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Section I Use of English
Until recently most historians spoke very critically of the Industrial Revolution. They _1_ that in the long run industrialization greatly raised the standard of living for the _2_ man. But they insisted that its _3_ results during the period from 1750 to 1850 were widespread poverty and misery for the _4_ of the English population. _5_ contrast, they saw in the preceding hundred years from 1650 to 1750, when England was still a _6_ agricultural country, a period of great abundance and prosperity.
This view, _7_ , is generally thought to be wrong. Specialists _8_ history and economics, have _9_ two things: that the period from 1650 to 1750 was _10_ by great poverty, and that industrialization certainly did not worsen and may have actually improved the conditions for the majority of the populace.
翻译：
直到最近，很多历史学家在批判工业革命。他们认为，从长远来看，工业化极大地提高了普通人的生活水平。但历史学家们坚持认为，工业革命导致的结果，是在1750年-1850年这个历史时期内，广泛的贫困和痛苦充斥在大部分英国民众当中。相比之下，他们在1750-1850年之前的一百年，即1650-1750年中看到，当时的英国还是一个农业国家，那是一个非常富裕和繁荣的时期。
这个观点通常被认为是错误的。历史学和经济学专家有两个观点: 1650-1750年这一时期是极度贫困的，工业化并没有使情况恶化，实际上工业化可能改善了大多数人的生活条件。
- [A] admitted [B] believed [C] claimed [D] predicted
- [A] plain [B] average [C] mean [D] normal
- [A] momentary [B] prompt [C] instant [D] immediate
- [A] bulk [B] host [C] gross [D] magnitude
- [A] On [B] With [C] For [D] By
- [A] broadly [B] thoroughly [C] generally [D] completely
- [A] however [B] meanwhile [C] therefore [D] moreover
- [A] at [B] in [C] about [D] for
- [A] manifested [B] approved [C] shown [D] speculated
- [A] noted [B] impressed [C] labeled [D] marked
Section II Reading Comprehension
Part A
Text 1
Few creations of big technology capture the imagination like giant dams. Perhaps it is humankind's long suffering at the mercy of flood and drought that makes the idea of forcing the waters to do our bidding so fascinating. But to be fascinated is also, sometimes, to be blind. Several giant dam projects threaten to do more harm than good.
The lesson from dams is that big is not always beautiful. It doesn't help that building a big, powerful dam has become a symbol of achievement for nations and people striving to assert themselves. Egypt's leadership in the Arab world was cemented by the Aswan High Dam. Turkey's bid for First World status includes the giant Ataturk Dam.
But big dams tend not to work as intended. The Aswan Dam, for example, stopped the Nile flooding but deprived Egypt of the fertile silt that floods left -- all in return for a giant reservoir of disease which is now so full of silt that it barely generates electricity.
And yet, the myth of controlling the waters persists. This week, in the heart of civilized Europe, Slovaks and Hungarians stopped just short of sending in the troops in their contention over a dam on the Danube. The huge complex will probably have all the usual problems of big dams. But Slovakia is bidding for independence from the Czechs, and now needs a dam to prove itself.
Meanwhile, in India, the World Bank has given the go-ahead to the even more wrong-headed Narmada Dam. And the bank has done this even though its advisors say the dam will cause hardship for the powerless and environmental destruction. The benefits are for the powerful, but they are far from guaranteed.
Proper, scientific study of the impacts of dams and of the cost and benefits of controlling water can help to resolve these conflicts. Hydroelectric power and flood control and irrigation are possible without building monster dams. But when you are dealing with myths, it is hard to be either proper, or scientific. It is time that the world learned the lessons of Aswan. You don't need a dam to be saved.
