西南石油大学考博英语真题,考博英语试题

西南石油学院2004年博士研究生入学英语考试试题

Part I Listening Comprehension (15%)
Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear nine short conversations between two speakers. At the end of each conversation a third voice will ask a question about what was said. Both the conversations and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must choose the best answer from the four choices given by marking the corresponding letter (A), (B), (C) or (D).
1.
A. The clerk doesn't like to be bothered.
B. The machine was just repaired.
C. The man shouldn't make any more copies.
D. She can teach the man to use the machine.

2.
A. Italian is not his native language.
B. He speaks Italian poorly.
C. He's from Italy.
D. Some people think that he is native.

3.
A. The shopping must be done first.
B. The concert should be good.
C. He will take the groceries home.
D. He will provide the shopping list.

4.
A. Both chemistry courses are difficult.
B. Chemistry 402 was worse than Chemistry 502.
C. Few chemistry courses are hard.
D. He has only had one chemistry course.

5.
A. He prefers staying at home because he doesn't like to travel.
B. He prefers taking a plane because the bus is too slow.
C. He prefers taking a bus because the plane makes him nervous.
D. He prefers traveling with the woman.

6.
A. The train will be heavily loaded.
B. The Capital Building is made of stone.
C. The Capital Building is near the train station.
D. The train has already departed for Washington.

7.
A. Cash a check for the man.
B. Get money to pay a bill.
C. Return Bill's books to the store.
D. Check to see whether she can pay in cash.

8.
A. Not hanging the poster.
B. Using tape for the picture.
C. Peeling off the wallpaper.
D. Not hiding the damage.

9.
A. $4.50
B. $5.00
C. $9.00
D. $10.00

Section B
Directions: In this section, you will hear two short passages. At the end of each passage, there will be some questions. You will hear both the passages and the questions only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must choose the best answer from the four choices given by marking the corresponding letter (A), (B), (C) or (D).
Passage 1
10.
A. To learn why human population grows so fast.
B. To find out how rats live and die.
C. To learn in what extent man is affected by living space.
D. To find out to what extent man is affected by living space.

11.
A. They can't sleep well.
B. They can't eat well.
C. They tend to produce more.
D. They tend to bite each other.

12.
A. Population explosion is inevitable.
B. Overcrowdedness can have the same effect on man.
C. Food and space are essential to all animals.
D. Population explosion can lead to violence.

Passage 2
13.
A. Large population.
B. Too many private cars.
C. Narrow streets.
D. Too many abandoned cars.

14.
A. Thirty million old cars.
B. One million old cars.
C. Half million cars altogether.
D. Two million old cars.

15.
A. A car removal center in New York.
B. An agency that tries to clear the street.
C. A place where old cars are fixed.
D. A place where abandoned cars are sold.

Part II Reading Comprehension (20%)
Directions: In this part there are several passages. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked (A), (B), (C) and (D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet by blackening it.
Passage 1
For me, scientific knowledge is divided into mathematical sciences, natural sciences or sciences dealing with the natural world (physical and biological sciences), and sciences dealing with mankind (psychology, sociology, all the sciences of cultural achievements, every kind of historical knowledge). Apart from these sciences is philosophy, about which we will talk later. In the first place, all this is pure or theoretical knowledge, sought only for the purpose of understanding, in order to fulfill the need to understand that is intrinsic and consubstantial to man. What distinguishes man from animal is that he knows and needs to know. If man did not know that the world existed, and that the world was of a certain kind, that he was in the world and that he himself was of a certain kind, he wouldn't be man. The technical aspects or applications of knowledge are equally necessary for man and are of the greatest importance, because they also contribute to defining him as man and permit him to pursue a life increasingly more truly human.
But even while enjoying the results of technical progress, he must defend the primacy and autonomy of pure knowledge. Knowledge sought directly for its practical applications will have immediate and foreseeable success, but not the kind of important result whose revolutionary scope is in large part unforeseen, except by the imagination of the Utopians. Let me recall a well-known example. If the Greek mathematicians had not applied themselves to the investigation of conic sections zealously and without the least suspicion that it might someday be useful, it would not have been possible centuries later to navigate far from shore. The first men to study the nature of electricity could not imagine that their experiments, carried on because of mere intellectual curiosity, would eventually lead to modern electrical technology, without which we can scarcely conceive of contemporary life. Pure knowledge is valuable for its own sake, because the human spirit cannot resign itself to ignorance. But, in addition, it is the foundation for practical results that would not have been reached if this knowledge had not been sought disinterestedly.
16. The most important advances made by mankind come from
A. technical applications
B. apparently useless information
C. the natural sciences
D. philosophy

17. The author does not include among the sciences the study of
A. chemistry
B. astronomy
C. anthropology
D. literature

18. The author points out that the Greeks who studied conic sections
A. were mathematicians
B. were interested in navigation
C. were unaware of the value of their studies
D. worked with electricity

