2006博士研究生入学英语考试试卷

博士研究生入学英语考试试卷

(2006. 5)

Part I. Reading Comprehension (40%)

Directions: Read the following four passages. Answer the questions below each passage by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answer on ANSWER SHEET.

Passage One

Nobody likes taxes.

Now that’s a fairly safe statement to make. I know I don’t. One of the reasons I moved back to the US from Canada, is that Americans pay far, far fewer taxes than Canadians do. In fact, it seems to be part of the American dream to avoid paying any taxes. We don’t want to pay them on the Internet. Many states don’t want their citizens to pay state taxes. And President George W. Bush just pushed through a huge federal income tax cut.

And no doubt there are still people who think we pay too many taxes. But the people of Braintree, Massachusetts, might be thinking differently. Braintree has a problem. Not once in the past two decades did the town pass resolutions that overrode Proposition 2 1/2—the law that says the town government cannot raise each year’s tax levy more than 2 1/2 percent above the previous year’s charges. Nor did they float any bonds for debt. Braintree is also a fairly bustling commercial town. Which mean that resident tax rates were among the lowest in the Boston area.

But there’s one problem. Braintree is, well, falling part. Especially its schools. While everybody was patting himself or herself on the back for keeping taxes down, school, roads, bridges and the like were growing older and weren’t receiving the attention they needed. But even if they did get the attention, not much could be done because there wasn’t enough money in the town’s kitty to pay for needed repairs. But, as my mother would say, one can only ignore the elephant in the living room for so long. And now it’s time to pay up. The school department wants $100 million to fix the schools. Millions more will be needed for road repairs and fixing the town’s deteriorating water and sewer lines.

Boy, oh boy, people are going to have SOME kind of tax bill in Braintree this year. And probably for the next few years as well. And don’t forget, this situation affects more than just the town’s infrastructure. Real estate prices will suffer as well. Who wants to move to a town with crumbling schools,

bad roads, and questionable water?

There is a lesson in all this—not paying enough tax is just as bad as paying too much tax. There are some people in the US who point out that all tax money should be given back to individuals, not the various branches of government. It’s our money, they cry. In one way, I agree with them. It is our money. But the fact they conveniently forget—or ignore—is that the money the government keeps is “our” money as well. That’s because it pays for OUR schools, OUR roads, OUR military, OUR communities in need of help after events like floods or other disasters.

1. In what way might people to Braintree think differently about paying

taxes?

A) They think Bush’s tax cut plan is impracticable.

B) They think they have been paying too many taxes.

C) They think the town government misuses the taxes they have paid.

D) They think paying enough taxes is necessary to keeping things

going.

2. What makes the author come to the conclusion that people in

Braintree pay the lowest tax rates in the Boston area is the fact that

__________________.

A) the town has never changed its taxation law in the last 20 years

B) the town has been a fast-developing one

C) the town has never floated bonds to pay its debt in the last 20 years

D) many more schools, roads and the like have been built recently

3. What is the alleged problem that faces Braintree at present?

A) No one is willing to pay any taxes.

B) Not enough attention is paid to education.

C) The town does not have enough money to expand its infrastructure.

D) The town does not collect enough taxes to keep itself in good

shape.

4. When the author quotes from his mother that “one can only ignore

the elephant in the living room for so long” (the fourth paragraph), he

means that______________.

A) one has to taste the bitter result if he is blind to a problem

B) keeping everything in good order is too heavy a burden for a small

town

C) one should never keep an elephant in his living room for long

D) a small town should not levy too heavy a tax against people’s will

5. With regard to paying taxes, the author is actually saying that

_________________.

A) paying enough taxes is the citizen’s obligation

B) he does not like taxes and would dodge them if he could

C) the government should not abuse the taxes

D) the government should not levy too heavy a tax Passage Two

Millions of Americans lack health insurance and, with the economy floundering, that is likely to increase, the National Academy of Sciences reported Thursday. “Unless health insurance is made more affordable, the number of uninsured Americans is likely to continue growing over time,”said Mary sue Coleman, co-chairman of the committee that wrote the report. The report is the first of six planned by the Institute of Medicine over two years. The series is planned to find out who lacks health insurance and why, determine what the consequences are and provide the groundwork for debate on how to correct the problem. The institute is part of the academy, a private organization chartered by Congress to advise the government of scientific matters.

