全国2007年10月高等教育自学考试
英语阅读（二）试题
课程代码:00596
 全部题目用英文作答(翻译题除外),请将答案填在答题纸相应位置上

I. Reading Comprehension. (50 points, 2 points for each)
Directions: In this part of the test, there are five passages. Following each passage, there are five questions with four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer and then write the corresponding, letter on your Answer Sheet.
Passage One
　　Electronic computers are among the fastest and most useful instruments for sorting and comparing in use today. Computers provide means for greater speed and accuracy in working with ideas than had previously been possible. With the development of these new tools, it is as if man has suddenly become a millionaire of the mind.
　　Although man has been growing mentally richer ever since he started to think, the electronic computer allows and will continue to allow him to perform tremendous mental tasks in a relatively short time. Great scientists of the past produced ideas which were the basis for great advances, but their ideas sometimes had to wait for years before they were understood sufficiently well to be of practical use. With the computer, the ideas of today’s scientists can be studied, tested, distributed, and used more rapidly than ever before.
　　Old lines and methods of communication do not work easily or efficiently with as much information as we have now. The repeated actions of preparing, sorting, filling, distributing, and keeping track of records and publications can be as troublesome as calculating. Errors occur because men grow tired and can be distracted.
　　The basic job of computers is the processing of information. For this reason computers can be defined as devices which accept information, perform mathematical or logical operations with the information, and then supply the results of these operations as new information.
　　Although a sharp spaniding line between types of computers is not always easy to see, computers are usually spanided into two broad groups: digital and analog. Digital computers work by using specific information which is usually in the form of numbers. Analog computers, on the other hand, usually process continuous information.
　　To explain the differences, let us consider two devices which handle information in a manner similar to the two types of computers. A turnstile, which has a counter attached to it, can help to explain the way a digital computer works. Each time a person passes through the turnstile, the indicator quickly jumps from one number to another. Each number registered is separate and specific.
　　The continuous change in the level of sand in an hourglass as time passes makes it an analog device. Perhaps the first analog computation was the use of graphs for the solution of surveying problems.
Questions 1-5 are based on Passage One.
1. Which of the following statements best summarizes the first paragraph?
A. Computers have extended the range of our senses.
B. Computers have extended the power of our mind.
C. Computers have extended the scope of our activities.
D. Computers have extended the speed of our reasoning.

2. With the help of computers, scientists today are able to ______.
A. have their ideas questioned or shared quickly
B. have their new ideas accepted far more widely
C. produce their ideas more rapidly
D. understand new information easily

3. According to the passage, computers are mainly used to do the following EXCEPT ______.
A. performing math operations 
B. processing information
C. supplying solutions 
D. storing technical data

4. The digital computers are different from analog computers because ______.
A. they process continuous information 
B. they process specific information
C. they record separate numbers 
D. they produce vivid pictures

5. The tone the writer uses in this passage is ______.
A. critical 
B. analytical
C. subjective 
D. objective

Passage Two
　　Time talks. It speaks more plainly than words. Time communicates in many ways. Consider the different parts of the day, for example. The time of the day when something is done can give a special meaning to the event. Factory managers in the United States fully realize the importance of an announcement made during the middle of the morning or afternoon that takes everyone away from his work. Whenever they want to make an important announcement, they ask, "When shall we let them know?"
　　In social life, time plays a very important part. In the United States, guests tend to feel they are not highly regarded if the invitation to a dinner party is extended only three or four days before the party date. But this is perhaps not true in some other countries. There it may be considered foolish to make an appointment too far in advance because plans which are made for a date more than a week away tend to be forgotten.
　　The meanings of time differ in different parts of the world. Thus, misunderstandings arise between people from cultures that treat time differently. Promptness is valued highly in American life. For example, no one would think of keeping a business associate waiting for an hour. It would be too impolite. When equals meet, a person who is five minutes late is expected to make a short apology. If he is less than five minutes late, he will say a few words of explanation, though perhaps he will not complete the sentence.
　　In the western world, particularly in the United States, people tend to think of time as something fixed in nature, something from which one cannot escape. As a rule, Americans think of time as a road stretching into the future, along which one progresses. The road has many sections which are to be kept separate — "one thing at a time". People who cannot plan events are not highly regarded. The American idea of the future is limited, however. It is the foreseeable future, not the future of the South Asian, which may involve centuries. Someone has said of the South Asian idea of time. "Time is like a museum with endless halls and rooms. You, the viewer, are walking through the museum in the dark, holding a light to each scene as you pass it. God is in charge of the museum, and only He knows all that is in it. One lifetime represents one room."
　　Since time has such different meanings in different cultures, communication is often difficult. We will understand each other a little better if we can keep this fact in mind.
Questions 6-10 are based on Passage Two.
6. Which of the following statements is true about the social life in America?
A. It is considered foolish that you plan an appointment one week earlier.
B. It is impolite that one is informed of an appointment three days earlier.
C. The ideas about keeping time in America and in China are not different.
D. The fact that who announces an appointment usually matters much.

