1、2001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 The Press Conference The press conference has certain advantages. The first advantage lies with the 【 L1
3、】_ nature of the event itself; public officials are supposed to submit to scrutiny by responding to various questions at a press conference. Secondly, statements previously made at a press conference can be used as a 【 L2】 _ in judging following statements or policies. Moreover, in case of important
4、 events, press conference are an effective way to break the news to groups of reporters. However, from the point of view of 【 L3】 _ , the press conference possesses some disadvantages, mainly in its 【 L4】 _ and news source. The provider virtually determines the manner in which a press conference pro
5、ceeds. This, sometimes, puts newsreporters at a(n) 【 L5】 _ , as can be seen on live broadcasts of news conferences. Factors in getting valuable information preparation: a need to keep up to date on journalistic subject matter; 【 L6】 _ of the news resource: 1) news sources 【 L7】 _ to provide informat
6、ion; 2) news-gathering methods. Conditions under which news reporters cannot trust the information provided by a news source: not knowing the required information; knowing and willing to share the information, but without 【 L8】 _ skills; knowing the information, but unwilling to share; willing to sh
7、are, but unable to recall. 【 L9】 _ of questions asked Ways of improving the questions:no words with double meanings;no long questions; specific time, place, etc.; 【 L10】 _ questions; clear alternatives, or no alternatives in answers. 1 【 L1】 2 【 L2】 3 【 L3】 4 【 L4】 5 【 L5】 6 【 L6】 7 【 L7】 8 【 L8】 9
8、【 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 answer each of the following five qu
9、estions. Now listen to the interview. 11 Changes in the size of the World Banks operations refer to （ A） the expansion of its loan program. （ B） the inclusion of its hard loans. （ C） the inclusion of its soft loans. （ D） the previous lending policies. 12 What actually made the Bank change its overal
10、l lending strategy? （ A） Reluctance of people in poor countries to have small families. （ B） Lack of basic health services and inequality in income distribution. （ C） The discovery that a low fertility rate would lead to economic development. （ D） Poor nutrition and low literacy in many poor countri
11、es of the world. 13 The change in emphasis of the Banks lending policies meant that the Bank would （ A） be more involved in big infrastructure projects. （ B） adopt similar investment strategies in poor and rich countries. （ C） embark upon a review of the investment in huge dams and steel mills. （ D）
12、 invest in projects that would benefit the low-income sector of society. 14 Which of the following is NOT a criticism of the Bank? （ A） Colossal travel expenses of its staff. （ B） Fixed annual loans to certain countries. （ C） Limited impact of the Banks projects. （ D） Role as a financial deal maker.
13、 15 Throughout the talk, the speaker is _ while introducing the World Bank. （ A） biased （ B） unfriendly （ C） objective （ D） sensational 16 The man sounds surprised at the fact that （ A） many Australians are taking time off to travel. （ B） the woman worked for some time in New Zealand. （ C） the woman
14、 raised enough money for travel. （ D） Australians prefer to work in New Zealand. 17 We learn that the woman liked Singapore mainly because of its （ A） cleanness. （ B） multi-ethnicity. （ C） modern characteristics. （ D） shopping opportunities. 18 From the conversation we can infer that Kaifeng and Yin
15、chuan impressed the woman with their （ A） respective locations. （ B） historic interests. （ C） ancient tombs. （ D） Jewish descendants. 19 Which of the following words can best describe the womans feelings about Tibet? （ A） Amusement. （ B） Disbelief. （ C） Ecstasy. （ D） Delight. 20 According to the con
16、versation, it was traveling that made the woman ready to stop （ A） the unsettledness of travel. （ B） the difficulties of trekking. （ C） the loneliness of travel. （ D） the unfamiliar environment. SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST Directions: In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully
17、 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 Mike Tyson was put in prison last August because he （ A） violated the traffic law. （ B） illegally attacked a boxer. （ C） attacked sb. after a traffic accident. （ D） fail
