北京英语水平考试（BETS）三级笔试模拟试卷4

You are going to read a magazine article about a man who teaches children how to improve their memory Choose the most suitable heading from the list A-I for each part (1-7) of the article. There is one extra heading which you do not need to use. There is an example at the beginning (0). A An obvious need B Gaining attention C The odder the better D Making sense of information E Trade secrets F Academic approval G A change of focus H Selected memories I An ancient skill Memory test Jerome Burne talks to a magician who teaches children ways to remember facts. The Greek philosophers knew about it and it could still dramatically improve children’s school results today, except that no one teaches it. “It’ is a very old technique for making your memory better. Try memorising this series of random numbers: 3, 6, 5, 5, 2, 1,2, 4. About as meaningful as dates in history or equations in maths, aren’t they? Chances are you won’t remember them in five minutes, let alone in five hours. However, had you been at a lecture given at a school in the south of England last month, you would now be able to fix them in your head for five days, five weeks, in fact for ever.“ 【B1】 ______ ’I am going to give you five techniques that will enable you to remember anything you need to know at school,“ promised lecturer lan Robinson to a fascinated audience of a hundred schoolchildren. He slapped his hand down on the table. In his other life, Robinson is an entertainer, and he was using all the tricks he had picked up in his career. “When I’ve finished in two hours’ time, your work will be far more effective and productive. Anyone not interested, leave now.“ The entire room sat still, glued to their seats. 【B2】 ______ When he entertains, Robinson calls himself the Mind Magician. He specialises in doing magic tricks that look totally impossible, and then he reveals that they involve nothing more mysterious than good old-fashioned trickery. ’1 have always been interested in tricks involving memory being able to reel off the order of cards in a pack, that sort of thing,“ he explains. 【B3】 ______ Robinson was already lecturing to schools on his magic techniques when it struck him that students might find memory techniques even more valuable. “It wasn’t a difficult area to move into, as the stutf’s all there in books.“ So he summarised everything to make a two-hour lecture about five techniques. 【B4】 ______ What Robinson’s schoolchildren get are methods that will be familiar to anyone who has dipped into any one of a dozen books on memory. The difference is that Robinson’s approach is firmly aimed at schoolchildren. The basic idea is to take material that is random and meaningless—musical scales, the bones of the arm—and give them a structure. That series of numbers at the beginning of the article fits in here. Once you think of it as the number of days in the year—365—and the number of weeks—52—and so on, it suddenly becomes permanently memorable. 【B5】 ______ “You want to learn a list of a hundred things? A thousand? No problem,“ says Robinson. The scandal is that every child is not taught the techniques from the beginning of their school life. The schoolchildren who were watching him thought it was brilliant. “1 wish I’d been told this earlier,“ commented Mark, after Robinson had shown them how to construct “mental journeys.“ 【B6】 ______ Essentially, you visualise a walk down a street, or a trip round a room, and pick the points where you will put the things you want to remember—the lamppost, the fruit bowl. Then in each location you put a visual representation of your list—phrasal verbs, historical dates, whatever—making them as strange as possible. It is that simple, and it works. 【B7】 ______ The reaction of schools has been uniformly enthusiastic. “The pupils benefited enormously from lan’s presentation,“ says Dr Johnston, head of the school where Robinson was speaking. “Ideally we should run a regular class in memory techniques so pupils can pick it up gradually.“

You are going to read a magazine article about an artist who paints flowers. For questions 8-14, choose the answer (A, B, C or D) which you think fits best according to the text. An eye for detail Artist Susan Shepherd is best known for her flower paintings, and the large garden that surrounds her house is the source of many of her subjects. It is full of her favourite flowers, most especially varieties of tulips and poppies. Some of tile plants are unruly and seed themselves all over the garden. There is a harmony of colour, shape and structure in the two long flower borders that line the paved path which crosses the garden line 10 from east to west. Much of this is due to the previous owners, who were keen gardeners, and who left plants that appealed to Susan. She also inherited the gardener, Danny. ’In tact, it was really his garden,’ she says. ’We got on very well. At first he would say, “Oh, it’s not worth it“ to some of the things I wanted to put in, but when I said I wanted to paint them, he recognised what I had in mind.’ Susan prefers to focus on detailed studies of individual plants rather than on the garden as a whole, though she will occasionally paint a group of plants where they are. More usually, she picks them and then takes them up to her studio. ’I don’t set the whole thing up at once,’ she says. ’I take one flower out and paint it, which might take a few days, and then I bring in another one and build up the painting that way. Sometimes it takes a couple of years to finish.’ Her busiest time of year is spring and early summer, when the tulips are out, followed by the poppies. ’They all come out together, and you’re so busy,’ she says. But tile gradual decaying process is also part of the fascination for her. With tulips, for example, ’you bring them in and put them in water, then leave them for perhaps a day and they each form themselves into different shapes. They open out mad are fantastic. When you first put them in a vase, yon think they are boring, but they change all the time with twists and turns.’ Susan has always been interested in plants: ’I did botany at school and used to collect wild flowers from all around the countryside,’ she says. ’t wasn’t particularly interested in gardening then; in fact, I didn’t like garden flowers, I thought they were artificial—to me, the only real ones were wild.’ Nowadays, the garden owes much to plants that originated in far-off lands, though they seem as much al home in her garden as they did in China or the Himalayas. She has a come-what-may attitude to the garden, rather like an affectionate any who is quite happy for children to run about undisciplined as long as they don’t do any serious damage. With two forthcoming exhibitions to prepare for, and a ready supply of subject material at her back door, finding time to work in the garden has been difficult recently. She now employs an extra gardener but, despite the need to paint, she knows that, to maintain her connection with her subject matter, ’you have to get your hands dirty’.