7. Factory managers in America ______.
A. usually avoid giving announcements in working hours
B. think the time for an announcement barely makes special meaning
C. consult their colleagues before giving very important announcements
D. often consider what is the best time to give important announcements

8. According to the passage, in the United States, when you are ______.
A. one minute late, you are considered punctual
B. two minutes earlier, you are regarded as trustworthy
C. ten minutes late, you should give a long explanation
D. five minutes late, you should make a short apology

9. The American philosophical idea of time is that one should ______.
A. do one thing at a time 
B. avoid delaying his work
C. plan for the distant future 
D. constantly evaluate his plans

10. The Asian philosophical idea of time is that time is ______.
A. like a dark museum where one sees little
B. like a candle light shining in a dark museum
C. like a scaring trip on the road to the unknown future
D. like a tour into a mysterious and supernatural world

Passage Three
　　Spelunking has been called "mountain climbing upside down in the dark". However, this description is not entirely accurate. The mountain climber knows where he is going. He climbs a mountain because it is there. A spelunker, on the other hand, doesn’t know what is there. All he sees when he enters a wild cave is a hole in the surface of the earth — a very dark hole. Once he gets inside he may find it runs only a few hundred feet or, like one cave in Switzerland, more than 35 miles. He may find big hall, subway like tunnels, rivers or strange and beautiful limestone formations.
　　Some spelunkers have become famous for their discoveries. Several years ago Norbert Castreet, a Frenchman, was exploring a cave that had a rapidly flowing underground river. He followed the river until it went under a cave wall and disappeared. Wearing a bathing suit and a rubber cap, he spaned into the river. He surfaced on the other side of the cave wall and found a huge hall untouched and undisturbed for tens of thousands of years.
　　My wife and I became spelunkers almost by accident. We were driving down the Pan-American Highway to Mexico City when I noticed several black openings up in the mountains near the road. I stopped and asked what they were, and learned that they were a network of large caves. Following a guide, we were climbing slowly up the mountain. When we reached the top, a large opening appeared under an overhanging cliff. Inside was a smaller hole covered by a wooden door. Taking a gasoline lamp in one hand, the guide opened the door. We followed him down the smooth cement steps. Strange shapes moved on the walls as his lamp swung back and forth at each step.
　　This was a limestone cave, formed hundreds of thousands of years ago by the slow dripping of water through the cracks of the rock. The guide pointed out formations that looked like horses, tigers, hands and plants.
　　When we left the cave about an hour later, we saw a sign mentioning the National Speleological Society. Our interest awakened, we noted the address and wrote for further information. The reply informed that there were "grottoes", local chapter of the society, all over the United States. We joined one that was near our home. Soon we were making our first trip through a wild, unmapped cave. That was 12 years ago. Since then I have explored caves in Europe, Central and South America, and all over the United States.
Questions 11-15 are based on Passage Three.
11. According to the passage, the difference between spelunking and mountain climbing lies in the fact that ______.
A. the former does not know what to find in exploring while the latter does
B. the former goes downward in most cases and the latter goes upward
C. it is more dangerous to do spelunking than mountain climbing
D. it is more exciting in spelunking than in mountain climbing

12. Which of the following statements is true about Norbert Castreet?
A. He was famous for his discoveries of new caves.
B. The cave he explored is famous for its underwater fiver.
C. He discovered a very old huge hall on the other side of the wall of the cave.
D. The old hall he discovered had been used as a hidden place of some pirates.

