Part I Listening Comprehension (20 minutes)



Section A

Directions:In this section, you will hear 10 short conversations. At the end o f each conversation, a question will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the question will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A), B), C ) and D), and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.

Example: You will hear:

You will read: A) 2 hours. B) 3 hours.

C) 4 hours D) 5 hours.

From the conversation we know that the two are talking about some work they will start at 9 o'clock in the morning and have to finish at 2 in the afternoon. Therefore, D) "5 hours" is the correct answer. You should choose ［D］on the Answer Sheet and mark it with a single a sinle line through the centre.

Sample Answer ［A］［B］［C］［D］



1. A) Buy some traveller's checks. B) Borrow some money from a friend.

C) Check the brakes and tires. D) Spend some time travelling.

2. A) He is very forgiving and tolerant. B) He probably has a poor mem or y.

C) He is well liked by his customers. D) He has been introduced to the st aff.

3. A) He thinks the book should include more information.

B) He doesn't think it necessary to proveide the answers.

C) The answers will be added in a later edition.

D) The book does include the answers.

4. A) Announce appeals for public service. B) Hold a charity concert to raise money.

C) Ask the school radio station for help. D) Pool money to fund the radio station.

5. A) She talked with the consultant about the new program until two.

B) She couldn't talk to the consultant before two.

C) She would talk to the consultant during lunch.

D) She couldn't contact the consultant's secretary.

6. A) They are equally competent for the job. B) They both graduated from art schools.

C) They majored in different areas of art. D) They are both willing to draw the posters.

7. A) At a book store. B) At an art museum.

C) At a newspaper office. D) At a gymnasium.

8. A) The woman received a phone call from Mark yesterday.

B) The man injured Mark in a traffic accident yesterday.

C) The man met a friend by chance.

D) The woman contacted Mark on business.

9. A) The man should stay up and watch the program.

B) The man should read something exciting instead.

C) The man should go to bed at eleven.

D) The man should give up watching the movie.

10.A) Students with a library card can check any book out.

B) Reference books are not allowed to be checked out.

C) Only students with a library card can check out reference books.

D) The number of books a student can check out is unlimited.

Section B

Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding lette r on the Answer Sheet with a sinle line through the centre.

Passage One

Questions 11 to 13 are based on the passage you have just heard.

11.A) To find out whether they take music lessons in their spare time.

B) To find out whether they can name four different musical instruments.

C) To find out whether they enjoy playing musical instruments in school.

D) To find out whether they differ in their preference for musical instruments.

12.A) They find them too hard to play.

B) They think it silly to play them.

C) They find it not challenging enough to play them.

D) They consider it important to be different from girls.

13.A) Children who have private music tutors. B) Children who are 8 or older.

C) Children who are between 5 and 7. D) Children who are well- educated.

Passage Two

Questions 14 to 16 are based on the passage you have just heard.

14.A) Because there weren't any professional teams in the U. S. then.

B) Because Pele hadn't retired from the Brazilian National Team yet.

C) Because this fast-moving sport wasn't familiar to many Americans.

D) Because good professional players received low salaries.

15.A) When it has a large number of fans.

B) When it plays at home.

C) When it has many international stars playing for it.

D) When the fans cheer enthusiastically for it.

16.A) It wasn't among the top four teams. B) It didn't play as well as expected.

C) It won the World Cup. D) It placed fourth

Passage Three

Questions 17 to 20 are based on the passage you have just heard.

17.A) Students from America. B) Students from England.

C) Students from Australia. D) Students from Japan.

18.A) Those who know how to program computers.

B) Those who get special aid from their teachers.

C) Those who are very hardworking.

D) Those who have well-educated parents.

19.A) Japanese students study much harder than Columbian students.

B) Columbian students score higher than Japanese students in maths.

C) Columbian students are more optimistic about their maths skills.

D) Japanese students have better conditions for study.

20.A) Physics. B) Mathematics.

C) Environmental science. D) Life science.

Part II Reading Comprehension (35 minutes)

Directions: There are 4 reading 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 centre.

