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同济大学2008年博士研究生入学考试试题

I.  Vocabulary  (10%)
Directions: For each of the following sentences there are four choices. Choose the best one to complete the sentence. Make your choices on the answer sheet.
1. After four years in the same job his enthusiasm finally ______.
A. deteriorated
B. dispersed
C. dissipated
D. drained

2. Before we move, we should ______ some of the old furniture, so that we can have more room in the new house.
A. cancel
B. conceal
C. discard
D. retain

3. Very few people could understand the lecture the professor delivered because its subject was very ______.
A. obscure
B. indefinite
C. dubious
D. intriguing

4. Please don't ______ too much on the painful memories. Everything will be all right.
A. hesitate
B. linger
C. retain
D. dwell

5. He didn't mention your name but I was sure he was ______ to you.
A. intimating
B. inferring
C. alluding
D. suggesting

6. The hands on my alarm clock are ______, so I can see what time it is in the dark.
A. exotic
B. gorgeous
C. luminous
D. spectacular

7. No form of government in the world is ______; each system reflects the history and presents needs of the region and the nation.
A. dominant
B. influential
C. integral
D. drastic

8. Mutual respect for territorial ______ is one of the bases upon which our two countries develop relationships.
A. unity
B. integrity
C. entirety
D. reliability

9. The losing candidate ______, immediately after the polls had closed.
A. confessed
B. conceded
C. concurred
D. admitted

10. We have to ______ the routine expenditure, otherwise it will be impossible for us to afford a car.
A. decline
B. condense
C. curtail
D. dwindle

11. Tom was accused of ______ against black persons, that is to say, he looks down upon them.
A. discriminating
B. distinguishing
C. distressing
D. disguising

12. Since the two countries couldn't ______ their differences, they decided to stop their negotiations.
A. rectify
B. oblige
C. reconcile
D. obscure

13. It was ______ to continue the negotiation since both sides lack the sincerity.
A. fertile
B. futile
C. fugitive
D. fussy

14. It is advisable to ______ an electric wire with rubber in order to secure safety.
A. desolate
B. resolute
C. insolate
D. insulate

15. The heavy snow ______ travel, so he had to stay here for more days.
A. impeached
B. impelled
C. impeded
D. imparted

16. The dictator's first step was to ______ the free press.
A. strangle
B. strand
C. stratify
D. estrange

17. After the disaster of flood, people all over the village made ______ effort to rebuild their home.
A. superfluous
B. tenuous
C. strenuous
D. fatuous

