2008 National English Contest for College Students(Level B - Sample)
2008 National English Contest for College Students
(Level B - Sample)
Part I Listening Comprehension  (25 minutes, 30 marks)
Section A  (10 marks)
Directions: In this section, you will hear 10 short conversations. At the end of each conversation, a question will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the question will be read only once. After each question, there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the three choices marked A, B and C, and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
广东汕头
1. A. Mild.            B. Draughty.              C. Hot.
2. A. The woman inquiring the man is probably a judge.
B. The man was stopped by the police because he was driving too fast.
C. The man hit one of the kids on the corner of the first turning.
3. A. Tired.            B. Lonely.                C. Sad.
4. A. Take the dictionary out the library.
B. Buy a new dictionary for herself.
C. Borrow the dictionary for herself.
5. A. All of them landed safely.
B. Some were wounded, but there were no deaths.
C. Some were kidnapped.
6. A. He doesn't know if there is a photocopy machine there.
B. The woman can make copies at the post office.
C. The photocopy machine isn't in the office any more.
7. A. Invite everyone.  B. Have two parties.      C. Take a few classes.
8. A. Three quarters of an hour.                  B. Half an hour.
C. A quarter of an hour.
9. A. He's got a stomachache.                    B. He's got a headache.
C. He is alcoholic.
10. A. Suspicious.      B. Relaxed.              C. Upset.
Section B  (5 marks)
Directions: In this section, you will hear one long conversation. The conversation will be read only once. At the end of the conversation, there will be a one-minute pause. During the pause, you must read the five questions, each with three choices marked A, B and C, and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
Questions 11 - 15 are based on the long conversation you've just heard.
11. What are the speakers mainly discussing?
A. A lecture.
B. An examination.
C. A course.  w w w .100y i n g y u .c
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12. Why is the man watching television?
A. Because he wanted to take a break.
B. Because he didn't want to study.
C. Because he had a headache.
13. Why is the man surprised that the woman wants to study linear algebra with him?
A. Because he didn't do well on the last test.
素颜霜的作用
B. Because he isn't going to take the exam.
一月至十二月的英语单词
C. Because she is better than him at the course.
14. Why doesn't the man want to call Elizabeth?
A. Because he doesn't know her.
B. Because he doesn't like her.
C. Because it is too late to call her.
15. What is the probable relationship between the two speakers?
A. Brother and sister.
2011奥斯卡B. Classmates.
C. Teacher and student.
Section C  (5 marks)
Directions: In this section, you will hear 5 short news items. After each item, there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the question and then the three choices marked A, B and C, and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
16. How many people were killed in the bomb attack in London?
A. Dozens of people.
B. Hundreds of people.
C. None.
17. What is the top priority of NASA's mission?
A. A tear in one of the station's solar wings.
B. A spacewalk on Thursday.
C. Get new equipment.
18. How many billionaires are there in China according to Forbes?
A. 54.
B. 66.
C. More than 100.
19. What is one of the highlights for many visitors in the Clinton Presidential Library and Museum?
A. A full-scale replica of the Oval Office.
B. Two million photographs.
C. 76 million pages of documents.
20. What is the news item mainly about?
A. The World Bank's Economic Indicators report will be issued.
B. Economic growth rates in Africa.
C. The stagnation and decline of African economy from 1975 to 1995.
Section D  (10 marks)
Directions: In this section, you will hear a man introducing the history of Oxford. For questions 21 - 30, listen to what he says and complete the notes. You will need to write a word or a short w w w .100y i n g y u .c o m
phrase. Remember to write the answers on the Answer Sheet.
Oxford became a town before (21) ________. Oxford University began to establish itself in the middle of the (22) ________ century and by 1300 there were 1,500 students. At this time Oxford was a (23) ________ town, but by the middle of the 14th century it was poorer because of (24) ________ in trade and the terrible plague. Relations between the students and the townspeople were very (25) ________ and there was often (26) ________ in the streets. On 10th February 1355, a (27) ________ began, which lasted two days. Sixty-two students were killed. One of the punishments was that the University was given (28) ________ of the town for nearly 600 years.      There are some special Oxford words in the Oxford English Dictionary. For example, (29) ________ and (30) ________.
Part II Multiple Choice  (10 minutes, 15 marks)
Section A  (10 marks)
Directions: There are 10 incomplete sentences in this section. For each blank there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that best completes the sentence. Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
31. The government gave a very ________ explanation of its plan for economic development.
A. comprehensive
B. compound
C. considerable
D. complacent
32. An ambulance must have priority as it usually has to deal with some kind of ________.
A. urgency
B. danger
C. emergency
D. crisis
33. It is a common theme in many science fiction stories that the world may one day be ________ by insects.
A. broken in
B. run over
C. taken over
D. filled in
34. In the meantime, the question facing business is whether such research is ________ the costs.
A. worth
B. worth of
C. worthy
D. worthwhile
35. ________ does he know that the police are about to arrest him.
A. Few
B. Only
C. Seldom
D. Little
36. He asked his sister to look after his children ________ his death.
A. in the event of
B. in view of
C. on account of
D. on the edge of
37. ________ about the bookkeeper's honesty, the company asked him to resign.
