2018年下半年成人学位冲刺试题及答案（1）_第2页

　　Part II Reading Comprehension (40 points)

　　Directions: There are 4 passages in this part. Each of the passages is followed by 5 questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are 4 choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best one and mark your answer on the ANSWER SHEET with a single line through the center.

　　Passage One

　　The journey two divers made some time ago to the very deepest point on the earth makes us realize how much of the world still remains to be studied. The two men went down seven miles to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean inside a small steel ball to find out if there are any ocean currents or signs of life.

　　It was necessary to set out early, so that the ball would come to the surface in daylight, and so be easily found by the mother ship which would be waiting for it. The divers began preparations early in the morning and soon afterwards, when all was ready, the steel ball disappeared under the surface of the water.

　　The divers felt as if they were going down steps as they passed through warm and cold layers of water. In time, the temperature dropped to freezing point. They kept in touch with the mother ship by telephone telling how they felt. Then, at a depth of 3, 000 feet, the telephone stopped working and they were quite cut off from the outside world. All went well until some four hours later at 30, 000 feet, the men were frightened by a loud, cracking noise: even the smallest hole in the ball would have meant instant death. Luckily, though, it was only one of the outer windows that had broken. Soon afterwards, the ball touched the soft ocean floor raising a big cloud of “dust” made up of small dead sea-creatures. Here, powerful lights lit up the dark water and the men were surprised to see fish swimming just above them quite untroubled by the great water-pressure. But they did not dare to leave the lights on for long, as the heat from them made the water boil. Quite unexpectedly, the telephone began working again and the faint but clear voices of the divers were heard on the mother ship seven miles away. After a stay of thirty minutes the men began their journey up arriving three hours later, cold and wet through, but none the worse for their experience.

　　1. The purpose of the divers’ journey to the deepest point on the earth was to find __________.

　　A. if there are water currents and life in the great depths

　　B. if people can stand the severe cold in the great depths

　　C. if there are steps in the great depths

　　D. if the telephone works well in the great depths

　　2. The divers set out early in the morning so that __________.

　　A. they could return to the surface during the day

　　B. they could see at the bottom of the ocean

　　C. they could avoid the cold at night

　　D. they could stay long at the bottom

　　3. Which of the statements is true?

　　A. The ocean water temperature decreases steadily with the depth.

　　B. There are steps on the way to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

　　C. There are steps between the water layers of different temperatures.

　　D. The water layers of different temperatures made the divers feel as if they were going down steps.

　　4. As the divers went down to the ocean floor, the telephone __________.

　　A. kept working all the time

　　B. stopped working at a depth of 3, 000 feet and began working again after they reached the bottom

　　C. stopped working at a depth of 3, 000 feet and began working again at 30, 000 feet

　　D. stopped working at a depth of 3, 000 feet and began working again when they returned t the same depth

　　5. On the ocean floor, the divers found that __________.

　　A. there was no life but some small dead sea-creatures

　　B. fish were swimming as freely as they do near the surface

　　C. fish were not swimming freely in the dark water

　　D. fish were not swimming freely under the high water-pressure

　　Passage Two

　　There are two kinds of memory: short-term and long-term. Information in long-term memory can be recalled at a later time when it is needed. The information may be kept for days or weeks. In contrast, information in short-term memory is kept for only a few seconds, usually by repeating the information over and over. The following experiment shows how short-term memory has been studied.

　　Henning studied how students who are leaning English as a second language remember vocabulary. The subjects in his experiment were 75 college students. They represented all levels of ability in English: beginning, intermediate, advanced, and native-speaking students.

　　To begin, the subjects listened to a recording of a native speaker reading a paragraph in English. Following the recording, the subjects took a 15-question test to see which words they remembered. Each question had four choices. The subjects had to circle the word they had heard in the recording. Some of the questions had four choices that sound alike. For example, weather, whether, wither, and wetter are four words that sound a like. Some of the questions had four choices that have the same meaning. Method, way, manner, and system would be four words with the same meaning. Finally the subjects took a language proficiency test.

　　Henning found that students with a lower proficiency in English made more of their mistakes on words that sound alike; students with a higher proficiency made more of their mistakes on words that have the same meaning. Henning’s results suggest that beginning students hold the sound of words in their short-term memory, and advanced students hold the meaning of words in their short-term memory.

　　6. Henning made the experiment in order to study __________.

　　A. how students remember English vocabulary by short-term memory

　　B. how students learn English vocabulary

　　C. how to develop students’ ability in English

　　D. how long information in short-term memory is kept

　　7. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

　　A. Information in short-term memory is different from that in long-term memory.

　　B. Long-term memory can be achieved only by training.

　　C. It is easier to test short-term memory than long-term memory.

　　D. Henning gave a separate test on vocabulary to his subjects.

　　8. From Henning’s results we can see that _________.

　　A. beginners have difficulty distinguishing the pronunciation of words

　　B. advanced students remember words by their meaning

　　C. it is difficult to remember words that sound alike

　　D. it is difficult to remember words that have the same meaning

　　9. The word “subject” in the passage means __________.

　　A. the college course the students take

　　B. the theme of the listening material

　　C. a branch of knowledge studied

　　D. the student experimented on

　　10. The passage centres on __________.

　　A. memory

　　B. two kinds of memory

　　C. short-term memory

　　D. an experiment on students