翻译：
很少有大型的科技造物能像巨型水坝一样令人浮想联翩。也许是因为人类长期遭受洪水和干旱的侵袭，才使得让水听从人类的命令这个主意是如此的令人着迷。但是，有时这样的着迷也会让人盲目。一些巨型水坝项目可能弊大于利。
源自大坝的教训是——大的不一定是好的。对于那些努力维护自我权威的国家和人民来说，建造一座强有力的大坝已经成为了一种成就的象征，但这收效甚微。埃及通过建造阿斯旺大坝巩固了在阿拉伯世界的领导地位。土耳其争取第一世界地位的努力包括建造巨型阿塔图尔克大坝。
但大坝往往不能如预期般工作。例如阿斯旺大坝，它阻止了洪水，却也使埃及失去了洪水离开后所留下的肥沃淤泥，这一切所换来只有一座滋生疾病的巨型水库，它充满淤泥，不再带来任何电力。
然而，对治水过于迷信的思想依然存在。这周，在欧洲文明的心脏，斯洛伐克和匈牙利因为多瑙河上的大坝起了口角，差点就动用了军队。这个巨大的综合性水坝可能会遇到所有大坝都会遇到的问题。但斯洛伐克正在争取从捷克独立，现在它需要一个大坝来证明它自己。
同时，在印度，世界银行已经批准了更加错误的纳尔马达大坝。尽管其顾问指出，这样会导致大坝给平民带来困难和造成环境破坏。这个计划的受益人是当权者，但是这些它们远没有得到保障。
事实上，对水坝的影响以及控制水源的成本和收益进行科学研究，能够帮助解决前文所述的这些矛盾。即使不建造巨型水坝，也可以做到水力发电、防洪和水利灌溉。但当你在应付对治水的迷信时，很难做到恰当或科学。现在，是全球吸取阿斯旺大坝教训的时候了。你们不需要水坝来拯救自己。
- The third sentence of Paragraph 1 implies that [A] people would be happy if they shut their eyes to reality [B] the blind could be happier than the sighted [C] over-excited people tend to neglect vital things [D] fascination makes people lose their eyesight
12.In Paragraph 5, "the powerless" probably refers to .
[A] areas short of electricity
[B] dams without power stations
[C] poor countries around India
[D] common people in the Narmada Dam area
13.What is the myth concerning giant dams?
[A] They bring in more fertile soil.
[B] They help defend the country.
[C] They strengthen international ties.
[D] They have universal control of the waters.
14.What the author tries to suggest may best be interpreted as .
[A] "It's no use crying over spilt milk"
[B] "More haste, less speed"
[C] "Look before you leap"
[D] "He who laughs last laughs best"
Text 2
Well, no gain without pain, they say. But what about pain without gain? Everywhere you go in America, you hear tales of corporate revival. What is harder to establish is whether the productivity revolution that businessmen assume they are presiding over is for real.
The official statistics are mildly discouraging. They show that, if you lump manufacturing and services together, productivity has grown on average by 1.2% since 1987. That is somewhat faster than the average during the previous decade. And since 1991, productivity has increased by about 2% a year, which is more than twice the 1978-87 average. The trouble is that part of the recent acceleration is due to the usual rebound that occurs at this point in a business cycle, and so is not conclusive evidence of a revival in the underlying trend. There is, as Robert Rubin, the treasury secretary, says, a "disjunction" between the mass of business anecdote that points to a leap in productivity and the picture reflected by the statistics.
Some of this can be easily explained. New ways of organizing the workplace -- all that re-engineering and downsizing -- are only one contribution to the overall productivity of an economy, which is driven by many other factors such as joint investment in equipment and machinery, new technology, and investment in education and training. Moreover, most of the changes that companies make are intended to keep them profitable, and this need not always mean increasing productivity: switching to new markets or improving quality can matter just as much.
Two other explanations are more speculative. First, some of the business restructuring of recent years may have been ineptly done. Second, even if it was well done, it may have spread much less widely than people suppose.
Leonard Schlesinger, a Harvard academic and former chief executive of Au Bong Pain, a rapidly growing chain of bakery cafes, says that much "re-engineering" has been crude. In many cases, he believes, the loss of revenue has been greater than the reductions in cost. His colleague, Michael Beer, says that far too many companies have applied re-engineering in a mechanistic fashion, chopping out costs without giving sufficient thought to long-term profitability. BBDO's Al Rosenshine is blunter. He dismisses a lot of the work of re engineering consultants as mere rubbish -- "the worst sort of ambulance chasing."
