TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2009)

-GRADE EIGHT-

TIME LIMIT: 195 MIN

PART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION (35 MIN)

SECTION A MINI-LECTURE

In this section you will hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY While

listening, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need

them to complete a gap-filling task after the mini-lecture. When the lecture is over, you will be

given two minutes to check your notes, and another ten minutes to complete the gap-filling

task on ANSWER SHEET ONE. Use the blank sheet for note-taking.

Writing Experimental Reports

I.Content of an experimental report, e.g.

--- study subject/ area

--- study purpose

--- ____1____

II.Presentation of an experimental report

--- providing details

--- regarding readers as _____2_____

III.Structure of an experimental report

--- feature: highly structured and ____3____

--- sections and their content:

INTRODUCTION ____4____; why you did it

METHOD how you did it

RESULT what you found out

____5____ what you think it shows

IV. Sense of readership

--- ____6____: reader is the marker

--- ____7____: reader is an idealized, hypothetical, intelligent person with little knowledge of your study

--- tasks to fulfill in an experimental report:

 introduction to relevant area

 necessary background information

 development of clear arguments

 definition of technical terms

 precise description of data ____8____

V. Demands and expectations in report writing

--- early stage:

 understanding of study subject/area and its implications

 basic grasp of the report's format

--- later stage:

 ____9____ on research significance

--- things to avoid in writing INTRODUCTION:

 inadequate material

 ____10____ of research justification for the study

SECTION B INTERVIEW

In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the

questions that follow. Mark the correct answer to each question on your coloured answer sheet.

Questions 1 to 5 are based on an interview. At the end of the interview you will be given 10

seconds to answer each of the following five questions.

Now listen to the interview.

1. Which of the following statements is CORRECT?

A. Toastmasters was originally set up to train speaking skills.

B. Toastmasters only accepts prospective professional speakers.

C. Toastmasters accepts members from the general public.

D. Toastmasters is an exclusive club for professional speakers.

2. The following are job benefits by joining Toastmasters EXCEPT

A. becoming familiar with various means of communication.

B. learning how to deliver messages in an organized way.

C. becoming aware of audience expectations.

D. learning how to get along with friends.

3. Toastmasters' general approach to training can be summarized as

A. practice plus overall training.

B. practice plus lectures.

C. practice plus voice training.

D. practice plus speech writing.

4. Toastmasters aims to train people to be all the following EXCEPT

A. public speakers.

B. grammar teachers.

C. masters of ceremonies.

D. evaluators.

5. The interview mainly focuses on

A. the background information.

B. the description of training courses.

C. the requirements of public speaking.

D. the overall personal growth.

SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST

In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the

questions that follow. Mark the correct answer to each question on your coloured answer sheet.

Questions 6 and 7 are'based on the foUowing news. At the end of the news item, you will be

given 20 seconds to answer the questions.

Now listen to the news.

6. Which of the following is the main cause of global warming?

A. Fossil fuel.

B. Greenhouse gases.

C. Increased dryness.

D. Violent storm patterns.

7. The news item implies that ______ in the last report.

A. there were fewer studies done

B. there were fewer policy proposals

C. there was less agreement

D. there were fewer objectives

Questions 8 and 9 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be

given 20 seconds to answer the questions.

Now listen to the news.

8. The cause of the Indian train accident was

A. terrorist sabotage.

B. yet to be determined.

C. lack of communications.

D. bad weather.

9. Which of the following statements is CORRECT?

A. The accident occurred on a bridge.

B. The accident occurred in New Delhi.

C. There were about 600 casualties.

D. Victims were rescued immediately.

Question 10 is based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 10

seconds to answer the question.

Now listen to the news.

10. What is the main message of the news item?

A. Young people should seek careers advice.

B. Careers service needs to be improved.

C. Businesses are not getting talented people.

D. Careers advice is not offered on the Intemet.

PART II READING COMPREHENSION (30 MIN)

In this section there are four reading passages followed by a total of 20 multiple-choice questions.

Read the passages and then mark your answers on your coloured answer sheet.

