1988年真题

1988年全国硕士研究生入学统一考试英语试题

Section I Close Test

For each numbered blank in the following passage there are four choices labeled ［A］, ［B］, ［C］, and ［D］. Choose the best one and put your choice in the ANSWER SHEET. Read the whole passage before making your choice. (10 points)

In 1620, a small sailboat named the Mayflower left England for the New World. The Mayflower headed for the Jamestown colony on the warm shore of Virginia. Its one hundred passengers were the Pilgrims. They were looking for a place where they could worship God    1  .    Because of strong winds and severe storms, the Mayflower lost its   2  . The brave group of colonists finally had to land at Plymouth on the rocky coast of Massachusetts in December 1620. It was the middle of the stern northern winter.  3   months of starvation, disease, and death were ahead of them. Only the strongest of the pilgrims   4   that winter. Many women gave their own pitiful rations to their children and died for lack of food for themselves. Living  5   began to improve in the spring of 1621. There were wild vegetables. There were berries and fruit. Fish and game were plentiful. Therefore, they were able to get enough fresh meat despite their lack of skill or experience in hunting and fishing. The colonists’ health  6   with the warm weather and their better diet.

In the fall, they look back  7   the past year. They were both regretful and thankful. Only fifty of the original one hundred passengers remained. The price in human life and tragedy had been great. On the other hand, they saw new hope for the future. A splendid harvest was   8   them. They were ready for the second winter with confidence. They had eleven crude houses for protection against the severe winter. Seven were for families, and four were for communal use.  9  , they had established a treaty of friendship with their Indian neighbors under Chief Massasoit in the summer.

The woods and forests became safe. When the Mayflower returned to England that summer, there were no colonists  10  . At the end of their first year in their new home, the Pilgrims wanted to celebrate with a real holiday. It was their first Thanks giving Day. [328 words]

1. ［A］ in their own style［B］ in their own way

［C］ on their own［D］ of their own

2. ［A］ course［B］ route［C］ passage［D］ channel

3. ［A］ Uncomfortable［B］ Bad［C］ Unfavourable［D］ Terrible

4. ［A］ passed［B］ sustained［C］ survived［D］ spent

5. ［A］ situations［B］ environments

［C］ conditions［D］ circumstances

6. ［A］ strengthened［B］ regained［C］ recovered［D］ improved

7. ［A］ in［B］ of［C］ over［D］ at

8. ［A］ on［B］ behind［C］ for［D］ beyond

9. ［A］ Best of all［B］ For the best［C］ To their best［D］ All in all

10.［A］ ashore［B］ around［C］ about［D］ aboard

Section IIReading Comprehension

Each of the two passages below is followed by five questions. For each question there are four answers. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each of the questions. Put your choice in the brackets on the left. (10 points)

①It doesn’t come as a surprise to you to realize that it makes no difference what you read or study if you can’t remember it. ②You just waste your valuable time. ③Maybe you have already discovered some clever ways to keep yourself from forgetting.

①One dependable aid that does help you remember what you study is to have a specific purpose or reason for reading. ②You remember better what you read when you know why you’re reading.

①Why does a clerk in a store go away and leave you when your reply to her offer to help is, “No, thank you. I’m just looking”? ②Both you and she know that if you aren’t sure what you want, you are not likely to find it. ③But suppose you say instead, “Yes, thank you. I want a pair of sun glasses.” ④She says, “Right this way, please.” ⑤And you and she are off -- both eager to look for exactly what you want.

①It’s quite the same with your studying. ②If you chose a book at random, “just looking” for nothing in particular, you are likely to get just that -- nothing. ③But if you do know what you want, and if you have the right book, you are almost sure to get it. ④Your reasons will vary; they will include reading or studying “to find out more about”, “to understand the reasons for”, “to find out how”. ⑤A good student has a clear purpose or reason for what he is doing.

①This is the way it works. ②Before you start to study, you say to yourself something like this, “I want to know why Stephen Vincent Benet happened to write about America. I’m reading this article to find out.” ③Or, “I’m going to skim this story to see what life was like in medieval England.” ④Because you know why you are reading or studying, you relate the information to your purpose and remember it better.

①Reading is not one single activity. ②At least two important processes go on at the same time. ③As you read, you take in ideas rapidly and accurately. ④But at the same time you express your own ideas to yourself as you react to what you read. ⑤You have a kind of mental conversation with the author. ⑥If you expressed your ideas orally, they might sound like this: “Yes, I agree. That’s my opinion too.” or “Ummmm, I thought that record was broken much earlier. I’d better check those dates,” or “But there are some other facts to be considered!” ⑦You don’t just sit there taking in ideas -- you do something else, and that something else is very important.

