2015年电大中央电大2001-2002第一学期“开放本科”期末英语专业高级时事英语试题及参考答案

1、中央广播电视大学20012002学年度第一学期“开放本科”期末考试英语专业高级时事英语试题2002年1月注 意 事 项 一、将你的准考证号、学生证号、姓名及分校(工作站)名称填写在答题纸的规定栏内。考试结束后，把试卷和答题纸放在桌上。试卷和答题纸均不得带出考场。监考人收完考卷和答题纸后才可离开考场。 二、仔细读懂题目的说明，并按题目要求和答题示例答题。答案一定要写在答题纸的指定位置上，写在试卷上的答案无效。三、用蓝、黑圆珠笔或钢笔答题，使用铅笔答题无效。English in Current AffairsThis is the written examination which is part

2、 of the end-of-course assessment. The total marks for this examination are 100 points. The examination consists of two papers: Paper 1. Listening Test, and Paper 2. Reading and Writing. Time allowed for completing this examination is 2 hours (120 mins).Instructions: Answer all questions. You will ha

3、ve ten minutes at the end of the listening test to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. All answers must be transferred to the answer sheet.Paper 1: LISTENING TEST 30 pointsInformation for the candidatesThere are two parts to the test. Each part will be played twice.There will be a pause befor

4、e each part to let you read through the questions and another pause at the end of each part for you to check your answers.You may write your answers in the question paper as you listen.You will have to minutes at the end of the listening test to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. Part 1. Que

5、stions 1-6. Interview with Professor Michaelson.You are going to listen to an interview with Professor Michael Michaelson. You will hear the recording twice. Choose the best answer according to what you learn through listening. Before the first listening you have half a minute to study the questions

6、.1. The main topic of the interview is . A. education in China B. pollution in England C. pollution in China2. As seen by the interviewer, the major problem of pollution in China concerns . A. air, land and water pollution B. people disposing of rubbish indiscriminately C. too much waste cardboard a

7、nd too many empty bottles3. In his country, when Michael Michaelson sees people dropping litter he A. reports them to the police B. quietly disposes of the litter himself C. confronts the person4. Michael Michaelson was shocked in China because . A. in England people never drop litter B. in China pe

8、ople drop litter everywhere C. he cannot run after people in China5. Michael Michaelson the idea of using bikes to collect waste cardboard. A. cant understand B. criticizes C. likes6. In China people use bicycles . A. to carry waste cardboard B. to collect empty bottles for money C. both A and BPart

9、 2. Questions 7-13. You are going to listen to a talk about The Fourth Word.Task 1. Questions 7-13. A list of topics is given below. Find the ones that the speaker mentioned and write the letters representing them in the space provided on the Answer Sheet.A. The Fourth WorldB. AustraliaC. AfricaD. c

10、ultural marginalisationE. newspaper reports of social problemsF. BushmenG. landrights strugglesH. the PitjanjaraI. the MauritaniansJ. popular cultureK. the common experiences of fourth world peoplesL. the long term consequences of colonizationTask 2. Questions 14-20. Listen again to the talk and mar

11、k the following statements as True (T) or False (F) according to the text.(14) The fourth world is a term used to interpret forms of inequality in rich countries.(15) The concept is used to interpret the problems of indigenous people(16) Indigenous people means people who colonised others.(17) Fourt

12、h world people experience cultural, political and economic poverty.(18) Fourth world people have to fight to maintain their cultural identity.(19) When Australia was colonised only one cultural group was dispossessed.(20) Australian aboriginal people are the only population of fourth world people.Pa

13、per 2: READING AND WRITINGInformation for candidates There are four parts to the reading test. There is one writing task. You should write ALL your answers on the Answer Sheet as you do the tasks.READING TEST 50 pointsPart 1. Read the following passage and answer Questions 21-30.Passage 1Changes in

14、Australian Education Haralambos and his colleagues (1996) have summarised the major changes in Australian education over the past two hundred years. The major issues driving their analysis are the questions: -of the effects that education has had on society; and -why some social groups tend to enjoy

15、 more educational success than others. They are not the only social scientists concerned with these issues. However their book contains a recent and comprehensive summary of Australian educational research. Here are some of the major points they make. There are five basic components to the Australia

16、n education system:() primary school ( age 5-12 years of age)() compulsory secondary school (12-15 years of age) (or 12-16 years in the State of Tasmania)() post-compulsory secondary school (15-17)() technical and further education (17 years and older)() higher education or university ( 17 years and

17、 older)Before the second world war nearly haft of Australian children did not attend secondary school. In the second half of the twentieth century education expanded and changed form dramatically. Between 1956 and 1966 the number of universities grew from nine to 14, then rose to 19 in 1975. In addi

