历年专业英语八级考试真题及答案(11)

1、2008 年专业英语八级考试真题及答案SECTION A MINI-LECTUREIn this section you will 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. When the lectur

2、e is over, you will be given two minutes to check your notes, and another ten minutes to complete the gap-filling task on ANSWERSHEETONE. Use the blank sheet for note-taking.The Popularity of EnglishI. Present status of EnglishA. English as a native/first languageB. English as a lingua franca: a lan

3、guage for communication among people whose (1)are differentC. Number of people speaking English as a first or a second language: 320-380 million native speakers 250- (2) million speakers of English as a second languageII. Reasons for the popular use of EnglishA. (3) reasons the Pilgrim Fathers broug

4、ht the language to America; British settlers brought the language to Australia; English was used as a means of control in (4)B. Economic reasons spread of (5) language of communication iii the international business communityC. (6)in international travel use of English in travel and tourism signs in

5、 airports language of announcement language of (7) D. Information exchange use of English in the academic world language of (8) or journal articlesE. Popular culture pop music on (9) films from the USAIII. Questions to think aboutA. status of English in the futureB. (10) of distinct varieties of Eng

6、lishSECTION A MINI-LECTUREIn this section you will hear a mini-lecture. You willhear the lectu re ONCE ONLY while listening,takenotes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them tocomplete a gap-f illing task after the mini-lecture. When the lecture is over, you wi

7、 ll be given twominutes to check your notes, and another ten minutes to complete the gap-filling task onANSWER SHEET ONE. Use the blank sheet for note-taking.Now listen to the mini-lectureThe Popularity of EnglishGood morning,everyone. Todays lecture isaboutthepopularityof English. As we all know,En

8、glishis widely used in the world. Although English is not the language with the largestnumber of native or first language speakers, it has really become a lingua franca. Then what is alingua franca? The te rm refers to a language which is widely adopted forcommunicationbetween two speakers whose nat

9、ive languagesare differentfrom each others,and whereoneor bothspeakersare using itas a second language.For example, when an Indian talks to aSingaporean using English, th enEnglish is the lingua franca.Then actuallyhow many peoplespeakEnglish as either a first or a second language? Some researchers

10、sug gested a few yearsago that between320380 million people spoke English as a first language, and anywaybetwe en 250350 million as a second language. And of course, if we include peop le who arelearning Englishas a foreignlanguage all over the world,that number may increasedramatically.Then we may

11、ask a question:how didEnglishgetthere?Thatis, how did Englishgain thepresentstatus of popularity?Therearein facta numberofinterlockingreasons forthepopularityofEnglishas alingua franca.Many ofthe reasons are historical,buttheyalsoincludeeconomicand culturalfactors thathaveinfluenced and sustained th

12、e spreadofthelanguage.Let s gothroughthereasonsoneby one.First isthehistoricareason.This isrelated tothe colonialhistory. As we know, when thePilgrim Fathers landed on the Massachusetts coast in 1620 after their journey from England,they brought with th em not just a set of religious beliefs, a pion

13、eering spirit or a d esire forcolonization, but also their language. Although many years la ter, the Americans broke awayfrom their colonial master, the languageof English remained and still does. It was the same inAustralia, t oo. When Commander Phillip planted the British flag in Sydney cove o n t

14、he 26thJanuary,1788, it was not just a bunch of British convicts on their guardian s, but also alanguage. In other parts of the former British Empire,English rapidlybecamea unifyingordominatingmeans of control.Forexample, itbecame alinguafranca in India or a varietyofindigenous languagesmade theuse

15、ofanyoneof themas a wholecountrysystemproblematic.So the impositionof Englishas the one language o f administration helpsmaintain the colonizers control and power, thus English traveled around many parts of theworld in those days. And long after that colonial power has faded away, it is still widely

16、 u sed asa main or at least an institutional language in countries as far apart as Jamaica and Pakistan,Uganda and New Zealand. That is th e first factor.Now the second major factor inthe spreadof Englishhas beenthespread of commercethroughouttheworld. Thespread ofinternational commerce has taken En

17、glish along with it.This is the 20th century phenomenon ofglobalization.Therefore,oneofthe first sightsmanytravelers seewhen arrivingin countriesasdiverse as Brazil,China, forexample,is the yellowtwin archsignofMacDonalds fast food restaurant or some other famous brands outlets Andwithoutdoubt, Engl

18、ish is used as the language of communication in the int ernational businesscommunity. in the international business community. And the third factor related to the popular use of English is the booming international travel.And you will find that much travel and t ourism is carried on around the world

19、 in English. Ofcourse this is not always the case, as the multi-lingualism of many tourism workersin manydifferent countries demonstrate. But a visit to most airportson the globe will show signs notonly in the language of that coun try but also with English, just as many airline announcementsbroadca