18. I ______ my excitement about the upcoming holiday.
A. crush
B. subdue
C. conquer
D. tranquilize

19. This method ______ my headache. It really takes effect.
A. soothes
B. sobers
C. soars
D. soaks

20. The farmer warned those children not to ______ on the corn.
A. collapse
B. stripe
C. stride
D. tramp

II.  Reading Comprehension  (50%)
Directions: Read the following passages and choose from the choices marked A, B, C, D that best complete or answer the questions after each passage. Mark your answer on the answer sheet.
Passage One
Forty years ago no one was concerned about the health of the ocean, in spite of the fact that many fisheries were being over harvested, toxic wastes were being dumped in the sea, and developers were beginning to seriously disrupt coastlines. In those days, the magnitude of the problems was small, even though it was obvious that if the trends continued people would face severe economic and personal hardship in the future. People just didn't understand, nor did they care. Unfortunately many of our concerns were realized, but the situation could have been much worse had we, and others, not taken action to inform people about the ocean and the need to protect it.
During our campaign to share the wonders of the sea and alert the public about the need to protect it, we have used every medium available — personal appearances, the printed word, and television. Now there is a new medium that is even more effective than its predecessors. Thanks to the internet and computers, people can not only receive linear stories, but they can actually participate in them, exploring and learning at their own pace and as their curiosity dictates. I am tremendously impressed with the personalization of what had been labeled by skeptics as the most impersonal medium yet developed.
For these reasons I have made a major commitment of time and resources to dive into this sea of electronic marvels. I'm swimming hard to keep up, but when I look around I find I'm not alone. We are all learning together and it is an adventure I am finding immensely rewarding. I have been encouraged by our first modest dunking in the new world: We recently completed a CD-ROM, Jean-Michel Cousteau's World: Cities Under the Sea — Coral Reefs. A couple of months ago I was in Fiji to celebrate the 1997 international Year of the Reef and presented Our Cities Under the Sea CD-ROM to a group of children. I was impressed to see how quickly they grasped our concepts and how they directed their own learning process, thanks to the flexibility of the medium. It was particularly exciting to see kids squeal with delight as they responded to questions and the computer rewarded them when they got the correct answers.
I want young people to experience the mystery and wonder of our oceans. I want them to understand how precious and vulnerable our environment is. Young people need to be taught to take responsibility for ensuring that their heritage will be protected and used wisely. Hopefully the next generation will do a better job than mine was. I believe individuals must be personally clean, and take action. I am counting on young people with their idealism and energy to create a better future — it is too important to be left to bureaucrats and politicians.
21. Forty years ago people were indifferent to the health of the ocean because ______.
A. the ocean was immune to any pollution then
B. they didn't know what would come of if the ocean was deadly disrupted
C. there was no computer then
D. there wasn't any problem with the ocean at that time

22. The last sentence of the 2nd paragraph tells us that ______.
A. the writer believes that the computer is as smart as human beings
B. the writer believes that the computer is friendly with human beings
C. the writer believes that human beings can interact with the computer and do what they want at their will
D. the writer believes that human beings have not used the computer to its fullest advantage

23. The writer went to Fiji to ______.
A. participate in a celebration
B. teach children there how to use the computer
C. make an adventure in the sea
D. spend the holiday on the seashore

24. The writer's attitude to the prospect of the ocean is ______.
A. desperate
B. unconcerned
C. optimistic
D. pragmatic

25. To have a better future for the environment, we shall fall back on ______.
A. our predecessors
B. politicians
C. computers
D. young people

Passage Two
The field of sociology in the United States developed as a result of a social experience which had very little to do with the political and ideological controversies that stimulated sociology in France and Germany. Rather, the discipline evolved as a result of the experiences associated with the problems of an immigrant society caught in the turmoil of rapid industrialization and urban growth. Indeed, it must be emphasized that from its beginning, sociology has had a very practical interest, which was characterized less by political divisiveness than by social reform and social work. This practical emphasis in the discipline has continued to persist to the present. It has only been since World War II, however, that there has existed something in American higher education that could be properly termed a "sociological establishment" or a highly respected academic field of study. Its major strength as an academic discipline resulted from its empirical and sophisticated approach to the identification and solution of practical but highly significant social problems.
Today, what does the academic sociologist do? Professional sociologists are individuals who study and teach about societies, social institutions, and the patterns of human interaction and human behavior. As a scientific discipline, sociology may be divided into three broad, analytical fields: the study of groups; institutional analysis; and study of the social structure in general.
Thus, the content of the rapidly expanding discipline of sociology is based upon culture and society, with emphasis placed upon the study of the various types of interaction and relationships which exist among individuals and human groups. In the study of such areas as social organization and disorganization, sociologists attempt to explain the evolution and change of social institutions and the changing nature of human attitudinal and value systems. Among the selected topics of investigation included within the study of sociology are the changing nature of family life, institutional life, sexual attitudes, crime and violence, religious values, and the entire gamut of interpersonal relationships in politics and government. Indeed, many of the areas which professional sociologists study are, by their very nature, relatively familiar to many of us even though they are not clearly understood. The basic hypotheses of the discipline — that social life (both group and individual behavior) is patterned; that value and attitude are learned, reinforced. These topics, which emphasize individual and group behavior processes, then, comprise areas of concern for sociology as one of the behavioral science disciplines.
During these last decades of the twentieth century, advanced western society will continue to be confronted with crucial social issues in the context of both individual and group behavior patterns resulting from continued rapid technological expansion. The solution to the problem plaguing our complex society will become, to a much greater extent, the primary responsibility of sociology, social psychology, and cultural anthropology, the three major academic disciplines comprising the behavioral sciences. This trend is being witnessed currently by the increasing numbers of behavioral scientists that are being employed by government, by business and industry, by hospitals and other agencies devoted to problems of health care, by welfare agencies, by public educational systems, and by many other types of organizations in which some systematic knowledge of human behavior is required.
26. The primary purpose of the passage is to ______.
A. distinguish sociology in the United States from sociology in France and Germany
B. compare sociology with social psychology and cultural anthropology
C. provide a general discussion of modern Western sociology and its significance
D. show that sociology is the study of social institutions

