1、第八次拓展考试I. Listening Comprehension (25分) Section A (每题1分，共10分)Directions:In Section A, you will hear ten short conversations between two speakers. At the end of each conversation, a question will be asked about what was said. The conversations and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hea
2、r a conversation and the question about it, read the four possible answers on your paper, and decide which one is the best answer to the question you have heard. 1. A. The library.B. The language lab.C. The chemistry lab.D. The physics lab.2. A. She plans to go to graduate school. B. She will drop o
3、ut of school.C. She will stop working and concentrate on her studies. D. She will take a part-time job.3. A. The woman is meeting the man at the airport.B. They are complaining about the poor airport service.C. They are discussing their plan for Christmas.D. The man is seeing the woman off. 4. A. Th
4、e woman rejected the mans apology. B. The woman appreciated the mans offer.C. The man had forgotten the whole thing. D. The man had hurt the womans feelings.5. A. She is tired of the food in the canteen.B. She often eats in a French restaurant.C. She usually takes a snack in the KFC.D. She is very p
5、articular about what she eats.6. A. He didnt get the book he needed. B. He had no idea where the book was.C. The library is closed on weekends. D. He wasnt allowed to check out the book.7. A. Listening to some loud music. B. Talking loudly on the telephone.C. Preparing for as oral examination. D. Pr
6、acticing for a speech contest.8. A. She has to post a letter instead. B. She has to turn down the mans request.C. Shes not sure if the computer isfixed. D. She cant send the message right now.9. A. Its price.B. Its comfort.C. Its location.D. Its facilities.10. A. She thought there were no tickets le
7、ft for the show.B. She thought the seats on the left side were occupied.C. The show was planned a long time ago.D. The audience were deeply impressed by the show.Section B (每题1.5分，共15分)Directions: In Section B, you will hear two short passages and one longer conversation,and you will be asked severa
8、l questions on each of the passages and the conversation. The passages and the conversation will be read twice, but the questions will be spoken only once. When you hear a question, read the four possible answers on your paper and decide which one would be the best answer to the question you have he
9、ard.Questions 11 through 13 are based on the following passage.11. A. Mathematics.B. The natural world.C. His dreams.D. Some miners.12. A. To see works of art.B. To interview the miners working there.C. To see the rock formations. D. To explore the volcano.13.A. It will be inside a building.B. It wi
10、ll be huge and highly visible. C. It is now a secret. D. People will have to pay to see it. Questions 14 through 16 are based on the following passage.14.A. Family is their identity. B. Family is the main source of social support. C. Children are usually taken care of by their grandparents. D. Famil
11、y members work together for the benefit of the entire family. 15. A. The high birth rate.B. The governments care for the old.C. Longer life expectancy.D. More people coming from abroad.16. A. Some 16.8% of the population is above 65 now. B. The government takes full responsibility for caring for the
12、 old. C. Eight homes for the old were built in the year 2000. D. Egypt is expected to have a population of approximately 100 million in 2050. Questions 17 through 20 are based on the following conversation.17.A. Advice on his best subjects.B. Advice on his university major. C. Advice on his job inte
13、rview. D. Advice on his graduation. 18. A. Maths and Politics. B. Engineering and Physics.C. Politics and Biology. D. Physics and Maths.19. A. He shows little interest in doing academic research.B. He prefers doing manual work. C. Hes already got some useful information from the website. D. Hes inte
14、rested in how things work. 20. A. Introduce some websites to him. B. Arrange for him to have an interview. C. Introduce the manto some engineers. D. Refer him to some professors to talk about that. II. Grammar and vocabulary (每题1分，共20分)Section ADirections:After reading the passage below, fill in the
15、 blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.Owning a Pet Is Good for Your HealthPets in America are incredibly well loved: acc
16、ording to a 2015 Harris poll, 95% of owners think of their animal as a member of the family. About half buy (21)_ birthday presents. And its a two-way street. People who have pets tend to have lower blood pressure, heart rate and heart-disease risk than those who dont. Those health benefits may come
