1、2004年湖北大学考博英语真题试卷及答案与解析 一、 Reading Comprehension 0 Youre busy filling out the application form for a position you really need, lets assume you once actually completed a couple of years of college work or even that you completed your degree. Isnt it tempting to lie just a little, to claim on the form
2、 that your diploma represents a Harvard degree? Or that you finished an extra couple of years back at State University? More and more people are turning to utter deception like this to land their job or to move ahead in their careers, for personnel officers, like most Americans, value degrees from f
3、amous schools. A job applicant may have a good education anyway, but he or she assumes that chances of being hired are better with a diploma from a well-known university. Registrars at most well-known colleges say they deal with deceitful claims like these at the rate of about one per week. Personne
4、l officers do check up on degrees listed on application forms, then. If it turns out that an applicant is lying, most colleges are reluctant to accuse the applicant directly. One Ivy League school calls them “impostors“. Another refers to them as “special cases“. One well-known West Coast school, in
5、 perhaps the most delicate phrase of all, says that these claims are made by “no such people“. To avoid complete lies, some job-seekers claim that they “attended“ or “were associated with“ a college or university. After carefully checking, a personnel officer may discover that “attending“ means bein
6、g dismissed after one semester. It may be that “being associated with“ a college means that the job-seeker visited his younger brother for a football weekend. One school that keeps records of false claims says that the practice dates back at least to the turn of the century-thats when they began kee
7、ping records, anyhow. If you dont want to lie or even stretch the truth, there are companies that will sell you a fake diploma. One company, with officers in New York and on the West Coast, will put your name on a diploma from any number of nonexistent colleges. The price begins at around twenty dol
8、lars for a diploma from “Smoot State University“. The prices increase rapidly for a degree from the “University of Purdue“. As there is no Smoot State and the real school in Indiana is properly called Purdue University, the prices seems rather high for one sheet of paper. 1 The main idea of this pas
9、sage is that _. （ A） employers are checking more closely on applicants now （ B） lying about college degrees has become a widespread problem （ C） college degrees can now be purchased easily （ D） employers are no longer interested in college degrees 2 According to the passage, “special cases“ refers t
10、o cases where _. （ A） students attend a school only part-time （ B） students purchase false degrees from commercial firms （ C） students never attended a school they listed on their application （ D） students attended a famous school 3 We can infer from the passage that _. （ A） performance is a better
11、judge of ability that a college degree needs （ B） experience is the best teacher （ C） past work histories influence personnel officers more than degrees do （ D） degree from a famous school enables an applicant to gain advantage over others in job competition 4 This passage implies that _. （ A） buyin
12、g a false degree is not moral （ B） personnel officers only consider applicants from famous schools （ C） most people lie on applications because they were dismissed from school （ D） society should be greatly responsible for lying on applications 5 As used in the first line of the second paragraph, th
13、e word “utter“ means _. （ A） thorough （ B） fundamental （ C） ultimate （ D） decisive 5 Science is a dominant theme in our culture. Since it touches almost every facet of our life, educated people need at least some acquaintance with its structure and operation. They should also have an understanding o
14、f the subculture in which scientists live and the kinds of people they are. An understanding of general characteristics of science as well as specific scientific concepts is easier to attain if one knows something about the things that excite and frustrate the scientist. This book is written for the
15、 intelligent student or lay person whose acquaintance with science is superficial, for the person who has been presented with science as a musty storehouse of dried facts, for the person who sees the chief objective of science as the production of gadgets, and for the person who views the scientists
16、 as some sort of magician. The book can be used to supplement a course in any science, to accompany any course that attempts to give an understanding of the modern work, or-independently of any course -simply to provide a better understanding of science. We hope this book will lead readers to a broa
17、der perspective on scientific attitudes and a more realistic view of what science is, who scientists are, and what they do. It will give them an awareness and understanding of the relationship between science and our culture and an appreciation of the roles science may play in our culture. In additi
