?英語閱讀(二)2015年10月真題試題（00596）

英語閱讀(二)2015年10月真題試題及答案解析（00596）

英語閱讀(二)2015年10月真題試題及答案解析（00596），本試卷為英語自考專業(yè)，共100分。

一、單項(xiàng)選擇題

Reading Comprehension.(50 points, 2 points for each)Directions: In this part of the test, there are five passages. Following each passage, there are five questions with four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer and then write the corresponding letter on your Answer Sheet.

1.Passage OneAmerican Sports represent a fabric of American culture. Sports act as a unifying factor between people of all ages. Of all the sports that America has to offer, baseball is considered the pastime of this country. Americans did not always. regard baseball and other sports in such a benign manner. Rather, sports during the early colonial times were seen as pagan and devilish things to do. Many elite and wealthy gentry who embodied the Victorian ideals regarded any type of games or.sports as ill vices. It was the common people who directly related sports to their religion. On days of religious celebration, early Americans joined together to play games. These folk games were unstructured and unruly, however, the unity that games brought, created a need for professional sporting games. Folk games provided the foundation of sports. They created a sense of companionship and unison among individuals. These unorganized folk games created the threshold for organized sports and led to the transformation of the players' roles and the role of audience. Amateurs became professional athletes, and the game an organized business. The game of baseball evolved from the English game of cricket and rounders. It was not until the time of the Civil War that baseball began to be played frequently.However with the transformation of the nation, society and technology, folk.mes too began to evolve into spectator sports. After the Civil War, baseball became a popular sport and no longer an archaic folk game. Structure and organization were introduced gradually into the game and increased public participation. The sport at first excluded the public, but as economic interests infiltrated the game, the need for audiences and spectators arose. The audience of baseball was instrumental in the transformation of baseball. The battling leagues . and team rivalries created a sector for the American public to participate in baseball. The process of the transformation of American folk games into spectator games was due to capitalism, evolution of American society, urban settings, level of player performance, technological advances and the addition of structure and organization to the games; thus, transforming the sport of baseball into a monopolized and professional business.Organized Baseball and the Commission have propagated the myth that . General Abner Doublday invented the game of baseball. This was an attempt to make baseball an American game. The Commission wanted to distinguish baseball.as a truly American game that originated in Cooperstown, New York.Questions 1-5 are based on Passage One.What role do sports play in America?

A.Sports serve as a link between people of different times.
B.Sports bring American people, young or old, together.
C.Sports are no more than pastimes in American culture.
D.Sports help Americans to behave in good manners.

2.Americans regarded sports as evil things______.

A.when amateurs became professional athletes
B.on days of religious celebration
C.during the early colonial days
D.during the Civil War

3.The audience was important for the transformation of baseball because of_____.

A.economic interests
B.sense of companionship
C.player performance
D.Rivalries between teams

4.According to the passage, baseball_______.

A.was frequently played long before the Civil War
B.was invented by General Abner Doublday
C.originated in Cooperstown, New York
D.has become a monopolized business

5.The passage is intended for_____.

A.persuading
B.informing
C.criticizing
D.entertaining

6.Passage TwoThere are many different kinds of evidence that women and men are judged differently even if they talk the same way. This tendency makes mischief in discussions of women, men and power. If a linguistic strategy is used by a woman, it is seen as powerless; if it is used by a man, it is seen as powerful. Often, the labeling of “women’s language” as “powerless language" reflects the view of women’s behavior through the lens of men's.Because they are not struggling to be one-up, women often find themselves framed as one- down. Any situation is ripe for misinterpretation because status and connections are displayed by the same moves. This ambiguity accounts for much misinterpretation by experts as well as nonexperts, by which women's ways of talking, uttered in a spirit of rapport, are branded powerless. Nowhere is this inherent ambiguity clearer than in a brief comment in a newspaper article in which a couple, both psychologists, were jointly interviewed. The journalist asked them he meaning of "being very polite". The two experts responded simultaneously, giving different answers. The man said, "Subservience." The woman said,Sensitivity." Both experts were right. but each was describing the view of different gender.Experts and nonexperts alike tend to see anything women do as evidence of powerlessness. The same newspaper article quotes another psychologist as saying, “A man might ask a woman, ‘Will you please go to the store?’ where a woman might say, 'Gee, I really need a few things from the store, but I'm so tired." The woman's style is called "covert", a term suggesting negative qualities like being. ?sneaky" and "underhanded". The reasons offered for this is power: The woman I doesn't feel she has a right to ask directly. Granted, women have lower status than men in our American society. But this is not necessarily why they prefer not to make outright demands. The explanation for a woman's indirectness could just as well be her seeking connection. If you get your way as a result of having demanded it, the payoff is. satisfying in terms of status: You're one-up because others are doing as you told them. But if you get your way because others happened to want the same thing, or because they offered freely, the payoff is rapport. You're neither one-up nor one-down but happily connected to others whose wants are the same as yours. Furthermore, if directness is understood by both parties, then there is nothing covert about it: That a request is being made is clear. Calling an indirect communication covert reflects the view of someone for whom the direct style. seems "natural" and “l(fā)ogical"- a view more common among men.Questions 6-10 are based on Passage Two.The association of women's language with "powerlessness" shows .