翻译：
虽然人们常说，没有付出就没有收获。但如果只有付出而没有收获，这该怎么办？在美国，到处都有企业复兴的故事。更难确定的是，商人们认为自己主持的生产力革命是否真实存在。
官方数据有些令人泄气。数据显示，如果将制造业和服务业合并在一起，你不得不接受它们自1987年以来年平均增长仅为1.2%。虽然这比前一十年的平均增长速度略快。但自1991年以来，生产率每年增长约2%，超过了1978-87年的平均值的两倍多。问题在于，最近加速的部分是由于商业周期中这一点的反弹所致，因此不能作为下层趋势复苏的确凿证据。正如财政部长Robert Rubin所说的那样，商业现象和统计数据反映出的情况之间存在“脱节”。
其中有一部分可以很容易地解释。组织工作场所的新方法——所有重新设计和裁员等行动——只是促进经济整体生产率的一个方面，经济生产力由许多其他因素推动，例如设备和机器的联合投资、新技术以及教育和培训的投资。此外，公司进行的大多数变化都是为了保持盈利，这并不总是意味着增加生产力：转向新市场或改善质量同样重要。
另外两种解释则更具推测性。首先，近年来的一些商业重组可能做得不够得当。其次，即使它做得很好，它的传播范围可能远远不及人们所猜想的那么广泛。
哈佛大学学者、迅速增长的面包咖啡连锁店Au Bong Pain的前首席执行官Leonard Schlesinger表示，许多“重新设计”都很粗糙。在许多情况下，他认为，收入损失比成本降低更大。他的同事Michael Beer认为，过多的公司机械式应用重新设计，削减成本而没有充分考虑到长期盈利能力。BBDO的Al Rosenshine则更加直言不讳。他驳斥了许多重新设计顾问的工作，认为它们不过是“最糟糕的救护车追赶”。
15.According to the author, the American economic situation is .
[A] not as good as it seems
[B] at its turning point
[C] much better than it seems
[D] near to complete recovery
16.The official statistics on productivity growth .
[A] exclude the usual rebound in a business cycle
[B] fall short of businessmen's anticipation
[C] meet the expectation of business people
[D] fail to reflect the true state of economy
17.The author raises the question "what about pain without gain?" because .
[A] he questions the truth of "no gain without pain"
[B] he does not think the productivity revolution works
[C] he wonders if the official statistics are misleading
[D] he has conclusive evidence for the revival of businesses
18.Which of the following statements is NOT mentioned in the passage?
[A] Radical reforms are essential for the increase of productivity.
[B] New ways of organizing workplaces may help to increase productivity.
[C] The reduction of costs is not a sure way to gain long-term profitability.
[D] The consultants are a bunch of good-for-nothings.
Text 3
Science has long had an uneasy relationship with other aspects of culture. Think of Gallileo’s 17th-century trial for his rebelling belief before the Catholic Church or poet William Blake's harsh remarks against the mechanistic worldview of Isaac Newton. The schism between science and the humanities has, if anything, deepened in this century.
Until recently, the scientific community was so powerful that it could afford to ignore its critics -- but no longer. As funding for science has declined, scientists have attacked "anti-science" in several books, notably Higher Superstition, by Paul R. Gross, a biologist at the University of Virginia, and Norman Levitt, a mathematician at Rutgers University; and The Demon-Haunted World, by Carl Sagan of Cornell University.
Defenders of science have also voiced their concerns at meetings such as "The Flight from Science and Reason," held in New York City in 1995, and "Science in the Age of (Mis) information," which assembled last June near Buffalo.
Anti-science clearly means different things to different people. Gross and Levitt find fault primarily with sociologists, philosophers and other academics who have questioned science's objectivity. Sagan is more concerned with those who believe in ghosts, creationism and other phenomena that contradict the scientific worldview.
A survey of news stories in 1996 reveals that the anti-science tag has been attached to many other groups as well, from authorities who advocated the elimination of the last remaining stocks of smallpox virus to Republicans who advocated decreased funding for basic research.
Few would dispute that the term applies to the Unabomber, whose manifesto, published in 1995, scorns science and longs for return to a pre-technological utopia. But surely that does not mean environmentalists concerned about uncontrolled industrial growth are anti-science, as an essay in US News & World Report last May seemed to suggest.
The environmentalists, inevitably, respond to such critics. The true enemies of science, argues Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University, a pioneer of environmental studies, are those who question the evidence supporting global warming, the depletion of the ozone layer and other consequences of industrial growth.
