全国4月自学考试英语科技文选试题

1、全国2021年4月自学考试英语科技文选试题课程代码：00836请考生按规定用笔将所有试题的答案涂、写在答题纸上。选择题局部考前须知： 1. 答题前，考生务必将自己的考试课程名称、姓名、准考证号用黑色字迹的签字笔或钢笔填写在答题纸规定的位置上。2. 每题选出答案后，用2B铅笔把答题纸上对应题目的答案标号涂黑。如需改动，用橡皮擦干净后，再选涂其他答案标号。不能答在试题卷上。I. Directions: Read through the following passages. Choose the best answer and blacken the corresponding letter A,

2、 B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (20%)ABabies living in bilingual homes get a perceptual boost by 8 months of age that may set the stage for more resilient thinking later in life, scientists reported on February 18 at the American Association of the Advancement of Science annual meeting. Infants rais

3、ed bilingual from birth can distinguish not only between their two native tongues but between two languages theyve never been exposed to, just by watching adults speak without hearing what they say, said psychologist Janet Werker of the University of British Columbia. Babies being raised to speak on

4、e language lack these visual discrimination skills, Werker and her colleagues have found. Given regular exposure to two languages, infants develop a general ability to track closely what they hear and see in decoding languages, Werker proposed. In the visual realm, such information may include lip m

5、ovements, the rhythm of the jaw opening and closing, and the full ensemble of facial movements while talking. Her earlier studies found that newborn babies that had been exposed parentally to two languages prefer to listen to those languages over others and distinguish between sounds in the tongues

6、that they regularly hear spoken. “Bilingual infants are able to keep their languages distinct from birth and may develop an increased sensitivity to voice and face cues for different languages, Werker said. Early perceptual strides taken by infants in bilingual homes may represent the beginnings of

7、an increased ability, relative to one-language speakers, to focus attention and think in complex ways later in life, suggested psychologist Ellen Bialystock of YorkUniversity in Toronto. Bialystocks group has found that among more than 400 0lder adults diagnosed with Alzheimers disease, those who sp

8、eak two languages fluently are, on average, four to five years older than those who speak one language. “Bilingual adults are better able to cope with the diseases effects on mental function, Bialystock proposed. Werkers team studied a total of 48 babies, all 8 months old, from families that spoke S

9、panish only, Catalan only or both Spanish and Catalan. Each infant sat on his or her mothers lap and watched videos of three women, all bilingual in English and French, reading sentences in those languages without any sound. Once babies got bored with clips in one language and began to look away and

10、 fidget, they were shown different clips of a woman reciting sentences either in the same language as before, or in a different tongue. Babies from bilingual Spanish/Catalan homes homed in on faces speaking a different language and largely kept ignoring a language that they had just heard, even thou

11、gh both English and French were new languages to them. Babies from Spanish-only and Catalan-only families paid little attention to switches between French and English.1. What is the main theme of the passage?A. Early perceptual progress is made by infants at home.B. Two languages are better than one

12、 for infant perception.C. How infants become bilingual.D. Bilingual infants are perceptive.2. The author states that infants raised bilingual _.A. always look at adults faces when they speakB. seldom look away when adults speakC. can distinguish between two languages theyve never heardD. have better

13、 hearing ability than one-language infants3. According to the passage, why is some peoples mental function not much affected when they are ill?A. Because they are strong-willed.B. Because they speak two languages.C. Because they do not know much about the disease.D. Because they are mentally healthy

14、.4. The phrase “homed in in line 4 from the bottom is closest in meaning to “_.A. looked atB. choseC. dweltD. lived5. According to the passage, which of the following statements can be said as true?A. Bilingual adults are generally less susceptible to Alzheimers disease.B. Bilingual infants are more

15、 susceptible to Alzheimers disease.C. Monolingual adults are less sensitive to voice and face cues for different languages.D. Monolingual infants are more sensitive to voice and face cues for different languages.(B)Food prices offer a good proxy for agricultures health, notes Gerald Nelson, an econo

