1、秋风清,秋月明,落叶聚还散,寒鸦栖复惊。 College English Practice Test 1Part I Writing (30 minutes)Directions: In this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled An Eye-witness Account of a Traffic Accident. You should write at least 150 words following the outline given below. 1车祸发生的时间及地点; 2你所见到的
2、车祸情况; 3你对车祸原因的分析。Part Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes) A Brief History of ClockClocks At best, historians know that 5,000-6,000 years ago, great civilizations in the Middle East and North Africa started to examine forms of clock-making instead of working with only the month
3、ly and annual calendar. Little is known on exactly how these forms worked or indeed the actual deconstruction of the time, but it has been suggested that the intention was to maximize time available to achieve more as the size of the population grew. Perhaps such future periods of time were intended
4、 to benefit the community by allotting specific lengths of time to tasks. Was this the beginning of the working week? Sun Clocks With the disappearance of any ancient civilization, such as the Sumerian culture, knowledge is also lost. Whilst we can only hypothesize on the reasons of why the equivale
5、nt to the modern wristwatch was never completed, we know that the ancient Egyptians were next to layout a system of dividing the day into parts, similar to hours. Obelisks (tall four-sided tapered monuments) were carefully constructed and even purposefully geographically located around 3500 BC. A sh
6、adow was east as the Sun moved across the sky by the obelisk, which it appears was then marked out in sections, allowing people to clearly see the two halves of the day. Some of the sections have also been found to indicate the years longest and shortest days, which it is thought were developments a
7、dded later to allow identification of other important time subdivisions. Another ancient Egyptian shadow clock or sundial has been discovered to have been in use around 1500 BC, which allowed the measuring of the passage of hours. The sections were divided into ten parts, With two twilight hours ind
8、icated, occurring in the morning and the evening. For it to work successfully then at midday or noon, the device had to be turned 180 degrees to measure the afternoon hours.Water Clocks Water clocks were among the earliest time keeping devices that didnt use the observation of the celestial bodies t
9、o calculate the passage of time. The ancient Greeks, it is believed, began using water clocks around 325 BC. Most of these clocks were used to determine the hours of the night, but may have also been used during daylight. An inherent problem with the water clock was that they were not totally accura
10、te, as the system of measurement was based on the flow of water either into, or out of, a container which had markers around the sides. Another very similar form was that of a bowl that sank during a period as it was filled of water from a regulated flow. It is known that water clocks were common ac
11、ross the Middle East, and that these were still being used in North Africa during the early part of the twentieth-century.Mechanical Clocks In 1656, Christian Huygens (Dutch scientist), made the first Pendulum(钟摆) clock, with a mechanism using a natural period of oscillation(振幅). Galileo Galilei is
12、credited, in most historical books, for inventing the pendulum as early as 1582, but his design was not built before his death. Huygens clock, when built, had an error of less than only one minute a day. This was a massive leap in the development of maintaining accuracy, as this had previously never
13、 been achieved. Later refinements to the pendulum clock reduced this margin of error to less than 10 seconds a day. The mechanical clock continued to develop until they achieved an accuracy of a hundredth-of- a-second a day, when the pendulum clock became the accepted standard in most astronomical o
14、bservatories.Quartz Clocks The running of a Quartz clock is based on the piezoelectric property of the quartz crystal. When an electric field is applied to a quartz crystal, it actually changes the shape of the crystal itself, If you then squeeze it or bend it, an electric field is generated. When p
15、laced in an appropriate electronic circuit, this interaction between the mechanical stress and the electrical field causes the crystal to vibrate, generating a constant electric signal which can then be used for example on an electronic clock display. The first wrist-watches that appeared in mass pr
