南京农业大学
2004 年攻读硕士学位研究生入学考试试题
试题编号： 327 试题名称：基础英语
注意：答题一律答在答题纸上，答在草稿纸或试卷上一律无效
Part I Reading Comprehension (60 points) Passage OneDirections:
1. Write an outline of the main points covered in the following reading material. (10 points)
2. What institutional constraints have been mentioned in this text? As a language learner, what do you think of the role of the individual learner, especially in terms of learner autonomy and learner possibility? (10 points)
Over the last quarter of the twentieth century, the (English) language teaching profession has undergone many changes. One interesting example of this is the role of materials, and in particular, in the nature of course book provision. The market for ‘main courses’ has grown enormously, and the top five course book series, in Britain alone, generate very large sales indeed. Responding to these greater rewards for producing successful courses, the series themselves have changed dramatically. Book now contain far more material, with ‘multi’ syllabuses (Swan and Walter 1984-87) as well as extensive accompanying material. In addition, the professionalism of the publishing process means that those series which are published have survived a rigorous monitoring and piloting schedule which is likely to have caused significant rejection of unsatisfactory material and revision of almost everything which remains.
All this, of course, represents a significant advance. It is difficult not to conclude that the materials which are now available are not simply more extensive but are also of better quality than their predecessors. In some ways these developments have rendered out-of-date an interesting exchange on the value of language teaching materials. Allwright (1981) argued that commercial materials are a juggernaut which are stifling for the individual and the mediating contributions that can be made by the teacher. In contrast, O’Neill (1982) argued that it is better to use professional materials than those produced under difficult circumstances by amateurs. The debate was nicely balanced, with each party making unanswered points, and the conclusion being a difficult one to draw. So it is all the more striking that since then the O’Neill position has seemed to prevail by default. Since the time of the debate we have seen an astonishing growth in accepted importance of a relatively small number of well produced course book series, with the result that the position that Allwright argued so cogently has been marginalized.
This, of course, leads us to consider the price that we have had to pay for such progress. Clearly, a central factor underlying publisher behavior is to maximize profits and the simplest equation for doing so is to sell more units. The key to achieving this is to develop a product that targets the widest purchaser group possible. Most directly of all, it is in the publisher’s interests to treat all learners as the same, in order that a course book series will not lose appeal to any particular group of buyers. As a consequence the scope to adapt material to learner differences is severely constrained.
But it would be wrong to think that publishers alone have created conditions which lead to such a situation. Syllabus designers, too, have taken a similar approach. The units and sequences of syllabus design are regarded as being equally appropriate for all learners, and no account is taken of styles or preferences or abilities which might make some approaches to organizing courses more appropriate for some learners than others. One could make very similar points about different approaches to classroom procedures. In general, different methodological approaches dispute principles with one another, but do not explore the more interesting question of how adapting a particular methodology for different learner types, or using different methodologies with different sorts of learner, might produce better results. In fact, methodology seems most comfortable when it is devising techniques by which large classes of learners may be organized efficiently. How else can we explain the success of thin rationales for the use of class activities such as pattern practice, drilling, and general lockstep teaching?
Other groups, too, participate in the conspiracy of uniformity. It is extremely convenient for administrators and educational authorities, for example, to assume that all learners are similar. A further factor in discouraging diversity of provision is accountability. Pursuit of such a goal is made much easier if one can assume that all learners are the same. One can also argue that the teacher training profession acts to consolidate many of these implicit power relations, by generally concentrating on how entire classes can be organized; by teaching teachers how to implement official syllabuses and course books, and by testing in an approved manner. There is little emphasis, in most teacher training courses, on the development of techniques which serve to adapt material to the individual learner, or on ways of fostering individuality in learning. The teacher is usually equipped to be a pawn within a larger structure, rather than a mediator between materials, syllabuses, and the learners themselves.