17、 from the extra exercise that playing and walking (22)_ (require), and the stress relief of having a steady best friend on hand.Scientists are now digging up evidence (23)_ animals can also help improve mental health, even for people with challenging disorders. Small (24)_ the studies are, the benef
18、its are impressive enough that clinical settings are opening their doors to animal assisted interventionspet therapy, in other wordsused alongside conventional medicine. “(25)_ (think) of an animal in a hospital used to be one of the great no-nos,” says Alan Beck, director of the Center for the Huma
19、n-Animal Bond at Purdue University, citing the fear of causing infection. “Now, I dont know of any major childrens hospital (26)_ at least some kind of animal program.”The rise of animal therapy (27)_(back) by increasingly serious science showing that social supporta proven antidote to anxiety and l
20、onelinesscan come on four legs, not just two. Animals of many types can help calm stress, fear and anxiety in young children, the elderly and everyone in between.More research is needed (28)_ scientists know exactly why it works and how much animal interaction is needed for the best results. But (29
21、)_ (publish) studies show that paws have a place in medicine and in mental well-being. “The data is strong,” Beck says. “If you look at (30)_ animals do for people and how we interact with them, its not surprising at all.” Section BDirections: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the bo
22、x.Each word canbe used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.A. removed B. guaranteedC. qualityD. ranks AB.threats AC. accessAD. long-term BC. unproductiveBD. effective CD. overlooking ABC. characterizeCoffees Climate CrisisHoward Schultz wants to know if I drink coffee. The Star
23、bucks boss is sitting on a balcony _31_ the companys leafy farm in the Costa Rican province of Alajuela, where Im told the coffeeharvested and roasted on-siteis a must-try. Like more than 60% of Americans, I drink coffee at least once a day. The Costa Rican blend Schultz pours me has a special taste
24、 that mixes citrus and chocolate flavors.But the future of my cup of Costa Rican Arabica is not _32_, Schultz says. After nearly four decades at Starbucks, he is leaving at the end of June, and in the role of executive chairman for almost 15 months, he has been looking past Starbucks day-to-day oper
25、ations to its _33_ challenges and opportunities. Climate change _34_high among them. As temperatures rise and droughts intensify, good coffee will become increasingly difficult to grow and expensive to buy. Since governments are reacting slowly to the problem, companies like Starbucks have stepped i
26、n to save themselves, reaching to the bottom of their supply chains to ensure reliable _35_ to their product. “Make no mistake,” Schultz tells me, “climate change is going to play a bigger role in affecting the _36_ and integrity of coffee.” This farm, with its verdant vistas and a trickling waterfa
27、ll, seems far _37_ from the rising sea levels, unbearable heat and destructive storms that _38_ climate change. But global warming is exactly why Starbucks bought the 600-acre plot in 2013, and why Schultz makes the 3,500-mile trip from Seattle a few times a year as he has done on this March day. Th
28、e farm is Starbucks field laboratory into the _39_ posed to coffee by climate change and its testing facility for how it can adapt to the challenge. Schultz hopes that the research here will inform agricultural practices for millions of farmers across the globe, including the ones that supply the co
29、mpany. “Wehave to be in the soil, growing coffee, to understand firsthand how to fix the situation,” he says.Study after study has laid out the threat climate change poses to the coffee industry. Rising temperatures will bring drought, increase the range of diseases and kill large swaths of the inse
30、ctsthat pollinate coffee plants. About half of the land around the world currently used to produce high-quality coffee could be _40_ by 2050, according to a recent study in the journal ClimaticChange. III. Reading Comprehension (45分)Section A (每题1分，共15分)Directions: For each blank in the following pa
31、ssage there are four words or phrases marked A, B, C and D. Fill in each blank with the word or phrase that best fits the context.Open Offices Can Lead to Closed Minds“Loneliness is a crowded room,” as Bryan Ferry of the band Roxy Music once sang, adding that everyone was “all together, all alone.”
