identical英语专业八级考试全真试卷

2021年1月10日发(作者：裘锡圭)
英语专业八级考试全真试卷
Part Ⅰ Listening Comprehension (40 min)

In Sections A, B and C you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully a nd then answer
the questions that follow. Mark the correct response to each ques tion on your Coloured Answer


SECTION A TALK

Questions 1 to 5 refer to the talk in this section. At the end of the talk you w ill be given 15


1. Changes in the size of the World Bank’ s operations refer to ___.






A. Reluctance of people in poor countries to have small families.


D. Poor nutrition and low literacy in many poor countries of the world.




C. embark upon a review of the investment in huge dams and steel mills
in projects that would benefit the low-income sector of society



B. Fixed annual loans to certain countries.




A. biased B. unfriendly C. objective

SECTION B CONVERSATION

Questions 6 to 10 are based on a conversation. At the end of the conversation yo u will be given


A. many Australians are taking time off to travel






7. We learn that the woman liked Singapore mainly because of its ___.
A. cleanness B. multi- D. shopping


8. From the conversation we can infer that Kaifeng and Yinchuan impressed the woman with their

A. respective locations B. historic interests D. Jewish



A. Amusement. B. Disbelief. C. Ecstasy.

10. According to the conversation, it was that made the woman ready to stop traveling.
A. the unsettledness of travel

C. the loneliness of travel




Questions 11 and 12 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item , you will be
given 30 seconds to answer the questions. Now listen to the news.

11. Mike Tyson was put in prison last August because he ___.


C. attacked sb. after a traffic accident



A. by the end of the year D. in a few


Question 13 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you wil l be given 15
seconds to answer the question. Now listen to the news.

13. The Russian documents are expected to draw great attention because
A. they cover the whole story of the former US president




Question 14 and 15 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item,
you will be given 30 seconds to answer the questions. New listen to the news.

14. In the recent three months, Hong Kong’s unemployment rate has ___.
A. increased slowly tayed steady D. become
unpredictable



B. The past three months have seen a declining trend in job offers.

D. The unemployment rate in all sectors of the economy remains unchanged.

SECTION D NOTE-TAKING AND GAP-

Fill each of gaps with ONE word. You may refer to your notes. Make sure the word you fill in is
both grammatically and semantically acceptable.





(1)___ nature of the event itself; public officials are supposed to 1.___





(2)___ in judging following statements or policies. Moreover, in case

of important events, press conferences are an effective way to break the news



However, from the point of view of (3)___, the press conference

possesses some disadvantages, mainly in its(4)___ and news source. 4.___



proceeds. This, sometimes, puts news reporters at a(n)(5)___ , as can



Factors in getting valuable information preparation: a need to keep up


—(6)___ of the news source:

1 ) news source’ s (7)___ to



2)news-

Conditions under which news reporters cannot trust the information



—

—

(8)___ skills;

—

— willing to share, but unable to recall.

(9)___ of questions asked








—

— (10) questions;

— clear alternatives, or no alternatives in answers.


改错
Part Ⅱ Proofreading and Error Correction (15 min)
The following passage contains TEN errors. Each line contains a maximum of ONE error. In
each case, only ONE word is involved. You should proofread the passage and correct it in the
following way. underline the wrong word and wri te the correct one in
mark the position of the
missing word with a “∧” sign and write the word you believe to be missing in the blank provided
at the end of the line. cross out the unnecessary word with a slash
“/’ and put the word in the blank provided at the end of the line.

When∧art museum wants a new exhibit, (1) an／ buys things in finished
form and hangs (2) never wants
an exhibition, it must often build it.

During the early years of this century, wheat was seen as the

the yields and the price of wheat in almost as much feeling as if
they were growers. The marketing of wheat became an increasing
favorite topic of conversation.



Wheat prices were generally low in the autumn, so farmers could 3.___

they sold their wheat soon shortly after harvest when farm debts
were coming due, just to see prices rising and speculators getting rich.
On various occasions, producer groups, asked firmer control, 6.___
but the government had no wish to become involving, at


Anxious to check inflation and rising life costs, the federal 8.___



board. To handle with the crop of 1919, the government 9.___
appointed the first Canadian Wheat Board, with total authority to
buy, sell, and set prices.


