全国2008年10月高等教育自学考试
英语阅读（二）试题
课程代码：00596
 
请将答案填在答题纸相应的位置上。全部题目用英文作答（翻译题除外）
I. Reading Comprehension. （50 points, 2 points for each）
Directions: In this part of the test, there are five passages. Following each passage, there are five questions with four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer and then write the corresponding letter on your Answer Sheet.
Passage One
Whether you’re delivering a speech, approaching your boss for a raise or addressing audience on an important social occasion, do your homework. The most polished, smoothly delivered, spontaneous-sounding talks are the result of many hours of work. The memorable one-liners and moving phrases that go down in history don’t come from last minute burst of inspiration.
If you’re making a presentation of any sort, begin preparing as far ahead of time as possible. “Good writing,” says Harvard University historian Richard Marius, “is a kind of wrestling with thought.” Begin the wrestling match early. Two days before your presentation is usually too late to go into the ring and come up with a winning idea.
Prepare yourself as well as your material, giving special attention to your voice. A shrill, nasal tone strikes your listener like chalk screeching on a blackboard. By putting energy and resonance into your voice, you will have a positive effect. If your voice is timid or quivers with nervousness, you sense it, the audience hears it, and you see discomfort in their eyes. With energy and enthusiasm in your voice, the listeners say ahhh, tell me more. You read approval.
Like your voice, your appearance is a communication tool. For example, if you are animated, you are most likely to see animated listeners. You give the audience the message: I’m glad I’m here; I’m glad you’re here.
However, don’t ever assume that an audience, an interviewer, your boss will be sympathetic. Always be prepared for a grilling. Think beforehand of the ten toughest questions you could get and be ready with your answers. And remember, when you’re asked a hostile question, never show hostility to your questioner. If you do, you lose.
While the hostile questioner is talking, prepare your response. Take a positive tack immediately, and make your answer short. The instant the interviewer finishes the question, begin the answer: first point, second point, third point...bingo, your conclusion.
The way you listen gives messages about you too. Listen with interest, focusing your eyes on the speaker. If he or she is sitting next to you, angle your body slightly in the chair so that you’re turned toward the person. Animate your face with approval. It says, I’m with you, I’m interested in what you’re saying.
Once you’re prepared for a situation, you’re 50 per cent of the way toward overcoming nervousness. The other 50 per cent is the physical and mental control of nervousness: adjusting your attitude so you have confidence, and control of yourself and your audience.
Questions 1-5 are based on Passage One.
1. What is the main idea of the passage?
 A. The methods that one can use to let people agree with him or her in a speech.
 B. How to make one’s voice and appearance pleasant when one gives speeches.
 C. The importance of preparation before one talks to people on formal occasions.
 D. How to overcome anxiety when one talks to the audience on formal occasions.
2. “One-liners” （Para. 1） are ________.
 A. well-written articles                                    B. excellent speeches
 C. single witty sentences                                D. unforgettable phrases
3. By saying “like chalk screeching on a blackboard” （Para. 3）, the author ________.
 A. refers to the feeling an unpleasant voice arouses in the audience
 B. points out that one needs to use chalk to write on the blackboard
 C. means that one should speak loud enough for all audience to hear
 D. stresses that one must put energy and resonance into his or her voice
4. When asked a hostile question, one should________.
 A. answer quickly and briefly                           B. ignore the question totally
 C. defend himself or herself firmly                 D. respond smartly and pleasantly
5. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
 A. One should look out for tough questions from an audience beforehand.
 B. One should spend a lot of time preparing before talking to an audience.
 C. If one looks active and vigorous, the audience will respond accordingly.
 D. If one makes a thorough preparation he won’t be nervous at all in a speech.
Passage Two
Soccer might be the most popular sport in the world, but for decades, Americans have managed to resist its charm. Their attention has been focused, of course, on the big three American sports: baseball, football and basketball. And while soccer is rapidly gaining popularity among younger Americans, the older generation remains detached from the game, even when the rest of the world is glued to TV screens watching the 2006 World Cup matches.
It’s not as though soccer is a stranger to American shores. The U.S. national soccer team played in the first World Cup in 1930. But from the start, the game had an image for many Americans as an immigrant sport. Still soccer began to attract more attention in the United States after the 1974 World Cup.
The following year, the country got its first professional soccer teams, with the launch of the North American Soccer League. The New York Cosmos became the league’s flagship franchise when it acquired a stellar roster of players from 16 different countries, including the Brazilian soccer legend Pele, the high-scoring Italian great Georgio Chinagalia, and German superstar Franz Beckenbauer. By 1977, attendance at American soccer games had grown to a record 62,000.