This first report seeks to draw a picture of the millions who lack insurance. It does not offer any recommendations. “Much of what Americans think they know about the uninsured is wrong,” said Dr. Arthur Kellermann, a public health professor at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, who also worked on the report. The Census Bureau reported last month that 38.7 millions went without coverage for all of 2000, compared with 39.3 millions the year before, thanks to the booming economy. Experts say the trend is likely to reverse this year, given that the economy was slowing even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. “Unfortunately, the recent economic slowdown might have reversed the modest gains in coverage that were seen in 1999 and 2000,” said Kellermann on Thursday.

About two-third of Americans under age 65 are covered by health insurance through their job or that of a relative, the report found. That means many people gain or lose coverage as they marry or divorce, change jobs, start or graduate from college or go through other transitions. At some point, one out of seven Americans goes without coverage for a full year; many others lack coverage for shorter periods.

The report said that with insurance costs rising, more employers and individuals may conclude they are unable to afford coverage. Premium

increases were often absorbed by employers in the strong economy of the 1990s, but that may not continue as the economy softens, the report said. The panel found that about 13.6 million of the uninsured work for employers that do not offer health insurance. Individually purchased coverage may be prohibitively costly. In the case of such public insurance programs as Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, the report said that stringent eligibility requirements and enrollment processes can make coverage difficult to obtain and hard to keep.

6. The present decline in the number of insured Americans is mainly

caused by the _________________.

A) economic recession

B) indifference of private employers

C) mass unemployment

D) negligence of insurance agencies

7. As the first of the six reports, the chief objective of this report is to

____________________.

A) find out who lack health insurance

B) explain why certain groups of people lack health insurance

C) determine the consequences from the lack of health insurance

D) provide suggestions to address the health insurance issue

8. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A) People who are not working are not usually covered by health

insurance.

B) The number of people covered by insurance increased from 1999 to

2000.

C) People over the age of 65 are all covered by health insurance.

D) Most Americans mistakenly think that many of them are not health

insured.

9. It is implied in the last paragraph that ________________________.

A) eligibility for public insurance programs should be made stringent

B) individuals should not be prohibited from buying their own health

insurance

C) 27% of the families have lost their insurance coverage due to

economic slowdown

D) Public insurance programs can do little to correct the present

situation

10. What is the title of the passage?

A) Millions of Americans Lack Health Insurance.

B) Why Many Americans Are Losing their Insurance.

C) How Economic Situation Affects Health Insurance.

D) How Health Insurance Is Purchased.

Passage Three

The most obvious and least noticed man-made marvel in California is its highway system. It is an engineering event on the scale of the transcontinental railroad, over 15,000 miles long and fifty years in the making. By a long measure, it is the best highway system in the country, which means that it is the best highway system in the world. California, its various departments and agencies, has taught numberless nations how to build modern roads, and if the world is now less convinced about the necessity of superhighways than it used to be, that has more to do with geology than with design and engineering.

The California highway system is also where many of us learned the pleasures of motoring. Much has been written about California’s love affairs with the automobile, and much of it is wrong. To be sure, a few citizens lavish an inordinate amount of attention on their cars, but for most of us routine maintenance and a sporty little ironclad warranty are all that are necessary. The real pleasures of the road have to do with driving, the experience rather than the vehicle, the verb rather than the noun. The pleasures of driving are an obvious extension of the pleasures of the trail, the progressive revelation of natural wonders and cultural information. Driving is an aesthetic experience so commonplace that it is frequently ignored, yet a bad painting and requires much more stamina to endure. For Americans, driving is also nearly universal; more people have revealed in a good drive than have, say, attended a baseball game or gotten divorced.

