东北农业大学考博英语真题,考博英语试题

2008年东北农业大学博士研究生入学考试英语试卷
English Test Paper

Part I Structure and Vocabulary (10 points)
Directions: Beneath each of the following sentences, there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that best completes the sentence. Mark your answer on ANSWER SHEET I by blackening the corresponding letter in the brackets with a pencil.
1. However, growth in the fabricated metals industry was able to ______ some of the decline in the iron and steel industry.    A. overturn    B. overtake    C. offset    D. oppress
2. France's ______ of nuclear testing in the South Pacific last month triggered political debates and mass demonstrations.    A. assumption    B. consumption    C. presumption    D. resumption
3. The winners of the football championship ran off the field carrying the silver cup ______.    A. turbulently    B. tremendously    C. triumphantly    D. tentatively
4. The 215-page manuscript circulated to publishers last October, ______ an outburst of interest.    A. flared    B. glittered    C. sparked    D. flashed
5. The most important ______ for assessment in this contest is originality of design.    A. threshold    B. partition    C. warrant    D. criterion
6. The American society is ______ an exceedingly shaky foundation of natural resources, which is connected with the possibility of a worsening environment.    A. established on    B. affiliated to    C. originated from    D. incorporated with
7. They used to quarrel a lot, but now they are completely ______ with each other.    A. reconciled    B. negotiated    C. associated    D. accommodated
8. At first, the ______ of color pictures over a long distance seemed impossible, but, with painstaking efforts and at great expense, it became a reality.    A. transaction    B. transmission    C. transformation    D. transition
9. We can't help being ______ of Bob who bought a luxurious sports car just after the money was stolen from the office.    A. skeptical    B. appreciative    C. suspicious    D. tolerant
10. The English weather defies forecast and hence is a source of interest ______ to everyone.    A. speculation    B. attribution    C. utilization    D. proposition
11. In fact as he approached this famous statue, he only barely resisted the ______ to reach into his bag for his camera.    A. impatience    B. impulse    C. incentive    D. initiative
12. Some day software will translate both written and spoken language so well that the need for any common second language could ______.    A. descend    B. decline    C. deteriorate    D. depress
13. Equipment not ______ official safety standards has all been removed from the workshop.    A. conforming to    B. consistent with    C. predominant over    D. providing for
14. The introduction of gunpowder gradually made the bow and arrow ______, particularly in Western Europe.    A. obscure    B. obsolete    C. optional    D. overlapping
15. They used to quarrel a lot, but now they are completely ______ with each other.    A. reconciled    B. negotiated    C. associated    D. accommodate
16. Whoever formulated the theory of the origin of the universe, it is just ______ and needs proving.    A. spontaneous    B. hypothetical    C. intuitive    D. empirical
17. The future of this company is ______: many of its talented employees are flowing into more profitable net-based businesses.    A. at odds    B. in trouble    C. in vain    D. at stake
18. It is no ______ that a large number of violent crimes are committed under the influence of alcohol.    A. coincidence    B. correspondence    C. inspiration    D. intuition
19. The English language contains a(n) ______ of words which are comparative seldom used in ordinary conversation.    A. altitude    B. latitude    C. multitude    D. attitude
20. A membership card ______ the holder to use the club's facilities for a period of twelve months.    A. approves    B. authorizes    C. rectifies    D. endows

Part II Reading Comprehension (50 points)
Directions: Each of the passages below is followed by some questions. For each question are four answers marked A, B, C, and D. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each of the questions. Then mark your answer on ANSWER SHEET by blackening the corresponding letter in the brackets with a pencil.
Passage One
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.
It is hardly necessary for me to cite all the evidence of the depressing state of literacy. These figures from the Department of Education are sufficient: 27 million Americans cannot read at all, and a further 35 million read at a level that is less than sufficient to survive in our society.
