2016年12月英语四级真题 (第2套)

2016

年

12

月英语四级真题

第二套

Part I

Writing

(30 minutes)

Directions:

For

this

part,

you

are

allowed

30

minutes

to

write

an

essay.

Suppose

you

have two options upon graduation: one is to take a job in a company and the other to go

to a graduate school. 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.

______________________________________________ __________________________

_____________ __________________________________________________ _________

______________________________ __________________________________________

< br>_______________________________________________ _________________________

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 to 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.

1. A) To replace two old stone bridge.

B) To satisfy the curiosity of tourists.

C) To enable tourists to visit Goat Island.

D) To improve utility services in the state.

2. A) A few skeletons.

B) Millions of coins on the bottom.

C) Countless tree limbs.

D) Lots of wrecked boats and ships.

Questions 3 to 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.

3. A) It suspended diplomatic relations with libya.

B) It shut down two border crossings with Libya.

C) It urged tourists to leave Tunisia immediately.

D) It launched a fierce attack against Islamic State.

4. A) Advise Tunisian civilians on how to take safety precautions.

B) Devise a monitoring system on the Tunisian border with Libya.

C) Train qualified security personnel for the Tunisian government.

D) Track down the organization responsible for the terrorist attack.

Questions 5 to 7 are b

ased on the conversation you have just heard.

5. A) A device to help plants absorb sunlight.

B) An energy- saving mobile phone.

C) An environment-friendly battery.

D) A plant-powered mobile phone charger.

6. A) While doing a chemical experiment.

B) While playing games on their phones.

C) While solving a mathematical problem.

D) While sitting in their school

’

s courtyard.

7. A) It collects the energy released by plants.

B) It speeds up the process of photosynthesis.

C) It improves the reception of mobile phones.

D) It increases the applications of mobile phones.

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) He called the woman and left her a message.

B) He used stand-ins as replacements on all lines.

C) He visited the workshops in the Grimsby plant.

D) He asked a technician to fix the broken production line.

9. A) It is the most modern production line.

B) It assembles super-intelligent robots.

C) It has stopped working completely.

D) It is going to be upgraded soon.

10. A) To ask for Tom

’

s phone number.

B) To request her to return at once.

C) To place an order for robots.

D) To seek her permission.

11. A) She is on duty.

B) She is on sick leave.

C) She is having her day off.

D) She is abroad on business.

Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

12. A) He prevented a train crash.

B) He saved a baby boy

’

s life.

C) He wanted to be a superhero.

D) He was a witness to an accident.

13. A) He enjoys the interview.

B) He commutes by subway.

C) He has a 9-month-old boy.

D) He is currently unemployed.

14. A) A strong wind.

B) A misplaced pushchair.

C) A rock on the tracks.

D) A speeding car.

15. A) She cried bitterly.

B) She shouted for help.

C) She called the police at once.

D) She stood motionless in shock.

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) She inherited her family ice- cream business in Billings.

B) She wanted to have an ice-cream truck when she was a little girl.

C) She loved the ice-cream business more than teaching primary school.

D) She started an ice-cream business to finance her daughter

’

s education.

17. A) To help local education.

B) To amuse her daughter.

C) To preserve a tradition.

D) To make some extra money.

18. A) To teach kids the value of mutual support.

B) To allow poor kids to have ice-cream too.

C) To make her truck attractive to children.

D) To raise money for business expansion.

Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.

19.

A) The function of money in the modern world.

B) The various burdens on ordinary citizens.

C) The various services money can buy.

D) The reasons for imposing taxes.

20. A) Building hospitals and public libraries.

B) Protecting people

’

s life and property.

C) Improving public transportation.

D) Educating and training citizens.

21.

A) By selling public lands.

B) By asking for donations.

C) By selling government bonds.

D) By exploiting natural resources.

Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.

22.

A) It is surrounded by France on three sides.

B) It contains less that a square mile of land.

C) It relies on tourism as its chief source of revenues.

D) It is located as the center of the European continent.

23. A) It is a favorite place Americans like to visit.

B) It is where many American movies are shot.

