考试科目：614英语语言基础 第1页 共14页 北京邮电大学 2017年硕士研究生入学考试试题 考试科目：英语语言基础 请考生注意： 所有答案（包括选择题和填空题）一律写在答题 纸上，否则不计成绩。 不允许使用计算器 Part I READING COMPREHENSION (40 Points) In this section there are four reading passages followed by a total of 20 multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then write your answers on the Answer Sheet. Passage 1 The Internet, E-commerce and globalization are making new economic era possible. In the future, capitalist markets will largely be replaced by a new kind of economic system based on networked relationships, contractual arrangements and access rights. Has the quality of our lives at work, at home and in our communities increased in direct proportion to all the new Internet and business-to-business Internet services being introduced into our lives? I have asked this question of hundreds of CEOs and corporate executives in Europe and the United States. Surprisingly, virtually everyone said, “No, quite contrary.” The very people responsible for ushering in what some have called a “technological renaissance” say they are working longer hours, feel more stressed, are more impatient, and are even less civil in their dealings with colleagues and friendsnot to mention strangers. And whats more revealing, they place much of the blame on the very same technologies they are so aggressively championing. The technological gurus promised us that access would make life more convenient and give us more time. Instead, the very technological wonders that were supposed to liberate us have begun to enslave us in a web of connections from which there seems to be no easy escape. If an earlier generation was preoccupied with the quest to enclose a vast geographic frontier, the .com generation, it seems, is more caught up in the colonization of time. Every spare moment of our 考试科目：614英语语言基础 第2页 共14页 time is being filled with some form of commercial connection, making time itself the most scarce of all resources. Our e-mail, voice mail and cell phones, our 24-hour Internet news and entertainment all seize for our attention. And while we have created every kind of labor-and-time-saving device to service our needs, we are beginning to feel like we have less time available to us than any other humans in history. That is because the great proliferation of labor-and-time-saving services only increases the diversity, pace and flow of commodified activity around us. For example, e-mail is a great convenience. However, we now find ourselves spending much of our day frantically responding to each others electronic messages. The cell phone is a great time-saver. Except now we are always potentially in reach of someone else who wants our attention. Social conservatives talk about the decline in civility and blame it on the loss of a moral compass and religious values. Has anyone bothered to ask whether the hyper speed culture is making all of us less patient and less willing to listen and defer, consider and reflect? Maybe we need to ask what kinds of connection really count and what types of access really matter in the e-economy era. If this new technology revolution is only about hyper efficiency, then we risk losing something even precious than timeour sense of what it means to be a caring human being. 1. According to the passage, corporate executives think that _. A. technology renaissance should be pushed forward B. technology has a profound impact on their lives C. technology actually results in a decline in their life quality D. technology should be aggressively championed like before 2. Which of the following is NOT true? A. Technology was supposed to free people. B. The .com generation became slaves of technology. C. The technology occupies much of our time. D. It is difficult to avoid the influence of technology. 3. What is the most valuable resource for the .com generation? A. Technological wonders. B. Access to information. C. Time itself. D. Time saving devices. 4. In the sixth paragraph, the author implied that _. A. social conservatives blamed the loss of morality on technology B. the .com generation is less civil than the earlier generations C. the hyper speed culture led to the decline in morality D. technology might make people less impatient 考试科目：614英语语言基础 第3页 共14页 5. An appropriate title for the passage might be _. A. The New Internet Life Era B. The Drawbacks of too Much Access C. The Failure of Technological Renaissance D. The Declining Quality of Life Passage 2 The strong efforts to gain equality for women in the scientific workplace began to show results in the last quarter of the 20th century; women have secured positions as research scientists and won recognition and promotion within their fields. Though the modern struggle for equality in scientific fields is the same in many ways as it was in the early part of the century, it is also different. The women who first began undertaking careers in science had little support from any part of the society in which they lived. This vanguard had to struggle alone against the social conditioning they had received as women members of that society and against the male-dominated scientific community. Women scientific researchers made a seemingly auspicious beginning. In the first quarter of the 20th century, some women scientists who engaged in research worked at the most prestigious institutes of the period and enjoyed more career mobility than women researchers would experience again for several decades. Florence Sabin, an anatomist at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research noted for her research on the lymphatic system, is one important example. This encouraging beginning, however, was not to be followed by other successes for many decades. To maintain an active role in research institutions, women would have to share some decision-making power. They needed to be part of hiring, promotion, and funding decisions. Unfortunately, these early women scientists were excluded from the power structure of scientific research. As a result, they found it almost impossible to provide opportunities for younger set of female colleagues seeking employment in a research setting, to foster their productivity and facilitate their career mobility, and eventually to allow them access to the top ranks. Even those with very high professional aspirations accepted subordinate status as assistants if doing so seemed necessary to gain access to research positionstoo often these were the only positions offered them in their chosen careers. Time and again they pulled back from offering any real resistance or challenge to the organizational structure that barred their advancement. Even when a few women scientists gained advancement, we must remember these women 考试科目：614英语语言基础 第4页 共14页 scientists were few in number, their participation in decision-making clout was minimal. Thus they could easily become highly visible targets for elimination from the staff, especially if their behavior was judged in the least imprudent. Womens awareness that they were unequal colleagues, included in the professional setting only on the sufferance of the male colleagues, who held the positions of power, conflicted with their belief in meritocracy. They wanted to believe that achieving persons would be welcomed for their abilities and contributions. Yet they were surrounded by evidence of the contrary. An assistant professor of zoology observed that men who were heads of departments were insistent on having other men in the department and they told her that women should be satisfied teaching high school. She relates that, during her ten years in the department, men were given at least six positions that she was qualified for and wanted desperately, but for which she was not even considered because she was a woman. 