English Entrance Examination for Non-English Major Doctoral Candidates
March 20, 2004
Ⅰ. ?Listening Comprehension (20 points)
Section A
Directions: There are five statements in this section. Each statement will be spoken only once. When you hear a statement, read the four choices given and choose the one which is closest in meaning to the statement you have heard by marking the corresponding letter A, B, C and D on the ANSWER SHEET.
????????
1.
A. Tony’s boss left office for two days.
B. Tony quit his job after two days.
C. Tony was off work for two days.
D. Tony’s boss agreed to take two days off.
2.
A. The professor told the students that the date of the exam would be changed.
B. The students expected that the exam would not be delayed.
C. The exam would not be canceled as the professor had originally said.
D. The professor said the exam would not be postponed.
3.
A. I wrote to you.
B. I called you.
C. I let you inside.
D. I went to see you.
4.
A. Unlike Sarah, Frank takes his coffee black.
B. Frank likes coffee, but Sarah doesn’t.
C. Frank took the coffee back to Sarah.
D. Sarah and Frank take cream and sugar in their coffee.
5.
A. There were more people than chairs.
B. There were more than enough chairs.
C. There were too many empty seats.
D. There were never enough people.
Section B
Directions: In this section, you will hear five short conversations. At the end of each conversation, a question will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the question will be spoken only once. After each question, there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D on your test paper, and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on the ANSWER SHEET.
6.
A. An architect.
B. A civil engineer.
C. A furniture designer.
D. A cameraman.
7.
A. He had a busy morning.
B. He had a terrible morning.
C. He had an exciting morning.
D. He had a terrific morning.
8.
A. Trains are often overcrowded with tourists.
B. She is in favor of closing down the railway.
C. She always takes trains whenever she goes out.
D. The railway is more convenient than the highway.
9.
A. It’s a well-paying job.
B. The job can be very rewarding.
C. The job may not be worth taking.
D. It’s a job she can do.
10.
A. She should have been more careful about her money.
B. She should buy the brown suit.
C. She should find another job to make more money.
D. She shouldn’t buy the brown suit.
Section C
Directions: In this section, you will hear part of a radio programme in which a doctor talks about jet lag. Look at the ten statements for this part on your test paper and decide if you think each statement is Right, Wrong or Not Mentioned while you are listening to the programme. Then mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.
11. You really only suffer from jet lag when you fly east.
A. Right??????????????? B. Wrong?????????????? C. Not Mentioned
12. The problem of jet lag is that many people become hyperactive.
A. Right??????????????? B. Wrong?????????????? C. Not Mentioned
13. Only certain people suffer from jet lag.
A. Right??????????????? B. Wrong?????????????? C. Not Mentioned
14. Jet lag affects young children less.
A. Right??????????????? B. Wrong?????????????? C. Not Mentioned
15. If you are flying west you can reduce the effects of jet lag before you go by going to bed and getting up later.
A. Right??????????????? B. Wrong?????????????? C. Not Mentioned
16. If you are flying east you can reduce the effects of jet lag before you to having your meals later.
A. Right??????????????? B. Wrong?????????????? C. Not Mentioned
17. It is better not to sleep on the plane.
A. Right??????????????? B. Wrong?????????????? C. Not Mentioned
18. You should be more careful than usual of what and when you cat on the plane.
A. Right??????????????? B. Wrong?????????????? C. Not Mentioned
19. It takes up to seven days to get over jet lag.
A. Right??????????????? B. Wrong?????????????? C. Not Mentioned
20. When you arrive you should always try to sleep.
A. Right??????????????? B. Wrong?????????????? C. Not Mentioned
Ⅱ.? Reading Comprehension (25 points)
Directions: There are five passages in this part. Each of the passages is followed by five questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best one and mark your answer on the ANSER SHEET.
1
Imagine eating everything delicious you want with none of the fat. That would be great, wouldn’t it?
New “fake fat” products appeared on store shelves in the United States recently, but not everyone is happy about it. Makers of the products, which contain a compound called olestra, say food manufacturers can now eliminate fat from certain foods, Critics, however, say that the new compound can rob the body of essential vitamins and nutrients and can also cause unpleasant side effects in some people. So it is up to consumers to decide whether the new fat-free products taste good enough to keep eating.
