1、2012年 12月国家公共英语（五级）笔试真题试卷及答案与解析 Part A Directions: You will hear a talk. As you listen, answer Questions 1-10 by circling TRUE or FALSE. You will hear the talk ONLY ONCE. You now have 1 minute to read Questions 1-10. 0 You will hear a talk by Prof Wilson, a health expert, on the importance of fiber
2、in our daily diet. As you listen, answer Questions 1 to 10 by circling TRUE or FALSE. You will hear the talk only once. You now have 1 minute to read Questions 1 to 10.（ A） TURE （ B） FALSE （ A） TURE （ B） FALSE （ A） TURE （ B） FALSE （ A） TURE （ B） FALSE （ A） TURE （ B） FALSE （ A） TURE （ B） FALSE （ A） T
3、URE （ B） FALSE （ A） TURE （ B） FALSE （ A） TURE （ B） FALSE （ A） TURE （ B） FALSE Part B Directions: You will hear 3 conversations or talks and you must answer the questions by choosing A, B, C or D. You will hear the recording ONLY ONCE. 11 Why does Dr. Johnson suggest building a greenhouse near a powe
4、r station? （ A） It is convenient to get electricity. （ B） It helps to clean the air. （ C） The exhaust from the plant can be made use of. （ D） The wasteland around the station can be made use of. 12 Which of the following can be used as fertilizer? （ A） Waste fuel from the power plant. （ B） Raw mater
5、ials used to produce electricity. （ C） Waste water from the power plant. （ D） Carbon dioxide produced from burning fuel. 13 Why does Dr. Johnson want to use a gas-burning plant? （ A） It generates more hot air. （ B） It produces more carbon dioxide. （ C） It does not dump sulfur dioxide into the air. （
6、 D） It does not release pollutants into the air. 14 What was Mr. Wells doing when he learned about fair trade? （ A） Studying ecology. （ B） Working at a museum. （ C） Founding the friends of the Earth. （ D） Selling tradecraft products. 15 What is the next task for fair trade? （ A） To carry out studies
7、 on consumers. （ B） To involve big companies in fair trade. （ C） To find out more about its existing market. （ D） To improve the quality of fair trade products. 16 What did Mr. Wells find out about the local people on his second visit to the tea estate? （ A） They made complaints about fair trade. （
8、B） They began to have trust in fair trade. （ C） They became dependent on fair trade. （ D） They wanted to join the Fairtrade Foundation. 17 What is special about open-access journals? （ A） A higher frequency of citation. （ B） A collection of valuable data. （ C） Hard-won prominence. （ D） Established r
9、eputation. 18 What does the woman say is the possible result of the new policy? （ A） Some magazines may close down. （ B） It may provoke criticism from scientists. （ C） More funding will be offered to scientists. （ D） Research results will have to be published on a new system. 19 What does Lessig thi
10、nk of the open-access system? （ A） Taxpayers have to pay as much as usual. （ B） The costs depend on the research results. （ C） The costs will be considerably reduced. （ D） Publishing will be made much easier. 20 What does Lessig say should be done concerning intellectual property expansion? （ A） Rev
11、ise regulations. （ B） Expand the restriction. （ C） Identify the harm. （ D） Make no new restrictions. Part C Directions: You will hear a talk. As you listen, answer the questions or complete the notes in your test booklet for Questions 21-30 by writing NOT MORE THAN THREE words in the space provided
12、on the right. You will hear the talk TWICE. You now have 1 minute to read Questions 21-30. 20 You will hear a speech by Ivo Jupa, who made use of short message service to raise money for charity. As you listen, answer the questions or complete the notes in your test booklet for Questions 21 to 30 by
13、 writing no more than three words in the space provided on the right. You will hear the speech twice. You now have 1 minute to read Questions 21 to 30.一、 Section II Use of English (15 minutes) Directions: Read the following text and fill each of the numbered spaces with ONE suitable word. Write your
14、 answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. 30 Among the raft of books, articles, jokes, romantic comedies, self-help guides and other writings discussing marriage, some familiar ideas often crop up. Few appear more often than the 【 C1】 _that many old couples look alike. You have probably seen it before two elderly
15、 people walking hand-in-hand down the street or sitting at a cafe, 【 C2】 _each other so strongly that they could be siblings. Do these couples actually look alike, and if【 C3】 _, what has caused them to develop this way? A study published in the March 2006 issue of Personality and Individual Differe
16、nces may have the【 C4】 _. Twenty-two people, divided equally【 C5】 _male and female, 【 C6】 _in the study. They were asked to judge the looks, personalities and ages of 160 married couples. The participants viewed photographs of men and women separately and were【 C7】 _told who was married to【 C8】 _. T