18、tion, there has been a significant growth in non university post secondary education. In the 1990s the percentage of women with post secondary school qualifications was 37%. The percentage of men was 47 per cent.Haralambos and his colleagues summarise the evidence about the impact of education on th

19、e creation of a more equal society. They say both material and cultural factors affect the length of stay in education. Family wealth still exerts a powerful influence on access to university education. However the expansion of education has meant an expansion of educational opportunities for people

20、 from social groups earlier denied a higher education.Bob Connell, a major writer on Australian education, has argued that the evidence of socially unequal outcomes continues to mount. It is one of the most firmly established facts about Western style educational Systems in all parts of the world.Ma

21、rk the following statements as T (true) or F (false) according to the information in the text.21. Haralambos worked alone on his summary of Australian education.22. He and his colleagues were interested in studying social inequality.23. Most Australian students must stay at school until they are 15

22、years of age.24. There is a common compulsory school leaving age across all of Australia.25. There are two major forms of education for 17 year olds to choose.26. Post secondary education is compulsory in Australia.27. Only a small number of children attended secondary school before 1939.28. Major c

23、hanges in education occurred in the latter half of the 20th century.29. By the 1990s, a higher percentage of women than men had post secondary qualifications.30. The expansion of education has meant that there is now no social inequality in access to higher education in Australia.Part 2. Read Passag

24、e 2 and answer Questions 31-40.Passage 2My ComputerTen years ago I occasionally used a typewriter for important documents such as my curriculum vitae and job application letters. I couldnt really type so I tapped away at the keyboard with my two index fingers and made lots of mistakes. One simple le

25、tter would often require at least a dozen attempts before I managed to produce the final, neat document. When a course that I was doing demanded typed assignments I begged friends with good typing skills to help me. In other words, to type them for me and when my final project had to be typed up, I

26、actually paid a professional typist to do it ! I was a pen and paper person. I had never been interested in machines and artificial intelligence and sincerely believed I could live happily without advanced technology in my personal life!The situation has changed, of course. Its been a gradual change

27、 but these days I hardly know myself! I even have a computer and a printer. I have never learned to use all ten fingers on the keyboard but I can work quite quickly and produce documents which have an impressive layout and which use different sizes and styles of typeface (or font). I know how to und

28、erline, how to write words in bold or italic script, how to give parts of a text a border, how to insert illustrations and so on! I feel a great sense of achievement when I finish a document, print it out and see the finished product. Such documents seem professional I suspect, however, that impress

29、ive layout may camouflage inferior content ! I hope this is not true in my case.Five years ago, I had no idea what friends were talking about when they mentioned “E-mail (even if they used the full term, electronic mail), the internet and modem but my computer now has a modem, and through this devic

30、e, it is connected to the international network known as the Internet. As a result, I can now send and receive E-mail messages to and from friends and organisations around the world whose computers are also connected to the Internet. There is no time delay. Its possible to read messages in Beijing a

31、s they are being written in London or Hong Kong. This is indeed progress !Choose the best answer from the choices given ( Write the letter representing your choice in the space provided on the Answer Sheet):(31) In the article the writer compares changes over a period of . A. a decade B. a century C

32、. five years(32) The writers typed essays were often produced by . A. himself. B. friends and paid professionals. C. both A and B.(33) How many different kinds of electronic possessions does the writer list? A. Moro than five. B. Three. C. Two.(34) The writer feels a sense of achievement because . A

33、. he produces an impressive looking document B. his document cleverly camouflages inferior content C. he can work quickly(35) The author is an . A. accomplished ten finger typist B. illustrator C. accomplished internet user(36) The author started to use the Internet . A. ten years ago B. exactly fiv

34、e years ago C. probably within the past five years(37) The author sends e-mail messages . A. to all his friends B. to organisations around the world C. both A and B.(38) Five years ago, the authors friends . A. were all connected to the Internet B. knew more about the Internet than he did C. worked

35、in organisations all around the world(39) It is now possible .A. to send immediate answers to correspondents on the Internet B. to assess the feelings of friends on the Internet C. to become a ten finger typist by using the Internet(40) It is . A. inferable that the author approves of the Internet B

36、. likely that the author is no longer employed C. unlikely that the author is a manPart 3. Read Passage 3 and answer Questions 41-50.Passage 3Income EqualityAdapted from Work by Yang Chunya and Kate ThorneA system to regulate income inequality should be mapped out in time to prevent income gaps from

37、 broadening. The lopsided individual income pattern in China has tended to worsen since the country initiated economic reform and the open-door policy 17 years ago.Although official statistics have not yet been made available to indicate how large income gaps have become, the people in the street ha

