Part I Oral Communication (10 points)

Section A

Directions: In this section there are two incomplete dialogues and each dialogue has three blanks and three choices A, B and C, taken from the dialogue. Fill in each of the blanks with one of the choices to complete the dialogue and mark your answer on the Answer Sheet.

Dialogue One

A.     Do you know what a handicapped space is ?

B.      The signs always tell you how long you can park there and on what days.

C.      Then you also need to be aware of the time limits on the street signs.

Student: Can you tell me where I can park?

Clerk: Are you driving a motorcycle or an automobile?

Student: I drive an automobile.

Clerk: Fine. You can either park in the student lot or on the street.  1 

Student: Yes, I have seen those spots.

Clerk: Well, when you see the blue spots with the handicapped sign, do not park there unless you have a

      special permit. Are you going to be parking in the daytime or evening?

Student: I park in the evenings.

Clerk:  2  Have you seen those signs?

Student: Yes ,I have seen those signs.

Clerk:  3 

Dialogue Two

A. The hours and limitations are printed on the card and this handout.

B. May I have your driver’s license, please?

C. Are you familiar with our rules and fines?

Student: Excuse me, I am interested in getting a library card.

Librarian: Sure, let me give you an application. You can fill it out right here at the counter.

Student: Thank you. I’ll do it right now.

Librarian: Let me take a look at this for you.  4 

Student: Here it is.

Librarian: You seem to have filled the form out all right.___5___

Student: Yes. I know what to do.

Librarian: ____6____

Student: OK. I see.

Librarian: Thank you for joining the library, we look forward to serving you.

 

Section B

Directions: In this section there is one incomplete which has four blanks and four choices A,B,C and D , taken from the interview . Fill in each of the blanks with one of the choices to complete the interview and mark your answer on the Answer Sheet.

 

A . And fooled the boys for a while.

B . And I don’t think the boys have minded.

C. Well , it’s because my British publisher.

D . All this time I thought you were ‘J.K’.

 

Winfrey: So , this is the first time we’ve met.

Rowling: Yes, it is .

Winfrey: And my producers tell me that your real name is J.O.____7____

Rowling: (laughing) Yeah.

Winfrey: J.K is …

Rowling : ____8_____ When the first book came out , they  thought ‘ this is a book that will appeal to boys ’ ,but they didn’t want the boys to know a woman had written it . So they said to me ‘ could we use your initials ’ and I said ‘ fine ’. I only have one initial . I don’t have a middle name , So I took my favorite grandmother’s name,Kathleen.

Winfrey : ____9_____

Rowling : Yeah, but not for too long, because I started getting my picture in the press and no one could pretend I was a man anymore.

Winfrey : ___10____

Rowling : NO—it hasn’t held me back, has it?

 

Part II   Vocabulary (10 points)

Directions: In this part there are ten sentences, each with one word or phrase underlined. Choose the one from the four choices marked A, B,C and D that best keeps the meaning of the sentence. Mark your answer on the Answer Sheet.

  

11. There are several different options for getting Internet access.

A. choices                B. definitions                   C. channels               D. reasons

12.  Earth has an atmosphere, which protects the surface from harmful rays.

A. minerals         B. substances          C. gases                         D. beams

13. The manager gave one of the salesgirls an accusing look for her hostile attitude toward customers.

     A. unfriendly        B. optimistic           C. impatient                  D. positive

14.  Since it is late to change my mind now, I am resolved to carry out the plan.

A. revise            B. implement           C. review                     D. improve

15.  Security guards dispersed the crowd that had gathered around the Capitol.

A. arrested           B. stopped             C. scattered             D. watched

16. To start the program, insert the disk and follow the instructions.

A. take out           B. turn over            C. track  down       D. put in

17. The patient’s condition has deteriorated since last night.

A. improved          B. returned            C. worsened           D. changed

18. I couldn’t afford to fly home , and a train ticket was likewise beyond my means.

A. also              B. nonetheless          C. furthermore         D. otherwise

19. Despite years of searching, scientists have detected no signs of life beyond our own solar system.

    A. within            B. besides              C. outside            D. except

20. I prefer chicken to fish because I am worried about accidentally swallowing a small bone.

A. intentionally       B. unexpectedly       C. anxiously               D. hurriedly

 

Part III   Reading Comprehension (25 points)

Section  A

Directions: In this section, there are four passages followed by questions or unfinished statements ,each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer and mark your answer on the Answer Sheet.

