2018年自考英语阅读（二）模拟试卷

I. Vocabulary. ( 10 points, 1 point for each)

Scan the following passage and find the words which have roughly the same meanings as those given below. The number in the bracket after each word definition refers to the number of paragraph in which the target word is. Write the word you choose on the ANSWER SHEET.

About three hundred years ago, there were approximately half a billion people in the world. In the two centuries that followed the population doubled, and, by 1850, there were more than a billion people in the world. It took only 75 years for the figure to double once more, so that now the population figure stands at approximately six and one half billion. Each day the population of the world increases by about 150,000.

In former centuries the population grew slowly. Famines, wars, and epidemics, such as the plague and cholera, killed many people. Today, although the birth rate has not changed significantly, the death rate has been lowered considerably by various kinds of progress.

Machinery has made it possible to produce more and more food in vast areas, such as the plains of America and Russia. Crops have increased almost everywhere and people are growing more and more food. New forms of food preservation have also been developed so that food need not be eaten as soon as it has grown. Meat, fish, fruit and vegetables can be dried, tinned or frozen, then stored for later use.

Improvement in communications and transportation has made it possible to send more food from the place where it is produced to other places where it is needed. This has helped reduced the number of famines.

Generally speaking, people live in conditions of greater security. Practices such as the slave trade, which caused many useless deaths, have been stopped.

1. one hundred years (Para. 1)

2. symbol for a number (Para. 1)

3. an extreme scarcity of food (Para 2)

4. an outbreak of a contagious disease that spreads rapidly and widely (Para.2)

5. importantly (Para.2)

6. much; a great deal (Para. 2)

7. preparation of food to resist decay (Para. 3)

8. to reserve or put away for future use (Para.3)

9. a means or system of carrying passengers or goods from one place to another (Para. 4)

10. the state of being safe (Para. 5) 

II. Reading Comprehension. (50 points, 2 points for each)

In this part of the test, there are five passages. Following each passage, there are five questions with four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer and mark your answer on the ANSWER SHEET.

Passage One

Q. There’s a lot of talk about putting up manned orbital stations. What does this mean, concretely?

A. It is very important to have scientific stations in space. A space telescope with a mirror slightly over six and a half feet in diameter will be placed in orbit, and there will be more and more of these. A few years ago, our group at Saclay, in collaboration with a number of other European Laboratories, orbited a telescope that revolutionized our knowledge of gamma-ray emissions by celestial objects.

Life aboard manned space stations won’t be as exciting as we might suppose. It will probably be comparable to the life people lead aboard deep-sea oil rigs.

Q. What scientific interest will these stations offer?

A. Observation is much more precise beyond the atmosphere, because the sky is darker. You see many more stars and objects that are concealed by the earth’s luminescence.

Q. What objects?

A. We know pretty well how stars are born because we can observe them. Two or three new stars appear in our galaxy every year. But nearly all the galaxies were born at the same time, when the universe was constituted 15 billion (light) years ago. No new ones are thought to exist.

To observe the birth of a galaxy that happened so long ago, you have to see a very long way. At present we can go back 10 to 12 billion years. We have to go a bit farther back still, and maybe catch them in the act of birth. Distant objects are necessarily very dim, so ideal conditions are needed to observe them. Orbital stations provide such conditions.

Q. Would orbital stations be choice places from which to try to communicate with extraterrestrial intelligences?

A. Not particularly through radio communication, except on certain wave lengths that are absorbed by the atmosphere. But as points of departure for exploration they’ll be very useful.

Q. How far would such exploration go?

A. In 1989 the satellite Voyager II will reach Neptune after a journey of three and a half years. In addition, five probes were sent to rendezvous with Halley’s comet. So exploration of the solar system is more or less under way. We’ve put people on the moon, sent probes to Mars and Venus, lofted satellites near the sun (within a few tens of millions of miles), and one satellite even left the solar system a few years ago.

But visiting the stars is something else again. Light takes four years to reach the nearest stars, so you can see that it would take a satellite hundreds of thousands of years.