You are going to read a newspaper article about human beings getting taller. Eight sentences have been removed from the article, Choose from the sentences A-I the one that fits each gap (14-20). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use. There is an example at the beginning (0). It’s true—We’re all getting too big for our boots Chris Greener was fourteen when he told his careers teacher be wanted to join the navy when he left school. ’What do you want to be?’ asked the teacher, looking the boy up and down. ’The flagpole un a ship?’ The teacher had a pout because Chris, though still only fourteen, was already almost two metres tall. Every decade, the average height of people in Europe grows another centimetre. Every year, more and more truly big people are horn. continuingly, this does not mean humanity is producing a new super race. 【B1】__________ Only now are we losing the effects of generations of poor diet-with dramatic effects. ’We are only now beginning to fulfil our proper potential and are reaching the dimensions programmed by our bodies,’ says paleontologist Professor Chris Stringer. ’We are becoming Cro-Magnons again- the people who lived on this planet 40,000 years ago.’ For most of human history, our ancestors got their food from a wide variety of sources: women gathered herbs, fruits and berries, while men supplemented these with occasional kills of animals (a way of life still adopted by the world’s few remaining tribes of hunter-gatherer). 【B2】__________ Then about 9,000 years ago, agriculture was invented with devastating consequences. Most of the planet’s green places have been gradually taken over by farmers, with the result that just three carbohydrate- rich plants - wheat, rice and maize provide more than half of the calories consumed by the human race today. 【B3】__________ Over the centuries we have lived on soups, porridges and breads that have left us underfed and underdeveloped. In one study of skeletons of American Indians in Ohio, scientists discovered that when they began to grow corn, healthy hunter-gatherers were turned into sickly, underweight farmers. Tooth decay increased, as did diseases. Far from being one of the blessings of the New World, com was a public health disaster, according to some anthropologists. 【B4】__________ The fact that most people relying on this system are poorly nourished and stunted has only recently been tackled, even by the world’s wealthier nations. Only in Europe, the US and Japan are diets again reflecting the richness of our attesters’ diets. As a result, the average man in the US is now 179cm, in Holland 180cm, and in Japan 177cm. It is a welcome trend, though not without its own problems.【B5】__________A standard bed-length has remained at 190em since 1860, while the height of a door was fixed at 198cm in 1880. Even worse, leg-room in planes and trains seems to have shrank rather than grown, while clothes manufacturers are constantly having to revise their range of products. The question is: where will it all end? We cannot grow for ever. 【B6】__________But what is it? According to Robert Fugal, of Chicago University, it could be as much as 193cm -and we are likely to reach it some time this century. However, scientists add one note of qualification. Individuals may be growing taller because of improved nutrition, but as a species we are actually shrinking, although very tightly. During the last ice age, 10,000 years ago, members no the human race were slightly rounder and taller an evolution’s response to the cold. (Large round bodies are best at keeping in heat.) 【B7】__________ And as the planet continues to heat up, we may shrink even further. In other words, the growth of human beings could be offset by global warming. A We must have some programmed upper limit. B As they benefit from the changes in agriculture, people expect to have this wide variety of foods available. C In fact, we are returning to what we were like as cavemen. D This poor diet has had a disastrous effect on human health and physique. E Since the climate warmed, we appear to have got slightly thinner and smaller, even when properly fed. F Nevertheless, from then on agriculture spread because a piece of farmed land could support ten times the number of people who had previously lived off it as hunter-gatherers. G One research study found that they based their diet on 85 different wild plants, for example. H Heights may have risen, but the world has not moved on, it seems. I Today, at 228cm, he is Britain’s tallest man.

