通用考博英语历年真题

历年真题

2000年北京大学博士研究生入学考试英语试题

PartⅡStructure & Written Expression

Directions: In each question decide which of the four choices given will most suitably complete the sentence if inserted at the place marked. Put the letter of your choice in the ANSWER SHEET. (25%) 1．Thomas Wolfe portrayed people so that you came to know their yearnings, their impulses, and their warts-this was effective______．

A．motivation B．point of view C．characterization D．background

2．The appeal to the senses known as______is especially common in poetry．

A．imaginative B．imaginable C．ingenious D．imagery

3．If you've got a complaint, the best thing is to see the person concerned and______with him．A．tell it B．have it out C．say it D．have it known

4．There have been several attempts to introduce gayer colors and styles in men's clothing, but none of them______．

A．has caught on B．has caught him out C．has caught up D．take roots

5．The retired engineer plunked down＄50,000in cash for a mid-size Mercedes as a present for his wife______a purchase with money made in the stock market the week before．

A．paid off B．paid through C．paid out D．paid for

6．He has courage all right, but in matters requiring judgment, he has often been found sadly______．

A．lack it B．absent C．in need of it D．wanting

7．Danis Hayes raised the essential paradox and asked how people could have fought so hard against environmental degradation______themselves now on the verge of losing the war．

A．only found B．finding only C．only to find D．have only found

8．The once separate issue of environment and development are now______linked．

A．intangible B．indispensable C．inextricably D．incredibly

9．The need to see that justice is done______every decision made in the courts．

A．implants into B．imposes on C．impinges upon D．imprecates upon

10．Two thirds of the U. S. basketball players are black, and the number would be greater______the continuing practice of picking white bench warmers for the sake of balance．

A．was it not because of B．had it not been for

C．were it not for D．would it not have been for

11．No one would have time to read or listen to an account of everything______going on in the world．

A．it is B．there is C．as is D．what is

12．If there is the need to compete in a crowd, to battle______the edge the surest strategy is to develop the unexpected．

A．on B．for C．against D．with

13．Just as there are occupations that require college or even higher degrees, ______occupations for which technical training is necessary．

A．so too there are B．so also there are

C．so there are too D．so too are there

14．It is a myth that the law permits the Food and Drug Administration to ignore requirements for______drugs while brand-name drugs still must meet these rigid tests．

A．specific B．generic C．intricate D．acrid

15．The very biggest and most murderous wars during the industrial age were intra-industrial wars that______Second Wave nations like Germany and Britain against one an other．

A．pitted B．drove C．kept D．embarked

16．The private life of having each individual make his or her own choice of beliefs and interest______without the overarching public world of the state, which sustains a structure of law appropriate to a self-determining association．

A．is not possible B．would not be possible

C．will not be possible D．cannot be possible

17．From Christianity and the barbarian kingdoms of the west emerged the medieval version of politics______in tum evolved the politics of our modern world．

A．of which B．from which C．on which D．by which

18．The Portuguese give a great deal of credit to one man for having promoted sea travel that

man______Prince Henry, the navigator, who lived in the15th century．

A．was B．was called C．calling D．being

19．Grant was one of a body of men who were self-reliant______, who cared hardly anything for the past but had a sharp eye for the future．

A．on themselves B．on not making a fault

C．to a fault D．to remain ahead

20．Huntington and many of its competitors are working to make remedial instruction a commodity as______and accessible as frozen yogurt．

A．ubiquitous B．rational C．necessary D．credible

21．The scheme for rebuilding the city center______owing to the refusal of a Council to sanction the expenditure of the money it would have required．

A．fell down B．fell off C．fell out D．fell flat

22．If they think they are going to win over us by obstinately______and refusing to make the slightest concession, they are mistaken．

A．holding out B．holding to C．holding over D．holding up

23．The possibility that the explosion was caused by sabotage cannot be______．

A．broken out B．cancelled out C．ruled out D．wiped out

24．The ex-president had been______in the country to refresh his mind before he passed away．

A．given to walking B．given a walk

C．given for a walk D．giving a walk

25．He did not relish appealing amongst his friends and______of their criticism or censure．

A．running short B．running out

C．running the gauntlet D．running ahead

PartⅢReading Comprehension

Directions: Each of the passages below is followed by some questions. For each question four answers are given. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each question. Put your choice in the ANSWER SHEET. (15%)

Passage1

It was a normal day in the life of the American Red Cross in Greater New York. First, part of a building on West140th Street, in Harlem, fell down. Beds tumbled through the air, people slid out of their apartments and onto the ground, three people died, and the Red Cross was there, helping shocked residents find temporary shelter, and food and clothing. Then it was back downtown for that evening's big fund-raiser, the Eleventh Annual Red Cross Award Dinner Dance, at the Pierre. “That's why I have bad hair tonight,”said Christopher Peake, a Red Cross spokesman who had spent much of the day at the Harlem scene, in the drizzling rain. He was now in a tuxedo, and actually his hair didn't look so bad, framed by a centerpiece of tulips and jonquils, and perhaps improved by subdued lighting from eight crystal chandeliers．

Definitely not having a bad-hair night was Elizabeth Dole, the wife of Senator Robert Dole and the president of the American Red Cross. President Dole has chestnut-colored Republican hair, which was softly coifed, and she was wearing a fitted burgundy velvet evening suit (“Someone made it for me! I love velvet.”she exclaimed, in her enthusiastic, Northern Carolina hostess voice) and sparkling drop earrings. Of course, she hadn't been standing in the rain in Harlem; she had just flown up on the three-o'clock shuttle from Washington. Dole is extremely pretty, with round green eyes and a full mouth and a direct personality. She tilts her head attentively when she listens. She was the recipient of the evening's award; previous award winners have included Alice Tully, Princess Yasmin Asa Khan,．．．and, most recently, Brooke Astor. Not exactly a sequence at the end of which you would expect to find Elizabeth Dole, but award givers are famous for having political instincts as well as philanthropic ones．Surrounded by the deep-blue swags and golden draperies of the ballroom were more than thirty-five dinner tables set with groupings of candles and floral centerpieces and Royal Doulton china. American Express was there. So were Bristol-Myers Squibb; Coopers＆Lybrand; the New York Times Company; Union Bank of Switzerland; Chemical Bank; New York Life;... and Price Waterhouse. The actress Arlene Dahl, with her rather red hair and her bearded husband, presided over one table. Otherwise, it was a typical, faceless, captain-of-industry fund raiser (no models! no stars!), of which there seems to be at least one every night in New York City. It was not a society night, but still the evening raised four hundred and thirty thousand dollars．

