中南大学2002级博士生英语考试试卷

Non-English Major Doctorate English Qualifying Examination

(January 12, 2003)

Part I Listening Comprehension (15%)

Section A

Directions:In this section, you will hear 5 short conversations. At the end of each conversation, a question will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the question will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four suggested choices marked A, B, C or D, and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet

I.

1. A. On Thursday night.

B. On Monday night.

C. On Friday morning.

D. On Thursday morning.

2. A. Show him the way to Imperial Hotel.

B. Check to see if there are any vacancies in her hotel.

C. Let him move to a room with two single beds.

D. Try to help him find rooms in another hotel.

3. A. Robust.

B. Brave.

C. Generous.

D. Dangerous.

4. A. He loves his present job.

B. He is going to open a store.

C. He is about to retire.

D. He works in a repair shop.

5. A. She has confidence in him.

B. She has also won a scholarship.

C. She is surprised at the news.

D. She is not interested in the news.

Section B

Directions: In this section, you will hear 2 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the question will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A, B, C or D. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet I.

Passage 1 (Questions 6 to 7 are based on this passage.)

6. A. They should respect the young people.

B. They should try to go into the youth’s world.

C. They’d better not be gossips.

D. They forget how they themselves felt when they were young.

7. A. Parents have no sense of humor.

B. Old people like to make several plans ahead.

C. In order to challenge their parents, young people refuse to plan ahead.

D. All young people drive too fast and refuse to study.

Passage 2 (Questions 8 to 10 are based on this passage.)

8. A. It was settled more than 300 years ago.

B. Alexander Graham Bell visited there.

C. A large number of its residents were deaf.

D. Each family living there had many children.

9. A. To establish his laboratory.

B. To have a vacation.

C. To study deafness among the families.

D. To examine deafness among his family members.

10. A. The patterns of marriage have changed.

B. Many deaf people have regained their hearing.

C. Most of the original population has left the island.

D. The island has become famous for its research facilities.

Section C

Directions:In this section, you will hear a short passage. It will be spoken twice. After you hear the passage, write a summary of it in about 60 words on Answer Sheet II.

Part II Cloze Test (10%)

Directions:There are 20 questions in this part of the test. Read the passage through. Then go back and choose one suitable word or phrase marked A, B, C or D for each blank in the passage. Mark your answer by drawing a single bar across the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet I.

When Christopher Columbus landed the New World, the north American continent was an area of astonishing ethic and 11 diversity. North of the North Grande, which now marks the 12 between the United States and Mexico, 13 a population of over 12 million people representing 14 400 distinct cultures, 500 languages, and a remarkable 15 of political and religious institutions of physical and ethic types. 16 to the Europeans, the Indian peoples were extraordinarily 17 , and they often viewed these Europeans as just another 18 .

These varied tribal cultures were as 19 as the land the Indians 20 . In the high 21 of the Dakotas, the Mandan developed a 22 communal

society centered around agriculture. Only a few hundred miles away, 23 in northwestern Montana, the Blackfeet turned from 24 and began to use horses, which had been 25 by the Spaniards. As skilled 26 they became hunters and fighters and developed a fierce and 27 centered around the burralo. In the eastern woodlands surrounding the 28 , the Potawatomis were expert fishermen, canoe builders, and hunters. In the Northeast, the six Iroquois, nations were 29 the most politically sophisticated people in the world, forming the famed Iroquois Confederation, which included the Senecas and Mohawks. This confederation, 30 its system of checks and balances, provided a model for the United States Constitution.

11. A. tribal B. national C. cultural D. geographical

12. A. line B. border C. division D. edge

13. A. was B. has C. lay D. had

14. A. approachingly B. approximately C. proximately D. closely

15. A. type B. set C. series D. variety

16. A. According B. Contrary C. Opposite D. Compared

17. A. homogeneous B. heterogeneous C. ingenuous D. ingenious

18. A. tribe B. country C. culture D. India

19. A. diversified B. different C. alienated D. isolated

20. A. lived B. settled C. inhabited D. dwelled

21. A. seas B. mountains C. plains D. altitudes

22. A. backward B. advanced C. friendly D. peaceful

23. A. moreover B. however C. accordingly D. incidentally

24. A. agriculture B. religion C. community D. industry

25. A. introduced B. evolved C. trained D. tamed

26. A. farmers B. invaders C. riders D. trainers

27. A. defensive B. aggressive C. religious D. sophisticated

28. A. Rocky Mountains B. Great Lakes C. Gulf of Mexico D. Mississippi

29. A. between B. with C. among D. like

30. A. for B. with C. by D. through

Part III Reading Comprehension (40%)

Section A

Directions:In this section, there are 5 short passages for you to read. Read each passage carefully, and then do the questions that follow. Choose the best answer A, B, C or D, and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet I.

