大學四級考試英語閱讀試題(一)

　　Stokoe had been taught a sort of gestural code, each movement of the hands representing aword in English.At the time, American Sign Language (ASL) was thought to be no more than aform of pidgin English (混雜英語). But Stokoe believed the “hand talk”his students used lookedricher. He wondered: Might deaf people actually: have a genuine language? And could thatlanguage be unlike any other on Earth? It was 1955, wheneven deaf people dismissed theirsigning as“substandard”. Stokoe’s idea was academic heresy (異端邪說).

　　It is 37 years later. Stokoe—now devoting his time to writing and editing books and journalsand to producing video materials on ASL and the deaf culture—is having lunch at a cafe nearthe Gallaudet campus and explaining how he started a revolution. For decades educatorsfought his idea that signed languages are natural languages like English, French and Japanese.They assumed language must be based on speech, the modulation (調節) of sound. But signlanguage is based on the movement of hands, the modulation of space. “What I said,” Stokoeexplains, “is that language is not mouth stuff—it’s brain stuff.”

　　練習題：

　　Choose correct answers to the question:

　　1. The study of sign language is thought to be ________.

　　A. a new way to look at the learning of language

　　B. a challenge to traditional, views on the nature of language

　　C. an approach: to simplifying the grammatical structure of a language

　　D. an attempt to clarify misunderstanding about the origin of language

　　2. The present growing interest in sign language was stimulated by ______

　　_.

　　A. a famous scholar in the study of the human brain

　　B. a leading specialist in the study of liberal arts

　　C. an English teacher in a university for the deaf

　　D. some senior experts in American Sign Language

　　3. According to Stokoe, sign language is ________.

　　A. a Substandard language

　　B. a genuine language

　　C. an artificial language

　　D. an international language

　　4. Most educators objected to Stokoe’s idea because they thought ________.

　　A. sign language was not extensively used even by deaf people

　　B. sign language was too artificial to be widely accepted

　　C. a language should be easy to use and understand

　　D. a language could only exist in the form of speech sounds

　　5. Stokoe’s argument is based on his belief that ________.

　　A. sign language is as efficient as any other language

　　B. sign language is derived from natural language

　　C. language is a system of meaningful codes

　　D. language is a product of the brain

　　大學四級考試英語閱讀試題答案

　　1.[B] 從文章第3句“手語提供了一種新方法，用以探索大腦如何產生和理解語言，并為一個長期以來的科學爭端——語言(連同語法)究竟是我們與生俱來的，還是一種我們后天學會的行為——提出了新的解釋”可以看出，這是對語言的性質的傳統觀點的挑戰，即B 。A錯在learning,文章并不是在討論語言的學習，而是語言的產生和理解;C為簡單原詞干擾D;中的an attempt to clarify misunderstanding是對throw new light on an old scientific controversy的曲解，因為controversy不等于misunderstanding。另外，第1段最后一句中的rebel“反叛”一詞也與B中的“挑戰”一致。

　　2.[C] 根據第1段最后一句可知，選C。題干中的was stimulated相當于原文中的has roots in。

　　3.[B] 根據第3段第2—4句以及最后一段第3句，可知B為答案。前者提出猜想(Might deaf people actually have a genuine language?)，后者含有一個同位語 his idea that signed languages are natural languages。

　　4.[D] 根據最后一段第4句，可知D正確。D中的only exist in the form of speech sounds是對原文中be based on speech的同義表達。

　　5.[D] 根據文章最后一句，可知D正確。D中的a product of the brain是對原文中brain stuff的同義表達。B中的derived from錯誤，因為Stokoe認為sign language就是一種natural language。

　　大學四級考試英語閱讀試題(二)

　　The National Trust in Britain plays an increasingly important part in the preservation for publicenjoyment of the best that is left unspoiled of the British countryside. Although the Trust hasreceived practicaland moral support from the Government, it is not rich Governmentdepartment. It is a charity which dependsfor its existence on voluntary support frommembers of the public.

