厦门大学考博英语真题2014年
(总分100, 做题时间90分钟)
Part Ⅰ Vocabulary
Directions: There are 30 incomplete sentences in this part. For each sentence there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the ONE answer that best completes the sentence. Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the center.
1. 
The village ______ my grandfather grew up in is not far from the town.
A what
B where
C wherever
D which
2. 
What"s your attitude ______ his criticism?
A against
B for
C towards
D in
3. 
If I had a car of my own, I ______ it to your sister yesterday.
A will lend
B would lend
C should lend
D would have lent
4. 
The newcomers found it impossible to ______ themselves to the climate sufficiently to make permanent homes in the new country.
A suit
B adapt
C regulate
D coordinate
5. 
It"s a program designed to ______ mainly to 16 to 25 year olds.
A include
B appreciate
C appeal
D conduct
6. 
The actress lives in a very fashionable ______ of town.
A position
B component
C quarter
D zone
7. 
The store displayed its most ______ products in the front window.
A model
B present
C distinctive
D favorite
8. 
Bob fails to attend the evening school. He ______ sick, because he never asks for leave.
A maybe
B can be
C must be
D is
9. 
______ that my head had cleared, my brain was also beginning to work much better.
A For
B Now
C Since
D Despite
10. 
______ the storm, the ship would have reached its destination on time.
A But for
B In case of
C In spite of
D Because of
11. 
A tyre ______ when you pump air into it; it shrinks when the air is gone.
A explores
B expands
C exploit
D exposes
12. 
We simply can"t compete with other companies ______ we improve our engine design and reduce the cost of production.
A though
B unless
C lest
D provided
13. 
Criticism and self-criticism is necessary ______ it helps us to find and correct our mistakes.
A by that
B at that
C on that
D in that
14. 
He wasn"t appointed chairman of the committee, ______ not very popular with all its members.
A to be considered
B considering
C being considered
D having considered
15. 
______ telling her again since she won"t listen to it?
A What"s the point of
B How"s the point of
C Where is the point in
D Is there the point for
16. 
To save money for my education, Mother often took on more work than ______ for her.
A it was good
B what was good
C was good
D being good
17. 
He denied ______ to send out the signal at exactly 8 p.m.
A having been telling
B being told
C to be told
D having been told
18. 
Did it ever ______ you that he could be the murderer?
A occur to
B occur in
C happen to
D happen with
19. 
The Professor sprang to his feet, ______ a hand to his rosy, bald head.
A covered
B clapping
C smashing
D hit
20. 
The explorers came forward with gifts of ducks and flour-cakes and ______ troughs of water for the horses to drink.
A held in
B held with
C held under
D held up
21. 
Because of the ______ of its ideas, the book was in wide circulation both at home and abroad.
A originality
B subjectivity
C generality
D ambiguity
22. 
With its own parliament and currency and a common ______ for peace, the European Union declared itself—in 11 official languages—open for business.
A inspiration
B assimilation
C intuition
D aspiration
23. 
America has now adopted more ______ European-style inspection systems, and the incidence of food poisoning is falling.
A discrete
B solemn
C rigorous
D autonomous
24. 
Mainstream pro-market economists all agree that competition is an ______ spur to efficiency and innovation.
A extravagant
B exquisite
C intermittent
D indispensable
25. 
In the late 19th century, Jules Verne, the master of science fiction, foresaw many of the technological wonders that are ______ today.
A transient
B commonplace
C implicit
D elementary
26. 
I was so ______ when I used the automatic checkout lane in the supermarket for the first time.
A immersed
B assaulted
C thrilled
D dedicated
27. 
His arm was ______ from the shark"s mouth and reattached, but the boy, who nearly died, remained in a delicate condition.
A retrieved
B retained
C repelled
D restored
28. 
Bill Gates and Walt Disney are two people the magazine has ______ to be the Greatest American.
A appointed
B appeased
C nicknamed
D nominated
29. 
The ______ majority of citizens tend to believe that the death penalty will help decrease the crime rate.
A overflowing
B overwhelming
C prevalent
D premium
30. 
We will also see a ______ increase in the number of televisions per household, as small TV displays are added to clocks, coffee makers and smoke detectors.
