2015年12月英语四级真题试卷一

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大学英语四级卷一真题2015年12月_真题无答案(72)

大学英语四级卷一真题2015年12月_真题无答案(72)

大学英语四级卷一真题2015年12月(总分710, 做题时间130分钟)Part I Writing (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay. You should start your essay with a brief description of the picture and then express your views on the importance of learning basic skills. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words. Write your essay on Answer Sheet 1.1.Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an**menting on the saying ‘Learning is a daily experience and a lifetime mission.” You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of lifelong learning. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.SSS_TEXT_QUSTIPart II Listening 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 1 with a single line through the centre.Section ASSS_SINGLE_SEL1.A They admire the courage of space explorers.B They enjoyed the movie on space exploration.C They were going to watch a wonderful movie.D They like doing scientific exploration very much.SSS_SINGLE_SEL2.A At a gift shop.B At a graduation ceremony.C In the office of a travel agency.D In a school library.SSS_SINGLE_SEL3.A He used to work in the art gallery.B He does not have a good memory.C He declined a job offer form the art gallery.D He is not interested in any part-time jobs.SSS_SINGLE_SEL4.A Susan has been invited to give a lecture tomorrow.B He will go to the birthday party after the lecture.C The woman should have informed him earlier.D He will be unable to attend the birthday party.SSS_SINGLE_SEL5.A Reward those having made good progress.B Set a deadline for the staff to meet.C Assign more workers to the project.D Encourage the staff to work in small groups.SSS_SINGLE_SEL6.A The way to the visitor’s parking.B The rate for parking in Lot C.C How far away the parking lot is.D Where she can leave her car.SSS_SINGLE_SEL7.A He regrets missing the classes.B He plans to take the fitness classes.C He is looking forward to a better life.D He has benefited form exercise.SSS_SINGLE_SEL8.A How to raise work efficiency.B How to select secretaries.C The responsibilities of secretaries.D The secretaries in the man’s company.Conversation OneQuestions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.SSS_SINGLE_SEL9.A It is more difficult to learn than English.B It is used by more people than English.C It will be as commonly used as English.D It will eventually become a world language.SSS_SINGLE_SEL10.A It has words words from many languages.B Its popularity with **mon people.C The influence of the British Empire.D The effect of the Industrial Revolution.SSS_SINGLE_SEL11.A It includes a lot of words form other languages.B It has a growing number of newly coined words.C It can be easily picked up by overseas travelers.D It is the largest among all languages in the world. Conversation 2Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.SSS_SINGLE_SEL12.A To return some goods.B To apply for a job.C To place an order.D To make a complaint.SSS_SINGLE_SEL13.A He has become somewhat impatient with the woman.B He is not familiar with the exact details of goods.C He has not worked in the sales department for long.D He works on a part-time basis for **pany.SSS_SINGLE_SEL14.A It is not his responsibility.B It will be free for large orders.C It costs 15 more for express delivery.D It depends on a number of factors.SSS_SINGLE_SEL15.A Report the information to her superior.B Pay a visit to the saleswoman in charge.C Ring back when **es to a decision.D Make inquiries with some **panies.Section BDirections: In this section, you will hear 3 short assages. 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 centre.Passage OneQuestions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.SSS_SINGLE_SEL16.A No one knows exactly where they were first madeB No one knows for sure when thy came into being.C No one knows for what purpose they were inventedD No one knows what they will looK like in the futureSSS_SINGLE_SEL17.A Carry ropes across rivers.B Measure the speed of wind.C Pass on secret messages.D Give warnings of danger.SSS_SINGLE_SEL18.A To protect houses against lightning.B To test the effects of the lightning rod.C To find out the strength of silk for kites.D To prove the lightning is electricity.Passage TwoQuestions 19 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.SSS_SINGLE_SEL19.A She enjoys teaching languages.B She can speak several languages.C She was trained to be an interpreter.D She was born with a talent for languages.SSS_SINGLE_SEL20.A They acquire an immunity to culture shock.B They would like to live abroad permanently.C They want to learn as many foreign languages as possible.D They have an intense interest in cross-cultural interactions.SSS_SINGLE_SEL21.A She became an expert in horse racing.B She got a chance to visit several European countries.C She was able to translate for a German sports judge.D She learned to appreciate classical music.SSS_SINGLE_SEL22.A Taste the beef and give **ment.B Take part in a **petition.C Teach vocabulary for food in EnglishD Give cooking lessons on Western foodPassage ThreeQuestions 23 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.SSS_SINGLE_SEL23.A He had only a third-grade education.B He once threatened to kill his teacher.C He grew up in a poor single parent family.D He often helped his other do houseworkSSS_SINGLE_SEL24.A Careless.B Stupid.C Brave.D Active.SSS_SINGLE_SEL25.A Write two book reports a week.B Keep a diary.C Help with housework.D Watch educationSection 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 this is a comet(彗星).Comets were formed around the same the earth was formed. They are(28)______made up of ice and other frozen liquids and gasses.(29)______these dirty snow balls begin to orbit the sun just as the planets do.As a comet gets closer to the sun, some gasses in it begin to unfreeze. They (30)______combine with dust particles from **et to form a huge cloud. As **et gets even nearer to the sun and solar wind blows the cloud behind **et ,thus forming its tail. The tail and the (31)______ fuzzy (模糊的)atmosphere around **et are (32)______that can help identify this (33)______ in the night sky.In any given year, about dozen ****e 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 withthe(34)______eye. Comet Hale-Bopp discovered in 1995 was an unusually **et. Its orbit bought it (35)______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 4 thousand years or so.SSS_FILL26.SSS_FILL27.SSS_FILL28.SSS_FILL29.SSS_FILL30.SSS_FILL31.SSS_FILL32.SSS_FILL33.SSS_FILL34.SSS_FILL35.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 passagethrough carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bankis 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.Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.For many Americans, 2013 ended with an unusually bitter cold spell. November and December (36)______ early snow and bone-chilling temperatures in much of the country, part of a year when, for thefirst time in two (37)______ , record-cold days will likely turn out to have outnumbered record-warm ones. But the U.S. was the exception;November was the warmest ever (38)______ , and current data indicates that 2013 is likely to have been the fourth hottest year on record.Enjoy the snow now, because (39)______ are good that 2014 will be even hotter, perhaps the hottest year since records have been kept. That’s because, scientists are predicting, 2014 will be an EI Niuo year.EI niuo, Spanish for “the child”, (40)______ when surface ocean waters in the southern Pacific become abnormally warm. So large is the Pacific, covering 30% of the planet’s surface, that the(41)______ energy generated by its warming is enough to touch off a series of weather changes around the world. EI Ninos are (42)______ with abnormally dry conditions in Southeast Asia and Australia. They can lead to extreme rain in parts of North and South America, even as southern Africa (43)______ dry weather. Marine life may be affected too; EI Ninos can (44)______ the rising of the cold, nutrient-rich(营养丰富的)water that supports large fish (45)______ ,and the unusually warm ocean temperatures can destroy coral(珊瑚).SSS_SIMPLE_SIN36.A B C D E F GH I J K L M N OSSS_SIMPLE_SIN37.A B C D E F GH I J K L M N OSSS_SIMPLE_SIN38.A B C D E F GH I J K L M N OSSS_SIMPLE_SIN39.A B C D E F GH I J K L M N OSSS_SIMPLE_SIN40.A B C D E F GH I J K L M N OSSS_SIMPLE_SIN41.A B C D E F GH I J K L M N OSSS_SIMPLE_SIN42.A B C D E F GH I J K L M N OSSS_SIMPLE_SIN43.A B C D E F GH I J K L M N OSSS_SIMPLE_SIN44.A B C D E F GH I J K L M N OSSS_SIMPLE_SIN45.A B C D E F GH I J K L M N OSection 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 onAnswer Sheet 2.The Perfect EssayA) Looking back on too many years of education, I can identify one truly impossible teacher. She cared about me, and my intellectual life, even when I didn’t. Her expectations were high—impossibly so. She was an English teacher. She was also my mother.B) When good students turn in an essay, they dream of their instructor returning it to them in exactly the same condition, save for a single word added in the margin of the final page.“Flawless.” This dream came true for me one afternoon in the ninth grade. Of course, I had heard that genius could show itself at an early age, so I was only slightly taken aback that I had achieved perfection at the tender age of 14. Obviously, I did what and professional writer woulddo; I hurried off to spread the good news. I didn’t get very far. The first person I told was my mother.C) My mother, who is just shy of five feet tall, is normally incredibly soft-spoken, but on the rare occasion when she got angry, she was terrifying. I am not sure if she was more upset by myhubris(得意忘形)or by the fact that my English teacher had let my ego get so out of hand. In and event. My mother and her red pen showed me how deeply flawed a flaw less essay could be. At the time, I am sure she thought she was teaching me about mechanics, transitions(过渡), structure, style and voice. But what I learned, and what stuck with me through my time teaching writing at Harvard, was a deeper lesson about the nature of creative criticism.D) First off, it hurts. Genuine criticism, the type that leaves a lasting mark on you as a writer, also leaves an existentialimprint(印记)on you as a person. I have heard people say that awriter should never take criticism personally. I say that we should never listen to these people.E) Criticism, at its best, is deeply personal, and gets to the heart of why we write the way we do. The intimate nature of genuine criticism implies something about who is able to give it, namely, someone who knows you well enough to show you how your mental life is getting in the way of good writing. Conveniently, they are also the people who care enough to see you through this painful realization. For me it took the form of my first, and I hope only, encounter with writer’s block—I was not able to produce anything for three years.F) Franz Kafka once said; “Writing is utter solitude(独处), the descent into the cold abyss(深渊)of oneself.” My mother’s criticism had shown me that Kafka is right about the cold abyss, and when you make the introspective(内省的)descent that writing requires you are not always pleased by what you find. But, in the years that followed, her sustained tutoring suggested that Kafka might be wrong about the solitude, I was lucky enough to find a critic and teacher who was willing to make the journey of writing with me. “It is a thing of no great difficulty.”according to Plutarch, “to raise objections against another man’s speech. it is a very easy matter, but to produce a better in its place is a work extremely troublesome.” I am sure I wrote essays in the later years of high school without my mother’s guidance, but I can’t recall them. What I remember, however, is how she took up the“extremely troublesome”work of ongoing criticism.G) There are two ways to interpret Plutarch when he suggests that a critic should be able to produce“a better in its place.”In a straightforward sense, he could mean that a critic must be more talented than the artist she critiques(评论).My mother was well covered on this count. But perhaps Plutarch is suggesting something slightly different, something a bit closer to Marcus Cicero’s claim that one should“criticize by creation, not by findingfault.”Genuine criticism creates a precious opening for an author to become better on his own terms—a process that is often extremely painful, but also almost always meaningful.H) My mother said she would help me with my writing, but first I had to help myself. For each assignment, I was to write the best essay I could. Real criticism is not meant to find obvious mistakes, so if she found any—the type I could have found on my own—I had to start from scratch. From scratch. Once the essay was“flawless,” she would take an evening to walk me through my errors. That was when true criticism, the type that changed me as a person, began.I) She criticized me when I included little-known references and professional jargon(行话). She had no patience for brilliant but irrelevant figures of speech.“Writers can’t bl uff(虚张声势)their way through ignorance.” That was news to me—I would need to find another way to structure my daily existence.J) She trimmed back my flowery language, drew lines through my exclamation marks and argued for the value of restraint in expression.“John,” she almost whispered. I leaned in to hear her: “I can’t hear you when you shout at me.” So I stopped shouting and bluffing, and slowly my writing improved.K) Somewhere along the way I set aside my hopes of writing that flawless essay. But perhaps I missed something important in my mother’s lessons about creativity and perfection. Perhaps the point of writhing the flawless essay was not to give up, but to never willingly finish. Whitman repeatedly reworked“song of Myself” between 1855 and 1891. Repeatedly. We do our absolute best with a piece of writing, **e as close as we can to the ideal. And, for the time being, we settle. In critique, however, we are forced to depart, to give up the perfection we thought we had achieved for the chance of being even a little bit better. This is the lesson I took from my mother: If perfection were possible, it would not be motivating.SSS_SIMPLE_SIN46.The author was advised against the improper use of figures of speech.A B C D E F GH I J KSSS_SIMPLE_SIN47.The author’s mother taught him a valuable lesson by pointing outlots of flaws in his seemingly perfect essay.A B C D E F GH I J KSSS_SIMPLE_SIN48.A writer should polish his writing repeatedly so as to get closer to perfection.A B C D E F GH I J KSSS_SIMPLE_SIN49.Writers may experience periods of time in their life when they just can’t prod uce anything.A B C D E F GH I J KSSS_SIMPLE_SIN50.The author was not much surprised when his school teacher marked his essay as“flawless”.A B C D E F GH I J KSSS_SIMPLE_SIN51.Criticizing someone’s speech is said to be easier **ing up with a better one.A B C D E F GH I J KSSS_SIMPLE_SIN52.The author looks upon his mother as his most demanding and caring instructor.A B C D E F GH I J KSSS_SIMPLE_SIN53.The criticism the author received from his mother changed his as a person.A B C D E F GH I J KSSS_SIMPLE_SIN54.The author gradually improved his writing by avoiding fancy language.A B C D E F GH I J KSSS_SIMPLE_SIN55.Constructive criticism gives an author a good start to improve his writing.A B C D E F GH I J KSection CDirections: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passageis 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.Section CPassage OneQuestions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.The wallet is heading for extinction. As a day-to-day essential, it will die off with the generation who read print newspapers. The kind of shopping-where you hand over notes and count out change in return—now happens only in the most minor of our retail encounters,like buying a bar of chocolate or a pint of milk from a comer shop. At the shops where you spend any real money, that money is increasingly abstracted. And this is more and more true, the higher up the scale you go. At the most cutting-edge retail stores—Victoria Beckham on Dover Street, for instance—you don’t go and stand at any kind of cash register when you decide to pay. The staff are equipped with iPads to take your payment while you relax on a sofa.Which is nothing more or less than excellent service, if you have the money. But across society, the abstraction of the idea of cash makes me uneasy. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned. But earning money isn’t quick or easy for most of us. Isn’t it a bit weird that spending it should happen in half a blink (眨眼) of an eye? Doesn’t a wallet—that time-honoured Friday-night feeling of pleasing, promising fatness—represent something that matters?But I’ll leave the economics to the experts. What bothers me about the death of the wallet is the change it represents in our physical environment. Everything about the look and feel of a wallet—the way the fastenings and materials wear and tear and loosen with age, the plastic and paper and gold and silver, and handwritten phone numbers and printed cinema tickets—is the very opposite of what our world is becoming. The opposite of a wallet is a smartphone of an iPad. The rounded edges, cool glass, smooth and unknowable as pebble (鹅卵石). Instead of digging through pieces of paper and peering into corners, we move our fingers left and right. No more counting out coins. Show your wallet, if you still have one. It may not be here much longer.SSS_SINGLE_SEL56.What is happening to the wallet?A It is disappearing.B It is being fattened.C It is becoming costly.D It is changing in style.SSS_SINGLE_SEL57.How are business transactions done in big modern stores?A Individually.B In the abstract.C Electronically.D Via a cash register.SSS_SINGLE_SEL58.What makes the author feel uncomfortable nowadays?A Saving money is becoming a thing of the past.B The pleasing Friday-night feeling is fading.C Earning money is getting more difficult.D Spending money is so fast and easy.SSS_SINGLE_SEL59.Why does the author choose to write about what’s happening to the wallet?A It represents a change in the modern world.B It has something to do with everybody’s life.C It marks the end of a time-honoured tradition.D It is the concern of contemporary economists.SSS_SINGLE_SEL60.What can we infer from the passage about the author?A He is resistant to social changes.B He is against technological progress.C He feels reluctant to part with the traditional wallet.D He fells insecure in the ever-changing modern world.Passage TwoQuestions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage.Everybody sleeps,but what people stay up late to catch—or wake up early in order not to miss—varies by culture.From data collected,it seems the things that cause us to lose the most sleep,on average,are sporting events,time changes,and holidays.Around the world, people changed sleep patterns thanks to the start or end of daylight savings time. Russians, for example, began to wake up about a half-hour later each day after President Vladimir Putin shifted the country permanently to “winter time”starting on October 26.Russia’s other late nights and early mornings generally correspond to public holidays. On New Year’s Eve, Russians have the world’s latest bedtime, hitting the hay at around 3:30 am.Russians also get up an hour later on International Women’s Day, the day for treating and celebrating female relatives.Similarly, Americans’ late nights late mornings, and longest sleeps fall on three-day weekends.Canada got the least sleep of the year the night it beat Swedenin the Olympic hockey(冰球)final.The World Cup is also chiefly responsible for sleepdeprivation(剥夺), The worst night for sleep in the U.K. was the night of the England-Italy match on June 14. Brits stayed up a half-hour later to watch it, and then they woke up earlier than usual the next morning thanks to summer nights, the phenomenon in which the sun barely sets in northern countries in the summertime. That was nothing, though, compared to Germans, Italians, and the French, who stayed up around an hour and a half later on various days throughout the summer to watch the Cup.It should be made clear that not everyone has a device to record their sleep patterns, in some of these nations, it’s likely that only the richest people do. And people who elect to track their sleep may try to ge t more sleep than the average person. Even if that’s the case, though, the above findings are still striking, If the most health-conscious among us have such deep swings in our shut-eyelevels throughout the year, how much sleep are the rest of us losing?SSS_SINGLE_SEL61.What does the author say about people’s sleeping habits?A They are culture-relatedB They affect people’s health.C They change with the seasons.D They vary from person to person.SSS_SINGLE_SEL62.What do we learn about the Russians regarding sleep?A They don’t fall asleep until very late.B They don’t sleep much on weekends.C They get less sleep on public holidays.D They sleep longer than people elsewhere.SSS_SINGLE_SEL63.What is the major cause for Europeans’ loss of sleep?A The daylight savings time.B The colorful night life.C The World Cup.D The summertime.SSS_SINGLE_SEL64.What is the most probable reason for some rich people to use a device to record their patterns?A They have trouble falling asleep.B They want to get sufficient sleep.C They are involved in a sleep research.D They want to go to bed on regular hours.SSS_SINGLE_SEL65.What does the author imply in the last paragraph?A Sleeplessness does harm to people’s health.B Few people really know the importance of sleep.C It is important to study our sleep patterns.D Average people probably sleep less than the rich.Part IV Translation (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English. You should writeyour answer on Answer Sheet 2.66.云南省的丽江古镇是中国著名的旅游目的地之一。

