2020年广东自考《基础英语》测试题二
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2020年广东自考《基础英语》测试题二
Passage two
The need for a satisfactory education is more important than ever before. Nowadays, without
a qualification from a reputable school or university, the odds of landing that plum job advertised
in the paper are considerably shortened. Moreover, one’s present level of education could fall well
short of future career requirements.
It is no secret that competition is the driving force behind the need to obtain increasingly
higher qualifications. In the majority of cases, the urge to upgrade is no longer the result of an
insatiable thirst for knowledge. The pressure is coming from within the workplace to compete with
ever more qualified job applicants, and in many occupations one must now battle with colleagues
in the reshuffle for the position one already holds.
Striving to become better educated is hardly a new concept. Wealthy parents have always
been willing to spend the vast amounts of extra money necessary to send their children to schools
with a perceived educational edge. Working adults have long attended night schools and refresher
courses. Competition for employment has been around since the curse of working for a living
began. Is the present situation so very different to that of the past?
The difference now is that the push is universal and from without as well as within. A student
at secondary school receiving low grades is no longer as easily accepted by his or her peers as was
once the case. Similarly, in the workplace, unless employees are engaged in part-time study, they
may be frowned upon by their employers and peers and have difficulty even standing still. In fact,
in these cases, the expectation is for careers to go backwards and earning capacity to take an
appreciable nosedive.
At first glance, the situation would seem to be laudable; a positive response to the exhortation
by a former Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, for Australia to become the clever country. Yet there are
serious ramifications according to at least one educational psychologist. Dr Brendan Gatsby has
caused some controversy in academic circles by suggesting that a bias towards what he terms
paper’ excellence might cause more problems than it is supposed to solve. Gatsby raises a number
of issues that affect the individual as well as society in general.
Firstly, he believes the extra workload involved is resulting in abnormally high stress levels
in both students at secondary school and adults studying after working hours. Secondly, skills
which might be more relevant to the undertaking of a sought after job are being overlooked by
employers interviewing candidates without qualifications on paper. These two areas of concern for
the individual are causing physical and emotional stress respectively.
Gatsby also argues that there are attitudinal changes within society to the exalted role
education now plays in determining how the spoils of working life are distributed. Individuals of
all ages are being driven by social pressures to achieve academic success solely for monetary
considerations instead of for the joy of enlightenment. There is the danger that some universities
are becoming degree factories with an attendant drop in standards. Furthermore, our education
system may be rewarding doggedness above creativity; the very thing Australians have been
encouraged to avoid. But the most undesirable effect of this academic paper chase, Gatsby says, is
the disadvantage that “user pays” higher education confers on the poor, who invariably lose out to
the more financially favoured.
Naturally, although there is agreement that learning can cause stress, Gatsby’s comments
regarding university standards have been roundly criticised as alarmist by most educationists who
point out that, by any standard of measurement, Australia’s education system overall, at both
secondary and tertiary levels, is equal to that of any in the world.
Do the following statements reflecting the views of the writer in the reading passage.
TRUE if the statement reflects the views of the writer
FALSE if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this in the passage
46. Most people who upgrade their qualifications do so for the joy of learning.
47. In some jobs, the position you hold must be reapplied for.
48. According to the text, students who performed bally at school used to be accepted by their
classmates.
49. Employees who do not undertake extra study may find their salary decreased by employers.
50. Australians appear to have responded to the call by a former Prime Minister to become better
qualified.
Section B
Directions: Read the following passage carefully and then give your answear to the question.
Write your answers on the Answer Sheet. (3×5=15 points)
Passage three
In the past we have celebrated trees in poetry and song, myth and legend, and even
worshipped them. Our ancestors lived in the forest and our attachment to trees has deep
psychological roots, traces of which remain in popular superstitions like the saying, “touch wood”.
Richard St Barbe Baker, the man who helped to save the Californian redwoods, and who has
spent most of his long life planting trees around the world，has written: “Man and trees, water and
trees, man and water are inseparable”.
To put it plainly, trees are vital for our continued survival. They provide us with oxygen and
absorb carbon dioxide. They trap soil and moisture, thus preventing the soil being washed away by
erosion. In large parts of the world they provide the only source of fuel. Their fruits, nuts and oils
are a vital part of our human diet. We have built our houses, our transport, our tools, even our
musical instruments from them. They supply medicines, fibers, dyes, rubber and thousands of
other essential products. They provide shelter for millions of life forms. They shade us and inspire
us.
