1、1999年专业英语八级真题试卷及答案与解析 SECTION A MINI-LECTURE Directions: In this section you sill 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
2、. 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. 1 At present companies and industries like to sponsor sports events. Two reasons are put forward to explai
3、n this phenomenon. The first reason is that they get 【 L1】 _ throughout the world. The second reason is that companies and industries 【 L2】 _ money as they get reductions in the tax they owe if they sponsor sports or arts activities. As sponsorship is 【 L3】 _ careful thinking is required in deciding
4、 which events to sponsor. It is important that the event to be sponsored 【 L4】 _ the product(s) to be promoted. That is, the right 【 L5】 _ and maximum product coverage must be guaranteed in the event. Points to be considered in sports sponsorship. Popularity of the event International sports events
5、are big 【 L6】 _ events, which get extensive coverage on TV and in press. Smaller events attract fewer people. Identification of the potential audience Aiming at the right audience is most important for smaller events. The right audience would attract manufacturers of related products like 【 L7】_ , e
6、tc. Advantages of sponsorship Advantages are longer-term. People are expected to respond 【 L8】 _ to the products promoted and be more likely to buy them. Advertising is 【 L9】 _ the mind. Sponsorship is better than straight advertising: a) less 【 L10】 _ b) tax-free 1 【 L1】 2 【 L2】 3 【 L3】 4 【 L4】 5 【
7、 L5】 6 【 L6】 7 【 L7】 8 【 L8】 9 【 L9】 10 【 L10】 SECTION B INTERVIEW Directions: In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Questions 1 to 5 are based on an interview. At the end of the interview you will be given 10 seconds to answe
8、r each of the following five questions. Now listen to the interview. 11 The technology to make machines quieter （ A） has been in use since the 1930s. （ B） has accelerated industrial production. （ C） has just been in commercial use. （ D） has been invented to remove all noises. 12 The modern electroni
9、c anti-noise devices （ A） are an update version of the traditional methods. （ B） share similarities with the traditional methods. （ C） are as inefficient as the traditional methods. （ D） are based on an entirely new working principle. 13 The French company is working on anti-noise techniques to be u
10、sed in all EXCEPT （ A） streets. （ B） factories. （ C） aircraft. （ D） cars. 14 According to the talk, workers in “zones of quiet“ can （ A） be more affected by noise. （ B） hear talk from outside the zone. （ C） work more efficiently. （ D） be heard outside the zone. 15 The main theme of the talk is about
11、 （ A） noise-control technology. （ B） noise in factories. （ C） noise-control regulations. （ D） noise-related effects. 16 Employees in the US are paid for their time. This means that they are supposed to （ A） work hard while their boss is around. （ B） come to work when there is work to be done. （ C） w
12、ork with initiative and willingness. （ D） work through their lunch break. 17 One of the advantages of flexible working hours is that （ A） pressure from work can be reduced. （ B） working women can have more time at home. （ C） traffic and commuting problems can be solved. （ D） personal relationships i
13、n offices can be improved. 18 On the issue of working contracts in the US, which statement is NOT correct? （ A） Performance at work matters more than anything else. （ B） There are laws protecting employees working rights. （ C） Good reasons must be provided in order to fire workers. （ D） Working cont
14、racts in the US are mostly short-term ones. 19 It can be assumed from the interview that an informal atmosphere might be found in （ A） small firms. （ B） major banks. （ C） big corporations. （ D） law offices. 20 The interview is mainly about _ in the USA. （ A） office hierarchies （ B） office conditions
15、 （ C） office rules. （ D） office life. SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST Directions: In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. At the end of each news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the questions. 21 Senator Bob Doles attitude
16、 towards Clintons anti-crime policy is that of （ A） opposition. （ B） support. （ C） ambiguity. （ D） indifference. 22 Japan and the United States are now （ A） negotiating about photographic material. （ B） negotiating an automobile agreement. （ C） facing serious problems in trade. （ D） on the verge of
17、a large-scale trade war. 23 The news item seems to indicate that the agreement （ A） will end all other related trade conflicts. （ B） is unlikely to solve the dispute once and for all. （ C） is linked to other trade agreements. （ D） is the last of its kind to be reached. 24 According to the news, the
