同等学力英语真题及参考答案.doc

1998年同等学力人员申请硕士学位
外国语水平全国统一考试及参考答案
Paper One 试卷一
(90 minutes)
Part I Listening Comprehension (20 minutes, 15 points) （略）
Part II Vocabulary (10 minutes, 10 points, 0.5 for each )
Section A
Directions: In each item, choose one word that best keeps the meaning of the sentence if it is substituted for the underlined word. Mark out pour choice on the ANSWER SHEET with a single line through the center.
16. People of diverse backgrounds now fly to distant places for pleasure, business or education.
A) different B) distinctive C) similar D) separate
17. The fun of playing the game was a greater incentive than the prize.
A) motive B) initiative C) excitement D) entertainment
18. Sometimes the messages are conveyed through deliberate, conscious gestures; other times, our bodies talk without our even knowing.
A) definite B) intentional C) delicate D) interactive
19.Hunters have almost exterminated many of the larger animals while farmers destroyed many smaller animals.
A) wounded B) reduced C) killed D) trapped
20. Today black children in South Africa are still reluctant to study subjects from which they were effectively barred for so long.
A) anxious B) curious C) opposed D) unwilling
21. If a cat comes too close to its nest, the mockingbird initiates a set of actions to protect its offspring.
A) hastens B) triggers C) devises D) releases
22. Panic swept through the swimmers as they caught sight of a huge shark approaching menacingly.
A) Tension B) Excitement C) Fear D) Nervousness
23. Lighting levels are carefully controlled to fall within an acceptable level for optimal reading convenience.
A) ideal B) required C) optional D) standard
24. Many observers believe that country will remain in a state of chaos if it fails to solve its chronic food shortage problem.
A) transient B) starving C) severe D) serial
25. The exhibition is designed to facilitate further cooperation between Chinese TV industry and overseas TV industries.
A) establish B) maximize C) guarantee D) promote

Section B
Directions: In each question, decide which of the four choices given will most suitably complete the sentence if inserted at the place marked. Mark out pour choice on the ANSWER SHEET with a single line through the center.
26. Anyone who can study abroad is fortunate; but, of course, it is not easy to make the_________ from one culture to another
A) transaction . B) transportation C) transmission D) transition
27. We_________ that diet is related to most types of cancer but we don't have definite proof.
A) assure B) suspect C) ascertain D) suspend
28. How large a proportion of the sales of stores in or near resort areas can be_________ to tourist spending?
A) contributed B) applied C) attributed D) attached
29. Not all persons arrested and_________ with a crime are guilty, and the main function of criminal courts is to determine who is guilty under the law.
A) sentenced B) accused C) persecuted D) charged
30. He_________ in court that he had seen the prisoner run out of the bank after it had been robbed.
A) justified B) witnessed C) testified D) identified
31. If you are a member of a club, you must_________ to the rules of that club.
A) conform B) appeal C) refer D) access
32. With the constant change of the conditions, the outcome is not always_________.
A) favorable B) predictable C) dependable D) reasonable
33. Instead of answering the question, the manager_________ his shoulders as if it were not important.
A) shrugged B) touched C) raised D) patted
34. I am sorry for the_________ tone of your letter, but feel sure that things are not so bad with you as you say.
A) apologetic B) threatening C) pessimistic D) grateful
35. A patient who is dying of incurable cancer of the throat is in terrible pain, which can no longer be satisfactorily _________.
A) diminished B) alleviated C) relaxed D) abolished
Part II Reading Comprehension (50 minutes, 30 Points)
Directions: There are 6 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A , B, C and D . You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the ANSWER SHEET with a single line through the center.
Passage One
Nuclear power's danger to health, safety, and even life itself can be summed up in one word: radiation.
Nuclear radiation has a certain mystery about it, partly because it cannot be detected by human senses. It can't be seen or heard, or touched or tasted, even though it may be all around us. There are other things like that. For example, radio waves are all around us but we can't sense radioactivity without a radiation detector .But unlike common radio waves, nuclear radiation is not harmless to human beings and other living things.