As a result of this conspiracy of sameness on the part of many of the powerful agents in the field of second language instruction, we have the paradoxical position that those with most power lack interest in learner differences, whereas those with least power, teachers, have to confront mixed-ability classes on a daily basis. It is striking that those who have no choice but to deal with the reality of classes with palpable individual differences are not provided with tools which would enable them to deal with such diversity. Whatever the reason for these shortcomings, the teacher is placed in a strange position: having to improvise with the minimum of guidance.
Passage TwoDirections: Read the following passage and write a 200-300 word comment on the text from the perspective of “dramatic irony”. (15 points)
Pride and Prejudice is a complex study of human deception and self-deception. Throughout the book, characters are deceived by appearances, fool themselves and others, pretend to be what they are not. Their expectations are mistaken; their actions grounded in false premises. The author reveals the motives and consequences of these failures in perception by having their false understanding culminate in actions whose effects are the opposite of what is intended. This sharp contrast between knowledge and truth, between what the characters understand and what the reader understands, between intention or expectation and fulfillment is called dramatic irony.
Dramatic irony may have an objective or a subjective foundation, or both. Appearances may lie, may suggest the opposite of what actually is. Thus, Wickham ’ s “appearance was greatly in his favor” (XV) and Darcy ’ s proud bearing seems to imply a thoroughly bad character. But appearances are misleading: “One has got all the goodness, and the other all the appearance of it” (XL). Jane ’ s modesty belies her ardent love for Bingley (VI, XXXVI). Georgiana’s shy demeanor conceals a surprising capacity for passionate impulse (XLIII). Charlotte ’ s attentions to Collins seem to be only common courtesy (XVIII, XX, XXI) for which Elizabeth is grateful, but she is actually stalking a husband (XXII). Because of what she has said of him in the past, Elizabeth is thought to despise Darcy (LVII, LXIX), when actually she is in love with him. In each of these situations things are not as they would seem. Reality wears a mask that solicits mistaken judgments.
But although there are objective occasions for superficial (and erroneous) opinion, a more cautious scrutiny of the facts would sometimes avoid this discrepancy between estimation and actuality. For example, Mr. Bennet is ignorant of Elizabeth ’ s true feelings about Darcy. What he takes for the truth (that he will amuse Elizabeth with the absurdity of Collins ’ s suggestion that she is engaged to a man she dislikes) is directly contrary to the truth (LVII). The source of her father ’ s ironic error, however, lies in the circumstances rather than in himself. On the other hand, Elizabeth is wrong about Wickham and Darcy because she has disposed herself to be deceived. Her offended prude (V) has blinded her judgment (VI). Things are the opposite of what she supposes (not only does she misread their characters, but Darcy admires rather than dislikes her ). The irony here is compounded because Elizabeth prides herself on her intelligence and perception. When ignorance thus pretends to knowledge, it is evidence of a moral failure. When Mr. Collins understands Elizabeth ’ s refusal of his proposal as an encouragement of his pursuit--a covert acceptance (XIX)—his blindness to the plain reality is a comment on his egotism, his snobbish exaggeration of his social importance. In these last two cases, the irony is more emphatic because deception is self-deception.
In order to dramatize comically the sham and pretense of many of the persons in her book, the author juxtaposes their interpretations of themselves and their actual behavior. Lady Catherine ’ s pride in her social status is repeatedly shown by her petty mind and “ill breeding” to be without foundation. Caroline Bingley implies that she is socially superior to the Bennet family, but her crude pursuit of Darcy exposes the flimsiness of her pretension to refinement. Mr. Collins continually announces his importance, and simultaneously betrays his moral, social, and intellectual unimportance. The pretensions of these characters are the inverse of what their behavior shows them really to be. Because characters take appearances for reality, deceive themselves or are deceived, they act on wrong premises, look forward in error. Things turn out contrary to their anticipations. Their actions produce effects opposite to those intended. Thus, Darcy seeks to prevent a connection with the Bennet family (he has misjudged the power of the girl ’ s attractions), and he ends up marrying a Bennet himself. Lady Catherine acts to prevent a marriage and she becomes the cause of it (LX). Mr. Bennet permits his daughter to go to Brighton in order to keep peace in a family that he regards with ironical detachment. But this results in his greater involvement and in a disruption of the family peace. Caroline acts to arouse Darcy against Elizabeth, but succeeds only in reminding him of the intimacy they share (XLV). Misled by appearances to believe that Darcy dislikes her, prevented by her prejudice against him from seeing the truth, Elizabeth tries verbally to rebuke him; but in doing so she actually makes herself more attractive to him (VI,IX,X,XI,XVIII,XXXI,LX.) .By allowing events directly to contradict the judgments, expectations, and intentions of her characters, the author clarifies their limitations. The reader (aware of theatrical situation) is made to see reality mock and punish pride, vanity, and failures in awareness. Dramatic irony thus becomes a way of dealing out a kind of natural retribution and revealing the surprise and complexity of experience.
