2014年中国地质大学博士英语考试真题

Part 1 In section A you will see 10 incomplete sentences. In section B you have 20 choices for finishing these sentences.

Section A

1. How do you account

2. The graph in the upper part of the screen

3. Why are quick-frozen vegetables almost

4. As you can see, most of

5. Playful people who enjoy talking,

6. A dam is a wall

7. As Wang Jianguo became better at spoken English,

8. I was walking down this street one day

9. If I had known he wasn‟ t feeling well,

10. According to this timetable, we are

Section B

A. impossible to use in nuclear power stations?

B. not diligent students, learn spoken languages most easily.

C. the difference between these two products?

D. he found that he got more out of his reading as well.

E. students grew up in towns and cities.

F. that builds a barrier to prevent water from flowing onward.

G. scheduled to arrive in Chengdu in 35 minutes.

H. shows the change in production levels from 1990 to 2012.

I. I would take him to see a doctor.

J. when I saw an expensive car run over a teenager

K. is unlikely to make very rapid progress in mastering written English.

L. supposed to take the medicine twice a day.

M. for the sharp fall in bird populations since 1995?

N. I would have called off the meeting.

O. the examples are taken from recent publications.

P. constructed across a valley to enclose an area for storing water.

Q. and run into an old friend I haven‟ t seen in years.

R. can be worn to all sorts of social events, both formal and informal.

S. he receives much higher grades in all subjects.

T. as good as things straight from the garden?

Part 2 Correct

1.

2. gathered to

‟ s revolutionary hypothesis.

3.

100.2-101℃

4. ‟ t you to give such an elaborate

5. The scientists tried to use the mechanical arm to pick up the smooth, slippery object from the bottom of the sea

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Part3

V ocabulary

across the board: in every respect

apparel: clothing, clothes

an array: a range

awe: deep respect

chronic: that does not simply happen once and then go away; persistent

to coast: to continue to move along without effort or trouble

a consolation: something that makes you feel better when you are sad

to counteract X: to act against X, to neutralize X

a cult: a group of flowers who admire a leader or thing in an exaggerated way

the default: the non-special situation

a defect: an imperfection

a deluge: a flood

a dud: a failure; something new that turns out to be quite disappointing

empathy: sensitivity to the feelings of other individuals

fabrics: types of cloth

a fetus: a still unborn child

to forgo X: to give X up; not to go ahead with X; to do without X

a garment: a single piece of clothing

a gender: sex

genitalia: sexual organs

an insecticide: a chemical that kills insects

lead: Pb

a lining: a covering on the inside or inner surface of something

a logo: a company emblem or symbol

to morph into X: to change shape, becoming X

neural: related to nerves

neurology: the study of nerves system

a peril: a danger

to plummet: to drop suddenly

prone to X:susceptible to X

prowess: highly developed ability or skill

a proxy: a substitute, something that can be used to track something else ramifications: secondary effects; additional complications

reams of X: vast quantities of X

to retain X: to keep X

to tally X: to add X up; to reckon or compute X

to thrive: to flourish, to do very well

transparent: able to be seen through

an upstart: a sudden challenger or competitor who appears unexpectedly

vulnerable to X: open to harm from X

to wane: to decrease; to decline; to grow smaller

a welter: a disordered/chaotic abundance

Text A

1 Twelve months ago, Lululemon Athletica was one of the hottest brands in the world. Sales of its high-priced yoga gear were exploding; the company was expanding into new markets; experts were in awe of its “ cult-like following.” As one observer put it, “ They ‟ re more than apparel. They‟ re a life style.” But then customers started complaining about pilling fabrics, bleeding dyes and, most memorably, yoga pants so thin that they effectively become transparent when you bent over. Lululemon ‟ s founder made things worse by suggesting that some women were too fat to wear the company ‟ s clothes. And that was the end of Lululemon ‟ s charmed existence: the founder stepped down from his management role, and, a few weeks ago, the company said that it had seen sales “ decelerate meaningfully.”

