1、专业英语八级模拟试卷 314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 The Stock Market When a new company is organized and shares are sold, it is not hard to determine the val
3、ue of each share: all the shares together represent the total value of the company. . The best way to explain how the stock market works. To imagine you form a company to produce a soda with 4 friends: 1)putting in $600 together for the expenses involved in-the (1)of the 【 1】 _. company; 2)stating e
4、very (2)represents $10 of the present value of the company; 【 2】 _. 3)owning a share signifies-a part owner of the company. . Stock price increases when (3)is good and the value of the company 【 3】 _. jumps. 1)the (4)$600 invested改成 $1,800 in value at present 【 4】 _. 2)$10per share originally改成 (5)e
5、ach currently 【 5】 _. . Stock price falls when business is worse and the value of the company drops. 1)(6)of $1,800改成 a low point of $300 【 6】 _. 2)$30 per share改成 $5 per share IV. How to buy stocs? 1)to find a (7)buying and selling stock for other people; 【 7】 _. 2)the stockbrokers entering a stock
6、 market; 3)the stockbrokers inquirement of other brokers about your buying; 4)the stockbrokers (8)of the stock purchase; 【 8】 _. 5)to pay the bill -the amount of purchase and that is still one of its leading uses. But the broader and more controversial use of IQ testing has its roots in a theory of
7、intelligence part science, part sociology that developed in the late 19th century, before Bintes work and entirely separate from it, Championed first by Charles Darwin s cousin Francis Galton, it held that intelligence was the most valuable human attribute, and that if people who had a lot of it cou
8、ld be identified and put in leadership positions, all of Society would benefit. Terman believed IQ tests should be used to conduct a great s6rting out of the population, so that young people would be assigned on the basis of their scores to particular levels in the school system, which would lead to
9、 corresponding socioeconomic destinations in adult life. The beginning of the IQ-testing movement overlapped with the eugenics movement hugely popular in America and Europe among the “better sort“ before Hitler gave it a bad name which held that intelligence was mostly inherited and that people-defi
10、cient in it should be discouraged from reproducing. The state sterilization that Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes notoriously endorsed in a 1927.Supreme Court decision was done with an IQ score as justification. The American IQ promoters scored a great coup during World War I when they persuaded the Ar
11、my to give IQ tests to 1.7 million inductees. It was the worlds first mass administration of an intelligence test, and many of the standardized tests in use today can be traced back to it: the now ubiquitous and obsessed-over SAT(Stud), Ability Test); the Wechsler, taken by several million people a
12、year, according to its publisher; and Termans own National Intelligence Test, originally used in tracking elementary school children. All these tests took from the Army the basic technique of measuring intelligence mainly by asking vocabulary questions (synonyms, antonyms, analogies, reading compreh
13、ension). 21 According to Termons theory, a twelve-year-old boys mental age is 10, then his IQ number is about_. （ A） 0.8 （ B） 0.9 （ C） 1.0 （ D） 1,2 22 IQ test is origin ally used to_. （ A） find out the students who need extra help in learning （ B） assign young people to different majors （ C） select
14、the acceptable recruits for army （ D） select the leaders for society 23 The viewpoint that intelligence was mostly inherited and people deficient in intelligence should be discouraged from reproducing was held by_. （ A） IQ-testing movement （ B） Eugenic movement （ C） Hitler （ D） both IQ-testing and E
15、ugenic movements 24 What does the author probably mean by “scored a great coup“ (Para. 5)? （ A） Failed. （ B） Succeeded. （ C） Criticized. （ D） Advocated. 24 So far, inflation is roaring in only a few sectors of the economy. While platinum has soared 121 percent, soybeans have risen 115 percent, and a
16、n index of Real Estate Investment Trusts has climbed 42 percent since May 2001, the consumer price index (CPI) has gone up only 4.2 percent during the same period. The challenge is figuring out what happens next. Astute investors are asking two questions: 1) Will the dollar continue to decline? 2) W
17、hich assets will continue to inflate? The value of the dollar matters because much of what Americans buy comes from abroad. And in the past two years, the dollar has been slipping badly: down some 25 percent against a basket of foreign currencies, including the euro and the yen. That makes imported
18、goods more expensive. If the dollar falls further, the rise in prices could boost inflation. And thats exactly what some analysts predict. “This is not a run-of-the-mill problem where the currency corrects 25 percent“ then stabilizes, says David Tice, Dallas-based manager of the Prudent Global Incom
19、e Fund. “We have an economy thats very dependent upon ever-increasing amounts of debt. Look at borrowing in this country for automobiles and housing. At the federal level, we are creating credit as if it is going out of style. Given that, we think the dollar can decline substantially more from here.