You are going to read an article about the effect of advertising on children. For questions 22- 35, choose from the sections of the article (A-F). The sections may be chosen more than once. There is an example at the beginning (0). Which section of the article mentions the kind of shop in which TV advertising expects to see results? 0 B the influence a parent has had over their child’s views? 【S1】______ the fact that children do not understand why their parents refuse their demands? 【S2】______ a parent who understands why children make demands? 【S3】______ a family who rarely argue while shopping? 【S4】______ someone who feels children ought to find out for themselves how to make 【S5】______ decisions about what to buy? the fact that parents can be mistaken about what food is good for you? 【S6】______ an unexpected benefit for shops? 【S7】______ a parent who regrets buying what their children have asked for? 【S8】______ a parent who has different rules for themselves and their children? 【S9】______ a parent who feels annoyed even before the children ask for anything? 【S10】______ the fact that parents blame the advertisers for the difficult situation they 【S11】______ find themselves in? the regularity of children’s demands? 【S12】______ the need for parents to discuss food with their children? 【S13】______ a TV advertising rule which has little effect? 【S14】______ Young Shoppers A Supermarket shopping with children, one mother says, is absolute a murder: “They want everything they see. If it’s not the latest sugar-coated breakfast cereal, it’s a Disney video or a comic. Usually all three. I can’t afford all this stuff and, anyway, if I agree to their demands I feel I’ve been persuaded against my better judgment and I feel guilty about buying and feeding them rubbish. Yet I hate myself for saying no all the time, and I get cross and defensive in anticipation as we leave home. I do my best to avoid taking them shopping but then I worry that I’m not allowing them to have the experience they need in order to make their own choices. I can’t win.“ B Research has found that children taken on a supermarket trip make a purchase request every two minutes. More than ￡150 million a year is now spent on advertising directly to children, most of it is on television. That figure is likely to increase and it is in the supermarket aisles that the investment is most likely to be successful. For children, the reasons behind their parents’ decisions about what they can and cannot afford are often unclear, and arguments about how bad sugar is for their teeth are unconvincing when compared with the attractive and emotionally persuasive advertising campaigns. C According to Susan Dib of the National Food Alliance, “Most parents are concerned about what they give their children to eat and have ideas about what food is healthy—although those ideas are not always accurate. Obviously, such a dialogue between parents and children is a good thing, because if the only information children are getting about products is from TV advertising, they are getting a very one- sided view. Parents resent the fact that they are competing with the advertising industry and are forced into the position of repeatedly disappointing their children.“ The Independent Television Commission, which regulates TV advertising, prohibits advertisers from telling children to ask their parents to buy products. But, as Dib points out, “The whole purpose of advertising is to persuade the viewer to buy something. So even if they cannot say, ’Tell your mum to buy this product,’ the intended effect is precisely that.“ D A major source of stress for some parents shopping with children is the mental energy required to decide which demands should be agreed to and which should be refused. One mother says she has patience when it comes to discussing food with her children, but she still feels unhappy about the way she manages their shopping demands: “My son does pay attention to advertisements but he is critical of them. We talk a lot about different products and spend time looking at labels. I’ve talked about it so much that I’ ve brainwashed him into thinking all adverts are rubbish. We have very little conflict in the supermarket now because the children don’t ask for things I won’t want to buy.“ E Parents also admit they are inconsistent, even hypocritical, in their responses to their children’s purchasing requests. Mike, father of a son of seven and a daughter of three, says, “We refuse to buy him the sweets he wants on the grounds that it’s bad for him while we are busy loading the trolley with double cream and chocolate for ourselves. It’s enjoyable to buy nice things, and it’s quite reasonable that children should want to share that, I suppose. But I still find myself being irritated by their demands. It partly depends on how I feel. If I’m feeling generous and things are going well in my life, I’m more likely to say yes. It’s hard to be consistent.“ F Supermarkets themselves could do a lot more to ease parent-child conflict by removing sweets from checkout areas or even by providing supervised play areas. Although parents might spend less without their children with them, the thought of shopping without your six-year-old’s demands would surely attract enough extra customers to more than make up the difference.

You must answer this question. 1. Your English friend, Kim, has written to you asking you if you’d like to go to a concert by your favourite band, Red Stone. Read Kim’s letter, on which you have made some notes. Then write a letter to Kim accepting the invitation and giving all the necessary information. You must use all your notes. Write a letter of between 120 and 180 words in an appropriate style. Do not write any postal addresses.

