2009年北京大學(xué)考博英語真題

北京大學(xué)2009年博士研究生入學(xué)考試英語試題

Part One Listening Comprehension (20%)(略)

Part Two Structure and Written Expression (20%)

Directions: For each question decide which of the four choices given will most suitably complete the sentence if inserted at the place marked. Mark your choices on the ANSWER SHEET.

21. There seemed little doubt that the spread of a particular cultural trait did follow a specific regular pattern_______.

A. as a society adopted B.   which a society adopted it

C.  as a society adopted it D.   when a society adopted

22. Long-term exposure to mass media portrayals of violence might make the audience insensitive or _____ to real acts of violence.

A. emotionally neutral                      B. neutrally emotional

C. emotionally mutual                      D. mutually emotional

23. The Collector’s Edition coin is______, and represents a true collector’s treasure to be appreciated for generations to come.

A. unlikely any Elvis Presley collectible ever released

B. unlikely, and Elvis Presley collectible never released

C. unlike any Elvis Presley collectible never released

D. unlike any Elvis Presley collectible ever released

24. ______，the short is in some ways not really new.

A. Like many another new things B. Like much other new things

C． Like many other new things D. Like many another new thing

25. One of the recurrent frustrations and tragedies in the history of thought is caused by the uncertainty ______ to solve a given problem by traditional methods previously applied to problems which seem to be of the same nature.

A. that is possible B. that it is possible

C. whether it is possible D. about what is possible

26. Kepler reconciled astronomy with physics, and substituted for fictitious clockwork a universe of material bodies not unlike the earth, freely floating and turning in space, moved by forces______.

A. acted on them B. being acted on it

C. acting on them D. having acted on it

27. Experimental sciences, based on the observation of the external world, cannot aspire to completeness; the nature of things, and the imperfection of our organs,______.

A. are likely opposing it B. are opposed to it and the like

C. are alike opposed it D. are opposing it likewise

28. Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s president, died. His funeral in Moscow was attended by a bevy of world leaders past and present.

A. prior                B. past                C. former                 D. late試題分析：

29. Some economists fret that share prices are moving far ______ companies earnings, to a degree scanty reminiscent of Japan in the late 1980s just before its crash.

A. ahead of B. back of

C. independent of D. abreast of

30. Australia is struggling to cope with the consequences of a devastating drought. As the world warms up, other countries should pay .

A. heel B. heal C. heed D. head

31. Facing the danger, they were quite themselves.

A. in case of B. in name of

C. in possession of D. in charge of

32. Before turning to writing, I spent eight years as a lawyer about how life would be with a prominent father blazing my trail.

A. fantasizing B. fascinating C. facilitating D. finalizing

33. At first, movies were little more than amusing that appeared to move.

A. novels B. novelties C. notices D. novices

34. commutation via the telegraph began in the 1840s, just before the Civil War, and via the telephone just afterward (1870s).

A. Instantaneous B. Spontaneous C. Simultaneous D. Instinctive

35. I don’t understand what you’re getting so about. It’s really not a problem.

A. worked out B. worked up C. worked over D. worked against

36. The school shooting triggered a barrage of transparently irrelevant proposed solutions, tossed out without regard to their relevance to the events that supposedly ______ the proposals.

A. occasioned B. concerned C. illuminated D. ensued

37. active in commerce or the professions, most of the wealthy were not self-made, but had inherited family fortunes.

A. Except for B. Despite C. As D. Though

38. Men commit motoring offences as women, according to the Home Office figures.

A. nine times of B. as nine times

C. nine times that of D. nine time as many

39. ，wireless communications will increasingly become part of the fabric of everyday life.

A. In years to come                B. Since coming years

C. For years to come     D. Over coming years

40. Harvard is committed to ongoing communication and cooperation as project plans are______.

A. maintain, shaping B. maintaining, shaping

C. maintain, shaped D. maintaining, shaped

Part Three Reading Comprehension (20%)

I. Directions: Each of the following three passages is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each question or unfinished statement, four answers are given. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each question. Mark your choices on the ANSWER SHEET. (10%)

Passage One

Why does storytelling endure across time and cultures? Perhaps the answer lies in our evolutionary roots. A study of the way that people respond to Victorian literature hints that novels act as a social glue, reinforcing the types of behaviour that benefit society.

