1、专业英语八级模拟试卷 271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 Conversational Skills People who usually make us feel comfortable in conversations are good talkers. And
3、they have some- thing in common, i. e. skills to put people at ease. 1. Skill to ask questions 1)be aware of the human nature: readiness to be able to spot signals for further talk answer others questions regardless of【 1】 _. 【 1】 _ 2)start a conversation with some personal but unharmful questions e
4、. g .questions about ones【 2】 _ job 【 2】 _ questions about ones activities in the【 3】 _. 【 3】 _ 2. Skill to【 4】 _for answers 1 )dont shift from subject to subject 【 4】 _ sticking to the same subject: signs of 【 5】 _in conversation 【 5】 _ 2)listen to【 6】 _of voice 【 6】 _ If people sound unenthusiasti
5、c, then change subject. 3)use eyes and ears steady your gaze while listening 3. Skill to laugh Effects of laughter: ease peoples【 7】 _ 【 7】 _ help start【 8】 _ 【 8】 _ 4. Skill to part 1)importance: open up possibilities for future friendship or contact 2)ways: men: a smile, a【 9】 _ 【 9】 _ women: same
6、 as【 10】 _ 【 10】 _ how to express pleasure in meeting someone 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 b
7、ased on an interview. At the end of the interview you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following five questions. Now listen to the interview. 11 According to the interview, how many people have been added to the Earths population in the past century? （ A） More than two billion. （ B） Mo
8、re than three billion. （ C） More than four billion. （ D） More than six billion. 12 Which of the following is not a factor that has contributed to the rapid population growth? （ A） Now, there are no wars and people live in a peaceful world. （ B） More children can live to their adulthood and have thei
9、r own children. （ C） People live longer now than in the past. （ D） People imunize many fatal diseases of which many people died. 13 Which part of the world did NOT experience the negative population growth? （ A） America. （ B） Australia. （ C） Asia. （ D） Europe. 14 If a country has a population of 20
10、million and its rate of natural population increase is 2%, after 34 years, the country will have a population of _. （ A） 80 million （ B） 60 million （ C） 50 million （ D） 40 million 15 The population of America continues to grow because of _. （ A） its growing birth rates （ B） the migration of persons
11、from other countries （ C） its good health condition （ D） its longer life expectancy 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 answe
12、r the questions. 16 Why did NASA decide to bring the shuttle home earlier? （ A） The laboratory was closed. （ B） The generator was turned off. （ C） The power generator might explode. （ D） Electricity was going to run out. 17 How many generators does the shuttle carry? （ A） One. （ B） Two. （ C） Three.
13、（ D） Four. 18 What does the cancellation of the 16-day flight mean? （ A） The scientists on the ground are pursuing only their most important experiments. （ B） The shuttle team will be disappointed at the curtailment of the science mission. （ C） The science will complete the experiments on a later sh
14、uttle flight. （ D） The remaining generators are sufficient. 19 Why do other European countries criticize Ireland? （ A） They worry that the Irish Republics budget plan will undermine the stability of European Unions. （ B） EU countries fear that Irish Republics finance plan will cause inflation. （ C）
15、Other countries will have to cut taxes. （ D） Other EU countries must increase government spending, too. 20 What is TRUE about the Irish Republics economy? （ A） It was the most successful among the EU countries. （ B） It has increased 8% in the last five years. （ C） The unemployment rate has reached i
16、ts lowest level for 5 years. （ D） The commodity prices have decreased greatly in the country. 20 Governments Are Trying A 1990 United Nations survey revealed that the more highly developed countries spend an average of 2 to 3 percent of their annual budgets on crime control, while developing countri
17、es spend even more, an average of 9 to 14 percent. Increasing the size of the police force and providing it with better equipment take priority in some localities. But results are mixed. Some Hungarian citizens complain: “There are never enough policemen to catch the criminals but always enough to c
18、atch traffic violators.“ Many governments have recently found it necessary to pass tougher crime laws. For example, since “kidnapping is on the rise across Latin America,“ says Time magazine, the governments there have responded with laws that are “at once vigorous and ineffectual“. “Passing laws is
19、 one thing.“ it admits, “applying them another.“ It is estimated that in Britain more than 100,000 neighborhood watch schemes, covering at least four million homes, existed in 1992. Similar programs were implemented in Australia in the mid1980s. Their aim, says the Australian Institute of Criminolog
20、y, is to reduce crime “by improving citizens awareness about public safety, by improving residents attitudes and behaviour in reporting crime and suspicious events in the neighbourhood and by reducing vulnerability to crime with the help of property identification and installation of effective secur
21、ity devices.“ Closed-circuit television is used in some places to link police stations with commercial premises. Video cameras are used by police, banks, and stores as a crime deterrent or as a tool for identifying lawbreakers. In Nigeria the police have checkpoints on highways in efforts to apprehe
22、nd robbers and carjackers. The government has set up a task force on trade malpractices to combat fraud. Police-community relations committees made up of community leaders inform the police of criminal activity and people of questionable character. Visitors to the Philippines note that homes are gen
23、erally not left unattended and that many people have watchdogs. Businessmen employ private security guards to protect their businesses. Anti-theft devices for cars sell well. People who can afford to do so withdraw to tightly secured subdivisions or condominiums. The London newspaper The Independent
24、 commented: “As confidence in the rule of law falls, citizens are organizing the defense of their own communities in increasing numbers.“ And more and more people are arming themselves. In the United States, for example, it is estimated that every second household owns at least one gun. Governments
25、are constantly developing new methods of combating crime. But V. Vsevolodov, of the Academy of Home Affairs in Ukraine, points out that according to UN sources, so many gifted people are finding “unique methods of carrying on criminal activity“ that “the training of law enforcement personnel“ cannot
26、 keep up. Clever criminals funnel huge sums of money back into businesses and social services, merging with society and “gaining for themselves high positions in society.“ 21 What is the main reason for citizens to take in hand the defense of themselves? （ A） There are not enough policemen. （ B） The
