1、公共英语五级-38 及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Section Listening (总题数：0，分数：0.00)二、Part A(总题数：1，分数：5.00)You will hear a talk. As you listen, answer Questions 1 to 5 by writing T (for True) or F (for False). You will hear the talk ONLY ONCE. （分数：5.00）(1).The centre of a comet is more than 10 miles in diameter
2、.（分数：1.00）A.正确B.错误(2).Most comets are visible to the naked eye.（分数：1.00）A.正确B.错误(3).Many people used to regard the coming of a comet as a disaster.（分数：1.00）A.正确B.错误(4).The nucleus of a comet may consist of frozen gases and frozen water mixed with dust particles.（分数：1.00）A.正确B.错误(5).Comets travel aro
3、und the sun in no more than seven years.（分数：1.00）A.正确B.错误三、Part B(总题数：2，分数：6.00)Questions 1 3 are based on the following passage; listen and choose the best answer. （分数：3.00）(1).What is astronomers“ opinion about matter in the universe?（分数：1.00）A.Matter is the universe has different laws.B.It has on
4、e common law.C.It obeys the same laws.D.It shares no common law.(2).Which of the following does life not require?（分数：1.00）A.The right amount of atmosphere.B.A steady supply of heat and life.C.The planet being the right distance from its sun.D.Our solar system.(3).What is the speaker“s idea?（分数：1.00）
5、A.It is unlikely for life to exist in other planets.B.There are very few planets on which earthlike life might be found.C.Life can exist on only one planet in a million.D.Life may exist on a vast number of planets.Questions 4 6 are based on the following passage; listen and choose the best answer. （
6、分数：3.00）(1).Why did scientists take pictures of a protostar?（分数：1.00）A.To confirm their theory of how a star is born and how it matures.B.To get to know about the Milky Way.C.To find the thick cloud around the star.D.To gather and focus radio waves.(2).How old is the star?（分数：1.00）A.15,000 years.B.1
7、50,000 years.C.155,000 years.D.50,000 years.(3).Which of the following is NOT true of the star according to Kuiper“s prediction?（分数：1.00）A.It will attract other subjects itself.B.The rest of the gas cloud will collapse into the star.C.Hydrogen atoms inside the star will start to combine.D.It will be
8、gin to glow.四、Part C(总题数：1，分数：5.00)You will hear a talk. As you listen, you must answer Questions 1 5 by writing NO MORE THAN THREE words. （分数：5.00）(1).When did Buzz Aldrin land on the moon?（分数：1.00）_(2).Where would the spacecraft that the scientists are designing travel?（分数：1.00）_(3).How could the
9、cyclers get their fuel supply?（分数：1.00）_(4).How long will the journey from Earth to Mars last?（分数：1.00）_(5).When could a person be taking a trip to Mars if he is now in middle school?（分数：1.00）_五、Section Use of Eng(总题数：1，分数：30.00)Try to picture a slow expansion of human activities outward from the so
10、lar system, among the suns in our galaxy. Imagine a vast ocean sprinkled with islands, some deserted, 1 perhaps inhabited. On one of the 2 islands, people have just learned how to build ships. They prepare to 3 the ocean, but the very nearest island is five years“ voyaging 4 . No possible improvemen
11、t in the technique of ship-building will ever reduce this time. After a few centuries the islanders may have established colonies on many of the 5 islands and briefly explored others. Returning 6 from any of the colonies could report only 7 had happened there five years ago. There would never be new
12、s from the other islands 8 history. Beyond our own galaxythe whirlpool of stars and cosmic dust 9 which our sun is an out-of-town member, lying on one of the remoter spiral armsare other 10 . There are probably as many other galaxies in creation as there are 11 in our own. The detailed examination o
13、f all the 12 of sand on all the beaches of the world is a minor exercise compared to the exploration of the universe. Space can be charted and crossed and occupied without definable limit, but it can never be 13 . When we have reached our ultimate achie vements in space and the stars themselves are
14、scattered no more widely than mankind, even then we shall still be like ants 14 on the face of the earth. The ants have covered the world, but have they conquered 15 for what do their countless colonies know of it, or of each other?（分数：30.00）六、Section Reading Co(总题数：0，分数：0.00)七、Part A(总题数：1，分数：10.00
15、)Comets are the most oddly behaved objects in the sky. No two of them act exactly alike. Most appear without warning, seemingly out of nowhere, too faint at first to be detected except as fuzzy dots of light on the photographic plates of automatic cameras attached to telescope lenses; most of the me
16、mbers of the comet family move in elliptical paths, remain visible to earthly observers for a few weeks or months, then disappear into the depths of space. There are a few comets that return periodically, on predictable timetables following almost the same track they were on originally. But even tho