2015年12月英语四级真题试卷一完整版(文字版)(3)

2015年12月英语四级真题试卷一完整版(文字版)(3)

2015年12月英语四级真题试卷一完整版(文字版)(3)C) My mother, who is just shy of five feet tall, is normally incredibly soft-spoken, but on the rare occasion when she got angry, she was terrifying. I am not sure if she was more upset by my hubris(得意忘形)or by the fact that my English teacher had let my ego get so out of hand. In and event. My mother and her red pen showed me how deeply flawed a flaw less essay could be. At the time, I am sure she thought she was teaching me about mechanics, transitions(过渡), structure, style and voice. But what I learned, and what stuck with me through my time teaching writing at Harvard, was a deeper lesson about the nature of creative criticism.D) First off, it hurts. Genuine criticism, the type that leavesa lasting mark on you as a writer, also leaves an existential imprint(印记)on you as a person. I have heard people say that a writer should never take criticism personally.I say that we should never listen to these people.E) Criticism, at its best, is deeply personal, and gets to the heart of why we write the way we do. The intimate nature of genuine criticism implies something about who is able to give it, namely, someone who knows you well enough to show you how your mental life is getting in the way of good writing. Conveniently, they are also the people who care enough to see you through this painful realization. For me it took the form of my first, and I hope only, encounter with writer s block I was not able to produce anything for three years.F) Franz Kafka once said; Writing is utter solitude(独处), the descent into the cold abyss(深渊)of oneself. My mother s criticism had shown me that Kafka is right about the coldabyss, and when you make the introspective(内省的)descent that writing requires you are not always pleased by what you find. But, in the years that followed, her sustained tutoring suggested that Kafka might be wrong about the solitude, I was lucky enough to find a critic and teacher who was willing to make the journey of writing with me. It is a thing of no great difficulty. according to Plutarch, to raise objections against another man s speech. it is a very easy matter, but to produce a better in its place is a work extremely troublesome. I am sure I wrote essays in the later years of high school without my mother s guidance, but I can t recall them. What I remember, however, is how she took up the extremely troublesome work of ongoing criticism.G) There are two ways to interpret Plutarch when he suggests that a critic should be able to produce a better in its place. In a straightforward sense, he could mean that a critic must be more talented than the artist she critiques(评论).My mother was well covered on this count. But perhaps Plutarch is suggesting something slightly different, something a bit closer to Marcus Cicero s claim that one should criticize by creation,not by finding fault. Genuine criticism creates a precious opening for an author to become better on his own terms a process that is often extremely painful, but also almost always meaningful.H) My mother said she would help me with my writing, but first I had to help myself. For each assignment, I was to write the best essay I could. Real criticism is not meant to find obvious mistakes, so if she found any the type I could have found on my own I had to start from scratch. From scratch. Once the essay was flawless, she would take an evening to walk me through my errors. That was when true criticism, the type that changed me as a person, began.I) She criticized me when I included little-known references and professional jargon(行话). She had no patience for brilliant but irrelevant figures of speech. Writers can t bluff(虚张声势)their way through ignorance. That was news to me I would need to find another way to structure my daily existence.J) She trimmed back my flowery language, drew lines through my exclamation marks and argued for the value of restraint in expression. John, she almost whispered. I leaned in to hear her: I can t hear you when you shout at me. So I stopped shouting and bluffing, and slowly my writing improved.K) Somewhere along the way I set aside my hopes of writing that flawless essay. But perhaps I missed something important in my mother s lessons about creativity and perfection. Perhaps the point of writhing the flawless essay was not to give up, but to never willingly finish. Whitman repeatedly reworked song of Myself between 1855 and 1891. Repeatedly. We do our absolute best with a piece of writing, and come as close as we can to the ideal. And, for the time being, we settle. In critique, however, we are forced to depart, to give up the perfection we thought we had achieved for the chance of being even a little bit better. This is the lesson I took from my mother: If perfection were possible, it would not bemotivating.。

