2010年3月公共英语四级考前每日一练(4)PETS考试

文章作者 100test 发表时间 2010:02:24 19:02:29
来源 100Test.Com百考试题网

　　Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A , B , C or D on ANSWER SHEET1.
　　Man has been storing up useful knowledge about himself and the universe at the rate which has been spiraling upward for 10,000 years.
　　The __________21 took a sharp upward leap with the invention of writing, but even _________22 it remained painfully slow for several centuries. The next great leap forward _________ 23 knowledge acquisition did not occur _________ 24 the invention of movable type in the 15th century by Gutenberg and others. _________ 25 to 1500, by the most optimistic _________26 Europe was producing books at a rate of 1000 titles per year. This means that it _________ 27 a full century to produce a library of 100,000 titles.By 1950, four and a half _________ 28 later, the rate had accelerated so sharply that Europe was producing 120,000 titles a year. _________29 once took a century now took only ten months. By 1960, a _________ 30 decade later, the rate had made another significant jump, _________31 a century s work could be finished in seven and a half months. 32 , by the mid-sixties, the output of books on a world_________33 , Europe included, approached the prodigious figure of 900 rifles per day.
　　One can _________34 argue that every book is a net gain for the advancement of knowledge. Nevertheless we find that the accelerative_________35 in book publication does, in fact, crudely_________36 the rate at which man discovered new knowledge. For example, prior to Gutenberg _________37 11 chemical elements were known. Antimony, the 12th, was discovered_________ 38 about the time he was working on his invention. It was fully 200 years since the llth, arsenic, had been discovered. _________ 39 the same rate of discovery continued, we would by now have added only two or three additional elements to the periodic table since Gutenberg. _________40 , in the 450 years after his time, certain people discovered some seventy additional elements. And since 1900 we have been isolating the remaining elements not at a rate of one every two centuries, but of one every three years.
　　21. [A] accumulation
　　[B] development
　　[C] knowledge
　　[D] rate
　　22.[A] so[B] if[C] then
　　D] when
　　23. [A] to
　　[B] by
　　[C] from
　　[D] in
　　24. [ A ] until
　　[ B 1 since[ C ] when
　　[ D ] before
　　25. [ A ] As[ B ] Due[ C ] Prior
　　[ D ] Next
　　26. [ A ] examples [ B ] estimates[ C ] evidence[ D ] evaluation
　　27. [A] would take
　　[B] had taken
　　[C] was taking
　　[D] would have taken
　　28. [ A ] decades[ B ] centuries
　　[ C ] dozens
　　[ D ] years
　　29. [ A ] This[ B ] These[ C ] It[ D ] What
　　30. [ A ] plain[ B ] historic
　　[ C ] single[ D ] eventful
　　31. [ A ] now that
　　[ B ] so that
　　[ C ] as
　　[ D ] when
　　32. [ A ] However
　　[ B ] But
　　[ C ] And
　　[ D ] Therefore
　　33. [ A ]scope
　　[ B ] sphere
　　[ C ] scale
　　[ D ] stretch
　　34. [ A ] so
　　[ B ] hardly
　　 [ C ] accordingly
　　 [ D ] therefore
　　35. [ A ] line
　　 [ B ] circle
　　[ C ] diagram
　　[ D ] curve
　　36. [ A ] fit
　　[ B ] like
　　[ C ] resemble
　　[ D ] parallel
　　37.[ A] about
　　B] only
　　[C] more than
　　[D] less than
　　38. [A] in
　　[B] at
　　[C] on
　　[ D] for
　　39. [A] As
　　[B] Had
　　[C] If
　　[D] With
　　40. [ A ] In addition
　　[ B ] In turn
　　[ C ] Instead
　　[ D ] In paricular
　　参考译文
　　一万年来，人类一直在以螺旋上升的速度积累关于自身和宇宙的有用的知识。
　　随着文字的发明，这一速度急剧加快，但即便如此，在几个世纪里，也还是非常缓慢的。知识积累的第二次跃进直到l5世纪古滕博格和其他人发明了活字印刷后才出现。据最乐观的估计，欧洲在1500年以前生产书籍的速度是每年l 000种。这意味着要建一座藏书l00万种的图书馆需要整整一个世纪的时间。到1950年，也就是4个半世纪以后，知识积累的速度增长得如此之快以至于欧洲每年生产出12万种图书。曾经需要花一个世纪才能完成的事现在只要用l0个月。到l960年，仅仅l0年以后，这一速度再次显著提高，一个世纪的工作只要7个半月就可以完成。而且到60年代中期，在包括欧洲在内的世界范围内，图书产量达到了每天900种的巨大数字。
　　每本书都是知识的净增长，对此人们很少有争议。但是我们发现事实上图书出版的增长曲线与人类发现新知识的速度大致相符。例如，在古滕博格之前，只有ll种已知的化学元素。第l2种元素，锑，就大致是在他致力于他的发明时被发现的。这距第ll种元素砷的发现已经整整200年了。如果我们继续以同样的速度发现元素，从古滕博格至今，我们只能往元素周期表上再增加两、三种元素而已。相反，在他之后的450年中，有大约70种元素被发现。而l900年以后，我们分离其余元素的速度不是每两个世纪一种，而是每3年一种。
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