2023年大学生英语竞赛初赛试卷D类.doc

2023 National English Contest for College Students
(Level D—Preliminary)
(总分：150分，答题时间：120分钟)
Part I Listening Comprehension (30 marks)
Section A (5 marks)
In this section, you will hear five short conversations. Each conversation will be read only once. At the end of each conversation, there will be a pause. During the pause, read the question and three choices marked A,B and C, and decide which is the best choice. Then mark the corresponding letter on the answer sheet with a single line through the center.
1. Will Amy stay in Boston all week? A. She must check her schedule first. B. She must ask the Greens first. C. She must ask her parents first.
2. Where does Jenny live? A. In Dover. B. In Birmingham. C. In Brighton.
3. What do you want to drink? A. coke B. water C. orange juice
4. How much did the stamp of Elvis Presley cost?
A. 29 cents B. 32 cents C. 35 cents.
5. How does Natalie go to her university? A. By taxi B. By car. C. By school bus.

Section B (10 marks)
In this section, you will hear two long conversations. Each conversation will be read once. After each conversation , there will be a one-minute pause , read the five questions, each with the three choices mark A , B and C ,and decide which is the best choice. Then mark the corresponding letter on the answer sheet with a single line through the centre.
Conversation 1
6. What is New York famous for?
A. Squares. B. Temples. C. Skyscrapers.
7. According to the man where is the tallest skyscraper in the world?
A. In the New York B. In Chicago C. In Los Angeles.
8 .Has Joey ever been inside a skyscraper? A. Yes, just one time. B. Yes, many times. C. No, never.
9. What are they going to do tomorrow? A. Go sightseeing. B. Go swimming. C. Go hiking.
10. What’s the population of New York city?
A.7 million. B.8 million. C.9 million.

Conversation 2
11.What is the relationship between the man and the woman? A. Doctor and patient. B. Librarian and student. C. Policeman and passer-by.
12.The woman wanted to find books about_______. A. famous Americans B. wealthy Chinese C. royal Englishmen
13. Benjamin Franklin was a_______. A. diplomat B. singer C. dancer
14. Where is everything that is in the library listed? ll�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
A. In solar system.
B. In the computer system.
C. In the public address system.
15. According to the man, the computer will tell you about the book EXCEPT____.
A. a short description of the book
B. the position of the book
C. the whole book

Section C (5 marks)
In this section, you will hear a monologue. The monologue will read twice. After the monologue, there will be a pause. During the pause, read the five question, each with the three choices marked A , B and C, and decide which is the best choice . Then mark the corresponding letter on the answer sheet with a single line through the centre .

16. What does Peter Watson do in the museum?
A. Human Resource Manager.
B. Public Programs Manager.
C. Public Relations Manager.
17. How many exhibits does the museum have?
A. About 40. B. Less than 50. C. Over 100.
18. What's the name of the special area for children under the age of 7?
A. Power your future. B. Mathematics. C. Kidspace.
19. The "Mathematics" exhibit area of the museum was first made for_____.
A. the World's Fair in New York in 1964
B. the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984
C. the World Economical and Environmental Conference in 2023
20. According to Peter, which of the following statements in NOT TRUE?
A. Visitors to the museum can learn more about science.
B. Every exhibit is merely designed for the visitors to look at.
C. The exhibits show the principles of science in daily lives.

Section D (10 marks)
In this section , you will hear a short passage . The passage will be read twice. There are ten missing words or phases , filling in the blanks with the exact words or phrases you hear . Remember to write the answer on the answer sheet.
Remarkable People
What makes a person remarkable? The word "remarkable" means"(21) ____" or" worthy of notice." A remarkable person, then, is someone who is unusual, who is worthy of our noticing. Of course, being "unusual" or "worthy of notice" does (22)____mean being famous or(23)____.Many famous people are not remarkable, and many people who are truly remarkable are not famous.

