坟墓英文-hayday
最新大学英语四级真题（第
1
套）
Part I
Writing
(30
minutes)
Directions: For
this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a
letter to
express your thanks to
your parents or any family members upon
making memorable achievement.
You
should write
at least 120 words but no
more than 180 words.
Part
Ⅱ
Listening Comprehension
(25
minutes)
Section
A
Directions:
In
this section, you will hear three news reports. At
the end of each news report, you
will
hear two or three questions. Both the news report
and the questions will be spoken only once.
After you hear a question, you must
choose the best answer from the four choices
marked A), B),
C) and D). Then mark the
corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a
single line through the
centre.
Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news
report you have just heard.
1. A)The International Labor
Organization's key objective.
B)The basic social
protection for the most vulnerable.
C)Rising unemployment
worldwide.
D)Global economic recovery.
2. A)Many countries have not taken
measures to create enough jobs.
B)Few countries know how to
address the current economic crisis.
C)Few countries have
realized the seriousness of the current crisis.
D)Many
countries need support to improve their people's
livelihood.
Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news
report you have just heard.
3. A)Serve
standardized food nationwide.
B)Put calorie information
on the menu.
C)Increase protein content in the food.
D)Offer
convenient food to customers.
4. A)They
will be fined.
B)They will be closed.
C)They will get a warning.
D)They will
lose customers.
Questions 5 to 7 are
based on the news report you have just heard.
5. A)Inability to implement
their business plans.
B)Inability to keep turning out novel
products.
C)Lack of a successful business model
of their own.
D)Failure to integrate innovation into
their business.
6. A)It is
the secret to business success.
B)It is the creation of
something new.
C)It is a magic tool to bring big
rewards.
D)It
is an essential part of business culture.
7. A)Its hardworking employees.
B)Its flexible
promotion strategy.
C)Its innovation culture.
D)Its willingness to make
investments.
Section
B
Directions:
In this section, you will hear two long
conversations. At the end of each conversations
you will hear four questions. Both the
conversations and the question-s will be spoken
only once.
After you hear a question.
You must choose the best answer from the four
choices marked A),
B),
C)and
D). Then mark the
corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a
single line
through the centre.
Questions 8 to 11 are based
on the conversation you have just
heard.
8. A)He's
got addicted to technology.
B)He is not very good at
socializing.
C)He is crazy about text-messaging.
D)He does not
talk long on the phone.
9. A)Talk big.
B)Talk at
length.
C)Gossip a lot.
D)Forget herself.
10. A)He
thought it was cool.
B)He needed the practice.
C)He wanted to stay connected with
them.
D)He had an urgent message to send.
11. A)It poses a challenge to seniors.
B)It saves both time and money.
C)It is childish and unprofessional.
D)It is cool and convenient.
Questions 12 to 15 are
based on the conversation you have just
heard.
12. A)He
wants to change his job assignment.
B)He is unhappy
with his department manager.
C)He thinks he
deserves extra pay for overtime.
D)He is often
singled out for criticism by his boss.
13. A)His workload was much too heavy.
B)His immediate boss did not trust him.
C)His colleagues often refused to
cooperate.
D)His salary was too low for his
responsibility.
14. A)He never knows
how to refuse.
B)He is always ready to help others.
C)His boss has a lot of trust in him.
D)His boss has no sense of fairness.
15. A)Put all his complaints in
writing.
B)Wait and see what happens next.
C)Learn to say no when necessary.
D)Talk to his boss in person first.
Section C
Directions:
In
this section, you will hear three passages. At the
end of each passage, you will hear
three or four questions. Both the
passage and the questions will be spoken only
once. After you
hear a question, you
must choose the best answer from the four choices
marked A),
B),
C)and D).Then
mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1
with a single line through the
centre.
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the
passage you have just heard.
16. A)The importance of
sleep to a healthy life.
B)Reasons for Americans'
decline in sleep.
C)Some tips to improve the
quality of sleep.
D)Diseases associated with
lack of sleep.
17. A)They are more
health-conscious.
B)They are changing their
living habits.
C)They get less and less sleep.
D)They know the dangers of lack of
sleep.
18. A)Their weight will go down.
B)Their mind function will deteriorate.
C)Their work efficiency will decrease.
D)Their blood pressure will rise.
Questions 19 to 21 are
based on the passage you have just
heard.
19. A)How
much you can afford to pay.
B)What course
you are going to choose.
C)Which university you are
going to apply to.
D)When you are going to
submit your application.
20. A)The list
of courses studied.
B)The full record of
scores.
C)The references from teachers.
D)The personal statement.
21. A)Specify what they would like to
do after graduation.
B)Describe in detail how
much they would enjoy studying.
C)Indicate they
have reflected and thought about the subject.
D)Emphasize that they admire the
professors in the university.
Questions
22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just
heard.
22. A)It
was equipped with rubber tyres.
B)It was built
in the late 19th century.
C)It was purchased by the
Royal family.
D)It was designed by an English
engineer.
23. A)They consumed lots of
petrol.
B)They took two passengers only.
C)They were difficult to drive.
D)They often broke down.
24.
A)They were produced on the assembly line.
B)They were built with less costly
materials.
C)They were modeled after British cars.
D)They were made for ordinary use.
25. A)It made news all over the world.
B)It was built for the Royal family.
