1、专业英语八级模拟试卷 267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. 0 Darwin and His Theory Darwin was born in 1809 as the son of a physician. He earlier planned to become a【
3、1】 in the Church of England. Later he accepted an invitation to serve as an unpaid naturalist on the H. M.S. Beagle, and joined in the【 2】 scientific expedition to the Pacific coast of South America in 1831. The book On the Origin of Species was published in 1859 and aroused a storm of【 3】 He contin
4、ued to write and publish his works on biology throughout his life. He died on 1882 and lies buried in Westminster Abbey. Darwins general theory presumes the development of life from non-life and stresses a purely naturalistic “descent with【 4】 “, the result of which is an entirely different organism
5、. What Darwin brought to the old philosophy of evolution is a new mechanism called “natural selection“. It acts to preserve and【 5】 minor advantageous genetic mutations. It is the preservation of a【 6】 advantage that enables a species to compete better in the wild. Similarly, it【 7】 inferior species
6、 gradually over time. Darwins theory of evolution is a slow gradual process. He wrote, “Natural selection acts only by taking advantage of slight【 8】 variations.“ An irreducibly complex system is composed of multiple parts, and every individual part is【 9】 . The common mousetrap is an common【 10】 ex
7、ample of irreducible complexity. 1 【 1】 2 【 2】 3 【 3】 4 【 4】 5 【 5】 6 【 6】 7 【 7】 8 【 8】 9 【 9】 10 【 10】 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
8、end of the interview you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following five questions. Now listen to the interview. 11 What is Daves trouble? （ A） He has paid 6,000 for his ear, but it needs repairing now. （ B） He has to go to work without a car. （ C） His car has been in repair several ti
9、mes recently. （ D） He has to work in the repair shop three times in a month. 12 From the conversation, we can infer that Barbara is most probably a_. （ A） teacher （ B） housewife （ C） driver （ D） food saleswoman 13 From where did Barbara learn about drive-in-wedding? （ A） Her husband. （ B） An article
10、. （ C） An ad. （ D） The justice of the peace. 14 Which of the following best exposes the main topic of the conversation? （ A） Cars are very expensive now. （ B） Exercise is good for health. （ C） There are too many drive-ins. （ D） People spend a lot of time in their cars. 15 According to the conversati
11、on, all of the following are true EXCEPT that_. （ A） drive-in libraries, churches, and post offices are seen in some places （ B） people can buy hamburgers without leaving their cars （ C） in a certain town, the minister marries the couple in the car （ D） in a city the police department has drive-in s
12、ervices 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. 16 Rabin announced new security measures on television _. （
13、 A） after an emergency session of his inner security cabinet （ B） before the emergency meeting （ C） after two Arabs were shot dead （ D） before two Israeli policemen were killed 17 The closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip will _. （ A） stop up to 100,000 Arabian day laborers from working inside Isr
14、ael （ B） allow a soldier to shoot only if he was in danger （ C） authorize a soldier to open fire on anyone bearing arms （ D） revise open-fire regulations for soldiers 18 Arab-Israeli bloodshed has increased because _. （ A） more Israeli troops were sent to combat the Arabian militants （ B） Israel clo
15、sed both the Gaza Strip and West Bank （ C） thousands of Arabian workers lost their jobs （ D） many Palestinians were driven out of their homeland 19 A two-day conference to promote trade and investment in Africa will take place in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia in _. （ A） February （ B） early March （ C） late
16、 March （ D） April 20 John Spence believes that after, Latin America and the Far East, _ will be the next region for major foreign investors. （ A） Uganda （ B） Ivory Coast （ C） Africa （ D） Botswana 20 Suddenly Lady Windermere looked eagerly round the room, and said, in her clear contralto voice, “Wher
17、e is my chiromantist?“ “Your what, Gladys?“ exclaimed the Duchess, trying to remember what a chiromantist really was, and hoping it was not the same as a chiropodist. “My chiromantist, Duchess: I cant live without him at present. I must certainly introduce him to you.“ “Introduce him!“ cried the Duc
18、hess. “You dont mean to say he is here?“ She began looking about for a small tortoiseshell fan and a very tattered lace shawl so as to be ready to go at a moments notice. “Of course he is here: I would not dream of giving a party without him, He tells me I have a pure psychic band.“ “Oh, I see!“ sai
19、d the Duchess, feeling very much relieved. “He tells fortunes, I suppose?“ “And misfortunes, too,“ answered Lady Windermere. “Any amount of them. Next year, for instance, I am in great danger, both by land and sea, so I am going to live in a balloon, and draw up my dinner in a basket every evening.
