2008年专业英语八级考试真题及答案.doc

2008年专业英语八级考试真题及答案SECTION A MINI-LECTUREIn this section you will hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them to complete a gap-filling task after the mini-lecture. When the lecture is over, you will be given two minutes to check your notes, and another ten minutes to complete the gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE. Use the blank sheet for note-taking.The Popularity of EnglishI. Present status of EnglishA. English as a native/first languageB. English as a lingua franca: a language for communication among peoplewhose (1)_ are differentC. Number of people speaking English as a first or a second language: 320-380 million native speakers 250- (2) _ million speakers of English as a second languageII. Reasons for the popular use of EnglishA. (3) _ reasons the Pilgrim Fathers brought the language to America; British settlers brought the language to Australia; English was used as a means of control in (4)_B. Economic reasons spread of (5) _ language of communication iii the international business communityC. (6)_ in international travel use of English in travel and tourism signs in airports language of announcement language of (7) _D. Information exchange use of English in the academic world language of (8) _ or journal articlesE. Popular culture pop music on (9)_ films from the USAIII. Questions to think aboutA. status of English in the futureB. (10) _ of distinct varieties of EnglishSECTION A MINI-LECTUREIn this section you will hear a mini-lecture. You willhear the lecture ONCE ONLY while listening,takenotes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them tocomplete a gap-filling task after the mini-lecture. When the lecture is over, you will be given twominutes to check your notes, and another ten minutes to complete the gap-filling task onANSWER SHEET ONE. Use the blank sheet for note-taking.Now listen to the mini-lectureThe Popularity of EnglishGood morning, every one. Todays lecture is about the popularity of English. As we all know,English is widely used in the world. Although English is not the language with the largestnumber of native or first language speakers, it has really become a lingua franca. Then what is alingua franca? The term refers to a language which is widely adopted for communicationbetween two speakers whose native languages are different from each others, and where oneor both speakers are using it as a second language. For example, when an Indian talks to aSingaporean using English, then English is the lingua franca. Then actually how many peoplespeak English as either a first or a second language? Some researchers suggested a few yearsago that between 320380 million people spoke English as a first language, and anywaybetween 250350 million as a second language. And of course, if we include people who arelearning English as a foreign language all over the world, that number may increase dramatically.Then we may ask a question: how did English get there? That is, how did English gain thepresent status of popularity? There are in fact a number of interlocking reasons for thepopularity of English as a lingua franca. Many of the reasons are historical, but they alsoinclude economic and cultural factors that have influenced and sustained the spread of thelanguage. Lets go through the reasons one by one.First is the historical reason. This is related to the colonial history. As we know, when thePilgrim Fathers landed on the Massachusetts coast in 1620 after their journey from England,they brought with them not just a set of religious beliefs, a pioneering spirit or a desire forcolonization, but also their language. Although many years later, the Americans broke awayfrom their colonial master, the language of English remained and still does. It was the same inAustralia, too. When Commander Phillip planted the British flag in Sydney cove on the 26thJanuary, 1788, it was not just a bunch of British convicts on their guardians, but also alanguage. In other parts of the former British Empire, English rapidly became a unifying ordominating means of control. For example, it became a lingua franca in India or a variety ofindigenous languages made the use of any one of them as a whole country systemproblematic. So the imposition of English as the one language of administration helpsmaintain the colonizers control and power, thus English traveled around many parts of theworld in those days. And long after that colonial power has faded away, it is still widely used asa main or at least an institutional language in countries as far apart as Jamaica and Pakistan,Uganda and New Zealand. That is the first factor.Now the second major factor in the spread of English has been the spread of commercethroughout the world. The spread of international commerce has taken English along with it.This is the 20th century phenomenon of globalization. Therefore, one of the first sights manytravelers see when arriving in countries as diverse as Brazil, China, for example, is the yellowtwin arch sign of MacDonalds fast food restaurant or some other famous brands outlets Andwithout doubt, English is used as the language of communication in the international businesscommunity. in the international business community.And the third factor related to the popular use of English is the booming international travel.And you will find that much travel and tourism is carried on around the world in English. Ofcourse this is not always the case, as the multi-lingualism of many tourism workers in manydifferent countries demonstrate. But a visit to most airports on the globe will show signs notonly in the language of that country but also with English, just as many airline announcementsbroadcast in English too, whatever the language of the country the airport is situated in.So far, English is also the preferred language of air traffic control in many countries and is usedwidely in sea travel communication. Another factor has something to do with informationexchange around the world. As we all know, a great deal of academic discoursearound the world takes place in English. It is often a lingua franca of conferences,for example,and many journal articles in fields as diverse as astronomy, trio psychology and geology haveEnglish as a kind of default language.The last factor I cite here concerns popular culture. In the western world, at least English is adominating language in popular culture. Pop music in English can be heard on many radios,thus many people who are not English speakers can sing words from their favorite Englishmedium songs. And many people who are regular cinema-goers or TV viewers can frequentlyhear English in subtitle films coming out of the USA.Now, to sum up in todays lecture, we have reviewed some of the reasons or factors that liebehind the popular use of English as the No. 1 world language. Before we finish, I'd like toleave a few questions for you to think about. Is the status of English as the No. 1 worldlanguage a sure in the future? Will it split into varieties that become less mutually intelligible?Or will some other language or languages take the place of English as world language in future?These questions are