　　The attention of the public was first drawn to the dangers threatening the great old housesand castles ofBritain by the death of Lord Lothian, who left his great seventeenth-century houseto the Trust together with the 4, 500-acre park and estate surrounding it. This gift attractedwide publicity and started the Trust's "Country House Scheme". Under this scheme, with thehelp of the Government and the general public, the Trust has been able to save and open to thepublic about one hundred and fifty of these old houses. Lastyear about one and three quartersof a million people paid to visit these historic houses, usually at a very small charge.

　　In addition to country houses and open spaces the Trust now owns some examples of ancientwind and water mills, nature reserves, five hundred and forty farms and nearly two thousandfive hundred cottages or smallvillage houses, as well as some complete villages. In thesevillages no one is allowed to build, develop or disturb the old village environment in any wayand all the houses are maintained in their original sixteenth-century style. Over four hundredthousand acres of coastline, woodland, and hill country are protected by the Trust and nodevelopment or disturbance of any kind are permitted. The public has free access to theseareas and is only asked to respect the peace, beauty and wildlife.

　　So it is that over the past eighty years the Trust has become a big important organization andan essential and respected part of national life, preserving all that is of great natural beautyand of historical significance not only for future generations of Britons but also for the millionsof tourists who each year invade Britain in search of a great historical and cultural heritage.

　　練習題：

　　Choose correct answers to the question:

　　1.The National Trust is ______.

　　A.a rich government department

　　B.a charity supported mainly by the public

　　C.a group of areas of great natural beauty

　　D.an organization supported by public taxes

　　2. The "Country House Scheme" was started _______________.

　　A. with the founding of the National Trust

　　B. as the first project of the National Trust

　　C. after Lord Lothian's donation

　　D. to protect Lord Lothian's house

　　3. Land protected by the National Trust ______________.

　　A. can be developed and modernized

　　B. includes naturally and historically valuable sites

　　C. consists of country houses and nature reserves

　　D. is primarily for tourists to Britain

　　4. The word "invade" in the last paragraph is used to emphasize that_____________.

　　A. the British do not like tourists

　　B. tourists to Britain are unfriendly

　　C. tourists come to Britain in large numbers

　　D. Britain is attacked by masses of tourists

　　5. The main purpose of this passage is to ______________.

　　A. inform the readers about the National Trust

　　B. promote the National Trust's membership

　　C. make people aware of the natural beauty of Britain

　　D. let the general public share the views of the National Trust

　　大學四級考試英語閱讀試題答案

　　1.[B] 事實細節題。從文章第1段末句可找到答案。選項A顯然與原文意思相反，選項C和D則無原文依據。

　　2.[C] 推理判斷題。第2段第2句表明洛錫安勛爵捐贈了他的房產后，這個計劃才啟動起來，因此選項C正確，也由此可以否定選項A。根據第2段最后兩句可知這個計劃是為了保護具有歷史價值的房子,而不僅僅是為了保護洛錫安勛爵的房子，因此選項D不對。

　　3.[B] 事實細節題。最后一段從preserving開始的部分指出了本題的答案。第3段倒數第2句所說的“no development or disturbances of any kind are permitted”可幫助排除選項A;選項C內容不完整;選項D中的限制詞primarily使用不妥,無原文依據。

　　4.[C] 詞義推斷題。由invade 所在的句子“for the millions of tourists who each year invade.。”可知這是托管會保護自然美景和歷史勝地的原因所在。從而可以推斷出invade強調來英國游玩的游客之多，因此選項C為正確答案。

　　5.[A] 主旨大意題。縱觀全文可發現the National Trust和the Trust在文章開頭以及文中反復出現,文章是一篇說明文，主要目的是介紹the National Trust的機構性質及其功能，因此選項A正確。文章未討論托管會的成員問題，因此選項B不正確。最后兩段雖然提到英國的自然景色很美，但這并非文章的主題思想，因此選項C不對。本題最具干擾性的是選項D，但是本文并不是一篇議論文，其目的不是讓讀者認同其中的觀點，文章更多的是用說明性的語言來說明托管會的一些做法。

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