天津大学硕士研究生英语期末考试试题.doc

ENGLISH FINAL EXAM
FOR MASTERS OF ENGINEERNING
NAME__________ MAJOR__________ STUDENT NO: ______________

Part one: Vocabulary and Structure (20%)

Directions: In this part of the test, there are 20 incomplete sentences each with four suggested answers marked A, B, C, and D. Choose the one you think is the best answer. Mark your choice ticking the corresponding letter before the choice.

1. This issue ______ interesting reading because it tells how these people made their money and, indirectly, how the country has changed over the years.
A. accounts for B. serves as C. makes for D. makes use of
2. Jane used to be slow in class, but now she is ______.
A. getting along B. getting ahead C. getting by D. getting above
3. Paul ______ me very much of a schoolmate I used to know at university.
A. remembers B. reminds C. recalls D. recollects
4. Don’t count your chickens before they are ______.
A. hatched B. harvested C. hurried D. hastened
5. Several car manufactures will ______ half of their workers because of economic difficulty.
A. discount B. dispose C. boot D. disclose
6. They had ______ funds to cover the cost of the trip.
A. ample B. luxury C. sample D. superb
7. All living things have certain _______ that are passed on from one generation to the next.
A. cells B. viruses C. flaws D. attributes
8. She ______ her mother’s good looks and her father’s bad temper.
A. inherited B. inhabited C. hindered D. objected
9. It is for this reason ______ he refused to take the job.
A. why B. when C. that D. so
10. Who ______ that spoke first at yesterday’s meeting?
A. was it B. was C. it was D. did
11. It wasn’t ______ personal interests that they did all this.
A. because B. only C. just D. for
12. Hardly ______ the people ran toward it.
A. had the plane landed when B. had the plane landed than
C. the plane landed before D. the plane was landing that
13. No sooner ______ than he realized that he should have remained silent.
A. had the words been spoken B. the words had spoken
C. the words had been spoken D. had the words spoken
14. You’d rather not do it, ______?
A. shouldn’t you B. wouldn’t you C. would you D. ought you
15. We never dared to ask him a question, ______?
A. did we B. doesn’t it C. dared we D. daren’t we
16. Unlike hackers, who gain unauthorized ______ to computer or telecommunication systems for the challenge or even the principle of it, crackers do so for malicious purposes.
A. password B. entry C. access D. approach
17. There are four factories in our institute, _________ over 200 workers.
A. with each B. each having C. each has D. with each has
18. By conservative ______ 80% of humanity still can’t use written language effectively.
A. estimates B. estimated C. estimations D. estimating
19. With ______ her do this, she will have no difficulty persuading them to accept her plan.
A. my helping B. mine helping C. me helping D. I help
20. Only rarely do people’s jobs, spouses and children ______ these imagined ideals.
A. live up to B. agree with C. meet with D. realizes

Part two: Cloze (10%)

Directions: In this part of the test, there is an incomplete passage with 10 blanks. For each blank in the passage, there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C, and D. Choose the one you think that can best complete the passage and mark your answer by ticking the corresponding letter before the choice.