Passage 1

Two main factors may be distinguished in the development of a distinctive American nationality during the Colonial period, a character that was already crystallizing when the Revolution began. One factor was a new people --- an amalgamation of different national stocks. The other factor was a new land --- a country rich, empty, and demanding as the price of its bounty only that newcomers

should bring to it industry and courage. By 1775, a distinctly American society, with its own social economic, and political traits, was emerging. At some points it closely approached the European pattern: the merchants, professional men, and mechanics of Boston and New Y ork were not easily distinguishable from similar groups in London and Bristol. But the great mass of Americans was growing quite distinct from the European type in the old homeland.

Emigration to America had fortunately taken place in a way which made the English language and English institutions everywhere dominant, so that the country possessed a general unity. Neither the Germans nor the French Huguenots set up a separate colony, as they might have done.

31. What did America offer to newcomers during the colonial period?

A. Industry and courage.

B. A rich and empty land.

C. New people.

D. A European-like country.

32. Before 1775, American society _______.

A. had its own social traits

B. did not look like the European model at all

C. did not have its own distinctive characteristics yet

D. was chaotic

33. By 1775, who were similar in America to people in England?

A. Most Americans.

B. Nobody.

C. Some professional groups all over the country.

D. Some professional groups in some cities.

34. What was the homeland of the great mass of Americans during the early colonial

period?

A. England.

B. Germany.

C. America.

D. Europe.

35. What favored the dominance of the English language in early America?

A. The way the immigration to America took place.

B. The military and economic power of England at the time.

C. The voluntary Anglicization of the Germans and of the French.

D. The simplicity of the English language.

36. What is the main idea in the first paragraph?

A. The creation of a new type of society in America.

B. The resemblance of the American society to the European model.

C. The richness of the American land.

D. The different backgrounds of the people who came to America.

Passage 2

Cerro Prieto, twenty miles south of the United States border, is a large geothermal

energy field likely to produce 1,000 megawatts of electricity annually by the early 1990’s. This will be well above its initial 1973 capacity of 75 megawatts, which was doubled in 1979, with a further 30 megawatts added two years later to bring it up to its present capacity. However, in addition to the primary purpose of producing electricity, scientists at Cerro Prieto have developed several other uses for the geothermal heat and fluid, including some in aquaculture and hydroponics. In relation to the former, crayfish are raised in water kept at about 85℉. They feed on the minute crustaceans (甲壳动物) and algae (海藻) occurring naturally in the geothermal fluid while special trains of bacteria have been introduced to clean the water along with small local crayfish that absorb salts harmful to the commercial variety. This variety’s metabolism is speeded up by the controlled environment, which reduces growing time. The salt-rich geothermal fluid also produces striking results through the use of hydroponics, with yields of crops such as tomatoes and cucumbers as much as 300 per cent higher than in normal soil. Meanwhile, a ten meter-long enclosed shed produces half a ton of barley grass per day, the grass reaching a height of five inches in only seven days from seed.

37. What was the generating capacity of the Cerro Prieto field in 1980?

A. 75 megawatts.

B. 150 megawatts.

C. 105 megawatts.

D. 180 megawatts.

38. According to the passage, which of the following is true?

A. The scientists have designed a special food for the crayfish.

B. Scientists at Cerro Prieto are more interested in hydroponics than in

generating electricity.

C. Commercial crayfish react badly to salts in the geothermal fluid.

D. Crayfish feed on special types of bacteria.

39. It can be inferred from the passage that _______.

A. the local crayfish and t he “commercial” crayfish live in different natural

environments

B. “commercial” crayfish have reduced growth in a controlled environment

C. “commercial” crayfish raise the water temperature to 85℉

D. the bacteria alluded to occur naturally in the geothermal fluid

40. Scientists control the commercial crayfish’s environment in order to _______.

A. produce special bacteria

B. reduce their growth

C. shorten their growth time

D. produce smaller, local crayfish

41. The passage says that, compared with what is normal, the use of hydroponics at

Cerro Prieto produces _______.

