1989年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语试题

Section I Close Test

For each numbered blank in the following passage there are four choices labeled ［A］, ［B］, ［C］ and ［D］. Choose the best one and put your choice in the ANSWER SHEET. Read the whole passage before making your choice. (10 points)

①One day drought may be a thing of the past at least in coastal cities. ②Vast areas of desert throughout the world may for the first time   1   and provide millions of hectares of land where now nothing grows.

③By the end of this century this may not be mere   2  . ④Scientists are already looking into the possibility of using some of the available ice in the Arctic and Antarctic. ⑤In these regions there are vast ice-caps formed by snow that has fallen over the past 50,000 years. ⑥Layer   3   layer of deep snow means that, when melted, the snow water would be pure, not salty as sea-ice would be. ⑦There is so much   4   pure water here that it would need only a fraction of it to turn much of the desert or poorly irrigated parts of the world into rich farmland. ⑧And what useful packages it would come in! ⑨It should be possible to cut off a bit of ice and transport it! ⑩Alternatively perhaps a passing iceberg could be   5  . 11They are always breaking away from the main caps and floating around, pushed by currents, until they eventually melt and are wasted.

12Many icebergs are, of course, far too small to be towed   6   distance, and would melt before they reached a country that needed them anywhere. 13It would be necessary to locate one that was   7   and that was big enough to provide a good supply of ice when it reached us. 14Engineers think that an iceberg up to seven miles long and one and a half miles wide could be transported if the tug pulling it was as big as a supertanker! 15Even then they would cover only twenty miles every day. 16However,  8   the iceberg was at its destination, more that 7,000 million cubic metres of water could be taken from it! 17That would probably be more than enough for any medium-sized city even in the hottest summer! 18But no doubt a use could be found for it. 19  9  , scientist say, there would not be too much wastage in such a journey. 20The larger the iceberg, the slower it melts, even if it is towed through the tropics. 21This is because when the sun has a bigger area to warm   10  , less heat actually gets into the iceberg. 22The vast frozen centre would be unaffected. [394 words]

1. ［A］ come to life ［B］ come into existence

［C］ come into activity                            ［D］ come round

2. ［A］ speculation ［B］ imagination ［C］ computation             ［D］ expectation
3. ［A］ above ［B］ of ［C］ upon                        ［D］ over
4. ［A］ essential ［B］ potential ［C］ claimable                 ［D］ obtainable
5. ［A］ seized ［B］ snatched ［C］ grabbed                   ［D］ captured
6. ［A］ much ［B］ any ［C］ some                       ［D］ certain
7. ［A］ manageable ［B］ manipulative ［C］ operable                   ［D］ controllable
8. ［A］ after ［B］ while               ［C］ since                        ［D］ once
9. ［A］ Apparently ［B］ Noticeably ［C］ Distinctly                 ［D］ Notably

10.［A］ round           ［B］ over                  ［C］ up                           ［D］ through

Section II      Reading Comprehension 

Each of the two passages below is followed by five questions. For each question there are four answers. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each of the questions. Put your choice in the brackets on the left. (10 points)

Text 1

A scientist once said: “I have concluded that the earth is being visited by intelligently controlled vehicles from outer space.”

If we take this as a reasonable explanation for UFOs (unidentified flying objects), questions immediately come up.

 “Why don’t they get in touch with us, then? Why don’t they land right on the White House lawn and declare themselves?” people asked.

In reply, scientists say that, while this may be what we want, it may not necessarily be what they want.

 “The most likely explanation, it seems to me,” said Dr. Mead, “is that they are simply watching what we are up to -- that responsible society outside our solar system is keeping an eye on us to see that we don’t set in motion a chain reaction that might have unexpected effects for outside our solar system.”

Opinions from other scientists might go like this: “Why should they want to get in touch with us? We may feel we’re more important than we really are! They may want to observe us only and not interfere with the development of our civilization. They may not care if we see them but they also may not care to say ‘hello’.”

①Some scientists have also suggested that Earth is a kind of zoo or wildlife reserve. ②Just as we set aside wilderness areas and wildlife reserves to allow animals and growing things to develop naturally while we observe them, so perhaps Earth was set aside ages ago for the same purpose.

①Are we being observed by intelligent beings from other civilizations in the universe? ②Are they watching our progress in space travel? ③Do we live in a gigantic “zoo” observed by our “keepers,” but having no communication with them?

①Never before in our history have we had to confront ideas like these. ②The simple fact is that we, who have always regarded ourselves as supreme in the universe, may not be so. ③Now we have to recognize that, among the stars in the heavens, there may very well be worlds inhabited by beings who are to us as we are to ants.

Text 2

①The use of the motor is becoming more and more widespread in the twentieth century; as an increasing number of countries develop both technically and economically, so a larger proportion of the world’s population is able to buy and use a car. ②Possessing a car gives a much greater degree of mobility, enabling the driver to move around freely. ③The owner of a car is no longer forced to rely on public transport and is, therefore, not compelled to work locally. ④He can choose from different jobs and probably changes his work more frequently as he is not restricted to a choice within a small radius. ⑤Travelling to work by car is also more comfortable than having to use public transport; the driver can adjust the heating in winter and the air conditioning in the summer to suit his own needs and preference. ⑥There is no irritation caused by waiting for trains, buses or underground trains, standing in long patient queues, or sitting on windy platforms, for as long as half an hour sometimes. ⑦With the building of good, fast motorways long distances can be covered rapidly and pleasantly. ⑧For the first time in this century also, many people are now able to enjoy their leisure time to the full by making trips to the country or seaside at the weekends, instead of being confined to their immediate neighbourhood. ⑨This feeling of independence, and the freedom to go where you please, is perhaps the greatest advantage of the car.

