2014专八阅读和翻译
2014年专八PART II READING COMPREHENSION (30 MIN)In this section there are four reading passages followed be a total of 20 multi ple-choicequestions. Read the passages and then mark the best answer to ea ch question on ANSWERSHEER TWO.TEXT AMy class at Harvard Business School helps students understand what good m anagementtheory is and how it is built. In each session, we look at one comp any through the lenses ofdifferent theories, using them to explain how the co mpany got into its situation and to examinewhat action will yield the needed r esults. On the last day of class, I asked my class to turnthose theoretical lens es on themselves to find answers to two questions: First, How can I besure I’l l be happy in my career? Second, how can I be sure my relationships with my spouseand my family will become an enduring source of happiness? Here are some managementtools that can be used to help you lead a purposeful life.1. Use Your Resources Wisely. Your decisions about allocating your personal ti me, energy, andtalent shape your life’s strategy. I have a bunch of “business es” that compete for theseresources:I’m trying to have a rewarding relationsh ip with my wife, raise great kids, contribute to my community, succeed in my career, and contribute to my church. And Ihave exactly the same problem tha t a corporation does. I have a limited amount of time, energy and talent. How much do I devote to each of these pursuits?Allocation choices can make your life turn out to very different from what youi ntended.Sometimes that’s good: opportunities that you have never planned f or emerge. Butif you don’t invest your resources wisely, the outcome can be bad. As I think about people whoinadvertently invested in lives of hollow unha ppiness, I can’t help believing that their troublesrelated right back to a short-t erm perspective.When people with a high need for achievement have an extra half hour of tim e or an extraounce of energy, they’ll unconsciously allocate it to activities that yield the most tangibleaccomplishments. Our careers provide the most concr ete evidence that we’re movingforward.You ship a product, finish a design, co mplete a presentation, close a sale teach aclass, publish a paper, get paid, ge t promoted. In contrast, investing time and energy in yourrelationships with y our spouse and children typically doesn’t offer the same immediate senseof a chievement. Kids misbehave every day. It’s really not until 20 years down the road thatyou can say,“I raised a good son or a good daughter.” You can neglect your relationship w ithyour spouse and on a daily basis it doesn’t seem as if thing are deterioratin g. People who aredriven to excel have this unconscious propensity to underinvest in their families andoverinvest in their careers, even though intimate and loving family relationships are the mostpowerful and enduring source of happ iness.If you study the root causes of business disasters, over and over you’ll find th is predispositiontoward endeavors that offer immediate gratification. If you lo ok at personal lives throughthat lens,you’ll see that same stunning and soberi ng pattern: people allocating fewer andfewer resources to the things they wo uld have once said mattered most.2. Create A Family Culture. It’s one thing to see into the foggy future with a a cuity and chartthe course corrections a company must make. But it’s quite an other to persuade employees toline up and work cooperatively to take the co mpany in that new direction.When there is little agreement, you have to use “power tools”– coercion, threats, punishments and so on, to secure cooperation. But if emp loyee’s ways of working togethersucceed over and over, consensus begins to f orm. Ultimately, people don ‘t even think aboutwhether their way yields succe ss. They embrace priorities and follow procedures by instinctand assumption r ather than by explicit decision, which means that they’ve created aculture. Cu lture, in compelling but unspoken ways, dictates the proven, acceptable meth odsby which member s of a group address recurrent problems. And culture de fines the prioritygiven to different types of problems. It can be a powerful ma nagement tool.I use this model to address the question, How can I be my family becomes an enduringsource of happiness? My students quickly see that the simplest way parents can elicitcooperation from children is to wield power tools. But there c omes a point during the teenyears when power tools no longer work. At that point, parents start wishing they had begunworking with their children at a ve ry young age to build a culture in which children instinctivelybehave respectfu lly toward one another, obey their parents, and choose the right thing to do. Families have cultures, just as companies do. Those cultures can be built cons ciously.If you want your kids to have strong self-esteem and the confidence that they can solve hardproblems, those qualities won’t magically materialize in high sc hool. You have to design theminto your family’s culture and you have think a bout this very early on. Like employees, childrenbuild self-esteem by doing th ings that are hard and learning what works.11. According to the author, the key to successful allocation of resources in y our life dependson whether you ________.A. can manage your time wellB. have long-term planningC. are lucky enough to have new opportunitiesD. can solve both company and family problems12. What is the role of the statement “Our careers provide the most concrete evidence thatwe’re moving forward” with reference to the previous statement in the paragraph?A. To offer further explanationB. To provide a definitionC. To present a contrastD. To illustrate career development13. According to the author, a common cause of failure in business and family relationships is________.A. lack of planningB. short-sightednessC. shortage of resourcesD. decision by instinct14. According to the author, when does culture begin to emerge ________.A. When people decide what and how to do by instinctB. When people realize the importance of consensusC. When people as a group decide how to succeedD. When people use “power tools” to reach agreement15. One of the similarities between company culture and family culture is that ________.A. problem-solving ability is essentialB. cooperation is the foundationC. respect and obedience are key elementsD. culture needs to be nurturedText BIt was nearly bedtime and when they awoke next morning land would be in si ght. Dr. Macphaillit his pipe and, leaning over the rail, searched the heavens f or the Southern Cross. After twoyears at the front and a wound that had take n longer to heal than it should, he was glad tosettle down quietly at Apia (阿皮亚，西萨摩亚首都) for twelve months at least, and he feltalready better for the journey. Since some of the passengers were leaving the ship next daythey ha d had a little dance that evening and in his ears hammered still the harsh not es of themechanical piano. But the deck was quiet at last. A little way off he s aw his wife in a longchair talking with the Davidsons, and he strolled over toher. When he sat down under the lightand took off his hat you saw that he ha d very red hair, with a bald patch on the crown, and thered, freckled skin whi ch accompanies red hair; he was a man of forty, thin, with a pinched face, pr ecise and rather pedantic; and he spoke with a Scots accent in a very low, qui et voice.Between the Macphails and the Davidsons, who were missionaries, there had arisen theintimacy of shipboard, which is due to proximity rather than to any community of taste. Their chief tie was the disapproval they shared of the me n who spent their days and nights inthe smoking-room playing poker or bridg e and drinking. Mrs. Macphail was not a little flatteredto think that she and he r husband were the only people on board with whom the Davidsonswere willin g to associate,and even the doctor, shy but no fool, half unconsciouslyacknow ledged the compliment. It was because he was of an argumentative mind that intheir cabin at night he permitted himself to carp (唠叨).‘Mrs. Davidson was saying she didn’t know how they’d have got through the j ourney if it hadn’tbeen for us,’ said Mrs. Macphail, as she neatly brushed out her transformation (假发).‘Shesaid we were really the only people on the ship they cared to know.’‘I shouldn’t have thought a missionary was such a big bug (要人、名士) that he could afford toput on frills (摆架子).’‘It’s not frills. I quite understand what she means. It wouldn’t have been very nice for theDavidsons to have to mix with all that rough lot in the smoking-ro om.’‘The founder of their religion wasn’t so exclusive,’ said Dr. Macphail with a ch uckle.‘I’ve asked you over and over again not to joke about religion,’ answered his wife.‘I shouldn’tlike to have a nature like yours, Alec. You never look for the best i n people.’He gave her a sidelong glance with his pale, blue eyes, but did not reply. Afte r many years ofmarried life he had learned that it was more conducive to pea ce to leave his wife with the lastword.He was undressed before she was, and climbing into the upper bunk he settled down toread himself to sleep.When he came on deck next morning they were close to land. He looked at it with greedyeyes.There was a thin strip of silver beach rising quickly to hills co vered to the top withluxuriant vegetation. The coconut trees, thick and green,came nearly to the water’s edge, andamong them you saw the grass houses of the Samoaris (萨摩亚人); and here and there, gleaming white, alittle church. Mrs. Davidson came and stood beside him. She was dressed inbl ack, and wore round her neck a gold chain, from which dangled a cross. She was a littlewoman, with brown, dull hair very elaborately arranged, and she h ad prominent blue eyesbehind invisible pince-nez (夹鼻眼镜). Her face waslong, like a sheep’s, but she gave noimpression of foolishness, rather of extre me alertness; she had the quick movements of abird. The most remarkable th ing about her was her voice, high, metallic, and withoutinflection; it fell on th e ear with a hard monotony, irritating to the nerves like the pitilessclamor of t he pneumatic drill.‘This must seem like home to you,’ said Dr. Macphail, with his thin, difficult s mile.‘Ours are low islands, you know, not like these. Coral. These are volcanic. We’ve got anotherten days' journey to reach them.’‘In these parts that’s almost like being in the next street at home,’ said Dr. M acphailfacetiously.