1、1TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2010)-GRADE EIGHT-PART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION (35 MIN)SECTION A MINI-LECTUREIn this section you will hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them to co
2、mplete a gap-filling task after the mini-lecture. When the lecture is over, you will be given two minutes to check your notes, and another ten minutes to complete the gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE. Use the blank sheet for note-taking.Complete the gap-filling task. Some of the gaps below may r
3、equire a maximum of THREE words. Make sure the word(s) you fill in is (are) both grammatically the puller essentially becomes a family retainer.From June to September Kolkata can get torrential rains, and its drainage system doesnt need torrential rain to begin backing up. Residents who favor a touc
4、h of hyperbole say that in Kolkata “if a stray cat pees, theres a flood.” During my stay it once rained for about 48 hours. Entire neighborhoods couldnt be reached by motorized vehicles, and the newspapers showed pictures of rickshaws being pulled through water that was up to the pullers waists. Whe
5、n its raining, the normal customer base for rickshaw pullers expands greatly, as does the price of a journey. A writer in Kolkata told me, “When it rains, even the governor takes rickshaws.”While I was in Kolkata, a magazine called India Today published its annual ranking of Indian states, according
6、 to such measurements as prosperity and infrastructure. Among Indias 20 largest states, Bihar finished dead last, as it has for four of the past five years. Bihar, a couple hundred miles north of Kolkata, is where the vast majority of rickshaw pullers come from. Once in Kolkata, they sleep on the st
7、reet or in their rickshaws or in a deraa combination garage and repair shop and dormitory managed by someone called a sardar. For sleeping privileges in a dera, pullers pay 100 rupees (about $2.50) a month, which sounds like a pretty good deal until youve visited a dera（防护评估和研究机构 ）. They gross betwe
8、en 100 and 150 rupees a day, out of which they have to pay 20 rupees for the use of the rickshaw and an occasional 75 or more for a payoff if a policeman stops them for, say, crossing a street where rickshaws are prohibited. A 2003 study found that rickshaw pullers are near the bottom of Kolkata occ
9、upations in income, doing better than only the ragpickers（拾破烂的人） and the beggars. For someone without land or education, that still beats trying to make a living in Bihar.There are people in Kolkata, particularly educated and politically aware people, who will not ride in a rickshaw, because they ar
10、e offended by the idea of being pulled by another human being or because they consider it not the sort of thing people of their station do or because they regard the hand-pulled rickshaw as a relic of colonialism. Ironically, some of those people are not enthusiastic about banning rickshaws. The edi
11、tor of the editorial pages of Kolkatas TelegraphRudrangshu Mukherjee, a former academic who still writes history bookstold me, for instance, that he sees humanitarian considerations as coming down on the side of keeping hand-pulled rickshaws on the road. “I refuse to be carried by another human bein
12、g myself,” he said, “but I question whether we have the right to take away their livelihood.” Rickshaw supporters point out that when it comes to demeaning occupations, rickshaw pullers are hardly unique in Kolkata.When I asked one rickshaw puller if he thought the governments plan to rid the city o
13、f rickshaws was based on a genuine interest in his welfare, he smiled, with a quick shake of his heada gesture I interpreted to mean, “If you are so naive as to ask such a question, I will answer it, but it is not worth wasting words on.” Some rickshaw pullers I met were resigned to the imminent end
14、 of their livelihood and pin their hopes on being offered something in its place. As migrant workers, they dont have the political clout enjoyed by, say, Kolkatas sidewalk hawkers, who, after supposedly being scaled back at the beginning of the modernization drive, still clog the sidewalks, selling
15、absolutely everythingor, as I found during the 48 hours of rain, absolutely everything but umbrellas. “The government was the government of the poor people,” one sardar（司令官） told me. “Now they shake hands with the capitalists and try to get rid of poor people.”But others in Kolkata believe that rick
16、shaws will simply be confined more strictly to certain neighborhoods, out of the view of World Bank traffic consultants and California investment delegationsor that they will be allowed to die out naturally as theyre supplanted by more modern conveyances. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, after all, is not t
17、he first high West Bengal official to say that rickshaws would be off the streets of Kolkata in a matter of months. Similar statements have been made as far back as 1976. The ban decreed by Bhattacharjee has been delayed by a court case and by a widely held belief that some retraining or social secu
