2023年考研外语考试题目及答案16.docx

考研外语考试题目及答案16一、Use of English1> More and more of us are (1)the TV networks. That's not news, of course; there have been countless stories on their (2)audience. But I didn't realize how far out! had dropped (3) I glanced at the Nielsen ratings of the top 71 shows. Of those 71 programs, I had not watched (4)one. (5), I could count only five that I had ever seen in my entire life. And of those five, there isn t one I watch (6).Despite its popularity, I don't like happy family shows. They're (7). If I watch a family show, I prefer something lifelike, such as Death' of a Salesman. z/(8) the second-rated program, A Different World," I've never heard of it. If I want to see a different (9), I 11 drive to the west side of Chicago.I (10) watch Cheers, z/ which is still (11) the top ten, but gave it up after Diana left and Sam began lusting after a career-crazed yuppie. Am I the only person in America who has never watched a segment of Dallas"? A while ago, I recall somebody important was killed on the last (12) of the3、What do the writer think about the media's report?A.They presented the data in an objective way.B.They couldn't always find proper headlines.C.They were always hiding the troth from the public.D.They were always stretching the information beyond the truth.Patrick Moorer seemed to believe that putting men on Mars within the next few decades was .A. mission impossibleB.a matter of technologyC.beyond men s reachD. largely a matter of politics and financeThe best title for this passage would be.A.Is There Life on Mars?B.They Found Life!C. Mars, A Dead Planet in the SpaceD. Future Colonies on Mars6、 Does using a word processor affect a writer s style?The medium usually does do something to the message after all,even if Marshall McLuhan's claim that the medium simply is the message has been heard and largely forgotten now. The question matters. Ray Hammond, in his excellent guide The Writer and the Word Processor, predicts that over half the professional writers in Britain and the USA will be using word processors by the end of 1985. The best known recruit is Leu Deighton, from as long ago as 1968, though most users have only started since the microcomputer boom began in 1980.Ironically word processing is in some ways psychologically more like writing in rough than typing, since it restores fluidity and provisionality to the text. The typist's dread of having to get out the Tippex, the scissors and paste, or of redoing the whole thing if he has any substantial second thoughts, can make him consistently choose the safer option in his sentences, or let something stand which he knows to be unsatisfactory or incomplete, out of weariness. In word processing the text is loosened up whilst still retaining the advantage of looking formally finished.This has, I think, two apparently contradictory effects. The initial writing can become excessively sloppy and careless, in the expectation that it will be corrected later. That crucial first inspiration is never easy to recapture, though, andtherefore, on the other hand, the writing can become over-deliberated, lacking in flow and spontaneity, since revision becomes a larger part of composition. However, these are faults easier to detect in others than in oneself. My own experience of the sheer difficulty of committing any words at all to the page means I'm grateful for all the help I can get. For most writers, word processing quite rapidly comes to feel like the ideal method (and can always be a second step after drafting on paper if you prefer). Most of the writers interviewed by Hammond say it has improved their style, ("immensely”, says Deighton). Seeing your own word on a screen helps you to feel cool and detached about them.Thus is not just by freeing you from-the labor of mechanical retyping that a word processor can help you to write. One author (Terence Feely) claims it has increased his output by 400%. Possibly the feeling of having a reactive machine, which appears to do things, rather than just have things done with it, accounts for this一your slave works hard and so do you. Are there no drawbacks? It costs a lot and takes time to learn-"expect to lose weeks of work”, says Hammond, though days might be nearer the mark. Notoriously it is possible to lose work altogether on a word processor, and this happens toeverybody at least once. The awareness that what you have written no longer exists anywhere at all, is unbelievably enraging and baffling.Will word processing generally raise the level of professional writing then? Does it make writers better as well as more productive? Though all users insist it has done so for them individually, this is hard to believe. But reliance happens fast.According to the passage what appears to be changing rapidly in Britain and the USA?A.The style, writers are employing.B. The way new writers are being recruited.C. The medium authors