浙江省2003年1月高等教育自学考试

　　英语阅读(二)试题

　　课程代码：00596

　　Ⅰ.Match the words from Column A with the definitions from Column B (15%)

　　A B

　　1.challenge A. unwilling to believe

　　2.subtle B. put disease into the body of someone

　　3.sceptical C. question the lawfulness or rightness of

　　4.drastic D. delicate

　　5.pensioner E. a person who is receiving money paid by a government

　　6.infect F. severe

　　7.philanthropic G. action done in answer

　　8.response H. kind and helpful

　　9.scarcity I. make an effort

　　10.preserve J. keep safe from harm or danger

　　11.alternative K. come into existence

　　12.endeavour L. inadequate supply compared with demands

　　13.storage M. guess

　　14.emerge N. something that may replace another thing

　　15.speculate O. keeping things in a place for later use

　　Ⅱ.All the following sentences are taken from the textbook. Study each sentence carefully and choose A,B,C or D that has the closest meaning to the underlined word or phrase.(15%)

　　1.What can be done to halt and reverse the tobacco epidemic amongst women?

　　A.change to the opposite B.turn over C.go back D.turn round

　　2.Its power is ultimately derived from the force of gravity and from the sun.

　　A.practically B.originally C.completely D.finally

　　3.Methods were devised for producing electricity from the energy of rivers.

　　A.thought out B.designed C.derived D.considered

　　4.In circuses, animals are taught to do the tricks that are most compatible to their physical and temperamental make-up.

　　A.favorable B.suitable C.contradictory D.contrary

　　5.Experiments show that on a normal distribution curve the deviation from the mean represented by the top of the curve is equal on both sides.

　　A.difference B.turning away C.distance D.departure

　　6.Reading aloud is, in essence, an advertisement for learning to read.

　　A.mostly B.too often C.to most people D.in its nature

　　7.Occasional loss of livestock must be weighed against the good these animals do in maintaining the balance of nature.

　　A.estimated by B.balanced by

　　C.measured in terms of D.compared in terms of importance or value

　　8.Animals like the buffalo and the pronghorn antelope, which once roamed the plains in countless numbers, were either killed or pushed off the grasslands.

　　A.exterminated from B.treated roughly or unfairly in

　　C.driven out of D.moved out of

　　9.Since the Republicans trounced the Democrats last November, I have been asked countless times.

　　A.published B.won C.defeated D.attacked

　　10.“Why didn't President Clinton get credit for the good economy?”

　　A.belief B.public attention C.record D.honor

　　11.In theses terms the U.S economy has been contracting since the late '60s.

　　A.under these conditions B.in these semesters

　　C.in these words D.in these periods of time

　　12.My mother taught us fairness and compassion, my father, discipline and enterprise.

　　A.kindness B.warm?heartedness C.sympathy D.patience

　　13.Tuition at private school like U.S.C was reckoned at $ 20 per credit.

　　A.estimated B.considered C.thought of D.accounted

　　14.Still, you could work your way through without help from parents or the government.

　　A.go through B.succeed C.get through D.pay tuition by working

　　15.The economy boomed in the wake of the Kennedy tax cuts, which brought the top marginal income?tax rate down from 91 percent to 70 percent.

　　A.following B.before C.without D.in the period of

　　Ⅲ.Reading Comprehension (40%)

　　Reading Passage 1?

　　No other country spends what we do per capita for medical care. The care available is among the best technically, even if used too lavishly and thus dangerously, but none of the countries that stand above us in health status have such a high proportion of medically disenfranchised (被剥夺了公民权利的) persons. Given the evidence that medical care is not that valuable and access to care not that bad, it seems most unlikely that our bad showing is caused by the significant proportion who are poorly served. Other hypotheses have greater explanatory power: excessive poverty, both actual and relative, and excessive affluence.