阅读理解 A

Part Ⅲ Reading Comprehension (40 min)

SECTION A READING COMPREHENSION (30
In this section there are four reading passages followed by a total of fifteen multiple- choice
questions. Read the passages and then mark answers on your Coloured Answer Sheet.
TEXT A
“Twenty years ago, Blackpool turned its back on the sea and tried to make i tself into an
entertainment centre. ” say Robin Wood, a local official. “Now t he thinking is that we should try,
to refocus on the sea and make Blackpool a fami ly destination again.” To say that Blackpool
neglected the sea is to put it mil d ly. In 1976 the European Community, as it then was called,
instructed member nati ons to make their beaches conform to certain minimum standards of
cleanliness wi thin ten years. Britain, rather than complying, took the novel strategy of conte nding
that many of its most popular beaches were not swimming beaches at all. Be cause of Britain’s
climate the sea- bathing season is short, and most people don ’ t go in above their knees
anyway-and hence can’t really be said to be swimming. By averaging out the number of people
actually swimming across 365 days of the y ear, the government was able to persuade itself, if no
one else, that Britain ha d hardly any real swimming beaches.
As one environmentalist put it to me: “You had the ludicrous situation in w hich
Luxembourg had mere listed public bathing beaches than the whole of the Uni ted Kingdom. It
was preposterous.”
Meanwhile, Blackpool continued to discharge raw sewage straight into the se a. Finally after
much pressure from both environmental groups and the European U nion, the local water authority
built a new waste- treatment facility for the who le of Blackpool and neighbouring communities.
The facility came online in June 1 996. For the first time since the industrial revolution
Blackpool’s waters are safe to swim in.
That done, the town is now turning its attention to making the sea-front me re visually
attractive. The promenade, once a rather elegant place to stroll, ha d become increasingly tatty and
neglected. “It was built in Victorian times and needed a thorough overhaul anyway, ”says Wood,
“so we decided to make aestheti c improvements at the same time, to try to draw people back to
it.” Blackpool rec e ntly spent about $$1.4 million building new kiosks for vendors and improving
seat ing around the Central Pier and plans to spend a further $$ 15 million on various amenity
projects.
The most striking thing about Blackpool these days compared with 20 years a go is how empty
its beaches are. When the tide is out, Blackpool’s beaches are a vast plain of beckoning sand.
They look spacious enough to accommodate comforta bly the entire populace of northern England.
Ken Welsby remembers days when, as he puts it,“ you couldn’t lay down a handkerchief on this
beach, it was that c rowded.”
Welsby comes from Preston, 20 miles down the road, and has been visiting Bl ackpool all his
life. Now retired, he had come for the day with his wife, Kitty, and their three young
grandchildren who were gravely absorbed in building a san dcastle. “Two hundred thousand
people they’d have on this beach sometimes.” W elsby said. “You can’t imagine it now, can
you?”
Indeed I could not. Though it was a bright sunny day in the middle of summe r. I counted just
13 people scattered along a half mile or so of open sand. Exce pt for those rare times when hot
weather and a public holiday coincide, it is li ke this nearly always now.
“You can’t imagine how exciting it was to come here for the day when we w er e young.” Kitty
said. “Even from Preston, it was a big treat. Now children don ’t want the beach. They want
arcade games and rides in helicopters and goodness kn ows what else.” She stared out over the
glittery water. “We’ll never see thos e days again. It’s sad really.”
“But your grandchildren seem to be enjoying it,” I pointed out.

Afterward I went for a long walk along the empty beach, then went back to th e town centre
and treated myself to a large portion of fish-and-chips wrapped in paper. The way they cook it in
Blackpool, it isn’t so much a meal as an invita t ion to a heart attack, but it was delicious. Far out
over the sea the sun was se tting with such splendor that I would almost have sworn I could hear
the water h iss where it touched.
Behind me the lights of Blackpool Tower were just twinkling on, and the str eets were
beginning to fill with happy evening throngs. In the purply light of d usk the town looked peaceful
and happy — enchanting even — and there was an engaging air of expectancy, of fun about to
happen. Somewhat to my surprise, I r ealized that this place was beginning to grow on me.
16. At the beginning, the passage seems to suggest that Blackpool ___.