‘Well, that’s rather an exaggerated way of putting it, but one does look at dist ances differentlyin the J South Seas. So far you’re right.’Dr. Macphail sighed faintly.16. It can be inferred from the first paragraph that Dr. Macphail ________.A. preferred quietness to noiseB. enjoyed the sound of the mechanical pianoC. was going back to his hometownD. wanted to befriend the Davidsons17. The Macphails and the Davidsons were in each other’e company because t hey ________.A. had similar experienceB. liked each otherC. shared dislike for some passengersD. had similar religious belief18. Which of the following statements BEST describes Mrs. Macphail?A. She was good at making friendsB. She was prone to quarrelling with her husbandC. She was skillful in dealing with strangersD. She was easy to get along with.19. All the following adjectives can be used to depict Mrs. Davidson EXCEPT _ _______.A. arrogantB. unapproachableC. unpleasantD. irritable20. Which of the following statements about Dr. Macphail is INCORRECT?A. He was sociable.B. He was intelligent.C. He was afraid of his wife.D. He was fun of the Davidsons.Text CToday we make room for a remarkably narrow range of personality styles. We 're told that tobe great is to be bold, to be happy is to be sociable. We see ou rselves as a nation of extroverts— which means that we've lost sight of who we really are. One-third to one-half of Americansare introverts — in the other words, one out of every two or three people you know. If you'renot an introv ert yourself, you are surely raising,managing, married to, or coupled with one .If these statistics surprise you, that's probably because so many people prete nd to beextroverts.Closet introverts pass undetected on playgrounds, in high school locker rooms, andin the corridors of corporate America. Some fool eve n themselves, until some life event — alayoff, an empty nest, an inheritance t hat frees them to spend time as they like — jolts theminto taking stock of thei r true natures. You have only to raise this subject with your friends andacquai ntances to find that the most unlikely people consider themselves introverts. It makes sense that so many introverts hide even from themselves. We live w ith a valuesystem that I call the Extrovert Ideal— the omnipresent belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha, and comfortable in the spotlight. The arche typal extrovert prefers action tocontemplation, risk-taking to heed-taking, cer tainty to doubt. He favors quick decisions, even at the risk of being wrong. Sh e works well in teams and socializes in groups. We like tothink that we value i ndividuality, but all too often we admire one type of individual — the kindwho' s comfortable "putting himself out there." Sure, we allow technologically gifte d loners wholaunch companies in garages to have any personality they please , but they are the exceptions, not the rule, and our tolerance extends mainly t o those who get fabulously wealthy or hold thepromise of doing so.Introversion — along with its cousin’s sensitivity, seriousness, and shyness —is now asecond-class personality trait, somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology. Introverts living under the Extrovert Ideal are like women in a man's world, discounted becauseof a trait that goes to the core of who they are. Extroversion is an enormously appealingpersonality style, but we've turn ed it into an oppressive standard to which most of us feel wemust conform.The Extrovert Ideal has been documented in many studies, though this resear ch has neverbeen grouped under a single name. Talkative people, for exampl e, are rated as smarter, better-looking,more interesting, and more desirable a s friends. Velocity of speech counts as well asvolume: we rank fast talkers as more competent and likable than slow ones. Even the wordintrovert is stigma tized — one informal study, by psychologist Laurie Helgoe, found thatintrovert s described their own physical appearance in vivid language, but when asked todescribe generic introverts they drew a bland and distasteful picture.But we make a grave mistake to embrace the Extrovert Ideal so unthinkingly. Some of ourgreatest ideas, art, and inventions — from the theory of evolutio n to van Gogh's sunflowers tothe personal computer — came from quiet and c erebral people who knew how to tune in totheir inner worlds and the treasure s to be found there.21. According to the author, there exists, as far as personality styles are conc erned, adiscrepancy between ________.A. what people say they can do and what they actually canB. what society values and what people pretend to beC. what people profess and what statistics showD. what people profess and what they hide from others22. The ideal extrovert is described as being all the following EXCEPT ______ __.A. doubtfulB. sociableC. determinedD. bold23. According to the author, our society only permits ________ to have what ever personalitythey like.A. the youngB. the ordinaryC. the artisticD. the rich24. According to the passage, which of the following statements BEST reflects the author’sopinion?A. Introversion is seen as an inferior trait because of its association with sensi tivity.B. Extroversion is arbitrary forced by society as a norm upon people.C. Introverts are generally regarded as either unsuccessful or as deficient.D. Extroversion and introversion have similar personality trait profiles.25. The author winds up the passage with a ________ note.A. cautiousB. warningC. positiveD. humorousText DSpeaking two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasinglyglobalized world. But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages ofbilingualism are even more fundamental than bei ng able to converse with a wider range ofpeople.Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect onyour brain,improving cog nitive skills not related to language and even shielding againstdementia （痴呆） in old age.This view of bilingualism is remarkably different from the understanding of bili ngualism throughmuch of the 20th century. Researchers, educators and polic y makers long considered a secondlanguage to be an interference, cognitively speaking, that hindered a child’s academic andintellectual development. They were not wrong about the interference: there is ample evidence that in a bilingual’sbrain both language systems are active even when he is using onl y one language, thus creatingsituations in which one system obstructs the oth er. But this interference, researchers arefinding out, isn’t so much a handicap as a blessing in disguise. It forces the brain to resolveinternal conflict,giving t he mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles.The collective evidence from a number of such studies suggests that the bilin gualexperience improves the brain’s so-called executive function — a comman d system thatdirects the attention processes that we use for planning, solving problems and performingvarious other mentally demanding tasks. These pro cesses include ignoring distractions to stayfocused, switching attention willfull y from one thing to another and holding information inmind ? like rememberi ng a sequence of directions while driving.Why does the tussle between two simultaneously active language systems im prove theseaspects of cognition? Until recently, researchers thought the biling ual advantage stemmedprimarily from ability for inhibition that was honed by the exercise of suppressing onelanguage system: this suppression, it was tho ught, would help train the bilingual mind toignore distractions in other context s. But that explanation increasingly appears to beinadequate, since studies ha ve shown that bilinguals perform better than monolinguals evenat tasks that do not require inhibition, like threading a line through an ascending series ofn umbers scattered randomly on a page.The key difference between bilinguals and monolinguals may be more basic: a heightenedability to monitor the environment.“Bilinguals have to switch languages quite often? Youmay talk to your father i n one language and to your mother in another language,” says AlbertCosta, a researcher at the University of Pompeu Fabra in Spain.“It requires keeping track ofchanges around you in the same way that we mo nitor our surroundings when driving.” In astudy comparing German-Italian bili nguals with Italian monolinguals on monitoring tasks, Mr. Costa and his collea gues found that the bilingual subjects not only performed better, but theyalso did so with less activity in parts of the brain involved in monitoring, indicatin g that theywere more efficient at it.The bilingual experience appears to influence the brain from infancy to old ag e, and there isreason to believe that it may also apply to those who learn a se cond language later in life.26. According to the passage, the more recent and old views of bilingualism d iffer mainly in________.A. its practical advantagesB. its role in cognitionC. perceived language fluencyD. its role in medicine27. The fact that interference is now seen as a blessing in disguise means tha t ________.A. it has led to unexpectedly favorable resultsB. its potential benefits have remained undiscoveredC. its effects on cognitive development have been minimalD. only a few researchers have realized its advantages28. What is the role of Paragraph Four in relation to Paragraph Three?A. It provides counter evidence to Paragraph Three.B. It offers another example of the role of interference.C. It serves as a transitional paragraph in the passage.D. It further illustrates the point in Paragraph Three.29. Which of the following can account for better performance of bilinguals in doing non-inhibition tasks?A. An ability to monitor surroundings.B. An ability to ignore distractions.C. An ability to perform with less effort.D. An ability to exercise suppression.30. What is the main theme of the passage?A. Features of bilinguals and monolinguals.B. Interference and suppression.C. Bilinguals and monitoring tasks.D. Reasons why bilinguals are smarter.PART V TRANSLATION (60 MIN)SECTION A CHINESE TO ENGLISHTranslate the underlined part of the following text into English. Write your tra nslation onANSWER SHEET THREE.当我在小学毕了业的时候，亲友一致的愿意我去学手艺，好帮助母亲。
2014年专八考试真题答案
2014年3月22日英语专八考试真题参考答案完整版听力Mini-lecture1. physical2. a demand3. blood pressure4. Category5. a job6. signals7. body or mind8. advantage9. accept 10. reasonable speed听力Interview1. To work out a plan …2. was much worried …3. To take prompt …4. Refugees returning to normal …5. talk to different …听力NEWS BROADCAST6. Cancellation of flights …7. Three human fossils8. It supported..9. some international …10. Surprised阅读理解答案阅读理解答案11.A have 12.C to offer 13.B to provide 14.D decide 15.A cultuer 16.B perfered 17.D similar 18.D easy 19.B unapproachalbe 20.D sociable21.B say 22.B sociabel 23.A young 24.D 25C26.D role 27.C effects 28.B offer29.D exercise 30.A features人文知识答案人文知识答案31．Montreal32．Maoris33. Anglicanism34．177635．Ernest Hemingway36．George Bernard Shaw 37．Geoffrey Chaucer38．bare39．Mary40．Lion改错答案改错答案 1.把of 去掉。
专八复习爱默生《论友谊》中英对照（阅读、写作、翻译经典）5则范文
专八复习爱默生《论友谊》中英对照（阅读、写作、翻译经典）5则范文第一篇：专八复习爱默生《论友谊》中英对照(阅读、写作、翻译经典)大家网英语专八论坛I do not wish to treat friendships daintily, but with roughest courage.When they are real, they are not glass threads or frostwork, but the solidest thing we know.For now, after so many ages of experience, what do we know of nature, or of ourselves? Not one step has man taken toward the solution of the problem of his destiny.In one condemnation of folly stand the whole universe of men.But the sweet sincerity of joy and peace, which I draw from this alliance with my brother’s soul, is the nut itself, whereof all nature and all thought is but the husk and shell.Happy is the house that shelters a friend!It might well be built, like a festal bower or arch, to entertain him a single day.Happier, if he know the solemnity of that relation, and honor its law!He who offers himself a candidate for that covenant comes up, like an Olympian, to the great games, where the first-born of the world are the competitors.He proposes himself for contests where Time, Want, Danger, are in the lists, and he alone is victor who has truth enough in his constitution to preserve the delicacy of his beauty from the wear and tear of all these.The gifts of fortune may be present or absent, but all the speed in that contest depends on intrinsic nobleness, and the contempt of trifles.There are two elements that go to the composition of friendship, each so sovereign that I can detect no superiority in either, no reason why either should be first named.One is Truth.A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere.Before him I may think aloud.I am arrivedat last in the presence of a man so real and equal, that I may drop even those undermost garments of dissimulation, courtesy, and second thought, which men never put off, and may deal with him /index_61.htmlwith the simplicity and wholeness with which one chemical atom meets another.Sincerity is the luxury allowed, like diadems and authority, only to the highest rank, that being permitted to speak truth, as having none above it to court or conform unto.Every man alone is sincere.At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins.We parry and fend the approach of our fellow-man by compliments, by gossip, by amusements, by affairs.We cover up our thought from him under a hundred folds.I knew a man, who, under a certain religious frenzy, cast off this drapery, and, omitting all compliment and commonplace, spoke to the conscience of every person he encountered, and that with great insight and beauty.At first he was resisted, and all men agreed he was mad.But persisting, as indeed he could not help doing, for some time in this course, he attained to the advantage of bringing every man of his acquaintance into true relations with him.No man would think of speaking falsely with him, or of putting him off with any chat of markets or reading-rooms.But every man was constrained by so much sincerity to the like plaindealing, and what love of nature, what poetry, what symbol of truth he had, he did certainly show him.But to most of us society shows not its face and eye, but its side and its back.To stand in true relations with men in a false age is worth a fit of insanity, is it not? We can seldom go erect.Almost every man we meet requires some civility,--requires to be humored;he has some fame, some talent, some whim of religion or philanthropy in his head that is not to be questioned, and which spoils allconversation with him.But a friend is a sane man who exercises not my ingenuity, but me.Myfriend gives me entertainment without requiring any stipulation on my part.A friend, therefore, is a sort of paradox in nature.I who alone am, I who see nothing in nature whose existence I can affirm with equal evidence to my own, behold now the semblance of my being, in all its height, variety, and curiosity, reiterated in a foreign form;so that a friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.译文：我不想用轻巧的方式对待友情，我愿以最狂热的勇气去对待它。