　　Excessive poverty is probably more preva lent in the U.S. than in any of the countries that have a better infant mortality rate and female life expectancy at birth. This is probably true also for all but four or five of the countries with a longer male life expectancy. In the notably poor countries that exceed us in male survival, difficult living conditions are a more accepted way of life and in several of them, a good basic diet, basic medical care and basic education, and lifelong employment opportunities are an everyday fact of life. In the U.S. a national unemployment level of 10 percent may be 40 percent in the ghetto while less than 4 percent elsewhere. The countries that have surpassed us in health do not have such severe or entrenched problems. Nor are such a high proportion of their people involved in them.

　　Excessive affluence is not so obvious a cause of ill health, but, at least until recently, few other nations could afford such unhealthful ways of living. Excessive intake of animal protein and fats, dangerous intake of alcohol and use of tobacco and drugs(prescribed and proscribed), and dangerous recreational sports and driving habits are all possible only because of affluence. Our heritage, desires, opportunities, and our machismo(大男子气概)，combined with the relatively low cost of bad foods and speedy vehicles, make us particularly vulnerable to our affluence. And those who are not affluent try harder. Our unacceptable health status, then, will not be improved appreciably by expanded medical resources nor by their redistribution so much as by a general attempt to improve the quality of life for all.

　　1.All of the following are mentioned in the passage as factors affecting the health of the population EXCEPT ________.

　　A.the availability of medical care services

　　B.the genetic endowment of individuals

　　C.the nation's relative position in health status

　　D.an individual's own behavior

　　2.The author is primarily concerned with ________.

　　A.condemning the U.S. for its failure to provide better medical care to the poor

　　B.eva luating the relative significance of factors contributing to the poor health status in the U.S.

　　C.comparing the general health of the U.S. population with world averages

　　D.advocating specific measures designed to improve the health of the U.S. population

　　3.The passage best supports which of the following conclusions about the relationship between per capita expenditures for medical care and the health of a population?

　　A.The per capita expenditure for medical care has relatively little effect on the total amount of medical care available to a population.

　　B.The genetic makeup of a population is a more powerful determinant of the health of a population than the per capita expenditure for medical care.

　　C.A population may have very high per capita expenditures for medical care and yet have a lower health status than other populations with lower per capita expenditures.

　　D.The higher the per capita expenditure on medical care, the more advanced is the medical technology; and the more advanced the technology, the better is the health of the population.

　　4.The author refers to the excessive intake of alcohol and tobacco and drug use in order to ________.

　　A.show that some health problems cannot be attacked by better medical care

　　B.demonstrate that use of tobacco and intoxicants is detrimental to health

　　C.cite examples of individual behavior that have adverse consequences for health status

　　D.illustrate ways in which affluence may contribute to poor health status

　　5.The passage provides information to answer which of the following questions?

　　A.What is the most powerful influence on the health status of a population?

　　B.Which nation in the world leads in health status?

　　C.Is the life expectancy of males in the U.S. longer than that of females?

　　D.What are the most important genetic factors influencing the health of an individual?

　　Reading Passage 2

　　Man, even in the lower stages of development, possesses a faculty which for want of a better name, I shall call Number Sense. This faculty permits him to recognize that something has changed in a small collection when, without his direct knowledge, an object has been removed from or added to the collection.

　　Number sense should not be confused with counting, which is probably of a much later vintage(共有的特点)， and involves, as we shall see, a rather intricate mental process. Counting, so far as we know, is an attribute exclusively human, whereas some brute species seem to possess a rudimentary number sense akin to our own. At least, such is the opinion of competent observers of animal behavior, and the theory is supported by a weighty mass of evidence.