Write an answer to one of the questions 2-4 in this part. Write your answer in 120-180 words in an appropriate style. 2. Your teacher has asked you to write a stow for the college English language magazine. The stow must begin with the following words: It was only a small mistake but it changed my fife forever. Write your story.

Write an answer to one of the questions 2-4 in this part. Write your answer in 120-180 words in an appropriate style. 2. You have seen this announcement in an international music magazine. MUSIC ON THE RADIO Our readers tell us they love listening to the music on the radio! What would your ideal evening music programme consist of’? Write us an article: telling us what type of music you’d like to hear giving your suggestions for making the programme popular The writer with the best ideas will win El ,000 to spend on CDs. Write your article.

You have decided to enter a short story competition in an international magazine. The competition rules say that the story must end with the following words: That one telephone carl changed my life for ever. Write your story.

MOUNTAIN CLIMBING One of the most difficult but rewarding of pastimes is the sport of mountain climbing. Mountain climbing can be divided into two categories, rock climbing and ice climbing, and the modern climber must【B1】______ many different skills. Rock climbing　【B2】______ a combination of gymnastic ability, imagination and observation, but perhaps the most necessary skill is being able to　【B3】______ out how much weight a padicular rock will 【B4】______ Mountaineers climb in groups of three or four, each climber at a distance of approximately six metres from the next. Usually one person climbs while the other climbers 【B5】______ hold of the rope. The most experienced climber goes first and 【B6】______ the other climbers which 【B7】______ to go. When the leader has reached a good position, he or she makes the rope secure so that it is【B8】______ for the others to follow. Since much mountain climbing 【B9】______ place in bad weather, snow skills 【B10】______ a very important part. Ice axes are used for 【B11】______ steps into the snow, and for testing the ground. Climbers always tie themselves 【B12】______ so that, if the leader does fall, he or she can be held by the others and 【B13】______ back to safety. The number of dangers 【B14】______ by climbers is almost endless. Yet perhaps the most difficult part of the sport is the physical effort needed when the air has little oxygen. The 【B15】______ of oxygen can leave mountaineers continually out of breath.

VANCOUVER Vancouver in western Canada is named after Captain George Vancouver of the British Royal Navy. However, Captain Vancouver was not the first European 【C1】______ visit the area. The coast 【C2】______ already been explored by the Spanish. Captain Vancouver did 【C3】______ spend many days there, even 【C4】______ he was warmly welcomed by the local people and the scenery amazed him and everyone else 【C5】______ was travelling with him. The scenery still amazes visitors to 【C6】______ city of Vancouver today. First-time visitors who are 【C7】______ search of breathtaking views 【C8】______ usually directed to a beach which is about ten minutes 【C9】______ the city centre. There, looking out over the sailing boats racing across the blue water, visitors see Vancouver’s towering skyline backed by the magnificent Coast Mountains. Then they sigh and say, ’It’s 【C10】______ beautiful that I want to stay forever!’ You can’t blame them. The city is regularly picked by international travel associations 【C11】______ one of the world’s best tourist destinations. They are only confirming what the two million residents and eight million tourists visiting Greater Vancouver 【C12】______ single year already know: there is simply 【C13】______ other place on earth quite 【C14】______ it. It’s not just the gorgeous setting where mountains meet the sea that appeals to people, 【C15】______ also Vancouver’s wide range of sporting, cultural and entertainment facilities.

Antonio only lost the 100-metre race because he fell. not If Antonio had ____________________ won the 100-metre race.

A newly-qualified dentist took out Mr Dupont’s tooth. had Mr Dupont ____________________ by a newly-qualified dentist.

It looks as if Susan has left her jacket behind. seems Susan ____________________ her jacket behind.

We didn’t enjoy our walk along the seafront because it was so windy. prevented The strong wind ____________________ our walk along the seafront.

They say the ice in Antarctica is getting thinner all the time. said The ice in Antarctica ____________________ getting thinner all the time.

I’ve already planned my next holiday. arrangements I’ve already ____________________ my next holiday.

Luke knocked over the old lady’s bicycle by accident. mean Luke ____________________ knock over the old lady’s bicycle.

The only shoes I could find to fit me were in black leather. any I could ____________________ fitted me, apart from some in black leather.

The TV programme was so complicated that none of the children could understand it. too The TV programme was____________________ the children to understand.

Nina’s parents said she wasn’t to use their new camera. let Nina’s parents ____________________ use their new camera.