B. complied with EC’s standards of clearliness





C. boast some imposing seafront sights


A. emptiness B. cleanliness C. modernity D. monotony

TEXT B
Pundits who want to sound judicious are fond of warning against generalizin g. Each country is
different, they say, and no one story fits all of Asia. This is, of course, silly: all of these economies
plunged into economic crisis within a few months of each other, so they must have had something
in common.
In fact, the logic of catastrophe was pretty much the same in Thailand, Mal aysia, Indonesia
and South Korea. (Japan is a very different story. ) In each ca se investors——mainly, but not
entirely, foreign banks who had made short-term loans——all tried to pull their money out at the
same time. The result was a co mbined banking and currency crisis: a banking crisis because no
bank can convert all its assets into cash on short notice; a currency crisis because panicked in
vestors were trying not only to convert long-term assets into cash, but to conve rt baht or rupiah
into dollars. In the face of the stampede, governments had no good options. If they let their
currencies plunge inflation would soar and compa nies that had borrowed in dollars would go
bankrupt; if they tried to support th eir currencies by pushing up interest rates, the same firms
would probably go bu st from the combination of debt burden and recession. In practice,
countries’ s plit the difference—— and paid a heavy price regardless.
Was the crisis a punishment for bad economic management? Like most cliches, the
catchphrase“ crony capitalism” has prospered because it gets at something r eal: excessively cozy
relationships between government and business really did l ead to a lot of bad investments. The
still primitive financial structure of Asia n business also made the economies peculiarly vulnerable
to a loss of confidence . But the punishment was surely disproportionate to the crime, and many
investme nts that look foolish in retrospect seemed sensible at the time.
Given that there were no good policy options, was the policy response mainl y on the fight
track? There was frantic blame-shifting when everything in Asia s eemed to be going wrong: now
there is a race to claim credit when some things ha ve started to go right. The international
Monetary Fund points to Korea’s recov e ry—— and more generally to the fact that the sky didn’t
fall after all —— a s proof that its policy recommendations were right. Never mind that other
IMF cli ents have done far worse, and that the economy of Malaysia —— which refused IM F
help, and horrified respectable opinion by imposing capital controls ——also seems to be on the
mend. Malaysia’s prime Minister, by contrast, claims full cr e dit for any good news——even
though neighbouring economies also seem to have bo ttomed out.
The truth is that an observer without any ax to grind would probably concl ude that none of
the policies adopted either on or in defiance of the IMF’s adv i ce made much difference either
way. Budget policies, interest rate policies, ban king reform —— whatever countries tried, just
about all the capital that could flee, did. And when there was no mere money to run, the natural
recuperative po wers of the economies finally began to prevail. At best, the money doctors who p
urported to offer cures provided a helpful bedside manner; at worst, they were l ike medieval
physicians who prescribed bleeding as a remedy for all ills.
Will the patients stage a full recovery? It depends on exactly what you me an by “full”. South
Korea’s industrial production is already above its pre-cr isi s level; but in the spring of 1997
anyone who had predicted zero growth in Korea n industry over the next two years would have
been regarded as a reckless doomsa yer. So if by recovery you mean not just a return to growth,
but one that brings the region’s performance back to something like what people used to regard as
the Asian norm, they have a long way to go.
19. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT the writer’s opinion?


C. Withdrawal of foreign capital resulted in the crisis.





D. had bad relationships between government and business
21. It can be inferred from the passage that IMF policy recommendations


