北京大学英语4级期末考试卷

TEST PAPER

Band 3

June, 2004

Part I Listening Comprehension (20%)

Section A

Directions: In this section you will hear 5 short conversations. At the end of each conversation, a question will be asked about what was said. The conversation and the question will be read only once. Listen carefully and choose the best answer to the question you hear. Mark your choice on Answer Sheet I. (5%)

1. A. The woman should ask John for help.

B.He doubts John’s reliability.

C.He believes in John.

D.He thinks John is in trouble.

2. A. Playing tennis

B.Swimming

C.Skiing

D.Watching TV

3. A. $2000

B.$1000

C.$500

D.$250

4. A. To hand in the assignment.

B.To see a doctor.

C.To borrow some books.

D.To have a discussion.

5. A. He is tired of his present job.

B.He lacks responsibility.

C.He has got a new phone in the office.

D.He has been promoted in another company.

Section B

Directions:In this section you will hear three short passages. Each will be read only once. After each passage you will be asked some questions. Listen carefully and choose the best answer to each question you hear. Mark your choice on Answer Sheet I (10%)

6. A. By talking with its government officials.

B.By attending short-term courses in its schools.

C.By taking a sightseeing tour.

D.By watching its people work.

7. A. Pay a small fee.

B.Buy some of their products.

C.Write a letter of thanks.

D.Make compliments to the managers immediately.

8. A. Informing the place of their arrival.

B.Being on time.

C.Joining the organized tour.

D.Being well-prepared for the trip.

9. A. Their products are very popular.

B.They organize tours to make money.

C.They are open to the public

D.The have good relations with the government.

10.A. They have a clear purpose in shopping.

B.They like to go shopping by themselves.

C.They prefer expensive clothes to cheap ones.

D.They think trying the clothes on in the shop is a waste of time.

11.A. The color.

B.The style.

C.The size.

D.The brand.

12.A. They ask for their husband s’ opinions before making the decision.

B.They like to buy clothes on sale.

C.They are fashion followers.

D.They are easily persuaded into buying clothes they don’t need.

13.A. Turn off the heat in their offices.

B.Work longer hours during the daytime.

C.Make a better plan for creating energy.

D.Turn off lights when leaving the room.

14.A. Having to come to work earlier than before.

B.Having the offices cleaned when they are working.

C.Having to work in the dark.

D.Having to wear thick coats in the room.

15.A. When someone doesn’t cooperate.

B.When their offices become too cold.

C.When they have suggestions for saving energy.

D.When they have a complaint to make.

Section C

Directions: In this section you will hear a passage 3 times. When the passage is read for the first time, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the second time, you should fill in the blanks numbered C1 to C7 with the exact words you have just heard. Finally when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what you have written. Write the missing words on Answer Sheet II (5%)

Henry Ford was the first man who in America made cars in large numbers. He probably didn’t know how much the car was going to C1_____________________. The car made the United States C2_____________________. And it helped make the united states what it is today.

There are three main reasons why the car has become so popular in the United States. First of all, the country is a huge one and Americans like to C3_____________________. The car provides the most comfortable and C4_____________________. With a car people can go anywhere without spending a lot of money.

The second reason is that the United States never really developed C5 _____________________of public transportation. Long-distance trains have never been as common in the United States as they are in other parts of the world. Nowadays there is a good system of air-service provided by plane. But it is too expensive to be used frequently.

The third reason is the most important one, though. The American C6 _____________________ is what really made cars popular. Americans don’t like to wait for a bus, or a train or even a plane. They don’t like to have to C7_____________________. A car gives them the freedom to schedule their own time, and this is the freedom that Americans want most to have.

Part II Vocabulary and Structure

Directions:

There are 15 incomplete sentences in this part. For each sentence there are 4 choices marked A), B), C) and D). Choose the ONE answer that best completes the sentence. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet I. (15%)

1.The doctor ________ Bill’s operation with X-rays and special exercises to make his foot

stronger.

A) drove at B) left behind

C) sent in D) followed up

2. We thanked them for their constant _______ to relieve our neighbours of their cares and anxieties.

A) dynamism B) premonition

C) endeavor D) aggressiveness

3. Economists predict that the present business _________ will not last long because an economic crisis is approaching.

A) boom B) current

C) stress D) decline

4. This eighteenth-century book is so _________ that I can’t remember the name of it.

A) historical B) obscure

C) precedent D) pertinent

5. The actress is happy to ________ the photographers by posing with her twin sister.

A) obligate B) oblige

C) commit D) decline

6. Guilt has been ________ his conscience all these years since he broke up with his girlfriend.

A) eating away B) using up

C) eating into D) driving at

7. The city mayor uses the earthquake to ________ attention from the corruption affairs in which

he and his two sons are involved.

