北京邮电大学大学英语期末考试试题三

北京邮电大学大学英语期末考试试题三

※ I．Listening Comprehension (20%)

Section A (10%)

Directions: In this section, you will hear 10 short conversations. At the end of each conversation, a question will be asked about what was said. Both t he conversation and the question will be spoken only once. After each ques tion there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choice s marked A), B), C) and D), and decide which is the best answer. Then m ark the corresponding letter with a single line through the center.

Example: You will hear:

M: Is it possible for you to work late, Miss Grey?

W: Work late? I suppose so, if you really think it’s necessary.

Q: Where do you think this conversation most probably took place?

You will read:

A) At the office.

B) In the waiting room.

C) At the airport.

D) In a restaurant.

From the conversation we know that the two were talking about some work they had to finish in the evening. This is most likely to have taken place a t the office. Therefore, A) ―At the office‖ is the be st answer. You should ch oose [A] and mark it with a single line through the center.

1. A. In a bus. B. In a restaurant. C. In a hospital. D. In a shop.

2. A. By car. B. By bus. C. By walking D. By rushing.

3. A. Get to the grocery store. B. Give the man directions to the bus station.

C. Get directions to the bus station.

D. Find out where the stoplight is.

4. A. The red wallet cost two dollars. B. He has been to church.

C. The broom was on the bottom.

D. He has searched there carefully.

5. A. At a doctor’s. B. At a store. C. At a bank. D. At a library.

6. A. The story of a novel. B. A report of an accident.

C. Looking for a job.

D. The whereabouts of a book.

7. A. To go along to meet her friend with her.

B. To go along to meet her friend with Tony.

C. To occupy himself with the woman’s work.

D. To meet her friend for her.

8. A. He will take a cab. B. He will drive. C. He will walk. D. He will take a b

us.

9. A. To spend the weekend with her mother. B. To try to get a driving licens

e.

C. To go to the hospital for a medical check.

D. To renew her passport.

10. A. He has promised to keep smoking cigarettes.

B. He’s gained a profit from his business.

C. Cigarettes become cheaper recently.

D. He guesses that smoking releases anxiety.

※Section B Compound Dictation (10%)

Directions: In this section, you will hear a passage three times. When the p assage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general i dea. When the passage is read for the second time, you are required to fill in the blanks numbered from S1 to S7 with the exact words you have just heard. For blanks numbered from S8 to S10 you are required to fill in the missing information. You can either use the exact words you have just hea rd or write down the main points in your own words. Finally, when the pass age is read for the third time, you should check what you have written.

When John (S1) that morning, he remembered that his mother was going (S2) hospital. He hadn’t (S3) worked out what was wrong with her. He kne w, (S4) , that she hadn’t been well for some time now, and it had become almost (S5) to him to see her eyes narrowed in a sudden attack of pain,

and her hand (S6) against her heart. Their own doctor, who she had finally gone to for (S7) , had sent her to a specialist who knew all about these t hings. (S8) . During the weeks since then the pains had come even more often, and the narrowed eyes became an almost permanent part of her exp ression. (S9)

______________________________________________.

John, a considerate person, tried to think what it would be like to have toot hache all the time and how bad-tempered that would make you. So when h is mother went into hospital, John was going to stay with his aunt, and his father would stay on at home by himself. However, John didn’t feel much h appier. (S10)

______________________________________________.

※II. Reading Comprehension (30%)

Passage One

Tread (踩) softly in the garden and pluck that rose with care; flowers cry w hen cut, cucumbers scream and even healthy fruit gurgles (发出咯咯声) acc ording to new acoustic research on the stressful life of plants.

The findings, released by the Institute for Applied Physics at the University of Bonn, could have important implications for farmers since, with the prope r eavesdropping device, one can now distinguish between healthy and sick vegetables. Talking to plants, it seems, is not as rewarding as listening to t hem.

The Bonn scientists have developed laser-driven microphones that pick up s ounds inaccessible to the human ear. When a leaf or a stem is sliced, the plant signals pain (or perhaps merely dismay) by releasing the gas ethylene (乙烯) over its entire surface.

Doctor Frank Kuhnemann of Bonn University has been trapping the ethylene in a bell jar. The gas molecules are later bombarded with laser beams, wh ich makes them vibrate. This produces a sound wave picked up by the mic rophones. ―The more a plant is subjected to stress, the louder the signal w

e get on our microphone,‖ he said.

(91) By eavesdropping on plants it should be possible to develop an early

warning system to detect pests and disease. Knowing the stress level of fru it and vegetables can also be an aid in efficient storing and transporting. A coustical evidence demonstrates that apples emit higher levels of ethylene, which causes neighboring plants to wilt (枯萎). As a result, the scientists ur ged fruit producers to store apples separately.

