心之所向，所向披靡
东南大学远程教育专升本招生英语测试(C)
Part I：Reading Comprehension:
Directions: In this part there are four passages. Each passage is followed by a number of comprehension questions. Read the passages and answer the questions. Then, mark your answer on the Answer Sheet with a single line through the center.
1
Many things about language are a mystery, and many will always remain so. But some things we do know.
First, we know that all human beings have a language of some sort. There is no race of men anywhere on earth so backward that it has no language, no set of speech sounds by which the people communicate with one another. Furthermore, in historical times, there has never been a race of men without a language.
Second, there is no such thing as a primitive language. There are many people whose cultures are undeveloped, who are, as we say, uncivilized, but the languages they speak are not primitive. In all known languages we can see complexities that must have been tens of thousands of years in developing.
This has not always been well understood; indeed, the direct contrary has often been stated. Popular ideas of the language of the American Indians will illustrate. Many people have supposed that the Indians communicated in a very primitive system of noises. Study has proved this to be nonsense. There are, or were, hundreds of American Indian languages, and all of them turn out to be very complicated and very old. They are certainly different from the languages that most of us are familiar with, but they are no more primitive than English and Greek.
A third thing we know about language is that all languages are perfectly adequate. That is, each one is a perfect means of expressing the culture of the people who speak the language.
Finally, we know that language changes. It is natural and normal for language to change; the only languages which do not change are the dead ones. This is easy to understand if we look backward in time. Change goes on in all aspects of language. Grammatical features change as do speech sounds, and changes in vocabulary are sometimes very extensive and may occur very rapidly. Vocabulary is the least stable part of any language.
01. In the second paragraph the author thinks that
A. some backward race doesn’t have a language of its own. B. some race in history didn’t possess a language of its own. C. any human race, whether backward or not, has a language. D. some races on earth can communicate without language.
02. According to the author, people of undeveloped cultures can have language. A. complicated B. uncivilized C. primitive D. well-known 03. The author has used American Indian languages as an example to show that they are
A. just as old as some well-known languages.
B. just as advanced as some well-known languages. C. more developed than some well-known languages.
D. more complex than some well-known languages. 04. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT?
A. Language is a means of expressing a particular culture. B. All languages can well express their respective cultures. C. Some primitive languages can also express their cultures. D. Some primitive languages are better than other languages.
05. According to the author language changes are most likely to occur in
A. grammar. B. pronunciation. C. vocabulary. D. intonation.
2
Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always encourage such people, but I also explain that there's a big difference between \are dreaming of wealth and fame, not the long hours alone at a typewriter. \I say to them, \
The reality is that writing is a lonely, private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousands more whose longing is never rewarded. When I left a 20 - year career in the U. S. Coast Guard to become a freelance writer (自由撰稿人), I had no prospects at all. What I did have was a friend who found me my room in a New York apartment building. It didn't even matter that it was cold and had no bathroom. I immediately bought a used manual typewriter and felt like a genuine writer. After a year or so, however, I still hadn't gotten a break and began to doubt myself. It was so hard to sell a story that barely made enough to eat. But I knew I wanted to write. I had dreamed about it for years. I wasn't going to be one of those people who die wondering. What if? I would keep putting my dream to the test - even though it meant living with uncertainty and fear of failure. This is the Shadowland of hope, and anyone with a dream must learn to live there.
6. The passage is meant ______.
A. warn young people of the hardships that a successful writer has to experience B. advise young people to give up their idea of becoming a professional writer C. show young people it’s unrealistic for a writer to purse wealth and fame D. encourage young people to pursue a writing career. 7. What can be concluded from the passage?
A. Genuine writers often find their work interesting and rewarding. B. A writer’s success depends on luck rather than on effort. C. Famous writers usually live in poverty and isolation. D. The chances for a writer to become successful are small.
8. Why did the author begin to doubt himself after the first year of his writing career? A. He wasn’t able to produce a single book. B. He hadn’t seen a change for the better.
C. He wasn’t able to have a rest for a whole year. D. He found his dream would never come true.
9. “…people who die wondering. What if?” (Line 4, Para 3) refers to “those ______”. A. who thinks too much of the dark side of life B. who regret giving up their career halfway C. who think a lot without making a decision
D. who are full of imagination even upon death 10. “Shadowland” in the last sentence refers to ______. A. the wonderland one often dreams about
B. the bright future that one is looking forward to
C. the state of uncertainty before one’s final goal is reached D. a world that exists only in one’s imagination
3
If we asked exactly what we were doing a year ago, we should probably have to say that we could not remember. But if we had kept a book and had written in it an account of what we did each day, we should be able to give an answer to the question.
It is the same in history. Many things have been forgotten because we do not have any written account of them. Sometimes men did keep record of them. Sometimes men did keep record of the important happenings in their country, but often it was destroyed by fire or in a war. Sometimes there was never any written record at all because the people of that time and place did not know how to write. For example, we know a good deal about the people who lived in China 4,000 years ago, because they could write and leave written records for those who lived after them. But we know almost nothing about the people who lived even 200 years ago in central Africa, because they had not learned to write.
Sometimes, of course, even if the people cannot write, they may know something of the past. They have heard about it from older people, and often songs and dances and stories have been made about the most important happenings, and those have been sung and acted and told for many generations. For most people are proud to tell what their fathers did in the past. This we may call “remembered history”. Some of it has now been written down. It is not so exact or so valuable to us as written history is, because words are much more easily changed when used again and again in speech than when copied in writing. But where there are no written records, such spoken stories are often very helpful.
11. Which of the following ideas is not conveyed in the passage?
A. “Remembered history”, compared with written history, is less reliable.
B. Written records of the past played a most important role in our learning of the human
history.
C. A written account of our daily activities helps us to answer some questions. D. Where there are no written records, there is no history.
12. We know very little about the central Africa 200 years ago because .
A. there was nothing worth writing down at that time
B. the people there ignored the importance of keeping a record C. the written records were perhaps destroyed by a fire. D. The people there had not known how to write 13. “Remembered history” refers to . A. history based on a person’s imagination
B. stories of important happenings passed down from mouth to mouth C. songs and dances about the most important events D. Both B and C
大学英语复习C及参考答案