38、ve tested enough of this inequality in their daily life. While a couple of restaurant owners in Shanghai have revealed that their monthly income has reached 100, 000 yuan ( $11,900) ,630,000 residents in Hnnan Province are struggling for a bare subsistence wage of 132 yuan ( $16) a month, according

39、to the weekly magazine Outlook.Gone are the days when people who had 10,000 yuan ( $1,190) were dubbed upstarts. Nowadays, a person who has 100,000 yuan ( $11,900) is barely considered rich. At the same time, around 10 million people across the country are living such a scanty life that they cant af

40、ford enough vegetables and fruit.Although the disparity is inevitable when the country is in the stage of transition from the planned economy to a market-oriented economy, it does not mean that such unequal distribution of wealth is acceptable or fair. If the income gap keeps widening and finally de

41、velops to a polarisation, it will lead to deep resentment among the poor. A growing fear in the public is that chronic disaffection will trigger social disruption.Research cited by Keith Windschuttle in his Australian book on unemployment shows that low income people usually suffer higher levels of

42、sickness and mortality and have few opportunities to enable their children to progress. The Left Realist school in the UK have shown that people living in communities suffering poverty and unemployment are at higher risks of becoming victims of crime. On the other hand, the rich who rise to fortune

43、through illegal profiteering will frustrate fair competition in the market pace. Moreover, their self-indulgent life style has a negative effect on social values. To narrow the income gap, the most common practice exercised in western countries is to levy strictly regulated personal income tax.Unfor

44、tunately, this practice does not function well in China due to the fledgling financial and banking systems of the country, even though it has been pursued for about ten years, the weekly said.Questions 41-50. Fill in all the empty cells with either one-word or short-phrase (no more than three words)

45、 answers in the following Table:Examples of Rich PeopleExamples of Poor PeopleMonthly income in RMB100,000 yuan132 yuanMonthly income in dollars$ (41)$16Unaffordable foodsNot stated (42)Polarisation could lead toNot stated (43)Health conditionsLower levels of (44) and (45)Higher rates of these condi

46、tions.Childrens opportunitiesNot stated (46)Levies paid within the western regulated taxation system (47)Not statedLife styles (48)scantyEffect on social values (49)Not statedLeft Realist view of risk of crime victimisationNot stated (50)Part 4. Read passage 4 and answer Questions 51-60.Passage 4Ana

47、lysing the MediaPeople in todays global society know about their own lives, they also know something about what is happening in their local community and they have news about the wider world, the world they never experience directly, the world in which they never meet the people in the news face-to-

48、face.We can learn about the culture, politics, economics, social problems, and achievements of people in distant countries and foreign societies. Mainly the knowledge we have of this wider world is communicated, almost always, through the media, and the details we receive are instant and multitudino

49、us.It is in the news broadcasts of radio, television and the press, that the majority of people learn about the wider world. Today, people live in a global world: the occurrences in far-off countries affect us all. We cannot be isolated from the events of foreign societies because those events can i

50、mpinge on our own lives. So it is important to ask How well do the media do in their job of providing us with news of the wider world?. Not too well is the conclusion of some media analysts. Galtung and Ruge ( 1981 ), studied the way that Western news agencies mediate world events. To summarise thei

51、r work: we only get to hear, read of, or view, news events if they fulfill at least two or three of the following criteria:(i) if the people concerned have elite status(ii) if the country concerned has an elite status(iii) if the news is negative(iv) if the news has immediacy Journalists define a to

52、p story as one that fulfills all four criteria. The sudden death of a glamorous member of a royal family in a rich country would have the very top billing. This kind of top story occurs infrequently. We are much more likely to receive stories fulfilling only three of the criteria. A slightly less ap

53、pealing story but still a good news story might be about rich people from rich countries being charitable to poor people. A story about poor women in Uganda or Laos running a successful long term community project would not fulfill any of the criteria. It would not be a good news story. Peasants in

54、developing countries feature in the Western media only if they suffer large scale sudden disasters, like floods, earthquakes, famine or war. Large scale death of poor people is a good news storySo Western viewers develop a very imbalanced picture of the world at large. An image of the world develops

55、 in which only rich people in First World countries are good, competent and charitable. Poor people in non-Western countries come to be seen, only and inevitably, as the incompetent and passive recipients of all the disasters the world can bring them, and, if they are lucky, the charity of the rich

56、people in the rich nations of the world.Give short answers to the following questions (Write your answers on the Answer Sheet).(51 ) What are the three areas of social life we hear news about according to the author?(52) What is different about the wider world ?(53) How, mainly, do we learn about overseas count