based tools for medical diagnosis, training and tele-medicine. With the falling price of broadband communications, the new technologies should usher in （迎来） an era when tele-medicine and the sharing of medical information, expert opinion and diagnosis are common.
55. A proper title for the passage may be ______.
A） The Online Doctor is In B） Improvement in Communications
C） How to Make Remote Diagnosis D）Application of Tele-medicine （01年）
4. With only about 1,000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to clone the animal and save the endangered species. That's a move similar to what a Texas A&M University researcher has been undertaking for the past five years in a project called “Noah's Ark”.
Dr. Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A&M's College of Veterinary Medicine and a pioneer in embryo （胚胎） transfer work and related procedures, says he salutes the Chinese effort and “I wish them all the best success possible. It's a worthwhile project, certainly not an easy one, and it's very much like what we're attempting here at Texas A&M — to save animals from extinction.”
Noah's Ark is aimed at collecting eggs, embryos, semen （精子） and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Kraemer says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.
It is estimated that as many as 2,000 species of mammals, birds and reptiles will become extinctive the next 100 years. The panda, native only to China, is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.
This week, Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.
The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.
“The nuclear transfer of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available panda eggs could be a major problem,” Kraemer believes. “They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy. It takes a long time and it's difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort, adds Kraemer, who is one of the leaders of the Missyplicity Project at Texas A&M, the first-ever attempt at cloning a dog.
“They are trying to do something that's never been done, and this is very similar to our work in Noah's Ark. We're both trying to save animals that face extinction. I certainly applaud their effort and there's a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It's a research that is very much needed.”
65. The best title for the passage may be ______.
A） China — the Native Place of Pandas Forever
B） China's Efforts to Clone Pandas
C） China's First Cloned Panda
D） Exploring the Possibility to Clone Pandas （01年）
5. If there is one thing scientists hate to hear, it is that the game is over. Raised on the belief of an endless voyage of discovery, they recoil （畏缩） from the suggestion that most of the best things have already been located. If they have, today's scientists can hope to contribute no more than a few grace notes to the symphony of science.
A book to be published in Britain this week, The End of Science, argues persuasively that this is the case. Its author, John Horgan, is a senior writer for Scientific American magazine, who has interviewed many of today's leading scientists and science philosophers. The shock of realizing that science might be over came to him, he says, when he was talking to Oxford mathematician and physicist Sir Roger Penrose.
The End of Science provoked a wave of denunciation （谴责） in the United States last year. “The reaction has been one of complete shock and disbelief,” Mr Horgan says.
The real question is whether any remaining unsolved problems, of which there are plenty, lend themselves to universal solutions. If they do not, then the focus of scientific discovery is already narrowing. Since the triumphs of the 1960s — the genetic code, plate tectonics （板块构造说）, and the microwave background radiation that went a long way towards proving the Big Bang — genuine scientific revolutions have been scarce. More scientists are now alive, spending more money on research than ever. Yet most of the great discoveries of the 19th and 20th centuries were made before the appearance of state sponsorship, when the scientific enterprise was a fraction of its present size.
Were the scientists who made these discoveries brighter than today's? That seems unlikely. A far more reasonable explanation is that fundamental science has already entered a period of diminished returns. “Look, don't get me wrong,” says Mr Horgan. “There are lots of important things still to study, and applied science and engineering can go on for ever. I hope we get a cure for cancer, and for mental disease, though there are few real signs of progress.”
70. The best title of this passage can be ______.
A） The Harsh Challenge Has to Be Met by Modem Scientists
B） Great Scientific Discoveries Will Never Be Possible
C） The Chance for Great Scientific Discoveries Becomes Scarce
D）The State Sponsorship and Scientific Enterprise Are All in Vain （01年）
三、写作目的题与观点态度
正确答案用词：report, persuade, warn, analyze, compare/contrast, explain, argue for/against, illustrate / show
Passage 1
At the Kyoto conference on global warming in December 1997, it became abundantly clear how complex it has become to work out international agreements relating to the environment because of economic concerns unique to each country. It is no longer enough to try to forbid certain activities or to reduce emissions of certain substances. The global challenges of the interlink between the environment and development increasingly bring us to the core of the economic life of states. During the late 1980s we were able, through international agreements, to make deep cuts in emissions harmful to the ozone layer. These reductions were made possible because substitutions had been found for many of the harmful chemicals and, more important, because the harmful substances could be replaced without negative effects on employment and the economies of states.