C)It marked a new era in motor travel.
D)It attracted large numbers of
motorists.
Part III
Reading
Comprehension
Section A
Directions:
In this section,
there is a passage with ten blanks. You are
required to select one word
for each
blank from a list of choices given in a word bank
following the passage. Read the passage
through carefully
before
making
your choices. Each
choice
in
the
bank
is
identified
by
a
letter.
Please mark the
corresponding letter for each item on
Answer Sheet 2
with a single
line through
the centre. You may not
use any of the words in the bank more than once.
Physical activity does the body good,
and there's growing evidence that it helps the
brain too.
Researchers in the
Netherlands report that children who get more
exercise, whether at school or on
their
own,
26
to
have
higher
GPAs
and
better
scores
on
standardized
tests.
In
a
27
of 14 studies that looked at physical
activity and academic
28
,
investigators found that the
more
children moved, the better their grades were in
school,
29
in the basic
subjects of math,
English and reading.
The data will certainly fuel the
ongoing debate over whether physical education
classes should
be
cut
as
schools
struggle
to
30
on
smaller
budgets.
The
arguments
against
physical
education
have
included
concerns
that
gym
time
may
be
taking
away
from
study
time.
With
standardized test scores in the U.S.
31
in recent
years, some administrators believe students
need to spend more time in the
classroom instead of on the playground. But as
these findings show,
exercise
and
academics
may
not
be
32
exclusive.
Physical
activity
can
improve
blood
33
to the brain, fueling memory, attention
and creativity, which are
34
to learning. And
exercise
releases
hormones
that
can
improve
35
and
relieve
stress,
which
can
also
help
learning.
So
while
it
may
seem
as
if
kids
are
just
exercising
their
bodies
when
they're
running
around, they may actually be exercising
their brains as well.
A)attendance
E)dropping
I)mood
M)review
B)consequently
F)essential
J)mutually
N)survive
C)current
G)feasible
K)particularly
O)tend
D)depressing
H)flow
L)performance
Section B
Directions:
In this section, you are going to read
a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each
statement contains information given in
one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from
which
the information is derived. You
may choose a paragraph more than once. Each
paragraph is marked
with a letter.
Answer the questions by marking the corresponding
letter on
Answer Sheet 2
.
Finding the Right Home—and Contentment,
Too
[A] When your elderly relative
needs to enter some sort of long-term care
facility—a moment few
parents or children approach without
fear—what you would like is to have everything
made
clear.
[B]
Does assisted living really mark a great
improvement over a nursing home, or has the
industry
simply hired
better interior designers? Are nursing homes as
bad as people fear, or is that an
out-moded
stereotype
< br>（固定看法
)
? Can doing one's
homework really steer families to the
best places? It is
genuinely hard to know.
[C] I am about
to make things more complicated by suggesting that
what kind of facility an older
person
lives
in
may
matter
less
than
we
have
assumed.
And
that
the
characteristics
adult
children
look
for
when
they
begin
the
search
are
not
necessarily
the
things
that
make
a
difference to
the people who are going to move in. I am not
talking about the quality of care,
let me hastily add. Nobody flourishes
in a gloomy environment with irresponsible staff
and a
poor
safety
record.
But
an
accumulating
body
of
research
indicates
that
some
distinctions
between one type of elder
care and another have little real bearing on how
well residents do.
[D] The most recent
of these studies, published in
The
journal of Applied Gerontology
,
surveyed
150
Connecticut
residents
of
assisted
living,
nursing
homes
and
smaller
residential
care
homes
（
known in
some states as board and care homes or adult care
homes). Researchers
from
the
University
of
Connecticut
Health
Center
asked
the
residents
a
large
number
of
questions about their quality of life,
emotional well-being and social interaction, as
well as
about the quality
of the facilities.
[E] “We thought we
would see differences based on the housing types,”
said the lead author of the
study,
Julie
Robison,
an
associate
professor
of
medicine
at
the
university.
A
reasonable
assumption—don't
families
struggle
to
avoid
nursing
homes
and
suffer
real
guilt
if
they
can't?
[F]
In the
initial results, assisted living residents did
paint the most positive picture. They were
less likely
to
report symptoms of depression than those in the
other facilities, for instance,
and less likely to be bored or lonely.
They scored higher on social interaction.
[G] But when the researchers plugged in
a number of other variables, such differences
disappeared.
It is not the
housing type, they found, that creates differences
in residents' responses. “It is
the characteristics of the specific
environment they are in, combined with their own
personal
characteristics—how
healthy
they
feel
they
are,
their
age
and
marital
status,”
Dr.
Robison
explained. Whether residents felt
involved in the decision to move and how long they
had
lived there also proved
significant.
[H]
An
elderly
person
who
describes
herself
as
in
poor
health,
therefore,
might
be
no
less
depressed
in
assisted
living
（
even
if
her
children
preferred
it)
than
in
a
nursing
home.
A
person who had input into
where he would move and has had time to adapt to
it might do as
well in a
nursing home as in a small residential care home,
other factors being equal. It is an
interaction between the person and the
place, not the sort of place in itself, that leads
to better
or worse
experiences. “You can't just say,
'Let's put this
person in a
residential care home
instead of a nursing home—she will be
much better off,'” Dr. Robison said. What matters,
she added, “is a
combination of what people bring in with them, and
what they find there.”
