湘潭大学继续教育学院英语考试试题

湘潭大学继续教育学院英语考试试题

Part 1 Dialogue Completion (15 points)

Directions: there are 15 short incomplete dialogues in this part, each of them followed by 4

choices marked A, B, C or D. Choose the best one to complete the dialogue and mark your answer

on the ANSWER SHEET with a single line through the centre.

1. Speaker A: I really appreciate your help.

Speaker B: __________.

A. Never mind. B. That’s a great idea.

C. My pleasure. D. Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.

2. Kris: Mary, tomorrow is my birthday. Would you like to come to my birthday party tomorrow

evening?

Mary: ___________.

A .I’d like to. B. Tomorrow will be a fine day. C. Don’t worry. I will do it for you. D.

Sure.

3. Ted: Your friend Tom was seriously injured in a car accident yesterday.

Ron: ___________.

A. I’m very annoyed at this news.

B. I’m glad to hear this. I’m awfully sorry to hear that.

C. Do you know where he is now?

D. That’s a real let-down.

4. Laura: I feel very tired after a day’s work.

Hilary: Why don’t you go out for a walk?

Laura: _________.

A.I don’t think so. B. That sounds nice.

C. Do you like walking? D. So long.

5. Emma: I can’t stand living in this place any more.

Mathew: ___________.

A. Why don’t you move then?

B. You’d better choose what you like.

C. You’d probably have to go by yourself.

D. Sorry, I have no idea about what you have said.

6. Harry: I won’t have it any more.

Ruth: ___________.

A. So do I. B. so will I . C. Nor doI. D. neither will I.

7. Roger: Have a nice weekend!

Janet: ___________.

A. The same to you. B. You do too.

C. The same as you. D. You have it too.

8. Maria: Do you think you will get a pay rise next year?

Leo: ___________.

A. I hope so .B. I’m afraid so. C. I believe not so. D. I hope not so.

9. Wendy: _________?

Wayne: For about 2 weeks.

A. How long are you going to stay here B. How soon will you leave this place

C. How often do you come here D. How many times have you come here

10. Jeremy: __________?

Max: Wonderful.

A. What’s the film about B. How did you like the film

C. What do you think of the film D. How about seeing the film

11. Thomas:__________?

Ronald: I’m going to do a bit of research work. What about you?

A. What’s your plan for this weekend B. How are you getting on with your

research work

C. Will you make a plan for this weekend D. Will you have a good time this

weekend

12. Dick: Don’t forget to come to our party tomorrow.

Judy: __________.

A. I don’t. B.I won’t. C.I can’t. D. I haven’t.

13. Jodie: The light in the office is still on.

Folia: Oh, I forgot___________.

A. turning it off B. turn it off C. to turn it off having D. turned it off

14. Gavin: Could I borrow your dictionary?

Darren: Yes, of course you____.

A. might B. will C. can D. should

15. Brazil: May I use your phone?

Wendy:_______.

A. It’s doesn’t matter. B. Go ahead. C .No, I don’t mind. D. No, you needn’t.

Part II Reading Comprehension (40 points)

Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. Each of the passage is followed by 5 questions or

unfinished statements. For e each of them followed by 4 choices marked A, B, C or D. Choose the

best one to complete the dialogue and mark your answer on the ANSWER SHEET with a single

line through the centre.

Passage One

The concept of culture has been defined many times, and although no definition has achieved

universal acceptance, most of the definitions include three central ideas: that culture is passed n

from generation to generation, that a culture represents a ready-made prescription for living and

for making day-to-day decisions, and, finally, that the components of a culture are accepted by

those in the culture as good, and true, and not to be questioned. The eminent anthropologist

George Murdock has listed seventy-three items that characterize every known culture, past and

present. The list begins with Age-grading and Athletic sports, runs to Weaning and Weather

Control, and includes on the way such items as Calendar, Fire making, Property Rights, and Tool

making . I would submit that even the most extreme advocate of a culture of poverty viewpoint

would readily acknowledge that, with respect to almost all of these items, every American, beyond

the first generation immigrant, regardless of race or class, is a member of a common culture. We

all share pretty much the same sports. Maybe poor kids don't know how to play polo, and rich kids

don't spend time with stickball, but we all know baseball, and football, and basketball. Despite

some misguided efforts to raise minor dialects to the status of separate tongues, we all, in fact,

share the same language. There may be differences in diction and usage, but it would be ridiculous

to say that all Americans don't speak English. We have the calendar, the law, and large numbers of

other cultural items in common. It may well be true that on a few of the seventy-three items there

are minor variations between classes, but these kinds of things are really slight variations on a

common theme. There are other items that show variability, not in relation to class, but in relation

to religion and ethnic background-funeral customs and cooking, for example. But if there is one

place in America where the melting pot is a reality, it is on the kitchen stove; in the course of one

month, half the readers of this sentence have probably eaten pizza, hot pastrami, and chow mein.

Specific differences that might be identified a signs of separate cultural identity are relatively

insignificant within the general unity of American life; they are cultural commas and semicolons

in the paragraphs and pages of American life.

16. According to the author's definition of culture, ____ .

A. a culture should be accepted and maintained universally

B. a culture should be free from falsehood and evils

C. the items of a culture should be taken for granted by people

D. the items of a culture should be accepted by well-educated people

17. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Baseball, football and basketball are popular sports in America.

B. Pizza, hot pastrami, and chow main are popular diet in America.

C. There is no variation in using the American calendar.

D. There is no variation in using the American language.

18. It can be inferred that all the following will most probably be included in the seventy-three

items except ____.

A. heir and heritage B. childrearing practices C. dream patterns D. table manners

19. By saying that ""they are cultural commas "" the author means that commas

and semicolons ____.