So it is the good drives that we celebrate here. The following list is arbitrary and personal—and incomplete. I have not driven every road in California. I have heard, for instance, that 299 from Redding to Alturas is worth a detour, but I have not included it because I’ve never done it. Call this list, rather, a talking paper, a work in progress, a set of nominations (there are only seven drives on it, which suggests that the California top ten has three slots open). My criteria were mostly predictable—scenic beauty, surprise, transformation, ease of driving, traffic flow, plus a leavening of whim. They are listed in a vague order of preference, as follows.

11. What does the author want to tell us in the first paragraph?

A) The California highway system is a wonder.

B) California has an advantage in geography.

C) Roads in California are all superhighways.

D) Highways won’t be necessary in the future.

12. It is on California highways that many people _________________.

A) learn to motorcycle

B) begin to enjoy driving

C) fall in love

D) learn how to drive

13. According to the author, a few citizens tend to

_______________________.

A) take too much care of their cars

B) ignore the maintenance of their cars

C) paint while driving along the roads

D) lack the ability to appreciate the beauty

14. The second paragraph suggests the driving is

____________________.

A) considered a world-wide game by Americans

B) as interesting as watching baseball games

C) a very popular entertainment for Americans

D) one of the reasons of some divorces

15. If the author introduces some roads in California to the reader in the

following paragraph, how many roads are to be introduced?

A) 3

B) 7

C) 10

D) 299

Passage Four

Few social problems have increased so suddenly or been dramatized so effectively as the plight of the homeless in the 1980s and 1990s. Once an invisible people who could easily be ignored, the homeless are now recognized everywhere on the streets and in the public facilities of major cities.

The number of homeless people in underdeveloped societies in the mid-1980s was estimated by the United Nations to be more than 100 million. The so-called “new” homeless live in the developed, industrialized nations of Europe, North America, and East Asia. Accurate statistics have been

impossible to verify, in part because of the conflicting viewpoints on the subject of homelessness. Politicians, lawyers, and others who become advocates for the homeless have said that there are from 2 to 3 million homeless in the United States alone. Others who have studied the problem from a less sympathetic point of view suggest that the number is closer to 300,000.

One reason for statistical uncertainty is the composition of the homeless population. Some families suffer temporary poverty because of loss of a job. Unable to afford rent or mortgage payments, they may temporarily join the ranks of the homeless for a period of days or weeks (or they may live with relatives). Once another job is found, the family can usually afford shelter once more.

The number of those who are truly homeless consists of possibly 3 percent or less of the very poor. Their most common characteristic is poverty, though some work at least part-time, while others receive various kinds of welfare payments.

The National Institute of Mental Health has estimated that one third of the homeless in the 1980s were former mental patients who had been discharged under deinstitutionalization programs. Many of the homeless are also addicted to drugs or alcohol or both. Some are victims of structural unemployment temporary, but massive, changes in an economy. Others become homeless when the eligibility rules for assistance change or when the supply of low rent housing runs out. Some members of the homeless population are voluntary in the sense that they leave intolerable situations within their former homes. Battered wives and abused or neglected children become runaways, living on the streets or in shelters opened by charities. In Japan many men reportedly have dropped out of the economy voluntarily for such reasons as stress, old age, indifference, or to escape family problems.

Government responses to the problem have varied. Canada and the United States have no laws on homelessness, but government agencies provide funds to operate shelters and soup kitchens. England has a Homeless Persons Act, enacted in 1977, that requires local authorities to house the homeless. In an attempt to improve housing for the poor, the UN declared 1987 the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless.

16. The number of the homeless is difficult to determine because

_____________________.

A) they move about constantly from one place to another

B) each country tries to conceal the exact number

C) some who are homeless today may not be tomorrow

D) some countries never report the figure to the UN

17. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A) The homeless can never find shelter unless helped by their

relatives.

B) Some people make themselves homeless by leaving their shelters.