At very high levels, radiation can kill an animal or human being outright by killing masses of cell in vital organs. But even the lowest levels can do serious damage. There is no level of radiation that is completely safe. If the radiation does nor hit anything important, the damage may not be significant. This is the case when only a few cells are hit, and if they arc killed outright. Your body will replace the dead cells with healthy ones. But if the few cells arc only damaged, and if they reproduce themselves, you may be in trouble. They reproduce themselves in a deformed way. They can grow into cancer. Sometimes this does not show up for many years.
This is another reason for some of the mystery about nuclear radiation. Serious damage can be done without the victim being aware at the time that damage has occurred. A person can be irradiated and feel fine, then die of cancer five, ten, or twenty years later as a result. Or a child can be born weak or liable to serious illness as a result of radiation absorbed by its grandparents.
Radiation can hurt us. We must know the truth.
36. According to the passage, the danger of nuclear power lies in _________.
A) nuclear mystery B) radiation detection
C) radiation level D) nuclear radiation
37. Radiation can cause serious consequences even at the lowest level _________.
A) when it kills few cells
B) if it damages few cells
C) though the damaged cells can repair themselves
D) unless the damaged cells can reproduce themselves
38. The word “significant” in paragraph 3 most probably means _________.
A) remarkable B) meaningful C) fatal D) harmful
39. Radiation can hurt us in the way that it can _________.
A) kill large numbers of cells in main organs so as to cause death immediately.
B) damage cells which nay grow into cancer years later
C) affect the healthy growth of our offspring
D) All of the above.
40. Which of the following can be best inferred from the passage?
A) The importance of protection from radiation cannot be over-emphasized.
B) The mystery about radiation remains unsolved.
C) Cancer is mainly caused by radiation.
D) Radiation can hurt those who are not aware of its danger.

Passage Two
In some ways, the United States has made spectacular progress. Fires no longer destroy 18,000 buildings as they did in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, or kill half a town of 2,400 people, as they did the same night in Peshtigo, Wisconsin. Other than the Beverly Hill Supper Club fire in Kentucky, in 1977, it has been four decades since more than 100 Americans died in a fire.
But even with such successes, the United States still has one of the worst fire death rates in the world. Safety experts say the problem is neither money nor technology, but the indifference of a country that just will not take Fires seriously enough.
American fire departments are some of the world's fastest and best equipped. They have to be. The United States has twice Japan's population, and 40 times as man`' Fires. It spends far less on preventing fires than on fighting them. American Fire-safety lessons are aimed almost entirely at children, who die in disproportionately large numbers in fires but who, contrary to popular myth, start very few of them.
Experts say the fatal error is an attitude that fires are not really anyone's fault. Thai is not so in other countries, where both public education and the law treat Fires as either a personal failing or a crime. Japan has many wood houses; of the estimated 48 fires in world history that burned more than 10,000 buildings, Japan has had 27. Penalties for by negligence can be as high as life imprisonment.
In the United States, most education dollars are spent in elementary schools. But the lessons are aimed at too limited an audience; just 9 percent of all Fire deaths are caused by children playing with matches.
The United States continues to rely more on technology than laws or social pressure. There are smoke detectors in 85 percent of all homes. Some local building codes now require home sprinklers. New heaters and irons shut themselves off if they are tipped.

41. The reason why so many Americans die in fires is that _________.
A) they took no interest in new technology
B) they did not attach great importance to preventing fires
C) they showed indifference to fighting Fires
D) they did not spend enough money on fire facilities
42. Although the Fire death rate has declined, the United States ________.
A) still has the worst fire death rate in the world
B) is still alert to the fire problem
C) is still training a large number of safety experts
D) is still confronted with the serious fire problem
43. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
A) fire safety lessons should be aimed at American adults
B) American children have not received enough education of fire safety lesson
C) Japan is better equipped with fire facilities than the Untied States
D) America's large population accounts for high fire frequency
44. In what aspects should the United States learn from Japan?
A) Architecture and building material.