are using.D. The message authors are putting forward.Typing a manuscript, in the conventional manner may make a writer .A. have a lot of second thoughtsB. become overcritical of his or her workC.make more mistakesD.take few risksOne effect of using a word processor may be that the ongoing revision of a text .A. is done with too little attentionB.produces a sloppy effectC. fails to produce a fluent styleD.does not encourage one to pick up mistakesIt is claimed here that word processor create .A. a feeling of distance between a writer and his or her workB.the illusion that you are the servant of the machineC.a sensation of powerD.a reluctance in the author to express himself or herself 10、As large as learning to use a word processor is concerned the writer of the passage feels that Hammond .A. is understating the problemB.exaggerates one drawbackC. is too skeptical about the advantage,D. overestimates the danger of losing text11> The oceans are the main source of humidity, but plants also pour moisture into the air. In one day, a five-acre forest can release 20, 000 gallons of water, enough to fill an averageswimming, pool. A dryer extracts moisture from wet clothes, adding to humidity. Even breathing contributes to this sticky business. Every time we exhale, we expel nearly one pint of moist air into the atmosphere.Using sophisticated measuring devices, science is learning more and more about the far-reaching and often surprising impact humidity has on all of us.Two summers ago angry callers phoned American Television and Communications Corp.s cable-TV operation in northeastern Wisconsin, complaining about fuzzy pictures and poor reception. What happened, z/ said the chief engineer, was that the humidity was interfering with our signals. When a blast of dry air invaded the state, the number of complaints dropped sharply. Humidity plays hob with our mechanical world as well. Water condensation on the playing beads and tapes of videocassette recorders produces a streaky picture. Humidity shortens the life of flashlight and smoke-detector batteries. When the weather gets sticky, the rubber belts that power the fan, air conditioner and alternator under the hood of our cars can get wet and squeak.Moisture also causes pianos to go out of tune, often in no time flat. At the Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts inVienna, where pianos are tuned twice a day during the summer concert season. Often a tuner stands in the wings, ready to make emergency adjustments during performances.Humidity speeds the deterioration of treasured family photos and warps priceless antiques. Your home's wooden support beams, doors and window framers absorb extra moisture and expand-swel 1 ing up to three percent depending on the wood, its grain and the setting.Too much moisture promotes blight that attacks potato and green-bean crops一adding to food costs. It also causes rust in wheat, which can affect grain-product prices.Humidity affects our health, as well. We get more migraine headaches, ulcer attacks, blood clots and skin rashes in hot, humid weather. Since 1987, the Health, Weight and Stress Clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore has tested over 1700 patients for responses to high humidity. They have reported increased dizziness, stomachaches, chest pains, cramps, and visual disturbances such as double and blurred vision.The main idea of the passage is about.A.the main source of humidityB. the impact of humidity on our world and ourselvesC. how humidity affect our lifeD. the damage humidity has done to our world12、Which of the following is NOT included as source of humidity in this passage?A. Oceans.B. Plants.C. Air.D. Dryers.Why does a tuner often stand in the wings?A.So it can be reached any time.B.It is so designed mechanically.C.So it can prevent moisture.D. The piano needs to be tuned frequently.What can be inferred from this passage?A. Nowadays science is learning more and more about the impact humidity has on all of us by using sophisticated measuring devices.B.Humidity could interfere with television signals.C.Humidity may warp priceless antiques.D.Visual disturbances may decrease in days of low humidity.15、Why did the number of complaints drop?A. Because they got poor reception.B. Because the humidity was interfering with the signals.C. Because there came a blast of dry air.D. Because humidity increased rapidly in the region.16> Each time you step into those faded old Jeans, you put on a piece of history. The world's favorite trousers are now over a hundred years old, and here s how they started out. The first Jeans were made in 1850, in the California gold rush. A man named Levi Strauss realized that the gold-diggers normal trousers werenJ t strong enough for the work they had to do and were wearing Out quickly. Strauss had some strong canvas, which he was going to make into tents and wagon covers to sell to the