Part 2: Banked Cloze

Directions: In this section, there is a passage withten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list ofchoices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage throughcarefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified bya letter. Write the correct LETTER (填写单词的字母序号) foreach blank. You may NOT use any of the words in the bank more than once.

Leonardowas and is best known as an artist, the creator of such masterpieces as MonaLisa, Madonna of the Rocks, and The Last Supper.Yet Leonardo was far more than a great artist: he had one of the bestscientific minds of his time and bridged the gap between the shockinglyunscientific (6) methods and our own (7) modernapproach. His experiments in anatomy and the study of fluids, for example,absolutely blew away the accomplishments of his (8).Beginning with his first stay in Milan, Leonardo became more and more (9) inhis scientific investigations. The range of topics that came under his (10) isamazing: anatomy, zoology, botany, geology, optics, aerodynamics andhydrodynamics among others.

Whilegreatly influenced by the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans, Leonardo,unlike many of his contemporaries, saw the limitations of seeking the truthonly in those writings or the Bible. Instead, he took the startling approach ofactually observing nature and asking (11) simplescientific questions like, “How do birds fly?” To finish the bill, he then (12) recordedtheir solutions in his sketches.

Leonardocertainly had a (13) ability to observe nature andrecord it. And to this he added an unusual, even sinister determination. The firstbiographer of Leonardo da Vinci, Paolo Giovi, wrote in 1520: “in the medical (14) helearned to dissect the cadavers of criminals under inhuman, disgustingconditions ... because he wanted [to examine and] to draw the differentdeflections and reflections of limbs and their dependence upon the (15) andthe joints. This is why he paid attention to the forms of even very smallorgans, capillaries and hidden parts of the skeleton.”

Part 3: Reading Comprehension

Directions: There are two passages in this section.Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For eachof them, there are four choices marked A, B, C, and D. You should decide on thebest choice.

Passage One

Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following passage.

Youmay never have heard the name “Gordon Moore” but you likely know the famoustechnology ‘law’ named for him. Moore predicted 50 years ago that the number oftransistors on a chip would increase exponentially, doubling roughly every twoyears. Known as Moore’s Law, the dictum that tech performance will double everytwo years has made us anxious every time we commit to a new laptop knowing itwill be half as good as what’s on the market before we’ve had a chance to wearout its keyboard.

Moore’sLaw has held up over the last half century as a way to understand techinnovation. He did not come up with his law from within the ivory towers ofacademia. He was in the tech weeds in the early days of Silicon Valley’sgrowth, back when the Valley was named for the hardware it was producing. In1964, the trade journal Electronics pinged Moore to write anarticle for its 35th anniversary issue. Moore had been thinking for some timeabout how the company’s products—integrated circuits, the building blocks ofcomputer chips—would change the world. This was an opportunity to put histheories into words, with the headline, “Cramming More Components ontoIntegrated Circuits.”

Fouryears later, in 1968, Moore ventured off with Bob Noyce to help put his lawinto action, co-founding Intel, a company that became the most successful chipmanufacturer in the world. Fifty years on, many of the things Moore foresawhave come to pass and his writings have become the equivalent of Silicon Valleydogma. There are physicists and academics who have said in recent years thatMoore’s Law is beginning to collapse, and that tech innovation will have toslow down due to materials constraints, but it hasn’t happened yet.

“Thereare all kinds of barriers we’re always thinking are going to prevent us fromtaking the next step, and somehow or other, as we get closer, the engineershave figured out ways around it,” Moore said. “But someday it has to stop. Noexponential like this can go on forever.”

16. Ifa person wants to buy a new computer, what might keep nagging him?

• His     computer might be too robust to wear out in two years.

• His     model may soon lose the original appeal to him.

• His     computer will be technologically outdated in two years’ time.

• His     model may not be compatible with the ever-updating technology.

17. Whatcan be inferred from Moore’s Law?

• It     is a speculation rather than the law of nature or physics.

• It     has been a way to help people understand tech innovation.

• It     predicted that the capacity of a chip would grow quickly.

• It     is beginning to collapse according to some academics and physicists.

18. Whichstatement is FALSE concerning Gordon Moore?

• He     put his Law into practice by co-founding Intel.

• He     came up with this Law while pioneering in the Silicon Valley.

• He     witnessed the collapsing of his Law in recent years.

• Many     of his predictions have materialized in the field of tech innovation.

19. Whichof the following has the closest meaning to “dictum”?

• Context.

• Guidance.

• Truth.

• Statement.

20. What’sMoore’s attitude towards his Law?

• It     might be less accurate, but it remains a force behind tech innovation.

• It     might be inapplicable one day, but the steps of tech innovation will keep     moving.

• It     has already found its worst enemy in material constraints.

• It     will always prove its vitality in engineers’ ingenuity.

Passage Two

Questions 21 to 25 are based on the following passage.

Rethinkingthe death penalty has become a trend – in sharp contrast with the last twodecades, when capital punishment became ever more prevalent and politicallypopular in the United States. The new thinking accelerated a year ago whenIllinois Governor George Ryan halted executions in his state until safeguardswere in place to prevent a recurring problem of innocent people from beinggiven death sentences.

Themisconvictions sprang from a number of sources, including police and prosecutormisuse of evidence and, most notably, mournfully inadequate defenses duringtrials. The Illinois Supreme Court, following two years of study, has putforward new rules for capital cases. Defense lawyers will be required to havesubstantial trial experience, including familiarity with murder cases.Prosecutors are warned to seek justice, not just convictions. They’ll berequired to share evidence that tends to acquit (判…无罪) theaccused.

Thestate high court isn’t the only Illinois institution probing death-penaltyprocedures. The legislature has created a fund to boost resources for bothdefense lawyers and prosecutors in capital cases. Before the year is out, acommission appointed by the governor will issue findings and recommendations,including, perhaps, abolition of the death penalty.

Thesteps taken in Illinois will be carefully examined by other states, seven ofwhich are actively debating whether to halt executions. Eight other states havecommissions studying death-penalty issues. A bill, before Congress, would imposea suspension on federal executions until a proposed national commission couldreport on the death penalty.

Thebest reform would be to end the death penalty. It coarsens society, wipes outthe possibility of moral change within individuals, and doesn’t completelyallow for the possibility of error in the trial process.

21. Wecan conclude from the passage that capital punishment __________.

• was     suspended in some states 20 years ago

• caused     a great many innocent people to lose their lives

• came     into effect at a wide range in the U.S. 20 years ago

• became     a popular political issue 20 years ago

22. GovernorGeorge Ryan of Illinois has suspended executions for the simple reason that______.

• there     are no safeguards to prevent innocent people being sentenced to death

• the     police and the prosecutors have often misused evidence

• the     prosecutors failed to produce adequate evidence against the accused

• the     police have never shared evidence with the defense lawyers

23. Allof the following are flaws in death penalty EXCEPT ________.

• it     makes society crude

• it     sends innocent people to prison

• it     eliminates the chance for individuals to mend their ways

• it     leaves no room for error in the trial process

24. Itcan be learned from the passage that _____________.

• many     states have abolished the death penalty

• the     federal Supreme Court has called for an end to capital punishment

• Congress     has rejected reconsidering penalty issues

• renewed     effort has been made by many states to reconsider death-penalty procedures

25. Accordingto the passage, the author’s attitude towards the death penalty is ___________.

• disapproving

• subjective

• favorable

• positive