TEXT A

We had been wanting to expand our children's horizons by taking them to a place that was unlike anything we'd been exposed to during our travels in Europe and the United States. In thinking about what was possible from Geneva, where we are based, we decided on a trip to

Istanbul, a two-hour plane ride from Zurich.

We envisioned the trip as a prelude to more exotic ones, perhaps to New Delhi or Bangkok later this year, but thought our 11- and 13-year-olds needed a first step away from manicured boulevards and pristine monuments.

What we didn't foresee was the reaction of friends, who warned that we were putting our children "in danger," referring vaguely, and most incorrectly, to disease, terrorism or just the unknown. To help us get acquainted with the peculiarities of Istanbul and to give our children a chance to choose what they were particularly interested in seeing, we bought an excellent

guidebook and read it thoroughly before leaving.

Friendly warnings didn't change our planning, although we might have more prudently checked with the U.S. State Department's list of troublespots. We didn't see a lot of children among the foreign visitors during our six-day stay in Istanbul, but we found the tourist areas quite safe, very interesting and varied enough even to suit our son, whose oft-repeated request is that we not see "every single" church and museum in a given city.

Vaccinations weren't needed for the city, but we were concemed about adapting to the water for a short stay. So we used bottled water for drinking and brushing our teeth, a precaution that may seem excessive, but we all stayed healthy.

Taking the advice of a friend, we booked a hotel a 20-minute walk from most of Istanbul's major tourist sites. This not only got us some morning exercise, strolling over the KarakoyBridge, but took us past a colorful assortment of fishermen, vendors and shoe shiners.

From a teenager and pre-teen's view,

with younger children would be harder simply because the streets are so packed with people; it

would be easy to get lost.

For our two, whose buying experience consisted of department stores and shopping mall boutiques, it was amazing to discover that you could bargain over price and perhaps end up with two of something for the price of one. They also learned to figure out the relative value of the Turkish lira, not a small matter with its many zeros.

Being exposed to Islam was an important part of our trip. Visiting the mosques, especially the enormous Blue Mosque, was our first glimpse into how this major religion is practiced. Our children's curiosity already had been piqued by the five daily calls to prayer over loudspeakers in every corner of the city, and the scarves covering the heads of many women.

Navigating meals can be troublesome with children, but a kebab, bought on the street or in restaurants, was unfailingly popular. Since we had decided this trip was not for gourmets, kebabs spared us the agony of trying to find a restaurant each day that would suit the adults' desire to try something new amid children's insistence that the food be served immediately. Gradually, we

branched out to try some other Turkish specialties.

Although our son had studied Islam briefly, it is impossible to be prepared for every awkward question that might come up, such as during our visits to the Topkapi Sarayi, the Ottoman Sultans' palace. No guides were available so it was do-it-yourself, using our guidebook,

which cheated us of a lot of interesting history and anecdotes that a professional guide could provide. Next time, we resolved to make such arrangements in advance.

On this trip, we wandered through the magnificent complex, with its imperial treasures, its courtyards and its harem. The last required a bit of explanation that we would have happily lef~to a learned third party.

11. The couple chose Istanbul as their holiday destination mainly because

A. the city is not too far away from where they lived.

B. the city is not on the list of the U.S. State Department.

C. the city is between the familiar and the exotic.

D. the city is more familiar than exotic.

12. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT?

A. The family found the city was exactly what they had expected.

B. Their friends were opposed to their holiday plan.

C. They could have been more cautious about bringing kids along.

D. They were a bit cautious about the quality of water in the city.

13. We learn from the couple's shopping experience back home that

A. they were used to bargaining over price.

B. they preferred to buy things outdoors.

D. they preferred fashion and brand names.

14. The last two paragraphs suggest that to visit places of interest in Istanbul

A. guidebooks are very useful.

B. a professional guide is a must.

C. one has to be prepared for questions.

D. one has to make arrangements in advance.

15. The family have seen or visited all the following in Istanbul EXCEPT

A. religious prayers.

B. historical buildings.

C. local-style markets.

D. shopping mall boutiques.

TEXT B

Last month the first baby-boomers turned 60. The bulky generation born between 1946 and

1964 is heading towards retirement. The looming "demographic cliff" will see vast numbers of

skilled workers dispatched from the labour force.

