2004 年 9 月公共英语三级考试真题及答案
SECTION
I
Listening
Comprehension(25 minutes)
1~25 略
SECTION Ⅱ Use
of
English(15 minutes)
Directions:
Read the following text. Choose the best word or phrase for each numbered blank
and mark A, B, C, or D on ANSWER SHEET 1.
Text
After 20 years of marriage, a husband may still not understand his wife. How
is it that she is never at a
26
for words? How can she
27
the names of a
couple they met on
28
years ago? Now we know
29
to tell him: it's her brain.
Although there are obviously cultural
30
for the differences in
emotions and behavior,
31
breakthrough research reveals that
the
32
of many puzzling differences between men and women may
33
in the
head. Men's and women's brains
34
much in common, but they are definitely not
the same
35
size, structure or insight. Broadly speaking, a woman's brain,
like her body, is ten to fifteen per cent smaller than a man's,
36
the regions
dedicated to language may be more densely
37
with brain cells.
Girls generally speak earlier and read faster. The reason may be
38
females
use both sides of the brain when they read. In
39
, males rely only on the left
side.
At every age, women' s memories
40
men' s, They have a greater ability
to
41___names with faces than men do, and they are
42
at recalling list.
The events people remember best are those that an emotion is attached
to.
43
women use more of their right brains, which
44
emotions,
they may do this automatically.
While we don't yet know what all these findings imply, one thing is
45 : male
and fe-male brains do the same things, but they do them differently.
26. [ A ] slip
[ B ] puzzle
[ C ]
loss
[ D ] failure
27. [ A ] recall
[ B ] understand
[ C ]
realize
[ D ] perceive
28. [ A ] festival
[ B ] event
[ C ]
occasion
[ D ] holiday
29. [ A ] what
[ B ] how
[ C ]
when
[ D ] where
30. [ A ] senses
[ B ] reasons
[ C ]
purposes
[ D ] meanings
31. [ A ] present
[ B ] instant
[ C ]
recent
[ D ] immediate
32. [ A ] bottom
[ B ] basis
[ C ]
root
[ D ] stem
33. [ A ] hide
[ B ] set
[ C ]
fix
[ D ] lie
34. [ A ] have
[ B ] share
[ C ]
divide
[ D ] store
35. [ A ] in
[ B ] at
[ C ]
with
[ D ] for
36. [ A ] yet
[ B ] hence
[ C ]
thus
[ D ] then
57. [ A ] wrapped
[ B ] rested
[ C ]
gathered
[ D ] packed
38. [ A ] which
[ B ] why
[ C ]
that
[ D ] whether
39. [ A ] fact
[ B ] contrast
[ C ]
addition
[ D ] consequence
40. [ A ] top
[ B ] match
[ C ]
equal
[ D ] challenge
41. [ A ] mix
[ B ] combine
[ C ]
join
[ D ] associate
42. [ A ] shier
[ B ] better
[ C ]
keener
[ D ] easier
43. [ A ] Since
[ B ] While
[ C ]
Although
[ D ] Unless
44. [ A ] process
[ B ] promote
[ C ]
perceive
[ D ] produce
45. [ A ] important
[ B ] mysterious
[ C ]
special
[ D ] clear
SECTION Ⅲ Reading Comprehension(40 minutes)
Part A
Directions:
Read the following three texts. Answer the questions on each text by choosing
A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.
Text 1
Bum rate is the speed at which a startup business consumes money. My rate would
be $ 50,000 a month when my new media company started. So, I began looking around
for individuals who would be my first investors. “Angel money” it was called. But
when I reviewed my list of acquaintances to find those who might be able to help,
I found the number got small.
With no other choices, I began meeting with the venture-capital companies. But
I was warned they took a huge share of your company for the money they put in. And
if you struggled, they could drop you cold.
As I was searching for “angel money”, I started to build a team who trusted
me even though I didn't have money for paychecks yet.
Bill Becker was an expert in computer programming and image processing at a very
famous Media Lab at M. I.T. With his arrival, my company suddenly had a major
technology “guy” in-house.