C. failed to work in their recipient countrie

22. At the end of the passage, the writer seems to think that a full reco very of the Asian economy

A. due B. remote C. imaginative D. unpredictable

TEXT C
Human migration: the term is vague. What people usually think of is the per manent movement
of people from one home to another. More broadly, though, migrat ion means all the
ways——from the seasonal drift of agricultural workers within a country to the relocation of
refugees from one country to another.
Migration is big, dangerous, compelling. It is 60 million Europeans leaving home from the 16th
to the 20th centuries. It is some 15 million Hindus, Skihs, and Muslims swept up in a tumultuous
shuffle of citizens between India and Pakis tan after the partition of the subcontinent in 1947.
Migration is the dynamic undertow of population change: everyone’s solutio n , everyone’s
conflict. As the century turns, migration, with its inevitable eco n omic and political turmoil, has
been called“ one of the greatest challenges of the coming century.”
But it is much more than that. It is, as has always been, the great adventu re of human life.
Migration helped create humans, drove us to conquer the planet , shaped our societies, and
promises to reshape them again.
“You have a history book written in your genes, ”said Spencer Wells. The bo ok he’s trying to
read goes back to long before even the first word was written , and it is a story of migration.
Wells, a tall, blond geneticist at Stanford University, spent the summer of 1998 exploring
remote parts of Transcaucasia and Central Asia with three collea gues in a Land Rover, looking for
drops of blood. In the blood, donated by the p eople he met, he will search for the story that
genetic markers can tell of the long paths human life has taken across the Earth.
are the latest technique in a long effort of modern humans t o find out where they have come from.
But however the paths are traced, the basi c story is simple: people have been moving since they
were people. If early huma ns hadn’t moved and intermingled as much as they did, they probably
would have c ontinued to evolve into different species. From beginnings in Africa, most resea
rchers agree, groups of hunter-gatherers spread out, driven to the ends of the E arth.
To demographer Kingsley Davis, two things made migration happen. First, hum an beings,
with their tools and language, could adapt to different conditions wi thout having to wait for
evolution to make them suitable for a new niche. Second , as populations grew, cultures began to
differ, and inequalities developed betw een groups. The first factor gave us the keys to the door of
any room on the pla net; the other gave us reasons to use them.
Over the centuries, as agriculture spread across the planet, people moved t oward places where
metal was found and worked and to centres of commerce that th en became cities. Those places
were, in turn, invaded and overrun by people later generations called barbarians.
In between these storm surges were steadier but similarly profound fides in which people
moved out to colonize or were captured and brought in as slaves. F or a while the population of
Athens, that city of legendary enlightenment was as much as 35 percent slaves.
“What strikes me is how important migration is as a cause and effect in th e great world
events. ”Mark Miller, co- author of The Age of Migration and a prof essor of political science at
the University of Delaware, told me recently.
It is difficult to think of any great events that did not involve migration . Religions spawned
pilgrims or settlers; wars drove refugees before them and ma de new land available for the
conquerors; political upheavals displaced thousand s or millions; economic innovations drew
workers and entrepreneurs like magnets; environmental disasters like famine or disease pushed
their bedraggled survivor s anywhere they could replant hope. part of our nature, this
movement,” Miller said, “It’s just a fact of the human condition.”


B. Migration contributes to Mankind’s progress.
C. Migration brings about desirable and undesirable effects.

24. According to Kingsley Davis, migration occurs as a result of the foll owing reasons EXCEPF

A. human adaptability B. human evolution
differences D. inter-group inequalities

A. Farmers. B. Workers. C. Settlers.
26. There seems to be a(n) ___ relationship between great events an d migration.
A. loose B. indefinite C. causal

TEXT D

language or on known conventions, or at least on the beginnings of these. If the common
language and the conventions exist, the contributor, for example, the creative artist, the performer,
or the reporter, tries to use them as well as he can. But often, especially with original artists and
thinkers, the problem is in one way that of creating a language, or creating a convention, or at leas
t of developing the language and conventions to the point where they are capable of bearing his
precise meaning. In literature, in music, in the visual arts, in the sciences, in social thinking, in
philosophy, this kind of development has o ccurred again and again. It often takes a long time to
get through, and for many people it will remain difficult. But we need never think that it is
impossible; creative energy is much more powerful than we sometimes suppose. While a man is
engaged in this struggle to say new things in new ways, he is usually more than ever concentrated
on the actual work, and not on its possible audience. Many ar tists and scientists share this
fundamental unconcern about the ways in which th eir work will be received. They may be glad if
it is understood and appreciated, hurt if it is not, but while the work is being done there can be no
argument. T he thing has to come out as the man himself sees it.
In this sense it is true that it is the duty of society to create condition s in which such men can
live. For whatever the value of any individual contribut ion, the general body of work is of
immense value to everyone. But of course thi ngs are not so formal, in reality. There is not society
on the one hand and thes e individuals on the other. In ordinary living, and in his work, the
contributor shares in the life of his society, which often affects him both in minor ways a nd in
ways sometimes so deep that he is not even aware of them. His ability to m ake his work public
depends on the actual communication system: the language its elf, or certain visual or musical or
scientific conventions, and the institution s through which the communication will be passed. The
effect of these on his act ual work can be almost infinitely variable. For it is not only a
communication s ystem outside him; it is also, however original he may be, a communication
syste m which is in fact part of himself. Many contributors make active use of this ki nd of internal
communication system. It is to themselves, in a way, that they fi rst show their conceptions, play
their music, present their arguments. Not only as a way of getting these clear, in the process of
almost endless testing that a ctive composition involves. But also, whether consciously or not, as a
way of pu tting the experience into a communicable form. If one mind has grasped it, then it may
be open to other minds.
In this deep sense, the society is in some ways already present in the act of composition. This
is always very difficult to understand, but often, when we have the advantage of looking back at
a period, we can see, even if we cannot e xplain, how this was so. We can see how much even
highly original individuals ha d in common, in their actual work, and in what is called their
“structure of fe e ling”, with other individual workers of the time, and with the society of that t
ime to which they belonged. The historian is also continually struck by the fact that men of this
kind felt isolated at the very time when in reality they were beginning to get through. This can also
be noticed in our own time, when some of the most deeply influential men feel isolated and even
rejected. The society an d the communication are there, but it is difficult to recognize them,
difficult to be sure.