27. Which of the following statements about sociology would the author be most likely to disagree with?
A. Most sociologists are interested in theoretical rather than practical questions
B. There is a discernable structure to everyone's behavior
C. Human behavior can be systematically studied
D. One's self-image is not encoded genetically

28. It can be inferred from the passage that social psychology and cultural anthropology ______.
A. are sub areas of sociology
B. are other names for sociology
C. will achieve the academic respectability of sociology
D. may be consulted for solutions to sociological problems

29. Which of the following statements would the author most likely agree with?
A. Sociology theory is rarely based on empirical evidence
B. The problems facing sociologists do not change as times change
C. The problems of immigrants in a new culture stimulate social research
D. There are factors in interpersonal relationships that are not of interest to the sociologist

30. The word "empirical" in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.
A. "relating to experience and observation"
B. "relating to behavior and manner"
C. "concerning academy"
D. "relying on education"

Passage Three
Having a few too many drinks can mean more than just a blackout or a bad hangover. People who engage in binge drinking are courting danger, experts warn.
Binge drinking is most common at colleges and universities, where many young adults treat drinking to excess as a rite of passage. A 1997 study from the Harvard School of Public Health reports that 42.7% of all college students engage in binge drinking. The well-publicized deaths of several college students from binge drinking in 1997 highlight the risks.
An 18-year-old freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology drank himself into a coma and died. A 20-year-old fraternity pledge at Louisiana State University died from alcohol poisoning.
"Alcohol is always toxic. It's really a poison," said Steven Schandler, professor of psychology at Chapman University and chief of addiction research at the Long Beach Veterans Affairs Health Care system, who added that binge drinking can lead to alcohol poisoning. "Because it's a poison, like any other poison, if you take in a little bit, you might tolerate it, but if you take in a lot, you might die."
Administrators and doctors say that college freshmen are especially at risk for alcohol poisoning, in part because they often lack the maturity to refrain or stop. And for some who may be new to drinking, their bodies have a relatively low tolerance for alcohol.
But problems with alcohol are not limited to teenagers and young adults. A 39-year-old Buena Park man recently recalled that two days of steady imbibing on a trip to Las Vegas several years ago left him in bad shape.
Doctors say blood alcohol levels of about 4% — five times the legal intoxication limit of 0.8% — can induce potentially lethal side effects in most people. Alcoholics have higher limits. Although not well understood, enzymes that break down and expel alcohol in the liver and kidneys do so more effectively in seasoned drinkers, allowing them to tolerate more, Schandler said.
Regardless of a person's tolerance, alcohol exerts its influence when the amount of alcohol taken in exceeds the amount that the body can digest. At that point, alcohol passes from the bloodstream into the brain and begins its attack. Alcohol first affects the brain's cortex, which controls more sophisticated thought processes. That's why people generally become less inhibited under the influence of alcohol, and some are more willing to try things that could be dangerous to themselves and others.
Coordination, mainly controlled by the cerebellum, is the next to go, leading to slurred speech and difficulty walking in a straight line. As excessive drinking continues, alcohol moves deeper into the brain until "it gets to the very basic structure of brain stem that affects things like respiration and heart beat", said Dr. Bret Ginther, an assistant clinical professor of emergency medicine at UC Irvine.
At that point, people may pass out or fall into a coma. Their vital signs may weaken. "The most common cause of death from alcohol poisoning is respiratory arrest," said Ginther. Eventually, the heart simply stops. Getting to that point is fairly unusual. But Ginther said that at least once or twice a month, patients are brought into the emergency room at UCI Medical Center in Orange suffering from alcohol poisoning. Signs of alcohol poisoning include vomiting, pallor, unresponsiveness and, in extreme cases, loss of consciousness.
College officials say they are always on the lookout for alcohol abuse but say there is no fail-safe method to keep students from drinking. Many colleges try to educate students, especially those caught drinking illegally or causing disruptions. The Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention in Newton, Mass, advocates a community-based approach that includes administrators, faculty, police and businesses in the fight to curb binge drinking, in part by being on alert for people abusing alcohol. The center also stresses the importance of parental guidance and urges parents to have frank discussions with their children about excessive drinking.
31. From the passage, we can learn that "binge drinking" is ______.
A. an excessive consumption of alcohol
B. drinking oneself into a coma
C. drinking poisonous alcohol
D. a kind of illegal drinking

