专八人文知识真题2005-2013

英语专业八级考试历年全真试题（人文知识部分） （2005） PART GENERAL KNOWLEDGE（10 MIN） There are ten multiple-choice questions in this section. Choose the best answer to each question. Mark your answers on your coloured answer sheet. 31. _ is the capital city of Canada. A. Vancouver B. Ottawa C. Montreal D. York 32. U.S. presidents normally serves a (an) _term. A. two-year B. four-year C. six-year D. eight-year 33. Which of the following cities is NOT located in the Northeast, U.S.? A. Huston. B. Boston. C. Baltimore. D. Philadelphia. 34. _ is the state church in England. A. The Roman Catholic Church. B. The Baptist Church C. The Protestant Church D. The Church of England 35. The novel Emma is written by A. Mary Shelley. B. Charlotte Bronte. C. Elizabeth C. Gaskell. D. Jane Austen. 36. Which of following is NOT a romantic poet? A. William Wordsworth. B. George Elliot. C. George G. Byron. D. Percy B. Shelley. 37. William Sidney Porter, known as O. Henry, is most famous for A. his poems. B. his plays. C. his short stories. D. his novels 38. Syntax is the study of A. language functions. B. sentence structures. C. textual organization. D. word formation. 39. Which of the following is NOT a distinctive feature of human language? A. Arbitrariness. 任意性 B. Productivity. 丰富性 C. Cultural transmission. 文化传播性 D. Finiteness. 局限性 ？ 注：design feature: features that define our human languages, such as arbitrariness, duality, creativity, displacement,cultural transmission, etc. 40. The speech act theory was first put forward by A. John Searle . .B. John Austin. C. Noam Chomsky. D. M.A.K. Halliday. （2006） PART GENERAL KNOWLEDGE（10 MIN） 31.The Presidents during the American Civil War was . A. Andrew Jackson B. Abraham Lincoln C. Thomas Jefferson D. George Washington 32.The capital of New Zealand is . A.Christchurch B.Auckland C.Wellington D.Hamilton 33.Who were the natives of Austrilia before the arrival of the British settlers? A.The Aborigines B.The Maori C.The Indians D.The Eskimos 34.The Prime Minister in Britain is head of . 2 A.the Shadow Cabinet B.the Parliament C.the Opposition D.the Cabinet 35.Which of the following writers is a poet of the 20th century? A.T.S.Eliot B.D.H.Lawrence C.Theodore Dreiser D.James Joyce 36.The novel For Whom the Bell Tolls is written by . A.Scott Fitzgerald B.William Faulkner C.Eugene ONeil D.Ernest Hemingway 37._ is defined as an expression of human emotion which is condensed into fourteen lines A.Free verse B.Sonnet C.Ode D.Epigram 38.What essentially distinguishes semantics and pragmatics is the notion of A.reference B.meaning C.antonymy D.context 39.The words“kid,child,offspring“ are examples of . A.dialectal synonyms B.stylistic synonyms C.emotive synonyms D.collocational synonyms 40.The distinction between parole and langue was made by . A.Halliay B.Chomsky C.Bloomfield D.Saussure （2007） PART GENERAL KNOWLEDGE（10 MIN） 31. The majority of the current population in the UK are decedents of all the following tribes respectively EXCEPT . A. the Anglos B. the Celts C. the Jutes D. the Saxons 32. The Head of State of Canada is represented by . A. the Monarch B. the President C. the Prime Minister D. the Governor-general 33. The Declaration of Independence was written by A. Thomas Jefferson B. George Washington C. Alexander Hamilton D. James Madison 34. The original inhabitants of Australia were . A. the Red Indians B. the Eskimos C. the Aborigines D. the Maoris 35. Which of the following novels was written by Emily Bronte? A. Oliver Twist B. Middlemarch C. Jane Eyre D. Wuthering Heights 36. William Butler Yeats was a(n) _ poet and playwright. A. American B. Canadian C. Irish D. Australian 37. Death of a Salesman was written by . A. Arthur Miller B. Ernest Hemingway C. Ralph Ellison D. James Baldwin 38. _ refers to the study of the internal structure of words and the rules of word formation. A. Phonology B. Morphology C. Semantics D. Sociolinguistics 39. The distinctive features of a speech variety may be all the following EXCEPT . A. lexical B. syntactic C. phonological D. psycholinguistic 40. The word tail once referred to “the tail of a horse”, but now it is used to mean “the tail of any animal.” This is an example of . A. widening of meaning B. narrowing of meaning C. meaning shift D. loss of meaning （2008） 3 PART III GENERAL KNOWLEDGE (10 MIN) There are ten multiple-choice questions in this section. Choose the best answer to each question. Mark your answers on your coloured answer sheet. 