2017年6月英语四级真题 (第3套)

2017

年

12

月英语四级真题

第三套

Part I

Writing

(30 minutes)

Directions

：

For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay on

how

to

best

handle the relationship

between

parents

and

children

. You should

write at

least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

_____ __________________________________________________ ______________

_________________________ ____________________________________________

_____________________________________________ ________________________

_______________ __________________________________________________ ____

___________________________________ __________________________________

Part II

Listening Comprehension

(25 minutes)

本次四级考试全国听力只有两套，

本套题听力与前两套内容相同，

只是选项顺序

< br>不同，因此本套题中不再重复出现。

Part III

Reading Comprehension

(40 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 blank 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.

We all know there exists a great

void

（空白）

in the public educational system

when it comes to

(26)

to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering Mathematics

）

courses.

One

educator

named

Dori

Roberts

decided

to

do

something

to

change

this

system. Dori taught high school engineering for 11 years. She noticed there was a real

void in quality STEM education at all

(27)

of the public educational system. She

said,

“I started Engineering

For Kids (EFK) after noticing a real lack of math, science

and engineering programs to

(28)

my own kids in”

She

decided

to

start

an

afterschool

program

where

children

(29)

in

STEM-based competitions. The club grew quickly and when it reached 180 members

and the kids in the program won several state (30) , she decided to devote all her time

to cultivating and

(31)

it. The global business EFK was born.

Dori began operating EFK out of her Virginia home, which she then expanded to

(32)

recreation centers. Today, the EFK program (33) over 144 branches in 32 states

within the United States and in 21 countries. Sales have doubled from $$5 million in

2014

to

$$10

million

in

2015,

with

25

new

branches

planned

for

2016.

The

EFK

website

states,

“Our

nation

is

not

(34)

enough

engineers.

Our

philosophy

is

to

inspire kids at a young age to understand that engineering is a great

(35)

.”

1

A) attracted

B) career

C) championships

D) degrees

E) developing

F) enroll

G) exposure

H) feasible

I) feeding

J) graduating

K) interest

L) levels

M) local

N) operates

O) participated

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.

Why aren’t you curious about what happened?

[A]

“

You

suspended

Ray

Rice

after

our

video

,”

a

reporter

from

TMZ

challenged

National

Football

League

Commissioner

Roger

Goodell

the

other

day.

“

Why

didn

’

t

you

have

the

curiosity

to

go

to

the

casino

(

堵场

)

yourself?

”

The

implication

of

the

question

is

that

a

more

curious

commissioner

would

have

found a way to get the tape.

[B]

The

accusation

of incuriosity is

one that we hear often, carrying the suggestion

that there is something wrong with not wanting to search out the truth. “I have

been

bothered

for

a

long

time

about

the

curious

lack

of

curiosity,”

said

a

Democratic member of the

New Jersey legislature back in

July,

referring to

an

insufficiently

inquiring

attitude

on

the

part

of

an

assistant

to

New

Jersey

Governor Chris Christie who chose not to ask hard questions about the George

Washington

Bridge

traffic

scandal.

“Isn’t

the

mai

nstream

media

the

least

bit

curious about what happened?” wrote conservative writer Jennifer Rubin earlier

this year, referring to the attack on Americans in Benghazi, Libya.

[C]

The

implication,

in

each

case,

is

that

curiosity

is

a

good

thing,

and

a

lack

of

curiosity

is

a

problem.

Are

such

accusations

simply

efforts

to

score

political

points for one’s party? Or is there something of particular value about curiosity in

and of itself?

[D] The journalist Ian Leslie, in his new and enjoyable book

Curious: The Desire to

Know

and

Why

Your

Future

Depends

on

It

,

insists

that

the

answer

to

that

last

question is ‘Yes’. Leslie argues that curiosity is a much

-overlooked human virtue,

crucial to our success, and that we are losing it.

[E] We are suffering, he writes, fr

om a “serendipity deficit.” The word “serendipity”

was coined by Horace Walpole in an 1854 letter, from a tale of three princes who

“were always making discoveries, by accident, of things they were not in search

of.”

Leslie

worries

that

the

rise

of

the

Int

ernet,

among

other

social

and

technological

changes,

has

reduced

our

appetite

for

aimless

adventures.