20、stin English too, whatever the language of the country the airport i s situated in.So far, English is also the preferred language of air traffic contro l in many countries and is usedwidely in sea travel communication. A nother factor has something to do with informationexchange around the world. As

21、 we all know, a great deal of academic discoursearound the world takes place in English. It is often a lingua franc a of conferences,for example,and many journal articles in fields as d iverse as astronomy, trio psychology and geology haveEnglish as a kin d of default language.The last factor I cite

22、 here concerns popular culture. In the westernworld, at least English is adominating language in popular culture.Pop music in English can be heard on many radios,thus many people who are not English speakers can sing words from their favorite En glishmedium songs. And many people who are regular cin

23、ema-goers or TVviewers can frequentlyhear English in subtitle films coming out of the USA.Now, to sum up in today s lecture, we have reviewed some of the reasons or factors that lie behind the popular use of English as the No.1 world language. Before we finish, I'd like toleave a few questions f

24、or you to think about. Is the status of English as the No.1 worldlanguagethat become lessa sure inlanguagesse questionstakearey worth pondering of today s lecture. Thankmutuallythe place not easy overafteryou forcheck yourwer Sheet 1notes.in 10the future?intelligible?Or of English to answer, the lec

25、ture.yourAnd thenminutes.Will itwillsplit into varietiessome otherlanguage orasworldknow.languageBut theyinfuture?TheOk, this bringsattention.Now please finishyou thehave two gap-fillingaretodefiniteltheminutestaskendtoonAnsSECTION B INTERVIEWIn this section you will the questions that follow. answe

26、r sheet.hear everything ONCEONLY. ListencarefullyMark the correct answer to each questionand then answeron your coloredQuestions 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 interview1. Mar

27、y doesn't seem to favour the idea of a new airport becauseA. the existing airports are to be wastedB. more people will be encouraged to travel.C. more oil will be consumed.D. more airplanes will be purchased.2. Which of the following is NOT mentioned by Mary as a potential disadvantage?A. More p

28、eople in the area.B. Noise and motorways.C. Waste of land.D. Unnecessary travel.3. Freddy has cited the following advantages for a new airport EXCEPTA. more job opportunities.B. vitality to the local economy.C. road construction,D. presence of aircrew in the area.4. Mary thinks that people dont need

29、 to do much travel nowadays as a result ofA. less emphasis on personal contact.B. advances in modern telecommunications.C. recent changes in peoples concepts.D. more potential damage to the area5. We learn from the conversation that Freddy is Marys ideas,A. strongly in favour ofB. mildly in favour o

30、fC. strongly againstD. mildly againstSECTION C NEWS BROADCASTIn this section you will hear everything ONCEONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the correct answer to each question on your coloured answer sheet.Question 6 is based on the following news. At the end of

31、the news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the question. Now listen to the news.6. What is the main idea of the news item?A. A new government was formed after Sundays elections.B. The new government intends to change the welfare system.C. The Social Democratic Party founded the welfare sy

32、stem.D. The Social Democratic Party was responsible for high unemployment.Questions 7 and 8 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 20 seconds to answer the questions.Now listen to the news.7. The tapes of the Apollo-11 mission were first stored inA. a U.S. go

33、vernment archives warehouse.B. a NASA ground tracking station.C. the Goddard Space Flight Centre.D. none of the above places.8. What does the news item say about Richard Nafzger?A. He is assigned the task to look for the tapes.B. He believes that the tapes are probably lost.C. He works in a NASA gro

34、und receiving site.D. He had asked for the tapes in the 1970s.Questions 9 and 10 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 20 seconds to answer the questions.Now listen to the news.9. The example in the news item is cited mainly to showA. that doctors are someti

35、mes professionally incompetentB. that in cases like that hospitals have to pay huge compensations.C. that language barriers might lower the quality of treatment.D. that language barriers can result in fatal consequences.10. According to Dr. Flores, hospitals and clinicsA. have seen the need for hiri

36、ng trained interpreters.B. have realized the problems of language barriers.C. have begun training their staff to be bilinguals.D. have taken steps to provide accurate diagnosis.PART II READING COMPREHENSION (30 MIN)In this section there are four reading passages followed by a total of 20 multiple-ch

37、oice questions. Read the passages and then mark your answers on your coloured answer sheet 。TEXT AAt the age of 16, Lee Hyuk Joons life is a living hell. The South Korean 10th grader gets up at 6 in the morning to go to school, and studies most of the day until returning home at 6 p.m. After dinner,

38、 its time to hit the books again at one of Seouls many so-called cram schools. Lee gets back home at 1 in the morning, sleeps less than five hours, then repeats the routine five days a week. Its a grueling schedule,but Lee worries that it may not be good enough to get him into a top university.Some

