第 1 页 共 12 页 电子科技大学 2015年攻读硕士学位研究生入学考试试题 考试科目: 621英语水平测试 注：无机读卡，所有答案必须写在答题纸上，写在试卷或草稿纸上无效。 Part I Reading Comprehension (40 points) Directions: In this part there are 5 passages, each with some questions or incomplete statements. Read them carefully and then choose from the four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D to answer the questions or complete the statements. Please write your answers on the Answer Sheet. Passage 1 Oh no, not Anthony Weiner again. The older generation never gets it. Anthony Weiner, a candidate for mayor of New York, admitted this week to having sent more snaps of himself to a digital acquaintance. As any youngster could have told him, the way to find love is to send photos of your face. Consider Will, a 24-year-old up-and-coming film director in California. He meets potential dates via a smartphone app called Tinder. It finds potential matches who are nearbyyour phone always knows where you areand shows him photos from their Facebook profiles. Will can like or reject each photo. If a woman he likes also likes him, both are alerted and can start chatting. Tinder is quick (you can scroll through dozens of photos in minutes) and spares your blushes (you never know if someone rejects you). Will has already had three romantic encounters and hundreds of matches, he says. Justin Mateen, a co-founder of Tinder, says it has made 100m matches since its launch in September, and led to 50 marriage proposals. He adds: “The app has only really been going for nine months. There could be a baby popping out soon.” Americans are dating longer, which creates opportunities for matchmakers. Some are quite direct. Bang with Friends (BWF), another app, allows users to specify which of their Facebook friends they would like to spend the night with. If both parties feel the same way, BWF notifies them. If not, no one is any the wiser. BWF was booted from Apples app store, but that hasnt stopped it from creating 200,000 pairings since its January launch. BWFs boss, admits he came up with the concept while “a bit tipsy”. Such apps make it easier to find potential partners, but dont seem to have turned America into a nation of bed-hoppers. Young women claim to have had a median of 3.6 male intimate friends while young men 6.1 female ones. These figures may be inaccuratemen may exaggerate; women may undercountbut they have not changed much in years. Parents fret that staring at screens all day has made youngsters socially inept face-to-face. A 第 2 页 共 12 页 survey by two dating sites found that 36-38% of Americans aged 21-34 ask for dates by text message. But when they meet, they must still make their moves in person. Witty joking and a well-placed wink still have their uses. 1. It can be summarized from the first three paragraphs that _. A. we used to judge a potential match by his or her appearance B. one can find love by sending his photos to a digital acquaintance C. Anthony Weiner is trying to win more votes from digital friends D. Tinder will probably replace traditional matchmakers worldwide 2. The sixth paragraph is focused on _. A. the huge success that BWF has achieved B. the serious consequence of digital dating C. the evolution of matchmaking in the U.S. D. the future developments of Facebook 3. The last paragraph implies that _. A. excessive use of apps leaves youngsters socially awkward B. most young people find love through text messages C. people in love often move their homes before marriage D. verbal or non-verbal language is still used during dates 4. Potential matches found by Tinder are probably _. A. young, single, and nearby B. poor, married, but lonely C. illiterate, retired, but divorced D. far-away, busy, and happy Passage 2 The human body contains enormous quantities of energy. In fact, the average adult has as much energy stored in fat as a one-ton battery. That energy fuels our everyday activities, but what if those actions could in turn run the electronic devices we rely on? Today, innovators around the world are banking on our potential to do just that. Movement produces kinetic energy, which can be converted into power. In the past, devices that turned human kinetic energy into electricity, such as hand-cranked radios, computers and flashlights, involved a persons full participation. But a growing field is tapping into our energy without our even noticing it. Consider, for example, a health club. With every step you take on a treadmill and with every muscle curl, you turn surplus calories into motion that could drive a generator and produce electricity. The energy from one persons workout may not be much, but 100 people could contribute significantly to a facilitys power needs. Thats the idea behind the Green Microgym in Portland, Oregon, where machines likes tationary bikes harvest energy during workouts. Pedaling turns a generator, producing electricity that helps to power the building. For