[I] Such
findings, which run counter to common sense, have
surfaced before. In a multi-state study
of assisted living, for
instance, University of North Carolina researchers
found that a host of
variables
—
the
facility's
type,
size
or
age
；
whether
a
chain
owned
it
；
how
attractive
the
neighborhood
was
—
had
no
significant
relationship
to
how
the
residents
fared
in
terms
of
illness,
mental decline, hospitalizations or mortality.
What mattered most was the residents'
physical
health
and
mental
status.
What
people
were
like
when
they
came
in
had
greater
consequence than what
happened once they were there.
[J] As I
was considering all this, a press release from a
respected research firm crossed my desk,
announcing that the five-
star rating system that Medicare developed in 2008
to help families
compare
nursing home quality also has little relationship
to how satisfied its residents or their
family
members
are. As a matter of fact, consumers expressed
higher satisfaction with the
one-star facilities, the lowest rated,
than with the five-star
ones.
（
More on this study and
the
star ratings will
appear in a subsequent post.)
[K]
Before we collectively tear our hair
out
—
how are we supposed to
find our way in a landscape
this
confusing?
—
here is a thought
from Dr. Philip Sloane, a
geriatrician<
/p>
（老年病学专家
)
at
the University of North
Carolina:“In a way, that could be liberating for
families.
”
[L]
Of
course,
sons
and
daughters
want
to
visit
the
facilities,
talk
to
the
administrators
and
residents
and
other
families,
and
do
everything
possible
to
fulfill
their
duties.
But
perhaps
they
don't have to turn themselves into private
investigators or Congressional subcommittees.
“Families can look a bit
more for where the residents are going to be
happy,” Dr. Sloane said.
And involving the future resident in
the process can be very important.
[M]
We all have our own ideas about what would bring
our parents happiness. They have their
ideas,
too.
A
friend
recently
took
her
mother
to
visit
an
expensive
assisted
living/nursing
home near my town. I have seen this
place
—
it is elegant, inside
and out. But nobody greeted
the
daughter
and
mother
when
they
arrived,
though
the
visit
had
been
planned
；
nobody
introduced
them
to
the
other
residents.
When
they
had
lunch
in
the
dining
room,
they
sat
alone at a table.
[N] The daughter feared her mother
would be ignored there, and so she decided to move
her into a
more welcoming
facility. Based on what is emerging from some of
this research, that might
have been as rational a way as any to
reach a decision.
36.
Many people feel guilty when they
cannot find a place other than a nursing home for
their
parents.
it
helps
for
children
to
investigate
care
facilities,
involving
their
parents
in
the
decision-
making process may prove very important.
is really difficult to tell if
assisted living is better than a nursing home.
a resident feels depends on an
interaction between themselves and the care
facility they
live in.
author thinks her friend made a
rational decision in choosing a more hospitable
place over
an apparently
elegant assisted living home.
system
Medicare developed to rate nursing home quality is
of little help to finding a
satisfactory place.
first
the researchers of the most recent study found
residents in assisted living facilities gave
higher scores on social
interaction.
kind of care facility old
people live in may be less important than we
think.
findings of the latest research
were similar to an earlier multi-state study of
assisted living.
45.A resident's
satisfaction with a care facility has much to do
with whether they had participated
in the decision to move in and how long
they had stayed there.
Section C
Directions:
There are 2
passages in this section. Each passage is followed
by some questions or
unfinished
statements. For each of them there are four
choices marked A), B), C) and D). You
should decide on the best choice and
mark the corresponding letter on
Answer
Sheet 2
with a
single line
through the centre.
Passage One
Questions 46 to 50 are based on the
following passage.
As Artificial
Intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly
sophisticated, there are growing
concerns that robots could become a
threat. This danger can be avoided, according to
computer
science professor Stuart
Russell, if we figure out how to turn human values
into a programmable
code.
Russell argues that as robots take on
more complicated tasks, it's necessary to
translate our
morals into AI language.
For example, if a robot does chores
around the house, you wouldn't want it to put the
pet cat
in the oven to make dinner for
the hungry children. “You would want that robot
preloaded with a
good set of values,”
said Russell.
Some robots are already
programmed with basic human values. For example,
mobile robots
have been programmed to
keep a comfortable distance from humans. Obviously
there are cultural
differences, but if
you were talking to another person and they came
up close in your personal
space, you
wouldn't think that's the kind of thing a properly
brought-up person would do.
It will be
possible to create more sophisticated moral
machines, if only we can find a way to
set out human values as clear rules.
Robots could also learn values from
drawing patterns from large sets of data on human
behavior. They are dangerous only if
programmers are careless.
The biggest
concern with robots going against human values is
that human beings fail to do
sufficient
testing and they've produced a system that will
break some kind of
taboo
（禁忌<
/p>
)
.
One simple
check would be to program a robot to check the
correct course of action with a
human
when presented with an unusual situation.
If the robot is unsure whether an
animal is suitable for the microwave, it has the
opportunity
to stop, send out
beeps
（嘟嘟声
)
, and
ask for directions from a human. If we humans
aren't quite
sure about a decision, we
go and ask somebody else.
The most
difficult step in programming values will be
deciding exactly what we believe in
moral, and how to create a set of
ethical rules. But if we come up with an answer,
robots could be
good for humanity.
does the author say about the threat
of robots?
