英语专八真题及其答案

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英语专八考试试题及参考答案

英语专八考试试题及参考答案英语专八考试试题及参考答案试卷是接受考试者学习情况而设定的并规定在一定时间内必须完成的试题。

一般是有老师集体讨论决定出的试卷，下面店铺为大家收集有关英语专八考试试题及参考答案，供大家参考。

英语专八考试试题及参考答案篇1第一部分听力测试（共25分）一、听句子选择图片。

共5小题，计5分。

A B CD E F 1， 2， 3， 4， 5，二、听对话回答问题。

共10小题，计10分。

请听第一段对话，回答第6小题。

6，How does the man keep in touch with（保持联系）his old friends?A. By sending e-mailsB. By meeting each other.C. By talking on the Internet. 请听第二段对话，回答第7小题。

7，What’s the man going to do this weekend?A.Chat online.B. Buy a computer.C. T ake classes.请听第三段对话，回答第8小题。

8，When did the boy use to play soccer?A. In the morning.B.At noon.C.After school.请听第四段对话，回答第9和10小题。

9，What’s Tom’s problem?A. His parents fought last night.B. He fought with his father last night.C. He fought with his brother last night.10,What’s Linda’s advice for Tom?A.Talking with his teacher.B.Talking with his friend.C.Talking with his parents. 请听第五段对话，回答第11和12小题。

专业英语八级考题试卷及答案

专业英语八级考题试卷及答案PART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION (40 MIN)In Sections A, B and C you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the correct answer to each question on your coloured answer sheetSECTION A TALKQuestions I to 5 refer to the talk in this section. At the end of the talk you will be given 15 seconds to answer each of the following five questions.Now listen to the talk.1. Which of the following statements about offices is NOT true according to the talk?A. Offices throughout the world are basically alike.B. There are primarily two kinds of office layout.C. Office surroundings used to depend on company size.D. Office atmosphere influences workers' performance.2. We can infer from the talk that harmonious work relations may have a direct impact on yourA. promotion.B. colleagues.C. management.D. union.3. Supposing you were working in a small firm, which of the following would you do when you had some grievances?A. Request a formal special meeting with the boss.B. Draft a formal agenda for a special meeting.C. Contact a consultative committee first.D. Ask to see the boss for a talk immediately.4. According to the talk, the union plays the following roles EXCEPTA. mediation.B. arbitration.C. negotiation.D. representation.5. Which topic is NOT covered in the talk?A. Role of the union.B. Work relations.C. Company structure.D. Office layout.SECTION B INTERVIEWQuestions 6 to 10 are based on an interview. At the end of the interview you will be given 15seconds to answer each of the following five questions.Now listen to the interview.6. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT about David's personal background?A. He had excellent academic records at school and university.B. He was once on a PHD programme at Yale University.C. He received professional training in acting.D. He came from a single-parent family.7. David is inclined to believe inA. aliens.B. UFOs.C. the TV character.D. government conspiracies.8. David thinks he is fit for the TV role because of hisA. professional training.B. personality.C. life experience.D. appearance.9. From the interview, we know that at present David feelsA. a sense of frustration.B. haunted by the unknown thingsC. confident but moody.D. successful yet unsatisfied.10. How does David feel about the divorce of his parents?A. He feels a sense of anger.B. He has a sense of sadness.C. It helped him grow up.D. It left no effect on him.SECTION C NEWS BROADCASTQuestion 11 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 15seconds to answer the question.Now listen to the news.11. What is the main idea of the news item?A. US concern over th6 forthcoming peace talks.B. Peace efforts by the Palestinian Authority.C. Recommendations by the Mitchell Commission.D. Bomb attacks aimed at Israeli civilians.Question 12 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 15 seconds to answer the question.Now listen to the news.12. Some voters will waste their ballots becauseA. they like neither candidate.B. they are all ill-informed.C. the candidates do not differ much.D. they do not want to vote twice.Questions 13 to 15 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given15 seconds to answer each of the questions.Now listen to the news.13. According to the UN Human Development Report, which is the best place for women in the world?A. Canada.B. The US.C. Australia.D. Scandinavia.14. _______ is in the 12th place in overall ranking.A. BritainB. FranceC. FinlandD. Switzerland15. According to the UN report, the least developed country isA. Ethiopia.B. Mali.C. Sierra Leon.D. Central African Republic.SECTION D NOTE-TAKING AND GAP-FILLINGIn this section you will hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them to complete a 15-minute gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE after the mini-lecture. Use the blank sheet for note-taking.PART II PROOFREADING & ERROR CORRECTION (15 MIN)Proofread the given passage on ANSWER SHEET TWO as instructed.PART III READING COMPREHENSIOS (40MIN)SECTION A READING COMPREHENSION (30 MIN)In this section there are four reading passages followed by a total of fifteen multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then mark your answers on your coloured answer sheet~TEXT AHostility to Gypsies has existed almost from the time they first appeared in Europe in the 14th century. The origins of the Gypsies, with little written history, were shrouded in mystery. What is known now from clues in the various dialects of their language, Romany, is that they came from northern India to the Middle East a thousand years ago, working as minstrels and mercenaries, metal-smiths and servants. Europeans misnamed them Egyptians, soon shortened to Gypsies. A clan system, based mostly on their traditional crafts and geography, has made them a deeply fragmented and fractious people, only really unifying in the face of enmity from non-Gypsies, whom they call gadje. Today many Gypsy activists prefer to be called Roma, which comes from the Romany word for “man”. But on my travels among them most still referred to themselves as Gypsies.In Europe their persecution by the gadje began quickly, with the church seeing heresy in their fortune-telling and the state seeing anti-social behaviour in their nomadism. At various times they have been forbidden to wear their distinctive bright clothes, to speak their own language, to travel, to marry one another, or to ply their traditional crafts. In some countries they were reduced to slavery it wasn't until the mid-1800s that Gypsy slaves were freed in Romania. In more recent timesthe Gypsies were caught up in Nazi ethnic hysteria, and perhaps half a million perished in the Holocaust. Their horses have been shot and the wheels removed from their wagons, their names have been changed, their women have been sterilized, and their children have been forcibly given for adoption to non-Gypsy families.But the Gypsies have confounded predictions of their disappearance as a distinct ethnic group and their numbers have burgeoned. Today there are an estimated 8 to 12 million Gypsies scattered across Europe, making them the continent's largest minority. The exact number is hard to pin down. Gypsies have regularly been undercounted, both by regimes anxious to downplay their profile and by Gypsies themselves, seeking to avoid bureaucracies. Attempting to remedy past inequities, activist groups may overcount. Hundreds of thousands more have emigrated to the Americas and elsewhere. With very few exceptions Gypsies have expressed no great desire for a country to call their own -unlike the Jews, to whom the Gypsy experience is often compared. “Romanestan” said Ronald Lee, the Canadian Gypsy writer, "is where my two feet stand."16. Gypsies are united only when theyA are engaged in traditional crafts.B. call themselves Roma.C. live under a clan system.D. face external threats.17. In history hostility to Gypsies in Europe resulted in their persecution by all the followingEXCEPTA. the Egyptians.B the state.C. the church.D. the Nazis.18. According to the passage, the main difference between the Gypsies and the Jews lies in their concepts ofA．language.B. culture.C. identity.D. custom.TEXT ＢI was just a boy when my father brought me to Harlem for the first time, almost 50 years ago. We stayed at the Hotel Theresa, a grand brick structure at 125th Street and Seventh Avenue. Once, in the hotel restaurant, my father pointed out Joe Louis. He even got Mr. Brown, the hotel manager, to introduce me to him, a bit paunchy but still the champ as far as I was concerned.Much has changed since then. Business and real estate are booming. Some say a new renaissance is under way. Others decry what they see as outside forces running roughshod over the old Harlem.New York meant Harlem to me, and as a young man I visited it whenever I could. But many of my old haunts are gone. The Theresa shut down in 1966. National chains thatonce ignored Harlem now anticipate yuppie money and want pieces of this prime Manhattan real estate. So here I am on a hot August afternoon, sitting in a Starbucks that two years ago opened a block away from the Theresa, snatching at memories between sips of high-priced coffee. I am about to open up a piece of the old Harlem- the New York Amsterdam News—when a tourist asking directions to Sylvia's, a prominent Harlem restaurant, penetrates my daydreaming. He's carrying a book: Touring Historic Harlem.History. I miss Mr. Michaux's bookstore, his House of Common Sense, which was across from the Theresa. He had a big billboard out front with brown and black faces painted on it that said in large letters: "World History Book Outlet on 2,000,000,000 Africans and Nonwhite Peoples." An ugly state office building has swallowed that space.I miss speaker like Carlos Cooks, who was always on the southwest comer of 125th and Seventh, urging listeners to support Africa. Harlem's powerful political electricity seems unplugged-although the sweets are still energized, especially by West African immigrants.Hardworking southern newcomers formed the bulk of the community back in the 1920s and'30s, when Harlem renaissance artists, writers, and intellectuals gave it a glitter and renown that made it the capital of black America. From Harlem, W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, Zora Neal Hurston, and others helped power America's cultural influence around the world.By the 1970s and '80s drugs and crime had ravaged parts of the community. And the life expectancy for men in Harlem was less than that of men in Bangladesh. Harlem had become a symbol of the dangers of inner-city life.Now, you want to shout “Lookin’good!”at this place that has been neglected for so long. Crowds push into Harlem USA, a new shopping centre on 125th, where a Disney store shares space with HMV Records, the New York Sports Club, and a nine-screen Magic Johnson theatre complex. Nearby, a Rite Aid drugstore also opened. Maybe part of the reason Harlem seems to be undergoing a rebirth is that it is finally getting what most people take for granted.Harlem is also part of an “empowerment zone”—a federal designation aimed at fostering economic growth that will bring over half a billion in federal, state, and local dollars. Just the shells of once elegant old brownstones now can cost several hundred thousand dollars. Rents are skyrocketing. An improved economy, tougher law enforcement, and community efforts against drugs have contributed toa 60 percent drop in crime since 1993.19. At the beginning the author seems to indicate that HarlemA. has remained unchanged all these years.B. has undergone drastic changes.C. has become the capital of Black America.D. has remained a symbol of dangers of inner-city life.20. When the author recalls Harlem in the old days, he has a feeling ofA. indifference.B, discomfort.C. delight.D. nostalgia.21. Harlem was called the capital of Black America in the 1920s and '30s mainly because of itsA. art and culture.B. immigrant population.C. political enthusiasm.'D. distinctive architecture.22. From the passage we can infer that, generally speaking, the authorA. has strong reservations about the changes.B. has slight reservations about the changes,C. welcomes the changes in Harlem.D. is completely opposed to the changes.TEXT CThe senior partner, Oliver Lambert, studied the resume for the hundredth time and again found nothing he disliked about Mitchell Y. McDeere, at least not on paper. He had the brains, the ambition, the good looks. And he was hungry; with his background, he had to be. He was married, and that was mandatory. The firm had never hired an unmarried lawyer, and it frowned heavily on divorce, as well as womanizing and drinking. Drug testing was in the contract. He had a degree in accounting, passed the CPA exam the first time he took it and wanted to be a tax lawyer, which of course was a requirement with a tax firm. He was white, and the firm had never hired a black. They managed this by being secretive and clubbish and never soliciting job applications. Other firms solicited, and hired blacks. This firm recruited, and remained lily white. Plus, the firm was in Memphis, and the top blacks wanted New York or Washington or Chicago. McDeere was a male, and there were no women in the firm. That mistake had been made in the mid-seventies when they recruited the number one grad from Harvard, who happened to be a she and a wizard at taxation. She lasted four turbulent years and was killed in a car wreck.He looked good, on paper. He was their top choice. In fact, for this year there were no other prospects. The list was very short. It was McDeere, or no one.The managing partner, Royce McKnight, studied a dossier labeled "Mitchell Y. McDeere-Harvard." An inch thick with small print and a few photographs; it had been prepared by some ex-CIA agents in a private intelligence outfit in Bethesda. They were clients of the firm and each year did the investigating for no fee. It was easy work, they said, checking out unsuspecting law students. They learned, for instance, that he preferred to leave the Northeast, that he was holding three job offers, two in New York and one in Chicago, and that the highest offer was $76,000 and the lowest was $68,000. He was in demand. He had been given the opportunity to cheat on a securities exam during his second year. He declined, and made the highest grade in the class. Two months ago he had been offered cocaine at a law school party. He said no and left when everyone began snorting. He drank an occasional beer, but drinking was expensive and he had no money. He owed close to $23,000 in student loans. He was hungry.Royce McKnight flipped through the dossier and smiled. McDeere was their man. Lamar Quin was thirty-two and not yet a partner. He had been brought along to look young and act young and project a youthful image for Bendini, Lambert & Locke, which in fact was a young firm, since most of the partners retired in their late forties or early fifties with money to bum. He would make partner in this firm. With a six-figure income guaranteed for the rest of his life, Lamar could enjoy the twelve-hundred-dollar tailored suits that hung so comfortably from his tall, athletic frame. He strolled nonchalantly across the thousand-dollar-a-day suite and poured another cup of decaf. He checked his watch. He glanced at the two partners sitting at the small conference table near the windows.Precisely at two-thirty someone knocked on the door. Lamar looked at the parmers, who slid the resume and dossier into an open briefcase. All three reached for their jackets. Immar buttoned his top button and opened the door.23. Which of the following is NOT the firm’s recruitment requirement?A. Marriage.B. Background.C. Relevant degree.D. Male.24. The details of the private investigation show that the firmA. was interested in his family background.B. intended to check out his other job offers.C. wanted to know something about his preference.D. was interested in any personal detail of the man.25. According to the passage, the main reason Lama Quin was there at the interview was thatA. his image could help impress McDereer.B. he would soon become a partner himself.C. he was good at interviewing applicants.D. his background was similar to MeDereer's.26. We get the impression from the passage that in job recruitment the firm was NOTA. selective.B. secretive.C. perfunctory.D. racially biased.TEXT KFirst read the questions.39. When did Moore receive his first commission?A. In 1948.B. In 1946.C. In 1931.D. In 1928.40. Where did Moore win his first international prize?A. In London.B. In Venice.C. In New York.D. In Hamburg.Now go through TEXT K quickly to answer questions 39 and 40.Henry Moore, the seventh of eight children of Raymond Spencer Moore and his wife Mary, was born in Yorkshire on 30 July 1898. After graduating from secondary school, Moore taught for a short while. Then the First World War began and he enlisted in the army at the age of eighteen. After the war he applied for and received an ex-serviceman's grant to attend Leeds School of Art. At the end of his second year he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London.In 1928 Moore met Irina Radetsky, a painting student at the college, whom he married a year later. The couple then moved into a house which consisted of a small ground-floor studio with an equally small flat above. This remained their London home for ten years.Throughout the 1920's Moore was involved in the art life of London. His first commission, received in 1928, was to produce a sculpture relief for the newly opened headquarters of London Transport. His first one-man exhibition opened at the Warren Gallery in 1928; it was followed by a show at the Leicester Galleries in 1931 and his first sale to a gallery abroad- the Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. His success continued.In 1946 Moore had his first foreign retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modem Art, New York. In 1948 he won the International Sculpture Prize at the 24th Venice Biennale, the first of countless international accolades acquired in succeeding years. At the same time sales of Moore's work around the world increased, as did the demand for his exhibitions. By the end of 1970's the number of exhibitions had grown to an average of forty a year, ranging from the very small to major international retrospectives taking years of detailed planning and preparation. The main themes in Moore's work included the mother and child, the earliest work created in 1922, and the reclining figure dating from 1926. At the end of the 1960's came stringed figures based on mathematical models observed in the Science Museum, and the first helmet head, a subject that later developed into the internal-external theme- variously interpreted as a hard form coveting a soft, like a mother protecting her child or a foetus inside a womb.A few years before his death in 1986 Moore gave the estate at Perry Green with its studios, houses and cottages to the Trustees of the Henry Moore Foundation to promote sculpture and the fine arts within the cultural life of the country and in particular the works of Henry Moore.ANSWER SHEET ONEPART I LISTENING COMPREHENSIONSECTION D NOTE-TAKING & GAPFILING (15 MIN)Fill in each of the gaps with ONE word You may refer to your notes. Make sure the word you fill in is both grammatically and semantically acceptable.Marslow's Hierarchy of NeedsAbraham Maslow has developed a famous theory of human needs, which can be arranged In order of importance.Physiological needs: the most (1)______________ones for survival.They include such needs as food, water, etc. And there is usually one way to satisfy these needs.(2)______________needs: needs for a) physicalsecurity;b)(3)_______________security.The former means no illness or injury, while the latter is concerned with freedom from (4)______________, misfortunes, etc. These needs can be met through a variety of means, e.g. job security, (5)______________________plans, and safe working conditions.Social needs: human requirements for a) love and affection;b) a sense of belonging.There are two ways to satisfy these needs: a) formation of relationships at workplace;b) formation of relationships outside workplace.Esteem needs: a) self-esteem, i.e. one's sense of achievement;b) esteem of others, i.e. others' respect as a result of one's (6__________.These needs can be fulfilled by achievement, promotion, honours, etc.Self-realization needs: need to realize one'spotential.Ways to realize these needs are individually (7)______________________ Features of the hierarchy of needs:a) Social, esteem and self-realization needs are exclusively(8)______________ needs.b) Needs are satisfied in a fixed order from the bottom up.c) (9)_____________for needs comes from the lowest un-met level.d) Different levels of needs may (10)_______________when they come into play. ANSWER SHEET TWOTEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS [2003]-GRADE EIGIHT-PART II PROOFREADING & ERROR CORRECTION (15 MIN)The passage contains TEN errors. Each indicated line contains a maximum of ONE error. In each case, only ONE word is involved You should proof, read the passage and correct it in the following way:For a wrong word, underline the wrong word and write the correct one in the blank pro-vided at the end of the line.For a missing word, mark the position of the missing word with a "^" sign and write the word you believe to be missing in the blank provided at the end of the line. For an unnecessary word, cross the unnecessary word with a slash "/" and put the word in the blank provided at the end of the line.EXAMPLEWhen ^ art museum wants a new exhibit, it never buys things in finished form and hangs them on the wall. When a natural history museum wants an exhibition, it must often build it.Demographic indicators show that Americans in the postwarperiod were more eager than ever to establish families. They quicklybrought down the age at marriage for both men and women and broughtthe birth rate to a twentieth century height after more than a hundred (1)__ years of a steady decline, producing the “baby boom.”These young (2)__adults established a trend of early marriage and relatively largefamilies that Went for more than two decades and caused a major (3)__but temporary reversal of long-term demographic patterns. Fromthe 1940S through the early 1960s, Americans married at a high rate (4)__and at a younger age than their Europe counterparts.(5)__Less noted but equally more significant, the men and women on who (6)__formed families between 1940 and 1960 nevertheless reduced the (7)__divorce rate after a postwar peak; their marriages remained intact toa greater extent than did that of couples who married in earlier as well (8)__ as later decades. Since the United States maintained its dubious (9)__ distinction of having the highest divorce rate in the world, thetemporary decline in divorce did not occur in the same extent in (10)__ Europe. Contrary to fears of the experts, the role of breadwinner and homemaker was not abandoned.TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2003)-GRADE EIGHT-PAPER TWOTIME LIMIT: 120 MINPART IV TRANSLATION (60 MIN)SECTION A CHINESE TO ENGLISHTranslate the following text into English. Write your translation on ANSWER SHEET THREE.得病以前，我受父母宠爱，在家中横行霸道，一旦隔离，拘禁在花园山坡上一幢小房子里，我顿觉打入冷宫，十分郁郁不得志起来。