①This additional process of thinking about what you read includes evaluating it, relating it to what you already know, and using it for your own purposes. ②In other words, a good reader is a critical reader. ③One part of critical reading, as you have discovered, is distinguishing between facts and opinions. ④Facts can be checked by evidence. ⑤Opinions are one’s own personal reactions.

①Another part of critical reading is judging sources. ②Still another part is drawing accurate inferences.

16.If you cannot remember what you read or study, ________.

[A] it is no surprise

[B] it means you have not really learned anything

[C] it means you have not chosen the right book

[D] you realize it is of no importance

17.Before you start reading, it is important ________.

[A] to make sure why you are reading

[B] to relate the information to your purpose

[C] to remember what you read

[D] to choose an interesting book

18.Reading activity involves ________.

[A] only two simultaneous processes

[B] primarily learning about ideas and evaluating them critically

[C] merely distinguishing between facts and opinions

[D] mainly drawing accurate inferences

19.A good reader is one who ________.

[A] relates what he reads to his own knowledge about the subject matter

[B] does lots of thinking in his reading

[C] takes a critical attitude in his reading

[D] is able to check the facts presented against what he has already known

Text 2

①If you live in a large city, you are quite familiar with some of the problems of noise, but because of some of its harmful effects, you may not be aware of the extent of its influence on human behavior. ②Although everyone more or less knows what noise is, i.e., it is sounds that one would rather not hear, it is perhaps best to define it more precisely for scientific purposes. ③One such definition is that noise is sounds that are unrelated to the task at hand. ④Thus stimuli that at one time might be considered relevant will at another time be considered noise, depending on what one is doing at the moment. ⑤In recent years there has been a great deal of interest in the effects of noise on human behavior, and concepts such as “noise pollution” have arisen, together with movements to reduce noise.

①Exposure to loud noises can definitely produce a partial or complete loss of hearing, depending on the intensity, duration, and frequency composition of the noise. ②Many jobs present noise hazards, such as working in factories and around jet aircraft, driving farm tractors, and working (or sitting) in music halls where rock bands are playing. ③In general, continuous exposure to sounds of over 80 decibels (a measure of the loudness of sound) can be considered dangerous. ④Decibel values correspond to various sounds. ⑤Sounds above about 85 decibels may, if exposure is for a sufficient period of time, produce significant hearing loss. ⑥Actual loss will depend upon the particular frequencies to which one is exposed, and whether the sound is continuous or intermittent.

①Noise can have unexpected harmful effects on performance of certain kinds of tasks, for instance, if one is performing a watch keeping task that requires vigilance, in which he is responsible for detecting weak signals of some kind (e.g., watching a radar screen for the appearance of aircraft).

①Communicating with other people is unfavorably affected by noise. ②If you have ridden in the rear of a jet transport, you may have noticed that it was difficult to carry on a conversation at first, and that, eventually, you adjusted the loudness of your speech to compensate for the effect. ③The problem is noise.

20.Noise differs from sound in that ________.

[A] it is sounds that interfere with the task being done

[B] it is a special type of loud sound

[C] it is usually unavoidable in big cities

[D] it can be defined more precisely than the latter

21.One of the harmful effects of noise on human performance is that ________.

[A] it reduces one’s sensitivity

[B] it renders the victim helpless

[C] it deprives one of the enjoyment of music

[D] it drowns out conversations at worksites

22.The purpose of this passage is ________.

[A] to define the effects of noise on human behavior

[B] to warn people of the danger of noise pollution

[C] to give advice as to how to prevent hearing loss

[D] to tell the difference between noise and sound

Text 3

①The traditional belief that a woman’s place is in the home and that a woman ought not to go out to work can hardly be reasonably maintained in present conditions. ②It is said that it is a woman’s task to care for the children, but families today tend to be small and with a year or two between children. ③Thus a woman’s whole period of childbearing may occur within five years. ④Furthermore, with compulsory education from the age of five or six her role as chief educator of her children soon ceases. ⑤Thus, even if we agree that a woman should stay at home to look after her children before they are of school age, for many women, this period would extend only for about ten years.

①It might be argued that the house-proud woman would still find plenty to do about the home. ②That may be so, but it is certainly no longer necessary for a woman to spend her whole life cooking, cleaning, mending and sewing. ③Washing machines take the drudgery out of laundry, the latest models being entirely automatic and able to wash and dry a large quantity of clothes in a few minutes. ④Refrigerators have made it possible to store food for long periods and many pre-cooked foods are obtainable in tins. ⑤Shopping, instead of being a daily task, can be completed in one day a week. ⑥The new man-made fibers are more hardwiring than natural fibers and greatly reduce mending, while good ready-made clothes are cheap and plentiful.

