2021湖南公共英语考试模拟卷（8）.docx

2021湖南公共英语考试模拟卷（8）本卷共分为1大题50小题，作答时间为180分钟，总分100分，60分及格。一、单项选择题（共50题，每题2分。每题的备选项中，只有一个最符合题意） 1.BPassage 1/B Some people ought to defend the workaholic. These people are unjustly accused, abused, and defamed - often termed sick or morbid or on the border of pathology. About 30% of American business and commerce is carried on the shoulders of workaholics. The ratio might exist in art and science too. Workaholics are the achievers, the excelers. There is a national conspiracy against excellence and undue admiration of commonness and mediocrity. It is as if we are against those who make uncommon sacrifices because they enjoy doing something. Some famous psychologists say that the workaholic has an inferiority complex which leads to overcompensation. This is certainly not the case. Inferiority, or low esteem, describes laziness more accurately than it describes dedication. We do not seem to realize that very little excellence is achieved by living a well-balanced life. Edison, Ford, Einstein, Freud all had single-minded devotion to work whereby they sacrificed many things, including family and friendship. The accusation is made that workaholics bear guilt by not being good parents or spouses. But guilt can exist in the balanced life also. Think how many "normal" people and middle-ages who have never done anything well - they are going to settle for less than what they could have become.According to this passage, AFreud led a well-balanced life.Bworkaholics can be helped.Cworkaholics should be admired.Dso-called "normal" people are truly the sick people among us. 2.BPassage 2/B In the 18th century, New York was smaller than Philadelphia and Boston. Today it is the largest city in America. How to explain the change in its size and importance To answer this question we must consider certain facts about geography, history and economies. Together these three will explain the huge growth of Americas most famous city. The map of the Northeast shows that four of the most heavily-populated areas in this region are around seaports. At these points materials from across the sea enter America, and the products of the land are sent there for export across the sea. Economists know that places where transportation lines meet are good places for making raw materials into completed goods. That is why seaports often have cities nearby. But cities like New York needed more than their geographical location in order to become great industrial centers. Their development did not happen simply by chance. About 1815, when many Americans from the east coast had already moved to the west, trade routes from the ports to the central regions of the country began to be a serious problem. The slow wagons of that time, drawn by horses or oxen, were too expensive for moving heavy freight very far. Americans had long admired Europes canals. In New York State a canal seemed the best solution to the transportation problem. From the eastern end of Lake Erie all the way across the state to the Hudson River there is a long trip of low land. Here the Erie Canal was constructed. After working for several years it was completed in 1825. The canal produced an immediate effect. Freight costs were cut to about one-tenth of what they had been. New York City, which had been smaller than Philadelphia and Boston, quickly became the leading city of the coast. In later years, transportation routes on the Great Lakes were joined to routes on the Mississippi River. Then New York City became the end point of a great inland shipping system that extended from the Atlantic Ocean far up the western branches of the Mississippi. The new railroads made canal shipping not as important as before, but it tied New York even more closely to the central regions of the country. It was easier for people in the central states to ship their goods to New York for export overseas. Exports from New York were greater than imports. Consequently, shipping companies were eager to fill their ships with passengers on the return trip from Europe. Passengers could come from Europe very cheaply as a result. Thus New York became the greatest port for receiving people from European countries. Many of them remained in the city. Others stayed in New York for a few weeks, months, or years, and then moved to other parts of the United States. For these great numbers of new Americans, New York had to provide homes, goods, and services. Their labor helped the city become great.Freight costs were reduced to 10% of what they had been because of Athe decline in taxes.Bthe construction of the railroads.Cthe construction of the Erie Canal.Dthe development of industry. 3. Predictions of many robots in industry have yet come true. For ten years or more, manufacturers of big robots have explained how their machines can make industry more competitive and productive. The maker forU (21) /Urobots is oversupplied now, and the driving force of the robotics(机器人学) revolution isU (22) /Uto be with makers of machines that handle a few kilos at most. "Heavy-robot manufacturers are in some difficultyU (23) /Ufinding customer. They are offering bigU (24) /Ujust to get in the door. There has been aU (23) /Ugrowth everywhere in the numbers of robots, so we admit we are either deceivingU (26) /Uor that the market is slowly growing. "said John Reekie, chairman of Colen Robotics. "The following things must happenU (27) /Uthe robotics revolution to occur. We must achieve widespread robot literacy,U (28) /Uthere has been a computerU (29) /U program, there must be a robot prices.U (30) /U, some kind of artificial intelligence needs to beU (31) /U." Colen makes educational robots and machine tools. It is smallU (32) /Uwith companies like ASEA or Fujitsu Fanuc. But Colen with others and departments in universities such as Surrey, Manchester, and Durham possess an advantageU (33) /U. the giants. The big companies sell very expensive U (34) /Uto businesses with expert knowledge in automation. TheU (35) /Ucompanies make robots for teaching people, and now they have realized that there is a need for small,U (36) /Urobots that they can meet. The little companies either bring their educational machinesU (37) /Uan industrial standard or design from the start. One technique that they all adopt is to chooseU (38) /Ucomponents where possible. The major cost of makingU (39) /Utheir models is the electronics, which will fall in price. There isU (40) /Uscope for reductions in mechanical costs. The sue of standard parts, which are easily replaced, should give these robots a mechanical life of something in the order of five years. AmoneyBdiscountsCpricesDcosts 4.BPassage 4/B In an interview last month, Frank Church, chairman of the Senate committee which is investigating the CIA, issued an oblique but impassioned warning, that the technology of eavesdropping had become so highly developed that Americans might soon be left with "no place to hide". That day may have arrived. Newsweek has learned that the countrys most secret intelligence operation, the National Security Agency, already possesses the computerized equipment to monitor nearly all overseas telephone