武汉大学2006年考博英语

武汉大学真题2006年

(总分100, 考试时间90分钟)

Part Ⅰ Reading Comprehension

Directions: There are 5 reading passages inthis part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements.For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C, and D. You shoulddecide on the best choice and mark your answer on the ANSWER SHEET byblackening the corresponding letter in the brackets.

  Tides are created mainly by the pull of the moon on the earth. Themoon's pull causes water in the oceans to be a little deeper at a point closestto the moon and also at a point farthest from the moon, on the opposite side ofthe earth. These two tidal "waves" follow the apparent movement ofthe moon around the earth strike nearly every coastline at intervals of abouttwelve hours and twenty-five minutes. After reaching a high point, the water level goes down gradually for a little more thansix hours and then begins to rise toward a new high point. Hence, most coastlines have twotides a day, and the tides occur fifty minutes later each day. Differences inthe coastline and in channels in the ocean bottom may change the time that thetidal wave reaches different points along the same coastline. The difference inwater level between high and low tide varies from day to day according to therelative positions of the sun and the moon because the sun also exerts a pullon the earth, although it is only about half as strong as the pull of the moon.When the sun and the moon are pulling along the same line, the tides risehigher, and when they pull at right angles to one another, the tide is lower.The formation of the coastline and variations in the weather are additionalfactors which can affect the height of tides. Some sections of the coast areshaped in such a way as to cause much higher tides than are experienced inother areas. A strong wind blowing toward the shore may also cause tides to behigher.

1.Which of the following may be concluded from the information presented in thepassage?
A Some coastlines do not have two tides eachday.
B Tides usually rise to the same level dayafter day.
C Tides are not affected by the shape of acoastline.
D The sun has as much effect on tides asdoes the moon.

2. The time that high tide occurs at aparticular place is affected by all of the following EXCEPT ______.
A tone position of the moon
B the direction of the wind
C channels in the sea bottom
D variations in the coastline

3. Which of the following is an accuratestatement about the pull of the sun on the earth?
A It determines the time of high tide.
B It is about twice the pull of the moon.
C It determines the time of low tide.
D It is about half the pull of the moon.

4. If the pull of the sun equaled the pullof the moon, tides would ______.
A sometimes be higher than they are now
B be the same height they are now
C no longer be affected by the wind
D be of equal height all the time
  George Mason must rank with John Adams and James Madison as one of thethree Founding Fathers who left their personal imprint on the fundamental lawof the United States.He was the principal author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, whichbecause of its early formation greatly influenced other state constitutionsframed during the Revolution and, through them, the Federal Bill of Rights of1791.
  Yet Mason was essentially a private person with very little inclinationfor public office or the ordinary operation of politics beyond the countrylevel. His appearances in the Virginiacolonial and state legislatures were relatively brief, and not until 1787 didhe consent to represent his state at a continental or national congress orconvention. Polities was never more than a means for Mason. He was at all timesa man of public spirit, but politics was never a way of life, never for longhis central concern. It took a revolution to pry him away from home and familyat Gunston Hall, mobilize his skill and energy for constitutional construction,and transform him, in one brief moment of brilliant leadership, into astatesman whose work would endure to influence the lives and fortunes of those"millions yet unborn" of whom he and his generation of Americansspoke so frequently and thought so constantly.

5. The author ascribes importance to theVirginia Declaration of Rights primarily because ______.
A Mason was its principal author
B it was later adopted as the Federal Billof Rights
C through wide circulation it influencedthe writing of other state constitutions during the Revolution
D through other state constitutions iteventually influenced the writing of the Federal Bill of Rights

6. The passage indicates that, for Mason,political activities were ______.
A undertaken only when absolutely necessary
B a fundamental and lifelong preoccupation
C something he successfully avoidedthroughout his life
D something to which he always wished todevote more time and attention

