2013年10月英语阅读(二)自考真题

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

Directions: 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 then blacken the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.

Passage One

Computers should be in the schools. They have the potential to accomplish great things. With the right software,they could help make science tangible or teach neglected topics like art and music. They could help students form a concrete idea of society by displaying on screen a version of the city in which they live — a picture that tracks real life moment by moment.

In practice,however,computers make our worst educational nightmares come true. While we bemoan the decline of literacy,computers discount words in favor of pictures and pictures in favor of video. While we fret about the decreasing cogency of public debate,computers dismiss linear argument and promote fast,shallow romps across the information landscape. While we worry about basic skills,we allow into the classroom software that will do a student’s arithmetic or correct his spelling.

Take multimedia. The idea of multimedia is to combine text,sound and pictures in a single package that you browse on screen. You don’t just read Shakespeare; you watch actors performing,listen to songs,view Elizabethan buildings. What’s wrong with that? By offering children candy—coated books,multimedia is guaranteed to sour them on unsweetened reading. It makes the printed page look even more boring than it used to look. Sure,books will be available in the classroom,too—but they’ll have all the appeal of a dusty piano to a teen who has a Walkman handy.

So what if the little nippers don’t read? If they’re watching Olivier instead,what do they lose? The text,the written word along with all of its attendant pleasures. Besides,a book is more portable than a computer,has a higher—resolution display,can be written on and dog—eared and is comparatively dirt cheap.

Hypermedia,multimedia’s comrade in the struggle for a brave new classroom,is just as troubling. It’s a way of presenting documents on screen without imposing a linear start—to—finish order. Disembodied paragraphs are linked by theme; after reading one about the First World War,for example,you might be able to choose another about the technology of battleships,or the life of Woodrow Wilson,or hemlines on the 20s. This is another cute idea that is good in minor ways and terrible in major ones. Teaching children to understand the orderly unfolding of a plot or a logical argument is a crucial part of education. Authors don’t merely agglomerate paragraphs; they work hard to make the narrative read a certain way,prove a particular point. To turn a book or a document into hypertext is to invite readers to ignore exactly what counts — the story.

Questions 1—5 are based on Passage One.

1. The first paragraph is primarily concerned with ______.

A. picturing in what ways computers can help in schools

B. describing how computers make all subjects easier in schools

C. showing what computers have accomplished in schools

D. examining how computers are being used in schools

2. What is the author’s attitude towards the software that will do a student’s arithmetic or correct his spelling?

A. Amazed.

B. Reserved.

C. Interested.

D. Disapproval.

3. What does the author mean by “unsweetened reading” in Paragraph 3?

A. online reading.

B. Difficult reading materials.

C. Regular books.

D. Serious and sad stories.

4. The author mentions Shakespeare in order to ______.

A. illustrate how multimedia presents information in classroom

B. cite one of the most frequently used sources in schools

C. introduce the importance of reading classics

D. show how multimedia is integrated in traditional teaching

5. Which of the following statement is TRUE according to the author?

A. Teaching students to understand logical argument is highly ignored.

B. The employment of hypermedia may hurt students’ learning process.

C. Hypermedia exposes students to too much information.

D. Students’ reading skills have drastically dropped.

Passage Two

One theory that has gained influence among sociologists is that some members of stigmatized groups,when faced with stressful situations,expect themselves to do worse — a prophecy that fulfills itself. These expectations,which can occur even in otherwise fair situations — such as,say,a standardized test —produce stress and threaten cognitive function. The effect is called “stereotype threat,” and African—Americans,girls,even jocks have all been shown susceptible to stereotype threat.

Now a new study shows that old people are also vulnerable to the phenomenon. Research psychologists recruited 103 volunteers,ages 60 to 82,to perform simple arithmetic and recall tests. The psychologists manipulated about half of the participants into feeling stereotype threat by telling them that the entire purpose of the tests was “to examine aging effects on memory.” That statement was designed to prime the participants’ worry that their advanced age would affect their performance. By contrast,participants in the control group were told that the tests had been constructed to correct for any biases that might be associated with age,a white lie imparted to damp down stereotype threat.

