2003年英语专业八级考试真题（附听力mp3及答案）

　　Text B

　　I was just a boy when my father brought me toHarlem for the first time, almost 50 years ago. Westayed at the Hotel Theresa, a grand brick structureat 125th Street and Seventh Avenus. Once, in thehotel restaurant, my father pointed out Joe Louis. Heeven got Mr. Brown, the hotel manager, to introduceme to him, a bit paunchy but still the champ as far asI was concerned.

　　Much has changed since then. Business and realestate are booming. Some say a new renaissance is under way. Others decry what they seeas outside forces running roughshod over the old Harlem.

　　New York meant Harlem to me, and as a young man I visited it whenever I could. But many ofmy old haunts are gone. The Theresa shut down in 1966. National chains that once ignoredHarlem now anticipate yuppie money and want pieces of this prime Manhattan real estate. Sohere I am on a hot August afternoon, sitting in a Starbucks that two years ago opened a blockaway from the Theresa, snatching at memories between sips of high-priced coffee. I am aboutto open up a piece of the old Harlem-the New York Amsterdam News-when a tourist askingdirections to Sylvia's, a prominent Harlem restaurant, penetrates my daydreaming. He'scarrying a book: Touring Historic Harlem.

　　History. I miss Mr. Michaux's bookstore, his House of Common Sense, which was across fromthe Theresa. He had a big billboard out front with brown and black faces painted on it that saidin large letters:"World History Book Outlet on 2 000 000 000 Africans and NonwhitePeoples."An ugly state office building has swallowed that space.

　　I miss speaker like Carlos Cooks, who was always on the southwest corner of 125th andSeventh, urging listeners to support Africa. Harlem's powerful political electricity seemsunplugged-although the streets are still energized, especially by West African immigrants.

　　Hardworking southern newcomers formed the bulk of the community back in the 1920s and'30s, when Harlem renaissance artists, writers, and intellectuals gave it a glitter and renownthat made it the capital of black America. From Harlem, W. E. B. Dubois, Langston Hughes, PaulRobeson, Zora Hurston, and others helped power America's cultural influence around the world.

　　By the 1970s and '80s drugs and crime had ravaged parts of the community. And the lifeexpectancy for men in Harlem was less than that of men in Bangladesh. Harlem had become asymbol of the dangers of inner-city life.

　　Now, you want to shout "Lookin' good!"at this place that has been neglected for so long.Crowds push into Harlem USA, a new shopping centre on 125th, where a Disney store sharesspace with HMV Records, the New York Sports Club, and a nine-screen Magic Johnson theatrecomplex. Nearb, a Rite Aid drugstore also opened. Maybe part of the reason Harlem seems tobe undergoing a rebirth is that it is finally getting what most people take for granted.

　　Harlem is also part of an "empowerment zone"-a federal designation aimed at fosteringeconomic growth that will bring over half a billion in federal, state, and local dollars. Just theshells of once elegant old brownstones now can cost several hundred thousand dollars. Rentsare skyrocketing. An improved economy, tougher law enforcement, and community effortsagainst drugs have contributed to a 60 percent drop in crime since 1993.