C) The estimates of the homeless are often affected by people’s

attitude.

D) Most of the homeless people are city dwellers before.

18. Some people voluntarily leave home and become homeless because

___________________.

A) they want to try a new lifestyle

B) they find their homes stressful and unbearable

C) they find it hard to keep up with the rent

D) they find their present homes less tolerable than past ones

19. It is true that __________________________________.

A) some homeless people have some temporary jobs

B) many homeless people refuse the help from welfare agencies

C) industrialized countries have more homeless people to help

D) people often become homeless when they lose their jobs

20. The United States ______________________________.

A) does not pay much attention to the homeless

B) does not encourage each state to care for the homeless

C) wants to provide shelter for the homeless

D) supports housing programs for the homeless

Part II Vocabulary ( 15% )

Directions: There are 30 incomplete sentences in this part. Choose the one that best complete the sentence. And write your answer on the ANSWER

SHEET.

21. I made an awful blunder and trouble ___________________.

A) ceased B) ensued C) erupted D) proceeded

22. We _________ the enemy’s secret telegram and were able to win a big

victory.

A) decoded B) ensured C) encoded D) decomposed

23. Since it is too late to change my mind, I am _____________ to carrying

out the plan.

A) committed B) obliged C) engaged D) resolved

24. Jack was __________ from singing too many songs last night.

A) coarse B) hoarse C) appalling D) irritated

25. In addition to some money in a savings bank account, my

__________include property inherited from my father and my grandpa.

A) assess B) assets C) assessments D) access

26. A bridge which is hung from cables is known as _________ bridge. The

Yangpu Bridge in Shanghai is the largest one in Asia.

A) slippery B) suspense C) suspender D) suspension

27. With an eighty-hour week and little change or enjoyment, life must have

been very __________ for the nineteenth-century factory worker.

A) sluggish B) poky C) flamboyant D) weary

28. We parted from each other at the crossroads and returned to our

_____________ houses.

A) respected B) respectful C) respective D) respectable

29. Only a _______person would believe such an unlikely story about flying

saucers. Do you agree with me?

A) credulous B) creditable C) credible D) crediting

30. From the top of the building you can get a __________ of the entire city, it

is very beautiful.

A) perspective B) prosperity C)prosperous D) prospective

31. Half an hour after they had started, it _________ to rain hard, and a bitter

cold wind sprang up.

A) commended B) commenced C) commanded D) commented

32. Researchers have developed a new process that can _________ fresh

drinking water from sea water at a significantly lower cost than existing systems.

A) extract B) remove C) withdraw D) exclude

33. The dean tried to retain control of the situation on campus, but his attempt

was _________ by the board of trustees.

A) approved B) frustrated C) disclosed D) justified

34. Everything looked __________ through the wet windshield.

A) blurred B) vague C) obscure D) dim

35. The election took place against a ___________ of widespread

unemployment.

A) ground B) setting C) background D) environment

36. There is a(n) __________ in the fuel lines that prevented the missile from

blasting off.

A) error B) fault C) defect D) mistake

37. John, the newly appointed director, had to reorganize the entire office; he

angrily complained of his _________, who had been so incompetent that everything was left in a mess.

A) successor B) ancestor C) predecessor D) forefather

38. As a writer he was very __________. As a businessman he was not

competent.

A) imagined B) imaginary C) imaginable D) imaginative

39. When it became clear that the management and the union could not settle

their differences, the President _________ to settle the argument.

A) interacted B) intervened C) interviewed D) interconnected

40. These countries should ___________ macro-economic policies that help to

create jobs.

A) supplement B) implement C) complement D) experiment

41. Mark was absolutely __________by the puzzle; so he was confused and

didn’t know how to deal with it.

A) baffled B) bartered C) battered D) barged

42. This book is full of practical ____________ on home decorating and

repairs.

A) helps B) clues C) tips D) informs

43. Keys should never be hidden around the house since thieves __________

know where to look.

