1、公共英语五级真题(7)及答案解析(总分：55.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、Section Listening (总题数：0，分数：0.00)二、Section Use of Eng(总题数：1，分数：20.00)Between 1852, when 1 was first established that Mount Everest was the highest mountain on earth, and 1953, when Edmund Hillary, and Tenzing Norgay finally reached the peak“s summit, it was eve
2、ry mountaineer“s dream to become the first person standing on the world“s 2 point. And George Mallory was one of the most tenacious early contenders. Mallory was introduced 3 rock climbing while studying at Winchester College. 4 completed his studies, he settled into a career 5 a teacher at Charterh
3、ouse School, and continued to pursue his passion 6 climbing in his spar time. Mallory“s 7 trip to Everest was a reconnaissance mission in 1921 8 aimed to produce the first accurate maps of the region. Two 9 visits to the mountain followed. Then, on 8 June 1924, 10 his third attempt to reach the summ
4、it, Mallory and his partner, Andrew Irvine, disappeared. Several expeditions subsequently attempted to find the pair, and Mallory“s 11 was finally discovered in May, 1999, at 8,169 metres, 600 metres 12 the summit, 13 with various items of equipment, including handwritten letters to his wife, a pock
5、et knife, an oxygen bottle and his goggles, 14 were later donated to the Royal Geographical Society 15 Mallory“s family. There is still considerable debate as to 16 Mallory reached Everest“s summit. The 17 that his goggles were found in his pocket has led some to suggest that he was on his way down
6、the mountain 18 he fell. Had he been ascending in daylight he would have been wearing the goggles to 19 snow-blindness, and given what is known of the pair“s climbing schedule, if it were 20 when they fell, they must have been on their way back down.（分数：20.00）三、Section Reading Co(总题数：0，分数：0.00)四、Par
7、t A(总题数：0，分数：0.00)五、Text 1(总题数：1，分数：5.00)Officials in Tampa Florida, got a surprise recently when a local firm building the state“s first ethanol * -production factory put in a request for 400,000 gallons a day of city water. The request by US Envirofuels would make the facility one of the city“s to
8、p ten water consumers overnight, and the company plans to double its size. Florida is suffering from a prolonged drought. Rivers and lakes are at record lows and residents wonder where the extra, water will come from. They are not alone. A backlash against the federally financed biofuels boom is gro
9、wing around the country, and “water could be the Achilles heel“ of ethanol, said a report by the Minneapolis-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. The number of ethanol factories has almost tripled in the past eight years from 50 to about 140. A further 60 or so are under construction. I
10、n 2007, President George Bush signed legislation requiting a fivefold increase in biofuels production, to 36 billion gallons by 2022. This is controversial for several reasons. There are doubts about how green ethanol really is (some say the production process uses almost as much energy as it produc
11、es). Some argue that using farmland for ethanol pushes up food prices internationally (world wheat prices rose 25% recently, perhaps as a side-effect of America“s ethanol programme). But one of the least-known but biggest worries is ethanol“s extravagant use of water. A typical ethanol factory produ
12、cing 50m gallons of biofuels a year needs about 500 gallons of water a minute. Most of that goes into the boiling and cooling process, which is similar to making beer. Some water is lost through evaporation in the cooling tower and in waste discharge. All this is putting a heavy burden on aquifers i
13、n some corn-growing areas. Residents went to court in Missouri to halt a $165m facility being built by Gulfstream Bioflex Energy LLC which was projected to draw 1.3m gallons of water every day from the Ozark aquifer. Projects are being challenged in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and in central I
14、llinois, where eight ethanol facilities are situated over the Mahomet aquifer. Demand for corn is such that more land is also being ploughed up in drier regions of the Great Plains states to the west of the corn belt, where irrigation is required, increasing water demand further. The good news is th
15、at ethanol plants are becoming more efficient. They now use about half as much water per gallon of ethanol as they did a decade ago. New technology might be able to halve the amount of water again, says Mike Fatigati, vice president of Delta-T Corp, a Virginia company which has designed a system tha
16、t does not discharge any waste water. But others are sceptical. “There are things you can close loop (i. e. recycle efficiently) and things you can“t,“ says Paul Greene, a senior director for biofuels with Siemens Water Technologies, designers of the water-purification technology used in ethanol fac
17、tories. Perhaps ethanol just isn“t as bio-friendly as it looks. * ethanol = alcohol fuel（分数：5.00）(1).US Envirofuels（分数：1.00）A.is a local company which plans to double its size.B.is one of Tampa“s top ten water consumers.C.is responsible for Tampa“s water shortage.D.is going to become the largest fue