Peppe Pinton, a veteran soccer player and the executive director of the Cosmos soccer camps, likes to recall those golden days when American fans packed the stadiums to watch some of the world’s best soccer players — most of them playing on the same team. “Americans are used to watch winners,” Pinton says. “Americans are used to watch superstars, great players in all sports, and they are not settling for inferiority. The Cosmos team was not successful in the early years, but it was successful when those players came here.”
People lined up to get into the stadium like they would line up to get into a popular restaurant, Pinton says. “People attracted people. And the Cosmos made this happen all over the U.S.,” he says. “It drew record crowds in Seattle, in Miami, in Tampa, Boston, in Chicago and then they went all over the world. They went even into China when nobody was reaching China those years.”
But for 40 years, the U.S. was unable to qualify for World Cup games because most of the players on its soccer teams were not American citizens. Finally, in 1990, with enough home-grown or naturalized players on its rosters, the U.S. was able to field a World Cup team.
Questions 6-10 are based on Passage Two.
6. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
 A. The U.S. has been playing in World Cup for 20 years.
 B. Soccer is not one of the top spectator sports in the U.S.
 C. Many players on America’s soccer team were foreigners.
 D. More and more young people in the U.S. are enjoying soccer.
7. Which is true about the New York Cosmos?
 A. It was established in 1975.
 B. It played in the 1974 World Cup.
 C. It was a great success in mid- 1970s.
 D. It broke a sport record in the late 1970s.
8. It is suggested that more and more Americans will watch soccer if________.
 A. their team plays in the World Cup
 B. there are superstar players in their teams
 C. there is greater promotion of the sport
 D. more matches are arranged in their country
9. Which year is the most glorious time for soccer in the U.S.?
 A. 1974.                                                             B. 1977.
 C. 1990.                                                             D. 2006.
10. “Field” （Para. 6） has the closest meaning to which of the following?
 A. To sponsor a team.                                      B. To host a sports event.
 C. To provide a game venue.                          D. To send players to a game.
Passage Three
Many Americans harbor a grossly distorted and exaggerated view of most of the risks surrounding food. Fergus Clydesdale, head of the department of food science and nutrition at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, says bluntly that if the dangers from bacterially contaminated chicken were as great as some people believe, “the streets would be littered with people lying here and there.”
Though the public increasingly demands no-risk food, there is no such thing. Bruce Ames, chairman of the biochemistry department at the University of California, Berkeley, points out that up to 10% of a plant’s weight is made up of natural pesticides. He says, “Since plants do not have jaws or teeth to protect themselves, they employ chemical warfare.” And many naturally produced
chemicals, though occurring in tiny amounts, prove in laboratory tests to be strong carcinogens — substance which can cause cancer. Mushrooms might be banned if they were judged by the same standards that apply to food additives. Declares Christina Stark, a nutritionist at Cornell University, “We’ve got far worse natural chemicals in the food supply than anything man-made.”
Yet the issues are not that simple. While Americans have no reason to be terrified to sit down at the dinner table, they have every reason to demand significant improvements in food and water safety. They unconsciously and unwillingly take in too much of too many dangerous chemicals. If food already contains natural carcinogens, it does not make much sense to add dozens of new man-made ones. Though most people will withstand the small amount of contaminants generally found in food and water, at least a few individuals will  probably get cancer one day because of what they eat and drink.
To make good food and water supplies even better, the Government needs to  tighten its regulatory standards, stiffen its inspection program and strengthen its  enforcement policies. The food industry should modify some long-accepted practices or turn to less hazardous alternatives. Perhaps most important, consumers will have to do a better job of learning how to handle and cook food properly. The problems that need to be tackled exist all along the food-supply chain, from fields to processing plants to kitchens.
Questions 11-15 are based on Passage Three.
 11. What does the author think of the Americans’ view of their food?
 A. They overlook the risks of the food they eat.
 B. They overestimate the hazards of their food.
 C. They are overoptimistic about the safety of the food they eat.
 D. They overstate the government’s interference with the food industry.
12. The author considers it impossible to obtain no-risk food because ______.
 A. no food is free from pollution in the environment
 B. pesticides are presently widely used in agriculture
 C. almost all foods have additives and preservatives
 D. many vegetables contain dangerous natural chemicals
13. By saying “they employ chemical warfare” （Para. 2）, Bruce Ames means ______.
 A. plants produce certain chemicals to combat pests and diseases
 B. plants make use of natural chemicals to promote their growth
 C. farmers use man-made chemicals to dissolve the natural chemicals in plants
 D. farmers use man-made chemicals to protect plants against pests and diseases
14. Who is most responsible for better food and water supply?
 A. The government.                                          B. The consumer.
 C. The processor.                                             D. The growers.
15. What is the message the author wants to convey in the passage?
 A. Eating and drinking have become more hazardous.
 B. Measures must be taken to improve food production.
 C. Health food is no longer a dream in modern society.
 D. There is no cause for alarm about food consumption.
Passage Four
The estimates of the numbers of home-schooled children vary widely. The U.S. Department of Education estimates there are 250, 000 to 350, 000 home-schooled children in the country. Home-school advocates put the number much higher – at about a million.