A. more tomatoes and cucumbers

B. better tomatoes and cucumbers

C. larger tomatoes and cucumbers

D. comparable tomatoes and cucumbers

42. The barley grass mentioned in the passage _______.

A. grows up to tern meters high

B. has half a ton of barley mixed with it

C. grows about 3/4 inch per day

D. is grown in a fenced-off field

Passage 3

There are among the 250,000 people under the age of 25 who are out of work in the Netherlands, a group that accounts for 40 percent of the nation’s unemployed. A storm of anger boils up at the government-sponsored youth center, even among those who are continuing their studies.

“We study for jobs that don’t exist,” Nicollete Steggerda, 23, said.

After three decades of prosperity, unemployment among 10 member nations of the European Community has exceeded 11 percent, affecting a total of 12.3 million people, and the number is climbing.

The bitter disappointment long expressed by British youths is spreading across the Continent. The title of a rock song “No Future” can now be seen written on the brick walls of closed factories in Belgium and France.

Recent surveys have found that the increasing argument in the last few years over the deployment (部署) in Europe of North Atlantic Treaty Organization missiles and the possibility of nuclear war have clouded European youths’ confidence in the future.

One form of protest tends to put the responsibility for a country’s economic troubles on the large numbe rs of “guest workers” from Third World nations, people welcomed in Western European in the years of prosperity.

Y oung Europeans, brought up in an extended period of economic success and general stability, seem to resemble Americans more than they do their own parents. Material enjoyment has given them a sense of expectation, even the right, to a standard of living that they see around them.

“And so we pass the days at the discos, or meet people at the cafe, and sit and stare,” said Isabella Gault. “There is usually not much conversation. Y ou look for happiness. Sometimes you even find it.”

43. Unemployment in the Netherlands has affected _______.

A. one million people

B. roughly 0.6 million people

C. 250,000 people

D. less than half of the population

44. What Nicollete Steggerda said (Paragraph 2) means that _______.

A. school education is not sufficient

B. what the students learn is more than necessary

C. the students cannot get work after graduation

D. the students’ aim in study is not clear

45. The word “prosperity” (Paragraph 6) most probably means _______.

A. achievements in economy

B. advance in politics

C. economic troubles

D. political crisis

46. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?

A. The rock song “No Future” is an expression of the disappointment of

European youth.

B. 40% of the guest workers are out of work in Western Europe now.

C. European youths are worried about a new world war in the future.

D. Widespread unemployment is beyond European youths’ expectation.

47. British youths _______.

A. are trying to find work on the Continent

B. are sympathetic with the unemployed on the Continent

C. have been the first to show their disappointment over joblessness

D. show their concern for unemployment in France and Belgium

48. It seems that young Europeans _______.

A. look upon life as their elders do

B. are more like Americans than their elders in their way of thinking

C. look more like Americans than their elders do

D. expect more from Americans than from their elders

Passage 4

Urban life has always involved a balancing of opportunities and rewards against dangers and stress; its motivating force is, in the broadest sense, money. Opportunities to make money mean competition and the competition is stressful; it is often at its most intense in the largest cities, where opportunities are greatest. The presence of huge numbers of people inevitably involves more conflict, more traveling, the overloading of public services and exposure to those deviants and criminals who are drawn to the rich pickings of great cities. Crime has always flourished in the relative anonymity of urban life, but today’s case of movement makes its control more difficult than ever; there is much evidence that its extent has a direct relationship to the size of communities. City dwellers may become trapped in their homes by the fear of crime around them.

As a defense against these developments, city dwellers tend to use various strategies to try and reduce the pressures upon themselves: contacts with other people are generally made brief and impersonal; doors are kept locked; telephone numbers may be ex-directory; journeys outside the home are usually hurried, rather than a source of pleasure. There are other strategies too which are positively harmful to the individual; for example, reducing awareness through drugs or alcohol. Furthermore, all these defensive forms of behaviour are harmful to society in general; they cause widespread loneliness and destroy the community’s concern for its members. Lack of informal social contact and indifference to the misfortunes of others, if they are not personally known to oneself, are amongst the major causes of urban crime.

Inner areas of cities tend to be abandoned by the more successful and left to those who have done badly in the competitive struggle or who belong to minority groups; these people are then geographically trapped because so much economic activity has

migrated to the suburbs and beyond.

49. According to the author, living in a city causes stress because there are so many

people who are _______.

