武汉大学考博英语真题

真题的作用很大。一般是复习到最后的阶段要用的参考资料。各高校考博英语真题一般讲比较有借鉴价值，你可以根据历年的出题情况来了解考博英语题目呈现出什么样的命题趋势，而且也能有一个大概的预测作用，知道命题组一般偏爱什么类型的考题，看看对你有好处的！下面是希赛网考博英语频道为大家整理的武汉大学考博英语真题，一起来练习下吧。

Part A

Direction: Read the following passage carefully and then translate the underlined sentences into Chinese．

Computers are permeating almost every aspect of our lives, including many areas previously untouched by technology. 1. But unlike such other pervasive technologies as electricity, television and the motor car, computers are on the whole less reliable and less predictable in their behavior. This is because they are discrete state digital electronic devices that are prone to total and catastrophic failure. Computer systems, when they are “down,” are completely down, unlike electromechanical devices, which may be only partially down and are thus partially usable．

Computers enable enormous quantities of information to be stored, retrieved, and transmitted at great speed on a scale not possible before. 2. This is all very well, but it has serious implications for data security and personal privacy because computers are inherently insecure. The recent activities of hackers and data thieves in the United States, Germany, and Britain have shown how all-too-easy it still is to break into even the most-sophisticated financial and military systems. The list of scares perpetrated by the new breed of hi-tech criminals, ranging from fraud in airline-ticket reservations to the reprogramming of the chips inside mobile phones, is growing daily．

Computer systems are often incredibly complex-so complex, in fact, that they are not always understood even by their creators (although few are willing to admit it). This often makes them completely unmanageable. Unmanageable complexity, can result in massive foul-ups or spectacular budget “runaways.” For example, Jeffrey Rothfeder in Business Week reports that Bank of America in 1988 had to abandon a $ 20-million computer system after spending five years and a further $ 60 million trying to make it work. Allstate Insurance saw the cost of its new system rise from $ 8 million to a staggering $ 100 million and estimated completion was delayed from 1987 to 1903. Moreover, the problem seems to be getting worse: in 1988 the American Arbitration. Association took on 190 computer disputes, most of which involved defective systems. The claims totaled $ 200 million—up from only $ 31 million in 1984．

3．Complexity can also result in disaster: no computer is 100 percent guaranteed because it is virtually impossible to anticipate all sorts of critical applications, such as saving lives, flying air craft, running nuclear power stations, transferring vast sums of money, and controlling missile systems—sometimes with tragic consequences. For example, between 1982 and 1987, some twenty-two servicemen died in five separate crashes of the United States Air Force's sophisticated Blackhawk helicopter before the problem was traced to its computer-based “fly-by-wire” system. At least two people died after receiving overdoses of radiation emitted by the computerized. There are 25 X-ray machines, and there are many other examples of fatal computer-based foul-ups．

Popular areas for less life-threatening computer malfunctions include telephone billing and telephone switching software, bank statements and bank-teller machines, electronic funds-transfer systems, and motor-vehicle license data bases. Although computers have often taken the “blame” on these occasions, the ultimate cause of failure in most cases is, in fact, human error．

Every new technology creates new problems—as well as new benefits--for society, and computers are no exception. 4. But digital computers have rendered society especially vulnerable to hardware and software malfunctions. Sometimes industrial robots go crazy, while heart pacemakers and automatic garage door openers are rendered useless by electromagnetic radiation or “electronic smog” emitted from point-of-sale terminals, personal computers, and video games. Automated teller machines (ATMs) and pumps at gas stations are closed down because of unforeseen software snafus．

The cost of all this downtime is huge. 5. For example, it has been reported that British businesses suffer around thirty major mishaps a year. revolving losses running into millions of pounds. These are caused by machine or human error and do not include human misuse in the form of fraud and sabotage. The cost of failures in domestically produced software in the United Kingdom alone is conservatively estimated at $ 900 million per year. In 1989, a British Computer Society committee, reported that much software was now so complex that current skills in safety assessment were inadequate and that therefore the safety of people could not be guaranteed．

