专业英语八级考试试题(5)_0

专业英语八级考试试题

(5)

TEXT I

First read the questions.

35. According to the census prediction, the average male Americans

will b e expected to live up to ___ years of age by 2050.

A.73.3 B.75.1 C.81.3 D. 83.6

36. Crime experts predict that in the near future crime rates will first

decrease in ___.

A.

South

and

Southwest

B.

North

and

Northeast

and Midwest D. Northeast and Midwest

Now go through TEXT I quickly to answer questions 35 & 36.

C.

Southwest

If

past

is

prologue,

then

it

ought

to

be

possible

to

draw

some

modest

concl

usions

about

the

future

from

the

wealth

of

data

about

America

’

s present. Will t h e rate continue to fall? Will single-person

households actually swamp the tradit ional family?

All projections, of course, must be viewed with a healthy dose of

skeptici

sm.

Nonetheless,

the

urge

to

make

sense

of

what

lies

ahead

is

inescapable.

After

the

1980

census,

the

Census

Bureau

decided

for

the

first time to venture some f orecasts of its own for the decades to come.

Working from what America already k nows about itself, the bureau

’

s

experts and other demographers offer an irresis tible, if clouded, crystal

ball among their visions.

According

to

the

census

projections,

female

life

expectancy

will

increase

from

78.3

years

in

1981

to

81.3

in

the

year

2005.

The

life

expectancy

of

America

n

men

will

grow

from

70.7

for

babies

born

in

1981 to 73.3 years in by t he year 2050, women will have a life

expectancy of 83.6 years and men of at leas t 75.1.

Annual population growth will slow to almost nothing by 2050. In

fact, the Census Bureau predicts that the rate of natural increase will be

negative

after

2035;

only

continuing

immigration

will

keep

it

growing

after

that.

The

total

pop

ulation

will

be

268

million

in

2000

and

309

million

—

an all- time high

—

in 2050. After that, it will start to decline.

The

American

population

will

grow

steadily

older.

From

11.4

percent in 198 1, the proportion of the population that is 65 and over will

grow to 13.1 percen t in 2000 and 21.7 percent in 2050. The percentage

of the population that lives beyond the age of 85 will mere than quintuple

over the same period. Meanwhile th e median age

—

30.3 in 1981

—

will

rise to 36.3 by 2000 and 41.6 50 years later.

When

it

comes

to

the

quality

of

life,

more

prognosticators

are

fairly cauti ous. John Hopkins sociologist Andrew Cherlin observes that

“as we enter the 198 0 s, the pace of change appears to have slowed.” For

the next few decades, he pre d icts, there may be only modest swings in

the marriage, birth and divorce rates

—

giving society time to adjust to the

new patterns that have formed in recent y ears. “We

are

in

a

plateau

in

our

family

patterns

that

will

likely

last

awhile, ”Cherlin maintains. Crime expert Alfred Blumstein, who foresees

a drop in crime over the coming decade, predicts that the Northeast and

Midwest, with stable but aging populations, will see the falloff first; for

the South and Southwest, wit h their large proportions of younger people,

the improvement will come less quic kly.

TEXT J

First read the questions.

37. The formal diplomatic relations between China and the United

States w ere established on ___.

C. December 16,1978 D.

A. February 28,1972 B. January 28,1979

January 1,1979

38. The Five Principles for the establishment of a new type of Sino

-US r elationship were put forward by Chinese President Jiang Zemin in

___.

A. Seattle B. Jakarta

C. Manila D. New York

Now go through TEXT J quickly to answer questions 37 & 38.

The

following

is

a

list

of

some

of

the

major

events

in

Sino-US

relations fr om February 1972 to May 1998.

February 21

—

28, 1972 : The US President Richard Nixon paid

an official vi sit to China, during which a Sino-US joint communique was

issued in Shanghai.

May 1, 1973 : The liaison offices set up by China and the US in

each other

’

s capital started functioning.

December 16, 1978 : China and the US issued a joint communique

which

called

for

the

establishment

of

diplomatic

relations

between

the

two countries on Janua ry 1,1979.

January

1,

1979

:

China

and

the

US

formally

established

diplomatic ties.

January 28

—

February 5,1979 : Then Chinese vice-Premier Deng

Xiaoping paid a n official visit to the US, during which two agreements

were

signed

on

scientifi

c

,

technological

and

cultural

co- operation

between the two countries.

August 17, 1982 : The Chinese and the US governments issued a

joint communiq ue under which the US promised to gradually reduce its

sales

of

weapons

to

Taiwa

n

until

the

complete

settlement

of

the

problem.

April

26

—

May

1,

1984

:

Then

US

President

Ronald

Reagan

visited China, durin g which the two countries signed four agreements on

avoiding double-taxation and tax evasion and initiated an agreement on

co-operation on the peaceful use of n uclear energy.

July

23

—

31,

1985

:Then

Chinese

President

Li

Xiannian

visited

the US, the first visit by a Chinese head of state since the founding of the

People

’

s Repub lic of China in 1949.