2014年12月英语四级考试真题(第1套)
2014年6月大学英语四级(CET-4)考试答案解析(第一套)
2014年6月大学英语六级考试真题(一)答案与详解Part Ⅰ Writing审题思路本次作文一改往年常考的三段式议论文、图表作文和名言评述作文题型,设定虚拟情景，要求考生描述某处景点，考生应该把重点放在说明选取这一景点的原因上，也就是说明其独特性上。
仔细分析可知,本文依旧可以分三部分展开。
考生首先应回答“what”的问题,即去什么地方游玩;其次，考生应回答“Why”的问题，即推荐该地点的缘由;最后, 考生需要做简要的总结。
写作提纲一、回答“what”，说明去某地游玩(take vacation, on the top of my list)二、回答“why”，描述某地的独特之处：1、以泰山为例(Mount Tai)2、泰山的独特之处(spectacularity, sacredness, hope and auspici ousness)三、简要总结：1、探访泰山很有意义（engagement in ancient culture and contemporaiy prosperity)2、表达愿望(wonderful experience)范文点评全文翻译泰山之旅欣闻我的外国朋友比尔要来我的家乡度假。
由于我在英国曾受到比尔的热情款待，我将带他四处看看家乡的风景。
在所有风景中，泰山无疑是首选之地。
几个世纪前，孔子登上泰山之巅，发出登泰山而小天下之感叹;在现代，每个人必定会去欣赏泰山的壮丽和神圣。
泰山不仅仅是一座山，她还象征着希望与祥瑞，体现了深厚的文化。
此外，泰山被看作是如此神圣，以至于几乎每位古代帝王都会到这里祭祀天地,祈求国家昌盛、国泰民安。
登泰山不仅是一次登山远足，还是一次亲身体验古代文化和现代繁荣的旅行。
因此，我向你保证你一定会喜欢这次美妙的旅行的。
PartⅡ Listening ComprehensionSection A1.W: I can’t seem to reach the tea at the back of the cupboard.M： Oh. Why don’t you use the ladder? You might strain your shoulder.Q： What does the man suggest the woman do?1. A)See a doctor about her strained shoulder. C)Replace the cupboard with a new one.B) Use a ladder to help her reach the tea.D)Place the tea on a lower shelf next time.【预测】四个选项都是动词短语，由此可推断该题会对建议或计划进行提问。
英语四级2023年12月试题
2023年12月四级考试真题(第一套)Part I Writing (30 minutes) Directions: Suppose the university newspaper is inviting submissionsfrom the students for its coming edition on a campus event that has impressed them most. You are now to write an essayfor submission. You will have 30 minutes to write the essay.You should write at least_120words but no more than 180words.Part II Listening Comprehension (25 minutes) Section ADirections: In this section,you will hear three news reports.At the end ofeach news report,you will hear wo 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 answerfrom the four choices marked A),B),C)and D).Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer SheetI with a single line through the centre.Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.1.A)He noticed the driver was too young to drive.B)He found there was no one sitting at the wheel.C)He thought something must be wrong with the driver.D)He saw the driver changing lanes much too frequently.2.A)Buy a sports car.C)Leave Califomia.B)Drive across town.D)Visit his sister.Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.3.A)How they change the way we shop.C)How they cause increased headaches.B)How they alter human skeletons.D)How they affect our communication.4.A)It loosens.C)It hardens.B)It brightens.D)It softens.Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.5.A)Create Internet pages for him.C)Name an orange tree after him.B)Ask a local pet shop to adopt him.D)Hold a birthday party for him.6.A)He is a bold and aggressive pet.C)He once bit a doctor's receptionist.B)He pays regular visits to village shops.D)He likes to sit on the hairdresser's chair.7.A)He is fond ofluxury cat food.C)He knows everybody in the village.B)He likes to stay in villagers'houses.D)He often seeks food around her pub.Section BDirections: In this section,you will hear nvo long conversations.At the end ofeach conversation, you will hearfour questions.Both the conversation and the questions will bespoken only once.Afier 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 SheetI with a single line through the centre.Questions 8 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.8.A)Who to order the food.C)When to go for their meal.B)Whether to have sandwiches.D)Where to have their lunch.9.A)In the shopping center nearby.C)At the sandwich place on Camden Street.B)In the expensive Italian style diner.D)At the American restaurant they frequent.10.A)There is to be a conference call.B)She has to meet with her boss then.C)There will be crowds of people waiting for her.D)She will have a photo taken with Brigette Clark.11.A)She doesn't deem homemade soup tasty.C)She feels Jeremy would rather dine out.B)She doesn't think his wife cooks well.D)She has found the soup smells terrible.Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12.A)A landladyC)A receptionist.B)A waitress.D)A saleswoman13.A)He was involved in a terrible car accident last AprilB)He has much difficulty getting up and down stairs.C)He is expected to undergo a knee operation.D)He prefers to stay next door to the children.14.A)To please his parents-in-law.C)To satisfy his curiosity.B)To find the best trip for his kids.D)To compare prices.15.A)Visit a local art gallery.C)Take some photos ofthe islands.B)Go on a boat tripD)Try her hand-made clothing.Section CDirections:In this section,you will hear three passages.At the end ofeach passage,you will hear three orfour questions.Both the passage and the questions will bespoken only once. After you hear a question,you must choose the best answerfrom the four choices marked A),B),C)andD).Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet I with a single line through the centre. Questions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16.A)They are more intelligent than many of us.B)They have already become our new friends.C)They have begun to affect our social behavior.D)They play increasingly more important roles.17.A)Whether it might have any effect on the way we negotiate.B)Whether it might actually outperform human negotiators.C)Whether it can facilitate business transactions.D)Whether it can speed up legal procedures.18.A)Choose to be tough.C)Use deceptive strategies.B)Sympathize with their opponent.D)Appear to be pleasant.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you havejust heard.19.A)They were perceived differently by some academics.B)They still existed six months after the course ended.C)They varied greatly among the course participants.D)They were only measurable within seven weeks.20.A)They can be easily seen among participants in a healthy weight range.B)They should be attributed to participants'change in diet behaviors.C)They are linked to cooking confidence and cooking satisfaction.D)They actually result from eating more firuits and vegetables.21.A)Gender.C)HealthB)ConfidenceD)Practice.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you hare just heard.22.A)It keeps others away.C)It remains visible.B)It causes discomfort.D)It varies in size23.A)It makes us feel uncomfortable.C)It brings the acquaintance closer to us.B)It renders the acquaintance a stranger.D)It causes the bubble around us to vanish.24.A)In personal space.C)Within a distance of 18 inches.B)In social spaceD)Over 2 feet away from one another.25.A)When we begin to feel fear.C)When we are 3 or 4 years old.B)When we develop a sense of space.D)When we enter our teens.Part II Reading Comprehension (40 minutes) Section ADirections: In this section,there is a passage with ten blanks.You are required to select one word for each blank from a list ofchoices given in a word bankfollowing 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.A number of studies have looked at how family life can affect productivity and satisfaction in the workplace.However,there has been 26 little research on the influence of leisure activities.So Ciara Kelly and colleagues recruited 129 hobbyists to look at how the time spent on theirhobbies 27 their work life.The researchers found that when participants spent longer than 28 on their leisure activity,their belief in their ability to perform their job was strengthened.But this was only the 29 when they had a serious hobby that was dissimilar to their job,or when their hobby wassimilar to their work but they only did it 30 .When their hobby was both serious and similar to their job,then spending more time on it actually decreased their work 31 Why might that be?To maintain a serious hobby,people need to invest significant psychological resources,say the authors -so if the activity has the same kinds of demands as their work,they may be left 32 and unable to perform well at their job.But if their hobby is quite different from their career,it may not 33 in the same way but instead help them develop other knowledge and skills that can 34 their confidence at work."Consider a scientist who is a keen rock climber,"says Kelly.“Since climbing is so far 35 from their day-to-day work activities,they can still recover from the demands of their job with plenty of resources."A)boost B)case C)casually D)efficiencyE)estate F)exhausted G)faculty H)interfereI)normal J)prevalent K)relative L)removedM)scratch N)shaped O)surprisinglySection BDirections: 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.More fathers are taking paternity leave,but mothers are still doing all the work[A]Attitudes towards paternity leave(陪产假)have drastically changed in America in the last five years as more fathers feel comfortable taking extended time off,but gender bias persists when it comes to career prospects and the home,according to a new study of working parents.[B]Research by the Boston College Center for Work &Family,which surveyed new parents at four large US companies who were qualified for taking at least six weeks paid parental leave, found that 81%of the 1,240employees surveyed said the notion of fathers taking leave has become more acceptable.[C]Of those surveyed,62%of fathers took the maximum amount of time off compared to 93%of mothers,and around three-quarters of workers said their employer was equally supportive ofmothers and fathers taking parental leave and over half said leave policies had made workplace culture better.[D]The US is one of only three countries in the world not to offer statutory(法定的)paid leave, but increasingly states and companies are starting to take up the issue.So far,eight states and the District of Columbia have their own paid family leave laws.[E]Brad Harrington,executive director of the center and lead author of the study,estimates only 20%to 30%of companies in the US offer paid parental leave.He feels the research findings reflect an obvious change in corporate attitudes to new fathers taking time off.[F]“We did a study on paternity leave five years pared with thosefindings,these numbers were shocking to me.I did not expect 80%of people to say the organisation finds dads taking this leave acceptable and three-quarters to say it's equally supportive of women and men taking leave,"Harrington said.[G]The previous study found that nearly three-quarters of fathers saw two to four weeks as an appropriate duration for paternity leave and 76%said they would prefer not to take all their time off at once.[H]Since then,there have been a number of legal cases against companies involving paternity leave -including cases against JP Morgan Chase and Estée Lauder -which have helped put pressure on companies to make their parental leave policies gender neutral.[I]However,the study also shows how traditional gender roles endure both at work,where more women than men reported changes in their perceived career potential,and at home -even among workers who claim to have a strong desire for equality.[J]The vast majority of men,97%,said one of the top reasons to take leave was to share caregiving with their partner.But when they were asked about how caregiving and household tasks were divided,their answers painted a different picture.While about75%of employees said both genders should give the same amount of care,the majority of men and nearly half of women admitted that in reality the female actually did most of it.A tiny fraction,2%,of men said they did more of the childcare.[K]Men and women's experiences of the return to work following parental leave were also considerably different.Of the women surveyed,32%reported a downturn in their job satisfaction, while 14%said it increased.In comparison,17%of men said their job satisfactionwent down and 20%said it went up.Meanwhile,more women reported an increase in their responsibilities and manager expectations after childbirth.Half of the women said they used flexible work arrangements after becoming a parent,while just 27%of men did.Similar percentages of men and women said they enjoyed their careers and that it gave them a sense ofachievement,while around half of women and 44%ofmen said it was a key part of their identity.[L]On the subject of career advancement.59%of women and 49%of men said leave could be limiting and both genders said they feared it would have an impact on their progress long-term. But on opportunity for promotion,more than double the number of women,30%compared with 15%of men,believed their chances to be lower after becoming a parent.Despite progress,the struggle for women to reach the highest positions of power is demonstrated in this year's Fortune 500 list,which featured a record 33 female CEOs,but this still represents a tiny fraction of the total[M]Harrington said culture change depends on companies putting more focus on men and their responsibilities.“By that I mean companies need to give men paternity leave and encourage men to take time off to be with their kids early on in the kids'life.They also need to recognise that men have to make significant adjustments when they become panies cannot do all these things to enhance women's advancement and then turn around and say,'Oh,but we don't expect the men to take over for the women at home."" [N]In May,the AmericanCivil Liberties Union(ACLU)and Outten &Golden LLPannounced a historic class-action $5m setlement with JPMorganChase on behalf of male employees who claim they were illegally denied access to paid parental leave.Derek Rotondo,35,filed the discrimination charge against his company after he was allegedly told by his HR department that mothers were considered primarycaregivers.Thus.they were allowed to take 16 weeks of paid parental leave.Fathers,however,could take just two weeks.[O]The father of two from Columbus,Ohio,who still works at the company as an associate and investigator,said he has witnessed a“domino effect(多米诺效应)”across companies since the settlement,but that there is still substantial progress to be made towards changing attitudes towards paternity leave.[P]“I do think there's still some way to go ...there's still going to be sort of the unstatedexpectation for new dads toessentially come right back to work,but Ithink the research is showing that's starting to change."He said equal parentalleave is an essentialcomponent to creating gender equality in the workplace."The old standard of women staying home,having babies and cooking doesn't apply and hasn't applied for a long time."36.In the absence of Federal legislation,some states in the US have passed laws conceming paid family leave.37.Most fathers admitted that even during their paternity leave they actually did much less childcare than the mother.38.According to one father,equal parental leave is indispensable to achieving gender equality in the workplace.39.One survey indicated there is now less objection to paternity leave.pared to five years ago,according to one researcher,many more people said their organisation gave the same support to men and women taking parental leave.41.One study finds that even workers who claim to desire gender equality stick to traditional gender roles both at work and at home.42.The majority of workers surveyed said parental leave policies had improved workplace culture.43In spite of progress,the number of women in top positions of big companies remains extremely small44.According to one estimate,less than one third of companies in the US provide paid parental leave.45.A number of lawsuits have pressured companies to formulate gender neutral policies on parental leaveSection CDirections: There are 2 passages in this section.Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements.For each of them there are four choicesmarked A),B),C)and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.Having a rival can keep you committed to achieving your goals and enhance your overall performance.But before you go out and find an entrepreneur to outcompete,it's important to understand and avoid the traps that often come with rivalry.After all,competitive rivalry can also hinder effective decision-making and increase your willingness to take risks,behaviors that can ultimately hurt your venture's success.Finding someone you're committed to outcompeting can be a great way to stay focused on your goals and push your venture to the next level.But when you're intently focused on outperforming your rivals,you may begin to develop a“win-at-all-costs"mentality that causes you to ignore how you achieve success.One group of researchers,for example,examined the link between rivalry and unethical behavior.They found that when people compete against their rivals, they are more willing to behave unethically to win.But such behavior may stain your reputation and strain relationships important to your success.One way to avoid this trap is to stop and reflect on what's important.While outperforming your rivals may provide short-term benefits,the loss of your integrity will have long-term consequences.One reason having a rival can enhance your venture's performance is that it creates a level of excitement that drives you to work harder.But this eagerness to win may also hurt your venture's suecess,particularly when it causes you to make impulsive,insensible decisions.But it's possible to avoid such costly mistakes by making a habit of engaging in critical thinking,such as considering opposing viewpoints and conducting cost-benefit analyses,especially for those decisions that are complex and can determine the future of your venture.The sense of eagerness that comes with having a rival can not only cause you to make poorer decisions,but it can also lead you to take greater risks that put your venture in peril.One way you can overcome the risk-inducing effects of rivalry that stand to endanger your venture's success is to remain attentive to your emotional state and actively monitor how such feelings are affecting your decision-making.46.How can competitive rivalry benefit entrepreneurs according to the passage?A)By enabling them to outcompete other entrepreneurs.B)By enabling them to make their venture a success.C)By helping them to reach long-term goals.D)By helping them to stay goal-oriented.47.What is one of the traps entrepreneurs may often fall into when competing with rivals?A)They may adopt strategies that are bound to ruin their venture.B)They may resort to unethical means to outperform their rivals.C)They may be too eager to succeed while ignoring the huge labor cost.D)They may be intently focused on winning at the current market level.48.What are entrepreneurs advised to do to avoid traps that often accompany rivalry?A)Deliberate on what really matters.B)Prioritize reaping immediate benefits.C)Estimatethe long-term consequences.D)Reflect on what successes are achievable.49.How can entrepreneurs avoid making impulsive and insensible decisions?A)By engaging themselves in critical reasoning.B)By developing a habit of keeping their integrity.C)By criticizing themselves for previous poor performances.D)By refraining from being too excited about their successes.50.How can entrepreneurs overcome the risk-inducing effects of rivalry?A)By payingclose attention to their current performance.B)By taking steps that stand to endanger their rivals'success.C)By monitoring how their decision-making impacts their mentality.D)By keeping their emotions in check to avoid making poor decisions.A multitasker is one who can perform two or more tasks effectively at the same time,which一apart from the obvious differences -is similar to what a computer does.The concept does indeed come fiom the realms of technology,where it is used to refer to an operating system that can execute multiple tasks at the same time.However,the question is:can a person really be a multitasker?For most scientists,the answer is no.So much so that,according to experts in neuroscience(神经系统科学)，our brains do not handle multitasking situations we11.As soon as two tasks require our attention,productivitysuffers.What we call multitasking,therefore,is in reality the ability to move more or less quickly from one task to another.This requires two essential conditions:that one of the tasks needs to be automatic,like walking or eating,and that they both need different mentalprocesses.Answering the phone and writing at the same time,for example.However,on the other side of the coin there are people who maintain that it is possible to be, or at least seem to be,multitasking.A recent study concluded that regardless of whether people are actually handling several tasks or not,the mere fact that they perceive this activity as multitasking has a positive effect on their performance.The business perspective offers a different view:multitasking is understood as the ability to adapt to all types of environments within a company and effectively undertake different activities within a set time frame.Indeed,many companies look for people who are skilled in multitasking to improve their productivityFrom this different perspective,you can not only be multitasking but this ability can also be taught:something that is easier in fluid organizations,which favour flexibility in their working practices.The benefits of multitasking are clear.Being quicker and more efficient increases our performance and the number of tasks completed.But having to pay attention to several things at once means that the powers of concentration are reduced and that can lead to more mistakes.51.What does a“multitasker"originally refer to?A)An operating system capable of doing severaltasks at once.B)A skilled worker executing more than one task at the same time.C)A sophisticatedtechnology doing several tasks effectively at once.D)An efficient person able to perform multiple tasks at the same time.52.Why can't people really be multitaskers according to neuroscientists?A)They are not sufficiently exposed to multitasking situations.B)They are not comparable to mechanical operating systems.C)Their brains do not allow them to multitask.D)Their attention span cannot be expanded.53.What do we learn from the conclusion of a recent study on multitasking?A)People make greater achievements by maintaining whatever they are doing is multitasking.B)People's performance benefits from the perception of what they are doing as multitasking.C)People's active mental processes exert a positive effect on their multitasking.D)People can improve their capabilities by handling multitasking situations.54.How does the business world view multitasking?A)It is a rare skill often found in fluid organisations.B)It is an adaptable capability required of all workers.C)It is an essential quality many employees lack.D)It is a desirable ability that can be developed.55.What does the author imply we should do if we have to focus on some task and do it well?A)Work in a flexible wayB)Avoid multitaskingC)Leam from mistakesD)Increase efficiency.Part IV Translation (30 minutes) Directions: For this part,you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English.You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.改革开放以来，中国人民生活水平不断提高，这在人们的饮食(diet)变化上得到充分体现。
2018年12月大学英语四级真题及答案（第一套）
2018年12⽉⼤学英语四级真题及答案（第⼀套）2018年12⽉⼤学英语四级考试真题（第1套）Part I Writing (30minutes) Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay on the challenges of living in a big city. You should write at least120 words but no more than 180 words._________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________Part II Listening Comprehension (25 minutes) Section ADirections: 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 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.1. A) Land a space vehicle on the moon in 2019.B) Design a new generation of mobile phones.C) Set up a mobile phone network on the moon.D) Gather data from the moon with a tiny device.2. A) It is stable. B) It is durable.C) It is inexpensive. D) It is sophisticated. Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.3. A) It lasted more than six hours.B) No injuries were yet reported.C) Nobody was in the building when it broke out.D) It had burned for 45 minutes by the time firefighters arrived.4. A) Recruit and train more firefighters.B) Pull down the deserted shopping mall.C) Turn the shopping mall into an amusement park.D) Find money to renovate the local neighborhood. Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.5. A) Shrinking potato farming. B) Heavy reliance on import.C) Widespread plant disease. D) Insufficient potato supply.6. A) It intends to keep its traditional diet.B) It wants to expand its own farming.C) It is afraid of the spread of disease.D) It is worried about unfair competition.7. A) Global warming. B) Ever-rising prices.C) Government regulation. D) Diminishing investment. Section BDirections：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) Informative. B) Inspiring.C) Dull. D) Shallow.9. A) She types on a keyboard. B) She does recording.C) She takes photos. D) She takes notes.10. A) It keeps her mind active. B) It makes her stay awake.C) It enables her to think hard. D) It helps her kill time.11. A) It enables her to improve her pronunciation.B) It helps her better remember what she learns.C) It turns out to be an enjoyable way of learning.D) It proves to be far more effective than writing.Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12. A) To spend her honeymoon.B) To try authentic Indian food.C) To take photos of the Taj Mahal.D) To trace the origin of a love story.13. A) In memory of a princess.B) In honor of a great emperor.C) To mark the death of an emperor of the 1600s.D) To celebrate the birth of a princess’s 14th child.14. A) It looks older than expected.B) It is built of wood and bricks.C) It stores lots of priceless antiques.D) It has walls decorated with jewels.15. A) Their streets are narrow.B) They are mostly crowded.C) Each one has a unique character.D) Life can be tedious in some places. Section CDirections: 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), 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) They help spread the latest technology.B) They greatly enrich people’s leisure life.C) They provide residents with the resources needed.D) They allow free access to digital books and videos.17. A) By helping them find jobs.B) By inspiring their creativity.C) By keeping them off the streets.D) By providing a place of relaxation.18. A) Their interaction with teenagers proved fruitful.B) They used libraries less often than teenagers.C) They tended to visit libraries regularly.D) Their number increased modestly. Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.19. A) It is the cleverest cat in the world.B) It is the largest cat in Africa.C) It is an unusual cross breed.D) It is a large-sized wild cat.20. A) They are as loyal as dogs.B) They have unusually long tails.C) They are fond of sleeping in cabinets.D) They know how to please their owners.21. A) They shake their front paws.B) They teach them to dive.C) They shower with them.D) They shout at them.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.22. A) Anxious and depressed.B) Contented and relieved.C) Excited but somewhat sad.D) Proud but a bit nervous.23. A) It is becoming parents’ biggest concern.B) It is gaining increasing public attention.C) It is depends on their parents for success.D) It starts the moment they are born.24. A) Set a good example for them to follow.B) Read books and magazines to them.C) Help them to learn by themselves.D) Choose the right school for them.25. A) Their intelligence.B) Their home life.C) The effort they put in learning.D) The quality of their school.Part ⅢReading Comprehension ( 40 minutes ) Section ADirections: 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 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.Millions die early from air pollution each year. Air pollution costs the global economy more than $5 trillion annually in welfare costs, with the most serious 26 occurring in the developing world.The figures include a number of costs 27 with air pollution. Lost income alone amounts to $225 billion a year.The report includes both indoor and outdoor air pollution. Indoor pollution, which includes 28 like home heating and cooking, has remained 29 over the past several decades despite advances in the area. Levels of outdoor pollution have grown rapidly along with rapid growth in industry and transportation.Director of Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Chris Murray 30 it as an “urgent call to action.”“One of the risk factors for premature deaths is the air we breathe, over which individuals have little 31 ,”he said.The effects of air pollution are worst in the developing world, where in some places lost-labor income 32 nearly 1% of GDP. Around 9 in 10 people in low-and middle-income countries live in places where they 33 experience dangerous levels of outdoor air pollution.But the problem is not limited 34 to the developing world. Thousands die prematurely in the U.S. as a result of related illnesses. In many European countries, where diesel(柴油) 35 have become more common in recent years, that number reaches tens of thousands.Section BDirections: 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.Food-as-Medicine Movement Is Witnessing Progress[A] Several times a month, you can find a doctor in the aisles of Ralph’s market in Huntington Beach, California, wearing a white coat and helping people learn about food. On one recent day, this doctor was Daniel Nadeau, wandering the cereal aisle with Allison Scott, giving her some idea on how to feed kids who persi stently avoid anything that is healthy. “Have you thought about trying fresh juices in the morning?” he asks her. “The frozen oranges and apples are a little cheaper, and fruits are really good for the brain. Juices are quick and easy to prepare, you can t ake the frozen fruit out the night before and have it ready the next morning.”[B] Scott is delighted to get food advice from a physician who is program director of the nearby Mary and Dick Allen Diabetes Center, part of the St. Joseph Hoag Health alliance. The center’s ‘Shop with Your Doc’ program sends doctors to the grocery store to meet with any patients who sign up for the service, plus any other shoppers who happen to be around with questions.[C] Nadeau notices the pre-made macaroni (通⼼粉)-and-cheese boxes in Scott’s shopping cart and suggests she switch to whole grain macaroni and real cheese. “So I’d have to make it?”she asks, her enthusiasm fading at the thought of how long that might take, just to have her kids reject it. “I’m not sure they’d eat it. They just won’t eat it.”[D] Nadeau says sugar and processed foods are big contributors to the rising diabetes rates among children. “In America, over 50 percent of our food is processed food,” Nadeau tells her. “And only 5 percent of our food is plant-based food. I think we should try to reverse that.” Scott agrees to try more fruit juices for the kids and to make real macaroni and cheese. Score one point for the docto r, zero for diabetes.[E] Nadeau is part of a small revolution developing across California. The food-as-medicine movement has been around for decades, but it’s making progress as physicians and medical institutions make food a formal part of treatment, rather than relying sol ely on medications (药物). By prescribing nutritional changes or la unching programs such as ‘Shop with your Doc’, they are trying to prevent, limit or even reverse disease by changing what patients eat. “There’s no question people can take things a long way toward reversin g diabetes, reversing high blood pressure, even pr eventing cancer by food choices,” Nadeau says.[F] In the big picture, says Dr. Richard Afable, CEO and president of ST. Joseph Hoag Health, medical institutions across the state are starting to make a philosophical switch to becoming a health organization, not just a health care organization. That feeling echoes the beliefs of the Therapeutic Food Pantry program at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, which completed its pilot phase and is about to expand on an ongoing basis to five clinic sites throughout the city. The program will offer patients several bags of food prescribed for their condition, along with intensive training in how to cook it. “We really want to link food and medicine, and not just give away food,” says Dr. Rita Nguyen, the hospit al’s medical director of Healthy Food Initiatives. “We want people to understand what they’re eating, how to prepare it, the role food plays in their lives.”