2001年专业英语八级考试真题及答案.doc

2001年专业英语八级考试真题及答案Part Listening Comprehension  (40min)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 Sheet.SECTION A TALKQuestions 1 to 5 refer to the talk in this section. At the end of the talk you w ill be given 15 seconds to answer each of the following five questions. Now list en to the talk.1. Changes in the size of the World Banks operations refer to _.A. the expansion of its loan programmeB. the inclusion of its hard loansC. the inclusion of its soft loansD. the previous lending policies2. What actually made the Bank change its overall lending strategy?A. Reluctance of people in poor countries to have small families.B. Lack of basic health services and inequality in income distribution.C. The discovery that a low fertility rate would lead to economic development.D. Poor nutrition and low literacy in many poor countries of the world.3. The change in emphasis of the Banks lending policies meant that the Bank would _.A. be more involved in big infrastructure projectsB. adopt similar investment strategies in poor and rich countriesC. embark upon a review of the investment in huge dams and steel millsD.invest in projects that would benefit the low-income sector of society4. Which of the following is NOT a criticism of the bank?A. Colossal travel expenses of its staff.B. Fixed annual loans to certain countries.C. Limited impact of the Banks projects.D. Role as a financial deal maker.5. Throughout the talk, the speaker is _ while introducing the Wor ld Bank.A. biasedB. unfriendlyC. objectiveD. sensationalSECTION B CONVERSATIONQuestions 6 to 10 are based on a conversation. At the end of the conversation yo u will be given 15 seconds to answer the question. Now listen to the conversatio n.6. The man sounds surprised at the fact that _.A. many Australians are taking time off to travelB. the woman worked for some time in New ZealandC. the woman raised enough money for travelD. Australians prefer to work in New Zealand7. We learn that the woman liked Singapore mainly because of its  _.A. cleannessB. multi-ethnicityC. modern characteristicsD. shopping opportunities8. From the conversation we can infer that Kaifeng and Yinchuan impressed the woman with their _.A. respective locationsB. historic interestsC. ancient tombsD. Jewish descendants9. Which of the following words can best describe the womans feelings a bout Tibet?A. Amusement.B. Disbelief.C. Ecstasy.D. Delig ht10. According to the conversation, it was       that made the woman ready to stop traveling.A. the unsettledness of travelB. the difficulties of trekkingC. the loneliness of travelD. the unfamiliar environmentSECTION C NEWS BROADCASTQuestions 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  _.A. violated the traffic lawB. illegally attacked a boxerC. attacked sb. after a traffic accidentD. failed to finish his contract12. The license granted to Tyson to fight will be terminated _.A. by the end of the yearB. in over a yearC. in AugustD. in a few weeksQuestion 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 presidentB. the assassin used to live in the former Soviet UnionC. they are the only official documents released about KennedyD. they solved the mystery surrounding Kennedys assassinationQuestion 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 Kongs unemployment rate has _.A. increased slowlyB. decreased graduallyC. stayed steadyD. become unpredictable15. According to the news, which of the following statements is TRUE?A. Business conditions have worsened in the past three months.B. The past three months have seen a declining trend in job offers.C. The rise of unemployment rate in some sectors equals the fall in others.D. The unemployment rate in all sectors of the economy remains unchanged.SECTION D NOTE-TAKING AND GAP-FILLINGFill 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.The Press ConferenceThe press conference has certain advantages. The first advantage lies with the(1)_ nature of the event itself; public officials are supposed to  1._submit to scrutiny by responding to various questions at a press conference.Secondly, statements previously made at a press conference can be used as a(2)_ in judging following statements or policies. Moreover, in case  2._of important events, press conferences are an effective way to break the newsto groups of reporters.However, from the point of view of (3)_, the press conference  3._possesses some disadvantages, mainly in its(4)_ and news source.  4._The provider virtually determines the manner in which a press conferenceproceeds. This, sometimes, puts news reporters at a(n)(5)_ , as can  5._be seen on live broadcasts of news conferences.Factors in getting valuable information preparation: a need to keep up to date on journalistic subject matter;(6)_ of the news source:  6._1 ) news sources (7)_ to  7._provide information;2)news-gathering methods.Conditions under which news reporters cannot trust the informationprovided by a news sourcenot knowing the required information;knowing and willing to share the information, but without(8)_ skills;  8._knowing the information, but unwilling to share;willing to share, but unable to recall.(9)_ of questions asked  9._Ways of improving the questions:no words with double meanings;no long questions;specific time, place, etc.;(10)      questions;  10._clear alternatives, or no alternatives in answers.Part 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. For a wrong word,      underline the wrong word and wri te the correct one in the blank provided at the end of the line. For a missing word,         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. For an unnecessary word      cross out the unnecessary word with a slash “/ and put the word in the blank provided at the end of the line.ExampleWhenart museum wants a new exhibit,          (1) an it never  buys things in finished form and hangs        (2) never them on the wall. When a natural history museum      wants an exhibition, it must often build it.             (3) exhibitDuring the early years of this century, wheat was seen as thevery lifeblood of Western Canada. People on city streets watchedthe yields and the price of wheat in almost as much feeling as if  1._they were growers. The marketing of wheat became an increasing  2._favorite topic of conversation.War set the stage for the most dramatic events in marketingthe western crop. For years, farmers mistrusted speculative grainselling as carried on through the Winnipeg Grain Exchange.Wheat prices were generally low in the autumn, so farmers could  3._not wait for markets to improve. It had happened too often thatthey sold their wheat soon shortly after harvest when farm debts  4._were coming due, just to see prices rising and speculators getting rich.  5._On various occasions, producer groups, asked firmer control,  6._but the government had no wish to become involving, at  7._least not until wartime when wheat prices threatened to runwild.Anxious to check inflation and rising life costs, the federal  8._government appointed a board of grain supervisors to deal withdeliveries from the crops of 1917 and 1918. Grain Exchangetrading was suspended, and farmers sold at prices fixed by theboard. To handle with the crop of 1919, the government  9._appointed the first Canadian Wheat Board, with total authority to  10._buy, sell, and set prices.Part Reading Comprehension  (40  min)SECTION A READING COMPREHENSION   (30  min)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 Britains climate the sea-bathing season is short, and most people don t go in above their knees anyway-and hence cant 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 Blackpools 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 .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, Blackpools 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 couldnt 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 theyd have on this beach sometimes.”W elsby said. “You cant 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 cant 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. “Well never see thos e days again. Its sad really.”“But your grandchildren seem to be enjoying it,”I pointed out.“For the moment, ”Ken said. “For the moment.”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 isnt 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 _.A. will continue to remain as an entertainment centreB. complied with ECs standards of clearlinessC. had no swimming beaches all alongD. is planning to revive its former attraction17. We can learn from the passage that Blackpool used to _.A. have as many beaches as LuxumbourgB. have seriously polluted drinking waterC. boast some imposing seafront sightsD. attract few domestic holiday makers18. What Blackpools beaches strike visitors most is their _.A. emptinessB. cleanlinessC. modernityD. monotonyTEXT BPundits 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 investorsmainly, but not entirely, foreign banks who had made short-term loansall 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