not easy to answer, I know. But they are definitely worth pondering overafter the lecture. Ok, this brings to the end of todays lecture. Thank you for your attention.Now you have two minutes to check your notes. And then please finish the gap-filling task onAnswer Sheet 1 in 10 minutes.SECTION B  INTERVIEWIn this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the correct answer to each question on your colored answer sheet.Questions 1 to 5 are based on an interview. At the end of the interview you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following five questions.Now listen to the interview1. Mary doesn't seem to favour the idea of a new airport becauseA. the existing airports are to be wastedB. more people will be encouraged to travel.C. more oil will be consumed.D. more airplanes will be purchased.2. Which of the following is NOT mentioned by Mary as a potential disadvantage?A. More people in the area.B. Noise and motorways.C. Waste of land.D. Unnecessary travel.3. Freddy has cited the following advantages for a new airport EXCEPTA. more job opportunities.B. vitality to the local economy.C. road construction,D. presence of aircrew in the area.4. Mary thinks that people dont need to do much travel nowadays as a result ofA. less emphasis on personal contact.B. advances in modern telecommunications.C. recent changes in peoples concepts.D. more potential damage to the area5. We learn from the conversation that Freddy is Marys ideas,A. strongly in favour ofB. mildly in favour ofC. strongly againstD. mildly againstSECTION C  NEWS BROADCASTIn this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the correct answer to each question on your coloured answer sheet.Question 6 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the question. Now listen to the news.6. What is the main idea of the news item?A. A new government was formed after Sundays elections.B. The new government intends to change the welfare system.C. The Social Democratic Party founded the welfare system.D. The Social Democratic Party was responsible for high unemployment.Questions 7 and 8 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 20 seconds to answer the questions.Now listen to the news.7. The tapes of the Apollo-11 mission were first stored inA. a U.S. government archives warehouse.B. a NASA ground tracking station.C. the Goddard Space Flight Centre.D. none of the above places.8. What does the news item say about Richard Nafzger?A. He is assigned the task to look for the tapes.B. He believes that the tapes are probably lost.C. He works in a NASA ground receiving site.D. He had asked for the tapes in the 1970s.Questions 9 and 10 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 20 seconds to answer the questions.Now listen to the news.9. The example in the news item is cited mainly to showA. that doctors are sometimes professionally incompetentB. that in cases like that hospitals have to pay huge compensations.C. that language barriers might lower the quality of treatment.D. that language barriers can result in fatal consequences.10. According to Dr. Flores, hospitals and clinicsA. have seen the need for hiring trained interpreters.B. have realized the problems of language barriers.C. have begun training their staff to be bilinguals.D. have taken steps to provide accurate diagnosis.PART II   READING COMPREHENSION (30 MIN)In this section there are four reading passages followed by a total of 20 multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then mark your answers on your coloured answer sheet。TEXT AAt the age of 16, Lee Hyuk Joons life is a living hell. The South Korean 10th grader gets up at 6 in the morning to go to school, and studies most of the day until returning home at 6 p.m. After dinner, its time to hit the books againat one of Seouls many so-called cram schools. Lee gets back home at 1 in the morning, sleeps less than five hours, then repeats the routinefive days a week. Its a grueling schedule, but Lee worries that it may not be good enough to get him into a top university. Some of his classmates study even harder.South Koreas education system has long been highly competitive. But for Lee and the other 700,000 high-school sophomores in the country, high-school studies have gotten even more intense. Thats because South Korea has conceived a new college-entrance system, which will be implemented in 2008. This years 10th graders will be the first group evaluated by the new admissions standard, which places more emphasis on grades in the three years of high school and less on nationwide SAT-style and other selection tests, which have traditionally determined which students go to the elite colleges.The change was made mostly to reduce what the government says is a growing education gap in the country: wealthy students go to the best colleges and get the best jobs, keeping the children of poorer families on the social margins. The aim is to reduce the importance of costly tutors and cram schools, partly to help students enjoy a more normal high-school life. But the new system has had the opposite effect. Before, students didnt worry too much about their grade-point averages; the big challenge was beating he standardized tests as high-school seniors. Now students are competing against one another over a three-year period, and every midterm and final test is crucial. Fretful parents are relying even more heavily on tutors and cram schools to help their children succeed.Parents and kids have sent thousands of angry online letters to the Education Ministry complaining that the new admissions standard is setting students against each other. "One can succeed only when others fail,” as one parent said.Education experts say that South Koreas public secondary-school system is foundering, while private education is thriving. According to critics, the countrys high schools are almost uniformly mediocrethe result of an egalitarian government education policy. With the number of elite schools strictly controlled by the government, even the brightest students typically have to settle for ordinary schools in their neighbourhoods, where the curriculum is centred on average students. To make up for the mediocrity, zealous parents send their kids to the expensive cram schools. Students in affluent southern Seoul neighbourhoods complain that the new system will hurt them the most.Nearly all Korean high schools will be weighted equally in the college-entrance process, and relatively weak students in provincial schools, who may not score well on standardized tests, often compile good grade-point averages.Some universities, particularly prestigious ones, openly complain that they cannot select the best students under the new system because it eliminates differences among high schools. Theyve asked for more discretion in picking students by giving more weight to such screening tools as essay writing or interviews.President Roh Moo Hyun doesnt like how some colleges are trying to circumvent the new system. He recently criticized "greedy" universities that focus more on finding the best students than faying to "nurture good students". But amid the crossfire between the government and unive