　　19. At the beginning the author seems to indicate that Harlem ____.

　　A. has remained unchanged all these years

　　B. has undergone drastic changes

　　C. has become the capital of Black America

　　D. has remained a symbol of dangers of inner-city life

　　20. When the author recalls Harlem in the old days, he has a feeling of ____.

　　A. indifference B. discomfort C. delight D. nostalgia

　　21. Harlem was called the capital of Black America in the 1920s and '30s mainly because of its____.

　　A. art and culture B. immigrant population C. political enthusiasm D. distinctive architecture

　　22. From the passage we can infer that, generally speaking, the author ____.

　　A. has strong reservations about the changes

　　B. has slight reservations about the changes

　　C. welcomes the changes in Harlem

　　D. is completely opposed to the changes

　　TEXT C

　　The senior partner, Oliver Lambert, studied the resume for the hundredth time and againfound nothing he disliked about Mitchell Y. McDeere, at least not on paper. He had the brains,the ambition, the good looks. And he was hungry; with his background, he had to be. He wasmarried, and that was mandatory. The firm had never hired an unmarried lawyer, and itfrowned heavily on divorce, as well as womanizing and drinking. Drug testing was in thecontract. He had a degree in accounting, passed the CPA exam the first time he took it andwanted to be a tax lawyer, which of course was a requirement with a tax firm. He was white,and the firm had never hired a black. They managed this by being secretive and clubbish andnever soliciting job applications. Other firms solicited, and hired blacks. This firm recruited, andremained lily white. Plus, the firm was in Memphis, and the top blacks wanted New York orWashington or Chicago. McDeere was a male, and there were no women in the firm. Thatmistake had been made in the mid-seventies when they recruited the number one grad fromHarvard, who happened to be a she and a wizard at taxation. She lasted four turbulent yearsand was killed in a car wreck.

　　He looked good, on paper. He was their top choice. In fact, for this year there were no otherprospects. The list was very short. It was McDeere, or no one.

　　The managing partner, Royce McKnight, studied a dossier labeled "Mitchell Y. McDeere-Harvard."An inch thick with small print and a few photographs; it had been prepared by someexCIA agents in a private intelligence outfit in Bethesda. They were clients of the firm and eachyear did the investigating for no fee. It was easy work, they said, checking out unsuspecting lawstudents. They learned, for instance, that he preferred to leave the Northeast, that he washolding three job offers, two in New York and one in Chicago, and that the highest offer was $ 76 000 and the lowest was $ 68 000. He was in demand. He had been given the opportunityto cheat on a securities exam during his second year. He declined, and made the highestgrade in the class. Two months ago he had been offered cocaine at a law school party. He saidno and left when everyone began snorting. He drank an occasional beer, but drinking wasexpensive and he had no money. He owed close to $ 23 000 in student loans. He was hungry.

　　Royce McKnight flipped through the dossier and smiled. McDeere was their man.

　　Lamar Quin was thirty-two and not yet a partner. He had been brought along to look youngand act young and project a youthful image for Bendini, Lambert & Locke, which in factwas a young firm, since most of the partners retired in their late forties or early fifties withmoney to burn. He would make partner in this firm. With a six-figure income guaranteed forthe rest of his life, Lamar could enjoy the twelve-hundred-dollar tailored suits that hung socomfortably from his tall, athletic frame. He strolled nonchalantly across the thousand?dollar?a?day suite and poured another cup of decaf. He checked his watch. He glanced at the twopartners sitting at the small conference table near the windows.

　　Precisely at two-thirty someone knocked on the door. Lamar looked at the partners, who slidthe resume and dossier into an open briefcase. All three reached for their jackets. Lamarbuttoned his top button and opened the door.

　　23. Which of the following is NOT the firm's recruitment requirement?

　　A. Marriage. B. Background. C. Relevant degree. D. Male.

　　24. The details of the private investigation show that the firm ____.

　　A. was interested in his family background

　　B. intended to check out his other job offers

　　C. wanted to know something about his preference

　　D. was interested in any personal detail of the man

　　25. According to the passage, the main reason Lama Quin was there at the interview was that____.

　　A. his image could help impress McDeere

　　B. he would soon become a partner himself

　　C. he was good at interviewing applicants

　　D. his background was similar to McDeere's

　　26. We get the impression from the passage that in job recruitment the firm was NOT ____.

　　A. selective B. secretive C. perfunctory D. racially biased

　　TEXT D

　　Harry Truman didn't think his successor had the right training to be president. "Poor Ike-itwon't be a bit like the Army,"he said. "He'll sit there all day saying 'do this, do that,'and nothingwill happen."Truman was wrong about Ike. Dwight Eisenhower had led a fractious alliance-youdidn't tell Winston Churchill what to do-in a massive, chaotic war. He was used to politics. ButTruman's insight could well be applied to another, even more venerated Washington figure:the CEO-turned cabinet secretary.

