2014年职称英语考试理工类A级模拟题四

31、根据材料，回答31-36问题。
Valuing Childhood
      The value of childhood is easily blurred (变得模糊不清) in today's world. Considersome recent developments. The child, murderers in the Jonesboro schoolyard shooting case were convicted and sentenced. Two boys,7 and 8, were charged in the murder of an 11-year-old girl in Chicago.
       Children who commit horrible crimes appear to act of their own will. Yet, as legalproceedings in Jonesboro showed, the one boy who was able to address the court couldn't beginto explain his acts, though he tried to apologize. There may have been a motive -- youthfuljealousy (妒忌) and resentment. But a deeper question remains: Why did these boys andothers in similar trouble apparently lack any inner, moral restraint?
       That question echoes for the accused in Chicago, young as they are. They wanted the girl's bicycle, a selfish impulse common enough among kids.
       Redemption (拯救) is a practical necessity. How can value be restored to young livesdistorted by acts of violence? The boys in Jonesboro and in Chicago will be confined ininstitutions for a relatively short time. Despite horror at what was done, children are not --cannot be - dealt with as adults, not if a people wants to consider itself civilized. That's whypoliticians' cries for adult treatment of youthful criminals ultimately miss the point.
      But the moral void (真空) that invites violence has many sources. Family instabilitycontributes, so does economic stress. That void, however, can be filled. The work starts withparents, who have to ask themselves whether they're doing enough to give their children a firmsense of right and wrong. Are they really monitoring their activities and their developingprocesses of thought?
Schools, too, have a role in building character. So do youth organizations. So do youthenforcement agencies, which can do more to inform the young about laws, their meaning, andtheir observance (遵守).
      The goal, ultimately, is to allow all children a normal passage from childhood toadulthood (成年), so that tragic gaps in moral judgement are less likely to occur. The relativefew who fill such gaps with acts of violence hint at many others who don't go that far, but wholack the moral foundations childhood should provide -- and which progressive human societyrelies on.

The two boys in Chicago were__________
A．shot
B．murdered
C．accused
D．sentenced

32、The boys in Jonesboro and Chicago apparently lacked a sense of__________
A．right and wrong
B．discipline
C．shame
D．safety

33、According to politicians, when children commit crimes, they should be treated in the same way as__________
A．murderers
B．criminals
C．victims
D．adults

34、Which of the following does the writer cite as a source of moral void__________?
A．Official corruption.
B．Social injustice.
C．Family instability.
D．Racial discrimination.

35、Which of the statements is NOT true according to this passage__________?
A．Parents should strengthen moral instruction.
B．Schools should help create a moral sense in children.
C．Law enforcement agencies should do more to help children understand laws.
D．Youth organizations play no role in building character.

36、根据材料，回答36-41问题。
Ford's Assembly Line
       When it comes to singling out those who have made a difference in all our lives, youcannot overlook Henry Ford. A historian a century from now might well conclude that it wasFord who most influenced all manufacturing, everywhere, even to this day, by introducing anew way to make cars -- one, strange to say, that originated in slaughterhouses (屠宰场).
        Back in the early 1900's, slaughterhouses used what could have been called a "disassemblyline". Ford reversed this process to see if it would speed up production of a part of anautomobile engine called a magneto. Rather than have each worker completely assemble amagneto, one of its elements was placed on a conveyer, and each worker, as it passed, addedanother component to it, the same one each time. Professor David Hounshell of the Universityof Delaware, an expert on industrial development, tells what happened.
        "The previous day, workers carrying out the entire process had averaged one assemblyevery 20 minutes. But on that day, on the line, the assemble team averaged one every 13minutes and 10 seconds per person. "
         Within a year, the time had been reduced to five minutes. In 1913, Ford went all the way.Hooked together by ropes, partially assembled vehicles were towed (拖,拉) past workers whocompleted them one piece at a time. It hasn't long before Ford was turning out several hundredthousand cars a year, a remarkable achievement then. And so efficient and economical was thisnew system that he cut the price of his cars in half, to $ 260, putting them within reach of allthose who, up until that time, could not afford them. Soon, auto makers the world over copiedhim. In fact, he encouraged them to do so by writing a book about all of his innovations,entitled Today and Tomorrow. The Age of the Automobile has arrived. Today, aided by robotsand other forms of automation (自动化), everything from toasters to perfumes is made onassembly lines.