Chemists discovered olestra in the late 1960s, when they were searching for a fat that could be digested by infants more easily. Instead of finding the desired fat, the researchers created a fat that can’t be digested at all.
Normally, special chemicals in the intestines “grab” molecules of regular fat and break them down so they can be used by the body. A molecule of regular fat is made up of three molecules of substances called fatty acids.
The fatty acids are absorbed by the intestines and bring with them the essential vitamins A, D, E and K. When fat molecules are present in the intestines with any of those vitamins, the vitamins attach to the molecules and are carried into the bloodstream.
Olestra, which is made from six to eight molecules of fatty acids, is too large for the intestines to absorb. It just slides through the intestines without being broken down. Manufacturers say it’s that ability to slide unchanged through the intestines that makes olestra so valuable as a fat substitute. It provides consumers with the taste of regular fat without any bad effects on the body. But critics say olestra can prevent vitamins A, D, E, and K from being absorbed. It can also prevent the absorption of carotenoids, compounds that may reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, etc.
Manufacturers are adding vitamins A, D, E and K as well as carotenoids to their products now. Even so, some nutritionists are still concerned that people might eat unlimited amounts of food made with the fat substitute without worrying about how many calories they are consuming.
21. We learn from the passage that olestra is a substance that ?????????.
A. contains plenty of nutrients
B. renders foods calorie-free while retaining their vitamins
C. makes foods easily digestible
D. makes foods fat-free while keeping them delicious
22. The result of the search for an easily digestible fat turned out to be ??????????.
A. commercially useless
B. just as anticipated
C. somewhat controversial
D. quite unexpected
23. Olestra is different from ordinary fats in that ???????????.
A. it passes through the intestines without being absorbed
B. it facilitates the absorption of vitamins by the body
C. it helps reduce the incidence of heart disease
D. it prevents excessive intake of vitamins
24. What is a possible effect of olestra according to some critics?
A. It may impair the digestive system.
B. It may affect the overall fat intake.
C. It may increase the risk of cancer.
D. It may spoil the consumers’ appetite.
25. Why are nutritionists concerned about adding vitamins to olestra?
A. It may lead to the over-consumption of vitamins.
B. People may be induced to eat more than is necessary.
C. The function of the intestines may be weakened.
D. It may trigger a new wave of fake food production.
2
Although rarely seen, bats, as compared to other mammals, are quite common. Bats rank second only to rodents in number and diversity of species. Their numbers probably total in the tens of billions. Bats also vary considerably in size-from the tiny Philippine bamboo bat, with a six-inch wingspan and weighing 1/20th of an ounce to the “flying fox” with a wingspan of four or five feet and weight of two pounds.
The diet of bats is varied. Most types eat insects, but they also consume blood, pollen, and nectar and fruits. Some eat other vertebrates (animals with backbones) such as fish, lizards, and even other bats. Those that feed on flowers very often server as the primary pollinator of the flowers. The insect-consuming forms, quite obviously, are very beneficial.
Perhaps the most unusual characteristic of bats is their skilled nocturnal flying ability. This skill is so highly developed that they are capable of avoiding obstacles even in total darkness. Bats possess a high degree of tactile sense that may help them in avoiding obstacles, but their primary ability to do so is based on their ability to make high-pitched sounds and on their acute hearing ability.
Flying bats were long thought to be silent creatures, but this is now known not to be the case. While in flight, bats are continuously emitting a series of ultrasonic orientation pulses that are inaudible to the human ear. The frequency of the cries of bats, at 50,000 vibrations per second, is estimated to be two and half times higher than the human ear can hear.
This unique operation, a highly refined type of sonar system, allows the bat to detect rebounding pulses from obstacles near and far in its environment. They system is unique, additionally, in that the bat is capable of sorting through numerous rebounding pulses so as to avoid objects in its immediate path. Rescarchers are attempting to understand this system in hopes that it may reveal how the human brain processes sensory information.