26．From what we read we can infer that“it was a normal day in the life of the American Red Cross in Greater New York”means its staff______．

A．deal with the fail of houses in the city every day

B．are busy helping people who suffer from disasters every day

C．work during the day and to have banquet in the evening every day

D．go to Harlem, the poorest district of New York, every day and help people there

27．The fund-raiser mentioned in the passage refers to______．

A．Robert Dole

B．Elizabeth Dole

C．the Eleventh Annual Red Cross Award Dinner Dance

D．all the business companies attending the Dinner Dance

28．Christopher Peake's hair didn't look so bad because______．

A．he was wearing a handsome tuxedo

B．he was wearing tulips on his suit

C．he was seen among flowers

D．he was sitting near flowers and in very soft light

29．Elizabeth Dole was______．

A．the president of the American Red Cross and acted at the Dinner as a North Carolina hostess

B．a republican and wife of the president of the American Red Cross

C．the president of the American Red Cross and its main representative at the Annual Dinner Dance D．born in North Carolina, became an air-hostess and later married Senator Robert Dole

30．The presence of an actress at the Dinner made the fund raising______．

A．less impersonal B．a typical fund-raising event

C．less personal D．more business-like

Passage2

For laymen ethnology is probably the most interesting of the biological sciences for the very reason that it concerns animals in their normal activities and therefore, if we wish, we can assess the possible dangers and advantages in our own behavioral roots. Ethnology also is interesting methodologically because it combines in new ways very scrupulous field observations with experimentation in laboratories．The field workers have had some handicaps in winning respect for themselves. For a long time they were considered as little better than amateur animal-watchers certainly not scientists, since their facts were not gained by experimental procedures: they could not conform to the hard-and-fast rule that a problem set up and solved by one scientist must be tested by other scientists, under identical conditions and reaching identical results. Of course many situations in the lives of animals simply cannot be rehearsed and controlled in this way. The fall flocking of wild free birds can't be, or the homing of animals over long distances, or even details of spontaneous family relationships. Since these never can be reproduced in a laboratory, are they then not worth knowing about?

The ethnologists who choose field work have got themselves out of this impasse by greatly refining the techniques of observing. At the start of a project all the animals to be studied are live-trapped, marked individually, and released. Motion pictures, often in color, provide permanent records of their subsequent activities. Recording of the animals' voices by electrical sound equipment is considered essential, and the most meticulous notes are kept of all that occurs. With this material other biologists, far from the scene, later can verify the reports. Moreover, two field observers often go out together, checking each other's observations right there in the field．

Ethnology, the word, is derived from the Greek ethos, meaning the characteristic traits or features which distinguish any particular group of people or, in biology, a group of animals such as a species. Ethnologists have the intention of studying“the whole sequence of acts which constitute an animal's behavior.”In abridged dictionaries ethnology is sometimes defined simply as“the objective study of animal behavior,”and ethnologists do emphasize their wish to eliminate myths．

31．In the first sentence, the word“laymen”means

A．people who stand aside

B．people who are not trained as biologists

C．people who are amateur biologists

D．people who love animals

32．According to the passage, ethnology is

A．a new branch of biology

B．an old Greek science

C．a pseudo-science

D．a science for amateurs

33．“The field workers have handicaps in winning respect for themselves.”This sentence means

A．ethnologists when working in the field are handicapped

B．ethnologists have problems in winning recognition as scientists

C．ethnologists are looked down upon when they work in the field

D．ethnologists meet with lots of difficulties when doing field work

34．According to the explanation of the scientific rule of experiment in the passage, “hard-and-fast”means experiment procedures

A．are difficult and quick to follow

B．must be carried out in a strict and quick way

C．must be followed strictly to avoid false and loose results

D．hard and unreasonable for scientists to observe

35．The meaning of the underlined words in“the details of spontaneous family relationships”can be expressed as

A．natural family relationships

B．quickly occurring family relationships

C．animals acting like a natural family

D．animal family behavior that cannot be preplanned or controlled

Passage3

The single greatest shift in the history of mass-communication technology occurred in the15th century and was well described by Victor Hugo in a famous chapter of“NotreDame de Paris”. It was a cathedral. On all parts of the giant building, statuary and stone representations of every kind, combined with huge windows of stained glass, told the stories of the Bible and the saints, displayed the intricacies of Christian theology, adverted to the existence of highly unpleasant demonic winged creatures, referred diplomatically to the majesties of political power, and, in addition, by means of bells in bell towers, told time for the benefit of all of Paris and much of France. It was an awesome engine of communication．Then came the transition to something still more awesome. The new technology of mass communication was portable, could sit on your table, and was easily replicable, and yet, paradoxically, contained more information, more systematically presented, than even the largest of cathedrals. It was the printed book. Though it provided no bells and could not tell time, the over-all superiority of the new invention was unmistakable．