18、ed to finish his contract. 22 The license granted to Tyson to fight will be terminated （ A） by the end of the year. （ B） in over a year. （ C） in August. （ D） in a few weeks. 23 The Russian documents are expected to draw great attention because （ A） they cover the whole story of the former US preside
19、nt. （ B） the assassin used to live in the former Soviet Union. （ C） they are the only official documents released about Kennedy. （ D） they solved the mystery surrounding Kennedys assassination. 24 In the recent three months, Hong Kongs unemployment rate has （ A） increased slowly. （ B） decreased grad
20、ually. （ C） stayed steady. （ D） become unpredictable. 25 According to the news, which of the following statements is TRUE? （ A） Business conditions have worsened in the past three months. （ B） The past three months have seen a declining trend in job offers. （ C） The rise of unemployment rate in some
21、 sectors equals the fall in others. （ D） The unemployment rate in all sectors of the economy remains unchanged. 26 1 “Twenty years ago, Blackpool turned its back on the sea and tried to make itself into an entertainment center,“says Robin Wood, a local official. “Now the thinking is that we should t
22、ry to refocus on the sea and make Blackpool a family destination again.“ To say that Blackpool neglected the sea is to put it mildly. In 1976 the European Community, as it then was called, instructed member nations to make their beaches conform to certain minimum standards of cleanliness within ten
23、years. Britain, rather than complying, took the novel strategy of contending that many of its most popular beaches were not swimming beaches at all. Because of Britains climate the sea-bathing season is short, and most people dont go in above their knees anyway - and hence cant really be said to be
24、swimming. By averaging out the number of people actually swimming across 365 days of the year, the government was able to persuade itself, if no one else, that Britain had hardly any real swimming beaches. 2 As one environmentalist put it to me: “You had the ludicrous situation in which Luxembourg h
25、ad more listed public bathing beaches than the whole of the United Kingdom. It was preposterous.“ 3 Meanwhile, Blackpool continued to discharge raw sewage straight into the sea. Finally, after much pressure from both environmental groups and the European Union, the local water authority built a new
26、waste-treatment facility for the whole of Blackpool and neighboring communities. The facility came online in June 1996. For the first time since the industrial revolution Blackpools waters are safe to swim in. 4 That done, the town is now turning its attention to making the seafront more visually at
27、tractive. The promenade, once a rather elegant place to stroll, had become increasingly tatty and neglected. “It was built in Victorian times and needed a thorough overhaul anyway,“ says Wood, “so we decided to make aesthetic improvements at the same time, to try to draw people back to it. Blackpool
28、 recently spent about $1.4 million building new kiosks for vendors and improving seating around the Central Pier and plans to spend a further $15 million on various amenity projects. 5 The most striking thing about Blackpool these days compared with 20 years ago is how empty its beaches are. When th
29、e tide is out, Blackpools beaches are a vast plain of beckoning sand. They look spacious enough to accommodate comfortably the entire populace of northern England. Ken Welsby remembers days when, as he puts it, “you couldnt lay down a handkerchief on this beach, it was that crowded.“ 6 Welsby comes
30、from Preston, 20 miles down the road, and has been visiting Blackpool all his life. Now retired, he had come for the day with his wife, Kitty, and their three young grandchildren, who were gravely absorbed in building a sandcastle. “Two hundred thousand people theyd have on this beach sometimes,“Wel
31、sby said. “You cant imagine it now, can you?“ 7 Indeed I could not. Though it was a bright sunny day in the middle of summer, I counted just 13 people scattered along a half mile or so of open sand. Except for those rare times when hot weather and a public holiday coincide, it is like this nearly al
32、ways now. 8 “You cant imagine how exciting it was to come here for the day when we were young.“ Kitty said, “Even from Preston, it was a big treat. Now children dont want the beach. They want arcade games and rides in helicopters and goodness knows what else.“ She stared out over the glittery water.
