2014年英语专业八级考试全真模拟试卷(二)

TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS ——GRADE EIGHT—— MODEL TEST ONE TIME LIMIT: 195 MIN PART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION [ 35 MIN ] 对于没把握的同学，可以考虑一下捷径θθ,954565870 很不错，记得用3G手机或4G，大部分都有信号。 SECTION A MINI-LECTURE In this section you will hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them to complete a gap-filling task after the mini-lecture. When the lecture is over, you will be given two minutes to check your notes, and another ten minutes to complete the gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE. Some of the gaps may require a maximum of THREE words. Make sure the word(s) you fill in is (are) both grammatically and semantically acceptable. You may refer to your notes while completing the task. Use the blank sheet for note-taking. SECTION B INTERVIEW In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow.Mark the best answer to each question on ANSWER SHEET TWO. Questions 1 to 5 are based on an interview. At the end of the interview you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following five questions. Now listen to the interview. 1. What is the decoration of the East Room like? A. It's elaborate. B. It's simpler than past. C. It's nothing special. D. It's too plain. 2. Why do they use real roses according to Laura? A. Real roses are more fragrant. C. Real roses are fresh. B. Real roses can show their social status. D. Real roses can better show their love. 3. What's Donna Green's main responsibility? A. To help decorate the White House. B. To do the White House Christmas card. C. To guide visitors to the White House during the Christmas. D. To illustrate the decorations of the White House. 4. The White House during Christmas this year is very different in that_______. A. it's much prettier B. it's more elegant C. everything is fresh and real D. everything is brand new 5. Which of the following is NOT mentioned by Laura as something Americans have a difficult time doing? A. Criticizing President Bush. B. Having family members deployed in Iraq. C. Worrying about their family members in Iraq. D. Watching American troops in Iraq. SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the best answer to each question on ANSWER SHEET TWO. Questions 6 to 7 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 20 seconds to answer the questions. Now listen to the news. 6. The Maersk Alabama is owned by A. Kenya B. Denmark C. America D. Somalia 7. According to Andrew Mwangura, how can the deadlock be resolved quickly? A. Denmark's A. P. Moller-Maersk contact with pirates directly. B. The crew disabled.the ship and overpowered the pirates. C. Give pirates enough money immediately. D. Use a lot of third parties to be part of the negotiation team. Question 8 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the question. Now listen to the news. 8. Which of the following is NOT the result of Yahoo's issue? A. Scott Thompson lost his position in the company. B. Ross Levinson took place of Scott Thompson. C. Mr. Loeb will be appointed a company director. D. The chief executive was found padding his academic credentials. Questions 9 to 10 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 20 seconds to answer the questions. Now listen to the news. 9. The new taxes are used to A. sort out troubled firms B. pay for bailouts C. avoid the risk of each firm's activities D. increase the employees' pay 10. If governments want to raise more money, they can put in an additional tax on ____ firstly. A. financial institutions B. products of companies C. profits of companies D. employees' salaries PARTⅡ READING COMPREHENSION [30 MIN] In this section there are four reading passages followed by a total of 20 multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then mark the best answer t6 each question on ANSWER SHEET TWO. TEXT A The newspaper must provide for the reader the facts, unalloyed, unslanted, objectively selected facts. But in　these days of complex news it must provide more; it must supply interpretation, the meaning of the facts. This is the　most important assignment confronting American journalism--to make clear to the reader the problems of the day, to make international news as understandable as community news, to recognize that there is no longer any such　thing (with the possible exception of such scribbling as society and club news) as "local" news, because any event　in the international area has a local reaction in manpower draft, in economic strain, in terms, indeed, of our very way of life. There is in journalism a widespread view that when you embark on interpretation, you are entering choppy and dangerous waters, the swirling tides of opinion. This is nonsense. The opponents of interpretation insist that the writer and the editor shall confine themselves to the "facts". This insistence raises two questions: what are the facts? And: are the bare facts enough? As to the first query, consider how a so-called "factual" story comes about. The reporter collects, say, fifty facts; out of these fifty, his space allotment being necessarily restricted, he selects the ten, which he considers most important. This is Judgment Number One. Then he or his editor decides which of these ten facts shall constitute the lead of the piece. This is important decision because many readers do not proceed beyond the first paragraph. This is Judgment Number Two. Then the night editor determines whether the article shall be presented on page one, where it has a large impact, or on page twenty-four, where it has little. Judgment Number Three. Thus, in the presentation of a so-called "factual" or "objective" story, at least three judgments are involved. And they are judgments not at all unlike those involved in interpretation, in which reporter and editor, calling upon their general background, and their "news neutralism", arrive at a conclusion as to the significance of the news. The two areas of judgment, presentation of the news and its interpretation, are both objective rather than subjective processes-as objective, that is, as any human being can be. (Note in. passing: even though complete objectivity can never be achieved, nevertheless the ideal must always be the beacon on the murky news channels. ) If an editor is intent on slanting the news, he can do it in other ways and more effectively than by interpretation. He can do it by the selection of those facts that prop up his particular plea. Or he can do it by the pay he gives a story- promoting it to page one or demoting it to page thirty. 