In the last ten or twenty years, we have been undergoing a more or less equivalent shift-this time to

a new life as a computer-using population. The gain in portability, capability, ease, orderliness, accuracy, reliability, and information-storage over anything achievable by pen scribbling, typewriting, and cabinet filing is recognized by all. The progress for civilization is undeniable and, plainly, irreversible. Yet, just as the book's triumph over the cathedral divided people into two groups, one of which prospered, while the other lapsed into gloom, the computer's triumph has also divided the human race．You have only to bring a computer into a room to see that some people begin at once to buzz with curiosity and excitement, sit down to conduct experiments, oh and ah at the boxes and beeps, and master the use of the computer or a new program as quickly as athletes playing a delightful new game. But how difficult it is-how grim and frightful for the other people, the defeated class, whose temperament does not naturally respond to computers. The machine whirrs and glows before them and their faces twitch. They may be splendidly educated, as measured by book-reading, yet their instincts are all wrong, and no amount of manual-studying and mouse-clicking will make them right. Computers require a sharply different set of aptitudes, and, if the aptitudes are missing, little can be done, and misery is guaranteed．Is the computer industry aware that computers have divided mankind into two new, previously unknown classes, the computer personalities and the non-computer personalities? Yes, the industry knows this. Vast sums have been expended in order to adapt the computer to the limitations of noncomputer personalities. Apple's Macintosh, with its zooming animations and pull-down menus and little pictures of and watch faces and trash cans, pointed the way. Such seductions have soothed the apprehensions of a certain number of the computer-averse. This spring, the computer industry's efforts are reaching a culmination of sons. Microsoft, Bill Gates' giant corporation, is to bring out a program package called Microsoft Bob, designed by Mr. Gates' wife, Melinda French, and intended to render computer technology available even to people who are openly terrified of computers. Bob's principle is to take the several tasks of operating a computer, rename them in a folksy style, and assign to them the images of an ideal room in an ideal home, with furniture and bookshelves, and with chummy cartoon helpers (“Friends of Bob”) to guide the computer user over the rough spots, and, in that way, simulate an atmosphere that feels nothing like computers．

36．According to this passage, which of the following statements is NOT true?

A．It is because the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris had many bell-towers and could tell time to people that the writer regards it as an engine of mass communication．

B．From cathedrals to books to computers the technology of communication has become more convenient, reliable and fast．

C．Every time when a new communication means triumphed over the old, it divided mankind into two groups．

D．Computer industry has been trying bard to make people accept computers．

37．The printed book is more progressive than the cathedral as a communication means, because______．

A．it could sit on your table and did no longer tell time

B．it was more reliable and did not tell the stories of saints and demons

C．it was small, yet contained more information

D．it did not flatter religious and political power

38．The word“awesome”in the passage means______．

A．frightening B．causing fear and respect

C．amazingly new D．awful

39．People who feel miserable with computers are those______．

A．who love reading hooks and writing with a pen or a typewriter

B．who possess the wrong aptitudes of disliking and fearing new things

C．who have not been trained to use computers

D．who are born with a temperament that does not respond to computers

40．Melinda French designed Microsoft Bob which was to ease the misery of computer users by______．

A．making users feel that they are not dealing with machines

B．making the program more convenient and cartoon-like

C．adding home pictures to the program design

D．renaming the computer tasks in a folksy style

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and then paraphrase the numbered and underlined parts. (“Paraphrase”means to explain the meaning in your own English. ) (15%)

Charm is the ultimate weapon, the supreme seduction, against which there are few defenses. If you've got it, you need almost nothing else, neither money, looks, nor pedigree. (41) It is a gift-only given to give away, and the more used the more there is. It is also a climate of behavior set for perpetual summer and controlled by taste and tact．

Real charm is dynamic, an enveloping spell which mysteriously enslaves the senses. It is an inner light, fed on reservoirs of benevolence which well up like a thermal spring. It is unconscious, often nothing but the wish to please, and cannot be turned on and off at will．

(42) You recognize charm by the feeling you get in its presence. You know who has it. But can you get it too? Probably, you can't, because it's a quickness of spirit, an originality of touch you have to be born with. Or it's something that grows naturally out of another quality, like the simple desire to make people happy. Certainly, charm is not a question of learning tricks, like wrinkling your nose, or having a laugh in your voice, or gaily tossing your hair out of your dancing eyes. (43) Such signs, to the nervous, are ominous warnings which may well send him streaking for cover. On the other hand, there is an antenna, a built-in awareness of others, which most people have, and which care can nourish．

But in a study of charm, what else does one look for? Apart from the ability to listen rarest of all human virtues and most difficult to sustain without vagueness apart from warmth, sensitivity, and the power to please, what else is there visible? (44) A generosity, I suppose, which makes no demands, a transaction which strikes no bargains, which doesn't hold itself back till you've filled up a test-card making it dear that you're worth the trouble. Charm can't withhold, but spends itself willingly on young and old alike, on the poor, the ugly, the dim, the boring, on the last fat man in the comer. (45)It reveals itself also in a sense of ease, in casual but perfect manners, and often in a physical grace which springs less from an accident of youth than from a confident serenity of mind. Any person with this is more than just a popular fellow, he is also a social healer．

PartⅣCloze Test

Directions:Fill in each numbered blank in the following passage with ONE suitable word to complete the passage. Put your answers in the ANSWER SHEET. (10%)

One way of improving one's writing is to get into the habit of keeping a record of your observations, of storing46in a notebook or journal. You should make note on your experiences and on your47of everyday life so that they are preserved. It is sad48to be able to retrieve a lost idea that seemed brilliant when it flashed across your49, or a forgotten fact that you need to make a point in an argument or to illustrate a conclusion.

The journal habit has still50value. Just51you need to record observations-he material for

writing, you need to practice putting thoughts on paper. Learning to write is more like learning to ski52 it is like studying calculus or anthropology. Practice helps you discover ways to improve. Writing down ideas for your own use forces you to examine them. Putting thoughts on paper for someone else to read 53you to evaluate not54the content what you say but also the expression55 you say it. Many raters have benefited from this habit．

PartⅤProofreading

Directions: This part consists of a short passage. In this passage, there are altogether20mistakes, one in each underlined sentence or part of a sentence. You may have to change a word, add a word or just delete a word. If you change a word, cross it out with a slash(□and write the correct word. If you add a word, write the missing word between the words(in bracket)immediately before and after it. If you delete a word, cross it out with a slash(□Put your answers in the ANSWER SHEET. (20 %) Examples:

eg. 1. (56) The meeting begun2hours ago．

Correction in the ANSWER SHEET: (56) begun→began

eg. 2. (57) Scarcely they settled themselves in their seats in the theatre when the curtain went up．Correction in the ANSWER SHEET: (57) (Scarcely) had (they)

eg. 3. (58) Never will I not do it again

Correction in the ANSWER SHEET: (58) not

(56) “Humanism”has used to mean too many thing, to be a very satisfactory term. (57) Nevertheless, and in the lack of a better word, (58) I shall use it here to explain for the complex of attitudes which this discussion has undertaken to defend．

