2010年中国人民大学考博英语真题

2010年中国人民大学考博英语真题

Directions There are 6 passages in this pail. Each Passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. Each question or unfinished statement is given four suggested answers marked A), B), C) and D). You should choose the one best answer and write the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.

Passage One

Some of the earliest diamonds known came from India. In the eighteenth century they were found in Brazil, and in 1866, huge deposits were found near Kimberley in South Africa. Though evidence of extensive diamond deposits has recently, been found in South Africa, the continent of Africa still produces nearly all the world's supply of these stones.

Directions: In each question, decide which of the choices given will most suitably complete the sentences if inserted at the place marked. Write your choices on the Answer Sheet.

31. The secretary was harshly——by her boss for misplacing some important files.

A) rebuked B）teased C) washed D) accused

32. The jet airliner has ——from the Wright brothers’ small airplane.

A) Involved B) evolved C) devolved D) revolved

33. Chinese products enjoy high international prestige because of their, quality.

A) Indistinctive B) indisputable C) indispensable D) indistinguishable

34. This can something that the students may not have comprehended in English.

A) Signify B) specify C) clarify D) testify

35. I must you on your handling of a very difficult situation.

A) meditate B) complement C) elaborate D) compliment

n't need to your authority so often,

A) affirm B) restrain C) assert D) maintain

41. Miss Rosemary Adang went through the composition carefully to all errors from it.

A) eliminate B) terminate C) illuminate D) alleviate

42. Several months previously, the workers had petitioned the company for a 25 percent wage increase and of stricter safety regulations.

A) implement B) endowment C) enforcement D) engagement

43. The rebel army __ the democratic government of the, country lawlessly.

A) overthrew B) overtook C) overturned D) overruled

44. Judges are ____increasingly heavy fines for minor driving offences

A). B) demanding C) imparting D) imposing

45. The of all kinds of necessary goods was caused by natural calamity.

A) variety B) scarcity C) solidarity D) commodity

46. It is essential to be on the for any signs of movement in the undergrowth since there are poisonous snakes in the area.

A) guard B) care C) alert D) alarm

47. She took up so many hobbies when she retired that she had hardly any time

A) in hand B) at hand C) on her hands D) at her hand

48. Working with the mentally handicapped requires considerable -`_ of patience; and understanding.

A) means B) stocks C) provisions D) resources

49. He still suffers from a rare t2-opical disease which he, while working to Africa.

A) infected B) incurred C ) contracted D) infested

50. Giving up smoking is just one of the ways to heart diseases. 36. I've had my car examined three times now but no mechanic has been able to the problem.

A) deduce B) notify C) highlight D) pinpoint

37. Architectural pressure groups fought unsuccessfully to save a terrace of eighteenth century houses from _

A) abolition B) demolition C) disruption D) dismantling

38.Having decided to rent a flat, we____ contacting all the accommodation dt, agencies in the city.