Although the threat of global warming has been known to the world for decades and all countries and leaders agree that we need to deal with the problem, we also know that the effects of measures, especially harsh measures taken in some countries, would be nullified （抵消） if other countries do not control their emissions. Whereas the UN team on climate change has found that the emissions of carbon dioxide would have to be cut globally by 60% to stabilize the content of CO2, in the atmosphere, this path is not feasible for several reasons. Such deep cuts would cause a breakdown of the world economy. Important and populous （人口众多的） low- or medium- income countries are not yet willing to undertake legal commitments about their energy uses. In addition, the state of world technology would not yet permit us to make such a big leap.
We must, however, find a solution to the threat of global warming early in the 21st century. Such a commitment would require a degree of shared vision and common responsibilities new to humanity. Success lies in the force of imaginations, in imagining what would happen if we fail to act. Although many living in cold regions would welcome the global warming effect of a warmer summer, few would cheer the arrival of the subsequent tropical diseases, especially where there had been none.
51. The main purpose of this passage is to ______.
A）analyze the problem of global warming
B）argue against making deep cuts in emissions
C）convince people that global warming is a red threat
D）criticize some countries for refusing to cut down emissions harmful to the ozone layer（99年）
Passage 2
With the possible exception of equal rights, perhaps the most controversial issue across the United States today is the death penalty. Many argue that it is an effective deterrent （威慑） to murder, while others maintain there is no convincing evidence that the death penalty reduces the number of murders.
The principal argument advanced by those opposed to the death penalty, basically, is that it is cruel and inhuman punishment, that it is the mark of a brutal society, and finally that it is of questionable effectiveness as a deterrent to crime anyway.
In our opinion, the death penalty is a necessary evil. Throughout recorded history there have always been those extreme individuals in every society who were capable of terribly violent crimes such as murder. But some are more extreme than others.
For example, it is one thing to take the life of another in a fit of blind rage, but quite another to coldly plot and carry out the murder of one or more people in the style of a butcher. Thus, murder, like all other crimes, is a matter of relative degree. While it could be argued with some conviction that the criminal in the first instance should be merely isolated from society, such should not be the fate of the latter type murderer.
The value of the death penalty as a deterrent to crime may be open to debate. But the overwhelming majority of citizens believe that the death penalty protects them. Their belief is reinforced by evidence which shows that the death penalty deters murder. For example, from 1954 to 1963, when the death penalty was consistently imposed in California, the murder rate remained between three and four murders for each 100,000 population. Since 1964 the death penalty has been imposed only once, and the murder rate has risen to 10.4 murders for each 100,000 population. The sharp climb in the state's murder rate, which began when executions stopped, is no coincidence （巧合）. It is convincing evidence that the death penalty does deter many murderers. If the bill reestablishing the death penalty is vetoed （否决）, innocent people will be murdered — some whose lives may have been saved if the death penalty were in effect. This is literally a life or death matter. The lives of thousands of innocent people must be protected.
61. The principal purpose of this passage is to ______.
A) speak for the majority B） initiate a veto
C） criticize the government D） argue for the value of the death penalty （99年）
Passage 3
The current emergency in Mexico City that has taken over our lives is nothing I could ever have imagined for me or my children. We are living in an environmental crisis, an emergency of unprecedented severity. What it really means is that just to breathe here is to play a dangerous game with your health.
As parents, what terrorizes us most are reports that children are at higher risk because they breathe more times per minute. What more can we do to protect them and ourselves? Our pediatrician's （儿科医师的） medical recommendation was simple: abandon the city permanently. We are foreigners and we are among the small minority that can afford to leave. We are here because of my husband's work. We are fascinated by Mexico—its history and rich. We know that for us, this is a temporary danger. However, we cannot stand for much longer the fear we feel for our boys. We cannot stop them from breathing.