19. The title below that best expresses the ideas of this passage is
A. Technical Progress
B. Man's Distinguishing Characteristics
C. Learning for Its Own Sake
D. The Difference between Science and Philosophy

20. The practical scientist
A. knows the value of what he will discover
B. is interested in the unknown
C. is a philosopher
D. conceives of contemporary life

Passage 2
Powerful energy is contained in the nucleus, or center, of an atom. This kind of energy is called nuclear energy. For years, scientists have been studying how to release this energy. Nuclear energy can provide power for homes and factories. Nuclear power plants produce energy through a process known as a "fission reaction". In a fission reaction, the nucleus of an atom is broken into two parts of nearly equal weight. Energy is released when the nucleus breaks up. Uranium atoms are used in nuclear power plants. The uranium atoms are exposed to neutrons. Neutrons are particles that are contained in the nucleus of an atom. When the neutrons hit the uranium atoms, they produce a fission reaction.
Nuclear energy can be released through another kind of reaction known as a "fusion reaction". In a fusion reaction, the nuclei of two or more atoms are fused, or joined, together. Energy is released when the nuclei are fused together. The energy from the earth's greatest power source, the sun, comes from fusion reactions.
Scientists are studying how to produce and control fusion reactions for use in power plants. They know that a fusion reactor could supply safer, more reliable nuclear energy. But there are many problems that must be solved before fusion reactions can be used successfully. One problem is that extremely high temperatures are needed to fuse nuclei. Another problem involves the amount of energy that is released in these reactions. Fusion reactions give off enough heat to melt the furnaces that contain them. Scientists must find an appropriate container for nuclear fusion reactions.
21. The passage implies that energy is released in fusion reactions in the form of:
A. gas
B. heat
C. electricity
D. light

22. Which of the following CANNOT be inferred about fusion reactions from the passage?
A. Uranium atoms are used in fusion reactions.
B. Fusion reactions are not used in nuclear power plants.
C. Fusion reactions take place on the sun.
D. In a fusion reaction, the centers of two or more atoms join together to form one atom.

23. It can be inferred from the passage that the appropriate container for a fusion reaction should be able to
A. withstand high temperatures
B. ignite fusion reactions
C. split atoms into two parts
D. collect heat from the sun

24. Which of the following conclusions about nuclear fusion energy can be drawn from the passage?
A. Power plants will begin to use fusion energy next year.
B. Energy from nuclear fusion is not as safe as energy from nuclear fission.
C. Scientists still don't know how to control energy from nuclear fusion.
D. All forms of nuclear energy are unsafe and should not be used.

25. Which of the following is the BEST title for the passage?
A. Fission Reaction
B. Uranium Atoms
C. Fusion Reaction
D. Nuclear Energy

Passage 3
Judging from recent surveys, most experts in sleep behavior agree that there is virtually an epidemic of sleepiness in the nation. "I can't think of a single study that hasn't found Americans getting less sleep than they ought to," says Dr. David. Even people who think they are sleeping enough would probably be better off with more rest.
The beginning of our sleep-deficit entries and other can be traced to the invention of the light bulb a century ago. From diary entries and other personal accounts from the 18th and 19th centuries, sleep scientists have reached the conclusion that the average person used to sleep about 9.5 hours a night. "The best sleep habits once were forced on us, when we had nothing to do in the evening down on the farm, and it was dark." By the 1950s and 1960s, that sleep schedule had been reduced dramatically, to between 7.5 and eight hours, and most people had to wake to an alarm clock. "People cheat on their sleep, and they don't even realize they're doing it," says Dr. David. "They think they're okay because they can get by on 6.5 hours, when they really need 7.5, eight or even more to feel ideally vigorous."
Perhaps the most merciless robber of sleep, researchers say, is the complexity of the day. Whenever pressures from work, family, friends and community mount, many people consider sleep the least expensive item on his program. "In our society, you're considered dynamic if you say you only need 5.5 hours' sleep. If you've got to get 8.5 hours, people think you lack drive and ambition."
To determine the consequences of sleep deficit, researchers have put subjects through a set of psychological and performance tests requiring them, for instance, to add columns of numbers or recall a passage read to them only minutes earlier. "We've found that if you're in sleep deficit, performance suffers," says Dr. David. "Short-term memory is weakened, as are abilities to make decisions and to concentrate."
26. People in the 18th and 19th centuries used to sleep about 9.5 hours a night because they had
A. no drive and ambition
B. no electric lighting
C. the best sleep habits
D. nothing to do in the evening

27. According to Dr. David, Americans
A. are ideally vigorous even under the pressure of life
B. often neglect the consequences of sleep deficit
C. do not know how to relax themselves properly
D. can get by on 6.5 hours of sleep

