1、1996年专业英语八级真题试卷及答案与解析 SECTION A MINI-LECTURE Directions: In this section you sill hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them to complete a gap-filling task after the mini-lecture
2、. When the lecture is over, you will be given two minutes to check your notes, and another ten minutes to complete the gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE. Use the blank sheet for note-taking. 1 LAND USE A problem related to the competition for land use is whether crops should be used to produce fo
3、od or fuel. 【 L1】 _ areas will be examined in this respect. Firstly, the problem should be viewed in its 【 L2】 _ perspective. When oil prices rose sharply in the 1970s, countries had to look for alternatives to solve the resulting crisis. In developing countries, one of the possible answers to it is
4、 to produce alcohol from 【 L3】 _ material. This has led to a lot of research in this area particularly in the use of 【 L4】 _ The use of this material resulted from two economic reasons: a 【 L5】 _ in its price and low【 L6】 _ costs. There are other starchy plants that can be used to produce alcohol, l
5、ike the sweet 【 L7】 _ or the cassava plant in tropical regions, and 【 L8】 _ and sugar beet in non-tropical regions. The problem with these plants is that they are also the peoples staple food in many poor countries. Therefore, farmers there are faced with a choice: crops for food or for fuel. And fa
6、rmers naturally go for what is more 【 L9】_ As a result, the problems involved are economic in nature, rather than technological. This is my second area under consideration. Finally, there have already been practical applications of using alcohol for fuel. Basically, they come in wo forms of use: pur
7、e alcohol as is the case in 【 L10】 _ , and a combination of alcohol and gasoline known as gasohol in Germany. 1 【 L1】 2 【 L2】 3 【 L3】 4 【 L4】 5 【 L5】 6 【 L6】 7 【 L7】 8 【 L8】 9 【 L9】 10 【 L10】 SECTION B INTERVIEW Directions: In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and the
8、n answer the questions that follow. Questions 1 to 5 are based on an interview. At the end of the interview you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following five questions. Now listen to the interview. 11 The speaker thinks that （ A） car causes pollution only in some cities. （ B） 60% of
9、the cities are affected by car pollution. （ C） 90% of the city residents suffer from car pollution. （ D） car is the main contributing factor in polluting air. 12 Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a cause of car pollution? （ A） Car tyres. （ B） Car engines. （ C） Car horns. （ D） Car brakes. 13
10、 Which of the following is NOT cited as a means to reduce the number of cars? （ A） To pass laws to control the use of cars. （ B） To improve public transport systems. （ C） To increase car tax and car price. （ D） To construct effective subway systems. 14 One of the mechanical solutions to car pollutio
11、n is （ A） to change the chemical structure of fuel. （ B） to improve on the exhaust pipe. （ C） to experiment with new engines. （ D） to monitor the amount of chemicals. 15 Accoring to the speaker, a sensible way to solve car pollution is that we should （ A） focus on one method only. （ B） explore some
12、other alternatives. （ C） improve one of the four methods. （ D） integrate all of the four methods. 16 The interviewees first job was with （ A） a newspaper. （ B） the government. （ C） a construction firm. （ D） a private company. 17 The interviewee is not self-employed mainly because （ A） her husband li
13、kes her to work for a firm. （ B） she prefers working for the government. （ C） self-employed work is very demanding. （ D） self-employed work is sometimes insecure. 18 To study architecture in a university one must （ A） be interested in arts. （ B） study pure science first. （ C） get good exam results.