Those in the first group performed significantly worse on the memory tests than those whose internal stereotypes hadn’t been triggered. Interestingly,people between the ages of 60 and 70 were far more susceptible to stereotype threat than those aged 71 to 82. The authors theorize,persuasively,that people who have just entered their seventh decade are more sensitive to stereotype threat than those who have already been considered old for a decade.

Remarkably,the power of stereotype threat was enough to overcome true aptitude: even people who generally had good working memories and weren’t prone to anxiety — in short,great test—takers — performed worse after being reminded of their age. The power of stereotype is so strong that it can overwhelm many of our other traits.

But the good news is that you can flip this particular psychological coin on its opposite side: recent research has found that positive stereotype reinforcement may be just as powerful as any negative threat. Indiana University psychologists found that women’s performance on math tests did not suffer as researchers had expected,even when the typical “women are bad at math” stereotype was invoked,as long as a positive stereotype (say,college students are good at math) was presented at the same time. In this case,that means that the aged are likely to have better—functioning memories when they are told,for instance,that older people “have more experience” or “have seen it all before.”

Questions 6—10 are based on Passage Two.

6. What is the first paragraph mainly about?

A. Examples of discriminations.

B. The concept of stereotype threat.

C. A dominant theory in sociology.

D. Stressful situations for the stigmatized.

7. The word “vulnerable” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to ______.

A. weak

B. incapable

C. insecure

D. susceptible

8. The psychologist used a white lie to ______.

A. weaken the participants’ worry

B. monitor the participants’ reaction

C. increase the difficulty of the tests

D. correct biases associated with age

9. The difference between the participants in their 70s and those in their 60s was ______ .

A. the former did better on the tests

B. the latter were given easier questions

C. the latter took the results less seriously

D. the former showed more concern about age

10. What message does the author intend to convev in the last paragraph?

A. Negative stereotypes can be turned into positive ones.

B. More should be done to help those discriminated.

C. Stereotypes can be used as an advantage.

D. Discrimination on campus should be eliminated.

Passage Three

A good reader becomes sooner or later a good book buyer. The sooner,the better. Of course,we all read many more books than we have room for in our homes,even if we could afford to buy them all; yet the reading done in a book drawn from a library cannot be so pleasant at the moment nor so permanently useful as the reading done in our own copy.

A book which is worth reading is likely to be read more than once,and at each reading some idea or some statement makes such an impression that we wish to refer to it again. Some readers underline the page as they read,but I find that a page which I have underlined cannot give me so many fresh impressions as one which has no marks on it. If I come on a passage already marked up,I remember the thoughts and feelings which prompted those first markings,and I have them again,with no additions. But a clean page may always give me something new.

My habit is to make my own index of a book as I read. I put down the number of the page and a word or two to identify the thought or the fact which I get from it. On a second or third reading I am likely to double or triple the size of this index. This is my substitute for underlining. Most of the books in my library are so indexed that I can find quickly the passage which from time to time I wish to look up.

To use a book in this way,organizing it for continued usefulness year after year,we must,of course,do our reading in a copy which belongs to us. If a reader were wealthy enough,he could buy his books always in new and expensive edition,with only best paper and in the kind of binding he prefers. I never could afford such luxury,and I have known few serious and devoted readers who could. The books I buy are chiefly those of less expensive editions.

In the last few years a new convenience and economy has come to the American book—buying public: the twenty—five—cent book now widely available at newsstands,drugstores,etc. Bantam books,Signet books,and Pocket books together offer many hundred different titles of more or less respectable literary merits. These inexpensive books give hours of pleasurable reading with broadened knowledge and stimulated thought.

As I have grown older and the number of books on my shelves has increased,I appreciate editions which do not take much room. When I began reading years ago,I was proud of my small collection of two or three hundred books. By the time I owned a thousand,my little study held all it could. Now,in my late years,I must squeeze books into a city apartment. By careful and continuous selection I keep my library clown to ten thousand books. This would be,of course,too large a number for any but a professional scholar or writer. But my advice to a booklover is to weed out his library at least once every two years,giving,away the books which are not likely to be read again.