Indeed, some observers fear that the anti-science epithet is in danger of becoming meaningless. "The term 'anti-science' can lump together too many, quite different things," notes Harvard University philosopher Gerald Holton in his 1993 work Science and Anti-Science. "They have in common only one thing that they tend to annoy or threaten those who regard themselves as more enlightened."
翻译：
长期以来，科学与文化的其他方面相处得并不融洽。想想17世纪时伽利略在天主教会面前为其叛逆的信仰而接受审判，或者诗人威廉·布莱克对艾萨克·牛顿机械主义世界观的严厉批评。到本世纪，科学与人文学科之间的分野，如果说有什么变化，那么只是更加严重了。
直到最近，科学界的实力是如此之强，以至于它可以忽略批评者的声音。但现在情况不同了。随着科学资金的减少，科学家们在几本书中攻击“反科学”，特别是在弗吉尼亚大学的生物学家保罗·R·格罗斯的《更高的迷信》、罗格斯大学的数学家诺曼·莱维特的《被妖魔困扰的世界》和康奈尔大学的卡尔·萨根的《被妖魔附身的世界》。
科学的维护者在会议上也表达了他们的担忧，例如在1995年在纽约市举行的“从科学和理性中逃脱”会议和去年6月在水牛城附近召开的“(误)信息时代的科学”。
显然，“反科学”对不同的人有不同的含义。格罗斯和莱维特主要批评了社会学家、哲学家和其他质疑科学客观性的学者。萨根则更关注那些相信鬼魂、创造论和其他与科学世界观相矛盾的现象的人。
以1996年新闻报道为例，可以发现“反科学”标签也被贴在许多其他群体上，从主张消灭天花病毒最后剩余的库存的当局到主张减少基础研究资金的共和党人。
很少有人会否认，这个词可以适用于Unabomber（大学炸弹客）。他的宣言发表于1995年，其文章内容蔑视科学，并渴望回到一个前技术时代的乌托邦。但像去年五月份的美国新闻与世界报道中的一篇文章所表明的那样，那些担心工业增长失控的环保主义者并不反科学。
环保主义者不可避免地会回应这样的批评。斯坦福大学的环境研究先驱保罗·厄利克认为，科学的真正敌人是那些质疑全球变暖、臭氧层破坏和其他工业增长后果的证据的人。
事实上，一些观察家担心“反科学”这个词变得毫无意义。“‘反科学’这个词可以将许多截然不同的事情归为一类，”哈佛大学哲学家杰拉德·霍顿(Gerald Holton)在他1993年的作品《科学与反科学》中写道，“它们唯一的共同点是会激怒或威胁那些自认为更有见识的人”。
19.The word "schism" (Line 3, Paragraph 1) in the context probably means .
[A] confrontation
[B] dissatisfaction
[C] separation
[D] contempt
20.Paragraphs 2 and 3 are written to .
[A] discuss the cause of the decline of science's power
[B] show the author's sympathy with scientists
[C] explain the way in which science develops
[D] exemplify the division of science and the humanities
21.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
[A] Environmentalists were blamed for anti-science in an essay.
[B] Politicians are not subject to the labeling of anti-science.
[C] The "more enlightened" tend to tag others as anti-science.
[D] Tagging environmentalists as "anti-science" is justifiable.
22.The author's attitude toward the issue of "science vs. anti-science" is .
[A] impartial
[B] subjective
[C] biased
[D] puzzling
Text 4
Emerging from the 1980 census is the picture of a nation developing more and more regional competition, as population growth in the Northeast and Midwest reaches a near standstill.
This development -- and its strong implications for US politics and economy in years ahead -- has enthroned the South as America's most densely populated region for the first time in the history of the nation's head counting.
Altogether, the US population rose in the 1970s by 23.2 million people -- numerically the third-largest growth ever recorded in a single decade. Even so, that gain adds up to only 11.4 percent, lowest in American annual records except for the Depression years.
Americans have been migrating south and west in larger numbers since World War II, and the pattern still prevails.
Three sun-belt states -- Florida, Texas and California -- together had nearly 10 million more people in 1980 than a decade earlier. Among large cities, San Diego moved from 14th to 8th and San Antonio from 15th to 10th -- with Cleveland and Washington. D. C., dropping out of the top 10.
Not all that shift can be attributed to the movement out of the snow belt, census officials say. Nonstop waves of immigrants played a role, too -- and so did bigger crops of babies as yesterday's "baby boom" generation reached its child bearing years.