14、（ D） be good at drawing. 19 On the subject of drawing the interviewee says that （ A） technically speaking artists draw very well. （ B） an artists drawing differs little from an architects. （ C） precision is a vital skill for the architect. （ D） architects must be natural artists. 20 The interviewee
15、says that the job of an architect is （ A） more theoretical than practical. （ B） to produce sturdy, well-designed buildings. （ C） more practical than theoretical. （ D） to produce attractive, interesting buildings. SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST Directions: In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY
16、. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. At the end of each news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the questions. 21 The man was convicted for （ A） dishonesty. （ B） manslaughter. （ C） murder. （ D） having a gun 22 Which of the following is TRUE? （ A） Mark Eastwood had
17、a license for a revolver. （ B） Mark Eastwood loved to go to noisy parties. （ C） Mark Eastwood smashed the windows of a house. （ D） Mark Eastwood had a record. 23 How many missing American servicemen have been positively confirmed dead in Vietnam so far? （ A） 67. （ B） 280. （ C） 84. （ D） 1648. 24 Acco
18、rding to the search operation commander, the recovery of the missing Americans is slowed down because （ A） the weather conditions are unfavorable. （ B） the necessary documents are unavailable. （ C） the sites are inaccessible. （ D） some local people are greedy. 25 According to the news, Vietnam may b
19、e willing to help America mainly because of （ A） its changed policy towards America. （ B） recent international pressure. （ C） its desire to have the US trade embargo lifted. （ D） the impending visit by a senior US military officer. 26 Staying Healthy on Holiday 1 Do people who choose to go on exotic
20、, far-flung holidays deserve free health advice before they travel? And even if they pay, who ensures that they get good, up-to-date information? Who, for that matter, should collect that information in the first place? For a variety of reasons, travel medicine in Britain is a responsibility nobody
21、wants. As a result, many travelers go abroad iii prepared to avoid serious disease. 2 Why is travel medicine so unloved? Partly theres an identity problem. Because it takes an interest in anything that impinges on the health of travelers, this emerging medical specialism invariably cuts across the t
22、raditional disciplines. It delves into everything from seasickness, jet lag and the hazards of camels to malaria and plague. But travel medicine has a more serious obstacle to overcome. Travel clinics are meant to tell people how to avoid ending up dead or in a tropical diseases hospital when they c
23、ome home, but it is notoriously difficult to get anybody pay out money for keeping people healthy. 3 Travel medicine has also been colonized by commercial interests, the vast majority of travel clinics in Britain are run by airlines or travel companies. And while travel concerns are happy to sell pr
24、ofitable injections, they may be less keen to spread bad news about travelers diarrhea in Turkey, or to take the time to spell out preventive measures travelers could take. “The NHS finds it difficult to define travelers health,“ says Ron Behrens, the only NHS consultant in travel any tropical medic
25、ine and director of the travel clinic of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London. “Should it come within the NHS or should it be paid for? Its a gray area, and opinion is split. No one seems to have any responsibility for defining its role, “he says. 4 To compound its low status in the medical
26、hierarchy, travel medicine has to rely on statistics that are patchy at best. In most cases we just dont know how many Britons contract diseases when abroad. And even if a disease is linked to travel there is rarely any information about where those afflicted went, what they are, how they behaved, o
27、r which vaccinations they had. This shortage of hard facts and figures makes it difficult to give detailed advice to people, information that might even save their lives. 5 A recent leader in the British Medical Journal argued. “Travel medicine will emerge as a credible discipline only if the risks
28、encountered by travelers and the relative benefits of public health interventions are well defined in terms of their relative occurrence, distribution and control.“ Exactly how much money is wasted by poor travel advice. The real figure is anybodys guess, but it could easily run into millions. Behre
29、ns gives one example. Britain spends more than 1 million each year just on cholera vaccines that often dont work and so give people a false sense of security: “Information on the prevention and treatment of all forms of diarrhea would be a better priority“, he says. 26 Travel medicine in Britain is
30、（ A） not something anyone wants to run. （ B） the responsibility of the government. （ C） administered by private doctors. （ D） handled adequately by travel agents. 27 The main interest of travel companies dealing with travel medicine is to （ A） prevent people from falling ill. （ B） make money out of
31、it. （ C） give advice on specific countries. （ D） get the government to pay for it. 28 In Behrens opinion the question of who should run travel medicine （ A） is for the government to decide. （ B） should be left to specialist hospitals. （ C） can be left to travel companies. （ D） has no clear and simpl
32、e answer. 29 People will only think better of travel medicine if （ A） it is given more resources by the government. （ B） more accurate information on its value is available. （ C） the government takes over responsibility from the NHS. （ D） travelers pay more attention to the advice they get. 30 The H
33、istorical Background of Social Psychology 1 While the roots of social psychology lie in the intellectual soil of the whole western tradition, its present flowering is recognized to be characteristically an American phenomenon. One reason for the striking upsurge of social psychology in the United St
34、ates lies in the pragmatic tradition of this country. National emergencies and conditions of social disruption provide special incentive to invent new techniques, and to strike out boldly for solutions to practical social problems. Social psychology began to flourish soon after the First World War.