workers. Instead, he made some trousers out of it and these became the first Jeans. They were brown and called the waist-high overall.The trousers sold well, and Strauss began looking around for ways of making them even tougher. He found a material that was better than canvas一a durable cotton that was manufactured only in the south of France. In a town called Nimes, the material was denim一the name coming from the French for from Nimes.Strauss ordered boat loads of this material and, to keep the colour consistent, had it all dyed indigo blue. The trousers became known as blue denims or blue jeans (the Word jean is thought to come from Genoa. Italian sailors from the port of Genoa wore trousers similar to jeans, on the big trading ships). In the early days cowboys, farmers, miners and timber Jacks一all people associated with hard work一wore jeans. But there were a few design problems with the early styles一as cowboys discovered to their cost. When they crouched too close to the camp fire, the rivet (the metal button strengthening the jeans at the bottom of the fly) got too hot and became very uncomfortable. Levi didn't take much notice of the cowboys complaints until the 1940s, when a company official crouched too close to a camp fire and experienced the problem first-hand. The crotch rivet was soon removed.In the fifties and sixties, jeans represented rebellion. Film stars like James Dean, Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe wore them, as did pop stars like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Fashions changed in the seventies and jeans became flared一tight at the hip and wide at the bottom. They were very, very tight一if you could get the zip up while standing up, they werenJ t tight enough. You had to lie down on the bed to do them season and almost everybody in America was caught up in the hype. I watched wrestling that night; I'll bet the acting was (13).It's not (14)r m snobbish一I enjoy TV (15) as much as the next slob. But the (16) of truly trashy trash has declined. I was one of the first writers in America to recognize the greatness of Robin Leach's Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. z/ So, what do I watch? I still turn to the networks, (17)I have learned to exploit and cheat them. For example,I like football, but seldom watch it (18). In stead, I (19)it and later play it back an my VCR, fast-forwarding through all the commercials, the announcers' babble, the half-time drivel and even the huddles. I also watched movies, but only on some cable channels, (20) the networks.A.turning outB.turning intoC.turning downD.turning up2、(2)A.up-showingB.growingC.impatientup; for a really skin-tight fit, people would lie in a bath in their jeans and wait for them to shrink!As the trousers became more and more successful, other jeans manufacturers started up一such as Wrengler, Pepe and Lee.But jeans have had their opponents, in some countries一such as the old Soviet Union一jeans became a prized status symbol of the West. They suggested that a Soviet citizen had either traveled abroad or had contacts in the West. So the authoritiesdiscouraged the wearing of jeans. And in Japan,a consumers'association adamantly refused to sellone manufacturer'sfashionable ripped jeans because it feltthese were interiorand defective product!Which of the following statements is NOT true according theA. The firstjeans were wearing out quickly.B. The firstjeans were made out of canvas by Strauss.C. Thefirst jeans were made over a hundred years ago.D.The firstjeans were brown instead of blue.17、DenimA. was manufactured only in GenoeB. means from NimesC. was a kind of indigo blue materialD. was a kind of durable cottonThe crotch rivet would not have been removed, .A. if the cowboys hadn't found the problem with itB. if the cowboys hadn't crouched too close to the camp fireC. if Levi hadn t paid enough attention to the problem with it from early onD. if the company official hadn't experienced the problem first handIn the seventies, people would lie in a bath to .A. take a bath with their jeans onB. make the jeans more comfortableC. make the jeans more fashionableD. make the jeans smaller for a tiny skin tight fitJeans were not popular in some countries for reasons.A. economicB. politicalC. culturalD. religious21> Part B (10 points)In the following text, some sentences have been removed. ForQuestions 41 -45, choose the most suitable one from the list (A、B、C、D、E、F、G) to fit into each of the numbered blank. There are several extra choices, which do not fit in any of the gaps. (10 points)The atmosphere is a mixture of several gases. There are about ten chemical elements which remain permanently in gaseous form, in the atmosphere under all natural conditions. Of these permanent gases, oxygen makes up about 21 percent and nitrogen about 78 percent. (41). The amount of water vapor, and its variations in amount and distribution is of extraord