But for millions, there is no choice. Their lives, their jobs, their futures depend on being here. Thousands of Mexicans arrive each day in this city, desperate for economic opportunities. Thousands more are born here each day. Entire families work in the streets and practically live there. It is a familiar sight: s parents hawk goods at stoplights, their children play in the grassy highway dividers, breathing exhaust fumes. I feel guilty complaining about my personal situation; we won't be here long enough for our children to form the impression that skies are colored only gray.
And yet the government cannot do what it must to end this problem. For any country, especially a developing Third World economy like Mexico's, the idea of barring from the capital city enough cars, closing enough factories and spending the necessary billions on public transportation is simply not an option. So when things get bad, as in the current emergency, Mexico takes half measures — prohibiting some more cars from circulating, stopping some factories from producing — that even its own officials concede aren't adequate.
The word “emergency” implies the unusual. But when daily life itself is an emergency, the concept loses its meaning. It is human nature to try to adapt to that which we cannot change. Or to mislead ourselves into believing we can adapt.
45. The purpose of the passage is to ______.
A） describe the harmful air pollution
B） explain the way to prevent air pollution
C） show the worries about the air pollution
D） recommend a method to avoid air pollution （00年）
观点态度
The worst thing about the internet is ….=
The benefits of the internet are numerous. =
The value of the death penalty…=
常见选项
pessimistic / optimistic
negative （disapproving）/ positive （approving）
subjective / objective
concerned / indifferent
opposed （opposing）/ supportive （supporting）
2003年59题[局部]，68题[整体]
四、段落大意
1．For the academic side, Voss says, the ASEE program also “brings institutions of higher learning more insight into new technology. We give them an opportunity to work on real-world problems and take it back to the classroom.”
40. What does Voss want to stress in the last paragraph?
A） The technological significance of the program.
B） The educational significance of the program.
C） The philosophical significance of the program.
D） The historical significance of the program. （00年）
2. The current emergency in Mexico City that has taken over our lives is nothing I could ever have imagined for me or my children. We are living in an environmental crisis, an emergency of unprecedented severity. What it really means is that just to breathe here is to play a dangerous game with your health.
41. According to the passage, the current emergency in Mexico City refers to ______.
A） serious air pollution B）economic crisis
C）unemployment D） natural disaster （00年）
3. Media acquisitions have skyrocketed since 1980 for two reasons. The first is that most big corporations today are publicly traded companies, which means that their stock is traded on one of the nation's stock exchanges. This makes acquisitions relatively easy.
A media company that wants to buy a publicly owned company can buy that company's stock when the stock becomes available. The open availability of stock in these companies means that anybody with enough money can invest in the American media industries, which is exactly how Rupert Murdoch joined the media business.
The second reason for the increase in media alliances is that beginning in 1980, the Federal Communications Commission （FCC） gradually deregulated the broadcast media. Before 1980, for example, the FCC allowed one company to own only five TV stations, five AM radio stations, and five FM radio stations; companies also were required to hold onto a station for three years before the station could be sold. The post-1980 FCC eliminated the three-year rule and raised the number of broadcast holdings allowed for one owner. This trend of media acquisitions is continuing throughout the 1990s, as changing technology expands the market for media products.
The issue of media ownership is important. If only a few corporations direct the media industries in this country, the outlets for differing political viewpoints and innovative ideas could be limited.
58. According to the passage, what makes acquisitions easier?
A） The changing technology employed by the media.
B） The media's increasing profits in the marketplace.
C） The ever tougher regulations of the FCC on the media since 1980.
D） The availability of the media's stocks on stock exchanges. （00年）
59. What is the FCC's new policy regarding media alliances?
A） It allows companies to sell their stocks publicly.
B） It doesn't allow companies to sell their stocks publicly.
C） It permits one company to own more media businesses at the same time.
D） It has eliminated all post-1980 companies. （00年）
60. The issue of media ownership is important because ______.
A） it affects the amount of money the stockholders will make
B） it decides whether we can have different aspects of the media
C） it concerns the channels through which to express opinions
D） it means that more and more people will hold onto only a few stations （00年）
4. Enthusiastic but unqualified students do not impress as much as they once did alongside accountants, managers and doctors. The typical volunteer, these days, has been in full-time employment for at least five years and is highly qualified. And the profession which provides the biggest portion of volunteers is education — headmasters and school inspectors as well as classroom teachers.