33、 “Well never see those days again. Its sad really.“ 9 “But your grandchildren seem to be enjoying it,“ I pointed out. 10 “For the moment , “Ken said. “For the moment.“ 11 Afterward I went for a long walk along the empty beach, then went back to the town center and treated myself to a large portion o
34、f fish-and-chips wrapped in paper. The way they cook it in Blackpool, it isnt so much a meal as an invitation to a heart attack, but it was delicious. Far out over the sea the sun was setting with such splendor that I would almost have sworn I could hear the water kiss where it touched. 12 Behind me
35、 the lights of Blackpool Tower were just twinkling on, and the streets were beginning to fill with happy evening throngs. In the purply light of dusk the town looked peaceful and happy - enchanting even - and there was an engaging air of expectancy, of fun about to happen. Somewhat to my surprise, I
36、 realized that this place was beginning to grow on me. 26 At the beginning, the passage seems to suggest that Blackpool （ A） will continue to remain as an entertainment center. （ B） complied with ECs standards of cleanliness. （ C） had no swimming beaches all along. （ D） is planning to revive its for
37、mer attraction. 27 We can learn from the passage that Blackpool used to （ A） have as many beaches as Luxemburg. （ B） have seriously polluted drinking water. （ C） boast some imposing seafront sights. （ D） attract few domestic holiday makers. 28 What Blackpools beaches strike visitors most is their （
38、A） emptiness. （ B） cleanliness. （ C） modernity. （ D） monotony. 29 1 Pundits who want to sound judicious are fond of warning against generalizing. Each country is different, they say, and no one story fits all of Asia. This is, of course, silly: all of these economies plunged into economic crisis wit
39、hin a few months of each other, so they must have had so mething in common. 2 In fact, the logic of catastrophe was pretty much the same in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and South Korea. (Japan is a very different story. ) In each case investors - mainly, but not entirely, foreign banks who had made
40、 short-term loans - all tried to pull their money out at the same time. The result was a combined banking and currency crisis: a banking crisis because no bank can convert all its assets into cash on short notice; a currency crisis because panicked investors were trying not only to convert long-term
41、 assets into cash, but to convert baht or rupiah into dollars. In the face of the stampede, governments had no good options. If they let their currencies plunge, inflation would soar and companies that had borrowed in dollars would go bankrupt; if they tried to support their currencies by pushing up
42、 interest rates, the same firms would probably go bust from the combination of debt burden and recession. In practice, countries split the difference and paid a heavy price regardless. 3 Was the crisis a punishment for bad economic management? Like most cliches, the catchphrase “crony capitalism“has
43、 prospered because it gets at something real excessively cozy relationships between government and business really did lead to a lot of bad investments. The still primitive financial structure of Asian business also made the economies peculiarly vulnerable to loss of confidence. But the punishment w
44、as surely disproportionate to the crime, and many investments that look foolish in retrospect seemed sensible at the time. 4 Given that there were no good policy options, was the policy response mainly on the right track? There was frantic blame-shifting when everything in Asia seemed to be going wr
45、ong; now there is a race to claim credit when some things have started to go right. The International Monetary Fund points to Koreas recovery - and more generally to the fact that the sky didnt fall after all - as proof that its policy recommendations were right. Never mind that other IMF clients ha
46、ve done far worse, and that the economy of Malaysia - which refused IMF help, and horrified respectable opinion by imposing capital controls - also seems to be on the mend: Malaysias Prime Minister, by contrast, claims full credit for any good news - even though neighboring economies also seem to ha
47、ve bottomed out. 5 The truth is that an observer without any ax to grind would probably conclude that none of the policies adopted either on or in defiance of the IMFs advice made much difference either way. Budget policies, interest rate policies, banking reform - whatever countries tried, just abo
48、ut all the capital that could flee, did. And when there was no more money to run, the natural recuperative powers of the economies finally began to prevail. At best, the money doctors who purported to offer cures provided a helpful bedside manner; at worst, they were like medieval physicians who pre
49、scribed bleeding as a remedy for all ills. 6 Will the patients stage a full recovery? It depends on exactly what you mean by “full“. South Koreas industrial production is already above its pre-crisis level; but in the spring of 1997 anyone who had predicted zero growth in Korean industry over the next two years would have been regarded as a reckless doomsayer. So if by recovery you mean not just a return to growth, but one that brin
