高级英语试题（八） Explain the italicized words or phrases in the following sentences. (20%) Ancient girders creak and groan, ropes tighten and then a trickle of oil oozes down a stone runnel into a used petrol can. Every here and there, a doorway gives a glimpse of a sunlit courtyard, …while the great bales of merchandise they have carried hundreds of miles across the desert lie beside them. Ancient girders creak and groan, ropes tighten and then a trickle of oil oozes down a stone runnel into a used petrol can. Quickly the trickle becomes a flood of glistening linseed oil as the beam sinks earthwards, taut and protesting, … Ancient girders creak and groan, ropes tighten and then a trickle of oil oozes down a stone runnel into a used petrol can. Quickly the trickle becomes a flood of glistening linseed oil as the beam sinks earthwards, taut and protesting, … I see the ten thousand villages of Russia where the means of existence is wrung so hardly from the soil, but where there are still primordial human joys, where maidens laugh and children play. We have but one aim and one single, irrevocable purpose. We are resolved to destroy Hitler and every vestige of the Nazi regime. His invasion of Russia is no more than a prelude to an attempted invasion of the British Isles. The words spat forth with sudden savagery, all pretense of blandness gone. The house detective clucked his tongue reprovingly. As the Duke of Croydon shifted uneasily, the house detective’s bulbous countenance reddened. She jumped up from the table and went over in the corner where the churn stood, the milk in it clabber by now. After we watched the car dust settle I asked Maggie to bring me a dip of snuff. After we watched the car dust settle I asked Maggie to bring me a dip of snuff. I see her standing off under the sweet gum tree she used to dig gum out of. Furtive boys in pink shirts hanging about on washday after school. He flew to marry a cheap city girl from a family of ignorant flashy people. When a cow comes nibbling around the edge of the yard she snaps it and me and Maggie and the house. II. Selecting the best answer based on language points from the textbook (20%) 1．She was almost blinded by the glare of the headlights from the approaching car. coldness darkness brightness hotness 2. The Japanese crowd did not appear to have the same preoccupations that I had. bewilderment confusion obsession seizure 3. Just because she doesn’t like cooking, her husband thinks she is good for nothing. nice wonderful worthy of sufficient 4. It is our firm conviction that every effort should be made to preserve world peace. supposition belief convulsion assumption 5. A group of Chinese victims of WWII armed with lawyers went to Japan to attest to the court war crimes by the then Japanese government. appeal sue confirm protest 6. The two families have been holding great hatred for a score of years and there seems to be no hope of ____________ between them. reconciliation exasperation desperation retaliation 7. The minister made a vigorous defense of the government’s policies. powerful lengthy prolonged pretentious 8. It has been established that she was not at the scene at the time of the crime. set up settled converted ascertained 9. This river teems with all kinds of fish in summer. abounds in perishes in extinguishes with disposes of 10. The committee adjourned their discussion until the following week. continued suspended accomplished commenced 11. He cloaked his evil intentions with friendly appearance. revealed disclosed spotlighted concealed 12. The woman managed to escape from her would-be attacker. likely enraged attempted timid 13. The Three Gorges hydraulic scheme has been and will be one of the greatest in Chinese history. program conspiracy system collaboration 14. The destruction of humankinds is such that it threatens other living species with extinction. annihilation annexation annoyance assimilation 15. We had to sit and swelter in the room while our friends were at the beach. doze off suffer from heat take shelter toil 16. The United States is making every endeavor to enlist the support of its allies for preparation of the overthrow of the existing Iraqi government. guarantee acquire confirm strengthen 17. He was overwhelmed by grief after the sad news. outnumbered outweighed overcome overawed 18. The opposition parties are sure to exploit the government’s difficulties over this issue. employ develop resolve expend 19. Military strategists have outlined several convincing ___________ for the outbreak of a nuclear war. scenarios