1、专业英语八级模拟试卷 398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 What Is An American? “I cant make you out, “Herry James has Mrs. Tristram say to the American,“ whether y
3、ou are very simple or very deep. “This is a【 1】 which has often confronted Europeans. What is it then that makes Americans【 2】 wherever they go? We hope it is not the unpleasant impression made by some tourists. Americans carry an appearance which is more a result of attitude than of clothing. This
4、attitude combines a lack of class【 3】 , an optimism and an inquisitiveness. Also a liking for facts and figures, an【 4】 and above all a desire to be friendly. Americans are a【 5】 people. They work like mad, then give away what they earn. They play until they are exhausted, and call this a【 6】 . They
5、 like to think of themselves as average men. They tell each other “Take it easy“, while always rushing off like crazy. They crowd their highways with cars while complaining about the traffic,【 7】 to movies while【 8】about the quality, go to church but dont care much for【 9】 , and drink too much, only
6、 stimulated to bigger dreams. There is, of course, no【 10】 American. But if you added them all together and then divided by its total number they would look like what this chapter portrays. SECTION B INTERVIEW Directions: In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then
7、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 From the conversation we get the impression that _. （ A） Jassie and Pauline are class
8、mates （ B） Jassie is an overseas student from America （ C） Pauline and Jassie are talking about a picture （ D） They are having American geography 12 What has Jassie already known about White House? （ A） White House is on the south side of Pennsylvania Ave. , Washington,D.C., facing Lafayette Square.
9、 （ B） The east and west terraces, the executive office, the east wing, and a penthouse and a bomb shelter are added to the main building. （ C） It was designed by James Hoban on a site chosen by George Washington. （ D） It is the oldest public building in Washington. 13 Which one is oval in shape in W
10、hite House? （ A） The East Room. （ B） The Red Room. （ C） The Blue Room. （ D） The Green Room. 14 Who is the first President to live in White House? （ A） Theodore Roosevelt. （ B） John Adams. （ C） George Washington. （ D） Thomas Jefferson. 15 According to the conversation which statement about the name o
11、f the White House is True? （ A） It became official before President Theodore Roosevelt had it engraved upon his stationery. （ B） It derives the name from the color of the building. （ C） The building was restored after being burned in 1814, so the smoke - stained gray stone walls were painted white.
12、（ D） Actually the cognomen “White House“ was applied to the building some time before it was painte 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
13、seconds to answer the questions. 16 What made it hard for the rescue teams to approach the earthquake zone? （ A） The quakes destruction to roads. （ B） The collapse of the buildings. （ C） The torrential rain at night. （ D） The loss of electrical power. 17 How many people recognized the man in the pic
14、tures within 2 days? （ A） 24 . （ B） 3 （ C） 640 （ D） 48 18 Which one is NOT included in the clue that helped the police identify the man? （ A） His picture. （ B） His apartment number. （ C） His pseudonym. （ D） His vita. 19 What is the main idea of the news item? （ A） The Citigroup has been worst hit by
15、 the international credit crisis. （ B） The Citigroup has already started to reduce the size of its business. （ C） The Citigroup has encountered great losses in the credit crisis. （ D） The Citigroup has decided to take measures to deal with great losses. 20 The police locked their suspicion on Vlado
16、Taneski when they found that （ A） his reports covered the confidential information. （ B） the three murder cases all involved elderly women. （ C） all the victims had some similarities with his late mother. （ D） he was responsible for the disappearance of a women. 20 Robots have been the stuff of popu
17、lar culture for so long that we think of them mostly as a fun. In the next decade they will finally become practical beyond factory assembly lines. Granted, they wont perform the wonderous stunts they do in movies;the first generation of “real“ robots may seem a bit crude. But by the end of the deca
18、de, we may well encounter tiny robots cooking hamburgers in fast - food restaurants, mopping up shopping malls, even delivering meal trays in hospitals. Two factors are pushing the development of robotics: technology and economics. Artificial intelligence is the key to a successful robot, but some o
19、f the simplest tasks for a human mind are difficult for a robot. One example: the ability to look at the corner of a room, where walls and ceiling meet, and know that the corner goes in, not out. Easy for humans, very tough for real - world R2D25. But new neural - network computers, which more close
20、ly resemble the human brain, look particularly promising for teaching robots how to adapt to their surroundings. Economics is the key to the acceptance of robots. As declining birthrates lead to a shortage of entry - level workers in much of the industrialized world, researchers are designing robots
21、 that can manage at least portions of such jobs as burger flippers or hospital orderlies. Fast -food robots will probably cook and package food;humans will still greet the public at the counter and make incorrect change. By the late 90s, improved robots will be inexpensive enough to serve as aides f
22、or the disabled, giving even quadriplegics the ability to feed themselves and perform office work. Not all robots will be so benign. Another model in production is a security guard designed to wander deserted warehouses and signal a human guard when it encounters intruders. At least one American fir
23、m has designed an armed security robot capable of firing a weapon. And the long -promised home robot? This little electronic servant, capable of delivering a frosty beer from the fridge, picking up the kids toys and washing the occasional window, probably wont be a mass - market item in the 90s-unle
24、ss we modify our homes to accommodate them. Every room would need to have tiny radio beacons to tell the robot where it is, and staircases would need special construction for easy robot access. Sound unlikely? Perhaps. But in 1890 a person might have thought it unlikely if he had been told that the
25、entire urban landscape of the planet would be modified to accommodate the automobile. 21 In the next decade, Robots will become practical because of all but one exception that _. （ A） they may cook hamburgers in the restaurants （ B） they can perform wonderous skill as shown in science fiction film （
26、 C） they may deliver meal trays in hospitals （ D） they may do some moppings in the shopping center 22 Which of the following is difficult for robots to do at present? （ A） To assemble machines. （ B） To do some kinds of cleaning. （ C） To work as service men. （ D） To tell that the comer where walls an