Many public school advocates take a harsh attitude toward home schoolers, perceiving their actions as the ultimate slap in the face for public education and a damaging move for the children. Home schoolers harbor few kind words for public schools, charging shortcomings that range from lack of religious perspective in the curriculum to a herdlike approach to teaching children.
Yet, as public school officials realize they stand little to gain by remaining hostile to the home-school population, and as home schoolers realize they can reap benefits from public schools, these hard lines seem to be softening a bit. Public schoolers have moved closer to tolerance and, in some cases, even cooperation.
Says John Marshall, an education official, “We are becoming relatively tolerant of home schoolers.” The idea is, “Let’s give the kids access to public school so they’ll see it’s not as terrible as they’ve been told, and they’ll want to come back.”
Perhaps, but don’t count on it, say home-school advocates. Home schoolers, oppose the system because they have strong convictions that their approach to education — whether fueled by religious enthusiasm or the individual child’s interests and natural pace — is best.  
“The bulk of home schoolers just want to be left alone,” says Enge Cannon, associate director of the National Center For Home Education. She says home schoolers choose that path for a variety of reasons, but religion plays a role 85 percent of the time.
Professor Van Galen breaks home schoolers into two groups. Some home schoolers want their children to learn not only traditional subject matter but also “strict religious doctrine and a conservative political and social perspective. Not incidentally, they also want their children to learn — both intellectually and emotionally — that the family is the most important institution in society.”
Other home schoolers contend “not so much that the schools teach heresy, but that schools teach whatever they teach inappropriately”. Van Galen writes, “These parents are highly independent and strive to ‘take responsibility’ for their own lives within a society that they define as bureaucratic and inefficient.”
Questions 16-20 are based on Passage Four.
16. According to the passage, home schoolers are______.
 A. those who hire teachers to educate their children after school
 B. those who are educated at home instead of going to school
 C. those who advocate combining public education with home schooling
 D. those who teach their children at home instead of sending them to school
17. Public schools are softening their position on home schooling because______.
 A. they want to show their tolerance for different situation
 B. there isn’t much they can do to change the present situation
 C. public schools cannot offer proper education for all children
 D. home schooling provides a new variety of education for children
18. Home-school advocates are of the opinion that ______.
 A. things in public schools are not so bad as they have often been said
 B. their cooperation with public school will bring about benefits to all
 C. home schooling is superior and, therefore, they will not easily give in
 D. their tolerance of public education will attract more kids to public schools
19. Most home schoolers’ opposition to public education stems from their______.
 A. devotion to religion
 B. concern with the cost involved
 C. respect for the interest of individuals
 D. worry about the inefficiency of public schools
20. According to Van Galen, some home schoolers believe that ______.
 A. public schools take up a herdlike approach to teaching children
 B. teachers in public schools are not as responsible as they should be
 C. public schools cannot provide good enough education for their children
 D. public schools are the source of bureaucracy and inefficiency in society
Passage Five
Imagine a world in which there was suddenly no emotion — a world in which human beings could feel no love or happiness, no terror or hate. Try to imagine the consequences of such a transformation.
People might not be able to stay alive: knowing neither joy nor pleasure, anxiety nor fear, they would be as likely to repeat acts that hurt them as acts that were beneficial. They could not learn: they could not benefit from experience because this emotionless world would lack rewards and punishments. Society would soon disappear: people would be as likely to harm one another as to provide help and support. Human relationships would not exist: in a world without friends or enemies, there co uld be no marriage, affection among companions, or bonds among members of groups. Society’s economic underpinnings would be destroyed: since earning $10 million would be no more pleasant than earning $ 10, there would be no incentive to work. In fact, there would be no incentives of any kind. For as we will see, incentives imply a capacity to enjoy them.
In such a world, the chances that the human species would survive are next to zero, because emotions are the basic instrument of our survival and adaptation. Emotions structure the world for us in important ways.