scinarios scinareos scenerios 20. I suppose laziness is one of the frailties of human nature. peculiarities characteristics weaknesses identities 21. Some Chinese companies are striving to penetrate the world markets. scramble occupy secede enter 22. It is a point of __________ for me to repay all my debt. face order honor grace 23. The collision of the planet into ours would be comparable to the power of five atomic bombs that hit Hiroshima during World War II should it occur in the future. exceed be equivalent to not match be comparative 24. Scientists used to believe that all the stars developed from primordial mass of gases. derivative primeval prestigious primavera 25. Your thoughtless behavior has caused us a great deal of distress. suffering difficulty inconvenience trouble 26. The Supreme Court demanded his interpretation of his involvement in the frauds. submission presentation explanation acknowledgement 27. On many of the previous occasions the US trade negotiators would revert to the issue of China’s human rights problems. reconsider reiterate restated reverse 28. The police are speculating that the suicide bombers may be linked to a terrorist organization. confirming guessing contemplating subsiding 29. Albert Einstein is regarded as the father of modern scientific thought. formulator advocate creator plagiarizer 30. Mr. Johnson is to preside over the seminar for genetic engineering. Address prepare host publicize 31. The congressman _________ a point of prolonging the debate. set advanced made insisted 32. He was extremely nervous at the _________ of his turn to make the presentation. potential prospective probability prospect 33. I was so annoyed that I felt impelled to write a letter to the local newspaper. compelled discouraged exhausted exhilarated 34. The chairman gave his assent of the proposal to the committee. refusal denial approval opposition 35. The increased demand for their skills has given them greater bargaining power. purchasing negotiating quarrelling performing 36. A lot of government offices and museums in Washington are made _________ to the public without admissions fees. accessory acceptable accepted accessible 37. They perceived that they were unwelcome there and left. were conscious were peremptory were complacent were compatible 38. Large areas of land have been contaminated by the leakage from the nuclear reactor. corrupted discolored polluted decayed 39. His tension was veiled by casual remarks. concealed inspired sharpened weakened 40. The runaway vehicle bore down inexorably on the trapped rabbit. stubbornly mercilessly inextricably inexplicably III. Paraphrase the following sentences. (20%) You pass from the heat and glare of a big, open square into a cool, dark cavern which extends as far as the eye can see, losing itself in the shadowy distance. Little donkeys with harmoniously tinkling bells thread their way among the throngs of people entering and leaving the bazaar. The Japanese crowd did not appear to have the same preoccupations that I had. Serious looking men spoke to one another as if they were oblivious of the crowds about them, and bobbed up and down repeatedly in little bows, as they exchanged the ritual formula of gratitude and respect. On some nights, in high northern latitudes, the sky itself offers another ghostly image that signals the loss of ecological balance now in progress. This “noctilucent cloud” occasionally appears when the earth is first cloaked in the evening darkness; shimmering above us with a translucent whiteness, these clouds seem quite unnatural. The house detective clucked his tongue reprovingly. The important thing was to consider all eventualities. The cast of characters set before him in his new profession was rich and varied--- a cosmos. Casually he debunked revered artists and art treasures, and took unholy verbal shots at the Holy Land. IV. Error Correction（10%） 要求：下面的段落中有10处错误，这些错误没有标出来（第一处错误已用斜体字标出并给出答案）。请找出并改正错误,依次将正确答案填写在答题纸上。如果某个词前面缺少一个词，请将缺少的词和这个词同时写在答案上。 