2009级《大学英语》期中试卷

泉州师院2010—2011学年度第二学期本科

2009级《大学英语》期中试卷

I. 20%

II. Reading Comprehension. 30%

Section A

Directions: The following passages are followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C), D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.

Passage One

The dog, called Prince, was an intelligent animal and a slave to Williams. From morning till night, when Williams was at home, Prince never left his sight, practically ignoring all other members of the family. The dog had a number of clearly defined duties, for which Williams had patiently trained him and, like the good pupil he was, Prince lived for the chance to demonstrate his abilities.

When Williams wanted to put on his boots, he would murmur “Boots” and within seconds the dog would drop them at his feet. At nine every morning, Prince ran off to the general store in the village, returning shortly not only with Williams' daily paper but with a half ounce packet of Williams' favorite tobacco, John Rhiney's Mixed. A gun dog by breed, Prince possessed a large soft mouth specially evolved for the safe carrying of hunted creatures, so the paper and the tobacco came to no harm, never even showing a tooth mark.

Williams was a railway man, an engine driver, and he wore a blue uniform which smelled of oil and oil fuel. He had to work at odd times —“days”, “late days” or “nights”. Over the years Prince got to know these periods of work and rest, knew when his master would leave the house and return, and the dog did not waste this knowledge. If Williams overslept, as he often did, Prince barked at the bedroom door until he woke, much to the annoyance of the family. On his return, Williams' slippers were brought to him, the paper and tobacco too if previously undelivered.

A curious thing happened to Williams during the snow and ice of last winter. One evening he slipped and fell on the icy pavement somewhere between the village and his home. He was so badly shaken that he stayed in bed for three days; and not until he got up and dressed again did he discover that he had lost his wallet containing over fifty pounds. The house was turned upside down in the search, but the wallet was not found. However, two days later—that was five days after the fall—Prince dropped the wallet into William's hand. Very muddy, stained and wet through, the little case still contained fifty three pounds, Williams' driving license and a few other papers. Where the dog had found it no one could tell, but found it he had and recognized it probably by the faint oily smell on the worn leather.

1. How did the dog perform his duties?

［A］He was delighted to show them off.

［B］He did his best but was not often successful.

［C］He did them quickly to get them over.

［D］He had few opportunities to do them. 2. What does the passage tell us about gun dogs?

［A］They are the fastest runners of all dogs.

［B］Their teeth are removed when they are young.

［C］They can carry birds, etc. without hurting them.

［D］They breed well, producing many young dogs.

3. As a result of Williams' work, ______________________ .

［A］he did not get enough sleep

［B］there was an oily smell from his clothes

［C］the dog grew accustomed to traveling by train

［D］the dog was confused about the time of the day

4. It upset Williams' wife and family when _________.

［A］Williams had to go to work at night

［B］the dog made too much noise in the house

［C］Williams made them all get up early

［D］the dog would not let them see the newspaper

5. Williams did not realize his loss for several days because ______________.

［A］he trusted the dog to find the wallet

［B］he was unconscious all that time

［C］he thought the wallet was in the house

［D］he had no occasion to feel in his pockets

Passage Two

When a 13-year-old Virginia girl started sneezing, her parents thought it was merely a cold. But when the sneezes continued for hours, they called in a doctor. Nearly two months later the girl was still sneezing, thousands of times a day, and her case had attracted worldwide attention.

Hundreds of suggestions, ranging from "put a clothes pin on her nose" to "have her stand on her bead" poured in. But nothing did any good. Finally, she was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital where Dr. Leo Kanner, one of the world's top authorities on sneezing, solved the baffling (难以理解的) problem with great speed.

He used neither drugs nor surgery, curiously enough, the clue for the treatment was found in an ancient superstition about the amazing bodily reaction we call the sneeze. It was all in her mind, he said a view which Aristotle, some 3,000 years earlier, would have agreed with heartily.

Dr. Kanner simply gave a modern psychological interpretation to the ancient belief that too much sneezing was an indication that the spirit was troubled; and he began to treat the girl accordingly.

