辽宁工程技术大学考博英语真题,考博英语试题

辽宁工程技术大学2011年（秋季）博士研究生入学考试英语试题

Part I Vocabulary & Structure (15 points)
Directions: In each sentence decide which of the four choices given best completes the sentence. Mark your choices on the ANSWER SHEET 1.
1. As for Jack, I am not sure about his ______ Italian.
A) clarity
B) coherence
C) fluency
D) excellency
2. With one leg broken in that car accident, he cannot even walk, ______ run.
A) let alone
B) that’s to say
C) not to speak
D) not to mention
3. Fumes from the exhaust of an automobile are ______.
A) anxious
B) notorious
C) noxious
D) delicious
4. Glass will ______ at a high temperature and will be in a liquid condition.
A) dissolve
B) disappear
C) melt
D) evaporate
5. Feeling that she was in the right, she took ______ at the dirty remark.
A) offense
B) protection
C) defense
D) guard
6. You have failed me so many times that I no longer place any ______ on what you promise.
A) faith
B) belief
C) reliance
D) credit
7. Robert is an artist with seemingly unlimited ______.
A) creativity
B) creation
C) creature
D) creative
8. He believed that the greatest of his ______ was that he’d never gone to college.
A) grieves
B) disasters
C) misfortunes
D) sorrows
9. In the refining process, rice and flour lose much of their ______.
A) vitamin
B) acid
C) alcohol
D) sulphur
10. The American people’s ______ of being polite is different from that held here in China.
A) mind
B) concept
C) consideration
D) thought
11. That is probably all I can say about music. Next time I’ll take up the topic of some other ______ activities.
A) refreshment
B) entertainment
C) pleasure
D) leisure
12. Where there is an earthquake, energy is ______ in one area along a crack in the earth crust.
A) repelled
B) released
C) rushed
D) run
13. Mary is very ______ about wines.
A) aware
B) learned
C) informed
D) knowledgeable
14. I can’t understand the marks and notes which he made in the margin. They are too ______.
A) faint
B) foggy
C) transparent
D) misty
15. Girls like to choose some very pretty paper for ______ their presents.
A) covering
B) wrapping
C) packing
D) collecting
16. You’d better add them up. I’m not good at ______.
A) figures
B) characters
C) summaries
D) counters
17. She broke her leg, but the ______ healed quickly.
A) fracture
B) injury
C) skeleton
D) cavity
18. If the scheme is ______ carried out without waste of time or energy the manager shall be completely satisfied.
A) relatively
B) noticeably
C) appropriately
D) efficiently
19. To the especially sensitive children, a simple scolding can be a ______ experience.
A) hysterical
B) grievous
C) gracious
D) sensible
20. Individual lines of the poem were very beautiful, but I didn’t get how the lines fit together. To me, the poem wasn’t ______.
A) inherent
B) coherent
C) logical
D) corporate
21. The old man ______ and fell from the top of the stairs to the bottom.
A) slided
B) slipped
C) split
D) spilled
22. I don’t know you want to keep the paper. I’ve ______ it up.
A) torn
B) given
C) broken
D) disposed
23. After so many weeks without rain, the ground quickly ______ the little rain that fell last night.
A) skipped
B) soaked
C) absorbed
D) retrieved
24. When he was asked about the missing purse, the man ______ ever seeing it.
A) refused
B) denied
C) opposed
D) resisted
25. People under stress have performed ______ feats of strength, like lifting an automobile off an accident victim.
A) specific
B) extraordinary
C) abrupt
D) abnormal
26. We feel it is high time that the Government ______ something to check the inflation.
A) did
B) do
C) should do
D) would do
27. ______ in the past but now it is a favorite choice for wedding gown.
A) Unpopular has as white been
B) White has been as unpopular
C) Unpopular has been as white
D) Unpopular as white has been
28. Internet enables us to see things happen almost at the exact moment ______.
A) which they are happening
B) they are happening
C) which they happen
D) they have happened
29. Hurricanes are severe cyclones with winds over seventy five miles an hour ______ originate over tropical ocean waters.
A) which
B) who
C) where
D) how to
30. ______ me most was that the young girl who had lost both arms in an accident could handle a pen with her feet.
A) That amazed
B) It amazed
C) What amazed
D) Which amazed
Part II Cloze (15 points)
Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best answer for each blank and mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET 1.
