阅读入学测试题

Part 1.词汇

1: Groundwater is the word used to describe water that saturates the ground, filling all the
available spaces. By far the most abundant type of groundwater is meteoric water; this is the
groundwater that circulates as part of the water cycle. Ordinary meteoric water is water that
has soaked into the ground from the surface, from precipitation (rain and snow) and from
lakes and streams. There it remains, sometimes for long periods, before emerging at the
surface again. At first thought it seems incredible that there can be enough space in the “solid”
ground underfoot to hold all this water.
 
The word “incredible” in the passage is closest in meaning to
○Confusing
○Comforting
○Unbelievable
○Interesting

2: The hypothesis that begging calls have evolved properties that reduce their potential
for attracting predators yields a prediction: baby birds of species that experience high rates of
nest predation should produce softer begging signals of higher frequency than nestlings of
other species less often victimized by nest predators.

The word “prediction” in the passage is closest in meaning to

○surprise
○discovery
○explanation
○expectation

3: The geologic timescale is marked by significant geologic and biological events,

including the origin of Earth about 4.6 billion years ago, the origin of life about 3.5 billion
years ago, the origin of eukaryotic life-forms (living things that have cells with true nuclei)
about 1.5 billion years ago, and the origin of animals about 0.6 billion years ago. The last event
marks the beginning of the Cambrian period.

The word significant in the passage is closest in meaning to

numerous
important
unexplained
sudden
 4. The periodic table is a chart that reflects the periodic recurrence of chemical and
physical properties of the elements when the elements are arranged in order of increasing
atomic number (the number of protons in the nucleus). It is a monumental scientific
achievement, and its development illustrates the essential interplay between observation,
prediction, and testing required for scientific progress.

The phrase interplay in the passage is closest in meaning to

○sequence
○interpretation
○requirement
○interaction

5 ： This unprecedented development of a finite groundwater resource with an almost

negligible natural recharge rate—that is, virtually no natural water source to replenish the
water supply—has caused water tables in the region to fall drastically.

The word “unprecedented” in the passage is closest in meaning to

○Difficult to control
○Without any restriction
○Unlike anything in the past
○Rapidly expanding

6: It appears that unlike salt, dissolved organic substances are not excluded from the ice
in the freezing process. Analysis shows that the dissolved organic material absorbs enough
blue wavelengths from solar light to make the ice appear green

The word “excluded” in the passage is closest in meaning to

○kept out
○compressed
○damaged
○gathered together

7 ：Architecture is a three-dimensional form. It utilizes space, mass, texture, line, light,

and color. To be architecture, a building must achieve a working harmony with a variety of
elements. Humans instinctively seek structures that will shelter and enhance their way of life.
It is the work of architects to create buildings that are not simply constructions but also offer
inspiration and delight. Buildings contribute to human life when they provide shelter, enrich
space, complement their site, suit the climate, and are economically feasible. The client who
pays for the building and defines its function is an important member of the architectural
team. The mediocre design of many contemporary buildings can be traced to both clients and
architects.
 The word “feasible” in the passage is closet in meaning to
○In existence
○Without question
○Achievable
○Most likely

8: Ecologists are especially interested to know what factors contribute to the resilience of
communities because climax communities all over the world are being severely damaged or
destroyed by human activities. The destruction caused by the volcanic explosion of Mount St.
Helens, in the northwestern United States, for example, pales in comparison to the
destruction caused by humans. We need to know what aspects of a community are most
important to the community’s resistance to destruction, as well as its recovery.

The word “pales” in the passage is closest in meaning to

○Increases proportionally
○Differs
○Loses significance
○Is common

9 ： The subjects of the paintings are mostly animals. The paintings rest on bare walls,
with no backdrops or environmental trappings.

The word “trappings” in the passage is closest in meaning to

○conditions
○problems
○influences
○decorations

10: The technology is in place for a major expansion of wind power worldwide. Wind
power is a virtually unlimited source of energy at favorable sites, and even excluding
environmentally sensitive areas, the global potential of wind power is much higher than the
current world electricity use. In theory, Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, Russia, and the
United Kingdom could use wind to meet all of their energy needs. Wind power experts project
that by the middle of the twenty-first century wind power could supply more than 10 percent
of the world’s electricity and 10-25 percent of the electricity used in the United States.

The word project in the passage is closest in meaning to

○Estimate
○Respond
○Argue
○Plan

11: The explosion is also calculated to have produced vast quantities of nitric acid and
melted rock that sprayed out over much of Earth, starting widespread fires that must have
consumed most terrestrial forests and grassland. Presumably, those environmental disasters
could have been responsible for the mass extinction, including the death of the dinosaurs.

