上海市高级口译第一阶段笔试分类模拟高级阅读(三)及答案解析.doc

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1、上海市高级口译第一阶段笔试分类模拟高级阅读(三)及答案解析(总分：100.00，做题时间：90 分钟)一、SECTION 1 READING TE(总题数：4，分数：50.00)Valentine“s Day is tomorrow, and we are all thinking about true love and heart-shaped chocolate candy. Well, maybe not all of us. Some of us, actually, are considering the quantifiable aspects of divorce. In Ame

2、rica today, some 50 percent of marriages are predicted to end in divorce. And at the University of Washington in Seattle they say they can tell you exactlywell, almost exactlywhich ones those will be. A psychologist, a mathematician, and a pathologist have devised what they call a proven mathematica

3、l formula for detecting which relationships will go sourthereby holding out hope that such couples can overcome their problems, and avoid divorce. “We have been able to predict that divorce will happen before it does. That“s old news,“ says John Gottman, emeritus professor of psychology. “But what w

4、e have now is a scientific model for understanding why we can predict it with such accuracy.“ The work marks the first time a mathematic model is being used to understand such deep personal human interactions, adds James Murray, professor of applied mathematics. “It is totally objective. And our pre

5、diction of which couples would divorce within a four-year period was 94 percent accurate.“ This is how it works. Couples face each other and discusseach speaking in turna subject over which they have disagreed more than once in the past. They are wired to detect various physiological data, such as p

6、ulse rates, and they“re also videotaped. A session lasts a mere 15 minutes. The research team watches and analyzes the tapes and data, awarding plus or minus points depending on the type of interactions and according to a standard scoring system. Everything is then translated into equations and plot

7、ted on a graph, which the researchers have dubbed the “Dow- Jones Industrial Average for marital conversation“. Once this is done, different situations are simulated and analyzed from the equations and graphs, and predictions are made. Over the past 16 years more than 700 couples (at different stage

8、s of their marriages) took part in the research. But let“s go back a moment. It all starts, say, with a chat about mothers-in-lawapparently one of the hot topics of contention among couples, along with money and sex, according to Dr. Murray. “The husband might say to his wife, “Your mother really is

9、 a pain in the neck.“ Well, that“s a minus two points. A shrug, that“s a no-noso minus one. And rolled eyesvery negative, that“s minus two.“ If however, the husband were to say, “Your mother is a pain in the neck . but she is sometimes funny,“ then, according to the researchers, you would take away

10、two points and then give one back. If the husband cracked a smile, he would get another point. At the end of all the additions and subtractions, a stable marriage is indicated by having five more positive points than negative ones. Otherwise, warns the team, the marriage is in trouble. In troublebut

11、 not doomed. The whole point of the model, says Dr. Gottman, is that it gives therapists new understanding with which they can help couples overcome patterns of interaction and prevent divorce. “What we are suggesting,“ says Murray, “is that couples who take this experiment then be told the predicti

12、on and realize they are going to have to both change their behavior and repair what is wrong.“ Not everyone buys into this model. Bonnie Jacobson, a clinical psychologist and processor at New York University, says it is “absolutely impossible“ to understand the workings of a relationship via a one-s

13、ize-fits-all model. “For mostly every couple I have seen, it“s hard to see how they got together in the first place,“ she says. “So unless you really get to know the nuanced dynamics, you will never “get it“ or be able to help.“ Christine Fasano was married for only 14 months before getting a divorc

14、e last year. She agrees the dynamics of a relationship are nuanced and complexbut also sees merit in the University of Washington study“s basic assumption that if one looks starkly at interaction between a couple, it is possible to ascertain whether the relationship is headed toward demise. “I“m not

15、 surprised the model works,“ she says. “It“s actually not that profound. My basic observation of couples that are happily married is that they treat each other well. That is basically what they are saying, and that is hard to argue with.“ So, any final advice for Valentine“s Day from the divorce res

16、earch team out in Washington? “I would never give advice on matters of the heart,“ says Murray, who, incidentally, has been married 45 years. “But I suppose the bottom line is, yes, communication. And being good to one another. That is nice to quantify.“（分数：12.50）(1).The mathematical model is design

17、ed by these scientists _.（分数：2.50）A.to figure out the probability of divorceB.to predict and help avoid divorceC.for the newly-married young couplesD.on the basis of physiological data(2).Which of the following CANNOT be found about the mathematical formula?（分数：2.50）A.It is quite popular and has bee