17、se few have little in common. The tracks traveled by some of them must extend very far away from the sun, for decades pass between their appearances. Other comets come back at intervals as short as three to four years. Halley“s comet (named after the British astronomer Edmund Halley, who predicted i
18、ts return in 1758) was seen, with a single exception, every seventy-seven year from 240 BC to 1910 and is expected to return again in 1987. It should be noted that one of the few, characteristics shared by all of the 1700 comets observed since 2316 Be is the common focal point of their elliptical or
19、bitsthe sun. Though most comets are too small to be measured accurately, some are enormous. The great comet of 1843 had a tail twice as long as the distance from the earth to the sun. The head of the comet of 1811 was alone bigger than the sun. The heads of some comets are composed of a bright nucle
20、us shrouded by a nebulous coma; in the heads of other comets, no nucleus can be seen. The coma may or may not have a tail. Again, one of the few similarities among comets must be remarked on. Where a nucleus is present, discharges of some kind usually stream from it into the coma and the tail. Plane
21、t earth passed through the tail of Halley“s comet in 1910, while the comet head was 15,000,000 miles away. Despite its giant size, the comet did not contain enough mass to exert any noticeable gravitational pull on earth. Brooks comet in 1866 passed between the satellites of planet Jupiter and Jupit
22、er itself without causing the slightest perturbation in the orbits of the satellites, although the comet“s own orbit was shortened from twenty-seven years to seven. By contrasting these experiences, it is seen that comets are by earthly measure insubstantial stuff. It is no surprise then that spectr
23、ographic examination of the light they emit shows comets to be molecular mixtures of frozen gasesprincipally hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbonand cosmic dust. As recently as the first half of the twentieth century, it was believed that the luminosity of comets rose solely from the reflected lig
24、ht of the sun. Subsequently, astronomers have determined that comets also shine with intrinsic light, perhaps triggered somehow by the sun. In searching for a possible triggering mechanism, it is first desirable to draw together, from the scientific literature on comets, descriptions of erratic fluc
25、tuations in comet light.（分数：10.00）(1).Most comets _.（分数：2.00）A.appear out of nowhereB.are so faint that they can“t be seen by any meansC.are dots of lightD.move in elliptical paths(2).The tails of comets are _.（分数：2.00）A.probably mostly gasB.composed of a bright nucleusC.made of solid matterD.18.1 m
26、iles long(3).What would probably happen if a comet should pass a planet?（分数：2.00）A.The orbit of the planet would be altered.B.The orbits of the moons of the planet would be altered.C.The orbit of the comet would be altered.D.There would be no effect on the planet, its moons or the comet.(4).Comets _
27、.（分数：2.00）A.reflect the light of the sunB.do not shine at allC.gave off light of their ownD.Both A and C(5).Which of the following is TRUE?（分数：2.00）A.Most comets are enormous.B.Comets are made up of a nucleus.C.Comets consist of frozen gases.D.Most comets are similar.八、Part B(总题数：1，分数：10.00)The reas
28、ons for sending humans to Mars range from good to bad to terrible. The notion that we should take on such a dangerous and expensive endeavor just as an elite remnant of Earthlings might survive if we destroy ourselves here on our own planet, for instance, is ludicrous. 1 One of the best arguments fo
29、r making the trip is pragmatic. We are now embarked as a civilization on a program of sustained global environmental management; we have changed the climate already, and from now on we have to deal with the Earth as a total dynamic system, trying to keep it all in balance. The better we understand o
30、ur planet, the better we will be able to keep it (and ourselves) healthy. One of the most powerful scientific methods for understanding something is to compare it with other things like it, and there aren“t many options when you look around for other planets to compare with earth. 2 The second reaso
31、n is more abstract, but so fundamental to our grasp of who we are that it can“t be easily dismissed; we should go to Mars to search for life there. This is a new idea; after the Viking landings in 1976 it was assumed that Mars was lifeless. But since then we have discovered life on Earth in such unl
32、ikely harsh environments that a new word, “extremophiles,“ has been coined to describe these hardy microbes. 3 Some will say we can send robots to make these investigations. Robots like Pathfinder and the Polar Lander will land on Mars biannually for the coming decade, and they will send back valuab
