1、清华大学考博英语模拟试卷 4及答案与解析 一、 Reading Comprehension 0 I have had just about enough of being treated like a second-class citizen, simply because I happen to be that put-upon member of society a customer. The more I go into shops and hotels, banks and post offices, railway stations, airports and the like, t
2、he more I am convinced the things are being run solely to suit the firm, the system, or the union. There seems to be a deceptive new motto for so-called “service“ organizations Staff Before Service. How often, for example, have you queued for what seems like hours at the Post Office or the supermark
3、et because there were not enough staff on duty to man all the service grilles or checkout counters? Sure? in these days of high unemployment it must be possible to hire cashiers and counter staff. Yet supermarkets, hinting darkly at higher prices, claim that uncovering all their cash registers at an
4、y one time would increase overheads. And the Post Office says we cannot expect all their service grilles to be occupied “at times when demand is low“. It is the same with hotels. Because waiters and kitchen staff must finish when it suits them, dining rooms close earlier or menu choice is cut short.
5、 As for us guests, we just have to put up with it. There is also the nonsense of so many friendly hotel night porters having been thrown out of their jobs in the interests of “efficiency“ (i. e. profits) and replaced by coin eating machines which offer everything from lager to laxatives. Not to ment
6、ion the creeping threat of the tea-making kit in your room: a kettle with a mixed collection of tea bags, plastic milk cartons and lump sugar. Who wants to wake up to a raw teabag? I do not, especially when I am paying for “service“. Can it be stopped, this worsening of service, this growing attitud
7、e that the customer is always a nuisance? I angrily hope so because it is happening, sadly, in all walks of life. Our only hope is to hammer home our anger whenever and wherever we can and, if all else fails, bring back into practice that other, older slogan Take Our Custom Elsewhere. 1 The writer f
8、eels that nowadays a customer_ （ A） deserves the lowest status in society. （ B） is unworthy of proper consideration. （ C） receives unexpected quality service. （ D） is the victim of some public services. 2 The writer argues that the quality of service is changing because_ （ A） customersdemands have r
9、adically changed. （ B） services provided never become consistent （ C） the staff receive more consideration than customers. （ D） the staff are less considerate than their employers. 3 According to the writer, long queues at counters are caused by_ （ A） difficulties in hiring employees. （ B） deliberat
10、e understaffing. （ C） lack of cooperation between staff members. （ D） employersirresponsibility. 4 Service organizations contend that keeping all checkout counters operated can result in_ （ A） demands by cashiers for a pay raise. （ B） insignificant benefits for the customers. （ C） a rise in the coat
11、 for providing service. （ D） needs to purchase expensive equipment. 5 The writer suggests that a customer_ （ A） put up with the rode manners of the staff. （ B） be patient when queuing before checkout counters. （ C） try to control his temper when ill-treated. （ D） go to other places where good servic
12、e is available. 5 EI Nino is the term used for the period when sea surface temperatures are above normal off the South American coast along the equatorial Pacific, sometimes called the Earths heartbeat, and is a dramatic but mysterious climate system that periodically rages across the Pacific. El Ni
13、no means “the little boy“ or “the Christ child“ in Spanish, and is so called because its warm current is felt along coastal Peru and Ecuador around Christmas. But the local warming is just part of an intricate set of changes in the ocean and atmosphere across the tropical Pacific, which covers a thi
14、rd of the Earths circumference. Its intensity is such that it affects temperatures, storm tracks and rainfall around the world. Droughts in Africa and Australia, tropical storms in the Pacific, torrential rains along the Californian coast and lush greening of Peruvian deserts have all been ascribed
15、to the whim of EI Nino. Until recently it has been returning about every three to five years. But recently it has become more frequent for the first time on record it has returned for a fourth consecutive year and at the same time a giant pool of unusually warm water has settled down in the middle o
16、f the Pacific and is showing no signs of moving. Climatologists dont yet know why, though some are saying these aberrations may signal a worldwide change in climate. The problem is that nobody really seems sure what causes the EI Nino to start, and what makes some stronger than others. And this make
17、s it particularly hard to explain why it as suddenly started behaving so differently. In the absence of EI Nino and its cold counterpart, La Nina, conditions in the tropical eastern Pacific are the opposite of those in the west: the east is cool and dry, while the west is hot and wet In the east, it
18、s the winds and currents that keep things cool. It works like this. Strong, steady winds, called trade winds, blowing west across the Pacific drag the surface water along with them. The varying influence of the Earths rotation at different latitudes, known as the Coriolis effect, causes these surfac
19、e winds and water to veer towards the poles, north in the northern hemisphere and south in the southern hemisphere. The surface water is replaced by colder water from deeper in the ocean in a process known as upwelling. The cold surface water in turn chills the air above it This cold dense air canno