　　A 20-year bull market has convinced us all that CEOs are geniuses, so watch withastonishment the troubles of Donald Rumsfeld and Paul O' Neill. Here are two highly regardedbusinessmen, obviously intelligent and well-informed, foundering in their jobs.

　　Actually, we shouldn't be surprised. Rumsfeld and O' Neill are not doing badly despite havingbeen successful CEOs but because of it. The record of senior businessmen in government isone of almost unrelieved disappointment. In fact, with the exception of Robert Rubin, it isdifficult to think of a CEO who had a successful career in government.

　　Why is this? Well, first the CEO has to recognize that he is no longer the CEO. He is at best anadviser to the CEO, the president. But even the president is not really the CEO. No one is.Power in a corporation is concentrated and vertically structured. Power in Washington isdiffuse and horizontally spread out. The secretary might think he's in charge of his agency.But the chairman of the congressional committee funding that agency feels the same. In hisfamous study "Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents,"Richard Neustadt explains howlittle power the president actually has and concludes that the only lasting presidential power is"the power to persuade."

　　Take Rumseld's attempt to transform the cold-war military into one geared for the future. It'sinnovative but deeply threatening to almost everyone in Washington. The Defense secretarydid not try to sell it to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Congress, the budget office of the WhiteHouse. As a result, the idea is collapsing.

　　Second, what power you have, you must use carefully. For example, O' Neill's position asTreasury secretary is one with little formal authority. Unlike Finance ministers around the world,Treasury does not control the budget. But it has symbolic power. The secretary is seen asthe chief economic spokesman for the administration and, if he plays it right, the chiefeconomic adviser for the president.

　　O' Neill has been publicly critical of the IMF's bailout packages for developing countries while atthe same time approving such packages for Turkey, Argentina and Brazil. As a result, he hasgotten the worst of both worlds. The bailouts continue, but their effect in holstering investorconfidence is limited because the markets are rattled by his skepticism.

　　Perhaps the government doesn't do bailouts well. But that leads to a third rule: you can't justquit. Jack Welch's famous law for re-engineering General Electric was to be first or second inany given product category, or else get out of that business. But if the government isn't doinga particular job at peak level, it doesn't always have the option of relieving itself of thatfunction. The Pentagon probably wastes a lot of money. But it can't get out of the national-security business.

　　The key to former Treasury secretary Rubin's success may have been that he fully understoodthat business and government are, in his words, "necessarily and properly very different."In arecent speech he explained, "Business functions around one predominate organizingprinciple, profitability ... Government, on the other hand, deals with a vast number of equallylegitimate and often potentially competing objectives-for example, energy production versusenvironmental protection, or safety regulations versus productivity."

　　Rubin's example shows that talented people can do well in government if they are willing totreat it as its own separate, serious endeavour. But having been bathed in a culture ofadoration and flattery, it's difficult for a CEO to believe he needs to listen and learn, particularlyfrom those despised and poorly paid specimens, politicians, bureaucrats and the media. Andeven if he knows it intellectually, he just can't live with it.

　　27. For a CEO to be successful in government, he has to ____.

　　A. regard the president as the CEO

　　B. take absolute control of his department

　　C. exercise more power than the congressional committee

　　D. become acquainted with its power structure

　　28. In commenting on O' Neill's record as Treasury Secretary, the passage seems to indicatethat ____.

　　A.O' Neill has failed to use his power well

　　B.O' Neill policies were well received

　　C.O' Neill has been consistent in his policies

　　D.O' Neill uncertain about the package he's approved

　　29. According to the passage, the differences between government and business lie in thefollowing areas EXCEPT ____.

　　A. nature of activity

　　B. option of withdrawal

　　C. legitimacy of activity

　　D. power distribution

　　30. The author seems to suggest that CEO-turned government officials ____.

　　A. are able to fit into their new roles

　　B. are unlikely to adapt to their new roles

　　C. can respond to new situations intelligently

　　D. may feel uncertain in their new posts

　　SECTION B SKIMMING AND SCANNING (10 min)

　　In this section there are seven passages with ten multiple-choice questions. Skim or scan themas required and then mark your answers on COLORED ANSWER SHEET.

