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北京地区成人本科学士学位英语统一考试自1992年06月至2006年04月共举行了18次。

1997年  北京地区成人本科学士学位英语统一考试

Part I       Reading Comprehension (40%)

Directions: There are three passages in this part. 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 with a single line through the center.

Passage 1

Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage:

How often one hears children wishing they were grown up, and old people wishing they were young again. Each age has its pleasures and its pains, and the happiest person is the one who enjoys what each age gives him without wasting his time in useless regrets.

Childhood is a time when there are few responsibilities to make life difficult. If a child has good parents, he is fed, looked after and loved, whatever he may do. It is impossible that he will ever again in his life be given so much without having to do anything in return . in addition, life is always presenting new things to the child-things that have lost their interest for older people because they are too well-known. But a child has his pains: he is not so free to do what he wishes to do; he is continually being told not to do things, or being punished for what he has done wrong.

When the young man starts to earn his own living, he can no longer expect others to pay for his food, his clothes, and his room, but has to work if he wants to live comfortably. If he spends most of his time playing about in the way that he used to as a child, he will go hungry. And if he breaks the laws of society as he used to break the laws of his parents, he may go to prison. If however, he works hard, keeps out of trouble and has good health, he can have the great happiness of building up for himself his own position in society.

1.       According to Paragraph2, the writer thinks that ___ .

A.      life for a child is comparatively easy

B.      a child is always loved whatever he does

C.      if much is given to a child, he must do something in return

D.     only children are interested in life

2.       After a child grows up, he ____ .

A.      will have little time playing

B.      has to be successful in finding a job

C.      can still ask for help in time of trouble

D.     should be able to take care of himself

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

A.      People are often satisfied with their life.

B.      Life is less interesting for old people.

C.      Adults are freer to do what they want to do.

D.     Adults should no longer rely on others.

4.       The main idea of the passage is that ____ .

A.      life is not enjoyable since each age has some pains

B.      young men can have the greatest happiness if they work hard

C.      childhood is the most enjoyable time in one’s life

D.     one is the happiest if he can make good use of each age in his life

5.       The paragraph following the passage will most probably discuss ___ .

A.      examples of successful young men

B.      how to build up one’s position in society

C.      joys and pains of old people

D.     what to do when one has problems in life

Passage 2

Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage:

Every country tends to accept its own way of life as being the normal one and to praise or criticize others as they are similar to or different from it. And unfortunately, our picture of the people and the way of life of other countries is often a distorted(曲折) one.

Here is a great argument in favor of foreign travel and learning foreign language. It is only by traveling in, or living in a country and getting to know its inhabitants and their language that one can find out what a country and its people are really like. And how different the knowledge one gains this way frequently turns out to be from the second-hand information gathered from other sources! How often we find that the foreigners whom we thought to be such different people from ourselves are not very different after all!

Differences between peoples do, of course, exist and, one hopes, will always continue to do so. The world will be a dull place indeed when all the different nationalities behave exactly alike, and some people might say that we are rapidly approaching this state of affairs. With the much greater rapidity and ease of travel, there might seem to be some truth in this at least as far as Europe is concerned. However this may be, at least the greater ease of travel today has revealed to more people than ever before that the Englishman or Frenchman or German is not some different kind of animal from themselves.

6.       Every country criticizes ways of life in other countries because they are ____.

A.  distorted    B. normal    C. similar to each other    D. different from its own

7.       One who travels in a foreign country and learns its language will ___.

A.      find out what its people are like

B.      argue in favor of this country and the language

C.      know the country and its people better

D.     like its inhabitants and their language

8.       The knowledge one gains by traveling in a foreign country is often ___.

A.      from second-hand information

B.      gathered from other sources than from its inhabitants

C.      gained from the arguments about the country

D.     different from what one had before the travel

9.       Differences between peoples ___.

A.      will gradually disappear because of ease of travel

B.      do exist even though different nationalities behave exactly alike

C.      will always continue to exist and the world will be a dull place

D.     will not exist as one hopes

10.   “However”(Line6, Para3) most probably meant ___.

A. Somewhat    B. By whatever means

C. Anyhow      D. No matter what

Passage 3

Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage:

We arranged that Kissinger would fly to Vietnam for talks early in July and then stop in Pakistan on the way back. There he would develop a stomachache that would require him to stay in bed and not be seen by the press. Then, with President Yahya’s cooperation he would be taken to an airport where a Pakistani plane and would fly him over the mountains to China.

