B

Non-English Major Graduate Student

English Qualifying Test
(July, 2004)
Part I Listening Comprehension (20%)
Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear 9 short conversations. At the end of each
conversation, a question will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and
the question will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause.
During the pause, you must read the four suggested choices marked A, B, C or D, and
decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet
I.
1. A. To watch Romeo and Juliet
B. To take an English test.
C. To go to the theatre with the woman.
D. To stay home and study.
2. A. The man is the womans colleague.
B. The man has to phone the doctor at once.
C. The mans child is ill.
D. The man had better give the doctors number.
3. A. The visiting economist has given several lectures.
B. Dr. Johnson and the guest speaker were schoolmates.
C. The guest speakers opinion is different from Dr. Johnsons.
D. Dr. Johnson invited the economist to visit their college.
4. A. For 30 minutes.
B. For 25 minutes.
C. For 45 minutes.
D. For 15 minutes.
5. A. Shes going to read under the oak tree.
B. Shes going to stay at home and finish writing her paper
C. Shes going to stay at home and finish writing with the man.
D. Shes going to write the paper with the man.
6. A. $40.
B. $25.
C. $35.
D. $30.
7. A. Hes not equal to the job.
B. Hes not well paid for his job.
C. He cannot keep his mind on his work.
D. He doesnt think the job is challenging enough.
8. A. Boos-clerk.
B. Teacher-student.
C. Lawyer-client.
D. Two colleagues.
9. A. A teacher in a school.
B. An accountant in a company.
C. A librarian in a school.
D. A reporter in a newspaper agency.
Section B
Directions: In this section, you will hear 2 short passages. At the end of each
passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the question will be
spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from
the four choices marked A, B, C or D. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer
Sheet I.
Passage 1 (Questions 10 to 12 are based on this passage.)
10. A. To contract infectious diseases.
B. To prevent from getting sick.
C. To enjoy the pleasure of life.
D. To keep mentally and physically active.
11. A. By enjoying watching others exercising at home or in a stadium.
B. By visiting the doctor and going to hospital regularly.
C. By paying attention to diet, rest and exercise.
D. By realizing the importance of physical health.
12. A. Their hearts have nothing to worry about.
B. They have the best doctor to advise on individual exercise.
C. Their muscles are greatly weakened.
D. They are less likely to get heart and blood-vessel diseases.
Passage 2 (Questions 13 to 15 are based on this passage.)
13. A. Really support for their movement.
B. Liberate women from tedious housework.
C. Claim their rights to equal job opportunities.
D. Express their anger against sex discrimination.
14. A. It is a popular form of art.
B. It will bring a lot of trouble to the local people.
C. It will spoil the natural beauty of their surroundings.
D. It is popular among rock stars.
15. A. To show that mindless graffiti can provide violence.
B. To show that graffiti, in some cases, can constitute a crime.
C. To show that Londoners have a special liking for graffiti.
D. To show that graffiti can make the environment more colorful.
Section C
Directions: In this section, you are going to hear a short passage twice. The passage
is printed below with some words missing. As you listen, fill in each of the blanks
with the words you have heard. Please write your answers on Answer Sheet II.
Ever since humans have inhabited the earth, they have made use of various forms
of communication. Generally, the expression of thoughts and feelings has been in the
form of oral speech. When people can not communicate in words, they use (S1) .
Tourists, the deaf, and the mute have had to (S2) this form of expression. Many of
these symbols of whole words are very picturesque and exact and can be used
intentionally; spelling, however, cannot.
Body language transmits ideas or thoughts by certain actions, either intentionally
or unintentionally. A wink can be a way of flirting or indicating that the party is only
joking. A nod (S3) , while shaking the head indicates a (S4) .
Other forms of nonlinguistic language can be found in Braille signal flags, Morse
code, and smoke signals. Road maps and picture signs also guide, warn, and instruct
people. While verbalization is the most common form of language, other systems
(S5) also express human thoughts and feelings.

Part II Cloze Test (10%)

Directions: There are 20 questions in this part of the test. Read the passage through.
Then go back and choose one suitable word or phrase marked A, B, C or D for each
blank in the passage. Mark your answer by drawing a single bar across the
corresponding letter on Answer Sheet I.