The word “consumed” in the passage is closest in the meaning to

○changed
○exposed
○destroyed
○covered

12. When one considers the many ways by which organisms are completely destroyed
after death, it is remarkable that fossils are as common as they are. Attack by scavengers and
bacteria, chemical decay, and destruction by erosion and other geologic agencies make the
odds against preservation very high. However, the chances of escaping complete destruction
are vastly improved if the organism happens to have a mineralized skeleton and dies in a place
where it can be quickly buried by sediment.

The word "agencies" in the passage is closest in meaning to

○combinations
○problems
○forces
○changes

13: In 1815 he published the first modern geological map “A Map of the Strata of England
and Wales with a Part of Scotland”, map so meticulously researched that it can still be used
today．

The word meticulously in the passage is closest in meaning to

○carefully
○quickly
○frequently
○obviously

14: Much of the world’s great architecture has been constructed of stone because of its
beauty, permanence, and availability. In the past, whole cities grew from the arduous task of
cutting and piling stone upon.

The word “arduous” in the passage is closest in meaning to

○difficult
○necessary
○skilled
○shared

15：Although southern Maya areas received more rainfall than northern areas, problems
of water were paradoxically more severe in the wet south. While that made things hard for
ancient Maya living in the south, it has also made things hard for modern archaeologists who
have difficulty understanding why ancient droughts caused bigger problems in the wet south
than in the dry north.

The word “paradoxically” in the passage is closest in meaning to

○usually
○surprisingly
○understandably
○predictably

Part 2.语法

1. Chatting on the Internet brings me a lot of fun.

_网上聊天给我带来许多乐趣__________________________________________
2. Inexperienced workers earn less money than experienced ones.

_经验不足的工人比有经验的挣钱更少_____________________________________
3. The proportion of empty space in a rock is known as its porosity（孔隙度）.

_在石头中的空洞的空间的比例被称作孔隙度_________________________________
4. I explained the word twice, still he couldn't understand it.

_我解释词义两遍，但他还是不明白。__________________________________
5. Natural selection favors the parasites （ 寄 生 虫 ） that are best able to find and feed on
hosts.

__自然选择对最有能力找到并以寄主为食的寄生虫最有利_________________________
6. Neither did they love fame nor did they strive for personal gains.

_他们既不热爱名誉，也不为个人利益拼搏。_______________________________
7.Hawaii, which consists of eight principal islands, is a favorite vacation spot.

_由八个主要岛屿构成的夏威夷是一个受欢迎的旅游景点。________________________
_
8. When several individuals of the same species or of several different species depend on
the same limited resource, a situation may arise that is referred to as competition.

_当多个属于同物种的个体，或者属于不同种族的个体，依赖于相同的有限的资源，一种情况
就出现了，（这种情况）被称作竞争__________

9.Though it may be possible to measure the value of material good in terms of money, it is
extremely difficult to estimate the true value of the services which people perform for us.
_虽然用钱来衡量物质的价值是可能的，但衡量人民为我们服务的真实价值极难衡量。

10. In order for the structure to achieve the size and strength necessary to meet its purpose,
architecture employs methods of support that, because they are based on physical laws, have
changed little since people first discovered them-even while building materials have changed
dramatically.

为了达到建筑的目的，一定的大小和强度是必须的。尽管建筑材料已经发生了翻天覆地的变化，建筑采用
的各种支撑方法自从人们发现它们以来鲜有改变，因为这些方法都建立在物理定律的基础上。
2. In the green-to yellow lighting conditions of the lowest levels of the forest, yellow and green
would be the brightest colors, but when an animal is signaling, these colors would not be very
visible if the animal was sitting in an area with a yellowish or greenish background.
在森林底层的黄绿光照条件下，黄色和绿色是最明亮的颜色，但是当动物发送信号时，如果处于浅黄或浅
绿的背景下，这些颜色就不容易看到了。

3. In the 1970s when the study of Australian archaeology was in an exciting phase of
development, with the great antiquity of rock art becoming clear, Lesley Maynard, the
archaeologist who coined the phrase ‘Panaramitee style’, suggested that a sequence could be
determined for Australian rock art, in which a geometric style gave way to a simple figurative
style (outlines of figures and animals), followed by a range of complex figurative styles that,
unlike the pan-Australian geometric tradition, tended to be much greater regional diversity.

二十世纪七十年代，澳大利亚考古正处在蓬勃发展阶段，随之古老的岩石艺术画变得日益清晰。考古学家
莱斯利•梅纳德杜撰了新词“Panaramitee 风格”，认为可以为澳大利亚岩石画确定一个顺序，在这个顺
序中一种几何风格让步于简单图画风格（人物和动物的轮廓），之后是一系列的复杂象征风格，这种风格
与泛澳大利亚的几何传统不一样，它们有更大的区域多样性。

Part 3. 逻辑

1: Extinct but already fully marine cetaceans are known from the fossil record. ■How was the
gap between a walking mammal and a swimming whale bridged? ■Missing until recently were
fossils clearly intermediate, or transitional, between land mammals and cetaceans.■Very
exciting discoveries have finally allowed scientists to reconstruct the most likely origins of
cetaceans. ■In 1979, a team looking for fossils in northern Pakistan found what proved to be
the oldest fossil whale.

Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence can be added to
the passage.
This is a question that has puzzled scientists for ages.
Where would the sentence best fit?
2: When burning occurs, it prevents competition among plant species from progressing to the
point where some species exclude others, reducing the overall diversity of the ecosystem. But
in experimental areas protected from fire, a few perennial grass species eventually come to
dominate, outcompeting all others. ■Evidence from other studies suggests that exclusion of
fire results in markedly decreased plant-species richness, often with an increase in tree
density. ■There is generally little doubt that fire is a significant factor in maintaining savanna,
certainly in most regions.

■On certain sites, particularly in South America, savanna formation seems related to
frequent cutting and burning of moist forests for pastureland. ■Increase in pastureland and
subsequent overgrazing have resulted in an expansion of savanna. The thin upper layer of
humus (decayed organic matter) is destroyed by cutting and burning. Humus is necessary for
rapid decomposition of leaves by bacteria and fungi and for recycling by surface roots. Once
the humus layer disappears, nutrients cannot be recycled and leach from the soil, converting
soil from fertile to infertile and making it suitable only for savanna vegetation. Forests on
white, sandy soil are most susceptible to permanent alteration.

Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence can be added to
the passage.
In addition, humans have contributed to the conditions favoring the formation
of savannas.
Where would the sentence best fit?

3. ■Ecologists are especially interested to know what factors contribute to the resilience of
communities because climax communities all over the world are being severely damaged or
destroyed by human activities. ■The destruction caused by the volcanic explosion of Mount
St. Helens, in the northwestern United States, for example, pales in comparison to the
destruction caused by humans. ■We need to know what aspects of a community are most
important to the community’s resistance to destruction, as well as its recovery. ■

Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to
the passage.
In fact, damage to the environment by humans is often much more severe
than damage by natural events and processes.
Where would the sentence best fit?

4. ■Because they are always swimming, tunas simply have to open their mouths and water is
forced in and over their gills. ■Accordingly, they have lost most of the muscles that other
fishes use to suck in water and push it past the gills. ■In fact, tunas must swim to breathe.
■They must also keep swimming to keep from sinking, since most have largely or completely
lost the swim bladder, the gas-filled sac that helps most other fish remain buoyant.

Look at the four squares [■l that indicate where the following sentence can be added to
the passage.
Consequently, tunas do not need to suck in water.
Where would the sentence best fit?

5. However, similar changes occurred when the subjects were asked simply to open their
mouths or to breathe deeply. Yawning did nothing special to their state of physiological
activity. Experiments have also cast serious doubt on the belief that yawning is triggered by a
drop in blood oxygen or a rise in blood carbon dioxide. ■Volunteers were told to think about
yawning while they breathed either normal air, pure oxygen, or an air mixture with an above-
normal level of carbon dioxide. ■If the theory was correct, breathing air with extra carbon
dioxide should have triggered yawning, while breathing pure oxygen should have suppressed
yawning. ■In fact, neither condition made any difference to the frequency of yawning, which
remained constant at about 24 yawns per hour. ■Another experiment demonstrated that
physical exercise, which was sufficiently vigorous to double the rate of breathing, had no effect
on the frequency of yawning Again the implication is that yawning has little or nothing to do
with oxygen.
Look at the four squares [■l that indicate where the following sentence can be added to
the passage.
This, however, was not the case.
Where would the sentence best fit?

6. The reaction of farmers to the inevitable depletion of the Ogallala varies. Many have been
attempting to conserve water by irrigating less frequently or by switching to crops that require
less water. ■ Other, however, have adopted the philosophy that it is best to use the water while
it is still economically profitable to do so and to concentrate on high-value crops such as
cotton. ■ The incentive of the farmers who wish to conserve water is reduced by their
knowledge that many of their neighbors are profiting by using great amounts of water, and in
the process are drawing down the entire region’s water supplies. ■
In the face of the upcoming water supply crisis, a number of grandiose schemes have
been developed to transport vast quantities of water by canal or pipeline from the Mississippi,
the Missouri, or the Arkansas rivers. ■Unfortunately, the cost of water obtained through any
of these schemes would increase pumping costs at least tenfold, making the cost of irrigated
agricultural products from the region uncompetitive on the national and international
markets.

Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to
the passage.
But even if uncooperative farmers were to join in the conservation efforts,
this would only delay the depletion of the aquifer.
Where would the sentence best fit?
 Part 4. List of headings
READING PASSAGE
Questions 1-5
Reading Passage 1 has five marked paragraphs, A-E.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings
i   Avoiding an overcrowded centre
ii   A successful exercise in people power
iii  The benefits of working together in cities
iv   Higher incomes need not mean more cars
v   Economic arguments fail to persuade
vi   The impact of telecommunications on population
distribution
vii  Increases in travelling time
viii Responding to arguments against public transport
　
1   Paragraph A ii
2   Paragraph B vii
3   Paragraph C iv
4   Paragraph D i
5   Paragraph E iii

Advantages of public transport

　　A new study conducted for the World Bank by Murdoch University's Institute for Science
and Technology Policy (ISTP) has demonstrated that public transport is more efficient than
cars. The study compared the proportion of wealth poured into transport by thirty-seven cities
around the world. This included both the public and private costs of building, maintaining
and using a transport system.
　　The study found that the Western Australian city of Perth is a good example of a city with
minimal public transport. As a result, 17% of its wealth went into transport costs. Some
European and Asian cities, on the other hand, spent as little as 5%. Professor Peter Newman,
ISTP Director, pointed out that these more efficient cities were able to put the difference into
attracting industry and jobs or creating a better place to live.
　　According to Professor Newman, the larger Australian city of Melbourne is a rather
unusual city in this sort of comparison. He describes it as two cities: 'A European city
surrounded by a car-dependent one'. Melbourne's large tram network has made car use in the
inner city much lower, but the outer suburbs have the same car-based structure as most other
Australian cities. The explosion in demand for accommodation in the inner suburbs of
Melbourne suggests a recent change in many people's preferences as to where they live.
　　Newman says this is a new, broader way of considering public transport issues. In the
past, the case for public transport has been made on the basis of environmental and social
justice considerations rather than economics. Newman, however, believes the study
demonstrates that 'the auto-dependent city model is inefficient and grossly inadequate in
economic as well as environmental terms'.
　　Bicycle use was not included in the study but Newman noted that the two most 'bicycle
friendly' cities considered - Amsterdam and Copenhagen - were very efficient, even though
their public transport systems were 'reasonable but not special'.
　　It is common for supporters of road networks to reject the models of cities with good
public transport by arguing that such systems would not work in their particular city. One
objection is climate. Some people say their city could not make more use of public transport
because it is either too hot or too cold. Newman rejects this, pointing out that public transport
has been successful in both Toronto and Singapore and, in fact, he has checked the use of cars
against climate and found 'zero correlation'.
　　When it comes to other physical features, road lobbies are on stronger ground. For
example,Newman accepts it would be hard for a city as hilly as Auckland to develop a really
good rail network. However, he points out that both Hong Kong and Zürich have managed to
make a success of their rail systems, heavy and light respectively, though there are few cities
in the world as hilly.
　A  In fact, Newman believes the main reason for adopting one sort of transport over
another is politics: 'The more democratic the process, the more public transport is favored.'
He considers Portland, Oregon, a perfect example of this. Some years ago, federal money was
granted to build a new road. However, local pressure groups forced a referendum over
whether to spend the money on light rail instead. The rail proposal won and the railway
worked spectacularly well. In the years that have followed, more and more rail systems have
been put in, dramatically changing the nature of the city. Newman notes that Portland has
about the same population as Perth and had a similar population density at the time.
　B  In the UK, travel times to work had been stable for at least six centuries, with people
avoiding situations that required them to spend more than half an hour travelling to work.
Trains and cars initially allowed people to live at greater distances without taking longer to
reach their destination. However, public infrastructure did not keep pace with urban sprawl,
causing massive congestion problems which now make commuting times far higher.
　C  There is a widespread belief that increasing wealth encourages people to live farther out
where cars are the only viable transport. The example of European cities refutes that. They are
often wealthier than their American counterparts but have not generated the same level of car
use. In Stockholm, car use has actually fallen in recent years as the city has become larger and
wealthier. A new study makes this point even more starkly. Developing cities in Asia, such as
Jakarta and Bangkok, make more use of the car than wealthy Asian cities such as Tokyo and
Singapore. In cities that developed later, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank
discouraged the building of public transport and people have been forced to rely on cars
-creating the massive traffic jams that characterize those cities.
　D  Newman believes one of the best studies on how cities built for cars might be converted
to rail use is The Urban Village report, which used Melbourne as an example. It found that
pushing everyone into the city centre was not the best approach. Instead, the proposal
advocated the creation of urban villages at hundreds of sites, mostly around railway stations.
　E  It was once assumed that improvements in telecommunications would lead to more
dispersal in the population as people were no longer forced into cities. However, the ISTP
team's research demonstrates that the population and job density of cities rose or remained
constant in the 1980s after decades of decline. The explanation for this seems to be that it is
valuable to place people working in related fields together. 'The new world will largely depend
on human creativity, and creativity flourishes where people come together face-to-face.'