20、“ Thats why Mr. Tices income fund has invested in government bonds in countries that are major trading partners of the US. These bonds tend to increase in value as the dollar weakens. There are other ways for investors to protect themselves from inflation. For example: TIPS (Treasury Inflation-Prote
21、cted Securities) are US government bonds that increase both principal and interest payments in line with the CPI/U, which measures prices for urban dwellers. Thus, if the price of consumer goods goes up, TIPS owners get a boost in their rate of return. Thats a level of inflation protection that most
22、 bonds and money-market funds dont provide. Still, there are no guarantees. If real interest rates rise faster than inflation, TIPS can lose value if theyre not held to maturity. “TIPS have generally been less volatile than traditional bonds,“ but investors have already seen periods when their infla
23、tion-protection doesnt match the actual rise in prices, warns Duane Cabrera, head of the personal financial planning group at Vanguard, based in Valley Forge, Pa. For example, the year-over-year change in the CPI/U is running about 1.9 percent, be points out, but college costs have been rising about
24、 5 percent annually. Investors should also discuss the tax consequences with their investment advisers, Mr. Cabrera notes. On the stock front, investors can also turn to natural-resource stocks or mutual funds that invest in them. A slightly more exotic option: exchange-traded funds, which act like
25、mutual funds but trade like stocks. Commodities offer another avenue for profit during inflationary times. Individual investors probably want to avoid commodity trading, often a wild and woolly experience. But certain mutual funds offer share holders a chance to profit when commodity prices go up. T
26、he PIMCO Commodity Real Return Fund, for example, provides exposure to the performance of the Dow-Jones AIG Commodity Index while generating income from TIPS. Another option: the Oppenheimer Real Asset Fund, which is actively managed and tracks the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index. Theres no clear winn
27、er between these stock funds and the commodities their companies have invested in. When commodity prices are falling, natural-resource firms can protect themselves by hedging their risks, says Kevin Baum, portfolio manager of the Oppenheimer Real Asset Fund. On the other band, hedging may keep them
28、from benefiting when commodity prices rise. And the stocks can be more volatile than the commodities themselves. Gold funds typically are three times more volatile than the price of gold itself. Sometimes, the commodities and funds tied to those commodities move in opposite directions, Mr. Baum says
29、. PIMCOs Mr. Harris is quick to note that many commodity prices have been soaring. So the key question is: Which ones will continue to rise in price? Individual investors should maintain strict discipline when they pick commodities funds, he says 25 In the 4a paragraph, the words of a fund manager t
30、ells us all of the following except that_. （ A） the US economy is very dependent upon ever-increasing amounts of debt （ B） the amount of borrowing today in the US for automobiles and housing is getting bigger and bigger （ C） one of the main reasons for the depreciation of dollar is the ever increasi
31、ng amounts of US domestic debts （ D） the US federal government is creating credit because the people have already showed unwillingness to be indebted 26 Which of the following is NOT a feasible way for investors to protect themselves from inflation? （ A） To invest in government bonds in countries th
32、at are major trading partners of the US. （ B） To hold TIPS always to maturity. （ C） To turn to natural-resource stocks or mutual funds that invest in them. （ D） To try Commodities sometimes. 27 Which of the following is true about the commodity trading? （ A） When commodity prices are falling, natura
33、l-resource firms loses money. （ B） Stock funds benefit when commodity prices rise. （ C） Individual investors should hold on to a commodities fund when they have decided upon it. （ D） Market performances of the stock funds and the commodities they have invested in are not necessarily the same. 28 “If
34、 real interest rates rise faster than inflation, TIPS can lose value if theyre not held to maturity.“In the 7th paragraph, this suggests all of the following except that （ A） the market performance of most bonds are rather sensitive to the fluctuation of real interest rates （ B） TIPS is a kind of lo