Passage Three
Directions: Read the following passage and answer these questions as briefly as possible1. What is the author’s attitude towards translation of scientific literature? (5points)
2. What is the best way to overcome language barriers in the author’s opinion? (5points)
3.What is the implication of using a common language? (5 points)
4.. Write a concise summary based on the text “The Language of science”. (10points)
The Language of Science
The progress of science depends upon many factors, and not least among these is the existence of satisfactory arrangements for the rapid exchange of the news and experimental results between research workers having similar interests. In a branch of learning that prides itself particularly upon its powers of systematization it is surprising that in this respect so much has been left to chance and so little has been done to formulate and follow an agreed policy appropriate to modern needs. There is, of course, no lack of scientific literature, both books and journals: the ‘World list of Scientific Periodicals’ now lists some 50,000 titles. Indeed, almost every scientist now finds it impossible to read all the work relevant to his own subject, far less to read extensively outside it. Yet wide reading is becoming increasingly important, for it is very frequently in the fields where several branches of science overlap that the most exciting results are obtained.
While this problem of the sheer quality of literature is a serious one, it is at least one to which some effective answers have been found and applied. Most important, of course, are the various abstracting services, the value of whose work needs no emphasis here. Moreover, the large number of scientific periodicals is not wholly a badly thing: the less important ones serve to some extent as a filter, though by no means a completely efficient one, that reserves work of proved importance for journals of wider circulation and higher standing.
The no less important question of the language in which scientific work should be presented remains, however, largely unsolved. It is, like so many others in the modern world, one on which it is generally agreed that an international policy is urgently necessary but on which it is in fact difficult to get any agreement at all. Clearly, the problem is one which no amount of good will and harmonious agreement can quickly solve; this is an additional reason for deciding upon the ultimate goal and trying to agree upon a policy by which it may be achieved. In the meantime the barrier of language keeps many scientists in prolonged ignorance of work of immediate importance to them being done in many countries. With the rapid expansion of scientific research in countries whose contribution has hitherto been relatively small the problem is rapidly becoming more serious.
The general facts of the situation are easily ascertained and occasion no controversy. It is established, for example, that much of the world’s scientific literature is published in a language unintelligible to more than half the world’s scientists. The distributions of journals according to language show a wide variety. Roughly speaking, some 44 per cent of scientific journals are published in English, 14 per cent in German, 13 per cent in French, 8 per cent in Russian, 5 per cent in Spanish, 4 per cent in Italian, and the remainder in the other languages of the world. Such figures cannot be exact, and they vary from one branch of science and technology to another, but they certainly indicate the general situation. Moreover, these proportions can be expected to change fairly rapidly. Unless some major of policy occurs, the proportion of papers appearing in the Russian language is bound to rise rapidly. There is every reason to expect that the scientific literature of China will grow rapidly, and it is likely that, if only for political reasons, much of this will be published in Chinese, with Russian the second choice. It is possible that Hindi and other language at present unfamiliar to the western world may in time become important scientific languages. In the absence of positive action the situation is bound to become steadily more complicated and difficult to resolve.
