英语阅读（一）试题_全国2008年7月自考试卷

全国自考2008年7月英语阅读（一）试题

湖北自考网11月13日整理
课程代码：00595
I. Careful Reading. (40 points, 2 points for each)
Directions: Read the following passages carefully. Decide on the best answers and write the corresponding letters on your Answer Sheet.
Passage One
Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage.
  Although no one is certain why migration occurs, there are several theories. One theory is based upon the premise that prehistoric birds of the Northern Hemisphere were forced south during the Ice Age, when glaciers covered large parts of Europe, Asia, and North America. As the glaciers melted, the birds came back to their homelands, spent the summer, and then went south again as the ice advanced in winter. In time, the migration became a habit, and now, although the glaciers have disappeared, the habit continues.
  Another theory proposes that the ancestral home of all modern birds was the tropics. When the region became overpopulated, many species were crowded north. During the summer, there was plenty of food, but during the winter, scarcity forced them to return to the tropics.
  A more recent theory, known as photoperiodism, suggests a relationship between increasing daylight and the stimulation, of certain glands in the birds’ bodies that may prepare them for migration. One scientist has been able to cause midwinter migrations by exposing birds to artificial periods of daylight. He has concluded that changes occur in the bodies of birds due to seasonal changes in the length of daylight.
1. According to one theory, when the glaciers disappeared, birds_______.
A. stopped migrating B. continued migrating
C. began migrating again D. migrated south and stayed there
2. The author states that birds left the tropics because_______.
  A. there was not enough food there in the winter
B. there were too many birds
C. there were too many glaciers
D. there was too much daylight

3. Why did one scientist expose birds to artificial daylight?
  A. Because he wanted to test the relationship between daylight and changes in the season.
B. Because he wanted to test the relationship between migration and temperature.
C. Because he wanted to test the relationship between daylight and migration.
D. Because he wanted to test the relationship between daylight and a disease of the glands common to birds.
4. According to the theory of photoperiodism, _______.
  A. birds should migrate in the middle of the winter
B. increasing daylight increases the distance of migration
C. seasonal changes in the length of days do not affect migration
D. longer days cause changes in the bodies of birds
5. This passage supports the belief that _______.
  A. exact reasons for migration are not known
B. birds migrate because of changes in temperature
C. the ancestral home of all birds was the tropics
D. glaciers caused birds to migrate
Passage Two
Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage.
  When Christopher Columbus landed in the New World, the North American continent was an area of astonishing ethnic and cultural diversity. North of the Rio Grande, which now marks the border between the United States and Mexico, has a population of over 12 million people representing approximately 400 distinct cultures, 500 languages, and a remarkable variety of political and religious institutions and physical and ethnic types, Compared to the Europeans, the Indian peoples were extraordinarily heterogeneous, and they often viewed the Europeans as just another tribe.
  These varied tribal cultures were as diversified as the land the Indians inhabited. In the high plains of the Dakotas, the Mandan developed a peaceful communal society centered around agriculture. Only a few hundred miles away, however, in northwestern Montana, the Blackfeet turned from agriculture and began to use horses, which had been introduced by the Spaniards. As skilled riders, they became hunters and fighters and developed a fierce and aggressive culture centered around the buffalo. In the eastern woodlands surrounding the Great Lakes, the Potawatomis were expert fishermen, canoe builders, and hunters. In the Northeast, the six Iroquois nations were among the most politically sophisticated people in the world, forming the famed Iroquois Confederation, which included the Senecas and the Mohawks. This confederation, with its system of checks and balances, provided a model for the United States Constitution.
6. About how many different cultures existed among the fifteenth-century North American Indians?
  A. 400. B. 500.
C. 600. D. 1200.
7. The Mandan tribes could best be classified as ________.
  A. hunters B. canoe builders
C. farmers  D. fishermen
8. Before the introduction of horses, the Blackfeet tribes were________.
  A. peaceful farmers  B. aggressive hunters
C. fierce warriors D. skillful sailors
9. It can be inferred from the passage that the life-styles of the various American Indian tribes were influenced most by________.
  A. contact with other tribes  B. environmental resources
C. contact with Europeans D. governmental organization
10. According to the passage, how was the organization of the Iroquois Confederation a forerunner of the United States Constitution?
  A. It was a union of smaller units.
B. It had a representative government 
C. Its form of government had a sophisticated way of selecting judges.
D. Its power was regulated by a system of checks and balances.
Passage Three
Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage.
  Unfortunately, most of the science fiction films of the 1970s were not much influenced by 2001:A Space Odyssey. Skillfully directed by Stanley Kubrick, 2001, which appeared in 1968, set new standards for science fiction films. During the next decade, every one of the dozens of science fiction movies released was compared to 2001, and all but a few were found sadly lacking.
  Admittedly, Kubrick had one of the largest budgets ever for a film of this kind, but, in my opinion, much of the movie’s power and appeal was achieved through relatively inexpensive means. For example, the musical score, which was adapted in large part from well-known classical compositions, was reinforced by the use of almost kaleidoscopic visual effects, especially during the space travel sequences. Spectacular camera work was edited to correspond precisely to the ebb and flow of the music.
  After 2001, the dominant theme of science fiction films shifted from the adventures of space travel to the problems created on earth by man’s mismanagement of the natural environment and the abuse of technology by a totalitarian state. Overpopulation and the accompanying shortages of food prompt the state to impose extraordinary controls on its citizens. No fewer than twenty-nine films were made around this theme in the years between 1970 and 1977, including Survivors and Chronicles.
  In the opinion of this reviewer, until Star Wars was released in 1977, science fiction films were reduced to shallow symbolism disguising to a greater or lesser degree a series of repetitive plots. But Star Wars was different. It offered us a return to imaginative voyages in space and confrontation with intelligent life on other planets. Unlike the other science fiction films of the decade, Star Wars presented technology as having solved rather than aggravated ecological problems. The special effects created to simulate space vehicles hurtling through the blackness of the universe were reminiscent of the artistic standards set by 2001.
11. In the author’s opinion, most of the science fiction films released in the 1970s were _______.
  A.