Part B

Direction： Translate the following short paragraph into English and write your translation on the ANSWER SHEET．

1．一位负责扶贫工作的官员说，到2004年底，尽管大多数贫困人口将解决温饱问题，还将有一些生活极端贫困的人们，他们还需要政府的资助。此外，对于那些刚刚脱贫的人们，他们目前的生活状况必须改善，因为他们的生产和生活状况没有从根本上被改变。如果遭受自然灾害的袭击，就可能回到原来的贫困状况。另外，现在的贫困线标准非常低，要使全体中国人过更好的生活，长期的艰苦斗争将必不可少。

2．中国的饮食方式正在发生许多变化。众所周知，中国的饮食文化具有悠久的历史。人们采用肉、蔬菜、豆制品等能做出各种美味食品，但往往耗时多。这一点与快节奏的现代社会极不相符。如今我们有了许多不同的选择：除传统家常菜外，还有营养保健配餐和方便可口的快餐食品。由于午休时间短，人们不愿在吃上花时间，因而各种快捷、便宜的快餐成了人们，特别是年轻人的首选。

KEY

Part A

1．但与其他渗透性技术如电力、电视和汽车不同的是，电脑行为总体上更不可靠、更不可预测。这是因为它们是处于分离状态的数学电子装置，容易引起总体的、灾难性崩溃。电脑系统一旦发生故障，就会全面瘫痪。它们与电动机械装置不同，电动机械装置有可能只发生局部故障，剩下的部分仍可使用。

2．这(电脑能储存、检索和传递大量信息，且速度之快前所未有)固然很好，但这却严重关系到资料的安全性和个人隐私，因为电脑本身是不安全的。最近美国、德国、英国的黑客和资料窃贼闯入最复杂的金融和军事系统也是易如反掌，新型的高科技罪犯布下的令人恐慌的骗局日益增多，这些骗局包括在订机票中做手脚和重编移动电话芯片的程序等。

3．复杂性也会造成灾难：没有哪台电脑是百分之百可以得到保障的，因为要预料到所有的主要用途，如拯救生命、驾驶航天飞机、管理核电站、进行大笔资金转账、控制导弹系统等几乎都是不可能的——有时还会造成悲剧。例如，1982年到1987年间，在美国军事先进的“黑鹰”直升飞机的五次失事中，大约有22名军人死于非命。后来，失事的原因追查到电脑控制“有线飞行”系统。

4．但数字化电脑已使社会特别容易受硬件和软件故障的影响。有时工业机器人会发狂，同时心脏起搏器和自动车库门开启器会被销售终端机、个人电脑和电视游戏机释放出的电磁射线或“电子烟雾”所损坏。

5．例如，据报道，英国企业每年约遭受30起大灾难，损失达几百万英镑。这些损失是由机器或人为的失误引起的，这还不包括以骗局和破坏形式进行的人为滥用。根据保守的估计，仅英国国内制作的软件的故障造成的损失每年是9亿美元。

Part B

1．An official in charge of poverty-relief work has pointed out that by the end of 2004, although the majority of poor people will have resolved their food and clothing problems, there will still be some people living in extreme poverty, who are still in need of the government's financial support. Furthermore, the present living conditions must be improved for those who have just freed themselves from poverty. These people may fall back into poverty if hit by natural disasters since their production and living conditions have not been changed fundamentally. Besides, the current standard for the poverty line is quite low, and a long-term hard struggle will be required to ensure a better life for the Chinese people as a whole．

2．Many changes are taking place in China's diet style. As is known to all, China has a long history in her diet culture. Chinese people often spend a lot of time in making all sorts of delicious food by using meat, vegetables, bean products and so on, which is extremely incompatible with the fast pace of modern society. Nowadays we have many varieties of choices: nutrition-balanced and healthy food, convenient and delicious fast food in addition to traditionally homemade meal. Because of the short break at noon, people tend to spend less time on lunch. Thus cheaper fast food has become a favorite of Chinese people, especially youngsters．