32、The open-plan office might have been designed to make his point. That is not the reason for the layout, of course. The supposed aim of open-plan offices is to ensure that workers will have more _41_ with their colleagues, and that the resulting _42_ will lead to greater productivity. Ethan Bernstein
33、 and Stephen Turban, two Harvard Business School academics, set out to test this proposition. The authors surveyed interactions between colleagues in two unnamed multinational companies which had _43_ open-plan offices. They did so by recruiting workers to wear different devices to detect, record, a
34、nd monitor their interactions, body movement, and their location. At the first company, the authors found that face-to-face interactions were more than three times higher in the old, cubicle(小隔间)-based office than in an open-plan space where employees have clear lines of sight to each other. _44_, t
35、he number of e-mails people sent to each other _45_ by 56% when they switched to open-plan. In the second company, face-to-face interactions decreased by a third after the switch to open-plan, whereas _46_ traffic increased by between 22% and 50%.Why did this shift occur? The authors suggest that em
36、ployees value their _47_ and find new ways to _48_ it in an open-plan office. They shut themselves off by wearing large headphones to keep out the _49_ caused by nearby colleagues. Indeed, those who _50_ open-plan offices seem to have forgotten the importance of being able to concentrate on your wor
37、k._51_ also find other ways of communicating with their fellow workers. Rather than have a chat in front of a large audience, employees simply send an e-mail; the result (as measured at one of the two companies surveyed) was that _52_ declined.Cubicles do not offer a great work environment either; t
38、hey are still noisy and cut off employees from natural light. But at least workers have more of a chance to give their work area a(n) _53_ touch. Allowing plenty of room for pictures of children, office plants, novelty coffee mugsthese are ways of making people feel more relaxed and happy in their j
39、obs.However, an open-plan office is a clear _54_ to low-level office workers that they are seen as disposable cogs in a machine. Combine this with the lack of privacy and the office becomes a(n) _55_ place to work. Workers could stay at home but that negates the intended benefitsof collaboration tha
40、t open-plan offices bring.41. A. roomB. contact C. commitment D. assessment42. A. conflictB. confusion C. cooperation D. congestion 43. A. stuck to B. identified withC. interacted withD. switched to44. A. As a resultB. In a senseC. In addition D. In contrast45. A. increased B. altered C. weakened D.
41、 decreased 46. A. roadB. airC. e-mailD. passenger 47. A. cooperation B. partnershipC. privacy D. enthusiasm 48. A. fuelB. preserve C. exchangeD. overcome 49. A. attention B. discomfort C. distractions D. attraction 50. A. advocate B. equip C. combine D. ignore51. A. Researchers B. EmployeesC. Author
42、s D.Audiences 52. A. communicationB. crowdednessC. concentration D. productivity 53. A. decorative B. finishing C. personal D. enhancing 54. A. messageB. layout C. design D. picture 55. A. productive B. mismatched C. undeniable D. depressing Section B (每题2分，共22分)Directions:Read the following three p
43、assages. Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read. (A)Better Holiday Pics, Without Using a Selfie StickIf yo
44、u find yourself vacationing in Budapest, Hungary, you could preserve travel memories by taking a few arm-length, low-quality cellphone selfies that will likely fail to capture the magic of your visit. Or you could hire someone like Dana J. Ardell, a Budapest-based professional photographer who knows
45、 photo spots youll never find in a guidebook and who can deliver stunning pictures with your whole travel party in the shots.Ardell is a photographer with Flytographer, one of a growing number of online services that help travelers find and hire a photographer to take pictures of them during a vacat
46、ion.“People who believe memories are the best souvenir” are among those who will find value in photo services, says Flytographer founder and CEO Nicole Smith.Still, the cost could run a few hundred dollars, so be smart about whom you hire. Heres what to know about hiring a pro to take pictures on yo
47、ur next vacation or bucket-list trip.Why hire a photographer?Smartphone cameras are decent, but they dont provide the same quality of pictures as a professional camera and lens. Plus, phone cameras arent usually operated by a skilled photographer who knows how to incorporate the best light and properly compose a shot and later edit the images.If you plan to turn a vacation photo into a wall-worthy print, youll want something better than a cell phone snapshot. “Nobodys going to blow up a blurry selfie with seven chins,” Smith says.P