　　TEXT E

　　First read the question.

　　31. The passage is mainly concerned with ____ in the U.S.A.

　　A. traveling B. big cities C. cybercafes D .inventions

　　Now go through TEXT E quickly to answer question 31.

　　Planning to answer your e-mail while on holiday in New York? That may not be easy. TheInternet may have been invented in the United States, but America is one of the least likelyplaces where a traveller might find an Internet cafe. "Every major city in the world has morecybercafes than New York,"says Joie Kelly, who runs CyberCafeGuide.com. The numbers seemto bear her out: according to various directories, London has more than 30, Paris 19, Istanbul17, but New York has only 8. Other U.S. cities fare just as poorly: Los Angeles has about 11,Chicago has 4. "Here it's quite hard work to find a cafe. I was surprised,"says Michael Robson, asportswriter from York, England, who was visibly relieved to be checking his e-mail atCyberCafe near New York's Times Square.

　　Why the lack of places to plug in? Americans enjoy one of the highest rates of Internet accessfrom work and home in the world, and they've never really taken to cafes. About 80 percent ofCyberCafe's clients, for instance, are tourists from overseas. Greek tycoon Stelios HajiIoannoualso thinks high prices drive away locals. Last November he oppened a branch of his Internet-cafe chain easyEverything in Times Square. With 800 terminals, it's the largest Net cafe in theworld. While the typical American cafe charges $ 8 to $ 12 an hour, easyEverything charges $ 1to 4. Marketing manager Stephaine Engelsen says half the cafe's customers are locals. "We getpolicemen, firemen, nurses who don't work at desks with computers, actors between auditions. "easyEverything is now planning to open new locations in Harlem, and possibly SoHo. Unlessthere's some cultural shift afoot, however, New York will continue to lag behind metropolisesfrom Mexico City to Moscow.

　　TEXT F

　　First read the question.

　　32. In the passage below the author primarily attempts to ____.

　　A. criticize yogis in the West

　　B. define what yoag is

　　C. teach yoga postures

　　D. experiment with yoga

　　Now go through TEXT F quickly to answer question 32.

　　Most of the so-called yogis in the West seem to focus on figure correction, not trueawareness. They make statements about yoga being for the body, mind and soul. But this isjust semantics. Asanas (postures), which get such huge play in the West, are the smallestaspect of yoga. Either you practice yoga as a whole or you don't. If one is practicing just forhealth, better to take up walking. Need to cure a disease? See a doctor. Yoga is not about fancyasanas or breath control. Nor is it a therapy or a philosophy. Yoga is about insideawareness. It is the process of union of the self with the whole. Yoga is becoming the Buddha.

　　Yogis are experimentalists. In the West, scientists research mainly external phenomena. Yogisfocus on the inside. They know that the external world is maya (illusionary) and everythinginside is sathya (truth). In maya everything goes, but if you know yourself nothing goes. TheWest tends to practice only what we call cultural asanas that focus on the external. We don'tpractice asanas just to become fit. Indian yogis have discovered 8.4 million such postures. It isessential to train our bodies to find the most comfortable pose that we can sit in for hours.Beyond that there is no role for physical yoga.

　　Basically yoga is made up of two parts: bahirang (external yoga) and antarang (internal yoga).The West practices only the former. It needs to enter into antarang yoga. After that begins thetrip to the unknown where the master makes the student gradually aware at every stage,where you know that you are not the body or the mind and not even the soul. That is whenyou get the first taste of moksha, or enlightenment. It is the sense of the opening of thesilence, the sense where you lose yourself and are happy doing it, where for the first time yourego has merged with the superconsciousness. You feel you no longer exist, for you havewalked into the valley of death. And if you start walking more and more in this valley, youbecome freer.

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