A) divert B) bewilder

C) submerge D) catch

8. She went farther down the road in re-imagining Sri Lanka as a multiethnic and ________ society than any previous presidents.

A) constructive B) prospective

C) ethnocentric D) plural

9. The loss of blinking can be due to diseases that ________ the facial muscles and make it

impossible to blink.

A) stroke B) wrinkle

C) paralyze D) rub

10. Her gut________ — as a parent, as a mother and someone with a brain in her head — told her that her kid must be here.

A) distinction B) instinct

C) institute D) inspiration

11. His ideal society was one in which people all worked for more lofty goals than ________ of

merely satisfying their material needs.

A) what B) which

C) these D) those

12. The survey indicates that when facing difficulties that involve the government, about half the

people will try to solve the problem on their own ________ ask for help from administrative departments, officials or the deputies elected t o local people’s congress.

A) other than B) rather than

C) simply than D) more than

13. ________ a smooth channel to express their problems and get them solved, some people might

resort to extreme measures.

A) With B) Except

C) Despite D) Without

14. The authorities should remain on guard, as experience from past government downsizing

efforts at higher levels have suggested that, ________ properly handled, the size of government bodies could easily swell again.

A) even if B) if not

C) as if D) if only

15. ________ in the history of mankind have women had greater opportunities for following careers than they have now.

A) At any time B) At some time

C) At no time D) At one time

Part III Reading Course (10%)

Directions:

Choose the answer that best completes the sentence or answer the question according to the texts you have read in Reading Course 3. Then mark the corresponding letter on the answer sheet.

1.Acedia is defined as the deadliest of the seven sins by Robertson Davies in his speech. Which

of the following is NOT a true description of it? ( Lesson 8.The Deadliest of the Sins)

A)Acedia means intellectual and spiritual torpor, indifference, and lethargy.

B)People will not often recognize Acedia at the first stage of its gripping.

C)People who are under the control of Acedia are either the aged or college students.

D)Whether a person is physically busy or not is not a necessary condition for Acedia.

2.In the speech, Robertson Davies points out “it is really very much easier to think sensibly than

it is to feel sensibly”. How do you understand this quoted sentence? ( Lesson 8. The Deadliest of the Sins)

A)College students’ mental power must be much stronger than their spiritual power.

B)College students have been educated to think too much and feel too little.

C)College students should be encouraged to have more feeling than thinking.

D)College students should not ignore the development of their hearts when developing their

heads.

3.Mary Gordon has revealed her different attitudes towards those involved in the issue of

immigration. Which of the following attitudes is NOT included in her essay? ( Lesson 10.

More than Just a shrine: Paying Homage to the Ghosts of Ellis Island)

A) the sympathetic attitude towards the immigrants

B) the critical attitude towards photographers such as Louis Hine

C) the accusing attitude towards the medical inspectors on Ellis Island

D) the satirical attitude towards the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty

4.Which of the following is NOT true concerning the two leading men, Lewis and Clark?

( Lesson 11. Leading Men)

A)Although the two were regarded as co-commanders, they had different military ranks.

B)The leading men were different in quite a few ways, but they also had much in common.

C)Both leading men had recorded their disappointments at the result of the expedition.

D)There was no written record of hostility between the two leading men.

5.Why is Miss Brill excited about the idea of being an “actress” in the park? ( Lesson 14.Miss

Brill)

A)Because she had always dreamt of being an actress.

B)Because she thought she was still as lively as the young.

C)Because she was annoyed with the uninteresting neighbors in the park.

D)Because she wanted to join in the life instead of just being an on-looker.

6.“But when she put the lid on she thought she heard something crying”. How do you

understand the “something” in the given sentence? ( Lesson 14. Miss Brill)

A)The “something” refers to the fur.

B)There was nothing crying. It was Miss Brill’s illusion again.

C)Miss Brill herself was the one that was crying at the bottom of her heart.

D)It was her broken dream that was crying.

7. According to the author, the niceties of gift-giving include the following rules except that ________. (Lesson 15. The Gift of Gift-giving)

A)gifts are given to show your thought and they should be practical

B)gift-giving is symbolic and decoration should not be neglected

C)you should expect something back of the equivalent value

D)you should not give something that is out of proportion

8. “He knew that of all men then alive in the world only Alexander the conqueror and Diogenes the beggar were truly free.” It can be inferred from the sentence that _________. (Lesson18. Diogenes and Alexander)

A)while Diogenes was free of material dependence, Alexander could use his political power

to get whatever he wanted.