Doctors say anger can be an extremely damaging emotion, unless you learn how to deal with it. They warn that angry hostile feelings will lead to heart disease, stomach problems, headaches, emotional problems and possibly cancer. Anger is normal emotion that we all feel from time to time. Some people express anger open in a calm reasonable way. Others explode with anger, and scream and yell. But other people keep their anger inside. They can not or will not express it. This is called repressing anger. Doctors said that repressing these feeling will only make them continue. And these can lead to many medical problems. Doctors thought a person could prevent these problems from letting the anger out by expressing it freely. But recently some doctors disputed this. They said that people who express anger repeatedly and explosively did become, in fact, more and not less angry. They said these two can cause medical problems. Some doctors say that both repressing and expressing anger intensively may be more like to develop heart disease, and they believe that those who keep his anger inside may face a greater danger of high blood pressure. Doctors say that a good way to deal with anger is to find humorous in the situation that has made you angry. They say that laughter is very healthier than anger. V. Chinese-to-English Translation (15%) 中文原文： 今天是国际禁毒日①。我们高兴地看到，世界各国正携起手来②向毒品宣战。16天前，联合国大会结束了为期三天的世界反毒品特别会议，从而开始了规模空前的全球反毒品战。 人类将要迎接一个新的千年，解决毒品问题显得越来越紧迫。尽管许多国家加强了反毒品的力度③，可是毒品市场的泛滥状况(rampant spread)越来越严重。据估计，全球毒品的贸易额已达到每年4000亿美元之巨。吸毒者④约占全世界人口的3%。统计数据表明，每年全世界死于毒品者达10万人之多，另外还有1000万吸毒者丧失工作能力。毒品问题直接关系到社会稳定与安全，关系到全人类的命运。世界各国都应该充分意识到反毒品任务的紧迫性(urgency)，要采取切实有效的措施扫除毒魔⑤。中国政府始终十分关注毒品问题，并通过法律、政治、行政、经济、文化、教育和其他手段来综合治理⑥吸毒者。最近在北京举办的全国反毒品展览会已吸引了50万参观者。展览会的目的是揭露⑦毒品对社会和家庭造成的危害。 越来越多的人，尤其是年轻人，他们或出于无知，或为了寻求刺激，或受到其他吸毒者的影响，成了毒品的牺牲者。在全国登记在案⑧的吸毒人员中，80%为年轻人。因此，中国的反毒战任重道远。我们首先要做的是提高人们对毒品危害的认识，给吸毒者以更多的帮助，使他们戒除⑨不良习惯，实施更加严厉的法规打击毒品犯罪行为。 我们希望各国政府在国际反毒合作中担负起应有责任⑩，为我们的子孙后代创造一个无毒的世界。 ①国际禁毒日：International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking ②携起手来：join hands ③加强力度:enhance efforts ④吸毒者:drug takers; drug addicts ⑤扫除毒魔：wipe out the evil of drug ⑥治理：deal with; handle ⑦揭露:disclose; expose ⑧登记在案: register ⑨戒除: get rid of ⑩担负起应有责任：take due responsibilities VI. Reading Comprehension (15%) Passage 1 Questions 1-8 Potash (the old name for potassium carbonate) is one of the two alkalis (the other being soda, sodium carbonate) that were used from remote antiquity in the making of glass, and from the early Middle Ages in the making of soap: the former being the product of heating a mixture of alkali and sand, the latter a product of alkali and vegetable oil. Their importance in the communities of colonial North America need hardly be stressed. Potash and soda are not interchangeable for all purposes, but for glass or soap making either would do. Soda was obtained largely from the ashes of certain Mediterranean sea plants, potash from those of inland vegetation. Hence potash was more familiar to the early European settlers of the North American continent. The settlement at Jamestown in Virginia was in many ways a microcosm of the economy of colonial North America, and potash was one of its first concerns. It was required for the glassworks, the first factory in the British colonies, and was produced in sufficient quantity to permit the inclusion of potash in the first cargo shipped out of Jamestown. The second ship to arrive in the settlement from England included among its passengers experts in potash making. The method of making potash was simple enough. Logs were piled up and burned in the open, and the ashes collected. The ashes were placed in a barrel with holes in the bottom, and water was poured over them. The solution draining from the barrel was boiled down in iron kettles. The resulting mass was further heated to fuse the mass into what was called potash. In North America, potash making quickly became an adjunct to the clearing of land for agriculture, for it was estimated that as much as half the cost of clearing land could be recovered by the sale of potash. Some potash was exported from Maine and New Hampshire in the seventeenth century, but the market turned out to be mainly domestic, consisting mostly of shipments from the northern to the southern colonies. For despite the beginning of the trade at Jamestown and such encouragements as a series of acts "to encourage the making of potash," beginning in 1707 in South Carolina, the softwoods in the South proved to be poor sources of the substance. 1. What aspect of potash does the passage mainly discuss? A. How it was made. B. Its value as a product for export. C. How it differs from other alkalis. D. Its importance in colonial North America. 2. All of the following statements are true of both potash and soda EXCEPT: A. They are alkalis. B. They are made from sea plants. C. They are used in making soap. D. They are used in making glass. 3. The word “interchangeable” in line 6 is closest in meaning to A. convenient. B. identifiable. C. equivalent. D. advantageous. 