A) set out B) set to C) set about D) set off

39. The police decided to the department store after they had received a bomb warning.

A) evict B) expel C) abandon D) evacuate

40. If the work-force respected you, you would

A) ward off C) push off B) put off D) throw off

51. There is no for hard work and perseverance of you want to succeed.

. A) alteration B) equivalent C) alternative D)substitute

52. What the film company needs is an actor who can take on any kinds of roles.

A) diverse B) versatile C) variable D) changeable

53. With their modern, lightweight boat, they soon the older vessels in the race.

A) overran B) exceeded C) outstripped D) caught up

54. Research suggests that, heavy penalties do not act as a to potential criminals. .

A) deterrent B) prevention C) safeguard D) distraction

55. There has been so much media of the coming election that people have got bored with it.

A) circulation B) concern C) broadcasting D) coverage

A) applications B) connotations C) implications D) complications

64. I thought 1 saw water in the distance but it must have been an optical

A) perception B) delusion C) illusion D) deception

61. He was intensely_____ by the way the shop assistant spoke to him.

A) intervened C) injected B) irritated D) insulated

62. The people who were _ hurt in the accident were taken to the only hospital in the immediate_________

A) vicinity B) mobility C) velocity D) integrity

63. With all his experience abroad he was a major to the company.

A) attendant B) asset C) attachment D) attribute

64. Don't thank me for helping in the garden. It was pleasure to be working out of doors.

A) mere B) sheer C) plain D) simple

65. The peace of the public library was by the sound of a transistor radio.

A) shuttered B) shattered C) smashed D) fractured

66. It is doubtless that those who wish to succeed should be

A) aggressive B) possessive C) cooperative D) conventional

56. You've done more of the work than I have recently so I'll give up my day off' in

A) offset B)redress C)herald D) compensate

with the usual formalities since we all know each other

57. I think we can______with the usual formalities since we all know each other already.

A) dispose B) dispatch C) dispense D) discharge

58. He joined a computer dating scheme but so far it hasn't a suitable patter.

A) come by B) some across C) come up with D) come round to

59. Have you thought what the _ might be if you didn't win your case in court?

67. The damp and cold weather had painfully the patient's rheumatism.

A) activated B)aggregatedC) aggravated D) accelerated

68.1 utterly your argument. In my opinion, you have distorted the facts.

A) dispute B) refute C) confound D) decline

69.1 think you will find that the inconvenience of the diet is by the benefits.

A) out looked B) outranked C) outfought D) outweighed

70. A good friend is one who will you when you arc in trouble.

A) stand for B) stand by C) stand up to D) stand over

Part III. Reading Comprehension (30 paints)

The most valuable diamonds are large, individual crystals of pure crystal lint carbon. Less perfect forms, known as 'boars' and 'carbonado' arc clusters of tiny crystals. Until diamonds are cut and polished, they do not sparkle lice those you sec on a ring--they just look like small, blue-grey stones.

In a rather crude form the cutting and polishing of precious stones was an art known to the Ancient Egyptians, and in the Middle Ages it became 1Lidcspread iii north-west Europe. However, a revolutionary change in the methods of cutting and polishing was made in 1476 when Ludwig Van Berquen of Bruges in Belgium invented the use of a swiftly revolving wheel with its edge faced with fine diamond powder. The name 'boast' is given to this fine powder as well as the natural crystalline material already mentioned. It is also gimp to badly flawed or broken diamond crystals, useless as jewels, that are broken into powder for grinding purposes, the so-called `industrial' diamonds.

Diamond itself is the only material hard enough to cut and polish diamonds--though recently, high-intensity light beams called lasers have been developed which can bore holes in them. It may be necessary to split or cleave the large stones before they arc cut and polished. Every diamond has a natural line of cleavage, along which it may be split by a sharp blow with a cutting edge.

A fully cut 'brilliant' diamond has 58 facets, or faces, regularly arranged. For cutting or faceting, the stones arc fixed into copper holders and held against a wheel, edged with a mixture of Oil and fine diamond dust, which is revolved at about 2,500 revolutions a minute. Amsterdam and Antwerp, in Holland and Belgium respectively, have been the centre of the diamond cutting and polishing industry for over seven centuries.

The jewel value of brilliant diamonds depends greatly on their colour, or `water' as it is called. The usual colours of diamonds are white, yellow, brown, green or blue- Surrounding rocks and take on their color. thus black ,red and even bright pink diamonds have occasionally been found.

The trade in diamonds Is not only in the valuable gem stones but also in the industrial diamonds mentioned above. Zaire produces 70% of such stones. They are fixed into the rock drills used in mining and civil engineering, also for edging band saws for cutting stone. Diamond-faced tools are used for cutting and drilling glass and fine porcelain and for dentists' drills. They are used as bearings in watches and other finely balanced instruments. Perhaps you own some diamonds without knowing it--in your wristwatch!

