1、公共英语五级真题 2010 年 12 月及答案解析(总分：55.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、BSection Liste(总题数：0，分数：0.00)二、BSection Use o(总题数：1，分数：20.00)Read the following text and fill each of the numbered spaces with one suitable word. Write your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.Between 1852, when U U 1 /U /Uwas first established that Mount Everes
2、t was the highest mountain on earth, and 1953, when Edmund Hillary, and Tenzing Norgay finally reached the peaks summit, it was every mountaineers dream to become the first person standing on the worlds U U 2 /U /Upoint. And George Mallory was one of the most tenacious early contenders.Mallory was i
3、ntroduced U U 3 /U /Urock climbing while studying at Winchester College. U U 4 /U /Ucompleted his studies, he settled into a career U U 5 /U /Ua teacher at Charterhouse School, and continued to pursue his passion U U 6 /U /Uclimbing in his spare time.Mallorys U U 7 /U /Utrip to Everest was a reconna
4、issance mission in 1921 U U 8 /U /Uaimed to produce the first accurate maps of the region. Two U U 9 /U /Uvisits to the mountain followed. Then, on 8 June 1924, U U 10 /U /Uhis third attempt to reach the summit, Mallory and his partner, Andrew Irvine, disappeared.Several expeditions subsequently att
5、empted to find the pair, and Mallorys U U 11 /U /Uwas finally discovered in May, 1999, at 8,169 metres, 600 metres U U 12 /U /Uthe summit, U U 13 /U /Uwith various items of equipment, including handwritten letters to his wife, a pocket knife, an oxygen bottle and his goggles, U U 14 /U /Uwere later
6、donated to the Royal Geographical Society U U 15 /U /UMallorys family.There is still considerable debate as to U U 16 /U /UMallory reached Everests summit. The U U 17 /U /Uthat his goggles were found in his pocket has led some to suggest that he was on his way down the mountain U U 18 /U /Uhe fell.
7、Had he been ascending in daylight, he would have been wearing the goggles to U U 19 /U /Usnow-blindness, and given what is known of the pairs climbing schedule, if it were U U 20 /U /Uwhen they fell, they must have been on their way back down.（分数：20.00）填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1
8、:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_填空项 1:_三、BSection Readi(总题数：0，分数：0.00)四、BPart A/B(总题数：0，分数：0.00)五、BText 1/B(总题数：1，分数：5.00)Officials in Tampa Florida, got a surprise recently when a local firm building the states first ethanol * -production factor
9、y 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 citys top 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 resid
10、ents wonder where the extra water will come from.They are not alone. A backlash against the federally financed biofuels boom is growing around the country, and “water could be the Achilles heel“ of ethanol, said a report by the Minne-apolis-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.The number
11、 of ethanol factories has almost tripled in the past eight years from 50 to about 140. A further 60 or so are under construction. In 2007, President George Bush signed legislation requiting a fivefold increase in biofuels production, to 36 billion gallons by 2022.This is controversial for several re
12、asons. There are doubts about how green ethanol really is (some say the production process uses almost as much energy as it produces). Some argue that using farmland for ethanol pushes up food prices internationally (world wheat prices rose 25% recently, perhaps as a side-effect of Americas ethanol
13、programme). But one of the least-known but biggest worries is ethanols extravagant use of water.A typical ethanol factory producing 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
14、water is lost through evaporation in the cooling tower and in waste discharge. All this is putting a heavy burden on aquifers in 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
15、of water every day from the Ozark aquifer. Projects are being challenged in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and in central Illinois, 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
16、Plains states to the west of the corn belt, where irrigation is required, increasing water demand further.The good news is that 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
17、amount of water again, says Mike Fatigati, vice president of Delta-T Corp, a Virginia company which has designed a system that does not discharge any waste water. But others are sceptical. “There are things you can close loop (i. e. recycle efficiently) and things you cant,“ says Paul Greene, a seni
18、or director for biofuels with Siemens Water Technologies, designers of the water-purification technology used in ethanol factories. Perhaps ethanol just isnt as bio-friendly as it looks.* ethanol=alcohol fuel（分数：5.00）(1).US Envirofuels A.is a local company which plans to double its size. B.is one of
19、 Tampas top ten water consumers. C.is responsible for Tampas water shortage. D.is going to become the largest fuel supplier in Tampa.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.(2).What does the word “backlash“(line 1, para. 2) mean? A.A quick backward movement. B.A strong backup action. C.A powerful counterattack. D.A strong
20、 negative reaction.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.(3).What have most people failed to realize about biofuels? A.The huge consumption of wheat. B.The huge consumption of water. C.The amount of waste discharged. D.The amount of energy consumed.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.(4).Which of the following statements is true? A.A biof
21、uel 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 the challenge of farmland shortage. D.The ethanol plants are challenged to move to other regions.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.(5).What is the authors attitude toward
22、s biofuels? A.Optimistic. B.Neutral. C.Encouraging. D.Doubtful.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.六、BText 2/B(总题数：1，分数：5.00)In popular discussions of emissions-rights trading systems, it is common to mistake the smokestacks for the trees. For example, the wealthy oil enclave of Abu Dhabi brags that it has planted mor
