1、专业英语八级模拟试卷 280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 There are so many things about our lives that belong to the content of culture that it is impossible to c
3、over them all. In this lecture three aspects of culture are discussed. Language: is what people and animals use to【 1】 their thoughts, ideas and feelings. Just like animals, people use different languages. Each culture has its own words and symbols. People within the culture that use more than one l
4、anguage are said to be either【 2】 or multiligual. Moreover, languages have different【 3】 , which are variations of a language.【 4】 is most commonly used by deaf people. Folklore: is a body of stories that show a cultures beliefs, traditions and【 5】 The characters in folktales are often【 6】 people, w
5、hose character is admired. Today, folklore finds its way into poetry, song lyrics, and【 7】 . Holiday: is a day made special by a cultures customs or laws. Holidays help a culture re member and【 8】 its history. People may attend parades, sing songs, go to【 9】 or give gifts to each other on certain ho
6、lidays. The English world holiday came from two words, holy and day. The beat-known【 10】 holiday is Christmas. 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
7、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 Which of the following statements is TRUE? （ A） The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a film only f
8、or adult. （ B） Body Double is a character in Striptease. （ C） Demi gets 12.5 million for her roles in two films. （ D） Demi doesnt go naked in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 12 When Demi was a little girl, she _. （ A） never dreamed of becoming an actress （ B） always dreamed of becoming an actress （ C）
9、was not good at speaking （ D） always thought she could be a good actress 13 Demi says being paid 12.5 million means a lot to her especially because _. （ A） now she is the highest paid actress in Hollywood （ B） it changes peoples perception of women in Hollywood （ C） it helps her gain self-confidence
10、 （ D） she finally gets what should be her hard works worth 14 According to Demi, she goes naked in Striptease because _. （ A） the high pay makes her feel obliged to do it （ B） she was required by the contract to do it （ C） she wants to experience the real life of the character （ D） it was fun to do
11、it 15 It seems to us that the critics may think _. （ A） Demis performance in the new film is not very good （ B） Demi just wants to please her fans by going naked （ C） Demis pay for Striptease is too high （ D） Demi should not go naked in Striptease SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST Directions: In this section
12、 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 Which of the following is NOT included in the agreement to be signed between Russia and Iran? （ A） Russia will deliv
13、er nuclear fuel to Iran. （ B） Iran will ship waste nuclear rods back to Russia. （ C） The two countries will build a road for the shipment of nuclear fuel. （ D） Russia will be responsible for the storage of the waste nuclear rods. 17 The United States is concerned about _. （ A） the possibility that t
14、he nuclear material might be used to produce weapons （ B） the safety of nuclear power stations （ C） the pollution of the nuclear waste （ D） Irans ability to process the nuclear waste 18 Which of the following country/countries drafted the proposal for changes to a draft UN resolution on Iraq? （ A） R
15、ussia, France, Germany and China. （ B） China. （ C） The U.S. and Britain. （ D） Iraq. 19 According to the proposal, the multinational force will leave Iraq _. （ A） when full sovereignty is restored to Iraq （ B） when the interim government takes power （ C） when the interim government asks them to leave
16、 （ D） as soon as possible 20 Which of the following statements about President Bushs trip to Europe is TRUE? （ A） He presided over the Group of Eight summit. （ B） He talked with French President on rebuilding Iraq. （ C） He discussed with Russian leader on the issue of industrialization. （ D） He reac
17、hed agreement with Italian Prime Minister to continue their effort in Iraq. 20 A full moon was shining down on the jungle. Accompanied only by an Indian guide, the American explorer and archaeologist Edward Herbert Thompson - thirteen hundred years after the Mayas had left their cities and made a br
18、eak for the country farther north-was riding through the New Empire that they had built for themselves, which had collapsed after the arrival of the Spaniards. He was searching for Chichen-Itza, the largest, most beautiful, mightiest, and most splendid of all Mayan cities. Horses and men had been su
19、ffering intense hardships on the trail. Thompsons head sagged on his breast from fatigue, and each time his horse stumbled he all but fell out of the saddle. Suddenly his guide shouted to him. Thompson woke up with a start. He looked ahead and saw a fairyland. Above the dark treetops rose a mound, h
20、igh and steep, and on top of the mound was a temple, bathed in cool moonlight. In the hush of the night it towered over the treetops like the Parthenon of some Mayan acropolis. It seemed to grow in size as they approached. The Indian guide dismounted, unsaddled his horse, and rolled out his blanket
21、for the nights sleep. Thompson could not tear his fascinated gaze from the great structure. While the guide prepared his bed, he sprang from his horse and continued on foot. Steep stairs overgrown with grass and bushes, and in part fallen into ruins, led from the base of the mound up to the temple.
