成都理工大学英语精品课程 二级

成都理工大学外国语学院
<大学英语精品课程:二级阅读补充材料>
(CET-2 Reading Comprehension Supplementary Materials) Directions:There are 30 reading passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer to each question.
Passage 1
Many teachers believe that the responsibility for learning lies with students. If a long reading assignment is given, instructors expect students to be familiar with the information in the reading even if they do not discuss it in class or give an examination. (Courses are not designed merely for students to pass exams.) The ideal student is considered to be one who is encouraged to learn for the purpose of learning, not the one interested only in getting high grades. Some students may be frustrated with teachers who do not believe it is necessary to grade every assignment. Sometimes homework is returned with short written comments but without a grade. Even if a grade is not given, students should learn the material assigned.
When research is assigned, the professor expects students to begin and to complete the assignment with minimum instruction. It is the studen t‘s responsibility to find books and articles in the library. Professors do not have the time to explain how a university library works; they expect students, especially graduate students, to be able to find what they need in the library.
Professors will help students who need it, but prefer that their students not depend on them too much. This is different from teacher-student relationships in other countries. In the United States, professors have other duties in addition to teaching. Often they do some administrative work within their departments. In addition, they may be required to write articles and books. Therefore, the time that a professor can spend with a student outside of class is limited. If a student has problems with classroom work, the student should either ask a professor for help during office hours or make an appointment.
1What does the author mean by saying that ―Courses are not designed merely for students to pass exams‖?
A.Students study hard only for exams.
B.Teachers think it necessary for their students to fail exams.
C.Teachers think that the only purpose of studying hard is to pass exams.
D.The purpose of designing courses is not only for passing exams.
2According to the 2nd paragraph, students in the United States should_________.
A.depend more on themselves than on professors
B.plan their time and sequence their work
C.always follow the professors‘ advice
D.find a suitable place for studying
3If students need the advice of their teachers, they should__________.
A.put forward their questions in class
B.go to their teachers‘ office
C.find some excuses to see teachers at home
D.turn to their teachers during the break
4Students who __________ in the United States are considered good ones.
A.pay more attention to good scores
B.have the desire to learn by themselves
C.are good at learning words by heart
D.know much about computers
5American professors may be required to spend more of their time_________.
A.knowing what is on their students‘ mind
B.helping students finish their assignments
C.writing articles
D.instructing students‘ research
Passage 2
A few years ago it was common to speak of a generation gap between young people and their elders. Parents said that their children did not respect and listen to them, while children said that their parents did not understand them at all. What had gone wrong? Why had the generation gap suddenly appeared? Actually, the generation gap has been around for a long time. Many people argue that it is built into every part of our society.
One important cause of the generation gap is the opportunity that young people have to choose their own ways of life. In a more traditional society, when children grow up, they are expected to live in the same area as their parents, to marry people that their parents know and like, and often to continue the family jobs. In our society, young people often travel great distances for their education, move out of the family at an early age, marry or live with people whom their parents have never met, and choose jobs different from those of their parents.
In our society, parents often expect their children to do better than they did, to find better jobs, to make more money and to do all the things that they were unable to do. Often, that is another cause of the gap between them. Often, they discover that they have very little in common with each other.
Finally, the speed at which changes take place in our society is the third cause of the gap between the generations. In a traditional culture, senior people are valued for their knowledge, but in our society the knowledge of a lifetime may become out of date. The young and the old seem to live in two very different worlds, separated by different skills and abilities. No doubt, the generation gap will continue in American life for some time to come.
6The first paragraph tells us that___________.
A.the problem of the generation gap draws much attention from people
B.it is out of date to talk about generation gap
C.children and parents are trying to understand each other
D.it is very important for people to frequently communicate with each other
7In a more traditional society, old people _________.
A.have their children respect and listen to them
B.do not care for their children at all
C.expect their children to rebel against them
D.do not live together with their children
8In American society young people__________.
A.do not need to find jobs
B.marry people younger than them
C.have better education than their parents
D.leave home at an early age
9Which of the following is NOT the cause of the generation gap?
A.Y oung people like to depend more on themselves
B.Parents do not love their children dearly
C.American society changes rapidly
D.Parents expect too much of their children.
10The main idea of the passage is _________.