71. 'Carbonado' is the name given to

A) only the very best diamonds B) lumps of pure carbon

C) Spanish diamonds D) diamonds made up of many small crystals

72. The art of cutting and polishing precious stones remained crude until

A) the fourteenth century B) the fifteenth century

C) the sixteenth century D) the seventeenth century

73. During faceting, diamonds are held in copper holders

A) to facilitate accurate cutting B) to make them shine more brilliantly

C) so that they can revolve more easily D) as a steel holder might damage the diamond

74. The value order of `water' in diamond, _

A) is more important than their colour B) ranges from blue-white upwards

C) ranges from blue-white downwards D) has never been reliably established

75. Industrial diamonds are used

A) for a wide range of purposes B) mainly for dentists' drills

C) for decoration in rings and watches D) principally in mass-produced jewellery

Passage Two

Just about everyone knows the meaning of `value" though you'd never know it from the excesses of the Eighties. Clever campaigns often allowed marketers to charge more for their product and reap ever-higher profits. It worked like a dream until suddenly, facing difficult economic times, consumers work up. Now, to the extent that they're buying, many consumers are choosing the car that delivers the most for the money--not necessarily the one they coveted as a status symbol a few years ago, they are shifting to the toothpaste that works from the ones with it slickest promotions. Companies that understand this new consumer have come up wit something new: "value marketing".

A word of caution is necessary. In marketing, watchwords quickly metamorphos into buzzwords--and value is no exception. We're not taping about ads that merely boast of a product's value or even such legitimate sates tools as price cuts and discount: Used correctly, value marketing amounts to much more than just stashing prices distributing coupons. It means giving the customer an improved product, with adds, features and enhancing the role of marketing itself: In value marketing, marketing becomes part of the system for delivering value t( the consumer. Instead of merely shaping image, such a program might offer enhance guarantees or longer warranties, ads that educate rather than hype, membership club:

that build loyalty, frequent-buyer plans, improved communications with customer. through 800 numbers, or package design that makes the product easier to use or more environmentally friendly.

These and other value-marketing techniques can be expensive. They can tncar added production and marketing costs added to lower unit prices, Even so, the principle involved in value marketing value for money, an improved product, enhanced =Nice, and added features--are just %fiat U_S_ business needs to enhance its competitiveness in the global marketplace. That's why it will be all to the good if the commonsensical virtues of value marketing become part of the permanent strategy of U.S. business.

76. Consumers have waken up because of

A) the poor products they bought B) the high price they paid for what they bought

C) the difficult economic times D) a horrible dream

77. Many consumers are choosing the commodities

A) that are precious B) that are warranted

C) that can show their status D) that deliver the most for the money

78. In the 1980s, people would like to go after the products

A) that were most expensive B) that were up-to-date

C) that could show their status D) that were in fashion

79. Communications with customers malj be improved

A) through annual customers congress B) through ton free 800 numbers

C)through membership clubs D) through frequent education

80. A value marketing program may not include

A)daily visits to customers B)longer warranties

C)membership clubs D)environmentally friendly packages

Passage Three

Great emotional and intellectual resources are demanded in quarrels; stamina helps, as does a capacity for obsession. But no one is born a good quarreller; the craft must be learned.

There are two generally recognised apprenticeships. First, and universally preferred, is a long childhood spent in the company of fractious siblings. After several years of rainy afternoons, brothers and sisters develop a sure feel for the tactics of attrition and the niceties of strategy so necessary in first-rate quarrelling.

The only child, or the child of peaceful or repressed households, is likely to grow up failing to understand that quarrels, unlike arguments, arc not about an)1hing, least of all the pursuit of truth. The apparent subject of a quarrel is a mere pretext; the real business is the quarrel itself.

Essentially, adversaries in a quarrel are out to establish or rescue their dignity. I fence the elementary principle: anything may be said. The unschooled, probably no less quarrelsome by inclination than anyone else, may spend an hour with knocking heart, sifting the consequences of roiling this old acquaintance a lying fraud. Too late! With a cheerful wave the old acquaintance has left the room.

