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PART II READING COMPREHENSION (30 MIN) Inthis section there are four reading passages followed by a total of 20multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then mark your answerson your coloured answer sheet TEXT A Atthe age of 16, Lee Hyuk Joon's life is a living hell. The South Korean10th grader gets up at 6 in the morning to go to school, and studiesmost of the day until returning home at 6 p.m. After dinner, it's timeto hit the books again—at one of Seoul's many so-called cram schools.Lee gets back home at 1 in the morning, sleeps less than five hours,then repeats the routine—five days a week. It's a grueling schedule,but Lee worries that it may not be good enough to get him into a topuniversity. Some of his classmates study even harder. SouthKorea's education system has long been highly competitive. But for Leeand the other 700,000 high-school sophomores in the country,high-school studies have gotten even more intense. That's because SouthKorea has conceived a new college-entrance system, which will beimplemented in 2008. This year's 10th graders will be the first groupevaluated by the new admissions standard, which places more emphasis ongrades in the three years of high school and less on nationwideSAT-style and other selection tests, which have traditionallydetermined which students go to the elite colleges. Thechange was made mostly to reduce what the government says is a growingeducation gap in the country: wealthy students go to the best collegesand get the best jobs, keeping the children of poorer families on thesocial margins. The aim is to reduce the importance of costly tutorsand cram schools, partly to help students enjoy a more normalhigh-school life. But the new system has had the opposite effect.Before, students didn't worry too much about their grade-pointaverages; the big challenge was beating the standardized tests ashigh-school seniors. Now students are competing against one anotherover a three-year period, and every midterm and final test is crucial.Fretful parents are relying even more heavily on tutors and cramschools to help their children succeed. Parentsand kids have sent thousands of angry online letters to the EducationMinistry complaining that the new admissions standard is settingstudents against each other. "One can succeed only when others fail,”as one parent said. Educationexperts say that South Korea's public secondary-school system isfoundering, while private education is thriving. According to critics,the country's high schools are almost uniformly mediocre—the result ofan egalitarian government education policy. With the number of eliteschools strictly controlled by the government, even the brighteststudents typically have to settle for ordinary schools in theirneighbourhoods, where the curriculum is centred on average students. Tomake up for the mediocrity, zealous parents send their kids to theexpensive cram schools. Studentsin affluent southern Seoul neighbourhoods complain that the new systemwill hurt them the most. Nearly all Korean high schools will beweighted equally in the college-entrance process, and relatively weakstudents in provincial schools, who may not score well on standardizedtests, often compile good grade-point averages. Someuniversities, particularly prestigious ones, openly complain that theycannot select the best students under the new system because iteliminates differences among high schools. They've asked for morediscretion in picking students by giving more weight to such screeningtools as essay writing or interviews. PresidentRoh Moo Hyun doesn't like how some colleges are trying to circumventthe new system. He recently criticized "greedy" universities that focusmore on finding the best students than faying to "nurture goodstudents". But amid the crossfire between the government anduniversities, the country's 10th graders are feeling thestress. On online protest sites, some are calling themselves a “cursedgeneration” and “mice in a lab experiment”. It all seems a touchmelodramatic, but that's the South Korean school system. 11. According to the passage, the new college-entrance system is designed to A. require students to sit for more college-entrance tests. B. reduce the weight of college-entrance tests. C. select students on their high school grades only. D. reduce the number of prospective college applicants. 12. What seems to be the effect of introducing the new system? A. The system has given equal opportunities to students. B. The system has reduced the number of cram schools. C. The system has intensified competition among schools. D. The system has increased students' study load. 13. According to critics, the popularity of private education is mainly the result of A. the government's egalitarian policy. B. insufficient number of schools: C. curriculums of average quality. D. low cost of private education. 14. According to the passage, there seems to be disagreement over the adoption of the new system between the following groups EXCEPT A. between universities and the government. B. between school experts and the government. C. between parents and schools. D. between parents and the government. 15. Which of the following adjectives best describes the author's treatment of the topic? A. Objective. B. Positive. C. Negative. D. Biased. |