A)It
may constitute a challenge to computer
programmers.
B)It accompanies all machinery
involving high technology.
C)It can be avoided if human values are
translated into their language.
D)It has become an
inevitable peril as technology gets more
sophisticated.
would we think of a
person who invades our personal space according to
the author?
A)They are aggressive.
B)They are outgoing.
C)They
are ignorant.
D)They are ill-bred.
do
robots learn human values?
A)By interacting with humans in
everyday life situations.
B)By following the daily routines of
civilized human beings.
C)By picking up patterns from massive
data on human behavior.
D)By imitating the behavior of property
brought-up human beings.
will a well-
programmed robot do when facing an unusual
situation?
A)Keep a distance from possible
dangers.
B)Stop to seek
advice from a human being.
C)Trigger its built-in alarm system at
once.
D)Do sufficient testing
before taking action.
is most
difficult to do when we turn human values into a
programmable code?
A)Determine what is moral and ethical.
B)Design some large-scale experiments.
C)Set rules for man-machine
interaction.
D)Develop a more sophisticated program.
Passage Two
Questions 51 to
55 are based on the following passage.
Why
do
some
people
live
to
be
older
than
others?
You
know
the
standard
explanations:
keeping a
moderate diet, engaging in regular exercise, etc.
But what effect does your personality
have on your
longevity
（长寿）
?Do
some kinds of personalities lead to longer lives?
A new study in
the
Journal
of the American Geriatrics Society
looked at this question by examining the
personality
characteristics of 246
children of people who had lived to be at least
100.
The study
shows that those living the longest are more
outgoing, more active and less
neurotic
（神经质的
) than other people.
Long-living women are also more likely to be
sympathetic and
cooperative than women
with a normal life span. These findings are in
agreement with what you
would expect
from the evolutionary theory: those who like to
make friends and help others can
gather
enough resources to make it through tough times.
Interestingly,
however,
other
characteristics
that
you
might
consider
advantageous
had
no
impact
on
whether
study
participants
were
likely
to
live
longer.
Those
who
were
more
self-
disciplined, for instance, were no more likely to
live to be very old. Also, being open to new
ideas had no relationship to long life,
which might explain all those bad-tempered old
people who
are fixed in their ways.
Whether
you
can
successfully
change
your
personality
as
an
adult
is
the
subject
of
a
longstanding
psychological
debate.
But
the
new
paper
suggests
that
if
you
want
long
life,
you
should strive to be as
outgoing as possible.
Unfortunately,
another
recent
study
shows
that
your
mother's
personality
may
also
help
determine your longevity. That study
looked at nearly 28,000 Norwegian mothers and
found that
those
moms
who
were
more
anxious,
depressed
and
angry
were
more
likely
to
feed
their
kids
unhealthy diets. Patterns of childhood
eating can be hard to break when we're adults,
which may
mean that kids of depressed
moms end up dying younger.
Personality isn't
destiny
（命运
), and
everyone knows that individuals can learn to
change. But
both studies show that long
life isn't just a matter of your physical health
but of your mental health.
51. The aim
of the study in the
Journal of the
American Geriatrics Society
is____.
A)to see whether people's personality
affects their life span
B)to find out if one's
lifestyle has any effect on their health
C)to investigate the role of exercise
in living a long life
D)to examine all the
factors contributing to longevity
52.
What does the author imply about outgoing and
sympathetic people?
A)They have a good
understanding of evolution.
B)They are
better at negotiating an agreement.
C)They
generally appear more resourceful.
D)They are more
likely to get over hardship.
53. What
finding of the study might prove somewhat out of
our expectation?
A)Easy-going people can
also live a relatively long life.
B)Personality
characteristics that prove advantageous actually
vary with times.
C)Such personality
characteristics as self-discipline have no effect
on longevity.
D)Readiness to accept new ideas helps
one enjoy longevity.
54. What does the
recent study of Norwegian mothers show?
A)Children's personality
characteristics are invariably determined by their
mothers.
B)People with unhealthy eating habits
are likely to die sooner.
C)Mothers' influence on children may
last longer than fathers'.
D)Mothers' negative personality
characteristics may affect their children's life
spans.
can we learn from the findings
of the two new studies?
A)Anxiety and depression more often
than not cut short one's life span.
B)Longevity results from a
combination of mental and physical health.
C)Personality
plays a decisive role in how healthy one is.
D)Health is in large part related to
one's lifestyle.
Part IV
Translation
Directions:
For
this
part,
you
are
allowed
30
minutes
to
translate
a
passage
from
Chinese
into
English. You
should write your answer on
Answer
Sheet 2
.
功夫（
Kong Fu)
是中国武术（
martial arts
）的俗称。中国武术的起源可以追溯到自卫的
需要，
狩猎活动
以及古代中国的军士训练。
它是中国传统体育运动的一种，
年轻
人和老年人
都练。
它已逐渐演变成了中国文化的独特元素。
作为中国的国宝，
武术有上百种不同的风格，
是世界上练得最多的武术形式。
有些风格模仿了动物的动作，
还有一些则受到了中国哲学思
想，神话和传说的启发。
大学英语四级真题（第
2
套
)
Part I
Writing
Directions:
For this part,
you are allowed 30 minutes to write a letter
to
express your thanks to
one of your school teachers upon
entering college
. You should write at
least
120
words but no
more than
180
words.
