TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2018)
-GRADE EIGHT-
TIME LIMIIT：150 MIN
PART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION [25 MIN]
SECTION A MINI-LECTURE
In this section you will hear a mini-lecture.You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY. While listeningto mini-lecture, please complete the gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE andwrite NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each gap. Make sure you fill in is bothgrammatically and semantically acceptable. You may use the blank sheet fornote-taking.
You have THIRTY seconds to preview thegap-filling task.
Now listen to the mini-lecture. When it isover, you will be given THREE minutes to check your work.
SECTION B INTERVIEW
In this section you will hear ONE interview. The interviewwill be divided into TWO parts. At the end of each part, five questions will beasked about what was said. Both the interview and the questions will be spoken ONCEONLY. After each question there will be a ten-second pause. During the pause, youshould read the four choices of A), B), C) and D), and mark the best answer toeach question on ANSWER SHEET TWO.
You have THIRTY seconds to preview thechoices.
Now,listen to the first interview. Questions 1 to 5 are based on Part One of the interview.
Nowlisten to the interview.
A. Announcementof results.
B. Lack of a time schedule.
C. Slowness in ballots counting.
D. Direction of the electoral events.
A. Other voices withinAfghanistan wanted so.
B. The date had been set previously.
C. All the ballots had been counted.
D. The UN advised them to do so.
A. To calm the voters.
B. To speed up the process.
C. To stick to the election rules.
D. To stop complaints from the labor.
A. Unacceptable.
B. Unreasonable.
C. Insensible.
D. Ill considered.
A. Supportive.
B. Ambivalent.
C. Opposed.
D. Neutral.
Nowlistening to Part Two of the interview. Questions 6 to 10 are based on Part Twoof the interview.
A. Ensure the governmentincludes all parties.
B. Discuss who is going to be the winner.
C. Supervise the counting of votes.
D. Seek support from important sectors.
A. 36%-24%.
B. 46%-34%.
C. 56%-44%.
D. 66%-54%.
A. Both candidates.
B. Electoral institutions.
C. The United Nations.
D. Not specified.
A. It was unheard of.
B. It was on a small scale.
C. It was insignificant.
D. It occurred elsewhere.
A. Problems in the electoralprocess.
B. Formation of a new government.
C. Premature announcement of results.
D. Democracy in Afghanistan.
PART Ⅱ READING COMPREHENSION [25MIN]
SECTION A MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
In this sectionthere are three passages followed by fourteen multiple choice questions. Foreach multiple choice question, there are four suggested answers marked A, B, Cand D. Choose the one that you think is the best answer and mark your answer onANSWER SHEET TWO.
PASSAGE ONE
(1) “Britain’s best export,” Iwas told by the Department of Immigration in Canberra, “is people.” Close on100,000 people have applied for assisted passages in the first five months ofthe year, and half of these are eventually expected to migrate to Australia.
(2) The Australian are delighted. They are keenly ware that without astrong flow of immigrants into the workforce the development of theAustralian economy is unlikely to proceed at the ambitious pace currentlyenvisaged. The new mineral discoveries promise a splendid future, and the injectionof huge amounts of American and British capital should help to ensure that theyare properly exploited, but with unemployment in Australia down to less than1.3 per cent, the government is understandably anxious to attract more skilledlabor.
(3) Australia is roughly thesame size as the continental United States, but has only twelve millioninhabitants. Migration has accounted for half the population increase in thelast four years, and has contributed greatly to the country’s impressiveeconomic development. Britain has always been the principal source – ninety percent of Australians are of British descent, and Britain has provided onemillion migrants since the Second World War.
(4) Australia has also givengreat attention to recruiting people elsewhere. Australians decided they had anexcellent potential source of applicants among the so-called “guest workers”who have crossed their own frontiers to work in other arts of Europe. Therewere estimated to be more than four million of them, and a large number wereoffered subsidized passages and guaranteed jobs in Australia. Italy has forsome years been the second biggest source of migrants, and the Australians havealso managed to attract a large number of Greeks and Germans.
(5) One drawback with them, sofar as the Australians are concerned, is that integration tends to be moredifficult. Unlike the British, continental migrants have to struggle with anunfamiliar language and new customs. Many naturally gravitate towards theItalian or Greek communities which have grown up in cities such as Sydney andMelbourne. These colonies have their own newspapers, their own shops, and theirown clubs. Their habitants are not Australians, but Europeans.
(6) The government’s avowedaim, however, is to maintain “a substantially homogeneous society into whichnewcomers, from whatever sources, will merge themselves”. By and large,therefore, Australia still prefers British migrants, and tends to be ratherless selectivein their case than it is with others.