A.men"s attitude toward women"s behavior
B.men"s understanding of a linguistic strategy
C.women"s weakness in using language skills
D.women"s tendency to avoid men"s linguistic strategies

7.The interview of the couple of psychologists is mentioned to show_______.

A.the importance of being subservient
B.the gap between experts and nonexperts
C.the necessity of being sensitive in marriage
D.the different understandings of "politeness" between men and women

8.According to the passage, women tend to make requests____.

A.openly
B.outright
C.indirectly
D.Awkwardly

9.The payoff of women"s way of making demands is_______.

A.to win trust from others
B.to share their feelings with others
C.to secure an advantageous position
D.to maintain a friendly relationship with others

10.According to the passage, in American society, women____.

A.are struggling to be one-up
B.have lower status than men
C.play a dominant role at home
D.tend to make mischief in discussions

11.Passage ThreeCord cutting is growing in popularity, with more and more people deciding to ditch cable or satellite television in favor of other options. According to Experian Marketing Services, cord-cutters grew by 44 percent in the past four years. Instead of using cable or satellite television, 7.6 million households are using high-speed Internet for videos. SNL Kagan predicts that 12 million households will cut the cord by 2015.Although cable and satellite television companies are still doing well, this new trend in cord cutting is threatening their futures. Customers are finding that companies like Netflix, as well as other services that provide free or affordable video streaming, allow them to watch the shows they enjoy without paying for extra channels or fees. Although customers still need to have online access, just paying for the Internet (and possibly a Netflix or Hulu account) is tempting to many customers.Streaming and downloaded videos are becoming very popular. Experian's study showed that during a typical week, 48 percent of U.S. adults and 67 percent of young adults watch streaming or downloaded videos. In addition, the fact that tablets and other mobile devices are making it so easy to watch streaming videos is adding to the charm of saying goodbye to traditional television for cord-cutters. Each week, 24 percent of all U.S. adults and 42 percent of smartphone owners watch videos on a mobile device. The greatest amount smartphone viewing occurs between 8 and 9 p.m. each night.The abundance of wireless technology has also made cord cutting more possible. Tablets and smartphones can now be used almost anywhere, from the home to the office to airports to many different restaurants. Because wireless service is so easy to access, video streaming is attractive because people can watch a video almost anywhere. In addition, because most portable electronic devices are easy to bring along, customers can easily take their tablet and catch up on their favorite television show or video whenever they want.Of course, there are also disadvantages to cutting cable or satellite television service. Some shows are not easy to stream online legally, and many of the bigger companies that stream TV shows require a subscription fec. Movies are sometimes even harder to find, and although Netflix and other companies offer a large selection of movies a8 part of their streaming options, many movies are still only available through renting. In addition, these companies usually don't offer live sporting events or live television shows, which do keep some people watching cable and satellite television.Questions 11-15 are based on Passage Three.The numbers in Para. I are used to show_____.

A.the growing popularity of cord cutting
B.the poor services of satellite television
C.the development of cable television
D.the high speed of Internet

12.According to Experian"s study, _____ of U.S. young adults watch streaming or downloaded videos during a typical week.

A.24%
B.44%
C.48%
D.67%

13.When do people have the largest amount of smartphone viewing?

A.In the morning.
B.In the evening.
C.In the afternoon.
D.At midnight.

14.According to the passage, cord cutting became a reality because of_____.

A.the easy access to cable TV
B.the low prices of mobile devices
C.the development of wireless technology
D.the decreasing number of smartphone users

15.It can be inferred from the last paragraph that_____.

