2016年3月上海市高级口译第一阶段笔试真题试卷及答案

2016年3月上海市高级口译第一阶段笔试真题试卷及答案(总分212, 做题时间90分钟)Section 1 listening testPart A Spot DictationDirections: In this part of the test, you will hear a passage and read the same passage with blanks in it. Fill in each of the blanks with the word or words you have heard on the tape. Write your answer in the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET. Remember you will hear the passage only once.Good morning. The discussion topic for today's seminar is "Homelessness in America. " In the United States, homelessness has【C1】______during the last decade. Estimates of the number of Americans currently without 【C2】______vary wildly. Advocacy groups like the National Coalition for the Homeless say that 【C3】______Americans live on the streets or in emergency and temporary shelters. The US Department concerned puts the figure at【C4】______. Yet both bureaucrats and advocates agree on one point, that is, the face of homelessness【C5】______in the past 10 years, as more and more low-income housing is mowed down【C6】______. Some 20 years ago, the typical "street person" was a white male who suffered from a mental illness or【C7】______. Today's homeless, however, are a more eclectic group. 【C8】______of the homeless today are Black, mostly【C9】______. More than half of them have never been homeless before. In many cases, they have been evicted from their homes, or the【C10】______in which they lived was demolished or burned down. About 60 percent of all homeless people live on【C11】______with an average monthly income of 450 dollars. About 20 percent are mentally ill. All sorts of people have been pushed out of【C12】______because of the critical shortage of affordable places to live. As a result, homelessness has climbed to the top of the【C13】______of social concerns. But there is a great gap between concern and active involvement【C14】______this growing problem. For many people, the inaction is【C15】______, not indifference. The fact is that there are many ways in which individuals can【C16】______. Yet for those people【C17】______, one of the first steps is to get to know the homeless and understand how they【C18】______. Many advocates believe that it is important for【C19】______to get to know and reach out to the homeless and【C20】______.Part B Listening ComprehensionDirections:In this part of the test there will be some short talks and conversations. After each one, you will be asked some questions. The talks, conversations and questions will be spoken ONLY ONCE. Now listen carefully and choose the right answer to each question you have heard and write the letter of the answer you have chosen in the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET.21.A She is overcharged by someone for her house maintenance.B She is interested in becoming a builder herself.C She needs to know basic principles of roof construction.D She needs to find a book on roofs in the local library.22.A She has had her house roof repaired.B She has just retired.C She has enrolled in some course.D She has read a book on roofs.23.A A roof with some straight pieces.B A triangle structure to support a load.C An insurance policy for retirement.D A panel point connecting joints.24.A Sledges.B Wind meters.C Roof covers.D Suspension bridges.25.A He is a librarian.B He is a repairman.C He is a builder.D He is a weatherman.26.C 20.D 170.27.A A wave of toxic mud travels down the Rio Doce River in Brazil.B Many species of marine life such as the dolphins and whales face extinction.C It has incurred heavy casualties including 11 people dead and 12 people missing.D It has caused severe pollution in the Atlantic Ocean.28.A Its sales representatives have been misleading their customers in the purchase of computers.B Its experts are not aware of the software installed on Dell's PC computers worldwide.C There is a certificate used as part of a support tool to make the Dell computer work faster.D There is a security hole allowing access to bank details and other personal data.29.A Scientists are finding new ways in using microbubbles for medical treatment.B Scientists are optimistic about the effectiveness of microbubbles to computers.C In the near future, microbubbles will float through the human body to reflect stronger ultrasound waves.D Beyond medicine, microbubbles will revolutionise manufacturing processes of computer microchips.30.A 30 million.B 92 million.C 100 million.D 115 million.31.A Teachers.B Relatives.C Parents.D Friends.32.A Dyeing their hair.B Falling in love.C Making fashion statements.D Wearing baggy pants.33.B They are monitored more and more at school.C They become less talkative at home.D They are more likely to change cell phones.34.A When they start dating boyfriends or girlfriends.B When they pierce their ears and change their hair styles.C When they play video games on the Internet.D When they do something dangerous or illegal.35.A Remember not to use annoying language