Pronouncing a language is a skill. Every normal person is expert in the skill of
pronouncing his own language, but 16 people can be even moderately 17 at
pronouncing foreign languages. Now there are many reasons 18 this, some obvious,
some perhaps not so obvious. 19 I suggest that the fundamental reason why people
20 do not speak foreign languages very much better 21 they do is that they fail to
22 the true nature of the problem of learning to pronounce, and 23 never set about
tackling it in the right way. Far too many people fail to realize 24 pronouncing a
foreign language is a skill, one that needs careful training of special kind, 25 one
that cannot be 26 by just leaving it to take care of itself. I think even teachers 27
language, while recognizing the importance of a good accent, tend to neglect, in their
practical teaching, the branching of study concerned 28 speaking the language. So
the first 29 I want to make is that English pronunciation must be taught; the teacher
should be prepared to 30 some of the lesson time to this, and by his whole attitude to
the subject should get the student to feel that here is a matter worthy 31 receiving
his close attention. So, there should be 32 when other aspects of English, 33
grammar or spelling, are allowed for the moment to take 34 place. 35 this
question of the time given to pronunciation, there are two other requirements for the
teacher: the first, knowledge, the second, technique.
16. A. all B. most C. few D. many
17. A. proficient B. effusive C. profitable D. efficient
18. A. to B. for C. with D. on
19. A. And B. For C. Also D. But
20. A. in general B. for all C. after all D. above all
21. A. then B. otherwise C. when D. than
22. A. catch B. grasp C. capture D. seize
23. A. constantly B. considerately C. consequently D. conscientiously
24. A. which B. how C. what D. that
25. A. but B. so C. and D. as well
26. A. acquired B. learned C. demanded D. required
27. A. to B. of C. at D. with
28. A. without B. on C. upon D. with
29. A. point B. aim C. goal D. major
30. A. share B. spend C. devote D. take
31. A. on B. of C. in D. for
32. A. occasion B. occurrence C. orientation D. occupation
33. A. but for B. as well as C. except for D. such as
34. A. first B. firstly C. second D. secondly
35. A. Except B. Apart from C. But D. Except for

Part III Reading Comprehension (35%)

Section A
Directions: In this section, there are 5 short passages. Read each passage carefully,
and then do the questions below. Choose the best answer among A, B, C or D, and
mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet I.
Passage 1
Recent technological advances in manned and unmanned undersea vehicles along
with breakthroughs in satellite technology and computer equipment have overcome
some of the limitations of divers and diving equipment. Without a vehicle, divers
often become sluggish and their mental concentration was limited. Because of
undersea pressure that affected their speech organs, communication among divers was
difficult or impossible. But today, most oceanographers make direct observations by
means of instruments that are lowered into the ocean, from samples taken from the
water, or from photographs made by orbiting satellites. Direct observations of the
ocean floor are made not only by divers but also by deep-diving submarines and aerial
photography. Some of the submarines can dive to depths of more than seven miles
and cruise at depths of fifteen thousand feet. In addition, radio-equipped buoys can be
operated by remote control in order to transmit information back to land-based
laboratories, often via satellites. Particularly important are data about water
temperature, currents and weather. Satellite photographs can show the distribution of
sea ice, oil slicks, and cloud formations over the ocean. Maps created from satellite
pictures can represent the temperature and the color of the oceans surface, enabling
researchers to study the ocean currents. Furthermore, computers help oceanographers
to collect and analyze data from submarines and satellites. By creating a model of the
oceans movement and characteristics, scientists can predict the patterns and possible
effects of the ocean on the environment.