No one can be a great thinker who does not realize that as a thinker it is her first duty to follow her intellect to __31__ conclusions it may lead. Truth gains more even by the __32__ of one who with due study and __33__, thinks for himself, than by the true opinions of those who only hold them because they do not suffer themselves to think. Not that it is solely, __34__ chiefly, to form great thinkers that freedom of thinking is required.
On the contrary, it is as much or even more __35__ to enable average human beings to __36__ the mental stature which they are capable __37__. There have been and many again be great individual thinkers in a general atmosphere of __38__ slavery. __39__ there never has been, nor ever will be, in __40__ atmosphere an intellectually active people. Where any of heterodox speculation was for a time suspended, where there is a __41__ convention that principles are not to be disputed: where the discussion of the greatest questions which can __42__ humanity is considered to be closed, we cannot hope to find that generally high scale of mental activity which has made some periods of history so __43__. Never when controversy avoided the subjects which are large and important enough to __44__ enthusiasm was the mind of a people stirred up from its foundation and the __45__ given which __46__ even persons of the most ordinary intellect to something of the dignity of thinking beings.
She who knows only her own side of the case knows __47__ of that. Her reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to __48__ them. But if she’s equally unable to confute the reasons of the __49__ side; if she does not so much as know what they are, she has no __50__ for preferring either opinion. The rational position for her would be suspension of judgment, and __51__ she contents herself with that, she is either led by authority, or adopts, like the generality of the world the side to which she feels the most inclination. Nor is it enough that she should hear the arguments of __52__ from her own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompanied __53__ what they offer as refutations.
__54__ is not the way to do justice to the arguments, or bring them into real contact with her own mind. She must be able to hear them from persons who __55__ believe them; who defend them in earnest, and do their very utmost for them. She must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form; she __56__ feel the whole force of the difficulty which the true view of the subject has to encounter and dispose of; else she will never really possess herself of the portion of truth which meets and __57__ that difficulty. Ninety-nine in a hundred of what are called educated persons are in this condition; even of those who can argue __58__ for their opinions. Their conclusion may be true, but it might be false for __59__ they know; they have never thrown themselves into the mental position of those who think differently from them and considered what such persons may __60__; and consequently they do not, in any proper sense of the word, know the doctrines which they themselves profess.
31.
A) what
B) how
C) whatever
D) which
32.
A) mistakes
B) errors
C) truth
D) muff
33.
A) conclusion
B) suggestion
C) relation
D) preparation
34.
A) in
B) of
C) on
D) to
35.
A) indispensable
B) dispensable
C) necessary
D) suitable
36.
A) attach
B) attract
C) attribute
D) attain
37.
A) of
B) on
C) with
D) in
38.
A) physical
B) psychological
C) mental
D) corporal
39.
A) And
B) But
C) Then
D) So
40.
A) that
B) what
C) which
D) the
41.
A) silent
B) mute
C) tacit
D) tranquil
42.
A) stand
B) occupy
C) hold
D) seize
43.
A) unbelievable
B) remarkable
C) incredible
D) grandiose
44.
A) make
B) produce
C) kindle
D) cause
45.
A) input
B) impute
C) implicate
D) impulse
46.
A) raised
B) rise
C) rose
D) arisen
47.
A) a little
B) few
C) little
D) a few
48.
A) refuse
B) refute
C) doubt
D) argue
49.
A) same
B) other
C) another
D) opposite
50.
A) land
B) earth
C) ground
D) field
51.
A) though
B) unless
C) as
D) since
52.
A) adversaries
B) advocates
C) backers
D) adherents
53.
A) with
B) to
C) by
D) on
54.
A) That
B) There
C) What
D) Which
55.
A) chiefly
B) totally
C) hardly
D) actually
56.
A) should
B) will
C) must
D) can’t
57.
A) brings
B) leads
C) removes
D) makes
58.
A) promptly
B) fluently
C) expediently
D) tardily
59.
A) nothing
B) something
C) none
D) anything
60.
A) have to say
B) say
C) have said
D) be said
Part III Reading Comprehension (45 points)
Directions: There are six passages in this part. Each is followed by some questions or unfinished sentences. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice and mark it on the ANSWER SHEET.
Passage One Questions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage:
My dear child, — I am very well pleased with your last letter. The writing was very good, and the promise you make exceedingly fine. You must keep it, for an honest man never breaks his word. You engage to retain the instructions which I give you. That is sufficient, for though you do not properly comprehend them at present, age and reflection will, in time, make you understand them.
