英语专业四级阅读理解练习四附答案解析

PART ⅡREADING COMPREHENSION ［25 MIN.］In this section there are four passages followed by fifteen questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the correct answer.Mark your choice on your ANSWER SHEET.TEXT AAs many as one thousand years ago in the Southwest, the Hopi and Zuni Indians of North America were building with adobe－sun baked brick plastered with mud. Their homes looked remarkably like modern apartment houses. Some were four stories high and contained quarters for perhaps a thousand people, along with storerooms for grain and other goods. These buildings were usually put up against cliffs, both to make construction easier and for defense against enemies. They were really villages in themselves, as later Spanish explorers must have realized since they called them “pueblos”, which is Spanish for town.The people of the pueblos raised what are called “the three sisters”—corn, beans, and squash. They made excellent pottery and wove marvelous baskets, some so fine that they could hold water. The Southwest has always been a dry country, where water is scarce. The Hopi and Zuni brought water from streams to their fields and gardens through irrigation ditches. Water was so important that it played a major role in their religion. They developed elaborate ceremonies and religious rituals tobring rain.The way of life of less settled groups was simpler and more strongly influenced by nature. Small tribes such as the Shoshone and Ute wandered the dry and mountainous lands between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. They gathered seeds and hunted small animals such as small rabbits and snakes. In the Far North the ancestors of today’s Inuit hunted seals, walruses, and the great whales.They lived right on the frozen seas in shelters called igloos built of blocks of packed snow. When summercame, they fished for salmon and hunted the lordly caribou.The Cheyenne, Pawnee, and Sioux tribes, known as the Plains Indians, lived on the grasslands between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River. They hunted bison, commonly called the buffalo. Its meat was the chief food of these tribes, and its hide was used to make their clothing and covering of their tents and tipis.16. What does the passage mainly discuss?A. The architecture of early American Indian buildings.B. The movement of American Indians across North America.C. Ceremonies and rituals of American Indians.D. The way of life of American Indian tribes in early North America.17. It can be inferred from the passage that the dwellings of the Hopi and Zuni were ___A. very smallB. highly advancedC. difficult to defendD. quickly constructedTEXT BMost earthquakes occur within the upper 15 miles of the earth’s surface. But earthquakes can and do occur at all depths to about 460 miles. Their number decreases as the depth increases. At about 460 miles one earthquake occurs only every few years. Near the surface earthquakes may run as high as 100 in a month, but the yearly average does not vary much. In comparison with the total number of earthquakes each year, the number ofdisastrous earthquakes is very small.[JP]The extent of the disaster in an earthquake depends on many factors. If you carefully build a toy house with an erect set, it will still stand no matter how much you shake the table. But if you build a toy house with a pack of cards, a slight shake of the table will make it fall. An earthquake in Agadir, Morocco, was not strong enough to be recorded on distant instruments, but it completely destroyed the city. Many stronger earthquakes have donecomparatively little damage. If a building is well constructed and built on solid ground, it will resist an earthquake. Most deaths in earthquakes have been due to faulty building construction or poor building sites. A third and very serious factor is panic. When people rush out into narrow streets, more deaths will result.The United Nations has played an important part in reducing the damage done by earthquakes. It has sent a team of experts to all countries known to be affected by earthquakes. Working with local geologists and engineers, the experts have studied the nature of the ground and the type of most practical building code for the local area. If followed, these suggestions will make disastrous earthquakes almost a thing of the past.There is one type of earthquake disaster that little can be done about. This is the disaster caused by seismic sea waves, or tsunamis. (These are often called tidal waves, but the name is incorrect. They have nothing to do with tides.)In certain areas, earthquakes take place beneath the sea. These submarine earthquakes sometimes give rise to seismic sea waves. The waves are not noticeable out at sea because of their long wave length. But when they roll into harbors, they pile up into walls of water 6 to 60 feet high. The Japanese call them “tsunamis”, meaning “harbor waves”, because they reach a sizable height only in harbors.Tsunamis travel fairly slowly, at speeds up to 500 miles an hour. An adequate warning system is in use to warn all shores likely to be reached by the