No

longer

have

we

the

inclination

to

let

ourselves

wander

through

fields

of

knowledge, ready to be surprised. Instead, we seek only the information we want.

[F]

Why

is

this

a

problem?

Because

without

curiosity

we

will

lose

the

spirit

of

innovation

and

entrepreneurship.

We

will

see

unimaginative

governments

and

dying corporations make disastrous decisions. We will lose a vital part of what

has made humanity as a whole so successful as a species.

2

[G]

Leslie

presents

considerable

evidence

for

the

proposition

that

the

society

as

a

whole is growing less curious. In the U.S. and Europe, for example, the rise of the

Internet

has

led

to

a

declining

consumption

of

ne

ws

from

outside

the

reader’s

borders. But not everything is to be blamed on technology. The decline in interest

in literary fiction is also one of the causes identified by Leslie. Reading literary

fiction, he says, makes us more curious.

[H]

Moreover,

in

o

rder

to

be

curious,

“you

have

to

be

aware

of

a

gap

in

your

knowledge

in

the

first

place.”

Although

Leslie

perhaps

paints

a

bit

broadly

in

contending that most of us are unaware of how much we don’t know, he’s surely

right to point out that the problem is g

rowing: “Google can give us the powerful

illusion that all

questions have definite answers.”

[I] Indeed, Google, for which Leslie express admiration, is also his frequent

whipping

boy

(

替罪羊

).

He

quotes

Google

co-founder

Larry

Page

to

the

effect

that

the

“

perfect search engine

”

will

“

understand exactly what I mean and give me back

exactly what I want.

” Elsewhere in the book, Leslie writes: “Google aims to save

you from the thirst of curiosity altogether.”

[J]

Somewhat

nostalgically

(

怀旧地

),

he

quotes

John

Maynard

Keynes

’

s

justly

famous words of praise to the bookstore:

“

One should enter it vaguely, almost in

a dream, and allow what is there freely to attract and influence the eye. To walk

the

rounds

of

the

bookshops,

dipping

in

as

curiosity

dictates,

should

be

an

afternoon’s entertainment.” If only!

[K]

Citing

the

work

of

psychologists

and

cognitive

(

认知的

)

scientists,

Leslie

criticizes

the

received

wisdom

that

academic

success

is

the

result

of

a

combination of intellectual talent and hard work. Curiosity, he argues, is the third

key factor

—

and a difficult one to preserve. If not cultivated, it will not survive:

“Childhood curiosity is a collaboration between child and adult. The surest way

to kill it is to leave it alone.”

[L]

School

education,

he

warns,

is

often

conducted

in

a

way

that

makes

children

incurious. Children of educated an upper-middle-class parents turn out to be far

more curious, even at early ages, than children of working class and lower class

families.

That

lack

of

curiosity

produces

a

relative

lack

of

knowledge,

and

the

lack of knowledge is difficult if not impossible to compensate for later on.

[M]

Although Leslie’s book isn’t about politics, he doesn’t entirely shy away from the

problem. Political leaders, like leaders of other organizations, should be curious.

They should ask questions at crucial moments. There are serious consequences,

he warns, in not wanting to know.

[N] He presents as an example the failure of the George W. Bush administration to

prepare properly for the after-effects of the invasion of Iraq. According to Leslie,

those

who

ridiculed

former

Defense

Secretary

Donald

Rumsfeld

for

his

2002

remark

that

we

have

to

be

wary

of

the

“unknown

unknowns”

were

mistaken.

Rumsfeld’s

idea,

Leslie

writes,

“wasn’

t

absurd

—it

was

smart.”

He

adds,

“The

tragedy is that he didn

’t follow his own advice.”

[O] All of which brings us back to Goodell and the Christie case and Benghazi. Each

critic in those examples is charging, in a different way, that someone in authority

is

intentionally being incur

ious.

I leave it to

the reader’

s political

preference to

decide which, if any, charges should

stick. But let’s be careful about demanding

curiosity

about the other side’s weaknesses and

remaining determinedly incurious

about

our

own.

We

should

be

delighted

to

pursue

knowledge

for

its

own

sake

—

even when what

w

e find out is something we didn’

t particularly want to

know.

3