长安大学考博英语真题,考博英语试题

长安大学2010年博士研究生入学考试英语试题

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试卷一
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Part I Reading Comprehension (40 points)
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Direction: There are 4 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 center.

Passage One
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Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage.

Sustainable development is applied to just about everything from energy to clean
water and economic growth, and as a result it has become difficult to question either
the basic assumptions behind it or the way the concept is put to use. This is
especially true in agriculture, where sustainable development is often taken as the
sole measure of progress without a proper appreciation of historical and cultural
perspectives.

To start with, it is important to remember that the nature of agriculture has
changed markedly throughout history, and will continue to do so. Medieval agriculture
in northern Europe fed, clothed and sheltered a predominantly rural society with a
much lower population density than it is today. It had minimal effect on biodiversity,
and any pollution it caused was typically localized. In terms of energy use and the
nutrients captured in the product it was relatively inefficient.

Contrast this with farming since the start of the industrial revolution. Competition
from overseas led farmers to specialize and increase yields. Throughout this period food
became cheaper, safe and more reliable. However, these changes have also led to
habitat loss and to diminishing biodiversity.

What's more, demand for animal products in developing countries is growing so fast
that meeting it will require an extra 300 million tons of grain a year by 2050. Yet the
growth of cities and industry is reducing the amount of water available for agriculture
in many regions.

All this means that agriculture in the 21st century will have to be very different
from how it was in the 20th. This will require radical thinking. For example, we need to
move away from the idea that traditional practices are inevitably more sustainable than
new ones. We also need to abandon the notion that agriculture can be "zero impact". The
key will be to abandon the rather simple and static measures of sustainability, which
centre on the need to maintain production without increasing damage. Instead we need a
more dynamic interpretation, one that looks at the pros and cons of all the various ways
land is used. There are many different ways to measure agricultural performance besides
food yield: energy use, environmental costs, water purity, carbon footprint and
biodiversity. It is clear, for example, that the carbon of transporting tomatoes from
Spain to the UK is less than that of producing them in the UK with additional heating
and lighting. But we do not know whether lower carbon footprints will always be better
for biodiversity.

What is crucial is recognizing that sustainable agriculture is not just about
sustainable food production.

1. How do people often measure progress in agriculture?
    [A] By its productivity.
    [B] By its sustainability.
    [C] By its impact on the environment.
    [D] By its contribution to economic growth.

2. Specialisation and the effort to increase yields have resulted in ______.
    [A] localised pollution
    [B] the shrinking of farmland
    [C] competition from overseas
    [D] the decrease of biodiversity

3. What does the author think of traditional farming practices?
    [A] They have remained the same over the centuries.
    [B] They have not kept pace with population growth.
    [C] They are not necessarily sustainable.
    [D] They are environmentally friendly.

4. What will agriculture be like in the 21st century?
    [A] It will go through radical changes.
    [B] It will supply more animal products.
    [C] It will abandon traditional farming practices.
    [D] It will cause zero damage to the environment.

5. What is the author's purpose in writing this passage?
    [A] To remind people of the need of sustainable development.
    [B] To suggest ways of ensuring sustainable food production.
    [C] To advance new criteria for measuring farming progress.
    [D] To urge people to rethink what sustainable agriculture is.

Passage Two
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Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage.

The winner takes all, as is widely supposed in computing circles. Indeed, geeks
have coined a word. "Googlearchy", for the way in which search engines encourage web
traffic towards the most popular sites. The belief that search engines make popular
websites even more fashionable, at the expense of other pages, is now being challenged
by research.

The apparently magical ability of search engines such as Google to return relevant
websites even when given the sketchiest of clues by the person entering a question
relies on the use of mathematical recipes or algorithms. Google works by analyzing the
structure of the web itself. Each of its billions of pages can link to other pages and
can also, in turn, be linked to by others. If a page is linked to many other pages, it
is flagged up as being important. Furthermore, if the pages that link to this page are
also important, then that page is even more likely to be important. The algorithm has
been made increasingly complex over the years, to deter those who would manipulate
their pages to appear higher in their rankings.

