1、北京外国语大学2002 年硕士研究生入学考试基础英语试题I. Reading ComprehensionThis section contains two passages. Read each passage and then answer the questions given at the end of the passage.Passage OneJust before Sept. 11 changed storytelling in America forever, my Hollywood agent explained that my new novel was doomed i
2、n movieland because it lacked sufficient “explosive moments.” Given this, the fact that the Defense Department is currently consulting with Hollywood scriptwriters and producers to help U.S. generals “think outside the box” is beyond comprehension. Hollywood storytellers invented the box. They worsh
3、ip the box. They have spent their lives mass-producing the box.As American movie geniuses scramble to reinvent their formula and edit out scenes that might offend post-Sept. 11 sensibilities. I feel a wonderful release. The box is dead. The tyranny of Hollywood has temporarily abated. What will fill
4、 this storytelling vacuum has yet to be seen, but my bet is that the appetite for stories that explore violence and mayhem, rather than exploiting them, will have an even broader appeal.Although the body count is traditionally high in my genre, the best thrillers and crime novels have never been abo
5、ut thrills or crime. They are about the often subtle, often banal inner workings of evil, and about the many shapes of heroismthose impossible struggles of the individual challenged by forces that threaten his soul more than his body.Certainly, some of the landscape of popular fiction is changed. St
6、ock characters that have been so reliable in their ability to scare us sillyserial killers, stalkers, hit men, mob bosses, psychopathic cannibalswither and turn to dust in the face of the far more potent forms of evil we have encountered.Real-life heroes reshape standards for bravery. Who has not te
7、sted his imagination by banding together with strangers on that doomed plane, throwing together a hasty plan, then storming down the narrow aisle to tackle a group of razor-wielding thugs? Who hasnt imagined himself pushing upward into those smoke-darkened hallways as choking civilians rush out of h
8、arms way, while all around us a faint rumble rises?Thriller writers grapple with the devilish distinction between revenge and justice, and show violence and bravery in their starkest forms. Books like Huckleberry Finn, Moby-Dick and A Farewell to Arms share the gritty sensibility and brutally honest
9、 portraits of violence that distinguish the modern thriller.Since Sept. 11, my Hollywood agent has changed her tune. Now the reason my book will never be made into a film is that the one explosive moment it did contain is a scene portraying an airliner brought down by terrorists. In a book written o
10、ver a year ago, Ive broken a brand new taboo. I get no points for prescience and want none. My barometer was twitching: thats all I can say. I write about what scares me. And these days everywhere I look, I see material.1. Explain the following sentences or phrases in English, bringing out the impli
11、ed meaning, if there is any：（18 points ）（1）They have spent their lives mass-producing the box.（2）.edit out scenes that might offend post-Sept. Il sensibilities（3）.the appetite for stories that explore violence and mayhem, rather than exploiting them, will have an even broader appeal（4）Although the b
12、ody count is traditionally high in my genre.（5）.wither and turn to dust in the face of the far more potent forms of evil .（6）.my Hollywood agent has changed her tune2. Give a brief answer to the following question: （6 points）（1）What does the author mean by saying: “Ive broken a brand new taboo”?Pass
13、age TwoIts the first week of school at the University of California, Berkeley, and Sproul Plaza, the campuss main thoroughfare, is bustling with the usual lunchtime crowd: protesters clanging garbage-can lids and plinking cowbells; upperclassmen blaring boomboxes; a jazz ensemble luring potential re
14、cruits with a Miles Davis standard. Its a portrait of diversity in every way but one: skin color. A disproportionate number of the students walking around Sproul are Asian-Americans. Amy Tang, a third-year cognitive-science major, sits at a booth for the Chinese Student Association. “I came to Berke
15、ley for the diversity,” she says, surveying the plaza. “But when I got here and saw all the Asians, it was really weird.”Berkeleys rapidly morphing student body has sparked one of the fiercest debates in higher education. The schools Asian-American population had already been surging for years when,
16、 in 1996, California voters approved Proposition 209, a ballot initiative that banned affirmative action at all state institutions. At the time, the campus was tom by protests. And the result seemed to confirm the doomsayers predictions: enrollment of African-American, Hispanic and Native American s
17、tudents plunged at Berkeley; while the Asian-American population continued to rise. Asian-American students now make up about 45 percent of incoming freshmen, white students 30 percent, Hispanic students 9 percent and African-American only 4 percent. And the drops in under-represented minorities are