33、le information. But the search for life will be difficult to do mechanically, and the truth is that humans are much better at field geology than robots. A single human expedition would teach us more than a century of robotic landings, as members of the team lived there for six months or a year, wand
34、ering over the astounding red landscape performing one complicated experiment after another; their work and problems would be more interesting than the robots as well. 4 So we should enjoy the fruits of the robot missions, while at the same time deciding to go ourselves, and designing the robotic mi
35、ssions to set the groundwork for our arrival. 5 A. It appears now that life can exist anywhere there is water and some minerals. Mars may have these ingredients in abundance, far under its frozen surface. Scientists have already claimed to have found fossil bacteria in the Martian meteorite ALH84001
36、, and while this particular finding is contested, the possibility that life once existed on Mars is generally acknowledged, as is the possibility that it is still there deep underground. If we go there and find life, or even fossil evidence of past life, it would be one of the most important scienti
37、fic discoveries in history. B. For the foreseeable future, Mars is not only the best choice; it is probably the only one. We“ve come to understand that the two planets shared very similar beginnings, then radically diverged; understanding more about the two planetary histories will teach us a lot ab
38、out Earth. So we should go to Mars to help us here. It“s as simple as that. Comparative planetology is an environmentalist tool, and going to the Red Planet is a green project. C. The case for going in person is also strengthened by the fact that it looks much less expensive than it used to. A study
39、 during the Bush administration put the cost at $450 billion. Tighter engineering has recently revised that downward tenfold, to $50 billion spread over a decade. This is back within the realm of the thinkable, even within the realm of NASA“s extremely modest budget. Costs fairly low, benefits extre
40、mely high; challenging both technically and socially; educational, exciting, inspirational, appealing to all that is best in human nature; really, the strange thing would be to neglect to go. Let“s go! D. Similarly, to claim that such an undertaking is worthwhile because it will solve all of humanit
41、y“s problems is taking things too far. But there is a good case for going to Mars, and some recent developments have made it even stronger. E. This last is no trivial matter. We live for our stories, and it would be inspiring to see our civilization make a peaceful international effort to explore an
42、other world, seeking knowledge rather than profits. F. The mission marks the first time a space probe has attempted to land on the moon of another planet, providing the first direct sampling of the Earthlike atmosphere of Titan and the first detailed pictures of its previously hidden surface. Titan
43、is Saturn“s largest moon, namely, nearly the size of Mars and bigger than either Mercury or Pluto.（分数：10.00）九、Part C(总题数：1，分数：20.00)A=Patroclus B=Achilles C=Zeus Which God. was slain by Hector? 1 is the ruler of the Olympian gods? 2 was made invulnerable by the waters except for the heel? 3 managed
44、to rescue the Greeks in Achilles“ armor? 4 is the greatest Greek warrior in the Trojan war? 5 was the protector and ruler of the human race? 6 killed the king of the Ethiopians? 7 ruled over the sky? 8 is the dearest friend of Achilles? 9 was mortally wounded in the heel by Paris? 10 Patroclus Patro
45、clus is the dearest friend of the hero Achilles. He accompanied Achilles to the Trojan War. In the tenth year of the conflict Achilles withdrew his troops, the Myrmidons, from combat because of a quarrel with Agamemnon, commander of the Greek forces. Without Achilles, the Greeks began to lose to the
46、 Trojans. Finally, as the Trojans began to burn the Greek ships, Patroclus persuades Achilles to allow him to lead the Myrmidons to the rescue. Clad in Achilles“ armor, Patroclus led the Greeks to victory, forcing the Trojans back to the walls of their city. In his moment of glory, however, Patroclu
47、s was slain by the Trojan commander, Hector. To avenge his friend“s death, Achilles rejoined the battle and killed Hector. Achilles Achilles is the greatest of the Greek warriors in the Trojan War. He was the son of the sea nymph Thetis and Peleus, king of the Myrmidons of Thessaly. When he was a ch
48、ild his mother dipped him into the River Styx to make him immortal. The waters made him invulnerable except for the heel by which his mother held him. Achilles fought many battles during the 10-year siege of Troy. When the Mycenaean king Agamemnon seized the captive maiden Briseis from him, Achilles withdrew the Myrmidons from battle and sulked in his tent. The Trojans, emboldened by his absence, atta
