pcb是什么2011年英语专业八级考试阅读理解

2021年1月24日发(作者：5050)
2011
年英语专业八级考试阅读理解

TEXT A

Whenever
we
could,
Joan
and
I
look
refuge
in
the
streets
of
Gibraltar.
The
Englishman's home is his castle because he has not much choice. There is nowhere to sit in the
streets of England, not even, after twilight, in the public gardens. The climate, very often, does
not
even
permit
him
to
walk
outside.
Naturally,
he
stays
indoors
and
creates
a
cocoon
of
comfort. That was the way we lived in Leeds.
These southern people, on the other hand, look outwards. The Gibraltarian home is,
typically, a small and crowded apartment up several flights of dark and dirty stairs. In it, one,
two or even three old people share a few ill-lit rooms with the young family. Once he has eaten,
changed his clothes, embraced his wife, kissed his children and his parents, there is nothing to
keep the southern man at home. He hurries out, taking even his breakfast coffee at his local bar.
He comes home late for his afternoon meal after an appetitive hour at his cafe. He sleeps for an
hour, dresses, goes out again and stays out until late at night. His wife does not miss him, for she
is
out,
too
–

at
the
market
in
the
morning
and
in
the
afternoon
sitting
with
other
mothers,
baby-minding in the sun.
The usual Gibraltarian home has no sitting-room, living-room or lounge.
The parlour of
our

working-class
houses
would
be
an
intolerable
waste
of
space.

Easy-chairs,
sofas
and
such-like
furniture
are
unknown.
There
are
no
bookshelves,
because
there
are
no
books.
Talking
and
drinking,
as
well
as
eating,
are
done
on
hard
chairs
round
the
dining- table,
between a sideboard decorated with the best glasses and an inevitable display cabinet full of
family treasures, photographs and souvenirs. The elaborate chandelier over this table proclaims
it as the hub of the household and of the family. 'Hearth and home' makes very little sense in
Gibraltar. One's home is one's town or village, and one's hearth is the sunshine.
Our northern towns are dormitories with cubicles, by comparison. When we congregate
–

in
the churches it used to be, now in the cinema, say, impersonally, or at public meetings,
formally
–

we
are
scarcely
ever
man
to
man.
Only
in
our
pubs
can
you
find
the
truly
gregarious
and
communal spirit surviving, and in England even the pubs are divided along
class lines.
Along
this
Mediterranean
coast,
home
is
only
a
refuge
and
a
retreat.
The
people
live
together in the open air
–
in the street, market-place. Down here, there is a far stronger feeling of
community
than
we
had
ever
known.
In
crowded
and
circumscribed
Gibraltar,
with
its
complicated inter-marriages, its identity of interests, its surviving sense of siege, one can see and
feel an integrated society.
To live in a tiny town with all the organization of a state, with Viceroy (
总督
), Premier,
Parliament. Press and Pentagon, all in miniature, all within arm's reach, is an intensive course
in
civics.
In
such
an
environment,
nothing
can
be
hidden,
for
better
or
for
worse.
One's
successes
are
seen
and
recognized;
one's
failures
are
immediately
exposed.
Social
consciousness
is
at
its
strongest,
with
the
result
that
there
is
a
constant
and
firm
pressure
towards good social behaviour, towards courtesy and kindness. Gibraltar, with all its faults, is
the friendliest and most tolerant of places. Straight from the cynical anonymity of a big city,
we
luxuriated
in
its
happy
personalism.
We
look
back
on
it,
like
all
its
exiled
sons
and
daughters, with true affection.
11.
Which
of
the
following
best
explains
the
differences
in
ways
of
living
between
the
English and the Gibraltarians?
A. The family structure.


B. Religious belief.


C. The climate.





D. Bating habit.
12. The italicized part in the third paragraph implies that _____.
A. English working-class homes are similar to Gibraltarian ones
B. English working-class homes have spacious sitting-rooms
C. English working- class homes waste a lot of space
D. the English working-class parlour is intolerable in Gibraltar
13. We learn from the description of the Gibraltarian home that it is _____.
A. modern

B. luxurious

C. stark


D. simple
14. There is a much stronger sense of _____ among the Gibraltarians.
A. togetherness

B. survival


C. identity

D. leisure
15.
According
to
the
passage,
people
in
Gibraltar
tend
to
be
well-behaved
because
of
the
following EXCEPT _____.
A. the entirety of the state structure