13. The author and his wife ______.
A. had planned carefully for their first spelunking
B. explored their first cave rather unexpectedly
C. spent time looking for a suitable cave to start their first exploration
D. were convinced by their friends that spelunking was a good sport

14. The author and his wife explored their first cave ______.
A. for several hours 
B. on their own
C. just for a short time 
D. with a guide and a guard

15. The author, and his wife joined the society of spelunking as they were_______.
A. recommended by their friends 
B. attracted by an advertisement
C. encouraged by an article in the newspaper 
D. intrigued by a local chapter of the society

Passage Four
　　The word population reached 6.6 billion this year, up from 6 billion in 1999. By 2025, researchers expect nearly 8 billion people will be living on the planet. Ninety-nine percent of those new inhabitants will be in developing countries.
　　Three million migrants are moving from poor countries to wealthier ones each year, and increasingly, their destination is a neighboring country in developing parts of the world. Those statistics come from an annual demographic snapshot of global population numbers and trends, produced by the Population Reference Bureau.
　　Rachel Nugent, an economist with the research group, points to the population shifts that are occurring now from Bangladesh to India or from India, Egypt and Yemen to the Persian Gulf.
　　She says people are moving within the developing world for the same reasons they migrate to wealthier nations. "People from very poor countries [are] going to less poor countries, people fleeing wars and conflict." She adds that they are also responding to population pressures because, she says, "some countries are very densely populated, and they often have high population growth. Those people need to go somewhere, and they are often going looking for jobs."
　　Nugent says migration from Guatemala to Mexico is one such example. "And many Guatemalans go to Mexico, probably 25,000 a year that stay and 100,000 a year that go back and forth. And that is a pretty high proportion of the Guatemalan population."
　　The United Nations projects that by 2050, the population of Europe, now at 750 million, will fall by 75 million; and Japan, home to 128 million people, will lose 16 million. Population Reference Bureau senior demographer and survey author Carl Haub says this is going to be a threat to economic health.
　　"The number of young people in many European countries is half of the size of their parents’ generation," he says, "So what you see today are the corporations, the health care system in this country saying, ‘Listen! We can’t find workers. We haven’t had enough workers and now we can’t find workers.’ So they will have to come from some place and that’s going to have to come from outside the country."
Questions 16-20 are based on Passage Four.
16. Which of the following population shifts is talked about in the third paragraph?
A. From developing countries to developed countries.
B. From poor countries to rich or wealthier countries.
C. From war-ridden countries to countries free of wars.
D. From developing countries to developing countries.

17. According to Rachel Nugent, people migrated because of the following reasons EXCEPT ______.
A. fleeing conflicts at home 
B. looking for jobs
C. getting away from wars 
D. seeking for freedom

18. Which is true about Guatemalans’ migrating to Mexico?
A. Most of them stay there permanently and become citizens.
B. They go there because of the economic depression at home.
C. Many of them go back to their own country disappointedly.
D. They go there because of the population pressure at home.

19. The population in Europe and Japan is ______.
A. shrinking 
B. declining
C. increasing 
D. exploding

20. "New inhabitants" in the first paragraph refer to ______.
A. people who migrate from one country to another
B. people who will live on other planets in space
C. people who will be born in the next decades
D. people who live in newly-established countries

Passage Five
　　In a competitive economy, the consumer usually has the choice of several different brands of the same product. Yet underneath their labels, the products are often nearly identical. One manufacturer’s toothpaste tends to differ from another’s. Thus manufacturers are confronted with a problem — how to keep sales high enough to stay in business. Manufacturers solve this problem by advertising. They try to appeal to consumers in various ways. In fact, advertisements may be classified into three types according to the kind of appeals they use.
　　One type of advertisement tries to appeal to the consumer’s reasoning mind. It may offer a claim that seems scientific. For example, it may say the dentists recommend Flash toothpaste. In selling a product, the truth of the advertising may be less important than the appearance of truth. A scientific approach gives the appearance of truth.
　　Another type of advertisement tries to amuse the potential buyer. Products that are essential boring, such as insecticide, are often advertised in an amusing way. One way of doing this is to make the products appear alive. For example, the advertisers may personify cans of insecticide, and show them attacking mean-faced bugs. Ads of this sort are silly, but they also tend to be amusing. Advertisers believe that consumers are likely to remember and buy products that the consumers associate with fun.
　　Associating the product with something pleasant is the technique of the third type of appeal. In this class are ads that suggest that the product will satisfy some basic human desires. One such desire is the wish to be admired by other people. Many automobile advertisements are in this category. They imply that other people will admire you, may even be jealous, when they see you driving the hot, new Aardvark car.
　　Another powerful desire to which advertisements appeal is the desire for love. Thus ads for bandages are unlikely to emphasize the way the bandages are made or their low cost; instead, the ads may show a mother tenderly binding up and then kissing her small boy’s cut finger. In the picture there is an open package of Ouch Bandage. The advertiser hopes the consumer will mentally insert an equal sign to create the equation "Ouch Bandage = Love".
　　One only needs to look through a magazine or watch an hour of TV in order to see examples of these three different advertising strategies.
Questions 21-25 are based on Passage Five.
21. We can infer from the passage, when there are different brands of toothpaste ______.
A. the products are different from each other
B. the products are more or less the same
C. those brands may have different market values
D. those brands may vary only in name or color