39、of his classmates study even harder.South Koreas education system has long been highly competitive.But for Lee and theother 700,000 high-school sophomores in the country, high-schoolstudies have gotteneven more intense. Thats because South Korea has conceived a new college-entrance system, which wil

40、l be implemented in 2008. This years 10th graders will be the first group evaluated by the new admissions standard, which places more emphasis on grades in the three years of high school and less on nationwide SAT-style and other selection tests, which have traditionallydetermined which students go

41、to the elitecolleges.The change was made mostly to reduce what the government says is a growing education gap in the country: wealthy students go to the best colleges and get the best jobs, keeping the children of poorer families on the social margins. The aim is to reduce the importance of costly t

42、utors and cram schools, partly to help students enjoy a more normal high-school life. But the new system has had the opposite effect. Before, students didnt worry too much about their grade-point averages; the big challenge was beating he standardized tests as high-school seniors. Nowstudents are co

43、mpeting against one another over a three-year period, and every midterm and final test is crucial. Fretful parents are relying even more heavily on tutors and cram schools to help their children succeed.Parents and kids have sent thousands of angry online letters to the Education Ministry complainin

44、g that the new admissions standard is setting students against each other. "One can succeed only when others fail,” as one parent said.Education experts say that South Koreas public secondary-school system is foundering, while private education is thriving. According to critics, the countrys hi

45、gh schools are almost uniformly mediocre the result of an egalitarian government education policy. With the number of elite schools strictly controlled by the government, even the brightest students typically have to settle for ordinary schools in their neighbourhoods, where the curriculum is centre

46、d on average students. To make up for the mediocrity, zealous parents send their kids to the expensive cram schools.Students in affluent southern Seoul neighbourhoods complain that the new system will hurt them the most.Nearly all Korean high schools will be weighted equally in the college-entrance

47、process, and relatively weak students in provincial schools, who may not score well on standardized tests, often compile good grade-point averages.Someuniversities, particularly prestigious ones, openly complain that they cannot select the best students under the new system because it eliminates dif

48、ferences among high schools. Theyve asked for more discretion in picking students by giving more weight to such screening tools as essay writing or interviews.President Roh Moo Hyun doesnt like how some colleges are trying to circumvent the new system. He recently criticized "greedy" unive

49、rsities that focus more on finding the best students than faying to "nurture good students". But amid the crossfire between the government and universities,the countrys 10th graders are feeling thestress. Ononline protest sites, some are calling themselves a “ cursed generation ” and “ mic

50、e in a lab experiment ” . It all seems a touch melodramatic, but thats the South Korean school system.11. According to the passage, the new college-entrance system is designed toA. require students to sit for more college-entrance tests.B. reduce the weight of college-entrance tests.C. select studen

51、ts on their high school grades only.D. reduce the number of prospective college applicants.12. What seems to be the effect of introducing the new system?A. The system has given equal opportunities to students.B. The system has reduced the number of cram schools.C. The system has intensified competit

52、ion among schools.D. The system has increased students study load.13. According to critics, the popularity of private education is mainly the result ofA. the governments egalitarian policy.B. insufficient number of schools:C. curriculums of average quality.D. low cost of private education.14. Accord

53、ing to the passage, there seems to be disagreement over the adoption of the new system between the following groups EXCEPT A. between universities and the government.B. between school experts and the government.C. between parents and schools.D. between parents and the government.15. Which of the fol

54、lowing adjectives best describes the authors treatment of the topic?A. Objective.B. Positive.C. Negative.D. Biased.TEXT BWilfred Emmanuel-Jones was a teenager before he saw his first cow in his first field. Born in Jamaica, the 47-year-old grew up in inner-city Birmingham before making a career as a

55、 television producer and launching his own marketing agency. But deep down he always nurtured every true Englishmans dream of a rustic life, a dream that his entrepreneurial wealth has allowed him to satisfy. These days hes the owner of a thriving 12-hectare farm in deepest Devon with cattle, sheep

56、and pigs. His latest business venture: pushing his brand of Black Fanner gourmet sausages and barbecue sauces. “ My background may be very urban, ” says Emmanuel-Jones.“ But it has given me a good idea of what other urbanites want.”And of how to sell it. Emmanuel-Jones joins a herd of wealthy fugiti

57、ves from city life who are bringing a new commercial know-how to British farming. Britains burgeoning farmers markets -numbers have doubled to at least 500 in the last five years swarm with specialty cheesemakers, beekeepers or organic smallholders who are redeploying the business skills they learne

58、d in the city. "Everyone in the rural community has tocome to terms with the fact that things have changed." Says Emmanuel-Jones. "Youcan produce the best food in the world, but if you dont know how to market it, youare wasting your time. We are helping the traditionalists to move on."The emergence of the new c