I. Vocabulary (30%)
Directions: Choose the definition from Column B that best matches the word in Column A. (10%=1% × 10)
Column A Column B
1.______tension A. live in
2.______inhabit B. warm and kind treatment of guests
3.______jaywalk C.to express in great detail
4.______custody D. metal strain
5.______ worldly E. A computer device
6.______ deficit F. to mid-cross the street
7.______convicted G. guarding right
8.______ terminal H. sophisticated
9.______ hospitality I. deficiency or insufficiency
10.______ elaborate J. proven guilty of a crime
2. Fill in the blanks with the correct forms of the words given below. (20%=2% × 10)
appreciation contradiction consume motivation commerce
license adopt insult theory stress
1.The guests to the party are very _______________ of Mrs. Brown’s generosity.
2.Good students usually have a strong _______________ for academic achievements.
3.Some experts hold that TV advertisements can somewhat promote ________________ development.
4.Although the meeting is said to be a success, some ideas put forward by the representatives are _______________________ to each other.
5.The ___________________ of petrol today is much more than that in the 1980s as the number of private cars keeps increasing.
6.The _____________ family consists of a mother, father and children who are biologically theirs.
7.Mary is serious with everything. She has the habit of _______________ all the possibilities before she really does it.
8.The coming final exam makes Lily feel ___________.
9.After he passed the driving test, he will become a _______________ driver.
10.A friendly person never says anything _____________ to his friends.
II. Reading Comprehension (40%)Read the following passages carefully and then choose the best answers to the questions that follow. (40%=2% × 20))
1
Basic to any understanding of Canada in the 20 years after the Second World War is the country's impressive population growth. For every three Canadians in 1945, there were over five in 1966. In September 1966 Canada's population passed the 20 million mark. Most of this surging growth came from natural increase. The depression of the 1930's and the war had held back marriages, and the catching-up process began after 1945. The baby boom continued through the decade of the 1950's, producing a population increase of nearly fifteen percent in the five years from 1951 to 1956. This rate of increase had been exceeded only once before in Canada's history, in the decade before 1911, when the prairies were being settled. Undoubtedly, the good economic conditions of the 1950's supported a growth in the population, but the expansion also derived from a trend toward earlier marriages and an increase in the average size of families. In 1957 the Canadian birth rate stood at 28 per thousand, one of the highest in the world.
After the peak year of 1957, the birth rate in Canada began to decline. It continued falling until in 1966 it stood at the lowest level in 25 years. Partly this decline reflected the low level of births during the depression and the war, but it was also caused by changes in Canadian society. Young people were staying at school longer; more women were working; young married couples were buying automobiles or houses before starting families; rising living standards were cutting down the size of families. It appeared that Canada was once more falling in step with the trend toward smaller families that had occurred all through the Western world since the time of the Industrial Revolution.
Although the growth in Canada's population had slowed down by 1966 (the increase in the first half of the 1960's was only nine percent), another large population wave was coming over the horizon. It would be composed of the children who were born during the period of the high birth rate prior to 1957.
1. What does the passage mainly discuss?
A)Educational changes in Canadian society.
B)Canada during the Second World War.
C)Population trends in postwar Canada.
D)Standards of living in Canada.
2. According to the passage, when did Canada's baby boom begin?
A)In the decade after 1911. B)After 1945.
C)During the depression of the 1930's D)In 1966.
3. The author suggests that in Canada during the 1950's ______.
A)the urban population decreased rapidly B)fewer people married
C)economic conditions were poor D)the birth rate was very high
4.The author mentions all of the following as causes of declines in population growth after 1957 EXCEPT ______.
A)people being better educated B)people getting married earlier
C)better standards of living D)couples buying houses
5. It can be inferred from the passage that before the industrial Revolution ______.
A)families were larger B)population statistics were unreliable
C)the population grew steadily D)economic conditions were bad
2
Eye-gazing and eye-avoidance have meanings and patterns of profound significance. Gazing at others' eyes generally signals a request for information and perhaps affection, but embarrassment can result from too long a mutual gaze. In fact in intimate situations, there seems to be a balance involving proximity, eye contact, intimacy of topic, and smiling. If one component is changed, the others tend to change in the opposite direction.