Part
Ⅱ
Listening Comprehension
标准时间
25 minutes
自测用时
minutes
Section
A
Directions:
In this
section, you will hear three news reports. At the
end of each news report, you
will hear
two or three questions. Both the news report and
the questions will be spoken only once.
After you hear a question, you must
choose the best answer from the four choices
marked A), B), C)
and D).
Then mark
the
corresponding
letter
on
Answer
Sheet
1
with
a
single
line
through
the
centre.
Questions
1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just
heard.
1. A)How college students can
improve their sleep habits.
B)Why
sufficient sleep is important for college
students.
C)Why college students are
more likely to have stress problems.
D)How college students can handle their
psychological problems.
2. A)It is not
easy to improve one
’
s sleep
habits.
B)It is
not good for students to play video games.
C)Students who
are better prepared generally get higher scores in
examinations.
D)Making last-minute preparations for
tests may be less effective than sleeping.
Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news
report you have just heard.
3.
A)Whether more airports should be built around
London.
B)Whether adequate investment
is being made to improve airport facilities.
C)Whether the British Airports
Authority should sell off some of its assets.
D)Whether the Spanish company could
offer better service.
4. A)Inefficient
management.
B)Poor ownership structure.
C)Lack of innovation and competition.
D)Lack of runway and
terminal capacity.
Questions 5 to 7 are
based on the news report you have just heard.
5. A)Report the nicotine content of
their cigarettes.
B)Set a limit to the
production of their cigarettes.
C)Take
steps to reduce nicotine in their products.
D)Study the effects of nicotine on
young smokers.
6. A)The biggest
increase in nicotine content tended to be in
brands young smokers like.
B)Big
tobacco companies were frank with their customers
about the hazards of smoking.
C)Brands
which contain higher nicotine content were found
to be much more popular.
D)Tobacco
companies refused to discuss the detailed nicotine
content of their products.
7. A)They
promised to reduce the nicotine content in
cigarettes.
B)They have not fully
realized the harmful effect of nicotine.
C)They were not prepared to comment on
the cigarette study.
D)They will pay
more attention to the quality of their products.
Section B
Directions:
In this section, you will hear two long
conversations. At the end of each conversation,
you will hear four questions. Both the
conversation and the questions will be spoken only
once.
After you hear a question, you
must choose the best answer from the four choices
marked A), B),
C)and D). Then mark the
corresponding letter on
Answer Sheet 1
with a single line through the
centre.
Questions 8 to 11
are based on the conversation you have just heard.
8. A)Indonesia.
B)Holland.
C)Sweden.
D)England.
9.A)Getting a
coach who can offer real help.
B)Talking with her boyfriend in Dutch.
C)Learning a language where it is not
spoken .
D)Acquiring the necessary
ability to socialize .
10. A)Listening
language programs on the radio.
B)Trying to speak it as much as one
can.
C)Making friends with native
speakers.
D)Practicing
reading aloud as often as possible.
11.A)It creates an environment for
socializing.
B)It offers
various courses with credit points.
C)It trains young
people
’
s leadership
abilities.
D)It provides opportunities
for language practice.
Questions 12 to
15 are based on the conversation you have just
heard.
12. A)The impact of engine
design on rode safety. B)The role policemen play
in traffic safety.
C)A sense of freedom
driving gives.
D)Rules and
regulations for driving.
13. A)Make
cars with automatic control.
B)Make cars that have
better brakes.
C)Make cars that are
less powerful.
D)Make cars
with higher standards.
14. A)They tend
to drive responsibly.
B)They like to go at high
speed.
C)They keep within speed limits.
D)They follow
traffic rules closely.
15.A)It is a bad
idea.
B)It is not useful.
C)It is as effective as speed bumps .
D)It should be
combined with education.
Section C
Directions:
In this section,
you will hear three passages. At the end of each
passage, you will hear
three or four
questions. Both the passage and the questions will
be spoken only once. After you
hear
a
question,
you
must
choose
the
best
answer
from
the
four
choices
marked
A),
B),
C)and
D).Then mark the
corresponding letter
on
Answer Sheet 1
with a single
line through the centre.
Questions 16
to 18 are based on the passage you have just
heard.
16.A)The card got damaged .
B)The card was found invalid.
C)The card reader failed to do the
scanning.
D)The card reader
broke down unexpectedly.
17. A)By
converting the credit card with a layer of
plastic.
B)By calling the credit card
company for confirmation.
C)By seeking
help from the card reader maker Verifone.
D)By typing the credit card number into
the cash register.
18.A)Affect the
sales of high-tech appliances.
B)Change the life style of many
Americans.
C)Give birth to many new
technological inventions.
D)Produce
many low-tech fixes for high-tech failures.
Questions 19 to 21 are based on the
passage you have just heard.
19. A)They
are set by the dean of the graduate school.
B)They are determined by the advising
board.
C)They leave much room for
improvement.
D)They vary
among different departments.
20. A)By
consulting the examining committee .
B)By reading the Bulletin of
Information.
C)By contacting the
departmental office.
D)By
visiting the university
’
s
website.
21. A)They specify the number
of credits students must earn.
B)They
are harder to meet than those for undergraduates.
C)They have to be approved by the
examining committee.
D)They
are the same among various divisions of the
university.
