1、2004年武汉大学考博英语真题试卷及答案与解析 一、 Reading Comprehension 0 All types of stress study, whether under laboratory or real-life situations, study mechanisms for increasing the arousal level of the brain. The brain blood flow studies show that reciting the days of the week and months of the year increases blood
2、flow in appropriate areas, whereas problemsolving which demands intense concentration of a reasoning type produces much larger changes in the distribution of blood in the brain. Between these basic studies of brain function and real-life situations there is still a considerable gap, but reasonable d
3、eduction seems possible to try and understand what happens to the brain. Life consists of a series of events which may be related to work or to our so-called leisure time. Work may be relatively automaticas with typing, for instance. It requires intense concentration and repetition during the learni
4、ng phase to establish a pattern in the brain. Then the typists fingers automatically move to hit the appropriate keys as she reads the words on the copy. However, when she gets tired she makes mistakes much more frequently. To overcome this she has to raise her level of arousal and concentration but
5、 beyond a certain point the automatic is lost and thinking about hitting the keys leads to more mistakes. Other jobs involve intense concentration such as holding bottles of wine up to a strong light and turning them upside down to look for particles of dirt falling down. This sounds quite easy but
6、experience teaches that workers can do this for only about thirty minutes before they start making a mistake. This is partly because the number of occasions with dirt in the bottle is low and the arousal level, therefore, fails. Scientists have shown that devices to raise arousal level will increase
7、 the accuracy of looking for relatively rare events. A recent study of the effect of loss of sleep in young doctors showed that in tests involving a challenge to their medical judgment when short of sleep they raised their arousal level and became better at tests of grammatical reasoning as well. 1
8、According to the brain blood flow studies, problemsolving_. （ A） increases blood flow in some areas of the brain. （ B） causes changes in the distribution of blood in the brain. （ C） demands intense concentration of blood in certain areas （ D） is based on the ability to recite the time 2 The author b
9、elieves that_. （ A） the results obtained in the laboratory exactly reflects the real-life situations （ B） the gap between the laboratory studies and real-life situations is too large to fill up （ C） the gap between the laboratory studies and real-life situations can be closed by proper reasoning （ D
10、） the difference between the laboratory studies and real-life situations will be reduced 3 When a typist gets tired, _. （ A） she has to try hard to raise her automatic （ B） she can type only automatically （ C） she cannot think about what she is doing （ D） she can seldom type automatically 4 Examinin
11、g bottles of wine is hard work because_. （ A） the bottle must be held upside down （ B） it is difficult to see the particles of dirt （ C） it requires high level of automatic （ D） most bottles are all right 5 According to the author, a key factor in the ability to reason is_. （ A） the subjects knowled
12、ge of grammar （ B） the amount of sleep the subject has had （ C） the level of arousal of the subject （ D） the extent to which the subject has been taught to reason 5 Auctions are public sales of goods, conducted by an officially approved auctioneer. He asks the crowd assembled in the auction room to
13、make offers, or “bids“, for the various items on sale. He encourages buyers to bid higher figures, and finally names the highest bidder as the buyer of the goods. This is called “knocking down“ the goods, for the bidding ends when the auctioneer bangs a small hammer on a table at which he stands. Th
14、is is often set on a raised platform called a rostrum. The ancient Romans probably invented sales by auction, and the English word comes from the Latin audio, meaning “increase“. The Romans usually sold in this way the spoils taken in war; these sales were called sub basra , meaning “under the spear
15、“, a spear being stuck in the ground as a signal for a crowd to gather. In England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries goods were often sold “by the candle“: a short candle was lit by the auctioneer, and bids could be made while it stayed alight. Practically all goods whose qualities vary are
16、 sold by auction. Among these are coffee, hides, skins, wool, tea, cocoa, furs, spices, fruit and vegetables and wines. Auction sales are also usual for land and property, antique furniture, pictures, rare books, old china and similar works of art. The auction rooms at Christies and Sothebys in Lond
17、on and New York are world-famous. An auction is usually advertised beforehand with full particulars of the articles to be sold and where and when they can be viewed by prospective buyers. If the advertisement cannot give full details, catalogues are printed, and each group of goods to be sold togeth