A.that the generation gap needs considering
B.when the generation gap is necessary in American society
C.why the generation gap exists
D.how we can reduce the generation gap
Passage 3
V alentine‘s Day was the time my father chose to show his love for the special people in his life. Over the years I fondly thought of him as my ―V alentine Man‖.
At the age of six, on V alentine‘s Day morning, I got a card signed ― Love, Dad‖ for the first time and a gift of
a ring with a small piece of red glass. As I grew older, the gifts gave way to heart-shaped boxes filled with my favorite chocolates and always included a special card signed ― Love, Dad‖. Y ear by year, the car ds seemed less important, and I thought the valentine would always be there. I had placed my hopes and dreams in receiving cards and gifts from ―important others‖, and ―Love, Dad‖ just didn‘t seem quite enough.
If my father knew then that he had been replaced, he never let it show. If he sensed any disappointment over valentines that didn‘t arrive from me, he just tried that much harder to create a positive atmosphere, giving me an extra hug and doing what he could to make my day a little brighter.
On V alen tine‘s Day eight years ago I received a card addressed to me in my mother‘s handwriting. On the inside, my mother had printed ― Happy V alentine‘s Day‖ and my father had signed ― Love, Dad‖. It was the kind of card that put tears in my eyes because I knew this would be the last I would receive from him.
His final card remains on my desk today. It‘s a reminder of how special fathers can be and how important it has been to me over the years to know that I had a father who continued a tradition of love with simple acts of understanding and had the ability to express happiness to the people in his life.
11Why did the writer think of her father as her ―V alentine Man‖ over the years?
A.Her father had given her a valentine on V alentine‘s Day to show his love, understanding and happiness.
B.She had placed her hopes and dreams in receiving cards and gifts from her father on V alentines‘ Day.
C.Her father created a positive atmosphere and made her day brighter on V alentine‘s Day
D.She missed her father very much on V alentine‘s Day after he died.
12When the writer grew older, her father‘s card seemed less important because____________.
A.she was no longer interested in V alentine‘s Day
B.she thought her father‘s valentine wasn‘t enough an d hoped to get more from others
C.her boyfriend took the place of her father
D.she did not like the design of the cards her father sent her
13When the writer was disappointed about the valentines she did not receive, her father_________.
A.gave her another heart-shaped box filled with her favorite chocolates
B.tried to talk with her about something else
C.told her to place her hopes and dreams away from others
forted her by doing what he could to make her happy
14Why was the writer‘s last valentine written in her mother‘s writing?
A.Her mother wanted to show her love, too
B.Her father was so busy that he had no time to mail the card
C.Her father was too ill to mail a card
D.Her father wanted to give her a surprise
15The writer put her father‘s final card on her desk in order to __________.
A.remember her father and his love
B.show it to her colleagues
C.think of the past life of her father
D.get encouragement from her father
Passage 4
Pronouncing a language is a skill. Every normal person is an expert in the skill of pronouncing his own language; but few people are even fairly proficient at pronouncing foreign languages. Now there are many reasons for this, some obvious, some perhaps not so obvious. But I suggest that the basic reason why people in general do not speak foreign languages very much better than they do native language is that they fail to understand the true nature of the problem of learning to pronounce. Far too many people fail to realize that pronouncing a foreign language is a skill----one that needs careful training of a special kind, and one that cannot be gained by just leaving it to take care of itself. I think even teachers of language, while realizing the importance of a good accent, often neglect, in their practical teaching, the branch of study concerned with speaking the language. So the first point I want to make is that English pronunciation must be taught; the teacher should be prepared to devote some of the lesson time to this, and get the student to feel that here is a matter worthy of
receiving his close attention. So, there should be occasions when other aspects of English, such as grammar or spelling, are allowed for the moment to take second place.
Besides this question of the time given to pronunciation, there are two other requirements for the teacher: the first, knowledge; the second, technique.
It is also possible to get a clear mental picture of the relationship between the sounds of different languages, between the speech habits of English people and those, say, of your students. Unless the teacher has such a picture, any comments he may make on his students‘ pronunciation are unlikely to be of much use, and lesson time spent on pronunciation may well be time wasted.
16What does the author say about pronouncing foreign languages?