16、oduction used LED, Light Emitting Diode displays. By the 1970s these were to be replaced by a LCD, Liquid Crystal Display. Quartz clocks continue to dominate the market because of the accuracy and reliability of the performance, also being inexpensive to produce on mass scale. The time keeping perfo
17、rmance of the quartz clock has now been surpassed by the Atomic clock.Atomic Clocks Scientists discovered some time ago that atoms and molecules have resonances and that each chemical element and compound absorbs and emits electromagnetic radiation within its own characteristic frequencies. This we
18、are told is highly accurate even over Time and Space. The development of radar and the subsequent experimentation with high frequency radio communications during the 1930s and 1940s created a vast amount of knowledge regarding electromagnetic waves, also known as microwaves. which interact with the
19、atoms. The development of atomic clocks focused firstly on microwave resonances in the chemical Ammonia and its molecules. In 1957. NIST. the National Institute of Standards and Technology, completed a series of tests using a Cesium Atomic Beam device, followed by a second program of experiments by
20、NIST in order to have something for comparison when working at the atomic level. By 1960, as the outcome of the programs, Cesium Time Standards were incorporated as the official time keeping system at NIST. The Natural frequency recognized currently is the measurement of time. used by all scientists
21、, defines the period of one second as exactly 9,192,631,770 Oscillations or 9,192,631,770 Cycles of the Cesium Atoms Resonant Frequency. From the Macrocosm, or Planetary Alignment, to the Microcosm, or Atomic Frequency, the cesium now maintains accuracy with a degree of error to about one-millionth
22、of a second per year. Much of modern life has come to depend on such precise measurements of time. The day is long past when we could get by with a timepiece(钟)accurate to the nearest quarter hour. Transportation, financial markets, communication, manufacturing, electric power and many other technol
23、ogies have become dependent on super-accurate clocks. Scientific research and the demands of modern technology continue re drive our search for ever more accuracy, The next generation of Cesium Time Standards is presently under development at NISTs Boulder Laboratory and other laboratories around th
24、e world.Something to Remember The only thing that should be remembered during all this technological development is that we should never lose the ability to tell the time approximately by natural means and the powers of deduction without requiring crutches(拐杖)to lean on. Our concept of TIME and usin
25、g it together with TECHNOLOGY still has room for radical reassessment in terms of mans evolutionary thinking regarding our view of the past, our onward journey into the future and our concept of time in relationship to universe.1. It is suggested that 5,000-6,000 years ago people in the Middle East
26、and North Africa started to allot specific lengths of time to tasks.2. Ancient Egyptian shadow clock or sundial discovered around 1500 BC, could measure passage of hours automatically and continuously.3. Water clocks was the first device that didnt use the observation of the celestial bodies to calc
27、ulate the passage of time.4. Galileo Galilei built the first pendulum clock as early as 1656.5. Water clocks were mostly used to determine _.6. Huygens clock, a mechanical one, had an error of less than only one minute a day, which was a massive leap in the development of _.7. Since Quartz clocks ar
28、e both inexpensive to produce in mass scale and _ in performance, they continue to dominate the market.8. Scientific research and the _ continue to drive our search for ever more accuracy in time.9. Of all the clocks introduced in the passage, the one with the most accuracy is _.10. No matter how ad
29、vanced the technology of measuring time will be we should never lose the ability to tell the time approximately by _.Part Listening Comprehension (35 minutes)Section AQuestions 11 to 18 are based on the conversation you have just heard.11. A) The transportation far the trip is free. B) The class did
30、nt enjoy going on the field trip. C) Some people may not go on the trip. D) All of the class members nave paid the fee.12. A) Take a lot of money. B) Go to a different restaurant. C) Dont invite John. D) Wear different clothes.13. A) They didnt have g good talk. B) They decided to go by plane. C) Th