英语专八阅读理解练习附答案

英语专八阅读理解练习附答案英语专八阅读理解练习附答案篇一Racket, din clamor, noise, whatever you want to call it, unwanted sound is America’s most widespread nuisance. But noise is more than just a nuisance. It constitutes a real and present danger topeople’s health. Day and night, at home, at work, and at play, noise can produce serious physical and psychological stress. No one is immune to this stress. Though we seem to adjust to noise by ignoring it, the ear, in fact, never closes and the body still responds—sometimes with extreme tension, as to a strange sound in the night. The annoyance we feel when faced with noise is the most common outward symptom of the stress building up inside→← us. Indeed, because irritability is so apparent, legislators have made public annoyance the basis of many noise abatement programs. The more subtle and more serious health hazards associated with stress caused by noise traditionally have been given much less attention. Nevertheless, when we are annoyed or made irritable by noise, we should consider these symptoms fair warning that other thing may be happening to us, some of which may be damaging to our health.Of many health hazards to noise, hearing loss is the most clearly observable and measurable by health professionals. The other hazards are harder to pin down. For many of us, there may be a risk that exposure to the stress of noise increases susceptibility to disease and infection. The more susceptible among us may experience noise as a complicating factor in heart problems and other diseases. Noisethat causes annoyance and irritability in health persons may have serious consequences for these already ill in mind or body.Noise affects us throughout our lives. For example, there areindications of effects on the unborn child when mothers are exposedto industrial and environmental noise. During infancy and childhood, youngsters exposed to high noise levels may have trouble falling asleep and obtaining necessary amounts of rest.Why, then, is there not greater alarm about these dangers? Perhaps it is because the link between noise and many disabilities or diseases has not yet been conclusively demonstrated. Perhaps it is because we tend to dismiss annoyance as a price to pay for living in the modern world. It may also be because we still think of hearing loss as only an occupational hazard.1.In Paragraph 1, the phrase immune to are used to mean ___.A.unaffected byB.hurt byC.unlikely to be seen byD.unknown by2.The author’s attitude toward noise would best be described as ___.A.unrealisticB.traditionalC.concernedD.hysterical3.Which of the following best states the main idea of the passage?A.Noise is a major problem; most people recognize its importance.B.Although noise can be annoying, it is not a major problem.C.Noise is a major problem and has not yet been recognized as such.D.Noise is a major problem about which nothing can be done.4.The author condemns noise essentially because it ___.A.is against the lawB.can make some people irritableC.is a nuisanceD.in a ganger to people’s health5.The author would probably consider research about the effects noise has on people to be ___.possible.C.a waste of moneyD.essential答案：ACCDD英语专八阅读理解练习附答案篇二Joy and sadness are experienced by people in all cultures around the world, but how can we tell when other people are happy or despondent? It turns out that the expression of many emotions may be universal. Smiling is apparently a universal sign of friendliness and approval. Baring the teeth in a hostile way, asnoted by Charles Darwin in the nineteenth century, may be a universe sign of anger. As the originator of the theory of evolution, Darwin believed that the universal recognition of facial expressions would have survival value. For example, facial expressions could signal the approach of enemies (or friends) in the absence of language.Most investigators concur that certain facial expressions suggest the same emotions in a people. Moreover, people in diverse cultures recognize the emotions manifested by the facial expressions. In classic research Paul Ekman took photographs of people exhibiting the emotions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness. He then asked people around the world to indicate what emotions were being depicted in them. Those queried ranged from European college studentsto members of the Fore, a tribe that dwells in the New Guinea highlands. All groups including the Fore, who had almost no contact with Western culture, agreed on the portrayed emotions. The Fore also displayed familiar facial expressions when asked how they would respond if they were the characters in stories that called for basic emotional responses. Ekman and his colleagues morerecently obtained similar results in a study of ten cultures in which participants were permitted to report that multiple emotions were shown by facial expressions. The participants generally agreed on which two emotions were being shown and which emotion was more intense.Psychological researchers generally recognize that facial expressions reflect emotional states. Infact, various emotional states give rise to certain patterns of electrical activity in the facial muscles and in the brain. The facial-feedback hypothesis argues, however, that the causal relationship between emotions and facial expressions can also work in the opposite direction. According to this hypothesis, signals from the facial muscles ("feedback") are sent back to emotion centers of the brain, and so a person's facial expression can influence that person's emotional state.ConsiderDarwin's words: "The free expression by outward signs of an emotion intensifies it. On the otherhand, the repression, as far as possible, of all outward signs softens our emotions." Can smiling giverise to feelings of good will, for example, and frowning to anger?Psychological research has given rise to some interestingfindings concerning the facial-feedback hypothesis. Causing participants in experiments to smile, for example, leads them to report morepositive feelings and to rate cartoons (humorous drawingsof people or situations) as being morehumorous. When they are caused to frown, they rate cartoons as being more aggressive.What are the possible links between facial expressions and emotion? One link is arousal, which is the level of activity or preparedness for activity in an organism. Intense contraction of facial muscles,such as those used in signifying fear, heightens arousal. Self-perception of heightened arousal then leads to heightened emotional activity. Other links may involve changes in brain temperature and the release of neurotransmitters (substances that transmit nerve impulses.) The contraction of facial muscles both influences the internal emotional state and reflects it. Ekman has found that theso-called Duchenne smile, which is characterized by "crow's feet" wrinkles around the eyes and asubtle drop in the eye cover fold so that the skin above the eye moves down slightly toward theeyeball, can lead to pleasant feelings.Ekman's observation may be relevant to the British expression "keep a stiff upper lip" as are commendation for handling stress. It might be that a "stiff" lip suppresses emotional response-as long as the lip is not quivering with fear or tension. But when the emotion that leads to stiffening the lip is more intense, and involves strong muscle tension, facial feedback may heighten emotional response.1. The word despondent in the passage is closest in meaning toA curiousB unhappyC thoughtfulD uncertain2. The author mentions "Baring the teeth in a hostile way" in order toA differentiate one possible meaning of a particular facial expression from other meanings of itB upport Darwin's theory of evolutionC provide an example of a facial expression whose meaning is widely understoodD contrast a facial expression that is easily understood with other facial expressions3. The word concur in the passage is closest in meaning toA estimateB agreeC expectD understand4. According to paragraph 2, which of the following was true of the Fore people ofNew Guinea?A They did not want to be shown photographs.B They were famous for their story-telling skills.C They knew very little about Western culture.D They did not encourage the expression of emotions.5. According to the passage, what did Darwin believe would happen to human emotions that werenot expressed?A They would become less intense.B They would last longer than usual.C They would cause problems later.D They would become more negative.参考答案：B C B C A。

专八听力考试题及答案

专八听力考试题及答案1. 听下面一段对话，回答以下问题：(1) 男人为什么去图书馆？(2) 女人建议男人做什么？答案：(1) 男人去图书馆是为了借阅一本关于历史的书籍。

(2) 女人建议男人可以在网上查找相关信息。

2. 根据所听短文，完成下列句子：(1) The speaker mentioned that ________ is the most important aspect of a successful business.(2) According to the speaker, ________ can significantly impact the growth of a company.答案：(1) innovation is the most important aspect of a successful business.(2) employee satisfaction can significantly impact the growth of a company.3. 听下面一段新闻报道，回答以下问题：(1) What is the main topic of the news?(2) What measures are being taken to address the issue?答案：(1) The main topic of the news is the increasing pollution levels in major cities.(2) The government is implementing stricter emission standards for vehicles to address the issue.4. 根据所听讲座内容，回答以下问题：(1) What is the speaker's opinion on the role oftechnology in education?(2) What example does the speaker give to illustrate the point?答案：(1) The speaker believes that technology can greatly enhance the learning experience in education.(2) The speaker gives the example of using interactive software in classrooms to make lessons more engaging.5. 听下面一段对话，完成下列句子：(1) The woman is planning to ________ for her vacation.(2) The man suggests ________ as a possible destination.答案：(1) The woman is planning to go hiking for her vacation.(2) The man suggests visiting the national park as a possible destination.6. 根据所听短文，回答以下问题：(1) What is the main reason for the decline in the population of the species discussed?(2) What conservation efforts are mentioned in the article?答案：(1) The main reason for the decline in the population is habitat loss due to urban development.(2) The conservation efforts mentioned includeestablishing protected areas and raising public awareness.7. 听下面一段对话，回答以下问题：(1) Why is the woman upset?(2) What does the man offer to do?答案：(1) The woman is upset because she missed her flight.(2) The man offers to help her rebook another flight.8. 根据所听讲座内容，完成下列句子：(1) The speaker argues that ________ is crucial for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.(2) The speaker also mentions that ________ can lead to various health issues.答案：(1) The speaker argues that regular exercise is crucialfor maintaining a healthy lifestyle.(2) The speaker also mentions that a sedentary lifestyle can lead to various health issues.9. 听下面一段新闻报道，回答以下问题：(1) What is the main focus of the news report?(2) What is the current status of the situation?答案：(1) The main focus of the news report is the ongoing negotiations between two countries.(2) The current status of the situation is that both sides have agreed to continue talks next month.10. 根据所听对话，回答以下问题：(1) What is the man's opinion about the new restaurant?(2) What does the woman think about the food?答案：(1) The man's opinion about the new restaurant is that it is overpriced.(2) The woman thinks the food is delicious but not worth the high price.。

2024年英语专八练习阅读测试题及答案

[C] 善自然会战胜恶
[D] it’s desirable for good men to keep away from evil
[D] 好人应该远离邪恶
2. According to the author, if a person is found guilty of a crime,_____________.
[B]小城镇的人坚守老的纪律和标准
[C] today’s society lacks sympathy for people in difficulty
[C]现代社会缺少对于困境中的人的同情
[D] people in disadvantaged circumstances are engaged in criminal activities
[C] 罪犯本人应该为此负责
[D] the standards of living should be improved
[D] 生活水平应该提高
3. Compared with those in small towns, people in large cities have________.
3. 和小城镇相比，大城市的人________。
[C] 对人们的行为应该加以更多控制
[D] more people should accept the value of accountability
[D] 更多人应该接受“责任感”这一价值观
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[A] 学校和家庭中应该保持更严格的纪律
[B] more good examples should be set for people to follow
[B] 应该为人们树立更多学习榜样