With respect to the contents of your letter, I believe you have had proper assistance; indeed, I do not as expect that you can write a letter without help. You ought, however, to try, for nothing is more requisite than to write a good letter. Nothing in fact is easier. Most persons, who write ill, do so because they aim at writing better than they can, by which means they acquire a formal and unnatural style. Whereas, to write well, we must write easily and naturally. For instance, if you want to write a letter to me, you should only consider what you would say if you were with me, and then write it in plain terms, just as if you were conversing. I will suppose, then, that you sit down to write to me unassisted, and I imagine your letter would probably be much in these words:
My dear Papa: I have been at Mr. Maittaire’s this morning, where I have translated French into Latin and Latin into English, and so well that at the end of my exercise he has written “bene.” I have likewise repeated a Greek verb, and pretty well. After this I ran home, like a little wild boy, and played till dinner-time. This became a serious task, for I ate like a wolf, and by that you judge that I am in very good health. Adieu.
Well, sir, the above is a good letter, and yet very easily written, because it is exceedingly natural. Endeavour then sometimes to write to me without minding either the beauty of the writing or the straightness of the lines. Take as little trouble as possible. By that means you will by degrees use yourself to write perfectly well, and with ease. Adieu. Come to me tomorrow at twelve, or Friday morning at eight o’clock.
61. How does the author think about the instructions he gave to his child?
A) efficiency
B) effectiveness
C) accuracy
D) not enough
62. In order to write well, one should do the following except ______.
A) Write a letter without any help
B) Write as easily and naturally as possible
C) Consider what you will say before writing
D) Try to write in plain terms
63. What does the word "optimal" (Para.1) mean?
A) positive
B) optimistic
C) best
D) good
64. According to the passage, which of the following is true?
A) The author is not quite satisfied with his child’s writing
B) The author thinks his child would never understand his instructions
C) Writing a letter is such an easy thing
D) In order to write naturally, one may not care too much about the beauty of the lines
65. The general tone of this letter is ______.
A) encouraging
B) arbitrary
C) imposing
D) exaggerate
Passage Two Questions 66 to 70 are based on the following passage:
Students of United States history, seeking to identify the circumstances that encouraged the emergence of feminist movements, have thoroughly investigated the mid-nineteenth-century American economic and social conditions that affected the status of women. These historians, however, have analyzed less fully the development of specifically feminist ideas and activities during the same period. Furthermore, the ideological origins of feminism in the United States have been obscured because, even when historians did take into account those feminist ideas and activities occurring within the United States, they failed to recognize that feminism was then a truly international movement actually centered in Europe—American feminist activists who have been described as "solitary" and "individual theorists" were in reality connected to a movement—utopian socialism—which was already popularizing feminist ideas in Europe during the two decades that culminated in the first women’s rights conference held at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. Thus, a complete understanding of the origins and development of nineteenth-century feminism in the United States requires that the geographical focus be widened to include Europe and that the detailed study already made of social conditions be expanded to include the ideological development of feminism.
The earliest and most popular of the utopian Socialists were the Saint-Simonians. The specifically feminist part of Saint-Simonianism has, however, been less studied than the group’s contribution to early socialism. This is regrettable on two counts. By 1832 feminism was the central concern of Saint-Simonianism and entirely absorbed its adherents’ energy; hence, by ignoring its feminism, European historians have misunderstood Saint-Simonianism. Moreover, since many feminist ideas can be traced to Saint-Simonianism, European historians’ appreciation of later feminism in France and the United States remained limited.
Saint-Simon’s followers, many of whom were women, based their feminism on an interpretation of his project to reorganize the globe by replacing brute force with the rule of spiritual powers. The new world order would be ruled together by a male, to represent reflection, and a female, to represent sentiment. This complementarity reflects the fact that, while the Saint-Simonians did not reject the belief that there were innate differences between men and women, they nevertheless foresaw an equally important social and political role for both sexes in their Utopia.
Only a few Saint-Simonians opposed the doctrine of innate sexual inequality. This minority believed that individuals of both sexes were born similar in capacity and character, and they ascribed male-female differences to socialization and education. The envisioned result of both currents of thought, however, was that women would enter public life in the new age and that sexual equality would reward men as well as women with an improved way of life.
66. It can be inferred that the author considers those historians who describe early feminists in the United States as "solitary" to be ______.
