ENG91

91 年度英語読解力考査
This is NOT the actual test.

PART I

Text 1

Supporters of development education point to the British response to famine in
Ethiopia in the early 1980's as evidence of the effectiveness of their programs. There isno denying that the tragic pictures of an entire country starving to death shocked theBritish public into an immediate and unprecedented outpouring of food, medical
5 supplies and cash. In fact, most aid agencies were unprepared for the number ofcontributions that were made. It was the response of children, however, that mostgratified aid officials. Their letters, from across the country, were full not only of pennies
and pounds but also of questions about the reasons for such a famine and about how
such tragedies could be avoided.
10

Graham Dunlop, chief education officer for Dorset and Hampshire, takes Pride in
the children's reaction. "It has been too easy in the past," he said, "to blame famine on
overpopulation or climatic changes. For the first time children have realized that there
is enough food in the world for everyone: it is the distribution which is unbalanced."
Dunlop attributes this new awareness to the growing place of development education in

15 schools. It might be pointed out, however, that suggesting that distribution is the solecause of disasters such as the Ethiopian famine is no better than blaming it all on lackof rain or poor farming methods. The Ethiopian famine, like all tragic events involving
humans and nature, was a consequence of many complex factors, a combination of bad
policies, practices, people and luck.
20

Even some supporters of development education such as Andrew Pearleman agree
that, while the response to the Ethiopian crisis was encouraging, we do not really know

ENG1

Edited by www.bucho-net.com

what impression the famine left on children in the U.K. Pearleman feels that there is adanger that children may have become prejudiced because most of the information thatmany of them have about the Third World is what they picked up from the media's
25 presentation of the starving and helpless Ethiopians. Similarly, Theresa Turner ofAction Aid is concerned about the negative effect of the publicity that Africa is a placefull of people who must depend on other countries in order to be fed. Turner hopes thatthe schools' development programs will be as effective in these areas as they have beenin helping children understand the reasons behind famine. She further believes that her
30 own organization's recent emphasis on programs to educate children in Britain has
helped them learn why each person's individual contribution is important. The key,maintains Turner, is for the children to see that even a small contribution can make areal difference in someone's life.
With the positive British response to the Ethiopian crisis, it seems that there is
35 reason for hope for the effectiveness of development education, but there are stillconcerns. It has been proposed that the government sponsored development programs
be integrated into third-year geography classes, because after the third year, many
students drop geography from their curriculum. However, some educators believe theissues involved in development education are too complicated for the still immature
40 third-year students to fully comprehend. We should take the educators' position
seriously, for it is essential not to oversimplify things when the circumstances arecomplicated. Still, it is encouraging that the schools are addressing important issues
that used to be ignored--issues that may mean the difference between life and death for
hundreds of thousands of needy people in the world.

ENG
2

ENG91

Questions for text1
29. Which of the following is the best title for this text?
a.

"Some Thoughts on Development Education in Britain"b.

"The British Response to The Ethiopian Famine"c.

"The Recent Development of Aid Agencies in Britain"d.

"The Effects of Famine on Children's Views of Ethiopia"

30. What is development education?
a.

Expansion of geography classes in Britain.

b.

Teaching British children about Third World countries.

c.

Educating children in Third World countries.

d.

Training students about relief fund raising procedures.

31. Which of the following statements about the British response to the Ethiopian
famine is true?
a.

British people gave more money for this relief effort than ever before.

b.

Aid officials had to work very hard to make the public contribute.

c.

The response of children was rather critical of the aid agencies.

d.

Development education was started as a result of the British response to theEthiopian famine.

32. Which of the following statements most accurately describes aid officials' reaction
to the British response to famine in Ethiopia?
a.

They were disappointed with the amount received but pleased with children'sresponses.

b.

They were happily surprised both by the amount received and by children'sresponses.

c.

They were upset by their inability to manage the number of contributions .

d.

They were puzzled by the inability of children to comprehend the tragedy.

ENG
3Edited by www.bucho-net.com

33. What does the writer believe about the role of food distribution in the Ethiopianfamine?
a.

It was the primary cause of the famine.

b.