(7) A far bigger cause ofconcerns than the growth of national groups, however, is the increasing numberof migrants who return to their countries of origin. One reason is that peoplenowadays tend to be more mobile, and that it is easier than in the past to savethe return fare, but economic conditions also have something to do with it. Aslower rate of growth invariably produces discontent – and if this coincideswith greater prosperity in Europe, a lot of people tend to feel that perhapsthey were wrong to come here after all.
(8) Several surveys have beenconducted recently into the reasons why people go home. One noted that “flies,dirt, and outside lavatories” were on the list of complaints from Britishimmigrants, and added that many people also complained about “the crudity, badmanners, and unfriendliness of the Australians”. Another survey gave climateconditions, homesickness, and “the stark appearance of the Australiancountryside” as the main reasons for leaving.
(9) Most British migrants misscouncil housing the National Health scheme, and their relatives and formerneighbor. Loneliness is a big factor, especially among housewives. The men soonmake new friends at work, but wives tend to find it much harder to get used toa different way of life. Many are housebound because of inadequate publictransport in most outlying suburbs, and regular correspondence with their oldfriends at home only serves to increase their discontent. One housewife wasquoted recently as saying: “I even find I miss the people I used to hate athome.”
(10) Rent are high, and thereare long waiting lists for Housing Commission homes. Sickness can be anexpensive business and the climate can be unexpectedly rough. The gap betweenAustralian and British wage packets is no longer big, and people are generallyexpected to work harder here than they do at home. Professional men over fortyoften have difficulty in finding a decent job. Above all, perhaps, skilledimmigrants often finds a considerable reluctance to accept theirqualifications.
(11) According to the journal Australian Manufacturer, the attitude ofmany employers and fellow workers is anything but friendly. “We Australians,”it stated in a recent issue, “are just too fond of painting the rosy picture ofthe big, warm-hearted Aussie. As a matter of fact, we are so busy blowing ourown trumpets that we have not not time to be warm-hearted and considerate. Godown “heart-break alley” among some of the migrants and find out just howexpansive the Aussie is to his immigrants.”
11. The Australians want a strong flow of immigrantsbecause .
A. Immigrantsspeed up economic expansion
B. unemploymentis down to a low figure
C. immigrantsattract foreign capital
D. Australia isas large as the United States
12. Australia prefers immigrants from Britain because .
A. they areselected carefully before entry
B. they arelikely to form national groups
C. they easilymerge into local communities
D. they are fondof living in small towns
13. In explaining why some migrants return to Europe theauthor .
A. stressestheir economic motives
B. emphasizesthe variety of their motives
C. stressesloneliness and homesickness
D. emphasizesthe difficulties of men over forty
14. which of the following words is used literally, notmetaphorically?
A. “flow” (Para.2).
B. “injection” (Para.2).
C. “gravitate” (Para.5).
D. “selective” (Para.6).
15. Para. 11 pictures the Australians as .
A. unsympathetic
B. ungenerous
C. undemonstrative
D. unreliable
PASSAGE TWO
(1) Some of the advantages ofbilingualism include better performance at tasks involving “executive function”(which involves the brain’s ability to plan and prioritize), better defenseagainst dementia in old age and—the obvious—the ability to speak a secondlanguage. One purported advantage was not mentioned, though. Many multilingualsreport different personalities, or even different worldviews, when they speaktheir different languages.
(2) It’s an exciting notion,the idea that one’s very self could be broadened by the mastery of two or morelanguages. In obvious ways (exposure to new friends, literature and so forth)the self really is broadened. Yet it is different to claim—as many people do—tohave a different personality when using a different language. A former Economist colleague, for example,reported being ruder in Hebrew than in English. So what is going on here?
(3) Benjamin Lee Whorf, anAmerican linguist who died in 1941, held that each language encodes a worldviewthat significantly influences its speakers. Often called “Whorfianism”, thisidea has its sceptics, but there are still good reasons to believe languageshapes thought.
(4) This influence is notnecessarily linked to the vocabulary or grammar of a second language. Significantly,most people are not symmetrically bilingual. Many have learned one language athome from parents, and another later in life, usually at school. So bilingualsusually have different strengths and weaknesses in their differentlanguages—and they are not always best in their first language. For example,when tested in a foreign language, people are less likely to fall into acognitive trap (answering a test question with an obvious-seeming but wronganswer) than when tested in their native language. In part this is becauseworking in a second language slows down the thinking. No wonder people feeldifferent when speaking them. And no wonder they feel looser, more spontaneous,perhaps more assertive or funnier or blunter, in the language they were rearedin from childhood.