2014年英语专业八级真题及详解【圣才出品】
2014年英语专业八级真题及详解TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2014)-GRADE EIGHT-TIME LIMIT: 150 MIN PART ⅠLISTENING COMPREHENSION [25 MIN]SECTION A MINI-LECTUREIn this section you will hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the mini-lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening to the mini-lecture, please complete the gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE and write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each gap. Make sure the word(s) you fill in is (are) both grammatically and semantically acceptable. You may use the blank sheet for note-taking.You have THIRTY seconds to preview the gap-filling task.Now listen to the mini-lecture. When it is over, you will be given THREE minutes to check your work.How to Reduce StressLife is full of things that cause us stress. Though we may not like stress, we have to live with it.1. ____【答案】physical【解析】细节题。
这篇讲座主要围绕压力展开。
2014年英语专八真题阅读理解答案
2014年英语专八真题阅读理解答案(网友回忆版)11. A have12. C to offer13. B to provide14. D decide15. A cultuer16. B perfered17. D similar18. D easy19. B unapproachalbe20. D sociable21. B say22. B sociabel23. A young24. D 25C26. D role27. C effects28. B offer29. D exercise30. A features第一篇：The Bottom Line on HappinessBy Clayton M ChristensenMy class at Harvard Business School helps students understand what good management theory is and how it is built. In each session, we look at one company through the lenses of different theories, using them to explain how the company got into its situation and to examine what action will yield the needed results. On the last day of class, I asked my class to turn those theoretical lenses on themselves to find answers to those three questions: First, How can I be sure I’ll be happy in my career? Second, How can I be sure my relationships with my spouse and my family will bec ome an enduring source of happiness? Third, How can I be sure I’ll stay out of jail? Though the last question sounds lighthearted, it’s not. Two of the 32 people in my Rhodes scholar class spent time in prison. Jeff Skillin of Enron fame was my classmate at Harvard Business School.I graduated HBS in 1979, and over the years, I’ve seen more and more of my classmates come to reunions unhappy, divorced, and alienated from their children. I can guarantee you that not a single one of them graduated with the deliberate strategy of getting divorced and raising children who would becomeestranged from them. And yet a shocking number unwittingly implemented that strategy. The reason? Theydidn’t keep the purpose of their lives front and center.Having a clear purpose has been essential to me. But it was something I had to thing long and hard about before I understood it. When I was a Rhode Scholar, I was in a very demand academic program, trying to cram an extra year’s worth of work into my time at Oxford. I decided to spend an hour every night reading, thinking and praying about why God put me on this earth. It was a very challenging commitment bec ause every hour I spent doing that, I wasn’t studying applied econometrics. I was conflicted about whether I could really afford to take time away from my studies, but I stuck with it and ultimately figured out the purpose of my life.My purpose grew out of my religious faith, but faith isn’t the only thing that gives people direction. For example, one of my former students decided that his purpose was bring honestly and economic prosperity to his country and to raise children who were as capably committed to his cause, and to each other, as he 第二篇：2. Why Bilinguals Are SmarterSPEAKING two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people. Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age.This view of bilingualism is remarkably different from the understanding of bilingualism through much of the 20th century. Researchers, educators andpolicy makers long considered a second language to be an interference, cognitively speaking, that hindered a child’s academic and intellectual development.They were not wrong about the interference: there is ample evidence that in a bilingual’s brain both language systems are active even when he is using only one language, thus creating situations in which one system obstructs the other. But this interference, researchers are finding out, isn’t so much a handicap as a blessing in disguise. It forces the brain to resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles.Bilinguals, for instance, seem to be more adept than monolinguals at solving certain kinds of mental puzzles. In a 2004 study by the psychologists Ellen Bialystok and Michelle Martin-Rhee, bilingual and monolingual preschoolers were asked to sort blue circles and red squares presented on a computer screen into two digital bins ? one marked with a blue square and the other marked with a red circle.In the first task, the children had to sort the shapes by color, placing blue circles in the bin marked with the blue square and red squares in the bin marked with the red circle. Both groups did this with comparable ease. Next, the children were asked to sort by shape, which was more challenging bec ause it required placing the images in a bin marked with a conflicting color. The bilinguals were quicker at performing this task.The collective evidence from a number of such studies suggests that the bilingual experience improves the brain’s so-called executive function ? a command system that directs the attention processes that we use for planning, solving problems and performing various other mentally demanding tasks. These processes include ignoring distractions to stay focused, switching attention willfully from one thing to another and holding information in mind ? like remembering a sequence of directions while driving.Why does the tussle between two simultaneously active language systems improve these aspects of cognition? Until recently, researchers thought the bilingual advantage stemmed primarily from an ability for inhibition that was honed by the exercise of suppressing one language system: this suppression, it was thought, would help train the bilingual mind to ignore distractions in other contexts. But that explanation increasingly appears to be inadequate, since studies have shown that bilinguals perform better than monolinguals even at tasks that do not require inhibition, like threading a line through an ascending series of numbers scattered randomly on a page.The key difference between bilinguals and monolinguals may be more basic: a heightened ability to monitor the environment. “Bilinguals have to switch languages quite often ? you may talk to your father in one language and to your mother in another language,” says Albert Costa, a researcher at the University ofPompeu Fabra in Spain. “It requires keeping track of changes around you in the same way that we monitor our surroundings when driving.” In a study comparing German-Italian bilinguals with Italian monolinguals on monitoring tasks, Mr. Costa and his colleagues found that the bilingual subjects not only performed better, but they also did so with less activity in parts of the brain involved in monitoring, indicating that they were more efficient at it.The bilingual experience appears to influence the brain from infancy to old age (and there is reason to believe that it may also apply to those who learn a second language later in life).In a 2009 study led by Agnes Kovacs of the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy, 7-month-old babies exposed to two languages from birth were compared with peers raised with one language. In an initial set of trials, the infants were presented with an audio cue and then shown a puppet on one side of a screen. Both infant groups learned to look at that side of the screen in anticipation of the puppet. But in a later set of trials, when the puppet began appearing on the opposite side of the screen, the babies exposedto a bilingual environment quickly learned to switch their anticipatory gaze in the new direction while the other babies did not.Bilingualism’s effects also extend into the twilight years. In a recent study of 44 elderly Spanish-English bilinguals, scientists led by the neuropsychologist Tamar Gollan of the University of California, San Diego, found that individuals with a higher degree of bilingualism ? measured through a comparative evaluation of proficiency in each language ? were more resistant than others to the onset of dementia and other symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease: the higher the degree of bilingualism, the later the age of onset.was. His purpose is focused on family and others, as is mine.第三篇：内向者的力量Today we make room for a remarkably narrow range of personality styles.We're told that to be great is to be bold, to be happy is to be sociable.We see ourselves as a nation of extroverts——which means that we've lost sight of who we really are. One-third to one-half of Americans are introverts——in the other words, one out of every two or three people you know. If you'er not an introvert yourself, you are surely raising, managing, married to, or coupled with one.If these statistics surprise you, that's probably because so many people pretend to be extroverts.Closet introverts pass undetected on playgrounds, in high school locker rooms, and in the corridors of corproate America.Some fool even themselves, until some life event——a layoff, an empty nest, an inheritance that frees them to spend time as they like——jolts them into taking stock of their true natures. You have only to raise this subject with your friends and acquaitances to find that the most unlikely people consider themselves introverts.It makes sense that so many introverts hide even from themsevles. We live with a value system that I call the Extrovert Ideal—— the omnipresentbelief tht the ideal self is gregarious, alpha, and comfortable in the spotlight. The archetypalextrovert prefers action to contemplation, risk-taking to heed-taking, certainty to doubt. He favors quick decisions, even at the risk of being wrong. She works well in teams and socializes in groups.We like to think that we value individuality, but all too often we admire one type of individual—— the kind who's comfortable "putting himself out there." Sure,we allow technologically gifted loners who launch companies in garages to have any personality they please, but they are the exceptions, not the rule, and our tolerance extends mainly to those wo get fabulously wealthy or hold the promise of doing so.Introversion——along with its cousions sensitivity, seriousness, and shyness——is now a second-class personality