Kissinger’s trip was given the code(密码) name Polo after Marco Polo, another Western traveler who made history by journeying to China. Everything went without a hitch. His slight illness in Islamabad received only minor attention from reporters covering him. They accepted the story that he would be confined to bed for at least a couple of days and began making arrangements for their own entertainment.

Because of the need for complete secrecy and the lack of any direct communication facilities between Beijing and Washington, I knew that we would have no word from Kissinger while he was in China. Even after he had returned to Pakistan it would still be important to maintain secrecy. So before Kissinger left, we agreed on a single code word –Eureka –which he would use if his mission were successful.

On July 11, Al Haig, who knew our code word, phoned me to say that a cable from Kissinger had arrived.

“What’s message?” I asked.

“Eureda,” he replied.

11.   Kissinger stopped in Pakistan because ___.

A.      he happened to have a stomachache

B.      he needed a rest after a long journey

C.      he had a secret mission to perform there

D.     he did not want to be seen by the press

12.   The reporters in Islamabad believed that ___.

A.      Kissinger was not feeling well

B.      Kissinger had just come back from Vietnam

C.      Kissinger had put off leaving for China

D.     Kissinger was preparing to entertain them

13.   The statement “everything went without a hitch: (Para. 2) most probably means that ____

A.      nothing was easy with the mission

B.      the plans were carried out with great difficulty

C.      things went smoothly

D.     there was no possibility of success

14.   There was no news from Kissinger while he was in Beijing, chiefly because ___.

A.      his trip had to be kept secret

B.      President Yahya did not go with Kissinger

C.      Communication between Beijing and Islamabad was difficult

D.     The negotiation (谈判) was not successful

15.   The passage implies that Kissinger’s message “Eureka” was sent ____.

A.      when the negotiation started in Beijing

B.      as soon as he arrived in Washington

C.      when he flew to Vietnam on July 11

D.     when the negotiation was completed in Beijing

Passage 4

Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage:

No country in the world has more daily newspapers than the USA. There are almost 2,000 of them, as compared with 180 in Japan, 164 in Argentina and 111 in Britain. The quality of some American papers is extremely high and their views are quoted all over the world. Distinguished dailies like the Washington Post or the New York Times have a powerful influence all over the country. However the Times are not national newspapers in the sense that The Times is in Britain or Le Monde is in France , since each American city has its own daily newspaper. The best of these present detailed accounts of national and international news, but many tend to limit themselves to state or city new.

Like the press in most other countries, American newspapers range from the “sensational”, which feature crime, sex and rumor, to the serious, which focus on factual news and the analysis of world events. But with few exceptions American newspapers try to entertain as well as give information, for they have to compete with television.

Just as American newspapers give way to all tastes, so do they also try and apply to readers for all political persuasions. A few newspapers support extremis (过激分子) groups on the far right and on the far left, but most daily newspapers attempt to attract middle-of –the-road Americans who are essentially moderate. Many of these papers print columns by well-known journalists of different political and social views, in order to present a balanced picture.

As in other democratic countries American newspapers can be either responsible or irresponsible, but it is generally accepted that the American press serves its country well and that it has more than once bravely uncovered political scandals(丑闻) or crimes, for instance, the Watergate Affair. The newspapers drew the attention of the public to the fears of the Vietnam War.

16.   There are fewer nation newspapers in ___.

A.      Britain than in the USA

B.      France than in Britain

C.      the USA than in Britain or France

D.     France than in the USA or Britain

17.   Most American newspapers try to entertain their readers because ___.

A.      they have to keep up a good relation with them

B.      they have to compete with television

C.      they have to write about crime, sex and rumor

D.     they have to give factual news in an interesting way

18.   Many American newspapers attract readers of different political tendency by ___.

A.      supporting extremist groups from time to time

B.      inviting middle-of –the –road Americans to write articles for them

C.      avoiding carrying articles about extremists

D.     printing articles representing different political viewpoints

19.   In this passage, the word “press” (Pare.2) means ___.

A.      a machine for printing

B.      the business of printing

C.      great force

D.     newspapers

20.   The passage is mainly about ___.

A.      the characteristics of American newspapers

B.      the development of American newspapers

C.      the functions of American newspapers

              D.the merits and shortcomings of American newspapers