中级口译笔试真题0503(14)

口译

(D) political rights

22. The first significant progress in transport in ancient times was attributed to ____.

(A) the making of carts and wagons

(B) the construction of roads

(C) the invention of wheels

(D) the building of tracks

23. According to the passage, the railroad first appeared in _____.

(A) China (B) England

(C) Crete (D) Egypt

24. It can be concluded from the passage that ____.

(A) there had been oil crises in the 1970s

(B) the motor vehicles played a leading role in the decline of railroads

(C) automobiles were more important than railroads

(D) environmental protection was major concern in developing transport

25. What dose the passage say about the ―tilting train‖?

(A) It can carry more freight than other vehicles.

(B) It requires its tracks to be electrical.

(C) Its speed demands cleaner air.

(D) Its cost is very low.

Questions 28-30

A visitor from Barcelona arrives at a Madrid government office in mid-afternoon. And is surprised to find only the cleaning lady there. ―Don‘t they work in the afternoons ?‖ he asks. ―no, ‖ she replies, ―they don‘t work in the mornings. In the afternoons they don‘t come.‖

Lazy Madrid, busy Barcelona: it is just one of many stereotypes about Spain‘s great rivals. Mostly, the stereotypes are born of Barcelona‘s bitterness at its second-class status. Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, a proudly autonomous region, but Madrid is the capital of Spain. This causes resentment. It makes Barcelona the largest city in Western Europe not to be a national capital. Worse, Barcelona (Catalonia‘s capital since the ninth century) regards Madrid (a creation of Philip Ⅱ in the 16th century) as an upstart.

And, after being bossed about for so long, who can blame them? Over the years