18、ice from Greenland provides information about （ A） oxygen. （ B） ancient weather. （ C） carbon dioxide. （ D） temperature. 25 Which of the following statement is CORRECT? （ A） Drastic changes in the weather have been common since ancient times. （ B） The change in weather from very cold to very hot last
19、ed over a century. （ C） The scientists have been studying ice to forecast weather in the future. （ D） The past 10,000 years have seen minor changes in the weather. 26 Riccis “Operation Columbus“ 1 Ricci, 45, is now striking out on perhaps his boldest venture yet. He plans to market an English-langua
20、ge edition of his elegant monthly art magazine, FMR, in the United States. Once again the skeptics are murmuring that the successful Ricci has headed for a big fall. And once again Ricci intends to prove them wrong. 2 Ricci is so confident that he has christen quest “Operation Columbus“ and has set
21、his sights on discovering an American readership of 300,000. That goal may not be too far-fetched. The Italian edition of FMR the initials, of course, stand for Franco Maria Ricci is only 18 months old. But it is already the second largest art magazine in the world, with a circulation of 65,000 and
22、a profit margin of US $ 500,000. The American edition will be patterned after the Italian version, with each 160-page issue carrying only 40 pages of ads and no more than five articles. But the contents will often differ. The English-language edition will include more American works, Ricci says, to
23、help Americans get over “an inferiority complex about their art“. He also hopes that the magazine will become a vehicle for a two-way cultural exchange what he likes to think of as a marriage of brains, culture and taste from both sides of the Atlantic. 3 To realize this version, Ricci is mounting o
24、ne of the most lavish, enterprising and expensive promotional campaigns in magazine-publishing history. Between November and January, eight jumbo jets will fly 8 million copies of a sample 16-page edition of FMR across the Atlantic. From a warehouse in Michigan, 6.5 million copies will be mailed to
25、American subscribers of various cultural, art and business magazines. Some of the remaining copies will circulate as a special Sunday supplement in the New York Times. The cost of launching Operation Columbus is a staggering US $ 5 million, but Ricci is hoping that 600% of the price tag will be fina
26、nced by Italian corporations. “To land in America Columbus had to use Spanish sponsors,“ reads one sentence in his promotional pamphlet. “We would like Italians.“ 4 Like Columbus, Ricci cannot know what his reception, will be on foreign shores. In Italy he gambled and won on a simple concept: it is
27、more important to show art than to write about it. Hence, one issue of FMR might feature 32 full-colour pages of 17th-century tapestries, followed by 14 pages of outrageous eyeglasses. He is gambling that the concept is exportable. “I dont expect that more than 30% of my readers, will actually read
28、FMR,“ he says. “The magazine is such a visual delight that they dont have to. “Still, he is lining up an impressive stable of writers and professors for the American edition, including Noam Chomsky, Anthony Burgess, Eric Jong and Norman Mailer. In addition, he seems to be pursuing his own eclectic v
29、ision without giving a moments thought to such established competitors as Connosisseur and Horizon. “The Americans can do almost everything better than we can, “says Ricci,“ But we (the Italians) have a 2,000 year edge on them in art.“ 26 Ricci intends his American edition of FMR to carry more Ameri
30、can art works in order to （ A） boost Americans confidence in their art. （ B） follow the pattern set by his Italian edition. （ C） help Italians understand American art better. （ D） expand the readership of his magazine. 27 Ricci is compared to Columbus in the passage mainly because （ A） they both ben
31、efited from Italian sponsors. （ B） they were explorers in their own ways. （ C） they obtained overseas sponsorship. （ D） they got a warm reception in America. 28 We get the impression that the American edition of FMR will probably （ A） carry many academic articles of high standard. （ B） follow the st
32、yle of some famous existing magazines. （ C） be read by one third of American magazine readers. （ D） pursue a distinctive editorial style of its own. 29 Uncle Geoff 1 My mothers relations were very different form the Mitfords. Her brother, Uncle Geoff, who often came to stay at Swinbrook, was a small
33、, spare man with thoughtful blue eyes and a rather silent manner. Compared to Uncle Tommy, he was an intellectual of the highest order, and indeed his satirical pen belied his mild demeanor. He spent most of his waking hours composing letters to The Times and other publications in which he outlined
