-
2008
英语专业八级真题及答案
PART II
READING
COMPREHENSION (30 MIN)
In
this
section
there
are
four
reading
passages
followed
by
a
total
of
20
multiple-choice questions. Read the
passages and then mark your answers on your
coloured answer sheet
TEXT A
At the age of 16, Lee Hyuk Joon's life
is a living hell. The South Korean 10th grader
gets up at 6 in the morning to go to
school, and studies most of the day until
returning
home at 6 p.m. After dinner,
it's time to hit the books
again
—
at one of Seoul's many
so-called cram schools. Lee gets back
home at 1 in the morning, sleeps less than five
hours, then repeats
the
routine
—
five days
a week.
It's a
grueling schedule, but
Lee
worries that it may not be good enough
to get him into a top university. Some of his
classmates study even harder.
South Korea's education system has long
been highly competitive. But for Lee and the
other 700,000 high-school sophomores in
the country, high-school studies have gotten
even more intense. That's because South
Korea has conceived a new college-entrance
system, which will be implemented in
2008. This year's 10th graders will be the first
group
evaluated
by
the
new
admissions
standard,
which
places
more
emphasis
on
grades in the three years of high
school and less on nationwide SAT-style and other
selection
tests,
which
have
traditionally
determined
which
students
go
to
the
elite
colleges.
The
change
was
made
mostly
to
reduce
what
the
government
says
is
a
growing
education gap in the country: wealthy
students go to the best colleges and get the best
jobs,
keeping
the
children
of
poorer
families
on
the
social
margins.
The
aim
is
to
reduce the
importance of costly tutors and cram schools,
partly to help students enjoy
a
more
normal
high-
school
life.
But
the
new
system
has
had
the
opposite
effect.
Before,
students
didn't
worry
too
much
about
their
grade-point
averages;
the
big
challenge
was beating the standardized tests as high-school
seniors. Now students are
competing
against one another over a three-year period, and
every midterm and final
test
is
crucial.
Fretful
parents
are
relying
even
more
heavily
on
tutors
and
cram
schools to help their children succeed.
Parents and kids have sent thousands of
angry online letters to the Education Ministry
complaining that the new admissions
standard is setting students against each other.
Education
experts
say
that
South
Korea's
public
secondary-school
system
is
foundering,
while
private
education
is
thriving.
According
to
critics,
the
country's
high schools are
almost uniformly
mediocre
—
the result of an
egalitarian government
education
policy.
With
the
number
of
elite
schools
strictly
controlled
by
the
government, even the brightest students
typically have to settle for ordinary schools in
their neighbourhoods, where the
curriculum is centred on average students. To make
up for the mediocrity, zealous parents
send their kids to the expensive cram schools.
1
Students
in
affluent
southern
Seoul
neighbourhoods
complain
that
the
new
system
will hurt them the
most. Nearly all Korean high schools will be
weighted equally in
the college-
entrance process, and relatively weak students in
provincial schools, who
may not score
well on standardized tests, often compile good
grade-point averages.
Some
universities,
particularly
prestigious
ones,
openly
complain
that
they
cannot
select the best students under the new
system because it eliminates differences among
high schools. They've asked for more
discretion in picking students by giving more
weight to such screening tools as essay
writing or interviews.
President Roh
Moo Hyun doesn't like how some colleges are trying
to circumvent the
new system.
He recently criticized
that
focus more
on finding
the
best
students
than
faying
to
good
students
But
amid
the
crossfire
between
the
government
and
universities,
the
country's
10
th
graders
are
feeling
the
stress. On online protest sites, some
are calling themselves a “cursed generation” and
“mice in
a lab
experiment”.
It
all seems
a touch
me
lodramatic, but
that's the
South
Korean school system.
11.
According to the
passage, the new college-entrance system is
designed to
A. require students to sit
for more college-entrance tests.
B.
reduce the weight of college-entrance tests.
C. select students on their high school
grades only.
D. reduce the number of
prospective college applicants.
12.
What seems to be the effect of
introducing the new system?
A. The
system has given equal opportunities to students.
B. The system has reduced the number of
cram schools.
C. The system has
intensified competition among schools.
D. The system has increased students'
study load.
13.
According
to critics, the popularity of private education is
mainly the result of
A. the
government's egalitarian policy.
B.
insufficient number of schools:
C.
curriculums of average quality.
D. low
cost of private education.
14.
According to the passage, there seems
to be disagreement over the adoption of
the new system between the following
groups EXCEPT
A. between universities
and the government.
B. between school
experts and the government.
C. between
parents and schools.
D. between parents
and the government.
2
15.
Which
of
the
following
adjectives
best
describes
the
author's
treatment
of
the
topic?
A. Objective.
B. Positive.
C. Negative.
D. Biased.
TEXT B
Wilfred Emmanuel-
Jones was a teenager before he saw his first cow
in his first field.