A.Every normal person is an expert in the skill of pronouncing foreign languages
B.It is difficult for people to pronounce foreign languages
C.No one is really an expert in the skill of pronouncing foreign languages
D.There are not many people who are even fairly good at it
17The writer argues that going about the problem of pronunciation in the wrong way is _________
A.an obvious cause of not understanding the problem correctly
B. a result of not speaking well
C. a result of not understanding the problem correctly
D.not an obvious cause of speaking poorly
18According to the writer, teachers are likely to ignore___________.
A.the practical techniques of teaching
B.the importance of a good accent
C.the teaching of spelling and grammar
D.the teaching of pronunciation
19What are the three important requirements for teachers in teaching?
A.Attention, information, technique
B.Time, knowledge, attention
C.Time, knowledge, technique
rmation, technique, a clear mental picture
20Whether a student masters correct speech habits depends on__________.
A.the teacher‘s proper teaching technique
B.the learning of grammar
C.the knowledge of spelling
D.the teac her‘s teaching method for pronunciation
Passage 5
In ancient times wealth was measured and exchanged in things that could be touched: food, tools, and precious metals and stones. Then the barter system was replaced by coins, which still had real value since they were pieces of rare metal. Coins were followed by fiat money, paper notes that have value only because everyone agrees to accept them.
Today electronic monetary systems are gradually being introduced that will transform money into even less tangib le forms, reducing it to a series of ―bits and bytes‖, or units of computerized information, going between machines at the speed of light. Already, electronic fund transfer allows money to be instantly sent and received by different banks, companies, and countries through computers and telecommunications devices.
21. Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the passage?
A. International Banking Policies
B. The History of Monetary Exchange
C. The Development of Paper Currencies
D. Current Problems in the Economy
22. According to the passage, which of the following was the earliest kind of exchange of wealth?
A. Bartered foods
B. Fiat money
C. Coin currency
D.Intangible forms
23. The author mentions food, tools and precious metals and stones together because they are all ________.
A. useful items
B.articles of value
C.difficult things to obtain
D. material objects
24. According to the passage, coins once had real value as currency because they ______.
A. represented a great improvement over barter
B. permitted easy transportation of wealth
C. were made of precious metals
D. could become collector‘s items
25. Which of the following statements about computerized monetary systems is NOT supported by the passage?
A. They promote international trade.
B. They allow very rapid money transfers.
C. They are still limited to small transactions (交易).
D. They are dependent on good telecommunications systems.
Passage 6
At the University of Kansas art museum, scientists tested the effect of different colored walls on two groups of visitors to an exhibit of paintings. For the first group the room was painted white; for the second, dark brown. Movement of each group was followed by an electrical equipment under the carpet. The experiment showed that those who entered the dark brown walked more quickly, covered more area, and spent less time in the room than people in the white one. Dark brown made people more active, but the activity ended sooner. Not only the choice of colors but also the general appearance of a room affects those inside. Another experiment presented people with photographs of faces whose energy was to be commented. Three groups of people were used; each was shown the same photos, but each group was in an ordinary room—a nice office. The third was in a tastefully designed living room with carpeting. Results showed that the people in the beautiful room tend to give higher marks to the faces than those in the ugly room did. Other studies that students do better on tests taken in comfortable room than in ordinary-looking or ugly rooms.
26. Which of the following is the best expression of the main idea of this passage?
A. People in beautiful rooms tend to give higher marks to photos of faces than people in ugly rooms
B. The color and general appearance of a room have a deeper effect on the behavior of the people in it
C. The University of Kansas has studied the effects of the color of room on people‘s behavior
D. Beautifully furnished, light-coloured rooms make people more comfortable than ugly, dark rooms
27. According to the passage, we may conclude that the whiter a room is ________.
A. the longer people like to stay in it
B. the sooner people in it will leave
C. the more active people in it will become
D. the more excited people
28. What is referred to as the ―general appearance‖ in this passage is ________.
A. how many broad windows a room has, through which sunlight might come in
B. the size of a room
C. whether there are beautiful walls in a room
D. what the room looks like
29. This passage provides us with _______.
A. a piece of scientific information
B. a normal lesson
C. an interesting test
D. a piece of news
30. At least how many tests were carried out by the scientists referred to in this passage?
A. Three
B. Two
C. Only one
D. No one knows
Passage 7
The water we drink and use is running short in the world. We all have to learn how to stop wasting our
limited water. One of the steps we should take is to find ways of reusing it. Experiments have already been done in this field.