In the final analysis bats are interesting and amazing; and to contrast to popular legends, they are quite useful and helpful to nature and man.
26. Which of the following is true?
A. There are more rodents in the world than bats.
B. There are more bats in the world than rodents.
C. Bats are usually bigger than rodents.
D. Rodents are usually bigger than bats.
27. According to the passage, some bats eat ???????.
A. human-beings
B. rodents
C. foxes
D. other bats
28. The word “nocturnal” in Paragraph 3 is related to ????????.
A. sound
B. vibrations
C. night
D. reputation
29. What can make bats avoid objects in flight?
A. Their sharp sense of hearing.
B. Their ability to emit ultrasonic sounds.
C. Their unique sense of seeing.
D. Both A and B.
30. We can conclude from the passage that bats are ??????.
A. really more intelligent than man
B. often wronged in popular legends
C. ugly and dangerous
D. beautiful in appearance
3
There were two widely divergent influences on the early development of statistical methods. Statistics had a mother who was dedicated to keeping orderly records of governmental units (“state” and “statistics” come from the same Latin root, “status&rdquo and a gentlemanly gambling father who relied on mathematics to increase his skill at playing the odds in games of chance. The influence of the mother on the offspring, statistics, is represented by counting, measuring, describing, tabulating, ordering, and the taking of censuses—all of which led to modern descriptive statistics. From the influence of the father came modern inferential statistics, which is based squarely on theories of probability.
Descriptive statistics involves tabulating, depicting, and describing collections of data. Theses data may be quantitative, such as measures of height, intelligence, or grade level—variables that are characterized by an underlying continuum—or the data may represent qualitative variables, such as ***, college major, or personality type. Large masses of data must generally undergo a process of summarization or reduction before they are comprehensible. Descriptive statistics is a tool for describing or summarizing or reducing to comprehensible form the properties of an otherwise unwieldy mass of data.
Inferential statistics is a formalized body of methods for solving another class of problems that present great difficulties for the unaided human mind. This general class of problems characteristically involves attempts to make predictions using a sample of observations. For example, a school superintendent wishes to determine the proportion of children in a large school system who come to school without breakfast, have been vaccinated for flu, or whatever. Having a little knowledge of statistics, the superintendent would know that it is unnecessary and inefficient to question each child: the proportion for the entire district could be estimated fairly accurately from a sample of as few as 100 children. Thus, the purpose of inferential statistics is to predict or estimate characteristics of a population from a knowledge of the characteristics of only a sample of the population.
31. The word “divergent” (Para. 1, Line 1) is closest in meaning to ?????.
A. distributed ???????????????????? B. different??????????? C. recorded?????????? D. prominent
32. According to the first paragraph, counting and census-taking are associated with ??????.
A. inferential statistics
B. qualitative changes
C. descriptive statistics
D. unknown variables
33. Why does the author mention the “mother” and “father” in the passage?
A. To point out that parents can teach their children statistics.
B. To introduce inferential statistics.
C. To explain that there are different kinds of variables.
D. To present the background of statistics in a humorous and understandable way.
34. Which of the following statements about descriptive statistics is best supported by the passage?
A. It reduces large amount of data to a more comprehensible form.
B. It is based on probability.
C. It can be used by people with little knowledge of mathematics.
D. It measures only qualitative differences.
35. With what is the passage mainly concerned?
A. The drawbacks of descriptive and inferential statistics.
B. The development and use of statistics.
C. Applications of inferential statistics.
D. How to use descriptive statistics.
4
It is possible to persuade mankind to live without war? War is an ancient institution which has existed for at least six thousand years. It was always wicked and usually foolish, but in the past the human race managed to live with it. Modern ingenuity has changed this. Either Man will abolish war, or war will abolish Man. For the present, it is nuclear weapons that cause the gravest danger, but bacteriological or chemical weapons may, before long, offer an even greater threat. If we succeed in abolishing nuclear weapons, our work will not be done. It will never be done until we have succeeded in abolishing war. To do this, we need to persuade mankind to look upon international questions in a new way, not as contests of force, in which the victory goes to the side which is most skillful in massacre, but by arbitration in accordance with agreed principles of law. It is not easy to change age-old mental habits, but this is what must be attempted.
