-
2016
年
12
月四级
考试真题（第一套）
For
this part,
you are allowed 30 minutes
to
write an essay.
Suppose
you have two
options upon graduation:
one is to work in a state-owned business and the
other in
a joint venture.
You are to make a choice between the two. Write an
essay to explain
the reasons for your
choice. You should write at least
120
words but no more than
180
words.
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 to 2 are based on the
conversation you have just heard.
A) It
was dangerous to live in.
B) It was going to be renovated.
C) He could no longer pay
the rent.
D) He had sold it to the
royal family.
2. A) A strike.
C) A forest fire.
B) A storm.
D) A
terrorist attack.
Questions
3 to 4 are based on the conversation you have just
heard.
3. A) They lost contact with the
emergency department.
B) They were
trapped in an underground elevator.
C)
They were injured by suddenly falling rocks.
D) They sent calls for help via a
portable radio.
4. A) They tried hard
to repair the elevator.
B) They
released the details of the accident.
C) They sent supplies to keep the
miners warm.
D) They provided the
miners with food and water.
Questions 5 to 7 are based on the
conversation you have just heard.
5. A)
Raise postage rates.
B) Improve its
services.
C) Redesign delivery routes.
D) Close some of its post offices.
6. A) Shortening business hours.
B) Closing offices on holidays.
C) Stopping mail delivery on Saturdays.
D) Computerizing mail sorting
processes.
7. A) Many post office staff
will lose their jobs.
B) Many people
will begin to complain.
C) Taxpayers
will be very pleased.
D) A lot of
controversy will arise.
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
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 will be kept from promotion.
B) He
will go through retraining.
C) He will
be given a warning.
D) He will lose
part of his pay.
9. A) He is always on
time.
B) He is a trustworthy guy.
C) He is an experienced press operator.
D) He is on good terms with his
workmates.
10. A) She is a trade union
representative.
B) She is in charge of
public relations.
C) She is a senior
manager of the shop.
D) She is better
at handling such matters.
11. A) He is
skilled and experienced.
B) He is very
close to the manager.
C) He is always
trying to stir up trouble.
D) He is
always complaining about low wages.
Questions 12 to 15 are based on the
conversation you have just heard.
12.
A) Open.
B) Selfish.
C)
Friendly.
D) Reserved.
13.
A) They stay quiet.
B) They read a
book.
C) They talk about the weather.
D) They chat with fellow passengers.
14. A) She was always treated as a
foreigner.
B) She was eager to visit an
English castle.
C) She was never
invited to a colleague
’
s
home.
D) She was unwilling to make
friends with workmates.
15. A) Houses
are much more quiet.
B) Houses provide
more privacy.
C) They want to have more
space.
D) They want a garden of their
own.
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
conversation you have just heard.
16.
A) They don
’
t have much
choice of jobs.
B) They are likely to
get much higher pay.
C) They
don
’
t have to go through job
interviews.
D) They will automatically
be given hiring priority.
17. A) Ask
their professors for help.
B) Look at
school bulletin boards.
C) Visit the
school careers service.
D) Go through
campus newspapers.
18. A) Helping
students find the books and journals they need.
B) Supervising study spaces to ensure a
quiet atmosphere.
C) Helping students
arrange appointments with librarians.
D) Providing students with information
about the library.
Questions 19 to 21 are based on the
conversation you have just heard.
19.
A) It tastes better.
B) It is easier to
grow.
C) It may be sold at a higher
price.
D) It can better survive extreme
weathers.
20. A) It is healthier than
green tea.
B) It can grow in drier
soil.
C) It will replace green tea one
day.
D) It is immune to various
diseases.
21. A) It has been well
received by many tea drinkers.
B) It
does not bring the promised health benefits.
C) It has made tea
farmers
’
life easier.
D) It does not have a stable market.
Questions 22 to 25 are
based on the conversation you have just heard.
22. A) They need decorations to show
their status.
B) They prefer unique
objects of high quality.
C) They
decorate their homes themselves.
D)
They care more about environment.
23.
A) They were proud of their creations.