A.some people still watch live football games on cable or satellite TV
B.the Internet is not necessary for watching streaming videos
C.few big companies require subscription fee for TV shows
D.Netflix offers only movie streaming to its users

16.Passage FourSnazzy technology is a twist in a narrative already several chapters long. Mass-market retailing has changed the publishing industry: these days books are as likely to be found beside steaks and saucepans as they are to be bought in specialist stores. The story tums on whether broader changes in bookselling will stifle literature. Dan Brown will survive. Would Dante? For most of the past century, governments across Europe protected book prices; many still do. Even in America, apart from dime-store romances, few titles were sold outside bookshops. But in the 1970s stores like Borders and Barnes & Noble applied a supermarket maxim to print: pile therm high and watch them fly. Waterstones did the same thing in Britain and top titles started selling in the hundreds of thousands, even millions.Just as book superstores forced out many independents, so supermarkets and other mass retailers have since crowded the book chains. In Britain, when price regulation was disbanded in 1997, supermarkets rushed in and now sell a quarter of all books, according to the way that Nielsen, a market-research outfit, calculates it. Belgium and Finland mimicked this trend.This has been good for readers: in Britain the average price of a book hat fallen by 15% since 2003, reckons BML. Bowker, a book-marketing consultancy. And demand has grown: consumers spend the same amount on books, so they must be buying more. Those independent bookshops that survived the chain war in America and Britain have held sales and prices steady. Meanwhile, mass retailers find books such a draw that they lure in customers by selling some titles at a loss. Higher turnover should also be positive for publishers. But mass retailers demand discounts of up to 60% for bulk orders, shrinking margins. All sides prosper when books sell quickly. But, unlike groceries, if books don't sell, retailers return them to the publisher - and do not pay. So, when a book with a large print run flops, publishers end up with an expensive pile of recycling. That is why some publishers have stopped doing new deals with the likes of Costco, an American warchouse retailer, which likes to order very large print runs.Few people will mourn publishers' losses from increased price competition and new technology like e-readers. The question is whether these trends undermine the quality of books which arc being published, by breaking a business model that has let firms focus on variety and range. Publishers have good reason to shiver at the decline of traditional bookshops. To fund the discovery and promotion of new authors, they have relied on books that sell steadily over a number of years. Yet mass retailers stock a few hundred new blockbusters.Questions 16-20 are based on Passage Four.The supermarket maxim adopted by Borders and Barnes & Noble in the 1970s means that_____.

A.the commodities in the supermarkets are often stolen
B.the commodities placed high on the shelf tend to drop
C.the expensive commodities should be arranged in piles
D.the more commodities are on display, the better they sell

17.Mass retailers sell some books at a loss in order to

A.recycle books
B.shrink margins
C.attract customers
D.keep the prices steady

18.According to the passage, some publishers refuse to do business with Costco partly because______.

A.it refuses to recycle books
B.it doesn"t pay for the unsold books
C.it orders too small a quantity of books
D.it doesn"t return the books to the publishers

19.Increased price competition and new technology make many readers _______.

A.feel sorry for publishers" losses
B.worry about the quality of books
C.stop relying on books in their free time
D.shiver at the decline of traditional bookshops

20.This passage mainly discusses the relationship between______.

A.bookselling and publishing
B.bookshops and supermarkets
C.books and their prices
D.reading and marketing

21.Passage FiveThe theft by a Russian syndicate of 1.2 billion username and password combinations from 420,000 websites around the world means that the personal details of almost half of all users of the internet must now be considered severely compromised. It can be only a matter of time before the victims find nasty surprises in their bank statements and credit-card accounts. To be on the safe side, anyone who uses financial and shopping websites should change their passwords forthwith —preferably to something longer, more jumbled, and including no word found in any dictionary. The more nonsensical the better.Heads may nod in agreement, but the advice is then promptly ignored. Human nature, being what it is, has a habit of making people the weakest link in and security chain. For instance, passwords that are easy to remember — the ones most people choose — tend to be the easiest for cybercrooks to guess. By contrast, passwords comprising long, random strings of uppercase and lowercase letters plus numbers and other keyboard characters arc far more difficult to fathom. Unfortunately, they are also difficult to remember. As a result, users write them down on scraps of paper that get left lying around for prying eyes to see.Basically, two factors determine a password's strength. The first is the number of guesses an attacker must try to find the correct one. This depends on the password's length, complexity and randomness. The second factor concerns how easy it is to check the validity of each guess. This depends on how the password is stored on a website's server.What can individuals do to protect themselves? Apart from choosing passwords that are strong enough (ie, long, complex and random mixtures of ASCII characters) to make cracking their hashes too time consuming for thieves to bother with, there is actually not all that much more. Passwords get stolen and broken mainly because of poor choices made by those responsible for a website's security — especially the way it stores customers' validation details.Given the pace of innovation in graphics processors, coupled with the increasing power of cracking software (mostly available for free on the internet), even the best password defences are destined to be overwhelmed in due course. After two thousand years of development, the password's days would finally seem numbered. Time to start investing in spoof-proof biometric factors that characterise each person uniquely as an individual.Questions 21-25 are based on Passage Five.Once their username and password combinations are stolen, it is advisable for online shoppers____.