trait, somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology.Introverts living under the Extrovert Idal are like women in a a man's world,discounted because of a trait that goes to the coreof who they are. Extorversion is an enormouslyappealing personality style, but we've turned it into an oppressive standard to which most of us feel we must conform.The Extrovert Idal has been documented in many studies, though this research has never been grouped under a single name.Talkative people, for example, are rated as smarteer, better-looking, more interesting, and more desirable as friends. Velocityof speech counts as well as volume: we rank fast talkers as more competent and likable than slow ones. Even the word introvet is stigmatized——one informal study,by psychologist Laurie Helgoe, found that introverts described their own physical appearance in vivid language, but when asked to describe generic introverts they drew a bland and distasteful picture.But we make a grave mistake to embrace the Extrovert Idal so unthinkingly. Some of our greatest ideas, art, and inventions——from the theory of evolution to van Gogh's sunflowers to the personal computer——came from quiet and cerebralpeople who knew how to tune in to their inner worlds a第四篇：毛姆短篇小说《雨》刚开始的选段By W. Somerset MaughamIt was nearly bed-time and when they awoke next morning land would be in sight. Dr. Macphail lit his pipe and, leaning over the rail, searched the heavens for the Southern Cross. After two years at the front and a wound that had taken longer to heal than it should, he was glad to settle down quietly at Apia for twelve months at least, and he felt already better for the journey. Since some of the passengers were leaving the ship next day at Pago-Pago they had had a little dance that evening and in his ears hammered still the harsh notes of the mechanical piano. But the deck was quiet at last. A little way off he saw his wife in a long chair talking with the Davidsons, and he strolled over to her. When he sat down under the light and took off his hat you saw that he had very red hair, with a bald patch on the crown, and the red, freckled skin which accompanies red hair; he was a man of forty, thin, with a pinched face, precise and rather pedantic; and he spoke with a Scots accent in a very low, quiet voice.Between the Macphails and the Davidsons, who were missionaries, there had arisen the intimacy of shipboard, which is due to propinquity rather than to any community of taste. Their chief tie was the disapproval they shared of the men who spent their days and nights in the smoking-room playing poker or bridge and drinking. Mrs. Macphail was not a little flattered to think that she and her husband were the only people on board with whom the Davidsons were willing to associate, and even the doctor, shy but no fool, half unconsciously acknowledged the compliment. It was only because he was of an argumentative mind that in their cabin at night he permitted himself to carp."Mrs. Davidson was saying she didn't know how they'd have got through the journey if it hadn't been for us," said Mrs. Macphail, as she neatly brushed out her transformation. "She said we were really the only people on the ship they cared to know.""I shouldn't have thought a missionary was such a big bug that he could afford to put on frills.""It's not frills. I quite understand what she means. It wouldn't have been very nice for the Davidsons to have to mix with all that rough lot in the smoking-room.""The founder of their religion wasn't so exclusive," said Dr. Macphail with a chuckle."I've asked you over and over again not to joke about religion," answered hiswife. "I shouldn't like to have a nature like yours, Alec. You never look for the best in people."He gave her a sidelong glance with his pale, blue eyes, but did not reply. After many years of married life he had learned that it was more conducive to peace to leave his wife with the last word. He was undressed before she was, and climbing into the upper bunk he settled down to read himself to sleep.When he came on deck next morning they were close to land. He looked at it with greedy eyes. There was a thin strip of silver beach rising quickly to hills covered to the top with luxuriant vegetation. The coconut trees, thick and green, came nearly to the water's edge, and among them you saw the grass houses of the Samoaris; and here and there, gleaming white, a little church. Mrs. Davidson came and stood beside him. She was dressed in black, and wore round her neck a gold chain, from which dangled a small cross. She was a little woman, with brown, dull hair very elaborately arranged, and she had prominent blue eyes behind invisible pince-nez. Her face was long, like a sheep's, but she gave no impression of foolishness, rather of extreme alertness; she had the quick movements of a bird. The most remarkable thing about her was her voice, high, metallic, and without inflection; it fell on the ear with a hard monotony, irritating to the nerves like the pitiless clamour of the pneumatic drill."This must seem like home to you," said Dr. Macphail, with his thin, difficult smile."Ours are low islands, you know, not like these. Coral. These are volcanic. We've got another ten days' journey to reach them.""In these parts that's almost like being in the next street at home," said Dr. Macphail facetiously."Well, that's rather an exaggerated way of putting it, but one does look at distances differently in the J South Seas. So far you're right."Dr. Macphail sighed faintly."I'm glad we're not stationed here," she went on. "They say this is a terribly difficult place to work in. The steamers' touching makes the people unsettled; and then there's the naval station; that's bad for the natives. In our district we don't have difficulties like that to contend with. There are one or two traders, of course, but we take care to make them behave, and if they don't we make the place so hot for them they're glad to go."Fixing the glasses on her nose she looked at the green island with a ruthless stare."It's almost a hopeless task for the missionaries here. I can never be sufficiently thankful to God that we are at least spared that."Davidson's district consisted of a group of islands to the North of Samoa; they were widely separated and he had frequently to go long distances by canoe. At these times his wife remained at their headquarters and managed the mission. Dr. Macphail felt his heart sink when he considered the efficiency with which she certainly managed it. She spoke of the depravity of the natives in a voice which nothing could hush, but with a vehemently unctuous horror. Her sense of delicacy was singular. Early in their acquaintance she had said to him:"You know, their marriage customs when we first settled in the islands were so shocking that I couldn't possibly describe them to you. But I'll tell Mrs. Macphail and she'll tell you."Then he had seen his wife and Mrs. Davidson, their deck-chairs close together, in earnest conversation for about two hours. As he walked past them backwards and forwards for the sake of exercise, he had heard Mrs. Davidson's agitated whisper, like the distant flow of a mountain torrent, and he saw by his wife's open mouth and pale face that she was enjoying an alarming experience. At night in their cabin she repeated to him with bated breath all she had heard.nd the treasures to be found there.11. A have12. C to offer13. B to provide14. D decide15. A cultuer16. B perfered17. D similar18. D easy19. B unapproachalbe20. D sociable21. B say22. B sociabel23. A young24. D 25C26. D role27. C effects28. B offer29. D exercise30. A features（注：可编辑下载，若有不当之处，请指正，谢谢!）。
2014年英语专业八级真题及答案
2014年英语专业八级真题及答案PART I LISTENING COMPREHENSIONSECTION A MINI-LECTUREIn this section, you will hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening, take notes on the important points. Your n otes will not be marked, but you will need them to complete a gap-filling task after the mini-lecture. When the lecture is over, you will be given t wo minutes to check your notes, and another ten minutes to complete t he gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE, using no more than three wo rds in each gap. Make sure the word(s) you fill in is (are) both grammatic ally and semantically acceptable. You may refer to your notes while com pleting the task. Use the blank sheet for note-taking. Now listen to the m ini-lecture.In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the correct answer to e ach question on ANSWER SHEET TWO.Questions 1 to 5 are based on an interview. At the end of the intervi ew you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following five que stions.Now listen to the interview.1.What is the main purpose of Angelina's visit to Iraq?[A] To draw attention to the refugee crisis.[B] To look after refugees in Iraq.[C] To work for U.N.H.C.R.[D] To work out a plan for refugees.2.From the interview we know that Angelina _________.[A] was strongly opposed to officials’ opinions[B] thought young kids should be given priority[C] was much worried about the lack of action[D] proposed that policies be made promptly3.Which of the following BEST explains what the global community should do?[A] To supervise the construction of schools.[B] To take prompt and effective actions.[C] To provide water and power supply.[D] To prevent instability and aggression.4.According to Angelina, what is the key issue in solving the refugee problem?[A] The current situation in Iraq.[B] The politics in the Middle East[C] Refugees returning to normal life.[D] International and domestic efforts.5.Angelina saw her trip to Iraq significant because she could______ ___.[A] help others know where the problems were[B] help bring NGOs back to the region[C] talk to different people there[D] read the official papersIn this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the correct answer to e ach question on ANSWER SHEET TWO.Question 6 is based on the following news. At the end of the news i tem, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the question.Now listen to the news.6.What is the main idea of the news item?[A] Alitalia's attempt to help Wind Jet out.[B] Cancellation of flights at Rome Airport[C] Problems caused by Wind Jet's cash shortage.[D] Expected changes of Wind Jet’s flight destinations.Question 7 and 8 are based on the following news. At the end of th e news item, you will be given 20 seconds to answer the question.Now listen to the news.7.What did the researchers discover in northern Kenya?[A] A human tooth.[B] A human skull.[C] Three species of humans.[D] Three human fossils.8.What was the significance of the discovery?[A] The findings were published in Nature.[B] It supported an existing assumption.[C] Most research questions were answered.[D] More research efforts were encouraged.Questions 9 and 10 are based on the following news. At the end of t he news item, you will be given 20 seconds to answer the questions.Now listen to the news.9.The airport originally decided to cover up the poster because ___ _______[A] some international travellers complained[B] the art exhibition was to be postponed[C] other artists works were absent from ads[D] real-life models would appear on the scene10.What was the reaction of the National Galleries of Scotland?[A]Horrified.[B] Indignant.[C] Surprised.