2015年12月大学英语四级真题及解析

2015年12月大学英语四级真题及解析

2015年12月英语四级(CET4)真题试卷PartI Writing (30 minutes)For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying ‚Learning is a daily experience and lifetime mission.‛You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of lifelong learning. You should write atleast 120 words but no more than180words.Part II Listening Comprehension ( 30 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear 8 short conver sat ions 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 1 with a single line through the centre.A) They admire the courage of space explorers.B) They enjoyed the movie on space exploration.C) They were going to watch a wonderful movie.D) They like doing scientific exploration very much.2. A) At a gift shop.B) At a graduation ceremony.C) In the office of a travel agency.D) In a school library.3. A) He used to work in the art gallery.B) He does not have a good memory.C) He declined a job offer form the art gallery.D) He is not interested in any part-time jobs.4.A) Susan has been invited to give a lecture tomorrow.B) He will go to the birthday party after the lecture.C) The woman should have informed him earlier.D) He will be unable to attend the birthday party.5.A) Reward those having made good pro gre ss.B) Set a deadline for the staff to meet.C) Assign more workers to the project.D) Encourage the staff to work in small groups.6. A) The way to the visitor’s parking.B) The rate for parking in Lot C.C) How far away the parking lot is.D) Where she can leave her car.7. A) He regrets missing the classes.B) He plans to take the fitness classes.C) He is looking forward to a better life.D) He has benefited form exercise.8.A) How to ? work efficiency.B) How to select secretaries.C)The responsibilities of secretaries.D) The secretaries in the man’s company.Conver sat ion OneQuestions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.9.A) It is more difficult to learn than English.B) It is used by more people than English.C) It will be as commonly used as English.D) It will eventually bec ome a world language.10.A) It has words words from many languages,B) Its popularity with the common people.C) The influence of the British Empire.D) The effect of the Industrial Revolution.11.A) It includes a lot of words form other languages.B) It has a growing number of newly coined words,C) It can be easily picked up by overseas travelers.D) It is the largest among all languages in the world. Conversation 2Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12.A) To return some goods.B) To apply for a job.C) To place an order.D) To make a complaint.13. A) He has become somewhat impatient with the woman.B) He is not familiar with the exact details of goods.C) He has not worked in the sales department for long.D) He works on a part-time basis for the company.14. A) It is not his responsibility.B) It will be free for large orders.C) It costs 15 more for express delivery.D) It depends on a number of factors.15.A) Report the information to her superior.B) Pay a visit to the saleswoman in charge.C) Ring back when she comes to a decision.D) Make inquiries with some other companies.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 I with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16. A) No one knows exactly where they were ??B) No one knows for sure when thy came into being.C) No one knows for what purpose they were ?D) No one knows what they will ?????17. A) Carry ropes across rivers.B) Measure the speed of wind.C) Pass on secret messages.D) Give warnings of danger.18. A) To protect houses against lightning.B) To test the effects of the lightning rod.C) To find out the strength of silk for kites.D) To prove the lightning is electricity.Passage TwoQuestions 19 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.19.A) She enjoys teaching languages.B) She can speak several languages.C) She was trained to be an interpreter.D) She was born with a talent for languages.20. A) They acquire an immunity to culture shock.B) They would like to live abroad permanently.C) They want to learn as many foreign languages as possible.D) They have an intense interest in cross-cultural interactions.21.A) She bec ame an expert in horse racing.B) She got a chance to visit several European countries.C) She was able to translate for a German sports judge.D) She learned to appreciate classical music.22. A) Taste the beef and give her comment.B) Take part in a cooking competition.C) Teach vocabulary for food in ??D) Give cooking lessons on ????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 gre w up in a poor ???D) He often helped his ???24.A) Careless.B) Stupid.C) Brave.D) Active.25.A) Write two book reports a week.B) Keep a diary.C) Help with housework.D) Watch education??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 areother bodies out there besides the moon and stars. One of the most of this is a comet. Comets were formed around the same the earth was formed. They are made up of ice and other frozen liquids and gasses. these dirty snow balls begin to orbit the sun just as the planets do. As a comet gets closer to the sun, some gasses in it begin to unfreeze. They combine with dust particles from the comet to form a huge cloud. As the comet gets even nearer to the sun and solar wind blows the cloud behind the comet thus forming its tail. The tail and generally fuzzy atmosphere around the cometare that can help this phenomenon in the night sky. In any given year,about 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 _________eye. Comet Hale-Bopp discovered in 1995 was an unusually bright comet. Its orbit bought it _________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 4 thousand years or so.Part Ш 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 givenin 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 markthe 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.Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.For many Americans, 2013 ended with an unusually bitter cold spell. November and December 36 early snow and bone-chilling temperatures in much of the country, part of a year when, for the first time in two 37 , record-cold days will likely turn out to have outnumbered record-warm ones. But the U.S. was the exception; November was the warmest ever 38 , and current data indicates that 2013 is likely to have been the fourth hottest year on record.Enjoy the snow now, bec ause 39 are good that 2014 will be even hotter, perhaps the hottest year since records have been kept. That’s because, scientists are predicting, 2014 will be an EI Niuo year.EI niuo, Spanish for ‚the child‛, 40 when surface ocean waters in the southern Pacific become abnormally warm. So large is the Pacific, covering 30% of the planet’s surface, that the 41 energy generated by its warming is enough to touch off a series of weather changes around the world. EI Ninos are 42 with abnormally dry conditions in Southeast Asia and Australia. They can lead to extreme rain in parts of North and South America, even as southern Africa 43 dry weather. Marine life may be affected too; EI Ninos can 44 the rising of the cold, nutrient-rich(营养丰富的)water that supports large fish 45 ,and the unusually warm ocean temperatures can destroy coral(珊瑚).注意:此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

2015年12月四级真题第1套

2015年12月四级真题第1套

2015年12月大学英语四级考试真题(第一套)Part I Writing(30minutes) Directions:For this part,you are allowed30minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying“Listening is more important than talking.”You can citeexamples to illustrate the importance of paying attention to others’opinions.You should write at least120words,but no more than180words.Part II Listening Comprehension(25minutes) Section ADirection: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 thequestions will be spoken only once.After you hear a question,you mustchoose the best answer from the four choices marked A),B),C).and D).Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet1with a single linethrough the centre.Questions1and2will be based on the following news item.1.A)Dismissing employees without giving advance notice.B)Checking employees’online private messages at work.C)Monitoring employees’performance on weekends.D)Closing employees’social media during work hours.2.A)He did well in handling his clients’queries.B)He created a private account for his fiancée.C)He won the case against his employer recently.D)He was fired because of breaking company rules.Questions3and4will be based on the following news item.3.A)It is widely used in Kenya.B)It has been increasing in value.C)It makes poor people’s life easier.D)It lowers the buying power of the rich.4.A)It is a non-profit group located in Nairobi,Kenya.B)It works hard on replacing the national currency system.C)It introduced a community currency to a village in Kenya.D)It makes a series of investigations on trade and jobs in Kenya.Questions5and6will be based on the following news item.5.A)Several states declared an economic emergency.B)Many women are too old to get pregnant.C)Some babies were born with brain defects.D)Birth rates have fallen down greatly.6.A)10B)29C)2,400D)3,1007.A)A mosquito-borne virus.B)A severe chest infection.C)The shortage of medicine.D)Bacteria from Latin America.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 thequestions will be spoken only once.After you hear a question,you mustchoose the best answer from the four choices marked A),B),C),and D).Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet1with a single linethrough the centre.Conversation OneQuestions8to11are based on the conversation you have just heard.8.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.9.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.10.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.11.A)The English grammar is quite easy.B)It is greatly influenced by French.C)It could be pronounced easily.D)It is attractive to England beginners.Questions12to15are 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£15more 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 CDirections:In this section,you will hear three passage.At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions.Both the passage and the questions will bespoken only once.After you hear a question,you must choose the bestanswer from the four choices marked A),B),C),and D).Then mark thecorresponding letter on Answer Sheet1with a single line through thecentre.Passage OneQuestions16to18are 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 TwoQuestions19to22are 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 ThreeQuestions23to25are 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)Careless.B)Stupid.C)Brave.D)Active.25.A)Watch educational TV programs only.B)Write two book reports a week.C)Help with housework.D)Keep a diary.PartⅢReading Comprehension(40minutes) 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 wordbank following the passage.Read the passage through carefully beforemaking your choices.Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter.Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet2with a single line through the center.You may not use any of the wordsin the bank more than once.Questions26to35are 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 is26different from that of an industrial society.As information progresses in society,the cause and structural nature of social inequality changes as well.It seems that the information society27the quantity of information available to the members of a society by revolutionizing the ways of using and exchanging information.But such a view is a28analysis based on the quantity of information supplied by various forms of the mass media.A different29is possible when the actual amount of information30by the user is taken into account.In fact,the more information31throughout the entire society,the wider the gap becomes between“information haves”and“information have-mots”,leading to digital divide.According to recent studies,digital divide has been caused by three major32 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 33to sex,digital divide exists between men and women.The greatest gap,however, is between the Net-generation,34with personal computers and the Internet,and the older generation,35to an industrial society.A)accustomedB)acquiredC)assemblyD)attribute I)flowsJ)fundamentally K)interpretation L)passiveE)championsF)elementsG)expandsH)familiar 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 theparagraphs.Identify the paragraph from which the information isderived.You may choose a paragraph more than once.Each paragraphis marked with a letter.Answer the question by marking thecorresponding letter on Answer Sheet2.Joy:A Subject Schools LackBecoming educated should not require giving up pleasure.[A]When Jonathan Swift proposed,in1729,that the people of Ireland eat theirchildren,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 thefollowing 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 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 clearthat 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’vewatched 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 a3-year-old lost in the pleasures of finding out what hecan and cannot sink in the bathtub,a5-year-old beside herself with the thrill of putting together 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 his7-year-oldson 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,“e 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 butirrelevant 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 absorption 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 bethat 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 anunaffordable 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 arepressured 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 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.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,enjoy books,digest complex information,or develop a taste for learning.To make that happen,you have to help the child find pleasure in learning-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 asa 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.36.It will not be difficult to make learning a source of joy if educators change theirway of thinking.37.What distinguishes children from adults is their strong ability to derive joy fromwhat they are doing.38.Children in America are being treated with shocking cruelty.39.It is human nature to seek joy in life.40.Grown-ups are likely to think that learning to children is what medicine is topatients.41.Bad school conditions make it all the more important to turn learning into a joyfulexperience.42.Adults do not consider children’s feelings when it comes to education.43.Administrators seem to believe that only hard work will lead children to theireducational goals.44.In the so-called“effective”schools,children are taught self-control under a set ofstrict rules.45.To make learning effective,educators have to ensure that children want to learn. Section CDirections:There are2passages in this section.Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements.For each of them there are fourchoices marked A),B),C)and D).You should decide on the best choiceand mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet2with a single linethrough the centre.Passage OneQuestions46to50are 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-based work schedules hinder morale(士气)and creativity.Clock-timers organize their day by blocks of minutes and hours.For example:a meeting from9a.m.to10a.m.research from10a.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 tinge.”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 tendto 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.46.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.47.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.48.What did Tamar Avnet and Anne-Laure Sellier find in their experiments aboutclock-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.49.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.50.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 TwoQuestions51to55are based on the following passage.Martha Stewart was charged,tried and convicted of a crime in2004.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 least65million 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 ws 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 than45,000laws 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(随附的) 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.51.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.52.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.53.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.54.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.55.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.PartⅣTranslation(30minutes) Directions:For this part,you are allowed30minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English.You should,write your answer on Answer Sheet2.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。