7. The author indicates that Mason'sbrilliant leadership ability ______.
A was exercised throughout his life
B has been recognized only by thegenerations that followed him
C was less important historically than hisbrilliance as a lawyer
D emerged powerfully, but for a brief timeonly

8. The author seems to be especiallyimpressed by the fact that ______.
A Mason, a responsible citizen, resistedfor so long the obligation to represent his state in politics
B Mason, having so little politicalinclination, turned out to be such an influential statesman
C Mason was willing to leave home andfamily for public service
D Mason could be a devoted family man and astatesman at the same time
  People appear to be born to compute. The numerical skills of childrendevelop so early and so inexorably that it is easy to imagine an internal clockof mathematical maturity guiding their growth. Not long after learning to walkand talk, they can set the table with impressive accuracy--one plate, oneknife, one spoon, one fork, for each of the five chairs. Soon they are capableof noting that they have placed five knives, spoons, and forks on the tableand, a bit later, that this amounts to fifteen pieces of silverware. Havingthus mastered addition, they move on to subtraction. It seems almost reasonableto expect that if a child were secluded on a desert island at birth andretrieved seven years later, he or she could enter a second-grade mathematicsclass without any serius problems of intellectual adjustment.
   Ofcourse, the truth is not so simple. This century, the work of cognitivepsychologists has illuminated the subtle forms of daily learning on whichintellectual progress depends. Children were observed as they slowlygrasped--or, as the case might be bumped into- concepts that adults take forgranted, as they refused, for instance, to concede that quantity is unchangedas water pours from short stout glass into a tall thin one. Psychologists havesince demonstrated that young children, asked to count the pencils in a pile,readily report the number of blue or red pencils, but must be coaxed intofinding the total. Such studies have suggested that the rudiments ofmathematics are mastered gradually, and with effort. They have also suggestedthat the very concept of abstract numbers--the idea of a oneness, a twoness, athreenes that applies to any class of objects and is a prerequisite for doinganything more mathematically demanding than setting a table--is itself far frominnate.

9. What does the passage mainly discuss?
A Trends in teaching mathematics tochildren.
B The use of mathematics in childpsychology.
C The development of mathematical abilityin children.
D The fundamental concepts of mathematicsthat children must learn.

10. It con be inferred from the passagethat children onrmally learn simple counting ______.
A soon after they learn to talk
B by looking at the clock
C when they begin to be mathematicallymature
D after they reach the second grade inschool

11. The author implies that most smallchildren believe that the quantity of water changes when it is transferred to acontainer of a different ______.
A color
B quality
C weight
D shape

12. With which of the following statementswould the author be LEAST likely to agree?
A Children naturally and easily learnmathematics.
B Children learn to add before they learnto subtract.
C Most people follow the same pattern ofmathematical development.
D Mathematical development is subtle andgradual.
   Ifa new charter of the rights of people (in the First World, or North, orwhatever you like to call the part where people to not on the whole starve)were to be drawn up, there is no doubt that the right to be a tourist, to go toa Spanish beach or to visit places endorsed as being of cultural or scenicinterest, would be prominent among its clauses. The mythology of tourism isthat of the idyll--of outdoor pleasures, eating, drinking and love-making withneither hangover nor remorse. But whereas the ancient poets knew that idyllswere an art form, modern tourists are persuaded to believe that they can bebought for the price of a plane ticket and a hotel room. So it is notsurprising that so many tourists look bewildered, dazed, even at timesdespondent.
  They are exchanging the comforts of home, where a particular way ofliving has been laboriously and lovingly created, for the uncertainty ofexistence in a foreign place, the soullessness of hotels, the wear and tear ofconstant travel. To be translated suddenly into an unfamiliar environment is analienating experience, if not an unpleasant trauma.
  Another reason why tourists in reality do not look as happy as thesmiliing figures in the brochures is that the activities open to them, far fromliberating, are both limited and unbalanced. Lying on a beach and visitingmuseums may be fine in their different ways, but to do either continuously fordays on end must constitute a kind of hell.
  The strongest arguments against tourism, however, are based on thedamage it does to the countries which are toured against rather than thosewhich tour. The most striking examples are in the "Third World". Cultures which have survived centuries of armedassault have not been able to resist this more insidious form of colonization:the dollar is mightier than the sword.
  Physical environment and culture may suffer, but the apologists fortourism argue that great economic benefits are produced. This is not the case.At least in Third World countries, most of theforeign money brought in goes straight out again, via the foreign-ownedcompanies which exploit tourism. The jobs created by tourism are for the mostpart menial and low-paid. In the long term, above all, the effect of relianceon tourism must be to reduce a country to a servile, parasitical condition,selling its past and its image to richer, more dynamic people who are incontrol of their destiny, and in the end, that of the country they arevisiting.

