1、专业英语八级模拟试卷 278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 In business, many places adopt a credit sys tem, which dates back to ancient times. At present, purchases
3、 can be made by using credit cards. They fall into two categories: one has【 1】 _ use, while 【 1】 _ the other is accepted almost everywhere. The application for the use of the latter one must be made at a 【 2】 _. 【 2】 _ Once the customer starts using the card, he will be provided with a monthly state
4、ment of 【 3】 _by the credit company. He is required to 【 3】 _ pay one quarter to half of his credit【 4】 _ every 【 4】 _ month. Advantages. 1. With a card, it is not 【 5】 _to save up money before an actual purchase 【 5】 _ 2. If the card is lost, its owner is protected 3. A【 6】 _ and complete list of p
5、urchase re 【 6】 _ ceived from the credit company helps the owner to remember the time and【 7】 _ of his purchase. 4. 【 7】 _ the cards are accepted in a(n)【 8】 _ by professional 【 8】 _ people like dentists, etc. Major disadvantage. The card owner is tempted to【 9】 _his money. If this is the case, 【 9】
6、 _ it will become increasingly difficult for the user to keep up with the required【 10】 _, which will re 【 10】 _ suit in the credit card being cancelled by the credit company. 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
7、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 end of the interview you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following five questions. Now listen to the interview. 11 Charles shop docs not sell
8、_. （ A） cigarettes （ B） exercise books （ C） photocopiers （ D） chocolates 12 He bought a photocopier _. （ A） by accident （ B） because he couldnt find a place to make a photocopy （ C） because there was no place nearby to provide the photocopy service （ D） because all sorts of people need it 13 Accordi
9、ng to Charles, people send messages via facsimile because _. （ A） it is cheaper and faster than ordinary mail （ B） it can send things that could not be expressed by telex （ C） it is faster and not much more expensive than mail （ D） the Royal Mail could not reach places abroad 14 Charles does not lik
10、e customers who _. （ A） are very rude （ B） keep talking to him when he is busy （ C） only buy small things （ D） bargain with him too much 15 Charles thinks that nowadays running a small shop becomes increasingly difficult _. （ A） so his shop will surely go bankrupt （ B） but his shop will surely make
11、good money （ C） and the only way to save his shop is to change the government （ D） because its hard to keep up with the rising cost 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
12、news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer 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
13、 shuttle carry? （ A） One. （ B） Two. （ C） Three. （ 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 sci
14、ence will complete the experiments on a later shuttle 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 Re
15、publics finance plan will cause inflation. （ C） 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
16、 years. （ C） The unemployment rate has reached its lowest level for 5 years. （ D） The commodity prices have decreased greatly in the country. 20 Telecommunications stand for devices and systems that transmit electronic or optical signals across long distances. Telecommunications enables people aroun
17、d the world to contact one another, to access information instantly, and to communicate from remote areas. Telecommunications usually involves a sender of information and one or more recipients linked by a technology, such as a telephone system, that transmits information from one place to another.
18、Telecommunications enables people to sand and receive personal messages across town, between countries, and to and from outer space. It also provides the key medium for delivering news, data, information, and entertainment. Telecommunications devices convert different types of information, such as s
19、ound and video, into electronic or optical signals. Electronic signals typically travel along a medium such as copper wire or are carried over the air as radio waves. Optical signals typically travel along a medium such as strands of glass fibers. When a signal reaches its destination, the device on
20、 the receiving end converts the signal back into an understandable message, such as sound over a telephone, moving images on a television, or words and pictures on a computer screen. Telecommunications messages can be sent in a variety of ways and by a wide range of devices. The messages can be seat
21、 from one sender to a single receiver (point-to-point) or from one sender to many receivers (point-to-multipoint). Personal communications, such as a telephone conversation between two people or a facsimile (fax) message (see Facsimile Transmission), usually involve point-to-point transmission. Poin
22、t-to-multipoint telecommunications, often called broadcasts, provide the basis for commercial radio and television programming. Telecommunications begin with messages that are converted into electronic or optical signals. Some signals, such as those that carry voice or music, are created in an analo
23、g or wave format, but may be converted into a digital or mathematical format for faster and more efficient transmission. The signals are then sent over a medium to a receiver, where they are decoded back into a form that the person receiving the message can understand. There are a variety of ways to
24、 create and decode signals, and many different ways to transmit signals. Individual people, businesses, and governments use many different types of telecommunications systems. Some systems, such as the telephone system, use a network of cables, wires, and switching stations for point-to-point commun
25、ication. Other systems, such as radio and television, broadcast radio signals over the air that can be received by anyone who has a device to receive them. Some systems make use of several types of media to complete a transmission. For example, a telephone call may travel by means of copper wire, fi
26、ber-optic cable, and radio waves as the call is sent from sender to receiver. All telecommunications systems are constantly evolving as telecommunications technology improves. Many recent improvements, for example, offer high-speed broadband connections that are needed to send multimedia information
27、 over the Internet. Personal computers have pushed the limits of the telephone system as more and more complex computer messages are being sent over telephone lines, and at rapidly increasing speeds. This need for speed has encouraged the development of digital transmission technology. The growing u
