英语能力考试试卷(中级5)

英语能力考试试卷 (中级5)

第1部分：词汇选项(第1-15题，每题l分，共15分)

下面每个句子中均有1个词或短语划有底横线，请为每处划线部分确定1个意义最为接近的选项。

1. Five minutes left, the outcome of the match was still in doubt.

A. result

B. judgment

C. decision

D. event

2. He made a considerable sum of money in real estate.

A. powerful

B. positive

C. large

D. realistic

3. He could not tolerate the extremes of heat in the desert.

A. hate

B. bear

C. like

D. criticize

A. calm

B. excitement

C. disappointment

D. anger

5. We derive information mainly from the Internet.

A. deprive

B. obtain

C. descend

D. trace

6. If I made a mistake, I will try to remedy it.

A. clarify

B. diagnose

C. evaporate

D. correct

7. I still find this story both fascinating and unbelievable.

A. infecting

B. intriguing

C. threatening

D. inclining

8. The worst agonies of the war were now beginning.

A. pains

B. parts

C. aspects

D. results

9. There was no credible evidence against him.

A. convincing

B. workable

C. practical

D. reliable

A. showed

B. told

C. sent

D. played

11. The policeman wrote down all the particulars of the accident.

A. secrets

B. benefits

C. details

D. words

12. They agreed to modify their policy.

A. define

B. clarify

C. develop

D. change

13. Henry cannot resist the lure of drugs.

A. flavor

B. consumption

C. abuse

D. temptation

A. effect

B. account

C. effort

D. discount

A. careless

B. cruel

C. strong

D. hard

第2部分：阅读判断(第16-22题，每题l分，共7分)

下面的短文后列出了7个句子，请根据短文的内容对每个句子做出判断；如果该句提供的是正确信息，请选择A；如果该句提供的是错误信息，请选择B；如果该句的信息文中没有提及，请选择C。

The Biology of Music

Humans use music as a powerful way to communicate. It may also play an important role in love. But what is music, and how does it work its magic? Science does not yet have all the answers.

What are the two things that make humans different from animals? One is language, and the other is music. It is true that some animals can sing (and many birds sing better than a lot of people). However, the songs of animals, such as birds and whales, are very limited. It is also true that humans, not animals, have developed musical instruments.

Music is strange stuff. It is clearly different from language. However, people can use music to communicate things -- especially their emotions. When music is combined with speech in a song, it is a very powerful form of communication. But, biologically speaking, what is music?

If music is truly different from speech, then we should process music and language in different parts of the brain. The scientific evidence suggests that this is true.

Sometimes people who suffer brain damage lose their ability to process language. However, they don’t automatically lose their musical abilities. For example, Vissarion Shebalin, a Russian composer, had a stroke in 1953. It injured the left side of his brain. He could no longer speak or understand speech. He could, however, still compose music until his death ten years later. On the other hand, sometimes strokes cause people to lose their musical ability, but they can still speak and understand speech. This shows that the brain processes music and language separately.

By studying the physical effects of music on the body, scientists have also learned a lot about how music influences the emotions. But why does music have such a strong effect on us? That is a harder question to answer. Geoffrey Miller, a researcher at University College, London, thinks that music and love have a strong connection. Music requires special talent, practice, and physical ability. That’s why it may be a way of showing your fitness to be someone’s mate. For example, singing in tune or playing a musical instrument requires fine muscular control. You also need a good memory to remember the notes. And playing or singing those notes correctly suggests that your hearing is in excellent condition. Finally, when a man sings to the woman he loves (or vice versa), it may be a

way of showing off.

However, Miller’s theory still doesn’t explain why certain combinations of sounds influence our emotions so deeply. For scientists, this is clearly an area that needs further research.

16. Humans, but not animals, can sing.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

17. People can use music to communicate their emotions.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

18. We use the same part of the brain for music and language.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

19. Geoffery Miler has done research on music and emotions.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

20. It’s hard for humans to compose music.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

21. Memory is not an important part in singing in tune.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

22. Scientists does not know all the answers about the effects of music on humans.

A. Right

B. Wrong

C. Not mentioned

第3部分：概括大意与完成句子(第23-30题，每题l分，共8分)

下面的短文后有2项测试任务：(1)第23-26题要求从所给的6个选项中为指定段落每段选择l个小标题；(2)第27-30题要求从所给的6个选项中为每个句子确定一个最佳选项。

Electromagnetic Energy

1 White light seems to be a combination of all colors. The energy that comes from a source of light is not limited to the kind of energy you can see. Heat is given off by a flame or an electric light. On a cloudy day it is possible to get a sunburn even though you feel cool. Visible light and the kinds of energy that produce warmth and sunburn are examples of electromagnetic energy.

2 The sun is 9

3 million miles from the earth. Yet we can use energy from the sun because electromagnetic energy travels through space.

