158. _____ his knowledge of the mountainous country, John Smith was appointed as our guide.

　 A. In spite of　 　　B. On account of

　 C. Regardless of　　 D. Instead of

[答案]B. On account of

[注釋]on account of(=because of)由于，因?yàn)椤�regardless of(=without worrying about)不顧；Regardless of danger, he climbed the tower.

157. Political parties often differ in their views on various _____ concerning their own countries.

A. ways　　 B. measures　　 C. issues　　 D. patterns

[答案]c. issues.

[注釋]issue此處意為“重大問題”。measure措施，雖然填入本題也說(shuō)得過(guò)去，但不夠貼切。pattern模式，圖案，圖樣。與題意不符，不能入選。way 方法，方式。

156. Evidence obtained from observation and experiment is often used to _____ a scientific theory.

　 A. confirm　　 B. confine　　 C. conform　　 D. conceive

[答案]A. confirm.

[注釋] confirm(=support; make certain; give proof of)證實(shí)，確實(shí)：1)Please confirm your telephone message in writing.(請(qǐng)把你電話中所說(shuō)的話再用文字復(fù)述一篇。) 2)The king confirmed that the election would be on June 20th.(國(guó)王確認(rèn)，這次選擇將于六月二十日舉行。)confine...to把......限制于：Please confine your remarks to the subject we are talking about.(請(qǐng)把你的話限止于我們正在談?wù)摰念}目。)conform (to)使一致，符合，遵守。Conceive 1)想到，想出：He very quickly conceived a new plan.[注意]conceive of想象:They could not conceive of the possibility of failure.(他們不能想象失敗的可能。)

155. Jack is good, kind, hard-working and intelligent. _____, I can't speak too highly of him.

　 A. As a result　 　B. By the way

　 C. On the whole　　 D. In a word

[答案]D. In a word.

[注釋]in a word(=in short)總之，簡(jiǎn)言之。

本題是測(cè)試“過(guò)度詞”，考生務(wù)必根據(jù)上下文的邏輯關(guān)系來(lái)選擇適當(dāng)?shù)倪^(guò)渡詞，使句子的意思前后連貫。

154. Because of the strong sun Mrs. William's new dining room curtains _____ from dark blue to gray within a year.

A. faded　　 B. fainted　　 C. paled　　 D. diminished

[答案]A. faded.

[注釋]fade vt/vi褪色。Faint暈到，變得虛弱：He fainted from hunger. Diminish vt./vi.減少：1)His illness diminished his strength. 2)The campers' food supply diminished as the days wore on.(隨著日子的緩緩消逝，野營(yíng)者的食品供應(yīng)日益減少。)pale變蒼白。

153. I asked the tailor to make a small _____ to my trousers because they were too long.

A. change　 B. variation　 C. revision　 D. alteration

[答案]D alteration.

[注釋]alteration 修正，更改，尤指部分的改變。Change改變，變化，可指表面的、本質(zhì)的、內(nèi)在的變化。Revision修訂、修正，常指文章、詞典、劇本等的修改、訂正。Variation(形式、位置、條件的)變化、改變、變動(dòng)：We need some variation in our daily routine.(我們的例行公事需要作些變動(dòng)。)

152. It was necessary to _____ the factory building as the company was doing more and more business.

　 A. extend　　 B. increase　　 C. lengthen　　 D. magnify

[答案]A. extend.

[注釋]本題中extend意為“擴(kuò)大”。lengthen拉長(zhǎng),延長(zhǎng)。magnify放大。 Spread vi. 傳播；vt.展開；He spread butter on the toast.(他在烤面包上涂上奶油。)

151. We can't _____ one to change the habits of a lifetime in a short time.

　 A. hope　　 B. wait　　 C. expect　　 D. imagine

[答案]C. expert.

[注釋]expert期望，盼望，表示認(rèn)為有很大的客觀可能性，例如：I expert the work to be finished by Friday.(我期望這項(xiàng)工作能在星期五前做完。)wait for ... to do sth.等待、等待......做......，強(qiáng)調(diào)“等”這一動(dòng)詞的本身，如：The audience are waiting eagerly for the performance to begin.(觀眾正等著演出開始。)本題如改為這樣：I waited for him to arrive in time for dinner, but he didn't come.(我等他來(lái)趕上晚餐，但他沒有來(lái)。)則句子使是對(duì)的。由此可見，expect是表示“期待”，而wait for 是表示“等待”，詞義完全不同。注意hope后不能接sb. to do sth.。imagine being on the moon. 3)I'm sorry, but I can't imagine anyone doing research like that.(很遺憾，我不能想象人家那樣做實(shí)驗(yàn)。)

本題譯文：我們不能期望一個(gè)人在這樣短的時(shí)間內(nèi)改變一輩子養(yǎng)成的習(xí)慣。

150. On turning the corner, we saw the road _____ steeply.

A. departing B. decreasing　 C. descending D. depressing

[答案]C. descending.

[注釋] descend(=come or go down)走下來(lái)；傳下來(lái)：1)He descended from the top of the mountain. 2)Are men descended from apes?(人是不是猿的后代？)depress 壓抑，使沮喪。Depart出發(fā)，起程。

149. American women were _____ the right to vote until 1920 after many years of hard struggle.

A. ignored　　 B. refused　　 C. neglected　　 D. denied

[答案]D. denied.

[注釋] deny 1)否認(rèn)：A. He didn't deny the facts. B. They couldn't deny that it was a serious blow to them. C. He denied having ever there.(他否認(rèn)曾到過(guò)那里。) 2)(=say 'no' to a request; refuse to give sth. asked for or needed)不給予；Lots of people were denied the right to vote.(許多人被剝奪了選舉權(quán)。)He denies his wife nothing.(他對(duì)他的妻子有求必應(yīng)。)