浙江省2003年7月高等教育自学考试

　　英语阅读(一)试题

　　课程代码：00595

　　请将答案填在答题纸相应位置上。

　　Ⅰ. Vocabulary. (10%)

　　Complete each of the following sentences with the proper form of the word in the brackets. Write the word on the Answer Sheet.

　　1. (adaptation)When you go to a foreign country, you must ______ yourself to new manners and customs.

　　2. (except)Either of you has to finish the work tonight, I could make no ______ either.

　　3. (indicate)There seems no ______ of his being punished.

　　4. (significance)Even the most ______part of the problem ought to be carefully considered.

　　5. (vain)She tried ______to ask her husband to give up smoking.

　　6. (hesitate)Whenever he sees someone in trouble, he will give a hand without.

　　7. (suspicious)I have a ______that he is not telling the truth.

　　8. (detach)She is so ______from us that it is hard to get to know her.

　　9. (skyrocket)The ______prices in the pre-liberation days made the poor poorer.

　　10. (possess)You can take ______of that sum, because you're the eldest son in the family.

　　Ⅱ. Text Comprehension. (20%)

　　According to the texts you have learned, decide whether each of the following statements is true or false. Write T or F on the Answer Sheet.

　　1. In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock was a Christian but he was such a hard-hearted man that he had never shown a touch of mercy to debtors who could not pay.

　　2. In Jane Eyre, Bessie's account of school discipline made Jane unwilling to go to school.

　　3. In True Love, Milton was arrested because he asked his computer robot to search for the perfect woman to marry him.

　　4. Frances, in The Girls in Their Summer Dresses, kept to herself the feeling that her husband might leave her someday.

　　5. According to What Body Language Can Tell You That Words Cannot, touching, in most cases, should be avoided since it is very emotional.

　　6. In the United Nations, there are five working languages and at all official meetings, the five languages are all translated.

　　7. In Stories from Greek Myths, Zeus the father of the gods ordered Hephaestus to make massive chains and fasten them upon the immortal body of Prometheus and Hephaestus only too readily accepted his order.

　　8. According to The Story of the Bible, the first rays of dawn appeared admist the darkness, but soon everything went back into darkness.

　　9. The First World War started in 1914, when Germany first attacked Belgium.

　　10. According to The World at War, the United States joined the British side against Germany in 1917.

　　11. Gorge, in How George, Once upon a Time, Got up Early in the Morning, made such a noise in the house that Mrs. G. was waken up, thinking that it was a burglar.

　　12. According to New Application, Miriam had arranged the bank's window in a special display because her bank was promoted to a State Bank.

　　13. In Rip Van Winkle, when Rip sound his old house empty and in ruins, he next looked for the village inn.

　　14. In Gifts of the Magi, Jim bought a set of combs for Della's beautiful hair as a present for Valentine's Day.

　　15. According to How to Live Like a Millionaire, to most people, fortune is the matter of luck or inheritance or even intelligence.

　　16. In A Day's Wait, the author described the hunting scene for the reason that it diverts the reader so that the boy's real thoughts will be a greater surprise when they are revealed.

　　17. According to Bringing up Children, the encouragement of children to achieve new skills should be balanced between the extremes of pushing and lack of interest.

　　18. In Decameron, when Lisabetta found out her lover, she felt it impossible to give him a proper burial.

　　19. According to No Marriage, No Apologies, researches have found that most marriages that begin in cohabitation end in divorce.

　　20. In Canterbury Tales, the three young men had come out to kill Death but were killed by Death in the end.

　　Ⅲ. Reading Comprehension. (50%)

　　Seciton A Reading Comprehension In this part there are 4 reading passages followed by 20 questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are 4 options marked A,B,C, and D. You should decide on the best one and write your answer on the Answer Sheet. (40%)

　　Passage 1

　　The most striking single fact about chimpanzees is the flexibility of their social life, the lack of any rigid form of organization. It represents about as far a departure from the baboon type of organization as one can find among the higher primates, and serves to emphasize the great variety of primate adaptations. Chimpanzees are more human than baboons or rather they jibe better with the way we like to picture ourselves, as free-wheeling individuals who tend to be unpredictable, do not take readily to any form of regimentation, and are frequently charming. (Charm is relatively rare among baboons. )

　　Two researchers have described what they found during more than eight months spent among chimpanzees in their natural habitat, the forest：“We were quite surprised to observe that there is no single distinct social unit in chimpanzee society. Not only is there no ‘family’or‘harem’organization; neither is there a ‘troop’organization—that is to say, no particular chimpanzees keep permanently together. On the contrary, individuals move about at will, alone or in small groups best described as bands, which sometimes form into large aggregations. They leave their associates if they want to, and join up with new ones without conflict. ”

　　The general practice is best described as“easy come, easy go,”although there are certain group-forming tendencies. As a rule chimpanzees move about in one of four types of band: adult males only; mothers and offspring and occasionally a few other females; adults and adolescents of both sexes, but no mothers with young; and representatives of all categories mixed together. The composition of bands may change a number of times during the course of a day as individuals wander off and groups split or combine with other groups. On the other hand, certain individuals prefer one another's company. One of the researchers observed that four males often roamed together over a four-month period, and mothers often associated with their older offspring.