18、n widely accepted.B.It has been experimented with over 700 couples.C.It has been invented by a number of scientists from related fields.D.It is proved useful as more marriages end in divorce.(3).In the sentence “Not everyone buys into this model“ (para. 6), the expression “buys into“ can be interpre

19、ted as _.（分数：2.50）A.pays to acquireB.supports fullyC.have confidence inD.understands and accepts(4).Christine Fasano is introduced in the passage because _.（分数：2.50）A.her divorce was predicted and avoided by the formulaB.her divorce proved the effectiveness of the mathematical modelC.she thought the

20、 rationale behind the formula is understandableD.she argued that divorce could be prevented by frequent communication(5).The love equation employs all of the following methods EXCEPT _.（分数：2.50）A.it is based on the analysis of recordings of marital conversationB.it uses an addition and subtraction s

21、ystem to record the dataC.it makes predictions from analysis of equations and graphsD.it uses the interviews of each of the spouses separatelyA Black comedy by a first-time novelist with a past as colorful as his book has defied the bookies to win the 50,000 Man Booker prize, the most important hono

22、ur in the British literary world. Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre, the nom de plume of 42-year-old Mexican-Australian Peter Finlay, was the unanimous choice of the Booker judges, chaired by John Carey, who took less than an hour to decide. The novel tells the story of Vernon Gregory, a Texan teenage

23、r who is put on trial accused of a massacre at his high school. At the awards ceremony at the British Museum in London last night, Professor Carey described it as a “coruscating black comedy reflecting our alarm but also our fascination with modern America“. Accepting the prize, the novelist said: “

24、My mum is in the audience. I want to say she and the rest of my family planted the idea that I could do anything and I would just like to apologise for taking it literally.“ It beat a shortlist including Brick Lane, the first novel by Monica Ali which was the bookmakers“ favourite and has been the b

25、iggest seller in the shops, and Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, the only established author to make it to the final round of judging. Martyn Goff, the director of the Man Booker prize, said he was “absolutely amazed“ at the swiftness of the decision which was made after the second shortest debate

26、 in the prize“s 35-year history. “Four of them jumped as one, and the fifth member of the jury was not unhappy,“ he said. The judges were particularly convinced by the way the author was able to create such a strong sense of America. “There was a feeling that it could only have been written by an Am

27、erican whereas we all know it wasn“t,“ he said. DBC Pierrethe initials stand for Dirty But Cleanis a reformed drug addict and gambler who was born into a wealthy family but lost virtually everything when the banks were nationalised in Mexico in 1982. Without his family money to fall back on, Finlay

28、has admitted selling his best friend“s home and keeping the proceeds as well as working up hundreds of thousands of dollars of debts in a scheme to find gold in Mexico. Revealing how his life was often stranger than fiction, he said in a recent interview. “For nine years I was in a drug haze, on a r

29、ampage of cocaine, heroin, any shit I could get. I am not proud of what I have done and I now want to put it right.“ A publishing deal for the book was sealed just one hour before the first plane hit New York“s World Trade Centre on 11 September, 2001. “Ever since, I feel like there“s some dark dest

30、iny swirling around the book,“ he said. His financial problems are likely to become a thing of the past. A filmmaker has bought an option to make a movie of the book and as well as the 50,000 prize cheque, the writer, who currently lives in Ireland, is guaranteed a significant increase in sales. Sal

31、es of last year“s winner, Yann Martel“s Life of Pi , have exceeded 1 million copies. Martin Higgs, literary editor of Waterstone“s , said. “The storyline for this book is one that you would as much see played out today on the six o“clock news as read in a novel and has for this reason struck a chord

32、 with book lovers.“ Finlay was second favourite to win, behind Monica Ali, 35, who created a flurry of interest even before her debut novel was published when she was named one of Granta“s best young British novelists. The other shortlisted books were The Good Doctor , by Damon Galgut, Astonishing S

33、plashes of Colour by Clare Morrall, and Notes on a Scandal by the former Independent on Sunday journalist Zoe Heller, 38.（分数：12.50）(1).The novelist Peter Finlay said that, when accepting the prize, he “would just like to apologise for taking it literally“ (para. 2) The word “it“ refers to the idea o

