暨南大学2020考研真题：706外语（英）水平考试

考生注意：所有答案必须写在答题纸（卷）上，写在本试题上一律不给分。

Part I. Vocabulary and Structure (30 points)

Directions: There are 30 incomplete sentences in this section. For each sentence there are 4 choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that best completes the sentence and write your answer on the ANSWER SHEET.

1. He made ______ alterations to his house and then sold it at a huge profit.

A. offensive B. horrible C. radical D. patient

2. After the accident, the nerves to her arm were damaged and so the muscles ____ through disuse.

A. atrophied B. contracted C. elongated D. invigorated

3. Experts have _____ with some effective measures to prevent the disease from spreading.

A. caught up B. put up C. come up D. kept up

4. Many animals display______ instincts only while their offspring are young and helpless.

A. cerebral B. imperious C. rueful D. maternal

5. He seemed to be a very important person __________.

A. the way through which he walked B. in the way how he walked

C. in the way he would walk D. the way he walked

6. Only a selected number of landladies in the neighborhood have been allowed by the university to take in _____.

A. residents B. inhabitants C. lodgers D. settlers

7. _____ the popular belief that classical music is too complex, it achieves a simplicity that only a genius can create.

A. Subject to B. Contrary to C. Familiar to D. Similar to

8. The drink was packaged in champagne bottles and was being _____ as the real stuff.

A. passed out B. passed by C. passed over D. passed off

9. It is said that the math teacher seems _____ towards bright students.

A. liable B. partial C. beneficial D. preferable

10. Cathedrals usually take decades, even centuries, to complete; thus no one expected the National Cathedral to be built with________.

A. dispatch B. presumption C. durability D. deliberation

11. Doctors sometimes _____ old cures when modern medicine doesn’t work.

A. fall on B. fall down on C. fall back on D. fall in upon

12. Many people at that time believed that spices help preserve food; however, Hall found that many marketed spices were ____ bacteria, molds and yeasts.

A. devoid of B. teeming with C. improved by D. destroyed by

13. A painter’s ability to render a likeness is both_______ and acquired; the artist blends natural abilities with worldly experience in the creation of his or her art.

A. anticipated B. overt C. aesthetic D. innate

14. Because the pandas had already been weakened by disease and drought, a harsh winter would have had___________ consequences for them.

A. preventive B. regressive C. catastrophic D. unforeseen

15. The football match was _____ because of the heavy rain.

A. called over B. called up C. called out D. called off

16. Rodolfo Gonzales was once described as ________ in body and mind because of the flexibility and grace apparent in both his boxing and his writing of poetry and plays.

A. unyielding B. tremulous C. emphatic D. lithe

17. A _______ is a grill on which meat, fish and other foods are cooked over hot charcoal, usually outdoors.

A. duet B. fag C. tonic D. barbecue

18. The______ warned the sleeping troops that the enemy was creeping near.

A. pickpocket B. picket C. pike D. pickup

19. Last Sunday she came to visit us out of the blue. The italicized phrase means______.

A. unexpectedlyB. unhappily C. untidily D. unofficially

20. We had a good time there, and the food was plentiful and _____.

A. conducive B. wholesome C. helpful D. appreciative

21. On the conference, representatives from different countries _____ different viewpoints on this international issue.

A. put out B. put off C. put forth D. put down

22. If you spill hot liquid on your skin it will______ you.

A. scale B. scald C. shun D. shunt

23. ____ the wall, we decided that we should need three tins of paint.

A. Making up B. Doing up C. Putting up D. Sizing up

24. In that country, guests tend to feel they are not highly _____ if the invitation to a dinner party is extended only three or four days before the party date.

A. admired B. regarded C. expected D. worshipped

25. If we believe something is good and true we should _____ to it.

A. hold up B. keep on C. hold on D. keep up

26. Suppose your father _______ you, what ___________?

A. sees…should he say B. should see…will he have said

C. had seen…will he say D. saw…would he say

27. Ecology, like economics, concerns itself with the movement of valuable ________ through a complex network of producers and consumers.

A. commodities B. dividends C. nutrients D. artifacts

28. ____ before we depart the day after tomorrow, we should have a wonderful dinner party.

