05年考博英语试题

English Entrance Examination for Doctoral Candidates

Graduate School Of CAAS, 2005

Part One Reading Comprehension (30 points, 1.5 points each)

Directions: In this section, there are four passages. Read the passages and questions carefully and make your choices that you think would best complete the statements or best answer the questions by marking them on the ANSWER SHEET.

Passage One

There are several advantages in making computers as small as one can. Sometimes weight is particularly important. A modern aircraft, for example, carries quite a load of electronic apparatus. If it is possible to make any of these smaller, and therefore lighter, the aircraft can carry a bigger pay-load. This kind of consideration applies to space satellites and to all kinds of computers that have to be carried about.

But weight is not the only factor. The smaller the computer the faster it can work. The signals go to and fro at a very high but almost constant speed. So if one can scale down all dimensions to, let us say, one tenth, the average lengths of the current paths will be reduced to one tenth. So, very roughly speaking, scaling down of all linear dimensions in the ratio of one to ten also gives a valuable bonus, the speed of operation is scaled up 10 times. Other techniques allow even further speed increases.

This increase of operation is a real advantage. There are some applications in which computers could be used which require very fast response times. Many of these are military, of course; but military applications also have applications in engineering sooner or later. For example, automatic blind landing of aircraft requires continuous computer calculations which result in control of the aircraft flight. The more immediate the responses are, the more stable that control can be.

Another advantage is that less power is required to run the computer. In space vehicles and satellites this is an important matter; but even in a trial application we need not waster power. Sometimes a computer takes so much power that cooling systems which require still more power have to be installed to keep the computer from getting too hot, which would increase the risk of faults developing. So a computer which does not need to be cooled saves power on two counts.

Another advantage is reliability. Mini-computers have been made possible by the development of integrated circuits. Instead of soldering bits of wire to join separate components such as resistors and capacitors sometimes in the most intricate networks, designers can now produce many connected circuits in one unit which involves no soldering and therefore no risk of broken joints at all.

1. Which of the following is NOT one of the advantages of mini-computers?

A. The increase of operation speed

B. The decrease of power needed

C. The development integrated circuits

D. Their reliability

2. A modern aircraft______.

A. is run by electronic computers

B. carries a bigger load of electronic apparatus than pay-load

C. does not need mini-computers at all

D. can carry a bigger pay-load if the electronic apparatus carried by it becomes lighter

3. If all linear dimensions of a computer is scaled down to one tenth, ______.

A. the speed of its operation will go up ten times

B. the electronic signals will go to and fro ten times faster

C. its operation speed will remain constant

D. its weight will be reduced to one tenth

4. Sometimes cooling systems have to be installed______.

A. to keep the computer from becoming too hot

B. in order to save power

C. because they are necessary for a modern computer to work efficiently

D. to ensure the normal working of a mini-computer

5. Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. Continuous computer calculations are required for the automatic blind landing of an aircraft.

B. Military applications of computers require their very fast response ability.

C. Scaling down of all dimensions of a computer may result in faults developing.

D. The development to integrated circuits contributes a lot to the miniaturization of computers.

Passage Two

Universities continue to function as institutions in which the cultural heritage is preserved and transmitted to a new generation, but during this period of growth a large number of universities also took on new roles as centers in which the arts were performed,