北京外国语大学
2002年硕士研究生入学考试
基础英语试题
I. Reading Comprehension
This section contains two passages. Read each passage and then answer the questions given at
the end of the passage.
Passage One
Just before Sept. 11 changed storytelling in America forever, my Hollywood agent explained
that my new novel was doomed in movieland because it lacked sufficient “explosive moments.”
Given this, the fact that the Defense Department is currently consulting with Hollywood
scriptwriters and producers to help U.S. generals “think outside the box” is beyond comprehension.
Hollywood storytellers invented the box. They worship the box. They have spent their lives
mass-producing the box.
As American movie geniuses scramble to reinvent their formula and edit out scenes that
might offend post-Sept. 11 sensibilities. I feel a wonderful release. The box is dead. The tyranny
of Hollywood has temporarily abated. What will fill this storytelling vacuum has yet to be seen,
but my bet is that the appetite for stories that explore violence and mayhem, rather than exploiting
them, will have an even broader appeal.
Although the body count is traditionally high in my genre, the best thrillers and crime novels
have never been about thrills or crime. They are about the often subtle, often banal inner workings
of evil, and about the many shapes of heroism- those impossible struggles of the individual
challenged by forces that threaten his soul more than his body.
Certainly, some of the landscape of popular fiction is changed. Stock characters that have
been so reliable in their ability to scare us silly- serial killers, stalkers, hit men, mob bosses,
psychopathic cannibals-wither and turn to dust in the face of the far more potent forms of evil
we have encountered.
Real-life heroes reshape standards for bravery. Who has not tested his imagination by
banding together with strangers on that doomed plane, throwing together a hasty plan, then
storming down the narrow aisle to tackle a group of razor-wielding thugs? Who hasn’t imagined
himself pushing upward into those smoke-darkened hallways as choking civilians rush out of
harm’s way, while all around us a faint rumble rises?
Thriller writers grapple with the devilish distinction between revenge and justice, and show
violence and bravery in their starkest forms. Books like Huckleberry Finn, Moby-Dick and A
Farewell to Arms share the gritty sensibility and brutally honest portraits of violence that
distinguish the modern thriller.
Since Sept. 11, my Hollywood agent has changed her tune. Now the reason my book will
never be made into a film is that the one explosive moment it did contain is a scene portraying an
airliner brought down by terrorists. In a book written over a year ago, I’ve broken a brand new
taboo. I get no points for prescience and want none. My barometer was twitching: that’s all I can
say. I write about what scares me.
And these days everywhere I look, I see material.
1. Explain the following sentences or phrases in English, bringing out the implied meaning, if
there is any:(18 points)
(1)They have spent their lives mass-producing the box.
(2)...edit out scenes that might offend post-Sept. Il sensibilities
(3)...the appetite for stories that explore violence and mayhem, rather than exploiting them,
will have an even broader appeal
(4)Although the body count is traditionally high in my genre...
(5)...wither and turn to dust in the face of the far more potent forms of evil ...
(6)...my Hollywood agent has changed her tune
2. Give a brief answer to the following question: (6 points)
(1)What does the author mean by saying: “I’ve broken a brand new taboo”?
Passage Two
It’s the first week of school at the University of California, Berkeley, and Sproul Plaza, the
campus’s main thoroughfare, is bustling with the usual lunchtime crowd: protesters clanging
garbage-can lids and plinking cowbells; upperclassmen blaring boomboxes; a jazz ensemble
luring potential recruits with a Miles Davis standard. It’s a portrait of diversity in every way but
one: skin color. A disproportionate number of the students walking around Sproul are
Asian-Americans. Amy Tang, a third-year cognitive-science major, sits at a booth for the Chinese
Student Association. “I came to Berkeley for the diversity,” she says, surveying the plaza. “But
when I got here and saw all the Asians, it was really weird.”
Berkeley’s rapidly morphing student body has sparked one of the fiercest debates in higher
education. The school’s Asian-American population had already been surging for years when, in
1996, California voters approved Proposition 209, a ballot initiative that banned affirmative action
at all state institutions. At the time, the campus was tom by protests. And the result seemed to
confirm the doomsayers’ predictions: enrollment of African-American, Hispanic and Native
American students plunged at Berkeley; while the Asian-American population continued to rise.
Asian-American students now make up about 45 percent of incoming freshmen, white students 30
percent, Hispanic students 9 percent and African-American only 4 percent. And the drops in
under-represented minorities are even more acute at the grad schools. William Bagley, a university
regent who supports affirmative action, insists that the university’s most prestigious campuses-
like Berkeley-have become “reverse ghettos, with Asians and whites and a lack of color.”