①Apart from women’s own happiness, the needs of the community must be considered. ②Modern society cannot do well without the contribution that women can make in professions and other kinds of work. ③There is a serious shortage of nurses and teachers, to mention only two of the occupations followed by women. ④It is extremely wasteful to give years of training at public expense only to have the qualified teacher or nurse marry after a year or two and be lost forever to her profession. ⑤The training, it is true, will help her in duties as a mother, but if she continued to work, her service would be more widely useful. ⑥Many factories and shops, too, are largely staffed by women, many of them married. ⑦While here the question of training is not so important, industry and trade would be seriously short of staff if married women did not work.

23.The author holds that ________.

[A] the right place for all women, married or otherwise, is the home, not elsewhere

[B] all married women should have some occupation outside the home

[C] a married woman should give first priority to her duties as a mother

[D] it is desirable for uneducated married women to stay at home and take care of the family

24.A house-proud woman ________.

[A] would devote her whole life to her family

[B] would take her own happiness and that of her family as her chief concern

[C] would still need some special training at public expense to help her in her duties as a housewife

[D] would take full advantage of modern household appliances

25.According to the author, modern society ________.

[A] can operate just as well even without women participation

[B] has been greatly hampered in its development by the shortage of women nurses and women teachers

[C] cannot operate properly without the contribution of women

[D] will be seriously affected by the continuing shortage of working women in heavy industries and international trade

Section IIIEnglish-Chinese Translation

Translate the following passage into Chinese. Only the underlined sentences are to be translated. (20 points)

Seated behind the front desk at a New York firm, the receptionist was efficient.

Stylishly dressed, the firm’s newest employee had a pleasant telephone voice and a natural charm that put clients at ease. The company was pleased: (21)Clearly, this was a person who took considerable pride in personal appearance. David King, the receptionist, is unusual, but by no means unique. (22)Just as all truck drivers and construction workers are no longer necessarily men, all secretaries and receptionists are no longer automatically women. The number of men in women-dominated fields is still small and they haven’t attracted the attention that has often followed women advancing into male-dominated fields, but men are moving into more and more jobs that have traditionally been held by women.

Strictly speaking, the phenomenon is not new. For the past several decades, men have been quietly entering fields such as nursing, social work and elementary education. But today no job seems off-limits. Men serve coffee in offices and meals on airplanes. (23)These changes are helping to influence some of the long-standing traditions about the types of work men and women can do -- but they also produce some undeniable problems for the men who are entering those fields formerly dominated by women.

What kinds of men venture into these so-called “women’s fields”? All kinds. (24) “I don’t know of any definite answers I’d be comfortable with,” explains Joseph Pleck, Ph.D., of the Wellesley College Centre for Research on Women.

Sam Ormont, for example, a thirty-year-old nurse at a Boston hospital, went into nursing because the army had trained him as a medical worker. (25)“I found that work very interesting.” he recalled, “and when I got out of the service it just seemed natural for me to go into something medical. I wasn’t really interested in becoming a doctor.” Thirty-five-year-old David King, an out-of-work actor, found a job as a receptionist because he was having trouble landing roles in Broadway plays and he needed to pay the rent.

(26)In other words, men enter “female” jobs out of the same consideration for personal interest and economic necessity that motivates anyone looking for work. But similarities often end there. Men in female-dominated jobs are conspicuous. As a group, their work histories differ in most respects from those of their female colleagues, and they are frequently treated differently by the people with whom they are in professional contact.

The question naturally arises: Why are there still approximately ninety-nine female secretaries for every one male? There is also a more serious issue. Most men don’t want to be receptionists, nurses, secretaries or sewing workers. Put simply, these are not generally considered very masculine jobs. (27)To choose such a line of work is to invite ridicule.

“There was kidding in the beginning,” recalls Ormont. “Kids coming from school ask what I am, and when I say ‘A nurse,’ they laugh at me. I just smile and say, ‘You know, there are female doctors, too.’”

Still, there are encouraging signs. Years ago, male grade school teachers were as rare as male nurses. Today more than one elementary school teacher in six is male.

（28）Can we anticipate a day when secretaries will be an even mix of men and women— or when the mention of a male nurse will no longer raise eyebrows? It’s probably coming -- but not very soon.