These people are remarkable because all of them(24)____and then worked hard to achieve them. Perhaps that is the(25)____of remarkable(26)____:people with the courage, strength and perseverance to work--and keep on working---and keep on working--toward something that they(27)____. As booker T. Washington once said, "Success is to be measured not so much by the(28)____that one has reached in life as by the (29)____which he has overcome while trying to succeed."
We can learn a great deal from people we consider to be remarkable. We can (30)____by their work and their way of being because they enable us to see what is possible in one's life.

Part II vocabulary and structure (15marks)
There are 15 incomplete sentences in this part . For each blank, there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that best completes the sentence. Then mark the corresponding letter on the answer sheet with a sheet with a single line through the center.
31. Whether we'll hold the sports meeting depends on the weather,____?
A. won't we B. shan't we C. doesn't it D. won’t it
32. In order to prevent the fire spreading, some of the houses near by____ pulled down before the fireman arrived.
A. have been B. have C. had been D. had
33. Neither of the young men who had tried to get job in the company____.
A. was accepted B. were accepting
C. has been accepted D. have been accepted
34. Be careful when you cross the busy street. If not, you may____ run over by a car.
A. have B. get C. become D. turn
35. Now, children , it's time you____.
A. are washing and dressing B. were accepting
C. will wash and dress D. were washed and dressed
36. Zhong Nanshan is a famous expert who has ____to ____the origin of SARS.
A. devoted ;studying B. been devoted; studying
C. devoted; study D. been devoted; study
37. Our country has a ____history of 40000years.
A. recorded B. recording C. record D. records
38. ____quickly and soon his resignation became the talk of the town.
A. Words spread B. The word was spread
C. Word spread D.A word spread
39. He has been caught___ the rain and is wet___ the skin.
A. by; to B. in; to C .in; through D. with, in
40. My mother bought me a new pair of boots on my birthday___ she had promised.
A. how B. what C. why D. as
41. The goalkeeper is the weak point of the team. Which idiom can be used
to describe the goalkeeper?
A. The goalkeeper is the touch of Midas in the team.
A. The goalkeeper is the apple of the eye in the team.
A .The goalkeeper is the Trojan horse in the team.
A. The goalkeeper is the heel of Achilles in the team.
42.--The aim of the journey was to cross the continent of Antarctica from east to west, a distance of 1,800 miles. And someone in your family, Martin, was on that journey. Who was it?
--It was my grandfather.
--____
--They left on August 8th,1914--which was the same week the First World War broke out.
A. Where did they set up camp after the boat sank?
B. When did they leave for the journey?
C. Why did they go to Antarctica?
D. Who were surprised when they arrived?
43.--So you don't like poetry?
--Well, I like listening to the songs, and the songs have poetry in them .
--___
--Well, I can remember this: I wandered lonely as a cloud.
A. Can you tell me your name?
B. Do you tell me your name?
C. Can you remember any lines of poetry in English?
D. Do you read poetry in your spare time?
44.--Do you eat breakfast, Tom?
--___
--What about lunch?
--Oh, I get really hungry by around half past twelve. I have to go and get something to eat.
I like a hot lunch__ maybe pasta, meat or fish and vegetables.
A. If I have time I do, but often I don’t bother.
B. That advertisement is a really different task to complete.
C.I feel tired in the afternoon!
D.I suppose my favourite food would have to be chocolate!
45.--Come in. Oh , hello, Liang Yu.____
--Yes, Professor. I hope it’s convenient. I just wondered what you thought of my first try. I expect it will need some more work before it’s ready.
--Yes, I’m afraid it will. These are certain rules that you should follow when writing a resume. Let’s have a look at yours and see where you need to improve.
--Thank you very much.
A. Do you drop in to talk about your resume.
B. Don’t you think so?
C. What’s to be done with those?
D. What about interpersonal skills?