(5) What of “crib” bilinguals,raised in two languages? Even they do not usually have perfectly symmetricalcompetence in their two languages. But even for a speaker whose two languagesare very nearly the same in ability, there is another big reason that personwill feel different in the two languages. This is because there is an importantdistinction between bilingualism and biculturalism.
(6) Many bilinguals are notbicultural. But some are. And of those bicultural bilinguals, we should belittle surprised that they feel different in their two languages. Experimentsin psychology have shown the power of “priming”—small unnoticed factors thatcan affect behavior in big ways. Asking people to tell a happy story, forexample, will put them in a better mood. The choice between two languages is ahuge prime. Speaking Spanish rather than English, for a bilingual andbicultural Puerto Rican in New York, might conjure feelings of family and home.Switching to English might prime the same person to think of school and work.
(7) So there are two very goodreasons (asymmetrical ability, and priming) that make people feel differentspeaking their different languages. We are still left with a third kind ofargument, though. An economist recently interviewed here at Prospero, AthanasiaChalari, said for example that:
Greeks are very loud and they interrupt each other very often. Thereason for that is the Greek grammar and syntax. When Greeks talk they begintheir sentences with verbs and the form of the verb includes a lot ofinformation so you already know what they are talking about after the firstword and can interrupt more easily.
(8) Is there somethingintrinsic to the Greek language that encourages Greeks to interrupt? People seemto enjoy telling tales about their languages' inherent properties, and how theyinfluence their speakers. A group of French intellectual worthies onceproposed, rather self-flatteringly, that French be the sole legal language ofthe EU, because of its supposedly unmatchable rigor and precision. Some Germansbelieve that frequently putting the verb at the end of a sentence makes thelanguage especially logical. But language myths are not always self-flattering:many speakers think their languages are unusually illogical ordifficult—witness the plethora of books along the lines of "Only inEnglish do you park on a driveway and drive on a parkway; English must be thecraziest language in the world!" We also see some unsurprising overlapwith national stereotypes and self-stereotypes: French, rigorous; German,logical; English, playful. Of course.
(9) In this case, Ms Chalari,a scholar, at least proposed a specific and plausible line of causation fromgrammar to personality: in Greek, the verb comes first, and it carries a lot ofinformation, hence easy interrupting. The problem is that many unrelatedlanguages all around the world put the verb at the beginning of sentences. Manylanguages all around the world are heavily inflected, encoding lots of informationin verbs. It would be a striking finding if all of these unrelated languageshad speakers more prone to interrupting each other. Welsh, for example, is alsoboth verb-first and about as heavily inflected as Greek, but the Welsh are notknown as pushy conversationalists.
