2012 Mock Test for National English Contest for College Students
Part II Vocabulary and Structure (15 marks)
There are 15 incomplete sentences in this part. For each blank there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that best completes the sentence. 31. You are adults and whether you learn or not is entirely ________ you.
A. up to
B. as to
C. due to
D. close to
32. As researchers, we should all master statistics, because it is a discipline ________ all the other sciences.
A. affected
B. affecting
C. to be affected D. being affected
33. Four GM rice varieties have been released in China, ________ are being conducted in 20 villages in Hubei and Fujian provinces.
A. all their preproduction trials
B. all whose preproduction trials
D. all of their preproduction trials
C. indications
D. imaginations
C. all of whose preproduction trials A. illustrations A. make fuss of A. attribute A. To be
34. A useful feature of this book is the large number of ________ it contains, as well as tables and factual summaries.
B. implications
35. This article is about how businesses can ________ confusing rules on staff Internet and e-mail use.
B. make the best of B. evaluate
B. Being
C. make sense of C. review
D. make use of
D. conceive
D. So was
36. With the help of a computer, they have been able to ________ a new blueprint of the city in the near future.
37. ________ proficient in English, all MS office applications, as well as Internet use, she found it relatively easy to find a decent job.
C. That was
38. This weakness in your character, ________, could lead to complete failure in your career.
A. if not corrected A. take after A. rare
B. if not to be correct B. take on B. radical
C. if not being corrected C. take to
D. if which not correct
D. take up
circumstances.
D. rational
39. It is strange that Peter should ________ his uncle in every way.
40. Don?t be too hard on the boy. You can?t expect a boy of seven to have ________ responses under such
C. virtual
41. We are going to have a get-together before we ________ for the summer vacation.
A. break out
B. break up
C. break down
D. break through
42. In the wind, she was standing under a ________, waiting for someone to meet her.
A. bare tree of leaves A. As hard as she tried
B. bare of tree leaves B. As she tried too hard
C. tree bare of leaves C. So hard did she try
D. leaves bare of tree D. Hard as she tried
habits.
43. ________, she found her chances of becoming a pop star were slim.
44. Mary: Excuse me, can you spare me a few minutes? We?re conducting a survey about students? consumption Jack: ________
Mary: That?s O.K. Thank you all the same.
A. Yes, O.K., what are they? C. No, it?s my pleasure!
B. Will it take long? D. Sorry, I?m in a rush.
45. Tom: Susan, what has brought you here?
Susan: I?ve come to tell you that I?ve just received an acceptance letter from Stanford University. They?ve offered me a full scholarship. Tom: ________ Susan: Oh, thanks.
A. Oh, how did you get it? C. Terrific! Congratulations!
B. Many happy returns of the day! D. Really? That?s great!
Part III Cloze (10 marks)
Read the passage and fill in each blank with one word. Choose the word in one of the following three ways: according to the context, by using the correct form of the given word, or by using the given letters of the word.
When you have a question about something, where do you go? For many people the (46) ________ is simple. They go online to a search engine like Google or Yahoo. But what about people in rural or (47) under________ areas who are not able to get on the Internet?
A business and international development consultant in California, Rose Shuman, wanted to find an answer for them. Her (48) ________ (solve) is Question Box.
Question Box is a (49) ________ (serve) that provides answers—(50) ________ of charge─for people who cannot search the Internet directly. They might not be able to
read, or they may simply not have (51) ac________ to it. Question Box began two years ago in India. People use a metal (52) ________ box with a push-to-talk button to connect to a live operator. Rose Shuman explains: “You just push a button, a big green button, and that will connect you directly to our operators (53) ________ are sitting in front of computers, and speak your language. You can ask them any sort of question you want, and they?ll look it up in English or in Hindi, or whatever the main language is, and (54) tr________ the answer right back for you.” The latest version of the box uses mobile phone technology, and (55) ________ (sun) panels in case the electrical power fails. Part IV Reading Comprehension (40 marks)
Read the following passages carefully and respond to the questions given. Section A
Questions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.
Federalism is a political system in which the powers are divided between the central government and numerous regional governments. There is a written constitution which formulates this power-sharing arrangement between the state and its units. These units, referred to as provincial, state regional governments have the power to act independently in certain areas of governance. For example in the USA, the local governments have exclusive powers to issue licenses, provide for public health, conduct elections for local governments, and oversee intrastate trade.