Passage One

Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage:

In the 1920s demand for American farm products fell, as European countries began to recover from World War I and instituted austerity (紧缩) programs to reduce their imports. The result was a sharp drop in farm prices. This period was more disastrous for farmers than earlier times had been, because farmers were no longer self-sufficient. They were paying for machinery, seed, and fertilizer, and they were also buying consumer goods. The prices of the items farmers bought remained constant, while prices they received for their products fell. These developments were made worse by the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and extended throughout the 1939s.

In 1929, under President Herbert Hoover, the Federal Farm Board was organized. It established the principle of direct interference with supply and demand, and it represented the first national commitment to provide greater economic stability for farmers.

President Hoover's successor attached even more importance to this problem. One of the first measures proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he took office in 1933 was the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which was subsequently passed by Congress. This law gave the Secretary of Agriculture the power to reduce production through voluntary agreements with farmers who were paid to take their land out of use. A deliberatescarcity of farm products was planned in an effort to raise prices. This law was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on the grounds that general taxes were being collected to pay one special group of people. However, new laws were passed immediately that achieved the same result of resting soil and providing flood-control measures, but which were based on the principle of soil conservation. The Roosevelt Administration believed that rebuilding the nation's soil was in the national interest and was not simply a plan to help farmers at the expense of other citizens. Later the government guaranteed loans to farmers so that they could buy farm machinery, hybrid (杂交) grain, and fertilizers.

21.What brought about the decline in the demand for American farm products?

A) The impact of the Great Depression.

B) The shrinking of overseas markets.

C) The destruction caused by the First World War.

D) The increased exports of European countries.

22.The chief concern of the American government in the area of agriculture in the 1920s was

______ .

A) to increase farm production B) to establish agricultural laws

C) to prevent farmers from going bankrupt D) to promote the mechanization of agriculture

23.The Agricultural Adjustment Act encouraged American farmers to ______.

A) reduce their scale of production

B) make full use of their land

C) adjust the prices of their farm products

D) be self-sufficient in agricultural production

24.The Supreme Court rejected the Agricultural Adjustment Act because it believed that the

Act ______.

A) might cause greater scarcity of farm products

B) didn't give the Secretary of Agriculture enough power

C) would benefit neither the government nor the farmers

D) benefited one group of citizens at the expense of others

25.It was claimed that the new laws passed during the Roosevelt Administration were aimed

at ______.

A) reducing the cost of farmin

B) conserving soil in the long-term interest of the nation

C) lowering the burden of farmers

D) helping farmers without shifling the burden onto other taxpayers

Passage Two

Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage:

In the 1950s, the pioneers of artificial intelligence (AI) predicted that, by the end of this century, computers would be conversing with us at work and robots would be performing our housework. But as useful as computers are, they're nowhere close to achieving anything remotely resembling these early aspirations f or humanlike behavior. Never mind something as complex as conversation: the most powerful computers struggle to reliably recognize the shape of an object, the most elementary of tasks for a ten-month-old kid.

A growing group of AI researchers think they know where the field went wrong . The problem, the scientists say, is that AI has been trying to separate the highest, most abstract levels of thought, like language and mathematics, and to duplicate them with logical, step-by-step programs. A new movement in AI, on the other hand, takes a closer look at the more roundabout way in which nature came up with intelligence. Many of these researchers study evolution and natural adaptation instead of formal logic and conventional computer programs. Rather than digital computers and transistors, some want to work with brain cells and proteins . The results of these early efforts are as promising as they are peculiar, and the new nature-based AI movement is slowly but surely moving to the forefront of the field.

Imitating the brain's neural (神经的） network is a huge step in the right direction, says computer scientist and biophysicist Michael Conrad, but it still misses an important aspect of natural intelligence. "People tend to treat the brain as if it were made up of color-coded transistors", he explains, "but it's not simply a clever network of switches. There are lots of important things going on inside the brain cells themselves." Specifically, Conrad believes that many of the brain's capabilities stem from the patternrecognition proficiency of the individual molecules that make up each brain cell. The best way to build and artificially intelligent device, he claims, would be to build it around the same sort of molecular skills.