There are those who say that the adoption of this or that ideology would prevent war. I believe this to be a profound error. All ideologies are based upon dogmatic assertions which are, at best, doubtful, and at worst, totally false. Their adherents believe in them so fanatically that they are willing to go to war in support of them.
The movement of world opinion during the past two years has been very largely such as we can welcome. It has become a commonplace that nuclear war must be avoided. Of course very difficult problems remain in the international sphere, but the spirit in which they are being approached is a better one than it was some years ago. It has began to be though, even by the powerful men who decide whether we shall live or die, that negotiations should reach agreements even if both sides do not find these agreements wholly satisfactory. It has begun to be understood that the important conflict nowadays is not between East and West, but between Man and the H-bomb.
36. This passage implies that war is now ?????.
A. more wicked than in the past
B. as wicked as in the past
C. less wicked than in the past
D. what people try to live with
37. According to the author ??????.
A. it is impossible to live without war
B. war is the only way to suede international disagreements
C. war must be abolished if man wants to survive
D. war will be abolished by modern ingenuity
38. The author says that modern weapons ?????.
A. will help abolish war
B. put mankind in grave danger
C. will gradually become part of man’s life
D. need further improving
39. The author believes that the only way to abolish war is to ????.
A. abolish nuclear weapons
B. let the stronger side take over the world
C. improve bacteriological and chemical weapons
D. settle international issues through negotiation
40. The last paragraph suggests that ????.
A. nuclear war will definitely not take place
B. international agreements are now reached more and more easily
C. man is beginning to realize that nuclear war is his greatest enemy
D. world opinion is in favour of nuclear war
5
The acknowledged “King of Ragtime” was the black pianist and composer Scott Joplin. Joplin (1868-1917), originally from Texarkana, Texas, began his career as an itinerant pianist. By 1885 he was in St. Louis, playing in honky-tonks and sporting houses. He went to Chicago briefly (1893) to try his luck in the entertainment halls that had sprung up around the Word’s Fair, then in 1894 to Sedalia, Missouri, to stay until the turn of the century. His first published rag, Original Rags, came out in March, 1899; later the same year appeared Maple Leaf Rag, named for a saloon and dance hall in Sedalia. The work has an instant and resounding success, and by the time of his death Joplin had published more than thirty original rags, and other piano pieces, songs, and arrangements. He had even larger aims: in 1902 he finished a ballet score called Rag Time Dance, and in 1903 the opera A Guest of Honor, unpublished and now apparently lost, in 1911 came another opera, Treemonisha. The artistic success of these larger works is debatable, but that of Joplin’s piano rags is not; they can only be described as elegant, varied, often subtle, and as sharply incised as a cameo. They are the precise American equivalent, in terms of a native style of dance music, of minuets by Mozart, mazurkas by Chopin, or waltzes by Brahams. They can both be lovely and powerful, infectious and moving-depending, of course, on the skill and stylishness of the pianist, for they are not easy music technically and they demand a clean but “swinging” performance.
41. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A. Scott Joplin’s Early Career
B. Rare Piano Works of Scott Joplin
C. Sedalia: The Birthplace of Ragtime
D. A Ragtime composer and His Music
42. It can be inferred from the passage that Joplin is recognized as the “King of Ragtime” because he ??????.
A. was probably the greatest composer of ragtime music
B. began his career as a famous child pianist
C. created the character “King of Ragtime” in one of his operas
D. was a descendant of a European royal family
43. According to the passage, which of the following is an accurate statement about Maple Leaf Rag?
A. It was Joplin’s favorite composition.
B. Its name came from an establishment in Missouri.
C. It was published in March 1899.
D. Its popularity grew slowly.
44. Toward the end of the passage, the author refers to the works of other composers in order to illustrate the ??????.
A. popularity of different styles of dance music of recent centuries
B. success of Joplin’s operas in Europe
C. high quality of Joplin’s work as an American musical form
D. powerful movement attributed to Joplin’s compositions
45. From the last sentence of the passage, one may infer that Joplin’s piano music can best be appreciated when played ??????.