31. The largest city in Canada is . A. Vancouver. B. Montreal. C. Toronto D. Ottawa. 32. According to the United States Constitution, the legislative power is invested in . A. the Federal Government. B. the Supreme Court. C. the Cabinet. D. the Congress. 33. Which of the following is the oldest sport in the United States? A. Baseball. B. Tennis. C. Basketball. D. American football. 34. The head of the executive branch in New Zealand is A. the President. B. the Governor-General. C. the British monarch D. the Prime Minister. 35. The Canterbury Tales, a collection of stories told by a group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury, is an important poetic work by . A. William Langland. B. Geoffrey Chaucer. C. William Shakespeare. D. Alfred Tennyson. 36. Who wrote The American? A. Herman Melville. B. Nathaniel Hawthorne. C. Henry James. D. Theodore Dreiser. 37. All of the following are well-known female writers in 20th -century Britain EXCEPT . A. George Eliot. B. Iris Jean Murdoch. C. Doris Lessing. D. Muriel Spark. 38. Which of the following is NOT a design feature of human language? A. Arbitrariness. B. Displacement. C. Duality. D. Diachronicity. 39. What type of sentence is “Mark likes fiction, but Tim is interested in poetry.”? A. A simple sentence. B. A coordinate sentence. C. A complex sentence. D. None of the above. 40. The phenomenon that words having different meanings have the same form is called . A. hyponymy. B. synonymy. C. polysemy. D. homonymy. （2009） PART III GENERAL KNOWLEDGE (10 MIN) There are ten multiple-choice questions in this section. Choose the best answer to each question. Mark your answers on your coloured answer sheet. 31. The Head of State of New Zealand is A. the governor-general. B. the Prime Minister. C. the high commissioner. D. the monarch of the United Kingdom. 32. The capital of Scotland is A. Glasgow. B. Edinburgh. C. Manchester. D. London. 33. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence and later became the U.S. President? A. Thomas Jefferson. B. George Washington. C. Thomas Paine. D. John Adams. 34. Which of the following cities is located on the eastern coast of Australia? A. Perth. B. Adelaide. C. Sydney. D. Melbourne. 35. Ode to the West Wind was written by A. William Blake. B. William Wordsworth. C. Samuel Taylor Coleridge. D. Percy B. Shelley. 36. Who among the following is a poet of free verse? A. Ralph Waldo Emerson. B. Walt Whitman. C. Herman Melville D. Theodore Dreiser. 37. The novel Sons and Lovers was written by A. Thomas Hardy. B. John Galsworthy. C. D.H. Lawrence. D. James Joyce. 38. The study of the mental processes of language comprehension and production is A. corpus linguistics. B. sociolinguistics. C. theoretical linguistics. D. psycholinguistics. 39. A special language variety that mixes languages and is used by speakers of different languages for purposes of trading is called A. dialect. B. idiolect. C. pidgin. D. register. 4 40. When a speaker expresses his intention of speaking, such as asking someone to open the window, he is performing A. an illocutionary act. B. a perlocutionary act. C. a locutionary act. D. none of the above. （2010） PART III GENERAL KNOWLEDGE (10 MIN) There are ten multiple-choice questions in this section. Choose the best answer to each question. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET TWO. 31. Which of the following statements in INCORRECT? A. The British constitution includes the Magna Carta of 1215. B. The British constitution includes Parliamentary acts. C. The British constitution includes decisions made by courts of law. D. The British constitution includes one single written constitution. 32. The first city ever founded in Canada is A. Quebec. B. Vancouver. C. Toronto. D. Montreal. 33. When did the Australian Federation officially come into being? A. 1770. B. 1788. C. 1900. D. 1901. 