But the extended gaze seems to have a function much deeper than that of maintaining a balance or ensuring a smooth flow of conversation. It signals, not surprisingly, and intensification of relationship, not necessarily along affectionate lines. It may be a threat, or a challenge for dominance.
A definite pecking order of dominance and submission emerges from the very first eye contact of strangers. Curiously, when conversation is possible, it turns out that the one who looks away first tends to be dominant. The averted eye is a signal that its owner is about to take the floor. When conversation is not possible, however, the first to look away will be the submissive one.
Abnormal use of eye contact or aversion may well indicate an abnormal personality. Insane adults tend to use their eyes at all the wrong pints in a conversation, and the bold liar can hold a steady gaze far longer than his truthful colleague when both are caught in the same offence.
6. According to the passage, eye-gazing could be taken as a signal typical of ______.
A)love B)enquiry C)hatred D)threat
7. Too long a mutual gaze may possibly suggest something more than ______.
A)carrying on an intimate conversation B)resulting in awkwardness
C)leading to a love affair D)presenting a threat
8. In a positive conversation between two speakers, the one who looks away first might well be to ______.
A)lose his temper B)quit the talk
C)bear the blame D)speak out
9. As stated in the last paragraph, eye-gazing or eye-avoidance can be exploited to judge whether your partner ______.
A)might be a liar B)deserves your trust
C)has mental problems D)is leaning on you
10. The word “abnormal” in the last paragraph means _______.
A). very normal B). not normal C). usual D). unusual
3
A single word emptied Surat's usually swarming streets last week. Plague. Ignoring public-health officials' frantic appeals to stay home, residents began escaping the slum-ridden city, about 175 kilometers north of Bombay, by any means at hand. Doctors identified the disease, which has already killed more than 100 inhabitants, as pneumonic plague. Bubonic plague, the disease's more common form, is carried by fleas from rats - animals considered sacred by many Indians. Bubonic plague ravaged Europe in the 14th century, making itself infamous as the Black Death, and killed nearly 12 million people in India between 1896 and 1936. The even more lethal pneumonic form can also travel directly from human to human, causing high fever, a bloody cough and often death within hours. As of late last week, relief workers said roughly 500,000 of Surat's 2.5 million residents had already fled.
The mass exodus raised worries of a full-blown epidemic. Officials tried to cordon off the city, hoping to prevent people already infected with the disease from carrying it elsewhere - especially to crowded Bombay, just three hours away train. But containing the public's growing sense of panic was beyond the powers of belated separations and emergency shipments of antibiotics. An outbreak of Bubonic plague, India's first encounter with that disease since 1966, hit the area east of Bombay shortly before the pneumonic virus arrived in Surat. Late last week officials declared the bubonic contagion was under control. Of the few scores of people known to have contracted the disease, none had died. But the pneumonic killer remained on the loose.
11. Surat was a ______.
A)big and crowded city B)poor and densely populated city
C)city with a long history of plague D)busy city with narrow streets
12. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?
A)The cause of Bubonic plague. B)The symptoms of pneumonic plague.
C)The measures taken by the officials. D)The first time the plague hit India.
13. Until late last week, the number of the fleeing residents of Surat was about _____.
A)fifty percent B)twenty percent C)2.5 million D)12 million
14. Which of the following words can best describe the people's attitudes toward plague?
A)Fearful. B)Optimistic. C)Indifferent. D)Pessimistic.
15. Up until the dispatch of this report, deaths caused by the pneumonic plague _____.
A)were still occurring B)had not happened at all
C)multiplied rapidly D)were well-controlled
4
The term "culture shock" has already begun to creep into the popular vocabulary. Culture shock is the effect that immersion in a strange culture has on the unprepared visitor. Culture shock is what happens when a traveler suddenly finds himself in a place where yes may mean no, where a "fixed price" is negotiable, where to be kept waiting in an outer office is no cause for insult, where laughter may signify anger. It is what happens when the familiar psychological cues that help an individual to function in society are suddenly withdrawn and replaced by new ones that are strange or incomprehensible.
The culture shock phenomenon accounts for much of the bewilderment, frustration, and disorientation that plague Americas in their dealings with other societies. It causes a breakdown in communication, a misreading of reality, an inability to cope. Yet culture shock is relatively mild in comparison with the much more serious malady, future shock. Future shock is the dizzying disorientation brought on by the premature arrival of the future. It may well be the most important disease of tomorrow.
