★北外2001年基础英语试题

北京外国语大学2001年基础英语试题
I. Read the following article and paraphrase the underlined sentence.
A nation divided
What to do about the over widening gulf between rich and poor?
Mortimer B. Zuckerman We are becoming two nations. The prosperous are rapidly getting more prosperous and the poorare slowly getting poorer. George W. Bush did well to rebuke his party when House Republicansmaneuvered to balance the budget by proposing to delay the earned income tax credit for theworking poor —— paying it in monthly installm ents rather than an animal lump sum. “I don’t think they ought to balance the budget on the backs of the poor,”1 Bush said. Instead, it is time for aspiring leaders to ponder how the two nations might more closely become one.
The American economy is growing dramatically. But this prosperity is being distributed very unevenly. The America that is doing well is doing very well indeed. But most benefits have gone to those who work in industries where the main product is information. The losers have been the producers of tangible goods and personal services —— even teachers and health care providers. The high-tech information economy has been growing at approximately 10 times the rate of the older industrial economy. It has enjoyed substantial job growth, the highest productivity gains (about 30 percent a year), and bigger profits. It can therefore afford bigger wage gains (about four times that of the older economy). And this wage gap is likely to widen for years to come.
The rich get richer. The concentration of wealth is even more dramatic. New York University
economist Edward Wolff points out that the top 20 percent of Americans account for more than 100 percent of the total growth in wealth from 1983 to 1997 while the bottom 80 percent lost 7 percent. Another study found that the top 1 percent saw their after-tax income jump 115 percent in the past 22 years. The top fifth have seen an after-tax increase of 43 percent during the same period while the bottom fifth of all Americans —— including many working mothers —— have seen their after tax incomes fall 9 percent. The result is that 4 out of 5 households —— some 217 million people—— will take home a thinner slice of the economic pie than they did 22 years ago.
There are those who point out that these income figures do not fully reflect the improvement in the standard of living and say that attention should be paid to what Americans own, what they buy, and how they live. A fair point.
Two economists, W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm, have revealed that each person in the average household today has 814 square feet of living space compared with 478 square feet in 1970; that 62 percent of all households own two or more vehicles compared with 29 percent back then; that the number of gas ranges has increased six-fold, air travel four times, and the median household
wealth ——i.e., the family right in the middle ——has jumped dramatically. Even given such improvements in life quality, our public policy must not exacerbate the disproportionate concentrations of wealth.
Fortunately, Americans are pragmatists. They know that what you earn depends on what you learn, especially in a digital economy; so 83 percent of our children now complete four years of high school, compared with 55 percent in 1970. This is good news. But vast numbers of people feel marginalized in an information-based economy.5 For too many, work no longer provides the kinds of wages and promotions that allow them to achieve economic success or security. Wage increases do not substantially increase their real income, so they have to work longer hours, get a higherpaying shift, or find another job. These are the people who are particularly concerned about the benefits they stand to gain from Medicare and Social Security.6 If they do manage to put together a successful strategy to survive, they should not be hit with sudden shocks —— like the denial of the lump-sum tax credit. Bush may have discomfited his Republican colleagues, but his words served to remind that they are out of touch with the realities of life for so many Americans. He later softened his criticism, but it is time, nevertheless, for a more generous leadership from the House Republicans. They should not berate Bush. Indeed, they may well find themselves in his debt should his appeal to the center of American politics provide them the coattails they will need when voters head to the polls in just over a year.
1. Explain the underlined part in English, bringing out the implied meaning, if there is any: (22
1) I don’t think… of the poor (3%)
2) Th e result is… 22 years ago (3%)
3) A fair point (2%)
4) Our public policy… wealth (3%)
5) Vast numbers… economy (3%)
6) These are… Social Security (3%)
7) They may well find… over a year. (5%)
2. Answer the following questions briefly and to the point (13%):
1) What does it mean by the title “ A Nation Divided”? (3%)
2) What is the main reason for the widening gap of income, according to the writer? (5%) 3) How does the writer propose to solve the problem? (5%)
II. Translate the following into Chinese (25%)
1. I can’t thank you enough. (2%)
2. He suggested to me that more was to be gained than lost by full disclosure. I could not have agreed more. (2%)
3. They could hardly have been more wrong. (2%)
4. The conspirators had ganged together, their confidence growing with their number. (2%)
5. Greed of money is not one of his faults. (2%)
6. The convention brought time, it could not bring settlement. (2%)
7. The treaty was approved by the Senate, with only one vote to spare. (2%)
8. We agree to disagree without being disagreeable. (2%)
9. His past is no more immune to scrutiny than anyone else’s. (2%)
10. He knew that I knew that he guessed that I had guessed “Minister Williams” was Bill Stephenson. (2%)
11. The novels of Terror, set in some vague but picturesque foreign country and in some vague but picturesque historic period, told of haunted castles and sinister monks and mysterious crimes and high-born villains intent on the ruin of high born beautiful maidens. (5%)
III. Translate the following passage into English (40%)
秋风里的巴黎
一下飞机，已经感受到巴黎的秋末了，刮起了略寒的风，空气中水分很足，润润的。

冷风突
然叫我兴奋起来:我终于来到心向往之的世界最美的城市——巴黎。

我轻轻地唤醒自己:“巴黎就在眼前”。

说到法国人，人们马上就会联想到他们的浪漫、幻想，联想到拿破仑，联想到伏尔泰，当然，
也会想到《巴黎圣母院》中美丽的少女和善良的打钟人......
第二天，随“欧洲非常之旅”车队到凯旋们拍摄，一路上看到了熟悉的艾菲尔铁塔、卢浮宫、
圣母院大教堂、还有很多叫不出名的古典建筑、博物馆和纪念馆。

巴黎的著名景观很集中，
有点像北京的天安门广场，站在一个地方向四周一看，全都是名胜古迹。

拍摄车队开车绕巴黎最著名的协和广场一圈，四周到处是著名景点。

协和广场与凯旋门遥遥
相对，两者以繁盛的香榭丽舍大道连接，广场一带的建筑物很古雅，衬托着这里大喷泉和铜
像，充满欧洲的艺术色彩。

矗立于广场中心的纪念碑，是1831 年埃及“赠送”给法国的纪念碑。

此座古迹有三千三百多年的历史。

从这里前往香榭丽舍大道，熙来攘往的车辆及远处的凯旋门，让人感到蕴藏在这个繁闹大都市中的那一种难以想象的艺术魅力。

面向凯旋门朝左前方眺望，还可以看到巴黎铁塔。

我们来到于铁塔同为法国巴黎象征的凯旋门。

这是当年拿破仑为纪念法军战胜奥俄联军而建
造的。

凯旋门高45 米，门顶是一个瞭望台，可以看到香榭丽舍大道和12 条以凯旋门为中心，向四面八方伸展的放射形大道的全景。

门内则有一把永恒之火，是纪念1914 年至1918 年第一次世界大战为国捐躯的军人而点
燃。

V oltaire 伏尔泰The Hunchback of Notre-Dame 《巴黎圣母院》Eiffel Tower 艾菲尔铁塔The Louvre 卢浮宫Notre-Dame de Paris 圣母院大教堂Palace de la Concorde协和广场Arch of Triumph 凯旋门Champs-Elysées Avenue 香榭丽舍大道。