Katherine Henderson, a filmmaker and a former real-estate dealer, joined us as
our director of market research. Steve White came on as operating officer. He had
worked for the developer of a home-finance software, Quicken. We grabbed him.
We had some really good people, but we still didn't have enough money. One night,
my neighbor, Louise Johnson, came for a visit. She and I were only nodding
acquaintances, but her boys and ours were constant companions. She ran a very good
business at the time.
Louise was brilliant and missed nothing. She had been watching my progress
closely. She knew I was dying for money and I had prospects but could offer no
guarantees of success.
She told me that her attorney had talked to mine and the terms had been agreed
upon. She handed me an envelope. Inside was a check for $ 500,000.
I almost fell down. I heard her voice as if from heaven.
“I have confidence in your plan,” she said. “You' 11 do well. You're going
to work hard for it, but it' s satisfying when you build your own company.”
Who would have thought I'd find an angel so close to home? There were no words
sufficient for the moment. We just said good night. She left and I just stood there,
completely humbled and completely committed.
46. For a newly-established business, bum rate refers to___________.
[ A ] the salary it pays to its staff
[ B ] the interest it pays to the bank
[ C ] the way in which it raises capital
[ D ] the speed at which it spends money
47. By "Angel money", the author refers to__________.
[ A ] the money borrowed from banks
[ B ] the money spent to promote sales
[ C ] the money raised from close friends
[ D ] the money needed to start a business
48. To get help from a venture-capital company, you may have to__________.
[ A ] put up with unfair terms
[ B ] change your business line
[ C ] enlarge your business scope
[ D ] let them operate your business
49. The author easily built a team for his company because__________.
[ A ] they were underpaid at their previous jobs
[ B ] they were turned down by other companies
[ C ] they were confident of the author and his
business
[ D ] they were satisfied with the salaries in his company
50. Louise decided to lend money to the author because__________.
[ A ] she wanted to join his company
[ B ] she knew he would build a team
[ C ] she knew his plan would succeed
[ D ] she wanted to help promote his sales
Text 2
Nearly all“speed reading”courses have a“pacing”element--some timing device
which lets the student know how many words a minute he is reading. You can do this
simply by looking at your watch every 5 or 10 minutes and noting down the page number
you have reached. Check the average number of words per page for the particular book
you are reading. How do you know when
5 minutes has passed on your watch if you
are busy reading the book? Well, this is difficult at first. A friend can help by
timing you over a set period, or you can read within hearing distance of a pub-lic
clock which strikes the quarter hours. Pace yourself every three or four days, always
with the same kind of easy, general interest books. You should soon notice your
accustomed w. p.m. rate creeping up.
Obviously there is little point in increasing your w. p. m. rate if you do not
understand what you are reading. When you are consciously trying to increase your
reading speed, stop after every chapter ( if you are reading a novel) or every section
or group of ten or twelve pages ( if it is a text-book) and ask yourself a few questions
about what you have been reading. If you find you have lost the thread of the story,
or you cannot remember clearly the details of what was said, reread the section or
chapter.
You can also try “lightning speed” exercise from time to time. Take four or
five pages of the general interest book you happen to be reading and read them as
fast as you possibly can. Do not bother about whether you understand or not. Now
go back and read them at what you feel to be your "normal" w. p. m. rate, the rate
at which you can comfortably understand. After a ‘lightning speed' reading through
(probably 600 w. p. m. ) you will usually find that your “normal” speed has
increased-perhaps. by as much as 50-100 w. p.m. This is the technique sportsmen use
when they usually run further in training than they will have to on the day of the
big race.
51. According to the passage, a “pacing” device_________.
[ A ]is used to time student' s reading speed
[ B ]is. not used in most, speed reading courses
[ C ] is used as .an aid to vocabulary learning
[ D ] should be used whenever we read alone
52. In speed reading, looking at your watch every 5 or 10 minutes_________.
[ A ] avoids the need for reading faster
[ B ] is not the same as pacing
[ C ] may seem unworkable at first
[ D ] helps you to remember your page number
53. When you are reading a novel, you should check your understanding of the
content after_______.