A startling
B surpassing
C suppressing
D stacking
Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension
Directions: There are 3 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the center
Passage One
Pronouncing a language is a skill. Every normal person is expert in the skill of pronouncing his own language, but few people are even moderately proficient at pronouncing foreign languages. Now there are many reasons for this, some obvious, some perhaps not so obvious. But I suggest that the fundamental reason why people in general do not speak foreign languages very much better than they do is that they fail to grasp the true nature of the problem of learning to pronounce, and consequently never set about dealing with it in the right way. Far too many people fail to realize that pronouncing a foreign language is a skill, one that needs careful training of a special kind, and one that cannot be acquired by just leaving it to take care of itself. I think even teachers of language, while recognizing the importance of a good accent, tend to neglect, in their practical teaching, the branch of study concerned with speaking the language. So the first point I want to make is that English pronunciation must be taught; the teacher should be prepared to devote some of the lesson time to this, and by his whole attitude to the subject should get the student to feel that here is a matter worthy of receiving his close attention. So, there should be occasions when other aspects of English, such as grammar or spelling, are allowed for the moment to take second place.
Apart from this question of the time given to pronunciation, there are two other requirements for the teacher: the first, knowledge; the second, technique.
It is important that the teacher should be in possession of the necessary information. This can generally be obtained from books. It is possible to get from books some idea of the mechanics of speech, and of what we call general phonetic theory. It is also possible in this way to get a clear mental picture of the relationship between the sounds of different languages, between the speech habits of English people and those, say, of your students. Unless the teacher has such a picture, any comments he may make on his students" pronunciation are unlikely to be of much use, and lesson time spent on pronunciation may well be time wasted.
1. 
According to the passage, ______ pronouncing foreign languages.
A few people are extremely good at
B even modern people are not good at
C only a few people are somewhat good at
D few people are at the average level in
2. 
According to the author, pronunciation is a skill that can NOT be ______.
A picked up without conscious training
B trained consciously
C be taught
D be carefully trained
3. 
The italicized "the branch of study" in Para. 1 refers to ______.
A accent
B pronunciation
C the learning of spoken English
D both A and B
4. 
In the author"s opinion, ______.
A grammar is less important than pronunciation
B grammar and spelling should always make room for pronunciation
C grammar and spelling are sometimes less important than pronunciation
D grammar is more important than spelling
5. 
Which of the following best states the main idea of the passage?
A The difficulty and importance of pronunciation
B The difficulty and the teaching requirements concerning pronunciation
C The significance and the teaching methods of pronunciation
D The difficulty and features of pronunciation
Passage Two
What will man be like in the future—in 5,000 or even 50,000 years from now? We can only make a guess, of course, but we can be sure that he will be different from what he is today. For man is slowly changing all the time.
Let us take an obvious example. Man, even five hundred years ago, was shorter than he is today. Now, on average, men are about three inches taller. Five hundred years is a relatively short period of time, so we may assume that man will continue to grow taller.
Again, in the modern world we use our brains a great deal. Even so, we still make use of only about 20% of the brain"s capacity. As time goes on, however, we shall have to use our brains more and more, and eventually we shall need larger ones! This is likely to bring about a physical change too: the head, in particular the forehead, will grow larger.
Nowadays our eyes are in constant use. In fact, we use them so much that very often they become weaker and we have to wear glasses. But over very long period of time it is likely that man"s eyes will grow stronger.
On the other hand, we tend to make less use of our arms and legs. These, as a result, are likely to grow weaker. At the same time, however, our fingers will grow more sensitive because they are used a great deal in modem life.
But what about hair? This will probably disappear from the body altogether in course of time because it does not serve a useful purpose any longer. In the future, then, both sexes are likely to be bald!
Perhaps all this gives the impression that future man will not be a very attractive creature to look at! This may well be true. All the same, in spite of all these changes, future man will still have a lot in common with us. He will still be a human being, with thoughts and emotions similar to our own.
1. 
The passage tells us about ______.
A how man"s life will be in the future
B how future man will look like
C the fact that man"s organs will function differently in the future
D the fact that man is growing uglier as time passes
2. 
There is evidence that man is changing—______.
A man has been growing taller over the past five hundred years
B man has got stronger eyes now than he ever had
C man"s hair is getting thinner and thinner
D man"s limbs are growing weaker because he tends to make less use of them
3. 
