2014.4高级英语2期中试卷

2014.4⾼级英语2期中试卷
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系别班级学号姓名
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学院2013⾄2014学年第⼆学期期中考试试卷
课程名称⾼级英语Ⅱ使⽤班级（考试时间 120 分钟）
(开卷□闭卷√ 半开卷□）（A 卷□ B 卷□）
Part I Reading Comprehension (2’×15=30)
(1)
Trees should only be pruned when there is a good and clear reason for doing so and, fortunately, the number of such reasons is small. Pruning involves the cutting away of overgrown and unwanted branches, and the inexperienced gardener can be encouraged by the thought that more damage results from doing it unnecessarily than from leaving the tree to grow in its own way.
First, pruning may be done to make sure that trees have a desired shape or size. The object may be to get a tree of the right height, and at the same time to help the growth of small side branches which will thicken its appearance or give it a special shape. Secondly, pruning may be done to make the tree healthier. You may cut out diseased or dead wood, or branches that are rubbing against each other and thus causing wounds. The health of a tree may be encouraged by removing the branches that are locking up the center and so preventing the free movement of air.
One result of pruning is that an open wound is left on the tree and this provides an easy entry for disease, but it is a wound that will heal. Often there is a race between the healing and the disease as to whether the tree will live or die, or that there is a period when the tree is at risk. It should be the aim of every gardener to reduce the risk as far as possible. It is essential to make the area which has been pruned smooth and clean, for healing will be slowed down by roughness. You should allow the cut surface to dry for a few hours and then paint it with one of the substances available from garden shops produced especially for this purpose. Pruning is usually done in winter, for then you can see the shape of the tree clearly without the interference from the leaves and it is, too, very unlikely that the cuts you make will bleed. If this does happen, it is, of course, impossible to paint them properly. 1. Pruning should be done to _____. A. make the tree grow taller B. improve the shape of the tree
C. get rid of the small branches
D. make the small branches thicker
2. Trees become unhealthier if the gardener _____. A. allows too many branches to grow in the middle B. does not protect them from the wind C. forces them to grow too quickly D. damages some of the side branches
3. Why is a special substance painted on the tree? A. To make a wound smooth.
B. To prevent disease entering a wound.
C. To cover a rough surface.
D. To help a wound to dry.
4. A good gardener prunes a tree _____. A. at intervals throughout the year B. as quickly as possible
C. occasionally when necessary
D. regularly every winter
5. What was the author ’s purpose when writing this passage? A. To give practical instructions for pruning a tree. B. To give a general description of pruning. C. To explain how trees develop diseases. D. To discuss different methods of pruning. (2)
By far the most common snake in Britain is the adder. In Scotland, in fact, there are no other snakes at all. The adder is also the only British snake with a poisonous bite. It can be found almost anywhere, but prefers sunny hillsides and rough open country, including high ground. In Ireland there are no snakes at all.
Most people regard snake bites as a fatal misfortune, but not all bites are serious, and very few are fatal. Sometimes attempts at emergency treatment turn out to be more dangerous than the bite itself, with amateurs heroically, but mistakenly, trying do-it-yourself surgery and other unnecessary measures.
All snakes have small teeth, so it follows that all snakes can bite, but only the bite of the adder presents any danger. British snakes are shy animals and are far more frightened of you than you could possible be of them. The adder will attack only if it feels threatened, as can happen if you take it by surprise and step on it accidentally or if you try to catch it or pick it up, which it dislikes intensely. If
it hears you coming, it will normally get out of the way as quickly as it can, but adders cannot move very rapidly and may attack before moving if you are very close.
The effect of a bite varies considerably. It depends upon several things, one of which is the bodyweight of the person bitten. The bigger the person, the less harmful the bite is likely to be, which is why children suffer far more seriously from snake bites than adults. A healthy person will also have better resistance against the poison.