18、on, readers may learn to appreciate the relationship between scientific views and some of the values and philosophies that are pervasive in our culture. We have tried to present in this book an accurate and up-to-date picture of the scientific community and the people who populate it. That populatio
19、n has in recent years come to comprise more and more women. This increasing role of women in the scientific subculture is not a unique incident but, rather, part of the trend evident in all segments of society as more women enter traditionally male-dominated fields and make significant contributions
20、. In discussing these changes and contribution, however, we are faced with a language that is implicitly sexist, one that uses male nouns or pronouns in referring to unspecified individuals. To offset this built-in bias, we have adopted the policy of using plural nouns and pronouns whenever possible
21、 and, when absolutely necessary, alternating he and she. This policy is far from being ideal, but it is at least an acknowledgment of the inadequacy of our language in treating half of the human race equally. We have also tried to make the book entertaining as well as informative. Our approach is us
22、ually informal. We feel, as do many other scientists, that we shouldnt take ourselves too seriously. As the reader may observe, we see science as a delightful pastime rather than as a grim and dreary way to earn a living. 6 According to the passage, “scientific subculture“ means _. （ A） cultural gro
23、ups that are formed by scientists （ B） people whose knowledge of science is very limited （ C） the scientific community （ D） people who make good contribution to science 7 We need to know something about the structure and operation of science because _. （ A） it is not easy to understand the things th
24、at excite and frustrate the scientist （ B） Science affects almost every aspect of our life （ C） Scientists live in a specific subculture （ D） It is easier to understand general characteristics of science 8 The book mentioned in this passage is written for readers who _. （ A） are intelligent college
25、students and lay persons who do not know much about science （ B） are good at producing various gadgets （ C） work in a storehouse of dried facts （ D） want to have a superficial understanding of science 9 According to this passage, _. （ A） English is a sexist language （ B） only in the scientific world
26、 is the role of women increasing rapidly （ C） women are making significant contributions to eliminating the inadequacy of our language （ D） male nouns or pronouns should not be used to refer to scientist 10 This passage most probably is _. （ A） a book review （ B） the preface of a book （ C） the posts
27、cript of a book （ D） the concluding part of a book 10 Of all the areas of learning the most important is the development of attitudes. Emotional reactions as well as logical thought processes affect the behavior of most people. “The burnt child fears the fire“ is one instance. Another is the rise of
28、 despots like Hitler. Both of these examples also point up the fact that attitudes stem from experience. In the one case the experience was direct and impressive, in the other case it was indirect and cumulative. The Nazis were formed largely by the speeches they heard and the books they read. The c
29、lassroom teachers in the elementary school are in a strategic position to influence attitudes. This is true partly because children acquire attitudes from those adults whose opinion they respect. Another reason is that pupils often delve somewhat deeply into a subject in school that has only been to
30、uched upon at home or has possibly never occurred to them before. To a child who had previously acquired little knowledge of Mexico, his teachers method of handling such a unit would greatly affect his attitude towards Mexicans. The media through which the teacher can develop wholesome attitudes are
31、 innumerable. Social attitudes (with special reference to races and nationalities) science matters of health and safety, the very atmosphere of the classroom-these are a few of the fertile fields for the induction of proper emotional reactions. However, when children come to school with undesirable
32、attitudes, it is unwise for the teacher to attempt to change their feelings by cheating or scolding them. She can achieve the proper effect by helping them obtain constructive experiences. Finally, a teacher must constantly evaluate her own attitudes, because her influence can be harmful if she has
33、personal prejudices. This is especially true in respect to controversial issues and questions on which children should be encouraged to reach their own decisions as a result of objective analysis of all the facts. 11 In the second paragraph, the author gives two examples to show _. （ A） the developm