C. adjusting their personal feelings

28. A common characteristic of artists and scientists involved in creativ e work is that ___.

B. public response is one of the primary conceits



A. Individual contributions combined possess great significance to the publ ic.


D. Knowing how to communicate is universal among human beings.
30. It is implied at the end of the passage that highly original individu als feel isolated because


B. actually differ from other individuals in the same period

D. refuse to admit parallels between themselves and the society


阅读理解 B

SECTION B

TEXT E

31. The purpose of the passage is to
A. review some newly- published interior-design books
B. explore the potential market for interior-





Do your relationships keep failing? When you leave your home in the morning are you already
feeling stressed? Is there no time in your life for fun any mor e? Cancel your appointment with the
doctor. What you need is a good interior-des ign book. Publishers have created a new genre of
books for the home, titles that go beyond paint charts and superficial style and instead show you
how your home can be transformed and even heal your life.
Dawna Walter is one of the authors leading the way in Britain with her boo k Organized
Living that attempts to show how even a tidy sock drawer can improve the quality of your life.
Walter is the owner of the Holding Company, a shop on London’s Kings Road which sells
hundreds of storage ideas for the home. It has been such a hit that Walter is planning to open four
new outlets in the near fu ture. Born in America, Dawna Walter is a fast talker, a self-confessed
perfectio nist, and a tidiness fundamentalist. “If it takes 10 minutes for you to find a matching pair
of socks in the morning, then you are not in control and your outl ook just isn’t any good. Being
organized saves you a couple of hours every week and gives you more time to do the things you
enjoy, ”she explains.
Her book contains dozens of ideas for streamlining your life. In the kitch en she recommends
filing magazine recipes immediately, and organizing them by ty pes-of dishes or particular cooks,
and using ice-cube trays to freeze sauces in individual portions. Her ideas seem common sense but
nevertheless require you to be at least slightly obsessive. CDs are a case in point: “How often do
you wan t to find one particular CD and can’t? Now, how much easier it would be if you p l aced
them in alphabetical order? That will only take an hour. Then divide out th e ones you listen to
regularly into a separate section. ”
Another recent book in the British market was Sarah Shurety’s Chinese- ins p ired Feng Shui
For Your Home. Within 14 days of publication every copy had been sold. Shurety’s room-by-room
guide to creating a harmonious living space, based on the ancient Chinese tradition Feng Shui,
contains rules for how to create the best atmosphere and promote health, wealth and happiness.
Dinner party hosts ar e told to place quiet people at the head of the table and facing the door so tha
t they will feel more garrulous; those looking for romance learn to place pink f lowers by their
beds; and house-buyers are warned to beware of properties built on sloping foundations if they
want stability in their lives.
The book Creating Space , by Elizabeth Wilhide, claims that readers followin g its advice
will not just improve their homes but transform their lives. Wilhid e believes that as we
increasingly work from home, we need to reassess the way o ur houses work(especially when
there are children in the household) if we want t o avoid being overran by junk and that feeling of
“being mentally weighed down. ” Unfortunately, she admits, she finds it difficult to follow her
own advice. She sheepishly confesses to having “dumping zones” in her house, a handbag
“that do esn’t bear looking into”, and a car “that’s a no-go zone” But she is undau nted by these
small failures. In the future, she says she is determined to tidy up he r own life and follow the path
to stress-free health , wealth and happiness.