Of course, if the earth were to become overpopulated, we can imagine sending families in space vessels to colonize the nearest stars. But it’s their great-great-great-grandchildren who would finally reach those stars. And they wouldn’t even know where to stop. 

Questions 11-15 are based on Passage One. 

11. A space station is a _____.

A. telescope in orbit

B. laboratory in space

C. celestial object

D. collaboration of labs

12. The writer compares the life on a space station to the one on a deep-sea oil rig in order to show____.

A. dull environment

B. excitement in the wild

C. hard living conditions

D. the sameness in operation

13. In Para.7 the sentence “No new ones are thought to exist” means ____.

A. nobody believes that any new galaxy exists now

B. nobody believes that there is any new galaxy to be found soon

C. people believe that the galaxies are very old now

D. people are wrong to believe that new galaxies will appear

14. Orbital stations provide an ideal condition to observe a galaxy because ____.

A. we are closer to it in space

B. we can go back 10 to 12 billion years

C. a galaxy appears dimmer in that environment than on earth

D. a galaxy appears brighter in that environment than on earth.

15. We may draw a conclusion from Para.14 that ____.

A. human habitation on other stars is a pure imagination

B. even later generations won’t know which star to land on

C. colonizing other stars is a solution to overpopulation

D. reaching other stars by present technology is still unrealistic 

Passage Two

In 1998 consumers could purchase virtually anything over the Internet. Books, compact discs, and even stocks were available from World Wide Websites that seemed to spring up almost daily. A few years earlier, some people had predicted that consumers accustomed to shopping in stores would be reluctant to buy things that they could not see or touch in person. For a growing number of time-starved consumers, however, shopping from their home computer was proving to be a convenient alternative to driving to the store.

A research estimated that in 1998 US consumers would purchase $7.3 billion of goods over the Internet, double the 1997 total. Finding a bargain was getting easier, owing to the rise of online auctions and Websites that did comparison shopping on the Internet for the best deal.

For all the consumers’ interest, retailing in cyberspace was still a largely unprofitable business, however, Internet pioneer Amazon. com, which began selling books in 1995 and later branched into recorded music and videos, posted revenue of $153.7 million in the third quarter, up from $37.9 million in the same period of 1997. Overall, however, the company’s loss widened to $45.2 million from $9.6 million, and analysts did not expect the company to turn a profit until 2001. Despite the great loss, Amazon. Com had a stock market value of many billions, reflecting investors’ optimism about the future of the industry.

Internet retailing appealed to investors because it provided an efficient means for reaching millions of consumers without having the cost of operating conventional stores with their armies of salespeople. Selling online carried its own risks, however. With so many companies competing for consumers’ attention, price competition was intense and profit margins were thin or nonexistent. One video retailer sold the hit movie Titanic for $9.99, undercutting the $19.99 suggested retail price and losing about $6 on each copy sold. With Internet retailing still in its initial stage, companies seemed willing to absorb such losses in an attempt to establish a dominant market position. 

Questions 16-20 are based on Passage Two 

16. According to the writer, which of the following is true?

A. Consumers are reluctant to buy things on the Internet.

B. Consumers are too busy to buy things on the Internet.

C. More and more consumers prefer Internet shopping.

D. Internet retailing is a profitable business.

17. Finding a bargain on the Internet was getting easier partly because _____.

A. there were more and more online auctions.

B. there were more and more Internet users.

C. the consumers had more money to spend.

D. there were more goods available on the Internet

18. “For all the consumer interest” (Para. 3) means _____.

A. to the interest of all the consumers

B. for the interest of all the consumers

C. all the consumers are much interested

D. though consumers are very much interested

19. It can be inferred from the passage that Amazon. com ______.

A. is making a profit now

B. will probably make a profit in 2001

C. is a company that sells books only

D. suffers a great loss on the stock market

20. Investors are interested in Internet retailing because _____.

A. selling online involves little risk

B. Internet retailing is in its initial stage

C. they can make huge profits from it

D. it can easily reach millions of consumers 

Passage Three 

The ear is indeed a remarkable mechanism; it is so complicated that its operation is not well-understood. Certainly it is extremely sensitive. At the threshold of audibility, the power requirement is inconceivably tiny. If all the people in the United States were listening simultaneously to a whisper (20 decibels (分贝)), the power received by all their collective eardrums would total only a few millionths of a watt (瓦特) — far less than the power generated by a single flying mosquito.