23、e 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 of irrigation water produced, or recycled, from expensive desalination plants. The trees may allow its leaders to wear a ha
24、lo 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 were at it, lets just ask: What if the buying and selling of carbon credits and pollution offsets fails to reduce global warming? What exactly will m
25、otivate 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 major actors will recognize an overriding common interest in gaining harness over the runaway greenhouse effect. But global
26、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 dramatically unequal impacts across regions and social classes. It will reinforce, not diminish, geopolitical inequality and co
27、nflict.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“. Coordinated global action on their behalf thus presupposes either their revolutionary empowerment or the transformation of the
28、self-interest of rich countries and classes into an enlightened “solidarity“ without precedent in history. From a rational perspective, the latter outcome only seems realistic if it can be shown that privileged groups possess no preferential “exit“ option, that internationalist public opinion drives
29、 policymaking in key countries, and that greenhouse gas reduction could be achieved without major sacrifices in upscale Northern Hemispheric standards of livingnone of which seems highly likely.And what if growing environmental and social turbulence, instead of stimulating heroic innovation and inte
30、rnational cooperation, simply drives elite publics into even more frenzied attempts to wall themselves off from the rest of humanity? Global intervention, in this unexplored but not improbable scenario, would be silently abandoned (as, to some extent, it already has been) in favor of accelerated inv
31、estment in selective adaptation for Earths first-class passengers. Were talking here of the prospect of creating green and gated oases of permanent affluence on an otherwise stricken planet.Of course, there will still be treaties, carbon credits, famine relief, humanitarian acrobatics, and perhaps,
32、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 unimaginably expensive. And this will certainly become even more unimaginable after perhaps 2030, when the combined impacts of climate chang
33、e, peak oil, peak water, and an additional 1.5 billion people on the planet may begin to seriously threaten growth.（分数：5.00）(1).The author gives the example of Abu Dhabi in order to illustrate that A.artificial forests can be a solution to environmental problems. B.what Abu Dhabi has done has won in
34、ternational recognition. C.planting trees in huge-numbers is harmful to desert environment. D.environmentally-friendly attempts may damage the environment.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.(2).What does the word “runaway“ (line 2, para. 2) mean? A.Uncontrolled. B.Unpredicted. C.Immeasurable. D.Growing.（分数：1.00）A.B.C
35、.D.(3).What is NOT a fundamental concern for the concerted action of rich countries? A.The spirit of worldwide coordination should play a part in decision-making. B.The disadvantaged interest groups should be taken into consideration. C.Countries and regions should be treated indiscriminately. D.No
36、countries should suffer any change in terms of life quality.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.(4).According to the author, which of the following statements is true? A.International cooperation can help curb environmental and social crisis. B.Innovation and cooperation in environmental issues are unlikely to happen.
37、 C.Rich countries will possibly seclude themselves from the rest of the world. D.Investment in environmental conservation will largely increase in selected areas.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.(5).What is the authors attitude towards the shift to low-emission lifestyles? A.Doubtful. B.Supportive. C.Ambiguous. D.E
38、ncouraging.（分数：1.00）A.B.C.D.七、BText 3/B(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: the BBC is filming a new version of Sense and Sensibility written
39、 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 authors most avid devotees style themselves, have few relics to worship. Most of her letters were burned on her death, and a single sketch by her sister,
40、 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 reworked for book covers.That is perhaps why there has been so much interes
41、t in a portrait by Ozias Humphrey, a minor society artist of the 18th century, which was auctioned in New York on April 19th by Christies. According to its owner, Henry Rice, a sixth-generation descendant of Miss Austens brother Edward, it shows Jane at about 14, and was commissioned by a great-uncl
42、e 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 subjects costume and a tax stamp on the canvas. Its pre-auction valuation reflected this un
43、certainty: although $400,000-800,000 is far more than any of Mr. Humphreys 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 are one reason why the portrait was sold in New York. Another is that Ameri
44、cans are as keen on Miss Austen as Britons are. The BBCs 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 will look much the same in 10,000 years.A. All things going well it should s
45、tay 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 years, and that means it must be marked.B. All we know is that nuclear waste i
46、s 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 didnt set out to create something that would make sense in 400 generations time. Even if thoughts of the future had crossed their minds, how coul
47、d 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 remodelled the planet and its climate.D. Facial expressions, though, are universally understood. “Fear is the most basic of emotions, and so would survive any cultu
