中国科学院大学英语B考试样题Sampletest

中国科学院大学英语B考试样题

声明：北京理工大学出版社出版的《中国科学院博士学位英语考试应试指南》依

据的是旧的大纲，实际考试形式以本样题为准。

This exam paper includes two parts:

PAPER ONE (100 minutes, 75 points) and PAPER TWO

(50 minutes, 25 points).

(第100分钟时收Answer sheet I)

A Sample Test

PAPER ONE

Part I Listening Comprehension

Section A (10 points)

Directions: In this part, you will hear 10 short conversations. At the end of each

conversation, a question will be asked about what is said. Each

conversation and the question will be spoken only once. When you hear the

question, read the four choices of the answer given and choose the best one

by marking the corresponding letter A, B, C, or D on your Answer Sheet I.

1. A. Go back home.

B. Mail a letter.

C. Do the shopping.

D. Ask the way.

2. A. Dennis always alters his idea about an outing.

B. Dennis has no choice but to come with them.

C. It’s surprising that Dennis would come with them.

D. Dennis has at last agreed to go out.

3. A. Go out for fun with the girl.

B. Travel with the girl to Holland.

C. Try not to spend so much money.

D. Let the girl pay her own bill.

4. A. The man should reschedule the trip.

B. She has no idea when the semester ends.

C. She’ll call the travel agency to confirm the date.

D. The man should spend his holidays somewhere else.

5. A. He forgot to mail the letter.

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B. He left the letter in his office.

C. The letter slipped off his desk.

D. He should have put the letter in his bag.

6. A. He was exhausted.

B. He was drunk.

C. He was worried.

D. He was late for work.

7. A. In a mall.

B. In a pharmacy.

C. In the cleaner’s.

D. In a department store.

8. A. The woman argued for her innocence at court.

B. The woman complained that she was forced to pay the fine.

C. The woman has got away with many violations of traffic law.

D. The woman pleaded ignorance this time of her violation of the traffic law.

9. A. Jack has to meet a tight deadline.

B. Jack has completed his assignment

C. Jack got himself burnt last night.

D. Professor David is a pleasant figure.

10．A. He does not like Beth.

B. He thinks the world is too crowded.

C. He is too excited to do anything about the party.

D. He will not help arrange for the party.

Section B (10 points)

Directions: In this part, you will hear three mini-talks and each of them will be spoken

only once. While listening to them, read the questions that follow each talk.

You will be asked to write down your answer on your Answer Sheet II,

using one sentence only, either complete or incomplete. Your answer should

be concise and to the point.

Questions 11 to 13 are based on Mini-talk One:

Mini-talk One

11: How much grain do rats destroy each year in India?

12: Where do rats live?

13: How do rats spread diseases indirectly?

Questions 14 to 16 are based on Mini-talk Two:

Mini-talk Two

14: What education does the vast majority of US Postal Service jobs require?

15: When can one know the special requirements for some postal jobs?

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16: In addition to the variety of paid leave, what other benefits are provided for a postal

employee? (List at least two.)

Questions 17 to 20 are based on Mini-talk Three:

Mini-talk Three

17: Why is popular art said to be primarily entertainment?

18: What is the distinction in art between a professional and an amateur?

19: How does high art differ from popular art financially?

20: What are people interested in high art often required to do?

Part II Use of English and Reading Comprehension

Section A (15 points)

Directions: There are 15 blanks in the following passage. Read the passage carefully

and fill in each of the blanks by choosing the right word or phrase from the

list given below. Write your answer on the Answer Sheet II. Capitalize the

word when it is necessary. The words and phrases listed are twice as many

as the blanks. Once a word or phrase is chosen, it must be used only once.

adversely, accompanying, as, balanced, challenged, continue, continuous,

destroyed, discern, estimated, ever, exceeded, feasible, following, fortunately, in

case, instantaneously, like, once, overcome, precede, regrettably, separated,

simultaneously, than, that, therefore, transforming, when, while

Many of the most damaging and life-threatening types of weather—torrential rains,

severe thunderstorm, and tornadoes—began quickly, strike suddenly, and dissipate

rapidly, devastating small regions 21 leaving neighboring areas untouched. One such

event, a tornado, struck the northeastern section of Edmonton, Alberta, in July 1987.

