郑州大学2011年博士英语真题

郑州大学2011年博士英语真题

Part I: Listening Comprehension (40%)

Part II: Vocabulary (10%)

Directions: There are 10 sentences in this part. Beneath each sentence there are 4 words or phrases marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one word or phrase that correctly completes the sentence, Mark your answer on the ANSWER SHEET.

31. The room was full of people and smoke. She started to feel ____ with the heat inside.

32. The problem should be discussed first, for it takes ____ over all the other issues.

33. The country’s production dropped while prices and unemployed ____.

34. Having weighed up all the factors the department finally agreed to receive all the ____ to the committee.

35. It is generally thought that as teachers work with students, psychology course work is ____ to teacher-training.

36. David  ____ his company’s success to the unity of all the staff and their persevering hard Work.

37. It was obvious that she and her husband were ____ and she wished she’d never married him.

38. Japan’s productivity has overtaken America’s in some manufacturing industries, but elsewhere the United States had ____ its lead.

39. It is said that the custom of shaking hands originated when primitive men held out empty hands to indicate that they had no ____ weapons and were thus amicably disposed.

40. Some teenagers harbor a generalized resentment against society, which ____ them the rights and privileges of adults, although physically they are mature.

Part III: Reading Comprehension (30%)

Directions: Read the following passages and answer the questions which accompany them by choosing A, B, C, and D, Mark your answer on the ANSWER SHEET.

Passage 1

Sapphira and the Slave Girl was the last novel of Will Cather’s distinguished literary career, Begun in the summer of 1937 and finally completed in 1941, it is often regarded by critics as one of her most personal works. Although the story takes place in 1865, well before her own birth, she drew heavily on both vivid childhood memories and tales handed down by older relatives to describe life in rural northern Virginia in the middle of the 19^th century. She even went on an extended journey to the area to give the story a further ring of authenticity.

Of all of Cather’s many novels, Sapphira and the Slave Girl is the one most concerned with providing an overall picture of day-to-day life in a specific era. A number of the novel’s characters, it would seem, are included in the story only because they are representative of the types of people to be found in 19^th-century rural Virginia; indeed, a few of them play no part whatsoever in the unfolding of the plot. For instance, we are introduced to a poor white woman, Mandy Ringer, who is portrayed as intelligent and content, despite the fact that she has no formal education and must toll constantly in the fields, And we meet Dr. Clevenger, a country doctor who, with his refined manners, evokes a strong image of the pre-Civil War South.

The title, however, accurately suggests that the novel is mainly about slavery. Cather’s attitude toward this institution may best be summed up as somewhat ambiguous. On the one hand, she displays almost total indifference to the legal and political aspects of slavery when she misidentifies certain crucial dates in its growth and development. Nor does she ever really offer a direct condemnation of slavery. Yes, on the other hand, the evil that was slavery gets through to us, although in typically subtle ways. Those characters, like Mrs. Blake, who oppose the institution are portrayed in a sympathetic light. Furthermore, the suffering of the slaves themselves and the petty, nasty, often cruel, behavior of the dive owners are painted in harsh terms.

Although Sapphira and the Slave Girl was certainly not meant to be a political tract, the novel is sometimes considered to be a denunciation of bygone days. Nothing could be further from the truth. In spite of her willingness to acknowledge that particular aspects of the past were far from ideal. Willa Cather was, if anything, a bit of a romantic. Especially in the final years of her life, an increasing note of anger about the emptiness of the present crept into her writings. Earlier generations, she concluded, had been the real heroes. The real creators of all that was good in America.

41. In the discussion of Willa Cather’s Sapphira and the Slave Girl, the author refers to the book primarily as a ________.

42. In the Paragraph 2. Mandy Ringer and Dr. Clevenger are mentioned in order to emphasize which point about Sapphira and the Slave Girl?

A. A number of the characters in the novel are based on people Cather knew in her childhood.

B. The novel displays Cather’s mixed feelings about slavery.

C. Cather took four years to complete the novel because she carefully researched her characters.

D. One of Cather’s purposes in writhing the novel was to paint a full portrait of life in rural Virginia in the years before the Civil War.