B)as famous figures at that time, Diogenes and Alexander were free from anonymity.

C)both Diogenes and Alexander believed in Cynicism and they were free from vanity.

D)both Alexander and Diogenes exerted great influence on others at that time and they were

remembered throughout history.

9. “Small flatteries are part of the mortar that holds society together.” It can be inferred from the sentence that __________. (Lesson21. In Praise of Flattery)

A)it is wrong to regard flatterers as being morally incorrect

B)private flatteries enhance personal appreciation and make the society more civilized

C)flatteries should be encouraged because they reduce the social estrangement

D)the abundance of flatteries highlights the celebrities and hold people together

10. In the essay, the author points out that creative capacity is not the talent we are born with. It can be learned. If a person is creative, he is likely to possess the following characteristics except ___________. (Lesson24. Defining Creativity for Ev eryone to See Wasn’t Exactly Easy)

A)the desire to find a new order out of chaos

B)the tactical application of convergent and divergent thinking

C)the willingness to take risks and start a new way

D)the strong curiosity about the outside world

Part IV Reading Comprehension

Directions:

There are 2 reading passages in this part. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice and put the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet. (20%)

Passage 1

Placing a human being on the wheel of an automobile often has the same curious effect as cutting certain fibers in the brain.

The result in either case is more primitive behavior. Hostile feelings are likely to be expressed in an aggressive way.

The same man who will step aside for a stranger at a doorway will, when behind the wheel, risk an accident trying to beat another motorist through an intersection. The importance of emotional factors in automobile accidents is gaining recognition. Doctors and other scientists have concluded that the highway death toll resembles a disease epidemic (流行传染病) and should be investigated as such.

Dr. Ross A. McFarland, associate Professor of Industrial Hygiene at the Harvard University School of Public Health, said that accidents “now constitute a greater threat to the safety of large fractions of the population than diseases do”.

Accidents are the leading cause of death between the ages of 1 and 35. About one third of all accidental deaths and one seventh of all accidental injuries are caused by motor vehicles.

Based on the present rate of vehicle registration, unless the accident rate is cut in half, one of every 10 persons in the country will be killed or injured in a traffic accident in the next 15 years.

Research to find the underlying causes of accidents and to develop ways to detect drivers who are likely to cause them is being conducted at universities and medical centers. Here are some of their findings so far.

A man drives as he lives. If he is often in trouble with collection agencies, the courts, and police, chances are that he will have repeated automobile accidents. Accident repeaters usually are self-centered, exhibitionistic, resentful of authority, impulsive, and lacking in social responsibility.

As a group, they can be classified as borderline psychopathic (精神变态的) personalities, according to Dr. McFarland.

The suspicion, however, that accident repeaters could be detected in advance by screening out persons with more hostile impulses is false. A study at the University of Colorado showed that there were just as many overly hostile persons among those who had no accidents as among those with repeated accidents.

Psychologists currently are studying Denver high school pupils to test the validity of this concept. They are making psychological evaluations of the pupils to see whether subsequent driving records will prove their thesis.

1.The author believes that, behind the wheel of an automobile, some people act ________.

A)as if they were not civilized

B)as if their brain fibers needed cutting

C)as though they wanted to repress hostile feelings

D)as if they were about to undergo surgery

2.Doctors and other scientists have concluded that _________.

A)the highway death toll is entirely due to emotional factors

B)many drivers have a disease of the brain

C)highway accidents should be treated as an epidemic disease

D)the highway death toll seems like an epidemic disease

3.Dr. McFarland emphasizes that the greater danger most people face in safety lies in

_________.

A)hostile attitude

B)psychopathic diseases

C)traffic accidents

D)antisocial behavior

4.According to the article, the death between the ages of 1 and 35 _________.

A)is due to highway accidents

B)is partly due to accidents

C)is only due to accidents

D)is mainly due to accidents

5.According to the article, which of the following statements is true?

A)The accident rate will be undoubtedly reduced in the next few years.

B)There is no hope that accident rate will decrease in the next 15 years.

C)The death toll is surely to decrease with the fall of accident rate.

D)Only those with hostile impulses are likely to repeat traffic accidents.