20、t rise high enough or water vapor to condense into clouds. The dense air creates an area of high pressure so that the atmosphere over the equatorial eastern Pacific is essentially devoid of rainfall. 6 We can learn from the beginning of the text that EI Nino is a phenomenon_ （ A） which occurs in som
21、e areas other than the Pacific. （ B） whose effects direct winds to move to the poles. （ C） which human activities are chiefly responsible for. （ D） whose causes remain a mystery to human beings. 7 Paragraphs 2 and 3 are written to_ （ A） discuss the causes of climatic irregularities. （ B） exemplify t
22、he abnormal effects of EI Nino. （ C） explain the way in which EI Nino develops. （ D） show the recent observations of climatologists. 8 The word “ aberrations“ (Paragraph 4) can best be replaced by_ （ A） irregularities. （ B） destructions. （ C） frequencies. （ D） intensities. 9 It can be inferred that
23、when EI Nino and La Nina occurs simultaneously, _ （ A） the Coriolis effect may make the wind blow to the poles. （ B） the atmosphere in the Pacific will be short of rainfall. （ C） the conditions in the eastern Pacific may be hot and wet （ D） the cold dense vapor will rise high enough to form droplets
24、. 10 This passage is most likely to a digest of_ （ A） a popular science article. （ B） a research report. （ C） a book review. （ D） a newspaper editorial. 10 The concept of biodiversity encompasses several different levels of biological organization, from the very specific to the most general. It has
25、been clear for some time that at all of these levels of organization the rich biodiversity that has always characterized the natural world is today declining. The extinctions or threatened extinctions of many species are but the most visible and well-known manifestation of a deeper and more far-reac
26、hing trend. Changes in how the land is used are probably the principal contributor to the current decline in biodiversity. The pressures on terrestrial resources and land depend very much on population growth and the demands of early stages of economic development Moreover, land acquisition, especia
27、lly for agriculture and forestry, focuses initially on those areas with the most fertile soils and equable climates, which are often the areas of greatest biological diversity. Deforestation in the humid tropics is probably the best-known current example of rapid land-use change. During the decade o
28、f the 1970s, vast areas of tropical forest in South America, Africa, and South-east Asia were cleared and converted to agriculture and other uses. In the middle-to-late 1980s, the rates of deforestation in South America slowed dramatically, largely due to economic and tax policy changes in Brazil, b
29、ut the pace of cutting in Africa and Southeast Asia, though poorly quantified, remains high. Globally, the rate of loss of tropical forests for the 1980s has been estimated at about 1 percent per year, but there is still considerable uncertainty. The rates of extinction of local species that accompa
30、ny these rapid changes in land cover may soon be far in excess of what is found today, reaching as high as 10, 000 times the natural background rate. Analyses of potential impacts on biodiversity that are based on simple measures of deforested area can provide little more than very general conclusio
31、ns. Heavy applications of fertilizers and pesticides have the potential of creating additional environmental problems as well as affecting the abundance and viability of the other plants and animals and micro-organisms in the same or adjoining areas. In addition, because of the understandable tenden
32、cy to put the best land into production first, the expansion of agriculture into less fertile areas typically requires heavier applications of chemicals, more extensive site preparation, and other forms of more intensive management The typical result is increased chemical runoff to the landscape, an
33、d with ensuing degradation, additional pressure for expansion, and the like. It is such a cycle that has led to widespread desertification in some parts of the world, primarily through overgrazing that can be compounded by naturally occurring droughts. 11 What is the passage mainly about? _ （ A） Cha
34、nges of biological organizations. （ B） Impact of chemicals on the landscape. （ C） Causes of decrease in biodiversity. （ D） Origins of worldwide deforestation. 12 In discussing the diminishing biodiversity, the authors argument is based mainly on_ （ A） the correlations between biodiversity and land f
35、eatures. （ B） the distinction between specific instances and generalizations. （ C） the correspondence of deforestation to land exploitation. （ D） the separation of endangered species into many sub-groups. 13 It can be inferred from Paragraph 4 that_ （ A） deforestation should usually precede large-sc
36、ale forestry. （ B） the rates of tropical forest loss are established by analyses. （ C） fertilizers and pesticides resulted in the extinctions of species. （ D） the rates of species extinctions are too complicated to determine. 14 The phrase “ are the principal contributor to“ (Paragraph 2) most proba
37、bly means_ （ A） cause the biggest trouble to. （ B） are chiefly responsible for. （ C） subscribe simultaneously to. （ D） are mainly bound up with. 15 The conclusion that can be drawn from the text is that chemicals should be applied_ （ A） very cautiously. （ B） rather excessively. （ C） much naturally.
