Part One: Structure & Written Expression

Directions: In each question decide which of the four choices given will most suitably complete the sentence if inserted at the place(s) marked. Put the letter of your choice in the ANSWER SHEET. (25%)

1. After the lean musical years in the 1630s, there had been a          in Monteverdi’s operatic career: a new production of L’Arianna was staged in 1640, and three new operas appeared within two years.

A. reverence   B. resurgence   C. recrudescence    D. regress

2. The high-rise garbage repository is a          for both accomplishment and failure.

A. exaggeration    B. allusion    C. euphemism    D. metaphor

3. Their mother had died when they were little more than infants and it was from that moment the Paul’s misanthropy had         .

A. set back   B. set aside  C. set about   D. set in

4. The loud noise of the alarm clock          her sweet dream

A. broke down       B. broke upon      C. broke in on      D. broke through

5. The bishop didn’t specify in detail what he wanted to know, but I imagine he fears that Father Marr was killed because of something in his unknown past, which may not be          entirely to the church.

A. credible       B. credulous    C. credential      D. creditable

6. The room is about          in diameter as the hall.

A. one-third as large  B. as one-third large  C. as large one-third  D. one-third large as

7. The village was          two or three groups of simple houses, a church, a post-office and a small general store.

A. composed of     B. constructed by    C. consisted of    D. built with

8. The supervisor didn’t have time so far to go into it         , but he gave us an idea about his plan.

A. at hand    B. in turn     C. in conclusion    D. at length

9. Eric clearly          his father, a barbarian in every way

A. took after     B. asked after     C. got after      D. come after

10. The wealth of a country should be measured          the health and happiness of its people as well as the material goods it can produce.

A. in line with    B. in terms of    C. in regard with    D. by means of

Part Two: Reading Comprehension

Ⅰ. Each of the passages below is followed by some questions. For each question four answers are given. Read the passages carefully and choose the best answer to each question. Put your choice in the ANSWER SHEET. (10%)

Passage One

(1) John Kerry has definitively lost the popular vote by some three and a half million votes. That makes an all-out lawyers’ war in Ohio devoid of moral force (and I doubt that in the end there’ll be one).

(2) Kerry ran a tactical campaign, devoid of vision or explicable alternatives, utterly lacking in message discipline, and riddled with misjudgments -- it was one of the most incompetently run presidential campaigns by a Democrat in my lifetime.

(3) Kerry’s biggest blunder was his failure to focus like a laser on the economy in the final weeks of the campaign, despite polls showing it was the number one issue on voters’ minds. The lethal character of Kerry’s scatter-shot, flailing, themeless campaign close can be clearly seen in the Ohio exit polls. In the Buckeye State, 62% of the voters said the economy was "not good" -- BUT asked who they’d trust with the economy, they were evenly split between Bush and Kerry, 48-48%. The national number on that question actually favored Bush, who got 48% on the economy to Kerry’s 46%.

(4) By not focusing on the economy, even in a state that had lost 250,000 jobs on Bush’s watch Kerry couldn’t make the case that he’d do better. Whatever economic message his campaign had was blown out of the water by Kerry’s final-week harangues on the Iraqi explosives issue (about which there was too much reportorial dispute in the media to provide him a clean shot at Bush).

26. The last word “one” in the first paragraph refers to      .

A. a moral force    B. a lawyer     C. a war     D. Ohio

27. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

A. Kerry ran the campaign very incompetently.

B. Bush has won the popular vote by about 3.5 million votes.

C. Kerry’s most serious failure was his focus on the Iraqi explosives issue.

D. In Ohio State, Kerry tied Bush in winning people’s trust in economic issue.

28. According to the passage, Kerry fell short in the campaign because        

A. he didn’t win the campaign in Ohio State.

B. he had a lethal character.

C. his final speech was very lengthy.

D. his campaign lacked focus.

29. In the third paragraph, the phrase “In the Buckeye State” means      .

A. in the United States   B. in the state of being blind   

C. in Ohio             D. in the state where the people are greedy

30. In the fourth paragraph, “blown out of the water” means “     ”.

A. shattered      B. exaggerated       C. surprised           D. was reversed

Passage Two

(1) Perhaps all criminals should be required to carry cards which read: Fragile: Handle with Care. It will never do, theses days, to go around referring to criminals as violent thugs. You must refer to them politely as “social misfits”. The professional killer who wouldn’t think twice about using his club or knife to batter some harmless old lady to death in order to rob her of her meager life-savings must never be given a dose of his own medicine. He is in need of “hospital treatment”. According to his misguided defenders, society is to blame. A wicked society breeds evil – or so the argument goes. When you listen to this kind of talk, it makes you wonder why aren’t all criminals. We have done away with the absurdly harsh laws of the nineteenth century and this is only right. But surely enough is enough. The most senseless piece of criminal legislation in Britain and a number of other countries has been the suspension of capital punishment.

(2) The violent criminal has become a kind of hero-figure in our time. He is glorified on the screen; he is pursued by the press and paid vast sums of money for his “memoirs”. Newspapers which specialise in crime reporting enjoy enormous circulations and the publishers of trashy cops and robbers stories or “murder mysteries” have never had it so good. When you read about the achievements of the great train robbers, it makes you wonder whether you are reading about some glorious resistance movement. The hardened criminal is cuddled and cosseted by the sociologists on the one hand and adored as a hero by the masses on the other. It’s no wonder he is a privileged person who expects and receives VIP treatment wherever he goes.

(3) Capital punishment used to be a major deterrent. It made the violent robber think twice before pulling the trigger. It gave the cold-blooded poisoner something to ponder about while he was shaking up or serving his arsenic cocktail. It prevented unarmed policemen from being killed while pursuing their duty by killers armed with automatic weapons. Above all, it protected the most vulnerable members of society, young children, from brutal violence. It is horrifying to think that the criminal can literally get away with murder. We all know that “life sentence” does not mean what it says. After ten years or so of good conduct, the most desperate villain is free to return to society where he will live very comfortably, thank you, on the proceeds of his crime, or he will go on committing offences until he is caught again. People are always willing to hold liberal views at the expense of others. It’s always fashionable to pose as the defender of the under-dog, so long as you, personally, remain unaffected. Did the defenders of crime, one wonders, in their desire for fair-play, consult the victims before they suspended capital punishment? Hardly, you see, they couldn’t, because all the victims were dead.

31. According to the passage, which of the following is the author’s opinion?

A. All criminals should be required to carry cards which read: Fragile: Handle with Care.

B. Capital punishment is the only way to deter criminals.

C. Society is to blame.

D. All criminals need hospital treatment.

32. The tone taken by the author towards these defenders of crime in the passage is      .

A. ironical.   B. critical.     C. agitated.    D. controversial.

33. “Capital punishment” most probably means      .

A. life sentence.    B. severe punishment    C. fine.       D. sentence of death

34. The word “deterrent” in the third paragraph refers to      .

A. something fearsome that can prevent or discourage from acting

B. an influencing or determining element or factor

C. a cleansing substance

D. a catch that locks the movement of one part of a mechanism.

35. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A. There has been a marked trend in society towards the humane treatment of less fortunate members.

B. Everybody in society thinks it reasonable that all criminals should be punished.

C. The author sympathizes with all criminals.

D. Robbers usually think twice before shooting.