Questions 22 to 25 are
based on the passage you have just heard.
22. A)Students majoring in nutrition.
B)Students in health classes.
C)Ph.D. candidates in dieting.
D)Middle and high school teachers.
23. A)Its overestimate of the effect of
dieting.
B)Its mistaken
conception of nutrition.
C)Its changing
criteria for beauty.
D)Its overemphasis on thinness.
24. A)To illustrate her point that
beauty is but skin deep.
B)To
demonstrate the magic effect of dieting on women.
C)To explain how computer images can be
misleading.
D)To prove that
technology has impacted our culture.
25. A)To persuade girls to stop
dieting.
B)To
promote her own concept of beauty.
C)To
establish an emotional connection with students.
D)To help students rid
themselves of bad living habits.
40 minutes
Part
III
Reading Comprehension
标准时间
自测用时
minutes
Section A
Directions:
In this section,
there is a passage with ten blanks. You are
required to select one word
for each
blank from a list of choices given in a word bank
following the passage. Read the passage
through carefully
before
making
your choices. Each
choice
in
the
bank
is
identified
by
a
letter.
Please mark the
corresponding letter for each item on
Answer Sheet 2
with a single
line through
the centre. You may not
use any of the words in the bank more than once.
Contrary
to
popular
belief,
older
people
generally
do
not
want
to
live
with
their
children.
Moreover, most
adult children
26
every bit as much care and support to
their aging parents
as was the case in
the “good old days”, and most older people do not
feel
27
.
About 80% of
people 65years and older have living children, and
about 90% of them have
28
contact with
their children. About 75% of elderly parents who
don’t go to
nursing homes
live within 30 minutes of at least one
of their children.
However,
29
having contact with children does not
guarantee happiness in old age. In
fact,
some
research
has
found
that
people
who
are
most
involved
with
their
families
have
the
lowest
spirits. This research may be
30
,
however, as ill health often makes older people
more
31
and thereby increases contact with
family members. So it is more likely that poor
health, not
just family involvement,
32
spirits.
Increasingly, researchers have begun to
look at the quality of relationships, rather than
at the
frequency of contact, between
the elderly and their children. If parents and
children share interests
and values and
agree on childrearing practices and religious
33
, they are likely to enjoy each
other’s
company.
Disagreements
on
such
matters
can
34
cause
problems.
If
parents
are
agreed by their daughter’s divorce,
dislike her ne
w husband, and disapprove
of how she is raising
their
grandchildren,
35
are that they are not going to enjoy
her visits.
A) abandoned
E)commitment
I)frequent
M)provide
B)advanced
F)dampens
J)fulfillment
N)understandably
C)biased
G)dependent
K)grant
O)unrealistically
D)chances
H)distant
L)merely
Section B
Directions:
In
this
section, you
are
going
to
read
a
passage
with
ten
statements
attached
to
it.
Each
statement contains information given in one of the
paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from
which the information is derived. You
may choose a paragraph more than once. Each
paragraph
is
marked
with
a
letter.
Answer
the
questions
by
marking
the
corresponding
letter
on
Answer
Sheet
2
.
Could Food Shortages
Bring Down Civilization?
[A] For many
years
I have studied global
agricultural, population, environmental and
economic
trends and their interactions.
The combined effects of those trends and the
political tensions
they generate point
to the breakdown of governments and societies. Yet
I, too, have resisted
the idea that
food shortages could bring down not only
individual governments but also our
global civilization.
[B] I
can no longer ignore that risk. Our continuing
failure to deal with the environmental declines
that are undermining the world food
economy forces me to conclude that such a collapse
is
possible.
[C] As demand
for food rises faster than supplies are growing,
the resulting food-price inflation
puts
severe stress on the governments of many
countries. Unable to buy grain or grow their
own, hungry people take to the streets.
Indeed, even before the steep climb in grain
prices in
2008, the number of failing
states was expanding. If the food situation
continues to worsen,
entire nations
will break down at an ever increasing rate. In the
20th century the main threat to
international security was superpower
conflict; today it is failing states.
[D] States fail when national
governments can no longer provide personal
security, food security
and
basic
social
services
such
as
education
and
health
care.
When
governments
lose
their
control on power, law
and order begin to disintegrate. After a point,
countries can become so
dangerous that
food relief workers are no longer safe and their
programs are halted. Failing
states are
of international concern because they are a source
of terrorists, drugs, weapons and
refug
ees
(
难民
),
threatening political stability everywhere.
[E]
The
surge
in
world
grain
prices
in
2007
and
2008
—
and
the
threat
they
pose
to
food
security
——
has a
different, more troubling quality than the
increases of the past. During the
second
half
of
the
20th
century,
grain
prices
rose
dramatically
several
times.
In
1972,
for
instance, the Soviets,
recognizing their poor
harvest early, quietly cornered the world wheat
market. As a result, wheat prices
elsewhere more than doubled, pulling rice and corn
prices
up with them. But this and other
price shocks were event-
driven
——
drought in the
Soviet
Union,
crop-shrinking
heat
in
the
U.S.
Corn
Belt.
And
the
rises
were
short-lived:
prices
typically returned to
normal with the next harvest.
[F] In
contrast, the recent surge in world grain prices
is trend-driven, making it unlikely to reverse
without
a
reversal
in
the
trends
themselves.