英语专八试卷真题及答案

英语专八试卷真题及答案 Revised final draft November 26, 20202004年英语专八试卷真题及答案PART Ⅰ LISTENING COMPREHENSIONSECTION A TALKLanguage is used for doing things. People use it in everyday conversation for transacting business, planning meals and vacations, debating politics, and gossiping. Teachers use it for instructing students, and comedians use it for amusing audiences. All these are instances of language use - that is activities in which people do things with language. As we can see, language use is really a form of joint action.What is joint action I think it is an action that is carried out by a group of people doing things in coordination with each other. As simple examples, think of two people waltzing, or playing a piano duet. When two dancers waltz, they each move around the ballroom in a special way. But waltzing is different from the sum of their individual actions. Can you imagine these two dancers doing the same steps, but in separate rooms, or at separate times So waltzing is, in fact, the joint action that emerges as the two dancers do their individual steps in coordination, as a couple.Similarly, doing things with language is also different from the sum of the speaker speaking and the listener listening. It is the joint action that emerges when speakers and listeners, or writers and readers, perform their individual actions in coordination, as ensembles. Therefore, we can say that language use incorporates bothindividual and social processes. Speakers and listeners, writers and readers, must carry out actions as individuals, if they are to succeed in their use of language. But they must also work together as participants in the social units I have called ensembles. In the example I mentioned just now, the two dancers perform both individual actions, moving their bodies, arms, and legs, and joint actions, coordinating these movements, as they create the waltz. In the past, language use has been studied as if it were entirely an individual process. And it has also been studied as if it were entirely a social process. For me, I suggest that it belongs to both. We cannot hope to understand language use without viewing it as joint actions built on individual actions. In order to explain how all these actions work,I'd like to review briefly settings of language use. By settings, I mean the scene in which language use takes place, plus the medium - which refers to whether language use is spoken or written. And inthis talk, I'll focus on spoken settings.The spoken setting mentioned most often is conversation - either face to face, or on the telephone. Conversations may be devoted to gossip, business transactions or scientific matters, but they're all characterized by the free exchange of terms among the two participants. I'll call these personal settings. Then we have what I would call nonpersonal settings. A typical example is the monologue.In monologues, one person speaks with little or no opportunity for interruption, or turns by members of the audience. Monologues come in many varieties too, as a professor lectures to a class, or a student giving a presentation to a seminar. These people speak for themselves, uttering words they formulated themselves for the audience before them, and the audience isn't expected to interrupt. In another kindof setting which are called institutional settings, the participantsengage in speech exchanges that look like ordinary conversation, but they are limited by institutional rules. As examples, we can think of a government official holding a news conference, a lawyercross questioning a witness in court, or a professor directing a seminar discussion. In these settings, what is said is more or less spontaneous, even though turns at speaking are allocated by a leader, or are restricted in other ways.The person speaking isn't always the one whose intentions are being expressed. We have the clearest examples in fictional settings. Vivian Leigh plays Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind", Frank Sinatra sings a love song in front of a live audience, the speakers are each vocalizing words composed by someone else - for instance a playwright or a composer - and are openly pretending to be expressing opinions that aren't necessarily their own. Finally there are private settings when people speak for themselves without actually addressing anyone else, for example, I might explain silently to myself, or talk to myself about solving a research problem, or rehearsing what I'm about to say in a seminar tomorrow. What I say isn't intended to be recognized by other people, it is only of use to myself. These are the features of private settings.SECTION B TALKW: Good evening, I'm Nancy Johnson. The guest on our radio talk this evening is Professor Wang Gongwu. Hello, Professor Wang.M: Hello.W: Professor Wang, you're now professor emeritus of Australia National University, and in your long academic career, you've wornmany hats as tutor, lecturer, department head, dean, professor, and vice chancellor. However, as I know, you're still very fond of your university days as a student.M: That's right. That was in 1949. The university that I went to was a brand new university then, and the only one in the country at that time. When I look back, it was an amazingly small university, and we knew everybody.W: How did the students like you, for example, study thenM: We didn't study very hard, because we didn't have to. We didn't have all this fantastic competition that you have today. Mmm. We were always made to feel that getting a first degree in the Arts faculty was not preparation for a profession. It was a general education. We were not under any pressure to decide on our careers, and we had such a good time. We were left very much on our own, and we were encouraged to make things happen.W: What do you see as the most striking difference in university education since thenM: University education has changed dramatically since those days. Things are very specialized today.W: Yes, definitely so. And, in your subsequent career experience as an educator and later administrator in various institutions of higher education in Asia and elsewhere, Professor Wang, you have repeatedlynoted that one has to look at the development of education in one particular country in a broad context. What do you mean by thatM: Well, the whole world has moved away from elite education in universities to meet the needs of mass education, and entering universities is no longer a privilege for the few. And universities today are more concerned with providing jobs for their graduates in a way that universities in our time never had to be bothered about. Therefore, the emphasis of university programs today is now on the practical and the utilitarian, rather than on a general education or on personal development.W: Do you think that is a welcome developmentM: Well, I personally regret this development. But the basicbachelor's education now has to cater to people who really need a piece of paper to find a decent job.W: So you're concerned about this development.M: Yes, I'm very concerned. With technical changes, many of the things that you learn are technical skills, which don't require you to become very well educated. Yet, if you can master those skills, you can get very good jobs. So the technical institutions are going to be increasingly popular at the expense of traditional universitites.W: Professor Wang, let's look at a different issue. How do you comment on the current phenomenon because of the fees they payM: Well, once you accept students on financial grounds, one wonders whether you have to pass them as well. But this is the development in education that we have to contend with. Yet, if we are concerned about maintaining standards, what we can do is to concentrate on improving the quality of education.W: Yes, you're right. A university is judged by the quality of education it offers. Professor Wang, let's turn to the future. What type of graduates, in your view, to universities of the future need to produce, if they are to remain relevantM: I think their graduates must be able to shift from one profession to another, because they are trained in a very independent way. If you can do that, you raise the level of the flexibility of the mind. Today's rapid changes in technology demand this adaptability. And you see the best universities in the world are already trying to guarantee that their students will not only be technically trained, but will be the kind of people that can adapt to any changing situation.W: I guess many people would agree with you on that point. University education should focus on both personal and professional development of students. But still some might believe there is a definite place for education in a broader sense - that is, in personal intellectual development.M: No doubt about that. We need people who will think about the future, about the past, and also people who will think about society.If a society doesn't have philosophers, or people who think about the value of life, it's a very sad society indeed.W: Professor Wang, my last question: do you see any common ground in education between your generation and the young generation nowM: Adapting to new challenges is perhaps the true cornerstone of our generation's legacy to education. And the future of education in a country rests not so much on the construction of better buildings, labs, etc., but in the development of an ever adaptable mind.W:That's true. The essence of education is the education of the mind. Okay, thank you very much, Professor Wang, for talking to us on the show about the changing trends in education.M: You're welcomeSECTION CA new data shows that the global AIDS pandemic will cause a sharp drop in life expectancy in dozens of countries, in some cases, declines of three decades. Several nations are losing a century's progress in extending the length of life. Nations in every part of the world, 51 in all, are suffering declining life expectancies because of an increasing prevalence of HIV infection. The increase is occurring in Asia, Latin America, and the Carribbean, but is greatest in sub Saharan Africa, a region with only 10% of the world's population but 70% of the world's HIV infections. Seven African countries have life expectancies of less than 40 years. For example, in Botswana, where 39% of the adult population is infected with HIV,life expectancy is 39 years. But by 2010, it will be less than 27 years. Without AIDS, it would have been 44 years. Life expectancy throughout the Carribbean and some Central American nations will drop into the 60's by 2010, when they would otherwise have been in the70's without AIDS. In Cambodia and Burma, they are predicted to decline to around 60 years old, to what otherwise would have been in the mid 60's. Even in countries where the number of new infections is dropping, such as Thailand, Uganda, and Senegal, small life expectancy drop is forecast. Back in the early 1990's, we never would have suspected that population growth would have turned negative because of AIDS mortality. In less than 10 years, we expect that 5 countries will be experiencing negative population growth because of AIDS mortality, including South Africa, Mozambique, Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland.Questions 14 and 15 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 30 seconds to answer the questions. Now listen to the news.The European Union has drafted alist of US products to be hit with import taxes in retaliation for tariffs the United States has imposed on European steel. EU member governments will review the list before the EU submits it to the World Trade Organization, which arbitrates international trade disputes. EU officials will not say which American products will be hit by the EU sanctions. But diplomats monitoring the most recent trans Atlantic trade dispute say they include textiles and steel products.Earlier this month, the Bush administration imposed tariffs of up to 30 percent on some steel imports, including European products.The EU has appealed to the World Trade Organization to get those duties overturned. But a WTO decision on the matter could take up to a year or more. EU officials say that, under WTO rules, the EU has the right to impose retaliatory measures in June. But they saythe United States can avoid the EU's possible countermeasures if it pays more than two billion dollars in compensation to the EU for imposing the steel tariffs in the first place. The officials say Washington could also escape retaliation by lowering U.S. import duties on other EU products. The Bush administration says it will not pay compensation.SECTION D TALKGood morning. Today's lecture will focus on how to make people feel at ease in conversations. I guessall of you sitting here can recall certain people who just seem to make you feel comfortable when they are around. You spend an hour with them and feel as if you've known them half your life. These people who have that certain something that makes us feel comfortable have something in common, and once we know what that is, we can go about getting some of that something for ourselves. How is it done Here are some of the skills that good talkers have. If you follow the skills, they will help you put people at their ease, make them feel secure, and comfortable, and turn acquaintances into friends. First of all, good talkers ask questions. Almost anyone, no matter how shy, will answer a question. In fact, according to my observation, very shy persons are often more willing to answer questions than extroverts. They are more concerned that someone will think them impolite if they don't respond to the questions. So most skillful conversationalists recommend starting with a question that is personal, but not harmful. For example, once a famous American TV presenter got a long and fascinating interview from a notoriously private billionaire by asking him about his first job. Another example, one prominent woman executive confesses that at business lunches, "I always ask people what they did that morning. It's a dull question, but it gets things going." From there, you can move on to other matters, sometimes to really personal questions. Moreover, howyour responder answers will let you know how far you can go. A few simple catchwords like "Really" "Yes" are clear invitations to continue talking. Second, once good talkers have asked questions,they listen for answers. This point seems obvious, but it isn't in fact. Making people feel comfortable isn't simply a matter of making idle conversation. Your questions have a point. You're really asking, "What sort of person are you" and to find out, you have to really listen. There are at least three components of real listening. Forone thing, real listening means not changing the subject. If someone sticks to one topic, you can assume that he or she is reallyinterested in it. Another component of real listening is listeningnot just to words but to tones of voice. I once mentioned D.H. Lawrence to a friend. To my astonishment, she launched into an academic discussion of the imagery in Lawrence's works. Midway through, I listened to her voice. It was, to put it mildly, unanimated, and it seemed obvious that the imagery monologue was intended solely for my benefit, and I quickly changed the subject. At last, real listening means using your eyes as well as your ears. When your gaze wanders, it makes people think they're boring your, or what they are saying is not interesting. Of course, you don't have to stare, or glare at them. Simply looking attentive will make most people think that you think they're fascinating. Next, good talkers are not afraid to laugh. If you think of all the people you know who make you feel comfortable, you may notice that all of them laugh a lot. Laughter is not only warming and friendly, it's also a good wayto ease other people's discomfort. I have a friend who might enjoy watching at gathering of other people who do not know each other well. The first few minutes of talk are a bit uneasy and hesitant, for the people involved do not yet have a sense of each other. Invariably, alight comment or joke is made, and my friend's easy laughter appears like sunshine in the conversation. There is always then a visible softening that takes place. Other people smile, and loosen in response to her laughter, and the conversation goes on with more warmth and ease.Finally, good talkers are onces who cement a parting. That is, they know how to make use of parting as a way to leave adeep impression on others. Last impressions are just as important as first impressions in determining how a new acquaintance will remember you. People who make others really feel comfortable take advantage of that parting moment to close the deal. Men have had it easier. They have done it with a smile, and a good firm handshake. What about women then Over the last several years, women have started to take over that custom well between themselves or with men. If you'resaying goodbye, you might want to give him or her a second extra hand squeeze. It's a way to say, I really enjoyed meeting you. But it'snot all done with body language. If you've enjoyed being with someone, if you want to see that person again, don't keep it a secret. Let people know how you feel, and they may walk away feeling as ifthey've known you half their life. Okay, just to sum up. Today, we've talked about four ways to make people feel at ease in conversations. These skills are important in keeping conversations going, and in forming friendships later on. Of course, these skills are by no means the only ones we can use. the list is much longer. I hope you willuse these four skills, and discover more on your own in your conversations with other people. Now you have two minutes to check your notes, and then please complete the 15 minute gap filling taskon Answer Sheet One.This is the end of listening comprehension.试题Part Ⅰ Listening Comprehension (40 min)In Sections A,B and C you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the correct answer to each question on your colored answer sheet.SECTION A TALKQuestions 1 to 5 refer to the talk in this section. At the end of the talk you will be given 75 seconds to answer the questions. Now listen to the talk.1. The parallel between waltzing and language use lies in ____.A. the coordination based on individual actionsB. the number of individual participantsC. the necessity of individual actionsD. the requirements for participants2. In the talk the speaker thinks that language use is a(n) ____ process.A. individualB. combinedC. distinctD. social3. The main difference between personal and non-personal settings is in ____.A. the manner of language useB. the topic and content of speechC. the interactions between speaker and audienceD. the relationship between speaker and audience4. In fictional settings, speakers ____.A. hide their real intentionsB. voice others' intentionsC. play double roles on and off stageD. only imitate other people in life5. Compared with other types of settings, the main feature of private setting is ____.A. the absence of spontaneityB. the presence of individual actionsC. the lack of real intentionsD. the absence of audienceSECTION B INTERVIEWQuestions 6 to 10 are based on an interview. At the end of the interview you will be given 75 seconds to answer the questions. Now listen to the interview.6. What was education like in Professor Wang's daysA. Students worked very hard.B. Students felt they needed a second degree.C. Education was not career－oriented.D. There were many specialized subjects.7. According to Professor Wang, what is the purpose of the present－day educationA. To turn out an adequate number of elite for the society.B. To prepare students for their future career.C. To offer practical and utilitarian courses in each programme.D. To set up as many technical institutions as possible.8. In Professor Wang's opinion, technical skills ____.A. require good educationB. are secondary to educationC. don't call for good educationD. don't conflict with education9. What does Professor Wang suggest to cope with the situation caused by increasing numbers of fee-paying studentsA. Shifting from one programme to another.B. Working out ways to reduce student number.C. Emphasizing better quality of education.D. Setting up stricter examination standards.10. Future education needs to produce graduates of all the following categories EXCEPT ____.A. those who can adapt to different professionsB. those who have a high flexibility of mindC. those who are thinkers, historians and philosophersD. those who possess only highly specialized skillsSECTION C NEWS BROADCASTQuestions 11 to 13 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 45 seconds to answer the questions. Now listen to the news.11. Which of the following regions in the world will witness the sharpest drop in life expectancyA. Latin America.B. Sub Saharan Africa.C. Asia.D. The Caribbean.12. According to the news, which country will experience small life expectancy dropA. Burma.B. Botswana.C. Cambodia.D. Thailand.13. The countries that are predicted to experience negative population growth are mainly in ____ .A. Asia.B. Africa.C. Latin America.D. The Caribbean.Questions 14 and 15 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 30 seconds to answer the questions. Now listen to the news.14. The trade dispute between the European Union and the US was caused by ____. refusal to accept arbitration by WTO imposing tariffs on European steel refusal to pay compensation to EU refusal to lower import duties on EU products15. Who will be consulted first before the EU list is submitted to WTOA. EU member states.B. The United States.C. WTO.D. The steel corporations.SECTION D NOTE-TAKING AND GAP-FILLINGIn this section you will hear a mini-lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening to the lecture, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them to complete a 15-minute gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE after the mini-lecture. Use the blank paper for note-taking. Fill in each of the gaps with one word. You may refer to your notes. Make sure the word you fill in is both grammatically and semantically acceptable.Conversation SkillsPeople who usually make us feel comfortable in conversations are good talkers. And they have something in common, i.e. skills to put people at ease.1. Skill to ask question1) be aware of the human nature: readiness to answer other's questions regardless of (1)____2) start a conversation with some personal but unharmful questions about one's (2)____ job.questions about one's activities in the (3)____3) be able to spot signals for further talk2. Skill to (4)____for answers1) don't shift from subject to subject-sticking to the same subject: signs of (5)____in conversation.2) listen to (6)____of voice - If people sound unenthusiastic, then change subject.3) use eyes and ears - steady your gaze while listening3. Skill to laughEffects of laughter:- ease people's (7)____- help start (8)____4. Skill to part1) importance: open up possibilities for future friendship or contact2) ways:- men: a smile, a (9)____- women: same as (10)____ now- how to express pleasure in meeting someone.(1) ______ (2) ______ (3) ______ (4) ______ ( 5 ) ______(6) ______ (7) ______ (8) ______ (9) ______ (10) ______PART II PROOFREADING AND ERROR CORRECTION (15 MIN)The following passage contains TEN errors. Each line contains a maximum of one error and three are free from error. In each case, only one word is involved. You should proofread the passage and correct it in the following way.For a wrong word, underline the wrong word and write the correct one in the blank provided at the end of the line.For a missing word, mark the position of the missing word with a “∧” sign and write the word you believe to be missing in the b lank provided at the end of the line.For an unnecessary word, cross out the unnecessary word with a slash “／” and put the word in the blank provided at the end of the line.If the line is correct, place a V in the blank provided at the end of the lineExampleWhen ^ art museum wants a new exhibit, (1) anIt never buys things in finished form and bangs (2) neverthem on the wall. When a natural history museum (3) vwants an exhibition, it must often build it. (4) exhibitProofread the given passage on ANSWER SHEET TWO as instructed.One of the most important non-legislative functions of the U.S Congressis the power to investigate. This power is usually delegated to committees - eitherstanding committees, special committees set for a specific(1)____purpose, or joint committees consisted of members of both houses. (2)____Investigations are held to gather information on the need forfuture legislation, to test the effectiveness of laws already passed,to inquire into the qualifications and performance of members andofficials of the other branches, and in rare occasions, to lay the (3)____groundwork for impeachment proceedings. Frequently, committeesrely outside experts to assist in conducting investigative hearings (4)____and to make out detailed studies of issues. (5)____There are important corollaries to the investigative power. Oneis the power to publicize investigations and its results. Most (6)____committee hearings are open to public and are reported (7)____widely in the mass media. Congressional investigationsnevertheless represent one important tool available to lawmakers (8)____to inform the citizenry and to arouse public interests in national issues. (9)____Congressional committees also have the power to compeltestimony from unwilling witnesses, and to cite for contemptof Congress witnesses who refuse to testify and for perjurythese who give false testimony. (10)____Part Ⅲ Reading Comprehension (30 min)In this section there are four reading passages followed by a total of fifteen multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then mark your answers on your colored answer sheet.TEXT AFarmers in the developing world hate price fluctuations. It makes it hard to plan ahead. But most of them have little choice: they sell at the price the market sets. Farmers in Europe, the U.S. and Japan are luckier: they receive massive government subsidies in the form of guaranteed prices or direct handouts. Last month U.S. President Bush signed a new farm bill that gives American farmers $190 billion over the next 10 years, or $83 billion more than they had been scheduled to get, and pushes U.S. agricultural support close to crazy European levels. Bush said the step was necessary to "promote farmer independence and preserve the farm way of life for generations". It is also designed to help the Republican Party win control of the Senate in November's mid term elections.Agricultural production in most poor countries accounts for up to 50% of GDP, compared to only 3% in rich countries. But most farmers in poor countries grow just enough for themselves and their families. Those who try exporting to the West find their goods whacked with huge tariffs or competing against cheaper subsidized goods. In 1999 the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development concluded that。

2021年英语专八听力真题和原文答案

2021年英语专八听力真题和原文答案PART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION [25 MIN]2021英语专八真题音频.mp3SECTION A MINI-LECTUREIn this section, you will hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening, please complete the gap-fulling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE and write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each gap. Make sure the word(s) you fill in is (are) both grammaticallyand semanticallyacceptable.You may use the blank sheet for note taking. You have THIRTY seconds to preview the gap-filling task. Now listen to the mini-lecture. When it is over, you will be given THREE minutes to check your work.Current Challenges Confronting U.S. Higher EducationSection B InterviewThis is the end of Part Two of the interview. Questions 6 to 10 are based on what you have just heard. Question 6, what did Maureen think about socializing with writers?Question 7, what was Maureen's view about a community for poets?Question 8, why did her sections have concluding stanzas?Question 9, what did Maureen think about her way of poetry reading?Question 10, what is the interview mainly about?This is the end of Part One of the interview. Questions 1 to 5 are based on what you have just heard. Question 1, what is Maureen McLean, according to the interviewer?Question 2, when did Maureen first begin to read poetry?Question 3, who were the most important teachers to Maureen?Question 4, which of the following did Maureen feel more strongly about when she returned to teach at Harvard?Question 5, why did Maureen bring recordings to class?答案解析和原文1、MINI-LECTURE 录音原文Current Challenges Confronting U.S. Higher EducationGood morning, everyone. In our last lecture, we discussed challenges that face universities and colleges worldwide. Today, we'll take a special look at U.S. higher education and see what challenges U.S. higher education is facing. OK, let's get started.The first challenge we are examining in today's lecture is the force of the marketplace on higher education. Many people believe that the marketplace has overtaken state government as the dominant external force, shaping and reshaping American higher education, even for public colleges and universities. You may ask, why is it so? Well, as is always the case, government support is not keeping pace with educational expenditures. So, in many ways the market is having more bearing on higher education than government. In order to create more flexibility, many public colleges and universities are now asking for less government regulation and supervision. In some instances, they are even asking for less state money in return for more autonomy. And, their argument is that the current structures and accountability requirements have hindered their capacity to be effective and efficient. The ability to set their own tuition fees and secure freedom from state policies and regulations in areas, such as purchasing and building, represent just some of the additional autonomy that public institutions are seeking. And many are pressing for new legislation to provide this freedom through a range of innovations, including public corporations, charter colleges, state enterprise status and performance contracts.So, what is the result of these efforts? Well, the result is that activities and research in certain fields and disciplines, for example, engineering, applied natural science and agricultural science become higher institutional priorities because they have stronger market value than other programs such as humanities do. So, what has happened is that institutions create new programs, alter academic calendars and pursue differentfinancial aid policies to capture more and better students, in particular those who can afford to pay high tuition. For instance, executive MBA programs are increasingly popular. Also, institutions seek contracts and partnership agreements and enhance research programs with practical applications that have large financial payouts. In order to do so, they are changing their institutional structures. And how do they do it? Let me tell you, institutions would add new units that focus on generating external grants and bringing new technology to market. They would build conference centers and create for profit subsidiaries. All of these are done to generate more revenue for institutions. What are the implications of this? Well, the implications are that academic research is increasingly focused on marketable knowledge. Entrepreneurial priorities are taking precedence, services are being outsourced, and students are carrying an increasing burden to pay higher tuition fees for their education.Then how do university administrators view this trend? That is, the marketplace is showing stronger impact on how institutions are run. In fact, university administrators see little option except to respond to the marketplace. The reason is if their institution does not react effectively, it will not have the necessary resources to offer high quality and diverse academic programs. Institutions unable to compete may face hard circumstances because government support continues to fall, students become better informed consumers and advances in technology also widen the number and reach of competitors. In turn, the ability to compete for students, resources, faculty and prestige becomes a driving strategic force. At its extreme, competition can overtake more traditional academic values. However, the downside of pursuing market goals without appropriately balancing them against the public good is, is that institutions will no longer be able to fulfill their social responsibility to produce well-educated citizens and face the threat of losing their privileged place in society as they resemble more closely other market driven organizations.Now, let's move on to the second challenge facing U.S. higher education, that is the tension between competition and equality in admissions decisions. Since World War Two, U.S. higher education has been engaged in a process of massification, that is expanding to serve students from all walks of life. Motivating this effort is a widespread belief in the power of education to create social and economic mobility, and a belief in the morality and social value of making higher education accessible to everyone. Research data bear out public perceptions. When young people from low-income backgrounds complete a bachelor's degree. Their income and employment characteristics after graduation are equivalent to their peers from more affluent backgrounds. So, education can truly be the great equalizer.Although there is widespread public faith in the value of higher education, the progress of massification has been slow and uneven. And why is it slow and uneven? Well, one, higher education did not admit significant numbers of racial and ethnic minorities until after the civil rights of the 1960s forced change. Second, despite significant expenditures on financial aid, minority and low-income individuals are still less likely to attend college than whites or students from middleand upper-income families. Although access gaps have nowadays narrowed somewhat, large gaps remain between completion rates. Low-income students come to college less prepared and must balance academic demands with work and family responsibilities.Finding ways to increase the enrollment rates of low-income students and encourage their success once enrolled are two of the most important problems facing American higher education. One of the challenges to meet these goals is that they can conflict with the other central tenets of American higher education, that is, market competition and resistance to government control. As I said before, for example, institutional competition for the most academically talented students is likely to encourage increased use of tuition discounting for students who have no financial need. And this could divert resources away from low-income students who need financial aid. Similarly, institutions may seek to distinguish themselves in the academic marketplace by becoming more selective in admissions decisions, thus reducing the number of low-income students admitted. However, a primary role of government is to mediate the potentially negative effects of competition by insisting that institutions adhere to their missions, and that institutions provide need-based financial assistance to students. So, a constant preoccupation of American higher education is this tension between the competitive, ambitious natureof institutions and the interests of government in promoting important public goals, primary among them, broad access and widespread success for all students.OK, for today's lecture, we have briefly discussed some of the major challenges facing U.S. higher education, such as the impact of the marketplace on institutions and the tension between competition and promoting public goals.2、MINI-LECTURE 答案解析1. dominant / prevailing / governing 等解析：美国高等教育所面临的两大挑战之一便是市场的力量。