Which of the following statements about Henry Ford is NOT true__________ ?
A．He introduced a new way of production.
B．He influenced all manufacturing.
C．He inspired other auto makers.
D．He changed a historian's mind.

37、The writer mentions" slaughterhouses" because they were the places where__________
A．Ford's assembly line originated
B．Ford made his first car
C．Ford readjusted the assembly line
D．Ford innovated the disassembly line

38、A magneto is a technical term for__________
A．an automobile
B．a production line
C．a part of an automobile engine
D．a disassembly line

39、The phrase "turning out" in the last paragraph could be best replaced by __________
A．" producing"
B．" selling"
C．"buying"
D．"fixing"

40、The invention of the assembly line enabled Henry Ford __________
A．to create more jobs for the unemployed
B．to write a book on history
C．to reduce the price of his cars to $260
D．to cut the production of his cars by 50%

41、根据材料，回答41-46问题。
"Salty" Rice Plant Boosts Harvests
       British scientists are breeding a new generation of rice plants that will be able to grow insoil containing salt water. Their work may enable abandoned farms to become productive oncemore.
      Tim Flowers and Tony Yeo, from Sussex University's School of Biological Sciences, havespent several years researching how crops, such as rice, could be made to grow in water that hasbecome salty.
       The pair have recently begun a three-year programme, funded by the Biotechnology andBiological Sciences Research Council, to establish which genes enable some plants to survivesalty conditions. The aim is to breed this capability into crops, starting with rice.
       It is estimated that each year more than 10m hectares (公顷) of agricultural land are lostbecause salt gets into the soil and stunts (妨碍生长) plants. The problem is caused by severalfactors. In the tropics, mangroves (红树林) that create swamps (沼泽) and traditionallyformed barriers to sea water have been cut down. In the Mediterranean, a series of droughtshave caused the water table to drop, allowing sea water to seep (渗透) in Latin America,irrigation often causes problems when water is evaporated (蒸发) by the heat, leaving saltdeposits behind.
        Excess salt then enters the plants and prevents them functioning normally. Heavyconcentrations of minerals in the plants stop them drawing up the water they need to survive.To overcome these problems, Flowers and Yeo decided to breed rice plants that take invery little salt and store what they do absorb in cells that do not affect the plants' growth. Theyhave started to breed these characteristics into a new rice crop, but it will take about eight harvests before the resulting seeds are ready to be considered for commercial use.
       Once the characteristics for surviving salty soil are known, Flowers and Yeo will try tobreed the appropriate genes into all manners of crops and plants. Land that has been abandonedto nature will then be able to bloom again, providing much needed food in the poorer countriesof the world.

Which of the following statements about Flowers and Yeo is true__________?
A．They are students at Sussex University.
B．They are rice breeders.
C．They are husband and wife.
D．They are colleagues at an institution of higher learning.

42、Flowers and Yeo have started a programme__________
A．to find ways to prevent water pollution
B．to identify genes that promote growth in salty soil
C．to breed rice plants that taste salty
D．to find ways to remove excessive salt from soil

43、Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a cause of the problem discussed in the passage__________?
A．Natural barriers to sea water have been destroyed.
B．The water table has gone down after droughts..
C．Sea level has been continuously rising.
D．Evaporation of water leaves salt behind.

44、The word "affect" in Paragraph 6 could be best replaced by__________
A．"influence"
B．"effect"
C．"stop"
D．"present"

45、The attitude of the author towards the research project is__________
A．positive
B．negative
C．suspicious
D．indifferent