全国2008年7月高等教育自学考试英语阅读（一）试题

全国2008年7月高等教育自学考试英语阅读（一）试题

I. Careful Reading. (40 points, 2 points for each)

Directions: Read the following passages carefully. Decide on the best answers and write the corresponding letters on your Answer Sheet.

Passage One

Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage.

Although no one is certain why migration occurs, there are several theories. One theory is based upon the premise that prehistoric birds of the Northern Hemisphere were forced south during the Ice Age, when glaciers covered large parts of Europe, Asia, and North America. As the glaciers melted, the birds came back to their homelands, spent the summer, and then went south again as the ice advanced in winter. In time, the migration became a habit, and now, although the glaciers have disappeared, the habit continues.

Another theory proposes that the ancestral home of all modern birds was the tropics. When the region became overpopulated, many species were crowded north. During the summer, there was plenty of food, but during the winter, scarcity forced them to return to the tropics.

A more recent theory, known as photoperiodism, suggests a relationship between increasing daylight and the stimulation, of certain glands in the birds’ bodies that may prepare them for migration. One scientist has been able to cause midwinter migrations by exposing birds to artificial periods of daylight. He has concluded that changes occur in the bodies of birds due to seasonal changes in the length of daylight.

1. According to one theory, when the glaciers disappeared, birds_______. A. stopped migrating C. began migrating again

B. continued migrating

D. migrated south and stayed there

2. The author states that birds left the tropics because_______. A. there was not enough food there in the winter B. there were too many birds C. there were too many glaciers D. there was too much daylight

3. Why did one scientist expose birds to artificial daylight?

A. Because he wanted to test the relationship between daylight and changes in the season. B. Because he wanted to test the relationship between migration and temperature. C. Because he wanted to test the relationship between daylight and migration.

D. Because he wanted to test the relationship between daylight and a disease of the glands common to birds. 4. According to the theory of photoperiodism, _______. A. birds should migrate in the middle of the winter B. increasing daylight increases the distance of migration C. seasonal changes in the length of days do not affect migration D. longer days cause changes in the bodies of birds 5. This passage supports the belief that _______. A. exact reasons for migration are not known B. birds migrate because of changes in temperature C. the ancestral home of all birds was the tropics

D. glaciers caused birds to migrate

Passage Two

Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage.

When Christopher Columbus landed in the New World, the North American continent was an area of astonishing ethnic and cultural diversity. North of the Rio Grande, which now marks the border between the United States and Mexico, has a population of over 12 million people representing approximately 400 distinct cultures, 500 languages, and a remarkable variety of political and religious institutions and physical and ethnic types, Compared to the Europeans, the Indian peoples were extraordinarily heterogeneous, and they often viewed the Europeans as just another tribe.

These varied tribal cultures were as diversified as the land the Indians inhabited. In the high plains of the Dakotas, the Mandan developed a peaceful communal society centered around agriculture. Only a few hundred miles away, however, in northwestern Montana, the Blackfeet turned from agriculture and began to use horses, which had been introduced by the Spaniards. As skilled riders, they became hunters and fighters and developed a fierce and aggressive culture centered around the buffalo. In the eastern woodlands surrounding the Great Lakes, the Potawatomis were expert fishermen, canoe builders, and hunters. In the Northeast, the six Iroquois nations were among the most politically sophisticated people in the world, forming the famed Iroquois Confederation, which included the Senecas and the Mohawks. This confederation, with its system of checks and balances, provided a model for the United States Constitution.

6. About how many different cultures existed among the fifteenth-century North American Indians? A. 400. C. 600.

B. 500. D. 1200.

7. The Mandan tribes could best be classified as ________. A. hunters C. farmers

B. canoe builders D. fishermen

8. Before the introduction of horses, the Blackfeet tribes were________. A. peaceful farmers C. fierce warriors

B. aggressive hunters D. skillful sailors

9. It can be inferred from the passage that the life-styles of the various American Indian tribes were influenced most by________.

A. contact with other tribes C. contact with Europeans

B. environmental resources D. governmental organization

10. According to the passage, how was the organization of the Iroquois Confederation a forerunner of the United States

Constitution?

A. It was a union of smaller units. B. It had a representative government

C. Its form of government had a sophisticated way of selecting judges. D. Its power was regulated by a system of checks and balances.

Passage Three

Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage.

Unfortunately, most of the science fiction films of the 1970s were not much influenced by 2001:A Space Odyssey. Skillfully directed by Stanley Kubrick, 2001, which appeared in 1968, set new standards for science fiction films. During the

next decade, every one of the dozens of science fiction movies released was compared to 2001, and all but a few were found sadly lacking.