60. According to the last paragraph, the typical volunteer may be ______.
A） a highly qualified headmaster or teacher
B） an enthusiastic but unqualified young student
C） a well-experienced accountant, manager, or doctor
D） an executive or businessman with at least 15 years' experience （01年）
5. A quality education is the ultimate liberator. It can free people from poverty, giving them the power to greatly improve their lives and take a productive place in society. It can also free communities and countries, allowing them to leap forward into periods of wealth and social unity that otherwise would not be possible.
51. In the first paragraph, the author suggests that a quality education can ________.
A. free countries from foreign rules B. speed up social progress
C. give people freedom D. liberate people from any exploitation （02年）
五、重述题
1. “We had to be careful and not overdo it,” Edward admits. Now Caspar is at Oxford — which once looked unlikely because he is also slightly dyslexic （诵读困难）. In fact, when he was applying to Oxford, none of his school teachers thought he had a chance. “So then we did several thinking sessions,” his father says, “using my techniques and, when he went up for the exam, he did extremely well.” Soon after, Edward de Bone decided to write his latest book, “Teach Your Child How to Think”, in which he transforms the thinking skills he developed for brain-storming businessmen into informal exercises for parents and children to share.
37. Caspar succeeded in applying to Oxford because ______.
A） he used in the exam the techniques provided by his father
B） he read the book “Teach Your Child How to Think” before the exam
C） he was careful and often overworked
D） all of his school teachers thought he had a chance （99年）
2. Thinking is traditionally regarded as something executed in a logical sequence, and everybody knows that children aren't very logical. So isn't it an uphill battle, trying to teach them to think? “You know,” Edward de Bone says, “if you examine people's thinking, it is quite unusual to find faults of logic. But the faults of perception are huge! Often we think ineffectively because we take too limited a view.”
39. According to Paragraph 3, which of the following statements expresses Edward de Bone's view?
A） We often think ineffectively because we take too limited a view.
B） Thinking is traditionally regarded as something executed in a logical sequence.
C） Everybody knows that children aren't very logical.
D） It is an uphill battle trying to teach children to think. （99年）
3. For millions of years before the appearance of the electric light, shift work, all-night cable TV and the Internet, Earth's creatures evolved on a planet with predictable and reassuring 24-hour rhythms. Our biological clocks are set for this daily cycle. Simply put, our bodies want to sleep at night and be awake during the day. Most women and men need between eight and eight and a half hours of sleep a night to function properly throughout their lives. （Contrary to popular belief, humans don't need less sleep as they age.）
But on average, Americans sleep only about seven and a half hours per night, a marked drop from the nine hours they averaged in 1910. What's worse, nearly one third of all Americans get less than six hours of sleep on a typical work night. For most people, that's not nearly enough.
Finding ways to get more and better sleep can be a challenge. Scientists have identified more than 80 different sleep disorders. Some sleeping disorders are genetic. But many problems are caused by staying up late and sleeping in, by traveling frequently between time zones or by working nights. Dr. James F. Jones at National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver says that sleep disorders are often diagnosed as other discomforts. About one third of the patients referred to him with possible chronic fatigue syndrome actually have treatable sleep disorders. “Before we do anything else, we look at their sleep,” Jones says.
Sleep experts say that most people would benefit from a good look at their sleep patterns. “My motto （座右铭） is 'sleep defensively',” says Mary Carskadon of Brown University. She says people need to carve out sufficient time to sleep, even if it means giving up other things. Sleep routines — like going to bed and getting up at the same time every day — are important. Pre-bedtime activities also make a difference. As with Elsner, who used to suffer from sleeplessness, a few lifestyle changes — avoiding stimulants and late meals, exercising hours before bedtime, relaxing with a hot bath — yield better sleep.
41. What is TRUE of human sleep?
A） On average, people in the U.S. today sleep less per night than they used to.
B） For most people, less than six hours of sleep on a typical work night is enough.
C） Most people need less sleep when they grow older.
