2003年在职攻读硕士学位全国联考英语考试试卷(2)

2003年在职攻读硕士学位全国联考英语考试试卷

31. A lot of people were ready to work long hours because high unemployment meant that

they could easily be

A. separated B. appointed C. transferred D. replaced

32. ___________ that saw the trade between the two countries reach its highest point.

A. During the 1990's B. That it was in the 1990's

C. It was in the 1990's D. It was the 1990's

33. They have been waiting for many hours. The airplane must have been

A. of schedule B. on schedule

C. ahead of schedule D. behind schedule

34. The manager promised to keep me __________ of how our business was going on.

A. informed B. informing

C. to be informed D. having informed

35. We can't afford to let the situation get worse. We have to take _________ to put it right.

A. decisions B. advantages

C. sides D. steps

Part Ⅲ Reading Comprehension (55 minutes , 40 points )

Passage one

The worst thing about television and radio is that entertain us , saving us the trouble of

entertaining ourselves .

A hundred years ago , before all these devices were invented , if a person wanted to

entertain himself with a song or a piece of music, he would have to do the singing himself or pock

up a violin and play it . Now , all he has to do is turn on the radio or TV . As a result , singing and

music have declined .

Italians used to sing all the time . Now , they only do it in Hollywood movies . Indian

movies are mostly a series of songs and dances trapped around silly stories . As a result , they

don’t do much singing in Indian villages anymore . Indeed, ever since radio first came to life,

there has been a terrible decline in amateur(业余的)singing throughout the world.

There are two reasons for this sad decline : one ,human beings are astonishingly lazy. Put a

lift in a building, and people would rather take it than climb even two flights of steps. Similarly,

invent a machine that sings, and people would rather let the machine sing than sing themselves.

The other reason is that people are easily embarrassed. When there is a famous, talented musician

readily available by pushing a button, which amateur violinist or pianist would want to try to

entertain family or friends by himself?

These earnest reflections came to me recently when two CDs arrived in the mail. They are

historic recordings of famous writers reading their own works. It was thrilling to hear the voices

from a long dead past in the late 19th century. But today, reading out loud anything is no longer

common. Today, we sing songs to our children until they are about two, we read simple books to

them till they are about five, and once they have learnt to read themselves, we become deaf. We're

alive only to the sound of the TV and the stereo (立体声音响).

I count myself extremely lucky to have been born before TV became so common. I was

about six before TV appeared. To keep us entertained, my mother had to do a good deal of singing

and tell us endless tales. It was the same in many other homes. People spoke a language; they sang

it, they recited it; it was something they could feel.

Professional actors' performance is extraordinarily revealing. But I still prefer my own

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