C) Its ruler Prince Rainier married an American actress.

D) Its beauty is frequently mentioned in American media.

24. A) Tobacco.

B) Potatoes.

C) Clothing.

D) Machinery.

25. A) Tourist attractions in Europe.

B) European geography.

C) European history.

D) Small countries in Europe.

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 bank

is

identified by a

letter. Please mark the corresponding

letter for

each item

on

Answer

Sheet 2

with a single line through the center. You may not use any of the words in the

bank more than once.

Questions 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.

The ocean is heat

ing up. That's the conclusion of a new study that finds that Earth’s

oceans now (26) heat at twice the rate they did 18 years ago. Around half of ocean heat

intake since 1865 has taken place since 1997, researchers report online in

Nature Climate

Change

.

Warming waters are known to (27)

to coral bleaching (

珊瑚白化

) and they take up

more

space

than

cooler

waters,

raising

sea

(28) .

While

the

top

of

the

ocean

is

well

studied,

its

depths

are

more

difficult

to

(29) .

The

researchers

gathered

150

years

of

ocean temperature data in order to get a better

(30) of heat absorption from surface to

seabed. They gathered together temperature readings collected by everything from a 19th

century (31) of British naval ships to modern automated ocean probes. The extensive data

sources,

(32)

with

computer

simulations

(

计算机模拟

),

created

a

timeline

of

ocean

temperature changes, including cooling from volcanic outbreaks and warming from fossil

fuel

(33) .

About 35 percent of the heat taken in by the oceans during the industrial era now

resides

at

a

(34)

of

more

than

700

meters,

the

researchers

found.

They

say

they’re

(35) whether the deep-sea warming canceled out

warming at the sea’s surface.

A) absorb

B) combined

C) contribute

D) depth

E) emissions

F) excursion

G) explore

H) floor

I) heights

J) indifferent

K) level

L) mixed

M) picture

N) unsure

O) voyage

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

.

The Secret to Raising Smart Kids

[A] I first began to investigate the basis of human motivation-and how people persevere

after

setbacks

—

as

a

psychology

graduate

student

at

Yale

University

in

the

1960s.

Animal experiments by psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania had shown

that

after

repeated

failures,

most

animals

conclude

that

a

situation

is

hopeless

and

beyond their control. After such an experience an animal often remains passive even

when it can effect change

—

a state they called learned helplessness.

[B]

People

can

learn

to

be

helpless,

too.

Why

do

some

students

give

up

when

they

encounter difficulty, whereas others who are no more skilled continue to strive and

learn?

One

answer,

I

soon

discovered,

lay

in

people’s

beliefs

about

why

they

had

failed.

[C] In particular, attributing poor performance to a lack of ability depresses motivation

more

than

does

the

belief

that

lack

of

effort

is

to

blame.

When

I

told

a

group

of

school

children

who

displayed

helpless

behavior

that

a

lack

of

effort

led

to

their

mistakes in math, they learned to keep trying when the problems got tough. Another

group

of

helpless

children

who

were

simply

rewarded

for

their

success

on

easier

problems

did

not

improve

their

ability

to

solve

hard

math

problems.

These

experiments

indicated

that

a

focus

on

effort

can

help

resolve

helplessness

and

generate success.

[D]

Later,

I

developed

a

broader

theory

of

what

separates

the

two

general

classes

of

learners-helpless versus mastery- oriented. I realized these different types of students

not only explain their failures differently

, but they also hold different

“theories” of

intelligence. The helpless ones believe intelligence is a fixed characteristic: you have

only

a

certain

amount,

and

that's

that.

I

call

this

a

“

fixed

mind-set

(

思维模式

).”

Mistakes crack their self-confidence because they attribute errors to a lack of ability,

which

they

feel

powerless

to

change.

They

avoid

challenges

because

challenges

make mistakes more likely. The mastery- oriented children, on the other hand, think

intelligence

is

not

fixed

and

can

be

developed

through

education

and

hard

work.

Such children believe challenges are energizing rather than

intimidating

(

令人生畏

);

they offer opportunities to learn. Students with such a growth mind-set were

destined