with children.B Repeat what their parents said in childhood.C Draw lessons from their own experience as teenagers.D Try their best to enjoy or like their children's activities.36.A By doing research work on middle-income boomer retirees.B By asking current retirees about their happiness and regrets.C By learning from those people who keep a modest living.D By investigating pension plans and their effectiveness.37.A Creating a retirement budget.B Making new friends.C Purchasing a new house.D Developing new hobbies or interests.38.A Being compelled to retire at an earlier time.B Starting to save too late and saving too little.C Not taking better care of one's health.D Not having a spending plan and carrying too much debt.39.A 20%. C 70%.40.A The earlier you take steps to prepare for your retirement, the more you will enjoy retirement happiness.B The more you travel with your old relatives and friends, the happier you will become in your family life.C Most retired people are not happy with their life and there are more regrets than happiness once they retire.D You cannot live a decent life once you retire unless you have taken Social Security at the best time.二. READING TESTSECTION 2 READING TESTDirections: In this section you will read several passages. Each one is followed by several questions about it. You are to choose ONE best answer, A, B, C or D, to each question. Answer all the questions following each passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in that passage and write tile letter of the answer you have chosen in the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET.Global average temperatures are set to rise by 1°C above pre-industrial levels for the first time, as the world's climate enters "uncharted territory", scientists at the Met Office said. This year is also expected to be the hottest on record, with the temperatures so far in 2015 beating past records " by a country mile", the meteorologists said. The World Meteorological Organization further announced yesterday that 2016 would be the first year in which the average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would be above 400 parts per million(ppm), because of the continued burning of fossil fuels. The three landmark indicators were announced three weeks before a crunch UN summit in Paris starting on 30 November where world leaders including Barack Obama, Xi Jinping and David Cameron will try to reach a legally binding and universal deal on cutting emissions. The Met Office' s data from January to September 2015 already shows global average temperatures have risen by 1 °C compared to pre-industrial times, for the first time. The increase is due to the "unequivocal" influence of increasing carbon emissions combined with the El Nino climate phenomenon currently under way. The Met Office expects the full-year temperature for 2015 to remain above the 1 °C level. In contrast, it was below 0. 9C in 2014, marking a sharp increase in climate terms. "This is the first time we're set to reach the 1 °C marker and it's clear that it is human influence driving climate into uncharted territory," said Prof Stephen Belcher, "We have passed the halfwaywill increase pressure on negotiators to deliver a strong deal to avert the catastrophic global warming expected beyond 2 °C of warming. "Mother Nature has been kind to the French, but it should not be that way," said Prof Myles Allen from Oxford, referring to the impetus the milestones should give to the Paris conference. "International negotiations on climate change should not be in hock to what happens ... in the preceding nine months." In any case, he said: "The last three months of 2015 would have to be really odd to change [projections of unprecedented warming for 2015] as we are beating the records by a country mile. " Amber Rudd, the UK's energy and climate change secretary, said: "Climate change is one of the most serious threats we face to our economic prosperity, poverty eradication and global security. Pledges to reduce emissions made by countries [are] just the beginning. We need to ensure that as the costs of clean energy fall, countries can be more ambitious with their climate targets. " Climate change is clear in the Central England Temperature record, which is the longest in the world and stretches back to 1772, said Ed Hawkins, a climate scientist at the University of Reading. "We can see the fingerprint of global warming in our own backyard. Central England has warmed 20% more than the global average and we expect that to continue," he said. The impacts of climate change have been analysed in other research presented yesterday by the UK's Avoid project. It found that, compared with unchecked global warming, keeping the temperature rise below 2 °C would reduce heatwaves by 89%, flooding by 76%, cropland decline by 41% and water stress by 26%. Joanna Haigh, professor of atmospheric physics said the last UN