calls and most domestic and international printed messages. The agencys devices monitor a great deal of telephone circuits, cable lines and the microwave transmissions that carry an increasing share of both spoken and written communications. Computers are programed to watch for "trigger" words or phrases indicating that a message might interest intelligence analysis, when the trigger is pulled, entire messages are tape-recorded or printed out. That kind of eavesdropping is, however, relatively simple compared with the breakthroughs that lie ahead in the field of snoopery. Already it is technically feasible to "bug" an electric typewriter by picking up its feeble electronic emissions from a remote location and then change them into words. And some scientists believe that it may be possible in the future for remote electronic equipment to intercept and "read" human brain waves. Where such capabilities exist, so too does the potential for abuse. It is the old story of technology rushing forward with some new wonder, before the men who supposedly control the machines have found how to prevent the machines from controlling them.Which of the following is most likely to be bugged AInternational telephone calls.BInternational printed messages.CDomestic printed messages.DElectric typewriters. 5.BPassage 4/B In an interview last month, Frank Church, chairman of the Senate committee which is investigating the CIA, issued an oblique but impassioned warning, that the technology of eavesdropping had become so highly developed that Americans might soon be left with "no place to hide". That day may have arrived. Newsweek has learned that the countrys most secret intelligence operation, the National Security Agency, already possesses the computerized equipment to monitor nearly all overseas telephone calls and most domestic and international printed messages. The agencys devices monitor a great deal of telephone circuits, cable lines and the microwave transmissions that carry an increasing share of both spoken and written communications. Computers are programed to watch for "trigger" words or phrases indicating that a message might interest intelligence analysis, when the trigger is pulled, entire messages are tape-recorded or printed out. That kind of eavesdropping is, however, relatively simple compared with the breakthroughs that lie ahead in the field of snoopery. Already it is technically feasible to "bug" an electric typewriter by picking up its feeble electronic emissions from a remote location and then change them into words. And some scientists believe that it may be possible in the future for remote electronic equipment to intercept and "read" human brain waves. Where such capabilities exist, so too does the potential for abuse. It is the old story of technology rushing forward with some new wonder, before the men who supposedly control the machines have found how to prevent the machines from controlling them.The warning given by Frank Church is Aindirect but enthusiastic.Bdirect but passionate.Cambiguous but calm.Ddefinite but indifferent. 6.BPassage 1/B Some people ought to defend the workaholic. These people are unjustly accused, abused, and defamed - often termed sick or morbid or on the border of pathology. About 30% of American business and commerce is carried on the shoulders of workaholics. The ratio might exist in art and science too. Workaholics are the achievers, the excelers. There is a national conspiracy against excellence and undue admiration of commonness and mediocrity. It is as if we are against those who make uncommon sacrifices because they enjoy doing something. Some famous psychologists say that the workaholic has an inferiority complex which leads to overcompensation. This is certainly not the case. Inferiority, or low esteem, describes laziness more accurately than it describes dedication. We do not seem to realize that very little excellence is achieved by living a well-balanced life. Edison, Ford, Einstein, Freud all had single-minded devotion to work whereby they sacrificed many things, including family and friendship. The accusation is made that workaholics bear guilt by not being good parents or spouses. But guilt can exist in the balanced life also. Think how many "normal" people and middle-ages who have never done anything well - they are going to settle for less than what they could have become.According to the author, one can hardly achieve excellence unless one Alives an abnormal life.Bsacrifices friendship and family.Chas total devotion to work.Dignores popular opinions. 7.BPassage 3/B In Anglo-America there are three major ethnic groups. The first is the original Indian population, who today represents a minority group. The second is the descendants of European colonists who emigrated to the two countries before the end of the nineteenth century. These majority populations normally speak English, are highly-educated, and most of them are culturally homogeneous (同类的) in broad cultural values. A third group is made up of ethnic minorities, from Asia, Latin America, Africa, or parts of Europe who have either linguistic, religious, racial, or other cultural attributes that distinguish them from the majority population. The United States has a varied ethnic minority pattern, without the dominance of one minority group in a specific geographical area. The largest ethnic group in America is the blacks, totaling an estimated 26 million in 1980, or 12 percent of the population. Unlike the French, the black population of the United States is not culturally and geographically isolated in one area. Slightly more than half of American blacks live in the South, and 49 percent reside in the East and the West. The black American speaks English, has a tendency to share, the characteristics of competition, materialism, and individualism with other United States citizens, and has no distinctive religion. The Spanish-speaking minority in America is reluctant to adopt the values of the dominant cultural group. There is increasingly a demand for bilingual (双语的) education to allow Spanishspeaking children to use English in their educational programs. The existence of a large and growing minority population such as the Spanish-speaking Americans, who are increasingly committed to their own food and newspapers in Latin, is one of the issues facing Anglo-America in the future. The old concept of a melting pot is being replaced by the concept of a plural society.As far as the writing technique is concerned, the author mainly resorts to Acomparison.Bcause-to-effect.Cclassification.Ddefinition. 8.BPassage 2/B In the 18th century, New York was smaller than Philadelphia and Boston. Today it is the largest city in America. How to explain the change in its size and importance To answer this question we must consider certain facts about geography, history and economies. Together these three will explain the huge growth of Americas most famous city. The map of the Northeast shows that four of the most heavily-populated areas in this region are around seaports. At these points materials from across the sea enter America, and the products of t