now, body energy supplies only a small fraction of the gyms needs, but the amount should increase as more machines are adapted. “By being extremely energy-efficient and combining human power, solar and someday wind, I believe well be able to be net-zero for electricity sometime this year,” says the gyms owner, Adam Boesel. His bikes, by the way, arent the flirts to put pedal power to work. In some parts of the world, cyclists have been powering safety 第 3 页 共 12 页 lights for years with devices called bicycle dynamos, which use a generator to create alternating current with every turn of the wheels. Dance clubs are also getting in on the action. In the Netherlands, Rotterdams new Club WATT has a floor that harnesses the energy created by the dancers steps. For now, its just enough to power LED lights in the floor, but in the future, more output is expected from newer technology. 5. Using human body energy as power supplies _. A. requires us to be strong B. is a great new idea C. proves to be difficult D. is increasingly popular 6. It can be learned that the Green Microgym _. A. is using human, solar and wind power to produce electricity B. is the first to use bikes to harvest human body energy C. will be able to satisfy its power needs by using green energy D. will introduce the technology to other parts of the world 7. What is the authors most likely comment on the application of body energy? A. It is unrealistic at present. B. It has a promising future. C. Its effect is still unknown. D. It depends on the energy cost. Passage 3 The first of Laurence Smiths two weddings was meant to take place in the midwinter snow not far south of the Arctic Circle. The second foresaw balmy blue skies in Palm Springs, California. As it turned out, the guests were greeted by rain and slush in the far north, then by a chill and more rain in the Californian desert. If the weather is capable of surprising him, why should anyone trust Mr. Smiths forecast for 2050? Because the growing freakiness of weather is precisely his point. Climate change is one of four mega-trends, along with globalization, population growth and surging demand for natural resources, that he thinks will shape the world over the coming decades. The first part of his book The New North: The World in 2050 is a familiar tale of teeming cities, roaring trade, harder-to-get-at oil and rising sea levels. But Mr. Smith comes into his own when he explores the consequences of these trends (climate change especially) for the quarter of the Earth that lies at latitudes above 45°N. A geographer at the University of California, Los Angeles, he specializes in the frozen lands of Russia, Canada, Alaska and Iceland. The region is about to undergo a great transformation. The planets warming may be global, but climate-change models predict it will be amplified in the north. Permafrost will melt and settlement patterns will change. Inland, construction will become trickier and ice roads less dependable, so development will gravitate to the coasts. By mid-century the Arctic Ocean may be briefly free of sea ice in September, a boon to shipping. Crops will spread north as seal hunters become farmers. Interest in the regions vast and increasingly accessible natural resources is already growing, along with the potential for conflict over the rights to these riches. Mr. Smith believes there is every chance that the development of the “new north” will be peaceful, thanks to habits of cooperation and 第 4 页 共 12 页 an internationally accepted rule book for laying down rights to the seabed. He sees a leading role for the regions indigenous peoples. By 2050 the answers to some very big questions should be clear: what happens to the norths massive stocks of carbon in the soil as it defrosts; whether great schemes to channel freshwater from north to south are attempted; how populous, resource-hungry China works with Russias emptying, resource-rich Far East. Mr. Smith reckons an area about one and a half times the size of the United States will be habitable, albeit for much of the year still cold and dark. The development of the new north, he thinks, might resemble that of the American West, dotted with settlements formed for mining and trade. Obscuring the view of 2050, however, is a caveat that looms as large as an Arctic iceberg. Mr. Smith sets ground rules that allow him to extrapolate into the future without worrying about disruptions such as game-changing leaps in technology. This is an “informed thought-experiment” rather than a proper prediction. But for anyone curious about the new northlet alone thinking of investing in Arctic derivativesit is an instructive exercise. 