This aural organ is also remarkable for its ability to distinguish various pitches and other qualities of sound. In the range of frequencies where the ear is most sensitive (between 500 and 4,000 vibrations per second), changes in pitch of only 0.3 percent can be detected. Thus, if a singer trying to reach the octave above middle C (512 vibrations per second) is off-key by only 1.5 vibrations per second, the fault can be detected.

The normal ear can respond to frequencies ranging from 20 to 20,000 vibrations per second. In this range, it is estimated that the ear can distinguish more than half a million separate pure tones; that is, 500,000 differences in frequency or loudness. The range varies somewhat from ear to ear and becomes somewhat shorter for low-intensity sounds. Above the audible range, air vibrations similar to sound are called supersonic vibrations. These may be generated and detected by electrical devices and are useful particularly for depth sounding at sea. The time for the waves to travel from the generator to the bottom of the ocean and back again is measure of the depth of that particular spot. Supersonic vibrations apparently can be heard by some animals — notably bats. It is believed that bats are guided during flight by supersonic sounds (supersonic only to humans) which they emit and which are reflected back to their ears in a kind of natural radar. Humans can tell approximately where a sound comes from because we have two ears, not one. The sound arriving at one ear gives the brain information, which the latter organ interprets to note the direction from which the sound originally came. 

Questions 21-25 are based on Passage Three. 

21. The amount of wattage received by the normal eardrum ____.

A. indicates the amount of electrical energy

B. is extremely sensitive

C. is remarkably long

D. is extraordinarily small

22. A Sound coming from a person’s left side would ____.

A. hit the left ear first

B. hit both ears at the same time

C. pass on to the right side

D. generate electrical devices to the brain

23. All of the following is true EXCEPT that ____.

A. the ear is so complicated that its operation is not fully understood yet

B. the ear is so sensitive that it can distinguish full range of frequencies

C. the ear is remarkable for its ability to tell the differences of various pitches

D. the ear can distinguish more than 500,000 separate pure tones when the frequencies range from 20 to 20,000 vibrations per second

24. The direction of sound can be detected ____.

A. because sound arrives in each ear at different time intervals

B. by the frequency and duration of the sound

C. by the inner ear only

D. by combining kinesthetic and tactile data

25. The best title for this passage is _____.

A. How Ears Tell Directions

B. How Sounds Come to Ears

C. The Ear — An Amazing Part of the Body

D. How Ears Distinguish Pitches

Passage Four 

The loss of biological diversity has become most spectacularly noticeable in the extinction or decline of populations of large and well-known animals. Many animal species have become extinct since the 1700’s, among them the California grizzly bear, the dodo, and the passenger pigeon. Hundreds of other animal species are threatened. In North America, endangered species include the black-footed ferret, the California condor, the desert tortoise, and the whooping crane.

Most species in danger of extinction anywhere in the world are suffering from the intrusion (侵入) of human beings. The Asian elephant, for example, has become an endangered species due to the expansion of the human population throughout its range in southern Asia. In Africa, the African elephants are being killed off for their tusks. Monkeys and other primates throughout the world are threatened by hunting, capture for medical use, and the destruction of their habitats. And the rhinoceroses, lions, and other large mammals of the African savanna (grassy plains with scattered trees) compete for land and life with some of the most rapidly growing human populations in the world.

The loss of biological diversity is most severe, however, in the tropical rain forests. The forests of the tropics are particularly vulnerable to disturbance because the soils have a low capacity for retaining nutrients. Most of the forests’ nutrient elements are held in the tissues of plants. When loggers and farmers destroy existing plant cover, the nutrients are washed from the land into streams, and the land itself becomes less able to support life. Destruction of these forests destroys the habitat of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of species from such creatures as the howler monkey and indigo macaw, to less visible species of plants, insects, and microbes, many of which are not yet known to science.