11. Readers expect all of the following from newspapers EXCEPT A. how to interpret news B. interpretations of news C. community news D. international news 12. It can be inferred from the passage that _____. A. news of local areas will no longer be reported B. interpretation of news always involves editor's bias C. American journalism is in lack of objectivity D. there is a higher requirement for the content of news today 13. What can be inferred about the opponents of interpretation? A. They have a higher requirement for the objectivity of news than supporters do. B. They have a narrow understanding of what facts mean. C. They doubt that news can be factual. D. They don't believe in the validity of interpreted news. 14. In what way are presentation and interpretation of news alike? A. They are both subjective. B. They are both difficult to do. C. They both involve judgments by reporters and editors. D. They both help keep the objectivity of news. 15. The passage is mainly about _____. A. how to select news B. how to interpret news C. requirements for news interpretation D. the objectivity of news interpretation TEXT B When I was 14 years old and very impressed with my teenage status, I set for myself a very special goal—that to differentiate me from my friends. My goal was a project that I undertook every day after school for several months. It began to when I stealthily made my way into the local elementary school--horror of horrors should I be seen; I was now in junior high. I identified myself as a graduate of the elementary school, and being taken under wing by a favorite fifth grade teacher, I was given a small bundle from a locked storeroom-a bundle that I quickly dropped into a bag, lest anyone see me walking home with something from the "little kids" school. I brought the bundle home proudly. I walked into the living room, and one by one, emptied the bag of basic reading books. They were thin books with colorful covers and large print. The words were monosyllabic and repetitive. I sat down to the secret task at hand. "All right," I said authoritatively to my 70-year-old grandmother," today we begin our first reading lesson." For weeks afterwards, my grandmother and I sat patiently side by side roles reversed as she, with a bit of difficulty, sounded out every word, then read them again, piece by piece, until she understood the short sentences. When she slowly repeated the full sentence, we both would smile and clap our hands--I felt so pound, so grown up. My grandmother was born in a rocky little Greece farming village where nothing much grew. She never had the time to go to school. As she was the oldest child, she was expected to take care of her brother and sister, as well as the house and acclimating exceptions, and her father scratched out what little he could form from the soil. So, for my grandmother, schooling was out. But she had big plans for herself. She had heard about America. About how rich you could be. How people on the streets would offer you a dollar just to smell the flower you were carrying.About how everyone lived in nice houses-not stone huts on the side of mountains-and had nice clothes and time for school. So my grandmother made a decision at 14-just a child-to take a long and sickening 30-day sea voyage alone to the United States. After lying about her age to the passport officials, who would shake their heads vehemently at anyone under 16 leaving her family, and after giving her favorite gold earrings to her cousin, saying "In America, I will have all the gold I want", my young grandmother put herself on a ship. She landed in New York in 1916. No need to repeat the story of how it went for years. The streets were not made of gold. People weren't interested in smelling flowers held by strangers. My grandmother was a foreigner. Alone. A young girl who worked hard doing piecework to earn money for meals. No leisure time, no new gold earrings-and no school. She learned only enough English to help her in her daily business. English came slowly. My grandmother had never learned to read. She could make out a menu, but not a newspaper. She could read a street sign, but not a shop directory. She could read only what she needed to read as, through the years, she married, had five daughters, and helped my grandfather with his restaurant. So when I was 14-the same age that my grandmother was when she left her family, her country, and everything she knew-I took it upon myself to teach my grandmother something, something I already knew how to do. Something with which I could give back to her some of the things she had taught me. And it was slight repayment for all she taught me. How to cover the fig tree in tar paper so it could survive the winter. How to cultivate rose bushes and magnolia trees that thrived on her little piece of property. Best of all, she had taught me my ethnic heritage. First, we phonetically sounded out the alphabet. Then, we talked about vowels--English is such a difficult language to learn. I hadn't even begun to explain the different sounds "gh" could make. We were still at the basics. Every afternoon, we would sit in the living room, my grandmother with an afghan converting her knees, giving up her crocheting for her reading lesson. I, with the patience that can come only from love, slowly coached her from the basic reader to the second-grade reader, giving up my telephone gossiping. Years later, my grandmother still hadn't learned quite enough to sit comfortably with a newspaper or magazine, but it felt awfully good to see her try. How we used to laugh at her pronunciation mistakes. She laughed more heartily than I. I never knew whether I should laugh. Here was this old woman slowly and carefully sounding out each word, moving her lips, not saying anything aloud until she was absolutely sure, and then, loudly, happily saying, "Look at spot. See Spot run." When my grandmother died and we faced the sad task of emptying her home, I was going through her night-table drawer and came upon the basic readers. I turned the pages slowly, remembering. I put them in a paper bag, and the next day returned them to the "little kids" school. Maybe someday, some teenager will request them again, for the same task. I will make for a lifetime of memories. 