climate summit in Denmark in 2009 failed, making Paris crucial in preventing widespread damage: "Copenhagen was generally considered a complete disaster, so it is very important that countries get together at Paris. " Belcher said 4 °C of warming would be much more harmful than simply doubling the impacts expected with 2 °C. He said the European heatwave of 2003 with 70,000 deaths would be "a rather mild summer" in a 4 °C world. The Met Office report also showed that two-thirds of the world's "carbon budget" —the maximum CO 2 that can be emitted over time to keep below 2 °C—had been used up by the end of 2014. But only one-third of the sea-level rise expected from 2 °C of warming—60cm by 2100—has so far occurred, because of the time it takes for large ice sheets to melt. Prof Andrew Shepherd, at the University of Leeds, said a recent NASA study indicating that ice mass grew in Antarctica from 2003-2008 was contradicted by 57 other studies and had just a 5-10% chance of being a correct prediction.1. Which of the following can serve as the title of the passage?A Climate change: Threat to Prosperity, Poverty Eradication and Global SecurityB The last major UN climate summit in Denmark: a complete disasterD The Unpredictable Impacts of the Rising Global Average Temperature by 1 °C2. The author uses all of the following as indicators of unprecedented warming EXCEPT that______.A global average temperatures have first risen by 1 °C compared with pre-industrial timesB global temperatures of 2015 are expected to be the hottest, beating all past recordsC the influence of increasing CO 2 emissions combined with the El Nino climate phenomenon has become the strongestD the average concentration of CO 2 in the air would be above 400ppm in 20163. The quotation marks used in the expression "the 'unequivocal' influence of increasing carbon emissions"(para. 2)mainly tell us that such influence______.A is clear-cut and fully supported by evidenceB might be much more complicated and need more investigationC will never be clarified and well definedD cannot be concluded through mere observation and analysis4. The phrase "be in hock to" from paragraph 4 can best be paraphrased as______.A be under the control withB be attributed toC be on the shelf withD be confined to5. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?A In a 4 °C world, the destruction would be more than doubling the impacts with 2 °C.B The "carbon budget" of the world would be used up long before 2100.C The prediction of 2003-2008 ice mass growth in Antarctica was overoptimistic.D It would take more time to reach the sea-level rise expected from 2 °C of warming.I once attended a Downing Street reception where Tony Blair invited questions from leading magazine editors. One woman, from a big consumer title, asked if New Labour had plans to tax one-use plastic bags that were destroying the environment. Blair pulled a mock-baffled "Hey, guys, I'm busy running the country here" face and answered in a tone of purest condescension. This was around 2005, a few years after Ireland,keep a jute sack or string shopper under their desk, and this young, adaptable, upbeat nation had cut the number of bags cluttering Irish hedgerows by 94 %. It is such an easy, clever bit of nudge politics, which has already worked right across northern Europe.(Is it not strange that we each use 158 plastic bags a year but a Dane only four?)And yet here we are in England—four years after Wales, two after Northern Ireland, a year after Scotland—bringing it in at last on Monday. And unlike the devolved nations, England can't just keep it simple and charge 5p for bags in all stores, but only those with more than 250 employees. Corner shops in Aberdeen have coped, yet those in London can't. The light from an explosion in deep space can take billions of years to be seen on Earth. And the gap between a social ill being identified, backed by irrefutable scientific evidence, and parliament changing the law, is often almost as long. That cigarettes are poisonous and young lungs fragile have been beyond doubt since the 1950s, yet it only became illegal for smokers to inflict their fumes upon children in cars this week. Even now, some libertarians grumble that enjoying an après school pick-up fag is every parent's right and, besides, haven't the police got better things to do? Yes, they have. But, still, progress is worth defending. And improvements in our lives are rarely brought about by vast, sweeping changes but by small, incremental shifts. Those simple life-savers, the Clean Air Acts, seatbelt and motorcycle helmet legislation: all regarded as quirky and inconvenient in their time. Every generation looks upon the unthinking habits of its parents and asks: why the hell did you do that? In Mad Men Don Draper is shown taking a last swig of his beer in a picnic, then lobbing the bottle deep into the forest. According to creator Matthew Weiner this