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专八英语考试阅读理解试题附答案专八英语考试阅读理解试题附答案Often and violates, what the people.以下是我为大家搜寻整理的专八英语考试阅读理解试题附答案，期望能给大家带来帮忙!更多精彩内容请准时关注我们应届毕业生考试网!Can electricity cause cancer? In a society that literally runs on electric power, the very idea seems preposterous. But for more than a decade, a growing band of scientists and journalists has pointed to studies that seem to link exposure to electromagnetic fields with increased risk of leukemia and other malignancies. The implications are unsettling, to say the least, since everyone comes into contact with such fields, which are generated by everything electrical, from power lines and antennas to personal computers and micro-wave ovens. Because evidence on the subject is inconclusive and often contradictory, it has been hard to decide whether concern about the health effects of electricity is legitimateor the worst kind of paranoia.Now the alarmists have gained some qualified support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In the executive summary of a new scientific review, released in draft form late last week, the EPA has put forward what amounts to the most serious government warning to date. The agency tentatively concludes that scientific evidence "suggests a casual link' between extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fieldsthose having very longwave-lengthsand leukemia, lymphoma and braincancer, While the report falls short of classifying ELF fields as probable carcinogens, it does identify the common 60-hertz magnetic field as "a possible, but not proven, cause of cancer in humans.'The report is no reason to panicor even to lost sleep. If there is a cancer risk, it is a small one. The evidence is still so controversial that the draft stirred a great deal of debate within the Bush Administration, and the EPA released it over strong objections from the Pentagon and the Whit House. But now no one can deny that the issue must be taken seriously and that much more research is needed.At the heart of the debate is a simple and well-understood physical phenomenon: When an electric current passes through a wire, tit generates an electromagnetic field that exerts forces on surrounding objects, For many years, scientists dismissed any suggestion that such forces might be harmful, primarily because they are so extraordinarily weak. The ELF magnetic field generated by a video terminal measures only a few milligauss, or about one-hundredth the strength of the earths own magnetic field, The electric fields surrounding a power line can be as high as 10 kilovolts per meter, but the corresponding field induced in human cells will be only about 1 millivolt per meter. This is far less than the electric fields that the cells themselves generate.How could such minuscule forces pose a health danger? The consensus used to be that they could not, and for decades scientists concentrated on more powerful kinds of radiation, like X-rays, that pack sufficient wallop to knock electrons outof the molecules that make up the human body. Such "ionizing' radiations have been clearly linked to increased cancer risks and there are regulations to control emissions.But epidemiological studies, which find statistical associations between sets of data, do not prove cause and effect. Though there is a body of laboratory work showing that exposure to ELF fields can have biological effects on animal tissues, a mechanism by which those effects could lead to cancerous growths has never been found.The Pentagon is for from persuaded. In a blistering 33-page critique of the EPA report, Air Force scientists charge its authors with having "biased the entire document' toward proving a link. "Our reviewers are convinced that there is no suggestion that (electromagnetic fields) present in the environment induce or promote cancer,' the Air Force concludes. "It is astonishing that the EPA would lend its imprimatur on this report.' Then Pentagons concern is understandable. There is hardly a unit of the modern military that does not depend on the heavy use of some kind of electronic equipment, from huge ground-based radar towers to the defense systems built into every warship and plane.1. The main idea of this passage is ___________[A]. studies on the cause of cancer[B]. controversial view-points in the cause of cancer[C]. the relationship between electricity and cancer.[D]. different ideas about the effect of electricity on caner.2. The view-point of the EPA is ___________[A]. there is casual link between electricity and cancer.[B]. electricity really affects cancer.[C]. controversial.[D].low frequency electromagnetic field is a possible cause of cancer3. Why did the Pentagon and Whit House object to the release of the report? Because ___________[A]. it may stir a great deal of debate among the Bush Administration.[B]. every unit of the modern military has depended on the heavy use of some kind of electronic equipment.[C]. the Pentagons concern was understandable.[D]. they had different arguments.4. It can be inferred from physical phenomenon ___________[A]. the force of the electromagnetic field is too weak tobe harmful.[B]. the force of the electromagnetic field is weaker than the electric field that the cells generate.[C]. electromagnetic field may affect health.[D]. only more powerful radiation can knock electron out of human body.5. What do you think ordinary citizens may do after reading the different arguments?[A].They are indifferent. [B]. They are worried very much.[C]. The may exercise prudent avoidance. [C]. They are shocked.Vocabulary1. preposterous 反常的，非常荒谬的，乖戾的2. leukemia 白血病3. malignancy 恶性肿瘤4. legitimate 合法的`，合理的5. paranoia 偏执狂，妄想狂。

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Most earthquakes occur within the upper 15 miles of the earth's surface. But earthquakes can and d o occur at all depths to about 460 miles. Their n umber decreasesas the depth in creases. At about 460 miles one earthquake occurs only every few years. Near the surface earthquakes may run as hi gh as 100 in a mon th, but the yearly average does not vary much. In comparis on with the total nu mber of earthquakes each year, the number of disastrous earthquakes is very small.The extent of the disaster in an earthquake depends on many factors. If you carefully build a t oy house with an erect set, it will still stand no matter how much you shake the table. But if you build a toy house with a pack of cards, a slight shake of the table will make it fall. An earthqua ke in Agadir, Morocco, was not strong enough to be recorded on distant instruments, but it comple tely destroyed the city. Many stronger earthquakes have done comparatively little damage. If a build ing is well constructed and built on solid ground, it will resist an earthquake. Most deaths in earth quakes have been due to faulty building construction or poor building sites. A third and very seriou s factor is panic. When people rush out into narrow streets, more deaths will result.The United Nations has played an important part in reducing the damage done by earthquakes. It has sent a team of experts to all countries known to be affected by earthquakes. Working with local geologists and engineers, the experts have studied the nature of the ground and the type of m ost practical building code for the local area. If followed, these suggestions will make disastrous ear thquakes almost a thing of the past.There is one type of earthquake disaster that little can be done about. This is the disaster caus ed by seismic sea waves, or tsunamis. (These are often called tidal waves, but the name is incorrec t. They have nothing to do with tides.) In certain areas, earthquakes take place beneath the sea. Th ese submarine earthquakes sometimes give rise to seismic sea waves. The waves are not noticeable out at sea because of their long wave length. But when they roll into harbors, they pile up into waIls of water 6 to 60 feet high. The Japanese call them "tsunamis", meaning "harbor waves", becaus e theyreach a sizable height only in harbors.Tsunamis travel fairly slowly, at speeds up to 500 miles an hour. An adequate warning system is in use to warn all shores likely to be reached by the waves. But this only enables people to le ave the threatened shores for higher ground. There is no way to stop the oncoming wave.1. Which of the following CANNOT be concluded from the passage?A. The number of earthquakes is closely related to depth.B. Roughly the same number of earthquakes occur each year.C. Earthquakes are impossible at depths over 460 miles.D. Earthquakes are most likely to occur near the surfaces.2. The destruction of Agadir is an example of _________A. faulty building constructionB. an earthquake's strengthC. widespread panic in earthquakesD. in effective in strume nts3. The United Nations' experts are supposed to _______A. con struct stro ng build ingsB. put forward proposalsC. detect disastrous earthquakesD. monitor earthquakes4. The significanee of the slow speed of tsunamis is that people may __________A. notice them out at seaB. find ways to stop themC. be warned early en oughD. develop warning systems参考答案：1〜4 C ABC 1〜5 ADBDC 6〜10 ADBCA。

2023英语专业八级真题及答案

Section B interviewin this section you will hear everything once only. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the conect answer to each question on your colored answer sheet.Questions 1 to 5 are based on an interview. At the end of the interview you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following five questions.Now listen to the following five questions.Now listen lo the interview1. According to Nigel, most problems of air travel are caused byA.Unfavorable weather conditions.B.Airports handling capacity.C.Inadequate ticketing service.D. Overbooking.2.Which of the following is not mentioned as compensation for volunteers for the next fight out?A. Free ticket.BFree phone callC. Cash rewardD. Scat reservationWhy does Nigel suggest that business travelers avoid big airports?A Because all flights in and out of there are full.B.Because the volume of traffic is heavy.C.Because there are more popular flights.D.Because there are more delays and cancellations.3.According to Nigel, inexperience travelers are likely to make the following mistakes except.A Booking on less popular flights.B.buying tickets at full price.C.carrying excessive luggage.D.planning long business trips.5. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT?A.The possibility of discounts depends on a travel agent's volume of business.B.Longer flights to the same destination maybe cheaper.C.It is advisable to plan every detail of a trip in advance.D.arranging for stopovers can avoid overnight travel.SECTION C NEWS BROACASTIn this section you will hear everything once only. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the correct answer to each question on your coloured answer sheet.Question 6 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will bepeople's outlook on lift.A.people's life styles.B.people's living standardpeople's social values.28.Changes in pension schemes were also part ofthe corporate lay-offs.A.the government cuts in welfare spending.B.the economic restructuring.C.the warning power of labors unions.29.Thousands of employees chose Enron as their sole investment option mainly becauseThe 401 (k) made them responsible for their own future.A.Enron offered to add company stock to their investment.B.their employers intended to cut back on pension spending.C.Enron's offer was similar to a defined-benefit plan.30.Which is NOT seen as a lesson drawn from the Enron disaster?A.401(k) assets should be placed in more than one investment option.B.Employees have to take up responsibilities for themselves.C.Such events could happen again as it is not easy to change people's mind.D.Economic security won't be taken for granted by future young workers.PART HI GENERAL KNOWLEDGE (1() MIN)The majority of the current population in the UK are decedents of all the following tribes respectively EXCEPTA.the Anglosthe CeltsB.the Jutesthe Saxons31.The Head of State of Canada is represented bythe MonarchA.the Presidentthe Prime MinisterB.the Governor-generalThe Declaration of Independence was written byA.Thomas JeffersonGeorge WashingtonB.Alexander HamiltonJames Madison32.The original inhabitants of Australia werethe Red IndiansA.the Eskimosthe AboriginesB.the MaorisWhich of the following novels was written by Emily Bronte?A.Oliver TwistMiddlemarchB.Jane EyreWuthering Heights33.William Butler Yeats was a(n)poet and playwright.A.AmericanCanadianB.IrishAustralian34.Death of a Salesman was written byArthur MillerA.Ernest HemingwayRalph EllisonB.James Baldwin38.refers to the study of the internal structure of words and the rules of word formation.A.PhonologyMorphologyB.SemanticsSociolinguistics39.The distinctive features of a speech variety may be all the following EXCEPTlexicalA.syntacticphonologicalB.psycholinguisticThe word tail once referred to “the tail of a horse” , but now it is use d to mean “the tail of any animal.This is an example ofA.widening of meaningnarrowing of meaningB.meaning shiftloss of meaning英译中Scientific and technological advances are enabling us to comprehend the furthest reaches of the cosmos, the most basic constituents of matter, and the miracle of life.At the same lime, today, the actions, and inaction, of human beings imperil not only life on the planet, but the very life of the planet.Globalization is making the world smaller, faster and richer. Still, 9/11, avian flu, and Iran remind us that a smaller, faster world is not necessarily a safer world.Our world is bursting with knowledge - but desperately in need of wisdom. Now, when sound bites are getting shorter, when instant messages crowd out essays, and when individual lives grow more frenzied, college graduates capable of deep reflection are what our world needs.For all these reasons I believed - and I believe even more strongly today - in the unique and irreplaceable mission of universities.科技进步正在使我们能够探索宇宙的边陲、物质最根本的成分及生命的奇迹.与此同时，今天，人类所做的及没能做到的事情，不仅危害到这个星球上的生命，也危害到该星球的寿命。