(59) In this sense a humanist is anyone who reiects the attempt to describe or account of man wholly on the basis of physics, chemistry, and animal behavior. (60) He is anyone who believes that will, reason, and purpose are real and significant: that value and justice are aspects of a reality called good and evil and rests upon some foundation other than custom; (61) that consciousness is so far from a mere epiphenomenon that it is the most tremendous of actualities; (62) that the unmeasured, may be significant; or to sum it all up; (63) that those human realities which sometimes seem to exist only in human mind are the perceptions of the mind．

(64) He is, in other words, anyone who says that there are more things in heaven and earth than those dreamed of in the positivist philosophy．

(65) Originally, to be sure, the term humanist meant simply anyone who thought the study of ancient literature his chief concern. Obviously it means, as I use it, very much more. (66) But there remains nevertheless a certain connection between the aboriginal meaning and that I am attempting to give it, (67) because those whom I describe as humanists usually recognize that literature and the arts have been pretty consistently“on its side”and (68) because it is often literature that they turn to renew their faith in the whole class of truths which the modem world has so consistently tended, to dismiss as the mere figments of a wishful thinking imagination．

(69) Insofar as this modern world gives less and less attention to its literary past, insofar as it dismisses that past as something outgrow and (70) to be discarded as much as the imperfect technology contemporary with it has been discarded, (71) just to that extent it facilitate the surrender of humanism to technology. (72) The literature is to be found, directly expressed or (73) more often indirectly implied, the most effective correction to the views now most prevalent among the thinking and unthinking．

(74) The great imaginative writers present a picture of human nature and of human life which carries conviction and thus giving the lie to all attempts to reduce man to a mechanism. Novels and poems, and dramas are so persistently concerned with the values which relativism rejects that one might even define literature as the attempt to pass value judgments upon representations of human life. (75) More often than not those of its imaginative persons who fail to achieve power and wealth are more successful than those who do not-by standards which the imaginative writer persuades us to accept as valid．

PartⅥWriting

Directions: Write a short composition of about250to300words on the topic given below. (15%)

Topic: What is the most urgent issue facing the world people in the21st century? State your reasons．

2000年北京大学博士研究生入学考试英语试题

参考答案

PartⅡStructure & Written Expression

1．C2. D3. B4. A5. D6. D7. C8. C9. C10. C11. B12. B13. D14. B15. A16. B17. B18. D19. C20. A21. D22. A23. C24. A25. C PartⅢReading Comprehension

26．B27. C28. D29. C30. A31. B32. A33. B34. C35. D36. A37. C 38. B

39．D40. A

41～45略

PartⅣCloze Test

46．them47. observations48. not49. mind50. another

51．as52. than53. forces54. only55. how

Part V Proofreading

56．(has) been (used) 66．(that) which (I)

57．lack→absence67．its→their

58．explain→stand68．wishful→wishfully

59．(account) of→ (account) for69．outgrow→outgrown

60．rests→rest70．as much as→much as

61．(from) being (a) 71．(extent) does (it)

62．unmeasure→unmeasurable 72．The→去掉

63．(in) the (human) 73．(unthinking) alike

64．those→are74．giving→gives

65．thought→made75．imaginative (persons) →imagined (persons)

PartⅥWriting

略

2001年北京大学博士研究生入学考试英语试题

PartⅡStructure & Written Expression

Directions: In each question decide which of the four choices given will most suitably complete the sentence if inserted at the place(s)marked. Put the letter of your choice in the ANSWER SHEET.(25%) 1．The university board of trustees deemed it urgent that a new provost______to replace Mr Dannison who had been diagnosed with cancer．

A．be selected B．should be selected C．must he selected D．was selected

2．With prices______so much, it is impossible for the company manager to stick to the original budget．

A．waving B．swinging C．fluctuating D．vibrating

3．Edmund likes to drive at a speed______the traffic limit. I wonder how he always manages to escape______．

A．having exceeded, to be fined B．exceeded, having been fined

C．to exceed, to fine D．exceeding, being fined

4．All the references she has obtained for her doctoral dissertation______about twenty items．

A．make up for B．add up to

C．come up with D．put up with

5．Professor Jeffrey's lecture on the recycling of waste paper and other garbage will show______can still be improved．

A．that the municipal authorities have done

B．how those the municipal authorities have done

C．how what the municipal authorities have done

D．that how the municipal authorities have done

6．Most insulation devices of this kind, ______manufactured for such purposes, are extremely expensive to install．

A．that are B．which is C．those are D．as are

7．The English vocabulary is known for a (an) ______of words which are comparatively seldom used in ordinary conversations．

A．multitude B．altitude C．latitude D．platitude 8．John Locke, the well-known18th-century English thinker, emphasized experience as the______condition for expansion of human knowledge．

A．incompatible B．incredible C．indefinite D．indispensable

9．The examination has been cancelled. You______all that review, after all．

A．didn't need to do B．needn't do

C．needn't have done D．needn't to do

10．The______friend was exposed in the end to be hidden rival who had been plotting against the company's marketing in Hong Kong．

A．professed B．announced C．exclaimed D．declared

11．The senator was made to digress time and again from the main point of his speech because of the red______constantly______by his opponents in the audience．

A．tomatoes, thrown out B．herrings, brought up

C．apples, put forward D．mullets, laid down

12．It is very plain that such a life as this is far more______to health than that of the man who can afford little leisure for necessary rest in the course of the day．

A．conductive B．constructive C．conciliate D．conducive

13．Contradictory to popular belief, recent surveys show that besides housewives, many college students are also______to soap operas．

A．appealed B．addicted C．adjusted D．attracted

14．He used to play badminton with you, ______?

