北京交通大学2011级2级起点第一学期期末口语考试题
北京交通大学2011级2级起点第一学期期末口语考试题
Part one
Read the following paragraph (21世纪)
How do A students like these do it? Brains aren’t the only answer. The most gifted students do not necessarily perform best in exams. Knowing how to make the most of one’s abilities counts for much more. Hard work isn’t the whole story either. Some of these high-achieving students actually put in fewer hours than their lower-scoring classmates. The students at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can easily learn. Here, according to education experts and students themselves, are the secrets of A students.
This explains why it can be so difficult to get a western-style discussion going with Japanese students of English. Whenever I serve a volleyball, everyone just stands back and watches it fall. No one hits it back. Everyone waits until I call on someone to take a turn. And when that person speaks, he doesn't hit my ball back. He serves a new ball. Again, everyone just watches it fall. So I call on someone else. This person does not refer to what the previous speaker has said. He also serves a new ball. Everyone begins again from the same starting line, and all the balls run parallel. There is never any back and forth.
Just after this success, however, tragedy struck. In August of 1973, Stevie was involved in a serious car accident. For nearly a week he lay in a coma, unable to speak or walk. “We don’t know when he’ll be out of danger,” the doctor said. Everyone waited and prayed. Suddenly, it didn’t matter that Stevie was a musical genius or that he had conquered blindness and poverty. All he had left was his faith and strong will.
She was a small woman, old and wrinkled. When she started washing for us, she was already past seventy. Most Jewish women of her age were sickly and weak. All the old women in our street had bent backs and leaned on sticks when they walked. But this washwoman, small and thin as she was, possessed a strength that came from generations of peasant forebears. Mother would count out to her a bundle of laundry that had accumulated over several weeks. She would then lift the bundle, put it on her narrow shoulders, and carry it the long way home.
I remember when they took their first holiday together. Ted wanted to do something energetic, because he didn’t usually get much exercise during the year. Mary’s job meant that she was on her feet most of the time. All she wanted to do was lie in the sun. Ted hated the idea of lying on a beach; Mary hated the idea of being too active. They compromised, and took their holiday in mid-summer, high in the Alps. Mary was able to lie in the sun by the hotel swimming pool, while Ted went off for long walks in the mountains with a group of hikers. In the
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evening they met at the hotel, both content with their day, happy to eat a leisurely meal together and dance a little afterwards.
How can a country where typical parents are ashamed of their daughter studying mathematics instead of going dancing, or of their son reading Weber while his friends play baseball be expected to compete in the technology race with Japan or remain a leading political and cultural force in Europe? How long can America remain a world-class power if we constantly put social skills and physical strength over academic achievement and intellectual ability?
My father, Winston Churchill, began his love affair with painting in his 40s, amid disastrous circumstances. As First Lord of the Admiralty in 1915, he had been deeply involved in a campaign in the Dardanelles that could have shortened the course of a bloody world war. But when the mission failed, with great loss of life, Churchill paid the price, both publicly and privately: He was removed from the Admiralty and lost his position of political influence.
This belief in hard work is the first of three main factors contributing to Asian students’ outstanding performance. It springs from Asians’ common heritage of Confucianism, the philosophy of the 5th-century-BC Chinese sage whose teachings have had a profound influence on Chinese society. One of Confucius’s primary teachings is that through effort, people can perfect themselves.
Joint ventures involving Western and Japanese companies often run into conflicts — a multitude of little things that escalate into big emotional battles in which all the parties keep exclaiming: “What’s wrong with them!? Can they understand that …?!” But because the conflicts are mainly due to cultural differences, neither side can understand — unless they have a “cultural translator”.
Read the following paragraph (交互) Book 1, Unit 1, College Life
Reading 1
Doing homework is important, but it’s not always enough. In order to really understand the ideas, it’s better to meet with a small group of two or three students after you study.
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Complete the assignments with them. Those students
who
did
this
understood
the
information better. They felt more connected to the class, and participated more in their classes. Reading 2
Most colleges have attendance rules. At some colleges, you may be dropped for not attending classes, so ask your teachers about these policies. Missing classes is serious. You might miss an assignment, a quiz, a review for a test, or special information about an assignment. If you miss a class, you must find out what you missed. Ask some in the class to help you.
Book 1, Unit 2, A World of Fast Food
Reading 1
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The result is that Jamaicans are not eating healthy food. Fast food is cheaper than healthy food. Healthy food takes more time to shop for and prepare. Of course, Jamaicans would like to eat food that is both healthy and fast. To help with this problem, the yogurt shop TCBY has been creative. They have four stores in Jamaica that sell yogurt as well as low-fat ice cream. Reading 2
Some teenagers came here on their first dates. Others came here after high school football games. Some got their first jobs here. Many people have good memories of this Old McDonald’s. They’re angry that the building is in danger and that their memories are as well.
Book 1, Unit 3, Healthy Habits
Reading 1
It’s obvious that eating right and exercising regularly are very beneficial. Eating good foods makes you feel great and helps prevent many types of illnesses. Exercise makes your body release chemicals called endorphins, which
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北京交通大学2011级2级起点第一学期期末口语考试题 - 图文