[ A ] every chapter
[ B ] every section
[ C ] every four or five pages
[ D ] every ten or twelve pages
54. The purpose of the “lightning speed” exercise is to_________.
[ A ] increase your speed by scanning the text first
[ B ] test your maximum reading speed
[ C ] help you understand more of the content of the book
[ D ] enable you to win reading races against your friends
55. The best title for this passage would be_________.
[ A ] Hints for Successful Reading
[ B ] Hints for Speed Reading
[ C ] Effective Reading
[ D ] Lightning Speed Exercises
Text 3
There is one difference between the sexes on which virtually every expert and
study agree: men are more aggressive than women. It shows up in 2-year-olds. It
continues through school days and persists into adulthood. It is even constant across
cultures. And there is little doubt that it is rooted in biology in the male sex
hormone testosterone.
If there's a feminine trait that's the counterpart of male aggressiveness, it's
what social scien-tists awkwardly refer to as "nurturance". Feminists have argued
that the nurturing nature of women is not biological in origin, but rather has been
drummed into women by a society that wanted to keep them in the home. But the signs
that it is at least partly inborn are too numerous to ignore. Just as tiny infant
girls respond more readily to human faces, female toddlers learn much faster than
males how to pick up nonverbal cues from others. And grown women are far more adept
than men at interpreting facial expressions: A recent study by University of
Pennsylvania brain researcher Ru-ben Gur showed that they easily read emotions such
as anger, sadness and fear. The only such e-motion men could pick up was disgust.
What difference do such differences make in the real world? Among other things,
women
appear to be somewhat less competitive--or at least competitive in different
ways--than men. At the Harvard Law School, for instance, female students enter with
credentials just as outstanding as those of their male peers. But they don' t qualify
for the prestigious Law Review in proportionate numbers, a fact some school officials
attribute to women' s discomfort in the incredibly competitive atmosphere.
Students of management styles have found fewer differences than they expected
between men and women who reach leadership positions, perhaps because many
successful women deliberately imitate masculine ways. But an analysis by Purdue
social psychologist Alice Eagly of 166 studies of leadership style did find one
consistent difference: Men tend to be more “autocratic”-making decisions on their
own--while women tend to consult colleagues and subordinates more
often.
Studies of behavior in small groups turn up even more differences.
Men will typically domi-nate the discussion, says University of Toronto psychologist
Kenneth Dion, spending more time talking and less time listening.
56. The passage mainly discusses__________.
[ A ] how sex differences are demonstrated in social relations
[ B ] how hormone determines sex differences
[ C ] why there are differences between males and females
[ D ] why men and women have different social roles
57. Which of the following is true of women's nurturing nature according to the
passage?
[ A ] It is not inborn in any sense.
[ B ] It is inspired by women' s families.
[ C ] It is caused by social prejudice.
[ D ] It is partly biological in origin.
58. The Harvard Law School example in paragraph 3 suggests that_________.
[ A ] women are not as competitive as men
[ B ] law is not the fight profession for women
[ C ] women are as excellent as men when they are young
[ D ] academic credentials are disproportionate to performance
59. Which of the following statement is tree according to paragraph 4?
[ A ] Men leaders should consult colleagues and subordinates more often.
[ B ] Female leaders' success is due to their imitating male leaders.
[ C ] Men and women are different in their leadership style.
[ D ] Decisiveness is an important quality for a successful politician.
60. It can be inferred from the passage that the writer_________.
[ A ] denies the difference sexes make in real life
[ B ] is prejudiced against men
[ C ] discourages women to be competitive
[ D ] treats sex difference objectively
Part B
Directions:
Read the texts from an article in which five people talked about energy and making
use of it. For questions 61 to 65, match the name of each speaker to one of the
statements (A to G) given below. Mark your answers on your ANSWER SHEET 1.
Jackson:
Viewed from a scientist's standpoint, all of the energy contained in fuel either
now or in the future becomes heat. Some of the heat is used directly or produces
useful work. The rest is lost or rejected. That is to say, it is radiated into the
atmosphere from the engines, motors, furnaces, power lines, television sets, boilers
and all the other energy-consuming machinery that makes our wheels go around.
Browning:
It is necessary to improve the efficiency with. which we use energy in order