20、It is all written down on my little finger, or on the palm of my hand. I forgot which.“ “But surely that is tempting Providence, Gladys.“ “My dear Duchess, surely Providence can resist temptation by this time. Everyone should have their hands told once a month, so as to know what not to do. Of cours
21、e, one does it all the same, but it is so pleasant to be warned. Ah, here is Mr. Podgers! Now, Mr. Podgers, I want you to tell the Duchess of Paisleys hand.“ “Dear Gladys, I really dont think it is quite fight,“ said the Duchess, feebly unbuttoning a rather soiled kid glove. “Nothing interesting eve
22、r is,“ said Lady Windmere. “But 1 must introduce you. Duchess, this is Mr. Podgers, my pet chiromantist. Mr. Podgers, this is the Duchess of Paisley, and if you say that she has a larger mountain of the moon than I have, I will never believe you again.“ “I am sure, Gladys, them is nothing of the kin
23、d in my hand,“ said the Duchess gravely. “Your grace is quite right,“ said Mr. Podgers, glancing at the little fat hand. “The mountain of the moon is not developed. The line of life, however, is excellent. You will live to a great age, Duchess, and be extremely happy. Ambition - very moderate, line
24、of intellect not exaggerated, line of heart.“ “Now, do be indiscreet, Mr. Podgers,“ cried Lady Windermere. “Nothing would give me greater pleasure,“ said Mr. Podgers, bowing, “if the Duchess ever had been, but I am sorry to say that I see great permanence of affection, combined with a strong sense o
25、f duty.“ “Pray go on, Mr. Podgers,“ said the Duchess, looking quite pleased. “Economy is not the least of your Graces virtues,“ continued Mr. Podgers, and lady Windermere went off into fits of laughter. “Economy is a very good thing,“ remarked the Duchess complacently. “When I married Paisley he had
26、 eleven castles, and not a single house fit to live in.“ “And now he has twelve houses, and not a single castle,“ cried Lady Windmere. “You have told the Duchesss character admirably, Mr. Podgers, and now you must tell Lady Floras.“ In answer to a nod, a tall girl steppe, d awkwardly from behind the
27、 sofa and held out a long, bony hand. “Ah, a pianist? said Mr. Podgers. “Very reserved, very honest, and with a great love of animals.“ “Quite true!“ exclaimed the Duchess, turning to Lady Windermere. “Flora keeps two dozen collie dogs at Macloskie, and would turn our town house into a menagerie if
28、her father would let her.“ “Well, that is just what I do with my house every Thursday evening,“ cried Lady Windermere, laughing. “Only I like lions better than collie dogs. But Mr. Podgers must read some more hands for us. Come, Lady Marvel, show him yours.“ But Lady Marvel entirely declined to have
29、 her past or her future exposed. In fact, many people seemed afraid to face the odd little man with his stereotyped smile and his bright, beady eyes; and when he told poor Lady Fermor right out before everyone that she did not care a bit for music, but was extremely fond of musicians, it was general
30、ly felt that chiromancy was a most dangerous science, and one ought not to be encouraged, except in private. 26 “When I direct Shakespeare,“ theatrical innovator Peter Sellars once said, “the first thing I do is go to the text for cuts. I go through to find the passages that are really heavy, that r
31、eally are not needed, places where the language has become obscure, places where there is a bizarre detour. And then I take those moments, those elements, and I make them the centerpiece, the core of the production.“ In the sober matter of staging Shakespeare, such audaciousness is hard to resist th
32、ough a lot of Chicago theatre-goers have been able to. Typically, a third of the people who have been showing up at the Goodman Theatre to see Sellars ingenious reworking of The Merchant of Venice have been walking out before the evening is over. Its no mystery. Why? The evening isnt over for nearly
33、 four hours. Beyond that, the production pretty much upends everything the audience has come to expect from one of Shakespeares most troubling but reliable entertaining comedies. The play has been transplanted from the teeming, multicultural world of 15th century Venice, Italy, to the teeming, multi
34、cultural world of 1994 Venice Beach, California, where Sellars lives when he isnt setting Don Giovanni in Spanish Harlem, putting King Lear in a Lincoln Continental or deconstructing other classic plays and operas. Shylock, along with the plays other Jews, is black. Antonio, the merchant of the titl