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TEXT B WilfredEmmanuel-Jones was a teenager before he saw his first cow in his firstfield. Born in Jamaica, the 47-year-old grew up in inner-cityBirmingham before making a career as a television producer andlaunching his own marketing agency. But deep down he always nurturedevery true Englishman's dream of a rustic life, a dream that hisentrepreneurial wealth has allowed him to satisfy. These days he's theowner of a thriving 12-hectare farm in deepest Devon with cattle, sheepand pigs. His latest business venture: pushing his brand of BlackFanner gourmet sausages and barbecue sauces. “My background may be veryurban,” says Emmanuel-Jones. “But it has given me a good idea of whatother urbanites want.” Andof how to sell it. Emmanuel-Jones joins a herd of wealthy fugitivesfrom city life who are bringing a new commercial know-how to Britishfarming. Britain's burgeoning farmers' markets -numbers have doubled toat least 500 in the last five years—swarm with specialty cheesemakers,beekeepers or organic smallholders who are redeploying the businessskills they learned in the city. "Everyone in the rural community hasto come to terms with the fact that things have changed." SaysEmmanuel-Jones. "You can produce the best food in the world, but if youdon't know how to market it, you are wasting your time. We are helpingthe traditionalists to move on." Theemergence of the new class of superpeasants reflects some oldyearnings. If the British were the first nation to industrialize, theywere also the first to head back to the land. "There is this romanticimage of the countryside that is particularly English," says AlunHowkins of the University of Sussex, who reckons the population ofrural England has been rising since 1911. Migration into rural areas isnow running at about 100,000 a year, and the hunger for a taste of therural life has kept land prices buoyant even as agricultural incomestumble. About 40 percent of all farmland is now sold to "lifestylebuyers" rather than the dwindling number of traditional farmers,according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. What'snew about the latest returnees is their affluence and zeal for thebusiness of producing quality foods, if only at a micro-level. Ahealthy economy and surging London house prices have helped to ease theescape of the would-be rustics. The media recognize and feed thefantasy. One of the big TV hits of recent years, the "River Cottage"series, chronicled the attempts of a London chef to run his own Dorsetfarm. Naturally,the newcomers can't hope to match their City salaries, but many arehappy to trade any loss of income for the extra job satisfaction. Whocares if there's no six-figure annual bonus when the land offers otherincalculable compensations? Besides,the specialist producers can at least depend on a burgeoning market fortheir products. Today's eco-aware generation loves to seek outauthentic ingredients. "People like me may be making a difference in asmall way," Jan McCourt, a onetime investment banker now running hisown 40-hectare spread in the English Midlands stocked with rare breeds. Optimistssee signs of far-reaching change: Britain isn't catching up withmainland Europe; it's leading the way. “Unlike most other countries,where artisanal food production is being eroded, here it is beingrecovered," says food writer Matthew Fort. “It may be the mark of thenext stage of civilization that we rediscover the desirability of beinga peasant.” And not an investment banker. 16. Which of the following details of Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones is INCORRECT? A. He was born and brought up in Birmingham. B. He used to work in the television industry. C. He is wealthy, adventurous and aspiring. D. He is now selling his own quality foods. 17. Most importantly, people like Wilfred have brought to traditional British farming A. knowledge of farming. B. knowledge of brand names. C. knowledge of lifestyle. D. knowledge of marketing, 18. Which of the following does NOT contribute to the emergence of a new class of farmers? A. Strong desire for country life. B. Longing for greater wealth, C. Influence of TV productions. D. Enthusiasm for quality food business. 19. What is seen as their additional source of new income? A. Modern tendency to buy natural foods. B. Increase in the value of land property. C. Raising and selling rare live stock. V D. Publicity as a result of media coverage. 20. The sentence in the last paragraph “...Britain isn't catching up with mainland Europe; it's leading the way" implies that A. Britain has taken a different path to boost economy. B. more authentic foods are being produced in Britain. C. the British are heading back to the countryside. D. the Europeans are showing great interest in country life. |
