PART III READING COMPREHENSIOS (40MIN)

  SECTION A READING COMPREHENSION (30 MIN)

  In this section there are four reading passages followed by a total of fifteen multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then mark your answers on your coloured answer sheet~

  TEXT A

  Hostility to Gypsies has existed almost from the time they first appeared in Europe in the 14th century. The origins of the Gypsies, with little written history, were shrouded in mystery. What is known now from clues in the various dialects of their language, Romany, is that they came from northern India to the Middle East a thousand years ago, working as minstrels and mercenaries, metal-smiths and servants. Europeans misnamed them Egyptians, soon shortened to Gypsies. A clan system, based mostly on their traditional crafts and geography, has made them a deeply fragmented and fractious people, only really unifying in the face of enmity from non-Gypsies, whom they call gadje. Today many Gypsy activists prefer to be called Roma, which comes from the Romany word for “man”. But on my travels among them most still referred to themselves as Gypsies.

  In Europe their persecution by the gadje began quickly, with the church seeing heresy in their fortune-telling and the state seeing anti-social behaviour in their nomadism. At various times they have been forbidden to wear their distinctive bright clothes, to speak their own language, to travel, to marry one another, or to ply their traditional crafts. In some countries they were reduced to slavery it wasn't until the mid-1800s that Gypsy slaves were freed in Romania. In more recent times the Gypsies were caught up in Nazi ethnic hysteria, and perhaps half a million perished in the Holocaust. Their horses have been shot and the wheels removed from their wagons, their names have been changed, their women have been sterilized, and their children have been forcibly given for adoption to non-Gypsy families.

  But the Gypsies have confounded predictions of their disappearance as a distinct ethnic group and their numbers have burgeoned. Today there are an estimated 8 to 12 million Gypsies scattered across Europe, making them the continent's largest minority. The exact number is hard to pin down. Gypsies have regularly been undercounted, both by regimes anxious to downplay their profile and by Gypsies themselves, seeking to avoid bureaucracies. Attempting to remedy past inequities, activist groups may overcount. Hundreds of thousands more have emigrated to the Americas and elsewhere. With very few exceptions Gypsies have expressed no great desire for a country to call their own -unlike the Jews, to whom the Gypsy experience is often compared. “Romanestan” said Ronald Lee, the Canadian Gypsy writer, "is where my two feet stand."

  16. Gypsies are united only when they

  A are engaged in traditional crafts.

  B. call themselves Roma.

  C. live under a clan system.

  D. face external threats.

  17. In history hostility to Gypsies in Europe resulted in their persecution by all the following

  EXCEPT

  A. the Egyptians.

  B the state.

  C. the church.

  D. the Nazis.

  18. According to the passage, the main difference between the Gypsies and the Jews lies in their concepts of

  A.language.

  B. culture.

  C. identity.

  D. custom.

  TEXT B

  I was just a boy when my father brought me to Harlem for the first time, almost 50 years ago. We stayed at the Hotel Theresa, a grand brick structure at 125th Street and Seventh Avenue. Once, in the hotel restaurant, my father pointed out Joe Louis. He even got Mr. Brown, the hotel manager, to introduce me to him, a bit paunchy but still the champ as far as I was concerned.

  Much has changed since then. Business and real estate are booming. Some say a new renaissance is under way. Others decry what they see as outside forces running roughshod over the old Harlem.

  New York meant Harlem to me, and as a young man I visited it whenever I could. But many of my old haunts are gone. The Theresa shut down in 1966. National chains that once ignored Harlem now anticipate yuppie money and want pieces of this prime Manhattan real estate. So here I am on a hot August afternoon, sitting in a Starbucks that two years ago opened a block away from the Theresa, snatching at memories between sips of high-priced coffee. I am about to open up a piece of the old Harlem- the New York Amsterdam News—when a tourist asking directions to Sylvia's, a prominent Harlem restaurant, penetrates my daydreaming. He's carrying a book: Touring Historic Harlem.

  History. I miss Mr. Michaux's bookstore, his House of Common Sense, which was across from the Theresa. He had a big billboard out front with brown and black faces painted on it that said in large letters: "World History Book Outlet on 2,000,000,000 Africans and Nonwhite Peoples." An ugly state office building has swallowed that space.

  I miss speaker like Carlos Cooks, who was always on the southwest comer of 125th and Seventh, urging listeners to support Africa. Harlem's powerful political electricity seems unplugged-although the sweets are still energized, especially by West African immigrants.