34. The Emancipation Proclamation to end the slavery plantation system in the South of the U.S. was issued by A. Abraham Lincoln. B. Thomas Paine. C. George Washington. D. Thomas Jefferson. 35. _ is best known for the technique of dramatic monologue in his poems A. Will Blake B. W.B. Yeats C. Robert Browning D. William Wordsworth 36. The Financier is written by A. Mark Twain. B. Henry James. C. William Faulkner. D. Theodore Dreiser. 37. In literature a story in verse or prose with a double meaning is defined as A. allegory. B. sonnet. C. blank verse. D. rhyme. 38. _ refers to the learning and development of a language. A. Language acquisition B. Language comprehension C. Language production D. Language instruction 39. The word “ Motel” comes from “motor + hotel”. This is an example of _ in morphology. A. backformation B. conversion C. blending D. acronym 40. Language is t tool of communication. The symbol “ Highway Closed” on a highway serves A. an expressive function. B. an informative function. C. a performative function. D. a persuasive function. （2011） PART III GENERAL KNOWLEDGE There are ten multiple-choice questions in this section. Mark the best answer to each question on ANSWER SHEET TWO. 31. The northernmost part of Great Britain is _. A. Northern Ireland B. Wales C. England D. Scotland 32. It is generally agreed that _ were the first Europeans to reach Australias shores. A. the French B. the Germans C. the British D. the Dutch 33. Which country is known as the Land of Maple Leaf? A. Canada. B. New Zealand. C. Great Britain. D. The United States of America. 34. Who wrote the famous pamphlet, The Common Sense, before the American Revolution? A. Thomas Jefferson. B. Thomas Paine. C. John Adams. D. Benjamin Franklin. 35. Virginia Woolf was an important female _ in the 20th-century England. A. poet B. biographer C. playwright D. novelist 36. _ refers to a long narrative poem that records the adventures of a hero in a nations history. A. Ballad B. Romance C. Epic D. Elegy 37. Which of the following best explores American myth in the 20th century? A. The Great Gatsby. B. The Sun Also Rises. C. The Sound and the Fury. D. Beyond the Horizon. 38. _ is defined as the study of the relationship between language and mind. 5 A. Semantics B. Pragmatics C. Cognitive linguistics D. Sociolinguistics 39. A vowel is different from a consonant in English because of _. A. absence of obstruction B. presence of obstruction C. manner of articulation D. place of articulation 40. The definition “the act of using or promoting the use of several languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers“ refers to _. A. Pidgin B. Creole C. Multilingualism D. Bilingualism （2012） PART III GENERAL KNOWLEDGE (10 MIN) There are ten multiple-choice questions in this section. Mark the best answer to each question on ANSWER SHEET TWO. 31. The Maori people are natives of A. Australia. B. Canada. C. Ireland. D. New Zealand. 32. The British monarch is the Head of A. Parliament. B. State. C. Government. D. Cabinet. 33. Americans celebrate Independence Day on A. July 4th. B. October 11th. C. May 31st. D. September 6th. 34. Canada is bounded on the north by A. the Pacific Ocean. B. the Atlantic Ocean. C. the Arctic Ocean. D. the Great Lakes. 35. Who is the author of The Waste Land? A. George Bernard Shaw. B. W.B. Yeats. C. Dylan Thomas. D. T.S. Eliot. 36. Which of the following novelists wrote The Sound and the Fury? A. William Faulkner. B. Ernest Hemingway. C. Scott Fitzgerald. D. John Steinbeck. 37. “The lettuce was lonely without tomatoes and cucumbers for company“ is an example of A. exaggeration. B. understatement. C. personification. D. synecdoche. 38. In English ifa word begins with a l or a r, then the next sound must be a vowel. This is a (n) A. assimilation rule. B. sequential rule. C.deletion rule. D. grammar rule. 39. Which of the following is an example of clipping? A.APEC. B.Motel. C.Xerox. D.Disco. 40. The type of language which is selected as appropriate to a particular type of“ situation is called A. register. B. dialect. C. slang. D. variety. (2013) PART III GENERAL KNO