B. constant pressure from the state
C. the small size of the town





D. transparency of occurrences

TEXT B

For office innovators, the unrealized dream of the
of high-tech hubris (
傲慢
). Today's office drone is drowning in more paper than ever before.
But after decades of hype, American offices may finally be losing their paper obsession.
The demand for paper used to outstrip the growth of the US economy, but the past two or
three years have seen a marked slowdown in sales - despite a healthy economic scene.
Analysts
attribute
the
decline
to
such
factors
as
advances
in
digital
databases
and
communication systems. Escaping our craving for paper, however, will be anything but an
easy affair.


are
some
functions
that
paper
serves
where
a
screen
display
doesn't
work.
Those
functions are both its strength and its weakness.
In the early to mid-'90s, a booming economy and improved desktop printers helped boost
paper sales by 6 to 7 percent each year. The convenience of desktop printing allowed office
workers to indulge in printing anything and everything at very little effort or cost.
But now, the growth rate of paper sales in the United States is flattening by about half a
percent each year. Between 2004 and 2005, Ms. Dunn says, plain white office paper will see
less than a 4 percent growth rate, despite the strong overall economy. A primary reason for
the
change,
says
Dunn,
is
that
for
the
first
time
ever,
some
47
percent
of
the
workforce
entered the job market after computers had already been introduced to offices.

workplace.

information
is
being
transmitted
electronically,
and
more
and
more
people
are
comfortable with the information residing only in electronic form without printing multiple
backups.
In
addition,
Mr.
Maine
points
to
the
lackluster
employment
market
for
white-collar
workers
–
the primary driver of office paper consumption
–
for the shift in paper usage.
The real paradigm shift may be in the way paper is used. Since the advent of advanced
and reliable office-network systems, data storage has moved away from paper archives. The
secretarial
art
of

is
disappearing
from
job
descriptions.
Much
of
today's
data
may
never leave its original digital format.
The
changing
attitudes
toward
paper
have
finally
caught
the
attention
of
paper
companies,
says
Richard
Harper,
a
researcher
at
Microsoft.

of
a
sudden,
the
paper
industry has started thinking. 'We need to learn more about the behavioural aspects of paper
use.'
bought per year as a literal function of economic growth.
To
reduce
paper
use,
some
companies
are
working
to
combine
digital
and
paper
capabilities. For example, Xerox Corp. is developing electronic paper: thin digital displays
that respond to a stylus, like a pen on paper. Notations can be erased or saved digitally.
Another idea, intelligent paper, comes from Anoto Group. It would allow notations made
with
a stylus
on a page
printed with
a special magnetic ink
to
simultaneously appear on a
computer screen.
Even
with
such
technological
advances,
the
improved
capabilities
of
digital
storage
continue
to
act
against

argues
Paul
Saffo,
a
technology
forecaster.
In
his
prophetic and metaphorical 1989 essay,
彩罐
)
increasing amounts of electronic data necessarily require more paper.
The information industry today is like a huge electronic pinata, composed of a thin paper
crust
surrounding
an
electronic
core.
Mr.
Saffo
wrote.
The
growing
paper
crust

most
noticeable, but the hidden electronic core that produces the crust is far larger
–
and growing
more rapidly. The result is that we are becoming paperless, but we hardly notice at all.
In the same way that digital innovations have increased paper consumption. Saffo says,
so has video conferencing
–
with its promise of fewer in-person meetings
–
boosting business
travel.

one
of
the
great
ironies
of
the
information
age
Saffo
says.

just
common
sense
that
the
more
you
talk
to
someone
by
phone
or
computer,
it
inevitably
leads
to
a
face-to- face meeting. The best thing for the aviation industry was the Internet.
16. What function does the second sentence in the first paragraph serve?
A. It further explains high-tech hubris.


B. It confirms the effect of
high-tech hubris.
C. It offers a cause for high-tech hubris.



D. It offers a contrast to high-tech hubris.
17. Which of the following is NOT a reason for the slowdown in paper sales?
A. Workforce with better computer skills.

B. Slow growth of the US
economy.
C. Changing patterns in paper use





.D. Changing employment
trends.
18. The two innovations by Xerox Corp. and Anoto Group feature _____.
A. integrated use of paper and digital form
B. a shift from paper to digital form
C. the use of computer screen
D. a new style of writing
19. What does the author mean by
A. The dream of the
B. People usually prefer to have face-to-face meetings.
C. More digital data use leads to greater paper use.
D. Some people are opposed to video- conferencing.
20. What is the author's attitude towards
A. He reviews the situation from different perspectives.