18、l supplier in Tampa.(2).What does the word “backlash“ (line 1, para. 2 ) mean?（分数：1.00）A.A quick backward movement.B.A strong backup action.C.A powerful counterattack.D.A strong negative reaction.(3).What have most people failed to realize about biofuels?（分数：1.00）A.The huge consumption of wheat.B.Th
19、e huge consumption of water.C.The amount of waste discharged.D.The amount of energy consumed.(4).Which of the following statements is true?（分数：1.00）A.A biofuel factory in Missouri was demanded to reduce its water use.B.A big biofuel factory is under construction in Missouri.C.The ethanol plants face
20、 the challenge of farmland shortage.D.The ethanol plants are challenged to move to other regions.(5).What is the author“s attitude towards biofuels?（分数：1.00）A.Optimistic.B.Neutral.C.Encouraging.D.Doubtful.六、Text 2(总题数：1，分数：5.00)In popular discussions of emissions-rights trading systems, it is common
21、 to mistake the smokestacks for the trees. For example, the wealthy oil enclave of Abu Dhabi brags that it has planted more than 130 million treeseach of which does its duty in absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, this artificial forest in the desert also consumes huge quantities o
22、f irrigation water produced, or recycled, from expensive desalination plants. The trees may allow its leaders to wear a halo at international meetings, but the rude fact is that they are an energy-intensive beauty strip, like most of so-called green capitalism. And, while we“re at it, let“s just ask
23、: What if the buying and selling of carbon credits and pollution offsets fails to reduce global warming? What exactly will motivate governments and global industries then to join hands in a crusade to reduce emissions through regulation and taxation? Kyoto-type climate diplomacy assumes that all the
24、 major actors will recognize an overriding common interest in gaining harness over the runaway greenhouse effect. But global warming is not War of the Worlds, where invading Martians are dedicated to annihilating all of humanity without distinction. Climate change, instead, will initially produce dr
25、amatically unequal impacts across regions and social classes. It will reinforce, not diminish, geopolitical inequality and conflict. As the UNDP emphasized in its report last year, global warming is above all a threat to the poor and the unborn, the “two parties with little or no political voice“. C
26、oordinated global action on their behalf thus presupposes either their revolutionary empowerment or the transformation of the self-interest of rich countries and classes into an enlightened “solidarity“ without precedent in history. From a rational perspective, the latter outcome only seems realisti
27、c if it can be shown that privileged groups possess no preferential “exit“ option, that internationalist public opinion drives policymaking in key countries, and that greenhouse gas reduction could be achieved without major sacrifices in upscale Northern Hemispheric standards of living-none of which
28、 seems highly likely. And what if growing environmental and social turbulence, instead of stimulating heroic innovation and international cooperation, simply drives elite publics into even more frenzied attempts to wall themselves off from the rest of humanity? Global intervention, in this unexplore
29、d but not improbable scenario, would be silently abandoned (as, to some extent, it already has been) in favor of accelerated investment in selective adaptation for Earth“s first-class passengers. We“re talking here of the prospect of creating green and gated oases of permanent affluence on an otherw
30、ise stricken planet. Of course, there will still be treaties, carbon credits, famine relief, humanitarian acrobatics, and perhaps, the full-scale conversion of some European cities and small countries to alternative energy. But the shift to low-, or zero-emission lifestyles would be almost unimagina
31、bly expensive. And this will certainly become even more unimaginable after perhaps 2030, when the combined impacts of climate change, peak oil, peak water, and an additional 1.5 billion people on the plane may begin to seriously threaten growth.（分数：5.00）(1).The author gives the example of Abu Dhabi
32、in order to illustrate that（分数：1.00）A.artificial forests can be a solution to environmental problems,B.what Abu Dhabi has done has won international recognition.C.planting trees in huge-numbers is harmful to desert environment.D.environmentally-friendly attempts may damage the environment.(2).What d
33、oes the word “runaway“ (line 2, para. 2) mean?（分数：1.00）A.Uncontrolled.B.Unpredicted.C.Immeasurable.D.Growing.(3).What is NOT a fundamental concern for the concerted action of rich countries?（分数：1.00）A.The spirit of worldwide coordination should play a part in decision-making.B.The disadvantaged inte