When Forbes published its first list in 1982, five of the top ten were in the Hunt family that drilled Texas __1__ holes and hit a lot of gushers, which reminds us of advice __2__ billionaire J. Paul Getty on how to get ahead in the world: rise early, work hard, strike oil. Getty got his big start the __3__ way—from his father’s money.
The original list 14 years ago was __4__ Rockefellers, and Du Ponts, a Frick, a Whitney, Mellon or two—all great family fortunes that stretched back to the 19th century. The word “inheritance” appeared in the biographies 75 times.
There weren’t as many old-money fortunes on last year’s list—which leads to some conclusions about wealth in America. First, it’s not easy to __5__ money, even for millionaires. Taxes put a big __6__ in family fortunes, and unless the heirs are careful and invest wisely, they can lose their millions as fast as their ancestors made them. Second, the old ways to riches aren’t as __7__ as they used to be. Besides the three Du Pont entries, only 43 of the 400 entries on the most recent Forbes list represent people who got __8__ through inheritance. And only 18 in the latest 400 made their fortunes from oil, so Getty’s quote no longer __9__ as true as it once did. Third, America is still the land of opportunity where smart young people like Bill Gates of Microsoft can __10__ on top of the list of richest Americans ahead of the Rockefellers, Mellons, Gettys and Carnegies.
1. A. into B. full of C. with D. through
2. A. attributed to B. contributed to C. accounted for D. brought about
3. A. old-fashion B. old-fashionable C. old-fashioned D. unfashionable
4. A. crawling with B. filling with C. popular with D. credited with
5. A. hold down B. contain C. grasp D. hold on to
6. A. edge B. dent C. disadvantage D. effect
7. A. impressive B. dependable C. influential D. available
8. A. there B. away C. on D. in
9. A. looks B. rings C. views D. takes
10. A. end up B. show C. arrive at D. raise up

Part three: Reading Comprehension (30%)

Directions: In this part of the test, there are 3 passages. The passages are followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of the questions and unfinished statements there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C, and D. Choose the one you think is the best answer. Mark your choice ticking the corresponding letter before the choice.
Passage 1
When your parents advise you to "get an education" in order to raise your income, they tell you only half the truth. What they really mean is to get just enough education to provide manpower for your society, but not so much that you prove an embarrassment to your society.
        Get a high school diploma, at least. Without that, you will be occupationally dead unless your name happens to be George Bernard Shaw or Thomas Alva Edison, and you can successfully drop out in grade school.
Get a college degree, if possible. With a B.A., you are on the launching pad. But now you have to start to put on the brakes. If you go for a master's degree, make sure it is an M.B.A., and is famous law of diminishing returns begins to take effect.
Do you know, for instance, that long-haul truck drivers earn more per year than full professors? Yes, the average 1977 salary for those truckers was '24000. While the full professors managed to earn just '23030.
A Ph.D. is the highest degree you can get. Except for a few specialized fields such as physics or chemistry where the degree can quickly be turned to industrial or commercial purposes, if you pursue such a degree in any other field, you will face a dim future. there are more Ph.D.s unemployed or underemployed in this country than any other part of the world.
If you become a doctor of philosophy in English or history or anthropology or political science or languages or-worst of all-in philosophy, you run the risk of becoming overeducated for our national demands. Not for our needs, mind you, but for our demands.
Thousands of Ph.D.s are selling shoes, driving cars, waiting on table, and endlessly filling out applications month after month. They may also take a job in some high school or backwater college that pays much less than the janitor earns.
You can equate the level of income with the level of education only so far. Far enough, that is, to make you useful to the gross national product, but not so far that nobody can turn much of a profit on you.

1. According to the writer, what the society expects of education is to turn out people
who ______.
A. will not be a disgrace to society
B. will become loyal citizens
C. can take care of themselves
D. can meet the nation's demands as a source of manpower

2. Many Ph.D.s are out of job because ______.
A. they are improperly educated
B. they are of little commercial value to their society
C. there are fewer jobs in high schools
D. they prefer easier jobs that make more money

3. The nation is only interested in people ______.
A. with diplomas
B. who specialize in physics and chemistry
C. who are valuable to the gross national product
D. both A and C

4. Which of the following is not true?
A. Bernard Shaw didn't finish high schools, nor did Edison.
B. One must think carefully before pursuing a master degree.
C. The higher your education level, the more money you will earn.
D. If you are too well-educated, you'll be overeducated for society's demands.