B) Education and technology.
C) Laws and attitude.
D) All of the above
45. To narrow the gap between the fire death rate in the United States and that in other countries, the author suggests ________.
A) developing new technology
B) counting more on laws and social pressure
C) placing a fire extinguisher in every family
D) reinforcing the safeness of household appliances
Passage Three
There are hidden factors which scientists call “feedback mechanisms”. No one knows quite how they will interact with the changing climate. Here's one example: plants and animals adapt to climate change over centuries. At the current estimate of half a degree centigrade of warming per decade, vegetation(植物) may not keep up. Climatologist James Hansen predicts climate zones will shift toward the poles by 50 to 75kilometres a year-faster than trees can naturally migrate. Species that find themselves in an unfamiliar environment will die. The 1000kilometre-wide strip of forest running through Canada, the USSR and Scandinavia could be cut by half. Millions of dying trees would soon lead to massive forest fires, releasing ions of CO2 and further boosting global warming.
There arc dozens of other possible. feedback mechanisms'. Higher temperatures will fuel condensation and increase cloudiness, which may actually damp down global warming. Others, like the ‘albedo’ effect, will do the opposite. The. ‘albedo’ effect is the amount of solar energy reflected by the earth's surface. As northern ice and snow melts and the darker sea and land pokes( 戳) through, more heat will be absorbed, adding to the global temperature increase.
Even if we were to magically stop all greenhouse-gas emissions tomorrow the impact on global climate would continue for decades. Delay will simply make the problem worse. The fact is that some of us are doing quite well the way things are. In the developed world prosperity has been built on 150 years of cheap fossil fuels.
Material progress has been linked to energy consumption. Today 75 per cent of all the world's energy is consumed by a quarter of the world's population. The average rich world resident adds about 3.2 tons of CO2 yearly to the atmosphere, more than four times the level added by each Third World citizen. The US, with just seven per cent of the global population, is responsible for 22 per cent of global warming.
46.”Feedback mechanisms” in paragraph 1 most probably refer to ________.
A) how plants and animals adapt to hidden factors
B) how plants and animals interact with the changing climate
C) how climate changes
D) how climate zones shift
47. James Hansen predicts that the shift of climate zones will be accompanied by ________.
A) the cutting of many trees.
B) desirable environmental changes.
C) successful migration of species.
D) unsuccessful migration of trees.
48. We can learn from the passage that ________.
A) some feedback mechanisms may slow down global warming
B) the basic facts of global warming are unknown
C) developing countries benefit from cheap fossil fuels
D) developed countries have decided to reduce their energy consumption
49. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
A) the developing world has decided to increase its energy consumption
B) a third-world citizen adds less than a ton of CO2 yearly to the atmosphere
C) the world climate would soon gain its balance if we stopped greenhouse gas emissions
D) future prosperity of the world is dependent on cheap fossil fuels
50. Which of the following is the main topic of the passage?
A) Material progress and energy consumption.
B) Prosperity and cheap fossil fuels.
C) Impact of global warming on climate.
D) Plants and animals in the changing climate.
Passage Four
Learning disabilities are very common. They affect perhaps 10 percent of all children. Four times as many boys as girls have learning disabilities.
Since about 1970, new research has helped brain scientists understand these problems better. Scientists now know there are many different kinds of learning disabilities and that they are caused by many different things. There is no longer any question that all learning disabilities result from differences in the way the brain is organized.
You cannot look at a child and tell if he or she has a learning disability. There is no outward sign of the disorder. So some researchers began looking at the brain itself to learn what might be wrong.
In one study, researchers examined the brain of a learning-disabled person, who had died in an accident. They found two unusual things. One involved cells in the left side of the brain, which control language. These cells normally are white. In the learning disabled person, however, these cells were gray. The researchers also found that many of the