宁波大学 2018 年硕士研究生招生考试初试试题(A 卷)(答案必须写在考点提供的答题纸上)第 0 页 共 9 页科目代码：244总分值：100科目名称： 英语（二外）Part I Cloze Test (20 points, 1 point each)Directions: In this part you are required to read the given passages carefully, and then fill in each blank with an appropriate word given in the boxes. Each word is allowed to be used only once. You should not change the form of the word but you can capitalize the initial letter if the word is used at the beginning of the sentence. Write your choices in the Answer Sheet. Passage Oneas basically because between unlikewhatever where which while whoLiving in a culture that is different from your own can be both an exciting and challenging experience. You have to learn different cultural practices and try to adapt to them. Here are the top six cultural differences 1 China and the US to help promote mutual understanding. Chinese people do not have the same concept of privacy as Americans do. They talk about topics such as ages, income or marital status, 2 Americans think is annoying and intrusive.In China, elders are traditionally treated with enormous respect and dignity 3 the young are cherished and nurtured. In America, the goal of the family is to encourage independence, particularly that of the children. 4 the Chinese, older Americans seldom live with their children.Chinese people have different meanings to define friends. Just hanging out together time to time is not friendship. Friendship means lifelong friends who feel deeply obligated to give each other 5 help might seem required. Americans always call people they meet friends, so the definition of friends is general and different. There are work friends, playing friends, school friends and drinking friends.6 is well known, the Chinese like to save. They are always conservative when they are planning to spend money. It is different in the USA, 7 far fewer families are saving money for emergencies and education than their Chinese counterparts.Chinese people value education and career more than Americans, 8 in turn put more emphasis on good character and faith.9 China values the community and the US values the individual. If you achieve something in the US, it's because you were great. While in China, if you achieve something in China it's 10 the team, or family, or the company is great. Everything you do gets attributed to the greater whole, 宁波大学 2018 年硕士研究生招生考试初试试题(A 卷)(答案必须写在考点提供的答题纸上)第 1 页 共 9 页科目代码：244总分值：100科目名称： 英语（二外）while in America individual merits are celebrated.Passage Two allocate businesses develop ease effortspreferential pressure released rights unidentifiedChinas transportation regulator issued guidelines on Thursday to improve management of the burgeoning car-sharing industry. The government encourages car-sharing, which allows people to rent cars for short periods of time and can help 11 urban congestion and parking 12 , according to the guidelines 13 by the Ministry of Transport, which are open for public comment for two weeks. Car-sharing vehicles should register with public security bodies, pass several tests and be insured. They should not be leased to 14 users. Enterprises that run car-sharing 15 should protect users' private information and are encouraged to work with insurers to 16 specific insurance products to protect their legal 17 and those of their users. 18 should be made to 19 car-sharing vehicles in line with public demand, urban road networks and parking areas, as well as to offer 20 parking policies, according to the guidelines. China is home to more than 40 car-sharing firms, which own more than 40,000 cars, most of which are new energy vehicles.Part II Reading Comprehension (40 points)Section A (10 points, 1 point each)Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Write your choices in the Answer Sheet.Weddings can cost a fortune and for a young couple it can create debt that can haunt newlyweds for several years, but the hottest trend in food could be just the answer to help lower the cost of the big day and 1 a buzz with guests.宁波大学 2018 年硕士研究生招生考试初试试题(A 卷)(答案必须写在考点提供的答题纸上)第 2 页 共 9 页科目代码：244总分值：100科目名称： 英语（二外）According to social media platform Pinterest, the site has seen a 30 percent 2 in food trucks being used at weddings. The idea seems a bit out there, but when evaluating the cost and the possible variety of good eats, it makes 3 sense.Reports have the average cost per person of $60 or more just for a few appetizers and a catered dinner, but the cost of using a truck is just $20, a savings of $4,000 based on 100 guests. The savings isn't the only 4 as these meals on wheels also give guests more 5 and likely a meal that comes out hot and juicy, not precooked and warmed hours afterwards.Food Revolt did a terrific article on the subject and 6 that using two or three trucks can create a menu that fits any theme, 7 gluten