Very few people actually die from snake bites in Britain, and though these bites can make some people very ill, there are probably just as many cases of bites having little or no effect, as there are of serious illness.
6. Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. The adder is the only poisonous snake in Britain.
B. In Scotland there are no other snakes except the adder.
C. Sometimes snake bites could be very dangerous to people.
D. People’s attempts at emergency treatment are utterly unnecessary.
7. We are told that Britain snakes are ______.
A. afraid of human beings
B. poisonous including the adder
C. dangerous except the adder
D. friendly towards human beings
8. The adder will not attack you when you ______.
A. try to catch it
B. are away from it
C. happen to step on it
D. try to pick it up
9. If an adder hears you coming, it will usually ______.
A. attack you immediately
B. disappear very quickly
C. wait to frighten you
D. move out of the way
10. According to the passage, a snake bite is ______.
A. more harmful to a healthy man
B. less harmful to an adult than to a child
C. more dangerous than any serious illness
D. always fatal to human beings
(3)
The humorous story may be spun out to great length, and may wander around as much as it pleases, and arrive nowhere in particular; but the comic story and the witty story must be brief and end with a point. The humorous story bubbles gently along, the other two burst.
The humorous story is strictly a work of art —high and delicate art —and only an artist can tell it; but no art is necessary in telling the comic and witty stories; anybody can do it．The art of telling a humorous story —I mean by word of mouth, not print — was created in America, and has remained at home.
The humorous story is told gravely; the teller does his best to conceal the fact that he even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it; but the teller of the comic story tells you beforehand that it is one of the funniest things he has ever heard, then tells it with eager delight, and is the first person to laugh when he gets through. And sometimes, if he has had good success, he is so glad and happy that he will repeat the “nub” of it and glance around from face to face, collecting applause, and then repeat it again. It is a pitiful thing to see.
11. Which story takes the longest to tell?
A. The humorous story.
B. The witty story.
C. The comic story.
D. All three take the same amount of time.
12. Which story has no particular point?
A. The humorous story.
B. The witty story.
C. The comic story.
D. All three.
13. The humorous story _____.
A. was created abroad
B. is essentially American
C. is also appreciated in other countries
D. is more popular in other countries than in the U.S.
14. The teller of a humorous story _____.
A. laughs at his own joke
B. repeats it several times
C. is very serious when he tells it
D. is concerned about the reaction of his listeners
15. The teller of a comic story _____.
A. tells it only once
B. tells the listener beforehand that his story is funny
C. doesn’t care whether his listeners enjoy it or not
D. is very serious when telling it
Part II Grammar and Vocabulary (1’×15=15)
There are 15 sentences in this section. Beneath each sentence there are choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that best completes the sentence. Mark your answers on your ANSWER SHEET.
16. While Mum had scrimped and saved to obtain most of the gear, I still didn’t have the
prescribed blue blazer and hatband. The underlined part can best be replaced by ______
A. pinched and scraped
B. lavished and splurged
C. lavished money on
D. had money to burn
17. The little girl went on the ______ in defense of her brother.
A. warfare
B. warpath
C. pawnshop
D. composure
18. Heavy-hearted, I ______ myself to school, an emerald green target in a sea of blue.
A. buoyed
B. trimmed
C. blitzed
D. dragged
19. At assembly I didn’t bother to wait for the command but trudged up to the stage of my own
______ to endure the sniggers of the other girls and the beady eyes of the deputy head.
A. record
B. accordance
C. accord
D. compliance
20. As a boy and then as an adult, I never lost my wonder at ______ Einstein.
A. the personality that was
B. the personality that had
C. the personality which was
D. the personnel that was
21. The President sent him on a diplomatic ______ to North America.
A. commission
C. routine
D. forte
22. Tears of frustration threatened to break free as I wondered for the ______ time why the
