大学英语第二册作业2 2013

对外经贸大学继续教育学院

夜大学

级国贸专升本

大学英语二册

作业二

2011.3

Ⅰ

. Match the words or phrases on the left with their meanings on the right. (30)

Group One

1.

distrust

A. look quickly, esp. when one should not

2.

incident

B. lack of trust; mistrust

3.

biographer

C. person who

writes about another person?s life

4.

clue

D. sth. that helps to find an answer to a question

5.

peek

E. even; happening

6.

overcharge

F. give up completely

7.

arrest

G

. look closely and carefully, esp. when unable to see it

well

8.

abandon

H. way out of a place

9.

exit

I. seize (sb) in the name of the law

10.

peer

J. charge too much

Group Two

1.

illusion

A. not filled or occupied; empty

2.

tough

B. create or set up

3.

addicted

C. for or during the night

4.

property

D. make a small hole in sth with sth pointed

5.

vacant

E. piece of land and its buildings; possession or possessions

6.

puncture

F. unshared; one and only

7.

cautious

G

. unable to stop taking or using sth. as a habit

8.

establish

H. false idea, belief or impression

9. overnight

I. careful to avoid problems or danger

10. sole

J. rough, violent; not easily cut or broken; difficult

Group Three

1. surgeon

A. absolutely necessary; extremely important

2. considered

B. try to win sth. by defeating others who are trying to do

the same

3. essential

C. too high an opinion of oneself

4. solar

D. of or near a coast

5. likelihood

E. doctor who performs operations

6. conceit

F. suffering or death caused by lack of food

7. compete

G

.. chance; possibility

8. coastal

H. carefully thought out

9. starvation

I. become liquid through heating

10. melt

J. of, concerning or related to the sun

II.

Reading

The

passages

are

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

your

answer

by

blackening

the

corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet. (3 X 5)

Passage One

The U.S. Department of Labor statistics indicate that there is an oversupply of

college-trained

workers

and

that

this

oversupply

is

increasing.

Already

there

is

an

overabundance

of

teachers,

engineers,

physicists,

aerospace

experts,

and

other

specialists. Yet colleges and graduate schools continue every year to turn out highly

trained people to compete for jobs that aren?t ther

e. The result is that graduates cannot

enter the professions for which they were trained and must take temporary jobs which

do

not

require

a

college

degree.

These

“temporary”

jobs

have

a

habit

of

becoming

permanent.

On the other hand, there is

a tremendous need for skilled workers of all sorts:

carpenters, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, TV repairmen. These people have more

work than they can handle, and their annual incomes are often higher than those of

college graduates. The old distinction that white-collar workers make a better living

than

blue-collar

workers

no

longer

holds

true.

The

law

of

supply

and

demand

now

favors the skilled workman.

The

reason

for

this

situation

is

the

traditional

myth

that

college

degree

is

a

passport to a prosperous future. A large segment of American society equates cusses

in life with a college degree. Parents begin indoctrinating their children with this myth

before they are out of grade school. High school teachers play their part by acting as if

high school education were a preparation for college rather than for life. Under this

pressure the kids fall in line. Whether they want to go to college or not doesn?t matter.

Everybody should go to college, so of course they must go. And every year college

enrollments

go

up

and

up,

and

more

and

more

graduates

are

overeducated

for

the

kinds of jobs available to them.

One

result

of

this

emphasis

on

a

college

education

is

that

many

people

go

to

college who do not belong there. Of the sixty per cent of high school graduates who

enter college, half of them do not graduate with their class. Many of them drop out

within the first year. Some struggle on for two or three years and then give up.

1.

What do the U.S. Department of Labor statistics show?

A. Many college graduates find it increasingly hard to get jobs for which they

were trained.

B. There is an oversupply of workers and that this oversupply is increasing.

C. Teachers, engineers, physicists, aerospace experts and other specialists are

extremely needed.

D. Colleges and graduate schools compete to turn out highly trained people.

2. By saying “These ?temporary? jobs have a habit of becoming permanent” the

author means that ____.

A. once college graduates take a temporary job, they soon become used to it

B. college graduates have the habit of taking temporary jobs

C. many college graduates might never find jobs for which they were trained

D. college graduates have the habit of taking permanent jobs

3. Which of the following statements is true?

A. Skilled workers often make more money than college graduates.

B.

Skilled

workers

such

as

carpenters

and

electricians

can

not

handle

their

work.

C. Skilled workers have to compete with college graduates for job.

D. Skilled workers and college graduates have equal opportunity in the job

market.

4. Which of the following is NOT a reason why college enrollments go up every

year?

A. Many people believe that the only way to success is a college education.

B. Many parents want their children to go to college.

C. High school teachers urge their students to go to college.

D. Every young man and woman wants to go to college.

5.

By

saying

that

“many

people

go

to

college

who

do

not

belong

there”,

the

author means that ____.

A. many people who are not fit for college education go to college

B. many people who do not have adequate financial support go to college

C. many people who go to college drop out within the first year

D. many people who go to college have their hopes shattered

Passage Two

In

Britain,

within

the

life

time

of

all

the

old

people

alive

today,

our

life

expectancy

has

rapidly

shot

up

from

an

average

of

forty

years

to

an

average

of

seventy years. Although, in the last century, it was accepted that the body had been

programmed to last for seventy years, until the 1960s it was all too obvious that very

few bodies ever did and for a man to enjoy good health in old age was exceptional.

Many of today?s old people had such rough starts, such small scraps of education,

such low wages and so few possessions generally, that they feel they are ending their

da

ys in luxury, although they may not be doing so in other people?s eyes. “Manage” is

a

word

that

often

use,

and

having

“managed”

then,

they

manage

now

more

easily.

They

will

describe

their

poor

and

exhausting

working

lives

for

you

without

any

feeling of hatred. Some are proud if they never cheated; and some are proud if they

did and got away with it. However, many find that now is the deprived time. They are

aware of gradual losses and of everything being taken away from them or placed out

of reach by degrees. They are no longer considered as individuals. Constantly, as one

talks to old people, one feels this struggle to claim their dignity and importance at the

present time and not just to recall what they have been in the past.

Perhaps, as the young begin t

o realize that they are likely to be “old” for twenty

or more years, they will bring about the radical changes needed if the aged are to have

the supportive conditions in their old age that they would really like. At present, both

our treatment of “the old” and the way we talk about them sometimes echo the actions

and

attitudes

of

our

nineteenth-

century

ancestors,

when

they

were

considering

“the

poor”. “The problems of the old are not our problems” is what we are often saying

----politely and humanly, of course.