4. It can be inferred from the passage that potash was more common than soda in colonial North America because A. the materials needed for making soda were not readily available. B. making potash required less time than making soda. C. potash was better than soda for making glass and soap. D. the colonial glassworks found soda more difficult to use. 5. According to paragraph 4, all of the following were needed for making potash EXCEPT A. wood. B. fire. C. sand. D. water. 6. The word “adjunct” in line 19 is closest in meaning to A. addition. B. answer. C. problem. D. possibility. 7. According to the passage, a major benefit of making potash was that it could be exported to Europe in exchange for other goods. B. it helped finance the creation of farms. C. it could be made with a variety of materials. D. it stimulated the development of new ways of glassmaking. 8. According to paragraph 5, the softwoods in the South posed which of the following problems for southern settlers? A. The softwoods were not very plentiful. B. The softwoods could not be used to build houses. C. The softwoods were not very marketable. D. The softwoods were not very useful for making potash. Passage 2 Questions 9-15 So it's 1997, and it's raining, and you'll have to walk to work again. The subways are crowded, and any given train breaks down one morning out of five. The buses are gone, and on a day like today the bicycles slosh and slide. Besides, you have only a mile and a half to go, and you have boots, raincoat and rain hat. And it's not a very cold rain, so why not? Lucky you have a job in demolition too. It's steady work. Slow and dirty, but steady. The fading structures of a decaying city are the great mineral mines and hardware shops of the nation. Break them down and reuse the parts. Coal is too difficult to dig up and transport to give us energy in the amounts we need; nuclear fission is judged to be too dangerous; the technical breakthrough toward nuclear fusion that we hoped for never took place; and solar batteries are too expensive to maintain on the earth's surface in sufficient quantity. Anyone older than ten can remember automobiles. They dwindled. At first the price of gasoline climbed --- way up. Finally, only the well-to-do drove, and that was too clear an indication that they were filthy rich, so any automobile that dared show itself on a city street was overturned and burned. Rationing was introduced to "equalize sacrifice", but every three months the ration was reduced. The cars just vanished and became part of the metal resource. There are many advantages, if you want to look for them. Our 1997 newspapers continually point them out. The air is cleaner and there seem to be fewer colds. Against most predictions, the crime rate has dropped. With the police car too expensive (and too easy a target), policemen are back on their beats. More important, the streets are full. Legs are king in the cities of 1997, and people walk everywhere far into the night. Even the parks are full, and there is mutual protection in crowds. If the weather isn't too cold, people sit out front. If it is hot, the open air is the only air conditioning they get. And at least the street lights still burn. Indoors, electricity is scarce, and few people can afford to keep lights burning after supper. As for the winter --- well, it is inconvenient to be cold, with most of what furnace fuel is allowed hoarded for the dawn. But sweaters are popular indoor wear and showers are not an everyday luxury. Lukewarm sponge baths will do, and if the air is not always very fragrant in the human vicinity, the automobile fumes are gone. There is some consolation in the city that it is worse in the suburbs. The suburbs were born with the auto, lived with the auto, and are dying with the auto. One way out for the suburbanites is to form associations that assign turns to the procurement and distribution of food. Pushcarts creak from house to house along the posh suburban roads, and every bad snowstorm is a disaster. It isn't easy to hoard enough food to last till the roads are open. There is not much in the way of refrigeration except for the snow-banks, and then the dogs must be fought off. What energy is left cannot be directed into personal comfort. The nation must survive until new energy sources are found, so it is the railroads and subways that are receiving major attention. The railroads must move the coal that is the immediate hope, and the subways can best move the people. And then, of course, energy must be conserved for agriculture. The great car factories make trucks and farm machinery almost