[A] Native speakers think their mother tongue a natural product.
[B] Native speakers are the best observers of language rules.
[C] Mistakes in usage made by native speakers are often misleading.
[D] Whatever a native speaker says is correct usage of the language.
3. We can infer from the text that linguists hold that
[A] language knows no class distinction among different users.
[B] it is wrong to accuse each other over the use of a language.
[C] language is under the political influence of a society.
[D] it is natural for people to want to use correct language.
4. In the last sentence of paragraph 3, clock reversers,... refer to
[A] linguistic authorities.
[B] advocates of aristocratic system and oppression.
[C] those who desire for rightness of the language.
[D] warring factions in the field of linguistics.
5. The author points out that linguists produce dictionaries which
[A] prove that there are no roles guiding the use of a language.
[B] contradict their argument that languages are equally good.
[C] show that authorities do not pay enough attention to usage.
[D] convince the reader that the author is right.
Text 4
A university professor has built a virtual laboratory on the World Wide Web to give engineering students a taste of the challenge they may someday face on the job. With a few clicks of a mouse, students drill for a hidden supply of oil, program a robotic arm and design digital logic circuits.
Putting such experiments on the Internet introduces students to engineering without the high costs, time constraints and space limitations imposed by a real-world laboratory, says the inventor of the on-line tab who is a researcher professor in the Department, of Chemical Engineering
You might argue that students are not going to get the full experience when they use virtual equipment. But suppose you get, 80% of the effect, yet the cost is only 10~ compared to a real laboratory. It might be worth it. And any student with a computer and access to the Web would be able to use the virtual equipment, said the inventor.
The professor also sees the on-line lab experiments as a way to let freshmen sample the type of real-life puzzle that working engineers confront. This early exposure is important, he says, because most engineering students, spend their first two years at colleges mastering chemistry, physics and mathematics. By the time they take their first engineering courses, they are often in their junior year, or third year--rather late date to find out whether they indeed possess the interest and aptitude for this field.
To give freshmen a clear idea of what the profession involves, the, professor used the Java programming language to create interactive lab problems on a given web site. I wanted these experiments to concentrate on real-life problems, as opposed to textbook problems where you can thumb through the chapter and find a formula to solve them, he explains. I wanted to present problems that did not necessarily have a single solution. In some cases, you are forced to approximate a solution. That's what engineering is about finding a way to solve problems while working under many types of restrictions--political, financial and environmental ones, for instance.
Although on-line experiments can enhance an engineer's education, the professor cautions that they do not eliminate the need for lab time in the real world. In spite of the fact that they can offer highly interactive experiments, virtual laboratories cannot duplicate the experiences obtained in handling real apparatus, he says, But when laboratories focus on design or problem solving, and when lessons are not dependent on physical equipment, the
educational differences between real and simulated world narrow to the point where virtual experiments becomes very viable options.
1. Which of the following advantages is true about the virtual lab
[A] It can free the students from textbooks.
[B] It is cost-efficient.
[C] It is better than the real ones.
[D] It can reduce the students stress in learning.
2. It can be inferred that engineering student incompetence may be caused by the fact that they
[A] do not see the complexity of their jobs until it is too late.
[B] have been concentrated on some other subjects.
[C] do not have the advantage of regular lab training.
[D] have not learned enough about engineering in the first two years.
3. The professor claims that the virtual lab can enhance students' ability to
[A] find a single solution from textbooks to problem she confronts.
[B] finish a regular engineer's training earlier than normally.
[C] deal with problems they may encounter in practical work.
[D] Use the computer programming language in designing.
4. Despite the merits of the on-line lab experiments, it
[A] still needs a mouse to work with.
[B] cannot replace lab experiments in the real world.
[C] must work under many types of restriction.
[D] accommodates the need of junior students only.
5. We may conclude that this lab on the Intemet is most likely to
[A] eliminate the use of physical equipment in engineering training.
[B] increase the learners' experience in handling real apparatus.
[C] confuse the difference between the real and simulated world.
[D] be used as a supplementary means in engineering training.
Unit 5
Directions
Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)
Text 1
If information technology is lifting America's rate of growth, surely that justifies the current lofty heights of share prices Sadly, no. Wall street still looks dangerously high relative to likely future profits. Every previous technological revolution has recreated a speculative bubble, and there is no reason why IT should be different.
New-economy fanatics argue that in this new world of rapid technological change, old methods of share valuation have become irrelevant. Profits are for wimps. But both economic theory and history suggest otherwise. In his book Irrational Exuberance, Robert Shiller, an economist at Yale University, tracks the p-e ratio of America's S&P 500 (share price index) over 120 years, a period that covers huge technological change America's railway boom, electricity, telephones, radio and cars. With each wave of technology, share prices soared and later fell. Ominously, though, prices now are higher in relation to profits than they have ever been before.
The inventions of the late 19th century drove p-e ratios to a peak in 1901, the year of the first transatlantic radio transmission. By 1920, share prices had dropped by 70% in real terms. The roaring twenties were also seen as a new era share prices soared as electricity boosted efficiency and car ownership spread. After peaking in 1929, real share prices tumbled by 80% over the next three years.
There are many similarities between the Internet today and Britain's railway mania in the 1840s. Would-be rail millionaires raised vast sums of money on the stock market to finance proposed lines. Most railway companies never paid a penny to shareholders, and many went broke. Largely because over-investment created excess capacity. The Great Western Railway was for decades the most admired railway company in Britain, yet anyone who had bought shares at its launch in 1835 and held them until 1931 would have seen an annual return of only 5%. Even so the railways brought huge economic benefits to the economy long after share prices crashed. The lesson is that although IT may be causing a bubble, it may still produce long-term economic gains. But investors could lose their shirts.