The workforce is ageing across the rich world. Within the EU the number of workers aged

between 50 and 64 will increase by 25% over the next two decades, while those aged 20-29 will

decrease by 20%. In Japan almost 20% of the population is already over 65, the highest share in

the world. And in the United States the number of workers aged 55-64 will have increased by

more than half in this decade, at the same time as the 35- to 44-year-olds decline by 10%.

Given that most societies are geared to retirement at around 65, companies have a looming

problem of knowledge management, of making sure that the boomers do not leave before they

have handed over their expertise along with the office keys and their e-mail address. A survey of

human-resources directors by IBM last year concluded: "When the baby-boomer generation

retires, many companies will find out too late that a career's worth of experience has walked out

the door, leaving insufficient talent to fill in the void."

Some also face a shortage of expertise. In aerospace and defence, for example, as much as

40% of the workforce in some companies will be eligible to retire within the next five years. At

the same time, the number of engineering graduates in developed countries is in steep decline.

A few companies are so squeezed that they are already taking exceptional measures. Earlier

this year the Los Angeles Times interviewed an enterprising Australian who was staying in

Beverly Hills while he tried to persuade locals to emigrate to Toowoomba, Queensland, to work

for his engineering company there. Toowoomba today; the rest of the developed world

tomorrow?

If you look hard enough, you can find companies that have begun to adapt the workplace to

older workers. The AARP, an American association for the over-50s, produces an annual list of

the best employers of its members. Health-care firms invariably come near the top because they

are one of the industries most in need of skilled labour. Other sectors similarly affected, says the Conference Board, include oil, gas, energy and government.

Near the top of the AARP's latest list comes Deere & Company, a no-nonsense

industrial-equipment manufacturer based in Illinois; about 35% of Deere's 46,000 employees are

over 50 and a number of them are in their 70s. The tools it uses to achieve that - flexible

working, telecommuting, and so forth - also coincidentaUy help older workers to extend their

working lives. The company spends "a lot of time" on the ergonomics of its factories, making

jobs there less tiring, which enables older workers to stay at them for longer.

Likewise, for more than a decade, Toyota, arguably the world's most advanced

manufacturer, has adapted its workstations to older workers. The shortage of skilled labour

available to the automotive industry has made it unusually keen to recruit older workers. BMW

recently set up a factory in Leipzig that expressly set out to employ people over the age of 45.

Needs must when the devil drives.

Other firms are polishing their alumni networks. IBM uses its network to recruit retired

people for particular projects. Ernst & Young, a professional-services firm, has about 30,000

registered alumni, and about 25% of its "experienced" new recruits are former employees who

return after an absence.

But such examples are unusual. A survey in America last month by Ernst & Young found

that "although corporate America foresees a significant workforce shortage as boomers retire, it

is not dealing with the issue." Almost three-quarters of the 1,400 global companies questioned

by Deloitte last year said they expected a shortage of salaried staff over the next three to five

years. Yet few of them are looking to older workers to fill that shortage; and even fewer are

looking to them to fill another gap that has already appeared. Many firms in Europe and America

complain that they struggle to find qualified directors for their boards - this when the pool of

retired talent from those very same firms is growing by leaps and bounds.

Why are firms not working harder to keep old employees? Part of the reason is that the

crunch has been beyond the horizon of most managers. Nor is hanging on to older workers the

only way to cope with a falling supply of labour. The participation of developing countries in the world economy has increased the overall supply - whatever the local effect of demographics in

the rich countries. A vast amount of work is being sent offshore to such places as China and

India and more will go in future. Some countries, such as Australia, are relaxing their

immigration policies to allow much needed skills to come in from abroad. Others will avoid the

need for workers by spending money on machinery and automation.