13. The first sentence indicates that______.
A people have a universal claim to holidaysabroad
B tourists turn a blind eye to the povertyin the countries they visit
C holidays overseas are consideredessential by people in Western societies
D People seem to appreciate the right to aholiday more than any other right

14. According to the writer, tourists look"bewildered, dazed, even at times despondent" because they ______.
A do not realize that holiday pleasures areso costly
B abandon themseles to all kinds ofexcesses
C confuse their dreams with reality
D hardly prepare for their holidays

15. The writer concludes that tourism inthe Third World ______.
A produces only limited economic benefits
B amounts to a present-day form ofcolonialism
C is developed at the expense of otherindustries
D will bring prosperity to it only in thedistant future

16. The essential argument in this articleis that ______.
A tourism makes people unhappy and ruinswhole cultures
B tourist agencies should do more topromote tourism at home
C tourists are exploited by both travelorganizations and tourist countries
D the tourist industry is not yet able tomeet the demands of today's tourists
   Ithappened in the late fall of 1939 when, after a Nazi submarine had penetratedthe British sea defense around the Firth of Forth and damaged a Britishcruiser, Reston and a colleague contrived to get the news past Britishcensorship. They cabled a series of seemingly harmless sentences to The Times'seditors in New York,having first sent a message instructing the editors to regard only the lastword of each sentence. Thus they were able to convey enough words to spell outthe story. The fact that the news of the submarine attack was printed in New York before it hadappeared in the British press sparked a big controversy that led to aninvestigation by Scotland Yard and British Military Intelligence. But it tookthe investigators eight weeks to decipher The Times's reporters' code, anembarrassingly slow bit of detective work, and when it was finally solved theincident had given the story very prominent play, later expressed dismay thatthe reporters had risked so much for so little. And the incident left Reston deeply distressed. It was so out of character forhim to have. become involved in such a thing. The tactics were questionableand, though the United Stateswas not yet in the war, Britainwas already established as America'sclose ally and breaking British censorship seemed both an irresponsible andunpatriotic thing to do.

17. The episode recounted in the passagetook place ______.
A just prior to the outbreak of the SecondWorld War
B bofore Britain entered the Second WorldWar
C before the United States entered the SecondWorld War
D while the United States was in the SecondWorld War

18. It was clear that British censorshiprules had been broken because the story was ______.
A first published in New York
B published nowhere but in The Times
C uncomplimentary to the Bristish
D much fuller in its Times version thanelsewhere

19. According to the author, the Britishdid little about the story's publication mainly because ______.
A everyone responsible had apologized forwhat had happened
B it took the authorities too long tofigure out how the censors had been outwitted
C Scotland Yard and British MilitaryIntelligence disagreed about who was at fault
D they were afraid to admit that thecensors had been so easily fooled

20. The passage indicates that eventuallyeveryone involved came to regard the publication of the story in The Times as a______.
A regrettable error
B cheap journalistic trick
C brilliant journalistic maneuver
D proper exercise of the freedom of thepress
Part Ⅱ English-Chinese Translation

Directions: Read the following passagecarefully and then translate the underlined sentences into Chinese and writeyour translation on the ANSWER SHEET.

