Section ¢ñ Use of English

Directions:

Read the following text.Choose the best word(s)for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1.(10 points)

What does it mean to say that we live in a world of persuasion? It means that we live 1 competing interests.Your roommate¡¯s need to study for an exam may take 2 over pizza.Your instructor may have good reasons not to change your grade.And the 3 of your romantic interest may have other options.

In such a world, persuasion is the art of getting others to give fair and 4 consideration to our point of view.When we persuade, we want to influence 5 others believe and behave.We may not always prevail¡ªother points of view may be more persuasive, 6 on the listener, the situation, and the merits of the case.But when we practice the art of persuasion, we try to 7 that our position receives the attention it deserves.

Some people, however, 8 to the very idea of persuasion.They may regard it as an unwelcome intrusion 9 their lives or as a manipulation or domination.10 , we believe that persuasion is 11¡ªto live is to persuade.Persuasion may be ethical or unethical, selfless or selfish, 12 or degrading.Persuaders may enlighten our minds or 13 on our vulnerability.Ethical persuasion, however, calls 14 sound reasoning and is sensitive to the feelings and needs of listeners.Such persuasion can help us 15 the wisdom of the past to the decisions we now must make.16, an essential part of education is learning to 17 the one kind of persuasion and to encourage and practise the other.

18 its personal importance to us, persuasion is essential to society.The 19 to persuade and be persuaded is the foundation of the American political system, guaranteed by the First Amendment 20 the Constitution.

1.\[A\] on\[B\] among\[C\] for\[D\] by

2.\[A\] priority\[B\] advantage\[C\] control\[D\] place

3.\[A\] objection\[B\] projection\[C\] project\[D\] object

4.\[A\] unbiased\[B\] unprejudiced\[C\] favorable\[D\] favorite

5.\[A\] what\[B\] which\[C\] why\[D\] how

6.\[A\] living\[B\] depending\[C\] resting\[D\] insisting

7.\[A\] ensure\[B\] assure\[C\] insure\[D\] reassure

8.\[A\] agree\[B\] object\[C\] confront\[D\] consent

9.\[A\] onto\[B\] of\[C\] to\[D\] into

10.\[A\] In contrast\[B\] In particular\[C\] For instance\[D\] As a result

11.\[A\] prominent\[B\] invariable\[C\] evident\[D\] inevitable

12.\[A\] embarrassing\[B\] inspiring\[C\] upgrading\[D\] innovating

13.\[A\] prey\[B\] rest\[C\] put\[D\] fall

14.\[A\] for\[B\] up\[C\] off\[D\] on

15.\[A\] apply\[B\] contribute\[C\] transfer\[D\] connect

16.\[A\] However\[B\] Conversely\[C\] Furthermore\[D\] Therefore

17.\[A\] resist\[B\] perform\[C\] insist\[D\] restrain

18.\[A\] Beyond\[B\] Except\[C\] Including\[D\] Excluding

19.\[A\] power\[B\] authority\[C\] ability\[D\] right

20.\[A\] to\[B\] for\[C\] on\[D\] in

Section ¢ò Reading Comprehension

Part A

Directions:

Read the following four texts.Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D.Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.(40 points)

Text1

¡°I¡¯ve never met a human worth cloning,¡± says cloning expert Mark Westhusin from the cramped confines of his lab at Texas A&M University.¡°It¡¯s a stupid endeavor.¡± That¡¯s an interesting choice of adjective, coming from a man who has spent millions of dollars trying to clone a 13ª²yearª²old dog named Missy.So far, he and his team have not succeeded, though they have cloned two calves and expect to clone a cat soon.They just might succeed in cloning Missy later this year¡ªor perhaps not for another five years.It seems the reproductive system of man¡¯s best friend is one of the mysteries of modern science.

Westhusin¡¯s experience with cloning animals leaves him vexed by all this talk of human cloning.In three years of work on the Missyplicity project, using hundreds upon hundreds of canine eggs, the A&M team has produced only a dozen or so embryos carrying Missy¡¯s DNA.None have survived the transfer to a surrogate mother.The wastage of eggs and the many spontaneously aborted fetuses may be acceptable when you¡¯re dealing with cats or bulls, he argues, but not with humans.¡°Cloning is incredibly inefficient, and also dangerous,¡± he says.