18、rity settlement ought to be offered to rickshaw drivers. It may also have been delayed by a quiet reluctance to give up something that has been part of the fabric of the city for more than a century. Kolkata, a resident told me, “has difficulty letting go.” One day a city official handed me a report
19、 from the municipal government laying out options for how rickshaw pullers might be rehabilitated.“Which option has been chosen?” I asked, noting that the report was dated almost exactly a year before my visit.5“That hasnt been decided,” he said.“When will it be decided?”“That hasnt been decided,” h
20、e said.11. According to the passage, rickshaws are used in Kolkata mainly for the following EXCEPTA. taking foreign tourists around the city.B. providing transport to school children.C. carrying store supplies and purchasesD. carrying people over short distances.12. Which of the following statements
21、 best describes the rickshaw pullers from Bihar?A. They come from a relatively poor area.B. They are provided with decent accommodation.C. Their living standards are very low in Kolkata.D. They are often caught by policemen in the streets.13. That “For someone without land or education, that still b
22、eats trying to make a living in Bihar” (4 paragraph) means that even so,A. the poor prefer to work and live in Bihar.B. the poor from Bihar fare better than back home.C. the poor never try to make a living in Bihar.D. the poor never seem to resent their life in Kolkata.14. We can infer from the pass
23、age that some educated and politically aware peopleA. hold mixed feelings towards rickshaws.B. strongly support the ban on rickshaws.C. call for humanitarian actions fro rickshaw pullers.D. keep quiet on the issue of banning rickshaws.15. Which of the following statements conveys the authors sense o
24、f humor?A. “not the poor but people who are just a notch above the poor.” (2 paragraph)B. “,.which sounds like a pretty good deal until youve visited a dera.” (4 paragraph)C. Kolkata, a resident told me, “ has difficulty letting go.” (7 paragraph).D.“or, as I found during the 48 hours of rain, absol
25、utely everything but umbrellas.” (6 paragraph)16. The dialogue between the author and the city official at the end of the passage seems to suggestA. the uncertainty of the courts decision.B. the inefficiency of the municipal government.C. the difficulty of finding a good solution.D. the slowness in
26、processing options.TEXT BDepending on whom you believe, the average American will, over a lifetime, wait in lines for two years (says National Public Radio) or five years (according to customer-loyalty experts).The crucial word is average, as wealthy Americans routinely avoid lines altogether. Once
27、the most democratic of institutions, lines are rapidly becoming the exclusive province of suckers(people who still believe in and practice waiting in lines). Poor suckers, mostly.Airports resemble France before the Revolution: first-class passengers enjoy “lite“ security lines and priority boarding,
28、 and disembark before the unwashed in coach, held at bay by a flight attendant, are allowed to foul the Jetway.At amusement parks, too, you can now buy your way out of line. This summer I haplessly watched kids use a $52 Gold Flash Pass to jump the lines at Six Flags New England, and similar systems
29、 are in use in most major American theme parks, from Universal Orlando to Walt Disney World, where the haves get to watch the have-mores breeze past on their way to their seats. Flash Pass teaches children a valuable lesson in real-world economics: that the rich are more important than you, especial
30、ly when it comes to waiting. An NBA player once said to me, with a bemused chuckle of disbelief, that when playing in Canada-get this-“we have to wait in the same customs line as everybody else.“6Almost every line can be breached for a price. In several U.S. cities this summer, early arrivers among
31、the early adopters waiting to buy iPhones offered to sell their spots in the lines. On Craigslist, prospective iPhone purchasers offered to pay “waiters“ or “placeholders“ to wait in line for them outside Apple stores.Inevitably, some semi-populist politicians have seen the value of sort-of waiting
32、in lines with the ordinary people. This summer Philadelphia mayor John Street waited outside an AT and behind the thin marble front were concrete and steel, just as behind the careless profusion of luxury were millions of pence, balanced to the last halfpenny. Somewhere in the background, hidden awa
33、y, behind the ten thousand llights and acres of white napery and bewildering glittering rows of teapots, behind the thousand waitresses and cash-box girls and black-coated floor managers and temperamental long-haired violinists, behind the mounds of cauldrons of stewed steak, the vanloads of ices, w