[D] Outraged.In this section there are four reading passages followed be a total of 20 multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then mark the best answer to each question on ANSWER SHEER TWO.TEXT AMy class at Harvard Business School helps students understand wha t good management theory is and how it is built. In each session, we loo k at one company through the lenses of different theories, using them to explain how the company got into its situation and to examine what acti on will yield the needed results. On the last day of class, I asked my class to turn those theoretical lenses on themselves to find answers to two qu estions: First, How can I be sure I’ll be happy in my career? Second, how can I be sure my relationships with my spouse and my family will becom e an enduring source of happiness? Here are some management tools th at can be used to help you lead a purposeful life.1. Use Your Resources Wisely. Your decisions about allocating your personal time, energy, and talent shape your life’s strategy. I have a bun ch of “businesses” that compete for these resources:I’m trying to have a rewarding relationship with my wife, raise great kids, contribute to my c ommunity, succeed in my career, and contribute to my church. And I hav e exactly the same problem that a corporation does. I have a limited am ount of time, energy and talent. How much do I devote to each of these pursuits?Allocation choices can make your life turn out to very different from what you intended.Sometimes that’s good: opportunities that you have never planned for emerge. But if you don’t invest your resources wisely, the outcome can be bad. As I think about people who inadvertently inve sted in lives of hollow unhappiness, I can’t help believing that their troub les related right back to a short-term perspective.When people with a high need for achievement have an extra half h our of time or an extra ounce of energy, they’ll unconsciously allocate it to activities that yield the most tangible accomplishments. Our careers p rovide the most concrete evidence that we’re moving forward.You ship a product, finish a design, complete a presentation, close a sale teach a class, publish a paper, get paid, get promoted. In contrast, investing time a nd energy in your relationships with your spouse and children typically d oesn’t offer the same immediate sense of achievement. Kids misbehave every day. It’s really not until 20 years down the road that you can say, “I raised a good son or a good daughter.” You can neglect your relations hip with your spouse and on a daily basis it doesn’t seem as if thing are d eteriorating. People who are driven to excel have this unconscious prope nsity to underinvest in their families and overinvest in their careers, eve n though intimate and loving family relationships are the most powerful and enduring source of happiness.If you study the root causes of business disasters, over and over you ’ll find this predisposition toward endeavors that offer immediate gratific ation. If you look at personal lives through that lens,you’ll see that same stunning and sobering pattern: people allocating fewer and fewer resour ces to the things they would have once said mattered most.2. Create A Family Culture. It’s one thing to see into the foggy future with a acuity and chart the course corrections a company must make. But it’s quite another to persuade employees to line up and work cooper atively to take the company in that new direction.When there is little agreement, you have to use “power tools”– coercion, threats, punishments and so on, to secure cooperation. But if employee’s ways of working together succeed over and over, consensus begins to form. Ultimately, people don ‘t even think about whether thei r way yields success. They embrace priorities and follow procedures by i nstinct and assumption rather than by explicit decision, which means tha t they’ve created a culture. Culture, in compelling but unspoken ways, di ctates the proven, acceptable methods by which member s of a group ad dress recurrent problems. And culture defines the priority given to differ ent types of problems. It can be a powerful management tool.I use this model to address the question, How can I be my family be comes an enduring source of happiness? My students quickly see that th e simplest way parents can elicit cooperation from children is to wield p ower tools. But there comes a point during the teen years when power t ools no longer work. At that point, parents start wishing they had begun working with their children at a very young age to build a culture in whic h children instinctively behave respectfully toward one another, obey th eir parents, and choose the right thing to do. Families have cultures, just as companies do. Those cultures can be built consciously.If you want your kids to have strong self-esteem and the confidence that they can solve hard problems, those qualities won’t magically mate rialize in high school. You have to design them into your family’s culture and you have think about this very early on. Like employees, children bui ld self-esteem by doing things that are hard and learning what works.11. According to the author, the key to successful allocation of reso urces in your life depends on whether you ________.A. can manage your time wellB. have long-term planningC. are lucky enough to have new opportunitiesD. can solve both company and family problems12. What is the role of the statement “Our careers provide the most concrete evidence that we’re moving forward” with reference to the pr evious statement in the paragraph?A. To offer further explanationB. To provide a definitionC. To present a contrastD. To illustrate career development13. According to the author, a common cause of failure in business and family relationships is ________.A. lack of planningB. short-sightednessC. shortage of resourcesD. decision by instinct14. According to the author, when does culture begin to emerge __ ______.A. When people decide what and how to do by instinctB. When people realize the importance of consensusC. When people as a group decide how to succeedD. When people use “power tools” to reach agreement15. One of the similarities between company culture and family cult ure is that ________.A. problem-solving ability is essentialB. cooperation is the foundationC. respect and obedience are key elementsD. culture needs to be nurturedText BIt was nearly bedtime and when they awoke next morning land wou ld be in sight. Dr. Macphail lit his pipe and, leaning over the rail, searche d the heavens for the Southern Cross. After two years at the front and a wound that had taken longer to heal than it should, he was glad to settle down quietly at Apia (阿皮亚，西萨摩亚首都) for twelve months at least, and he felt already better for the journey. Since some of the passengers were leaving the ship next day they had h ad a little dance that evening and in his ears hammered still the harsh no tes of the mechanical piano. But the deck was quiet at last. A little way o ff he saw his wife in a long chair talking with the Davidsons, and he stroll ed over to her. When he sat down under the light and took off his hat yo u saw that he had very red hair, with a bald patch on the crown, and the red, freckled skin which accompanies red hair; he was a man of forty, thi n, with a pinched face, precise and rather pedantic; and he spoke with a Scots accent in a very low, quiet voice.Between the Macphails and the Davidsons, who were missionaries, there had arisen the intimacy of shipboard, which is due to proximity rat her than to any community of taste. Their chief tie was the disapproval t hey shared of the men who spent their days and nights in the smoking-r oom playing poker or bridge and drinking. Mrs. Macphail was not a little flattered to think that she and her husband were the only people on boa rd with whom the Davidsons were willing to associate,and even the doct or, shy but no fool, half unconsciously acknowledged the compliment. It was because he was of an argumentative mind that in their cabin at nigh t he permitted himself to carp (唠叨).‘Mrs. Davidson was saying she didn’t know how they’d have got thr ough the journey if it hadn’t been for us,’ said Mrs. Macphail, as she neat ly brushed out her transformation (假发).‘She said we were really the only people on the ship they cared to know.’‘I shouldn’t have thought a missionary was such a big bug (要人、名士) that he could afford to put on frills (摆架子).’‘It’s not frills. I quite understand what she means. It wouldn’t have been very nice for the Davidsons to have to mix with all that rough lot in the smoking-room.’‘The founder of their religion wasn’t so exclusive,’ said Dr. Macphail with a chuckle.‘I’ve asked you over and over again not to joke about religion,’ answ ered his wife.‘I shouldn’t like to have a nature like yours, Alec. You never look for the best in people.’He gave her a sidelong glance with his pale, blue eyes, but did not r eply. After many years of married life he had learned that it was more co nducive to peace to leave his wife with the last word.He was undressed before she was, and climbing into the upper bunk he settled down to rea d himself to sleep.When he came on deck next morning they were close to land. He lo oked at it with greedy eyes.There was a thin strip of silver beach rising q uickly to hills covered to the top with luxuriant vegetation. The coconut trees, thick and green, came nearly to the water’s edge, and among them you saw the grass houses of the Samoaris (萨摩亚人); and here and there, gleaming white, a little church. Mrs. Davidson c ame and stood beside him. She was dressed in black, and wore round he r neck a gold chain, from which dangled a cross. She was a little woman, with brown, dull hair very elaborately arranged, and she had prominent blue eyes behind invisible pince-nez (夹鼻眼镜). Her face was long, like a sheep’s, but she gave no impression of fooli shness, rather of extreme alertness; she had the quick movements of a b ird. The most remarkable thing about her was her voice, high, metallic, a nd without inflection; it fell on the ear with a hard monotony, irritating t o the nerves like the pitiless clamor of the pneumatic drill.‘This must seem like home to you,’ said Dr. Macphail, with his thin, difficult smile.‘Ours are low islands, you know, not like these. Coral. These are vol canic. We’ve got another ten days' journey to reach them.’‘In these parts that’s almost like being in the next street at home,’ s aid Dr. Macphail facetiously.‘Well,that’s rather an exaggerated way of putting it, but one does l ook at distances differently in the J South Seas. So far you’re right.’Dr. Macphail sighed faintly.16. It can be inferred from the first paragraph that Dr. Macphail ___ _____.A. preferred quietness to noiseB. enjoyed the sound of the mechanical pianoC. was going back to his hometownD. wanted to befriend the Davidsons17. The Macphails and the Davidsons were in each other’e company because they ________.A. had similar experienceB. liked each otherC. shared dislike for some passengersD. had similar religious belief18. Which of the following statements BEST describes Mrs. Macphai l?A. She was good at making friendsB. She was prone to quarrelling with her husbandC. She was skillful in dealing with strangersD. She was easy to get along with.19. All the following adjectives can be used to depict Mrs. Davidson EXCEPT ________.A. arrogantB. unapproachableC. unpleasantD. irritable20. Which of the following statements about Dr. Macphail is INCOR RECT?A. He was sociable.B. He was intelligent.C. He was afraid of his wife.D. He was fun of the Davidsons.Text CToday we make room for a remarkably narrow range of personality styles. We're told that to be great is to be bold, to be happy is to be soci able. We see ourselves as a nation of extroverts — which means that we' ve lost sight of who we really are. One-third to one-half of Americans are introverts — in the other words, one out of every two or three people y ou know. If you're not an introvert yourself, you are surely raising,manag ing, married to, or coupled with one.If these statistics surprise you, that's probably because so many peo ple pretend to be extroverts.Closet introverts pass undetected on playgr ounds, in high school locker rooms, and in the corridors of corporate Am erica. Some fool even themselves, until some life event — a layoff, an e mpty nest, an inheritance that frees them to spend time as they like — j olts them into taking stock of their true natures. You have only to raise this subject with your friends and acquaintances to find that the most unl ikely people consider themselves introverts.It makes sense that so many introverts hide even from themselves. We live with a value system that I call the Extrovert