Google is not alone in this. Many search engines take account of the number of links
to a website when they return the results of a search. Because of this, there is a
widespread belief among computer, social, and political scientists that search engines
create a vicious circle that amplifies the dominance of established and already popular
websites. Page returned by research engines are more likely to be discovered and
consequently linked to by others.

Not so, according to a controversial new paper that has recently appeared on
ArXiv, an online collection of physics and related papers. In it, Santo Fortunato and
his colleagues at Indiana University in America and Bielefeld University in Germany
claim that search engines actually have an egalitarian effect that increases traffic to
less popular sites.

The researchers developed a model that described two extreme cases. In the first,
people browsed the web only by surfing random links. In the second, people only visited
pages that were returned by search engines. The researchers then turned to the real
world. To their amazement, they found that the relationship between the two did not lie
between the extremes suggested by their model but somewhere completely different. It
appears to show that the supposed bias in favor of popular pages is actually
alleviated by the combination of search engines and people following random links.

6. What can we infer from the first three paragraphs?
    [A] Mathematical methods help search engines become more popular.
    [B] The web information seems to be dominated by Google alone.
    [C] Sociologists argue that search engines alleviate the inequality of websites.
    [D] The ability of search engines is dependent on using algorithms.

7. According to the text, the importance of a page is determined by ______.
    [A] controlling other pages.
    [B] the number of its links to other pages.
    [C] using mathematical methods.
    [D] the structure of the web itself.

8. The foremost reason why Google is successful is no other than ______.
    [A] its magical ability.
    [B] its higher page rankings.
    [C] complexity of its algorithms.
    [D] its heavy web traffic.

9. Santo Fortunato and his colleagues seem to suggest that ______.
    [A] fair effect is created by increasing traffic to less well known sites.
    [B] popular websites are made more fashionable by search engines.
    [C] the situation in favor of popular pages has become more serious.
    [D] popular pages are more likely to be discovered by random links.

10. The author seems to be mainly concerned with ______.
    [A] prejudice against less popular websites.
    [B] equality of search engines.
    [C] key to Google's success.
    [D] negative effects of search engines.

Passage Three
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Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage.

There are good reasons to be troubled by the violence that spreads throughout the
media. Movies, television and video games are full of gunplay and bloodshed, and one
might reasonably ask what's wrong with a society that presents videos of domestic
violence as entertainment.

Most researchers agree that the causes of real-world violence are complex. A 1993
study by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences listed "biological, individual, family,
peer, school, and community factors" as all playing their parts.

Viewing abnormally large amounts of violent television and video games may well
contribute to violent behavior in certain individuals. The trouble comes when
researchers downplay uncertainties in their studies or overstate the case for causality
(因果关系). Skeptics were dismayed several years ago when a group of societies including
the American Medical Association tried to end the debate by issuing a joint statement:
"At this time, well over 1,000 studies…point overwhelmingly to causal connection between
media violence and aggressive behavior in some children."

Freedom-of-speech advocates accused the societies of catering to politicians, and
even disputed the number of studies (most were review articles and essays, they said).
When Jonathan Freedman, a social psychologist at the University of Toronto, reviewed
the literature, he found only 200 or so studies of television-watching and aggression.
And when he weeded out "the most doubtful measures of aggression", only 28% supported a
connection.

The critical point here is causality. The alarmists say they have proved that
violent media cause aggression. But the assumptions behind their observations need to
be examined. When labeling games as violent or non-violent, should a hero eating a
ghost really be counted as a violent event? And when experimenters record the time it
takes game players to read "aggressive" or "non-aggressive" words from a list, can we
be sure what they are actually measuring? The intent of the new Harvard Center on
Media and Child Health to collect and standardize studies of media violence in order to
compare their methodologies, assumptions and conclusions is an important step in the
right direction.

Another appropriate step would be to tone down the criticism until we know more.
Several researchers write, speak and testify quite a lot on the threat posed by
violence in the media. That is, of course, their privilege. But when doing so, they
often come out with statements that the matter has now been settled, drawing criticism
from colleagues. In response, the alarmists accuse critics and news reporters of being
deceived by the entertainment industry. Such clashes help neither science nor society.