A. by a highly skilled pianist
B. in an elegant setting
C. with a moving classical style
D. for a small audience
Ⅲ.? Translation and Writing (55 points)
Part A Translation
Translate the following into Chinese (30 points):
??? 1. We care for literature primarily on account of its deep and lasting human significance. A great book grows directly out of life; in reading it, we are brought into large, close, and fresh relations with life; and in that fact lies the final explanation of its power. Literature is a vital record of what men have seen in life, what they experienced of it, what they have though and felt about those aspects of it which have the most immediate and enduring interest for all of us. It is thus fundamentally an expression of life through the medium of language. Such expression is fashioned into the various forms of literary art. But it is important to understand, to begin with, that literature lives by virtue of the life it embodies. By remembering this, we shall be saved from the besetting danger of confusing the study of literature with the study of philology, rhetoric, and even literary technique.
2. Physical science is the systematic study of the inorganic world, as distinguished from the study of the organic world, which is the province of biological science. Physical science is ordinarily though of as consisting of four broad areas: astronomy, physics, chemistry, and the Earth sciences. Physics is the basic physical science. It deals with the structure and behaviour of individual atoms and their components, as well as with the different forces of nature and their relationships. It also is concerned with the physical properties of matter and with such phenomena as electricity and magnetism. Chemistry focuses on the properties and reactions of molecules. Broadly speaking, it tends to concentrate on the specific properties of different elements and compounds, as opposed to physics which is chiefly concerned with the general properties of matter as a whole. Astronomy entails the study of the entire universe beyond the Earth. It includes investigations of the gross physical properties of the earth primarily as they relate to interactions with other components of the solar system. Most other aspects are dealt with by the Earth sciences.
Translate the following into English (10 points):
在20世纪,我们习惯于于使用无线电,它成了每个人生活的一部分.人们在汽车上,在家里,在海滩上—几乎在所有的地方听无线电。对许多人来说,无线电已成为他们工作中的重要组成部分:飞行员、宇航员、警察、出租车司机都经常用无线电收入 发信息。而第一次用无线电发报是在1896年,距现在只有一百多年时间。
Part B Summary Writing (15 points)
Read the following passage carefully and then write a summary of it in English in about 120 words.
The success of failure of a company abroad depends on how effectively its employees can exercise their skills in a new location. That ability will depend on both their job-related expertise and the individual’s sensitivity and responsiveness to the new cultural environment. One of the most common factors contributing to failure in international business assignments is the erroneous assumption that if a person is successful in the home environment, he or she will be equally successful in applying technical expertise in a different culture.
Research has shown that failures in the overseas business setting most frequently result from an inability to understand and adapt to foreign ways of thinking and acting rather than from technical or professional incompetence. At home U.S. businesspeople equip themselves with vast amount of knowledge of their employees, customers, and business partners. Market research provides detailed information on values, attitudes, and buying preferences of U.S, consumers; middle-and upper-level managers are well versed in the intricacies of their organization’s culture; and labor negotiators must be highly sensitive to what motivates those on the other side of the table. Yet when North Americans turn to the international arena, they frequently are willing to deal with customers, employees, and fellow workers with a lack of information that at home would be unimaginable.
The literature on international business is filled with examples of business miscues when U.S. corporations attempted to operate in an international context. Some are mildly amusing. Others are downright embarrassing. All of them, to one degree or another, have been costly in terns of money, reputation, or both. For example, when American firms try to market their products in other countries, they often assume that if a marketing strategy or slogan is effective in Cleveland, it will be equally effective in other parts of the world. But problems arise when cultural context changes.
Just as inattention to the cultural context can result in some costly blunders in marketing and management, it also can affect seriously the success of international business negotiations. Time, effort, reputation, and even contracts can be lost because of cultural ignorance. The world is changing faster than most of us can calculate, and if American businesspersons are to meet the challenges of an increasingly interdependent world, they will need to develop a better understanding of how cultural variables influence international business enterprises. A healthy dialogue between cultures and members of the international business community will be an important step in achieving that needed understanding.