Literature “could continually condition society so that we fight against base impulses and work in a cooperative way’’, says Jonathan Gottschall of Washington and Jefferson College, Pennsylvania. He and co-author Joseph Carroll at the University of Missouri, St. Louis, study how Darwin’s theories of evolution apply to literature. Along with John Johnson, an evolutionary psychologist at Pennsylvania State University in DuBois, the researchers asked 500 people to fill in a questionnaire about 200 classic Victorian novels. The respondents were asked to define characters as protagonists or antagonists and then to describe their personality and motives, such as whether they were conscientious or power hungry.

The team found that the characters fell into groups that mirrored the egalitarian dynamics of a society in which individual dominance is suppressed for the greater good {Evolutionary Psychology, vol 4, p 716). Protagonists, such as Elizabeth Bennett in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, for example, scored highly on conscientiousness and nurturing, while antagonists like Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula scored highly on status-seeking and social dominance. In the novels, dominant behaviour is “powerfully stigmatized’’, says Gottschall “Bad guys and girls are just dominance machines; they are obsessed with getting ahead, they rarely have pro-social behaviours.”

While few in today’s world live in hunter-gatherer societies, “the political dynamic at work in these novels, the basic opposition between communitarianism and dominance behaviour, is a universal theme”, says Carroll. Christopher Boehm, a cultural anthropologist whose work Carroll acknowledges was an important influence on the study, agrees. “Modem democracies, with their formal checks and balances, are carrying forward an egalitarian ideal”.

A few characters were judged to be both good and bad, such as Heathcliff in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights or Austen’s Mr. Darcy. “They reveal the pressure being exercised on maintaining the total social order,” says Carroll.

Boehm and Carroll believe novels have the same effect as the cautionary tales told in older societies. “Novels have a function that continues to contribute to the quality and structure of group life,” says Boehm. “Maybe storytelling—from TV to folk tales —actually serves some specific evolutionary adaptation,” says Gottschall. They’re not just products of evolutionary adaptation.

41. According to the study mentioned in the passage, which one of the following best defines the function of literature in human society?

A. It helps with the evolutionary progress.

B. It helps advocate people’s base impulse and conscientiousness.

C. It reinforces the types of behavior the benefit a cooperative society.

D. It suppresses base impulses and sets regulations for society.

42. What were the respondents in the research asked to do?

A. To identify protagonists and antagonists in some novels and describe them.

B. To group characters in novels who mirror the egalitarian dynamic of a society.

C. To give scores to literary character in regard to social dominance.

D. To tell the bad guys from the good ones in some novels.

43. What is said about the bad guys and girls in novels?

A. They are protagonists that are powerfully stigmatized.

B. They are always afraid of getting ahead of others.

C. They rarely have behaviors that protect the society.

D. They always seek dominant status in society.

44. In the political dynamic of literature, to what is dominant behavior set opposed?

A. The universal theme of power.

B. The egalitarian ideal.

C. Modem democracies.

D. Formal checks and balances of a traditional society.

Passage Two

Helicobacter pylori is one of humanity’s oldest and closest companions, and yet it took scientists more than a century to recognize it. As early as 1875, German anatomists found spiral bacteria colonizing the mucus layer of the human stomach, but because the organisms could not be grown in a pure culture, the results were ignored and then forgotten. It was not until 1982 that Australian doctors Barry J. Marshall and J. Robin Warren isolated the bacteria, allowing investigations of H pylori’s role in the stomach to begin in earnest. Over the next decade researchers discovered that people carrying the organisms had an increased risk of developing peptic ulcers—breaks in the lining of the stomach or duodenum—and that H pylori could also trigger the onset of the most common form of stomach cancer.