11. Why is there so much violence shown in movies, TV and video games?
    [A] There is a lot of violence in the real world today.
    [B] Something has gone wrong with today's society.
    [C] Many people are fond of gunplay and bloodshed.
    [D] Showing violence is thought to be entertaining.

12. What is the skeptics' view of media violence?
    [A] Violence on television is a fairly accurate reflection of real-world life.
    [B] Most studies exaggerate the effect of media violence on the viewers.
    [C] A causal relationship exists between media and real-world violence.
    [D] The influence of media violence on children has been underestimated.

13. The author uses the term "alarmists" to refer to those who ______.
    [A] use standardized measurements in the studies of media violence
    [B] initiated the debate over the influence of violent media on reality
    [C] assert a direct link between violent media and aggressive behavior
    [D] use appropriate methodology in examining aggressive behavior

14. In refuting the alarmists, the author advances his argument by first challenging
______.
    [A] the source and amount of their data
    [B] the targets of their observation
    [C] their system of measurement
    [D] their definition of violence

15. What does the author think of the debate concerning the relationship between the
media and violence?
    [A] More studies should be conducted before conclusions are drawn.
    [B] It should come to an end since the matter has now been settled.
    [C] The past studies in this field have proved to be misleading.
    [D] He more than agrees with the views held by the alarmists.

Passage Four
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Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage.

Material culture refers to the touchable, material "things"—physical objects that
can be seen, held, felt, used—that a culture produces. Examining a culture's tools and
technology can tell us about the group's history and way of life. Similarly, research
into the material culture of music can help us to understand the music-culture. The most
vivid body of "things" in it, of course, are musical instruments. We cannot hear for
ourselves the actual sound of any musical performance before the 1870s when the
phonograph was invented, so we rely on instruments for important information about
music-cultures in the remote past and their development. Here we have two kinds of
evidence: instruments well preserved and instruments pictured in art. Through the study
of instruments, as well as paintings, written documents, and so on, we can explore the
movement of music from the Near East to China over a thousand years ago, or we can
outline the spread of Near Eastern influence to Europe that resulted in the development
of most of the instruments on the symphony orchestra.

Sheet music or printed music, too, is material culture. Scholars once defined folk
music-cultures as those in which people learn and sing music by ear rather than from
print, but research shows mutual influence among oral and written sources during the
past few centuries in Europe, Britain and America. Printed versions limit variety
because they tend to standardize any song, yet they stimulate people to create new and
different songs. Besides, the ability to read music notation has a far-reaching effect
on musicians and, when it becomes widespread, on the music-culture as a whole.

Music is deep-rooted in the cultural background that fosters it. We now pay more
and more attention to traditional or ethnic features in folk music and are willing to
preserve the folk music as we do with many traditional cultural heritage. Musicians all
over the world are busy with recording classic music in their country for the sake of
their unique culture. As always, people's aspiration will always focus on their
individuality rather than universal features that are shared by all cultures alike.

One more important part of music's material culture should be singled out: the
influence of the electronic media—radio, record player, tape recorder, and television,
with the future promising talking and singing computers and other developments. This is
all part of the "information-revolution", a twentieth century phenomenon as important
as the industrial revolution in the nineteenth. These electronic media are not just
limited to modern nations; they have affected music-cultures all over the globe.

16. Which of the following does not belong to material culture?
[A] Instruments. [B] Music. [C] Paintings. [D] Sheet music.

17. The word "phonograph" most probably means ______.
[A] record player [B] radio [C] musical technique [D] music culture

18. The main idea of the first paragraph is ______.
    [A] the importance of cultural tools and technology
    [B] the cultural influence of the development of civilization
    [C] the focus of the study of the material culture of music
    [D] the significance of the research into the musical instruments

19. Which of the following is NOT an advantage of printed music?
    [A] Reading of music notation has a great impact on musicians.
    [B] People may draw inspiration from it.
    [C] The music culture will be influenced by it in the end.
    [D] Songs tend to be standardized by it.

