1、专业英语八级模拟试卷 446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 4 Kinds of Texts Enhancing Intelligence I. Introduction A. Reading for information, hoping to improve our
3、 minds with the information acquired provide us with the ways to improve our lives B. Reading prodigiously English was a symbol of advancement and prestige. Today, 16 years after the advent of black-majority rule, English reigns supreme. Not only is it the medium of business, finance, science and th
4、e Internet, but also of government, education, broadcasting, the press, advertising, street signs, consumer products and the music industry. For such things Afrikaans is also occasionally used, especially in the Western Cape province, but almost never an African tongue. The countrys Zulu-speaking pr
5、esident, Jacob Zuma, makes all his speeches in English. Parliamentary debates are in English. Even the instructions on bottles of prescription drugs come only in English or Afrikaans. Yet most black South Africans are not proficient in English. This is because most of their teachers give lessons in
6、a language that is not their own. To give non-English-speaking children a leg-up, the government agreed last year that all pupils should be taught in their mother tongue for at least the first three years of primary school. But outside the rural areas, where one indigenous language prevails, this is
7、 neither financially nor logistically feasible. Some people suggest reducing the number of official languages to a more manageable three: English, Afrikaans and Zulu, the mother tongue of nearly a quarter of South Africans. But non-Zulus would object. Unless brought up on a farm, few whites speak an
8、 African language. For the school-leaving exam, proficiency in at least two languages is required. But most native English-speakers opt for Afrikaans, said to be easy to learn, rather than a useful but harder African tongue. At universities African-language departments are closing. Some effort is be
9、ing made to protect African languages from this apparently inexorable decline. The Sunday Times, South Africas biggest-selling weekend paper, recently launched a Zulu edition. In September the Oxford University Press brought out the first Zulu-English dictionary in more than 40 years. Many of the bl
10、ack elite, who send their children to English-speaking private schools or former white state schools, may accept English emerging as the sole national language. Many speak English to their children at home. Fluency in the language of Shakespeare is regarded as a sign of modernity, sophistication and
11、 power. Will South Africas black languages suffer the fate of the six languages brought by the countrys first Indian settlers 150 years ago? Maybe so, thinks Rajend Mesthrie at the University of Cape Town. For the first 100-odd years, he says, South Africas Indians taught and spoke to their children
12、 in their native tongues. But English is now increasingly seen as “the best way forward“. Today most young Indians speak only English or are bilingual in English and Afrikaans, though they may continue to chat at home in a kind of pidgin English larded with Indian and Zulu. 21 What is (are) the moth
13、er tongue(s) of 80 percent of the population in South Arica? （ A） English. （ B） Arikaans. （ C） Zulu. （ D） African languages. 22 What is the main reason that Afrikaans is not used by black South Africans? （ A） Because it is not as fashionable as English. （ B） Because it is not their native tongue. （
14、C） Because it is difficult to learn. （ D） Because it symbolizes the ruling class. 23 Why are most black South Africans not proficient in English? （ A） Because they are not educated in English. （ B） Because most teachers are not fluent enough in English. （ C） Because they are taught in their mother t
15、ongue in primary schools. （ D） Because they dont have the opportunity to use English. 24 Which of the following is NOT cited as an example of the dominance of English in South Africa? （ A） Rich people would send their children to English-speaking schools. （ B） The president uses English all the time
16、. （ C） Business is conducted in English. （ D） Newspapers are printed in English. 25 What happened to Indian languages in South Africa? （ A） They have disappeared in the country. （ B） They have become pidgins. （ C） They have given way to English and Afrikaans. （ D） They have absorbed words from many
17、languages. 25 I know now that the man who sat with me on the old wooden stairs that hot summer night over thirty-five years ago was not a tall man. But to a five-year-old, he was a giant. We sat side by side, watching the sun go down behind the old Texaco service station across the busy street. A st
18、reet that I was never allowed to cross unless accompanied by an adult, or at the very least, an older sibling. Cherry-scented smoke from Grampys pipe kept the hungry mosquitoes at bay while gray, wispy swirls danced around our heads. Now and again, he blew a smoke ring and laughed as I tried to targ