Born in Jamaica,
the 47-year-old grew up in inner-city Birmingham
before making a
career
as
a
television
producer
and
launching
his
own
marketing
agency.
But
deep
down he
always nurtured every true Englishman's dream of a
rustic life, a dream that
his
entrepreneurial wealth has allowed him to satisfy.
These days he's the owner of a
thriving
12-hectare
farm
in
deepest
Devon
with
cattle,
sheep
and
pigs.
His
latest
business venture: pushing his brand of
Black Fanner gourmet sausages and barbecue
sauces.
“My
background
may
be
very
urban,”
says
Emmanuel
-
Jones.
“But
it
has
given me a good idea of what other
urbanites want.”
And of how
to sell it. Emmanuel-Jones joins a herd of wealthy
fugitives from city life
who
are
bringing
a
new
commercial
know-how
to
British
farming.
Britain's
burgeoning
farmers'
markets
-numbers
have
doubled
to
at
least
500
in
the
last
five
years
—
swarm with
specialty cheesemakers, beekeepers or organic
smallholders who
are
redeploying
the
business
skills
they
learned
in
the
city.
in
the
rural
community
has
to
come
to
terms
with
the
fact
that
things
have
changed.
Says
Emmanuel-Jones.
how
to
market
it,
you
are
wasting
your
time.
We
are
helping
the
traditionalists
to
move on.
The emergence of the
new class of superpeasants reflects some old
yearnings. If the
British were the
first nation to industrialize, they were also the
first to head back to
the land.
says Alun Howkins of the University of
Sussex, who reckons the population of rural
England has been rising since 1911.
Migration into rural areas is now running at about
100,000 a year, and the hunger for a
taste of the rural life has kept land prices
buoyant
even as agricultural incomes
tumble. About 40 percent of all farmland is now
sold to
to the Royal
Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
What's new about the latest returnees
is their affluence and zeal for the business of
producing
quality
foods,
if
only
at
a
micro-level.
A
healthy
economy
and
surging
London
house
prices
have
helped
to
ease
the
escape
of
the
would-be
rustics.
The
media
recognize
and
feed
the
fantasy.
One
of
the
big
TV
hits
of
recent
years,
the
Cottage
series,
chronicled
the
attempts
of
a
London
chef
to
run
his
own
Dorset farm.
Naturally, the
newcomers can't hope to match their City salaries,
but many are happy
to
trade
any
loss
of
income
for
the
extra
job
satisfaction.
Who
cares
if
there's
no
six-figure annual bonus
when the land offers other incalculable
compensations?
3
Besides, the specialist producers can
at least depend on a burgeoning market for their
products.
Today's
eco-aware
generation
loves
to
seek
out
authentic
ingredients.
investment
banker
now
running his
own
40-hectare spread in
the English
Midlands
stocked with rare breeds.
Optimists
see
signs
of
far-
reaching
change:
Britain
isn't
catching
up
with
mainland
Europe;
it's
leading
the
way.
“Unlike
most
other
countries,
where
art
isanal
food
production is being
eroded, here it is being recovered,
“It
may be the mark of the next stage of civilization
that we rediscover the desirability
of
being a peasant.” And not an investment
banker.
16.
Which of the following details of
Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones is INCORRECT?
A.
He was born and brought up in Birmingham.
B. He used to work in the television
industry.
C. He is wealthy, adventurous
and aspiring.
D. He is now selling his
own quality foods.
17.
Most
importantly,
people
like
Wilfred
have
brought
to
traditional
British
farming
A. knowledge of
farming.
B. knowledge of brand names.
C. knowledge of lifestyle.
D. knowledge of marketing,
18.
Which of the following
does NOT contribute to the emergence of a new
class of
farmers?
A. Strong
desire for country life.
B. Longing for
greater wealth,
C. Influence of TV
productions.
D. Enthusiasm for quality
food business.
19.
What is
seen as their additional source of new income?
A. Modern tendency to buy natural
foods.
B. Increase in the value of land
property.
C. Raising and selling rare
live stock. V
D. Publicity as a result
of media coverage.
20.
The
sentence
in
the
last
paragraph
“...Britain
isn't
catching
up
with
mainland
Europe; it's leading the
way
A. Britain has taken a different
path to boost economy.
B. more
authentic foods are being produced in Britain.
C. the British are heading back to the
countryside.
D. the Europeans are
showing great interest in country life.
4
TEXT C
In Barcelona the Catalonians call them
castells
, but these aren't
stereotypical castles in
Spain.
These
castles
are
made
up
of
human
beings,
not
stone.
The
people
who
perform this agile feat
of acrobatics are called
castellers
, and to see their
towers take
shape is to observe a
marvel of human cooperation.
First
the
castellers
form
what
looks
like
a
gigantic
rugby
scrummage.
They
are
the
foundation
blocks
of
the
castle.
Behind
them,
other
people
press
together,
forming
outward-radiating
ramparts of inward-pushing muscle: flying
buttresses for the castle.