16、mist with the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, D.C. Rising prices signal increasing resource scarcity, he explains, which can be triggered by expanding populations, growing incomes and declining crop yields. Recent food-price shocks and yield shortfalls initially surprised

17、 analysts, note IFPRIs Derek Headey and Shenggen Fan in a November 18 report. Government officials had been lulled into complacency by decades of falling food costs. But prices bottomed out around 2000 and have since begun climbing in response to commodities speculation and a string of poor harvests

18、. Nelson and his colleagues have now used computer models to get some grasp on how crop yields and prices might respond, several decades out, to Earths continuing low-grade fever. The team considered three scenarios of income and population growth that might reasonably be expected to occur between 2

19、021 and 2050. Then they applied four “plausible climate scenarios with warmer temperatures and anywhere from slightly to substantially wetter weather. They also included an “implausible fifth scenario of perfect mitigation (a continuation of todays climate into the future). The resulting scenarios a

20、ll indicated that in contrast to the 20th century, when food prices fell, the 21st century would see prices rise. Probably by a lot. Even with todays climate, food prices would rise over the next 40 years in response to pressures from growing populations and incomes. Rice prices, for instance, would

21、 increase roughly 11 to 55 percent. Throwing in additional warming, prices can rise substantially morea minimum of 31 percent for rice and perhaps a doubling for corn. The analyses clearly point to “climate change as a threat-multiplier, concludes Nelson. Lighter wallets are hardly the most dire fal

22、lout of rising food costs. An analysis that Nelsons group issued last year projected that food affordability by 2050 will likely trigger a decline in intake throughout the developing world. This could hike childhood malnutrition rates 20 percent above what would occur in the absence of climate chang

23、e. Investments could be made to offset the negative impacts of climate on agriculture and childhood malnutrition. But theyd be high, IFPR I estimated: more than $7 billion annually. Last years greenhouse-gas releases have been fueling pessimism that nations will be able to brake their emission traje

24、ctories soon. Owing to the global recession, people had expected 2021 greenhouse-gas releases to drop precipitously, notes climate scientist Pierre Friedlingstein of the University of Exeter in England. “Global emissions did decrease 1.3 percent, but that was only equivalent to four days of emission

25、s. “The globe essentially faces a daunting task in terms of climate change, notes Bruce Campbell, director of a climate and food program of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. Despite climates impacts on food production, agriculture remains largely ignored in international

26、 negotiations of climate and emissions policies. “What were hoping, Campbell says, “is that agriculture gets to put on the agenda.6. The word “proxy in line 1 is closest in meaning to “_.A. exampleB. reasonC. signalD. result7. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a reason why the worlds resour

27、ces are getting increasingly scarce?A. Increasing populations.B. Growing incomes.C. Crop yield shortfalls.D. Commodities speculation.8. What would probably happen if todays climate continued into the future?A. There would be increasing population growth.B. Food prices would rise.C. Incomes would gro

28、w substantially.D. Even the people in the developed countries would suffer malnutrition.9. According to the passage, why did the 2021s global emissions increase pessimism?A. Because there would be more commodities speculation.B. Because nations would be able to brake their emissions trajectories soo

29、n.C. Because world greenhouse-gas releases were meager.D. Because climate would change drastically.10. What can be inferred from the passage about the government officials attitude toward food production?A. Complacent.B. Critical.C. Indifferent.D. Worried.非选择题局部考前须知：用黑色字迹的签字笔或钢笔将答案写在答题纸上，不能答在试题卷上。II

30、. Directions: Add the affix to each word according to the given Chinese, making changes when necessary. (10%)11. artificial 人工制品12. custom 符合风俗习惯的13. coincide 巧合14. compass 包含15. sphere 半球16. bewilder 迷惑不解17. forerun 预兆18. different 区分19. company 伴星20. audible 听不见的III. Directions: Fill in the blanks