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2012 Mock Test for National English Contest for College Students
Advantages of Federalism
All provinces and states have political, social and economic problems peculiar to the regions themselves. State government representatives live in close proximity to the
people who elect them and most of the time are from the same community, so that they are in a better position to understand the problems of the area and offer unique solutions for them. For example, traffic congestion in Oahu, Hawaii, is a problem that can be best solved by the local government, keeping local factors in mind, rather than by somebody living in New York.
State governments have the freedom to adopt policies which may not be followed nationally or by any other state. For example, same sex marriages are not recognised by Division of work between the central and the regional governments leads to optimum utilization of resources. The central government can concentrate more on international Disadvantages of Federalism
The sharing of powers between the central and state governments has both advantages and disadvantages. Sometimes, powers can overlap which results in confusion the federal government of the USA but they are given legal status by the states of Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and Massachusetts. affairs and defense of the country while the provincial government can cater to local needs.
regarding who is responsible for what. For example, when typhoon Katrina hit Greater New Orleans, USA, in 2005, there were delays in rescuing people because of confusion between the state government and the federal government about who is responsible for which disaster-management work. This resulted in the loss of many lives.
Federal systems of government are very expensive as more people than necessary are elected to office, both at the state and central levels. Thus, it is often said that only rich countries can afford federal systems. Too many elected representatives with overlapping roles may also lead to corruption. Federalism sometimes leads to unnecessary competition between different regions and rebellions by regional governments against the federal government too. Both scenarios pose a threat to a country?s integrity. Questions 56 to 60: Complete the following table with NO MORE THAN FIVE WORDS from the passage for each blank. Advantages The division of power is made clear in 56. ______________ Federalism It enables the central government to focus on 57. ________________ It enables the provincial government to focus on local 58. _______________
Section B
The Pew Internet and American Life Project, titled “Social Isolation and New Technology”, found that people who embraced modern technologies had larger and more diverse friendship networks. “When we examine people?s full personal network, their Internet use in general and use of social networking services such as Facebook in particular, we found that people who use more technology are associated with more diverse social networks,” the researchers said in a statement. “Our key findings challenge previous research and commonplace fears about the harmful social impact of new technology.”
The survey was triggered by a 2006 study by US sociologists which found that modern technology has been accompanied by a worrying trend since 1985. Americans are becoming more socially isolated, their social networks shrinking and the diversity of their contacts decreasing, the earlier study found. However, a recent telephone survey of 2,512 adults, conducted by Princeton Survey Research International in July and August this year, found that the extent of social isolation has hardly changed at all since 1985. It found that six per cent of the adult population has no one with whom to discuss important matters but this figure is largely unchanged since 1985.
The survey did, however, find that people?s “discussion networks” have shrunk by about a third in the past 25 years and become less diverse as they contain fewer non-family members. People who have mobile phones and take part in a variety of Internet activities, however, generally have larger and more diverse core discussion networks. On average, the size of people?s discussion networks is a sizeable 12 per cent larger among mobile phone users than non-users, nine per cent larger for those who share photos online, and nine per cent larger for those who use instant messaging.
The diversity of people?s core networks also tends to be wider for IT-friendly individuals, the survey shows. Social networks tend to be 25 per cent larger among mobile phone users than non-users, 15 per cent wider for basic Internet users, and even larger for frequent Internet users, instant messengers and those sharing photos online. Internet users were as likely as anyone else to visit their neighbours and take part in local community activities, the results showed. The researchers wrote: “Cell (mobile) phone users, those who use the Internet frequently at work and bloggers are more likely to belong to a local voluntary association, such as a youth group or a charitable organisation.” Question 61: Choose the best answer to the question according to the passage. 61. What has the recent study discovered about the Internet and mobile phones?
A. They are isolating people from each other. C. They are challenging the social structure.
B. They enhance their users? social networks. D. They are influencing the future of the IT industry.
Poor countries 60. _______________. Disadvantages It may lead to 59. ______________ of state governments and the federal government. Questions 62 to 65: Complete each statement with no more than five words according to the passage. 62. What has remained largely unchanged in the past 25 years is the ________________. 63. People who use mobile phones have the largest ________________.
64. People who have the smallest social networks are those who use ________________.
65. Internet and mobile phone users contribute more to their communities by being more likely to be involved in ________________. Section C
A computer with the power of a human brain is a long way off, but this week researchers from IBM Corporation are reporting that they?ve simulated a cat?s cerebral cortex, the thinking part of the brain, using a massive supercomputer. The computer has 147,456 processors (most modern PCs have just one or two processors) and 144 terabytes of main memory-100,000 times as much as your computer has.