To take an individual out of his own culture and set him down suddenly in an environment sharply different from his own, with a different set of cues to react to different conceptions of time, space, work, love, religion, sex, and everything else than to cut him off from any hope of retreat to a more familiar social landscape, and the dislocation he suffers is doubly severe. Moreover, if this new culture is itself in constant turmoil, and if --- worse yet --- its values are incessantly changing, the sense of disorientation will be still further intensified. Given few clues as to what kind of behavior is rational under the radically new circumstances, the victim may well become a hazard to himself and others.
Now imagine not merely an individual but an entire society, an entire generation including its weakest, least intelligent, and most irrational members suddenly transported into this new world. The result is mass disorientation, future shock on a grand scale.
This is the prospect that man now faces. Change is avalanching upon our heads and most people are absurdly unprepared to cope with it.
16. Culture shock occurs ______.
A)where one can conduct negotiations for goods of fixed price
B)where people express ideas and emotions contrary t what they really feel
C)when value standards are so different that one is unable to make his own judgment
D)when one loses all hope of returning to his hometown environment
17.One thing that is in common between "culture shock" and "future shock" is the ______.
A)constant turmoil of the new culture itself
B)disorientation of the masses
C)constant and radical changes
D)bewilderment and frustration of the victims
18. What does the word "cues" in Paragraph 3 probably mean?
A)Treatments for psychological patients.
B)Hints about how to behave and what to do.
C)Clues to the significance of changing values.
D)Circumstances that differ sharply from what one is used to.
19. It seems that one good measure to prevent future shock is for people to______.
A)cherish more hope for the future
B)replace conventional ideas with modern ones
C)try to understand what is happening and prepare for the changes
D)take a closer look at how people in other cultures talk and behave to each other
20. This passage was probably written to ______.
A)warn the readers of today against possible dangers of tomorrow
B)prepare travelers for the unfamiliar environments
C)help psychologists understand certain irrational behavior better
D)enable sociologists to predict more accurately what will happen to mankind
III. Speed Reading (30%=2%×15)
(A)
You may enjoy the food at McDonald's, but have you ever thought of managing one of the restaurants yourself? With a major in franchise(特许经营)management now available to high school graduates, this kind of career may be easier to find than you think.
This year, more than 2,500 new majors have been approved(批准)by the Ministry of Education. This means different universities will offer a wider variety of majors for high school students. The most widely available new field is believed to be public administration(管理). Fifty universities, including Wuhan University and Sun Yat-sen University, will start to admit students choosing this major. Logistics(物流)is also growing. Other popular topics include information engineering, business administration and human resources.
Logistics is a good example of how majors are being set to meet the demands of the job market. "The employment rate for graduates with this major is nearly 100 per cent," said Fu Qiang, a teacher at Beijing Materials Institute, the first college to introduce the major in China. However, with many colleges introducing the same major, a lot of graduates will end up with similar skills. As a result, a field where there is demand now may suffer from high unemployment within a few years.
"It's important to weigh the majors in different universities according to your qualities and interests," said Professor Lei Qing of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. "Their training focuses on different aspects and the professional(专业的)level also differs."
Many of the new majors available were once parts of more general ones. Professor Zheng Xiaoqi, a co-worker of Professor Lei, is not so sure about the changes. "At university, students lay foundations for their future, so it is better if their majors cover wide fields." For those who want to get a good job immediately after graduation, the narrow majors are good. But for those who want to do further study, a general major more suitable.
1. If you choose franchise management as your major, ________.
A. you're likely to have further study in foreign countries
B. you can probably find a job immediately after graduation
C. you will learn about materials control
D. you should apply to Wuhan University
2. Which of the following is WRONG?
A. Many new majors are introduced because of the demands of the job market.
B. The story tells us two trends(趋势)of the new majors approved this year.
C. Universities offer different new majors.
D. The major in business administration was one part of the public administration major.
3. Which of the following can replace the word "weigh" in Para. 4?
A. Choose and learn.
B. Compare and decide.
C. Measure.
D. Consider.
4. From the passage we can indicate that ________.
A. those who have logistics as a major probably can't find jobs some years later
B. one should choose a general major if one wants to get a good job after graduation
C. the narrow majors include education and marketing
D. some unimportant majors might be given up in recent years
(B)
You have waited 40 minutes for the valuable 10-minute break between classes. But when the bell for the next class rings, you can't believe how quickly time has passed.