Those who miss their first apprenticeship may care to enrol in the second, the bad marriage. This can be perilous for the neophyte; the mutual intimacy of spouses makes them at once more vulnerable and more dangerous in attack. Once sex is involved, the stakes are higher all round. And there is an unspoken rule that those who love, or have loved, one another are granted a licence for unlimited beastliness such as is denied to mere sworn enemies. For all that, some of our most tenacious black belt quarrellers have come to it late in fife and mastered every throw, from the Crushing Silence to the Gloating Apology, in less than ten years of marriage.

A quarrel may last years. Among brooding types Kith time on their hands, like writers, half a lifetime is not uncommon. In its most refined form, a quarrel may consist of the participants not talking to each other. They will need to scheme laboriously to appear in public together to register their silence.

Brief, violent quarrels are also known as rows. In all cases the essential ingredient remains the same; the original cause must be forgotten as soon as possible. From here on, dignity, pride, self-esteem, honour ate the crucial issues, which is why quarrelling… like jealousy, is an all-consuming business, virtually a profession. For the quarreller's very self-hood is on the fine. To lose an argument is a brief disappointment, much like losing a game of tennis; but to be crushed in a quarrel ... rather bite off your tongue and spread it at your opponent's feet.

81. Unschooled quarrellers are said to be at a disadvantage because

A) their insults fail to offend their opponent B) they reveal their nervousness to their opponent

C) they suffer from remorse for what they've said D) they are apprehensive about speaking their minds

82. According to the writer, quarrels between married couples may be_-__

- A) physically violent B) extremely IYitter

C) essentially trivial D) sincerely regretted

83.when quarrelling both children and married couples may, according to the writer

A) be particularly brutal B) use politeness as a weapon

C) employ skillful manoeuvres D) exaggerate their feelings

84. The difference between a quarrel and an argument is said to be that

A) the former involves individual egos B) the former concerns strong points of view

C) the latter has well-established miles D) the latter concerns trivial issues

85. In the passage as a whole, the writer treats quarrelling as if it were

A) a military campaign B) a social skill

C) a moral evil D) a natural gilt

Passage Four

`I just couldn't do it. I don't know what it is. It's not embarrassment. No that's not it. You see, you're putting your head in a noose; that's what it seems to me.' Derek am armed robber with a long record of bank jobs, was talking about hoisting (shop-lifting). `No I just couldn't do it. I mean just going in there.' He paused to try to fund a more exact way of fixing; his antipathy. `I tell you what. It's too blatant for my liking.'

It seemed a fanny way to put it. Pushing a couple of ties in your pocket at a shop was hardly the last word in extroversion, and even a bit on the discreet side when compared to all that firing of shotguns and vaulting over counters which made up the typical bank raid.

But my ideas of shop-lifting were still bound up with teenage memories of nicking packets of chewing gum from the local newsagents. A lot of guilt and not much loot_ After a few conversations with professional holsters, I realised that `blatant' was just about right.

Nobody took a couple of ties they took the whole rack. The fast member of the gang would walk in nice and purposefully. Their job was to set up the goods: perhaps put an elastic bawd round the ends of a few dozen silk scarves; move the valuable pieces of jewellery nearer the edge of the counter; slide the ties on the rack into a compact bunch. Then, wine somebody else diverts the assistant or provides some fort of masking, the third member lifts the lot

If the walk to the door is a little long, then there mm be someone else to take over for the last stretch. No one is in possession for more than a few seconds, and there's always a couple of spare bodies to obstruct any one who seems to be getting too near the carrier.

Store detectives who move forward with well-founded suspicions may still find themselves clutching empty air. Store detectives watch for three main give-sways: am- sort of loitering which looks different from the usual hanging around and dithering that characterises the real customer; any covert contact between individuals %N-ho %v shown no other sign of knowing each other, any over-friendliness towards sales staff which might be acting as a distraction. 'There's one other little angle', said one detective. 'l often pop round the back stairs; that's where you'll occasionally find one of them; trying to relax and get themselves in the right mood before starting the next job.'