It was not one of the causes of the famine.

c.

It was only one of many probable causes of the famine.

d.

It was a more important cause of the famine than overcrowding or climate.

34. What similarity between Pearleman and Turner does the writer mention in thethird paragraph?
a.

Both were encouraged by the British response to the Ethiopian famine.

b.

Both are worried about children generalizing from the Ethiopian crisis.

c.

Both are concerned about funding for development education.

d.

Both are concerned about children's understanding of complex issues.

35. What docs "these areas" (third paragraph) refer to?
a.

Spending money on education in Third World countries.

b.

Changing the media's presentation of human disasters.

c.

Avoiding the negative effects of the media's presentation of famine.

d.

Creating an understanding for the effects of small contributions.

36. What is the problem with development education mentioned in the last paragraph?
a.

The subject is taught too soon, and children cannot understand the issues.

b.

Some students miss the subject because it is not required in the third year.

c.

The government has not decided to fund the programs in the future.

d.

Not all schools are required to offer geography classes in the third year.

37. What does the writer think about development education?
a.

Despite some problems, he is generally positive about it.

b.

He is critical of its problems and negative about its future.

c.

He objects to the negative image of the Third World it creates.

d.

He believes it should be introduced in schools earlier.

ENG
4ENG91

38. Which of the following concerns about development education seems mostimportant to the writer?
a.

That it not oversimplify the Third World issues.

b.

That it not focus too much on Africa's problems.

c.

That it not be taught to younger students.

d.

That it not be used simply to help aid agencies raise money.

ENG
5Edited by www.bucho-net.com

Text 2Benjamin Lee Whorf was a linguist who worked in the anthropological tradition ofFranz Boas. Boas, undoubtedly the most influential thinker in American anthropology
at the beginning of this century, emphasized the variety among languages and cultures
rather than their common core. Together with Boas's student, Edward Sapir, Whorf
5 popularized the notion that different languages categorize reality differently. Forexample, the Hopi Indians have just one word for the English referents "airplane,""dragonfly," and "aviator." On the other hand, Hopi distinguishes between water in open
space and water in a container. In another popular example, Whorf noted that Eskimos
have many different words for snow, depending on such features as how hard it is and
10 when it fell, while English has only one. Most bilinguals can think of a number ofexamples of these differences in the languages they know. Such facts could be seen as
instances of linguistic relativism, the idea that languages differ in how they categorize
the world.
There is not much debate anymore, about linguistic relativism. It is simply an
15 interesting observation. However, Whorf did not stop there. Whorf is most famous forhis controversial idea that language determines the shape of thought; an idea mostoften referred to as linguistic determinism. Combined with linguistic relativism, theWhorfian hypothesis, as it came to be known, claimed that speakers of different
languages had different patterns of thought. Most of the controversy surrounding the20 Whorfian hypothesis involves the nature of the connection between language andthought. Does language absolutely determine thought, or does a language merelyinfluence its speakers, making them more likely to think in certain ways? The answer toENG
6

ENG91

this question has great implications for our understanding of the structure of thebilingual mind, for if the strong version of the Whorfian hypothesis were true, bilinguals
25 would have two separate systems of thought. On the other hand, the weaker version of
the hypothesis would lead to the conclusion that bilinguals simply have two different
ways of expressing the same thoughts.

ENG
7

Edited by www.bucho-net.com

Questions for text2
39. What was the nature of the connection between Whorf and Boas?
a. Whorf was Boas's most famous student.
b. Boas used Whoif's ideas as a basis for his views on cultural variety.
c. Whoif's ideas on language and thought were based upon Boas's work.
d. Whoif's and Boas's ideas form the core of anthropological linguistics.
40. What is implied by the sentence: "On the other hand, Hopi distinguishes between
water in open space and water in a container"(first paragraph)?
a. Hopi is a more varied language than English.
b. English has only one word for both kinds of water.
c. Water is less important to the Hopi than to English speakers.
d. The Hopi Indians place great value on open space.
41. Which of the following best expresses the idea of "linguistic relativism"?
a. The idea that all languages share a common, or universal, core.
b. The idea that some languages are more complicated than others.
c. The idea that people believe their own language is better than others.
d. The idea that each language has its own way of dividing up reality.
42. What is the strong version of the Whorfian hypothesis?
a. Language determines what people can think.
b. Language influences the way people view the world.
c. All languages can express the same ideas.
d. Some languages are more complex than other languages.
43. What is the opinion of the writer of this text about the relationship between
language and thought?
a. She believes in the strong version of the Whorfian hypothesis.
b. She believes in the weak version of the Whorfian hypothesis.
c. She does not believe in the Whorfian hypothesis.
d. She does not express her opinion of the Whorfian hypothesis.