was the show's most controversial scene: horrified young people would ask him if their grandparents were really so crass? But in early-1960s America there was little stigma in dumping your trash. Back in the 1970s being capable of driving when lashed was a prized adult skill, we let our dogs defile parks and would have thought anyone who scooped up still-warm poop in little bags totally mad. And maybe we will look back at the plastic bag era in similar terms. How could these people use up all the oil, choke turtles and block flood defences, just to make carrying shopping home easier? A non-brand plastic bag flapping about on a tree, too high up to reach, is the ensign of our age. It is the saddest, most hopeless manifestation of a disposable age built upon laziness and greed. In the film American Beauty the misfit Ricky videos a bag dancing in the wind: the peculiar poignancy comes from seeing the most unloved, worthless object on Earth appearing to express joy. "Do you need a bag?" I've come to resent that question. Because I don't want to say "yes". But my handbag is small. I don't want to crease this book I've bought as a present. And sometimes a purchase without nice packaging feels less of a treat. But usually I say "no". Ten virtue points for that. Twenty for remembering to carry my bags-for-life from the car. It is irksome to forget, then watch the checkout lady unfurl dozensjust pretence of virtue. The 5p charge may reduce bags, and in Scotland usage has declined by 80 % in a year: that' s 147 million fewer. But the oceans are already clogged with every other type of plastic: vast islands of detritus, micro-particles of broken-up Evian bottles and biscuit wrappers absorbed by sea life and then, in due course, us. But sometimes laws are there as much for society to declare intent as to have an effect. With smoking in cars I wonder if it is not a proxy for more sweeping legislation that would forbid low-life mums in supermarkets screaming swear words at their sobbing toddlers or pouring Coke in a baby's tippy cup. It is a way of saying, we are watching, we have standards: your parenting is being judged. We'd like to police your home: but we can't, so let's start with your car. Likewise, the plastic bag law is a displacement activity for the bigger, dreary, ecological changes that are too daunting for us to make. Those five pences are tithes to the Church of Green. And dragging home our hessian totes of virtue we can feel less hopeless. The world is broken: but don't blame me.6. Which of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?A England is following Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Holland in banning plastic bags.B Small changes in our habits can bring great improvements in our lives.C Looking back, we should feel angry at plastic bag habit.D Future generations will not wonder why it took so long to enforce plastic bag law.7. Why does the author mention simple life-savers, the Clean Air Acts, seatbelt and motorcycle helmet legislation in the passage?A These laws and regulations have faced much disagreement and confrontation.B They represent the sweeping changes in our life habits and styles.C They are considered strange and inconvenient by many people even today .D These small changes have brought improvements in our lives and environment.8. Which of the following best explains the word "crass" in the sentence "horrified young people would ask him if their grandparents were really so crass?"(para. 3)?A Stupid and unrefined.B Obstinate and arbitrary.C Bold and direct.D Lazy and greedy.9. The author used the expression "the ensign of our age"(para. 4)______.B to show the arduous task of environmental protection against plastic bagsC to tell how the future generations will view the current eraD to display her pessimistic view towards the innate weakness of humanity10. Which of the following best paraphrases the sentence "Those five pences are tithes to the Church of Green. "(para. 7)?A Those five pences will bring about dramatic ecological changes.B Those five pences show our small contribution to the environment protection.C Those five pences display our strong will to stop the environment pollution.D Those five pences will stop the world from falling apart.One thing is clear after the tragic death of Freddie Gray, the young African-American man who was fatally injured while in police custody in Baltimore last month: we cannot fix the problems of economic justice in this country without addressing racial justice. The deck is stacked against low-income Americans—African American and Latinos in particular. As a newly released report from a pair of Harvard academics has found, just being born in a poor part of Baltimore—or Atlanta, Chicago, or any number of other urban areas—virtually ensures that you'll never make it up the socioeconomic ladder. Boys from low income households who grow up in the kind of beleaguered, mostly