A．didn't he B．used he C．did he D．hadn't he

15．I got a new battery for my recorder only last week, but it seems to have______already．

A．worn out B．run down C．knocked off D．gone off

16．To test his theory, the chemist______an experiment．

A．set up B．set out C．set forth D．set in

17．He likes to swim ______．

A．and playing football B．and he also likes playing football

C．and to play football D．and he likes to play football

18．While watching television, ______．

A．the telephone rang B．we heard the telephone ring

C．we heard the telephone rang D．the telephone was rung

19．“Do you mind______?”

“Go ahead. I don’t mind.”

A．turning on the fan B．I turn on the fan

C．if I turn on the fan D．to turn on the fan

20．When solid changes to liquid, it______heat from all substances near it and this reduces the temperature surrounding it．

A．takes in B．takes on C．takes off D．takes down

21．The department chairman______with thanks the assistance of all the faculty members for getting the celebration ready in a short time．

A．expresses B．declares C．announces D．acknowledges

22．The manager threw a party______the group of computer experts from the United States．

A．in honor of B．in favor of

C．in welcome of D．in celebration of

23．This state research program is made up of two funds, ______could last for two years．

A．the larger one B．the larger of which

C．the largest one D．the largest of which

24．She claims to be very learned in biochemistry, but in fact______she knows about it is all sadly out of date．

A．so little B．that much C．what little D．how much

25．Some people feel that television should give less______to sport．

A．programs B．coverage C．concern D．involvement

PartⅢReading Comprehension

Directions: Each of the passages below is followed by some questions. For each question four answers are given. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each question. Put your choice in the ANSWER SHEET. (15%)

Passage1

In our society the razor of necessity cuts close. You must make a buck to survive the day. You must work to make a buck. The job is often a chore, rarely a delight. No matter how demeaning the task, no matter how it dulls the senses or breaks the spirit, one must work. Lately there has been a questioning of this“work ethic”, especially by the young. Strangely enough, it has touched off profound grievances in others hitherto silent and anonymous．

Unexpected precincts are being heard from in a show of discontent by blue collar and white. On the evening bus the tense, pinched faces of young and elderly secretaries tell us more than we care to know. On the expressways middle-management men pose without grace behind their wheels, as they flee city and job．

In all, there is more than a slight ache. And there dangles the impertinent question: Should there not

be another increment, earned though not yet received, to one's daily work-an acknowledgment of a man's being? In fact, what all of us are looking for is a calling, not just a job. Jobs alone are not being enough for people．

26．“In our society the razor of necessity cuts close”in the first line means______．

A．there is a shortage of daily necessities

B．people fight each other for necessities

C．most people feel the financial pressure

D．everyone lives a hard life

27．The“work ethic”referred to in the first paragraph can be interpreted as______．

A．one works mainly to keep body and soul together

B．one must work not only for money, but also for delight

C．one must understand that jobs as chores

D．one should earn as much money a day as possible

28．Middle-management men flee city and job because______．

A．they have lost their grace

B．they are tired by the long day's work

C．they don't want to see the tense and pinched faces of their clerks and secretaries

D．they are frightened by the profound grievances shown by the young people

29．The phrase“increment, earned though not received”in the third paragraph means______．

A．money one has earned and will be paid later

B．money one has earned, but will not be paid to him/her

C．something that one earns through a job, but is not counted in terms of pay

D．something that one earns that has nothing to do with his or her job

30．The main idea of this passage is______．

A．in modern society people are under great work pressure

B．nowadays people want to enjoy life more than do hard work

C．work should be to people more than just a means to survive

D．more jobs of delight should be created for people

Passage2

Justice in society must include both a fair trial to the accused and the selection of an appropriate punishment for those proven guilty. Because justice is regarded as one form of equality, we find in its earlier expressions the idea of a punishment equal to the crime. Recorded in the Bible is the expression “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.”That is, the individual who has done wrong has committed an offense against society. To make repayment for this offense, society must get equally balanced, which can be done only by imposing an equal injury upon him. This conception of deserved-punishment justice is reflected in many parts of the legal codes and procedures of modern times, which is illustrated when we demand the death penalty for a person who has committed murder. This philosophy of punishment was supported by the German idealist Hegel, who believed that society owed it to the criminal to put into operation a punishment equal to the crime he had committed. The criminal had by his own actions denied his true self and it is necessary to do something that will eliminate this dental and restore the self that has been denied. To the murderer nothing less than giving up his life will pay his debt. The demand for the death penalty is a right the state owes the criminal and it should not deny him what he deserves．

Modern jurists have tried to replace deserved-punishment justice with the notion of corrective justice. The aim of the latter is not to abandon the concept of equality but to find a more adequate way to express it. It tries to preserve the idea of equal opportunity for each individual to realize the best that is in him. This does not mean that criminals will escape punishment or be quickly returned to take up careers of crime. It means that justice is to heal the individual, not simply to get even with him. Therefore, his conviction of crime must not deprive him of the opportunity to make his way in the society of which he is a part．

31．According to the Bible, the concept of equality in justice means______．

A．a criminal must be severely punished

B．a criminal must be given a punishment that is exactly the same as the crime he has done

C．a criminal must be given a punishment that he deserves

D．a criminal must pay for his crime with his eyes and teeth

32．The result of deserved-punishment justice is______．

A．the criminal's winning of a true life

B．the criminal's taking death penalty for the crime committed by him

C．the criminal's denial of his true self

D．the restoration of the criminal's guilty self to the self before the crime

33．In the sentence: “society owed it to the criminal to put into operation a punishment equal to the crime he had committed”the underlined part can be interpreted as: society______．

A．was in debt to the criminal and must put him into operation as a punishment

B．should consider punishment as something it must do so that the criminal can get paid back for his crime

C．owed the criminal equality and must first show it in action

D．owed an operation of equal crime to the criminal

34．The main difference between deserved-punishment and corrective justice is______．

