1、专业英语八级模拟试卷 93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 Cinema The first moving pictures, developed in the 1890s, were different from what we know about cinem
3、a today. Because the sound and pictures were not【 1】 _ , in addition 【 1】 _. to the smallness of the screens, the kaleidoscope which his system was called, was only popularized in its【 2】 _. 【 2】 _. The Frenchmen developed the same principle and succeeded in exporting their cinematography to Europe,
4、 India, Australia and Japan. But the films were【 3】 _. 【 3】 _. After that, great advances were made in cinema. In 1903, with the use of moving cameras, an improvement on the fixed cameras, The Great Train Robbery, which lasted【 4】 _. 【 4】 _. minutes, was made. In the following years, films were long
5、er and the screens became larger and other refinements were introduced. In the early【 5】 _, with the development of effective 【 5】 _. sound system, the major problem of sound and picture 【 6】 _ was solved. But oddly enough, for a few years, 【 6】 _. the cameras had to be fixed again to reduce the【 7】
6、 _ 【 7】 _. of their mechanism. The development of colour was the last important change in cinema. Though early films were generally black and white, people thought they were【 8】 _ In 1922, a 【 8】 _. two-colour system was used in the first real colour films. Because of the unstable quality, the scene
7、s, sometimes 【 9】 _, and high cost, it took longer for it to be accepted. 【 9】 _. For all the improvements in the techniques of cinema and the changes in the style of【 10】 _, the basics - moving 【 10】 _. pictures, colour and sound - remain the same. 1 【 1】 2 【 2】 3 【 3】 4 【 4】 5 【 5】 6 【 6】 7 【 7】 8
8、 【 8】 9 【 9】 10 【 10】 SECTION B INTERVIEW Directions: In this section 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 f
9、ive questions. Now listen to the interview. 11 Mr Brown is making inquiries about （ A） full parking facilities. （ B） leaving his car in the U. K. （ C） having his car serviced. （ D） hiring a car abroad. 12 The clerk informs the customer that he should pay （ A） 6.5 pounds. （ B） 23.10 pounds. （ C） 24.7
10、5 pounds. （ D） 243 pounds. 13 Mr Brown should deliver his car to Gatwick Parking Limited （ A） at 100. （ B） at 110. （ C） at 120. （ D） at 130. 14 Mr Browns reaction to the questions he has to answer is （ A） completely indifferent. （ B） fairly relaxed. （ C） quite annoyed. （ D） rather impatient. 15 Mr B
11、rown leaves in a hurry in order to avoid （ A） losing his licence. （ B） being severely fined. （ C） losing his parking space. （ D） being arrested by the traffic warden. SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST Directions: In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questio
12、ns that follow. At the end of each news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the questions. 16 A half-day strike will take place at the same time with （ A） a donation ceremony. （ B） an aid program meeting. （ C） an anti-government protest. （ D） an opposition party meeting. 17 The recent fluct
13、uation of the stock market in New York was due to （ A） Greenspans remarks. （ B） the slack US business. （ C） the excessive optimism. （ D） the weakened US economy. 18 Which of the following statements does NOT apply to the origins of the Asian crisis? （ A） Too much money had flown into the region. （ B
14、） The regions own currency had been devalued. （ C） Investors are less wealthy than they used to be. （ D） The construction industry had consumed too much bank loan. 19 Over the past ten years, the sharp increase in the sale of personal computers was due to （ A） better computer graphics and sound. （ B
15、） the enhanced version of the Pentium processor. （ C） the success of the worlds first microprocessor. （ D） successful sales of Intel chips and Microsoft software. 20 According to the passage, Intels profits in the next few months （ A） may not be that great. （ B） would be greater than before. （ C） wo
16、uld certainly be less than before. （ D） would certainly be the same as before. 20 The fox really exasperated them both. As soon as they had let the fowls out, in the early summer mornings, they had to take their guns and keep guard; and then again as soon as evening began to mellow, they must go onc
17、e more. And he was so sly. He slid along in the deep grass; he was difficult as a serpent to see. And he seemed to circumvent the girls deliberately. Once or twice March had caught sight of the white tip of his brush, or the ruddy shadow of him in the deep grass, and she had let fire at him. But he
18、made no account of this. The trees on the wood-edge were a darkish, brownish green in the full light for it was the end of August. Beyond, the naked, copper-like shafts and limbs of the pine trees shone in the air. Nearer the rough grass, with its long, brownish stalks all agleam, was full of light.