19、et the hole with my finger. I, clad in a cool summer nightie, and Grampy, his sleeveless T-shirt, sat watching the traffic. We counted cars and tried to guess the color of the next one to turn the corner. Once again, I was caught in the middle of circumstances. The fourth born of six children, it wa
20、s not uncommon that I was either too young or too old for something. This night I was both. While my two baby brothers slept inside the house, my three older siblings played with friends around the corner, where I was not allowed to go. I stayed with Grampy, and that was okay with me. I was where I
21、wanted to be. My grandfather was baby-sitting while my mother, father and grandmother went out. “Thirsty?“ Grampy asked, never removing the pipe from his mouth. “Yes,“ was my reply. “How would you like to run over to the gas station there and get yourself a bottle of coke?“ I couldnt believe my ears
22、. Had I heard right? Was he talking to me? On my familys modest income, coke was not a part of our budget or diet. A few tantalizing sips was all I had ever had, and certainly never my own bottle. “Okay,“ I replied shyly, already wondering how I would get across the street. Surely Grampy was going t
23、o come with me. Grampy stretched his long leg out straight and reached his huge hand deep into the pocket. I could hear the familiar jangling of the loose change he always carried. Opening his fist, he exposed a mound of silver coins. There must have been a million dollars there. He instructed me to
24、 pick out a dime. After he deposited the rest of the change back into his pocket, he stood up. “Okay,“ he said, helping me down the stairs and to the curb, “ Im going to stay here and keep an ear out for the babies. Ill tell you when its safe to cross. You go over to the coke machine, get your coke
25、and come back out. Wait for me to tell you when its safe to cross back.“ My heart pounded. I clutched my dime tightly in my sweaty palm. Excitement took my breath away. Grampy held my hand tightly. Together we looked up the street and down, and back up again. He stepped off the curb and told me it w
26、as safe to cross. He let go of my hand and I ran. I ran faster than I had ever run before. The street seemed wide. I wondered if I would make it to the other side. Reaching the other side, I turned to find Grampy. There he was, standing exactly where I had left him, smiling proudly. I waved. “Go on,
27、 hurry up,“ he yelled. My heart pounded wildly as I walked inside the dark garage. I had been inside the garage before with my father. My surroundings were familiar. I heard the Coca-Cola machine motor humming even before I saw it. I walked directly to the big old red-and-white dispenser. I knew whe
28、re to insert my dime. I had seen it done before and had fantasized about this moment many times. The big old monster greedily accepted my dime, and I heard the bottles shift. On tiptoes I reached up and opened the heavy door. There they were: one neat row of thick green bottles, necks staring direct
29、ly at me, and ice cold from the refrigeration. I held the door open with my shoulder and grabbed one. With a quick yank, I pulled it free from its bondage. Another one immediately took its place. The bottle was cold in my sweaty hands. I will never forget the feeling of the cool glass on my skin. Wi
30、th two hands, I positioned the bottleneck under the heavy brass opener that was bolted to the wall. The cap dropped into an old wooden box, and I reached in to retrieve it. I was cold and bent in the middle, but I knew I needed to have this souvenir. Coke in hand, I proudly marched back out into the
31、 early evening dusk. Grampy was waiting patiently. He smiled. “Stop right there,“ he yelled. One or two cars sped by me, and once again, Grampy stepped off the curb. “Come on, now,“ he said, “Run.“ I did. Cool brown foam sprayed my hands. “Dont ever do that alone,“ he warned. I held the coke bottle
32、tightly, fearful he would make me pour it into a cup, ruining this dream come true. He didnt. One long swallow of the cold beverage cooled my sweating body. I dont think I ever felt so proud. 26 By saying “I was caught in the middle of circumstances“ in the third paragraph, the author means_. （ A） h
33、e was facing a dilemma and did not know what decision to make （ B） he was caught when he was doing something that he was not supposed to do （ C） he was either too young or too old for something as the fourth born of six children （ D） he was doing something that required him to consider different cir
34、cumstances 27 From the first three paragraphs, we can infer that_. （ A） the author would prefer playing with his three older siblings to staying with his grandpa （ B） they were living in the suburbs where there were not too much traffic on the road （ C） the grandpa was always the one to babysit for