38、（ D） quite intensively. 15 Science Fiction can provide students interested in the future with a basic introduction to the concept of thinking about possible futures in a serious way, a sense of the emotional forces in their own culture that are affecting the shape the future may take, and a multitud
39、e of predictions regarding the results of present trends. Although SF seems to take as its future social settings nothing more ambiguous than the current status or its totally evil variant, SF is actually a more important vehicle for speculative visions about macroscopic social change. At this level
40、, it is hard to deal with any precision as to when general value changes or evolving social institutions might appear, but it is most important to think about the kinds of societies that could result from the rise of new forms of interaction, even if one cannot predict exactly when they might occur.
41、 In performing this “ what if“ function, SF can act as a social laboratory as authors ruminate upon the forms social relationships could take if key variables in their own societies were different, and upon what new belief systems or mythologies could arise in the future to provide the basic rationa
42、lizations for human activities. If it is true that most people find it difficult to conceive of the ways in which their society, or human nature itself, could undergo fundamental changes, then SF of this type may provoke ones imagination to consider the diversity of paths potentially open to society
43、. Moreover, if SF is the laboratory of the imagination, its experiments are often of the kind that may significantly alter the subject matter even as they are being carried out That is, SF has always had a certain cybernetic effect on society, as its visions emotionally engage the future consciousne
44、ss of the mass public regarding especially desirable and undesirable possibilities. The shape a society takes in the present is in part influenced by its image of the future; in this way particularly powerful SF images may become self-fulfilling or self-avoiding prophecies for society. For that matt
45、er, some individuals in recent years have even shaped their own life styles after appealing models provided by SF stories. The reincarnation and diffusion of SF futuristic images of alternative societies through the media of movies and television may have speeded up and augmented SFs social feedback
46、 effects. Thus SF is not only change speculator but change agent, send an echo from the future that is becoming into the present that is sculpting it This fact alone makes imperative in any education system the study of the kinds of works discussed in this section. 16 What is the main idea of the pa
47、ssage? （ A） The feedback effects of SF on society. （ B） The role of SF and its implications. （ C） The underlying emotional forces of SF. （ D） The concept of possible future for students. 17 From Paragraph 2, we can infer that _ （ A） SF is able to provide fairly reliable prophecies of social relation
48、ships. （ B） SFs predictions about the evils in a future society have proved true. （ C） SF can provoke imagination and could in itself undergo radical changes. （ D） SFs representations of present trends may not so accurate as anticipated. 18 According to the last paragraph, “self-fulfilling“ is to “s
49、elf-avoiding“ as_ （ A） exact to “inaccurate“. （ B） fictional to “factual“. （ C） desirable to “undesirable“. （ D） individual to “public“. 19 In discussing the role of SF, the author focuses on_. （ A） its main characteristics. （ B） its general assumptions. （ C） its social impact （ D） its utter fabrications. 20 The overall tone of the piece of writing can best be described as_ （ A） indignant （ B） ironic. （ C） humorous. （ D） informative. 二、 Structure and Vocabulary 21