36. With what topic is the passage primarily concerned?
A. Technological advances in oceanography.
B. Communication among the divers.
C. Direct observation of the ocean floor.
D. Divers and diving equipment.
37. Divers have had problems in communicating undersea because _______.
A. the vehicles they used have not been perfected
B. they did not pronounce clearly
 C. the water destroyed their speech organs
D. the pressure affected their speech organs
38. This passage suggests that the successful exploration of the ocean depends upon
_______.
A. radios that divers use to communicate
B. vehicles as well as divers
C. controlling currents and the weather
D. the limitations of diving equipment
39. Undersea vehicles _______.
A. are too small for a man to fit inside
B. are very slow to respond
C. make direct observations of the ocean floor
D. have the same limitations that divers have
40. How is a radio-equipped buoy operated?
A. By operators inside the vehicle in the part underwater.
B. By operators outside the vehicle on the ship.
C. By operators outside the vehicle on the diving platform.
D. By operators outside the vehicle in a laboratory on shore.
41. According to the author, what are some of the problems the underwater studies
may eventually resolve?
A. Transportation and communication problem.
B. Overcrowding and housing problems.
C. Weather and temperature control.
D. Food and energy shortages.
Passage 2
Born in 1830 in rural Amherst, Massachusetts, Emily Dickinson spent her entire
life in the household of her parents. Between 1859 and 1862, it was later discovered,
she wrote like a person possessed, often producing a poem a day. It was also during
this period that her life was transformed into the myth of Amherst. Withdrawing more
and more, keeping to her room, sometimes even refusing to see visitors who called,
she began to dress in whitea habit that added to her reputation as an eccentric.
In their determination to read Dickinsons life in terms of a traditional romantic
plot, biographers have missed the unique pattern of her lifeher struggle to create a
female life not yet imagined by the culture in which she lived. Dickinson was not the
innocent, lovelorn, and emotionally fragile girl sentimentalized by the Dickinson
myth and popularized by William Luces 1976 play, The Belle of Amherst. Her
decision to shut the door on Amherst society in the 1850s transformed her house into
a kind of magical realm in which she was free to engage her poetic genius. Her
seclusion was not the result of a failed love affair, but rather a part of a more general
pattern of renunciation through which she, in her quest for self-sovereignty, carried on
an argument with the Puritan fathers, attacking with wit and irony their cheerless
Calvinist doctrine, their stern patriarchal God, and their rigid notions of true
womanhood.
42. What is the authors main purpose in the passage?
 A. To promote the popular myth of Emily Dickinson.
B. To interpret Emily Dickinsons peculiar behavior.
C. To discuss Emily Dickinsons failed love affair.
D. To describe the religious climate in Emily Dickinsons time.
43. According to the passage, the period from 1858 to 1862 was for Emily Dickinson
a period of great _______.
A. tragedy
B. sociability
C. productivity
D. frivolity
44. According to the passage, biographers of Emily Dickinson have traditionally
_______.
A. criticized most of her poems
B. seen her life in romantic terms
C. ignored her innocence and emotional fragility
D. blamed her parents for restricting her activities
45. Why does the author mention William Luces play, The Belle of Amherst?
A. To give an example of the sentimentalized Emily Dickinson myth.
B. To show how popular Emily Dickinsons poems have become.
C. To show that Emily Dickinson was also an actress.
D. To illustrate the theatrical quality of Emily Dickinsons poems.
46. The author implies that many people attribute Emily Dickinsons seclusion to
_______.
A. physical illness
B. religious fervor
C. a failed love affair
D. her dislike of people
47. The author suggests all of the following as reasons for Emily Dickinsons unusual
behavior EXCEPT her_______.
A. struggle to create a new female identity
B. desire to develop her genius undisturbed
C. search for her own independence
D. attempt to draw attention to her poetry
48. It can be inferred from the passage that Emily Dickinson lived in a society that
was characterized by _______.
A. very strong Puritan beliefs
B. inequality of men and women
C. encouragement of nonconformity
D. appreciation of poetic creativity
Passage 3
Insurance is supposed to provide protection against financial risks, and while
dying too soon is one major risk we face, another risk more and more people fear is
outliving their money. As a result, a growing array of life insurance products makes it
possible to protect against both of those risks.
 In many of todays life insurance products, MacDonald notes, The death portion
really has become a commodity type product, so if someone is really concerned about
the financial impact of dying young, then they can get a pretty good deal by buying
term insurance on a commodity basisfind the cheapest policy and buy it. But, he
says, The other side of the coin is that insurance companies have developed products
that can be very creative, and very competitive to other alternatives, including
investments. They can fill a very creative role in any overall investment plan.