Supposing—and in present circumstance it is a supposition requirement a good deal of optimism—that international agreement could be obtained to mitigate these difficulties, what is the proper policy to pursue? Three principal courses are clearly open to us, presuming that the present one of laissez-faire is rejected. Firstly, we might aim at the ideal of a single language for the communication of all scientific work. Secondly, a limited number of languages, selected from those already most widely used for scientific purposes, might be selected. Thirdly, more extensive use could be made of professionally prepared translations.
In considering these general propels it is necessary to consider both short-term and long-term policy. To satisfy immediate needs, taking the situation as it is and not as one might wish it to be, the extension of translations between languages is the only possible policy. This has, of course, been recognized by Endeavour since its inception in 1942: at the present time we look upon our foreign-language editions as indispensable to our object of providing an internationally useful review of the progress of science. The recent great expansion of professional interlingual scientific translation is evident that this view is generally accepted. Much of this expansion has, of course, been occasioned by the relatively sudden efflorescence of science in Russian, which has introduced a novel factor into the situation. Here we have a sudden and unprecedented flow of important scientific work in a language with which the scientific world in general is not merely unfamiliar but totally ignorant. In the circumstances no choice is open to the West: for the moment the work must be followed through translations or not at all. It should be remarked that this situation apparently does not exist in reverse.At least fifty per cent of Russian scientists and technologists are reputed to be able to read English, French or German, and many are said to know more than one of these languages.
Indispensable though it is, there are obvious reasons against indefinite extensions of the translation system. It is wasteful of time, money, and scientific manpower; it causes delay; and it can lead to misunderstanding. So far as the last point is concerned, it is perhaps not generally realized how difficult it is to make really accurate translations of highly technical material. In fields developing rapidly, essential words may not even have been coined in certain languages, and only knowledgeable circumlocution can render the sense accurately. While an increase in translation service seems inevitable over the next few years, it is a process not without danger. It will lead to the evolution of an extensive and expensive organization whose very existence will be prejudicial to the adoption of alternative policies that may in the long run be more satisfactory.
A universal language for all scientific communication is obviously desirable on many grounds, but both its choice and its achievements are likely to be beset by great difficulties. The choice of any single language for the communication of results in so important a field would naturally be beset by all kinds of political and nationalistic obstacles. Many of these might be overcome if one adopted a non-living language such as Latin or an artificial language such as Esperanto or Interlingua. Artificial language s are open to the fundamental objection that their very nature and purpose make them unsuitable for conveying subtle shades of meaning: they are satisfactory enough for describing facts but inadequate for conveying ideas, especially unfamiliar ones. Latin is free from this defect, for in its long evolution it acquired considerable flexibility . Its evolution virtually stopped, however before modern science began. Its present vocabulary and syntax are therefore inappropriate for modern needs, as is well known to every university orator who has been called upon to describe in Latin the work of scientists. It is a great pity that Latin was allowed to lapse as the international language of scholars, but it is doubtful whether it is now feasible to revive it.
The choice of a single language would have the great and obvious advantage that nobody would be required to learn more than one language other than his own. The argument in its favor is further strengthened by the consideration that for the innovation to be effective it would be necessary for all scientists to be able not merely to read this language—a facility that could be acquired without great difficulty—but to write in it, which is very much more difficult. To learn to write well in even one language is for the ordinary person a considerable and time-consuming achievement.
A compromise, by which two or three modern languages only are accepted for universal use in science, seems more likely to achieve success, but even if a decision were taken today it could have effect only after many years. For this to be effective, it would be necessary to institute educational reforms in many countries, for real proficiencies in a foreign language is not easily acquired without formed study. These, even if achieved, could not bear fruit for a long time. The certainty of difficulty is, however, no argument for making no attempt to reach a generally acceptable policy. At least the teaching of languages is a feature of most national curricula, and it ought not ultimately to be impossible, when so much is at stake, to agree upon the substitution of one for another when necessary.