A) virtually B) unavoidably C) invariably D) reliably

44. The sound of the water gently __________ against the side of the boat was very pleasant.

A) creaking B) surging C) sucking D) lapping

45. Mary hoped that the photographs would be attractive enough to ________ Jane to go to Europe with her.

A) provoke B) preclude C) entice D) indulge

46. They ___________ their opponent as a liar so as to make him unpopular.

A) stigmatized B) distinguished C) identified D) sterilized

47. The election results _____________ up the spirits of the newly formed party.

A) blazed B) boasted C) boomed D) bolstered

48. The handwriting was not __________, so I could not read it at all well; you must be careful next time.

A) definite B) distinct C) desirable D) domestic

49. He gave a good speech, in which he ___________ clearly the reasons for changing the law.

A) depicted B) intensified C) proposed D) marshaled

50. Peach trees are considered __________ when they begin bearing fruit,

after growing one month the fruit may taste delicious.

A) mutual B) massive C) mature D) marvelous

Part III Cloze Test ( 10%)

Directions: There are 20 blanks in the passage. For each blank, the first letter of the word has been given. Read the passage and fill in each blank with a word which best completes the meaning of the sentence.

Then write your answer on the ANSWER SHEET.

American doctors have found they can help seriously sick cancer patients by raising their body temperatures. Doctors at the University of Mississippi Medical Center tried the t 51 on 104 patients. Normal cancer treatments had f 52 to help any of the patients. And most were e 53 to die in 2 or 3 months.

After the treatment the cancer seemed to d 54 completely in 14% of the patients. The disease was reduced by 50% or more in another 12 percent. The treatment had a smaller e 55 on twenty-four percent. But some of these patients lived 1—3 years. The Mississippi doctors said such results are s 56 for patients with cancer so serious and so difficult to treat with normal t 57 .

Heat is often used to treat cancer. It kills some cancer cells and makes other cancer cells w 58 , so that drugs and r 59 ’ can have more effect against the disease . Usually, however, only one area of the body is heated. Such l 60 heat treatment is not effective when cancer has spread to many parts of the body. The Mississippi doctors put p 61 tubes in a patient’s artery and veins. Blood was r 62 from the artery, heated and returned to the vein. This technique raised the patient’s body temperature to 41 and one-half degrees C 63 . The treatment lasted 4-8 hours and was r 64 4—6 times. Some patients also received small a 65 of anti-cancer drugs and radiation.

Scientists do not understand the e 66 link between high body temperature, or fever, and sickness. But they do know that a fever s 67 increases the body’s natural ability to f 68 diseases. Medical histories even tell some patients who were c 69 of cancer after having a high fever during an i 70

Disease.

Part IV Short Answer Questions ( 10% )

Directions: In this part there is a short passage with five questions or incomplete statements. Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements in the fewest possible words (no more than 10 words). Then write them down on your ANSWER SHEET.

Educators today are more and more often hard to say that computer literacy is absolutely necessary for college students. Many even argue that each incoming freshman should have permanent access to his or her own microcomputer. What advantages do computers offer the college students?

Any student who has used a word processor will know one compelling reason to use a computer: to write papers. Although not all students feel comfortable composing on a word processor, most find revising and editing much easier on the computer. One can alter, insert, or delete just by pressing a few keys, thus eliminating the need to rewrite or retype. Furthermore English courses required the use of a word processor.

Science students take advantage of computers in many ways. Using computer graphic capabilities, for example, botany students can represent and analyze different plant growth patterns. Medical students can learn to interpret computerized images of internal body structures. Physics students can complete complex calculations far more quickly than they could without the use of a computer.

Similarly, business and accounting students find that computer spreadsheet programs are all but indispensable to many aspects of their work, while students pursuing career in graphic arts, marketing, and public relations find that knowledge of computer graphic is important. Education majors learn to develop grading system using computers, while social science students use computers for analyzing and graphically displaying their research results.

It is no wonder, then, that educators support the purchases and use of computers by students. A versatile tool, the computer can help students learn. And that is, after all, the reason for going to college.