D） Most people need seven and a half hours of sleep every night. （99年）
42. For our bodies to function properly, we should ______.
A） adjust our activities to the new inventions
B） be able to predict the rhythms of our biological clocks
C） sleep for at least eight hours per night
D） believe that we need less sleep as we age （99年）
43. According to the author, many sleeping disorders are caused by ______.
A） improper sleep patterns B） chronic fatigue syndrome
C） other diseases D） pre-bedtime exercises （99年）
44. Which of the following measures can help you sleep better?
A） Having late meals. B） Traveling between time zones.
C） Staying up late. D） Taking a hot bath. （99年）
45. “Sleep defensively” means that ______.
A） people should sacrifice other things to getting enough sleep if necessary
B） people should give up going to bed and getting up at the same time every day
C） people should go to a doctor and have their problems diagnosed
D） people should exercise immediately before going to bed every night （99年）
4. The word science is heard so often in modern times that almost everybody has some notion of its meaning. On the other hand, its definition is difficult for many people. The meaning of the term is confused, but everyone should understand its meaning and objectives. Just to make the explanation as simple as possible, suppose science is defined as classified knowledge （facts）.
56. To define science we may simply call it ______.
A) the study of unrelated fields B） classified knowledge
C) the study of unrelated subjects D） an attempt to explain natural phenomena （99年）
5. Astronaut Jim Voss has enjoyed many memorable moments in his career, including three space flights and one space walk. But he recalls with special fondness a decidedly earthbound （为地球引力所束缚的） experience in the summer of 1980, when he participated in the NASA-ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program. Voss, then a science teacher at West Point, was assigned to the Marshall Space Flight Center's propulsion （推进） lab in Alabama to analyze why a hydraulic fuel pump seal on the space shuttle was working so well when previous seals had failed. It was a seemingly tiny problem among the vast complexities of running the space program. Yet it was important to NASA because any crack in the seals could have led to destructive results for the astronauts who relied on them.
36. Why was the hydraulic fuel pump seal important for the space shuttle?
A） Because previous seals all failed.
B） Because it was very complex in running the space program.
C） Because great care has to be taken of the hydraulic fuel pump sealing.
D） Because any crack in the seals would cause disastrous results for the astronauts. （00年）
6. In 1998 consumers could purchase virtually anything over: the Internet. Books, compact discs, and even stocks were available from World Wide Web sites that seemed to spring up almost daily. A few years earlier, some people had predicted that consumers accustomed to shopping in stores would be reluctant to buy things that they could not see or touch in person. For a growing number of time-starved consumers, however, shopping from their home computer was proving to be a convenient alternative to driving to the store.
A research estimated that in 1998 US consumers would purchase $7.3 billion of goods over the Internet, double the 1997 total. Finding a bargain was getting easier, owing to the rise of online auctions and Web sites that did comparison shopping on the Internet for the best deal.
46. Which of the following is true, according to the writer?
A） Consumers are reluctant to buy things on the Internet.
B） Consumers are too busy to buy things on the Internet.
C） Internet retailing is a profitable business.
D） More and more consumers prefer Internet shopping. （00年）
47. Finding a bargain on the Internet was getting easier partly because ______.
A） there were more and more Internet users
B） there were more and more online auctions
C） the consumers had more money to spend
D） there were more goods available on the Internet （00年）
7. Internet retailing appealed to investors because it provided an efficient means for reaching millions of consumers without having the cost of operating conventional stores with their armies of salespeople. Selling online carried its own risks, however. With so many companies competing for consumers' attention, price competition was intense and profit margins thin or nonexistent. One video retailer sold the hit movie Titanic for $9.99, undercutting （削价） the $19.99 suggested retail price and losing about $6 on each copy sold. With Internet retailing still in its initial stage, companies seemed willing to absorb such losses in an attempt to establish a dominant market position.
50. Investors are interested in Internet retailing because ______.
A） selling online involves little risk
B） Internet retailing is in its initial stage
C） it can easily reach millions of consumers
D） they can make huge profits from it （00年）
8. The most noticeable trend among today's media companies is vertical integration — an attempt to control several related aspects of the media business at once, each part helping the other. Besides publishing magazines and books, Time Warner, for example, owns Home Box Office （HBO）, Warner movie studios, various cable TV systems throughout the United States and CNN as well. The Japanese company Matsushita owns MCA Records and Universal Studios and manufactures broadcast production equipment.