The barrier of the language is harmful in science, but it is, of course an equally serious obstacle in all fields of learning, in politics, in industry and commerce and in every kind of dealing between nations. It might well be that if scientists were to give a lead, others would follow. While it is manifestly not true that a common language ensures harmony between nations, it certainly promotes clearer understanding, and at the present time there is nothing more urgently necessary than this.
Part II Vocabulary (30 points)Directions: There are thirty sentences in this section. Beneath each sentence there are four words or phrases marked a, b, c and d. Choose one word or phrase that correctly completes the sentence. Be sure mark your answer on your Answer Sheet.
1. He could explain an abstruse theory in very simple terms.
A. a puzzling B. a hard to remember
C. a difficult to understand D. an important
2. Dr. James said medical malpractice was a paradox in the United States, which he said had the best medical care in the world as well as the highest liability claim rate.
A. a maxim B. a self-contradiction
C. an infrequent occurrence D. a controversial issue
3. Almost every chemical plant we received information about is releasing staggering high rates of hazardous chemicals, even in routine releases.
A toxic B. insecure
C. polluted D. radiating
4. After three postwar decades during which they became cozily accustomed to raising wages and proliferating fringe benefits, the labor unions are being asked to tighten their belts to hold down inflation.
A causing little uneasiness to people who receive them
B. causing harm to one’s health
C. easy to acquire
D. spreading rapidly and excessively
5. The poem was a parody of nineteenth-century romantic verse.
A. a development B. a reinforcement
C. a reflection D. an imitation
6. The fireman had made an egregious blunder: they had to fill their gas tanks. Thus, the new hotel burned to the ground!
A. intolerable B. moderate
C. superfluous D. commensurate
7. Ever since, employers had complained they were bogged down under a welter of rules.
A. pressed B. forbidden
C. controlled D. buried
8. One of the salient characteristics of Ernest Hemingway’s novel is compact expression.
A. attractive B. common
C. prominent D. salty
9. Freedom from superstition is the result of the conviction that the world is not governed by caprice, but that it is a world of order and can be understood by man.
A. God B. ghost
C. disorder D. superpower
10. Crops are probably not affected significantly by the acid rain and, if they are, the effects can be mitigated.
A. shown clearly B. studied carefully
C. explained D. diminished
11. Since he was a votary of astrology, he believed implicitly in truth revealed by the stars.
A. veteran B. believer
C. devotee D. participant
12. Such orthodox thinking will not lead to a new solution to the problem.
A. strange B. unusual
C ordinary D. simple
13. Which of the following pairs are homonyms?
A. good bad B. Paul Peter
C. lie die D. two too
14. He was a man of _________size and great physical strength.
A prodigious B protracted
C predominant D. prolonged
15. Winsor McCay, the cartoonist, could draw with incredible _______: his comic strip about Little Nemo was characterized by marvelous draftsmanship and sequencing.
A. authenticity B. inadequacy
C. virtuosity D. briskness
16. China and U.S. made ______trade agreement.
A. unilateral B. unanimous
C. sophisticated D. reciprocal
17. This young animal, in an encounter with a porcupine lost an eye and got some fifty quills _____in the leg.
A. embedded B. anchored
C. inserted D. plunged
18. Since 1813 reaction to Jane Austen’s novels has oscillated between ____and condescension; but in general later writers have esteemed her works more highly than did most of her literary______.
A. dismissal … admirers B. adoration … contemporaries
C. disapproval … readers D. approbation …challengers
19. There are, as yet, no vegetation types or ecosystems whose study has been ____to the extent that they no longer _____ecologists.
A. perfected … hinder B. exhausted … interest
C. diverted … arouse D. vetoed … irritate
20. The old miser, completely abandoned by his relatives and friends, lived a miserable, _____life.
A. frivolous B. extraneous
C. ameliorate D. sordid
21. Some cinema-goers in Leipzig even confessed that the film had made them feel emotional and slightly _____for their recent past.
A. nostalgic B. instinctive
C. intuitive D. mirthful
22. To ____ this state of affairs, the report recommended a unified scheme, on a regional basis, within which both common and specialized units would cater for the various needs of part-time teachers.