32. Why are college freshmen especially at risk for alcohol poisoning according to administrators and doctors?
A. Their bodies are not used to alcohol
B. They can not refrain themselves
C. They are under greater pressure
D. Both A and B

33. What can enzymes do when one is drunk?
A. They help drunken people survive when they take in more alcohol than tolerable
B. They help people in coma regain consciousness
C. They expel alcohol in the liver and kidneys
D. They can make people stay conscious

34. Which of the following is TRUE?
A. College officials are aware of the seriousness of students' binge drinking but can not do anything
B. College officials are taking measures to prevent binge drinking though without much success
C. College officials think that they do not have any methods to stop students from drinking
D. College officials just stand by without doing anything to the problem

35. Binge drinking may most seriously lead to ______.
A. death
B. craziness
C. disability
D. unconsciousness

Passage Four
For multinational corporations, tax planning has become an extremely complex affair. It has often been stated that no multinational corporation possesses the ultimate tax expertise. There are just too many countries and regions involved and thus a web of tax regulations. Therefore, in addition to having their own experts, MNCs rely heavily on local tax experts and legal counsel.
Taxes have a very important impact on foreign direct investment decisions. Taxes will determine the financial structure of a subsidiary, and they will influence pricing decisions. They may also lead to the formation of holding companies. An MNC may decide to establish a branch rather than a subsidiary because of a given tax situation. The absence of a tax treaty between the country of a would-be investor and the nation where a foreign investment is to take place might lead to cancellation of investment plans. An unfavorable depreciation allowance may keep the foreign investor out. This unit will deal with the different tax systems in the world and their impact on an MNC's global strategy.
Basically, any tax system can be divided into direct and indirect taxes. Corporate and individual income taxes are direct; value-added taxes, sales taxes and import duties are indirect taxes. Corporate income taxes (taxes levied on earning) vary among the industrialized nations. France, the United States, Holland, Canada, and Germany have rates of around 50%; Italy, the United Kingdom, and Japan have rates of between 36 and 40 percent.
Less developed countries usually have lower corporate tax rates, in order to attract foreign investment. Thus, Brazil has a rate of 30 percent, and Indonesia has a 40 percent tax rate. A corporate tax is levied on taxable earning. Taxable earnings are more significant than the tax rate itself. They determine what can be deducted before the tax is computed; in other words, these items are tax deductible. Countries differ greatly in determining taxable earning. Some allow accelerated depreciation, whereby the asset (usually the plant or equipment) is written off at a substantially higher rate during the first years than in the later years. This allows for smaller taxable earnings in the early year. Other countries allow tax-free investment reserves. These are used at a later stage for investment in underdeveloped areas of countries or are sent when countries are in a recession.
A recent type of tax that has won recognition in the European Common Market is value-added tax (VAT). This is a national sales tax levied at each stage of production or at the sale of consumer goods. The tax is assessed in proportion to the value added during that stage. Generally, manufacturing goods, such as plant and equipment have been exempted from this tax. In most cases, food items also have been exempted.
Here is an example of how VAT works. A tree owner who sells part of a tree to a lumber mill for $1 must set aside ten cents VAT to pay to the government. The lumber mill processes the tree into building material and sells the wood for $3 to a lumber wholesaler. The mill adds $2 in value and thus sets aside 10 percent of the added value, or twenty cents, to pay to the government. And so the VAT continues until the final sale.
The VAT system offers advantages, such as rebates on exports. Profitable and unprofitable firms are taxed alike, as there is no possibility of tax deductions to determine taxable income. A badly run company is, therefore, forced to improve or go out of business. Further, VAT is easy to calculate and collect. But VAT is often accused of having contributed to serious inflation in countries where it was introduced, notably in Western Europe.
36. Tax systems can be divided into ______.
A. income taxes and direct taxes
B. indirect taxes and direct taxes
C. value-added taxes and sales taxes
D. import duties and sales taxes