Yet in our modem world trees have become victims of the chainsaw and the earth-mover. We
have forgotten their value. Having exhausted our own forests, we are now destroying the forests of
the southern hemisphere. An area the size of a football field is being cut down or burned every
second. Every year fifteen million hectares are removed, equivalent to an area the size of England
and Wales combined. At present cutting rates, the world’s tropical forests will be completely gone
within twenty years.
Only one thing can halt this rapidly deteriorating situation—planting trees. The World Bank
estimates that about twenty million hectares of forest must be planted in the next twenty years if
the demand for fuel is to be met. At present it looks as if world efforts will only reach one-tenth of
that. In the south, the pressure of population and inappropriate agricultural systems are doing the
damage. Countries are often forced to sacrifice their forests because of their desperate need for
foreign exchange.
In his book The World Needs Its Forests, American ecologist Eric Eckholm links the two
ideas of deforestation and development. He writes this: “Uncontrolled deforestation is usually a
symptom of a society’s inability to get a grip on other fundamental problems, such as
unemployment, rapid population growth and the incapacity to regulate private enterprise to protect
the public interest.”
51. In your own words explain the philosophy of Richard St Barbe Baker.
52. In what way do trees prevent soil erosion?
53. If we carry on destroying forests in the southern hemisphere at the present rate, what will
eventually happen?
54. What can we do to prevent the present situation deteriorating still further?
55. How many reasons for uncontrolled deforestation does ecologist Eric Eekholm mention in his
book The World Needs Its Forests? P1ease state the reasons.
Ⅳ. Translation: (45 points)
A. Translate the following passages into Chinese. (30 points)
The world economy has managed, with some indigestion, to swallow the rise of oil prices
past $80 a barrel. How well could it survive $100 a barrel?
The answer is quite well -- so long as several conditions still hold true. The price rise would
probably have to be gradual. Inflation couldn’t get so bad as to force big interest-rate hikes.
Oil-rich nations would need to pump their profits back into U.S. and European economies.
All of this has happened so far. The happy confluence may continue, though fears remain
strong that high energy prices will tip the U.S. into recession.
A host of factors, including tight oil supplies and a weak U.S. dollar, suggest that oil prices
have further to rise. Some analysts continue to believe that oil is destined to reach an all-time high,
as measured in today’s dollars, of more than $101 a barrel. The record was set in 1980. On Friday
in New York, the benchmark crude-oil futures price closed down $1.22, or 1.5%, to finish at
$81.66, a little more than $2 off the all-time high, not adjusting for inflation.
High oil prices could lead to ugly consequences if they hit consumers’ pocketbooks --
especially in the U.S., where the housing slump is already hurting the economy. Consumer
spending has been the primary engine of growth in the U.S. in recent years.
Target Corp. was among the major retailers in the last week cutting sales forecasts. Target
expects September sales at stores open at least a year to rise just 1.5% to 2.5%, down from an
earlier expectation of 4% to 6% growth. The main reason has to do with what some call the
Wal-Mart effect. For every extra dollar taken from drivers’ pockets at the pump in the form of
higher prices in recent years, low-cost exporters from China and elsewhere have put roughly $1.50
back in the form of cheaper retail goods. Even at today’s near-record prices, U.S. households
today spend less than 4% of their disposable income at the pump, vs. over 6% in 1980.
B. Translate the following passage into English. (15 points)
一项研究结果表明，当夫妻双方劳燕分飞时，和男性相比，女性往往想要占有更多的共
同财产。
在一份包括房子、照片和宠物等 24 类物品的清单中，接受调查的男性普遍希望把其中
的19 样留给前妻，而女性只愿意他们的前夫拿走其中的8 样东西。
尽管女性并不是特别想要诸如电视机、CD、DVD 碟片和烤面包机等，但他们仍然希望
前夫也不要带走这些东西。
Part Ⅴ Writing (30points)
Some people hold the view that a student’s success in university study follows the same
pattern as that of farming, which is characterized by the sowing the seeds, nurturing growth and
harvesting the rewards’ process. Write an essay of about 300 words on the topic given below to
support this view with your own experience as a university student.
SOWING THE SEEDS,NURTURING GROWTH AND HARVESTING THE REWARDS
In the first part of your writing you should present your thesis statement, and in the second
part you should support the thesis statement with appropriate details. In the last part you should
bring what you have written to a natural conclusion with a summary.
Marks will be awarded for content, organization, grammar and appropriacy. Failure to follow
the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.
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