20. From the third paragraph, we may infer that ______.
    [A] traditional cultural heritage is worthy of preservation
    [B] the universal features shared by all cultures aren't worthy of notice
    [C] musicians pay more attention to the preservation of traditional music
    [D] the more developed a culture, the more valuable the music it has fostered

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Part II Structure and Vocabulary (10 points)
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Directions: There are 20 incomplete sentences in this part. For each sentence there
are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Choose the ONE that best completes the
sentence. Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line
through the center.

21. His wife has been ______ a lot of pressure on him to change his job.
[A] taking [B] exerting [C] giving [D] pushing

22. It is estimated that, currently, about 50,000 species become ______ every year.
[A] extinct [B] instinct [C] distinct [D] intense

23. John says that his present job does not provide him with enough ______ for his
organizing ability.
[A] scope [B] space [C] capacity [D] range

24. Many ______ will be opened up in the future for those with a university education.
[A] probabilities [B] realities [C] necessities [D] opportunities

25. After his uncle died, the young man ______ the beautiful estate with which he changed
from a poor man to a wealthy noble.
[A] inhabited [B] inherited [C] inhibited [D] inhaled

26. The manager is calling on a ______ customer trying to talk him into signing the
contract.
[A] prosperous [B] preliminary [C] pessimistic [D] prospective

27. In 1991, while the economies of industrialized countries met an economic ______, the
economies of developing countries were growing very fast.
[A] revival [B] repression [C] recession [D] recovery

28. The destruction of the twin towers ______ shock and anger throughout the world.
[A] summoned [B] tempted [C] provoked [D] stumbled

29. About 20 of the passengers who were injured in a plane crash are said to be in
______ condition.
[A] decisive [B] urgent [C] vital [D] critical

30. The interactions between China and the US will surely have a significant ______ on
peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and the world as a whole.
[A] importance [B] impression [C] impact [D] implication

31. The poor countries are extremely ______ to international economic fluctuations.
[A] inclined [B] vulnerable [C] attracted [D] reduced

32. The Japanese dollar-buying makes traders eager to ______ dollars in fear of another
government intervention.
[A] let in [B] let out [C] let go of [D] let off

33. We aim to ensure that all candidates are treated fairly and that they have equal
______ to employment opportunities.
[A] entrance [B] entry [C] access [D] admission

34. His parents died when he was young, so he was ______ by his grandma.
[A] bred [B] brought up [C] fed [D] grown

35. The opportunity to explore and play and the encouragement to do so can ______ the
performance of many children.
[A] withhold [B] prevent [C] enhance [D] justify

36. All her hard work ______ in the end, and she finally passed the exam.
[A] showed off [B] paid off [C] left off [D] kept off

37. In order to live the kind of life we want and to be the person we want to be, we have
to do more than just ______ with events.
[A] put up [B] set up [C] turn up [D] make up

38. The team played hard because the championship of the state was ______.
[A] at hand [B] at stake [C] at large [D] at best

39. I don't think you'll change his mind; once he's decided on something he tends to
______ it.
[A] stick to [B] abide by [C] comply with [D] keep on

40. Tom placed the bank notes, ______ the change and receipts, back in the drawer.
[A] more than [B] but for [C] thanks to [D] along with

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Part III Cloze (10 points)
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Directions: There are 20 blanks in the following passage. For each blank there are
four choices marked A), B), C) and D) on the right side of the paper. You should choose
the ONE that best fits into the passage. Then mark the corresponding letter on the
Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.

Driving through snowstorm on icy roads for long distances is a most nerve-racking
experience. It is a paradox that the snow, coming 41 gently, blowing gleefully in a
high wind, all the while 42 down a treacherous carpet, freezes the windows, 43 the
view. The might of automated man is 44. The horses, the powerful electrical systems,
the deep-tread tires, all go 45 nothing. One minute the road feels 46, and the next the
driver is sliding over it, light as a 47, in a panic, wondering what the heavy trailer
trucks coming up 48 the rear are going to do. The trucks are like 49 when you have to
pass them, not at sixty or seventy 50 you do when the road is dry, but at twenty-five
and thirty. 51 their engines sound unnaturally loud. Snow, slush and 52 of ice spray
from beneath the wheels, obscure the windshield, and rattle 53 your car. Beneath the
wheels there is plenty of 54 for you to slide and get mashed to a pulp. Inch 55 inch
you move up, past the rear wheels, the center wheels, the cab, the front wheels, all 56
too slowly by. Straight ahead you continue, 57 to cut over sharply would send you into
a slip, 58 in front of the vehicle. At last, there is 59 enough, and you creep back
over, in front of the truck now, but 60 the sound of its engine still thundering in
your ears.