Man"s forehead will grow larger because ______.
A he still makes use of only about 20% of the brain"s capacity
B the other 80% of his brain will grow in due time
C he had rather narrow forehead a few hundred years ago
D he will have to use his brain more and more as time goes on
4. 
Future man will probably ______.
A have smaller eyes
B have larger eyes
C see better
D have to wear better glasses
5. 
The reason for believing that future man will be different is that he ______.
A is always growing
B never stops changing
C hopes for a change
D will live a different life
Passage Three
Most episodes of absent-mindedness—forgetting where you left something or wondering why you just entered a room—are caused by a simple lack of attention, says Schacter. "You"re supposed to remember something, but you haven"t encoded it deeply."
Encoding, Schacter explains, is a special way of paying attention to an event that has a major impact on recalling it later. Failure to encode properly can create annoying situations. If you put your mobile phone in a pocket, for example, and don"t pay attention to what you did because you"re involved in a conversation, you"ll probably forget that the phone is in the jacket now hanging in your wardrobe. "Your memory itself isn"t failing you," says Schacter. "Rather, you didn"t give your memory system the information it needed."
Lack of interest can also lead to absent-mindedness. "A man who can recite sports statistics from 30 years ago," says Zelinski, "may not remember to drop a letter in the mailbox." Women have slightly better memories than men, possibly because they pay more attention to their environment, and memory relies on just that.
Visual cues can help prevent absent-mindedness, says Schacter. "But be sure the cue is clear and available," he cautions. If you want to remember to take a medication with lunch, put the pill bottle on the kitchen table—don"t leave it in the medicine chest and write yourself a note that you keep in a pocket.
Another common episode of absent-mindedness: walking into a room and wondering why you"re there. Most likely, you were thinking about something else. "Everyone does this from time to time," says Zelinski. The best thing to do is to return to where you were before entering the room, and you"ll likely remember.
1. 
Why does the author think that encoding properly is very important?
A It helps us understand our memory system better
B It enables us to recall something from our memory
C It expands our memory capacity considerably
D It slows down the process of losing our memory
2. 
One possible reason why women have better memories than men is that ______.
A they have a wider range of interests
B they are more reliant on the environment
C they have an unusual power of focusing their attention
D they are more interested in what"s happening around them
3. 
A note in the pocket can hardly serve as a reminder because ______.
A it will easily get lost
B it"s not clear enough for you to read
C it"s out of your sight
D it might get mixed up with other things
4. 
What do we learn from the last paragraph?
A If we focus our attention on one thing, we might forget another
B Memory depends to a certain extent on the environment
C Repetition helps improve our memory
D If we keep forgetting things, we"d better return to where we were
5. 
What is the passage mainly about?
A The process of gradual memory loss
B The causes of absent-mindedness
C The impact of the environment on memory
D A way of encoding and recalling
Part Ⅲ Short Answer Questions
Directions: Read the following passage and then give short answers to the questions. Write your answers on the Answer Sheet.
The newborn can see the difference between various shapes and patterns from birth. He prefers patterns to dull or bright solid colors and looks longer at stripes and angles than at circular patterns. Within three weeks, however, his preference shifts dramatically to the human face.
Why should a baby with so little visual experience attend more to a human face than to any other kind of pattern"? Some scientists think this preference represents a built in advantage for the human species. The object of prime importance to the physically helpless infant is a human being. Babies seem to have a natural tendency to the human face as potentially rewarding. Researchers also point out that the newborn wisely relies more on pattern than on outline, size, or color. Pattern remains stable, while outline changes with point of view; size, with distance from an object; and brightness and color, with lighting.
Mothers have always claimed that they could see their newborns looking at them as they held them, despite what they have been told. The experts who thought that perception (知觉) had to await physical development and the consequence of action were wrong for several reasons. Earlier research techniques were less sophisticated than they are today. Physical skills were once used to indicate perception of objects-skills like visual tracking and reaching for an object, both of which the newborn does poorly. Then, too, assumptions that the newborn"s eye and brain were too immature for anything as sophisticated as pattern recognition caused opposing data to be thrown away. Since perception of form was widely believed to follow perception of more "basic" qualities such as color and brightness, the possibility of its presence from birth was rejected.