Passage One

Sometimes a race is not enough. Sometimes a runner just wants to go further. That’s what happened to Dennis Martin and Brooke Curran.

Martin, 68, a retired detective from New York City,took up running after his first wife died. Curran, 46, a philanthropist(慈善家）from Alexandria, started running to get out of the house and collect her thoughts. Both she and Martin got good at running but felt the desire to do more. “The more I trained, the better I got,” Curran said,” but I would cross the finish line with no sense of accomplishment.”

Eventually , they worked up to running marathons(马拉松）（and longer races) in other countries, on other countries. Now both have achieved a notable -and increasingly less rate - milestone; running the 26.2-mile race on all seven continents.

They are part of a phenomenon that has grown out of the running culture in the past two decades, at the intersection of athleticism and leisure: “runcations,” which combine distance running with travel to exotic places . There trips ,as expensive as they are physically challenging ,are a growing and competitive market in the travel industry.

“In the beginning, running was enough ,”said Steen Albrechtsen, a press manager. “The classic marathon was the ultimate goal, then came the super marathons, like London and New York. But when 90,000 people a year can take that challenge, it is no longer exciting and adventurous. Hence, the search for new adventures began.”

“No one could ever have imagined that running would become the lifestyle activity that it is today,” said Thom Gilligan, founder and president of Boston-based Marathon Tours and Travel. Gilligan, who has been in business since 1979, is partly responsible for the seven-continent phenomenon.

It started with a casual talk to an interviewer about his company offering trips to every continent except Antarctica. And then in 1995,Marathon Tours hosted its first Antarctica Marathon on King George Island. Off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula: 160 runners got to the starting line of a dirt-and ice-trail route via a Russian icebreaker through the Drake Passage.

21. At the beginning, Martin took up running just to       .

A. meet requirements of his job

B. win a running race

C. join in a philanthropic activity

D. get away from his sadness

22. Martin and Curran are mentioned as good examples of       .

A. winners in the 26.2-mile race on all seven continents

B. people who enjoy long running as a lifestyle activity

C. running racers satisfied with their own performance

D. old people who live an active life after retirement

23. A new trend in the travel industry is the development of       .

A. challenging runcations

B. professional races

C. Antarctica travel market

D. expensive tours

24. The classic marathon no longer satisfies some people because       .

A. it does not provide enough challenge

B. it may be tough and dangerous

C. it involves too fierce a competition

D. it has attracted too many people

25. The first Antarctica Marathon on King George Island indicates that       .

A. international cooperation is a must to such an event

B. runcations are expensive and physically challenging

C. Marathon Tours is a leader of the travel industry

D. adventurous running has become increasingly popular

 

Passage Two

Before the 1970s, college students were treated as children. So many colleges ran in loco parentis system. “In loco parentis” is a Latin term meaning “in the place of a parent.” It describes when someone else accepts responsibility to act in the interests of a child.

This idea developed long ago in British common law to define the responsibility of teachers toward their students. For years, American courts upheld in loco parentis in cases such as Gott versus Berea College in 1913.

Gott owned a restaurant off campus. Berea threatened to expel students who ate at places not owned by the school. The Kentucky high court decided that in loco parentis justified that rule.

In loco parentis meant that male and female college students usually had to live in separate buildings. Women had to be back at their dorms by ten or eleven on school nights.

But in the 1960s, students began to protest rules and restrictions like these. At the same time, courts began to support students who were being punished for political and social dissent.

In 1960, Alabama State College expelled six students who took part in a civil rights demonstration. They sued the school and won. After that it became harder and harder to defend in loco parentis.

At that time, students were not considered adults until 21. Then, in 1971, the 24th amendment to the Constitution set the voting age at eighteen. So in loco parentis no longer really applied.

Slowly, colleges began to treat students not as children, but as adults. Students came to be seen as consumers of educational services.

Gary Dickstein, an assistant vice president at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, says in loco parentis is not really gone. It just looks different. Today’s parents, he says, are often heavily involved in students’ lives. They are known as “helicopter parents.” They always seem to hover over their children. Gary Dickstein says these parents are likely to question decisions, especially about safety issues and grades. They want to make sure their financial investment is not being wasted.