34、rest groups should be taken into consideration.C.Countries and regions should be treated indiscriminately.D.No countries should suffer any change in terms of life quality.(4).According to the author, which of the following statements is true?（分数：1.00）A.International cooperation can help curb environ
35、mental and social crisis.B.Innovation and cooperation in environmental issues are unlikely to happen.C.Rich countries will possibly seclude themselves from the rest of the word.D.Investment in environmental conservation will largely increase in selected areas.(5).What is the author“s attitude toward
36、s the shift to low-emission lifestyles?（分数：1.00）A.Doubtful.B.Supportive.C.Ambiguous.D.Encouraging,七、Text 3(总题数：1，分数：5.00)Few writers are as revered as Jane Austen. According to a poll in March, Pride and Prejudicea romance without a single kissis the book Britons love most. Austen adaptations abound
37、: the BBC is filming a new version of Sense and Sensibility written by Andrew Davies, whose 1995 Pride and Prejudice was a global success, and ITV has just shown three of her other five novels. But Janeites, as the author“s most avid devotees style themselves, have few relics to worship. Most of her
38、 letters were burned on her death, and a single sketch by her sister, Cassandra, showing her purse-lipped and in her night-cap, is the only generally acknowledged image of her face. That picture, now hanging in the National Portrait Gallery in London, depicts a woman so plain that it is often rework
39、ed for book covers. That is perhaps why there has been so much interest in a portrait by Ozias Humphrey, a minor society artist of the 18th century, which was auctioned in New York on April 19th by Christie“s. According to its owner, Henry Rice, a sixth-generation descendant of Miss Austen“s brother
40、 Edward, it shows Jane at about 14, and was commissioned by a great-uncle to help her marriage prospects. Not everyone is convinced that the picture is in fact of Miss Austen. The National Portrait Gallery has repeatedly declined to purchase it, citing supposed anachronisms in the subject“s costume
41、and a tax stamp on the canvas. Its pre-auction valuation reflected this uncertainty: although $400,000-800,000 is far more than any of Mr. Humphrey“s works has achieved before now, a buyer who believed he was looking at Miss Austen would surely be prepared to pay more. The doubts expressed in London
42、 are one reason why the portrait was sold in New York. Another is that Americans are as keen on Miss Austen as Britons are. The BBC“s Pride and Prejudice was co-produced by A radioactivity is not contagious. Fear is more relevant than disgust.“ Barring extreme genetic modification, chances are faces
43、 will look much the same in 10,000 years. A. All things going well it should stay that way for the 250,000 years it will take for most of the waste to become safe. However, according to legislation drawn up in 1985 by the US Department of Energy, a repository must be safeguarded for at least 10,000
44、years, and that means it must be marked. B. All we know is that nuclear waste is dangerous now and is likely to stay that way for a very long time, and that means we have to try, C. To be fair to the artists in question, they probably didn“t set out to create something that would make sense in 400 g
45、enerations“ time. Even if thoughts of the future had crossed their minds, how could they possibly have imagined what would have become of the human race? Since that day, mankind has invented the wheel, developed hundreds of languages and got through several major civilisations, not to mention remode
46、lled the planet and its climate. D. Facial expressions, though, are universally understood. “Fear is the most basic of emotions, and so would survive any cultural evolution,“ says Robert Aunger, a biological anthropologist. With this in mind, the WIPP designers came up with two symbols: a human face
47、 showing fear and another showing revulsion and disgust. There will also be a description of the site in seven languages, plus the word “Danger“ and today“s symbols for biohazards and radioactivity. E. The biggest challenge was choosing an image. Symbols do exist to illustrate radiation and biohazar
48、ds, but symbols have a habit of changing their meanings over time. The swastika, for example, was first used by European tribes in 4000BC and was a Hindu holy symbol long before the Nazis got hold of it. F. The plan is literally to set the warnings in stone, by carving them onto 8-metre-tall monolit
49、hs. A study of ancient rock carvings commissioned by WIPP in 2000 found that deep carvings on basalt survived well, as, surprisingly, did those on sandstone. The team is now testing other rock types against freeze/thaw cracking and wind abrasion, as well as working on cheaper artificial alternatives.（分数：10.00）九、Part C(总题数：1，分数：10.00)A = Yahoo! B = eBay C = Amazon Which company (companies) rents its own logistics and infrastructure to other companies to compute on the Internet? 1 are run without a clear vision for the future? 2 3 held a dominant position in its business but alienated