34、f _.（分数：2.50）A.selling his friend“s home and using up the moneyB.publishing the novelVernon God LittleC.owing huge amounts of debts to othersD.doing whatever he liked(2).We can learn from the shortlisted books of this year“s Man Booker prize that _.（分数：2.50）A.most of them are from established author

35、sB.some of them are from first-time novelistsC.all of them are biggest sellers in the shopsD.half of them were written by former journalists(3).According to the passage, the director of the Man Booker prize was “absolutely amazed“ because _.（分数：2.50）A.the debate over the prize winner was so hot and

36、fierceB.the plot of Vernon God Little was so fascinatingC.the Booker judges were almost unanimous in their decisionD.the fifth member of the jury refused to change his mind(4).The author mentions in the passage the sales of last year“s winner Yann Martel“s Life of Pi to imply that _.（分数：2.50）A.the s

37、uccess ofVernon God Littlewill bring the author a lot of moneyB.Peter Finlay will become as rich as a world famous movie starC.the sales ofVernon God Littlewill exceed that ofLife of PiD.the Booker prize winning novels will become world classics(5).Which of the following CANNOT be concluded from the

38、 passage about the novelist Peter Finlay?（分数：2.50）A.He had once been a drug addict and gambler.B.He almost lost everything because of the nationalization of banks in Mexico.C.He was quite worried before the publication of his first novel.D.He knew his best-selling book would win the national literar

39、y prize.Concrete is probably used more widely than any other substance except water, yet it remains largely unappreciated. “Some people view the 20th century as the atomic age, the space age, the computer agebut an argument can be made that it was the concrete age,“ says cement specialist Hendrik va

40、n Oss. “It“s a miracle material.“ Indeed, more than a ton of concrete is produced each year for every man, woman and child on Earth. Yet concrete is generally ignored outside the engineering world, a victim of its own ubiquity and the industry“s conservative pace of development. Now, thanks to envir

41、onmental pressures and entrepreneurial innovation, a new generation of concretes is emerging. This high-tech assortment of concrete confections promises to be stronger, lighter, and more environmentally friendly than ever before. The concretes they will replace are, for the most part, strong and dur

42、able, but with limitations. Concrete is sound under compression but weak under tension. Steel rebars are used as reinforcement, but make recycling difficult when concrete breaks downand break down it inevitably will. Cracks caused by stress grow larger over time, with water forcing them open and cor

43、roding the rebars within. “When you put enough stress on it, concrete doesn“t work like we want it to. We“re asking too much of it now,“ says Mr. van Oss. Concrete is also a climate-change villain. It is made by mixing water with an aggregate, such as sand or gravel, and cement. Cement is usually ma

44、de by heating limestone and clay to over 2,500 degrees F. The resulting chemical reaction, along with fuel burned to heat the kiln, produces between 7 and 10 percent of global carbon-dioxide emissions. “When we have to repeatedly regenerate these materials because they“re not durable, we release mor

45、e emissions,“ says Victor Li, a civil and environmental engineering professor at the University of Michigan. Dr. Li has created a concrete suffused by synthetic fibers that make it stronger, more durable, and able to bend like a metal. Li“s creation does not require reinforcement, a property shared

46、by other concretes that use chemical additives called plasticizers to reduce the amount of water in their composition. Using less water makes concrete stronger, but until the development of plasticizers, it also made concrete sticky, dry, and hard to handle, says Christian Meyer, a civil engineering

47、 professor at Columbia University. “The engineer would specify a certain strength, a certain amount of waterand as soon as a supervisor turned his back, in would go a bucket of water,“ says Dr. Meyer of the time before plasticizers. Making stronger concretes, says Li, allows less to be used, reducin

48、g waste and giving architects more freedom. “You can have such futuristic designs if you don“t have to put rebar in there, or structural beams,“ says van Oss. “You can have things shooting off into space at odd angles. Many possibilities are opened up.“ A more directly “green“ concrete has been deve

49、loped by the Australian company TecEco. They add magnesium to their cement, forming a porous concrete that actually scrubs carbon dioxide from the air. “The planet“s been through several episodes of global warming before, and nature put carbon away as coal, petroleum, and carbonate sediments,“ says TecEco manager John Harrison. “Now we“re in charge, and we need to do the same. We can literally “put away“ carbon in our own built environment.“ Another modification to the built environment is the carbon fiber-reinforced concrete of Debo