A) insufficiently familiar with the international origins of nineteenth-century American feminist thought
B) overly concerned with the regional diversity of feminist ideas in the period before 1848
C) not focused narrowly enough in their geographical scope
D) insufficiently aware of the ideological consequences of the Seneca Falls conference
67. According to the passage, which of the following is true of the Seneca Falls conference on women’s rights?
A) It was primarily a product of nineteenth-century Saint-Simonian feminist thought
B) It was the work of American activists who were independent of feminists abroad
C) It was the culminating achievement of the Utopian socialist movement
D) It was a manifestation of an international movement for social change and feminism
68. The author’s attitude toward most European historians who have studied the Saint-Simonians is primarily one of ______.
A) approval of the specific focus of their research
B) disapproval of their lack of attention to the issue that absorbed most of the Saint-Simonians’ energy
C) approval of their general focus on social conditions
D) disapproval of their lack of attention to links between the Saint-Simonians and their American counterparts
69. It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes that study of Saint-Simonianism is necessary for historians of American feminism because such study ______.
A) would clarify the ideological origins of those feminist ideas that influenced American feminism
B) would increase understanding of a movement that deeply influenced the Utopian socialism of early American feminists
C) would focus attention on the most important aspect of Saint-Simonian thought before 1832
D) promises to offer insight into a movement that was a direct outgrowth of the Seneca Falls conference of 1848
70. According to the passage, which of the following would be the most accurate description of the society envisioned by most Saint-Simonians?
A) A society in which women were highly regarded for their extensive education
B) A society in which the two genders played complementary roles and had equal status
C) A society in which women did not enter public life
D) A social order in which a body of men and women would rule together on the basis of their spiritual power
Passage Three Questions 71 to 75 are based on the following passage:
Stratford-on-Avon, as we all know, has only one industry—William Shakespeare—but there are two distinctly separate and increasingly hostile branches. There is the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), which presents superb productions of the plays at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre on the Avon. And there are the townsfolk who largely live off the tourists who come, not to see the plays, but to look at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage, Shakespeare’s birthplace and the other sights.
The worthy residents of Stratford doubt that the theatre adds a penny to their revenue. They frankly dislike the RSC’s actors, them with their long hair and beards and sandals and noisiness. It’s all deliciously ironic when you consider that Shakespeare, who earns his living, was himself an actor (with a beard) and did his share of noise-making.
The tourist streams are not entirely separate. The sightseers who come by bus and often take in Warwick Castle and Blenheim Palace on the side don’t usually see the plays, and some of them are even surprised to find a theatre in Stratford. However, the playgoers do manage a little sight-seeing along with their play going. It is the playgoers, the RSC contends, who bring in much of the town’s revenue because they spend the night (some of them four or five nights) pouring cash into the hotels and restaurants. The sightseers can take in everything and get out of town by nightfall.
The townsfolk don’t see it this way and local council does not contribute directly to the subsidy of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Stratford cries poor traditionally. Nevertheless every hotel in town seems to be adding a new wing or cocktail lounge. Hilton is building its own hotel there, which you may be sure will be decorated with Hamlet Hamburger Bars, the Lear Lounge, the Banquo Banqueting Room, and so forth, and will be very expensive.
Anyway, the townsfolk can’t understand why the Royal Shakespeare Company needs a subsidy. (The theatre has broken attendance records for three years in a row. Last year its 1,431 seats were 94 per cent occupied all year long and this year they’ll do better.) The reason, of course, is that costs have rocketed and ticket prices have stayed low.
It would be a shame to raise prices too much because it would drive away the young people who are Stratford’s most attractive clientele. They come entirely for the plays, not the sights. They all seem to look alike (though they come from all over)—lean, pointed, dedicated faces, wearing jeans and sandals, eating their buns and bedding down for the night on the flagstones outside the theatre to buy the 20 seats and 80 standing-room tickets held for the sleepers and sold to them when the box office opens at 10:30 a.m.