A.to adopt new passwords as soon as possible
B.to refuse bank statements and credit-card accounts
C.to consult a dictionary for long words as passwords
D.to use shorter passwords which are easy to remember

22.The problem with complex passwords is that____.

A.they are easy to fathom
B.they arouse the interest of hackers
C.they are hard to remember
D.they are chosen by most people

23.The strength of a password is NOT determined by______.

A.its complexity
B.its length
C.its randomness
D.its meaning

24.The main reason why passwords are stolen and broken is_____.

A.the carelessness of online-shoppers
B.how they are stored on the website"s server
C.how often the users change their passwords
D.the irresponsibility of the website security staff

25.What is the author"s attitude toward the future of passwords?

A.They will consist of numbers only.
B.They will contribute to innovation in processors.
C.They will give way to better security measures.
D.They will be beyond the power of cracking software.

Vocabulary.

(10 points, 1 point for each)Directions: Scan the following passage and find the words which have roughly the same meanings as those given below. The number in the brackets after each word definition refers to the number of paragraph in which the target word is. Write the word you choose on the Answer Sheet.

11.Today, there's scarcely an aspect of our life that isn't being upended by the torrent of information available on the hundreds of millions of sites crowding the Internet, not to mention its ability to keep us in constant touch with each other via electronic mail.“If the automobile and aerospace technology had exploded at the same pace as computer and information technology," says Microsoft, “a new car would cost about $2 and go 600 miles on a thimbleful of gas. And you could buy a Boeing 747 for the cost of a pizza."Probably the biggest payoff, however, is the billions of dollars the Internet is saving companies in producing goods and serving for the needs of their customers. Nothing like it has been seen since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, when power-driven machines began producing more in a day than men could turn out in nearly a year.“We view the growth of the Internet and e-commerce as a global megatrend,” says Merrill Lynch, “along the lines of printing press, the telephone, the computer, and electricity."You would be hard pressed to name something that isn't available on the Internet. Consider. books, health care, movie tickets, construction materials, baby clothes，stocks, cattle feed, music, electronics, antiques, tools, real estate, toys, autographs of famous people, wine and airline tickets. And even after you've moved on to your final resting place, there's no reason those you love can't keep it touch. A company called FinalThoughts.com offers a place for you to store “afterlife e-mails" you can send to Heaven with the help of a "guardian angel".Kids today are so computer savvy that it virtually ensures the United States will remain the unchallenged leader in cyberspace for the foreseeable future. Nearly all children in families with incomes of more than $75,000 a year have home computers, according to a study by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Youngsters from ages 2 to 17 at all income levels have computers, with 52% of those connected to the Internet.26. overthrown (Para. 1)27. turbulent, swift-flowing stream (Para. 1)28. by means of (Para. 1)29. benefit or advantage (Para. 2)30. worldwide (Para. 2)31. mention (Para. 3)32. put away for future use (Para. 3)33. well informed and perceptive (Para. 4)34. practically or nearly (Para. 4)35. capable of being anticipated (Para. 4)

三、Summarization.

(20 points, 2 points for each)Directions: In this section of the test, there are ten paragraphs. Each of the paragraphs is followed by an incomplete phrase or sentence which summarizes the main idea of the paragraph. Spell out the missing letters of the word on your Answer Sheet.

21.Paragraph OneA study says men can have just as strong a bond with their child as mothers. In the study, the brains of parents were scanned while they watched videos of their interactions with children. Fathers who were raising a child by themselves were found to have a similar emotional response. This meant they were performing both roles mother and father.Fathers can also establish an intimate t______ with their child.

22.Paragraph twoThe State Council of China issued a guideline to further accelerate household registration reform. A“points system” - mainly based on legal permanent employment and accommodation, seniority in social security and continuous residence - is to be established in cities with over 5m residents. Those who have accumulated certain points are qualified to apply for the cities' permanent household residence for themselves, their spouses, minor children and parents.A p_____ of household registration reform is underway.