To describe the financial status of today's media is also to talk about acquisitions. The media are buying and selling each other in unprecedented numbers and forming media groups to position themselves in the marketplace to maintain and increase their profits. In 1986, the first time a broadcast network had been sold, two networks were sold that year—ABC and NBC.
56. What do Time Warner and Matsushita have in common?
A） They both belong to Rupert Murdoch.
B） They are both big American media corporations.
C） They are both outlets of differing viewpoints and innovative ideas.
D） They both own several different but related media businesses. （00年）
57. Which of the following is true of the media?
A） They used to sell and buy each other in great numbers.
B） They are trading each other in greater numbers today.
C） They used to be controlled by two networks —ABC and NBC.
D） They have stopped the trend of acquisitions in the 1990s. （00年）
9. In the 1997 general-election campaign, “Education, Education” was Tony Blair's pet phrase. Times change quickly. Education is going rapidly out of fashion. “Learning” （to be exact, “lifelong learning”） is New Labor's new buzzword （时髦语）. The shift from “education” to “learning” reflects more than a change of language. It stems from both educational research and left-wing ideas. During the 1980s, British educators got some new American ideas. One was the notion that traditional examinations do not test the full range of people's abilities. Another was the belief that skills are not necessarily learned from teachers in a conventional classroom. People can pick them up in all sorts of ways.
61. According to the writer, the shift from “education” to “learning”______.
A） is but a change of language
B） reflects the traditional ideas in education
C） reflects the government's wish to restrict choices
D） is not just a change of language （00年）
10. Until now, education has been changing from below. In the next few weeks, the government will help from above. One of its main projects for lifelong learning is about to begin its first pilot programs. With funding of $44 million in its first year, it will coordinate a new network of “learning centers” throughout the country. Traditional institutions, such as schools and colleges, will provide training at some non-traditional places of learning, such as supermarkets, pubs, and churches. The theory is that in such places students will feel more at ease, and therefore will be better motivated, than in a classroom.
65. According to this passage, the New Labor's government ______.
A） will set up many “learning centers” in Britain
B） has not changed its educational policy
C） will continue to restrict choices in all the state-run education sectors
D） is reluctant to make large investments in education （00年）
11. But there is one problem. Bandwidth is the limiting factor for transmitting complex medical images around the world — CT scans being one of the biggest bandwidth consumers. Communications satellites may be able to cope with the short-term needs during disasters such as earthquakes, wars or famines. But medicine is looking towards the second-generation Internet and third-generation mobile phones for the future of distributed medical intelligence.
54. The word “problem” in the fourth paragraph refers to the fact that ______.
A） CT scans are one of the biggest bandwidth consumers
B） there are not enough mobile phones for distributing medical intelligence
C） communications satellites can only cope with the short-term needs during disasters
D） bandwidth is not adequate to transmit complex medical images around the world（01年）
12. Pictures in the British papers this week of Prince William, Prince Charles's 18-year-old son, cleaning toilets overseas, have led to a surge of altruism（利他主义）. Raleigh International, the charity that organized his trip, has seen inquiries about voluntary work abroad rise by 30%. But the image of idealistic youth that William presents no longer reflects the reality of the volunteer force. It's getting older and older.
56. According to the passage, the volunteers ______.
A） are becoming fewer B） are getting older and older
C） are mostly students D） are inexperienced and unqualified （01年）
13. Voluntary Service Overseas （VSO） has about 2,000 volunteers in the field around the world. After a dip in interest in the mid-1990s, applications to work abroad are at record levels. Last year 7,645 people submitted applications, and 920 successfully negotiated the VSO selection process and were sent abroad. When the organization was founded in 1959, the average volunteer was in his early 20s. Now, the average age is 35, and set to rise further.
58. From the second paragraph we can know that ______.
A）the average volunteer is not much older now than forty years ago
B）the number of applications to work abroad declined in the mid-1990s
C）there were more applications to work abroad in the early 1990s than in the late 1990s
D）of those who have submitted applications a majority have been chosen and sent abroad（01年）
14. “The nuclear transfer of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available panda eggs could be a major problem,” Kraemer believes. “They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy. It takes a long time and it's difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort, adds Kraemer, who is one of the leaders of the Missyplicity Project at Texas A&M, the first-ever attempt at cloning a dog.