71. From the first two paragraphs, we learn that ______.
A) the townsfolk deny the RSC’s contribution to the town’s revenue
B) the actors of the RSC imitate Shakespeare on and off stage
C) the two branches of the RSC are not on good terms
D) the townsfolk earn little from tourism
72. It can be inferred from Paragraph 3 that ______.
A) the sightseers cannot visit the Castle and the Palace separately
B) the playgoers spend more money than the sightseers
C) the sightseers do more shopping than the playgoers
D) the playgoers go to no other places in town than the theater
73. By saying "Stratford cries poor traditionally" (Line 2-3, Paragraph 4), the author implies that ______.
A) Stratford cannot afford the expansion projects
B) Stratford has long been in financial difficulties
C) the town is not really short of money
D) the townsfolk used to be poorly paid
74. According to the townsfolk, the RSC deserves no subsidy because ______.
A) ticket prices can be raised to cover the spending
B) the company is financially ill-managed
C) the behavior of the actors is not socially acceptable
D) the theatre attendance is on the rise
75. From the text we can conclude that the author ______.
A) is supportive of both sides
B) favors the townsfolk’s view
C) takes a detached attitude
D) is sympathetic to the RSC
Passage Four Questions 76 to 80 are based on the following passage:
Polarity, or action and reaction, we meet in every part of nature: in darkness and light; in heat and cold; in the ebb and flow of waters; in male and female; in the inspiration and expiration of plants and animals; in the systole and diastole of the heart; in the undulations of fluids, and of sound; in the centrifugal and centripetal gravity; in electricity, galvanism, and chemical affinity. Superinduce magnetism at one end of a needle; the opposite magnetism takes place at the other end. If the south attracts, the north repels. To empty here, you must condense there. An inevitable dualism bisects nature, so that each thing is a half, and suggests another thing to make it whole: as spirit, matter; man, woman; subjective, objective; in, out; upper, under; motion, rest; yea, nay.
Whilst the world is thus dual, so is every other thing. The entire system of things gets represented in every particle. There is somewhat that resembles the ebb and flow of the sea, day and night, man and woman, in a single needle of the pine, in a kernel of corn, in each individual of every animal tribe. The reaction so grand in the elements is repeated within these small boundaries. For example, in the animal kingdom, the physiologist has found that there are no favorites, no exception to the rule of compensation. A surplus age given to one part is paid out of a reduction from another part of the creature. If the head and neck are enlarged, the trunk and extremities are cut short.
The theory of the mechanic forces is another example. What we gain in power is lost in time; and the converse. The periodic or compensating errors of the planets are another instance. The influences of climate and soil in political history are another. The cold climate invigorates. The barren soil does not breed fever, crocodiles, tigers, or scorpions.
The same dualism underlies the nature and condition of man. Every excess causes a defect; every defect an excess. Every sweet hath its sour; every evil its good. Every faculty which is a receiver of pleasure has an equal penalty put on its abuse. It is to answer for its moderation with its life. For every grain of wit there is a grain of folly. For everything you have missed, you have gained something else; and for everything you gain, you lose something. If riches increase, they are increased that use them. If the gatherer gathers too much, nature takes out of the man what she puts into his chest; swells the estate, but kills the owner. Nature hates monopolies and exceptions.
Things refuse to be mismanaged long. Though no checks to a new evil appear, the checks exist and will appear. If the government is cruel, the governor’s life is not safe. If you tax too high, the revenue will yield nothing. If you make the criminal code sanguinary, juries will not convict. Nothing arbitrary, nothing artificial can endure.
76. The word polarity has the closest meaning to ______.
A) conflict
B) antagonism
C) harmony
D) struggle
77. Which of the following do not indicate polarity?
A) the ebb and flow of the sea
B) the rise and fall of the sound
C) thought and emotion
D) contract and relax
78. In the example of the animal kingdom, the author wants to tell us that ______.
A) The whole world is dual
B) Some of the animals are not gifted
C) The physiologists do not like all kinds of animals
D) God is fair to everyone
79. It can be inferred from the passage that the author probably holds a (an) ______ attitude towards the government.
A) indifferent
B) admiring
C) resentful
D) ironic
80. The purpose of this passage is to ______.
A) tell the truth that the world is dual
B) analyze the fact that the world is dual
C) inform people that the world is dual
D) warn people against long-time mismanagement
Passage Five Questions 81 to 85 are based on the following passage:
When does history begin? It is tempting to reply "in the beginning," but like many obvious answers, this soon turns out to be unhelpful. As a great Swiss historian once pointed out in another connexion, history is the one subject which you cannot begin at the beginning. If we want to, we can trace the chain of human descent back to the appearance of vertebrates, or even to the photosynthetic cells which lie at the start of life itself. We can go back further still, to almost unimaginable upheavals which formed this planet and even to the origins of the universe. Yet this is not "history."