3 Many other kinds of energy are also types of electromagnetic energy. Radio, television, and radar signals travel from transmitters to receivers as low-energy electromagnetic waves. Infrared （红外线的）radiation is an electromagnetic wave. When it is absorbed by matter, heat is produced. Waves of infrared and visible light have more energy than waves of radio, television, or radar. Ultraviolet rays（紫外线）and X-rays are electromagnetic waves with even greater amounts of energy. Infrared radiation is used in cooking food and heating buildings. Sunlight and electric lights

are part of our requirements for normal living. Ultraviolet radiation is useful in killing certain disease organisms. X-rays and gamma rays have so much energy that they travel through solid objects. They can be used to detect and treat cancer. X-rays are used in industry to find hidden cracks in metal, and in medicine to reveal broken bones.

4 Usually we use electricity to generate electromagnetic energy. The source of most of our energy is the sun. Heat from the sun causes water to evaporate. When the water falls to the earth as rain, some of it is trapped behind dams and then used to operate electric generators. Other generators are powered by coal, but the energy stored in coal came from the sun, too.

5 Until recently, the source of the tremendous amount of energy given off by the sun was a puzzle. If the sun depended on chemical reactions, it would have used up all its energy long ago. Experiments with electromagnetic radiation led to the theory that mass can be converted into energy. About forty years after the theory was proposed, nuclear energy was harnessed by man. Chemical energy comes from electron（电子）rearrangement. Nuclear energy comes from a change in the nucleus of an atom. Compared with chemical reactions, nuclear reactions release millions of times more energy per pound of fuel. We now believe that the sun’s energy comes from the nuclear reactions in which hydrogen is changed into helium（氦）.

6 Nuclear energy is beginning to compete with coal as an economical source of power to generate electricity. It is also being used to operate engines in large ships. Scientists continue to seek new and better methods of obtaining and using energy.

23. Paragraph 3 _________.

24. Paragraph 4 _________.

25. Paragraph 5 _________.

26. Paragraph 6 _________.

27. One can get a sunburn even__________.

28. Infrared radiation can produce heat__________.

29. X-rays and gamma rays can be used to detect and treat cancer__________.

30. Chemical energy is generated__________.

第4部分：阅读理解(第31-45题，每题3分，共45分)

下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道题。请根据短文内容，为每题确定l个最佳选项。

第1篇Sugar Power for Cell Phones

Using enzymes commonly found in living cells, a new type of fuel cell produces small amounts of electricity from sugar. If the technology is able to succeed in mass production, you may someday share your sweet drinks with your cell phone.

In fuel cells, chemical reactions generate electrical currents. The process usually relies on precious metals, such as platinum. In living cells, enzymes perform a similar job, breaking down sugars to obtain electrons and produce energy.

When researchers previously used enzymes in fuel cells, they had trouble keeping them active, says Shelley D. Minteer of St Louis University. Whereas biological cells continually produce fresh enzymes, there’s no mechanism in fuel cells to replace enzymes as they quickly degrade.

Minteer and Tamara Klotzbach, also of St Louis University, have now developed polymers that wrap around an enzyme and preserve it in a microscopic pocket. “We tailor these pockets to provide the ideal microenvironment for the enzyme,” Minteer says. The polymers keep the enzyme active for months instead of days.

In the new fuel cell, tiny polymer bags of enzyme are embedded in a membrane that coats one of the electrodes. When glucose from a sugary liquid gets into a pocket, the enzyme oxidizes it, releasing electrons and protons. The electrons cross the membrane and enter a wire through which they travel to the other electrode, where they react with oxygen in the atmosphere to produce water. The flow of electrons through the wire constitutes an electrical current that can generate power.

So far, the new fuel cells don’t produce much power, but the fact that they work at all is exciting, says Paul Kenis, a chemical engineer at the University of Illinois at Urhana-Champaign. “Just getting it to work,” Kenis says, “is a major accomplishment.”

Sugar-eating fuel cells could be an efficient way to make electricity. Sugar is easy to find. And the new fuel cells that run on it are biodegradable, so the technology wouldn’t hurt the environment.

The scientists are now trying to use different enzymes that will get more power from sugar. They predict that popular products may be using the new technology in as little as 3 years.