Part III Cloze ( 10 marks )
Read the passage and fill in each bank with one word. Choose the word in one of the following three ways: according to the context, by using the correct form of the given word, or by using some given letter of the word. Remember to write the answers on the answer sheet.

Families
Exactly what is a family? Until about 50 years ago, the traditional American family consisted (46) ____a working husband, a wife at home, and two or more children. Responsibilities were clearly (47) ____(divide) in an American nuclear family, While the husband was earning a living, the wife was caring for the home and(48)____(raise) the children. Of course, these were (49) ____(except),but this concept of the family was the general rule until the 1960s.
Since the 1960s, (50)how ____,the family has become more diverse, and changeable. Americans have accepted differing concepts of families, (51)____(include) single-parent, blended, two-paycheck, interracial, childless, and commuter families.
Some critics believe that the American family has suffered (52)____(great) because of all the changes in society. According to these critics, the family had been much stronger before it began to struggle with issues such (53) ____divorce, working mothers, gay couples, and unmarried relationships. Today’s strongest critics feel that the traditional nuclear family will become rare in the 21st (54) ____.
Nationwide, however, most Americans believe that the family is going to survive . In fact, almost all major surveys in recent years have found that the American family is as strong as it has ever been. For most Americans, the family continues to provide their deepest source of satisfaction and meaning in life. Thus, although today’s family is different from (55)____ it used to be, it seems to be thriving.

Part IV Reading Comprehension ( 40 marks )
Read the following passages. Each passage is followed by several questions. Respond to the questions according to the passage. Remember to write the answers on the answer sheet.
Section A ( 10 marks )
Questions 56-60 are based on the following passage.

Are Computer Alive?
The topic of thought is one area of psychology, and many observers have considered this aspect in connection with robots and computers: some of the old worries about AI—artificial intelligence—were closely linked to the question of whether computers could think. The first massive electronic computers, capable of rapid (if often unreliable ) computation and little or no creative activity, were soon called “electronic brains.” A reaction to this terminology quickly followed. To put them in their place ,computers were called “high—speed idiots,” an effort to protect human vanity. In such a climate, the possibility of computers actually being alive was rarely considered: it was bad enough that computers might be capable of thought. But not everyone realized the implications of the high—speed idiot tag. It has not been pointed out often enough that even the human idiot is one of the most intelligent life forms on Earth. If the early computers were even that intelligent , it was already a remarkable state of affairs.
One consequence of speculation about the possibility of computer thought was that we were forced to examine with new care the idea of thought in general. It soon became clear that we were not sure what we meat by such terms as thought and thinking. We tend to assume that human beings think, some more than others , though we often call people thoughtless or unthinking. Dreams cause a problem, partly because they usually happen outside our control. They are obviously some type of thinking? And the question of nonhuman life forms

adds further problems. Many of us would maintain that some of the higher animals--dogs, cats , apes, and so on--are capable of at least basic thought, but what about fish and insects? It is certainly true that the higher mammals show complex brain activity when tested with the appropriate equipment .If thinking is demonstrated by evident electrical activity in the brain, then many animal species are capable of thought. Once we have formulated clear ideas on what thought is in biological creatures, it will be easier to discuss the question of thought in artifacts（人工制品 ）. And what is true of thought is also true of many other mental processes. One of the immense benefits of AI research is that we are being forced to check carefully the working of the human mind.
It is already clear that machines have superior mental abilities to many life forms. No fern or oak tree can play chess as well as even the simplest digital computer; nor can frogs weld car bodies as well as robots. The mechanical manipulator is cleverer in some ways than the three -toed sloth(树獭). It seems that ,viewed in terms of intellect, the computer should be set well above plants and most animals .Only the higher animals can, it seems , compete with computers with regard to intellect--and even then with diminishing success.( Examples of this are in the games of chess. Some of the word's best players are now computers.)

Questions 56-58: Read the questions and the four choices marked A,B,C and D, and decide which is the best choice according to the passage.
56. The first electronic compu