Ⅱ.CLOZE Fill in each of the 15 blanks in the passage with the most likely answer. Consumers have a choice as to what they will buy. Most of the time they also can choose from 1 they will buy. For example, several different firms 2 manufacturing their own brand of detergent will try to 3 consumers to buy their brand. The efforts of two or more business firms trying to sell to the 4 consumer is called competition. Competition exists among businesses to sell their goods and services. It also exists among 5 to sell their skills and abilities. In perfect competition there are many sellers of the same product. 6 , competition in our economy is seldom perfect. In some industries there is 7 or no competition at all. Telephone and 8 companies are good examples. In your community is there more 9 one company that supplies telephone service? Do consumers have a choice when they buy electrical service? A situation in which there is only one producer of a 10 or service is called a monopoly. Consumers have no choice. They 11 buy from that firm or they do not buy 12 . Monopolies 13 the choice that consumers have. For this 14 they are not desirable. In certain cases, however, it is not practical for two or more companies to compete in the same area. For example, most communities are 15 by only one telephone company, one electric company, and one gas company. To protect consumers, government controls the rates these companies may charge the consumers.
[解析] 分析句子结构可知本句的主句为:several different firms will try to...可知manufacturing...detergent是独立结构,该独立结构缺少一个主语,结合上下文可知应该填each,表示每一家都生产自己品牌的洗涤剂。
3.
A.make
B.get
C.rely
D.pay
A B C D
B
[解析] 由上文知:不同的公司努力让消费者买自己的品牌。A.make后面接不带to的动词不定式,make sb. do sth.,句中用的是to buy,故A不对。B.get:get sb. to do sth.,表示让某人做某事;C.rely意为依靠,依赖,不符合句意。D.pay意为支付,同样不合句意。
[解析] 上句提到某些领域让两家或多家公司竞争是不现实的。接着下文开始举例说明,由上文知大部分社区的电话服务,电力供应都是一家公司提供的,根据原句“most communities are served by only one telephone companies...”,结合选项,serve一词的被动语态最合适。
Ⅲ.PARAPHRASING Choose the closest paraphrased version after each of the following sentences or the italicized part.
1. For a while he was too breathless and astonished even to see where he was or what had happened.
A.For a few minutes he couldn't breathe and couldn't find his home.
B.For some time he couldn't breathe and felt surprised. He didn't know where he was or what had happened.
C.Within a few seconds he couldn't know where he was or what had happened.
D.No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't breathe and didn't know where his home was.
6. The key is to be satisfied with gradual improvement, expecting and accepting the occasional slips that come with any change.
A.Along the long way of changing, you may occasionally slip and fall. You have to learn to face failures, for the road to success is full of ups and downs.
B.Sometimes you may go back to your old ways. Be prepared for this because it is natural and no change takes place overnight, but gradually.
C.You have to understand that you may make mistakes in the process of progress. The right attitude is to be ready to correct them.
D.Slips are closely connected with change and result from change. Where there is change there must be slips.
Ⅳ.READING COMPREHENSION Read the two passages and choose the most likely answer to each of the questions.
Passage 1 The continents are entirely surrounded by what is called the "continental shelf" which slopes very gradually to a depth of about 500 feet. This shelf is built up of sediment (沉积的) which has been brought down to the sea by the continental rivers. Where the land near the coast is low and flat, the continental shelf may extend thirty, forty or even more miles from the coast; where mountain ranges run parallel to the sea and near to it (as on the east coast of Africa) the shelf is narrowed to only a mile or two. From the edge of the shelf the sea-bed slopes sharply downwards so that the depth of water from the surface rapidly becomes greater, down to perhaps twelve thousands feet, to the floor of the ocean, the "abyss". No less than three-quarters of the waters of the sea lie above the abyss and only one-quarter covers all the continental shelves and slopes in the world. The abyss (深渊), the great ocean floor under two miles or more of water, is not flat like a plain. On the contrary, it is more mountainous than the land. Its ranges are higher and its valleys deeper than those on the continents. There are, as yet, no maps of the ocean bed, although the existence of some of the chief mountain chains has been known (but not in any detail) for many years. But now hundreds of ships of all nations are fitted with an electrical device which makes it possible to record continuously the depth of water over which the ship is moving. The apparatus sends a sound through the water to the bottom of the sea and registers the time it takes for the echo to return. In shallow water the echo is heard after a very short interval; the deeper the water, the longer the time. From all these ships, crossing all the seas of the world, information is accumulating faster than maps can be drawn; but day by day the details are being filled in.
Passage 2 We do not know when man first began to use salt, but we do know that it has been used in many different ways throughout the history. Historical evidence shows, for example, that people who lived over three thousands years ago ate salted fish. Thousands of years ago in Egypt, salt was used to preserve the dead. Stealing salt was considered a major crime during some years of history. In the 18th century, for instance, if a person was caught stealing salt, he could be put in prison. History records that about ten thousand people were put in prison during that century for stealing salt. Salt was an important item on the table of nobles. It was traditionally placed in front of the king when he sat down to eat. Important guests at the king's table were seated near the salt. Less important guests were given seats farther away from it. In the early days in the United States, salt was very scarce. So the storekeeper of pioneer days was very careful with his salt. As he poured out salt for a customer, he did not like anyone to walk across the floor of the store. The walking might shake the floor and could cause the salt to "settle" and as a result the storekeeper would have to add a little more salt to the amount he had already poured out! In the modern world salt has many uses beyond the dining table. It is used in the making of glass and airplane parts, in the growing of crops, and in killing weeds. It is also used to make water soft, to melt ice on roads and highways, to make soap, and to fix colours in cloth. Salt can be obtained in various ways besides being taken from mines underground. Evaporation of salt water from the ocean or salt water lakes or small seas is one of the more common processes for manufacturing salt. Yet, however it is obtained, salt will continue to play an important role in the lives of men and women everywhere.
1. Thousands of years ago in Egypt, salt was used to ______.
Ⅵ.SENTENCE TRANSLATION Translate the following sentences into English.
1. 计算机解决数以千计问题的时间比人只解决一个问题的时候还要少。
It takes less time for a computer to solve thousands of problems than for a man to solve just one.
2. 回收利用旧瓶子比生产新瓶子费用更高,但是为了环保,这样做是值得的。
It's more expensive to recycle used bottles than to make new ones. But it is worthwhile for the protection of the environment.
3. 她明白教育将对山区孩子的一生起巨大作用,因此自愿去那里的一所小学教书。
She went by choice to teach in a primary school in a mountainous area, knowing that education would make a big/great difference to the life of the children Edison: Inventor of Invention.
4. 据报道,外交部长于今天下午开始了他的亚洲之行。
It's reported that the foreign minister will embark on his visit to Asia.
5. 我现在左右为难,因为有人给我提供了两个工作,并且两个工作听起来都很诱人。
I'm now in a difficult situation because I have been offered two jobs and they both sound attractive.
Ⅶ.WRITING Write a composition about 150 words, basing yourself on one of the texts you have learned.
1. Topic: What is the American's attitude towards time? Give necessary examples.
In the United States, many people keenly feel the shortness of each life time. They are aware that once a day in their life is gone, it will never come back. And Americans believe no one stands still. If you are not moving ahead, you are falling behind. So they value time and want every minute to count. This attitude towards time is shown in the fast pace of life in the country. Whatever they do they always seem to be in a rush. You find people hurrying to get where they are going. They hurry to eating places for a meal and finish it as quickly as possible. Also Americans do what they can to save time. They produce a lot of labour-saving devices such as clothes-and dish-washers; they rapidly communicate through phone calls, telex and e-mail and cut down on personal contacts.