But my own worry today is less that of the overwhelming problem of elemental literacy than it is of the slightly more luxurious problem of the decline in the skill even of the middle-class reader, of his unwillingness to afford those spaces of silence, those luxuries of domesticity and time and concentration, that surround the image of the classic act of reading. It has been suggested that almost 80 percent of America's literate, educated teenagers can no longer read without an accompanying noise music in the background or a television screen flickering at the corner of their field of perception. We know very little about the brain and how it deals with simultaneous conflicting input, but every common-sense intuition suggests we should be profoundly alarmed. This violation of concentration, silence, solitude goes to the very heart of our notion of literacy; this new form of part-reading, of part-perception against background distraction, renders impossible certain essential acts of apprehension and concentration, let alone that most important tribute any human being can pay to a poem or a piece of prose he or she really loves, which is to learn it by heart. Not by brain, by heart; the expression is vital.
Under these circumstances, the question of what future there is for the arts of reading is a real one. Ahead of us lie technical, psychic (心理的), and social transformations probably much more dramatic than those brought about by Gutenberg, the German inventor in printing. The Gutenberg revolution, as we now know it took a long time; its effects are still being debated. The information revolution will touch every fact of composition, publication, distribution, and reading. No one in the book industry can say with any confidence what will happen to the book as we've known it.
21. The picture of the reading ability of the American people, drawn by the author, is ______.    A. rather bleak    B. fairly bright    C. very impressive    D. quite encouraging
22. The author's biggest concern is ______.    A. elementary school children's disinterest in reading classics    B. the surprisingly low rate of literacy in the U.S.    C. the musical setting American readers require for reading    D. the reading ability and reading behavior of the middle class
23. A major problem with most adolescents who can read is ______.    A. their fondness of music and TV programs    B. their ignorance of various forms of art and literature    C. their lack of attentiveness and basic understanding    D. their inability to focus on conflicting input
24. The author claims that the best way a reader can show admiration for a piece of poetry or prose is ______.    A. to be able to appreciate it and memorize it    B. to analyze its essential features    C. to think it over conscientiously    D. to make a fair appraisal of its artistic value
25. About the future of the arts of reading the author feels ______.    A. upset    B. uncertain    C. alarmed    D. pessimistic
Passage Two
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage.
Since the dawn of human ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning tools to cope with work that is dangerous, boring, burdensome, or just plain nasty. That compulsion has resulted in robotics—the science of conferring various human capabilities on machines. And if scientists have yet to create the mechanical version of science fiction, they have begun to come close.
As a result, the modern world is increasingly populated by intelligent gizmos whose presence we barely notice but whose universal existence has removed much human labor. Our factories hum to the rhythm of robot assembly arms. Our banking is done at automated teller terminals that thank us with mechanical politeness for the transaction. Our subway trains are controlled by tireless robot-drivers. And thanks to the continual miniaturization of electronics and micro-mechanics, there are already robot systems that can perform some kinds of brain and bone surgery with submillimeter accuracy—far greater precision than highly skilled physicians can achieve with their hands alone.
But if robots are to reach the next stage of labor-saving utility, they will have to operate with less human supervision and be able to make at least a few decisions for themselves—goals that pose a real challenge. "While we know how to tell a robot to handle a specific error," says Dave Lavery, manager of a robotics program at NASA, "we can't yet give a robot enough 'common sense' to reliably interact with a dynamic world." Indeed the quest for true artificial intelligence has produced very mixed results. Despite a spell of initial optimism in the 1960s and 1970s when it appeared that transistor circuits and microprocessors might be able to copy the action of the human brain by the year 2010, researchers lately have begun to extend that forecast by decades if not centuries.
What they found, in attempting to model thought, is that the human brain's roughly one hundred billion nerve cells are much more talented—and human perception far more complicated—than previously imagined. They have built robots that can recognize the error of a machine panel by a fraction of a millimeter in a controlled factory environment. But the human mind can glimpse a rapidly changing scene and immediately disregard the 98 percent that is irrelevant, instantaneously focusing on the monkey at the side of a winding forest road or the single suspicious face in a big crowd. The most advanced computer systems on Earth can't approach that kind of ability, and neuroscientists still don't know quite how we do it.