34、ere a few men who went to work juggling with fractions of a farming, who knew how many units of electricity it took to finish a steak-and-kidney pudding and how many minutes and seconds a waitress( five feet four in height and in average health) would need to carry a tray of given weight from the ki
35、tchen life to the table in the far corner. In short, there was a warm, sensuous, vulgar life flowering in the upper storeys, and a cold science working in the basement. Such as the gigantic tea-shop into which Turgis marched, in search not of mere refreshment but of all the enchantment of unfamiliar
36、 luxury. Perhaps he knew in his heart that men have conquered half the known world, looted whole kingdoms, and never arrived in such luxury. The place was built for him.It was built for a great many other people too, and, as usual, they were al there. It seemed with humanity. The marble entrance hal
37、l, piled dizzily with bonbons and cakes, was as crowded and bustling as a railway station. The gloom and grime of the streets, the raw air, all November, were at once left behind, forgotten: the atmosphere inside was golden, tropical, belonging to some high mid-summer of confectionery. Disdaining th
38、e lifts, Turgis, once more excited by the sight, sound, and smell of it all, climbed the wide staircase until he reached his favourite floor, whre an orchestra, led by a young Jewish violinist with wandering lustrous eyes and a passion for tremolo effects, acted as a magnet to a thousand girls, scen
39、ted air, the sensuous clamour of the strings; and, as he stood hesitating a moment, half dazed, there came, bowing, s sleek grave man, older than he was and far more distinguished than he could ever hope to be, who murmured deferentially: “ For one, sir? This way, please,” Shyly, yet proudly, Turgis
40、 followed him.21. That “behind the thin marble front were concrete and steel” suggests thatA. modern realistic commercialism existed behind the luxurious appearance.B. there was a fundamental falseness in the style and the appeal of the cafC. the architect had made a sensible blend of old and new bu
41、ilding materials.D. the caf was based on physical foundations and real economic strength.22. The following words or phrases are somewhat critical of the tea-shop EXCEPTA. “turned Babylonian”.B. “perhaps a new barbarism.C. “acres of white napery”.D. “balanced to the last halfpenny”.23. In its context
42、 the statement that “ the place was built for him” means that the caf was intended toA. please simple people in a simple way.B. exploit gullible people like him.C. satisfy a demand that already existed.D. provide relaxation for tired young men.24. Which of the following statements about the second p
43、aragraph is NOT true?A. The caf appealed to most senses simultaneously.B. The caf was both full of people and full of warmth.C. The inside of the caf was contrasted with the weather outside.D. It stressed the commercial determination of the caf owners.25. The following are comparisons made by the au
44、thor in the second paragraph EXCEPT thatA. the entrance hall is compared to a railway station.B. the orchestra is compared to a magnet.8C. Turgis welcomed the lift like a conquering soldier.D. the interior of the caf is compared to warm countries.26. The authors attitude to the caf isA. fundamentall
45、y critical.B. slightly admiring.C. quite undecided.D. completely neutral.TEXT DI Now elsewhere in the world, Iceland may be spoken of, somewhat breathlessly, as western Europes last pristine wilderness. But the environmental awareness that is sweeping the world had bypassed the majority of Icelander
46、s. Certainly they were connected to their land, the way one is complicatedly connected to, or encumbered by, family one cant do anything about. But the truth is, once youre off the beat-en paths of the low-lying coastal areas where everyone lives, the roads are few, and theyre all bad, so Icelands n
47、atural wonders have been out of reach and unknown even to its own inhab-itants. For them the land has always just been there, something that had to be dealt with and, if possible, exploitedthe mind-set being one of land as commodity rather than land as, well, priceless art on the scale of the “Mona
48、Lisa.”When the opportunity arose in 2003 for the national power company to enter into a 40-year contract with the American aluminum company Alcoa to supply hydroelectric power for a new smelter, those who had been dreaming of some-thing like this for decades jumped at it and never looked back. Icela
49、nd may at the moment be one of the worlds richest countries, with a 99 percent literacy rate and long life expectancy. But the proj-ects advocates, some of them getting on in years, were more emotionally attuned to the countrys century upon century of want, hardship, and colonial servitude to Denmark, which officially had ended only in 1944 and whose psychological imprint remained relatively fresh. For the longest time, life here had meant little more than a sod hut, dark all winter, cold, no hope, children dying left and right, earthquakes, pl