A．the latter is for non-punishment equality

B．the latter hates“an eye for an eye”equality of punishment

C．the latter places the criminal's equal rights in life above everything else

D．the latter focuses on both reforming the criminal and giving him new opportunities in society

35．Compared with the old justice concept, modern law as shown in this passage is______．

A．less vengeful B．less effective

C．less just D．less reasonable

Passage3

A new biotechnology procedure that could become commercially avail able in as little as two to four years is“transgenesis”, which permits scientists to create an animal with specific traits by adding, removing, inactivating, or repairing genes in an embryo. The additional genes can come from any source. For example, if a gene of interest occurs in mosquitoes-say, one that codes for resistance to a certain disease-it can be removed and places in the embryo of a farm animal. The several strains of commercially useful transgenic farm animals that will probably emerge in the next few years could include leaner pigs, poultry resisting to influenza or other deadly diseases, sheep with wool that is easier to wash, and goats that produce valuable pharmaceuticals in their milk．

The simplest way to make transgenic animals is to inject a gene into a one-cell embryo and then implant the embryo in another animal. Under the right conditions, the new gene joins one of the embryo's strands of genes. Each cell created as the embryo divides gets a copy of the new gene. An alternative technique is to incorporate the gene into a type of virus known as a retrovirus that has been modified so it cannot reproduce itself after entering a cell. The virus, which cannot cause disease, delivers the gene to the cell's nucleus. Often this method is better than gene injection because a retrovirus always delivers just one gene, and the gene is always undamaged and complete．

36．The new biotechnology procedure discussed in this passage mainly concerns______．

A．embryos B．pigs, sheep and goats

C．commercial science D．improvement of animal strains

37．In the first sentence, “to become commercially available”means______．

A．this procedure is available only on the market

B．this procedure can be used in producing better farm animals

C．This procedure can be used to promote business

D．People such as farmers can use this procedure in their production

38．The transgenic farm animals mentioned in this passage are______．

A．pigs, cows and mosquitoes that have gone through the transgenic procedure

B．pigs, cows, sheep and chickens that have accepted additional genes

C．leaner pigs, poultry that produce pharmaceuticals and healthier sheep

D．leaner pigs, chickens resisting diseases and goats that produce milk with medicine in it

39．Which of the following is NOT true?

A．After injection, the embryo gets a copy of the new gene as it divides．

B．The injection method is less good because the new gene sometimes fails to join the embryo's genes．

C．The retrovirus multiplies after it enters the cell．

D．The incorporating method is less simple but better．

40．The tone of this passage is______．

A．critical B．factual C．humorous D．romantic

Ⅱ. Directions:Read the following passage carefully and then paraphrase the numbered and underlined parts. (“Paraphrase”means“to explain the meaning in your own English”. ) (15%)Genius

The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means, and the exercise of ordinary qualities. The common life of every day, with its cares, necessities, and duties, affords ample opportunity for acquiring experience of the best kind; and(41) its most beaten paths provide the true worker with

abundant scope for effort and room for self-improvement. (42) The road of human welfare lies along the old highway of steadfast welldoing; and they who are the most persistent, and work in the truest spirit, will usually be the most successful．

Fortune has often been blamed for her blindness; but fortune is not so blind as men are. (43) Those who look into practical life will find that fortune is usually on the side of the industrious, as the winds and waves are on the side of the best navigators. In the pursuit of even the highest branches of human inquiry, the commoner qualities are found the most useful-such as common sense, attention, application, and perseverance．

Genius may not be necessary, though even genius of the highest sort does not disdain the use of these ordinary qualities. (44) The very greatest men have been among the least believers in the vower of genius, and as worldly wise and persevering as successful men of the commoner sort. (45) Some have even defined genius to be only common sense intensifies. A distinguished teacher and president of a college spoke of it as the power of making efforts. John Foster held it to be the power of lighting one's own fire. Buffon said of genius“it is patience”．

PartⅣCloze Test

Directions: Fill in each numbered blank in the following passage with ONE suitable word to complete the meaning. Put your answers in the ANSWER SHEET. (10%)

The influence of the moral standards of the home is evident. If there is no recognition of the difference46right and wrong. It is hard for the child to acquire the qualities which are necessary47 good citizenship. Unwise discipline is, almost equally obvious, 48factor often found in the background of the young offender．

But important49these two factors are, they do not cover the whole field. The experience of those who work with juvenile delinquents has shown us50greatly behavior is influenced by the emotional relationships within the family circle. The extent to which51is affection between the52and the child, and in the early stages especially between the mother and the child, is evidently of fundamental53 to his development. Lack of love is more 54to produce delinquency55bad material conditions．

PartⅤProofreading

Directions: This part consists of two short passages, In each, there are ten mistakes, one in each underlined sentence or part of a sentence. You may have to change a word, add a word or just delete a word. If you change a word, cross it out with a slash (□and write the correct word near it. If you add a word, write the missing word between the words (in brackets) immediately be f ore and after it. If you delete a word, cross it out with a slash (□Put your answers in the ANSWER SHEET. (20%)

Passage1

How to Get Preserved as a Fossil

(56) Unfortunately the chances of any animal become a fossil are not very great, and(57) the chances of a fossil then being discovered many thousand of years later are even less. (58) It is not surprising that all the millions of animals that have lived in the past. (59) we actually have fossils of only very few．

(60) There are several ways into which, animals and plants may become fossilized. (61) First, it is essential that the remains are buried, as though dead animals and plants are quickly destroyed (62) if they remain exposed the air. Plants rot, while insects and hyenas eat the flesh and bones of animals. (63) Finally, the few remaining bones soon disintegrate the hot sun and pouring rain. If buried in suitable conditions, however, animal and plant remains will be preserved. (64) The same chemicals change sand and silt into hard rock will also enter the animal and plant remains and make them hard too. (65)When this happens, we say that they become fossilized．

Passage2

Earthquakes

(66) At two minutes to noon in September1of1923, the great clock in Tokyo stopped. (67) Tokyo Bay shook as if huge rug had been pulled from under it. (68) Towered, above the bay, the 4,000meter Mount Fuji stood above a deep trench in the sea. (69) It was from this trench where the earthquake came at a magnitude of8.3on the Richter scale．