Commonsense helps here: history is the story of mankind, of what it has done, suffered or enjoyed. We all know that dogs and cats do not have histories, while human beings do. Even when historians write about a natural process beyond human control, such as the ups and downs of climate, or the spread of disease, they do so only because it helps us to understand why men and women have lived (and died) in some ways rather than others.
This suggests that all we have to do is to identify the moment at which the first human beings step out from the shadows of the remote past. It is not quite as simple as that, though. We have to know what we are looking for first and most attempts to define humanity on the basis of observable characteristics prove in the end arbitrary and cramping, as long arguments about "ape men" and "missing links" have shown. Physiological tests help us to classify data but do not identify what is or is not human. That is a matter of a definition about which disagreement is possible. Some people have suggested that human uniqueness lies in language, yet other primates possess vocal organs similar to our own; when noises are made with it which are signals, at what point do they become speech? Another famous definition is that man is a tool-maker, but observation has cast doubt on our uniqueness in this respect, too, long after Dr. Johnson scoffed at Boswell for quoting it to him.
What is surely and identifiably unique about the human species is not its possession of certain faculties or physical characteristics, but what it has done with them—its achievement, or history, in fact. Humanity’s unique achievement is its remarkably intense level of activity and creativity, its cumulative capacity to create change. All animals have ways of living, some complex enough to be called cultures. Human culture alone is progressive: it has been increasingly built by conscious choice and selection within it as well as by accident and natural pressure, by the accumulation of a capital of experience and knowledge which man has exploited. Human history began when the inheritance of genetics and behavior which had until then provided the only way of dominating the environment was first broken through by conscious choice. Of course, human beings have always only been able to make their history within limits. These limits are now very wide indeed, but they were once so narrow that it is impossible to identify the first step which took human evolution away from the domination of nature. We have for a long time only a blurred story, obscure both because the evidence is poor and because we cannot be sure exactly what we are looking for.
81. According to the first paragraph, which of the following statements is CORRECT?
A) People have already known when the history begins
B) To some degree, we can say that history is the one subject which you cannot begin at the beginning
C) The appearance of vertebrates is the beginning of history
D) The unimaginable upheavals which formed this planet are the history of this world
82. It can be inferred from the passage that ______.
A) Animals like dogs and cats do have histories
B) Historians study about a natural process beyond human control to find the beginning of history
C) Physiological tests do not identify what is or is not human
D) People are quite sure about what they are looking for
83. What tone does the author use when he wrote this passage?
A) objective
B) subjective
C) disapproval
D) difficult to tell
84. In order to understand what history is, the predeterminate thing is to make clear the uniqueness of the human species which lies in ______.
A) its possession of certain faculties or physical characteristics
B) language
C) tool-making
D) what human beings have done with their certain faculties or physical characteristics
85. According to the author, history is ______.
A) in the beginning
B) the story of mankind, of what it has done, suffered or enjoyed
C) the progressiveness of human conscious choice and selection which breaks through the inheritance of genetics and behavior
D) a natural process beyond human control
Passage Six Questions 86 to 90 are based on the following passage:
Joy and sadness are experienced by people in all cultures around the world, but how can we tell when other people are happy or despondent? It turns out that the expression of many emotions may be universal. Smiling is apparently a universal sign of friendliness and approval. Baring the teeth in a hostile way, as noted by Charles Darwin in the nineteenth century, may be a universal sign of anger. As the originator of the theory of evolution, Darwin believed that the universal recognition of facial expressions would have survival value. For example, facial expressions could signal the approach of enemies (or friends) in the absence of language.
Most investigators concur that certain facial expressions suggest the same emotions in all people. Moreover, people in diverse cultures recognize the emotions manifested by the facial expressions. In classic research Paul Ekman took photographs of people exhibiting the emotions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness. He then asked people around the world to indicate what emotions were being depicted in them. Those queried ranged from European college students to members of the Fore, a tribe in the New Guinea highlands. All groups including the Fore, who had almost no contact with Western culture, agreed on the portrayed emotions. The Fore also displayed familiar facial expressions when asked how they would respond if they were the characters in stories that called for basic emotional responses. Ekman and his colleagues more recently obtained similar results in a study of ten cultures in which participants were permitted to report that multiple emotions were shown by facial expressions. The participants generally agreed on which two emotions were being shown and which emotion was more intense.