A. Had they arrived B. Could they arrive

C. Were they arriving D. Were they to arrive

29. Their daughter often turns a deaf ear to their inquiries, so they sometimes have to ______ answers from her.

A. distill B. exchange C. squeeze D. exit

30. ____ by nature, Jones spoke very little even to his own family members.

A. Garrulous B. Equivocal C. Taciturn D. Arrogant

Part II. Cloze (20 points)

Directions: There are 20 blanks in the following passage. Decide which of the choices given below would best complete the passage if inserted in the corresponding blanks. Write your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.

The 1 of the division of labour, in the general business of society, will be more easily understood by considering in what manner it operates in some particular manufactures. It is commonly supposed to be carried furthest in some very 2 ones; not perhaps that it really is carried further in them than in others of more 3 : but in those manufactures which are destined to supply the small 4 of but a small number of people, the whole number of workmen must necessarily be 5 ; and those employed in every different branch of the work can often be collected into the 6 workhouse, and placed at once under the view of the 7 . In those great manufactures, 8 , which are destined to satisfy the great body of the people, every different branch of the work employs 9 a number of workmen that we can seldom see more, 10 , than those employed in one 11 branch. 12 in such manufactures, therefore, the work may really be divided into a much greater number of parts, the division is not near so 13 , and has accordingly been much less observed.

To take an example, therefore, from a manufacture in which the division of labour has been very often taken 14 of, the trade of the pin-maker; a workman not educated to this business (which the division of labour has 15 a distinct trade), nor acquainted with the use of the machinery employed in it (to the 16 of which the same division of labour has probably given occasion), could 17 , perhaps, with his utmost 18 , make one pin in a day, and certainly could not make twenty. But in the way in which this business is now carried on, not only the whole work is a 19 trade, but it is divided into a number of branches. I have seen a small manufactory of this kind where ten men only were employed, and where they could, when they 20 themselves, make among them about twelve pounds of pins in a day.

1. 1. A. causes B. background C. effects D. principles

2. 2. A. important B. great C. trifling D. worthless

3. 3. A. influence B. importance C. production D. labour

4. 4. A. business B. products C. wants D. necessities

5. 5. A. large B. enough C. excess D. small

6. 6. A. same B. small C. separate D. different

7. 7. A. audience B. spectator C. workman D. employer

8. 8. A. by and large B. in addition C. on the contrary D. so to speak

9. 9. A. so great B. so small C. such great D. such small

10. 10. A. at the time B. at any time C. at one time D. at times

11. 11. A. single B. different C. particular D. important

12. 12. A. If B. While C. Though D. As

13. 13. A. complete B. fair C. obvious D. obscure

14. 14. A. care B. notice C. control D. attention

15. 15. A. rendered B. displayed C. yielded D. caused

16. 16. A. usage B. application C. invention D. inception

17. 17. A. likely B. easily C. scarce D. often

18. 18. A. intelligence B. craft C. ability D. industry

19. 19. A. peculiar B. trivial C. great D. important

20. 20. A. applied B. pushed C. tried D. exerted

Part III. Reading Comprehension (30 points)

Directions: In this section, there are three passages followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers marked A, B, C, and D. Choose the best answer and write the letter of your choice on the ANSWER SHEET.

Passage 1

Slavery was legal for over 200 years in some parts of North America, particularly the southern states of the United States, where the plantation system of agriculture depended on the labor of slaves, most of whom came from Africa. Slaves had no rights or freedoms because they were thought of as property. From the time of its origin, slavery had opponents. The abolitionist movement began in the 1600s when the Quakers in Pennsylvania objected to slavery on moral grounds and wanted to abolish the institution.

In 1793, Canada passed a law abolishing slavery and declared that any escaped slaves who came to Canada would be free citizens. Slavery was already illegal in most northern states; however, slaves captured there by slave hunters could be returned to slavery in the South. Canada refused to return runaway slaves or to allow American slave hunters into the country. It is estimated that more than 30, 000 runaway salves immigrated into Canada and settled in the Great Lakes region between 1830 and 1865.