　　1. The author's main purpose is to explain______.

　　A. how chimpanzees mate

　　B. the differences between baboons and chimpanzees

　　C. why chimpanzees live in the forest

　　D. the relationships among chimpanzees

　　2. The author implies that the social behavior of baboons is______ .

　　A. predictable B. practical

　　C. political D. primitive

　　3. According to the passage, the researchers were surprised that chimpanzees had such______.

　　A. temporary associations B. humanlike families

　　C. violent?conflicts D. large harems

　　4. In line 15, the phrase“easy come, easy go”could best be replaced by ______.

　　A. immobile B. nonchalant

　　C. functional D. aggressive

　　5. According to the passage, the membership of a chimpanzee band may change several times in a ______.

　　A. day B. week C. month D. year

　　Passage 2

　　With a literary history that goes back as far as the seventeenth century, Florida has long been a major haunt for writers from all over the United States. Jonathan Dickinson, whose group of Quakers was cast up on the coast near what is now Palm Beach after they were wrecked en route from Jamaica to Pennsylvania, recorded the tragedy in God's Protecting Providence in 1699. Not only was this book one of America's first bestsellers, but it was also the first account of the American Indians of the southeastern coast. Other early writers who followed Dickinson celebrated the rich and various plant and animal life of the region, striking sympathetic chords in the imaginations of Ralph Waldo Emerson and the English poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

　　Florida has been visited by many writers who sometimes were so taken by what they saw that they adopted it as their home. Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, spent several winters on an orange farm that she and her husband bought in 1867. The Stowes' original intent in buying a home, which is at Mandarin on the Saint Johns River, was to create a model for the employment of former slaves. The original intent had to give way to other considerations. So many spectators flocked to the farm to catch a glimpse of Mrs. Stowe that a charge of 25 cents per person for admission was established.

　　On his way to report on the Cuban Revolution in 1896, Stephen Crane spent some time in Jacksonville. It was there that Crane met his wife, who at that time ran a popular tavern in the town. On his way to Cuba, Crane's boat sank off the coast of Florida, an incident that provided Crane with the material on which his masterpiece“The Open Boat”is based.

　　James Weldon Johnson, a prominent Black author, was a native of Florida. He was born in Jacksonville in 1871 and was a songwriter, poet, novelist, teacher, and the first Black man to become a lawyer in Florida since the Reconstruction. Johnson also fought successfully to upgrade the quality of education for Black people in Florida.

　　6. What is the main topic of the passage?

　　A. Early books about Florida

　　B. Florida's literary history

　　C. The first settlers of Palm Beach

　　D. Black American literature

　　7. The word “it”in line 5 refers to______.

　　A. tragedy B. book

　　C. life D. coast

　　8. The popular book God's Protecting Providence primarily dealt with_______.

　　A. Ralph Waldo Emerson B. the beach

　　C. animal life D. a shipwreck

　　9. The word “rich” in line 7 is closest in meaning to______.

　　A. expensive B. healthy

　　C. abundant D. heavy

　　10. It can be inferred from the passage that Harriet Beecher Stowe was_____.

　　A. a celebrity B. a travel writer

　　C. an associate of Stephen Crane D. a native of Florida

　　Passage 3?

　　The modem age is an age of electricity. People are so used to electric lights, radio, televisions, and telephones that it is hard to imagine what life would be like without them. When there is a power failure, people grope about in flickering candlelight, cars hesitate in the streets because there are no traffic lights to guide them, and food spoils in silent refrigerators.

　　Yet, people began to understand how electricity works only a little more than two centuries ago. Nature has apparently been experimenting in this field for millions of years. Scientists are discovering more and more that the living world may hold many interesting secrets of electricity that could benefit humanity.

　　All living cells send out tiny pulses of electricity. As the heart beats, it sends out pulses of recorded electricity; they form an electrocardiogram, which a doctor can study to determine how well the heart is working. The brain, too, sends out brain waves of electricity, which can be recorded in an electroencephalogram. The electric currents generated by most living cells are extremely small—often so small that sensitive instruments are needed to record them. But in some animals, certain muscle cells have become so specialized as electrical generators that they do not work as muscle cells at all. When large numbers of these cells are linked together, the effects can be astonishing.