2015年12月四级英语考试真题与答案解析(全套)

2015年12月四级英语考试真题与答案解析(全套)

2015年12月四级英语考试真题与答案解析作文(一)周思远题目:For this part,you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying “Learning is a daily experience and a lifelong mission。

” You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of lifelong learning。

You should write at least 120 words,no more than 180 words。

参考范文:Currently in this constantly changing world,learning becomes a seemingly convenient but actually more complex matter。

As an old saying goes,” Learning is a daily experience a nd a lifetime mission”。

Apparently,the meaning of this saying is that if we truly desire to learn something,we are supposed to devote our life to it。

There are several reasons accounting for this viewpoint。

For one thing,learning itself is an actually complicated and painful matter,and as a result,it is advisable for us to commit much more time even our whole life to it。

2015年12月英语四级真题及答案1

2015年12月英语四级真题及答案1

2015年12月英语四级真题及答案1WritingFor this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying "Never go out there to see what happens, go out there to makes something happen" You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of being creative rather than mere onlookers in life. You should write at least 120 words, 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 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 1 with a single line through the centre.1.A) They admire the courage of space explorers.B) They enjoyed the movie on space exploration.C) They were going to watch a wonderful movie.D) They like doing scientific exploration very much.2. A) At a gift shop.B) At a graduation ceremony.C) In the office of a travel agency.D) In a school library.3. A) He used to work in the art gallery.B) He does not have a good memory.C) He declined a job offer form the art gallery.D) He is not interested in any part-time jobs.4.A) Susan has been invited to give a lecture tomorrow.B) He will go to the birthday party after the lecture.C) The woman should have informed him earlier.D) He will be unable to attend the birthday party.5.A) Reward those having made good progress.B) Set a deadline for the staff to meet.C) Assign more workers to the project.D) Encourage the staff to work in small groups.6. A) The way to the visitor’s parking.B) The rate for parking in Lot C.C) How far away the parking lot is.D) Where she can leave her car.7. A) He regrets missing the classes.B) He plans to take the fitness classes.C) He is looking forward to a better life.D) He has benefited form exercise.8.A) How to ? work efficiency.B) How to select secretaries.C)The responsibilities of secretaries.D) The secretaries in the man’s company.Conversation OneQuestions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.9.A) It is more difficult to learn than English.B) It is used by more people than English.C) It will be as commonly used as English.D) It will eventually become a world language.10.A) It has words words from many languages,B) Its popularity with the common people.C) The influence of the British Empire.D) The effect of the Industrial Revolution.11.A) It includes a lot of words form other languages.B) It has a growing number of newly coined words,C) It can be easily picked up by overseas travelers.D) It is the largest among all languages in the world.Conversation 2Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12.A) To return some goods.B) To apply for a job.C) To place an order.D) To make a complaint.13. A) He has become somewhat impatient with the woman.B) He is not familiar with the exact details of goods.C) He has not worked in the sales department for long.D) He works on a part-time basis for the company.14. A) It is not his responsibility.B) It will be free for large orders.C) It costs 15 more for express delivery.D) It depends on a number of factors.15.A) Report the information to her superior.B) Pay a visit to the saleswoman in charge.C) Ring back when she comes to a decision.D) Make inquiries with some other companies.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 I with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16. A) No one knows exactly where they were ??B) No one knows for sure when thy came into being.C) No one knows for what purpose they were ?D) No one knows what they will ?????17. A) Carry ropes across rivers.B) Measure the speed of wind.C) Pass on secret messages.D) Give warnings of danger.18. A) To protect houses against lightning.B) To test the effects of the lightning rod.C) To find out the strength of silk for kites.D) To prove the lightning is electricity.Passage TwoQuestions 19 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.19. A) She enjoys teaching languages.B) She can speak several languages.C) She was trained to be an interpreter.D) She was born with a talent for languages.20. A) They acquire an immunity to culture shock.B) They would like to live abroad permanently.C) They want to learn as many foreign languages as possible.D) They have an intense interest in cross-cultural interactions.21.A) She became an expert in horse racing.B) She got a chance to visit several European countries.C) She was able to translate for a German sports judge.D) She learned to appreciate classical music.22. A) Taste the beef and give her comment.B) Take part in a cooking competition.C) Teach vocabulary for food in ??D) Give cooking lessons on ????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 grew up in a poor ???D) He often helped his ???24.A) Careless.B) Stupid.C) Brave.D) Active.25.A) Write two book reports a week.B) Keep a diary.C) Help with housework.D) Watch education??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? Thereare other bodies out there besides the moon and stars. One of the most of this is a comet. Comets were formed around the same the earth was formed. They are made up of ice and other frozen liquids and gasses. these dirty snow balls begin to orbit the sun just as the planets do. As a comet gets closer to the sun, some gasses in it begin to unfreeze. They combine with dust particles from the comet to form a huge cloud. As the comet gets even nearer to the sun and solar wind blows the cloud behind the comet thus forming its tail. The tail and generally fuzzy atmosphere around the comet are that can help this phenomenon in the night sky. In any given year,about 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 _________eye. Comet Hale-Bopp discovered in 1995 was an unusually bright comet. Its orbit bought it _________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 4 thousand years or so.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 question by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.The Perfect EssayA) Looking back on too many years of education, I can identify one truly impossible teacher. She cared about me, and my intellectual life, even when I didn’t. Her expectations were high—impossibly so. She was an English teacher. She was also my mother.B) When good students turn in an essay, they dream of their instructor returning it to them in exactly the same condition, save for a single word added in the margin of the final page.“Flawless.” This dream came true for me one afternoon in the ninth grade. Of course, I had heard that genius could show itself at an early age, so I was only slightly taken aback that Ihad achieved perfection at the tender age of 14. Obviously, I did what and professional writer would do; I hurried off to spread the good news. I didn’t get very far. The first person I told was my mother.C) My mother, who is just shy of five feet tall, is normally incredibly soft-spoken, but on the rare occasion when she got angry, she was terrifying. I am not sure if she was more upset by my hubris(得意忘形)or by the fact that my English teacher had let my ego get so out of hand. In and event. My mother and her red pen showed me how deeply flawed a flaw less essay could be. At the time, I am sure she thought she was teaching me about mechanics, transitions(过渡), structure, style and voice. But what I learned, and what stuck with me through my time teaching writing at Harvard, was a deeper lesson about the nature of creative criticism.D) First off, it hurts. Genuine criticism, the type that leaves a lasting mark on you as a writer, also leaves an existential imprint(印记)on you as a person. I have heard people say that a writer should never take criticism personally. I say that we should never listen to these people.E) Criticism, at its best, is deeply personal, and gets to the heart of why we write the way we do. The intimate nature ofgenuine criticism implies something about who is able to give it, namely, someone who knows you well enough to show you how your mental life is getting in the way of good writing. Conveniently, they are also the people who care enough to see you through this painful realization. For me it took the form of my first, and I hope only, encounter with writer’s block—I was not able to produce anything for three years.F) Franz Kafka once said; “Writing is utter solitude(独处), the descent into the cold abyss(深渊)of oneself.” My mother’s criticism had shown me that Kafka is right about the cold abyss, and when you make the introspective(内省的)descent that writing requires you are not always pleased by what you find. But, in the years that followed, her sustained tutoring suggested that Kafka might be wrong about the solitude, I was lucky enough to find a critic and teacher who was willing to make the journey of writing with me. “It is a thing of no great difficulty.”according to Plutarch, “to raise objections against another man’s speech. it is a very easy matter, but to produce a better in its place is a work extremely troublesome.” I am sure I wrote essays in the later years of high school without my mother’s guidance, but I can’t recall them. What I remember, however, is how she took up the“extremely troublesome”workof ongoing criticism.G) There are two ways to interpret Plutarch when he suggests that a critic should be able to produce“a better in its place.”In a straightforward sense, he could mean that a critic must be more talented than the artist she critiques(评论).My mother was well covered on this count. But perhaps Plutarch is suggesting something slightly different, something a bit closer to Marcus Cicero’s claim that one should“criticize by creation, not by finding fault.”Genuine criticism creates a precious opening for an author to become better on his own terms—a process that is often extremely painful, but also almost always meaningful.H) My mother said she would help me with my writing, but first I had to help myself. For each assignment, I was to write the best essay I could. Real criticism is not meant to find obvious mistakes, so if she found any—the type I could have found on my own—I had to start from scratch. From scratch. Once the essay was“flawless,” she would take an evening to walk me through my errors. That was when true criticism, the type that changed me as a person, began.I) She criticized me when I included little-known references and professional jargon(行话). She had no patience for brilliant but irrelevant figures of speech.“Writers can’tbluff(虚张声势)their way through ignorance.” That was news to me—I would need to find another way to structure my daily existence.J) She trimmed back my flowery language, drew lines through my exclamation marks and argued for the value of restraint in expression.“John,” she almost whispered. I leaned in to hear her: “I can’t hear you when you shout at me.” So I stopped shouting and bluffing, and slowly my writing improved.K) Somewhere along the way I set aside my hopes of writing that flawless essay. But perhaps I missed something important in my mother’s lessons about creativity and perfection. Perhaps the point of writhing the flawless essay was not to give up, but to never willingly finish. Whitman repeatedly reworked“song of Myself” between 1855 and 1891. Repeatedly. We do our absolute best with a piece of writing, and come as close as we can to the ideal. And, for the time being, we settle. In critique, however, we are forced to depart, to give up the perfection we thought we had achieved for the chance of being even a little bit better. This is the lesson I took from my mother: If perfection were possible, it would not be motivating.注意:此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