17、he subjects consistently judged people who were married【 C9】 _being similar【 C10】 _appearance and personality. The researchers also found that couples who had been together longer appeared【 C11】 _similar. This result【 C12】 _itself may not seem surprising, but the study also offered some answers on【
18、C13】 _couples may look alike. To start, consider that life experiences can end up 【 C14】 _reflected physically. Someone【 C15】 _is happy and smiles more will develop the facial muscles and wrinkles related to smiling. The years of experience of an elderly couples marriage, happy【 C16】 _not, would the
19、n be reflected in their【 C17】 _. Genetic influences are【 C18】 _factor. A past study showed that genetically similar people have better marriages. Such families have【 C19】 _incidents of child abuse and a lower rate of miscarriages. People also appear to be more selfless【 C20】 _involved with genetical
20、ly similar partners. 31 【 C1】 32 【 C2】 33 【 C3】 34 【 C4】 35 【 C5】 36 【 C6】 37 【 C7】 38 【 C8】 39 【 C9】 40 【 C10】 41 【 C11】 42 【 C12】 43 【 C13】 44 【 C14】 45 【 C15】 46 【 C16】 47 【 C17】 48 【 C18】 49 【 C19】 50 【 C20】 Part A Directions: Read the following texts and answer the questions which accompany the
21、m by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. 50 On the heels of its recent decision to criminalize consumers who rip songs from albums they have purchased to their computers(or iPods), the Recording Industry Association of America(RIAA)has now gone one step further and declared t
22、hat “remembering songs“ using your brain is criminal copyright infringement. “The brain is a recording device, “ explained RIAA president Cary Sherman. “The act of listening is an unauthorized act of copying music to that recording device , and the act of recalling or remembering a song is unauthori
23、zed playback. “ The RIAA also said it would begin sending letters to tens of millions of consumers thought to be illegally remembering songs, threatening them with lawsuits if they do not settle with the RIAA by paying monetary damages. In order to avoid engaging in unauthorized copyright infringeme
24、nt, consumers will now be required to immediately forget everything they have just heard a skill already mastered by the former US President George Bush. To aid in these memory wiping efforts, the RIAA is teaming up with Big Pharma to include free psychotropic prescription drugs with the purchase of
25、 new music albums. Consumers are advised to swallow the pills before listening to the music. The pills block normal cognitive function, allowing consumers to enjoy the music in a more detached state without the risk of accidentally remembering any songs(and thereby violating copyright law). Consumer
26、s caught humming their favorite songs will be charged with a more serious crime: The public performance of a copyrighted song, for which the fines can reach over $250, 000 per incident. “Humming, singing and whistling songs will not be tolerated, “ said Sherman. Consumers attempting to circumvent th
27、e RIAAs new memory-wiping technology by actually remembering songs will be charged with felony crimes under provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The Act, passed in 1998, makes it a felony crime to circumvent copyright protection technologies. The RIAAs position is that consumers who a
28、ctually use their brains while listening to music are violating the DMCA. With this decision, the RIAA now considers approximately 72% of the adult U. S. population to be criminals. Putting them all in prison for copyright infringement would cost US taxpayers an estimated $ 683 billion per year an a
29、mount that would have to be shouldered by the remaining 28% who are not imprisoned. The RIAA believes it could cover the $ 683 billion tab through royalties on music sales. The problem with that the 28% remaining adults not in prison do not buy music albums. That means album sales would plummet to n
30、early zero, and the US government(which is already deep in debt)would have to borrow money to pay for all the prisons. When asked whether he really wants 72% of the US population to be imprisoned for ripping music CDs to their own brains, Sherman shot back, “You dont support criminal behavior, do yo
31、u? Every person who illegally remembers a song is a criminal. We cant have criminals running free on the streets of America. Its an issue of national security. “ 51 What does the phrase “copying music to that recording device“(para. 1, line 6)mean? （ A） Ripping music to their PCs. （ B） Recalling or
32、remembering a song. （ C） Unauthorized playback of a song. （ D） Criminal copyright violation. 52 Which of the following best summarizes Paragraph 3? （ A） The absurdity of the RIAAs memory-wiping efforts. （ B） The possibility of cooperation between the RIAA and Big Pharma. （ C） The effectiveness of th
33、e new prescription pills. （ D） The necessity to take measures against the violation of copyright law. 53 The following will be criminal acts EXCEPT （ A） humming a song in public. （ B） going to the public performance of a song. （ C） using your brain while listening to a song. （ D） accidentally rememb
