2013年英语专八阅读真题

2013年英语专八阅读真题

　　In this section there are four reading passages followed by a total of 20 multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then mark the best answer to each question on ANSWER SHEET TWO.

　　TEXT A

　　Three hundred years ago news travelled by word of mouth or letter, and circulated in taverns and coffee houses in the form of pamphlets and newsletters. “The coffee houses particularly are very roomy for a free conversation, and for reading at an easier rate all manner of printed news,” noted one observer. Everything changed in 1833 when the first mass-audience newspaper, the New York Sun, pioneered the use of advertising to reduce the cost of news, thus giving advertisers access to a wider audience. The penny press, followed by radio and television, turned news from a two-way conversation into a one-way broadcast, with a relatively small number of firms controlling the media.

　　Now, the news industry is returning to something closer to the coffee house. The internet is making news more participatory, social and diverse, reviving the discursive characteristics of the era before the mass media. That will have profound effects on society and politics. In much of the world, the mass media are flourishing. Newspaper circulation rose globally by 6% between 2005 and 2009. But those global figures mask a sharp decline in readership in rich countries.

　　Over the past decade, throughout the Western world, people have been giving up newspapers and TV news and keeping up with events in profoundly different ways. Most strikingly, ordinary people are increasingly involved in compiling, sharing, filtering, discussing and distributing news. Twitter lets people anywhere report what they are seeing. Classified documents are published in their thousands online. Mobile-phone footage of Arab uprisings and American tornadoes is posted on social-networking sites and shown on television newscasts. Social-networking sites help people find, discuss and share news with their friends.

　　And it is not just readers who are challenging the media elite. Technology firms including Google, Facebook and Twitter have become important conduits of news. Celebrities and world leaders publish updates directly via social networks; many countries now make raw data available through “open government” initiatives. The internet lets people read newspapers or watch television channels from around the world. The web has allowed new providers of news, from individual bloggers to sites, to rise to prominence in a very short space of time. And it has made possible entirely new approaches to journalism, such as that practiced by WikiLeaks, which provides an anonymous way for whistleblowers to publish documents. The news agenda is no longer controlled by a few press barons and state outlets.

　　In principle, every liberal should celebrate this. A more participatory and social news environment, with a remarkable diversity and range of news sources, is a good thing. The transformation of the news business is unstoppable, and attempts to reverse it are doomed to failure. As producers of new journalism, individuals can be scrupulous with facts and transparent with their sources. As consumers, they can be general in their tastes and demanding in their standards. And although this transformation does raise concerns, there is much to celebrate in the noisy, diverse, vociferous, argumentative and stridently alive environment of the news business in the ages of the internet. The coffee house is back. Enjoy it.

　　11. According to the passage, what initiated the transformation of coffee-house news to mass-media news?

　　A. The emergence of big mass media firms.

　　B. The popularity of radio and television.

　　C. The increasing number of newspaper readers.

　　D. The appearance of advertising in newspapers.

　　12. Which of the following statements best supports “New, the news industry is returning to something closer to the coffee house”?

　　A. Newspaper circulation rose globally by 6% between 2005 and 2009.

　　B. People in the Western world are giving up newspapers and TV news.

　　C. More people are involved in finding, discussing and distributing news.

　　D. Classified documents are published in their thousands online.

　　13. According to the passage, which is NOT a role played by information technology?

　　A. Challenging the traditional media.

　　B. Planning the return to coffee-house news.

　　C. Providing people with access to classified files.

　　D. Giving ordinary people the chance to provide news.

　　14. The author’s tone in the last paragraph towards new journalism is

　　A. doubtful and reserved.

　　B. supportive and skeptical.

　　C. optimistic and cautious.

　　D. ambiguous and cautious.

　　15. In “The coffee house is back”, coffee house best symbolizes

　　A. the participatory nature of news.

　　B. the more varied sources of news.

　　C. the changing characteristics of news audience.

　　D. the more diversified means of news distribution.

　　TEXT B

　　Paris is like pornography. You respond even if you don’t want to. You turn a corner and see a vista, and your imagination bolts away. Suddenly you are thinking about what it would be like to live in Pairs, and then you think about all the lives you have not lived. Sometimes, though, when you are lucky, you only think about how many pleasures the day ahead holds. Then, you feel privileged.

　　The lobby of the hotel is decorated in red and gold. It gives off a whiff of 19th –century decadence. Probably as much as any hotel in pairs, this hotel is sexy. I was standing facing the revolving doors and the driveway beyond. A car with a woman in the back seat --- a woman in a short skirt and black-leather jacket--- pulled up before the hotel door. She swung off and she was wearing high heels. Normally, my mind would have leaped and imagined a story for this woman. Now it didn’t. I stood there and told myself. Cheer up. You’re in Pairs.

　　In many ways, Paris is best visited in winter. The tourist crowds are at a minimum, and one is not being jammed off the narrow sidewalks along the Rue Dauphine. More than this, Pairs is like many other European cities in that the season of blockbuster cultural events tends to begin in mid- to late fall and so, by the time of winter, most of the cultural treasures of the city are laid out to be admired.

　　The other great reason why Pairs in winter is so much better than Pairs in spring and fall is that after the end of the August holidays and the return of chic Parisian women to their city, the restaurant-opening season truly begins hopping. By winter, many of the new restaurants have worked out their kinks (不足;困难) and, once the hype has died down, it is possible to see which restaurants are actually good and which are merely noisy and crowded.

　　Most people are about as happy as they set their mind to being, Lincoln said. In Pairs it doesn’t take much to be happy. Outside the sky was pale and felt very high up. I walked the few blocks to the seine and began running along the blue-green river toward the Eiffel Tower. The tower in the distance was black, and felt strange and beautiful the way that many things built for the joy of building do. As I ran toward it, because of its lattice structure, the tower seemed obviously delicate. Seeing it, I felt s sense of protectiveness.

　　I think it was this moment of protectiveness that marked the change in my mood and my slowly becoming thrilled with being in Paris.

　　During winter evening, Paris’s streetlamps have a halo sand resemble dandelions. In winter, when one leaves the Paris street and enters a café or restaurant, the light and temperature change suddenly and dramatically, there is the sense of having discovered something secret. In winter, because the days are short, there is an urgency to the choices one makes. There is the sense that life is short and so let us decide on what matters.

　　16. According to the passage, once in Paris one might experience all the following feeling EXCEPT

　　A. regret.

　　B. condescension.

　　C. expectation.

　　D. impulse.

　　17. Winter is the best season to visit Paris. Which of the following does NOT support this statement?

　　A. Fashionable Parisian women return to Paris.

　　B. There are more good restaurants to choose from.

　　C. More entertainment activities are staged.

　　D. There are fewer tourists in Paris.

　　18. “Most people are about as happy as they set their mind to being.” This statement menas that most people

　　A. expect to be happy.

　　B. hope to be as happy as others.

　　C. would be happier if they wanted.

　　D. can be happy if they want.

　　19. In the eyes of the author, winter in Paris is significant because of

　　A. its implications for life.

　　B. the atmosphere of its evenings.

　　C. the contrast it brings.

　　D. the discovery one makes.

　　20. At the end of the passage, the author found himself in a mood of

　　A. joyfulness.

　　B. thoughtfulness.

　　C. loneliness.

　　D. excitement.

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