1、专业英语八级模拟试卷 356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 Besides “American“ characteristics-individualism, self-reliance, informality, punctuality and directness,
3、 there are also some “national traits“ could also be identified. I. Some of the national traits: 1) Being friendly. There are all kinds of friendships for Americans, such as【 1】 .【 1】 _ 2) Having many questions. Some of Americans questions are【 2】 . 【 2】_ 3) Internationally naive. Many Americans are
4、 not very knowledgeable about international geography or world【 3】 【 3】 _ 4) Be nervous about silence. Talking about【 4】 is always a good way to break 【 4】 _ silence in a conversation. 5) Open and eager to【 5】 【 5】 _ II. Cultural rules that make Americans more comfortable with you: 1) Queuing up. 2)
5、 Blow their noses into a tissue. Its considered to be rude to spit, clear phlegm or【 6】 【 6】 _ 3) Avoid to slurp, chew noisily or open your mouth while chewing. 4) Never asking questions about a persons age, financial affairs, cost of clothing or personal belongings,【 7】 or sex life. 【 7】 _ 5) Its n
6、ot common for men to hold hands or link【 8】 in public with other men. 【 8】 _ III. Some tips on personal safety: 1) Do not walk alone at night. 2) When you leave your room, apartment, or automobile, make sure that all doors are locked and all windows are【 9】 【 9】_ 3) Do not carry too much cash or wea
7、r jewelry of great value. 4) Never accept a ride from a stranger. 5) Be careful of purses and wallets, especially in crowded【 10】 【 10】_ 6) Avoid resisting the robbers unnecessarily. 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 secti
8、on 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 end of the interview you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following five questions. Now listen to the interview. 11 Paul Ray said they d
9、iscovered that a clear cultural change was happening in many areas EXCEPT_. （ A） peoples lives （ B） environmental issues （ C） consumption patterns （ D） media advertisements 12 According to Ray, the official culture is featured by _. （ A） small government （ B） dynamic media （ C） materialism （ D） the
10、massive support from most Americans 13 Why do cultural creatives regard themselves alone in the society? （ A） They are seldom mentioned by mass media. （ B） They dont express themselves. （ C） They have to sacrifice many things which are parts of their old lives. （ D） All of the above. 14 Why are ther
11、e so many women among Cultural Creatives, according to Ray? （ A） Because they are not burdened so much as men. （ B） Because they are more sensitive and feel more. （ C） Because they will push for change and for a better world because of their husbands. （ D） Because they have more intelligence and ski
12、lls. 15 Ray said he had been an activist, involved in _. （ A） anti-discrimination movement （ B） environmental movement （ C） non-violence movement （ D） human rights movement SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST Directions: In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the q
13、uestions that follow. At the end of each news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the questions. 16 Around how many tons of hazardous waste does the world produce each year? （ A） 150 million. （ B） 1.50 million. （ C） 15 million. （ D） 50 million. 17 Now the U.S. economy growth rate is _. （ A）
14、 higher than 1995 to 2000 （ B） lower than 1973 to 1995 （ C） as good as 1995 to 2000 （ D） the same as 1993 to 1995 18 Dale Jorgenson points out that the 2.78 grow rate will be continued in the next _. （ A） 2 years （ B） 10 years （ C） 20 years （ D） 5 years 19 What is the reason of the decline of the nu
15、mber of the wild horses? （ A） Climate change and human activities. （ B） The hunting and culling. （ C） Farming and industrializing. （ D） Mass killing caused by people. 20 Whom does the provision intend to sell the wild horses for? （ A） Federal government. （ B） The horse-lovers. （ C） The people who ki
16、ll the wild horse. （ D） The native people. 20 Many Americans-perhaps most of them-arent ready for President Bushs “ownership society“. The idea sounds good. Employees could shift a portion of what they pay into Social Security and put it into individual accounts that might gain higher returns in, sa
17、y, the stock market. They could also reduce their tax bill by starting Health Savings Accounts, Retirement Savings Accounts, and Lifetime Savings Accounts. These options reflect a certain conservative logic. Rather than having the government or your company decide how much retirement money or health
18、care you get, you can decide for yourself. “If you own something, you have a vital stake in the future of our country,“ Mr. Bush explains. “The more ownership there is in America, the more vitality there is in America.“ The flaw in this logic is Americans lack of financial sophistication. For exampl