26. Human ingenuity was initially demonstrated in ______.    A. the use of machines to produce science fiction.    B. the wide use of machines in manufacturing industry.    C. the invention of tools for difficult and dangerous work.    D. the elite's cunning tackling of dangerous and boring work.
27. The word "gizmos" (line 1, paragraph 2) most probably means ______.    A. programs.    B. experts.    C. devices.    D. creatures.
28. According to the text, what is beyond man's ability now is to design a robot that can ______.    A. fulfill delicate tasks like performing brain surgery.    B. interact with human beings verbally.    C. have a little common sense.    D. respond independently to a changing world.
29. Besides reducing human labor, robots can also ______.    A. make a few decisions for themselves.    B. deal with some errors with human intervention.    C. improve factory environments.    D. cultivate human creativity.
30. The author uses the example of a monkey to argue that robots are ______.    A. expected to copy human brain in internal structure.    B. able to perceive abnormalities immediately.    C. far less able than human brain in focusing on relevant information.    D. best used in a controlled environment.
Passage Three
Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage.
In California the regulators, the utilities and the governor all want the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to cap spot (现货的) market prices. The Californians claim it will rein in outrageous prices. Federal regulators have refused. The battle is on.
Governor Gray Davis says, "I'm not happy with the Federal Regulatory Commission at all. They're living in an ivory tower. If their bills were going up like the people in San Diego, they would know that this is a real problem in the real world."
As part of deregulation, price caps were removed to allow for a free market. Timing is everything; natural gas prices had already skyrocketed. Demand was high from California's booming economy. No new power plants had been built here in ten years, and power producers had the right to hike prices along with demand. And hike them they did.
Loretta Lynch of the Public Utilities Commission says, "This commission and all of California was beating down the door of federal regulators to say 'help us impose reasonable price caps to help to keep our market stable.'"
Federal regulators did ask for longer-term contracts between power producers and the utilities to stabilize prices. The federal commission, unavailable for comment on this story, released a recent statement defending its position not to re-regulate.
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Dec. 15, 2000: "The commission's intention is to enable the markets to catch up to current supply and demand problems and not to reintroduce command and control regulation that has helped to produce the current crisis."
Some energy experts believe that, without temporary price caps, the crisis will continue. Severin Borenstein of the U.C. Energy Institute says, "Some federal regulators have a blind commitment to making the market work and I think part of the problem is they really don't understand what's going on."
Gary Ackerman of the Western Power Trading Forum says, "He's dead wrong about that. The federal regulators understand far better than any individual state that, though it might be painful and it certainly is painful in California, price caps don't work. They never work."
31. The battle between Californians and federal regulators is about ______.    A. control over the price of power    B. necessity of removing price caps    C. hiking the energy prices in California    D. a regulation concerning power supply
32. Governor Gray Davis was dissatisfied with the Federal Regulatory Commission because ______.    A. they did not know what the real problem was    B. they were living an easy life in an ivory tower    C. they could not experience the life in San Diego    D. they turned a blind eye to the situation in California
33. The Federal Commission uncapped the energy price with the intention to ______.    A. help California's economy booming steadily    B. prevent power price from going up any further    C. enable the market to deal with supply and demand problems    D. have contracts signed between power producers and the utilities
34. To help keep prices from going higher, people and groups in California ______.    A. imposed reasonable price caps    B. beat down the door of federal regulators    C. urged the federal authorities to take action    D. struggled against federal policy to hike prices
35. Energy experts against price caps believe that ______.    A. the present situation in California will continue unless there is price control    B. the current crisis is partly attributed to previous command and control policy    C. price caps can temporarily solve energy problems an individual state meets with    D. they do understand what is going on in California and will take proper measures
Passage Four
Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage.
Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return? Since OPEC agreed to supply-cuts in March, the price of crude oil has jumped to almost $26 a barrel, up from less than $10 last December. This near-tripling of oil prices calls up scary memories of the 1973 oil shock, when prices quadrupled, and 1979-80, when they also almost tripled. Both previous shocks resulted in double-digit inflation and global economic decline. So where are the headlines warning of gloom and doom this time?
The oil price was given another push up this week when Iraq suspended oil exports. Strengthening economic growth, at the same time as winter grips the northern hemisphere, could push the price higher still in the short term.
Yet there are good reasons to expect the economic consequences now to be less severe than in the 1970s. In most countries the cost of crude oil now accounts for a smaller share of the price of petrol than it did in the 1970s. In Europe, taxes account for up to four-fifths of the retail price, so even quite big changes in the price of crude have a more muted effect on pump prices than in the past.
Rich economies are also less dependent on oil than they were, and so less sensitive to swings in the oil price. Energy conservation, a shift to other fuels and a decline in the importance of heavy, energy-intensive industries have reduced oil consumption. Software, consultancy and mobile telephones use far less oil than steel or car production. For each dollar of GDP (in constant prices) rich economies now use nearly 50% less oil than in 1973. The OECD estimates in its latest Economic Outlook that, if oil prices averaged $22 a barrel for a full year, compared with $13 in 1998, this would increase the oil import bill in rich economies by only 0.25-0.5% of GDP. That is less than one-quarter of the income loss in 1974 or 1980. On the other hand, oil-importing emerging economies—to which heavy industry has shifted—have become more energy-intensive, and so could become seriously squeezed.
One more reason not to lose sleep over the rise in oil prices is that, unlike the rises in the 1970s, it has not occurred against the background of general commodity-price inflation and global excess demand. A sizable portion of the world is only just emerging from economic decline. The Economist's commodity price index is broadly unchanging from a year ago. In 1973 commodity prices jumped by 70%, and in 1979 by almost 30%.
36. The main reason for the latest rise of oil price is ______.    A. global inflation.    B. reduction in supply.    C. fast growth in economy.    D. Iraq's suspension of exports.
37. It can be inferred from the text that the retail price of petrol will go up dramatically if ______.    A. price of crude rises.    B. commodity prices rise.    C. consumption rises.    D. oil taxes rise.
38. The estimates in Economic Outlook show that in rich countries ______.    A. heavy industry becomes more energy-intensive.    B. income loss mainly results from fluctuating crude oil prices.    C. manufacturing industry has been seriously squeezed.    D. oil price changes have no significant impact on GDP.
39. We can draw a conclusion from the text that ______.    A. oil-price shocks are less shocking now.    B. inflation seems irrelevant to oil-price shocks.    C. energy conservation can keep down the oil prices.    D. the price rise of crude leads to the shrinking of heavy industry.
40. From the text we can see that the writer seems ______.    A. optimistic.    B. sensitive.    C. gloomy.    D. scared.
Passage Five
Questions 41 to 45 are based on the following passage.
Over the past century, all kinds of unfairness and discrimination have been condemned or made illegal. But one insidious form continues to thrive: alphabetism. This, for those as yet unaware of such a disadvantage, refers to discrimination against those whose surnames begin with a letter in the lower half of the alphabet.
It has long been known that a taxi firm called AAAA cars has a big advantage over Zodiac cars when customers thumb through their phone directories. Less well known is the advantage that Adam Abbott has in life over Zysman. English names are fairly evenly spread between the halves of the alphabet. Yet a suspiciously large number of top people have surnames beginning with letters between A and K.
Thus the American president and vice-president have surnames starting with B and C respectively; and 26 of George Bush's predecessors (including his father) had surnames in the first half of the alphabet against just 16 in the second half. Even more striking, six of the seven heads of government of the G7 rich countries are alphabetically advantaged (Berlusconi, Blair, Bush, Chirac, Chrétien and Koizumi). The world's three top central bankers (Greenspan, Duisenberg and Hayami) are all close to the top of the alphabet, even if one of them really uses Japanese characters. As are the world's five richest men (Gates, Buffett, Allen, Ellison and Albrecht).