[G] In Southern California, Loma Linda University School of Medicine is offering specialized training for its resident physicians in Lifestyle Medicine — that is a formal specialty in using food to treat disease. Research findings increasingly show the power of food to treat or reverse diseases, but that does not mean that diet alone is always the solution, or that every illness can benefit substantially from dietary changes. Nonetheless, physicians say that they look at the collective data and a clear picture emerges: that the salt, sugar, fat and processed foods in the American diet contribute to the nation’s high rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. According to the World Health Organization, 80 percent of deaths from heart disease and stroke are caused by high blood pressure, tobacco use, elevated cholesterol and low consumption of fruits and vegetables.[H] “It’s a different paradigm(范式) of how to treat disease,” says Dr. Brenda Rea, who helps run the family and preventive medicine residency program at Loma Linda University School of Medicine. The lifestyle medicine specialty is designed to train doctors in how to prevent and treat disease, in part, by changing patients’ nutritional habits. The medical center and school at Loma Linda als o has a food cupboard and kitchen for patients. This way, patients not only learn about which foods to buy, but also how to prepare them at home.[I] Many people don’t know how to cook, Rea says, and they only know how to heat things up. That means depending on packaged food with high salt and sugar content. So teaching people about which foods are healthy and how to prepare them, she says, can actually transform a patient’s life. And beyond that, it might transform the health and lives of that patient’s family. “What people e at can be medicine or poison,” Rea says. “As a physician, nutrition is one of the most powerful things you can change to reverse the effects of long-term disease.”[J] Studies have explored evidence that dietary changes can slow inflammation(炎症), for example, or make the body inhospitable to cancer cells. In general, many lifestyle medicine physicians recommend a plant-based diet — particularly for people with diabetes or other inflammatory conditions.[K] “As what happened with tobacco, this will require a cultural shift, but that can happen,” says Nguyen. “In the same way p hysicians used to smoke, and then stopped smoking and were able to talk to patients about it, I think physicians can have a bigger voice in it.”36. More than half of the food Americans eat is factory-produced.37. There is a special program that assigns doctors to give advice to shoppers in food stores.38. There is growing evidence from research that food helps patients recover from various illnesses.39. A healthy breakfast can be prepared quickly and easily.40. Training a patient to prepare healthy food can change their life.41. One food-as-medicine program not only prescribes food for treatment but teaches patients how to cook it.42. Scott is not keen on cooking food herself, thinking it would simply be a waste of time.43. Diabetes patients are advised to eat more plant-based food.44. Using food as medicine is no novel idea, but the movement is making headway these days.45. Americans’ high rates of various illnesses result from the way they eat. Section CDirections: There are 2 passages in this section. 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 mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 46 and 50 are based on the following passage.California has been facing a drought for many years now, with certain areas even having to pump freshwater hundreds of miles to their distribution system. The problem is growing as the population of the state continues to expand. New research has found deep water reserves under the state which could help solve their drought crisis. Previous drilling of wells could only reach depths of 1,000 feet, but due to new pumping practices, water deeper than this can now be extracted (抽取). The team at Stanford investigated the aquifers(地下蓄⽔层)below this depth and found that reserves may be triple what was previously thought.It is profitable to drill to depths more than 1,000 feet for oil and gas extraction, but only recently in California has it become profitable to pump water from this depth. The aquifers range from 1,000 to 3,000 feet below the ground, which means that pumping will be expensive and there are other concerns. The biggest concern of pumping out water from this deep in the gradual settling down of the land surface. As the water is pumped out, the vacant space left is compacted by the weight of the earth above.Even though pumping from these depths is expensive, it is still cheaper than desalinating(脱盐)the ocean water in the largely coastal state. Some desalination plants exist where feasible, but they are costly to run and can need constant repairs. Wells are much more reliable sources of freshwater, and California is hoping that these deep wells may be the answer to their severe water shortage.One problem with these sources is that the deep water also has a higher level of salt than shallower aquifers. This means that some wells may even need to undergo desalination after extraction, thus increasing the cost. Research from the exhaustive study of groundwater from over 950 drilling logs has just been published. New estimates of the water reserves now go up to 2,700 billion cubic meters of freshwater.46.How could California’s drought crisis be solved according to some researchers?A) By building more reserves of groundwater.B) By drawing water from the depths of the earth.C) By developing more advanced drilling devices.D) By upgrading its water distribution system.47.What can be inferred about extracting water from deep aquifers?A) It was deemed vital to solving the water problem.B) It was not considered worth the expense.C) It may not provide quality freshwater.D) It is bound to gain support from the local people.48. What is mentioned as a consequence of extracting water from deep underground?A) The sinking of land surface. C) The damage to aquifers.B) The harm to the ecosystem. D) The change of the climate.49. What does the author say about deep wells?A) They run without any need for repairs.B) They are entirely free from pollutants.C) They are the ultimate solution to droughts.D) They provide a steady supply of freshwater.50. What may happen when deep aquifers are used as water sources?A) People’s health may improve with cleaner water.B) People’s water bills may be lowered considerably.C) The cost may go up due to desalination.D) They may be exhausted sooner or later.Passage TwoQuestions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.The AlphaGo program’s victory is an example of how smart computers have become.But can artificial intelligence (AI) machines act ethically, meaning can they be honest and fair?One example of AI is driverless cars. They are already on California roads, so it is not too soon to ask whether we can program a machine to act ethically. As driverless cars improve, they will save lives. They will make fewer mistakes than human drivers do. Sometimes, however, they will face a choice between lives. Should the cars be programmed to avoid hitting a child running across the road, even if thatwill put their passengers at risk? What about making a sudden turn to avoid a dog? What if the only risk is damage to the car itself, not to the passengers?Perhaps there will be lessons to learn from driverless cars, but they are not super-intelligent beings. Teaching ethics to a machine even more intelligent than we are will be the bigger challenge.About the same time as AlphaGo’s triumph, Microsoft’s ‘chatbot’ took a ba d turn. The software, named Taylor, was designed to answer messages from people aged 18-24. Taylor was supposed to be able to learn from the messages she received. She was designed to slowly improve her ability to handle conversations, but some people were teaching Taylor racist ideas. When she started saying nice things about Hitler, Microsoft turned her off and deleted her ugliest messages.AlphaGo’s victory and Taylor’s defeat happened at about the same time. This should be a warning to us. It is one thi ng to use AI within a game with clear rules and clear goals. It is something very different to use AI in the real world. The unpredictability of the real world may bring to the surface a troubling software problem.Eric Schmidt is one of the bosses of Google, which own AlphoGo. He thinks AI will be positive for humans. He said people will be the winner, whatever the outcome. Advances in AI will make human beings smarter, more able and “just better human beings.”51.What does the author want to show with the example of AlphaGo’s victory?A)Computers will prevail over human beings.B)Computers have unmatched potential.C)Computers are man’s potential rivals.D)Computers can become highly intelligent.52.What does the author mean by AI machines acting ethically?A)They are capable of predicting possible risks.B)They weigh the gains and losses before reaching a decision.C)They make sensible decisions when facing moral dilemmas.D)They sacrifice everything to save human lives.53.What is said to be the bigger challenge facing humans in the AI age?A)How to make super-intelligent AI machines share human feelings.B)How to ensure that super-intelligent AI machines act ethically.C)How to prevent AI machines doing harm to humans.D)How to avoid being over-dependent on AI machines.54.What do we learn about Microsoft’s “chatbot” Taylor?A)She could not distinguish good from bad.B)She could turn herself off when necessary.C)She was not made to handle novel situations.D)She was good at performing routine tasks.55. What does Eric Schmidt think of artificial intelligence?A) It will be far superior to human beings.B) It will keep improving as time goes by.C) It will prove to be an asset to human beings.D) It will be here to stay whatever the outcome.Part ⅣTranslation (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.由于通信⽹络的快速发展，中国智能⼿机⽤户数量近年来以惊⼈度增长。
2017年12月大学英语四级考试真题及参考答案(三套全)
2017年12月大学英语四级考试真题及答案（第一套）Part I Writing （25 minutes）Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short easy on how to besthandle the relationship between doctors and patients. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.Part II Listening Comprehension （25 minutes）C) They are only about half an inch thick.D) They are made from cheap materials.Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.5. A) Endless fighting in the region. C) Inadequate funding for research.B) The hazards from the desert. D) The lack of clues about the species.6. A) To observe the wildlife in the two national parks.B) To identify the reasons for the lions’ disappearance.C) To study the habitat of lions in Sudan and Ethiopia.D) To find evidence of the existence of the “lost lions”.7. A) Lions walking. C) Some camping facilities.B) Lions’ tracks. D) Traps set by local hunters.Section BDirections：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 theC) They know when to adopt a tough attitude.D) They take the rival’s attitude into account.13. A) They know how to adapt. C) They know when to make compromises.B) They know when to stop. D) They know how to control their emotion.14. A) They are patient. C) They learn quickly.B) They are good at expression. D) They uphold their principles.15. A) Make clear one's intentions. C) Formulate one's strategy.B) Clarify items of negotiation. D) Get to know the other side.Section CDirections: In this section, you will hear three passages. At the end of each passage, you willhear three or four questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken onlyonce. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A), B), C), D). Then mark the corresponding letter on AnswerSheet 1 with a single line through the centre.B) They enjoyed living a living a life of ease. D) They were known to be creative.21. A) Chatting with her ancestors. C) Polishing all the silver work.B) Furnishing her country house. D) Doing needlework by the fire.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.22. A) Use a map to identify your location. C) Sit down and try to calm yourself.B) Call your family or friends for help. D) Try to follow your footprints back.23. A) You may find a way out without your knowing it.B) You may expose yourself to unexpected dangers.C) You may get drowned in a sudden flood.D) You may end up entering a wonderland.24. A) Look for food. C) Start a fire.B) Wait patiently. D) Walk uphill.25. A) Inform somebody of your plan. C) Check the local weather.B) Prepare enough food and drink. D) Find a map and a compass.Part Ⅲ Reading Comprehension ( 40 minutes )Section Arats the ability to detect __33 smells. As a result, some rats are being put to work to detect TB（肺结核）. When the rats detect the smell, they stop and rub their legs to 34 a sample is infected.Traditionally, a hundred samples would take lab technicians more than two days to 35 , but for a rat it takes less than 20 minutes. This rat detection method doesn't rely on specialist equipment. It is also more accurate — the rats are able to find more TB infections and, therefore, save more lives.A) associated I) slightB) examine J) specifyC) indicate K) superiorD) nuisance L) suspiciousE) peak M) tipF) preventing N) treatedG) prohibiting O) visualH) sensitiveSection Bthe morning it was due. To say I had lost the thread is putting it mildly.[C] As I was suffering through my week of anxiety, overthinking the material and guessing my grasp of it, I did some of my own polling among students and professors. David Eisenbach, who teaches a popular class on U.S. presidents at Columbia, prefers the in-class variety. He believes students ultimately learn more and encourages them to form study groups. “That way they socialize over history outside the class, which wouldn’t happen without the pressure of an in-class exam,” he explained,“Furthermore, in-class exams force students to learn how to perform under pressure, and essential work skill.”[D] He also says there is less chance of cheating with the in-class variety. In 2012, 125 students at Harvard were caught up in a scandal when it was discovered they had cheated on a take-home exam for a class entitled “Introduction To Congress.”Some colleges have what they call an “honor code,” though if you are smart enough to get into these schools, you are either smart enough to get around any codes or hopefully, too ethical to consider doing so. As I sat blocked and clueless for two solidknow how to find out,” says Koch. “There is way too much information, and more coming all the time, for anyone to remember. I want my students to search out the answers to questions by using all the resources available to them.[G] Students’ test-form preferences vary, too, often depending on the subject and course difficulty. “I prefer take-home essays because it is then really about the writing, so you have time to edit and do more research,” says Elizabeth Dresser, a junior at Barnard. Then there is the stress factor. Francesca Haass, a senior at Middlebury, says, “I find the in-class ones are more stressful in the short term, butthere is immediate relief as you swallow information like mad, and then you get to forget it all. Take-homes require thoughtful engagement which can lead to longer term stress as there is never a moment when the time is up.” Meanwhile, Olivia Rubin, a sophomore at Emory, says she hardly even considers take-homes true exams. “If you understand the material and have the ability to articulate (说出) your thoughts, they should be a breeze.”[H] How students ultimately handle stress may depend on their personaltest-taking abilities. There are people who always wait until the last minute, andhe responded.It seems to me that a compromise would be receiving the exam questions a day or two inadvance, and then doing the actual test in class the ticking clock overhead.