A. fortify B. denominate
C. assimilate D. rectify
23. He failed to carry out some of the provisions of the contract, and now he has to ____the consequences.
A. run into B. abide by
C. answer for D. step into
24. In parts of the Arctic, the land grades into the land fast ice so ____that you can walk off the coast and not know you are over the hidden sea.
A. permanently B. imperceptibly
C. irregularly D. precariously
25. The Chinese, who began systematic astronomical and weather observations shortly after the ancient Egyptians, were assiduous record-keepers, and because of this, can claim humanity’s longer continuous _____of natural events.
A. defiance B. documentation
C. maintenance D. domination
26. Nature’s energy efficiency often _____human technology: despite the intensity of light fireflies produce, the account of heat is negligible; only recently have humans developed chemical light—producing systems whose efficiency _____the firefly’s system.
A. engenders … manipulate B. reflects … simulates
C. outstrips … manipulate D. inhabits … matches
27. Unfortunately, his damaging attacks on the ramifications of the economic policy have been ____by his wholehearted acceptance of that policy’s underlying assumptions.
A. supplemented B. diverted
C. undermined D. redeemed
28.One way of getting a clear perspective on those crimes and criminals causing us most harm, injury, and deprivation is to ______ unreported, unrecorded, and non-prosecuted crimes.
A. excavate B. shatter
C. stipulate D. relegate
29. The _____dog was picked up by the dog-catcher because he had no collar.
A. weird B. rebel
C. alien D. stray
30. By helpful kindness the teacher ______the new boy’s shyness.
A. broke off B. broke out
C. broke down D. broke up
Part III Proofreading and Error Correction (10 points)See the Answer sheet.
Directions: The following passage contains TEN errors. Each line contains a maximum of one error. In each case, only one word is involved. You should proofread the passage and correct it in the following way:
For a wrong word underline the wrong word and write the correct one in the blank provided at the end of the line.
For a missing word mark the position of the missing word with a “ Λ ” sign and write the word you believe to be missing in the blank provided at the end of the line.
For a unnecessary word cross out the unnecessary word with a slash “ / ” and put the word in the blank provided at the end of the line.
Example:
When Λ art museum wants a new exhibit, 1. an
It never buys things in finished form and hangs 2. Never
Them on the wall. When a natural history museum
Wants an exhibition, it must often build it. 3. Exhibit
Rabies is an ordinarily infectious disease of the central nervous sys-
tem, caused by a virus and , as a rule, spread chiefly by homely dogs 1.________
and wild flesh-eating animals.The man and all warm-blooded animals 2.________
are susceptible to rabies. The people of ancient Egypt, and Rome as- 3. _______
cribed rabies to evil spirits because commonly gentle and friendly ani-
mals suddenly became vicious and violent without evident reason and, 4_______
after a period of maniacal behavior , paralysed and died. 5._______
In 1881pastcur discovered that the infective agent of rabies could
be recovered from the brain of an animal that had died of rabies. He ex-
perimented on rabbits and grew a new variety of rabies which could 6._______
safely be used for vaccination. Series of injections of this new virus 7._______
made dogs resistant to the common natural virus .The first time in 1885 8._______
the substance was used in a desperate effort to save a badly bitten boy. 9.________
The theory was that if dogs could be protected in a two-week period,
the longer incubation period of human beings would allow the develop-
ment of a high degree of protection before the potential onset of the dis-
ease. The treat proved successful and the boy remained well. 10._______
Part IV Writing (50 points)Directions: In the course of urban development, we often find ourselves confronted with the old building problem. Some people think we should pull down the old houses and buildings in the way; however, others argue that it is a very rash decision to tear them down without full consideration. What’s your opinion? You are required to write an essay on the following topic in about 300-400word s. You are to write in three paragraphs.
In the first paragraph, state your point of view.
In the second paragraph, give one or two reasons to support your point of view.
In the last paragraph, bring what you have written to a natural conclusion.
The Demolition of the Old Houses