英语专八真题附答案

2010英语专八真题TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2010)-GRADE EIGHT-PART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION (35 MIN)SECTION A MINI-LECTUREIn this section you will hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them to complete a gap-filling task after the mini-lecture. When the lecture is over, you will be given two minutes to check your notes, and another ten minutes to complete the gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE. Use the blank sheet for note-taking.Complete the gap-filling task. Some of the gaps below may require a maximum of THREE words. Make sure the word(s) you fill in is (are) both grammatically & semantically acceptable. You may refer to your notes.Paralinguistic Features of LanguageIn face-to-face communication speakers often alter their tomes of voice or change their physical postures in order to convey messages. These means are called paralinguistic features of language, which fall into two categories.First category: vocal paralinguistic featuresA.(1)__________: to express attitude or intention (1)__________B.Examples1. whispering: need for secrecy2. breathiness: deep emotion3. (2)_________: unimportance (2)__________4. nasality: anxiety5. extra lip-rounding: greater intimacySecond category: physical paralinguistic featuresA.facial expressions1.(3)_______ (3)__________----- smiling: signal of pleasure or welcome2.less common expressions----- eye brow raising: surprise or interest----- lip biting: (4)________ (4)_________B.gesturegestures are related to culture.1.British culture----- shrugging shoulders: (5) ________ (5)__________----- scratching head: puzzlement2.other cultures----- placing hand upon heart:(6)_______ (6)__________----- pointing at nose: secretC.proximity, posture and echoing1.proximity: physical distance between speakers----- closeness: intimacy or threat----- (7)_______: formality or absence of interest (7)_________Proximity is person-, culture- and (8)________ -specific. (8)_________2.posture----- hunched shoulders or a hanging head: to indicate(9)_____ (9)________----- direct level eye contact: to express an open or challenging attitude3.echoing----- definition: imitation of similar posture----- (10)______: aid in communication (10)___________----- conscious imitation: mockerySECTION B INTERVIEWIn this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the correct answer to each question on ANSWER SHEET TWO.Questions 1 to 5 are based on an interview. At the end of the interview you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following five questions.Now listen to the interview.1. According to Dr Johnson, diversity meansA. merging of different cultural identities.B. more emphasis on homogeneity.C. embracing of more ethnic differences.D. acceptance of more branches of Christianity.2. According to the interview, which of the following statements in CORRECT?A. Some places are more diverse than others.B. Towns are less diverse than large cities.C. Diversity can be seen everywhere.D. American is a truly diverse country.3. According to Dr Johnson, which place will witness a radical change in its racial makeup by 2025?A. MaineB. SelinsgroveC. PhiladelphiaD. California4. During the interview Dr Johnson indicates thatA. greater racial diversity exists among younger populations.B. both older and younger populations are racially diverse.C. age diversity could lead to pension problems.D. older populations are more racially diverse.5. According to the interview, religious diversityA. was most evident between 1990 and 2000.B. exists among Muslim immigrants.C. is restricted to certain places in the US.D. is spreading to more parts of the country.SECTION C NEWS BROADCASTIn this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the correct answer to each question on your coloured answer sheet.Question 6 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the question.Now listen to the news.6. What is the main idea of the news item?A. Sony developed a computer chip for cell phones.B. Japan will market its wallet phone abroad.C. The wallet phone is one of the wireless innovations.D. Reader devices are available at stores and stations.Question 7 and 8 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 20 seconds to answer the questions.Now listen to the news.7. Which of the following is mentioned as the government’s measure to control inflation?A. Foreign investment.B. Donor support.C. Price control.D. Bank prediction.8. According to Kingdom Bank, what is the current inflation rate in Zimbabwe?A. 20 million percent.B. 2.2 million percent.C. 11.2 million percent.D. Over 11.2 million percent.Question 9 and 10 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 20 seconds to answer the question.Now listen to the news.9. Which of the following is CORRECT?A. A big fire erupted on the Nile River.B. Helicopters were used to evacuate people.C. Five people were taken to hospital for burns.D. A big fire took place on two floors.10. The likely cause of the big fire isA. electrical short-cut.B. lack of fire-satefy measures.C. terrorism.D. not known.PART II READING COMPREHENSION (30 MIN)In this section there are four reading passages followed by a total of 20 multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then mark your answers on your coloured answer sheet.TEXT AStill, the image of any city has a half-life of many years. (So does its name, officially changed in 2001 from Calcutta to Kolkata, which is closer to what the word sounds like in Bengali. Conversing in English, I never heard anyone call the city anything but Calcutta.) To Westerners, the conveyance most identified with Kolkata is not its modern subway—a facility whose spacious stations have art on the walls and cricket matches on television monitors—but the hand-pulled rickshaw. Stories and films celebrate a primitive-looking cart with high wooden wheels, pulled by someone who looks close to needing the succor of Mother Teresa. For years the government has been talking about eliminating hand-pulled rickshaws on what it calls humanitarian grounds—principally on the ground that, as the ma yor of Kolkata has often said, it is offensive to see “one man sweating and straining to pull another man.” But these days politicians also lament the impact of 6,000 hand-pulled rickshaws on a modern city’s traffic and, particularly, on its image. “Wester ners try to associate beggars and these rickshaws with the Calcutta landscape, but this is not what Calcutta stands for,” the chief minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, said in a press conference in 2006. “Our city stands for prosperity and development.” The chief minister—theequivalent of a state governor—went on to announce that hand-pulled rickshaws soon would be banned from the streets of Kolkata.Rickshaws are not there to haul around tourists. (Actually, I saw almost no tourists in Kolkata, apart from the young backpackers on Sudder Street, in what used to be a red-light district and is now said to be the single place in the city where the services a rickshaw puller offers may include providing female company to a gentleman for the evenin g.) It’s the people in the lanes who most regularly use rickshaws—not the poor but people who are just a notch above the poor. They are people who tend to travel short distances, through lanes that are sometimes inaccessible to even the most daring taxi driver. An older woman with marketing to do, for instance, can arrive in a rickshaw, have the rickshaw puller wait until she comes back from various stalls to load her purchases, and then be taken home. People in the lanes use rickshaws as a 24-hour ambulance service. Proprietors of cafés or corner stores send rickshaws to collect their supplies. (One morning I saw a rickshaw puller take on a load of live chickens—tied in pairs by the feet so they could be draped over the shafts and the folded back canopy and even the axle. By the time he trotted off, he was carrying about a hundred upside-down chickens.) The rickshaw pullers told me their steadiest customers are schoolchildren. Middle-class families contract with a puller to take a child to school and pick him up; the puller essentially becomes a family retainer.From June to September Kolkata can get torrential rains, and its drainage system doesn’t need torrential rain to begin backing up. Residents who favor a touch of hyperbole say that in Kolkata “if a stray cat pees, there’s a flood.” During my stay it once rained for about 48 hours. Entire neighborhoods couldn’t be reached by motorized vehicles, and the newspapers showed pictures of rickshaws being pulled through water that was up to the pullers’ waists. When it’s raining, the normal customer base for rickshaw pullers expands greatly, as does the price of a journey. A writer in Kolkata told me, “When it rains, even the governor takes rickshaws.”While I was in Kolkata, a magazine called India Today published its annual ranking of Indian states, according to such measurements as prosperity and infrastructure. Among India’s 20 largest states, Bihar finished dead last, as it has for four of the past five years. Bihar, a couple hundred miles north of Kolkata, is where the vast majority of rickshaw pullers come from. Once in Kolkata, they sleep on the street or in their rickshaws or in a dera—a combination garage and repair shop and dormitory managed by someone called a sardar. For sleeping privileges in a dera, pullers pay 100 rupees (about $2.50) a month, which sounds like a pretty good deal until you’ve visited a dera. They gross between 100 and 150 rupees a day, out of which they have to pay 20 rupees for the use of the rickshaw and an occasional 75 or more for a payoff if a policeman stops them for, say, crossing a street where rickshaws are prohibited. A 2003 study found that rickshaw pullers are near the bottom of Kolkata occupations in income, doing better than only the ragpickers and the beggars. For someone without land or education, that still beats trying to make a living in Bihar.There are people in Kolkata, particularly educated and politically aware people, who will not ride in a rickshaw, because they are offended by the idea of being pulled by another human being or because they consider it not the sort of thing people of their station do or because they regard the hand-pulled rickshaw as a relic of colonialism. Ironically, some of those people are not enthusiastic about banning rickshaws. The editor of the editorial pages of Kolkata’s Telegraph—Rudrangshu Mukherjee, a former academic who still writes history books—told me, for instance, that he sees humanitarian considerations as coming down on the side of keeping hand-pulled rickshaws on the road. “I refuse to be carried by another human being myself,” he said, “but I question whether we have the right to take away their livelihood.” Rickshaw supporters point out that when it comes to demeaning occupations, rickshaw pullers are hardly unique in Kolkata.When I asked one rickshaw puller if he thought the government’s plan to rid the city of rickshaws was based on a genuine interest in his welfare, he smiled, with a quick shake of his head—a gesture I interpreted to mean, “Ifyou are so naive as to as k such a question, I will answer it, but it is not worth wasting words on.” Some rickshaw pullers I met were resigned to the imminent end of their livelihood and pin their hopes on being offered something in its place. As migrant workers, they don’t have the political clout enjoyed by, say, Kolkata’s sidewalk hawkers, who, after supposedly being scaled back at the beginning of the modernization drive, still clog the sidewalks, selling absolutely everything—or, as I found during the 48 hours of rain, absolut ely everything but umbrellas. “The government was the government of the poor people,” one sardar told me. “Now they shake hands with the capitalists and try to get rid of poor people.”But others in Kolkata believe that rickshaws will simply be confined more strictly to certain neighborhoods, out of the view of World Bank traffic consultants and California investment delegations—or that they will be allowed to die out naturally as they’re supplanted by more modern conveyances. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, after all, is not the first high West Bengal official to say that rickshaws would be off the streets of Kolkata in a matter of months. Similar statements have been made as far back as 1976. The ban decreed by Bhattacharjee has been delayed by a court case and by a widely held belief that some retraining or social security settlement ought to be offered to rickshaw drivers. It may also have been delayed by a quiet reluctance to give up something that has been part of the fabric of the city for more than a century. Kolkata, a resident told me, “has difficulty letting go.” One day a city official handed me a report from the municipal government laying out options for how rickshaw pullers might be rehabilitated.“Which option has been chosen?” I asked, noting that th e report was dated almost exactly a year before my visit.“That hasn’t been decided,” he said.“When will it be decided?”“That hasn’t been decided,” he said.11. According to the passage, rickshaws are used in Kolkata mainly for the following EXCEPTA. taking foreign tourists around the city.B. providing transport to school children.C. carrying store supplies and purchasesD. carrying people over short distances.12. Which of the following statements best describes the rickshaw pullers from Bihar?A. They come from a relatively poor area.B. They are provided with decent accommodation.C. Their living standards are very low in Kolkata.D. They are often caught by policemen in the streets.13. That “For someone without land or education, that still beats trying to make a living in Bihar” (4 paragraph)means that even so,A. the poor prefer to work and live in Bihar.B. the poor from Bihar fare better than back home.C. the poor never try to make a living in Bihar.D. the poor never seem to resent their life in Kolkata.14. We can infer from the passage that some educated and politically aware peopleA. hold mixed feelings towards rickshaws.B. strongly support the ban on rickshaws.C. call for humanitarian actions fro rickshaw pullers.D. keep quiet on the issue of banning rickshaws.15. Which of the following statements conveys the author’s sense of humor?A. “…not the poor but people who are just a notch above the poor.” (2 paragraph)B. “…,.which sounds like a pretty good deal until you’ve visited a dera.” (4 paragraph)C. Kolkata, a resident told me, “ has difficulty letting go.” (7 paragraph).D.“…or, as I found during the 48 hours of rain, absolutely everything but umbrellas.” (6 paragraph)16. The dialogue between the author and the city official at the end of the passage seems to suggestA. the uncertainty of the court’s decision.B. the inefficiency of the municipal government.C. the difficulty of finding a good solution.D. the slowness in processing options.TEXT BDepending on whom you believe, the average American will, over a lifetime, wait in lines for two years (says National Public Radio) or five years (according to customer-loyalty experts).The crucial word is average, as wealthy Americans routinely avoid lines altogether. Once the most democratic of institutions, lines are rapidly becoming the exclusive province of suckers(people who still believe in and practice waiting in lines). Poor suckers, mostly.Airports resemble France before the Revolution: first-class passengers enjoy "élite" security lines and priority boarding, and disembark before the unwashed in coach, held at bay by a flight attendant, are allowed to foul the Jetway.At amusement parks, too, you can now buy your way out of line. This summer I haplessly watched kids use a $52 Gold Flash Pass to jump the lines at Six Flags New England, and similar systems are in use in most major American theme parks, from Universal Orlando to Walt Disney World, where the haves get to watch the have-mores breeze past on their way to their seats.Flash Pass teaches children a valuable lesson in real-world economics: that the rich are more important than you, especially when it comes to waiting. An NBA player once said to me, with a bemused chuckle of disbelief, that when playing in Canada--get this--"we have to wait in the same customs line as everybody else."Almost every line can be breached for a price. In several U.S. cities this summer, early arrivers among the early adopters waiting to buy iPhones offered to sell their spots in the lines. On Craigslist, prospective iPhone purchasers offered to pay "waiters" or "placeholders" to wait in line for them outside Apple stores.Inevitably, some semi-populist politicians have seen the value of sort-of waiting in lines with the ordinary people. This summer Philadelphia mayor John Street waited outside an AT&T store from 3:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. before a stand-in from his office literally stood in for the mayor while he conducted official business. And billionaire New York mayor Michael Bloomberg often waits for the subway with his fellow citizens, though he's first driven by motorcade past the stop nearest his house to a station 22 blocks away, where the wait, or at least the ride, is shorter.As early as elementary school, we're told that jumping the line is an unethical act, which is why so many U.S. lawmakers have framed the immigration debate as a kind of fundamental sin of the school lunch line. Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, to cite just one legislator, said amnesty would allow illegal immigrants "to cut in line ahead of millions of people."Nothing annoys a national lawmaker more than a person who will not wait in line, unless that line is in front of an elevator at the U.S. Capitol, where Senators and Representatives use private elevators, lest they have to queue with their constituents.But compromising the integrity of the line is not just antidemocratic, it's out-of-date. There was something about the orderly boarding of Noah's Ark, two by two, that seemed to restore not just civilization but civility during the Great Flood.How civil was your last flight? Southwest Airlines has first-come, first-served festival seating. But for $5 per flight, an unaffiliated company called will secure you a coveted "A" boarding pass when that airline opens for online check-in 24 hours before departure. Thus, the savvy traveler doesn't even wait in line when he or she is online.Some cultures are not renowned for lining up. Then again, some cultures are too adept at lining up: a citizen of the former Soviet Union would join a queue just so he could get to the head of that queue and see what everyone was queuing for.And then there is the U.S., where society seems to be cleaving into two groups: Very Important Persons, who don't wait, and Very Impatient Persons, who do--unhappily.For those of us in the latter group-- consigned to coach, bereft of Flash Pass, too poor or proper to pay a placeholder --what do we do? We do what Vladimir and Estragon did in Waiting for Godot: "We wait. We are bored."17. What does the following sentence mean? “Once the most democratic of institutions, lines are rapidlybecoming the exclusive province of suckers…Poor suckers, mostly.” (2 paragraph)A. Lines are symbolic of America’s democracy.B. Lines still give Americans equal opportunities.C. Lines are now for ordinary Americans only.D. Lines are for people with democratic spirit only.18. Which of the following is NOT cited as an example of breaching the line?A. Going through the customs at a Canadian airport.B. Using Gold Flash Passes in amusement parks.C. First-class passenger status at airports.D. Purchase of a place in a line from a placeholder.19. We can infer from the passage that politicians (including mayors and Congressmen)A. prefer to stand in lines with ordinary people.B. advocate the value of waiting in lines.C. believe in and practice waiting in lines.D. exploit waiting in lines for their own good.20. What is the tone of the passage?A. Instructive.B. Humorous.C. Serious.D. Teasing.TEXT CA bus took him to the West End, where, among the crazy coloured fountains of illumination, shattering the blue dusk with green and crimson fire, he found the café of his choice, a tea-shop that had gone mad and turned. Bbylonian, a while palace with ten thousand lights. It towered above the other building like a citadel, which indeed it was, the outpost of a new age, perhaps a new civilization, perhaps a new barbarism; and behind the thin marble front were concrete and steel, just as behind the careless profusion of luxury were millions of pence, balanced to the last halfpenny. Somewhere in the background, hidden away, behind the ten thousand llights and acres of white napery and bewildering glittering rows of teapots, behind the thousand waitresses and cash-box girls and black-coated floor managers and temperamental long-haired violinists, behind the mounds of cauldrons of stewed steak, the vanloads of ices, were a few men who went to work juggling with fractions of a farming, who knew how many units of electricity it took to finish a steak-and-kidney pudding and how many minutes and seconds a waitress( five feet four in height and in average health) would need to carry a tray of given weight from the kitchen life to the table in the far corner. In short, there was a warm, sensuous, vulgar life flowering in the upper storeys, and a cold science working in the basement. Such as the gigantic tea-shop into which Turgis marched, in search not of mere refreshment but of all the enchantment of unfamiliar luxury. Perhaps he knew in his heart that men have conquered half the known world, looted whole kingdoms, and never arrived in such luxury. The place was built for him.It was built for a great many other people too, and, as usual, they were al there. It seemed with humanity. The marble entrance hall, piled dizzily with bonbons and cakes, was as crowded and bustling as a railway station. The gloom and grime of the streets, the raw air, all November, were at once left behind, forgotten: the atmosphere inside was golden, tropical, belonging to some high mid-summer of confectionery. Disdaining the lifts, Turgis, once more excited by the sight, sound, and smell of it all, climbed the wide staircase until he reached his favourite floor, whre an orchestra, led by a young Jewish violinist with wandering lustrous eyes and a passion for tremolo effects, acted as a magnet to a thousand girls, scented air, the sensuous clamour of the strings; and, as he stood hesitating a moment, half dazed, there came, bowing, s sleek grave man, older than he was and far more distinguished than he could ever hope to be, who murmured deferentially: “ For one, sir? This way, please,” Shyly, yet proudly, Turgis followed him.21. That “behind the thin marble front were concrete and steel” suggests thatA. modern realistic commercialism existed behind the luxurious appearance.B. there was a fundamental falseness in the style and the appeal of the café..C. the architect had made a sensible blend of old and new building materials.D. the café was based on physical foundations and real economic strength.22. The following words or phrases are somewhat critical of the tea-shop EXCEPTA. “…turned Babylonian”.B. “perhaps a new barbarism’.C. “acres of white napery”.D. “balanced to the last halfpenny”.23. In its context the statement that “ the place was built for him” means that the café was intended toA. please simple people in a simple way.B. exploit gullible people like him.C. satisfy a demand that already existed.D. provide relaxation for tired young men.24. Which of the following statements about the second paragraph is NOT true?A. The café appealed to most senses simultaneously.B. The café was both full of people and full of warmth.C. The inside of the café was contrasted with the weather outside.D. It stressed the commercial determination of the café owners.25. The following are comparisons made by the author in the second paragraph EXCEPT thatA. the entrance hall is compared to a railway station.B. the orchestra is compared to a magnet.C. Turgis welcomed the lift like a conquering soldier.D. the interior of the café is compared to warm countries.26. The author’s attitude to the café isA. fundamentally critical.B. slightly admiring.C. quite undecided.D. completely neutral.TEXT DI Now elsewhere in the world, Iceland may be spoken of, somewhat breathlessly, as western Europe’s last pristine wilderness. But the environmental awareness that is sweeping the world had bypassed the majority of Icelanders. Certainly they were connected to their land, the way one is complicatedly connected to, or encumbered by, family one can’t do anything about. But the truth is, once you’re off the beat-en paths of the low-lying coastal areas where everyone lives, the roads are few, and they’re all bad, so Iceland’s natural wonders have been out of reach and unknown even to its own inhab-itants. For them the land has always just been there, something that had to be dealt with and, if possible, exploited—the mind-set being one of land as commodity rather than land as, well, priceless art on the scale of the “Mona Lisa.”When the opportunity arose in 2003 for the national power company to enter into a 40-year contract with the American aluminum company Alcoa to supply hydroelectric power for a new smelter, those who had been dreaming of some-thing like this for decades jumped at it and never looked back. Iceland may at the moment be one of the world’s richest countries, with a 99 percent literacy rate and long life expectancy. But the proj-ect’s advocates, some of them getting on in years, were more emotionally attuned to the country’s century upon century of want, hardship, and colonial servitude to Denmark, which officially had ended only in 1944 and whose psychological imprint remained relatively fresh. For the longest time, life here had meant little more than a sod hut, dark all winter, cold, no hope, children dying left and right, earthquakes, plagues, starvation, volcanoes erupting and destroying all vegeta-tion and livestock, all spirit—a world revolving almost entirely around the welfare of one’s sheep and, later, on how good the cod catch was. In the outlying regions, it still largely does.Ostensibly, the Alcoa project was intended to save one of these dying regions—the remote and sparsely populated east—where the way of life had steadily declined to a point of desperation and gloom. After fishing quotas were imposed in the early 1980s to protect fish stocks, many indi-vidual boat owners sold their allotments or gave them away, fishing rights ended up mostly in the hands of a few companies, and small fishermen were virtually wiped out. Technological advances drained away even more jobs previously done by human hands, and the people were seeing every-thing they had worked for all their lives turn up worthless and their children move away. With the old way of life doomed, aluminum projects like this one had come to be perceived, wisely or not, as a last chance. “Smelter or death.”The contract with Alcoa would infuse the re-gion with foreign capital, an estimated 400 jobs, and spin-off service industries. It also was a way for Iceland to develop expertise that potentially could be sold to the rest of the world; diversify an economy historically dependent on fish; and, in an appealing display of Icelandic can-do verve, perhaps even protect all of Iceland, once and for all, from the unpredictability of life itself.“We have to live,” Halldór Ásgrímsson said in his sad, sonorous voice. Halldór, a former prime minister and longtime member of parliament from the region, was a driving force behind the project. “We have a right to live.”27. According to the passage, most Icelanders view land as something ofA. environmental value.B. commercial value.C. potential value for tourism.D. great value for livelihood.28. What is Iceland’s old-aged advocates’ feeling towards the Alcoa project?A. Iceland is wealthy enough to reject the project.。