31. According to the first paragraph, when can we share our sweet drinks with our cell phones?

A. When enzymes can be commonly found in living cells.

B. When the technology of a new type of fuel cell is suitable for mass production.

C. When the technology of producing a new type of fuel cell appears.

D. When the technology of mass producing cell phones appears

32. What trouble did Minteer and Klotzhach have in their research?

A. They had trouble finding mechanism for producing enzymes.

B. They had trouble keeping biological cells active.

C. They had trouble producing fresh enzymes.

D. They had trouble keeping enzymes in fuel cells active.

33. According to Paragraph 5, electrons are released __________.

A. when the enzyme oxidizes the glucose from a sugary liquid that goes through a pocket

B. when glucose from a sugary liquid goes through the enzyme

C. when bags of enzyme are embedded in the new fuel cell

D. when the enzyme oxidizes the sugary liquid that goes through a pocket

34. What is exciting about the new fuel cells?

A. Their limitless power generation capacity is amazing.

B. Their limited power generation capacity is the result of great efforts.

C. Their limited power generation capacity is a good beginning.

D. Their limitless power generation capacity is a major accomplishment.

35. According to the last paragraph, which is NOT true of the new fuel cells?

A. It will take some time before the new fuel cells can be used in popular products.

B. The new fuel cells are environment-friendly.

C. The new fuel cells are biologically degradable.

D. The new fuel cells run on sugar that is easy to find.

第2篇Orbital Space Plane

While scientists are searching the cause of the Columbia disaster, NASA is moving ahead with plans to develop a new craft that would replace shuttles on space station missions by 2012 and respond quickly to space station emergencies.

The space agency released the first set of mission needs and requirements several days ago for the orbital space plane, which would be designed to transport a crew of four to and from the International Space Station.

Although it includes few specifics, the plan stipulates the orbiter will be safer, cheaper and

require less preparation time than the shuttle. It would be able to transport four crew members by 2012—though it would be available for rescue missions by 2010. NASA says the craft should be able to transport injured or ill space station crew members to “definitive medical care” within 24 hours.

The release of the requirements showed NASA remains focused on the long-term priorities of space exploration, even as questions linger concerning the loss of Columbia and its seven-member crew on February 1, 2003.

Experts at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, have been working for years on a successor to the shuttle. The project, known as the Space Launch Initiative, was divided last year into two parts—one focusing on a future launch vehicle, the other on a space station orbiter. The orbiter is expected to be ready sooner.

The program’s managers say NASA officials have told them not to alter Space Launch Initiative in light of the Columbia disaster.

US President George W. Bush asked Congress for about USD 1 billion for Space Launch Initiative in 2004, funds that would be almost equally split between the Orbital Space Place and Next Generation Launch Technology.

36. The orbital space craft has been designed for _______________.

A. carrying astronauts to the International Space Station

B. controlling the International Space Station

C. transporting equipment to the International Space Station

D. training astronauts in space flights

37. From the passage we know that the design of the orbiter indicates _____________.

A. NASA’s determination to continue it s space exploration projects

B. the U.S. space technology superiorities

C. a victory in space exploration

D. the birth of an absolutely safe space craft

38. When did the scientists start working on a successor to the shuttle?

A. Immediately after the Columbia disaster.

B. One year after the Columbia disaster.

C. Years before the explosion of Columbia.

D. Not mentioned in the passage.

39. Besides the main missions stipulated by NASA, the orbiter would also be used as __________.

A. a space hospital

B. a space ambulance

C. a medical research center

D. a medicine-transporting vehicle

40. According to the passage, the funds, if granted, would ____________.

A. be used for developing the orbiter only

B. be given to Marshall Space Flight Center

C. be mainly used to improve space launch technology

D. be equally shared by the two projects under Space Launch Initiative

第3篇Electric Backpack

Backpacks are convenient. They can hold your books, your lunch, and a change of clothes leaving your hands free to do other things. Someday, if you don’t mind carrying a heavy load, your backpacks might also power your MP3 player, keep your cell phone running, and maybe even light your way home.

Lawrence C. Rome and his colleagues from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. have invented a backpack that makes electricity from energy produced while its wearer walks. In military actions search-and-rescue operations and scientific field studies, people rely increasingly on cellphones global positioning system (GPS) receivers, night-vision goggles, and other battery powered devices to get around and do their work. The backpack’s electricity-generating feature could dramatically reduce the amount of a wearer’s load now devoted to spare batteries, report Rome and his colleagues in the Sept.9 science.

The backpack’s electricity-creating powers depend on springs used to hang a cloth pack from its metal frame. The frame sits against the wearer’s back, and the whole pack moves up and down as the person walks. A gear mechanism converts vertical movements of the pack to rotary motions of an electrical generator, producing up to 7.4 watts.

Unexpectedly, tests showed that wearers of the new backpack alter their gaits in response to the pack’s oscillations, so that they carry loads more comfortably and with less effort than they do ordinary backpacks. Because of that surprising advantage, Rome plans to commercialize both electric and non-electric versions of the backpack.

The backpack could be especially useful for soldiers, scientists, mountaineers, and emergency workers who typically carry heavy backpacks. For the rest of us, power-generating backpacks could make it possible to walk, play video games, watch TV, and listen to music, all at the same time. Electricity-generating packs aren’t on the market yet, but if you do get one eventually just make sure to look both ways before crossing the street!