18、er, called a “lot“ , is usually given a number. The auctioneer need not begin with Lot 1 and continue in numerical order; he may wait until he registers the fact that certain dealers are in the room and then produce the lots they are likely to be interested in. The auctioneers services are paid for
19、in the form of a percentage of the price the goods are sold for. The auctioneer therefore has a direct interest in pushing up the bidding as high as possible. The auctioneer must know fairly accurately the current market values of the goods he is selling, and he should be acquainted with regular buy
20、ers of such goods. He will not waste time by starting the bidding too low. He will also play on the rivalries among his buyers and succeed in getting a high price by encouraging two business competitors to bid against each other. It is largely on his advice that a seller will fix a “reserve“ price,
21、that is, a price below which the goods cannot be sold. Even the best auctioneers, however, find it difficult to stop a “knockout“, whereby dealers illegally arrange beforehand not to bid against each other, but nominate one of themselves as the only bidder, in the hope of buying goods at extremely l
22、ow prices. If such a “knockout“ comes off, the real auction sale takes place privately afterwards among the dealers. 6 A candle used to burn at auction sales_. （ A） because they took place at night （ B） as a signal for the crowd to gather （ C） to keep the auctioneer warm （ D） to limit the time when
23、offers could be made 7 An auction catalogue gives prospective buyers_. （ A） the current market values of the goods （ B） details of the goods to be sold （ C） the order in which goods must be sold （ D） free admission to the auction sale 8 The auctioneer may decide to sell the “lots“ out of order becau
24、se_. （ A） he sometimes wants to confuse the buyers （ B） he knows from experience that certain people will want to buy certain items （ C） he wants to keep certain people waiting （ D） he wants to reduce the number of buyers 9 An auctioneer likes to get high prices for the goods he sells because_. （ A）
25、 then he earns more himself （ B） the dealers are pleased （ C） the auction rooms become world-famous （ D） it keeps the customers interested 10 A “knockout“ is arranged_. （ A） to keep the price in the auction room low （ B） to allow one dealer only to make a profit （ C） to increase the auctioneers prof
26、it （ D） to help the auctioneer 10 Whenever two or more unusual traits or situations are found in the same place, it is tempting to look for more than a coincidental relationship between them. The high Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau certainly have extraordinary physical characteristics, and the cu
27、ltures which are found there are also unusual, though not unique. However, there is no intention of adopting Montesquieus view of climate and soil as cultural determinants. The ecology of a region merely poses some of the problems faced by the inhabitants of the region, and while the problems facing
28、 a culture are important to its development, they do not determine it. The appearance of the Himalayas during the late Tertiary Period and the accompanying further raising of the previously established rages had a marked effect on the climate of the region. Primarily, of course, it blocked the India
29、n monsoon(季风 )from reaching Central Asia at all. Secondarily, air and moisture from other directions were also reduced. Prior to the raising of the Himalayas, the land now forming the Tibetan uplands had a dry continental climate with vegetation and animal life similar to that of the rest of the reg
30、ion on the same parallel, but somewhat different than that of the areas farther north, which were already drier. With the coming of the Himalayas and the relatively sudden drying out of the region, there was a severe thinning out of the animal and plant population. The ensuing incomplete Pleistocene
31、 glaciations(冰蚀 )had a further thinning effect, but significantly did not wipe out life in the area. Thus after the end of the glaciations there were only a few varieties of life extant from the original continental species. Isolated by the Kunlun range from the Tarim basin and Turfan depression, sp
32、ecies which had already adapted to the dry steppe climate, and would otherwise have been expected to flourish in Tibet, the remaining native fauna and flora(动植物群 )multiplied. Armand describes the Tibetan fauna as not having great variety, but being “striking“ in the abundance of the particular speci
33、es that are present. The plant life is similarly limited in variety, with some observers finding no more than seventy varieties of plants in even the relatively fertile Eastern Tibetan valleys, with fewer than ten food crops. Tibetan “tea“ is a major staple, perhaps replacing the unavailable vegetab