  Hardworking southern newcomers formed the bulk of the community back in the 1920s and'30s, when Harlem renaissance artists, writers, and intellectuals gave it a glitter and renown that made it the capital of black America. From Harlem, W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, Zora Neal Hurston, and others helped power America's cultural influence around the world.

  By the 1970s and '80s drugs and crime had ravaged parts of the community. And the life expectancy for men in Harlem was less than that of men in Bangladesh. Harlem had become a symbol of the dangers of inner-city life.

  Now, you want to shout “Lookin’good!”at this place that has been neglected for so long. Crowds push into Harlem USA, a new shopping centre on 125th, where a Disney store shares space with HMV Records, the New York Sports Club, and a nine-screen Magic Johnson theatre complex. Nearby, a Rite Aid drugstore also opened. Maybe part of the reason Harlem seems to be undergoing a rebirth is that it is finally getting what most people take for granted.

  Harlem is also part of an “empowerment zone”—a federal designation aimed at fostering economic growth that will bring over half a billion in federal, state, and local dollars. Just the shells of once elegant old brownstones now can cost several hundred thousand dollars. Rents are skyrocketing. An improved economy, tougher law enforcement, and community efforts against drugs have contributed to a 60 percent drop in crime since 1993.

  19. At the beginning the author seems to indicate that Harlem

  A. has remained unchanged all these years.

  B. has undergone drastic changes.

  C. has become the capital of Black America.

  D. has remained a symbol of dangers of inner-city life.

  20. When the author recalls Harlem in the old days, he has a feeling of

  A. indifference.

  B, discomfort.

  C. delight.

  D. nostalgia.

  21. Harlem was called the capital of Black America in the 1920s and '30s mainly because of its

  A. art and culture.

  B. immigrant population.

  C. political enthusiasm.'

  D. distinctive architecture.

  22. From the passage we can infer that, generally speaking, the author

  A. has strong reservations about the changes.

  B. has slight reservations about the changes,

  C. welcomes the changes in Harlem.

  D. is completely opposed to the changes.

  TEXT C

  The senior partner, Oliver Lambert, studied the resume for the hundredth time and again found nothing he disliked about Mitchell Y. McDeere, at least not on paper. He had the brains, the ambition, the good looks. And he was hungry; with his background, he had to be. He was married, and that was mandatory. The firm had never hired an unmarried lawyer, and it frowned heavily on divorce, as well as womanizing and drinking. Drug testing was in the contract. He had a degree in accounting, passed the CPA exam the first time he took it and wanted to be a tax lawyer, which of course was a requirement with a tax firm. He was white, and the firm had never hired a black. They managed this by being secretive and clubbish and never soliciting job applications. Other firms solicited, and hired blacks. This firm recruited, and remained lily white. Plus, the firm was in Memphis, and the top blacks wanted New York or Washington or Chicago. McDeere was a male, and there were no women in the firm. That mistake had been made in the mid-seventies when they recruited the number one grad from Harvard, who happened to be a she and a wizard at taxation. She lasted four turbulent years and was killed in a car wreck.

  He looked good, on paper. He was their top choice. In fact, for this year there were no other prospects. The list was very short. It was McDeere, or no one.

  The managing partner, Royce McKnight, studied a dossier labeled "Mitchell Y. McDeere-Harvard." An inch thick with small print and a few photographs; it had been prepared by some ex-CIA agents in a private intelligence outfit in Bethesda. They were clients of the firm and each year did the investigating for no fee. It was easy work, they said, checking out unsuspecting law students. They learned, for instance, that he preferred to leave the Northeast, that he was holding three job offers, two in New York and one in Chicago, and that the highest offer was $76,000 and the lowest was $68,000. He was in demand. He had been given the opportunity to cheat on a securities exam during his second year. He declined, and made the highest grade in the class. Two months ago he had been offered cocaine at a law school party. He said no and left when everyone began snorting. He drank an occasional beer, but drinking was expensive and he had no money. He owed close to $23,000 in student loans. He was hungry.

  Royce McKnight flipped through the dossier and smiled. McDeere was their man.

  Lamar Quin was thirty-two and not yet a partner. He had been brought along to look young and act young and project a youthful image for Bendini, Lambert & Locke, which in fact was a young firm, since most of the partners retired in their late forties or early fifties with money to bum. He would make partner in this firm. With a six-figure income guaranteed for the rest of his life, Lamar could enjoy the twelve-hundred-dollar tailored suits that hung so comfortably from his tall, athletic frame. He strolled nonchalantly across the thousand-dollar-a-day suite and poured another cup of decaf. He checked his watch. He glanced at the two partners sitting at the small conference table near the windows.