41.
[A] up [B] off [C] down [D] on

42.
[A] lies [B] lays [C] settles [D] sends

43.
[A] blocks [B] strikes [C] puffs [D] cancels

44.
[A] muted [B] discovered [C] doubled [D] undervalued

45.
[A] for [B] with [C] into [D] from

46.
[A] comfortable [B] weak [C] risky [D] firm

47.
[A] loaf [B] feather [C] leaf [D] fog

48.
[A] beneath [B] from [C] under [D] beyond

49.
[A] dwarfs [B] giants [C] patients [D] princesses

50.
[A] what [B] since [C] as [D] that

51.
[A] So [B] But [C] Or [D] Then

52.
[A] flakes [B] flocks [C] chips [D] cakes

53.
[A] onto [B] against [C] off [D] along

54.
[A] snow [B] earth [C] room [D] ice

55.
[A] by [B] after [C] for [D] with

56.
[A] climbing [B] crawling [C] winding [D] sliding

57.
[A] meanwhile [B] unless [C] whereas [D] for

58.
[A] sheer [B] mostly [C] rarely [D] right

59.
[A] might [B] distance [C] air [D] power

60.
[A] with [B] like [C] inside [D] upon

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试卷二
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Part IV Translation (20 points)
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Directions: Read the following paragraphs carefully, then translate them from English
into Chinese or from Chinese to English.

1. 英译汉

[1] Good bye and good luck. Scientific and technological advances are enabling us to
comprehend the furthest reaches of the cosmos, the most basic constituents of matter,
and the miracle of life.

At the same time, today, the actions, and inaction, of human beings imperil not
only life on the planet, but the very life of the planet.

Globalization is making the world smaller, faster and richer. Still, 9/11, avian
flu, and Iran remind us that a smaller, faster world is not necessarily a safer world.

Our world is bursting with knowledge — but desperately in need of wisdom. Now, when
sound bites are getting shorter, when instant messages crowd out essays, and when
individual lives grow more frenzied, college graduates capable of deep reflection are
what our world needs.

For all these reasons I believed — and I believe even more strongly today — in the
unique and irreplaceable mission of universities.

[2] With the nation's financial system teetering on a cliff. The compensation
arrangements for executives of the big banks and other financial firms are coming
under close examination again.

Bankers' excessive risk-taking is a significant cause of this financial crisis and
has continued, to others in the past, in this case, it was fueled by low interest rates
and kept going by a false sense of security created by a debt-fueled bubble in the
economy.

Mortgage lenders gladly lent enormous sums to those who could not afford to pay
them back dividing the laws and selling them off to the next financial institution
along the chain, advantage of the same high-tech securitization to load on more risky
mortgage-based assets.

2. 汉译英

[1] 航天部门被迫再次推迟飞行，直到找到问题的解决办法。似乎也没有人愿意揣测那要
多久。

[2] 航空部官员理所当然感到庆幸，虽然他们每天担忧可能会出现什么样的危险，但结果
却一切进展顺利。此次飞行完成了首要任务。

[3] 他们换掉了破损的设备，修好了另一个设备，清理掉太空站的垃圾，表明航天飞机可以
满载太空站上的物品，返回地球。

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Part V Writing (20 points)
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Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition entitled
Knowledge and Diploma (Fake Diploma). You should write at least 200 words according to
the following guidelines (given in Chinese):

(1) 目前，在社会上有这样的一种说法，文凭越高越吃香；
(2) 而有些人则认为文凭不等于知识；
(3) 你的观点。