free, vegetarian, tropical, or just good old fashion BBQ, though the latter isn't best when wearing an expensive white gown.For those cold night, hot food ideas will keep everyone warm and the 8 going at full speed. Warm nights and guests can be served cooler dishes with the idea of keeping all the people at your big day more 9 and for those partying late into the night, some nice greasy food is perfect when the alcohol level is a bit high.Food trucks have become the rage in big cities and for good reason. Hot food, good service, and a terrific variety of dishes makes everyone happy and for the lucky couple, it could help save years of 10 with a more affordable way of feeding family and friends by keeping the finances in check.A) positive I) optionsB) pointed J) outstandingC) create K) includingD) comfortable L) distressE) considering M) increaseF) perfect N) luxuriesG) obstacle O) receptionH) suggestedSection B (30 points, 2 points each)Directions: There are 3 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice and put it in the Answer Sheet.宁波大学 2018 年硕士研究生招生考试初试试题(A 卷)(答案必须写在考点提供的答题纸上)第 3 页 共 9 页科目代码：244总分值：100科目名称： 英语（二外）Passage OneQuestions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage. A new study by US researchers suggests that the ocean, in particular the epic ebbs and flows of sea level and sediment（沉积) over the course of geological time, is the primary cause of the worlds periodic mass extinctions over the past 500 million years. “The expansion and contractions of those environments have pretty profound effects on life on earth,” says assistant professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who is the author of the new report published in the latest issue of the journal Nature.In short, says the professor, changes in ocean environments related to sea level exert a driving influence on rates of extinction, which animals and plants survive or vanish, and generally determine the composition (结构）of life in the oceans. Since the advent of life on Earth 3.5 billion years ago, scientists think there may have been as many as 23 mass extinction events. During the past 540 million years, there have been five well-documented mass extinctions, primarily of marine plants and animals, with as many as 75 95 percent of species lost. For the most part, scientists have been unable to pin down the causes of such dramatic events. In the case of the disappearance of the dinosaurs, scientists have a smoking gun, an impact crater (火山口) that suggests dinosaurs were wiped out as the result of a large asteroid （行星）crashing into the planet. But the causes of other mass extinction events have been murky(模糊的), at best. Arnold Miller, a professor of geology at the University of Cincinnati, says the new study is striking because it establishes a clear relationship between the tempo of mass extinction events and changes in sea level and sediment. The new Wisconsin study, Peters says, does not preclude other influence upon extinction such as physical events like volcanic eruptions or killer asteroids, or biological influences such as disease and competition among species. But what it does do, he argues, is to provide a common link for mass extinction events over a significant stretch of Earth history. 1. What does the phrase “those environments” refer to in the beginning of the second paragraph? A) Ocean environments. B) Flows of sea level. C) Sediment. D) Periodic mass extinctions.宁波大学 2018 年硕士研究生招生考试初试试题(A 卷)(答案必须写在考点提供的答题纸上)第 4 页 共 9 页科目代码：244总分值：100科目名称： 英语（二外）2. According to the passage, most of the mass extinctions are _.A) well-known to scientists B) results of natural processesC) closely related to volcanoes D) not well-recorded 3. It can be inferred from the passage that _. A) scientists have found out the causes of most mass extinctionsB) the causes of most mass extinctions are still unknown to scientists C) most mass extinctions happen much faster than people have expectedD) peoples damage to the environment contributes greatly to mass extinctions4. The new study is quite impressive as it_. A) has conducted a convincing experiment into the causes of mass extinctionsB) suggests the causes of mass extinctions and the changes of ocean environments C) excludes other influences exerted on mass extinctions ever knownD) involves both physical and biological influences on mass extinctions5. According to the passage, the authors attitude is _. A) negative B)critical C)positive D)indifferentPassage TwoQuestions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage. The houses and businesses in Osage, a town of some 3,600 people in northern Iowa, seem just like buildings anywhere else in small-town America. Only a close look reveals the difference. Examine, for example, the new insulated roof on the local hospital that shaves utility