You can start a good library of your own with only a few dollars,buying good books in cheap editions or in finer editions secondhand. Buy at least a book a month. But never,never buy a book which you will not immediately read. A library bought only for looks is not literature,but interior decoration.

Questions 11—15 are based on Passage Three.

11. According to the author,it is ______.

A. important to read critically rather than memorize the facts

B. useful to underline some important ideas

C. beneficial to take notes while reading

D. good to leave no marks on pages

12. If you are fond of buying books,it is better to

A. buy those you like

B. seek those which are popular

C. seek some new editions

D. buy those which you can afford

13. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the author?

A. The more books you buy,the faster your library will grow.

B. The clearer the index,the more quickly you will find the passage you want.

C. The longer you read a book,the more you will benefit from it.

D. The more expensive the editions are,the more valuable the books are.

14. The first four paragraphs of this passage deal with ______.

A. why we should take notes while reading

B. how we choose a good book to read

C. why we should have a book of our own

D. how we can read efficiently

15. Why does the author write this passage?

A. To explain how to become a good reader.

B. To give advice through his experience.

C. To indicate that a private library is also an interior decoration.

D. To tell readers that buying cheap books is a good way to start one’s library.

Passage Four

At one time,it was thought that cancer was a “disease of civilization,” belonging to much the same causal domain as “neurasthenia” and diabetes,the former a nervous weakness believed to be brought about by the stress of modem life and the latter a condition produced by bad diet and indolence. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,some physicians attributed cancer — notably of the breast and the ovaries — to psychological and behavioral causes. William Buchan’s wildly popular eighteenth—century text “Domestic Medicine” judged that cancers might be caused by “excessive fear,grief and religious melancholy.” In the nineteenth century,reference was repeatedly made to a “cancer personality.” As Susan Sontag observed,cancer was considered shameful,not to be mentioned. Among the Romantics and the Victorians,suffering and dying from tuberculosis might be considered a badge of refinement; cancer death was nothing of the sort. “It seems unimaginable,” Sontag wrote,“to aestheticize cancer. ”

Cancer is “the modem disease” not just because we understand it in radically new ways but also because there’s a lot more about cancer. For some cancers,the rise in incidence is clearly connected with things that get into our bodies that once did not — the causal link between smoking and lung cancer being the most spectacular example. But the rise in cancer mortality is,in its way,very good news: as we live longer,and as many infectious and epidemic diseases have ceased to be major causes of death,so we become prone to maladies that express themselves at ages once rarely attained. At the beginning of the twentieth century,life expectancy at birth in America was 47.3 years,and in the middle of the nineteenth century it was less than forty. The median age at diagnosis for breast cancer in the United States is now sixty—one; for prostate cancer it is sixty—seven; for colorectal cancer it’s seventy. “Cancer has become the price of modern life,” an epidemiologist recently wrote. In the U.S.,about half of all men and about a third of women will contract cancer in their lifetime; cancer now ranks just below heart disease as a cause of death in the U.S. But in low—income countries with shorter life expectancies it doesn’t even make the top ten.

Questions 16—20 are based on Passage Four.

16. What is the first paragraph mainly about?

A. Common causes of cancers.

B. Treatments for different cancers.

C. Traditional bliefs on cancer.

D. People’s attitudes to cancer patients.

17. What can we learn about the Victorians from Paragraph 1?

A. They believed that some diseases were superior to others.

B. They thought that some diseases were unimaginable.

C. They attributed some diseases to behavioral causes.

D. They held superstitious ideas towards some diseases.

18. The word “maladies” in Paragraph 2 means ______.

A. tunes

B. illnesses

C. serious problems

D. advanced ages

19. Why are more and more people diagnosed with cancers today?

A. People nowadays have more bad habits.

B. People nowadays enjoy longer life expectancy.

C. People nowadays are exposed to more sources of stress.

D. People nowadays are more vulnerable psychologically.

20. “It” in the last sentence refers to ______.

A. life expectancy

B. heart disease

C. modernity

D. cancer

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