31、, each using one of the given words or phrases below in its proper form.(12%)in common in response to cater for fond of bring into play comply withend up as for rest upon account for a spectrum of be concerned with21. Success in management ultimately _ good judgment.22. The two particles have nothin

32、g _.23. Nick can stay, but _ you, you can get out of my sight.24 The law was passed _ public pressure.25. He will _ in prison if he is not careful.26 The chef is pleased to _ vegetarian diets.27. The term “special needs covers _ problems.28. A whole complex system of muscles _ for each movement of t

33、he body.29. Recent pressure at work may _ his behavior.30. He is not very _ country music.31. All the people _ childrens education.32. Children of whatever background have to _ the tests as they are compulsory.IV. Directions: Fill in each blank with a suitable word given below. (8%)contrast to scien

34、tific absent inform with even betweenThe purpose of scientific literature is to inform and persuade peers as to the validity of observations and conclusions and the forensic efficacy of methods. Popular science attempts to _33_ and convince scientific outsiders (sometimes along with scientists in ot

35、her fields) of the significance of data and conclusions and to celebrate the results through epideictic rhetoric. Statements in _34_ literature are often qualified and tentative, emphasizing that new observations and results are consistent _35_ and similar _36_ established knowledge wherein qualifie

36、d scientists are assumed to recognize the relevance. By _37_, popular science emphasizes uniqueness and generality, taking a tone of factual authority _38_ from the scientific literature. Comparisons _39_ original scientific reports and derivative science journalism and popular science typically rev

37、eal at least some level of distortion and oversimplification which can often be quite dramatic, _40_ with politically neutral scientific topics.V. Directions: Translate the following sentences into English, each using one of the given words or phrases below in its proper form. (10%)suffice for compa

38、tible with in the works allow for be exposed to41他进大学时，接触到许多新思想。42午餐有两瓶葡萄酒就够了。43他的证词和第一个证人的不一致。44你应该考虑到飞机误点。45我们听说那位作家正在写一部新小说。VI. Directions: Translate the following paragraphs into Chinese. (15%)46. A very common operation in industry is that of pick and place. This would be typified by a packing

39、operation, such as that shown in the figure, where items are taken from a conveyor and placed into a pallet.The position of the item on the conveyor and the pallet position provide constraints on the endpoints of the trajectory of the item, but it does not matter from a functional point of view what

40、 path is taken by the robot. In practice, the path which gives the shortest time to perform the task will be the best. Note, however, that it will be desirable to constrain the robot to avoid collisions. Thus, once it has gripped the object it should move upwards from the conveyor, then move across

41、to a position over the pallet, and then move downwards before releasing the object.VII. Read the following passage, and then fill in the table with the information based on the passage. (10%)What Could Possibly Go Wrong: Genetically-Modified MosquitoesAs carriers for diseases such as malaria, dengue

42、 fever and yellow fever, mosquitoes are the deadliest creatures on the planet, responsible for millions of human deaths every year. And as the planet warms, the insects are broadly expanding their turf and bringing their diseases with them; thousands of cases of dengue, a tropical disease, have appe

43、ared in the U.S. in the past five years. DDT was long used to control the mosquito population, but it is now widely banned, and in any case, many scientists believe that mosquitoes quickly build up a resistance to the insecticide. That, in part, is why the battle against mosquitoes has gone genetic.

44、Generally speaking, the goal of gene-based mosquito-control projects is either to kill the insects or make them benign. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, for example, are studying mosquitoes that were made malaria-resistant through the activation of a gene responsible for a protein that block

45、s the infection. And the British company Oxitec has engineered a strain of mosquito that cannot survive without regular doses of tetracycline; in the wild, these mosquitoes would survive just long enough to mate and pass on their tetracycline-junkie genes to their doomed offspring. In a trial in the Cayma