西安邮电期末英美概况

西安邮电期末英美概况
The Final Examination Paper for the Course of “An Introduction to the Society and Culture of Major English-speaking
Countries”
I．Fill in the blanks (20 points)
1.Britain consists of (1) nations, including England, (2) , (3) , and (4) .
2. To pursue Irish independence, the most spectacular event in the Irish history was (5) of 1916, in which the rebels occupied Dublin’s (6) and forced the British to take it by military mean s.
3. The U.S. federal government consists of the following three branches: the (7) , the (8) and the (9) .
4. A government in Britain cannot stand for longer than (10) years except in exceptional circumstances.
5. (11) was not conquered by the Romans, nor was it conquered by Anglo-Saxons.
6. The UK economy can be broken down into three main areas: (12) industries, (13) industries and (14) industries. In Pharmaceuticals, the British company GlaxoWellcome is the biggest (15) company in the world. ICI is the second largest (16) manufacturer in the world.
7. (17) set up the colony of Pennsylvania in America. (18) set up the colony of Maryland.
8. One of the developments brought about by the Industrial Revolution in America is the emergence of new forms of business organizations, notably the (19) and the (20) .
II. Choose the correct answer from each of the following, and write down the corresponding letter in the brackets. (20 points)
( )1. Which of the following statements about the UK economy is NOT true?
(A)Britain remains one of the Group of Seven large industrial economies.
(B)Britain has experienced a relative economic decline since 1945.
(C)There has been a period of steady decreasing of living standards.
(D)Some smaller economies have overtaken the UK in terms of output per capita.
( )2. Which of the following livestock has the biggest number in the UK?
(A) beef cattle (B) diary cattle
(C) chicken (D) sheep
( )3. The “American system” of mass production was first used in .
(A)car industry (B) textile industry
(C) firearms industry (D) agriculture
( )4. The latest technology that American farmers have adopted is .
(A)artificial fertilizers(B) pesticide
(C) tractors (D) computers
( )5. Which group of people can NOT vote in the general election in Great Britain?
(A)members in the house of Commons
(B)Lords in the House of Lords
(C)the UK citizens above the age of 18
(D)the UK resident citizens of the Irish Republic
( )6. Who is the last leader of the Labor party in Great Britain at present?
(A)John Major (B) T ony Blair
(C)Harold Wilson (D) Margaret Thatcher
( )7.The following were some of the characteristics of Protestantism except .
(A)challenging the authority of the Pope
(B)salvation through faith
(C)salvation through the church
(D)establishing a direct contact with God
( )8.Both public and private universities in the United States depend on the following sources of income except .
(A) investment (B) student tuition
(C) endowments (D) government funding
( )9.In the United States school systems, which of the following divisions is true?
(A)elementary school, grammar school
(B)elementary school, junior high school
(C)elementary school, secondary school
(D)junior high school, senior high school
( )10.The expenditure in American public schools is guided or decided by .
(A)teachers (B) students
(C) headmasters (D) boards of education
III. Answer the following questions briefly.
1. What are the major invasions in the British history? (8 points)
2. What are the three major national parties in Great Britain? And what are the two major political parties in the U.S.? (5 points)
3. Who cannot vote in the general election in the U.K.? (4 points)
4. What is the background in the 16th and 17th century
Europe against which the colonists began to set up permanent settlements in North America? (6 points)
IV. Matching (10 points)
The left column is a list of people’s names, and the right one is some information about these people. Match them and write down the letter of the information on the line before the names.
1. Rober t Burns a. the UK’s first woman Prime Minister and the former
leader of the Conservative Party
2. King Harold b. the king of England in the 5th century and united the
British and drove the Saxons back
3. William Penn c. the leader of the SCLC during the civil rights move-
ment of the 1960s in the U.S.
4. Lord Baltimore II d. an outlaw who hid himself in the forest and robbed
from the rich to give the poor
5. Richard Nixon e. the Saxon king who was defeated and killed in the
battle of Hasting in 1066
6. Robin Hood f. a poet who wrote in Scots dialect and the author of
“Auld Land Syne”
7. King Arthur g. a legal political party in Northern Ireland which
supports the IRA to fight for the union of Ireland
8. Margaret Thatcher h. the founder of the colony of Maryland
9. Martin Luther King, Jr. i. the former President of the U.S., who was involved
in the Watergate scandal
10. Sinn Fein j. the man who set up the colony of Pennsylvania
V. Write an essay of about 300 words choosing from one of the following topics. (27 points) 1. Make a comparison between the British educational system and the American educational system.
2. What are the reasons for the success of the American economy?
3. What are the reasons for the problem in Northern Ireland?
4. What do you think is the relationship between English language learning and culture study? What can you learn from this course?。