Total damages from the tornado 22 $ 250 million, the highest 23 for any

Canadian storm. Conventional computer models of the atmosphere have limited value in

predicting short-lived local storms 24 the Edmonton tornado, because the available

weather data are generally not detailed enough to allow computers to discern the subtle

atmospheric changes that 25 these storms. In most nations, for example,

weather-balloon observations are taken just 26 every twelve hours at locations

typically 27 by hundreds of miles. With such limited data, conventional forecasting

models do a much better job predicting general weather conditions over large regions

28 they do forecasting specific local events.

Until recently, the observation—intensive approach needed for accurate, very

short-range forecasts, or “Nowcast”, was not 29 . The cost of equipping and

operating many thousands of conventional weather stations was prohibitively high, and

the difficulties involved in rapidly collecting and processing the raw weather data from

such a network were insurmountable. 30 , scientific and technological advances have

31 most of these problems. Radar systems, automated weather instruments, and

satellites are all capable of making detailed, nearly 32 observations over large

regions at a relatively low cost. Communications satellites can transmit data around the

world cheaply and 33 , and modern computers can quickly compile and analyze this

large volume of weather information. Meteorologists and computer scientists now work

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together to design computer programs and video equipment capable of 34 raw

weather data into words, symbols, and vivid graphic displays that forecasters can

interpret easily and quickly. 35 meteorologists have begun using these new

technologies in weather forecasting offices, nowcasting is becoming a reality.

Section B (20 questions×1.5 points= 30 points)

Directions: Read the following passages carefully and then select the best answer from

the four choices given to answer each of the questions or complete each of

the statements that follow each passage. Mark the letter of your choice on

your Answer Sheet I.

Passage 1

For centuries, the gravel and sand of Georges Bank and the great canyons, muddy

basins, and shallow ledges of the Gulf of Maine have supported one of the world’s most

productive fishing regions. But big boulders have historically protected a

1050-square-kilometer region at the bank’s northeastern tip from dredging boats in

search of scallops and trawlers hunting down groundfish. However, those boulders are

becoming less of a deterrent against improved and sturdier gear. So when geologist Page

Valentine of the U.S. Geological Survey in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, stood before

his colleagues last month and defended his proposal to safeguard this rare, undisturbed

gravel bed, he knew that he was also standing at the crossroads of science and politics.

Valentine’s presentation was part of a 2-day workshop held at the New England

Aquarium here to build support for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), a controversial

concept aimed at preserving biodiversity in coastal waters. The meeting, organized by

Elliott Norse, founder of the Marine Conservation Biology Institute in Redmond,

Washington, featured talks by 21 experts across a range of marine habitats and species

and represented the marine community’s biggest push for MPAs.

The discussion generated a map that nominated 29% of the ocean floor off the coast

of New England and Canada’s Maritime Province for protection, as well as 25% of

pelagic (open-ocean) waters. The next step will come in the fall, when the scientists

discuss the plan with government officials, commercial stakeholders, and environmental

activists—meetings that are likely to be contentious. “The conservation groups will

want to see if various species are covered. And various fishermen will be convinced that

their livelihood is threatened,” says Mike Pentony, an analyst for the New England

Fishery Management Council, who was an observer at last month’s workshop. The areas

could be established by the National Marine Fisheries Service or under existing U.S.

and Canadian laws to protect endangered species and habitats.

36. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

A. Fishery Industry in New England.

B. Plan to Protect Coastal waters of New England.

C. Restoration of Marine Life in the Gulf of Maine.

D. Problems Critical to Ecological Balance in Georges Bank.

37. The abundance of fish in the area has been a result of ________.

A. the perpetual fishery closure

B. the stringent ban on overfishing

C. the effective fishery management

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D. its unique geographic features