Just as scientists were learning the importance of H pylori, however, they discovered that the bacteria are losing their foothold in the human digestive tract. Whereas nearly all adults in the developing would still carry the organism, its prevalence is much lower in developed countries such as the U.S. Epidemiologists believe that H pylori has been disappearing from developed nations for the past 100 years thanks to improved hygiene, which blocks the transmission of the bacteria, and to the widespread use of antibiotics. As H pylori has retreated, the rates of peptic ulcers and stomach cancer have dropped. But at the same time, diseases of the esophagus — including acid reflux disease and a particularly deadly type of esophageal cancer—have increased dramatically, and a wide body of evidence indicates that the rise of these illnesses is also related to the disappearance of H pylori.

45. The author’s primary purpose in writing this passage is to .

A. alter people to the harm of H pylori colonization of the stomach

B. make people aware of the harm of eradicating H pylori from the stomach

C. suggest that the benefits of eradicating H pylori from the stomach are not outweighed by the potential harm.

D. call attention to the consequences of eradicating H pylori from the stomach.

46. Which of the following statements can be inferred from the passage?

A. Improvements in sanitation are a vital element in helping ward off peptic ulcers.

B. People in the developing countries are not likely to contract esophageal diseases.

C. Nowadays few people in the developed countries suffer from stomach cancer.

D. Scientists have long recognized H pylori’s important role in the stomach, but could do nothing about.

47. Which of the following would most probably follow the last sentence of this passage?

A. Furthermore, the disappearance of H pylori may be a sentinel indicating the possibility of other microbial extinctions as well.

B. The possibility that this bacterium may actually protect people against disease of the esophagus has significant implications.

C. However, there has been an unexpected rise in the incidence of a new class of diseases involving the esophagus.

D. The rise of these diseases has occurred just as H pylori has been disappearing, and it is tempting to associate the two phenomena.

Passage Three

Under the Bush administration America has gone from a policy of “dual containment” of Iran and Iraq to one approaching dual failure. It removed the iron rule of Saddam Hussein, but created an anarchic void in Iraq into which Iran has extended its influence. Exhausted by the insurgency in Iraq, America now struggle to deal with the more acute threat of weapons of mass destruction posed by Iran’s nuclear programme. America’s Arab allies may be terrified by the strengthening of Iran，but they are even more terrified by the prospect of American military action to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities.

In Europe there is a degree of acceptance that, sooner or later, the world may have to deal with a nuclear-armed Iran. Some in the Bush administration though, regard that prospect as even more horrendous than the consequences of attacking Iran, which may include more instability in Iraq and elsewhere, more terrorism and the disruption of oil from the Persian Gulf. There is no certainly, moreover, about how far military strikes can set back the nuclear programme, if at all.

George Bush has repeatedly said that “all opinions” remain on his table, by which he means the use of military force. But the one option he has seemed less keen on is the idea, advocated by many of seeking a “grand bargain” with Iran on a whole range of disputes, from the nuclear question to peace with Israel. When America was strong, it felt it did not need to deal with Iran. Now it is worried by the prospect of looking weak.

Nevertheless, there has been a real change of policy since the days when Mr. Bush said Iran was part of the “axis of evil”. His administration has offered to join nuclear talks if Iran suspends uranium enrichment. Ray Takeyh, an expert on Iran, argues in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs says: better to deal with the pragmatists, and strengthen them, rather than give free rein to the radicals. He mayor may not be right.

