| 2000年专业英语八级考试试题 |
| 来源： 作者： 发布时间：2007-08-10
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16. The author thinks that Danes adopt a ___ attitude towards their country.
A. boastful B. modest C. deprecating D. mysterious?
17. Which of the following is NOT a Danish characteristic cited in the pa ssage??
A. Fondness of foreign culture. B. Equality in society.? C. Linguistic tolerance. D. Persistent planning.
18. The author’s reaction to the statement by the Ministry of Business a nd Industry is ___.
A. disapproving B. approving ?C. noncommittal D. doubtful?
19. According to the passage, Danish orderliness ___.?
A. sets the people apart from Germans and Swedes?
B. spares Danes social troubles besetting other people?
C. is considered economically essential to the country?
D. prevents Danes from acknowledging existing troubles?
20. At the end of the passage the author states all the following EXCEPT that ___.?
A. Danes are clearly informed of their social benefits?
B. Danes take for granted what is given to them?
C. the open system helps to tide the country over?
D. orderliness has alleviated unemployment?
TEXT B
But if language habits do not represent classes, a social stratification in to something as bygone as “aristocracy” and “commons”, they do still of cour se s erve to identify social groups. This is something that seems fundamental in the use of language. As we see in relation to political and national movements, lang uage is used as a badge or a barrier depending on which way we look at it. The n ew boy at school feels out of it at first because he does not know the fight wor ds for things, and awe-inspiring pundits of six or seven look down on him for no t being aware that racksy means “dilapidated”, or hairy “out first ball”. Th e mi ner takes a certain pride in being “one up on the visitor or novice who calls t h e cage a “lift” or who thinks that men working in a warm seam are in their “u nde rpants” when anyone ought to know that the garments are called hoggers. The “i ns ider” is seldom displeased that his language distinguishes him from the “outsi der”.? (来源：EnglishCN.com)
Quite apart from specialized terms of this kind in groups, trades and profe ssions, there are all kinds of standards of correctness at which mast of us feel more or less obliged to aim, because we know that certain kinds of English invi te irritation or downright condemnation. On the other hand, we know that other k inds convey some kind of prestige and bear a welcome cachet.?
In relation to the social aspects of language, it may well be suggested tha t English speakers fall into three categories: the assured, the anxious and the in different. At one end of this scale, we have the people who have “position” an d “status”, and who therefore do not feel they need worry much about their use o f English. Their education and occupation make them confident of speaking an uni mpeachable form of English: no fear of being criticized or corrected is likely t o cross their minds, and this gives their speech that characteristically unself c onscious and easy flow which is often envied. ?
At the other end of the scale, we have an equally imperturbable band, speak ing with a similar degree of careless ease, because even if they are aware that their English is condemned by others, they are supremely indifferent to the fact . The Mrs Mops of this world have active and efficient tongues in their heads, a nd if we happened not to like the/r ways of saying things, well, we “can lump i t ”. That is their attitude. Curiously enough, writers are inclined to represent t he speech of both these extreme parties with -in’ for ing. On the one hand, “w e’re goin’ huntin’, my dear sir”; on the other, “we’re goin’ racin’ , ma te.”?
In between, according to this view, we have a far less fortunate group, th e anxious. These actively try to suppress what they believe to be bad English an d assiduously cultivate what they hope to be good English. They live their lives in some degree of nervousness over their grammar, their pronunciation, and thei r choice of words: sensitive, and fearful of betraying themselves. Keeping up wi th the Joneses is measured not only in houses, furniture, refrigerators, cars, a nd clothes, but also in speech.?
And the misfortune of the “anxious” does not end with their inner anxiet y. Their lot is also the open or veiled contempt of the “assured” on one side of them and of the “indifferent” on the other.?
It is all too easy to raise an unworthy laugh at the anxious. The people t hus uncomfortably stilted on linguistic high heels so often form part of what is, in many ways, the most admirable section of any society: the ambitious, tense, inner-driven people, who are bent on“ going places and doing things”. The grea te r the pity, then, if a disproportionate amount of their energy goes into what Mr Sharpless called“ this shabby obsession” with variant forms of English— espe ci ally if the net result is(as so often)merely to sound affected and ridiculous. “ Here”, according to Bacon, “is the first distemper of learning, when men study w ords and not matter …. It seems to me that Pygmalion’ s frenzy is a good emble m …of this vanity: for words axe but the images of matter; and except they have l ife of reason and invention, to fall in love with them is to fall in love with a picture.”?
21. The attitude held by the assured towards language is ___.?
A. critical B. anxious? C. self-conscious D. nonchalant?
22. The anxious are considered a less fortunate group because ___.?
A. they feel they are socially looked down upon?
B. they suffer from internal anxiety and external attack?
C. they are inherently nervous and anxious people?
D. they are unable to meet standards of correctness?
23. The author thinks that the efforts made by the anxious to cultivate w hat they believe is good English are ___.?
A. worthwhile B. meaningless C. praiseworthy D. irrational?
TEXT C
Fred Cooke of Salford turned 90 two days ago and the world has been beating a path to his door. If you haven’t noticed, the backstreet boy educated at Bla c kpool grammar styles himself more grandly as Alastair Cooke, broadcaster extraor dinaire. An honorable KBE, he would be Sir Alastair if he had not taken American citizenship more than half a century ago.?
If it sounds snobbish to draw attention to his humble origins, it should be reflected that the real snob is Cooke himself, who has spent a lifetime disguis ing them. But the fact that he opted to renounce his British passport in 1941 — just when his country needed all the wartime help it could get-is hardly a ma tter for congratulation.?
Cooke has made a fortune out of his love affair with America, entrancing l isteners with a weekly monologue that has won Radio 4 many devoted adherents. Pa rt of the pull is the developed drawl. This is the man who gave the world “mida tlantic”, the language of the disc jockey and public relations man.?
He sounds American to us and English to them, while in reality he has for decades belonged to neither. Cooke’s world is an America that exists largely in the imagination. He took ages to acknowledge the disaster that was Vietnam and e ven longer to wake up to Watergate. His politics have drifted to the right with age, and most of his opinions have been acquired on the golf course with fellow celebrities.?
He chased after stars on arrival in America, Fixing up an interview with Ch arlie Chaplin and briefly becoming his friend. He told Cooke he could turn him i nto a fine light comedian; instead he is an impressionist’s dream.?
Cooke liked the sound of his first wife’s name almost as much as he admir e d her good looks. But he found bringing up baby difficult and left her for the w ife of his landlord.? Women listeners were unimpressed when, in 1996, he declared on air that th e fact that 4% of women in the American armed forces were raped showed remarkabl e self-restraint on the part of Uncle Sam’s soldiers. His arrogance in not allo w ing BBC editors to see his script in advance worked, not for the first time, to his detriment. His defenders said he could not help living with the 1930s values he had acquired and somewhat dubiously went on to cite “gallantry” as chief a mo ng them. Cooke’s raconteur style encouraged a whole generation of BBC men to th i nk of themselves as more important than the story. His treacly tones were the mo del for the regular World Service reports From Our Own Correspondent, known as F OOCs in the business. They may yet be his epitaph.?
24. At the beginning of the passage the writer sounds critical of ___.?
A. Cooke’s obscure origins?
B. Cooke’s broadcasting style?
C. Cooke’s American citizenship?
D. Cooke’s fondness of America?
25. The following adjectives can be suitably applied to Cooke EXCEPT ___.?
A. old-fashioned B. sincere? C. arrogant D. popular? 26. The writer comments on Cooke’s life and career in a slightly ___ tone.?
A. ironic B. detached ?C. scathing D. indifferent |
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