Passage 2

Jean Piaget, the pioneering Swiss philosopher and psychologist, spent much of his professional life listening to children, watching children and studying reports of researchers around the world who were doing the same. He found that children don’t think like grown-ups. After thousands of interactions with young people often barely old enough to talk, Piaget began to suspect that behind their cute and seemingly illogical utterances were thought processes that had their own kind of order and their special logic. Einstein called it a discovery “so simple that only a genius could have thought of it”.

Piaget’s i nsight opened a new window into the inner workings of the mind. By the end of a wide-ranging and remarkably productive research career that spanned nearly 75 years — from his first scientific publication at age 10 to work still in progress when he died at 84 — Piaget had developed several new fields of science: developmental psychology, cognitive (认知的) theory and what came to be called genetic epistemology (认识论). Although not an educational reformer, he championed a way of thinking about children that provided the foundation of today’s education-reform movements. One might say that Piaget was the first to take children’s thinking seriously.

Piaget was not an educator. But his work strongly suggests that the automatic reaction of putting the child right may well be harmful. Practicing the art of making theories may be more valuable for children, and if their theories are always greeted by “ Nice try, but this is how it really is… ” they might give up after a while on making theories. As Piaget put it, “ Child ren have real understanding only of that which they invent themselves, and each time that we try to teach them something too quickly, we keep them from reinventing it themselves. ”

Others who shared this respect for children — John Dewey in the U.S., Maria Montessori in Italy and Paulo Freire in Brazil — fought harder for immediate change in the schools, but Piaget’s influence on education is deeper and more pervasive. He has been respected by generations of teachers inspired by the belief that children are not empty vessels to be filled with

knowledge (as traditional educational method theory had it) but active builders of knowledge —little scientists who are constantly creating and testing their own theories of the world. And though he may not be as famous as Sigmund Freud or even B. F. Skinner, his contribution to psychology may be longer lasting. As computers and the Internet give children greater autonomy to explore ever larger digital worlds, the ideas he pioneered become ever more relevant.

6.According to Piaget, children don’t understand the world like grown-ups because they

________.

A)are too innocent to learn

B)have their own way of thinking

C)need to be educated in school

D)are not mature enough

7.Piaget believes children should be ______.

A)encouraged to make their own theories

B)taught to watch the world carefully

C)corrected immediately when making mistakes

D)instructed to be modest about their success

8.Among the following people, who might put his theory into practice in education?

A)Dewey, Freire and Skinner

B)Skinner, Montessori and Freire

C)Montessori, Freud and Dewey

D)Montessori, Freire and Dewey

9.According to traditional educational method theory, children should ______.

A)be crammed with knowledge

B)be encouraged to be creative

C)be imaginative in their study

D)build up knowledge actively

10.Which of the following is not the reason why Jean Piaget has been highly respected?

A)He had profound influence on education

B)He reformed the educational model in his times.

C)He was the first to take children’s thinking seriously.

D)He developed several new fields of science.

Part V Chinese-English Translations (10%)

Directions:Translate the following sentences into English with the words or expressions given in the brackets. Write your translation on Answer Sheet II.

1.我认为，事先做不做准备常常会影响求职者的成功机会。（do one’s homework,

make difference）

2.为了避免冒犯外国朋友，你最好先了解他们的文化背景再和他们接触。

(offend)

3.农村的新生婴儿死亡率显著高于城市的新生婴儿死亡率。（mortality）

4.不少人在竞争旅馆经理，她必须找到支持者。（contend; back up）

5.我们应当马上着手处理这些问题，否则整个计划注定要失败。(set about, be

doomed)

Part VI Text Analysis (15%)

Directions:

Read the following text carefully and then answer the following questions based on the text. Please write your answers on Answer Sheet II.

My Views on Gambling

5 10 15 20 25

Most of life is a gamble. Very many of the things we do

involve taking some risk in order to achieve a satisfactory result.

We begin a new job with no idea of the more indirect

consequences of our action. Marriage is certainly a gamble and so

is the bringing into existence of children, who could prove sad

liabilities1. A journey, a business transaction2, even a chance

remark may result immediately or ultimately in tragedy.

Perpetually3we gamble—against life, destiny, chance, the

unknown—call the invisible opponent what we will. Human

survival and progress indicate that usually we win.

So the gambling instinct must be an elemental one. Taking

risks to achieve something is a characteristic of all forms of life,

including humanity. Early man may well have risked his bearskin,

his wife, in the hope of adding to his possessions. The

acquirement of desirable but non-essential commodities must

have increased his scope enormously, while the risk of complete

disaster lessened.