35、e, and his kinsmen are Latinos. Portia, the wealthy maiden being wooed by Antonios friend Bassanio, is Asian. But the racial shuffling is just one of Sellars liberties. The stage is furnished with little but office furniture, while video screens simulcast the actors in close-up during their monologu
36、es, (and, in between, display seemingly unrelated Southern California scene, from gardens and swimming pools to the L. A. riots). Cries of anguish come from the clowns, and the playfully romantic final scene, in which Portia teases Bassanio for giving away her ring to the lawyer she played in disgui
37、se, is re-imagined as the darkest, most poisonously unsettling passage in the play. Some of this seems to be sheer perversity, but the real shock of Sellars production is how well it works both theatrically and thematically. The racial casting, for instance, is a brilliant way of defusing the plays
38、anti-Semitism turning it into a metaphor for prejudice and materialism in all its forms. Paul Buffer is a hardhearted ghetto businessman who, even when he is humiliated at the end, never loses his cool or stoops for pity. Wrongheaded and tortuous as this Merchant sometimes is, the updating is witty
39、and apt. The “news of the Rialto“ becomes fodder for a pair of gossip reporters on a happy-talk TV newscast. Shylocks trial is presided over by a mumbling, superannuated judge who could have stepped right out of Court TV. With a few exceptions Elaine Tses overwrought Portia, for instance - the actor
40、s strike a nice balance between Shakespeares poetry and Sellars stunt driving. For the rest of us, its a wild ride. 31 Having said ail of this, I should, perhaps, locate myself. I teach and write about a loose and baggy territory called Las Americas, the Americas, and most often about the part of th
41、at category referred to as Latin America. This latter space includes nations, of course, but the demarcation is far more flexible because of its plural referent. The writers who inhabit this territory possess dual citizenship, for they are self-avowed “Latin American“ writers at the same time that t
42、hey are also Mexican, Argentine, Peruvian, or Cuban. In fact, they are often engaged deeply in describing their own national cultures and are far from ready to throw out the baby with the globalizing bathwater. Mexico is a particularly interesting case of the use of nation as a defense against the l
43、eveling pressures of globalization a nationalism of resistance, in Wallersteins terms, rather than a nationalism of domination. For example, the much debated NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement or the TLC, Tratado de Libre Comercio opened Mexicos borders to American commercial onslaughts
44、in the early 1990s, but in cultural matters, the treaty encodes a very different attitude. The Free Trade Agreement contains an Annex that provides special protection to Mexicos cultural industries. Some of its provisions are as follows: 1) the use of the Spanish language is required for the broadca
45、st, cable or multipoint distribution system of radio and television, except when the Secretaria de Gobemacion authorizes the use of another language; 2) a majority of the time of each days live broadcast programs must feature Mexican nationals; 3) the use of die Spanish language or Spanish subtitles
46、 is required for advertising that is broadcast or otherwise distributed in the territory of Mexico; and 4) thirty percent of screen time of every theater, assessed on an annual basis, may be reserved for films produced by Mexican persons either within or outside the territory of Mexico. I should als
47、o like to mention that it was Canada that insisted on cultural industry protection clauses in the North American Free Trade Agreement originally and the Canadian government achieved partial success, at best. In comparison, protections of cultural industries are common throughout the European Union:
48、France passed recently legislation requiring that French radio stations devote forty percent of airtime to French music, and Spain also passed a law requiring that one-fourth to one-third of ail movies shown in Spanish theaters to be of Spanish origin. England has long protected its movie industry:
49、the great film director Michael Powell got his start, as did other British directors during the 1930s, making what were called quota quickies. So, even as I suggest that comparatists may want to review our nationalist institutional and disciplinary structures in the light of global mobility, nations continue to protect their cultures against those same forces. 34 Imagine a chart that begins when man first appeared on the planet and tracks the economic growth of societies from then forward. It