38. Boulders used to be a deterrent to ________.

A. scallop

B. groundfish

C. fishing boats

D. improved gear

39. At the two-day workshop, the scientists reached an agreement on ______.

A. the marine areas to be preserved

B. how to rescue the endangered species

C. the guarantee of the fishermen’s livelihood

D. what to discuss with the government officials

40. Which of the following CANNOT be concluded from the last paragraph?

A. The fishermen will be worried about their livelihood.

B. A decision is soon to be made on the protected areas.

C. Commercial stakeholders may be at odds with scientists.

D. Conflicting interests will arise between fishermen and scientists.

Passage 2

Some people are accustomed to thinking that facts must either be believed or they

must be disbelieved—as if beliefs were like a light switch with only two positions, on or

off. My use of the bathtub hoax is intended to illustrate that belief does not have to

operate as a simple yes or no choice, all or nothing. Belief can be more conditional; it

can be something that we decide to have “up to a point.” And so, the question we might

ask ourselves while reading does not have to be “Should I believe it or not?” but instead

can be “How much should I believe it?” This later question implies that the belief we

have in any given fact, or in any given idea, is not determined by whether it sounds right

or whether the source is an authority. It means that our beliefs are determined by the

reasons that justify them. Belief is not a mechanical action, brought about by invariable

rules of nature. It is a human activity, the exercise of judgment. With this in mind, we

might say that we perform this action better when we know what the reasons are that

have led to our belief, and why they are good reasons.

These observations do not deprive us of our ability to believe in what we read. They

are not intended to transform you from credulous believers into stubborn doubters. The

process of weighing beliefs against the quality of reasons is one that you already go

through all the time, whether you are aware of it or not. We all do. The practice of

critical reading is the exercise of this kind of judgment on purpose. By doing it, we

protect ourselves from being led into belief for inadequate reasons, but at the same time

we open up our minds to the possibility of arriving at belief for adequate ones. If we

decide to grant or withhold consent based on the quality of the reasons that we are given

we admit at the same time that two things are possible: We admit that we might consent

less in the future if we discover that the reasons are not so good after all; and we admit

that we might consent more if we are ever presented with better reasons than we had

formerly known. This attitude is not pure skepticism any more than it is pure credulity.

It is somewhere in between. It is the attitude of an open-minded thinker, of someone

who wishes to be responsible for deciding for herself or himself what to believe.

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41. The author’s use of the bathtub hoax is meant to suggest that __________.

A. facts must be believed unconditionally

B. belief is more than a simple yes or no choice

C. nothing should be believed or disbelieved

D. belief is nothing but a light switch

42. To believe or disbelieve what you read should be based on ________.

A. the facts that you are given

B. whether the author is an open-minded authority

C. the quality of reasons provided by the material

D. the assumption that you know everything about it

43. As a human activity, weighing the facts about something is actually _______.

A. determined by the rules of nature

B. a performance

C. brought about even at birth

D. experienced by everyone

44. According to the author, which of the following is true?

A. Our attitude toward what we read may change if we are given better reasons.

B. An open-minded thinker is responsible for what he or she says.

C. Critical reading can make us believe more in what we read.

D. We ought to question the value of what we read if its source is not authoritative.

45. What is the topic of this passage?

A. Judgment and Responsibility.

B. Reading and Belief.

C. Trust and Faith.

D. Reading and Human Activity.

Passage 3

Things don’t come easily to Matteo, a 4-year-old New Yorker with brown bangs

and cowboy bandanna. Afflicted by cerebral palsy, he moves awkwardly. He thinks

slowly and doesn’t talk much. Small frustrations upset him terribly. But when Matteo

visits Clive Robbins, his music therapist, he bangs gleefully on a snare drum, placing

one hand on the rim to steady himself, he uses the other to rap in tempo to Robbins’s

improvised song. As the tune progresses, Matteo moves his act to the piano, banging

along with one or two fingers and laughing excitedly. By following the rhythm, he is

learning to balance his body and coordinate the movement of his limbs. He’s also

learning to communicate. “He is grown much more motivated and intent,” says Robbins,

the co-founder of New York University’s Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy.

Disabled children aren’t the only ones feeling the therapeutic power of music. A

79-year-old stroke survivor listens to Viennese waltzes on his headphones to help him to

relearn to walk. A woman in labor had LeAnn Rimes’ country tunes blaring from a

stereo to help her keep in step with her contraction. And, yes, ostensibly healthy people

are listening to airy New Age discs, and maybe lighting a candle or two, to lessen stress

and promote well-being. They may all be on to something. Mounting evidence suggests

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that almost any musical stimulus, from Shostakovich to the Spice Girls can have

therapeutic effects.

