1999年英語专业八级考试试题和答案.docVIP

1999年英语专业八级考试试题和答案 PART Ⅰ LISTENING COMPREHENSION SECTION A TALK ???? As we all know, when machines work they give off a lot of noise, and the noise can sometimes be very unpleasant, or annoying. As a result, people have been??trying to find ways to reduce noise. Although it may sound a bit strange to you all, one of the best ways to make machines quieter, in cars for example, may be??to make them noisier. The source of this paradox is electronic anti-noise which creates sound waves to cancel out unwanted noise, such as rattles, blare, etc. ????Now although the idea dates back to the 1930s, it’s only recently that advances in computer technology have made anti-noise a commercial possibility. Take Franc e for example. Here industry spends a fortune to get rid of noise. We all know how unpleasant it is. Both people working in factories and ordinary people at home enjoying their leisure can be affected by noise. Delicate machines are affected by noise as well. The government has passed a lot of regulations concerning acceptable levels of noise.  ??????Noise is costly to industry. In the first place, just following a single regulation can cost 1 to 2 billion US dollars in the textile industry, they say. ????? Then secondly, of course, vibration can cause damage to machinery. Even very small vibrations can cause parts to wear out and equipment to fail. And naturally enough, this gets added on to the price of the products. About $ to 15% of the price of a product comes from noise and vibration costs, it’s estimated. ??????At present, methods used to dampen down noise and vibrations rely on techniques that are 30 or 40 years old. These usually involve wrapping the noisy or vibrating component in anything from cotton to concrete. But this is often expensive and inefficient. ???? The modern electronic anti-noise devices don’t reduce sound. Instead, sound??is used to attack sound. The trick is to hit these sound waves with other waves?in a carefully controlled wa