2011湖北自考学士学位英语真题及答案（二）

2011湖北自考学士学位英语真题及答案（二）

Part II Reading Comprehension { 40 points）

Directions: in this part There are 4 passages followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one you think is the best answer.Then mark the corresponding letter in the Answer Sheet One with a single line through the center.

Passage 1

Questions 21to 25 are based on the following passage:

How men first learned to invent words is unknown; in other words, the origin of language is a mystery.All we really know is that men, unlike animals, somehow invented certain sounds to express thoughts and feelings, actions and things, so that they could communicate with each other;and that later they agreed upon certain signs, called letters, which could be combined to represent those sounds, and which could be written down.Those sounds ,whether spoken, or written in letters we call words.

The power of words, then, lies in their combinations--the things they bring up before our minds.

Words become filled with meaning for us by experience;and the longer we live, the more certain words recall to us the glad and sad events of our past; and the more we read and learn, the more the number of words that mean something to us increases.

Great writers are those who not only have great thoughts, but also express these thoughts in words which appeal powerfully to our minds and feelings.This charming and telling use of words is what we call literary（文字的） style.Above all, the real poet is a master of words.He can convey his meaning in words which sing like music, and which by their position and association can move men to tears. We should therefore learn to choose our words carefully and use them accurately, or they Wilt make our speech silly and rude.

21.The origin of language （）。

A.is reflected in sounds and letters

B.is handed down from generation to generation

C.dates back to the prehistoric period

D.is a problem not yet solved

22.According to the passage, words are （）o

A.visual letters

B.represented by sounds

C.represented either by sounds or letters

D.signs called letters

23.The power of words lies in their （）。

A. beauty

B. accuracy

C. combinations

D. charm

24.The secret of a writer's success is the use of words that （）o

A.recall to us the glad and sad events of our past

B.are arranged in a creative way

C.are as beautiful as music D.agree with certain literary style

25.The author of the passage advises us （）。

A.to use words carefully and accurately

B.not to use silly and rude words

C.to become a slave of words

D.to use emotional words

Passage 2

Questions 26 to 30 are based on the following passage:

There was one thought that air pollution 'affected only the area immediately around large cities with factories and heavy automobile traffic. At present, we realize that although these are the areas with the worst air pollution, the problem is literally worldwide.On several occasions over the past decade, a heavy cloud of air pollution has covered the east of the United States and brought health warnings in rural areas away from any major concentration of manufacturing and automobile traffic.In fact, the very climate of the entire earth may be infected by air pollution. Some scientists consider that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the air resulting from the burning of fossil fuels （ coal and oil） is creating a "greenhouse effect"--conserving heat reflected from the earth and raising the world's average temperature.If this view is correct and the world's temperature is raised only a few degrees, much of the polar ice cap will melt and cities such as New York, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans will be in water.

Another view, less widely held, is that increasing particular matter in the atmosphere is blocking sunlight and lowering the earth's temperature--a result that would be equally disastrous.A drop of just a few degrees could create something close to a new ice age, and would make agriculture difficult or impossible in many of our top fanning areas.Today we do not know for sure that either of these conditions will happen （though one recent government report drafted by experts in the field concluded that the greenhouse effect is very possible）。Perhaps, if we are lucky enough, the two tendencies will offset each other and the world's temperature will stay about the same as it is now.

26.As pointed out at the beginning of the passage, people used to think that air pollution （）。

A.caused widespread damage in the countryside

B.affected the entire eastern half of theUnited States

C.had damaging effect on health D.existed merely in urban and industries areas

27.As to the greenhouse effect, the author （）。

A.shares the same view with the scientists

B.is uncertain of its occurrence

C.rejects it as being ungrounded

D.thinks that it will destroy the world soon

28.The word"offset"in the second paragraph could be replaced by （）。

A.slip into

B.make up for

C.set up

D.catch up with

29.It can be concluded that （）。

A.raising the world's temperature only a few degrees would not do much harm to life on earth

B.lowering the world's temperature merely a few degrees would lead many major farming areas to disaster

C.almost no temperature variations have occurred over the past decade

D.the world's temperature will remain constant in the years to come

30.This passage is primarily about （）。

A.the greenhouse effect

B.the burning of fossil fuels

C.the potential effect of air pollution

D.the likelihood of a new ice age

Passage 3

Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage:

Increasingly, over the past ten years, people--especially young people--have become aware of the need to change their eating habits, because much of the food they eat, particularly processed food, is not good for the health.Consequently, there has been a growing interest in natural foods.Foods which do not contain chemical additives（ 添加剂 ） and which have not been afected by chemical fertilizers, widely used in farming today.