41. Backpacks are convenient because __________.

A. they can be very large

B. they can hold as many things as you want to carry

C. your hands are freed to do other things

D. you do not have to carry things with you

42. What is the most important feature of the backpack invented by Lawrence C. Rome and his colleagues?

A. It produces electricity for electronic devices while the wearer walks.

B. It can be used as cellphones GPS in the military actions or field studies.

C. It is small and convenient.

D. It is light and easy to carry.

43. The word “springs” in Paragraph 3 means __________.

A. a small stream of water flowing naturally from the earth

B. the season of the year, occurring between winter and summer

C. the act or an instance of jumping or leaping

D. a length of metal wound around, which returns to its original shape after being pushed

44. According to Paragraph 4, what does Rome plan to do?

A. To make the backpack more comfortable for the wearer.

B. To put the backpack on the market.

C. To test the advantage of the backpack.

D. To promote the backpack in a newspaper or on television.

45. What is implied in “if you do get one eventually, just make sure to look both ways before crossing the street!”?

A. You will be too excited to watch the traffic.

B. Enjoying electronic devices while walking may invite traffic accidents.

C. It is not possible for you to get such a backpack.

D. It is wise of you to have such a backpack.

第5部分：补全短文（第46-50题，每题2分，共10分）

阅读下面的短文，文章中有5处空白，文章后面有6组文字，请根据文章的内容选择5组文字，将其分别放回文章原有位置，以恢复文章原貌。

Mobile Phones

Mobile phones should carry a label if they proved to be a dangerous source of radiation, according to Robert Bell, a scientist. And 46 _____________ until the long-term health effects of the electromagnetic radiation they emit are scientifically evaluated, he said. “Nobody’s going to drop dread overnight but we should be asking for more scientific information.” Robert Bell said at a conference on the health effects of low-level radiation. “If mobile phones are found to be dangerous, they should carry a warning label until proper shields can be devised,” he said.

A report widely circulated among the public says that up to now scientists do not really know enough to guarantee 47 _______________. According to Robert Bell, there are 3.3 million mobile phones in Australia alone and they are increasing by 2,333 a day. By the year 2000 it is estimated that Australia will have 8 million mobile phones; nearly one for every two people.

As well, there are 2,000 transmitter towers around Australia, many in high density residential areas. For example, Telstra, Optus and V odaphone build their towers 48 ________________.

The electromagnetic radiation emitted from these towers may have already produced some harmful effects on the health of the residents nearby.

Robert Bell suggests that until more research is completed the Government should ban construction of phone towers from within a 500 meter radius of schools grounds, child care centers, hospitals, sports playing fields and residential areas with a high percentage of children. He says 49 ___________ that children absorb low-level radiation at a rate more than three times that of adults.

He adds that there is also evidence that if cancer sufferers are subjected to electromagnetic waves the growth rate of the disease accelerates.

Then who finances the research? According to Robert Bell, 50 ______________. Besides, he also urges the Government to set up a wide-ranging inquiry into possible health effects.

第6部分：完形填空（第51-65题，每题1分，共15分）

阅读下面的短文，文中有15处空白，每处空白给出了4个选项，请根据短文的内容从4个选项中选择一个最佳答案。

Traffic in Our Cities

The volume of traffic in many cities in the world today continues to expand. This causes many problems, including serious air pollution, lengthy delays, and the greater risk 51 accidents. Clearly, something must be done, but it is often difficult to persuade people to 52 their habits and leave their cars at home.

One possible 53 is to make it more expensive for people to use their cars by 54 charges for

parking and bringing in tougher fines for anyone who 55 the law. In addition, drivers could be 56 to pay for using particular routes at different times of the day. This system, 57 as “road pricing”, is already being introduced in a 58 of cities, using a special electronic card 59 to the windscreen of the car.

Another way of 60 with the problem is to provide cheap parking on the 61 of the city, and strictly control the number of vehicles allowed into the centre. Drivers and their passengers then use a special bus 62 for the final stage of their journey.

Of course, the most important 63 is to provide good public transport. However, to get people to 64 the comfort of their cars, public transport must be felt to be reliable, convenient and comfortable, with fares 65 at an acceptable level.

51. A. of B. for C. about D. by

52. A. acquire B. form C. support D. change

53. A. manner B. approach C. custom D. style

54. A. enlarging B. increasing C. growing D. developing

55. A. destroys B. breaks C. refuses D. rejects

56. A. allowed B. advised C. required D. controlled

57. A. designed B. known C. seen D. called

58. A. quantity B. total C. sum D. number

59. A. fixed B. joined C. built D. placed

60. A. doing B. handling C. solving D. dealing

61. A. border B. outside C. limit D. outskirts

62. A. service B. station C. route D. fare

63. A. thought B. case C. event D. thing

64. A. pass on B. throw away C. give up D. leave out

65. A. taken B. blocked C. kept D. given