Even so, dog cloning is a commercial opportunity, with a nice research payoff.Ever since Dolly the sheep was cloned in 1997, Westhusin¡¯s phone at A&M College of Veterinary Medicine has been ringing busily.Cost is no obstacle for customers like Missy¡¯s mysterious owner, who wishes to remain unknown to protect his privacy.He¡¯s plopped down $3.7 million so far to fund the research because he wants a twin to carry on Missy¡¯s fine qualities after she dies.But he knows her clone may not have her temperament.In a statement of purpose, Missy¡¯s owners and the A&M team say they are ¡°both looking forward to studying the ways that her clone differs from Missy.¡±

The fate of the dog samples will depend on Westhusin¡¯s work.He knows that even if he gets a dog viably pregnant, the offspring, should they survive, will face the problems shown at birth by other cloned animals: abnormalities like immature lungs and heart and weight problems.¡°Why would you ever want to clone humans,¡± Westhusin asks, ¡°when we¡¯re not even close to getting it worked out in animals yet?¡±

21.Which of the following best represents Mr.Westhusin¡¯s attitude toward cloning?

£ÛA£Ý Animal cloning is a stupid attempt.

£ÛB£Ý Human cloning is not yet close to getting it worked out.

£ÛC£Ý Cloning is too inefficient and should be stopped.

£ÛD£Ý Animals cloning yes, and human cloning at least not now.

22.The Missyplicity project does not seem very successful probably because .

£ÛA£Ý there isn¡¯t enough fund to support the research

£ÛB£Ý cloning dogs is more complicated than cloning cats and bulls

£ÛC£Ý Mr.Westhusin is too busy taking care of the business

£ÛD£Ý the owner is asking for an exact copy of his pet

23.When Mr.Westhusin says ¡°...cloning is dangerous,¡± he implies that .

£ÛA£Ý lab technicians may be affected by chemicals

£ÛB£Ý cats and dogs in the lab may die of diseases

£ÛC£Ý experiments may waste lots of lives

£ÛD£Ý cloned animals could outlive the natural ones

24.We can infer from the third paragraph that .

£ÛA£Ý rich people are more interested in cloning humans than animals

£ÛB£Ý cloning of animal pets is becoming a prosperous industry

£ÛC£Ý there is no distinction between a cloned and a natural dog

£ÛD£Ý Missy¡¯s master pays a lot in a hope to revive the dog

25.We may conclude from the text that .

£ÛA£Ý human cloning will not succeed unless the technique is more efficient

£ÛB£Ý scientists are optimistic about cloning technique

£ÛC£Ý many people are against the idea of human cloning

£ÛD£Ý cloned animals are more favored by owners even if they are weaker

Text2

With the extension of democratic rights in the first half of the nineteenth century and the ensuing decline of the Federalist establishment, a new conception of education began to emerge.Education was no longer a confirmation of a preª²existing status, but an instrument in the acquisition of higher status.For a new generation of upwardly mobile students, the goal of education was not to prepare them to live comfortably in the world into which they had been born, but to teach them new virtues and skills that would propel them into a different and better world.Education became training; and the student was no longer the gentlemanª²inª²waiting, but the journeyman apprentice for upward mobility.

In the nineteenth century a college education began to be seen as a way to get ahead in the world.The founding of the landª²grant colleges opened the doors of higher education to poor but aspiring boys from nonª²Angloª²Saxon, workingª²class and lowerª²middleª²class backgrounds.The myth of the poor boy who worked his way through college to success drew millions of poor boys to the new campuses.And with this shift, education became more vocational: its object was the acquisition of practical skills and useful information.