minority neighborhoods like the one Gray was from will earn roughly 25% less than peers who moved to better neighborhoods as children. So much for the American Dream. This has big implications. Income inequality is shaping up to be the key economic issue of the 2016 campaign. If you have any doubt, consider that both Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio, who declared their candidacies in the past few weeks, are already staking out positions. Clinton billed herself as the candidate for the "everyday American," calling for higher wages and criticizing bloated CEO salaries. Meanwhile, Rubio said he wants the Republican—which, he said, is portrayed unfairly as "a party that doesn't care about the lower class" —to remake itself into "the champion of the working class. " What neither candidate has done yet is directly connect the recent spate of violence to the fact that the economic ladder no longer works for a growing number of Americans. Raising the federal minimum wage is just a first step. As Thomas Piketty showed in his best-selling book on inequality, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, creating a system of capitalism that more equitably distributes wealth is our biggest challenge now. A few extra dollars an hour will help minimum-wage workers(a group in which minorities are overrepresented), but it won't address deeper economic inequality. And as a growing body of research from outfits like the Brookings Institution has shown, more inequality means less opportunity. As Brookingsthem. " The dirty secret of America in 2015 is that the wealth gap between whites and everyone else is far worse than most people would guess. A 2014 study by Duke University and the Center for Global Policy Solutions, found that the median amount of liquid wealth(assets that can easily be turned into cash)held by African-American households was $ 200. For Latino households it was $ 340. The median for white households: $23,000. One reason for the difference is that a disproportionate number of nonwhites, along with women and younger workers of all races, have little or no access to formal retirement-savings plans. Another is that they were hit harder in the mortgage crisis, in part because housing is where the majority of Americans, especially nonwhites, keep most of their wealth, In this sense, the government's policy decision to favor lenders over homeowners in the 2008 bailouts favored whites over people of color. That's bad news for a country that will be "majority minority" by 2043, according to Maya Rockeymoore, president of the Center for Global Policy Solutions. The U. S. economy continues to be stuck in a slow, volatile recovery. Lack of consumer demand driven by stagnant or falling wages, and decreased opportunity for many Americans, is what many economists believe behind the paltry growth. Given that 70% of the U. S. economy is driven by consumer demand, it's a problem that will eventually affect everyone's bottom line, rich and poor. How to fix it? We need to think harder about narrowing the gap between those at the bottom and the top. If most people, especially lower-income individuals and minorities, keep the bulk of their wealth in housing, we should rethink lending practices and allow for a broader range of credit metrics(which tend to be biased toward whites)and lower down payments for good borrowers. Rethinking our retirement policies is crucial too. Retirement incentives work mainly for whites and the rich. Minority and poor households are less likely to have access to workplace retirement plans, in part because many work in less formal sectors like restaurants and child care. Another overdue fix: we should expand Social Security by lifting the cap on payroll taxes so the rich can contribute the same share of their income as everyone else. Doing both would be a good first step. But going forward, economic and racial fairness can no longer be thought of as separate issues.11. What is the main purpose of the author to introduce the tragic death of Freddie Gray?A To reveal the brutality of American police and the unfair judicial system.B To expose the dark sides of the system of police custody.C To stress the significance of combining both economic justice and racial justice.D To introduce the relationship between socioeconomic ladder and the American Dream.12. In introducing Thomas Piketty's book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, the author is trying totell us that______.A more equitable distribution of wealth will lead to a better economic ladder for allB both presidential candidates have realized the importance of building the economic ladder for the poorC raising the federal minimum wage is the key to settling economic inequalityD economic equality can only be achieved through the elimination of capitalism13. To expose the dirty secret of America in 2015, the passage provides all of the following