  Precisely at two-thirty someone knocked on the door. Lamar looked at the parmers, who slid the resume and dossier into an open briefcase. All three reached for their jackets. Immar buttoned his top button and opened the door.

  23. Which of the following is NOT the firm’s recruitment requirement?

  A. Marriage.

  B. Background.

  C. Relevant degree.

  D. Male.

  24. The details of the private investigation show that the firm

  A. was interested in his family background.

  B. intended to check out his other job offers.

  C. wanted to know something about his preference.

  D. was interested in any personal detail of the man.

  25. According to the passage, the main reason Lama Quin was there at the interview was that

  A. his image could help impress McDereer.

  B. he would soon become a partner himself.

  C. he was good at interviewing applicants.

  D. his background was similar to MeDereer's.

  26. We get the impression from the passage that in job recruitment the firm was NOT

  A. selective.

  B. secretive.

  C. perfunctory.

  D. racially biased.

  TEXT K

  First read the questions.

  39. When did Moore receive his first commission?

  A. In 1948.

  B. In 1946.

  C. In 1931.

  D. In 1928.

  40. Where did Moore win his first international prize?

  A. In London.

  B. In Venice.

  C. In New York.

  D. In Hamburg.

  Now go through TEXT K quickly to answer questions 39 and 40.

  Henry Moore, the seventh of eight children of Raymond Spencer Moore and his wife Mary, was born in Yorkshire on 30 July 1898. After graduating from secondary school, Moore taught for a short while. Then the First World War began and he enlisted in the army at the age of eighteen. After the war he applied for and received an ex-serviceman's grant to attend Leeds School of Art. At the end of his second year he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London.

  In 1928 Moore met Irina Radetsky, a painting student at the college, whom he married a year later. The couple then moved into a house which consisted of a small ground-floor studio with an equally small flat above. This remained their London home for ten years.

  Throughout the 1920's Moore was involved in the art life of London. His first commission, received in 1928, was to produce a sculpture relief for the newly opened headquarters of London Transport. His first one-man exhibition opened at the Warren Gallery in 1928; it was followed by a show at the Leicester Galleries in 1931 and his first sale to a gallery abroad- the Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. His success continued.

  In 1946 Moore had his first foreign retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modem Art, New York. In 1948 he won the International Sculpture Prize at the 24th Venice Biennale, the first of countless international accolades acquired in succeeding years. At the same time sales of Moore's work around the world increased, as did the demand for his exhibitions. By the end of 1970's the number of exhibitions had grown to an average of forty a year, ranging from the very small to major international retrospectives taking years of detailed planning and preparation.

  The main themes in Moore's work included the mother and child, the earliest work created in 1922, and the reclining figure dating from 1926. At the end of the 1960's came stringed figures based on mathematical models observed in the Science Museum, and the first helmet head, a subject that later developed into the internal-external theme- variously interpreted as a hard form coveting a soft, like a mother protecting her child or a foetus inside a womb.

  A few years before his death in 1986 Moore gave the estate at Perry Green with its studios, houses and cottages to the Trustees of the Henry Moore Foundation to promote sculpture and the fine arts within the cultural life of the country and in particular the works of Henry Moore.

  - THE END -

  ANSWER SHEET ONE

  PART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION

  SECTION D NOTE-TAKING & GAPFILING (15 MIN)

  Fill in each of the gaps with ONE word You may refer to your notes. Make sure the word you fill in is both grammatically and semantically acceptable.

  Marslow's Hierarchy of Needs

  Abraham Maslow has developed a famous theory of human needs, which can be arranged

  In order of importance.

  Physiological needs: the most (1)______________ones for survival.They include such needs as food, water, etc. And there is usually one way to satisfy these needs. (2)______________needs: needs for a) physical security;b)(3)_______________security.

  The former means no illness or injury, while the latter is concerned with freedom from (4)______________, misfortunes, etc. These needs can be met through a variety of means, e.g. job security, (5)______________________plans, and safe working conditions.Social needs: human requirements for a) love and affection;b) a sense of belonging.There are two ways to satisfy these needs: a) formation of relationships at workplace;b) formation of relationships outside workplace.Esteem needs: a) self-esteem, i.e. one's sense of achievement;b) esteem of others, i.e. others' respect as a result of one's (6__________.These needs can be fulfilled by achievement, promotion, honours, etc.Self-realization needs: need to realize one's potential.Ways to realize these needs are individually (7)______________________ Features of the hierarchy of needs:a) Social, esteem and self-realization needs are exclusively(8)______________ needs.b) Needs are satisfied in a fixed order from the bottom up.c) (9)_____________for needs comes from the lowest un-met level.d) Different levels of needs may (10)_______________when they come into play.