英语专八完整试题及答案

英语专八完整试题及答案一、听力理解（Part I Listening Comprehension）Section A: Mini-Lecture1. The speaker mentioned several benefits of learning a second language. What are they?- A. Improved cognitive abilities- B. Enhanced job prospects- C. Increased cultural understanding- D. All of the above2. According to the lecture, what is the most challenging aspect of learning a new language?- A. Vocabulary acquisition- B. Grammar rules- C. Pronunciation- D. Cultural nuancesSection B: Interview3. What is the main topic of the interview?- A. The impact of technology on education- B. The role of arts in society- C. The importance of environmental conservation- D. The future of space exploration4. What does the interviewee suggest as a solution to thediscussed issue?- A. Government intervention- B. Public awareness campaigns- C. International collaboration- D. Technological innovation二、阅读理解（Part II Reading Comprehension）Passage 15. What is the main idea of the passage?- A. The history of the English language- B. The evolution of English literature- C. The influence of English on global communication- D. The development of English as a global lingua franca6. The author uses which of the following to support their argument?- A. Historical events- B. Personal anecdotes- C. Scientific studies- D. Survey resultsPassage 27. What is the author's purpose in writing this passage?- A. To persuade readers to adopt a healthier lifestyle- B. To inform readers about the latest health trends- C. To critique the current state of healthcare- D. To provide a comprehensive review of a health-related topic8. What is the author's stance on the topic discussed?- A. Skeptical- B. Supportive- C. Neutral- D. Critical三、语言知识（Part III Language Knowledge）9. Which of the following is the correct form of the verb "to be" in the past tense for the third person singular?- A. am- B. is- C. are- D. was10. The word "irrespective" is closest in meaning to:- A. regardless- B. respective- C. perspective- D. prospective四、翻译（Part IV Translation）Section A: English to Chinese11. Translate the following sentence into Chinese:- "The rapid development of technology has brought about significant changes in our daily lives."Section B: Chinese to English12. Translate the following sentence into English:- "随着全球化的不断深入，跨文化交流变得越来越重要。

专八英语试题及答案

专八英语试题及答案一、听力理解1. What is the main topic of the conversation?A. The importance of environmental protection.B. The benefits of a healthy lifestyle.C. The challenges of urbanization.D. The impact of technology on society.Answer: B2. According to the lecture, what is the primary reason for the decline in bird populations?A. Loss of habitat.B. Climate change.C. Pesticide use.D. Urban expansion.Answer: A二、阅读理解3. In the passage, the author argues that the best way to understand a culture is by:A. Studying its history.B. Visiting its museums.C. Engaging with its people.D. Learning its language.Answer: C4. What is the author's main concern regarding the use of social media?A. It can lead to addiction.B. It may affect mental health.C. It can cause privacy issues.D. It may lead to misinformation.Answer: B三、语言知识5. The correct usage of the word "affect" in the sentence is:A. The weather will affect our plans.B. The weather will effect our plans.C. The weather will infect our plans.D. The weather will perfect our plans.Answer: A6. Which of the following sentences contains a grammatical error?A. She has been studying English for three years.B. He has lived in this city since he was born.C. The book is written by a famous author.D. I have seen the movie twice already.Answer: B四、翻译7. Translate the following sentence into English:"随着经济的发展，越来越多的人开始关注环境保护。

英语专业八级（阅读理解）练习试题及答案

英语专业八级（阅读理解）练习试题及答案一、问答题（共7题，共70分）1.As Gilbert White，Darwin ， and others observed long ago，all species appear to have theinnate capacity to increase their numbers from generation to generation. The task forecologistsis to untangle the environmentaand biologicalfactorsthat hold this intrinsiccapacity for poppation growth in check over the long run. The great variety of dynamicbehaviorsexhibitedby differentpoppationmakes thistaskmore difficpt：sompoppations remain roughly constant from year to year; others exhibit regpar cycles ofabundance and scarcity; still others vary wildly， with outbreaks and crashes that arein some cases plainly correlated with the weather， and in other cases not.To impose some order on this kaleidoscopeof patterns ， one school of thought proposespiding poppations into two groups. These ecologists posit that the relatively steadypoppations havedensity-dependent growth parameters; that is， rates ofbirth ， death ，and migrationwhich depend strongly on poppation density. The highly varying poppationshave density-independent growth parameters， with vital rates buffeted by environmentalevents ;these rates fluctuate in a way that is wholly independent of poppationdensity.This dichotomy has its uses， but it can cause problems if taken too literally. Forone thing ， no poppation can be driven entirely by density-independent factors all thetime. No matter how severely or unpredictably birth， death ， and migration rates may befluctuatingaroundtheirlong-termaverages ， ifthere were nodensity-dependenteffects ，the poppationwopd ， in the long run ， eitherincrease or decrease without bound (barringa miracle by which gains and losses canceled exactly)。

2023年全国英语等级考试八级真题及答案

2023年全国英语等级考试八级真题及答案2023年全国英语等级考试八级真题及答案考试已经结束，以下是2023年全国英语等级考试八级真题及答案的详细内容。

Section I: Listening Comprehension (30 marks)Part A: Short Conversations1. A) She is unable to go to the concert.B) She is going to the concert alone.C) She wants to invite the man to the concert.D) She doesn't like the style of music.2. A) Borrow a book from the library.B) Talk to the librarian.C) Renew her library card.D) Check out a newspaper.3. A) He doesn't have enough money.B) He wants to buy a new car.C) He plans to take a bus instead.D) He enjoys driving a car.4. A) She is taking a photography class.B) She has lost her camera.C) She needs the man's help with her assignment.D) She thinks photography is a waste of time.5. A) The man will be late for his class.B) The man should talk to his professor.C) The man's class has been canceled.D) The man needs a ride to his class.Part B: Passages6. A) How to manage time effectively.B) How to write a persuasive essay.C) How to prepare for a job interview.D) How to improve public speaking skills.7. A) By attending a music course.B) By playing an instrument.C) By listening to classical music.D) By watching live performances.8. A) It is advisable to visit the park during weekdays.B) The park is more crowded on weekends.C) The park has many picnic areas.D) The park has limited parking spaces.9. A) It was a challenging experience.B) It improved her cooking skills.C) It helped her develop new recipes.D) It taught her the importance of teamwork.10. A) They can help reduce anxiety.B) They can enhance creativity.C) They can boost productivity.D) They can improve memory.Section II: Reading Comprehension (40 marks) Part A: Multiple Choice Questions11. D) Innovations in technology.12. A) A positive and negative aspect.13. B) Influence of digital devices on creativity.14. D) The importance of human creativity.15. C) Paradigm shifts in the modern world. Part B: Cloze Test16. D) contribute17. B) vulnerable18. A) adapt19. C) embrace20. A) contrastPart C: Reading Passage21. The passage discusses the benefits of bilingual education and its positive impact on students' cognitive development, academic achievement, and career opportunities.Section III: Translation (15 marks)22. To enhance the communication and cooperation between our two countries, it is crucial to establish an effective platform for cultural exchange.Section IV: Writing (15 marks)Part A: Short Essay23. Online Learning - Advantages and DisadvantagesOnline learning has become increasingly popular in recent years. This essay will discuss some advantages and disadvantages of online learning, providing a balanced perspective on this topic.One significant advantage of online learning is its flexibility. Students can access course materials and complete assignments at their own pace, allowing for greater convenience and accommodating different schedules. Additionally, online learning eliminates geographical barriers, providing access to education for individuals who are unable to attend traditional classrooms.However, online learning also has its drawbacks. One major challenge is the lack of face-to-face interaction with instructors and peers, which can hinder meaningful discussions and collaborative learning experiences. Furthermore, online learning requires self-discipline and time management skills, as students need to stay motivated and organized without regular physical class meetings.In conclusion, online learning offers flexibility and accessibility, but it also poses challenges related to interpersonal communication and self-discipline. It is important for educators and learners to find a balance between the benefits and limitations of online learning.Part B: Letter Writing24. Write a letter to your favorite author expressing your admiration for their work and the impact it has had on your life.Dear [Author's Name],I am writing this letter to express my utmost admiration for your exceptional literary work. Your books have had a profound influence on my life, and I wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude.I have been an avid reader since a young age, and I have encountered countless stories. However, your unique storytelling ability and captivating narratives stand out among the rest. Your characters feel so real, and through their experiences, I have gained new perspectives and insights into the world around us.Your writing style is incredibly descriptive and evocative, transporting me to different times and places with ease. I find myself fully immersed inyour stories, unable to put the book down until I reach the very last page. Your books have become my trusted companions, providing comfort, entertainment, and inspiration.Thank you for dedicating your time and talent to the literary world. Your work has left a lasting impact on me, igniting my passion for literature and evoking emotions that I never thought possible. You have shaped my imagination, broadened my horizons, and enriched my life.Once again, thank you for your profound contribution to the world of literature. Your words will forever resonate in my heart and mind. I eagerly await your future creations, knowing that each one will be a masterpiece in its own right.With deep admiration and gratitude,[Your Name]That concludes the 2023 National English Proficiency Test (Level 8) paper and answers. Best of luck to all the test-takers and may your English language skills continue to flourish!。

英语专业8级试题及答案

英语专业8级试题及答案一、听力理解（共20分）1. 根据所听内容，选择正确的答案。

A. 选项AB. 选项BC. 选项CD. 选项D[听力材料][问题][答案] B2. 根据对话内容，回答以下问题。

A. 问题1B. 问题2[听力材料][答案]A. 问题1的答案B. 问题2的答案二、阅读理解（共30分）1. 阅读以下文章，回答后面的问题。

[文章内容]A. 问题1B. 问题2A. 问题1的答案B. 问题2的答案2. 阅读第二篇文章，并完成以下任务。

[文章内容]A. 问题1B. 问题2[答案]A. 问题1的答案B. 问题2的答案三、词汇与语法（共20分）1. 选择适当的词汇填空。

[例句] The _______ of the building is impressive.A. scaleB. skillC. speedD. spirit[答案] A2. 根据语法规则，选择正确的选项。

[例句] _______ he is very young, he is very knowledgeable.A. ThoughB. SinceC. BecauseD. Unless四、翻译（共20分）1. 将以下句子从英语翻译成中文。