supporting evidences EXCEPT that______.A the lowest median amount of liquid wealth held by African-American householdsB the absence of formal retirement savings plans for too many nonwhitesC the biggest losses in the mortgage crisis suffered by people of colorD the highest unemployment suffered by the poor since the 2008 economic crisis14. The expression "majority minority" by 2043(para. 5)most probably refers to______.A the union of the majority whites and colored peoples of minority groupsB the increasing confrontation between majority and minority groupsC the population of minority groups first exceeding that of the majority whitesD the ratio of majority and minority groups first achieving balance15. Which of the following is NOT included in the suggestion of narrowing the gap between the poor and the rich?A To improve lending practices in the mortgage system.B To provide special aid to those who work in less formal sectors.C To expand Social Security by lifting the cap of payroll taxes.D To improve the policies of retirement incentives.How is it that the louder the calls for "civility," the less civil the behavior? On American campuses today, the call for civility has become the cry of the craven. So basic, so decent, so safe does civility sound that it's hard to imagine anyone's opposing it. Until, that is, the uncivilized rise up, at which point—from the University of Missouri to Claremont McKenna and Yale—those in charge either acknowledge their guilt or hurl themselves onto the funeral pyre of resignation prepared for them. As Hillary Clinton alluded toin Saturday night's Democratic debate, for some Americans the latest student unrest awakens fond memories of the 1960s. In truth those were far more tumultuous times, with the frenzies of the sexual revolution, the civil-rights movement and the Vietnam War all converging on our campuses at about the same time. The more dispiriting comparison with the 1960s, alas, has less to do with the self-indulgence of the young than the learned fecklessness of the older and presumably wiser. Across the country the coddled activists with iPhones have rendered college presidents, chancellors and deans unable or unwilling to challenge the moral superiority of the mob. A pity, because even the 1960s gave us examples worth emulating. Start with 1968 at San Francisco State College. In the teeth of raging protests that had already claimed the scalps of his two immediate predecessors, a linguistics professor, S. I. Hayakawa, became acting president—and a national hero when he climbed atop a sound truck and ripped out wires to the speakers protesters were using to shout him down. Or John Silber. When activists in 1972 tried to block students from meeting with Marine recruiters, the Boston University president showed up with a bullhorn to direct those interfering with their fellow students' right to interview where they should line up to be arrested. Perhaps most successful was the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh of Notre Dame. Though by this time a dove on Vietnam, he believed the universities played an important role in training the nation' s military officers. At one point he prevented protesters from burning down the school' s ROTC building. In November 1968, protesters staged a lie-in aimed at blocking other students from job interviews with Dow Chemical and the CIA. Father Hesburgh was appalled by the idea of forcing a fellow student to walk across your body because you disagree with him. Scarcely three months later, he would issue a letter to the entire campus community—a letter reprinted in this paper and The New York Times. The Hesburgh letter recognized "the validity of protest" but made clear that any group that "substituted force for rational persuasion, be it violent or nonviolent," would be given 15 minutes to meditate. Students who persisted would have their IDs confiscated and be "suspended from this community." Father Hesburgh went on: "There seems to be a current myth that university members are not responsible to the law, and that somehow the law is the enemy, particularly those whom society has constituted to uphold and enforce the law. I would like to insist here that all of us are responsible to the duly constituted laws of this University community and to all of the laws of the land. There is no other guarantee of civilization versus the jungle or mob rule, here or elsewhere. " The Times called his letter " the toughest policy on student disruptions yet by any major American university in the course of recent disorders. " An editorial in this paper further noted Father Hesburgh's warning that if the universities didn't get their act together, they would invite "unwholesome reactions" from others including government. History has by and large vindicated Father Hesburgh. At the time, it was a different story. A Wall Street Journal news story reported a " majority" of university。