  Tsunamis are impulsively generated sea waves by a disturbance to or nearthe ocean.
  21. Earthquakes, submarine volcanic explosions, landslides and thedetonation of nuclear devices near the sea can give rise to such destructivesea waves. By far the most destructive tsunamis are generated from largeshallow-focus earthquakes with an epicenter or fault line near or in the ocean.Vertical displacements of the earth's crust along the rupture resulting fromthe ocean. Vertical displacements of the earth's crust along the ruptureresulting from such earthquakes can generate destructive tsunami waves whichcan travel across an ocean spreading destruction across their path. Similar displacementsof the ocean floor can also be produced by volcanic eruptions and submarineavalanches or landslides. However, these sources are considered as pointsources and, although the tsunami waves generated can be very destructivelocally, the energy of the waves is rapidly dissipated as they travel acrossthe ocean.
To forecast tsunamis and determine terminalrun-up and destructiveness, one must be able to evaluate the parameters of thetsunami source mechanism in real time, often, from inadequate date. 22. Tsunamisource mechanism analysis is difficult given the time constraints of a warningsituation. It will suffice to say that forecasting the run-up and potentialdestructiveness of a tsunami at a distant shore will depend greatly ondetermining the seismic parameters of the source location such as magnitude ofthe earthquake, its depth, its orientation, the length of the fault line, thesize of the crustal displacements, and depth of the water. 23. Refraction(折射) and diffraction(衍射) processes will affect the energyand height of the tsunami waves as they travel across the ocean. These effectsmust also be determined. Finally, terminal height, run-up, and inundation ofthe tsunami at a point of impact will depend upon the energy forcusing effect,the travel path of the waves, the coastal configuration, and the offshorebathymetry, only to name a few.
  Tsunami run-up is the vertical distance between the maximum heightreached by the water on shore and the mean-sea-level surface. 24. Contrary tometeorological predictions, tsunami run-up, the final product of earthquake andtsunami investigations is not possible to forecast with a great degree ofaccuracy. The reason for this inadequacy is that the Tsunami Warning Systemworks in a real time frame of short duration, often with inadequate date andinformation. Problems of communication and lack of sufficient station density,often complicate the process. Forecasting tsunamis requires adequateunderstanding of the phenomenon, good and expeditious collection of earthquakeand sea level date, and accruate and expeditious assessment and interpretationof this data.

Part Ⅲ Chinese-English Translation
Directions: Translate the following shortparagraphs into English and write your translation on the ANSWER SHEET.
1. 语言学无疑是学术领域争论最热门的话题。它淫浸着诗人、神学者、哲学家、语言学家、心理学家、生物学家和神经学家的血液，融入了文法家的方方面面。
目前以“语言学家”之名从事的大多数工作纯粹是描述性的；语言学家试图不通过价值判断或尝试绘制出未来语言发展的方向就来澄清语言的本质。但是，有许多专业人土和业余爱好者也在制定语言规则，他们规定出专门标准让大家遵守。而规定语法学家(prescriptivists)可能是想勾画出他们猜想什么是所谓的“错误的用法”，描写语言学家(descriptivists)却试图找到这种用法的根源；他们可能仅仅把它描述为“特殊的”，或者可能想找到规定语法学家不喜欢的规律性。规定语法学家之所以不喜欢这些规律，要么是因为它太新，要么是因为它源自一种他们不认可的方言。20世纪下半叶，规定性语法的传统受到越来越激烈的批评，这可以从他们反对的调子越来越微弱得到证明，但规定性语法的传统还远远没有消亡。

Part Ⅳ Writing
Directions: You should spend about 30minutes on this part. Present a written argument or case to an educated readerwithout specialist knowledge of the following topic.
1. Now many people enjoy emails and otherpeople prefer face-to-face conversations. The title of your composition is"Which Is Better, a Talk or an Email?".
You should use your own ideas, knowledgeand experience to support your opinion. Write at least 200 words.

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