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TEXT C In Barcelona the Catalonians call them castells,but these aren't stereotypical castles in Spain. These castles are madeup of human beings, not stone. The people who perform this agile featof acrobatics are called castellers, and to see their towers take shape is to observe a marvel of human cooperation. Firstthe castellers form what looks like a gigantic rugby scrummage. Theyare the foundation blocks of the castle. Behind them, other peoplepress together, forming outward-radiating ramparts of inward-pushingmuscle: flying buttresses for the castle. Then sturdy but lightercastellers scramble over the backs of those at the bottom and stand,barefoot, on their shoulders—then still others, each time adding ahigher "story". Thesehuman towers can rise higher than small apartment buildings: nine“stories”, 35 feet into the air. Then, just When it seems this tower ofhumanity can't defy gravity any longer, a little kid emerges from thecrowd and climbs straight up to the top. Arms extended, the child grinswhile waving to the cheering crowd far below. Dressedin their traditional costumes, the castellers seem to epitomize aneasier time, before Barcelona became a world metropolis arid theMediterranean's most dynamic city. But when you observe-them tip close,in their street clothes, at practice, you see there's nothing easyabout what the castellers do - and that they are not merely reenactingan ancient ritual. Noneof the castellers can-give a logical answer as to why they love doingthis. But Victor Luna, 16, touches me on the shoulder and says inEnglish: "We do it because it's beautiful. We do it because we areCatalan." Barcelona’s mother tongue is Catalan, and to understand Barcelona, you must understand two words of Catalan: seny and rauxa.Seny pretty much translates as common sense, or the ability to makemoney, arrange things, and get things done. Rauxa is reminiscent of ourwords “raucous” and “ruckus”. What makes the castellers revealing of the city is that they embody rauxa andseny. The idea of a human castle is rauxa—it defies common sense—but towatch one going up is to see seny in action. Success is based oneveryone working together to achieve a shared goal. Thesuccess of Carlos Tusquets' bank, Fibanc, shows seny at work ineveryday life. The bank started as a family concern and now employshundreds. Tusquets said it exemplifies how the economy in Barcelona isdifferent. Entrepreneurialseny demonstrates why Barcelona and Catalonia—the ancient region ofwhich Barcelona is the capital—are distinct from the rest of Spain yetessential to Spain's emergence, after centuries of repression, as aprosperous, democratic European country. Catalonia, with Barcelona asits dynamo, has turned into an economic powerhouse. Making up 6 percentof Spain’s territory, with a sixth of its people, it accounts fornearly a quarter of Spain's production—everything from textiles tocomputers—even though the rest of Spain has been enjoying its owneconomic miracle. Handin hand with seny goes rauxa, and there's no better place to see rauxain action than on the Ramblas, the venerable, tree-shaded boulevardthat, in gentle stages, leads you from the centre of Barcelona down tothe port. There are two narrow lanes each way for cars and motorbikes,but it’s the wide centre walkway that makes the Ramblas a front-row seat for Barcelona's longest running theatrical event.Plastic armchairs are set out on the sidewalk. Sit in one of them, andan attendant will come and charge you a small fee. Performance artiststhrong the Ramblas—stilt walkers, witches caked in charcoal dust, Elvisimpersonators. But the real stars are the old women and happily playingchildren, millionaires on motorbikes, and pimps and women who, uponcloser inspection, prove not to be. Aficionados(Fans) of Barcelona love to compare notes: “Last night there was a manstanding on the balcony of his hotel room,” Mariana Bertagnolli, anItalian photographer, told me. "The balcony was on the second floor. Hewas naked, and he was talking into a cell phone." There you have it, Barcelona's essence. The man is naked (rauxa), but he is talking into a cell phone (seny). 21. From the description in the passage, we learn that A. all Catalonians can perform castells. B. castells require performers to stand on each other. C. people perform castells in different formations. D. in castells people have to push and pull each other. 