5. The writer sees education as ______.
A. a means of providing job security and financial security and a means of meeting a country's demands for technical workers
B. a way to broaden one's horizons
C. more important than finding a job
D. an opportunity that everyone should have

Passage 2
The agricultural revolution in the nineteenth century involved two things the invention of labor-saving machinery and the development of scientific agriculture. Labor-saving machinery naturally appeared first where labor was scarce. "In Europe", said Thomas Jefferson, "the object is to make the most of their land, labor being abundant; here it is to make the most of our labor, lard being abundant". It was in America, there fore, that the great advances in nineteenth-century agricultural machinery first came. At the opening of the century, with the exception of a crude plow, farmers could have carried practically all of the existing agricultural implements on their backs: by 1860, most of the machinery in use today had been designed in an early form. The most important of the early inventions was the iron plow. As early as 1990 Charles Newbold of New Jersey had been working on the idea of a cast-iron plow and spent his entire fortune in introducing his invention. The farmers, however, would home none of it, claiming that the iron poisoned the soil and made the weeds grow. Nevertheless many people devoted their attention to the plow, until in 1869, James Oliver of South Bend, Indiana, turned out the first chilled-steel plow.

6. The word "here" (Para. 1, line. 4) refers to ______.
A. Europe
B. America
C. New Jersey
D. Indiana

7. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?
A. The reed for labor helped the invention of machinery in America.
B. The farmer rejected Charles Newbold's plow for fear of ruin of their field.
C. Both Europe and America had great need of farm machinery.
D. It was in Indiana that the first chilled-steel plow was produced.

8. The passage is mainly about ______.
A. the agricultural revolution
B. the invention of labor-saving machinery
C. the development of scientific agriculture
D. the farming machinery in America

9. At the opening of the nineteenth-century, farmers in America ______.
A. preferred light tools
B. were extremely self-reliant
C. had many portable tools
D. had very few tools

10. Implied but not stated ______.
A. There was a shortage of workers on American farms
B. The most important of the early inventions was the iron plow
C. After 1869,many people devoted their attention to the plow
D. Charles Newbolt had made a fortune by his cast-iron plow

Passage 3
We can see how the product life cycle works by looking at the introduction of instant coffee. When it was introduced, most people did not like it as well as "regular" coffee and it took several years to gain general acceptance (introduction stage). At one point, though, instant coffee grew rapidly in popularity and many brands were introduced (stage of rapid growth). After a while people became attached to one brand and sales leveled off (stage of maturity). Sales went into a slight decline when freeze-dried coffees were introduced (stage of decline). The importance of the product life cycle to marketers is this: Different stages in the product life cycle call for different strategies. The goal is to extend product life so that sales and profits do not decline. One strategy is called market modification. It means that marketing managers look for new users and market sections. Did you know, for example, that the backpacks that so many students carry today were originally designed for the military? Market modification also means searching for increased usage among present customers or going for a different market, such as senior citizens. A marketer may re-position the product to appeal to new market sections. Another product extension strategy is called product modification. It involves changing product quality, features, or style to attract new users or more usage from present users. American auto manufacturers are using quality improvement as one way to recapture world markets. Note, also, how auto manufacturers once changed styles dramatically from year to year to keep demand from falling.

11. According to the passage, when people grow fond of one particular brand of a product, its sales will ______.
A. decrease gradually
B. become unstable
C. improve enormously
D. remain at the same level

12. The first paragraph tells us that a new product is ______.
A. usually introduced to satisfy different tastes
B. often more expensive than old ones
C. often inferior to old ones at first
D. not easily accepted by the public

13. Marketers need to know which of the four stages a product is in so as to ______.
A. work out marketing policies
B. increase its popularity
C. promote its production
D. speed up its life cycle

14. The author mentions the example of "backpacks" (Line 4, Para.2) to show the importance of ______.
A. increasing usage among students
B. exploring new market sections
C. pleasing the young as well as the old
D. serving both military and civil needs

15. In order to recover their share of the world market, U.S. auto makers are ______.
A. improving product quality
B. re-positioning their product in the market
C. modernizing product style
D. increasing product features

Part four: Translation

Section A: (15%)
Directions: In this part of the test, there are 5 sentences from your textbook. Trans