The American antislavery movement was at the height of its activity during the 1800s, when abolitionists developed the Underground Railroad, a loosely organized system whereby runaway slaves were passed from safe house to safe house as they fled northwards to free states or Canada. The term was first used in the 1830s and came from an Ohio clergyman who said, “They who took passage on it disappeared from public view as if they had really gone to ground.” Because the Underground Railroad was so secret, few records exist that would reveal the true number of people who traveled on it to freedom. The most active routes on the railroad were in Ohio, Indiana, and western Pennsylvania.

Runaway slaves usually travel alone or in small groups. Most were young men between the ages of 16 and 35. The fugitives hid in wagons under loads of hay or potatoes, or in furniture and boxes in steamers and on rafts. They traveled on foot through swamps and woods, moving only a few miles each night, using the North Star as a compass. Sometimes they moved in broad daylight. Boys disguised themselves as girls, and girls dressed as boys. In one well-known incident, twenty-eight slaves escaped by walking in a funeral procession from Kentucky to Ohio.

The “railroad” developed its own language. The “trains” were the large farm wagons that could conceal and carry a number of people. The ‘tracks” were the backcountry roads that were used to elude the slave hunters. The “stations” were the homes and hiding places where the slaves were fed and cared for as they moved north. The “agents” were the people who planned the escape routes. The “conductors” were the fearless men and women who led the slaves toward freedom. The “passengers” were the slaves who dared to run away and break for liberty. Passengers paid no fare and conductors received no pay.

The most daring conductor was Harriet Tubman, a former slave who dedicated her life to helping other runaways. Tubman made 19 trips into the South to guide 300 relatives, friends, and strangers to freedom. She was wanted dead or alive in the South, but she was never captured and never lost a passenger. A determined worker, she carried a gun for protection and a supply of drugs to quiet the crying babies in her rescue parties.

A number of white people joined the effort, including Indiana banker Levi Coffin and his wife Catherine, who hid runaways in their home, a “station” conveniently located on three main escape routes to Canada. People could be hidden there for several weeks, recovering their strength and waiting until it was safe to continue on their journey. Levi Coffin was called the “president of the Underground Railroad” because he helped as many as 3 000 slaves to escape.

The people who worked on the railroad were breaking the law. Although the escape network was never as successful or as well organized as Southerners thought, the few thousand slaves who made their way to freedom in this way each year had a symbolic significance out of proportion to their actual numbers. The Underground Railroad continued operating until slavery in the United States was finally abolished in 1865.

1. Why did thousands of runaway slaves immigrate to Canada?

A. They preferred the climate of the Great Lakes region.

B. Working conditions for slaves were better in Canada.

C. Canada had no laws restricting immigration.

D. Former slaves could live as free citizens in Canada.

2. Which sentence below best expresses the essential information in the underlined sentence in paragraph 3?

A. The Underground Railroad kept secret records in which all of the passengers and trips

were documented.

B. Few people understood why the Underground Railroad would not reveal how many people

chose to travel in this way.

C. The Underground Railroad’s records were not accurate, so the true number of travelers is

difficult to estimate.

D. We do not know exactly how many slaves escaped on the Underground Railroad because

it was a secret organization.

3. The author discusses the language of the Underground Railroad in paragraph 5 in order to

A. trace the history of American English words.

B. illustrate the secret nature of the escape network.

C. point out that some words have more than one meaning.

D. compare the Underground Railroad to other railways.

4. Which of the following statements is true about the passengers on the Underground Railroad?

A. Their destination was in the northern states or Canada.

B. They were not allowed to make stops during the journey.

C. Their babies were disguised to look like baggage.

D. They paid the conductors at the end of the journey.

5. It can be inferred from paragraph 8 that the author most likely believes which of the following

about the Underground Railroad?

A. The people who worked on the railroad should have been arrested.

B. The railroad was unsuccessful because it could not help every slave.

C. Southerners did not know about the railroad until after it closed.

D. The railroad represented a symbolic victory for abolitionists.

Passage 2

At the present time, 98 percent of the world energy consumption comes from stored sources, such as fossil fuels or nuclear fuel. Only hydroelectric and wood energy represent completely renewable sources on ordinary time scales. Discovery of large additional fossil fuel reserves, solution of the nuclear safety and waste disposal problems, or the development of controlled thermonuclear fusion will provide only a short-term solution to the world’s energy crisis. Within about 100 years, the thermal pollution resulting from our increased energy consumption will make solar energy a necessity at any cost.