86. The bank robber wouldn't consider shop-lifting because

A) it was beneath his dignity B) the penalties were too high

C) it wasn't challenging enough D) the risks were too great

87. The writer's experience led rum to think that most shop-lifters

A) were I their teens B) stole modest amounts

C) used violent methods D) stole for excitement

88. The; role of the first member of the gang is to

A) convince the staff he's a serious shopper B) remove die goods from the shelves

C) establish the easiest goods to steal D) smooth the. path for his accomplice .

89. Professional shop-lifters avoid being caught in the act by

A) passing goods from one to another B) hiding behind ordinary shoppers

C) racing for the nearest exit D) concealing goods in ordinary bath

90. Potential shop-lifters may be identified when the:

.A) seem unable to decide what to buy B) openly signal to apparent strangers

C) are unusually chatty to assistants D) set off towards emergency exits

Passage Five

Perhaps there are far more wives than I imagine who take it for granted that housework ii neither satisfying nor even important once the basic demands of hygiene and feeding have been met. But home and family is the one realm in which it is really difficult to shale free: of one's upbringing and create new values. My parents' house was impeccably kept; cleanliness was a moral and social virtue, and personal untidiness, visibly old clothes, or long male hair provoked biting jocularity. If that had been all, maybe I could have adapted myself to housework on an easy-going, utilitarian basis, refusing the moral overtones but shill believing in it as something constructive because it is part of creating a home. But at the same time my mother used

to recant doing it, called it drudgery, and convinced me that it wasn't a fit activity for an intelligent being. I was an only child, and once I was at school there was no reason why she should have continued against her will to remain housebound, unless, as I suspect, my father would not hear of her having a job of her own.

I can now begin to understand why a woman in a small suburban house, with no infants to look after, who does not enjoy reading because she has not had much of an education, and who is intelligent enough to find neighbourly chit-chat boring, should carry the pursuit of microscopic specks of dust to the point of fanaticism in an attempt to fill hours and salvage her self-respect. My parents had not even the status-seeking impetus to send me to university that Joe's had; my mother wanted me to be `a nice quiet person who wouldn't be noticed in a crowd', and it was feared that university education results in ingratitude (independence)..

It is constantly niggling not only to be doing jobs that require so little; valuable effort, but also jobs which are mainly concerned with simply keeping level with natural processes--cleaning jobs, whether of objects or people. which once done are not done for good, and will have to be done all over again, just as if I have not alreadv made the effort; the next day, or even within a few hours. There is something so negative about this role that society heaps entirely un to the shoulders of women. flat of making sure that things do not get dirty, and people do not get unhealthy. I want to believe in health as something basic, neutral, to assume that all the essentials are cared for, or at least will not magnify themselves into a full-time occupation.

Can you imagine what would happen to a man who was suddenly uprooted from a job in which he placed the meaning of his life, and delegated to a mindless task, in performing which he was also cut off fairly completely from the people who shared his interests'? I think more of the men I know would disintegrate completely.

9l . 'The writer attributes her attitude towards housework to

A) her rejection of her parents' old-fashioned standards B) her determination to avoid her mother's mistakes

C) her inherited feelings of duty and resentment D) her spoil upbringing as an only child

92. The writer's parents reacted to a slovenly appearance by .._.._._.

A) criticising the offender bitterly B) stressing the social importance of cleanliness

C) making sarcastic comments about the matter D) expressing a sense: of moral indignation

93. It scems to the wrik r that some suburban houscwivcs may

A) engage in tedious gossip merely to pass file time B) allow routine tasks to become cut obsession

C) come to regret their lack of a proper education D) come to find housework a fulfilling occupation

94. Her parents didn't encourage her to go to unnrisity because they thought

A) she wouldn't appreciate the sacrifice it would invohr B) she might feel intellectually superior to them

C) higher education wasn't suitable for a housewife D) it might change her relationship with them

95. She objects to her role because it is so

A) undemanding B) unimportant

C) unpleasant D) unproductive

Passage: Six

How many hypochondriacs are there? Can anybody- in the great social science industry tell me? Even to the nearest ten thousand?