2015年12月四级真题(卷一)听力cet4听力真题及答案

2015年12月四级真题(卷一)听力cet4听力真题及答案

Section ADirections: In this section, you will bear 8 shortconversations and 2 long conversations. At the en dof each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conve rsation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each questions there will be apause. Du ring the pause, you must read the four choices marked A), B),C) and D), and decidewhich is the b est answer. Then mark the corresponding letter on Answer sheet 1 with a singleline through the c enter.1.A)They admire the courage of space explorers.B)They enjoyed the movie on space exploration.C)They were going to watch a wonderful movie.D)They like doing scientific exploration very much.2.A)At a gift shop.B)At a graduation ceremony.C)In the office of a travel agency.D)In a school library.3.A)He used to work in the art gallery.B)He does not have a good memory.C)He declined a job offer form the art gallery.D)He is not interested in any part-time jobs.4.A)Susan has been invited to give a lecture tomorrow.B)He will go to the birthday party after the lecture.C)The woman should have informed him earlier.D)He will be unable to attend the birthday party.5.A)Reward those having made good progress.B)Set a deadline for the staff to meet.C)Assign more workers to the project.D)Encourage the staff to work in small groups.6.A)The way to the visitor's parking.B)The rate for parking in Lot C.C)How far away the parking lot is.D)Where she can leave her car.7.A)He regrets missing the classes.B)He plans to take the fitness classes.C)He is looking forward to a better life.D)He has benefited form exercise.8.A) How to select work efficiency.B)How to select secretaries.C)The responsibilities of secretaries.D)The secretaries in the man's company.Conversation 19.A)It is more difficult to learn than English.B)It is used by more people than English.C)It will be as commonly used as English.D)It will eventually become a world language.10.A)It has words words from many languages.B)Its popularity with the common people.C)The influence of the British Empire.D)The effect of the Industrial Revolution.11.A)It includes a lot of words form other languages.B)It has a growing number of newly coined words,C)It can be easily picked up by overseas travellers.D)It is the largest among all languages in the world. Conversation 212.A)To return some goods.B)To apply for a job.C)To place an order.D)To make a complaint.13.A) He has become somewhat impatient with the woman.B)He is not familiar with the exact details of goods.C)He has not worked in the sales department for long.D)He works on a part-time basis for the company.14.A)It is not his responsibility.B)It will be free for large orders.It costs 15 more for express delivery.D)It depends on a number of factors.15.A)Report the information to her superior.B)Pay a visit to the saleswoman in charge.C)Ring back when she comes to a decision.D)Make inquiries with some other companies.Section BDirections: In this section, you will hear 3 shortpassages. At the end of each passage, you will hea rsome questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear aq uestion, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marketed A), B),C) and D).Then marked the correspond letter on Answer sheet I with a single line through the centre.Passage 116.A)No one knows exactly where they were?B)No one knows for sure when thy came into being.C)No one knows for what purpose they were ?D)No one knows what they were.17.A)Carry ropes across rivers.B)Measure the speed of wind.C)Pass on secret messages.D)Give warnings of danger.18.A)To protect houses against lightning.B)To test the effects of the lightning rod.C)To find out the strength of silk for kites.D)To prove the lightning is electricity.Passage 219.A)She enjoys teaching languages,B)She can speak several languages,C)She was trained to be an interpreter.D)She was born with a talent for languages.20.A)They acquire an immunity to culture shock.B)They would like to live abroad permanently.C)They want to learn as many foreign languages as possible.D)They have an intense interest in cross-cultural interactions.21.A)She became an expert in horse racing.B)She got a chance to visit several European countries.C)She was able to translate for a German sports judge.She learned to appreciate classical music.22.A)Taste the beef and give her comment.B)Take part in a cooking competition.C)Teach vocabulary for food in.D)Give cooking lessons on.Passage 323.A)He had only a third-grade education.B)He once threatened to kill his teacher.C)He grew up in a poor single-parent household.D)He often helped his.24.A)Careless.B)Stupid.C)Brave.D)Active.25.A)Write two book reports a week.B)Keep a diary.C)Help with housework.D)Watch education.Section CDirections: in this section,you will hear a paasagethree times. When the passage is read for the fir sttime, you should listen carefully for its general idea. When the passage is read for the secondtime, you are required to fill in the blanks with the exact words you have just heard. Finally,when the passage is reaf 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… besides the moon andstars . One of the most 27___ of the …Comets were formed around the same time the Earth was formed. …and other frozen liquidsand g ases. 29___ these “dirty snow…” just as the planets do.As a comet get closer to the sun, some gases in it begin to unfreeze… particles form the comet to form a huge cloud. As the comet gets … wind blows the cloud behind the comet,thus forming its tail. The tail… (模糊的) atmosphere around a comet are 32____ that can help…in the night sky.In any given year, about a dozen known comets come close to … average person can't see themall , of course. Usually there is only one … to be seen with 34___ eye. Comet Hale-Bopp,discovered… bright comet. Its orbit brought it 35___ close to the Earth, … But Hale-Bopp camea long way an i ts earthly visit. It won't be back…or so.1. C. They enjoyed the movie on space exploration.2. B. At a gift shop.3. D. He declined a job offer from the art gallery.4. A. He will be unable to attend the birthday party.5. A. Set a deadline for the staff to meet.6. D. The way to the visitor's parking.7. B. He has benefited from exercise.8. D. The secretaries in the man's company.9.B. It is used by more people than English.10.C. The influence of the British Empire.11.A. It includes a lot of words from other languages.12.C. To place an order13.B. He is not familiar with the exact details of goods.14.D. It depends on a number of factors.15.C. Ring back when she comes to a decision.16. A) No one knows for sure when they came into being.17. D) Carry ropes across rivers.18. C) To prove that lightening is electricity.19. C) She can speak several languages.20. B) They have an intense interest in cross-cultural interactions.21. C) She was able to translate for a German sports judge.22. B) Taste the beef and give her comment.23. D) He grew up in a poor single parent family.24. A) Stupid25. B) Write two book reports a week.(26) heavenly(27) fascinating(28) made up of(29) Now and then(30) combine with(31) generally(32) characteristics(33) phenomenon(34) naked(35) relatively。

2015.12 英语四级考试真题试卷第1套

2015.12 英语四级考试真题试卷第1套

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) accustomedB) acquiredC) assemblyD) attributeE) championsF) elementsG) expandsH) familiarI) flowsJ) fundamentallyK) interpretationL) passiveM) regardN) respectivelyO) superficial参考答案:JGOKB IFMHAJoy: 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 putting together 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 irrelevantbyproduct 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, conductingexperiments 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.参考答案:GDAFK HCIBJPassage 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-based work 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 severepenalties 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。

2015年12月英语四级真题试卷一完整版(文字版)(4)

2015年12月英语四级真题试卷一完整版(文字版)(4)

2015年12月英语四级真题试卷一完整版(文字版)(4)注意:此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

46. The author was advised against the improper use of figures of speech.47. The author s mother taught him a valuable lesson by pointing out lots of flaws in his seemingly perfect essay.48. A writer should polish his writing repeatedly so as to get closer to perfection.49. Writers may experience periods of time in their life when they just can t produce anything.50. The author was not much surprised when his school teacher marked his essay as flawless .51. Criticizing someone s speech is said to be easier than coming up with a better one.52. The author looks upon his mother as his most demanding and caring instructor.53. The criticism the author received from his mother changed his as a person.54. The author gradually improved his writing byavoiding fancy language.55. Constructive criticism gives an author a good start to improve his writing.Section CPassage OneQuestions 56 to 60 are based on the following passage.The wallet is heading for extinction. As a day-to-day essential, it will die off with the generation who read print newspapers. The kind of shopping-where you hand over notes and count out change in return now happens only in the most minor of our retail encounters,like buying a bar of chocolate or a pint of milk from a comer shop. At the shops where youspend any real money, that money is increasingly abstracted. And this is more and more true, the higher up the scale you go. At the most cutting-edge retail stores Victoria Beckham on Dover Street, for instance you don t go and stand at any kind of cash register when you decide to pay. The staff are equipped with iPads to take your payment while you relax on a sofa.Which is nothing more or less than excellent service, if you have the money. But across society, the abstraction of the idea of cash makes me uneasy. Maybe I m just old-fashioned. But earning money isn t quick or easy for most of us. Isn t it a bit weird that spending it should happen in half a blink (眨眼) of an eye? Doesn t a wallet that time-honoured Friday-night feeling of pleasing, promising fatness represent something that matters?But I ll leave the economics to the experts. What bothers me about the death of the wallet is the change it represents in our physical environment. Everything about the look and feelof a wallet the way the fastenings and materials wear and tear and loosen with age, the plastic and paper and gold and silver, and handwritten phone numbers and printed cinema tickets is the very opposite of what our world is becoming. The opposite of a wallet is a smartphone of an iPad. The rounded edges, cool glass, smooth and unknowable as pebble (鹅卵石). Instead of digging through pieces of paper and peering into corners, we move our fingers left and right. No more counting out coins. Show your wallet, if you still have one. It may not be here much longer.56. What is happening to the wallet?A) It is disappearing. C) it is becoming costly.B) It is being fattened. D) It is changing in style.57. How are business transactions done in big modernstores?A) Individually. C) In the abstract.B) Electronically. D) Via a cash register.58. What makes the author feel uncomfortable nowadays?A) Saving money is becoming a thing of the past.B) The pleasing Friday-night feeling is fading.C) Earning money is getting more difficult.D) Spending money is so fast and easy.59. Why does the author choose to write about what s happening to the wallet?A) It represents a change in the modern world.B) It has something to do with everybody s life.C) It marks the end of a time-honoured tradition.D) It is the concern of contemporary economists.60.What can we infer from the passage about the author?A)He is resistant to social changes.B)He is againsttechnological progress.C)He feels reluctant to part with the traditional wallet.D)He fells insecure in the ever-changing modern world. Passage TwoQuestions 61 to 65 are based on the following passage. Everybody sleeps,but what people stay up late to catchor wake up early in order not to miss varies by culture.From data collected,it seems the things that cause us to lose the most sleep,on average,are sporting events,time changes,and holidays.Around the world, people changed sleep patterns thanks to the start or end of daylight savings time. Russians, for example, began to wake up about a half-hour later each day after President Vladimir Putin shifted the country permanently to winter time starting on October 26.。