22. According to the passage, the4mplication of the performance is that A. the Catalonians are insensible and noisy people. B. the Catalonians show more sense than is expected. C. the Catalonians display paradoxical characteristics. D. the Catalonians think highly of team work. 23. The passage cites the following examples EXCEPT __________ to show seny at work. A. development of a bank B. dynamic role in economy C. contribution to national economy D. comparison with other regions 24. Inthe last but two paragraph, the Ramblas is described as “a front-rowseat for Barcelona’s longest running theatrical event”. What does itmean? A. On the Ramblas people can see a greater variety of performances. B. The Ramblas provides many front seats for the performances. C. The Ramblas is preferred as an important venue for the events. D. Theatrical performers like to perform on the Ramblas. 25. What is the main impression of the scenes on the Ramblas? A. It is bizarre and Outlandish. B. It is of average quality. C. It is conventional and quiet. D. It is of professional standard. |
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TEXT D Thelaw firm Patrick worked for before he died filed for bankruptcyprotection a year after his funeral. After his death, the firm'sletterhead properly included him: Patrick S. Lanigan, 1954-1992. He waslisted up in the right-hand corner, just above the paralegals. Then therumors got started and wouldn't stop. Before long, everyone believed hehad taken the money and disappeared. After three months, no one on theGulf Coast believed that he was dead. His name came off the letterheadas the debts piled up. Theremaining partners in the law firm were still together, attachedunwillingly at the hip by the bondage of mortgages and the bank notes,back when they were rolling and on the verge of serious wealth. Theyhad been joint defendants in several unwinnable lawsuits; thus thebankruptcy. Since Patrick's departure, they had tried every possibleway to divorce one another, but nothing would work. Two were ragingalcoholics who drank at the office behind locked doors, butnevertogether. The other two were in recovery, still teetering on thebrink of sobriety. Hetook their money. Their millions. Money they had already spent longbefore it arrived, as only lawyers can do. Money for their richlyrenovated office building in downtown Biloxi. Money for new homes,yachts, condos in the Caribbean. The money was on the way, approved,the papers signed, orders entered; they could see it, almost touch itwhen their dead partner—Patrick—snatched it at the last possible second. Hewas dead. They buried him on February 11, 1992. They had consoled thewidow and put his rotten name on their handsome letterhead. Yet sixweeks later, he somehow stole their money. Theyhad brawled over who was to blame. Charles Bogan, the firm's seniorpartner and its iron hand, had insisted the money be wired from itssource into a new account offshore, and this made sense after somediscussion. It was ninety million bucks, a third of which the firmwould keep, and it would be impossible to hide that kind of money inBiloxi, population fifty thousand. Someone at the bank would talk. Sooneveryone would know. All four vowed secrecy, even as they made plans todisplay as much of their new wealth as possible. There had even beentalk of a firm jet, a six-seater. SoBogan took his share of the blame. At forty-nine, he was the oldest ofthe four, and, at the moment, the most stable. He was also responsiblefor hiring Patrick nine years earlier, and for this he had received nosmall amount of grief. DougVitrano, the litigator, had made the fateful decision to recommendPatrick as the fifth partner. The other three had agreed, and whenPatrick Lanigan was added to the firm name, he had access to virtuallyevery file in the office. Bogan, Rapley, Vitrano, Havarac, and Lanigan,Attorneys and Counselors-at-Law. A large ad in the yellow pages claimed"Specialists in Offshore Injuries." Specialists or not, like most firmsthey would take almost anything if the fees were lucrative. Lots ofsecretaries and paralegals. Big overhead, and the strongest politicalconnections on the Coast. Theywere all in their mid- to late forties. Havarac had been raised by hisfather on a shrimp boat. His hands were still proudly calloused, and hedreamed of choking Patrick until his neck snapped. Rapley was severelydepressed and seldom left his home, where he wrote briefs in a darkoffice in the attic. 26. What happened to the four remaining lawyers after Patrick's disappearance? A. They all wanted to divorce their wives. B. They were all heavily involved in debts. C. They were all recovering from drinking. D. They had bought new homes, yachts, etc. 27. Which of the following statements contains a metaphor? A. His name came off the letterhead as the debts piled up. B. …they could see it, almost touch it when their dead partner... C. …, attached unwillingly at the hip by the bondage of mortgages... D. …, and for this he had received no small amount of grief. 