学位英语真题题库

1. Passage One There are three separate sources of danger in supplying energy by nuclear power. First， the radioactive material must travel from its place of production to the power station. Although the power stations themselves are strongly built， the containers used for the transport of the materials are not. Normally， only two methods of transport are in use， namely road or rail. Unfortunately， both of these may have an effect on the general public， since they are sure to pass near， or even through， heavily populated areas. Second， there is the problem of waste. All nuclear power stations produce wastes that in most cases will remain radioactive for thousands of years. It is impossible to make these wastes nonradioactive， so they must be stored in one of the inconvenient ways that scientists have invented. For example， they may be buried under the ground， or dropped into deserted mines， or sunk in the sea. However， these methods do not solve the problem， since an earthquake could easily break the containers.
Third， there may occur the danger of a leak or an explosion at the power station. Compared with the other two dangers， this is not very likely， so it does not provide a serious objection to the nuclear program. However， it can happen. Separately， these three types of dangers are not a great cause for worry. Taken together， though， the probability of disaster is extremely high. Which of the following is FALSE?

2. Passage One There are three separate sources of danger in supplying energy by nuclear power. First， the radioactive material must travel from its place of production to the power station. Although the power stations themselves are strongly built， the containers used for the transport of the materials are not. Normally， only two methods of transport are in use， namely road or rail. Unfortunately， both of these may have an effect on the general public， since they are sure to pass near， or even through， heavily populated areas. Second， there is the problem of waste. All nuclear power stations produce wastes that in most cases will remain radioactive for thousands of years. It is impossible to make these wastes nonradioactive， so they must be stored in one of the inconvenient ways that scientists have invented. For example， they may be buried under the ground， or dropped into deserted mines， or sunk in the sea. However， these methods do not solve the problem， since an earthquake could easily break the containers.
Third， there may occur the danger of a leak or an explosion at the power station. Compared with the other two dangers， this is not very likely， so it does not provide a serious objection to the nuclear program. However， it can happen. Separately， these three types of dangers are not a great cause for worry. Taken together， though， the probability of disaster is extremely high. The author thinks that the ways to store nuclear wastes are ( ) .

3. Passage One There are three separate sources of danger in supplying energy by nuclear power. First， the radioactive material must travel from its place of production to the power station. Although the power stations themselves are strongly built， the containers used for the transport of the materials are not. Normally， only two methods of transport are in use， namely road or rail. Unfortunately， both of these may have an effect on the general public， since they are sure to pass near， or even through， heavily populated areas. Second， there is the problem of waste. All nuclear power stations produce wastes that in most cases will remain radioactive for thousands of years. It is impossible to make these wastes nonradioactive， so they must be stored in one of the inconvenient ways that scientists have invented. For example， they may be buried under the ground， or dropped into deserted mines， or sunk in the sea. However， these methods do not solve the problem， since an earthquake could easily break the containers.
Third， there may occur the danger of a leak or an explosion at the power station. Compared with the other two dangers， this is not very likely， so it does not provide a serious objection to the nuclear program. However， it can happen. Separately， these three types of dangers are not a great cause for worry. Taken together， though， the probability of disaster is extremely high. What do we learn from the last paragraph?

4. Passage One There are three separate sources of danger in supplying energy by nuclear power. First， the radioactive material must travel from its place of production to the power station. Although the power stations themselves are strongly built， the containers used for the transport of the materials are not. Normally， only two methods of transport are in use， namely road or rail. Unfortunately， both of these may have an effect on the general public， since they are sure to pass near， or even through， heavily populated areas. Second， there is the problem of waste. All nuclear power stations produce wastes that in most cases will remain radioactive for thousands of years. It is impossible to make these wastes nonradioactive， so they must be stored in one of the inconvenient ways that scientists have invented. For example， they may be buried under the ground， or dropped into deserted mines， or sunk in the sea. However， these methods do not solve the problem， since an earthquake could easily break the containers.
Third， there may occur the danger of a leak or an explosion at the power station. Compared with the other two dangers， this is not very likely， so it does not provide a serious objection to the nuclear program. However， it can happen. Separately， these three types of dangers are not a great cause for worry. Taken together， though， the probability of disaster is extremely high. What is this passage about?