[K] Better yet, how about what one Hunter College professor reportedly did recently for her finalexam: She encouraged the class not to stress or even study, promising that, “It is going to be apiece of cake.” When the students came in, sharpened pencils in hand, there was not a bluebook in sight. Rather, they saw a large chocolate cake and they each were givena slice.36. Elderly students find it hard to keep up with the rapid changes in education.37. Some believe take-home exams may affect students' performance in other courses.38. Certain professors believe in-class exams are ultimately more helpful toPassage OneQuestions 46 and 50 are based on the following passage.That people often experience trouble sleeping in a different bed in unfamiliar surroundings is a phenomenon known as the “first-night” effect. If a person stays in the same room the following night they tend to sleep more soundly. Yuka Sasaki and her colleagues at Brown University set out to investigate the origins of this effect.Dr. Sasaki knew the first-night effect probably has something to do with how humans evolved. The puzzle was what benefit would be gained from it whenperformance might be affected the following day. She also knew from previous work conducted on birds and dolphins that these animals put half of their brains to sleep at a time so that they can rest while remaining alert enough to avoid predators (捕食者). This led her to wonder if people might be doing the same thing. To take a closer look, her team studied 35 healthy people as they slept in the unfamiliar environment of the university’s Department of Psychological Sciences. The participants each slept in the department for two nights and were carefully monitored with techniques thatA) She found birds and dolphins remain alert while asleep.B) She found birds and dolphins sleep in much the same way.C) She got some idea from previous studies on birds and dolphinsD) She conducted studies on birds’ and dolphins’ sleeping patterns.48. What did Dr. Sasaki do when she first did her experiment?A) She monitored the brain activity of participants sleeping in a new environment.B) She recruited 35 participants from her Department of Psychological Sciences.C) She studied the differences between the two sides of participants’ brains.D) She tested her findings about birds and dolphins on human subjects.49. What did Dr. Sasaki do when re-running her experiment?A) She analyzed the negative effect of irregular tones on brains.B) She recorded participants’ adaptation to changed environment.C) She exposed her participants to two different stimuli.D) She compared the responses of different participants.50. What did Dr. Sasaki find about the participants in her experiment?Women struggle to say “no” in the workplace for similar reasons, including the desire to be liked by their colleagues. Unfortunately, this inability to say "no" may be hurting women's heath as well as their career.At the workplace, men use conflict as a way to position themselves, while women often avoid conflict or strive to be the peacemaker, because they don't want to be viewed as aggressive or disruptive at work. For example, there’s a problem that needs to be addressed immediately, resulting in a dispute over should be the one to fix it. Men are more likely to face that dispute from the perspective of what benefitsthem most, whereas women may approach the same dispute from the perspective of what's the easiest and quickest way to resolve the problem-evenif that means doing the boring work themselves.This difference in handling conflict could be the deciding factor on who gets promoted to a leadership position and who does not. Leaders have to be able to delegate and manage resources wisely – including staff expertise. Shouldering more of the workload may not earn you that promotion. Instead, it may highlight your inability to delegate effectively.A) women tend to be easily satisfiedB) men are generally more persuasiveC) men tend to put their personal interests firstD) women are much more ready to compromise55. What is important to a good leader?A) A dominant personality. C) The courage to admit failureB) The ability to delegate. D) A strong sense of responsibility.Part Ⅳ Translation (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese intoEnglish. You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.华山位于华阴市，据西安120公里。
2022 年 12 月大学英语四级考试真题(一)+答案详解
2022年12月大学英语四级考试真题（一）Part I Writing (30 minutes)Directions: In this task, you are to write an essay on t加role of physical exercise in achieving success at college. You will have 30 minutes for t如task.You s加uld write at least丝Q words but no more than竺Q words.Part ][Section AListening Comprehension (25 minutes)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 c加ices marked A), B), C) and D). Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.Questions 1 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.1.A) Part of its dam wall collapsed.B)It released a lot of harmful gases.C) It was destroyed by an earthquake.D)Some miners were trapped underground.2.A) It posed a safety threat to the miners.C)It brought the mine's operations to a halt.B)It caused damage too heavy to assess.D)It was followed by two more earthquakes. Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.3.A) It prepared beds for all the six new citizens.B)It assigned a team of doctors for each expected baby.C)It made ample preparations for various possibilities.D)It brought in the most advanced instruments.4.A) They had to undergo 2-3 physical checkups.B)They were all of normal size except the sixth.C)They could go home together with their mother a day later.D)They needed to stay in the hospital for a couple of months.Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.5.A) It is owned by the local goverrunent.B) It has been turned into a public park.6.A) Its seafood.B)Its unusual coastline.7.A) It has an urunatched location.B) It is worth over 18 million euros.C)It has been bought by an American.D)It is a perfect tourist destination.C)Its unspoiled beaches.D)Its architecture.C) It has beautiful weather all year round.D)It is an ideal place to meet famous stars.22年12月四级真题第1套第1页，共8页淘宝店铺：学海无涯教育。
2024年6月大学英语四级考试真题和答案(第1套)
2024年06月大学英语四级考试真题和答案（第1套）Part I Writing (30 minutes)Directions: Suppose your university is seeking students’ opinions on whether university libraries should be open to the public. You are now to write an essay to express your view. You will have 30 minutes for the task. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.PartⅡ Listening Comprehension (25 minutes)Section ADirections: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 and 2 are based on the news report you have just heard.1. A) Due to a fire alarm in their apartments.B) Because of the smoke and heat damage.C) Due to the water used to extinguish the flames.D) Because of the collapse of the three-story building.2. A) Investigating the cause of the incident.B) Helping search for the suspect of the crime.C) Rescuing the businessmen trapped in the building.D) Checking town records for the property developer.Questions 3 and 4 are based on the news report you have just heard.3. A) It plays a less important role in one’s health than nutrient intake.B) It impacts people’s health to a lesser degree than sun exposure.C) It is associated with people’s mental health conditions.D) It is linked with older adults’ symptoms of depression.4. A) It was indefinite.B) It was systematic.C) It was straightforward.D) It was insignificant.Questions 5 to 7 are based on the news report you have just heard.5. A) It has helped solve several murder cases.B) It has become a star police dog in Beijing.C) It has surpassed its mother in performance.D) It has done better than naturally born dogs.6. A) To speed up investigation into criminal cases.B) To test the feasibility of cloning technology.C) To cut down training expenses.D) To reduce their training time.7. A) Cloning is too complicated a process.B) The technology is yet to be accepted.C) Cloning is ethically controversial.D) The technology is too expensive.Section BDirections: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 read it somewhere online.B) He heard about it from a coworker.C) He read an article reviewing it.D) He watched a TV series based on it.9. A) His publications.B) His first book.C) His address.D) His name.10. A) Collect a lot more data.B) Relax a bit less often.C) Clarify many new concepts.D) Read more reference books.11. A) Find out the show’s most interesting episodes.B) Watch the series together with the woman.C) Get an e-copy of the book to read.D) Check to see when the show starts.Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12. A) To check the prices of his farm produce.B) To ask the way to the Newcastle City Hall.C) To inquire about the vegetarian food festival.D) To seek the man’s help with her work on the farm.13. A) Bakers.B) Vendors.C) Vegetarians.D) Organisers.14. A) The issuing of certificates to vendors.B) The completion of the baking task.C) The festival they are organising.D) The deadline for application.15. A) The closing date of submission.B) The website of his company.C) The details of the ceremony.D) The organiser’s address.Section CDirections: 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) Most scenic sites have been closed.B) Access to official campsites is limited.C) Health experts advise going outdoors.D) People have more time during the summer.17. A) It is strongly opposed by nearby residents.B) It leads to much waste of public money.C) It has caused environmental concerns.D) It has created conflicts among campers.18. A) Look for open land in Scotland.B) Leave no trace of their camping.C) Avoid getting close to wilderness.D) Ask for permission from authorities.Questions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.19. A) They outcompete mythical creatures.B) They usually mind their own business.C) They truly exist in the Amazon region.D) They resemble alarmingly large snakes.20. A) Scar tissue from dolphins’ fighting.B) Skin infection from water pollution.C) Unhealed wounds from snake bites.D) Swimming along in seasonal floods.21. A) It has been shrinking at an astonishing pace.B) It has been placed under international protection.C) It has been appealing to both freshwater and sea dolphins.D) It has been abandoned as a battleground for male dolphins.Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.22. A) About 58% of young adults call parental support the new normal.B) Most adult children enjoy increasing sources of financial support.C) A full 70% of the young adults cannot afford to buy a car by themselves.D) Most early adults cannot sustain their lifestyles without parental support.23. A) It renders them dependent.B) It causes them to lose dignity.C) It makes them mentally immature.D) It hinders them from getting ahead.24. A) It challenges one’s willpower.B) It results from education.C) It calls for due assistance.D) It defines adulthood.25. A) Current lifestyles.B) Poor budgeting.C) College loans.D) Emergency expenses.Part III Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)Section ADirections: 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 2with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once．It’s well known that physical exercise is beneficial not just to physical health but also to mental health. Yet whereas most countries have____26____, evidence-backed guidelines on the type and intensity of exercise____27____for various physical health benefits, such guidelines do not yet exist for exercise and mood.This is____28____due to a lack of necessary evidence. However, a new systematic review brings us usefully up-to-date on the current findings in this area.Before____29____into some of the key take-aways, animportant____30____made in the review is between aerobic exercise and anaerobic. The former____31____such things as walking, jogging and cycling and means exercising in such a way that your body is able to use oxygen to burn fat for energy. In contrast, anaerobic exercise—such as lifting heavy weights—is of such____32____intensity that your body does not have time to use oxygen to create energy and so instead it breaks down glucose (葡萄糖) in your blood or muscles.Beginning first with the influence of exercise intensity on the moodbenefits of aerobic exercise, the researchers, led by John Chan at Shenzhen University, found____33____results from 19 relevant studies. Some favoured higher intensity, others low, while seven studies found that intensity made no____34____to mood benefits.In relation to the intensity of anaerobic exercise, however, the results were far clearer—the optimum (最佳选择) for improving moodis____35____intensity, perhaps because low intensity is too dull while high intensity is too unpleasant.A) constitutesB) contradictoryC) decisionD) detailedE) differenceF) dippingG) distinctionH) fallingI) involvesJ) moderateK) notifiedL) partlyM) requiredN) traditionallyO) vigorousSection BDirections: 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.Why Do Americans Work So Much?A) How will we all keep busy when we only have to work 15 hours a week? That was the question that worried the British economist John Maynard Keynes when he wrote his short essay “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren” in 1930. Over the next century, he predicted, the economy would become so productive that people would barely need to work at all. For a while, it looked like Keynes was right. In 1930 the average working week was 47 hours in the United States. But by 1970, the number of hours Americans worked on average had fallen to slightly less than 39.B) But then something changed. Instead of continuing to decline, the duration of the working week remained stable. It has stayed at just below 40 hours for nearly five decades. So what happened? Why are people working just as much today as in 1970?C) There would be no mystery in this if Keynes had been wrong about the power of technology to increase the economy’s productivity, which he thought would lead to a standard of living “between four and eight times as high as it is today.” But Keynes got that right: Technology has made the economy massively more productive. According to Benjamin M. Friedman, an economist at Harvard, the U.S. economy is right on track to reach Keynes’s eight-fold (八倍) multiple by 2029. That is a century after the last data Keynes would have had access to.D) In a new paper, Friedman tries to figure out why that increased productivity has not translated into increased leisure time. Perhaps people just never feel materially satisfied, always wanting more money to buy the next new thing. This is a theory that appeals to many economists. “This argument is, at best, far from sufficient,” he writes. If that were the case, why did the duration of the working week decline in the first place?E) Another theory Friedman considers is that, in an era of ever fewer settings that provide effective opportunities for personal connections and relationships, people may place more value on the socializing that happens at work. There is support for this theory. Many people today consider colleagues as friends. But Friedman argues that the evidence for this theory is far from conclusive. Many workers report that they would like to spend more time with family, rather than at work. Furthermore, this theory cannot explain the change in trend in the U.S. working week in the 1970s.F) A third possibility proves more convincing for Friedman. That is: American inequality means that the gains of increasing productivity are not widely shared by everyone. In other words, most Americans are too poor to work less. Unlike the other two explanations Friedman considers, this one fits chronologically (按年代). Inequality declined in America during the period following World War II, along with the duration of the working week. But since the early 1970s it has risen dramatically.G) Keynes’s prediction of a shorter working week rests on the idea that the standard of living would continue rising for everyone. But Friedman says that this is not what has happened. Although Keynes’s eight-fold figure holds up for the economy as a whole, it is not at all the case for the median (中位数的) American worker. For them, output by 2029 is likely to be around 3.5 times what it was when Keynes was writing. This is a bit below his fourto eight-fold predicted range.H) This can be seen in the median worker’s income over this time period, complete with a shift in 1973 that fits in precisely with when the working week stopped shrinking. According to Friedman, between 1947 and 1973 the average hourly wage for normal workers (those who were not in management roles) in private industries other than agriculture nearly doubled in terms of what their money could buy. But by 2013 the average hourly wagefor ordinary workers had fallen 5 percent from the 1973 level in terms of actual purchasing power. Thus, though American incomes may have gone up since 1973, the amount that American workers can actually buy with their money has gone down. For most Americans, then, the magic of increasing productivity stopped working around 1973. Thus, they had to keep working just as much in order to maintain their standard of living.I) What Keynes predicted was a very optimistic version of what economists call technological unemployment. This is the idea that less labor will be necessary because machines can do so much. In Keynes’s vision, the resulting unemployment would be distributed more or less evenly across society in the form of increased leisure. But Friedman says that, for Americans, reality is much darker. Americans now have a labor market in which millions of people—those with fewer skills and less education —are seeking whatever poorly paid work they can get. This is confirmed by a recent poll that found that, for half of hourly workers, their top concern is not that they work too much but that they work too little. This is most likely not because they like their jobs so much. Rather, we can assume it is because they need the money.J) This explanation leaves an important question. If the very rich—the workers who have reaped above-average gains from the increased productivity since Keynes’s time—can afford to work less, why do they continue to work so much? (Indeed, research has shown that the highest earners in America tend to work the most.) Friedman believes that for many top earners, work is a labor of love. They are doing work they care about and are interested in, and doing more of it is not necessarily a burden. For them, it may even be a pleasure. These top earners derive meaning from their jobs and work is an important part of how they think of themselves. And, of course, they are compensated for it at a level that makes it worth their while.K) Friedman concludes that the prosperity (繁荣) Keynes predicted is here. After all, the economy as a whole has grown even more brilliantly than he expected. But for most Americans, that prosperity is nowhere to be seen. And, as a result, neither are those shorter working weeks.36. Some people view socializing at the workplace as a chance to develop personal relationships.37. As ordinary American workers’ average hourly pay had decreased despite increasing productivity, they had to work just as many hours as before to keep their living standards.38. American workers’ average weekly working time has not changed for nearly half a century.39. Friedman believes inequality in the U.S. largely explains why increasing productivity has not resulted in reduced working hours. 