ENG
8

ENG91

44. Which of the following statements about bilingual people would the writer of thistext be likely to agree with?
a. As people become bilingual, they develop two separate systems of thought.
b. Bilingual people speak two languages but have just one thought system.
c. Opinions about the structure of bilinguals' brains vary with one's view of Whorf'sideas.
d. The Whorfian hypothesis is most important to bilingual people.
45. If a person believes that foreigners who do not have a word for the concept ofyoroshiku in their language cannot have the thought yoroshiku, we can say thatthat person believes in _____.
a. linguistic relativism but not linguistic determinism
b. linguistic determinism
c. bilingual hypotheses
d. only the weak version of the Whorfian hypothesis
46. Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for this text?
a. "Benjamin Lee Whorf"b. "Linguistic Relativism"
c. "The Whorfian Hypothesis"d. "The Bilingual Brain"

ENG
9Edited by www.bucho-net.com

PART II

The tallest ocean wave is not the tsunami, or tidal wave, set off by an undersea
earthquake. _(47)_ is it the rare giant wave generated in typhoons. The tallest wave
has_(48)_ recently been discovered, _(49)_ it always travels upside down.
It can extend 330 feet downward, with a wave front of 120 miles. But why has such
5 a huge phenomenon _(50)_ been noticed _(51)_? The waves, called solitons, travel below
the surface, inside the sea. They are internal waves flowing _(52)_ the boundary
between two layers _(53)_ ocean water.
_(54)_ we tend to think of the ocean as a uniform body of water, it is not. _(55)_there is a shallow upper layer of warm, less salty water overlaying colder, denser water.
10 The ocean can _(56)_ be considered a two-layer body of water with little mixing _(57)_the layers, which are like oil and vinegar in salad dressing. Solitons, _(58)_ likehalf-waves, move along the boundary of the two layers at about five miles per hour. A
wave of warm water extends down into the cold layer, _(59)_ there is no corresponding
wave up_(60)_ the worm layer.
15

Amazingly, there is _(61)_ evidence on the surface of the soliton's great motion. A
half-mile-wide band of small irregular waves without any apparent direction _(62)_sweeps across the surface of the sea is the only visible sign. Such bands of waves _(63)_
off the Malay Peninsula and in the nearby Sulu Sea west of the Philippines. In _(64)_places, solitons appear about every 12 hours. Scientists believe they take place _(65)_

20 warm currents from rising tides rush over narrow passes in deeper water, _(66)_
disturbance that creates the waves.

ENG
10

ENG91

47. a. Yet

48. a. only

49. a. thenb. Thatb. untilb. except

c. Norc. stillc. besides

d. Eitherd. almostd. and50. a. even51. a. then

52. a. acrossb. commonlyb. aboveb. amongc. almostc. beforec. about

d. neverd. yetd. aside

53. a. on

54. a. Although

55. a. Because

b. in

b. Because

b. Thusc. at

c. No matter

c. Usuallyd. ofd. Nowd. However

56. a. then

57. a. on

58. a. which areb. thusb. between

b. seemc. therec. up

c. behaved. tendd. at

d. that are

59. a. and60. a. into

61. a. nob. sinceb. aboveb. lot ofc. but

c. at

c. little

d. so

d. acrossd. obvious

62. a. when

63. a. have become

64. a. all ofb. whereb. have beenb. bothc. thenc. have been seenc. eitherd. thatd. have been shown

d. one of

65. a. and66. a. resulting

b. as

b. due toc. throughc. leading

d. in

d. causing

ENG11