6. According to the whole passage, it is implied that “career mobility” means _. A. the freedom to work on projects with sufficient funding B. the freedom to publish research findings no matter how controversial they are C. the ability to obtain funding to travel to some important professional conferences D. the ability to advance in their own chosen scientific fields 7. According to the second paragraph, what does the example of Florence Sabin prove? A. During that time, many women scientists were deprived of the opportunity to work at prestigious institutes. B. During that time, many women scientists were given opportunities to work at renowned institutes. C. During that time, more women scientists were in the decision-making positions. D. During that time, women scientists had less decision power than they have today. 8. The statement that women could be eliminated from their jobs if their behavior was “judged in the least imprudent” in the third paragraph suggests that they _. A. were as critical of their colleagues as their colleagues were of them B. were more likely than their male colleagues to be rebellious C. were judged by a standard different from the one used to judge their male colleagues 考试科目：614英语语言基础 第5页 共14页 D. could gain advancement if they avoided political confrontations about their rights as women 9. We can infer from the last paragraph that for the majority of women scientists, the belief in the meritocracy was _. A. justified, considering the opportunities available to them B. trend-setting in that their views soon received universal acceptance C. inconsistent with the fact that they were discriminated against on the job D. fortunate because it provided them with attainable goals 10. The example of the assistant professor of zoology in the last paragraph serves mainly to indicate _. A. the extent of male bias against women in scientific fields at a particular time B. the early attempts of women to achieve a share of scientific awards C. the inability of men and women to work together in an academic setting D. the results womans challenging of male dominance in the early part of this century Passage 3 Christophe Petyt is sitting in a Paris café, listing the adornments of his private art collection: several Van Goghs, and a comprehensive collection of the better impressionists. “I can,” he says quietly, “really get to know any painting I like, and so can you.” Half an hour later I am sitting in his office with Degas The Jockeys on my lap. If fine art looks good in a gallery, believe me, it feels even better in your hands. Petyt is the worlds leading dealer in fake masterpieces, a man, whose activities provoke both admiration, and exasperation in the higher levels of the art world. Name the painting and for as little as £1,000 he will deliver you a copy so well executed that even the original artist might have been taken in. Petyts company employs over eighty painters, each great in a particular artist or school. “We choose them very carefully,” he says. “Theyre usually people with very good technique but not much creativity, who are unlikely to make it as artists in their own right. But they love the great works and have real insight into whats gone into them.” Every work is individually commissioned, using new canvasses and traditional oil paints, before being artificially aged by a variety of simple but ingenious techniques. 考试科目：614英语语言基础 第6页 共14页 The value of the original painting is not the determining factor, however, when it comes to setting the real value of Petyts paintings. This is actually linked to the amount of effort and the expertise that has gone into producing the copy. An unknown miniature may therefore cost much more than a bigger, more famous painting by a grand master. The Degas Im holding looks as though it came off the artists easel yesterday. Before being sold, it has to be aged, and this, so to speak, is the real “art” of the copy. A few minutes in the oven can put years on a canvas, black tea apparently stains it beautifully and new frames can be buried underground, then sprayed with acid. The view when Petyt started out was that very little of this could be legal. He was pursued through the French courts by museums and descendants of artists. This concern was perhaps understandable in a country that has been rocked by numerous art fraud scandals. “The establishment was suspicious of us,” huffs Petyt, “but for the wrong reasons, I think. Some people want to keep all the best art for themselves.” He won the case and as the law stands, the works and signatures of any artist who has been dead for seventy years can be freely copied. The main proviso is that the copy cannot pass as the real thing. To prevent this, every new painting is indelibly marked on the back of the canvas, and as an additional precaution a tiny hidden piece of gold leaf is worked into the paint. 11. In the first paragraph, the writer indicates that he shares_. A. Petyts enjoyment of the work of a range of painters B. the art worlds suspicious attitude towards Petyts activities C. the general inability to distinguish copies from real paintings D. Petyts desire to appreciate great works of art at close quarters 12. What do we learn about the painters employed by Petyt? A. They have been specially trained in the technique of fakery. B. They were chosen because of the quality of their original work. C. They have to be versatile in terms of the range of styles they reproduce. D. They make copies of those paintings which customers specifically request. 13. The price of Petyts paintings tends to depend on _. A. the status of the original artist B. the time and skill needed to create it C. the degree it has to be artificially aged D. the extent to which the copy truly replicates the original 14. How does Petyt feel about the attempts to prove that his activities were illegal? 考试科目：614英语语言基础 第7页 共14页 A. He suspects that they were not driven by public-spirited motives. B. He accepts that they were useful in helping to establish his integrity. C. He regrets that they gained the support of other art dealers in France. D. He respects the right of the real artists families to protect their interests. 15. As a result of the court case he won, Petyt _. A. no longer reproduces fake signatures on paintings he sells B. has been able to copy the work of more contemporary artists C. is obliged to make sure his products can be identified as copies D. has agreed not to market his products through certain channels Passage 4 One of the most pressing challenges that the United Statesand indeed, the worldwill face in the next few decades is how to allievate the growing stress that human activities are placing on the environment. The consequences are just too great to ignore. Wildlife habitats are being degraded or disappearing altogether as new developments take up more land. Plant and animal species are becoming extinct at a greater rate now than at any time in Earths hisotry. As many as 30 percent of the worlds fish stocks are over-expl