40. Many economists assume people’s thirst for material things has prevented them from enjoying more leisure time.41. An economist’s prediction about a shorter average working week seemed to be correct for a time in the 20th century.42. In the U.S. labor market, the primary concern of people with less schooling and fewer skills is to secure any employment even if it is low-paid.43. Keynes was right in predicting that technology would make the economy much more productive.44. Many of the highest earners have a keen interest in and love for what they are doing.45. According to Keynes, there would be a shorter working week with everyone’s standard of living continuing to rise.Section CDirections:There are 2 passages in this section. 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 mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.Lao Zi once said, “Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.”People-pleasing, or seeking self-worth through others’ approval, is unproductive and an exhausting way to go through life. Why do we allow what others think of us to have so much power over how we feel about ourselves? If it’s true that you can’t please all people all of the time, wouldn’t it make sense to stop trying?Unfortunately, sense often isn’t driving our behavior. For social beings who desire love and belonging, wanting to be liked, and caring about the effect we have on others, is healthy and allows us to make connections. However, where we get into trouble is when our self-worth is dependent upon whether we win someone’s approval or not.This need to be liked can be traced back to when we were children and were completely dependent on others to take care of us: Small children are not just learning how to walk and communicate, they are also trying to learn how the world works. We learn about who we are and what is expected of us based on interactions with others, so, to a four-year-old, if Mommy or Daddy doesn’t like him or her, there is the danger that they will abandon them. We need to understand that when we desperately want someone to approve of us, it’s being driven by that little kid part of us that is still terrified of abandonment.As you become more capable of providing yourself with the approval you seek, your need for external validation will start to vanish, leaving youstronger, more confident, and yes, happier in your life. Imagine how much time we lose each moment we restrain our authenticselves in an effort to be liked.If we base our worth on the opinions of others, we cheat ourselves of the power to shape our experiences and embrace life not only for others but also for ourselves, because ultimately, there is no difference. So embrace the cliché(老话) and love yourself as it’s highly doubtfulthat you’ll regret it.46. What can we conclude from Lao Zi’s quotation?A) We should see through other people’s attempt to make a prisoner of us.B) We can never really please other people even if we try as hard as we can.C) We can never be truly free if taking to heart others’ opinion of us.D) We should care about other people’s view as much as they care about our own.47. What will happen if we base our self-worth on other people’s approval?A) Our desire to be loved will be fulfilled.B) Our life will be unfruitful and exhausting.C) Our identity as social beings will be affected.D) Our sense of self will be sharpened and enhanced.48. What may account for our need to be liked or approved of?A) Our desperate longing for interactions with others.B) Our understanding of the workings of the world.C) Our knowledge about the pain of abandonment.D) Our early childhood fear of being deserted.49. What can we do when we become better able to provide ourselves with the desiredapproval?A) Enjoy a happier life.B) Exercise self-restraint.C) Receive more external validation.D) Strengthen our power of imagination.50. What does the author advise us to do in the last paragraph?A) Embrace life for ourselves and for others.B) Base our worth on others’ opinions.C) See our experiences as assets.D) Love ourselves as we are.Passage TwoQuestions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.Some people have said aging is more a slide into forgetfulness than a journey towards wisdom. However, a growing body of research suggeststhat late-in-life learning is possible. In reality, education does an aging brain good.Throughout life, people’s brains constantly renovate themselves. In the late 1960s, British brain scientist Geoffrey Raisman spied growth in damaged brain regions of rats through an electron microscope; their brains were forging new connections. This meant brains may change every time a person learns something new.Of course, that doesn’t mean the brain isn’t affected by the effects of time. Just as height usually declines over the years, so does brain volume: Humans lose about 4 percent every decade starting in their 40s. But that reduction doesn’t necessarily make people think slower; as long as we are alive and functioning, we can alter our brains with new information and experiences.In fact, scientists now suspect accumulating novel experiences, facts, and skills can keep people’s minds more flexible. New pathways can strengthen our ever-changing mental structure, even as the brain shrinks.Conventional fixes like word puzzles and brain-training apps can contribute to mental durability. Even something as simple as taking a different route to the grocery store or going somewhere new on vacation can keep the brain healthy.A desire for new life challenges can further boost brainpower. Research about aging adults who take on new enterprises shows improved function and memory as well as a reduced risk of mental disease. Openness —a characteristic defined by curiosity and a desire for knowledge—may also help folks pass brain tests. Some folks are born with thistake-in-theworld attitude, but those who aren’t as genetically gifted aren’t necessarily out of luck. While genes can encourage an interest in doing new things, a 2012 study in the journal Psychology and Aging found completing reasoning tasks like puzzles and number games can enhance that desire for novel experiences, which can, in turn, refresh the brain. That’s why brain scientist Richard Kennedy says “It’s not that old dogs can’t learn new tricks. It’s that maybe old dogs don’t realize why they should. ”51. What do some people think of aging adults?A) Their wisdom grows as time goes by.B) Their memory gradually deteriorates.C) They can benefit from late-in-life learning.D) They are likely to have mental health issues.52. What can we conclude from Geoffrey Raisman’s finding?A) Brain damage seriously hinders one’s learning.B) Brain power weakens slower than we imagine.C) Brains can refresh and improve with learning.D) Brains forge connections under new conditions.53. What is one thing that helps maintain the health of our brain even as it shrinks?A) Doing daily routines by conventional means.B) Avoiding worrying about our mental durability.C) Imitating old dogs’ way of learning new tricks.D) Approaching everyday tasks in novel ways.54. What does the author say can contribute to the improvement of brain function?A) Being curious and desiring knowledge.B) Being eager to pass brain tests at an old age.C) Rising to life’s challenges and avoiding risks.D) Boosting immunity to serious mental diseases.55. What is the finding of the 2012 study in the journal Psychology and Aging?A) Wishing to solve puzzles enhances one’s reasoning power.B) Playing number games unexpectedly stimulates one’s memory.C) Desiring new experiences can help to renovate the brain.D) Learning new tricks should not be confined to old dogs only.Part Ⅳ Translation (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chineseinto English. You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.四合院（siheyuan）是中国一种传统的住宅建筑，其特点是房屋建造在一个院子的四周，将院子合围在中间。
2022 年 12 月英语四级阅读真题(第一套)Text 2
2022 年 12 ⽉真题（第⼀套）Text 2Recognizing when a friend or colleague feels sad, angry or surprised is key to getting along with others.But a new study suggests that being sensitive to people's feelings may sometimes come with an extra dose of stress.This and other research challenge the prevailing view that is uniformly beneficial to its bearer.In a study, psychologists Myriam Bechtoldt of of Finance and Management in Germany asked 166 male university students a series of questions to measure their emotional intelligence.For example, they showed the students photographs of people's faces and asked them to what extent feelings such as happiness or disgust were being expressed.The students then had to give job talks in front of judges who displayed serious .The scientists measured concentrations of the in the students' saliva before and after the talk.In students who were rated more emotionally intelligent, the stress measures increased more during the experiment and took longer to go back to baseline.识别朋友或同事何时感到悲伤、愤怒或惊讶是与他⼈相处的关键。
2015年12月英语四级考试真题(第1套)
2015年12月英语四级考试真题试卷（第一套）Part I Writing (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying "Listening is more important than talking?" You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of paying attention to others' opinions. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.注意：此部分试题在答题卡1上_______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________Part ⅡListening Comprehension ( 30 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations.At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said.Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once.After each question there will be a pause.During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A, B, C,and D.and decide which is the best answer.Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer .Sheet I with a single line through the center.1.A) They admire the courage of space explorers.B)They were going to watch a wonderful movie.C)They enjoyed the movie on space exploration.D)They like doing scientific exploration very much.2.A) In a school library.B)At a gift shop.C)In the office of a travel agency.D)At a graduation ceremony.3.A) He used to work in the art gallery.B)He does not have a good memoiy.C)He is not interested in any part-time jobs.D)He declined a job offer from the art gallery.4.A) He will be unable to attend the birthday party.B)The woman should have informed him earlier.C)He will go to the birthday party after the lecture.D)Susan has been invited to give a lecture tomorrow.5.A) Set a deadline for the staff to meet.B)Assign more workers to the project.C)Reward those having made good progress.D)Encourage the staff to work in small groups.6.A) Where she can leave her car.B)The rate for parking in Lot C.C)How far away the parking lot is.D)The way to the visitor's parking.7.A) He regrets missing the classes. B) He has benefited from exercise.C) He plans to take the fitness classes. D) He is looking forward to a better life.8. A) How to select secretaries. B) How to raise work efficiency.C) The responsibilities of secretaries. D) The secretaries in the man's company. Questions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.9.A) It is used by more people than English. B) It is more difficult to learn than English.C) It will be as commonly used as English. D) It will eventually become a world language.10.A) Its popularity with the common people. B) The effect of the Industrial Revolution.C) The influence of the British Empire. D) Its loan words from many languages.11.A) It has a growing number of newly coined words.B) It includes a lot of words from other languages.C) It is the largest among all languages in the world.D) It can be easily picked up by overseas travellers.Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12.A) To place an order. B) To apply for a job.C) To return some goods. D) To make a complaint.13.A) He works on a part-time basis for the company.B) He has not worked in the sales department for long.C) He is not familiar with the exact details of the goods.D) He has become somewhat impatient with the woman.14.A) It is not his responsibility. B) It win be free for large orders.C) It depends on a number of factors. D) It costs ￡15 more for express delivery.15.A) Make inquiries with some other companies.B) Report the information to her superior.C) Pay a visit to the saleswoman in charge.D) Ring back when she comes to a decision.Section BDirections：In this section, you will hear 3 short passages.At the end of each passage, you will hear some 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 center.Passage OneQuestions 16 to 18 are based on the conversation you have just heard.16.A) No one knows for sure when they came into being.B) No one knows exactly where they were first made.C) No one knows for what purpose they were invented.D) No one knows what they will look like in the future.17.A) Measure the speed of wind. B) Give warnings of danger.C) Pass on secret messages. D) Carry ropes across rivers.18.A) To find out the strength of silk for kites. B) To test the effects of the lightning rod.C) To prove that lightning is electricity. D) To protect houses against lightning.Passage TwoQuestions 19 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.19.A) She was born with a talent for languages. B) She was trained to be an interpreter.C) She can speak several languages. D) She enjoys teaching languages.20.A) They want to learn as many foreign languages as possible.B) They have an intense interest in cross-cultural interactions.C) They acquire an immunity to culture shock.D) They would like to live abroad permanently.21.A) She became an expert in horse racing.B) She learned to appreciate classical music.C) She was able to translate for a German sports judge.D) She got a chance to visit several European countries.22.A) Take part in a cooking competition. B) Taste the beef and give her comment.C) Teach vocabulary for food in English. D) Give cooking lessons on Western food.Passage ThreeQuestions 23 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.23.A) He had only a third-grade education. B) He once threatened to kill his teacher.C) He often helped his mother do housework. D) He grew up in a poor single-parent family.24.A) Stupid. B) Active. C) Brave. D) Careless.25.A) Watch educational TV programs only. B) Write two book reports a week.C) Help with housework. D) Keep a diary.Section CDirections: In this section, you will hear a passage three 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 are required to fill in the blanks 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.When you look up at the night sky, what do you see? There are other __26__ bodies out there besides the moon and stars. One of the most __27__ of these is a comet (彗星).Comets were formed around the same time the Earth was formed. They are __28__ ice and other frozen liquids and gases. __29__ these "dirty snowballs" begin to orbit the sun, just as the planets do.As a comet gets closer to the sun, some gases in it begin to unfreeze. They __30__ dust particles from the comet to form a huge cloud. As the comet gets even nearer to the sun, a solar wind blows the cloud behind the comet, thus forming its tail. The tail and the __31__ fuzzy (模糊的) atmosphere around a comet are __32__ that can help identify this __33__ in the night sky.In any given year, about a dozen known comets come close to the sun in their orbits. The average person can't see them all, of course. Usually there is only one or two a year bright enough to be seen with the __34__ eye. Comet Hale-Bopp, discovered in 1995, was an unusually bright comet. Its orbit brought it __35__ close to the Earth, within 122 million miles of it. But Hale-Bopp came a long way on its earthly visit. It won't be back for another four thousand years or so.Part ⅢReading Comprehension(40 minutes)Section ADirections : 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 2with a single line through the center. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.Scholars of the information society are divided over whether social inequality decreases or increases in an information-based society. However, they generally agree with the idea that inequality in the information society is __36__ different from that of an industrial society. As informatization progresses in society, the cause and structural nature of social inequality changes as well.It seems that the information society __37__ the quantity of information available to the members of a society by revolutionizing the ways of using and exchanging information. But such a view is a __38__ analysis based on the quantity of information supplied by various forms of the mass media. A different __39__ is possible when the actual amount of information __40__ by the user is taken into account. In fact, the more information __41__ throughout the entire society,the wider the gap becomes between "information haves" and "information have-nots" , leading to digital divide.According to recent studies, digital divide has been caused by three major __42__: class, sex, and generation. In terms of class, digital divide exists among different types of workers and between the upper and middle classes and the lower class. With __43__ to sex, digital divide exists between men and women. The greatest gap, however, is between the Net-generation, __44__ with personal computers and the Internet, and the older generation, __45__ to an industrial society.A) accustomed B) acquired C) assembly D) attribute E) championsF) elements G) expands H) familiar I) flows J) fundamentallyK) interpretation L) passive M) regard N) respectively O) superficialSection BDirections: 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.Joy: A Subject Schools LackBecoming educated should not require giving up pleasure.A) When Jonathan Swift proposed, in 1729, that the people of Ireland eat their children, he insisted it would solve three problems at once: feed the hungry masses, reduce the population during a severe depression, and stimulate the restaurant business. Even as a satire (讽刺), it seems disgusting and shocking in America with its child-centered culture. But actually, the country is closer to his proposal than you might think.B) If you spend much time with educators and policy makers, you'll hear a lot of the following words: "standards," "results," "skills," "self-control," "accountability," and so on. I have visited some of the newer supposedly "effective" schools, where children shout slogans in order to leam self-control or must stand behind their desk when they can't sit still.C) A look at what goes on in most classrooms these days makes it abundantly clear that when people think about education, they are not thinking about what it feels like to be a child, or what makes childhood an important and valuable stage of life in its own right.D) I'm a mother of three, a teacher, and a developmental psychologist. So I've watched a lot of children—talking, playing, arguing, eating, studying, and being young. Here's what I've come to understand. The thing that sets children apart from adults is not their ignorance, nor their lack of skills. It's their enormous capacity for joy. Think of a 3-year-old lost in the pleasures of finding out what he can and cannot sink in the bathtub, a 5-year-old beside herself with the thrill of puttingtogether strings of nonsensical words with her best friends, or an 11-year-old completely absorbed in a fascinating comic strip. A child's ability to become deeply absorbed in something, and derive intense pleasure from that absorption, is something adults spend the rest of their lives trying to return to.E) A friend told me the following story. One day, when he went to get his 7-year-old son from soccer practice, his kid greeted him with a downcast face and a sad voice. The coach had criticized him for not focusing on his soccer drills. The little boy walked out of the school with his head and shoulders hanging down. He seemed wrapped in sadness. But just before he reached the car door, he suddenly stopped, crouching (蹲伏) down to peer at something on the sidewalk. His face went down lower and lower, and then, with complete joy he called out, "Dad. Come here. This is the strangest bug I've ever seen. It has, like, a million legs. Look at this. It's amazing. " He looked up at his father, his features overflowing with energy and delight. "Can't we stay here for just a minute? I want to find out what he does with all those legs. This is the coolest ever. "F) The traditional view of such moments is that they constitute a charming but irrelevant byproduct of youth—something to be pushed aside to make room for more important qualities, like perseverance (坚持不懈), obligation, and practicality. Yet moments like this one are just the kind of intense Absoiption and pleasure adults spend the rest of their lives seeking. Human lives are governed by the desire to experience joy. Becoming educated should not require giving up joy but rather lead to finding joy in new kinds of things: reading novels instead of playing with small figures, conducting experiments instead of sinking cups in the bathtub, and debating serious issues rather than stringing together nonsense words, for example. In some cases, schools should help children find new, more grown-up ways of doing the same things that are constant sources of joy: making art, making friends, making decisions.G) Building on a child's ability to feel joy, rather than pushing it aside, wouldn't be that hard. It would just require a shift in the education world's mindset (思维模式). Instead of trying to get children to work hard, why not focus on getting them to take pleasure in meaningful, productive activity, like making things, working with others, exploring ideas, and solving problems? These focuses are not so different from the things in which they delight.H) Before you brush this argument aside as rubbish, or think of joy as an unaffordable luxury in a nation where there is awful poverty, low academic achievement, and high dropout rates, think again. The more horrible the school circumstances, the more important pleasure is to achieving any educational success.I) Many of the assignments and rules teachers come up with, often because they are pressured by their administrators, treat pleasure and joy as the enemies of competence and responsibility. The assumption is that children shouldn't chat in the classroom because it hinders hard work; instead, they should leain to delay gratification (快乐) so that they can pursue abstract goals, like going to college.J) Not only is this a boring and awful way to treat children, it makes no sense educationally.Decades of research have shown that in order to acquire skills and real knowledge in school, kids need to want to learn. You can force a child to stay in his or her seat, fill out a worksheet, or practice division. But you can't force the child to think carefully, er\joy books, digest complex information, or develop a taste for learning. To make that happen, you have to help the child find pleasure inlearning—to see school as a source of joy.K) Adults tend to talk about learning as if it were medicine; unpleasant, but necessary and good for you. Why not instead think of learning as if it were food—something so valuable to humans that they have evolved to experience it as a pleasure?L) Joy should not be trained out of children or left for after-school programs. The more difficult a child's life circumstances, the more important it is for that child to find joy in his or her classroom. "Pleasure" is not a dirty word. And it doesn't run counter to the goals of public education. It is, in fact, the precondition.46. It will not be difficult to make learning a source of joy if educators change their way of thinking.47. What distinguishes children from adults is their strong ability to derive joy from what they are doing.48. Children in America are being treated with shocking cruelty.49. It is human nature to seek joy in life.50. Grown-ups are likely to think that learning to children is what medicine is to patients.51. Bad school conditions make it all the more important to turn learning into a joyful experience.52. Adults do not consider children's feelings when it comes to education.53. Administrators seem to believe that only hard work will lead children to their educational goals.54. In the so-called "effective" schools, children are taught self-control under a set of strict rules.55. To make learning effective, educators have to ensure that children want to leam.Section CDirections: There are 2 passages in this section.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 mark the corresponding letter on Answer. Sheet 2 with a single line through the center.Passage OneQuestions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.When it's five o'clock, people leave their office. The length of the workday, for many workers, is defined by time. They leave when the clock tells them they're done.These days, the time is everywhere-, not just on clocks or watches, but on cell-phones and computers. That may be a bad thing, particularly at work. New research shows that clock-basedwork schedules hinder morale (士气) and creativity.Clock-timers organize their day by blocks of minutes and hours. For example: a meeting from 9 a. m. to 10 a. m. , research from 10 a. m. to noon, etc. On the other hand, task-timers have a list of things they want to accomplish. They work down the list, each task starts when the previous task is completed. It is said that all of us employ a mix of both these types of planning.What, then, are the effects of thinking about time in these different ways? Does one make us more productive? Better at the tasks at hand? Happier? In experiments conducted by Tamar Avnet and Anne-Laure Sellier, they had participants organize different activities—from project planning, holiday shopping, to yoga—by time or to-do list to measure how they performed under "clock time" vs "task time. " They found clock timers to be more efficient but less happy because they felt little control Over their lives. Task timers are happier and more creative, but less productive. They tend to enjoy the moment when something good is happening, and seize opportunities that come up.The researchers argue that task-based organizing tends to be undervalued and under-supported in business culture. Smart companies, they believe, will try to bake more task-based planning into their strategies.This might be a small change to the way we view work and the office, but the researchers argue that it challenges a widespread characteristic of the economy: work organized by clock time. While most people will still probably need, and be, to some extent, clock-timers, task-based timing should be used when performing a job that requires more creativity. It'll make those tasks easier, and the task-doers will be happier.56. What does the author think of time displayed everywhere?A) It makes everybody time-conscious.B) It is a convenience for work and life.C) It may have a negative effect on creative work.D) It clearly indicates the fast pace of modem life.57. How do people usually go about their work according to the author?A) They combine clock-based and task-based planning.B) They give priority to the most urgent task on hand.C) They set a time limit for each specific task.D) They accomplish their tasks one by one.58. What did Tamar Avnet and Anne-Laure Sellier find in their experiments about clock-timers?A) They seize opportunities as they come up.B) They always get their work done in time.C) They have more control over their lives.D) They tend to be more productive.59. What do the researchers say about today's business culture?A) It does not support the strategies adopted by smart companies.B) It does not attach enough importance to task-based practice.C) It places more emphasis on work efficiency than on workers' lives.D) It aims to bring employees' potential and creativity into full play.60. What do the researchers suggest?A) Task-based timing is preferred for doing creative work.B) It is important to keep a balance between work and life.C) Performing creative jobs tends to make workers happier.D) A scientific standard should be adopted in job evaluation.Passage TwoQuestions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.Martha Stewart was charged, tried and convicted of a crime in 2004. As she neared the end of her prison sentence, a well-known columnist wrote that she was " paying her dues," and that " there is simply no reason for anyone to attempt to deny her right to start anew. "Surely, the American ideal of second chances should not be reserved only for the rich and powerful. Unfortunately, many federal and state laws impose post-conviction restrictions on a shockingly large number of Americans, who are prevented from ever fully paying their debt to society.At least 65 million people in the United States have a criminal record. This can result in severe penalties that continue long after punishment is completed.Many of these penalties are imposed regardless of the seriousness of the offense or the person's individual circumstances. Laws can restrict or ban voting, access to public housing, and professional and business licensing. They can affect a person's ability to get a job and qualification for benefits.In all, more than 45,000 laws and rules serve to exclude vast numbers of people from fully participating in American life.Some laws make sense. No one advocates letting someone convicted of pedophilia(恋童癖) work in a school. But too often collateral (附随的) consequences bear no relation to public safety. Should a woman who possessed a small amount of drugs years ago be permanently unable to be licensed as a nurse?These laws are also counterproductive, since they make it harder for people with criminal records to find housing or land a job, two key factors that reduce backsliding.A recent report makes several recommendations, including the abolition of most post-conviction penalties, except for those specifically needed to protect public safety. Where the penalties are not a must, they should be imposed only if the facts of a case support it.The point is not to excuse or forget the crime. Rather, it is to recognize that in America's vast criminal justice system, second chances are crucial. It is in no one's interest to keep a large segment of the population on the margins of society.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。
2017 年 12 月英语四级阅读真题(第一套) “第一晚”效应
