知点考博：上海交通大学博士生英语水平考试样题（2）

毕老师13657256749 / 2023-04-27

Section Two Multiple Choice Questions (16%)

Directions: In this section, you will read two short passages. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on your ANSWER SHEET with a single line through the centre.

Passage One

Some people in the British Victorian era hated mustaches. They thought an unshaven upper lip was crude and ungentlemanly. For example, a British businessman

left 10 pounds to each of his employees without a mustache. Managers of the Bank of London seemed to be a little more tolerant. They prohibited mustaches only during working hours.

Are you laughing yet? After all, our society doesn’t pay attention to such silly details of how we look. Or does it? Spend 15 minutes watching customers shop at any department store. You’d think they were making decisions that compare with choosing a career!

Consider that importance of athletic shoes. In 1984 Michael Jordan wore a pair of black and red high-tops in a pre-season basketball game because the NBA said he’dbe fined if he wore his “Air Jordans” during a regular-season game. The maker of the shoes could not have planned a better marketing strategy. TV commercials pictured Jordan saying, “On Oct. 15, Nike created a revolutionary new basketball shoe. On Oct. 18, the NBA threw them out of the game. Fortunately, the NBA can’t keep you from wearing them. Air Jordans!” Suddenly the kind of shoes people wore became as important as a declaration of independence.

Since the time you were wearing diapers (尿布), the fashion industry has been studying you very carefully. They know that 80 percent of America’s teenagers talk about the ads they like – a powerful kind of word-of-mouth marketing. Advertisers spend big bucks to learn what’s going on between your ears because teens spend billions of dollars annually on the latest in fads（新奇的时尚） and fashions.

But the lure of fashion could never be a Christian’s problem, right? Wrong. Even Christians are touched by the influence of advertising in TV, radio, magazines, billboards and Web sites. If we aren’t careful, it’s easy to become more worried about how we look than about how we think.

It’s been said that “fashion is the science of appearances, and it inspires one with the desire to seem rather than to be.” This goes along with the apostle（信徒） Paul’s words about “those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart”. Not too long ago, international tennis star Andre Agassi appeared in a TV commercial saying, “Image is everything!” The apostle Paul would not have agreed.

39. The examples in the first paragraph are given in order to . A) introduce that people today care as much about appearance as before

B) entertain readers with odd behaviors of Englishmen in Victorian era C) show how Englishmen in the past cared about their look

D) explain that a mustache was not popular in the past

40. According to the passage, “Air Jordans” is .

A) a pair of black and red high-tops

B) a new brand of Nike basketball shoe

C) a symbol of independence in people

D) a sales pitch used on TV commercials

41. The fashion industry follows teenagers closely because . A) the ads for fashion are their favorite topic

B) teenagers are a large consumer-group of fashions

C) marketing the latest fads needs the opinions of teenagers

D) their thoughts and hobbies are attractive to the fashion industry

42. By “the lure of fashion could never be a Christian’s problem” (Para. 5), the author implies that .

A) Christians never worry about what to wear

B) Christians need to get away from the mass media

C) a real Christian should not desire to follow fashion

D) the influence of fashion ads cannot reach Christians

43. Which of the following is an appropriate title for this article?

A) Power of advertising.

B) Fashion marketing.

C) Being fashion-conscious.

D) Being clothes-minded.

Passage Two

Sapphira and the Slave Girl was the last novel of Willa Cather’s illustrious (著名的) literary career. Begun in the late summer of 1937 and finally completed in 1941, it is often regarded by critics as one of her most personal works. Although the story takes place in 1856, well before her own birth, she drew heavily on both vivid childhood memories and tales handed down by older relatives to describe life in rural northern Virginia in the middle of the 19th century. She even went on an extended journey to the area to give the story a further ring of authenticity.

Of all of Cather’s many novels, Sapphira and the Slave Girl is the one most concerned with providing an overall picture of day-to-day life in a specific era. A number of the novel’s characters,it would seem, are included in the story only because they are representative of the types of people to be found in 19th-century rural Virginia; indeed,a few of them play no part whatsoever in the unfolding of the plot. For instance, we are introduced to a poor white woman, Mandy Ringer, who is portrayed as intelligent and content, despite the fact that she has no formal education and must toil constantly in the fields. And we meet Dr. Clevenger, a country doctor who evokes a strong image of the pre-Civil War South.

The title, however, accurately suggests that the novel is mainly about slavery. Cather’s attitude toward this institution may best be summed up as somewhat ambiguous. On the one hand, she displays almost total indifference to the legal and political aspects of slavery when she misidentifies certain crucial dates in its growth and development. Nor does she ever really offer a direct condemnation of slavery. Yet, on the other hand,the evil that was slavery gets through to us, albeit (虽然） in typically subtle ways. Those characters, like Mrs. Blake, who oppose the institution are portrayed in a sympathetic light. Furthermore, the suffering of the slaves themselves and the petty, nasty, often cruel, behavior of the slave-owners are painted in stark terms.

44. The author refers to Willa Cather’sSapphira and the Slave Girl primarily as a(n)

A) heroic tale of the pre-Civil War

B) story based on personal material

C) authentic description of slavery

D) veiled opposition of the institution

45. According to the author, Mandy Ringer and Dr. Clevenger are included in the book in order to .

A) show that some characters play active roles in the story-telling

B) display Cather’s mixed feelings about slaves and slave-owners

C) paint a full portrait of life in rural Virginia before the Civil War D) stress that characters in the novel are portrayed in a positive light

46. Willa Cather’s attitude toward slavery is concluded as “somewhat ambiguous” in that she .

A) did not denounce slavery directly but criticized it in more roundabout ways

B) was against slavery but refrained from getting involved in the political issues

C) disliked the treatment of slaves yet never tried to help improve their way of life D) was ignorant of the legal and political part of slavery while being opposed to it