Questions 26-30 are based on Passage Four

26. According to the passage, animal distinction _____.

A. is most noticeable in North America

B. is mainly taking place among large animals

C. quickened with industrialization of the society

D. never took place before the 1700’s

27. The chief cause of gradual disappearance of biological diversity is ____.

A. human cruelty 

B. human interference

C. the increase of human population

D. the disappearance of the forests

28. Which of the following is NOT mentioned with regard to human intrusion?

A. Elephants are killed off for their tusks

B. Some primates are hunted for medical use

C. Growing human population results in the competition for land and life among animals

D. Men live increasingly on animals as their source of food.

29. In tropical forests, _____.

A. animals live a hard life due to competition

B. a lot of species die out for lack of food

C. rains constitute the major threat to species

D. a greater number of animals are yet to be known

30. It can be inferred from this passage that species extinction ____.

A. proceeds of a faster rate than noticeable

B. is the worst among well-known animals

C. is the most severe in Africa

D. is chiefly due to competition among species 

Passage Five 

“Climate change in the Arctic is a reality now!” So insists Robert Corell, an oceanographer with the American Meteorological Society. Wild-eyed proclamations are all too common when it comes to global warming, but in this case his assertion seems well founded.

Dr. Corell heads a team of some 300 scientists who have spent the past four years investigating the matter in a process known as the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA). The group, drawn from the eight countries with territories inside the Arctic Circle, has just issued a report called “Impacts of a Warming Arctic”, a lengthy summary of the principal scientific findings. A second report, which will sketch out recommended policies, is due out in a few weeks. A third, far heftier tome detailing all the scientific findings will not come out for some months yet.

Already, though, the ACIA has made a splash. One reason is the inevitable wrangling over policy recommendations. News reports have suggested that the Bush administration has tried to suppress signs of support in the second, as yet unreleased, report, for the UN’s Kyoto protocol or other mandatory policies for the control of greenhouse-gas emissions. But even setting politics aside, this week’s scientific report has still created a stir with its bold assessment of polar warming.

At first sight, its conclusions are not so surprising. After all, scientists have long suspected that several factors lead to greater temperature swings at the poles than elsewhere on the planet. One is albedo (反射率) — the posh scientific name for how much sunlight is absorbed by a planet’s surface, and how much is reflected. Most of the polar regions are covered in snow and ice, which are much more reflective than soil or ocean. If that snow melts, the exposure of dark earth (which absorbs heat) acts as a feedback loop that accelerates warming. A second factor that makes the poles special is that the atmosphere is thinner there than at the equator, and so less energy is required to warm it up. A third factor is that less solar energy is lost in evaporation at the frigid poles than in the steamy tropics.

And yet the language of this week’s report is still eye-catching: “the Arctic is now experiencing some of the most rapid and severe climate change on Earth.” The last authoritative assessment of the topic as done by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2001. That report made headlines by predicting a rise in sea level of between 10 cm (four inches) and 90cm, and a temperature rise of between 1.4℃ and 5.8℃ over this century. However, its authors did not feel confident in predicting either rapid polar warming or the speedy demise of the Greenland ice sheet. Pointing to evidence gathered since the IPCC report, this week’s report suggests trouble lies ahead. 

Questions 31-35 are based on Passage Five 

31. By saying “his assertion seems well founded”, the author means that _____.

A. his statement is not reasonable

B. his assertion can be discovered

C. his statement can hold water

D. his assertion is well-known to the public

32. Scientists of the team headed by Dr. Corell _____.

A. had much acquaintance with the Arctic circle prior to the investigation 

B. were absorbed in the South Pole climate impact Assessment

C. had no acquaintance with the Arctic Circle prior to the study

D. were detached from the South Pole snowstorm impact investigation 

33. The manipulation of greenhouse-gas emissions is in its strongest form echoed in _____.

A. the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment

B. the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

C. the American Meteorological Society

D. the UN’s Kyoto protocol or other mandatory policies

34. The vanishing of Greenland ice sheet, according to the text, is _____.

A. beyond dispute

B. still in doubt

C. at its early stage

D. in its distinctive ways

35. The loss of less solar energy in evaporation at the Arctic Circle may result in _____.

A. apparent temperature stagnation elsewhere on the planet

B. less temperature swings at the poles

C. consequent temperature regulation elsewhere on the planet

D. more temperature fluctuation at the poles 

Ⅲ. Summarization ( 20 points, 2 points for each )

In this part of the test, there are ten paragraphs. Each is followed by an incomplete phrase or sentence. Spell out the missing letters of the word on the ANSWER SHEET. 