2 It ‟ s a truism of business school thinking that a company ‟ s brand is its “ most important asset,” more valuable than technology or patents or manufacturing prowess. But brands have never been more fragile. The reason is simple: consumers are supremely well informed and far more likely to investigate the real value of products than to rely on logos. Absolute Value, a new book by Itamar Simonson, a marketing professor at Stanford, and Emanuel Rosen, a former software executive, shows that, historically, the rise of brands was a responds to an information-poor environment. When consumers had to rely on advertisements and their past experience with a company, brands served as proxies for quality; if a car was made by General Motors,

or a ketchup by Heinz, people assumed that it was pretty good. It was hard to figure out if a new product from an unfamiliar company was reliable or not, so brand loyalty was a way of reducing risk. As recently as the 1980s, nearly four-fifths of American car buyers stayed loyal to a brand.

3 Today consumers can read reams of research about whatever they want to buy. This started back with Consumer Reports, which published objective studies of products, and with JD power ‟ s quality rankings, which revealed what ordinary customers thought of the cars they had bought. But what has really weakened the power of brands is the internet, which has given ordinary consumers easy access to expert reviews, user reviews and detailed product data, in an array of categories. A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers study found that 80 per cent of consumers look at online reviews before making major purchases, and a host of studies have logged the strong influence those reviews have on the decisions people make. The rise of social media has accelerated the trend to an astonishing degree: a dud product can become a laughingstock in a matter of hours. In the old days you might buy a Sony television set because you had owned one before, or because you trusted the brand. Today such considerations matter much less than reviews on Amazon and Engadget and CNET. as Simonson told me, “ each product now has to prove itself on its own.”

4 It has been argued that the welter of information will actually make brands more valuable. As the influential consultancy Inter brand puts it, “ In a world where consumers are often overwhelmed with information, the role a brand plays in people‟ s lives has become all the more important.” But information overload is largely a myth. “ Most consumers learn very quickly how to get a great deal of information effectively and efficiently, ” Simonson says. “ Most of us figure out how to find what we ‟ re looking for without spending huge amounts of time on line. ” And this has made customer loyalty pretty much a thing of the past. Only 25 per cent of American respondents in a recent Ernst & Young study said that brand loyalty affected how they shopped.

5 For established brands this is a nightmare. You can never coast on past performance – the percentage of brand-loyal car buyers has plummeted in the past twenty years – and the price premium that a recognized brand can charge has shrunk. If you are making a better product, you can still needs to be similar too. That is the clearest indication that the economic value of brands – traditionally assessed by the premium a company could charge – is waning. This isn‟ t true across the board: brands retain value where the brand association is integral to the experience of a product(Coca-Cola, say), or where they confer status, as with luxury goods. But even here the information deluge is transformative; luxury travel, for instance, has been profoundly affected by websites like TripAdvisor.

6 For consumers this is ideal: they are making better choices, and heightened competition has raised quality and held down prices. And they are not the only beneficiaries; upstarts now find it easier to compete with the big boys. If you build a better mousetrap, people will soon know about it. A decade ago, personal-computer companies like Asus and Acer had almost no brand identity outside Taiwan. Now they are major players. Roku, a maker of streaming entertainment devices, has thrived

even though its products have to compete with similar ones made by Apple (which is usually cited as the world‟ s most valuable brand). And the Korean carmaker Hyundai has gone from being a joke to selling four million cars a year. For much of the 20th century, consumer markets were stable. Today they are tumultuous, and you are only as good as your last product. For brands like Lululemon there is only one consolation: making something really great and your past sins will be forgotten.

1. According to text A, which was published recently, within the past year Lululemon Athletic

A has emerged as a new religious group

B has successfully persuaded overweight women to avoid wearing yoga pants.

C both of the above

D neither of the above

2. The best opposite of the verb to decelerate (used in paragraph 1) is to

A burn up

B speed up

C grow up

D rise up

3. „ A company‟ s brand is its “ most important asset”‟ (paragraph 2). Text A

A offers abundant support for this view

B shows that the statement was even truer in the past than it is in the 21st century.

C shows that this view has always been false.

D suggests that this view is increasingly out of date.

4. American consumers used to be loyal to brands

A because they either were too busy or lacked the education to seek reliable information on product quality.

B because of the impact of advertising, which in effect programmed consumers to respond to the calculated appeal of certain brands.

C that experience had taught them to trust in order to reduce the likelihood of making costly mistakes.

D that they had learned to recognize over the years by reading Consumer Reports or similar publications.

5. In paragraph 3, social media are mentioned

A as a major factor in the internet‟ s erosion of what remains of brand loyalty.