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2012 Mock Test for National English Contest for College Students
The simulation, which runs 100 times slower than an actual cat?s brain, is more about watching how thoughts are formed in the brain and how the roughly one billion The researchers created a programme that told the supercomputer to behave in the way that a brain is believed to behave. The computer was shown images of corporate Dharmendra Modha, manager of cognitive computing for IBM Research and senior author of the paper, called it a “truly unprecedented scale of simulation”. Researchers at neurons and 10 trillion synapses in a cat?s brain work together.
logos, including IBM?s, and scientists watched as different parts of the simulated brain worked together to figure out what the image was.
Stanford University and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory were also part of the project. Modha says the research could lead to computers that rely less on “structured” data, such as 2 plus 2 equals 4, and can handle ambiguity better, like identifying the corporate logo even if the image is blurry. Such computers could also incorporate senses such as sight, touch and hearing into the decisions they make.
One reason that development would be significant to IBM is that the company is now selling “smarter planet” services that use digital sensors to monitor things like weather and traffic and feed that data into computers that are asked to do various things with the information, like predicting a tsunami or detecting a freeway accident. Other companies could use “cognitive computing” as well to make better sense of large volumes of information.
Jim Olds, a neuroscientist and director of the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University, called the new research a “tremendous step”. Olds, who Modha says a simulation of a human cortex could come within the next decade if Moore?s Law holds. That?s the rule of thumb that the number of transistors on a computer was not involved in IBM?s work, said neuroscientists have been amassing data about how the brain works much like “stamp collectors”, without a way of tying it together. chip tends to double every two years. Yet Olds cautioned that simulating the human brain is “such a complex problem that we may not be able to get to an answer, even with supercomputing”.
Question 66: Choose the best answer to the question according to the passage. 66. What is the best title for the passage?
A. The Victory of Human Brains C. Future IBM Computers
B. The Computer with a Human Brain
D. “Thinking Computer” Breakthrough
Questions 67 to 70: Answer the following questions briefly according to the passage. 67. How fast does an actual cat?s brain run compared with the simulation?
68. If a computer relies less on “structured” data, what is its advantage in decision-making? 69. What was Jim Olds? comment about the simulated brain?
70. What is Moore?s Law regarding the number of transistors on a computer chip? Section D
Lately, your office hallways have been unusually quiet, and you?ve noticed a few more empty desks in your department. You and your colleagues have taken on new projects within the past year, but the workload has been manageable and the assignments engaging—definitely nothing worth making a fuss about. Team dynamics are great, and your supervisors are supportive. So, why are your co-workers jumping ship?
Research shows they could be moving on to greener pastures. According to the 2008 Salary Guides from Robert Half International, average starting salaries are increasing for many positions in the finance and accounting, administrative, technology, legal, and creative marketing fields. Some job candidates with in-demand skill sets are even receiving multiple offers as companies compete to secure the best talent.
With this in mind, there?s a good chance you could be due for a raise. While you don?t have to quit your current position to fatten your paycheck—especially if it?s one you Here are some steps you can take to obtain the raise you deserve: Build your case.
Your desire to move into a new condo or goal of paying off a student loan is not a valid reason for a higher salary. Instead, you must demonstrate a compelling business enjoy—you do have to speak up.
reason for being paid more. Document all your responsibilities to date, focusing specifically on how your efforts have helped the company achieve its objectives. For example, perhaps you helped redesign a website that increased traffic and sales by 15 percent or took on additional responsibilities to save others time. Gathering concrete data, and being able to present this information in an organised manner, is critical to positioning yourself as a valuable asset to your employer.
Research the going rate.
It?s always a good idea to investigate what others in your area and with your qualifications are being paid before approaching your boss for a raise. Online services, such as
CBsalary.com and the US Department of Labor?s Occupational Outlook Handbook are excellent sources. Complimentary publications, like the Robert Half Salary Guides, also provide compensation figures for a variety of jobs in various industries. Estimating your worth on the open market will ensure you don?t under—or oversell your services.
Build your case over time.
Despite his or her best intentions, your boss may not be aware of the many projects you?re involved with. To prevent your achievements from being overlooked, consider
providing your manager with a weekly status report that summarises the assignments you?re working on and have recently completed. A record of consistent performance can bolster your case for a raise.
