1、http:/ 年全国攻读硕士学位研究生入学考试英语试题Section I Use of EnglishDirections：Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C OR D on ANSWER SHEET 1. (10 points)Comparisons were drawn between the development of television in the 20th century and the diffusion of printing in
2、 the 15th and 16th centuries. Yet much had happened 1 . As was discussed before, it was not 2 the 19th century that the newspaper became the dominant pre-electronic_ 3 _ ，following in the wake of the pamphlet and the book and in the 4 of the periodical. It was during the same time that the communica
3、tions revolution 5 up, beginning with transport, the railway, and leading 6 through the telegraph, the telephone, radio, and motion pictures 7 the 20th century world of the motor car and the air plane. Not everyone sees that Process in 8 . It is important to do so. It is generally recognized, 9 , th
4、at the introduction of the computer in the early 20th century, 10 by the invention of the integrated circuit during the 1960s, radically changed the process, 11 its impact on the media was not immediately 12 . As time went by, computers became smaller and more powerful, and they became “personal” to
5、o, as well as 13 , with display becoming sharper and storage 14 increasing. They were thought of, like people, 15 generations, with the distance between generations much 16 . It was within the computer age that the term “information society” began to be widely used to describe the 17 within which we
6、 now live. The communications revolution has 18 both work and leisure and how we think and feel both about place and time, but there have been 19 view about its economic, political, social and cultural implications. “Benefits” have been weighed 20 “harmful” outcomes. And generalizations have proved
7、difficult.1. Abetween Bbefore Csince Dlater2. Aafter Bby Cduring Duntil3. Ameans Bmethod Cmedium Dmeasure4. Aprocess Bcompany Clight Dform5. Agathered Bspeeded Cworked Dpicked6. Aon Bout Cover Doff7. Aof Bfor Cbeyond Dinto8. Aconcept Bdimension Ceffect Dperspective9. Aindeed Bhence Chowever Dtherefo
8、re10. Abrought Bfollowed Cstimulated Dcharacterizedhttp:/ Aunless Bsince Clest Dalthough12. Aapparent Bdesirable Cnegative Dplausible13. Ainstitutional Buniversal Cfundamental Dinstrumental14. Aability Bcapability Ccapacity Dfaculty15. Aby means of Bin terms of Cwith regard toDin line with16. Adeepe
9、r Bfewer Cnearer Dsmaller17. Acontext Brange Cscope Dterritory18. Aregarded Bimpressed Cinfluenced Deffected19. Acompetitive Bcontroversial Cdistracting Dirrational20. Aabove Bupon Cagainst DwithSection II Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Read the following four texts. Answer the questions belo
10、w each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)Text 1If you intend using humor in your talk to make people smile, you must know how to identify shared experiences and problems. Your humor must be relevant to the audience and should help to show them that you ar
11、e one of them or that you understand their situation and are in sympathy with their point of view. Depending on whom you are addressing, the problems will be different. If you are talking to a group of managers, you may refer to the disorganized methods of their secretaries; alternatively if you are
12、 addressing secretaries, you may want to comment on their disorganized bosses.Here is an example, which I heard at a nurses convention, of a story which works well because the audience all shared the same view of doctors. A man arrives in heaven and is being shown around by St. Peter. He sees wonder
13、ful accommodations, beautiful gardens, sunny weather, and so on. Everyone is very peaceful, polite and friendly until, waiting in a line for lunch, the new arrival is suddenly pushed aside by a man in a white coat, who rushes to the head of the line, grabs his food and stomps over to a table by hims
14、elf. “Who is that?” the new arrival asked St. Peter. “Oh, thats God,” came the reply, “but sometimes he thinks hes a doctor.” If you are part of the group which you are addressing, you will be in a position to know the experiences and problems which are common to all of you and itll be appropriate f
15、or you to make a passing remark about the inedible canteen food or the chairmans notorious bad taste in ties. With other audiences you mustnt attempt to cut in with humor as they will resent an http:/ making disparaging remarks about their canteen or their chairman. You will be on safer ground if yo