19、 The fowls were round about the ducks were still swimming on the pond under the pine trees. March looked at it all, saw it all, and did not see it. She heard Ban ford speaking to the fowls in the distance and she did not hear. What was she thinking about? Heaven knows. Her consciousness was, as it w
20、ere, held back. She lowered her eyes, and suddenly saw the fox. He was looking up at her. His chin was pressed down, and his eyes were looking up. They met her eyes. And he knew her. She was spellbound she knew he knew her. So he looked into her eyes, and her soul failed her. He knew her, he was not
21、 daunted. She struggled. Confusedly she came to herself, and saw him making off, with slow leaps over some fallen boughs, slow, impudent jumps. Then he glanced over his shoulder, and ran smoothly away. She saw his brush held smooth like a feather; she saw his white buttocks twinkle. And he was gone,
22、 softly, soft as the wind. She put her gun to her shoulder, but even then pursed her mouth, knowing it was nonsense to pretend to fire. So she began to walk slowly after him, in the direction he had gone, slowly, pertinaciously. She expected to find him. In her heart she was determined to find him.
23、What she would do when she saw him again she did not consider. But she was determined to find him. So she walked abstractedly about on the edge of the wood, with wide, vivid dark eyes, and a faint flush in her cheeks. She did not think. In strange mindlessness she walked hither and thither. As soon
24、as supper was over, she rose again to go out, without saying why. She took her gun again and went to look for the fox. For he had lifted his eyes upon her, and his knowing look seemed to have entered her brain. She did not so much think of him. she was possessed by him. She saw his dark, shrewd, una
25、bashed eye looking into her, knowing her. She felt him invisibly master her spirit. She knew the way he lowered his chin as he looked up, she knew his muzzle, the golden brown, and the greyish white. And again she saw him glance over his shoulder at her, half inviting, half contemptuous and cunning.
26、 So she went, with her great startled eyes glowing, her gun under her arm, along the wood edge. Meanwhile the night fell, and a great moon rose above the pine trees. 21 At the beginning of the story, the fox seems to be all EXCEPT （ A） cunning. （ B） fierce. （ C） defiant. （ D） annoying. 22 As the sto
27、ry proceeds, March begins to feel under the spell of （ A） the light. （ B） the trees. （ C） the night. （ D） the fox. 23 Gradually March seems to be in a state of （ A） blankness. （ B） imagination. （ C） sadness. （ D） excitement. 24 At the end of the story, there seems to be a sense of _ between March an
28、d the fox. （ A） detachment （ B） anger （ C） intimacy （ D） conflict 25 The passage creates an overall impression of （ A） mystery. （ B） horror. （ C） liveliness. （ D） contempt. 25 The arms race that has darkened our century with fear and peril may finally be slowing. Weapons have been with us a long tim
29、e. From personal combat at the very beginning of history to the impersonality of modern warfare, there has been a dynamic escalation in the complexity and specialization of attack and defense. From hand weapons and shields to ballistic missiles and Star Wars, offensive and defensive armaments have c
30、o-evolved. While arms races have been with us for millennia, nothing compares to the wasteful absorption of human talents and the costs in lives, talents, resources, and energy of the past 50 years of war, pseudowar and escalation in deterrence by mutually assured destruction. This has been the kill
31、ing century. But as we reflect on the linked interdependence of attack and defense in our century, we need to remember that life on Earth has been involved in a biological arms race for hundreds of millions of years. Compared with that ancient process, the military arms race is but a blink in the ey
32、e of history. For a very brief period before the killing started billions of years ago, there was “innocence.“ At lifes beginning the very first prot-organisms, formed in the “primordial soup,“ obtained their energy from inorganic sources Once living things existed, however, some became food sources
33、 for others. Life came to eat life, and attack and defense originated on Earth. 26 According to the passage, human competition to develop the best weapons （ A） began in the 20th century. （ B） escalated in the 20th century. （ C） is a modern phenomenon. （ D） is genetically predetermined. 27 When the a
34、uthor reflects on the “linked interdependence of attack and defense,“ he suggests that （ A） their origin preceded life. （ B） their development is precipitated by one another. （ C） their existence is dependent on human aggression. （ D） their escalation cannot be halted. 28 In this passage the author