Time it right.
While the most logical time to discuss a raise is during your performance review, it could be advantageous to speak to your supervisor about the issue before your next
evaluation rolls around. For example, you might broach the subject with your boss after you?ve successfully completed a major project. Just be sure to schedule the meeting at a time when you know he or she won?t be overwhelmed with deadlines.
Prepare a “Plan B”.
If a pay raise is not in your employer?s budget, consider negotiating other benefits, such as more vacation time, a flexible schedule or a larger performance-based bonus. If Like any negotiation, securing a raise requires preparation and finesse. Taking the time and effort to craft a compelling case and make your value to the company clear will
these requests are denied, ask your boss how to best position yourself for a future raise and arrange a date for a follow-up meeting to discuss your progress toward this goal. help you increase your chances of getting paid what you?re worth. Questions 71 to 73, mark:
Y (for YES) if the statement agrees with the information given in the passage;
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2012 Mock Test for National English Contest for College Students
N (for NO) if the statement contradicts information given in the passage; NG (for NOT GIVEN) if the information is not given in the passage.
71. By saying “some co-workers are jumping ship”, the author means that the company?s financial situation is 72. In this article, the author wants to tell people how to fatten their paychecks without quitting their current job. 73. When gathering concrete data, you should include your charity and social work, to demonstrate your Questions 74 and 75: Answer the following questions briefly according to the passage. 74. What can help one estimate his worth on the open market? 75. Why is securing a raise like any other negotiation? Part V Translation (20 marks) Section A
Translate the underlined sentences of the following passage into Chinese.
A new type of swirling skyscraper is set to change city skylines forever. (76) An Italian architect has revealed his ambitious plans to create “dynamic towers”, in which each floor fully rotates up to once an hour.
The first two innovative buildings will be built in Dubai and Moscow by the end of 2010, although the 80-floor Dubai tower is still awaiting planning permission. The brainchild behind the operation is David Fisher, owner of the Rotating Tower Technology Company. (77) He said he was inspired to create the perpetual motion skyscrapers after soaking in the view from a friend?s apartment in Manhattan. said.
“These buildings will follow the rhythms of nature. (78) They will change direction and shape from spring to summer, from sunrise to sunset, and adjust themselves to the weather. These buildings will be alive.”
(79) Owners who buy an entire floor will be able to activate rotation commands by voice to choose their view, Mr Fisher said at the design launch in New York.
David Fisher unveiled his designs for two dynamic towers to be constructed in Dubai and Moscow by 2010.
The towers are expected to generate enough electricity for themselves and other nearby buildings from solar panels and up to 79 wind turbines fitted horizontally between “The Dynamic Tower is environmentally friendly and the first building designed to be self-powered, with the ability to generate its own electricity,” Mr Fisher said. (80) Along with swimming pools and gardens, the buildings will also be fitted with car elevators so that residents can park right outside their homes. However, the builders The dynamic tower is the first building in which every floor will rotate. “Today?s life is dynamic, so the spaces we are living in should be dynamic as well,” Mr Fisher
responsibilities to date.
getting worse.
each floor.
will have to overcome extreme technical difficulties such as how to connect the plumbing. The ￡355 million Dubai tower will be constructed by Mr Fisher?s British company and rely on pre-sales for at least part of the costs. Section B
Translate the following sentences into English, using the words or structures in the brackets. 81. 她生来耳聋眼瞎，但她的确找到了把自己从黑暗中解脱出来的办法。(do, free) ______________________________________________________________________ 82. 直到我们病了才意识健康的重要性。(倒装句)
______________________________________________________________________ 83. 不管任务多么艰巨, 必须按时完成。(no matter how)
______________________________________________________________________ 84. 大部分学生不喜欢爱找茬儿的老师。(定语从句, fault)
______________________________________________________________________ 85. 如果我们集思广益，有可能取得胜利。(虚拟语气, come out)
______________________________________________________________________ Part VI IQ Test (5 marks)
There are five IQ Test questions in this part.
86. Find the starting point and spiral clockwise to spell out an eight-letter word. You have to provide the missing letters.
tuya” means “liquid bomb bought”, “dila bena noka” means
87. The number that should come next in the series 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 is ________.
88. Three messages in a strange language were received. Scientists studied the messages and found that “hila bena “nuclear bomb made” and “hila dala sola” means
“air ticket bought”. What does “hila” mean?
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