48. According to the passage, America failed to .

A. contain either Iran of Iraq B. extend its influence in Iran

C. created an anarchic void in Iraq D. remove the rule of Saddam Hussein

49. The phrase “that prospect” (Line 2, Para 3) refers to .

A. American military action on Iran

B. setback in Iran’s nuclear program

C. an Iran armed with nuclear weapons

D. America’s threat in Iran’s weapons

50. Ray Takeyh urged the America government to .

A. stop seeing Iran as part of “the axis of evil”

B ? hold nuclear talks with Iran with no conditions

C. suspend the uranium enrichment program in Iran

D. adopt a pragmatic rather radical approach to Iran

II. Directions: Read the following passage carefully and then explain in your own English the exact meaning of the numbered and underlined parts. Put your answers on ANSWER SHEET (2). (10%)

The year of 2009 will bring an avalanche of books, lectures, television programs and articles on Charles Darwin. (II -1) It is 200 years since he was bom and 150 years since he was pushed to publish his on the Origin of Species earlier than he intended by the arrival of a letter from Alfred

Russel Wallace, the naturalist who, independently, had the same theory of natural selection that

Darwin had supposed all his own.

Since Darwin wasn’t alone in thinking up the theory of natural selection or in assembling evidence in support of evolution, are we right to make such a song and dance of his anniversary? The short answer is “yes”.(II -2) the Origin o f Species is the most important biology book yet written and Darwin has done as much as anyone, including Copernicus, Newton, Marx and Freud,

to change how we see ourselves.

Why does Darwinian worldview matters more than ever? Above all, Darwin decenters humanity. In this he completes the work that Copernicus and Galileo began. We are not the centre of the Universe. The Universe existed long before we came on the scene. (II -3) This decentering does not, of course, mean that we matter any the less. Rather, it helps us to appreciate that we do not sit in a distinct category from the rest of creation. The great apes that are heading towards extinction in the wild and are still used in some countries for medical research really are our relatives.

Part Four Cloze Test(15%)

Directions: Read the following passage carefully and then fill in each numbered blank with ONE suitable word to complete the passage. Put your answers on ANSWER SHEET (2).

Three (51) years ago Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit made his (52) thermometer in

his home town of Danzig (Now Gdansk in Poland). The thermometer was filled with (53)

and completely sealed, but it was not much use without some sort of (54) to measure the

temperature.

One story (55) that, during the winter of 1708—1709，F(xiàn)ahrenheit took a measurement

of 0 degrees as the coldest temperature outdoors—which would now read as minus 17.8°C. Five

years (56) he used mercury instead of alcohol for his (57) ，and made a top reference

point by measuring his own body temperature as 90 degrees. Soon afterwards he became a glassblower, (58)______allowed him to make thinly blown glass tubes that could be marked up with more points on the scale and so (59)______accuracy.

Eventually he took the (60) point of his temperature scale from a reading made in ice,

water and salt, and a top point made from the boiling point of water. The scale was recalibrated

using 180 degrees between these (61) points and Fahrenheit was able to make much more

accurate and more (62) measurements of temperature.

But in 1742 a rival challenged the Fahrenheit scale and (63) superseded it. Anders

Celsius, in Sweden, invented a scale of 100 degrees between the freezing and boiling points of

water and gradually (64) over many countries. However, the British (65) wedded to

Fahrenheit until well into the 20th century.

51. A. thousand B. hundred C. decades of D. hundreds of

52. A. initial B. final C. first D. last

53. A. alcohol B ? mercury C. sand D. salt

54. A. scale B. measurement C. points D. degrees

55. A. says B. rumors C. concludes D. goes

56. A. ago B. before C. after D. later

57. A. thermometers B. measurements C. points D. degrees

58. A. thereby B. which C. that D. what

59. A. enlarge B. add up C. increase D. promote

60. A. eldest B. lowest C. coolest D. deepest

61. A. three B. four C. two D. dual

62. A. continuous B ? continuant C. coherent D. consistent

63. A. eventually B. accidentally C. surprisingly D. fortunately

64. A. took B. turned C. brought D. won

65. A. kept B. remained C. maintained D. sustained

Part Six Writing (15%)

Directions: Read the following paragraph and then write a response paper of about 250 to 300 words. Write it neatly on ANSWER SHEET (2).

The total number of national holidays in China is stipulated by law. Yet people still argue about whether there should be “l(fā)ong holidays” or “short holidays” i.e. greater number of holidays concentrated around a great festival, or holidays scattered over a number of festivals. Which do you subscribe to, and why?