23.Paragraph ThreeShorter workdays have made headlines lately in Sweden. On I July, the city began a year-long experiment with six-hour days, enlisting a segment of government employees to work less than their eight-hour-a-day counterparts, for the same pay. The hope is that staffers working shorter days will accomplish just as much, only with more efficiency and less calling in sick.An experiment on shorter workdays but h_____ productivity.

24.Paragraph FourIt may seem odd to chow down on a garden salad topped with lentils or salmon at 8 am, but who says breakfast meals have to look different than lunch or supper? Give it a try - you may just find that warmed up stir fry, veggie“pasta”, or a crisp entree salad is your new favorite way to start the day.Suggestion on the f______ meal of the day.

25.Paragraph FiveMalta is a beautiful southern European country in the Mediterranean Sea, which has a rich history and culture. There are amazing sky-high cliffs to climb, fabulous temples to explore, and lots of wonderful places to go scuba diving. The historic part of Malta has incredible architecture, great walled cities, and many underground tunnels to explore.An attractive seaside r_____ for tourists.

26.Paragraph SixBrushing already acidic teeth can further the erosion of one's enamel. People need to give their teeth time to remineralize after being bathed in an acidic beverage. It's advisable to wait an hour after drinking before lifting a toothbrush.T______ your time brushing your teeth after drinking.

27.Paragraph SevenIf you remember learning about the senses in elementary school, you know humans possess five: sense of sight, sense of smell, sense of bearing, sense of touch, and sense of taste. Most scientists agree, however, that you have more like ten to twenty senses, including pain, hunger, thirst, temperature, and more.More senses than commonly k_____.

28.Paragraph EightRegular poor sleep can raise the risk of serious medical conditions like obesity, heart attack and diabetes - and can even shorten life expectancy. Adequate exposure to natural daylight is known to be crucial for governing the body's circadian rhythm — the built-in clock which dictates our sleeping and waking patterns.A key factor to improve one's sleep and h_____.

29.Paragraph NineIn a new study, a team of neuroscientists and psychologists from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) discovered that the harder adults tried to learn an artificial language, the worse they were at deciphering the language's morphology - the structure and deployment of linguistic units such as root words, suffixes, and prefixes.A scientific discovery on language l_______.

210.Paragraph TenSafar's work began to change our perceptions of death —blurring the point that is meant to mark the end of our lives.“We've all been brought up to think death is an absolute moment — when you die you can't come back. It used to be correct, but now we've come to understand that even after you've become a cadaver, you're still retrievable."The boundary between life and death is less and less c_____.

四、Translation.

(20 points, 4 points for each)Directions: In the following passage, there are five groups of underlined sentences. Read the passage carefully and translate these sentences into Chinese. Write the Chinese version on your Answer Sheet.

31.(46.Camps are either temporary. that is changed from day to day, or they are permanent and may be visited year after year. or they may be used for a few weeks at a time.) Temporary camps are the ones we are considering, and these can be elaborate or very, very simple. I prefer the latter, and I am sure the boys will agree with me.(47. During the autumn and when the weather is dry and the nights not too cool, the best way to camp is in the open. sleeping on beds of boughs, about a roaring fire. and with one blanket under and another over.)Small dog tents, like the ones our soldiers carried in the Civil War, are cheap and very convenient. Each man carried a section, and two made a tent, into which two men crawled when it rained, but in dry weather they preferred to sleep in the open, even when it was freezing.(48.Shelters of boughs. arranged in an A-framed fashion from a ridge pole make good temporary shelters and are first rate as windbreaks at night.)A shack built of crossed logs requires some time to build and some skill to make, but it is not beyond the reach of any boy who has seen - and who has not - an old-fashioned log shanty. But all boys, even trained foresters, are apt to get lost in strange woods. Every one, however, should know what to do in such a circumstance. As a rule the denser growth of moss on trees is on the north side. This knowledge may help find the direction, but it is better to carry a small pocket compass.(49.When the sky is clear. the sun and the stars help to guide the course and if they are followed one is saved from traveling in a circle, as the lost are pretty sure to do in a dense forest .)(50. If twigs are broken from bushes they will serve to show the course to nose out searching, A good plan is to follow down the course of a stream which always flows into a larger body of water and will lead to some abode.) If a hill is accessible, the lay of the land may be had from its summit. In any event, should you be lost, do not get ratted. You will be missed in camp and a search will be made by your friends. If you have to stay in the woods all night, make the best of it. Others have made the best of it by sleeping near the foot of a tree or beside a log. It will be more cheery if you can make a fire without anger to the woods.