27、y do not trust the rule of law. （ C） The police force is inefficient. （ D） Security devices do not work. 22 A neighborhood watch scheme will probably do all of the following EXCEPT _. （ A） helping to install anti-theft devices （ B） raising citizens consciousness of community safety （ C） helping citi
28、zens to claim a lost property （ D） encouraging citizens to report suspicious events 23 According to the author, the outlook for ending crime is _. （ A） rosy （ B） unclear （ C） hard to describe （ D） bleak 24 Governments have taken all of the following measures EXCEPT _to combat crime. （ A） increasing
29、the size of the police force （ B） providing the police with better equipment （ C） passing more severe crime laws （ D） educating the public through TV programs 25 As can be inferred from the passage, _. （ A） it is urgent to pass laws for gun control in the U.S. （ B） people occupying high positions ar
30、e more prone to crime （ C） many criminals are intelligent enough to escape punishment （ D） empty houses in the Philippines are often guarded by watch dogs 25 Public transit. In North America, public transportation has been the major casualty of the commitment to the automobile. Ridership on public t
31、ransportation declined in the United States from 23 billion per year in the late 1940s to 7 billion in the early 1990s. At the end of World War , U.S. cities had 50, 000 kilometers of street railways and trolleys that carried 14 billion passengers a year, but only a few hundred kilometers of track r
32、emain. The number of U. S. and Canadian cities with trolley service declined from about fifty in 1950 to eight in the 1960s: Boston, Cleveland, New York, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Toronto. Buses offered a more flexible service than trolleys, because they were not rest
33、ricted to operating only on fixed tracks. General Motors acquired many of the privately owned streetcar companies and replaced the trolleys with buses that the company made. But bus ridership has declined from a peak of 11 billion riders per year in the late 1940s to 5 million in the 1990s. Commuter
34、 railroad service, like trolleys and buses, has also been drastically reduced in most U.S. cities. The one exception to the downward trend in public transportation in the United States is the subway, now known to transportation planners as fixed heavy rail. Cities such as Boston and Chicago have att
35、racted new passengers through construction of new lines and modernization of existing service. Chicago has been a pioneer in the construction of heavy-rail rapid transit lines in the median strip of expressways. Entirely new subway systems have been built in recent years in a number of U.S. cities,
36、including Atlanta, Baltimore, Miami, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Public transportation is particularly suited to bringing a large number of people into a small area in a short period of time. Consequently, its use is increasingly confined in the United States to rush-hour commuting by worker
37、s in the central business district. A bus can accommodate thirty people in the amount of space occupied by one automobile, while a double-track rapid transit line can transport the same number of people as sixteen lanes of urban freeway. Despite modest recent successes, most public transportation sy
38、stems are caught its a vicious circle, because fares do not cover operating costs. As patronage declines and expenses rise, the fares are increased, which drives away passengers and leads to service reductions and still higher fares, Public expenditures to subsidize construction and operating costs
39、have increased, but public officials in the United States do not consider that public transportation is a vital utility deserving subsidy to the degree long assumed by European governments. In contrast, even in the relatively developed Western European countries and Japan, where automobile ownership
40、 rates are high, extensive networks of bus, tram, and subway lines have been maintained, and funds for new construction have been provided in recent years. Since the late 1960s, London has opened 27 kilometers of subways, including two new lines, plus 18 kilometers in light rail transit lines to ser
41、ve the docklands area. During the same period, Paris has built 65 kilometers of new subway lines, including a new system, known as the Reseau Express Regional (R. E. R.) to serve outer suburbs. Smaller cities have shared the construction boom. In France alone, new subway lines have been built since
42、the 1970s in Lille, Lyon, and Marseille, and hundreds of kilometers of entirely new tracks have been laid between the countrys major cities to operate a high-speed train known as the TGV. 26 Which of the following is NOT true of the public transportation systems in the developed countries? （ A） Comm
43、uter railroad service, trolleys and buses have been reduced in the U.S. （ B） Subways have largely been maintained. （ C） Fares usually can not cover operating costs. （ D） U. S. officials think it worthwhile to subsidize public transportation. 27 Which of the following countries is the locality of the
44、 R. E. R. system? （ A） England. （ B） the United States. （ C） Germany. （ D） France. 28 The decline of bus ridership in the U.S. is caused by _. （ A） the rise of bus fares （ B） the increased number of private cars （ C） the improvement of the commuter railroad service （ D） the poor condition of the tra
45、nsportation infrastructure 28 There are two main methods of organizing governments the unitary system and the federal system. The unitary state places most power in the hands of central government officials, whereas the federal state allocates strong power to units of local government within the cou
46、ntry. A countrys cultural and physical characteristics influence the evolution of its governmental system. In principle, the unitary government system works best in countries that have both relatively few internal cultural differences and a strong sense of national unity. Therefore, states whose bou
47、ndaries coincide closely with the boundaries of nations are more likely to consider a unitary system of government. In addition, because the unitary system requires effective communications with all regions of the country, smaller states are more likely to adopt it. If the country is very large or h
48、as isolated regions, strong national control is difficult. In reality, multinational states often have unitary systems so that the values of one nationality can be imposed on others. In a number of African and Asian countries, for instance, the mechanism of a unitary state has enabled one ethnic group to extend dominance over weaker groups. In some cases, a minority group is able to impose its values on the majority of the population. When communist parties controlled the government of Eastern European countries, for example, the unitary systems enabled the imposition of u
