-
2016
年
12
月大学
英语四级考试模拟试卷及答案
（
2
）<
/p>
Directions: For
this part, you are allowed 30
minutes
to write a composition on the topic Choosing
an Occupation. You should write at
least 120 words
following the outline
given below in Chinese:
Choosing an
Occupation
1.
选择职业是一个人要面对的众多难题之一。
2.
需要花时间去选择职业。
3.
选择职业时可以向多人寻求建议和帮助。
Part II Reading
Comprehension (Skimming and
Scanning)(15 minutes)
Directions: In
this part, you will have 15 minutes
to
go over the passage quickly and answer the
question
on Answer Sheet questions
1-7, markY (for YES)if
the statement
agrees with the information given in the
passage;N (for NO)if the statement
contradicts the
information given in
the passage;NG (for NOT GIVEN)if
the
information is not given in the
passage.
For questions 8-10, complete the
sentences with
the information given in
the passage.
Will We Run Out of Water?
Picture a
to rot on dry land by a receding sea.
Then imagine
dust storms sweeping up
toxic pesticides and chemical
fertilizers from the dry seabed and
spewing them
across towns and
villages.
Seem like a scene from a movie about
the end of
the world? For people living
near the Aral Sea in
Central Asia, it's
all too real. Thirty years ago,
government planners diverted the rivers
that flow into
the sea in order to
irrigate(provide water
for)farmland. As
a result, the sea has shrunk to half
its original size, stranding ships on
dry land. The
seawater has tripled in
salt content and become
polluted,
killing all 24 native species of fish.
Similar large
scale efforts to redirect water in
other parts of the world have also
ended in ecological
crisis, according
to numerous environmental groups.
But
many countries continue to build massive dams and
irrigation systems, even though such
projects can
create more problems than
they fix. Why? People in
many parts of
the world are desperate for water, and
more people will need more water in the
next century.
water,
scientist
at the Pacific Institute for studies in
Development, Environment, and Security,
a research
organization in California.
He fears that by the year
2025, as many
as onethird of the world's projected 8.3
billion people will suffer from water
shortages.
Where Water Goes
Only 2.5 percent of all
water on Earth is
freshwater, water
suitable for drinking and growing
food,
says Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water
Policy Project in Amherst, Mass.
Twothirds of this
freshwater is locked
in glaciers and ice caps. In fact,
only
a tiny percentage of freshwater is part of the
water cycle, in which water evaporates
and rises into
the atmosphere, then
condenses and falls back to Earth
as
precipitation(rain or snow).
Some
precipitation runs off land to lakes and
oceans, and some becomes groundwater,
water that seeps
into the earth. Much
of this renewable freshwater ends
up in
remote places like the Amazon river basin in
Brazil, where few people live. In fact,
the world's
population has access to
only 12,500 cubic kilometers
of
freshwater-about the amount of water in Lake
Superior. And people use half of this
amount already.
Postel,
the aquatic environment.
Close to
Home
Water woes may seem remote to people
living in
rich countries like the
United States. But Americans
could face
serious water shortages, too especially in
areas that rely on groundwater.
Groundwater
accumulates in aquifers,
layers of sand and gravel
that lie
between soil and bedrock. (For every liter of
surface water, more than 90 liters are
hidden
underground).Although the United
States has large
aquifers, farmers,
ranchers, and cities are tapping
many
of them for water faster than nature can
replenish it. In northwest Texas, for
example, over
pumping has shrunk
groundwater supplies by 25 percent,
according to Postel.
Americans may
face even more urgent problems from
pollution. Drinking water in the United
States is
generally safe and meets high
standards. Nevertheless,
one in five
Americans every day unknowingly drinks tap
water contaminated with bacteria and
chemical wastes,
according to the
Environmental Protection Agency. In
Milwaukee, 400,000 people fell ill in
1993 after
drinking tap water tainted
with cryptosporidium, a
microbe that
causes fever, diarrhea and vomiting.
The
Source
Where so contaminants come from? In
developing
countries, people dump raw
sewage into the same
streams and rivers
from which they draw water for
drinking
and cooking; about 250 million people a year
get sick from water borne
diseases.