bills 20%. Or venture into the basement of Steeles Super Valu grocery to see the wall that owner Everett Steele built around his cooling compressors to capture heat, which is then pumped into the store. Osages model conservation program saved the town an estimated $1.2 million in energy costs in 1988 and made a modest but worthwhile contribution toward slowing down global warming.The folks in Osage save energy in the old-fashioned way: they plug leaky windows, insulate walls and ceilings, replace in efficient furnaces and wrap hot-water heaters in blanket insulation. Since 1974, the community has cut its natural-gas consumption some 45% and reduced its annual growth in electricity demand by more than half, to less than 3% a year.Much of the towns energy saving can be traced to the zeal of Weston Birdsall, general manager 宁波大学 2018 年硕士研究生招生考试初试试题(A 卷)(答案必须写在考点提供的答题纸上)第 5 页 共 9 页科目代码：244总分值：100科目名称： 英语（二外）of Osage Municipal Utilities. Looking back to 1972, when he took over the utility company, Birdsall recalls, “Thats about the time OPEC reared its ugly head. We had to do something. “Birdsall preached conservation door to door, offering to give every building a free thermogram, a test that pinpoints places where the most heat is escaping. More than half the towns property owners accepted the offer.Birdsalls conservation campaign still flourishes long after similar efforts elsewhere have flagged. The utility recently decided to give customers $15 fluorescent light bulbs (荧光灯), which use far less energy than incandescent models (白炽灯). While Birdsalls strategies are based on simple, widely known techniques, few cities or towns apply the methods as diligently as Osage does. “Why arent more people doing this?“ Birdsall asks. Maybe more of them will if they come to realize that conserving energy not only saves money but also helps save the environment.6. The difference between the buildings in Osage and the rest of the country is that building in Osage _.A) have newly insulated roofB) have no leaky windows or doorsC) use hot-water heaters instead of furnacesD) adopt some kind of energy-saving method7. The energy saving program in Osage is _.A) modern B) traditionalC) costly D) complicated8. What stimulated Birdsall to launch this energy saving campaign in Osage?A) Pressure from OPEC.B) Increasing energy consumption.C) Environmental problems.D) Desire to do better in his new post.9. Which of the following best describes Birdsalls personality?A) Talkative. B) Intelligent.C) Persistent. D) Thrifty.10. Which of the following statements might be inferred from the passage?A) Fluorescent light bulbs are more popular than incandescent models in the US now.B) Osages conservation program helps prevent global warming.C) More and more cities are adopting Osages energy saving methods.D) Many Americans still dont realize the importance of energy conservation.宁波大学 2018 年硕士研究生招生考试初试试题(A 卷)(答案必须写在考点提供的答题纸上)第 6 页 共 9 页科目代码：244总分值：100科目名称： 英语（二外）Passage ThreeQuestions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage. One of the most remarkable things about babies is that, even before theyre forming sentences, theyre starting to mentally map out the structure of their worlds, separating people and things into conceptual groups. Psychologists call this process “categorization,” and its why if you bring a one-year-old to the zoo, they dont call an aardvark a ball, they call it a dog it has four legs and a snout, after all.Toddler categorization is even more sophisticated than their word choice might indicate. This is put into special light in a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, where Cornell assistant professor Katherine Kinzler and her colleagues found that one-year-olds can see the links between peoples identities and the foods they like. Over several experiments, the researchers brought 200 one-year-olds into the lab and tracked their gazes, which developmental psychologists take to be a proxy（代替物）for what babies are thinking about. Like when you see someone very hot or very strange on the subway, toddlers cant help but stare at what theyre thinking about, and theyre more likely to focus on things that surprise them. The researchers used this pattern to infer babies expectations: If they saw someone hate a food that someone else said they loved, theyd look longer, since it was so novel.Writing about the experiments in the New York Times, Kinzler relates further fascinating findings: If the people in the videos acted like they hated each other the tots thought that theyd like to eat different things, while if they acted friendly, the babies thought theyd like the same foods. Family background seems to play a big role, too: Kids from families who spoke only English thought that if two people spoke different languages, theyd like different foods, whi