waves.But this only enables people to leave the threatened shores for higher ground. There is no way to stop theoncoming wave.18. Which of the following CANNOT be concluded from the passage?A. The number of earthquakes is closely related to depth.B. Roughly the same number of earthquakes occur each year.C. Earthquakes are impossible at depths over 460 miles.D. Earthquakes are most likely to occur near the surfaces.19. The destruction of Agadir is an example of ___ ___.A. faulty building constructionB. an earthquake’s strengthC. widespread panic in earthquakesD. ineffective instruments20. The United Nations’experts are supposed to ___ ___.A. construct strong buildingsB. put forward proposalsC. detect disastrous earthquakesD. monitor earthquakes21. The significance of the slow speed of tsunamis is that people may___ ___.A. notice them out at seaB. find ways to stop themC. be warned early enoughD. develop warning systemsTEXT CThere are many theories about the beginning of drama in ancient Greece. The one most widely accepted today is based on the assumption that drama evolved from ritual. The argument for this view goes as follows. In the beginning, human beings viewed the natural forces of the world, even the seasonal changes, as unpredictable, and they sought through various means, to control these unknown and feared powers. Those measures which appeared to bring the desired results were then retained and repeated until they hardened into fixed rituals. Eventually stories arose which explained or veiled the mysteries of the rites. As time passed some rituals were abandoned, but the stories, later called myths, persisted and provided material for art and drama.Those who believed that drama evolved out of ritual also argue that those rites contained the seed of theater because music, dance, masks, and costumes were almost always used. Furthermore, a suitable site had to be provided for performances, and when the entire community did not participate, a clear division was usually made between the “acting area” and the “auditorium”. In addition, there were performers, and, since considerable importance was attached to avoiding mistakes in the enactment of rites, religious leaders usually assumed that task. Wearing masks and costumes, they often impersonated other people, animals, or super natural beings, and mimed the desired effect－success in hunt or battle, the coming rain, the revival of the Sun—as an actor might.Eventually such dramatic representations were separated from religious activities.Another theory traces the theater’s origin from the human interest in storytelling. According to this v iew, tales (about the hunt, war, or other feats) are gradually elaborated, at first through the use of impersonation, action, and dialogue by a narrator and then through the assumption of each of the roles by a different person. A closely related theory traces theater to those dances that are primarily rhythmical and gymnastic or that are imitations ofanimal movements and sounds.22. What does the passage mainly discuss?A. The origins of theater.B. The role of ritual in modern dance.C. The importance of storytelling.D. The variety of early religious activities.23. What aspect of drama does the author discuss in the first paragraph?A. The reason drama is often unpredictable.B. The seasons in which dramas were performed.C. The connection between myths and dramatic plots.D. The importance of costumes in early drama.24. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a common element of theater and ritual?A. Dance.B. Costumes.C. Music.D. Magic.25. According to the passage, what is the main difference between ritual and drama?A. Ritual uses music whereas drama does not.B. Ritual is shorter than drama.C. Ritual requires fewer performers than drama.D. Ritual has a religious purpose and drama does not.26. The passage supports which of the following statements?A. No one really knows how the theater began.B. Myths are no longer represented dramatically.C. Storytelling is an important part of dance.D. Dramatic activities require the use of costumes.TEXT DPeople have been painting pictures for at least 30,000 years. The earliest pictures were painted by people who hunted animals. They used to paint pictures of the animals they wanted to catch and kill. Pictures of this kind have been found on the walls of caves in France and Spain. No one knows why they were painted there. Perhaps the painters thought that their pictures would help them to catch these animals. Or perhaps human beings have alwayswanted to tell stories in pictures.About 5,000 years ago, the Egyptians and other people in the Near East began to use pictures as kind of writing. They drew simple pictures or signs to represent things and ideas, and also to represent the sounds of their language. The signs these people used became a kind of alphabet.The Egyptians used to record information and to tell stories by putting picture writing and pictures together. When an important person died, scenes and stories from his life were painted and carved on the walls of the place where he was buried. Some of these pictures。