31、ey werent able to take a walk. D) They talked about geology.14. A) She doesnt need an umbrella. B) She left her umbrella in the car. C) She can hold her umbrella over the mans head. D) Shes the only one who doesnt have an umbrella.15. A) He would send a postcard if he went away. B) He would be able
32、to take a vacation. C) He had already gone back to work. D) He didnt want to go to Florida.16. A) The man wants to move to San Francisco, but the woman doesnt agree. B) The man thinks its too cold to move to San Francisco. C) The woman agrees with the mans idea. D) The woman doesnt want to move beca
33、use the children will have no fun.17. A) To go to the movies. B) To go out for lunch. C) To look in the newspaper. D) To ask for information.18. A) Study in a quiet place. B) Improve her grades gradually. C) Change the conditions of her dorm. D) Avoid distractions while studying in her dorm. Questio
34、ns 19 to 22 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 19. A) At an accommodation office, B) At a swimming school. C) At a summer school. D) At Oxford. 20. A) The whole summer. B) Twenty-three hours. C) Twelve days. D) Three weeks. 21. A) 3 July. B) 20 July. C) 24 July. D) 10 August. 22. A)
35、A dormitory at school. B) Living with a British family. C) Sharing a house with other students. D) Staying m a small inn with bed and breakfast.Questions 23 to 25 are based on the conversation you have just heard.23. A) She bought a new car. B) She was injured in an accident. C) She went out with Da
36、vid. D) She had a little accident.24. A) She got engaged. B) She had a party. C) She got married. D) She was hurt.25. A) Because church wedding is romantic. B) Because Diana is a catholic. C) Because her parents ask her to do so. D) Because David likes church wedding.Section BPassage OneQuestions 26
37、 to 28 are based on the passage you have just heard.26. A) $600,000. B) $4,000,000. C) $ 5,000,000. D) $5,000,000,000.27. A) Because he was famous for his view to keep the Union by force. B) Because he was famous for his anti-slavery views. C) Because be was famous for his democratic views. D) Becau
38、se he was famous for his view to develop economy.28. A) The Battle in South Carolina. B) The Battle in northern Pennsylvania. C) The Battle in Gettysburg. D) The Battle in North Carolina.Passage TwoQuestions 29 to 31 are based on the passage you have just heard. 29. A) From the place where the agree
39、ment was signed. B) From the people who signed the agreement. C) From the significance it tried to find in the international finance system. D) None of the above.30. A) To lower their exchange rates. B) To regulate their exchange rates. C) To raise their regulated rates. D) To make no change of thei
40、r rates.31. A) Some developed countries. B) Countries that wanted to borrow money. C) All the member countries. D) The World Bank.Passage ThreeQuestions 32 lo 35 are based on the passage you have just heard.32. A) A drivers license. B) A passport. C) An international credit card. D) A deposit.33. A)
41、 Turning right at a red light. B) Driving in freeways without a local drivers license. C) Passing a school bus that is letting off. children. D) All of the above.34. A) The size of the country. B) Large areas of virgin forest. C) The rich natural resources of the land. D) Wild animals and plants.35.
42、 A) Because nearly 1,000 million acres of land was burned off. B) Because natural resources are being used up. C) Because animals and plants are in danger of extinction. D) Because natural beauty of the land would be ruined.Section C The International Olympic Committee chose a doctor from Belgium as
43、 its (36) Jacques Rogge will serve at least eight years. He replaced Juan Antonio Samaranch of Spain who served as president for (37) years. Doctor Rogge received support from more than half the (38) in a second vote during a meeting in Moscow. He has worked for many years with the International Oly
44、mpic Committee. He is fifty-nine years old. Observers called the (39) of Doctor Rogge a move to reform the worldwide sports organization. The new president says he will place great importance on preventing Olympic competitors from using (40) drugs. Experts say his long record of (41) may help the Ol
45、ympics recover from charges of (42) actions. The (43) are linked to the winter games of 2002. Ten Olympic Committee members reportedly accepted gifts and large amounts of money to choose Salt Lake City to hold the events. (44) . Earlier this week, a federal judge dismissed four of fifteen charges against two men who led Salt Lake Citys campaign to get the Olympics. The judge also postponed their trial. (45) . Jacques Rogge is a champi