about whether you prefer Apple or Android for your tablet. This isn't about picking sides. As a consumer, I want there to be robust competition across the board. I want Coke and Pepsi, Target and Wal-Mart, Engadget and Gizmodo.
If you're a fan of Apple, you want there to be a worthy rival to push it, to keep its feet to the fire. If you don't like Apple, you want someone else in the game so that Apple doesn't suck all the air out of the room. And you want Apple to do the same pushing and foot-scorching to its competitor that another company would do to it.
(29) The phrase \ . A. competing fiercely with one another
B. beating one another with their tooth and nail
C. extremely careful about the family-sedan segment D. paying more attention to their tooth and nail
(30) Why is it a great time to be shopping for a new family sedan? A. Because competition is more interesting and compelling. B. Because Hyundai and Ford are joining the competition.
C. Because customers have enough quality cars to choose from. D. Because the Camry and the Accord are competing for supremacy.
(31) What are the tablet makers strategically doing, facing the brutal competition? A. Developing new products and reducing prices. B. Analyzing the results of the economic laws. C. Adapting to the furious pace of development.
D. Providing best possible services for their products.
(32) The author brings in the pairs of \
Gizmodo\ .
A. a comparison B. a contrast
C. an abstraction D. an exemplification
(33) What does the phrase \ A. To place Apple's feet close to the fire.
B. To pressure Apple into intensifying its competition. C. To force Apple to dance hard on the fire.
D. To advise Apple to strategically drop its side products.
(34) Why does the author start with the car industry before he focuses on tablet market? A. Because he treats the car industry as the key point for his writing. B. Because the car industry is more important than tablet market.
C. Because he uses the car analogy for a more effective argumentation. D. Because the model of the car is far more popular in the market.
Passage Four
So what are books good for？My best answer is that books produce knowledge by encasing it. Books take ideas and set them down, transforming them through the limitations of space into thinking usable by others. In 1959, C.P. Snow threw down the challenge of \pursuing their separate, unconnected lives within developed societies. In the new-media ecology of the 21st century, we may not have closed that gap, but the two cultures of the contemporary world are the culture of data and the culture of narrative. Narrative is rarely collective. It isn't infinitely expandable.
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Narrative has a shape and a temporality, and it ends, just as our lives do. Books tell stories. Scholarly books tell scholarly stories.
Storytelling is central to the work of the narrative-driven disciplines-the humanities and the nonquantitative social sciences--and it is central to the communicative pleasures of reading. Even argument is a form of narrative. Different kinds of books are, of course, good for different things. Some should be created only for download and occasional access, as in the case of most reference projects, which these days are born digital or at least given dual passports. But scholarly writing requires narrative fortitude, on the part of writer and reader. There is nothing wiki about the last set of Cambridge University Press monographs (专著) I purchased, and in each I encounter an individual speaking subject.
Each single-author book is immensely particular, a story told as only one storyteller could recount it. Scholarship is a collagist (拼贴画家), building the next road map of what we know book by book.Stories end, and that, I think, is a very good thing. A single authorial voice is a kind of performance, with an audience of one at a time, and no performance should outstay its welcome. Because a book must end, it must have a shape, the arc of thought that demonstrates not only the writer's command of her or his subject but also that writer's respect for the reader. A book is its own set of bookends.
Even if a book is published in digital form, freed from its materiality, that shaping case of the codex (古书的抄本) is the ghost in the knowledge-machine. We are the case for books. Our bodies hold the capacity to generate thousands of ideas, perhaps even a couple of fulllength monographs, and maybe a trade book or two. If we can get them right, books are luminous versions of our ideas, bound by narrative structure so that others can encounter those better, smarter versions of us on the page or screen. Books make the case for us, for the identity of the individual as an embodiment of thinking in the world. The heart of what even scholars do is the endless task of making that world visible again and again by telling stories, complicated and subtle stories that reshape us daily so that new forms of knowledge can shine out. (35) According to the author, the narrative culture is .
A. connectable B. infinitely expandable C. collective D. nonquantitative
(36) Storytelling can be regarded as the essence of all the following EXCEPT . A. the humanities B. the reference books C. the social sciences D. the pleasures of reading
(37) What does the phrase \ A. Nothing casual about. B. Nothing stimulating about. C. Nothing referential about. D. Nothing controversial about.
(38) Why is each single-author book immensely particular according to the passage? A. Because it enriches and restructures our knowledge in its own way. B. Because it puts together the particular stories we need. C. Because it tells single-handedly how we should perform.
D. Because it helps to make the map for our travel in particular places. (39) We may think highly of a writer if his or her work helps A. to haunt us like a ghost in the knowledge-machine B. to publish books in a narrative structure C. to review a book on the page or screen
D. to illuminate us in a new form of knowledge
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(40) Why does the writer think that even argument is a form of narrative? A. Because it can be accessed and downloaded anywhere anytime. B. Because it is born digital or it might have dual passports.
C. Because it has the limitation of time both for the writer and the reader. D. Because it will remain a better and smarter version for us on the page.
Section B
Directions: In this section, you are required to read one quoted blog and the comments on it. The
blog and comments are followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer and mark your answer on the Answer Sheet.