A. There be some questions
B. There are some questions
C. There have been some questions
D. There being some questions
38. But for his courage, the battle ________.
A. was lost
B. will be lost
C. would lose
D. would have been lost
39. When the young man walked into the office to see the headmaster, he had ________.
A. butterflies in his heart
B. butterflies in his mind
C. butterflies in his stomach
D. butterflies in his spirit
40. - Could you lend me some money, Jack?
- Sorry, Mike. I myself can't earn enough to ________.
A. make the ends meet
B. make ends meet
C. keep the ends meet
D. keep ends meet
Section B  (5 marks)
Directions: There are 5 incomplete statements or questions about some English speaking w w w .100y i n g y u .c o m
countries in this section. For each blank there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the most suitable answer from the given choices. Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
41. Britain is a ________ country.
檀的读音
A. Catholic
B. Christian
C. Orthodox
D. Mormon
42. The Tories were the forerunners of ________, which still bears this nickname today.
A. the Labour Party
B. the Conservative Party
C. the Liberal Party
D. the Social Democratic Party
43. ________ is the most popular sport in Britain in summer.
A. Football
B. Tennis
C. Basketball
D. Cricket
44. The New Deal was started by ________.
A. John F. Kennedy
B. Franklin Roosevelt
C. George Washington
D. Thomas Jefferson
45. ________ is the only branch that that can make federal laws and levy federal taxes.
A. The executive
B. The legislative
C. The judicial
D. The president
Part III Reading Comprehension  (20 minutes, 40 marks)
Section A (5 marks)
Directions: There is one passage in this section with 5 questions. For each question, there are four c
hoices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice. Then mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the centre.
Questions 46 - 50 are based on the following passage.
The Supreme Court's decisions on physician-assisted suicide carry important implications for how medicine seeks to relieve dying patients of pain and suffering.
Although it ruled that there is no constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide, the Court in effect supported the medical principle of “double effect ”, a centuries-old moral principle holding that an action having two effects - a good one that is intended and a harmful one that is foreseen - is permissible if the actor intends only the good effect.
Doctors have used that principle in recent years to justify using high doses of morphine to control terminally ill patients' pain, even though increasing dosages will eventually kill the patient. Nancy Dubler, director of Montefiore Medical Center, contends that the principle will shield doctors who “until now have very, very strongly insisted that they could not give patients sufficient mediation to control their pain if that might hasten death.”
George Annas, chair of the health law department at Boston University, maintains that, as long as a doctor prescribes a drug for a legitimate medical purpose, the doctor has done nothing illegal even if the patient uses the drug to hasten death. “It's like surgery,” he says. “We don't call those deaths homicides because the doctors didn't intend to kill their patients, although they risked their death. If you're a physician, you can risk your patient's suicide as long as you don't intend their suicide.”
On another level, many in the medical community acknowledge that the assisted-suicide debate has been fueled in part by the despair of patients for whom modern medicine has prolonged the physical agony of dying.
Just three weeks before the Court's ruling on physician-assisted suicide, the National w w w .100y i n g y u .c o m
Academy of Science (NAS) released a two-volume report - Approaching Death: Improving Care at the End of Life. It identifies the undertreatment of pain and the aggressive use of “ineffectual  and  forced  medical  procedures that may prolong and even dishonor the period of dying ” as the twin problems of end-of-life care.
The profession is taking steps to require young doctors to train in hospices, to test knowledge of agg
ressive pain management therapies, to develop a Medicare billing code for hospital-based care, and to develop new standards for assessing and treating pain at the end of life.
Annas says lawyers can play a key role in insisting that these well-meaning medical initiatives translate into better care. “Large  numbers  of  physicians seem unconcerned with the pain their patients are needlessly and predictably suffering,” to the extent that it constitutes “systematic  patient  abuse ”. He  says  medical  licensing boards “must  make  it  that painful  deaths  are presumptively ones that are incompetently managed and should result in license suspension.”
Questions:
46. From the first three paragraphs, we learn that ________.
A. doctors used to increase drug dosages to control their patients' pain
B. it is still illegal for doctors to help the dying end their lives
C. the Supreme Court strongly opposes physician-assisted suicide
D. patients have no constitutional right to commit suicide
47. Which of the following statements is true according to the text?
A. Doctors will be held guilty if they risk their patients' death.
B. Modern medicine has assisted terminally ill patients in painless recovery.
C. The Court ruled that high-dosage pain-relieving medication can be prescribed.
D. A doctor's medication is no longer justified by his intentions.
48. According to the NAS's report, one of the problems in end-of-life care is ________.
A. prolonged medical procedures
B. inadequate treatment of pain
C. systematic drug abuse
D. insufficient hospital care
49. Which of the following best defines the word “aggressive ” (line 3, paragraph 6)?
A. Bold.
B. Harmful.
C. Careless.
D. Desperate.
50. George Annas would probably agree that doctors should be punished if they ________.
A. manage their patients incompetently
B. give patients more medicine than needed
C. reduce drug dosages for their patients
D. prolong the needless suffering of the patients
Section B (15 marks)
Directions: There is one passage in this section with 10 questions. Go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on the Answer Sheet.
For questions 51 - 55, mark
无边字图片Y (for YES)    if the statement agrees with the information given in the passage;
N (for NO)    if the statement contradicts the information given in the passage;
NG (for NOT GIVEN)  if the information is not given in the passage.
For questions 56 - 60, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.  w w w .100y i n g y u .c
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