Admittedly, Kubrick had one of the largest budgets ever for a film of this kind, but, in my opinion, much of the movie’s power and appeal was achieved through relatively inexpensive means. For example, the musical score, which was adapted in large part from well-known classical compositions, was reinforced by the use of almost kaleidoscopic visual effects, especially during the space travel sequences. Spectacular camera work was edited to correspond precisely to the ebb and flow of the music.

After 2001, the dominant theme of science fiction films shifted from the adventures of space travel to the problems created on earth by man’s mismanagement of the natural environment and the abuse of technology by a totalitarian state. Overpopulation and the accompanying shortages of food prompt the state to impose extraordinary controls on its citizens. No fewer than twenty-nine films were made around this theme in the years between 1970 and 1977, including Survivors and Chronicles.

In the opinion of this reviewer, until Star Wars was released in 1977, science fiction films were reduced to shallow symbolism disguising to a greater or lesser degree a series of repetitive plots. But Star Wars was different. It offered us a return to imaginative voyages in space and confrontation with intelligent life on other planets. Unlike the other science fiction films of the decade, Star Wars presented technology as having solved rather than aggravated ecological problems. The special effects created to simulate space vehicles hurtling through the blackness of the universe were reminiscent of the artistic standards set by 2001.

11. In the author’s opinion, most of the science fiction films released in the 1970s were _______. A. better than 2001:A Space Odyssey B. not as good as 2001: A Space Odyssey C. almost the same as Star Wars D. better than Star Wars

12. The theme of the majority of science fiction films made between 1970 and 1977 was _______. A. space travel

C. ecological problems on earth

13. The author believes that the best science fiction movie made in the 1970s was _______. A. 2001: A Space Odyssey C. Chronicles

B. Survivors D. Star Wars

B. life on other planets

D. wars between the earth and other planets

14. In the author’s opinion, why was 2001 successful? A. Because its budget was large.

B. Because its camera work and musical score were blended artistically. C. Because its plot was repetitive. D. Because its symbolism was very good.

15. What does the author most object to in the science fiction movies of the 1970s? A. He objects to their camera work. B. He does not like their music.

C. He believes that their stories are too much alike. D. He criticizes their special effects.

Passage Four

Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage.

As the South was beginning to find itself after the American Civil War, the North, too, focused its interest on the lands below the Mason-Dixon Line. Northerners swarmed over the South: journalists, agents of prospective investors, speculators with plans for railroads, writers anxious to expose themselves to a new environment.

One of these was Constance Fenimore Woolson, a young woman from New Hampshire, a grandniece of James Fenimore Cooper, who, like many Northerners, was drawn to the unhappy South by affection, compassion, admiration, or the charm of the life there. With her singular gift of minute observation and a talent for analysis, her imagination lingered over the relics of the ancient South, the quaintly emblazoned tablets and colonial tombs, the wrecked old mansions that stood near by, perhaps in ruined rice lands, amid desolated fields and broken dikes. Such was the dwelling on the Georgia sea island that sidled and leaned in Jupiter Lights with one of its roofless wings falling into the cellar. After St. Augustine, Charleston especially attracted Miss Woolson, crumbling as it was but aristocratic still.

In a later novel, Horace Chase, one of the best of all her books, she anticipated Thomas Wolfe in describing Asheville, in which the young capitalist from the North who falls in love with the Southern girl sees the “Lone Star” of future mountain resorts.

Miss Woolson was a highly conscious writer, careful, skillful, subtle, with a sensitive, clairvoyant feeling for human nature, with the gift of discriminating observation that characterized Howells and Henry James, two famous realistic writers. She was surely best in her stories of the South, fascinated as she was by its splendor and carelessness, its tropical plants, flowers , odors and birds, and the pathos and beauty of the old order as she saw it in decay. 16. Which of the following is the best title for the passage? A. The Rebuilding of the South. B. Literature after the Civil War. C. Thomas Wolfe’s Influence on Woolson. D. Constance Fenimore Woolson and Her works.

17. _______are NOT mentioned in the passage as the kind of people who went to the South after the Civil War. A. Railroad builders C. Northern politicians

B. Newspaper writers D. Investment agents

18. According to the passage, Constance Fenimore Woolson was originally from_______. A. St. Augustine C. Charleston

B. Georgia D. New Hampshire

19. The word “drawn” in the first sentence of the second paragraph is closest in meaning to _______ A. attracted C. traced

B. sketched D. hauled

20. The author mentions Howells and James to _______. A. explain why Woolson chose writing as a career B. suggest that Woolson was the object of discrimination C. compare Woolson to some of her fellow writers D. question modern opinion of Woolson’s abilities