2017 年 12 ⽉真题（第⼀套）"第⼀晚"效应 "First-Night" Effect That people often experience trouble sleeping in a different bed in unfamiliar surroundings is a phenomenon known as the "first-night" effect.If a person stays in the same room the following night they tend to sleep more soundly.Yuka Sasaki and her colleagues at set out to investigate the origins of this effect.Dr. Sasaki knew the first-night effect probably has something to do with how humans evolved.The puzzle was what benefit would be gained from it when performance might be affected the following day.She also knew from previous work conducted on birds and dolphins that these animals put half of their brains to sleep at a time so that they can rest while remaining alert enough to avoid predators.This led her to wonder if people might be doing the same thing.To take a closer look, her team studied 35 healthy people as they slept in theunfamiliar environment of the university's Department of .The participants each slept in the department for two nights and were carefully 在陌⽣的环境⾥，睡在⼀张不同的床上，⼈们通常难以⼊睡，这种现象被称为“第⼀晚”效应。
2015年12月英语四级考试真题(第一套)带详细解析
2015年12月大学英语四级考试真题(第1套)PartⅠ Writing (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying"Listening is more important than talking." You can cite examples to illustrate theimportance of paying attention to others' opinions.You should write at least 120 words, but no more than 180 words.Part Ⅱ Listening Comprehension ( 30 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations.At the end ofeach conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said.Both theconversation and the questions will be spoken only once.After each question there will bea pause.During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A, B, C,and D.and decide which is the best answer.Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer .Sheet I with a single line through the center.1.A.They admire the courage of space explorers.B.They were going to watch a wonderful movie.C.They enjoyed the movie on space exploration.D.They like doing scientific exploration very much.2.A.In a school library.B.At a gift shop.C.In the office of a travel agency.D.At a graduation ceremony.3.A.He used to work in the art gallery.B.He does not have a good memory.C.He is not interested in any part-time jobs.D.He declined a job offer from the art gallery.4.A.He will be unable to attend the birthday party.B.The woman should have informed him earlier.C.He will go to the birthday party after the lecture.D.Susan has been invited to give a lecture tomorrow.5.A.Set a deadline for the staff to meet.B.Assign more workers to the project.C.Reward those having made good progress.D.Encourage the staff to work in small groups.6.A.Where she can leave her car.B.The rate for parking in LotC.C.How far away the parking lot is.D.The way to the visitor's parking.7.A.He regrets missing the classes.B.He has benefited from exercise.C.He plans to take the fitness classes.D.He is looking forward to a better life.8.A.How to select secretaries.B.How to raise work efficiency.C.The responsibilities of secretaries.D.The secretaries in the man's company.Questions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.9.A.It is used by more people than English.B.It is more difficult to learn than English.C.It will be as commonly used as English.D.It will eventually become a world language.10.A.Its popularity with the common people.B.The effect of the Industrial Revolution.C.The influence of the British Empire.D.Its loan words from many languages.11.A.It has a growing number of newly coined words.B.It includes a lot of words from other languages.C.It is the largest among all languages in the world.D.It can be easily picked up by overseas travelers.Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12.A.To place an order.B.To apply for a job.C.To return some goods.D.To make a complaint.13.A.He works on a part-time basis for the company.B.He has not worked in the sales department for long.C.He is not familiar with the exact details of the goods.D.He has become somewhat impatient with the woman.14.A.It is not his responsibility.B.It will be free for large orders.C.It depends on a number of factors.D.It costs￡15 more for express delivery.15.A.Make inquiries with some other companies.B.Report the information to her superior.C.Pay a visit to the saleswoman in charge.D.Ring back when she comes to a decision.Section BDirections ...In this section, you will hear 3 short passages.At the end of each passage, you will hearsome questions.Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once.After youhear 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 linethrough the center.Passage OneQuestions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16.A.No one knows for sure when they came into being.B.No one knows exactly where they were first made.C.No one knows for what purpose they were invented.D.No one knows what they will look like in the future.17.A.Measure the speed of wind.B.Give warnings of danger.C.Pass on secret messages.D.Carry ropes across rivers.18.A.To find out the strength of silk for kites.B.To test the effects of the lightning rod.C.To prove that lightning is electricity.D.To protect houses against lightning.Passage TwoQuestions 19 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.19.A.She was born with a talent for languages.B.She was tainted to be an interpreter.C.She can speak several languages.D.She enjoys teaching languages.20.A.They want to learn as many foreign languages as possible.B.They have an intense interest in cross-cultural interactions.C.They acquire an immunity to culture shock.D.They would like to live abroad permanently.21.A.She became an expert in horse racing.B.She learned to appreciate classical music.C.She was able to translate for a German sports judge.D.She got a chance to visit several European countries.22.A.Take part in a cooking competition.B.Taste the beef and give her comment.C.Teach vocabulary for food in English.D.Give cooking lessons on Western food.Passage ThreeQuestions 23 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.23.A.He had only a third-grade education.B.He once threatened to kill his teacher.C.He often helped his mother do housework.D.He grew up in a poor single-parent family.24.A.Stupid.B.Active.C.Brave.D.Careless.25.A.Watch educational TV programs only.B.Write two book reports a week.C.Help with housework.D.Keep a diary.Section CDirections: In this section, you will hear a passage three times.When the passage is read for the firsttime, you should listen carefully for its general idea.Whenthe passage is read for thesecond time, you are required to fill in the blanks with the exact words you have justheard.Finally, when the passage is read for the third time, you should check what youhave written.When you look up at the night sky, what do you see? There are other26 bodies out therebesides the moon and stars.One of the most27 of these is a comet (彗星). Comets were formed around the same time the Earth was formed.They are28 ice and otherfrozen liquids and gases.29these "dirty snowballs" begin to orbit the sun, just as the planets do.As a comet gets closer to the sun, some gases in it begin to unfreeze.They30dust particlesfrom the comet to form a huge cloud.As the comet gets even nearer to the sun, a solar wind blows thecloud behind the comet, thus forming its tail.The tall and the31fuzzy (模糊的) atmospherearound a comet are32that can help identify this33in the night sky.In any given year, about a dozen known comets come close to the sun in their orbits.The averageperson can't see them all, of ually there is only one or two a year bright enough to be seenwith the34 et Hale-Bopp, discovered in 1995, was an unusually bright comet.Its orbitbrought it35close to the Earth, within 122 million miles of it.But Hale-Bopp came a long way onits earthly visit.It won't be back for another four thousand years or so.Part Ⅲ Reading Comprehension(40 minutes)Section ADirections : In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks.You are required to select one word foreach blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage.Read thepassage through carefully before making your choices.Each choice in the bank isidentified by a letter.Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2with a single line through the center.You may not use any of the words in the bank morethan once.Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.Scholars of the information society are divided over whether social inequality decreases orincreases in an information-based society.However, they generally agree with the idea that inequalityin the information society is36different from that of an industrial society.As informationprogresses in society, the cause and structural nature of social inequality changes as well.It seems that the information society37 the quantity of information available to the membersof a society by revolutionizing the ways of using and exchanging information.But such a view is a38 analysis based on the quantity of information supplied by various forms of the mass media.Adifferent39 is possible when the actual amount of information40 by the user is taken intoaccount.In fact, the more information41 throughout the entire society, the wider the gapbecomes between "information haves" and "information have-mots", leading to digital divide. According to recent studies, digital divide has been caused by three major42class, sex, andgeneration.In terms of class, digital divide exists among different types of workers and between theupper and middle classes and the lower class.With43 tosex, digital divide exists between menand women.The greatest gap, however, is between the Net-generation, 44with personalcomputers and the Internet, and the older generation, 45 to an industrial society.A.accustomedB.acquiredC.assemblyD.attributeE.championsF.elementsG.expandsH.familiarI.flowsJ.fundamentallyK.interpretationL.passiveM.regardN.respectivelyO.superficialSection BDirections: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it.Eachstatement contains information given in one of the paragraphs.Identify the paragraphfrom 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.Joy: A Subject Schools LackBecoming educated should not require giving up pleasure.A.When Jonathan Swift proposed, in 1729, that the people of Ireland eat their children, he insisted itwould solve three problems at once : feed the hungry masses, reduce the population during a severedepression, and stimulate the restaurant business.Even as a satire (讽刺), it seems disgusting andshocking in America with its child-centered culture.But actually, the country is closer to hisproposal than you might think.B.If you spend much time with educators and policy makers, you'll hear a lot of the following words :"standards,""results,""skills,""self-control,""accountability," and so on.I have visited someof the newer supposedly "effective" schools, where children shout slogans in order to learn self-control or must stand behind their desk when they can't sit still.C.A look at what goes on in most classrooms these days makes it abundantly clear that when peoplethink about education, they are not thinking about what it feels like to be a child, or what makeschildhood an important and valuable stage of life in its own right.D.I'm a mother of three, a teacher, and a developmental psychologist.So I've watched a lot ofchildren-talking, playing, arguing, eating, studying, and beingyoung.Here's what I've come tounderstand.The thing that sets children apart from adults is not their ignorance, nor their lack ofskills.It's their enormous capacity for joy.Think of a 3-year-old lost in the pleasures of finding outwhat he can and cannot sink in the bathtub, a 5-year-old beside herself with the thrill of putting together strings of nonsensical words with her best friends, or an 11-year-old completely absorbedin a fascinating comic strip.A child's ability to become deeply absorbed in something, and deriveintense pleasure from that absorption, is something adults spend the rest of their lives trying toreturn to.E.A friend told me the following story.One day, when he went to get his 7-year-old son from soccerpractice, his kid greeted him with a downcast face and a sad voice.The coach had criticized himfor not focusing on his soccer drills.The little boy walked out of the school with his head andshoulders hanging down.He seemed wrapped in sadness.But just before he reached the car door,he suddenly stopped, crouching (蹲伏) down to peer at something on the sidewalk.His face wentdown lower and lower, and then, with complete joy he called out, "e here.This is thestrangest bug I've ever seen.It has, like, a million legs.Look at this.It's amazing." He looked upat his father, his features overflowing with energy and delight."Can't we stay here for just aminute? I want to find out what he does with all those legs.This is the coolest ever."F.The traditional view of such moments is that they constitute a charming but irrelevant byproduct ofyouth-something to be pushed aside to make room for more important qualities, like perseverance(坚持不懈), obligation, and practicality.Yet moments like this one are just the kind of intenseabsorption and pleasure adults spend the rest of their lives seeking.Human lives are governed bythe desire to experience joy.Becoming educated should not require giving up joy but rather lead tofinding joy in new kinds of things: reading novels instead of playing with small figures, conductingexperiments instead of sinking cups in the bathtub, and debating serious issues rather than stringingtogether nonsense words, for example.In some cases, schools should help children find new,more grown-up ways of doing the same things that are constant sources of joy: making art, makingfriends, making decisions:G. Building on a child's ability to feel joy, rather than pushing it aside, wouldn't be that hard.It wouldjust require a shift in the education world's mindset (思维模式).Instead of trying to get children towork hard, why not focus on getting them to take pleasure in meaningful, productive activity, likemaking things, working with others, exploring ideas, and solving problems? These focuses are notso different from the things in which they delight.H. Before you brush this argument aside as rubbish, or think of joy as an unaffordable luxury in anation where there is awful poverty, low academic achievement, and high dropout rates, thinkagain.The more horrible the school circumstances, the more important pleasure is to achieving anyeducational success.I.Many of the assignments and rules teachers come up with, often because they are pressured bytheir administrators, treat pleasure and joy as the enemies of competence and responsibility.Theassumption is that children shouldn't chat in theclassroom because it hinders hard work; instead,they should learn to delay gratification (快乐) so that they can pursue abstract goals, like going to college.J.Not only is this a boring and awful way to treat children, it makes no sense educationally.Decadesof research have shown that in order to acquire skills and real knowledge in school, kids need towant to learn.You can force a child to stay in his or her seat, fill out a worksheet, or practicedivision.But you can't force the child to think carefully, enjoy books, digest complex information,or develop a taste for learning.To make that happen, you have to help the child find pleasure inlearning-to see school as a source of joy.K.Adults tend to talk about learning as if it were medicine: unpleasant, but necessary and good foryou.Why not instead think of learning as if it were food--something so valuable to humans thatthey have evolved to experience it as a pleasure ?L.Joy should not be trained out of children or left for after-school programs.The more difficult achild's life circumstances, the more important it is for that child to find joy in his or her classroom."Pleasure" is not a dirty word.And it doesn't run counter to the goals of public education.It is, infact, the precondition. 