"Less than two days in a hospital room, a plan for better scholastic and vocational adjustment, and reassurance about her unreasonable fear of tuberculosis quickly changed her from a sneezer to an ex-sneezer," he reported.

Sneezing has always been a subject of wonder, awe and puzzlement. Dr. Kanner has collected thousands of superstitions concerning it. The most universal one is the custom of begging for the blessing of God when a person sneezes-a practice Dr. Kanner traces back to the ancient belief that a sneeze was an indication that the sneezer was possessed of an evil spirit. Strangely, people over the world still continue the custom with the traditional, "God bless you" or its equivalent.

When scientists look at the sneeze, they see a remarkable mechanism which, without any conscious help from you, takes on a job that has to be done. When you need to sneeze

you sneeze, this being nature' s clever way of getting rid of an annoying object from the nose. The object may be just some dust in the nose which nature is striving to remove.

6. The girl sneezed continuously because she

A.was ill

B.was mentally ill

C.had heavy mental burden

D.had attracted world-wide attention

7. When the girl began to sneeze continuously

A.a lot of people offered their advice

B.she was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital

C.she was given a treatment found in ancient superstition

D.many doctors treated her in different ways

8. Dr. Kanner cured the girl by

https://www.wendangku.net/doc/cf18630446.html,ing Aristotle' s method

B.giving her psychological treatment

C.practicing superstition

D.treating her tuberculosis

9. When a person sneezes, we say"God bless you"because

A.it' s a tradition

B.the person is possessed of an evil spirit

C.the person is ill

D.God will bless those who sneeze

10. According to scientists people sneeze because

A.they are ill

B.to sneeze is human nature

C.they do not need any conscious help

D.there are unwanted things in their noses Passage Three

About ten men in every hundred suffer from colour blindness in some way; women are luckier only about one in two hundred is affected in this manner. There are different forms of colour blindness. A man may not be able to see deep red.

He may think that red, orange and yellow are all shades of green. Sometimes a person cannot tell the difference between blue and green. In rare cases an unlucky man may see everything in shades of green—a strange world indeed.

In certain occupations colour blindness can be dangerous and candidates are tested most carefully. For example, when fighting at night, soldiers use lights of flares to signal to each other. A green light may mean “Advance” and a red light may mean “Danger! Keep back!”, You can see what will happen if somebody thinks that red is green! Colour blindness in human beings is a strange thing to explain. In a single eye there are millions of very small things called “cones”, These help to see in a bright light and to tell the difference between colours. There are also millions of “rods” but these are used for seeing when it is nearly dark. They show us shape but not colour. Wait until it is dark tonight, then go outside. Look round you and try to see what colors you can recognize.

Birds and animals which hunt at night have eyes which contain few or no cones at all, so they cannot see colours. As far as we know, bats and adult owls cannot see colours at all only light and dark shapes. Similarly cats and dogs cannot see colours as well as we can. Insects can see ultra violet rays which are invisible to us, and some of them can even see X rays. The wings of a moth may seem grey and dull to us, but to insects they may appear beautiful, showing colours which we cannot see. Scientists know that there are other colours around us which insects can see but which we cannot see. Some insects have favorite colours. Mosquitoes like blue, but do not like yellow. A red light will not attract insects but a blue lamp will.

11. Among people who suffer from colour blindness, __________ .

［A］some may see everything in shades of green

［B］few can tell the difference between blue and green

［C］few may think that red, orange and yellow are all shades of green

［D］very few may think that everything in the world is in green

12. When millions of rods in our eyes are at work in darkness we can see.

［A］colours only ［B］shapes and colours

［C］shapes only ［D］darkness only

13. According to the passage, bats and adult owls cannot see colours.

［A］because they hunt at night ［B］because they cannot see light ［C］because they have no cones and rods ［D］because they have no cones 14. According to the passage, dogs and cats __________.

［A］as well as human beings can not see some colours

［B］have fewer cones than human beings

［C］have less rods than human beings

［D］can see colours as well as human beings

15. Which of the following is not true about insects?

［A］Insects can see more colours than human beings.