43. According to the author, why is Willa Cather’s attitude toward slavery “somewhat ambiguous” (Para. 3)?

A. She was ignorant of the legal and political aspects of slavery even though she was a keen observer of history.

B. She did not denounce slavery directly but criticized it in more roundabout ways.

C. She sympathized equally with both slaves and stave owners.

D. She was an enemy of slavery but refrained from getting involve is political issues.

44. In context, “a bit of a romantic” (Para. 4) suggests that Willa Cather ________.

A. condemned the evils of slavery

B. favored the past over the present

C. disliked writing about life in the 1930s

D. denounced certain aspects of 19^th-century life

Passage 2

There are a number of formats for reporting research, such as article to appear in journals, reports addressed to funding agencies, theses or dissertations as part of the requirements for university degrees, and papers to be presented at conferences. These formats differ form one another mostly in their purposes and the audiences which they address. We will now briefly describe them.

The journal article is a way of reporting research for professional journals or edited collections. The research is reported in a brief, yet informative way, focusing mostly on the main features of the research such as the purpose, review of the literature (often referred to as “background”), procedures used for carrying out the research accompanied by tables, charts, and graphs, and interpretations of the results (often referred to as “discussion”).

The content and emphasis of the journal article will vary according to the intended readers (researchers or practitioners) and it is important for the researcher to be aware of the background and interest of the readers of the journal. Articles intended to be read by practitioners will emphasize the practical implications and recommendations of the research, while articles intended to be read by researchers will describe in details the method used to collect the data. It is important for the novice researcher to be aware of the fact that articles submitted to journals go through a process of evaluation by experts who make a judgment and recommend whether they should be published or not.

The thesis or dissertation is a format for reporting research which graduate students write as part of fulfilling the requirements for an advanced academic degree. The student is expected to describe in great detail all the phases of the research so it can be examined and evaluated carefully by the reader. Thus the thesis or dissertation includes the purpose and significance of the study, the rationale, a thorough review of the literature, detailed information as to the research tools and the procedures involved in their development, a description of the process of data analysis and the results, and an interpretation of the results in the form of conclusions, implications and recommendations, This detailed description of the process of the research is needed to provide the professors with an indication of the student’s ability to carry out research.

The conference paper is a way of reporting research at conferences and seminars. At such meetings research papers are usually presented orally. They are similar to the research article since research is reported in a concise, yet informative way, focusing on the most essential elements of the research. Handouts and slides can also accompany the presentations. As with the research article, here too, the content and emphasis of the oral report will depend to a large extent on the type of audience present at the meeting, whether they are researchers or practitioners.

45. The best title for this passage could be ________.

46. We can distinguish those research reports from each other mainly through ________.

47. Which of the following statements is not mentioned in this passage?

A. Both journal articles and conference papers are written in a brief and informative way.

B. All the theses or dissertations and conference papers are reported in spoken languages.

C. Both the journal articles and conference papers are influenced greatly by the intended receivers.

D. The various formats of research reports may be presented in different ways.

48. How can a professor evaluate a student’s capability of implementing the research?

A. By concentrating on the main factors like the purpose, background, procedures and discussion.

B. By emphasizing the practical implications and recommendations of the research.

C. By focusing on the detailed description of the process of research such as the tools, procedures, the process of data analysis, the results and conclusions, etc.

D. By noticing the detailed method used to collect the data, the construction of the data collection procedures, the techniques for analyzing the date and results, etc.

Passage 3

Imagine you found out that ideas invented by a computer were rated higher by independent experts than ideas created by a group of humans asked to perform the same task, Would you praise the designer of the “creative computer” for a great achievement or would you question why human talent — usually so potent in coping with complex cognitive challenges — created such poor ideas? Or maybe you would question your view of the notion of creativity. In fact, such a scenario was played out when we used a simple computerized routine to generate ideas and compared them with ideas invented by human subjects. Why did human judges perceive the computer’s outcomes as superior to human ideas when they performed the same task?