22、Thompson was acquainted with this architectural from, which was obviously some kind of pyramid. He was familiar, too, with the function of pyramids as knows in Egypt. But this Mayan version was not a tomb, like the Pyramids of Gizeh. Externally it rather brought to mind a ziggurat, but to a much gre
23、ater degree than the Babylonian ziggurats it seemed to consist mostly of a stony fill providing support for the enormous stairs rising higher and higher, towards the gods of the sun and moon. Thompson climbed up the steps. He looked at the ornamentation, the rich reliefs. On top, almost 96 feet abov
24、e the jungle, he surveyed the scene. He counted one - two - three - a half-dozen scattered buildings, halfhidden in shadow, often revealed by nothing more than a gleam of moonlight stone. This, then, was Chichen-Itza. From its original status as advance outpost at the beginning of the great trek to
25、the north, it had grown into a shining metropolis, the heart of the New Empire. Again and again during the next few days Thompson climbed on to the old ruins. “I stood upon the roof of this temple one morning,“ he writes, “just as the first rays of the sun reddened the distant horizon. The morning s
26、tillness was profound. The noises of the night had ceased, and those of the day were not yet begun. An the sky above and the earth below seemed to be breathlessly waiting for something. Then the great round sun came up, flaming splendidly, and instantly the whole world sang and hummed. The birds in
27、the trees and the insects on the ground sang a grand Te Deum. Nature herself taught primal man to be a sunworshipper and man in his heart of hearts still follows the ancient teaching.“ Thompson stood where he was, immobile and enchanted. The jungle melted away before his gaze. Wide spaces opened up,
28、 processions crept up to the temple site, music sounded, palaces became filled with revelling, the temples hummed with religious adjuration. He tried to recognise detail in the billowing forest. Then suddenly he was no longer bemused. The curtain of fancy dropped with a crash; the vision of the past
29、 vanished. The archaeologist had recognised his task. For out there in the jungle green he could distinguish a narrow path, barely traced out in the weak light, a path that might lead to Chichen-ltzas most exciting mystery: the Sacred Well. 21 The territory which Thompson was exploring _. （ A） had b
30、een abandoned by the Mayas about thirteen hundred years previously （ B） had been occupied and developed by the Mayas about thirteen hundred years before （ C） had been deserted by the Mayas as soon as the Spaniards arrived （ D） was conquered by the Mayas thirteen hundred years ago 22 What was Thompso
31、ns first reaction to the scene ahead? （ A） He remained in the saddle for several minutes spellbound. （ B） He immediately jumped down and went forward. （ C） He waited until his bed was ready and then dismounted. （ D） He rode to the mound and stared at the structure before him. 23 Thompson believed th
32、at man is instinctively a sun-worshipper because _. （ A） the worship of the sun-god had clearly been the function of the temple （ B） all living things celebrate the sunrise （ C） the sunrise is the most magnificent of all phenomena （ D） It is natural for man to worship the sun and he has always done
33、so 24 What abruptly ended Thompsons dream of the past? （ A） The realization that this was only a time-consuming fantasy. （ B） The glimpse of an important clue to future discovery. （ C） A resolution derived from his fantasy that he must learn more about this great past city. （ D） The locating of the
34、mysterious Sacred Well. 24 As every ancient mariner knew, traveling by sail is a simple way to go. Though the winds could be fickle and the boats pokey, the energy source that moved the ship was free, plentiful and renewable. Now tile same technology that conquered the oceans of Earth may conquer th
35、e ocean of space. This week a Russian and American consortium will announce plans for an April launch of the first so-called solar-sail vehicle, a multicasted spacecraft that will use sunlight to push itself along. To a public raised on smoke-and-fire rocketry, the idea of drawing energy straight fr