Can this merely be coincidence? One theory, dreamt up in all the spare time enjoyed by the alphabetically disadvantaged, is that the rot sets in early. At the start of the first year in infant school, teachers seat pupils alphabetically from the front, to make it easier to remember their names. So short-sighted Zysman junior gets stuck in the back row, and is rarely asked the improving questions posed by those insensitive teachers. At the time the alphabetically disadvantaged may think they have had a lucky escape. Yet the result may be worse qualifications, because they get less individual attention, as well as less confidence in speaking publicly.
The humiliation continues. At university graduation ceremonies, the ABCs proudly get their awards first; by the time they reach the Zysmans most people are literally having a ZZZ. Shortlists for job interviews, election ballot papers, lists of conference speakers and attendees: all tend to be drawn up alphabetically, and their recipients lose interest as they plough through them.
41. What does the author intend to illustrate with AAAA cars and Zodiac cars?    A. A kind of overlooked inequality.    B. A type of conspicuous bias.    C. A type of personal prejudice.    D. A kind of brand discrimination.
42. What can we infer from the first three paragraphs?    A. In both East and West, names are essential to success.    B. The alphabet is to blame for the failure of Zysman.    C. Customers often pay a lot of attention to companies' names.    D. Some form of discrimination is too subtle to recognize.
43. The 4th paragraph suggests that ______.    A. questions are often put to the more intelligent students.    B. alphabetically disadvantaged students often escape form class.    C. teachers should pay attention to all of their students.    D. students should be seated according to their eyesight.
44. What does the author mean by "most people are literally having a ZZZ" (Lines 2-3, Paragraph 5)?    A. They are getting impatient.    B. They are noisily dozing off.    C. They are feeling humiliated.    D. They are busy with word puzzles.
45. Which of the following is true according to the text?    A. People with surnames beginning with N to Z are often ill-treated.    B. VIPs in the Western world gain a great deal from alphabetism.    C. The campaign to eliminate alphabetism still has a long way to go.    D. Putting things alphabetically may lead to unintentional bias.

Part III Cloze (10 points)
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 by blackening corresponding letter in the brackets with a pencil.
A food bank is the center of food collection and distribution in a community. This food usually __46__ from grocery stores or manufacturers that have thousands of pounds of food to give __47__ . Food banks operate intricate and advanced warehousing operations, __48__ food is collected, __49__ and re-distributed to the community. Traditionally, a food bank does not distribute food __50__ to those in __51__ . __52__ , food banks serve an __53__ network of organizations in their __54__ communities. These organizations serve one part of the __55__ and know the needs of the people there. __56__ , working together, the food bank and the community organization can serve a greater __57__ of people in the most efficient way.
Many food banks provide __58__ services. They __59__ from after school feeding programs, __60__ Kids Cafe, to community agriculture projects.
In the aftermath of welfare reform, food banks throughout the country are raising private __61__ to operate innovative programs and to __62__ those who are hungry. Every food bank strives to be a hunger advocate producing __63__ studies and tracking statistics, while lending their hands-on expertise to get legislation passed and ensuring that the __64__ of domestic hunger is not lost in the shadow of an "__65__ boom".
46. A. results    B. collects    C. comes    D. gathers
47. A. away    B. out    C. over    D. off
48. A. which    B. where    C. what    D. how
49. A. accepted    B. offered    C. processed    D. sorted
50. A. instantly    B. directly    C. voluntarily    D. readily
51. A. need    B. haste    C. debt    D. order
52. A. However    B. Otherwise    C. Instead    D. Certainly
53. A. abnormal    B. optional    C. imaginary    D. extensive
54. A. individual    B. respective    C. special    D. widespread
55. A. organization    B. bank    C. operation    D. community
56. A. Therefore    B. Nevertheless    C. Still    D. Conversely
57. A. amount    B. deal    C. number    D. quantity
58. A. regular    B. other    C. daily    D. depositing
59. A. change    B. alter    C. differ    D. range
60. A. including    B. providing    C. managing    D. distributing
61. A. demands    B. properties    C. funds    D. plans
62. A. shelter    B. feed    C. clothe    D. finance
63. A. poverty    B. welfare    C. hunger    D. food
64. A. issue    B. policy    C. reform    D. project
65. A. economical    B. economics    C. economy    D. economic

Part IV Error Correction (10 points)
Direction: Each of the following sentences has four underlined parts. These parts are labeled A, B, C, and D. Identify the part of sentence that is incorrect and put your choice in the ANSWER SHEET. Then, without altering the meaning of the sentence, write down your correct answer on the line in the ANSWER SHEET.
