Passage Four

    Auctions(拍卖) are public sales of goods, made by an officially approved auctioneer. He asked the crowd assembled in the auction room to make offers, or bids, for the various items on sale.  He encouraged buyers to bid higher figures, and finally named the highest bidder as the buyer of the goods. This is called “knocking down the goods, for the bidding ends when the auctioneer bangs a small hammer on a table at which he stands.” This is often set on a raised platform called a rostrum.

   The ancient Romans probably invented sales by auction, and the English word comes from the Latinauction, meaning “increase”. The Romans usually sold in this way the spoils taken in war, these sales were called “sub hash”, meaning “under the spear”, a spear being stuck in the ground as a signal for a crowd to gather. In England in the eighteenth century, goods were often sold by the candle: a short candle was lit by the auctioneer, and bids could be made while it stayed alight.

Practically all goods whose qualities varied are sold by auction. Among these are coffee, hides, skins, wool, tea, cocoa, furs, spices, fruit, vegetables and wines. Auction sales are also usual for land and property, antique furniture, pictures, rare books, old china and similar works of art. The auction

rooms at Christies and Sotheby’ s in London and New York are world famous.

    An auction is usually advertised beforehand with full particulars of the articles to be sold and where and when they can be viewed by prospective buyers. If the advertisement cannot give full details, catalogues are printed, and each group of goods to be sold together, called a “lot”, is usually given a number. The auctioneer need not begin with Lot 1 and continue in numerical order he may wait until he registers the fact that certain dealers are in the room and then produce the lots they are likely to be interested in. The auctioneer’s services are paid for in the form of a percentage of the price the goods are sold for. The auctioneer therefore has a direct interest in pushing up the bidding as high as possible.

  56. A “bidder” (in Para. 1) is a person _______ .

A. who sells something.             B. who buys something.

    C. who offers a price.                     D. who borrows something.

  57. Auctioned goods are sold _______ price offered.

A. for the highest B. for the fixed 

C. for the lowes D.for the unexpected

  58. The end of the bidding is called “knocking down” because _______ .

A. the auctioneer knocks the buyer down        

B. the auctioneer knocks the rostrum down

C. the goods are knocked down onto the table  

D. the auctioneer bangs the table with a hammer

  59. The “candle” used in paragraph 2 is _______ .

A. because they took place at night         

B. as a signal for the crowd to gather

C. to give light to the auctioneer           

D. to limit the time when offers could be made

  60. An auction catalogue gives prospective buyers _______ .

    A. the current market values of the goods  

    B. details of the goods to be sold

    C. the order in which goods must be sold        

    D. free admission to the auction sale

Part Ⅲ Cloze (20 points )

Directions: There are 20 blanks in the following passage. For each blank there are four choices marked A, B,C and D. You should choose the one that best fits into the passage and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.

    What do we mean by a perfect English pronunciation? In one sense there are as many different

kinds of    61   as there are speakers of it. No two speakers   62   in exactly the same   63   . We can always hear differences   64  them, and the pronunciation of English   65   a great deal in different geographical  66 . How do we decide what sort of English to use as a   67   ? This is not a question that can be  68   in the same way for all foreign learners of English.   69  you live in a part of the world as   70  , where there is a long    71  of speaking English for general communication purpose, you should select to   72  a good variety of the pronunciation of this area. It would be mistaken in these   73   to use as a model BBC English or   74  of the sort. On the other hand, if you live in a country   75   there is no traditional  76  of English, you must take as your model some forms of   77  English pronunciation. It does not   78  very much which form you choose. The most   79  way is to take as your model the sort of English you can  80  most often.

    61. A. language     B. linguistic      C. English D. linguist

    62. A. spoke          B. spoken        C. speaks             D. speak

    63. A. way          B. form         C. sort              D. type

    64. A. of            B. among         C. between            D. from

    65. A. varies        B. changes       C. shifts            D. alters

    66. A. spaces        B. parts         C. countries          D. areas

    67. A. guide          B. model         C. symbol            D. direction

    68. A. given         B. answered      C. satisfied           D. responded

    69. A. Because       B. When         C. Whether           D. If

    70. A. Russia         B. Mongolia     C. India              D. Japan

    71. A. tradition       B. use        C. custom            D. habit

72. A. seize           B. acquire     C. have              D. hold

    73. A. actions         B.decisions        C.combination        D.circumstances

    74. A. everything       B. nothing      C. things             D. anything

    75. A. which         B. that       C. where            D. wherever

    76. A. use            B. used       C. useful             D. usefulness

    77. A. domestic        B. practical    C. national           D. new

    78. A. matter          B. affect      C. trouble            D. care

    79. A. ordinary        B. sensitive      C. effective          D. careful

    80. A. listen          B. find           C. notice         D. hear

Part IV. Translation (30 points )

Section A

Directions: There are 10 sentences in this section. Please translate sentences 81-85 from Chinese into English, and translate sentences 86-90 from English into Chinese. Write your answer on the Answer

Sheet.

  81. 长城是中国的历史文化符号之一。

82. 无论生活多难 我都不会失去信心。

83. 物体离我们越远，看起来就越小。

84. 政府已经采取积极措施防止空气污染。

85. 建设和谐校园的关键在于让每个学生都能积极参与进来。

86. Practice should go hand in hand with theory.

87. What are closely related to our daily life is goods price.

88. One who makes no investigation has no right to speak.

89. Individual freedom does not in any way mean that you can do what you like at your freewill.

    90. When it came to his amazing achievements, the famous scientist put an emphasis on the importance of creating rather than waiting for opportunities.

Section B

Directions: There are 2 dialogues in this section. Each has 5 sentences. Please translate Dialogue One from Chinese into English and translate Dialogue Two from English into Chinese. Write your  answer on the Answer Sheet.

Dialogue One:

    91. A: 你好！我叫张明，我在外语系学习，你学的是什么专业？

    92. B: 我学的是数学。英语难学吗？

    93. A: 难学，不过很有趣。

    94. B: 我很喜欢英国的文化，和我们国家的不一样。

    95. A: 是的。如果想更好地了解英国文化，首先应该学好英语。

Dialogue Two:

    96. A: I like this dress. It’s the latest, but the problem is the price, sort of expensive.

    97. B: The price is quite reasonable, Madam.

    98. A: But I’m still wondering if you could possibly give me a discount.

    99. B: It’s already on sale, Madam. But since it fits you so perfectly, 10% off, is that OK?

100. A: That’s a deal! Thank you and I’d like to pay by credit card.

Part Ⅴ Writing (40 points )

Directions: For this part, you’re required to write An Application Letter. You should write at least 120 words, and your composition should be based on the outline given in Chinese below and write your composition on the Answer Sheet.

请以北方大学刘峰的名义，给上海世博会组委会相关负责人王先生写一封申请函，申请

做一名上海世博会的志愿者。

    写信日期：2010 年 3 月 2 日

    申请函内容包括：

    1.个人信息（年龄、性别及外语能力等）

    2.简要说明申请志愿者工作的理由

    3.联系方式

    Words for reference:

    北方大学    Beifang University

    志愿者      volunteer

上海世博会  the Shanghai Expo