So long as man was gambling against destiny, the odds were

usually in his favor, especially when he used commonsense. But

as the methods of gambling multiplied, the chances of success

decreased. A wager4 against one person offered on average even

chances and no third party profited by the transaction. But as soon

as commercialized city life developed, mass gambling became

common. Thousands of people now compete for large prizes, but

with only minute chances of success, while the organizers of

gambling concerns enjoy big profits with, in some cases, no risk

at all. Few clients of the betting shops, football pools, state

1. liability n. 倾向

2. transaction n. 交易

3. perpetually adv. 终身地

4. wager n. 赌博

30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 lotteries, and bingo sessions, realize fully the flimsiness5 of their

chances and the fact that without fantastic luck they are certain to

lose rather than gain.

Little irreparable6harm results for the normal individual.

That big business profits from the satisfaction of a human instinct

is a common enough phenomenon. The average wage-earner, who

leads a colorless existence, devotes a small percentage of his

earnings to keeping alive with extraordinary constancy the dream

of achieving some magic change in his life. Gambling is in most

cases a non-toxic drug against boredom and apathy7 and may well

preserve good temper, patience and optimism in dreary8

circumstances. A sudden windfall9 may unbalance a weaker, less

intelligent person and even ruin his life. And the lure of

something for nothing as an ideal evokes10 criticism for the more

rigidly upright representatives of the community. But few of us

have the right to condemn11as few of us can say we never

gamble.

Trouble develops, however, when any human instinct or

appetite becomes overdeveloped. Moderate drinking produces

few harmful effects but drunkenness and alcoholism can have

terrible consequences. With an unlucky combination of

temperament12 and circumstances, gambling can only become an

obsession13, almost a form of insanity14, resulting in the loss not

only of a man’s property but of his self-respect and his

conscience15. Far worse are the sufferings of his dependants,

deprived of material comfort and condemned to watching his

deterioration and hopelessness. They share none of his feverish

excitement or the exhilaration16 of his rare success. The fact that

he does not wish to be cured makes psychological treatment of

the gambling addict17 almost impossible. He will use any means,

including stealing, to enable him to carry on. It might be possible

to pay what salary he can earn to his wife for the family

maintenance but this is clearly no solution. Nothing—education,

home environment, other interest, wise discouragement—is likely

to restrain the obsessed gambler and even when it is he alone who

suffers the consequences, his disease is a cruel one, resulting in a

wasted, unhappy life.

On the whole, though negative, gambling is not an evil habit

within reasonable limits. It would still exist in an ideal society.

The most we can hope for is control over exaggerated profits

resulting from its business exploitation, far more attention and

research devoted to the unhappy gambling addict and the type of

education which will encourage an interest in so many other

5. flimsiness n. 渺茫

6. irreparable adj. 无可挽

回的

7. apathy n. 漠然

8. dreary adj. 沉闷的

9. windfall n. 横财

10. evoke v. 引起

11. condemn v. 谴责

12. temperament n. 性情

13. obsession n. 着魔

14. insanity n. 失去理性

15. conscience n. 良知

16. exhilaration n. 高兴

17. addict n. 上瘾者

constructive activities that gambling itself will lose its fascination

18. opiate n. 鸦片剂

as an opiate18to a dreary existence. It could be regarded as an

occasional mildly exciting game, never to be taken very seriously.

Section A Explain the meanings of the words in English (4%)

1.even (L. 21)

2.non-toxic (L. 37)

3.lure (L. 40)

4.restrain (L 62)

Section B Translate the underlined sentences into Chinese. (4%)

1. The acquirement of desirable but non-essential commodities must have increased his

scope enormously, while the risk of complete disaster lessened. (L. 14)

2.The average wage-earner, who leads a colorless existence, devotes a small percentage of

his earnings to keeping alive with extraordinary constancy the dream of achieving some magic change in his life. (L. 33)

Section C Answer the following questions based on the text. For each question, please answer within 20 words. (4%)

1.Why does the writer say that bringing into existence of children is a gamble?

2.What consequence might a gambling addict suffer according to the writer?

Section D Sum up the main idea of the text. The main idea should be summed up within 50 words. (3%)

Part VII. Writing

Directions:

Write a composition on the topic “A goal is a dream with a deadline”. You are required to write at least 120 words according to the outline given below. Write your composition on Answer Sheet II. (10%)

1.目标不是高不可攀和虚幻的梦想(measurable, identifiable)。

2.目标是可以实现的梦想(attainable)。