Right now, the option that conventional computers and software are fundamentally incapable of matching the processes that take place in the brain remains controversial. But if it proves true, then the efforts of Conrad and his fellow AI rebels could turn out to be the only game in town.

26.The author says that the powerful computers of today ______.

A) are capable of reliably recognizing the shape of an object

B) are close to exhibiting humanlike behavior

C) are not very different in their performance from those of the 50's

D) still cannot communicate with people in a human language

27.The new trend in artificial intelligence research stems from ______.

A) the shift of the focus of study on to the recognition of the shapes of objects

B) the belief that human intelligence cannot be duplicated with logical, step-by-step

programs

C) the aspirations of scientists to duplicate the intelligence of a ten-month-old child

D) the efforts made by scientists in the study of the similarities between transistors and

brain cells

28.Conrad and his group of AI researchers have been making enormous efforts to ______.

A) find a roundabout way to design powerful computers

B) build a computer using a clever network of switches

C) find out how intelligence developed in nature

D) separate the highest and most abstract levels of thought

29.What's the author's opinion about the new AI movement?

A) It has created a sensation among artificial intelligence researchers but will soon die

out.

B) It's a breakthrough in duplicating human thought processes.

C) It's more like a peculiar game rather than a real scientific effort.

D) It may prove to be in the right direction though nobody is sure of its future prospects.

30.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the phrase "the only game in town" (Line 3,

Para. 4)?

A) The only approach to building an artificially intelligent computer.

B) The only way for them to win a prize in artificial intelligence research.

C) The only area worth studying in computer science.

D) The only game they would like to play in town.

Passage Three

Question 31 to 35 are based on the following passage:

Cars account for half the oil consumed in the U.S., about half the urban pollution and one fourth the greenhouse (温室) gases. They take a similar oll of (损耗) resources in other industrial nations and in the cities of the developing world . As vehicle use continues to increase in the coming decade, the U.S. and other countries will have to deal with these issues or else face unacceptable economic , health-related and political costs. It is unlikely that oil prices will remain at their current low level or that other nations will accept a large and growing U.S. contribution to global climatic change.

Policymakers and industry have four options: reduce vehicle use, increase the efficiency and reduce the emissions of conventionalgasoline-powered vehicles, switch to less harmful fuels, or find less polluting driving systems. The last of these-in particular the introduction of vehicles powered by electricity - is ultimately the only sustainable option. The other alternatives are attractive in theory but in practice are either impractical or offer only marginal improvements. For example, reduced vehicle use could solve traffic problems and a host of social and environmental problems, but evidence from around the world suggests t hat it is very difficult to make people give up their cars to any significant ex tent. In the U.S., mass-transit ridership and carpooling (合伙用车） have decline d since World War II. Even in western Europe, with fuel prices averaging more than $ 1 a liter (about $ 4 a gallon) and with easily accessible mass transit and dense populations, cars still account for 80 percent of all passenger travel.

Improved energy efficiency is also appealing, but automotive fuel economy has barely made any progress in 10 years. Alternative fuels such as natural gas, burned in internal-combustion engines, could be introduced at relatively low cost, but they would lead to only marginal reductions in pollution and greenhouse emissions (especially because oil companies are already spending billions of dollars every year to develop less polluting types of gasoline).

31.From the passage we know that the increased use of cars will ______.

A) consume half of the oil produced in the world

B) have serious consequences for the well-being of all nations

C) widen the gap between the developed and developing countries

D) impose an intolerable economic burden on residents of large cities

32.The U.S. has to deal with the problems arising from vehicle use because ______.

A. most Americans are reluctant to switch to public transportation systems

B) the present level of oil prices is considered unacceptable

C) other countries will protest its increasing greenhouse emissions

D) it should take a lead in conserving natural resources

33.Which of the following is the best solution to the problems mentioned in the passage?

A) The designing of highly efficient car engines.

B) A reduction of vehicle use in cities.

C) The development of electric cars.

D) The use of less polluting fuels.

34.Which of the following is practical but only makes a marginalcontribution to solving the

problem of greenhouse emissions?

A) The use of fuels other than gasoline.