Creativity is considered the ultimate human activity, a highly complex process, difficult to formalize and to control. Although there is a general agreement regarding the distinctive nature of the creative product (idea, painting, poem, and so on), there is a controversy over the nature of the creative process. Some researchers hold that the creative thinking process is qualitatively different from “ordinary” day-to-day thinking, and involves a leap that cannot be formulated, analyzed, or reconstructed — the creative spark. Others adopt a reductionist view that creative products are the outcome of ordinary thinking, only quantitatively different from everyday thinking.

Because creative ideas are different from those that normally arise, people often believe that such ideas require conditions dramatically different from the usual. The notion goes that, in order to overcome mental barriers and reach creative ideas, total freedom is necessary — no directional guidance, constraints, criticism, or thinking within bounded scope, Then ideas can be drawn and contemplated from an infinite space during the creativity process. This view prompted the emergence of various idea-generating methods; brainstorming, synectics, lateral thinking，random stimulation, and so on, all of which consist of withholding judgment and relying on analogies form other members in the group or on randomly selected analogies. This family of methods relies on the assumption that enhancing randomness, breaking rules and paradigms, and generating anarchy of thought increase the probability of creative idea emergence.

Do these methods work? A number of researchers indicate that they do not. Ideas suggested by individuals working alone are superior to ideas suggested in brainstorming sessions and the performance of problem solvers instructed to “break the rules, get out of the square, and change paradigms” was not better than that of individuals who were not given any instructions at all.

The failure of these methods to improve creative outcomes has been explained by the unstructured nature of the task. Reitman observed that many problems that lack a structuring framework are ill, defined in that the representations of one or more of the basic component — the initial state, the operators and constraints, and the goal — are seriously incomplete, and the search space is exceedingly large. Indeed, many ill-defined problems seem difficult, not because we are swamped by the enormous number of alternative possibilities, but because we have trouble thinking even of one idea worth pursuing.

49. Ideas invented by a computer are ________.

50. The author thinks that creative thinking is ________.

51. According to this passage, ________ the probability of creative idea emergence.

52. It is believed that ________ tends to improve creative outcomes.

Passage 4

Fundamentally, income disparity describes two disparate groups; rich and poor. It is hardly news that the rich are getting richer. The underlying story is a familiar one; the wealthiest households own the most assets, namely stocks, and asset prices have risen at a ferocious pace in recent years. Be young the standard explanation, it is also the case that the emergence of technology, rising productivity, and an expanding global market have brought forth a new upper class among corporations. These newly wealthy firms pay skilled employees well and in an ever-tighter labor market, they are forced to constantly sweeten their employees’ compensation.

Then there are the poor, where conditions are a little obscure. Falling unemployment, anecdotal evidence of rising starting wages for low level service jobs, and the relative anticlimax of welfare reform so far suggest that conditions at the low end are improving. Yet at the same time, whole communities put under a great deal of pressure by crime and hopelessness cannot be ignored.

That said, income inequality as a blanket indictment on our economic system does not fly. Income disparity is the gas that runs our economic engine. The ability to someday earn more, to live at a higher standard, is what gets people out of bed in the morning, particularly in our consumer-oriented economy. Income disparity only becomes a problem if it widens to the extent that the labor force believes that greater wealth can only be achieved by the already wealthy.

Indeed, it is unreasonable to state that income disparity is eroding the labor force’s will to improve productivity and move ahead. Increasing labor force’s participation, record homeownership, surging consumer confidence and spending, near record levels of immigration and urban renewal are all anecdotal evidence that hopes are high. All types of people are flourishing in the New Economy and there is sufficient evidence to suggest that most still want to seize the opportunity to be successful.

So why are there still very poor households in this country? There are many reasons. Ours economy is shifting towards the production of higher value goods and services. Unskilled labor is not valued to the degree that it once was, and unskilled workers are paid accordingly There has also been a recent surge of immigration into the U. S. Many migrants to this country. Particularly those who are unskilled or language challenged, require time to be absorbed into our economy. If skills are lacking, it may take a generation or two to move ahead.