Diverse and universal policies offer people choices in how much they want to put
into their policies and how they want their funds invested. These funds can then be
tapped later on to provide a lump sum for purchasing a retirement home or a stream of
retirement income. Life insurance is an attractive investment vehicle, because the
inside buildup, the accumulation of funds inside a policy structure, is not subject to
taxes, in contract to other personal investment.
However, MacDonald and others warn against using insurance policies as an
investment. While there are tax advantages, there are also the costs connected with the
insurance coverage, and if you dont need that coverage these can be expensive ways
to invest.
Moreover, MacDonald notes that some companies are offering insurance that has
a critical illness or long-term care benefit. These policies specify that if someone
suffers a heart attack, for example, they will get 25% of the face amount of the
insurance policy immediately rather than at death. Or if they must be confined to a
nursing home costs.
Amid the proliferation of insurance product, MacDonald says, The positive side
of it is there are better productstheyre cheaper and more flexible. The negative side
is that its more complicated and easier to make a mistake. In the past, it was plain
vanilla; everybody was selling the same product and everybody had to find an agent
they liked. Now there have been significant changes in product structure and design,
and benefits, and so it is worthwhile to shop around.
49. The purpose of insurance is to _______.
A. give you money whenever you need
B. protect you from financial risks
C. save and invest money
D. outlive money
50. What does the underlined word they in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A. Insurance products.
B. Insurance companies.
C. Other alternatives.
D. Included investments.
51. What advantage will there be if one buys life insurance instead of making other
investments?
A. He will have money for a retirement home.
B. It will cost him nothing if he buys a life insurance.
C. Profit he earns from insurance is tax-free.
D. It is cheap to buy a life insurance.
52. What does MacDonald warn against people when they intend to buy life
insurance products?
A. It is expensive to invest on life insurance products.
B. Some insurance has some specific terms.
C. Some insurance companies will not provide satisfactory terms.
D. People should not use insurance policies as an investment.
53. Which of the following statements is true about insurance products?
A. There are so many choices in insurance products that people find it difficult
to make a choice.
B. There are no better and cheaper insurance products.
C. It is good for people to have so many insurance products to choose.
D. People have no choice when buying insurance products.
Passage 4
There were two widely divergent influences on the early development of
statistical methods. Statistics had a mother who was dedicated to keeping orderly
records of governmental units (state and statistics come from the same Latin root,
status) and a gentlemanly gambling father who relied on mathematics to increase his
skill at playing the odds in games of chance. The influence of the mother on the
offspring, statistics, is represented by counting, measuring, describing, tabulating,
ordering, and the taking of censusesall of which led to modern descriptive statistics.
From the influence of the father came modern inferential statistics, which is based
squarely on theories of probability.
Descriptive statistics involves tabulating, depicting, and describing collections of
data. These data may be either quantitative, such as measures of height, intelligence,
or grade levelvariables that are characterized by an underlying continuumor the
data may represent qualitative variables, such as sex, college major, or personality
type. Large masses of data must generally undergo a process of summarization or
reduction before they are comprehensible. Descriptive statistics is a tool for
describing or summarizing or reducing to comprehensible from the properties of an
otherwise an unwieldy mass of data.
Inferential statistics is a formalized body of methods for solving another class of
problems that present great difficulties for the unaided human mind. This general
class of problems characteristically involves attempts to make productions using a
sample of observations. For example, a school superintendent wishes to determine the
proportion of children in a large school system who come to school without breakfast,
have been vaccinated for flu, or whatever. Having a little knowledge of statistics, the
superintendent would know that it is unnecessary and inefficient to question each
child; the proportion for the entire district could be estimated fairly accurately from a
sample of as few as 100 children. Thus, the purpose of inferential statistics is to
predict or estimate characteristics of a population from a knowledge of the
characteristics of only a sample of the population.
54. What is the passage mainly concerned with?
A. The drawback of descriptive and inferential statistics.
B. Applications of inferential statistics.
 C. The development and use of statistics.
D. How to use descriptive statistics.
55. According to the first paragraph, counting and describing are associated with
_______.
A. inferential statistics
B. descriptive statistics
C. unknown variables
D. qualitative changes
56. Why does the author mention the mother and father in the first paragraph?
A. To point out that parents can teach their children.
B. To introduce inferential statistics.
C. To explain that there are different kinds of variables.
D. To present the background of statistics in a humorous and understandable
way.