[英文句子][答案] [中文翻译]2. 将以下句子从中文翻译成英语。

[中文句子][答案] [英文翻译]五、写作（共10分）根据以下提示写一篇不少于200词的短文。

[写作提示][范文][评分标准]请注意：以上内容仅为试题及答案的排版格式示例，具体题目和答案需要根据实际考试内容进行填充。

2024年英语专八真题及参考答案

TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS(2024)-GRADE EIGHT-TIME LIMIT: 150MINLISTENING COMPREHENSION PART ISECTION A (25MIN)MINI-LECTUREIn this section you will hear a mini-lecture.You will hear the mini-lecture ONCE ONLY.While listening to the mini-lecture,complete the gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE and write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each gap. Make sure what you fill in is both grammatically and semantically acceptable.You may use the blank sheet for note-taking.You have THIRTY seconds to preview the gap-filling task.Now,listen to the mini-lecture.When it is over,you will be given THREE minutes to check your work.SECTION B INTERVIEWIn this section you will hear TWO interviews.At the end of each interview,five questions will be asked about what was said.Both the interviews and the questions will be read ONCE ONLY.After each question there will be a ten-second pause. During the pause,you should read the four choices of A,B,C and D,and mark the best answer to each question on ANSWER SHEET TWO.You have THIRTY seconds to preview the choices.Now,listen to the first interview.Questions1to5are based on the first interview1. A.It is more demanding.C.It is too theoretical.2. A.It is more memorable.C.It is limited to the time of writing.3. A.Readership. B.It is quite relaxing.D.It is more aesthetic.B.It focuses on aesthetic issues.D.It has different themes and subjects.B.Viewpoint.D.Theme.B.Minor novels.D.Novels of CentralC.Purpose.4. A.Gothic novels.Europe.C.Science fiction.5. A.There will still be a few options.B.Confusion will continue among readers.C.Novels will certainly become a rarity.D.People will go on buying literary books.Now,listen to the second interview.Questions6to10are based on the second interview.6. A.Three feet.C.Six inches.7. A.Number of satellites. B.Eight inches.D.Six feetB.Height of ice surface.D.Gravity in Antarctica.B.Changes in height. D.Increase inC.Amount of snowfall.8. A.Decrease in ice sheet.snowfall.C.Changes in gravitational pull.9. A.Eliminating carbon in the atmosphere.B.Reducing climate pollution emissions.C.Continuing height measurement.D.Producing more accurate predictions.10.A.Climate change and its consequences.B.Effects of climate change on coastal areas.C.New findings from satellite data.D.Proposals to slow down climate change.PART II READING COMPREHENSION(45MIN) SECTION A MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONSIn this section there are three passages followed by fourteen multiple choice questions.For each multiple choice question,there are four suggested answers marked A,B,C and D.Choose the one that you think is the best answer and mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET TWO.PASSAGE ONE(1)If the properties of human language make it such a unique communication system,quite different from the communication systems of other creatures,then it would seem extremely unlikely that other creatures would be able to understand it.Some humans,however,do not behave as if this is the case.There is,after all,a lot of spoken language directed by humans to animals,apparently under the impression that the animal follows what is being said. Riders can say Whoa to horses and they stop.Should we treat these examples as evidence that non-humans can understand human language?Probably not.The standard explanation is that the animal produces a particular behavior in response to a particular sound-stimulus or noise,but does not actually“understand”what the words in the noise mean.(2)In an early attempt to teach a chimpanzee to use human language,in the1930s,two scientists(Luella and Winthrop Kellogg)raised an infant chimpanzee together with their baby son.The chimpanzee,called Gua,was reported to be able to understand about a hundred words,but did not“say”any of them.In the1940s,a chimpanzee named Viki was reared by another scientist couple(Catherine and Keith Hayes)in their own home,exactly as if she were a human child.These foster parents spent five years attempting to get Viki to“say”English words by trying to shape her mouth as she produced sounds.Viki eventually managed to produce some words,rather poorly articulated versions of“mama”,“papa”and“cup”.In retrospect,this was a remarkable achievement since it has become clear that non-human primates do not actually have a physically structured vocal tract which is suitable for articulating the sounds used in speech.(3)Recognizing that a chimpanzee was a poor candidate for spoken language learning,another scientist couple (Beatrix and Allen Gardner)set out to teach a female chimpanzee called Washoe to use a version of American Sign Language.This sign language has all the essential properties of human language and is learned by many congenitally deaf children as their natural first language.From the beginning,the Gardner’s and their research assistants raised Washoe like a human child in a comfortable domestic environment.Sign language was always used when Washoe was around and she was encouraged to use signs.In a period of three and a half years,Washoe came to use signs for more than a hundred words.Even more impressive was Washoe’s ability to take these forms and combine them to produce“sentences”of the type“gimme tickle”,“more fruit”and“open food drink”.Some of the forms appear to have been inventions by Washoe,as in her novel sign for“bib”and in the combination“water bird”(referring to a swan),which would seem to indicate that her communication system had the potential for productivity.(4)At the same time as Washoe was learning sign language,another chimpanzee named Sarah was being taught (by Ann and David Premack)to use a set of plastic shapes for the purpose of communicating with humans.These plastic shapes represented“words”that could be arranged in sequence to build“sentences”.The basic approach was quite different from that of the Gardner’s.Sarah was systematically trained to associate these shapes with objects or actions.She remained an animal in a cage,being trained with food rewards to manipulate a set of symbols.Once she had learned to use a large number of these plastic shapes,Sarah was capable of getting an apple by selecting the correct plastic shape(a blue triangle)from a large array.Sarah was also capable of producing“sentences”such as “Mary give chocolate Sarah”and had the impressive capacity to understand complex structures such as“If Sarah put red on green,Mary give Sarah chocolate”.(5)A psychologist Herbert Terrace argued that chimpanzees simply produce signs in response to the demands of people and tend to repeat signs those people use,yet they are treated as if they are taking part in a“conversation”.As in many critical studies of animal learning,the chimpanzees’behavior is viewed as a type of conditioned response to cues provided by human trainers.(6)Important lessons have been learned from attempts to teach chimpanzees how to use forms of language.We have answered some questions.Were Washoe and Sarah capable of taking part in interaction with humans by using asymbol system chosen by humans and not chimpanzees?The answer is clearly“Yes.”Could Washoe and Sarah go on to perform linguistically on a level comparable to a two-year-old child?The answer is just as clearly“No.”In arriving at these answers,we have also had to face the fact that,even with our list of key properties,we still don’t seem to have a non-controversial definition of what counts as“using language”.It has to be fair to say that,in both cases,we observe the participants“using language”.However,there is a difference.Underlying the two-year-old’s communicative activity is the capacity to develop a highly complex system of sounds and structures,plus a set of computational procedures,which will allow the child to produce extended discourse containing a potentially infinite number of novel utterances.No other creature has been observed“using language”in this sense.It is in this more fundamental or abstract sense that we say that language is uniquely human.11.What can we learn from the two attempts in Para.2?A.Being raised with a human child is essential.B.Mouth shaping is crucial in language learning.C.Time length is an important factor in experiments.D.Non-human creatures are different in vocal tracts.12.Which of the following statements about Washoe and Sarah is INCORRECT?A.They were taught in different approaches.B.They were raised in similar environments.C.They were somewhat innovative in expression.D.They were non-human primates for experiments.13.Which of the following is a conditioned response to human cues?A.“Mama”and“cup”(Viki).C.“Water bird”(Washoe).14.What is the topic of the B.“Open food drink”(Washoe).D.“Mary give chocolate Sarah”(Sarah).passage?A.Animal behavior and language.C.Animals and human language.B.Animal communication system.D.Animals and human behavior. PASSAGE TWO(1)It was well past midnight this past July and the round-the-clock Arctic sun was shining on Mercy Bay. Exhausted Parks Canada archaeologist Ryan Harris was experiencing a rare moment of rest on the rocky beach, looking out over the bay’s dark,ice-studded water.Around him,a dozen red-and-yellow tents lined the shoreline—the only signs of life.Every day for the previous two weeks,work had started by mid-morning and continued nonstop for16hours.Night and day had little relevance in the murky,near-freezing waters.Along with Parks Canada’s chief of underwater archaeology,Marc-Andre Bernier,Harris has overseen more than100dives at this remote inlet of Banks Island in Aulavik National Park,exploring the wreck of HMS Investigator,a British vessel that has sat on the bottom of the bay for more than160years.(2)Harris and a small team of archaeologists had discovered Investigator in2010and returned in2011with a larger team to dive,study,and document the wreck,which holds a critical place in the history of Arctic exploration. Twenty-five feet below the surface,Investigator sits upright,intact,and remarkably well preserved.Silt covers everything below the main deck,entombing the officers’cabins,the ship’s galley,and a full library.The archaeologists had intended to leave the wreck and its artifacts where they had lain since the polar ship was abandoned, trapped in ice,on June3,1853.Artifact recovery was not part of their original plan,but that plan changed after their first few dives.(3)The team was instantly surprised by the number of artifacts they saw—muskets(火枪),shoes,and hunks of copper sheathing rested on Investigator’s upper deck,dangled off the hull,or lay haphazardly on the sediment. Leaving these artifacts behind in Mercy Bay would have made them vulnerable to the icebergs that regularly scour the bay’s floor,including the ones the six-man dive team had been dodging since their arrival.(4)Each piece fished from the water was a clue to life at sea aboard a ship during a period of British fervor for Arctic exploration.The captain of Investigator,Robert McClure,was originally sent to find and rescue two ships, HIMS Erebus and HMS Terror,that Sir John Franklin had led into the Arctic in1845to discover the long-sought Northwest Passage connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.Investigator’s voyage ended,without sight or word of Franklin’s ships or crew,when it was set upon by ice in Mercy Bay.After39months at sea,the listing ship sat,slowly being crushed on all sides,for three frigid years—with no Inuit encounters,no British search parties,and no relief. For much of that time,McClure and his crew of60were desperate and under constant threat of starvation,until a surprising rescue in the spring of1853.Fifty-five men survived the ordeal.(5)In July2010,after months of study to pinpoint Investigator’s resting place,the actual discovery of the wreck took just a few minutes.Harris was in the bay in an inflatable boat testing sonar equipment when the wreck came into range.The four hours of video gathered on that trip showed that the ship was,in essence,frozen in time,protected by the cold water and opaque,light-blocking ice cover.It would be a year before they could return with cold-water diving equipment to have a closer,more detailed look.Over that year,the Parks Canada team pored over photographs and examined glowing gold ultrasound images that showed timber from the wreck scattered across the upper deck like matchsticks.They sought and received the blessing for a more intensive exploration of the wreck site from the136 residents of Sachs Harbour,an Inuvialuit(Inuit from the western Arctic)community on the southwestern tip of Banks Island,the closest permanent community,some125miles away.In addition to the underwater work to document the wreck,archaeologist Henry Cary led a land-based survey and excavation team of Inuvialuit archaeologists, conservation officers,and park staff.It fell upon Cary to shuttle the8,820pounds of equipment up to the74th parallel, including tents,a three-week supply of food,two boats,diving gear,compressors,recording equipment,surveying tools,and20barrels for collecting fresh drinking water.(6)The archaeologists came prepared for delays,nasty weather,and polar bears—but they weren’t prepared for the number of artifacts that needed recovery.Harris,Bernier,Cary,and their crews had packed cameras,lasers,and measuring tapes to document the sites but fewer items to help them retrieve,excavate,or transfer artifacts.Recovering the wreck’s finds quickly used up their small toolkit for stabilizing artifacts:foam padding,tongue depressors,and gauze bandages.(7)“We had not really envisioned the number of artifacts that were visible and exposed on the deck.So,basically, we had to improvise,”says Bernier.(8)Someone ripped the lid of a large black storage case off its hinges to use as a cradle to lift a bent and corroded musket from the frigid waters.A large food cooler was loaded with a shredded,twisted,oxidized sample of the copper sheathing used by the British navy to reinforce their Arctic fleet for contact with icebergs.To protect a fragile rectangle of encrusted felt—a novel addition to Investigator that was intended to keep the ship watertight—Harris fashioned a cover out of absorbent chamois(鹿皮),ripped up an old black T-shirt to place underneath it,and sandwiched the artifact between floorboards taken from the boat that had shuttled them between land and the wreck. The artifacts then made a more than4,000-mile journey,by helicopter and commercial airliner,to the Parks Canada conservation lab in Ottawa,where they are being conserved and studied today.15.Which of the following details about the underwater exploration is CORRECT?A.Work started on the ship wreck during the team’s second trip.B.The original plan was to explore the ship and retrieve the artifacts.C.The team spent their nights near a local residents’community.D.The team began exploring the ship wreck soon after its discovery.16.What can we learn about Investigator?A.It was sent to discover a new sea passage.B.Its actual discovery was time-consuming.C.It got in touch with Erebus and Terror.D.It got stuck in ice and was later abandoned.17.Why did Bernier say that they had to improvise(Para.7)?A.They had to fight against the treacherous weather.B.They had little time to pack and stabilize those artifacts.C.They did not have proper tools to excavate so many artifacts.D.They had no idea what those artifacts were used for on board.18.Which of the following words best describes the archaeologists’way of protecting the retrieved artifacts?A.Incredible.B.Innovative.C.Imaginable.D.Inefficient.19.The last paragraph mentions all the following EXCEPT______A.who made the artifacts.C.what artifacts were recovered.B.where the artifacts were sent.D.how the artifacts were protected. PASSAGE THREE(1)My father was,I am sure,intended by nature to be a cheerful,kindly man.Until he was thirty-four years oldhe worked as a farmhand for a man named Thomas Butterworth whose place lay near the town of Bidwell.He had then a horse of his own and on Saturday evenings drove into town to spend a few hours in social intercourse with other farmhands.In town he drank several glasses of beer and stood about in Ben Head’s saloon—crowded on Saturday evenings with visiting farmhands.Songs were sung and glasses thumped on the bar.At ten o’clock father drove home along a lonely country road,made his horse comfortable for the night and himself went to bed,quite happy in his position in life.He had at that time no notion of trying to rise in the world.(2)It was in the spring of his thirty-fifth year that father married my mother,then a country school teacher,and inthe following spring I came wriggling and crying into the world.Something happened to the two people.They became ambitious.The passion for getting up in the world took possession of them.(3)It may have been that mother was responsible.Being a school teacher she had no doubt read books andmagazines.She had,I presume,read of how some people rose from poverty to fame and greatness and as I lay beside her—in the days of her lying-in—she may have dreamed that I would someday rule men and cities.At any rate she induced father to give up his place as a farmhand,sell his horse and embark on an independent enterprise of his own.She was a tall silent woman with a long nose and troubled grey eyes.For herself she wanted nothing.For father and myself she was incurably ambitious.(4)The first venture into which the two people went turned out badly.They rented ten acres of poor stony landon Griggs’s Road,eight miles from Bidwell,and launched into chicken raising.I grew into boyhood on the place and got my first impressions of life there.From the beginning they were impressions of disaster and if,in my turn,I am a gloomy man inclined to see the darker side of life,I attribute it to the fact that what should have been for me the happy joyous days of childhood were spent on a chicken farm.(5)One unversed in such matters can have no notion of the many and tragic things that can happen to a chicken.It is born out of an egg,lives for a few weeks as a tiny fluffy thing such as you will see pictured on Easter cards,then becomes hideously naked,eats quantities of corn and meal bought by the sweat of your father’s brow,gets diseases called pip,cholera,and other names,stands looking with stupid eyes at the sun,becomes sick and dies.A few hens and now and then a rooster,intended to serve God’s mysterious ends,struggle through to maturity.The hens lay eggs out of which come other chickens and the dreadful cycle is thus made complete.It is all unbelievably complex.Most philosophers must have been raised on chicken farms.One hopes for so much from a chicken and is so dreadfully disillusioned.Small chickens,just setting out on the journey of life,look so bright and alert and they are in fact so dreadfully stupid.They are so much like people they mix one up in one’s judgments of life.If disease does not kill them they wait until your expectations are thoroughly aroused and then walk under the wheels of a wagon—to go squashed and dead back to their maker.Vermin infest their youth,and fortunes must be spent for curative powders.(6)For ten years my father and mother struggled to make our chicken farm pay and then they gave up thatstruggle and began another.They decided to move into the town of Bidwell,and embarked in the restaurant business. 5After ten years of worry with incubators that did not hatch,and with tiny—and in their own way lovely—balls of fluff that passed on into semi-naked pullethood and from that into dead henhood,we threw all aside,packed our belongings on a wagon and drove down Griggs’s Road toward Bidwell,a tiny caravan of hope looking for a new place from which to start on our upward journey through life.(7)We must have been a sad looking lot,not,I fancy,unlike refugees fleeing from a battlefield.Mother and I walked in the road.The wagon that contained our goods had been borrowed for the day from Mr.Albert Griggs,a neighbor.Out of its sides stuck the legs of cheap chairs and at the back of the pile of beds,tables,and boxes filled with kitchen utensils was a crate of live chickens,and on top of that the baby carriage in which I had been wheeled about in my infancy.Why we stuck to the baby carriage I don’t know.It was unlikely other children would be born and the wheels were broken.People who have few possessions cling tightly to those they have.That is one of the facts that make life so discouraging.(8)Father rode on top of the wagon.He was then a bald-headed man of forty-five,a little fat and from long association with mother and the chickens he had become habitually silent and discouraged.All during our ten years on the chicken farm he had worked as a laborer on neighboring farms and most of the money he had earned had been spent for remedies to cure chicken diseases.There were two little patches of hair on father’s head just above his ears.I remember that as a child I used to sit looking at him when he had gone to sleep in a chair before the stove on Sunday afternoons in the winter.I had at that time already begun to read books and have notions of my own and the bald path that led over the top of his head was,I fancied,something like a broad road,such a road as Caesar might have made on which to lead his legions out of Rome and into the wonders of an unknown world.(9)One might write a book concerning our flight from the chicken farm into town.Mother and I walked the entire eight miles—she to be sure that nothing fell from the wagon and I to see the wonders of the world.20.The author describes his mother as______A.knowledgeable.B.responsible.C.imaginative.D.aspiring.21.What is Para.5intended to show?A.The specific steps of chicken raising.B.The difficulties of chicken raising.C.The excitement of the family.D.The expectations of the family.22.What does“our upward journey”in Para.6indicate?A.Their worries.B.Their struggle.C.Their ambition.D.Their resourcefulness.23.What is the relation between the two italicized sentences in Para.7?A.Temporal.B.Causal.C.Illustrative.D.Additive.24.Which of the following sentences in Paras.8and9indicates the author’s sense of hope?A.“...I to see the wonders of the world”.B.“I had at that time already begun to read books...”.C.“I walked the entire eight miles...”.D.“...a book concerning our flight from the chicken farm into town”.SECTION B SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONSIn this section there are eight short answer questions based on the passages in Section A.Answer each question in NO MORE THAN TEN WORDS in the space provided on ANSWER SHEET TWO.PASSAGE ONE25.What does“this”in Para.1refer to?26.How did Washoe demonstrate the potential of productivity(Para.3)?PASSAGE TWO27.What does the word “ones”in Para.3refer to?28.What was Sir John Franklin’s mission?29.List two preparations the team made for their trip (Para.5). PASSAGE THREE30.Describe in your own words the personality of the author’s father before marriage (Para.1).31.Describe in your own words the author’s childhood on a chicken farm (Para.4).32.What does the chickens’fate imply about the author’s family?PART IIILANGUAGE USAGE (15MIN) The passage contains TEN errors.Each indicated line contains a maximum of ONE error.In each cas e,onlyONE word is involved.You shouldproofread the passage and correct it in thefollowing way:For a wrong word,underline the wrong word and write the correct one in the blank provided at the end of the line. mark the position of the missing word with a “/\”sign and write the word you believe to be missing in the blank provided at the end ofthe For a missingword,line.For an unnecessary word, cross the unnecessary word with a slash “/”and put the wordin the blank provided at the end of the line.EXAMPLE When /\art museum wants a new exhibit, (1)it never an buys things in finished form and hangs (2)neverthem on the wall.When a natural history museum wants an exhibition,it must often build it. (3)exhibitProofread the given passage on ANSWER SHEET THREE as instructed.PART IV TRANSLATION(20MIN) Translate the underlined part of the following text from Chinese into English.Write your translation onANSWER SHEET THREE.中国科幻小说在国际上越来越受欢迎，已成为一种新的国际交流方式。

