上海交通大学二OO一年春季博士生入学考试试题

嘎嘣脆

Part III.        Reading Comprehension (50 minutes, 30 points)
Directions: There are 6 passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice and write your answer on the Answer Sheet.
One day in 1963, a dolphin named Elvar and a famous astronomer, Carl Sagan, were playing a little game. The astronomer was visiting an institute which was looking into the way dolphins communicate with each other. He was standing at the edge of one of the tanks where several of these highly intelligent, friendly creatures were kept. Elvar had just swum up alongside hiui,and had turned on his back. He wanted Sagan to scratch his stomach again, as the astronomer had done twice before. But this time Elvar was too deep in the water for Sagan to reach him. Elvar looked up at Sagan, waiting. Then, after a minute or so, the dolphin leapt up through the water into the air and made a sound just like the word `More?'
The astonished astronomer went -to the director of the institute and told him about the incident.
`Oh, yes: That's one of the words he knows,' the director said, showing no surprise at all.
Dolphins have bigger brains in proportion to their body size than humans have, andit has been known for a long time that they can make a number o

嘎嘣脆

（4）
Mr Abu, the laboratory attendant, came in from the adjoining store and briskly cleaned the blackboard. He was a retired African sergeant from the Army Medical Corps and was feared by the boys. If he caught any of them in any petty thieving, he offered them the choice of a hard smack on the bottom or of being reported to the science masters. Most boys chose the former as they knew the matter would end there with no long interviews, moral arguments and an entry in the conduct book.
The science master, a man called Vernier, stepped in and stood on his small platform. Vernier set the experiments for the day and demonstrated them, then retired behind the "Church Times" which he read seriously in between walking quickly along the rows of laboratory benches, advising boys. It was a simple heat experiment to show that a dark surface gave out more heat by radiation than a bright surface.
During the class, Vernier was called away to the telephone and Abu was not about, having retired to the lavatory for a smoke. As soon as a posted guard announced that he was out of sight, minor pandemonium ('N k) broke out. Some of the boys raided the store. The wealthier ones took rubber tubing to make catapults and to repair bicycles, and helped themselves to chemicals for developing photographic films. The poorer boys, with a more determined aim, took only things of strict commercial interst which could be sold easily in the market. They emptied stuff into bottles in their pockets. Soda for making soap, magnesium sulphate for opening medicine, salt for cooking, liquid paraffin for women's hairdressing, and fine yellow iodoform powder much in demand for sprinkling on sores. Kojo objected mildly to all this. "Oh, shut up!" a few boys said. Sorie, a huge boy who always wore a fez indoors, commanded respect and some leadership in the class. He was gently drinking his favourite mixture of diluted alcohol and bicarbonate----which he called "gin and fizz"----from a beaker. "Look here, Kojo, you are getting out of hand. What do you think our parents pay taxes and school fees for? For us to enjoy----or to buy a new car every year for Simpson? " The other boys laughed. Simpson was the European headmaster, feared by the small boys, adored by the boys in the middle school, and liked, in a critical fashion, with reservations, by some of the senior boys and African masters. He had a passion for new motor-cars, buying one yearly.
"Come to think of it," Sorie continued to Kojo, "you must take something yourself, then we'll know we are safe," "Yes, you must," the other boys insisted. Kojo gave in and, unwillingly, took a little nitrate for some gunpowder experiments which he was carrying out at home. "Someone!" the look-out called.
The boys ran back to their seats in a moment. Sorie washed out his mouth, at the sink with some water. Mr Abu, the laboratory attendant, entered and observed the innocent expression on the faces of the whole class. He looked round fiercely and suspiciously, and then sniffed the air. It was a physics experiment, but the place smelled chemical. However, Vemier came in then. After asking if anyone was in difficulties, and finding that no one could in a moment think up anything, he retired to his chair and settled down to an article on Christian reunion.
86, The boys were afraid of Mr Abu because
A) he had been an Army sergeant and had military ideas of discipline
B) he reported them to the Science masters whenever he caught them petty thieving
C) he was cruel
D) he believed in strict discipline
87. When the boys were caught petty thieving, they usually chose to be beaten by Mr Abu because
A) he gave them only one hard smack instead of the six from their teachers
B) they did not want to get a bad reputation with their teachers
C) they were afraid of their science masters
D) his punishment was quicker than their teachers'
88. Some boys took chemicals like soda and iodoform powder because
A) they liked to set up stalls in the marked and sell things, like traders
B) they were too poor to buy things like soap and medicine
C) they wanted money and could sell such things quickly
D) they needed things like soap and medicine for sores
89. A big difference between Kojo and Sorie was that
A) Kojo took chemicals for some useful experiment but Sorie only wasted his in making an alcoholic drink.
B) Sorie was rich but Kojo was poor
C) Kojo had a guilty conscience but Sorie did not
D) when Kojo objected. Sorie proved that what they were doing was reasonable
90. On entering the laboratory, Mr Abu was immediately suspicious because
A) the whole class was looking so innocent
B) he was a suspicious man by nature
C) there was no teacher in the room
D) he could smell chemicals and he knew it was a physics lesson ,