B as an example of how consumers gain access to expert opinion on product quality.

C to show that brand loyalty is growing as the internet helps people to avoid undesirable products associated with questionable brands.

D as an example of what advertisers can do to strengthen the appeal of a brand. 6. Based on the evidence presented in text A

A one can safely predict that brands will soon cease to be a feature of marketing.

B it is clear that experts all agree on how the new abundance of product information will affect consumer choices.

C there appears to be continuing disagreement over the future value of brands as a marketing tool.

D it seems that professional market analysts share the view that brand loyalty will reemerge following the ongoing tumult, which is the result of rapid technological change.

7. To judge from what he writes, the author of text A

A suggests that the rise of the internet, and above all of social media, doom brand-based commerce.

B feels that consumers are being well served by the vast increase in access to product information on line.

C believes that the trends he outlines will make it easier for big companies to continue to dominate consumer markets.

D thinks that companies will be able to use the internet to design products that reflect consumer preference more effectively.

8. The author cites Hyundai as an example of a firm that

A once had a poor reputation but is now successful in its industry.

B has solved its earlier image problem by selling millions automobiles.

C offers evidence of the great stability of consumer markets in the 20th century.

D shows how important humor is in marketing products to today‟ s consumers. Text B

7 Even though cultures widely assume that boys are stronger and sturdier than girls, basic biological weaknesses are built into the male of our species. First of all, human males seem to be slowly disappearing. Mother Nature has always acknowledged and compensated for the fragility and loss of boys by arranging for more of them: 106 males births to 100 female newborns over the course of human history. But in recent decades, from the United States to Japan, from Canada to northern Europe, wherever researchers have looked, the rate of male newborns has declined. Examining US birth records for the years between 1970 and 1990, they found 1.7 fewer boys per 1000 than in decades and centuries past; Japan‟ s loss in the same decades was 3.7 boys. 8 Boys are also more than two-thirds more likely than girls to be born prematurely – before the 37 week of pregnancy. And, despite advances in public health, boys in the 1990s faced a 30 percent higher chance of death by their first birthday than girls; in contrast, back in the 1750s, they were only 10 percent more likely than girls to die so early in their lives.

9 Once they make it to childhood, boys face other challenges. They are more prone to a range of neurological disorders. Autism 自闭症 is notoriously higher among boys than girls: now nearly five times more likely, as tallied by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention. They are more susceptible than girls to damage from very low-level exposure to lead. Yet another problem: Boys suffer from asthma 哮喘

at higher rates. There‟ s also a stronger link between air pollution and autism in boys. Why do boys face such a burden of physical challenges? The answer is that the male‟ s problems start in the womb: from his more complicated fetal development, to his genetic makeup, to how his hormones work. The nine-month transformation from a few cells to an infant is a time of great vulnerability. Many chronic illnesses are seeded in the womb. In our species, the female is the default gender, the basic simpler model: Humans start out in the womb with female features (that is why males have nipples). The complicated transformation in the womb from female to male exposed the male to a journey packed with special perils. When the first blast of testosterone 睾酮 from the Y gene comes along at about the eighth week, the unisex brain has to morph into a male brain, killing off some cells in the communication centers and growing more cells in the sex and aggression centers, The simpler female reproductive system has to turn into the more complex male reproductive tract, developing tissues such as the testis and prostate 前列腺 . Further, it makes a greater number of cell divisions to make a male; with each comes the greater risk of an error as well as the greater vulnerability to a hit from pollutants.

10 On top of that challenge, the human male ‟ s XY chromosome combination is simply more vulnerable. The two XXs in the female version of our species offer more protection: In disorders where one X chromosome has a genetic defect, the female‟ s healthy backup chromosome can take over. But with his single X chromosome, the male lacks a healthy copy of the gene to fall back on. The X chromosome, which never shrank, is also a larger chromosome “ with far more genetic information than the Y chromosome,” finds Irva Hertz-Piciotoo, a University of California at Davis autism researcher, “ so there may be some inherent loss of key proteins for brain development or repair mechanisms in boys.” This is a clue to the higher autism rate among boys, she asserts.