unfeeling teacher couldn’t look past my clothes for once and see the obedient and eager-to-participate young girl beneath.
A. prescribed
B. downcast
C. umpteenth
D. meticulous
23. Some companies deliberately render their products ______ because it makes customers more likely to come back and buy their new products.
A. absolute
B. resolute
C. long-winded
D. obsolete 24. When referring to people's skills, people sometimes refer to a person as being "______." This would indicate that you could tell such a person to accomplish a task, and they'd work it out themselves without constant supervision.
A. have and hold
B. fire and forget
C. vigor and vitality
D. forgive and forget
25. Much of the fiction and poetry is second-rate or worse, which is not surprising, ______ that the barriers to entry are so low.
A. that is not surprising, given
B. which is not surprising, giving
C. that is not surprising, giving
D. which is not surprising, given
26. Unless they adjust to the new medium, professional writers can come across as self-important blowhards in debates with more nimble networkers. The underlined part means ______.
A. come to be recognized as
B. emerge as
C. give the impression of
D. gradually become
27. Many judges these days like to refer to the Constitution of the United States as a "living, ______ document," implying that its text is designed to be flexible.
A. blue-blooded
B. breathing
C. intoxicated
28. The ______ among the world's scientists is that the world is likely to warm up over the next few decades.
A. conscience
B. consent
C. consensus
D. dissertation
29. It is of no ______ to others if one has intellectual knowledge but cannot communicate this
knowledge to another or utilize it in any manner.
A. justice
B. service
C. obligation
D. resignation
30. He did everything thoroughly, and his energy was ______ that he made a point of putting
into every concern twice as much work as it really needed.
A. such
B. so
C. hence
D. then
Part III Fill in the blanks with the appropriate forms of the given words (1’×10=10)
31. All the pupils and teachers alike are completely accepting of this traditional, ________ (prescribe) approach.
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32. He discovered, to his ________ (mortify), that his son knew much more about the subject than he
did.
33. Anger appeared on her usually________ (compose) face.
34. His failure made a ________ (mock) of the teacher’s great efforts to help him.
35. If you know that what you are doing will serve to improve human life, then work becomes respected, even________ (revere).
36. The president became too ________ (enthuse) over an industrialized country.
37. His ________ (supreme) in this field was beyond any challenge.
38. That rule has no ________ (apply) to this particular case.
39. We Chinese people are no more________ (resign) to underdevelopment than people of any other country.
40. Some people are________ (incline) to jump to hasty conclusion.
Part IV Proofreading and Error Correction (0.5’×10=5)
(以上改错试题请见答题纸)
Part V Translation from Chinese to English (2’×5=10)
Translate the following sentences into clear, expressive English.
51. 经过长时间的仔细酝酿，书才得以完成。

52. 当有⼈指出他犯了错误时，他⾮常⽣⽓。

53. 即便在今天，有些传统风俗在农村地区仍然流⾏着。

54. 你有没有想过从事⼯程师这⼀⾏？
55. 关于这⼀点，专家们的意见并不⼀致。

Part VI Paraphrase in English (3’×5=15)
Explain the following in your own words in English, bringing out any implied meanings.
56. Yet I could not have asked for more enterprising and optimistic parents.
57. The block of ice that was my young heart thawed instantly and my shoulders rose back to their full height.
58. One of the unintended side effects of the invention of the telephone was that writing went out of style.
59. “These things are little more considered than coffeehouse talk and a lot less considered than a letter. They’re not to have and hold; they’re to fire and forget.”
60. Whatever the learned say about a book, however unanimous they are in their praise of it, unless it interests you, it is no business of yours. Part VII Writing (15)
Study the above cartoon carefully and write on ANSWER SHEET a composition of about 250 words on the topic of loving our parents. Supply your own title.
You are to write in three parts:
●In the first part, describe the cartoon and the message conveyed;
●In the second part, give your comment on the cartoon and support your view with
adequate details;
●In the last part, bring what you have written to a natural conclusion with a summary or
suggestion.
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