2000年专八真题及答案详解.doc

TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2000)
-GRADE EIGHT-
PAPER ONE
　TIME LIMIT: 95 MIN

PART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION [40 MIN.]

In Sections A, B and C you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the correct answer to each question on your Colored Answer Sheet.

SECTION A TALK
　　Questions 1 to 5 refer to the talk in this section .At the end of the talk you w ill be given 15 seconds to answer each of the following five questions.
Now listen to the talk. 
1. The rules for the first private library in the US were drawn up by ___.

A) the legislature
B) the librarian
C) John Harvard
D) the faculty members

2. The earliest public library was also called a subscription library because books ___.
　　A) could be lent to everyone
　　B) could be lent by book stores
　　C) were lent to students and the faculty
　　D) were lent on a membership basis

3. Which of the following is NOT stated as one of the purposes of free public libraries? 
　　A) To provide readers with comfortable reading rooms.
　　B) To provide adults with opportunities of further education.
　　C) To serve the community's cultural and recreational needs.
　　D) To supply technical literature on specialized subjects.

4. The major difference between modem private and public libraries lies in ___.

A) readership
B) content
C) service 
D) function

5. The main purpose of the talk is ___.
　　A) to introduce categories of books in US libraries
　　B) to demonstrate the importance of US libraries
　　C) to explain the roles of different US libraries
　　D) to define the circulation system of US libraries

SECTION B INTERVIEW
Questions 6 to 10 are based on an interview. At the end of the interview you wil l be given 15 seconds to answer each of the following five questions.
Now listen to the interview.

6. Nancy became a taxi driver because ___.
　　A) she owned a car
　　B) she drove well
　　C) she liked drivers' uniforms
　　D) it was her childhood dream

7. According to her, what was the most difficult about becoming a taxi dr iver?
　　A) The right sense of direction.
　　B) The sense of judgment.
　　C) The skill of maneuvering.
　　D) The size of vehicles.

8. What does Nancy like best about her job?
A) Seeing interesting buildings in the city.
B) Being able to enjoy the world of nature.
C) Driving in unsettled weather.
D) Taking long drives outside the city.

9. It can be inferred from the interview that Nancy in a (n) ___ mother.

A) uncaring
B) strict
C) affectionate
D) permissive

10. The people Nancy meets are
A) rather difficult to please
B) rude to women drivers
C) talkative and generous with tips
D) different in personality

SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST
Question 11 is based on the following news. At the end of the news i tem, you wil l be given 15 seconds to answer the question.
Now listen to the news.

11. The primary purpose of the US anti-smoking legislation is ___.
　　A) to tighten control on tobacco advertising
　　B) to impose penalties on tobacco companies
　　C) to start a national anti-smoking campaign
　　D)to ensure the health of American children

Questions 12 and 13 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 30 seconds to answer the questions.
Now listen to the news.
12. The French President's visit to Japan aims at ___.
　　A) making more investments in Japan
　　B) stimulating Japanese businesses in France
　　C) helping boost the Japanese economy
　　D) launching a film festival in Japan

13. This is Jacques Chirac's ___ visit to Japan.
A) second C) fortieth
B) fourteenth D) forty-first

Questions 14 and 15 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 30 seconds to answer the questions.

Now listen to the news.
14. Afghan people are suffering from starvation because ___.
　　A) melting snow begins to block the mountain paths
　　B) the Taliban have destroyed existing food stocks
　　C) the Taliban are hindering food deliveries
　　D) an emergency air-lift of food was cancelled

15. people in Afghanistan are facing starvation.

A) 160,000
B) 16,000
C) 1,000,000
D) 100, 000

SECTION D NOTE-TAKING AND GAP-FILLING
In this section you will hear a mini-lecture. You will the lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening to the lecture, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them to complete a 15-minute gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE after the mini-lecture. Use the blank paper for note-taking.

Part Ⅱ PROOFREADING & ERROR CORRECTION (15 MIN)
Proofread the given passage on ANSWER SHEET TWO as instructed.