28、se of personal computers for telecommunications has increased the need for innovations in fiber-optic technology. Telecommunications and information technologies are merging and converging. This means that many of the devices now associated with only one function may evolve into more versatile equip
29、ment. This convergence is already happening in various fields. Some telephones and pagers are able to store not only phone numbers but also names and personal information about callers. Wireless phones with keyboards and small screens can access the Internet and send and receive e-mail messages. Per
30、sonal computers can now access information and video entertainment and are in effect becoming a combined television set and computer terminal. Television sets can access the Internet through add-on appliances. Future modifications and technology innovations may blur the distinctions between applianc
31、es even more. Convergence of telecommunications technologies may also trigger a change in the kind of content available. Both television and personal computers are likely to incorporate new multimedia, interactive, and digital features. However, in the near term, before the actualization of a fully
32、digital telecommunications world, devices such as modems will still be necessary to provide an essential link between the old analog world and the upcoming digital one. 21 Which of the aspects of telecommunication is NOT mentioned in the passage? （ A） Current development. （ B） Transmission of messag
33、e. （ C） Computer networking. （ D） Government regulation. 22 In this passage, “optical“ can be understood as related to _. （ A） light （ B） audio （ C） electronics （ D） multimedia 23 According to the passage, _ has become the driving force for the development of telephone system? （ A） information techn
34、ologies （ B） Internet （ C） PC （ D） convergence of telecommunications technologies 24 What can be concluded about “modem“ ? （ A） It converts data from one form to another. （ B） It will be out of date soon. （ C） It serves as a link between senders and recipients of message. （ D） It transmits message m
35、ore efficiently than other devices. 25 Television is a _ in the transmission of message. （ A） sender （ B） receiver （ C） transmitting device （ D） none of the above 25 Thomas Hardys impulses as a writer, all of which he indulged in his novels, were numerous and divergent, and they did not always work
36、together in harmony. Hardy was to some degree interested in exploring his characters psychologies, though impelled less by curiosity than by sympathy. Occasionally he felt the impulse to comedy (in all its detached coldness) as well as the impulse to farce, but he was more often inclined to see trag
37、edy and record it. He was also inclined to literary realism in the several senses of that phrase. He wanted to describe ordinary human beings; he wanted to speculate on their dilemma rationally (and, unfortunately, even schematically); and he wanted to record precisely the material universe. Finally
38、, he wanted to be more than a realist. He wanted to transcend what he considered to be the banality of solely recording things exactly and to express as well his awareness of the occult and the strange. In his novels these various impulses were sacrificed to each other inevitably and often. Inevitab
39、ly, because Hardy did not care in the way that novelists such as Flaubert or James cared, and therefore took paths of least resistance. Thus, one impulse often surrendered to a fresher one and, unfortunately, instead of exacting a compromise, simply disappeared. A desire to throw over reality a ligh
40、t that never was might give way abruptly to the desire on the part of what we might consider a novelist-scientist to record exactly and concretely the structure and texture of a flower. In this instance, the new impulse was at least an energetic one, and thus its indulgence did not result in a relax
41、ed style. But on other occasions Hardy abandoned a perilous, risky, and highly energizing impulse in favor of what was for him the fatally relaxing impulse to classify and schematize abstractly. When a relaxing impulse was indulged, the style that sure index of an authors literary worth was certain
42、to become verbose. Hardys weakness derived from his apparent inability to control the comings and goings of these divergent impulses and from his unwillingness to cultivate and sustain the energetic and risky ones. He submitted to first one and then another, and the spirit blew where it listed; henc
43、e the unevenness of any one of his novels. His most controlled novel, Under the Greenwood Tree, prominently exhibits two different but reconcilable impulses a desire to be a realist-historian and a desire to be a psychologist of love but the slight interlockings of plot are not enough to bind the tw
44、o completely together. Thus even this book splits into two distinct parts. 26 The most appropriate title for the passage could be _. （ A） Under the Greenwood Tree: Hardys Ambiguous Triumph （ B） The Real and the Strange: the Novelists Shifting Realms （ C） Hardys Novelistic Impulses: the Problem of Co
45、ntrol （ D） Divergent Impulses: the Issue of Unity in the Novel 27 We get the impression that the author seems to be _. Hardys impulses as a writer. （ A） amazed at （ B） critical of （ C） fed up with （ D） interested in 27 During the first half of the seventeenth century, when the nations of Europe were
46、 quarreling over who owned the New World, the Dutch and the Swedes founded competing villages ten miles apart on the Delaware River. Not long afterward, the English took over both places and gave them new names, New Castle and Wilmington. For a century and a half the two villages grew rapidly, but g
47、radually Wilmington gained all the advantages. It was a little closer to Philadelphia, so when new textile mills opened, they opened in Wilmington, not in New Castle. There was plenty of water power from rivers and creeks at Wilmington, so when young Irenee DuPont chose a place for his gunpowder mil
48、l, it was Wilmington he chose, not New Castle. Wilmington became a town and then a city a rather important city, much the largest in Delaware. And New Castle, bypassed by the highways and waterways that made Wilmington prosperous, slept ten miles south on the Delaware River. No two villages with suc
49、h similar pasts could have gone such separate ways. Today no two pieces could be more different. Wilmington, with its expressways and parking lots and all its other concrete ribbons and badges, is a tired old veteran of the industrial wars and wears a vacant stare. Block after city block where people used to live and shop is broken and empty. New Ca