TEXT F




D. propose ways to reform the tax system



One major reason for Germany’s high unemployment and the evident weakness o f business
investment is the nature of the tax system, which tends to discourage both individual effort and
investment. Nominal corporate tax rates are, in fact , very high and it is these rates that potential
investors primarily look at. Ho wever, the actual burden borne by companies is not as great as it
might seem, be cause the tax base is fairly narrow. This combination in itself tend to encourag e
tax avoidance at both the personal and corporate levels. Moreover, by internat ional standards,
firms in Germany are still taxed quite heavily.
A reform of corporate taxation, therefore, should start by, reducing tax r ates, cutting
subsidies and broadening the taxable base. The resulting positive impact on growth would be
reinforced if there were also a substantial easing of the net burden.
How do the current plans for a reform of corporate taxation measure up to these goals? The
overall tax burden on companies is to be brought down significa ntly, with the ceiling of 35 %
being set. To this end, a dramatic reduction in t he corporate tax on retained earnings is planned.
The related drop in revenues i s to be offset by changes in the rules governing tax breaks.
An approach incorporating these basic features would be a welcome step. I f realized in its
presents form, it should ensure that the objective of making t ax rates more attractive for
businesses is achieved. At the same time, however, it would be unfortunate if an excessive
broadening of the taxable base made it i mpossible to attain the equally important goal of
providing relief.
Comprehensive tax reform is needed in Germany to spur investment and to cre ate new jobs,
thus putting the economy on a higher growth path. The drop in reve nues caused by the tax relief
granted to both companies and households would, in time, be at least partially offset by the larger
volume of tax receipts produce d by economic growth. The gaps that remained should primarily be
closed through spending cuts. If measure of this sort proved inadequate, then, as a last resort , an
increase in indirect taxes could perhaps be considered.

TEXT G


A. advertising B. research C. governments D. taxation

Most of the ill health we suffer could be prevented if people made more effo rt to change their
life styles. Instead many people continue to smoke, to drink excessively and to eat unbalanced
diets. How can governments help people conserv e their health and avoid premature death?
Well, many of the measures which need to be taken are primarily a matter of new legislation
and need not be expensive. One of the first preventive health m easures should be an increase in
taxes on tobacco to the point at which consumpt ion falls off. The aim should be to raise the same
amount of revenue from a decr easing number of people. In the short term such a policy could
even raise extra money which should then be spent on subsidizing sport so that advertising tobacc
o through sports sponsorship could be banned.
Legislation is badly needed to ban all advertising of tobacco products as i t persuades people to
smoke more and so is in a large part responsible for the i ll health and thousands of premature
deaths caused by cancer of the lung. Other measures should be enforced, such as a much tougher
health warning on cigarette packets, and tobacco companies should be made to contribute to
research into a c ure for lung cancer.
Alcoholism could be prevented by making wines, spirits and strong beers mor e expensive and
the revenue raised could be used to set up clinics to help the p eople who already have a drink
problem and want to give up. Similarly all advert ising of alcohol should be banned and
compensation paid to families of alcoholic s who die of cirrhosis of the liver.
and agricultural policy should also be based on a coheren t health policy. For political reasons it is
considered important to have a relat ively cheap supply of eggs, cheese and milk, the very foods
which are blamed as the cause of heart disease when eaten in excess. And even if it is disputed
that excess animal fat is detrimental to health, foods could be labelled with the av erage
percentage of different fats so that consumers who wanted to reduce their saturated fat intake
would be able to do so easily.
Much more could be done to improve people’s diet in Britain and everyone s h ould be
encouraged to eat the types of food which are good for health. Current r esearch on the nutritional
value of foods should be freely available and the gov ernment should control the advertising of
“rubbish” food. A programme of healt h education and lessons on sensible eating could be started
in the schools with th e Government’s backing.

TEXT H
First read the question.

