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

[注释]on account of(=because of)由于，因为。regardless of(=without worrying about)不顾；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.

[注释]issue此处意为“重大问题”。measure措施，虽然填入本题也说得过去，但不够贴切。pattern模式，图案，图样。与题意不符，不能入选。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.

[注释] confirm(=support; make certain; give proof of)证实，确实：1)Please confirm your telephone message in writing.(请把你电话中所说的话再用文字复述一篇。) 2)The king confirmed that the election would be on June 20th.(国王确认，这次选择将于六月二十日举行。)confine...to把......限制于：Please confine your remarks to the subject we are talking about.(请把你的话限止于我们正在谈论的题目。)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.(他们不能想象失败的可能。)

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.

[注释]in a word(=in short)总之，简言之。

本题是测试“过度词”，考生务必根据上下文的逻辑关系来选择适当的过渡词，使句子的意思前后连贯。

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.

[注释]fade vt/vi褪色。Faint晕到，变得虚弱：He fainted from hunger. Diminish vt./vi.减少：1)His illness diminished his strength. 2)The campers' food supply diminished as the days wore on.(随着日子的缓缓消逝，野营者的食品供应日益减少。)pale变苍白。

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.

[注释]alteration 修正，更改，尤指部分的改变。Change改变，变化，可指表面的、本质的、内在的变化。Revision修订、修正，常指文章、词典、剧本等的修改、订正。Variation(形式、位置、条件的)变化、改变、变动：We need some variation in our daily routine.(我们的例行公事需要作些变动。)

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.

[注释]本题中extend意为“扩大”。lengthen拉长,延长。magnify放大。 Spread vi. 传播；vt.展开；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.

[注释]expert期望，盼望，表示认为有很大的客观可能性，例如：I expert the work to be finished by Friday.(我期望这项工作能在星期五前做完。)wait for ... to do sth.等待、等待......做......，强调“等”这一动词的本身，如：The audience are waiting eagerly for the performance to begin.(观众正等着演出开始。)本题如改为这样：I waited for him to arrive in time for dinner, but he didn't come.(我等他来赶上晚餐，但他没有来。)则句子使是对的。由此可见，expect是表示“期待”，而wait for 是表示“等待”，词义完全不同。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.(很遗憾，我不能想象人家那样做实验。)

本题译文：我们不能期望一个人在这样短的时间内改变一辈子养成的习惯。

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

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

[答案]C. descending.

[注释] descend(=come or go down)走下来；传下来：1)He descended from the top of the mountain. 2)Are men descended from apes?(人是不是猿的后代？)depress 压抑，使沮丧。Depart出发，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.

[注释] deny 1)否认：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.(他否认曾到过那里。) 2)(=say 'no' to a request; refuse to give sth. asked for or needed)不给予；Lots of people were denied the right to vote.(许多人被剥夺了选举权。)He denies his wife nothing.(他对他的妻子有求必应。)