2000年全国英语专业四级考试试题(11)

专四

adapted or abbreviated; or artificial names . In fact, over fifty per cent of genuine British

surnames derive from place names of different kinds, and so they belong to the last of our four

main categories. Even such a name as Simpson may belong to this last group, and not to the first ,

had the family once had its home in the ancient village of that name. Otherwis e, Simpson means

“the son of Simon”, as might be expected.

Hundreds of occupational surnames are at once familiar to us, or at least r ecognisable after a

little thought: Archer, Carter, Fisher, Mason, Thatcher, Tay lor, to name but a few. Hundreds of

others are more obscure in their meanings an d testify to the amazing specialisation in medieval

arts, crafts and functions. Such are “Day”, (Old English for breadmaker) and “Walker” (a fuller

whose job it was to clean and thicken newly made cloth).

All these vocational names carry with them a certain gravity and dignity, w hich descriptive

names often lack. Some, it is true, like “Long”, “Short” or “Li ttle”, are simple. They may be taken

quite literally. Others require more thinki ng: their meanings are slightly different from the modem

ones. “Black” and “White ” implied dark and fair respectively. “Sharp” meant genuinely

discerning, alert, acute rather than quick-witted or clever. Place-names have a lasting interest

since there is hardly a town or village in a ll England that has not at some time given its name to a

family. They may be pic turesque, even poetical; or they may be pedestrian, even trivial. Among

the comm oner names which survive with relatively little change from old-English times ar e

“Milton”(middle enclosure) and “Hilton”(enclosure on a hill).

70. Surnames are said to be ___ in Anglo-Saxon England.

A. common B. vocational C. unusual D. descriptiv e 

71. We learn from the first paragraph ___ for many years after the 13th and 14th centuries.

A. family names became descriptive and occupational

B. people in some areas still had no surnames

C. some people kept changing their surnames

D. all family names became fixed in England 

72. “Patronymic” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to “forme d from ___.

A. the name of one’s father” B. the family occupation” C. one’s family home”

D. one’s family history” 

73. Which of the following sentences is an opinion rather than a fact?

A. hundreds of occupational names are at once familiar to us.

B. “Black” and “White” implied “dark” and “fair” respectively.

C. Vocational names carry with them a certain gravity and dignity.

D. Every place in England has given its name to a family. 

TEXT C

Since the early 1930s, Swiss banks had prided themselves on their system of banking secrecy