For the gentlemanª²inª²waiting, virtue consisted above all in grace and style, in doing well what was appropriate to his position; education was merely a way of acquiring polish.And vice was manifested in gracelessness, awkwardness, in behaving inappropriately, discourteously, or ostentatiously.For the apprentice, however, virtue was evidenced in success through hard work.The requisite qualities of character were not grace or style, but drive, determination, and a sharp eye for opportunity.While casual liberality and even prodigality characterized the gentleman, frugality, thrift, and selfª²control came to distinguish the new apprentice.And while the gentleman did not aspire to a higher station because his station was already high, the apprentice was continually becoming, striving, struggling upward.Failure for the apprentice meant standing still, not rising.

26.Which of the following is true according to the first paragraph?

£ÛA£Ý Democratic ideas started with education.

£ÛB£Ý Federalists were opposed to education.

£ÛC£Ý New education helped confirm people¡¯s social status.

£ÛD£Ý Old education had been in tune with hierarchical society.

27.The difference between ¡°gentlemanª²inª²waiting¡± and ¡°journeyman¡± is that  .

£ÛA£Ý education trained gentlemanª²inª²waiting to climb higher ladders

£ÛB£Ý journeyman was ready to take whatever was given to him

£ÛC£Ý gentlemanª²inª²waiting belonged to a fixed and high social class

£ÛD£Ý journeyman could do practically nothing without education

28.According to the second paragraph, landª²grant college .

£ÛA£Ý belonged to the landª²owning class

£ÛB£Ý enlarged the scope of education

£ÛC£Ý was provided only to the poor

£ÛD£Ý benefited all but the upper class

29.Which of the following was the most important for a ¡°gentlemanª²inª²waiting¡±?

£ÛA£Ý Manners.£ÛB£Ý Education.£ÛC£Ý Moral.£ÛD£Ý Personality.

30.The best title for the passage is .

£ÛA£Ý Education and Progress

£ÛB£Ý Old and New Social Norms

£ÛC£Ý New Education: Opportunities for More

£ÛD£Ý Demerits of Hierarchical Society

Text3

Talk to any parent of a student who took an adventurous gap year(a year between school and university when some students earn money, travel, etc.)and a misty look will come into their eyes.There are some disasters and even the most motivated, organised gap student does require family backª²up, financial, emotional and physical.The parental mistiness is not just about the brilliant experience that has matured their offspring; it is vicarious living.We all wish preª²university gap years had been the fashion in our day.We can see how much tougher our kids become; how much more prepared to benefit from university or to decide positively that they are going to do something other than a degree.

Gap years are fashionable, as is reflected in the huge growth in the number of charities and private companies offering them.Pictures of Prince William toiling in Chile have helped, but the trend has been gathering steam for a decade.The range of gap packages starts with backpacking, includes working with charities, building hospitals and schools and, very commonly, working as a language assistant, teaching English.With this trend, however, comes a danger.Once parents feel that a wellª²structured year is essential to their wouldª²be undergraduate¡¯s progress to a better university, a good degree, an impressive CV and well paid employment, as the gap companies blurbs suggest it might be, then parents will start organising¡ªand paying for¡ªthe gaps.

Where there are disasters, according to Richard Oliver, director of the gap companies¡¯ umbrella organisation, the Year Out Group, it is usually because of poor planning.That can be the fault of the company or of the student, he says, but the best insurance is thoughtful preparation.¡°When people get it wrong, it is usually medical or, especially among girls, it is that they have not been away from home before or because expectation does not match reality.¡±

The point of a gap year is that it should be the time when the school leaver gets to do the thing that he or she fancies.Kids don¡¯t mature if mum and dad decide how they are going to mature.If the 18ª²yearª²old¡¯s way of maturing is to slob out on Hampstead Heath soaking up sunshine or spending a year working with fishermen in Cornwall, then that¡¯s what will be productive for that person.The consensus, however, is that some structure is an advantage and that the prime mover needs to be the student.

The 18ª²yearª²old who was dispatched by his parents at two weeks¡¯ notice to Canada to learn to be a snowboarding instructor at a cost of ¡ê5,800, probably came back with little more than a hangover.The 18ª²yearª²old on the same package who worked for his fare and spent the rest of his year instructing in resorts from New Zealand to Switzerland, and came back to apply for university, is the positive counterbalance.

31.It can be inferred from the first paragraph that parents of gap students may.