27、d ceilings meet goes in, not out. 23 Robots will not be accepted unless _. （ A） they can do some domestic jobs in hospital （ B） they can cook and package food （ C） they can greet people at the counter （ D） they can do jobs human needs to solve a shortage of labourers 24 Which of the following statem
28、ents is not true? （ A） Robots will be less expensive than they are now. （ B） They will be used as aides for the disabled. （ C） They will all be gentle and kind. （ D） They will deal with intruders. 25 Whats the authors attitude towards long-promised home robot? （ A） Optimistic. （ B） Pessimistic. （ C）
29、 Skeptical. （ D） Disbelievin 25 In recent years American society has become increasingly dependent on its universities to find solutions to its major problems. It is the universities that have been charged with the principal responsibility for developing the expertise to place men on the moon; for d
30、ealing with our urban problems and with our deteriorating environment; for developing the means to feed the worlds rapidly increasing population. The effort involved in meeting these demands presents its own problems. In addition, however, this concentration on the creation of new knowledge signific
31、antly impinges on the universities efforts to perform their other principal functions, the transmission and interpretation of knowledge-the imparting of the heritage of the past and the preparing of the next generation to carry it forward. With regard to this, perhaps their most traditionally sancti
32、oned task, colleges and universities today find themselves in a serious bind generally. On the one hand, there is the American commitment, entered into especially since World War I, to provide higher education for all young people who can profit from it. The result of the commitment has been a drama
33、tic rise in enrollments in our universities, coupled with a radical shift from the private to the public sector of higher education. On the other hand, there are serious and continuing limitations on the resources available for higher education. While higher education has become a great “growth indu
34、stry“, it is also simultaneously a tremendous drain on the resources of the nation. With the vast increase in enrollment and the shift in priorties away from education in state and federal budgets, there is in most of our public institutions a significant decrease in per capital outlay for their stu
35、dents. One crucial aspect of this drain on resources lies in the persistent shortage of trained faculty, which has led, in turn, to a declining standard of competence in instruction. Intensifying these difficulties is, as indicated above, the concern with research, with its competing claims on resou
36、rces and the attention of the faculty. In addition, there is a strong tendency for the institutions organization and functioning to conform to the demands of research rather than those of teaching. 26 According to the author, _ is the most important function of institutions of higher education. （ A）
37、 creating new knowledge （ B） providing solutions to social problems （ C） making experts on sophisticated industries out of their students （ D） preparing their students to transmit inherited knowledge 27 According to the passage, one of the causes for the difficulties of American higher education is
38、that _. （ A） the government has stopped giving public institutions as much financial support as it used to （ B） America has always been encouraging young people to go to college （ C） many public institutions have replaced private ones （ D） the government only finances such researches as that of plac
39、ing man on the moon 28 The phrase “impinge on“ most probably means _. （ A） promote （ B） rely on （ C） have an impact on （ D） block 29 A serious outcome brought out by the shortage of resources is that _. （ A） many public institutions have to cut down enrollments of students （ B） teachers are not qual
40、ified enough for satisfactory performance in classes （ C） some institutions have to reduce the expenses on research （ D） there is keen competition for resources and attention of faculty between public and private institutions 30 Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE? （ A） American society ha
41、s failed to provide these institutions with adequate resources to meet their needs. （ B） Though in difficulty, these institutions are determined to fulfill both research and teaching functions. （ C） American society has relied too much on their institutions of higher education to allow them for easy
42、 adjustment to all their functions. （ D） More resources and efforts of faculty are needed for research work than teaching work. 30 Criticism of research lays a significant foundation for future investigative work, but when students begin their own projects, they are likely to find that the standards
43、 of validity in field work considerably more rigorous than the standards for most library research. When students are faced with the concrete problem of proof by field demonstration, they usually discover that many of the “important relationships“ they may have criticized other researchers for. fail
44、ing to demonstrate are very elusive indeed. They will find, if they submit an outline or questionnaire to their classmates for criticism, that other students make comments similar to some they themselves may have made in discussing previously published research. For example, student researchers are
45、likely to begin with a general question but find themselves forced to narrow its focus. They may learn that questions whose meanings seem perfectly obvious to them are not clearly understood by others, or that questions which seemed entirely objective to them appear to be highly biased to someone el
46、se. They usually find that those who have not actually attempted it generally believe the formulation of good research questions is a much more subtle and frustrating task. 31 What does the author think about trying to find weaknesses in other peoples research? （ A） It should only be attempted by ex
47、perienced researchers. （ B） It may cause researchers to avoid publishing good work. （ C） It is currently being done to excess. （ D） It can be useful in planning future researc 32 According to the passage, what is one major criticism students often make of published research? （ A） The research has be
48、en done in unimportant fields. （ B） The researchers did not adequately establish the relationships involved. （ C） The researchers failed to provide an appropriate summary. （ D） The research has not been written in an interesting way. 33 According to the passage, how do students in class often react
49、to another students research? （ A） They react the way they do to any other research. （ B） They are especially critical of the quality of the research. （ C） They offer unusually good suggestions for improving the work. （ D） They show a lot of sympathy for the student researcher. 34 According to the passage, what do student researchers often learn when they discuss their work in class? （ A） Other students rarely have objective comments about it. （ B） Other students do not believe the researchers did the work themselves. （ C） Some