18、 even more acute at the grad schools. William Bagley, a university regent who supports affirmative action, insists that the universitys most prestigious campuseslike Berkeleyhave become “reverse ghettos, with Asians and whites and a lack of color.”What accounts for the shift? To start, the pool of e
19、ligible Asian-American applicants was already huge. Nearby San Francisco boasts the highest percentage of Asian-Americans in the continental United States. And Asian-Americans are many times more likely than other groups to graduate at the top of their high-school classes. At Cal, many Asian-America
20、n students attribute their academic success to family pressure and, in some cases, an immigrant mind-set. “Theres such a push to succeed,” says Marian Liu, a fifth-year student at Cal whose father was a Chinese immigrant. Ward Connerly, a UC regent who is one of the most vocal opponents of affirmati
21、ve action, says that before 209, Asian-American students were discriminated against. “There was this fear that without the use of race, the whole campus would become Asian,” he says.Its a much different picture for Berkeleys African-American, Hispanic and Native American students. Even after theyve
22、been admitted, Berkeley has a tough time persuading them to enroll. Brett Byers, a fourth-year business major who runs the schools Black Recruitment and Retention Center, calls prospective to try to persuade them to come to Cal. “When I call, they think there are no black students here,” she says. B
23、yers recently helped reprise a traditioncalled “Black Wednesday”where the campuss dwindling population of black students could relax, network and socialize on Sproul. “There was a time when students of color used to hang out all the time on Sproul,” says Anya Booker, a friend and adviser of Byerss w
24、ho graduated from Berkely in 1989. “The shame is that its been reduced to a single Wednesday.” And students say the lack of underrepresented minorities is apparent in classespecially the grad schools. Serena Lin, a first-year law student who was also an undergraduate at Berkeley, says she sat in on
25、a drug-policyseminar when she was a prospective student. “They were talking about how U.S. drug policy affects minorities,” she says. “And there wasnt a single African-American in the class.”These days Berkeley is trying to adjust to life after 209. The campuss biggest new buzzword is “outreach.” Th
26、e University of California is spending $150 millionmore than twice the pre-209 numberin an effort to increase the pool of qualified underrepresented minority students. And Daniel Hernandez, editor of the school newspaper, says that despite all the changes, race relations on campus are relatively hea
27、lthy. “Students are sort of settling in to the way things are,” says Hernandez. But is that necessarily good? Underrepresented minorities have long been the backbone of Berkeleys political mood, energizing the campus. In gaining a new face, Berkeley will have to live with what it has lost.1. Explain
28、 the following sentences or phrases in English, bringing out the implied meaning, if there is any:（18 points）（1）Its a portrait diversity in every way but one: skin color.（2）And the result seemed to confirm the doomsayers predictions（3）And the drops in underrepresented minorities are even more acute
29、at the grad schools.（4）an immigrant mind-set （5）Students are sort of settling in to the way things are.（6）.have long been the backbone of Berkeleys political mood, energizing the campus2. Answer the following questions briefly and to the point:（18 points）（1）why does the author say that universitys m
30、ost prestigious campuses like Berkeley “have become reverse ghettos, with Asians and whites and a lack of color”?（2）What does the author mean when he says: “In gaining a new face, Berkeley will have to live with what it has lost.”?（3）How does the author feel about proposition 209?. Translate the fol
31、lowing passage into English:（40 points）爱国者人爱之，自尊者人尊之记得在苏黎世大学进行为期一年的博士后研修时，由于勤奋努力，我提前两个月完成了我的课题研究任务。当导师古根汉姆教授读完我提交的 6 篇论文时，惊喜万分。没过几天，校方拿来一份合同，提出以 1.2 万瑞士法郎（约合人民币 6 万元）的月薪聘请我担任研究员，我豪不犹豫地拒绝了。我的举动大大出乎教授的意料。当天晚上，一向惜时如金的他，破例邀我去散步。我告诉他我之所以这么做的原因：第一，我的祖国很需要我；第二，我有我的信仰，我的所作所为不能违背我的信仰。我正想礼节性地道个歉，他却阻止了我，对我说，薜，
32、你是第一个拒绝我的人，但你的选择却使我更为敬重你。教授感叹道，虽然我们信仰的东西不一样，但能为信仰而活着、而奋斗的人，总是令人尊敬的。我从瑞士归国时，古根汉姆教授免费送我价值 3000 多美元的菌株和本亲笔签名的最新著作。而在这之前，我就是出高价购买这种进菌株，教授也是不会答应的。我先后去过 5 个国家留学，与 20 多个国家的人共同过事，从中我发现一个现象：爱国者人爱之，自尊者之尊之。人是要有一点精神的，这种精神就是理想、信念、民族自尊心、自信心和自豪感的总和。苏黎世大学 University of Zurich古根海姆 Guggenheim瑞士法郎 Swiss franc菌株 bacter
33、ial strain北京外国语大学2002 年硕士研究生入学考试基础英语试题参考答案I. I. Reading ComprehensionThis section contains two passages. Read each passage and then answer the questions given at the end of the passage.Passage OneJust before Sept. 11 changed storytelling in America forever, my Hollywood agent explained that my new n