A. anxious to succeed

B. in need of help

C. naturally aggressive

D. likely to commit crime

50. The author thinks that crime is increasing in cities because _______.

A. people do not communicate with their neighbours

B. criminals are difficult to trace in large populations

C. people feel anonymous there

D. the trappings of success are attractive to criminals

51. According to the article, what is the worst problem facing people living in cities?

A. Crime.

B. Finding somewhere to live.

C. Social isolation.

D. Drugs and alcoholism.

52. The majority of people who live in inner cities do so because they _______.

A. dislike having to travel far to work

B. have been forced by circumstances to do so

C. don’t like the idea of living in suburbs

D. have turned against society

53. Architectural changes have affected city life by _______.

A. dispersing long-established communities

B. giving the individual a say in planning

C. forcing people to live on top of each other

D. making people move to the suburbs

54. The author’s general argument is that urban life would be improved by _______.

A. moving people out of tower blocks

B. restoring old buildings

C. building community centers

D. preserving existing social systems

Passage 5

Humans are forgetting that they can’t control nature. Exactly 20 years ago, Time magazine cover story announced that “scientists are on the verge of being able to predict the time, place and even the size of earthquakes.” The people of quak e-ruined Kobe learned last week how wrong that assertion was.

None of the methods praised two decades ago have succeeded. Even now, scientists have yet to discover a uniform warning signal that precedes all quakes, let alone any sign that would tell whether the coming quake is mild or a killer. Earthquake formation can be triggered by many factors, says Koroo Kanamori, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology. So, finding one all-purpose warning sign is impossible. One reason: Quakes start deep in the earth, so scientists

can’t study them directly.

If a quake precursor were found, it would still be impossible to warn humans in advance of all dangerous quakes. Places like Japan and California are filled with hundreds, if not thousands, of minor faults. It is impossible to place monitoring instruments on all of them. And these inconspicuous sites can be just as deadly as their better-known cousins like the San Andreas. Both the Kobe and the 1994 Northridge quakes occurred on small faults.

Prediction would be less important if scientists could easily build structures to withstand tremors. While seismic engineering has improved dramatically in the past 10 to 15 years, every new quake reveals unexpected weaknesses in “quake-resistant” structure, says Terry Tullis, a geophysicist at Brown University. In Kobe, for example, a highway that opened only last year was damaged.

In the Northridge earthquake, on the other hand, well-built structures generally did not collapse. But engineers have since hidden problems in 120 steel-frame buildings that survived. Such structures are supposed to sway with the earth rather than crumple. They may have swayed, but the quake also unexpectedly weakened the joints in their steel skeletons. If the shaking had been longer or stronger, the buildings might have collapsed.

A recent report in Science adds yet more anxiety about life on the fault lines Researchers ran computer simulations to see how quake-resistant buildings would fare in a moderate-size tremor, taking into acco unt that much of a quake’s energy travels in a large “pulse” of focused shaking. The results: Both steel-frame buildings and buildings that sit on insulating rubber pads suffered severe damage.

More research will help experts design stronger structures and possibly find quake precursors. But it is still a certainty that the next earthquake will prove once again that every fault cannot be monitored and every highway cannot be completely quake-proofed.

55. Kobe _______.

A. was struck by another quake last week

B. didn’t believe in scientists’ ability to predict earthquakes

C. suffered severe damage

D. didn’t know for sure the magnitude of their quake

56. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?

A. Scientists claimed that they had found some methods of predicting

earthquakes.

B. Scientists have not discovered single warning sign for all quakes.

C. Scientists have not yet discovered any sign that would tell the size of quakes.

D. The methods scientists boasted of 20 years ago of predicting quakes didn’t

produce desired results.

57. Quakes _______.

A. can trigger minor faults

B. can in no way be studied fully

C. can be warned of beforehand

D. on small faults cannot possibly be as deadly as those best known quakes

58. It is implied in the passage that _______.

A. seismic engineering has improved well enough for structures to resist quakes

B. well-erected structures do not collapse

C. steel-frame buildings survive any earthquakes

D. the existent quake-resistant buildings need to be redesigned

59. Th e author’s focus in the 3rd paragraph is more on _______.

A. the need for more research

B. the designing of stronger structures and finding of quake precursors

C. the uncertainty of earthquakes

D. the impossibility of monitoring faults and buildings completely quakeproofed

structures

60. The best title for the passage could be “_______”.

A. Nature Is Beyond Humans’ Control

B. Earthquake Prediction Is Hard To Do

C. No Method Or Stronger Structure Is Found To Predict And Withstand Quakes

D. We Can’t Pre dict Earthquakes

Section B Short Answer Questions

Directions:In this section, there is a short passage with five questions. Read the passage carefully and then answer the questions in the fewest possible words (8 at most). Write your answer on Answer Sheet II.

