Final Test For Postgraduate Students of Grade 201X
Part I. Vocabulary (20%)
a. Choose the word or phrase that is closer in meaning to the underlined one.
1. During the past decades, the international community usually under the auspices of the United Nation, has struggled to negotiate global standards that can help us achieve many essential goals. A .With the advance of B. with the addition of C. with the view of D. with the help of 2. The mortality rate of children under five years old is an important indication of the situation of children in a country.
A. growth B. birth C. death D. injury
3. The utilities contend that this reduced capacity will result in curtailed service and higher prices some years down the road. A. by the way B. along the street C. in the past D. in the future
4. Stability at that level angurs well for the market, analysts say, while a plunge through it could spark renewed selling of stocks. A.fall B. hurdle C. leap D. lead
5. Most successful companies all over the world have well-established and identifiable lines of organization.
A.complicated B. confusing C. recognizable D. formidable
6. Milk chocolates have a less pronounced taste of chocolate and they are sweeter than dark chocolate and have a lighter color. A.distinct B. spoken C. articulated D. uttered
7. Prepare yourself for immersion into a diverse learning environment in which you’ll be asked to challenge your pre-conveived notions about your own identity and abilities. A.rinsing B. drying C. shrinking D. involvement
8. With the convenient online shopping services, customers can design and order apparel directly from the virtual shops. A.appliances B. merchandise C. utilities D. clothes
9. Meanwhile, a poll of Wall Street strategists found that not a single pundit was predicting that American shares would fall this year. A. broker B. authority C. shareholder D. scholarship 10. The computer will play the pivotal role either in the basic medicine teaching or in the experimental teaching. A.important B. crucial C. necessary D. irreplaceable
b. Cloze
Choose an appropriate word from the box to fill in each of the following blanks. Change the form where necessary. You may not use any of the words in the box more than once.
query robotics guideline
aerial meld deploy cognition cover recapitulate expression vital endow attest arise collection In the journal Science, Professor Starkey calls for ethical guidelines to (1)______ all aspects of robotic technology, not just in the home and workplace, but also on the battlefield, where lethal robots such as the missile-armed Predator drones used in Iraq and Afghanistan are already (2)_____ with lethal effect. The US Future Combat System project aims to use robots as “force multipliers” ,with a single soldier initiating large-scale ground an (3)______ attacks by a robot droid army. “Robots for care and for war represent just two of many ethically problematic areas that will soon (4)______ from the rapid increase and spreading diversity of robotics applications,” Professor Starkey said ,“Scientists and engineers working in robotics must be mindful of the potential dangers of their work, and public and international discussion is (5)_____ in order to set policy guidelines for ethical and safe application before the guidelines set themselves.”
The call for controls over robots goes back to the 1940s when the science-fiction author Isaac Asimov drew up his famous three laws of (6)_____.The first rule stated that robots must not harm people; the second that they must obey the commands of people provided them does not conflict with the first law; and the third law was that robots must attempt to avoid harming themselves provided this was not in conflict with the two other laws.
Asimov wrote a (7)______ of science fiction series called I, Robot which exploited the issue of machines and morality. He wanted to counter the long history of fictional accounts of dangerous automatons—from the Jewish Golem to Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein—and used his three laws as a literary device to exploit the ethical issues arising from the human interaction with non-human, intelligent beings. But late 20th--century predictions about the rise of machines (8)______ with superior artificial intelligence have not been realized, although robot scientists have given their mechanical protégés (门客) quasi-intelligent(准智能的) traits such as simple speech recognition, emotional (9)______ and face recognition.
Professor Starkey believe that even dumb robots need to be controlled.“I’m not suggesting like Asimov to put ethical rules into robots, but to just to have (10)______ on how robots are used ,”he said.“Current robots are not bright enough even to be called stupid. If I even thought they would be superior in intelligence, I would not have these concerns. They are dumb machines not much brighter than the average washing machine, and that’s the problem.”
Part II . Reading comprehension(20%)
In this part, you will read four passages. You are required to choose the best answer to each question according to the passage and then mark your answer on the Answer Sheet by blacking the letter in the brackets.
Passage One
Archaeology(考古学) is a source of history, not just a humble auxiliary discipline. Archaeological data are historical documents in their own right, not mere illustrations to written texts. Just as much as any other historian, an archaeologist studies and tries to reconstitute the process that has created the human world in which we live---and us ourselves in so far as we are each creatures of our age and social environment. Archaeological data are all changed in the material world resulting from human action or, more succinctly, the fossilized results of human behavior. The total sum of these constitute what may be called the archaeological record. This record exhibits peculiarities and deficiencies the consequences of which produce a rather superficial contract between archaeological history and the more familiar kind based upon written records.
Not all human behavior fossilizes. The words I utter and you hear as vibrations in the air are certainly human changes in the material world and may be of great historical significance. Yet they have no sort of trace in the archaeological records unless they are captured by a Dictaphone or written down by a clerk. The movement of troops on the battlefield may “change the course of history,” but this is equally ephemeral from the archaeologist’s standpoint. What is perhaps worse, most organic material are perishable. Everything made of wood, hide, wool, linen, grass, hair, and similar material conditions. In a relatively brief period the archaeological record is reduced to more scraps of stone, bone, glass, metal, and earthenware. Still modern archaeology, by applying appropriate techniques and comparative methods, aided by a few lucky finds from peat bogs deserts, and frozen soil is able to fill a good deal of the gap. 1. What is the author’s main purpose in the passage?
A. To point out the importance of recent advances in archaeology. B. To describe an archaeologist’s education.
C. To explain how archaeology is a source of history. D. To encourage more people to become archaeologists.
2. The word “succinctly” in line 6 is closest in meaning to ____. A. concisely B. briefly C. clearly D. appropriately
3. According to the passage, the archaeological record consists of _____. A. spoken words of great historical significance B. the fossilized results of human activity C. organic materials D. ephemeral ideas
4. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as an example of an organic material? A. stone B. wool C. grass D. hair
5. The paragraph following the passage most probably discusses _____. A. techniques for recording oral histories B. certain battlefield excavation methods C. some specific archaeological discoveries
D. building materials of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
Passage Two
The modern age is age of electricity. People are so used to electric lights,radio,televisions, and televisions that it is hard to imagine what life would be like without them. When there is a power failure,people grope about in flicking candlelight,cars hesitate in the streets because there are no traffic light to guide them,and food spoils in silent refrigerators.
Yet,people began to understand how electricity works only a little more than two centuries ago.Nature has apparently been experimenting in this field for millions of years.Scientists are discovering more and more that the living world may hold many interesting secrets of electricity that could benefit humanity.
All living cells send out tiny pulses of electricity.As the heart beats,it sends out pulses of recorded,they form an electroencephalogram,which a doctor can study to determine how well the heart is working.The brain,too,sends out brain waves of electricity,which can be recorded in an electroencephalogram.The electric currents generated by most living cells are extremely small-often so small that sensitive instruments are needed to record them. But in some animals,