Huge waves swept over the city. (70) Boats were driven inland, and buildings and people were dragged out sea. (71) The tremors dislodged part of a hillside, which gave way, brushing trains, stations and bodies the wafer below. (72) Three massive shocks wrecked the of Tokyo and Yokohama and, during the next six hours, there were more than100aftershocks．

The casualties were enormous, but there were also some lucky survivors. (73) The most remarkably was a woman who was having a bath in her room at the Tokyo Grand Hotel. (74) As for the hotel collapsed, she and her bath gracefully descended to the street, (75) leave both her and the bath water

intact．

Part Writing

Directions: Write a short composition of about250to300words on the topic given below. (15%) Topic: Write in250—300words about your own academic ambition(s)．

2001年北京大学博士研究生入学考试英语试题

参考答案

PartⅡStructure & Written Expression

1．A2. C3. D4. B5. C6. D7. A8. D9. C10. A11. B12. D13. D14. A15. B16. A17. C18. B19. C20. A21. D22. A23. B24. C25. B PartⅢReading Comprehension

26．C27. A28. B29. C30. C31. C32. D33. B34. D35. A36. D37. D 38. D39. C40. B

41～45略

PartⅣCloze Test

46．between47. for48. another49. as/ though50. how51. there52. parents53. importance/ significance54. likely55. than

PartⅤProofreading

56．become→becoming66．in September→on September

57．thousand→thousands67．if huge→if a huge

58．all→of all68．Towered→Towering

59．only very few→only a very few69．where→there

60．into→in70．out sea→out to sea

61．though→去掉71．bodies the→bodies into the

62．exposed the air→exposed to the air72．the of→he cities of

63．disintegrate the→disintegrate in the73remarkably→remarkable

64．chemicals change→chemicals that change74．as for the→as the

65．they become→they have become75．leave→leaving

PartⅥWriting

略

2008年北京大学博士研究生入学考试英语试题

PartⅡStructure and Written Expression

Directions: For each question decide which of the four choices given will must suitably complete the sentence if inserted at the place marked. Mark your choices on the ANSWER SHEET．21．“What courses are you going to do next semester?”

“I don't know. But it's about time______on something”

A．I'd decide B．I decided C．I decide D．I'm deciding

22．______a ticket for the match, he can now only watch it on TV at home．

A．Obtaining not B．Not obtaining C．Not having obtained D．Not obtained

23．How can I ever concentrate if you______continually______me with silly questions?

A．have, interupted B．had, interrupted C．are, interrupting D．were, interrupted

24．As it turned out to be a small house party, we______so formally．

A．need not have dressed up B．must not have dressed up

C．id not need to dress up D．must not dress up

25．______is often the case with a new idea, much preliminary activity and optimistic discussion produced no concrete proposals．

A．That B．It C．This D．As

26．It is not so much the language______the cultural background that makes the book difficult to understand．

A．but B．nor C．as D．like

27．______human problems that repeat themselves in______life repeat themselves in______literature．A．/ , / , the B．/ , the, / C．The, / , / D．The, the, the

28．He is not under arrest, ______any restriction on him．

A．or the police have placed B．or have the police placed

C．nor the police have placed D．nor have the police placed

29．He was______to tell the truth even to his closest friend．

A．too much of a coward B．too much the coward

C．a coward enough D．enough of a coward

30．I couldn't sleep because the tap in the bathroom was______．

A．draining B．dropping C．spilling D．dripping

31．We have been hearing______accounts of your work．

A．favored B．favorable C．favorite D．favoring

32．Please put your empty cigarette packets and paper bags in the______bins provided．

A．junk B．litter C．scrap D．deposit

33．At first, the company refused to purchase the equipment, but this decision was______revised．A．subsequently B．successively C．predominantly D．preliminarily

34．Once a picture is proved to be a forgery, it becomes quite______．

A．invaluable B．priceless C．predominantly D．preliminarily

35．The local authorities realized the need to make______for elderly people in their housing programs．

A．preparation B．requirement C．specification D．provision

36．Most people can't get______the day without at least one cup of tea or coffee．

A．on B．through C．over D．by

37．As the director can't come to the reception, I'm representing the company______．

A．on his account B．on his behalf C．for his part D．in his interest

38．The award ceremony will be the______of the inaugural Singapore International Water Week that is held from23to27June2008．

A．twilight B．insight C．highlight D．highland

39．There is a conspicuous lack of public debate about how this insular country should______the reality that more immigrants are coming and that those already here are changing Japan．A．abide by B．account for C．act on D．adjust to

40．Nobody knows what triggered the event, which______a million cubic meters of water per second, obliterating the barrier between Britain and France．

A．released B．relieved C．restored D．retained

PartⅢReading Comprehension

Ⅰ．Directions: Each of the following three passages is followed by some questions. For each question four answers are given. Read the passages carefully and carefully and choose the best answere to each question. Mark your choices on the ANSWER SHEET. (10%)

Passage One

The19th-Century British Aristocracy

The British aristocracy had always been involved in industrialization, especially in the development of mining, canals, and railways. It now shrewdly associated itself with the new wave of commercial expansion. most banks and insurance companies had a lord to add tone to the managerial board. It also shored up its fortunes by astute marriages, notably with the new aristocracy of wealth in the United States; the besk-known example was the marriage of the Duke of Marlborough to Consuelo Vanderbilt. By these means, many of the great aristocratic estates were preserved despite agricultural decline. But they were playthings as well as engines of wealth, and came to be treated as such. The aristocracy came to be known to the urban population chiefly through their representation in the popular press and magazines as men and women of leisure: racing, hunting, shooting, and fishing in the country, gambling and attending the season in London. In a population for which leisure was becoming increasingly important, this did not make the aristocracy unpopular.41. In the second sentence of this passage, “had a lord on the managerial board”means that

A．the banks and insurance companies would hire a lord on the board to give advice to their management．

B．having lords involved in the management gave the banks or companies a very good public image C．lords worked for the banks and insurance companies to bring in more profits

D．it had become a fashion to have a lord on the managerial board of a bank or a company

42．The“astute marriages”in the passage refers to marriages between

A．British aristocracy and rich American entrepreneurs

B．old British aristocratic families and newly knighted aristocracy of wealth

C．aristocratic families and new business families of money and enterprises

D．big landlord families in the British countryside and rich American tycoons of industry

43．Judging from the content of the passage, Consuelo Vanderbilt was

A．male, and from a rich business family in the United Sates

B．female, and from a British wealthy family of Britain

C．male, and from a rich industrial family of Britain

D．female, and from a rich industrial family of Britain

44．Which of the following statements in TRUE?