Cuisine and probably also music are the most accessible parts of a culture and, at the same time, the most resistant to outside influence. They are the first points of real physical contact with a different society. Part of knowing how to travel is to have an appreciation for other cuisines: this is still one of the rare ways in which people of different backgrounds can learn easily from each other.

It is in this sense that I am interested in other cuisines. In more than fifteen years of traveling over the last quarter of a century, I have had direct experience (in on-the-spot investigation and by studying both political struggles and poetry) of societies in the Middle East, South-East Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. I have tried over the years to capture as much as possible of their “differences”, and among them the difference between cuisines: this is the very essence of the pleasure of traveling. Almost everywhere I have learned how to make the local dishes that most appealed to me.

Cuisine is an art which (discounting a handful of outstanding professionals) has always been developed by amateurs or, to be more precise, by professionals who have never been recognized as such because they were women. Perhaps most of the European cuisine of the leisured classes of the nineteenth century is so unnecessarily complicated and pretentious because it was elaborated by the great chefs. Elsewhere even the most subtle cuisines, whether aristocratic or popular in origin, are relatively simple apart from a few dishes.

The art of cooking calls of a little patience, organization and precision: that customary precision of traditional societies that seems so vague in quantified terms. It derives from an interest in the taste of food and the sheer delight of satisfying the

guest. There is one other essential requirement: one must cook with natural foods.

The search for precisions, from indispensable staples to the luxury of spices, has shaped the development of human societies. Through the ages, the problems of food, whether of sheer necessary or of idle indulgence, have led to conflicts, growth, trade and discovery of the New World. (All this time most of the world has become short of food, and will continue to be so.) The culinary heritage of the world, in the sense of haute cuisine, is however, the product of abundance.

1. What makes the author interested in traveling abroad?

2. In what way does the author think cuisine and music have something in common?

3. What does the author suggest when he mentions women cooks?

4. What style of cooking does the author approve of?

5. What does the word “cuisine” mean?

Part IV Translation (20%)

Section A

Directions:Put the following paragraph into Chinese and write your translation on Answer Sheet II.

The miracle chips represent in the technology of mankind that over the past few years has acquired the force and significance associated with the development of hand tools or the invention of the steam engine. Just as the industrial revolution took over immense range of tasks fr om men’s muscles and enormously expanded productivity, so the microcomputer in rapidly assuming huge burdens of drudgery from the human brain and thereby expanding the mind’s capacities in ways that man has only begun to grasp. With the chip, amazing feats of memory and execution become possible in everything from automobile engines to universities and hospitals, from farms to banks and corporate offices from outer space to baby’s nursery.

Section B

Directions:Put the following paragraph into English and write your translation on Answer Sheet II.

独处可能是一种寂寞的状态，它也可以是一种甜蜜和满足的状态。它可能被人恐惧地躲避，也可以被人逐渐地接受。它可以破坏生活，它也可能帮助生活。独处是每个人生活的一部分。一个人能够把独处变成自己的朋友，而不是自己的仇人，是非常聪明的：一个喜爱单独自处时光的人是非常聪明的人，因为这些时光能帮助人们认识自己。

Part V Writing (15%)

Directions:Write an essay of about 200 words on the following topic and put your writing on Answer Sheet II.

My View on the Role of Opportunity in Success

ANSWER SHEET

Part I Listening Comprehension

1. A B C D 6. A B C D

2. A B C D 7. A B C D

3. A B C D 8. A B C D

4. A B C D 9. A B C D

5. A B C D 10. A B C D

Y our Summary

_________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Part II Cloze

11. A B C D 21. A B C D

12. A B C D 22. A B C D

13. A B C D 23. A B C D

14. A B C D 24. A B C D

15. A B C D 25. A B C D

16. A B C D 26. A B C D

17. A B C D 27. A B C D

18. A B C D 28. A B C D

19. A B C D 29. A B C D

20. A B C D 30. A B C D

Part III Reading Comprehension

31. A B C D 41. A B C D 51. A B C D

32. A B C D 42. A B C D 52. A B C D

33. A B C D 43. A B C D 53. A B C D

34. A B C D 44. A B C D 54. A B C D

35. A B C D 45. A B C D 55. A B C D

36. A B C D 46. A B C D 56. A B C D

37. A B C D 47. A B C D 57. A B C D

38. A B C D 48. A B C D 58. A B C D

39. A B C D 49. A B C D 59. A B C D

40. A B C D 50. A B C D 60. A B C D

Short Answers

1. _____________________________________________________________

2. _____________________________________________________________

3. _____________________________________________________________

4. _____________________________________________________________

5. _____________________________________________________________