　　Many birds, for instance, possess such a number sense. If a nest contains four eggs, one can safely be taken; but when two are removed, the bird generally deserts. In some unaccountable way the bird can distinguish two from three. But this faculty is by no means confined to birds. In fact, the most striking instance we know is that of the insect called “solitary wasp(黄蜂).” The mother wasp lays her eggs in individual cells and provides each egg with a number of live caterpillars(毛虫) on which the young feed when hatched. Now, the number of victims is remarkably constant for a given species of wasp. Some species provide 5, others, 12, others again as high as 24 caterpillars per cell. But most remarkable is the case of the Genus Eumenus, a variety in which the male is much smaller than the female. In some mysterious way the mother knows whether the egg will produce a male or a female grub and apportions the quantity of food accordingly; she does not change the species or size of the prey, but if the egg is male, she supplies it with 5 victims; if female, with ten.

　　The regularity in the action of the wasp and the fact that this action is connected with a fundamental function in the life of the insect make this last case less convincing than the one which follows. Here the action of the bird seems to border on the conscious.

　　An esquire(乡绅) was determined to shoot a crow which made its nest in the watchtower of his estate. Repeatedly he tried to surprise the bird, but in vain; at the approach of man the crow would leave its nest. From a distant tree it would watchfully wait until the man had left the tower and then return to its nest. One day the esquire hit upon a ruse: two men entered the tower, one remained within, the other came out. The experiment was repeated on the succeeding days with two ,three, then four men, yet without success. Finally, five men were sent: as before, all entered the tower, and one remained while the other four came out and went away. Here the crow lost count. Unable to distinguish between four and five, it promptly returned to its nest.

　　6.The main idea of this passage is that ________.

　　A.man's rudimentary number sense is found in lower species

　　B.counting is not to be confused with number sense

　　C.birds have a limited number sense

　　D.animals cannot count

　　7.Counting is different from number sense in that counting is ________.

　　A.dependent on simpler mental activity

　　B.farther up the evolutionary scale

　　C.present in animals on the basis of much evidence

　　D.the ability to distinguish difference in small sets of objects

　　8.The author feels that the number sense displayed by Genus Eumenus is________.

　　A.more remarkable than that of a crow

　　B.less convincing an instance than that displayed by the crow because it seems to be instinctive

　　C.actually not an instance of what the author is discussing because it is tied to a regular pattern of responses

　　D.restricted to the female of this species

　　9.The crow was finally deceived because ________.

　　A.it was not afraid of the men in the tower

　　B.it did not have a number sense

　　C.four men left the tower

　　D.it could not distinguish between four and five

　　10.We can conclude from this passage that number sense in animals appears to be ________.

　　A.related directly to preservation of self or offspring

　　B.present chiefly in winged creatures

　　C.akin to a faculty possessed by men in all stages of development

　　D.as intricate as counting

　　Reading Passage 3

　　Schools expect textbooks to be a valuable source of information for students. My research suggests, however, that textbooks that address the place of Native Americans within the history of the United States distort history to suit a particular cultural value system. In some textbooks, for example, settlers are pictured as more humane, complex, skillful, and wise than Native Americans. In essence, textbooks stereotype and deprecate(贬低) the numerous Native American cultures while reinforcing the attitude that the European conquest of the New World denotes the superiority of European cultures. Although textbooks eva luate Native American architecture, political systems, and homemaking, I contend that they do it from an ethnocentric (种族优越感的)， European perspective without recognizing that other perspectives are possible.

　　One argument against my contention asserts that, by nature, textbooks are culturally biased and that I am simply underestimating children's ability to see through these biases. Some researchers even claim that by the time students are in high school, they know they cannot take textbooks literally. Yet substantial evidence exists to the contrary. Two researchers, for example, have conducted studies that suggest that children's attitudes about particular cultures are strongly influenced by the textbooks used in schools. Given this, an ongoing, careful review of how school textbooks depict Native Americans is certainly warranted.

　　11.The primary purpose of the passage is to ________.

　　A.describe in detail one research study regarding the impact of history textbooks on children's attitudes and beliefs about certain cultures

　　B.discuss the difficulty of presenting an accurate history of the United States

　　C.argue that textbooks used in schools stereotype Native Americans and influence children's attitudes

　　D.summarize ways in which some textbooks give distorted pictures of the political systems developed by various Native American groups

　　12.The author mentions two researchers' studies most likely in order to ________.