A. can be interpreted as subculture of American life

B. can be identified as various ways of American life

C. stand for work and rest in American life

D. are preferred in writing the stories concerning American life

20. The author's main purpose in writing this passage is to ____.

A. prove that different people have different definitions of culture

B. inform that variations exist as far as a culture is concerned

C. indicate that culture is closely connected with social classes

D. show that the idea that the poor constitute a separate culture is an absurdity

Passage Two

It is 3A.M. Everything on the university campus seems ghostlike in the quiet, misty darkness -

everythingexcept the computer center. Here, twenty students rumpled and bleary-eyed, sit

transfixed at their consoles, tapping away on the terminal keys. With eyes glued to the video

screen, they tap on for hours. For the rest of the world, it might be the middle of the night, but here

time does not exist. This is a world unto itself. These young computer ""hackers"" are pursuing a

kind of compulsion, a drive so consuming it overshadows nearly every other part of their lives and

forms the focal point of their existence. They are compulsive computer programmers. Some of

these students have been at the console for thirty hours or more without a break for meals or sleep.

Some have fallen asleep on sofas and lounge chairs in the computer center, trying to catch a few

winks but loathe to get too far away from their beloved machines.

Most of these students don't have to be at the computer center in the middle of the night. They

aren't working on assignments. They are there because they want to be - they are irresistibly drawn

there.

And they are not alone. There are hackers at computer centers all across the country. In their

extreme form, they focus on nothing else. They flunk out of school and lose contact with friends;

they might have difficulty finding jobs, choosing instead to wander from one computer center to

another. They may even forgo personal hygiene.

"I remember one hacker. We literally had to carry him off his chair to feed him and put him to

sleep. We really feared for his health," says a computer science professor at MIT.

Computer science teachers are now more aware of the implications of this hacker phenomenon

and are on the lookout for potential hackers and cases of computer addiction that are already

severe. They know that the case of the hackers is not just the story of one person's relationship

with a machine. It is the story of a society's relationship to the so-called thinking machines, which

are becoming almost ubiquitous.

21. We can learn from the passage that those at the computer center in the middle of the night are

____.

A. students working on a program B. students using computers to amuse

themselves

C. hard-working computer science majors D. students deeply fascinated by the computer

22. Which of the following is NOT true of those young computer "hackers"?

A. Most of them are top students majoring in computer programming.

B. For them, computer programming is the sole purpose for their life.

C. They can stay with the computer at the center for nearly three days on end.

D. Their ""love"" for the computer is so deep that they want to be near their machines even when

they sleep.

23. It can be reasonably inferred from the passage that ____.

A. the ""hacker"" phenomenon exists only at university computer centers

B. university computer centers are open to almost everyone

C. university computer centers are expecting outstanding programmers out of the "hackers"

D. the "hacker" phenomenon is partly attributable to the deficiency of the computer centers

24. The author's attitude towards the "hacker" phenomenon can be described as ____.

A. affirmative B. contemptuous C. anxious D. disgusted

25. Which of the following may be a most appropriate title for the passage?

A. The Charm of Computer Science B. A New Type of Electronic Toys

C. Compulsive Computer Programmers D. Computer Addicts

Passage Three

Every profession or trade, every art, and every science has its technical vocabulary. Different

occupations, however, differ widely in the character of their special vocabularies. In trades and

handicrafts, and other vocations, like farming and fishery, that have occupied great numbers of

men from remote times, the technical vocabulary, is very old. It consists largely of native words,

or of borrowed words that have worked themselves into the very fibre of our language. Hence,

though highly technical in many particulars, these vocabularies are more familiar in sound, and

more generally understood, than most other technicalities. The special dialects of law, medicine,

divinity, and philosophy have also, in their older strata, become pretty familiar to cultivated

persons and have contributed much to the popular vocabulary. Yet every vocation still possesses a

large body of technical terms that remain essentially foreign, even to educated speech. And the

proportion has been much increased in the last fifty years, particularly in the various departments

of natural and political science and in the mechanic arts. Here new terms are coined with the

greatest freedom, and abandoned with indifference when they have served their turn. Most of the

new coinages are confined to special discussions, and seldom get into general literature or

conversation. Yet no profession is nowadays, as all professions once were, a close guild. The

lawyer, the physician, the man of science, the divine, associated freely with his fellow-creatures,

and does not meet them in a merely professional way. Furthermore, what is called ""popular

science"" makes everybody acquainted with modern views and recent discoveries. Any important

experiment, though made in a remote or provincial laboratory, is at once reported in the

newspapers, and everybody is soon talking about it - as in the case of the Roentgen rays and

wireless telegraphy. Thus our common speech is always taking up new technical terms and

making them commonplace.

26. Special words used in technical discussion ____.

A. never last long B. are considered artificial language speech

C. should be confined to scientific fields D. may become part of common speech

27. It is true that ____.

A. an educated person would be expected to know most technical terms

B. everyone is interested in scientific findings

C. the average man often uses in his own vocabulary what was once technical language not meant

for him

D. various professions and occupations often interchange their dialects and jargons

28. In recent years, there has been a marked increase in the number of technical terms in the

terminology of

A. farming B. sports C. government D. fishery

29. The writer of the article was, no doubt ____.

A. a linguist B. an essayist C. a scientist D. an attorney

30. The author's main purpose in the passage is to ____.

A. describe a phenomenon B. be entertaining C. argue a belief D. propose a

solution

Passage Four

In the days immediately following hurricane Andrew's deadly visit to South Florida, Allstate

Insurance hastily dispatched more than 2,000 extra claim adjusters to the devastated area to assist

the 200 stationed there. Many of the reserves arrived in convoys of motor homes. Others flew in