37. One arrives at taxable earnings when ______.
A. all tax-deductible items have been subtracted
B. accelerated depreciation is allowed for
C. tax-free investment reserves are allowed for
D. assets are written off

38. The reason no multinational corporation possesses the ultimate tax expertise is that ______.
A. an MNC is not allowed to learn ultimate tax expertise
B. taxes have a very important impact on foreign direct investment decision
C. there are too many countries and regions involved and their tax systems are complicated
D. an unfavorable depreciation allowance may keep the foreign investor out

39. Which of the following is not an advantage of a VAT system?
A. Rebates on exports
B. Profitable or unprofitable firms are taxed alike
C. Easy to calculate and collect
D. Contributions to serious inflation

40. Why did the less developed countries usually have lower corporate tax rates?
A. They want to invest more money on other projects
B. The less developed countries want to attract more foreign investment
C. Extra money should be spent on foreign investment
D. Corporate tax rates are less important to the development of the less developed countries

Passage Five
In his 1976 study of slavery in the United States, Herbert Gutman, like Fogel, Engerman, and Genovese, has rightly stressed the slave's achievements. But unlike these historians, Gutman gives plantation owners little credit for these achievements. Rather, Gutman argues that one must look to the Black family and the slave's extended kinship system to understand how crucial achievements, such as the maintenance of a cultural heritage and the development of a communal consciousness, were possible. His findings compel attention.
Gutman recreates the family and extended kinship structure mainly through an ingenious use of what any historian should draw upon, quantifiable data, derived in this case mostly from plantation birth registers. He also uses accounts of ex-slaves to probe the human reality behind his statistics. These sources indicate that the two-parent household predominated in slave quarters just as it did among freed slaves after emancipation. Although Gutman admits that forced separation by sale was frequent, he shows that the slave's preference, revealed most clearly on plantations where sale was infrequent, was very much for stable monogamy. In less conclusive fashion Fogel, Engerman, and Genovese had already indicated the predominance of two-parent households; however, only Gutman emphasizes the preference for stable monogamy and points out that stable monogamy meant for the slave's cultural heritage. Gutman argues convincingly that the stability of the Black family encouraged the transmission from one generation to another, a heritage that slaves were continually fashioning out of their African and American experiences.
Gutman's examination of other facets of kinship also produces important findings. Gutman discovers that cousins rarely married, an exogamous tendency that contrasted sharply with the endogamy practiced by the plantation owners. This preference for exogamy, Gutman suggests, may have derived from West African rules governing marriage, which, though they differed from one tribal group to another, all involved some kind of prohibition against unions with close kin. This taboo against cousins' marrying is important, argues Gutman, because it is one of many indications of a strong awareness among slaves of an extended kinship network. The fact that distantly related kin would care for children separated from their families also suggests this awareness. When blood relationships were few, as in newly created plantations in the Southwest, "fictive" kinship arrangements took their place until a new pattern of consanguinity developed. Gutman presents convincing evidence that this extended kinship structure, which he believes developed by the mid-to-late eighteenth century, provided the foundations for the strong communal consciousness that existed among slaves.
In sum, Gutman's study is significant because it offers a closely reasoned and original explanation of some of the slaves' achievements, one that correctly emphasizes the resources that slaves themselves possessed.
41. Which of the following statements regarding the resources that historians ought to use would the author of the passage be most likely to agree?
A. Historians ought to make use of written rather than oral accounts
B. Historians should rely primarily on birth registers
C. Historians should rely exclusively on data that can be quantified
D. Historians ought to make use of data that can be quantified