28. Many Americans believe that
A. sleep is the first that can be sacrificed when one is busy
B. they need more sleep to cope with the complexities of everyday life
C. to sleep is something one can do at any time of the day
D. enough sleep promotes people's drive and ambition

29. The word "subjects" refers to
A. the performance tests used in the study of sleep deficit
B. special branches of knowledge that are being studied
C. people whose behavior or reactions are being studied
D. the psychological consequences of sleep deficit

30. It can be concluded from the passage that one should sleep as many hours as is necessary to
A. improve one's memory dramatically
B. be considered dynamic by other people
C. maintain one's schedule
D. feel energetic and perform adequately

Passage 4
In science the meaning of the word "explain" suffers with civilization's every step in search of reality. Science cannot really explain electricity, magnetism, and gravitation; their effects can be measured and predicted, but of their nature no more is known to the modern scientist than to Thales who first speculated on the electrification of amber. Most contemporary physicists reject the notion that man can ever discover what these mysterious forces "really" are. Electricity, Bertrand Russell says, "is not a thing, like St. Paul's Cathedral; it is a way in which things behave. When we have told how things behave when they are electrified, and under what circumstances they are electrified, we have told all there is to tell." Until recently scientists would have disapproved of such an idea. Aristotle, for example, whose natural science dominated Western thought for two thousand years, believed that man could arrive at an understanding of reality by reasoning from self-evident principles. He felt, for example, that it is a self-evident principle that everything in the universe has its proper place, hence one can deduce that objects fall to the ground because that's where they belong, and smoke goes up because that's where it belongs. The goal of Aristotelian science was to explain why things happen. Modern science was born when Galileo began trying to explain how things happen and thus originated the method of controlled experiment which now forms the basis of scientific investigation.
31. The aim of controlled scientific experiment is
A. to explain why things happen
B. to explain how things happen
C. to describe self-evident principles
D. to support Aristotelian science

32. What principles most influenced scientific thought for two thousand years?
A. The speculations of Thales.
B. The forces of electricity, magnetism, and gravity.
C. Aristotle's natural science.
D. Galileo's discoveries.

33. Bertrand Russell's notion about electricity is
A. disapproved of by most modern scientists
B. in agreement with Aristotle's theory of self-evident principles
C. in agreement with scientific investigation directed toward "how" things happen
D. in agreement with scientific investigation directed toward "why" things happen

34. The passage says that until recently scientists disagreed with the idea
A. that there are mysterious forces in the universe
B. that man cannot discover what forces "really" are
C. that there are self-evident principles
D. that we can discover why things behave as they do

35. The "Cathedral" mentioned above is in
A. France
B. America
C. Germany
D. Britain

Part III Vocabulary and Structure (30%)
Directions: There are 30 incomplete sentences in this part. For each sentence there are four choices marked (A), (B), (C) and (D). Choose the ONE that best completes the sentence. Then, mark your corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet by blackening it.
36. After the accident he examined the considerable ______ to his car.
A. destruction
B. damages
C. injuries
D. damage

37. Time was running out, and Mother was frantic ______ ways to save money.
A. on
B. at
C. for
D. about

38. Styles which are now the latest thing may often have been ______ fashion thirty years ago.
A. in
B. at
C. to
D. into

39. The report noted that nicotine breathed in by a smoker increases the heart's need ______ oxygen.
A. to
B. in
C. on
D. for

40. My son is very tired; he's very badly ______.
A. pursuing
B. threatening
C. behaving
D. striking

41. My aunt ______ a brightly-colored thread round her finger so as not to forget her appointment.
A. wound
B. curved
C. wounded
D. bound

42. Jane ______ music as soon as she learned about it, as if it was intended for her.
A. took for
B. took after
C. took to
D. took on

43. With the help of the computer, they are able to ______ a new blueprint of the city in the near future.
A. conceive
B. ponder
C. evaluate
D. attribute

44. Some people believe that "King John" was written by Shakespeare, but some people think it might be written by an ______ author.
A. authentic
B. anonymous
C. antique
D. ambiguous

45. Employees working in research departments are forbidden ______ confidential information.
A. give off
B. give away
C. give out
D. give forth

46. Kenneth succeeded ______ the business when his father retired.
A. for
B. on
C. by
D. to

47. The student found the novel ______. It provided him with so much information about the subject.
A. enlightening
B. confusing
C. perplexing
D. delighting

48. Jim works five days a week; he's ______ on the weekend.
A. deviant
B. idle
C. cramped
D. dormant

49. To undergraduate students, the doctoral degree is a distant ______.
A. aspect
B. prospect
C. respect
D. concept

50. Some children display an ______ curiosity about every new thing they encounter.
A. insatiable
B. inherent
C. indiscriminate
D. incredible

51. When you are about ______ through the story, try to make a guess how the plot will develop.
A. half
B. midway
C. halfway
D. one-half

