2017秋大学英语(1-2)B级月考1试卷A

Tapescript of Model Test 2

Section A

News Report One

Got a smart phone? Never lose your hotel key, or even have to stop at the registration desk again. That’s the vision of a hotel chain that plans to send digital keys to guests’ phone via an app instead of making them check in and get the traditional plastic swipe cards. [1]Arriving guests could get around the front desk and go straight to their rooms. Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which owns more than 1,150 hotels in nearly 100 countries, [2]plans to install the system in the next three months at two of its hotels in the U.S.A. If all goes well, the company says it could have the feature in all of its hotels by next year. A spokeswoman said the app will initially be compatible with recent iPhone models and newer Android phones. The app will use Bluetooth technology to unlock the room with a tap. Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.

1. What is the main advantage of the digital key?

2. How many hotels will have the system in the next three months? News Report Two

A British man accused of planning his wife’s murder while they were honeymooning in South Africa has lost a High Court appeal to block his being sent back to Britain until he is fit to [3]The judges ruled that Shrien Dewani can be sent back as long as the South African government pledges to return him to the United Kingdom should he ultimately prove unfit to be tried. Dewani’s lawyers had urged

that he should not be sent back while he was unfit to stand trial. He is being treated for a depressive illness. His legal team can appeal the decision at the Supreme Court. [4]Dewani is accused of hiring a crew of criminals to kill his wife, AnniDewani, during a taxi ride in Cape Town last November, just over two weeks after their wedding.

Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.

3. What can we learn about Shrien Dewani according to the court ruling?

4. What was Dewani accused of

News Report Three

Dozens of children at a Utah elementary school had their lunch trays taken away from them before they could take a bite this week. Salt Lake City School District officials said the trays were taken way at Utah Elementary School Tuesday [5]because some students had negative balances in their accounts used to pay for lunches. But they admit the situation should have been handled differently. Instead of regular lunches, the students were given fruit and milk. “We don’t ever let kids go without any food entirely,” said Salt Lake City School District spokesman Jason Olsen. [6]One mother said, she was “blindsided” when her daughter described what a school district official told her: “You don’t have any money in your account, so you can’t get lunch.”“There were a lot of tears,” she said, “and it was pretty upsetting for them.” [7]The district said it started

notifying parents about negative account balances Monday. But the mother said she and other parents were never told about the problem. Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.

5. Why were some children offered only fruit and milk for lunch?

6. How did parents react to the school’s way of handling the situation?

7. When were the parents informed of negative balances according to the district?

Section B

Conversation One

M: Hi, Diana. I’m surprised to see you on the city bus. Your car in the shop?

W: No. [8][11]I’ve just been thinking a lot about the environment lately. So I decide the air will be a lot cleaner if we all use public transport when we could.

M: I’m sure you are right. The diesel bus isn’t exactly pollution free.

W: True. They’ll be running a lot cleaner soon. [9]We were just talking about that in my environmental engineering class.

M: What could the city do? Install pollution filters in all their buses?

W: They could, but those filters make the engines work harder and really cut down on the fuel efficiency. Instead, they found a way to make their engines more efficient.

M: How?

W: Well, there is a new insulator. And you spray a thick coat of it on the engine.

M: An insulator?

W: Yeah. [10]What it does is reflect back the heat of burning fuel.

So the fuel will burn much hotter and burn up more completely. M: So a lot less unburned fuel comes out to pollute the air.

W: And the bus will need less fuel. So with the saving on fuel cost, they say this will all pay for itself in just six months. Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

8. Why does Diana take a bus that day?

9. What is true about Diana?

10. What justifies the installation of a new insulator in the buses according to Diana?

11. What is the major concern of the woman?

Conversation Two

M: Hi. I have a reservation for tonight. My name is Charles Nelson. W: Okay, Mr. Nelson. That’s a room for five under your name.

M: No. No. Hold on. There must be some mistake.

W: Okay. Let’s check this again. Okay, Mr. Charles C. Nelson for tonight.

M: Ah. That’s the problem. [12]My name is Charles Nelson, not Charles

C. Nelson. You must have two guests under the name.

W: Okay. Let me check this again. Oh! Okay, here we are. Charles Nelson.

A room for one for the 19th.

M: Wait, wait! It’s for tonight, not tomorrow night.

W: Hum. Hum. I don’t think we have any rooms for tonight.

[13]There’s a convention going on in town, and uh, let’s see.

Yeah, no rooms. Well. [14]We do have some rooms under renovation with just a roll-away bed. None of the normal stuff like a TV or working shower or toilet.

M: Ah, madam. Come on. There must be something else.