16. According to the passage, the most serious consequence of baby-boomers approaching

retirement would be

A. a loss of knowledge and experience to many companies.

B. a decrease in the number of 35- to 44- year-olds.

C. a continuous increase in the number of 50-to 64-year-olds.

D. its impact on the developed world whose workforce is ageing.

17. The following are all the measures that companies have adopted to cope with the ageing

workforce EXCEPT

A. making places of work accommodate the needs of older workers.

B. using alumni networks to hire retired former employees.

C. encouraging former employees to work overseas.

D. granting more convenience in working hours to older workers.

18. "The company spends 'a lot of time' on the ergonomics of its factories" (Paragraph Seven)

means that

A. the company attaches great importance to the layout of its factories.

B. the company improves the working conditions in its factories.

C. the company attempts to reduce production costs of its factories.

D. the company intends to renovate its factories and update equipment.

19. In the author's opinion American firms are not doing anything to deal with the issue of the

ageing workforce mainly because

A. they have not been aware of the problem.

B. they are reluctant to hire older workers.

C. they are not sure of what they should do.

D. they have other options to consider.

20. Which of the following best describes the author's development of argument?

A. introducing the issue---citing ways to deal with the issue---~describing the actual

status---offering reasons.

B. describing the actual status--- introducing the issue---citing ways to deal with the

issue---offering reasons.

C. citing ways to deal with the issue---introducing the issue----describing the actual

status---offering reasons.

D. describing the actual status--offering reasons---introducing the issue---citing ways to

deal with the issue.

TEXT C

(1) The other problem that arises from the employment of women is that of the working wife.

It has two aspects: that of the wife who is more of a success than her husband and that of the wife who must rely heavily on her husband for help with domestic tasks. There are various ways in which the impact of the first difficulty can be reduced. Provided that husband and wife are not in the same or directly comparable lines of work, the harsh fact of her greater success can be obscured by a genial conspiracy to reject a purely monetary measure of achievement as intolerably crude. Where there are ranks, it is best if the couple work in different fields so that the husband can find some special reason for the superiority of the lowest figure in his to the most elevated in his wife's.

(2) A problem that affects a much larger number of working wives is the need to re-allocate

domestic tasks if there are children. In The Road to Wigan Pier George Orwell wrote of the

unemployed of the Lancashire coalfields: "Practically never ... in a working-class home, will you

see the man doing a stroke of the housework. Unemployment has not changed this convention,

which on the face of it seems a little unfair. The man is idle from morning to night but the woman is as busy as ever - more so, indeed, because she has to manage with less money. Yet so far as myexperience goes the women do not protest. They feel that a man would lose his manhood if, merely because he was out of work, he developed in a 'Mary Ann'."

(3) It is over the care of young children that this re-allocation of duties becomes really

significant. For this, unlike the cooking of fish fingers or the making of beds, is an inescapably time-consuming occupation, and time is what the fully employed wife has no more to spare of than her husband.

(4) The male initiative in courtship is a pretty indiscriminate affair, something that is tried on with any remotely plausible woman who comes within range and, of course, with all degrees of

tentativeness. What decides the issue of whether a genuine courtship is going to get under way is the woman's response. If she shows interest the engines of persuasion are set in movement. The truth is that in courtship society gives women the real power while pretending to give it to men.

(5) What does seem clear is that the more men and women are together, at work and away

from it, the more the comprehensive amorousness of men towards women will have to go, despite

all its past evolutionary services. For it is this that makes inferiority at work abrasive and, more indirectly, makes domestic work seem unmanly, if there is to be an equalizing redistribution of economic and domestic tasks between men and women there must be a compensating redistribution of the erotic initiative. If women will no longer let us beat them they must allow us to join them as the blushing recipients of flowers and chocolates.

21. Paragraph One advises the working wife who is more successful than her husband to

A. work in the same sort of job as her husband.

B. play down her success, making it sound unimportant.

C. stress how much the family gains from her high salary.

D. introduce more labour-saving machinery into the home.

22. Orwell's picture of relations between man and wife in Wigan Pier (Paragraph Two) describes a

relationship which the author of the passage

A. thinks is the natural one.

B. wishes to see preserved.

C. believes is fair.

D. is sure must change.

23. Which of the following words is used literally, NOT metaphorically?

A. Abrasive (Paragraph Five).

B. Engines (Paragraph Four).

C. Convention (Paragraph Two).

D. Heavily (Paragraph One).