26. Before the 1970s, many colleges ran in loco parentis system because       .

A. they could take the place of the students’ parents

B. parents asked them to do it for the interests of their children

C. this was a tradition established by British colleges

D. college students were regarded as too young to be treated as adults

27. Who won the case of Gott versus Berea College in 1913?

A. Berea College.                                             B. Gott.

C. It was a win-win case.                                  D. The students.

 

28. The word “dissent” (Para.5) probably means “       ”.

A. extreme behaviors                                        B. violation of laws

C. strong disagreement                                      D. Wrong doings

29. In 1960，the court ruled that Alabama State College_____

A. had no right to expel the students

B. was justified to have expelled the students

C. shouldn’t interfere with students’ daily life

D. should support civil rights demonstrations   

30. According to Gary Dickstein, today’s “helicopter parents”_____

A. don’t set their hearts at rest with college administrators

B. keep a watchful eye on their children’s life and study

C. care less about their children’s education than before

D. have different opinions on their children’s education

 

Passage Three

 We tend to think of plants as the furniture of the natural word. They don’t move, they don’t make sounds, they don’t seem to respond to anything –at least not very quickly. But as is often the case, our human view of the world misses quite a lot. Plants talk to each other all the time. And the language is chemical.

 Over the years scientists have reported that different types of plants, from trees to tomatoes, release compounds into the air to help neighboring plants. These chemical warnings all have the same purpose—to spread information about one plant’s disease so other plants can defend themselves. But exactly how plants receive and act on many of these signals is still mysterious.

 In this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers in Japan offer some explanations. They have identified one chemical message and traced it all the way from release to action.

 The scientists looked at tomato plants infested(侵害) by common pest, the cutworm caterpillar(毛虫). To start out, they grew plants in two plastic compartments connected by a tube. One plant was infested and placed upwind and the others were uninfested and placed downwind. The downwind plants were later exposed to the cutworm caterpillar. The results showed that plants that had previously been near sick neighbors were able to defend themselves better against the caterpillar.

 The researchers also studied leaves from exposed and unexposed plants. They found  one compound showed up more often in the exposed plants. The substance is called Hex Vic. When the scientists fed Hex Vic to cutworms, it knocked down their survival rate by 17%. The scientists identified the source of Hex Vic, and sprayed it lightly over healthy plants. Those plants were then able to start producing the caterpillar-killing Hex Vic. Researchers confirmed that uninfested plants have to build their own weapon to fight off bugs and diseases. How do they know when to play defense? They are warned first by their friendly plant neighbors.

 It is a complex tale, and it may be happening in more plant species than tomatoes. It may also be happening with more chemical signals that are still unknown to us. For now though, we know that plants not only communicate, they look out for one another.

31. What does the author try to emphasize in Paragraph 1?

  A. How plants communicate is still a mystery.

  B. Enough attention has been paid to plant talk.

  C. Plants are the furniture of the natural world.

  D. Plants can communicate with each other.

32. According to Paragraph2, what remains unknown is ______

  A. how plants receive and handle the signals from their neighbors

  B. why plants spread chemical information to their neighbors

  C. how many types of plants release compounds into the air

  D. whether plants send chemical warnings to their neighbors

33. The tomato plants in the experiment were ______

  A. placed separately but connected through air

  B. exposed to different kinds of pests

  C. exposed to the pest at the same time

  D. placed together in a closed compartment

34. The experiment shows that the infested plant helps its neighbors by ______

  A. making more Hex Vic to attract the pest

  B. releasing Hex Vic into the air to warn them

  C. letting them know how to produce Hex Vic

  D. producing enough Hex Vic to kill the pest

35.What may be the best title for the passage?

A. Survival of Plants     B. Plant World                     C. Talking Plants           D. Plant Bug Killer

Passage Four

Vancouver is the best place to live in the Americas, according to a quality-of-life ranking published earlier this month. The city regularly tops such indexes as its clean air, spacious homes and weekend possibilities of sailing and skiing. But its status as a liveable city is threatened by worsening congestion(拥挤).Over the next three decades, another I million residents are expected to live in the Greater Vancouver region, adding more cars, bicycles and lorries to roads that are already struggling to serve the existing 2.3 million residents.

A proposal by Vancouver’s mayor seeks to prevent the worsening conditions. Upgrades would be made to 2,300 kilometres of road lanes, as well as bus routes and cycle paths. Four hundred new buses would join the fleet of 1,830. There would be more trains and more “seabus” ferry crossings between Vancouver and its wealthy northern suburbs. To get all that, residents must vote to accept an increase in sales tax, from 7% to 7.5%. Polls suggest they will vote no.