exclusively. We can huddle together when there is a lack of warmth, fan ourselves should there be no cooling breeze, sleep or make love at such times as there is a lack of light --- but nothing will for long ameliorate a lack of food. The American population isn't going up much any more, but the food supply must be kept high even though the prices and difficulty of distribution force each American to eat less. Food is needed for export so that we can pay for some trickle of oil and for other resources. The rest of the world, of course, is not as lucky as we are. Some cynics say that it is the knowledge of this that helps keep America from despair. They're starving out there, because earth's population has continued to go up. The population on earth is 5.5 billion, and outside the United States and Europe, not more than one in five has enough to eat at any given time. All the statistics point to a rapidly declining rate of population increase, but that is coming about chiefly through a high infant mortality; the first and most helpless victims of starvation are babies, after their mothers have gone dry. A strong current of American opinion, as reflected in the newspapers (some of which still produce their daily eight pages of bad news), holds that it is just as well. It serves to reduce the population, doesn't it ? Others point out that it's more than just starvation. There are those who manage to survive on barely enough to keep the body working, and that proves to be not enough for the brain. It is estimated that there are now nearly 2 billion people in the world who are alive but who are permanently brain-damaged by under-nutrition, and the number is growing year by year. It has already occurred to some that it would be "realistic" to wipe them out quietly and rid the earth of an encumbering menace. The American newspapers of 1997 do not report that this is actually being done anywhere, but some travelers bring back horror tales. At least the armies are gone --- no one can afford to keep those expensive, energy-gobbling monstrosities. Some soldiers in uniform and with rifles are present in almost every still functioning nation, but only the United States and the Soviet Union can maintain a few tanks, planes, and ships --- which they dare not move for fear of biting into limited fuel reserves. Energy continues to decline, and machines must be replaced by human muscle and beasts of burden. People are working longer hours and there is less leisure: but then, with electric lighting restricted, television for only three hours a night, movies three evenings a week, new books few and printed in small editions, what is there to do with leisure? Work, sleep and eating are the great trinity of 1997, and only the first two are guaranteed. Where will it end? It must end in a return to the days before 1800, to the days before the fossil fuels powered a vast machine industry and technology. It must end in subsistence farming and in a world population reduced by starvation, disease and violence to less than a billion. And what can we do to prevent all this now? Now? Almost nothing. If we had started 20 years ago, that might have been another matter. If we had only started 50 years ago, it would have been easy. 9. Decide which of the following best states the main idea of the passage. A. The author makes pessimistic predictions of what would happen if the present rate of fuel consumption in the U.S. should remain uncontrolled. B. By depicting the nightmarish life of Americans in 1997 resulting from the exhaustion of fossil fuels, the author draws attention to the gravity of the energy crisis and calls for immediate action to prevent the possible occurrence of the nightmare. C. By drawing an imagined picture of the U. S. in 1997 when dwindling fuel resources have reduced the once-prosperous nation to a cold, dark, and miserable country, the author means to make his readers aware how heavily the U.S. relies on fossil fuels. 10-15. Decide which of the three choices best completes each sentence. 10. As described in the passage, one rainy day in 1997, many people walk to work because: 11.According to the passage, a job in demolition is steady work. Why? 12. With regard to cars, the author describes how 13. According to the passage, in 1997 energy resources have become so scarce that, in order to keep the nation going, priority in the distribution of fuel is given to: 14. Why is the situation in the rest of the world even worse? 15. What is the author’s answer to the question of how the energy crisis will end?