16. The girl got books from _______to teach her grandmother. A. the local elementary school B. the library C. the bookstore D. her own bookcase 17. Which of the following is not one of the reasons that her grandmother never went to school? A. She needed to take care of her brother and sister. B. She needed to take care of the house and acclimating exceptions. C. She had no time to go to school. D. She had an American dream. 18. Ever since the girl took up the task to teach her grandmother, she had given up the habit of_______. A. cultivating rose bushes B. reading adventurous stories C. prattling on telephone D. playing chess with her schoolmates 19. How did the girl feel about the experience of teaching her grandmother? A. She was proud. B. She felt it a pleasant task. C. She treasured the special experience. D. All of the above. 20. What is the main idea of this text? A. It's never too late to learn. B. An old woman had a tough but rewarding life. C. The love between a girl and her grandmother was deep. D. A girl taught her grandmother the hard-to-learn skill of reading English. TEXT C If you intend using humor in your tall to make people smile, you must know how to identify shared experiences and problems. Your humor must be relevant to the audience and should help to show them that you are one of them or that you understand their situation and are in sympathy with their point of view. Depending on whom you are addressing, the problems will be different. If you are tailing to a group of managers, you may refer to the disorganized methods of their secretaries; alternatively if you are addressing secretaries, you may want to comment on their disorganized bosses. Here is an example, which I heard at a nurse's convention, of a story which works well because the audience all shared the same view of doctors. A man arrives in heaven and is being shown around by St. Peter. He sees wonderful accommodations, beautiful gardens, sunny weather, and so on. Everyone is very peaceful, polite and friendly until, waiting in a line for lunch, the new arrival is suddenly pushed aside by a man in a white coat, who rushes to the head of the line, grabs his food and stomps over to a table by himself. "Who is that?" The new arrival asked St. Peter. "Oh, that's God," came the reply, "but sometimes he thinks he's a doctor." If you are part of the group which you are addressing, you will be in a position to know the experiences and problems which are common to all of you and it'll be appropriate for you to make a passing remark about the inedible canteen food or the chairman's notorious bad taste in ties. With other audiences you mustn't attempt to cut in with humor as they will resent an outsider making disparaging remarks about their canteen or their chairman. You will be on safer ground if you stick to scapegoats like the Post Office or the telephone system. If you feel awkward being humorous, you must practice so that it becomes more natural. Include a few casual and apparently off-the-cuff remarks which you can deliver in a relaxed and unforced manner. Often it's the delivery which causes the audience to smile, so speak slowly and remember that a raised eyebrow or an unbelieving look may help to show that you are making a light-hearted remark. Look for the humor. It often comes from the unexpected. It's a twist on a familiar quote "If at first you don't succeed, give up" or a play on words or on a situation. Search for exaggeration and understatements. Look at your talk and pick out a few words or sentences which you can turn about and inject with humor. 21. What is essential in making humor effective? A. Personal charm of the humor user. B. Understanding the audience's situation and sharing the same view with them. C. Sympathy for the audience. D. Identification of the audience's social status. 22. The author cited the doctor's story to __ A. show how supercilious doctors are B. show how nurses dislike doctors C. illustrate the importance of shared experiences in using humor D. illustrate the author's capability of understanding humor 23. Which of the following might work as humor according to the author? A. Making remarks about the poor service of the hotel with a group of hotel waiters. B. Complaining about the dullness of newspaper content with some editors of it. C. Commenting on the greediness of lawyers with several solicitors. D. Teasing the inflexibility of traffic wardens with a group of drivers. 24. What can help make one's humorous remarks natural and casual? A. preparation in advance B. the way one speaks C. innate sense of humor D. calm facial expression 25. The passage discusses all of the following EXCEPT_______. A. how one can be naturally humorous B. how to make humor work well C. where humor can come from D. how practice can make one's humor perfect TEXT D The bizarre antics of sleepwalkers have puzzled police, perplexed scientists, and fascinated writers for centuries. There is an endless supply of stories about sleepwalkers. Persons have been said to climb on steep roofs, solve mathematical problems, compose music, walk though plate glass windows, and commit murder in their sleep. How many of these stories have a basic in fact, and how many are pure fakery? No one knows, but if some of the most sensational stories should be taken with a barrel of salt, others are a matter of record. There is an early medical record of a somnambulist who wrote a novel in his sleep. And the great French writer Voltaire knew a sleepwalker who once got out of bed, dressed himself, made a polite bow, danced a minuet, and then undressed and went back to bed. At the University of Iowa, a student was reported to have the habit of getting up in the middle of the night and walking three-quarters of a mile to the Iowa River. He would take a swim and then go back to his room to bed. The world's champion sleepwalker was supposed to have been an Indian, who walked sixteen miles along a dangerous road without realizing that he had left his bed. Second in line for the title is probably either a Vienna housewife or a British farmer. The woman did all her shopping on busy streets in her sle