　　The electric eel is an amazing storage battery. It can send a jolt of as much as eight hundred volts of electricity through the water in which it lives (An electric house current is only one hundred twenty volts. ) As many as four-fifths of all the cells in the electric eel's body are specialized for generating electricity, and the strength of the shock it can deliver corresponds roughly to the length of its body.

　　11. What is the main idea of the passage?

　　A. Electric eels are potentially dangerous

　　B. Biology and electricity appear to be closely related

　　C. People would be at a loss without electricity

　　D. Scientists still have much to discover about electricity

　　12. The author mentions all of the following as results of a blackout EXCEPT______.

　　A. refrigerated food items may go bad

　　B. traffic lights do not work

　　C. people must rely on candlelight

　　D. elevators and escalators do not function

　　13. Why does the author mention electric eels?

　　A. To warn the reader to stay away from them

　　B. To compare their voltage to that used in houses

　　C. To give an example of a living electrical generator

　　D. To describe a new source of electrical power

　　14. How many volts of electricity can an electric eel emit?

　　A. 1,000 B. 800

　　C. 200 D. 120

　　15. It can be inferred from the passage that the longer an eel is the______.

　　A. more beneficial it will be to science

　　B. more powerful will be its electrical charge

　　C. easier it will be to find

　　D. tougher it will be to eat

　　Passage 4

　　The military aspect of the United States Civil War has always attracted the most attention from scholars. The roar of gunfire, the massed movements of uniformed men, the shrill of bugles, and the drama of hand－to－hand combat have fascinated students of warfare for a century. Behind the lines, however, life was less spectacular. It was the story of back-breaking labor to provide the fighting men with food and arms, of nerve-tingling uncertainty about the course of national events, of heartbreak over sons or brothers or husbands lost in battle. If the men on the firing line won the victories, the means to those victories were forged on the home front.

　　Never in the nation's history had Americans worked harder for victory than in the Civil War. Northerners and Southerners alike threw themselves into the task of supplying their respective armies. Both governments made tremendous demands upon civilians and, in general, received willing cooperation.

　　By 1863 the Northern war economy was rumbling along in high gear. Everything from steamboats to shovels was needed—and produced. Denied Southern cotton, textile mills turned to wool for blankets and uniforms. Hides by the hundreds of thousands were turned into shoes and harness and saddles; ironworks manufactured locomotives, ordnance, armor plate. Where private enterprise lagged, the government set up its own factories or arsenals. Agriculture boomed, with machinery doing the job of farm workers drawn into the army.

　　In short, everything that a nation needed to fight a modern war was produced in uncounted numbers. Inevitably there were profiteers with gold-headed canes and flamboyant diamond stickpins, but for every crooked tycoon there were thousands of ordinary citizens living on fixed incomes who did their best to cope with rising prices and still make a contribution to the war effort. Those who could bought war bonds: others knitted, sewed, nursed, or lent any other assistance in their power.

　　16. With what topic is the passage primarily concerned?

　　A. Why the South lost the Civil War

　　B. The causes of the Civil War

　　C. Where the Civil War battles were fought

　　D. The civilian response to the Civil War

　　17. According to the passage, during the Civil War the South no longer provided the North with______.

　　A. cotton B. wool

　　C. hides D. shoes

　　18. In line 14, the word “Hides”is closest in meaning to which of the follo

　　wing?

　　A. Animal skins B. Tree trunks

　　C. Disguises D. Shelters

　　19. In line 20, the word“crooked”could best be replaced by which of the following?

　　A. twisted B. dishonest

　　C. uneven D. distorted

　　20. Where in the passage does the author mention a contribution made by the government to the war economy?

　　A. Line 4 B. Lines 11-12

　　C. Line 16-17 D. Lines 19-20

　　Section B Skimming and Scanning In this part there are 3 reading passages followed by 10 questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are 4 options marked A,B,C and D. Skim or scan them and decide on the best answer and write your answer on the Answer Sheet. (10%)

　　Passage 1?

　　Television was not invented by any one person. Nor did it spring into being overnight. It evolved gradually, over a long period, from the ideas of many people—each one building on the work of their predecessors. The process began in 1873, when it was accidentally discovered that the electrical resistance of the element selenium varied in proportion to the intensity of the light shining on it. Scientists quickly recognized that this provided a way of transforming light variations into electrical signals. Almost immediately a number of schemes were proposed for sending pictures by wire (it was, of course, before radio).

　　One of the earliest of these schemes was patterned on the human eye. Suggested by G. R. Carey in 1875, it envisioned a mosaic of selenium cells on which the picture to be transmitted would be focused by a lens system. At the receiving end there would be a similarly arranged mosaic made up of electric lights. Each selenium cell would be connected by an individual wire to the similarly placed light in the receiving mosaic. Light falling on the selenium cell would cause the associated electric light to shine in proportion. Thus the mosaic of lights would reproduce the original picture. Had the necessary amplifiers and the right kind of lights been available, this system would have worked. But it also would have required an impractical number of connecting wires. Carey recognized this and in a second scheme proposed to“scan”the cells—transmitting the signal from each cell to its associated light, in turn, over a single wire. If this were done fast enough, the retentive power of the eye would cause the resultant image to be see as a complete picture.