As individuals, we categorize objects on the basis of our emotions. True we consider the length, shape, size, or texture, but an object’s physical aspects are less important than what it has done or can do to us — hurt us, surprise us, anger us or make us joyful. We also use categorizations colored by emotions in our families, communities, and overall society.
Out of our emotional experiences with objects and events comes a social feeling of agreement that certain things and actions are “good” and others are “bad”, and we apply these categories to every aspect of our social life — from what foods we eat and what clothes we wear to how we keep promises and which people our group will accept.
In fact, society exploits our emotional reactions and attitudes, such as loyalty, morality, pride, shame, guilt, fear and greed, in order to maintain itself. It gives high rewards to individuals who perform important tasks such as surgery, makes heroes out of individuals for unusual or dangerous achievements such as flying fighter planes in a war, and uses the legal penal system to make people afraid to engage in anti-social acts.
Questions 21-25 are based on Passage Five.
21. The reason why people might not be able to stay alive in a world without emotion is that______.
 A. they would not be able to tell the texture of objects
 B. they would not know what was harmful to them
 C. they would not be happy with a life without love
 D. they would do things that hurt each other’s feelings
22. According to the passage, people’s learning activities are possible because they______.
 A. believe that emotions are fundamental
 B. benefit from providing help to one another
 C. enjoy being rewarded for doing the right thing
 D. know what is vital to the progress of society
23. It can be inferred from the passage that the economic foundation of society is dependent on______.
 A. the ability to make money       B. the will to work for pleasure
 C. the capacity to enjoy incentives   D. the wish to create more products
24. Emotions are significant for man’s survival and adaptation because ______.
 A. they encourage people to perform dangerous achievements
 B. they generate more love than hate among people in society
 C. they provide the means by which people view the shape of objects
 D. they give people the social feeling of agreement that maintains society
25. The emotional aspects of an object are more important than its physical aspects in that they ______.
 A. help us adapt our behavior to the society
 B. encourage us to perform important tasks
 C. help to perfect the legal and penal system
 D. help society exploit its members for profit
II. Vocabulary. （10 points, 1 point for each）
Directions: Scan the following passage and find the words which have roughly the same meanings as those given below. The number in the brackets after each word definition refers to the number of paragraph in which the target word is. Write the word you choose on your Answer Sheet.
Although the actual extent of computer crime is difficult to measure, most experts agree that it is one of the fastest growing areas of illegal activity. The principal reason for both the growth and the lack of accurate measurement is the difficulty in detecting a well-executed theft. Losses per incident thus tend to be higher than in other types of theft. Once the computer criminal has compromised the system, it is just as easy to steal a great sum as it is to steal a little, and to continue stealing long after the initial theft.
Computer criminals are, for the most part, well-educated and highly intelligent, and have the analytical skills that make them valued employees. The fact that computer criminals do not fit criminal stereotypes helps them to obtain the positions they require to carry out crimes. Being intelligent, they have fertile imaginations, and the variety of ways in which they use equipment to their advantages is constantly being extended. In addition to direct theft of funds, the theft of data for corporate espionage or extortion is being widespread, and can obviously have a substantial effect on a company’s finances. Another lucrative scheme, often difficult to detect, involves accumulating fractions pence from individual payroll accounts, with electronic transfer of the accumulated amount to the criminal’s payroll.
Sabotage is also an increasingly common type of computer crime. Everyone in the computer business has heard of cases of a “time-bomb” being placed in a program. Typically, the programmer inserts an instruction that causes the computer to destroy an entire personnel data bank, for example, if the programmer’s employment is terminated. As soon as the termination data is fed into the system, it automatically erases the entire program.
26. most important; main （Para. 1）
27. something that happens （Para. 1）
28. to do something damaging （Para. 1）
29. fixed images of what a particular type of person is like （Para. 2）
30. full of interesting and unusual ideas （Para. 2）
31. profitable; able to make a lot of money （Para. 2）
32. the process by which something moves or is moved from one place to another （Para. 2）
33. damage done deliberately to equipment so that they can’t be used （Para. 3）
34. puts something into something else （Para. 3）
35. the act of ending something （Para. 3）
III. Summarization. （20 points, 2 points for each）
Directions: In this section of the test, there are ten paragraphs. Each of the paragraph is followed by an incomplete phrase or sentence which summarizes the main idea of the paragraph. Spell out the missing letters of the word on your Answer Sheet.
Paragraph One
Many banks are preparing “online branches”, which means that people will be able to take care of their banking business through their home computers. At these online branches, customers will be able to view their accounts, move money between their accounts, apply for a loan, and get current information on products such as credit.