52. He tried many times to sneak across the border to a neighboring country, ______ each time.
A. having been caught
B. unfortunately caught
C. always being caught
D. only to be caught

53. On Labor Day the workers will march in ______ through the town.
A. process
B. procedure
C. procession
D. progression

54. All the questions count the same. Each ______ one point.
A. worths
B. worthy
C. is worth
D. is worthy

55. Ten o'clock is ______ for a boy his age to stay up.
A. too late an hour
B. a too late hour
C. very much late an hour
D. a so late hour

56. No one is completely sure ______ causes increase and depression in free economics.
A. how
B. whom
C. what
D. why

57. Being in no great hurry, ______
A. we went the long route with scenery
B. the long, scenic route was our preference
C. we took the long, scenic route
D. our preference was taking the long, scenic route

58. Nervous about flying in planes, ______
A. thirty years ago people knew nothing of space travel
B. people knew nothing of space travel thirty years ago
C. space travel was unknown by people thirty years ago
D. because people knew nothing of space travel thirty years ago

59. After they had looked at our passports we were let ______.
A. went
B. to go
C. gone
D. go

60. The office staff ______ gathered to hear the president speak.
A. is
B. are
C. be
D. will

61. They had been working round the clock for a couple of days, ______ to get the design out before their competitors did.
A. being hoped
B. to hope
C. having hoped
D. hoping

62. She changed her mind for the second time, ______ made her boss very angry.
A. who
B. which
C. that
D. what

63. ______, but it also filters out harmful sun rays.
A. The atmosphere gives us air to breathe
B. Not only the atmosphere gives us air to breathe
C. The atmosphere which gives us air to breathe
D. Not only does the atmosphere give us air to breathe

64. Joel Smith is in poor health and he is thinking of ______ a quiet cabin in Tennessee.
A. retire to
B. retiring from
C. retiring to
D. retiring into

65. ______ that you'd better pay more attention to the opinions of the experts on it.
A. As if
B. As yet
C. As for
D. So as to

Part IV Error Correction (10%)
Directions: This part consists of a short passage. In this passage, there are altogether 10 mistakes, one before or after each numbered bracket. You may have to add a word, cross out a word, or change a word. Write in your Answer Sheet the mistakes in the Error blank and put the correction in the Correction blank provided. If you cross out a word, write that word in your Error blank on the Answer Sheet, and then put a slash (/) in the Correction blank.
Some fish have a special organ in their tails that generate an electrical current. Pulses from the brain fire (66. ______) currents in a circular path from the brain till the tail, (67. ______) and out through special pores on the fish's skin. This electroreception helps wide the fish's (68. ______) perception. With it, a fish can navigate, locate food, and just throw up an electrical "invisibility screen" when in (69. ______) danger. The elephant trunk fish is electroreceptive fish. (70. ______) And this fish is very picky about the water quality surround it. When the water doesn't meet the fish's high (71. ______) personal standards, the number of electrical pulses the fish uses to sense its environment drops—the way you might hold your breath around a smell odor. (72. ______) West Germany engineers have developed a way to (73. ______) measure the elephant fish's electrical pulses. Sensitive electrodes pick up the lower pulsing rates. And that (74. ______) sounded an alarm to the engineers: time to test the water (75. ______) for pollutants.
Part V Paraphrasing (25%)
Directions: Rewrite the underlined sentence or sentences with words and structures of your own, without distorting the original in the basic meaning or meanings.
76. Optimists may think they are better than the facts would justify—and sometimes that's what keeps them alive. Dr. Sandra Levy of the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute studied women with advanced breast cancer. For the women who were generally optimistic, there was longer disease-free interval.

77. Despite his mother's opposition, Einstein and Maric were married in January 1903 in Bern. According to a letter to appear in the next volume of his papers, the Einsteins later learned that their daughter had recovered from scarlet fever. But apparently she was still in her mother's region. The mention of scarlet fever is the last reference to the girl in the correspondence.

78. We remember a beauty that faded, a love that waned. But we remember with far greater pain that we did not see that beauty when it flowered, that we failed to respond with love when it was tendered.

79. We all know that science plays an important role in the societies in which we live. Many people believe, however, that our progress depends on two aspects of science, the first of which is the application of the machines, products and systems of applied knowledge that scientists and technologists develop. Through technology, science improves the structure of society and helps man to gain increasing control over his environment. The second aspect is the application by all members of society from the government official to the ordinary citizen, of the special methods of thought and action that scientists use in their work.

80. Part of my point is that the process of being "allowed to die" can be relatively slow and painful, whereas being given a lethal injection is relatively quick and painless. Let me give a different sort of example. In the United States about one in 600 babies is born with Down's syndrome. Most of these babies are otherwise healthy—that is, with only the usual pediatric care, they will proceed to an otherwise normal infancy.