On
the
demand
side,
those
trends
include
the
ongoing addition of more
than 70 million people a year, a growing number of
people wanting
to move up the food
chain to consume highly grain-intensive meat
products, and the massive
diversion
(
转向
) of U.S. grain to
the production of bio-fuel.
[G] As
incomes rise among low-income consumers, the
potential for further grain consumption is
huge. But that potential pales beside
the never-ending demand for crop-based fuels. A
fourth of
this year’s U.S. grain
harvest will go to fuel cars.
[H] What about supply? The three
environmental trends
——
the
shortage of fresh water, the loss
of
topsoil
and
the
rising
temperatures
——
are
making
it
increasingly
hard
to
expand
the
world’s grain supply fast enough to
keep up with demand. Of all those trends, however,
the
spread
of
water
shortages
poses
the
most
immediate
threat.
The
biggest
challenge
here
is
irrigation, which consumes 70% the
world’s fresh
water. Millions of
irrigation wells in many
countries
are
now
pumping
water
out
of
underground
sources
faster
than
rainfall
can
refill
them. The result is
falling
water
tables
(
地下水位
)
in countries with half the world’s
people,
including the three big grain
producers
——
China, India and
the U.S.
[I]
As water tables
have fallen and irrigation wells have gone dry,
China’s wheat crop, the world’s
largest, has declined by 8% since it
peaked at 123 million tons in 1997. But water
shortages
are even more worrying in
India. Millions of irrigation wells have
significantly lowered water
tables in
almost every state.
[J]
As
the world’s food security falls to pieces,
individual countries acting in their own
self
-interest
are
actually
worsening
the
troubles
of
many.
The
trend
began
in
2007,
when
leading
wheat-exporting
countries
such
as
Russia
and
Argentina
limited
or
banned
their
exports,
in
hopes
of
increasing
local
food
supplies
and
thereby
bringing
down
domestic
food
prices.
Vietnam banned its exports for several
months for the same reason. Such moves may
eliminate
the fears of those living in
the exporting countries, but they are
creating panic in importing
countries
that must rely on what is then left for export.
[K] In response to those restrictions,
grain-importing countries are trying to nail down
long-term
trade agreements that would
lock up future grain supplies. Food-import anxiety
is even leading
to new efforts by food-
importing countries to buy or lease farmland in
other countries. In spite
of such
temporary measures, soaring food prices and
spreading hunger in many other countries
are beginning to break down the social
order.
[L] Since the current world food
shortage is trend-driven, the environmental trends
that cause it
must
be
reversed.
We
must
cut
carbon
emissions
by
80%
from
their
2006
levels
by
2020,
stabilize
the
world’s
population
at
eight
billion
by
2040,
completely
remove
poverty,
and
restore forests and soils. There is
nothing new about the four objectives. Indeed, we
have made
substantial progress in some
parts of the world on at least one of
these
——
the distribution of
family-planning services and the
associated shift to smaller families.
[M]For many in the development
community, the four objectives were seen as
positive, promoting
development as long
as they did not cost too much. Others saw them as
politically correct and
morally
appropriate. Now a third and far more significant
motivation presents itself: meeting
these goals may be necessary to prevent
the collapse of our civilization. Yet the cost we
project
for
saving
civilization
would
amount
to
less
than
$$200
billion
a
year,
1/6
of
current
global
military spending. In effect, our plan
is the new security budget.
more
recent
steep
climb
in
grain
prices
partly
results
from
the
fact
that
more
and
more
people
want to consume meat products.
37.
Social order is breaking down in many countries
because of food shortages.
38. Rather
than superpower conflict, countries unable to cope
with food shortages now constitute
the
main threat to world security.
39. Some
parts of the world have seen successful
implementation of family planning.
40.
The author has come to agree that food shortages
could ultimately lead to the collapse of world
civilization.
41.
Increasing
water
shortages
prove
to
be
the
biggest
obstacle
to
boosting
the
world’s
grain
production.
42.
The
cost
for
saving
our
civilization
would
be
considerably
less
than
the
world’s
current
military spending.
43. To
lower domestic food prices, some countries limited
or stopped their grain exports.
44.
Environmental problems must be solved to ease the
current global food shortage.
45. A
quarter of this year’s American grain harvest will
be used to produce bio
-fuel for cars.
Section C
Directions:
There are 2
passages in this section. Each passage is followed
by some questions or
unfinished
statements. For each of them there are four
choices marked A), B), C) and D). You
should decide on the best choice and
mark the corresponding letter on
Answer
Sheet 2
with a
single line
through the centre.
Passage
One
Questions 46 to 50 are based on the
following passage.
Declining mental
function is often seen as a problem of old age,
but certain aspects of brain
function
actually begin their decline in young adulthood, a
new study suggests.
The study, which followed more than
2,000 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and
60,
found that certain mental
functions
—
including measures
of abstract reasoning, mental speed and
puzzle-
solving
—
started to dull as
early as age 27.
Dips in memory, meanwhile, generally
became apparent around age 37.
On
the
other
hand,
indicators
of
a
person’s
accumulated
knowledge—
like
performance
on
tests
of
vocabulary
and
general
knowledge
—
kept
improving
with
age,
according
to
findings
published in the
journal
Neurobiology of
Aging
.
The results do not mean that young
adults need to start worrying about their
memories. Most
people’s minds function
at a high level even in their later years,
according to researcher Timothy
Salthouse.