A. persuasive

The question remains: must we conform? Or can we, somehow, resist the power s that conspire
to domesticate us? And if so, with what arms are we to redeem ou r almost-lost manhood? Where
are we to find the weapons of resistance?
I believe that the question of conformity, in the long run, answers itself. I think that if there
was a possibility, once, of a yes or no——if at one time humans could decide “we must conform”
or “we must not” —— that possibilit y ha s been lost in the long reaches of evolution, far back
along the corridors of Ti me. The simple truth is that we cannot conform.
instinct. I have chosen to call it the “instinct of rebellion”, since it reveals itself as a drive or urge
toward mastery over ever y obstacle, natural or man-made, that stands as a barrier between man
and his dis tant, perhaps never- to-be-achieved but always striven after goals. It is this in stinct that
underwrites his survival, this instinct from which he derives his na ture: a great and powerful
dynamic that makes him what he is——restless, seekin g, curious, forever unsatisfied, eternally
straggling and eventually victorious. Because of the instinct of rebellion man has never been
content with the limits of his body; it has led him to extend his senses almost infinitely, so that
his fingers now probe space, his eyes magnify the nuclei of atoms, and his ears det ect whispers
from the bottoms of seas. Because of the instinct of rebellion man has never been content with the
limits of his mind; it has led him to inquire th e secrets of the universe, to gather and learn and
manipulate the fabulous inven tory of the cosmos, to seek the very mysteries of creation.
Man is a rebel. He is committed by his biology not to conform, and herein lies the paramount
reason for the awful tension he experiences today in relation to Society. Unlike other cream of
earth, man cannot submit, cannot surrender hi s birthright of protest, for rebellion is one of his
essential dimensions. He ca n not deny it and remain man. In order to live he must rebel. Only
total annihila tion of humanity as a species can eliminate this in- built necessity. Only with t he
death of the last man will the revolt that is the essence of his nature also die.

TEXT I

35. According to the census prediction, the average male Americans will b e expected to live up to
___ years of age by 2050.
A.73.3 B.75.1 C.81.3
36. Crime experts predict that in the near future crime rates will first decrease in ___.
A. South and Southwest B. North and Northeast
Midwest D. Northeast and Midwest

If past is prologue, then it ought to be possible to draw some modest concl usions about the
future from the wealth of data about America’s present. Will t h e rate continue to fall? Will
single-person households actually swamp the tradit ional family?
All projections, of course, must be viewed with a healthy dose of skeptici sm. Nonetheless,
the urge to make sense of what lies ahead is inescapable. After the 1980 census, the Census
Bureau decided for the first time to venture some f orecasts of its own for the decades to come.
Working from what America already k nows about itself, the bureau’s experts and other
demographers offer an irresis tible, if clouded, crystal ball among their visions.
According to the census projections, female life expectancy will increase from 78.3 years in
1981 to 81.3 in the year 2005. The life expectancy of America n men will grow from 70.7 for
babies born in 1981 to 73.3 years in by t he year 2050, women will have a life
expectancy of 83.6 years and men of at leas t 75.1.
Annual population growth will slow to almost nothing by 2050. In fact, the Census Bureau
predicts that the rate of natural increase will be negative after 2035; only continuing immigration
will keep it growing after that. The total pop ulation will be 268 million in 2000 and 309
million—an all-time high—in 2050. After that, it will start to decline.
The American population will grow steadily older. From 11.4 percent in 198 1, the proportion
of the population that is 65 and over will grow to 13.1 percen t in 2000 and 21.7 percent in 2050.
The percentage of the population that lives beyond the age of 85 will mere than quintuple over the
same period. Meanwhile th e median age—30.3 in 1981— will rise to 36.3 by 2000 and 41.6 50
years later.
of life, more prognosticators are fairly cauti ous. John Hopkins
sociologist Andrew Cherlin observes that “as we enter the 198 0 s, the pace of change appears to
have slowed.” For the next few decades, he pre d icts, there may be only modest swings in the
marriage, birth and divorce rates—giving society time to adjust to the new patterns that have
formed in recent y ears. “We are in a plateau in our family patterns that will likely last
awhile, ”Cherlin maintains. Crime expert Alfred Blumstein, who foresees a drop in crime over the
coming decade, predicts that the Northeast and Midwest, with stable but aging populations, will
see the falloff first; for the South and Southwest, wit h their large proportions of younger people,
the improvement will come less quic kly.