1. 
What does a newborn baby like to see most in the first two weeks?
2. 
Why does the newborn pay more attention to a human face than any .other kind of objects, according to some scientists?
3. 
What have mothers been told about newborns, contrary to what they believe?
4. 
Why were mothers" observations thrown away?
5. 
What was the prevalent assumption about perception of form and perception of more "basic" qualities?
Part Ⅳ Cloze
Directions: There are 20 blanks in the following passage. For each blank there are four choices marked A, B, C and D on the right side of the paper. You should choose the ONE that best fits into the passage. Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
Most people who travel long distances complain of jetlag (飞行时差反应). Jetlag makes business travelers less productive and more prone 1 making mistakes. It is actually caused by 2 of your "body clock"—a small cluster of brain cells that controls the timing of biological 3 . The body clock is designed for a 4 rhythm of daylight and darkness, so that it is thrown out of balance when it 5 daylight and darkness at the wrong times in a new time zone.
The 6 of jetlag often persist for days 7 the internal body clock slowly adjusts to the new time zone. Now a new anti-jetlag system is 8 that is based on proven 9 pioneering scientific research.
Dr. Martin Moore-Ede has 10 a practical strategy to adjust the body clock much sooner to the new time zone 11 controlled exposure to bright light. The time zone shift is easy to accomplish and eliminates 12 of the discomfort of jetlag. A successful time zone shift depends on knowing the exact time to either 13 or avoid bright light. Exposure to light at the wrong time can actually make jetlag worse. The proper schedule 14 light exposure depends a great deal on 15 travel plans. Data on a specific flight itinerary (旅行路线) and the individual"s sleep 16 are used to produce a Trip Guide with 17 on exactly when to be exposed to bright light. When the Trip Guide calls 18 bright light, you should spend time outdoors if possible. If it is dark outside, or the weather is bad, 19 you are on an aeroplane, you can use a special light device to provide the necessary light 20 for a range of activities such as reading, watching TV or working.
1. 
A for
B from
C to
D of
2. 
A rapture
B corruption
C eruption
D disruption
3. 
A actions
B functions
C reflection
D behavior
4. 
A regular
B formal
C continual
D circular
5. 
A retains
B encounters
C possesses
D experiences
6. 
A diseases
B symptoms
C signs
D defects
7. 
A while
B whereas
C if
D although
8. 
A adaptable
B approachable
C available
D agreeable
9. 
A broad
B inclusive
C tentative
D extensive
10. 
A devised
B recognized
C scrutinized
D visualized
11. 
A at
B through
C in
D as
12. 
A most
B least
C little
D more
13. 
A attain
B shed
C retrieve
D seek
14. 
A on
B with
C for
D in
15. 
A unique
B specific
C complicated
D peculiar
16. 
A norm
B mode
C pattern
D style
17. 
A directories
B instructions
C specifications
D commentaries
18. 
A off
B on
C for
D up
19. 
A or
B and
C but
D while
20. 
A agitation
B spur
C acceleration
D stimulus
Part Ⅴ Translation
Directions: Read the .following passage carefully and translate the underlined sentences into Chinese. Write your answers on the Answer Sheet.
1 Against the backdrop of the relative decline of Britain, whose GDP has slipped to the seventh place in the world, London is doing very well, being first or second to New York in most of the rankings of great cities. 2 London"s success over the past quarter-century has been the consequence of historical accident and good policy, which attracted smart professionals and the rich from all around the world. 3 They are not only better-qualified, younger and harder-working, but also brought in the flow of foreign money to London. Therefore, the author claims that London lives off foreigners. However, Britain does not much like foreigners. 4 British people, especially those who are not Londoners are pressuring their government to cut immigration and restrict students" right to work, which the author thinks is going to mar London"s brilliance and speed London and Britain"s relative decline. 5 Though London"s moment will inevitably pass because of the emerging market elsewhere. There are still a lot of things that London can do to slow down the process, such as investing in transportation. The least that it should is to discourage foreigners from coming, the author concludes.
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
Part Ⅵ Writing
1. 
Directions: You are asked to write an essay on the following topic:
Some experts believe that it is better for children to begin learning a foreign language at primary school rather than secondary school.
Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?
You should write at least 250 words.
You should give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.