①When considering the drawbacks, perhaps pollution is of prime importance. ②As more and more cars are produced and used, so the emission from their exhaust-pipes contains an ever larger volume of poisonous gas. ③Some of the contents of this gas, such as lead, not only pollute the atmosphere but cause actual harm to the health of people. ④Many of the minor illnesses of modern industrial society, headaches, tiredness, and stomach upsets are thought to arise from breathing polluted air; doctors’ surgeries are full of people suffering from illnesses caused by pollution. ⑤It is also becoming increasingly difficult to deal with the problem of traffic in towns; most of the important cities of the world suffer from traffic congestion. ⑥In fact any advantage gained in comfort is often cancelled out in city driving by the frustration caused by traffic jams: endless queues of cars crawling one after another through all the main streets. ⑦As an increasing number of traffic regulation schemes are devised, the poor bewildered driver finds himself diverted and forced into one-way systems which cause even greater delays than the traffic jams they are supposed to prevent. ⑧The mounting cost of petrol and the increased license fees and road tax all add to the driver’s worries. ⑨In fact, he must sometimes wonder if the motor car is such a blessing and not just a menace.

Text 3

①Manners nowadays in metropolitan cities like London are practically non-existent. ②It is nothing for a big, strong schoolboy to elbow an elderly woman aside in the dash for the last remaining seat on the tube or bus, much less stand up and offer his seat to her, as he ought. ③In fact, it is saddening to note that if a man does offer his seat to an older woman, it is nearly always a Continental man or one from the older generation.

①This question of giving up seats in public transport is much argued about by young men, who say that, since women have claimed equality, they no longer deserve to be treated with courtesy and that those who go out to work should take their turn in the rat race like anyone else. ②Women have never claimed to be physically as strong as men. ③Even if it is not agreed, however, that young men should stand up for younger women, the fact remains that courtesy should be shown to the old, the sick and the burdened. ④Are we really so lost to all ideals of unselfishness that we can sit there indifferently reading the paper or a book, saying to ourselves “First come, first served,” while a grey-haired woman, a mother with a young child or a cripple stands? ⑤Yet this is all too often seen.

①Conditions in travel are really very hard on everyone, we know, but hardship is surely no excuse. ②Sometimes one wonders what would have been the behaviour of these stout young men in a packed refugee train or a train on its way to a prison-camp during the War. ③Would they have considered it only right and their proper due to keep the best places for themselves then?

①Older people, tired and irritable from a day’s work, are not angels, either — far from it. ②Many a brisk argument or an insulting quarrel breaks out as the weary queues push and shove each other to get on buses and tubes. ③One cannot commend this, of course, but one does feel there is just a little more excuse.

①If cities are to remain pleasant places to live in at all, however, it seems imperative, not only that communications in transport should be improved, but also that communication between human beings should be kept smooth and polite. ②All over cities, it seems that people are too tired and too rushed to be polite. ③Shop assistants won’t bother to assist, taxi drivers growl at each other as they dash dangerously round corners, bus conductor pull the bell before their desperate passengers have had time to get on or off the bus, and so on and so on. ④It seems to us that it is up to the young and strong to do their small part to stop such deterioration.

Section III     English-Chinese Translation

Translate the following passage into Chinese. Only the underlined sentences are to be translated. (20 points)

When Jane Matheson started work at Advanced Electronics Inc. 12 years ago, (21) she laboured over a microscope, hand-welding tiny electronic computers and turned out 18 per hour. Now she tends the computerized machinery that turns out high capacity memory chips at the rate of 2,600 per hour. Production is up, profits are up, her income is up and Mrs. Matheson says the work is far less strain on her eyes.

But the most significant effect of the changes at AEI was felt by the workers who are no longer there. Before the new computerized equipment was introduced, there were 940 workers at the plant. Now there are 121. (22) A plant follow-up survey showed that one year after the layoffs only 38% of the released workers found new employment at the same or better wages. Nearly half finally settled for lower pay and more than 13% are still out of work. The AEI example is only one of hundreds around the country which forge intelligently ahead into the latest technology, but leave the majority of their workers behind.

(23) Its beginnings obscured by unemployment caused by the world economic slow-down, the new technological unemployment may emerge as the great socio-economic challenge of the end of the 20th century. One corporation economist says the growth of “machine job replacement” has been with us since the beginning of the industrial revolution, but never at the pace it is now. The human costs will be astonishing. (24) “It’s humiliating to be done out of your job by a machine and there is no way to fight back, but it is the effort to find a new job that really hurts.” Some workers, like Jane Matheson, are retrained to handle the new equipment, but often a whole new set of skills is required and that means a new, and invariably smaller set of workers. (25) The old workers, trapped by their limited skills, often never regain their old status and employment. Many drift into marginal areas. They feel no pride in their new work. They get badly paid for it and they feel miserable, but still they are luckier than those who never find it.

(26) The social costs go far beyond the welfare and unemployment payments made by the government. Unemployment increases the chances of divorce, child abuse, and alcoholism, a new federal survey shows. Some experts say the problem is only temporary... that new technology will eventually create as many jobs as it destroys. (27) But futurologist Hymen Seymour says the astonishing efficiency of the new technology means there will be a simple and direct net reduction in the amount of human labor that needs to be done. “We should treat this as an opportunity to give people more leisure. It may not be easy, but society will have to reach a new unanimity on the division and distribution of labor,” Seymour says. He predicts most people will work only six-hour days and four-day weeks by the end of the century. But the concern of the unemployed is for now. (28) Federally funded training and free back-to-school programs for laid-off workers are under way, but few experts believe they will be able to keep up with the pace of the new technology. For the next few years, for a substantial portion of the workforce, times are going to be very tough indeed.