Natural foods, for example, are vegetables, fruit and grain which have been grown in soil that is rich in organic（有机的） matter.In simple terms, this means that the soil has been nourished by unused vegetable matter, which provides it with essential vitamins and minerals.This in itself is a natural process compared with the use of chemicals and fertilizers, the main purpose of which is to increase the amount--but not the quality--of foods grown in commercial farming areas.

Natural foods also include animals which have been allowed to feed and move freely in healthy pastures（牧场） .Compare this with what happens in the mass production of poultry: there are farms, for example, where thousands of chickens live crowded together in one building and are fed on food which is little better than rubbish.Chickens kept in this way are not only tasteless as food, they also lay eggs which lack important vitamins.

There are other aspects of healthy eating which are now receiving increasing attention from experts on diet.Take, for example, the question of sugar.This is actually a non-essential food! Although a natural alternative, such as honey, can be used to sweeten food if it is necessary, we can in fact do without it.It is not that sugar is harmful in itself. But it does seem to be addictive: the quantity we use has grown steadily over the last two centuries and in Britain today each person consumes an average of 200 pounds a year! Yet all it does is to provide us with energy, in the form of calories.There are no vitamins in it, no minerals and no fiber.

It is significant that nowadays fiber is considered to be an important part of a healthy diet.In white bread, for example, the fiber has been removed. But it is present in unrefined flour and of course in vegetables.It is interesting to note that in countries where the national diet contains large quantities of unrefined flour and vegetables, certain diseases are comparatively rare. Hence the emphasis is placed on the eating of whole meal bread and more vegetables by modern experts on "healthy eating".

31.People have become more interested in natural foods because （）。

A.they are more health conscious

B.they want to taste all kinds of foods

C.natural foods are more delicious than processed foods

D.they want to return to nature

32.Soil that is rich in organic matters （）。

A.has had chemicals and fertilizers added to it

B.contains vegetable matter that has not been consumed

C.has been nourished by fertilizers

D.already contains large quantities of vitamins and minerals

33.Chickens raised in poultry farms are all of the following EXCEPT that （）。

A.they are fed on food which is little better than garbage

B.they live in very crowded condition C.the eggs they lay lack vitamins

D.they are allowed to move about and eat freely

34.According to the passage, （）。

A.people need sugar to give them energy

B.sugar is bad for the health

C.the use of sugar is habit forming

D.sugar only sweetens food, but provides us with nothing useful

35.The best title for this passage is （）。

A.People's Growing Interest in Natural Foods

B.Natural Foods and Healthy Diet

C.I-Iarmful Effects of Sugar

D.The Importance of Fiber in Foods

Passage 4

Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage:

No one knows how man learned to make words.Perhaps he began by making sounds like those made by animals.Perhaps he grunted like a pig when he lifted something heavy.Perhaps he made sounds like those he heard all round him--water splashing, bees humming, a stone falling to the ground.Somehow he learned to make words. As the centuries went by, he made more and more new words. This is what we mean by language.

People living in different countries made different kinds of words. Today there are about fifteen hundred different languages in theworld. Each contains many thousands of words. A very large English dictionary, for example, contains four or five hundred thousand words. But we do not need all these. Only a few thousand words are used in everyday life.

The words you know are called your vocabulary. You should try to make your vocabulary bigger. Read as many books as you can.There are plenty of books written in easy English for you to read.You will enjoy them.When you meet a new word, find it in your dictionary.Your dictionary is your most useful book.

36.From this passage, we know that （）。

A.man never made sounds

B.man made animal sounds

C.man used to be like animals to make sounds

D.man learned from the animals to make sounds

37.The number of different languages spoken is about （）。

A. 150

B. 1,500

C.5,000

D.4, 000

38.People from different countries （）。

A.made same words

B.made different kinds of words

C.had a same language

D.used some sounds

39.Man （）to make sounds.

A.used words

B.followed xnany things in nature

C.lifted heavy things

D.grunted like a pig

40.You can enlarge your vocabulary by （）。

A.reading more books

B.finding new words in dictionaries

C.writing more

D.using the words in everyday life

Part II

Passage l

21.【解析】D。细节题。根据第一段中的“…the origin of language is a mystery.”可知语言的起源是个谜，还没有得到解决。

22.【解析】C。细节题。第一段谈到：“人类起初用某种声音进行交流，后来又有了字母，字母结合起来可以代表声音，也可以写下来。因此，这些说出来的声音也好，用字母写出来的声音也好，被称为单词。”所以C是正确答案：单词既可以代表声音。也可以代表字母。