What accounts for the shift? To start, the pool of eligible Asian-American applicants was
already huge. Nearby San Francisco boasts the highest percentage of Asian-Americans in the
continental United States. And Asian-Americans are many times more likely than other groups to
graduate at the top of their high-school classes. At Cal, many Asian-American students attribute
their academic success to family pressure and, in some cases, an immigrant mind-set. “There’s
such a push to succeed,” says Marian Liu, a fifth-year student at Cal whose father was a Chinese
immigrant. Ward Connerly, a UC regent who is one of the most vocal opponents of affirmative
action, says that before 209, Asian-American students were discriminated against. “There was this
fear that without the use of race, the whole campus would become Asian,” he says.
It’s a much different picture for Berkeley’s African-American, Hispanic and Native American
students. Even after they’ve been admitted, Berkeley has a tough time persuading them to enroll.
Brett Byers, a fourth-year business major who runs the schools’ Black Recruitment and Retention
Center, calls prospective to try to persuade them to come to Cal. “When I call, they think there are
no black students here,” she says. Byers recently helped reprise a tradition- called “Black
Wednesday”-where the campus’s dwindling population of black students could relax, network
and socialize on Sproul. “There was a time when students of color used to hang out all the time on
Sproul,” says Anya Booker, a friend and adviser of Byers’s who graduated from Berkely in 1989.
“The shame is that it’s been reduced to a single Wednesday.” And students say the lack of
underrepresented minorities is apparent in class- especially the grad schools. Serena Lin, a
first-year law student who was also an undergraduate at Berkeley, says she sat in on a drug-policy
seminar when she was a prospective student. “They were talking about how U.S. drug policy
affects minorities,” she says. “And there wasn’t a single African-American in the class.”
These days Berkeley is trying to adjust to life after 209. The campus’s biggest new
buzzword is “outreach.” The University of California is spending $150 million-more than twice
the pre-209 number- in an effort to increase the pool of qualified underrepresented minority
students. And Daniel Hernandez, editor of the school newspaper, says that despite all the changes,
race relations on campus are relatively healthy. “Students are sort of settling in to the way things
are,” says Hernandez. But is that necessarily good? Underrepresented minorities have long been
the backbone of Berkeley’s political mood, energizing the campus. In gaining a new face,
Berkeley will have to live with what it has lost.
1. Explain the following sentences or phrases in English, bringing out the implied meaning, if
there is any:(18 points)
(1)It’s a portrait diversity in every way but one: skin color.
(2)And the result seemed to confirm the doomsayers’ predictions…
(3)And the drops in underrepresented minorities are even more acute at the grad schools.
(4)…..an immigrant mind-set
(5)Students are sort of settling in to the way things are….
(6)….have long been the backbone of Berkeley’s political mood, energizing the campus
2. Answer the following questions briefly and to the point:(18 points)
(1)why does the author say that university’s most prestigious campuses like Berkeley “have
become reverse ghettos, with Asians and whites and a lack of color”?
(2)What does the author mean when he says: “In gaining a new face, Berkeley will have to
live with what it has lost.”?
(3)How does the author feel about proposition 209?
Ⅱ. Translate the following passage into English:(40 points)
爱国者人爱之,自尊者人尊之
记得在苏黎世大学进行为期一年的博士后研修时,由于勤奋努力,我提前两个月完成了
我的课题研究任务。当导师古根汉姆教授读完我提交的 6篇
论文
政研论文下载论文大学下载论文大学下载关于长拳的论文浙大论文封面下载
时,惊喜万分。没过几天,
校方拿来一份合同,提出以 1.2万瑞士法郎(约合人民币 6万元)的月薪聘请我担任研究员,
我豪不犹豫地拒绝了。
我的举动大大出乎教授的意料。当天晚上,一向惜时如金的他,破例邀我去散步。我告
诉他我之所以这么做的原因:第一,我的祖国很需要我;第二,我有我的信仰,我的所作所
为不能违背我的信仰。我正想礼节性地道个歉,他却阻止了我,对我说,薜,你是第一个拒
绝我的人,但你的选择却使我更为敬重你。教授感叹道,虽然我们信仰的东西不一样,但能
为信仰而活着、而奋斗的人,总是令人尊敬的。
我从瑞士归国时,古根汉姆教授免费送我价值 3000多美元的菌株和本亲笔签名的最新
著作。而在这之前,我就是出高价购买这种进菌株,教授也是不会答应的。
我先后去过 5个国家留学,与 20多个国家的人共同过事,从中我发现一个现象:爱国
者人爱之,自尊者之尊之。人是要有一点精神的,这种精神就是理想、信念、民族自尊心、
自信心和自豪感的总和。
苏黎世大学 University of Zurich
古根海姆 Guggenheim
瑞士法郎 Swiss franc
菌株 bacterial strain
北京外国语大学
2002年硕士研究生入学考试基础英语试题参考
答案
八年级地理上册填图题岩土工程勘察试题省略号的作用及举例应急救援安全知识车间5s试题及答案
I. I. Reading Comprehension
This section contains two passages. Read each passage and then answer the questions given at
the end of the passage.
