南开大学考博英语真题2007年
(总分100, 做题时间90分钟)
Part Ⅰ Listening Comprehension
Part Ⅱ Vocabulary
1. 
An important property of a scientific theory is its ability to ______ further research and further thinking about a particular topic.
A stimulate
B renovate
C arouse
D advocate
2. 
They advised their clients to ______ with another company.
A merge
B engage
C emerge
D submerge
3. 
Donations are needed to ______ our child-care programs.
A implement
B validate
C strengthen
D approve
4. 
Life insurance is financial protection for dependents against loss ______ the bread-winner"s death.
A at the cost of
B on the verge of
C as a result of
D for the sake of
5. 
Poverty is not ______ in most cities although, perhaps because of the crowded conditions in certain areas, it is more visible there.
A rare
B temporary
C prevalent
D segmental
6. 
People who live in small towns often seem more friendly than those living in ______ populated areas.
A densely
B intensely
C abundantly
D highly
7. 
As a way of ______ the mails while they were away, the Johnsons asked the cleaning lady to send little printed slips asking the senders to write again later.
A picking up
B coping with
C passing out
D getting across
8. 
The consolidation of the crumbling walls and towers has been carried out in ______ with a program agreed with by the Department of the Environment.
A case
B accordance
C place
D charge
9. 
Crisis would be the right term to describe the ______ in many animal species.
A minimization
B restriction
C descent
D decline
10. 
Prof. White, my respected tutor, frequently reminds me to ______ myself of every chance to improve my English.
A assure
B inform
C avail
D notify
11. 
rd like to take this opportunity to ______ my heart-felt gratitude to the host.
A increase
B prolong
C intensify
D express
12. 
Alone in a deserted house, he was so busy with his research work that he felt ______ but lonely.
A nothing
B anything
C all
D everything
13. 
The failure of electricity put all the computers in the region out of ______.
A work
B tune
C gearing
D action
14. 
Of all the wild dogs, none is more closely related to the ______ dog than to the wolf.
A domesticated
B barking
C lazy
D running
15. 
An experiment can be ______ by poor planning.
A distributed
B qualified
C spoiled
D disclosed
16. 
A good teacher must know how to ______ his ideas to the students, as generally agreed by educational experts.
A display
B transmit
C convey
D illuminate
17. 
At Wembly, the home of football, countless thousands of people spend Sunday morning amongst the ______ selling everything from shoes to model trains.
A stalls
B statures
C stalks
D statutes
18. 
The Spanish team, who are not in superb form, will be doing their best next week to ______ themselves on the German team for last year"s defeat.
A remedy
B reproach
C revive
D revenge
19. 
As a salesman, he works on a(n) ______ basis, taking 10% of everything he sells.
A income
B commission
C salary
D pension
20. 
The normal human daily cycle of activity is of some 7-8 hours" sleep alternating with some 16-17 hours" wakefulness. Broadly speaking, the sleep hours normally ______ with the hours of darkness.
A conform
B coincide
C collide
D comply
21. 
The mayor is a woman with great ______ therefore deserves our political and financial support.
A intention
B instinct
C integrity
D intensity
22. 
If businessmen are taxed too much, they will no longer be motivated to work hard, with the result that incomes from taxation might actually ______.
A shrink
B delay
C disperse
D sink
23. 
Making private phone calls on the office phone is severely ______ on in our country.
A criticized
B regarded
C objected
D frowned
24. 
The microphone makes the voice sound louder because it concentrates sound waves in one direction and keeps them from ______ in all directions.
A interfering
B dispersing
C spreading
D distracting
25. 
We should always keep in mind that ______ decisions often lead to bitter regrets.
A urgent
B hasty
C instant
D prompt
26. 
After four years in the same job his enthusiasms finally ______.
A dispersed
B deteriorated
C dissipated
D drained
27. 
As regards to the development of moral standards in the growing child, ______ is very important in parental teaching. To forbid a thing one day and excuse it the next is no foundation for morality.
A persistence
B regularity
C consistency
D conformity
28. 
The doctor told me the medicine can ______ my headache without doing me any harm.
A heal
B improve
C cure
D treat
29. 
Although Venus is the nearest planet of the Earth, little is known about it because it is ______ covered by thick clouds.
