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吉首大学2008年硕士研究生学位英语考试试卷（A卷）
试 卷 一
注意：1、“试卷一”上的所有客观题在“答题卡”上作答，所有主观题直接在“试卷二”上作答。 2、本卷考试结束前30分钟收回。
Part I Listening Comprehension (20 points, 20 minutes)
Section A Conversation
Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations. At the end of each conversation, a question will be asked about what was said. The conversation and question will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D, and decide which is the best answer. Mark your answer by blackening the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet. 1. A) Spring. B) Summer. C) Autumn. D) Winter. 2. A) At home. B) In a restaurant. C) In a car. D) On the street.
3. A) His injury kept him at home. B) He didn’t think it necessary.
C) He was too weak to see the doctor. D) He failed to make an appointment. 4. A) She was telephoning Fred. B) She was examining the traffic lights. C) She was hanging her coat on a tree. D) She was trying to catch a bus. 5. A) He’s living on the farm. B) He’s going to leave in 15 minutes. C) He’s driving his new car. D) He’s leaving this country this year. 6. A) He was driving too fast. B) He ran into a bicycle. C) He hurt his back and his head. D) He ran into a tree. 7. A) They are twins. B) They are classmates. C) They are friends. D) They are colleagues. 8. A) In a school library. B) In a bookstore. C) In a grocery store. D) In a gift shop. 9. A) Go to the library. B) The library closes at 10. C) The library closes at 11. D) Get together.
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10. A) He stays late for the lesson. B) He is studying. C) He has little rest. D) He is resting.
Section B
Compound Dictation
(注意：该部分的内容印制在“试卷二”（题号11-20）上，要求直接在“试卷二”上作答)
Part lI Reading Comprehension (40 points, 35 minutes)
Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Mark your answer by blackening the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet. Passage One
Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage
Most earthquakes occur within the upper 15 miles of the earth’s surface. But earthquakes can and do occur at all depths to about 460 miles. Their number decreases as the depth increases. At about 460 miles one earthquake occurs only every few years. Near the surface earthquakes may run as high as 100 in a month, but the yearly average does not vary much. In comparision with the total number of earthquakes each the number of disastrous earthquakes is very small.
The extent of the disaster in an earthquake depends on many factors. If you carefully build a toy house with an erect set, it will still stand no matter how much you shake the table. But if you build a toy house with a pack of cards, a slight shake of the table will make it fall. An earthquake in Agadir, Morocco, was not strong enough to be recorded on distant instruments, but it compleltely destroyed the city. Many stronger earthquakes have done comparatively little damage. If a building is well constructed and built on solid ground, it will resist an earthquake. Most deaths in earthquakes have been due to faulty building construction or poor building sites. A third and very serious factor is panic. When people rush out into narrow streets, more deaths will result.
The United Nations has played an important part in reducing the damage done by earthquakes. It has sent a team of experts to all countries known to be affected by earthquakes. Working with local geologists and engineers, the experts have studied the nature of the ground and the type of most practical building code for the local area. If followed, these suggestions will make disastrous earthquakes almost a thing of the past. There is one type of earthquake disaster that little can be done about. This is the disaster caused by seismic (地震的) sea waves, or tsunamis (海啸). (Thses are often called tidal waves, but the name is incorrect. They have nothing to do with tides.)
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In certain areas, earthquakes take place beneath the sea. These submarine earthquakes sometimes give rise to seismic sea waves. The waves are not noticeable out at sea because of their long wave length. But when they roll into harbors, they pile up into walls of water 6 to 60 feet high. The Japanese call them “tsunamis”, meaning “harbor waves”, because they reach a sizable height only in harbors.
Tsunamis travel fairly slowly, at speeds up to 500 miles an hour. An adequate warning system is in use to warn all shores likely to be reached by the waves. But this only enables people to leave the threatened shores for higher ground. There is no way to stop the oncoming wave.
21. Which of the following CANNOT be concluded from the passage?
A)The number of earthquakes is closely related to depth.
B) Roughly the number of earthquakes doesn’t vary much every year.
C)Earthquakes are less likely to occur within the upper 15 miles of the earth’s surface. D) Earthquakes are most likely to occur near the surfaces. 22. The example of the toy building shows that _____.
A) well constructed building could resist an earthquake B) the destruction depends on an earthquake’s strength C) ineffective instruments cause the destruction
D) we should construct our building like a toy building 23. The destruction of Agadir is an example of ______.
A) faulty building construction B) an earthquake’s strength C) widespread panic in earthquakes D) ineffective instructions 24 The United Nations’ experts are supposed to ______.
A) construct strong buildings B) put forward proposals C) detect disastrous earthquakes D) monitor earthquakes 25. The significance of the slow speed of tsunamis is that people may _____. A) notice them out at sea B) find ways to prevent them C) be warned early enough D) develop warning systems
Passage Two
Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage:
People have been paining pictures for at least 30,000 years. The earliest pictures were painted by people who hunted animals. They used to paint pictures of the animals they wanted to catch and kill. Pictures of this kind have been found on the walls of caves in France and Spain. No one knows why they were painted there. Perhaps the painters thought that their pictures would help them catch these animals. Or perhaps human beings have always wanted to tell stories in pictures.
About 5,000 years ago, the Egyptians and other people in the New East began to use pictures as a kind of writing. They drew simple pictures and signs to represent things and
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ideas, and also to represent the sounds of their language. The signs these people used became a kind of alphabet. The Egyptians used to record information and to tell stories by putting writings and pictures together. When an important person died, scenes and stories from his life were painted and carved on the walls of the place where he was buried. Some of these pictures are like modern comic strip stories. It has been said that Egypt is the home of the comic strip. But, for the Egyptians, pictures still had magic power. So they did not try to make their way of writing simple. The ordinary people could not understand it.
By the year 1,000 BC, people who lived in the area around the Mediterranean Sea had developed simpler system of writing. The signs they used were very easy to write, and there were fewer of them than in the Egyptian system. This was because each sign or letter represented only one sound in their language. The Greeks developed this system and formed the letters of the Greek alphabet. The Romans copied the idea, and the Roman alphabet is now used all over the world. These days, we can write down a story, or record information, without using pictures. But we still need pictures of all kinds: drawing, photographs, signs and diagrams. We find them everywhere: in books and newspapers, in the street, and on the walls of the places where we live and work. Pictures help us to understand and remember things more easily, and they can make a story much more interesting.
26. According to the first paragraph, pictures of animals were painted on the walls of caves because _____.
A) the pictures were thought to be helpful
B) the painters wanted to tell stories in pictures
C) the painters wanted to paint their hunted aninamls D) both A and B
27. The Greek alphabet was simpler than the Egyptian system for all the following reasons EXCEPT that ______.
A) the former was easy to write B) there were fewer signs in the former C) the former was easy to spell D) each sign stood for only one sound 28. Which of the following statement is NOT true?
A) The Egyptians used to record information by putting writing and pictures together. B) The Greeks developed the alphabet system from the Mediterrenean Sea. C) The Roman alphabet was developed from the Egyptian one. D) The Romans copied their writing system from the Greeks.
29. In the last paragraph, the author thinks all those EXCEPT that pictures _____. A) are useful in every aspect of our life B) should be made interesting C) are of much use in our life D) have different forms 30. The best title for this passage is _____.
A) History of Pictures B) Pictures and Alphabet System C) Origin of Pictures D) The Ancient Egyptians
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