22. A scientific approach in ads may ______.
A. impress the consumers more of the product
B. mislead the consumers to buy the product
C. keep the consumers well informed of the product
D. help the consumers see the true value of the product

23. "The potential buyer" (para.3) in this context probably refers to______.
A. those who may enjoy fun ads
B. those who may be amused by the product
C. those who may probably buy the product
D. those who may be addicted to buying

24. What is associated with bandages in the ads, according to paragraph 5?
A. Human love from everyone.
B. Sympathy from the majority.
C. Mother’s love for her child.
D. Insertion of love in people’s minds.

25. What does the passage imply?
A. People should have a clear mind not to be easily lured by the advertisements.
B. More scientific methods should be used to make advertisements imaginative.
C. Addressers should be cleverer to make their products attractive.
D. People’s desire can be more satisfied by the improved advertisements.

II. Vocabulary. (10 points, 1 point for each)
Directions: Scan the following passage and find the words which have roughly the same meanings as those given below. The number in the brackets after each word definition refers to the number of paragraph in which the target word is. Write the word you choose on the Answer Sheet.
　　It’s early August and the countryside appears peaceful. Planting has long been finished and the fields are alive with strong, healthy crops. Soybeans and wheat are flourishing under the hot summer sun. And the corn, which was "keen-high by the fourth of jolly" is now well over six feet tall. Herds of dairy and beef cattle are grazing peacefully in rolling pastures which surround big, red barns and neat white farmhouses. Everything as far as the eye can see radiates a sense of prosperity. Welcome to the Midwest — one of the most fertile agricultural regions of the world.
　　The tranquility of the above scene is misleading. Farmers in the Midwest put in some of the longest workdays of any profession in the United States. In addition to caring for their crops and livestock, they have to keep up with new farming techniques, such as those for combining soil erosion and increasing livestock production. It is essential that farmers adopt these advances in technology if they want to continue to meet the growing demands of a hungry world.
　　Agriculture is the number one industry in the United States and agricultural products are the country’s leading export. Corn and soybean exports alone account for approximately 75 per cent of the amount sold in the world markets. This productivity, however, has its price. Intensive cultivation exposes the earth to the damaging forces of nature. Every year wind and water remove tons of rich soil from the nation’s cropland, with the result that soil erosion has become a national problem concerning everyone from the farmer to the consumer. Each field is covered by a limited amount of topsoil, the upper layer of earth which is richest in the nutrient and minerals necessary for growing crops. Ever since the first farmers arrived in the Midwest almost 200 years ago, cultivation and consequently erosion have been depleting the supply of topsoil. In the 1830s, nearly two feet of rich, black top soil covered the Midwest.
26. growing well or thriving in growth as a plant (Para. 1)
27. pieces of grassland for cattle to feed on (Para. 1)
28. of land that produces good crops (Para. 1)
29. the state of calmness and peacefulness (Para. 2)
30. the process by which the surface of the earth is worn away by the action of water, glaciers, winds, waves and so on (Para. 2)
31. the animals that are kept or raised on a farm (Para. 2)
32. the degree to which workers, farmers, companies etc. are able to produce efficiently (Para. 3)
33. the surface or upper part of the soil (Para. 3)
34. nourishing substance in the farmland (Para. 3)
35. lessening greatly in quantity, contents, power or value (Para. 3)

III. Summarization. (20 points, 2 points for each)
Directions: In this section of the test, there are ten paragraphs. Each of the paragraph is followed by an incomplete phrase or sentence which summarizes the main idea of the paragraph. Spell out the missing letters of the word on your Answer Sheet.

Paragraph One
　　Every culture has specific rules of courtesy and certain words for special situation. What are considered polite manners in one culture might be terribly rude in another. One of the difficulties of learning a foreign language is learning what is considered polite and rude in the culture of that language.
36. Using language p_______ within its culture.

Paragraph Two
　　Change is the most changeless thing in the universe. We need to accept all changes — welcome or unwelcome — with the understanding that nothing comes to stay, but only to pass. As two things can never occupy the same space at the same time, one change makes way for the next.
37. C_______ is inevitable.