19、e: Less than one-quarter of working-age people characterize themselves as “knowledgeable investors,“ according to surveys by John Hancock Financial Services. Even this minority shows “considerable confusion“. For example: Many surveyed thought money-market funds included stocks and bonds. That doesn
20、t mean Americans are stupid. They just have better things to do. “Many people dont have the time, inclination, or expertise necessary to take full responsibility for their own well-being in areas that are so complex as assuring they have sufficient income for retirement or choosing a health plan app
21、ropriate for their circumstances“, says Robert Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute, a Washington think tank. Moreover, many Americans would have trouble reading the documents involved in such decisions. Some 44 million adults at the lowest of five levels of literacy were unable to decipher
22、simple texts and documents, according to a decade-old survey by the Department of Education. Even the larger number of people at the next level of literacy would find financial reports and documents difficult. Because it goes to the heart of the liberal-conservative divide over the role of governmen
23、t, the ownership society sparks political controversy. “Boneheaded, wacky, breathtakingly threatening,“ writes Greg Palast for AlterNet, a liberal website set up by the Independent Media Institute. Its “lopping off a chunk of Social Security insurance revenue for gambling in the stock market.“ On th
24、e conservative side: The ownership society “tends to encourage self-esteem and healthy habits of behavior, such as acting more for the long term, or taking education more seriously,“ argues David Boaz of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington. But judgment doesnt need to rely on
25、rhetoric. The United States already has experimented with transferring the major responsibility for retirement savings from employers to employees. Its the 401(k) plan, which got going in the 1980s. Workers are “overwhelmed“ by them, argues Boston Colleges Alicia Munnell, who with Annika Sunde wrote
26、 a new book, “Coming Up Short,“ on these popular retirement plans. For example: Only 25 percent of eligible workers join the plan. (The Bush private accounts will be voluntary for younger workers.) Ninety percent of those participating contribute less than the maximum. Almost 60 percent of participa
27、nts have undiversified portfolios, with almost all their money in stocks, or in bonds and other fixed-income investments. About 20 percent of 401 (k) assets are invested in the stock of the company employing the workers-risky indeed, as Enron employees found out. Hardly any participants take time to
28、 rebalance their portfolios as they age or the market changes. About 55 percent of them cash out their accumulated funds when they leave a job, instead of saving the money for retirement. The result is that those currently approaching retirement (aged 55 to 64) have, on average, about $50,000 in the
29、ir 401(k) plans. Thats only enough to generate $300 a month-little to top up the $900 average Social Security payment. 21 In the last 9th and 8th paragraph, it seems that “liberal and libertarian“ thinkings of the issue_. （ A） are the same （ B） are contradictory to each other （ C） both belong to the
30、 conservative side （ D） tend to encourage self-esteem 22 In the 7th paragraph, “many people dont have the time, inclination, or expertise necessary to take full responsibility for their own well-being in areas that are so complex as assuring they have sufficient income for retirement or choosing a h
31、ealth plan （ A） many people are not knowledgeable investors （ B） its vitally important for people to have sufficient income for retirement （ C） Bushs “ownership society“ appeal is not practical for many ordinary Americans （ D） retirement benefits have nothing to do with healthcare on this issue 23 B
32、ushs logic behind his idea of “ownership society“ includes all of the following elements EXCEPT that_. （ A） individual accounts might gain higher returns （ B） rather than having the government or your company decide how much retirement money or healthcare you get, you can decide for yourself （ C） th
33、e more ownership there is in America, the more security there is in America （ D） the ownership society “tends to encourage self-esteem and healthy habits of behavior, such as acting more for the long term, or taking education more seriously“ 24 In the actual execution of the “ownership society“ plan
34、 _. （ A） people showed great zeal （ B） people showed great expertise in handling their accounts （ C） most people diversified their portfolios （ D） this plan could hardly cover the Social Security payment of those currently approaching retirement (aged 55 to 64) 25 Which of the following statements i