　　A.suggest that children's political attitudes are formed primarily through textbooks

　　B.counter the claim that children are able to see through stereotypes in textbooks

　　C.suggest that younger children tend to interpret the messages in textbooks more literally than do older children

　　D.demonstrate that textbooks carry political messages meant to influence their readers

　　13.The author's attitude toward the content of the history textbooks discussed in the passage is best described as one of ________.

　　A.indifference

　　B.hesitance

　　C.neutrality

　　D.disapproval

　　14.The author implies that which of the following will occur if textbooks are not carefully reviewed?

　　A.Children will remain ignorant of the European settlers' conquest of the New World.

　　B.Children will form negative stereotypes of Native Americans.

　　C.Children will develop an understanding of ethnocentrism.

　　D.Children will stop taking textbooks seriously.

　　15.Which of the following would most logically be the topic of the paragraph immediately following the passage?

　　A.Specific ways to eva luate the biases of United States history textbooks

　　B.The centrality of the teacher's role in Untied States history courses

　　C.Nontraditional methods of teaching United States history

　　D.The contributions of European immigrants to the development of the United States

　　Reading Passage 4

　　Archaeology as a profession faces two major problems. First, it is the poorest of the poor. Only paltry sums are available for excavating(发掘) and even less is available for publishing the results and preserving the sites once excavated. Yet archaeologists deal with priceless objects everyday. Second, there is the problem of illegal excavation, resulting in museum-quality pieces being sold to the highest bidder.

　　I would like to make an outrageous suggestion that would provide funds for archaeology and reduce the amount of illegal digging. I would propose that scientific archaeological expeditions and governmental authorities sell excavated artifacts on the open market. Such sales would provide substantial funds for the excavation and preservation of archaeological sites and the publication of results. At the same time, they would break the illegal excavator's grip on the market, thereby decreasing the inducement(引诱) to engage in illegal activities.

　　You might object that professionals excavate to acquire knowledge, not money. Moreover, ancient artifacts are part of our global cultural heritage, which should be available for all to appreciate, not sold to the highest bidder. I agree. Sell nothing that has unique artistic merit or scientific value. But, not everything that comes out of the ground has scientific value. Thousands of pottery vessels and ancient lamps, for example, are essentially duplicates of one another. In one small excavation in Cyprus(塞浦路斯)， archaeologists recently uncovered 2,000 virtually indistinguishable small jugs in a single courtyard.

　　The basements of museums are simply not large enough to store the artifacts that are likely to be discovered in the future. There is not enough money even to catalogue the finds; as a result, they cannot be found again and become as inaccessible as if they had never been discovered. Indeed, with the help of a computer, sold artifacts could be more accessible than are the pieces stored in museum basements. Prior to sale, each could be photographed and the list of the purchasers could be maintained on the computer. A purchaser could even be required to agree to return the piece if it should become needed for scientific purposes.

　　It would be unrealistic to suggest that illegal digging would stop if artifacts were sold on the open market. But the demand for the illegally hidden product would be substantially reduced. Who would want an unmarked pot when another was avaiable whose origin was known, and that was dated by the professional archaeologist who excavated it?

　　16.The primary purpose of the passage is to propose ________.

　　A.a new system for cataloguing duplicate artifacts

　　B.a way to curb illegal digging while benefiting the archaeological profession

　　C.a way to distinguish artifacts with scientific value from those that have no such value

　　D.the governmental regulation of archaeological sites

　　17.The author implies that all of the following statements about duplicate artifacts are true EXCEPT ________.

　　A.such artifacts seldom have scientific value

　　B.there is likely to be a continuing supply of such artifacts

　　C.museums are well supplied with examples of such artifacts

　　D.such artifacts frequently exceed in quality those already catalogued in museum collections

　　18.The author mentions the excavation in Cyprus(Paragraph 3) to emphasize which of the following points?

