2008年考研英语大纲样题

Section Ⅰ Use of EnglishDirections:
Read the following text. Choose the best word （s） for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. （10 points）

The government is to ban payments to witnesses by newspapers seeking to buy up people involved in prominent cases 1 the trial of Rosemary West.

In a significant 2 of legal controls over the press, Lord Irvine, the Lord Chancellor, will introduce a 3 bill that will propose making payments to witnesses 4 and will strictly control the amount of 5 that can be given to a case 6 a trial begins.

In a letter to Gerald Kaufman, chairman of the House of Commons Media Select Committee, Lord Irvine said he 7 with a committee report this year which said that self regulation did not 8 sufficient control.

9 of the letter came two days after Lord Irvine caused a 10 of media protest when he said the 11 of privacy controls contained in European legislation would be left to judges 12 to Parliament.

The Lord Chancellor said introduction of the Human Rights Bill, which 13 the European Convention on Human Rights legally 14 in Britain, laid down that everybody was 15 to privacy and that public figures could go to court to protect themselves and their families.

"Press freedoms will be in safe hands 16 our British judges," he said.

Witness payments became an 17 after West was sentenced to 10 life sentences in 1995. Up to 19 witnesses were 18 to have received payments for telling their stories to newspapers. Concerns were raised 19 witnesses might be encouraged to exaggerate their stories in court to 50 guilty verdicts.

1. [A] as to [B] for instance [C] in particular [D] such as

2. [A] tightening [B] intensifying [C] focusing [D] fastening

3. [A] sketch [B] rough  [C] preliminary [D] draft

4. [A] illogical [B] illegal [C] improbable [D] improper

5. [A] publicity [B] penalty [C] popularity [D] peculiarity

6. [A] since [B] if [C] before [D] as

7. [A] sided [B] shared [C] complied [D] agreed

8. [A] present [B] offer [C] manifest [D] indicate

9. [A] Release [B] Publication [C] Printing [D] Exposure

10. [A] storm [B] rage [C] flare [D] flash

11. [A] translation [B] interpretation [C] exhibition [D] demonstration

12. [A] better than [B] other than [C] rather than [D] sooner than

13. [A] changes [B] makes [C] sets [D] turns

14. [A] binding [B] convincing [C] restraining [D] sustaining

15. [A] authorized [B] credited [C] entitled [D] qualified

16. [A] with [B] to [C] from [D] by

17. [A] impact [B] incident [C] inference [D] issue

18. [A] stated [B] remarked [C] said [D] told

19. [A] what [B] when [C] which [D] that

20. [A] assure [B] confide [C] ensure [D] guarantee

Section II  Reading Comprehension Part A Directions:

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C, or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. (40 points)

 Text 1

It was 3:45 in the morning when the vote was finally taken. After six months of arguing and final 16 hours of hot parliamentary debates, Australia's Northern Territory became the first legal authority in the world to allow doctors to take the lives of incurably ill patients who wish to die. The measure passed by the convincing vote of 15 to 10. Almost immediately word flashed on the Internet and was picked up, half a world away, by John Hofsess, executive director of the Right to Die Society of Canada. He sent it on via the group's on-line service, Death NET. Says Hofsess: "We posted bulletins all day long, because of course this isn't just something that happened in Australia. It's world history."

The full import may take a while to sink in. The NT Rights of the Terminally Ill law has left physicians and citizens alike trying to deal with its moral and practical implications. Some have breathed sighs of relief, others, including churches, right-to-life groups and the Australian Medical Association, bitterly attacked the bill and the haste of its passage. But the tide is unlikely to turn back. In Australia — where an aging population, life-extending technology and changing community attitudes have all played their part — other states are going to consider making a similar law to deal with euthanasia. In the US and Canada, where the right-to-die movement is gathering strength, observers are waiting for the dominoes to start falling.

　　Under the new Northern Territory law, an adult patient can request death — probably by a deadly injection or pill — to put an end to suffering. The patient must be diagnosed as terminally ill by two doctors. After a "cooling off" period of seven days, the patient can sign a certificate of request. After 48 hours the wish for death can be met. For Lloyd Nickson, a 54-year-old Darwin resident suffering from lung cancer, the NT Rights of Terminally Ill law means he can get on with living without the haunting fear of his suffering: a terrifying death from his breathing condition. "I'm not afraid of dying from a spiritual point of view, but what I was afraid of was how I'd go, because I've watched people die in the hospital fighting for oxygen and clawing at their masks," he says.