Today in most large cities, fresh water is used only once, then it runs into waste system. But it is possible to pipe the used water to a purifying factory. There it can be filtered and treated with chemicals so that it can be used again, just as it were fresh from a spring.
But even if every large city purified and reused its water, we still would not have enough. Then we could turn to the oceans. All we‘d have to do to make use of the seawater on earth is to get rid of the salt. This process is called desalinization, and it is already in use in many parts of the world.
31. The way to stop wasting our limited water is to ________.
A. do experiments with water
B. purify the used water and reuse it
C. use fresh water once again
D. make use of seawater
32. The following tells us how to reuse the used water. Which is the right order of the passage?
A. to have the used water filtered
B. to put chemicals in it
C. to pipe it to the users
D. to pipe the used water to be purified to a factory
33. There wouldn‘t be enough water for us if we didn‘t _________.
A. turn to the oceans for more water
B. reuse used water and make use of seawater
C. desalt seawater
D. take steps to reuse all water on earth
34. The would ―it‖ in the last sentence refers to _______.
A. seawater
B. purified water
C. the process of getting rid of the salt in seawater
D. the process of collecting salt from the sea oceans
35. The best title for the passage is ―_______‖.
A. How to Reuse Water
B. Two Solutions to the Problem of Water Shortage
C. Stop Wasting Our Limited Water
D. How to Make Use of Seawater
Passage 8
Some people hate everything that is modern. They cannot imagine how anyone can really like modern music; they find it hard to accept the new fashions in clothing; they think that all modern painting is ugly; and they seldom have a good word for the new buildings that are being built everywhere in the world. Such people look for perfection in everything, and they take their standards of perfection from the past. They are usually impatient with anyone who is brave enough to experiment with new or to express himself or the age in materials original ways. It is, of course, true that many artists do not succeed in their work and instead produce works that can only be considered as failures. If the work of art is a painting, the artist‘s failure concerns himself alone, but if it is a building, his failure concerns others too, because it may damage the beauty of the whole place. This does sometimes happen, but it is completely untrue to say, as some people do, that modern architecture is nothing.
We can‘t judge every modern building by the standards of the ancient time, even though we admire the ancient buildings. Technologically, the modern buildings are more advanced. The modern architect knows he should learn from the ancient works, but with his greater resources of knowledge and materials, he will never be content to imitate the past. He is too proud to do that.
36. Some people hate everything that is modern because _______.
A. they are aged
B. they find it hard to accept modern things
C. they take their standards of perfection from the Greek
D. they look at things by the standards of the past
37. The writer of the passage thinks that ________.
A. it is true to say artists fail in their work
B. it is untrue to say artists fail in their work
C. it is true to say some artists fail in their work
D. it is true to say only painters fail in their work
38. The writer thinks the failure of a building _______.
A. means nothing
B. concerns others
C. concerns only the artist
D. concerns all the people in the world
39. The writer thinks that _________.
A. we can‘t judge buildings by the ancient standards
B. we can‘t judge all the buildings by the ancient standards
C. we can‘t judge all the modern buildings by the ancient standards
D. we can‘t judge modern buildings
40. Technologically, the modern buildings are more advanced. The sentence means _____.
A. the ancient architects had no technology
B. the modern architects use more advanced technology
C. the modern buildings are advanced because they are completely different from the ancient buildings
D. the modern buildings are more beautiful
Passage9
About ten men in every hundred suffer from colour blindness in some way; women are luckier only about one in two hundred is affected in this manner. There are different forms of colour blindness. A man may not be able to see deep red.
He may think that red, orange and yellow are all shades of green. Sometimes a person cannot tell the difference between blue and green. In rare cases an unlucky man may see everything in shades of green—a strange world indeed.
In certain occupations color blindness can be dangerous and candidates are tested most carefully. For example, when fighting at night, soldiers use lights of flares to signal to each other. A green light may mean ―Advance‖ and a red light may mean ―Danger! Keep back!‖, Y ou can see what will happen if somebody thinks that red is green! Color blindness in human beings is a strange thing to explain. In a single eye there are millions of very small things called ―cones‖, these help to see in a bright light and to tell the difference between colors. There are also millions of ―rods‖ but these are used for seeing when it is nearly dark. They show us shape but not color. Wait until it is dark tonight, then go outside. Look round you and try to see what colors you can recognize.