A．The19th-century British aristocrats were treated as decorations in public life and were used to make money by press．

B．The19th-century British aristocrats were toys of the rich capitalists and were made to earn profits for them．

C．The19th-century British aristocrats acted as playmates of people in pleasure-seeking such as hunting, fishing, and shooting．

D．The19th-century British aristocrats were popular figures in advertisements because they lived a leisurely life．

Passage Two

How to Do Fewer, Better Animal Experiments

For a nation of pet lovers, Britain conducts a surprising number of experiments on animals some3m a year. America appears to use fewer animals—just1. lm a year, according to official statistics—but that is an illusion. Unlike Britain's government, America's does not think rats and mice worth counting. Japan and China have even less comprehensive data than America, and animals used in research in those two countries are not protected to the same extent that they are in the West. Even so, academic centers supporting alternatives to animal testing have emerged in both places in recent years. In July China issued its first set of guidelines governing the use of animals in research．

In an ideal world, there would be no animal testing. It is expensive and can be of dubious scientific value, since different species often react differently to the same procedure. That is why many researchers are working on ways of reducing the number of animal experiments needed and of making those that still happen more effective. However, the transition is proving easier for some types of experiment than for others, as a group of researchers in the field discussed at the sixth World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences, held last week in Tokyo．

The most important message from the congress was that things are going in the right direction. The number of animals used in experiments has fallen by half in the past30years, at least in those countries that record such things. There has also been a shift in the sort of animal used. Most of those employed today are rodents rather than dogs, cats, rabbits and monkeys. (That public opinion generally welcomes this is,. however, a good example of“cutist”prejudice for one species over another: there is not reason to believer that rodents suffer less than other mammals. ) Also, of the experiments that are still conducted, the majority are now concerned with developing and testing medicine rather than, say, checking how toxic cosmetics are. Of the11m animals involved each year in experiments that have to be reported to the European Commission, about45％are used for medical and veterinary purposes and another35％for basic biomedical research．

45．Which of the following is“an illusion”? ______

A．Britain protects animals used in research better than Japan and China．

B．China has issued guidelines governing the used of animals in research．

C．Japan has less comprehensive data on animal testing than America．

D．America conducts fewer experiments on animals than Britain．

46．Many researchers are currently trying to______．

A．use animals involved in research more effectively

B．slow down the transition for some experiments

C．challenge the scientific value of animal testing

D．raise the cost of using any animals in research

47．The“cutist”prejudice probably refers to the fact that______．

A．pet animals are thought to suffer more in experiments

B．rodents are believed to react in the same way with humans

C．testing medicine is supposed to do more harm than testing cosmetics

D．what sort of animals to use is reckoned more crucial than whether to use them

Passage Three

Thanks in no small part to A1Gore and his film producers, the American public is waking up to the seriousness of global warming. What is not so widely appreciated is that unless the US government acts urgently and decisively, this problem could very quickly get very much worse．

For reasons both economic and political coal is poised to be the fuel of choice in the coming decades as the US weans itself off foreign oil. Coal combustion generates half the US's electricity and releases about1.5billion tons of carbon dioxide a year. If present trends continue, these figures will more than double by2050, much to the detriment of the world's climate. Without an alternative fuel, the only

solution is to capture and store carbon dioxide from burnig coal．

Overcoming the engineering obstacles in the way of large-scale sequestration of carbon dioxide will be hard enough, but the bigger challenge is one of political will. US companies as yet have no incentive to capture carbon emissions. While moves at state and congressional levels are pushing in the right direction, the ambiguity in the administration's policy is counterproductive.

It is time for the US government to put a price on carbon emissions so utilities that invest in technologies to reduce carbon emissions will see their oefforts rewarded: Such a move would not only reduce the risks associated with global warming, but also go a long way to restoring America's green credentials．

48．According to the author, what adds to the seriousness of global warming?

A．The American public was ignorant of the problem．

B．The American government is doing nothing to deal with the problem．

C．The US will choose coal as the major fuel which will have large carbn emissions．

D．There is no alternative fuel other than foreign oil which has large carbon emissions．

49．Which of the following is true about the obstacles for effectively capturing carbon emissions?

A．The existing technology is only able to deal with large-scale carbon emissions．

B．The companies are not highly motivated in adopting new technologies．

C．The government policy for using coal and oil is counterproductive．

D．The companies feel reluctant to be involved in political issues．

50．What does the author suggest as a solution to the problem?

A．The government should charge carbon emissions so as to encourage companies to adopt new technology．

B．The government should reward utilities that invest in technologies to reduce carbon emission．

C．The government should make long-time efforts to encourage people to plant more trees．

D．The government should pay for large-scale carbon emissions．

Ⅱ．Directions: Read the following passage carefully and then explain in your own. English the exact meaning of the numbered and underlined parts. Put your answers on ANSWER SHEET (2).(15%)

Dealing with Depression

(51)Contrary to what many people think depression is not a normal part of growing older. Nor is it harder to treat in older peple. But it is often harder to recognize and harder to get patients to accept and continue with treatment．

“Most people think sadness is a hallmark of depression,”Bruce said. “But more often in older people it's anhedonia—they're not enjoying life. They're irritable and cranky.” (52)She added, “Many older people despair over the quality of thief lives at the end of life. If they have a functional disability or serious medical illness, it may make it harder to notice depression in older people.”