Paragraph Three
　　When Richard Wagner felt out of sorts, he would rave and stamp, or sink into suicidal gloom and talk darkly of going to the East to end his days as Buddhist monk. Ten minutes later, when something pleased him, he would rush out of doors and run around the garden, or jump up and down on the sofa.
38. Richard Wagner had some emotional p_______.

Paragraph Four
　　Anyone who wants to improve his relationship with others should show a sympathetic understanding. The way to express this understanding and to give others the feeling of importance and worthiness lies in this: always look for something in other people you can admire and praise  and tell them about it.
39. The a_______ of praising.

Paragraph Five
　　Education teaches a child to realize that he is not thrown into the world by chance, he has his part to play. He will learn what is useful to him and society at large. Education imparts a great deal of knowledge to his mind and encourages a child to work hard.
40. The p_______ of education.

Paragraph Six
　　Everybody wastes time. Instead of doing their homework, school boys watch television. Writers neglect their work, and wander in the room making cups of coffee and daydreaming. They all have good intentions, but they keep putting off the moment when they must start work. As a consequence, they feel guilty, and then waste more time.
41. The vicious c_______ of wasting time.

Paragraph Seven
　　A baby has little memory, but as he grows, he remembers things gradually. Later when he comes to .school age, he is guided to improve his memory by practice. Short poems are given to him to study by heart when he reaches primary stage, so that his mind will not get rusty from disuse.
42. A way to d_______ a child’s memory.

Paragraph Eight
　　Experts say that moods are emotions that tend to become fixed, influencing one’s outlook for hours, days or even weeks. Perhaps the best way to deal with bad moods is to talk them out. So next time you feel out of sorts, don’t head for the drugstore — try the way above-mentioned.
43. How to d_______ with a bad mood.

Paragraph Nine
　　Willpower is not some unchangeable characteristics we are born with. It is skill that can be developed, strengthened and targeted to help us achieve our goals. For every obstacle we want to overcome, we need willpower, which is an inner strength that will push us to confront challenge and keep us going.
44. Willpower can be n_______.

Paragraph Ten
People go abroad for various inspanidual purposes. Those who are highly educated are often appointed by their home government to go abroad to act as diplomats or trade commissioners. Some sales representatives are sent by their firms to various parts of the globe to make known their products in order to increase sales.
45. R_______ for going abroad.

IV. Translation. (20 points, 4 points for each)
Directions: In the following passage, there are five groups of underlined sentences. Read the passage carefully and then translate these sentences into Chinese. Write the Chinese version on your Answer Sheet.
　　Computers should be in the schools. They have the potential to accomplish great things.  46. With the fight software, they could help make science tangible or teach neglected topics like art and music. They could help students form a concrete idea of society by displaying on-screen a version of the city in which they live — a picture that tracks real life moment by moment.
　　In practice, however, computers make our worst educational nightmares come true. 47. While we bemoan the decline of literacy, computers discount words in favor of pictures and pictures in favor of video. While we fret about the decreasing cogency of public debate, computers dismiss linear argument and promote fast, shallow romps across the information landscape. While we worry about basic skills, we allow into the classroom software that will do a student’s arithmetic or correct his spelling.
　　Take multimedia. The idea of multimedia is to combine text, sound and pictures in a single package that you browse on screen. You do not just read Shakespeare; you watch actors performing, listen to songs and so on. What is wrong with that? 48. By offering children candy-coated books, multimedia is guaranteed to sour them on unsweetened reading. It makes the printed page look even more boring than it used to look. Sure, books will be available in the classroom, too. But they will have all the appeal of dusty piano to a teen who has a Walkman handy.
　　Hypermedia, is just as troubling. It is a way of presenting documents on screen without imposing a linear start-to-finish order. Disembodied paragraphs are linked by theme; after reading one about the First World War, for example, you might be able to choose another about the technology of battleships or the life of Woodrow Wilson. 49. This is another cute idea that is good in minor ways and terrible in major ones. Teaching children to understand the orderly unfolding of a plot or a logical argument is a crucial part of education.
　　Authors do not merely agglomerate paragraphs; they work hard to make the narrative read a certain way, prove a particular point. 50. To turn a book or a document into hypertext is to invite readers to ignore exactly what counts — the story. The real problem, again, is the accentuation of the already bad habits. Dynamiting documents into disjointed paragraphs is one more expression of the sorry fact that sustained argument is not our style. If you are a newspaper or magazine editor and your readership is dwindling, what is the solution? Shorter pieces. If you are a politician and you want to get elected, what do you need? Tasty sound bites. Logical presentation be damned.