In developed countries, manufacturers
use 100,000
chemical compounds to make
a wide range of products.
Toxic
chemicals pollute water when released untreated
into rivers and lakes. (Certain
compounds, such as
polychlorinated
biphenyls, or PCBs, have been banned
in
the United States.)
But almost everyone
contributes to water pollution.
People
often pour household cleaners, car antifreeze,
and paint thinners down the drain; All
of these
contain hazardous chemicals.
Scientists studying water
in the San
Francisco Bay reported in 1996 that 70
percent of the pollutants could be
traced to household
waste.
Farmers have
been criticized for overusing
herbicides and pesticides, chemicals
that kill weeds
and insects but insects
but that pollutes water as
well.
Farmers also use nitrates, nitrogenrich
fertilizer that helps plants grow but
that can wreak
havoc on the
environment. Nitrates are swept away by
surface runoff to lakes and seas. Too
many nitrates
buildup of
algae, or microscopic plants that live on
the surface of the water. Algae deprive
the water of
oxygen that fish need to
survive, at times choking off
life in
an entire body of water.
What's the
Solution?
Water expert Gleick advocates
conservation and
local solutions to
waterrelated problems; governments,
for
instance, would be better off building smallscale
dams rather than huge and disruptive
projects like the
one that ruined the
Aral Sea.
access to basic clean
drinking
water,
everyonegovernments
and ordinary people-to make sure
we
have a resource so fundamental to life.
1. That the
huge water projects have diverted the
rivers causes the Aral Sea to
shrink.
2. The construction of massive dams and
irrigation
projects does more good than
harm.
3. The chief causes of water shortage
are
population growth and water
pollution.
4. The problems Americans face
concerning water
are ground water
shrinkage and tap water pollution.
5. According to
the passage all water pollutants
come
from household waste.
6. The people living in the
United States will not
be faced with
water shortages.
7. Water expert Gleick has
come up with the best
solution to water
related problems.
1.[Y][N][NG]2.[Y][N][NG]3.[
Y][N][NG]4.[Y][N][NG]
5.[Y][N][NG]6.[Y][N][NG]7.[
Y][N][NG]
8. According to Peter H. Gleick, by the
year 2025,
as many as of the world's
people will suffer from
water
shortages.
thirds of the freshwater on Earth is
locked
in.
developed countries,
before toxic chemicals
are released
into rivers and lakes, they should be
treated in order to avoid.
Part Ⅳ Reading
Comprehension(Reading
in Depth)(25
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.
Questions 47 to 56 are based on the
following
passage.
Shopping habits
in the United States have changed
greatly in the last quarter of the 20th
century. 47 in
the 1900s most American
towns and cities had a Main
Street.
Main Street was always the heart of a town.
This street was lined on the both sides
with many 48
businesses. Here, shoppers
walked into stores to look
at all sorts
of merchandise: clothing, furniture,
hardware, groceries. In addition, some
shops offered
49 . There shops included
drugstores, restaurants,
shoe repair
stores, and barber or hairdressing shops.
But in the 1950s, a change began to 50
place. Too many
automobiles had crowded
into Main Street while too few
parking
places were 51 to shoppers. Because the
streets were crowded, merchants began
to look with
interest at the open
spaces outside the city limits.
Open
space is what their car driving customers needed.
And open space is what they got when
the first
shopping centre was built.
Shopping centers, or rather
malls, 52
as a collection of small new stores away
from crowded city centers. 53 by
hundreds of free
parking space,
customers were drawn away from 54 areas
to outlying malls. And the growing 55
of shopping
centers led in turn to the
building of bigger and
better stocked
stores. By the late 1970s, many
shopping malls had almost developed
into small cities
themselves. In
addition to providing the 56 of the
stop shopping, malls were transformed
into landscaped
parks, with benches,
fountains, and outdoor
entertainment.
[A]designed
[B]take
[C]Early
[D]Attracted
[E] though
[F]convenience
[G]services
[H]fame
[I]various