16、u stick to scapegoats like the Post Office or the telephone system. If you feel awkward being humorous, you must practice so that it becomes more natural. Include a few casual and apparently off-the-cuff remarks which you can deliver in a relaxed and unforced manner. Often its the delivery which cau
17、ses the audience to smile, so speak slowly and remember that a raised eyebrow or an unbelieving look may help to show that you are making a light-hearted remark. Look for the humor. It often comes from the unexpected. A twist on a familiar quote “If at first you dont succeed, give up” or a play on w
18、ords or on a situation. Search for exaggeration and understatement. Look at your talk and pick out a few words or sentences which you can turn about and inject with humor.21. To make your humor work, you should .A take advantage of different kinds of audienceB make fun of the disorganized peopleC ad
19、dress different problems to different peopleD show sympathy for your listeners22. The joke about doctors implies that, in the eyes of nurses, they are .A impolite to new arrivalsB very conscious of their godlike roleC entitled to some privilegesD very busy even during lunch hours23. It can be inferr
20、ed from the text that public services .A have benefited many peopleB are the focus of public attentionC are an inappropriate subject for humorD have often been the laughing stock24. To achieve the desired result, humorous stories should be delivered .A in well-worded languageB as awkwardly as possib
21、leC in exaggerated statementsD as casually as possible25. The best title for the text may be .A Use Humor EffectivelyB Various Kinds of HumorC Add Humor to SpeechD Different Humor StrategiesText 2Since the dawn of human ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning http:/ to cope with work that i
22、s dangerous, boring, burdensome, or just plain nasty. That compulsion has resulted in roboticsthe science of conferring various human capabilities on machines. And if scientists have yet to create the mechanical version of science fiction, they have begun to come close.As a result, the modern world
23、is increasingly populated by intelligent gizmos whose presence we barely notice but whose universal existence has removed much human labor. Our factories hum to the rhythm of robot assembly arms. Our banking is done at automated teller terminals that thank us with mechanical politeness for the trans
24、action. Our subway trains are controlled by tireless robot-drivers. And thanks to the continual miniaturization of electronics and micro-mechanics, there are already robot systems that can perform some kinds of brain and bone surgery with submillimeter accuracyfar greater precision than highly skill
25、ed physicians can achieve with their hands alone.But if robots are to reach the next stage of laborsaving utility, they will have to operate with less human supervision and be able to make at least a few decisions for themselvesgoals that pose a real challenge. “While we know how to tell a robot to
26、handle a specific error,“ says Dave Lavery, manager of a robotics program at NASA, “we cant yet give a robot enough common sense to reliably interact with a dynamic world.” Indeed the quest for true artificial intelligence has produced very mixed results. Despite a spell of initial optimism in the 1
27、960s and 1970s when it appeared that transistor circuits and microprocessors might be able to copy the action of the human brain by the year 2010, researchers lately have begun to extend that forecast by decades if not centuries. What they found, in attempting to model thought, is that the human bra
28、ins roughly one hundred billion nerve cells are much more talentedand human perception far more complicatedthan previously imagined. They have built robots that can recognize the error of a machine panel by a fraction of a millimeter in a controlled factory environment. But the human mind can glimps
29、e a rapidly changing scene and immediately disregard the 98 percent that is irrelevant, instantaneously focusing on the monkey at the side of a winding forest road or the single suspicious face in a big crowd. The most advanced computer systems on Earth cant approach that kind of ability, and neuros
30、cientists still dont know quite how we do it. 26. Human ingenuity was initially demonstrated in .A the use of machines to produce science fiction.B the wide use of machines in manufacturing industry.C the invention of tools for difficult and dangerous work.D the elites cunning tackling of dangerous
31、and boring work.27. The word “gizmos” (line 1, paragraph 2) most probably means . A programs B experts C devices D creatures28. According to the text, what is beyond mans ability now is to design a http:/ that can . A fulfill delicate tasks like performing brain surgery.B interact with human beings