A closely
B curiously
C regularly
D constantly
30. 
He soon regained his self-confidence for he found himself ______ to others in many respects.
A better
B worse
C superior
D inferior
Part Ⅲ Reading Comprehension
Passage One
An unidentified wit once said, "laugh, and the world laughs with you. Snore, and you sleep alone." Yet snoring is far from a laughing matter, as those unfortunates with good hearing, who are rightly subjected to the sounds of the snoring disorder, will testify.
It has been estimated that one of eight Americans snores: this means that there are approximately 21 million people—women as well as men—who render an unpleasant sound when they are asleep. And assuming that each snorer disturbs the sleep of at least one other person, it necessarily follows that there are 21 million unhappy listeners. While a sleeping person breathes, either in or out, several structures in his nose and throat generate the snoring. The sounds, coming from the soft palate and other soft structures of the throat, are caused by vibratory responses to inflowing and outflowing air. When the soft tissues of the mouth and throat come close to the lining of the throat, the vibrations that occur are caused by the position of the tongue. In short, the noise made by snoring can be compared to the noise when breezes flutter a flag on a pole. The frequency of the vibrations depends on the size, density, and elasticity of the affected tissues and on the force of the air flow. Although it is usually the process of in haling or exhaling through the mouth that cause snoring, short snores come from the nose of an open-mouthed sleeper. In all fairness to snorers, however, it should be emphasized that snoring is an involuntary out which stops as the offender is awakened.
1. 
The snoring is caused by ______.
A the soft palate and other structures of the throat
B the inflowing and outflowing air through the nose
C the inflowing and outflowing air through mouth
D the vibrations as a result of the inflowing and outflowing air
2. 
If a person produces short snores, most probably he has ______.
A a soft palate
B a big nose
C an open mouth
D a small throat
3. 
Which of the following statements is true?
A The snorers can have control over their act
B Both the listeners and the snorers wish to stop the offensive sound of snoring
C The frequency of the vibrations depends on the position of the tongue
D There are more men than women who snore
4. 
The author"s attitude towards the snorers is ______.
A objective
B subjective
C sympathetic
D annoyed
Passage Two
Complete silence is found only in laboratories called anechoic rooms. The walls and ceilings, made of blocks of special sound-sucking materials, are more than three feet thick, while floor coverings are six-foot layers of feathers or cotton wool. Silence here can be as painful to the ears as the din (continuous loud noise) of a steelworks or a rocket blast-off, yet scientists get used to this and stay in these silent rooms for hours at a time, using microphones and electronic equipment to test the various materials being developed to make the world a less noisy place.
Architects have used scientific discoveries to solve noise problems in a number of ways. Walls are hollowed (having empty space inside) and then filled with sound-sucking materials similar to cotton wool. Extra-thick carpets cover the floors, and thick woolen curtains cover the windows. Air conditioning and heating channels are made less noisy by sound-sucking materials.
Unfortunately, these techniques and others often work too well in some buildings. Noise-proof rooms become almost anechoic and people living in them are disturbed by the lack of sound. One way of handling this problem is to use what they call "sound perfume" —artificial (similarly produced, made by man) noise is piped to rooms through small loudspeakers.
1. 
Scientists use anechoic room for ______.
A measuring noise levels of steelworks
B measuring blocks of feathers
C testing sound-absorbing materials
D testing electronic equipment
2. 
The writer implies that ______.
A untrained people can not stay long in anechoic rooms
B performing experiments in anechoic rooms can be a frightening experience
C architects make practical use of the information gathered by scientists
D scientists do not care for noise problem
3. 
People suffer in anechoic rooms probably because ______.
A they are allowed to move and speak
B they are used to hearing noise around them
C the greater air pressure hurts their ears
D all of the above
4. 
The article suggests that ______.
A loudspeakers are as important as sound-proofing materials
B anechoic rooms will be included in all new buildings
C scientific devices are sometimes too successful
D all of the above
Passage Three
In general, our society is becoming one of giant enterprises directed by a bureaucratic management in which man becomes a small, well-oiled cog in the machinery. The oiling is done with higher wages, well-ventilated factories and piped music, and by psychologists and "human-relations" experts; yet all this oiling does not alter the fact that man has become powerless, that he does not wholeheartedly participate in his work and that he is bored with it. In fact, the blue-collar and the white-collar workers have become economic puppets who dance to the tune of automated machines and bureaucratic management.