［B］Insects can see ultra violet rays which are invisible to men.

［C］All insects have their favorite colours.

［D］The world is more colorful to insects than to human beings.

Section B.

Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet.

For questions16-20, mark

Y (for YES) if the statement agrees with the information given in the passage;

N (for NO) if the statement contradicts the information given in the passage;

NG (for NOT GIVEN) if the information is not given in the passage.

Dogs have long been good friends of human beings and help people to do different kinds of work, especially those unmanageable for people or just beyond our capability. Some dogs are so clever that they are trained to perform special tasks for a particular group of people. Now let me introduce a group of such dogs-guide dogs.

What Do Guide Dogs Do?

For most dog owners, the expression “work like a dog” doesn’t make much sense. While the typical dog companion certainly gives his owner immeasurable happiness, it’s obvious that he lives a life of remarkable leisure. Our pets gracefully go from the carefree days of childhood directly to the rest and relaxation of old age, skipping the working part of life entirely.

But some dogs happily perform very demanding jobs for much of their lives, putting in a full day’s work just like the rest of us. Guide dogs, one of the most familiar sorts of working dogs, provide a great service to humans. Every day, they help their masters to get from place to palce more safely. Guide dogs help blind people get around in the world. In most countries, they are allowed anywhere that the public is allowed, so they can help their masters to any place they might want to go.

To do all of the duties required of a guide dog, a dog must know how to do the following things:

●keep on a direct route, ignoring distractions such as smells, other animals and people,

or any other things.

●Maintain a steady pace, to the left and just ahead of the master

●Stop at all curbs until told to proceed

●Turn left and right, move forward and stop on command

●Recognize and avoid obstacles that the master won’t be able to fit through, such as

narrow passage.

●Stop at the bottom and top of stairs until told to proceed

●Bring the master to elevator buttons

●Lie quietly when the master is sitting down

●Help the master to board and move around buses, subways and other forms of public

transportation

●Obey a number of verbal commands.

What Distinguishes Guide Dogs Most?

Actually, a guide dog must know to disobey any command that would put the master in danger. This ability, called the selective disobedience, is perhaps the most amazing thing about guide dogs—that they can balance obedience with their own assessment of the situation.

This capability is extremely important on roads, where the master and dog must work very closely together to deal with the road conditions. When the team reaches the curb, the dog stops, signaling to the master that they have reached the road. Dogs cannot distinguish the color of traffic lights, so the master must make the decision of when it is safe to proceed across the road. The master listens to the flow of traffic to figure out when the light has changed and then gives the command “forward”. If there is no danger, the dog proceeds across the road in a straight line. If there are cars approaching, the dog waits until the danger is gone and then follows the “forward” command.

Can Guide Dog Have Fun?

Guide dogs enjoy their work much, and they get a lot of satisfaction from a job well done, but there is no room for typical dog fun during the weekday. Games, treats and praise distract the dog from helping its master. Even when the master doesn’t need assistance, a guide dog on the job is trained to ignore distractions and keep still. This is because a guide dog must be able to come to the master’s workplace or be in public places without creating a disturbance.

When you see a guide dog on the job, it is extremely important that you recognize that it’s at work. Petting or talking to the dog breaks its concentration, which impairs the master’s ability to get around in his or her surroundings. People are very impressed with guide dogs and have a natural inclination to praise them, but the best thing you can d to help a guide dog is to leave it alone so that it can pay attention to its surroundings and maintain its focus on its master. Guiding is very complicated, and it requires a dog’s undivided attention.

When a guide dog gets home at the end of the day, however, it will play and enjoy praise just like an ordinary pet. Guide dogs make the distinction between work and play based on their lead harness: When the harness is on, they must stay completely focused—when it comes off, it’s play time. Guide dogs work very hard every day, but they lead extremely happy lives, full of attention and stimulation.

Is Being a Guide Dog a Lifetime Job?