36. What can be r ______at “online branches”.
Paragraph Two
By the 17th century people began to leave gold with the local goldsmiths for safe keeping. Receipts of ￡1 or ￡5 were issued which could then be converted back into gold at any time. Soon these receipts began to circulate as banknotes.
37. The o ______ of banknotes.
Paragraph Three
Pop Art was defined by images of material goods and popular culture. Pop artists rejected the serious nature of the art world. They painted or printed everyday images of things that usually are not considered art. These images included photographs from magazines, drink advertisements and drawings from popular comic strips.
38. I ______ of Pop Art.
Paragraph Four
In the U.S. today, it is common to pay one fourth to one third of family’s income on the place to live. Big houses are more expensive than smaller ones. And houses closer to the center of big cities are more expensive than the ones in the suburbs or in small towns.
39. The c _________ of housing in the U.S. today is very high.
Paragraph Five
A new public health report concludes there is no safe level of environmental tobacco smoke. One of the nation’s top public health physician says inhaling someone else’s tobacco smoke leads to an immediate chain of biological events that can lead to disease in a non-smoker and even death.
40. Expert w __________ against environmental tobacco smoke.
Paragraph Six
Dehydration limits a person’s ability to work and think. Experts say a reduction of only four or five percent in body water leads to a drop of twenty to thirty percent in work ability. The loss of salt through perspiration also reduces the amount of work that muscles can do.
41. R ________ between dehydration and person’s ability to work and think.
Paragraph Seven
Hard war situation finally forced Germany to make the decision that would bring the United States into the war. It decided to use its submarines to break the British blockade. The submarines would attack any ships that came near Britain. This included ships from neutral countries, like the United States.
42. Germany adopted new s ____________ in hard situation.
Paragraph Eight
The Tata Group is made up of 96 companies that employ more than 200,000 people. Tata operates in more than 54 countries. Its companies run hotels, provide engineering services and business advice. They also make cars and steel, among other things.
43. The Tata Group is involved in v __________ industries.
Paragraph Nine
Anxiety is normal. You just have to prevent it from getting the best of you. The first step is to learn to relax. If before or during an examination you start to panic, stretch as hard as you can, tensing the muscles in your arms and legs, and then suddenly relax all of them.
44. How one should h __________ anxiety.
Paragraph Ten
Electronic mail can eliminate hours of frustrating “telephone tag” and enable people to communicate across time-zones with ease. It also substitutes for busy fax machines that print out piles of paper which are often misplaced or misdirected. With electronic mail, the message appears upon the computer screen of the individual being contacted.
45. People b __________ from electronic mails a lot.
IV. Translation. （20 points, 4 points for each）
Directions: In the following passage, there are five groups of underlined sentences. Read the passage carefully and then translate these sentences into Chinese. Write the Chinese version on your Answer Sheet.
Machinery has made it possible to produce more and more food in vast areas, such as the plains of America and Russia. Crops have increased almost everywhere and people are growing more and more food. 46. New forms of preservation have also been developed so that food need not be eaten as soon as it has grown.
Progress in medicine and hygiene has made it possible for people to live longer. People in Europe and North America live, on the average, twice as long as they did a hundred years ago. In other countries, too, people generally live much longer than they once did. Babies, especially, have a far better chance of growing up because of increased protection against infant disease. 47. However, all countries do not benefit to the same degree from this program in medicine and hygiene.
In prehistoric time, people from Africa and Asia migrated to other continents. Europe was occupied by people from the East, America by groups from Asia. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, migrations have taken place within certain countries: the cities with their industries have attracted people away from the country. 48. The possibility of earning a fixed salary in a factory or office was more attractive than the possibility of staying on the farm and having one’s work destroyed by frost, storms, or droughts. Furthermore, the development of agricultural machinery made it possible for fewer people to do the same amount of work.
Thus, at the same time that the industrial revolution made it possible to produce goods more cheaply and more quickly in factories, and agricultural revolution also took place. Instead of leaving fields empty every third year, farmers began to plant clover or some other crop that would enrich the soil. Instead of using only animal fertilizer, farmers began to use chemical fertilizers to keep the soil rich. 49. These methods have enabled French farmers, for example, to give five times as much wheat as was obtained from the same land two centuries ago.
In many countries farmers find it more profitable to raise only one crop or one kind of animal. They choose the kind that gives the best results. Then they sell all that they produce, instead of trying to grow a little of everything and consume what they grow. 50. This is a more feasible type of operation because modern methods and machinery are adapted to specific animals and specific crops. Therefore, it would be too expensive to do all the work by hand, or to buy the equipment needed for several different kinds of farming.