Ideal— the omnipres ent belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha, and comfortable in the spotlight. The archetypal extrovert prefers action to contemplation, risk-taking to heed-taking, certainty to doubt. He favors quick decisions, even at the risk of being wrong. She works well in teams and socializes in gro ups. We like to think that we value individuality, but all too often we ad mire one type of individual — the kind who's comfortable "putting hims elf out there." Sure, we allow technologically gifted loners who launch co mpanies in garages to have any personality they please, but they are the exceptions, not the rule, and our tolerance extends mainly to those who get fabulously wealthy or hold the promise of doing so.Introversion — along with its cousin’s sensitivity, seriousness, and s hyness — is now a second-class personality trait, somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology. Introverts living under the Extrovert Id eal are like women in a man's world, discounted because of a trait that g oes to the core of who they are. Extroversion is an enormously appealingpersonality style, but we've turned it into an oppressive standard to whi ch most of us feel we must conform.The Extrovert Ideal has been documented in many studies, though t his research has never been grouped under a single name. Talkative peo ple, for example, are rated as smarter, better-looking,more interesting, a nd more desirable as friends. Velocity of speech counts as well as volum e: we rank fast talkers as more competent and likable than slow ones. Ev en the word introvert is stigmatized — one informal study, by psychologi st Laurie Helgoe, found that introverts described their own physical appe arance in vivid language, but when asked to describe generic introverts t hey drew a bland and distasteful picture.But we make a grave mistake to embrace the Extrovert Ideal so unt hinkingly. Some of our greatest ideas, art, and inventions — from the the ory of evolution to van Gogh's sunflowers to the personal computer — c ame from quiet and cerebral people who knew how to tune in to their in ner worlds and the treasures to be found there.21. According to the author, there exists, as far as personality styles are concerned, a discrepancy between ________.A. what people say they can do and what they actually canB. what society values and what people pretend to beC. what people profess and what statistics showD. what people profess and what they hide from others22. The ideal extrovert is described as being all the following EXCEP T ________.A. doubtfulB. sociableC. determinedD. bold23. According to the author, our society only permits ________ to h ave whatever personality they like.A. the youngB. the ordinaryC. the artisticD. the rich24. According to the passage, which of the following statements BE ST reflects the author’s opinion?A. Introversion is seen as an inferior trait because of its association with sensitivity.B. Extroversion is arbitrary forced by society as a norm upon people .C. Introverts are generally regarded as either unsuccessful or as defi cient.D. Extroversion and introversion have similar personality trait profil es.25. The author winds up the passage with a ________ note.A. cautiousB. warningC. positiveD. humorousText DSpeaking two languages rather than just one has obvious practical b enefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent years, scientistshave begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more f undamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people.Be ing bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effe ct on your brain,improving cognitive skills not related to language and ev en shielding against dementia （痴呆） in old age.This view of bilingualism is remarkably different from the understan ding of bilingualism through much of the 20th century. Researchers, edu cators and policy makers long considered a second language to be an int erference, cognitively speaking, that hindered a child’s academic and int ellectual development.They were not wrong about the interference: there is ample eviden ce that in a bilingual’s brain both language systems are active even when he is using only one language, thus creating situations in which one syst em obstructs the other. But this interference, researchers are finding out , isn’t so much a handicap as a blessing in disguise. It forces the brain to r esolve internal conflict,giving the mind a workout that strengthens its co gnitive muscles.The collective evidence from a number of such studies suggests tha t the bilingual experience improves the brain’s so-called executive functi on — a command system that directs the attention processes that we us e for planning, solving problems and performing various other mentally demanding tasks. These processes include ignoring distractions to stay f ocused, switching attention willfully from one thing to another and holdi ng information in mind ? like remembering a sequence of directions whil e driving.Why does the tussle between two simultaneously active language s ystems improve these aspects of cognition? Until recently, researchers t hought the bilingual advantage stemmed primarily from ability for inhibi tion that was honed by the exercise of suppressing one language system: this suppression, it was thought, would help train the bilingual mind to i gnore distractions in other contexts. But that explanation increasingly ap pears to be inadequate, since studies have shown that bilinguals perfor m better than monolinguals even at tasks that do not require inhibition, l ike threading a line through an ascending series of numbers scattered ra ndomly on a page.The key difference between bilinguals and monolinguals may be mo re basic: a heightened ability to monitor the environment. “Bilinguals have to switch languages quite often? You may talk to your fa ther in one language and to your mother in another language,” says Albe rt Costa, a researcher at the University of Pompeu Fabra in Spain.“It requires keeping track of changes around you in the same way that w e monitor our surroundings when driving.” In a study comparing German -Italian bilinguals with Italian monolinguals on monitoring tasks, Mr. Cost a and his colleagues found that the bilingual subjects not only performed better, but they also did so with less activity in parts of the brain involve d in monitoring, indicating that they were more efficient at it.The bilingual experience appears to influence the brain from infanc y to old age, and there is reason to believe that it may also apply to thos e who learn a second language later in life.26. According to the passage, the more recent and old views of bilin gualism differ mainly in ________.A. its practical advantagesB. its role in cognitionC. perceived language fluencyD. its role in medicine27. The fact that interference is now seen as a blessing in disguise means that ________.A. it has led to unexpectedly favorable resultsB. its potential benefits have remained undiscoveredC. its effects on cognitive development have been minimalD. only a few researchers have realized its advantages28. What is the role of Paragraph Four in relation to Paragraph Thre e?A. It provides counter evidence to Paragraph Three.B. It offers another example of the role of interference.C. It serves as a transitional paragraph in the passage.D. It further illustrates the point in Paragraph Three.29. Which of the following can account for better performance of bi linguals in doing non-inhibition tasks?A. An ability to monitor surroundings.B. An ability to ignore distractions.C. An ability to perform with less effort.D. An ability to exercise suppression.30. What is the main theme of the passage?A. Features of bilinguals and monolinguals.B. Interference and suppression.C. Bilinguals and monitoring tasks.D. Reasons why bilinguals are smarter.There are ten multiple-choice questions in this section. Mark the be st answer to each question on ANSWER SHEET TWO.31. Which of the following is the French-speaking city in Canada?A. VancouverB. OttawaC. MontrealD. Toronto32. Which of the following are natives of New Zealand?A. The MaorisB. The AboriginalsC. The Red IndiansD. The Eskimos33. The established or national church in England is ________.A. the Roman Catholic ChurchB. the United Reformed ChurchC. the Anglican ChurchD. the Methodist Church34. The thirteen former British colonies in North America declared i ndependence from Great Britain in ________.A. 1774B. 1775C. 1776D. 177735.“Grace under pressure” is an outstanding virtue of ________ heroes.A. Scott Fitzgerald’sB. Ernest Hemingway’sC. Eugene O’Neill’sD. William Faulkner’s36. Widowers’ House was written by ________.A. John GalsworthyB. George Bernard ShawC. William Butler YeatsD. T. S. Eliot37. Who wrote The Canterbury Tales?A. William ShakespeareB. William BlakeC. Geoffrey ChaucerD. John Donne38. Which of the following pairs of words are homophones?A. wind (v.) / wind (n.)B. suspect (v.) / suspect (n.)C. convict (v.) / convict (n.)D. bare (adj.) / bear (v.)39. Which of the following sentences has the “S+V+O” structure?A. He died a hero.B. I went to London.C. Mary enjoyed parties.D. She became angry.40. Which of the following CAN NOT be used as an adverbial?A. The lion’s shareB. Heart and soul.C. Null and void.D. Hammer and tongs.The passage contains TEN errors. Each indicated line contains a max imum of one error. In each case, only ONE word is involved. You should proof-read the passage and correct it in the following way:For a wrong word, underline the wrong word and write the correct one in the blank provided at the end of the line.For a missing word, mark the position of the missing word with a “^” sign and write the word you believe to be missing in the blank provided at the end of the line.For an unnecessary word, cross the unnecessary word with a slash “/” and put the word in the blank provided at the end of the line.There is widespread consensus among scholars that second languag e acquisition (SLA) emerged as a distinct field of research from the late 1 950s to early 1960s.There is a high level of agreement that the following questions (1) ______have possessed the most attention of researchers in this area: (2) ______。
2014专八英语阅读理解
2014专八英语阅读理解Ah, the English proficiency exam in 2014, it was quite a challenge! I remember the reading comprehension section; it really tested our comprehension skills. One passage talked about the impact of technology on society, how it's changed the way we communicate and do things. It waswritten in a really informative tone, with facts andfigures to back up the points.Another passage was more descriptive, talking about a journey through a remote part of the world. The language was vivid, painting a picture in my mind as I read. I could almost smell the air and hear the sounds described.There was also a passage on the history of a famous invention. It had a more narrative style, telling the story of how it came to be and the impact it had. It was fascinating to read about the struggles and triumphs of the inventors.One passage stood out to me because of its use of humor. It was about the challenges of learning a new language and the funny mishaps that can happen. It made me laugh outloud while also nodding in agreement at the struggles described.Lastly, there was a passage on current environmental issues. It was written in a very passionate tone, urging readers to take action. The language was strong and emotive, making me feel the urgency of the situation.Overall, the reading comprehension section in the 2014 English proficiency exam was diverse and challenging. It really tested our ability to understand different types of writing and grasp the key ideas from each passage. It was a great experience!。
2014英语专业八级真题及答案
TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2014) GRADE EIGHTPART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION (35 MIN)SECTION A MINI-LECTURENow, listen to the mini-lecture.How to Reduce StressLife is full of things that cause us sress. Though we may not like stress, we have to live with it.I. Definition of stressA. (1) reactioni.e.force exerted between two touching bodiesB. human reactioni.e. response to (2) on someonee.g. increase in breathing, heart rate, (3) ,or muscle tensionII. (4) ,A. positive stresswhere it occurs: Christmas, wedding, (5)B. negative stresswhere it occurs: test-taking situations, friend’s deathIII. Ways to cope with stressA. recoginition of stress signals—monitor for (6) of stress—find ways to protect oneselfB. attention to body demand—effect of (7)C. planning and acting appropriately—reason for planning—(8) of planningD. learning to (9)—e.g. dlay caused by trafficE. pacing activities—manageable task—(10)SECTION B INTERVIEWIn this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the best answer to each question on ANSWER SHEET TWO.Questions 1 to 5 are based on an interview. At the end of the interview you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following five questions.Now listen to the interview.1. According to the interviewer, which of the following best indicates the relationship between choice and mobility?A. Better education→ greater mobility→more choices.B. Better education→more choices→greater mobility.C. Greater mobility→better education→more choices.D. Greater mobility→more choices→better education.2. According to the interview, which of the following details about the first poll is INCORRECT?A. Shorter work hours was least chosen for being most important.B. Chances for advancement might have been favoured by young people.D. Job security came second according to the poll results.3. According to the interviewee, which is the main difference between the first and the second poll?A. The type of respondents who were invited.B. The way in which the questions were designed.C. The content area of the questions.D. The number of poll questions.4. What can we learn from the respondents' answers to items 2, 4 and 7 in the second poll?A. Recognition from colleagues should be given less importance.B. Workers are always willing and ready to learn more new skills.C. Psychological reward is more important than material one.D. Work will have to be made interesting to raise efficiency.5. According to the interviewee, which of the following can offer both psychological and monetary benefits?A. Contact with many people.B. Chances for advancement.C. Appreciation from coworkers.D. Chances to learn new skills.SECTION C NEWS BROADCASTIn this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the best answer to each question on ANSWER SHEET TWO.Questions 6 and 7 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 20 seconds to answer the questions.Now listen to the news.6. According to the news item, "sleepboxes" are designed to solve the problems ofA. airports.B. passengers.C. architects.7. Which of the following is NOT true with reference to the news?A. Sleepboxes can be rented for different lengths of time.B. Renters of normal height can stand up inside.C. Bedding can be automatically changed.D. Renters can take a shower inside the box.Question 8 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the question.Now listen to the news.8. What is the news item mainly about?A. London's preparations for the Notting Hill Carnival.B. Main features of the Notting Hill Carnival.C. Police's preventive measures for the carnival.D. Police participation in the carnival.Questions 9 and 10 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 20 seconds to answer the questions.Now listen to the news.9. The news item reports on a research finding aboutA. the Dutch famine and the Dutch women.B. early malnutrition and heart health.C. the causes of death during the famine.D. nutrition in childhood and adolescence.10. When did the research team carry out the study?A. At the end of World War II.B. Between 1944 and 1945.C. In the 1950s.D. In 2007.PART II READING COMPREHENSION (30 MIN)TEXT AIf you study the root causes of business disasters, over and over you’ll find this predisposition toward endeavors that offer immediate gratification. If you look at personal lives through that lens, you’ll see that same stunning and sobering pattern:people allocating fewer and fewer resources to the things they would have once said mattered most.If you want your kids to have strong self-esteem and the confidence that they can solve hard problems, those qualities won’t magically materialize in high school. You have to design them into family’s culture and you have think about this very early on. Like employees, children build self-esteem by doing things that are hard and learning what works.11. According to the author, the key to successful allocation of resources in your life depends on whether youA. can manage your time wellB. have long-term planning12. What is the role of the statement “Our careers provide the most concrete evidence that we’re moving forward” with reference to the previous statement in the paragraph?A. To offer further explanationB. To provide a definitionC. To present a contrastD. To illustrate career developmentA. lack of planningB. short-sightednessC. shortage of resourcesD. decision by instinct14. According to the author, when does culture begin to emergeA. When people decide what and how to do by instinctB. When people realize the importance of consensusC. When people as a group decide how to succeedD. When people use “power tools” to reach agreementA. problem-solving ability is essentialB. cooperation is the foundationC. respect and obedience are key elementsD. culture needs to be nurturedText B‘Mrs. Davidson was saying she didn’t know how they’d have got through the journey if it hadn’t been for us,’ said Mrs. Macphail, as she neatly brushed out her transformation (假发). ‘She said we were really the only people on the ship they cared to know.’‘I shouldn’t have thought a missionary was such a big bug (要人、名士) that he could afford to put on frills (摆架子).’‘It’s not frills. I quite understand what she means. It wouldn’t have been very nice for the Davidsons to have to mix with all that rough lot in the smoking-room.’‘The founder of their religion wasn’t so exclusive,’ said Dr. Macphail with a chuckle.‘I’ve asked you over and over again not to joke about religion,’ answered his wife. ‘I shouldn’t like to have a nature like yours, Alec. You never look for the best in people.’He gave her a sidelong glance with his pale, blue eyes, but did not reply. After many years of married life he had learned that it was more conducive to peace to leave his wife with the last word. He was undressed before she was, and climbing into the upper bunk he settled down to read himself to sleep.When he came on deck next morning they were close to land. He looked at it with greedy eyes. There was a thin strip of silver beach rising quickly to hills covered to the top with luxuriant vegetation. The coconut trees, thick and green, came nearly to the water’s edge, and among them you saw the grass houses of the Samoaris (萨摩亚人); and here and there, gleaming white, a little church. Mrs. Davidson came and stood beside him. She was dressed in black, and wore round her neck a gold chain, from which dangled a small cross. She was a little woman, with brown, dull hair very elaborately arranged, and she had prominent blue eyes behind invisible pince-nez (夹鼻眼镜). Her face was long, like a sheep’s, but she gave no impressionof foolishness, rather of extreme alertness; she had the quick movements of a bird. The most remarkable thing about her was her voice, high, metallic, and without inflection; it fell on the ear with a hard monotony, irritating to the nerves like the pitiless clamour of the pneumatic drill.‘This must seem like home to you,’ said Dr. Macphail, with his thin, difficult smile.‘Ours are low islands, you know, not like these. Coral. These are volcanic. We’ve got another ten days'' journey to reach them.’‘In these parts that’s almost like being in the next street at home,’ said Dr. Macphail facetiously.‘Well, that’s rather an exaggerated way of putting it, but one does look at distances differently in the J South Seas. So far you’re right.’Dr. Macphail sighed faintly.16. It can be inferred from the first paragraph that Dr. MacphailA. preferred quietness to noiseB. enjoyed the sound of the mechanical pianoC. was going back to his hometownD. wanted to befriend the DavidsonsA. had similar experienceB. liked each otherC. shared dislike for some passengersD. had similar religious belief18. Which of the following statements best DESCRIBES Mrs. Macphail?A. She was good at making friendsB. She was prone to quarrelling with her husbandC. She was skillful in dealing with strangersD. She was easy to get along with.19. All the following adjectives can be used to depict Mrs. Davidson EXCEPTA. arrogantB. unapproachableC. unpleasantD. irritable20. Which of the following statements about Dr. Macphail is INCORRECT?A. He was sociable.B. He was intelligent.C. He was afraid of his wife.D. He was fun of the Davidsons.Text CToday we make room for a remarkably narrow range of personality styles. We're told that to be great is to be bold, to be happy is to be sociable. We see ourselves as a nation of extroverts—which means that we've lost sight of who we really are. One-third to one-half of Americans are introverts—in the other words, one out of every two or three people you know. If you're not an introvert yourself, you are surely raising, managing, married to, or coupled with one.If these statistics surprise you, that's probably because so many people pretend to be extroverts. Closet introverts pass undetected on playgrounds, in high school locker rooms, and in the corridors of corporate America. Some fool even themselves, until some life event---a layoff, an empty nest, an inheritance that frees them to spend time as they like---jolts them into taking stock of their true natures. You have only to raise this subject with your friends and acquaintances to find that the most unlikely people consider themselves introverts.Introversion---along with its cousins sensitivity, seriousness, and shyness---is now a second-class personality trait, somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology. Introverts living under the Extrovert Ideal are like women in a man's world, discounted because of a trait that goes to the core of who they are. Extroversion is an enormously appealing personality style, but we've turned it into an oppressive standard to which most of us feel we must conform.21. According to the author, there exists, as far as personality styles are concerned, a discrepancy betweenA. what people say they can do and what they actually canB. what society values and what people pretend to beC. what people profess and what statistics showD. what people profess and what they hide from others22. The ideal extrovert is described as being all the following EXCEPTA. doubtfulB. sociableC. determinedD. bold23. According to the author, our society only permits ___ to have whatever personality they like.A. the youngB. the ordinaryC. the artisticD. the rich24. According to the passage, which of the following statements BEST reflects the author’s opinion?A. Introversion is seen as an inferior trait because of its association with sensitivity.B. Extroversion is arbitrary forced by society as a norm upon people.C. Introverts are generally regarded as either unsuccessful or as deficient.D. Extroversion and introversion have similar personality trait profiles.25. The author winds up the passage with a____ note.A. cautiousB. warningC. positiveD. humorousText DSpeaking two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people. Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age.This view of bilingualism is remarkably different from the understanding of bilingualism through much of the 20th century. Researchers, educators and policymakers long considered a second language to be an interference, cognitively speaking, that hindered a child’s academic and intellectual development.They were not wrong about the interference: there is ample evidence that in a bilingual’s brain both language systems are active even when he is using only one language, thus creating situations in which one system obstructs the other. But this interference, researchers are finding out, isn’t so much a handicap as a blessing in disguise. It forces the brain to resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles.Why does the tussle between two simultaneously active language systems improve these aspects of cognition? Until recently, researchers thought the bilingual advantage stemmed primarily from an ability for inhibition that was honed by the exercise of suppressing one language system: this suppression, it was thought, would help train the bilingual mind to ignore distractions in other contexts. But that explanation increasingly appears to be inadequate, since studies have shown that bilinguals perform better than monolinguals even at tasks that do not require inhibition, like threading a line through an ascending series of numbers scattered randomly on a page.The bilingual experience appears to influence the brain from infancy to old age (and there is reason to believe that it may also apply to those who learn a second language later in life).26. According to the passage, the more recent and old views of bilingualism differ mainly inA. its practical advantagesB. its role in cognitionC. perceived language fluencyD. its role in medicine27. The fact that interference is now seen as a blessing in disguise means thatA. it has led to unexpectedly favourable resultsB. its potential benefits have remained undiscoveredC. its effects on cognitive development have been minimalD. only a few researchers have realized its advantages28. What is the role of Paragraph Four in relation to Paragraph Three?A. It provides counter evidence to Paragraph Three.B. It offers another example of the role of interference.C. It serves as a transitional paragraph in the passage.D. It further illustrates the point in Paragraph Three.29. Which of the following can account for better performance of bilinguals in doing non-inhibition tasks?A. An ability to monitor surroundings.B. An ability to ignore distractions.C. An ability to perform with less effort.D. An ability to exercise suppression.30. What is the main theme of the passage?A. Features of bilinguals and monolinguals.B. Interference and suppression.C. Bilinguals and monitoring tasks.D. Reasons why bilinguals are smarter.PART III GENERAL KNOWLEDGE (10 MIN)31. Which of the following is the French-speaking city in Canada?A. VancouverB. OttawaC. MontrealD. Toronto32. Which of the following are natives of New Zealand?A. The MaorisB. The AboriginalsC. The Red IndiansD. The Eskimos33. The established or national church in England isA. the Roman Catholic ChurchB. the United Reformed ChurchC. the Anglican ChurchD. the Methodist Church34. The 13 former British colonies in North America declared independence from Great Britain inA. 1774B. 1775C. 1776D. 177735. “Grace under pressure” is an outstanding virtue of ____ heroes.A. Scott Fitzgerald’sB. Ernest Hemingway’sC. Eugene O’Neill’sD. William Faulkner’s36. Widowers’ House was written byA. William Butler YeatsB. George Bernard ShawC. John GalsworthyD. T. S. Eliot37. Who wrote The Canterbury Tales?A. William ShakespeareB. William BlakeC. Geoffrey ChaucerD. John Donne38. Which of the following pairs of words are homophones?A. wind (v.) / wind (n.)B. suspect (v.) / suspect (n.)C. convict (v.) / convict (n.)D. bare (adj.) / bear (v.)39. Which of the following sentences has the “S+V+O” structure?A. He died a hero.B. I went to London.C. Mary enjoyed parties.D. She became angry.40. Which of the following CAN NOT be used as an adverbial?A. The lion’s shareB. Heart and soul.C. Null and void.D. Hammer and tongs.PART IV PROOFREADING & ERROR CORRECTION (15 MIN)The passage contains TEN errors．Each indicated line contains a maximum of ONE error. Ineach case, only ONE word is involved．You should proof-read the passage and correct it in thefollowing way：For a wrong word，underline the wrong word and write the correct one in the blankprovided at the end of the line．For a missing word．mark the position of the missing word with a "^" sign and write theword you believe to be missing in the blank provided at the end ofthe line．For an unnecessary word，cross the unnecessary word with a slash”／”and put the word in theblank provided at the end of the line．EXAMPLEWhen ^ art museum wants a new exhibit，(1) anit never buys things in finished form and hangs (2) neverthem on the wall．When a natural history museumwants an exhibition, it must often build it．(3) exhibitThere is widespread consensus among scholars that second language acquisition (SLA) emerged as a distinct field of research from the late 1950s to early 1960s.There is a high level of agreement that the following questions (1) ______have possessed the most attention of researchers in this area:(2) ______Is it possible to acquire an additional language in thesame sense one acquires a first language? (3) ______What is the explanation for the fact adults have (4) ______more difficulty in acquiring additional languages than children have?What motivates people to acquire additional language?What is the role of the language teaching in the (5) ______acquisition of additional languages?What social-cultural factors, if any, are relevant in studying thelearning of additional languages?From a check of the literature of the field it is clear that all (6) ______the approaches adopted to study the phenomena of SLA so far haveof an additional language is that of an individual attempts to do(7) ______so. Whether one labels it “learning” or “acquiring” an additionalfocus is the cognitive, psychological, and institutional status of anindividual. That is, the spotlight is on what mental capabilities areinvolving, what psychological factors play a role in the learning(9) ______or acquisition, and whether the target language is learnt in theclassroom or acquired through social touch with native speakers.(10) ______PART V TRANSLATION (60 MIN)SECTION A CHINESE TO ENGLISH当我在小学毕了业的时候，亲友一致的愿意我去学手艺，好帮助母亲。
2014年职称英语综合类考试教材阅读判断文章及译文(8)
2014年职称英语综合类考试教材阅读判断文章及译文（8）2014年职称英语考试时间为3月29日。
小编为您整理职称英语教材中，阅读判断部分的文章及译文，希望对您有所助益。
AlaskaIn 1858 Americans welcomed Alaska into the Union as the 49th state， symbolizing a change of attitude that hold in 1867， when the peninsula was purchased from Russia. Then， most Americans had little interest in 1，500，000 square kilometers “of icebergs and polar bear”-beyond Canada s western borders， far from the settled areas of the United States.In those sections of the state which lie above the Arctic Circle， Alaska still is a land of icebergs and polar bear. Ice buried in the earth， which is permanently frozen to a depth of 90 or more meters， From early May until early August， the midnight sun never sets on this flat， treeless region， but the sun cannot melt the icy soil more than two-thirds of a meter down.Alaska is America s largest state， but only about 325，000 people live there. According to estimates， 800，000 hectares of its land area are fit for plowing but only about 640，000 hectares are being cultivated.Arctic Alaska has been the home of Eskimos for countless centuries. It is believed that the Eskimos moved there from Mongolia or Siberia， probably crossing Bering Strait， named for Vitus Bering， the Danish sea captain who discovered Alaska on his voyage for Russia in 1741. The Eskimos are the state s earliest known inhabitants. Russian fur traders established settlements but， by the time Alaska was sold to the United States， most of the traders had departed.In 1896 gold was discovered near the Klondike River in Canada just across the Alaskan border. Thousand of Americans rushed to the region on their way to Klondike; some never returned. Alaska was never completely cut off again， although even today transportation is a major problem. There are only two motor routes from the U.S mainland， and within the state， every town has its own airfield. Planes fly passengers， mail and freight to the most distant villages.The gold that changed life so suddenly for Alaska was soon ended， and although many storiesabout mining camps have become part of American literature， the gold from Alaskan earth contributed less to economic progress than the fish from Alaska waters. The fish caught in a single year range in value from $80 million to $ 90 million. Fur-bearing animals are plentiful in the forests and streams， and valuable fur seals inhabit the waters. After fishing， the state s chief industry is lumber and the production of wood pulp. In recent years， Alaska s single most important resource has become oil. The state also has large deposits of coal，copper， gold and other minerals.词汇：symbolize 象征 fur-bearing 有毛皮的peninsular 半岛 lumber 伐木，木材hectares 公顷 pulp 木浆range (在一定范围内)变化，变动注释：1.In 1959 Americans welcomed Alaska into the Union as the 49th state. 1959 年美国人欢迎阿拉斯加成为美国的第49个州。
2014年专业八级考试试题及答案解析(一)
专业八级考试试题及答案解析(一)一、Listening Comprehension (News Broadcast)（共4小题,共4.0分）In this section, you will hear several news items. Listen to them carefully and then answer the questions that follow.第1题According to the news, US consumer confidence ______.A slipped in five successive monthsB slipped in seven successive monthsC has dropped to its lowest level in five yearsD slipped one more point this month【正确答案】：A【本题分数】：1.0分【答案解析】[听力原文]US consumer confidence dropped in November for the fifth straight month to its lowest level in more than seven years (1). The latest survey, a key indicator for the US economy, was released Tuesday by the Conference Board, a private business research group. The latest numbers show Americans are increasingly worried about jobs, as the number of unemployed keeps rising this year. Consumer confidence slipped another few points this month, more than experts were predicting. The figures show consumers are more concerned about the present economic situation than they have been in recent years. Also, persistent fears over terrorism apparently are adding to the people's worries (2). Economists say signs of falling confidence in the US economy could not have come at a worse time. It suggests less robust shopping during the end of the year holiday season. US retailers are already gloomy, as customers worried about their current financial situation seem to be shopping more cautiously. Consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of US economic activity.题目问美国消费者信心下滑的情况。
96--2014专业八级历年英译汉真题解析
专业八级历年英译汉真题解析（1996-2014）1996年专八英译汉试题原文Four months before Election Day 1, five men gathered in a small conference room at the Reagan-Bush headquarters 2 and reviewed an oversize calendar that marked the remaining days of the 1984 presidential campaign. It was the last Saturday in June and at ten o'clock in the morning the rest of the office was practically deserted 3. Even so, the men kept the door slut and the drapes carefully drawn. The three principals and their two deputies had come from around the country for a critical meeting 4. Their aim was to devise a strategy 5 that would guarantee Ronald Reagan's resounding reelection to a second term in the White House.It should have been easy. They were battle-tested veterans 6 with long ties to Reagan and even longer ties to the Republican Party, men who understood presidential politics 7 as well as any in the country. The backdrop 8 of the campaign was hospitable, with lots of good news to work with: America was at peace, and the nation's economy, a key factor in any election, was rebounding vigorously after recession. Furthermore, the campaign itself was lavishly financed 9 , with plenty of money for a top-flight staff 10 , travel, and television commercials. And, most important, their candidate was Ronald Reagan, a president of tremendous personal popularity and dazzling communication skills 11. Reagan has succeeded more than any president since John F. Kennedy in projecting a broad vision of America —a nation of renewed military strength, individual initiative, and smaller federal government 12.【概述】本文是一篇典型的关于美国政治的时事杂文，用词色彩强烈，修饰语具有极端性和渲染性的特点。