Everyone agrees that a more efficient transport system is needed. Confined by mountains to the north, the United States to the south and the Pacific Ocean to the west, Vancouver has spread in the only direction where there is still land, into the Fraser Valley, which just a few decades ago was mostly farmland. The road is often overcrowded.

Yet commuters’ suspicion of local bureaucrats may exceed their dislike of congestion. TransLink, which runs public transport in the region, is unloved by taxpayers. Passengers blame it when Skytrain, the light-rail system, comes to a standstill because of mechanical or electrical faults, as happened twice in one week last summer, leaving commuters stuck in carriages with nothing to do but expressing their anger on Twitter. That sort of thing has made voters less willing to pay the C＄7.5 billion in capital spending that the ten-year traffic upgrade would involve.

Despite the complaints, Vancouver’s transport system is a decent, well-integrated one on which to build, reckons Todd Litman, a transport consultant who has worked for TransLink. “These upgrades are all-important if Vancouver wants to maintain its reputation for being a destination others want to go to.” He says.

36. The biggest problem threatening Vancouver as a liveable city is             .

A. increasing congestion                                    B. climate change

C. shortage of land                                           D. lack of money

37. The upgrade proposal by Vancouver’s mayor may be turned down by residents because       .

A. they do not want more people to move in

B. they are reluctant to move to new places

C. upgrades would take away their living space

D. upgrades would add to their financial burdens

38. The only direction for Vancouver to further expand is towards           .

A. the east                    B. the west                   C. the south                  D. the north

39. TransLink is mentioned (Para.4) as an example of         .

A. world famous transport companies

B. local residents’ complaints about the bureaucrats

C. local effort to improve public transport

D. worsening traffic congestion

40. According to Todd Litman, the upgrade proposal           .

A. will solve the traffic problem

B. will benefit local economy

C. satisfies the transport company

D. deserves public support

 

Section B

Directions: In this section, you are required to read one quoted blog and the comments on it. The blog and comments are followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A,B,C and D Choose the best answer and mark your answer on the Answer Sheet.

Towards the end of the 1990s, more than a decade and a half after Diet Coke was first introduced, sale of Coca Cola’s best-selling low caloric drink appeared to slow down.

However, in the decade that followed, diet sodas grew by more than 30 percent. In 2009, sales pushed above $8.5 billion for the first time. But America’s thirst for Diet Coke is running dry again—and this time it could be for good.

The diet soda slowdown isn’t merely an American thing—it’s also happening worldwide. But the future of diet colas is particularly cloudy in the United States.

Low calorie sodas are fighting a hard battle against not one but two trends among American consumers. The first is that overall soda consumption has been on the decline since before 2000. Diet sodas, though they might come sugar- and calorie-free, are still sodas, something Americans are proving less and less interested in drinking.

The second, and perhaps more significant trend, is a growing mistrust of artificial sweeteners(甜味剂). “Consumers’ attitudes towards sweeteners have really changed.” said Howard Telford, an industry analyst. “There’s a very negative perception about artificial sweeteners. The industry is still trying to get its head around this.”

 

Comment 1

  Add me to the number of people addicted to diet colas who quit drinking soda altogether. I honestly think soda is addictive and I’m happy not to be drinking it anymore.

Comment 2

  Perhaps the slowdown has something more to do with the skyrocketing cost of soft drinks.

Comment 3

  I LOVE diet drinks! Am I unhealthy? Who knows? I guarantee I have a better physique than most 43-year-old men.

Comment4

This is a silly and shallow piece. The reason for the fall off is simply the explosion in consumption  of bottled waters and energy drinks.

Comment5

As people learn more about health and wellness they will consume less sugar, less soda, less artificial sweeteners.

41. What do we know about diet soda sale?

A. It began to undergo a gradual drop starting from 2000.

B. It was on the decline since the 1990s but is on the rise now.

C. It reached its peak in the 2000s but began to drop since then.

D. It has been decreasing since the 1990s.

42. What does the author think of the prospects of diet soda sale?

    A. It will continue to drop.

    B. It will get better soon.

    C. It is hard to say for sure.                                

    D. It may have ups and downs.

43.Which comment gives a personal reason for quitting diet colas?

A.Comment5.               B.Comment4.               C.Comment3.               D.Comment1.

44.Which comment supports the author’s point of view?