2015年12月英语四级真题试卷一完整版(文字版)(2)

2015年12月英语四级真题试卷一完整版(文字版)(2)

2015年12月英语四级真题试卷一完整版(文字版)(2)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 grew up in a poor ??? D) He often helped his ??? 24.A) Careless. B) Stupid. C) Brave. D) Active.25.A) Write two book reports a week. B) Keep a diary. C)Help with housework. D) Watch education?? 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 bodies out there besides the moon and stars. One of the most of this is a comet. Comets were formed around the same the earth was formed. They are made up of ice and other frozen liquids and gasses. these dirty snow balls begin to orbit the sun just as the planets do. As a comet gets closer to the sun, some gasses in it begin to unfreeze. They combine with dust particles from the comet to form a huge cloud. As the comet gets even nearer to the sun and solar wind blows the cloud behind the comet thus forming its tail.The tail and generally fuzzy atmosphere around the comet are that can help this phenomenon in the night sky. In any given year,about 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 _________eye. Comet Hale-Bopp discovered in 1995 was an unusually bright comet. Its orbit bought it _________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 4 thousand years or so.Part ШReading 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 givenin 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 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.For many Americans, 2013 ended with an unusually bitter cold spell. November and December 36 early snow and bone-chilling temperatures in much of the country, part of a year when, for the first time in two 37 , record-cold days will likely turn out to have outnumbered record-warm ones. But the U.S. was the exception; November was the warmest ever 38 , and current data indicates that 2013 is likely to have been the fourth hottest year on record.Enjoy the snow now, because 39 are good that 2014 will be even hotter, perhaps the hottest year since records have been kept. That s because, scientists are predicting, 2014 will be an EI Niuo year.EI niuo, Spanish for the child , 40 when surface ocean waters in the southern Pacific become abnormally warm. So large is the Pacific, covering 30% of the planet s surface, that the 41 energy generated by its warming is enough to touch off a series of weather changes around the world. EI Ninos are 42 with abnormally dry conditions in Southeast Asia and Australia. They can lead to extreme rain in parts of North and South America, even as southern Africa 43 dry weather. Marine life may be affected too; EI Ninos can 44 the rising of the cold, nutrient-rich(营养丰富的)water that supports large fish 45 ,and the unusually warm ocean temperatures can destroy coral(珊瑚).注意:此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

2015年12月英语四级真题试卷一完整版(文字版)(5)

2015年12月英语四级真题试卷一完整版(文字版)(5)

2015年12月英语四级真题试卷一完整版(文字版)(5)Russia s other late nights and early mornings generally correspond to public holidays. On New Year s Eve, Russians have the world s latest bedtime, hitting the hay at around 3:30 am.Russians also get up an hour later on International Women s Day, the day for treating and celebrating female relatives.Similarly, Americans late nights late mornings, and longest sleeps fall on three-day weekends.Canada got the least sleep of the year the night it beat Sweden in the Olympic hockey(冰球)final.The World Cup is also chiefly responsible for sleep deprivation(剥夺), The worst night for sleep in the U.K. was the night of the England-Italy match on June 14. Brits stayed up a half-hour later to watch it, and then they woke up earlier than usual the next morning thanks to summer nights, the phenomenon in which the sun barely sets in northern countries in the summertime. That was nothing, though, compared to Germans, Italians, and the French, who stayed up around an hour and a half later on various days throughout the summer to watch the Cup.It should be made clear that not everyone has a device to record their sleep patterns, in some of these nations, it s likely that only the richest people do. And people who elect to track their sleep may try to get more sleep than the average person. Even if that s the case, though, the above findings are still striking, If the most health-conscious among us have such deep swings in our shut-eye levels throughout the year, how much sleep are the rest of us losing?注意:此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

201512月大学英语四级考试真题(1+答案解析)

201512月大学英语四级考试真题(1+答案解析)

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.Part II Listening Comprehension(25 minutes)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 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard. 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)一Its popularity with the common people. C) The influence of the British Empire.B) The effect of the Industrial Revolution. 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. C) To return some goods.B) To apply for a job. 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. C) It depends on a number of factors.B) It will be free for large orders. 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 CDirections: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. 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.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. C) Pass on secret messages.B) Give warnings of danger. D) Carry ropes across rivers.18. A) To find out the strength of silk for kites. C) To prove that lightning is electricity.B) To test the effects of the lightning rod. D) To protect houses againstPassage TwoQuestions 19 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.19. A) She was born with a talent for languages. C) She can speak several languages.B) She was trained to be an interpreter. 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 cooling competition. C) Teach vocabulary for food in English.B) Taste the beef and give her comment. 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. C) Help with housework.B) Write two book reports a week. D) Keep a diary.Part IIII Reading Comprehension(40 minutes)Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. 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.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.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 theirchildren, 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 ofthe 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 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 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'vewatched 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 putting together 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 his7-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 butirrelevant 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 absorption 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 seriousissues 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'tbe 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 anunaffordable 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.1) Many of the assignments and rules teachers come up with,often becausethey 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 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. 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,enjoy books, digest complex information, or develop a taste for learning. To make that happen, you have to help the child find pleasure in learning-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 toexperience 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 learn.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。

2015年12月大学英语四级真题及解析

2015年12月大学英语四级真题及解析

PartI Writing (30 minutes)For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying “Learning is a daily experience and lifetime mission.”You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of lifelong learning. You should write atleast 120 words but no more than180words.Part II Listening Comprehension ( 30 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear 8 short conver sat ions 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 1 with a single line through the centre.A) They admire the courage of space explorers.B) They enjoyed the movie on space exploration.C) They were going to watch a wonderful movie.D) They like doing scientific exploration very much.2. A) At a gift shop.B) At a graduation ceremony.C) In the office of a travel agency.D) In a school library.3. A) He used to work in the art gallery.B) He does not have a good memory.C) He declined a job offer form the art gallery.D) He is not interested in any part-time jobs.4.A) Susan has been invited to give a lecture tomorrow.B) He will go to the birthday party after the lecture.C) The woman should have informed him earlier.D) He will be unable to attend the birthday party.5.A) Reward those having made good pro gre ss.B) Set a deadline for the staff to meet.C) Assign more workers to the project.D) Encourage the staff to work in small groups.6. A) The way to the visitor’s parking.B) The rate for parking in Lot C.C) How far away the parking lot is.D) Where she can leave her car.7. A) He regrets missing the classes.B) He plans to take the fitness classes.C) He is looking forward to a better life.D) He has benefited form exercise.8.A) How to ? work efficiency.B) How to select secretaries.C)The responsibilities of secretaries.D) The secretaries in the man’s company.Conver sat ion OneQuestions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.9.A) It is more difficult to learn than English.B) It is used by more people than English.C) It will be as commonly used as English.D) It will eventually bec ome a world language.10.A) It has words words from many languages,B) Its popularity with the common people.C) The influence of the British Empire.D) The effect of the Industrial Revolution.11.A) It includes a lot of words form other languages.B) It has a growing number of newly coined words,C) It can be easily picked up by overseas travelers.D) It is the largest among all languages in the world. Conversation 2Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12.A) To return some goods.B) To apply for a job.C) To place an order.D) To make a complaint.13. A) He has become somewhat impatient with the woman.B) He is not familiar with the exact details of goods.C) He has not worked in the sales department for long.D) He works on a part-time basis for the company.14. A) It is not his responsibility.B) It will be free for large orders.C) It costs 15 more for express delivery.D) It depends on a number of factors.15.A) Report the information to her superior.B) Pay a visit to the saleswoman in charge.C) Ring back when she comes to a decision.D) Make inquiries with some other companies.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 I with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16. A) No one knows exactly where they were ??B) No one knows for sure when thy came into being.C) No one knows for what purpose they were ?D) No one knows what they will17. A) Carry ropes across rivers.B) Measure the speed of wind.C) Pass on secret messages.D) Give warnings of danger.18. A) To protect houses against lightning.B) To test the effects of the lightning rod.C) To find out the strength of silk for kites.D) To prove the lightning is electricity.Passage TwoQuestions 19 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.19.A) She enjoys teaching languages.B) She can speak several languages.C) She was trained to be an interpreter.D) She was born with a talent for languages.20. A) They acquire an immunity to culture shock.B) They would like to live abroad permanently.C) They want to learn as many foreign languages as possible.D) They have an intense interest in cross-cultural interactions.21.A) She bec ame an expert in horse racing.B) She got a chance to visit several European countries.C) She was able to translate for a German sports judge.D) She learned to appreciate classical music.22. A) Taste the beef and give her comment.B) Take part in a cooking competition.C) Teach vocabulary for food in ??D) Give cooking lessons onPassage 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 gre w up in a poorD) He often helped his24.A) Careless.B) Stupid.C) Brave.D) Active.25.A) Write two book reports a week.B) Keep a diary.C) Help with housework.D) Watch education??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 areother bodies out there besides the moon and stars. One of the most of this is a comet. Comets were formed around the same the earth was formed. They are made up of ice and other frozen liquids and gasses. these dirty snow balls begin to orbit the sun just as the planets do. As a comet gets closer to the sun, some gasses in it begin to unfreeze. They combine with dust particles from the comet to form a huge cloud. As the comet gets even nearer to the sun and solar wind blows the cloud behind the comet thus forming its tail. The tail and generally fuzzy atmosphere around the cometare that can help this phenomenon in the night sky. In any given year,about 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 _________eye. Comet Hale-Bopp discovered in 1995 was an unusually bright comet. Its orbit bought it _________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 4 thousand years or so.Part Ш 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 givenin 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 markthe 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.Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.For many Americans, 2013 ended with an unusually bitter cold spell. November and December 36 early snow and bone-chilling temperatures in much of the country, part of a year when, for the first time in two 37 , record-cold days will likely turn out to have outnumbered record-warm ones. But the U.S. was the exception; November was the warmest ever 38 , and current data indicates that 2013 is likely to have been the fourth hottest year on record.Enjoy the snow now, bec ause 39 are good that 2014 will be even hotter, perhaps the hottest year since records have been kept. That’s because, scientists are predicting, 2014 will be an EI Niuo year.EI niuo, Spanish for “the child”, 40 when surface ocean waters in the southern Pacific become abnormally warm. So large is the Pacific, covering 30% of the planet’s surface, that the 41 energy generated by its warming is enough to touch off a series of weather changes around the world. EI Ninos are 42 with abnormally dry conditions in Southeast Asia and Australia. They can lead to extreme rain in parts of North and South America, even as southern Africa 43 dry weather. Marine life may be affected too; EI Ninos can 44 the rising of the cold, nutrient-rich(营养丰富的)water that supports large fish 45 ,and the unusually warm ocean temperatures can destroy coral(珊瑚).注意:此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