Then sturdy
but lighter castellers scramble over the backs of
those at the bottom and
stand,
barefoot,
on
their
shoulders
—
then
still
others,
each
time
adding
a
higher
These human towers can rise
higher than small apar
tment buildings:
nine “stories”, 35
feet into the air.
Then, just When it seems this tower of humanity
can't defy gravity
any
longer,
a
little
kid
emerges
from
the
crowd
and
climbs
straight
up
to
the
top.
Arms extended, the
child grins while waving to the cheering crowd far
below.
Dressed in their traditional
costumes, the castellers seem to epitomize an
easier time,
before Barcelona became a
world metropolis arid the Mediterranean's most
dynamic
city. But when you observe-them
tip close, in their street clothes, at practice,
you see
there's
nothing
easy
about
what
the
castellers
do
-
and
that
they
are
not
merely
reenacting an ancient
ritual.
None of the castellers can-give
a logical answer as to why they love doing this.
But
Victor Luna, 16, touches me on the
shoulder and says in English:
it's
beautiful. We do it because we are
Catalan.
Barcelona’s
mother
tongue
is
Catalan,
and
to
understand
Barcelona,
you
must
understand
two
words
of
Catalan:
seny
and
rauxa
.
Seny
pretty
much
translates
as
common
sense,
or
the
ability
to
make
money,
arrange
things,
and
get
things
done.
Rauxa is reminiscent
of our words “raucous” and “ruckus”.
What makes the castellers revealing of
the city is that they embody rauxa
and
seny.
The
idea
of
a
human
castle
is
rauxa
—
it
defies
common
sense
—
but
to
watch
one
going up is to see seny in action.
Success is based on everyone working together to
achieve a shared goal.
The
success of Carlos Tusquets' bank, Fibanc, shows
seny at work in everyday life.
The
bank
started
as
a
family
concern
and
now
employs
hundreds.
Tusquets
said
it
exemplifies how the economy in
Barcelona is different.
Entrepreneurial
seny demonstrates why Barcelona and
Catalonia
—
the ancient region
of which Barcelona is the
capital
—
are distinct from
the rest of Spain yet essential to
Spain's
emergence,
after
centuries
of
repression,
as
a
prosperous,
democratic
European
country.
Catalonia,
with
Barcelona
as
its
dynamo,
has
turned
into
an
economic powerhouse.
Making
up 6 percent
of
Spain’s
territory, with
a
sixth
of its
people,
it
accounts
for
nearly
a
quarter
of
Spain's
produc
tion
—
everything
from
5
textiles
to
computers
—
even
though
the
rest
of
Spain
has
been
enjoying
its
own
economic miracle.
Hand in hand with seny goes rauxa, and
there's no better place to see rauxa in action
than on the Ramblas, the venerable,
tree-shaded boulevard that, in gentle stages,
leads
you from the centre of Barcelona
down to the port. There are two narrow lanes each
way
for
cars
and
motorbikes,
but
it’s
the
wide
centre
walkway
that
makes
the
Ramblas
a front-row seat for
Barcelona's longest running
theatrical event.
Plastic
armchairs are set out on the sidewalk.
Sit in one of them, and an attendant will come
and
charge
you
a
small
fee.
Performance
artists
throng
the
Ramblas
—
stilt
walkers,
witches
caked
in
charcoal
dust,
Elvis
impersonators.
But
the
real
stars
are
the
old
women
and
happily
playing
children,
millionaires
on
motorbikes,
and
pimps
and
women
who, upon closer inspection, prove not to be.
Aficionados (Fans) of Barcelona love to
co
mpare notes: “Last night there was a
man
standing
on
the
balcony
of
his
hotel
room,”
Mariana
Bertagnolli,
an
Italian
photographer, told me.
was
talking into a cell phone.
There
you have it, Barcelona's essence. The
man is naked (rauxa), but he is talking
into a cell phone (seny).
21.
From the description
in the passage, we learn that
A. all
Catalonians can perform castells.
B.
castells require performers to stand on each
other.
C. people perform castells in
different formations.
D. in castells
people have to push and pull each other.
22.
According to the
passage, the4mplication of the performance is that
A. the Catalonians are insensible and
noisy people.
B. the Catalonians show
more sense than is expected.
C. the
Catalonians display paradoxical characteristics.
D. the Catalonians think highly of team
work.
23.
The passage
cites the following examples EXCEPT __________ to
show
seny
at
work.
A. development of a
bank
B. dynamic role in economy
C. contribution to national economy
D. comparison with other regions
24.
In the last but two
paragraph, the Ramblas is described as “a
front
-row seat for
Barcelona’s longest running theatrical
event”. What does it mean?
A. On the Ramblas people can see a
greater variety of performances.
B. The
Ramblas provides many front seats for the
performances.
C. The Ramblas is
preferred as an important venue for the events.
D. Theatrical performers like to
perform on the Ramblas.
6