11. The first paragraph tells us that ___________.

A. plants also have feelings like human beings

B. plants may have different reactions to different treatments

C. we should not cut flowers

D. healthy fruit will cry

12. The findings’ implication lies in that ____________.

A. we can know more about plants through talking to them

B. we can help plant grow by playing music for them

C. with acoustic device, we can know about the situation a plant is in

D. with the help of eavesdropping, we can hear plants talking

13. In the experiment, ___________ is not used.

A. a jar

B. microphones

C. a bell

D. laser beams

14. According to the passage, plants can ____________.

A. dance to the music

B. listen to people talk

C. be trapped by laser beams

D. release the gas ethylene

15. Through the experiment we know that _____________.

A. we should not store apples together with the other fruits

B. not all plants can release the gas ethylene

C. we can hear the cry of a plant with our ears

D. plants also eavesdrop our conversation

Passage Two

(92) Despite a cooling of the economy, high-technology companies are still

crying out for skilled workers. The Information Technology Association of A

merica projects that more than 800,000 technology jobs will go unfilled next year. The lack of qualified workers poses a huge threat to the U. S. econ omy.

The most commonly cited reason for this state of affairs is that the country’s agrarian-age (农村时代) education system fails to prepare students in the primary and secondary grades for twenty-first-century work. Yet an inadequa te and outmoded education system is only part of the problem. A less tangi ble but equally powerful cause is an antique classification system that divide s the workforce into two camps: white-collar knowledge workers and blue-co llar manual laborers.

Blue-collar workers emerged in the United States during the Industrial Age as work migrated from farms to factories. (93) White-collar office workers be came a significant class in the twentieth century, outnumbering the blue-coll ar workers by mid-century. Corporations increasingly require a new layer of knowledge worker: a highly skilled multi-disciplined talent, who combines the mind of the white-collar worker with a solid grounding in mathematics and science (physics, chemistry, and biology). These ―gold-collar‖ workers —so named for their contributions to their companies and to the economy as wel l as for their personal earning ability —apply that knowledge to technology.

The gold-collar worker already exists in a wide range of jobs. The maintena nce technician who test and repairs aircraft systems at American Airlines; th e network administrator who manages systems and network operations at P

rocter & Gamble; the engineering technologist who assists scientists at San dia National Laboratories; and the advanced-manufacturing technician at Inte l can all be regarded as gold-collar workers.

16. In the first paragraph, the word ―projects‖ can be best replace by ________

___.

A. throws

B. predicts

C. concludes

D. claims

17. Compared with a blue-collar worker, a gold-collar worker __________.

A. is more skillful in technology

B. has received higher education

C. used to be a white-collar worker

D. learnt more in high school

18. A gold-collar worker ___________.

A. knows more than one kind of knowledge or skill

B. knows only one kind of knowledge of skill

C. earns less than a blue-collar worker

D. earns less than a white-collar worker

19. The first group of blue-collar workers were most likely to be ____________

in the past.

A. migrants

B. educators

C. servants

D. farmers

20. When did the number of white-collar workers become bigger than that of th

e blue-collar workers in American?

A. Recently.

B. In 1970 or so.

C. In 1950 or so.

D. During the Industrial A

ge.

Passage Three

In the United States there are two major political parties, the Democratic an

d th

e Republican. (94) The Democratic party is the older o

f the two, tracin

g its history back to the time of Andrew Jackson in 1820s. The Republican party, whic

h followed the Federalist party and the Whigs, was organized in t he 1850s primarily as an antislavery party. Since antislavery sentiment was strongest in the manufacturing area of the North and East, the Republican party logically adopted the protective tariff and other ideas furthering the gro wth of manufacturing in the United States. In 1860 the Democratic party wa s split into two factions, the northern and the southern Democrats, each put ting up its own candidate for president. While the two factions together poll ed more votes than did the Republican ticket, the Republicans received a t otal higher than that of either faction of the Democrats, and Abraham Lincol n was elected president.

From 1860 to the present day there have been many attempts to found ne w parties. But whenever a third party has had considerable appeal at the p olls, one of both of the major parties in the next election has embraced the platform accounting for its appeal, and the third party has faded away.

Over the years, therefore, the positions of the two major parties have been changing and adapting themselves to the currently important problems of pu blic policy. At one time the Democratic party was considered to be a party standing up for state rights, and the Republican party a party representing t he interests of business and industry. A clearcut difference between the two parties, however, has not existed for more than half a century. If one read s the platforms of the two parties, one finds that there is very little differenc e between them. Each party seems to be appealing to practically every gro

up of voters. Unlike the political parties of Europe, and unlike the Conservat ives and Laborites in England, the political parties in the United States are the collections of many disparate (不同的) elements.

21. At first, the platform of the Republican party was centered around ________

___.

A. antislavery policies

B. developing manufacturing

C. settling the disputes between factions

D. solving social problems

22. According to the passage, Lincoln was elected because ___________.

A. his antislavery policies

B. the Democratic party was split up

C. his penetrating speeches

D. the Democratic party was for him

23. The third parties cannot survive in America because _____________.

A. they don’t have appealing policies

B. the two major parties always adapt their policies to the public’s interest

C. they are lack of funds

D. they are not allowed to take part in the election

24. Nowadays, the two major parties ___________.

A. have quite similar platforms

B. don’t’ h ave any conflicts

C. appeal to different groups of people

D. have strayed away from the values they cherished in the past

25. The two major parties in Britain are ____________.

A. similar with those in America

B. similar with those in Europe

C. the collection of many different elements

D. different from those in Ameri

ca