34、ent of attitudes is most important （ B） peoples behavior can be shaped by direct or indirect experience （ C） conscious instruction is important in shaping peoples behavior （ D） unpleasant experience leaves a greater impression on people 12 Most often attitudes are shaped by _. （ A） how the teacher i
35、ntroduces knowledge （ B） what children learn at home （ C） whether knowledge is learned from books of other sources （ D） what children learn in the classroom 13 The author advises teachers to _. （ A） correct the pupils incorrect attitude whenever they have （ B） ignore the pupils incorrect attitude al
36、together （ C） give the proper criticism to the pupils incorrect attitude （ D） try to use positive experience to develop proper attitude in the pupils 14 The word “harmful“ in the last paragraph most probably means _. （ A） bad-affecting （ B） ill-effective （ C） widespread （ D） irritating 15 What is th
37、e passage mainly about? （ A） How to develop the desired attitude in children. （ B） What role do emotional reactions play in education. （ C） How childrens attitude affect their study. （ D） Why undesirable attitudes are hard to eliminate. 15 The marvelous telephone and television network that has now
38、enmeshed the whole world, making all men neighbors, cannot be extended into space. It will never be possible to converse with anyone on another planet. Even with todays radio equipment, the messages will take minutes-sometimes hours-on their journey, because radio and light waves travel at the same
39、limited speed of 186, 000 miles a second. Twenty years from now you will be able to listen to a friend on Mars, but the words you hear will have left his mouth at least three minutes earlier, and your reply will take a corresponding time to reach him. In such circumstances, an exchange of verbal mes
40、sages is possible-but not a conversation. To a culture which has come to take instantaneous communication for granted, as part of the very structure of civilized life, this “time barrier“ may have a profound psychological impact. It will be a perpetual reminder of universal laws and limitations agai
41、nst which not all our technology can ever prevail. For it seems as certain as anything can be that no signal-still less any material object-can ever travel faster than light. The velocity of light is the ultimate speed limit, being part of the very structure of space and time. Within the narrow conf
42、ines of the solar system, it will not handicap us too severely. At the worst, these will amount to twenty hours-the time it takes a radio signal to span the orbit of Pluto, the outer most planet. It is when we move out beyond the confines of the solar system that we come face to face with an altoget
43、her new group of cosmic reality. Even today, many otherwise educated men-like those savages who can count to three but lump together all numbers beyond four-cannot grasp the profound distinction between solar and stellar space. The first is the space enclosing our neighboring worlds, the planets, th
44、e second is that which embraces those distant suns, the stars, and it is literally millions of times greater. There is not such abrupt change of scale in the terrestrial affairs. Many conservative scientists, shocked by these cosmic gulfs, have denied that they can ever be crossed. Some people never
45、 learn, those who sixty years ago laughed at the possibility of flight, and ten years ago laughed at the idea of travel to the planets, are now quite sure that the stars will always be beyond our reach. And again they are wrong, for they have failed to grasp the great lesson of our age-that if somet
46、hing is possible in theory, and no fundamental scientific laws oppose its realization, then sooner or later it will be achieved. One day we shall discover a really efficient means of propelling our space vehicles. Every technical device is always developed to its limit and the ultimate speed for spa
47、ceships is the velocity of light. They will never reach that goal, but they will get very near it. And then the nearest star will be less than five years of voyaging from the earth. 16 For light to travel across the solar system, it will take _. （ A） a year （ B） nearly a day （ C） two months （ D） thi
48、rty minutes 17 The fact that it will never be possible to converse with someone on another planet shows that _. （ A） certain universal laws cannot be prevailed against （ B） no object can ever travel faster than light （ C） western culture has a special idea of communication （ D） radio messages do not
49、 travel fast enough 18 Confronted with the new groups of cosmic reality, many educated men _. （ A） become ignorant savages again （ B） find the “time barrier“ unbearable （ C） will not combine solar and stellar space （ D） cannot adapt to the abrupt change of scale 19 Conservative scientists who deny that cosmic gulfs can ever be crossed will _. （ A） laugh at the very idea of flight （ B） learn a lesson as they did ten years ago （ C） find space travel beyond their reach （ D）