57. The word squarely in the last sentence of Paragraph 1 could best be replaced by
_______.
A. solid
B. geometrically
C. rectangularly
D. haphazardly
58. Which of the following is NOT given as an example of qualitative variable?
A. Gender.
B. Height.
C. College major.
D. Type of personality.
59. Which of the following statements about descriptive statistics is best supported by
the passage?
A. It simplifies unwieldy masses of data.
B. It leads to increased variability.
C. It solves all numerical problems.
D. It changes qualitative variables to quantitative variables.
60. According to the passage, what is the purpose of examining a sample of a
population?
A. To compare different groups.
B. To predict characteristics of the entire population.
C. To consider all the quantitative variables.
D. To tabulate collections of data.
Passage 5
In recent years, there has been a steady assault on salt from the doctors: salt is bad
for youregardless of your health. Politicians also got on board. There is a direct
relationship, US congressman Neal Smith noted, between the amount of sodium a
person consumes and heart disease, circulatory disorders, stroke and even early
death.
Frightening, if true! But many doctors and medical researchers are now beginning
to feel the salt has gone too far. All this hue and cry about eating salt is unnecessary,
Dr. Dustan insists. For most of us it probably doesnt make much difference how
much salt we eat. Dustans most recent short-term study of 150 people showed that
those with normal blood pressure experienced no change at all when placed on an
extremely low-salt diet, or later when salt was reintroduced. Of the hypertensive
subjects, however, half of those on the low-salt diet experienced a drop in blood
pressure, which returned to its previous level when salt was reintroduced.
An adequate to somewhat excessive salt intake has probably saved many more
lives than it has in the general population, notes Dr. John H. Laragh. So a
recommendation that the whole population should avoid salt makes no sense.
Medical experts agree that everyone should practice reasonable moderation in
salt consumption. For the average person, a moderate amount might run from four to
ten grams and this salt allowance would come from the natural sodium in food. The
rest would be added in processing, preparation or at the table.
Those with kidney, liver or heart problems may have to limit dietary salt, if their
doctor advises. But even the very vocal low salt exponent, Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes,
Jr. admits that we do not know whether increased sodium consumption causes
hypertension. In fact, there is growing scientific evidence that other factors may be
involved: deficiencies in calcium, potassium, perhaps magnesium; obesity (much
more dangerous than sodium); genetic predisposition; stress.
It is not your enemy, says Dr. Laragh. Salt is the No 1 natural component of all
human tissues, and the idea that you dont need it is wrong. Unless your doctor has
proven that you have a salt-related health problem, there is no reason to give it up.
61. According to some doctors and politicians, the amount of salt consumed
_______.
A. exhibits as an aggravating factor to people in poor health
B. cures diseases such as stroke and circulatory disorders
C. correlates highly with some disease
D. is irrelevant to people suffering from heart disease
62. From Dr. Dustans study we can infer that _______.
A. a low-salt diet may be prescribed for some people
B. the amount of salt intake has nothing to do with ones blood pressure
C. the reduction of salt intake can cure a hypertensive patient
D. an extremely low-salt diet makes no difference to anyone
63. Dr. Laragh (in the third paragraph) implies that _______.
A. people should not be afraid of taking excessive salt
B. doctors should not advise people to avoid salt
C. an adequate to excessive salt intake is recommended for people in disease
D. excessive salt intake has claimed some victims in the general population
64. The phrase vocal exponent (Para. 5) most probably refers to _______.
A. eloquent doctor
B. articulate opponent
C. loud speaker
D. strong advocate
65. What is the main message of the text?
A. The salt scare is not justified.
B. The cause of hypertension is now understood.
C. The moderate use of salt is recommended.
D. The salt consumption is to be promoted.
Section B
Directions: In this section, there is a short passage with five questions or incomplete
statements. Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the
statements in the fewest possible words. Put your answer on Answer Sheet II.
The potential of computers for increasing the control of organizations or societies
over their members and for invading the privacy of those members has caused
considerable concern.