I doubt it, and I think I know why. The trouble about being a hypochondriac (and I speak from a lifetime of practice) is that you feel silly-.

qty rational mind tells me that, just because the cut on my forger has been throbbing for two days, I am unlikely to die of gangrene; but in a hypochondrraacl mood I can sec the gangrene creeping up my arm as my finger turns black. My

hypochondria is fed, in constant doses, by half the scientific knowledge I need, and twice the imagination. I know enough anatomy to identity the twitch in my chest as the first spasm of coronary llirombosis(ie-ilkO U.K tylrr'' Ti~), and to point to my duodenum (+-4V_*) with the authority of a second-year medical student.

Of course, like many hypochondriacs. I er~joy (not exactly the word) sound health. My fat mc&al file contanu very Wile of substance. though there is a fine selection of nrgatirv barium meal tests. In fact, the only Spell I cvrr had in hospital took place when I actually- had something. 1Lhat I thought was a cold turned out to be pneumonia. So much for my diagnostic accuracy.

Ilypochondria lies between the rational self which says, `Nonsense, you're fine,' and the deeply pessimistic self, which fingers a swelling discovered under the jaw as you shave and converts it into the first lump of a fatal cancer of the lymph gland.

'llicse feelings are embarrassing enough but they are made worse by the brisk treatment I get from the many overt anti-hypochondriacs about: people like wives or editors, who say, `Get up! There's nothing wrong with you', or `Never seen you looking better, old boy', when the first stages of a brain tumour have begun to paralyse my left aim.

Such persons know nothing. They are capable of astonishing, acts of self fiargetfulncm. They walk about with lips so chapped that a penny could fit in the cracks. 'Ilicy go so far as to forget to take medicine prescribed for them. For these creatures of the light, die world is a simple place. You are either well or sick and that's that, categories, which admit of no confusion. 'if you are ill,' anti-hypochondriacs say, `you ought to go to bed and stop moping.' They remind me of the story told of the economist, Keynes, a'ld his Russian ballerina wife, staring silently into the fire. Keynes asked, `What are you thinking, my dear?' She replied, `Nothing.' And he said, I wish I could do that.'

There is not much comfort to be had from other hypochondriacs, either. I had lunch once with a distinguished writer whom I very much wanted to impress. H greeted me with the words, `Please excuse the condition of my nose.' During the next few minutes, fascinated but trying not to be caught staring, I established two things: fast, that he had a small inflammation by his right nostril, and second, that he was a fellow hypochondriac. The combination meant that I could have been three other people for all he cared. As we parted, he again apologized about his nose. I was furious.

96. The author suggests that the exact number of hypochondriacs is not known because hypochondriacs

a) Are not taken seriously by social scientists B) feet too embarrassed about their fears to admit them

C) Don’t take their fears seriously enough to discuss them D) are aware that they represent a tiny minority

97. The author describes how his own hypochondria can be set off by

A) Reading articles in medical journals B) noticing unusual physical sensations

C) Studying his personal medical files D) asking for advice from student doctors

98. The author's medical history suggests that

A) He has never had any serious illnesses B) his diagnoses have sometimes proved correct

C) He has had very few medical examinations D) most of his fears have proved groundless

99. Anti-hypochondriacs are described as people who

A) Pay no attention to minor ailments B) don't accept that people get ill

C) Have little faith in the medical profession D) smile cheerfully however ill they are

100. The author recognized a fellow-hypochondriac by the I'M that

a) The conversation centered around the writer's health B) the writer was so sympathetic towards him

C) A minor complaint so concerned the writer D) the writer seemed to want attention from more people

Part II. Writing (25 points)

In this part, you are required to write a composition of at last 300 words on the topic:

"The Relationship That Exists Between Humans and Nature." Remember you should

Write your composition on the Answer Sheet.