　　21. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

　　A. The Art of Television

　　B. Television in the Electronic Era

　　C. Harmful Effects of Television Viewing

　　D. First Steps in the Invention of Television

　　22. In line 1 of the passage, the word“being”could best be replaced by which of the following?

　　A. place B. existence

　　C. creature D. subsistence

　　23. An important discovery in early television was the electrical resistance of______.

　　A. mosaics B. the human eye

　　C. lenses D. the element selenium

　　Passage 2?

　　In 1781 twelve families trooped north from Mexico to California. On a stream along the desert's edge, they built a settlement called Los Angeles. For many years it was a market town, where nearby farmers and ranchers met to trade. Then in 1876 a railroad linked Los Angeles to San Francisco and, through San Francisco, to the rest of the country. The next year farmers sent their first trainload of oranges east. By 1885 a new railroad provided a direct route between Los Angeles and Chicago.

　　Then in the 1890's oil was discovered in the city. As derricks went up, workers built many highways and pipe lines. Digging began on a harbor that would make Los Angeles not only an ocean port but also a fishing center. The harbor was completed in 1914. That year the Panama Canal opened. Suddenly Los Angeles was the busiest port on the Pacific Coast.

　　Today the city is the main industrial center in the West. It produces goods not only for other West Coast communities but also for those in other parts of the country. It leads the nation in making airplanes and equipment for exploring outer space. Many motion pictures and television programs are filmed in Los Angeles. The city is also the business center for states in the West. Improvements in transportation are the main reason for Los Angeles' growth.

　　24. According to the passage, what was the main commercial activity of Los Angeles during the years directly following its settlement?

　　A. Fruit growing B. Oil drilling C. Fishing D. Trading

　　25. According to the passage, in which year were oranges first shipped from Los Angeles to the East Coast by train?

　　A. 1781 B. 1876 C. 1877 D. 1890

　　26. San Francisco is mentioned in the passage for which of the following reasons?

　　A. The settlers who founded Los Angeles came from San Francisco.

　　B. San Francisco linked Los Angeles with the rest of the country.

　　C. San Francisco was a market town where farmers came to trade.

　　D. Oil was discovered in San Francisco in the 1890's.

　　27. Where in the passage does the author state the principal cause of the expansion of Los Angeles?

　　A. Line 5 B. Line 7 C. Line 11 D. Lines 12-13

　　Passage 3?

　　Canals are watercourses constructed to improve and extend natural waterways. They are generally built to facilitate transportation, but from the beginning they have been used for many additional purposes including draining swamps, irrigating land for cultivation and promoting economic development.

　　Canals are often classified by the size of vessel they can accommodate. Some small local canals, which are able to float only 100-to 300-ton boats or small rafts of timber, may be only 3 feet deep. Major barge canals generally range from 6 to 9 feet in depth, and some are as much as 10 or 12 feet deep. These canals can carry 1,350-to 2,000-ton crafts. Ship canals are 25 feet or more deep and are capable of accommodating large vessels in the seagoing class.

　　Canals may also be classified as e来源:91 考试网ither water-level or lock canals. Waterlevel canals do not vary in height along their courses. The best known of these is the Suez Canal, which is at sea level. Lock canals, which include most modern waterways, contain locks, or special devices for raising and lowering boats along their courses by changing the depth of the water. Each lock is a stretch of water enclosed by gates at each end. After a boat enters the lock, water is let in or drained out until it reaches approximately the same level as the water ahead.

　　28. What does the passage mainly discuss?

　　A. How canals are constructed B. Common types of canal boats and barges

　　C. The world's largest canals D. How canals are used and classified

　　29. The canals mentioned in the second paragraph are grouped according to their______.

　　A. depth B. length C. altitude D. location

　　30. The word“accommodating”in line 9 could best be replaced by______.

　　A. weighing B. loading C. handing D. storing

　　Ⅳ. Answer the questions. (20%)

　　There are 4 simple questions in this part, which are based on the texts you have learned. Give the brief answer to each of the questions. Your answers must be to the point and grammatically correct. Write your answers on the Answer Sheet.

　　1. In The Lady or the Tiger, what happened if the accused chose the door with a tiger behind it? And what happened if he chose the other door?

　　2. In The Necklace, what did the couple find at the Palais Royal? How did Loisel get the money to pay the jeweler?

　　3. In The Merchant of Venice, why did Antonio lend money from Shylock?

　　4. In The Animals of Aesop, what did the monkey in the second story see the fisherman do? Why did the monkey fall into the water?