23.【解析】C。细节题。根据第二段的第一句话“the power of words，then lies in their

combinations”可知语言的魅力在于他们的组合。

24.【解析】A。细节题。根据第三段的第一句话“Great writers are those who not only have great thoughts but also express these thoughts in words which appeal powerfully to our minds and feelings.”可知作家的伟大在于他们擅长使用丰富的词汇，能使我们回想起过去的喜怒哀乐。B、C、D文章中均没有提到。

25.【解析】A。细节题。根据文章的最后一句“We should therefore learn to choose our words carefully and use them accurately，or they will make our speech silly and rude.”可知作者建议我们用词要谨慎、准确。

Passage 2

26.【解析】D。事实细节题。根据文中第一句，以前人们都认为空气污染只会影响那些有众多工厂和严重交通堵塞现象的大城市及其周边地区，所以选D。根据下文，A、B、C都是后来人们意识到的。

27.【解析】B。推理判断题。根据文章第一段最后两句，作者引用了一些科学家的观点，空气中二氧化碳的增多会导致温室效应。然后作者提出一种假设，如果这是真的的话，那么南极的冰雪就会融化，将纽约等城市淹没。然而对这种观点的正确性从文章很难看出。另外文中第二段第三句提到“今天我们还不能确定这两种情况能否发生…”。所以作者的态度应是“uncertain”。

28.【解析】B。推理判断题。即使不认识“offset”这个词，我们也可通过上下文猜出来。文章提到的两种可能性一是全球变暖，一是全球降温，只有这两种可能性相互抵消，即冷暖相互弥补，才能出现最后一句的“气温和现在一样正常”。所以选B（make up for“弥补”）。slip into“滑进”；set up“建立，创造”：catch up with“追上，赶上”。

29.【解析】B。推理判断题。文章第二段第二句提到降温几度就能导致农业生产困难甚至无法生产，这对农业来说无疑是巨大的灾难，所以B正确；根据第一段，温室效应可能导致南极的冰雪融化，将纽约等城市淹没，所以A（全球变暖不会给地球生活带来危害）是不正确的；根据常识，近几十年气温在逐渐升高，所以C也不对；作者在文中提到空气污染严重影响全球气温的变化，所以只要污染存在，气温就不可能恒定不变，D说得太绝对了。

30.【解析】C。归纳概括题。文章第一段提到地球的气温可能受到空气污染的影响，接下来谈到两种因空气污染可能造成的后果，所以应选C“空气污染可能带来的影响”。其他三个选项都只是文章主题的一个方面。

Passage 3

31.【解析】A。事实细节题。根据文章的第一段，当今的人们越来越注重健康饮食，因此，人们逐渐对天然食品产生了兴趣。所以应选A，“因为天然食物更健康”。

32.【解析】B。事实细节题。根据文章第二段的第二句，富含有机物的土壤得到没用过的蔬菜物质的滋养，从中获取维他命和矿物质。所以应选B（含有没用过的蔬菜物质）。富含有机物的土壤都不用施加化肥，因此其他选项都是错的：

33.【解析】D。事实细节题。根据文章第三段最后一句话，饲养厂里的鸡吃的饲料和垃圾差不多，挤在一起，这样养出来的鸡不仅鸡肉不好吃，鸡蛋也没营养。所以文章没提到的选项是D。

34.【解析】C。事实细节题。可用排除法。文章在第四段提到糖是可有可无的，所以它并不是人们赖以提供能量的食物，所以A不对；根据本段第五句，糖本身并没有害处。所以B也不对；根据本段倒数第二句，糖可以提供一定的能量。所以不能说糖不能提供任何有用的东西，这样D也排除了。只有C（使用糖是习惯使然，见第五句）是正确的。

35.【解析】B。归纳概括题。为文章选题目应根据文章内容来定。文章第一段讲人们越来越注重健康饮食，其表现就是逐渐对天然食物感兴趣；接下来的两段详细介绍天然食物；最后两段谈健康饮食的另外两个方面一一一个是糖的问题。另一个是植物纤维的问题。总之，作者始终在围绕着健康饮食和天然食物这两个话题。所以本篇文章最好的题目就是B（健康饮食和天然食物）。其他三个选项都只谈到文中涉及的一个方面。因此都不能起到概括全文的作用。

Passage 4

36.【解析】C。事实细节题；，第一段第二句话说他可能发出像其他动物一样发出的声音，所以选C。

37.【解析】B。事实细节题。第二段第二句提到今天世界上大约有1500种不同的语言，所以选B。

38.【解析】B。事实细节题。第二段第一句说生活在不同国家的人说不同的话，所以选B。

39.【解析】B。判断推理题。第一段第二句说他可能发出他在周围听到的声音，也就是说他模仿自然界的许多事物来发声。

40.【解析】A。事实细节题。最后一段第三句话说你应该尽可能的阅读多的书籍，这样可以使你的词汇量增加，所以选A。