2015年12月大学英语4级真题答案(第一套)

2015年12月大学英语4级真题答案(第一套)

2015年12月大学英语4级真题答案(第一套)Part I WritingListening is more important than talkingNowadays an old saying “Listening is more important than talking” comes into vogue. The saying tells us the true essence of communication with others in society, which meansp aying attention to others’ opinions is much more important than expressing one’s own ideas.As for me, there are two reasons accounting for the correctness of this principle. To start with, listening shows our respect to others. In such an aggressive society, willingness to listen enable us to gain trust and friendship, which are the basic rules of interpersonal communication. A talkative person without the patience to listen to others is doomed to be alienated. Furthermore, listening can really benefit us. There is no denying that we ourselves are the people to make choices in our own life. However, a variety of ideas from others will definitely enrich our minds and present some enlightenment to our future actions.According to what is said above, listening truly outweighs talking on many occasions. As modern people, we need to master some communication skills. Only when we realize the importance of listening can we lead better life.Part II Listening ComprehensionSection A1. C) They enjoyed the movie on space exploration.2. B) At a gift shop.3. D) He declined a job offer from the art gallery.4. A) He will be unable to attend the birthday party.5. A) Set a deadline for the staff to meet.6. D) The way to the visitor’s parking.7. B) He has benefited from exercise.8. D) The secretaries in the man’s company.9. A) It is used by more people than English.10. C) The influence of the British Empire.11. B) It includes a lot of words from other languages.12. A) To place an order.13. C) He is not familiar with the exact details of the goods.14. C) It depends on a number of factors.15. D) Ring back when she comes to a decision.Section B16. A) No one knows for sure when they came into being.17. D) Carry ropes across rivers.18. C) To prove that lightning is electricity.19. C) She can speak several languages.20. B) They have an intense interest in cross-cultural interactions.21. C) She was able to translate for a German sports judge.22. B) Taste the beef and give her comment.23. D) He grew up in a poor single-parent family.24. A) Stupid.25. B) Write two book reports a week.Section C26. heavenly27. fascinating28. made up of29. Now and then30. combine with31. generally32. characteristics33. phenomenon34. naked35. relativelyPart III Reading ComprehensionSection A36. J) fundamentally37. G) expands38. O) superficial39. K) interpretation40. B) acquired41. I) flows42. F) elements43. M) regard44. H) familiar45. A) accustomedSection B46. G) Building on a child’s ability to feel joy, rather than pushing it aside, wouldn’t be that hard.47. D) I’m a mother of three, a teacher, and a developmental psychologist.48. 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.49. 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, obligation, and practicality.50. K) Adults tend to talk about learning as if it were medicine: unpleasant, but necessary and good for you.51. 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.52. 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 bea child, or what makes childhood an important and valuable stage of life in its own right.53. 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.54. B) If you spend much time with educators and policy makers, you’ll hear a lot of the following words: “standards,” “results,” “skills,” “sel f-control,” “accountability,” and so on. 55. J) Not only is this a boring and awful way to treat children, it makes no sense educationally.Section C56. C) It may have a negative effect on creative work.57. A) They combine clock-based and task-based planning.58. D) They tend to be more productive.59. B) It does not attach enough importance to task-based practice.60. A) Task-based timing is preferred for doing creative work.61. A) Her past record might stand in her way to a new life.62. B) They are deprived of chances to turn over a new leaf.63. C) They are marginalized in society.64. D) A lot of them have negative effects on society.65. B) To appeal for changes in America’s criminal justice system.Part IV TranslationChinese parents tend to pay at tention to their children’s study to such an extent that they even don’t require their children to help them do the chores. Their primary requirement for their children is to study hard, get good grades and go to famous universities. They believe this does good to their children because in the society of China which is full of intense competition, only perfect academic performance can ensure a bright future. Chinese parents also believe if their children can make great achievements in society, they will receive respect accordingly. Therefore, they are willing to sacrifice their own time, hobbies and interests in order to provide better conditions for their children.。

2015年12月大学英语四级真题试卷(一)(题后含答案及解析)

2015年12月大学英语四级真题试卷(一)(题后含答案及解析)

2015年12月大学英语四级真题试卷(一)(题后含答案及解析)题型有:1. Writing 2. Listening Comprehension 3. 4. Reading Comprehension 5. TranslationPart I Writing1.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.正确答案:Listening Is More Important than Talking Nowadays an old saying, “Listening is more important than talking” , comes into vogue. The saying tells us the true essence of communication with others in the society, which means paying attention to others’opinions is much more important than expressing one’s own words. As for me, there are two reasons accounting for the correctness of this principle. To start with, listening shows your respect for others. In such a competitive society, willingness to listen can make you gain trust and friendship, which is the basic rule of socialization. A talkative person without ear is doomed to be alienated. Furthermore, listening can really benefit yourself. There is no denying that you are the one to make choices in your life. However, a variety of ideas from others will definitely enrich your mind and present some enlightenment to your future actions. According to what is said above, listening truly outweighs talking on many occasions. In modern society, we need to master some communication skills. Only when we realize the importance of listening can we lead a better life.Part II Listening ComprehensionSection A听力原文: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?2.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.正确答案:C解析: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。

四级真题2015年12月第一套

四级真题2015年12月第一套

听力题1.A) the woman should mix the ingredients thoroughlyB) the dressing makes the mixed salad very invitingC) the restaurant is known for its food varietiesD) the restaurant offers some special cash today2.A) he took over the firm from MaryB) he is opening a new consulting firmC) he failed to foresee major problemsD) he is running a successful business3.A) the printer in the office has run out of paperB) the man may find the supplies in the cabinetC) the man can leave the discs in the office cabinetD) someone should be put in charge of office supplies4.A) the woman can use his glasses to readB) he has the dictionary the woman wantsC) the dictionary is not of much help to himD) he has to use a magnifying glass to see clearly5.A) seeking professional adviceB) adding some office furnitureC) redecorating her officeD)majoring in interior design6.A) shortage of container shipsB) improvement of port facilitiesC) delayed shipment of goodsD) problems in port management7.A) a colleagueB) their bossC) their workloadD) a coffee machine8.A) call the hotel manager for helpB) get an expert to correct the errorC) hold the banquet at a different placeD) postpone the event until a later date长对话9.A) he cooks dinner for the family occasionallyB) he dines out from time to time with friendsC) he shares some of the household dutiesD) he often goes back home late for dinner10.A) to take him to dinnerB) to discuss an urgent problemC) to talk about a budget planD) to pass on an important message11.A) foreign investors are losing confidence in India’s economyB) Many multinational enterprises are withdraw from IndiaC) there is a sharp increase in India’s balance of payment deficitD) there are wild fluctuations in the international money market12.A) they try to adapt to their changing rolesB) they form a more realistic picture of lifeC) they may not be prepared for a lifelong relationshipD) they have unrealistic expectations about the other half13.A) he is lucky to be able to do what he lovesB) he is able to meet many interesting peopleC) he is able to forget all the trouble in his lifeD) he is lucky to have visited many exotic people14.A) it is stressfulB) it is full of funC) it is all glamourD) it is challenging15.A) amazedB) botheredC) puzzledD) excited短文理解16.A) Learn to be respectful in a hierarchical organizationB) Follow closely the fast development of technologyC) Learn new ways of relating and working togetherD) Maintain the traditional organizational culture17.A) How the team is built to keep improving its performanceB) What type of personnel the team should be composed of.C) How the team integrates with what it is supposed to serveD) What qualifications team members should be equipped with.18.A) A team manager must set very clear and high objectivesB) Teams must consist of members from different cultures.C) Team members should be knowledgeable and creative.D) A team manager should develop a certain set of skills.19.A) It is allowing people to share information on the WebB) It started off as a successful program but was unable to last longC) It was mainly used by scientists and technical people to exchange text.D) It is a platform for sharing ideas on teaching at the University of 111linois20.A) He visited a number of famous computer scientists.B) He met with an entrepreneur named Jim ClarkC) He invested in a leading computer business.D) He sold a program developed by his friends.21.A) They trusted his computer expertise.B) They had confidence in his new ideas.C) They were very keen on new technology.D) They believed in his business connections.22A) word-of-mouth advertisingB) Distributing free trial products.C) Prestige advertising.D) Institutional advertising23A) To sell a particular product.B) To attract high-end customersC) To promote a specific service.D) To build up their reputation.24A) By creating their own ads and commercials.B) By buying media space in leading newspapers.C) By hiring their own professional advertising staff.D)By using the services of large advertising agencies.25A) Conduct a large-scale survey on customer needsB) specify the objectives of the campaign in detail.C) pre-test alternative ads or commercials in certain regions.D) Decide on what specific means of communication to employ.听写:Extinction is a difficult concept to grasp. It is an 26 _____ concept. It’s not at all like the killing of individuals lifeforms that can be renewed through normal processes of reproduction. Nor is it simply 27 ____ numbers. Nor is it damage that can somehow be remedied or for which some substitute can be found. Nor is it something that simply affects our own generation. Nor is it something that could be remedies by some supernatural power. IT is rather an 28 ______ and final act for which there is no remedy on earth or in heaven. A species once extinct is gone forever. However many generations 29_____ us in coming centuries, none of them will ever see this species that we extinguish.Not only are we bring about the extinction of life 30 ____, we are also making the land and the air and the sea so toxic that the very conditions of life are being destroyed. 31_____ basic natural resources, not only are the nonrenewable resources being 32_____ in a frenzy(疯狂) of processing, consuming , and 33_____, but we are also ruining much of our renewable resources, such as the very soil itself on which terrestrial(地球上的) life depends.The change that is taking place on earth and in our minds is one of the greatest changes ever to take place in human affairs, perhaps the greatest, since what we are talking about is not simply another historical change or cultural 34________, but a change of geological and biological as well as psychological order of 35_____参考答案:短对话:1-8 BDBDCAAC长对话:9-15 DDCDACD短文理解:16-25 CCDABBADDC听写:Extinction is a difficult concept to grasp. It is an 26 _eternal____ concept. It’s not at all like the killing of individuals lifeforms that can be renewed through normal processes of reproduction. Nor is it simply 27 _diminishing____ numbers. Nor is it damage that can somehow be remedied or for which some substitute can be found. Nor is it something that simply affects our own generation. Nor is it something that could be remedies by some supernatural power. IT is rather an 28 __absolute____ and final act for which there is no remedy on earth or in heaven. A species once extinct is gone forever. However many generations 29___succeed__ us in coming centuries, none of them will ever see this species that we extinguish.Not only are we bring about the extinction of life 30 _on a vast scale___, we are also making the land and the air and the sea so toxic that the very conditions of life are being destroyed. 31__As regards___ basic natural resources, not only are the nonrenewable resources being 32_used up____ in a frenzy(疯狂) of processing, consuming , and 33_disposing____, but we are also ruining much of our renewable resources, such as the very soil itself on which terrestrial(地球上的) life depends.阅读理解The change that is taking place on earth and in our minds is one of the greatest changes ever to take place in human affairs, perhaps the greatest, since what we are talking about is not simply another historical change or cultural 34__modification______, but a change of geological and biological as well as psychological order of 35__magnitude___Questions 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.Scholars of the informnation 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 informnation 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 forn1s 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 personal computers and the Internet,and the older generation, 45 to an industrial society.A)accustomedB)acquiredC)assemblyD)attributeE)chanlpionsF)elementsG)expands H)familiarI)flowsJ)fundamentallyK)interpretationL)passiveM)regardN)respectivelyO)superficial2.长篇阅读(匹配意思相近的选项)Joy: A Subject Schools LackBecoming educated should not require giving up pleasure.[A]When Jonathan Swift proposed,in 1729,that the people ofIreland 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 inAmerica 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 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 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. SoI've watched a lot of children-talking,playing,arguing,eating,studying, and being young. Here's whatI'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 putting together strings of nonsensical words with her best friends,or an ll-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 bugI've ever seen.It has,like,a million legs. Lпok 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 justthe kind of intense absorption 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 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,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 inlportant pleasure is to achieving any educa- tional 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 assump- tion is that children shouldn't chat in the classroom because it hinders hard work; instead,they should Ie缸n to delay gratification (快乐) so that they can pursue abstract goals,like going to college.[J] Not only is 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,eflioy books,digest complex information,or develop a taste for learning. To make that happen,you have to help the child fmd pleasure in learning-to see school as a source of joy.[K] Adults tend to talk about learning as if 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 tratned 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 doing48. Children in America are being treated with shocking cruelty.49. It is hunlan 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 t turn learning into 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-contro1 under a set of strict rules.55. To make learning effective,educators have to ensure that children want to learn.3.仔细阅读Section CQuestions 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-phone and computers,That may be a bad thling,particularly at work. New research shows that clock-based work schedules hinder morale (士气) and creativityClock-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 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,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 morecreative,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 thebusiness 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 tinting should be used when perfonning a job that requires more creativity.It'll make those tasks easier,and thle 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出eir tasks one by one.58.What did Tamar Avnet andAnne-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 ainls to bring employees' potential and creativity into full play.60.What do the researchers suggest?A) Task-based timng is preferred for doing creative work.B) It is important to keep a balance between work and life.C) Perfomling 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 crinlinal record. This can result in severe penalties that continue long after punishment is completedMany of these penalties are让nposed regardless of the seriousness of the offense or the person's individual ws 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 fullyparticipating in American lifeSome laws make sense. No one advocates letting someone convicted of pedophilia (恋童癖) work in a schooL But too often collateral(伴随的) consequences bear no relation to public safety. Should a woman who possessed a small amount of drugs years ago be pennanently unable to be licensed as a nurse?These laws are also counterproductive,since they make it harder for people with crinlinal 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.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 prisonC) 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 inAmerica?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 offensesD) They are convicted regardless of their individual circumstances.63.What are the consequences for manyAmericans 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 lifeD) To call people's attention to prisoners' conditions in America.答案:36-45 JGOKBIFMHA36。