46.It will not be difficult to make learning a source of joy if educators change their way of thinking.47.What distinguishes children from adults is their strong ability to derive joy from what they aredoing.48.Children in America are being treated with shocking cruelty.49.It is human nature to seek joy in life.50.Grown-ups are likely to think that learning to children is what medicine is to patients.51.Bad school conditions make it all the more important to turn learning into a joyful experience.52.Adults do not consider children's feelings when it comes to education.53.Administrators seem to believe that only hard work will lead children to their educational goals.54.In the so-called "effective" schools, children are taught self-control under a set of strict rules.55.To make learning effective, educators have to ensure that children want to learn. Section CDirections: There are 2 passages in this section.Each passage is followed by some questions orunfinished statements.For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C.andD .You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer.Sheet 2 with a single line through the center.Passage OneQuestions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.When it's five o'clock, people leave their office.The length of the workday, for many workers, isdefined by time.They leave when the clock tells them they're done.These days, the time is everywhere: not just on clocks or watches, but on cell-phones andcomputers.That may be a bad thing, particularly at work.New research shows that clock-based workschedules hinder morale (士气) and creativity.Clock-timers organize their day by blocks of minutes and hours.For example: a meeting from9 a.m.to 10 a.m.research from 10 a.m.to noon, etc.On the other hand, task-timers have a list ofthings they want to accomplish.They work down the list, each task starts when the previous task iscompleted.It is said that all of us employ a mix of both these types of planning.What, then, are the effects of thinking about time in these different ways? Does one make us moreproductive? Better at the tasks at hand? Happier? In experiments conducted by Tamar Avnet andAnne-Laure Sellier, they had participants organize different activities-from project planning, holidayshopping, to yoga-by time or to-do list to measure how they performed under "clock time" vs "tasktinge." They found clock timers to be more efficient but less happy because they felt little control overtheir lives.Task timers are happier and more creative, but less productive.They tend to enjoy themoment when something good is happening, and seize opportunities that come up.The researchers argue that task-based organizing tends to be undervalued and under-supported inbusiness culture.Smart companies, they believe, will try to bake more task-based planning into theirstrategies.This might be a small change to the way we view work and the office, but the researchers arguethat it challenges a widespread characteristic of the economy: work organized by clock time.Whilemost people will still probably need, and be, to some extent, clock-timers, task-based timing shouldbe used when performing a job that requires more creativity.It'll make those tasks easier, and the task-doers will be happier.56.What does the author think of time displayed everywhere?A.It makes everybody time-conscious.B.It is a convenience for work and life.C.It may have a negative effect on creative work.D.It clearly indicates the fast pace of modern life.57.How do people usually go about their work according to the author?A.They combine clock-based and task-based planning.B.They give priority to the most urgent task on hand.C.They set a time limit for each specific task.D.They accomplish their tasks one by one.58.What did Tamar Avnet and Anne-Laure Sellier find in their experiments about clock-timers?A.They seize opportunities as they come up.B.They always get their work done in time.C.They have more control-over their lives.D.They tend to be more productive.59.What do the researchers say about today's business culture?A.It does not support the strategies adopted by smart companies.B.It does not attach enough importance to task-based practice.C.It places more emphasis on work efficiency than on workers' lives.D.It alms to bring employees' potential and creativity into full play.60.What do the researchers suggest?A.Task-based timing is preferred for doing creative work.B.It is important to keep a balance between work and life.C.Performing creative jobs tends to make workers happier.D.A scientific standard should be adopted in job evaluation.Passage TwoQuestions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.Martha Stewart was charged, tried and convicted of a crime in 2004.As she neared the end of herprison sentence, a well-known columnist wrote that she was "paying her dues," and that "there issimply no reason for anyone to attempt to deny her right to start anew."Surely, the American ideal of second chances should not be reserved only for the rich andpowerful.Unfortunately, many federal and state laws impose post-conviction restrictions on ashockingly large number of Americans.who are prevented from ever fully paying their debt to society.At least 65 million people in the United States have a criminal record.This can result in severepenalties that continue long after punishment is completed.Many of these penalties are imposed regardless of the seriousness of the offense or the person'sindividual ws can restrict or ban voting, access to public housing, and professionaland business licensing.They can affect a person's ability to get a job and qualification for benefits.In all, more than 45.000 laws and rules serve to exclude vast numbers of people from fullyparticipating in American life.Some laws make sense.No one advocates letting someone convicted of pedophilia (恋童癖) workin a school.But too often collateral (随附的) consequences bear no relation to public safety.Should awoman who possessed a small amount of drugs years ago be permanently unable to be licensed as anurse?These laws are also counterproductive, since they make it harder for people with criminal recordsto find housing or land a job, two key factors that reduce backsliding.A recent report makes several recommendations, including the abolition of most post-convictionpenalties, except for those specifically needed to protect public safety.Where the penalties are not amust, they should be imposed only if the facts of a case support it.The point is not to excuse or forget the crime.Rather, it is to recognize that in America's vastcriminal justice system, second chances are crucial.It is in no one's interest to keep a large segment ofthe population on the margins of society.61.What does the well-known columnist's remark about Martha Stewart suggest?A.Her past record might stand in her way to a new life.B.Her business went bankrupt while she was in prison.C.Her release from prison has drawn little attention.D.Her prison sentence might have been extended.62.What do we learn from the second paragraph about many criminals in America?A.They backslide after serving their terms in prison.B.They are deprived of chances to turn over a new leaf.C.They receive severe penalties for committing minor offenses.D.They are convicted regardless of their individual circumstances.63.What are the consequences for many Americans with a criminal record?A.They remain poor for the rest of their lives.B.They are deprived of all social benefits.C.They are marginalized in society.D.They are deserted by their family.64.What does the author think of the post-conviction laws and rules?A.They help to maintain social stability.B.Some of them have long been outdated.C.They are hardly understood by the public.D.A lot of them have negative effects on society.65.what is the author's main purpose in writing the passage?A.To create opportunities for criminals to reform themselves.B.To appeal for changes in America's criminal justice system.C.To ensure that people with a criminal record live a decent life.D.To call people's attention to prisoners' conditions in America.Part Ⅳ Translation( 30 minutes )Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese intoEnglish.You should, write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.中国父母往往过于关注孩子的学习，以至于不要他们帮忙做家务，他们对孩子的首要要求就是努力学习，考得好，能上名牌大学.他们相信这是为孩子好，因为在中国这样竞争激烈的社会里，只有成绩好才能保证前途光明.中国父母还认为，如果孩子能在社会上取得大的成就，父母就会受到尊敬.因此，他们愿意牺牲自己的时间、爱好和兴趣，为孩子提供更好的条件.2015年12月大学英语四级考试真题答案与详解(第1套)Part Ⅰ Writing这是一篇四级考试中常见的议论文.要求考生就一句格苦进行论述.这句格言Listening is more importantthantalking．“倾听比谈论更重要”措辞简单．意思明了，考生比较容易把握．因此写起来并不难.写作时．考生应该将重点放在第二段举例阐释倾听比谈论更重要的原因上．联系实际分析可知，其原因主要有：倾听是交际之规则．只有善于倾听于能表达刘别人的尊重．同时倾昕对听者自身也不无裨益.一、阐述“倾听比谈论更重要”的内涵：倾听别人的意见比表达自己的想法重要得多(paying attention to others’opinions is much more important than expressing one’s own words)倾听比谈论更重要如今，“倾听比谈论更重要”这一格言流行起来.这句格言道出了在社会中与人交往的真谛：倾听别人的意见比表达自己的想法重要得多就我而言，有两个原因可以解释该准则的正确性.首先，倾听可以表达对他人的尊重?在这样一个竞争激烈的社会，乐于倾听可以为自己赢得信任和友谊，而这恰恰是我们社交的基本准则一个夸夸其谈而不善于倾听的人注定要孤立，此外，倾听可以使自己受益．毋庸置疑．你是自己命运的主宰然而，他人的不同观点肯定会丰富你的头脑，并为今后的行动带来启迪综上所述，在很多场合，倾听确实比谈论更重要，在现代社套中，我们需要掌握一些沟通技巧，我们只有认识到倾听的重要性，才能过上更好的生活．Part ⅡListening, Comprehension1.M: Do you remember the wonderful film on space exploration we watched together last month?W: Sure.It's actually the most impressive one I've seen on that topic.Q: What do we learn about the speakers?C.四个选项的主语均为they．且选项动词多表达情感．通过选项中的spaceexplorers，movie，space exploration等间可以判断．本题意在考查说话者对太空探险或电影的评价.男士询问女士是否还记得他们上个月看的那部关于太空探险的精彩电影，女士表示这是她看过的关于太空探险题材的印象最深的一部电影.通过对话中的wonderful film和the most impressiveone等关键词可知，他们非常喜欢男士所提及的那部关于太空探险的电影．故答案为C.2.W: Are you looking for anything in particular?M : Yes.My son is graduating from high school, and I want to get him something special. Q: Where does the conversation most probably take place?B.四个选项中出现了school library．gift shop．travel agency和graduation ceremony等表示地点或场合的词汇，可以推测对话旨在考查事件发生的地点.女士询问男士是否在找什么特别之物．男士说他儿子即将高中毕业．他想送给孩子一件有意义的东西.由此可知，对话可能发生在礼品店.男士准备买件特别的礼物送给儿子，故答案为B.3.M : Mike told me yesterday that he had been looking in vain for a job in the art gallery.W: Really? If I remember right, he had a chance to work there, but he turned it down. Q: What does the woman say about Mike'?D.四个选项均以he开头，且出现了work，part．joblessness，ajob offer 等词，由此可以推测本题考查的内容与男士的工作有关.男士说麦克告诉他在美术馆找工作的事无果而终．女士表示怀疑，因为她听说麦克曾有机会在那里工作，但是被他拒绝了.由此呵知．麦克放弃了在美术馆的工作，并非是无果而终，declined一词是原文turned down的同义转换．故答案为D..4.W: Would you like to come to Susan's birthday party tomorrow evening'?M: I'm going to give a lecture tomorrow.I wish I could be in two places at the same time.Q: What does the man mean?A.四个选项中两次出现birthday party，町以推测对话与生日派对有关.各选项的主语为he，the woman，Susan，听音时应特别注意主语与birthday party的关系.女士询问男士明天晚上能否参加苏珊的生日派对，男士说自己明天有个讲座，因此无法分身，也就是无法参加苏珊的生日派对，故答案为A..5.W: Aren't you discouraged by the slow progress your staff is making?M: Yes.I think I will give them a deadline and hold them to it.Q: What is the man probably going to do?A.四个选项均为动词短语，且出现了deadline，staff，workers，project，work等与工作相关的词汇，故而推测本题考查的内容与员工或工作有关.女士询问男士对员工的工作进度慢是否感到不满，男士表示赞同，并打算给员工设定期限并让他们遵守，故答案为A..6.W: Excuse me.Could you tell me where the visitor's parking is? I left my car there. M: Sure.It's in Lot C.Over that way.Q: What does the woman want to know?D.四个选项中出现了car，parking，lot等词，由此可知，本题考查的内容与停车场有关.女士问男士访客停车场在哪里，她的车停那里了，男士说就在那边的C区停车场.由此可推断，女士想知道如何去访客停车场，故答案为D.7.W: You look great! Now that you've taken those fitness classes.M: Thanks.I've never felt better in my life.Q: What does the man mean?B.四个选项均以he作主语，且出现了classes，exercise，fitness classes 等词，可以推测对话内容与男士的健身有关.女士夸赞男士自从上健身课以来气色不错，男士说他从未感觉像现在这样好.由此可以推测，男士认为自己在健身活动中获益匪浅，故答案为B..8.W: I really admire the efficiency of your secretaries.。
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2014年12月四级真题（第1套）注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。
Part ⅡListening Comprehension (30 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A．, B．, C．andD．, and decide which is the best answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through the centre.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。
1. A．The woman is fussy about the cleanness of the apartment.B．He has not cleaned the apartment since his mother's visit.C．He does not remember when his mother canoe over.D．His mother often helps him to clean the apartment.2. A．The bus stop is only two minutes' walk.B．The nmning made him short of breath.C．They might as well take the next bus.D．The woman is late by a couple of minutes.3. A．She is suffering a pain in her neck.B．She is likely to replace Miss Smith.C．She has to do extra work for a few days.D．She is quite sick of working overtime.4. A．Change her job.B．Buy a dishwasher.C．Open a flower shop.D．Start her own business.5. A．He forgot where he had left the package.B．He slipped on his way to the post office.C．He wanted to deliver the package himself.D．He failed to do what he promised to do.6. A．The speakers do not agree with each other.B．The woman does not like horror films.C．The man pays for the tickets as a rule.D．The speakers happened" to meet in the cinema.7. A．The woman is just as unlucky as the man.B．The woman is more sensitive than the man.C．The speakers share a common view on love.D．The speakers are unhappy with their marriage.8. A．Preparations for a forum.B．Participants in the forum.C．Organizers of a forum.D．Expectations of the forum.Questions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.9. A．France.B．Scandinavia.C．Russia.D．East Europe.10. A．More women will be promoted in the workplace.B．More women will overcome their inadequacies.C．More women will receive higher education.D．More women will work outside the family.11. A．Try hard to protect women's rights.B．Educate men to respect women more.C．Help women acquire more professional skills.D．Spend more time changing women's attitudes.Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12. A．In a restaurant.B．In a hotel lobby.C．At the man's office.D．At the woman's place.13. A．He is the chief designer of the latest bike model.B．He has completed an overseas market survey.C．He is the Managing Director of Jayal Motors.D．He has just come back from a trip to Africa.14. A．To select the right model.B．To get a good import agent.C．To convince the board members.D．To cut down production costs.15. A．His flexibility.B．His vision.C．His intelligence.D．His determination.Section BDirections: In this section, you will hoar 3 short passages. At tho end of each passage, you will hoar some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose tho best answer from tho four choices marked A．, B．, C．andD．. Then mark tho corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 1 with a single line through tho centre.注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。
Passage OneQuestions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16. A．How being an identical twin influences one's identity.B．Why some identical twins keep their identities secret.C．Why some identical twins were separated from birth.D．How identical twins are born, raised and educated.17. A．Their second wives were named Linda.B．They grew up in different surroundings.C．Their first children were both daughters.D．They both got married when they were 39.18. A．They want to fred out the relationship between environment and biology. B．They want to see what characteristics distinguish one from the other. C．They want to understand how twins communicate when far apart. D．They want to know whether twins can feel each other's pain.Passage TwoQuestions 19 to 21 are based on the passage you have just heard.19. A．It is especially attractive to children and the young.B．It is the first choice of vacationers on the Continent.C．It is as comfortable as living in a permanent house.D．It is an inexpensive way .of spending a holiday.20. A．It has a solid plastic frame.B．It consists of an inner and an outer tent.C．It is very convenient to set up.D．It is sold to many Continental countries.21. A．A groundsheet.B．A gas stove.C．A kitchen extension.D．A spare tent.Passage ThreeQuestions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.22. A．It covers 179 square "miles.B．It is as big as New York City.C．It covers 97 square kilometers.D．It is only half the size of Spain.23. A．Its geographic features attracted many visitors.B．Its citizens enjoyed a peaceful, comfortable life.C．It imported food from foreign countries.D．It was cut off from the rest of the world.24. A．The fast development of its neighboring countries.B．The increasing investment by developed countries.C．The building of roads connecting it with neighboring countries.D．The establishing of diplomatic relations with France and Spain.25. A．They work on their farms.B．They work in the tourist industry.C．They raise domestic animals.D．They make traditional handicrafts.Section CDirections: In this section, you will hear a passage three 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 are required to fill in the blanks 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. 注意：此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。