B) They could only try to create at
night.
C) They made great contributions
to society.
D) They focused on the
quality of their products.
24. A) Make
wise choices.
B) Identify fake crafts.
C) Design handicrafts themselves.
D) Learn the importance of creation.
25. A) To boost the local economy.
B) To attract foreign investments.
C) To arouse public interest in crafts.
D) To preserve the traditional culture.
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.
Many men and
women have long bought into the idea that there
are
“
male
”
and
“
female
”
brains, believing
that explains just about every difference between
the sexes. A new study
（
26
）
that belief, questioning
whether brains really can be distinguished by
gender.
In the study, Tel
Aviv University researchers
（
27
）
for sex differences the
entire human brain.
And
what did they find? Not much. Rather than offer
evidence for
（
28
）<
/p>
brains as
“
male
”
or
“
female,
”
research shows that
brains fall into a wide range, with most people
falling right in the
middle.
Daphna
Joel,
who
led
the
study,
said
her
research
found
that
while
there
are
some
gender-b
ased
（
29
）
, many different types of brain
can
’
t always be
distinguished by gender.
While the
“
averag
e
”
male and
“
average
”
female brains were
（
30
）
different, you
couldn
’
t
tell
it
by
looking
at
individual
brain
scans.
Only
a
small
（
31
）
of
people
had
“
all-
male
”
or
“
all-
female
”
characteristics.
Larry
Cahill,
an
American
neuroscientist
(
神经科学家
),said
the
study
is
an
important
addition to a growing body of research
questioning
（
32
）
beliefs about gender and
brain function.
But he cautioned
against concluding from this study that all brains
are the same,
（
33
）
of gender.
“
There
’
s a mountain of
evidence
（
34
）
the importance of sex influences at all levels of brain
function,
”
he told The Seattle Times.
If anything, he said, the study
< br>（
35
）
that gender plays a very important role
in the brain
“
even
when we are not clear exactly
how.
”
A) abnormal
B)
applied
C) briefly
D) categorizing
E) challenges
F)
figure
G) percentage
H) proving
I) regardless
J)
searched
K) similarities
L) slightly
M) suggests
N)
tastes
O) traditional
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
.
Can Burglars
Jam Your Wireless Security System?
[A]Any
product
that
promises
to
protect
your
home
deserves
careful
examination.
So
it
isn
’
t
surprising that
you
’
ll find plenty of strong
opinions about the potential vulnerabilities of
popular
home-security systems.
[B]The most likely type of
burglary (
入室盗窃
) by far is
the unsophisticated crime of opportunity,
usually involving a broken window or
some forced entry. According to the FBI, crimes
like these
accounted roughly two-thirds
of all household burglaries in the US in wide
majority of
the rest were illegal,
unforced entries that resulted from something like
a window being left open.
The odds of a
criminal using technical means to bypass a
security system are so small that the FBI
doesn
’
t even
track those statistics.
[C]One
of
the
main
theoretical
home-security
concerns
is
whether
or
not
a
given
system
is
vulnerable to being blocked from
working altogether. With wired setups, the fear is
that a burglar
(
入室盗贼
)
might
be
able
to
shut
your
system
down
simply
by
cutting
the
right
cable.
With
a
wireless
setup,
you
stick
battery-powered
sensors
up
around
your
home
that
keep
an
eye
on
windows,
doors,
motion,
and
more.
If
they
detect
something
wrong
while
the
system
is
armed,
they
’
ll
transmit
a
wireless
alert
signal
to
a
base
station
that
will
then
raise
the
alarm.
That
approach
will
eliminate
most
cord-cutting
concerns
—
but
what
about
their
wireless
equivalent,
jamming? With the right device tuned to
the right frequency, what
’
s
to stop a thief from jamming
your setup
and blocking that alert signal from ever reaching
the base station?
[D]Jamming
concerns are
nothing
new,
and
they
’
re
not
unique
to
security
systems.
Any
device
that
’
s built to
receive a wireless signal at a specific frequency
can be overwhelmed by a stronger
signal
coming
in
on
the
same
frequency.