Psychological researchers generally recognize that facial expressions reflect emotional states. In fact, various emotional states give rise to certain patterns of electrical activity in the facial muscles and in the brain. The facial-feedback hypothesis argues, however, that the causal relationship between emotions and facial expressions can also work in the opposite direction. According to this hypothesis, signals from the facial muscles ("feedback") are sent back to emotion centers of the brain, and so a person’s facial expression can influence that person’s emotional state. Consider Darwin’s words: "The free expression by outward signs of an emotion intensifies it. On the other hand, the repression, as far as possible, of all outward signs softens our emotions." Can smiling give rise to feelings of good will, for example, and frowning to anger?
Psychological research has given rise to some interesting findings concerning the facial-feedback hypothesis. Causing participants in experiments to smile, for example, leads them to report more positive feelings and to rate cartoons (humorous drawings of people or situations) as being more humorous. When they are caused to frown, they rate cartoons as being more aggressive.
What are the possible links between facial expressions and emotion? One link is arousal, which is the level of activity or preparedness for activity in an organism. Intense contraction of facial muscles, such as those used in signifying fear, heightens arousal. Self-perception of heightened arousal then leads to heightened emotional activity. Other links may involve changes in brain temperature and the release of neurotransmitters (substances that transmit nerve impulses.) The contraction of facial muscles both influences the internal emotional state and reflects it. Ekman has found that the so-called Duchenne smile, which is characterized by "crow’s feet" wrinkles around the eyes and a subtle drop in the eye cover fold so that the skin above the eye moves down slightly toward the eyeball, can lead to pleasant feelings.
Ekman’s observation may be relevant to the British expression "keep a stiff upper lip" as a recommendation for handling stress. It might be that a "stiff" lip suppresses emotional response—as long as the lip is not quivering with fear or tension. But when the emotion that leads to stiffening the lip is more intense, and involves strong muscle tension, facial feedback may heighten emotional response.
86. The word despondent in the passage is closest in meaning to ______.
A) curious
B) unhappy
C) thoughtful
D) uncertain
87. The author mentions "Baring the teeth in a hostile way" in order to ______.
A) differentiate one possible meaning of a particular facial expression from other meanings of it
B) support Darwin’s theory of evolution
C) provide an example of a facial expression whose meaning is widely understood
D) contrast a facial expression that is easily understood with other facial expressions
88. The word concur in the passage is closest in meaning to ______.
A) estimate
B) agree
C) expect
D) understand
89. According to paragraph 2, which of the following was true of the Fore people of New Guinea?
A) They did not want to be shown photographs
B) They were famous for their story-telling skills
C) They knew very little about Western culture
D) They did not encourage the expression of emotions
90. According to the passage, what did Darwin believe would happen to human emotions that were not expressed?
A) They would become less intense
B) They would last longer than usual
C) They would cause problems later
D) They would become more negative
Part IV Translation (10 points)
Directions: Translate the underlined sentences in the following passage into Chinese and write your translation clearly on the ANSWER SHEET 2.
(91) Many schools, like Washington State and Arizona State, let individual departments and academic units decide who can take an online course. They say students with legitimate academic needs—a conflict with another class, a course they need to graduate that is full—often get permission, though they still must take some key classes in person.
(92) In fact, the distinction between online and face-to-face courses is now so blurred that it may not even be reflected in next fall’s course catalogue. Students can instant message professors, e-mail fellow students, electronic filing of papers. Students can listen to lectures by downloading a video or a podcast.
(93) At Arizona State, 10,000 students take fully online courses and 40,000 use the online course management system to take some or all traditional courses.
(94) Arizona State’s director of distance learning, Marc Van Horne, says students are increasingly demanding both high-tech delivery of education, and more control over their schedules. The university should do what it can to help them graduate on time, he says.
(95) Then there’s the question of whether students are well served by taking a course online instead of in person. Some teachers are wary, saying showing up to class teaches discipline and that lectures and class discussions are an important part of learning. But online classes aren’t necessarily easier. Two-thirds of schools responding to a recent survey by The Sloan Consortium agreed that it takes more discipline for students to succeed in an online course than in a face-to-face one.
Part V Writing (15 points)
Directions:
Recently credit cards are widely used among college students. Try to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the students’ use of credit cards.
Time allowed: 30 minutes
Word Limit: No less than 180 words
Your composition must be written neatly and clearly on the ANSWER SHEET 2.