“These
patterns
suggest
that
some
types
of
mental
flexibilit
y
decrease
relatively
early
in
adulthood, but that the amount of
knowledge one has, and the effectiveness of
integrating it with
one’s
abilities,
may increase throughout all
of adulthood if there are no dise
ases,”
Salthouse said
in a news release.
The study
included healthy, educated adults who took
standard tests of memory, reasoning
and
perception at the outset and at some point over
the next seven years.
The
tests
are
designed
to
detect
subtle
(
细微的
)
changes
in
mental
function,
and
involve
solving puzzles,
recalling words and details from stories, and
identifying patterns in collections of
letters and symbols.
In
general,
Salthouse
and
his
colleagues
found,
certain
aspects
of
cognition
(
认知能力
)
generally started to decline in the
late 20s to 30s.
The findings shed light on normal age-
related changes in mental function, which could
aid in
understanding the process of
dementia (
痴呆
), according to
the researchers.
“By following individuals over time,”
Salthouse said, “we gain insight in cognition
change
s,
and may possibly
discover ways to slow the rate of
decline.”
The
researchers
are
currently
analyzing
the
study
participants’
health
and
lifestyle
to
see
which factors might influence age-
related cognitive changes.
46. What is
the common view of mental function?
A)It varies from person to person.
B)
It weakens in one’s later
years.
C)It gradually expands with age.
D)It indicates one’s health
condition.
47. What does the
new study find about mental functions?
A)Some diseases inevitably lead to
their decline.
B)They reach a peak at
the age of 20 for most people.
C)They
are closely related to physical and mental
exercise.
D)Some of them begin to
decline when people are still young.
48. What does Timothy Salthouse say
about people’s minds in m
ost cases?
A)They tend to
decline in people’s later years.
B)Their flexibility determines one’s
abilities.
C)They function
quite well even in old age.
D)Their functioning is
still a puzzle to be solved.
49.
Although people’s minds may function less
fle
xibly as they age, they _____.
A)may be better at solving puzzles
B)can memorize
things with more ease
C)may have greater facility in abstract
reasoning
D)can put what they have
learnt into more effective use
50.
According to Salthouse, their study may help
us_____.
A)find
ways to slow down our mental decline
B)find ways to boost our memories
C)understand the complex process of
mental functioning
D)understand the
relation between physical and mental health
Passage Two
Questions 51 to 55 are based on the
following passage.
The most important
thing in the news last week was the rising
discussion in Nashville about
the
educational
needs
of
children.
The
shorthand
(
简
写
)educators
use
for
this
is
“pre
-
K”—
mea
ning instruction before
kindergarten
—
and the big
idea is to prepare 4-year-olds and
even
younger kids to be ready to succeed on their K-12
journey.
But
it
gets
complicated.
The
concept
has
multiple
forms,
and
scholars
and
policymakers
argue about the
shape, scope and cost of the ideal program.
The
federal
Head
Start
program,
launched
50
years
ago,
has
served
more
than
30
million
children. It was
based on concepts developed at Vanderbilt
University’s Peabody College by Susan
Gray, the legendary pioneer in early
childhood education research.
A new Peabody study of the
Tennessee V
oluntary Pre-K program
reports that pre-K works,
but the gains
are not sustained through the third grade. It
seems to me this highlights quality issues
in
elementary
schools
more
than
pre-K,
and
indicates
longer-term
success
must
connect
pre-K
with all the other issues related to
educating a child.
Pre-
K is controversial. Some
critics say it is a luxury and shouldn’t be free
to families able to
pay. Pre-K
advocates insist it is proven and will succeed if
integrated with the rest
of the child’s
schooling. I lean toward the latter
view.
This is,
in any case, the right conversation to be having
now as Mayor Megan Barry takes
office.
She was the first candidate to speak out for
strong pre-K programming. The important thing
is for all of us to keep in mind the
real goal and the longer, bigger picture.
The weight of
the evidence is on the side of pre-K that early
intervention
(
干预
)works. What
government has not yet found is the
political will to put that understanding into full
practice with a
sequence of smart
schooling that provides the early foundation.
For this
purpose, our schools need both the talent and the
organization to educate each child
who
arrives at the schoolhouse door. Some show up
ready, but many do not at this critical time
when young brains are developing
rapidly.
does the author say about
pre-kindergarten education?
A)It should cater to the
needs of individual children.
B)
It is
essential to a person’s future academic
success.
C)Scholars and policymakers have
different opinions about it.
D)
Parents regard it as the
first phase of children’s development.
does the new Peabody study find?
A)Pre-K
achievements usually do not last long.
B)The third grade marks a
new phase of learning.
C)The thir
d grade is
critical to children’s development.
D)Quality has
not been the top concern of pre-K programs.
does the author think pre-K works the
best?
A)When it
is accessible to kids of all families.
B)
When it is
made part of kids’ education.
C)When it is no
longer considered a luxury.
D)When it is made fun and
enjoyable to kids.
do we learn about
Mayor Megan Barry?
A)She knows the real goal of education.
B)She is a
mayor of insight and vision.
C)She has once run a pre-K
program.
D)She is a firm supporter of pre-K.
55
.What does the author
think is critical to kids’ education?
A)Teaching
method.
B)
Kids’ interest.