Working as a guide dog requires great physical and mental shape, so guide dogs typically retire just before they enter old age. Older dogs are usually smart enough to keep working, but they may slow down a little, which prevents their ability from keeping up with the quick pace of their masters. Retirement is usually at age 8 or 10; but some work for a little longer, and some guide dogs retire earlier if they’re having trouble with the work.

When a guide dog retires, the master will get a new dg, but he or she may also have option to keep the retired dog as a pet. If the master can’t keep two dogs, then the guide dog school looks for a new home for the retired dog. The school may find out the original dog raisers, or it may place the dog in a new loving home. Schools generally have a waiting list of people who want to adopt a dog that has retired. After all, former guide dogs are extremely intelligent and friendly and have perfect manners—who wouldn’t want one? Giving a retired guide dog a loving home is also an excellent way to help reward these amazing animals for a lifetime of hard, important work.

( ) 16. The passage tells in great detail how to train a guide dog.

( ) 17. Most pets live an easy life from childhood to old age, while guide dogs that do very hard jobs are unhappy for much of their life.

( ) 18. Guide dogs have a strong sense of direction and thus can help their masters to get home.

( )19. The most marvelous thing about guide dogs is their ability of selective disobedience.

( ) 20. When crossing a road, the guide dog can judge the situation and make the decision of when to cross the road.

III. Vocabulary and Structure. 30%

Directions: there are 20 incomplete sentences in this part. For each sentence there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). Choose the one that best completes the sentence.

1. The farmers had to wear heavy boots in winter because the fields were so wet and _______.

A) dusty B) earthy C) soiled D) muddy

2. A series of border incidents would _________ lead the two countries to war.

A) inevitably B)consistently C) uniformly D) persistently

3. She looks to be _______40, but as a matter of fact, she is 50.

A) older than B) in the neighborhood of

C) at age of D) approximately

4. I never try my luck on any horse race, and therefore it doesn’t ____ to me which horse

may win or lose the race.

A) pay the difference B)form a difference

C) make any difference D) have a difference.

5. Finally the soldiers threw back the enemy troops _____ them from the rear.

A) pressing to B) pressing for C) pressing into D) pressing on

6. Finding a job in such a big company had always been ____ his widest dream.

A) under B)over C)above D) beyond

7. Attacks by enemy aircraft forced the tanks to _____ from the city.

A) restrain B) register C)retreat D) regulate

8. There are rumors _____ that prices will rise sharply soon.

A) in the air B)in the open air C) on the air D)off the air

9.The traitor was sent into _____ to a remote island.

A) excel B)expel C) extol D) exile

10. Although Uncle John was sick, he was ____ enough to hear and see everything around

him.

A) drowsy B) frightful C) alert D) dizzy

11.She is the most _______ typist I’ve ever seen.

A) efficient B)industrial C)working D) practical

12.The chairman followed _____ with yet another question.

A)out B)up C)in D) down

13. To make use of the heat in the center of the earth, for example, is one of man’s ______

to cope with the energy problem.

A) substitutes B)precautions C)endeavors D) conventions

14. I am pleased to hear of your job offer—all that hard work at school has obviously

_____.

A)paid off B)taken its toll C) made a difference D) shown up

15. Once Mrs. Smith _______you in conversation, you’re stuck with her for at least half an

hour.

A) submerges B)engages C)occupies D) launches

16. I will hold you personally ______if anything goes wrong in this project.

A)destructive B)lucrative C)diverse D) responsible

17. Due to his recent failure to meet the deadline, Jason is _____ from the list of promotion.

A)eliminated B)retreated C)pried D) wrenched

18.Now that we’ve got a loan from the bank, our project is financially _______.

A) constructive B)feasible C) favorable D) stiff

19.Under normal circumstances the body can _______ these naturally occurring substances

into vitamins.

A)convert B)render C) derive D) alert

20.As a reporter, I was paid to _______ into other people’s lives.

A)pry B)convert C)blurt D) carve

21. At the beginning of the race, the runners were _____ together on the track, but later

some of them got ahead and left the others behind.