W: Well, let me check my computer here. Ah! There has been a cancellation for this evening. A honeymoon suite is now available. M: Great. I’ll take it.

W: [15]But I’ll have to charge you two hundred fifty dollars for the night.

M: Ah, madam. I should get a discount for the inconvenience.

W: Well, [15]the best I can give you is a ten percent discount plus

a ticket for a free continental breakfast.

Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

12. What was the first problem with the man’s reservation?

13. Why was it hard to get a room that day?

14. What do we know about the rooms under renovation in the hotel?

15. What did the man get finally?

Section C

Passage One

Television now plays such an important part in so many people’s lives that it is essential for us to try to decide whether it is a

blessing or a curse. Obviously television has both advantages and disadvantages. But do the former outweigh the latter?In the first place, television is not only a convenient source of entertainment, but also a comparatively cheap one. They just sit comfortably at home and enjoy endless series of programs rather than to go out in search of amusement elsewhere. Some people, however, maintain that this is precisely where the danger lies. [16]The television viewer needs to do nothing. He is completely passive and has everything presented to him without any effort on his part. Secondly, television keeps one informed about current events, allows one to follow the latest developments in science and politics. Yet here again there is a danger. The television screen itself has a terrible, almost physical fascination for us. [16]We get so used to looking at its movements, so dependent on its pictures that it begins to dominate our lives. There are many other arguments for and against television. [16]The poor quality of its program is often criticized. But it is undoubtedly a great comfort to many lonely elderly people. And does it corrupt or instruct our children? [17]I think we must realize that television in itself is neither good nor bad.[18]It is the uses to which it is put that determine its value to society.

Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.

16. What is NOT mentioned as the disadvantages of TV?

17. What is the speaker’s opinion on television?

18. What determines the value of television to society?

Passage Two

Beethoven probably began to go deaf in 1797, but he tried to keep it a secret while consulting doctors and trying various remedies, such as the application of almond oil. [19]He was extremely anxious about its possible effect on his career as a musician, and embarrassed by its effect on his social life. In the summer of 1801 he wrote to two friends expressing the anxiety that his best years would pass “without my being able to achieve all that my talent and my stre ngth have commanded me to do”. Although tempted to kill himself, “the only thing that held me back was my art. For indeed it seemed to me impossible to leave this world before I had produced all the works that I felt the urge to compose”. It could be argue d that Beethoven’s deafness helped the development of his art: isolated from the world, and unable to perform, he could devote all his time to composing. [20]In 1804 his friend Stephan von Breuning, with whom he briefly shared lodgings, wrote to Franz Wegler about the terrible effect his gradual loss of hearing was having on Beethoven: it had caused him to distrust his friends, and he was becoming very difficult to be with. But above all else, Beethoven was dedicated to his art and the urge to compose remained with him throughout his life. [21]It may be that he shielded away from the commitment of marriage because he knew it would interfere with his art.

Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.

19. Why did Beethoven try to conceal his going deaf?

20. What was the result from Beethoven’s gradual loss of hearing in 1804?

21. What do we know about Beethoven in this passage?

Passage Three

Over the years, new technologies have changed farming. Change in a general direction is a trend. Yet people often recognize trends only when they consider the past. Today, we look back at some trends in American agriculture. [22]In 1920, America had more than 25 million horses and mules. Most were used for farm work. [22]Around the same time, a competitor began to appear in large numbers. Tractors could turn soil, pull loads and speed harvests — and they could do it better. More tractors meant fewer horses and mules. [23]By the 1960s, the numbers of these work animals settled to where they remain today. That is about one-tenth the levels in 1920. Yet even the demand for tractors had its limits. Their numbers have been slowly decreasing since 1982. Experts say farmers can do more with less now because of new technologies. As tractors replaced horses and mules, farmers no longer needed to raise crops to feed work animals. Oats have long been food for horses and mules. In 1954, American farmers planted over sixteen million hectares of oats. By 2000, that was down to less than one million hectares. So what did the farmers do with the extra land? More and more farmers began to plant a new crop around

the same time that the tractor became popular. It was the soybean. The soybean is one of the oldest plants harvested. Yet it was not planted widely in the United States until the 1920s. By the year 2000, close to 30 million hectares were planted with soybeans. [24]It is the nation’s most important crop for high-protein animal feed and for vegetable oil.[25]In fact, soybeans are the second most valuable crop grown by American farmers after corn. Much of the soybean production goes to exports.

Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.

22. In which year did tractors begin to appear in large numbers?

23. How many horses and mules did America have in the 1960s?

24. What is America’s most important crop for high-protein animal feed and for vegetable oil?

25. What is the most valuable crop grown by American farmers?