  ANSWER SHEET TWOTEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS [2003]-GRADE EIGIHT-

  PART II PROOFREADING & ERROR CORRECTION (15 MIN)

  The passage contains TEN errors. Each indicated line contains a maximum of ONE error. In each case, only ONE word is involved You should proof, read the passage and correct it in the following way:

  For a wrong word, underline the wrong word and write the correct one in the blank pro-vided at the end of the line.

  For a missing word, mark the position of the missing word with a "^" sign and write the word you believe to be missing in the blank provided at the end of the line.

  For an unnecessary word, cross the unnecessary word with a slash "/" and put the word in the blank provided at the end of the line.

  EXAMPLE

  When ^ art museum wants a new exhibit, it never buys things in finished form and hangs them on the wall. When a natural history museum wants an exhibition, it must often build it.

  Demographic indicators show that Americans in the postwar

  period were more eager than ever to establish families. They quickly

  brought down the age at marriage for both men and women and brought

  the birth rate to a twentieth century height after more than a hundred (1)__

  years of a steady decline, producing the “baby boom.”These young (2)__

  adults established a trend of early marriage and relatively large

  families that Went for more than two decades and caused a major (3)__

  but temporary reversal of long-term demographic patterns. From

  the 1940S through the early 1960s, Americans married at a high rate (4)__

  and at a younger age than their Europe counterparts.(5)__

  Less noted but equally more significant, the men and women on who (6)__

  formed families between 1940 and 1960 nevertheless reduced the (7)__

  divorce rate after a postwar peak; their marriages remained intact to

  a greater extent than did that of couples who married in earlier as well (8)__

  as later decades. Since the United States maintained its dubious (9)__

  distinction of having the highest divorce rate in the world, the

  temporary decline in divorce did not occur in the same extent in (10)__

  Europe. Contrary to fears of the experts, the role of breadwinner and

  homemaker was not abandoned.

  TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2003)-GRADE EIGHT-PAPER TWO

  TIME LIMIT: 120 MIN

  PART IV TRANSLATION (60 MIN)

  SECTION A CHINESE TO ENGLISH

  Translate the following text into English. Write your translation on ANSWER SHEET THREE.

  得病以前,我受父母宠爱,在家中横行霸道,一旦隔离,拘禁在花园山坡上一幢小房子里,我顿觉打入冷宫,十分郁郁不得志起来。一个春天的傍晚,园中百花怒放,父母在园中设宴,一时宾客云集,笑语四溢。我在山坡的小屋里,悄悄掀起窗帘,窥见园中大千世界,一片繁华,自己的哥姐,堂表弟兄,也穿插其间,个个喜气洋洋。一霎时,一阵被人摈弃,为世所遗的悲愤兜上心头,禁不住痛哭起来。

  SECTION B ENGLISH TO CHINESE

  Translate the following text into Chinese. Write your translation on ANSWER SHEET THREE.

  In his classic novel, “The Pioneers”, James Fenimore Cooper has his hero, a land developer, take his cousin on a tour of the city he is building. He describes the broad streets, rows of houses, a teeming metropolis. But his cousin looks around bewildered. All she sees is a forest. “Where are the beauties and improvements which you were to show me?” she asks. He’s astonished she can’t see them. “Where! Why everywhere,” he replies. For thought they are not yet built on earth, he has built them in his mind, and they are as concrete to him as if they were already constructed and finished.

  Cooper was illustrating a distinctly American trait, future-mindedness: the ability to see the present from the vantage point of the future; the freedom to feel unencumbered by the past and more emotionally attached to things to come. As Albert Einstein once said, “Life for the American is always becoming, never being.”

  PART V WRITING (60 MIN)

  An English newspaper is currently running a discussion on whether young people in China today are (not) more self-centered and unsympathetic than were previous generations. And the paper is inviting contributions from university students. You have been asked to write a short article for the newspaper to air your views.

  Your article should be about 300 words in length. In the first part of your article you should state clearly your main argument, and in the second part you should support your argument with appropriate details. In the last part you should bring what you have written to a natural conclusion or a summary.

  You should supply a title for your article.

  Marks will be awarded for content, organization, grammar and appropriacy. Failure to following the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.

  Write your composition on ANSWER SHEET FOUR.