（5）
Alison closed the door of her small flat and put down her briefcase. As usual, she had brought some work home from the travel agency. She wanted to have a quick bite to eat and then, after spending a few hours working, she was looking forward to watching television or listening to some music:.
She was just about to start preparing her dinner when there was a knock at the door. `Uli, no! Who on earth could that be?' she muttered to herself. She went to the door and opened it just wide enough to see who it was. A man of about sixty was standing there. It took her a moment before she realized who he was. He lived in the flat below. They had passed each other on the stairs once or twice, and had nodded to each other but never really spoken.
`Uh, sorry to bother you, but ...uh...there's something I'd like to talk to you about,' he mumbled. He had a long, thin face and two big front teeth that made him look rather like a rabbit. Alison hesitated, but then, opening the door wide, asked him to come in. It was then that she noticed the dog. She hated dogs----particularly big ones. This one was a very old, very fat bulldog. The man had already bone into her small living-room and, without being asked, he sat down on the sofa. The dog followed him in and climbed up on the sofa next to him, breathing heavily. She stared at it. It stared back.
The man coughed. `Uh, do you mind if I smoke?' he asked. Before she could ask him not to, he had taken out a cigarette and lit it.
`I'll tell you why I've come. I ...I hope you won't be offended but, well ...,' he began and then stopped. Suddenly his face went red. His whole body began to shake. Then another cough exploded from somewhere deep inside him. Still coughing, he took out a grey, dirty-¬looking handkerchief and spat into it. Afterwards he put the cigarette back into his mouth and inhaled deeply. As he did so, some ash fell on the carpet.
The man looked around the room. He seemed to have forgotten what he wanted to say. Alison glanced at her watch and wondered when he would get to the point. She waited.
'Nice place you've got here,' he said at last.
91. How do you think Alison felt when she heard the knock at the door?
A) Afraid .B) Irritated.
C) Pleased. D) Curious.
92. Who was the man at the door?
A) Someone from work.
B) A friend who needed advice.
C) A complete stranger.       
D) A neighbour she hardly knew.
93. What do you think Alison said to herself when she saw the dog?
A) ' I wish he wouldn't bring that dog in here.'
B) `Oh, what a nice dog?'
C) 'What's wrong with that poor dog?'
D) 'I'm sure I've seen that dog before somewhere.'
94. What happened after the man asked if he could smoke?
A) Alison offended him by asking him not to.
B) He went ahead without waiting for an answer.
C) He began to smoke but then put the cigarette out.
D) He took out his cigarettes but did to light one.
95. Why did he want to talk to her?
A) We are not told.
B) He wanted to tell her how nice her flat was.
C) He wanted to introduce himself.
D) She had done something to offend him.
（6）
Even in fresh water sharks hunt and kill. The Thresher shark, capable of lifting a small boat out of the water, has been sighted a mile inland on the Fowey River in Cornwall. Killer sharks swim rivers to reach Lake Nicaragua in Central America; they average one human victim each year.
Sewage and garbage attract sharks inland. When floods carry garbage to the rivers they provide a rich diet which sometimes stimulates an epidemic of shark attacks. Warm water generally provides shark food, and a rich diet inflames the shark's aggression.
In British waters sharks usually swim peacefully between ten and twenty miles offshore where warm water currents fatten mackerel and pilchards for their food. But the shark is terrifyingly unpredictable. One seaman was severely mauled ()jV) as far north as Wick in Scotland. Small boats have been attacked in the English Channel, Irish Sea and North Sea.
Most of the legends about sharks are founded in ugly fact. Even a relatively small shark ---- a 200 lb. 2ambesi----can sever a man's leg with one bite. Sharks have up to seven rows of teeth and as one front tooth is damaged or lost another moves forward to take its place. The shark never sleeps. Unlike most fish, it has no air bladder, and it must move constantly to avoid sinking. It is a primitive creature, unchanged for sixty million years of evolution. Its skin is without the specialised scales of a fish. Fully grown, it still has five pairs of separate gills like a three-week. human embryo.
But it is a brilliantly efficient machine. Its skin carries nerve endings which can detect vibrations from fish 'Moving several miles away. Its sense of smell, the function of most of its brain, can detect one part in 600,000 of tuna fish juice in water, or the blood of a fish or animal from a quarter of a male away. It is colour blind, and sees best in deep water, but it can distinguish shapes and patterns of light and shade easily. Once vibrations and smell have placed its prey the shark sees well enough to home in by vision for the last fifty feet.
The shark eats almost anything. It will gobble old tin cans and broken bottles as well as fish, animals and humans. Beer bottles, shoes, wrist watches, car number plates, overcoats and other sharks have been found in dead sharks. Medieval records tell of entire human corpses still encased in armour.
The United States military advice on repelling sharks is to stay clothed----sharks go for exposed flesh; especially the feet. Smooth swimming at the surface is essential. Frantic splashing will simply attract sharks, and dropping below the surface makes the swimmer an easy target. If the shark gets close, then is the time to kick, thrash and hit out. A-direct hit on the snout; gills. or eyes will drive away most sharks. The exception is the Great White shark. It simply kills you.
96. It is less common to find sharks iii
A) salt water
B) fresh water
C) warm water
D) deep water
97. Why do sharks normally swim between ten and twenty miles off the coast of Britain?
A) They prefer warm water to cold water.
B) They see best in deep water.
C) They are afraid of man.
D) That is where their food is.
98. Why does the shark never stop moving?
A) It never sleeps.
B) It can only smell when moving.
C) If it stopped it would sink.
D) It must eat constantly.
99. The shark's best sense is smell because
A) most of its brain is used for this purpose
B) it is colour blind
C) it can smell blood from a quarter of a mile away
D) it can only see up to fifty feet
100.1f you kick and make a lot of noise in.the water,
A) the shark will kill you
B) the shark will attack your feet
C) you will frighten the shark away
D) you will attract the shark
Part IV        Writing        (25％)
Some people say that knowing how to write well is no longer an important skill. They claim that telephones, tape recorders, computers and other forms of nonwritten communication have made good writing skills unnecessary. Do you agree or disagree'? Write 250 words to support your viewpoint with rational arguements and examples from your life experience on the following topic.

Are Good Writing Skills Necessary?