34、les. The difficulties of living in an environment at once dry and cold, and populated with species more usually found in more hospitable climates, are great. These difficulties may well have influenced the unusual polyandrous(一妻多夫的 )societies typical of the region. Lattimore sees the maintenance of
35、multiple-husband households as being preserved from earlier forms by the harsh conditions of the Tibetan uplands, which permitted no experimentation and “froze“ the cultures which came there. Kawakita, on the other hand, sees the polyandry as a way of easily permitting the best householder to become
36、 the head husband regardless of age. His detailed studies of the Bhotea village of Tsumje do seem to support this idea of polyandry as a method of talent mobility is a situation where even the best talent is barely enough for survival. In sum, though arguments can be made that a pre-existing polyand
37、rous system was strengthened and preserved(insofar as it has been)by the rigors of the land, it would certainly be an overstatement to lay causative factors of any stronger nature to the ecological influences in this case. 11 What are the “unusual traits or situations“ referred to in the first sente
38、nce? （ A） Patterns of animal and plant growth. （ B） Food and food preparation patterns of the upland Tibetans. （ C） Social and familial organization of typical Tibetan society. （ D） All of the above. 12 The purpose of the passage is to_. （ A） analyze the possible causal links between Tibetan ecology
39、 and society （ B） describe the social organization of typical Tibetan villages （ C） describe Tibetan fauna and flora （ D） analyze the mysteries of the sudden appearance of the Himalayas 13 The authors knowledge of Tibet is probably_. （ A） based on firsthand experience （ B） the result of lifelong stu
40、dies （ C） derived from books only （ D） limited to geological history 14 According to the passage, which of the following would probably be the most agreeable to Montesquieu? （ A） All regions have different soils and thus, different cultures. （ B） Some regions with similar climates will have similar
41、cultures. （ C） Cultures in the same area, sharing soil and climate, will be essentially identical. （ D） The plants of a country, by being the food of its people, cause the people to have similar views to one another. 15 The species of fauna and flora remaining in Tibet after the Pleistocene glaciati
42、ons can properly be called continental because they_. （ A） are originally found in continental climates （ B） are the only life forms in Tibet, which is as big as a continent （ C） have been found in other parts of the Asian continent （ D） are found in land mass that used to be a separate continent 15
43、 Opponents of affirmative action say the battle over the use of race in college admissions is hardly over, despite the Supreme Courts ruling Monday upholding the goal of a diverse student body. Higher education leaders overwhelmingly hailed the decision, saying it reaffirmed policies used by most se
44、lective colleges and universities. But some critics raised the possibility of more lawsuits, and promised to continue pressuring the Department of Educations Office of Civil Rights to investigate questionable policies. “Were talking about admission programs, scholarships, any programonly for minorit
45、ies or in which the standards used to judge admissions are substantially different, “ says Linda Chavez, founder and president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative non-profit group. Others say theyll take their case to voters. “We have to seriously contest all this at the ballot box,
46、“ says University of California regent Ward Connerly, who helped win voter approval of Californias Proposition 209, which prohibits considering race or gender in public education, hiring and contracting. Because of that law, Mondays ruling had no practical impact in the state. “It may be time for us
47、 tolet the(Michigan)voters decide if they want to use race as a factor in admissions, “ Connerly said Monday. Meanwhile, U. S. Education Secretary Rod Paige, consistent with President Bushs stance opposing affirmative action, said the Department of Education will “ continue examining and highlightin
48、g effective race-neutral approaches to ensure broad access to and diversity within our public institutions“. Even Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O Connor, in one of the opinions, recommended that states look for lessons in race-neutral programs being tried in California and elsewhere. While the ru
49、ling said admission officials may consider race in the selection process, colleges and universities are not obligated to do so. “Ultimately in the debate, diversity is a choice, not a legal mandate, “ says Arthur Coleman, a former Department of Education official who now helps colleges and universities ensure constitutional policies. The public, too, remains conflicted, largely along racial lines. According to a January poll by the non-profit research organization Public Agenda, 79% of Americans said it
