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，因為。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，雖然填入本題也說得過去，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，確實：1)Please confirm your telephone message in writing.(請把你電話中所說的話再用文字復(fù)述一篇。) 2)The king confirmed that the election would be on June 20th.(國王確認(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，簡言之。

本題是測試“過度詞”，考生務(wù)必根據(jù)上下文的邏輯關(guān)系來選擇適當(dāng)?shù)倪^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：We need some variation in our daily routine.(我們的例行公事需要作些變動。)

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“擴大”。lengthen拉長,延長。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.(我期望這項工作能在星期五前做完。)wait for ... to do sth.等待、等待......做......，強調(diào)“等”這一動詞的本身，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.(我等他來趕上晚餐，但他沒有來。)則句子使是對的。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驗。)

本題譯文：我們不能期望一個人在這樣短的時間內(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；傳下來：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.(他對他的妻子有求必應(yīng)。)