“Years ago，a friend of mine observed that 80 percent of the people in this country have too much self—esteem and 20 percent have much too little．That struck me as pretty accurate，but psychologists will tell you that self—esteem is not a constant．People?s appraisal of their own worth varies．．．．I have the impression that more people have unstable self—esteem than before．I say this because some of the traditional standards people used to measure their own worth have eroded(middle class respectability)，whereas more people now seem to measure themselves against celebrities and superstars．It would be interesting to know if anybody has studied changes in the criteria we use to measure self-worth．”
Comment 1：
You bring up an interesting point because I do believe values and beliefs have changed．It would be very interesting to see the criteria used for self—worth．I find it hard to believe that only 20％of people have low self-esteem．I?ve been following Brene Brown?s thoughts on the subject of self-worth，and low self—worth(on some level)seems much more common．
Comment 2：
If the quality of one?s self—esteem is going to be judged by comparisons with those who are celebrities and superstars，then the entire exercise is really pointless．
Comment 3：
Self—esteem solution：A happy marriage．
Comment 4：
Ego(self—worth)is proportionate to wealth．The more wealth, the more self-worth.
Comment 5 :
Benjamin Franklin said it best, and it applies to all facets of life. \rich just as discontent will make a rich man poor. \richest. It simply means once you've done your best be content with yourself, just as if you don't give your best effort discontent is sure to follow.
Comment 6 :
I've \
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much probably motivated by trying to \satisfying.
Comment 7 :
A related concept you may be interested in is the \Mark Leary (Wake Forest). Basically it states that our self-esteem is determined by the amount of perceived social acceptance/rejection, and that determination is full of cognitive biases and errors. Awesome stuff.
(41) The main idea of the quoted blog is that .
A. most people in the country have too much self-esteem B. it is urgent to help those who have too little self-esteem
C. the criteria for people to measure their self-worth are changing D. the traditional standards make people feel unstable
(42) Among all the comments, which of the following choices brings in authoritative sources in their discussion?
A. Comment 1 and Comment 2. B. Comment 3 and Comment 5. C. Comment 1 and Comment 7. D. Comment 4 and Comment 6.
(43) What all the commentators try to respond to in their writing is . A. the respect for the traditional values B. the standards of self-worth measurement C. marriage, celebrities and social activities D. ego, contentment and social judgment
(44) Why does the writer of Comment 5 try to clarify Benjamin Franklin's saying? A. Because Franklin's saying is universally applicable.
B. Because contentment means \ C. Because if you do your best, you will be the richest.
D. Because misunderstandings might occur of Franklin's saying.
(45) What is the writer's attitude toward the \ A. Affirmative. B. Objective. C. Detached. D. Negative.
Part IV Cloze (10 minutes, 10 points)
Directions: In this part, there is a passage with ten blanks. For each blank there are four choices
marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best answer for each blank and mark your answer on the Answer Sheet.
Almost half of UK internet users are going online via mobile phone data connections, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). 45% of people surveyed said they (46) use of the net while out and about, compared with 31% in 2010. The most rapid growth was (47) younger people, where 71% of internet-con-nected 16 to 24-year-olds used mobiles.
Domestic internet use also rose. According to the ONS, 77% of households now have (48)
to a net connection. That figure was (49) 4% from the previous year, representing the
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slowest rate of (50) since the ONS survey began in 2006. The figure for domestic connections contrasted sharply with the rapid growth in uptake of mobile services.
(51) , the popularity of 3G broadband did not necessarily mean that more people were going online overall. Many of those using mobile phones are (52) to already have home broadband connections.
Older users, who the government is particularly keen to get (53) , appeared to (54) relatively untouched by the phenomenon. While 71% of 16 to 24-year-old who went (55)
said they used mobile broadband, just 8% of internet users aged over 65 made use of the newer technology.
(46) A. made B. took C. kept D. sought (47) A. around B. within C. among D. beyond (48) A. route B. access C. way D. road (49) A. on B. up C. of D. in
(50) A. survey B. internet C. mobiles D. growth (51) A. However B. Because C. Moreover D. Even if (52) A. easy B. fast C. likely D. slow (53) A. connected B. used to C. provided D. called (54) A. have B. be C. being D. have been (55) A. abroad B. out C. online D. home
Part V Text Completion (20 minutes, 20 points)
Directions : In this part there are three short texts. For each text, you should first fill in the blank in the choices A, B, C (and D) with the best answer provided in the rectangle. Then, complete the text itself by filling in each of the blanks with the completed A, or B, or C (or D ). Write your answer on the Answer Sheet.
Text One
learn to on or not
A. Whether we like it (56) . B. have to (57) accept
C. that exists (58) planet Earth The film shows how wonderfully gentle and caring elephants are, and just how intelligent and \ that we humans are, in fact, animals. (60)
we are still part of the whole. Every species (61) has a role to play. The role of humans has, on the whole, been destructive. Humans need to have more respect for nature.
Text Two
watch information with
A. associated (62) a 22-minute reduction in their life expectancy B. lived an average 4.8 years less than those who didn't (63) any television C. when they collected TV viewing (64)
Sitting in front of the television may be relaxing, but spending too much time in front of the tube
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