TEXT J

37. The formal diplomatic relations between China and the United States w ere established on

A. February 28,1972
16,1978 D. January 1,1979
38. The Five Principles for the establishment of a new type of Sino -US r elationship were put
forward by Chinese President Jiang Zemin in ___.
A. Seattle B. Jakarta D. New York
Now go through TEXT J quickly to answer questions 37 & 38.
The following is a list of some of the major events in Sino-US relations fr om February 1972
to May
February 21 — 28, 1972 : The US President Richard Nixon paid an official vi sit to China,
during which a Sino-US joint communique was issued in Shanghai.
May 1, 1973 : The liaison offices set up by China and the US in each other’ s capital started

December 16, 1978 : China and the US issued a joint communique which called for the
establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries on Janua ry 1,1979.

January 28—February 5,1979 : Then Chinese vice-Premier Deng Xiaoping paid a n official
visit to the US, during which two agreements were signed on scientifi c , technological and
cultural co-operation between the two countries.
August 17, 1982 : The Chinese and the US governments issued a joint communiq ue under
which the US promised to gradually reduce its sales of weapons to Taiwa n until the complete
settlement of the problem.
April 26—May 1, 1984 : Then US President Ronald Reagan visited China, durin g which the
two countries signed four agreements on avoiding double-taxation and tax evasion and initiated an
agreement on co-operation on the peaceful use of n uclear energy.
July 23 —31, 1985 :Then Chinese President Li Xiannian visited the US, the first visit by a
Chinese head of state since the founding of the People’s Repub lic of China in 1949.
February 25 —
November 19, 1993 : Chinese President Jiang Zemin held talks with US Preside nt Bill Clinton
during the informal Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) le adership meeting in Seattle.
November 14, 1994 : Chinese President Jiang Zemin, on the sidelines of atten ding an informal
APEC leadership meeting in Bogor, met US President Bill Clinton in Jakarta and put forward the
Five Principles for the establishment of a new t ype of Sino-US relationship.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin met US President Bill Clin ton in New York while attending the
special conference held for marking the 50a anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.
November 24, 1996 : Chinese President Jiang Zemin met US President Bill Cli nton at an

February 24, 1997 : US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited China.
October 26—November 3, 1997 : Chinese President Jiang Zemin paid a state v isit to the US, the
first by a Chinese president in 12 years. A joint communique , issued on October 29, called on the
two countries to strengthen co-operation a nd strive for the establishment of a constructive
strategic partnership oriented to the 21(th) century, in a bid to promote world peace and
development.
March 14, 1998 : The US declared that the US-Chinese Agreement on Co- operat ion on the
Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy, which had been dormant for 13 years, could now come into
effect.
April 29—May 1, 1998 : US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Ch ina. An
agreement was signed between the two countries on the establishment of a direct secure telephone


TEXT K
First read the questions.
39. Whose works would you most probably choose to read if you were intere sted in satire?A.

Which of the following writers was a Nobel-Prize winner?
A. Alexander Pope. D.W.M.


JOHN GALSWORTHY ( 1867 — 1933) Although John Galsworthy wrote many good p lays,
it is as a novelist and creator of the Forsyte family that he is best reme mbered. The whole
progress and background of the Forsyte family over a period of forty years is told with great skill
and charm in a series of novels. Galsworth y was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in
1932.
OLIVER GOLDSMITH ( 1728 — 1774) Born and educated in Ireland, Oliver Gold smith
travelled widely in his earlier years and the knowledge and experience he accumulated were later
put to good use. He arrived in London where he made the a cquaintance of Samuel Johnson, who
helped him sell a short novel, The Vicar of W akerfield. His drama She Stoops to Conquer,
produced in 1773, was a great succes s.
THOMAS HARDY ( 1840 — 1928) The wild heaths of mid-Dorset are Thomas
Hardy country; he was born here, the Wessex of his novels. Hardy’s impressions of th e
countryside and of nature were the staple of much of his writing. Tess of the D 'Urbervilles, The
Return of the Native and Far from the Madding Crowd are his best-known books. Hardy is also
remembered for his poetry and drama.
ALEXANDER POPE (1688- 1744) Alexander Pope, poet and satirist, was born in the City of
London. He was largely self-educated and at an early age showed the satirical skill and metrical
ingenuity on which much of the fame rests. The Rape of the Lock, published in 1712,established
Pope’s reputation .He occupies a hi gh place among English poets.
R. B. SHERIDAN (1751 - 1816) Richard Brinsley Sheridan, dramatist and poli tician, was