2017年英语专四真题及答案

35

）

demise

of

mail

in

the

age

of

instant

electronic

communication

has

been

predicted

at

least

as

often

as

the

coming

of

the

paperless

office.

But

the

consumption

of

paper

keeps

（

36

）

rising

.

It

has

roughly

doubled

since

1980.

On

average,

an

American

household

receives twice as many pieces of mail a day as it did in the 1970's.

The harmful side of the Internet's impact is obvious but statistically less important than many

would guess. People

(37) naturally

write fewer letters when they can send e-mail messages. To

(38) leaf

through a box of old paper correspondence is to know what has been

_(39) lost i

n this

shift: the pretty stamps, the varying look and feel of handwritten and typed correspondence, the

tangible

(40) object

that was once in the sender's hands.

V

. Reading comprehension

Section A

Passage one

（

1

）

When I was a young girl living in Ireland, I was always pleased when it rained, because that

meant

I

could

go

treasure

hunting.

What’s

the

connection

between

a

wet

day

and

a

search

for

buried treasure? Well, it’s quite simple. Ireland, as

some of you may already know, is the home of

Leprechauns

–

little men who possess magic powers and, perhaps more interestingly, pots of gold.

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（

2

）

Now,

although

Leprechauns

are

interesting

characters,

I

have

to

admit

that

I

was

more

intrigued by the stories of their treasure hoard.

This

, as all of Ireland knows, they hide at the end

of the rainbow. Leprechauns can be fearsome folk but if you can discover the end of the rainbow,

they have to unwillingly surrender their gold to you. So whenever it rained, I would look up in the

sky and follow the curve of the rainbow to see where it ended. I never did unearth any treasure,

but I did spend many happy, showery days dreaming of what I could do with the fortune if I found

it.

（

3

）

As I got older, and started working, rainy days came to be just another nuisance and my

childhood dreams of finding treasure faded. But for some people the dream of striking it lucky

never fades, and for a fortunate few, the dream even comes true! Such is the case of Mel Fisher.

His dream of finding treasure also began in childhood, while reading the great literature classics

“Treasure Island” and “Moby Dick”. However, unlike myself, he chased his dream and in the end

managed to become one of the most famous professional treasure hunters of all time, and for good

reason. In 1985, he fished up the priceless cargo of the sunken Spanish ship Atocha, which netted

him an incredible $$400 million dollars!

（

4

）

After the ship sank in 1622 off the coast of Florida, its murky waters became a treasure

tro

ve of precious stones, gold bars and silver coins known as “pieces of eight”. The aptly

-named

Fisher,

who

ran

a

commercial

salvaging

operation,

had

been

trying

to

locate

the

underwater

treasure for over 16 years when he finally

hit the jackpot!

His dreams had come true but finding

and

keeping

the

treasure

wasn’t

all

plain

sailing.

After

battling

with

hostile

conditions

at

sea,

Fisher

then

had

to

battle

in

the

courts.

In

fact,

the

State

of

Florida

took

Fisher

to

court

over

ownership

of

the

find

and

the

Federal

government

soon

followed

suit.

After

more

than

200

hearings, Fisher agreed to donate 20% of his yearly findings for public display, and so now there

is

a

museum

in

Florida

which

displays

hundreds

of

the

objects

which

were

salvaged

from

the

Atocha.

（

5

）

This

true

story

seems

like

a

modern-day

fairytale:

a

man

pursues

his

dream

through

adversity and in the end, he triumphs over the difficulties - they all live happily ever after, right?

Well, not exactly. Archaeologists object to the fact that with commercial salvaging operations like

Fisher’s,

the

objects

are

sold

and

dispersed

and

UNESCO

are

worried

about

protecting

our

underwater heritage from what it describes as “pillaging”.

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（

6

）

The

counter-argument

is

that

in

professional,

well-run

operations

such

as

Fis

her’s,

each

piece is accurately and minutely recorded and that it is this information which is more important

than

the

actual

object,

and

that

such

operations

help

increase

our

wealth

of

archaeological

knowledge.

Indeed,

as

in

Fisher’s

case,

they

make

hist

ory

more

accessible

to

people

through

museum donations and information on web sites.

（

7

）

The distinction of whether these treasure hunters are salvaging or pillaging our underwater

heritage may not be clear, but what is clear is that treasure hunting is not

just innocent child’s play

anymore but profitable big business. I have learnt that the end of the rainbow is beyond my reach,

but

in

consolation,

with

just

a

click

of

the

mouse,

I

too

can

have

a

share

in

the

riches

that

the

Atocha has revealed. As Friedrich Nietzsche so wisely said:

“Our treasure lies in the beehive of

our knowledge.”

41. In Para.4, the phrase

“

hit the jackpot

”

means ______according to the text.

A. discovered the jackpot.

B.

found the treasure

C. broke one of the objects

D. ran a salvaging operation

42. It can be concluded from Paras. 5 and 6 that _________.

A.

people hold entirely different views on the issue

B. UNESCO

’

s view is different from archaeologists

’

C. all salvaging operations should be prohibited

D. attention should be paid to the find

’

s educational value

43. How did the author feel about the treasure from the Atocha (Para. 7)?

A. She was unconcerned about where the treasure came from

B. She was sad that she was unable to discover and salvage treasure.

C. She was angry that treasure hunters were pillaging heritage.

D.

She was glad that people can have a chance to see the treasure.

Passage two

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