2015年12月份英语四级考试真题第一套解析

2015年12月份英语四级考试真题第一套解析

• childbirth *'tʃaɪl(d)bɜːθ+ n. 分娩,生产 • struggle for 为…奋斗,努力 • except *ɪk'sept; ek-] conj. 除了;要不是 prep. 除…之外vt. 不 计; • complication*kɒmplɪ'keɪʃ(ə)n+ n. 并发症;复杂;复杂化 • at risk 处于危险中 • adopt one’s suggestions 采纳(某人的)建议 • accept international aid 接受国际援助 • feasible *'fiːzɪb(ə)l+ adj. 可行的;可能的;可实行的 • flexible *'fleksɪb(ə)l+ adj. 灵活的;柔韧的;易弯曲的 • . warn *wɔːn+ vt. 警告,提醒;通知 • remove all restrictions 去除限制 • impose *ɪm'pəʊz+ …on vt. 强加;征税;以…欺骗 • resort*rɪˈzɔ:t+ n. 采取某手段或方法应急或作为对策; 度假胜 地
写作模板
• As we all know, (主题相关的事实). Therefore, (根据该事实推理出的结论). However, in my opinion, (给出自己的不同 观点,引出论点). • For one thing, (论据1). For another, (论 据2). • In all, (重申观点).
万能句型
• • • • • • 一、表达自己的观点 1. As for me,… 对于我来说,…… 2. As far as I am concerned,… 就我而言,…… 3. In my opinion/ From my perspective,… 我认为…… 二、表示次序或递进 1. Firstly/First of all … Secondly… Finally… 第一……第二……最 后…… • 2. To begin with… Furthermore… Last but not least… 首先…… 此外……最后但同样重要的是…… • 3. In the first place… Next… Lastly… 首先……其次……最后…… • 4. For one thing… For another… 其一……其二……
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2015年12月英语四级真题试卷一Part I Writing ( 30 minutes)For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying “Learning is a daily experience and lifetime mission.”You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of lifelong learning. You should write at least 120 words but no more than180words.Part II Listening Comprehension ( 30 minutes)Section ADirections: In this section, you will hear 8 short conver sat ions 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 1 with a single line through the centre.A) They admire the courage of space explorers.B) They enjoyed the movie on space exploration.C) They were going to watch a wonderful movie.D) They like doing scientific exploration very much.2. A) At a gift shop.B) At a graduation ceremony.C) In the office of a travel agency.D) In a school library.3. A) He used to work in the art gallery.B) He does not have a good memory.C) He declined a job offer form the art gallery.D) He is not interested in any part-time jobs.4.A) Susan has been invited to give a lecture tomorrow.B) He will go to the birthday party after the lecture.C) The woman should have informed him earlier.D) He will be unable to attend the birthday party.5.A) Reward those having made good pro gre ss.B) Set a deadline for the staff to meet.C) Assign more workers to the project.D) Encourage the staff to work in small groups.6. A) The way to the visitor’s parking.B) The rate for parking in Lot C.C) How far away the parking lot is.D) Where she can leave her car.7. A) He regrets missing the classes.B) He plans to take the fitness classes.C) He is looking forward to a better life.D) He has benefited form exercise.8.A) How to ? work efficiency.B) How to select secretaries.C)The responsibilities of secretaries.D) The secretaries in the man’s company.Conver sat ion OneQuestions 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.9.A) It is more difficult to learn than English.B) It is used by more people than English.C) It will be as commonly used as English.D) It will eventually bec ome a world language.10.A) It has words words from many languages,B) Its popularity with the common people.C) The influence of the British Empire.D) The effect of the Industrial Revolution.11.A) It includes a lot of words form other languages.B) It has a growing number of newly coined words,C) It can be easily picked up by overseas travelers.D) It is the largest among all languages in the world.Conversation 2Questions 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.12.A) To return some goods.B) To apply for a job.C) To place an order.D) To make a complaint.13. A) He has become somewhat impatient with the woman.B) He is not familiar with the exact details of goods.C) He has not worked in the sales department for long.D) He works on a part-time basis for the company.14. A) It is not his responsibility.B) It will be free for large orders.C) It costs 15 more for express delivery.D) It depends on a number of factors.15.A) Report the information to her superior.B) Pay a visit to the saleswoman in charge.C) Ring back when she comes to a decision.D) Make inquiries with some other companies.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 I with a single line through the centre.Passage OneQuestions 16 to 18 are based on the passage you have just heard.16. A) No one knows exactly where they were ??B) No one knows for sure when thy came into being.C) No one knows for what purpose they were ?D) No one knows what they will ?????17. A) Carry ropes across rivers.B) Measure the speed of wind.C) Pass on secret messages.D) Give warnings of danger.18. A) To protect houses against lightning.B) To test the effects of the lightning rod.C) To find out the strength of silk for kites.D) To prove the lightning is electricity.Passage TwoQuestions 19 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.19.A) She enjoys teaching languages.B) She can speak several languages.C) She was trained to be an interpreter.D) She was born with a talent for languages.20. A) They acquire an immunity to culture shock.B) They would like to live abroad permanently.C) They want to learn as many foreign languages as possible.D) They have an intense interest in cross-cultural interactions.21.A) She bec ame an expert in horse racing.B) She got a chance to visit several European countries.C) She was able to translate for a German sports judge.D) She learned to appreciate classical music.22. A) Taste the beef and give her comment.B) Take part in a cooking competition.C) Teach vocabulary for food in ??D) Give cooking lessons on ????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 gre w up in a poor ???D) He often helped his ???24.A) Careless.B) Stupid.C) Brave.D) Active.25.A) Write two book reports a week.B) Keep a diary.C) Help with housework.D) Watch education??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 areother bodies out there besides the moon and stars. One of themost of this is a comet. Comets were formed around the same the earth was formed. They are made up of ice and other frozen liquids and gasses. these dirty snow balls begin to orbit the sun just as the planets do. As a comet gets closer to the sun, some gasses in it begin to unfreeze. They combine with dust particles from the comet to form a huge cloud. As the comet gets even nearer to the sun and solar wind blows the cloud behind the comet thus forming its tail. The tail and generally fuzzy atmosphere around the comet are that can help this phenomenon in the night sky. In any given year,about 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 _________eye. Comet Hale-Bopp discovered in 1995 was an unusually bright comet. Its orbit bought it _________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 4 thousand years or so.Part ШReading 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 givenin 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 36 to 45 are based on the following passage.For many Americans, 2013 ended with an unusually bitter cold spell. November and December 36 early snow and bone-chilling temperatures in much of the country, part of a year when, for the first time in two 37 , record-cold days will likely turn out to have outnumbered record-warm ones. But the U.S. was the exception; November was the warmest ever 38 , and current data indicates that 2013 is likely to have been the fourth hottest year on record.Enjoy the snow now, bec ause 39 are good that 2014 will be even hotter, perhaps the hottest year since records have been kept. That’s because, scientists are predicting, 2014 will be an EI Niuo year.EI niuo, Spanish for “the child”, 40 when surface ocean waters in the southern Pacific become abnormally warm. So large is the Pacific, covering 30% of the planet’s surface, that the 41 energy generated by its warming is enough to touch off a series of weather changes around the world. EI Ninos are 42 with abnormally dry conditions in Southeast Asia and Australia. They can lead to extreme rain in parts of North and South America, even as southern Africa 43 dry weather. Marine life may beaffected too; EI Ninos can 44 the rising of the cold, nutrient-rich(营养丰富的)water that supports large fish 45 ,and the unusually warm ocean temperatures can destroy coral(珊瑚).注意:此部分试题请在答题卡2上作答。

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