8. The word “boon” in the fourth paragraph can be replaced by _. A. prohibition B. prosperity C. benefit D. catastrophe 9. According to Laurence Smith, the following are all very likely to happen in the future decades EXCEPT _. A. The local people in the “new north” will benefit from the climate change B. The development of the “new north” will be on a peaceful process C. The natural resources in the “new north” will be able to exploited D. The large amounts of carbon in the “new north” soils will be safely controlled 10. What can be inferred from the passage? A. The author takes a skeptical attitude towards Laurence Smiths predictions of the Arctic. B. The author reckons Laurence Smith is somewhat optimistic in imagining the “new north” C. Laurence Smith did a lot of experiments in combining geographical predictions and economic development. D. Laurence Smith shares with the author that the future of the Article depends on our awareness and actions. 11. Which of the following titles is more appropriate for the passage? A. The Arctic: The de-icing age B. Climate Change: Humankinds future C. A Day Dreamer: Laurence Smiths new writing style D. 2050: The end of the world Passage 4 The newspaper must provide for the reader the facts, unalloyed, unslanted, objectively selected facts. But in these days of complex news it must provide more; it must supply interpretation, the meaning of the facts. This is the most important assignment confronting American journalismto make clear to the reader the problems of the day, to make international news as understandable as 第 5 页 共 12 页 community news, to recognize that there is no longer any such thing (with the possible exception of such scribbling as society and club news) as “local” news, because any event in the international area has a local reaction in manpower draft, in economic strain, in terms, indeed, of our very way of life. There is in journalism a widespread view that when you embark on interpretation, you are entering choppy and dangerous waters, the swirling tides of opinion. This is nonsense. The opponents of interpretation insist that the writer and the editor shall confine himself to the “facts”. This insistence raises two questions: What are the facts? And: Are the bare facts enough? As to the first query. Consider how a so-called “factual” story cones about. The reporter collects, say, fifty facts; out of these fifty, his space allotment being necessarily restricted, he selects the ten, which he considers most important. This is Judgment Number One. Then he or his editor decides which of these ten facts shall constitute the lead of the piece. This is important decision because many readers do not proceed beyond the first paragraph. This is Judgment Number Two. Then the night editor determines whether the article shall be presented on page one, where it has a large impact, or on page twenty-four, where it has little. Judgment Number Three. Thus, in the presentation of a so-called “factual” or “objective” story, at least three judgments are involved. And they are judgments not at all unlike those involved in interpretation, in which reporter and editor, calling upon their general background, and their “news neutralism,” arrive at a conclusion as to the significance of the news. The two areas of judgment, presentation of the news and its interpretation, are both objective rather then subjective processesas objective, that is, as any human being can be. (Note in passing: even though complete objectivity can never be achieved, nevertheless the ideal must always be the beacon on the murky news channels.) Of an editor is intent on slanting the news, he can do it in other ways and more effectively than by interpretation. He can do it by the selection of those facts that prop up his particular plea. Or he can do it by the pay he gives a storypromoting it to page one or demoting it to page thirty. 12. The title that best expresses the ideas of this passage is _. A. Interpreting the News. B. Choosing Facts. C. Subjective versus Objective Processes. D. Everything Counts. 13. Why does the writer of an article select ten out of fifty available facts? A. His editor is prejudiced. B. Space is limited. C. The subject is not important. D. The newspaper is arbitrary. 14. What is the least effective way of “slanting” news? A. Placement. B. Concentration. C. Interpretation D. His editor is prejudiced. 15. Why should the lead sentence present the most important fact? A. It will influence the reader to continue. B. It will be the best way to write. C. Some readers do not read beyond the first paragraph. D. It will gratify the editor. 第 6 页 共 12 页 Passage 5 One of the most pivotal moments in American literature occurred near the end of the nineteenth century as authors such as a young man named Stephen Crane began to embrace a literary style forged in Europe a bit earlier and which would come to be known as naturalism. Crane was born to parents in the ministry and grew up in a household grounded in religious beliefs and context. Yet, before long, Crane had, for the most part, rejected religion and the idea of divine intervention in favor of