Part Ⅲ READING COMPREHENSION (40 MIN)

SECTION A READING COMPREHENSION (30 MIN)
In this section there are four reading passages followed by a total of fifteen multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then mark your answers on your Colored Answer Sheet.

TEXT A
Despite Denmark's manifest virtues, Danes never talk about how proud they a re to be Danes. This would sound weird in Danish. When Danes talk to foreigners about Denmark, they always begin by commenting on its tininess, its unimportance, the difficulty of its language, the general small-mindedness and self-indulgence of their countrymen and the high taxes. No Dane would look you in the eye and say, "Denmark is a great country." You're supposed to figure this out for yourself.
It is the land of the silk safety net, where almost half the national budget goes toward smoothing out life's inequalities, and there is plenty of money f or schools, day care, retraining programmes, job seminars-Danes love seminars: three days at a study centre hearing about waste management is almost as good as a ski trip. It is a culture bombarded by English, in advertising, pop music, the Internet, and despite all the English that Danish absorbs-there is no Danish Academy to defend against it -old dialects persist in Jutland that can barely be understood by Copenhageners. It is the land where, as the saying goes," Fe w have too much and fewer have too little, "and a foreigner is struck by the sweet egalitarianism that prevails, where the lowliest clerk gives you a level gaze, where Sir and Madame have disappeared from common usage, even Mr. and Mrs. It’s a nation of recyclers-about 55 % of Danish garbage gets made into something new- and no nuclear power plants. It's a nation of tireless planner. Trains run on time. Things operate well in general.
Such a nation of overachievers - a brochure from the Ministry of Business and Industry says, "Denmark is one of the world's cleanest and most organize d countries, with virtually no pollution, crime, or poverty. Denmark is the most corruption-free society in the Northern Hemisphere. "So, of course, one's heart lifts at any sighting of Danish sleaze: skinhead graffiti on buildings ("Foreigner s Out of Denmark! "), broken beer bottles in the gutters, drunken teenagers slumped in the park. 
Nonetheless, it is an orderly land. You drive through a Danish town, it comes to an end at a stone wall, and on the other side is a field of barley, a nice clean line: town here, country there. It is not a nation of jay-walkers. People stand on the curb and wait for the red light to change, even if it's 2 a.m. a n d there's not a car in sight. However, Danes don' t think of themselves as a wainting-at-2-a.m.-for-the-green-light people——that's how they see Swedes and Germans. Danes see themselves as jazzy people, improvisers, more free spirited than Swedes, but the truth is (though one should not say it) that Danes are very much like Germans and Swedes. Orderliness is a main selling point. Denmark has few natural resources, limited manufacturing capability; its future in Europe will be as a broker, banker, and distributor of goods. You send your goods by container ship to Copenhagen, and these bright, young, English-speaking, utterly honest, highly disciplined people will get your goods around to Scandinavia, the Baltic States, and Russia. Airports, seaports, highways, and rail lines are ultramodern and well-maintained.
The orderliness of the society doesn't mean that Danish lives are less messy or lonely than yours or mine, and no Dane would tell you so. You can hear plenty about bitter family feuds and the sorrows of alcoholism and about perfectly sensible people who went off one day and killed themselves. An orderly society c an not exempt its members from the hazards of life.
But there is a sense of entitlement and security that Danes grow up with. Certain things are yours by virtue of citizenship, and you shouldn't feel bad f o r taking what you're entitled to, you're as good as anyone else. The rules of the welfare system are clear to everyone, the benefits you get if you lose your job, the steps you take to get a new one; and the orderliness of the system makes it possible for the country to weather high unemployment and social unrest without a sense of crisis.

16. The author thinks that Danes adopt a ___ attitude towards their country.

A) boastful
B) modest
C) deprecating
D) mysterious

17. Which of the following is NOT a Danish characteristic cited in the passage? 

A) Fondness of foreign culture.
B) Equality in society.
C) Linguistic tolerance.
D) Persistent planning.