A. Comment2.                     B. Comment3.                     C. Comment4.                     D. Comment5.

45.Which comments disagree with the author on the author on the cause of soda sale slowdown?

A. Comment3 and Comment5.                           B. Comment2 and Comment4.

C. Comment1 and Comment4.                           D. Comment2 and Comment3.

 

Part IV Cloze (10 points)

Directions: In this part, there is a passage with ten blanks. For each blank there are four choices marked A, B, C, and D. Choose the best answer for each blank an mark your answer on the Answer Sheet.

When asked about the impact of disturbing news on children, one mother said :“My 11-year-old daughter doesn’t like watching the news. she has __46__ about what she has seen. One time, she watched a report about a person who killed a family member with a knife. That night she dreamed that she too was being killed.”Another interviewee said:“My six-year-old niece saw reports of tornadoes(龙卷风)from elsewhere in the country. For weeks  47  , she was terrified. She   48  call me on the phone, convinced that a tornado was coming her way and that she was going to die.”

Do you think disturbing news report can frighten children? In one survey，nearly 40 percent of parents said that their children had been    49  by something they saw in the news and that.  50    ，the children had feared that a similar event would happen to them or their loved ones. Why? One factor is that children often  51  the news differently from adults. For example, small children may believe that a   52 that is broadcast repeatedly is really happening repeatedly.

A second factor is that daily reports of disturbing events can distort a child’s  53   of the world. True, we live in “critical times hard to  54  .”But repeated exposure to disturbing news report can cause children to develop lasting fears.“Children who watch a lot of TV news   55   to overestimate the occurrence of crime and may perceive the world to be a more dangerous place than it actually is.”observes the Kaiser Family Foundation .

46.A.thoughts           B.nightmares             C.ideas                 D.pictures

47.A.afterward           B.ago                   C.before               D.later

48.A.should                    B.might                C.could                 D.would

49.A.bored                     B.angered               C.upset                 D.disappointed

50.A.in no time          B.by all means                  C.all the more           D.as a result

51.A.tell                       B.interpret              C.narrate               D.treat

52.A.tragedy            B.comedy               C.play                  D. drama

53. A. imagination       B.view                  C. sight                 D.look

54.A.give up            B.stick to                C.deal with           D.set town

55.A.prefer             B.turn                  C.come                D.tend

 

Part V  Text Completion（20 points）

Directions: In this part ,there are three incomplete texts with 20 questions(Ranging from 56 to 75). Above each text there are three or four phrases to be completed. First, use the choices provided in the box to complete the phrases. Second use the completed phrases to fill in the blanks of the text. Mark your answer on the Answer Sheet

 

Text One

A.       angrier 

B.        getting

C.        action

Phrases:

A.     which makes you 56

B.      like  57  any compensation

C.      to take any 58

 

Picture this situation: you have bought a faulty item from a shop and you take it back to complain. You go directly to the shop assistant and tell them your problem. They say they cannot help you, 59 , to the point perhaps where you start insulting the poor shop assistant. This will do you no favours ,  60 ,or even your money back. If you go directly to the first person  you see. you may be wasting  your time as they may be powerless  61  . So the important lesson to be learnt is to make sure firstly that you are speaking to the relevant person the one who has the authority to make decisions.

 

 Text Two

A.     the smaller

B.      as much as

C.      up to a year

D.     more likely

 

Phrases:

A.20%  62   to feel happy

B.63 the physical distance between friends

C. but not 64 happiness

D. lasted for 65

 

   The new study found that friends of happy people had a greater chance of being happy themselves. And 66 ,the larger the effect they had on each other’s happiness.

   For example, a person was  67  if a friend living within one and a half kilometers was also happy. Having a happy neighbor who lived next door increased an individual’s chance of being happy by 34%. The effects of friends’ happiness 68 .

   The researchers found that happiness really is contagious(传染的). Sadness also spread among friends, 69 .

 

Text Three

 

 

 

 Phrases:

A. remember past impulse purchases that you 70

B. you may 71 purchase on impulse.

C. Keep 72 under control

 

    In addition to the external pressure we face from marketing, our own feelings and habits can contribute to excessive spending .Here are some suggestions to help you 73 .

    First, resist your impulse buying .Do you enjoy the excitement of shopping and finding a bargain? If so, 74 .To resist, slow down and think realistically about the long-term consequences of buying, owning, and maintaining what you are planning to buy. Stop and  75 .Give yourself a “cool down” period before making your final decision.