Passage One
Just before Sept. 11 changed storytelling in America forever, my Hollywood agent explained
that my new novel was doomed in movieland because it lacked sufficient “explosive moments.”
Given this, the fact that the Defense Department is currently consulting with Hollywood
scriptwriters and producers to help U.S. generals “think outside the box” is beyond comprehension.
Hollywood storytellers invented the box. They worship the box. They have spent their lives
mass-producing the box.
As American movie geniuses scramble to reinvent their formula and edit out scenes that
might offend post-Sept. 11 sensibilities. I feel a wonderful release. The box is dead. The tyranny
of Hollywood has temporarily abated. What will fill this storytelling vacuum has yet to be seen,
but my bet is that the appetite for stories that explore violence and mayhem, rather than exploiting
them, will have an even broader appeal.
Although the body count is traditionally high in my genre, the best thrillers and crime novels
have never been about thrills or crime. They are about the often subtle, often banal inner workings
of evil, and about the many shapes of heroism- those impossible struggles of the individual
challenged by forces that threaten his soul more than his body.
Certainly, some of the landscape of popular fiction is changed. Stock characters that have
been so reliable in their ability to scare us silly- serial killers, stalkers, hit men, mob bosses,
psychopathic cannibals-wither and turn to dust in the face of the far more potent forms of evil
we have encountered.
Real-life heroes reshape standards for bravery. Who has not tested his imagination by
banding together with strangers on that doomed plane, throwing together a hasty plan, then
storming down the narrow aisle to tackle a group of razor-wielding thugs? Who hasn’t imagined
himself pushing upward into those smoke-darkened hallways as choking civilians rush out of
harm’s way, while all around us a faint rumble rises?
Thriller writers grapple with the devilish distinction between revenge and justice, and show
violence and bravery in their starkest forms. Books like Huckleberry Finn, Moby-Dick and A
Farewell to Arms share the gritty sensibility and brutally honest portraits of violence that
distinguish the modern thriller.
Since Sept. 11, my Hollywood agent has changed her tune. Now the reason my book will
never be made into a film is that the one explosive moment it did contain is a scene portraying an
airliner brought down by terrorists. In a book written over a year ago, I’ve broken a brand new
taboo. I get no points for prescience and want none. My barometer was twitching: that’s all I can
say. I write about what scares me.
And these days everywhere I look, I see material.
1. Explain the following sentences or phrases in English, bringing out the implied meaning, if
there is any:(18 points)
(1)They have spent their lives mass-producing the box.
(2)...edit out scenes that might offend post-Sept. Il sensibilities
(3)...the appetite for stories that explore violence and mayhem, rather than exploiting them,
will have an even broader appeal
(4)Although the body count is traditionally high in my genre...
(5)...wither and turn to dust in the face of the far more potent forms of evil ...
(6)...my Hollywood agent has changed her tune
2. Give a brief answer to the following question: (6 points)
(1)What does the author mean by saying: “I’ve broken a brand new taboo”?
参考答案:
1. 1) All the time they have been writing stories in large quantities about thrills and crimes that
scare people.
2) …remove the scenes in their writing about crimes and thrills that may remind people of
the Sept. 11, as people in the U.S. have become quite sensitive towards such scenes.
3) People will be interested in the stories that examine and analyze the reasons for violence
and mayhem, instead of the stories that make use of violence and mayhem only to scare people
only sensuously.
4) Although most of the stories by scriptwriters are on the sensuous level, which only scare
people.
5) Compared with the far more powerful evil, which refers to the terrorists who attacked U.S
on Sept. 11, those stock characters are so weak and insignificant.
6) …my Hollywood agent has alerted her attitudes and manners about “explosive moments”.
2. (1) The writer means that despite the change of the way of storytelling in Hollywood after Sept.
11, the book he has written a year ago is not to meet the nowadays demands, either. That’s because
this time he has touched upon the once pervasive but now forbidden thing—narration about
“explosive moments”, which is forbidden because it will “offend post-Sept. 11 sensibilities”.