Moreover, demographers see the continuing shift south and west as joined by a related but newer phenomenon: More and more, Americans apparently are looking not just for places with more jobs but with fewer people, too. Some instances—
•Regionally, the Rocky Mountain states reported the most rapid growth rate -- 37. 1 percent since 1970 in a vast area with only 5 percent of the US population.
•Among states, Nevada and Arizona grew fastest of all: 63.5 and 53. 1 percent respectively. Except for Florida and Texas, the top 10 in rate of growth is composed of Western states with 7 .5 million people -- about 9 per square mile.
The flight from overcrowdedness affects the migration from snow belt to more bearable climates.
Nowhere do 1980 census statistics dramatize more the American search for spacious living than in the Far West. There, California added 3.7 million to its population in the 1970s, more than any other state.
In that decade, however, large numbers also migrated from California, mostly to other parts of the West. Often they chose -- and still are choosing -- somewhat colder climates such as Oregon, Idaho and Alaska in order to escape smog, crime and other plagues of urbanization in the Golden State.
As a result, California's growth rate dropped during the 1970s, to 18.5 percent -- little more than two thirds the 1960s' growth figure and considerably below that of other Western states.
翻译：
从1980年的人口普查可以看出，随着东北部和中西部地区的人口增长几近停滞，这个国家正在发展越来越多的区域竞争。
这一发展趋势将对未来几年美国政治和经济造成强烈影响。这是在美国人口统计史上首次出现南方成为美国人口最密集的地区的情况。
20世纪70年代，美国人口总数增加了2320万，这是近十年以来的第三大增长。即便如此，这一增幅加起来也只有11.4% ，是除大萧条年份以外美国年度记录中的最低水平。
自二战以来，美国人一直在大量向南部和西部迁移，这一趋势至今仍然存在。
在1980年，三个阳光带州——佛罗里达州、德克萨斯州和加利福尼亚州——共比10年前增加了近1000万人。在大城市中，圣迭戈从第14位上升到第8位，圣安东尼奥从第15位上升到第10位，而克利夫兰和华盛顿特区却掉出了前十名。
普查官员表示，并非所有的人口转移都归因于来自雪带地区的移民。不断涌入的移民浪潮也发挥了一定的作用，与此同时，随着当年的“婴儿潮”一代进入生育年龄，婴儿数量也在增加。
此外，人口统计学家认为，这种向美国南部和西部的持续人口迁移还伴随着一个相关但更新的现象: 越来越多的美国人显然不仅在寻找工作机会更多的地方，而且在寻找人口更少的地方。以下是一些例子——
地区来看，落基山脉各州报告了最快的增长速度——37.1%。自1970年以来，这是一个只有全美5%人口的广阔地区。
在各州中，内华达州和亚利桑那州增长速度最快，分别为63.5%和53.1%。除佛罗里达州和德克萨斯州外，人口增长率最高的10个州，由拥有750万人口的西部各州组成——大约每平方英里9人。
这种逃离过度拥挤状态的趋势，影响了从雪带地区移民到更容易居住的气候地区的移民。
没有比1980年的人口普查数据更最能说明美国人对宽敞的西部生活的追求。20世纪70年代，加利福尼亚州新增人口370万，比其他任何一个州都多。
然而，在那个十年里，大量的移民也从加利福尼亚州迁移到了西部的其他地方。他们经常选择——现在仍在选择——俄勒冈州、爱达荷州和阿拉斯加州等较为寒冷的气候，以逃避加州的烟雾、犯罪和城市化带来的其他灾难。
结果就是，加利福尼亚的增长率在20世纪70年代下降到18.5% ——略高于20世纪60年代增长数字的三分之二，大大低于其他西部州。
23.Discerned from the perplexing picture of population growth the 1980 census provided, Americain 1970s .
[A] enjoyed the lowest net growth of population in history
[B] witnessed a southwestern shift of population
[C] underwent an unparalleled period of population growth
[D] brought to a standstill its pattern of migration since World War II
24.The census distinguished itself from previous studies on population movement in that .
[A] it stresses the climatic influence on population distribution
[B] it highlights the contribution of continuous waves of immigrants
[C] it reveals the Americans' new pursuit of spacious living
[D] it elaborates the delayed effects of yesterday's "baby boom"
25.We can see from the available statistics that .