34、his own particular theory of the development of English history. In Uncle Geoffs view, the greatness of England had risen and waned over the centuries in direct proportion to the use of natural manure in fertilizing the soil. The Black Death of 1348 was caused by gradual loss of the humus fertility
35、found under forest trees. The rise of the Elizabethans two centuries later was attributable to the widespread use of sheep manure. 2 Many of Uncle Geoffs letters-to-the-editor have fortunately been preserved in a privately printed volume called Writings of A Rebel. Of the collection, one letter best
36、 sums up his views on the relationship between manure and freedom. He wrote: 3 Collating old records shows that our greatness rises and falls with the living fertility of our soil. And now, many years of exhausted and chemically murdered soil, and of devitalized food from it, has softened our bodies
37、 and still worse, softened our national character. It is an actual fact that character is largely a product of the soil. Many years of murdered food from deadened soil has made us too tame. Chemicals have had their poisonous day. It is now the worms turn to reform the manhood of England. The only wa
38、y to regain our punch, our character, our lost virtues, and with them the freedom natural to islanders, is to compost our land so as to allow moulds, bacteria and earthworms to remake living soil to nourish Englishmens bodies and spirits. 4 The law requiring pasteurization of milk in England was a p
39、articular target of Uncle Geoffs. Fond of alliteration, he dubbed it “Murdered Milk Measure,“ and established the Liberty Restoration League, with headquarters at his house in London, for the specific purpose of organizing a counteroffensive. “Freedom not Doctordom“ was the Leagues proud slogan. A s
40、ubsidiary, but nevertheless important, activity of the League was advocacy of a return to the “ unsplit, slowly smoked fish“ and bread made with “English stone-ground flour, yeast, milk, sea salt and raw cane-sugar.“ 29 According to Uncle Geoff, national strength could only be regained by （ A） refor
41、ming the manhood of England. （ B） using natural manure as fertilizer. （ C） eating more bacteria-free food. （ D） granting more freedom to Englishmen. 30 The tone of the passage can most probably be described as （ A） facetious. （ B） serious. （ C） nostalgic. （ D） factual. 31 Interview 1 So what have th
42、ey taught you at college about interviews? Some courses go to town on it, others do very little. You may get conflicting advice. Only one thing is certain: the key to success is preparation. 2 There follow some useful suggestions from a teacher training course co-ordinator, a head of department and
43、a headteacher. As they appear to be in complete harmony with one another despite never having met, we may take their advice seriously. 3 Oxford Brookes Universitys approach to the business of application and interview focuses on research and rehearsal. Training course co-ordinator Brenda Stevens spe
44、aks of the value of getting students “to deconstruct the advertisement, see what they can offer to that school, and that situation, and then write the letter, do their CVs and criticize each others “. Finally, they role play interviewer and interviewee. 4 This is sterling stuff, and Brookes students
45、 spend a couple of weeks on it. “The better prepared students wont be thrown by nerves on the day,“ says Ms. Stevens. “Theyll have their strategies and questions worked out. “She also says, a trifle disconcertingly, “the better the student, the worse the interviewee. She believes the most capable st
46、udents are less able to put themselves forward. Even if this were true, says Ms. Stevens, you must still make your own case. 5 “Beware of informality,“ she advises. One aspirant teacher, now a head of department at a smart secondary school, failed his first job interview because he took his jacket o
47、ff while waiting for his appointment. It was hot and everyone in the staffroom was in shirtsleeves but at the end of the day they criticized his casual attitude, which they had deduced from the fact that he took his jacket off in the staffroom, even though he put it back on for the interview. 6 Inci
48、dentally, men really do have to wear a suit to the interview and women really cannot wear jeans, even if men never wear the suit again and women teach most days in jeans. Panels respond instantly to these indicators. But beware: it will not please them any better if you are too smart. 7 Find out abo
49、ut the peope who will talk to you. In the early meetings they are likely to be heads of departments or heads of year. Often they may be concerned with pastoral matters. It makes sense to know their priorities and let them hear the things about you that they want to hear. 8 During preliminary meetings you may be seen in groups with two or three other applicants and you must demonstrate that you know your