34、ering a copyrighted song. 54 What will the RIAAs decision lead to? （ A） Crime rates in the US will rise sharply. （ B） Much will be gained through royalties on music sales. （ C） The US government will get even deeper in debt. （ D） Only 28% of the total music albums could be sold out. 55 What category
35、 does this essay fall into? （ A） News report. （ B） Satire. （ C） Review. （ D） Humour. 55 The threat of diseases such as influenza or tuberculosis re-emerging in virulent form has been a common theme in recent years. That threat is not limited to human diseases. Our food plants get sick too, and just
36、as human diseases evolve to evade antibiotics, so the diseases that strike our crops evolve to sidestep the resistance genes wehave bred into them. For the vast majority of the calories the world eats, the key crop is grain. A ruinous wheat disease we have not had to worry about since the 1950s is m
37、aking a comeback, and unless we are very lucky, we will not have sufficient defences to protect crops everywhere in the world against it in time. That stem rust would evolve and return to plague us was inevitable , but our lack of preparation to ward it off was not. Research into stem rust was bound
38、 to tail off once the disease seemed beaten, but the world let down its guard too far, for ideological reasons. In the 1980s governments of industrialized countries, especially the UK and US, started to lose patience with the “multilateral“ agencies that engineered much of the global progress in agr
39、iculture after the Second World War. Each government wanted the agencies to dance only to its tune. This included the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research, the global network of labs that created the “ Green Revolution“. The CGIAR remains the leading, sometimes only source of a
40、gricultural research devoted to global good rather than private profit. “Multilateral“ funding meant these labs received income from rich donors with no strings attached. Researchers at the labs were able to spend the money the way they thought best including the unglamorous task of making sure that
41、 crops disease resistance kept pace with the diseases. However, for more than two decades, donors have been cutting this funding in favour of only financing projects allied to their own interests. As wheat stem rust re-emerged in 1999, the main CGIAR wheat lab was entering a major funding crisis, an
42、d ended up sacking a quarter of its scientists. It has taken until now to beg enough money to fight the disease. There are now signs that donors may be moving back to more open-ended funding, which is to be encouraged. They should also increase their derisory funding for this vital research: stem ru
43、st is poised to teach us the dangers of complacency. The world population is predicted to rise by another 3 billion by 2050, yet increases in food production have stagnated, technological fixes are spent, and global warming and the return of diseases like stem rust look likely to take back many of t
44、he gains we have made. Food security affects political security, and one of the first regions to suffer from stem rust will be the volatile Middle East, including Iraq. Agricultural research for the public good is the only way to provide that security. It is certainly cheaper than building armies. 5
45、6 The human and crop diseases once under control have come back again because （ A） antibiotics do not work anymore. （ B） human diseases spread to plants. （ C） there is genetic resistance in them. （ D） human interventions no longer work. 57 In the battle against the re-emergence of stem rust, the aut
46、hor （ A） does not see a positive prospect of it. （ B） feels that humans are very unfortunate. （ C） sees no need to worry about it. （ D） foresees possible defences against it. 58 Multilateral research institutions have not functioned properly since the 1980s （ A） when the disease of stem rust was bro
47、ught under control. （ B） when a lot of progress was made in agricultural research. （ C） because some member countries only care about their own benefits. （ D） because they failed to meet the needs of each member country. 59 According to the author, the research labs have failed to fight stem rust be
48、cause （ A） there is insufficient funding for the research. （ B） few scientists would undertake the unglamorous task. （ C） experienced scientists left for better-paid jobs. （ D） little work has been done by the scientists in the field. 60 Which of the following is the best title for the article? （ A）
49、 Rusting Crops （ B） Rusting Defences （ C） Decreasing Funding （ D） Diminishing Research 60 One of the most alarming things about the crisis in the global financial system is that the warning signs have been out there for some time, yet no one heeded them. Exactly 10 years ago, a hedge fund called Long-Term Capital Management(LTCM)failed to convince investors that it could repay its debts, thereby bringing the world to the brink of a similar “liquidity crisis“ to the one