It is also important to remember that it is not the ultimate goal of every person to be fabulously rich One of the fundamentals of economics is that one decides how hard to word where to work, and what ricks to take. Monetary wealth is not the sole means of maximizing utility. Each person has a finite life span and finite abilities; it is up to the individual to apply those as they see fit. The wealthy getting wealthier is not always evidence to others that they themselves are falling behind.

53. In the author’s country, ________ may benefit from the development of its economy.

54. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

55. The author believes that income disparity will ________.

56. The main idea presented in the last paragraph is that ________.

A. what a person pursues in the world is not monetary wealth

B. every person is not willing to become as wealthy as possible

C. each individual knows exactly what his ultimate goal is

D. it is understandable for the wealthy to get wealthier

Passage 5

When the first of the two Viking Landers touched down on Martian soil on July 20, 1976, and began to send camera images back to Earth, the scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory could not suppress a certain nervous anticipation, like people who hold a ticket to a lottery they have a one-in-a-million chance of winning. The first photographs that arrived, however, did not contain any evidence of life. What revealed itself to them was merely a barren landscape littered with rocks. The view resembled nothing so much as a flat section of desert — in fact, the winning entry in a contest at J. P. L. For the photograph most accurately predicting what Mars would look like was a snapshot taken in a particularly and section of the Mojave Desert.

The scientists were soon ready to turn their attention from visible life to microorganisms. The twin Viking Landers carried three experiments designed to detect current biological activity and one to detent organic compounds, because researchers thought it possible that life had developed on early Mars just as it is thought to have developed on Earth. Through the gradual chemical evolution of complex organic molecules. To detect biological activity, Martian soil samples were treated with various nutrients that would produce characteristic by- products if life forms were active in the soil. The results from all three experiments were inconclusive. The fourth experiment heated a soil sample to look for signs of organic material but found none, an unexpected result because at least organic compounds from the steady bombardment of the Marian surface by meteorites were thought to have been present.

The absence of organic materials, some scientists speculated, was the result of intense ultraviolet radiation penetrating the atmosphere of Mars and destroying organic compounds in the soil. Although Mars’ atmosphere was at one time rich in carbon dioxide and thus thick enough to protect its surface from the harmful rays of the Sun, the carbon dioxide had gradually left the atmosphere and been converted into nocks. This means that even if life had gotten a start on early Mars, it could not have survived the exposure to ultraviolet radiation when the atmosphere thinned. Mars never developed a protective layer of ozone as Earth did.

Despite the disappointing Viking results, there are those who still keep open the possibility of life on Mars. They point out that the Viking data cannot be considered the final word on Martian life because the two Landers only sampled two limited and uninteresting sites. The Viking landing sites were not chosen for what they might tell of the planet’s biology. They were chosen primarily because they appeared to be safe for landing a spacecraft. The landing sites were on pars of the Martian plains that appeared relatively featureless form orbital photographs.

The type of Martian terrain that these researchers suggest may be a possible hiding place for active life has an Earthly parallel; the ice-free region of southern Victoria Land, Antarctica, where the temperatures in some dry valleys average below zero. Organisms known as endoliths, a form of blue-green algae that has adapted to this harsh environment, were found living inside certain porous rocks in these Antarctic valleys. The argument based on this discovery is that if life did exist on early Mars, it is possible that it escaped worsening conditions by similarly seeking refuge in rocks. Skeptics object, however, that Mars in its present state is simply too dry, even compared with Antarctic valleys, to sustain any life whatsoever.

Should Mars eventually prove to be completely barren of life, as some suspect, then this would have a significant impact on the current view of the chemical origin of life. It could be much more difficult to get life started on a planet than scientists thought before the Viking landings.

