1、专业英语四级（阅读）模拟试卷 167及答案与解析 SECTION A In this section there are several passages followed by ten multiple-choice questions. For each question, there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the best answer. 0 In recent years criticisms have been voiced concernin
2、g sexist bias in the English language. It has been argued that some of the vocabulary and grammar we use reflects and reinforces a traditional view of the world as one in which men are dominant and women play a secondary role. Take the word “chairman“ , for example. While this can in fact apply to p
3、eople of both sexes, it appears to some people to be male-oriented as it ends in “man“. In the past people taking the role of chairman were exclusively male, and the word was obviously originally a compound of “chair“ and “man“. Many English speakers, however, have ceased to view this word as a comp
4、ound and no more feel it to be composed of two units, “chair“ and “man“, than they perceive “cupboard“ as composed of “cup“ and “board“. In addition the continued use of chairman might be defended on the grounds that the final syllable is pronounced /mn/ rather than / maen/, just like the final syll
5、able of woman. Despite such considerations other speakers take a contrary view and are sensitive to the components of which it is made up. They clearly perceive it as a title which perpetuates traditional ideas about the place of women in society. For this reason they seek to replace it with neutral
6、 terms such as “chairperson“ or “chair“ , so that it is now possible to ask questions such as: “Who is chair of the committee?“ Other changes advocated include the replacement of words such as “postman“, “fireman“ and “ policeman“ with more clearly neutral terms such as “postal worker“, “fire-fighte
7、r“ and “police officer“. There is, however, continuing controversy about how far such language changes should go. Should changes also be considered to traditional idioms such as “man in the street“ and titles such as “Peking Man“? What about those words where the male meaning of “man“ is no longer d
8、ominant, such as “manhandle“? To the extent that changes have taken place, they have done so more in the written language and formal pronouncements than in everyday speech. You would be quite likely to read in the paper that “Postal workers are to receive a pay increase“. But “Has the postman been?“
9、 would be most likely to be heard in informal conversation. Here “postman“ remains firmly entrenched in popular usage. The lack of a sex-neutral third-person singular in English has also attracted attention. How, for example, do we fill in the blank in the following sentence? “A good teacher always
10、makes sure -is well prepared for the lesson.“ Traditionally, this would be filled in with “he“. The male pronoun in such cases is clearly intended to refer to both sexes. It is still widely used in this way, but some people, especially women, dislike it. They may prefer to add the female pronoun to
11、the male, as in “A good teacher always makes sure he or she is well prepared for the lesson“. Some people, however, feel that this looks and sounds awkward. Another solution is to use the plural “they“ for the singular; “A good teacher always makes sure they are well prepared for the lesson. “ This
12、is often heard in conversation, but is less frequent in formal written English. More cautious souls can avoid the problem altogether by rephrasing in the plural: “Good teachers always make sure they are well prepared for the lesson.“ The extent to which language reflects and shapes attitudes and beh
13、aviors is a matter of conjecture. Chinese, Japanese, Persian and Turkish do not make the kinds of sex distinctions English makes through its system of pronouns, but it would be difficult to maintain that males who speak these languages are less sexist than males who speak English! 1 What is the best
14、 title for the passage? （ A） The Place of Women in Society （ B） He or She （ C） Chairman or Chairwoman （ D） Language and Sexist Bias 2 What can we infer from Paragraph 2? （ A） Chairperson or “chair“ is the neutral term of “chairman“ or “chairwoman“. （ B） It is not necessary to replace “chairman“ with
15、 “chairperson“. （ C） Chairman can express the same meaning as the word “chairwoman“. （ D） People are very sensitive to the use of “chairman“ in the past. 3 All of the following statements are CORRECT EXCEPT that_. （ A） Japanese does not make the kinds of sex distinctions English makes through its sy
16、stem of pronouns （ B） Japanese are less sexist than males who speak English （ C） traditionally we say “A good teacher always makes sure he is well prepared for the lesson. “ （ D） in order to avoid the problem we can use plural form to replace the singular 3 Congratulations! You wowed your prospectiv
17、e employers on your first interview and have been called back for an encore. So, how will the second interview be different from the first? This time around, expect to spend more time at the company, talk to more people, individually and collectively, and have your skills and personality scrutinized
18、 more closely. The Employers Point of View From an employers perspective, the second interview is a chance to closely evaluate a candidates abilities and interpersonal skills. Your prospective employer wants to see that you can do the job and work well with colleagues. Be aware that many employers b
19、ring in several candidates, on the same day to streamline the second interview process. Your challenge is to distinguish yourself from the other candidates. To show youre a good fit with the company, focus on explaining how your abilities and experiences would enable you to do the job. Be specific.