Passage Two
It’s the first week of school at the University of California, Berkeley, and Sproul Plaza, the
campus’s main thoroughfare, is bustling with the usual lunchtime crowd: protesters clanging
garbage-can lids and plinking cowbells; upperclassmen blaring boomboxes; a jazz ensemble
luring potential recruits with a Miles Davis standard. It’s a portrait of diversity in every way but
one: skin color. A disproportionate number of the students walking around Sproul are
Asian-Americans. Amy Tang, a third-year cognitive-science major, sits at a booth for the Chinese
Student Association. “I came to Berkeley for the diversity,” she says, surveying the plaza. “But
when I got here and saw all the Asians, it was really weird.”
Berkeley’s rapidly morphing student body has sparked one of the fiercest debates in higher
education. The school’s Asian-American population had already been surging for years when, in
1996, California voters approved Proposition 209, a ballot initiative that banned affirmative action
at all state institutions. At the time, the campus was tom by protests. And the result seemed to
confirm the doomsayers’ predictions: enrollment of African-American, Hispanic and Native
American students plunged at Berkeley; while the Asian-American population continued to rise.
Asian-American students now make up about 45 percent of incoming freshmen, white students 30
percent, Hispanic students 9 percent and African-American only 4 percent. And the drops in
under-represented minorities are even more acute at the grad schools. William Bagley, a university
regent who supports affirmative action, insists that the university’s most prestigious campuses-
like Berkeley-have become “reverse ghettos, with Asians and whites and a lack of color.”
What accounts for the shift? To start, the pool of eligible Asian-American applicants was
already huge. Nearby San Francisco boasts the highest percentage of Asian-Americans in the
continental United States. And Asian-Americans are many times more likely than other groups to
graduate at the top of their high-school classes. At Cal, many Asian-American students attribute
their academic success to family pressure and, in some cases, an immigrant mind-set. “There’s
such a push to succeed,” says Marian Liu, a fifth-year student at Cal whose father was a Chinese
immigrant. Ward Connerly, a UC regent who is one of the most vocal opponents of affirmative
action, says that before 209, Asian-American students were discriminated against. “There was this
fear that without the use of race, the whole campus would become Asian,” he says.
It’s a much different picture for Berkeley’s African-American, Hispanic and Native American
students. Even after they’ve been admitted, Berkeley has a tough time persuading them to enroll.
Brett Byers, a fourth-year business major who runs the schools’ Black Recruitment and Retention
Center, calls prospective to try to persuade them to come to Cal. “When I call, they think there are
no black students here,” she says. Byers recently helped reprise a tradition- called “Black
Wednesday”-where the campus’s dwindling population of black students could relax, network
and socialize on Sproul. “There was a time when students of color used to hang out all the time on
Sproul,” says Anya Booker, a friend and adviser of Byers’s who graduated from Berkely in 1989.
“The shame is that it’s been reduced to a single Wednesday.” And students say the lack of
underrepresented minorities is apparent in class- especially the grad schools. Serena Lin, a
first-year law student who was also an undergraduate at Berkeley, says she sat in on a drug-policy
seminar when she was a prospective student. “They were talking about how U.S. drug policy
affects minorities,” she says. “And there wasn’t a single African-American in the class.
These days Berkeley is trying to adjust to life after 209. The campus’s biggest new
buzzword is “outreach.” The University of California is spending $150 million-more than twice
the pre-209 number- in an effort to increase the pool of qualified underrepresented minority
students. And Daniel Hernandez, editor of the school newspaper, says that despite all the changes,
race relations on campus are relatively healthy. “Students are sort of settling in to the way things
are,” says Hernandez. But is that necessarily good? Underrepresented minorities have long been
the backbone of Berkeley’s political mood, energizing the campus. In gaining a new face,
Berkeley will have to live with what it has lost.
1. Explain the following sentences or phrases in English, bringing out the implied meaning, if
there is any:(18 points)
(1)It’s a portrait diversity in every way but one: skin color.
(2)And the result seemed to confirm the doomsayers’ predictions…
(3)And the drops in underrepresented minorities are even more acute at the grad schools.
(4)…..an immigrant mind-set
(5)Students are sort of settling in to the way things are….
(6)….have long been the backbone of Berkeley’s political mood, energizing the campus
2. Answer the following questions briefly and to the point:(18 points)
(1)why does the author say that university’s most prestigious campuses like Berkeley “have
become reverse ghettos, with Asians and whites and a lack of color”?
(2)What does the author mean when he says: “In gain