£ÛA£Ý help children to be prepared for disasters

£ÛB£Ý receive all kinds of support from their children

£ÛC£Ý have rich experience in bringing up their offspring

£ÛD£Ý experience watching children grow up

32.According to the text, which of the following is true?

£ÛA£Ý The popularity of gap years results from an increasing number of charities.

£ÛB£Ý Prince William was working hard during his gap year.

£ÛC£Ý Gap years are not as fashionable as they were ten years ago.

£ÛD£Ý A wellª²structured gap year is a guarantee of university success.

33.The word¡°packages¡±(Line 3, Para.2)means.

£ÛA£Ý parcels carried in traveling£ÛB£Ý a comprehensive set of activities

£ÛC£Ý something presented in a particular way£ÛD£Ý charity actions

34.What can cause the disasters of gap years?

£ÛA£Ý Intervention of parents.£ÛB£Ý Irresponsibility of the companies.

£ÛC£Ý A lack of insurance.£ÛD£Ý Low expectation.

35.An 18ª²yearª²old is believed to take a meaningful gap year when he/she

£ÛA£Ý lives up to his/her parents¡¯ expectations

£ÛB£Ý spends time being lazy and doing nothing

£ÛC£Ý learns skills by spending parents¡¯ money

£ÛD£Ý earns his or her living and gains working experience

Text4

The winner takes all, as is widely supposed in computing circles.Indeed, geeks have coined a word,¡°Googlearchy¡±, for the way in which search engines encourage web traffic towards the most popular sites.The belief that search engines make popular websites even more fashionable, at the expense of other pages, is now being challenged by research.

The apparently magical ability of search engines such as Google to return relevant websites even when given the sketchiest of clues by the person entering a question relies on the use of mathematical recipes or algorithms(¼ÆËã³ÌÐò).Google works by analyzing the structure of the web itself.Each of its billions of pages can link to other pages and can also, in turn, be linked to by others.If a page is linked to many other pages, it is flagged up as being important.Furthermore, if the pages that link to this page are also important, then that page is even more likely to be important.The algorithm has been made increasingly complex over the years, to deter those who would manipulate their pages to appear higher in their rankings, but it remains at the heart of Google¡¯s success.

Google is not alone in this.Many search engines take account of the number of links to a website when they return the results of a search.Because of this, there is a widespread belief among computer, social, and political scientists that search engines create a vicious circle that amplifies the dominance of established and already popular websites.Page returned by research engines are more likely to be discovered and consequently linked to by others.

Not so, according to a controversial new paper that has recently appeared on ArViv, an online collection of physics and related papers.In it, Santo Fortunato and his colleagues at Indiana University in America and Bielefeld University in Germany claim that search engines actually have an egalitarian effect that increases traffic to less popular sites.

The researchers developed a model that described two extreme cases.In the first, people browsed the web only by surfing random links.In the second, people only visited pages that were returned by search engines.The researchers then turned to the real world.To their amazement, they found that the relationship between the two did not lie between the extremes suggested by their model but somewhere completely different.It appears to show that the supposed bias in favor of popular pages is actually alleviated by the combination of search engines and people following random links.

36.What can we infer from the first three paragraphs?

[A] Mathematical methods help search engines become more popular.

[B] The web information seems to be dominated by Google alone.

[C] Sociologists argue that search engines alleviate the inequality of websites.

[D] The ability of search engines is dependent on using algorithms.

37.According to the text, the importance of a page is determined by.

[A] controlling other pages

[B] the number of its links to other pages

[C] using mathematical methods

[D] the structure of the web itself

38.The foremost reason why Google is successful is no other than.

[A] its magical ability

[B] its higher page rankings

[C] complexity of its algorithms

[D] its heavy web traffic

39.Santo Fortunato and his colleagues seem to suggest that.

[A] fair effect is created by increasing traffic to less well known sites

[B] popular websites are made more fashionable by search engines

[C] the situation in favor of popular pages has become more serious

[D] Popular pages are more likely to be discovered by random links

40.The author seems to be mainly concerned with.

[A] prejudice against less popular websites

[B] equality of search engines

[C] key to Google¡¯s success

[D] negative effects of search engines