20、Offer concrete examples that highlight your competence and compatibility. Who Youll Meet On your first interview, you probably met with one or two people. This time, be prepared to meet several more over the course of the day, including potential managers, coworkers and other staff members. You may
21、meet individually with several people, who will most likely ask you similar questions. Keep your answers consistent but mix up your delivery so that your answers dont sound stale or staged. If possible, before the interview acquire a list of the people youll be meeting with and do a little research
22、on each one. Then ask questions that show your knowledge of each person, If you meet with a panel or group, be sure to make eye contact with both the individual asking the question and the group as a whole. Steps for Follow Up Its rare to receive an offer on the spot, but it does happen occasionally
23、. If the feedback is consistently positive over the course of the day, you may get a job offer at the end of the interview. If that happens, dont make a hasty decision. Ask for time to think about it. If you dont get an offer, be sure to immediately send a brief thank you note to every person you sp
24、oke with. Some companies make hiring decisions in a matter of days, but many can take weeks to make their final choice. Be patient, be flexible and be ready for an offer or an invitation for yet another interview. 4 The passage is mainly concerned with_. （ A） the second interview （ B） the first inte
25、rview （ C） an unexpected interview （ D） the steps of interview 5 Which of the following is NOT the purpose of the second interview according to the passage? （ A） To discuss the salary. （ B） To closely evaluate a candidates abilities. （ C） To see whether you can do the job and cooperate well with col
26、leagues. （ D） To evaluate your interpersonal skills. 6 Which of the following is NOT recommended before and during meeting with the interviewer? （ A） To try to acquire a list of the people youll be meeting with before the interview. （ B） To keep your answers consistent but mix up your delivery. （ C）
27、 Not to make eye contact with the interviewers. （ D） To try to do a little research on each interviewer if possible. 6 “Until recently, I thought that there would never again be an opportunity to be involved with an industry as socially destructive as the subprime mortgage industry, “ said Steve Eis
28、man, a hedge-fund manager who made a lot of money during the financial crisis by shorting bank shares, to Congress in June. “I was wrong. The for-profit education industry has proven equal to the task. “ Americas for-profit colleges are under fire, and the Obama administration is preparing tough new
29、 regulations for them. Although recent scandals suggest higher education needs to be better regulated, discriminating against the for-profit sector could do wider damage. The notion that profit is too dirty a motive to be allowed in a business as fine as education is pervasive. Even Britains Conserv
30、atives, determined though they are to introduce radical educational reforms, have drawn the line at allowing for-profit schools to get state funding. America has generally been more liberal; and, with the state and non-profit colleges cutting back, the for-profit sector has been doing startlingly we
31、ll. In 2008 2009, some 3, 000 for-profit colleges educated 3. 2m students 59% more than three years earlier, and 11.7% of all students. Yet recent government reports suggest that some of these colleges have a troublingly familiar business model: selling a low-grade product to people who are paying w
32、ith subsidized government loans. The Department of Education reported that most students at many of these universities were defaulting on their loans. Similarly, an investigation by the Government Accountability Office found that even leading for-profit colleges such as Kaplan and the University of
33、Phoenix had engaged in cunning practices to recruit students and encourage them to borrow large sums to pay for their courses. Among the most controversial of the new rules due to be introduced on November 1st is a “gainful employment“ requirement that would make a course eligible(合格的 )for governmen
34、t loans only if enough current or past students are repaying their loans. The for-profit colleges maintain that they have high drop-out rates because their students are poorer than those in the state and nonprofit sector, and that the gainful-employment rule will simply reduce access to higher educa