35、s true according to the passage? （ A） A large portion of working-age people characterize themselves as “knowledgeable investors. （ B） About a quarter of Americans find it difficult to read financial reports and documents. （ C） There is political disagreement about the “ownership society“. （ D） The a
36、uthor seems to feel optimistic about this plan. 25 Whos to blame for the approximately $2 a gallon most Americans paid for gasoline on their Thanksgiving Day travels? To quote Pogo, the key character in that old comic strip, “We have met the enemy and he is us.“ Over the past 24 years, United States
37、 foreign policy has discouraged several oil-exporting nations from adding to their capacity to produce more oil, says A.F. Alhajji, an economist at Ohio Northern University in Ada. The result has been a decline in the excess capacity of OPEC as a group. This means there is less ability for oil produ
38、cers to counter upward price pressures from the growing demand for petroleum from China and India, or from short-term problems, such as the bombing of pipelines in Iraq, hurricane damage to wells in the Gulf of Mexico, and political turmoil in Nigeria or other oil-exporting nations. For various fore
39、ign-policy reasons, the US has imposed sanctions on Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, and Burma (Myanmar). This step has prompted American and sometimes foreign oil companies to pull out of or stay away from these nations. Without foreign investment, the countries could not boost oil output Capacity as much
40、-a situation that still has a lingering effect on production. Although proclaiming its neutrality in the 1980-88 war between Iran and Iraq, the US at times helped both sides militarily. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and some other Arab Middle East nations assisted Iraq financially during the war. As a resul
41、t, they had less money to develop their oil fields. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait produce less oil today than they did in the 1970s. Irans oil development stalled. The war “drained the financial resources of the whole area“, Mr. Alhajji says. Iran, which prior to its 1979 revolution produced 6 million bar
42、rels a day, pumps oil today at a rate of only 3.9 million b.p.d. The latest damage to world capacity, perhaps temporary, resulted from the US invasion of Iraq. Iraq pumped 3.8 million b.p.d in 1979 before its war with Iran and 3 million b.p.d before the US moved into Baghdad last year. Nowadays, it
43、produces between 2 million and 2.5 million b.p.d. Alhajji, a Syrian-American, maintains this decline in excess world oil production capacity has resulted in a rise in prices from around $10 a barrel in 1999 to $35 in 2000 to between $49 and $55 today. The higher prices could last. History indicates
44、it takes at least three years for a nations oil output to recover fully from a war or other severe disturbances, Alhajji says. He points to the wars in Iraq, Iran, and Kuwait over the past two decades, as well as the difficulty Russia faced in its transition to a market-based economy after the break
45、up of the Soviet Union. Because of the present situation in Iraq, Alhajji doubts that country can reach 5 million b.p.d by 2010, as some interim Iraqi leaders have claimed. The failure to boost Iraq oil production quickly means the US will face additional costs of reconstruction in Iraq. One of the
46、Bush administrations best postwar decisions, Alhajji says, was to invest $2.3 billion to rehabilitate the Iraqi oil sector and employ an overwhelming force of soldiers and private contractors to protect the oil facilities. That protection combined with higher oil prices has given Iraq a large windfa
47、ll in revenues. Another positive note for Iraq: Last week the worlds leading industrial nations agreed to cancel 80 percent of the nearly $39 billion debt owed them by Iraq. But Iraq still owes Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations even more from the Iran-Iraq War-money that could have been used to ra
48、ise their ability to produce more oil. Todays higher oil prices, meanwhile, will seriously damage the worlds economy, some economists predict. Higher prices in 2005 will cost the US 0.7 percent of gross domestic product, the Euro zone 1.1 percent, and Japan 0.9 percent, according to Philip Verleger Jr., an economist with the Institute for International Economics in Washington. Thats a sizable blow. In the past, sharp rises in oil prices were followed by recessions in the US, such as those in the 1970s, 1991, and 2001. But it is different today, Alhajji argues. In the 1970s, US government expe