32、verbally. C have a little common sense. D respond independently to a changing world.29. Besides reducing human labor, robots can also . A make a few decisions for themselves.B deal with some errors with human intervention. C improve factory environments.D cultivate human creativity.30. The author us
33、es the example of a monkey to argue that robots are .A expected to copy human brain in internal structure.B able to perceive abnormalities immediately. C far less able than human brain in focusing on relevant information.D best used in a controlled environment.Text 3Could the bad old days of economi
34、c decline be about to return? Since OPEC agreed to supply-cuts in March, the price of crude oil has jumped to almost $26 a barrel, up from less than $10 last December. This near-tripling of oil prices calls up scary memories of the 1973 oil shock, when prices quadrupled, and 1979-1980, when they als
35、o almost tripled. Both previous shocks resulted in double-digit inflation and global economic decline. So where are the headlines warning of gloom and doom this time?The oil price was given another push up this week when Iraq suspended oil exports. Strengthening economic growth, at the same time as
36、winter grips the northern hemisphere, could push the price higher still in the short term.Yet there are good reasons to expect the economic consequences now to be less severe than in the 1970s. In most countries the cost of crude oil now accounts for a smaller share of the price of petrol than it di
37、d in the 1970s. In Europe, taxes account for up to four-fifths of the retail price, so even quite big changes in the price of crude have a more muted effect on pump prices than in the past.Rich economies are also less dependent on oil than they were, and so less sensitive to swings in the oil price.
38、 Energy conservation, a shift to other fuels and a decline in the importance of heavy, energy-intensive industries have reduced oil consumption. Software, consultancy and mobile telephones use far less oil than steel or car production. For each dollar of GDP (in constant prices) rich economies now u
39、se nearly 50% less oil than in 1973. The OECD estimates in its latest Economic Outlook that, if oil prices averaged $22 a barrel for a full year, compared with $13 in 1998, this would increase the oil import bill in rich economies by only 0.25-0.5% of GDP. That is less than one-quarter of the income
40、 loss in 1974 or 1980. On the other hand, oil-importing http:/ economiesto which heavy industry has shiftedhave become more energy-intensive, and so could be more seriously squeezed. One more reason not to lose sleep over the rise in oil prices is that, unlike the rises in the 1970s, it has not occu
41、rred against the background of general commodity-price inflation and global excess demand. A sizable portion of the world is only just emerging from economic decline. The Economists commodity price index is broadly unchanging from a year ago. In 1973 commodity prices jumped by 70%, and in 1979 by al
42、most 30%. 31. The main reason for the latest rise of oil price is_A global inflation. B reduction in supply. Cfast growth in economy. D Iraqs suspension of exports. 32. It can be inferred from the text that the retail price of petrol will go up dramatically if_. A price of crude rises. B commodity p
43、rices rise.C consumption rises. D oil taxes rise.33. The estimates in Economic Outlook show that in rich countries_. Aheavy industry becomes more energy-intensive. Bincome loss mainly results from fluctuating crude oil prices. Cmanufacturing industry has been seriously squeezed. Doil price changes h
44、ave no significant impact on GDP.34. We can draw a conclusion from the text that_.Aoil-price shocks are less shocking now. Binflation seems irrelevant to oil-price shocks. Cenergy conservation can keep down the oil prices. Dthe price rise of crude leads to the shrinking of heavy industry.35. From th
45、e text we can see that the writer seems_.Aoptimistic. Bsensitive. Cgloomy. Dscared.Text 4The Supreme Courts decisions on physician-assisted suicide carry important implications for how medicine seeks to relieve dying patients of pain and suffering. Although it ruled that there is no constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide, the Court in effect supported the medical principle of “double effect”, a centuries-old moral principle holding that an action having two effectsa good one that is intended and a harmful one that is foreseenis permissible if the actor intend