Man’s energy consumption is currently about one part in ten thousand that of the energy we receive from the sun. However, it is growing at a 5 percent rate, of which about 2 percent represents a population growth and 3 percent a per capita energy increase. If this growth continues, within 100 years our energy consumption will be about 1 percent of the absorbed solar energy, enough to increase the average temperature of the earth by about one degree centigrade if stored energy continues to be our predominant source. This will be the point at which there will be significant effects on our climate, including the melting of the polar ice caps, a phenomenon which will raise the level of the oceans and flood parts of our major cities. There is positive feedback associated with this process, since the polar ice cap contributes to the partial reflectivity of the energy arriving from the sun: As the ice caps begin to melt, the reflectivity will decrease, thus heating the earth still further.

It is often stated that the growth rate will decline or that energy conservation measures will preclude any long-range problem. Instead, this only postpones the problem by a few years. Conservation by a factor or two together with a maintenance of the 5 percent growth rate delays the problem by only 14 years. Reduction of the growth rate to 4 percent postpones the problem by only 25 years; in addition, the inequities in standards of living throughout the world will provide pressure toward an increase in growth rate, particularly if cheap energy is available. The problem of a changing climate will not be evident until perhaps ten years before it becomes critical due to the nature of an exponential growth rate together with the normal annual weather variations. This may be too short a period to circumvent the problem by converting to other energy sources, so advance planning is a necessity.

The only practical means of avoiding the problem of thermal pollution appears to be the use of solar energy. Using the solar energy before it is dissipated to heat does not increase the earth’s energy balance. The cost of solar energy is extremely favorable now, particularly when compared to the cost of relocating many of our major cities.

6. All of the following are factors which will tend to increase thermal pollution EXCEPT

A. the earth’s increasing population.

B. increase in per capita energy consumption.

C. expected anomalies in weather patterns.

D. melting of the polar ice caps.

7. The positive feedback mentioned in paragraph 2 means that the melting of the polar ice caps

will

A. reduce per capital energy consumption.

B. accelerate the transition to solar energy.

C. intensify the effects of thermal pollution.

D. necessitates a shift to alternative energy sources.

8. The possibility of energy conservation is mentioned in order to

A. refute a possible objection to the author’s position.

B. support directly the central idea of the text.

C. prove that such measures are ineffective.

D. supply the reader with additional background information.

9. Which of the following would be the most logical topic for the author to address in a succeeding

paragraph?

A. The problems of nuclear energy and waste disposal.

B. The availability and cost of solar energy technology.

C. The practical effects of flooding of coastal cities.

D. A history of the development of solar energy.

10. The tone of the text is best described as one of

A. optimism.

B. indignation.

C. suspicion.

D. pessimism.

Passage 3

Democritus was fascinated by the question of what principle underlay the material universe and developed a solution that revealed the brilliance of his thought. Every material thing, he believed, is made up of a finite number of discrete particles, or atoms, as he called them, whose joining together and subsequent separation account for the coming to be of things and for their passing away. The atoms themselves, he said, are infinite in number and eternal. They move, according to a necessary motion, in the void, which we would call space.

Most of the main tenets of the atomism of Democritus were astonishingly modern. First, the atoms were invisibly small. They were all of the same stuff, or nature, but they came in a multitude of different shapes and sizes. Though impermeable (Democritus did not know that atoms could be split), they acted upon one another, aggregating and clinging to one another so as to produce the great variety of bodies that we see. The space outside the atoms was empty, a concept that most of Democritus’s contemporaries could not accept.

Second, the atoms are in perpetual motion, in every direction, throughout empty space. There is no above or below, before or behind, in empty space, said Democritus. In modern terms, empty space did not vary according to direction. This was an extremely sophisticated notion.

Third, the continual motion of the atoms was inherent. They possessed what we would call inertial mass. The notion that the atoms kept on moving without being pushed, besides being another remarkable intellectual concept, was not acceptable to Aristotle and others. Only the celestial bodies, Aristotle thought, kept on moving of and by themselves, because they were divine. The general refusal by Aristotle and his influential followers to accept the law of inertia stood as an obstacle to development of physics for two thousand years.