35、ng-term bond （ C） most traders prefer bonds with a safe rate of return （ D） TIPS tends to be inactive on the market because of light trading of this bond 29 If the dollar continues to decline, which of the following would be a possible result? （ A） Prices would fall. （ B） Importing would become expe
36、nsive. （ C） Pressure of inflation would be lessened. （ D） Consumers would be more willing to borrow money from banks. 29 Since ancient times, people have dreamed of leaving their home planet and exploring other worlds. In the later half of the 20th century, that dream became reality. The space age b
37、egan with the launch of the first artificial satellites in 1963. A human first went into space in 1963. Since then, astronauts and cosmonauts have ventured into space for ever greater lengths of time, even living aboard orbiting space stations for months on end. Two dozen people have circled the moo
38、n or walked on its surface. At the same time, robotic explorers have journeyed where humans could not go, visiting all but one of the solar systems major worlds. Unpiloted spacecraft have also visited a host of minor bodies such as moons, comets, and asteroids. These explorations have sparked the ad
39、vance of new technologies, from rockets to communications equipment to computers. Spacecraft studies have yielded a bounty of scientific discoveries about the solar system, the Milky Way Galaxy, and the universe. And they have given humanity a new perspective on the earth and its neighbors in space.
40、 The first challenge of space exploration was developing rockets powerful enough and reliable enough to boost a satellite into orbit. These boosters needed more than brute force, however; they also needed guidance systems to steer them on the proper flight paths to reach their desired orbits. The ne
41、xt challenge was building the satellites themselves. The satellites needed electronic components that were lightweight, yet durable enough to withstand the acceleration and vibration of launch. Creating these components required the worlds aerospace engineering facilities to adopt new standards of r
42、eliability in manufacturing and testing. On Earth, engineers also had to build tracking stations to maintain radio communications with these artificial “moons“ as they circled the planet. Beginning in the early 1920s, humans launched probes to explore other planets. The distances traveled by these r
43、obotic space travelers required travel times measured in months or years. These spacecraft had to be especially reliable to continue functioning for a decade or more. They also had to withstand such hazards as the radiation belts surrounding Jupiter, particles orbiting in the rings of Saturn, and gr
44、eater extremes in temperature than are faced by spacecraft in the closeness of Earth. Despite their great scientific returns, these missions often came with high price tags. Today the world s space agencies, such as the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA. and the Europ
45、ean Space Agency (ESA), strive to conduct robotic missions more cheaply and efficiently. It was inevitable that humans would follow their unpiloted creations into space. Piloted space flight introduced a whole new set of difficulties, many Of them concerned with keeping people alive in the hostile e
46、nvironment of space. In addition to the vacuum of space, which requires any piloted spacecraft to carry its own atmosphere, there are other deadly hazards: solar and cosmic radiation, micrometorites (small bits of rock and dus0 that might puncture a spacecraft hull or an astronaut s pressure suit, a
47、nd extremes of temperature ranging from frigid darkness to broiling sunlight. It was not enough simply to keep people alive in space astronauts needed to have a means of accomplishing useful work while they were there. It was necessary to develop tools and techniques for space navigation, and for co
48、nducting scientific observations and experiments. Astronauts would have to be protected when they ventured outside the safety of their pressurized spacecraft to work in the vacuum. Missions and hardware would have to be carefully designed to help insure the Safety of space crews in any foreseeable e
49、mergency, from liftoff to landing. The challenges of conducting piloted space flights were great enough for missions that orbited Earth. They became even more daunting for the Apollo missions, which sent astronauts to the moon. The achievement of sending astronauts to the lunar surface and back represents a summit of human space flight. After the Apollo program, the emphasis in piloted missions shifted to long-d