18. The author's reaction to the statement by the Ministry of Business and Industry is ___.
　　A) disapproving
B) approving 
C) noncommittal
D) doubtful

19. According to the passage, Danish orderliness ___.
　　A) sets the people apart from Germans and Swedes
　　B) spares Danes social troubles besetting other people
　　C) is considered economically essential to the country
　　D) prevents Danes from acknowledging existing troubles

20. At the end of the passage the author states all the following EXCEPT that ___.
　　A) Danes are clearly informed of their social benefits
　　B) Danes take for granted what is given to them
　　C) the open system helps to tide the country over
　　D) orderliness has alleviated unemployment

TEXT B
But if language habits do not represent classes, a social stratification in to something as bygone as "aristocracy" and "commons", they do still of course serve to identify social groups. This is something that seems fundamental in the use of language. As we see in relation to political and national movements, language is used as a badge or a barrier depending on which way we look at it. The new boy at school feels out of it at first because he does not know the fight words for things, and awe-inspiring pundits of six or seven look down on him for no t being aware that racksy means "dilapidated", or hairy "out first ball". The miner takes a certain pride in being "one up on the visitor or novice who calls the cage a "lift" or who thinks that men working in a warm seam are in their "underpants" when anyone ought to know that the garments are called hoggers. The "insider" is seldom displeased that his language distinguishes him from the "outsider".
Quite apart from specialized terms of this kind in groups, trades and professions, there are all kinds of standards of correctness at which mast of us feel more or less obliged to aim, because we know that certain kinds of English invite irritation or downright condemnation. On the other hand, we know that other kinds convey some kind of prestige and bear a welcome cachet.
In relation to the social aspects of language, it may well be suggested that English speakers fall into three categories: the assured, the anxious and the indifferent. At one end of this scale, we have the people who have "position" and "status", and who therefore do not feel they need worry much about their use of English. Their education and occupation make them confident of speaking an unimpeachable form of English: no fear of being criticized or corrected is likely t o cross their minds, and this gives their speech that characteristically unselfconscious and easy flow which is often envied. 
At the other end of the scale, we have an equally imperturbable band, speaking with a similar degree of careless ease, because even if they are aware that their English is condemned by others, they are supremely indifferent to the fact. The Mrs. Mops of this world have active and efficient tongues in their heads, and if we happened not to like the/r ways of saying things, well, we "can lump it ". That is their attitude. Curiously enough, writers are inclined to represent t he speech of both these extreme parties with -in' for ing. On the one hand, "we're goin' huntin', my dear sir"; on the other, "we're goin' racin’, mate."
In between, according to this view, we have a far less fortunate group, the anxious. These actively try to suppress what they believe to be bad English and assiduously cultivate what they hope to be good English. They live their lives in some degree of nervousness over their grammar, their pronunciation, and their choice of words: sensitive, and fearful of betraying themselves. Keeping up with the Joneses is measured not only in houses, furniture, refrigerators, cars, and clothes, but also in speech.
And the misfortune of the "anxious" does not end with their inner anxiety. Their lot is also the open or veiled contempt of the "assured" on one side of them and of the "indifferent" on the other.
It is all too easy to raise an unworthy laugh at the anxious. The people thus uncomfortably stilted on linguistic high heels so often form part of what is, in many ways, the most admirable section of any society: the ambitious, tense, inner-driven people, who are bent on" going places and doing things". The greater the pity, then, if a disproportionate amount of their energy goes into what Mr. Sharpless called" this shabby obsession" with variant forms of English- especially if the net result is(as so often)merely to sound affected and ridiculous. “Here", according to Bacon, "is the first distemper of learning, when men study words and not matter …. It seems to me that Pygmalion’s frenzy is a good emblem …of this vanity: for words axe but the images of matter; and except they have life of reason and invention, to fall in love with them is to fall in love with a picture."

21. The attitude held by the assured towards language is ___.

A) critical
B) anxious
C) self-conscious
D) nonchalant

22. The anxious are considered a less fortunate group because ___.
　　A) they feel they are socially looked down upon
　　B) they suffer from internal anxiety and external attack
　　C) they are inherently nervous and anxious people
　　D) they are unable to meet standards of correctness

23. The author thinks that the efforts made by the anxious to cultivate w hat they believe is good En