The privacy issue has been raised most insistently with respect to the creation and
maintenance of data files that assemble information about persons from a multitude of
sources. Files of this kind would be highly valuable for many kinds of economic and
social research, but they are bought at too high a price if they endanger human
freedom or seriously enhance the opportunities of blackmailers. While such dangers
should not be ignored, it should be noted that the lack of comprehensive data files has
never before been the limiting barrier to the suppression of human freedom.
Making the computer the villain in the invasion of privacy or encroachment on
civil liberties simply diverts attention from the real dangers. Computer data banks can
and must be given the highest degree of protection from abuse. But we must be
careful, also, that we do not employ such crude methods of protection as to deprive
our society of important data it needs to understand its own social processes and to
analyze its problems.
Perhaps the most important question of all about the computer is what it has done
and will do to mans view of himself and his place in the universe. The most heated
attacks on the computer are not focused on its possible economic effects, its presumed
destruction of job satisfaction, or its threat to privacy and liberty, but upon the claim
that it causes people to be viewed, and to view themselves, as machines.
What the computer and the progress in artificial intelligence challenge is an ethic
that rests on mans apartness from the rest of nature. An alternative ethic, of course,
views man as a part of nature, governed by natural law, subject to the forces of gravity
and the demands of his body. The debate about artificial intelligence and the
simulation of mans thinking is, in considerable part, a confrontation of these two
views of mans place in the universe.
66. Why have data files aroused the greatest attention according to the passage?
67. We should prevent computer data banks from being abused in order to
_______.
68. What, according to the author, should we do to protect computer data banks?
69. People criticize the computer most because they think it _______.
70. In the authors opinion, the debate about artificial intelligence stems from
_______.
Part IV Translation (20%)
Section A
Directions: Put the following paragraph into Chinese and write your translation on
Answer Sheet II.
I am generally fond of loneliness, as doing contemplation is my favorite. I can
stay alone for a long time with feeling of happiness. It is a pleasure to taste by oneself
the happiness as well as sadness. When one is alone, his mind is not totally blank but
still a colorful world. The great rejoice and sorrow derive generally from loneliness.
In loneliness, thinking may not be coherent with logic. More poetry of life, either
exciting or sentimental, is produced in loneliness. It can extend ones mind farther and
deeper, and enable you to have a more thorough view of yourself and the situation
around you.
Section B
Directions: Put the following paragraph into English and write your translation on
Answer Sheet II.

Part V Writing (15%)

Directions: Write an essay of about 200 words on the following topic and put your
writing on Answer Sheet II.
While some people claim that a persons essential qualities are inherited at birth,
others insist that the circumstances in which a person grows up are principally
responsible for the kind of person he/she becomes. Which view do you agree with and
why?
Key to Test Paper B
Part I
1. A 6. C 11. C
2. A 7. D 12. D
3. C 8. A 13. D
4. D 9. B 14. A
5. B 10. A 15. B
Section C S1 sign language S2 resort to
S3 signifies approval S4 negative reaction
S5 and techniques
Part II
16. C 21. D 26. A 31. B
17. A 22. B 27. B 32. A
18. B 23. C 28. D 33. D
19. D 24. D 29. A 34. C
20. A 25. C 30. C 35. B
Part III
36. A 41. C 46. C 51. C 56. D 61. C
37. D 42. B 47. D 52. D 57. A 62. A
38. B 43. C 48. A 53. C 58. B 63. B
39. C 44. B 49. B 54. C 59. A 64. D
40. D 45. B 50. A 55. B 60. B 65. A
Section B 66. Because they may endanger peoples privacy if they are abused.
67. protect peoples privacy
68. We should attach importance to methods.
69. makes them viewed and view themselves as machines.
70. two different views of mans position/place in the unvierse
Part IV
Section A



---


Section A
It was a great breakthrough in Chinas 10-year reform of the housing system
to stop welfare housing allocation and gradually initiate the monetized housing
system. In accordance with the states different supply policies, a three-level
system will be formed in the end. High-income earners will purchase or rent
commodity houses at market prices, people with medium and low income will
purchase economical houses and people with minimum income will rent cheap
houses from the government or work unit.