[A] California was once the most thinly populated area in the whole US
[B] the top 10 states in growth rate of population were all located in the West
[C] cities with better climates benefited unanimously from migration
[D] Arizona ranked second of all states in its growth rate of population
26.The word "demographers" (Line 1, Paragraph 7) most probably means .
[A] people in favor of the trend of democracy
[B] advocates of migration between states
[C] scientists engaged in the study of population
[D] conservatives clinging to old patterns of lif
Text 5
Scattered around the globe are more than 100 small regions of isolated volcanic activity known to geologists as hot spots. Unlike most of the world's volcanoes, they are not always found at the boundaries of the great drifting plates that make up the earth's surface; on the contrary, many of them lie deep in the interior of a plate. Most of the hot spots move only slowly, and in some cases the movement of the plates past them has left trails of dead volcanoes. The hot spots and their volcanic trails are milestones that mark the passage of the plates.
That the plates are moving is now beyond dispute. Africa and South America, for example, are moving away from each other as new material is injected into the sea floor between them. The complementary coastlines and certain geological features that seem to span the ocean are reminders of where the two continents were once joined. The relative motion of the plates carrying these continents has been constructed in detail, but the motion of one plate with respect to another cannot readily be translated into motion with respect to the earth's interior. It is not possible to determine whether both continents are moving in opposite directions or whether one continent is stationary and the other is drifting away from it. Hot spots, anchored in the deeper layers of the earth, provide the measuring instruments needed to resolve the question. From an analysis of the hot-spot population it appears that the African plate is stationary and that it has not moved during the past 30 million years.
The significance of hot spots is not confined to their role as a frame of reference. It now appears that they also have an important influence on the geophysical processes that propel the plates across the globe. When a continental plate come to rest over a hot spot, the material rising from deeper layers creates a broad dome. As the dome grows, it develops deep fissures (cracks); in at least a few cases the continent may break entirely along some of these fissures, so that the hot spot initiates the formation of a new ocean. Thus just as earlier theories have explained the mobility of the continents, so hot spots may explain their mutability (inconstancy).
翻译：
散布在全球各地的100多个孤立的火山活动小区域被地质学家称为“热点”。与世界上大多数的火山不同，它们并不总是出现在构成地球表面的巨大漂移板块的边界上; 相反，它们中的许多位于板块内部的深处。大多数热点移动缓慢，在某些情况下，板块在经过“热点”移动的时候，会留下死火山的痕迹。热点及其火山轨迹是标志着板块通过的里程碑。
板块正在移动是无可争议的。例如，非洲和南美洲之间的海床被注入了新的物质，因此它们正在彼此远离。互补的海岸线和某些似乎跨越海洋的地质特征提醒人们这两块大陆曾经在哪里相连。承载这些大陆的板块的相对运动已经被详细地构造出来，但是一个板块相对于另一个板块的运动不能很容易地转化为相对于地球内部的运动。不可能确定两块大陆是朝相反的方向移动，还是一块大陆是静止的，而另一块大陆正在远离它。热点位于地球的深层，为解决这一问题提供了必要的测量手段。从对热点人口的分析来看，非洲板块似乎是静止的，在过去3000万年中没有移动过。
热点的重要性并不局限于它们作为参照系的作用。现在看来，它们对推动板块穿越地球的地球物理过程也有重要影响。当大陆板块停留在一个热点上时，从更深层上升的物质形成了一个宽阔的穹顶。随着穹顶的发展，它会形成深深的裂缝(裂缝) ; 至少在少数情况下，大陆可能会沿着其中的一些裂缝完全断裂，从而使热点开始形成一个新的海洋。因此，正如早期的理论已经解释了大陆的流动性，热点也可以解释它们的易变性(不稳定性)。
27.The author believes that .
[A] the motion of the plates corresponds to that of the earth's interior
[B] the geological theory about drifting plates has been proved to be true
[C] the hot spots and the plates move slowly in opposite directions
[D] the movement of hot spots proves the continents are moving apart
28.That Africa and South America were once joined can be deduced from the fact that .