A)bunched B)converted C)mounted D) launched

22.In my senior year I _______ writing a novel, but without much success.

A) made a difference in B) looked back on

C) took a crack at D) counted on

23. Racing take everything you’ve got—intellectually, emotionally, and ________.

A)generously B)physically C) uniformly D) persistently

24. Salespeople often try to learn about the needs of the ______ buyer.

A)persuasive B)generous C) prospective D) professional

25. Industrial plants processed the_____ material into finished products for export and for

domestic consumption.

A)bleak B)raw C)efficient D) crucial

26. Britain now _______approximately 40 per cent of Europe’s desktop computers.

A)manufactures B) engages C) launches D) vibrates

27. We made a _______business deal with the American company on rice imports. Lucrative

A) offensive B) generous C)heroic D) lucrative

28. Glass ________divided the room into individual offices.

A) partitions B)regions C) declarations D) campaigns

29. As soon as the teacher put forward the question, he _____the answer out.

A) instructed B) blurted C) reckoned D) rendered

30.The young woman was ______by customs officers for several hours.

A) grilled B) instructed C) converted D) converted VI. Cloze. 20%

Section A. 10%

Directions: There are 20 blanks in the following following passage. Chose the best answer. In recent years ,more and more foreigners are involved in the teaching programs of the United States. Both the advantages and the disadvantages __1___ using foreign faculty __2___ teaching positions have to be __3__ ,of course. It can be said that the foreign__4___that makes the faculty member from abroad an asset also ___5__ problems of adjustment both for the university and for the individual.

The foreign research scholar usually isolates __6___ in the laboratory as a means of protection;___7__ , what he needs is to be fitted___8__ a highly organized university system quite different from ___9__ at home . He is faced in his daily work __10___ differences in philosophy, arrangements of courses and methods of teaching. Both the visiting professor and his students__11__ background in each other`s cultures. Some __12__ of what is already in the minds of American students is __13__by the foreign professor. While helping him to __14__ himself to his new environment, the university must also ___15__ certain adjustments in order to ___16__ full advantage of what the newcomer can __17__. It isn`t always known how to make ___18__ use of foreign faculty, especially at smaller colleges . This is thought to be a __19__where further study is called __20__. The findings of such a study will be of value to colleges and universities with foreign faculty.

1.A) with B) of C) for D) at

2.A) in B) on C) for D) within

3.A) thought B) measured C) balanced D) considered

4.A) situation B) circumstance C) background D) condition

5.A) carries B) creates C) emerges D) solves

6.A) himself B) oneself C) him D) one

7.A) otherwise B) moreover C) however D) also

8.A) into B) by C) to D) with

9.A) those B) which C) what D) that

10.A) toward B) whit C) to D) at

11.A) have B) possess C) need D) lack

12.A) concept B) feeling C) plan D) intelligence

13.A) ordered B) asked C) insisted D) required

14.A) place B) adapt C) put D) direct

15.A) remain B) keep C) make D) cause

16.A) take B) make C) do D) be

17.A) show B) afford C) express D) offer

18.A) powerful B) creative C) imaginary D) advanced

19.A) scope B) range C) field D) district

20.A) on B) for C) upon D) at

Section B. 10%

Fill in the blanks with missing words you have learned in the text. 10%

In 1812, Napoleon Bonaparte , Emperor of the French, __1__ his Grand Army into

Russia. He was prepared for the fierce __2__ of the Russian people __3__ their homeland. He was prepared for the long march __4__ across Russian soil to Moscow , the __5__city .But he was not prepared for the devastating enemy that __6__ him in Moscow-the raw , bitter, bleak Russian winter.

In 1941, Adolf Hitler , leader of Nazi Germany, launched an attack __7__ the Soviet Union, as __8__ Russia then was called. Hitler`s military might was unequaled. His war machine had __9__down resistance in most of Europe . Hitler expected a short campaign but , like Napoleon before him, was taught a painful lesson . The Russian winter again came to the __10__of the Soviet soldier.