北京地区成人本科学士学位英语统一考试

2019年5月

Part I Reading Comprehension（30%）

Direction: There are three 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 blacken the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.

Passage 1

Questions 1 to 5 are based on the following passage:

A little boy in South Carolina got to celebrate his birthday twice: After only one friend showed up to his birthday party, the local fire department decided to throw him another on.

The City of Beaufort Fire Department shared the story of a party the fire department held for a local boy named Cooper, who was disappointed when only one of his classmates showed up to his 6thbirthday party. But after a community member gave the local fire department a call, (76) the members were quick to come to his rescue.

“We jumped on board and said we'll do whatever we can to make sure he has a great birthday and that more than one child shows up, ” Beaufort firefighter Ross Vezin says. “ We made arrangements to pick him up from school along with his mom and brother, and we brought him to a bowling alley（保龄球场）along with a biker group.”

The fire department was also able to bring nearly 75 other kids from school to celebrate alongside Cooper, whose mother, Nicoala Shiflet, said he has difficulty making friends because he suffers from autism（自闭症）. “They had cake and presents and got to do some bowling, ” Vezin continues, adding that the party came to be known as“Coopers Birthday 2.0”.

From riding in a fire truck to seeing the motorcycles from the biker group and evening welcomed by so many new friends, Cooper loved his celebration. And it won't be the last time that the little boy gets to hang out with the fire department responsible for it.

“we're also going to have him up next week, ” Vezin says. “We're going to give him a fire department T-shirt and a tour of our fire station.”

1.Who did the most to make Cooper's second birthday party a great success?

A. Firefighters from Beaufort Fire Department.

B. Men from the biker group.

C. Community members.

D. Cooper's parents.

2.Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

A. About 75 kids showed up at Cooper's second birthday party.

B. Cooper's mother and brother were at his second birthday party.

C. Those joining the second birthday party did some bowling.

D. Cooper got a T-shirt from the fire department at his second birthday party.

3.The phrase have him up in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to ______.

A. invite him as a guest

B. meet him by chance

C. take care of him

D. make friends with him

4.Only one kid went to Cooper's first birthday party because ______.

A. Cooper was not good at making friends.

B. other kids were busy with their classes then.

C. Cooper liked to play with grown-ups.

D. Cooper didn't invite his classmate.

5.We learn from the passage that Cooper was ______ the second birthday party.

A. disappointed with

B. satisfied with

C. frightened by

D. angry about

Passage 2

Questions 6 to 10 are based on the following passage:

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. The spacesuit Armstrong wore on his mission has come to symbolize courage and human achievement. In 1971, the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum (NASM) acquired Armstrong's suit. It stood proudly on display for visitors to admire, until there were changes in the suit's appearance. “Over time, the suit started to show signs of deterioration（变坏）, ”Lisa Young says. She works at NASM and her job is to preserve historical and cultural treasures.

Plastics are tricky to preserve. They tend to degrade（降解）over time. Neoprene is one type of plastic in Armstrong's suit. The material can turn brittle and break into tiny pieces. (77) This would ruin the spacesuit. NASM, seeking ways to preserve this historical treasure, removed it from display in 2006.

Yet history can still be saved. Sunlight, water, humidity, and dust can cause plastics to degrade. Scientists have found that storing plastics in cooler temperatures, with lower humidity levels, can slow degradation. Young says Armstrong's suit is currently in storage at a temperature of 63℉ and a lower relative humidity of 30%. These conditions will be maintained when Armstrong's suit returns to a museum display case in time for this year's 50thanniversary（周年纪念日）of the moon landing.

Plastic degradation affects art, too. Artist Claes Oldenburg created False Food Selection in 1906. (78) It consists of plastic food displayed in a wooden box. The plastic food used to look real. Now, some of it has flattened and yellowed. The artwork's wooden box produces an acidic gas that eats away at the plastic, which speeds up the degradation process. But Young is motivated to preserve this artwork and others like it. “Plastics are a part of our history, ”she says. “it's important to preserve them so that future generations can understand the journey we've taken.”

6.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A. Landing on the Moon

B. Preserving Plastics

C. Neil Armstrong's Spacesuit

D. Application of Plastics

7.The word“brittle”in Paragraph 2 probably means “ ______ ”.

A. well established

B. heavily loaded

C. easily upset

D. easily broken

8.In 2006, NASM removed Armstrong's spacesuit from display to ______.

A. put it on sale

B. return it to Armstrong

C. give it to another museum

D. look for ways to preserve it

9.In Claes Oldenburg's False Food Selection, the wooden box ______ the plastic degradation.

A. slows down

B. leads to

C. accelerates

D. doesn't play any role in

10.According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?

A. Sunlight, water and dust contribute to plastic degradation.

B. Armstrong's spacesuit is currently on public display at NASM.

C. NASM acquired Armstrong's spacesuit in 1971.

D. Claes Oldenburg is an artist.

Passage 3

Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage:

There was once a tree in South Africa so wide that it could fit 60 people inside its hollow trunk. The tree reached 62 feet into the sky. It was more than 1, 100 years old. But recently, that tree and others like it have died. (79) Scientists are wondering why.

The tree was a baobab. A baobab looks like a giant oak（橡树）turned upside down. Its branches resemble roots reaching toward the sky. It grows in Africa and is called the Tree of Life. Baobab trees tend to live a long time. One of the oldest stood for more than 2,400 years. Various baobabs have been used as a shop, a prison, a house, and a bus shelter.

In 2005, scientists began a survey to determine the age of more than 60 baobabs. (80) During the process,they noticed that several of the trees had died.Their results recently published in Nature Plants, show that nine of the 13 oldest baobab trees and five out of six of the largest died in the 12-year study period.

Stephan Woodborne conducted the baobab study with six other scientists. They say more research is needed to know why the trees died, but they think climate change may be to blame. That's because the trees showed no evidence of disease. Plus, many were in national parks, so they would have been protected from human harm. Also, Woodborne says, the most affected baobabs are on the outer edge of their ideal habitat（栖息地）. Increasing heat and shifting rainy seasons have made it harder for baobabs in these areas to thrive.

Smaller and younger baobabs are dying too. “The big ones and the old ones caught attention of the media, ” Woodborne says. “But it's not just those. It's unprecedented（空前的）that they should be dying across the age spectrum. We've got to do a reality check on our own footprints in terms of the way we live our lives. If we all changed what we did a little bit, it would start to make a difference.”

11.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A. Die-off of Africa's Baobabs

B. National Parks in Africa

C. African Rainy Seasons

D. Strange-looking Baobabs

12.The baobab study lasted ______.

A. 6 years

B.9 years

C. 12 years

D. 13 years

13.According to Stephan Woodborne, the baobab trees died mainly because of ______.

A. human damage

B. disease

C. climate change

D. the attack of insects

14.The word “spectrum” in the last paragraph is closest in meaning to ______.

A. point

B. range

C. edge

D. team

15.According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?

A. Further research is needed to know why the Baobabs died.

B. Baobab trees can live a long time.

C. The researchers found that only old baobab trees died.

D. The baobab study involved more than 60 baobabs.