66. This is a delicate balance of nature [which] many square miles of ocean and vegetation and clean air are needed to maintain only a relatively few human beings.
67. Just outside the ruins [are] a magnificent building surrounded by tall trees.
68. In the teaching of mathematics, the way of instruction is generally traditional, with teachers presenting formal lectures and students [take] notes.
69. Generally speaking, the bird flying across our path is observed, and the one staying on the tree near at hand is passed by without any notice [taking] of it.
70. Some bosses dislike [to allow] people to share their responsibilities; they keep all important matters tightly in their own hands.
71. On the whole, ambitious students are [much] likely to succeed in their studies than are those with little ambition.
72. The advantages of radar are its long range, its precision, and ability [for] penetration darkness and adverse weather.
73. It has been estimated that only 21 percent of the world's land surface [are] cultivatable and that only 7.6 percent is actually under cultivation.
74. According to a recent report, the number of sugar that Americans consume does not vary significantly from year to year.
75. The standards on which the metric system [are] based have been found to be slightly inaccurate.

Part V English Chinese Translation (10 points)
Directions: Read the following passage carefully and then translate the underlined sentences into Chinese. Your translation must be written clearly on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do animals have rights? This is how the question is usually put. It sounds like a useful, ground clearing way to start. (76) Actually, it isn't, because it assumes that there is an agreed account of human rights, which is something the world does not have.
On one view of rights, to be sure, it necessarily follows that animals have none. (77) Some philosophers argue that rights exist only within a social contract, as part of an exchange of duties and entitlements.
Therefore, animals cannot have rights. The idea of punishing a tiger that kills somebody is absurd, for exactly the same reason, so is the idea that tigers have rights. However, this is only one account, and by no means an uncontested one. It denies rights not only to animals but also to some people — for instance to infants, the mentally incapable and future generations. In addition, it is unclear what force a contract can have for people who never consented to it, how do you reply to somebody who says "I don't like this contract"?
The point is this: without agreement on the rights of people, arguing about the rights of animals is fruitless. (78) It leads the discussion to extremes at the outset: it invites you to think that animals should be treated either with the consideration humans extend to other humans, or with no consideration at all. This is a false choice. Better to start with another, more fundamental, question: is the way we treat animals a moral issue at all?
Many deny it. (79) Arguing from the view that humans are different from animals in every relevant respect, extremists of this kind think that animals lie outside the area of moral choice. Any regard for the suffering of animals is seen as a mistake — a sentimental displacement of feeling that should properly be directed to other humans.
This view which holds that torturing a monkey is morally equivalent to chopping wood, may seem bravely "logical". In fact it is simply shallow: the confused center is right to reject it. The most elementary form of moral reasoning — the ethical equivalent of learning to crawl — is to weigh others' interests against one's own. This in turn requires sympathy and imagination: without there is no capacity for moral thought. To see an animal in pain is enough, for most, to engage sympathy. (80) When that happens, it is not a mistake: it is mankind's instinct for moral reasoning in action, an instinct that should be encouraged rather than laughed at.

Part VI Writing (10 points)
Direction: For this part, you are allowed to write a short essay entitled The Traffic Problem in Urban Areas. You should write at least 150 words according to the outline given below.
1. 交通问题成为城市的一大难题
2. 交通问题的负面影响
3. 提出自己的看法