11 Females also have a stronger immune system because they are packed with estrogen 雌激素 , a hormone that counteract the antioxidant process. “ Estrogen protects the brain, ” explains Theodore Slotkin, professor of neurobiology at Duke University ‟ s School of Medicine. “ It repairs and replaces, even after neural injury. ” Low estrogen even leaves boys more sensitive to head injuries. The male brain “ is simply a more fragile apparatus, more sensitive to almost all brain insults,” says lead poisoning expert Herbert Needleman.

12 It is the high levels of testosterone in the womb at critical times in gestation, according to British psychopathologist Simon Baron-Cohen, that are responsible for what he calls “ the extreme male brain” – the kind exhibited by autistic boys – low in empathy, high in systematizing. And in fact US researchers in recent decades have found unusually low estrogen and high testosterone levels among boys with autism. If the balance of hormones is out of whack in males, what made that happen? Researchers are coming up with some clues. In the New York City neighborhoods near Columbia University‟ s Center for Children‟ s Environmental Health, families for years routinely sprayed their apartments with a popular insecticide, chlorpyrifos, until it was banned from household use in 2001. The researchers found that prenatal exposure to the chemical seemed to have more of an effect on reducing the IQs of

boys than girls. Disruption of their male hormones may be the reason, “ One possible explanation for the greater sensitivity of boys to chlorpyrifos is that the insecticide acts as an endocrine disruptor 内分泌干扰素 to suppress sex-specific hormones, ” said study leader Megan Horton of Columbia.

13 Similarly, pregnant mother ‟ s exposure to phthalates 领苯二甲酸酯 – used in making some vinyl 乙烯基 products and toys as well as some personal care products – has been linked to bigger changes in the behavior, such as aggression and attention problems, of their sons than their daughters. Phthalates also may feminize male genitalia.

14 Boys also seem to be more vulnerable to bisphenol A, an estrogenic substance used to make polycarbonate plastics as well as the linings of food and beverage cans. Boys, but not girls, exposed to higher bisphenol A levels in the womb or during childhood had more hyperactivity, aggression and anxiety problems, according to a University of California at Berkeley study. In addition, pregnant women exposed to higher levels of the chemical gave birth to baby boys with lower thyroid hormones 甲 状腺激素 . No such effect was detected in the baby girls. No one knows what these lower levels may mean for the boys ‟ health because they remained within normal boundaries, but it could have important effects because thyroid hormones guide brain development.

15 Some of these chemicals act like fake estrogens, other like fake testosterone, but both types seem to disrupt normal development. Animal tests show that a dose of these chemicals inflict the most damage when it hits a fetus. And, because of their biological vulnerabilities, it is boys who may experience the most effects. While not forgoing the push for fairness and equality, it seems wise to accept the scientific reality of male weaknesses. This likely won ‟ t mean the end of men, but their vulnerability to environment contaminants and diseases could have serious ramifications for the future of the entire human race unless we find ways to protect them from harm.

9. If text B is accurate, then the evidence for the assertion that human males are gradually disappearing is

A incontrovertible

B so weak as to call the assertion into question.

C largely from advanced industrial societies and needs to be supplemented with data from other types of societies.

D strong enough to warrant future research into the post-masculine world that lies ahead.

10. Compared with girls, boys are

A about equally able to survive to their first birthday.

B still less likely to survive for a year after birth, but the gap is narrowing.

C less likely to survive till their first birthday, and the gap is wider than in earlier centuries.

D much likelier to survive to their first birthday, though the gap is not so wide as it

was in the 1700s.

11. Nipples in humans are found on the

A head

B chest

C hips

D limbs

12. In paragraph 10 the author asserts that chronic diseases

A begin before birth but only become apparent over time.

B are less characteristic of women than of men.

C originate, as a rule, before children are born.

D are often the eventual result of prenatal conditions and stresses.

13. Backup in paragraph 11 means something that

A can step in and take over the function of something that is not working properly.

B destroys a malfunctioning part, thus benefiting the overall system or organism.

C prevents a system from continuing along a path that may end in breakdown or destruction.

D can reverse and change its direction when it encounters a problem, thus enabling a process to continue.

14. The levels of thyroid hormones in new born males, mentioned in paragraph 16, A are not alarming in themselves, but significant because they are so different for males and females.

B will definitely lead to more brain-damaged boys than girls.

C seem certain to produce a marked gap in brain development that will favor girls over boys.