　　A.Ancient lamps and pottery vessels are less valuable.

　　B.Artifacts that are very similar to each other present cataloguing difficulties to archaeologists.

　　C.Artifacts that are not uniquely valuabe, and therefore could be sold, are available in large quantities.

　　D.Illegal sales of duplicate artifacts are widespread, particularly on the island of Cyprus.

　　19.The author's argument concerning the effect of the official sale of duplicate artifacts on illegal excavation is based on which of the following assumptions?

　　A.Prospective purchasers would prefer to buy authenticated artifacts.

　　B.The price of illegally excavated artifacts would rise.

　　C.Illegal excavators would be forced to sell only duplicate artifacts.

　　D.Money gained from selling authenticated artifacts could be used to investigate and prosecute illegal excavators.

　　20.The author anticipates which of the following initial objections to the adoption of his proposal?

　　A.Museum officials will become unwilling to store artifacts.

　　B.An oversupply of salable artifacts will result and the demand for them will fall.

　　C.Artifacts that would have been displayed in public places will be sold to private collectors.

　　D.Counterfeiting of artifacts will become more commonplace.

　　Ⅳ.Questions:(10%)

　　All the questions are based on Reading Passage 5. Answer the questions with the fewest words possible.

　　Reading Passage 5

　　During the 1900s we will witness many technological changes in the way we communicate. Even books, like the one you are reading, will probably change from their 500-year-old format to exciting “user-friendly” forms enhanced by the computer page. According to futurist Alvin Toffler, books in the future will be read on book-sized video screens. These electronic devices will be able to immediately translate foreign language editions, enlarge or reduce the size of the type, change the type styles, adjust the degree of reading difficulty, and allow the readers of novels to increase or decrease the levels of violence and sexual explicitness to fit individual tastes.

　　All of these new “user-friendly” options along with the content itself will be delivered on tiny microchips of CD-ROMs(now used in libraries to deliver large amount of information to computer screens).

　　Toffler has been forecasting technological changes since his first successful book, Future Shock, was published in 1970. His vision of changing trends has been remarkably accurate. In 1980, his book The Third Wave explained how civilization was in transition between the second and third great cycles of human history. The first cycle was the agrarian society, which existed until the second cycle, the industral age, was ushered in during the late eighteenth and nineteeth centuries. The third cycle, which is now replacing the industrial society, is the information age.

　　In his latest book, Powershift, published in 1990, Toffler tells how the information explosion is causing turmoil among established institutions-such as governments, banks, trade unions and the media-as the industrial age gives way to the information age. According to Toffler, power is directly linked with knowledge and knowledge has become central to economic development. He sees a shifting of power in our culture, transforming such institutions as finance, politics and media. These powershifts, he contends, will create a radically different society.

　　In addition to economic turmoil, the information age is bringing us a wide range of new communication technologies. This technological explosion began escalation during the 1980s and seems to be gaining snowball-like momentum. Sociologist Daniel Bell pointed out that by the 1980s the United States had more people working in the production of information than in manufacturing and agriculture combined.

　　1.In its context the expression “user-friendly” means ______.

　　2.Why does the author give us an account of the “exciting” features of “electronic books”?

　　3.What does the author think of Toffler's foresight of changing trends?

　　4.Why is knowledge playing a decisive role in the shifting of power in almost all established institutions?

　　5.The “information age” is characterized by ________.

　　Ⅴ.Translate the following two short passages into Chinese.(20%)

　　We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have been travelling is seemingly easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road—the one “less traveled by” — offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the protection of our earth. The choice, after all, is ours to make. If, having endured much, we have at last asserted our “right to know”, and if, knowing, we have concluded that we are being asked to take senseless and frightening risks, then we should no longer accept the advice of those who tell us we must fill our world with poisonous chemicals; we should look about and see what other course is open to us.