2014年湖北成人学位英语考试真题及答案_第4页

　　Passage 3

　　Questions 31 to 35 are based on the following passage:

　　Fire can help people in many ways.But it can be very dangerous.Fire can heat water, warm houses,give light and cook.But fire can bum things, too.It can burn trees, houses, animals or people.Sometimes big fires can burn forests.

　　Nobody knows for sure how people began to use fire. But there are many interesting stories about the first time a man or a woman started a fire.One story from Australia tells about a man very, very long time ago.He went up to the sun by a rope(绳子) and brought fire down.

　　Today people know how to make a fire with matches ( 火柴 ). Children sometimes like to play with them. But matches can be very dangerous. One match can burn a piece of paper and then it might burn a house. A small fire can become a big fire very fast. Fire kills many people every year. So you must be careful with matches. You should also learn to put out fires. Fires need oxygen ( 氧气).

　　Without oxygen they will die.Cover a fire with water, sand, or sometimes with your coat. This keeps the air away from a fire and kills it. Be careful with fire, and it will help you. Be careless with fire,and it will burn you.

　　31.How did people begin to use fire?

　　A.Not everybody knows how people began to use fire

　　B.Nobody knows how to make a fire

　　C.It is an Australian who started a fire

　　D.We are not sure how people began to use fire

　　32.Children mustn't play with matches because (　　).

　　A.matches burn paper

　　B.it isn't interesting

　　C.they can be dangerous

　　D.they can burn a house

　　33.When you are going to put out a fire, you (　　).

　　A.must be careful

　　B.should keep air away from it

　　C.must know it is dangerous

　　D.should cover it with water

　　34.We must be careful with fire, or it (　　).

　　A.will die

　　B.will warm our houses

　　C.might burn us

　　D.won't help us

　　35.Which of the following is the main idea of this passage?

　　A.Fire can help people in many ways

　　B.Fire can be both helpful and dangerous

　　C.Fire can burn things and people

　　D.We must be careful with matches

　　Passage 4

　　Questions 36 to 40 are based on the following passage:

　　Washington Irving wasAmeriea's first man of letters to be known internationally. His works were received enthusiastically both in England and in the United States. He was, in fact, one of the most successful writers of his time in the country, and at the same time winning the admiration of fellow writers like Scott in Britain arid Poe and Hawthorne in he United States. The respect in which he was held partly owing to the man himself, with his warm friendliness, his good sense, his urbanity, his gay spirits, his artistic integrity, his love of both the Old World and the New. Thackeray described Irving as "a gentleman, who, though himself born in no very high sphere, was most finished, polished, witty ; socially the equal of the most refined Europeans." In England he was granted an honorary degree from Oxford--an unusual honor for a citizen of a young, uncultured nation--and he received the medal of the Royal Society of Literature.America made him ambassador to Spain.

　　Irving's background provides little to explain his literary aehievements.A gifted but delicate child, he had little schooling.He studied law, but without zeal, and never did practice seriously.He was immune to his strict Presbyterian home environment, frequenting both social gatherings and the theater.

　　36.The main point of the first paragraph is that Washington Irving was (　　).

　　A.America's first man of letters

　　B.a writer who had great success both in and outside his own country

　　C.a man who was able to move from literature to polities

　　D.a man whose personal charm enabled him to get by with basically inferior work

　　37.What is implied by the mention of Scott, Poe and Hawthorne?

　　A.Irving enjoyed great popular admiration

　　B.Seott, Poe and Hawthorne were primarily responsible forIrving's success

　　C.Irving's work was not only popular, but also of high literary quality

　　D.More Americans than Britons admiredIrving

　　38.Which of the following best describes the effect of Irving's Presbyterian background on his life?

　　A.It fostered his love for the theater

　　B.It developed his skill in business

　　C.It prompted his interest in law

　　D.It had almost no effect on his life

　　39.Which of the following best describes the effect of Irving's personal qualities on his literary Success ?

　　A.His personal qualities were entirely responsible for his literary success

　　B.His personal qualities were primarily responsible for hisliterary success

　　C.His personal qualities had some effects on his literary success

　　D.His personal qualities had no effects on his literary success

　　40.Why might Irving's literary ability have been surprising to the English?

　　A.They feared competition from American writers

　　B.They did not expect the United States to produce good writers

　　C.They disapproved of the language American writers used

　　D.They thought of theUnited States as a purely commercial power