42. Which of the following statements about the formation of the Black heritage of folklore, music, and religious expression is best supported by the information presented in the passage?
A. The heritage was formed primarily out of the experiences of those slaves who attempted to preserve the stability of their families
B. The heritage was not formed out of the experiences of those slaves who married their cousins
C. The heritage was formed more out of the African than out of the American experiences of slaves
D. The heritage was not formed out of the experiences of only a single generation of slaves

43. Which of the following statements concerning the marriage practices of plantation owners during the period of Black slave in the United States can most logically be inferred from the information in the passage?
A. These practices began to alter sometime around the mid-eighteenth century
B. These practices varied markedly from one region of the country to another
C. Plantation owners usually based their choice of marriage partners on economic considerations
D. Plantation owners often married their cousins

44. Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage?
A. The author compares and contrasts the work of several historians and then discusses areas for possible new research
B. The author presents his thesis, draws on work of several historians for evidence to support his thesis, and concludes by reiterating his thesis
C. The author describes some features of a historical study and then uses those features to put forth his own argument
D. The author presents the general argument of a historical study, describes the study in more detail, and concludes with a brief judgment of the study's value

45. Which of the following is the most appropriate title for the passage based on its content?
A. The influence of Herbert Gutman on Historians of Slavery in the United States
B. Gutman's Explanation of How Slaves Could Maintain a Cultural Heritage and Develop a Communal Consciousness
C. Slavery in the United States: New Controversy About an Old Subject
D. The Black Heritage of Folklore, Music, and Religious Expression: Its Growing Influence

III.  Translation  (20%)
Directions: Translate the following passage into Chinese. Write your translation on the answer sheet.
Online newspapers are a look into the future, and just pondering it raises the question of whether it isn't nicer getting your daily news curled up in your favorite chair with your ballpoint pen handy to circle items of interest, or scissors ready to snip out articles you want to save. The Gazette Company is betting its subscribers want both and so far it seems to be right.
The rest of the world is moving into cyberspace more slowly than the US and among the developing nations it's hardly noticeable at all. UN Secretary Kofi Annan is determined to change this through the United Nations Information Technology Service, which will train large numbers of people to tap into the income-enhancing power of the Internet. Annan is also proposing an Internet health network that will provide state-of-the-art medical knowledge to 10,000 clinics and hospitals in poor countries.
The on-rushing Cyber Age has given newfound power to us all as seen in Jody Williams' one-woman organization using e-mail to promote a global ban on land mines. Yet this is but a glimpse of what's ahead in the minds of those immersed in this great and accelerating transformation.
At Microsoft, Bill Gates predicts that by 2018 major newspapers will "publish their last paper editions and move solely to electronic distribution," and that two years later in 2020 Webster will alter its "definition of the word 'book' to refer to eBook titles read on screen."
IV.  Writing  (15%)
Directions: Read the following news report and write a composition of 250—300 words on Overhaul of National Holiday System in China. Write your composition on the answer sheet.
The Chinese Government announced a major overhaul (改变) of its national holiday system recently. The three-day May Day holiday will be cut into one day while the Tomb-sweeping Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival will become national holidays. That raises the number of paid holidays to 11 from 10.