The worker and employee are anxious, not only because they might find themselves out of a job; they are anxious also because they are unable to acquire any real satisfaction or interest in life. They live and die without ever having confronted the fundamental realities of human existence as emotionally and intellectually independent and productive human beings.
Those higher up on the social ladder are no less anxious. Their lives are no less empty than those of their subordinates. They are even more insecure in some respects. They are in a highly competitive race. To be promoted or to fall behind is not a matter of salary but even more a matter of self-respect. When they apply for their first job, they are tested for intelligence as well as for the tight mixture of submissiveness and independence. From that moment on they are tested again and again by the psychologists, for whom testing is a big business, and by their superiors, who judge their behavior, sociability, capacity to get along, etc. This constant need to prove that one is as good as or better than one"s fellow-competitor creates constant anxiety and stress, the very causes of unhappiness and illness.
Am I suggesting that we should return to the preindustrial mode of production or to nineteenth- century "free enterprise" capitalism? Certainly not. Problems are never solved by returning to a stage which one has already outgrown. I suggest transforming our social system from a bureaucratically managed industrialism in which maximal production and consumption are ends in themselves into a humanist industrialism in which man and full development of his potentialities—those of love and of reason—are the aims of all social arrangements. Production and consumption should serve only as means to this end, and should be prevented from ruling man.
1. 
By "a well-oiled cog in the machinery" the author intends to render the idea that man is ______.
A a necessary part of the society though each individual"s function is negligible
B working in complete harmony with the rest of the society
C an unimportant part in comparison with the rest of the society, though functioning smoothly
D a humble component of the society, especially when working smoothly
2. 
From the passage we can infer that real happiness of life belongs to those ______.
A who are at the bottom of the society
B who prove better than their fellow-competitors
C who could keep far away from this competitive world
D who are higher up in their social status
3. 
To solve the present social problems the author suggests that we should ______.
A resort to the production mode of our ancestors
B offer higher wages to the workers and employees
C enable man to fully develop his potentialities
D take the fundamental realities for granted
4. 
The author"s attitude towards industrialism might best he summarized as one of ______.
A approval
B dissatisfaction
C suspicion
D tolerance
Passage Four
In the last 12 years total employment in the United States grew faster than at any time in the peacetime history of any country—from 82 to 110 million between 1973 and 1985—that is, by a full one third. The entire growth, however, was in manufacturing, and especially in non-blue-collar jobs.
This trend is the same in all developed countries, and is, indeed, even more pronounced in Japan. It is therefore highly probable that in 25 years developed countries such as the United States and Japan will employ no larger a proportion of the labor force in manufacturing than developed countries now employ in farming—at most, 10 percent. Today the United States employs around 18 million people in blue-collar jobs in manufacturing industries. By 2010, the number is likely to be no more than 12 million. In some major industries the drop will be even sharper. It is quite unrealistic, for instance, to expect that the American automobile industry will employ more than one-third of its present blue-collar force 25 years hence, even though production might be 50 percent higher.
If a company, an industry or a country does not in the next quarter century sharply increase manufacturing production and at the same time sharply reduce the blue-collar work force, it cannot hope to remain competitive—or even to remain "developed". The attempt to preserve such blue-collar jobs is actually a prescription for unemployment.
This is not a conclusion that American politicians, labor leaders or indeed the general public can easily understand or accept. What confuses the issue even more is that the United States is experiencing several separate and different shifts in the manufacturing economy. One is the acceleration of the substitution of knowledge and capital for manual labor. Where we spoke of mechanization a few decades ago, we now speak of "robotization" or "automation". This is actually more a change in terminology than a change in reality. When Henry Ford introduced the assembly line in 1909, he cut the number of man—hours required to produce a motor car by some 80 percent in two or three years—far more than anyone expects to result from even the most complete robotization. But there is no doubt that we are facing a new, sharp acceleration in the replacement of manual workers by machines—that is, by the products of knowledge.
1. 
According to the author, the shrinkage in the manufacturing labor force demonstrates ______.
A the degree to which a country"s production is robotized
B a reduction in a country"s manufacturing industries
C a worsening relationship between labor and management
D the difference between a developed country and a developing country
2. 