35、apparently intends to （ A） write a fictionalized account of evolution. （ B） be scientifically precise. （ C） raise philosophical issues. （ D） convince readers that war is inevitable. 28 The costs associated with natural disasters are increasing rapidly. As a result, officials in government and indust
36、ry have focused more attention on disasters and their effects. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has estimated that disasters cost the country about $1 billion per week. Hurricane Andrew, the Midwest flood of 1993, and the Hanshin earthquake have shown that individual disasters
37、 can cost tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars. This increasing cost has resulted in greater funding from government and industry for the development of technologies related to disaster prediction, and has led to more research into the effective use of predictive information. The insurance in
38、dustry has long been aware of the dangers of natural disasters; the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, California, bankrupted scores of insurance companies. But the industry has focused particular attention on disaster prediction in recent years, as spiraling costs revealed that many companies had un
39、derestimated their financial exposure. For instance, prior to Hurricane Andrew in 1992, many insurance experts thought that the worst hurricane possible would do no more than $8 billion in damages to the industry. The damages caused by Hurricane Andrew, estimated at about $17 billion, shattered thes
40、e beliefs. Today, estimates of worst-case disaster scenarios approach $100 billion. The insurance industry has therefore increased its support for research into disaster prediction. One such effort involves a number of companies that have joined together to support the Bermuda-based Risk Prediction
41、Initiative, which funds disaster research. The expectation is that the resulting information will place the industry on a more solid foundation to make decisions about the risk of future disasters. The industry has also lobbied for the government to bear some of the financial burden of disaster insu
42、rance. Such a programme already exists for flood insurance, set up in the late 1960s by the federal government to insure flood-prone areas. These types of programmes, effectively implemented, could be increasingly necessary in the future to make insurance available in areas prone to disasters. Becau
43、se the stakes are so high, the science of disaster prediction has a bright future. The various projects and programmes illustrate that disaster prediction is a topic of concern to scientists and policy makers alike. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes all show that th
44、e effective use of disaster predictions not only requires advanced technology but also requires that society consider the entire process of prediction forecasts, communication, and use of information. Because they cannot predict the future with certainty, and because much remains to be learned, scie
45、ntists warn that society must understand the limits of scientific predictions and be prepared to employ alternatives. Wisely used, however, disaster prediction has the potential to reduce societys vulnerability to natural disasters. 29 The result of the increasing costs in natural disasters is （ A）
46、great loss suffered by commercial companies. （ B） governments increased attention on disasters. （ C） individual awareness to natural disasters. （ D） more funds to support the prediction research. 30 The difference between the actual loss caused by Hurricane Andrew and the loss estimated by insurance
47、 companies before the hurricane is （ A） i billion dollars. （ B） 8 billion dollars. （ C） 9 billion dollars. （ D） 17 billion dollars. 31 The purpose of insurance companies to support disaster prediction research is that （ A） companies want to make more money from the insured places. （ B） companies may
48、 thus have a better idea of the future risks. （ C） companies can get more sympathy from the government. （ D） companies intend to make use of peoples trust in the industry. 32 The key factor to reduce societys vulnerability to natural disasters is （ A） insurance companies should be wise enough in the
49、ir estimates of losses. （ B） the government should bear some financial risks of disaster insurance. （ C） the general public should be made fully aware of the possible damages. （ D） technology should be improved and phases of prediction be considered. 32 Even happy families have secrets that run with no statute of limitations. Twenty years after my mother died, I discovered she had kept a s
