第五部分 真題分析

Passage 1

       Is there enough oil beneath the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (保護區) (ANWR) to help secure America’s energy future ? President Bush certainly thinks so . He has argued that tapping ANWR’s  oil would help ease California’s electricity  crisis and provide a major boost to the country’s energy independence . But no one knows for sure how much crude oil lies buried beneath the frozen earth . with the last government survey , conducted in 1998, projecting output anywhere from 3 billion to 16 billion barrels .
     The oil industry goes with the high end of the range , which could equal as much as 10% of U.S. consumption for as long as six years . By pumping more than 1 million barrels a day from the reserve for the next two three decades, lobbyists claim, the nation could cut back on imports equivalent to all shipments to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia. Sounds good. An oil boom would also mean a multibillion-dollar windfall（意外之財）in tax revenues, royalties(開采權使用費)and leasing fees for Alaska and the Federal Government. Best of all , advocates of drilling say , damage to the environment would be insignificant . “ We’ ve  never had a document case of oil rig chasing deer out onto the pack ice .” says Alaska State Representative Scott Ogan .
     Not so fast , say environmentalists . Sticking to the low end of government estimates , the National Resources Defense Council says there may be no more than 3.2 billion barrels of economically recoverable oil in the coastal plain of ANWR, a drop in the bucket that would do virtually nothing to ease America’s energy problems . And consumers would wait up to a decade to gain any benefits , because drilling could begin only after much bargaining over leases , environmental permits and regulatory review . As for ANWR’s  impact on the California power crisis , environmentalists point out that oil is responsible for only 1% of the Golden State’s electricity output –and just 3% of the nation’s .

21.  What does President Bush think of tapping oil in ANWR ?
A) It will exhaust the nation’s oil reserves .
B) It will help secure the future of ANWR.
C) It will help reduce the nation’s oil imports
D) It will increase America’s energy consumption
 
22.  We learn from the second paragraph that the American oil industry _______
A) believes that drilling for oil in ANWR will produce high yields
B) tends to exaggerate America’s reliance on foreign oil
C) shows little interest in tapping oil in ANWR
D) expects to stop oil imports from Saudi Arabia 
 
23.   Those against oil drilling in ANWR argue that _________
A) it can cause serious damage to the environment
B) it can do little to solve U.S. energy problems
C) it will drain the oil reserves in the Alaskan region
D) it will not have much commercial value

24.   What do the environmentalists mean by saying “ Not so fast “  (Line 1, Para .3)?
A) Oil exploitation takes a long time
B) The oil drilling should be delayed
C) Don’t be too optimistic
D) Don’t expect fast returns

25.   It can be learned from the passage that oil exploitation beneath  ANWR’s  frozen earth ________
A) remains a controversial issue
B) is expected to get under way soon
C) involves a lot of technological problems
D) will enable the U.S. to be oil independent

Passage 2

Every year television stations receive hundreds of complaints about the loudness of advertisements. However, federal rules forbid the practice of making ads louder than the programming. In addition, television stations always operate at the highest sound level allowed for reasons of efficiency. According to one NBC executive, no difference exists in the peak sound level of ads and programming. Given this information why do commercials sound so loud?

The sensation of sound involves a variety of factors in addition to its speak level. Advertisers are skilful at creating the impression of loudness through their expert use of such factors. One major contributor to the perceived loudness of commercials is that mush less variation in sound level occurs during a commercial. In regular programming the intensity of sound varies over a large range. However, sound levels in commercials tend to stay at or near peak levels.

Other “tricks of the trade” are also used. Because low-frequency sounds can mask higher frequency sounds, advertisers filter out any noises that may drown out the primary message. In addition, the human voice has more auditory (聽覺的) impact in the middle frequency ranges. Advertisers electronically vary voice sounds so that they stay within such a frequency band. Another approach is to write the script so that lots of consonants (輔音) are used, because people are more aware of consonants than vowel (元音) sounds. Finally, advertisers try to begin commercials with sounds that are highly different from those of the programming within which the commercial is buried. Because people become adapted to the type of sounds coming from programming, a dramatic change in sound quality draws viewer a attention. For example, notice how many commercials begin with a cheerful song of some type.

The attention-getting property of commercials can be seen by observing one-to-two-year-old children who happen to be playing around a television set. They may totally ignore the programming. However, when a commercial comes on, their attention is immediately drawn to it because of its dramatic sound quality.

1. According to the passage, the maximum intensity of sound coming from commercials _______.

A) does not exceed that of programs.

B) is greater than that of programs.

C) varies over a large range than that of programs.

D) is less than that of programs.

2. Commercials create the sensation of loudness because _______.

A) TV stations always operate at the highest sound levels.

B) their sound levels are kept around peak levels.

C) their sound levels are kept in the middle frequency ranges.

D) unlike regular programs their intensity of sound varies over a wide range.

3. Many commercials begin with a cheerful song of some kind because ________.

A) pop songs attract viewer attention.

B) it can increase their loudness.

C) advertisers want to make them sound different from regular programs.

D) advertisers want to merge music with commercials.

4. One of the reasons why commercials are able to attract viewer attention is that ________.

A) the human voices in commercials have more auditory impact.

B) people like cheerful songs that change dramatically in sound quality.

C) high-frequency sounds are used to mask sounds that drown out the primary message.

D) they possess sound qualities that make the viewer feel that something unusual is happening.

5. In the passage, the author is trying to tell us ________.

A) how TV ads vary vocal sounds to attract attention.

B) how the loudness of TV ads is overcome.

C) how advertisers control the sound properties of TV ads.

D) how the attention-getting properties of sounds are made use of in TV ads.