34、ovel was doomed in movieland because it lacked sufficient “explosive moments.” Given this, the fact that the Defense Department is currently consulting with Hollywood scriptwriters and producers to help U.S. generals “think outside the box” is beyond comprehension. Hollywood storytellers invented th
35、e box. They worship the box. They have spent their lives mass-producing the box.As American movie geniuses scramble to reinvent their formula and edit out scenes that might offend post-Sept. 11 sensibilities. I feel a wonderful release. The box is dead. The tyranny of Hollywood has temporarily abate
36、d. What will fill this storytelling vacuum has yet to be seen, but my bet is that the appetite for stories that explore violence and mayhem, rather than exploiting them, will have an even broader appeal.Although the body count is traditionally high in my genre, the best thrillers and crime novels ha
37、ve never been about thrills or crime. They are about the often subtle, often banal inner workings of evil, and about the many shapes of heroismthose impossible struggles of the individual challenged by forces that threaten his soul more than his body.Certainly, some of the landscape of popular ficti
38、on is changed. Stock characters that have been so reliable in their ability to scare us sillyserial killers, stalkers, hit men, mob bosses, psychopathic cannibalswither and turn to dust in the face of the far more potent forms of evil we have encountered.Real-life heroes reshape standards for braver
39、y. Who has not tested his imagination by banding together with strangers on that doomed plane, throwing together a hasty plan, then storming down the narrow aisle to tackle a group of razor-wielding thugs? Who hasnt imagined himself pushing upward into those smoke-darkened hallways as choking civili
40、ans rush out of harms way, while all around us a faint rumble rises?Thriller writers grapple with the devilish distinction between revenge and justice, and show violence and bravery in their starkest forms. Books like Huckleberry Finn, Moby-Dick and A Farewell to Arms share the gritty sensibility an
41、d brutally honest portraits of violence that distinguish the modern thriller.Since Sept. 11, my Hollywood agent has changed her tune. Now the reason my book will never be made into a film is that the one explosive moment it did contain is a scene portraying an airliner brought down by terrorists. In
42、 a book written over a year ago, Ive broken a brand new taboo. I get no points for prescience and want none. My barometer was twitching: thats all I can say. I write about what scares me. And these days everywhere I look, I see material.1. Explain the following sentences or phrases in English, bring
43、ing out the implied meaning, if there is any：（18 points ）（1）They have spent their lives mass-producing the box.（2）.edit out scenes that might offend post-Sept. Il sensibilities（3）.the appetite for stories that explore violence and mayhem, rather than exploiting them, will have an even broader appeal
44、（4）Although the body count is traditionally high in my genre.（5）.wither and turn to dust in the face of the far more potent forms of evil .（6）.my Hollywood agent has changed her tune2. Give a brief answer to the following question: （6 points）（1）What does the author mean by saying: “Ive broken a bran
45、d new taboo”?参考答案：1. 1) All the time they have been writing stories in large quantities about thrills and crimes that scare people. 2) remove the scenes in their writing about crimes and thrills that may remind people of the Sept. 11, as people in the U.S. have become quite sensitive towards such sc
46、enes. 3) People will be interested in the stories that examine and analyze the reasons for violence and mayhem, instead of the stories that make use of violence and mayhem only to scare people only sensuously.4) Although most of the stories by scriptwriters are on the sensuous level, which only scar
47、e people.5) Compared with the far more powerful evil, which refers to the terrorists who attacked U.S on Sept. 11, those stock characters are so weak and insignificant. 6) my Hollywood agent has alerted her attitudes and manners about “explosive moments”.2. (1) The writer means that despite the chan
48、ge of the way of storytelling in Hollywood after Sept. 11, the book he has written a year ago is not to meet the nowadays demands, either. Thats because this time he has touched upon the once pervasive but now forbidden thingnarration about “explosive moments”, which is forbidden because it will “of
49、fend post-Sept. 11 sensibilities”. Passage TwoIts the first week of school at the University of California, Berkeley, and Sproul Plaza, the campuss main thoroughfare, is bustling with the usual lunchtime crowd: protesters clanging garbage-can lids and plinking cowbells; upperclassmen blaring boomboxes; a jazz ensemble luring potential recruits with a Miles Davis standard. Its a portrait of diversity in every way but one: skin color. A disproportionate number of the students walking around Sproul are Asian-Americans. Amy
