北京外国语大学

北京外国语大学硕士研究生入学考试试题（样题）

招生专业：翻译硕士（英语口译、英语笔译）

科目名称：翻译硕士英语

（考试时间3小时，满分100分，全部写在答题纸上，答在试题页上无效）

Part II Reading Comprehension (40 points) 

Section A Multiple Choices (20 points, 2 points each)

Please read the following passages and choose one from A, B, C or D that best complete the statements or best answer the questions in front of them. 

Passage One

My professor brother and I have an argument about head and heart, about whether he overvalues IQ while I lean more toward EQ. We typically have this debate about people—can you be friends with a really smart jerk? ---but there’s corollary to animals as well I’d love it if our dog could fetch the morning paper and then read it to me over coffee, but I care much more about her loyal and innocent heart. There9s already enough thinking going on in our house, and we probably spend too much time in our heads. Where we need some role modeling is in instinct, and that’s where a dog is a roving revelation.

I did not grow up with dogs, which meant that my older daughter’s respectful but unyielding determination to get one required some adjustment on my part. I often felt she was training me: from ages of 6 to 9, she gently schooled me in various breeds and their personality-ties, whispered to the dogs we encountered so they would charm and persuade me, demonstrated by her self-discipline that she was ready for the responsibility. And thus came our dog Twist, whom I sometimes mistake for a third daughter.

At first I thought the challenge would be to train her to sit, to heel, to walk calmly beside us and not go wildly chasing the neighborhood rabbits. But I soon discovered how much more we had to learn from her than she from us.

If it is true, for example, that the secret to a child’s success is less rare genius than raw persistence, Twist’s ability to stay on task is a model for us all, especially if the task is trying to capture the sunbeam that flicks around the living room as the wind blows through the branches outside. She never succeeds，and she never gives up. This includes when she runs square into walls.

Then there is her unfailing patience, which breaks down only when she senses that dinnertime was 15 minutes ago and we have somehow failed to notice. Even then she is more eager than indignant, and her refusal to whine shows a restraint of which I’m not always capable when hungry.

But the lesson I value most is the one in forgiveness, and Twist first offered this when she was still very young. When she was about 7 months old, we took her to the vet to be spayed. We turned her over to a stranger, who proceeded to perform a proce- dure that was probably not pleasant. But when the vet returned her to us, limp and tender, there was no recrimination, no How could you do that to me? It was as though she already knew that we would not intentionally cause her pain, and while she did not understand, she forgave and curled up with her head on my daughter’s lap.

I suppose we could have concluded that she was just blindly loyal and docile. But eventually we knew better. She is entirely capable of disobedience, as she has proved many times. She will ignore us when there are more interesting things to look at, rebuke us when we are careless, bark into the twilight when she has urgent messages to send. But her patience with our failings and fickleness and her willingness to give us a second chance are a daily lesson in gratitude.

(8)My friends who grew up with dogs tell me how when they were teenagers and trusted no one in the world, they could tell their dog all their secrets. It was the one friend who would not gossip or betray, could provide in the middle of the night the soft, unbegrudging comfort and peace that adolescence conspires to disrupt. An age that is all about growth and risk needs some anchors and weights, a model of steadfastness when all else is in flux. Sometimes I think Twist's devotion keeps my girls on a benevolent leash, one that hangs quietly at their side as they trot along but occasionally yanks them back to safety and solid ground.

We’ve weighed so many decisions so carefully in raising our daughters—what school to send them to and what church to attend, when to give them cell phones and with what precautions. But when it comes to what really shapes their character and binds our family, I never would have thought we would owe so much to its smallest member.

31.According to the context, the meaning of the word “square” is closest to.

(A)fast

(B)blindly

(C)straight

(D)stubbornly

32. In the first paragraph, the author suggests that.

(A)a person can either have a high IQ or a low EQ

(B)her professor brother cares too much about IQ

(C)we need examples of how to follow one’s heart

(D)she prefers dogs that are clever and loyal

33.According to the passage, all the following are Twist’s characteristics EXCEPT.

(A)resignation

(B)patience

(C)forgiveness

(D)tenacity

34.That Twist’s devotion keeps my girls on a benevolent leash means that.

(A)Twist is capable of looking after the girls

(B)Twist and the girls have become friends

(C)Twist knows how to follow the girls

(D)Twist’s loyalty helps the girls grow up 

35.What does the author try to express in the last paragraph?

(A)Difficulties in raising her children. 

(B)Worries about what to buy for kids.

(C)Gratitude to Twist for her role.

(D)Concerns about schooling and religion.