D lead to more hyperactivity, aggression and anxiety among male children than among females.

15. Imagine that environment continues at current or higher levels in China. If the information in text B in correct, then Chinese doctors should expect to observe A a decline in rates of autism, asthma and brain damage from lead poisoning among Chinese children.

B a roughly similar pattern of increasing incidence of autism, asthma and lead-linked brain damage among all mainland children.

C fewer cases of asthma among boys growing up in mainland cities and towns but more cases of autism and lead-linked brain damage among all Chinese children. D more autism, asthma and lead-linked brain damage among Chinese boys growing up in cities than among other groups of young people in the PRC.

Part 4 Filling in the blanks

1.

A Have you seen my dictionary? I can‟ t find it _____________.

B Is that it over there by the door?

A It is! I _____________ have left it there yesterday afternoon as we were leaving for the day.

2.

A Oh, Professor Donaldson, it‟ s such _____________ honor to meet you! I‟ ve read all your books and as many of your articles as I could get my hands on.

B You ‟ re not Zhang Qing, are you?

A _____________, but how do you know my name?

B Professor Li told me to be sure to meet you when I visited the campus. He said you were very interested in our research.

A That ‟ s true, and I ‟ ve been _____________ forward to meeting you ever since I heard you were coming to Beijing.

3.

A How are your wedding plans going?

B I ‟ d _____________ not talk about them, if you don‟ t _____________.

A Oh, I‟ m sorry, I didn‟ t mean to pry.

4.

After _____________ about it for several weeks, we decided to do our fieldwork in an area of southeastern Yunnan _____________ along the border with Vietnam. The _____________ with our choice was that the area was closed, so we had to ask for official _____________ to work at the site we had in mind. _____________, the officials we spoke with were very open to our arguments. After we _____________ our reasons for waiting to do fieldwork near the border, they quickly approved our request.

We finished fieldwork in 2005. Last month I went _____________ to the area for the first time and discovered that things have changed greatly _____________ then. The area is now completely open and there is a brisk trade in manufactured goods in the towns on _____________ sides of the border.

5.

I went to see a movie last night. The film was a British comedy that had been _____________ to me by a number of my friends. It turned _____________ to be just as funny as they‟ d said it would be. I _____________ so hard that there were tears in my eyes, especially at the climax, toward the end. The film is without _____________ the funniest that I‟ ve ever seen. When you get a _____________, you should see it _____________.

6.

These days people get their news from many different _____________. Some people still read an old-style printed daily newspaper, while _____________ read newspapers on _____________. Many people no _____________ read a newspaper at all, instead relying _____________ the internet for short news articles, or visiting favorite websites that circulate pieces from other websites. Another group of people get most of their news from TV or radio broadcasts. Many Western intellectuals

regard the decline of the great daily newspaper as a negative _____________ that will lead to a _____________ understanding of world affairs. They are alarmed by the growing numbers of people who largely _____________ the outside world, focusing on their own society or small personal sphere.

7.

Ann Withington got a _____________ with a major insurance firm a few months after she from university. _____________ she received little encouragement _____________ her new boss, she worked hard and soon became very good at her tasks and duties. Thanks to her sunny temperament and willingness to help her colleagues, she soon became quite _____________ as well. In her first five years with the company she was _____________ twice, and _____________ time her salary went up substantially.

But then her career took a turn for the worse. Her first director, a man in _____________ fifties, was _____________ with a younger woman who seemed to regard Ann as a rival. She constantly _____________ her work but never offered any _____________ about how it could be improved. Weeks passed and Ann tried her _____________ to please the new director, but there was no change in the latter ‟ s _____________ towards her.

Eventually Ann ‟ s mood darkened, and she began to look into other possibilities. When her request for a _____________ to the company‟ s Seattle office was blocked by her boss, she decided it was time for action. She began an ambitious job hunt that led to a tentative offer from one of her employer‟ s competitors. Just as she was getting _____________ to announce that she was quitting her job in a month, she was called into her boss‟ s office and abruptly _____________. This was a great _____________. Admittedly, her relations with her boss were poor, but she had always _____________ out duties conscientiously.

After thinking over her situation, she decided not to _____________ about the unfairness of her director‟ s decision. The tentative job offer from the other company was soon _____________; Ann accepted it and never look back.