Current valuations of dot. Com shares seem to assume that they are going to grab a huge chunk of market share from existing firms. Yet history suggests that the gains from technological revolutions often go to unexpected quarters. The biggest winners from American railway boom were small firms and farmers who benefited from the opening up of the continent It is a sobering thought that 99% of the 5, 000 railway companies that once existed in America are no longer around. The Same is true of 2, 000 car firms. And according to a study by Goldman Sachs, profits and share prices of the early electricity firms were disappearing, despite the industry's profound effect on the economy.
1. In the first two paragraphs, the author seems to suggest that IT revolution
[A] has made old economic rules and laws irrelevant.
[B] is different from previous technological revolutions.
[C] created relatively high share prices in the stock market.
[D] represents the biggest technological change in history.
2. The new-economy fanatics challenged the criticism of speculative bubble (Line 4, Paragraph 1) by
[A] questioning the method of' share evaluation.
[B] affirming the high rate of growth.
[C] citing economic theory and history.
[D] referring to the eventual balance of share prices.
3. By p-e ratio, the author probably means the relation between
[A] share price and eamings.
[B] share price and evaluation.
[C] share profits and the economic growth.
[D] share profits and its efficiency.
4. What does the example of Britain's railway mania in the 1840s illustrate
[A] Railway companies over-invested in stock market.
[B] The investors were the ultimate losers.
[C] Long-term economic benefits were created.
[D] Excess capacity was the cause of its share crash.
5. The author seems to suggest that the biggest winners of the IT revolution will be
[A] IT companies.
[B] small firms and farmers.
[C] national economy.
[D] unexpected markets.
Text 2
That Oxford is losing its pre-eminence both among British universities and internationally is becoming a truism. The evidence for this decline is piecemeal, but cumulatively powerful. Oxford has slipped down the various league tables of British universities, falling behind not only Cambridge, but also the buoyant London colleges, Imperial and University. In the latest official assessment of universities, the History Department at Oxford Brookes University.... until recently a mere polytechnic ---- rated higher than that of its ancient neighbor. There is much anecdotal evidence of big brains being drained away to the money pots in American universities.
Money is certainly part of Oxford's problem. Pembroke College, according to Reverend Platt, former chaplain of the college, is poor as shit'-although many other British universities would be more grateful for the income of ￡662, 434 that it derived from its endowment last year. But the wealth of even the richer colleges is small compared with that of Harvard and the other
top American institutions with which Oxford now competes.
In part, this relative poverty is due to the historical stinginess of British students, who have tended to regard their education as a state-funded right. By contrast, even though Harvard students pay enormous fees ($34, 269 this year including room and board, though 70% get some sort of financial aid), they continue to pay up afterwards. Those fees are the other part of the equation like the other British universities, Oxford has felt squeezed in the last decade, as the amount of money spent by the government per student has gradually declined. The contribution made by students themselves stands at a maximum of ~1,075; many in Oxford and other top universities want to be able to charge more.
The other problem-cheaper, but given Oxford's inertia, not necessarily easier to solve---is the college system. Oxford is a federation of self-governing colleges, each run by a community of scholars. The greatest glory of the college system, say its advocates, are the individual tutorials in which students sit at the tutors' feet (whereas their American counterparts are, despites the fees, often fobbed off with graduate students). David Palfreyman, bursar of New College and co-author of a book on the collegiate system, argues that the devolved admissions system, in which the colleges pick their intake, creates a bond between teachers and pupils; and that the loyalty of alumni donors is overwhelmingly to their college rather than to the university.
But many students would trade their experiences of tutorials with bored veterans for the attention of an energetic novice. Likewise, the federal system has created multiple and competing bureaucracies, when the whole university should be co-operating on fundraising and other matters. Such as recruitment new teachers currently have to be approved by two masters, the departments and their prospective college. Or admissions a centralized system would make abuses like Reverend Platt's (He took a 300, 000 donation from the father of a borderline applicant) much less likely. The college system is of course one of the things that makes Oxford but if it is to compete with its trans-Atlantic rivals and avoid scandals over access, it needs to evolve.
1. What shows that Oxford is losing its pre-eminence
[A] The league table no longer has Oxford among the top.
[B] Oxford sometimes has to compete with polytechnics like OBU.
[C] The number of famous scholars at Oxford is decreasing.
[D] American universities have surpassed Oxford in research.
2. Oxford's poverty is due to the fact that
[A] it receives less money per student than other British universities.
[B] its students only pay a tuition of ￡1,075 a year.
[C] it is grateful even for a small income of ￡662, 434.
[D] it has to repeatedly urge the government to increase support.
3. Which of the following is true of Oxford
[A] Oxford's colleges are separate institutions held together only by a name.
[B] Administrative system at Oxford is scholar-centred and characterized by overlapping.
[C] Individual tutorials are the most important part of the Oxford experience.
[D] The decision as to whether to accept a student lies with the University Admissions.
4. David Palfreymna in his book
[Al proclaims the strength of collegiate system.
[B] describes the administrative systems as flawed.
[C] intends to create a teacher-student bond.
[D] appeals to the loyalty of ex-graduates.
5. What is the author's view concerning Oxford's future
[A] Create a federation.
[B] Maintain the college system.