[A] the two continents are still moving in opposite directions
[B] they have been found to share certain geological features
[C] the African plate has been stable for 30 million years
[D] over 100 hot spots are scattered all around the globe
29.The hot spot theory may prove useful in explaining .
[A] the structure of the African plates
[B] the revival of dead volcanoes
[C] the mobility of the continents
[D] the formation of new oceans
30.The passage is mainly about .
[A] the features of volcanic activities
[B] the importance of the theory about drifting plates
[C] the significance of hot spots in geophysical studies
[D] the process of the formation of volcanoes
Part B (translate)
They were, by far, the largest and most distant objects that scientists had ever detected: a strip of enormous cosmic clouds some 15 billion light-years from earth. 31) But even more important, it was the farthest that scientists had been able to look into the past, for what they were seeing were the patterns and structures that existed 15 billion years ago. That was just about the moment that the universe was born. What the researchers found was at once both amazing and expected: the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Cosmic Background Explorer satellite -- Cobe -- had discovered landmark evidence that the universe did in fact begin with the primeval explosion that has become known as the Big Bang (the theory that the universe originated in an explosion from a single mass of energy).
32) The existence of the giant clouds was virtually required for the Big Bang, first put forward in the 1920s, to maintain its reign as the dominant explanation of the cosmos. According to the theory, the universe burst into being as a submicroscopic, unimaginably dense knot of pure energy that flew outward in all directions, emitting radiation as it went, condensing into particles and then into atoms of gas. Over billions of years, the gas was compressed by gravity into galaxies, stars, plants and eventually, even humans.
Cobe is designed to see just the biggest structures, but astronomers would like to see much smaller hot spots as well, the seeds of local objects like clusters and superclusters of galaxies. They shouldn't have long to wait. 33) Astrophysicists working with ground-based detectors at the South Pole and balloon-borne instruments are closing in on such structures, and may report their findings soon.
34) If the small hot spots look as expected, that will be a triumph for yet another scientific idea, a refinement of the Big Bang called the inflationary universe theory. Inflation says that very early on, the universe expanded in size by more than a trillion trillion trillion trillion fold in much less than a second, propelled by a sort of antigravity. 35) Odd though it sounds, cosmic inflation is a scientifically plausible consequence of some respected ideas in elementary particle physics, and many astrophysicists have been convinced for the better part of a decade that it is true.
- 但更重要的是，这是科学家能够回顾过去的最远距离，因为他们看到的是150亿年前存在的模式和结构。
- 20世纪20年代首次提出的宇宙大爆炸理论，实际上需要巨型云的存在才能维持其作为宇宙主导解释的统治地位。
- 在南极利用地面探测器和气球搭载仪器工作的天体物理学家正在接近这种结构，并可能很快报告他们的发现。
- 如果这些小热点看起来像预期的那样，那将是另一个科学理论的胜利，这个理论是对宇宙大爆炸理论的改进，被称为宇宙膨胀理论。
- 虽然这听起来很奇怪，但宇宙膨胀是基本粒子物理学中一些受人尊敬的观点在科学上合理推测的结果，而且许多天体物理学家在过去十年的大部分时间里都相信这是真的。
Section III Writing
A. Study the following cartoon carefully and write an essay in no less than 150 words.
B. Your essay must be written clearly on the ANSWER SHEET 2. (15 points)
C. Your essay should meet the requirements below:
1.Write out the messages conveyed by the cartoon.
2.Give your comments.
As is vividly portrayed in the above drawing, a hen is making promises that her eggs are all round and consist of shells, egg whites and yolks. It indicates that satirize some business phenomena in life. We all know that hen's duty is to lay eggs, but she promises what she should do. It's ridiculous and ridiculous. In our daily life, many people, just like the hen, keep making such promises in which they take duties and responsibilities as virtue to be proud of. There is no denying that it does reflect a prevailing phenomenon in our daily life.
Why is there such a phenomenon? There are a variety of factors which can account for it. First and foremost, one of the most important reasons is that some profit-driven enterprises take advantages of such promises to win people trust. However, their advertisements are merely misleading and cheating. What's more, another major factor is that some of organizations and individuals that have good fame are by all means politicizing their deeds, but actually they just do what they should do.
In my opinion, doing more is better than promising more, since people are willing to be served sincerely. What we should lay more emphasis on is what we do and how we can virtually improve the level of service.
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