5. Passage One There are three separate sources of danger in supplying energy by nuclear power. First， the radioactive material must travel from its place of production to the power station. Although the power stations themselves are strongly built， the containers used for the transport of the materials are not. Normally， only two methods of transport are in use， namely road or rail. Unfortunately， both of these may have an effect on the general public， since they are sure to pass near， or even through， heavily populated areas. Second， there is the problem of waste. All nuclear power stations produce wastes that in most cases will remain radioactive for thousands of years. It is impossible to make these wastes nonradioactive， so they must be stored in one of the inconvenient ways that scientists have invented. For example， they may be buried under the ground， or dropped into deserted mines， or sunk in the sea. However， these methods do not solve the problem， since an earthquake could easily break the containers.
Third， there may occur the danger of a leak or an explosion at the power station. Compared with the other two dangers， this is not very likely， so it does not provide a serious objection to the nuclear program. However， it can happen. Separately， these three types of dangers are not a great cause for worry. Taken together， though， the probability of disaster is extremely high. Which of the following is TRUE?

1. Passage Two When older people can no longer remember names at a cocktail party， they tend to think that their brainpower is declining. But a growing number of studies suggest that this assumption is often wrong. Instead，the research finds， the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to examine carefully a lot of information， often to its long-term benefit. Some brains do deteriorate with age. But for most aging adults， researchers say， much of what occurs is a gradually widening focus of attention that makes it more difficult to get hold of just one fact. Although that can be frustrating， it is often useful. “It may be that distractibility is not， in fact， a bad thing，” said Shelley H. Carson， a psychology researcher at Harvard. “It may increase the amount of information available to the conscious mind. ” For example， in studies where subjects are asked to read passages that are interrupted with unexpected words or phrases， adults 60 and older work much more slowly than college students. Although the students plow through the texts at a consistent speed regardless of what the out-of-place words mean， older people slow down even more when the words are related to the topic at hand. That indicates that they are not just stumbling (结结巴巴地念) over the extra information， but are taking it in and processing it. When both groups were later asked questions for which the out-of-place words might be answers， the older adults responded much better than the students. “For the young people， it’s as if the distraction never happened，” said a researcher of the review， Lynn Hasher， a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. “But for older adults， because they’ve retained all this extra data， they’re now suddenly the better problem solvers. They can transfer the information they’ve soaked up from one situation to another.” Such tendencies can yield big advantages in the real world， where it is not always clear what information is important， or will become important. For instance， a seemingly irrelevant point or suggestion in a memo can take on new meaning if the original plan changes. According to the first paragraph， it can be inferred that ( ) .

2. Passage Two When older people can no longer remember names at a cocktail party， they tend to think that their brainpower is declining. But a growing number of studies suggest that this assumption is often wrong. Instead，the research finds， the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to examine carefully a lot of information， often to its long-term benefit. Some brains do deteriorate with age. But for most aging adults， researchers say， much of what occurs is a gradually widening focus of attention that makes it more difficult to get hold of just one fact. Although that can be frustrating， it is often useful. “It may be that distractibility is not， in fact， a bad thing，” said Shelley H. Carson， a psychology researcher at Harvard. “It may increase the amount of information available to the conscious mind. ” For example， in studies where subjects are asked to read passages that are interrupted with unexpected words or phrases， adults 60 and older work much more slowly than college students. Although the students plow through the texts at a consistent speed regardless of what the out-of-place words mean， older people slow down even more when the words are related to the topic at hand. That indicates that they are not just stumbling (结结巴巴地念) over the extra information， but are taking it in and processing it. When both groups were later asked questions for which the out-of-place words might be answers， the older adults responded much better than the students. “For the young people， it’s as if the distraction never happened，” said a researcher of the review， Lynn Hasher， a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. “But for older adults， because they’ve retained all this extra data， they’re now suddenly the better problem solvers. They can transfer the information they’ve soaked up from one situation to another.” Such tendencies can yield big advantages in the real world， where it is not always clear what information is important， or will become important. For instance， a seemingly irrelevant point or suggestion in a memo can take on new meaning if the original plan changes. What does Shelley H. Carson mean by saying “. .. distractibility is not， in fact， a bad thing”【Line 1， Para. 3】?