If you are familiar with this scene, you'll know how time flies when you are having fun - and drags when you are bored. Now scientists have come up with a reason why this is the case.
Scans(扫描)have shown that patterns of activity in the brain change according to how we focus on a task.
When we are bored, we concentrate more on how time is passing. This makes our brains think the clock is ticking more slowly.
In a study conducted by a French laboratory, 12 volunteers watched an image while researchers monitored their brain activity using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI, 磁共振成像)scans.
The volunteers were told to first concentrate on how long an image appeared for, then focus on the color of the image, and thirdly, study both duration (持续的时间)and color.
The results showed that the brain was more active when the volunteers paid attention to more subjects.
It is thought that if the brain is busy focusing on many aspects of a task, it has to spread its resources, and pays less attention to the clock.
Therefore, time passes without us really noticing it, and seems to go quickly.
If the brain is not so active, it concentrates its full energies on monitoring the passing of time. As a result, time seems to drag.
However, the researchers found that the more the volunteers concentrated on how long an image appeared for, the more accurate(准确)were their estimates of its duration.
Lead researcher Dr Jennifer Coull said many areas of the brain help estimate time. These areas also play a key role in controlling movement and preparing for action.
"This suggests that the brain may make sense of time as intervals between movements," she explained. "For example, a musician marks time with his foot, while an athlete anticipates (预期)the sound of a starter's pistol."
Next time you feel bored in class, perhaps you should pay more attention to what the teacher is saying!
5. Why does time drag when one is bored?
A. Because patterns in one's activities change.
B. Because one's mind is elsewhere and estimates the time wrongly.
C. Because there's a clock ticking in one's brain and, when one is bored, it ticks more slowly.
D. Because the brain has focused on nothing but the passing of time.
6. How did the scientists come up with a reason for the different feelings of passing time?
A. By having volunteers watch an image.
B. By scanning the pattern of brain activities in set tasks.
C. By monitoring the clocks in the volunteers' brains.
D. By monitoring the key areas of the volunteers' brains.
7. Which of the following is TRUE?
A. The more subjects the volunteers focused on, the more accurate their estimates of time were.
B. The brain estimates time through movements.
C. The areas of the brain that help estimate time also help us control our movement.
D. The fact that an athlete waits for the sound of a starter's pistol is used to explain how some areas of the brain are important in controlling movements.
8. When you are watching a close match, your brain ________.
A. is active B. will feel painful because of hard work.
C. is not so active D. can't estimate time correctly
(C)
"What part of the states do you come from?"
"I'm not American. I'm Canadian."
This is a mistake that Europeans often make. Many Americans, too, admit that it takes them a while to tell if it's an American talking or a Canadian. This upsets some Canadians, because they want people to recognize them as Canadians. They want everyone to know that Canada is an independent nation with its own special character.
American English was probably brought to Canada by the Loyalists who fled there during the Revolutionary War(1776--1783), for even as late as 1813, 80% of all British Canadians had come from the USA.
From the very first, Canada was a country with two languages, neither of which influenced the other very much, because the French and British spoke to each other so little. Canadian English has always remained very like American English, and the influence of the Indian and Inuit languages was no greater than the influence of French. But here are some important words that have found their way via Canadian dictionaries into British dictionaries.
I. True or False:
______ 9. American English was probably brought to Canada during World War I.
______ 10. Indian and Intuit languages had great influence to Canadian English.
______ 11. The sentence "I'm not American, I'm Canadian. "just tell people "I" come from Canada.
II. Answer the Questions:
12. What kind of mistake do Europeans often make?
_________________________________________________
13. What is the percentage of all British Canadians were from?
_________________________________________________
III. Multiple Choice:
14. It isn't easy for Europeans even for Americans to tell __________ from __________ .
A. American English; British English
B. Canadian English; American English
C. Canadian English; British English
D. British English; Scottish English
15. The two languages spoken in Canada refer to __________ .
A. British English and American English
B. English and Latin
C. French and English
D. Canadian English and American English