57. The major purpose of the passage is to ________.

A. relate an account of an extraordinary scientific achievement

B. undermine the prevailing belief that life may exist on Mars

C. discuss the efforts of scientists to determine whether Martian life exists

D. show the limitations of the scientific investigation of other planets

58. The author uses the evidence from the four Viking experiments (Para. 2) to establish that ________.

A. meteorites do not strike the surface of Mars as often as scientists had thought

B. current theory as to how life developed on Earth is probably flawed

C. there was no experimental confirmation of the theory that life exists on Mars

D. biological activity has been shown to be absent from the surface of Mars.

59. The author suggests that an important difference between Mars and Earth is that, unlike Earth, Mars ________.

A. accumulated organic compounds from the steady bombardment of meteorites

B. possessed at one time an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide

C. is in the path of the harmful rays of ultraviolet radiation

D. could not have sustained any life that developed

60. In paragraph 5, the researchers’ argument that life may exist in Martian rocks rests on the idea that ________.

A. organisms may adopt identical survival strategies in comparable environments

B. life developed in the form of blue-green algae on Mars

C. life evolved in the same way on two different planets

D. endoliths are capable of living in the harsh environment of Mars

Part IV: Close (10%)

Direction: Decide which of the choices given below would best complete the passage if inserted in the corresponding blanks, Mark the best choice for each blank on the ANSWER SHEET.

Inflation is an economic condition in [61] ____ prices for consumer goods [62] ____ and the [63] ____ of money or purchasing power decrease. There are three important causes of inflation. The first and most important cause may be excessive government spending. For example, in order to [64] ____ a war or carry [65] ____ social programs, the government may spend more money than it has received through taxes and other revenue, thus creating a deficit, In order to [66] ____ this deficit, the Treasury Department can simply [67] ____ the money supply by issuing more paper money to [68] ____ the debts of government, This increase in the money supply will cause the value of the dollar to [69] ____ decrease. The second cause of inflation occurs when the money supply increases faster than that the supply of goods. [70] ____ people have more money, they will run out to buy popular goods [71] ____ televisions and computers, for example and a shortage will result. Industry will then produce more, at higher prices, to [72] ____ demand [73] ____, if people think that the prices of popular goods are going up, they will buy and even borrow money at high [74] ____ rates to pay for them, Finally, if labor unions demand that workers’ wages [75] ____ to [76] ____ the high cost of living, industry will meet his demand and add other cost of production on to the [77] ____. [78] ____ summary, all of these causes can [79] ____ inflationary problems that can affect the welfare of a nation. However, of these three causes, [80] ____ government spending may be the most important.

Part V: Translation (30%)

Section A: English to Chinese (15%)

Directions: Translate the following part into Chinese. Write your translation on the ANSWER SHEET.

Almost all our major problems involve human behavior, and they cannot be solved by physical and biological technology alone. What is needed is a technology of behavior, but we have been slow so develop the science from which such a technology might be drawn. One difficulty is that almost all of what is called behavioral science continues to trace behavior to states of mind, feelings, human nature, and so on. Physics and biology once followed similar practices and advanced only when they discarded them. The behavioral sciences have been slow to change partly because the explanatory items often seem to be directly observed and partly because other kinds of explanations have been hard to find.

Section B: Chinese to English (15%)

Directions: Translate the following part into English. Write your translation on the ANSWER SHEET.

经过改革开放30多年来的努力，中国经济实力不断增强，国内生产总值大幅提升。同时，中国人口多、底子薄，面临城乡区域发展不平衡、科技创新能力不强等问题。中国要实现现代化建设的目标还需要长期艰苦奋斗。中国面临的问题只有通过发展才能解决。我们将坚持把发展作为第一要务，努力推动经济社会又好又快发展。

Part VI: Writing (30%)

Section A (10%)

Directions: write a letter to your university library, making suggestions for improving its service. you should write with no less than 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.

Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter; use “Li Ming” instead. Do not write the address

Section B (20%)

Directions: write on the ANSWER SHEET a composition of about 200 words on the following topic

Qualities of Top Research Workers

You are to write in three parts:

In the first part of your article, you should clearly present your view.

In the second part, you should support your opinion with appropriate details.

In the last part, you should bring what you have written to a natural conclusion or summary.