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T E S T F O R E N G L I S H M A J O R S(2010) -G R A D E E I G H T- PART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION (35 MIN) SECTION A MINI-LECTUREIn this section you will hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them to complete a gap-filling task after the mini-lecture. When the lecture is over, you will be given two minutes to check your notes, and another ten minutes to complete the gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE. Use the blank sheet for note-taking.Complete the gap-filling task. Some of the gaps below may require a maximum of THREE words. Make sure the word(s) you fill in is (are) both grammatically & semantically acceptable. You may refer to your notes.Paralinguistic Features of LanguageIn face-to-face communication speakers often alter their tomes of voice or change their physical postures in order to convey messages. These means are called paralinguistic features of language, which fall into two categories.First category: vocal paralinguistic featuresA.(1)__________: to express attitude or intention (1)__________B.Examples1. whispering: need for secrecy2. breathiness: deep emotion3. (2)_________: unimportance (2)__________4. nasality: anxiety5. extra lip-rounding: greater intimacySecond category: physical paralinguistic featuresA.facial expressions1.(3)_______ (3)__________----- smiling: signal of pleasure or welcome2.less common expressions----- eye brow raising: surprise or interest----- lip biting: (4)________ (4)_________B.gesturegestures are related to culture.1.British culture----- shrugging shoulders: (5) ________ (5)__________----- scratching head: puzzlement2.other cultures----- placing hand upon heart:(6)_______ (6)__________----- pointing at nose: secretC.proximity, posture and echoing1.proximity: physical distance between speakers----- closeness: intimacy or threat----- (7)_______: formality or absence of interest (7)_________Proximity is person-, culture- and (8)________ -specific. (8)_________2.posture----- hunched shoulders or a hanging head: to indeicate(9)_____ (9)________----- direct level eye contact: to express an open or challenging attitude3.echoing----- definition: imitation of similar posture----- (10)______: aid in communication (10)___________----- conscious imitation: mockerySECTION B INTERVIEWIn this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the correct answer to each question on ANSWER SHEET TWO. Questions 1 to 5 are based on an interview. At the end of the interview you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following five questions.Now listen to the interview.1. According to Dr Johnson, diversity meansA. merging of different cultural identities.B. more emphasis on homogeneity.C. embracing of more ethnic differences.D. acceptance of more branches of Christianity.2. According to the interview, which of the following statements in CORRECT?A. Some places are more diverse than others.B. Towns are less diverse than large cities.C. Diversity can be seen everywhere.D. American is a truly diverse country.3. According to Dr Johnson, which place will witness a radical change in its racial makeupby 2025?A. MaineB. SelinsgroveC. PhiladelphiaD. California4. During the interview Dr Johnson indicates thatA. greater racial diversity exists among younger populations.B. both older and younger populations are racially diverse.C. age diversity could lead to pension problems.D. older populations are more racially diverse.5. According to the interview, religious diversityA. was most evident between 1990 and 2000.B. exists among Muslim immigrants.C. is restricted to certain places in the US.D. is spreading to more parts of the country.SECTION C NEWS BROADCASTIn this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the correct answer to each question on your coloured answer sheet.Question 6 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the question.Now listen to the news.6. What is the main idea of the news item?A. Sony developed a computer chip for cell phones.B. Japan will market its wallet phone abroad.C. The wallet phone is one of the wireless innovations.D. Reader devices are available at stores and stations.Question 7 and 8 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 20 seconds to answer the questions.Now listen to the news.7. Which of the following is mentioned as the government’s measure to control inflat ion?A. Foreign investment.B. Donor support.C. Price control.D. Bank prediction.8. According to Kingdom Bank, what is the current inflation rate in Zimbabwe?A. 20 million percent.B. 2.2 million percent.C. 11.2 million percent.D. Over 11.2 million percent.Question 9 and 10 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 20 seconds to answer the question.Now listen to the news.9. Which of the following is CORRECT?A. A big fire erupted on the Nile River.B. Helicopters were used to evacuate people.C. Five people were taken to hospital for burns.D. A big fire took place on two floors.10. The likely cause of the big fire isA. electrical short-cut.B. lack of fire-satefy measures.C. terrorism.D. not known.PART II READING COMPREHENSION (30 MIN)In this section there are four reading passages followed by a total of 20 multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then mark your answers on your coloured answer sheet. TEXT AStill, the image of any city has a half-life of many years. (So does its name, officially changed in 2001 from Calcutta to Kolkata, which is closer to what the word sounds like in Bengali. Conversing in English, I never heard anyone call the city anything but Calcutta.) To Westerners, the conveyance most identified with Kolkata is not its modern subway—a facility whose spacious stations have art on the walls and cricket matches on television monitors—but the hand-pulled rickshaw. Stories and films celebrate a primitive-looking cart with high wooden wheels, pulled by someone who looks close to needing the succor of Mother Teresa. For years the government has been talking about eliminating hand-pulled rickshaws on what it calls humanitarian grounds—principally on the ground that, as the mayor of Kol kata has often said, it is offensive to see “one man sweating and straining to pull another man.” But these days politicians also lament the impact of 6,000 hand-pulled rickshaws on a modern city’s traffic and, particularly, on its image. “Westerners try t o associate beggars and these rickshaws with the Calcutta landscape, but this is not what Calcutta stands for,” the chief minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, said in a press conference in 2006. “Our city stands for prosperity and development.” The chief minister—the equivalent of a state governor—went on to announce that hand-pulled rickshaws soon would be banned from the streets of Kolkata.Rickshaws are not there to haul around tourists. (Actually, I saw almost no tourists in Kolkata, apart from the young backpackers on Sudder Street, in what used to be a red-light district and is now said to be the single place in the city where the services a rickshaw puller offers may include providing female company to a gentleman for the evening.) It’s t he people in the lanes who most regularly use rickshaws—not the poor but people who are just a notch above the poor. They are people who tend to travel short distances, through lanes that are sometimes inaccessible to even the most daring taxi driver. An older woman with marketing to do, for instance, can arrive in a rickshaw, have the rickshaw puller wait until she comes back from various stalls to load her purchases, and then be taken home. People in the lanes use rickshaws as a 24-hour ambulance service. Proprietors of cafés or corner stores send rickshaws to collect their supplies. (One morning I saw a rickshaw puller take on a load of live chickens—tied in pairs by the feet so they could be draped over the shafts and the folded back canopy and even the axle. By the time he trotted off, he was carrying about a hundred upside-down chickens.) The rickshaw pullers told me their steadiest customers are schoolchildren. Middle-class families contract with a puller to take a child to school and pick him up; the puller essentially becomes a family retainer.From June to September Kolkata can get torrential rains, and its drainage system doesn’t need torrential rain to begin backing up. Residents who favor a touch of hyperbole say that in Kolkata “if a stray cat pees, there’s a flood.” During my stay it once rained for about 48 hours. Entire neighborhoods couldn’t be reached by motorized vehicles, and the newspapers showed pictures of rickshaws being pulled through water that was up to the pullers’ waists. When it’s raining, the normal customer base for rickshaw pullers expands greatly, as does the price of a journey. A writer in Kolkata told me, “When it rains, even the governor takes rickshaws.”While I was in Kolkata, a magazine called India Today published its annual ranking of Indian states, according to such measurements as prosperity and infrastructure. Among India’s 20 largest states, Bihar finished dead last, as it has for four of the past five years. Bihar, a couple hundred miles north of Kolkata, is where the vast majority of rickshaw pullers come from. Once in Kolkata, they sleep on the street or in their rickshaws or in a dera—a combination garage and repair shop and dormitory managed by someone called a sardar. For sleeping privileges in a dera, pullers pay 100 rupees (about $2.50) a month, which sounds like a pretty good deal until you’ve visited a dera（防护评估和研究机构）. They gross between 100 and 150 rupees a day, out of which they have to pay 20 rupees for the use of the rickshaw and an occasional 75 or more for a payoff if a policeman stops them for, say, crossing a street where rickshaws are prohibited. A 2003 study found that rickshaw pullers are near the bottom of Kolkata occupations in income, doing better than only the ragpickers（拾破烂的人）and the beggars. For someone without land or education, that still beats trying to make a living in Bihar.There are people in Kolkata, particularly educated and politically aware people, who will not ride in a rickshaw, because they are offended by the idea of being pulled by another human being or because they consider it not the sort of thing people of their station do or because they regard the hand-pulled rickshaw as a relic of colonialism. Ironically, some of those people are not enthusiastic about banning rickshaws. The editor of the editorial pages of Kolkata’s Telegraph—Rudrangshu Mukherjee, a former academic who still writes history books—told me, for instance, that he sees humanitarian considerations as coming down on the side of keeping hand-pulled rickshaws on t he road. “I refuse to be carried by another human being myself,” he said, “but I question whether we have the right to take away their livelihood.” Rickshaw supporters point out that when it comes to demeaning occupations, rickshaw pullers are hardly unique in Kolkata.When I asked one rickshaw puller if he thought the government’s plan to rid the city of rickshaws was based on a genuine interest in his welfare, he smiled, with a quick shake of his head—a gesture I interpreted to mean, “If you are so naive as to ask such a question, I will answer it, but it is not worth wasting words on.” Some rickshaw pullers I met were resigned to the imminent end of their livelihood and pin their hopes on being offered something in its place. As migrant workers, they don’t have the political clout enjoyed by, say, Kolkata’s sidewalk hawkers, who, after supposedly being scaled back at the beginning of the modernization drive, still clog the sidewalks, selling absolutely everything—or, as I found during the 48 hours of rain, absolutely everything but umbrellas. “The government was the government of the poor people,” one sardar（司令官）told me. “Now they shake hands with the capitalists and try to get rid of poor people.”But others in Kolkata believe that rickshaws will simply be confined more strictly to certain neighborhoods, out of the view of World Bank traffic consultants and California investment delegations—or that they will be allowed to die out naturally as they’re supplanted by more modern conveyances. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, after all, is not the first high West Bengal official to say that rickshaws would be off the streets of Kolkata in a matter of months. Similar statements have been made as far back as 1976. The ban decreed by Bhattacharjee has been delayed by a court case and by a widely held belief that some retraining or social security settlement ought to be offered to rickshaw drivers. It may also have been delayed by a quiet reluctance to give up something that has been part of the fabric of the city for more t han a century. Kolkata, a resident told me, “has difficulty letting go.” One day a city official handed me a report from the municipal government laying out options for how rickshaw pullers might be rehabilitated.“Which option has been chosen?” I asked, noting that the report was dated almost exactly a year before my visit.“That hasn’t been decided,” he said.“When will it be decided?”“That hasn’t been decided,” he said.11. According to the passage, rickshaws are used in Kolkata mainly for the followingEXCEPTA. taking foreign tourists around the city.B. providing transport to school children.C. carrying store supplies and purchasesD. carrying people over short distances.12. Which of the following statements best describes the rickshaw pullers from Bihar?A. They come from a relatively poor area.B. They are provided with decent accommodation.C. Their living standards are very low in Kolkata.D. They are often caught by policemen in the streets.13. That “For someone without land or education, t hat still beats trying to make a living inBihar” (4 paragraph) means that even so,A. the poor prefer to work and live in Bihar.B. the poor from Bihar fare better than back home.C. the poor never try to make a living in Bihar.D. the poor never seem to resent their life in Kolkata.14. We can infer from the passage that some educated and politically aware peopleA. hold mixed feelings towards rickshaws.B. strongly support the ban on rickshaws.C. call for humanitarian actions fro rickshaw pullers.D. keep quiet on the issue of banning rickshaws.15. Which of the following statements conveys the author’s sense of humor?A. “…not the poor but people who are just a notch above the poor.” (2 paragraph)B. “…,.which sounds like a pretty good deal until you’ve visited a dera.” (4 paragraph)C. Kolkata, a resident told me, “ has difficulty letting go.” (7 paragraph).D.“…or, as I found during the 48 hours of rain, absolutely ever y thing but umbrellas.” (6paragraph)16. The dialogue between the author and the city official at the end of the passage seems tosuggestA. the uncertainty of the court’s decision.B. the inefficiency of the municipal government.C. the difficulty of finding a good solution.D. the slowness in processing options.TEXT BDepending on whom you believe, the average American will, over a lifetime, wait in lines for two years (says National Public Radio) or five years (according to customer-loyalty experts).The crucial word is average, as wealthy Americans routinely avoid lines altogether. Once the most democratic of institutions, lines are rapidly becoming the exclusive province of suckers(people who still believe in and practice waiting in lines). Poor suckers, mostly.Airports resemble France before the Revolution: first-class passengers enjoy "élite" security lines and priority boarding, and disembark before the unwashed in coach, held at bay by a flight attendant, are allowed to foul the Jetway.At amusement parks, too, you can now buy your way out of line. This summer I haplessly watched kids use a $52 Gold Flash Pass to jump the lines at Six Flags New England, and similar systems are in use in most major American theme parks, from Universal Orlando to Walt Disney World, where the haves get to watch the have-mores breeze past on their way to their seats.Flash Pass teaches children a valuable lesson in real-world economics: that the rich are more important than you, especially when it comes to waiting. An NBA player once said to me, with a bemused chuckle of disbelief, that when playing in Canada--get this--"we have to wait in the same customs line as everybody else."Almost every line can be breached for a price. In several U.S. cities this summer, early arrivers among the early adopters waiting to buy iPhones offered to sell their spots in the lines. On Craigslist, prospective iPhone purchasers offered to pay "waiters" or "placeholders" to wait in line for them outside Apple stores.Inevitably, some semi-populist politicians have seen the value of sort-of waiting in lines with the ordinary people. This summer Philadelphia mayor John Street waited outside an AT&T store from 3:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. before a stand-in from his office literally stood in for the mayor while he conducted official business. And billionaire New York mayor Michael Bloomberg often waits for the subway with his fellow citizens, though he's first driven by motorcade past the stop nearest his house to a station 22 blocks away, where the wait, or at least the ride, is shorter.As early as elementary school, we're told that jumping the line is an unethical act, which is why so many U.S. lawmakers have framed the immigration debate as a kind of fundamental sin of the school lunch line. Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, to cite just one legislator, said amnesty would allow illegal immigrants "to cut in line ahead of millions of people."Nothing annoys a national lawmaker more than a person who will not wait in line,unless that line is in front of an elevator at the U.S. Capitol, where Senators and Representatives use private elevators, lest they have to queue with their constituents.But compromising the integrity of the line is not just antidemocratic, it's out-of-date. There was something about the orderly boarding of Noah's Ark, two by two, that seemed to restore not just civilization but civility during the Great Flood.How civil was your last flight? Southwest Airlines has first-come, first-served festival seating. But for $5 per flight, an unaffiliated company called will secure you a coveted "A" boarding pass when that airline opens for online check-in 24 hours before departure. Thus, the savvy traveler doesn't even wait in line when he or she is online.Some cultures are not renowned for lining up. Then again, some cultures are too adept at lining up: a citizen of the former Soviet Union would join a queue just so he could get to the head of that queue and see what everyone was queuing for.And then there is the U.S., where society seems to be cleaving into two groups: Very Important Persons, who don't wait, and Very Impatient Persons, who do--unhappily.For those of us in the latter group-- consigned to coach, bereft of Flash Pass, too poor or proper to pay a placeholder --what do we do? We do what Vladimir and Estragon did in Waiting for Godot: "We wait. We are bored."17. What does the following sentence mean? “Once the most democratic of institutions,lines are rapidly becoming the exclusive province of suckers…Poor suckers, mostly.” (2 paragraph)A. Lines are symbolic of America’s democracy.B. Lines still give Americans equal opportunities.C. Lines are now for ordinary Americans only.D. Lines are for people with democratic spirit only.18. Which of the following is NOT cited as an example of breaching the line?A. Going through the customs at a Canadian airport.B. Using Gold Flash Passes in amusement parks.C. First-class passenger status at airports.D. Purchase of a place in a line from a placeholder.19. We can infer from the passage that politicians (including mayors and Congressmen)A. prefer to stand in lines with ordinary people.B. advocate the value of waiting in lines.C. believe in and practice waiting in lines.D. exploit waiting in lines for their own good.20. What is the tone of the passage?A. Instructive.B. Humorous.C. Serious.D. Teasing.TEXT CA bus took him to the West End, where, among the crazy coloured fountains of illumination, shattering the blue dusk with green and crimson fire, he found the café of his choice, a tea-shop that had gone mad and turned. Bbylonian, a while palace with ten thousand lights. It towered above the other building like a citadel, which indeed it was, the outpost of a new age, perhaps a new civilization, perhaps a new barbarism; and behind the thin marble front were concrete and steel, just as behind the careless profusion of luxury were millions of pence, balanced to the last halfpenny. Somewhere in the background, hidden away, behind the ten thousand llights and acres of white napery and bewildering glittering rows of teapots, behind the thousand waitresses and cash-box girls andblack-coated floor managers and temperamental long-haired violinists, behind the mounds of cauldrons of stewed steak, the vanloads of ices, were a few men who went to work juggling with fractions of a farming, who knew how many units of electricity it took to finish a steak-and-kidney pudding and how many minutes and seconds a waitress( five feet four in height and in average health) would need to carry a tray of given weight from the kitchen life to the table in the far corner. In short, there was a warm, sensuous, vulgar life flowering in the upper storeys, and a cold science working in the basement. Such as the gigantic tea-shop into which Turgis marched, in search not of mere refreshment but of all the enchantment of unfamiliar luxury. Perhaps he knew in his heart that men have conquered half the known world, looted whole kingdoms, and never arrived in such luxury. The place was built for him.It was built for a great many other people too, and, as usual, they were al there. It seemed with humanity. The marble entrance hall, piled dizzily with bonbons and cakes, was as crowded and bustling as a railway station. The gloom and grime of the streets, the raw air, all November, were at once left behind, forgotten: the atmosphere inside was golden, tropical, belonging to some high mid-summer of confectionery. Disdaining the lifts, Turgis, once more excited by the sight, sound, and smell of it all, climbed the wide staircase until he reached his favourite floor, whre an orchestra, led by a young Jewish violinist with wandering lustrous eyes and a passion for tremolo effects, acted as a magnet to a thousand girls, scented air, the sensuous clamour of the strings; and, as he stood hesitating a moment, half dazed, there came, bowing, s sleek grave man, older than he was and far more distinguished than he could ever hope to be, who murmured deferentially: “ For one, sir? This way, please,” Shyly, yet proudly, Turgis followed him.21. That “behind the thin marble front were concrete and steel” su ggests thatA. modern realistic commercialism existed behind the luxurious appearance.B. there was a fundamental falseness in the style and the appeal of the café..C. the architect had made a sensible blend of old and new building materials.D. the café was based on physical foundations and real economic strength.22. The following words or phrases are somewhat critical of the tea-shop EXCEPTA. “…turned Babylonian”.B. “perhaps a new barbarism’.C. “acres of white napery”.D. “balanced to the last halfpenny”.23. In its context the statement that “ the place was built for him” means that the café wasintended toA. please simple people in a simple way.B. exploit gullible people like him.C. satisfy a demand that already existed.D. provide relaxation for tired young men.24. Which of the following statements about the second paragraph is NOT true?A. The café appealed to most senses simultaneously.B. The café was both full of people and full of warmth.C. The inside of the café was contrasted with the weather outside.D. It stressed the commercial determination of the café owners.25. The following are comparisons made by the author in the second paragraph EXCEPTthatA. the entrance hall is compared to a railway station.B. the orchestra is compared to a magnet.C. Turgis welcomed the lift like a conquering soldier.D. the interior of the café is compared to warm countries.26. The author’s attitude to the café isA. fundamentally critical.B. slightly admiring.C. quite undecided.D. completely neutral.TEXT DI Now elsewhere in the world, Iceland may be spoken of, somewhat breathlessly, as western Europe’s last pristine wilderness. But the environmental awareness that is sweeping the world had bypassed the majority of Icelanders. Certainly they were connected to their land, the way one is complicatedly connected to, or encumbered by, family one can’t do anything about. But the truth is, once you’re off the beat-en paths of the low-lying coastal areas where everyone lives, the roads are few, and they’re all bad, so Iceland’s natural wonders have been out of reach and unknown even to its own inhab-itants. For them the land has always just been there, something that had to be dealt with and, if possible, exploited—the mind-set being one of land as commodity rather than land as, well, priceless art on the scale of the “Mona Lisa.”When the opportunity arose in 2003 for the national power company to enter into a 40-year contract with the American aluminum company Alcoa to supply hydroelectric power for a new smelter, those who had been dreaming of some-thing like this for decades jumped at it and never looked back. Iceland may at the moment be one of the world’s richest countries, with a 99 percent literacy rate and long life expectancy. But the proj-ect’s advocates, some of them getting on in years, were more emotionally attuned to the country’s century upon century of want, hardship, and colonial servitude to Denmark, which officially had ended only in 1944 and whose psychological imprint remained relatively fresh. For the longest time, life here had meant little more than a sod hut, dark all winter, cold, no hope, children dying left and right, earthquakes, plagues, starvation, volcanoes erupting and destroying all vegeta-tion and livestock, all spirit—a world revolving almost entirely around the welfare of one’s sheep and, later, on how good the cod catch was. In the outlying regions, it still largely does.Ostensibly, the Alcoa project was intended to save one of these dying regions—the remote and sparsely populated east—where the way of life had steadily declined to a point of desperation and gloom. After fishing quotas were imposed in the early 1980s to protect fish stocks, many indi-vidual boat owners sold their allotments or gave them away, fishing rights ended up mostly in the hands of a few companies, and small fishermen were virtually wiped out. Technological advances drained away even more jobs previously done by human hands, and the people were seeing every-thing they had worked for all their lives turn up worthless and their children move away. With the old way of life doomed, aluminum projects like this one had come to be perceived, wisely or not, as a last chance. “Smelter or death.”The contract with Alcoa would infuse the re-gion with foreign capital, an estimated 400 jobs, and spin-off service industries. It also was a way for Iceland to develop expertise that potentially could be sold to the rest of the world; diversify an economy historically dependent on fish; and, in an appealing display of Icelandic can-do verve, perhaps even protect all of Iceland, once and for all, from the unpredictability of life itself.“We have to live,” Halldór Ásgrímsson said in his sad, sonorous voice. Halldór, a former prime minister and longtime member of parliament from the region, was a driving force behind the project. “We have a right to live.”27. According to the passage, most Icelanders view land as something ofA. environmental value.。