Birds and animals which hunt at night have eyes which contain few or no cones at all, so they cannot see colors. As far as we know, bats and adult owls cannot see colors at all only light and dark shapes. Similarly cats and dogs cannot see colors as well as we can.
Insects can see ultraviolet rays which are invisible to us, and some of them can even see X-rays. The wings of a moth may seem grey and dull to us, but to insects they may appear beautiful, showing colors which we cannot see. Scientists know that there are other colors around us which insects can see but which we cannot see. Some insects have favorite colors. Mosquitoes like blue, but do not like yellow. A red light will not attract insects but a blue lamp will.
41. Among people who suffer from color blindness, _______ .
A. some may see everything in shades of green
B. few can tell the difference between blue and green
C. few may think that red, orange and yellow are all shades of green
D. very few may think that everything in the world is in green
42. When millions of rods in our eyes are at work in darkness we can see_____.
A. olors only
B. hapes and colors
C. shapes only
D.darkness only
43. According to the passage, bats and adult owls cannot see colors_____.
A. because they hunt at night
B. because they cannot see light
C .because they have no cones and rods
D. because they have no cones
44. According to the passage, dogs and cats_______.
A. as well as human beings can not see some colors
B. have fewer cones than human beings
C. have less rods than human beings
D. can see colors as well as human beings
45. Which of the following is not true about insects?
A. Insects can see more colors than human beings.
B. Insects can see ultraviolet rays which are invisible to men.
C .All insects have their favorite colors.
D. The world is more colorful to insects than to human beings.
Passage10
A child who has once been pleased with a tale likes, as rule, to have it retold in identically the same words, but this should not lead parents to treat printed fairy stories as sacred texts. It is always much better to tell a story than read it out of a book, and, if a parent can produce what, in the actual circumstances of the time and the individual child, is an improvement on the printed text, so much the better.
A charge made against fairy tales is that they harm the child by frightening him or arousing his sadistic impulses. To prove the latter, one would have to show in a controlled experiment that children who have read fairy stories were more often guilty of cruelty than those who had not. Aggressive, destructive, sadistic impulses every child has and, on the whole, their symbolic verbal discharge seems to be rather a safety valve than an incitement to
overt action. As to fears, there are, I think, well authenticated cases of children being dangerously terrified by some fairy stories. Often, however, this arises from the child having heard the story once. Familiarity with the story by repetition turns the pain of fear into the pleasure of a fear faced and mastered.
There are also people who object to fairy stories on the grounds that they are not objectively true, that giants, witches, two-headed dragons, magic carpets, etc., do not exist; and that, instead of indulging his fantasies in fairy tales, the child should be taught how to adapt to reality by studying history and mechanics. I find such people, I must confess, so unsympathetic and peculiar that I do not know how to argue with them. If their case were sound, the world should be full of madmen attempting to fly from New Y ork to Philadelphia on a broomstick or covering a telephone with kisses in the belief that it was their enchanted girl friend.
No fairy story ever claimed to be a description of the external world and no sane child had ever believed that it was.
46. In the writer s opinion, a fairy tale ____.
A. cannot be read to children without variation because they find no pleasure in it
B. will be more effective if it is adapted by parents
C. must be made easy so that children can read it on their own
D. is no longer needed in developing children s power of memory
47. According to the passage, some people who are openly against fairy tales argue that _____.
A.fairy tales are harmful to children in that they show the primitive cruelty in children
B. fairy tales are harmful to children unless they have been adapted by their parent
C. fairy tales increase a tendency to sadism in children
D. children who have read fairy stories pay little attention to the study of history and mechanics
48. In the writer s opinion to rid children of fears, fairy stories should be___.
A. told only once
B. repeated many times
C. told in a realistic setting
D. presented vividly
49. In the writer s opinion, fairy stories ____.
A. have a very bad effect on children
B. have ad vantages in cultivating children‘s imagination
C. help children to come to terms with fears
D. harm children greatly。