35、This event, followed by the great depression of the 1930s, by the rise of Hitler, the genocide of Jews, race riots, the Second World War and the atomic threat, stimulated all branches of social science. A special challenge fell to social psychology. The question was asked: How is it possible to pres
36、erve the values of freedom and individual rights under condition of mounting social strain and regimentation? Can science help provide an answer? This challenging question led to a burst of creative effort that added much to our understanding of the phenomena of leadership, public opinion, rumor, pr
37、opaganda, prejudice, attitude change, morale, communication, decision-making, race relations, and conflicts of war. 2 Reviewing the decade that followed World War , Cartwright 1961 speaks of the “excitement and optimism“ of American social psychologists, and notes “the tremendous increase in the tot
38、al number of people calling themselves social psychologists“. Most of these, we may add,show little awareness of the history of their field. 3 Practical and humanitarian motives have always played an important part in the development of social psychology, not only in America but in other lands as we
39、ll. Yet there have been discordant and dissenting voices, in the opinion of Herbert Spencer in England, of Ludwig Gumplowicz in Austria, and of William Graham Sumner in the United States, it is both futile and dangerous for man to attempt to steer or to speed social change. Social evolution, they ar
40、gue, requires time and obeys laws beyond the control of man. The only practical service of social science is to warn man not to interfere with the course of nature (or society). But these authors are in a minority. Most social psychologists share with Comte an optimistic view of mans chances to bett
41、er his way of life. Has he not already improved his health via biological sciences? Why should he not better his social relationships via social sciences? For the past century this optimistic outlook has persisted in the face of slender accomplishment to date. Human relations seem stubbornly set. Wa
42、rs have not been abolished, labor troubles have not abated, and racial tensions are still with us. Give us time and give us money for research, the optimists say. 30 Social psychology developed in the USA （ A） because its roots are intellectually western in origin. （ B） as a direct response to the g
43、reat depression. （ C） to meet the threat of Adolf Hitler and his policy of mass genocide. （ D） because of its pragmatic traditions for dealing with social problems. 31 According to the author, social psychology should help man to （ A） preserve individual rights. （ B） become healthier. （ C） be aware
44、of history. （ D） improve material welfare. 32 Who believed that man can influence social change for the good of society? （ A） Cartwright. （ B） Spencer. （ C） Sumner. （ D） Comte. 33 God and My Father 1 I thought of God as a strangely emotional being. He was powerful; he was forgiving yet obdurate, ful
45、l of warmth and affection. Both his wrath and affection were fitful, they came and they went, and I couldnt count on either to continue: although they both always did In short God was much such a being as my father himself. 2 What was the relation between them, I wondered these two puzzling deities?
46、 3 My fathers ideas of religion seemed straightforward and simple. He had noticed when he was a boy that there were buildings called churches; he had accepted them as a natural part of the surroundings in which he had been born. He would never have invented such things himself. Nevertheless they wer
47、e here. As he grew up he regarded them as unquestioningly as he did banks. They were substantial old structures, they were respectable, decent, and venerable. They were frequented by the right sort of people. Well, that was enough. 4 On the other hand he never allowed churches or banks to dictate to
48、 him. He gave each the respect that was due to it from his point of view; but he also expected from each of them the respect he felt due to him. 5 As to creeds, he knew nothing about them, and cared nothing either; yet he seemed to know which sect he belonged with. It had to be a sect with the minim
49、um of nonsense about it; no total immersion, no exhorters, no holy confession. He would have been a Unitarian,naturally, if hed lived in Boston. Since he was a respectable New Yorker, he belonged in the Episcopal Church. 6 As to living a spiritual life, he never tackled that problem. Some men who accept spiritual beliefs try to live up to them daily; other men who reject such beliefs, try sometimes to smash th
