试题库在线考试题库-历年真题模拟试题及答案-考博英语在线试题测试中心-希赛网

四川农业大学

There are two basic ways to see growth: one as a product, the other as a process. People have generally viewed personal growth as an external result or product that can easily be identified and measured. The worker who gets a promotion, the student whose grades improve, the foreigner who learns a new language—all these are examples of people who have measurable results to show for their efforts.By contrast, the process of personal growth is much more difficult to determine, since by definition it is a journey and not the specific signposts or landmarks along the way. The process is not the road itself, but rather the attitudes and feelings people have, their caution or courage, as they encounter new experiences and unexpected obstacles. In this process, the journey never really ends; there are always new ways to experience the world, new ideas to try, new challenges to accept.In order to grow, to travel new roads, people need to have a willingness to take risks, to confront the unknown, and to accept the possibility that they may “fail” at first. How we see ourselves as we try a new way of being is essential to our ability to grow. Do we perceive ourselves as quick and curious? If so, then we tend to take more chances and to be more open to unfamiliar experiences. Do we think we’re shy and indecisive? Then our sense of timidity can cause us to hesitate, to move slowly, and not to take a step until we know the ground is safe. Do we think we’re slow to adapt to change or that we’re not smart enough to cope with a new challenge? Then we are likely to take a more passive role or not try at all.These feelings of insecurity and self-doubt are both unavoidable and necessary if we are to change and grow. If we do not confront and overcome these internal fears and doubts, if we protect ourselves too much, then we cease to grow. We become trapped inside a shell of our own making.1. A person is generally believed to achieve personal growth when _____.2. In the author’s eyes, one who views personal growth as a process would _____.3.When the author says “a new way of being” (Para. 3) he is referring to _____.4. For personal growth, the author advocates all of the following except _____.

There are few more sobering online activities than entering data into college-tuition calculators and gasping as the Web spits back a six-figure sum. But economists say families about to go into debt to fund four years of partying, as well as studying, can console themselves with the knowledge that college is an investment that, unlike many bank stocks, should yield huge dividends.A 2008 study by two Harvard economists notes that the “labor-market premium to skill”—or the amount college graduates earned that’s greater than what high-school graduate earned—decreased for much of the 20th century, but has come back with a vengeance since the 1980s. In 2005, The typical full-time year-round U.S. worker with a four-year college degree earned $50,900, 62% more than the $31,500 earned by a worker with only a high-school diploma.There’s no question that going to college is a smart economic choice. But a look at the strange variations in tuition reveals that the choice about which college to attend doesn’t come down merely to dollars and cents. Does going to Columbia University (tuition, room and board $49,260 in 2007-08) yield a 40% greater return than attending the University of Colorado at Boulder as an out-of-state student ($35,542)? Probably not. Does being an out-of-state student at the University of Colorado at Boulder yield twice the amount of income as being an in-state student ($17,380) there? Not likely.No, in this consumerist age, most buyers aren’t evaluating college as an investment, but rather as a consumer product—like a car or clothes or a house. And with such purchases, price is only one of many crucial factors to consider.As with automobiles, consumers in today’s college marketplace have vast choices, and people search for the one that gives them the most comfort and satisfaction in line with their budgets. This accounts for the willingness of people to pay more for different types of experiences (such as attending a private liberal-arts college or going to an out-of-state public school that has a great marine-biology program). And just as two auto purchasers might spend an equal amount of money on very different cars, college students (or, more accurately, their parents) often show a willingness to pay essentially the same price for vastly different products. So which is it? Is college an investment product like a stock or a consumer product like a car? In keeping with the automotive world’s hottest consumer trend, maybe it’s best to characterize it as a hybrid (混合动力汽车); an expensive consumer product that, over time, will pay rich dividends.1. What’s the opinion of economists about going to college?2. The two Harvard economists note in their study that, for much of the 20th century, _____.3. Students who attend an in-state college or university can _____.4. In this consumerist age, most parents _____.5. What is the chief consideration when students choose a college today?

For hundreds of millions of years, turtles have struggled out of the sea to lay their eggs on sandy beaches, long before there were nature documentaries to celebrate them, or GPS satellites and marine biologists to track them, or volunteers to hand-carry the hatchlings down to the water’s edge lest they become disoriented by headlights and crawl towards a motel parking lot instead. A formidable wall of bureaucracy has been erected to protect their prime nesting on the Atlantic coastlines. With all that attention paid to them, you’d think these creatures would at least have the gratitude not to go extinct.But Nature is indifferent to human notions of fairness, and a report by the Fish and Wildlife Service showed a worrisome drop in the populations of several species of North Atlantic turtles, notably loggerheads, which can grow to as much as 400 pounds. The South Florida nesting population, the largest, has declined by 50% in the last decade, according to Elizabeth Griffin, a marine biologist with the environmental group Oceana. The figures prompted Oceana to petition the government to upgrade the level of protection for the North Atlantic loggerheads from “threatened” to “endangered”—meaning they are in danger of disappearing without additional help.Which raises the obvious question: what else do these turtles want from us, anyway? It turns out, according to Griffin, that while we have done a good job of protecting the turtles for the weeks they spend on land (as egg-laying females, as eggs and as hatchlings), we have neglected the years spend in the ocean. “The threat is from commercial fishing,” says Griffin. Trawlers (which drag large nets through the water and along the ocean floor) and long line fishers (which can deploy thousands of hooks on lines that can stretch for miles) take a heavy toll on turtles. Of course, like every other environmental issue today, this is playing out against the background of global warming and human interference with natural ecosystems. The narrow strips of beach on which the turtles lay their eggs are being squeezed on one side by development and on the other by the threat of rising sea levels as the oceans warm. Ultimately we must get a handle on those issues as well, or a creature that outlived the dinosaurs will meet its end at the hands of humans, leaving our descendants to wonder how creature so ugly could have won so much affection.1. We can learn from the first paragraph that _____.2. What does the author mean by “Nature is indifferent to human notions of fairness” (Line 1, Para. 2)?3. What constitutes a major threat to the survival of turtles according to Elizabeth Griffin?4. How does global warming affect the survival of turtles?5. The last sentence of the passage is meant to _____.

For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition entitled THE VALUE OF SCIENCE. You should write no less than 150 words.

In the month of September, in Britain, you may see large numbers of birds （1） on roofs and telegraph wires. These birds are swallows. They are （2） together because, very soon, they will be flying （3） to much warmer lands, where they will find （4） the small flying insects on which they （5）. There are no such insects （6） in Britain during the winter; it is （7） cold for them.The swallows settle, fly off, swoop, and （8） again. This they do many times, for they are making short （9） flights in order to be fit for the long journey （10） them.（11） of these migrating birds leave Britain in the autumn. They fly （12） for hundreds of miles （13） they reach the warm lands of Africa. But not all the birds get there, for many of them perish in the stormy weather they meet with （14）. In the spring of the following year they （15） the long and tiring journey back to Britain. They return to the identical barn or tree in the （16） district which they had left the （17） autumn. How do these birds find their （18） there and back over such vast distances? Nobody knows exactly （19）, but it has something to do （20） winds and air currents.

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