Music therapy isn’t mainstream health care, but recent studies suggest it can have

a wide range of benefits. In 1996, researchers at Colorado State University tried giving

10 stroke victims 30 minutes of rhythmic stimulation each day for three weeks.

Compared with untreated patients, they shared significant improvements in their ability

to walk steadily. People with Parkinson’s disease enjoyed similar benefits. A musical

beat from any genre seemed to provide a rhythmic cue, stimulating the brain’s motor

systems.

Other body systems seem equally responsive. Scottish researchers have found, for

example, that a daily dose of Mozart or Mendelssohn significantly brightens the moods

of institutionalized stroke victims. Using psychological tests, the Scottish team showed

that patients receiving 12 weeks of daily music therapy were less depressed and anxious,

and more stable and sociable, than other patients in the same facility. Music therapy has

also proved useful in the management of Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases.

And Deforia Lane, a music therapist at University Hospitals in Cleveland, has shown

that music can boost immune function in children. That’s consistent with a 1995 finding

by Louisiana researchers that preemies exposed to lullabies in the hospital went home

earlier.

46. Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?

A. Why Music is Powerful

B. Music and Pain Medication

C. Music and Disabled Children

D. The Medical Power of Music

47. What does the passage say about Matteo?

A. He is suffering a paralysis of the brain.

B. He is late in his ability to walk and talk.

C. He plays music better by taking the advice.

D. He’s ambitious to become a professional drummer.

48. Paragraph 2 mainly tells that ________________.

A. music helps pregnant women undergo contractions

B. music stimulates promotion of people’s well-being

C. music seems to have therapeutic effects on all people

D. sick people benefit a lot from listening to music

49. By mentioning the Spice Girls, the author gives an example of music

A. which is popular among children.

B. which is good for health.

C. which may harm one’s health.

D. which is losing popularity.

50. According to the context, the word “preemies” probably means________.

A. sick children coming to see a doctor

B. children with infectious diseases

C. newly recovered young patients

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D. premature babies

Passage 4

In terms of lives lost and property destroyed, the Civil War was the most terrible

armed conflict Americans have ever known, but that has not prevented them from

remembering it with enduring fondness. The Civil War remains the most written-about

period in American history, and it provides boundless entertainment in the United States

and around the world. Instead of an object lesson in the dangers of political polarization,

racial inequality, and human cruelty, fans consider their favorite war an exercise in

nobility—a bloodbath that somehow forged the unbreakable bonds of American national

identity.

Most Civil War historians were reared in this romantic tradition, and they have yet

to fully free themselves from it. They still view the struggle through rose-colored

glasses, making excuses for flawed heroes who have the reputations they never

deserved. With the publication of While in the Hands of the Enemy: Military Prisons of

the Civil War, Charles W. Sanders has distinguished himself as one of the few scholars

capable of addressing the Civil War with utter frankness. His brilliantly researched book

is a ringing indictment of the prisoner-of-war (POW) systems maintained by both sides

of that war, as well as the politicians and soldiers who deliberately sent thousands of

men to needless suffering and death. There are no heroes in this study, just too many

unnecessary victims.

Sanders sets his study in context by first tracing the evolution of POW policy

during the American Revolution, War of 1812, and Mexican War. Americans knew that

POWs were vulnerable to mistreatment, and the quickest way to improve their lot was

to negotiate exchanges with the enemy. At the outset of the Civil War, neither side was

prepared to cope with the many foes their armies captured, and prisoners inevitably

suffered from inadequate housing, food, medical care, and other necessities. Abraham

Lincoln delayed the implementation of general exchanges until July 1862 for fear it

would allow rebellious southerners to claim de facto recognition of the Southern

sovereignty. Once implemented, the exchange system quickly emptied prisons in the

North and South, but it began breaking down by the end of the year.

51. Most Civil War historians would agree that the Civil War may have

A. taught a useful lesson about human nature.

B. started political struggles in America.

C. raised the awareness of the race issue.

D. strengthened American national identity.

52. Civil War historians usually believe that “flawed heroes”

A. should be forgiven.

B. should be criticized.

C. should be studied further.

D. should be evaluated objectively.

53. According to Charles W. Sanders, the Civil War

A. created various heroes.

B. brought pointless misery.

C. started the first POW system.

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