16. According to the author, which of the following advantages ofbilingualism is commonly accepted?
A. Personality improvement.
B. Better task performance.
C. Change of worldviews.
D. Avoidance of old-age disease.
17. According to the passage, that language influences thought may berelated to .
A. the vocabulary of a second language
B. the grammar of a second language
C. the improved test performance in a secondlanguage
D. the slowdown of thinking in a second language
18. What is the author’s response to the question at the beginning ofPara. 8?
A. It’s just one of the popular tales ofnational stereotypes.
B. Some properties inherent can make a languagelogical.
C. German and French are good examples ofWhorfianism.
D. There is adequate evidence to support apositive answer.
19. Which of the following statements concerning Para. 9 is correct?
A. Ms. Chalari’s theory about the Greek languageis well grounded.
B. Speakers of many other languages are alsoprone to interrupting.
C. Grammar is unnecessarily a condition forchange in personality.
D. Many unrelated languages don’t have the samefeatures as Greek.
20. In discussing the issue, the author’s attitude is .
A. satirical
B. objective
C. critical
D. ambivalent
PASSAGE THREE
(1) Once across the river andinto the wholesale district, she glanced about her for some likely door atwhich to apply. As she contemplated the wide windows and imposing signs, shebecame conscious of being gazed upon and understood for what she was-awage-seeker. She had never done this thing before, and lacked courage. To avoida certain indefinable shame she felt at being caught spying about for aposition, she quickened her steps and assumed an air of indifference supposedlycommon to one upon an errand. In this way she passed many manufacturing andwholesale houses without once glancing in. At last, after several blocks ofwalking, she felt that this would not do, and began to look about again, thoughwithout relaxing her pace. A little way on she saw a great door which, for somereason, attracted her attention. It was ornamented by a small brass sign, andseemed to be the entrance to a vast hive of six or seven floors."Perhaps," she thought, "they may want some one," andcrossed over to enter. When she came within a score of feet of the desiredgoal, she saw through the window a young man in a grey checked suit. That he hadanything to do with the concern, she could not tell, but because he happened tobe looking in her direction her weakening heart misgave her and she hurried by,too overcome with shame to enter. Over the way stood a great six-storystructure, labelled Storm and King, which she viewed with rising hope. It was awholesale dry goods concern and employed women. She could see them moving aboutnow and then upon the upper floors. This place she decided to enter, no matterwhat. She crossed over and walked directly toward the entrance. As she did so,two men came out and paused in the door. A telegraph messenger in blue dashedpast her and up the few steps that led to the entrance and disappeared. Severalpedestrians out of the hurrying throng which filled the sidewalks passed abouther as she paused, hesitating. She looked helplessly around, and then, seeingherself observed, retreated. It was too difficult a task. She could not go pastthem.
(2) So severe a defeat toldsadly upon her nerves. Her feet carried her mechanically forward, every foot ofher progress being a satisfactory portion of a flight which she gladly made.Block after block passed by. Upon streetlamps at the various corners she readnames such as Madison, Monroe, La Salle, Clark, Dearborn, State, and still shewent, her feet beginning to tire upon the broad stone flagging. She was pleasedin part that the streets were bright and clean. The morning sun, shining downwith steadily increasing warmth, made the shady side of the streets pleasantlycool. She looked at the blue sky overhead with more realization of its charmthan had ever come to her before.
(3) Her cowardice began totrouble her in a way. She turned back, resolving to hunt up Storm and King andenter. On the way, she encountered a great wholesale shoe company, through thebroad plate windows of which she saw an enclosed executive department, hiddenby frosted glass. Without this enclosure, but just within the street entrance,sat a grey-haired gentleman at a small table, with a large open ledger before him.She walked by this institution several times hesitating, but, finding herselfunobserved, faltered past the screen door and stood humble waiting.
(4) "Well, younglady," observed the old gentleman, looking at her somewhat kindly,"what is it you wish?"
(5) "I am, that is, doyou--I mean, do you need any help?" she stammered.
(6) "Not just atpresent," he answered smiling. "Not just at present. Come in sometime next week. Occasionally we need some one."
(7) She received the answer insilence and backed awkwardly out. The pleasant nature of her reception ratherastonished her. She had expected that it would be more difficult, thatsomething cold and harsh would be said--she knew not what. That she had notbeen put to shame and made to feel her unfortunate position, seemed remarkable.She did not realize that it was just this which made her experience easy, butthe result was the same. She felt greatly relieved.
(8) Somewhat encouraged, sheventured into another large structure. It was a clothing company, and morepeople were in evidence.
(9) An office boy approachedher.
(10) "Who is it you wishto see?" he asked.
(11) "I want to see themanager," she returned.
(12) He ran away and spoke toone of a group of three men who were conferring together. One of these cametowards her.
(13) "Well?" he saidcoldly. The greeting drove all courage from her at once.
(14) "Do you need anyhelp?" she stammered.
(15) "No," he repliedabruptly, and turned upon his heel.
(16) She went foolishly out,the office boy deferentially swinging the door for her, and gladly sank intothe obscuring crowd. It was a severe setback to her recently pleased mentalstate.
21. She quickened her steps because she .
A. was afraid of being seen as a stranger
B. was in a hurry to leave the district
C. wanted to look like someone working there
D. wanted to apply at more factories that day
22. Why didn’t she enter Storm and King the first time?
A. She was too timid to enter the building
B. Two men stopped her at the entrance
C. Several pedestrians had found her strange
D. The messenger had closed the door behind him
23. What does “every foot of her progress being a satisfactory portionof a flight which she gladly made” mean according to the context (Para.2)?
A. She thought she was making progress in jobsearch.
B. She was glad that she was looking for a job.
C. She found her experience satisfactory.
D. She just wanted to leave the place.
24. Why did she feel greatly relieved (Para.7)?
A. She eventually managed to enter the building.
B. She was kindly received by the clerk.
C. She had the courage to make an inquiry.
D. She was promised a work position.
SECTION B SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
In this section there areeight short answer questions based on the passages in SECTION A. Answer eachquestion in NO MORE THAN TEN WORDS in the space provided on ANSWER SHEET TWO.