Fourth, weight or gravity was not a property of atoms or indeed of aggregates thereof. Here Democritus was as wrong as wrong could be.

Whether Democritus was right or wrong about a fifth point is not definitely decided to this day. He held that the soul is breath and because breath is material, and therefore made up of atoms, so must the soul be. He maintained that, because the soul is a physical thing, it must be determined by physical laws; it cannot be free. Even the hardy thinkers who claim to accept this theory do not act as if they do. They may deny the innate freedom of others, but they act as if they believe in their own.

The tension built up by this antinomy has proved to be fruitful over the centuries. However, the notion that the soul was material proved so unacceptable to both the Aristotelians and the Christians that for nearly two millennia the atomic hypothesis languished.

11. According to Democritus, empty space ________.

A. is directionless with regard to the movement of atoms

B. is an erroneous notion concerning atoms

C. possesses inertial mass

D. is an illusion when viewed at the atomic level

12. The author discusses the beliefs of Aristotle and his followers in order to________.

A. show the history that led up to the development of the theory of atomism.

B. note that influential individuals delayed the acceptance of scientific truth

C. highlight the accuracy of certain parts of Democritus’s theory

D. add an element of philosophy into an otherwise scientific discussion

13. It can be inferred from Democritus’s inclusion of the soul in his theories of the material

universe that ________.

A. philosophy, religion, and science were not always thought of as separate fields

B. scientists were often unsuccessful in making philosophical theories

C. he was attempting to align his thinking with that of Aristotle

D. while his initial theories were accurate, his later theories were proven wrong

14. Democritus would most likely believe that which of the following would explain the life

cycle of a flower?

A. The constant motion of atoms produces the illusion of a flower.

B. The splitting of atoms leads to the creation of new cells which form the flower.

C. The same material that composes the soul also breathes life into plants.

D. Atoms come together as the flower grows and disperse as it dies.

15. Which is most analogous to a “hardy thinker’s” view of the soul?

A. A politician’s practice of using public transportation because that is how everyone in his

city travels.

B. A doctor’s recommendation that his patient quit smoking to improve the patient’s health

while the doctor smokes a pack a day.

C. A mother taking her daughter to ballet practice every day because the mother never had

that opportunity as a child.

D. A teacher showing all his students the proper way to do a math problem and then doing

nothing while the students solve a set of problems.

Part IV. Translation (40 points)

Section A. Chinese to English (20 points): Translate the following into English. Write your translation on the ANSWER SHEET.

白先勇（Pai Hsien-yung）毕业于爱荷华大学著名的“作家工作坊”，想必也曾吸取了詹姆斯、乔伊斯、福克纳和菲茨杰拉德等大家的写作经验。他的作品中一再出现的主题“在腐蚀中保存天真”可以为这点作证；他的故事里对耀眼的铺张、佳肴美酒的描写也使人不免要拿来和盖茨比的华筵相较。但是，不管故事背景是上流社会还是下流社会，使他笔下的人物具备了人道色彩的，是他们执着于追求一个美好、虚幻的理想。他们一生所抱的庸俗平凡的向往不断地被超乎自己所能控制的力量所摧毁。

Section B. English to Chinese (20 points): Translate the following into Chinese. Write your translation on the ANSWER SHEET.

Language is so tightly woven into human experience that it is scarcely possible to imagine life without it. Chances are that if you find two or more people together anywhere on earth, they will soon be exchanging words. When there is no one to talk with, people talk to themselves, to their pets, even to their plants. In our social relations, the race is not to the swift but to the verbal — the spellbinding orator, the silver-tongued seducer, the persuasive child who wins the battle of wills against their parents.

Part V. Writing (30 points)

Directions: Write a 400-word essay about the issue presented in the following excerpt. DO NOT WRITE ON ANOTHER TOPIC. AN OFF-TOPIC ESSAY WILL RECEIVE A SCORE OF ZERO.

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: If there is any reaction, both are transformed.

What must we do to truly understand ourselves? In an essay, support your position by discussing an example (or examples) from literature, the arts, science and technology, history, current events, or your own experience, or observations.