71. What does the term “computer literacy” refer to in the first sentence of Paragraph 1?

72. What is the writer’s chief purpose in writing this passage?

73. What benefits a student most with a word processor?

74. What does the phrase “all but indispensable” mean in the first sentence of

Paragraph 4?

75. Why do students go to college according to the author?

Part V Translation ( 10% )

Directions: Translate the following paragraphs into Chinese.

What do we really know about fertility and the mind? For starters, we know that

infertility is stressful. Women who have difficulty conceiving suffer as much

anxiety and depression as women with heart disease or cancer. A recent study

found that 40 percent of them were anxious or depressed. This shouldn’t be

surprising. Procreation is one of the strongest instincts in the animal kingdom.

Males will die fighting for a chance to mate , and females will die to protect their

young. Moreover, most people assume they are fertile. When you’ve spent your

adult life taking precautions to avoid pregnancy, it’s a shock to discover that you

can’t make it happen at will. Treatment can add to the anguish. You get poked,

prodded, injected, inspected and operated on, and you have mechanical sea on

schedule.

Part VI Writing ( 15% )

Directions: Write an introductory speech on “It Is Better To Be Healthy than To Be Wealthy”with no less than 150 words. The following

information is for reference.

ppose you are asked to give a speech to a group of young people. You are required to write the introductory speech. You may point out how important the health is and why health is more important than wealth. And what is the relationship between health and wealth.

You may begin like this:

Good morning, my worthy opponents and friends. As you all know, the

topic for today’s debate is:……

Key for Reference:

Part I Reading Comprehension

DBDAA AABDA ABACB CAAAD

2Part II Vocabulary and Structure

BAABB DDCAA BABAC CCDBB ACCDC ADBDC Part III Cloze Test

51 treatment 52 failed 53 expected 54 disappear 55 effect 56 surprising 57 techniques 58 weaker 59 radiations 60 local 61 plastic 62 removed 63 Celsius 64 repeated 65 amounts 66 exact 67 somehow 68 fight 69 cured 70 infectious Part IV Short Answer Questions

71. computer skill.

72. To identify some of the ways computers benefit college students

73. To save a lot of time revising a paper.

74. very necessary.

75. To learn.

Part V Translation

在生育能力和心情方面，我们真正了解到什么呢？我们知道，不予对

刚刚参加此项活动的人们来说是沉重负担。怀孕难的妇女于患心脏病或

癌症的妇女一样都感受到同样多的焦虑和抑郁。最近的一项研究发现，

40%受孕难的妇女出现焦虑或抑郁。这不该使人惊奇。繁殖和生育是动

物界中最强的本能之一。雄性会为获得交配机会而战斗致死，而雌性会

为保护其幼小生命而死。此外，大多数人都认为自己是有生育能力的。

成年后你一直采取预防措施避免怀孕，而现在却惊愕地发现自己不能随

意怀孕。治疗会添加极大的痛苦，你要接受指戳、棒刺、注射、检验、

手术，还要按日程进行机械式性行为。

Name:____________________

Number:___________________

************************************************************************ Answer Sheet

Part I Reading Comprehension

1.______

2.______

3.______

4.______

5.______

6.______

7.______

8.______

9.______10.___ 11._____12._____13_____14._____15._____16._____17._____18._____19.______20.__ 2Part II Vocabulary and Structure

21._____22._____23._____24._____25._____26._____27._____28._____29._____30.___ 31._____32._____33._____34._____35._____36._____37._____38._____39._____40.___ 41._____42._____43._____44._____45._____46._____47._____48._____49._____50.___ Part III Cloze Test

51._____________52.______________53.______________54._____________55.______ 56._____________57.______________58.______________59._____________60.______ 61._____________62.______________63.______________64._____________65.______ 66._____________67.______________68.______________69._____________70.______ Part IV Short Answer Questions

71.

72.

73.

74.

75.

Part V Translation

Part VI Writing:

Wealthy