PASSAGE ONE
25. What do “promise” and “should” in Para. 2 imply about author’svision of Australia’s
economy？
26. Explain the meaning of “the growth of national groups” according tothe context (Para. 7).
PASSAGE TWO
27. Explain the meaning of “The choice between two languages is a hugeprime.” according to
the context (Para. 6)
28. What reasons does the author give to explain why people feeldifferent when speaking different languages？
29. What does the author focus on in the passage?
PASSAGE THREE
30. Select and write down at least THREE words or phrases in Para. 1describing the girl’s inner feelings while walking in the streets looking for ajob.
31. Explain the meaning of “So severe a defeat told sadly upon hernerves.” according to the context (Para. 2).
32. In “It was a severe setback to her recently pleased mental state.”(Para. 16), what does “her recently pleased mental state” refer to according tothe context?
PART III LANGUAGE USAGE [15 MIN]
The passage contains TENerrors. Each indicated line contains a maximum of ONE error. In each case, onlyONE word is involved. You should proof-read the passage and correct it in thefollowing way:
For a wrong word,
underline thewrong word and write the correct one in the blank provided at the end of theline. For a missing word,mark the position of the missing word with a “∧” sign and write theword you believe to be missing in the blank provided at the end of theline.
For an unnecessary word,cross the unnecessary word with a slash “/” and put the wordin the blank provided at the end of the line.
Example
When∧art museum wants a new exhibit, (1) an
it never buys things in finished form and hangs (2) never
them on the wall. When a natural history museum
wants an exhibition, it must often build it. (3) exhibit
Proofread the given passage on ANSWER SHEET THREE as instructed
PART IV TRANSLATION [20 MIN]
Translate the underlinedpart of the following text from Chinese into English. Write your translation onANSWER SHEET THREE
文学书籍起码使我们的内心可以达到这样的三感：善感、敏感和美感。生活不如意时，文学书籍给我们提供了可以达到一种比现实更美好的境界——书里面的水可能比我们现实生活中的水要清，天比我们现实中的天要蓝；现实中没有完美的爱情，但在书里有永恒的《梁山伯与祝英台》《罗密欧与朱丽叶》。读书，会弥补我们现实生活中所存在的不堪和粗糙。
PART V WRITING [45 MIN]
Thefollowing are two excerpts about job hopping. Read the two excerpts carefullyand write an article of NO LESS THAN 300 WORDS, in which you should:
1. summarize the main arguments in the two excerpts, and then
2. express your opinion on perfection, especially on whether aiming forperfection matters in whatever you do.
Youcan support yourself with information from the excerpts.
Markswill be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization andlanguage quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a lossof marks.
Writeyour article on ANSWER SHEET FOUR
Excerpt 1
Headmistresstells pupils not to fret about exams
Pupils should not worry about their exam results because no one willremember them in years to come, the head of a leading girls’ school has said.
Judith Carlisle, headmistress of Oxford High School, said there was nopoint fretting over GCSEs because no one will “give a damn” about result — and because theydon’t reflect character.
She is running a “Death of Little Miss Perfect” initiative at theprivate school to combat perfectionism in her students.
“Perfectionism is only captured in a moment — it’s not achievable longerterm,” she said, “It undermines self-esteem and then performance.”
Miss Carlisle said that students don’t always need to aim for 100 percent, and if they do need an A grade to attend their university of choice, it’snot necessary to get the highest A possible.
She said: “It matters, but sometimes it probably won’t matter. It’simportant (the girls are) not going for things that if they don’t get it, itwill destroy them. Exams aren’t who they are — it’s what they did on thatday.”
She said: “There’s unhelpful perfectionism as opposed to highstandards. It’s not that we’re aiming to undermine high standards — it will actuallyhelp you achieve higher standards.”
Excerpt 2
THE PURSUIT OF PERFECTION
The pursuit of perfection is a strategy formotivating organization to innovate and reach levels of improvement andperformance not previously seen as possible. Leveraging the pursuit ofperfection as a strategy was developed and refined by quality leaders such as BobGalvin and Paul O’Neill, and it has led to success in industries includinghealth care, telecommunication, and manufacturing.
Prior to serving as U.S Secretary of theTreasury, Paul O’Neill was one of the most successful industrial leaders of the20th century. As CEO of Alcoa from 1987 to 1999, he proposed and demanded aradical goal: zero work-loss incidents. No one would be hurt working at Alcoa.Alcoa moved toward perfection, becoming the safest industrial company in theworld — as well as the most successful aluminum producer in the world.
Paul O’Neill has developed a revolutionarykind of leadership — one that centers around the pursuit of perfection.
--THE END--