American politicians and labor leaders tend to dislike ______.
A confusion in manufacturing economy
B an increase in blue-collar work force
C internal competition in manufacturing production
D a drop in the blue-collar job opportunities
3. 
According to the author, in the coming 25 years, a developed country or industry, in order to remain competitive, ought to ______.
A reduce the percentage of the blue-collar work force
B preserve blue-collar jobs for international competition
C accelerate motor-can manufacturing in Henry Ford"s style
D solve the problem of unemployment
4. 
This passage may have been excerpted from ______.
A a magazine about capital investment
B an article on automation
C a motor-car magazine
D an article on global economy
Passage Five
Researchers have found that migrating animals use a variety of inner compasses to help them navigate. Some direct themselves by the position of the sun. Others navigate by the stars. Some use the sun as their guide during the day, and then switch to star navigation by night. One study shows that the homing pigeon uses the Earth"s magnetic fields as a guide in finding its way home, and there are indications that various other animals, from insects to mollusks, can also make use of magnetic compasses. It is of course very useful for a migrating bird to be able to switch to a magnetic compass when clouds cover the sun; otherwise it would just have to land and wait for the sun to come out again.
Even with the sun or stars to guide by, the problems of navigation are more complicated than they might seem at first. For example, a worker honeybee that has found a rich source of nectar and pollen flies rapidly home to report. A scientist has discovered that the bee sent out to look for food delivers her report through a complicated dance to the other workers not only how far away the food is, but also what direction to fly in relation to the sun. But the sun does not stay in one place all day. As the workers start out to gather the food, the sun may already have changed its position in the sky somewhat. In later trips during the day, the sun will seem to move farther and farther toward the west. Yet the worker bees seem to have no trouble at all in finding the food source. Their inner clocks tell them just where the sun will be, and they change their course correspondingly.
1. 
The author mentions all the following natural phenomena that help animals navigate EXCEPT ______.
A the sun
B the stars
C magnetic fields
D wind direction
2. 
What makes it necessary for a bird to rely on a magnetic compass when navigating?
A The possibility of bad weather
B The constant motion of the sun
C Its patterns of migration
D Its need to constantly change homes
3. 
According to the passage what information does the dance of the scout bee communicate to the other worker bees?
A The time of the day
B What the weather is like
C How far away the food is
D Which flowers the scout has found
4. 
What enables the bees to fly by the sun even though the sun"s position is not fixed?
A They are equipped with biological time clocks
B They fly in formation behind the scout bee
C They have excellent eyesight
D They have long memories
Part Ⅳ Error Identification and Correction
In Chicago, a computerized system has been
developed that controls traffic in the city"s seven on
expressways now, one man—a controller—can follow
the movement of Chicago"s traffic as looking at a set of lights. 1
The system uses electronic sensors that is built into each 2
expressway, half a mile each apart. Several times 3
a second, the computer receives information for each 4
sensor and translates it into green, yellow, or red lights
in a map in the control room. 5
A green light means traffic is moving forty-five to
sixty miles an hour, yellow means heavy traffic-cars
stopping still or moving less than thirty miles an hour. 6
"See that red light near Austin Avenue?" the controller
asked a visitor, "That"s a repair truck fix the 7
road, and the traffic has to go near it." 8
At the Roosevelt road entrance to the expressway,
the light kept changing from green to red and back to
green also. "A lot of trucks get on the expressway 9
there." the controller explained, "They can"t speed
forward as fast as cars." 10
The sensors show immediately where an accident or a
stopped car is blocking traffic, and a truck is sent by
radio to clear the road. The system has lowered accidents
by 18 percent. There are now 1.4 deaths on Chicago"s
expressways for each one hundred million miles traveled,
while nationally there are 2.6.
1. 
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Part Ⅴ Writing
1. 
Directions: Nowadays, advertisements can be found everywhere in a big city such as Shanghai. They shout at us from the television screen and radio loudspeakers, wave to us from every page of the newspaper, signal to us from the roadside billboards all day and flash messages to us in colored lights all night. What do you think of the flood of advertising make any contribution to our society?
For this part you are to write a composition on the topic If There Were No Advertisements. You should illustrate your viewpoints on advertisement in no less than 200 words.