28. According to the passage, what is the main cause of Patrick stealing the money? A. Patrick was made a partner of the firm. B. The partners agreed to have the money transferred. C. Patrick had access to all the files in the firm. D. Bogan decided to hire Patrick nine years earlier. 29. The lawyers were described as being all the following EXCEPT A. greedy. B. extravagant C. quarrelsome. D. bad-tempered. 30. Which of the following implies a contrast? A. …, and it would be impossible to hide that kind of money in Biloxi, population fifty thousand. B. They had been joint defendants in several unwinnable lawsuits; thus the bankruptcy. C. There had even been talk of a firm jet, a six-seater. D. His name came off the letterhead as the debts piled up. |
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PART III GENERAL KNOWLEDGE (10 MIN) Thereare ten multiple-choice questions in this section. Choose the bestanswer to each question. Mark your answers on your coloured answer sheet 31. The largest city in Canada is A. Vancouver. B. Montreal. C. Toronto D. Ottawa. 32. According to the United States Constitution, the legislative power is invested in A. the Federal Government. B. the Supreme Court. C. the Cabinet. D. the Congress. 33. Which of the following is the oldest sport in the United States? A. Baseball. B. Tennis. C. Basketball. D. American football. 34. The head of the executive branch in New Zealand is A. the President. B. the Governor-General. C. the British monarch, D. the Prime Minister. 35. The Canterbury Tales, a collection of stories told by a group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury, is an important poetic work by A. William Langland. B. Geoffrey Chaucer. C. William Shakespeare. D. Alfred Tennyson. 36. Who wrote The American? A. Herman Melville. B. Nathaniel Hawthorne. C. Henry James. D. Theodore Dreiser. 37. All of the following are well-known female writers in 20th -century Britain EXCEPT A. George Eliot. B. Iris Jean Murdoch. C. Doris Lessing. D. Muriel Spark. 38. Which of the following is NOT a design feature of human language? A. Arbitrariness. B. Displacement. C. Duality. D. Diachronicity. 39. What type of sentence is “Mark likes fiction, but Tim is interested in poetry.”? A. A simple sentence. B. A coordinate sentence. C. A complex sentence. D. None of the above. 40. The phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same form is called A. hyponymy. B. synonymy. C. polysemy. D. homonymy. PART IV PROOFREADING & ERROR CORRECTION (15 MIN) Proofread the given passage on ANSWER SHEET TWO as instructed. PART V TRANSLATION (60 MIN) SECTION A CHINESE TO ENGLISH Translate the underlined part of the following text into English. Write your translation on ANSWER SHEET THREE. 都市寸土千金，地价炒得越来越高，今后将更高。拥有一个小小花园的希望，对寻常之辈不啻是一种奢望，一种梦想。 我想，其实谁都有一个小小花园，这便是我们的内心世界。人的智力需要开发，人的内心世界也是需要开发的。人和动物的区别，除了众所周知的诸多方面，恐怕还在于人有内心世界。心不过是人的一个重要脏器，而内心世界是一种景观，它是由外部世界不断地作用于内心渐渐形成的。每个人都无比关注自己及至亲至爱之人心脏的渐损，以至于稍有微疾便惶惶不可终日。但并非每个人都关注自己及至亲至爱之人的内心世界的阴晴。 SECTION B ENGLISH TO CHINESE Translate the following text into Chinese. Write your translation on ANSWER SHEET THREE. But,as has been true in many other cases, when they were at last married,the most ideal of situations was found to have been changed to the mostpractical. Instead of having shared their original duties, and asschool-boys would say, going halves, they discovered that the cares oflife had been doubled. This led to some distressing moments for bothour friends; they understood suddenly that instead of dwelling inheaven they were still upon earth, and had made themselves slaves tonew laws and limitations. Instead of being freer and happier than everbefore, they had assumed new responsibilities; they had established anew household, and must fulfill in some way or another the obligationsof it. They looked back with affection to their engagement; they hadbeen longing to have each other to themselves, apart from the world,but it seemed they never felt so keenly that they were still units inmodern society. PART VI WRITING (45 MIN) Ina few months’ time you are going to graduate from university. How doyou think your college years have prepared you for your future life?Write an essay of about 400 words on the following topic: What I have learned from my years at university Inthe first part of your essay you should state dearly your mainargument, and in the second part you should support your argument withappropriate details. In the last part you should bring what you havewritten to a natural conclusion or make a summary. |
| 楼主辛苦了，谢谢！！ |
| 楼主辛苦了，不过，答案在哪里呢？ |