64. What could be the major problem in cloning pandas according to Professor Kraemer?
A） Lack of available panda eggs. B） Lack of host animals.
C） Lack of qualified researchers. D） Lack of funds. （01年）
15. Were the scientists who made these discoveries brighter than today's? That seems unlikely. A far more reasonable explanation is that fundamental science has already entered a period of diminished returns. “Look, don't get me wrong,” says Mr Horgan. “There are lots of important things still to study, and applied science and engineering can go on for ever. I hope we get a cure for cancer, and for mental disease, though there are few real signs of progress.”
68. There have not been many genuine scientific revolutions in the past few decades because ______.
A） there are too many important things for scientists to study
B） there have been decreased returns in the research of fundamental science
C） today's scientists are not as intelligent as those in the past
D） applied science and engineering take up too much time and energy （01年）
16. For this reason, the international community has committed itself to getting all the world’s children into primary school by 2015, a commitment known as Education for All.
52. Ideally, the goal of the program of Education for All is to ______ by 2015.
A）get all the world’s children to complete primary school
B）enroll all the world’s children into primary school
C）give quality education to people of 88 countries
D）support those committed to transforming their education systems （02年）
17. Most people think of lions as strictly African beasts, but only because they’ve been killed off almost everywhere else. Ten thousand years ago lions spanned vast sections of the globe. Now lions hold only a small fraction of their former habitat, and Asiatic lions, a subspecies that spit from African lions perhaps 100,000 years ago, hang on to an almost impossibly small slice of their former territory.
56. In the first paragraph, the author tells us that Asiatic lions ______.
A）have killed off other lions
B）have descended from African lions
C）used to span vast sections of the globe
D）have lost their habitat （02年）
18. Though the gentle intimacy of play vanishes when it’s time to eat, meals in Gir are not necessarily frantic affairs. For a mother and her baby lion sharing a deer, or a young male eating an antelope （羚羊）, there’s no need to fight for a cut of the kill. The animals they hunt for food are generally smaller in Gir than those in Africa, and hunting groups tend to be smaller as well.
58. What does the sentence “…meals in Gir are not necessarily frantic affair” mean?
A）The lions do not show intimacy among them any more.
B）The lions may not need to fight for food.
C）Food is not readily available in that region.
D）Meals can be obtained only with great effort （02年）
19. After retirement from medical, my wife and I built our home in a gated community surrounded by yacht clubs and golf courses on Hilton Head Island. But when I left for the other side of the island, I was traveling on unpaved roads lined with leaky cottages. The “lifestyle” of many of the native islanders stood in shocking contrast to my comfortable existence.
62. The author of the passage is ________.
A）a retired physician B）a retired teacher
C）a retired medical researcher D）a retired construction worker （02年）
20. Even though my father had died several years before, I guess I still didn’t want to disappoint him. So I started working on a solution. The island was full of retired doctors. If I could persuade them to spend a few hours a week volunteering their services, we could provide free primary health care to those so desperately in need of it. Most of the doctors I approached liked the idea, so long as they could be relicensed without troubles. It took one year and plenty of persistence, but I was able to persuade the state legislators to create a special license for doctors volunteering in not-for-profit clinics.
63. The purpose of Volunteers in Medicine is to ________.
A）help retired medical workers improve their incomes
B）provide free medical services to those who need them
C）urge the government to set up non-profit clinics
D）make the dream of the author’s father come true （02年）
64. Which of the following has been done by the author himself?
A）Buying the medical equipment
B）Finding the land and the office.
C）Decorating the building that would become the clinic.
D）Getting a special license for the retired doctors. （02年）
21. Then what makes them do it? Psychologists say some people succeed, at least in part, because they are uniquely adjusted to the expectations of others. And no matter how well-known, those people can be haunted by a sense of their own shortcomings. “From outside, these people look anything but fragile,” says Dennis Shulman, a New York psychoanalyst. “But inside, they feel hollow, empty.”
70.According to psychologists, successful people who lie about themselves .
A. take pride in their weaknesses B. feel weak in their hearts
C. think nothing of others D. look weak to others （02年） |