36、om space seems fanciful. To the people behind the new ship, however, the technology is not only sensible but inevitable, the easiest way to reinvent the business of cosmic travel. “This allows us to use very little fuel to fly very great distances,“ says Bud Schurmeier, a former NASA engineer and an
37、 adviser to the project. “It s an in- triguing concept.“ The idea behind solar sailing is simple. Although light is made of massless particles called photons, such ephemeral things exert real pressure, especially when they flow so close a source as the sun. Attach a sail of lightweight Mylar or othe
38、r material to a spacecraft, set it up in the path of .that outrushing energy, and you ought to be able to move in almost any direction. NASA has a keen interest in solar sailing and had budgeted 5 million to invest igate 17 possible missions. It may select one as early as next month. But while the s
39、pace agency has been mulling plans, the people behind the new ship, dubbed Cosmos I, have been getting set to fly. The project is the brainchild of Russias Babakin Space Center, near Moscow, and the Planetary Society in Pasadena, Calif., a think tank founded in 1979 by astronomer Carl Sagan and othe
40、rs. The two groups had long been developing plans for a solar-sail mission but got the cash to make it happen only last year when Ann Druyan, Sagans widow and head of the Media Company Cosmos Studios, and Joe Firmage, the founder of US Web, threw their names and about 4 million behind the effort. “I
41、 had talked to people about solar sailing before, “says Lou Friedman, former engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and director of the Planetary Society,“ but between the Russians capabilities and Anns vision, I knew this one would click.“ The spacecraft is a 3-ft. metal with eight 3
42、5-ft. metallic wings. Mylar petals sprout from it - though the prototype used in the April launch will have just two petals. Mounted atop a reconfigured Russian ICBM and launched from a sub in the B arents Sea, the Cosmos I will fly to an altitude of 260 miles, where it will deploy the wings and flo
43、at for a minute of so. If all goes well, the wings will then be jettisoned and the sphere aerobraked back to Earth, its bounce-down on Russian soil cushioned by air bags. By some measures, this cosmic lob shot is not that impressive, but for solar-sail scientists, the engineering is everything. Few
44、doubt that when sunlight strikes the wings, the spacecraft will accelerate; the key is building wings that can open and pivot, allowing the ship to tack into the solar stream. If this mission works, a more ambitious orbital flight, using the eight-paneled craft, is set for the end of the year. The s
45、pace-craft could circle Earth for months, surfing the sun until designers shut it down. “There will be a grandeur to it, “says Druyan, “a 70-ft. sail that will be visible to the whole planet.“ Grandeur aside, critics wonder if solar sails have a future. The technique is problematic in Earth orbit, s
46、ince the changing position of sun relative to the space-craft makes constant tacking necessary. Sailing is best used for as the crow- flies shots to neighboring planets. Even in these cases, progress can be slow, since sunlight exerts, at most, 2 lbs. of pres- sure per square half-mile, requiring a
47、year or more to rev a spacecraft to interplanetary speeds. Worse, beyond Jupiter, sunlight flickers out almost entirely; to go any farther would require energy beamen from Earth orbit, perhaps by giant laser howitzers. “None of these things has been tested, “says Mel Monte-merlo, one of NASAs solar-
48、sailing chiefs. “We have a long way to go.“ Whether that will continue to seem such a long way may depend on the spring-time flight of Cosmos I. A successful mission has a way of making impossible technologies seem possible - a big burden for a small rocket that will, for one day at least, carry the
49、 hopes of the world s space community. 25 What is the energy source of this so-called solar-sail vehicle? （ A） Sunlight. （ B） Nuclear. （ C） Wind. （ D） Electricity. 26 What does “brainchild“ in the paragrapth 4 mean? （ A） Patent. （ B） Invention. （ C） Hope. （ D） Pride. 27 What of the following correctly describe Cosmos I? （ A） It is a 3-ft. metal pod. （ B） It has eight 35-ft. metallic wings. （ C） It can fly an altitude above 260 miles. （ D） When it flies back to Earth, it will fall into pieces. 28 What can be inf