For
comparison,
let
’s
say
you
wanted
to
“jam”
a
conversation between two
people
—
all
you
’
d need to do is yell in
the listener
’
s ear.
[E]
Security
devices
are
required
to
list
the
frequencies
they
broadcast
on
—
that
means
that
a
potential thief can find what they need
to know with minimal Googling. They will, however,
need
so know what system
they
’
re looking for. If you
have a sign in your yard declaring what setup you
use,
that
’
d
point
them
in
the
right
direction,
though
at
that
point,
we
’
re
talking
about
a
highly
targeted, semi-
sophisticated attack, and not the sort forced-
entry attack that makes up the majority
of burglaries.
It
’
s easier to find and
acquire jamming equipment for some frequencies
than it is for
others.
[F] Wireless security providers will
often take steps to help combat the threat of
jamming attacks.
SimpliSafe, winner of
our Editor
’
s Choice
distinction, utilizes a special system
that
’
s capable of
separating incidental RF interference
from targeted jamming attacks. When the system
thinks it
’
s
being
jammed, it
’
ll notify
you via push
alert(
推送警报
).From there,
it
’
s up to you to sound the
alarm manually.
[G] SimpliSafe was singled out in one
recent article on jamming, complete with a video
showing
the
entire
system
being
effectively
bypassed
with
handheld
jamming
equipment.
After
taking
appropriate measures to contain the RF
interference to our test lab, we tested the attack
out for
ourselves, and were able to
verify that it
’
s possible
with the right equipment. However, we also
verified that
SimpliSafe
’
s anti-jamming
system works. It caught us in the act, sent an
alert to my
smartphone, and also listed
our RF interference on the
system
’
s event log. The team
behind the
article and video in
question make no mention of the system, or whether
or not in detected them.
[H]We
like
the
unique
nature
of
that
software.
It
means
that
a
thief
likely
wouldn
’
t
be
able
to
Google how the system works, then
figure out a way around it. Even if they could,
SimpliSafe
claims that its system is
always evolving, and that it varies slightly from
system to system, which
means
there
wouldn
’
t
be
a
universal
magic
formula
for
cracking
it.
Other
systems
also
seem
confident on the subject of jamming.
The team at Frontpoint addresses the issue in a
blog on its
site, citing their own jam
protection software and claiming that there
aren
’
t any documented cases
of successful jam attack since the
company began offering wireless security sensors
in the 1980s.
[I] Jamming
attacks are absolutely possible. As said before,
with the right equipment and the right
know-how, it
’
s
possible to jam any wireless transmission. But how
probable is it that someone will
successfully jam their way into your
home and steal your stuff?
[J]
Let
’
s
imagine
that
you
live
in
a
small
home
with
a
wireless
security
setup
that
offers
a
functional anti-jamming system. First,
a thief is going to need to target your home,
specifically.
Then,
he
’
s
going
to
need
to
know
the
technical
details
of
your
system
and
acquire
the
specific
equipment necessary
for jamming your specific setup. Presumably, you
keep your doors locked at
night and
while you
’
re away. So the
thief will still need to break in. That means
defeating the lock
somehow, or breaking
a window. He
’
ll need to be
jamming you at this point, as a broken window
or
opened
door
would
normally
release
the
alarm.
So,
too,
would
the
motion
detectors
in
your
home, so the thief will need to
continue jamming once he
’
s
inside and searching for things to steal.
However, he
’
ll
need to do so without tripping the anti-jamming
system, the details of which he
almost
certainly does now have access to.
[K]At the end of the day, these kinds
of systems are primarily designed to protect
against the sort
of opportunistic
smash-and-grab attack that makes up the majority
of burglaries. They
’
re also
only
a single layer in what should
ideally be a many-sided approach to securing your
home, one that
includes common sense
things like sound locks and proper exterior
lighting at night. No system is
impenetrable, and none can promise to
eliminate the worst case completely. Every one of
them has
vulnerabilities that a
knowledgeable thief could theoretically exploit. A
good system is one that