35、the author and his siblings （ D） the author enjoyed the time that he spent with his grandpa 28 The author know where and how to buy from a vending machine because_. （ A） he figured it out himself （ B） his grandpa told him how to do it （ C） someone helped him find the right way （ D） he had seen other
36、s use it 29 From the passage we can infer that the relationship between the author and his Grandpa was_. （ A） close （ B） remote （ C） tense （ D） impossible to tell 30 Which of the following is NOT true, according to the passage? （ A） It was the first time that the author crossed the street by himself
37、. （ B） It was the first time that the author went in that garage. （ C） The author bought the Coca-Cola from a vending machine. （ D） The authors grandpa kept an eye on him the whole time. 30 Women can be a powerful force, capable of making smitten men do all sorts of things, including adjust the way
38、they talk to more closely match a womans speech patterns. Conversation partners aligning the way they speak is often thought to indicate affiliation between two people. Have a chat with someone who curses liberally, for example, and the likelihood is good that youll drop a swear word too. While matc
39、hing linguistic styles is a documented phenomenon, whats particularly interesting is that new research shows that higher levels of female fertility are linked to lower levels of linguistic matching from male conversation partners. According to a study published last month in the journal PLoS ONE, re
40、searchers interpret this to mean that men are trying to distinguish themselves in the mating process by being unconventional. Whats more, they dont seem to even realize theyre doing it. Jacqueline Coyle, an adjunct professor of human factors and systems at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, follo
41、wed 123 male undergraduate students who interacted with five female undergraduate students at various points throughout the womens menstrual cycles. The women, whose menstrual cycles were tracked, werent relying on hormonal contraception. In the study, a man and woman alternated describing a picture
42、 to one another. The woman used a script in order to help researchers more clearly see how mens sentence structure correlated with womens. Where a woman was in her monthly menstrual was also noted. The closer to ovulation a woman was in her cycle, the less likely a man was to mimic her sentence stru
43、cture. “This finding demonstrates that men may use creative or nonconforming language as a means of attracting a potential romantic partner,“ says Coyle. In another study, Coyle flip-flopped the approach and repeated the experiment using 47 female undergraduate students. Women behaved more conventio
44、nally: their fertility level did not appear to affect the degree to which they matched their conversation partners sentence structure. In other words, the effect seems specific to men. The research adds to an already significant body of work showing the behavioral effects of female fertility on male
45、s. When Coyle was in graduate school at Florida State University, some of her colleagues were investigating how exposing men to the scent of an ovulating woman, for example, affects their perceptions, behavior and even their physiological responses. Coyle wondered whether language might also be infl
46、uenced. An argument could have been made for diametrically opposing results. After all, wouldnt men want to match their conversation more closely to their desired womens in order to create feelings of similarity and hence intimacy? “We were very curious to see which way the results would go,“ says C
47、oyle. “Many people in the general population may not realize that the effects of a womans fertility level go well beyond chocolate cravings, moodiness, and ones chances of conception.“ (From Times; 467 words) 31 What is known for years is that a person in conversation will_. （ A） use the language th
48、at his conversation partner uses （ B） try to show affection through language （ C） adjust the way they talk to be more like the person he talks with （ D） use the same pattern of conversation as his conversation partner 32 How does a womans menstrual cycle affect a mans language? （ A） When a woman is
49、at the highest fertility level, a man will mimic her language. （ B） The closer a woman is to ovulation, the more affection a man will show through his language. （ C） When a woman is at the highest fertility level, a man will use unconventional language. （ D） The higher a womans fertility level is, the less a man will match her way of speaking. 33 What were the five female students in Coyles experiment asked to do? （ A） To control their menstrual cycles. （ B） To describe a picture to the male participants. （ C） To