3. Passage Two When older people can no longer remember names at a cocktail party， they tend to think that their brainpower is declining. But a growing number of studies suggest that this assumption is often wrong. Instead，the research finds， the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to examine carefully a lot of information， often to its long-term benefit. Some brains do deteriorate with age. But for most aging adults， researchers say， much of what occurs is a gradually widening focus of attention that makes it more difficult to get hold of just one fact. Although that can be frustrating， it is often useful. “It may be that distractibility is not， in fact， a bad thing，” said Shelley H. Carson， a psychology researcher at Harvard. “It may increase the amount of information available to the conscious mind. ” For example， in studies where subjects are asked to read passages that are interrupted with unexpected words or phrases， adults 60 and older work much more slowly than college students. Although the students plow through the texts at a consistent speed regardless of what the out-of-place words mean， older people slow down even more when the words are related to the topic at hand. That indicates that they are not just stumbling (结结巴巴地念) over the extra information， but are taking it in and processing it. When both groups were later asked questions for which the out-of-place words might be answers， the older adults responded much better than the students. “For the young people， it’s as if the distraction never happened，” said a researcher of the review， Lynn Hasher， a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. “But for older adults， because they’ve retained all this extra data， they’re now suddenly the better problem solvers. They can transfer the information they’ve soaked up from one situation to another.” Such tendencies can yield big advantages in the real world， where it is not always clear what information is important， or will become important. For instance， a seemingly irrelevant point or suggestion in a memo can take on new meaning if the original plan changes. What do we learn about the older people and college students in the experiment?

4. Passage Two When older people can no longer remember names at a cocktail party， they tend to think that their brainpower is declining. But a growing number of studies suggest that this assumption is often wrong. Instead，the research finds， the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to examine carefully a lot of information， often to its long-term benefit. Some brains do deteriorate with age. But for most aging adults， researchers say， much of what occurs is a gradually widening focus of attention that makes it more difficult to get hold of just one fact. Although that can be frustrating， it is often useful. “It may be that distractibility is not， in fact， a bad thing，” said Shelley H. Carson， a psychology researcher at Harvard. “It may increase the amount of information available to the conscious mind. ” For example， in studies where subjects are asked to read passages that are interrupted with unexpected words or phrases， adults 60 and older work much more slowly than college students. Although the students plow through the texts at a consistent speed regardless of what the out-of-place words mean， older people slow down even more when the words are related to the topic at hand. That indicates that they are not just stumbling (结结巴巴地念) over the extra information， but are taking it in and processing it. When both groups were later asked questions for which the out-of-place words might be answers， the older adults responded much better than the students. “For the young people， it’s as if the distraction never happened，” said a researcher of the review， Lynn Hasher， a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. “But for older adults， because they’ve retained all this extra data， they’re now suddenly the better problem solvers. They can transfer the information they’ve soaked up from one situation to another.” Such tendencies can yield big advantages in the real world， where it is not always clear what information is important， or will become important. For instance， a seemingly irrelevant point or suggestion in a memo can take on new meaning if the original plan changes. Why could older people give better replies than college students in the experiment?

5. Passage Two When older people can no longer remember names at a cocktail party， they tend to think that their brainpower is declining. But a growing number of studies suggest that this assumption is often wrong. Instead，the research finds， the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to examine carefully a lot of information， often to its long-term benefit. Some brains do deteriorate with age. But for most aging adults， researchers say， much of what occurs is a gradually widening focus of attention that makes it more difficult to get hold of just one fact. Although that can be frustrating， it is often useful. “It may be that distractibility is not， in fact， a bad thing，” said Shelley H. Carson， a psychology researcher at Harvard. “It may increase the amount of information available to the conscious mind. ” For example， in studies where subjects are asked to read passages that are interrupted with unexpected words or phrases， adults 60 and older work much more slowly than college students. Although the students plow through the texts at a consistent speed regardless of what the out-of-place words mean， older people slow down even more when the words are related to the topic at hand. That indicates that they are not just stumbling (结结巴巴地念) over the extra information， but are taking it in and processing it. When both groups were later asked questions for which the out-of-place words might be answers， the older adults responded much better than the students. “For the young people， it’s as if the distraction never happened，” said a researcher of the review， Lynn Hasher， a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. “But for older adults， because they’ve retained all this extra data， they’re now suddenly the better problem solvers. They can transfer the information they’ve soaked up from one situation to another.” Such tendencies can yield big advantages in the real world， where it is not always clear what information is important， or will become important. For instance， a seemingly irrelevant point or suggestion in a memo can take on new meaning if the original plan changes. It can be inferred from the last passage that( ) .