35、tion for poorer people. Don Graham, boss of the Washington Post Company, which owns Kaplan, has suggested that private colleges should be required to refund all fees if a student decides to drop out during his first term in order to “drive out all the bad actors“ from the industry. Constructive sugg
36、estions are rare in a debate that has mixed a lot of rhetorical cant with a big principle. The cant is more obvious. The American right cites Barack Obamas proposals as another sign that he hates capitalism. Yet not only abuses plainly occurred but for-profit colleges are hardly poster children for
37、free enterprise: they are already heavily regulated, not least because most of the loans to students are provided by the government. The left, from its non-profit redoubts, claims that these are big businesses exploiting the little guy. The principle? Concentrate on the quality of the education, not
38、 the ownership. All sorts of colleges seem to have been guilty of shabby marketing. They should be treated the same. Good rules such as Mr. Grahams one should apply to non-profit and for-profit colleges alike. Singling out for-profits for special attention risks depriving students, and America at la
39、rge, of the full benefits in innovation and cost-effectiveness that the profit motive has generally brought to higher education. That really would be “socially destructive“. 7 The deficiency of some for-profit colleges is that they_. （ A） offer inferior education to the students （ B） always fail to
40、pay the government loans （ C） discourage their students from applying for government loans for tuition （ D） only recruit students from the well-off families 8 According to the for-profit colleges, which of the following is CORRECT about the gainful-employment rule? （ A） More poorer people cant get t
41、he opportunity of higher education. （ B） More poorer students will get government loans easily. （ C） The rule will make any course eligible for government loans. （ D） The rule will reduce the high drop-out rates. 8 Dave Walsh, web editor on board the Rainbow Warrior again this year, gave the followi
42、ng account of the 2004 expedition that followed the activities of seven ships as they trawled seamounts for target species of orange roughly. “We watched them raising tons of fish, corals and even rocks from the ocean floor! Dozens of species of unwanted deep sea life, snapped from habitat 1000km be
43、low us, were turfed over the side of the bottom trawlers, internal organs blown apart from the violent change in pressure. Hundreds of albatross a bird usually considered a loner, drifting at the mercy of the winds-squabbled over the dead or dying fish. “ Among the huge amounts of bottom dwelling ma
44、rine life including fish, sea stars, squid, sea urchins and ghost sharks that were hauled up and discarded, was a delicate branch of endangered black coral, a species listed on the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species(CITES)for over 20 years. Black coral is also protected in ad
45、jacent New Zealand waters. Corals are the foundation of unique deep-sea communities and their destruction affects everything else living in or near them on the sea floor. Speaking at a press conference on board the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour to launch the current expedition, oceans campaign
46、er Carmen Gravatt said “Bottom trawling is the most destructive fishing practice in the world. The deep sea is the largest pool of undiscovered life on Earth. Bottom trawling these unknown worlds is like blowing up Mars before we get there. “ Recently, in collaboration with the Scottish Association
47、for Marine Science(SAMS), we also concluded the exploration of a little-known coral reef complex off the west of Scotland. Using remotely operated vehicles(small, unmanned submarines), scientists studied and documented the reef, its cold water corals and the numerous species it is thought to host. P
48、revious surveys of the reef conducted by SAMS found that parts of the coral formation are 3, 800 years old and the base may be over 10, 000 years old. Next week, our political advisor Karen Sack will speak at a UN meeting on Oceans. Will the Rainbow Warrior once again unearth crucial evidence so the
49、 UN can see with their own eyes that a moratorium is needed? “Each day bottom trawling continues, more deep sea life gets wiped out and the situation becomes more critical, “ said Gravatt. “A moratorium on bottom trawling in international waters is urgently needed to protect life in the deep sea.“ 9 What does the “ unwanted deep sea life“ mean in Paragraph 2 according to the passage? （ A） They have no economic value. （ B） They are dead before being caught. （ C） They are dangerous to human beings. （ D） They are the natural enemy of th