Paragraph One 

Some people complain of symptoms of stress, for instance, loss of appetite, a complete sense of exhaustion, insomnia and low morale. Thus have destructive effect on their health. People tend to lose temper easily, and this may interfere personal relationship. What’s more, a high rate of suicide may warn people of their emotional well-being.

36. It is important to be a physically and p_____ healthy person. 

Paragraph Two 

We all keep hearing that trains are slow, that they lose money, and that they’re dying. But this is far from the truth. A single train can carry goods which no plane or motorcar could ever do. Modern railway lines give you a smooth, untroubled journey. Where else can you eat well, sleep in comfort, feel safe and enjoy the scene while you are traveling at speed at the same time?

37. The a _____ of railway. 

Paragraph Three

“Equal pay for equal work” is a phrase used by the American women who feel that they are looked down upon by society. However, some people (mainly men) hold different view. They say that men have more duties than women. A married man is expected to earn money to support his family and to make the important decision, so it is right for men to be paid more. Some are even against married women working at all. If women are encouraged by equal pay to take full-time jobs, they will be unable to do the things they are best at doing: making a nice home and bringing up their children.

38. The o______ view of “Equal pay for equal work”. 

Paragraph Four

Every breakaway hotel gives you the chance to see something different, while providing you with comfortable surroundings and good food. A breakaway weekend includes a three-course dinner, accommodation and a full English breakfast, for two nights. You also get Sunday lunch, either a traditional meal at your hotel, or, if you are planning to go sightseeing, the hotel will provide a packed lunch for you.

39. The s_____ that a breakaway hotel provides. 

Paragraph Five

Some scientists believe that the air inside many houses may be more dangerous than the air outside. It may be one hundred times worse. Indoor air pollution can cause a person to feel tried, to suffer eye pain, headache and other problems. Some pollutants can cause breathing disorders, diseases of blood and even cancer. Most scientists agree that every modern house has some kind of indoor pollution.

40. Compared with outside air pollution, indoor air pollution may cause w_____ effects on human body. 

Paragraph Six

With E-mail, you just write one note about your experience, at your convenience, and address it to all the friends you think might be interested. They can read your message when they have time, and read only as much as they want to. They can reply at their convenience, and you can read what they have to say at your convenience.

41. E-mail is a very c________ means of communication. 

Paragraph Seven

I think the most effective way is to learn lessons by heart. If you can recite the text and write it out, you’ve learned it fairly well. And if you can tell, in your own words, what the lesson says you’re a very successful learner indeed. Your English will be quite perfect.

42. The author’s o______ on English learning.

Paragraph Eight 

Technology acted as such a force in England beginning in the eighteenth century, and across the entire Western World in the nineteenth. Rapid advances were made in the use of scientific findings in the manufacture of goods, which has changed ideas about work. One of the first changes was that other forms of energy have taken the place of human power. Along with this came the increased use of machines to manufacture products in less time.

43. Technology has been an e_____ of historical change. Paragraph Nine 

A wave has height, from trough (low point) to crest (high Point). It has length-the distance from this crest to that of the following wave. The period of the wave means the time it takes for succeeding crests to pass a fixed point. None of these things stays the same-for all depend upon te wind, upon the depth of the water and many other matters.

44. P_____ description of a wave. 

Paragraph Ten 

Recent facts suggest that baby is born with the capacity to speak. What is special about Man’s brain, compared with that of the monkeys, is the complex system which enables a child to connect the sight and feel of, say, a teddy-bear with the sound pattern “teddy-bear”.

45. The capacity to speak is i_____. 

IV. Translation. (20 points, 4 points for each) （略） 

In the following passage, there are five groups of underlined sentences. Read the passage first and then translate these sentences into Chinese. Write the Chinese version on the ANSWER SHEET.